Symbols and metaphors

• How are symbols and metaphors used in the poem?
• What are some of the key symbols and/or metaphor in the poem?
• What are some of the meanings they convey to readers?
• How do these elements enrich the poem and deepen your understanding of its themes?

Electronic Medical Record Brochure

You have recently been promoted to Health Services Manager at Three Mountains Regional Hospital, a small hospital located in a mid-size city in the Midwest. Three Mountains is a general medical and surgical facility with 400 beds. Last year there were approximately 62,000 emergency visits and 15,000 admissions. More than 6,000 outpatient and 10,000 inpatient surgeries were performed. Three Mountains was recently in the news after employee emails were published where patients were discussed in very negative terms.

Due to the breach of information, many patients are skeptical about selecting Three Mountains as their hospital of choice. Even though specific names of patients were not disclosed as part of the inappropriate dissemination of information, parts of their medical records were mentioned. The patient information was not shared in a favorable light. Patients want to feel secure when they share information with their healthcare providers and be certain that it will remain private.

Business IT and Supply Chain

The objective of this assignment is to develop a sound understanding of how the latest information technologies maintain its contributions in e-supply chain coordination. In particular, this report focuses on measuring performance and development issues of technology in e-supply chain coordination in a highly competitive business environment.

You are required to research on one of the latest information technologies available for e-supply chain management. Examples must be given to illustrate your points and support your arguments.

Please choose from one of the following latest technologies.

• IoT (Internet of Things)/IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things)
• AR (Augmented Reality)
• Predictive Analytics/Prescriptive Analytics Tool/Application
• RTLS (Real Time Locating/Location System)
• 3D Printer
• Drone
• Autonomous Road Transportation
• Autonomous Mobile Robots
• Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence
• Virtual Logistics
• SNEW Data

The focus of the research should not be entirely on the technology or the design itself (It is not about “WHAT”). You have to include an in-depth analysis and discussion of HOW & WHY appropriate use of the technology can enhance e-supply chain coordination, especially in a highly competitive business environment. You have to demonstrate a strong link between the technology in the e-supply chain coordination and how can a company/businesses use it to compete in this environment.

