Intellectual property law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Intellectual property law - Essay Example The case was viewed as critical to the search engine’s business model that had been built around the system. The ECJ also added that the Cour de Cassation, France’s highest court would have finality on other cases, case-by-case. The court also contended that its decision on whether the search engine company was liable over stored client data should be left in the hands of the French courts (Hill, 2012: p19). Google, it said, could not be held liable if at all it possessed a neutral role that was passive, automatic, and technical, pointing to a lack of data control or knowledge (Smith, 2012: p72). Previously, Google used to stop advertisers from buying the brand names of others as keywords, although, this policy was altered in 2004 for the North American market before the extension into Ireland and Britain four years later. An interim legal opinion in September of 2009 delivered by the European Court of Justice contended that Google had not infringed on any trademark law s or rights, via allowing the buying of keywords by advertisers in correspondence to registered trademarks. Several trademark lawyers, such as Fiona McBride of Withers & Rogers, described the European Court of Justice’s ruling with regards to an ad’s origin as perplexing (Stim, 2010: p34). ... Consequently, very rarely will users of the internet be able to ascertain that his or her services or goods’ origin, as well as making it easier for advertisers to navigate the law and utilize trademarks from third parties as key words (Wherry, 2012: p77). This translates to advertisers being able to secure commercial advantages by taking a piggy ride on other trademark’s reputations. This paper seeks a critical evaluation of the development of the trademark infringement law in relation to ad-words, as well as the implications of the European Union Court of Justice’s ruling pertaining to the use of key words in advertising over the internet (Wild, 2011: p22). Development of the Law in Trade Mark Infringement relating to ‘Ad-words’ As the analysis of the Louis Vuitton vs. Google Inc. above has indicated, trademarks are valuable assets to top corporations. In cases where these trademarks are exploited correctly, they endow their proprietors with increa sed benefits, distinctiveness, and fame (Bainbridge, 1999: p45). Therefore, the respective proprietors of these trademark rights, via contemplation of their significance and value, as well as devotion of material efforts towards their evolution in the future, can invest vast sums in attempts to protect them. During the past decade, proprietors of various trademarks have begun to turn their attention to violation of their trademarks that are occurring over the internet. The internet has shown a tremendous rate of growth over the past decade, which has led to new economic models developing, as well as novel methods of advertising (Colston & Galloway, 2010: p45). The internet has made, within the context of a new economic

Edward Said article-- States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Edward Said article-- States - Essay Example It is very difficult to ascertain one’s identity and most people attach it to their ancestors and their homeland. Said on the other hand, left Palestine as a young child without having developed a rational sense of thinking and scientific temper and thus finds it tough to form a connection with Palestine in the present day – something that has been consistently talked about in his article. An identity crisis takes place when an individual becomes unsure of the role that he has to play in his life; many a time this may be attributed to travelling during one’s fledgling years and or not knowing the family to which one may be affiliated to. Erik Erikson, the theorist that coined the very term, has linked this crisis to the childhood of an individual. In the present case, the same can be understood by reading about Said’s departure from Palestine when he was a young boy. (Cherry, K) He studied abroad and developed American ideals as he grew older. The images and impressions that he has of Arabs and Muslims residing in Palestine are very different from the reality situation and this puts him in a tough spot when he begins to talk about his childhood. He has no memories of the country to reminisce and he feels inadequate in this regard. He has tried very excellently to explain the mechanism of Arabs and Muslims in the current scenario however finds that he can only do so with the help of Western ideals and imagery. He feels betrayed by his own ideas of a melting pot. (Visual Memoir: Edward Saids "States") Another issue that has been touched upon greatly is the idea of race and ethnicity. America today contains a hybrid mixture of people belonging to various cultures and ethnic groups as opposed to places like Palestine where it is difficult for even a single group of people to survive. One’s race and ethnicity also

The Assignment Of The Mcdonalds Business Commerce Essay

