How a Cabinet Toe Kick Enhances Kitchen Ergonomics

How a Cabinet Toe Kick Enhances Kitchen Ergonomics A Matter of Ergonomics Ergonomics is the study of human efficiency and comfort in a working or living environment. Ergonomics is of great concern in the workplace, but it is also an issue in residential construction, where dozens of different design standards are aimed at making the rooms of a home more comfortable and safer for family members.   Home ergonomics is of particular concern in the kitchen, since this is a primary workplace and a space where people spend a great deal of time. Apart from the kitchen work triangle,  the toe kick space beneath base cabinets may be one of the most important  ergonomic elements in your kitchen design. The importance of the toe kick space in base cabinets holds for cabinets in other locations, as wellsuch as bathrooms, laundries and home offices.   What is a Toe Kick? A toe kick is a notch-shaped recess at the bottom front of a base cabinet.  It provides a recess for your feet so you can get slightly closes to the countertop. This improves your balance,and also reduces the fatigue that would result if you were forced to reach across a countertop to work. Without a toe kick, users typically find themselves standing well back from a base cabinet in order to avoid stubbing the toes, a posture that leads to leaning over and putting considerable strain on the back, shoulders and arms. Working in this way is quite uncomfortable and can lead to chronic pain and posture issues.   The answer is a very simple design alteration - a small notch at the bottom of the cabinet that allows you to move slightly closer to the countertop. The toe kick is typically only 3 inches deep and about 3 1/2 inches high, yet it makes a huge difference in the comfort of using your countertop. Although toe kicks are not required by building codes, they are a traditional design standard followed by manufacturers and tradesmen. As a result, you will find toe kicks on virtually every factory-manufactured cabinet sold, and woodworkers or carpenters building custom cabinetry will always follow typical design standards for the shape and size of toe kicks in base cabinets.

Schizophrenia. essays

Schizophrenia. essays This is a speech with an informative outline. There was a huge football fan named Tom. He would always go to every football game that he could. But, Tom had a problem. Everytime that the football teams would go into a huddle to discuss the strategies of the game, Tom would lean over to the person sitting next to him and ask what the team was talking about. What he thought they were talking about was he. He thought that they were discussing ways to kill him, or just hurt him. Shizophrenia is a split from reality that shows itself in disorganized thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions. (Myers, 1999, Psychology) I. FIRST MAIN POINT: To inform you about Schizophrenia, we must first look at the causes of this disease. a. SChizophrenia can be inherited. If a mother or father has schizophrenia, there is a 1 in 2 chance that their child will develop this disease. b.Enlarged, fluid-filled areas are a main reason that schizophrenia is developed. This happens mainly in the male brain, more so than in the female. c. Stress is a cause of schizophrenia. When an adult is under tremendous stress, the thalamus is triggered and sometimes results in schizophrenia. TRANSITION: After we look at the causes of schizophrenia, we must now look at the things that happen to schizophrenic people. II.SECOND MAIN POINT: To be able to understand the way of life for schizophrenic people, we must look at the symptoms of schizophrenia. a. There is a paranoid schizophrenia, where the person has a preoccupation with hallucinations or delusions. b. Catatonic schizophrenia is where a person may repeat the movements of another person or he/she may repeat the words of another person or thing. If you see a parrot, it can usually talk. He says only the words that he hears from another person or thing. That is what a person with catatonic schizophrenia would do. c. Another form of schizophrenia is disorganiz ...

