Alexander Pushkin “I loved you…” (1829) Essay

The poem by an outstanding Russian poet Alexander Pushkin â€Å"I loved you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1829) is a pure representation of the poet’s warm feelings toward a woman who did not replied on his close attention to her beauty and nature (Pushkin). It is a confession of the poet who lives in the atmosphere of reveries about this girl. Thus, the poem under analysis is not joyful or sad in representation, but holds a sum of Pushkin’s remarks on the woman’s beauty. First of all, one should notice the form in which the poem is executed. It is meant here that Pushkin describes his feelings as if he recognizes that the girl described will never be his anymore. Instead, the love of the persona is outlined as longing for happiness of the object of his love. Second, by â€Å"I do not want to sadden you again† the persona shows a respectful attitude toward the love that passed (Pushkin). Tangibility and sincerity of the feelings are highlighted in the strokes below. A fragile soul of the poet longs for making happiness in love real for his heroine. Third, the persona refuses selfishness or a somehow continued struggle for the girl’s love, as he wishes her: â€Å"I pray God grant another love you so† (Pushkin). This makes the overall poem look splendid and full of the highest vibes of a man who falls deeply in love with a woman. To conclude, Pushkin managed to reach out the depths of a reader’s consciousness by using a well-polished and concise representation of his own sincere, warm, and mild feelings toward a woman. It makes the classic notion of love more comprehensive to everyone who encounters this poem for the first time. Works Cited Pushkin, Alexander. I loved you. 2010. 27 July 2010 .

Do Truth and Right Change over the Course of History Essay

Interpretations of the concepts of Truth and Right absolutely change over the course of time. The most important reason for this is that, as time moves on, technology improves, political leaders change, and the social constructs of â€Å"good† are warped to fit the needs of the people. Whether or not the core definition of Truth and Right change is completely open to interpretation, because these internal ideals are subject to the development and growth of the person holding them. The ideas of Truth and Right are ideas developed by social psychology that are completely open to change depending on authoritarian figures and the development of social thought. I would like to re-establish my previous point; Truth and Right are social constructs. This means that the common interpretations of Truth and Right are based on social and environmental psychology, which, no one can disagree, plays a huge role in the development of ideas of â€Å"good† and â€Å"bad†. Social psychology is the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all of the psychological variables that are measurable in a human being. The statement that others may be imagined or implied suggests that we are prone to social influence even when no other people are present, such as when watching television, or following internalized cultural norms (Wikipedia). Studies over the years have shown that people are more likely to behave according to the social norm when they think they are being watched. In not-so-unrealistic novels such as 1984, the people of the society behave in a fashion deemed acceptable by their leader because they think they are being watched. Even more important is how authority figures influence the behaviors and actions of the masses. In the famous Milgram Experiment, Stanley Milgram sought to determine how far people would go when ordered by an authoritarian figure. The experiment involved giving electrical shocks, increasing in voltage, to a person behind a wall for every wrong answer they gave to a set of questions handed to the actual test subject. The subject, unaware that the shocks were, in fact, fake, was urged to keep going by the test giver, despite shouts and complaints coming from the other side of the wall after every shock. The results were, of course, terrifying. Milgram found that over 65% of the test subjects administered the final shock, consisting of 450-volts (Atkinson). The results of this experiment point to a more terrifying idea. People are essentially sheep; for the most part, they will listen to anyone that looks important or holds authority. This can be detrimental to the ideas of Truth and Right that are generally agreed upon in modern society. We do the things we do because authoritarian figures tell us to. No one is free from this; if everybody did what they wanted all the time, nothing would ever get done. But at what point is enough enough? We like to think we don’t listen to anybody. We like to think we won’t steal or rape or murder because it’s wrong. But, at the core of it, it is because most people are scared of punishment. Political leaders learn this and manipulate it to sway people in their favor. The simple fact that people will listen to authority automatically changes their view of Truth and Right. If the man with the gun to your head says what you’re doing is wrong, eventually, you will believe what you are doing is wrong. An authoritarian, Big Brother society can easily be structured. Some people may argue that demonstrations such as Occupy Wall Street counteract my argument. However, they fail to see that the right to protest is also a social construct. People have developed the idea that protesting when regulations are unfair is Right because, in this country, it is not punished. Once police beatings, pepper sprayings, and riot officers show up, the numbers of protesters will drop dramatically. In other countries, people do not think it is right to protest, even peacefully, because their society severely punishes them for it. Their ideas of Truth and Right are shaped by the society they live in. Right now, our society can be seen as unstable and in a state of turmoil. Financially, we are in a huge mess, and it won’t be long before the strife will lead to violent reactions. It’s times of political strife that our ideas of Truth and Right are manipulated and changed by authoritarian figures. Through social psychology, political leaders can essentially control people and their internal thoughts on the concepts of Truth and Right, showing that they most definitely do change over the course of time, dependant on who is in power.

