Current Events Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Current Events - Article Example The article further highlights that there have been other separate treaties for the EU states against the new rules. Consequently, this move bars the new treaty from utilizing some of the institutions of the Union, including the European Commission to implement and monitor the treaty. The article further highlights fears of economists and leaders that the tighter rules may limit government maneuvers in tough economic situations enforcing Germany-style fiscal discipline on countries with completely different cultures and economies. Steinhauser also points out that Ireland pose the greatest threat to the success of the treaty, especially with its decision to hold a public referendum on the ratification of the treaty on Stability, Coordination, and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (Steinhauser). From a personal point of view, the treaty is a considerate action based on the European Social model of improving working and living conditions and sustainable economic growth. Howe ver, the fact that the treaty imposes a particular form of financial discipline may be unfair, considering that the majority of the countries in the Euro Zone have different economies and cultures. The article in The Economist titled as â€Å"A Firewall Full of Holes: The Euro Zone’s Rescue Strategy Still Does Not Add Up† explores the various economic strategies adopted by the European Union to protect the region from future economic slump downs resulting from economic crisis, such as that of 2011. The article highlights the European Central Bank provision of liquidity to banks, the new Euro-Zone tough fiscal rules, the deal of bailing out Greece for the second time, and reforms in Spain and Italy. The economic â€Å"firewall† comprises of the son-to-be-introduced European Stability Mechanism, an increase in International Monetary Fund’s resources, and a permanent rescue funds scheme, all focusing on the prevention of another conflagration (The Economist) . The article highlights all these arguments as weak, with the exemption of the Long Term Financing Refinancing Operation of ECB, which essentially provides Euro Zone banks with three-year liquidity at one percent against various forms of collateral (The Economist). The article also highlights the problem associated with the plans, including the reinforcement of close links between the health of banks and their sovereign debts resulting from the LTRO. The article proposes a solid firewall plan by suggesting the embracement of a European Redemption Fund by the German Council of Economic Experts. Such a scheme would align all the debts of members of the Euro Zone at above 60% of the GDP allowing these countries to repay back in about twenty-five years. This would prove to be a credible move by G20 members, thus, enabling them to stump up cash donations for IMF resources (The Economist). At the end, the Euro Zone members will be able to create formidable defense against economic crises in the future at an affordable central-bank funds. In his article named â€Å"Economy Watch: Is the British Economy Already Back in Recession?† in This is Money Oxlade explores the economic performance of Britain after the recession predicting a possible double-dip recession. He explores past recession recovery with the current economic performa

Population Growth in Developing Countries Essay Example for Free

Population Growth in Developing Countries Essay Perceiving that a local reporter needs help in understanding the conditions of people in developing countries who live in places where the land can neither provide for the immediate needs of the people nor their secondary needs, different options are provided for them to enhance their lifestyle and living conditions. For the purpose of this study, there will be five available options for the people. The first option is to subdivide those existing farms and to redistribute the land for everyone to live on. This option is very advantageous to those people who do not have permanent residency as they are accorded with a new land to live on. This means that rural settlers will be able to establish their own agricultural endeavor and utilize their land as a source of livelihood and income to provide for the needs of their family (Khan, 2001). Moreover, doing this will provide the people equal opportunities to make the most of what they have and work for their own growth and development. On the contrary, redistributing farm lands will also pose some disadvantages especially considering the equal opportunities given to every land owners. This will raise competition between and among the farmers as those who are better skilled will be empowered and those who produce little will be disregarded. The second option available is to combine those small and inefficient farms into a larger cooperative farm wherein the people could jointly pursue agricultural industry. With such choice, having more people working under the same industry increases productivity rate as every individual work responsibly on their assigned task. Also, it allows greater opportunity to create more competitive goods. However, disparity may emerge when people with a larger farm would assert greater share as compared to smaller farm owners. This then creates internal conflict and disagreements between who gets a certain portion of the revenue and how it will be divided. The third option would be to open up new agricultural lands. Considering that many developing countries are higly labor-intensive or they have industries which requires a large labor force to flourish, opening new lands for agriculture will be beneficial for many rural workers who are directly participating in this endeavor (Economy Watch, 2008). They are given opportunities to enhance their skills and at the same time enable the economy to increase local production which could also be exported. On the other hand, expanding agricultural industry will somehow limit developing countries from achieving their goal to diversify production and enhance their skills and economic activities. Even their undertakings to pursue a capital-intensive industry will also be restricted because greater emphasis are accorded to the labor industry with the growing expansion of agricultural lands. Aside from that, a fourth option is also observed wherein rural farmers or people are given the choice to look for a job in the city. In doing so, individuals who will be moving to the city will be able to explore new opportunities and discover different kinds of work. Moreover, considering that they will be going to the city where the center of business relations are perceived, they will be able to provide for the immediate needs of their families. However, in a sudden influx of people from the rural to the urban areas, the city will be greatly concentrated and overpopulated (Khan, 2001). This may have tremendous consequences from a lack of housing for the people and massive unemployment. Lastly, the fifth option would be to emigrate to a developed and industrialized country wherein more opportunities are available. Read more:Â  Disadvantages of Overpopulation Considering that developed countries are more economically stable than developing countries, people who would be moving to these countries will not just be able to provide for the immediate needs of their families but will even have some budget to suffice their secondary needs like buy a simple means of transportation. Yet despite having a better paying job, they are still disadvantaged and in a vulnerable position since they are far from their families and may experience difficulty to adjust to the living standards in developed countries. Of all the five available options, the best one is probably the third option which allows the developing countries and their people to expand agricultural endeavors. This option somehow relates the second option of combining farm lands since it also connotes an increase in the production process. Although it is observed that doing so will limit the country from diversifying its resources and means of production, giving emphasis to labor-intensive industries will be more tangible and applicable to these developing countries especially taking into consideration their large population (Economy Watch, 2008). Moreover, opening new agricultural lands will help address the problem of overpopulation and a poor living condition. Lastly, opening more lands for agricultural endeavors does not necessarily follow that the manufacturing industries will be completely disregarded because the state actors could strike a balance in this dilemma by pursuing the expansion projects in the rural areas where more people are agriculturally inclined and enhance manufacturing industries in the city.

