Friday, December 27, 2019

Duties And Responsibilities Of Marriage - 1784 Words

Duties and Responsibilities of Marriages in Heian Ya Gao History 87 Paper#1 Topic A TA: Travis Seifman Section: W. 2-2:50pm Professor: Luke S. Roberts The Tale of Genji, the first novel in the world written by Murasaki Shikibu, describes the life of Hikaru Genji, the second son of the emperor, who lived as an imperial officer. This novel generally not only just shows us the aesthetics of Japanese, but also, more importantly, reveals the cultures, customs and traditions at Heian period in Japan. One of the most significant issues in the novel is the marriage in Heian. Based on the descriptions of the novel, the marriage in Heian was in general the â€Å"marriage politics† , which means the parents would appoint the marriage of their kids. Although the statue of women in religion was lower than men , and it was possible that men had several wives, or mates, both of the husbands and wives had their own duties to fulfill, especially the marriages shown in The Tale of Genji. For the husband, he needed to treat his wife well, at least in front other people. As wives, women needed regard her husband as the center of her life, and h elped her husband the household and be in charge of every detail in the whole family. I will argue that the marriages in Heian involved with the politics, and also were with the importance of equal duties for both husbands and wives. Ivan Morris mentioned that during Heian period, women’s positions were quite â€Å"not happy† . This was because ofShow MoreRelatedDivorce Is The Termination Of The Legal Duties And Responsibilities Of Marriage1296 Words   |  6 PagesDivorce is the termination of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thereby dissolving matrimonial bonds between a couple by a court or other competent body. More, and more couples are getting divorced as a result of high conflict, loss of intimacy and connection, and financial problems. Oftentimes, these couples have children who must now deal with the aftermath of their parent’s divorce, and unwillingly face immediate consequences. Divorce between their parents forces a child to readju stRead MoreCodes of Ethics Comparative Chart Essay872 Words   |  4 Pagesabout their responsibilities to their clients, their responsibilities to service providers, their attitudes concerning the duty to warn and the duty to protect, and cultural considerations. Responsibility to Client Organization Responsibility to client National Organization of Human Services (NOHS) Human service professionals respect the integrity and welfare of the client at all times. Each client is treated with respect, acceptance and dignity. American Association for Marriage and FamilyRead MoreI Want A Wife1288 Words   |  6 Pageswhatever the chore may be. I Want a Wife, therefore, is extremely relatable, it is like my dad wrote it himself and expects all these responsibilities to be completed by my mom. 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Some responsibilities she includes are taking care of the children, cleaning, cooking, and giving upRead More Longing to Escape Essay1084 Words   |  5 Pagesand are left defeated by these situations and responsibilities, while other characters are depicted as being strong and confront and handle their crises. â€Å"The Boarding House† and â€Å"The Dead† are two stories in particular, where the characters find themselves longing to escape not only from Dublin society, but also from the obligations that they have in Dublin. Joyce uses the idea of marriage as a tug-of-war between escape and responsibility. In â€Å"The Boarding House,† Mr. Doran, a manRead MoreAnn Marie Plane, â€Å"Creating a Blended Household: Christian Indian Women and English Domestic Life in Colonial Massachusetts†1062 Words   |  5 Pagesdisagreed with one another and led very different family, marriage, household and religious lives. English households were deeply rooted with the notion of marriage. Further they saw it just to give all control to the husband. This was done while the wives â€Å"tended house† and served as the housewife. Indian women and men were not as cemented into the idea that they must marry. Their lives are shown to be a strange bundle of rights and responsibilities, co-residency and kinship. The differences in opinionRead MoreDisruptions Of Marriage By Daniel Van Der Zee s A Secret Sorrowful915 Words   |  4 PagesDisruptions of Marriage Marriage is depicted as an adventurous lifestyle between two â€Å"soul mates† for an eternity, but during the 20th century women were viewed as house wives. Gail Godwin’s â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† and Karen Van der Zee’s â€Å"A Secret Sorrowful† illustrate how men exceed boundaries to satisfy women. These two narratives demonstrate how children can play a huge part in a couple s marriage from different perspectives. â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† and â€Å"A Secret Sorrow† demonstrate how the husbands

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Compensation Packages And Incentive Schemes - 911 Words