The Assignment Of The Mcdonalds Business Commerce Essay This assignment based upon a company McDonalds. In todays economic competitive environment business go through structural and occupational changes, some are for the better and other for the worse. In with contract of managing change of McDonalds i am going to discuss history and background of the organisation ,the changes that are being affected by todays economy, swot analysis , pest analysis, comparison of the alternative from of the organisational development, an investigation and evolution of purposed changes, adaptation of appropriate modal for recommended changes and planning of implementation of processes and possible changes. Mcdonalds one of the largest fast food restaurant in all over the world, serving the best food every day. It was 1940 when two brother bother Dick and Mac started their first McDonalds restaurant in California, basically it was a BBQ restaurant. In 1948 they introduced the concept of speedee service system which was the step toward establishment towards the fast food restaurants. Till 1958 ther were 34 restaurants and afterword in late 1959 Kroc had opened 67 new restaurants total of 101. They indroduced world famous Golden arches logo in 1962. In 1961 McDonalds was the number one fast food chain of the country. In 1965 went through publiclization, afterward McDonald opened 1000t restaurants. In 1975 McDonald introduce its first drive. In 1983 McDonald was the second largest retailer of the chicken in the world in 1987 McDonald has opened 600 new restaurants. In 1967 the first foreign restaurant in the British Columbia ,Canada. By 1990 McDonald company had opened more than 3600 in more than 58 countries all over the world some of them were franchised agreements, some wholly owned subsidiaries and some at join venture.and the countries were Great Britain, japan, Canada, Germany, France and Australia. Hapburger university was opened by the corporation in Tokyo in 1971 and in Munich in 1975 and in London in 1982. Most of the growth came outside from the USA and the number of the stores increased from 3600 to 1100 restaurants from 1991 to 1998 and the number of the countries went doubled from 59 to 114 in the late 1998 in all over the world including middle east and some parts of the Asia. In th e urab countries for the restaurant chain they had introduce HAla menu, which is the according to the Islamic rule of preparation of the food. In 1996 they introduced McDonald in the Indian market. In 2004 McDonald had continued ppening new stores and took great consentration at the existing business. The number of stores incteased from 30496 to 32478 from 2004 to 2009. Changes at mcdonalds: Every management system within the organization want to maintain its strength, capability and competencies. Changes most of the time plays the key role in the development of the organisation toward the fulfilment of organisational future goal. It is very important for every single individual of any organisation to be prepare their minds for any upcoming change that are necessary for the future development of that particular organisation. Most of the changes are easily adoptable because of the latest technology. Most of the time changes makes the tasks to be done very easier , to make the life easy. For many organisations managing the change is consider a primary activity in deeply understanding the future objectives and goals for any organisation and even the implementation is consider physical step for the employment of an invention. The awareness of any part within the organisation for the improvement is consider the first step even in the change process. In the case of McDonalds c orporation lots of changes had happened in terms of business management, business strategy, business competition and in term of product and services. Some of the changes are as follows. 1937 Patrick McDonald had opened hamburger stand in California 1940 two brothers Dick and Mac had opened McDonald as BBQ restaurant 1948 introduction of speedee service system 1953 McDonalds first franchisee with Neil 1954 the introduction of entrepreneur and milkshake mix by Ray Kron 1955 introduction of grillman in the store 1958 the sale of 100 millionth hamburgers 1959 beginning of billboard advertisement 1960 company become the McDonalds corporation 1961 Dick and Mac had sell business rights and the opening of hamburger university 1962 the ad in national magazine and introduction of first setting restaurant 1963 500 restaurants were opened 1968 introduction of big Mac 1971 first Asian restaurant in japan 1973 introduction of egg Mc Muffin 1974 McDonalds corporation had opened 3000th restaurant in Woolwich south east London 1976 first cash division 1977 addition of breakfast menu in US 1978 5000th McDonalds restaurant in Japan and the graduation of 15000 students from the hamburger university 1979 the introduction of the happy meal in McDonalds menu 1980 addition in the menu with chicken Mc Nuggets 1984 the main sponsor of summer Olympics 1992 the worlds largest McDonald restaurant in chaina after word in Africa. Saudi Arabia 1996 the first Indian McDonald restaurant in India 1997 Mc Furry by Canadian franchisee 2000 publication of the fast food nation and the opening of the 1000th British restaurants 2002 15th rank in food quality among the hamburger chain 2003 3% fallen in shares in past 5 years 2004 super size option 2006 nutritional information at packaging for all products 2007 42-ounce super size suda 2008 chichen biscuit 2009 three versions of the Angus burger SWOT analysis: Strenth: McDonald had the great history and the achievement throughout its long experience period. Almost 67000 managers were promoted every year from the team members and McDonald is investing $ 1 billion in training employees every years 2008 no.1 food service company in fortune magazine Worlds most famous logos Community oriented and socially responsible organization contributing in care mobile programs in medical and in education of the children and sponsor of the Olympics athlets Multinational corporation operating more than 119 countries all over the world having more than 32000 restaurants Flexible culture adopted organization Excellent food preparation style and food safety Weakness: Failure of competing with fast food pizza chain Expenditure of the more money on training due to high turnover of employees Capitalization to organic food Negative impact between investors relationship due to decreasing ratio Opportunity: It is the great opportunity for the McDonald the introduction of healthy hamburger and it would be the first fast food to sell low fat low calorie hamburger with alternatives with FDA approval McDonald had the opportunity to provide more upscale setting style instead of industrial Formica restaurant setting like they are providing in new York to capture more market share They should add more value box meal in their menu in wide range of verities Breakfast menu, chicken, beverage and other convenience categories like special coffees etc are not only became the reason of the increase the sale in recession period but also is the reason in increase the number of the customers visting the restaurants Threat: Due to cradle to grave marketing they had created negative and criticized impression toward some of the parents of the children especially from some of the advocate parents which they thought is marginally ethical Many times in the past they had sued due to unhealthy food containing additive additives There is a documentary conducted by Michael Sulock super size me in 2004 in which he went through McDonald diet for one month and got cirihosis of the lever.as the result from the documentary McDonald had to remove the super size option from their dive thru window Food supply contamination There is a huge competition among the competitors like burger king, starbucks, taco bell, KFC and Wendys PEST analysis: Political factor: The new governent of UK has recently increased the taxes due to this increment cost of the raw material as well has increased. Most of the trading policies employment lows taxation corporation and the customers are in the favour of McDonald corporation and the companys revenue is also going up as compare to past. Economic factor: In 2009 McDonald had generated the revenue $22.7 billions where the operating profit was $6.8 billion and from the past five years the annual increment is 4.9% while the interest rates are increased and the inflation is going down day by day. The economic growth is going up exchange rates are as well increased and in the business life cycle McDonald is at the maturity level. Technological factor: At this stage of competitor technological environment for the company success full operations technology is the key element because the company needs latest machines and other equipment to provide good and fast customer service satisfaction. Being a worlds no.1 and leading brand for the food service retailer company must need to consider the latest technology for the preparation and serving the food in more efficient way in challenging environment. UK government is spending more at research. Social factor: McDonald is well known brand all over the world and McDonald corporation is very conscious health safety and welfare point of view. In every country they had divided their marketing strategy demographically according to the related culture of that particular region. It differs according to challenging changing life style of different regions of the world. Like m the menu in term of taste and spice is totally different in UK as compare to Asia especially in India. A comparison of the alternative form of the organization development: Every organisation will have to undergo development and changes over the time McDonald had undergo through several changes in the past like in employees related matters in products and srevises vs the current changes or the proposed changes. Now a days the new marketing complain of the McDonald is to adopt the new health conscious sub image that would be the according to latest health awareness trend and the target market would be the children. The main goal of this proposed change is to introduce a new sprate low fat menu for the children. McDonald is aware this kind of strategy will give the awareness to consumers the importance of the health to both parents and children about the nutritional value of the meal and this marketing will introduce new McDonald to public. In order to implement this invention company need a particular departmental tasks to handle the necessary matters related to particular change. It is proved that the changes leve the different conflict before during an d after the implementation. Thus it is the responsibility of the manager to have the ability to understand what need to be changed but also have the effective knowledge to introduce the change. In this situation the resistance can be occur thus might be some employees or customer are in the favour or against the purposed change. If we compare different companies that are the competitors of the McDonald everyone is in huge competition and everyone is adopting the necessary changes tocapture the market share and to fullfill its future organisational goal. http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/04/corporate-leadership-and-change-management.html Stakeholder analysis : Stakeholder are the groups or individuals who have direct or indirect impact upon the organisation. Each stake holder has different interest upon the organisation depending upon his status in that particular organisation one of the McDonald stakeholders is the employees because any change occur in the organisation it directly effect the employees because they want to be the business success full. Other stakeholders are the government ,suppliers, social societies ,NGOs , managers , shareholders , distributer and the local community. Any occurring change in