Knowledge management and intellectual capital Essay

Knowledge is something that comes from information processed by using data. It includes experience, values, insights, and contextual information and helps in evaluation and incorporation of new experiences and creation of new knowledge. People use their knowledge in making decisions as well as many other actions. In the last few years, many organizations realize they own a vast amount of knowledge and that this knowledge needs to be managed in order to be useful. â€Å"Knowledge management (KM) system† is a phrase that is used to describe the creation of knowledge repositories, improvement of knowledge access and sharing as well as communication through collaboration, enhancing the knowledge environment and managing knowledge as an asset for an organization. Intellectual capital is considered as a key influencer of innovation and competitive advantage in today’s knowledge based economy. Knowledge management helps in obtaining, growing and sustaining intellectual capital in organisations. This paper focuses on how knowledge management and intellectual capital helps the organization to achieve their goals and as well as the relation between these two concepts. Key words: knowledge management, intellectual capital, organizational goals, benefits Introduction: Knowledge is something that comes from information processed by using data. It includes experience, values, insights, and contextual information and helps in evaluation and incorporation of new experiences and creation of new knowledge. Knowledge originates from, and is applied by knowledge workers who are involved in a particular job or task. People use their knowledge in making decisions as well as many other actions. In the last few years, many organizations realize they own a vast amount of knowledge and that this knowledge needs to be managed in order to be useful. Knowledge management is not one single discipline. Rather, it an integration of numerous endeavours and fields of study. Knowledge management is a discipline that seeks to improve the performance of individuals and organizations by maintaining and leveraging the present and future value of knowledge assets. Knowledge management systems encompass both human and automated activities and their associated artifacts. So, what is Knowledge? Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, expert insight and institution that provides an environment and framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. From this perspective, knowledge management is not so much a new practice as it is an integrating practice. It offers a framework for balancing the numerous of technologies and approaches that provide value, tying them together into a seamless whole. It helps analysts and designers better address the interests of stakeholders across interrelated knowledge flows and, by doing so, better enables individuals, systems and organizations to exhibit truly intelligent behaviour in multiple contexts. The reasons why companies invest in KM are that it either gives them a temporal effectiveness or efficiency advantage over their competitors, or they do it to try to negate the competitive advantage of others. For the purpose of this research, KM is defined to include the five fundamental processes of: (1) Knowledge acquisition (KA) (2) Knowledge creation (KC) (3) Knowledge documentation (KD) (4) Knowledge transfer (KT) and (5) Knowledge application (KAP) These five KM processes are not necessarily sequential but rather iterative and overlap. The effective management of knowledge necessitates a thorough understanding of the relationships not only among the KM processes themselves but also between the KM processes and the intellectual assets of an organization. Intellectual capital (IC): Intellectual capital can include the skills and knowledge that a company has developed about how to make its goods and services. It also includes insight about information pertaining to the company’s history; customers; vendors; processes; stakeholders; and all other information that might have value for a competitor that, perhaps, is not common knowledge. Intellectual capital is therefore, not only organizational knowledge, it is also industry knowledge. It is the combination of both cognitive knowledge and intuitive/experience-related knowledge. Intellectual capital is known for creating innovation and competitive advantage in this knowledge based era. But knowledge management plays a dominant role in obtaining, growing and sustaining intellectual capital in organizations which implies that the successful implementation and usage of KM ensures the acquisition and growth of Intellectual capital. Organizations should deploy and manage their IC resources in order to maximize value creation. The IC term was first introduced by Galbraith (1969) as a form of Knowledge, intellect, and brainpower activity that uses knowledge to create value. Since then, different views of IC have been emerged. For instance, view IC as a knowledge that can be converted into value. IC as the aggregation of all knowledge and competencies of employees that enable an organization to achieve competitive advantages. In addition, IC is defined to include all non-tangible assets and resources in an organization, including its processes, innovation capacity, and patents as well as the tacit knowledge of its members and their network of collaborators and contact. In spite of its multidimensionality, this research conceptualizes IC as consisting of three basic interrelated dimensions: Human capital (HC) Organizational (or structural) capital (OC), Relational (or customer) capital (OR) Human Capital encompasses attitudes, skills, and competences of the members of an organization. Organizational Capital includes elements such as organizational culture, routines and practices, and intellectual property. Relational Capital, however, includes relationships with customers, partners, and other stakeholders. The investments in Human Capital, Organizational Capital, and Relational Capital are expected to increase the value of an organization. The management of intellectual capital involves: Identifying key IC which drive the strategic performance of an organisation. Visualizing the value creation pathways and transformations of key IC Measuring performance and in particular the dynamic transformations. Cultivating the key IC using KM processes The internal and external reporting of performance Knowledge management and Intellectual capital: IC and KM serve different purposes and include the whole range of intellectual activities from knowledge creation to knowledge leverage. IC and KM as a set of managerial activities aiming at identifying and valuing the knowledge assets of an organization as well as leveraging these assets through the creation and sharing of new knowledge. KM and IC are believed to be closely coupled. When KM activities are used to develop and maintain IC, it becomes a resource of sustainable competitive advantage. On the other hand, when IC is properly utilized and exploited, it increases the absorptive capacity of the organization, which, in turn, facilitates its KM processes. Knowledge can add value to organizations through intangible assets such as Intellectual capital. Conceivably, the socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization (SECI) model is a more fitting theoretical foundation for understanding the KM-IC relationship. The SECI model outlines different interactive spaces (Ba), in which tacit knowledge can be made Explicit. The IC components (e.g. HC, OC and RC) represent the input for the knowledge creation process in the SECI model, and its main output takes the form of commercially exploitable intangibles. The four processes of the SECI model involve not only knowledge creation and utilization but also the other KM components including knowledge transfer, knowledge documentation, and knowledge acquisition. Knowledge transfer (sharing) is the common factor of the four processes of the SECI model. Socialization facilitates the conversion of new tacit knowledge through shared experience, which allows the less communicated knowledge to be communicated. Therefore, the socialization processes involve knowledge transfer. In addition, externalization is the process of articulating tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, which can be shared by others. In the combination and internalization processes, knowledge is exchanged and reconfigured through documents, meetings, or communication networks. Effective execution of the SECI processes can generate different types of IC. Socialization involves the accumulation of HC, OC, and RC by sharing and transferring experiences through joint activities. Also, the conversion of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge through externalization creates and accumulates OC. Combination creates knowledge structures in the form of systemic, institutionalized knowledge (i.e. OC) that can be directly disseminated and distributed. Internalization, on the other hand, accumulates HC and RC through learning by doing. Review of Literature: Francis Bacon has emphasized on importance of knowledge management in organizations with his famous phrase â€Å"knowledge is power† (Muller-Merbach, H. 2005). The strategy that considers knowledge along with other resources such as land, work and capital as an asset is knowledge management (Nonaka and Takouchi, 1995). Dell (1996) believes that knowledge management is a systematic approach for finding, understanding and applying of knowledge in order to create knowledge. According to Simon (1999) knowledge management is intelligent planning of processes, tools, structures and etc with the purpose of increasing, restructuring, sharing or improving of knowledge application that is apparent in each of three elements of mental capital, i.e. structural, human and social. Some of the clear-sighted believe that knowledge management is not a technology (Clair Guy, 2002; Lang, 2001; DiMatta, 1997; Koenig,2002; McInerey, 2002). This process helps organizations to be able to use their assets, work faster and more wisely and obtain more capital (Shawarswalder, 1999). An increased attention is focused on KM and IC management in the organisation. In the last decade there has been a shift in management focus from traditional accountancy practices where financial capital is paramount, to growing realisation that intangible assets are of greater significance in our knowledge-based economy (Egbu et al 2000, 2001). Knowledge can be a valuable resource for competitive advantage and harnessing its value is one of the pre-eminent challenges of management. Identifying and exploiting knowledge assets, or intellectual capital (IC), has been vastly documented. There are different types of knowledge in an organisation from the tacit knowledge of individuals, which is unarticulated and intuitive, to explicit knowledge that is codified and easily transmitted (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). Further distinctions have been made by academics and practitioners involved in the IC debate. Three components of IC have been identified comprising human, structural and customer capital (Edvinsson, 2000; Bontis, 1998; Bontis et al., 2000). However, it is asserted that the human capital in an organisation is the most important intangible asset, especially in terms of innovation (Edvinsson, 2000; Stewart, 1997; Brooking, 1996). Marr et al. (2003) argue that KM is a fundamental activity for growing and sustaining IC in organizations. Bontis (1999) posits that managing organizational knowledge encompasses two related issues: organizational learning flows and intellectual capital stocks. Organizational learning, as a part of KM (Rastogi, 2000), reflects the management’s effort to managing knowledge and ensures that IC is continually developed, accumulated, and exploited. A thorough review of the relevant literature and discussions with targeted researchers in the field would suggest that the development of successful knowledge management programmes involve due cognisance of many factors. Compilation of data: Knowledge Management consists of managerial activities that focus on the development and control of knowledge in an organization to fulfil organizational objectives. The knowledge sharing takes place in the organizations in two ways, explicit and tacit. The knowledge management seem to in two tracks as dynamic process or static object. Depends on how individuals understand what knowledge is and their aims both intellectual capital and knowledge management actors thus emphasize either the static or the dynamic properties of knowledge. Measuring the knowledge management is growing area of interest in the knowledge management field. The metrics are being developed and applied by the some organizations, but limitation of current measures is that they do not necessarily address the knowledge level and the types of value added knowledge that individuals obtain. The intellectual capital is most valuable asset it brings intellectual capital firmly on to the management agenda. The sum of everything everybody in organization knows that gives a competitive edge in the market place. The individual intellect effect more attribute of an organization. The intellectual capital characterizing as Intellectual material that has been formalized, captured and leveraged to produce the static properties of knowledge are inventions, ideas, computer programs, patents, etc., as Intellectual Capital also include human resources, Human Capital, but emphasize that it is clearly to the advantage of the knowledge firm to transform the innovations produced by its human resource into intellectual assets, to which the firm can assert rights of ownership. The measures for intellectual capital in use: 1. Value extraction 2. Customer capital 3. Structural capital 4. Value creation 5. Human capital Components of intellectual capital: Human capital indicators Structural capital indicators The knowledge management community needs to be responsive to the needs management in the organization by trying to adequately measure the intellectual capital and assess the worthiness of the knowledge management initiatives. Developing metrics and studies for measuring intellectual capital will help to consolidate the knowledge management field and give the discipline further credibility. Applying of knowledge is very important to the supply chain design and operation. Intellectual capital and knowledge management principle helps to enterprise supply chains. Knowledge management is formalizes approaches to understanding and benefiting knowledge assets at the firm level. The drivers which maximizes the enterprise supply chains Operational efficiency Opportunities to better service customer and stakeholders need A spring board for innovation A foundation concept in the field of intangible assets that is important for practice in that there are two dimension of knowledge, explicit and tacit. Next we develop these ideas further by interleaving intangible and traditional firm assets. Later we indentify the special characteristics priorities for the four generic supply chain models The intellectual capital approach: Intellectual capital comprises all the nonmonetary and nonphysical resources that are fully or partially controlled by the organization and contribute to the value creation. Three categories of intellectual assets are organizational, relationship and human. Strategies to manage knowledge: 1. Operational excellence 2. Design excellence Conclusion: Hence we would like to conclude that this paper has considered the importance of knowledge management and intellectual capital to organisations. Knowledge management practices differ from organisation to organisation. Organisations are at different stages in the knowledge management trajectory. Organisations ‘learn’ at different rates and apply different techniques (formal and informal) in managing knowledge. In the study on which this paper is based, there is a general consensus that the management of knowledge assets is vital for business. Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital should be integrated to maximize organizational effectiveness. However, the relationship between KM and IC is complex and so is its management. In order to effectively manage such a relationship, it is imperative to understand where and how the accumulated IC is reflected in managing KM activities in organizations. The management of knowledge and intellectual capital provides opportunities for project creativity and innovation. However, the effective implementation of knowledge management in organisations depends on many factors, which includes people, culture, structure, leadership, people and the environment. In most organisations, there is a lack of appropriate formal measuring constructs for the measurement of the benefits of knowledge assets to organisational performance. Managers operating in the knowledge economy are required to be â€Å"knowledge leaders,† who must be aware of the relationship between knowledge and those who possess it in order to successfully fulfil their leadership responsibilities. Based on the findings of this research, managers in the organizations are expected to develop strategies, adopt structures, and construct systems that effectively coordinate and integrate the efforts aiming at managing knowledge, human resource, and customer relationship in order to enhance knowledge flows, accumulate IC, and create and sustain business values. References: Intellectual capital and knowledge management: A new era of management thinking?- Jodee Allanson Reconfiguring knowledge management – combining intellectual capital, intangible assets and knowledge creation – Tomi Hussi Intellectual capital and Knowledge management effectiveness Bernard Marr, Oliver Gupta, Stephen Pike, Goran Roos. Developing knowledge management metrics for measuring intellectual capital – Jay Liebowitz Influence of KM and Intellectual capital on organisational innovations – Charles Egbu, Katherine Botte rill and Mike Bates

How Employees Relate to One Another Sets Gore Apart Essay

1. What evidence is there that W.L. Gore and associates aspire to meet the goal of human relations? With their promise to provide a challenging, opportunity-rich, work environment with reasonable job security, Gore & Associates is able to encourages hands-on innovation and in term maximizing individual potential, while cultivating and environment that fosters creativity and also to operate with high integrity. Their system works, and they have proven this to us for more than 50 years. For a company to be in the green for every year they have had their doors open to the world, they must be doing something right. Everyone knows that a happy worker is a productive worker, and I believe that Gore & Associates get this. They strive on making their employees happy ones, and by looking at their numbers, they know exactly what it takes. 2. How does Gore and Associates depict an organization that fully appreciates the â€Å"systems effect†? In a â€Å"systems effect† all people in an organization are affected by at least one other person, and each person affects the whole group or organization. By using a system approach to business, Gore and Associates develop high-performing individuals and groups. Individuals and groups are the foundation of an organization and human relations is the foundation of supporting performance. By understanding the company as a whole, but also by what each individual does to play part to the company’s overall growth and wealth, they can really take a whole new prospective look at how even the smallest matter can change the whole outlook on the company, and how each individual plays part in the success of the business. 3. One can argue that W.L. Gore’s lattice structure encompasses some of the unexpected discoveries brought out by Elton Mayo and the Hawthorne Studies. Identify some features of the lattice structure that align with some of the  unexpected discoveries of the Hawthorne Studies. Hawthorne Studies refers to an increase in performance caused by the special attention given to employees, rather than tangible changes in the work. Gore’s lattice structure is a proven method, with no titles, no bosses, no formal hierarchy, and with compensation and promotions that are strictly decided by peer rankings of each other performance, the overall performance increased because of the special attention given to employees. A happy worker is a productive worker. Studies have shown that workers are usually, but not always, more productive then unhappy workers. W.L. Gore understood this and strives on sustaining a work environment that harbors career success. 4. How does Gore’s â€Å"sponsorship† program contribute toward meeting some of the 10 human relations guidelines outlined in the Chapter? By freedom to encourage, help and allow other associates to grow in knowledge, skill, and scope of responsibility, sponsors help associates chart a course for success in the organization. I believe that Gore & Assoc. stands out among other companies because they allow people to grow and actually work towards something better. The more effort a person puts into his career the more he can get out of it. By sponsors showing genuine interest in their colleges, and by helping others, they create win-win situations, both small and large scale to the company’s overall growth.