This paper has five further sections. Section two looks into different types of compensation packages and incentive schemes. Section three investigates and analyses the arguments that are put forward in their support, section four investigates the arguments that reject them. Section five considers the motivational theories and their link to compensation packages and incentive schemes with effects of both on individual behaviour. And section six summarises current evidence on the effects of compensation packages and incentive schemes, and their effects on individual behaviour. Compensation Packages and Incentive Schemes (43/500) Reward systems, reward strategies, incentive plans and incentive structures are all terms to describe the systems or plans organisations utilise in order to influence the behaviour of its employees’ (Kerr, 1995; Rubenfeld and David, 2006). Arguments Supporting Compensation Packages and Incentive Schemes, and the Positive Effect on Behaviour (110/500) More aggressive pay-for-performance systems (and a higher probability of dismissal for poor performance) would produce much lower compensation for less talented managers. Over time, these managers would be replaced by more able and more highly motivated individuals who would, on average, perform better and earn higher levels of pay. Existing managers need to find greater incentives to creative ways to enhance corporate performance, and their pay would rise as well (Jenson Murphy, 1990). It wasShow MoreRelatedCompensation Management : Employee Management Essay1544 Words   |  7 Pages1. COMPENSATION MANAGEMENT In employment contract, the most important term is the remuneration package that goes with labour service. According to International Labour Organization (ILO), describes remuneration as payment system based on effort, productivity and performance. In actual facts remuneration refers to salary or wage and all allowances and financial benefits payable to a worker either in kind or cash in return for his price of labour. In actual facts, employees work or labour to procureRead MoreThe Executive Remuneration Plan For Whc s New Subsidiary1096 Words   |  5 Pagesremuneration plan for WHC’s new subsidiary in Sweden. Elekta’s Remuneration Plan An Executive Remuneration plan is the most current development made for a company’s executives and is executed all around the world. Remuneration planning is a key incentive for the company. Remuneration retains talented staff to sustain a competitive advantage. It creates customer value and demolishes the significant erosion of business value. It is of prime importance to Elekta and it’s stakeholders that the guidelinesRead MoreThe Culture of the Lincoln Electric Company656 Words   |  3 Pagesanother indicator of a strong culture. 3. The Incentive Management Plan The company’s people-driven values and assumptions about employees are that productivity and employee performance are the means the means to achieve customer satisfaction. It is against this philosophical background that the company values the equitable treatment of all its employees as evidenced by its incentive management plan which has been part of its compensation schemes since the early days of the organization. TangibleRead MoreEmployee Compensation and Corporate Culture- What Works1736 Words   |  7 PagesAmir Hejazi Employee Compensation and Corporate Culture: What Works? When determining what method to use to compensate employees, a company must be aware of the impact that different compensation methods can have on employee performance, and on organizational culture. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of employee compensation. Some employees will respond very well to a program that other employees might balk at. Similarly, some companies or industries may flourishRead MoreControl Oriented Theories, Managerialism And Agency1571 Words   |  7 Pagesprofits despite potential loss to shareholders. This may be because they find it easier, they feel that a bigger company justifies more compensation or growth is less risky than profit improvement. The divergence of interests can be facilitated as shareholders may deal with other companies, it is difficult to control CEO’s and size becomes an easy option to set compensation. Boards may support CEO’s as they may be friends and may benefit themselves if high CEO pay drives that of all directors. Agency theoryRead MoreAl Dunlap and Sunbeam875 Words   |  4 Pagesanalysis Introduction This memo will reflect on and analyze the decisions of the Sunbeam Board of Directors during Albert Dunlap’s tenure as CEO. This analysis will include an overview of Sunbeam’s goals, evaluation of 1996 – 1997 and 1998 compensation package, assessment of the firing decision by BOD and the overall governance of the BOD. Sunbeam’s Goals Dunlap is famous for his ruthless but seemingly successful turnaround techniques that he has employed: â€Å"For much of his career before comingRead MoreBenefits And Benefits Of A Company1027 Words   |  5 PagesMaintenance â€Å"is the provision of working conditions to encourage employees to remain with the business.† In order to do so the business compensates their employees, compensation is â€Å" the payment or benefits (or both) an employee receives in exchange for their labour.