the McDonald corporation leaves the direct effect upon the stakeholders. Change is necessary for the development of the organisation as it is playing in a competitive environment and business as well treat each stakeholder in different way because the business want to do anything they can do in order to win their arguments. Overall we can say most important stakeholder of the McDonald is its valuable customers any change in the corp oration in term of menu in term of product , price ,place and promotion will directly affect them. Customers are the key elements of the business they bring the money to the company and without them the business will be unsuccessful and the company will lose their reputation and soon will have to close down. Effective communication is also plays a valuable role between the stakeholders. To implent the valuable in the organisation effective communication is necessary to understand the proposed changes and to implement it efficiently and effectively. And there should be the feedback and feed forward system. To bring a change there should be alternative course of action for a valid proposed change in the organisation and they should use appropriate control mechanism and the established budget system for the organisation and its stakeholders to implement efficient and effective change in the organisation. An investigation and evaluation of proposed changes: Change is constant and especially in the field of fast food every day people want to taste something new something different from the past that is the big reason why the change is needed in the chosen organisation. McDonald is inverting lots of the money at the reaserch every year to indroduce more healthy and nutritional food to its valuable customers the company is proposing the following changes New products with delicious taste and valuable customer satisfaction New look and image in the customer mind New soft policies and procedures for the stakeholders Locations and logistics New business strategies A senior McDonalds executive said that recent changes to the fast food chains menu were prompted not by a desire to appear socially responsible but by customer demand. The scope of the change in the implementation of the integrated marketing communication (IMC) As the part of the marketing strategy. The main purpose of this change is the promotional compain about the advertisement of the McDonald corporation. Normally these task are to be done by the open sponsorship of offering the products and services and those are all done by using different kind of promotional channels (media) that are use for the promotional compains and advertising. the main focus of this change is on advertising and sale promotion and this change will direct effect to IMC as the part of the marketing strategy of the McDonald. http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=2043 7-S model of change: There are various school of thoughts developed over the years in order to establish the organisation successfully effect the change. 7-S model is the systematic management tool that is design to examine the organizational structure. In this seven key areas of the organization are discussed and their key elements and their internal relationship as well. These 7 are als divided in two categories hard and soft elements. Hard element: Strategy Structure System Soft elements Shared values, skills, style and staff Strategy: In the changing environment the main strategy of the McDonald is the proper rote map planning to attain the competitive advantage and the main aim to capture the more market share by providing then healthy nutritional food at competitive price with efficient service system. Structure: The hierarchy of the McDonald is from top down management any proposed change and its implementation is start from the top level management to the lower level management passing through the middle level. This is the positive point for the McDonald. System: McDonald Corporation is a system within the system every single task and the proposed change is performed in a systematic way. There could be one change that will help the organization to achieve its goal that is the processing system for the preparation of the food and the delivery system need to be simplified in The day to day processes and procedure throughout the company. Shared value: There is strong need of the change in the share value in the McDonald for the effective communication and involvement of each single individual in the organization in order to discuss the core value of the compamy. Style: This is the soft element of the organization as will depend upon which management style the organization style the management the organization is having is either the leadership style or any other one. McDonald corporation have the leadership management style in which any proposed change is discussed inefficient way. Staff: McDonald consider its employees as the to success the business it is taking in consideration their employees and their board abilities regarding the future change. Skills: Skill and compitencies of the employees are consider the soft element for the organisation. McDonald is paying deep intension and investing huge amount of money at training of its employees for providing even batter products to their customers in efficient way to get the require stasfaction from the customers and to full fill the company,s goal. http://www.lmcuk.com/management-tool/the-7-s-model-for-organisational-change kotters 8- step model change: the author of this model is consider guru in leadership and change management, he is the professor at Harvard business school and has introduced eight steps in the change