Weekly Blog Post 14

Who is Jake?

  • A loyal, hard worker
  • An avid learner
  • A good friend

How will you change the world?

  • Lead my life in a way that has a positive impact on those around me
  • Hopefully work in a position that will allow me to have a large scale sustainable impact on the planet (I’m not sure what this is going to look like right now)
  • Pass on the knowledge and wisdom that I gather to the next generation

Epitaph:

In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.

Fall – Weekly Blog Post 12

GSIF Conceptual Framework

Develop a systems framework for the Global Social Impact Fellowship contrasting it with traditional programs. 

By: Sammy Powers, Ami Yoshimura, Brianna Wanbaugh, Tri Nguy

Figure 1: Traditional classrooms

In a traditional classroom, students typically attend lectures, complete assignments, study for exams vigorously and receive a degree once they have completed all the necessary requirements for their curriculum.

Figure 2: GSIF Conceptual Framework

In the Global Social Impact Fellowship, students apply what they learn in lectures and workshops and apply it to their projects, in the real world, which has real impact. These real world impact projects give students

Actors:

  • Khanjan and Bill (office of creative inquiry)
  • The teams (including the students and project advisors)
  • Partnerships
  •  Students

 

What are they trying to accomplish:

  • Sustainable Impact, Impact, and Impact
  • Different from norm because of the real world application of what is learned

 

How are they trying to accomplish it?

  • Inspiring students to generate sustainable impact and providing them with a proper knowledge of how to do it
  • 1-year commitment 
  • Interdisciplinary learning
  • Fieldwork
  • Inclusive
  • Publish original work and travel to conferences to present the work if applicable

 

Why are they doing what they are doing?

 

  • Impact. Impact. Impact.

 

What do all the actors gain from GSIF?

  • Group work experience across disciplines
  • Connections
  • Educational, hands-on, authentic experience
  • Entrepreneurial mindsets
  • Reputation
  • Travel
  • Life-long friends 🥺
  • Class at 7pm 🙂 
  • Inspirational quotes from our lovely instructor
  • Opportunity for publication  
  • Opportunity for full-time summer research positions 

 

Weekly Blog Post 10/11

Grand vision

  • Increase the income of 3.5 million Filipino coconut farmers
  • Filipino coconuts farmers should be able to earn a livable wage
  • No Filipino coconuts farmers should live below $2/day 

 

Develop a conceptual framework that captures your vision of how your innovation and the ensemble/coalition you build around it will address the systemic challenges and improve the QoL for the target group.

 

Systematic challenge: Small-hold copra farmers do not have access to processing equipment or technology to produce higher value-added products.

 

Figure 1: Farmers harvest their coconuts, smoke/sun dry them, and sell them to the middleman broker, and the middleman broker sells it to the processing plants where it is then processed into higher value added products. In this process, the coconut farmers are unable to make significant income due to the middleman broker paying lower costs due to the consistency and quality of the Copra. 

 

Figure 2: Our innovation will reconfigure the extant system by enabling farmers to process their coconuts into higher value added products on their own, thus enabling them to take in more money than they did before.

 

 

Weekly Blog Post 9

Name: Jake Donoghue, Brianna Wanbaugh, Sammy Powers, and Tri Nguyen

 

Systems thinking challenge #1: Police corruption in Afghanistan 

  • 35M Population; 250,000 Policemen
  • 27% Literacy Rate (2019: 32%)
  • 13 Yrs, Billions Later →  Poor Personnel and Payroll Data (No verification)
  • Extremely High (Hierarchical) Corruption
  • 10% “Ghost” Policemen
  • Commanders get a cut from salaries
  • Poor Morale; Defection to the Taliban
  • Law and Order Crises; Public Trust

 

Solution:

The corruption in the Afghan police bodies can be accounted for by the following factors: 1) low salaries; 2) poor working conditions; 3) poor recruitment and selection procedures resulting from poor literacy rate among the population; 4) a lack of training programmes 5) and opportunities for corruption due to inadequate controls of payroll data.

 

As a commander in chief of the police, we will have to collaborate with different entities among the governing bodies of the Afgan to bring in significant police and institutional reforms. The entities will be included but not limited to educators, influences, policy makers, citizens, governors, and more. To address the root cause of corruption and not just the “symptoms,” our solution will be grounded on these pillars: education, enforcement and prevention. The reform practices will be as follows:

 

 

  • Education:

 

 

  1. Implement additional education for policers to uphold integrity, professionalism, and adherence to human rights and laws
  2. Promote public education of anti-corruption intervention by publicizing the arrest and successful prosecution of prominent corrupted police officers
  3. Promote the public knowledge of anti-corruption laws and use the public to report corruption. 

 

 

  • Enforcement:

 

 

  1. Adding police auditors and anti-corruption intervention bodies to increase the accountability of the police force. These anti-corruption investigation bureau can be given authority to freeze assets, seize passports, propose reforms, etc. They might also have extensive powers to conduct an investigation, arrest police officers who are suspicious of bribery, and probe into a suspect’s financial evidence
  2. Within the anti-corruption investigation bureau, make sure there is a regulation system to make all anti-corruption investigators accountable for their granted power. For example, classify the main body into 3 sub-components, and have one group reviewed by the other 2 groups in terms of transparency and evaluative performance on a regular basis.  

 

 

  • Prevention:

 

 

  1. Provide incentive for fairness by making sure the working conditions are reasonable, the salaries are justified for a comfortable living environment, heavy penalties for bribery, and large bounties for reporting corruption
  2. Put emphasis on the recruitment and selection procedures of future police officers; making the process more selective so that the 
  3. Strong leadership, as demonstrated by the commander-in-chief of the Afghan police, will be essential to serve a role model and the beacon of hope and justice.

 

Systems Thinking Analysis:

 

Differentiation: The individual components of this large system include the community, Afghan Uniform Police, Afghan Highway Police, Afghan Border Police, Criminal Investigation Department, the Afghan Local Police (ALP) Now part of ANP, and the Afghan government.

 

 

Interdependence: Our solution depends on mutually beneficial and reciprocal relationships within the system, including connections between bodies and pillars. As a commander in chief of the police, we will work with several governing bodies in which both the people within the police system will benefit in addition to the governing bodies facilitating reform, as the improvement of the country will reflect them and their work. Additionally, mutually beneficial connections exist between pillars. For example, establishing an education plan can encourage accountability and in turn improve enforcement and prevention by emphasizing police responsibility to act in accordance with the law.