† Maintenance is the third stage of the human resource cycle, and the ultimate decider as to whether an employee will remain with the company or involuntarily separate. This section focuses on how Nestle Ltd encourages and rewards theirRead MorePayment Systems of Tnb723 Words   |  3 PagesPAYMENT SYSTEMS AND WORKING HOURS In order to attract workers and to retain the best performers, employers need to have a compensation system that will achieve these objectives. Furthermore, employers need to comply, with the relevant law which relate to payment systems and hours of work. Payment systems and quantum of payment play a significant role not only for individual employers, but also at the level of society. WAGE AND PAYMENT SYSTEMS In return of their work, the employees of TNB areRead MoreThere Has Been Confusion About What A Carbon Tax Is And1296 Words   |  6 Pagesthe biggest corporate and individual polluters, and made that need an integral part of the way we live. The 500 biggest corporate polluters will from July next year have to pay $23 for every tonne of their CO2 emissions, giving them an immediate incentive to transition to new technologies. For families and individuals, those who can most afford it will face increasing costs if they fail to change their habits, while those on low and middle incomes will be compensated. Families living in larger housesRead MoreTheory, An Optimal Executive Compensation Scheme Essay1753 Words   |  8 PagesIn theory, an optimal executive compensation scheme overcomes the principal-agent problem by aligning the interests of executives and shareholders, and subsequently providing executives an incentive to maximise shareholder value. Furthermore, an executive com pensation scheme must be sufficient to attract and retain the appropriate executive. According to Bognanno (2014), restricted stocks and stock options are the most common forms of equity-based compensation schemes, with stock options accounting

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Determinants of Health Factors Indigenous Population of Australia

Question: Discuss about the Determinants of Health Factors Population of Australia. Answer: Introduction: The health of the indigenous population of Australia is generally worse off than the health of the non-Indigenous people when it comes to the social determinants of health. In the initial life, it is manifested in higher rates of low patterns if disrupted growth of children and lower rates of low birth weight. This report illustrates the state of health of Indigenous people in comparison with the non-Indigenous people (Alligood, 2014, p. 12). The report also describes factors that determine the health of the Indigenous people of Australia. The implications of these factors on the lives and health of the Indigenous inhabitants is also discussed in brief in the report. The health services that the non-indigenous people can access are not accessible to the Indigenous people of Australia. This adds to one of the higher levels of disadvantage for the lives of indigenous people of Australia. In most of the cases, it is because the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait people live in the remote locations than the non-Indigenous people where the all the health services are offered in the urban location (Billings Halstead, 2015). Employment and income Employment and income play significant roles in the obtaining the access to better health for the Indigenous people in Australia. Most of the indigenous people of Australia are not privileged with higher income as the employment scope for them is very limited. The rate of education for these indigenous people of Australia is extremely low both the in quality and quality which has resulted in low income for them. The indigenous people may not be exposed to the similar opportunities so as to obtain healthy food like the non-indigenous people can get. The stores have very less stock of food items like whole meal bread and reduced fat milk as people do not have that much income to buy these products most of the time. Status of the self-assessed health and employment are closely related. Employment is also associated with the behavioural risk factors for the growth of the chronic disease inflicting upon the Indigenous people in Australia (Blais, 2015). According to the data collected from the 2012-2013 AATSIHS, the Indigenous people who were from the age of 15 to 64 who were not employed in the labour force were found to be significantly more prone to have poor health than those not- Indigenous people who were employed in the labour force (Butcher, et al., 2013, p. 15). The Indigenous people who aged between 15 to 64 and were employed were found to less prone to smoking tobacco on a regular basis. The 46% of the Indigenous people who aged from 15 to 64 and were unemployed smoked daily and had their health decrementing as compared to the 36% of the Indigenous people who were employed. 