Financial Management Principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Financial Management Principles - Essay Example There a different capital budgeting valuation method that can be used to calculate how profitable a project will be. Four of these methods are payback period, net present value, internal rate of return and modified internal rate of return. The five basic steps on a capital budgeting model are: The Chief Financial Officer of Strident Marks wants to determine the viability of a project he wants to pursue. He applied the four capital budgeting valuation methods to establish financial metrics to arrive a decision. Exhibit A shows the mathematical calculations he performed to arrive at the results. The data he had from the project was an initial investment of $10,000. The project would generate $7500 each year for three consecutive years. The project’s discount rate was 10%. The revenue projections made the assumption that revenue inflows would be generated at the beginning of the year. The payback period analysis concluded that the return of original investment can be achieved in 1.33 years. The payback method is a simplistic method which only calculates the amount of years it takes to recover the original value of cash or assets invested in the project. If two or more projects are compared the project with the lowest time to recover the initial investment would be chosen. A major drawback of this method is that it does not take into consideration time value of money. The net present value (NPV) method application resulted in a value of $8651. This value is a good sign since the general rule to follow is that only projects whose NPV results in a positive total can be accepted. When comparing various projects a manager chooses the one with the highest NPV total. A firm that undertakes a project with a positive NPV improves the position of the stockholders because the project will increase the value of the company (Besley & Brigham). The internal rate

How Domestic Commitment Contribute To Our Understanding of War Essay

How Domestic Commitment Contribute To Our Understanding of War - Essay Example Similarly, international factors affect domestic structures and processes of peace, economics, democratization, global issues and state systems or machinery. Modern political science professionals and scholars are faced with the challenge or question of why some conflicts end quickly while others last years and even decades. Consequently, their interest has been in unearthing and understanding what separates the wars or conflicts that cause deaths, suffering, and displacement of millions of people from those in which the death and displacement magnitude is of a lower order. Although most studies in on this topic seem to narrow on specific war or conflict mechanism, with variations in extremity or value from place to place, recent wars and conflict-related studies show that different distinct mechanisms explain the differences in the duration and consequences of war and other forms of conflict. The three main mechanisms that are used to explain this disparity among conflicts are the private information and incentives to misrepresent, domestic politics and its principal agent problems and commitment problems. The latter mechanism is often powered by shifting powers. Generally, domestic commitment problems are associated with increased war duration and increased war intensity. Thus, commitment problems offer reasons for people to believe that they are responsible for the largest wars. This paper discusses the manner in which the concept of domestic commitment has contributed to the current understanding of war. The idea or logic behind the domestic commitment problem is that big and quick shifts in power are highly likely to result in war regardless of the available information supporting a contrary scenario. The inkling of commitment problem as a mechanism of war is quite uncomplicated. For instance, if a country expects another to become stronger in the next period, expectedly, the latter country would require a bigger share of the territory tomorrow.

Family Are Involved In The Care Decision Process Nursing Essay

Family Are Involved In The Care Decision Process Nursing Essay According to Eilbert Lafronza Partnerships comprise of a social system or individual based agreement between participating organizations to collaborate on a common goal in which benefits and risks, as well as resources and power are shared fairly. Patients and families cannot entirely be involved in the care decision process unless they have established a solid partnership between their health care providers i.e Doctors, Nurses, General practitioners etc . (McQueen :2000).2 Some of the way that patients and their families can be involved in the care decision process is by making informed decisions on: Whether the patient wants treatment or not: Selinger (2009)3 states that the patient has every right to make an informed decision on the right to determine what investigations and treatments to undergo, and this decision must be respected by all doctors, nurses and caregivers. Whether the patient wants to complete a Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) form or not: Healthcare professionals have an important role in helping patients to participate in making appropriate plans for their future care in a sensitive but realistic manner, making clear whether or not attempted CPR could be successful. Helping patients to reach a clear decision about their wishes in respect of CPR should be regarded as a marker of good practice in any healthcare setting (British Medical Association (BMA), the Resuscitation Council (UK) and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) : 2007)4 And finally, what right the patient has to be involved in decisions about their medication. The National Collaborating Centre for Primary Care( 2009)5 states that patients have a right to be involved in decisions about medicines to the extent that they wish and it is the role of health professionals to facilitate and support patients in their involvement in decision-making and to support patients in taking medicine if the decision has been to prescribe. Patient and family partnerships are very important in the care decision process because without them numerous problems may arise. Some of which are: self-discharge, readmission, deterioration of condition and death. (Smith and Hider: 2009)6 According to Gott et al. (2000)7 successful patient partnerships are those in which the patient and healthcare practitioner meet as equals with different expertise. The doctor or nurse has the medical knowledge and skill, but the patient has personal knowledge and skill. This is useful because it provides two different perspectives which in turn will provide the best outcome for both the patient and the healthcare provider. For the most part, patient and family involvement is beneficial to the care process because the patient knows their own condition the best and if we assume that they are close to their family and share their struggle with managing their condition/disease with them then they too know what the patients condition well. Anderson and Funnell (2009)8 state that patient and family involvement in care decisions revolve mostly around decision making and empowerment. Patient involvement in decision-making is now generally regarded as a feature of good quality health care. Many health professionals, institutes and government policies such as the Department of Health (2007)9 now advocate that patients should be involved in some way in decisions about their health care. According to the RCN (2003)10 empowering patients is a central element of nursing care, by forming a solid patient- nurse partnership, and encouraging the patient and their family to be part of the decision making process, this allows the patient to feel empowered and in control of various aspects concerning their health. However according to a study carried out by Dickerson (2004)11 shows that although patient and family involvement is crucial in care decisions, various authors might argue that a lot of patients search for and find information/new treatments about their illness/ condition on non-credible sources such as the internet, magazines and social media and believe that whichever fact or new never trialled before treatment they read or hear about might be a diagnosis to their symptoms or a solution to their illness. The study showed that many patients (50%) relied on friends and family to navigate the Web, and most of patients reported that the information that they sought was unrelated to their clinical visit. This study shows that although patient and family partnerships are crucial to the care decision process, some patients and their family take the wrong path when seeking information about their condition, this is usually after a clinical encounter for diagnosis and/or reassurance or beca use of dissatisfaction with the amount of detailed information provided by the health professional during the encounter. (Kaimal AJ et al. :2008)12. According to McMullan (2005)13 Health professionals are reacting to the more Internet informed patient in some of the following ways: The health professional either feels threatened by the information the patient brings and responds defensively by asserting their expert opinion (health professional-centred relationship). Or, the health professional and patient collaborate in obtaining and analysing the information (patient-centred relationship) (Pautler et al. : 2001)14. Although the health professional almost always comes to a decision to progress with the latter option, feeling threatened and being defensive about the internet based information being presented to them by the patient and their family is usually the health professionals first reaction. An alternative approach would be for the health professional will guide patients to r eliable health information websites. It is vital that health professionals acknowledge patients search for knowledge, that they discuss the information obtained by patients and guide them to reliable and accurate health websites. It is suggested that courses, such as patient informatics are incorporated in health professionals education (Sommerhalder et al. : 2009)15. The Department of Health (2003)16 states an effective discharge as A process and not an isolated event. It has to be planned for the earliest opportunity across primary, hospital and social services, ensuring that individuals and their carers understand and are able to contribute to care planning decisions as appropriate. Here we see the DOH (2003) describing an effective discharge as one that co-ordinates all of the services needed by the patient in order for the patient to have input on the discharge and for everything to be ready for the patients discharge. Nurses and other health care professionals recognise that planning for patients hospital discharge during the inpatient stay sets the stage for effective and therefore successful self-care management at home. (Nosbusch et al.:2010)17. According to the Wales NHS effective discharge policy document (:2009)18 an effective discharge constitutes of the following 6 principles: Communication when it comes to the transfer of care process, it is important that good communication consists of mutual understanding and having a common language between everyone involved. This requires effective dialogue and sharing of up to date information amongst patients, carers, providers and commissioners. Casey and Wallis (2011)19 state that Nurses and the nursing staff are at the core of the communication process: they assess, record and report on treatment and care and handle information sensitively and confidentially .To establish a healthy nurse- patient relationship, good communication is crucial. As a nurse, building a close rapport with your patient is one of the ways to make your patient feel listened to, understood and involved in their care. Good communication is vital in the process of decision making. Jonsdottir et al. (2004) 20 state that communication skills are one of the most imperative aspects of nursing, considering that nursing always is two-folded with b oth task-oriented and relational aspects. A nurses communication skill is an essential requirement for patient participation in decision making. Communication discrepancies have been recognised as one of the major barriers to partnership building between nurses and patients (Keatinge et al. 2002)21. Good communication in the care decision process is vital In order to achieve a seamless discharge for the nurse, patient, the patients family and all other healthcare practitioners/Multidisciplinary team (MDT) members involved. The NHS Trust Discharge policy (2010)22 states that before planning a discharge, the nurse and other healthcare practitioners must decide and inform the patient and their family on whether it is a simple discharge: one that involves minimal disruption to the patients activities of daily living, does not prevent or hamper a return to their usual place of residence and will not require a substantial change in support offered to the patient or their carer in the comm unity. Or whether it is a Complex Discharge: A discharge process that deviates from the simple discharge pathway and requires complex coordination of services to enable safe discharge. To ensure that the patient and their family is involved in the care decision process of discharge, the nurse and other clinicians must be certain that an effective and well-timed discharge plan is put in place. The main objectives of this will be to plan, inform, liaison and negotiate to ensure a smooth discharge for patients and their families. Supporting this is the need for an early establishment of what the discharge dates might be, including pre-admission planning, effective communication between individuals and across settings, good clinical management plans and the alignment of services to ensure continuity of care(DOH :2010)23. Assuming that it is a simple discharge, once the discharge plan has been put into place and is carefully explained to the patient and their family, the patient can then begin to contribute in the decision making process alongside the nurse and members of the MDT team.( Shepperd et al. :2010)24. Some of the ways a patient can contribute in the decision making process when it comes to discharge is to work alongside the nurse and members of the MDT team in order to inform and help them assess whether the patient can- Obtain and self-administer medications- the patient should inform the nurse and other clinicians (such as pharmacist) on what regular medication they take, what form they prefer their medication: liquidised, dosette boxes etc. How well the patient performs self-care activities, and does the patient eat an appropriate diet or otherwise manage nutritional needs and whether the patient is able to attend any follow-up outpatient appointments (Bull and Roberts: 2001)25. Atwal (:2002)26 states that ensuring that the patient and their family have full involvement in making the above decisions and steps to be discharged from the hospital will gi ve the patient a sense of control and therefore empowerment and in turn guarantee an organized discharge as well as patient satisfaction and the nurse feeling confident that they have done their best for their patient and therefore feel fulfilled in their role as a nurse. It is prominent that a patient must be an active participant in his/her empowerment, signifying that Nurses cannot empower patients: the role is to facilitate and support the empowerment (Laverack :2005)27. .