Political Philosophy Essay

Barber (1999) refers to strong democracy as one of the democratic responses to contemporary political condition. The author clearly distinguishes the strong democratic type from unitary democracy, pluralist democracy, authoritative, and juridical democracy. All these types of democracy are idealistic, and are never applied to real political conditions in their pure forms, but they represent the five different visions of the democratic order which deserve attention and should be objectively reviewed. Barber (1999) defines authoritative democracy in centralized executive terms. Authoritative democracy exercises the principles of differential citizenry; although authoritative democracy is fully accountable to the democratic community which elects it, this type of democratic order relies on the excellence of elites (Barber, 1999). The two major deficiencies are characteristic of authoritative democracy: first, it tends towards hegemony; second, it tends to camouflage its political representation under the cover of political wisdom. As a result, individuals risk confusing the political virtue with the political excellence (Barber, 1999). Juridical democracy is based on the principles of protecting human rights. Arbitration and adjudication are the necessary preconditions of juridical democracy (Barber, 1999). In juridical democracy, the principle of differential citizenry is expressed through excessive reliance on courts, which resolve and mediate political issues and substantially limit the power of the democratic government. Barber (1999) writes that â€Å"juridical democracy is deficient because it subverts the legislative process†. The author is confident that juridical democracy initially distorts the notions of the natural right and the higher law, using them as the disguise for political reintroduction and representation (Barber, 1999). Pluralist democracy is the most ideal democratic form of all Barber describes in his work. Pluralist democracy is based on the principle of the social contract which free political markets use in the process of political exchange (Barber, 1999). In distinction from the two previous forms of democracy, the pluralist form relies on active (not differential) citizenry. All conflicts and issues are arbitrated with the help of bargaining in which free equal individuals are involved. The pluralist democracy is deficient because the power of the social contract and bargaining is very weak. In Barber’s (1999) view, pluralist democracy is too innocent, and cannot lead to formation of any public thinking. Unitary democracy could initially become the political representation of certain norm as the central element of democratic order. Although unitary democracy promotes the unanimous character of political decisions, it tends to undermine the principles of individual autonomy. The role of citizenry in unitary democracy is vague (Barber, 1999). The problem is in that the unity of political deliberation requires that individuals merge with the rest of the political community. As a result, they risk losing their political individuality, and promote collective political thinking. Unitary democracy cannot foster self-realization; in massive forms, unitary democracy borders on coercion and malevolence (Barber, 1999). In many aspects, unitary democracy is synonymous to â€Å"conformist† type of political order, which mixes tyranny with terror and views community consensus through the prism of collectivity and collective political interests. Barber (1999) is confident that strong democracy is the political order of the future. The author views this type of democratic order as a community which will never be collectivistic, and which is the most compatible with the contemporary society. The core of strong democracy is the self-government, in which citizens govern themselves (Barber, 1999). The conflict resolution is based on self-legislation, and the creation of the political community. The mentioned political community is the key element of strong democracy, and it is the necessary condition for transforming the political conflicts into the useful epistemological tools of public thinking (Barber, 1999). Simultaneously, Barber fails to define the criteria for the creation and existence of the already mentioned political community. If strong democratic community exists to transform political conflicts or implement political decisions (Barber, 1999), it is unclear whether this community will keep its previous form as soon as it achieves its political goals. One can’t but agree with Barber (1999) in that in strong democracy community is invariably linked to the notion of citizenship, but there are striking disparities between the notions of community and participation. Although strong democracy claims striking the misbalance between participation and community, it does not offer any reliable criteria for achieving the democratic world of the common ends, in which conflict serves the dialectical means of turning the masses into the democratic citizenship. Conclusion Strong democracy is viewed by Barber (1999) as the best and the most realistic type of democratic order. Barber (1999) emphasizes the deficiencies which authoritative, juridical, unitary, and pluralist democracies display. Simultaneously, Barber (1999) fails to provide the criteria for creating and supporting the strong democratic community and participation. The relation between community and participation remains misbalanced, and strong democracy will hardly strike it.

Gay and Lesbian Should allowed to become foster parent and adoption Personal Statement

Gay and Lesbian Should allowed to become foster parent and adoption - Personal Statement Example This led to a practice of adoption among gay and lesbian people for a want to care and nurture a child. â€Å"Discussion and debate about adoption and foster care by gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) parents occurs frequently among policymakers, social service agencies, and social workers. The government report shows that an estimated 65,500 adopted children and 14,100 foster children living with gay and lesbian parents†(Gates,2007) The recent surveys have revealed that, considerable amount of homosexuals have adopted children and is leading a fairly good life. However, there are also arguments against the homosexuals adopting and raising children on their own. This could be mainly due to the image the homosexuals have in the society of being ill- mannered and degraded. They are a subject of taboo, and are looked upon as an alien due to their sexual orientation and way of living. Nevertheless, they too have the desire to fondle a child and be a caring parent. So it is very impo rtant to understand their emotional status and allot them the status of being a parent to bring harmony and happiness in their life. â€Å"A good foster home has two happy, contented adults with time enough to pay attention to a foster child†(Mc Nair,35) Work Cited Blatt, Susan Mc Nair. A guidebook for raising foster children. 1st. West Port: Bergin & Garvey, 2000. 35. Print. Gates, Gary.

Gender Behaviors in Battle of Algiers, Mother India and A Widows Voice Essay

Gender Behaviors in Battle of Algiers, Mother India and A Widows Voice - Essay Example This paper draws a comparison between the gender behaviors as depicted in Battle of Algiers, Mother India, and A Widow’s Voice. Battle of Algiers is a 1966 war film, which dwells on the situations of women in a warring country. Mother of India shows the struggles of women in harsh economies, taking care of their families. â€Å"A Widow’s Voice† is a very popular literary text, which has the theme of widowhood, including the problems widows face. One thing that is common between both movies and the literary text is that they all offer a comprehensive insight into the gender behaviors in their respective contexts. Battle of Algiers, Mother India, and A Widow’s Voice are similar in their depiction of women’s strength. Battle of Algiers and Mother India commonly undermine the power of men while highlighting that of women while Mother India and A Widow’s Voice commonly feature domestic women’s sacrifices and men’s selfishness. In con clusion, drawing a comparison between these three works was quite challenging, as these have different themes, and are of different genres. However, with the approach employed, a clear comparison of gender behaviors in these works has been achieved. Generally, women have been portrayed as very important people in the society. Women take care of their families, which are the basic unit of the society. However, the main issue is that despite all these, the society, especially men, do not appreciate women the way they should. These three works indirectly call for the need for women empowerment in society.

Individual projects- movie review or consumption Journal Essay - 2

Individual projects- movie review or consumption Journal - Essay Example CIA official James Woolsey waxes ominous concerning the American practice of large-scale borrowing in terms of money and resources, such as aluminum thru zinc, to the tune of eight-hundred billion dollars in order to finance our oil trade, with implications for disaster looming amidst the suggestion of a house-of-cards-like strategy. A series of experts deliver what are referred to as Time-capsule interviews. David Suzuki, geneticist/biologist who expounds on his theories of the importance of understanding all of mankinds needs in terms of living systems, while the iconic mathematician-scientist Stephen Hawkins delivers warnings on a myriad of ways in which we might destroy ourselves, and predicts the necessity of colonization of other planets as the only means to survive our abuse of this one. Gloria Flora exhorts us to vote, and not just in a ballot box, but vote in the way in which you use and buy products in your daily lives. In so doing, we approve of everything that goes into a product when we put our money on a counter to purchase it. Health guru Andrew Weil weighs in on his own awareness of the problem and willingness to help averting catastrophe. The founder of the Greenbelt Movement, and Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai informs us that it takes ten trees to process the carbon dioxide of each individu al, and for each of us to ensure such vegetation remains. A central prediction of the theme is that industrial civilization has caused irreparable damage to the planet; by way of the assumption that carbon dioxide output creates a warming climate that leads to hurricanes, such as Katrina, and various climactic disasters. An interesting premise is that the problem is primarily one of leadership, rather than technology. That is a principle that deserves further discussion and examination. For years we have heard that solar power, and wind power are just not sufficiently effective to give us profitable industry and

RECORD KEEPING. (The concept should be defined and explored and an Essay

RECORD KEEPING. (The concept should be defined and explored and an explanation provided of how this concept relates to the role of the nurse in providing care in your specific field of nursing) - Essay Example onducted to manage records, and tools in a record system comprise all the software and equipment used in capturing, organizing, storing, tracking, and retrieving records. Keeping records is essential for the best functioning of any organization. Nursing being an important entity that supports human development and growth, it also relies on good record keeping for efficient delivery of services and health care (Luepker 2003). Therefore, it is the responsibility of every nurse in the nursing team providing patient care to play part in record keeping. However, a senior nurse overseeing unqualified colleagues should assume the responsibility and provide guidance on proper documentation. Keeping nursing records has many advantages, however, a majority of nurses struggle to find time to keep records. In addition to that, some of them do not view it as vital as other duties. Nursing record entails the nursing care a patient receives, as well as his/her response to the care. Additionally, factors or events that may affect a patient’s well being are also recorded. These factors ranges from the patients’ visitors seeing them to scheduled theatre visits. In case a nurse does not know what to write down in a patient’s heath record, he/she should ask such questions as: â€Å"If I am not able to handover verbally to the next nursing team, what information should they know to continue giving heath care to the patients?† Answers to this question should give the nurse an insight of what she is expected to write in the patient’s records (Marsh & Magee 2009). Good record keeping is part of nursing care given to patients. As a matter of fact, it is almost impossible to memorize everything one does or everything that happens in a shift. Therefore, failure to have accurate and clear nursing records for all patients may make handover to new nursing teams incomplete. Furthermore, this may affect the patients well being. Quality of records kept by a nursing department may be a