 

Holism: In order to increase the anti-corruption in Afghanistan, all components of the problem need to be considered in order to fully solve the problem. In this case, the police cannot exist without the community because there would be nothing to protect. If there is nothing to protect then any governing body of higher rank is not necessary. Therefore, these independent components depend on each other to create the problem and solve the problem.

 

Multifinality: The goal of our solution is to promote public trust in police, to minimize corruption, increase morale, and improve quality of life for the community. With this solution all parties involved will have their goals met. The community will have more trustworthy police because the rate of corruption will have decreased and if there is less corruption the community will be willing to report more crimes. Corruption will be minimized through education of the police and the public. The police will be educated to uphold strong core values such as integrity, professionalism, and their human rights and laws. The people will be educated through the shared knowledge of arrests and successful prosecutions. A strong leader will allow for the increase in morale among police officers. All of these together will lead to a higher quality of life for all of those involved.

 

Equifinality: As previously stated, our solution is founded on three pillars in which there are several paths to achieving our overall goal. Though there are many different approaches or “inputs” involved, the overall result or “output” to reduce corruption remains the same.

 

Regulation: Our solution has a system in place that helps hold the police accountable through our implementation of anti-corrupt bodies, public broadcast of arrests and prosecutions, as well as higher salaries to increase the will of the police officers to not be corrupt.

 

Abstraction: Though this issue focuses specifically on anti-corruption, our solution has broader applications. The implementation of our solution will result in a higher quality of life for the people of Afghanistan by ensuring a proper system that convicts crime and reduces the abuse of power. 

 

Leverage: If the salaries are being raised the selection process can be more competitive which will ultimately allow for higher quality police officers.

 

Systems thinking challenge #2: Water hyacinth

  • Water hyacinth infestation is a major problem on the shores of Lake Victoria. The moss doubles every month and blocks the fishermen’s access to the lake. It also results in spread of disease and hence they want it removed at all costs.
  • An entrepreneur has figured out that she can take the hyacinth, crush it, and use it to make compost and briquettes. She hires four people to cut the hyacinth, crush it with manual machines, and bring it to her workshop. 
  • This system works well for 2 weeks and her need for the hyacinth increases substantially. But the communities on the shores are unhappy that she is making money from the hyacinth. They stop her employees from accessing the hyacinth.
  • How does she solve the problem?

 

Solution:

To address this challenge, the entrepreneur could try to incorporate the fishermen in her water hyacinth business. As the fishermen need to clean up the hyacinth to get access to the fishing area in the lake, they can also store the hyacinth on their boats during the process and give it to the entrepreneur in exchange of the shared profits earned from the production of compost and briquettes later. After having access to the hyacinth, the entrepreneur can hire labor workers to crush the hyacinth with manual machines and transport it to her workshop where she can make compost and briquettes. To prevent the community from thinking that she is solely the one that gets the benefit from the business, she could share 10% profits of the business from her products with the fishermen. To start off, the entrepreneur can partner with a few fishermen, and if these fishermen earned additional benefits in addition to their finishing income, this might motivate other fishermen to come and join the business. This will be a win-win situation for both sides. The entrepreneur can now get a steady supply of the hyacinth to make and sell her products, while the communities, including the fishermen and labor workers, will be able to earn additional benefits by taking part in the business. In addition, since the hyacinth is the source of the disease that is detrimental to the ecosystems, removing it from the lake on a regular basis is making a positive impact on the environment, which will not only protect the fish in the lake but also the health of the community who is more than likely to eat the fish from where the hyacinth is growing infestedly. 

 

Systems Thinking Analysis:

 

Differentiation:

  • Fishers 
  • Labor workers – crushing hyacinth and machining compost/briquettes 
  • Entrepreneur
  • Lake Victoria community

 

 

Interdependence:

  • The fishermen would be paid by the entrepreneur to clear the hyacinth from the water
  • The fishermen will be able to catch more fish 
  • The Lake Victoria community begins profiting from this as the local fisherman are bringing in extra money, and selling more fish to the local population

 

Holism: Overall, the removal of hyacinth will allow for more fish to be bought and eaten (food security) as well as a decrease in the spread of disease which will benefit the community as a whole.

 

Multifinality:

  • Each individual stakeholder in this hyacinth business is working with different goals:
    • Entrepreneur: get access to the hyacinth that then she can make compost and briquettes 
    • Fishermen: clear out the hyacinth in the lake to do their fishing
    • Labour workers: can still process raw hyacinth and transport it to the entrepreneur’s workshop
    • Lake Victoria community: get rid of the hyacinth which is a source of a disease
  • The system itself also meet its own goals:
    • Get rid of the hyacinth
    • All involved individuals get benefits form the system

 

Equifinality: 

  • All stakeholders are working on different parts of the hyacinth business, but they all share the same goals: removing hyacinth and earning additional benefits from the business.

 

Regulation:

  • Create a quota in weight of hyacinth removed for fishermen to meet to ensure steady business
  • Be clear that 10% of the profit automatically goes back to the fishermen

 

Abstraction:

Our solution has wider applications, as it improves the overall health of the environment and protects the ecosystem.

 

Leverage point:

  • Partnering with fishermen so that they are not left out 

Weekly Blog Post 7

Q1: Describe at least 5 partnerships with individuals and/or organizations that have been formed to support your project and that impact the success or failure of your venture.

 

Please identify partnerships at the individual, team, and Lehigh / GSIF level.

 

1.What constituted the partnership?

2.How did the partner help you? How did you help them?

3.Was this a symbiotic relationship? Why or why not?

4.What would help strengthen this partnership and make it more equitable?