Women and Politics In Venezuela :: essays research papers

Women and Politics in Venezuela Women in every country all over the world are discriminated against when it comes to politics. There are many reasons for this discrimination and most of the reasons are a result of men being in control. Politicians are â€Å"supposed† to aggressive and argumentative. Some men and women do not see women as having these qualities but instead have the qualities of nurture and compromise. Time is a barrier for women because they do not have the time to participate in politics. The women use their time to do housework, take care of children and probably have a full time job. Politics and running for any kind of office takes money and as a generality women do not have most of the money. Religion is a big impact on whether women are allowed in politics are not. In most religions, women are seen as beneath men. These religions cross over into political and social life, hindering the chance of women to participate in politics. In Venezuela, the women have a hard time being in pol itics for the same reasons. The highest office that can be obtained in Venezuela is the presidency. â€Å"The president is elected by a plurality vote with direct and universal suffrage. The term of office is 6 years, and a president may be re-elected to a single consecutive term. The president appoints the vice president. He decides the size and composition of the cabinet and makes appointments to it with the involvement of the National Assembly. The Constitutuion of Venezuela also allows for three additional branches of the federal government--the judicial, citizen, and electoral branches.† (Politics of Venezuela) â€Å"The judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. The justices are appointed by the National Assembly and serve 12-year terms. The judicial branch also consists of lower courts, including district courts, municipal courts, and courts of first instance. â€Å" (Politics of Venezuela) â€Å"The citizens branch consists of three components--the prosecutor general ("fiscal general"), the "defender of the people" or ombudsman, and the comptroller general. The holders of these offices, in addition to fulfilling their specific functions, also act collectively as the "Republican Moral Council" to challenge before the Supreme Tribunal actions they believe are illegal, particularly those which violate the Constitution. The holders of the "citizen power" offices are selected for terms of 7 years by the National Assembly.† (Politics of Venezuela) â€Å"The "Electoral Power," otherwise known as the National Electoral Council, is responsible for organizing elections at all levels.

Childhood Poverty Leads to a Life Filled with Crime Essay

Childhood poverty is a growing issue in America as more and more children are living below poverty line of $22,050. 00 a year for a family of four. Because of the recession we are in and dominant single parent families in the country, we have a rising rate of childhood poverty. Many times poverty leads to poor choices both in and out of school for these young kids, mainly because of the lack of accountability in the household. The main reasons that children of poverty turn to crime is a lack of parental supervision, higher unemployment rate and the poor role models the children have in the environment they grew up in. When a family struggles financially it does not only create problems in the bank account, but it can create discomfort between spouses which can lead to a higher divorce rate. â€Å"children who are reared in poor families are more likely to fail in school, dropout of school, get arrested,† says Ron Haskins, co-director on children and families at Brookings institution. Children living in poverty most likely have a parents with very little education. If their parents don’t have value on education the child won’t have the support at home required to succeed in school themselves. Thus as exiting school and trying to get a job that pays enough to survive they will struggle and resort to crime as means to get by. Single mothers are the majority of single parents it can be hard for women to steer their young sons in the right direction which can also contribute to a crime-filled path. With an astonishing percentage of 53. percent of households headed by females its hard for mothers to support their families. Sometimes these mothers work two or three to help make ends meet. With their mothers working and fathers simply not around many kids have no adult supervison and tend to make poor decisions without repercussion. Without learning early on that poor behavior can have a negative consequence, these children are doomed to continue making negative choices. Another reason kids living in poverty turn to crime is that they lack a support system in role models. A lot of time kids coming from low income families or single-parent families live in government housing or assisted housing programs and don’t always have the best environment surrounding them. We would like to think regardless of our income our children would look to athletes and such for mentors, but a lot of time in low income areas, kids see the ones maybe who deal drugs or commit other illegal acts as their role models simply because they have the money and other luxuries. In conclusion, childhood poverty leads to a higher chance of a life filed with crime. With the unemployment rate going up and the single-parent households increasing, it’s easy for kids to fall victim to street crimes to achieve a better life they were dealt. A lot of people don’t witness kids substituting crime for the income their parents can’t provide. However living in the area where I grew up, I witnessed things like this first hand. Kids shop lifting, stealing cars, or maybe even dealing drugs just to survive. Sadly I don’t think it’s something that will ever be controlled. There will always be poverty which will lead people to committing crimes to make it.

