Saturday, August 31, 2019

Media, Culture, and Society Essay

â€Å"A witness is authorized to speak by having been present at an occurrence. A private experience enables a public statement. But the journey from experience (the seen) into words (the said) is precarious†¦ It always involves an epistemological gap whose bridge is fraught with difficulty. No transfusion of consciousness is possible. Words can be exchanged, experiences cannot.† In his essay out of Media, Culture, and Society, John Durham Peters brings forth provocative realities about the role of a witness. As the above quote demonstrates, it is impossible to truly communicate the act of experiencing an event to an ignorant second party. The â€Å"bridge† between witness and words that Peters describes is one that our society has formed in many different fashions. We of course relate verbally; but we also take photographs, write stories, paint pictures, and videotape those experiences in our life that may be of significance to others or ourselves. Visiting an actual holocaust survivor may be the best way to understand the ways of the Nazi regime. The ideal form of coverage the media can provide is â€Å"Eye Witness† News interviewing the clerk at a store that was robbed. The examples go on, but the obvious fact is that in order to understand an occurrence we must get as â€Å"close† to the actual moment as possible. In our study of history, a witness is a source possessing raw, authentic proximity to facts. Ideally, all history would be taught from these first-hand observers, but this of course is impossible. Naturally, we turn to the sources that go back lifetimes. War photography text taking us back the furthest. From ancient hieroglyphics to the bible, we see text as the most solid proof we can get about what happened years ago. divides chroniclers into travelers, pilgrims, creators, apologists, confessors and prisoners. Some write to keep track of their memories, Mallon suggests; others write for spiritual development; or to spark or explore their art. There are those diarists who wish to confess or celebrate sins committed in life or of the flesh; still others, trapped in jails imposed by others or by their own limitations, use diaries to create imaginary lives Today, as in the past, most diarists are not well-known. They may be students of history, literature, languages and the like; scientists and naturalists who note their discoveries and ideas; and a multitude of others who write for their own spiritual or intellectual growth. Even though technology has expanded our ability to record information — diaries can be found on paper, computer, video, film, or audio tape — the intrinsic value of diary writing remains the same. The records we leave behind will serve future historians as they attempt to understand the time we live in. What they will deduce about our lives and our society remains to be seen. Diaries and journals of early Americans are considered an honest, unembellished form — a key to our understanding of the past. The words, often written by ordinary men and women, provide valuable clues as to how people lived. Although the style and the form of diary writing has changed, the content continues to reflect the forces — economic, political, social and technological — that have affected the lives of Americans throughout our history. . In the 1700s, minister Jonathan Edwards kept detailed records of his duties and castigated himself for his spiritual failures Among male diarists, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark chronicled their adventures in mapping the Northwest Passage Now, according to modern historian Margo Culley, the diaries of women became more introspective, a record of an inner life. As more women were educated, they increasingly chronicled their thoughts. Rebecca Cox Jackson, a free African American woman who would become known as a religious visionary, described her spiritual transformation, in the 1830s.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Helga by Andrew Wyeth

The â€Å"Helga Pictures† by Andrew Wyeth are a fantastic compilation of tempera and dry brush paintings, watercolours and pencil studies secretly created within a span of over fifteen years. Andrew Wyeth created over two hundred and forty individual works of neighbor Helga Testorf from 1971 to 1985 without telling a single person, including his wife. He stated that he would not have been able to have finished the project with everyone looking at it. (Allen) The large number of works and the palpable charge that runs through them suggested more than a simple artist-and-model relationship.The Helga chapter landed on the covers of Time and Newsweek as the public speculated over whether Wyeth, then 69, had had an affair with the woman 22 years his junior. As the Wyeths tried to explain the relationship, the art world wondered whether the secrecy and subsequent revelation had been staged simply to raise the popularity and price of the paintings. â€Å"It was a love affair with th e burning love that I've always had toward the things I paint,† Wyeth said of the Helga paintings. â€Å"If I don't have it, the painting goes ordinary, routine. (Nelson/Oliver) Stung by criticism over the â€Å"Helga hoopla,† Wyeth denied there had ever been a sexual relationship, and his wife admitted that not all of the works had been kept secret from her. When critics accused the Wyeths, and Andrews, of being â€Å"hucksters,† the artist verbally shrugged, saying critics â€Å"were just looking to bop me on the head. † (Nelson/Oliver)) So who is Helga Testorf? She is a Prussian-born immigrant who was a caregiver to one of Wyeth’s neighbors, Karl Kuerner, near his home in rural Chadd’s Ford, Pennsylvania.She was 32 years old when Wyeth first met her in the early 1970s, and something about the blond beauty stirred the artist in a very profound way. They were merely acquaintances for a while until finally Wyeth asked her to pose. Helga had never posed before but was willing. (Museworthy) In 1986, when the â€Å"Helga Pictures† were revealed, Mrs. Testorf was a middle-aged mother of four, living with her husband John on a secluded property called Zum Edelweiss on the other side of Chadds Ford from Wyeth's home. (Museworthy)Helga, like her employer Karl Kuerner, was of German descent. Helga immigrated to the United States and Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania in 1961, eventually became a mother and homemaker before becoming Karl’s caregiver. Due to her association with Mr. Wyeth, she eventually developed an keen interest in poetry and art. Before Andrew Wyeth’s death, Helga was one of the ailing artist’s primary caregivers. Why Andrew Wyeth became infatuated with this Pennsylvania Fraulein is unclear, other than he obviously found her a fascinating subject.Some hypothesized that it was her reddish blonde hair that set the tone for this series of renderings by the enigmatic artist, that drew Wyeth to concentrate so much time and effort on the interpretation of this woman‘s visage and the ego within. Her chiseled features, her supple form, her pensive stare and ultimately, Helga’s innate devotion to the process could have given the great artist the insatiable purpose to slavishly devote so much of his creative energies to one subject.Some folks; however, luridly speculated that Helga’s alluring visage engendered a passionate affair between she and the doting artist. For those who considered an affair was afoot, Andrew Wyeth‘s wife Betsy did not disappoint. (Day) Betsy, his wife of many decades and who was also his business manager, is said to have let rumor run unabated until she sold the entire series to Leonard E. B. Andrews in 1986. It has been estimated, that the series sold well in excess of over six million dollars.She then denied that the scathing rumor was true, and was convincing to the point of believability. Today the rumor is not the subject, but rather Andrew Wyeth's profound artistry within the Helga series. (Day) Andrew Wyeth and Helga Testorf remained close friends until his death. Their relationship, and the art created as a result, has endured over many, many years. The Helga series is artist/muse embodied to perfection. And every artist should be so lucky to find his Helga. Museworthy) Works Cited: Allen, Scott. â€Å"Andrew Wyeth/The Helga Pictures. † Cure the Blind. 6 July 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. Nelson, Valerie and Oliver, Myrna. â€Å"Hugely popular painter Andrew Wyeth dies at 91. † Los Angeles Times. 17 January 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. â€Å"Andrew and Helga. † Museworthy. 31 August 2008. Web. 10 Nov. 2012 Day, Wyatt Sanderman. â€Å"Andrew Wyeth’s Helga: a Compulsive Fetish or his Best Work. † Beaufort County Now. 29 September, 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2012.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Characteristics Of Gifted Underachievers Education Essay

Characteristics Of Gifted Underachievers Education Essay This selective review of literature aims to establish the characteristics of gifted underachievers, know the causative factors contributing to their underachievement, understand various strategies schools and teachers could adopt in reversing student underachievement, and present the implications of the aforementioned. Characteristics of gifted underachievers It is important for educators to have a clear understanding as to who are considered gifted underachievers in the classroom. Amazingly, the number of highly intellectual students who had not achieved well in school is as high as 50% (Schultz, 2005). Comprising this group is a large population of underserved or neglected talented students by gifted programs. If this number is not provided much needed attention, it is imperative therefore that this issue has to be addressed. A survey of existing literature seemed to disagree not only on the definition of underachievement but the legitimacy of categorizing gifted underachievement as an academic behavior. The controversial study in Moon (2004) sent shockwaves to the scientific community by stating that some researchers believed underachievement is simplistically attributed to test error. Yet scientists like Rimm have devoted their entire professional careers reversing underachievement. Chaffey (2004) emphasized that the underachievement definition adopted by the teacher will serve as basis for identifying underachievers and consequently the students receiving appropriate plan of action. Having successfully recognized gifted underachievers in the classroom will allow teachers’ expectations to be shifted upwards as research strongly suggests that improved academic performance in underachieving students is linked to high teacher expectations. Various studies point to its multi-faceted nature which has sometimes muddied educational experts in the field; but regardless of origin, underachievement is defined as the discrepancy between expected and actual ach ievement. Morando (2003) of the Columbiana Co. Educational Service Center said that gifted underachievers tend to be disorganized and their schoolwork is either incomplete or missing. Though IQ scores are very high compared to the average, there is a consistent decline in academic ability and exhibit disinterest in attending school. Moreover, the student may also be a loner, has low self-esteem, emotionally frustrated, and is economically disadvantaged. Lau and Chan (2001) described the motivational characteristics of underachieving junior high school students in Hong Kong after subjecting them to various measures namely Raven Progressive Matrices Test, vocabulary test, standardized achievement test, Marsh self description questionnaire, Causal dimension scale, Eccles and Wigfield’s expectancy value model, and Motivated strategies for learning questionnaire. The results demonstrated low academic self-concept, poor attainment value in learning as well as deficiencies in utiliz ing effective learning methods. The study also disproved the conclusion of Western researches that HK underachievers demonstrate maladaptive attribution patterns. Chow, Chow, and Ku-Yu (2003) conducted a case study involving five underachieving gifted students and used Whitmore’s checklist in characterizing their behaviors. The research yielded the following characteristics in the students: high external locus of control, negative attitude towards school, experience difficulty in establishing social relationships, set unworkable goals, attention deficit inside the classroom, resistance in following instructions, has a very varied range of interests, exhibits aggressive behavior, possesses low self-esteem, avoidant in trying out new activities, dedication in self-selected homework and assignments, dissatisfaction with achievement, dislike of memorization and drill, poor school work, and significant gap between quality of written and oral work.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Process mapping Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Process mapping - Assignment Example ioners defines Emergency medicine as â€Å"patient-demanded, widely available and continuously accessible care by physicians trained to engage in the recognition, evaluation, stabilisation, treatment and disposition of patients in response to acute illness and injury.† Such a situation demands evolving instantaneous solutions and putting them into action, in order to evade death or further weakening of health. Emergency care primarily requires immediate evaluation of the level of triage, addressing the urgent medical concerns of patients and providing necessary treatment. This has to take place in a necessarily caring environment, which gives the patient a hope of recovery. The hospital under question, specialises in emergency room and has a capacity of 40-beds. It also has an Urgent Care Clinic. Owing to its location and the population growth rate, the hospital faces heavy inflow of patients. This is being translated into long waiting times, due to the absence of proper operations management procedures in place. The ensuing sections explain the problems faced by the hospital, which are reflected from its process map. An attempt is made to list out the available strategies to tackle these deficiencies, using the concepts of hospital operations management. Emergency care, while being essential, is also an expensive affair and insists quality treatment and service. There is definitely a shortage of trained personnel, whether doctors or nurses. Technology is also a factor pushing their survival. Other concerns such as service co-ordination, location and inventory, equipment and resource management carry equal weightage. Internal processes such as caregiving, scheduling and resource routing are to be accomplished. Patient flow has grown into a strainful affair, mainly due to population growth. Crowding and staff limitations are found to be the causative factors for time lags in emergency department. Limited capital resources such as beds, equipment etc add up to the

