Overview of London Ambulance System (Las) Disaster, 1992 Essay Example

Overview of London Ambulance System (Las) Disaster, 1992 Essay The London Ambulance Service (LAS) is world’s largest free ambulance service covering an area of more than 600 square miles with a population of 7 million people. On any given day, LAS transported more than 5,000 patients and handled more than 2,000 telephone calls. LAS employed over 2,700 people, including an operational staff of roughly 2,000 people. (Cited http://bobpinchbeck. com/College/Work/Papers/DispatchingFailure. htm) In the mid-1980s, the LAS emergency despatch system was run completely manually. The details of a call, such as the location and type of incident, were noted on paper and sent to a central collection point where duplicate incidents will be eliminated. Call details were then given to an allocator who selected which vehicle and crew to send. The details were next passed to a dispatcher who contacted the ambulance driver by radio or phone. Problems arise when paper details are lost, they were not able to track incident and there are difficulties in tracing how the original call had been dealt with. In order to improve the quality of the service, they introduced a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system in 1992. We will write a custom essay sample on Overview of London Ambulance System (Las) Disaster, 1992 specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Overview of London Ambulance System (Las) Disaster, 1992 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Overview of London Ambulance System (Las) Disaster, 1992 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It was developed by two companies, Apricot Computers, a UK based hardware manufacturer, and System Options, a small UK software developer. CAD is a method of dispatching services assisted by computer. The idea of the CAD system is that people from the dispatch centre are able to view and understand the status of all the units being dispatched and provides tools and mechanisms for monitoring the dispatcher so calls can be handled more efficiently. The system consists of several modules that provide services at multiple levels in a dispatch centre and in the field of public safety. These services include the following; †¢Call input, dispatching, status maintenance †¢Handling incident details and locations †¢Field unit status and tracking †¢Call resolution and disposition It also include interfaces that permits the software to provide services to dispatchers, call takers and field personnel with respect to control and use of analogue radio and telephony equipment. (Cited www. erichmusick. com/writings/06/las_failure. html) The London Ambulance Service decided to put their new CAD system in to operation on October 26th, 1992. After a few hours into operation it became observable to the ambulance crews and control room staff that there is something wrong with the new system. The crisis was a high event in the UK news during that time, which claimed a number of patients have died as a result of the system. The following problems occurred within the CAD system when it was first in operation: †¢Patient’s emergency calls that were accepted appeared to be getting lost in the system caused an increasing number of call duplications. †¢Rise in number of calls led to the callers being held by the call-queuing system for up to 30 minutes before they were dealt with. At some point earlier calls were overwritten by newer emergency calls coming into the system, leaving a large number of unanswered calls which caused a number of exception messages. †¢The ambulance allocation system failed to recognize certain roads. Staffs had to revert to using a map and telephone to deal with ambulance dispatches, which ultimately led to more delays. †¢There was a communication failure between the ambulances and the system. Ambulance either arrived late, did not arrive at all or arrive two at the same time. (Cited www. comp. lancs. ac. uk/computing/resources/IanS/SE7/CaseStudies/LondonAmbulance/LASFailure. pdf)

INTERNAL CONTROL essays

INTERNAL CONTROL essays The purpose of the system of internal accounting controls is to make sure a business is operating according to the policies and plans of management in regards with measures that have a direct relation to the protection of assets and to the reliability of accounting information. A system of internal control in a business is set up to safeguard the business?resources against waste or fraud, to guarantee the accuracy of accounting information, to assess performance of the company and to make sure that company policies are being followed. To attain well functioning internal control, there are certain guidelines that can be used. The first would be to establish clear lines of responsibility. Businesses should assign responsibilities to an individual or a department. Clear descriptions of each department should be recorded to avoid any possible problems later. Each type of transaction should have routine procedures to be followed in order to direct activities of the business as planned, a ccording to company policies. Every transaction should be authorized, approved, executed and recorded. The most important measure to take is probably the subdivision of duties. By making sure that the same person or department does not handle a transaction completely from beginning to end but instead duties are divided amongst employee, the data is more reliable and will have fewer errors. With the subdivision of duties businesses should also separate accounting function from custody of assets. What this means is that an employee who has access to or is in charge of an asset should not keep the accounting record for the asset. This guideline protects the assets from inefficient use, wasting or theft. Subdivision of duties also aids in the prevention of fraud. This way one employees work verifies the work of the other reducing opportunities for engaging in fraud are restricted. Organizations could also adopt measures like internal auditing, financial f...