African American Characteristics Paper Essay

African American culture in the United States refers to the cultural contributions of Americans of African descent to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from American culture. The distinct identity of African American culture is rooted in the historical experience of the African American people. The culture is both distinct and enormously influential to American culture as a whole. African-American culture is rooted in Africa. It is a blend of chiefly sub-Saharan African and Sahelean cultures. Although slavery greatly restricted the ability of Americans of African descent to practice their cultural traditions, many practices, values, and beliefs survived and over time have modified or blended with European American culture. There are some facets of African American culture that were accentuated by the slavery period. The result is a unique and dynamic culture that has had and continues to have a profound impact on mainstream American culture, as well as the culture of the broader world† (Rydell, 2010). Learning Team B has chosen African Americans as the culturally diverse group we will focus on. The subjects in this paper will be African American history, family characteristics, parenting practices, language, and religion. Also, the primary characteristics of African Americans and how those characteristics impact their experience as a subculture in American Society will be a topic. The last topic will be the implications of the characteristics for psychological theories and practices. History African Americans are the descendants of Africans brought to America during the slavery era. Many were owned as property and forced to work as day laborers in the fields or as servants in their owner’s homes. Others were allowed to work off their debts by being bough and sold on â€Å"the block†. An article titled â€Å"The Slave Auction of 1859 gives a brief account of what it was to be sold on â€Å"the block†: â€Å"The buyers, who were present to the number of about two hundred, clustered around the platform; while the Negroes, who were not likely to be immediately wanted, gathered into sad groups in the background to watch the progress of the selling in which they were so sorrowfully interested. The wind howled outside, and through the open side of the building the driving rain came pouring in; the bar down stairs ceased for a short time its brisk trade; the buyers lit fresh cigars, got ready their catalogues and pencils, and the first lot of human chattels are led upon the stand, not by a white man, but by a sleek mulatto, himself a slave, and who seems to regard the selling of his brethren, in which he so glibly assists, as a capital joke. It had been announced that the Negroes would be sold in â€Å"families,† that is to say; a man would not be parted from his wife, or a mother from a very young child. There is perhaps as much policy as humanity in this arrangement, for thereby many aged and unserviceable people are disposed of, who otherwise would not find a ready sale†¦ â€Å"(New York Daily Tribune, 1928). President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of civil war. The proclamation declared â€Å"that all persons held as slaves† within the rebellious states â€Å"are, and henceforward shall be free. † Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory. History pages often claim President Lincoln as â€Å"The Great Emancipator† which most educated adults come to learn is an over exaggeration. The general consensus is that Lincoln never freed a single slave, and only used the proclamation as a means to get what he wanted from the states. Once freed most African Americans still experienced racial violence and lived in fear for many years. In 1870 the fifteenth amendment was added to the constitution giving blacks the right to vote. Although blacks were free they were still segregated from the white people, made to go to different schools, stores, and even ride at the back of the bus. In 1954 the supreme courts declared segregation in school unconstitutional due to the Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka Kansas. The civil right movement was at its peak during 1955-1965. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, ensuring basic civil rights for all Americans, regardless of race, after nearly a decade of nonviolent protests and marches, ranging from the 1955-1956 Montgomery bus boycotts to the student-led sit-ins of the 1960s to the huge March on Washington in 1963. In 1968 President Johnson signed the Civil Right act prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. Some of the most famous leader of the civil right movement includes Martin Luther King Jr. , Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks and many others. Although civil rights were established many African American still struggled to be treated fairly in America. Affirmative Action was established in 1978 by a ruling of the Supreme Court to ensure that minorities are given an opportunity that they may have missed because of their race. In 2008 Barack Obama was the first African American to be nominated for a major party nominee for president. He was elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008, and sworn in on January 20, 2009. Family and Parenting Characteristics As with most cultures, African Americans place a high value on their families. In the United States African American family’s make-up 12. 9 percent of the population according to the 2003 US Census. The US census also shows that for African Americans over the age of 15 there are 34 percent married, five percent separated, eleven percent divorced, seven percent widowed, and 43 percent were never married. According to the First Things First website, â€Å"African Americans are the most un-partnered group in America† (Medium, 2011, para. 4). One major goal of African American families is communalism, which is very important for effective functioning (Hall, 2010). Hall (2010) describes African American families as having three family types. The first type is the cohesive-authoritative that is explained to be a family with high cohesion along with being supportive, nurturing, and involved with their children (Hall, 2010). The second type of family is the conflictive-authoritarian that is defined as families with conflict and the parents are controlling, critical, and express unhappiness with children (Hall, 2010). The last type of family Hall (2010) explains is the defensive- neglectful, that did not like other racial groups and also did not teach their children to be proud of being an African American. One significant trend that has been determined about the African American family structure is that the more interconnected the family is, the lower the rate of depression in African Americans (Hall, 2010). Based on these findings, a program called Strong African American Families has been created in order to strengthen the relationships between parents and children. According to Hall (2010), â€Å"The Strong African American Families program also has been found to reduce preadolescent risky sexual behaviors, preadolescent alcohol use, and parental depression among African American families† (p.95). This kind of program has been very effective in keeping families cohesive and helping to improve the goal of communalism. Language â€Å"Generations of hardships imposed on the African American community created distinctive language patterns. Slave owners often intentionally mixed people who spoke different African languages to discourage communication in any language other than English. This, combined with prohibitions against education, led to the development of pidginsimplified mixtures of two or more languages that speakers of different languages can use to communicate. Examples of pidgins that became fully developed languages include Creole, common to Louisiana, and Gullah, common to the Sea Islandsoff the coast of South Carolina and Georgia† (Rydell, 2010). It is sad to think that slave owners intentionally put Africans with people who did not speak their language to discourage communication, but is have been researched and proven to be true. Slavery is not the only element to African American culture, and it often seems that when discussing African American culture slavery is the main topic. However, when discussing language the centuries of slavery that they endured have everything to do with the evolution of African-American language. Now that we have covered the origin of African American language we can discuss the American perspective of where modern day African American language stands, and how this effects the culture. â€Å"African American Vernacular English (AAVE)—also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular (BEV), or Black Vernacular English (BVE)—is an African Americanvariety(dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of American English. Non-linguists sometimes call it Ebonics(a term that also has other meanings or strong connotations) or jive or jive-talk. Its pronunciation is, in some respects, common to Southern American English, which is spoken by many African Americans and many non-African Americans in the United States. There is little regional variation among speakers of AAVE. Several creolists, including William Stewart, John Dillard, and John Rickford, argue that AAVE shares so many characteristics with Creole dialects spoken by black people in much of the world that AAVE itself is a Creole dialect; while others maintain that there are no significant parallels. As with all linguistic forms, its usage is influenced by age, status, topic and setting. There are many literary uses of this variety of English, particularly in African-American literature† (Rydell, 2010). Of course this information does not imply that all African Americans speak a version of AAVE, only that it is very common and prevalent throughout the modern day African American culture. Religion In the African American community religion plays an extremely significant role. â€Å"The story of African-American religion is a tale of variety and creative fusion. Enslaved Africans transported to the New World beginning in the fifteenth century brought with them a wide range of local religious beliefs and practices. This diversity reflected the many cultures and linguistic groups from which they had come. The majority came from the West Coast of Africa, but even within this area religious traditions varied greatly. Islam had also exerted a powerful presence in Africa for several centuries before the start of the slave trade: an estimated twenty percent of enslaved people were practicing Muslims, and some retained elements of their practices and beliefs well into the nineteenth century. Preserving African religions in North America proved to be very difficult. The harsh circumstances under which most slaves lived—high death rates, the separation of families and tribal groups, and the concerted effort of white owners to eradicate â€Å"heathen† (or non-Christian) customs—rendered the preservation of religious traditions difficult and often unsuccessful. Isolated songs, rhythms, movements, and beliefs in the curative powers of roots and the efficacy of a world of spirits and ancestors did survive well into the nineteenth century. Historically during their most difficult times the African American relied on their religious beliefs to endure. During the civil rights movement black churches were often the target of racial violence because that was a place that African Americans spent most of their time. This was a place where they often held meetings to discuss their civil rights efforts. African Americans practice a number of religions, but Protestant Christianity is by far the most prevalent. Some African and African American also follow the Muslim and Judaism. According to Fife, Kilgour, Canter and Adegoke (2010), â€Å"African spiritual traditions have historically held a central place in African American communalism (Mbiti, 1990) and were vital to survival during the time of slavery. In African and African American culture the concept of spirituality is inseparable from all other aspects of human experience. The spiritual and the physical are indistinguishable (Mbiti, 1990). A deep connection exists between humans, God, family, and group (Barrett, 1974). Spirituality is not compartmentalized into systematized beliefs and practices but woven into everyday experience (Boyd Franklin, 1989). The Black church is the primary means through which many African Americans express their religious and spiritual beliefs and values (Richardson & June, 1997). This institution is a central force in African American childhood and adolescent identity and helps to shape ideas about what comprises community. † Many African American children have christen ceremonies for they can even walk or talk. African American families generally spend a substantial amount of time within their places of worship. Conclusion For review, the big questions the above research addressed were: †¢What are the primary cultural characteristics of this selected group? †¢How do the characteristics of this group impact its experience as a subculture in American society? †¢How might the cultural aspects of this group be applied to traditional psychological theory? †¢What are the implications of these characteristics for psychological theory and practice? We have found that the primary cultural characteristics of the African America culture are their history of slavery in America, distinct family and parenting practices, slavery based evolution of their language, and their dedicated religious beliefs. The characteristics of this group impact its experience as a subculture in American society by enticing others in to the culture and sparking curiosity around the world. African Americans make up a small percentage of the minority in America. However African American culture dominates the world of music, fashion, and professional sports. The cultural aspects of the African American group can be applied to traditional psychological theory when considering family dynamics, cultural perspectives, and how these aspects influence mental health. The implications of these characteristics for psychological theory and practice would focus on how the African American history of slavery in America influences their world view, how family and parenting practices mold their ideals of what a family should be, how religion influences their beliefs and actions, and how language distinguishes them from others and what psychological impact this has on them as a whole. For many years African-American culture developed separately from mainstream American culture, both because of slavery and the persistence of racial discrimination in America, as well as African-American slave descendants’ desire to create and maintain their own traditions. Today, African-American culture has become a significant part of American culture and yet, at the same time, remains a distinct cultural body. References Fife, J. , McCreary, M. , Kilgour, J. , Canter, D. , & Adegoke, A. (2010). Self Identification Among African American and Caucasian College Students. College Student Journal, 44(4), 994. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Hall, G. C. N. (2010). Multicultural psychology (2nd ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Medium. (2011). First Things First. Retrieved from http://firstthings. org/page/research/african-american-family-facts New York Daily Tribune, March 9, 1859 reprinted in Hart, Albert B. , American History Told by Contemporaries v. 4 (1928). Retrieved from http://eyewitnesstohistory. com Rydell, R. J. , Hamilton, D. L. , & Devos, T. (2010). NOW THEY ARE AMERICAN, NOW THEY ARE NOT: VALENCE AS A DETERMINANT OF THE INCLUSION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE AMERICAN IDENTITY. Social Cognition, 28(2), 161-179. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Favorite Quotes from Old Yeller (1956) by Fred Gipson