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Measurement of Blood Pressure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Measurement of Blood Pressure - Essay Example the systolic blood pressure or the blood pressure when the heart is contracting and it also reads the diastolic blood pressure or the blood pressure when the heart is relaxing. The systolic blood pressure is therefore also the highest pressure exerted by the blood and the diastolic blood pressure is the lowest pressure exerted by the blood. Before the blood pressure of the patient is taken, the nurse must first gather as much information from the patient as possible. Relevant information includes the patient’s age, gender, weight, and such other pertinent information like the patient history of cardiovascular diseases; hypertensive medications, and if at the time his blood pressure is about to be taken if he is tired or has been physically fatigued. These elements often affect blood pressure reading, indicating it to either be too high or too low. Moreover, normal blood pressure ranges are different for every patient depending on age or current history of heart diseases and hypertension. After establishing the information as mentioned above, the nurse must now prepare her equipment. This would include the aneroid or the mercury sphygmomanometer, the stethoscope, a chair where the patient can sit, and a table where the sphygmomanometer can be placed. The table and chair must be placed in close proximity to each other to ensure that the patient can lay his hand on the table near the sphygmomanometer. The sphygmomanometer has a cuff which is wrapped around the patient’s upper arm; it inflates with air from the air valve. The sphygmomanometer also has a rubber tube connecting the cuff to the air reservoir or to the mercury meter. Such tube is also connected to a rubber bulb which is pumped in order to fill the cuff with air. Before taking the patient’s blood pressure, the nurse must remind the patient to keep still and to be quiet.  

Monday, August 26, 2019

Cross-Cultural Management Difference Between France and China Essay

Cross-Cultural Management Difference Between France and China - Essay Example Communication can be low context or high context. A high context communication would require minimum use of words as the communicators already have most of the information while a low context communication requires more explicit explanations as the communicators do not have the background information. Usually, people coming from cultures that have close family bonding and a huge network of friends, resort to high context communication with members of their culture. French are relatively high context individuals when compared to the Americans and other North European nationals. Thus, the communication is faster and uses fewer words. However, the flip side of this is that French do not trust other people’s analyses. They want to analyze everything on their own and will keep doing the analysis till they get all the information (to the lowest level of detail) they want (Hall and Hall 1997). The physical position an individual occupies in office determines his perception of power. French prefer to occupy a central position in office and like to be surrounded by subordinates to keep themselves at the locus of an information network (Hall and Hall 1997). Monochronic culture is one in which one activity is done at a time. Time is considered as a valuable asset and one that should not be wasted. Here, time is divided into schedules and only one activity is concentrated during a particular schedule. People from Polychronic cultures do not give too much emphasis to time schedules and indulge in many activities at a time.... However, the flip side of this is that French do not trust other people’s analyses. They want to analyze everything on their own and will keep doing the analysis till they get all the information (to the lowest level of detail) they want (Hall and Hall 1997). Territory The physical position an individual occupies in office determines his perception of power. French prefer to occupy central position in office and like to be surrounded by subordinates to keep themselves at the locus of information network (Hall and Hall 1997). Monochronic and Polychronic culture Monochronic culture is one in which one activity is done at a time. Time is considered as a valuable asset and one that should not be wasted. Here, time is divided into schedules and only one activity is concentrated during a particular schedule. People from Polychronic cultures do not give too much emphasis to time schedules and indulge in many activities at a time. They give more importance to completing human transact ions than adhering to time schedules. French are polychronic people. As a result they are committed to human relations, are easily interrupted and usually have flexile plans (Hall and Hall 1997). Thus, French meetings are characterized by high information flow, not too tight on agenda and participants already aware of what will be discussed in the meeting. The end result of the meeting is thought to bring about a consensus rather than stick to deadlines (Hall and Hall 1997). In short, as French are high context individuals they do not like to be told what to do. They take it as an offence. They also give a lot of importance to style and form. As they are polychronic individuals, they would not mind a person coming late in a meeting, but would

Sunday, August 25, 2019

A Contrastive Study between English and Arabic Prepositional Phrases Essay

A Contrastive Study between English and Arabic Prepositional Phrases - Essay Example This problem also has pedagogical implications, as a better understanding of the problems faced by students during translation can enable teachers to better address the problem. This study could therefore prove useful in the field of language education, particularly for teaching EFL to Arab students.Ho-Abdullah & Hasan’s (2009) study also examined issues concerning English prepositions when translated into Arabic and vice versa. However, it was concerned solely with the preposition explaining how its translation reflects the use of different conceptual mapping domains. Moreover, this study only involved 75 Iraqi secondary school students, so it was focused on the translation difficulties faced by Arabic speaking students when translating from English into Arabic. In Habash’s (1982) earlier study on the use of English prepositions by Arab students, the errors made in using prepositions were categorised according to their number of occurrences. While this is useful, agai n the focus was on teaching English to Arabic students in order to improve their English. Moreover, the analysis of translations was based on existing and formal written work rather than under experimental conditions.This study attempts to compare and analyze English and Arabic prepositional phrases in terms of their functions, uses, order and meanings. It also attempts to illustrate similarities and differences between English and Arabic prepositional phrases as not every prepositional phrase.... This includes difficulties related to pronunciation (Al-Saidat, 2010), various reading difficulties (Patil, N.d.), and so on. This study will be concerned with difficulties encountered in translating prepositional phrases. The preposition is a key component of the prepositional phrase so the difficulty in translating the latter is often due to difficulty with the preposition itself. The difficulty of translating prepositions from English into Arabic can be illustrated by the contrast between and . Whereas suggests a position, suggests a movement, but in Arabic, would be used in both cases, so Arabs may find it difficult to differentiate between them. The Arabic thus has a much wider domain for its usage, and it can also be used for expressing , , , etc. On the other hand, Arabic prepositions are purely spatiotemporal prepositions whereas English prepositions actually function as either proper prepositions, substantive-derived locative (directional) adverbs, or as particles (Lindstrom berg, 2010, p. 23). Hence, the English concept of a preposition is wider in scope than in Arabic. The nature of the errors tends to be errors of omission, substitution, or redundant usage. Prepositions also pose a problem for machine translations in translating English noun phrase into Arabic (Shaalan et al., 2004) so the problem is not unique to human translation. Also, the problem is by no means peculiar to Arab students. English prepositions are notorious for being problematic for many EFL students. As Pittman (1966 in Mickiewicza, 1993, p. 181) remarked, â€Å"Among those who teach or learn the English language, prepositions have earned a reputation for difficulty if not downright unpredictability†. The main

Using dehumanizing terms that historically mean something else Research Paper

Using dehumanizing terms that historically mean something else - Research Paper Example Once people start using a word in a certain way the new usage becomes widespread and with time, becomes an official adaptation. Although the word has various meanings, it is usually within a similar concept. The word â€Å"queer† is one of the words used for various meanings today. The word has evolved over time. With every passing generation, a new interpretation of the word has risen. The Oxford dictionary states that the word can be used as an adjective to mean strange or odd, as a noun to mean Homosexual, or as a verb meaning spoil or ruin. However, the dictionary puts emphasis on the overall usage of the word as a homosexual reference. There is an observation of the reference in many cultures in the world over a long period. â€Å"In recent years, however, gay people have taken the word queer and deliberately used it in place of gay or homosexual, in an attempt, by using the word positively, to deprive it of its negative power (â€Å"Oxford University Press,† 1).† In historical reference of the homosexual population, the word was brought forth in a derogatory manner. In the British world, it indicates that someone or something has a peculiar characteristic about them. The 1980s was the point in which the use of the word, in the sense in question, arose. This caused a big stir within the gay and lesbian community. This led to the formation of an action organization in the 1990s at the grass root level in New York with the aim of fighting against the occurrence of Homophobia and preserving the right of gay and lesbian persons (Eaklor, 72). It is then that the group took ownership of the word â€Å"queer† as previously stated to transfer its use to a proud sense rather than its previous derogatory meaning. Therefore, the younger generation in the 21st century regards the word as an expression of open-mindedness with regard to same-sex attractions. The mainstream media has also adopted the usage of the term in the same sense. The

