Business Plan Analysis – Private Concepts

Memorandum Re: Business Plan Assessment – Private Concepts Critically analyzing a business plan for its viability and opportunity for success is absolutely necessary from any stakeholder’s perspective. Doing so aides an investor in knowing whether or not to invest, a bank in deciding on a loan, or even a partner in his/her decision to join a venture.But perhaps most importantly, a critical analysis of a business plan can and will help the entrepreneur to assess whether or not an idea under its current platform is worth undertaking, or if it is back to the drawing board they go. The purpose of this memo is to assess the business plan of Private Concepts, a company hoping to bring to market The Pevlon, a cervical cancer screening device made for private, in-home use. The opportunity for such a device absolutely exists both here in the United States and abroad.For one, the plan mentions The Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Act of 1990 which, â€Å"mandated a nationwid e program to increase access of medically underserved women to comprehensive breast and cervical cancer screening services,† and when coupled with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that was recently passed, the amount of free (to consumer; paid for by the government) access to this product creates potential for a high demand in this country.In foreign countries however, such as rural China and even Africa, where access to healthcare and proper healthcare facilities can be extremely rare, the appetite for this type of product could be tremendously significant. And there lies the first issue with this business plan. According to the Lancet Oncology medical journal, Volume 11, Issue 12, â€Å"75,000 women develop cervical cancer and 40,000 women die from the disease in China each year. † Those numbers in the United States are only about 12,000 and close to 4,000 respectively (cdc. ov). This exemplifies a larger need for this product abroad as opposed to right here in the states. And to focus on the opportunity in China, a Wall Street Journal publication explains how China’s healthcare system is lacking in general, but puts a microscope on the disparity in quality healthcare between rural and urban areas (Burkitt, 2012). These rural areas in China represent a large opportunity (much larger than any market in the United States) for The Pevlon.And so although the opportunity does exist for the business plan’s product, it is evident that the opportunity accentuated in the business plan is not the optimal one (aside from appealing to non-profits or other entities that would utilize the Pevlon in charitable, undoubtedly foreign ventures – this should have been a more significant portion of the plan). Additionally, the opportunity in the United States has not necessarily been proven to the point where one could consider the need for the product as pervasive enough to where the consumer is willing to pay for it.And pay for t hey would have to, because as the plan notes in the chart on page 10, a Pevlon screen costs 50% more than a typical pap smear. This exemplifies that pricing is going to be an issue. The health care market is highly dependent on the insurance industry, especially when there are product substitutes. Take pharmaceuticals for example. In group health care, policies are dictated by the contract that is in place and the majority of these contracts will sway the policy holder to utilize generic medications.This is done by the insurance carrier covering a larger percentage of generic medications than name brand ones, which ultimately costs the carrier less. So if a pap smear is less costly by 50% than a Pevlon test, carriers may still cover the device, but the â€Å"incentive† to utilize the cheaper procedure will absolutely be in place. Additionally, the business plan identifies lower income women as a target market, but fails to explain how a more expensive procedure will be a viab le option for this segment group. But even when the entire U. S. arket (via a sample size) is observed on page 19 of the plan, less than half of the women surveyed (46%) stated they would utilize the in-home Pevlon test even if most or all of it was covered by insurance. And if insurance reimbursement is removed completely, only 11. 2% of women would purchase the product. It would be interesting to see if there were follow up inquiries related to this line of questioning because a hypothesis is that some women, or maybe even a lot of women, may not trust themselves to complete such an important test at home.These women may simply prefer to rely on the expertise of a medical professional. And along these same lines, I feel as though the plan is silent on a very important aspect when it comes to assessing the true market of this product: how many women are in fact uncomfortable with going to a physician’s office to have a pap smear completed and would those women be more comfor table completing such a screen at home?Yes, there is a quote stating how uncomfortable the procedure is (which is in fact the first thing the reader sees underneath the Executive Summary heading), but it is somewhat suspect that this quote is anonymous