process in his book 1995 Leading change Create urgency The change will happen successfully if every single individual in the organization (whole organization) or out side really want that change . to get the motivational step towards the things to move it is necessary to devepol the sense of urgency needed for that change. For that purpose the McDonald need to identify the potential threat and to do the future forecast. Than have the look at available opportunities. McDonald need to start the honest discussion so that the people can think and talk about that particular change and request for the feedback from all the stakeholders. Form a power full coalition: It is necessary to convince the people about the necessary change for the favourable leadership from the key persons for that McDonald need to identify the true leaders in the organization as for the emotional commitment building the team within its change in coalition and the most important thing is the availability of the staff in different departments at each level of the management require to perform particular task. create the vision for the change: a clear vision will help everyone to understand why when and where these changes these changes need to be done. It describes the value that are the reason for the change. McDonald need to adopt the short summery of the future forecast of the organization and to execute the vision. Communicate the vision Communication plays the key role in the success of the organisation. In McDonald corporation for the proposed changes day to day communication is necessary to discuss the change in the vision and need to tie everything back to vision. 5-Remove the abstracts: Resistance in the change is as well constant in some how. The organization need to identify is there any resistance in the proposed changes for that purpose McDonald need to hire the change leader who plays the main role in developing the change and need to look in the structure of the change and description of the job, establishing reward and remove the business quickly. 6-Create the short terms-win McDonald need to create short term target so that each single targeted change can be achieve easily and need to choose early target that are less expensive and reware the people to help to achieve the targeted goal. 7- build on the change. Quick wins are just the beginning and are lead toward the fulfilment of the main goal of the organization. Every organisation need to consider ever small win in which what they have done and what the improvements are needed. Always keep the idea fresh discuss with the agents and the leaders for the coalition. 8- Anchor the change in corporation culture: Finally for any change stick it should be the part of the organization for this purpose every thing must shown in day to day work sheet. McDonald need to discuss the change ideas and the value when hiring and training new staff and there should be the alternative of replacement of key leaders as the more on and this will be legacy and is not forggtten. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_82.htm Therefore, it is concluded that, changes of management is not bad as long as the changes made can really enhance the competitiveness and strength of an organisation.   It is effective, if and only if, a thorough investigation and evaluation of the organizations performance has made. And if the study suggests that there is a need for change, then that is the only time, the organisation should imposed required changes to be done. Because, change of management system is very critical or crucial, one wrong move, the company, might faced its biggest downturn instead of strengthen and expand its business portfolio and survive to the stiff competition in the business arena. It is recommended that McDonald must see to it that the changes are well planned and implemented carefully, because these will the basis for the success and/or failure of any organisation.

Soil Hydrology Under Fire Essay -- Geology Natural Nature Essays

Soil Hydrology Under Fire Soil type is a function of five factors: parent material, climate, topography, biota, and time (Singer and Munns, 1996). Fire's effect on soil can be described in the same manner and, interestingly enough, is almost identical to the five factors of soil formation with only a couple of minor modifications. First, the parent material for a burned soil is the original soil itself plus the fuel consumed in the fire. Second, climate includes not only weather-related variables but also the burning temperature of the fire. This paper focuses specifically on one aspect of the climate factor: the effect of water. It investigates both how soil moisture influences fire severity, and conversely, how fire severity influences the hydrology of a soil. Based on this discussion a land management recommendation states that prescribed fires should be utilized during wetter times of the year to maximize the positive effects for vegetation and to minimize the negative effect of soil erosion. Rapid plant regrowth is essential to the rehabilitation of a burned area, for plants greatly influence the hydrology of a soil. But for plants to grow back on a burned area, they require several nutrients whose concentrations are modified by fires. The degree of these modifications are determined by a fire's temperature, but there are a few general trends. Levels of phosphorus (Kutiel and Shaviv, 1993 and Marion et al., 1991) and pH (Kutiel and Shaviv, 1993) both increase during a fire. Conversely, nitrogen decreases during a fire (Kutiel and Shaviv, 1993, Marion et al., 1991). Chemical concentrations in burned soils are greatly affected by a fire's