Organization and Culture Essay

Provide a brief (one 1 paragraph) description of the organization you chose to research. The company that I chose to research is the company Google. Everyone is aware of Google. It is the most widely used search engine in the world. Google is considered to be one of the best, if not the best search engine of all time. The company Google is considered to be a technological giant and a threat to other tech giants, for example Microsoft. Google’s creators Larry Page and Sergey Binn, started this company in 1995. Google was first developed to be a search engine, but it has crown to the point where it can be used as an internet browser also. Unlike its competitor Microsoft Internet Explorer, it has to be compatible with certain browsers in order to function at its fullest potential. Examine the culture of the selected organization. Google’s corporate culture began with its founder’s philosophy, the famous 10 tenets. (Lisa Jackson 2013). And since Google is still controlled by its founders, that means that the culture in part of the company’s mantra. Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Binn believe that trust is one of the most important aspects for the culture at Google. Google mission is a culture of choice. That is they are not a conventional company in the sense that they are not a slave to Wall Street, and that allows them to build a culture that will deliver on this mission and that is principally organized to drive innovation. (Jeff Jarvis, 2013). Because of this trust that Google foster’s to their employees, they are allowed to take risk, while being innovative. And with innovation comes feedback and collaboration. With this type of corporate culture at Google, their employees are much more enthusiastic about the ideas that they present to the founders. There is not right or wrong way at Google, they are visionaries and as such can implement and idea, and if it works, that fantastic, if the idea does not work, then  back to the drawing board. Again, it all stems from the trust ideas from the founders. Google’s culture is very unique. At Google, they believe that if you focus on the user, all else will follow. They also believe that democracy on the web works and also that there is always more information out there. These are three out of the ten tenets that the founders of Google stand by. With these types of statements from one of the largest technological companies, it is no wonder that Google is considered the number 1 place to work in the United States. It’s because the founders allow the staff to develop ideas, make mistakes and they celebrate the failure instead of reprimanding or terminating the staff. This seemingly laid back culture fuels the imagination of the staff and gets them always looking for ways to improve not just the company, but themselves as well. Explain how you determined that the selected organization showed the signs of the culture that you have identified. When I decided to do rese arch on Google, and their culture, I decided to look at why this company is considered one of the best places to work in the United States. I asked myself, why is this company so popular? Why are their employees always happy? First you look at the culture. The founders believe in letting their employees be free to be innovative. They have a t-shirt and jeans work atmosphere, freedom to make mistakes and start over again, etc. This is only part of the culture. Another aspect of the Google environment is ensuring that their employees are adequately compensated. Their benefits are also excellent. Google’s employees enjoy free health and dental, free breakfast lunch and dinner. They also have an organic chef that caters to the needs of the employees. Google found that women were leaving the company at twice the rate of everyone else. In particular, this occurred with new mothers. Google’s maternity leave plan was 12 weeks paid time off. Human Resources changed the plan so new mothers could get 5 months paid time off with full pay and benefits. They were allowed to split this time up however they want. The result after the change in policy? A 50% reduction in attrition for new mothers. Google tries to hire and retain the best employees. They do this based on data. When this data is collected, they u se this information to gauge employees and improve their productivity.   Determine the factors that caused the organization to embody this particular culture. For Google, it seems as if the corporate culture that they have right now is doing just  fine. Google was name the top place to work in 2012. But if for some reason, they did decide to change their corporate culture, I think it would be to continue to enhance on the 10 tenets that was there from conception. Of course as time, and concepts changes over time, innovators such as Larry Page and Sergey Brinn will have to change as well.But, with a new CEO, Larry Page who is excited about leading the team into product development and technology strategy, but also keeping the core of the company for what it was when they first started. Google is efficient and effective. Fortune magazine reported that Google does more business than their entire competitor combined, plus they do it at a lower cost. Because Google has a casual and democratic atmosphere, resulting in its distinction as a â€Å"Flat† company. The company does not boast a large middle management, and upper management is so hands on, it’s hard to qualify them in a separate category. Teams are made up of members with equal authority and a certain level of autonomy is maintained.   Determine what type of leader would be best suited for this organization. Support your position. The type of leader that would be best suited for Google is a Transformational Leader. Transformational leadership is a type of leadership style that can inspire positive changes in those who follow. Transformational leaders are generally energetic, enthusiastic, and passionate. Not only are these leaders concerned and involved in the process; they are also focused on helping every member of the group succeed as well. Through the strength of their vision and personality, transformational leaders are able to inspire followers to change expectations, perceptions, and motivations to work towards common goals. They have the ability to garner trust, respect and admiration from their followers.   Imagine that there is a decline in the demand of products or services supplied by the selected organization. Determine what the change in culture would need to be in response to this situation. If for some reason there is a decline for the products and services supplied by Google, I think that the founders will continue to have the same culture that they originally started the company with. And I say that because, so far that culture seems to be what has Google as one of the top tech giants in the world. Of course, the founders Larry Page and Sergey Binn, being the visionaries that they are, as times and concepts changes over time, they will have to change as well. They will always have to be one  step ahead of the competition, if intend to last in the technological game. References The Real Secret of Google’s Corporate Culture: by Lisa Jackson, July 2013. https://www.web-ebschohost-com.libdata.strayer.edu/ehost/deliveryArticle: Refreshing Google. By: Saporito, Bill. (2011) Vol. 177 Issue 5, p48-49. https://www.web-ebschohost-com.libdata.strayer.edu/ehost/deliverySearch and Destroy. (Cover Story) Authors: Vogelstein, Fred. Source Fortune 5/2005 Vol. 151 Issue 9, p72-82. (Article) https://www.web-ebschohost-com.libdata.strayer.edu/ehost/deliveryThe Real Difference between Microsoft and Google by: Dana Blankenhor (February 2008) http://www.corporateculturepros.com