and that there is no quantifiable evidence proving this notion to be true. So what is the actual desirability of this product? There really is no proof of it within the business plan and if I was investing in this product, I would need this â€Å"proof. † Aside from the ambiguous desirability of the product, there are a number of other concerns that should really stick out to the potential investor.On page 12 of the business plan there is a section that lays out the testing and approval stage for the Pevlon device. There are 6 steps in this section and only 1 of which have been completed, which happens to be the least significant of steps. The remaining rigmarole of securing FDA approval, obtaining the green light to conduct cl inical studies, actually conducting these studies, etc. could easily take upwards of a decade to complete. From the perspective of an investor or a bank assessing a loan, this is entirely too long a process for someone to simply START making their money back.This exemplifies how difficult a market healthcare can be to get into, and that the barriers involved are simply too high. Additionally, the Pevlon is not necessarily a onetime revenue generator, but it comes uncomfortably close. In 2009, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) released new cancer screening guidelines. According to ACOG, women now need to begin screening at age 21 as opposed to 18, and women ages 21 to 30 only need to be screened once every two years; women 30 and older only once every 3 years (Cox, 2009).The final qualms that I have concerning this business plan is the window of opportunity associated with the product, and the amount of time it will take for Private Concepts to become a p rofitable company. There does not appear to be an actual window of opportunity as the business plan does not thoroughly prove the market segment. Anecdotally I polled a number of women in my life with whom I am comfortable bringing this subject up and all of them (4) took the opinion that their screenings are not a major source of stress or discomfort, but rather they have come to accept it as â€Å"part of the routine of life. And in regards to becoming a profit generating entity, right up front on page 3 of the business plan, it is shown in the chart that Private Concepts would not be in the black until 5 years of doing business. What’s most concerning is that 5 years is still merely a hypothesis and that the organization is seeking over three million dollars in funding basically right out of the gate. Conceptually, the idea of a self administered, in home cervical cancer screening is a good idea.It poses benefits such as convenience and avoiding uncomfortable screenings a t a physician’s office. Private Concepts missed the mark in their business plan however, in a number of ways. The market was identified too ambiguously and the plan did not clearly exemplify certain key aspects of said market such as how many women actually would prefer an in home screen versus one performed in a physician’s office. Where to market and focus sales efforts was clearly stated, however, the idea to sell first in the United States is not the best possible plan of action.Private Concepts should as the plan mentions, manufacture the product off shore in order to maximize profit margins, but at the same time the pricing point should be rethought considerably in order to capitalize on the more fruitful markets of places like rural China and Africa. Appealing to non-profits and government entities that might focus on these foreign demographics was a small piece of the business plan, but it should have been more of a focus.Finally, in this assessment I had the a dvantage of hind sight and context. This business plan won the Moot Corp competition in 2002 with what appeared to be a viable business plan at the time. This product has yet to come to market and I was unable to find anything stating that the Pevlon has been approved by the FDA. This does not necessarily hold any bearing on this analysis of the business plan; however, it does prove to a certain extent, a lot of the shortcomings that were found within this business plan.Academically and structurally the plan was very well done, however in practical application it is easy to see how and why the Pevlon is still an unknown product to virtually the entirety of the woman population in the United States. Arbyn, Marc. HPV-Based Cervical Cancer Screening in China. The Lancet Oncology. 2010;11(12):1112 – 1113. Burkitt, Laurie. Report: China’s Healthcare System Deeply Sick. The Wall Street Journal. http://blogs. wsj. com/chinarealtime/2012/08/29/report-chinas-health-care-system- deeply-sick. 9 August 2012. Date Accessed: 23 January 2013. Cervical Cancer Statistics. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Gynecologic Cancers. http://www. cdc. gov/cancer/cervical/statistics. 20 December 2012. Date Accessed: 23 January 2013. Cox, Lauren & Dr. Joshua Hundert. New Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines: No More ‘Annual’ Pap Smears. ABC, Good Morning America. http://abcnews. go. com/GMA/OnCall/guidelines-ditch-annual-pap-smears/story? id=9131632. 20 November 2009. Date Accessed: 23 January 2013.