Leadership Capabilities Of Steve Jobs Commerce Essay

Leadership Capabilities Of Steve Jobs Commerce Essay The main goal of this report is to examine and evaluate leadership capabilities of Steve Jobs. Jobs is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Apple and nowadays possibly one of the most successful businessman on the world. Despite of many critics about his leadership. The fact that he is an effective leader is not contestable. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to examine the leadership qualities that have brought Jobs to the top of business World. CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND OF STEVE JOBS Steve Jobs was born on 24 February 1955, in San Francisco, California, United Sates. Clara and Paul Jobs adopted him shortly after birth. He was growing up in two with his sister Patty. In 1961, whole Jobs family relocated from San Francisco to Mountain View in California, which, was at that time the heart of electronics industry called Silicon Valley (Butcher, 1987). During his childhood, he was an individual who liked making things alone. He liked to compete with others, but definitely, he was not attracted in group sports or other team games. However, from the early age he demonstrated an intensive interest towards electronics field. He devoted all of his spare time observing and working together with neighbor who was employed at Hewlett-Packard (HP) that was an electronics producer. Moreover, at that time young Jobs joined to HP Explorer Club. This gave him possibility to observe engineers working on new products. When he was twelve, he could see and touch HPs first computer. Th is was huge milestone in his life, because then he thought that he wanted to work on this field (Stross Randall, 1993). While in high school, Jobs participated lecture at the HP factory. Once he asked directly William Hewlett CEO of HP, for some specific part, which, he required to finish a school project. Therefore, Hewlett was so dazzled he not only donated Jobs the parts, but most of all he proposed him a holiday job at HP. After High school, in 1972, Jobs joined to Reed College in Portland, Oregon. However, after one semester, he left and in summer, he decided to go to India and take a course of eastern religions. This is because Jobs was a contradictory, trifler young recluse with an inclination for problems. He liked hippie way of life, narcotics and Zen philosophy (Butcher Lee, 1987). After a few months in India, he came back. In 1975, Steve Jobs enrolled to the Homebrew Computer Club. There he met Steve Wozniak, a technical maniac who was designing a small sized computer. Steve fell in love in this idea and started exploring marketing possibility of such a product. Therefore, in 1976 together with Wozniak established their own company, which they named Apple. Initially they had no money to invest, thus to gain same resources for a startup Jobs sold his microbus and Wozniak his calculator which gave them $1,300. The first products they sold were circuit boards, which keep the inner parts of a computer. However, while selling these boards they were working on their core products that were personal computers (Norman, 2009). While doing marketing research Jobs realized that there is huge opportunity for them to expand on the market. This is because in that period time all computers available on the market were huge size that could hardly fit in the large room. What is more, at that time computers were so expensive that potential customers were not able to afford to purchase them. In response to the market needs, Apple designed its computers in this way in order to be able to sell its products to large number of users. Finally, in 1977 Apple II released to the market personal computer (PC) which in first year generated extraordinary sales of $2,7 million. The Apples sales rose to $200million within following three years. Apples example became the most unusual situation of corporate development in whole United States history. Throughout this implementation of PC Steve Jobs and its Apple permanently inscribed on the pages of history, because initiated completely new era era of personal computers (www.referenceforbusiness.com). In eighties, era of PC was progressing rapidly. Because of appearing competition on the market, Jobss and Wozniaks company was constantly pressed to develop its computers to remain a market leader. Jobs as a head of marketing of Apple in 1983 officially presented new computer called Lisa. That was created for users having smallest computer knowledge. However, mostly because of its high price this PC was not to o successful. For example, IBM, Apples biggest competitors (50% of PC market share) sold its PC at the lower price (Landrum Gene, 1993). In 1984, Jobss company issued pioneering model of computer on the market, called Macintosh (Mac). This PC differs from others in term of its usability (very easy to use). However, once again the sales level of Mac was poor. This is because; it did not have attributes that competitors had, for instance an adequate high tech printer. The catastrophe of the Mac initiated the start of Jobss collapse at Apple. Jobs retreated in 1985 from the company he had established; however, he kept the title of Chairman of the board (Norman, 2009). Short after this, Job employed several of his previous workers to establish another computer company named NeXT. Then in San Francisco in 1988, Jobs presented his new company. Preliminary feedback was good, because new PC was very easy to use, equipped in very fast processor, had great graphics, and an excellent sound sy stem. Unfortunately, no matters on the initial response from the users, the NeXTs PCs had never been released on the market. This was because once again these new computers were too expensive, possessed a black-and-white display, and were no compatible with other computers or could not work on universal software (Stross Randall, 1993). Definitely, NeXT was not the last one word of Jobs. Because in 1986 Steve bought from moviemaker, George Lukas a small-sized firm named Pixar. The core activity of Pixar was computer animation. Consequently, in 1995 this company issued famous Toy Story, which was a huge success of Pixar. Furthermore, in following years they released most successful animation movies ever such as Toy Story 2, A Bugs Life, and Monsters. After long time of failures, Pixars success was not the only one. Jobs privet life got better as well. Because in the same year, he got married and shortly he had, a baby girl named Lisa (www.referenceforbusiness.com). In the meantime, A pple wrestled below a sequence of six CEOs that had no vision and were not able to inspire the firms unmotivated engineers. Morale was down and so Apple was facing profit lose and poor financial liquidity. Then in following year, Jobs came back to Apple as consultant to the CEO. Right after this Apple bought NeXT Software. In 1997, Apple and its main competitor Microsoft became partners. In the same year, Apple started selling its products directly to customers both by internet but as well by telephone. Right after this, Apples web store went into the top three most successful e-shops worldwide (Butcher Lee, 1987). In following year, Steve publicly declared the issuing of the iMac that possessed great computing capability at the reasonable price. Additionally, in 1999 Apple released laptop available on whole plateau of colors called iBook. In 2000, Steve Jobs became once again permanent CEO of Apple (Norman, 2009). After 2001 has came a period of splendor for Apple and for Jobs tha t continues to these days. Consequently, in 2009 Forbes listed Jobs on the 43 position wealthiest people on the globe, with $5,100 million fortune. LEADERSHIP CAPABILITY OF STEVE JOBS Numerous academics have claimed that proper management of knowledge can bring to organizations crucial and essential competitive advantage. Leadership is foundation of the process of managing information efficiently and effectively (Bryant, 2003). The recent studies show that most successful managers, uses a set of different styles of leadership (Goleman, 2008). What is more Golemans survey identified the following role: leaders who have mastered at least four styles of the leadership especially the authoritative, democratic, unifying and coaching create the best atmosphere at work and have the best results. (quotation translated, 2008). Based on the leadership theories, in term of specific traits the most effective leaders are calm, innovative, confident and challenging (Belbin, 2008). They have a vision and charisma (Goleman, 2008). They have ability to convince and motivate others to act effectively, while encouraging personal development (Kouzes Posner, 2002). They uphold wid e picture, while delegating details to the others (Coutu, 2008). In case of Steve Deutschman stated (2001) that his most significant leadership feature was creativity and being innovative. We could easily state that innovation was a base on which he built his empire. Until these days, we can observe that innovation is still key factor, which brought Apple to the market leader position in information technology industry. Jobs understood that being innovative and providing permanently new ideas to meet customers needs is essence in effective leadership (Quittner, 2004). Some of us can joke that Jobs has no education background, because he has not finished any college. However, undoubted fact is that devoting his life to his passion, new solutions in IT branch achieved more than almost every human being could ever dream about. Despite of many critics towards his behavior and styles of leadership such as Jobs is perfectionist with tendency to intimidate others (Harvey, 2005), there are a few important facts: In 1976, he co-founded Apple, and until n owadays, he has successfully led company, which now has 15K employees. This can prove that Jobs possesses great leadership qualities. In period, from 1977 to 1985, Apple had in total six CEOs. Within this time company was losing money, management had not vision for the future and stuff was not motivated. Right after this, Jobs came back as a CEO and by implementation of a few innovative products in very short time Apple returned to the prosperity (Young, 2005). Moreover, additional capability of Jobss leadership is product passion and deep-seated consumer orientation. Jobs was judged for his approach to leadership, however his accomplishments were never negated, because all of these were world shattering. Another important of trait of Jobs leadership is ability to see big picture, thus not only PCs, but also long distance ahead (Landrum Gene, 1993). Consequently, many times people working with him did not understand choices of Jobs concerning new products implementation, or his lon g-term vision. For instance, shortly after he came back to Apple, he decided to stop most of running production lines. Instead of this, he focused only on four products. This soon after turned out to be a huge success (Deutchman, 2001). Steve is very challenging both his towards his employees, but first of all for himself. Thus, tasks he delegates to workers are very likely not fully SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-framed). However, from the other hand, which is good thing, Jobs is permanently working to improve all fields of his job (Erve, 2004). Furthermore, there is crucial feature of Jobs leadership style that is his capability to connect passion and respects of his workers. Business Week (1997) argued that Jobs is a great example of transformational leadership (TL). This is leadership, which causes that workers devote all their energy in the companys strategy. TL takes place when, employees interact one on another, by which increase their morality a nd motivation (Kouzes Posner, 2002). Jobs as a transformational leader, was able to make its employees to do things that were in line with his vision of the companys development. Jobss best-known gift is his capability to charm and convince others. That is an extremely powerful trait, which, he uses often to persuade anyone of everything (Siracusa, 2007). Bennis and Thomas posted in their article that great leaders are born in the crucible of harsh experience (quotation translated, 2007). Furthermore, they added that: what makes a great leader is a resistance to adversity, and perseverance in the pursuit of goals. This is definitely significant capability of Jobs as a leader. As demonstrated above (leaving Apple in1985) Jobs life was full of failures. Most of the people in a similar situation would leave for good. However He did differently. Having a look on the Steves biography, we can also state that he has additional trait which good leader need to have, to perform effectively. Namely, this is self-confidence and ability to experiment and take a risk. These, according Kouzes and Posner are necessary (2002). All his live Jobs was confident, he deeply believed in all what he has been doing. He profoundly believed in his success, in success of companys strategy and so success of its products (Erve, 2004). This self-confidence and courage led him on the top. Many Journalists suggest that Jobs is egoist (Norman, 2009). Very likely he is indeed. However, this could be perceived also as crucial trait of effective leader, especially here in this case of company founder. Possibly Jobs has dreamed to be billionaire, and so egoism helped him to make this dream come true. Possibly egoism was a driving force which convinced him to create successful teams of employees that were able to develop such a revolutionary products. Jobs possesses also ability to create and develop great teams, consisted of star talents (Young, 2005). This is crucial trait, which is essential i n effective leadership (Kouzes Posner, 2002). This skill combined with great ideas, its vision and capability to manage and motivate his team could be key factors of his overall success. Summarizing the core features of Jobs success as leader are the following: being visionary, innovative and charismatic confidence and trust in: himself, success, his strategy capability to recruit, develop and motivate effective teams built of star talents persistence and resistance for defeats product zeal huge consumer devotion skill to transmit his ideas to the teams for realization; LEADERSHIP WEAKNESSES OF STEVE JOBS There is undoubted fact that overall performance Jobs has to be considered as a successful, because numbers on his bank account do not lie. He is extremely victorious businessman who achieved great financial status. However, there are also numerous of weaknesses, which, Steve Jobs possesses. Here based on the statements of people who have had direct contact with him, we could have a feelings Jobs represents typical for Belbins Shaper weaknesses, such as emotionality, the tendency to irritation or aggressive behavior (Belbin, 2004). Moreover, research performed by Belbin in 2004 to identify behavior of most effective manager indicated shaper team role as a least effective. Jobs represents also autocratic style of leadership. This approach has a tendency to weak decision-making process on the middle management level. Recently Apples management team gives the impression of being more motivated by dread of Steve than by their own inherent aspects (Siracusa, 2007). Webber from Washington Post said (2009) that Jobs had became a living legend in term of leadership style. Since his behavior discredits all existing best practices of leadership. He demonstrated long list of less than advisable behaviors, from public rebuking his employees to disrupting practices within meetings to the time consuming overview of every detail in product designing process. However in contrary experts and academics from leadership area state: Never reprimand your subordinate publicly! Rather, If necessary do it face to face (Walasek, 2010) The most effective leaders maintain wide focus, while leaving details to the others (Belbin, 2004) The most effective managers are calm and they are able to control their emotions (Rzyska, 2010) CONCLUSIONS This hard task to indicate weaknesses of the one of the biggest leaders ever CEO of decades (Fortune Magazine, 2009), whether to indicate the room for improvement in his leadership. Numbers do not lie he had no money when he started making business. Now he is billionaire. In 2009, Forbes magazine listed him on the 43 position wealthiest people on the globe, with $5,100 million fortune. Many traits that Jobs possesses seems to be completely opposite in relations to these indicated by leadership experts as an essential in order to be effective. However, those that he has, such as being innovative, self-confident, persistent for defeats or capability to make its ideas come true seem to be sufficient.

