Monday, September 30, 2019

Political Cartoon Analysis Essay

In this political cartoon, â€Å"The Security Blanket† sketched by Eugene Payne (speaker), an Army veteran that later became an award-winning cartoonist, gave his thoughts over the Great Debate over gun control (subject) through this cartoon. The occasion surrounding this topic is the gun control in the US. This cartoon was directed towards the people (audience) who want more gun control (those who agree) and the hunters who want to be able to get weapons (disagree). It had first appeared in 1983 October 5 on the Charlotte Observer to present the readers with knowledge and the importance of the ongoing gun control debate. The purpose is that Payne is in favor of gun control and against the NRA’s belief in owning weapons. His tone in this sketch seems critical, because he is expressing his views over the gun control usage in which Payne clearly shows that hunters are ignorant, since they change their reason in owning a gun just for the purpose of keeping it. Now for Ethos, he establishes his credibility through his stand in opposing the NRA for being lenient on hunters. As for Pathos, he portrays the hunter as childish and babyish needing a â€Å"Security Blanket.† He represents this blanket, as the NRA and the Bill of Rights to explain that they use these excuses as a cover up to keep their fire arms. Thus with that information, he clearly established a Logos, since he explained the immaturity of hunters and the lack of reasoning they have to own a firearm. In this political cartoon, â€Å"The Security Blanket† sketched by Eugene Payne (speaker), an Army veteran that later became an award-winning cartoonist, gave his thoughts over the Great Debate over gun control (subject) through this cartoon. The occasion surrounding this topic is the gun control in the US. This cartoon was directed towards the people (audience) who want more gun control (those who agree) and the hunters who want to be able to get weapons (disagree). It had first appeared in 1983 October 5 on the Charlotte Observer to present the readers with knowledge and the importance of the ongoing gun control debate. The purpose is that Payne is in favor of gun control and against the NRA’s belief in owning weapons. His tone in this sketch seems critical, because he is expressing his views over the gun control usage in which Payne clearly shows that hunters are ignorant, sincethey change their reason in owning a gun just for the purpose of keeping it. Now for Ethos, he establishes his credibility through his stand in opposing the NRA for being lenient on hunters. As for Pathos, he portrays the hunter as childish and babyish needing a â€Å"Security Blanket.† He represents this blanket, as the NRA and the Bill of Rights to explain that they use these excuses as a cover up to keep their fire arms. Thus with that information, he clearly established a Logos, since he explained the immaturity of hunters and the lack of reasoning they have to own a firearm.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Shouldice Hospital Limited Abridged

3/26/2013 Shouldice  Hospital  Limited   (Abridged) Summary  of  case  discussion Indicators  of  success †¢ Profits – Revenue  =  7600  *  (320*4  +  650  +  300*20%)  =  $15  mil. – Costs  =  $8. 5  mil  for  hospital  +  $3. 5  for  clinic $ $ – Profits  =  $3  mil †¢ Word? of? mouth  advertising – Afraid  of  advertising  for  fear  of  generating  too  much  demand †¢ Backlog  of  demand – Currently  2400,  growing  at  100  /  6  mo. †¢ High  percentage  of  doctors  as  patients †¢ L Low  recurrence – 0. 8%  vs. 10%  at  other  hospitals †¢ Patients  reunions †¢ Low  employee  turnover 2 1 3/26/2013 Capacity  at  key  resources Examination – 6  rooms  x  3  patients/hr  x  3  hrs/day  (1? 4pm)  x  5days/wk  =  270   patients/wk †¢ Ope rating  rooms – 5  rooms  x  7hrs/day  x  5days/wk  x  1  patient  /(hr. room)  =  175   patients/wk †¢ Surgeons – 10  surgeons  x  1  patient/(hr. surgeon)  x  8  hrs/day  x  5  days/wk  =   400  patients/wk †¢ Rooms – Assume  patients  stay  for  4  nights,  and  level  demand – Number  of  patients  per  day  (Sun  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Thur)  =  89  rooms/4  =  22 – Capacity  =  5days/wk  x  22/day  =  110  patients/wk â€Å"Rooms†Ã‚  is  the  bottleneck. So  indeed  capacity  expansion,  if  any,  should  start  with  this  resource.Notice  that  this  processing  rate  does  not  add  up  to  7600  patients  per  year  that  Shouldice  is   handling. Possible  reasons:  patients  stay  for  fewer  nights,  or  they  admit  more  patients  toward   the  end  of  week,  or  there  is  an  Ã¢â‚¬Å"overflow†Ã‚  area  in  the  hospital. 3 Why  patients  like  Shouldice? †¢ Low  price – $1990  (excluding  travel)  vs. $5240  at  other  hospitals †¢ Low  recurrence  rate †¢ Facilities/decor – Investments  made  in  assets  such  as  carpeting,  common  areas  (the   Florida  room  e. g. ),  low  stairs,  nice  grounds. †¢ Socialization/ambiance Schedule  patients  with  similar  backgrounds  in  the  same  room – Group  activities  (e. g. ,  tea  and  cookies)  to  alleviate  anxiety  and  build   p relationships – Create  pleasant,  non? hospital? like  atmosphere †¢ Fast  recovery – Days  vs. weeks  at  other  hospitals – Early  ambulation  (confidence,  medical  benefits) 4 2 3/26/2013 Why  employees  like  Shouldice? â⠂¬ ¢ Doctors – Regular  hours,  on  call  but  rarely  called g , y – Good  pay – Low  risk  surgery,  opportunity  to  be  the  best  in  class †¢ Nurses – Minimal  physical  assistance – Counseling  activities,  instead  of  changing  Ã‚  bedpans Staff – Cross  training,  helping  each  other – Interactions  (e. g. ,  in  dining  room) – Strong  concern  for  employees,  nobody  is  fired 5 The  focused  factory  model †¢ A  narrow  market  segment  (a  simple  type  of  hernia  repair),  ensured  by  a   careful  screening  process †¢ An innovative procedure that emphasizes early ambulation which leads to An  innovative  procedure  that  emphasizes  early  ambulation  which  leads  to   quick  recovery †¢ Standardized  procedure,  not  to  be  varied †¢ Patient s  are  basically  well,  allowing  demand  to  be  inventoried  (and  thus   easy  scheduling) †¢ Family? tyle  management  allows  a  highly  specialized  workforce  to   â€Å"decompress,†Ã‚  leading  to  happy  employees  with  low  turnover †¢ Low  investments  by  sharing  resources  (e. g. ,  anesthetists,  nurses) †¢ Help patients help themselves (e g tea and cookies to mix pre? operative Help  patients  help  themselves  (e. g. ,  tea  and  cookies  to  mix  pre? operative   patients  with  post? operative  patients) †¢ Attention  to  details:  no  TV  in  room;  carpeting;  low? rise  stairs  for  easy   walking;  walk  from  the  operating  table;  gardens;  good  food,  etc. 3 3/26/2013 Options  for  capacity  expansion †¢ Saturday  operations – Pros:  no  investment – Cons:  in terferes  with  regular  work  schedules †¢ Invest  to  build  more  rooms – Pros:  keep  regular  work  schedules – Cons:  heavy  utilization  of  other  resources †¢ Another  hospital – Pros:  there  is  a  market  (1  million  hernia  operations  a  year   ( p y in  the  U. S. ),  save  travel  costs  for  patients – Cons:  Quality  control? Sources  of  doctors. †¢ Another  procedure – What? Expertise? Markets? Too  many  questions.Most  students  chose  either  the  second  or  the  third  options. 7 Key  learning  points †¢ The  focused  factory  approach  leads  to  more   added  value  (and  thus  higher  competitive   added value (and thus higher competitive advantage):  it  increases  the  customer’s   willingness? to? pay  and  lowers  the  cost,  at  the   same  time. †¢ The  devil  is  in  the  details:  many  operational   details,  although  seemingly  routine  and  minute,   play  an  important  role  in  shaping  strategic   decisions  (such  as  capacity  expansion  here). 8 4

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Social Constructivism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Social Constructivism - Essay Example Social constructivism does not distinguish between truth and falsehood, judging both equally suspendable. It leaves no place for the distinction between true and false accounts of nature in its accounts of the development of science. By being uninterested in whether a science is true, by treating truth and falsity equally, that is, by treating unequal as if they were equal, constructivists suspend and fail to see the essential. Whereas it would be a major accomplishment for the sociology of science to explain true knowledge as well as false pretensions of knowledge, it is a major regression for such sociology to obscure the difference between the two. A central theme of social constructivism is that no social practice must be enshrined as a restricted way of getting at truth. No practice can put claim to universal, eternal, or context-free legitimacy. Social constructivists and other postmodernists seek to demystify or deconstruct science's epistemic authority. One route to demystifi cation is to argue that science is just a highly elaborate set of social conventions--a "discursive formation" (Foucault) or "form of life" (Wittgenstein)--which arose in a particular historical setting and captured the loyalty of our culture, but which has no intrinsic claim to epistemic superiority. Translated into our terminology, this position implies that science is veritistically no better than other practices, despite the special reputation it enjoys. The constructivist perspective embodies a number of theoretical tensions stemming. from its attempt to embrace a relativistic epistemology with respect to selected aspects of science while exhibiting a fairly inflexible commitment to epistemological realism in its own work. ( Woolgar 1983: 262) Constructivist sociologists adopt a variety of strategies in their attempt to defend themselves against the criticism that constructivism undermines itself. Some constructivists merely assert that constructivism does not undermine itself, in the hope that repetition will be as effective as argument or evidence. Other constructivists claim that their studies analyze how the original account was arrived at, but have no implications for the truth or falsity of that account. Constructivists thereby only criticize the view that scientists see the world "plainly," "straightforwardly," without skills ( Yearley 1991: 120, 143). Thus constructivist sociology of science has no implications concerning the validity of science, constructivist criminology has little bearing on the