 

University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) (HEED Program)

  1. This partnership was born during the assignment or our project. We were given this connection initially.
  2. UPD students and a professor have given us insights on conditions in the Philippines as well as contacts for the Philippine Coconut Authority.  
  3. No, because of the pandemic we were not able to travel to the Philippines to collaborate with the UPD students. The UPD students were also sent home due to the pandemic where many of them did not have access to wifi so we shifted to communication with Jill Manapat only. However, due to poor connection it is hard to have productive zoom meetings
  4. More communication efforts would help strengthen this relationship but given the circumstances of the Pandemic 

 

Prof. Jedlicka

  1. Professor Jedlicka is the co-advisor to our project (for both TE Capstone team and GSIF).
  2. She provides guidance and insight to our team based on her expertise. We give her more information about different aspects of the copra industry, which in turn allows her to provide us with more suggestions and direction.
  3. This is a symbiotic relationship, as we are both reciprocating value. As we navigated through this complex coconut industry together as students and mentors, we taught and learned from each other: we taught her about the coconut knowledge that we found from literature, and she taught us how to better use that knowledge to advance our venture. 
  4. An increase in the team’s efforts would strengthen this relationship since the more we put in allows for more input on Professor Jedlicka’s end. 

 

Prof. Haden

  1. This partnership was built through GSIF and Professor Haden is a co-advisor to our project
  2. She helped us organize our ideas and helped us with where we should start with our project. We have helped her by teaching her about copra and the marketing of it in the Philippines. Also we will eventually publish a paper which will reflect well on her. 
  3. Yes, because Professor Haden acted as a guide for where we should start and we were able to teach her about our project. 
  4. More communication would strengthen this partnership.

 

Wilber (Brian Slocum and Michael Moore)

  1. Our partnership with the Wilbur Powerhouse is based on our need for help in designing and prototyping our dryer. We connected through our advisor and our own relations.
  2. They have helped us through the design, but also mainly the physical construction of the prototype through their skill sets, expertise, and their access to Wilbur. 
  3. This is less of a symbiotic relationship because they have given us more value than we have given them, through advising us through our designs and helping us build it.
  4. A more proactive approach to our design methods and an increase in understanding of the building process from our team. 

 

Lynne Cassimeris

  1. Cell Biology professor at Lehigh, whom one of our team members is taking a class with. 
  2. This partner has helped in furthering the understanding of what goes on a cellular and molecular level inside of cells, which can be applied to copra.
  3. This is less of a symbiotic relationship as she is providing her teaching on her profession and we are learning from it.
  4. What would strengthen this relationship would be being in more communication with her and asking more directly about potential guidance on how to work on copra more effectively.

 

Gregory Lang

  1. One of our team members worked at Dr. Lang’s Yeast lab
  2. Dr. Lang answered an email about what to do about aflatoxins when our team member emailed him and he provided his knowledge as he is a microbiology professor and has experience working on bacteria and yeast.
  3. This is less of a symbiotic relationship as we do not have anything valuable from our side of research to offer him in return for his teaching.
  4. More communication and working alongside him would strengthen the relationship and bring more equity to our project as we would profit from the more knowledge we gain about how to counteract spoilage and molding.

Weekly Blog Post 6

List ten specific ways in which your teaming approach has changed/ evolved since you started, teamwork skills you have developed, and lessons you have learned

Approach Evolution Skills Developed Lessons Learned
We started with a very individualistic approach to research We now spend our time researching more similar topics that we can discuss more closely Teamwork Having two people research similar things allows for deeper understanding
Last semester we pretty much only met once a week Now, we meet 2-3 times a week Better Time Management It’s much better for our team to meet multiple times a week
In our meetings, Professor Jedlicka used to do a lot of the talking Usually our weekly meetings with Jedlicka are now driven by us Leadership and group communication We learned that Prof. Jedlicka isn’t going to just blindly lead us, that we have to do it ourselves
Everything we used to do as a team was in person With the pandemic, everything is virtual Adaptability / Flexibility Especially in today’s world we have to be sympathetic to everyone’s personal circumstances. Everyone is handling the pandemic differently, and as a team member I have to respect that
We started with five engineers Now our team has eight members, four of whom are not engineers (Ami switched to the business school) Collaborating on work that is not in my area of expertise Having members of our team that aren’t engineers has really helped us not focus solely on an engineering solution
We planned to work closely with our partners at UPD We’ve had to reach out to other organizations to try and get valuable in-country knowledge Professionalism We’ve had to correspond with larger corporations, which is a bit more daunting than collaborating with students our age, so learning how to conduct and present ourselves in a professional manner was essential
Last semester we didn’t do any designing This semester, we’ve been working in Fusion to design drying chambers for testing Designing Three of our members are in the engineering capstone course, so this semester we really needed to kickstart the design process. We’re in the process of learning that designing and testing can give us valuable knowledge that you can not get from literature review
We started with one leader Now we rotate every three weeks Teamwork, Empathy We learned that having one person doing all the organizing is quite stressful, so we try to bear the load by rotating the leader position
We did a lot of work outside of our area of expertise Now with the designing process, we’re doing more “engineering” Adaptability I actually thought it was extremely helpful to have all of us working with concepts that we weren’t comfortable with, it developed my critical thinking.
Our approach last semester toward the problem in general was quite aimless Now we know what we’re working towards Organization Last semester we had a tough time figuring out what the best approach is for the problem we’re looking to solve, we learned that instead of being afraid to have the wrong approach, that we should just try something and see how it goes.

 

Provide an updated Collaboration Plan, clearly articulating your Goals (Small g and Big G), Roles,Procedures, and Relationships.

Team Name: COPRA                                                                          Date: 09/29/2020
Goals Personal goals:

Brianna: 

Make as much useful contribution as possible, positively influence the group, create strong relationships,Improve my group work skills, ask more critical questions. 

Then I hope to use all these personal improvements to make a social impact that matters.

Tri:

Learn more about coconuts processing and get hand-on experience on making coconuts dryers!

Build life-long friendship with peers at Lehigh and those in the Philippines

Jake:

Provide hands on help with computer aided designing, fabrication (if at all possible), and testing of our drying chambers. Provide next year’s team with the necessary information to build off of and move toward getting our venture going.

Sammy:

Gain experience in conducting meaningful research and working on an interdisciplinary team. Make valuable contributions to move the project forward and create sustainable impact. Improve my interpersonal skills and develop a new mindset 

Ami: 

Contribute to the project in a meaningful way, understanding my own strengths and weaknesses , and learning how I can efficiently and effectively work within a diverse team. Help to better enforce communications within the team and outside the team, and become a better researcher and writer. Improve my own hard and soft skill sets including communications, and better understanding design thinking, engineering design, and supply chain.

Rozhin:

Complete experiments and write results in a lab report

Publish a paper about the experiments and their relationship to the overall copra industry and how the result is an asset to copra farmers.

