Bar Code Scanning and Patient Safety Essay Example for Free

Bar Code Scanning and Patient Safety Essay The following paper explores eight published articles that address the issue of bar code scanning for medication administration and patient safety. Online research was conducted to locate and review articles which are included in review of literature, and to acquire accurate information addressing the issues discussed. The understanding of Bar Code Scanning for Medication Administration (BCMA) is a valuable tool, providing safe practice needed to reduce medication errors leading to safer patient handling. Patient safety is defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) as the prevention of harm caused by errors of commission and omission (Henneman, 2010, p. 8). The use of BCMA changed medication administration, documentation, and communication regarding patient care (Spetz, Burgress, Phibbs, 2012, p. 158). Key words: bar code scanning of medications, patient safety and workarounds Issues 1. Discuss bar code scanning in medication administration (BCMA). 2. Discuss how the use of BCMA has affected patient safety. 3. Discuss the implications of workarounds in medication administration to the patient. Literature Review Discuss How the Use of BCMA has Affected Patient Safety The following articles were reviewed for the purpose of addressing the issue: how BCMA has affected patient safety. Patient safety has been an issue in all realms of healthcare. The use of BCMA introduced a new avenue to establish the best practice of drug administration for patient safety. â€Å"Medication Administration: The Implementation Process of Bar-Coding for Medication Administration to Enhance Medication Safety† (Foote Coleman, 2008) discusses the issue of patient safety with the use of BCMA. According to (Foote Coleman, 2008, p. 207) medication errors strike at the heart of being a nurse: the value of â€Å"do no harm†. The reduction of medication errors has had a direct and indirect effect on the patient and the nurse (Foote Coleman, 2008, p. 207). The direct effect can be a safety threat to the patient and an indirect effect can compromise the confidence of nursing practice (Foote Coleman, 2008, p207). The use of BCMA has increased patient safety by system validation of the six rights of medication administration: right drug, right patient, right time, right route, right route, and right reason. The findings concluded patient safety has increased with the use of BCMA. Reduction of paperwork using BCMA for the nurse allows for more time with the patient reducing the risk for error. â€Å"Impact of BCMA on Medication Errors and Patient Safety: A Summary† (Marini Hasman, 2009) was also reviewed. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimates that one hospitalized patient is on average subject to one medication error per day. Medication errors that result in preventable adverse drug events may occur during any stage of the medication use process: ordering (56%) transcribing (6%) dispensing (4%) and administration (34%). The use of BCMA has addressed the issue of medication administration safety as a priority for patient safety (Marini Hasman, 2009, p. 439). BCMA system use has decreased the errors in the administration phrase by possibly intercepting administration errors before they reach the patient (Marini Hasman, 2009, p. 439). Enacting the BCMA technology into patient care has acted as a point of care safety system that assists in the protection from potential errors and safeguards the medication administration process where none previously existed (Mari ni Hasman, 2009, p. 440). Safeguards that have been put in place since the implication of BCMA into the healthcare field have shown from this article that safe practice has increased. The article, â€Å"Patient Misidentifications Caused by Errors in Standard Bar Code Technology (Snyder, Carter, Jenkins, Fantz, 2010), discusses some medication errors on misreading wristband bar codes. The use of bar code scanning has decreased transcription errors in many healthcare applications including patient identification (Snyder et al., 2010, p. 1554). The study indicated misidentifications of patients could occur, contributing to unsafe patient practices. Wristbands used for identification can assist with identifying the correct patient in the six rights of medication administration. While this is not a failsafe answer it is valuable in providing a safe practice of medication administration to patients. Discuss Bar Code Scanning in Medication Administration (BCMA) The following articles were reviewed for the purpose of addressing bar code scanning in medication administration. Nursing requires the critical skill of accurate medication administration. The use of electronic medication administration has brought about many changes in the healthcare field. The article,† What Determines Successful Implementation of Inpatient Information Technology Systems† (Spetz et al 2012), was reviewed to address the above question. Computerized patients records and bar-code medication systems continue to gain favor in healthcare. This idea spread across the nation in all VA sites (Spetz et al., 2012, p. 157), providing a safer environment for patient care. The use of bar code scanning utilizes the perfection of computers into medication-administration process. Training to use (BCMA) indicated from the article can be cumbersome and staff can be apprehensive about the change. The time needed for BCMA showed extremely high demands with the implementati on of BCMA system (Spetz et al., 2012, p. 160). The initial implementation of BCMA interrupted the flow of care for physicians and nurses (Spetz et al., 2012, p. 160) Training and time management were issues addressed including support, work flow changes, and communication allowing flexibility for changes and updates (Spetz et al., 2012, p. 161). In review of information, BCMA has assisted healthcare in providing a safer environment for patient care. The use of BCMA has increased awareness of mistakes, increased accountability to the staff by having recorded times of medication administration, and patient identifiers in patient care. The review of article â€Å"An Evaluation Process for an Electronic Bar Code Medication Administration Information System in an Acute Care Unit† (Bargen Lu, 2009) discussed the development and use of BCMA in medication administration. An IOM report attributed 7,000 