Friday, September 27, 2019

Gender And Post Colonial Nation Building In India Essay

Gender And Post Colonial Nation Building In India - Essay Example Focus shifted to the problems of social position of women and to the satisfying of their needs and demands. The main issue of the welfare approach was that Indian women were the object of the programmes designed for their development and they acted the roles of consumers, rather than participants in various agencies. This approach was then recognized as unfortunate due to the narrow range of issues defined as essential for women. These main issues were education, health and domestic violence. Besides, this approach defined that the women should be responsible for the housekeeping only, assigning to them the following roles: housewives, mothers and wives. (Banerjee) The period of the Decade of Women started in 1975 and lasted till 1985. At the beginning of this period the scientists started to speak about separating practical and strategic needs, or interests, of women. Among other authors, Molyneux in 1985 determines these needs and Moser in 1989 described them in detail. Here is the example: "finding food or fuel for the family is a practical gender need; women's issues addressing practical gender needs, which if fulfilled, could lead to an improvement in the condition of women". (qtd in Mohanty) But as the experience shows, to provide constant an... ecessary to remove gaps between gender roles in education in medicine, but providing such changes only won't significantly change women's position in the society. The specialists speak about the changes that are to be provided at first on the level of morals. It is necessary to make the notion of gender equity be recognized in the society, and ideological changes are to be provided to reshape social patterns in the state. (Buch) Conception of "strategic gender needs" appeared during the period of Decade of Women, and the process of gender planning started. The purposes of gender planning were elimination of gender discrimination and accepting gender mainstreaming. The concept of gender mainstreaming "meant that the 'Ladies Compartment' approach of having one Gender Unit or a single Ministry for Women be abandoned, because land reforms, fisheries development, trade, school curricula, road construction, taxation, conflict resolution, etc., were all as much the concerns of women as of men". (Mohanty, p.6) All these issues were recognized as those that have different influence on men and women, and, accordingly, demanding different strategies and approaches. Thus, the activists of the movement required that each programme worked out by the government, should include gender analysis, based upon key interests and demands of genders. It was also necessary to create an institution to control this process and to offer the direction of the changes to be made. It was planned that this institution would be provided with high power and would be financed good, and would focus on the women's interests, needs and demands. The authors describe this condition the following way: "Strategic gender needs were identified as ones that challenged the existing division of labour and catalyzed

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Reading response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Reading response - Essay Example This exhibits itself when Stafford tells Susan to make the faculty work for her or get rid of it. He was not ready to shape his leadership based on the followers input. His decisions went from top to bottom. On the other hand, Susan always collected information from participating parties and based her decisions on consensus. One component of Rost’s definition states that the relationship has its base on influence. The influence is not forced upon any party and flows in both directions; from the leader to followers and from followers to leaders. Another component states that the people in the relationship are the leaders and followers. This emphasizes on the nature of leadership being a relationship, practiced by both leaders and followers. The next component says leaders and followers intend real change. This means that both leaders and followers are putting their efforts towards achieving a common, realistic goal. The goal is the desire of both leaders and followers (Rost, 1991). Under the post industrial view leadership, followers are viewed as collaborators in partnership with leaders. The leaders’ wishes are not imposed upon them, but the followers may influence leaders to make changes. To make a common purpose, the followers’ wishes are factored into the relationship. The followers have an interactive opportunity in the processes (Rost,

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Journal 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Journal 6 - Essay Example In total, the theories of crime explain that people commit crime because of some social, ecological, cultural or subcultural factors such as financial and social deprivation, bad living conditions, ill social background, people’s assumption that some illegalities are positive and their teaching to their family. In my perception, every city or neighborhood has some forms of organization/disorganization. In my locality, there are very few incidents of delinquency or crime while if I consider the city, there are many forms of disorganization such as theft, mobile snatching, vehicle snatching, murders and many others as no place is perfectly free from crimes. Poverty is the basic reason for making people to commit crime as they are unable to even get their due rights. In our neighborhood, people try to keep an eye on delinquent people or people that are doubted to do wrong so that they can be checked while committing a wrong deed, which is a form of organization. Parents teach their children to follow the law and keep away from bad company even then, there can be some problems such as children fight and small disputes between neighbors, etc. Anderson’s code of the street is applicable on the story of Willie Bosket in All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence because he belongs to a family that can be called street family. While being nourished and brought up in such a family, the protagonist performs such illegal deeds that are previously done by his father and forefather and is unable to consider the aftereffects of his doings. According to Anderson, parents teach children to be aggressive when they try to control their children by punishing them physically or showing violence before them. In Willie Bosket’s life, he has witnessed and listened about aggressive attitudes of his ancestors due to which, he also

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Stem Cell Research - Stem cell research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Stem Cell Research - Stem cell research - Essay Example There are a number of sources for obtaining human stem cells. The first is IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) treatment, where surplus embryos (and unfertilized eggs for creating embryos) are donated for research with the consent of the donor rather than being destroyed following treatment. The second source is aborted tissues, which are used as stem cells taken from the aborted foetus. Another is umbilical cord blood, rich in stem cells. These cells are harvested following the baby's birth. The most controversial is perhaps therapeutic cloning, where cells are created for research that is genetically identical to the donor (patient). This is done by removing the nucleus of an egg and fusing this egg with any enucleated cell from the donor. This will create an embryo genetically identical to the donor. Cells can then be harvested from this embryo for treatment. Being an exact replica, there is potentially less chance of rejection following transplantation. The US President's Council on Bioethics recently published a whole white paper on Alternate Sources of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells (www.bioethics.gov). Sometimes these cells could be taken from the recipient patients themselves, avoiding any immune-rejection difficulties. At other times they are taken from donors. There are even proposals to create new non-embryonic organisms which can produce human stem-cells. What all these 'adult' stem-cells have in common is that they are derived from people without harming anyone. Umbilical cord blood, the placenta and even the amniotic fluid have in fact been found to be rich in stem-cells (McGuckin et al 245-255). Stem-cells have also been found in all the tissues found in our bodies such as the brain, pancreas, liver, skin, fat, muscle, blood, bone marrow, lungs, nose and tooth pulp. There is substantial opposition from various religious groups on the ethical issues. One of the most important concerns is that embryonic stem-cells are taken from human embryos. It basically involves killing the embryos which is destined to become a complete human being if it is allowed to. These embryos are taken in the very early stages of their development and hence are very small, having only developed to the stage of 120 cells or so since their creation by IVF or, more recently, by cloning. They are still young-approximately 5 to 6 days old-and grown in a culture in some Petri dish; they might even be a few years old, having been stored in some freezer soon after their manufacture (Fisher 2005). The main area of controversy surrounding this research arises from the harvesting of cells for research. The most flexible stem cells are obtained from embryos owing to their ability to become any type of tissue cell in the body. In fact it is a proven fact that adult stem cells also have similar possibilities. An embryonic stem cell is derived as follows- A fertilized egg forms a blastocyst 4 days after conception. This blastocyst has two types of cells; an outer layer (which becomes the placenta and other supporting tissues needed for foetal development) and an inner cell mass (the stem cells). In order to harvest these cells, they are removed from the blastocyst, a

Monday, September 23, 2019

Individual report based upon a case study (below) Essay

Individual report based upon a case study (below) - Essay Example This report is discussing upon giving the advice to the United States technology organization for them to enter the Chinese market with the most appropriate entry mode. Change is a continuous process which is being observed by the business environment all around. In the midst of the changing environments of business, the entry into the international markets cannot be ignored under any circumstances. The globalization phenomenon is at its peak and all organizations around the world are striving towards having a global presence to attain success (Peng, 2000). Globalization has become an important aspect because of the need and demand of product and services of different companies in different regions. This has caused all organizations to approach towards making a global presence of their firms. Organizations around the world are looking for such opportunities and since China has been associated with the World Trade Organization; and therefore major organizations seek market entry into China. China has plans to make their economy a market based economy and therefore opened the gates for new market entries into China (Williamson and Zeng, 2004). China has a developing economy that is growing on a very fast pace and attracting a lot international organizations in their country. Market entry modes have been changing and developing constantly. At every era there seems to be a successful market strategy of entering new markets and as discussed in the case below that Foreign Investment Shareholder Corporation is a more reasonable option for the US organization to enter into China. Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) can be defined as the direct investments that an organization makes on the productive assets in any foreign country. A foreign direct investment is an extremely important aspect of the economic system present on the global basis (Huang, 2003). The FDI has been categorized more expensive than the other market entry