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Employment loyalty on rhythm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Employment loyalty on rhythm - Essay Example I am very interested to find out what drives employee loyalty and commitment considering the fact that the company and its sector are at a disadvantage in the areas of stability, resources, among other advantages that bigger companies enjoy. Rabin (2003) extensively discussed loyalty and its effect on organizational behavior. According to him, along with the identification with an organization, employee loyalty represents an individual and psychological bond between an employee and an organization. (p. 867) That is why it is pivotal in overall strategy of companies to produce value for consumers, achieve competitive advantage and, eventually, achieve profitability. Needless to say, such fact has driven numerous studies and research. As a result, the corpus of literature on the subject is quite extensive and comprehensive. Specifically, the subjects include works about how employee loyalty contributes to an organizations’ competitiveness, how it reflects the organization, measurement and evaluation of employee loyalty, among other issues. Some of the studies undertaken in regard to employee loyalty that are relevant in this paper’s objectives are outlined below: 1. Swayne, Duncan and Ginter (2006) explained how employee loyalty could determine the kind of culture and values an organization has. According to him, this aspect helps consumers determine whether the firm has an outstanding quality in service delivery because loyal employees mean companies who know how to value people. (p. 185) Loveman (1998) used the service profit chain framework in his effort to link employee satisfaction and loyalty to customer satisfaction and financial performance. The author underscored that the framework hypothesized relationships between employee, customer and financial outcomes. The emphasis on these three elements makes this framework an interesting resource for

Friday, August 23, 2019

Exploring University of Leicester (HERO GENIE) for Food@Uni Essay

Exploring University of Leicester (HERO GENIE) for Food@Uni - Essay Example The broader problem of this research is to find the effectiveness of the Food@Uni program in creating long term beneficial effects for the students to protect themselves from chronic diseases that are likely to develop in future. The research analysis along with findings and recommendations are explained in this paper. Several authors in this world have admitted that high consumption of unhealthy junk foods have serious effects on the health of the human beings. It is true that fast food items like wraps, sandwiches, burgers and French fries can be considered as junk food items. Consumption of junk food has serious effects on health. Obesity, heart disease, high calories, overweight, high blood pressure and diabetes are the consequences of high consumption of fast food items (Ronzio, 2003, p.247). It is true that these fast food items are highly popular among the children, kids and young adults. In addition to this, busy college students and office goers used to consume this fast food item due to quick processing time of these food items (Houston, 2005, p.109). People can save valuable consumption time and cost by buying fast food items. However, the growing negative consequences of consumption of fast food are creating major concerns for governments, households and several people (Murphy, 2013, p .39). It is true that several leading multinational fast food organizations are trying to offer quality fast food products in order to overcome the issues (Gallup, 2004, p.76). However, governments and several non-profit organizations are trying to create awareness among the people to consume healthy food items in order to stay healthy and feet. It is important for several colleges, universities and other educational organizations to develop several awareness programmes and events for people to reduce the possibility of human diseases. It is true that children, kids and young college students are

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Drinking and driving Essay Example for Free

Drinking and driving Essay On Jan.8, 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) that became the education-reform bill. The No Child Left Behind is most sweeping education-reform bill since 1965 that made changes to the the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The No Child Left Behind plays a big part in the life’s of students, parents, teachers, and the future of the educational system. â€Å"No longer content to provide access to education for traditionally extended students populations, we are now demanding that these students receive equally good educations. † In other words, administrations are now demanding equality of quality. President Bush thinks that all students are title to high quality education, treated equal, fair, and to be safe while at school. The No Child Left Behind places significant responsibilities on state educational agencies, school districts, principals, and the teachers. â€Å"In 2002 the federal government returned to the force front in potentially historic fashion.† With the passage of No Child Left Behind, supported by bipartism majorities in Congress, the nation committed itself to the achievement of every student in America. The No Child Left Behind in the federal system the United States for every education state and school districts fail to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind Act that will be held accountable, with the opportunity to improve their down fall. Each state makes their own standards for what a child should know and learn for grades, for math and reading the standards should be developed first. Every student should be tested by the standards. All school districts should make adequate yearly progress toward meeting their state standards. Schools that fail need all the support they can get to improve their progress. The school or District shall come up with an idea that’s going to meet all necessary to make higher goals. The No Child Left Behind has a standardize by making sure that all teachers were high. The No CLB Act has In the article (Teacher’s Views on No child left behind) teachers was the no child left behind law â€Å"The federal legislation provides considerable discretion to states that can develop their own academic content standards, choose the tests they will administer, and specify the minimum scores students must obtain to be declared â€Å"proficient†. The no child left behind law increased the attention to many schools that pay to academic achievement and to disadvantage children that make it better. â€Å"As a result, the skills, and knowledge of the subgroups of children that historically have not increased as rapidly under many state tests would suggest. Second, no child left behind has increased the efforts of schools scores, third, adequate yearly progress rules; some states increased the migration of experienced teachers out of school serving high concentrations of low – performing students. No child left behind represents that parents of students who are attending title I schools are given the option to transfer their students to another school in the district for improvement status, If a student requested to be transferred shall be allowed to transfer. The No Child Left Behind, has two new educational options, -supplemental educational services and school choice for title I schools for restricting, improvement, and corrective action by the options depends on parental decisions. Parents will know their student assessments. If the school needs improvement the parent will be informed. Conclusion: The No Child Left Behind Act is great. Every child should have the right to receive an education, and be safe while in school. There so many jobs and opportunities will be required to have a college degree in order for a student to have success in life they need an education. The No Child Left Behind Act helps and gives students the impossible they did not have. The No  Child Left Behind made school districts accountability achievement. ON January 8, 2002 President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Act the reform bill improves student’s goals on the state- wide testing, and The No Child Left Behind has admirable goal of improvement in the educational system. President Bush thinks that no child should be left behind and that all children are entitled to education, treated fair and to be safe. No matter what the student is, their race, where they live, they should be entitled to an equal education. References’ Abernathy, S. (2007). No child left behind and the public schools {electronic resource} / Scott Franklin Abernathy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, c2007. Michigan Press. In 2001 the author researcher at Ann Arbor: University of President George W. Bush’s education reform legislation, the no child left behind act (H.R. 1). Testing and accotability provisions Chubb, J.E. (2009). Learning from no child left behind {electronic resource}: how and why the nation’s most important but The Author research stand ford, California. : hoover institution Murnane, R., Papay, J. (2010). Teacher’s views on no child left behind: support for the principles, concerns about the practices. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24(3), 151- 166 Programs, all other Miscellaneous Schools Believes that the school should not be accountable for teaching all children well. The No child left behind is to improve all students’ performance. Put students’ performance in data gives the parents opportunity to see the child’s performance. Students that attend low-performing schools start to develop discipline issues, their want to be transferred to a better – performing school. School that doesn’t need their goals will offer including free tutoring, and after school instruction. Randolph, K., Wilson – Younger, D. (2012). †Is No Child Left Behind Effective For All Students?† Parents don’t think so. Online submission. The author’s researchers Database: ERIC. Since the No child left behind is to discuss the advantage of the core requirements for its implementation. Parents have concerns whether the children are really learning. Zimmer, R., Gill, B., Raquin, Booker, K., Lockwood, J., Department of education, w.c (2007). State and Local Implementation of the â€Å"No Child Left Behind† (N ls-â€Å"nclb†). The author researchers us department of  education. The key component the no child left behind for the parent children that were attending title I school options for corrective action, improvement, failure achieve toward meeting state standards.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Mental Representation Is Based On Imagery Psychology Essay