deaths annually to medication errors (Bargen Lu, 2009, p. 356). Bar code medication administration systems were designed as a saf ety tool for nurses. The use of this system assists in reduction of errors at the point of medication administration (Bargen Lu, 2009, p. 356). The reduction of medication errors was introduced by using computerized alerts and warnings. These compelled users to stop and reconsider potentially unsafe steps in the medication administration process (Bargen Lu, 2009, p. 356). This caused a workflow disturbance for nurses. BCMA processes were examined using direct staff observation, process mapping, and informal group discussion. The process assisted in data collection and reconfiguration of BCMA, thus reducing unnecessary alerts in the BCMA system. The conclusion drawn from review showed that a decrease in the numbers of unnecessary alerts triggered by the BCMA system can help ensure the workflow blocks nurses encounter are clinically significant and justified (Bargen Lu, 2009, p. 357). Although the workflow blocks are there it is sometimes necessary to assist in safe patient handling. Another article reviewed was, â€Å"Barcode Medication Administration: Lessons Learned from an Intensive Care Unit Implementation† (Wideman, Whittler, Anderson, 2006). The use of bar code scanning has been used in retail for many years and was adapted for the use of medication administration originally by the Veterans Health Administration in the year 2000 and has spread across the US since that time (Wideman, Whittler, Anderson, 2006, p. 437). The system was designed to improve accuracy in administration of medication through real time network connectivity. This allowed documentation electronically of administration of medications at the bedside (Wideman et al., 2006, p. 437). On April 04,2004 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled that barcodes were mandatory on labels of thousands of human medication and biological products by the year 2006 (Wideman et al., 2006, p. 438). The VA health care system used barcode scanning already in place and included the barcode of the medications in the safety system. This provided a better opportunity for patient safety using the BCMA system. The use of a handheld barcode scanner at the bedside registered each medication, software verified correct medication was ordered, time of administration is correct, measured in the correct dose, and in real time documents the administration of the medication (Wideman et al., 2006, p. 439). Alleviation of paper medication record for the nurse reduced the chance for medication error and harm to the patient. By the use of this system missed medications, medication actions, and medication ordering could be done as the bedside. The induction of BCMA into patient bedside medication administration also reduced phone calls to the pharmacy from nurses. This helped to increase efficiency for medication administration providing a safer environment for patient care. Discuss the Implications of Workarounds in Medication Administration to the Patient The use of BCMA for medication administration was not received with open arms. The training, computer knowledge, workflow blocks, were some of the complaints by nurses. The following articles reviewed discussed workarounds when using BCMA. The article reviewed â€Å"Patient Safety and Technology† (Henneman, 2010) discussed safety and BCMA. The goal for BCMA systems was to prevent medication administration errors (Henneman, 2010, p. 9). Identifying and verification of the patient’s identity is critical to assure patient safety and reduction of medication errors. Work-arounds have been reported with the use of the BCMA system in place. These work arounds create a serious threat to patient safety (Henneman, 2010, p. 9). Workarounds include affixing patient identification bar codes to computer carts, clip boards and carrying several patients’ pre scanned medications on carts (Henneman, 2010, p. 10). BCMA systems have assisted in creation of some work-arounds with unreadable medication bar codes, non-bar coded medications, malfunctioning scanner s at the bedside, and missing patient armbands used as a patient identifier (Henneman, 2010, p. 10). The review indicates workarounds can be created for any situation. It is the responsibility of the nurse to ensure the correct medication is being administered to the correct patient using the six rights of medication administration. BCMA is only a tool to assist in safe patient handling. Another article reviewed, â€Å"Medication Errors Occurring with the Use of Bar-Code Administration Technology† (Pennsylvania patient safety advisory, 2008) discussed workarounds as a method of accomplishing an activity through other arrangements when not able or willing to use the correct method. A temporary solution is not the answer and, puts the patient at greater risk for medication error. Using work-arounds such as typing the patients’ social security number, indicating the medication will not scan, or affixing the wristband of patients to bedsides rather than the patient’s wrist puts the patient at risk (Pennsylvania patient safety advisory, 2008, p. 125). The summary fro m review indicates it is the nurse’s responsibility to ensure safe medication administration even though it is not always the fastest method. Analysis of Findings Patient safety, bar code scanning and work-arounds all relate safe patient handling. The review of literature indicates safety is the number one priority in healthcare. The development of BCMA was part of the process to ensure a safer procedure for medication administration. Medication errors indicated that BCMA was not always the cause of the problem. Mislabeling of medications, work-arounds, missed scanned wristbands have all contributed to errors in medication administration. Findings indicate that although BCMA is an excellent tool to assist in the six rights of medication administration to the patient. It is not an overall solution to medication errors. The responsibility is a collective effort by physicians, pharmacists, and nurses to ensure the safest practice for the patient. Implication for Practice BCMA is an excellent tool to assist the nurse in bedside medication administration. The inpatient environment is hectic for the nurse, having multiple patients and time limitations. Patient safety is a priority in healthcare and taking the time to ensure the correct medication is