Sunday, September 22, 2019

The Poetry of T.S. Eliot Essay Example for Free

The Poetry of T.S. Eliot Essay The poetry of T.S. Eliot is of such greatness that it will be read and analyzed by future generations of students and critics as long as there is poetry. Eliot received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 and his work spanned a period of time from 1910 until his death in 1965. The period 1914—1922 was very significant for Eliot for obvious as well as personal reasons and events. He was living in England and Europe was witnessing the end of the First World War and realizing the devastation caused. Personally he was having marital difficulties as well as emotional and psychological problems. (Eliot xv—xviii) His work from this period is very dark and obviously influenced by the â€Å"wasteland† of Europe as well as his marital and personal issues. The poems are compelling and in their unique way stand to illustrate the beauty that can be created in the dismal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† was first published in 1915. It opens with Italian verse from â€Å"Dante’s Inferno†, seemingly trying to set a tone of death and damnation. There are no bright spots or happiness in the poem; instead there is a sense of anxiety, uncertainty and sadness. He walks â€Å"streets that follow like a tedious argument of insidious intent to lead you to an overwhelming question† (9). The women seem out of reach, â€Å"in the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo† (10). It is not a pleasant scene. Eliot appears to want to escape it, to be â€Å"a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas† (11).   His language in Prufrock is full of allusions and very difficult to read and interpret, and it is almost as if he has sympathy for the reader. He shows his frustration at miscommunication in several lines, some repeated. â€Å"That is not what I meant at all. That is not it, at all† is followed by later by â€Å"it is impossible to say just what I mean† (12). Later this thought is inverted and repeated, â€Å"that is not it at all, that is not what I meant, at all† (13). Towards the end he becomes melancholy and thinks of his old age and death: â€Å"I grow old†¦I grow old†¦I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think they will sing to me†¦we have lingered by the chambers of the sea by sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown till human voices wake us and we drown† (13). The reader is left to wonder if Prufrock was drowning in a sea of human voices. This conflict and miscommunication is symbolic of both Eliot’s marital and personal difficulties. The poem is depressing and full of darkness, conflict and anxiety. It is only the beginning of his bleak viewpoint.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This theme of darkness and miscommunication continues to be reflected in his poetry. In â€Å"Morning at the Window†. Eliot is â€Å"aware of the damp souls of housemaid sprouting despondently at area gates†¦waves of fog toss up to me twisted faces†¦and tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts an aimless smile that hovers in the air and vanishes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (24). He writes of his â€Å"Aunt Helen† not in reflection of her life, but upon her death, focusing on silence and the task of the undertaker: †¦the undertaker wiped his feet—he was aware this sort of thing had occurred before† (26). There is a gloominess that seems to be everywhere Eliot looks. His theme of miscommunication is in his very words, often bizarre and difficult to interpret. In â€Å"Mr. Apollinax† Mr. Apollinax â€Å"laughed like an irresponsible foetus ‘he is a charming man’—but after all what did he mean† (28).   Ã‚  If the words are difficult enough to understand, the final verse is all but impossible to comprehend. â€Å"I remember a slice of lemon, and a bitter macaroon† (29).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Through these unsettling works Eliot shows himself to be a master at portraying a side of the human condition no one really likes to see, yet invariably at sometime everyone does. Often he points out the contrary view as he does in â€Å"The Wasteland†. Springtime is a timeless topic for countless poets expressing the wonder and beauty of nature coming alive after a winter asleep. Not so for Eliot. â€Å"April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain† (65). Not surprisingly he seems to prefer winter. â€Å"Winter kept us warm, covering earth with a forgetful snow, feeding a little life with dried tubers† (65). The theme of miscommunication continues to either cause or accompany the darkness. â€Å"Speak to me. Speak. Why do you never speak. Speak. What are you thinking of? What thinking? What? I never know what you are thinking† (69).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Eliot revisits his earlier theme of death as sea in the â€Å"Death by Water† section of â€Å"Wasteland†, advising Gentile or Jew â€Å"entering the whirlpool†Ã‚   to remember â€Å"Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead† (77). In the final section â€Å"What the Thunder Said† his depression seems to come to triumph. Eliot emphasizes â€Å"after the agony in stony places the shouting and the crying†¦he who was living is now dead, we who were living are now dying† (78). His landscape has been ruined: â€Å"falling towers Jerusalem Athens Alexandria Vienna London Unreal† (79). Despite his viewpoint and topics his work is beautiful as it moves the â€Å"unreal† of his imagination to our â€Å"reality† in such a unique and personal way; overall he has in fact communicated his reality in a masterful and compelling fashion. Eliot has proved that good things can arise from, if not be inspired by terrible situations. Works Cited   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Eliot, T.S. The Waste Land and Other Poems. New York: Barnes and Noble Classics, 2004.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

South Korea Cultural Environments Essay Example for Free

South Korea Cultural Environments Essay This analysis is based on a two-day visit to Suwon, South Korea, a city of about one million inhabitants near Seoul, and a one-day visit to Seoul, the capital city, population over ten million. 1. Ascription/Achievement There were many indicators that Korea is heavily ascriptive. One contact there told me that he was unable to get a job he applied for because he would have been older than his boss, which is considered unacceptable. He said that the first thing the interviewer asked him was â€Å"Given your age, why would you want this position?† He indicated that this is a common problem for people who, like him, want to change careers in mid-life. Because employers insist that superiors be older than their juniors, an older person can’t easily hire into an entry-level position to learn the ropes. My contact mentioned a prominent website that matches job hunters with employers, which specifies for each job the birth date after which an applicant must have been born in order to apply. He also said that his own employer, an American, has encouraged him to undergo additional education in the U.S., but that this would be pointless for him because he would not be able to enter a Korean company as a new hire due to his age. A second example is a Korean contact who speaks both Korean and English at work. He has a colleague who is ethnically Korean but was raised in Canada. This colleague mentioned to him that she liked his English better than his Korean because his Korean was insulting to juniors. He explained to me that in Korean, there are many levels of language, depending on the social position of each person relative to others. Because he is the senior person in the office, his Korean language reflects his high status and the low status of others when he speaks to them, and it sounds insulting to his juniors and to his Canadian-raised colleague. English language, however, does not have this hierarchical structure, and when he speaks English with his employees, he sounds more neutral and respectful towards them. This suggests that the respect for rank and position in Korean language reflects the traditional ascriptive culture, which is impossible to disregard when speaking Korean, and serves to maintain a high level of ascription in Korea. 2. Universalist /Particularist Universalism was consistently in evidence. An example is a parking lot at a cultural exhibit, where there was a guard telling people where to park. The  parking lot was very large and almost completely empty. We were directed to a particular spot, next to another car whose passengers were getting in and out and unpacking the car. Because they were standing in the parking space designated for us, we couldn’t move into it, but when the driver hesitated, the guard motioned him vigorously to go into that one space. There were hundreds of spaces around, but the guard wanted us to park in that space only. In Seoul, there was a campaign to get people to take their trash with them rather than throw it in trash cans that the city would have to collect, so they removed trash cans in public areas. This was a new policy when I was there because one of the locals I was with explained it to another one. There were throngs of people in the area where we were walking, walking shoulder to shoulder. But there was almost no trash on the streets despite the fact that there was nowhere to get rid of it. People took it home with them to dispose of. 3. Diffuse/Specific It was clear from my conversations with people that relationships are very important in Korea. Social networks are very important in business and other aspects of life. I was surprised to learn that elementary school reunions are popular—people keep up with people they have known since early childhood. People prefer to do business with people they know and family-owned businesses are common. A colleague told me he was asked to hire a business contact’s daughter during a rough time for her. She had broken up with her fiancà © and needed to figure out her future. He had hired her into a position of considerable responsibility, without advertising for the position or interviewing other candidates. These examples indicate diffuseness and an emphasis on relationships and personal networks. 4. Individualist/Collectivist Students in my lectures commented that when dealing with western companies, they sometimes felt rushed in making decisions. They said western companies seemed to think whoever was representing them could make decisions on his/her own and that it was difficult to explain that they needed to consult many people within their companies to gain consensus before making a decision. This group decision making is characteristic of a collectivist orientation. I saw a television show that featured a â€Å"mass game† by Samsung employees. There were at least 1,000 of them, staging something like a U.S. marching band formation, but much more complex. They formed complicated, moving pictures that changed colors and it went on for a long time. It clearly represented a huge investment of time by many people. I looked it up on the internet, and employees volunteer for this project, and competition is high among groups. This kind of coordinated activity suggests a collectivist approach to work activity. 5. Short-Term/Long-Term In Seoul and Suwon, new buildings proliferated. This isn’t surprising, given Korea’s economic rise from poverty since World War II, but all of them seem to be built in a modern style, without design features that reflect or harmonize with older buildings. This is true in both Suwon, population 1,000,000, and Seoul, a major city where skyscrapers would be expected. There’s a neighborhood in Seoul that still has old shops selling traditional crafts, but it’s primarily a tourist attraction. People wear modern, western clothes, with traditional Korean clothes worn only for weddings and funerals. A contact told me that Koreans are looking to the future and want to â€Å"move out of the past†. He characterized Suwon’s local folk village and museum of a historic castle there as â€Å"boring†. A U.S. colleague who trains Korean entrepreneurs commented that Korean inventors often don’t have the â€Å"psychological stamina† necessary to develop relationships with large international companies. They tend to expect things to move quickly, and when complications arise they become frustrated and apathetic. These features suggest a short-term orientation, with little emphasis on the past, and the present and future most clearly in focus. 6. Indirect/Direct Students in my class were quite indirect in their interaction with me. They didn’t respond much to my questions and asked few of their own. One of them wanted to let me know that the exercises I was assigning were uncomfortable for her, but she prefaced her complaint with a long social discussion and ended it with the comment that it was good for her to have a different kind of work to do in class. Also, we talked about stereotypes of Americans, and they gave only positive examples. When I asked about negative stereotypes, they said they couldn’t think of any. When I offered some examples, they laughed, but appeared nervous. In a museum, I was looking at exhibits with a recorded tour that I listened to through earphones. After each exhibit I was instructed to move to the next and push a button to hear about it. The instructions, when telling me to start the next recording, were â€Å"How about pressing the button to hear about the next exhibit?† These are the most indirect instructions I’ve ever received. The fact that they were translated into English in this form suggests a very indirect orientation. 7. Neutral/Expressive People were very quiet in public situations—on trains, in my hotel and on the street. The hotel was almost silent, and although my room was near the elevator, which worried me initially, I never heard a sound from people getting on or off, as is common in the U.S. People were also subdued in their physical movements, with few gestures. When they ran, they kept their arms at their sides. I noticed that people were more talkative and emotive in casual situations, but even then not particularly noisy. 8. Monochronic/Polychronic Public transportation was very predictable, and people were on time for meetings. I didn’t notice excessive attention to watches or hurrying through meals, but activities seemed to begin and end on schedule. There was no multitasking during my presentations to the entrepreneurs there. People waited till breaks to check their phones or computers. They didn’t get up and leave to take phone calls. These behaviors suggest a monochronic orientation.