71% of the employed Indigenous people were not obese or overweight as compared to the 59% of those who were unemployed in the whole community and 57% of those who were not in the labour force (Butcher, et al., 2013). The association of the poverty and employment with the status of health of the indigenous people can be analyzed from various ways. Indigenous people who have been employed have are found out to be in good health as more people have the possibility of participating in the labour force if they are in good health. Half of the indigenous people of Australia in the age group of 15 are found out to have a personal income of $362 in a week as compared to $582 or less by the non- indigenous people in Australia. 42% of the Australian indigenous people belonging to the same aged group were employed which shows that higher is the employment rate, the less detriment the health of the Indigenous people is (Butcher, et al., 2013). Thus, the Indigenous Australian who are employed is having better health conditions than the Indigenous people who do not have employment. Hence, poor employment and poverty have been one of the leading factors of health deterioration of the Indigenous people of Australia. Health behaviors and lifestyle Excessive intake of alcohol has been found to have a lot of contribution towards the hampering of health of the Indigenous people in Australia. High doses of alcohol have been leading to many numbers of cases of coronary heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, high blood pressure, stroke, and pancreatitis. The increased amount of alcohol on a regular basis by the Indigenous people in Australia has also led to many injuries resulting from drowning, homicide, and road accidents (Holloway Galvin, 2016, p. 73). Excessive consumption during pregnancy by the indigenous women population has resulted in bad health of the unborn child, miscarriage and many complications post pregnancy for both mother and child. Exposure to the tobacco smoke has also resulted in the risk of infections and development of asthma by the children and the other members living in a house with a regular smoker (Butcher, et al., 2013, p. 10). It was found out that 17% of the indigenous population of Australia belonging to the age group of 15 years and above who are involved in drinking, smoking and other illicit substances have the medium to high levels of health risks (Grohar-Murray, DiCroce Langan, 2016, p. 83). After the adjustments of the age, the proportion of the adults among the Indigenous population who are addicted to drinking, smoking and other drugs are exposed to high levels of major health issues in the Indigenous population of Australia. The indigenous people who are addicted to the illicit substances have been found out to be hospitalized for the mental and behavioural disorders associated with alcohol. The most common cases of mental and behavioural disorders that were found to relevant with the Indigenous people was acute intoxication due to which the indigenous people being hospitalized 15 times more than the rate of hospitalization in the cases of non-Indigenous people of Australia (Hockenberry Wilson, 2014). The rate of hospitalization and the liver disease due to alcohol is 9.4 times higher for the Indigenous masses than that for the non-Indigenous people of Australia. This shows that the explicit use alcohol, tobacco, illicit products have major implications on the health of the Indigenous people of Australia. Education Education is the characteristic that is included under the socioeconomic factors of the population. Having the choices and opportunities of the education limits in a poor way will influence the factors that are related to health like lacking proper diet and the accessibility to the health care (Hockenberry Wilson, 2014). Getting access to the education is considered to be an important factor for the determinants of the health and the wellbeing of the individual and in turn, the lower education levels are linked often to the features such as the unemployment, housing of low quality, poverty, and the decreased access to the services of health (Education, 2014, p. 43). Three out of six COAG which are closing the targets of the Gap will relate the Indigenous education. Status of education and health Results obtained from the NATSISS in the year 2008 have shown that if the schooling is reaching for higher levels than it is associated positively with the health status. It has been depicted in the following figure: The people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander who are under the age of 15 to 34 years who have completed level 12th were more likely to rate for the health in an excellent and very good manner when compared with that people who have left the school at the 9th standard or below that (59 per cent was compared with 49 per cent). Even those were considered to be less likely to have the rating of health as fair or poor (9 per cent compared with 16 per cent) (Lewis, et al., 2015). While the overall health levels for the Indigenous Australians have been reported lower for the people who are aged by 35 years and more. People who have completed level 12th were more likely to rate their health as very good or excellent- 43 per cent, which is compared with the 25 per