Case study Assignment

OpenTable is the leading supplier of reservation, table management, and guest management software for restaurants. In addition, the company operates OpenTable.com, the world’s most popular Web site for making restaurant reservations online. In just over 15 years, OpenTable has gone from a start-up to a successful and growing public company that counts around two-thirds of the nation’s reservation-taking restaurants as clients. Today, more than 32,000 restaurants in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan use the OpenTable hardware and software system. This system automates the reservation-taking and table management process, while allowing restaurants to build diner databases for improved guest recognition and targeted e-mail marketing. The OpenTable Web site, mobile site, and mobile app provide a fast, efficient way for diners to find available tables in real time. The Web sites and app connect directly to the thousands of computerized reservation systems at OpenTable restaurants, and reservations are immediately recorded in a restaurant’s electronic reservation book. © Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Restaurants subscribe to the OpenTable Electronic Reservation Book (ERB), the company’s proprietary software, which is installed on a touch-screen computer system and supported by asset-protection and security tools. The ERB software provides a real-time map of the restaurant floor and enables the restaurant to retain meal patterns of all parties, serving as a customer relationship management (CRM) system for restaurants. The software is upgraded periodically, and the latest version is designed to provide increased ease of use and a more thorough view of table availability to help turn more tables, enhance guest service, personalize responses to diners, coordinate the seating process, and maximize guest seating. The ERBs at OpenTable’s customer restaurants connect via the Internet to form an online network of restaurant reservation books. OpenTable’s revenue comes from two sources. Restaurants pay a one-time fee for on-site installation and training, a monthly subscription fee for software and hardware, and a transaction fee for each restaurant guest seated through online reservations. The online reservation service is free to diners. The business model encourages diners to assist in viral marketing. When an individual makes a reservation, the site “suggests” that they send invites to their dinner companions directly from OpenTable that include a link back to the OpenTable site. OpenTable is a service-based (software as service, or SaaS) e-commerce company. In other words, customers don’t buy software and install it on their computers, but instead go online and get the software functionality through subscriptions. Open­Table is also an online service that does not sell goods, but instead enables diners to make reservations, like social networking sites provide services. The restaurant industry was slow to leverage the power of the Internet. This was in part because the industry was, and continues to be, highly fragmented and local—made up of more than 30,000 small, independent businesses or local restaurant-owning groups. The founders of OpenTable knew that dealing with these restaurants as a single market would be difficult. They also realized that the Internet was changing things for diners by providing them with instant access to reviews, menus, and other information about dining options. And there was no method for making reservations online—we all know reserving by phone is time-consuming, inefficient, and prone to errors. In order to make the system work, reach and scale were very important. For diners to use an online reservation system, they would need real-time access to a number of local restaurants, and the ability to instantly book confirmed reservations around the clock. If customers were planning a trip to another city, OpenTable would need participating restaurants in those cities. The company was originally incorporated in San Francisco in 1998 as Easy­eats.com, morphing into OpenTable.com, Inc. a year later. When the company was founded, most restaurants did not have computers, let alone systems that would allow online reservations made through a central Web site. OpenTable’s initial strategy was to pay online restaurant reviewers for links to its Web site and target national chains in order to quickly expand its reach. This got the company into 50 cities, but it was spending $1 million a month and bringing in only $100,000 in revenue. Not exactly a formula for success. The original investors still felt there was a viable business to be built, and they made a number of management changes, including installing investor and board member Thomas Layton, founder of CitySearch.com, as OpenTable’s CEO. Layton cut staff, shut down marketing efforts, and got the company out of all but four cities: Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The company retooled its hardware and software to create the user-friendly ERB system and deployed a door-to-door sales force to solicit subscriptions from high-end restaurants. The combination of e-commerce, user-friendly technology, and the personal touch worked. The four markets OpenTable targeted initially developed into active, local networks of restaurants and diners that continue to grow. OpenTable has implemented the same strategy across the country, and now includes approximately 32,000 OpenTable restaurant customers. In 17 years, the company has seated approximately 885 million diners, including 245 million via its mobile solutions, and it is currently averaging 17 million diners per month. In the second quarter of 2015, half of its seating requests in North America originated from a mobile device. As the company grew, investors began making plans for it to go public. Layton stepped down from his position as CEO in 2007, though he remained a board member. He was replaced by Jeffrey Jordan, former president of PayPal. Jordan had some experience with public companies from working with eBay on its acquisition of PayPal. In 2009, he chose an aggressive strategy—going ahead with an initial public offering (IPO) despite a terrible economy and worse financial markets. The gamble paid off. On its first day of trading, OpenTable’s shares climbed 59% and the share price climbed to over $100 in 2013, more than five times the $20 IPO price. Despite the challenging economy, OpenTable’s numbers at the time of the IPO were strong, and since then, it has continued to grow. In 2014, Priceline announced that it would acquire OpenTable for $2.6 billion. Priceline had long been rumored to be interested in OpenTable. OpenTable will benefit from Priceline’s global reach as it continues to expand its business beyond the United States, which has thus far accounted for about 80% of its revenues. Priceline has a strong track record of successful acquisitions, including Booking.com, which propelled Priceline’s revenue from the millions to the billions. Clearly, Priceline believes OpenTable can help it grow even further, this time into restaurant reservations. They might be right: OpenTable is well-positioned for future growth. Its size, track record of growth, and high customer satisfaction rates should continue to work in its favor. Priceline plans to allow OpenTable to operate autonomously. The company has benefited from having e-commerce revenue streams from subscription fees and per-transaction charges, rather than depending on advertising. Further, more than 50% of OpenTable’s revenue comes from B2B subscriptions, which are typically part of long-term contracts. Restaurants that have invested in OpenTable’s software package are less likely to want to incur the switching costs associated with changing to a different reservation management package. Another reason for its success is that OpenTable has a large number of satisfied customers. Restaurant owners report that they and their staff members find the software easy to use, and it helps them manage their business better. Specifically, it streamlines operations, helps fill additional seats, and improves quality of service, providing a concrete return on investment. This has led to both high customer satisfaction and high retention rates. OpenTable has also taken advantage of the interconnected needs of restaurants and diners. Restaurants want cost-effective ways to attract guests and manage their reservations, while diners want convenient ways to find available restaurants, choose among them, and make reservations. By creating an online network of restaurants and diners that transact with each other through real-time reservations, OpenTable has figured out how to successfully address the needs of both. OpenTable’s market exhibits network effects: the more people use it, the more utility the system delivers. More diners discover the benefits of using the online reservation system, which in turn delivers value to restaurant customers, and helps attract more restaurants to the network. While OpenTable is the biggest, most successful online player in the restaurant reservations market, it does have competitors. MenuPages offers access to restaurant menus and reviews, but visitors to the site can’t make reservations, and the site covers only eight U.S. cities. In 2012, OpenTable partnered with onetime competitor Urbanspoon, acquiring its reservation management system, Rezbook, and becoming Urbanspoon’s reservation provider. Looming on the horizon is Google, which purchased online restaurant guide Zagat in September 2011, raising the specter that it might try to compete with OpenTable, although Zagat does not yet possess that functionality. Competitors in other countries where OpenTable does not yet operate, such as Restalo in Spain and Italy, and in markets like casual dining, such as NoWait, represent challenges to OpenTable. India-based startup Zomato acquired U.S.-based NexTable in 2015, adding another challenger to the mix. The company is committed to shrewd technological investments to advance its position. It has a mobile Web site, mobile applications that work on just about every smartphone platform, and an iPad app that fully integrates with its ERB software. GPS enables mobile users to locate and make reservations at nearby venues. In 2015, OpenTable launched a version of its app for Apple Watch that reminds diners of their reservations, provides directions, and shows a countdown. It is also testing a premium service that involves paying for an additional fee for last-minute, prime-time reservations at popular restaurants, using a surge pricing algorithm similar to that used by Uber. OpenTable is attempting to shift its relationship with both diners and restaurants from a “transactional” relationship to an “experiential” relationship, which focuses on the experience of dining. OpenTable launched a payments feature that allows users to pay for meals completely within the OpenTable app on the iPhone, and in 2015 made this feature available for Android phones as well. Although a small number of restaurants currently offer the service, OpenTable is partnering with other mobile payment systems like Aloha to widen their mobile payment availability. OpenTable also redesigned its flagship Web site in 2014 to improve visual appeal and speed, and continued to update its image in 2015 with a complete rebranding, including a new logo and tagline and a marketing campaign, 100 Open Tables, featuring giveaways of iconic dining experiences around the world. OpenTable’s growth is projected to continue in the United States, Canada, and Mexico despite considerable market penetration. Selective international expansion is planned beyond its current operations in Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. OpenTable supports each of these locations with a direct sales force servicing approximately 1,000 restaurants. The company’s international strategy is to replicate the successful U.S. model by focusing initially on building a restaurant customer base. OpenTable believes the localized versions of its software will compare favorably against competitive software offerings, enabling them to expand across a broad selection of local restaurants.