Geroge Patton :: Essays Papers

Geroge Patton I am going to talk about the Patton’s life in general. This includes his child hood, education, his military career, and his involvement in the world wars. George was born on a ranch on November 11, 1885 in San Gabriel, California. He went to school in Pasadena and later to the Virginia Military Institute from 1903-1904. He was not a good student, but he was an excellent sailor. He was also a great track athlete. He took part in the Olympics at Stockholm in 1912 and set a world record in target shooting. He also won first or second place in swimming, horsemanship, and racing. On May 26, 1910 George married Beatrice Ayer of Boston. They had 1 son and 2 daughters. The son went to West Point in 1942 and both daughters married army men. In 1904 he was appointed to the United States Military Academy. He graduated in 1909 and was commissioned to second lieutenant of Calvary. He was first involved in an expedition in Mexico as an aide to General Pershing in 1917. He was a member of Pershing’s staff and went to France and studied French Tank Tactics and the French Tank School. During World War 1, he started a tank training school and commanded a tank brigade. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his courge, energy, and intelligence in directing the advance of his brigade in 1918. From 1919-1928, he commanded and trained several different brigade units around the United States. From 1928-1931, he served in Washington D.C. as the Chief of Calvery. He commanded many different calvalry units from 1932-1938. During this time he earned the permanent rank of Lieutenant Colonel. During World War 2, he commanded U.S. forces in Morocco, Tunisia, and Sicily. In 1944 he was given command of the third army. The third army broke through the German defense and advanced across France. In March 1945, they crossed the Rhine river Geroge Patton :: Essays Papers Geroge Patton I am going to talk about the Patton’s life in general. This includes his child hood, education, his military career, and his involvement in the world wars. George was born on a ranch on November 11, 1885 in San Gabriel, California. He went to school in Pasadena and later to the Virginia Military Institute from 1903-1904. He was not a good student, but he was an excellent sailor. He was also a great track athlete. He took part in the Olympics at Stockholm in 1912 and set a world record in target shooting. He also won first or second place in swimming, horsemanship, and racing. On May 26, 1910 George married Beatrice Ayer of Boston. They had 1 son and 2 daughters. The son went to West Point in 1942 and both daughters married army men. In 1904 he was appointed to the United States Military Academy. He graduated in 1909 and was commissioned to second lieutenant of Calvary. He was first involved in an expedition in Mexico as an aide to General Pershing in 1917. He was a member of Pershing’s staff and went to France and studied French Tank Tactics and the French Tank School. During World War 1, he started a tank training school and commanded a tank brigade. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his courge, energy, and intelligence in directing the advance of his brigade in 1918. From 1919-1928, he commanded and trained several different brigade units around the United States. From 1928-1931, he served in Washington D.C. as the Chief of Calvery. He commanded many different calvalry units from 1932-1938. During this time he earned the permanent rank of Lieutenant Colonel. During World War 2, he commanded U.S. forces in Morocco, Tunisia, and Sicily. In 1944 he was given command of the third army. The third army broke through the German defense and advanced across France. In March 1945, they crossed the Rhine river

Intercultural marriage Essay

Intercultural marriages increases the effort needed to be able to maintain a lasting relationship due to factors such as differences in traditions, norms and even language. This can be viewed on the basis of the elements affecting the success and failures of marriages. It is a known fact that committing to a relationship and marrying entails adjustments in every of the individual, physically, socially and emotionally. This is due to the reality that two people that have different personalities and outlooks are bound to make unified decisions. Comparatively, being born from different culture and traditions increases the effort that is needed to be exerted to be able to establish a stable relationship and attain a successful married life. The dedication that is required from the individuals is higher because of the accepted facts that there are added factors that are in need of consideration (Romano, 1997). Scenario of an Intercultural Marriage In the determination of the factors that can affect the process referred to as intercultural marriage, there are two contributing element that are considered. First consideration is the issues that are related to the differences in the traditions and norms of the two individual and second is the factors that lead to and affect marriage. In this view the first area that is needed to be studied are the factors that affect the relationship of two individuals. Primarily, the factors that can affect are the means of communicating. In viewing the onset of intercultural marriages, the couple can meet and communicate through chance whose probability is heightened mainly from intercultural phenomenon such as immigration and relocation that serves as the primary causes of interaction. This can be attributed to the development that is presently occurring in the society. The advancement of the communication technology is also another contributing factor (Bacas, 2003; Constable, 2003). The second important consideration in this type of marriage is the factors that can affect the relationship established between the two individuals of the same culture. The issues that can be considered that has the most influential effects on the union of two persons from different backgrounds are the norms, tradition and the language that is mainly used for communication. It is an accepted notion that people from different culture, may it be geographically-related such of different nation, related to religion and spiritual belief and ethnic backgrounds, has different visions in life (Romano, 1997). The outlook and points of view of every person work on the basis of their background. Thus, every aspect of one’s personality is deeply rooted on their origins which can affect the decisions that will be made in the bounds of the married life.

