Social Inequalities Of Indigenous People

Social Inequalities Of Indigenous People It would be hard to deny that for one of the smaller representing populations in Australia Indigenous Australians are the most disadvantaged in many areas ranging from employment, housing, justice and education among many more. There have been various attempts at overcoming the disadvantages Aboriginal people face. For the purposes of this literature review different literature will be discussed around addressing the social inequality and disadvantage of indigenous people in relation to improving on the gap in life expectancy and what fundamental elements need to be considered for the process to work effectively. Views of what has brought about the low life expectancy will be discussed to highlight the importance of were actions should be targeted. This will then be followed by a review of what actions are in place at the moment. There are competing ideas in the literature as to what is the cause for the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, which also give different arguments as to how to address the problem, with one side taking a view of longevity and the other a holistic approach. It is argued that Indigenous Australians health disparities could be narrowed with the improvement of the disparities in health service access, provision and use. As The inabilities to gain sufficient health care due to, distance, cultural and availability barriers has lead to indigenous health problems being constant and prolonged (Healey 2002). However Eades of the of the Indigenous health research unit (2000,p.468) argues that a comprehensive approach to improving the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders involves understanding the close relationships between their social and economic status and their health. This holistic view of the social and economical status of Aboriginal people being improved upon to overcome health problems can be further reinforced through explanations of how psychological and social influences affect physical health and longevity (Wilkinson and Marmount 2003) in which it is stated life expectancy is shorter and most diseases are more common further down the social ladder in each society. Health policy must tackle the social and economical determinants of health (p.10). McMurray and Param (2008) readdress the primary health care aspect and bring in the notion that cultural specific guidelines with-in health structures is the key in improving Aboriginal health. This however ignores the h istorical issues between Indigenous and non indigenous relations that affect the life expectancy gap as the situation for indigenous Australians is further exacerbated by racism and prejudice, which have marginalised them from various aspects of social and community life, with additional detrimental effects on health (Eades 2000, p.469) and in effect the fear among Aboriginal people of institutional racism (Sweet 2003). Experiences of loss of traditional roles, a history of conflict and dispossession, failed assimilation and passive welfare are not isolated to indigenous Australians but have been experienced by indigenous peoples of other countries who have been colonised (Banks 2007). The statistics show however that indigenous Australians life expectancy compared to that of non- indigenous Australians to be considerably lower with men 11.5yrs difference women 9.7 yrs (Australian Bureau of statistics, 2010) were as the longevity gap between MÄ ori and non-MÄ ori has closed slightly. The difference in life expectancy at birth of 8.2 years in 2005-07 compares with 8.5 years in 2000-02 and 9.1 years in 1995-97 (statistics New Zealand 2008). Centres for Disease Control and Preventions (2010) also show the life expectancy gap in the U.S for Black or African American People to be somewhat lower than Australias and has been also closing slightly as at 1995 the gap was 7 years for both sexes and at 2005 has been reduced to 5.1 years. As it has been established that health can be a reflection social determinants, it would be fare to say that the social status and relations of international indigenous people are further along than Australia. Canada, New Zealand and The United States all have specifically designed treaties of political, legal and cultural significance which were designed in consultation with the Indigenous peoples that have established indigenous and non-indigenous relations with governments using treaties and treaty-making as part of a wider approach to developing a better relationship with and addressing the socio-economic problems of indigenous peoples (Brennan et al. 2005, p.99). In Australia there are no such treaties and often the commonwealth and state governments have a different belief in how the gap in life expectancy can be overcome to that of many indigenous Australians. This can be seen through the use of policies relating to indigenous affairs. A health impact assessment of the current governments Northern territory Emergency Response (NTER) points out that the Aboriginal understanding of health as having five dimensions cultural, spiritual, social, emotional and physical-within which are