Michelle: 

Publish a paper about the different antioxidants we have researched on

Pinpoint one antioxidant we can use for the copra processing 

Continue with our research and see if there are other things we can improve on

Brianna C:

Help team with adding background information to paper to provide readers with a deeper framework and history of its problems and clarity on why proposed solution are innovative and helpful

Project Goal:

The project aims to improve copra processing and process streamlining for elevating the livelihoods of copra farmers by generating additional income.

Is our Project Goal scaled to our resources (dreams, materials, skills, differences, etc.) and constraints (assignment, time, skills, etc.)?

As a team, we have the given resources and knowledge needed to design and prototype a device that can better process copra. Unfortunately, due to given circumstances, our access to both each other and the tools required are constraining the timetable for which this project will operate on.  

Since COPRA is a multi-year project, we as a team will lay up a strong foundation so that we can transfer the knowledge to other teams. The hope is that future teams will be able to scale upon the ideas and designs we come up with throughout this year.

 

Metrics for Success

    • Design, energy efficiency, and sustainability of the processing technique
    • Amount of high-quality copra that can be produced using new methods
    • Amount of additional income that can be generated for copra farmers
    • Scalability and Sustainability of the business model (can we actually get people to use this)
Roles Who is responsible for which deliverables?

  • Rozhin, Michelle, and Brianna C. will be responsible for the antioxidant testing and the deliverables that come from this.
  • Jake, Tri, Brianna W, Sammy, and Ami will be responsible for the engineering components and the corresponding deliverables that arise from this.

Which deliverables that require collaboration, subgroups & individual work? Who does each person depend upon to succeed?

Deliverables 

  • Presentation – Collaboration
  • Preliminary Design Concepts – Sub group/Collaboration
  • Prototype – Sub group/Individual
  • Testing Data – Sub group/Individual
  • Final report – Collaboration

Do we need a project manager to coordinate? 

  • Yes, we do need one. However, specific to our group, we rotate our project manager once every three weeks so that everyone has a chance to step up and take responsible for the group’s success
  • We realize the importance of having a manager to help organize and coordinate group work and research, but believe that having a rotating leadership position helps alleviate the stress from one individual
Procedures Decision-making 

  • Consensus, our group has had very few disagreements
    • If consensus can’t be achieved we will default to majority rules/the advice of our project advisor

Effective meetings

  • We’ve conducting weekly meetings (along with multiple weekly sub meetings) to keep everyone on track and updated with all the key information regarding our project
    • Before each meeting we lay out an agenda to increase efficiency of meetings and help steer the conversation in the right direction
    • We write weekly briefs (in accordance with our TE 211 course work) to keep documented records on what work and research we do each week
  • We plan to continue holding these weekly meetings over Zoom at the same time and in the same fashion
  • Keep track of time during meetings
  • At the end of every meeting we make sure to assign weekly work to each group member to ensure that we can hold each other accountable

Meeting roles

  • During meetings the leader will facilitate the meeting and assign a different scribe for each meeting.
  • The leader role will be rotated every 3 weeks

Communication

  • Up until this week we had planned Zoom meetings once a week on Fridays from 2:00 – 3:00 PM
    • Bi-weekly meeting with two sub-groups, Prof. Jedlicka, and Prof. Haden
Relationships Teamwork

  • Our team has been very agreeable up to this point – we’ve had few disagreements if any
    • Our assumption is that transitioning to video chatting as our primary form of communication will not be a problem
  • For the Engineering team:
    • We have backgrounds in Materials Science Engineering, Mechanical Engineerings, Industrial Systems Engineering and Product Design
    • The team also consists of different backgrounds such as athletics, international, cultural, and greek life.
    • We have different interests outside of engineering: make-up and sports, band music, music composition, nature, and chess.
  • The Science Research and Business teams have been added to the to Copra team
    • The Science Research team have backgrounds in biology and are working on developing antioxidant research and experiments to help further the project
    • The business has background in economics and international relations which will help further the project in terms of working on the business background of the project 

Listening – As a team we enter group meetings with an open mindset and are ready listen to each other 

Team Name– Copra

 

Fall – Weekly Blog Post 4

Part 1

Partners: Tri N, Allison D, Brianna W

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible 

  • ~35% of the children in East Africa is stunted due to poor nutrition
  • The current gruel used to complement breastfeeding is not nutritionally adequate according to scientific research, but the moms believe the gruel is nutritious.
  • WHO recommends breastfeeding until an infant turns 6 months
  • The longer the child nurses when the mother is HIV+, the higher the chance of them contracted with HIV.
  • The donor who gave us the grant intent is to build up the women’s cooperative to simultaneously improve the nutritional status of children and improve the livelihoods of rural households
  • The grant has sufficient funds for a nutritious, shelf-stable porridge made from locally grown produce
  • The porridge is intended to wean children off of breastfeeding at the age of 6 months
  • The 500 women are skeptical of the porridge as a weaning food because it is too new (not something they’re accustomed to in their daily lives)
  • Pesticides are typically used in growing the crops used in the porridge
  • Assumption: not all women are aware of the adverse health effects resulting from the pesticides used in the crops to make the porridge
  • The area has a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and very little testing

 

Ethical issue: Currently, mothers in the region combine breastfeeding with a non-nutritious maize and banana gruel for the first 24 months of their child’s life. HIV/AIDS is highly prevalent in this region, is not tested on a widespread scale, and can be transmitted through breastfeeding. Our job is to establish a cooperative that will work to give mothers a nutritional porridge that they can use to wean their children off of breastmilk at around 6 months. The problem is, some of the ingredients in this porridge are grown using pesticides, which could result in pesticide residues in the porridge itself. The ethical issue here is deciding whether to go ahead and feed these 6 month old children pesticide grown food, or to continue having the mothers feed their children breast milk with the risk of transmitting HIV.

 

Step 2 & 3: Define the stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome. Determine and distinguish between the personal and professional motivations of the stakeholders.