Ocean Dumping: Key Issues

Ocean Dumping: Key Issues Liz Gomez Ocean Dumping: Key Issues Marine debris is the official designation and referents to human created wastes that pollutes and are dumped deliberately or accidentally in lakes, waterways, seas and oceans. While certain debris naturally float on bodies of water (i. e. ogs and trees that got cut via natural events), certain communities, peoples and industries the world over deliberately dump debris and garbage in bodies of water without much thought into the effects of such acts in relation to threats to animals (fish, sea mammals, birds, reptiles) their habitats, coastal habitations and to human industries that depend on the bounty of the sea (i. e. fishing). Of late the greatest threat are the toxins released via the practice of ocean dumping which can destroy so easily fragile ocean habitats.Plastic and Styrofoam’s, being non-biodegradable cannot breakdown and affect ocean and water inhabitants in so many ways – accumulated debris preve nts photolysis, a component in photosynthesis killing marine life. Ghost nets and accumulated plastic as well as unique debris like six-pack rings can entangle marine life and result to movement restriction which can lead to starvation, laceration, infection and eventually, death. Dugongs, dolphins, sharks, reptiles, sea turtles and all sorts of fish can easily get entangled with ghost nets.Plastic bags and plastic pellets – the broken down versions of plastics via weathering clog the digestive tract of marine animals and where they pool, prevent photolysis as well. It does not help that the smaller pellets, known as nurdles resemble fish eggs. Populations of fish and sea mammals often mistake them for fish eggs and their ingestion result to death. Ever since man started sailing, the ocean has become a dumping ground for debris and materials. Greenpeace estimates that annually, containers ships lose about 10,000 containers while at sea.Adding to marine debris is the runoff fr om landfills & storm drains. The danger in the toxic contamination via ocean dumping can be seen in varied incidents in the Arctic Sea. In the 50's Russia dumped highly radioactive materials in their own part of the Arctic – the Barents Karas Sea but the toxicity spread through the rich fishing grounds of the international and open waters of the sea that it affected and threatened fish populations and the industry of Arctic Sea Fishing.Of recent, the experience of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico showed how fragile marine biology is as species of marine life got heavily affected which in turn affected the fishing and tourism industries of the towns and cities around the gulf which destroyed livelihoods and way of life. Aside from the issues listed above, key concerns in relation to how ocean dumping affects human life are identified as follows (Burger, 2009) – 1) Occupational accidents, injuries, and exposures; ) Exposure of the public to hazardous or toxic material s washed up on beaches; 3) Human consumption of marine organisms that have been contaminated by ocean disposal. A further complication is the practice of legal dumping where countries (including the US) allow dumping of materials into the sea/ocean following certain situations and measures. Environmental organizations have since been advocating against such measures. To counteract them however, in the case of the US, the following measures have been put in place – †¢ Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, †¢ Water Pollution Prevention and Control Act, †¢ Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act, Dangerous Cargo Act, †¢ Ports and Waterways Safety Act, †¢ Deep Water Ports Act, †¢ Ocean Dumping Act Of the above, the biggest act with a direct impact on ocean dumping is the last measure, the Ocean Dumping Act. Enacted in 1988, with additional amendments the EPA presents the highlights of the act today as follows (EPA, 20 10) – †¢ TITLE I – OCEAN DUMPING BAN ACT OF 1988 (Amends the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act, commonly called the â€Å"Ocean Dumping Act†) Makes it unlawful for any person to dump, or transport for the purpose of dumping, sewage sludge or industrial waste into ocean waters after December 31, 1991; †¢ Prohibits, after the 270th day after enactment, any person from dumping, or transporting for the purpose of dumping, sewage sludge or industrial waste into ocean waters unless the person: (1) enters into a compliance or enforcement agreement (which includes a plan negotiated by the dumper, the State, and EPA for terminating dumping as well as a schedule which EPA believes will result in the termination of the dumping), and (2) obtains a permit issued by EPA under authority of sec. 02 of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA); †¢ Provides for the payment of special fees for dumping and any penalties incurred by a dumper to be deposited into certain funds for use in finding alternatives to ocean dumping. †¢ TITLE II – DESIGNATION OF AREAS FOR PRIORITY CONSIDERATION UNDER NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM †¢ This title adds four new areas to the list of sites which EPA must give priority consideration when designating new estuaries for inclusion in the National Estuary Program: Massachusetts Bay; Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary Complex, Louisiana; Indian River Lagoon, Florida; and Peconic Bay, New York. TITLE III – DUMPING OF MEDICAL WASTE †¢ Cited as the â€Å"United States Public Vessel Medical Waste Anti-Dumping Act of 1988†, this section prohibits, 6 months after enactment, disposal of potentially infectious medical waste into ocean waters by a â€Å"public vessel†. Two narrowly crafted exceptions to this prohibition relating to health and safety of the crew, or times of war or national emergency are set forth. This title also: defines â€Å"medical wasteâ €  for purposes of the Ocean Dumping Act; adds medical wastes to the list of materials the dumping of which is prohibited under the Ocean Dumping Act; increases the civil penalties for illegal dumping of medical wastes under the Ocean Dumping Act and includes a provision for forfeiture of the vessel; and provides increased criminal sanctions under the Ocean Dumping Act for illegal dumping of medical wastes; defines â€Å"medical waste† for purposes of the CWA using the same definition as for the MPRSA; and, incorporates the term â€Å"medical waste† into the list of pollutants for which the discharge is prohibited under sec. 301(f) of the CWA. †¢ TITLE IV – SHORE PROTECTION ACT OF 1988 †¢ This section prohibits the transportation of municipal or commercial waste within coastal waters by a vessel without a permit and number or other marking. The Secretary of Transportation will issue the permits. The application procedure is set forth. Grounds on whi ch a permit may be denied are set forth. The federal Department of Transportation has discretion to deny permits, but must deny a permit if so requested by EPA. Other specifics as to this process are detailed. OpinionThe advocacies of Greenpeace and agencies campaigning against ocean dumping are clear in their message. Ocean Dumping is not conducive to maintaining ecological balance and while for now it might be immediately beneficial to those legally allowed to dump waste in our oceans, in the end when the toxicity level reaches concentrations that are deadly, there will come a point where it some areas of our oceans and bodies of water will become ‘dead' – marine life would not be supported and the toxicity from such concentrated pollution will easily affect other parts of struggling marine environments. Fishing and related industries will be affected and human life dependent on marine bounty will be deeply affected.To me, it seems that because of the vastness of the planet's oceans and the lack of a universal enforcement body and law that can require countries and their citizens to ensure that all these rules are followed, it would seem that some of these advocacies and campaign fall into deaf earns. There are shorelines and coastlines the world over that are now full of debris, coral reefs have died, former healthy fishing habitats have now dried up. What I find most problematic is the ‘legal dumpings' – if environmental protection of oceans is a priority surely dumpings that no doubt will increase ocean debris and contribute to water toxicity should not be tolerated.So far however in international waters, without the activity of advocates like Greenpeace, the negative effect of ocean dumping will most certainly not find its way into public concerns. A country can only police its own people and its shorelines. I believe that globalization has increased man's activities in relation to manufacture travel and trade and pollution brou ght about by ocean dumping will no doubt have long term affects to the health and state of marine life all over the world. A universal measure to counteract this problem and the creation of an international agency empowered by the UN for example should be put in place to ensure that the problem does not escalate. I doubt this will happen anytime soon, however.The 1982 UN Convention on The Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982) which was enforced in 1994 is the closest but is limited for it only provides a ‘framework for the determination of the rights and obligations of states relating to the oceans' only. While ‘Part XII contains provisions with regard to protection and preservation of the marine environment' – they are still just non-working provisos that are having problems in terms of enforcement. Without an agency tasked to reinforce the provisos, the Law of the Sea remains ineffective. References: http://www. enotes. com/public-health-encyclopedia/ocean-dumping http:/ /archive. greenpeace. org/odumping/ http://www1. american. edu/ted/arctic. htm http://www. epa. gov/history/topics/mprsa/02. htm http://www. pollutionissues. com/Na-Ph/Ocean-Dumping. html