being administered to the correct patient is part of nursing practice. The use of BCMA assists this process by ensuring the medication has been correctly ordered by the physician, verified by the pharmacist, and verification of patient identifiers. The system alerts nursing when there is a question of correct dose, medication, time, route, or patient. This assists the nurse in providing a safer method of medication administration. The field of nursing requires critical thinking skills in all realms of patient care. Medication administration is only one area of nursing practice. A safer environment for the patient is part of everyday practice for the inpatient nurse. The use of BCMA assists the nurse in providing this environment in patient care. Although work-arounds are many times easier for the nurse in time management, it is not the safest practice. Identifying and verification of the patient’s identity is critical to assure patient safety and reduction of medication errors. The understanding of Bar Code Scanning for Medication Administration (BCMA) is a valuable tool, providing safe practice needed to reduce medication errors leading to safer patient handling. Patient safety is defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) as the prevention of harm caused by errors of commission and omission (Henneman, 2010, p. 8). The use of BCMA changed medication administration, documentation, and communication regarding patient care (Spetz, Burgress, Phibbs, 2012, p. 158). In the practice of nursing this all relates to everyday practice. Patient safety, avoiding the temptation of work-arounds, and using tools such as BCMA ensure that nursing is util izing all the information to assist patients in the healing process. References Bargen, M., Lu, D. (2009). An evaluattion process for an electronic bar code medication administration inofrmation system in an acute care unit. Urlogic Nursing, 29(5), 355-391. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19863043 Foote, S. O., Coleman, J. R. (2008). Medication administration: the implementation process of bar-coding for medication administration to enhance medication safety. Nursing Economics, 26(3). Retrieved from http://web.ebschost.com.lib-proxy.usi/ehost/resultsadvsnced?sid=769055e1-76b1-460c-b5f6-96214bb1c806%40sessionmgr13vid=2%hid=14bquery=Medication+Administration%3a+theimplementation+process+%22of22+bar-coding+for+medication+administration+%22to%22+enhance+medication+safetybdata=JmRiPXJ6aCZOeXBIPTEmc210ZT1aG9zdC1saXZ1JnNjb3BIPXNpdGU%3d Henneman, E. A. (2010). Patient safety and technology. Advanced Critical Care, 20(2), 128-132. Retrieved from http://www.ajhp.org/content/66/13/1202/long Marini, S. D., Hasman, A. (2009). Impact of BCMA on medication errors and patient safety: a summary. Connecting Health and Humans. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-024-7-439 Pennsylvania patient safety advisory. (2008). Medication errors occuring with the use of bar-code administration technology. , 5(4). Retrieved from http://www.ecri.org/Documents/PA_PSRS/2008.12_Advisory.pdf Snyder, M. L., Carter, A., Jenkins, K., Fantz, C. R. (2010). Patient misidentifications caused by errors in standard bar code technology. Clinical Chemistry, 56(10), 1554-1560. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.lib-proxy.usi.edu/healthcomplete/docview/756738318/fulltextPDF/13790524A8A77BE80D2/56?accountid=14752 Spetz, J., Burgress, J. F., Phibbs, C. S. (2012). What determines successful implementation of inpatient information technology systems. The American Journal of Managing Care, 18(3). Retrieved from www.ajmc.com Wideman, M. V., Whittler, M. E., Anderson, T. M. (2006). Barcode medication administration: lessons learned from an intensive care unit implementation. Advances in Patients Safety, 3. Retrieved from http://wwwfda.gov/cber/rules/barcodelabel.pdf

Social, Political and Economic Effects of WWI :: World War I History

Social, Political and Economic Effects of WWI "Everywhere in the world was heard the sound of things breaking." Advanced European societies could not support long wars or so many thought prior to World War I. They were right in a way. The societies could not support a long war unchanged. The First World War left no aspect of European civilization untouched as pre-war governments were transformed to fight total war. The war metamorphed Europe socially, politicaly, economically, and intellectualy. European countries channeled all of their resources into total war which resulted in enormous social change. The result of working together for a common goal seemed to be unifying European societies. Death knocked down all barriers between people. All belligerents had enacted some form of a selective service which levelled classes in many ways. Wartime scarcities made luxury an impossibility and unfavorable. Reflecting this, clothing became uniform and utilitarian. Europeans would never again dress in fancy, elaborate costumes. Uniforms led the way in clothing change. The bright blue-and-red prewar French infantry uniforms had been changed after the first few months of the war, since they made whoever wore them into excellent targets for machine guns. Women's skirts rose above the ankle permanently and women became more of a part of society than ever. They undertook a variety of jobs previously held by men. They were now a part of clerical, secretarial work, and te! aching. They were also more widely employed in industrial jobs. By 1918, 37.6 percent of the work force in the Krupp armaments firm in Germany was female. In England the proportion of women works rose strikingly in public transport (for example, from 18,000 to 117,000 bus conductors), banking (9,500 to 63,700), and commerce (505,000 to 934,000). Many restrictions on women disappeared during the war. It became acceptable for young, employed, single middle-class women to have their own apartments, to go out without chaperones, and to smoke in public. It was only a matter of time before women received the right to vote in many belligerent countries. Strong forces were shaping the power and legal status of labor unions, too. The right of workers to organize was relatively new, about half a century. Employers fought to keep union organizers out of their plants and armed force was often used against striking workers. The universal rallying of workers towards their flag at the beginning of the war led to w ider acceptance of unions.