 

Stakeholders:

  • Breastfeeding Moms:
    • Professional Motivation: N/a 
    • Personal Motivation: The mothers want to be providing their babies with the best nutrients while keeping them safe 
  • Woman joining the co-op
    • Professional Motivation: sell as much porridge as possible to the community (build up the co-op), make the best and safest product (porridge), educate breastfeeding mothers, make money.
    • Personal Motivation: help their own babies stay healthy, help their neighbors.
  • Babies
    • Professional Motivation: N/a 
    • Personal Motivation: Want to minimize their risk of contracting HIV and still intake their required nutrients.
  • Farmers 
    • Professional Motivation: produce as much of their crop for community consumption as possible, make money (maximize profit), collaborate with the women in the cooperative 
    • Personal Motivation: help the community stay healthy (provide the best crops)
  • Grant Donor (secondary stakeholder)
    • Professional Motivation: Have good reputation of making good deeds, want their money to be allocated wisely and productively for meaningful purposes
    • Personal Motivation: Want  women in the area to be healthier and have their livelihood improved
  • Doctors
    • Professional Motivation: Would want HIV cases to go down and  would want to allocate their resources and knowledge to other patients with other illnesses  
    • Personal Motivation: Prevent the amount of infants they see with HIV/Malnutrition
  • Us (researchers establishing the co-op)
    • Professional Motivation: To start a successful and sustainable co-op what will also enhance our skill sets and credibility, build up good record and establish their credibility for future fundings and resources 
    • Personal Motivation: Want to improve the livelihoods of women and children in the arena 

 

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, to have a win-win situation for your relationship and your venture. 

Approaches [1/2/3: repeat for every action] 

 

Potential solution 1: Form the cooperative. Educate the mothers the dangers of breastfeeding children while being HIV+. After six months, have them wean their children off breastmilk with the porridge (without telling them the potential harms from the pesticides).

 

Ethical Principle or code: Consequence-Based Thinking because we will be able to convince more women to use the porridge by not telling them about possible harms of pesticides. By “hiding” some negatives we will be able to stop breastfeeding earlier and prevent more cases of HIV in children.

 

Pros

  • The babies will have a smaller chance of contracting HIV from their mothers
  • Moms are more likely to switch to the porridge if they think that it is more nutritious than the cruel without any side effects. 

 

Cons: 

  • We are not telling the mother about the negative effects of the pesticides in the porridge so there is a chance that the porridge will affect the babies negatively in some way.
  • It is also unethical for researchers to not inform women the side effects of the porridge that was developed specifically for their children.
  • HIV+ education to the women and locals cost time and resources 

 

Potential solution 2: Form the cooperative to educate the Mothers the dangers of breastfeeding children while being HIV+. After six months, have them wean their children off breastmilk with the porridge, and tell them the potential harms from the pesticides.

 

Ethical Principle or code: Duty Based Thinking because we are doing the right thing, and most ethic thing by giving the women ALL the facts we have. We are telling them all the positives and negatives of breastfeeding and the porridge.

 

Pros

  • Mothers understand the dangers of HIV transmission through breastfeeding
    • Reduces the number of children with HIV
  • Mothers know when to begin feeding their children the porridge, the potential harms, and the nutritional benefits of the porridge
    • Reduces Malnutrition

 

Cons

  • The decisions now depend on the mothers’ intuition, which can go either way
  • The children still face the risk of contracting HIV+
  • The children are now at risk (if their mothers use the porridge) to the harms of pesticide residue in the food they consume

 

Potential solution 3: Form the cooperative to educate the Mothers the dangers of breastfeeding children while being HIV+. After six months, have them wean their children off breastmilk with the porridge that has gruel in the recipe, and tell them the potential harms from the pesticides.

 

Ethical Principle or code: Duty Based Thinking (for same reason as above) + Care Based Thinking because we are taking into account the personal relations with the women who prefer to use the guel and feel comfortable with it. 

 

Pros:

  • The mothers will be more comfortable using an ingredient they trust in their new food supplement
  • the risk of the babies contracting HIV will reduce

 

Cons:

  • The mothers might be hesitant because there is still a risk associated with using the porridge.
  • Adding gruel to the recipe might reduce the nutritional values of the original recipe, which might impose negative implications on the children’s growth and development. 

 

Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – engineering codes of ethics, previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection.

 

Step 6: Select the best course of action – that which satisfies the highest core ethical values. Explain reasoning and justify. Discuss your stance vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in the class.

Solution 3 is the best course of action to take out of our three solutions. It satisfies duty-based ethical thinking and care based ethical thinking. In this case, I think it’s important to inform the mothers on all the facts that they need to know about the porridge and simultaneously educate them on HIV transmission through breastfeeding. It is an ethical solution to give the mothers all the facts about both options. This solution also is likely to attract more mothers, as it includes the gruel in the recipe, which is something that they are already familiar with.

Step 7: (If applicable) What are the implications of your solution on the venture. Explain the impact of your proposed solution on the venture’s technology, economic, social and environmental aspects.

Understandably, a lot of mothers will be hesitant to work with the co-op, as it’s something they are unfamiliar with. I would imagine that incorporating the gruel into our recipe would convince more mothers to join and help grow the co-op faster. The larger the co-op gets, the more mothers will take the proper steps to prevent HIV transmission and malnourishment.

 

Part 2 

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible 

  • The cooperative has been thriving for 6 months
  • The women can sell the produce grown on their farm to the cooperative for additional income.
  • The women work for nine hours a day and make 3$ 
  • The women like this arrangement because it saves them money and time 
  • The women enjoy working together and are happy with the co-op
  • The women have to give their money to their husband father or brother
  • The money the women make gets wasted on alcohol/frivolous things
  • The twin social outcomes of improving the nutritional status of children and the livelihoods of rural households are not achievable right now
  • You as the entrepreneur will leave the cooperative’s committee (you and other 6 local women) after 6 months. 
  • The entrepreneur does not have direct say in the in the co-ops functioning
  • Assumption: not all 500 women of the cooperative will work on growing the produce.
  • The women are upset that their hard earned money is not used to feed their children

 

Ethical issue: 

 

Step 2 &3: Define the problem and the stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome. Determine and distinguish between the personal and professional motivations of the stakeholders

 

Problem: The women in the co-op do not get to keep their money to feed their children, because the money is given to the men in the household. You are leaving the co-op in 6 months and want to get the cooperative back on track. You want to get the cooperative on track of achieving the twin social outcomes in a sustainable manner.