intensity. Ulery and Graham (1993) classify fire intensity into three major cla... ...h deposition, and clipping effects on soil nutrients in chaparral: Soil Science Society of America Journal, 55, 235-240. Robichaud, P. R. and Waldrop, T. A., 1994, A comparison of surface runoff and sediment yields from low- and high-severity site preparation burns: Water Resources Bulletin, 30, 27-34. Samran, S., Woodard, P. M., and Rothwell, R. L., 1995, The effect of soil water on ground fuel availability: Forest Science, 41, 255-267. Scott, D. F. and Van Wyk, D. B., 1990, The effects of wildfire on soil wettability and hydrological behavior of an afforested catchment: Journal of Hydrology, 121, 239-256. Singer, M. J, and Munns, D. N., 1996, Soils: an introduction: Upper Saddle River, Prentice-Hall Inc., 480 p. Ulery, A. L. and Graham, R. C., 1993, Forest fire effects on soils color and texture: Soil Science Society of America Journal, 57, 135-140. Soil Hydrology Under Fire Essay -- Geology Natural Nature Essays Soil Hydrology Under Fire Soil type is a function of five factors: parent material, climate, topography, biota, and time (Singer and Munns, 1996). Fire's effect on soil can be described in the same manner and, interestingly enough, is almost identical to the five factors of soil formation with only a couple of minor modifications. First, the parent material for a burned soil is the original soil itself plus the fuel consumed in the fire. Second, climate includes not only weather-related variables but also the burning temperature of the fire. This paper focuses specifically on one aspect of the climate factor: the effect of water. It investigates both how soil moisture influences fire severity, and conversely, how fire severity influences the hydrology of a soil. Based on this discussion a land management recommendation states that prescribed fires should be utilized during wetter times of the year to maximize the positive effects for vegetation and to minimize the negative effect of soil erosion. Rapid plant regrowth is essential to the rehabilitation of a burned area, for plants greatly influence the hydrology of a soil. But for plants to grow back on a burned area, they require several nutrients whose concentrations are modified by fires. The degree of these modifications are determined by a fire's temperature, but there are a few general trends. Levels of phosphorus (Kutiel and Shaviv, 1993 and Marion et al., 1991) and pH (Kutiel and Shaviv, 1993) both increase during a fire. Conversely, nitrogen decreases during a fire (Kutiel and Shaviv, 1993, Marion et al., 1991). Chemical concentrations in burned soils are greatly affected by a fire's intensity. Ulery and Graham (1993) classify fire intensity into three major cla... ...h deposition, and clipping effects on soil nutrients in chaparral: Soil Science Society of America Journal, 55, 235-240. Robichaud, P. R. and Waldrop, T. A., 1994, A comparison of surface runoff and sediment yields from low- and high-severity site preparation burns: Water Resources Bulletin, 30, 27-34. Samran, S., Woodard, P. M., and Rothwell, R. L., 1995, The effect of soil water on ground fuel availability: Forest Science, 41, 255-267. Scott, D. F. and Van Wyk, D. B., 1990, The effects of wildfire on soil wettability and hydrological behavior of an afforested catchment: Journal of Hydrology, 121, 239-256. Singer, M. J, and Munns, D. N., 1996, Soils: an introduction: Upper Saddle River, Prentice-Hall Inc., 480 p. Ulery, A. L. and Graham, R. C., 1993, Forest fire effects on soils color and texture: Soil Science Society of America Journal, 57, 135-140.

Project Scope Somplete Kitchen Remodel Essay

Business Requirements A complete kitchen remodel is proposed and will be located at Sponsor Representatives residence. Background The residence will contain new cabinets, countertops, flooring and hardware that will update current kitchen in existing materials and result in major investment increase of the value and marketability for resale Business Opportunity An analysis based on interviews and inspection of the Sponsor Representative’s residence revealed that the current kitchen is outdated. The remodel will update the kitchen and increase the value of the residence. Business Objectives and Success Criteria The success of this project is the establishment of a new kitchen within the budget of thirty thousand dollars in the three months allocated. The kitchen remodel must be visually appealing and be functional upon completion. Customer or Market Needs: Business Risks Without the kitchen remodel, it will be impossible to increase kitchen investment value. Another risk is the financial risk of the investment itself due to loss of market value. Vision of the Solution The new kitchen will be used to cook everyday meals and also host events. Vision Statement The new kitchen will be used in the future to host events and increase the value of the residence. Assumptions and Dependencies: None Limitations and Exclusions: None Stakeholder Profiles DimensionDrivers ConstraintDegree of Freedom Schedule Complete in Three Months________________________________________ FeaturesUpdated Cabinets________________________________________ QualityQuality Cabinets Cost of Materials ________________________________________ Staff Five PM Students Outsourcing Contractors________________________________________ Cost Budget of 30K Project Priorities StakeholderMajor Value Attributes Major Interests Constraints ________________________________________ Updated KitchenIncreased Value Time of Max budget To ResidenceCompletion of 30K Operating Environment: The homeowner will be responsible for utilities used while completing the project.