Privacy and surveillance in the Information Age Essay

Privacy and surveillance in the Information Age - Essay Example According to Nissenbaum (1998, p.4), information technology has not only affected communication, but has actually led to a need to redefine privacy. With increasing surveillance and information recording, personal privacy is taking a new direction. According to Nock (1993) the cost of surveillance is personal privacy and the American public has to trade between privacy and security. The biggest turn in information technology came at about the mid of 20th century with the invention of the electronic computer. As soon as the computer was invented, it was used by governments and large corporations for information capture, storage and analysis. Information technology did not only help in increasing the way information is captured and stored, but also in the way the same information can be analyzed as well as manipulated (Hughes, 2004, p.78). As a result, the role of the government and private corporations can in safeguarding information has increased and has also taken a new course. Information stored in computes is easier to disseminate and can be accessed from remote access points. This leads to the risk of losing this information to hackers and this can lead to private information being disseminated by unauthorized personnel. Information and communication technology has changed the way people communicate and carry out their daily social, political and economic activities. With the arrival of computers and the internet, communication has always increased, and people are today better able to communicate. Business transactions have taken a new route as private firms can now easily capture, analyze and disseminate different formats of communication and information. A good example of this is the US based international retail giant Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has been able to develop a system based in computers and wide area network that is able to capture information from all the retail stores and then sending this information to a central database where the

Importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace Research Paper

Importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace - Research Paper Example Much research has been carried out to measure the credibility of this concept. However, there has been a long-lasting debate on the successful implementation of this concept in the workplaces. Emotional Intelligence is a concept which develops the personality of an individual and is also being used to achieve success when it comes to workplaces. This paper aims to analyze the arguments for and against the use of emotional intelligence in the workplaces. Research suggests that emotional intelligence is the trait of our personality which helps us in realizing what ended up in a certain reaction by one’s own actions or by those of the interacting personalities. With the growing research, there have been rapid changes in the definition of Emotional Intelligence. According to Goleman (1998) Emotional Intelligence is â€Å"the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships† (p. 137). (Brucato et al 2009). Mayer and Cobb (2000) define 4 elements of Emotional Intelligence including Emotional identification, perception and expression, Emotional facilitation of thought, Emotional understanding and Emotional management. Emotional intelligence is useful in many areas of life; however, the workplace rests one of the major areas which attain greater benefits by this concept. Businesses are not merely dealing with the materials but are also in relationships with people; for instance, the customer-employee, employee-employer, employee-employee and so on. The trust and relationships of an individual with the workplace interactions explain his/her level of emotional intelligence and expertise in dealing with others’ emotions. Lam and Kirby (2002) reveal that emotional intelligence plays a more prominent role in improving the work performance than general intelligence (i.e. IQ). Research also indicates that emotional and social competitiveness is 4 times