 

Stakeholders:

  • Other 6 members of leadership committee
    • Personal Motivations: want to provide for their family, wants to keep good relations with the men and not cause issues, wants to keep good relations with the other women in the co-op. 
    • Professional Motivations: maintain position on the leadership committee, make a decision that satisfies everyone in the co-op and in the community.
  • Men in households:
    • Personal Motivations: buy products and goods that are personally satisfying (alcohol, and luxury items)
    • Professional Motivations: Work and provide for their family, but also take the money that the women bring home.
  • Breastfeeding Moms:
    • Professional Motivation: N/a 
    • Personal Motivation: The mothers want to be providing their babies with the best nutrients while keeping them safe 
  • Woman joining the co-op
    • Professional Motivation: sell as much porridge as possible to the community (build up the co-op), make the best and safest product (porridge), educate breastfeeding mothers, make money.
    • Personal Motivation: help their own babies stay healthy, help their neighbors.
  • Babies
    • Professional Motivation: N/a 
    • Personal Motivation: Want to minimize their risk of contracting HIV and still intake their required nutrients.
  • Farmers 
    • Professional Motivation: produce as much of their crop for community consumption as possible, make money (maximize profit), collaborate with the women in the cooperative 
    • Personal Motivation: help the community stay healthy (provide the best crops)
  • Grant Donor (secondary stakeholder)
    • Professional Motivation: Have good reputation of making good deeds, want their money to be allocated wisely and productively for meaningful purposes
    • Personal Motivation: Want  women in the area to be healthier and have their livelihood improved
  • Doctors
    • Professional Motivation: Would want HIV cases to go down and  would want to allocate their resources and knowledge to other patients with other illnesses  
    • Personal Motivation: Prevent the amount of infants they see with HIV/Malnutrition
  • Us (researchers establishing the co-op)
    • Professional Motivation: To start a successful and sustainable co-op what will also enhance our skill sets and credibility, build up good record and establish their credibility for future fundings and resources 
    • Personal Motivation: Want to improve the livelihoods of women and children in the arena 

 

Step 4, 5, and 6: Formulate ONE solution – based on information available, to have a win-win situation for your relationship and your venture. Include additional assistance you sought to identify the one best solution. 

Optimal Solution: The cooperative will establish a partial credit system that allows women to earn more benefits by storing some of their earned money rather than cashing out $3 every day. These benefits can be in the form of discounts on local goods and porridge for the kids.The committee will decide the procedure on how to cash out (limit per day, what products can be purchased with high credits), making sure that money will be spent towards their kids rather than being wasted by the men in the households. However, the other portion of their pay (lesser part) will be in cash so that they can still save face with the men in the households. Additionally, the women will also be allowed to take home roughly two servings of porridge each day to ensure their kids are being fed.

 

How does the solution meet twin outcomes?

 

The women in the co-op will be able to use their pay to provide for their families now (through the credit system), and also will still be bringing back physical money to the men at home (so it doesn’t disrupt cultural norms and cause issues in the community). The women will not have to confront the men about wanting to use the money for other non-frivolous things. On the other side, you are still “paying” the women in the co-op. Altogether, this solution will help meet the twin outcomes: better nutrition for the children and improved livelihood for rural households.

 

Pros: 

  • The women have to spend a certain amount of their earned pay on food for their families. 
  • The women are allowed to bring home porridge free of charge each day to nourish their children.

Cons:

  • The men will still be receiving some of the women’s pay and using on personal luxury items.
  • The women will only be able to use their credit earnings on porridge, or food/products that are within the co-op (or agreed upon by the committee). 

 

How does it save face of those involved? 

 

The co-op partial credit system allows for the women to still bring home a smaller portion of physical money that the men will be able to spend how they want to. The women will now be given an opportunity to spend their money how they want (on their families) without having to confront the men. It will also save face for the co-op and the committee, because it is a very non-confrontational approach that attempts not to disrupt cultural norms. 

 

Implications on relationships 

  • Short-term 
    • The men will most likely be disappointed that the women are bringing home less money, but the men will not likely be too offended that they abuse the wives and the children because at least we still give them the impression that they are “in control” of the finance.
  • Long-term 
    • The relationships will be healthier between the men and women in the household because the men will still be receiving money though it is small and the women will be able to feed their children
    • The men might start changing their behavior and thinking more about their family.
    • The families will have access to more food and necessary items (live better)
    • If the children grow up happier and healthier, they could help out the family with higher productivity, which could raise the family’s income and contribute to the elevated livelihoods.

 

Implications on the venture 

  • Short-term
    • They co-op will have to be prepared to have more porridge available because the women in the co-op will now be buying more too.
    • Might be easier to pay the women (not need as much cash).
  • Long-term 
    • The committee will now have more power in deciding the ratio of credit to cash payments of the women, and also in what products they can use the credit on.
    • The co-op may be more successful because each of the women will now essentially be reinvesting their earnings into the company by buying food. 
      • More women may be able to participate

 

Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection 

 

We combined our own proposed solution as well as our peers’ in order to maximize the benefits to the community while saving faces for every stakeholder involved. Some of our peer’s suggestions:

  1. Gift card. Extracting part of the money that they earn per day to the gift card, which can be used to purchase goods in the grocery store. 
  2. Food Receipt. Require that a certain amount of the food is spent responsibly. Receipts required, incentives could be included to encourage more responsible use of money in the rural household.
  3. Hold meetings with the cooperative’s committees (6 women) and the community leaders (including both men and women) to bring up the issue and discuss how money earned by the women working for the cooperatives can be distributed in a more sustainable manner. 
  4. Co-op gives the women option to walk away with porridge everyday for free to address malnutrition problem

 

Our inner reflection: 

  • We do not integrate solution 1 and 2 into our proposal because we think it might not be as effective as the credit system in the context of giving  the power to the women to purchase food and necessities to support their families physically and mentally. 
  • We got solution 4 from our peers, and we think it is a viable idea that can help address the malnutrition problem effectively; so, we incorporate them into our solution. 
  • For solution 3, it doesn’t not necessarily solve the problem, but it reminds us that no matter how good our solution is, if we don’t have a good implementation strategy, it automatically becomes useless. The team will take this into consideration into our last step.

 

Step 7: List the sequence of actions you will take to implement your solution.