cent of the population who have completed only level 9th or below. The associations between the levels of the psychological distress and the completion of the school have been found to be similar. The younger people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander who have completed the level 12th have been less likely to report of having high or very high levels of the psychological distress when compared with the ones who left the school at the level 9th or below that in this 29 per cent was compared with that 35 per cent. Among the population of Indigenous Australian who were aged around 35 years and more the proportions that were corresponding were found to be 20 per cent and 37 per cent respectively (Lewis, et al., 2015). Figure 1: Self-reported health Status Source: (Lewis, et al., 2015) From the studies, it is understood that education is the principal factor for improving the conditions of health and wellbeing. For instance, education of higher levels is found to be connected with having the better understanding of the lifestyles and it being healthy and health care system being good. It also showed that mortality rates are higher for those individuals whose level of education was low, especially for those who are having smoking related diseases. Those people who remained in school and have the tendency of smoking less will be more active and who consumes less alcohol all of these factors will reduce the risk of getting chronic diseases in adults (Lewis, et al., 2015). Racism and racial discrimination Many various forms are taken by racism. The characteristic of racial discrimination will be involving the acts such as if the individual is being treated unfairly or disparaged due to their color, nationality, race, descent, or the ethnic origin. A systematic occurrence of racism might happen as a result of the conditions, policies, and the practices which will affect the wide range of a group of people. High levels of racism are continued to be experienced by the people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in Australia throughout the multiple settings. However, racial discrimination is really hard to measure (Potter, et al., 2016). In between the levels of 16 per cent and 93 per cent the people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander have reported that they are experiencing the racial discrimination. These conclusions have been drawn from the nature of the study from the questions that were asked and the responses that were given depending on the questions. The research conducted by Australians shows that people who are experiencing the racial discrimination are being linked to the poor self-assessment of the status of health, diseases that are related to stress, psychological distress, smoking, diabetes, and the usage of the substance and in general it is having the impact in a negative way of the health (Yoder-Wise, 2014, p. 99). Further, research that has been conducted recently has shown that three people out of the four Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander are experiencing the racial discrimination regularly while evaluating the primary health care, it has been noticed that some of the people were not being diagnosed and are not given the treatment for the disease in the early stages (Stuart, 2014). From the evidence, it is suggested that the racism and the racial discrimination has been found to affect the people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (AIHW 2009d) with various adverse health conditions. The term discrimination in this context will refer to the situations or the places that were reported self at which the individual as a result of being Indigenous have received an unfair treatment (ABS 2010e). Conclusion In the context of Aboriginal, health is considered to be multifaceted and complex in which the physical health of the people, the social and the emotional health and the wellbeing of the entire communities are included. In this essay, the discussion was progressing on the determinants of the health factors on how they impact on the health and well-being of a person of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background. It has been designed for providing the background information in a broad way and to promote the conversation regarding the various factors and their influence on the health and wellbeing of the individuals. The health issues of the people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander with respect to the factors have been discussed. Though it does not provide the overall picture of the present health system or the experiences that are faced by the Indigenous Australian it briefs out the situations. References Alligood, M.R 2014,Nursing theorists and their work, Elsevier Health Sciences, pp 7-15 Billings, D.M Halstead, J.A, 2015,Teaching in nursing: A guide for faculty, Elsevier Health Sciences. Blais, K, 2015.Professional nursing practice: Concepts and perspectives, Pearson. Butcher, H.K, Bulechek, G.M, Dochterman, J.M.M Wagner, C, 2013, Nursing interventions classification (NIC), Elsevier Health Sciences, pp 10-15 Butterworth, T Faugier, J, 2013, Clinical