Marco Polo s Interpretive Analysis - 977 Words

Marco Polo in China: Interpretive Analysis Although Marco Polo started out as a humble merchant from Venice, he eventually developed a reputation as one of the world’s greatest explorers (â€Å"Marco Polo†). He was much more than just a trader however, providing the Western world with detailed accounts of the foreign society that was Medieval China under the Mongol conquest. These accounts would later become invaluable to historians for centuries to come. Written in ca. 1270 CE, the document titled, â€Å"Marco Polo in China† was written first by Marco Polo during his travels, but then transliterated by a professional author when he returned to Venice in 1295 CE (â€Å"Marco Polo†). The selection is a piece of descriptive literature detailing the affluent city of Hangchow. According to the document, the city was one hundred miles in circumference and nestled in between a massive river and a freshwater lake. Polo then continued on to describe what the ten m arketplaces were like in the city, claiming there were shops galore and a plethora of foodstuffs. In addition, his descriptions of what the housing in the city looked like gives rise to the image of modern-day apartment buildings. In Hangchow, there were paved roads, approximately 12,000 bridges, and even an army that acted as a sort of police force. Marco Polo’s documentation of the city of Hangchow was intended for an audience of educated individuals who had never been to the city. The incredibly detailed description of the city, in

America Is Under Attack By Drugs - 1343 Words

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Going Deep into Drama Essay example - 872 Words

Before all electronic devices were invented, people watched plays at theater for entertainment. Plays were the common things back then, and they were where drama came from. According to Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia, the word, â€Å"drama†, is from Greek, meaning to do, act. That is why drama is usually conducts on stages and in theaters. According to Meriiam-Webster, drama is defined as a serious story that is expressed as dialogues, and is presented by actors on stages and televisions. Fiction and drama both have plots. They introduce the problem, build the climax, and then solve it. Compared to fiction, drama doesn’t specifically describe the characters’ structures. Fiction helps the readers to imagine the characters’ outlooks. Drama is†¦show more content†¦However, their deceptions don’t cause harms to others, they just want to help Beatrice and Benedick to know each other’s true heart. On the other hand, Don John repeatedly makes up false rumors. 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Smoking in pregnancy Free Essays

string(101) " 15 cigarettes a day have 15 times greater risk of dying from SID compared to babies of non-smokers\." Introduction The purpose of this essay is to identify a public health issue with a woman I cared for in practice. Using a health promotion model to critically analyse the woman’s needs and outline the midwifery care given to address the issue. Discussing health promotion, theories influencing midwife practice and the role of the midwife in public health and health promotion. We will write a custom essay sample on Smoking in pregnancy or any similar topic only for you Order Now For the purpose of maintaining confidentiality in accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) the code: standards of conduct performance and ethics for nurses and midwives (NMC 2008), the pseudonym Miss will be used to refer to my client. Different source of literature will be used to support my discussion throughout the essay. Scenario Miss Yardley, a young woman of white British origin, twenty one year old primipara, eleven weeks plus four days gestation according to her last menstrual period. She attended the maternity booking clinic with her long term partner for history taking. She lived with her partner in a private accommodation though recently both she and her partner had moved in with her mother who lives in a council rented apartment, as they could no longer afford payment for their flat. She was unemployed due to a recent redundancy from the company she had worked in since leaving secondary school aged sixteen. Her partner is employed but on a low paid salary as a call centre operator. On several occasions she had searched for new employment with no success. She expressed not to have any medical or obstetric problems. Miss Yardley expressed that she used to drink alcohol only on social occasions but stopped when she became aware of the pregnancy. She willing expressed when asked regarding smoking t hat she smoked up to fifteen cigarettes a day or more depending on how she was feeling emotionally. She tried quitting on one occasion though due to overwhelming personal issues at the time was unable to give up smoking. Her partner never smoked but her mother smoked up to ten cigarettes a day. She expressed willingness to quit smoking but felt worried that she may not be able to completely give up as she tends to be drawn to smoke more when stressed and now that she is unemployed there is more time available for her to smoke. The public health issue from the case study The importance of smoking as a public health issue has been identified in various key policies and strategy papers. The government white paper on tobacco 1998: smoking kills targets pregnant women as a priority group requiring intervention. According to the Department of Health (a smoke free future) ‘smoking remains one of few modifiable risk factor in pregnancy’ (DH, 2010, p.22), it states that smoking rates are highest in routine and manual groups, lower socioeconomic groups and certain minority and vulnerable groups. In the mid 1950 smoking levels between socioeconomic groups were similar, however since the 1960 onwards the more advantaged socioeconomic group acted in response to increasing evidence about the harmful effects of tobacco use (DH 2011). Figure 8 (in appendix) in the strategy shows correlation between the prevalence of smoking and net income. Therefore reducing smoking rates in these groups of people has been identified as a critical factor in reducin g health inequalities. The good practice guide 3 (Public health agency 2010) also indicates a clear