Is there a trade-off between innovation and regulating quality in Essay

Is there a trade-off between innovation and regulating quality in higher education If so, what is the appropriate way to balan - Essay Example During this educational program, students are capable to explore their own selected area and effectively focus on four thematic areas such as policy, change, leadership and community diversity (The Trustees of Boston College, 2012). The department of ‘Educational Leadership and Higher Education’ provides Master’s as well as Doctoral programs for the applying students. The core objective of this department is to provide education to the students for leadership position. Moreover, this department also provides graduate level professional as well as certification programs. In this regard, the professional program provides education to the individuals regarding administrative position at the college as well as university level. While on the other hand, certification program in educational leadership provides education to the students regarding the managerial position (Saint Louis University, 2012). ‘Trade-Off’ is considered as a situation that implies for egoing on quality of something in return of gaining another quality. The basis objective of this paper is to demine the trade-off between innovation and regulating quality in higher education. Trade-Off between Innovation and Regulating Quality in Higher Education The term ‘innovation’ is considered as an initiation related to new ideas, thoughts, devices or methods. In the present context, higher education facilities are continuously evolving across the globe. In terms of innovation regarding educational curriculum activities are concerned, an instance can be witnessed of Western Governors University at the United Kingdom which considerably is focusing on bring about certain innovation in their educational system. Contextually, innovation regarding curriculum activities and development program assists this university to meet the educational standards at higher level. They expected that by initiation of innovation, they would facilitate effective educational facilities and also attract a wide number of students (Trane, 2012). At present, a majority of post graduate educational institutions and higher educational level universities are bringing about a lot of innovative changes regarding educational system. By taking into consideration regarding the Australian higher education system, certain arguments were presented by the Bradley Review of Higher Education in the year 2008. This educational standard reviewing authority demonstrated certain obvious changes about the existing educational systems such as setting of easy access regarding online education, certain regulatory aspects of educational procedures along with enhancing the quality of academic lectures. Since the year 1970, Australian government has encouraged several universities to critically evaluate their educational performance. In the year 1980, this evaluation was considerably accepted in order to improve the efficiency as well as effectiveness of educational program. In the last few d ecades, there has been a considerable turmoil regarding bringing in innovative changes in the education system which was quite difficult to carry out for the various universities (Varis, 2007). A number of colleges and universities in recent times are facing a diverse set of challenges in terms of ensuring quality of higher education along with incorporating sustained regulation. These challenges relate in

MANAGING INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (Take home exam) Essay

MANAGING INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (Take home exam) - Essay Example If these are not that effective, then entrepreneurs must have stopped using them for years. According to Porter’s five forces model, there are potential entrants that are able to play as relevant industry competitors. These new entrants are also capable of forming innovation and even imitation. China for instance is known for its low-cost products that at some point similar to existing offerings, which makes imitation not that impossible to take place. Thus, it would make sense that in order to prevent others from imitating a product; barriers to potential entrants should be made. According to Porter, barriers to entry includes economies of scale, product differentiation, capital requirements, switching costs, access to distribution channels, cost disadvantages independent of scale and government policy. We have been immersed mostly in the concepts of economies of scale and product differentiation so I would like to focus on these two as important barriers to innovation, as based on Porter’s five forces model. The economies of scale would force the entrant to face two undesirable options: come in at large scale and risk strong reaction from existing firms; choose small scale and accept cost disadvantage. In either of these choices, a new entrant needs to take the risk of losing his chance to successfully penetrate into the market. The other potential barrier to new entrant is product differentiation. Firms that already have brand identification and customer loyalties are hard to beat. Therefore, firms should therefore increase advertising, customer service, product differences and be the first into the industry in order to prevent potential entrants. Product differentiation therefore could at some point be highly associated with economies of learning, production techniques, production design and more, just to be able to create one-of-a-kind product that could bring competitive advantage and

Assess the view that feminism has succeeded in its aims Essay

Assess the view that feminism has succeeded in its aims - Essay Example Gilligan further stated that there were female and male moral hierarchies, and that the female moral hierarchy should be equal to the male moral hierarchy. Therefore, Gilligan proposed that females and males should be approached and studied differently, and that women might have different moral hierarchies, but that these hierarchies are not inferior to males, just different. Gilligan further found that men and women are different, in that women value care over rights, and men value rights over care. She further went on to note other cultural differences, such as that males define themselves by separation from others, and females define themselves by identifying with others. Further, cultural feminists understand that our rights and ethos are male centric, and believe that society should listen to the women's voice as much as the man's voice (Turnier et al., 1996). Ending Stereotypes of Women Since cultural feminism is concerned with the differences between men and women, and that, b ecause we lived in a man's world, the man is the one who defines society, stereotyping of women based upon a male's perception of the female ideal is one problem that cultural feminists fight to overcome. One of the ways that women are stereotyped is through the use of ideal body images, which are the ideals that women feel that they have to achieve, in order to be seen as being acceptable to society. The ideal is represented by Playboy models and pageant winners, which are, by and large, difficult if not impossible to attain for the average woman (Calabrese et al., 2011). Our society is inundated by this beauty ideal both through the regular media and through advertising. Advertising, according to Dyer (1989), features the feminine beauty ideal because advertising essentially markets a fantasy, in this case, a male fantasy. The objects that are to be sold are made more valuable in the eyes of society by being associated with these ideal images. Therefore, the feminine ideal of the Barbie or Playboy figure – slim waisted and large breasted – becomes the standard by which women are judged in our advertisements, and is responsible for perpetuating the stereotype that women must uphold these ideals (Dyer, 1989).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The reason why the feminine ideal is that of the slim waisted and large breasted Barbie doll or Playboy centerfold is because this is the supposed ideal of the male, and, as de Beauvoir (1973) notes, femininity is defined by the patriarchy in society. That said, as Lorber (1993) notes, the standards of beauty, as defined by men, are ever-changing in society. While the ideal might be the Barbie figure today, and it was in the 1950s as well, as shown by the popularity of Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Jane Russell, the ideal in the 1990s was the emaciated look. This look, according to Lorber (1993) was small-breasted, slim hipped, and emaciated. This ideal was something that the women starved t hemselves for during this period of time (Lorber, 1993). What controls what is popular, as far as body types go, is patriarchy, society and culture (Lorber, 1993). The problem with these images, aside from how they make women feel, is that women become essentially the object of the male sexual gratification and desire, and makes women believe that their appearance is associated with their worth. This leads to a kind of destructive stereotype, that women are supposed to meet the stereotyped ideal, and, if they do not, they fall

Methods of Research in Media and Communications Essay

Methods of Research in Media and Communications - Essay Example This paper aims at evaluating the perception that the Greek had during the economic crisis, which threatened to paralyse their economy due to its incapacity to pay its debts. The study utilises an interview form of research to get the views from various individuals with respect to the information they got from the media during the crisis. The information obtained from the interview was then analysed, and findings used to ascertain the perception of the people. Background Information People all over the world have different reactions in relation to the news and reports relayed unto them (Corner et al., 1997). According to European Journalism Centre (2010), the press is the second-most imperative source of information after the television. The news and reports are relied on heavily by the public for any eventual news either in the country or abroad. Therefore, with respect to the economic crisis, the media channels and information sources did their best to bring out the situation exper ienced economically both at home and at the international level (Mullen and Klaehn, 2010). The manner in which news and reports are relayed to the public has a considerable impact to individuals and the implications are dependent on the perception taken by the public (Priest, 2010). Undertaking a research study in the field of media, has positive implications in the sense that it will help in ascertaining the constructive measures to be undertaken by the media bodies, in the kind of news or reports they air, and the manner of delivering the same (Fernandez, 2008). The upsurge and demonstrations portrayed by the public during the Greek crisis can be ascribed to the discernment of the debt crisis as prescribed by the media. This is through the public concept of encoding and decoding what they heard or watched as discussed by Stuart Hall. Various mass media concepts and theories are very crucial in understanding the study undertaken. With respect to the propaganda concept, it helps und erstand and expound on the development, stratification and functioning of communities and how the members interact via communication. The classical Marxist thinking on ideology paved the idea for developing new concepts to understand and explain the role of the media in the contemporary democratic world. According to Herman and Chomsky (2000), the mass media serve as a means for communicating information and symbols to the public. Further, in a world of intense wealth and major conflicts of classes of interest to realise set roles entails the systematic propaganda (Herman and Chomsky, 2002). Political economy entails a fundamental theoretical framework employed in the media studies research. This entails the attempts to understand the power relations that determine distribution, consumption, and production of communication resources (McQuail, 1994, p. 82). This is very relevant to this study as the Greek crisis was national and constituted the authorities. Media has been transformed by technology to be the most crucial a rapid influence on opinions and indulgent in the current world (Wimmer and Dominic, 2011). Chandler (2000) argues that media possess a powerful tool and capacity to encourage global awareness thus, promoting economic trends, cross-cultural understanding,