Case Study Questions Why have OpenTable competitors had a difficult time competing against Open­Table? What characteristics of the restaurant market make it difficult for a reservation system to work? How did OpenTable change its marketing strategy to succeed? Why would restaurants find the SaaS model very attractive?

AT LEAST ONE PAGE IN LENGTH APA FORMAT

Analyze negative psychological effect and influence of media

Analyze negative psychological effect and influence of media

Project: Research Paper

Research Topic: The Negative Psychological Effects and Influence of The Media & Body Image In College Aged Women

Your final research paper should include a cover page, abstract, intro/lit review, method section, results (simply report what statistics you propose to use), discussion section, and reference page.

Your final paper should be double-spaced, 8 to 10 pages in length, and properly edited.

Please use the following information to help you with each section:

Cover page: Pay attention to APA style and refer to the example in your textbook.

Abstract: Is written on its own page and is a very brief summary of your study. Think in terms of one sentence stating your research question, one or two sentences regarding background and what we already know about it, one or two sentences regarding your methodology (e.g., how many participants were used and how were your variables assessed), and one or two sentences about your findings.

Intro/lit review: incorporate the feedback and make revisions to the introduction and literature review submitted in Week 4.

Method section: incorporate the feedback and make revisions to the Method section submitted in Week 4.

Results section: in one paragraph, state what statistical test would have been used and why it was chosen.

Discussion section: broken down into the following paragraphs:

paragraph 1: statement of your results/findings (or what you imagine might be your results).

paragraph 2: what might have affected those results (i.e., threats to internal and external validity). Include flaws in your design and confounding variables.

paragraph 3: implications for your findings including the significance and impact on the field as well as future research directions.

Reference page: Pay attention to APA style and refer to the example in your textbook.

Analyze the major regulations concerned with compliance

Analyze the major regulations concerned with compliance

Identify the relevant agencies that will impact meaningful use of electronic records and of quality in hospitals. The group will then research and analyze the key regulations concerned with compliance and reimbursement. Scholarly literature (minimum of 4 references are required) should support the claims, agencies, and analysis of impact by the group. 3 full pages, APA FORMART

Useful Websites:

http://www.healthit.gov/

http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentivePrograms/Meaningful_Use.html

Analyze and evaluate the key unique human factors

Analyze and evaluate the key unique human factors

Analyze and evaluate the major unique human factors and aviation safety challenges presented by airport operations. Then discuss the degradation in aviation safety that could result from these challenges.

Finally, creatively apply the knowledge of human factors and aviation safety and develop proposed means of mitigating these challenges. As always, support your work with a reliable source(s).