a number of layers that reflect historical, traditional and contemporary influences on health (OMara 2010,p.547). It is needed that Indigenous people have greater control over these dimension of their daily lives in order for the indigenous disadvantage to be improved (Maddison 2009). However the summary of findings from the assessment conclude that because of the lack of consultation with the Aboriginal communities and ignoring of cultural elements, the NTER is un likely to be effective in its aim of improving physical health and improving the social and environmental determinants of health as The HIA predicts that improvements in physical health may be outweighed by negative impacts on the psychological health, spirituality, and cultural integrity of a high proportion of the Aboriginal population in prescribed communities (Australian Indigenous Doctors Association and Centre for Health Equity Training 2010, p.65). There is an evidence base around the relationship between social detriments and psychological and physical health, with implications on health, through the addressing of those social detriments. Within indigenous communities outside Australia, social factors of cultural significance have and continue to be address through consultations with Governments. It is in these countries that statistics show improvements in life expectancy of the Indigenous population. Were as in Australia were this type of consultation and cultural consideration is absent in Governments initiatives and policies the gap in life expectancy in Australia continues to be a constant burden of Australian indigenous peoples. With the NTER which like past policies also excludes indigenous peoples involvment, being the Governments latest attempt at overcoming the status of appalling health among Australian Aborigines, the gap can be expected to continue. Asked about the governments priorities, indigenous affairs minister Jenny Macklin said that there will be little progress made by spending money on indigenous health without first addressing the chronic social problems that have been eating away at Aboriginal society (Dart 2008, p.247). References Australian Bureau of statistics 2010, The Health and Welfare of Australias Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Canberra, Viewed 19 October 2010, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[emailprotected]/lookup/437BB6CD9D0BCDB8CA2577300017FB8F?opendocument Australian Indigenous Doctors Association and Centre for Health Equity Training, Research and Evaluation 2010, Health Impact Assessment of the Northern Territory Emergency Response , Canberra, viewed 19 October 2010 http://www.aida.org.au/viewpublications.aspx?id=3. Banks, G 2007, Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage in Australia, Australian Government Productivity commission, Canberra, viewed 19 October 2010, http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/64584/cs20070629.pdf Brennan, S, Behrendt, L, Strelein, L Williams, G 2005, Treaty, The Federation Press, Sydney, NSW. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention 2010, Table 26. Life expectancy at birth, at 65 years of age, and at 75 years of age, by race and sex: United States, selected years 1900-2005, U.S, Viewed 19 October, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus08.pdf#026 Dart, J 2008, Australias disturbing health disparities set Aboriginals apart, Bulletin of the World Health Organization,vol.86, no.4, pp.245-247, viewed 5 October 2010, retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. Eades, S 2000, Reconciliation, Social Equity and Indigenous Health, The Medical Journal of Australia, vol.172, viewed 8 October 2010, pp.468-469. Healey, J (ed.) 2002, Aboriginal Disadvantage, The Spinney Press, NSW. Maddison, S 2009, Australia: Indigenous Autonomy Matters, Development, vol.52, no. 4, pp.483-489, viewed 19 October 2010, retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. McMurray, A Param, R 2008, Culture Specific Care for Indigenous People: A Primary Health Care Perspective, Contemporary Nurse: A Journal for the Australian Nursing Profession, vol. 28, pp.165-172, viewed 22 October 2010, retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. OMara, P 2010, Health Impacts of the Northern Territory Intervention: After the Intervention Editorial, The Medical Journal of Australia, vol .192, no.10, viewed 8 October 2010, pp.546-548, http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/192_10_170510/oma10307_fm.pdf. Statistics New Zealand Tatauranga Aotearoa 2008, New Zealand Life Tables: 2005-2007, New Zealand, Viewed 19 October 2010, http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/health/life_expectancy/NZLifeTables_HOTP05-07.aspx Sweet, M 2003, Carrying a Heavy Burden, BMJ: British Medical Journal, Vol.327, no.7412, pp.414-414, viewed 5 October 2010, retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. Wilkinson, R Marmot, M (eds.) 2003, Social Determinants of Health The solid Facts, 2nd edn, WHO, Copenhagen, Viewed 23 October 2010, retrieved from http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-publish/abstracts/social-determinants-of-health.-the-solid-facts.