Friday, September 20, 2019

The Abuse Of Native Americans

The Abuse Of Native Americans The white colonizers of the past helped turn the once New World into the United States of America, a dominating world power that prides itself on being a fair, non-discrimatory and liberal country. What has been long forgotten is how they made their progress, that is, the destruction, torture, and unfair treatment of the first inhabitants of America, and how these people are treated to this day. Early Colonization The colonization of the Americas is dated all the way back to the 11th century when the Vikings (the Norse) settled in Greenland and Newfoundland. The contact they had with the indigenous people, the Inuits, was hostile, something that could have been taken as a sign of forewarning of the later contact between the natives and the European colonizers. These Norse colonies were not long-lived and they eventually disbanded in the 15th century.  [1]   In 1492, Columbus headed the expedition to America in the name of the Spanish. Colonization and exploration grew very popular and soon most of the islands in the Caribbean had been colonized.  [2]  By 1494, the Spanish and Portuguese had made the treaty of Tordesillas which divided the New World between themselves. The Portuguese took all of what is now present-day Brazil while the Spanish pushed onward with conquering as much as possible. Spanish Conquistadors Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes, had overthrown the once very powerful Aztec Empire in Mexico who had thought him to be Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec god who had come to destroy their empire. He slaughtered thousands and people and burned some of the city.  [3]  Pizzaro, a second cousin to Cortes, overtook the Incas in Peru, also massacring thousand and ransacking the entire empire. What is astonishing is the pure cruelty of these men in the name of Spain who had been welcomed with open arms.  [4]  In an account by Waman Poma, the Incan emperor, Atahualpa, sent gifts to the Spanish. Poma wrote, The presents consisted of male servants and sacred virgins. Some of the virgins were also offered to the Spaniards horses, because, seeing them eat maize, the Peruvians took them for a kind of human being. Until that time, horses were unknown to our people and it seemed advisable to treat them with respect.  [5]   Continued Colonization Colonization continued on, with Spanish Florida, the English colonies of Virginia and New England, the French colonies of Acadia and Canada, the Swedish colony of New Sweden, and the Dutch New Netherland. By the 18th century, Denmark-Norway revived their colonies in Greenland and Russia took Alaska.  [6]   It is quite obvious that with the onset of so many foreigners, the Europeans, clash was eminent. What wasnt so easily seen was what the Europeans brought with them-disease. Smallpox, typhus, influenza, diphtheria, and measles wiped 10 to 20 million of the indigenous population.  [7]  Before these plagues, the natives had been used as servants and slaves but once they started dying out, Africans were brought to the Americas to take their place. White Overtaking and Manifest Destiny As more and more Europeans came to the Americas, the more land they wanted to cultivate and occupy. By the 17th century, for every one Native American, there were three white Europeans.  [8]   During the 1800s, John L. OSullivan, the New York newspaper editor used the phrase Manifest Destiny.  [9]  He had created a term for a long-held belief that the whites of America had the right to expand their territory to the West, that it was their duty and was approved by God in every way. People started making advertisements, paintings, and pictures to encourage the expansion.  [10]   What all this did was cement the idea of white supremacy over the Native Americas. None of this was a good thing for the Native Americans because now the whites had even more a reason in their minds to continue their expansion and to continue their efforts for civilizing them which meant making them live as Whites. This meant they must be Christian, must build homes and practice private property, and educate their children in a way that the dutiful White Christians saw fit.  [11]   Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears What was one of the biggest steps taken to move Native Americans so the Whites could have all access to the land was the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which was signed by President Andrew Jackson.  [12]  Though this act was supposed to be voluntary on the side of the Native Americans, community and tribe leaders were made to feel a great deal of pressure to sign the treaties that would move them from their ancestral homes to the West. This was a very controversial act and many white people were opposed to it because of how unfair it was to the Native Americans. There was definitely greater support of the Indian Removal Act though, especially by the South because they wanted access to lands where different tribes were occupying.  [13]  These tribes were called the Five Civilized Tribes which consisted of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee-Creek, Chickasaw, and the Seminole.  [14]   The pressure grew and chiefs finally gave in. First to sign a treaty to move with promise of new land and money was the Choctaws in Mississippi. The treaty the Choctaw chief signed was called the treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek and when interviewed by the Arkansas Gazette, he said the removal was a trail of tears and death. Five years after the initial passing of the Indian Removal Act, the Cherokee signed the Treaty of New Echota.  [15]   The removal of the Cherokee, Muscogee-Creek, Seminole, and Choctaw was called the Trail of Tears. These tribes were moved to Indian Territory and experienced exposure, disease, and starvation during their journey. 4000 of the 15000 Cherokee that made the journey died on their way to the Indian Territory.  [16]   Resistance, Victories and Defeats Though many Indians cooperated with the American government, some fought back and tried resisting. Indian Wars broke out and they did win some, such as the Battle of Little Bighorn. The greatest victory by the Native Americans was when Tecumseh, a Shawnee leader of a multi-tribal group, allied with the British and defeated the White Americans in Detroit St. Claires Defeat.  [17]   Although they won sometimes, the Native Americans lost quite a few battles, such as the Creek War, the Sioux Uprising, the Sand Creek Massacre, and Wounded Knee. Times were very hostile and by 1872, the United States government went by a policy that meant the extermination of all Indians unless they moved to reservations so as to be more civilized and become Christianized.  [18]  Paul Wellman describes quite accurately in his 1934 book the pure torture and disregard of Native Americans during this time: The Indian [was thought] as less than human and worthy only of extermination. We did shoot down defenseless men, and women and children at places like Camp Grant, Sand Creek, and Wounded Knee. We did feed strychnine to red warriors. We did set whole villages of people out naked to freeze in the iron cold of Montana winters. And we did confine thousands in what amounted to concentration camps.  [19]   Americanization Once the federal government had gotten most Native Americans onto reservations, they started the process of Americanizing them. The federal government was able to treat them almost as if the Indians were their wards because, in fact, they were. This was so because in 1871, the Indian Appropriation Act was passed which stated that the government no longer viewed the Indians land as separate countries and their communities as separate nations but that the land would belong to the government and the Native Americans would become wards of the United States government.  [20]  This is what the Indian Appropriation Act said: That hereafter no Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation, tribe, or power with whom the United States may contract by treaty: Provided, further, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to invalidate or impair the obligation of any treaty heretofore lawfully made and ratified with any such Indian nation or tribe.  [21]   Once this was done, the government passed more laws which constricted the Native Americans even further. These laws forced them to give up their old way of life, such as moving from their traditional places of inhabitation to more Americanized homes. They were also made to change their appearance and their names. Men were often made to cut their hair and whole communities were made to abandon their old religious practices in favor of Christianity.  [22]   Schools were created for the Native American children so as to get them used to their new lives and to also quickly Americanize the youth. They were forced to choose American names and to only speak English, abandoning their native tongue. Doing this to the Native Americans was very damaging to their tribal identity and also basically stripped them of all they had once known in favor of the strange American way.  [23]   The General Allotment Act of 1887 (The Dawes Act) The Dawes Act was enacted in 1887. What this did was it took once tribally-owned land and fractioned it off to the Native Americans. Families received about 80 to 160 acres while unmarried adults received about 40 to 80 acres. The rest of the land that had not been allotted was opened to railroad development and settlers not of Native American descent.  [24]   The Dawes Act was enacted so as to better assimilate the Indians into American society which meant getting them to learn how to farm and eventually support themselves. Though it seemed like this act had good intentions, the biggest reason it was enacted was unspoken, but the most important at the time. The dividing of land was to break up the Native Americans sense of culture and unity. Along with this negative aspect was the fact that the land allotted to them was not sufficient for living off of.  [25]   Though this was obvious, in 1906 the Burk Act was passed which meant that all allot tees were deemed competent and capable and could be taxed. If they were determined incompetent by the Secretary of the Interior the land could be taken away and leased by the federal government. In total, the Dawes Act was manipulated and executed in a way that negatively affected the Native Americans, robbing them of their land and resources.  [26]   The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 (The Snyder Act) Life was a bit easier for Native Americans if they had status as an American citizen. They could acquire citizenship if a woman married a white man, through military service, if they had allotments, or through special treaties.  [27]  This was unfair because they had to go through special and unusual processes to even be considered citizens of the county they lived in while any white man had full American citizenship the day they were born. People realized this fact and in 1924, the Indian Citizenship Act (also called the Snyder Act) came along. It was proposed by Representative Homer P. Snyder of New York and was signed into enactment by President Calvin Coolidge on June 2.  [28]   The biggest reason though for this enactment was to, once again, better assimilate the Native Americans into American society. They had already proven themselves possible good members of society by being part of the military during World War I. This act did not include citizens born before the enactment date but did include all Native Americans that were born after.  [29]   Native Americans in WWII Once World War II broke out, the Native Americans joined in just as they had during World War I. This earned them more respect than they had had before. Because they had always had the image of the mighty and brave Indian warrior, non-Native Americans often called their Indian comrades chief which could have been seen as a token of respect.  [30]  The movement of the Native Americans to go to war was the largest scale exodus since the Indian Removal Act during the 1800s. The war had a huge impact on the Native Americans and their lives back home. Seeing the outside world change their perspective on life. Also, they were able to find well-paying work because of the wartime labor shortages because of the men away at war.  [31]   What also brought added respect and boosted the reputations of the Native Americans was that the military used Navajo code talkers to communicate secret information in the Pacific. This code was never decoded by the Japanese.  [32]   Further Racism and Discrimination Though Native Americans had moved further up in status over time, it was not by much, Native Americans were still highly discriminated against and were not seen as equals in American society. Because of this, the American Indian Movement (AIM) was formed and was very much active during the 1960s and 1970s.  [33]  They worked to better the quality of Native American life and men and women leaders became powerful in doing so. One leader was a woman named Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. She put her own beliefs and demands for equality before her own safety. Because of this she was often involved in plots which led to her being in and out of jail. One plot, though, led to her being in much more serious trouble then her usual short jail sentence. She had been arrested in South Dakota for being an FBI killer. Two agents had been killed by members of AIM and because Aquash was a prominent leader, it seemed likely by the police for her to be somehow involved and deserved to be under suspicion. She was released on bail. Aquash was caught in Oregon and fled once again, fearing for her own life and safety. Sadly, she was found dead in 1976 on a Lakota ranch. She was not identifiable by police so her hands were cut from her body to possibly identify her.  [34]   The death of Aquash made Native Americans even more aware of their status in American society because she had only stood up for her beliefs, and she had been killed for it. Her people later found a bullet hole in the back of her head and found it suspicious that the police had cut off her hands to identify the body which they saw as being unnecessary and a sign that they may have been covering up Aquashs murder.  [35]   Indian Reservations Today Though the Indian Reservations were created so long ago, the quality of life has barely changed. It is extremely poor. So poor, in fact, that they are likened to developing countries.  [36]  60% of children are born out of wedlock and Native Americans are the third highest group in the country for teenage pregnancy. The suicide rate of Native American teenagers is three times that of the rest of America.  [37]   Alcoholism is a big problem of reservations. Native Americans are four times more likely to die of alcoholism and 17 times more likely to die in an accident involving alcohol. In addition to this, they are twice as likely to be involved in an arrest concerning alcohol.  [38]   One of the worst reservations is the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It is one of the poorest in the nation. The unemployment rate is 35% to 45% and homelessness is 30%. The average income for those living on this reservation is $6100 a year.  [39]   Because of these terrible statistics, the reservations in the nation have the right to run casinos to bring in revenue through attracted tourists. They were given this right in the 1987 case, California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians. In the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, their right was formally recognized.  [40]   Conclusion The Native Americans of the Americas have been through so much since the colonization that began hundreds of years ago. The treatment of them has been cruel and inhumane in all regards. Luckily, some acts have been taken to fix the problems these people face everyday. Hopefully in the future, they will have a better life for themselves and will experience less racism and poverty. With the help of the rest of American society, this is 100% possible.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Teen Pregnancy in the United States Essay -- Teenage Pregnancy