Investigating the development and importance of the auditing standards

The regulative environment makes it compulsory that organisations such as limited liability companies must be audited by an independent external hearer qualified under the ordinances of professional organic structures internationally or nationally to guarantee that the company is working in conformity to the company jurisprudence set by several states. An external hearer maps as an independent organic structure appointed by and studies to stockholders to show an sentiment whether the fiscal statements are prepared, in all stuff respects, true and just and in conformity to the applicable fiscal coverage model ( Pflugrath G. , Martinov-Bennie N. and Chen L. , 2007 ) . In describing to the stockholders, the hearer provides sensible confidence whereby they do non vouch fiscal statements are free from material misstatements but instead at an acceptable degree. Professional organic structures worldwide carries a responsibility to put auditing criterions to play a function of helping hearer s in executing responsibilities in order to supply high degree of assurance to intended users of the Financial Statements ( Noreen, 1988 ; Siegel et al. , 1995 ; Wotruba et al. , 2001 ) .2.0 Main Report2.1 Development of auditing criterionsThere are three regulative environments which govern statutory audits and one of them is scrutinizing criterions. At International degree, the International Federation of Accountants ( IFAC ) is the planetary organisation for the accounting profession. An independent standard-setting board under IFAC is known as the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board ( IAASB ) . The IAASB developed the International Standards on Auditing ( ISAs ) to be carried out on audit battles. As for National degree, ordinances differ as there are assorted standard scene organic structures which choose to follow the ISAs by modifying it or to put their ain criterions to accommodate harmonizing to single states. In Malaysia, the Malaysian Institute of Account ants ( MIA ) , a member of IFAC is responsible in developing the Malaysian Approved Standards on Auditing ( AI ) which adopts the modified ISAs. However, the latest development states the execution of a new board which is the Audit and Assurance Standard Board ( AASB ) ( Cosserat and Rodda, 2009 ) .2.2 Importance of the auditing criterions.An scrutinizing criterion is a signifier of the current best pattern applicable in statutory audit battles by sanctioned hearers which sets a minimal degree of proficient proficiency to guarantee work done is of high quality auditing and at the same clip supplying high degree of confidence ( Jubb and Houghton, 2007 ; Simnett, 2007 ) . It is a signifier of benchmarking the strength of accomplishing aims of the professional organic structures in being a function theoretical account in the accounting profession as stated by Watkins et Al. ( 2004 ) , and besides safeguarding the place of hearers whilst scrutinizing fiscal statements. Through professional and ethical criterions such as independence and unity, Alfredson, K. et Al. ( 2005 ) states that hearers carry out elaborate plants to value a capable affair whether it is of true and just position. Once a decision is made, the sentiment obtained would find the degree of assurance the populace would hold towards the fiscal statements ( Alfredson, K. et al. , 2005 ) . This adds on to cut downing the hazard factor faced by users of the fiscal statements ( Martinov, 2004 ) as it deters managers of an entity to transport out deceitful activities. At the same clip, it besides indirectly strengthens the audit profession as the populace would hold an increased assurance degree taking to a better feeling towards hearers in general ( Simnett, 2007 ; Dellaportas, Senarath Yapa and Sivanantham, 2008 ) . As processs of executing a statutory audit is consistent and of principles-based, it becomes less stiff and flexible to be implemented on the audit plants carried out on fiscal statements. Aside from that, as agreed by Noreen, 1988 ; Siegel et al. , 1995 ; Wotruba et Al. ( 2001 ) ; it may be able to cut down clip factor as hearers are able to be after and analyse which country are important to be tested more and frailty versa because they are already well-versed with the audit processs set by the criterions. However, this may present as a menace because the usage of their ain opinion becomes excessively subjective and therefore, they may be given to be excessively indulgent during audit processs and beltway on of import affairs. Hearers could even deliberately choose non to execute so much elaborate work and merely province fiscal statements as true and just since wittingly for the past history, it has been stated as so ( Jones et al. , 2003 ; Herron and Gilbertson, 2004 ) . From this affair, it can be of advantage to managers to carry on deceitful activities because hearers can merely see an sentiment on fraud but non able to observe and forestall it. It is the responsibility of the direction and managers to go to to deceitful possibilities in a company. With that said, they may choose to non follow deliberately by declining to unwrap gray countries in its fiscal statements or relevant information needed to execute the audit ( Cosserat and Rodda, 2009 ) . While saying to be able to accomplish high quality audits worldwide, a smattering of states still implement their ain auditing criterions to accommodate their national statute laws and traditions ( Samuels and Piper, 1985 ; Tarca, 1998 ; cited in Dellaportas, Senarath Yapa and Sivanantham, 2008 ) . This is likely due to the fact that there are still many developing states which do non hold professional organic structures for such a intent as this or even states like in the United States of America whereby they adopt a different criterion which is of rule-based ( Simnett, 2007 ) . All this may reciprocally do a hold and obstructor to harmonisation of criterions across the Earth in concurrence to international convergence ( Weetman, 2006 ) . Aside from that, consistent updating and alteration of criterions poses a demand to maintain oneself updated taking to a deficiency of assurance while executing responsibilities due to inaccurate executing of criterions implied on audit work as there are restrictions to how much one can make at a period of clip. Being excessively proficient with ordinances may do hearers to be ‘stiff ‘ in their public presentation and therefore, lack grasp on findings of samples, trial objects and the appraisal of analytical processs.2.3 Aims and Activities of IAASB and AASBWork done by the IAASB is monitored by the inadvertence organic structure known as the Public Interest Oversight Board ( PIOB ) whereby the populace ‘s involvement is involved sing proper revelations and transparence of issues that concerns to bettering the overall mission and to accomplish aims of the professional organic structure ( Dellaportas, Senarath Yapa and Sivanantham, 2008 ) . IAASB came up with a development of a plan in the twelvemonth 2004, which functions to redraft the full ISAs either partly to change countries in the ISAs or to to the full bring down new lucidity conventions where applicable. The Clarity Project reached a degree of completion upon confirmation by the PIOB and now contributes 36 freshly clarified criterions as guidelines in confidence battle by qualified hearers worldwide ( Accountants Today, June 2009 ) . Judging from the fact that the criterions now clearly identifies the aims and duties an hearer faces, a better apprehension of the full construct and public consciousness are gained ( Buchanan, F.R. , 2003 ) . The freshly improved criterions are by-far less proficient and therefore, easy to be adopted by practicians to be implemented on processs carried out for confidence battle. The whole intent of carry oning the lucidity undertaking is to do the criterions more appropriate and updated with the recent environment and at the same clip to help and update users of relevant information and a clearer position of using each criterion for the benefit of the populace ( Dellaportas, Senarath Yapa and Sivanantham, 2008 ) . The assurance of the populace in fiscal coverage activities would finally be increased ( Alfredson, K. , Leo, K. , Picker, R. , Pacter, P. and Radford, J. , 2005 ) . It is in a manner a good thing to invariably upgrade and redraft the criterions to accommodate the current coverage environment ( Humphrey, C. and Turley, S. , 2006 ) . However, there may be a little disadvantage in the sense of doing the revised criterions known to its users. The professional organic structures would necessitate to carry on seminars or station notices to all members of the professional organic structures to inform them of such amendments that has taken topographic point. This finally takes clip and attempts and may even incur a little cost to be carried out. Similarly the IAASB, the AASB plays a similar function in continuing an acceptable degree of quality professional services and high ethical behavior amongst practicians. The MIA further justified the desire of standing-out in the standard-setting procedure trusting that Malayan market can be integrated internationally so that point of views can be mentioned earlier alternatively of acquiring secondhand attending in order to germinate criterions that are more suited to the nature of the Malayan market ( Izma N. , 2009 ) . Implementing the ISAs by the AASB is a signifier of doing attempts to heighten the fiscal markets of Malaysia in going more competitory and stable. At the same clip, it besides improves professional unity and quality of audit plants by hearers. Under the backing of the MIA, AASB will go on to run into rigorous outlooks of stakeholders every bit good as traveling towards a holistic international convergence of criterions and enhance assurance of users through proper counsel in audit and confidence services. This may turn out to be a good measure in front in concurrence to be inline with the harmonisation of criterions in the universe today and besides to prepare the fiscal place of the state in order to hike assurance of the public one time once more ( Chan and Leung, 2006 ) . Therefore, conformity with scrutinizing criterions such as the ISAs and implementing it into aims and duties stated by the professional organic structures need to be acted out rapidly so as to non fall behind in clip because it can be rather a drawn-out procedure which is non accomplishable overnight ( Izma N. , 2009 ) .2.4 Further RegulationsCodes of Corporate Governance Corporate administration is the system whereby companies are directed and controlled. Cosserat and Rodda, 2009 mentioned that it is utile in avoiding affairs such as struggles of involvement seen in the bureau theory between the directors ( agents ) and the stockholders ( principal ) . In conformity to the UK Combined Codes of best patterns, the board of an entity is encouraged to organize an audit commission to guard the independency and objectiveness of hearers. An audit commission plays a function as an independent point of mention to turn to sing issues of struggle between the board of managers and the external hearers. Aside from that, in order to better external audit processs, they have a responsibility to supervise the unity of managers in fixing fiscal statements. Codes of Ethical motives The burden is ever on the hearer non merely to be ethical but besides to be seen as ethical. The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants ( IESBA ) establishes a conceptual model for all practicians to adhere to five regulations: unity, objectiveness, professional competency and due attention, confidentiality and professional behavior. Menaces to these rules are to be identified and applied with several precautions to extenuate it. Hearers are subjected to ethical demands by professional organic structures because the public relies on hearers to bring forth an independent sentiment during confidence battles ( Pflugrath G. , Martinov-Bennie N. and Chen L. , 2007 ) . They farther elaborated that a high quality audit, consisting of professional competency and due attention features need to be conducted as hearers have entree to confidential information of the entity. Company Law An hearer is required to execute an one-year audit abiding by statutory responsibilities to describe to stockholders on whether fiscal statements are of a true and just position and in conformity to approved criterions. They need to be independent and persevering and province if sufficient information has been obtained and that the company has kept proper records harmonizing to the jurisprudence. The hearer must besides name out lacks of their findings in the hearer ‘s study. The company jurisprudence besides determines the rights, assignment, remotion and surrender of hearers and the liability of hearers to stockholders and 3rd parties ( Cosserat and Rodda, 2009 ) .3.0 DecisionThe result of these findings discussed has added cognition to a better apprehension of the full audit and confidence rhythm. The responsibilities of an external hearer must be based on appropriate conceptual models developed either internationally or nationally harmonizing to the suitableness of several states. They need to execute a statutory battle required by the company jurisprudence, which is of high but non absolute confidence that the fiscal statements are free from material misstatements. An overview of the constitution of scrutinizing criterions, its aims and importance to benchmark the quality of hearers in executing responsibilities and corporate administration, company jurisprudence and ethical codifications as extra ordinances in heightening the function of hearers were identified. Furthermore, the chief thought of separating IAASB and AASB on its maps and activities in the universe today has added cognition to the deepnesss of 1s ‘ head. Therefore, the several standards-setting boards need to foster enhance and beef up its actions and processs in order to accomplish international convergence and quality criterions to function the public better and increase in its objectiveness effectivity.

2 page-paper brief for a case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

2 page-paper brief for a case - Essay Example SDI defendants aggressively marketed a test for diagnosing a common sleep disorder. According to an affidavit sworn by IRS Special Agent Julie Raftery, they at times billed twice for their services and made reward payments to doctors who participated in their tests. The US government claims that SDI employees who were in participating physicians’ offices would persuade patients to take part in a sleep study. As the cardiac diagnostic companies doing business with SDI would claim to complete a report of the results of the sleep studies, SDI staff would put fake stamps bearing the signatures of physicians reports. SDI would then recommend that a patient should take part in further studies, in which the patient’s health insurer would pay for them. The affidavit revealed cases of suspected tax fraud. At the end of a 2 year investigation led by the Internal Revenue Service with the active participation of 4 other federal and state agencies, investigators concluded that SDI F uture Health, Inc. had committed Medicare fraud. Based on the results gotten from the investigation, IRS Special Agent Julie Raftery sought for a warrant to search SDIs premises on January 28, 2002. The warrant was based on an affidavit which had information collected from 3 former employees and 2 associates of SDI.  Whether the warrant incorporated Special Agent Rafterys affidavit can be evaluated to check if it meets [the Fourth Amendments] requirements. If incorporated, then the affidavit should be evaluated to see if it satisfies deficiencies in the warrant. The SDI defendants also purportedly forced patients to make visits to SDI clinics, and told them that their assigned doctors had asked them to participate in the sleep studies. The US government states that Kaplan and Brunk lack a base to challenge the search and collection of materials from SDI’s premises. According to the government, a corporate defendant has standing with respect to searches of corporate property and

GPS Road Navigation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

GPS Road Navigation - Essay Example Like the Internet, it was developed by the government and was once used exclusively for military purposes only. However, its benefits had been used and made available for civilian uses and everybody had made extensive use of it these days. It is simply incredible how a proven technology can make the quantum jump from being purely military to civilian applications; today, GPS has widespread uses (McNamara 2008, p 122). I am interested in the GPS because of its extensive use of electronics and this is one of majors I will be taking up next year in my college studies. The sheer complexity of the GPS is what intrigues me and this paper is an attempt to gain further knowledge and understanding in how this magnificent technology works and the many applications in which it is used today. In essence, the global positioning system is a US-government endeavour costing it $12 billion originally to provide its military with a precise form of worldwide positioning (Trimble 2010). This space-based radio-navigation system provides accurate positioning in three-dimensional location and works in all weather conditions. The best part is that it is free (USA.gov 2010). The global positioning system has found widespread applications in all aspects of life. This means it is used in a variety of civilian uses such as in work related to farming, geology, civilian commercial aircraft, land transportation, banking services, cellular phone technology and even in the provision of emergency life-saving services. The original purpose of GPS was to provide accurate information regarding ones exact location on the high seas where there are no landmarks to provide and guide mariners on where they are and where they are going. Ancient mariners employed other methods to reckon their positions such as using the stars but this crude method only works at night and assuming weather is fine with good

Laird Plc a Public Owned British Multinational Company Essay

Laird Plc a Public Owned British Multinational Company - Essay Example The solutions to protect the electronic devices of the users from any potential harmful Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and also safeguard from the heat that is generated during the operation of the device (Laird, 2014a; Laird, 2014d). The company leads in developing, designing and delivering innovative technologies that ensure organizations, applications, and people to stay connected effectively. Laird owns two divisions: Wireless Systems and Performance Materials. The products of Performance Material are distributed to wide markets that include Information Technology and telecom, smartphones, transportation and medical (Laird, 2014c). In this report, the international operation of the company along with competitiveness is examined by performing market and financial analysis. However, the risk associated with the company operations are also studied in order to understand the manner it combats against exchange rate, country, and political risks. The following figure highlights the financial performance of the two main divisions of Laird Plc. The financial performance is evaluated based on the revenue of the divisions over the period 2010- 2013. From the figure, it can be stated that the majority of the revenue during the four years in Laird Plc is generated from Performance Materials. This division accounts for more than half of total revenue that is incurred by the group as a whole. It is observed that the revenue from Performance material division has increased over the years due to the increase in demand for thermal management solutions, shielding materials for electromagnetic interference (EMI) and signal integrity products (SIP) (Laird, 2014c). Despite the growing revenue, the company is encountering challenge because of the highly integrated circuits related to thinner and smaller devices, which are becoming more innovative so as to protect the package devices (Laird, 2014c).