Mental Representation Is Based On Imagery Psychology Essay There is few ways of representing thoughts in our mind, in this essay, we will be discussing about how mental representation is based on imagery, and also talks about whether speech recording is necessary for reading or not. Eysenck and Keane (2000, pp. 243) argued that, A representation is any notation or sign or set of symbols that represents something to us. In general, mental imagery is the mental invention or recreation of an experience that in at least some respects resembles the experience of actually perceiving an object or an event, either in conjunction with, or in the absence of, direct sensory stimulation. Internal, mental representations consist of symbolic representations and distributed representations (Quinlan Dyson, 2008). Symbolic representations can be regarded as some well-defined symbols. Every symbol represents a particular and distinct entity, including images. Indeed, symbolic representations are comprised of analogical and propositional representations (Quinlan Dyson, 2008). Analogical representations are a variety of images, which can be visual, olfactory, auditory and so on. Although information represented by these images can be acquired from a variety of perceptual sources, the analogical representations are concrete and connected to a particular, specific sense modality instead. In contrast, the propositional representations are more discrete and abstract. Information represented by them can be acquired from any modality. This kind of propositional symbols is usually specific entities and the relationship between them is distinct as well. Propositional representations are discrete and abstract entities that stand for the ideation of the mind in any modality. Therefore, the representations can be treated as a basic language to represent various mental information. Propositional representations consist of three aspects, objects, relations and schemata (Eysenck Keane, 2000). In object concepts, each entity can be defined and characterised by its attributes and features. The definition of an object plays a crucial role in categorising things and organising memories, knowledge, concepts and mentality. Relations focus on how one object is linked to another and on the interaction between them in the propositional representations. For instance, if the relation is an action verb like hit, people should be able to determine what an agent, a recipient, and an instrument respectively are. Semantic primitives underlie a specific relation. Many psychologists took researches on examining whether semantic decomposition occurs (Eysenck Keane, 2000). In the expression that the sun melted down the ice cream, the specific objects are the sun and the ice cream, and the relationship between the two entities is represented by the predicate melt down. In this case , the mental representation is that the two entities, the sun and the ice cream, are linked together by the conceptual relation melt down. The concepts and knowledge in peoples mind which reflect the world are complexly structured. There are three relative structures, schemata, frames, and scripts. Schemata, involving a lot of concepts are commonly used by people to perceive the world. Scripts were proposed by Schank and Abelson (1977) to explain the knowledge in peoples mind of what happens every day. Also, frame was proposed by Marvin (1975; as cited in Eysenck Keane, 2000) and was widely used in visual perception. Therefore, propositional representation is a pretty crucial form of mental representation. Also, imagery is another form of mental representation, which is viewed as analogical representation. Analogical representations, especially visual images, are another essential form of mental representations. The long-time study of visual imagery can be traced back to more than two thousand years ago when Aristotle considered imagery as the main medium of thought (Eysenck Keane, 2000, pp. 258). Nowadays, the studies on imagery still continue. The essay will concentrate on three important sets of studies that illustrate the properties of imagery. In the experiment conducted by Cooper and Shepard (1973), the subjects were asked to determine whether the presented figure was the normal version or mirror-image version, compared with the standard one. The result of this experiment was that the more the test figure was rotated from the standard one, the more time the subjects would spend in making their final judgments. According to this experiment, the objects are mentally rotated in the same way that they are operated in the real and physical world. So, mental visual images have all the same attributes and features with those of actual objects in the real and physical world. However, Rock (1973) argued that the more complex the test mental images were, the more difficulty it was for subjects to make correct judgments. The second set of studies that I am going to disccuss about is on image scanning, this which represents another aspect of the nature of mental imagery. Kosslyn, Ball, and Reiser (1978) conducted a mental scanning experiment that subjects were asked to image a black dot moving from on point on the map to another. The result showed that the scanning time was linearly related to the distance between the two points (Eysenck Keane, 2000). So, images have similar spatial properties with those of objects in the real and physical world. Another set of studies about imagery is called reinterpreting images of ambiguous figures. Chambers and Reisberg (1985) showed ambiguous figures to subjects, to ask the subjects to interpret every figure in different ways. However, only if subjects had drawn the image of the figure, could they make a reinterpretation of it. The result indicates that the imagery is influenced by some propositional code, and people always ignore what is needed for reinterpretation. Therefore, imagery is also a necessary part of mental representation. Imagery actually represents the perception of the outside world in our mind and the reflection our internal mentality. Thus, imagery is an important element of mental representation, but cannot completely cover all the aspects of that. Also, mental representation is not simply based on imagery. According to Kosslyns theory of imagery, the upshot of the long-time conflict between propositions and images is that images are a distinct form of mental representations, and that images have obvious significance in functions compared with propositional representations. Propositional and analogical representations constitute the symbolic representations, as a key aspect of internal, mental representations. However, there is another form of mental representation which is called distributed representations. A distributed representation involves a simple network called a pattern associator (Eysenck Keane, 2000), with no symbols. The pattern associator represents the association between two different sets of units of an object in a network. Hinton et al (1986) proposed that the relationship between distributed representations and symbolic representations is not conflicting, but complementary. Thus, the high-level symbolic representations can be represented by lower-level distributed representations. Also, the lower-lever distributed representations are considered as fundamental part of the high-level representations. Vividly speaking, the symbolic representation is the macro-structure of mental representation, whereas the distributed representation is the micro-structure of cognitive representation. In conclusion, imagery is only an essential form of mental representation. There are also two forms called propositions and distributed representation. Instead of contradicting one another, the complementary among them is able to help people to perceive and represent the world.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Global Expansion Of Toyota Marketing Essay

