Delivering Ethical Health Care

Introduction From the moral and ethical perspectives, the healthcare industry is vital for sustaining lives. Without the presence of adequate structures of health care in any given society, the people in that society are bound to succumb to different ailments. This is to mean that healthcare is the central tenet of the welfare of any society.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Delivering Ethical Health Care specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The level of productivity of a given people is dependent on the state of healthcare in the society in which the people prevail. Therefore, the healthcare industry is paramount in any nation. This means that all the stakeholders in the healthcare industry must pay a lot of attention to the operations in the industry. Operations in the healthcare industry have to be maintained at a level where the healthcare industry attains the potential to save as many lives as possible. However, research has denoted that the healthcare industry is one of the most complex industries in the world. The complexity of the healthcare industry is based on the diversity in the number of healthcare conditions and the healthcare needs for these ailments, the moral dilemmas in the provision of healthcare, the modalities of delivering healthcare by the healthcare personnel, and the disposal of bio-hazards, which are the causative factors for a substantial number of ailments. According to Mitchell (2013), delivery of health care mostly revolves around the relationship between the healthcare provider and the patient. The ability of the healthcare professional to deliver health care services to the patient is, in turn, dictated by a number of factors. Among these factors are the regulatory policies in the healthcare industry in a given country, the physical and mental well being of the physician or nurse, the nature of ailment in question, and the working relationship between the physician and other healthcare providers in the given healthcare institution. These are just but a few of the factors from which the ethical questions arise. Brown (2013) observed that the other critical concern in the healthcare industry is the level at which moral responsibility needs to be exercised by the healthcare professionals and the people who are ailing. The result is one question: How should the healthcare industry prepare to capture all these challenges and maintain a high level of ethical stance?Advertising Looking for research paper on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Lesser consideration of ethics by the stakeholders in the healthcare industry results in higher levels of vulnerability of the ailing and the healthy population in a given society. Responsibility, which is a key step in the pathway to the delivery of ethical healthcare, begins with the effort of all the stakeholders (Brown, 2013). According to Bayer (n.d.), there is a need to embrace collective responsibility. In this sense, the main stakeholders have to engage the entire population for the sake of minimizing cases of diseases in the society. This observation is based on the fact that social and personal values play a critical role in promoting desirable health habits. This, in turn, secures the population from a number of ailments. This paper explores the modalities of delivering ethical healthcare. The paper immensely focuses on the legal, social and ethical perspectives on the delivery of health care. These three aspects are important in the establishment of moral grounds in the delivery of desirable health care services in any given society. All these aspects are explored in relation to the delivery of ethical healthcare in the United Arab Emirates. The paper seeks to answer a number of questions concerning the delivery of ethical healthcare. These are: What nature of a legal framework is critical in the establishment of a desirable environment in the healthcare industry? What are the ethical issues that confront the provision of ethical healthcare and how can they be dealt with by the stakeholders in the healthcare industry? At what level are the different stakeholders in the healthcare industry required to exercise responsibility? Does the healthcare environment in the United Arab Emirates depict success in the provision of ethical healthcare? To what extent has individual responsibility been enhanced in the healthcare industry in the UAE? The paper begins by giving an overview of the ethical stance in the provision of health care services. This is followed by the exploration of the three aspects of ethical healthcare. These aspects are elaborated through a search for the answers to the enlisted questions. Understanding ethics in health care delivery Ethics is a broad subject when it is applied in the healthcare industry. As observed earlier, healthcare services are critical for s ustaining life. Therefore, the quality of health care services is something that ought to be given a lot of attention.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Delivering Ethical Health Care specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, the provision of quality health care depends on not only the setup of infrastructure for the provision of health care, but also ensuring that there is a greater linkage between the society and the health care providers. In this way, it becomes easy to capture the social, legal, ethical, moral, and the psychological parameters that play a vital role in improving the delivery of health care services to the population. The balance between these parameters is often ignored, yet it plays a central role in ensuring that the ultimate goal of health care delivery is attained (Brown, 2013). According to Bà ¦rà ¸e and Norheim (2011), the competence of healthcare services is determined by the set of decisions that are made and implemented by different players in the healthcare industry. The full support of health care entails the consideration of aspects of responsibility from all dimensions in the provision of health care, with the main goal of health care being put at the center. The main goal of healthcare is to ensure that as many lives as possible are prevented from either the acquisition of diseases or succumbing to the ailments. Also, an environment that is highly ethical cannot be attained when there is no sensitivity to the moral considerations among all the stakeholders in the healthcare industry. All stakeholders in the healthcare industry must be ready and willing to read from the same script to strike a balance in roles and responsibilities in the delivery of ethical healthcare to the population. It should be noted here that the population is part of the stakeholders since it is considered to be the target of health care services. According to Guedert and S uely (2011), the delivery of healthcare in the contemporary society is confronted by different factors, among them the resource factor and the demand for desirable attitudes by the professionals in the healthcare industry. The healthcare industry is faced with a number of ethical problems. These problems include: the conduct of health professionals, health policies and the socioeconomic issues, relational patterns between the patients and the physicians, complex moral cases in the healthcare industry like the end –of-life care, and healthcare education. These problems are broadly grouped, meaning that an exploration of each problem presents a number of other ethical dilemmas (Guedert Suely 2011).Advertising Looking for research paper on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More According to Mitchell (2013), the provision of health care services at times goes far beyond the skills and competencies of the health care providers. For example, a nurse may choose to work way behind the time that is stipulated in the employment Act only to ensure that the safety of patients under his or her care is guaranteed. In such a case, it can be argued that morality is depicted in the choices that are made by the person and not the aspect of adherence to the law. If the nurse chooses to adhere to the law, then he might as well leave the vulnerable patient to succumb to the injuries as his action at this point is still justified. The aspect of contact between the healthcare professionals and the patients presents a moral situation whereby a moral relationship has to be developed for the well-being of the patient to be attained. However, a number of socioeconomic conditions often prevail in the larger health care industry. These often result in difficulties in embracing mora l relationships in the healthcare industry (Mitchell, 2013). Another dimension of ethics in health care is the individual lifestyles as determinants of the state of healthcare for each individual. Moving away from the philosophical view that life is sacred and ought to be protected at all costs, it is argued that the moral responsibility of healthy living lies with individuals. In a similar sense, it is argued that it is within the moral right of individuals to make choices, some of which may pose health risks to their lives. However, in such cases the healthcare professionals can still make choices both from their personal initiatives or from responsibility to safeguard the lives of people who make decisions that pose a threat to their health (Brown, 