Neurotransmission Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Neurotransmission - Term Paper Example x support the neurons, digest the dead neurons, and manufacture the protective myelin sheath covering the neurons besides providing nutrition (â€Å"Brain Cells’’ 2001). Thus neurons along with their connections can be visualized as electric conductors insulated in a thick mass of glial cells. A typical neuron, like other cells has a main body in which resides the nucleus and is called soma (Fig. I). From this emanate the inward signal processing projections called the dendrites and the outward signal processing axons, or the conducting fibres (Case Presentation, January 27th, 2014). The point where the two neurons connect with each other is known as the synapse, the latter being the juncture where transmission of axonal information takes place (Case Presentation, January 27th, 2014). A synapse is comparable with a connecting switch which transmits current from one circuit to another. Dendrites receive the incoming signals from the preceding neuron, the signals being generated in the form of micro electric action potentials in the soma, wherein the signal processing and stabilization takes place. The axons transmit the information from the prior to the subsequent neurons. The fatty myelin sheath serves to insulate the axon thereby facilitating transmission of signals. This myelin sheath is akin to the insulation we see on electric wires. As the insulation on electric wires stops leakage of electric current thereby protecting us, similarly the myelin sheath on the neuron protects leakage of action potential to adjacent neurons so that they can send signals along the actual destined pathways for them. However, at specific intervals it exposes the neuron at junctures called ‘Nodes of Ranvier’ which are meant for increasing the speed of transmission of the onward electric signals. A typical neuron connects with 1000-1000 other neurons through synapses (â€Å"Brain Cells’’ 2001). This can be compared to a big power supply line feeding hundreds of houses for

Python Programming Language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Python Programming Language - Essay Example In addition, python language integrates amazing control with extremely clear and simple language syntax or python programming rules. Moreover, it offers user interfaces to a lot of system calls, built-in libraries, and to a variety of window systems. Thus, we can say that the python language has the power to be integrated within C++ or C capabilities. On the other hand, it can also work as an extendable language for programs that require a programmable user working interface. In short, python is a high level programming language which offers a great deal of portability facility because it executes on a lot of UNIX platforms, Personal Computers under MS-DOS, Macintosh system, and Windows based systems like Windows NT and OS/2 platform (Python Software Foundation, 2011; Snyder, 2007; Cai, Langtangen, & Moe, 2005). This report presents a detailed overview of python programming language. ... Additionally, it can be utilized for the development of various types of application programs and software. The basic design principle of the python language highlights the programmer efficiency and program code interpretation. Python was at first developed by Guido van Rossum. The development of python was encouraged by Haskell, ABC, LIST programming, Java, Perl and Icon programming languages used for various purposes. Python programming language is a high level, extensive, construed and multi-platform programming language. In addition, python programming language is a smallest programming language. However, the most attractive characteristic of python programming language is that it does not make use of any sort of brackets or semicolons in source code. In its place, python utilizes indentation technique (Bodnar, 2010; Hightower, 2001). Moreover, python programming language comes in two versions. In this scenario, these versions of python programming language are 3.x and 2.x. The P ython 3.x has cracked backward compatibility issues with earlier editions of python language. It was made to rectify a number of design defects of the language as well as enable enhanced capability of the language (Bodnar, 2010; Hightower, 2001). History of Python Python programming language was initially developed by Guido von Rossum during 1990s. This name of language was established due to Brit-com Monty Python's Flying Circus. This programming language has since been updated and improved by a large number of members or helpers as well as can be downloaded without paying any cost from the Python Software Foundation. Additionally, the latest edition of Python, 2.5, was brought to public in 2006. Python programming language is currently established in a lot of

Case Analysis on Ryan Air Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Analysis on Ryan Air - Case Study Example Thus, in 2004, the company's short-term market orientation involved segmenting by lifestyle and by income bracket in the European marketplace in order to appeal to a broader target consumer audience. The key stakeholders in the firm include all staff members responsible for carrying out strategic objectives, the communities in which Ryanair thrives, as well as the customers who frequent Ryanair as their low-cost carrier of choice. Satisfying the stakeholder appears to be the firm's long-term mission in Europe in lieu of having no established, formalised mission or vision statement. Lack of such a mission or vision may be involved in the rationale for why Ryanair experienced sales declines in 2004, however this will be discussed in further detail in this case analysis report. This report will highlight factors in both the internal and external business environment which are plaguing Ryanair in terms of maintaining a strategic orientation that is completely congruent with sales goals and growth initiatives. A micro- and macro-level analysis of the firm in 2004 is proposed in this report. PEST analysis is an acronym for political, economic, social an... Each of the aforementioned forces are categorised by a particular macro-level external influence, each of which directly impacts strategic direction at Ryanair. The external political environment is one of significant advantage to Ryanair, as the majority of its operations are contained within Europe. It is relatively common knowledge that this region maintains political stability, thus Ryanair does not experience issues with governmental instability in Europe as a concern regarding passenger volumes or flight destinations. However, outside of the European marketplace, the firm maintains significant economic difficulties posed by political forces such as OPEC, the organisation responsible for oil production in the Middle East. As the majority of international revenues in the Mid-East regions stem from oil and oil production/distribution, the current methodology of global supply chain (in relation to where oil is delivered based on price and overall demand) incurs large-scale costs to Ryanair who, like other business entities, is unable to secure low-cost fuel due to political forces which drive oil distribution. This assessment of the external political environment is well-supported by Ryanair documentation highlighting 2004 as a year of challenges stemming largely from the cost of oil which continued to escalate in this particular period (Annual Report, 2004). The economic environment in which Ryanair thrives in 2004 is relatively stable in terms of maintaining operations successfully and contributing to the financial well-being of European nations in the process. The European Union, consisting of a large quantity of developed countries in Europe, maintains a high value for its integrated currencies, suggesting that this region is

Team-based Programming Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Team-based Programming Skills - Essay Example Each member is dependent on the other and higher the understanding among the members, higher the productivity level of the whole organization. When working in a team as a programmer, the most important skill that you need to have is communication skill. A programmer working in a team may not require a vast amount of knowledge compared to a programmer working alone. (Layman, et al. 2006) In web programming, content is of the utmost importance. When different sets of mind are working together, they produce content that is of high quality, has a lot of variety, attractive, dynamic and is well planned. There are various teams that are made that have a specific task so that they can create something that captivates the audience (Layman, et al. 2006). In teams there is the transference of knowledge as well. A person who is skilled in web programming can share his knowledge and wisdom with the people he is working with. (Sharp & Robinson, 2008) This helps in the overall productivity of the whole team which in turn affects the organization. When a programmer is working alone he needs a vast amount of knowledge concerned with the design of the website. Although communication skills are not that important but still they are required. The programmer must be expert in all areas because he is in charge of all the things. Organizations that are small require web developers that can work alone (Anon., 2014). However there is a downside of working alone as well. The content made is not that captivating when the programmer is working alone because a single mind is working on it. (Burdmann, 1999) There is a lower degree of creativeness as it is born out of interaction. There is limited knowledge and the programmer might lose confidence in his abilities. In today’s world it is important for an organization to build teams and strategies for them. When a team is built up, a specific strategy and specific tasks are allotted to

Different between personal management and HR management Essay

Different between personal management and HR management - Essay Example Main body contains the appropriate representation of the information together with the critical analysis. The comparative analysis together with describing basic approaches in the personnel management and human resource management are included. The information is supported by the examples from different investigations in this area. The conclusion provides an assumption of the given information. The method used is particularized examination of the literature together with the critical summarizing and personal inferences on the topic. The research works of different scholars together with logical argumentation is included to the paper. The notion of management is considered to be extremely important and serious issue concerning the question of productivity and atmosphere at work. Moreover, that is remained to be an obligatory thing in the process of work, and is straightforwardly connected with people. It is possible to talk about personnel management (PM) and human resource management (HRM) in such a case. They are regarded as two basic directions in the dimension of people management (Henderson, 2011). Some theorists in this sphere understand these two types of management as similar and regard them as interchangeable (Henderson, 2011). Still, it should be admitted that personnel management and human resource management reveal some differences that are under a big importance in present-day organization of work. It is relevant to mention that PM and HRM can be characterized according to the number of principles that describe their functioning and reveal differences between them. It is possible to name origin, strategic nature, psychological contact, job design, organizational structure, remuneration and recruitment, employee relations perspective and criteria for success of the function (Henderson, 2011). All of them are considered to be highly important in the construction of people management in general and each type in particular. The

Lord of the Flies by William Golding and The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy Essay Example for Free