How Does Art and Music Relates to Each Other Essay

Art and music bring many cultures from all around the world together. Both express thoughts, emotions, stories, views, ideas, and opinions of human life. For instance, art is a form of expression as well as music. Moreover, music describe a person’s culture, life, feeling and hobbies as well as art. It is how people liberty to express themselves through music in whichever way they prefer. as well as art and what people confront on a daily basis. Furthermore, art and music has change over time and it has influence in the way we dress and dance. It also reflects on violence and drugs. Finally, have an extremely negative impact on the attitudes and behaviors of American youth. Music affects society now in days by influencing teens in the wrong way. For instance, music videos have made a humongous impact on the behavior of teens. Moreover, teens flaunt their bosoms around just because they see it on the videos so they portray the same image thinking that is the style. For example, Adriana, a cousin she dresses something similar to that and her response is that is what is in. Also, the way teens dance through music. For example, the songs Bring it, Donk, Ass by listening to this type of songs they start twerking dancing. In particular, a dance that teases and inappropriately moves. It consists of how you shake your behind. personality my perspectives about those move dances are inhuman. In addition, this type of songs has made an impact on the dances and it has everybody twerking. A dance that consist of shaking hips and bottom and bouncing up and down motion, causing to shake, wobble and jiggle . Another, huge impact would be the song and dance called The Twist it had have a tremendous impact back in the days. many people were against it but some were not. Foremost, John Johnson Jr. â€Å"The Twist† The Los Angeles Times, 2013) states. â€Å"Soon, the fad hopped generations, sweeping up the â€Å"Mad Men† set of swinging company men and their hip-shaking wives. Therefore, regardless if the song influences in an appropriate dance it is still going to be a big hit and it is going to have everybody dancing. Another, social message that is transmitting through music and art is the violence. For example, some friends would always-encountered dangerous scenes because of the designs imprinted on their clothes gang related as well as the music consisting of disrespecting others. onsequently, they were getting shoot at. In addition, my cousin Arthur was involved in the Mafia. He was kill in Mexico 3 years ago because of the music he used to listing to drugs as well as the clothes he used to were. His clothes had a picture of Mal Verde a major drug dealer. The drug music would inspire him to fight. He had a tragic death that was never solve he was kidnap and torture to death. In addition, many people are being influence in the drug life because of their admiration to those kinds of art as well as the music. On the other hand, it can inspire others to get out of that life style. For example, Biello, Johnson Jr. (â€Å"The Twist† The Los Angeles Times, 2013) states that â€Å"Biello, who hope the Twist would ease his exit from the Mob, never did get out. He was assassinated in 1967, in broad daylight in downtown Miami. The crime was never solved but was likely part of a power struggle in the top ranks of Mafia leadership. † Moreover, music and art is meant for uplifting and encouraging people yet over the years it has become degrading. Finally, the way it influences the teens today. The more aggressive the music, probably the more grumpy and rebellion they tend to get. The beauty of music has exploited into evil things. For instance, the music today such as rap and hip-hop has profanity and that is the type of music that teens listing today. Consequently, can be influential, and they will try to crazy things. In conclusion, art is music it is what gives life a meaning. For example, to share ideas, express feeling, tell a story It is what brings many different cultures together from all over the world. Weather it brings out good or bad messages it is still a form of art.

Islam and Incarnation - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1278 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/10/10 Category Religion Essay Tags: Islam Essay Did you like this example? A son came to earth. He had no father, but God protected him. He had few followers, but he prophesied of a Kingdom. He did marvelous acts, but he was merely a man. This Jesus, according to the Koran, was a man of God, but he was not the God-man. This Jesus was not incarnate, not God taking up human flesh to make Himself known to His creation, for Allah must forever remain apart from his creation. Muslims believe they live in a world untouched by the incarnate God-man, and they do so happily because their doctrine so vehemently denies the incarnation. Islam fails because of its denial of the incarnation. Allah’s Character Al-Adl Allah’s justice demands payment that cannot be satisfied without the incarnation. To say that Allah is just is a gross understatement. One of Allah’s 99 names is Al-Adl, the utterly just, and Surah 95:8 leaves no room for argument on the issue. According to the Koran, if Allah was as just as he claims to be, there would be no life left on earth. Because Allah is just, he must exact payment for wrong each person has committed individually, but this is not what Islamic tradition consistently teaches. In one Sahih Bukhari hadith, a collection of Muhammed’s teachings gathered by his family and close friends in the years after his death, there is a story of a man who has committed 99 murders. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Islam and Incarnation" essay for you Create order Knowing that he has done great wrong and was coming to the end of his life, he seeks out a worthy Muslim to see what he must do to have Allah accept him. The murderer tells his story to the worthy Muslim, but the verdict came back that he would not be pardoned. Upon hearing the verdict, he kills the man and seeks out another Muslim in hopes of a different verdict. The man he finds is an even wiser Muslim who tells the murderer that he must go to a specific city and repent immediately. The murderer dies on his way to the city, and two angels, one an angel of mercy and the other of judgment, come to claim his body. A great argument ensues, and eventually a measurement is taken to see if he was nearer the city of repentance or the city he left and is found closer to the wrong city. Allah, being merciful and benevolent, shrinks the earth to make him closer the city of repentance so he could be in paradise. This story is not an example of a cherry-picked Hadith. Muslims commonly use this Hadith to teach the nobility of repentance, but they ignore the fact that Allah broke his character of justice to save the murderer. Justice cannot be satisfied without payment; a consistent God cannot wink away sin. The