2013). According to Jallinoja et al. (2007), the perception of healthcare professionals on patients is a factor that has gained significance in nursing ethics. This comes from a considerable rise in the number of health care conditions that are coming from the nature of lifestyles that are embraced by patients. Ethical concerns arise over the habits of people and the scale at which such habits can be reshaped into healthy habits. Legal, ethical and social aspects of healthcare delivery in the United Arab Emirates Health care delivery is a critical component in the UAE as one of the countries in the world that is experiencing economic transformation that seeks to place the country among the middle income economies in the world. A research by Margolis, et al. (2003) indicated that most people in the United Arab Emirates are satisfied with the primary health care services that are provided by healthcare institutions in the country. This can be taken as an indicator of the consideration of quality standards in the discharge of health care services in the country. However, it cannot be taken as an indicator of ethical considerations in the discharge of health care services across the healthcare industry in the country . Quality assurance programs have not been improved in the country to enhance the quality of health care outcomes in the country (Margolis et al., 2003). Gaps are still eminent in the delivery of ethical healthcare in the United Arab Emirates as far as quality and ethical consideration are concerned. Several policies have already been developed in the UAE to help in fostering an inclusive environment in the delivery of health care services in the country. One of the policies that catch the attention of many people is the policy on cultural awareness and sensitivity in health care service delivery. This policy was informed by the fact that the country has a culturally diverse population. The diversity ranges from ethnicity to race, religion, and language among others. This policy, which has a legal force, was developed to help address the problem of cultural diversity and its effects on the delivery of quality health care to all people in the UAE. All healthcare institutions in Abu D habi are required to enforce the policy to address the legal and ethical conflicts that exist in the health care delivery in the country (Health Authority – Abu Dhabi, 2007). According to EL-Amouri and O’Neill (2011), sensitivity to the culture is a social perspective of dealing with the challenges and concerns that are mostly raised by the people in the country. Among the provisions in the policy is that all institutions that provide direct health care services to the population must offer interpretation services. This is meant to enhance these institutions’ ability to offer medical services to everybody in the country through the elimination of the language barrier. The dignity and worth of people in the healthcare industry are determined by the ability of the people to communicate and foster moral relationships with the physicians and nurses. As a matter of precedence, the policy also touches on the issue of value, which ascertains the desire to establish a h ealthcare environment that is responsive to issues of humane treatment and dignity of all the patients (Health Authority – Abu Dhabi, 2007). Picturing this from Guedert and Suely (2011) observation about the ethical challenges that face healthcare professionals in the fair discharge of health care services, it can be argued that there is a sense of responsibility by the stakeholders in the UAE healthcare industry. The policy on culture depicts a high level of consideration of the differences in the social environment. These variations form part of the complexities in embracing ethics in the delivery of medical services to the population. The right of every individual to access health care services is in most cases impeded by social barriers. Ethical codes of professional behavior for the healthcare professionals are clearly enlisted in the legal framework that guides the discharge of medical services across the UAE cities. The laws do not only stipulate the roles of the healt hcare professionals, but they also bring out the expected behavioral attributes of the health care practitioners to attain quality health care. This kind of healthcare is characterized by the provision of ethical and patient-driven care for all the people within the areas where the law applies. This helps in improving the competency of health care providers as depicted by the indicators. Among the provisions in the laws that have been developed by the Dubai Health Authority is the need for medical professionals in the country to pay attention to high moral standards when discharging their duties. These moral standards focus on issues like consent, truthfulness, conflict of interest, confidentiality, allocation of health care resources, and the interaction of healthcare professionals with the pharmaceutical industry (Dubai Health Authority, n.d.). Healthcare providers are exposed to certain ailments from the patients in the course of discharging their duties. According to Zaidi, Grif fiths and Levack (2012), this is not only a sociological concern, but also a factor that informs policy in the healthcare industry in the UAE. There are dangerous strains of viruses and bacteria that can be passed from the patient to the health care providers. Examples are Hepatitis C and the HIV virus. Exposure and real contact with these strains of viruses by the healthcare professionals often results in unprecedented levels of stress and stigma among the health care providers. This, in turn, jeopardizes the ability of healthcare providers to effectively discharge health care services to the population (Zaidi, Griffiths Levack, 2012). Most of the healthcare providers who are exposed to dangerous strains of viruses often fear to report these cases because of what they term as hostile policies. One of the fears is that health care providers who are non-citizens are at risk of being deported back to their countries of origin if they are detected with HIV and Hepatitis C, even when t hese diseases are acquired in the line of duty (Zaidi, Griffiths Levack, 2012). With the high number of health care professionals fearing to report such cases, the lives of the patients are further put at risk. This means that the United Arab Emirates, just like other countries like New Zealand, needs to implement policies that will see the development of healthcare schemes for the healthcare professionals who are infected with diseases when attempting to save lives. This is a moral responsibility of the government and other institutions that are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that there is quality and ethical health care delivery in the UAE. As observed earlier, the healthcare industry is quite complex. Raven (2002) observed that the separation of business from organizational ethical responsibility is one of the most challenging issues in delivering ethical healthcare in the UAE. This issue invigorated a debate in the early years of the first decade of the 20th centur y. Companies that are engaged in the delivery of healthcare products need to embrace social responsibility. Social responsibility is aimed at eliminating conflicts of interest in the delivery of healthcare products and services across the United Arab Emirates. This means that the government of the UAE ought to have established a ground that favors fair and open procurement procedures. Through sound procurement procedures, it is easy to lock out unethical practices in the industry like the delivery of drugs that have been pirated. An example of the commitment of the United Arab Emirates to embrace the ethical delivery of healthcare is the 2001 cancellation of a $500,000 contract that entailed pirated drugs. The main weakness in the enforcement of copyright laws in the UAE health sector is that the country lacks a law to protect patents and copyrights in the healthcare sector. However, a ministerial decree that was issued by the Ministry of Health has been helpful as far as the protec tion of rights for the investors in the industry is concerned. The decree has aided in improving the healthcare environment in the country by attracting external investors in the industry (Stier, 2013). Ethical and standard healthcare begins with quality practices in other industries like the food industry. If ethical standards are not embraced by the food industry, then the citizens are bound to be exposed to a lot of ailments that come from the consumption of non-standard foods. One critical thing to note about the delivery of food in the United Arab Emirates is the 2005 law that was passed and saw the establishment of a Food Control Authority in Abu Dhabi. The mandate of this authority is to ensure that the food that is delivered to the population adheres to international safety and health standards. Consumers need to be protected because they do not have the power to determine the quality of the products that they consume. Most of these products are bound to have a direct effect on the health of the consumer. Most food companies, which are often profit oriented, take advantage of the fact that consumers have no ability to determine the contents of what they consume. This implies a lack of morality and responsibility. Having such an