link between smoking in pregnancy and social disadvantage, it states evidence indicates while women know that tobacco use is damaging their health, for many smoking is a means of coping with poverty, disadvantage and lack of control over aspects of life. In contribution to social disadvantage, the highest prevalence of smoking is noted in the 20-34 age group (Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2006).The most recent white paper Healthy lives, healthy people (DH 2011) sets to reduce national rates in smoking amongst pregnant women to 11 percent from the current 2009/10 rate of 14 percent. It states that tobacco smoking remains one of the most significant public health challenges in England. Cost Smoking has remained prominent in public health globally and it continues to be a major factor for health inequalities in the UK. The world health organisation (WHO), 2011) states over the cause of the 21th century, tobacco use could kill a billion people or more unless urgent action is taken. The need for support identified in various literature and government strategy to enable pregnant women to maintain healthy lifestyles during and after pregnancy has impacted in my decision to identify smoking as a public health need for my client. Impact of smoking in pregnancy Maternal smoking is not only harmful during pregnancy but has a long term effects on the baby after birth, 4000 chemicals of which some are marked irritant properties and some 60 are known or suspected to be carcinogenic can be found in tobacco smoke (WHO, 2004). Some of the risk associated with smoking during pregnancy includes intrauterine growth restriction, placenta previa, and abruptio placentae (Vanderhoeven and Tolosa 2010). Poor outcomes such as preterm rupture of membranes, low birth weight and perinatal mortality have been highlighted (Vanderhoeven et al, 2010). Lagan and Casson 2010, indicates smoking to be associated with increased risk of miscarriage, respiratory problems for the child and sudden infant death (SID). Research carried out by University College London (UCL) concluded that babies born to women who smoke are at increased risk of having certain birth defects such as missing or deformed limbs, clubfoot, gastrointestinal, skull and eye defects and cleft lip o r palate (Campbell 2011). Babies born of mothers who smoke have frequent respiratory problems at birth and in their first year, they are at risk of developing asthma and a higher rate of stillbirth is noted (Viccars, 2009). Miss Yardley smokes 15 or more cigarettes a day and her mother is also identified as a smoker, this puts the unborn baby at risk of effects due to direct smoking and passive smoking. Mitchell et al (citied in Viccars, 2009) states that babies of women who smoke 15 cigarettes a day have 15 times greater risk of dying from SID compared to babies of non-smokers. You read "Smoking in pregnancy" in category "Essay examples"Further research showed a link between smoking during pregnancy and low levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in children whose mother’s smoked whilst pregnant. It concluded that they had 10-15 percent risk of experiencing heart disease compared to children with non smoking mothers (Health express, 2011). From the discussion above it is evident the issue of smoking would need to be addressed at each opportunity with Miss Yardley when providing care and advice. This would enable screening and monitoring of smoking status, education on the effects of smoking to the outcome of her pregnancy and adequate support to ensure effects to pregnancy and the general health of mother and baby is eradicated or minimised. Health promotion models WHO defines health promotion a process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve, their health. It implies that the ideology moves beyond a focus on individual behaviour towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions. Naidoo and Wills (2010), states ‘health promotion is based on theories about what influences people’s health and what are effective interventions or strategies to improve health. There are five different approaches to health promotion, medical, behaviour change, educational, client approach and societal change approach (Scriven 2010). Different health promotion models have been developed to enable a planned intervention to improve health. Tannahill model (Downie et al 1996 citied in Naidoo and Wills 2009), addresses health promotion over three overlapping spheres of activity, preventive education, prevention and health protection. The model suggest that all approach interlink, in practice this could be difficult to implement and due to the overlapping of spheres, focus on what needs to be achieved could be confused. The prevention sphere of the model relies mainly on the medical approach , Barnes (2009) suggest that medical approach could be perceived as a top down approach and that when providing health promotion intervention client involvement is necessary to help maintain individual focus (client centred care). In comparison, the Tones model which is an empowerment model sets to enable people to gain control over their own health (citied in Naidoo and Wills, 2009). ‘Tones consider education to be the key in empowering both lay and professional people’ (Naidoo et al 2009).The empowerment approach relies on educating client and the information conveyed would be highly medicalised to show importance of the issue. In relation to Miss Yardley who has tried but failed to quit smoking, empowering her through the use of education to convey the risk of smoking though unavoidable as a health professional, could have a counter active effect. Dunkley (2000), states that the aim of mass campaign is to raise awareness, however it may increase feeling of guilt and stress which may be relieved by the aid of another cigarette. Therefore the effectiveness of this model’s approach for my client is questioned. Tones and Tannahill model both mainly makes use of the medical and educational approach, this makes it difficult to address socioeconomic factors that have documented risk with smoking. As my clients issue is related to smoking and there is a socioeconomic factor present, it would be inapplicable to use these models of health promotion. During the booking appointment, Miss Yardley willing expressed to have tried