â€Å"Each year in the U.S. almost one million teenagers become pregnant--at enormous costs to themselves, their children, and society†. (Pregnant Teen Help, Teen Pregnancy Statistics) Some would argue that teen pregnancy is all glorified. Other individuals would protest that it is too influential. Teen pregnancy is a rising social problem in the United States and among other countries. Teen pregnancy is now being publicized as multi media corporations, with shows such as â€Å"16 & Pregnant†, â€Å"Teen Mom†, â€Å"Maury†, â€Å"Secret Life of the American Teenager†, and â€Å"Juno†. All of which concentrate on teen pregnancy. These shows or movies could be informational for young people. However, the shows display an altered reality that teen pregnancy is easy, laughs and joy. Dispite what the shows might portray teen pregnancy is an uprising national and global epidemic. In the past teen pregnancy has been an underline issue that is vastl y taking center stage. Media, education, and economy are all components to this phenomenon, nevertheless, how are they all connected? All of which will all be addressed in the contents of this paper. Which leaves the burning question: is teen pregnancy accepted into our society as a norm, or is it still a deviant act? First and for most, there are many different definitions of teenage pregnancy depending on the source of the information. However, as a broad definition defines teenage pregnancy as â€Å"a female typically between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, typically who hasn’t completed her core education – secondary schools – has few or no marketable skills, is financially dependent upon an older adult typically her parents and or continues to live at home and is typically mentally immature†. (Adolescent Health) Most ... ...March 23, 2011, from http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/about-us Who We Are. (2014). In Planned Parenthood. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are-4648.htm Chandra, A., Martino, S. C., Collins, R. l., Elliot, M. N., Berry, S. H., Kanouse, D. E., & Miu, A. (2008, November 5). Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings From a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. In Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. Google Scholar. Teenage Pregnancy and Education. (2010, December 24). In Pregnant Teen Help. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. http://www.pregnantteenhelp.org/teenage-pregnancy-and/teenage-pregnancy-and-education Teen Pregnancy Statistics. (2010, November 23). In Pregnant Teen Help. Retrieved Web. 29 Mar. 2015. http://www.pregnantteenhelp.org/statistics/teen-pregnancy-statistics/

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Rochester as the Rake in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Essay -- Jane Ey

Rochester as the Rake in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre    The rake became one of the most recognized figures of the Restoration Comedies. The rake character was seen as unmarried, cynical, coarse but with the manners of a gentleman, manipulative and self serving. By the twentieth century the rake had given away to the Regency dandy and the dark Byronic hero of Victorian literature. However, the rake does not completely disappear from twentieth century novels. Charlotte Bronte resurrects the Restoration hero in the creation of Edward Rochester in Jane Eyre. Edward Rochester exhibits many of the qualities associated with the Restoration rake; he manipulates the woman around him and his actions are self serving. Bronte’s rake varies just enough that she can present her character as both hero and villain which eventually allows for his reformation. Readers are often deceived into believing that the rake should be viewed as a villain, hence their resistance in accepting Edward Rochester as a rake. However, as Harold Weber suggests that readers should not be concerned "with whether or not the rake emerges as a hero or a villain – he must [. . .] be both" (Weber 53). The rake’s mistreatment of women categorizes him as villain. Rochester’s mistreatment of Jane and the other women in the story is detestable. He confesses that he used Blanche Ingram to make Jane jealous. Rochester admits that he "feigned courtship with Miss Ingram" (261; ch.24). Rochester deceives Blanche into believing his intent was marriage; yet she was merely a pawn in his romantic conquest of Jane. The whole time Rochester pursues Jane he is already married to Bertha. Rochester hides his marriage in an attempt to find his definition of a more suitable wife. He t... ...tion. In the creation of her hero, Edward Rochester, Charlotte Bronte resurrected the Restoration rake. Rochester posses many characteristics associated with the rake. His past life is nonexistent without discussing some former lover. He deceives Jane into believing he is unmarried. Like many rakes, Rochester can be viewed as both villain and hero. While his actions towards the other characters in the novel are villainous, Bronte presents them in such a manner that the reader’s sympathies lie with Rochester. Rochester repents for his debauched lifestyle and is rewarded by the death of Bertha and his marriage to Jane.    Works Cited Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Beth Newman. Boston: St. Martin’s, 1996. Weber, Harold. The Restoration Rake-Hero: Transformations in Sexual Understanding in Seventeenth-Century England. Madison U of Wisconsin P, 1986.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Effects of Technology Essay

The advent and development of computer technology through the past three decades may be the most important and revolutionary technology ever invented in history. It has completely changed the way people do things, from interpersonal communication to professional transactions. Computers have affected the cultures of families, friends, offices, academes and even states and countries. The effect of computer technology can be felt starting with the most basic social institution, the family. The personal computer has become a regular fixture in millions of homes around the world as much as the television or the couch. Some families even own more than one computer units. Of course, the statistics would be lower among less developed countries. Nevertheless, an effect of the prevalence of the personal computer is that it has become more and more affordable. For third world countries, the idea of catching up has also come to mean being competitive when it comes to computer literacy compared to developed countries. Parents use the computer to surf the Net, look for job-related information or anything that interests them like news or hobby sites. The children use the computer as aid in making assignments and research, playing video games or make friends they won’t ever see in person through the chat rooms. Outside the home, the influence of computers is felt much more. Offices cannot survive without computers as they are used for word processing, calculations, presentations, and other tasks. Internet technology, an offshoot of computers, has created a thriving electronic-based commerce which has made millionaires out of people whose capital has been their mere creative minds. Other activities that before were done without computers are now computer aided. Automated banking has made banking and bill payments possible even outside office hours. People can shop online using their credit cards without the hassle of crowds and miles of walking inside malls just to find the perfect shirt or gift. Government agencies keep voluminous records and provide computer-aided services making it possible to make transactions with the public even without the latter’s physical appearance. Like all technologies, the computer has its downsides, too. For instance, it has caused concern regarding the privacy of people as with the interconnectedness of networks in cyberspace it has become easy to look for information about anybody. Another is that computers, being machines, break down. Since people have grown dependent to this machine, a crash or malfunction of computers especially those doing tasks which a lot of people depend on (like ATMs when they go offline or very important data that suddenly become irretrievable with a crash) could result to a lot of frustration and anxiety. Computer technology has also created computer addicts and affected the health and social skills of some people who would rather sit in front of a monitor than interact with humans or play ball outside. Computer technology has become so prevalent and people and nations have become dependent to it so much so that in modern times it has become unimaginable to survive without computers. The future is going to be defined by how fast and how far computer technology is going to take humankind and to be computer-illiterate in this modern world is to be left behind in the past.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Principles of personal development in adult social care settings Essay