authority in place is likely to restore sanity in the food industry and cushion the consumers from the likelihood of consuming unsafe food (General Secretariat of the Executive Council, n.d.). Analysis of issues According to Bean (2011), most of the ethical issues in the healthcare industry revolve around three areas. These are: clinical practices, organizational practices, and specific issues that occur within the practices in the clinical operations or the organizational operations. The most resounding question as far as the delivery of ethical healthcare is concerned has been how to separate organizational from clinical ethics. However, this is a difficult question to answer considering the fact that clinical practices are fo unded on organizational practices. The clinical environment is largely determined by the precedents that are set at the organizational level. This implies that the actions and behaviors of individual health care providers are largely shaped by the policies that exist in the healthcare industry. What has come out in the paper is that the embrace of ethics begins with the establishment of a legal framework that governs the behavior and conduct of the stakeholders in the healthcare industry. Ethical standards are highly embraced when there is a legal force. A legal force helps in controlling the behavior of the players in the healthcare industry. The other thing is that legislation in the healthcare industry should be diverse; not only focusing on the conduct of the healthcare professionals as noted in the case of the UAE. For the legislation to be effective and result in an ethically oriented environment in the healthcare sector, it has to be accompanied by social policies. Social pol icies play a greater role in responding to the personal and psychological issues that emerge in the healthcare industry. Such issues are eminent in the discharge of patient centered services by the healthcare professionals. Conclusion The contemporary healthcare industry is confronted with a lot of challenges. These challenges range from legal, socioeconomic, technical, to ethical concerns. Research has denoted that the needs in the healthcare industry are extraneous, a factor that most often slows down the efforts of the healthcare providers in meeting the healthcare needs of the population. Delivery of ethical healthcare in a country starts with the development of an environment that highly values life. This means that every course in the healthcare industry should be aligned with the main objective of healthcare delivery, which is safeguarding lives at all costs. Therefore, health care stakeholders need to approach health care from a broader perspective to capture the ethical con siderations in the delivery of health care. This implies that there should be a focus on the systems of delivery, beginning with the suppliers. The government of the United Arab Emirates needs to ensure that there are adequate policies to govern the supply of medical products to ensure that the suppliers meet the desirable standards. This is critical in the delivery of quality health care. The ability of healthcare providers and professionals to meet the needs of the patients and safeguard their lives begins with the ability of the professionals to meet their needs. The needs in this case include physical, socioeconomic, and psychological needs. This is based on the nature of work that is done by the health care providers. Several policies have been developed to help improve the ethical stance in the delivery of health care in the United Arab Emirate. However, most of the policies seem to be one sided. They mostly favor the patient and leave out the health care professionals, yet th ey are critical in sustaining the lives of patients through the delivery of health care services. The government of the United Arab Emirates, especially the Ministry of Health, needs to come up with polices and pieces of legislation that capture the needs and concerns of patients and healthcare providers. Most important, there is the need to develop policies and laws that safeguard the needs of the healthcare professionals. This is an enabling factor in the development of a highly ethical environment in health care. This will, in turn, enable the embrace of high moral standards in the healthcare industry. References Bà ¦rà ¸e, K., Norheim, O. (2011). Mapping out structural features in clinical care calling for ethical sensitivity: a theoretical approach to promote ethical competence in healthcare personnel and Clinical Ethical Support Services (CESS). Bioethics, 25(7), 394-402. Bayer, R. Module 6: Ethics of health promotion and disease prevention. Web. Bean, S. (2011). Navigating the murky intersection between clinical and organizational ethics: a hybrid case taxonomy. Bioethics, 25(6), 320-325. Brown, R. C. H. (2013). Moral responsibility for (un)healthy behaviour. Journal of Medical Ethics. doi:10.1136/medethics-2012-100774 Dubai Health Authority. Health regulation department: scope of practice for general practitioner. Web. EL-Amouri, S., O’Neill, S. (2011). Supporting cross-cultural communication and culturally competent care in the linguistically and culturally diverse hospital settings of UAE. Contemporary Nurse: A Journal for the Australian Nursing Profession, 39(2), 240-255. General Secretariat of the Executive Council.  Social Human Resources. Web. Guedert, J. M., Suely, G. (2011). Ethical problems in pediatrics: what does the setting of care and education show us? BMC Medical Ethics, 13(2), 2-9. Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (2007). Policy on cultural sensitivity and awareness in healthcare facilities. Web. Jallinoja, P., Absetz, P., Kuronen, R., Nissinen, A., Talja, M., Uutela, A., Patja, K. (2007). The dilemma of patient responsibility for lifestyle change: Perceptions Among primary care physicians and nurses. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 25, 244-249. Margolis, S. A., Al-marzouq, S., Revel, T., Reed, R. (2003). Patient satisfaction with primary health care services in the United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Quality Health Care, 15(3), 241-249. Mitchell, B. (2013). Medical ethics and moral habitus. Ethics and Medicine, 29(2), 69-70. Raven, C. (2002). The intersection of health care and organizational ethics. Web. Stier, K. (2013). Merck’s Dubai Ethics Center. Web. Zaidi, M. A., Griffiths, R., Levack, W. (2012). Healthcare providers’ perspectives on occupational exposure to HIV: A cross-cultural comparison. Journal of AIDS Clinic Research, 3(9), 1-2. 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Risking Everything for Body Image

Risking Everything for Body Image Free Online Research Papers Images of models are everywhere. Women’s bodies are used to sell everything from coffee, cellular phones to yachts. Actresses and models are becoming thinner and thinner as well as younger. Magazine articles have reported actresses fainting while on the set from lack of food. Television commercials promote the next magic wonder diet pill, diet centers and the promise of a perfect life after they lose those last nagging five pounds. Few realize that these perfect bodies are created by younger and younger women and with the creative help of retouched photographs. The number of women and girls who look for an underweight body is reaching epidemic proportions and they risk potentially lethal health consequences. History of Body Image and Obesity 1908: A body-revealing style is introduced for women by French designer Paul Poiret. This sends a body fat is unfashionable message. 1940s: Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. publishes new height-weight tables, sending the message that it is unacceptable to gain weight with age. 1945: The bikini is invented by Lewis Reard, a Paris fashion designer. Bikinis grow in popularity throughout the year, culminating in the ‘90s TV show â€Å"Baywatch.† 1951: The US government begins a campaign against obesity. 1956: Fitness becomes popular with the Jack LaLanne show premiering on television. 1960s: British fashion model Twiggy begins a new rain-thin faze with fashion. This later revitalized in the 1990s by Kate Moss. 1968: Erwin Stillman and Samm Sinclair Baker begin the first of many diet fads with the best selling book The Doctors Quick Weight Loss Diet. 1972: Robert C. Atkins becomes a best selling author of the Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution. This book begins the extremely popular low-carbohydrate diet. 1983: Karen Carpenter a 32 year-old pop idol dies of anorexia nervosa. 1994: 51,072 liposuction procedures are conducted as reported by The American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. 