supervision and mentorship in nursing, Springer. Education, P.N, 2014, Advancing Nursing Excellence for Public Protection, pp 23-50 Giger, J.N, 2016, Transcultural nursing: Assessment and intervention, Elsevier Health Sciences. Grohar-Murray, M.E, DiCroce, H.R Langan, J.C, 2016, Leadership and management in nursing. Pearson, pp 45-90 Hockenberry, M.J Wilson, D, 2014.Wong's nursing care of infants and children, Elsevier Health Sciences. Holloway, I Galvin, K, 2016, Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare, John Wiley Sons, pp 67-90 Lewis, S.L, Maltas, J, Dirksen, S.R Bucher, L, 2015, Study guide for medical-surgical nursing: Assessment and management of clinical problems, Elsevier Health Sciences. Moorhead, S, Johnson, M, Maas, M.L Swanson, E, 2014, Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC): measurement of health outcomes, Elsevier Health Sciences. Parahoo, K, 2014, Nursing research: principles, process and issues, Palgrave Macmillan. Potter, P.A, Perry, A.G, Stockert, P Hall, A, 2016, Fundamentals of nursing, Elsevier Health Sciences. Stuart, G.W, 2014, Principles and practice of psychiatric nursing, Elsevier Health Sciences. Yoder-Wise, P.S, 2014, Leading and managing in nursing, Elsevier Health Sciences, pp 45-10

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Learning Curve free essay sample

Learning curve in psychology and economics The first person to describe the learning curve was Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885. He found that the time required to memorize a nonsense word increased sharply as the number of syllables increased. [l] Psychologist, Arthur Bills gave a more detailed description of learning curves in 1934. He also discussed the properties of different types of learning curves, such as negative acceleration, positive acceleration, plateaus, and ogive curves. 2] In 1936, Theodore Paul Wright described the effect of learning on labor productivity in the aircraft industry and proposed a mathematical odel of the learning curve. [3] The economic learning of productivity and efficiency generally follows the same kinds of experience curves and have interesting secondary effects. Efficiency and productivity improvement can be considered as whole organization or industry or economy learning processes, as well as for individuals. The general pattern is of first speeding up and then slowing down, as the practically achievable level of methodology improvement is reached. We will write a custom essay sample on Learning Curve or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The effect of reducing local effort and resource use by learning improved methods paradoxically ften has the opposite latent effect on the next larger scale system, by facilitating its expansion, or economic growth, as discussed in the Jevons paradox in the 1880s and updated in the Khazzoom-Brookes Postulate in the 1980s. edit] Broader interpretations of the learning curve Initially introduced in educational and behavioral psychology, the term has acquired a broader interpretation over time, and expressions such as experience curve, improvement curve, cost improvement curve, progress curve, progress function, startup curve, and efficiency curve are often used interchangeably. In economics the subject is rates of development, as development refers to a whole system learning process with varying rates of progression. Generally speaking all learning displays incremental change over time, but describes an S curve which has different appearances depending on the time scale of observation. It has now also become associated with the evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium and other kinds of revolutionary change in complex systems generally, relating to innovation, organizational behavior and the management of group learning, among other fields. 4] These processes of rapidly emerging new form appear to take place by complex learning within the systems themselves, which when observable, display curves of changing rates that accelerate and decelerate. edit] Common terms The familiar expression steep learning curve may refer to either of two aspects of a pattern in which the marginal rate of required resource investment is initially low, perhaps even decreasing at the very first stages, but eventually increases without bound. Early uses of the metaphor focused on the patterns positive aspect, namely the potential for quick progress in learning (as measured by, e. . , memory accuracy or the number of trials required to obtain a desired result)[5] at the introductory or elementary stage. 