incarnation solves the problem of justice through Jesus’ death on the cross. Al-Kabir Allah’s greatness diminishes without the incarnation. Allah is Al-Kabir, the great, as listed in the 99 names of Allah as well. One former Muslim went as far as to say that Allah’s greatness is the anchor of Islam. There is an almost universal understanding that love is the motivaton for every great action. Through the pen of Paul, Scripture affirms that love must motivate your actions for them to have worth because Scripture’s standard for love is extremely high. Jesus, whose words are deeply respected by Muslims, calls His followers to love even those who hate them, and He even goes a step farther to tell His followers to pray for them. The Koran does not have such a high view of love as the Bible does. While it does commend a natural type of love where a man cares for those who care about him, the fundamental distinction is that love is only for those who deserve it, not for the unlovable and our enemies. The Koran’s small view of love eliminates the possibility of the incarnation which led to the greatest act of love of all time. â€Å"If God is the Greatest Possible Being, and love is the greatest ethic, where do we find love expressed in the greatest possible way† – the cross. Even if the incarnation did happen, Muslims vehemently deny the historicity of the cross and generally hold to a replacement theory. The replacement theory, that Jesus went all the way to the cross, but at the last moment, Allah took Jesus’ appearance and placed it on another man so that another man was crucified, does not solve the problem of Allah’s greatness. If the replacement theory were true, that would mean Allah personally started one of the largest false religions in the world which is anything but great. Allah’s greatness requires an act of love with as much magnitude as the cross, but the Koran’s denial of the incarnation makes it impossible for Allah to manifest his greatness in the greatest possible way. The Christian’s Responsibility For Christians, it is important not only to point out the deficiencies of Islam regarding the incarnation, but they must lovingly transition to sharing truth for the purpose of evangelism. What set apart Christ’s ministry was that He found people where they were, but He did not leave them there. Christians must do the same and can do so because of the nature of the Gospel. The Gospel exhibits compossibility, the existence of two contradictory things at the same time similar to a paradox. God’s justice demands sacrifice, and God’s mercy demands that our sin be paid for. By the miraculous incarnation and death of Jesus, both are met, and Christians can be enthusiastic to share this glorious news. Muslims need to see passionate belief in the life of a Christian before they will open their heart to Scripture’s message. While Christian educators do have a place teaching accurate reading and interpretation of a text to their students that would, if a Muslim applied these techniques to the Koran, show its self-contradictions, a Muslim’s greatest need is to see a passionate belief in a Christian’s daily walk with God. Christians can best display their passion when they have a personal relationship with a Muslim and have semi-private moments with him. A close, personal relationship built on trust means people with positions like athletic coaches or private music instructors have incredible platforms for reaching young Muslims who are more likely to leave their faith. Summary The Islamic denial of the incarnation dismantles its theology of Allah. Islam deceives its followers by promising the more like Muhammed a person becomes, the purer his heart will be, but the Christian knows Jesus must make his heart pure in order to be like Him. Furthermore, if Muhammed is the best intercessor mankind has, then mankind is hopeless because not even Muhammed could not fully plead for his uncle except to get him to the lowest form of hell where he would wear sandals that caused his brains to boil. Muhammed did not incarnate to become a good intercessor, and Allah, unlike the true God, is distant and unknowable. Jesus, God in human flesh, paid the penalty all humans could not pay; He is the perfect intercessor who enables men to know God personally and have a relationship with Him. Christians must be passionate about the Gospel, build relationships for the sake of it, and boldly declare it to those who desperately need it. Muslims need to know that the without the incarnation, Allah’s justice and greatness are thrown to the wayside, but through the incarnation man may know and have a relationship with a great, just God.

Aging As A State Of Decline - 1428 Words

1. In her speech, Jane Fonda spoke about aging and the effect that it can have on a person. Fonda talked about â€Å"Life’s Third act† or the last three decades of a person’s life. Fonda explained that the advances in medicine and technology enabled the human race to live longer than before (Fonda, 2012). According to Fonda, humans are living on average, thirty years longer than past generations. The human life span has been extended and humans are spending a great deal of their lives in older age (Fonda, 2012). Fonda explains that we should not accept aging as a decline to our mental and physical capacity. According to her, our spirits do not age but mature over time which explains why people over the age of fifty are generally happier, less†¦show more content†¦When I think of my patients who are totally dependent on us health care workers, I also think about myself when I am in that situation. It is unsettling to think that someday I would depend on s omeone to perform simple daily living activities that I have always done on my own. Fonda’s speech explains that we could find advantages to aging that only seen when we are at that stage. I still fear having to end up in a state of total dependence on someone else. However, as Fonda stated, it is how we approach those changes that will determine the quality of life that we would lead in old age (Fonda, 2012). 2. The MSNBC webcast recounts different stories of the aging population in America. One of the cases mentioned in the web cast is Arden peters and his wife Maxine. The aging theory of wear and tear can be applied to the case of Arden peters who has lost his wife Maxine due to dementia and Parkinson’s. He himself became too weak to care for himself due to the process of aging (MSNBC, n.d). He reached a point where he required someone to care for him. His friend Warren DeWitt is taking care of him and previously helped him take care of his wife until she passed away (MSNBC, n.d). The theory of wear and tear is based on the notion that aging is caused by damages done at the cellular level over time (Hawkley, Berntson, Engeland, Marucha, 2005). The processes that could damage the cells could be sickness, radiation, and accumulation of toxic materials over time

Examine the Boko Haram Saga in Nigeria and Provide a...

UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL STUDIES (GRADUATE STUDIES) EXAMINE THE BOKO HARAM SAGA IN NIGERIA AND PROVIDE A SOLUTION TO POLICY MAKERS. BY NAME: BABALOLA OLUBUKOLA COURSE TITLE: RELIGION AND MODERN CHANGE IN AFRICA COURSE CODE: RCS 502.2 According to the Wikipedia Boko Haram refers to People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophets Teachings and Jihad. Better known by its Hausa name Boko Haram, it is a Salafist jihadist terrorist organization based in the northeast of Nigeria. It is an Islamist movement which strongly opposes man-made laws. Founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2001 or 2002, the organisation is a Muslim sect that seeks to abolish the secular system of government and establish a Sharia†¦show more content†¦The centre had ulterior political goals and soon it was also working as a recruiting ground for future jihadists to fight the state. The group includes members who come from neighbouring Chad and Niger and speak only Arabic. In 2004 the complex was relocated to Yusufs home state of Yobe in the village Kanamma near the Niger border. The group conducted its operations more or less peacefully during the first seven years of its existence. That changed in 2009 when the Nigerian government launched an investigation into the groups activities following reports that its members were arming themselves. Prior to that the government reportedly repeatedly ignored warnings about the increasingly militant character of the organisation, including that of a military officer. When the government came into action, several members of the group were arrested in Bauchi, sparking deadly clashes with Nigerian security forces which led to the deaths of an estimated 700 people. During the fighting with the security forces Boko Haram fighters reportedly used fuel-laden motorcycles and bows with poison arrows to attack a police station. The groups founder and then leader Mohammed Yusuf was also killed during this

Instant Car-Pooling on the Android Platform Free Essays

string(95) " service called Loopt which broadcasts the location of the user even when the phone is closed\." CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 CS 8803 – AIAD Project Report. Instant Car-Pooling on the Android Platform Vinaya Shenoy Parikshit Sudumbrekar Madhura Tipnis 1 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 Table of Contents: Introduction Objectives Motivation Technology Overview Related Work Architecture Project Screen-Shots Evaluation Future Work Project Experience Conclusion References 3 3 3 4 5 5 6 14 14 15 16 17 Table of Figures Figure 1: Android Technological Overview Figure 2: Carpool Application – Starting Window Figure 3: Carpool Application – Create a new Event Figure 4: Carpool Application – Contact List Figure 5: Carpool Application – Events Created history Figure 6: Carpool Application – SMS for carpool invitation received Figure 7: Carpool Application – Car pool Invitation Details Figure 8: Carpool Application – Details for the event creator Figure 9: Carpool Application – Map showing pick-up points 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 2 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 Introduction: With increasing convergence between different technologies like the cellular world, internet (IP) world, different applications have become popular and many more are under development. One of the prominent services popular amongst the users is the â€Å"Location Based Services† and â€Å"presence†. We will write a custom essay sample on Instant Car-Pooling on the Android Platform or any similar topic only for you Order Now The current location-based services out there in the market use the policy of ‘broadcasting locations’ while enabling any activity between the various users. This may lead to unintended recipients being the beneficiary of certain events. With this in mind, we aim to develop an application/service that would enable selective delivery of events/messages to the intended recipients based on their location. This would help in avoiding thousands of messages being sent to unintended recipients. Thus, not only the location of the intended recipient is taken into consideration; but the context of the location is also taken into consideration. In this project, we define the context of the recipient as its distance from the initiator of the event. Objectives: The objectives of the „Instant Car Pooling Application? can be stated as follows: 1. Enable users to create events that would specify the following information? The total vacancy in the car. ? The time at which the event is going to take place. ? The Final destination. 2. Development of the logic that would enable? Poll in the location information of all the intended recipients. ? Take decision based on the context on the location. ? Send „sms? to all the selected recipients and handle the accepted or rejected messages received from the recipients. 3. Generate a Google Map that shows the initiator the map between his location, all the recipients that agreed to his car pooling event and the final destination. We aim to demonstrate all these scenarios on the „Android Emulator?. Motivation: The application under consideration, the „Instant Car Pooling? application, is a novel idea which has never been implemented before. This became our source of motivation for going ahead with this project. All the current car pooling methods are 1. Time consuming. 2. Require a lot of before-hand planning. 3. Require several rounds of communications in the form of series of e-mails or a series of telephonic conversations. 3 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 Also, there seems to be an absence of a „Car Pooling? pplication on the mobile phones. This motivated us to develop our application on the „Android Platform? , one of the upcoming and latest mobile platforms launched by Google. A different source of motivation behind the development of this application is that of the „Georgia Tech India Club?. All the members of this club complained about receiving thousands of mails which either requested for a Car Pool or which offered a Car Pool. Thus, uninterested students used to receive such mails. We thought; why not develop a „mobile-based instant Car Pooling application? s our gift to the student community of Georgia Tech? This really gave us the passion to go after the completion of this project. The initiator of the event could select intended recipients from the contact list. The application then checks for the relative context of the location of all the selected recipients and forwards the event to only those recipients that satisfy the context. Technology Overview: Figure 1: Android Technological Overview Android is a new operating system for the G1 phone that has been released by Google in 2008. The main difference that sets the Google G1 phone apart from other operating systems is that the Android is based on an open source platform. This implies that anyone can view and even modify the source code. This results in constant evolution of the software. In case a developer senses that there is a certain feature that is currently not included then he or she can incorporate it in the phone and the software would develop. Since it is a fairly new platform, it is not as 4 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 developed as other mobile operating systems. But considering the open source nature and other features, it can go a long way beyond other mobile operating systems. The hardware associated with the phone is provided by various companies. As and when the hardware becomes more advanced, the Android OS will be able to support more features functions. Related Work: 1. Location tracking is the most essential thing and a definite pre requisite for any mobility related application. This can be done in different ways. 2. A social tool has been developed which helps the user connect with people around him. This tool has been developed on the Symbian Operating System. The location of the user is detected in the cell phone by getting information from the cell tower. This application doesn? t need GPS. Each user can keep up with what is happening with people in the friend? s list. Broadcasting of messages is the approach followed in this tool. It also provides other features like connecting people with similar interests. It helps the user explore various places in and around the location detected. 