1996: It is estimated that 8 million Americans suffer from anorexia, bulimia or both as reported by National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated. 1996: The Body Mass Index (BMI) becomes the set definition of obesity. Media Influence Images of the ideal female beauty are unattainable for all but a very limited number of women. When surveying women in college about their attempts to manage their weight through dieting, 91% admitted to attempting to control or manage their weight and 22% dieted always or often (Kurth et al., 1995). Often-times these college women use unhealthy methods of weight control including starving themselves, limiting their number of meals, excessive exercise, diet pills, laxative abuse, and self-induced vomiting. This preoccupation with being super skinny is not exclusive to adults either. Statistics show that 42% of the 1st-3rd grade populations of girls want to be thinner (Collins, 1991). Additionally, 81% of 10 year-old girls are frightened of being overweight (Mellin et al., 1991). These efforts are supported by the front covers of magazines that include messages about how to change a woman’s bodily appearance, whether by diet, exercise or cosmetic surgery. We have been taught t hat the only beautiful figure is one with less than 10% body fat. Research reveals that the average American woman is on average 5-6 inches shorter and 15% 23% heavier than actresses and models. Given these startlingly statistics, it is no surprise that an approximate 95% of women are anxious or depressed about their weight. Runway Standards The issue of models becoming alarmingly thin has made it to the runways of Madrid. There are now requirements that state a model must be at least 16 years of age with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 18. BMI is a calculation that measures body fat based on height and weight. The ban on skinny women has come as runway organizers move toward a healthier image. This move has been celebrated by new and upcoming models who are literally starving themselves to death as they work toward becoming the next top model and achieve a multimillion dollar contract. The Madrid council, who instituted these changes, has also arranged for medical treatment for those models that have a BMI of 16 or less. Brazil and Argentina have followed suit and London is expected to do so later this month. The decision to ban ultra thin models is a positive move for teens everywhere, as these role models present an unrealistic and unhealthy body image for teenagers. Dr. Cynthia Kapphahan of California’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford advises that, â€Å"Kids are incredibly affected by media images, and models are still held up as the â€Å"perfect’ standard.† When teenagers by pass their family and look to models as role models, an unrealistic and perhaps unachievable standard is set. Genetics Within the United States, over 60 million adults are considered to be obese. This means they are at least 20% above their ideal weight. Obesity is caused by controllable factors such as lifestyle and environment as well as physiological factors like genetics. Genetics helps determine your natural weight range, but you have some control over where you fall within that range, says Edward Abramson, PhD, an expert on obesity, dieting, and weight disorders and the author of Body Intelligence. Studies have determined that genetic factors are not the lone cause of the large increase in childhood obesity; however they are believed to influence one’s weight much like environment. A person reared in an environment of little exercise, high-fat foods and a genetic disposition towards obesity, is likely to become obese. This is why obese parents often have obese children. Studies conducted with identical and fraternal twins raised separately, suggest that 70% of the variation in BMI may be genetically based in origin. So do not aim for a size 0, aim for health: if obesity is a family trait, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and other illnesses could be as well. Exercise is fundamental to maintaining a healthy body weight, try using the stairs instead of the elevator, and make it a point to get up and move around every hour. In short, take care of the body that one was born with. A healthy body is not necessarily a thin body, these are two different distinctions. Research shows that overweight people who are physically fit can live just as long as or longer than those who are at the ideal weight and not physically fit. Anorexia, a Psychiatric Disorder Anorexia is an eating disorder where people literally starve themselves, sometimes to death. One percent of teenage girls develop anorexia; up to 19% of which may die as a result of anorexia. Anorexics strive for a super thin body due to the warped body image they see in the mirror rather than outside pressure from society. Individuals suffering from anorexia typically experience weight loss that is 15% below their normal body weight. These individuals are very skinny but are convinced that they are overweight, even obese. This weight loss is obtained in many ways, excessive exercise, starvation, laxatives and more. These individuals have an intense fear of becoming fat and as a result their dieting habits take on extreme measures. Typically, adolescent girls are most affected by anorexia. Even after obtaining an extremely thin body, anorexics continue to think that they are overweight. An anorexic will prepare a large meal for family and friends and refuse to eat any of it. The disorder is thought to be most common among people involved in dancing, theater and running. These are activities were thinness is an advantage and highly sought. With proper treatment, anorexia can be overcome. While some peoples desire to be super thin may be explained by anorexia, this alone is not the sole cause. Healthier Food Choices Women’s thinner bodies can also be attributed to the prevalence of healthier living and the significant food choices available today. Previously, fast food restaurants did not provide alternative options such as salads, grilled chicken, milk and juice. These options have far less calories and fat than the typical burger, fries and soda typically offered. Changes such as this may seem small; however combined with the opening of other healthier fast food restaurants such as sub sandwich shops and Chinese food, busy families now have choices and options that were previously unavailable to them. These subtle changes can be attributed to women’s body image changes. Effective Dieting Healthier food options combined with effective dieting centers like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig have aided many women across the US in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. This success is due to their holistic approach, support system, weekly weigh-ins and nutritional advice. These programs have also been proven effective in achieving long-term weight loss success and may influence body image perceptions as well. Body Image A womans body image comprises her shape, size and physical appearance. Body images are formed from our experiences, parents, peers, role-models, models, and friends who provide an idea and value of body images. An image is formed from the positive and negative feedback received from people whose opinions matter to us. The way we perceive our own body to fit the cultural image is incorporated as well. Many women have a distorted perception of their bodies. They may look in the mirror and see an overweight body or slightly larger body than what is there. Large thighs, extended abdomen, and a larger buttocks may lead to distress for some women. James Rosen, Ph.D. from the University of Vermont has done studies indicating that women are most dissatisfied with the parts of their bodies between their waist and their knees. Cosmetic surgery and liposuction are the fastest growing medical specialties within cosmetic surgery. Young girls are repeatedly told that they must adapt to so-called â€Å"feminine† qualities: skinny, nice personality, perfectly proportioned, nurturing of others, supporting male figures, glowing skin, fabulous makeup as well as model perfect clothing styles and dress. A women’s sense of self is so influenced by others opinions and how she sees herself, she puts extra effort in to being the perfect person. Body image includes much more than just weight. Women are constantly bombarded with products that are designed to appeal to vanity. Skin tone, hair color, and hair style are common products. In addition, we are conditioned through the clothing industry to purchase expensive clothing from designers such as Juicy Couture. Conclusion Americans are completely obsessed with diet and weight and this obsession has reached an all time high in magazines, movies, and runaways around the world. The pressure for models and actresses to be super thin is the latest trend. This is a trend that has come and gone throughout the years but is now at a fever pitch. There is no easy answer to the obesity epidemic and maintaining a healthy body image. Body image begins with learning to love what is seen in the mirror, a celebration of our bodies, nourishing our bodies, and the decision to change one’s body image not one’s body. With a positive body image, one will have a realistic view of size, shape and is therefore more likely to be comfortable with their body. Satisfaction with one’s body image affects more than body weight alone, it affects emotional health, self-image, stress management, and self-esteem. Essential to developing and maintaining a healthy body image are eating healthy, regular exercise and receiving plenty of rest. Building a healthy lifestyle includes physical activity. Healthy bodies come in variety of sizes and shapes should be nurtured and valued for their individuality and uniqueness. When looking in the mirror appreciate the image and resist the urge to compare oneself to societies and culture’s ideal of beauty, look to family and friends for a positive and reinforcing body image, and trust the health advice of medical personnel on obesity. Resist the temptation to use models and actresses as the ideal body and beauty standards. Body images should be a result of an individual’s perception of beauty based on their experience with family, friends and not media images. Unrealistic and unattainable are words that can be used to describe images in the media. Full-bodied is fabulous; it is time to change the perception of beauty! Here’s to seeing more natural models in magazines, television and movies. Reference List Body mass index (BMI). (2006). Partnership for healthy weight management. Retrieved March 2, 2007, from www.consumer.gov. Collins, J.K., Beumont, P. J., Touyz, S. W., Krass, J., Thompson, P. and Philips, T. (1987). Variability in body shape perception in anorexic, bulimic, obese, and control subjects. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 6, 636-638. de Vries, Hilary. (July 2006). Why were at war with our bodies: you hate your hips and worship Madonnas abs. Marie Claire, 13, p78(6). Retrieved February 02, 2007, from Thomson Gale. Gorman, Megan Othersen. (Dec 2005). The good news about being fat: no need to starve yourself down to celeb size this season. Marie Claire, 12, p203(1). Retrieved February 02, 2007, from Thomson Gale. Hutchison, Sue. (October 2006). Hutchison: Link between bony models, anorexic teens isn’t a fantasy. The Mercury News. Retrieved February 16, 2007 by Mercurynews.com. Kurth, C.L., Krahn, D.D., Nairn, K., and Drewnowski, A. (1995). The severity of dieting and bingeing behaviors in college women: interview validation of survey data, Journal of Psychiatric Research 29 (3) pp. 211-225. Mellin, L. M., Irwin, C. E., Scully, S. (1992). Prevalence of disordered eating in girls: A survey of middle-class children. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 92 (7), 851-853. Webster, Jessica, and Marika Tiggemann. (June 2003). The relationship between womens body satisfaction and self-image across the life span: the role of cognitive control. Journal of Genetic Psychology. Retrieved on February 2, 2007 by Thomson Gale. Weiner, Jessica. (Feb 2006). Bod talk: just like clothes and hairstyles, in body types come and go and come back again. CosmoGirl!, 8, p124(6). Retrieved February 02, 2007, from Thomson Gale. 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Chief ethical problem(s) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chief ethical problem(s) - Essay Example My professional life still is not confined to one particular professional field, but in all its manifestations it assumes the existence and the necessity of such personal quality as leadership. Under the leadership I mean the ability and the right of me as a social person to lead a group of other like-minded people towards achieving our mutual goal. Thus I understand my goal as a leader is in creation and realization of effective opportunities in noble ways. Only by using honest and justified instruments while being guided by such human values as respect and confidence, my impact as a leader would be long-termed. Thus, I use professional ethics in everyday life in order to choose what to do while facing a moral issue problem. Using own experience I may say some words about my personal method of aiming at the best solution in the field of leadership. As you’ve already understood, I have a kind of moral rules set to use in any situation. First of all, I must be sure in society usefulness (not just personal) of what I am doing. Secondly, I must be responsible and sensitive to possible outcomes of my professional activities. That is why I must follow the principle of "competence", which emphasizes that I should be only involved in those professional activity areas in which I have the knowledge, skills, training and experience. These basic ethical principles can be specified for different areas of professional activity by every decent person. But the main trait for leader at any professional field is being a good communicator. You should be able not just to express yourself well both in speaking and in writing, you must remember that a good communicator is a good listener, so you should be very attentive to people you are surrounded as well as to their problems. True leader should be able to support everybody in the company administrating mechanism if it really needs help. And the most important attribute for leader is being critical towards

The recuitment process from an employers perspective Essay

The recuitment process from an employers perspective - Essay Example A well-written resume presents the impression that the candidate is organized and has good communication skills -which is the backbone of all organizations today. It is important to remember that as an employee you are selling yourself to the employer and his organization. An employee must be thought in terms of a brand or a product that must stress his benefits and explain why the organization should hire him. Even before organizations open up the employee’s CV, they have a look at the cover letter which precedes the CV. The purpose of a CV is to create interest in the employer to contact the candidate for an interview whereas the cover letter creates interest in the employer to read the candidate’s CV (Bovee et al., 2008). It is a common mistake to address the employer properly by using a gender-based phrase ‘Dear Sir’ (Bovee et al., 2008). Using phrases such as ‘Dear HR manager’ denote professionalism and anti-discriminatory behavior in toda y’s corporate world (Bovee et al., 2008). Likewise, it is common to set the objective of a cover letter as far too general. It ought to be specific to the particular industry that the candidate is applying in which demonstrates his/her skills of the industry’s processes or procedures. Yet another important issue is that of the use of a specific salary (e.g. $2,000) rather than a broad range (Hinds, 2005). Furthermore, it is crucial to recognize the fact that employers do not have a lot of time to read documents coming from a large pool of applicants. Hence, it is a malpractice to write a lengthy cover letter (that exceeding two pages). Ideally, the most effective cover letters span only a page (Brewer, 2010). Using internet jargon and not properly checking the cover letter for spelling and grammar is another common oversight (Bovee et al., 2008). This creates the impression of a rather slack personality of the applicant to the organization. As far as the resume is conc erned, it is crucial that it displays a â€Å"you-attitude† (Bovee et al., 2008). This is extremely important in all persuasive messages including the CV. It is useful to research into the background of the company and its operations because employers are constantly looking on how the employee can relate himself/herself to the company (Bovee et al., 2008). CVs must not be too compelling; the language that is used must not depict that the candidate is expecting immediate response of being accepted or rejected by the company. This expectation is erroneous; a good CV does not result in being accepted. It is the â€Å"gateway† to being accepted (Bovee et al., 2008). Furthermore, candidates often spend several hours detailing their experiences and interests believing that their CV will be read thoroughly. However, the truth is that most CV’s are read by the computer and screened on the basis of certain keywords; it is important to embody those â€Å"keywords†. Also, the most important issue that organizations report is the direct use of the word â€Å"I†; CVs must always be presented in terms of what is known as the silent â€Å"I† (Curtis & Simons, 2004). There are several formats for a CV at the disposal of the candidate; a chronological, functional or combination format (Appendix 1 and 2). The chronological format is most preferred by employers as it makes it easier for the employer to extract information. It is discovered that, all too often, candidates often fail to produce effective CVs due to the

The 5 Steps Of Communication Process