quitting with no success and that she would like to quit though factors such as not having a job contributed to her smoking. ‘Nicotine addiction is identified as a major factor for women continuing to smoke during pregnancy’ (Lagan et al 2010). There is a link between stress and the use of tobacco as a relieve method. Gorman (2008) states ‘that smoking represents a significant challenge for pregnant women, as it compounds the stress of pregnancy and may be further complicated by additional factors such as disadvantage’. McCurry et al 2002 (citied in Lagan et al 2010) also indicates smoking to be a mechanism of coping with disadvantage, stress and perceived lack of control over life. According to Earp and Ennett (1991) an ecological perspective implies that behaviour results from interaction of both individual and environmental factors (Citied in Lagan et al, 2010). Various lite ratures have made use of behaviour model when planning intervention for smoking. Prochaska and DiClemente’s trans-theoretical model (Naidoo et al, 2009); will be used to manage the care of Miss Yardley. The model describes the process of change; it is derived from their work on encouraging change in additive behaviours (Naidoo el at, 2009). This model is applicable to my client has it addresses her behaviour which is the main attribute in smoking and enables a woman centred approach. Woman centred care is expressed as choice, control and continuity of care in the Changing Childbirth report (DH, 1993 cities in Leap 2009).Behavioural change approach enables the use of communication and counselling, empowerment, decision making, fostering community groups and social support networks (Dunkley 2000). The process of change includes precontemplation, contemplation, preparing to change, making change and maintenance. The woman’s needs and midwifery care involved All care given was in accordance with the National institute for health and clinical excellence (NICE, 2010): public health guidance 26. Precontemplation: in this stage change to lifestyle has not been considered. Miss Yardley has progressed from this stage has she identified willingness to try quitting. This shows the limitation of the model when used with an individual who is thinking of changing. Contemplation: the individual is thinking about change. The client’s willingness indicated readiness for change, adequate information was giving during the booking appointment through leaflets and other forms of resources. Due to the step by step structure of the model, it was easy to identify the stage of change. Preparing to change: Miss Yardley has read all the information given and had taken up the referral. Though she continued to smoke but expressed to have cut down to 10 cigarettes a day. This shows the effectiveness of the model, though she is not at the point of change the use of counselling and information regarding risk has empowered some form of change. Making the change: a date was choose. She had cut down from 10 to about 8 a day depending on her moods; she maintained her appointment with the specialist. Maintenance: there is a possibility of relapse at this stage as change is not a smooth process (Naidoo et al, 2009). In Miss Yardley’s case change would have to be assessed through to the postnatal period, in order to determine adequate health improvement.According to At booking, Miss Yardley’s pregnancy was considered low risk, which meant that her care was given mainly in the community. Her exposure to smoking was identified through discussion. Carbon monoxide test was not carried out as it is unavailable in the located hospital. Information regarding the risk of smoking in pregnancy to her and the unborn child was explained and information leaflets and contact numbers to relevant smoking services given. Passive smoking was addressed and the effects pointed out. The benefits of stopping smoking to her health and that of the pregnancy outcome were highlighted, financial benefit was also explained. The need to quit, rather than cut down was explained. Informed consent was given and referral made to the community smoking cessation midwife. Encouragement and praise was given at this stage. As she identified her mother to be a smoker, information on how to reduce passive smoking was explained and relevant stop smoking service contact w ere given to help her mother. The pregnancy book by the Department of Health was given for general education on pregnancy and the section on rights and benefits was highlighted to help with benefits as she was unemployed. Care given was accurately recorded in accordance with NMC code (2008) to enable continuity of care. At 28 weeks plus four days, she was seen for a routine follow up antenatal appointment with the midwife. She expressed to be well, no concerns regarding fetal movement noted, no abnormalities detected with other routine examination such as symphysis fundal height measure. The appointment was used as an opportunity to assess her exposure to smoke, and to identify whether smoking cessation was maintained. Benefits of quitting were further stressed and encouragement was given. From her appointment with the smoking specialist, it was evident from documentation that improvement were being made in regards to the carbon monoxide readings as she had reduced the amount of cigarette smoked and was preparing to achieve a set date. The role of midwife in public health and health promotion Midwives have been identified as health professional responsible for identifying this target group of smokers (pregnant women).Midwives have access to the life cycle of very important group of people; therefore they play a part in the government target of reducing smoking in pregnancy (Pollock 2003). Partnership with woman is essential in achieving health promotion and maintaining government set public health targets. According to Leap, (citied in Ebert et al, 2009), ‘midwives reported their role as facilitating choice and empowering women through partnership and effective communication’. the midwifery partnership model of care Communication is an important role for midwives, in health promotion it enables continuity of care through adequate documentation, verbal interaction with women enables relationship to be formed which further improves women centred care approach. Byrd (2006) ‘states that relationship are able to persist trust and attachment developing a s long as people fulfil perceived obligations of behaviour and communication’ (Ebert et al 2009). Multidisciplinary team working to enable adequate care is provided is also a vital role of midwives in health promoting and improving public health.Midwives and nurses frequently utilise holistic concept of health to underpin practice (Beldon and Crozler 2005). Therefore when provide health promotion it is important that the women’s needs is addressed holistically in accordance with midwifery practice and not based on medical interpretation. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that smoking during pregnancy is an important aspect of public health and therefore an important part of midwifery practice. In particular, health promotion in daily practice is required to prevent any further complication to mothers and their unborn babies. Smoking is a major public health issue that continues to contribute to social and health inequalities.Working with Miss Yardley enabled me to provide care tailored to her needs and goal set to quit smoking and were identified by the client. Though I was unable to follow her care care through, I feel adequate support provided through the smoking cessation referral would enable her to maintain her set goal and improve her health and that of the unborn child. How to cite Smoking in pregnancy, Essay examples

Case Study for Conceptual System Design-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Write a Report on Case Study for Conceptual System Design for Surveillance Technology in Highways. Answer: Introduction In the present world many students taking engineer are taught Engineering Design processes during the coursework. EDP may be applied in designing of new, redesigning old products to a desirable product in the future market. In real sense when an EDP is incorporated with System Engineering exertion the needs are supplied by SE at a given time and point. The design process in its simplest terms can be seen as a 3-step loo From the above 3-step loop design one generates an idea as the first thing, then implements it and after that testing and evaluation of the implemented product is done then the process continues to follow the cycle hence making it repetitive and making it termed as an iterative process (Anderson, 2009.). EDP comprises of four phases named and explained as follows. Project Definition Planning Phase. Major tasks are identifying objectives, forming team to conduct feasibility study, the price or the cost that estimates the budget for the objectives, planning reviews and deliverables. Requirements Definition and Engineering Specifications. Its goal is understanding problems and institute requirements of the customer and the specifications of the engineer. Conceptual Design Phase). This is the third phase and the one that we are discussing in our report and its concerned with concepts generation, do compare and evaluate the concepts and choosing the best concept that to use Product Design Phase. The conceptual phase ends with selecting the best concept but this design phase make the chosen best concept in to a product by design and hence implementing in to real product. Need Definitions Everything in engineering systems is initiated by identifying the wants that are desired within a given specific area. This is done by understanding the deficiencies that are as a result of the output given. A good scenario is when a firm realises that it is not able to achieve its goals with relations to the set objectives, hence there arise need to define the problem and by identifying what the problem need for it to be handled therefore defining the capability of the system that will solve the problem need. After the need is identified and defined to help in meeting the organisation goals, a performance of need analysis is done. Considering our case study the installation of surveillance technology in roads and highways to monitor traffic incidences in both rural and urban roadways and highways , hence we have to question ourselves to what the need analysis should consist of? Surveillance technology will function in a manner that the big idea is to capture each and every incident happening in the highways and in roadways. It will also act as another way to minimise cases of traffic cases. It will also be used to boost security in roads as each and every activity will be monitored Experts monitoring the surveillance technology have a responsibility to be cautious and proof footage of any incident in case they are asked for. What need to be accomplishes is the problem defined are eliminated by ensuring that surveillance technology has been put in to place hence reducing cases of traffic incidences. Other needs that may arise as result of defining the first need is to secure the places the surveillance technology is to implemented and provide lightings which are enough for easy surveillance in the highways actually modern and advanced road lights will be the best Conceptual System Design(CSD). Technology of the current society is evident enough that engineering has succumbed all places ranging from vehicles to electronic gadgets. Most of the engineer work need to find a solution to existing problems that are already identified in the first phase. CSD is always seen like an extension lead of the logical design which is independent technological wise and this makes CSD to considering todays technology that is with relevancy in accomplishment with functional requirements of a system and the focus in this report will be CSD in field and operations levels. The aim of this report is to give an understanding of the exact type of surveillance gadget is required in meeting the system functional requirements (Kunz, 2007). The exhibition CSD of Technovy Surveillance system is categorized in to five categories and discussed below in details. Design Thoughts and Norms Applications of Surveillance. Incidents in traffic highly contributes to a lot of congestion along Thika super highway. Sometimes its caused by breakdown of vehicles and this make it for a need of a surveillance system that will provide information about incidents and accidents by effectively offering its support to traffic management system for incidences along the highway. As most freeway system are almost full of