3. There is a mobile social networking service called Loopt which broadcasts the location of the user even when the phone is closed. You read "Instant Car-Pooling on the Android Platform" in category "Papers" It also allows sending of messages or sharing of photos between contacts. This Loopt is currently limited to the Sprint network. Architecture: The users that have this application installed on their cell phones can use this application as either initiators of car pooling event or as invitees for a car pooling event. When the user launches this application, the user is given three options to choose from. The user can create a new car pool event, view the events that he has created earlier or view invitations for car pool event from other users. When the user chooses to create a new event, he is given a form which has fields such as subject of the car pool, time of the car pool, vacancies in the car, destination address of the car pool, and a button to choose from the list of his contacts. The user enters the values in the fields and then clicks on the contact list. The contact list is displayed from which the user selects the contacts he wants to send the invitation of the car pool to. All the invitees will be sent an SMS with the details of the carpool event. When the invitee accepts an invitation, the carpool application on his phone will respond back to the initiator with the current GPS location of the invitee. When the initiator gets back the positive reply from an invitee, he will retrieve the location co-ordinates from the sms and using reverse geocoding functionality of the Geocoder utility will calculate the street address of the contact. Now when the initiator views the event generated, he can see all those who all have responded to the event. A Google map is created with the locations of all those who have responded to the event. It gives the order of pick up as per the order in which the invitees have responded. We have used the Google Map API here for 5 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 generation of the route map based on the location as detected by the geo coder. Once the vacancies are full, the other invitees who try to accept the invite later are displayed a message which says that the car is full. Project Screenshots: Figure 2: Carpool Application – Starting Window This is the first screen that appears on the cell phone display when the user starts the application. There are three options that are provided. They are ? ? ? Create an event – This allows the user to start a new car pool. View created events – This allows the user to go back and view the car pool events that have been created earlier by him. View Invitations – This option lets the user view invitations for other car pooling events from his friends. 6 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 Figure 3: Carpool Application – Create a new Event This screen appears on the cell phone display when the user chooses to create a new car pooling event. In the subject box, the user can type out a short description of the purpose of the car pool. Since it is an instant car pooling application, the day is set to the current day as recorded in the cell phone. The user is given a list of times to select from when he clicks on the â€Å"pick a time† option. Also the user is allowed to specify the number of vacancies in his car to go to a particular destination. The user enters his destination address in the destination 7 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 box. Then the user can select contacts from his contact list to whom all the event will be sent to. Figure 4: Carpool Application – Contact List This screen is the contact list. The user can select the contacts he wishes to send the car pool event invite to, with the help of check boxes provided next to the names of the contacts. When the user clicks on â€Å"add to event†, the invitation is sent to the selected contacts from the contact list. This event is sent in the form of a „sms?. 8 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 Figure 5: Carpool Application – Events Created history This screen is displayed on the cell phone display when the user chooses to view the car pool events created by him. The user can click on the individual events to view the details of each event. This list contains all the past events as well as the pending events. 9 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 Figure 6: Carpool Application – SMS for carpool invitation received When the message is sent to the contacts, the message as shown above appears on the display of the contacts to which the message is sent. The name of the car pool event generator also appears in the message pop up. 10 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 Figure 7: Carpool Application – Car Pool invitation details When the user clicks on â€Å"view invitation† option on the main page, the user is displayed the screen above. The invitation gives details of the car pool which includes the subject of the car pool, the name of the initiator of the event, the time at which the car pool is scheduled to take place, the destination of the car pool and the status of the reply. The user is given to options to respond to the message of either attending or not attending. The user can click on either one depending on his choice. Once the user responds to a message he won? t be given an option to change his decision. 11 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 Figure 8: Carpool Application – Details for the event creator This page will be displayed to the user who created the events. It will give him a summary of the event with details such as the subject, the time of the event, vacancies in the car, destination of the car pool, invitees to the event, and the order of pickup of the invitees who responded. The order of pickup is decided on first come first serve basis currently. Also the user is given an option to check the map of the route now by clicking on â€Å"show route map†. 12 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 Figure 9: Carpool Application – Map showing pick-up points The route map is displayed to the creator of the car pool event when he clicks on the â€Å"show route map† option. Along the route, the pick-ups in the order of first come first serve are plotted. The interesting thing about this application is that in the beginning when no recipient has accepted the invitation, the initiator of the event can view a map of source (his location) and the final destination. As and when recipients accept the car pooling invitation, the map is updated and it shows all the intermediate pick-up points (the locations of the recipients who have accepted the car pooling invitation). Thus, the initiator of the event now has the entire map, wherein he has all the information about the route to follow. 