General Motors - Financial Ratio Analysis Essay -- Business Finance Ac

General Motors - Financial Ratio Analysis I. General Motors History Highlights In its early years the automobile industry consisted of hundreds of firms, each producing a few models. William Durant, who bought and reorganized a failing Buick Motors in 1904, determined that if several automobile makers would unite, it would increase the protection for the group. He formed the General Motors Company in Flint, Michigan, in 1908. Durant had bought 17 companies (including Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Pontiac) by 1910, the year a bankers' syndicate forced him to step down. In a 1915 stock swap, he regained control through Chevrolet, a company he had formed with race car driver Louis Chevrolet. GM created the GM Acceptance Corporation (auto financing) and acquired a number of businesses, including Fisher Body, Frigidaire (sold in 1979), and a small bearing company, Hyatt Roller Bearing. With the Hyatt acquisition came Alfred Sloan, an administrative genius who would build GM into a corporate colossus. Sloan, president from 1923 to 1937, implemented a decentralized management system, now emulated worldwide. The auto maker competed by offering models ranging from luxury to economy, colors besides black, and yearly style modifications. By 1927 it had become the industry leader. GM introduced a line of front-wheel-drive compacts in 1979. Under Roger Smith, CEO from 1981 to 1990, GM laid off thousands of workers as part of a massive companywide restructuring and cost cutting program. In 1984 GM formed NUMMI with Toyota as an experiment to see if Toyota's manufacturing techniques would work in the US. The joint venture's first car was the Chevy Nova. GM bought Ross Perot's Electronic Data Systems (1984) and Hughes Aircraft (1986). In 1989 the company bought 50% of Saab Automobile. In 1990 GM launched Saturn, its first new nameplate since 1926, reflecting a new companywide emphasis on quality. Two years later it made the largest stock offering in US history, raising $2.2 billion. Culminating a period of boardroom coups (relating to the company's lagging effort to reduce costs) in the early 1990s, John Smith replaced Robert Stempel as CEO. NBC apologized in 1993 for improprieties in its expose alleging that GM pickups equipped with "sidesaddle" gas tanks tended to explode upon side impact. The government nonetheless asked the ... ...improved.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The stock holders equity has increased dramatically indicating the better management of the companies equity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The EBIT has improved for the last two year mainly because the level of interest paid has decreased due to the reduction of liabilities. Profitability   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Gross Profit Margin has increased from 1993 to 1994 as the cost of goods sold did not increase at the same level that the sales increased. The Operating Profit Margin ratio was stable in 1995 when compared to 1994 and the Net Profit Margin has also been improving for the last two years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Return on Total Assets has increased due the increase in the companies profitability, while Return on Equity has decreased on the last two years as the stockholders equity increased Overall   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is clear that the profitability of the company has been increasing for the last 2 years, mainly due to the decrease in liabilities, improvement in accounts receivable and better management of the company debt..   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The company also demonstrates that the profitability can be improved even further by having better inventory management and productivity maximization on their fixed assets.