Homeschool vs Public School Essay

In this paper I plan on describing education and how it has shaped me. How education effects everyone depending on their situation, whether they are rich, poor, white, black, healthy , or disable . There is a type of education for everybody. In all three essays the authors taught us through the characters they used, the hardships and discrimination that they insured trying to seek an education if they were not considered in the right classification in society. They have taught us that nothing can stop us and we can reach to the stars for anything we want to do as long as we  have the will power. As you read my essay you will see some of my own mothers hardships that she went through for us so we could get a good education. The essay tells you how you should go about to choose your education too. It proved in the essay â€Å"Finishing School† by Maya Angelou, how hard it was to be poor and black and get an education or be recognized in society. Even though her Mistress tried to dishonor her by changing her name and disgracing her in front of her friends Angelou had no intention on standing still for it. She might be black but she was not to be put down . She was just as smart or smarter as her mistress as far as she was concerned and no one had any right black or white , rich or poor to discriminate or change anything about her. This was a lesson Angelou taught us to do standing up for ourselves no matter how hard it may be Our education is well worth it and so are we. In the essay â€Å"Indian Education† by Sherman Alexie, he had it hard on the reservation. First he was picked on in school by his peers,,which is something a lot of us go through. As he got older he turned the tables and went through many hardships in his education. Finally to succeed and going to public school. He had to change his ways and get a proper education in order to become something in life. Alexie learned from discrimination and peer pressure. He learned what he had to do to make his life better and how to improve it . All the hardships Alexie, Angelou and Smith-Yackel went through did not stop any of them, they kept going and that is what is I think what makes our education the same Teachers have a way with teaching as told in the essay The Banking â€Å"Concept of Education â€Å"by Paulo Concept of Education (Home School vs. Public School 3 Friere. As told in the essay Friere points out how â€Å"Four times Four is Sixteen† can just be words unless put to use by the student . It is not just up to the teacher to teach us but up to us to take in what the teacher is trying to teach us. However, at the same time it goes without saying if a teacher knows only one way of teaching which may be memorization then that may be the only way a student can learn . So as student I think it is up to us to learn as much as we can. The teacher can only do so much, we have to do the rest . I think that is what Friere is also trying to point out to us. It is not only up to the teacher but up to us as the student too. The essay written by Bonnie Smith-Yackel â€Å"My Mother Never Worked†, is the one that really touched my heart the most. This is my favorite one. My mother was like Martha in many ways. Although my mother had epilepsy all of her life she volunteered to do everything for everyone. My mom was on disability but did not let that keep her down. It was society that tried to keep her, down but she refused to let them hold her back. She was a stay at home mom and did everything for us . She babysat for neighbors, friends and family. She was there at a moment’s notice if anyone had a sick child and needed her. She was a wonderful mother and wife. She went to college for child development and got her associates degree. When we started school she went to school with us every day and volunteered from eight in the morning till we got out of school each day. My moms dream was to be a teacher but because of epilepsy and disability she could not. She could still volunteer though but not get paid for her services. This did not bother my mom. To her she was still fulfilling her job as a teacher. When I was a child I went to public school. I learned a lot while in elementary school and some of middle school. As I got older I cared less about my education and more about fitting in. I grew up in Michigan and went to school there until the middle of the eighth grade. Starting in about the seventh grade school started being more about who was more popular and who likes who, or look at those cheap shoes that girl is wearing. For me I was more concerned about being cool and Concept of Education (Home School vs. Public School) 4 fitting in, than caring about my education. In the middle of eighth grade my family moved to Arkansas. This was very hard on me. I missed my friends very much and didn’t want to start a new school. My grades did improve for a while, but that was only because I didn’t have any friends to focus my attention on. I focused more on my school work. However this did not last long. I didn’t fit in because it was a very small town and I was a shy kid. I then started skipping school. When my mom found out she decided to put me in home school. Education was important to her and my dad. She always wanted to make sure I succeeded in life She got me up every morning just like as if I was going to school. I had the same hours as any other student in public school. My vacations were based around the public school. If the public school had a snow day or holiday I was allowed to have that day off. Home school was good for me because I had one on one teaching which I did not have in the public school. I needed that because of me being so shy and at times I would not raise my hand if I had questions. In home school I had my mom and dad to help me. I could focus better on my school work because I was not distracted or afraid of not getting anything done . I had hands on  learning with my mom, and my dad incorporated projects to go with her lessons. I remember my dad and making a computer out of sugar cubes and Styrofoam , volcano, castles out of toilet paper rolls and a lot of other projects. I was never really good in English although believe it or not my mom was very good . My mom taught me the basics of school work, while my dad taught me about cars , how to plant a garden, and taking care of animals such as pigs, chickens, cows. We had a garden with fruits and vegetables, I learned to cook for large family. I was in FFA and I won the BBQ chicken semi- finals. I learned how to live in society. I worked and had a job too. My mom taught me much more then what you can learn in a book . She taught me lives lessons just like Martha taught her children in My Mother Never Worked. She gave me the skills I needed. I learned to use those skills and so here I am today working at Lakeland Hospital now for 10 years Concept of Education (Home School vs. Public School) 5 and finally going to college and studying for a nursing Career. Audience Analysis With education comes how we the parent, teacher and student will educate or be educated. One of the toughest decisions that you’re going to face as a parent is that you’re going to have to decide where to send your kids to school. However, most parents at least consider the choice to choose either private school, home school or public school. You as a parent can weigh the options of what you think would be better for you and your child’s education. To do this you and your child might want to weight the factors that play a part in the pros and cons of public school and home school and what is best for you and your child. As a parent you may feel that public  schools have too many peer problems. Kids may argue with peers or pick up bad habits in public schools. There are so many children to one teacher it is hard to give one on one to the child that is quiet and needs help but won’t ask and they get lost in the school system. Your child may have health issues, like diabetes or other disabilities therefore when lunchtime comes it is hard for your child if he or she has diabetes or foods he or she can not have and is forced to eat what there or just take a sandwich from home and be the outsider. As a parent or student you need to weigh what is  best for the both of you. Home schooling may be the answer in this case. Home schooling is a great way to bring a family closer together, but you have to make sure your kids (and you) are getting the social interaction they need. You can set a school schedule that suits your family, travel together when it’s best for all of you and enjoy more family and life together. You also need to make sure you have the type of relationship with your child to listen to instruction from you as a teacher instead to a parent, You as a parent have the option to teach your child anything  from bible (which most public schools do not allow) to the basics school book skills to life skills. As a working parent public school is probably better . Transportation is provided, so there is no need Concept of Education (Home School vs. Public School) 6 to worry about having a car. School buses will pick up your child to and from school. For some parents the choice is easy because of the funds and the availability of the parent’s time. Public schools provide the kids with an opportunity to great activities , this is important to many of you as parents and as students . Many of you want your children in activities and  think this is important. Public school gives you this option , so this you might want to take into consideration also. All around development is easier in public schools. If you are worried about feeding your child at school and you are low income, they have low cost or free breakfast and lunches for your child too. So basically it is up to you on the education of your children. There are pros and cons. In Conclusion: Some kids do best when they are able to combine different options to complete their education. In order to choose the right type of school, you need to weigh all of the options  open to you. My sister Amy went and graduated from public school with honors. My sister Christal received a GED. , she choose to work. School was hard for her. I have an adopted sister Janice who was in special ed , she went to public school but was in special classes and received a special diploma . Now days you can do both of two worlds my sister (Chasity) has PCOS and Diabetes which made her miss a lot of school so she is doing through Coloma High School , a Coloma Virtual Academy which is a home school but works with the public school too. . She goes  to school to pick classes, participates if she wishes, can graduate with her class, but her Doctors appointment’s and her health problems will no longer prevent her from her education. So my mom is home schooling her in a different way than she did me. They made a different choice of education for her. They both were good choices but for different reasons. That is why you should look into the situation before deciding what to do. As a parent your child is not the same as anyone else so they may require a different type of education just like my sisters and I did. It is you and your child’s choice.

Descriptive Essay House on Fire Essays

Descriptive Essay House on Fire Essays Descriptive Essay House on Fire Paper Descriptive Essay House on Fire Paper descriptive essay house on fire The House on Fire That cold night of December 2004 had left behind a memory which will stay in my mind for a never ending period of time. That night was not the same as the rest of the days in my life. Instead of going to bed, that night I was standing in the middle of the road, in complete terror. My heartbeat was accelerating with fear and tears were rolling down my cheeks as I saw Emily taken away by the ambulance. The house, which I was standing in front of, was burning as fire engulfed it from all sides. There was fire everywhere. The roof was on fire, the doors and the windows were on fire, fire was even coming out of the house through various openings, looking like a fire-breathing dragon was inside the house, puffing fire. The flames burned deep red and amber, almost livid purple as I saw various firefighters trying to put out the fire. Nothing inside was likely to survive the fire. Flames were licking up in the air with the wind, trying to catch something else on fire, and finding nothing but air, disappearing into the windy night, like disappointed flutters. Everything was happening too fast. During a minute or less, fire had spread across the entire landing. I was petrified by the sight of the fire, which crawled lizard like up the house. The house was exploding in yellow blue flames that quickly turned orange. I was trembling and whimpering softly as I saw Emily’s mother sitting on the ground, helplessly. She was crying out of despair. Her reaction had made me even more scared. I wanted someone to console me by telling me that nothing will happen to Emily. She was my best friend. We had spent seven years of our childhood together and I did not want to lose her. I was praying silently while Emily’s mother had lost all the hope of her survival. I had never felt so alone before. Even the thought of losing her, frightened me. I felt as if I was living through the worst nightmare. Grief is the worst feeling in the world. You feel hopeless, scared, angry, frustrated, alone and afraid. Going through a phase in life when you have a feeling of losing someone is hard to accept and it is much harder for an eight years old child. You feel as if the world had stopped and you could never move on in life. It is very painful to accept that you will no longer be able to see someone who was very close to the heart. I was crying while looking at the crowd of people that had clustered around the house by that time. The voices of the people echoed in my ear hauntingly. Their screams and shouts gave rise to my fear. I was horrified by the siren of the ambulance, the police car and the firefighters, the ringing of the phones of the crowd, the yelling, the cries, the increasing roar of the fire; everything added chaos to that place and frightened me even more. Ghosts of smoke were drifting across the street. I smelled smoke. It was not heavy, but it had a pungent smell. I started to cough as the smoke enfolded me. The air surrounding me was becoming less breathable by the second. My mouth was filled with the bitter taste of the smoke. I wanted a draught of clean air to rinse out my polluted lungs. The cough had aggravated pain in my head. My eyes were becoming swollen and watery. Soon after, the fire got quite out of control as the whole house was on fire. The firefighters evacuated the street and told everyone to go inside their houses. I had no choice but to retreat to my room where I could see, feel, and hear Emily’s house burn down. In a few minutes, the house had been reduced to a pile of rubble, ashes, and smouldering wood and items. There was a rotting smell that took over the whole neighbourhood, like a bad barbeque party gone horribly wrong. The smell was so overpowering that it took almost a week to get it out of my nose. That horrifying night of December still reminds me how valuable a person is in our life. If the firefighters were even one minute late in rescuing Emily, I would have lost my best friend that day.

Gompers-Lewis essays

Gompers-Lewis essays The term labor movement is often applied to any organization or association of wage earners who join together to advance their common interests. It more broadly applies, however, to any association of workers by geographical area, trade or industry, or any other factor. While labor unions have been the almost exclusive center of the modern labor movement in the United States, in Western Europe, and in many other countries, the term labor movement has come to embrace labor-oriented political parties as well as labor unions, usually combined in a loose alliance. (Flagger, 2) Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the ups and downs of the business cycle have influenced labor movements in the United States. The expansion of economic activity bringing with it growth in the demand for labor creates conditions favorable to union organization and to demands of wage earners for improved living standards. Correspondingly, significant economic decline weakens the position of workers and labor unions and often leads to a greater emphasis on government Generally, American unions had their greatest successes among blue-collar, or manual, workers, especially in the great goods-producing sectors of the economy. (Flagger 9) In recent decades there has been a shift away from goods to service production. Unions have not been as successful in organizing workers in the services, large numbers of whom are women, including many part-time employees. It was during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that the United States saw the true effects labor unions could cause. Through powerful leaders it was obvious how much could really be accomplished in favor of workers. Leaders such as Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, and John L. Lewis, president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, were just two of this countries great l...