Illustrating your answer in reference to Chocolat (1988) and secondary Essay

Illustrating your answer in reference to Chocolat (1988) and secondary reading, answer the following question. Give reasons for - Essay Example The substance of this prose will examine the role of the non-mainstream media in dealing with these issues in the light of Claire Denis’ movie titled Chocolat. Chocolat provides an interesting insight into the dynamics of race and colonialism. It is set in the remote region of Cameroon and tells the story from the perspective of a European child, whose father is the colonial administrator. The story is slow paced and has no real elements of a commercial film. There is hardly any exchange of dialogues between the characters and most of the actions and events in the story are left open-ended for the viewers to interpret. The narrator’s mother and her servant weave the main conflict of the story; the latter being a well-built Cameroonian with integrity and moral fibre that goes unnoticed because of his race, while the former is a lonely housewife. The movie incorporates visual elements that seek to explain the West’s sexual fascination with the inhabitants of their colonized territories; the African people in this case. It is understandable that the African culture is indeed exotic, but it is not just a sexual preference but depicts a greater need to dominate the people that they now own. The Africans were just seen as slaves but the attitude of their colonizers continues to mould their perception of contemporary Europeans and the non-Mainstream media often shows a glimpse of it from time to time. I. Claire Denis’ Chocolat (1988) The movie is set against the backdrop of French colonialism of the West African region. The plot is propelled forward through the flashbacks of a woman named France travelling around the outskirts of Cameroon, who manages to get a lift from an African American man passing by. While on the road, she is flooded with the memories of her childhood and reminisces about the time when her father was the Colonial Administrator of Cameroon, which forms the subsequent parts of the story. The entire story is told from the perspective of young France, who is befriended by their handsome African servant, Protee. France has a beautiful companionship with the houseboy, but unbeknownst to her, her young, attractive mother harbours romantic feelings for Protee, which are hinted to be mutual and serves as the prime complication in the story. Her desire for Protee is further escalated by the fact that her husband, France’s father is scarcely present around the house. The house is set in a remote locale, in order to fully focus on the emotional development of a handful of characters. The sexual tension between Aimee and Protee is a fundamental theme throughout the story, because Aimee cultivated such desires for a man who was not anywhere close to her race. She was the colonist, whereas Protee was the slave; in the eyes of the society, any kind of courtship or romance was completely out of question and was tabooed by the then-society. The African slaves were reduced to a status of a sub-human form and were denied privacy, whilst their Colonial Lords had every single ounce of that luxury. Protee often bathed in the open, while he was being silently watched by Aimee. It is ostensible that Aimee developed her sexual desires for him because of these minor occurrences and the absence of her husband led to the mounting of her sexual frustration. Even when

OLS final exam Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

OLS final exam - Term Paper Example In addition, these labor management relations of today are quite different from the ones used 50 years ago. Besides, there are also some important legislative issues and laws that govern these labor relations in the U.S (Lewin, Keefe & Kochan, 2012). Therefore, this paper will discuss and analyze some of the labor relations in the U.S in contemporary society as compared to those that were administered in 50 years ago (Kuang & Moser, 2011). Again, the paper will address some of the legislative issues and laws that govern labor relations in the U.S. Furthermore, the paper will discuss the causes of declining union membership in U.S and the reasons that have led to decline in union membership (Flanagan, 2005). Lastly, the paper will address contract negotiation process and give important facts about contract negotiation process (Summary of the Major Laws of the Department of Labor, 2012). Labor Relations To begin with, a comparison research about the current labor relations and the past labor relation show that, current labor relations are more organized and more beneficial to most people in the U.S. This is because today there are many provisions in the law and legislative structure on issues dealing with labor relations such as Wages and Hours labor management laws that provide standard limits for wages given to the employees and the set of standard limits of hours that an employee should work. In the past 50 years, these laws were not there; hence, the current labor relations are far much better than they used to be 50 years ago. In addition, there are labor relations laws such as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act that provides and advocates for retirement benefits to employees such as health care provisions. Besides, today, there are various procedures, policies, and provisions in the laws, that energize labor management in the country. Therefore, it is clear that labor management and relations are far much better today than 50 years ago (Max, 2013). Legislative issues and laws in United States Various legislative issues and laws in the U.S govern labor relation, and are applicable to all workers, employees, businesses, and even contractors. First, one important law is about wages and hours that outline the standard limits for wages and hours of working, which apply to both private and public employment relations. This law requires that employers should cover employees’ pay for those who work overtime and normal hours, and for overtime work, the payment should be one and a half of the normal regular rates of payment. Again, the law states that in the non-agricultural jobs, children under the age of 16 can only work on the less dangerous jobs while children can only work or are employed during school holidays, as the law does not allow school-going children under the age of 16 to be employed when they are supposed to be in school. In addition, the law provides standard conditions and procedures under which immigrants in t he U.S can work, and states that they can only work under some immigrant and nonimmigrant visa policies and programs (Summary of the Major Laws of the Department of Labor, 2012). Secondly, the Occupational Safety and Health Act provides work place and health regulations in the workplace by stating that employees in both private and

Religious Freedom and Human Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Religious Freedom and Human Rights - Essay Example e of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which guarantees and protects fundamental human freedoms, there are a lot of cases of their brutal violation. According to the International Religious Freedom Report for 2013, around 400 Shiite and 80 Christians were murdered during the attack of sectarians in Pakistan and are exposed to serious danger in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Different religious minorities, including Hindus, are subjected to oppression and physical abuse in Bangladesh due to political instability in the country. Buddhist groups demolished churches and mosques in Shri Lanka. Falun Gong followers and Catholic clergymen were incarcerated and tormented in China (â€Å"International Religious Freedom Report,† 2013, p. 2). So, several questions arise: do people really have the freedom of faith and where lies the difference between religious liberty and religious extremism? The purpose of the paper is to define the concept of â€Å"religious freedom†. Further, it will analyze the impact of this notion on human rights. Also, it will evaluate the importance of religious freedom for the functioning of international system. Though it is popularly believed that religious freedom originated in Western culture, there is persuasive evidence indicating that this concept came from ancient Persia, Sumeria, Africa and China. In conformity with Persian Documentation and Hebrew Scriptures, around 2,600 years ago Cyrus the Great implemented the policy of adopting tolerant attitude towards people of different religions. This regime restored Jewish outcast’s right of returning to their fatherland. Other holy texts pointed out that there must not be any coercion in religious beliefs (Hertzke, 2012, p. 109). Freedom of religion is universally acknowledged to be one of the fundamental human rights. It is stated in different declarations of the United Nations Organization, international agreements and national legislation. Article 18 of the

International Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words - 1

International Economics - Essay Example In the case of a country’s competitiveness, it is directly associated with its economic activities and complex international trade condition (Wong & Grinols 1995).It is therefore clear that countries with substantial economic activities and potential earnings are viewed to be competitive enough to play their part in the worldwide economy. In the same way, those countries with poor economic performances are most likely known or called for their incapacity to compete in the world’s economic activities. This is eventually true when one has to try to take a look at the right measures used in economic performances. Adam Smith and David Ricardo and other economists come to agree that the competitive advantage of a certain location may be due to its local availability of resources for production purposes (Sachs & Warner 2001). However, it is not all the time that those countries with enough supply of resources may stand competitive over the other. In the same way, a country with arable lands does not necessarily mean economic competitiveness in its part. Most likely, the availability of enough manpower does not automatically mean a competitive advantage. If factor of international trade and factor input mobility are not considered, a certain region or country with larger resources can be capable of producing goods and services compared to other market or economy (Easterly & Levine 2003). In this paper the proponent elaborately discusses the extent to which factor availability is no longer an effective explanation of the competitiveness of regions or countries. There are other important factors t hat need to be elaborately discussed in order to understand further the true nature of competitiveness of a country. Some other countries have become so intensively competitive due to their political control or power in the world wide economy. There are other environmental issues that need to be considered and in the end it is important to create a link of them to the

Ethics and Social Responsibility Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics and Social Responsibility - Case Study Example Whereas a typical retail outlet occupies a floor plan of over 4500 square feet, Nau is able to squeeze its product offerings into a minimal 2700 square feet; sometimes even less if one considers the kiosks (to be discussed next) as stores (DesMarteau, 2007). Furthermore, the firm has also allocated 5% of all proceeds to be donated to charities that work to save and protect the environment. The firm refers to this practice as â€Å"aggressive altruism† and notes that most other firms consider 1% donated to charities to be the â€Å"gold standard† (Salkever, 2008). Although this serves to effect a higher price for the customers, it is doubtless that Nau has performed extensive market research and has determined that the target demographic it is appealing to finds this â€Å"aggressive altruism† to be a unique and endearing concept of how the firm does business. Additionally Nau has employed the use of internet kiosks in which customers can try on an array of different clothing and then purchase it from a self serve internet enabled kiosk. This serves to drastically reduce necessary floor space as well as reduce the costs associated with having employees attending to the needs of each and every customer (O’Connell, 2007). However, this practice is not without its unique drawbacks as will be analyzed in the preceding paragraph. It should be noted that although this has the benefit of providing the product to the customer at a lower cost and at a lower environmental impact, the tangential affect of this is that fewer jobs are available to the local economy. Therefore the increased profitability is not injected back into the community as with other similar retailers. Instead, this extra money that is saved on the general lack of store employees most likely finds its way into an increased bottom line for the firm. Although this may seem to be an unimportant