Japanese Culture Essay Example for Free

Japanese Culture Essay social forces which influence the society and its values. Every culture has its own unique qualities not found in other cultures. Japan is no exception. It is culture is centered on the core values and traditions. They lead Japanese people to have different ways of looking at the world largely from differences in language and religion. Japanese culture determines specific way of living and social relations, cultural and religious views. History, Culture and Lifestyle Japanese history rises mistily out of the period known to archeologists as the Tomb or Tumulus period. During this important period Japan was unified under the imperial court of Yamato and became intimately involved with South Korea, pathway for many cultural elements of continental origin into Japan. Writing was one such element. Japan began to have historico-legendary records of its own and gradually moved from its protohistoric to the historic period. The main historical period were â€Å"Asoka period (522-710), Nara Period (710-784), Early Heian (784-897), Middle and Late Heian (897-1185), Kamacura period (1185-1336), Murimachi Period (1336-1393), Memoyama period (1573-1614), Edo Period (1615-1867), Meiji Restoration (1867-1911)† (Martines, 1998). During all historical period, Japanese lifestyle was influenced by political, economic and social changes, new perception of the world and religion. Japanese culture is based on unique traditions and values influenced by religion and life style. The Japanese learned to view the world from the perspective of traditional versus modern values after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 following the opening of Japans doors to the world. This attitudinal structure started to fall apart in 1978, and its disintegration became definite by 1988. For example, the conquering nature was an important value during the era of Japans modernization process, but it has since been replaced by the following nature. In the middle of the XX century, the traditional perspective of catching up with the West and categorizing what is Western and Japanese has become meaningless (Oxtoby 2001). While the industrialization process produced divergent values for Japan and the West, it also is responsible for the development of some homogeneous cultural values. Researchers found three levels of similarities: (1) frequency distribution of single variables, (2) similar impacts of age and gender on attitudes, and (3) similar structures in the way people categorize their experience (Oxtoby 2001). Modern Japanese lifestyle is influenced by industrialization and innovations coming from other countries. Thus, Japanese value their old traditions and rituals adapting them to new social environment. For instance, Japanese take off shoes inside the house, they pay 5% commission tax for purchases, they follow bath and toilette design according to norms and practices of century old traditions (Oxtoby 2001). In short, the Japanese self, characterized by its diffuse nature or collective orientation, represents a self who lost its space to be free of the omnipresence of the giri-ninja social network in Japanese society in return for being taken care of by its group. The strong sense of belonging to ones company and family assures one materially a comfortable life at the individual level and stability and safety at the social level, making Japan relatively free of violent crimes. Such a life is stifling and meaningless to Americans even if they must pay a high price of alienating from the rest of society (Shelley, 1992). Japan managed to keep a sense of alienation to a minimum as it industrialized and urbanized by maintaining its virtually village mentality and social network. However, the value the Japanese gain by observing the traditional code of conducts, the giri-ninjo, is material and psychological welfare, which is provided to members of Japanese society more or less equally and fairly at the individual level, and public safety, which is provided at the collective level in Japan today. Another pair of terms often used in discussing Japanese culture is tatemae and honne. The former refers to the proper role expectation as defined by society and the second to ones real inner feelings, however irrational they may be. Often, to act in accordance with giri is to act in conformity with the norm of a community (tatemae). The role language plays in culture cannot be underestimated, for it offers a way of organizing ones life experience in a particular way that is shared by its speakers but not necessarily by people in other cultures (Davies and Ikeno, 2002). Family is one of the most important social institutions which keep century old traditions and human relations. In response to the traditional call for harmony, the Japanese are expected to conform to group norms. This proclivity yields situational ethics based on flexible standards (Shelley, 1992). There are no absolute criteria by which one passes judgment. The Japanese spend a disproportionately large sum of money for socializing, as embodied in semiannual gift exchanges between friends, relatives, and colleagues and after-work drinking of working men and women among co-workers and friends. Religion In Japan, nearly 100 % of the population are Buddhists and in many cases Scientists. The Japanese are, of course, not religious in the sense that they believe in God. Christians constitute about I % of the total population. Most Japanese are not very concerned with religion. They celebrate the birth of children in accordance with the Shinto rituals and bury their dead with the help of Buddhist priests. Meanwhile, they may get married in civil ceremonies, Christian churches, or other facilities. That is perhaps what makes it possible for the Japanese to accept more than one religion at the same time, an unthinkable option for monotheistic people of the West and West Asia, accustomed as they are to dialecticism. The Japanese approach the world in a diffuse fashion or inclusively. The number of Japanese with a religious faith increases with age (Davies and Ikeno, 2002). Fewer than 10 % of the Japanese in their early twenties and about 50 % of Japanese senior citizens over sixty years of age are religious. The older one becomes, the more religious one becomes. Likewise, Japan never had any revolutions such as experienced by China, France, and the United States. Revolutions are carried out by those who believe in the total destruction of the old regime and the establishment of a radically different doctrine. The Japanese seem to be incapable of totally denying their past. They are always interested in improving (kaizen) their existing systembe it via fax machine, Buddhism, or television sets. The majority of the Japanese do not take religion very seriously from the Western perspective (Oxtoby 2001). Japanese mythology distinguishes two categories of deities, the heavenly gods and the native or territorial gods. Some myths represent the heavenly deities as descending to the land of Japan to conquer or rule its autochthonous deities. The myth of land transfer in Izumo is one instance. Two generals of the heavenly gods were dispatched to Izumo to demand of O-Kuninushi, chief of the native gods and master of the territory of Japan, that he hand over sovereignty to the heavenly gods (Oxtoby 2001).