Health Care Interface Design Essay

This paper is mainly discussing about the user interface design problems faced by the healthcare professionals in the healthcare industry with the applications in their handheld devices that assist them in dealing with daily routine work. The authors attempt to identify and address the key problems from the previous researches. To tackle these issues, a mobile user interface (UI) framework is reviewed as the basis for discussion and suggestion for improving future interface design for healthcare. The discussion also includes case study on the interface design of an existing medical applications available on iPhone as the example of evaluation. 1 Introduction In the dynamic healthcare industry, healthcare professionals are expected to be highly mobile, ready and on-the-go. Accessing instant medical information at work is required almost all the time. Instead of carrying bulky laptops around the workplace, most healthcare professionals are carrying with them handheld devices of either the Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) or smart phone nowadays. The applications commonly used by the healthcare professionals are those that enable them to have access to patients’ information, drugs information and administrative functions (Honeybourne et al, 2006). In order to keep them competent at workplace, usability of the mobile application is of vital important in ensuring that information can be retrieved by the healthcare professionals instantly at all conditions. In view of this, the objective of this paper is to understand the difficulties faced by this group of people with their mobile application and to provide insightful solutions to th ese problems in the context of user interface design. 2 Healthcare Interface Design Healthcare interface design is one of the important aspects many researchers are focusing on over the past decades. It is increasingly supported by multiple technologies including human computer interaction and media interactive design to improve the efficiency and quality. Generally, IT has the potential to provide healthcare professionals with faster access to patient information mainly by electronic healthcare records (EHCR) and medical knowledge resources (Volsko, 2004). These functions are normally associated with the use of stationary computers but also available on mobile technology such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), which can be used in a more flexible way than the stationary computers. A PDA is a small handheld computer popular for calendar and note functions (Lundby, 2002) but nowadays, PDAs are also employed in various medical applications, as well as in business and education environments (Volsko, 2004). A PDA allows large volumes of updated information to be stored in the pocket. It is the substitution or complement to laptops because it works as efficiently as a wireless mobile device that implies reading and computing data including images in a hospital environment. With connection to a computer it allows regular backups, data transfer and software downloads (Huffstutler, Wyatt & Wright, 2002). Different healthcare professionals have used the PDA to a various extent for different tasks, such as accessing patient records, writing prescriptions, billing, performing medical computations, e-mail, accessing the internet and medical textbooks (Miller, Beattie & Butt, 2003). 3 Problem Statements Although the latest PDAs and handheld mobile devices have increasing capabilities in getting information, there are still several issues affecting the user’s ability to access and use the information. Based on the studies by other researchers, the key issues are identified and addressed as follows: 3.1 Only Part of Screen is used to Show Information. Several studies done by researchers, who involved in healthcare PDA interface design, found that most of the healthcare professionals are not happy with the interface when it comes to display of information. Internet-based information or database information is usually delivered though web browsers of PDA. If only part of the screen is used to display information, users are unable to view the full information. Typically, the medical information is delivered inside one display window on the handheld device. Only part of the information is seen as it squeezed with other elements, for example, navigation buttons, menu, and etc. to fit into the window. Most of the browsers in the computer are able to switch to full screen display and this function enable users to hide the unwanted toolbars temporary while increasing screen space for information display. However, this was not available on the browser of handheld device. 3.2 Scrolling is Not Good Design for Healthcare Interface Design On top of that, research shows that most of the users do not like the scrolling button. Especially for users of healthcare information, they all agreed with the suggestion that scrolling should be avoided or at least minimized. In some interface design researches (e.g. Albers & Kim, 2001); researchers propose dragging the content presented on a screen as another solution for this problem. But this way has been proved that users are still not comfortable in other studies. As mentioned in previous research papers, healthcare information in the PDA devices should be able to use visualization and interactivity and minimize amount of text as much as possible on a screen. Scrolling is obviously not function for this purpose. Usually, information of healthcare for learning is better to be designed in the way of representation, so that the information can be delivered only in one screen. Lots of experiences feedback has shown t hat large amounts of information can be organized and effectively presented in this way. 3.3 Switching between Portrait and Landscape Mode Switching between portrait and landscape mode is functionality that traditionally has been available as tailored functionality in specific applications, where the developers have found it useful. At least on the PocketPC platform, using only landscape mode as an alternative to portrait used to be quite common in games, but applications supporting both have been rare – at least for the application as such, it is more common for special features like showing a picture in full screen mode. During the last years, switching between landscape and portrait has become standard functionality in the operating system of most platforms (including Windows Mobile, Symbian S60v3 and v5, iPhone/iPod Touch ) and all included applications support the switching. Also, some devices supporting these platforms use landscape mode as standard when the built-in HW keyboard is used. This facilitates having a larger keyboard than models using platforms only offering portrait mode. 3.4 Handheld Devices is Harmful to Eyesight In the recent reports, users are concern with their handheld devices will have harmful impact to their eyesight, if users use the devices to search complex information, e.g. patient historic data, frequently and in long time. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (Spencer, 2006) stated that the impact of a small screen device might have serious impact on an individual’s eyesight. In this article, author described a case study, which can be used to prove that a person who uses PDA devices would be affected especially in eyesight. 3.5 Lack of Short Contacts and Task Centeredness A healthcare handheld device usually assists and supports a user in his or her activities, e.g., searching patient information, scheduling time for doctors, looking for relevant medicine information and so on. Most of handheld devices for healthcare do not provide the function, which is to plan user’s tasks simultaneously. The short contact with device is useful and usually short in terms of time (e.g., reviewing the tasks and timetables, computing the amount of medicine, viewing the professional introduction from remote doctors, or making a personal note). Considering this useful function, many healthcare interface users demand to have this way, which is provided short contacts and task centeredness in a simple action on a small screen. Healthcare information plays a significant role, which is supplements for user’s intelligence and supports their needs of rapid and convenience information retrieval way using the functions of the device at hand. Portability ensures dat abases or information is always available to access and provides support at anytime and anywhere whenever needed. 3.6 Lack of Rapid Interaction One of the healthcare interface design purpose is the information and database materials should be provided through visualization and interactivity and the devices can deliver all necessary information with a single screen. Some interactive elements are necessary, for example, hot-spots and button. Those elements would be integrated in a learning object should provide immediate feedback to the learner. Rapid interactions, such as moving a button, should result in immediate updates on the screen according to a user’s action. This is useful for healthcare information users, as they would change elements frequently but they don’t have enough time to modify every single element, which is affected by this change. Other alternative is the ability for customization services or functions for design interactive method to communicate with their handheld devices. They want to move or redesign the buttons, arrows and sliders depending on their needs. 4 Mobile User Interface Design In this section, the mobile user interface design guideline that has been identified will be addressed accordingly. The guideline that has been selected will be used in the subsequent section to resolve the common problems faced by the healthcare professionals with their current mobile applications (Zafar, 2009). 4.1 Learnability The mobile device should provide easy and simple interface for users when they firstly use the application. To define simple interface is where the application should only provide limited functions in the application to allow users to achieve the goal easily. Complex system will require users to explore and study each features provided in the application will eventually turn the users off. 4.2 Efficiency Efficiency in this context refers to the number of steps that required for user to accomplish the goal. Key task should be as direct as possible, key features are preferable to be available on the first page when the application is launched without wasting unnecessary time. 4.3 Memorability The user interface should be easy to use every time the users interact with the application. With simple and easy interface, user has higher tendency to use the application repeatedly, as memorability is related to the frequency of the users utilize the application. 4.4 Error Recovery Ideally, a perfect interface shall not allow mistakes, but in reality that there is always bug and errors for the applications. Therefore, application should be able to recovery from the error and return to the latest operation that has performed by the user to reduce data loss and damage to increase the confident of the users towards the application. 4.5 Simplicity Although the interface design should be easy and simple for all the usual task, nevertheless less common task need to be possible as well to provide a complete solution for the users. However, unnecessary functions should be avoided to reduce complexity. Lastly, visual design and layout should be uncluttered to attract users for re-using it. 4.6 Mapping The expectation of users towards the application is very important, the application should provide feedback and return result base on the action made by the users. As each feature / function should map the expectation of the users. 4.7 Visibility In term of the visibility perspective, important information should be visible at the application, while less important information can be display in the features or to be selected if necessary to reduce complexity of the interface at the glance for the users. But ultimately, understanding the users goal is crucial as that will determine the information / contents to be displayed in the main screen when the application is launched. 4.8 Feedback Being able to prompt appropriate feedback to the users so that users will be aware that the application is executing the action is important. By providing proper feedback, users will not tend to repeat the command or waiting if the application is running. 4.9 Consistency By satisfying users’ expectations towards the application, likewise functions should be displayed and acted in the consistent and systematic way across the application. There should not be many changes when users select each features of the application. 4.10 Satisfaction Ultimately, overall satisfaction of the users towards the application is the keynote. An application is successful if it is used repeatedly with good feedback from users and users are comfortable with each features provided in the application.