Lord of the Flies by William Golding and The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy Essay Describe how evil is presented in Lord of the Flies by William Golding and The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy. Lord of the flies is a story that begins in the after a plane crash in the Pacific Ocean during an unnamed war in which a group of English schoolboys are isolated on what they assume to be an island, under no adult supervision they are left to defend for themselves create their own friendships and fight their own battles. As the story unfolds the boys develop a miniature society in which they try to include rules and order, but, each with their own ideas of right and wrong and sometimes totally different priorities, difficulties inevitably arise, their little community collapses and the boys are thrown into a world of hurt and fear. There were three main characters in this story, which affected the entire group and how they behaved. Jack began as the arrogant and self righteous leader of the tribe. There was Piggy, who in no doubt an intelligent, practical and a sensible thinker. He is the mouthpiece of science and reason on the island, and is a good planner who can think logically and prioritise things which was carefully ordained by Ralph who was an organised person, sensible and had a quite a bit of knowledge on survival. In the story we see the true evil that outcome from these boys. In the following paragraphs I am going to describe the horror that was used by William Golding in his novel Lord of the Flies. The first signs of evil emerging from the boys appeared when Jack and his hunters killed a pig and re-enacted the killing. In the process people were injured and the chanting that became a ritual began at this time. Although Jacks ambition to kill a pig had been fulfilled, he now had a taste of the glory and sense of power. This meant that he was by no means satisfied to have killed one pig, but would instead continue to do so. It is significant that Jack felt it was necessary to kill pigs, seeing that there was a large number of people on the island. It is important to note how much the boys manage to achieve before their inner evil destroy their senses of responsibility and reason, that is, before the boys finally come to savagery and violence. They discover fire, they build shelters, they explore the island, they go on hunting trips, and they delegate social responsibilities. Initially, one would be inclined to think that Jacks leadership is a poor one as he relies on brute strength. However, Jack is clever enough to know that the boys survival is as important as rescue. Food has to be hunted for nutritional needs (which Ralph tries to deny). Are there ghosts, Piggy, or beasts? Ralph seems to depend on Piggy quite a lot like an adult to guide him the way, but the mistake that Ralph does not see is that Piggy is not an adult. This is a clever technique used by Golding as he is building up the tension and the readers will be urged to read on. Another significant event took place during the killing of the pig, the hunters let the fire out, and there was open violence from Jack, when Jack was confronted by Piggy, Jack swung at Piggy and broke one of his lens off his glasses which was an important piece of equipment, as the glasses, meant they could have a fire which enables them to be rescued. This illustrates how Jack was being overcome by his evil inside him. The Lord of the Flies is represented in the form of a pigs head on a stick, which appeared to speak to Simon in the forest, while he was experiencing one of his epileptic fits. Golding uses this to show that the evil on this island has come from within the boys themselves. Simon then climbed the mountain and discovered that the swaying beast was in fact a dead pilot. This is gone far enough. My poor misguided child. Do you think you know better then I do?' Simon thinks of the pigs head (The Lord Of The Flies) as the symbol of their descent from civilized behaviour to animalistic savagery. It is because of the pigs head that Simon realizes that nature can be brutal and horrifying, an idea that clashes with his previous love of nature and the spirituality inbuilt in it. Simon frames nature in terms of its how like Eden it is, but the Lord of the Flies is a challenge of that view. Most importantly of all, Golding reveals that there is indeed a better side to mans nature through his character, Simon. Throughout the novel, Simon is portrayed as a Christ-like figure and a saint. Unfortunately, it was at this point where the evil came out among all of the boys, as Simon was mistaken for the beast and the boys were all overcome by the evil inside them and the ritual begun once again as it did with the pig and Simon was brutally killed in disguise of the beast. In this part of the novel we see that evil has overcome the boys and there is no longer any structure at all left within the boys. Following Simons death it becomes clear that none of the tribe would accept that they had become evil and had just sabotaged a human being, but Ralph on the other hand could see what they had become and confronted Piggy saying that was murder, Piggy knew what had happened but tried to hide it by coming up with lame excuses like it was dark. Ralph had learned from this and controlled the evil inside him. When Piggy got his glasses stole by the other tribe Ralph and Piggy knew that they had lost all their power. So the only way to regain that power would be to get Piggys glasses back. Unfortunately this lead to more hatred when the two tribes started to argue and it was obvious that Jacks tribe had the most power and during this argument Roger decided to push a Rock onto Piggy leaving him dead, which shows that Jacks tribe was just pure evil and had no other thoughts than to kill. Towards the end of the novel Ralph was hunted down like a wild animal and the imagery Golding uses in this final chapter describes a world where insanity and evil rule. It is even possible that the boys now saw Ralph as the beast, which is why they hunted him down. Secondly, although all the boys were hunting Ralph to kill him, most of them probably did not realise what they were doing or why. This is because Jack had influenced their minds and half of them probably saw killing Ralph as a game. In view of the fact that Ralph was being hunted down by everyone on the island, we must accept that he would have been killed had it not been for the arrival of the Navy officer. It must be noted that Golding does not choose to allow Ralph to be killed. This could be because he does not wish to allow evil to win. The real message that Golding is trying to send out is if we have no rules or boundaries then we will behave like animals do so anything can be done, in this case killing has become a hobby. In Lord of the Flies, Golding suggests that once man is freed from social conditioning and obligation, the intrinsic sense of evil will be revealed in him. He destroys the optimistic view of human nature by showing how even the most innocent of all children can deteriorate into primitive savages once freed from the trappings of society. The actual storyline was pretty lame because a bunch of children just happened to crash on an island stranded, they all have a big tribunal war, people die, then the Ralph is in trouble and some navy guy appears and saves Ralph. This story was a bit too predictable, but the descriptive text in this novel is fascinating and keeps you reading. The withered arm is a pre-20th Century, short story. It is full of supernatural elements and coincidences. The story involves the characters Rhoda, a jealous middle-aged woman who has a son by farmer Lodge. Farmer Lodge has just married a young, beautiful woman called Gertrude. Rhoda being a jealous woman unconsciously conjures up an evil incubus. This causes Gertrudes arm to weather, she tries all the cures she knows off, but resorts to using the supernatural to heal it. This leads to a dramatic ending. Right at the beginning of the story we are in suspense because there is much speculation about the new bride. At the beginning of the story it is thought that Rhoda and Gertrude are rivals, as they have both had a relationship with farmer lodge. They occupy traditional roles in the story; Rhoda is the older neglected lover with her looks fading. Gertrude is the young, beautiful blooming new wife. Age, beauty, status and social class divide them. Rhoda is extremely jealous of Gertrude we know this because she sends her son to spy on the new wife: see if she is dark Her jealousy is what leads to the first element of the supernatural, which is her nightmare. Stricken with jealousy, her subconscious thoughts surface in her sleep as she innocently dreams of grabbing Gertrudes arm in a last desperate effort, swung out her right hand, seized the confronting spectre by its obtrusive left arm. Rhodas first reaction to Gertrude is of horror and fear. In her dream, she sees Mrs. Lodge as a figure with features shockingly distorted and wrinkled by old age. Hardy uses simple diction to convey the horror of the nightmare. He also uses emotive language like maddened and mockingly. Rhodas nightmare can be explained as coincidence, as a physical manifestation of the girls unconscious awareness of the situation. Rhodas dream creates suspense and words such as phantom keep it going. The next morning we learn that the dream was real as her son asks: what was that noise in your chimmer, mother last night. Did you fall out of bed around two oclock? The developing relationship between the two women has elements of the macabre. Rhoda often asks to see the wound, and seems fascinated by the clear indication of the marks of four fingers. Gertrude relies on Rhoda for a sympathetic understanding of the growing estrangement between herself and her husband, who knows the disfigurement is there. The choice of the word disfigurement reveals his attitude to appearances. As the arm is getting worst and she has visited a doctor who cannot help her, she becomes increasing desperate for a cure as her husband is starting to love her less. She turns to Rhoda to take her to see Trendle much to her dismay. Rhoda fears for the loss of a good friendship. Trendle is a witch doctor and has powers other people dont, in the story many people believe in him, except Gertrude who says: o, how could my people be so superstitious. She soon changes her mind and goes with Rhoda to visit him this is where it is revealed that Gertrude has an enemy: medicine cant cure it. Is the work of an enemy. Trendle then reveals the face of her attacker to her. Gertrude reacts calmly when she finds out who it is as she says she does not care to speak of it. When she is talking to Rhoda and does not tell her what she saw. After this Rhoda and her son disappeared quietly. Over the next six years, Gertrudes arm continues to wither, and the fact that she had brought no children to her husband made her worry even more that Mr. Lodge would reject her. Mr. Lodge has superficial love for Gertrude which was based on her beauty: the woman whom he had wooed for her beauty. But as her arm is getting worst we see that he starts to disregard her. She starts to age beyond her years: she was now five-and-twenty; but she seemed older. She becomes desperate for a cure and tries all sorts of remedies. This makes us feel sympathetic towards her. As a last resort she visits Tremble and tries to take advantage of his white magic, this leads to fatal results and her superstition, combined with desperation, must be held accountable for this. He tells her she must touch with the limb the neck of a man whos been hanged. As time passed she considers this and wished: o lord, hang some guilty or innocent person soon! This shows how desperate she was becoming. Gertrudes meeting with the hangman reveals her obsession: she has in fact prayed each evening for some guilty or innocent person to be hanged Rhoda and the hangman having a discussion in which she says: o- a reprieve- I hope not! Here she is saying even if the person is innocent she hopes he will not be let off. Through out the story it is full of irony- you have farmer Lodge marrying to have a son, even though he has one which he does not recognise. Hardy chose not to give the illegitimate son a name; this may be because Lodge failed to recognise him, even though he wishes for a son: I once thought of adopting a boy! Gertrude befriends the boy but unknowingly wishes for his death, in which when she finds out the identity of the hanged man she dies from shock. The denouement of the finial gruesome meeting between the two women brings all interaction to an end. The scene is highly dramatic and needs few words. This is where we learn that it is Rhodas son that has been hanged and due to this Gertrudes blood had been turned indeed- too far. In conclusion of both stories I think that Lord of the Flies represents horror in a more sophisticated way than The Withered Arm, saying that Lo-rd of the Flies was written when there was no TV this virtually inserts images into your thoughts, the only thing with Lord of the Flies was the actual storyline as it was too unreal because if there was a plane crashes, normally there is hardly any survivors but in this case, the whole troop survived!! In conclusion the withered arm is an effective story of the supernatural from the point of view from the reader. When it was written as people heavily believed in the supernatural and witchcraft, this is another reason the story is effective. It differs from todays horror stories, as it is not full of blood and guts.