13 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 Evaluation/Testing: We tested our application by running four instances of the emulator on the same machine. In each emulator we stored three contacts with their numbers being the port numbers on which the other three emulators were running. We then tested the following scenario: 1. When a user creates a new event, the event is created properly ensuring that all the parameters are valid. For eg, the user can? put a time in the future or put a negative vacancy, give no invitees. Also, we verify the destination address provided by the user to ensure that the address is correct and exists on the map. 2. Once the event is created, we verified that all the invitees got an sms message with the proper details and the invitation is displayed in their invitation list. 3. When an invitee accepts an invitation a reply sms with his GPS coordinates is sent back to the initiator. 4. When the initiator gets a accept response, the event is updated and the initiator can see the pickup location of the invitee on the map. . When the carpool for an invite becomes full, all invitees who respond after that get a carpool full response sms. Future Work: This project provides a proof of concept of the „Car Pooling? application. It is a stripped down version of our dream „Car Pool? application. There are a lot of improvements that can be incorporated into this project that makes it more complete and feature rich. The future work with regards to this project can be summarized as follows: 1. Currently, the initiator sends car pooling invitation to his friends from his contact list. Their location is forwarded back to him when they accept the invitation. This helps in the creation of the Google Map for the event initiator. In the future, we could have a web service that handles all this location information. This would also solve some privacy related issues like the publishing of recipient location etc. 2. At the moment, the routes are decided on the „First Come First Serve? basis. This means, the route is decided on the order in which the recipients accept the car pooling invitation. But the path obtained from this may not always be the shortest path. Thus we could have algorithms like the „Dijkstra? s? algorithm or Algorithmic concepts like „Dynamic Programming? to calculate the shortest path between source, destination and all the recipients. Thus, optimization on this front can be obtained. 3. The web service can be programmed to handle the context of the location. The context of the location can be determined by its proximity to the location of the event creator. Thus, the web service can determine a radius and determine the recipients which fall within the 14 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 adius as the ones who would receive the car pooling event message; while those which lie outside the radius would be ignored. Thus, broadcasting of the event can be avoided. 4. Other features can include displaying only the events that are pending when the user clicks on the „View Created Events? button. All the past and completed events could be stored in a separate „history log?. 5. Currently, the final de stination needs the complete address of the location. In the future, the final destination address could be populated by extracting information from the „subject? of the event and using Google Maps functionalities. For example, if the user types in „Trip to Wal-Mart? as the subject, then the final destination address could be filled automatically by the closest Wal-Mart store located near him. Project Experience: Working on the project was a learning process with a lot of interesting discoveries. The Android platform being comparatively new was a challenge to work on, since very less documentation was available as well as little support was available through the online communities. During the initial phase of the project, all the various APIs that were supported were studied to determine their use and feasibility towards the project. During this initial feasibility study, we realized that certain API support have been removed from the latest version of Android. This included the crucial one of Google Maps, which our project was dependent on. Thus, began another study to determine the use of actual Google Map APIs through the Android code. Also the basic idea of the project made us realize that how convenient car pooling can be made with this application. The project exposed us to the latest technology in the area of mobile platform development. In class the various issues in mobile computing were covered. Also there was an extensive explanation of mobile computing in general. This discussion helped us a lot in the project. We realized that issues such as less power on the device, etc. can be a problem if there are huge amounts of computations to be done. Thus, we made a point to keep the client as this as possible and with this aim in mind, we also aim to develop a web service in the future that would completely take care of all the computation and make the clients really „thin?. Location based services were extensively covered in the class. This motivated us to incorporate them into our project. We have extensively used locations in our project, in fact we have the plotted the Google Map by making use of them. Due to such background developed in class, we thought of experimenting on the Android platform. It gave us a boost to explore the yet not totally discovered areas in Android API usage. 15 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 Initially we wanted to test the project by executing instances of the Android emulator on different machines. These emulators would then communicate between each-other through means of messages. But, we were not able to demonstrate in this fashion due to certain technological challenges. In the end, we demonstrated the application by executing different instances of the Android emulator on the same machine. We further aim to test the performance of our application by adding a number of recipients and measuring the time taken for the Google Map to build. This would help us in determining whether the time remains for large number of recipients, finding the bottle-necks if any and moving towards a cut-off for the number of recipients for which the application shows normal execution time. Conclusion: Thus, this project successfully demonstrated a mobile based „Car Pooling? application. This application would help in the process of creation of „instant car pool? events. Thus, we successfully reduced the long conversations needed for normal car pool events. In future, more functionality can be added to make this application more robust and more feature rich. With the advent of smart phones, this application, when developed to its fullest, would be able for all to use and make their journeys much more enjoyable and comfortable. 16 CS 8803 AIAD TERM PROJECT REPORT TEAM#2 References: 1. Android API documentation. (n. d. ). Retrieved from Android Developers: http://developer. ndroid. com/reference/packages. html 2. Android Development Community Forum (n. d). Retrieved April 2009 from http://www. anddev. org/index. php 3. Google Maps API documentation. (n. d. ). Retrieved from Google maps: http://code. google. com/apis/maps/documentation/ 4. Strickland, J. (n. d. ). How the Google Phone Works. Retrieved April 2009, from How Stuff Works: http://electronics. howstuffw orks. com/google-phone5. htm 5. What is Android. (n. d. ). Retrieved April 2009, from developer. android. com: http://developer. android. com/guide/basics/what-is-android. html 17 How to cite Instant Car-Pooling on the Android Platform, Papers