Recycling as a Way to Cleaner and Healthier Environment Essay

Recycling as a Way to Cleaner and Healthier Environment - Essay Example If each of them sorts the litter and support recycling programs, they will save more forests in the whole world. Forests are important for natural ecosystems, clean air, and environmental sustainability. Every recycles sheet of paper will greatly contribute to the world’s ecology. The not only paper need to be recycled, but plastic as well. 28 billion bottles are thrown away every year; all of them pollute the environment because their process of decomposition is very slow (EPA, 2013). Â  25,000,000,000 Styrofoam cups are thrown away as well and the term of their decomposition is the same length (EPA, 2013). People only need to separate these things from other garbage to make their recycling possible. It is not a great effort which can pay back twice by the cleaner environment. Recycling is a successful way to a cleaner and healthier environment. Recycled paper and plastic can reduce the amount of garbage and prevent extensive landfilling. All people need to be aware of the issue and support recycling by separating their garbage into different groups.

Budgeting and financial systems in the public sector Article

Budgeting and financial systems in the public sector - Article Example In general, a public budget comprises of four setting. Firstly, a political factor allots the limited public resources to the social and economic needs. Secondly, it is a managerial and administrative factor as it strategises the various ways in which the public will be provided with their needs through setting appropriate programs and services, their costs, their evaluation and implementation methodologies (Bamishigbin, 2012). Thirdly, it is an economical factor as it determines the various ways the town shall engage in growth and development. Lastly, it is an accounting factor as it holds the town`s top executive accountable for the funds allocated to them by the government for expenditure (Blidesel, Popa, & Pop, n.d.). Every budget has two significant elements, capital and recurrent estimates. For the recurrent budget, it comprises of the recurrent revenues and expenditures (Bamishigbin, 2012). This is the segment of the city`s budget that is comprised of the budgeted cash for run ning the government operations and consumptions. Capital budget is the section of the city`s budget, which consists of capital receipt and expenditure. This is the capital translated into development programs and services to city dwellers (Blidesel, Popa, & Pop, n.d.). There are various forms of budget. For instance, line item budget is the traditional type of budget. Performance budgeting requires a performance as a measure of budget item. The programmed budget focuses on achievement of each program provided to the users (Bamishigbin, 2012). Zero budgeting determines the cost benefit; the value for money to be invested in a given activity before making decision. This paper discusses the problems associated with the old budgetary method employed in Jakarta City. It discusses the challenges the city leaders faces and it proposes solutions to the problems. With the adoption of the performance-based budget, the city can change the face of its budgeting process. The performance based bu dgeting will ensure the previous unclear funds allocation will show their allocation in budget. This is one way through which the city shifts from politicians’ dominance for the city`s benefit into an approachable, clear, and answerable public spending management mechanism. Problems at Jakarta City Budget The budgetary account of Jakarta City features constricted and comprehensive items of expenses. The budget items include items such as motor vehicles, clerical workers or realms of papers needed in the city`s agencies and they do not refer to the aim of spending (Bamishigbin, 2012). They use this as their basis from which the audit team will determine the city agencies’ compliance to the budget requirement. The city`s budgetary format is of the below form. Expenditure item salaries materials other expenses total Last year Current year Next year Problems Associated with this Budget The city`s board is unable to utilize 98 percent of the 2013 Jakarta city`s budget. The main reason behind this is difficulty in acquiring land for development, auctioning problem, government policies, and inadequate technology for facilitating electronic cataloguing to ensure timely service and good delivery. Consequently, the unused budget resulting from this is estimated will reach Rp 7.28 trillion, which is equivalent to 15 percent of 2014 proposed budget of Rp 50.1 trillions. The cited causes to increase in the budget include the new needs of infrastructure and innovation to the public service.

IT Decision Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

IT Decision Paper - Essay Example The project is in line with WW’s goals of achieving growth of up to 5 per cent per year and minimizing costs to free up funds for other key projects. The IT project enables WW to excel in a competitive environment. The IT project allows the Management Team to execute its tasks with ease as they check and rectify stagnant departments (ZarateÃŒ  2012). The staff also finds an easy time with keeping the company’s data and assigning duties. In addition, the IT project enables the staff to respond to concerns by customers thus improving customer care and service delivery (Davenport and Morison 2010).3. IT Portfolio Alignment The IT project is urgent and needs the immediate implementation to realize both the short and long-term targets of the company. Therefore, the project should be implemented ahead of any other project in the IT Portfolio. The project supports the management and transport sectors of the company. The IT project enables quick decision making by the company' s management team and staff.4. IT Architecture The IT project represents an overhaul of the IT infrastructure at WW. The project supports and augments the pre-existing IT infrastructure at WW. The IT project is in a way an upgrade of the IT infrastructure at WW. The project should interface with other systems in place and those in development. The system shall use the pre-existing GPS devices on trucks to send data of the location of the trucks and their loading status to the control room run by the Management Team.

U decide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

U decide - Essay Example He insisted that if the research is basically aimed at bringing a cure to the existing diseases, this will not remedy the future health needs because the same diseases will keep recurring in the future (Bostrom and Roache 3). However, Gregory states that, â€Å"the desire to triumph over our own mortality is an ancient dream though it never stands alone† (Stock 9). This means that by focusing on creation of a stronger and healthier human species will require the effort of the researchers and the entire population to focus on applying the appropriate technology to ensure that there is attainment of gains in the life expectancy of human beings and to ensure that it slows down the rate of human aging. He notes that aging is the main cause of death of human beings in many nations and the researchers will efficiently deal with this if they focus on improving the human species in a way that they become old without aging and ensuring that they are able to live longer. Human beings will therefore remain fit and healthy indefinitely. Stock also supports his stand by explaining that if researchers focus on improving the health status of the human species, it will result to improvement of health capabilities ensuring that the physical capabilities of the human species are improved. This will involve improving the bodily capacities including dexterity, strength, coordination and conditioning. He also argues that the improvements in the human species will come along with attributes of personality improvement and though these conditions are not classified as diseases, they will be part of the positive results obtained from the process. An example of this will be that people who are compulsi ve will become more relaxed and those that have a low self-esteem will become more confident. Another positive result that Stock argued would result from the improvement of the human species would be the cognitive capacities. The resulting

Engaging Communication Technologies of the 1950s Assignment - 1

Engaging Communication Technologies of the 1950s - Assignment Example Moreover, the advent of digital media has brought the conditions of the old technologies into relief, making the world more conscious of the media environment (Winston, P. 12). This paper explores the technological advances in the media industry across the world in the 1950s. In particular, the paper discusses how technological changes affected the lives and perceptions of people in different regions of the world, comparing how technology was used then and its modern use. Among the decades of the second half of the 20th Century, perhaps the 1950s was regarded as the most conservative. Nevertheless, it is during the same period that different regions of the world experienced many advances and changes in technologies and their uses. In this regard, a lot changed in the way people carried out their routine activities as work became easier to do. Given that World War II had just ended less than a decade ago and the world had come to appreciate the use of machinery and technology during the war, different governments and individual scientists embarked on developing new technologies in addition to improving on the existing ones (Winston, P. 31). The technologies that people merely anticipated during and before World War II began to become a reality for many of the people, more so in the Western World and some regions of Asia. Among the sectors that benefitted most from the technological developments of the 1950s was the communication and transport sector, particularly the media industry. It is therefore not be realistic and proper to label the 1950s a sleepy or a conservative decade. As far as media technology is concerned, the 1950s was one of the most productive and revolutionary decades. For example, a rapid change was recorded in both television and radio technology and content. In addition, there were developments in the technologies related to newspaper

Technology and Early Childhood Education Research Paper

Technology and Early Childhood Education - Research Paper Example Technology is used on all sorts of classroom scenarios including early childhood education. Some technologists and educations specialists, however, cite that use of technology in early childhood may be detrimental. This paper seeks to explore both the positive and negative attributes of use of technology in early childhood education. Technology forms the most vital element of life in the world today. Every aspect of our lives is dominated by technology and its importance in our lives is indispensable. One of the outstanding facts about technology use in schools is its controversial nature. There is no common agreement by stakeholders in technology and educations sectors about the use of technology in schools. There are two different factions, one supporting use of technology as a positive aspect, while the other faction disagrees, citing the detrimental effects of technology in students. However, the use of technology in classrooms catering for children continues to increase, as education develops more interesting ways of enhancing understanding in children. eLearning provides the future for classroom teaching. Debates have centered on the appropriateness of computers in development of children. According to Elkind (1998), computers are development appropriate for children above the age of three, and children within this age and above can successfully use computers. Haugland (1999) dispels the notion that computer use among children is developmentally inappropriate by citing that many factors that may affect children usage of computers are still the same with the factors that affect usage of computers even at old age. These factors involve the ‘tasks of manipulating a wide variety of tools in the process of learning about themselves and their environment’ (Haugland, 1999). Developmental psychologists have noted that the use of computers by children lie within the