Attack on Pearl Harbour Essay Example for Free

Attack on Pearl Harbour Essay Attack on Pearl Harbour: * On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise air attack on the U. S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After just two hours of bombing, more than 2,400 Americans were dead, 21 ships had either been sunk or damaged, and more than 188 U. S. aircraft destroyed * U. S. abandoned its policy of isolationism and declared war on Japan the following day officially bringing the United States into World War II. The Japanese were tired of negotiations with the United States * They wanted to continue their expansion within Asia but the United States had placed an extremely restrictive embargo on Japan in the hopes of curbing Japans aggression * Rather than giving in to U. S. demands, the Japanese decided to launch a surprise attack against the United States in an attempt to destroy the United States naval power even before an official announcement of war was given * The morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began. At 6:00 a. m. the Japanese aircraft carriers began launching their planes amid rough sea * The American Navy was completely unaware that an attack was imminent * Attacking the U. S. aircraft on Oahu was an essential component of the Japanese attack plan * The Japanese were believed that in destroying a large portion of the U. S. airplanes, then they could proceed unhindered in the skies above Pearl Harbor. Plus, a counter-attack against the Japanese attack force would be much more unlikely * By 9:45 a. m. , just less than two hours after the attack had begun, the Japanese planes left Pearl Harbor and headed back to their aircraft carriers. The attack on Pearl Harbor was over * The death toll among Americans was quite high. A total of 2,335 servicemen were killed and 1,143 were wounded. Sixty-eight civilians were also killed and 35 were wounded * At 12:30 p. m. on the day following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave an address to Congress in which he declared that December 7, 1941 was a date that will live in infamy. * At the end of the speech, Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan, officially bringing the United States into World War II

Difficulties and Challenges in Entrepreneurship

Difficulties and Challenges in Entrepreneurship Evidence suggests that small business stands a significantly higher chance of failure than a large business yet many small businesses survive and some dont. These gaps have been discovered that hinders the success of small firms in entrepreneurship, economies of scale, human capital implementation, limited resources, geographical location, and management skills. We operate in an increasingly global economy, which is highly competitive. Hence the importance of superlative management skill should be devised. It is highly crucial in ensuring that small businesses not only survive but grow in the quality of management, hence lacking key management services could limit the success of small business. The purpose of this literature review is to explain and critically analyse the work that has been reported on problems and challenges faced in entrepreneurship. Having identified these gaps I have established my topic, identifying the problem small business face in entrepreneurship. Identifying the key terms of the literature terminology is crucial as it includes the dependent variable and independent variables. RESEARCH QUESTIONS Why do small businesses encounter so many difficulties at start up point? What are the major problems influencing small firms in entrepreneurship? Is it relevant to acquire entrepreneurship skills before venturing into small business? RESEARCH OBJECTIVES To collect a variety of entrepreneurial ideas related to entrepreneurial opportunities via various techniques. To distinguish the importance of planning and give examples of how planning can surmount problems. To analyze obstacles and explain how these obstacles may impede creative thinking and generation of new ideas. INTRODUCTION According to Paula McCoy Pinderhughes, an entrepreneur is a person who visualizes or possesses a burning desire to make a change through hard work, dedication and determination, knowing that it will satisfy their ultimate personal and business objectives. To one businessman, an entrepreneur appears as a threat, an aggressive competitor, whereas to another businessman the same entrepreneur may be an ally, a source of supply, a customer, or someone who creates wealth for others, as well as finds better ways to utilize resources, reduce waste, and produce jobs others are glad to get (Hisrich Peters, 2002). The word entrepreneur is defined as a person who has possession of a new enterprise, venture or idea and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome. The term is originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish economist Richard Cantillon. (Bill Bolton and John Thompson (2004; 14) A literature search for a suitable meaning of an entrepreneur designates that it is rather easier to explain the worth of an entrepreneur. But it is hard to accurately identify who is an entrepreneur. A number of definitions are indicated in the literature. According to an article by Mona Abdulla (2009) states that typically, entrepreneurship means a business is being created with the express goal of fetching larger through an aggressive growth schedule. Entrepreneurship is a corporate development. This is the major challenge to any new business. Consumers are cautious about trying new goods and services. Most items being purchased today is frequently based on identified brand names and using familiar purchasing patterns. Apparently, it is easier for customers to procure the items or brand that they have used. Considerably, a new business must ensure that its target market are pleased with the brand, proper marketing strategy has to be taken for consumers to embrace a new product. This problem is sensitive to the immense amount of marketing clutter that most organization encounters. Getting rid of clutter is most especially difficult for new firms with limited budgets set aside for marketing and promotion strategy. Traditional methods o f advertising and consumer promotions may not be enough to get recognized. Company leaders must be sure to deliver on promises and provide a high quality experience especially on the customers first purchase, as bad experience often lead to fall in business. THE PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES Entrepreneurs have become one of the most active forces in the market, which is itself driving much of the worlds economic growth. This makes entrepreneurs very important from a macro-economic perspective. As the globalism of business becomes even more extensive, this impact will be felt. Entrepreneurs are already becoming a major force in developing nations and the economy worldwide. The process of redefinition is an essential component of a companys strategic renewal and therefore constitutes an important aspect of entrepreneurship (Guth and Ginsberg, 1990). It is through leadership strategies that the entrepreneur helps to facilitate the reflection of excellence (cornesky et al., 1990: 58-59; peter and Austin, 1985: 5-6) Todays entrepreneurial leader requires new people who does not depend on organizational superiority and subordinate theses contemporary leaders helps to create enhanced capacity in their people, who in turn become the steward of all organizational stakeholders (Mc lagan and Nel, 1995: 46-47) The scope of what entrepreneurship involves will continue to change and evolve, and yet there are some regular issues of how to start, finance and run a business. Companies that go internationally face the foremost challenge of integrating various types of acquaintance so that the organization as a whole can benefit (Zahra et al., 2000a). One ordinary factor for all entrepreneurs is the test of starting a business, searching for an innovative idea, passing the right prospect to venture into a business. Entirely entails organizing all the aspects so that the entrepreneur can maximise his or her goals. Most entrepreneurs also face problems financing their entrepreneurial project, as well hurdles within corporate rules. Except if one single handled the venture, getting money is a challenge that requires prepares funds proposals for loans and many more. We have so much in turn written on this phase of an entrepreneurial that implementing the very best would b e more of an advantage well as challenging. IMPLEMENTATION STAGE All said and done, passing this face ups and challenges, ordinarily one should expect to have smooth glide. Given the business has a good plan; the venture should carry on with less glitches, the execution process seems to be the real craft-or-crack point of an entrepreneurial venture. There are proposition that part of the problem is that ideal people for this process, Perhaps, there are wide varieties of skills needed at this stage, that an individual can not dwell on all of the skills. Alternatively, for entrepreneurs to be successful, identifying the key factors of their field would be very necessary, as they can easily get subcontractors who can fill the missing gaps. Perhaps looking at what different skills that can get a business started would be necessary. Such skills includes, marketing, workers, publicity, sales, communications, public relations, human resource, legal needs, government regulations, crisis management, risk management, natural disaster planning, insurance, te chnology, and the financial aspects of the organization accounts, bookkeeping, paying taxes, managing debt, and so on. One should take into consideration that without a strong technical foundation, the business cant be successful, an above all, the conceptual aspect of organization, are leadership, growth philosophy, ethics, and most importantly the exit strategy of the any organization. These are issues that we tend to overlook, yet it set the whole subject and direction that any business will take. CRITICAL CHALLENGES There are types of businesses that can be started on a small budget; one will need access to capital to fund the business, where the money comes from is less important, but the most important thing, is a need to be realistic about startup costs and being able to manage the funds well. Developing a, realistic, thorough and honest financial plan will help to avoid this mistake. New entrepreneurs often underestimate the length of time it takes for a business to become profitable and the amount of money they will need to invest in the business before its profitable. Employees responsibilities are limited to a narrow job description. According to Gupta and Govindarajan (1991), superior levels of awareness flows have serious implications for a companys control systems. Knowledge that is vital to sustaining and promoting entrepreneurship includes both expertise and market-based knowledge (Gupta and Govindarajan, 1991). However, at the start of a business, the entrepreneur becomes responsibl e for everything from exploration to development process as well as to product delivery to detailed account. This implies that there are field that will be beyond the owners area of expertise. Reckon upon the range of the business, it is possible that the organization does not have the ability to handle different responsibilities due to incompetent staff. It is important to be honest about your own limitations for the success of the company, seek out expert advice in such fields and the support of achiever in entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur does work harder for him/herself most precisely than you would ever work for any one. Building a successful business requires a large investment of your time. It will be important to schedule specific work hours. Setting goals can also help you to stay on track. To overcome these problems. It is important to remember that customers are interested in benefits as opposed to product or service features, and doing all you can do to stay on track would be the most to keep your business. JUSTIFICATION OF LITERATURE CONCLUSION How is an entrepreneur to deal with all this overload of challenges? To meet these challenges, subsidiary executives should also demonstrate higher levels of lenience for indistinctness (Gupta and Govindarajan, 1991). It is nice to know that there are resources one can count on such as, training programs, discussion groups, educational resources, professional associations, and publications to turn to for advice and support at all times.