“In The Lake Of The Woods” by Tim O’Brien

In the book (O’Brien, 1995) â€Å"In The Lake Of The Woods† by Author, Tim O’Brien, the author was able to convince me that I was there on September 19, 1986, when the woman disappeared close to the lake in Northern Minnesota. The vanishing of Kathy Wade was eerie and I was constantly asking myself what could have happened to this woman. Did she drown in the lake? The possibilities were endless and the author kept me in suspense as I feared the worst in this situation that took place in the woods. Kathy’s husband John who was a politician seemed to be an immediate suspect in Kathy’s disappearance.His character didn’t seem like one that was very respectable and although he was very handsome, which made him seem less of a suspect, his downward spiral in his political career did raise questions of his innocence. When the Wade family drove to the woods in Minnesota, I knew that they were going to be in for a fearful adventure. The secret tunnels and doors were quite interesting but the underground chamber was terrifying! Anything was liable to happen down there and it did raise vivid images of the spooky quarters. One thing could easily turn into something else at any given moment in this haunting tale.How could John Wade go from being a magician to a killer of the woman that he was supposed to love? From the very beginning of the story, it was as if you knew that Kathy was going to vanish but there was always hope that she would be found, throughout the entire story and I did try to visualize something happening to her that didn’t involve her husband. This story was able to take me backward and forward throughout the book, talking about different periods of time, which all had to do with the ultimate question of â€Å"What happened to Kathy?† John Wade, the soldier, you just didn’t want to believe that he was a murderer, although his friends in Vietnam did refer to him as a Sorcerer because of his magi c tricks, which seemed to flow in the story. Was he capable of love or was that just an illusion or just another one of his many tricks he held up his sleeve. That question was always on my mind. Kathy did know some things about John, because she sometimes called him â€Å"Inspector Clouseau† just another one of the many names that people that had been associated with, called him.He was easily transferred from one title to another, and each title was just as interesting as the last. He was a character with many talents, I suppose, including murder, perhaps? You did have to wonder if maybe Kathy was in that house. Was she a part of the magic that was inside or was she at the bottom of the lake in the woods? This story is very spooky and a little evil. I wonder what kind of mind did the author possess, himself to be able to come up with some of his ideas that made John Wade such an exceptional character in this book.Did the author have some of the same characteristics of this m an, John Wade or did he just make it all up? I think that all authors have some of the traits and qualities that they describe in their writing and I tried to sort through the reading and pick out some of those traits and associate them with the author. Was he into magic tricks and murder or perhaps he fought in a war and wanted to describe some of the events that he was recalling. This book is so engrossed in questions and I still have to wonder how one man could have so many different personalities.He was a politician, possible murderer, fighter in Vietnam, magician. He was handsome and obviously charming because of the fact that he seduced his wife and was successful in marrying Kathy. She must have trusted her husband, fully. I would have liked to have been able to read more about Kathy, while she was still alive in this story. I’m positive that she would have been able to shed more light on this story and possibly talk about the more private side of her husband’s personal life; things that only a wife would know about their mate.She would have been able to talk about his very personal side and maybe shed some light on what was going to happen to her in this story. She could have possibly predicted her own death and talked about it and maybe she could have left behind some clear hints of her ultimate fate. This story is extremely scary and confusing, without any doubt. It tends to make you not trust people, fully. It leaves an empty feeling inside you as if you had witnessed a horrible event. You always want to hold that inch of faith that maybe people aren’t as bad as they probably truly are.In all reality, I think we should trust no human who possesses these traits as did John Wade. If I ever hear of a person talking about being ten different people in one, I will resort back to this eerie story and remember this character, immediately! He was one of those literary figures that gives you horrible nightmares and makes you question som e of his innumerous talents that you may have seen in another human being and never wondered about, before reading the book.I’m sure that I won’t be able to sleep after reading this story. It really wasn’t one of my favorite stories, although it was very interesting the way the author described the characters and events. His description of the events wasn’t lacking. It was the horror of it all that didn’t win my heart. There’s just something about being in the woods that makes you automatically feel like you want to leave, which is great for those people who love horror stories. The secret chambers would be incredible but terrifying!I guess that both John and Kathy were vanished into a crazy existence. Who knows where these two people were but I’m sure it was somewhere in the woods by the lake in Minnesota. Tim O’Brien is an incredible writer and does get the imagination going at full speed! I would like to read more of his wri ting but something a little less frightening, next time! What a crazy and tantalizing story. It is one that I won’t soon forget! Reference Page O’Brien, Tim. (1995). â€Å"In the Lake Of The Woods†. Penguin USA.

The use of reproductive cloning as infertility treatment

Infertility is the fundamental lacking of the ability to conceive a baby, and both men and women can have this problem. Dr. Clark, our guest speaker in class pointed out that approximately 30% of men and women are infertile, while 25% of infertility cannot be explain by science yet. Because of that, infertility is no longer considered as a lifestyle problem but a disease instead. According to Dr. Clark, one of the options for the infertility patients today is the use of stem cell therapies to treat infertility, and one of the recent popular stem cell therapies is reproductive cloning. Reproduction cloning is a process to â€Å"produce† a next generation of â€Å"you† through somatic cell nuclear transfer. In my paper, I will argue that†¦show more content†¦Therefore, it is morally require for them to have the best of worst situation by utilizing the resources available. In the case of student B, the school can waive out his lunch expenses to ensure that he can have sandwiches for lunch like other students. In order to allow infertile people to become fertile, they should be given the right of access to fertility treatments such as IVF. As I mentioned above, adoption and IVF both give the infertile people an opportunity for parenthood. However, IVF is the better method of the two for the infertile people to have children since it provides the ten- month pregnancy experience to both the father and mother. If we do not allow infertile people to be treated by IVF, we are limiting their chances to be treated equally, which further limit them to act along their will. If we do not allow the infertile people to act along their will, then we are treating them as mean. This is not morally permissible because we have the moral obligation to treat people as an end but merely as a mean. As a result, limiting those people from IVF is morally impermissible. 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