The Global Expansion Of Toyota Marketing Essay Using one specific company with which you are familiar, examine the actual and potential impacts of globalization on that company. Explain the reasoning behind the points you make. Evaluate possible strategies going forward which the company might use to respond to impacts of globalization you have identified. Globalization can be described as a historical transformation in political, social, economy and cultural diversity (J.H. Mittelman, 2001). The United Nations on the other hand to describe globalization as a concept that refers both to an increasing flow of goods and resources across national borders and to the emergence of completely set of organizational structures to manage the expanding network of international economic activities and transactions (UNCTAD, 1997a, p. 70). In simple terms it is a process of interaction and integration among peoples, companies and different countries. Which includes the corporate strategies, consumption patterns, regulatory capabilities and governance, technology, the globalization of financial markets, and socio-cultural processes. The globalization can be detected from the increase of manufacturing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and financial capital flows. In todays business environment, most of companys activities are naturally become globally. Gradually, organizations have recognized that globalization creates unlimited opportunities of worldwide market. However at the mean time, its also brings negative parts such as: highly competitive environment and threats. On this paper, the Toyota Motor corporation being chosen as reference company, where based on China market to identify what is exist and potential effect of globalization on business, and provide possible solutions for Toyota sustainable development. While, the PEST analysis tool will apply for Toyotas business situation analysing to explain how Toyota influence by political, social, economic, and technological. The multinational enterprise (MNE). A multinational corporation (MNC), sometimes called a transnational corporation(TNC). Is a company that has headquarters in home country but manages production in other counties. In the past two decade, the multi-national corperation (MNCs) plays a role of monopoly, they were able to get business advantages from host country by using the colonial power. In other word, they can get concessions from host countries by using home governments influence (Ohmae, 1995). Whereas, since the rapid growth in world trade and investment, this colonial power no longer existed. Instead, the world market becomes to more competitive. Most importantly, the rising of global practice and thinking between companies and countries has made business interests and orientations more necessary than ever (Abbas, J. 2000). Background on Toyota Since the rapid development of global integration the automobile industry becomes one of the worlds most important economic sectors by revenue. Toyota is one of representative multinational enterprise in the world. Its established in 1937 by Sakichi Toyoda, till present day Toyota was conducts both domestic and global marketing with 52 oversea manufacturing companies in 27 countries. Toyota market and sold the vehicles approximate 7 million in more than 170 countries every year, worldwide employees is 320.808 (Annual report, 2009). As a market leader Toyota holding 15 per cent market share among all the other automobile brands (Business week, 2009).The key success element of Toyota is commitment to designing, engineering and build cars to every target market area. Due to this reason Toyota faced great impact from globalization; the impact can be both negative and positive and differs by context such as new markets, cheaper location for investment, multi-choice of suppliers for raw ma terial and services, and cheaper labor cost. However it can also carry the negative parts. First, the world automobile market is change in economic conditions affecting, and highly competitive environments in which Toyota operates. Second the market highly volatile. Last the global auto crisis was seriously hit down Toyotas market profit. The Global Expansion of Toyota In 2008, Toyota to officially become world largest automaker, the rapid expansion is the main reason Toyota able to overtake GM as worlds top car firm. Toyota operated business across the entire world, which including: Sales vehicle in Africa and Russia and sales leader in Australia. Toyota were Launched Lexus and SCION in United States and norther American market. Figure Toyota sales by region. (Source: Toyota annual report, 2009) In recent years, Toyota has focus on global market expansion, especially, China market. Because the tendency of Chinese consumption pattern is change. Toyota FDI in China. China overtake United States become to new fdi destination by 2004. This is due to the China adoption reform and opening up policy in the late 1970. Toyota believes that Chinas market is potentially as large as the U.S. Market. Toyota aims consistently increase investment in China to grow production capacity and add to product lineup along with begin to produce Camry at Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co., Ltd on May 2006. According to XinHua News report that Toyota intend to invest about $700 million in its first fully-fledged research and Development base (RD) in China. Because, Toyota wants to increase the production in China. Since 2005, Toyota through the form of join-venture with Chinese company (FAW Group Corporation) to build first plant in SiChuan province until now, Toyota was invested to build seven plants in China, and another six plants of Toyota also joint-ventures with FAW. Toyota establish oversea plant in response to incentives such as tariffs, reduction of labour cost, and Toyota production system The PEST analysis on Toyota Political The auto industry is subject to various governmental rules and policies. The political environment of China does favor enterprises with foreign investment. According to Government policy 2009, the Chinese government levies low tax on enterprise with foreign investment, and preferential tax policies are offered to the sectors and regions where investment is encourage by the state. And the low tax policy reflected in three aspects: income tax, circulation tax, and import-stage value-added tax. At the same time, the China government announced several preferential policies to encourage auto consumption, which include the people who living countryside can enjoy 10% subsidy of the original vehicle price for their buy it. Second, the tax of purchase small-displacement vehicles was cut from 10% to 5% (Chinavestor, 2010). These preferential policies stimulated auto consumption significantly, and attract more foreign automobile company invest in China. On the other hand, government play the role of savior. For example, the government bailout policy: in 2009, Toyota was require for emergency loan from the Japan Bank, with the amount of more than 3 billion US dollars. The purpose of the emergency loan is to dealing with cash flow problem or some other cases. Economic The Peoples Republic of China is the second biggest economy in the world (first is United States), and it is worlds fastest-growing economy as well with annual economic growth averaging nearly 9% over the last three decade. The role of China in the world are the factory of the world, because China provides a cheap labour cost, and low cost base for export-oriented production. The major advantage of Toyota is the strong cash position. However, if compare with GM, Toyota still existed weak credit ratings, rising health-care and pension costs, and losses in its automotive division. Toyota expects through use its strong cash position to expanding all over the world increase its commitment to RD. Social The population of China is beyond one billion, it is a largest country in the world by population. The households size: 3.1, total households in China were 351,233,698, as we know the Toyota segmenting group is Households, usually, this group of people in China have middle or upper of income level with good education background age around 25 to 65. Technological The Toyota product line consist of: Electric technology, Plug-in hybrids, All-electric vehicles, Cars, Pickup trucks, Luxury-type vehicles. Toyota is one of largest automobile companies to promote hybrid vehicles in the market. Beside the production lineup, there are have one more important factor able to shapes technology adoption at Toyota plants, which are governments foreign investments control power. The business in China, Chinese government controls type of technological standards on firms operating in the country. The impact of globalization on Toyota. Operating in global market is a challenge for Toyota. Even though the globalization created unlimited opportunities for Toyota, but the adverse affect should not be ignored. The impact of exchange rates on Toyota. The currency exchange rates are very powerful can affect trade investment, finance, tourism, oversea economic transactions, import and export prices of goods and services. Toyota attaches great importance to the fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates and this is particularly evident in fluctuation between the value of the Japanese yen, the U.S. dollar, Chinese Yuan, and the euro. The negative impact resulting from fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates may affect Toyotas global performance. The following table illustrates Japanese yen per $1.00 during the periods display Fiscal Year Ended or Ending March 31. At End of Period Average (of month-end rates) (Â ¥ per $ 1.00) High Low 2005 107.22 107.28 114.30 102.26 2006 117.48 113.67 120.93 104.41 2007 117.56 116.55 121.81 110.07 2008 99.85 113.61 124.09 96.88 2009 99.15 100.85 110.48 87.80 2010 (through June 19,2009) 96.15 96.82 100.71 94.45 (Source: Toyota annual report 2009) This table shows that, the yen has been strong when translation with US dollars. According to Toyotas annual financial statement, which clearly present a financial situation of Japanese yen are affected by translation risk and foreign currency transaction risk. The fluctuation of foreign currency change rates may affect the price of Toyotas products in worldwide market and use foreign currencies to purchases materials. Since 2009, Japan central bank to show sign of Japanese yen will further appreciates against U.S. dollars. It can cause adverse effect to Toyotas reported operating results and financial condition. Because Japanese yen is rapidly, consistently appreciates against other foreign currencies that will force Toyota to markup the price of all the export products. But the rapid increase value of Japanese yen can have favorable effect on material purchased, but it only inside of Japan. For Toyota oversea operations still suffered with high raw materials, and gasoline, due to the profit margins was fallen, when translated from dollars back to yen. The impact of consumer preferences on Toyota (Source: Annual Repot, 2006) This table illustrate that, Toyota has build different product line across the China to fulfill local market demand. The consumer preferences are one of the most important factors shaping international production for Toyota. The trend of distinct national preferences is spread every corner of the world. The homogeneity of preferences lead to Toyotas product reduces the benefits of manufactory in China, because of complicated relationship between car design and differences in consumer preferences as a typical example, the Ford promote new car Mondeo to the worldwide but the sales was not good as they expected, because Ford neglected focus localizing production. In particular, after the second oil crisis, Toyota was enhance the production aims to provide an effective and creative production design to gain more market share in China (i.e., Toyotas Corolla produce by global platform and modified for different region to match consumers needs). But Toyota has ignored the preferences are not yet homogeneous across all of China, even in the target region, there are have several differences local tastes of demand. In contrast, the Hondas Accord is also use the global platform but modified the cars exterior body to different specific market area, thus, Honda has completely different automobile production line for each target market, i.e., the difference platforms between Japan, Thailand and China. Due to this reason Toyota fall into extremely passive position compare to other competitors. The Impact of United States Financial Crisis on Toyota . The United States financial crisis of 2007 has considered being the worst economic crisis since the 1930s great depression. The main factor trigger of the financial crisis was the United States real estate bubble was busted, caused property price tied by the value of securities, then the price of house was decline straightly, not only America this financial tsunami has wave to the entire world. Which contributed consumer lost approximate hundreds of billions of U.S. Dollar, several key businesses have failed, and the stock markets have fallen significantly. Obviously, the financial crisis has been hit down United States economy heavily; even the bailout of banks by national government has measured. But the financial markets havent showed the sign of recovery. As biggest auto-maker in north America Toyota was faced an unprecedented situation by the financial recession. The adverse results are largely, the vehicle sale hardest hit in northern America and Europe market with drop in sales of 673 thousand vehicles() especially, the sales of Toyotas luxury division Lexus was drop significantly. Moreover, increase price of crude oil and iron and steel raw material impact Toyotas operation, this fiscal year was drop 68 percent of benefits compare with previous fiscal year and according to Toyota annual report, the net profit loss of 4.2 billion U.S dollars (Toyota Annual Report, 2009). Last the financial market recession resulted negative impacts to Toyotas accumulation of capital. Due to the financial downturn, the organizations or financial institutions may unable to provide capital to the market. The impact from competitive environment to Toyota. Figure:share of U.S. Auto market. (Source) According to this pie chart, GM, which is 18.2%, is the biggest automaker in U.S. among all the motor corporations, then is Toyota with 15.8%, followed by Ford, making up 14.3%: and the next coming is Chrysler at 12.1%. From the pie chart is obviously shows that the big three automaker are still the largest domestic producers which making up 44.6% market share. The United States market always has been a prime concern for Toyota.. Due to its trade liberalization, highly developed, market demand(U.S. Auto market is about ten times bigger than the Canadian market). Especially, the demanding of Toyota luxury division Lexus was increased in recent years. However the U.S. automotive market is highly competitive at least fifteen auto company was market their product in U.S. market. Toyota as a foreign brand faces intense competition from other competitors. The highly competitive business environment lead to cause lower vehicle units sales and inventory backlog. This caused Toyota downward price pressure. The factors influence competition including: quality of product, post-purchase services, and reliability. However, Toyota faced unexpectedly quality problem with sudden unintended acceleration, which caused Toyota economic damages nearly $7 billion, the 94,000 vehicles has been recalled. Sustainability development of Toyota Establishment of Global Special Committee for Global Quality control Implemented approaches to address a deterioration in information gathering and information sharing practices between headquarters and the regional offices. These problem are seen to be the harmful side effects of the rapid globalization. The function of this committee are restructure the quality management system Strategies of interest rate swaps and localized in respond to fluctuation of Money exchange rate. In order to reduce the adverse affect of fluctuation foreign currency exchange rates, Toyota use some certain derivative financial tool such as interest rate swaps and increase the target market production of localized. Likewise, increase the investment in target market to increase production capacity and build local raw material supply chain, that can as possible as minizing losses on currency translation. Nonetheless, the adverse affect still existed, Toyota have to maintain a high level of vigilance the dynamics of international exchange market. Product diversification in respond to highly competitive auto market. In the highly competitive global business environment, Conclusion In todays global business environment multinational enterprise become more important, because countries adoption of opening oriented to promote the economic growth by attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The multinational enterprise plays the role of investor between countries. Whereas, the business environment will become more competitive follow with the increased FDI. As the world forth largest multinational enterprise, Toyota faced several affect from globalization, which can be classified as political, government regulations, economic environment, social lifestyle, and technological factors. Due to those of factor Toyota will continue to seek the way of sustainable development that use some strategy or approach to solve problems, such as, open a new market with innovative product. But there are not ensure Toyota will have a bright future. Car sales around the world in 2009: mostly down . The Truth About Cars. Retrieved 2010-09-09. Automobile Industry Introduction. Plunkett Research. 2008. Retrieved 2010-09-09. World Factbook; Japan-Economy. CIA. 2010.09.05 Retrieved 2010.09.05 Byars, L., 1991. Strategic Management, Formulation and implementation-Concepts and Cases. New York: HarperCollins Johnson, G., Scholes, K., 1993. Exploring Corporate Strategy-Text and Cases. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice-Hall Toyota, 2006. Geared toward Continuing Growth, Annual report 2005-2006. Japan: Tyouta Toyota., 2009. The Right Way Forward, Annual Report 2009. Japan: Toyota Toyota, 2010. Sustainability Report 2009-2010. Japan: Toyota EcPulse., 2010. Toyota to Invest $700 Million for RD in China. General Forex News.[online] 22 November. Available at: [Accessed 11 November 2010] BEST CARS., 2010. Internal Toyota Documents Show Political Influence Lobbying.[online](updated 22 February 2010) Available at: [Accessed 12 November 2010] Ganz, A., 2010. TOYOTA BUILDING 7TH CHINA PLANT. [onlibne] LEFT LANE NEWS.[online] 21 June. Available at: [Accessed 12 November 2010] Kulkarni, A., 2009. Positive Effects of Globalization. [online] Buzzle. Available at: [Accessed 16 November 2010] The Development Principles Group., 2009. Economic Environment in China.[online](updated 2009) Available at: [Accessed 16 November 2010] Elizabeth, C. 2003. Chinas Environmental Challenge: Political Social and Economic Implications.[online] New York:Council on Foreign Relations(published 2003) Available at: [Accessed 17 November 2010] Judy, Z., 2010. Chinas Auto Companies: Will the Legend of 2009 Continue?[online](updated 05 May 2010) Available at: [Accessed 17 November 2010] China Through A lens., 2009. What are the preferential policies offered to enterprises with foreign investment?[online] Available at: [Accessed 18 November] http://www.philforhumanity.com/Globalization_of_the_U.S.A..html http://ideas.repec.org/p/kie/kieliw/1093.html http://www.allbusiness.com/management/benchmarking-key-business-process-benchmarking/219142-1.html www.wikinvest.com/industry/Auto_Makers http://www.robroad.com/light-industry/index.php/financial-crisis-industry-japan/ http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Toyota_Motor_(TM)/Toyotas%20Operations%20Subject%20Currency%20Interest%20Rate%20Fluctuations http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/japan-auto-sales-fallsept-india-strong_488274.html http://factsanddetails.com/japan.php?itemid=930catid=24subcatid=157 http://news.frbiz.com/financial_crisis_in_the_automobile-173677.html http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1448578.php/Toyota_cutting_costs_to_withstand_financial_crisis_sales_drop http://www.themotorreport.com.au/11817/financial-crisis-prompts-toyota-to-cut-earnings-forecast