The 5 Steps Of Communication Process A communication is a process of the exchange of information between sender and the receiver. It was always processing around us because we are communicated to live as well as understand with each other in order to express what we are thinking. But sometime a communication may fail to present or sometimes the receiver misunderstood what the sender trying to give them the information. Therefore, it must be some skills to helps us have a better and effective communication to send the information to the other parties. In a fact that, the scholars make a research and finally search that when sender send to the receiver and receive the information comes to have 5 different steps of communication process. The step when sender started to have an idea, the message will plan how to send for the receiver, process run though the channel until the receiver got the message, as well as lastly ask for the receiver for a feedback in order to confirm whether the receiver get a correct information. Tho se steps are the full communication process in the assignment to explain it details with the intention of create an effective communication skills. 1.1 The 5 Steps of Communication Process The steps on the theory of 5 steps communication process is encoding, planning, medium, decoding, and lastly the feedback. There is the key point of explaining this assignment and the correct way to ensure the intended audient received the right massage. On the page below will have the 5 steps of communication process diagram which can refer toà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 1.2 Encoding Encoding process is involves to translating an idea to the meaning of the idea. When the sender got an idea to the other party, they must be communicating. Therefore, the idea will need to change the ordinary language into letter or symbols to past the information out to the party. However, the information of encoding is not yet sending out the message to the channel, the messages are only an idea that thinking in the sender. Beside, the sender might havent plan of which the sending ways are the better way for the receiver. So encoding is just an idea that came out from the sender mind and when the sender starts to plan for sending out the message, there will be turn to the second step of communication process. 1.3 Planed, Organized and Sent The communication process come to the second step is the step of plan, organize and send. It is very distinct to show. When after encoding an idea, the sender will started to plan how to send the message, so the sender will decided a way send it. For example the sender using letter to send the message, he or she will translating the idea to an ordinary language or symbols into the words, the sender will make sure is using the direct understanding words for the receiver, therefore the receiver will easily get the correct message from the sender rather than have the communication gaps of misrepresentation and misunderstood. Thus, when the sender organizing their sending process, make sure to double confirm on the grammar and sentence meaning to be correct. When it is confirmed to be a right message, it will come to choose the types of how the sender will use to send out their message to the receiver. 1.4 Medium In the communication process, medium is the type of choosing for sending the message out through a channel. For example, using letter, e-sources or request somebody to transfer the message to the receiver to be the sender choosing types of sending. Most of the sender will choose to send a letter for the receiver, because using e-mail, people might not checking the mail and request someone to transfer might not transferring the 100% information from the sender give, so most of the people will choose to use letter for their type of sending sources (medium). Moreover, medium is means a between to the sending and receiving, so both parties communication will base on the type of sending movement channel to understand each other. In the example told us the sender using the letter, so make sure the letter words are correctly as well as the receiver can be easily understand it. As the result, the step of medium has complete. 1.5 Decoding The decoding will be the problem of the receiver. When the step comes to decoding, the receiver is already received the message, and sudden matter will affect the receiver to understand the sender messages, and that is decoding. For example, just like the channel choosing to request someone to transfer the message to the receiver, the person that the sender request might not concentric on listening or rush to present in fact might missing some point to transfer, there is always happening in real life, so not most of the people will choose this channel to past their message in order to avoid the communication distortion and there is the decoding processing. Hence, to avoid communication distortion make sure sender choosing a correct channel to send their message and well to know what channel that receive are always like and easily to got it people message. 1.6 Feedback A feedback is needed to have it in a successful communication because without a feedback, the communication is failed. In the other hand, a feedback is a responding action form the receiver in the communication, therefore in the communication process, a feedback will tell to know as well as getting an answer from the receiver to the sender. In the fact of that the receiver will turn to be the sender because on its feedback. It is complete communication in the process. But sometimes a feedback will become a communication distortion because people might feedback to the sender by using a long time period. In fact, if in the business view, a business will not just sit and wait for a person to reply and not observing in others people. In this example will see the communication will fail although it was a feedback. As the result, a communication must be effectively in a progress in order to get a successful communication skill. 1.7 Body Language Beside of the 5 types of communication process, there is another type of communication that can be success in order to ensure the intended audient received the right massage. Thus, body language will be the one of the type, its not using to speck during communicate but using body language to send the message. A body language can be an eye contact, head shaking to tell it yes or no, as well as other action that give message or signer to the other parties. For example a person is trying to motivate his partner to have a cup of coffee, after his partner heard, his partner shows his thumb finger to the sender, which is means good idea. See, in this example we can found out body language can use to be communicate. Or give an example with more direct to influence us, when to chat with people sometimes, our body language normally will shows in our words to come out. Therefore, a body language can be intention to audient received the right massage. 1.8 Noise In the communication process, there is a term are showing the affection of communication, it is a noise. A noise will affect an effective communication such like when people communicate in a place that is very noisy, both parties might not receive a clearly message in such environment. Furthermore, a noise can be a third party that affecting the receiver to feedback. When a the sender sending a message to the receiver with a third party and wait for the receiver to reply, but in this time the third party are noising something to the receiver and without focus on the communication, there will influence to become a fail communication. 1.9 Conclusion As we can see, the types of communication process are giving our knowledge to learn to have an effective communication skill. It was very detailed on the theory, when you see there might only a short period of communicate between two parties, the theory will tell us start of the communication is from an idea in the senders mind and turn to a words to tell the receiver as well as receive the feedback. It was very amazing. In the other hand, this theory showed us to have an effective communication skill. When we communicate with people, we are having the direct skill especially in choosing channel and analysis to give a feedback. In the communication can help us to improve communication skill and the briefness to talk as well as the technique to talk, even where we go we are actually always communicating with other people. If we are wisely using the knowledge and technique to communicate with people, surely will let us increase on the social network. In the road on business will be a i mportant step to learn it to success. 2. As the Product Manager of a soon-to-be-launched product*, explain the methods, the mediums and the vehicles that you would use to communicate with your target audience to persuade them to buy your product. Produce one (1) Advertisement for your product. *student may decide on whatever product that they wish 2.0 Introduction Hokhomo is the name of a Japan company. Few years ago this company continuously develops all different kinds of human fashion accessories product, like cloths, watch, ear rings, and necklace and so on. Every product has a cool design and selling in cheap prices, in order to let every people can afford. So that it can achieve to the company vision, Better than none. In this year of 2011, the company decided to launch a brand new product of high definition spectacle to the market. As a product manager, will needs to plan for advertise this new product. However, when a new product is trying to launch to the market, a very important thing will need to prepare, it will be how consumer know about our product. For our information, advertising can be the where to promote our product. Therefore, in this assignment will shows the process of preparation to launch the new product and how the way to make advertising for attracting the customers. It will shows the design of advertising as well as explain it why we are trying to using the method and how, in order to having an effectively and efficiency strategy to advertise the product. Moreover, we will target a correct audient in the market for giving the information of the product. It will give benefit to the sale and people to know about the product. 