U decide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

U decide - Essay Example He insisted that if the research is basically aimed at bringing a cure to the existing diseases, this will not remedy the future health needs because the same diseases will keep recurring in the future (Bostrom and Roache 3). However, Gregory states that, â€Å"the desire to triumph over our own mortality is an ancient dream though it never stands alone† (Stock 9). This means that by focusing on creation of a stronger and healthier human species will require the effort of the researchers and the entire population to focus on applying the appropriate technology to ensure that there is attainment of gains in the life expectancy of human beings and to ensure that it slows down the rate of human aging. He notes that aging is the main cause of death of human beings in many nations and the researchers will efficiently deal with this if they focus on improving the human species in a way that they become old without aging and ensuring that they are able to live longer. Human beings will therefore remain fit and healthy indefinitely. Stock also supports his stand by explaining that if researchers focus on improving the health status of the human species, it will result to improvement of health capabilities ensuring that the physical capabilities of the human species are improved. This will involve improving the bodily capacities including dexterity, strength, coordination and conditioning. He also argues that the improvements in the human species will come along with attributes of personality improvement and though these conditions are not classified as diseases, they will be part of the positive results obtained from the process. An example of this will be that people who are compulsi ve will become more relaxed and those that have a low self-esteem will become more confident. Another positive result that Stock argued would result from the improvement of the human species would be the cognitive capacities. The resulting

Technology and Early Childhood Education Research Paper

Technology and Early Childhood Education - Research Paper Example Technology is used on all sorts of classroom scenarios including early childhood education. Some technologists and educations specialists, however, cite that use of technology in early childhood may be detrimental. This paper seeks to explore both the positive and negative attributes of use of technology in early childhood education. Technology forms the most vital element of life in the world today. Every aspect of our lives is dominated by technology and its importance in our lives is indispensable. One of the outstanding facts about technology use in schools is its controversial nature. There is no common agreement by stakeholders in technology and educations sectors about the use of technology in schools. There are two different factions, one supporting use of technology as a positive aspect, while the other faction disagrees, citing the detrimental effects of technology in students. However, the use of technology in classrooms catering for children continues to increase, as education develops more interesting ways of enhancing understanding in children. eLearning provides the future for classroom teaching. Debates have centered on the appropriateness of computers in development of children. According to Elkind (1998), computers are development appropriate for children above the age of three, and children within this age and above can successfully use computers. Haugland (1999) dispels the notion that computer use among children is developmentally inappropriate by citing that many factors that may affect children usage of computers are still the same with the factors that affect usage of computers even at old age. These factors involve the ‘tasks of manipulating a wide variety of tools in the process of learning about themselves and their environment’ (Haugland, 1999). Developmental psychologists have noted that the use of computers by children lie within the

Words Vs Weapons Essay Example for Free

Words Vs Weapons Essay Amadou Diallo was a 23-year old immigrant from West Africa who originally came to the United States to study Biochemistry. Upon reaching the country he was not able to enroll in university. Instead he opened a sidewalk stall selling gloves, videotapes and socks in the morning and went to school in the evening. In the early hours of February 4, 1999 (Amnesty International), Mr. Diallo was entering his building in the Bronx district after a meal. Four New York Police Officers, all members of the elite Street Crimes Unit spotted him. At that time the officers thought he matched the description of the serial rapist in the area. The officers were in plain clothes and approached Mr. Diallo. The following events were not clear but after everything, Mr. Diallo’s body was found riddled with bullets, 19 of which were considered fatal. There were 41 shots recorded in all, all coming from the four officers, none from the victim. A year after Mr. Diallo was defenselessly gunned down by four police officers in the Bronx district of New York, the case went to trial. In February 25, 2000 (Peet) the four police officers, Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon, and Kenneth Boss were all found not guilty of the death of the 23-year old West African. This case was to become one of the most controversial cases documented of police brutality in New York at the end of the century. After the verdict the World Socialist Website described the case as the â€Å"most appalling expression of the effective denial of basic democratic rights to working class and poor people†. Unfortunately the Diallo case is not an isolated case in the United States. In fact, it is a common situation that prevails between law enforcers and the public. International human rights organizations have put police brutality in the United States at the top of their priority. It is considered one of the most serious and divisive human rights violation in the country (Human Rights Watch). Although the Diallo case received nationwide attention because of the shear heinousness of the killing, there were other equally similar disturbing occurrences in other States. Atlanta alone recorded at least 12 shootings in the year 2000 (Wright). One of which was the shooting and killing of 18-year old Corey Ward. He was wrongly profiled as a criminal just because he was a young black man with a brand new SUV. It is also alarming that the same officer who mistook and gunned down Mr. Ward was involved in four other similar situations in the past. In another incident, a middle-aged woman, diagnosed with mental illness, was shot inside her own apartment. Barbara Schneider was killed in her own home after neighbors called the police to report that she had her radio too loud and they were concerned about her behavior. The police broke down her door and found her with a paring knife. Three shots and she was dead (Howell). Who could forget the case of Rodney King in 1991? Mr. King was repeatedly beaten by several police officers in Los Angeles after allegedly failing to stop when he was flagged down for a traffic violation. The whole world witnessed by videotape this horrifying ordeal of Mr. King. The acquittal of all the officers involved in the case triggered a stream of riots all over the city in 1992. The Los Angeles courts were forced to open up the investigation once again and this time the jury came back with a verdict of guilt of two officers, while the two others were acquitted for the second time. In recent times, police brutality and the use of excessive force seem to have become more rampant. In 2007 alone, the internet was bombarded with over 2,000,000 documented videos in this subject, all happening in the United States. The cases are of severe beatings, use of dangerous restraint techniques to subdue suspects (Amnesty International), unjustified shootings, fatal choking, and unnecessary rough treatment (Human Rights Watch) among other concerning interactions between police officers and the public they pledged to protect and serve.