 

  • Ask the women in the leadership committee if they want a change. Get them to understand the system and the problem we are facing.
  • Validate it with committee and the men – talk to 25-30 people one on one, try to get them on board 
  • Bring everyone together for the large meeting
  • Try to moderate the discussion → move it towards to the grassroot diplomacy 
  • Ask the people in the meeting, “How do they want to structure the cooperatives’ finance?”
  • Figure out a set ratio of credit/cash pay, and implement ways the committee can adjust this over time if it doesn’t work.
  • Figure out what items the credit can be used for.
  • Test the system out for a few months, and reconvene with the committee to make adjustments if needed. 
  • Before you leave, make sure you communicate candidly and clearly with the 6 women in the committee about the vision and core mission of the cooperative, making sure everyone is on the same page. Encourage them to find and educate younger members about the mindset so that the venture keeps flourishing even after your departure.

 

Fall Weekly Blog Post 3

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible

  • Jack is an American student who is working on a social venture at a youth center in Kenya
  • On a Saturday evening, kids are receiving gifts from an international donor organization 
  • The gifts were picked up from an international donor a week before
  • Jack was picked to help with the passing out of the gifts
  • There were four children who did not receive gifts and instead they received black hats 
  • The kids who received the hats were upset that they were not given the gifts in a ceremonious fashion
  • One of the kids who received the hat gave jack a stare that indicated he was not happy
  • Jack met with the staff discuss the kids that felt left out and they did not want to get involved

Step 2: Define the problem and the stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome

Problem: Jack needs to find a way to repair his relationship with the kids who seem to blame him for not getting gifts while not degrading his relationship with the staff.

  1. Kids
  2. Staff at the center / the youth center
  3. Jack
  4. The University Jack Works for
  5. The International Doner 

Step 3: Determine and distinguish between the personal and professional motivations of the stakeholders.

  1. There are no professional motivations for the kids
    1. Personally, the kids all want to receive a gift. Those that did not are probably embarrassed
  2. Professionally they are motivated to earn some sort of income
    1. Personally they are motivated to give back to the community and help the children at the youth center
    2. They want to improve the lives of the children
  3. Professionally: Wants to save face and establish future relationships with kids and staff, wants to take care of kids. 
    1. Has to save face with both groups: he can’t just flat out tell the kids that the staff didn’t get them enough gifts and he can’t just get them a gift without hurting his relationship with the staff members.
    2. Personally, Jack feels bad that some of the kids didn’t get a present, he wants all the kids to be happy.
  4. Professionally: Wants Jack’s work to help improve their reputation
    1. Personally, I’m sure there’s an employee of the university who has a personal tie to this specific youth center, so that individual does not want Jack to ruin relationships that they established.
  5. Professionally: The donor organization is increasing their philanthropic reputation
    1. Personally: They want to make these kids happier

 

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, to have a win-win situation for your relationship and your venture.

Potential Solution 1: Make a game that makes having one of the hats special

    1.  Pros
      • The kids are happier because their gift means something after all
      • The staff is happy because they do not have to get involved and they can take credit for the hats
    2. Cons
      • It is still unfair because the hats are not as good as the gifts
      • Takes up time for Jack and the staff members to think up of a game 
      • Making the hats special can make the other kids feel worse about their gifts
    3. How does it save face of those involved?
      • It makes Jack and the staff look better because the four kids who received hats will be less upset
      • The kids who receive the black hat won’t feel as bad or left out, they no longer have a reason to be embarrassed 
      • Jack and the staff also no longer look like they forgot gifts
    4. Implications on relationships
      •  Short-term
        • Kids won’t be upset at Jack/staff
        • Jack can now build trust in his relationships with both the kids and the staff
      • Long-term
        • Kids will feel more comfortable talking to Jack and the staff because they see the effort they are putting into them

 

Potential Solution 2: Buy other gifts for the kids

    1. Pros
      • Kids feel special because they got gifts afterall
    2. Cons
      • Jack has to spend his own money on gifts 
      • Doesn’t fully solve the problem because the staff still originally forgot gifts and the four kids probably realize that
      • Staff might not like it because Jack is going over their heads to buy gifts
    3. How does it save face of those involved?
      • Jack/staff will not feel as guilty because the gifts receive the gift
    4. Implications on relationships
      •  Short-term
        • Kids are happy to receive gifts and like Jack more
        • Staff could be upset
      • Long-term
        • The kids will probably appreciate jack for getting them gifts even though it’s late
        • Staff will not trust Jack for future events 

 

Potential Solution 3: Buy himself and the entire staff the same black hats

    1. Pros
      • Makes the kids who received the hats feel better about their gift
      • Builds stronger relationships between the kids, the staff and Jack
      • The staff members probably wouldn’t mind getting a free hat
    2. Cons
      • Jack has to spend money 
      • Kids who don’t have hats may feel left out 
    3. How does it save face of those involved?
      • Saves face for Jack, the kids will probably be less angry at him
      • Saves face for the staff since they are also participating
      • The kids may (or may not) feel less embarrassed about receiving their hat
    4. Implications on relationships
      • Short-term
        • Kids will be less upset about not receive gifts 
        • Staff would be happy and more accepting of him
      • Long-term
        • Jack would have a better connection with those kids who do receive the black hats (common ground)


Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection

  • Peers – asking help from other volunteers at the center on how to approach the situation 
  • Inner reflection – Previous experiences with children or siblings
  • One-on-one conversations with staff members to ask what they would do, might be easier to get them to help if he approaches them this way
  • Talk to the children, inquire about how they feel/how they can feel better

 

Step 6: Select the best course of action – that solves the problem, saves face and has the best short- term and long-term implications for your relationship and venture. Explain reasoning and discuss your solution vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in class.

I think buying the hats for himself and the staff is the best option. It saves face for Jack and the staff as the kids will like their black hats more. The kids who were embarrassed about not receiving a gift will feel less embarrassed about it, so it saves face for them as well. In addition this option has the best short-term and long-term implications for Jack’s relationship with the staff and the children. The staff will appreciate his efforts of fixing the problem without them getting involved and also receive a free hat. The children will also be much happier with Jack as now they all have matching hats. The biggest con I could see happening is Jack has to spend money on these new hats and the kids who don’t have the hats might get a little upset.

This option is ideal because it also builds a sense of  comradery between the staff members, Jack and the kids. I think if Jack puts in this extra effort the kids will learn to love him and the staff members will be super appreciative of his actions. It seems to me that buying the hats would probably not pose a major financial burden on Jack as well.