Favorite Quotes from 'Old Yeller' (1956) by Fred Gipson Old Yeller  (1956) is a beloved childrens novel about a boy, Travis Coates, and his heroic dog, Old Yeller. The novel is a Newbery Honor book (1957) and won many awards over the following decade. It is the work for which author Fred Gipson is best known, and Disney successfully adapted the story to the big screen. Below, we list some of the most significant quotes, as well as our personal favorites, from this short but powerful novel.  Ã‚   Quotes from the Classic Childrens Novel  Old Yeller He made me so mad at first that I wanted to kill him. Then, later, when I had to kill him, it was like having to shoot some of my own folks. Thats how much Id come to think of the big yeller dog.  - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 1Still, they needed money, and they realized that whatever a man does, hes bound to take some risks.  - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 1He was a big ugly, slick-haired yeller dog. One short ear had been chewed clear off and his tail had been bobbed so close to his rump that there was hardly stub enough left to wag.  - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 2 Now, Travis, Mama said. Youre not being fair. You had a dog when you were little, but Arliss has never had one. Hes too little for you to play with, and he gets lonely.   - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 2 Arliss! I yelled at Little Arliss. You get that nasty old dog out of our drinking water! - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 3I knew then that I loved him as much as I did Mama and Papa, maybe in some ways even a little bit more.  - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 6 After all that, I guess you can see why I nearly died when a man rode up one day and claimed Old Yeller.  - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 7Shoot anything that acts unnatural, and dont fool around about it. Its too late after theyve already bitten or scratched you.  - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 8A boy, before he really grows up, is pretty much like a wild animal. He can get the wits scared clear out of him today and by tomorrow have forgotten all about it.  - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 9But we were too smart, Old Yeller and I.  - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 9I reached in and let him lick my hand. Yeller, I said, Ill be back. Im promising that Ill be back.   - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 10Papa had left me to look after things. But now I was laid up, and here was a girl handling my work about as good as I could.  - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 13It was a good thing for us, Son; but it wasnt good for Old Yeller.  - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chap ter 15 That was rough, he said. That was as rough a thing as I ever heard tell of happening to a boy. And Im mighty proud to learn how my boy stood up to it. You couldnt ask any more of a grown man.   - Fred Gipson, Old Yeller, Chapter 16

Phar-Mor Essays

Phar-Mor Essays Phar-Mor Essay Phar-Mor Essay On the other hand, it may not effect their independence if they like their current Job and could not care less about the other auditors transferring to the client. 1 c) The Serbians-Solely Act of 2002 require current auditors to wait at least one year pass since they were involved in the auditing of a client before they are able to accept an employment offer in certain designated positions. They also require that auditors report any employment offer or intention to seek employment with an audit client, after which they are removed from all engagements until they either reject the offer or are no longer seeking other employment. At which time the accounting firm should determine if any additional measures need to be taken to ensure that reasonable assurance can be given that the work of that specific CPA had been objective and with integrity. Old)No, it is not appropriate for auditors to trust executives of a client. If an auditor trusts the executives of a client, the auditors independence is compromised. Auditors are supposed to look for fraud, errors, and problems; they are to expect them until they can prove that there is a reason not to. If they trust them, they will not expect or be cooking for fraud or errors, they will assume that everything is correct because of their trust. AAA) b) AAA) Yes, I would pursue legal action against the auditor in this situation. The basis of my claim would be similar to those that filed against Coopers, that the auditors were reckless and provided misleading statements causing so many investors to invest when they probably wouldnt have if everything would have been appropriately stated. I would bring suit under The Federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Section BOB and Section 18. B) For the CPA, negligence is failure to perform a duty in accordance with applicable standards. For practical purposes, negligence may be viewed as failure to exercise due professional care. c) Fraud is misrepresenting a material fact that is known by the person misrepresenting it, where negligence may also be misrepresenting a fact but it is not known to the person misrepresenting it. So, the primary di fference is that fraud is done on purpose and negligence is not. AAA) When a third party is not a primary beneficiary or they are unidentified, auditors can still be held liable if they committed fraud or gross negligence. They cannot be held liable for ordinary negligence like they can for a primary beneficiary that is specifically identified as a user of the report and their client. B) Even though the third party had not specifically identified to the Caps, they were still aware that the financial statements were going to be used to obtain financing from third parties. It made them liable for more than Just their client and third parties that were known because they were able to foresee other third parties being involved 05) The Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 are very similar but they have large differences as well. Under the 1933 Act plaintiffs do not need to prove that they relied on the audited financial statements, only that they suffered a loss and that the statements were misleading. However, under the 1934 Act the plaintiffs do need to prove that they relied on the financial statements in their decisions. Another major difference is that under the 1933 Act the auditors need to prove that they acted with due diligence, where under the 1934 Section 18 Act they need to only prove that they acted in good faith. Under Section 10 in the 1934 Act plaintiffs must prove that there was a sciences as well. The 1934 Act gives a little leeway to Auditors when compared to the 1933 Act. With the third party (plaintiff needing to prove that they relied on the financial statements and that there was a sciences, it is more difficult for them to easily win the case. Along with it being easier for auditor to prove that they acted in good faith rather than they acted with due diligence. AAA) I am not positive how high-profile these companies were in their accounting scandal, but the two I found are Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Crazy Eddies Electronics. In the Bristol-Myers scandal, the insane chief and the man who ran the worldwide medicines group misled investors by concealing the extra inventory held by the companys wholesalers from 1999 to 2001. This resulted in inflated revenues of millions of dollars. Similarly, Crazy Eddies Electronics also committed inventory fraud by exaggerating the numbers by millions of dollars for several years before being caught. B) Auditors are not able to audit the entire inventory at every store of a company. They select smaller portions at a select number of stores. Also, if a company has someone who used to be an auditor, specially the auditor for your company, you are given an insight to what auditors look for and what/how to hide it from them. It also helps to have so many people involved in the scheme; different people from different levels of management and non-management. Par-Moor took advantage of the fact that the auditor was trying to cut the costs of the audit and would not be able to audit the entire inventory. They also had hired their former auditor in their financial department who helped cover up the fraud and misstatements. Par-Moor knew what to expect from the auditors and planned ahead accordingly. C) Doing test counts on larger samples from more stores will give a better insight to the accuracy of the inventories. Also, the auditors do not need to let the management know ahead of time or during the audit which samples they tested, that only makes it easier for them misstate the rest of the inventory and know which ones to expect to be audited next time. Also, they should never make a pattern in the samples that they count, it should never be detectable. And as always, be skeptical of everything you count, never trust the company or management.

Cyanide Poisoning From Apples, Peaches, Cherries

Cyanide Poisoning From Apples, Peaches, Cherries The weather is nice, so I was out looking at trees and shrubs to add to my garden. I noticed the tags on trees from the Prunus genus (cherries, peaches, plums, apricots, almonds) carried the warning that the leaves and other parts of the plant can be toxic if ingested. Thats true of other members of the rose family as well (large family which includes roses, but also apples and pears). The plants produce cyanogenic glycosides which can lead to cyanide poisoning in people and animals if enough of the compound is ingested. Some leaves and wood contain relatively high levels of the cyanogenic compounds. Seeds and pits from these plants also contain the compounds, though you need to chew several of the seeds to get a dangerous exposure. (This Letter to the Editor of American Family Physician cites references for fatalities from apple seeds and apricot kernels, in addition to other plants.) If you swallow the odd seed or two, dont be concerned. Your body is well-equipped to detoxify low d oses of cyanide. However, consult poison control if you suspect your child or pet (or farm animal) has eaten several seeds. If youre out camping and want sticks for roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, avoid using twigs from these plants.Apple Seeds Cherry Pits Are Poisonous | Drugs from PlantsPhoto: Darren Hester

Personal Statement for Baccalaureate Child Welfare Education Program Essay

Personal Statement for Baccalaureate Child Welfare Education Program - Essay Example With more tasks and responsibilities relegated to parents, their role as the sole source of support had been scrutinized and evaluated to determine the effects on children’s welfare. The emergence of social worker’s critical roles in augmenting parental support continues to influence the design and delivery of services catered to children’s needs. I have been genuinely interested in working with children, specifically those with developmental and behavioral disabilities identified to be at risk. At Lakeside School, I was given the opportunity to work closely with special children and have encountered diverse factors that affect risk management. I became aware that parents, carers and social work practitioners are presented with the dilemma of either protecting children fully from risks by not exposing them at all or encourage them to develop appropriate skills in managing risks to some extent and enable them to develop effective skills to manage it for future use. This is just one of the challenging scenarios which enhanced my interest in child welfare. I recognized that inasmuch as parents, carers and social work practitioners all have one objective in common, that is, to ensure the safety and the normal development of children by protecting them from risks, it is evident that encouraging children to manage risks would be the most beneficial method for their holistic well-being. I want to be instrumental in the development of every special child’s welfare. As an effective social worker in child welfare, I possess the necessary knowledge and skills in assessment, active engagement, intervention, the use of authority, and an expert ability to negotiate and manage appropriate community resources. I am innately fond of children – ensuring that they are accorded the appropriate care using the most effective teaching methodologies that cater of each child’s individual needs. I am very patient, understanding but

Japan Airlines Flight 123 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Japan Airlines Flight 123 - Essay Example This essay focuses on better understanding what caused the Japan airlines flight 123 incident, that happend on the way from Tokyo to Osaka and was registered as ja8119. This essay describes the mechanical problem, which occurred within the engines, that caused vibrations in the flight, primary flight controls functions, human error factors and secondary mechanical factors. In this essay, the accident was said to have been caused by loss of primary flight controls functions. This means that the flight control functions were fault bringing in a mechanical problem on the airplane operation. This implies that the engines and the flight control functions were the two major primary source factors contributing to the incidents. Also this essay describes secondary mechanical factors, which developed many complications throughout the investigation. One of the main secondary factors discussed in this essay was the structure of the aft pressures bulkhead, that was designed in a manner that it could not allow pressure to be released and built up effectively in the plane. As a result, more pressure developed in it, the crack connectivity of rivet to rivet also might eventually lead to destruction of the plane. Evidences, presented in this essay also suggest that ineffectively sized wings flaps were installed on the plane before departure. In conclusion, this essay provides the reader greatly researched investigation of what might cause the damage of a plane. Good explanation and clear structure makes this essay easy to read and understand.