Reducing the Risk of Transmission of Nosocomial Infections

Reducing the Risk of Transmission of Nosocomial Infections CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The standard precautions (SP), proposed by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1996, are guidelines for reducing the risk of transmission of nosocomial infections in hospitals. It proposes that body fluid, patient blood, secretions, and excrement are infectious, hence preventive measures are necessary to protect both patients and medical personnel. These preventive measures include avoidance of direct contact with patients and air-borne particles, and require hand washing and sterilization, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), the safe disposal of sharp instruments and waste management (Luo, He, Zhou Luo, 2010). 1.1  Background of the Study Standard precautions are specifically designed to reduce the risk of acquiring occupational nosocomial infections from both known and unknown sources in the healthcare setting. Awareness and compliance with these recommendations is crucial for the prevention of occupational nosocomial infections in healthcare personnel and patients (Abdulraheem, Amodu, Saka, Bolarinwa Uthman, 2012). Standard precautions include hand washing; use of personal protective equipment (gloves, gown, cap and mask); care with devices, equipment and clothing used during care; environmental control (surface processing protocols and health service waste handling); adequate discarding of sharp instruments; and patient’s accommodation in accordance to requirement levels as an infection transmission source. Hand hygiene is most important measures among the standard precautions advocated (Abdulraheem et al., 2012). Stringent observations of these measures protect the personnel against blood-borne viruses and to decrease transmission of cross infections among patients (Atif et al., 2013). Nurses are the group of health care providers with the most direct contact with patients while providing care. Therefore, nurses’ adherence to infection prevention precautions would have a profound effect on reducing nosocomial infection rates (Al-Hussami Darawad, 2013). The causal agents that bring infections are transmitted mainly by hands, after failure to comply with hygiene procedures. Hand washing is considered the most important measure in preventing infections. However, according to Jusot et al. (2004), in their study in the southeast of France, compliance of healthcare workers (HCWs) with SP was variable and often poor. In terms of knowledge, Chan et al. (2002) reported that in Hong Kong, nurses’ knowledge on SP was inadequate, in terms of applying precautions inappropriately and inadequately. In addition, Abdulraheem et al. (2012) in their study that conducted at North Eastern Nigeria also found that only a very small proportion of HCWs had a good knowledge o n SP. Different epidemiological characteristics of nosocomial infection in children results from the specificities of anatomy, physiology, medical conditions, therapeutic and surgical conditions and type of pathogens in pediatric populations. Besides that, the pediatric-hospitalized population is very heterogeneous, varying in age, diagnosis, and underlying illness, ranging from infants with congenital anomalies to adolescents with multiple traumas. Consequently, even patients admitted to the same ward pose a different risk for hospital-acquired infections (Lopes et al., 2006). Pediatric cancer patients have an increased risk of potentially life-threatening infectious complications due to their underlying illnesses and intensive anticancer treatment (Simon et al., 2008). Thus, SP are very crucial in preventing these nosocomial infections. It is clear that SP reduces the extent to which HCWs exposed to the blood of others, and, presumably, this in turn reduces their risk of occupational infections with blood borne pathogens. Although it has been routinely practiced in high-income countries for a long time, it is hard to achieve full compliance. Noncompliance has been associated with a range of factors, which include lack of knowledge, interference with work skills, risk perception, not wanting to offend patients, lack of equipment and time, uncomfortable PPE, inconvenience, work stress, and perceiving a weak organizational commitment to safety climate (Kermode et al., 2005). 1.2  Problem Statement The reality of adopting SP within the hospital setting is far from what is recommended and had proved to be somewhat problematic (Gammon Gould, 2005). Efstathoiu, Papastavrou, Raftopoulos and Merkouris (2011) also reported that adherence with SP among nurses in Cyprus in order to avoid exposure to microorganisms was low. More specifically, compliance was found insufficient regarding hand hygiene guidelines, use of gloves when exposure to body fluids was anticipated, eye protection, mouth and nose protection (mask use), wearing a gown when required, avoid recapping the needle after it was used for a patient, and provision of care considering all patients as potentially infectious. According to Gammon, Samuel and Gould (2008), in United Kingdom, staff compliance to SP was generally deficient, and practice interventions to improve adherence were generally limited in their effect. Hospital acquired infections (HAI) or nosocomial infections (NI), which pose a serious problem, threatening the health and safety of patients and medical personnel worldwide due to poor compliance towards SP. Nosocomial infections, defined as those occurring within 48 hours of hospital admission, three days of discharge or 30 days of an operation, affect one in every ten patients admitted to hospital. These infections affect the quality of medical care and increase medical care costs (Inweregbu, Dave Pittard, 2005). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2009), hundreds of millions of patients develop HAI around the globe every year and as many as 1.4 million cases occur in hospitals alone each day. In pediatric setting, HCWs always assumed that children are low-risk patients. Although it was acknowledged that the children can also carry contagious diseases, but they often do not implement SP (Efstathoiu et al., 2011). Nosocomial infections are a crucial clinical complication in adult and children patients at the different hospital wards worldwide. Nosocomial infections bring considerable morbidity and mortality associated with prolonged hospital stay and increased health care costs (Nagliate, Nogueira, Godoy Mendes, 2013). Kinnula et al. (2012) in their study at Finland and Switzerland found that 8.4% of children in a ward for pediatric infectious diseases acquired a viral HAI during their hospitalization, although only 13% of the HAIs manifested themselves during hospitalization, the majority, 87%, occurring after discharge. So, from here can be proved that, SP are very important to be implemented in the clinical settings. Without these measures, NI will occur. For Hospital USM, pediatric oncology ward, 6 Utara (6U) showed the highest rate of NI if compared to others pediatric ward (Unit Kawalan Jangkitan Epidemiologi Hospital, 2013). This may be due to the low immune system of those children. Pediatric cancer patients are at an increased risk for specific HAI. These adverse events can result not only in significant morbidity and mortality, but also in an increased expenditure of limited financial and personnel resources (Simon et al., 2008). According to Unit Kawalan Jangkitan Epidemiologi Hospital (2013), the average NI occurred per month from August 2012 to August 2013 was 3 cases, which contributed to 4.62% of total admission of the patient. This was quite a high number. Thus, interventions should be taken to investigate the compliance level of the pediatric nurses towards SP and thus to reduce the infection rates. Table 1.2.1 Total nosocomial infection occurred per month at 6Ufrom August 2012 to August 2013 (Source: Unit Kawalan Jangkitan Epidemiologi Hospital, 2013) Date Total NI Total no. of admission Total % of admission in ward August 2012 4 58 6.89 September 2012 3 47 6.38 October 2012 2 82 2.45 November 2012 0 50 0 December 2012 1 74 1.35 January 2013 2 65 3.0 February 2013 5 60 8.33 March 2013 3 62 4.84 April 2013 2 65 3.06 May 2013 4 71 5.6 June 2013 3 67 4.4 July 2013 1 76 1.31 August 2013 4 67 5.97 AVERAGE 3 65 4.62 Guidelines or policies that guide an individual’s behavior exist in a variety of settings (including health care settings), but people do not always comply with them. In order to explain and understand the factors that influence an individual’s adherence with certain guidelines, which consequently may bring to the adoption of certain behavior, a number of conceptual models or theories had been developed (Efstathiou et al., 2011). Conceptual framework that used in this study in explaining the knowledge and compliance towards SP among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM was adapted from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by Ajzen (1991). The TPB provides a model that has potential benefits for predicting the intention to perform a behavior based on an individual’s attitudinal, normative beliefs and perceived behavioral control. As for this study, the knowledge on SP, self-efficacy (attitude), awareness on the importance of standard operating procedures (SOPs), and some individual factors of nurses will influence their practice towards SP in healthcare setting. 1.3  Research Objectives 1.3.1  General Objective The general aim of this study is to identify the knowledge and compliance towards standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (Hospital USM). 1.3.2  Specific Objectives To identify the level of knowledge regarding standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. To identify the level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. To determine the association between selected socio-demographic data (working ward, clinical working experience in years and highest nursing educational level) and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. To determine the association between levels of knowledge regarding standard precautions and level of compliance among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. To determine the association between self-efficacy and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. 1.4  Research Questions What is the level of knowledge regarding standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM? What is the compliance level among pediatric nurses towards the application of standard precautions in the pediatric ward at Hospital USM? Is there any association between working ward and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM? Is there any association between clinical working experience in years and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM? Is there any association between highest nursing educational level and level of compliance towards standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM? Is there any association between level of knowledge regarding standard precautions and level of compliance among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM? Is there any association between self-efficacy and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM? Research Hypothesis 1.5.1 Hypothesis 1 HO: There is no significant association between working ward and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. HA: There is a significant association between working ward and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. 1.5.2 Hypothesis 2 HO: There is no significant association between clinical working experiences in years and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. HA: There is a significant association between clinical working experiences in years and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. 1.5.3 Hypothesis 3 HO: There is no significant association between highest nursing educational level and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. HA: There is a significant association between highest nursing educational level and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. 1.5.4 Hypothesis 4 HO: There is no significant association between level of knowledge and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. HA: There is a significant association between level of knowledge and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. 1.5.5 Hypothesis 5 HO: There is no significant association between self-efficacy and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. HA: There is a significant association between self-efficacy and level of compliance with standard precautions among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM. 1.6  Definition of Operational Terms Knowledge Knowledge is defined as the level or degree of information acquired in a particular field. It is a basic requirement so that the positive changes in behavior can be developed. Knowledge can further bring into awareness and in turn leads to action. To develop nursing knowledge, it comes from both theoretical and practice perspectives. By gaining knowledge, it raises awareness of personal and professional accountability and the dilemmas of practice (Ndikom Onibokun, 2007). In this research, it was referred to the knowledge regarding SP and its application. Compliance Compliance is defined as the extent to which certain behavior (for example, following physician’s orders or implementing healthier lifestyles) is in accordance with the physicians’ instructions or health care advice. It can be influenced or controlled by a variety of factors such as culture, economic and social factors, self-efficacy, and lack of knowledge or means (Efstathiou et al., 2011). In this research, it was referred to compliance or adherence towards SP to prevent NI. Standard precautions The standard precautions are defined as guidelines to reduce the risk of transmission of blood-borne and other pathogens in hospitals. It proposes that body fluid, patient blood, secretions, and excrement are infectious. Hence these measures are necessary to protect both patients and HCWs (Luo et al., 2010). Standard precautions include hand washing; use of personal protective equipment (e.g., gloves, gown, cap, mask); care with devices, equipment and clothing used dur ­ing care; environmental control (e.g., sur ­face processing protocols, health service waste handling); and adequate discarding of sharp instruments including needles (Vaz et al., 2010). In this research, SP referred to those policies that protect patient and HCWs such as hand washing, use of PPE, safe sharp disposal and waste management. Nosocomial Infections Nosocomial infections are defined as infections that occur within 48 hours of hospital admission, three days of discharge or 30 days of an operation (Inweregbu, Dave Pittard, 2005). In my research, it was referred to the infections that acquired within the period of hospitalization. Self-efficacy Self-efficacy is defined as the confidence to control and guide one’s own activities. General self-efficacy is a general confidence when the individual deals with changeable environments and faces new experiences (Luo et al., 2010). In this research, it was referred to the self confidence in implementing SP to prevent NI. 1.7  Significance of the Study Nosocomial infections control requires a combination of interventions, including knowledge about the use of SP, rational use of antimicrobials, hand washing and compliance with SP and manuals for prevention and controlling microorganisms. Health professionals’ low compliance with and difficulties to use SP had been demonstrated in some research though (Efstathiou et al., 2011; Luo et al., 2010). Hence, in view of application and even compliance failures that compromised patient and professional safety (Sax, Uckay, Richet, Allegranzi Pittet, 2007), it is necessary to assess nurses’ knowledge and compliance about SP (Nagliate et al., 2013). By assessing the knowledge and compliance level toward SP among the nurses, interventions could be taken to improve the quality of health care services as well as provide a holistic nursing care to reduce the morbidity and mortality worldwide. In order to reduce HAI and protect the health of patients and HCWs, the relevant authorities and hospital infection control departments should pay more attention to nurse compliance towards SP, strengthen SP training, and provide sufficient practical PPE. Through learning, the attainment of knowledge and skills, and the formation of health beliefs and attitudes, health activity habits can be formed. Only when individuals are familiar with the content and meanings of the SP, with strengthening of the individual’s health concepts, can individual practice change so as to improve compliance with SP. For nurses, the study on adherence towards SP and factors impacting compliancy should be strengthened in order to improve concepts of health and self-efficacy, to increase compliance with the SP and hence reduce the chances of NI (Luo et al., 2010). The reason that the researcher wished to conduct this research was because from the researcher’s observation during clinical posting, it was observed that, the nurses often neglected the importance of SP. For example, they did not apply the proper ways in implementing SP, some even did not adhere to it at all due to time saving and other reasons. On the other hand, the reason that this study been conducted at pediatric ward was because children is having low immunity if compared to adults, they are at high risk of acquiring NI, so the implementation of SP is very important to ensure a quality health care. In addition, no research on the knowledge and compliance towards SP had been done at Hospital USM before this. Thus, this study is crucial to assess the knowledge and compliance level towards SP among pediatric nurses at Hospital USM to provide a preliminary data that is crucial for the hospital. This study can provide a better insight into the magnitude of the problem of infection control in this hospital. By knowing all these, interventions can be taken if the knowledge and compliance level are disappointing to increase the knowledge and compliance towards SP among the pediatric nurses to reduce the morbidity and mortality rate.