The origin of the third world plight Essay Example for Free

The origin of the third world plight Essay Thesis The Third world countries have continued to witness some of the most challenging times in their quest for real development that would catapult their economies to march those ones of the first worlds. However these countries have been bedeviled by major obstacles of bad governance, corruption, and exploitation by the first world countries. Of great concern has been the contribution of major world bodies that have continued to impoverish these economies in the name of supporting them. The World Bank stands out as one of the culprits. Introduction Many times is when some people do not understand what is meant by the term ‘third world plight’. This in terms means, they are those countries that still are developing. The third world countries are greatly in substantial indebt ness according to statistics. More than 50% of the people living in third world countries are living below the poverty line: this is below a dollar a day. It is reckoning, how this is happening, but the World Bank has attributed all this. In 1986 –1987, the World Bank’s president Barber Conable said that the World Bank had been a great success, yet it only oppresses the governments in the third world countries. In 1962, Robert McNamara who was the bank’s president led it to achieve higher loans levels and by the time he was resigning in 1981, the levels had increased from $883 million to over $12 billion. (James Bovard) McNamara and the World Bank supported Nyerere’s dictatorial regime and the bank gave more aid to Tanzania hence the cause of the current misery of the Tanzanian people. This kind of act by the World Bank was wanting, as it only devastated the third world countries. In late 1970’s, the World Bank also financed the Vietnamese’s government thus encouraging their brutal policies that brought about a lot of deaths of the boat people in the south sea. The bank was to finance an irrigation project that was risky, as it would be subjected to rebellion among the farmers. Farmers who resisted the project ended up being drowned in the sea. (James Bovard) The World Bank lent $600million to the Indonesian government to forcibly remove people from Java Island and resettle them in the barren islands. It was due to this transmigration, that violence erupted in Indonesia, leading to the deaths of thousands of people. Despite this fact, the bank termed this as the â€Å"largest voluntary migration.† This was clarion of the banks hypocrisy as it violated human’s rights. The bank provided capital to the Ethiopian Marxist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam. (James Bovard)   In 1984 – 1985, Ethiopia was struck by famine and this forced the government to forcibly deport people in northern Ethiopia to the south. It is believed that more deaths occurred as would have been caused by the famine. The government introduced the villagilization program but many people still rebelled against it and were killed. Despite of all this happenings, the bank still continued to lend money, as it was not concerned with the citizens but seemed to provide more help to the bureaucrats and politicians. (James Bovard) The World bank is highly to blame on the poverty in the third world countries as it uses to pressure to this countries to lend more money than which is borrowed. The audit of Madagascar Morondava Irrigation and Rural Development Project is a good example, where by the new government was pressured by the bank to accept the project so as to be submitted to the executive directors. It is evident that the World Bank gave wrong advice to the third world countries and it’s clearly brought in Western Africa in the project of promoting cocoa and coffee. This simply failed because the bank had encouraged the farmers to grow cash crops in unsuitable soils. (Barbara G 18) The world bank in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s aim, was to lend money in order to boost food production in Africa and other developing countries but this did not happen as almost 20% of the food production had fallen because much of the bank’s investments went to big irrigation schemes and state farms thus wastage of money. It is due to the bank’s poor investments that dragged down the entire economies of the third world countries. (Peter T. Bauer 21) In 1980, the world began Structural Adjustment Loans programs that encouraged policy reforms. Most of these loans were mainly going to the governments of the third world countries in repaying their debts to the bank or the international momentary fund. In 1984, a statement from a world bank’s official was bizarre, as he said, â€Å"if china is to maintain a reasonable growth rate and manageable debt service payments, it will need to obtain the necessary additional foreigner capital at an average interest rate below the market rate.† This implied that even investments in the third world countries would not be greater than the banks interest hence putting third world countries into deeper poverty’(Peter T. Bauer 23)    Problems faced by the third world countries Malnutrition- a good example is in Kenya whereby a bank report found severe malnutrition widespread among the beneficiaries. Barbara Gunnell concluded ‘the real loser is the Kenyan government, or future generations of Kenyans who will go on paying the World Bank interest on the loan.’ This was due to the fact that the bank had invested $20 million in Bura irrigation but when the then president Daniel Moi toured Bura he found ‘eroded irrigation canals, abandoned plots, poor crops, tumbledown and unsanitary housing, zebra grazing on irrigated land and on air of decay’(Peter T. Bauer 23) Diseases -a lot of diseases have become wide spread in these third world countries and they include; The AIDS pandemic, malaria, cholera among others. Poor infrastructure- poor insfrastructure has become a major threat to these countries as many accidents occur though roads that are constructed well but the cost of maintenance is quite high hence they become dilapidated. (Peter T. Bauer 24) Desertification- an example is in Botswana whereby two livestock projects that were to promote cattle rising resulted to overgrazing. The bank further introduced a third livestock project despite the fact that it led to overgrazing. (Peter T. Bauer 26) Displacement- the bank is spending about half a billion dollars in the largest westwards-flowing river in India to dam it. This was proved that it would end up displacing thousands of people and destroying a lot of land but the World Bank went ahead with its plan. Insecurity- the third world countries have been faced with high rate of insecurity as foreign direct investments have been directed to other regions hence of no benefits to these countries as high crime rates still continues. (Peter T. Bauer 33) Poverty – many people in the third world countries are living below the poverty line due to the indebt ness that they have to their donors, international momentary fund and the World Bank. (Peter T. Bauer 34) Conclusion It is evident that though the World Bank has helped these countries, it is majorly to blame for dragging their economies. For all countries in the world to be at par, it only would be best to cancel of, the debt of the so-called third world countries. The bank ought to encourage reductions in lending capital to enable these countries economies to grow. It could also not lend capital that will be of bad use, as this only benefits politicians of these countries and continues to deteriorate their economies. Works Cited Barbara Gunnell, The Great Bura Irrigation Scheme Disaster, African Business (April  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1986): 18. James Bovard: The World Bank vs. the World Poor: Policy Analysis: Retrieved on 13th May 2008 from http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa092.html Peter T. Bauer: Equality. The Third World. And Economic Delusion: Cambridge, Harvard  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   University Press, 1981 p. 21.