6] Over time, however, the metaphor has become more commonly used to focus on the patterns negative aspect, namely the difficulty of learning once one gets beyond the basics of a subject. In the former case, the steep[ness] characterizing the overall amount learned versus total resources invested (or versus time when resource investment per unit time is held constant)†in mathematical terms, the initially high positive absolute value of the first derivative of that function. In the latter case, the metaphor is inspired by the patterns eventual behavior, i. e. , its behavior at high values of overall resources invested (or of overall time invested when resource investment per unit time is held constant), namely the high rate of increase in the resource investment required if the next item is to be learned†in other words, the eventually always-high, always-positive absolute value and the eventually never-decreasing status of the first derivative of that function. In turn, those properties of the latter function dictate that the function measuring the rate of earning per resource unit invested (or per unit time when resource investment per unit time is held constant) has a horizontal asymptote at zero, and thus that the overall amount learned, while never plateauing or decreasing, increases more and more slowly as more and more resources are invested. This difference in emphasis has led to confusion and disagreements even among learned people. 7] The most effective solution to problems arising from a steep learning curve is to find a different method of learning that features a differently shaped (or at least less steep) curve. Such a discovery, often characterized as an aha! moment or breakthrough, often results from a seemingly radical intuitive change in direction. [citation needed] [edit] Learning curve models The page on learning experience curve models offers more discussion of the mathematical theory of representing them as determinis tic processes, and provides a good group of empirical examples of how that technique has been applied. edit] General learning limits Learning curves, also called experience curves, relate to the much broader subject of natural limits for resources and technologies in general. Such limits generally present themselves as increasing complications that slow the learning of how to do things more efficiently, like the well-known limits of perfecting any process or product or to perfecting measurements. [8] These practical experiences match the predictions of the Second law of thermodynamics for the limits of waste reduction generally. Approaching limits of perfecting things to eliminate waste meets geometrically increasing effort to make progress, and provides an environmental measure of all factors seen and unseen changing the learning experience. Perfecting things becomes ever more difficult despite increasing effort despite continuing positive, if ever diminishing, results. The same kind of slowing progress due to complications in learning also appears in the limits of useful technologies and of profitable markets applying to Product life cycle management and software development cycles). Remaining market segments or remaining potential efficiencies or efficiencies are found in successively less convenient forms. Efficiency and development curves typically follow a two-phase process of first bigger steps corresponding to finding hings easier, followed by smaller steps of finding things more difficult. It reflects bursts of learning following breakthroughs that make learning easier followed by meeting constraints that make learning ever harder, perhaps toward a point of cessation. Ђ Natural Limits One of the key studies in the area concerns diminishing system limits for resource development or other efforts. The most studied of these may be Energy Return on Energy Invested or EROEI, discussed at length in an Encyclopedia of the Earth article and in an OilDrum article and series also referred to s Hubert curves. The energy needed to produce energy is a measure of our difficulty in learning how to make remaining energy resources useful in relation to the effort expen ded. Energy returns on energy invested have been in continual decline for some time, caused by natural resource limits and increasing investment. Energy is both natures and our own principal resource for making things happen. The point of dimininishing returns is when increasing investment makes the resource more expensive. As natural limits are approached, easily used sources are exhausted and nes with more complications need to be used instead. As an environmental signal persistently dimishing EROI indicates an approach of whole system limits in our ability to make things happen. Ђ Useful Natural Limits EROEI measures the return on invested effort as a ratio of RII or learning progress. The inverse IIR measures learning difficulty. The simple difference is that if R approaches zero R/ will too, but IIR will approach infinity. When complications emerge to limit learning progress the limit of useful returns, uR, is approached and R-uR approaches zero. The difficulty of seful learning 1/(R-uR) approaches infinity as increasingly difficult tasks make the effort unproductive. That point is approached as a vertical asymptote, at a particular point in time, that can be delayed only by unsustainable effort. It defines a point at which enough investment has been made and the task is done, usually planned to be the same as when the task is complete. For unplanned tasks it may be either foreseen or discovered by surprise. The usefulness measure, uR, is affected by the complexity of environmental responses that can only be measured when they occur unless they are foreseen.