Whitmans Music as a Means of Expression Essay -- Whitman Music Musica

Whitman's Music as a Means of Expression In his verses, Walt Whitman eradicates divisions of individual entities while simultaneously celebrating their unique characteristics. All components of the universe are united in a metaphysical intercourse, and yet, are assigned very distinct qualities so as to keep their identities intact. Often times, Whitman demonstrates these conceptions through elements of song. â€Å"Walt Whitman caroled throughout his verse. For the Bard of Democracy, as America came to call our great poet, music was a central metaphor in his life and work, both as a mindset and as a practical reality.† (Hampson) His musical poetry lyrically encompasses themes of social equality. Whitman enterprises a communion of persons while using the singer as a poet, lover, typical citizen, bard and a celebrator of the self to express such notions. Whitman discovers music in the daily lives of ordinary individuals and expresses it within his poetry. Especially in respect to the poems â€Å"Song of Myself,† â€Å"I Sing the Body Electric,† and â€Å"I Hear America Singing,† Walt Whitman incorporates music as a vehicle to illustrate democratization. Whitman was a self educated New Yorker who began his literary career by satiating himself with classical reading and appreciating nature. After leaving school, Whitman held a great variety of jobs including a printers apprentice and editing several periodicals. His first independent publication was Leaves of Grass; a compilation of various untitled poems. Initially, he was met with limited success or recognition (with the exception of a satisfied Ralph Waldo Emerson). His second edition was far more warmly welcomed. During the Civil War, Whitman offered his services to care for soldiers ... ... a democratic understanding of society. Whitman deems all persons equally and interprets their existence as pieces of music. In instances where the average individual would find no value, Whitman depicts unexplored realms of appreciation. All members of society are conveyed as agents of music. Their role’s are regarded as beautiful contributions to society by defining them with instrumental undertones. Whitman’s verses are written with such musical style and context, that they are often times the inspiration for musical compositions (including the likes of Vaughn Williams). In his pieces, Whitman honors the seemingly inferior facets of society, discounting any hierarchy and rather, celebrating all members equally. To effectively portray Whitman’s democratic mentality, he delivers his message by expressing his subjects as instruments in a grand societal composition.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle :: essays research papers

The Caucasian Chalk Circle The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Brecht uses epic theatre to bring forth an idea ormeaning for the audience to consider while entertaining the audience. Epic theatre involves the use of alienation techniques to distance the viewer from the story but still concentrate on the overall meaning. The person who just views the story would likely take it as fantasy and not reach the true depth of the play. Brecht shocks the viewer by making the events and actions in the play "strange and abstract" this contrasts with dramatic plays where the audience sympathises and relates to the characters of the play. The theme throughout the play is natural justice versus class justice. The title has links to other parables and stories before it. The Chalk Circle, a Chinese play involved a legal action where the false claimant was granted custody due a bribe to claim her dead husbands estate. This however was overturned by the emperor, the guarantor of the law, in a retrial as the emperor was the father. This particular story is a whisper to the result of Grusha's trial. The emperor is portrayed as the epitome of justice and gives a true verdict. The trial scene is also adapted from the parable of King Solomon. Solomon the paragon of justice and truth oversees the trial of two mothers, one child is dead the other alive, they seek custody of the alive child. The king asks the child to be cut in half, the real mother relinquishes her claim and thus gains custody of her rightful child. In these two whispers the law is shown to be equated with justice, however Brecht seeks to highlight that within Grusinia this is not the case and it takes a greedy Azdak who despises the upper classes to give a just verdict. The class justice presented in the novel has close links to the Marxist view of the law, with the law serving all, but in reality it protects and secures the interests of the ruling classes. The play seeks to emphasise that within this class justice the poor can only gain justice under exceptional circumstances. Azdak as the judge and arbiter of justice has come to this position only through a matter of chances and mistakes. Firstly he harbours the Grand Duke from Shauva, then he confesses to the Ironshirts only to be made judge because the Duke escaped.

What exactly is an ageing population?

An ageing population id one in which the proportion of older people is increasing. This group of elderly people are those who have passed the age of retirement and depend on pensions as their main source of income. The old age dependency ration is calculated by (Elderly Population 65+ / Working Population 15-64) x 100. Ageing populations are a factor of reductions in both birth and death rates due to technological and economic progress. An ageing population means the proportion of older people is increasing, which causes an increase in the dependency ratio. Social Impacts: 1. Increased pressure on public services – Greater demand for services such as hospitals and hospices, and therefore more are needed to care for the elderly, so more carers and nurses will need training. Some families will choose to care for their own relatives, putting pressure on the, socially and financially. 2. Unequal distribution of the elderly – e.g. Eastbourne has a high proportion of older people and may have inadequate facilities for young people as a consequence, such as bars and youth clubs. 3. Reduced population growth or population decline – The working population may have fewer children as they already have older dependants, leading to a reduction in birth rate. 4. Longer working life- The state pension is low because there are so many retired people, so therefore some may have to work beyond normal retirement age to build up personal pensions or savings, or to add to their income from their state pension. Economic Impacts: 1. Reduced work force- Smaller proportion of the population is working, which may slow economic growth 2. Increased taxes – A greater proportion are claiming pensions and support paid for by taxes, therefore this could mean higher taxes for the working population. 3. Spending – The elderly often have savings and pensions to spend within the economy. Strategies to Manage Ageing Populations: 1. Encouraging larger families – Should result in a larger future working population to provide taxes for better pensions and services 2. Raising retirement age – The working population is made large, so more people contribute to the state pension fund and to personal pensions. People will also claim the state pension for less time. 3. Encouraging the immigration of working-age people – This increases the working-age population; this helps to support the ageing population by paying taxes. 4. Increasing health care provision – Helps to easy the problem of poor health in the elderly. UK Case Study The UK has an ageing population where people over 65 make up a large part of the population. Reasons: 1. Increasing life expectancy – Currently 81.3 for women and 76.9 for men. 2. Baby Booms – Lots of babies were born during 1940’s and 1960’s and as this generation is beginning to retire and there are an increasing number of elderly people. 3. Falling birth rate – There are few younger people, so the proportion of older people is greater. Problems: 1. Pressure on the pension system – Today 60% of the working population are paying taxes to support a 16% retirement age population, but by 2030 there will be 56% of the working age population to support a 27% retirement age population. 2. More elderly people living in poverty – The state pension is not very large, and many to do not have other savings but the working population isn’t large enough to provide a larger pension. 3. Pressure on the health service – Older people need more medical care than younger people. East Devon: It is an attractive settlement for the elderly due to climate, low crime rates, scenery, other elderly people, with a population of 125,000 and a dependency ratio of 53.8%. The elderly are however putting pressures on more pension payments required, housing needs and health care. East Devon is a dispersed settlement and therefore limited public transport causes isolation amongst the elderly who are unable to travel privately for whatever reason. The elderly do however make large contributions economically (the grey pound where in 2005 Â £215billion was spent for particular needs paid by the elderly, such as for travel and leisure), and socially in terms of as volunteers and as carers for relatives who would be unable to afford child care otherwise. To manage this ageing population the East Devon council has put management strategies in place: 1. Housing – Maintained secure accommodation, warden care, adapted housing (e.g. plugs and taps as hip level to avoid having to bend over), and sheltered housing for the opportunity for socialising. 2. Health Services – Cost effective to keep the less sick at home for many deteriorative type illnesses (which puts additional pressures on care staff who do low paid work), and there has been some need for sheltered accommodation/therapy created. 3. Services and Amenities – New leisure facilities to keep the elderly healthy in terms of physical and mental wellbeing, and new social environments/clubs. Charities are also vital to supporting this. 4. Transport Services – New buses in rural environments that personally pick up individuals from their homes to take them into town to go shopping.