2.1 Promotion A Promotion works is to advertise the product, the product itself must be have by a quality guarantee, design and fit to our consumers. So, our company decided to create this product of high definition spectacle by using the import glasses from Sweden, combine our resources to create it. After several test on the product, the product is born. According to the company vision of everyone can afford, this product will set with a fair price and ready to launce to the market. When we have the good product with a good price for consumer, the next step will be how we sell or introduce to our product for the consumers. Many times we can see in the mall had the promotion discount or sale, which is the promotion strategy they are using it. However, promotion usually considers in 4 different types which is the advertising, personal selling, sales promotion as well as public relations. In the promotion of advertising, there is non-personal communication to inform the consumer for the product. He nce, advertising can be a commercial, flyers or even internet, consumers through to the information of the advertising to know our product. Thats why we usually can see many different funny or full of characteristic commercial in the television. Those are the promotion advertising for the consumers in order to attract them to purchase their products. In our research, flyer is the one of the advertising that is people usually will do it. 2.2 Flyers In the method of advertising, posting flyer is the one of the advertising that we will make it as a promotion. Before of that, company researcher will need to do some surveys for asking the consumer view on the product. After then that, our product department will design the flyer and trying to using our company sale person to stand in front of the mall as well as pasting the flyer for the consumers. In this movement, we will actually see the outcome of the consumers interest on the product, because high definition spectacle is all new in the market. For our research, pasting flyers maybe is only out of 100 people in 1000 consumers that will purchase the product. It might take a long time period to break the even point and have the profit. But, penetrate in flyers people will at least know that there is a high definition spectacle wills soon to be launce in the market and where they can purchase it. We are trying to let the consumers know about the product and use to have a consumer to consumer strategy for a free advertising effect. This will be positive effect for our company. For sure the targeting market must be right. In the product of high definition spectacle, it will more attract to the teenage as well as student. Therefore, the targeting market will be on students. 2.3 Flyers Design The flyers design is a breakthrough for our company because the company is usually advertising in commercial sense. So, when comes to the design of the flyer will like a caricature with story line. First of all, is the problem that student will For our research, pasting flyers maybe out of 100 in 1000 consumers will purchase the product encounter, there would be the difficulty on transcribe. Beside of that we will encounter something that will affect our visual, like the flyer words Object showing unclearly in our visual, so how to solve this problem? Then the flyer gives you the answer is to choose the brand new high definition spectacle, with cool design, comfortable on wearing and give you have a high definition visual. The selling cost will set on RM 399.90. For normal spectacle with this kind of design may cost you RM 300++, and this product will add on the high definition glasses that made in Sweden combine together with the brand new Hokhomo high definition spectacle. In the f lyer it is already list out the made from Sweden and it with let the consumers to gain more confident on the product. Furthermore, the header and the footer of the flyers are listed out the brand and the contact area. On the header the flyers are showing the company name and the company address, in this area consumers will knows where the product came from and where they can purchase it. If the product having a great sells, the company name will soon to be famous as well as famous on the branded name. Moreover, from the footer of the flyers is preparing a contact number and its to let people to have a further information of the product. Beside of that, the contact number is also a hotline services to the consumer for any complain and suggestion feedback, our company will use this strategy to get the further improvement. This will be the better way to advertise and improve our products. 2.4 Ways to Posting the Flyers In the business market, we are not just numb to pasting the flyers to everyone and thats it. There are several we are trying to targeting our audients to get the product sale. First of all, we can letter the flyer and post to our business to business partners. They might interest in the product and get supply with us. Secondly, we are trying to get an assent from the secondary school and college as well as university for setting a booth for posting flyers and introduce the product to the students. In this movement, student will direct know about this product in their school and try to own it. This will give more benefit to our company and we are saving our time to find our targeting market and achieving our sale speedily. Thirdly, we will set a booth in the mall and posting the flyers, but this is different, in the mall we decide to give consumer have a free testing section to wear the spec, many of the consumer like to try before they buy, so this method will satisfy them and get mo re knows about the product. With those methods, the product must be having a well output on sales. 2.5 Conclusion As the result, the methods to advertising the product are showing out step by step that we can do. When we develop a new product, we usually will worry about the outcomes of the product sales. But the important is how we advertise to introduce our product to the consumer? How we build the confident of the product in consumers heart? How we design the product and advertising to attract the consumers? Those are the very important issues that company need to know and run it. Fortunately, the company has the skill to promote and the products will soon to be launce as a stable way. However, with the flyers promotion are given the company lower cost to get the sale, although it might take a long time but it works. At last, the product will soon to be launce in the market, so as long as the preparation works is well doing and targeting a correct market as well as correct audients, the brand new high definition spectacle will soon to be see there have a lot of people is wearing it and walkin g on the road with us. 2.6 Harvest Reference Wedside Faith Grubbs, 2000, Types of Communication, Buzzle.com, Nishu, 2009, Types of Communication and its characteristic, Articlesbase, John Sternal, 2010, How to Design a small business promotional flyer, Understanding Marketing, Ebrary Wilson, Philip, 2000, Managing for Knowledge, Scitech Educational Schultz, Don E. 2004, How to Sell More Stuff : Promotional Marketing That Really Works, Dearborn Trade, A Kaplan Professional Company. Malefyt, Timothy deWaal, 2003, Advertising Cultures, Berg Publishers

The Unknown Prevalence of Youth Gambling Essay -- Gamble Winning Win E

The Unknown Prevalence of Youth Gambling A child’s motivation to begin gambling is obvious. Even at an early age children are trained to idolize winning. They are taught the tortoise is the best because he wins the race. From this elementary lesson, children develop a tendency to idolize the winners and discount the losers. Children observe gambling and have an inclination to see the player raking in armfuls of chips, not the player across the table slowly losing a week’s pay at the black jack tables. They see Las Vegas portrayed in the media as a place to go to win money. They do not see the gamblers who leave the town with an empty bank account and a potential inability to provide for their families. By looking at the gambling culture in this idealized way, children are inclined to gamble when the opportunity presents itself. They may begin innocently by entering into their father’s office pool or wagering on baseball games with their friends, but the fact is many of these children will find t hemselves facing a gambling problem in years to come. I began gambling when I was thirteen with sports pools and friendly wagers with friends. Only four years later I found myself immersed in the culture of gambling; risking my money four nights a week in poker games. When I had started gambling, the stakes were only fifty cents, but now thirty and forty dollars were up for grabs. By the time I was eighteen, even these stakes were no longer enough for me. I decided that the casinos in Atlantic City were the only venues with payoffs large enough to satiate my hunger for gambling. On nothing more than an impulse I set off on a three hour drive, bound for certain victory. I found a seat at the black jack tables in Bally... ...tions. However, the nation will not take action any time soon, not without a push. As members of a society we must do our part to increase awareness about this issue. We must make an effort today to see the adolescents don’t gamble their tomorrow away. Works Cited Eckart, Dennis. Advancement of an Emerging Science. 2003. National Center for Responsible Gaming. 10 Sept. 2003 . Moiduddin, Adil. Gambling Impact and Behavior Study. 2003. The National Opinion Research Center. 10 Sept. 2003 . Willenz, Pamela. Pathological Gambling More Prevalent Among Youths Than Adults, Study Finds. 2003. American Psychological Association. 11 Sept. 2003 .