A duty of care is a legal obligation imposed on a carer requiring that they adhere to a good quality and standard of care. It is my duty to take care of vulnerable adults and to ensure that their needs and well-being are looked after. I exercise reasonable care with respect to individuals’ best interests, this includes protecting service users from any harm or abuse that may occur and avoiding any acts that could result in injury but it also means respecting service users and giving them choices. see more:explain how people may react and respond to receiving constructive feedback I am proficient enough to ensure that every service user is taken care of in a reasonable, responsible and respectful manner. It is my role to ensure that my duty is carried out safely and effectively working alongside my organisation’s policies and procedures ‘My organisation and I have a duty of care to ensure that the service users we care for are safe, protected from abuse by other service users, staff, carers, friends and family. I therefore work within the safeguarding policies and procedures and it is important that I receive adequate training so that I can recognise and understand signs of abuse. It is my duty to record of all relevant information when an accident or incident occurs in the workplace. It is my responsibility to report any improper conduct or suspicion that I think may contribute to abuse. Duty of care and safeguarding work together because it’s my duty of care to provide protection and safety for a vulnerable adult whilst at the same time respecting their needs and choices. The Whistleblowing policy in my workplace makes it clear to me and to staff that it is staff’s responsibility to report improper conduct that compromises service user safety whilst ensuring confidentiality and protection from abuse for service users.’ Describe dilemmas that may arise between the duty of care and an individual’s rights: It is my duty of care to support service users with their medication and to ensure that they are in good health. I support an individual with her medication and on one occasion she refused for me to administer the tablets. I encouraged her and explained to her that she needs to take her medication  so that she can keep in good health but she still refused. I therefore gave her some time and space for her to reconsider and calm down; approximately half an hour later I returned back to support her with her medication but she said again that she didn’t want her tablets. I therefore recorded what happened, entered this also in the message book and completed an incident sheet. Her doctor was then contacted to explain that she refused her morning medication and to check that everything will be alright although she missed her morning medication. It is the service user’s right to refuse this service if they want to. It is my duty of care to ensure that service users are supported accordingly and when they refuse a service that I record and report this. People with a learning difficulty have the same rights as anyone else in deciding whether or not to engage in a particular activity. It is important as it is my duty to ensure service users’ safety. For example a service user may be a smoker and insist on smoking in her bedroom at night instead of in the smoking room and ignores all advice from staff who are concerned about the safety of everyone. Another example could be a service user who is a little unsteady on his feet but decides he wants to go out and use a bus or train instead of a taxi; he may be at risk of falling and injuring himself, staff and/or others around him. Explain where to get additional support and advice about how to resolve such dilemmas: I can get additional support and advice about how to resolve dilemmas from training, supervision, from my Manager, the internet and also from appropriate professionals such as the GP or the person’s advocate. For example it is my responsibility to ensure that I assist service users in making complaints and to make sure that their complaint is taken seriously and that they are listened to. An advocate could be a person that supports a service user when needed and help with advising about how to resolve dilemmas. Describe how to respond to complaints: All complaints and concerns are dealt with fairly in my workplace and we  respond to individuals’ needs. It is important that all complaints are reported to a senior staff member and logged. Once logged it looked into by the Manager who will try and resolve it. All complaints received are important and must be taken seriously. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) requires my organisation to gather, evaluate and generate reports about complaints – this is to ensure the continual improvement of the service. The main point of these procedures is for service users to exercise their rights. Staff should also respond appropriately to any complaint they receive from service users or their families. If an informal complaint is made this should be discussed and this may stop it becoming a formal issue. The staff member receiving the complaint should listen carefully, take everything into consideration that is said and let the service user know what will then happen. If complaints are not responded to by staff appropriately then the service and the service provider will not improve. The main points of agreed procedures for handling complaints and how to respond to complaints: There are stated steps to follow when a complaint is made. In my workplace we first have to make sure that the service user is given the correct form to complete; and sometimes staff help service users to complete these when they are not able to especially when they have been given poor services. All complaints must be dealt with quickly and fairly. In my workplace the Manager is responsible for conducting the investigation when a complaint is received and a written letter is sent out to the service user to inform them that the complaint is being dealt with and timescales are given to them for a response. The complaints policy ensures that service users are given a good service and protected from harm and abuse as all complaints have to be responded to and regulatory bodies notified. PRINCIPLES OF SAFEGUARDING AND PROTECTION IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE Define the following seven types of abuse and for each include their associated signs and symptoms: physical, sexual, emotional/psychological, financial, institutional, self-neglect and neglect by others 1) Physical abuse is deliberate physical force that may result in bodily injury, pain, or impairment. Both old and young people can be physically abused. There are signs or indicators to show physical abuse and there are ways in which victims and abusers act or interact with each other. Physical abuse includes the smashing of furniture and personal belongings, being pushed or shoved, being held against your will, slapped, bitten, kicked, pinched, punched, choked or ducked under water, threatened or hurt with a weapon, threats of violence, locked in or out of the house, hair pulled †¦burnt with cigarettes, acid, an iron, hot food or water †¦ Signs of physical abuse in adults are: bruising, particularly in well-protected and covered areas, fractures, sprains or dislocations, lacerations, burns – including friction burns and scalds, drowsiness, pressure sores, cowering and flinching, unexplained hair loss, significant weight loss, etc†¦. Symptoms include feeling low, angry and in pain. 2) Sexual abuse is when a person is forced or tricked into taking part in any kind of sexual activity. When sexual contact is non-consensual, it is an abuse. It can happen to men and women of any age that is both old and young. It can include sexual penetration of any part of the body with a penis, finger or any object, sexual exploitation, making threats about sexual activities, exposure to pornographic material, touching of breast or genitals, kissing, etc. Activities such as showing pornographic material, forcing the person to watch sex acts or forcing the person to undress are also considered sexual abuse. The signs and symptoms of sexual abuse in the elderly can be bruises around breasts or genitals, genital infections, unexplained vaginal or anal bleeding, torn, stained, or bloody underwear, disturbed sleep patterns, vulnerable adult appears withdrawn and fearful, inappropriate dressing, etc†¦ 3) Emotional Abuse is where one person gains power and control over another through words and gestures which gradually undermine the other’s self-respect†¦Emotional abuse can be name-calling, blaming, screaming, making threats, yelling†¦.neglecting, manipulation, not listening, withholding affection†¦belittling and untrue accusations. Signs of emotional abuse are depression, anxiety, withdrawing or refusing affection, fearful or agitation, lower self-esteem and self-confidence, shouting or swearing, behaviours such as rocking, hair twisting and self-mutilation, vulnerable adult withdrawn and fearful†¦ 4) Financial abuse is stealing or defrauding someone of money, goods and/or property, allowing others to steal money or property, tricking or threatening individuals into giving away money or property, withholding money, refusing to allow individuals to manage their finances, etc. for example when a support worker is taking money from a service users’ purse without his or her knowledge. Signs of financial abuse are signatures on cheques that do not resemble the service users’ signature, or signed when the service user cannot write, unexplained withdrawals of large sums of money by a person accompanying the service user, lack of amenities, such as TV, personal grooming items, appropriate clothing, that the service user should be able to afford, deliberate isolation of service user from friends and family, resulting in the support worker alone having total control, the unexplained sudden transfer of assets to a family member or someone outside the family†¦. Symptoms include the person feeling fearful, anxious, embarrassed and belittled. 5) Institutional abuse happens when the lifestyles of service users are sacrificed in favour of the routines and/or restrictive practices of the home. Institutional abuse comprises neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, discriminatory abuse, psychological and emotional abuse, financial abuse, service users not being allowed to go out, their personal letters are opened and read, their privacy not respected, their interest  not at the centre of every decision being made, excessive medication and complaints procedure not made available for the service users. Signs and symptoms include lack of own personal clothing and possessions, †¦no flexibility of bedtimes, eating times or waking times, dirty clothing or bed linen, misuse of medication, lack of care plans, lack of heating, staff entering into service users’ rooms without knocking. 6) Self-neglect is when a person does not pay attention to their health and well-being. Service users can neglect themselves due to illness or depression or might intentionally neglect themselves. The signs and symptoms include: living in dirty conditions, poor personal hygiene, poor nutrition†¦not getting medical help, not being interested in the way they look, long toe nails not taking medication. 7) Neglect is when a carer does not carry out their duty of care and fails to care for a service user this can be deliberate or unintentional due to the carer being ill or stressed†¦ Signs and symptoms of neglect include absence of food, water, and heat†¦ poor personal hygiene including soiled clothing, dirty nails and skin†¦inappropriately dressed for cold or hot weather, bedsores†¦.constant hunger, withdrawn, illness†¦ Different factors that may contribute to an individual being more vulnerable to abuse: Living with the carer may increase the chances for abuse to occur as this may cause stress and resentment if the carer feels they cannot cope. If an individual is looked after staff who do not have the right training, any supervision at work or support, are stressed, have personal problems or do not like working in care then this can increase the risk of an individual being abused. If an individual is not mobile, is confused, has dementia, or is aggressive or challenging then this can increase the risk of abuse as the carer might not know how to deal with this, get frustrated and might take it personally and abuse the individual. Domestic violence can also play a part as can the relationship between the individual and their parent or spouse if it was poor and involved abuse. KNOW HOW TO RESPOND TO SUSPECTED OR ALLEGED ABUSE The actions to take if there are suspicions that an individual is being abused: If I suspect abuse through noticing a sign of physical abuse or change in the behaviour of an individual, I will make sure that I ask the individual what has happened telling the individual the changes that I have noticed. If it is in my place of work and the name of the person that abused the individual is known, whether staff or another service user, I must also record and report this. I will listen to the individual carefully; it is up to them to tell me, I would not ask them any questions about this as this is not part of my job role and would stay calm. I will make sure that I record what the individual tells me using the individual’s own words. I will make sure that I reassure the individual and explain that their safety is the most important and that it is my duty of care to tell the manager. I will make sure that I let my manager know what has happened immediately and pass this information on in private and make sure my report is also confidential. I will only report and record the facts – what the individual has told me. Depending on what is found out the individual might need to continue to be monitored and a plan of care will be put in place that must be followed to protect the service user. ‘I will make sure that I let my manager know and report and record this in private but if the allegation is about my manager or the manager is unwilling to do anything, I will follow my company policy of reporting abuse and report to CQC. The actions to take if an individual alleges that they are being abused: If an individual alleges that they are being abused, I will make sure that I listen to the individual carefully to know exactly what happened. If it is in my place of work and the name of the person that abused the individual is known, whether staff or another service user, I must also record and report this. I will make sure that I record the detail of all allegations that the individual tells me using the individual’s own words; I will not ask any questions or make any judgements about what I have been told and I will stay calm. I will make sure that I record the date and time when the abuse was reported and then sign this record. I will make sure that I take the allegations seriously and reassure the individual that they are right to tell me as their safety is the most important.  I will make sure that I let my manager know and report and record this in private but if the allegation is about my manager or the manager is unwilling to do anything, I will follow my company policy of reporting abuse and report to CQC. Different ways to ensure that evidence of abuse is preserved: Ways to ensure that evidence of abuse is preserved are as follows: By leaving things as they are and not touching anything.  By not removing, cleaning or washing what the individual is wearing and by not handling the individual’s clothes or bedding. By keeping the area safe and not allowing anyone to enter into the area. By recording and reporting carefully, confidentially and in full all that was told to me by both the individual and others if present at the time and also what I noticed; stating the facts only. By preserving any first aid items used. UNDERSTAND THE NATIONAL AND LOCAL CONTEXT OF SAFEGUARDING AND PROTECTION FROM ABUSE National policies and local systems that relate to safeguarding and protection from abuse and explain the roles of different agencies: National policies – †¦.’Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Vetting and Barring Scheme run by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), Criminal Records Bureau, Human Rights Act 1998. Local Systems – Safeguarding  Adults Boards, Safeguarding policies and procedures for vulnerable adults.’ Safeguarding Adults Boards – these bring together a number of different local agencies that work with vulnerable adults to share information and monitor their work i.e. local agencies like the police, MIND, housing teams, advocacy groups. The Police – their role is to safeguard vulnerable adults, investigate all reports of vulnerable adult abuse and protect and uphold the rights of vulnerable adults. CQC – to monitor and provide guidance on what all health and social care providers must do to safeguard vulnerable adults from abuse; the safeguarding policies, procedures and systems developed are in place to prevent vulnerable adults from being abused Reports into serious failures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse: A report about Castlebeck Care Ltd which failed to ensure that the vulnerable living at Winterbourne View were adequately protected from risk, including the risks of unsafe practices by its own staff. Individuals in Winterbourne View which is a home owned by Castlebeck Care Ltd were pinned down, slapped, doused in cold water and repeatedly taunted and teased by staff in the home. Castlebeck Care Ltd failed to notify the Care Quality Commission of these incidents, injuries to individuals and of occasions when individuals had gone missing. A report about the murder of Steven Hoskin, a young man with learning difficulties who was abused and murdered in July 2006. In addition to being pushed over the railway and falling from a great height, it was also found that Steven had taken paracetamol tablets, had been drinking alcohol and had sustained recent injuries from cigarette burns. In addition he suffered appalling treatment from his abusers who took over his bed sit and he had neck bruises from having been hauled around his home by his own pet’s dog-lead and the backs of his hands had the  marks of foot-prints. Where can you go to get information and advice about your role in safeguarding and protecting individuals from abuse?: Local authority Adult Services Department like Social Services My manager, colleagues My company’s policies and procedures on safeguarding The internet Care Quality Commission Independent Safeguarding Authority Books Training and advice from training centres.’ UNDERSTAND WAYS TO REDUCE THE LIKELIHOOD OF ABUSE How working with person centred values can reduce the likelihood of abuse: Person-centred values include the individuality of the person, the rights of the individual, the individual’s choice, the individual’s privacy, the individual’s independence, the individual’s dignity and the individual being respected If person centred values are taken into consideration when supporting an individual there is less likely to be abuse as all the staff will be working in the same way and will feel shamed if they abuse because of the way that they have been taught to work. If an individual is considered to have a say in what he or she wants and is at the centre of any decision, it will be more unlikely that there is abuse. The individual will know what suits him or her and will not get so frustrated. I always put the service users I work with, their families and friends at the centre of any decision about them and they are an active partner in their own care. Individuals decide what to do, where to go, what clothes to wear and are treated with dignity, respect, confidentiality and are able to make their own choices.’ How encouraging active participation can reduce the likelihood of abuse: Active participation is a way of working that recognises an individual’s right to participate in the activities and relationships of everyday life as independently as possible; the individual is regarded as an active partner in their own care or support, rather than a passive recipient. So if the individual participates actively in their daily activities, which is what I practice, then the risk of abuse is low. For example in choosing the kind of meal to prepare I support individuals to make the lists of what they want to buy and go shopping with them so that they can choose the brand they want. The individual cooks the food the way they want it with little or no support. This is the same with all choices of clothes and outings. How promoting choice and rights can reduce the likelihood of abuse: Individuals are supported to make their choices in anything they want like in choosing food or drink, in what to wear, whether to use hot or cold water to bathe, etc. No individual will choose what will hurt him or her therefore abuse is reduced to the minimum. Individuals’ rights are promoted throughout the service. My service user has the right to do anything that they wish to do and if it is what they want as long as it is not dangerous; a risk assessment is then done to stop any abuse happening. I ensure that I promote service users’ rights and choices by allowing them to make their own choices and support them to have the rights of anyone else. Why an accessible complaints procedure is important for reducing the likelihood of abuse’: The complaints procedure gives the complainant the right to be heard and supported to make their views known. An accessible complaints procedure is understandable and easy to use. It sets out clearly how to make a complaint, the steps that will be taken when the complaint is looked into. It also provides flexibility in relation to target response times. An accessible complaints procedure resolves complaints more quickly as the complainant feels that they are being listened to and their complaint taken seriously. This sets up an open culture of making sure that abuse will not be tolerated in any form and encourages the complainant to not accept this. I remember when Mr R felt very happy when his complaint of being denied sleep was recorded in the complaints procedure. I supported him to write down the complaint and this was taken seriously†¦. Unsafe practices that may affect the wellbeing of individuals’: Unsanitary conditions can spread infection as cross-contamination can occur and can affect the well-being of the individual and others. Improper hand washing can also pose a risk. Dirty kitchen surfaces and equipment can spread infections, not covering hair when cooking can pose a risk to individual as can not reporting faulty equipment when working or not having cleaning materials can also be unsafe. In terms of health and safety not having risk assessments in place when a service user hurts themselves. Staff not checking when a service user is ill or unsteady on their feet. Staff not recording in care plans about a service user’s wellbeing and health and not monitoring them. Other unsafe practices which also amount to abuse can occur such as leaving a service user on the toilet too long, ignoring or not listening to them.  Marks on body not taken seriously and complaints not taken seriously can put them at more danger, harm and risk of abuse. I ensure that I keep to all the procedures for checking for abuse and the wellbeing of the individuals that I work with; by following these and the individual’s care plan I keep within the minimum standards of care and also work in a person centred way to make sure all individuals are happy and safe. The actions to take if unsafe practices have been identified ’: If I identify unsafe practices then I must follow the whistle-blowing procedure and report to the appropriate person(s). I will report to my manager immediately or if it involves my manager then to another appropriate person(s). I will monitor all unsafe practices and make sure that I record and report in full all the evidence and then will talk to my manager because all unsafe practices are dangerous practices that could cause harm to the individual and others. For example, I talked to my manager last week about things being left on the stairs that may cause service users and others to fall over and hurt themselves. She has talked to the staff and now this has stopped. The actions to take if suspected abuse or unsafe practices have been reported but nothing has been done in response: If suspected abuse or unsafe practices have been reported but nothing has been  done in response or if it has to do with my manager then I will report to the next level or manager. If it has to do with my manager then I will report to management, then to the social worker and safeguarding team and to the care quality commission and even to the police depending on the response I get. When I worked in a nursing home there was some abuse of service users being left too long on the toilet and I talked to the nurse in charge and changes were made immediately. I had to record the information and give the nurse and manager a copy of my confidential report. If the nurse or manager had not done this then I would follow the whistle blowing procedure.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Dissertation Chapters Essay