Understanding Soft Power in U.S. Foreign Policy

Understanding Soft Power in U.S. Foreign Policy Soft power is a term used to describe a nations use of co-operative programs and monetary aide to persuade other nations to ascribe to its policies. With U.S. State Department budget cuts likely in the wake of the August 2, 2011 debt ceiling deal, many observers expect soft-power programs to suffer. Origin of the Phrase "Soft Power" Dr. Joseph Nye, Jr., a noted foreign policy scholar, and practitioner coined the phrase soft power in 1990. Nye has served as the Dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard; Chairman of the National Intelligence Council; and Assistant Secretary of Defense in Bill Clintons administration. He has written and lectured extensively on the idea and usage of soft power. Nye describes soft power as the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than through coercion. He sees strong relations with allies, economic assistance programs, and vital cultural exchanges as examples of soft power. Obviously, soft power is the opposite of hard power. Hard power includes the more noticeable and predictable power associated with military force, coercion, and intimidation. One of the main objectives of foreign policy is to get other nations to adopt your policy goals as their own. Soft power programs can often influence that without the expense- in people, equipment, and munitions- and animosity that military power can create. Examples of Soft Power The classic example of American soft power is the Marshall Plan. After World War II, the United States pumped billions of dollars into war-ravaged western Europe to prevent it from falling to the influence of the Communist Soviet Union. The Marshall Plan included humanitarian aid, such as food and medical care; expert advice for rebuilding destroyed infrastructures, such as transportation and communication networks and public utilities; and outright monetary grants. Educational exchange programs, such as President Obamas 100,000 Strong initiative with China, are also an element of soft power and so are all varieties of disaster assistance programs, such as flood control in Pakistan; earthquake relief in Japan and Haiti; tsunami relief in Japan and India; and famine relief in the Horn of Africa. Nye also sees American cultural exports, such as movies, soft drinks, and fast-food chains, as an element of soft power. While those also include the decisions of many private American businesses, U.S. international trade and business policies enable those cultural exchanges to occur. Cultural exchanges repeatedly impress foreign nations with the freedom and openness of U.S. business and communication dynamics. The Internet, which reflects American freedom of expression, is also a soft power. President Obamas administration has reacted harshly to attempts of some nations to curb the Internet to eliminate the influence of dissidents, and they readily point to the effectiveness of social media in encouraging the rebellions of Arab Spring. As such, Obama recently introduced his International Strategy for Cyberspace. Budget Problems for Soft Power Programs? Nye has seen a decline in the United States use of soft power since 9/11. The wars of Afghanistan and Iraq and the Bush Doctrines use of preventive warfare and unilateral decision making have all eclipsed the value of soft power in the minds of people at home and abroad. Given that perception, budget woes make it likely that the U.S. State Department- coordinator of most of Americas soft power programs- will take another financial hit. The State Department already suffered $8 billion in cuts to the remainder of its FY 2011 budget in April 2011 when the president and Congress made a deal to avoid a government shutdown. The August 2, 2011, debt ceiling deal which they reached to avoid a debt default calls for $2.4 trillion in spending cuts over by 2021; that amounts to $240 billion in cuts each year. Soft power supporters fear that, because military spending became so predominant in the 2000s, and because the State Department accounts for only 1% of the federal budget, it will likely be an easy target for cuts.

Threats and Opportunities of Colgate Company Coursework

Threats and Opportunities of Colgate Company - Coursework Example Colgate Company has managed to deal with the pressure of the external environment over time and this is attributed to the fact that the company has managed to stay alive in the market for the many years that it has. It was founded in 1880 and has continued to serve the world over the years. The company has had its fair share of Threats and Opportunities. It has handled its threats quite well to be able to survive to date. It has also seized all its opportunities quite effectively and hence survived in the market. One of the major opportunities that Colgate seized quite effectively is the huge market base that was unexploited. Any the time Colgate company was being coined in 1880, the world had seen very little of the oral health production industry. The world is such a wide base and in all corners of the world are individuals who have teeth that they need to take care of. Colgate Company took full advantage of this fact and set up its roots in all corners of the world. A vast unexplored market is a great opportunity for any business venture that needs to be exploited effectively. Colgate Company took full advantage of this great Opportunity that was naturally presented to it by the external environment. It employed great marketing strategies that hugely popularized its brand name Colgate. In fact, in several countries across the world, the brand name Colgate is used synonymously with the word toothpaste. One great threat that was presented by the external environment to Colgate Company is stiff competition from new coming products in the oral health industry. There are very many products that have been introduced in the industry in the resent days which have posed a great challenge to the survival of the firm. Some of these products are geared towards herbal medicine. Such products managed to convince several consumers in the market as it assured them of proper oral health care in a manner that is strictly natural and hence had no side effects absolutely. This painted the wrong impression that the products from Colgate Company were harmful to the health of the consumers as it used mainly synthetic chemical products. With the development of health concerns regarding Cancer and other lethal ailments in the world which are associated with chemical products, this posed a huge threat to the existence of Colgate Company. The company had to devise a mechanism quickly to deal with this threa t. To deal with the threat of the introduction of purportedly herbal and natural products in the oral health industry, Colgate Company came up with an ingenious idea. It made full use of its brand name popularity and introduced its own herbal products. It also introduced a whole range of contemporary and competitive products which cushioned off the external threats. The Company introduced such products as Colgate Triple action, Colgate Whitening among others. These were geared towards luring consumers to concentrate on certain effects in particular rather than the whole oral health in one package. Colgate whitening for instance was geared towards giving the consumers extra white teeth and whoever went for it would be guaranteed getting their teeth whiter than ever before. Tis gave the products of the firm a different dimension. They became less of just general oral products but more of products that are bought to fix certain specific oral concerns. With this strategy, the firm was a ble to beat hands down the threats that were posed by