congestion, there arise possible use arterial streets which are parallel to take care of a portion of traffic in case a demand arose in the freeway Thika. In real sense the arterial streets are not capable of providing this service due to their physical design features. Alternatively, if they happen to be used then more advanced system controls for traffic will have to be used and enough information given. The other consideration is applying location of vehicles and tracking devices. Information gathered will be importance as it will act added part of information to the surveillance. Conceptual design will focus on info exchange phase as far as the system is concerned. Geographic location of the Road Thika highway networks covers all rural and urban locations respectively and hence we must consider the existing features in these environments in our conceptual system design. AASHTO Criteria was applied to provide the route for the classifications of both rural and urban highways. Freeway is clearly termed as divided way on the road with a minimum of not less than two lanes in either of the direction to or from (Woodbury, 2006). Access on the freeway i.e. to and from is managed requirements of surveillance only permitted at specific interchanges. Also ramps and overpasses frequencies are observed and always some miles apart from each other when controlling them. The frequency of overpasses and ramps is controlled, and they are generally several miles apart. It occurs that both above geographical locations have arterials that are parallel and sometimes may act as collectors in the highway and hence they may be used as alternate routes of the way which is free(freeway). Technology of Surveillance Some of the technologies selected for conceptual system design were surveillance such us detectors for vehicles, surveillance for CCTV, Human and Aerial, and sensors for the environment (McCuen, (2007). Each and every category of specified selected product it may be applied depending on the needs and restrictions of each geographical jurisdiction. Great influence by additions of surveillance technologies due to its fast growth has been experienced in the conceptual system design. Design Concept Surveillance for Urban The aim or job of the proposed surveillance concept in the freeways of Thika is for acquisition of traffic incidences. The main melody of conceptual system design is to gather and join the surveillance information for traffic and from many sources and hence maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness. For effective gathering of information in identifying incidences in traffic systems that detect such incidents should be put in place to cover gaps in surveillance in existence (Krishnamurti, 2006). Figure 1 Conceptual System Design for Urban Areas Emergence of stand-alone systems like WDs will need to be put in place that are potentially high in terms of incidences in traffic. Incidents can be detected and verified quickly by use of multiple sensors surveillance. For verifying remote incidences this will be performed by CCTV as seen in the figure 1 above as tracking devices that are kept by the fleet recorders such as patrol service, vehicles of police and those in transit. Design Concept Surveillance for Rural The lack and cost being high of installing the infrastructure of surveillance communication in areas referred to as rural, it relies heavily on surveillance that are aerial, human capable for detecting incidents . The figure below describes the dissimilarities in urban and rural conceptual designs Figure 2 conceptual design for rural areas. WDs are recommended to be applied due to limitation use automated detectors for traffic incidents Multiples sensors play a very big role in covering surveillance in rural area. Unavailability of tracking info from vehicles due to lack of updates in frequencies especially in distances which are long. Camera especially CCTV application when verifying incidents will not be a consideration due to high costs of communication. Rural Throughways. The Sensors applications in rural areas are applied to the same way like that of urban freeways. Assumptions made are that the interchange ramps that are major are enclosed by detectors such as radar. Due to availability of land being high unlike in urban this makes volumes of traffic not to be high (Haymaker, 2007). There are sensors located in the two pavements along the rural roads near the two interchange ramps and in line with station for weather which help in reduction of cost of communication. Lastly is placement and installation of WIM near the two major interchange ramps Conceptual Design for Communication This concept aims on links that join the devices used for surveillance with native TMC. Communication among these joints i.e. locally, regional TMC and amongst them is managed by Network Exchange project body. In our case the design internal local TMC and external one. Figure 3 Surveillance Communication network for TMC externally. Communication Network for External TMC There is a distributed controllers and detectors networks that is connected to TMC locally via a land based mark. Figure 4. Surveillance Communication Network for Urban Area Conceptual desig The figure 4 is appropriate in urban areas unlike in rural areas where there is high availability of land or in cases where the distances between TMC applied locally and the nodes they communicate with are far apart. Wireless combination such as radio or phone which are cellular are applied to link the communication along the nodes and TMC locally implemented (Hartmann, 2008). Recommendations Necessary Modifications Currently in existence system detectors in use their compatibility with surveillance conceptual system and hence local systems integration should avoid creating problems in detecting a point of view. Integration of control systems and surveillance systems that are installed on the freeways with TMC with less effort as existence of systems in place should easily converse amongst themselves. Evaluation of Central and local levels of systems in existence should done in a separate platform. Use of optics like fibre, and telephone systems for compatibility with the points at the destination. Other improvements related to communications are: Establishment of network that have the capability for manipulation