Maximizing profits in market structures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Maximizing profits in market structures - Essay Example Monopoly – The monopoly is the only producer of a particular good or service; therefore, it has a downward-sloping demand curve. If the firm sells its product at a high price, it will be able to sell only a small quantity because few people would be able to afford it, and there are not substitutes. If the firm would wish to sell more units of the product, it will have to lower its prices (Mankiw, 2009). The type of product may be homogeneous or differentiated and the monopoly firm has full control over its price (Jain & Khanna, 2009). Oligopoly – An oligopoly is a market with only a few suppliers. Because they are so few, actions taken by one seller creates an impact on the other sellers, such that they become interdependent upon each other. They therefore tend to behave pursuant to certain strategies depending on the actions of the other firms (Mankiw, 2009), and there are situations that alternatively present opportunities for conflict and for cooperation. The product may be homogeneous or differentiated (Jain & Khanna, 2009). ... For monopolies, P > MR = MC (price exceeds marginal costs). The firm first determines the output quantity at which it will produce, at the point where marginal revenue and marginal costs are equal. The demand curve is thereafter used to determine the highest price the firm may charge in order to sell the quantity determined. This is so because the demand curve tells the quantity buyers are willing to buy at a certain price. Oligopoly – For oligopolies, the profits a firm makes depends to a great deal of what its competitors make, because there are so few of them supplying the market. Based on this observation, game theory has been developed, the method by which a firm in an oligopoly tries to predict how its competitors will react if it makes a strategic move. For instance, in an oligopoly it is generally observed that firm will lower their price in response to a price reduction by one of the other firms, particularly if the product they produce is homogeneous. However, if one of the firms raises its prices, the other firms do not automatically follow. The reason for this is that the firms whose prices are viewed as too high in comparison with its competitors would lose its buyers to those firms with lower prices, because their products are deemed to be easily substitutable with each other. The result is a kinked demand curve. Barriers to entry Competition - In a competitive market, the barriers to new entrants are low and few, if any, thus the market is open to many sellers and the products are undifferentiated as to be easily substituted. Everybody sells at the same price, and there is always demand at that price. Monopoly - For natural monopolies, barriers to new entrants are high because the

Information management Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Information management - Term Paper Example Just like other projects, IT projects are also business project and should have a well-defined structure. The projects must have realistic plans, the entire organization must be interested in the end results, the project team must communicate to the organization management and the projects must have realistic expectations. The projects must be projected to solve the specific problem of its implementation, failure of which it will lose its meaning and structure. Failure to solve the business problem and poor strategic vision for the project will lead to failure of the project (enterprisecioforum.com). Failing to plan well is planning to fail. Details such as resources, technical solution, and management models are required for proper planning. Proper planning of the IT/IM project prevents poor performance by ensuring that the project delivers the desired results. The end results of the project must reflect its initial purpose and give the solution to the specific problems of the project. Humans are known to make mistakes and fail at a certain point because they are not perfect. Humans are not perfect and so make mistakes, use shortcuts, and have limited permission to all the information they require at every step in the process to make an ideal decision. Limited information, wrong information, unclear structure and wrong decision making can lead to poor projects execution which can intern lead to failure of the project. Every organization has competing interests and priorities among various stakeholders.

Health Care Debate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health Care Debate - Essay Example Part I â€Å"In Health Care Debate, Fear Trumps Logic† aired on NPR on August 28, 2009, is an apt example of the usage of scare tactics by the anti-reform camp to scuttle the health care reform initiatives and to make the general public, and especially the senior citizens, more apprehensive and weary of the proposed reforms. The anti-reform vested interests are actually manipulating the deep seated fears of the target audience to turn them against the health care reforms. The scare tactics relies for its success on the fact that fear is the most common and universally shared human emotion. Humans tend to learn from their past experiences and mostly store the information in their mind as to which things are to be feared and avoided (Goleman, 1996). So associating a proposed change with something that is already feared by the target audience is bound to generate feelings of fear and hence revulsion. Thus, linking the health reforms with communists, involuntary euthanasia, lack o f access to healthcare and other such things is an exercise in scare tactics. May sound enervating, but scare tactics do enjoy a fare degree of success rate. A large share of this success could be attributed to the biochemistry of human brain (Goleman, 1996). People are automatically programmed to a ‘fight or flight’ response to the things they fear (Goleman, 1996). It is seldom that people stop to recheck the facts pertaining to a situation that triggers fear, because this strictly goes against their instinct for self preservation (Goleman, 1996). Besides, the essential human gregariousness motivates people to spread the fear psychosis, so as to protect as many fellow humans as possible (NPR, 2009, a). Thus it is the human physiology that assures a partial if not complete success of a scare tactics. Such scare tactics do have the potential to drag the relevant public and political issues like health reforms into the realm of the impossible, and hence prevent formalizat ion of the intended reforms or changes into statutory provisions or laws. The usage of such influence tactics does have the potential to distort the very nature of a political process or debate and to discourage the social and political leaders supportive of a change. Owing to the very nature of democracy, political leaders are required to be sensitive to the majority opinion. The coercion of majority opinion through the subtle approaches like scare tactics may willingly or unwillingly force the courageous few to tow the popular line, when the facts point to the contrary. Part II In that context, â€Å"Senior Groups Reject Health Care ‘Scare Tactics’†, aired two days later on NPR that is on August 30, 2009, is a predictable outcome of the scare tactics used by the anti-reform camp, especially in a modern context when the authentic information and data are readily accessible. As previously told, humans are programmed to a ‘fight or flight’ response to the things that portend to be dangerous (Goleman, 1996). However, the thing to be noted is that ‘fight’ is as much a possible response to a scare tactics as a ‘flight’. Moreover, the interest groups and individuals that have much at stake, are posed to offer a tough fight to dispel the danger posed to their long term well being, by the intended outcome of a

Disney in France Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Disney in France - Essay Example The paper also includes an evaluation of Disney and provides recommendations for the company. Challenges and Problems This section will deal with the issues and problems that the company currently faces. Here the company’s assumptions, the external factors impacting Disney and the issues that need immediate care have been discussed. a) Disney’s Assumptions: Disney made a number of assumptions in France, i) The number of visitors on Monday will be light and Fridays will be heavy ii) French don’t eat breakfast iii) If they do take breakfast, it is croissants and coffee iv) Incorrect Lunch timings v) European Customers will stay for four to five days vi) French Style service restaurants. Most assumptions made by the company were incorrect. The company clearly did not take into account actual facts and figures and there was no supporting evidence for the assumptions by the company (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington). These clearly have had a major impact on the compan y and its performance. A decision like starting in France was a right one and this was clearly backed with clear figures and facts. However the assumptions made by the company otherwise like, having a 350 seat restaurant at a hotel, when the demand was as high as 2,500 breakfasts was an incorrect decision. These clearly have had a major impact on the overall company performance, human resources and clearly on the finances of the company (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington). b) France and Disney Three main events that have occurred in France have had a major impact on Disney’s success: i) The long talks and long negotiation by the French Government, which led to loss of patience of the Disney team ii) Parisian intellectuals who protested that the Disney culture was assaulting the French Culture and iii) The framers protest demanding that French agricultural subsidies be cut. Each of these events has had a major impact on Disney and has led to issue and breaks in the success of t he company. c) Need for Resolution: The company clearly needs to resolve the following: i) Breakfast issues for customers ii) Better staffing over the high demand days at the park iii) Better understanding of the culture of the country rather than depending on assumptions Alternative Solutions: For the success of any company in a new location, irrespective of the size, or nature of the business, it is crucial to have a detailed market research. Here the company did do the market research in terms of the location, however in terms of culture and the customer needs, there was little research and more assumptions. Hence to have a more favorable experience in France, a more detailed market research would prove to be more successful. Disney had invested a lot of money into the project, hence investing a little more on the market research and the needs of the people in the country would have been the best steps that the company could have taken while launching Euro Disney. Evaluation and Recommendations: Yes France is an excellent choice for the company to open its branch. Considering the place, i.e. Paris, and the incentives that the government was providing the company, this was definitely an excellent choice. Also, the location is best suited to meet the needs of millions as the location is easily accessible. Hence this is an excellent location for Euro Disney. In retrospect of the case, the following recommendations can be provided: i) Invest in market research (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington), ii) The culture of every location is essential to follow for the business to be successful iii) A theme park is in most cases a one day excursion place, and most people across the world prefer to stay for a maximum of one day