Causes of Construction Site Accidents

Causes of Construction Site Accidents The construction industry is not only known as an industry which is developing rapidly but it is known for its highly dangerous activities as well. In Malaysia, hazardous works on construction sites that cause accidents are taken as a crucial matter. Every single year, construction workers are among the people who are always to get caught in accidents. This serious problem has caused them to involve in fatal injuries and some of them also have been killed. In the past few years, the construction industry has gained a lot of profits by buildings that have been constructed using latest advanced technologies, but somehow the safety measures on site still being neglected. Despite of delays of the construction progress and difficulties in repairing of works and machineries that cost lots of money to be spent, but of these are incomparable to the loss of the human life. The implementation of a proper and effective health and safety policy on construction site is very essential for a builder. The hazards must be clearly understood by all the personnel working on site especially those who hold a high position in a project. Proper commitment and attention by every personnel can help in reducing hazards and accidents in the working environment other than knowing their own responsibilities on site. Every party in the construction industry also should put safety measures as their main priority during the preliminary stage until the completion of a work or construction project. The construction industry is often portrayed with negative images such as dirty, dangerous and difficult or commonly known as the 3D. Whenever a construction related matter is being discussed, people will have these thoughts embedded in their minds. This will make people feel uninterested to be involved or working in the construction field and finally resulting in lack of workforce in this industry. Thus, the safety measures on site need to be improved in order to eliminate this mindset and to achieve a safer working environment. Each party also needs to make drastic actions in ensuring an effective safety and health measures are being practiced on site to preserve the good image of the construction industry in the future. 1.2 Problem Statement The standard of safety measures in construction industry in Malaysia has lagged behind if compared to any other industries. This scenario makes it hard to achieve zero accidents and developing a safety culture among the personnel working on construction site. In the real construction practice, it was found that the safety program implementation by majority of construction companies were only at the early stage. This clearly shows that these companies do not have a safety program driven by a safety culture (Abd Hamid Abd Majid, 2006) Although a lot of contribution to the national economy comes from construction industry, the number of accidents, incidents, injuries and fatalities are still reaching a higher rate (Hinze, 1997). For some employers or clients, the implementation of safety management system is often believed to cost more in a project and they make it as a less concentrated matter on construction site. This is why safety records are often being focused because of its unsatisfactory performance due to safety being neglected and has not been taken systematically. Safety aspects are considered very crucial especially in a construction project but unfortunately there are still many employers do not feel that it is one of the keys to the success of companies. It is also known that the nature of the construction industry requires physical demand and harsh works, make it an industry with higher risk of injury other than the lack of awareness on the responsibilities of each parties involve in a project to mai ntain the safety performance. Hence, the implementation of safety measure should not be taken lightly as it is an important element in keeping the construction site a better and safer place to work. In order to decrease the jobsite risk and improve safety measures, this research will be carried out to identify the common causes of accidents that contributing to the high rate of accidents on construction and to emphasize on the roles and responsibilities of parties involved in this industry. Research Aim and Objectives 1.3.1 Aim The aim of this research is to know the significance of practicing and applying safety measures so that it can create awareness to the people who are working in the construction industry especially the management on how safety plays an important role in reducing accidents on site. 1.3.2 Objectives The three objectives are to be achieved in this research are listed as below: To study the various causes of accidents that occurred on construction site This objective is to find out the causes of this problem so that it can be solved from the root more easily and efficiently. To assess what are the roles and responsibilities of each parties in construction industry on improving the standard of safety on site and how they can reduce the number of accidents This objective is to know the relationship between their roles and responsibilities with safety performance and how it ensures the site safety is implemented. To find the ways to improve the site safety practice involved in the construction site in Klang Valley. This objective is generate ideas, ways and methods to improve the safety measures on site 1.4 Scope and Limitation of Study This research will only focus on the construction sites based around Klang Valley. Areas of study are limited to identifying the causes of accidents on construction site like unsafe equipment and machineries, job site conditions, human factor and others. Besides that, a study on the roles and responsibilities of various parties involved in the construction industry will also be done. The parties to be included in this study are from the paymaster of a project or the employer and up to the professional bodies of this industry such as Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). 1.5 Research Methodology In order to gain data for this research, various methods to extract necessary information regarding safety and health measures in the construction industry will be done. The information gathered is used to assist in the understanding of the causes that lead to the effectuation of accidents on construction site and the roles and responsibilities of various parties in the construction industry. The methods that will be used for this research are surveys, literature review and analyzing the information. Stage 1: Topic selection In this stage, the first matter that needs to be done is to identify problems occurring in this industry. Problem which is popular and most frequently arise will be chosen as the research topic. Then, literature review based on the topic selected is carried out by getting information from the previous research done by other people. Stage 2: Study proposal During the second stage, determining the aim and objectives of this research is important. It allows the research to achieve the target so that the main problem can be solved and eliminated. Besides that, the scope of the study is also specified to let the readers know the area of study that will be covered and not to be covered in this research. Stage 3: Data gathering and processing Primary Data In order to get practical information that can contribute to this research, surveys will be conducted. Survey questionnaires will be distributed to personnel working on site such as project manager, safety officer, site supervisor and others to get valuable insight into the risk and hazards involved on construction site. A practical view from them is of utmost importance to obtain information which is not available in books. This is also an opportunity to interact with the people involved in the construction field. The information that need to be obtain in the survey are like the causes of accident to happen in the construction site, what accident cases are often being reported and the role and responsibility of each parties to improve the site safety in construction. Secondary Data Secondary data can be obtained by finding sources and information in a library. Some of the libraries that will be the place to conduct this method are the library in Tunku Abdul Rahman College and the public library. The sources that will be used in the library are articles, textbooks, journals and magazines. The authors name, year of publication, title, place of publication and publisher of the book will be indicated in the research for referencing purpose. Internet is also one of the best sources to get information about safety on construction site. Relevant materials and information can be easily obtained in the internet because the application is wide and unlimited. Information such as statistics of accidents occurred on site and latest news on the construction safety and health issues also may be obtained from internet searching. Chapter II CAUSES OF CONSTRUCTION SITE ACCIDENTS 2.1 Introduction On the construction site, workers are exposed to hazardous works and dealing with such works everyday is something common for them. Safety First is a very popular phrase that can be found on most construction site but it does not being put under first priority as it is stated in signboards and posters. There is no wonder why the accident rates on construction sites are getting higher each year. Statistics also have proven that the number of deaths caused by accidents in construction industry has surpassed all other industry. The chart below shows the number of victims involved in death cases that have been investigated by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) up until December 2010. In this chapter, identifying the various causes of accidents will be the primary objective as it helps in generating ideas in improving safety measures on site. 2.2 Definitions 2.2.1 Accident Accident can be defined as an unplanned, uncontrolled event which has led to or could have led to injury to people, damage to plant, machinery or the environment and/or some other loss. The controlling of work situation by providing safe conditions and insisting on the use of safe working method and procedures is the way of accident prevention. 2.2.2 Hazard Hazard is a source, situation or occurrence in the workplace that has the potential to harm the health and safety of people or to damage plant and equipment. The situation could involve a task, chemical or equipment used. 2.2.3 Safety Safety can be defined as the quality of being safe and the freedom from danger or risk where people are protected against physical, occupational or other types of harm, error, failure, accidents or any event which is non-desirable. The controlling of hazards to achieve an acceptable level of risk also can be the definition of safety. 2.3 Unsafe Acts and Conditions 2.3.1 Unsafe Acts Usually, accidents at work occur either due to unsafe acts and unsafe conditions. There is no general agreement on the definition of an unsafe act. However, it has been defined in similar focus on unaccepted practices which have the potential of producing future accidents and injuries. Other definition of unsafe act that given by previous researcher is unsafe act is an action deviates from generally recognised safe way of doing a job and increases the chance of an accident (Stranks, 2000). Unsafe acts can be classified into two types either as errors or violations (Reason, 1990). According to most accident reports, the errors are to be found as a major contributor to accidents. Meanwhile, violations are less common. There are two conditions where unsafe acts may occur. Firstly, workers do not know while they are acting unsafely. Secondly, they know while they are acting unsafely. For the first situation, the problem can be easily solved by providing safety training to the worker, supervise them closely, providing good work system design, etc. The reasons for the workers to act unsafely for the second case is more complex because it could be due to various factors like personality of the workers, influence by coworkers, the extent of managerial support and the nature of the job being undertaken. Although workers are fully aware that they are working unsafely, they still want to carry on with such unsafe acts. There are various acts that are considered unsafe. Those acts are: Working without authority on the job can cause accidents since unauthorized workers may lack of skills and unfamiliar with the job process. Failure to secure coworkers or to warn about the danger is an unsafe act because many accidents occur while workers are paying less attention to warn and secure coworkers who are exposed to accidents occurrence when working. Working at improper speeds, exceeding the prescribed speed limits or unsafe speed actions could cause accidents. Not placing and stacking the materials properly in dangerous locations will cause unpredicted accidents to happen. The usage of tools and equipment, hand tools, power tools and machinery which is done inaccurately may result in accidents. Executing work by using defective equipment and tools. Refusing to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) will increase the probability of getting injured. Smoking which creates sparks in areas where flammable materials are stored could cause explosions. Throwing or accidentally dropping objects from high levels could expose other workers being struck by the object and cause head injury. Improper posture for tasks like workers making shortcuts by climbing or jumping from high levels instead of using ladders. Servicing equipment which is under operation. 2.3.2 Unsafe Conditions An unsafe condition is a condition in which the physical layout of the workplace or work location, the status of tools, equipment and material violate the safety standards. Some examples of unsafe conditions include open sided floors, defective ladders, improperly constructed scaffolds, protruding ends of reinforcing rods, protruding nails and wire ties, defective equipment, ungrounded electrical tools and many others. In most accidents occurred on construction site, unsafe conditions are the main cause contributing to an accident. It is distinguished that that unsafe conditions are divided into two types according to when they occurred during the sequence of work and who caused them to exist and develop (Abdelhamid Everett, 2000). The unsafe condition may exist in different situations which are before an activity is started and another one is develop after an activity is started. The occurrence of these two types of unsafe conditions is due to some other causes like actions and inactions by the Management Team and worker or coworker unsafe acts. 2.3.2.1 Actions and Inactions by Management Team Among the example of Management Team actions and inactions that lead to unsafe condition on site are they fail to provide proper and adequate personal protective equipment to the workers, fail to maintain or safeguard tools and equipment, violating the workplace standards such as ignoring slippery floors that can cause someone to fall, insufficient ventilation leaving the workers to choke, poor housekeeping and others. Workers are also sometimes requested to perform tasks that exceed the human capabilities or violate the human factors, ergonomics and the principles of industrial hygiene. This request which made unintentionally by the Management Team will expose the worker to unsafe condition of the site and eventually leads to injuries and illness. 