Our writers carefully peruse the contents of your entire dissertation in order to create the most concise yet informative summary of your work’s contents. This includes an overview of the research question, methods, results, and conclusions. The writing we produce is always clear and gives a solid and interesting, yet self-contained introduction to your dissertation that will encourage others to read it. We will also be careful to remain within the word limit of 350-600 words, while always aiming to optimize the impact of the work. Discussion Writing Our writers are adept at presenting clearly defined results. The proper arrangement of your results is always executed. Plus, the patterns that are present in the results are discussed and analyzed in clear language. Inferences are made regarding the data and these are continually related back to the hypothesis and research questions to maintain the cohesion of the whole work. Depending on your wishes, we are also able to include the works limitations and directions for future research. Review/Editing Admission Essays Our writers have had several years of experience with admission essays and know precisely how to modify yours in order to make it of top quality. For essay editing, we fine-tune your essay by removing grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors. For essay review, we offer you all our essay editing services, plus we also work hard to improve the style of your essay. This means that we improve your diction, syntax, and other stylistic problems. Plus we also offer feedback, which will give you directions on how to expand certain sections of your essay by offering more information in a given area. We will go the extra mile to make your essay one that will be noticed by the any admissions committee, and we work with you one-on-one to make that happen.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Fast Food Nation Summary and Reaction Essay