Monday, August 19, 2019

Richard Floridas The Rise of the Creative Class :: Architecture Design Essays

Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class gives a very interesting look into the science behind creativity and a thorough understanding of the creative process. According to Florida, creativity is a cognitive ability separate from other mental functions and all aspects related to intelligence. Creative potential does benefit from intelligence though but creativity is still a capacity inherent to all but in varying degrees for each person. Creativity requires self-assurance and the ability to take risks, however, because people utilizing creativity are usually going up against orthodox ideas about things and are challenging the norm and receiving a lot of criticism for these innovations. One must be sure of their self to maintain belief in their innovation through all this criticism and must be willing to take a risk in introducing their product of creativity to the market in the face of all this criticism. Florida claims there are four steps to the creative pr ocess. The first is preparation in which the person intently studies the task at hand getting a good grasp of the concept in their mind. The next step is incubation which is still a relatively unknown process of how this works in the mind but what is known is that one must consciously and subconsciously study the concept in their mind. The next step is illumination in which the person sees a new synthesis for this concept. The final step is verification or revision which include all work after the illumination step. I found it interesting that creativity is largely based on experiences and creativity favors people with an intellect with diverse experiences and perspectives because of this. This is because creativity requires the synthesis of different perspectives to create something new and useful. I also found it interesting that many highly creative environments in the past such as China and the Islamic world have died out because of social and economic conditions and thes e places now are not thought of as creative and intellectual centers anymore. I also found the concept of New Growth Theory to be very interesting in that it is essentially the empowerment of every person through the power of ideas and intellectual property although this theory seems slightly optimistic when it is compared to Karl Marx's goal of the proletariat overthrowing the upper classes.

Improving Patient Safety in Stroke Rehabilitation Wards Essay -- Strok

Patient safety is a major issue in health care, especially in the public sector. Studies show that as many as 10 patients get harmed daily as they receive care in stroke rehabilitation wards in hospitals in the United States alone. Patient safety refers to mechanisms for preventing patients from getting harmed as they receive health care services in hospitals. The issue of patient safety is usually associated with factors such as medication errors, wrong-site surgery, health care-acquired infections, falls, diagnostic errors, and readmissions. Patient safety can be improved through strategies such as improving communication within hospitals, increasing patient involvement, reporting adverse events, developing protocols and guidelines, proper management of human resources, educating health-care providers on the need for patient protection, and commitment of the leadership to the task. This paper talks about patient safety and how it can be improved in stroke rehabilitation war ds of both public and private hospitals. Organizational Goal/Objectives for Patient Safety Every hospital is committed to ensuring that their patients in stroke rehabilitation wards and other facilities are safe from any form of harm that may occur as a result of the health care providers’ negligence. Firstly, every hospital integrates quality and safety approaches into its everyday’s operations to promote and enhance the safety and quality of its environment and services respectively (Garban, 2011). This is usually complemented by other strategies meant for enhancing organizational knowledge to improve efficiency and overall productivity. Some hospitals provide further training to their health care personnel to ensure that they efficiently incorpor... ...nurses: How to prevent harmful events and promote patient safety. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Co. Snell, S., & Bohlander, G. W. (2013). Managing human resources. Andover: Cengage Learning. Spurgeon, P., Burke, R. J., & Cooper, C. L. (2012). The innovation imperative in health care organizations: Critical role of human resource management in the cost, quality, and productivity equation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Watcher, R. (2012). Understanding patient safety. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Professional. Williams, M. (2007). Comprehensive hospital medicine. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders. Wu, A. W. (2011). The value of close calls in improving patient safety: Learning how to avoid and mitigate patient harm. Oakbrook Terrace, IL: Joint Commission Resources. Youngberg, B. J. (2013). Patient safety handbook. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Urban Government and Private Development :: Public Policy Politics

Urban Government and Private Development in Postindustrial Urban America ABSTRACT: As revenue-deprived cities in the United States depend more on developments aimed at attracting visitors, the governing bodies controlling this infrastructure play a larger role in urban government. This paper explores the case of one such development, Chicago’s Navy Pier. The author argues that the Pier’s redevelopment as a festival marketplace, which was based on public rhetoric and space, necessitated the creation of a public authority that compromised this vision. The paper begins with a description of the postindustrial city, then outlines the history of Navy Pier and its redevelopment, and closes with a discussion of the role of public authorities in the contemporary city. In 1986, Chicago and urban America generally, were in decline. The bedrock of federal urban funding had disappeared, middle class residents continued to flee the city for suburban enclaves, and manufacturing jobs that had once employed large portions of city dwellers were suddenly much scarcer. While cities searched for strategies to reverse these trends, most found great trouble in doing so. An urban regeneration seemed unlikely at the time, but cities would soon find ways to attract dollars, residents, and visitors back within their limits. Seventy years earlier, Municipal Pier, a mixed-use development for shipping and entertainment, was constructed near the mouth of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. The initial uses of the structure known today as Navy Pier symbolize the industrial and leisure activities taking place in a rapidly growing, and at times, carefree urban setting. In the decades to follow, the pier served as a Navy training base, the Chicago campus of the University of Illinois, and finally, as a landmark used intermittently for municipal gatherings and public events. During the era of urban decline, however, Navy Pier sat idle amidst a city on the verge of rebirth; plans for renovation had come and gone and it looked as though the Pier might never be of use again. The ever-changing currents of urban America provided a different outcome. In 1990 a plan that would redevelop the Pier was accepted, and in the previous year, two factors ensured its success. The first was the plan’s use of public rhetoric, which stood out from other festival marketplaces that had embraced private development exclusively. This can be attributed to the fact that throughout the city’s history, Chicagoans have treasured their public space along Lake Michigan. A phenomenon best represented by Daniel Burnham’s 1909 plan for Chicago, which placed an emphasis on beautifying the lakefront and rejuvenating the residents and city (Hall, 2002, pp.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Nursing Informatic Systems

Just like other fields, the nursing profession is turning towards using computers for many areas of their daily tasks.   These areas include documentation, building an information database, and communication between shifts, departments, and even facilities.   A broad base of benefits come with nursing informatics, both in terms of direct and individual job performance and in terms of benefits to the nursing profession overall.   According to McCormick and Delaney (2004) â€Å"many reports† support computerizing nursing practices â€Å"in reducing medical errors and encourage implementation of evidence-based healthcare practice† (p. 4). One recommended format for informatic systems is that of bedside terminals.   McCormick and Delaney state that these easy-to-use systems have the benefits of care plan integration, eliminating data redundancy, and increased accessibility of data.   The authors also indicate that there are â€Å"soft benefits related to improvements in patients safety,† as well as in communication between nurses and smoother workflow between care providers (p. 4). A survey conducted by Lofstrom (2004) for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) indicated that quality initiatives, including problem solving and patient care, were identified by 25% of the respondents as being among their top three job responsibilities (p. 4).   Many of the survey respondents also identified development and implementing informatics as part of their daily tasks (p. 8). These suggested uses and benefits all indicate that nursing informatics are becoming an integral part of the profession as a whole.   They benefit the individual nurse and his or her patients because they create simplified record keeping and record sharing.   However, they also benefit the profession as a whole because they encourage more consistency in nursing terminology.   Despite these benefits, however, most of the nursing informatic professionals responding to the survey were not responsible for patient care (p. 4). Nursing informatics have the potential for benefiting both nurses and their patients as they are integrated into current nursing systems.   Although the benefits they provide to patients might not be direct, they are present in terms of increased record-keeping clarity and increased patient safety. References Lofstrom, J. (2004).   2004 HIMSS Nursing Informatics Survey.   Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.   http://www.himss.org/content/files/nursing_info_survey2004.pdf McCormick, K. and Delaney, C. (2004). Nursing informatics leadership response to President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) questions regarding â€Å"The New Healthcare: How Information Technology is Transforming America’s Health Care System.†Ã‚   http://www.allianceni.org/doc/PITACResponse.pdf      