The Red Shoes :: English Literature Essays

The Red Shoes ‘The Red Shoes’ is an imaginary and unreal story related by Hans Christian Anderson. Anderson makes effective use of fantasy to teach a moral lesson. He builds up the story in such a way that the reader does not care for the validity of the incidents. The moral lesson is that the proud and the disobedient must suffer. Disobedience is a sin, and according to the Christian belief it is what started the demise in the heavens above, so anybody who commits it must suffer. Whatever sins man commits in his lifetime he is punished for them. If only he repents for his sins can he be forgiven and at least he can die in peace. God forgives them only when they repent for their sins. The story also presents another facts of the Christian belief about sin and punishment, which is based on the strict principles of repentance and forgiveness. In the story Karen is a poor but beautiful girl. At the death of her mother, a rich old lady takes her to her home and brings her up. The widow of the cobbler gave Karen a pair of red shoes, which she wore for the first time on her mother’s funeral. The old lady who adopted Karen disliked, the red shoes greatly because of Karen’s obsession for them and so she burnt them. Then once Karen saw the princess wearing beautiful red shoes. Her love for these shoes got re-ignited; she liked them a lot indeed. Karen grew up to be a beautiful damsel. She was to be made the member of the church. Her foster mother, the rich old lady bought her a lovely pair of shoes incidentally those shoes were also red in color. This fact has escaped the old lady’s notice, but Karen found them to be exactly what she yearned for. She went to church in those red shoes. She thought that everyone in the church was looking at her shoes. She wore them at the time of confirmation, which was not the proper occasion to wear them. Karen felt very proud of them. She even forgot to pray in the church when the old lady came to know about it she told Karen not to wear those shoes in future but once again she went to the church wearing those shoes. This accounted for the sin of disobedience she committed.

Swiss style every life Essay

Helvetica was created in 1957. It was named the Swiss style. As you look around at every day life, you will find time after time, that the typeface that is most prevalent is that of Helvetica. After viewing the film named the same, it was evident that although the vast majority of those interviewed were in favor, and some times in awe of Helvetica, there are still issues and controversy surrounding its use. Many interviews, such as Massimo Vignelli, were indeed excited about the typeface. He explained that it had rightness about it; that the spaces between the letters were just as bold and important as the black. Proponents of Helvetica sight that the typeface is expressive, clear and legible. Some explained that it was good for â€Å"everything†. Michael Bierut may have explained it best with his description of the late 50’s or early 60’s when many corporations where changing over their current ads and brochures to Helvetica. He described a scene where a company would feel as if they were drinking a cold, crisp glass of water after seeing what their new logo would look like in Helvetica. Helvetica is the contemporary typeface of corporations, of science and many other industries as well. It has an ability to fit the style you wish to project. It was explained in the video, that when American Outfitters used it, it looks chic; when Crate and Barrel uses it, Helvetica appears clean and efficient. The video goes on to describe Helvetica as having a perfect balance of push and pull. It makes you believe it’s clean, it fits in, it won’t make you stand out. But not everyone is on the Helvetica bandwagon. Others are morally apposed to the typeface. Paula Schuler is one of them. When she first started a career in design, it was shortly after the end of the Vietnam War. She associated Helvetica with the evil corporations that were sponsoring the war. In her way of thinking, if you used Helvetica, you were supporting the war. However, other views were shown in the video that also apposed the frequent use of Helvetica. It was explained that typography should have personality and that we need to get away from the horrible slickness of Helvetica. We need vitality. Helvetica represented modernism which they say equals boring. As you can see, there is a fine line between simple, clean, and powerful and simple, clean, and boring. Whether or not you are for or against the use of Helvetica, it won’t be going away anything soon. We see it so often, that we don’t even realize we see it. It is in our print, on our walls, TV’s, and movies. Our records are labeled with it, our posters scream it. Like it or not, it is hear to stay; it is â€Å"unfixable†.