Design in a Changing World Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Design in a Changing World - Case Study Example This feedback can be audible or visual. Feedback gives the user a feeling as well as a sense of confirmation that a system is functioning correctly and responsive. Consistency; User interfaces will be designed for consistency in appearance and function. Information will be organized on forms; the shape and size of icons, the arrangement and names of menu items, and the order followed to perform tasks will be consistent throughout the system (Satzinger, Jackson & Burd, 2012). Shortcuts; User interfaces, as well as dialogs designed for novices, are usually an impediment and annoyance to the productivity of experienced users. Users that frequently work with an application or for a long time want shortcuts for regularly used functions so as to cut down on the number of mouse clicks, keystrokes and menu selections needed to complete the task (Satzinger, Jackson & Burd, 2012). The system will have shortcuts such as voice commands and shortcut keys, like Windows keyboard sequences Ctrl+V for paste. Easy Reversal of Actions; Users should explore options as well as take actions that can be reversed or canceled with ease. This is also known as experimenting whereby users learn about the system. It is as well a way to avoid errors; since users can cancel the action once they realize that they had done a mistake (Satzinger, Jackson & Burd, 2012). Additionally, the design will include cancel buttons on every dialog box as well as allow users to go step backward at any time. Lastly, the system will ask the user to verify the action when he/she deletes something important like a record, a file or a transaction, if possible, the system will delay implementing that action.

The relationship between theory and practice in a documentary Essay

The relationship between theory and practice in a documentary - Essay Example The concept of horror movies is definitely mysterious but in reality a phobia for ghostly matter does operates. But a documentary is more realistic in approach and there is no willing suspension of disbelieve on the part of  audiences and spectators. It provides an opportunity to peep into the lives of the others and witness their dilemmas and problems from a sociological perspective. The lives of the characters depicted in a documented film are more realistic and they belong to the same historical period of the audiences. However, it is ‘not a reproduction of reality, it is a representation of the world we already occupy’ (Nichols, 2001, p20). The subject matter of documentaries generally focuses on the social, political, economic, educational or environmental issues. In this respect, the documentary- ‘Panorama: British Schools, Islamic Rules’ has succeeded in exploring the rapid growth of new private schools in Britain influenced by the teachings of the extremists  and fundamental groups, It is a documentary to investigate into the act of segregation conducted by the one faith school.  Ã‚   The documentary begins with an investigating spirit. It states in the introductory scene that over 95 percent of the schools in Britain favor communal harmony but there has been noticed the small but rapid growth of private schools ad Muslim state schools. John ware is the reporter for this documentary and aims to find out whether these schools are encouraging acts of segregation or not. In a documentary those issues are brought into notice that is ‘subject to debate’ (Nichols, 2001, p 49). The first Muslim school established in Britain is the Al-Furqan Primary School but it prepares it students to be tolerant towards other religions and faiths. It is evident from the keeping of various idols, beads etc of different faiths in the

Does High School Affect Social Mobility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Does High School Affect Social Mobility - Essay Example Student mobility i.e. students moving from one school to another for reasons other than being promoted to the next school level-is common in the United States. It is a topic that repeatedly surfaces in discussions about the problems of urban schooling. Remarkably, it tends to fade from the program as discussion turns toward reform initiatives and school restructuring. Student mobility and the resulting school instability are usually relegated to a background condition a part of an external context to which schools must adjust. However, mobility's effects can be deep and wide-ranging. They penetrate the crucial activity of schools the interaction of teachers and students around learning. In addition, not only does mobility have an effect on those students who are changing schools, it also more in general disturbs the functioning of classrooms and the basic operations of schools. This is not to say that just reducing student mobility will unavoidably translate into school improvement. Stable schools can also provide bad quality instruction to their students. Stability, in contrast, provides a base condition on which a school can build and transform successful programs. Without a certain level of stability, it is in doubt how school -based educational programs, no matter how modern, could effectively develop and show long-term impact. Mobility is an occurrence that is strongly deep-seated in the urban context and in urban schools. Accordingly, no one-policy approach alone is likely to reduce its prevalence and to improve its effects. The analyses suggest that an array of policy issues merit consideration. Discussions should focus on two levels: policies that can assist in decreasing the level of mobility between schools, and initiatives that can assess the negative impact of student mobility on learning and support school improvement efforts more generally. Over their whole elementary and secondary careers, most students make at least one non-promotional school change (Rumberger et al., 1999). Many educators think that student mobility is a definite result of students changing residences. In actual fact, 2000 U.S. census data show that 15% to 18% of school-age children moved in the previous year. There have also been indications that welfare reform may affect moving, with parents moving to accept jobs. On the other hand, research has also found that between 30% and 40% of school changes are not related with residential changes (Kerbow, 147-169; Rumberger et al., 1999). School factors such as overcrowding, class size reduction, suspension and expulsion policies, and the general academic and social climate also contribute to student mobility. The increase of parental options included in the No Child Left Behind legislation may also contribute over time to increased mobility. Impact on Students Academic Growth: A Literature Review The existing studies of the effect of student mobility on achievement tend to point out that a general decline in achievement is associated with mobility (Benson, Haycraft, Stayaert, & Weigel, 444-47; Benson & Weigel, 15-19; Blane et al, 127-42; Felner et al., 449-59; Johnson & Lindblad, 547-52; Schuler, 17-24; Wood et al., 1334-1338). The