2.3.2.2 Coworker Unsafe Act Inexperienced worker or coworker in working on the site will tend to act unsafe when handling a task which may lead to unsafe conditions for other workers. Unsafe condition will exist when these inexperienced workers doing their job recklessly like removing machine safeguards, working while intoxicated where they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, working with less concentration due to insufficient sleep, neglecting the housekeeping rules, executing works where they do not have the authorization to do so, etc. 2.3.2.3 Site Layout Poor site layout in construction site is also contributing to the unsafe condition factor. It was reported that insufficient working space was a problem in a number of accident studies (Hide et al., 2003). Sometimes, the commencement of the build prior to the completion of demolition is blocking the space allocation on site resulting in number of reorganizations of site layout to fulfill the changing of the build plan. Other than that, space constraints can restrict the allocation of floor area for workshop placement, footpaths, storage, parking provision and adequacy of space transport routes. This will cause constriction to the room for vehicle to access the drop-off points and effect on the traffic flow on site and interrupt the ease of receiving deliveries where it leads to a subsequent need for double handling materials. It also will make the routes to become narrow and may cause accidents where vehicles can overturn and hit the workers in the surrounding area. 2.3.2.4 Ground Conditions Ground conditions are one of the risk factor for accidents. The common problem that is always found is raised structures on the walking surface that can create trip hazards. Some examples of trip hazards are electrical cables, ply board used as a temporary manhole cover and raised setting out points. It is hard for the workers to be aware of these hazards because most of the time they were coloured black, grey or brown instead of being marked or coloured. 2.3.2.5 Poor Housekeeping Good housekeeping is upmost the important thing to be considered to ensure the site is safe. Unfortunately, many sites found these days did not put housekeeping into their priority. Everyone on the site must do their part to ensure that the site is clean and orderly. Although, there are workers that felt that clearing up the site is the responsibility of other people who had created the mess or up to the Contractor to undertake it. This situation will make good housekeeping hard to achieve. As we know, the most common types of injuries that occur on site are slips, trips and falls which are also contributed by poor housekeeping. Accidents happened due to unorganized material will result in workers suffer cuts from materials and materials fall down striking workers head resulting in head injury. 2.4 Accidents by Equipments and Machineries On construction site, workers are required to use different types of equipments and machineries to ease the work that need to be done. By using these equipments every day, workers tend to put themselves at great risk for injury when they are using construction equipments. The equipments also can be defective and will cause the person using them or another person on site to be injured or killed. The defective equipments and machineries are required to be immediately tagged to indicate that they are damaged and remove from the construction area. However, the tags will sometimes come off and workers will not usually stop to walk away from their working area. Finally, someone may pick up and use back the defective equipments or machineries that make them involved in accidents. 2.4.1 Scaffolding The usage of scaffolding is essential in a construction project to get workers to a higher level of the building structure when they are executing a work. As much as it is useful to workers, it is also very dangerous and hazardous. Statistics reported that 28% of the accidents involving scaffold are caused by construction deficiencies. Among the deficiencies happened are because of the usage of substandard components, omitting essential components and failure to complete the assembly of scaffold. (OSHA, 2003). The people who are exposed to the scaffolding hazards are the ones who erecting the scaffold themselves, the workers that are going to use it when doing works and the general public near the scaffold. Scaffolding accidents usually will involve either people falling, incorrect operating procedures, environmental conditions, the scaffold collapse and/or people being struck by falling objects from the scaffold itself (Berry, 2011). There will be objects that fall to the ground because workers who work using scaffold will bring along some of equipment together with them such as paint and other related supplies, tools like hammers, screwdriver and also widow cleaning equipment. When there is a worker on the scaffold, it will not only cause harm to that worker but also to those who are on the ground with serious injury by getting hit by the scaffolding or other falling objects. Scaffoldings are usually kept outside which exposed to the environment. This can cause the scaffoldings to deteriorate. Scaffolds are often being reported to be in good condition by inspection and maintenance before they collapsed. This is because it is hard to detect corrosion of the internal surface of tubular scaffolds. Other causes of accidents of scaffoldings are: Unsecure scaffolding Poor or careless construction Use of poor quality of damaged material Missing or malfunctioning brakes Missing or malfunctioning fall safety systems Lack of or poorly conducted safety inspections 2.4.2 Crane The usage of crane is one of the major causes of fatalities during constructing a building and accidents often happen when lifting operation is executed. The occurrence of fatalities during crane operation still continue to increase although ongoing research and recommendations to reduce this problem have been done for the past several decades (Beavers et al., 2006). The most common types of crane accidents involve the crane coming into contact with electrical power lines. Overhead electrical power lines present a serious electrocution hazard to workers on site. The most common means of electric power transmission and distribution is the overhead line which normally made of uninsulated conductors supported on tower or poles. It is likely to come in contact with a crane because it is placed in a high position. When a crane is contacting with energized overhead line, it becomes elevated to a high voltage that can cause harm to the crane operator (Sacks et al., 1998). Severe injury or death from electrocution is the risks that need to be faced by the operator and anyone standing nearby if this catastrophe happens. The crane rigger also can contribute to an accident. Workers or bystanders are exposed to rigging crane accidents when the material connected to the load block or headache ball fall onto them. Besides that, heavy loads that exceed the limitations and stability of a crane will result in structural failure, causing the crane to tip and collapse over the operator and other workers below it. 2.4.3 Excavator The massive size, weight and power of an excavator will place an operator or workers at high risk of serious injury when there is an accident happens caused by excavator. The most common accident caused by excavator will involve quick-hitch. A quick-hitch is device used to make connection and removal of attachment such as buckets and rock breakers of the excavator. The risk arise from the quick-hitch is the disconnection of the attachment resulting works to be loose and falls from the excavator (Edwards, 2007). This incident can cause crucial injury or even worst, death, if the attachment such as heavy buckets are detached and fall onto the workers nearby. Other causes of quick-hitch accidents that involve unintentional release of the attachment are: the failure to engage the quick-hitch properly due to carelessness failure to use any secondary locking device poor maintenance of locking mechanism attachment being overloaded. Even though the cause of an accident can be obvious at first, there are also some root causes of excavator accidents that need to be identify such as: lack or inadequate training given to the operator inadequate supervision by supervisors during excavation works are executed poorly trained ground workers workers encroach the excavator operating area while it is working 2.5 Poor Management System It is necessary to have a good management system in a construction project as it can generate an organizational setting in which workers will be trained and motivated to perform safe and productive construction work. Unfortunately, many management systems fail to be responsible in creating outline procedures to identify and eliminate hazards and eventually letting personnel involve in undesired accidents. 2.5.1 Poor Safety Policy Nowadays, it is common to see Site Management not establishing an effective safety policy. Safety policy is important in a construction company stress on the principles and goals to show the companys commitment to workplace health and safety (CSAO, 1993). Less awareness on the importance of having safety policy is why there are big numbers of management did not implement it. When there is no effective safety policy made by the management, personnel on site tend to execute their work in a dangerous way because they do not have a proper guideline in safe working methods which may lead them to be exposed to risks and hazards in the construction site environment. By not having a safety policy, accidents that occurred will not only harm the personnel, but it will make the company bare a high financial risk. This situation is likely to happen because the management fails to provide support for safety programmes where it is considered as a need since an accident were proved to be costly. A better safety performance is also hard to achieve because management system does not have the responsibility to provide a safe work site for all personnel because the key in achieving that is to have viability and participation by the management (Sawacha et al, 1999). 2.5.2 Poor Organising Among all of the functions safety management, the most important one is to designate individual with responsibilities so that the construction safety programme and plan can be implemented successfully. Without having a well planned organisation, the management will find it hard to execute monitoring on policy implementation, to determine the roles of safety committees and safety representative, and to portray health and safety responsibilities in every individual job descriptions. The unsatisfied involvement and commitment by both management and workers also makes the safety policy to be less effective (Holt, 2001). Undertaking fault and correcting action being taken can hardly be done causing less improvement to the safety performance because the safety representative is also not well-trained due to poor organisation (Sawacha et al., 1999). The safety performance will only be at the same level without any improvement when companies with poor organisation fail in providing effective safety committees where they play a positive role in this matter (Sawacha et al., 1999). 2.6 Other Factors 2.6.1 Personal Factors 2.6.1.1 Laziness Taking shortcuts in doing works that being assigned are done by most workers because they want to avoid extra activities (Hall, 1995). Sometimes, workers feel that it is troublesome for them to choose the right tool during work so it is preferable to them to work with the wrong tools. 2.6.1.2 Past Experience For workers that have been working in a company for a long time and having to perform a similar job, it is hard for them to change or give up the way they do things. This is actually not recommended because the old habit can increase the possibilities of accidents to happen by preventing them from noticing the hazards (Kittleson, 1995). 2.6.1.3 Doing Works in a Hurry Sometimes supervisors want the works to be done as fast as possible which gives pressure to some workers and leading them getting the works complete in a hurry. In order for the workers to save time finishing the works, he or she may abandon the good safety practices (Stice, 1995). 2.6.1.4 Being Angry Angry is sometimes uncontrollable and makes someone not to be caution, leading him or her to be involved in accidents. To identify when someone is angry is by noticing that person is sweating, tremble and grinding the teeth. Anger that cannot be resolved will cause distraction, proneness to accidents, anxiety, rage and violence (Kittleson, 1995). 2.6.1.5 Overconfidence Having confidence is important for every worker and it is a good thing, but overconfidence can bring more harm than good. A person with an attitude of thinking that he or she will never involve in an accident will lead to wrong procedures or methods and cause injury (Hirsch, 1998). 2.6.2 Job Factors 2.6.2.1 Work Overload Workers can develop high stress especially when they are asked to do works more that what they could handle together with the pressure due to deadline. Work overload can be divided into two different forms which are quantitative overload where workers are asked to do more works, and qualitative overload where the workers lack of belief that they do not have the skills to get the work done (Greenberg Baron, 2000) 2.6.2.2 Work Underload Stress can also arise when someone is being asked to do too little work. There are two types of work underload which are quantitative underload where a person feels bored from having little work to do, and qualitative underload where a person is lack of mental stimulation like routines and repetitive jobs (Greenberg Baron, 2000). 2.6.2.3 Time Pressure Workers will get overwhelmed and worry once they felt that they are unable to finish a work before the deadlines (Stranks, 2000). Moreover, when there is a change in the work process and workers are not given sufficient time to complete it, they will easily become stressed.