Blue Tooth Technology Essay

Bluetooth is an open standard for speech and data transmission. Besides the applications for this new technology, e. g. the wireless connection between mobile station and terminal equipment, also the structure of the Bluetooth system architecture is presented. The set-up of so-called short-range ad hoc networks (piconets and scatternets) will be introduced. Bluetooth wireless technology is an open, accepted standard for wireless communication which means that Bluetooth electronic equipment can communicate as long as they are within approx. 10 meters of each other, making it possible to transfer data, speech, music or images without a physical connection. The mobile telephone manufacturer Ericsson invented Bluetooth technology, naming it after the Viking King Harald Bluetooth. Just as King Harald Bluetooth united Denmark and Norway, Bluetooth technology â€Å"unites† various types of electronic equipment to form a coherent whole. Ericsson formed the foundation for Bluetooth as early as 1994, but the standard was not ready for use until 1998. The first Bluetooth products came on the market in 2000. Today, Bluetooth technology can be found in all types of electronic equipment – including mobile phones, mobile headsets, PCs, keyboards, mouse devices, printers, GPS navigation units, video cameras and pocket PCs – and new products are emerging every day. Today, Bluetooth technology is an essential everyday tool to be found in a variety of electronic equipment. The technology makes it easy to transfer speech between a mobile phone and a headset, a mobile phone and a pocket computer or images from a digital video camera to a PC. Even though two Bluetooth units can find each other and be connected, because they both comply with the standard, it may not necessarily make sense for them to speak to each other. For instance, a Bluetooth mouse would not profit much from a connection with a digital camera, or a headset with a keyboard. The basic requirement for Bluetooth units to be able to communicate is that they are located within 10 meters of each other. That is the range of the Bluetooth radio waves – at least under the current standard. The study intents to (1) know the key features of Bluetooth technology; (2) evaluate Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) and its key role in maintaining specifications of the protocol, profiles, testing and qualification, interoperability and compatibility and; (3) how Bluetooth applies to wireless technology. II. Background As Bluetooth technology becomes more common, however, we will undoubtedly see CD players that send sound to amplifiers via Bluetooth, which then transfer the sound to speakers in the same way. A Bluetooth enabled pocket computer will automatically synchronise with a company’s diary and make sure that the day’s e-mails are ready to be read on the screen. And car radios will turn the music down and transfer the speech from a mobile phone when it rings (see â€Å"Bluetooth†. New Standard Encyclopedia, pp. 36-38). Moreover, the Bluetooth brand is now recognized worldwide on products with short range wireless communication capabilities. The brand is a label that is not a single company technology but is shared by many members of the Bluetooth SIG. The brand is applied to devices implementing the Bluetooth technology; even if it says little about the way the technology works (see â€Å"Bluetooth†. New Standard Encyclopedia, pp. 36-38). III. Discussion A. Features of Bluetooth Technology The logo for Bluetooth is based on Runes surrounding the legend of Harald Bluetooth. Bluetooth the technology is based on communications central to man’s own personal space. Fundamentally Bluetooth operates within the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band at 2. 4 GHz. It is a short-range wireless communication standard defined as cable replacement for a Personal Area Network (PAN) (see â€Å"Bluetooth†. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge, pp. 87-94). Figure 1 is the Bluetooth Logo. A cable replacement standard has been defined because cables limit mobility of the consumer; they are cumbersome to carry around, are easily lost or broken. Often connectors are prone to difficult to diagnose failures; or are proprietary. To counteract these limitations Bluetooth is designed to be light and portable. It can be embedded to take the riggers of physical knocks and shocks. It includes standards and protocols to make it mobile, robust, reliable and not limited to one manufacturer (see â€Å"Bluetooth†. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge, pp. 87-94). The operating band also fits the goals of Bluetooth, imposing requirements as a cable replacement. The cost needs to be comparable with cable. Reductions can be achieved by operating in the licence free 2. 4 GHz ISM band, keeping backward compatibility wherever possible lowers the cost of ownership by avoiding upgrades and having a relaxed radio specification enables single chip integrated circuit solutions. It also needs to be as reliable and resilient as cable and cope with errors and degradation caused by interference. For mobile devices it must be compact, lightweight, low power and easy to use (see â€Å"Bluetooth†. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge, pp. 87-94). A. 1 Frequency Hopping We have addressed the reasons for the Bluetooth without delving into the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the technology to discover how it operates. For the majority of countries the ISM band used by Bluetooth is available from 2. 40-2. 4835 GHz, although some countries impose restrictions. In this band Bluetooth uses Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) techniques in order to improve its immunity from interference (see J. Bray and C. F. Sturman, Bluetooth: Connect Without Cables†, Prentice Hall). In unrestricted countries the radios hop in pseudo random sequences around all available channels, this equates to 79 RF channels with a channel spacing of 1 MHz. Starting at a base frequency of 2402 MHz then the frequency of the channels, f, can be expressed as: f =2402 + n MHz where, n, is the channel number with an integer value in the range of 0 to 78. In restricted countries a limited frequency hopping schemes with just 23 channels is used and is catered for in the Bluetooth specification. Both hopping schemes have a 1 MHz channel spacing making it possible to design a simple radio interface whereby the baseband only has to specify a channel number and the radio multiplies this up to the appropriate frequency offset (see J. Bray and C. F. Sturman, Bluetooth: Connect Without Cables†, Prentice Hall). In this FHSS scheme there are 1600 hops per second, which is a hop every 625  µs. Part of this hop timing is taken up by the guard time of 220  µs allowing the synthesizer time to settle. The frequency hopping implements time division multiplexing as shown in Figure 2. The basis of the scheme has the Master device transmitting in the first 625 us slot, k, and here the Slave receives. In the next slot k = 1 the Slave is permitted to transmit and the master listens (see J. Bray and C. F. Sturman, Bluetooth: Connect Without Cables†, Prentice Hall). Figure 2: Frequency Hopping, master and slave interact on corresponding slots The radio must be able to retune and stabilise on a new frequency within tight time constraints. This is pushed further when establishing a connection; the hop rate can be shortened to every 312. 5 us. As the radios are constantly hopping to different radio channels, this ensures that packets affected by interference on one channel can be retransmitted on a different frequency channel. To further enhance resilience both ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest) and FEC (Forward Error Correction) form part of the specification (see J. Bray and C. F. Sturman, Bluetooth: Connect Without Cables†, Prentice Hall). One drawback with the normal hop sequence is the time taken for production testing. Bluetooth ensures adequate frequency coverage with a test sequence allowing the radios to be tested at a faster rate (see J. Bray and C. F. Sturman, Bluetooth: Connect Without Cables†, Prentice Hall). A. 2 The Bluetooth SIG and Specifications If the success of Bluetooth is measured by its initial interest alone then its prominence has already been assured. Before products were on sale, hundreds of companies joined the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) and the Bluetooth brand became recognized worldwide. Before investigating the technology further it is appropriate to comment about the role played by the SIG, the administrative structure of which is outlined in Figure 3. With membership of the SIG nearing 2500 members it is only right to look at how the SIG works to promote, shape and define the specification and position Bluetooth in the market place. Positioning of the technology is important when you consider other wireless technologies that share the same ISM band, e. g. IEEE802. 11b, HomeRF and DECT. Differentiation is key in avoiding confusion of potential users.