Friday, August 16, 2019

Costco Wholesale Essay

1. Executive Summary Costco Wholesale Corporation founded in 1983 by Jim Sinegal in Seatle Washington with a vision & mission â€Å"to continually provide members with quality of goods and services at the lowest possible price control inventory.† Part of their strategy include direct buying relationship that ensures an efficient & strong SC management, high standard staffing plans, high quality products at lower prices and assessable to members who are considered more loyal. Efforts are made to develop strategic options in line with these strategies while focusing on the supply chain parameters that span from order placement to receipt of goods at the warehouse and made available to customers in the warehouse shop floor using the most cost effective processes in order to ensure they support the mission of the company. By assessing Costco’s external opportunities and threats as well as the internal strengths and weaknesses (using SWOT & Porter’s Five Forces analysis), one can infer they are doing well within their industry. More options were generated to increase sales and awareness of the retail warehouses. The report concludes with recommendations for Costco to sustain it’s market edge and advance by expanding into the European & Asian markets more as their presence is still very weak in these regions as well as add other services & goods to their already existing list. 2. Introduction Costco Wholesale Corporation founded in 1983 within the retail industry is the largest warehouse club in the world based on sales volume. A major wholesale business offering three levels of membership and the largest wholesale club operator in the US with membership/warehouse locations spread across Asia, Europe, North & South America with headquarters based in Washington, US. Their main competitors operating membership warehouses include Sam’s Club & BJ’s wholesale club. Jim Sinegal, the founder defines the company vision as â€Å"giving the best to the customer at the best value possible†. Here best value (in quality of goods & services offered) at low prices are the driving force. Costco backs up it’s products with a return policy within a time frame of average 90 days, a highly endearing attraction to it’s members. The business model focuses on low prices & volume purchase in order to achieve profit at low margin with stores offering discounts on an average of 4,000 products out of which roughly a thousand are ‘treasure hunt’ referring to goods that are scarcely available for purchase always. Volume purchase from few vendors yielding further reduction in price and lowers cost in marketing. With low prices, quality goods in limited selection based on forecast lead to quick turnover in inventory. The high volume purchase and efficient network distribution yield efficiency in operations for Costco. With a stipulated membership fee, Costco warehouses are designed to help small to medium size businesses reduce purchasing costs as well as serving large families with the goods packaged in bulk ranging from alcoholic beverages, electronics, fresh food/produce, household & office supplies, pharmaceuticals & tires. Also available are special memberships with services like car & home insuranc e, mortgage and real estate services, and packages for travels. 3.Purpose and Main Areas Of the Research (Concepts & Techniques) Analyzing the supply chain operations at Costco wholesales, in line with the business focus while limiting to it’s supply chain operations strategy for maintaining a competitive edge as it relates to SC operations (from sourcing to arrival on pallets and or display at their various warehouses racks), their challenges and options for improvement will be the focus of this report. The following issues will form questions that will give a frame for this report: †¢ What are the key issues facing Costco in line with (efficient) Supply Chain Operations? †¢ What would be options to compete with these issues?  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Which options best suits the business focus and would yield better growth financially? The sections thereafter will consider trying to answer the questions above by applying SWOT analysis (see appendix 1) and Porter’s five forces framework (see appendix 2). Areas needing improvement will be obvious from such, options that would generate better performance after localizing issues peculiar to Costco. These would ultimately lead to clear recommendations for Costco’s improvement. Due to inaccessibility of authentic and current data for successive years on sales, further analysis could not be carried out to compare Costco for accurate sales assessment in the last three years or compare with the other two leading club wholesalers (Sam’s & BJs). Identifying, analyzing key parameters with Supply chain operations processes at Costco and suggest areas of possible improvement. Inventory Management: Since good are moved straight to the selling floor and inventory is not held by Costco but managed by vendors, inventory & labor cost of handling is avoided. In their meat & grocery section for instance, they focus on low-price & high volume strategies hence, Costco carry very limited amounts of grocery & perishables whereas Wal-Mart is known to have weakness in the area of perishables (Petrak, 2006) Partnership/Collaboration with suppliers: Costco has buying relationships with many producers of national brands and are supplied directly from suppliers routing to the warehouses of docking points that serve as distribution points. Partnership market is an attribute of Costco, for instance by partnering with American Express to create a Costco-AMEX credit card, discounts & cash cards as offered to customers while Costco markets Amex cards, thereby helping them to acquire more customers. Distribution Strategies/Transportation: The redesign of product packages to fit into pallets and thereby maximize space has led to reduction of trucks used to transport goods. Cross-docking of goods by delivering directly to Costco stores while some are kept in the distribution centers saves a lot of time & cost along the SC. Utilization of buzzers for truck drives at delivery points to indicate when trucks have been unloaded can save time as against the truck driver’s physical movement within the warehouse is a time saver. Their warehouses are not situated on prime locations hence cost is saved from unnecessary high property cost; again, they own over 80% of the warehouses. Green Logistics: Costco Kirkland signature has launched eco friendly cleaning products. It maximizes the use of solar power in it’s warehouses, it’s delivery trucks are better packaged to allow maximization of space so as to reduce fleets of transportation and hence environmental pollution. Energy is better conserved with timed lighting and construction of warehouses that can maximize skylight during the day. Food products are packaged in recyclable and more environmentally friendly materials. Customers are paid to recycle their old electronics at the green sight. Information Technology: This retailer prides itself in it’s connection of all warehouses to the headquarters in Washington. By using the EFIM which provides real time information, manages control systems and inventory management system. The ECR is used to achieve profitability, improvement in efficiency, logistics, procurement and overall cost control. Kumar (2008) records that approximately $6 billion in a year is lost in the USA by supermarkets due to out of stock products among 25 top retailers as a result of inefficiency in their logistics. Vertical Integration: Costco practices a partial vertical integration with it’s cross-dock distribution. By gaining control of either its inputs or its outputs or both in sourcing directly from suppliers they have more control over innovation & delivery of those services. Cost is also reduced which is ultimately transferred to customers. Further optimization of operational performance through SC operations options that can sustain a competitive edge and improve customer satisfaction through service improvement and cost reduction. 4. Description Of The Separate Areas 4.1Description of The SC Operations Performance & Improvement. The measurement of SC performance can be based on profit, customer service or sales maximization (Chow, 1994). While the traditional method majorly measured product costs, identification of costs related to customer service is key. Elimination of various extraneous costs like plastic shopping bags, fewer shop floor staff, limited product variety & brands on shelf and also slowing down on capital expenditure like expansion, Costco has been able to focus on improving buying power for achieving greater output. Since inventory rates are quickly turned over, payments to suppliers is fast tracked hence they are able to benefit from discounted early payments. Cost is involved in sourcing products from suppliers, shipment to depots & warehouses, distribution to warehouses & storage in inventory. By considering the concept of avoidable cost (possibly considering packaging & storage), efforts can be made to improve on SC performance by implementing better SC integration program. Partnering with more suppliers and or service providers for better flow of operations as well as building keener competition can enhance better efficiency leading to more profit in the long run. More side business services can be added at Costco like money order and cash transfers to attract more customers and make Costco a one stop store. Aside from email messages being sent to existing members on promotions, greater awareness can create a more organized means to lure more customers on the expanding array of products & services such that new & more revenue streams are attained. 4.2 Issues Affecting Supply Chain and Possible Solutions Analysis of SC at Costco using SWOT analysis (appendix 1) reveals Costco is doing really well. Growth opportunities exist for business by entering the European & Asian markets as these have not been exploited. From present methods of operations, the high staff salary and low margins maintenance amongst other issues need to be looked into for future prospects. The aging and close exit of the CEO along with growing competition and other threats in intended foreign markets such as political and religious wars, foreign exchange & bank issues are threats to consider. In dealing with these issues, it will be important to assess briefly lead time management, product handling, transportation, quality, inventory as well as possible process solutions. Where possible, promotions should be done to enhance more sales though with the low prices and already highlighted low margin & high employee, this may eat into the profitability but if well planned can create more publicity for the company which can yield quick inventory turnover. Since low overhead & tight operation is the practice, better savings can be passed on to customers in form of promotion or otherwise. Exploration of overseas market is still a strong force and will yield greater profit considering the existing reputation Costco has and understudying how business is executed in such regions. Development of more private labels on wider product range and increased focus on customer loyalty programs are worth considering as well. It is advisable the board of management put in place a business plan before the exit/retirement of the CEO. Porter’s Five Forces analysis (see appendix 2) could identify an overall attractive industry, with the following power and threat situation: The buyer power was determined to have a positive potential impact on Costco business as it portray that buyers have the requisite level of expendable incomes to provide effective demand for goods & services. In a similar manner, low threat of new entrants and substitute products portray an attractive industry whereas moderate internal rivalry and supplier power have a positive impact on Costco operations as it kept the company alert and devoid of complacency. 4.3 Analyzing The Contribution Of SCOM to Competitive Business Performance To further highlight the role of SCOM in enhancing business performance and maintaining a competitive edge, a few activities like volume purchasing, efficient packaging & distribution, supplier integration & customer integration have contributed to give a close picture of Costco capabilities and business level performance with each activity having unique benefits and detriments. Again, constant review of SCM practices may further help management in Costco to further match demand with SC requirements like efficient, lean SC (Cook et al , 2011). Their Network design, JIT resource planning distribution, optimization of transport & replenishment policies have impacted positively and should be subject to constant review for sustaining a competitive edge. 5. Conclusion Finally, it is believed that some useful contributions are being developed to improve supply chain and it’s operation in line with the objective of Costco in delivering quality at lowest cost to customers on time with the aim of sustaining a more competitive advantage. Some useful SC options have been suggested above which support these objectives. While the ultimate goal remains to sustainably increase market share by achieving more qualitative growth and at the same time expand on the earning base through exploitation of the European market and already existing markets, Mascarehas et al (2004) adds that â€Å"competitive advantage must be won again and again† in other words, giving the current ever changing business world we live in, customer tastes and priorities are changing hence the need for Costco to be better positioned in order to respond always to it’s members needs while expanding on new fronts.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Martin Luther King, Jr.: Dreaming a Reality