of voice, video and gathered data and can use broadband and single mode cables. Establishment of network that is distributed to handle any added network field devices Ensure security is put in place while implementing the Local TMC especially when integrating with the existing communication nodes Conclusions In argument mode we can term conceptual design to be the most and key necessity compared to other phase when it comes to designing in engineering processes. Its importance will be for the reason that most of what is formulated here will be applied later for the rest part in developing the entire process. Bad selection of a concept may lead to overruns of budget, delaying and may end up cancelling the project (Wertz, 2008). As seen above concept design is the most vital but on the other hand very confusing as if not done as it is supposing from the beginning it may bring some problems in implementing it in the future in the other phases. References Anderson, D., 2009.. Making Engineering Design Decisions,. Louisiana Tech University, Volume 5, pp. 24-58. Hartmann, T. F. M. H. J., 2008. viewpoint. [Online] Available at: https://www.aecbytes.com/viewpoint/2007/issue_33.html. [Accessed july 2017]. Haymaker, J. C. J., 2007. Coordinating goals, preferences, options, and analyses for the Stanford Living Laboratory feasibility study. Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 4200/2006. Krishnamurti, R., 2006. Explicit design space?. Krishnamurti, R. (2006), 20, 95-103, Explicit design space? Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing., Volume 20, pp. 95-103,. Kunz, J. G. B., 2007. stanford. [Online] Available at: https://cife.stanford.edu/VDCSurvey.pdf. [Accessed 29 july 2017]. Ma, Y. C. G. T. G., 2008. Paradigm Shift: Unified and Associative Feature-based Concurrent Engineering and Collaborative Engineering. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Volume 10, pp. 008-128. McCuen, T. S. P., (2007. aecbytes. [Online] Available at: https://www.aecbytes.com/viewpoint/2007/issue_33.html. [Accessed 30 July 2017]. Wertz, J. R. a. L. W. J., 2008. Space Mission Analysis and Design. Volume 03. Woodbury, R. B. A., 2006. Whither Design Space? Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing. Volume 20, 63-82.

Name Essays (1711 words) - Discrimination, Race And Society

Name Professor's name Course number Year Racial discrimination has been a topic greatly debated upon for many centuries. It has been all around us and truly , there has never been a correct mechanism to deal with it. the United States, also known as the most powerful country nation in the world is among the top in racial and colour discrimination. Despite the success of the nation, discrimination is still greatly practised there and there are no signs of it going away. This is because it does not just require a law for it to stop; it has to come from people's hearts and minds because it is something that is psychologically mindset into someone.Since the times of President Roosevelt, there existed progressives who aimed at supporting the coloured races and fought for their rights to be acknowledged. The likes of Woodrow Wilson tried their best and we can say that to an extent they succeeded, but not completely. There was a great change but today the discriminative attitude crept back because it was deep inside th e hearts and minds and cannot be fully uprooted unless by choice. Title VII of the civil acts of 1964 was created with an effort to vouch for the rights of the African-Americans, the Hispanics and the Native Americans. In chapter 6 of Employment Law for Business, they have vividly put out numerous instances in which the coloured have been discriminated, oppressed and generally showed no respect. Even today we can see that in classes studying about the American history, most students are obliged to ask on which term to use fittest between African-Americans' or Blacks'. This shows that their conscience tends to tell them that one of them may be discriminative whereas it's just a term to refer to the black people and truth of the matter is that they are okay with both. The white man's mentality, however, tells them that there may be some openly discriminative nature they may expose (Monk, Ellis, 15). Research has found out that most employers when looking for employees would opt to employ a white man who has a criminal record or has recently been released from jail rather than a black man with a clean slate and no records of criminal activities. This shows how deep rooted the discrimination is considering one would rather trust a criminal with work because their skin colour matches rather than a well-behaved person just because his skin is coloured. This has been noted severally in workplaces in the United States and we really do not know how to deal with this problem if the problem is within us.Also, the identical resumes that bosses send out for people to fill and send back are biased. Before the employers can look at the qualifications and other related material, they first gauge the name and see if it has any ethnic ties, this is if it sounds black' or Hispanic'. If they note a name that is widely used by either race, that will be the end of looking at that resume des pite how qualified they are, they wish to have no ethnicities that are qualified in their workplace and would rather opt for less qualifies fellow white people among them (American Psychological Association, 17). They would not even bother if the zip code came from a place that is known to be financially stable, they would greatly diminish.In addition, the advertisements posted were also scrutinised for any form of the linguistic profile because they know how a black person or a Hispanic would write and they would immediately disqualify that with respect to the linguistic profiles. According to the American Census Bureau Data, it was acknowledged that white women are paid $0.77 for every dollar that a man earns as put out by law, it was however noted that black women and the Hispanics who were in the same work jurisdiction were paid $0.70 and $0.66 respectively. This is a relative decrease compared to the white woman whereas there exist in the same work jurisdiction. This may be considered wrong but do you know what is worse? In the 70's, the average pay was $0.08 less for the black woman compared to