Step 7: List the sequence of actions you will take to implement your solution.

  • Jack buys the hats
  • He distributes the hats to the staff and they start wearing them around more
  • The children notice Jack and the staff wearing their hats
  • The four children become more satisfied with their hats
  • Jack could even talk to the kids about how much he likes the hat as well
  • Could incorporate the hats into a game after all (combine potential solutions)

Fall Weekly Blog Post 2

  1. Determine the facts of the situation:
    1. The academic research is going to be happening in Lesotho and is going to take two weeks.
    2. The research entails testing water sources for disease-causing pathogens.
    3. The research will require significant assistance from the community.
      1. The community will show our team the different locations where they get their water from and places they store it.
    4. We’re assuming that we do not need to pay them based on the fact that we would be willing to help if someone was asking us to do the same.
    5. The goal of the study is to understand the lifecycle and characteristics of a specific pathogen, found only in this region of Lesotho.
    6. Publications are expected – a comprehensive profiled of the pathogen will help develop chemical additives to make the water safe to drink.
    7. The pathogen is found only in this region of Lesotho.
  1. Define the stakeholders
    1. Our research team
    2. The University/organization funding the research
    3. Locals in Lesotho who drink the water
    4. The government of Lesotho
    5. The chemical additive developers

 

2. Motivations of each stakeholder

The Research Team

  • Our motivation is to understand the life cycle of the pathogen.
  • Furthermore, we are motivated to disseminate the newfound knowledge to the greater academic community.
  • Some of the researchers may have personal motivation to help the Lesotho community affected by the pathogen.
  • Some of the researchers are likely only doing it for a paycheck or to improve their professional reputation

The University/funding organization

  • Their reputation is on the line, they want to be represented well (which means the research has to have results that further the worlds understanding of this pathogen)
  • They are most likely funding this research in hopes of a major breakthrough

The Locals

  • They are motivated to help by the possibility of having clean drinking water
  • Cleaner drinking water can likely draw in more tourists
  • The locals also would probably like to build relationships with the researchers

The Government

  • They can learn from the researchers, specifically they can learn how to develop education/prevention programs to help bring awareness to this pathogen
  • The government obviously wants to improve public health and decrease the cost for health care
  • They want to increase the local knowledge of the pathogen

The Chemical Additive Developers

  • If the researchers can provide the necessary information, developing a chemical additive to combat the pathogen would be a lucrative opportunity
  1. Formulate three alternative solutions

 

The ethical problem here is whether it’s okay to not pay locals who are taking time to help out with our research. By the phrasing of the prompt, it seems as though our team is just assuming that locals will be more than willing to help us without compensation. Additionally, are we doing enough as researchers to simply conduct the research and not formulate a plan to utilize the newfound information to help the people of Lesotho. With that in mind, here are three pathways forward.

 

  1. Conduct the research as the prompt states. Assume the as researchers we are not obligated to solve the problem and that simply offering up the data that we collect will enable others better equipped to solve the problem. With this being said, compensation in the form of small favors (such as taking locals out to eat, or building sustainable relationships with them) should be distributed.
  2. Once again continue the research as the prompt states (do not take direct action to solve the problem) and be prepared to compensate those based on how much they help. This should be a part of the budget, as it seems we would be relying heavily on local knowledge.
  3. Reshape our research to include a plan to utilize the newfound knowledge to have a direct impact on Lesotho. In addition prepare accordingly to provide appropriate compensation for the locals who help with the research. Ensure that we have proper IRB approval before we go.
  4. Someone in class mentioned something I really liked to, which is to just send a kit that locals can use to test the water themselves and collect the data themselves. 

 

  1. Seek additional assistance, as appropriate
  • Search the literature for other studies that have been conducted in Lesotho. It might be a good way to find locals that would be willing to participate and how to properly compensate them for their service.
  • Reach out to local universities, towns, professionals to see if anyone else has already attempted to conduct this research 
  • Find communities that are willing to help with the research, don’t just assume that they want our help
  • Talk to our own university/funding agency to see what kind of advice they could give us

 

  1. Select the best course of action

 

I think it would be best to reach out to local governments in Lesotho to try and gain their support before heading over. They will be able to put us in contact with individuals willing to help. I also  think the research plan should include a budget to compensate individuals who do choose to help us accordingly. I do think as well that it would be best if our research had a plan to utilize the data we collect, however considering this pathogen is found only in Lesotho, whatever knowledge we pass on to the greater academic community will be used to help clean the water in Lesotho.

 

  1. What are the implications of your solution on the venture

 

Not really a venture, but I would say that our research will be used someday, maybe even at the same university, to eliminate the pathogen in the water in Lesotho.

Fall 2020 – Weekly Blog 1

The auto-disable feature is an essential component of the syringe design. It ensures that the product is being used safely and reduces the risk of spreading disease. Unfortunately, adding this feature increases the cost of manufacturing, and in turn the selling price, to a point that is unaffordable for some hospitals and clinics. The problem here is that the syringe is a product that all hospitals should have access to, but if the auto-disable feature is a part of the design some cannot afford it. 

The stakeholders involved are the designers and manufacturers of the syringes, the hospitals and clinics that purchase the syringes, the doctors that use the syringes, and of course the patients that the syringes are being used on. The designers and manufacturers, the ones selling the syringes, need to design a safe to use syringe to avoid being held responsible for unnecessary death due to use of their equipment. On the other side, hospitals, doctors and patients obviously need equipment that they can safely use on their patients for the same reason.

In this case there are a few options that can be taken. Perhaps go back to the drawing board and redesign the syringe so that it can include the auto-disable feature at a reasonable cost. This solution could entail new materials selection or even a complete redesign. Additionally, the company responsible for designing and manufacturing these syringes could look for government funding to allow them to include the auto disable feature.

Another option would be not including the auto-disable feature but instead some sort of user manual that explicitly instructs doctors on how to safely use and dispose of the syringes. This option could include some sort of low cost seal that allows doctors to know whether the syringe has been used before. This option would be preferred in my mind as it both ensures the safety of all users and keeps the cost down. The designers and manufacturers are no longer accountable for unnecessary death, hospitals are able to purchase the syringes, and the doctors and patients can safely use the syringes with this design.