Thesis:Martin Luther King was a leader that was born in a segregated world but was determine to change it so everyone live in a equal nation. And he did this by his words and action that don’t need any bloodshed. He used brain over bronze to accomplish what he set out to do. Martin Luther King jr. was as born as a middle child in Atlanta Georgia in January 15th 1929 into a family which was actively involved in the civil right movement. Martin father and grandfather was lead preacher at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Martin Luther King mother was a teacher and thought him how to read, she also try to taught Martin about prejudice and the Jim Crow law that separated Black and White . Martin father was preacher , and was strong Blackman who help black get job and black teacher that same pay as white teacher. Martin got married to Coretta Scott in Alabama in June 18, 1953. Martin Luther King Jr. had four children Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice Albertine. Martin Luther King began his education at Yong Street Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia he attended Booker-T Washington High and later on graduated and went to Morehouse College with a scholarship from his high because he got an high school entrance examination he even skip ninth and twelve grade he entered at age fifteen. He graduated collage with a Bachelor of Divinity in sociology King then began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University and received his Doctor of Philosophy on June 5, 1955. Martin inspiration was a civil rights leader, theologian, and educator Howard Thurman who was actually Martin father friend use to mentor The Kings and his friend. King played a big role in the founding of Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957; this organization was created so non-violent black people to protect. King also organized and led marches for the right to vote, desegregation, and labor rights in addition to basic civil rights. One of Martin most famous rallies(marches) was the March On Washington where lack people from all over the nation came together to fight for their God given right at that event their were many speeches given one of them was the famous â€Å"I Have A Dream Speech† all this was held August 28, 1963. Other things you might find interesting about that event was that their wasn’t only black people their even white that had the same mind set as black were their trying to fight along with them for civil right and what they believe in . There were performance by Gospel legend Mahalia Jackson who sang â€Å"How I Got Over†, also musician Bob Dylan performed several songs, including â€Å"Only a Pawn in Their Game. Their criticism from many people and this might even surprise that â€Å"black nationalist Malcolm X, in his Message to the Grass Roots speech, criticized the march, describing it as â€Å"a picnic† and â€Å"a circus†. The March on Washington isn’t the only event that happen for the civil right of the black, another event that happen was a Boy Cott which Martin Luther was still a pastor back then, well by now you are asking what really happen to cause that Boy Cott?. And the answer was that a African-American amed Rosa Park who was an seamstress came from a hard day of work and went to the back of the bus and a white told her to get up so he can sit there and she refuse for doing that she arrested for this anger was spark in the Alabama community. And so a meeting was called by the black community and an overflow crowd came to Ebenezer Baptist church for a meeting concerning Rosa Park situation and so Dr. King told them the only way that they could them was to Boy Cott the bus company. So on Dec. 5, the African-American residents of the city refused to use the buses. Most walked, those few with cars arranged rides for friends and strangers, some even result to even riding mules. Only a very few numbers of African-Americans rode the bus that day. Martin Luther king gave a lot of speeches such as the famous â€Å"I Have a Dream†, â€Å"The Purpose of Education† speech, and his other famous â€Å"Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech† and I See the Promised Land (a. k. a. I've been to the Mountain Top) which was his last speech. The â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech was famous because King talk about the dream he has for the nation and the peech goes like this I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal. † I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream th at one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, â€Å"My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father’s died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring. † And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, â€Å"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! † This speech was the captivate the nation because of the words behind that it meant behind it. Martin Luther King Jr. as such a hard worker and a strong believer of equality and worked so hard on his nonviolence protect for civil right that he was even recognize as a modern prophet and even a modern day Moses. For all his hard work he was given the most honorable reward of all time which was the Noble Peace Prize on December 10, 1964 this prize which is only given to a person that done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of sta nding armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses when Martin receive his prize he gave a very good acceptation speech. Unfortunately on April 4, 1968 while Dr. King stood on a Memphis motel balcony probably taking a fresh breath of air was shot with a sniper bullet and died on the spot the shooter James Earl Ray was opposite of Martin Luther King’s Jr. motel where it was easy to aim and shoot at king . James Earl Ray was arrest in London at a airport, on March 10, 1969, Ray entered a plea of guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in the Tennessee state penitentiary. Even though the killer was found and punished it wasn’t even to filled the sadness in people hearts. Dr. King’s death wasn’t only a family issue it was a nationwide issue because he was a Great man who was trying to make the world a better place for every race. Conclusion: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was black man who was born into unequal world but tired his all best to change it without bloodshed he was willing to die for his believes. He was even critics by many people that don’t have the same mind set as him; his life and family life were put in danger but No that didn’t stop him he kept moving on. Like the old saying goes â€Å"Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven† and Martin did a lot for us and gave us a big push toward equality so he probably in his grave or in heaven smiling down at the nation because his dream finally came to pass.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Teen Suicide and Bullying

Bullying is a worldwide problem that can be linked to teen suicide. The third leading cause of death in youth is suicide, which results in nearly 4,400 deaths per year (Centers for Disease Control, 2012). At least half of these deaths are caused by bullying. Although bullying is still seen by many to be a normal part of growing up, it is a severe problem that leads to many negative effects, including suicide. Unfortunately, there is not a definitive solution to this problem.However, there are multiple ways to help teens who are contemplating suicide due to bullying: seeking immediate medical help, encouraging teens to talk, parents keeping communication open, and by parents communicating with school authorities. Bullying is a form of abuse that is displayed toward the victim which forms an unhealthy relationship. This relationship consists of the bully having continual control of the victim’s life for an extended period of time. It gives the bully a sense of empowerment that t hey continue to feed off of.This is much different from school aged aggression that typically has a one-time occurrence, such as fighting or teasing between friends. Conversely, bullying can lead to suicide. Bully related suicide can be connected to any type of bullying, whether it is physical bullying, emotional bullying, cyber bullying, sexting, or even the circulating of suggestive photos of a person. Sadly, over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide and almost seven percent have actually attempted it. The power obtained by the bully over the victim can be devastating and can lead to many negative effects.Bullying can lead to poor mental health such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Nearly 160,000 children stay home from school every day due to fear of torment by other students. This causes the students grades to drop and adds to the victim’s sense of failure. These effects can become so debilitating that the victim may turn to suicide as their way of ending the internal pain. Emotional pain felt by the victim can become so overwhelming that they believe the only way out is through suicide. They may feel as if no one cares or that it would be pointless to reach out to someone because it might even make things worse.Sadly, many times victims feel that they are alone and no one could possibly understand what they are going through. In the case of Amanda Todd, she was bullied and ridiculed at school and online to the point where she felt she could no longer live. Unfortunately, she experienced verbal, physical, and emotional pain at the hands of her peers including people she believed liked her. She was tortured on a daily basis and felt there was no way out. Amanda changed schools as an attempt to end the torment. Unfortunately, as in many cases, the bullying followed her.Amanda attempted suicide on a couple of occasions. She tried reaching out by posting a video on YouTube telling her story. Sadly, a week later she co mmitted suicide. Amanda Todd was a victim to one of the cruelest forms of abuse that is happening today all over the world. Could her suicide have been prevented? According to reports, many of Amanda’s peers did not notice any signs of this struggle. However, she cried out for help not only through her video posted on the internet, but well before that by her multiple attempts of suicide.It may have been possible to save her life if there were more awareness brought to her community on bullying and suicide. If people knew what signs to look for and would have noticed the red flags just from sheer knowledge, Amanda Todd may have received the help she wanted and so badly needed. Although there is no definitive solution to the problem of teen suicide from bullying, there are several ways to prevent a majority of this from happening. One extremely important way to help a teen who is suicidal is to immediately seek medical attention.Doctors and medical professionals are able to fi nd problems that others cannot see. They provide hope for teens contemplating ending their lives. Medical professionals are able to diagnose underlying conditions that are typically found in youth who are at risk for suicidal tendencies. Most mental health disorders, such as depression, can be treated. Not only can these professionals diagnose and treat illnesses but they can also provide teens and parents with resources and useful information. Another great way to prevent teen suicide is to encourage them to talk.Suppressing thoughts and feelings, typically makes things worse. Therefore, getting teens to open up and talk is a great way for them to relieve their burdened hearts. Having them verbalize their thoughts and feelings helps them and others to have a better understanding of what they are going through. Likewise, when a teen is being bullied it is important that they express how they have been hurt. It creates an awareness of the problem which can lead to finding a solution. Sometimes, when a teen is thinking about suicide, what they really want is someone to listen to them.They just want to know that they are not alone. One of the best things a parent can do is keep the lines of communication open with their children. It becomes increasingly important throughout the teen years as they experience many changes such as emotional, physical and hormonal. Communication between parent and child is crucial for the child to feel comfortable opening up to them and discussing any problem they may be having. Being involved allows this team to identify the existence of bullying and suicidal thoughts along with other problems.Connor and Rueter (2006) found that a warm and supportive relationship, especially with the father, shielded a teen from emotional distress and suicidal tendencies. Most importantly, communication and openness can be a deterrent to suicide. When a teen communicates that they are being bullied it is helpful for parents to discuss it with school authorities stop existing problems. This is another way to help prevent teen suicide due to bullying. Since a majority of bullying takes place on or near school campuses, it is the school’s responsibility along with the parents to take action in addressing situations as such.School authorities can help monitor a teen that is in distress and offer great resources to help solve the issues they may facing. By parents communicating with the teen’s school, they can share their ideas and find what works best for the community and their students to stop bullying and prevent teen suicide. Bullying is a major problem happening to teens all over the world. Although there is not a definitive solution to bullying and the connection to teen suicide, there are many preventive measures that can be taken. Seeking immediate medical help for teens who want to commit suicide can be life changing.Encouraging teens to talk will allow them to express their thoughts and feelings instead of internalizing them. Likewise, parents can help prevent teen suicide by keeping the lines of communication open. It lets teens take comfort in knowing they have someone to talk to. When bullying and thoughts of suicide become a part of a teen’s life, it is important that the parent speaks to school authorities. This enables the school and parents to team up against the problems. Anyone can play a part in saving a life by working together to prevent teen suicide from bullying.