Eric Schlosser wrote the book â€Å"Fast Food Nation† to prove that the fast food industry is solely responsible for many problems that affect today’s society. He begins his argument by explaining how the fast food industry came to be and who made it happen. Carl Karcher was the biggest starting pioneer of this new industry. After his marriage in 1939, he bought his first hot dog cart and â€Å"by the end of 1994, [he] owned 4 hot dog carts in Los Angeles. † His next fast food venture was his Drive-In Barbeque, but the competition was soon on. â€Å"Dozens of people were standing in line to buy bags of ‘McDonald’s Famous Hamburgers’ (Schlosser 18, 19). Richard and â€Å"Mac† McDonald had their own business, but were tired of having to find new carhops and cooks. So they began to use today’s way of how fast food chains do business, assembly line style. This was the beginning of the rising power of the fast food industry. Schlosser then briefly describes the lives of many other fast food pioneers such as William Rosenberg who opened his first â€Å"doughnut shop in 1948, later calling it Dunkin’ Donuts. † Glen Bell founded the restaurant chain Taco Bell, Keith Cramer founded Insta-Burger-King, Dave Thomas founded Wendy’s, and Thomas Monaghan opened the first Domino’s. And Harland Sanders was the famous man of them all with his opening of the world’s first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant (Schlosser 22-23). Thanks to these men, America has her fast food. In order to explain how fast food became so popular in American culture, Schlosser continues his book with the complicated relationship between Ray Kroc and Walt Disney and their rise to fame. â€Å"Ray Kroc took the McDonald brothers’ Speedee Service System and spread it nationwide, creating a fast food empire (Schlosser 34). † Walt Disney created a fantasy world that fulfilled the American child’s dreams. Their great success was their uncanny ability of marketing their products to children. Even though Walt Disney’s success arrived sooner, Kroc’s company was most successful with the invention of the character Ronald McDonald in enticing America’s children. â€Å"Indeed, market research has found that children often recognize a brand logo before they can recognize their own name (Schlosser 43). † Playgrounds and even public school systems have fell victim to advertising. Playlands in McDonald’s stores attract whole families with young, hungry, and noisy children. Believe it or not, children are the ones who made McDonald’s Corporation as rich as it is today. Schlosser continues with stories and facts about what happens behind the counter. The mass number of fast food stores across America shows growing problems surrounding those who work at them. Crew members are only paid minimum wage and sometimes even less. They are prevented from being paid overtime, forming labor unions, and are forced to work only when they are needed. Workers going overtime are being paid for the extra time in food, not money. Robberies have been known to occur by current of former employees, not just third parties. McDonald’s sees it only necessary to add security to its stores rather than increasing its employee wages to incentivize workers to try and prevent theft. McDonald’s uses a combination of teenagers and illegal immigrants as its workforce supply. These workers are not concerned about being paid little since most do not have to support a family. With such a tremendous supply of labor, there is no incentive for McDonald’s Corporation to increase employee wages. Franchisees of many fast food chains are increasingly upset about encroachment, multiple stores of the same chain within short distances of each other. It is terrible that corporations are not thinking too highly of their franchisees. But there is no incentive for these corporations to change since they own the land that their franchises sit on. Franchisees periodically sue their franchisors â€Å"about inflated price charged by suppliers, [and] about bankruptcies and terminations that seemed unfair (Schlosser 100). † The meat packing industry is by far the most dangerous industry in America. Countless injuries occur without being reported and all that seems to matter to the industry is meeting the daily schedules. The faster the employees are made to work, the more dangerous the work becomes. Workers are usually fired after they are severely injured and are sent to specific doctors who do not document these injuries and convince the workers that they are fine. Any defiance against the company and those workers are either fired or given harder and more dangerous tasks. The only thought that comes across meat packing company executives is profit margins. There is relatively no social justice for the employees of the fast food and meat packing industries. Their wages are minimal, they receive no benefits, and no bonuses are given. There is no excuse that can justify falsified reports and time clocks. This is one of the few points where private interests go too far. Minimized costs is a must have in the private sector, but not to the point where the lives and welfare of workers are at stake and laws are being violated. There is simply too much private interest alive in Congress which prevents any further prohibition of such behavior. These industries are technically victimizing their workers by using them as cheap labor. Fast food chains use advertising which targets children who are the most vulnerable and exploit that weakness to maximize profits. In addition to Schlosser’s arguments, fast food is the worst possible food that people can eat. The sad thing is children at such young ages are eating it and the parents either do not even know any better or they simply do not care just because it is good to their wallets. Eric Schlosser’s critical views towards the fast food and meat packing industries, I dear say, are very informative. In sharing his views, I believe things must be done to address these issues. If the end result means higher prices for fast food, I, unlike most of Americans, simply would not mind paying it because then at least the employees of both industries would be earning better wages, learning real life skills, and working in a safer environment especially for those who do the meat packing. The facts about the fast food industry in this book definitely prove to me what I have been supporting, working at a McDonald’s for the past two years. I may actually consider finding a new job this summer with a company that pays me better, a company that does not have the kind of nasty reputation that the fast food chains have.

Analyzing the Psychological Effects of Epilepsy

Analyzing the Psychological Effects of Epilepsy   Julie LaMon Epilepsy is a chronic seizure disorder. The hallmark of Epilepsy is recurrent, unprovoked seizures. In the United States alone, there are around 100,000 new cases of Epilepsy every year (Sirven and Shafer). Epilepsy affects more individuals than cerebral palsy, cancer, tuberculosis, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis combined (Fletcher). Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes (Rathus). Epilepsy is related to psychology because it has the ability to cause stress and anxiety, to effect the way epileptics interact with other people, and lastly it has the ability to effect moods and could ultimately lead to psychological disorders. Epilepsy can occur in both children and adults, and cause seizures that can be life threatening or even appear as just a blank stare. Seizures occur when electrical signals are abnormally transmitted; these signals then alter typical brain functions (The Johns Hopkins University). Generally, anything t hat disrupts the function of the brain, or the normal pattern of neuron activity, can lead to possible seizures or brain damage (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke). Scientists today are still trying to find answers to what cause some cases of epilepsy. The main reasoning for why epilepsy occurs, lie under the thoughts that  patients with epilepsy have abnormal brain wiring. While the indicators of a seizure may affect the body, the electrical currents that yield the symptoms happen in the brain (Sirven and Shafer). They also have discovered that an active variable in epilepsy is the imbalance of neurotransmitters, nerve signaling chemicals. The imbalance of neurotransmitters changes important features of brain cells, or channels (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke). In an interview with Julianna Macgregor, who was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2014, she answered questions about what provokes seizures. Although not all cases are the same, s he notices an increase in seizures when she is under stress. Research has shown that â€Å"90% of seizures are caused by stress† (Fletcher). Certain situations like arguments, heavy workloads, time deadlines, fears, and fevers make her and others more prone to seizures. She notices more seizure activity when she is not on a consistent sleep schedule. Macgregor also stated that her doctors stated her case was â€Å"not textbook,† so they are still determining a benign treatment. Seizure activity was found in her right frontal lobe and both temporal lobes. Recently there has been activity in her left frontal lobe as well. In the right frontal lobe, she experiences bursts which move to the motor cortex and cause her arm to twitch, which are known as myoclonic seizures (Macgregor). Psychologically, epilepsy has effected Julianna Macgregor. Once diagnosed she became stressed realizing the fear that she most likely will have this disorder for the rest of her life. She also i s constantly apprehensive of the switching of treatment and medication, because none of them are effective. Macgregor admitted to losing hope last year. Lastly, she admitted her struggle in accepting that she cannot do things that everyone else can do. Due to her epilepsy, she will not be able to get her license unless she goes one-year seizure free. Macgregor shared that she was depressed for a while and had to attend therapy (Macgregor). Julianna Macgregor explained that she currently takes 92 pills a week in attempt to control her seizures and is lucky to get through 2 days without any type of seizure. Her doctors continue to search for a beneficial treatment for her, but for now, medication and diets are not effective. In June of 2016, she was set to receive brain surgery, but the doctors concluded it was much too dangerous. Since Macgregor has apparent seizure activity throughout most of her brain, the risks were higher that surgery would only provoke more seizure activity in o ther sections of her brain (Macgregor). The different types of seizures are determined by which part of the brain is effected by the electrical misfiring. There are many types of seizures, but they can be divided into two major classifications: generalized and partial. Partial or frontal seizures occur when one or more areas are effected. People experiencing this type of seizure usually experience some type of warning signal (The Johns Hopkins University). Simple focal seizures may manifest in different forms, depending on what part of the brain is affected. Seizures are usually limited to certain muscle groups. The individual is not conscious during simple focus seizures (The Johns Hopkins University). Complex focal seizures usually occur in the temporal lobe. This part of the brain controls memory and emotions (Rathus). During these seizures, the person loses consciousness, but they might appear awake. They may also display uncontrolled behaviors such as laughing, crying, or s creaming. After the seizure ends, the person often complains of exhaustion or fatigue (The Johns Hopkins University). The four types of generalized seizures are petit mal, atonic, myoclonic, and generalized tonic-clonic, or grand-mal. Petit mal seizures last less than thirty seconds. Patients will appear awake but will blink/twitch. These patients are in a completely different state of consciousness (The Johns Hopkins University). Atonic seizures generally occur when a person experiences total muscle loss and becomes flaccid and unresponsive. Myoclonic seizures are when the person experiences quick and erratic muscle movement. Myoclonic Seizures usually occur several times within a 24 hour time period (The Johns Hopkins University). A generalized tonic-clonic seizure, or grand-mal seizure presents itself in five phases. Although not present in all seizures, a person experiences contraction of muscle, extension of muscle, tremors, contractions, and relax stages. After the seizure, the person might exhibit extreme exhaustion or may experience headaches, muscle aches, blurred vision, or diminished hearing (The Johns Hopkins University). After someone experiences a seizure, for the first time, they are taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons. Doctors are not able to consider patients for epilepsy, or diagnose patients with epilepsy until they experience a second seizure. In order to research seizures and to determine the source, potential patients go through multiple tests. Some of the tests include EEGs, MRIs, blood tests, and CAT scans. EEGs or Electroencephalograms are used to gather data about the brain a well as the patterns of brain waves. MRI, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, is a procedure that uses large magnets, radiofrequencies, and a computer to produce thorough images of structures within the body. CAT Scan, Computerized Axial Tomography, is used to check and detect abnormalities, such as brain tumors (Fletcher). Continuing research is concentr ated on developing new treatments. In biological studies, theorists believe that genes may influence or cause epilepsy. This may allow doctors to prevent epilepsy, or figure out the most beneficial treatments for their patients. Scientists also continue to study neurotransmitters, and how neurotransmitters interact with brain cells to control nerve firing and how non-neuronal cells in the brain contribute to seizures (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke). The psychological consequences related to a person with epilepsy is traumatic. People who suffer from epilepsy generally suffer from low self-esteem. Other emotional issues include anxiety, denial, depression, and anger. Epilepsy is not prevalent in individuals until a seizure occurs, therefore it is easy to hide it from others. Epilepsy effects families, schools, and employment. Generally, there are more cases of learning disabilities that occur because of medication prescribed or memory loss due to seizures. A person with epilepsy needs a strong support system involving the family, doctors, friends, and support groups within the community (The Johns Hopkins University). References   Fletcher, Sally. The Challenges of Epilepsy: Take Control of Your Seizures and Your Life- Third Edition . San Rafael, Ca: Aura Publishing Company, 2004. Macgregor, Julianna. What Are Certain Causes For Seizures? Julie LaMon. 29 November 2016. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. NINDS Epilepsy Information Page . 1 February 2016. 3 December 2016. Rathus, Spencer A. â€Å"Psychology: Principles in Practice.† Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2003. 4. Textbook. Sirven, Joseph I. and Patricia O. Shafer. What Is Epilepsy? January 2014. 30 November 2016. The Johns Hopkins University, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Johns Hopkins Health System. Epilepsy and Seizures . n.d. 30 November 2016.