Health Care Debate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health Care Debate - Essay Example Part I â€Å"In Health Care Debate, Fear Trumps Logic† aired on NPR on August 28, 2009, is an apt example of the usage of scare tactics by the anti-reform camp to scuttle the health care reform initiatives and to make the general public, and especially the senior citizens, more apprehensive and weary of the proposed reforms. The anti-reform vested interests are actually manipulating the deep seated fears of the target audience to turn them against the health care reforms. The scare tactics relies for its success on the fact that fear is the most common and universally shared human emotion. Humans tend to learn from their past experiences and mostly store the information in their mind as to which things are to be feared and avoided (Goleman, 1996). So associating a proposed change with something that is already feared by the target audience is bound to generate feelings of fear and hence revulsion. Thus, linking the health reforms with communists, involuntary euthanasia, lack o f access to healthcare and other such things is an exercise in scare tactics. May sound enervating, but scare tactics do enjoy a fare degree of success rate. A large share of this success could be attributed to the biochemistry of human brain (Goleman, 1996). People are automatically programmed to a ‘fight or flight’ response to the things they fear (Goleman, 1996). It is seldom that people stop to recheck the facts pertaining to a situation that triggers fear, because this strictly goes against their instinct for self preservation (Goleman, 1996). Besides, the essential human gregariousness motivates people to spread the fear psychosis, so as to protect as many fellow humans as possible (NPR, 2009, a). Thus it is the human physiology that assures a partial if not complete success of a scare tactics. Such scare tactics do have the potential to drag the relevant public and political issues like health reforms into the realm of the impossible, and hence prevent formalizat ion of the intended reforms or changes into statutory provisions or laws. The usage of such influence tactics does have the potential to distort the very nature of a political process or debate and to discourage the social and political leaders supportive of a change. Owing to the very nature of democracy, political leaders are required to be sensitive to the majority opinion. The coercion of majority opinion through the subtle approaches like scare tactics may willingly or unwillingly force the courageous few to tow the popular line, when the facts point to the contrary. Part II In that context, â€Å"Senior Groups Reject Health Care ‘Scare Tactics’†, aired two days later on NPR that is on August 30, 2009, is a predictable outcome of the scare tactics used by the anti-reform camp, especially in a modern context when the authentic information and data are readily accessible. As previously told, humans are programmed to a ‘fight or flight’ response to the things that portend to be dangerous (Goleman, 1996). However, the thing to be noted is that ‘fight’ is as much a possible response to a scare tactics as a ‘flight’. Moreover, the interest groups and individuals that have much at stake, are posed to offer a tough fight to dispel the danger posed to their long term well being, by the intended outcome of a

Two Works Of Art Essay Example for Free

Two Works Of Art Essay Italy experienced a massive art boom in the early fifteenth century, or as Italians themselves call it â€Å"Quattrocento†. This especially concerns the art of painting, deeply affected by changes, inspired by approaching Renaissance. It is hard to say, that paintings of that time belonged to pure Renaissance, however, their style already could not be attributed to earlier Gothic. The transition period generated a number of painters and entire painting schools each of them with it’s own original manner. This paper is to compare and examine the similarities and differences between the paintings of Gentile da Fabriano (1370-1427), as representative of late Gothic iconographic painting and Paolo Ucello (1397-1475), whose paintings more likely include Renaissance trends. Fabriano’s â€Å"Coronation of the Virgin† (1420) and Ucello’s â€Å"Madonna and Child† (1470) shall be taken as examples. Both paintings can be found in the The J. Paul Getty Trust museum, Los Angeles, California. The theme of coronation of Virgin Mary by her Son Jesus as Queen of Heaven was quite popular in the medieval painting. Almost all the artists of the time, including Michele Giambono Lorenzo Monaco and later Raphael and Velasques   have once tried to depict this event[1]. Fabriano himself turned to it for a few times. The â€Å"Coronation† being described here belongs to one of his late paintings and should not be confused with the most famous â€Å"Coronation of the Virgin and Saints†, painted in 1400. The style of the â€Å"Coronation of the Virgin†, painted by tempera and gold leaf on panel may be called both Gothic and Renaissance. It can be noticed, that Fabriano has been strongly influenced by the Byzantine style, which has been accepted in Southern Europe for many centuries[2], and made artist’s paintings in a way similar to Orthodox icons of Byzantium and Russia. The main characteristics of such combined style, often called International Gothics, are the strict situation of figures and groups, flat plain background and absence of perspective, special set of brightly contrasting colors, including usually yellow, golden, red and blue, as well as vivid symbolism of each object, being depicted. Especially the Italian Gothic, which arose in during the second quarter of the fourteenth century, is characterized by balanced forms and a grave mannerism. Figures are painted against monochrome or gold backgrounds in a formula that barely hints at a third dimension, but never shows it.   Nevertheless, this style appeared to be much more realistic, than the one of earlier centuries. This panel of Christ crowning his mother, Mary, originally formed the front of a two-sided processional standard carried in religious ceremonies in Gentiles native town of Fabriano. In this shimmering image, Gentile makes effective use of the complex patterning and wealth of surface ornamentation that is characteristic of the International Gothic style and that recalls the rich fabrics woven in Florence. â€Å"Madonna and child†, painted by Paolo Ucello 50 years later by tempera on panel demonstrates a breakaway from international Gothic and turning to Renaissance. Ucello belongs to painters, who first started experimenting with one of the basic elements of new art style – linear prospective. This even caused the famous Italian expert of arts Vazari to call Ucello â€Å"an eccentric† and add, that he has been â€Å"intoxicated† by prospective. At the picture we can see the green meadows, yellow fields and blue skies, spreading up to horizon behind Virgin’s back. In contrast to Byzantium and Gothic art, which is almost always â€Å"frozen out of time and space†, now it is possible to identify the place, time of year and often even time of day, which brings an element of action and development to the painting, although prospective   still remains more an element of decoration. The new style is also characterized by increased volume of figures, and a depth of emotion which suggests human feeling instead of static and passive icons[3]. The medieval tradition of using religious subjects is now combined   with classical ideals of the human figure and an increased interest in depicting nature. In contrast to International Gothic, the colors become more varied and not so dramatic, with more overtones being used. â€Å"Coronation of the Virgin† belongs to one of the few surviving Fabriano’s masterpieces, since most of his early paintings and frescos have been destroyed[4]. Gentiles most famous surviving works were made during a short but influential stay in Florence in the 1420s, where he probably encountered the austere realism of his younger contemporary Masaccio. This golden picture is almost entirely taken up by the symmetrical figures of the seated Christ on the right, placing a bejeweled golden crown on the inclined head of the Virgin Mary, who sits on the left, her hands crossed over her chest. Above them, centered in the rays of a golden sunburst, hovers a white dove with grey-tipped wings and bearing a halo. Standing below and beside the figures, three miniature angels are aligned in two vertical rows. The Christ is wearing a medieval-style tunic of gold gathered at the waist by a narrow golden sash. The garment is embroidered with five-pointed golden stars, surrounded by stars of blue, and encircled by red stars. Falling from his shoulders as he raises his arms is a rich burgundy gown bordered in patterned gold, bearing vines with golden leaves and five-petaled golden flowers with hearts of blue. The Virgins gown, which she holds close to her, has tightly-clustered seven-petaled floral pinwheels of gold over a background of royal blue. Behind the two figures, from their shoulders down, flows a patterned dark green tapestry reminiscent of Christs robe with its five-pointed snowflakes of red and gold. The figures and the background, absent of depth, are laid virtually flat against each another. Standing in the lower corners on either side, the angels, partially obscuring each other in descending columns, look upward toward the figures of Mary and Christ, their lips open in song, their hands holding an unfurled white parchment ribbon with musical notes and Latin words that wind in and out of view. The hands and faces of the principal figures are painted realistically in a greyish pink, making their skin ashen, and their placid, almost expressionless features, look otherworldly, in great contrast to the richly-tooled golden crown, the embossed halos, and opulent, embellished fabrics. Presiding over all this, Christs uplifted hands, in the moment between setting the crown and blessing the Virgin Mary, are set against a broad sheet of pure gold that rises behind the figures until it vanishes under a gilded arch of carved leaves supported by spiral columnsan ornately-carved wooden frame through which we view the coronation. To create a sumptuous surface resembling tapestry, Gentile da Fabriano used extensive tooling, decorative patterning, gold leaf, and rich pigments. Considerable features of International Gothic Style can be noticed on the painting, including complex patterning, elaborate materials, and long flowing lines of the robes of the Madonna and Christ[5]. At the time the gold-encrusted panel functioned as a processional standard held aloft in parades that honored the Virgin Mary and originally depicted The Stigmatization of Saint Francis on the reverse. The centre of the composition is formed by the hands of Saviour, raised to bless his Mother and put a crown on her head, which contrasts to the painting of Ucello, where centre is formed by faces of Mary and Christ. The two pictures represent different approaches towards position of head and eyes of the figures. The Gothic style pays almost no attention to eye contact of the depicted person with a spectator, and the eyes of the Saints are always in a way divert. In Fabriano’s case the Virgin is looking down, vailing before her Son, while Jesus is looking directly at Mary. In contrast, the painting by Ucello brings in a brilliant example of fresh Renaissance relationship between the figure and the spectator. His Mary and Child are looking closely at the spectator and it seems, that they are trying to see that what is behind his outlook and spot his soul. Both paintings are deeply symbolic. The most recognizable Fabriano’s symbol is, definitely, the white dove over Madonna’s head, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, descending upon her. The red color of the gown, falling down from Christ’s shoulders, is a symbol of His Oblation to the humanity and it’s green backing, noticeable on top, is to point on the Resurrection. Finally, the golden color of Jesus tunic is to prove him as the Heavenly King. The clothes of the Virgin are depicted golden and blue, symbolizing   divinity, combined with purity and faith. The nimbuses of both figures are almost invisible in the golden light, streaming through heaven. The symbolism of Ucello’s â€Å"Madonna† is not so sophisticated as Gothic one. The divine Child is depicted, holding his mother’s clothes with his fingers, which is to hint the connection between them. The nimbuses of both figures differ, since the nimbus of Christ includes a cross – a traditional element of earlier iconographic schemes. This cross is red, once again symbolizing Christ’s Oblation[6]. In the years which passed between the creation of these two paintings, the ideas of humanism changed the attitude to human’s body. Fabriano covered the corpses of both figures with reach adorable dresses, leaving no space to any bodily features. In contrast, Ucello’s Madonna and Child displays a type of hushed beauty lost with the advent of the High Renaissance style in Italy. Her face and the body of the child are still pallid and far from Raphael’s vision, however, the Maid is depicted as a beautiful woman with golden hair, appearing from under her modest mantle. While Fabriano used medieval monochromic background, Ucello is one of the first artists, who used landscape to underline prospective in three well-rounded dimensions. Painting now becomes a window on the physical world rather than merely the spiritual one. In an effort to open up the scene, the artist from Paolo Uccellos workshop placed a landscape behind the Virgin and Christ. Instead of trying to show depth, however, the countryside simply forms a pattern of almost abstract trees and zigzags. The resulting design has a flatness and regularity that subtly enlivens the picture and complements the elusive three-dimensionality of the figure group.   Summarizing the overstated one can say that the two discussed may be found both similar and difficult. They are noticeable examples of corresponding painting styles – namely International Gothic and Early Renaissance. Being connected by the religious topic and symbolic filling, they differ in attitude between the characters and the spectator, the special position of figures and attempt to use a prospective in the later work, as well as use of more pigments and tones. It should be pointed, that Ucello’s   perspective studies were to influence the Renaissance art treatises of artists such as Piero della Francesca, Leonardo da Vinci, and Albrecht Dà ¼rer[7]. Due to the changed attitude and eye contact, Jesus and Madonna by Ucello seem to be much closer to us and more human, than Jesus and Madonna by Fabriano, which embodies the ideals of upcoming era of Renaissance. REFERENCES Bernhard Berenson., The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance. 2nd New York: G. P. Putnams Sons, 1909 Germain Bazin., Italian Painting in the XIVth and XVth Centuries. New York: French and European Publications, 1938 Michael Levey., A Concise History of Painting: From Giotto to Cezanne. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1962 Linda Murray, Peter Murray., The Art of the Renaissance. New York: Praeger, 1963 Frank Jewett Mather Jr., A History of Italian Painting. New York: Henry Holt, 1923 [1] Bernhard Berenson., The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance. 2nd ed. New York: G. P. Putnams Sons, 1909, at p. 131 [2] Germain Bazin., Italian Painting in the XIVth and XVth Centuries. New York: French and European Publications, 1938, at p. 26 [3] Bernhard Berenson., supra note, at p. 133 [4] Michael Levey., A Concise History of Painting: From Giotto to Cezanne. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1962 at p. 44 [5] Linda Murray, Peter Murray., The Art of the Renaissance. New York: Praeger, 1963, at p. 257 [6] Germain Bazin., supra note at p. 29 [7] Frank Jewett Mather Jr., A History of Italian Painting. New York: Henry Holt, 1923, at p. 144