Methods of Neuropsychological Studies

Methods of Neuropsychological Studies The term ‘syndrome’ denotes the statistical co-occurrence of a cluster of symptoms. However, it is not imperative that all symptoms of a syndrome be present in a given patient. The statistical cluster is supposed to indicate an underlying cause of various symptoms. A major thrust of cognitive neuroscience is the clarification of structure function of relationships in the human brain understanding the relationship between the human brain structure and function is a major focus of cognitive neuroscience. The methods available to achieve this goal have undergone significant changes over the last 15 years; in particular, functional neuroimaging is rapidly replacing neuropsychological studies of people with brain lesions as the central method in this field, over the last several years, functional neuroimaging has risen in prominence relative to the lesion studies that formed the historical core of work in this field. At the outset, it is important to bear in mind that regardless of the specific method used, inferences from impaired performances following brain damage always focus on the same conclusion; which is, an assumption regarding which structures are necessary to perform a given task. The study of cognitive and behavioural consequences of focal brain lesions has been an indispensable method for relating brain structure to function. Lesion studies rely on correlating damaged structure and abnormal function to determine crucial brain regions necessary for normal function. For this purpose it is necessary not only to detect lesions but also to accurately delineate their spatial extent. The lesion method was influential for our understanding of functions as diverse as memory, emotion, hemispheric specialization, language, vision and motor control. For example, recent neuropsychological research has refined our understanding of how emotions are processed, with damage to the amygdala resulting i n difficulty in recognizing whether faces are expressing fear (Adolphs et al., 1995), and damage to the left insula and basal ganglia leading to a selective difficulty in identifying disgust (Calder et al., 2000).Work involving patients with brain damage has also shown that the posterior ventral cortex is involved in recognizing objects, and that the posterior dorsal regions are involved in integrating visual information with goal-directed motor responses e.g. grasping a door handle (Goodale Milner, 1992). Various types of disorders have been described by clinical neurologists and none has been more frequent and vivid than the syndrome of unilateral spatial neglect. Hemispatial neglect is a common disabling condition following unilateral brain damage, particularly of the right hemisphere. Although it can be caused by various different pathological conditions, it is most often observed after cerebral infarction or hemorrhage and affects up to two thirds of right hemisphere of stroke patients acutely (Stone et al., 1991; Bowen et al., 1999). Unilateral neglect is traditionally defined as a failure to report, respond to or orient towards stimuli in contralesional space (Driver Mattingley, 1998; Halligan, Fink, Marshall, Vallar, 2003; Heilman, Watson, Valenstein, 1993). Perhaps a more appropriate description, especially for severe neglect patients, would be to suggest that the patient behaves as if one half – the contralesional side (the left side for patients with right brain da mage) – of their world has simply ceased to exist, they attend instead to items towards the same side as their brain damage—their ipsilesional side. Their neglect may be so profound that they are unaware of large objects, or even people, in extrapersonal space. Neglect may also extend or be confined to personal space, with patients failing to acknowledge their own contralesional body parts in daily life (Bisiach et al., 1986; Zoccolotti Judica, 1991; Beschin Robertson, 1997). The earliest descriptions of unilateral neglect that were able to localize the underlying lesion with any degree of certainty came from cases initially described by Paterson and Zangwill (1944). Identifying the neuroanatomical correlate of spatial neglect in humans is as challenging because human brain lesions vary tremendously in size and the neglect syndrome itself is multifaceted. While the Paterson and Zangwill (1944) case described a patient with a discrete lesion resulting from a penetrating head wound, the more common cause of neglect is a middle cerebral artery stroke causing widespread damage to the lateral cortical surface and underlying white matter that this artery subserves (Duvernoy, 1999). Unilateral spatial neglect has been investigated in a systematic manner, by comparing performances of unselected groups of right and left brain-damaged patients, both of which were asked to perform tasks requiring an adequate exploration of space. However, the results of these studies have been somewhat varied, and there is still disagreement about both qualitative and incidence aspects of unilateral neglect in lateralized cerebral lesions. For example Battersby et al., (1956) found that lesions of the posterior areas of either hemisphere frequently produced unilateral neglect but Hecaen (1962), in his observation series of 59 patients with unilateral spatial neglect found only one case was suffering from a left hemispheric lesion, and emphasized the relationship between unilateral spatial neglect and lesions of the minor hemisphere. Also, Gainotti (1968) attempted to study the same problem by means of a battery of tests simple enough to be administered to all patients; his results s howed that unilateral spatial neglect is not only significantly more frequent, but also definitely more severe in patients suffering from lesions of the right hemisphere. Lesions of the right hemisphere are far more likely to lead to severe and enduring neglect than left hemisphere damage (Bowen et al., 1999; Stone et al., 1992), perhaps because of the specialization of the latter for language. Cortical damage involving the right inferior parietal lobe or nearby temporoparietal junction has classically been implicated in causing neglect (Vallar Perani, 1986). It has become apparent, however, that the syndrome may also follow focal lesions of the inferior frontal lobe (Vallar, 2001; Husain Kennard, 1997), although lesions confined to the frontal lobe may lead to a more transientneglect (Walker, 1998). Recent studies making use of fMRI scans in neglect patients have suggested that the critical region of overlap in a series of neglect patients’ lesions is either in the superior temporal gyrus (Karnath et al., 2001; Karnath et al., 2004) or the temporoparietal junction (Mort et al., 2003). Regarding localization of functions, research has demonstrated the variability (Kertesz, 1979) as well as the extent of the lesions that give rise to particular language disorders. Paul Broca (1861) suggested that lesions in the inferior frontal gyrus, now corresponding to Brodmann’s areas (BA) 44 and 45, were implicated in speech production disorders (Schiller, 1992). However, as advances in technology have made patients’ lesion information easier to obtain (e.g. CT and MRI scans), lesion–symptom relationships derived from the classical models of aphasia have proven to be less predictive than expected. In many instances, left frontal lesions do not result in Broca’s aphasia (Basso, Lecours, Moraschini, Vanier, 1985; Willmes Poeck, 1993). Moreover, fluency problems can be reliably associated to lesions outside of Broca’s area, including underlying white matter tracts and anterior insula (Bates et al., 2003; Damasio, 1992; Dronkers, 1996; Mohr et a l., 1978). Conversely, lesions to Broca’s area can cause deficits in domains other than speech production, indeed even outside of language (Saygin, Wilson, Dronkers, Bates, 2004). Research has shown that a lesion restricted to Broca’s area gives rise to a transient impairment of language production and that the full complement of symptoms associated with Broca’s aphasia (articulation problem coupled with simplified sentence structure—the pattern known as â€Å"agrammatism†) is the result of more extensive damage to the frontal cortex (Mohr et al., 1978). Evidence suggests, moreover, that the articulation problem present in Broca’s aphasia (â€Å"apraxia of speech†) is associated with damage to a portion of the insula, a part of the cerebral cortex that is not visible from the brain’s surface because of the growth of other parts of the frontal lobe (Dronkers, 1996). There are specialized mechanisms for the perception of speech, which consists of brief stimuli that change rapidly in wavelength composition. Isolating input to critical left temporal areas as a result of a left hemisphere lesion, or in some cases lesions in both hemispheres (the lesion on the right deprives the left hemisphere of transcallosal input), results in the disorder known as â€Å"pure word deafness,† in which patients can hear but cannot understand speech; their native tongue, for example, sounds to them like a foreign language. Moreover, these patients have difficulty discriminating between speech sounds (between â€Å"pa† and â€Å"ba,† for example), although they have little or no difficulty producing speech and understanding written language (Saffarn et al., 1976). Virtually all aphasic patients suffer from verbal short-term limitations (as measured, for example, by asking them to repeat digit strings; their performance tends to be well below the n ormal span of about seven.). One particular group with left posterior parietal lesions (Shallice vallar, 1990) suffers from short-term memory limitations but little else, and many of these patients have sentence comprehension deficits similar to those described in Broca’s aphasics (Saffaran Martin. 1990). It is interesting to note that Broca patients also have difficulty with certain grammaticality judgment tasks, in particular, those that entail linking particular word identities (and/or their meanings) to particular locations in the sentence. Thus, they proved to be insensitive to infractions involving reflexive sentences (e.g., â€Å"The woman looked at himself in the mirror†) in which the gender of the pronoun conflicts with that of the noun to which it refers (Linebarger et al., 1983; Linebarger, 1995). This further suggests that the capacity to integrate the various types of information required for the understanding of sentences is limited in these patients. It may also be the case that frontal activation is critical for sentence production. One view of the sentence production deficit in Broca’s aphasics is that it reflects a timing problem in which lexical items are retrieved too slowly to integrate with sentence structure (Kolk, 1995). Lesions that affect anteri or inferior regions of the left temporal lobe are known to result in semantic deficits in which patients have difficulty finding words and understanding them and often exhibit impairments with pictured materials as well (Howard Patterson, 1992).Studying aphasia and its associated lesions in the late 19th century led to many insights about the neural organization of language functions and many of these insights have been confirmed and elaborated in more recent studies using advanced imaging to localize areas of dysfunctional brain tissue associated with particular language deficits or using functional imaging to identify areas of the brain that were activated during a particular language task in normal controls (Wise, 2003; Bookheimer, 2002) or in recovering aphasic Individuals (Price Crinion, 2005). Technological advances in recent years (e.g. functional imaging techniques) have allowed neuroscientists to measure and localize brain activity in healthy individuals. This has fueled the zeitgeist that the lesion method is an inferior and conceivably antiquated technique. Nonetheless, while the lesion method has notable weaknesses, it can be argued that it supplements the newer methods. Additionally, recent developments deals with many of the criticisms of the lesion method. Patients with brain lesions provide a unique window into brain function, and this methodology will fill an important niche in the growing resource of tools that constantly become available to neuroscientists and neuropsychologists for future research. Nevertheless, it is beneficial to consider whether new technologies can be used to optimize the lesion method. Whilst, some of the lesion method’s limitations are intrinsic to the technique, other weakness can be addressed by recent technical innovations. Th e lesion method has much to offer, despite its limitations; new techniques for imaging the brain and analyzing lesion data have the potential to improve the lesion method. Still, the strength and weaknesses of the lesion method and other imaging techniques such as fMRI are complementary, as some brain functions might be difficult to determine using the lesion method alone or functional neuroimaging alone, but can be successfully undertaken with a combination of these techniques (Price Friston, 2002).