Stigma of Self-Harm in Healthcare Services

Stigma of Self-Harm in Healthcare Services Self-harm a deliberate attempt to self-poison or self-injure regardless of the incentive or suicidal intent is a growing problem in the United Kingdom with a heavy burden on health-care systems. Despite this escalating crisis, attitudes from health professionals who treat self-harmers remain negative and the quality of care is deteriorating. The myths of why people self-harm play a substantial role in health professionals perceptions of self-harmers, which impacts on the efficacy of intervention and recovery rates; however, these myths are far from the reality. This article will reveal the stigma that self-harmers encounter from those at the front-line of our healthcare services and will seek to explain the real reasons behind self-harmful behaviour. By increasing public awareness and educating health professionals on the motives behind self-harmful behaviour, misconceptions and negative attitudes can be diminished. Studies show that self-harm is a common pattern among adolescents and young adults 13-25% has reported a history of self-injury. Although many young people only engage in self-harm once or twice, others go on to become chronic self-harmers, with studies evidencing that 6% of the college population do chronically self-harm. Still, these figures may be underestimated as many self-harmers do not seek help. Due to the lack of knowledge and negative misconceptions, those who do seek help report unsatisfactory care from paramedics and emergency staff, who are often the first point of contact. Front-line professionals are in a rare position to interrupt the cycle of self-harm; however, with inadequate rapport between staff and patients, the cycle will continue to have devastating consequences on individuals in need of help. The following misconceptions are put forward. The first misconception of why people self-harm is the desire to end ones life. In a systematic review of attitudes towards people who self harm, it was found that suicide-risk was a common reason for self-injury as agreed among most clinical staff groups (Saunders, Hawton, Fortune Farrell, 2012). Whilst self-harm is the biggest predictor of suicidality, those who self-injure do so as a means to manage their distress and cope with negative feelings. The affect regulation model of self-injury proposes that it is a method to relieve acute negative feelings and emotions. It is suggested that early environment may play a role in affect regulation by teaching poor coping strategies to deal with emotional distress. It is also suggested that those with a biological disposition for emotional instability may be more prone to resort to this strategy to manage their emotions. In a systematic review of self-harm (Edmondson, Brennan House, 2015), affect-regulation was found to be the most commo n reason for the behaviour. Quantitative studies revealed that the majority of participants (93%) favoured affect-regulation items such as to get relief from a terrible state of mind or calming myself down. This was further supported by qualitative studies which reported that the majority of participants (92%) endorsed in reasons such as relieving emotional pain or to calm myself when Im incredibly emotional or upset. In further support of the affect-regulation model, research has reported that self-harmers have a poor ability to regulate emotions when experiencing negative affect, as indicated by MRI scans revealing greater amygdala activation (Davis et al., 2014). Consequently, this research shows that self-harm is often carried out for the purpose of reducing negative emotions and to avoid attempting suicide, as opposed to the misconception of health professionals. The second misconception of why people self-harm is attention-seeking and manipulation. A study which examined nurses perceptions of self-harmers revealed that labels were used to describe patients such as attention seekers or time wasters (Shaw Sandy, 2016). Although some self-harmers agree that self-injury is an attention-seeking act, most insist that it is a help-seeking strategy. The interpersonal-influence model argues that self-harm is undertaken as a means of influencing people in the self-harmers environment. It is argued that self-harm is a cry for help, an avoidance of abandonment or an effort to ensure that they are listened to. To support this, research has found that the second most commonly reported reason for deliberate self-harm is a cry for help motive, including reasons such as to show how desperate I was feeling or to hope that others notice something is wrong (Muehlenkamp, Brausch, Quigley Whitlock, 2012). In a systematic review (Edmondson et al., 2015), interpe rsonal influence was a common reason for self-harm. Quantitative studies revealed that a large majority of participants (87%) favoured interpersonal influence items such as to seek help from someone or letting others know the extent of my physical pain. This was further supported by qualitative studies which reported that over half of the participants (56%) supported interpersonal reasons such as I received the warmth, love and attention I had been looking for. Reasons such as to frighten someone or to shock or hurt someone are least commonly endorsed. This research supports the view that self-harm is a call for help, unlike the misconception which suggests that self-harm is an act of manipulation. A third misconception is that self-harmers can stop if they want to. Although this is true for some, studies have shown that self-harm can become an addiction. In substance addiction, there is a positive reinforcement which is associated with increasing dopamine levels in the brain and negative reinforcement which is associated with relieving negative mood states. Research has found that negative reinforcement plays a part in self-injury. Participants generally experience negative feelings before self-harming, including sadness and frustration but subsequently experience positive feelings after the act, including euphoria and satisfaction (Klonsky, 2009). In a qualitative study, participants compared their self-harm to having a drug addiction (Brown Kimball, 2012). They declared that self-injury was a reliable fix for overwhelming feelings and they had experienced highs from their self-harming behaviour. Participants also stated that their need to self-harm progressed over time, inc luding the frequency and intensity, and when trying to stop the behaviour they would feel a greater urge to continue. Furthermore, biological research has found that self-harmful behaviour releases endorphins in the brain which produces a euphoric state, reducing pain and alleviating emotional distress (Sher Stanley, 2009). Therefore, self-harmful behaviour can be overpowering and can be a challenge to cease, unlike the misconception that one can easily stop if they want to. Although the code of professional conduct states that health professionals should be kind, respectful, compassionate, non-judgemental and show an appreciation of diversity and equality, it appears that many hospital staff are not following this important regime. Whilst these misconceptions are circulating healthcare systems, perceptions and attitudes toward self-harmers remain unchanged. Discrimination towards those vulnerable can be direct and indirect. Research has revealed that some staff deliberately distant themselves from self-harming patients because they hold feelings of irritation, anger and frustration towards them, especially those who frequently return to hospital (Conlon Tuathail, 2012). Some health professionals may not be aware of their attitude; however, their demeanour and manner towards patients can appear obvious to the recipient. As a result, self-harming patients become less of a priority compared to those with a physical illness; consequently, influencing their entitlement to care. Correspondingly, many self-harming patients feel ignored by health professionals and believe that they are perceived as harder work or time consumers (Chapman Martin, 2014). Research has found that young people who self-harm have reported avoiding the access and emergency department due to their own and others previous unsatisfactory experiences. It has been reported that patients have experienced discrimination and have been denied care, such as pain relief, because they have caused their own injuries. Patients were also denied information and were talked about in an ignorant manner. They were also told by health professionals that they were selfish, inconsiderate and were wasting time that could be spent on real patients. Consequently, negative attitudes reinforced the feelings of shame and worthlessness leading to further self-harmful behaviour. This influenced their future decisions to avoid help from health professionals (Owens, Hansford, Sharkey Ford, 2016). Although some health professionals can be stigmatizing towards self-harming patients, other professionals such as nurses feel helpless, powerless and dissatisfied when caring for these patients due to lack of knowledge and training. Nurses feel frustrated as the emergency department is not helpful in treating patients who self-harm the busy nature of the environment, lack of time, privacy and resources all of which prevent the development of therapeutic relationships (Martin Chapman, 2014). Nurses feel that treatments and interventions are insufficient and self-harm patients require specialist treatment which the emergency department cannot provide (Gibb et al., 2010). Research has found a negative relationship between staff members negative attitudes and knowledge: health professionals who have an accurate knowledge of self-harmful behaviour show a more positive attitude overall and feel more effective at treating patients. Moreover, when nurses are keen to empathise with self-ha rming patients, the rapport between the nurse and patient is generally more positive (Tzeng, Yang, Tzeng Chen, 2010). Research has shown that when nurses are provided with mental health training, their attitude changes towards those who self-harm. For example, nurses become more empathetic and patient-orientated. Nurses also described having more confidence to communicate effectively with patients. This positively influenced feedback from patients and the team atmosphere (Karman, Kool, Gamel Meijel, 2015). Key findings: There are three main misconceptions surrounding the motives and intentions of self-harm self-harmers are suicidal, attention seeking and/or manipulative, and they have the ability to stop self-harming when they want to. Psychological theories (the affect-regulation model, the interpersonal-influence model) and research challenge these misconceptions and claim that people self-injure in order to manage their emotions or to seek help from those around them, and their ability to stop can be hindered by the addictive nature. Health professionals direct and indirect behaviour can influence the care that a self-harming patient receives, potentially increasing the risk of further self-harm. Health professionals report feeling powerless when caring for self-harming patients due to the nature of the environment, lack of resources, skills and knowledge. Self-harming patients are receiving unsatisfactory care which suggests that there is a lack of knowledge and procedure for managing these patients. The national guidelines are designed to influence local and departmental policies to lead front-line staff; however, this system appears to be failing, as the procedure to care for those who self-harm remains ineffective (Rees, Rapport, Thomas, John Snooks, 2014). Health professions working in the National Health Service are already under strenuous pressure, working long hours and coping with increasing workloads and organisational changes due to the lack of resources and funding. At present, this is an on-going struggle for staff, so with the accumulation of further education and training, this may be seem like an impossible challenge. Nevertheless, patients are priority in the code of professional conduct and it is an ethical issue if health professionals continue to ignore this code. In any case, there is a strong link between self-harm and suicide, despite many self-harmers agreeing that suicidality is not a motive. Therefore, these patients should be taken seriously and health professionals should be made aware of the risk of suicide, especially those who are inexperienced. Consequently, there are many suggestions that can be made in order to reduce stigma and improve healthcare for those who self-injure. First, health professionals should be educated on the motives behind self-harmful behaviour and the context in which it occurs. Education may not work alone; therefore, it may be beneficial if a trainer with personal experiences of self-harm shares their story in order to inform professionals through a traditional-transference approach (Karman, Kool, Gamel Meijel, 2015). This will provide professionals with a deeper understanding and will help to change perceptions of those who self-harm. They should also be educated on communication and interpersonal skills, which will help to enhance therapeutic relationships between staff members and patients. In addition to education, on-going training for health professionals should be provided to continuously update their knowledge and skills to care for those with self-injuries. Training should cover knowledge, understanding, attitudes, behaviours, risk assessment and management of self-harming patients. Staff should also be trained to identify risky behaviours and to understand the barriers that self-harmers encounter, as well as understanding their mental health needs and helping them to seek advice and guidance. In addition, refection in practice should be encouraged when caring for people who self-harm. In short, policy documents, care pathways, protocols and local guidelines should be reviewed and revised so that education and training needs of health professionals are met. This will potentially influence the care that self-harmers receive. Health professionals should treat self-harming patients as any other sick patients on the ward and communicate sensitively. They should aim to develop rapport with patient in order to improve patients engagement with the services. Nevertheless, health professionals who work on wards where self-harm is severe may also require extra support from colleagues and managers or may require psychological support such as debriefing. If the pressure is too intense for health professionals, a brief screening tool could be introduce to help identify those at risk of suicide. Alternatively, there could be a specialised clinician working on emergency departments supervising front-line staff. Thus, a multi-disciplinary framework may be the ultimate approach to success which will also relieve some pressure off front-line staff. The context which care is provided to patients and the lack of training and support from managers can challenge professionals ability to do their job which affects their confidence and increases feelings of frustration and negativity.