Communication Healthcare

Communication Healthcare This essay will look at communication within a healthcare setting and will give examples from literature to demonstrate the importance of communication. It will use the work of (Ellis Beattie, 1986) and also (Egan, 1990) as models for effective communication. It will discuss whether these models are adequate alone to enable effective communication and will also draw on personal experiences from the clinical area. Communication underpins all other nursing interventions (Minardi Riley, 1997). Communication is a fundamental tool for healthcare delivery (Rungapadiachy, 1999). To listen to another person is the most caring act of all, Listening and attending are by far the most important aspects of being a nurse (Burnard, 1992). (Roper, 2001) Emphasizes communication as an integral part of the unique function of nursing. (Peplau, 1988) used the term, psychodynamic nursing, to describe the dynamic relationship between a nurse and a patient. Peplau described four phases of this relationship: The orientation phase, in which the person and the nurse mutually identify the persons problem. The identification phase, in which the person identifies with the nurse, thereby accepting help. The exploitation phase, in which the person makes use of the nurses help. The resolution phase, in which the person accepts new goals and frees herself or himself from the relationship. Peplau also identified six nursing roles of the nurse: Counseling Role working with the patient on current problems Leadership Role working with the patient democratically Surrogate Role figuratively standing in for aperson in the patients life Stranger accepting the patient objectively Resource Person interpreting the medical plan to the patient Teaching Role offering information and helping the patient learn (Betts, 1992) states that people have a basic drive to relate to one another, which is expressed through communication. Even if conversation doesnt take place, smiling as is not smiling a form of communication albeit non verbal. Communication can be conceptualized as a series of components that require a message, transmitter, receiver and a channel for transmission. All of these elements can be categorized into either verbal or non-verbal components. Both of these categories combine in the skill of active listening, which is a cornerstone of effective communication (Minardi Riley, 1997). (Ellis Beattie, 1986) used a diagram to illustrate the communication system, (appendix a). The communication system is divided into verbal and non-verbal parts. The verbal communication consists of words, clauses and sentences, which enables the exchange of information, clarification of issues, demonstrating understanding and to offer support and direction. The non-verbal system contains four elements: Prosodic, which is used to give emphasis to verbal communication through intonation and rhythm. Paralinguistic, which are the vocal but non-verbal expressions such as mmm, ah which will allow the person offering the information the confirmation that they are being listened to. Kinesic, is body language, for example facial expressions, gestures, position of the recipient. And The standing element, which may include physical appearance, personal space. Although a model of communication can simply demonstrate the communication process it can also oversimplify. A model only provides a framework for observing, understanding and predicting what occurs when two people communicate (Heath, 1995). Effective communication between a nurse and a patient is a conscious, goal directed process that differs from casual or social interactions. It is undertaken as a tool with which to develop trust, effect change, promote health, provide limits, reinforce, orient, convey, identify and work towards goals (Schultz Videbeck, 2002) An important aspect within effective communication is the ability to understand the message. Each element of communication must be examined separately. For example, within the Kinesic element, (Egan 1990) offers the acronym, SOLER, when considering the aspect of body language. Egan suggests to: Sit Squarely in relation to the client, Maintain an Open posture, Lean slightly towards the client, Maintain reasonable Eye contact, Relax. Through personal experience whilst in the clinical area I have implemented this acronym and found it effective although needing to examine my own actions later to assess whether its was used to its full potential. I have found that to sit squarely with the client isnt necessarily the best position this has offered periods of discomfort both for myself and visibly to the patient. By sitting in this position there is less opportunity to break eye contact without appearing distracted or disinterested. Open body posture can give a sense of disinterest as well as increasing anxiety in myself in situations where there may be a risk of physical aggression. In the suggestion that Egan gives of relaxing, this has been easier at times when the other suggestions of Egans have been modified. (Betts, 1992) states it is important not to stare at the patient for too long as this can be seen as an intimidating gesture as also can distance where too close can be seen as an invasion or a threat or too far can be interpreted as the nurse being unable to cooperate. Within the verbal element it is also important for the nurse to recognize the difference between a person saying what they mean and meaning what they say (Minardi Riley, 1997). An example of this from my own clinical experience was whilst having a conversation with a patient, they told me that they just wanted to kill themself. When we explored this statement further the patient said that they didnt actually mean they wanted to kill themselves but rather that they felt they couldnt cope with current problems. By sitting and discussing these problems, a number were able to be resolved and others discussed. In this situation and with such an alarming statement for a student nurse it would have been an easy get out to dismiss the statement. (Speight, 1991) however, states that by responding in this way could have led to the patient being unwilling to explore this statement further. Speight suggests that reflection can be used as a communication technique. For example, when the patient made the statement, the response that could be used is one of â€Å" you want to kill yourself?† and thereby encouraging a further response from the patient about the statement. To enable effective communication the healthcare worker must also be aware of the individual factors involved. All communication between individuals has internal factors that can influence the sending or receiving of the message, these may include beliefs, goals, physical and emotional states and the perceptions of others roles, status and personality. External factors may include environmental, social, biological, psychological and economic influences (George, 1990). (Minardi Riley, 1997) suggests that it is also important in being an effective communicator to ensure that the language used during communication is at a level that can be understood through familiarity of words. Once the basics of communication are understood, in order to turn this into effective communication it is important for the healthcare worker to examine their own actions through reflection (Minardi Riley, 1997). This may be done with the aid of a model of reflection such as Gibbs reflective cycle (appendix 2). Gibbs identifies five points for reflection. Description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action. By using Gibbs reflective cycle I have been able to identify obstacles either personal, environmental or on a physical level. This I believe has led me to a greater understanding of my own actions, thoughts or feelings and helped me identify solutions to these obstacles. Conclusion In conclusion, this essay has identified and examined models of communication and discussed the various elements involved. It has given examples from literature to stress the importance of communication and identified elements needed towards communication being effective within healthcare. It has drawn on personal experience form the clinical area to demonstrate the skills required in maintaining a therapeutic relationship and also identified the need for ongoing reflection during the communication processes.

Essay --

Bees are vital to our ecosystem and human society. They provide economically valuable pollination service. Roughly 90% of the world’s plant species are pollinated by bees. Without pollination by animals, most flowering plants would not reproduce sexually and humans would lose food and other plant products. In particular, honeybees remain the most valuable pollinators of crop monocultures worldwide. However, in recent years there has been an observation of honeybee decline. Around 2006 many beekeepers around the world began to notice that their honeybees are disappearing. This was a mystery that caught scientists’ attention. They entitled this mystery: colony-collapse disorder (CCD) (Walsh 2013). This disturbing trend continues until now - honeybees are still dying progressively. One - third of U.S. honeybee colonies disappeared during the past winter. Beekeepers experienced tremendous losses that went above 42%. As a result, the colony loss is putting intense pressure on the industry and agriculture. Scientific investigations of CCD suggest that microbial pathogens are causally involved (Suryanarayanan 2013). Different scientific studies that have identified different sets of associated microbial pathogens have suggested that the discovered pathogens are secondary infections, with the primary cause yet to be found. Scientists have been suggesting many theories on bee decline. Agricultural pesticides were considered as the most obvious suspects and specifically popular chemicals known as Neonicotinoids. Other theories were focused on bee killing pests or a varroa destructor - a parasitic mite that has ravaged honeybee colonies since it was accidentally introduced in U.S. in the 1980s. (Walsh 2013). The imp... ...erdose of insecticides near the hives of the bees. Adolescent bees, living in hives contaminated by pesticide, have their body surfaces and fat tissues poisoned with these substances. Besides leading to bee deaths, insecticides used in agriculture for combat work also causes the problem of residues remaining from chemicals used as varroacides. Bromopropylate, coumaphos (perizin) and melathion are typical examples of varroacides, whose residues have been examined in bee products such as honey. These chemical are oil-soluble and volatile. The impact of parasites and viruses on bees The varroa mite or varroa distracter is currently the most serious parasitic mite on honeybees. This parasite is feeding on the hemolymph of immature and adult bees (Harbo and Harris, 2001) .It causes many biological effects like weight loss, malformation and short lifespan of honeybees.

Not for Publication Chris Masters- Expository analysis :: essays research papers

Not For Publication â€Å"Journalists are given the privilege of shared access to the first draft of history, and some responsibility to make sense of it.†(NFP) The light that Chris masters sheds on the ethics and responsibility of investigative journalism in relation to the public and on whom the report on is explored in Not for publication. Masters’ expository discourse develops the common ‘essential objective is profit rather that saving the world.† Masters first hand experience and unearthing of the true facets that are todays investigative media, is more sinister than one would expect. Through direct expressions of Masters’ concern we see how the public is stimulated and deluded by masses of entertainment and propaganda, the cry for bad news is so inert in our society, that the concept of Masters exposition stories would not mediate to the mass media. The level of manipulation of the news is alarming when brought to our attention, Masters goes on further to explore why this news is manipulated, to our ill-surprise, it is manipulated for the very people who watch it, the public. The escalating sensationalism and violence that the media embellishes to is what Masters argues to be, what the public want, â€Å"the massage is hard to avoid: [the public] want blood, their own blood†. This is one of his major concerns, as a journalist, he wants to illuminate the factors that establish modern journalism, the condescending truths and untruths that deliver entertainment over morals. Chris Master incorporates the ‘duty of journalists [as] to reshape information and get that information to the public’, while this is important and periodically essential, it is his broad knowledge tells us that ‘the best journalism is the journalism to challenge the orthodox, respectfully challenge the public opinion and occasionally deliver bad news’(pg 5). While this is almost evident in Masters’ book, but the fact he did not deliver these stories that seem perfectly fit for ‘today’s journalism’ he attains a kind of benevolence, and consideration for his subjects. As seen in his anonymity, which shows the reader how it is not worth the social and media torment of the journalistic process. Quite powerfully he delivers the calming words that many of us already know, perhaps by our own nature or experience: ‘In order for there to be good journalism, journalists need to find a balance between what they want to present and what the public wants’.

Ducati Paper

Margaret DeWitt Ducati Turnaround The turnaround success of Ducati was the direct result of Federico Minoli’s implementation of a differentiation strategy. As a company that was heading towards bankruptcy, Ducati was saved and revamped by Minoli’s specific vision for the company that were precisely presented in an extremely realistic manner. These goals for the company included double-digit growth for Ducati and equaling Harley-Davidson’s profit level. After reading the success of this turnaround, one point that I found very interesting and contributed to the company’s success is Minoli’s staffing method for Ducati.Not only did he strive to acquire intelligent and qualified workers, but also he emphasized passion and creativity in the workplace. The article refers to this â€Å"structured chaos† as the primary source of creativity. Another unique staffing method using by Minoli was that none of the new staff had previous experience in the mot orcycle industry. According to Minoli, even though they had no previous experience they were still capable of becoming passionate about this company and its products and would therefore be a successful management team.It is apparent Minoli views everyone involved in the production of Ducati’s products as a key success factor in its turnaround. In choosing the right strategy for Ducati, Minoli debated between standardizing the engine, which would result in better efficiency, or to remain true to what the motorcycle represented. He wanted the brand name to appeal not only to extreme motorcycle riders but also so other segments of buyers. By implementing a differentiation strategy, Minoli was able to position Ducati in a way that showcased its uniqueness as a motorcycle.It was also a way to separate it from other motorcycle companies such as Harley-Davidson and Honda. The specific features of their product are so unique to the brand name that it would be difficult and expensive for competitors to try to mimic. The company has moved from a â€Å"product-centered† company, as many of its competitors are categorized as, to an â€Å"experience-centered† company. It is not only focused on producing and selling motorcycles, but also focused on selling the lifestyle benefits of owning a Ducati motorcycle and being part of the Ducati organization.This was a smart move on behalf of Ducati for two main reasons: to increase sales due to product uniqueness and the building of customer loyalty through repeat customers. As customers buy into a lifestyle, they are more likely to continue to purchase that product. Two of the factors that Ducati possess that contributes to its differentiation from other companies are its top engineering team and increased investment in research and development.As a result of the company ‘s product development and research and development sectors become more open structures, there have been tremendous cost savings and qu icker product launches. Also, as technology is a growing asset to the motorcycle industry, Ducati’s success can be a direct result of the expertise taken from their racing division. Another attribute that supports the differentiation strategy of Ducati motorcycles is the creation of the â€Å"World of Ducati† in addition to â€Å"Ducati Stores†.Through the several activities including racing, advertising in specialized magazines, the Ducati museum, Ducati owners clubs, and Ducati special events, the company successfully built an atmosphere unique to Ducati that customers can buy into. This not only creates brand loyalty for the product but also gives the owners of Ducati motorcycles the feeling that they have something special or unique that cannot be purchased elsewhere. By using the differentiation strategy to position itself as â€Å"the sport bike company†, Ducati, in my opinion, will be able to sustain its position in the market.By strictly competing in the sport bike segment of the market, Ducati makes it difficult for threats by all other competition. Even though companies such as Honda and Harley- Davidson also produce motorcycles, they are not specialized in sport bikes and do not sell â€Å"the lifestyle† of having their particular product. I think by sticking to one specialty, Ducati has more power over its customers than all other competing companies. This does not however eliminate rivalries between companies altogether.Even though Ducati may have the advantage of differentiation, this particular industry is continuing to grow and with that comes more competition for customers. I think that one tradeoff that Ducati has to face is staying focused on the sport bike segment rather than branching off into other segments of the market. Even though branching into other product lines may be beneficial in the short-term aspect, I think that by sticking to what they have already successfully built and expanding their curr ent market segment will eventually lead to higher long-term profitability.They could possibly achieve this by expanding distribution. Ducati can offer its product and all of the benefits that come with purchasing one in more locations. The only thing Ducati should be careful of is that they do not over-expand. They want to make their product more available for new customers but not in a way that makes the lifestyle of owning a Ducati as â€Å"normal† as owning maybe a Harley-Davidson. They need to make sure they still have the advantage of having that differentiation factor that sets them apart from the competition.Overall, Minoli’s implementation of the differentiation strategy was critical to the turnaround of Ducati. By focusing in on what they are good at and building a brand upon those elements, this company was able to go from almost bankruptcy to an extremely profitable company in the sports bike industry. Also, by distinguishing itself from just a motorcycle co mpany to an â€Å"experienced-centered† company that offers customers a particular lifestyle and the chance to be part of a community also plays a role in the success of its turnaround.This important element brought in new customers and increased the likelihood of repeat customers. Even though competition in the motorcycle industry is tough and continues to get even more competitive, Ducati will continue to set itself apart from the rest with it’s ability to sell not only a sports bike but a product lifestyle as well. I think that if Ducati continues to successfully use its resources in the future, they will sustain their share in the market and have the opportunity to even expand it.