Reintroduction Essays - Wolf Reintroduction,

Reintroduction Of Wolves The Reintroduction of Wolves In my opinion, wolves should be able to live and survive in the wild. Ranchers do need to consider that wolves have a major influence in our eco system. Grizzly bears fed on elk carcass only in the spring. Now there is more carcasses available year round. A lot of animals have died due to lack of food. Recently the Mexican Gray wolf was brought into New Mexico from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Hopefully, they will survive and adapt. Since wolves have a strong natural instinct to return home, they should in time successfully establish new territories here. Wolves are very family orientated and feel safe living near their family. Man continues to be the wolves worst enemy. This is sad and unfortunate because wolves are already on the Endangered Species List. At one time gray wolves lived in forty-eight states and Mexico. Today gray wolves are mostly in Minnesota. The attempts at reestablishing wolves in Yellowstone is still undetermined. Many ranchers objected. Activities such as hunting, farming and logging have contributed to the wolves extinction. As Lorenz states in The Dove and The Wolf, "we did not receive our weapons from nature. We made them ourselves, of our own free will." (526) The list of endangered species is growing rapidly in much of the world and rates of extinction are likely to rise as human population rises. The fate of the wolf is up to us and our willingness to share the earth with wild animals. We can encourage young people to discover nature and explore and examine wild life. Such understanding will never replace what is lost but will insure what remains. The spirit and mystery seen in the eyes of a wolf should be all the incentive we need.

Industrialization essays

Industrialization essays a. Why were the Indians treated so unjustly? (12) The American settlers greed was the basis for the injustice forced upon the Indians. At first the Americans simply wanted the land that could be used to grow or create products. Then the Indians were viewed as hostile enemies. This was unfair because the Americans were too greedy to give the Indians the supplies they were promised; therefore, the Indians attacked. The Indians also attacked because the Americans put them on reservations so the settlers could have the rest of the land. The hunters of the West were also forced serious injustice on the Indians. They killed the buffalo by the millions for their hides. The buffalo were the Indians source of food, consequently the Indians were forced to move to reservations. b. Why was the evolving cattle industry so profitable? (10) The low cost and high output of the cattle industry made it extremely profitable. Buffalo grass, which grew year round and through droughts, grew on the Great Plains, which made it unnecessary for ranchers to buy food for the cattle. Cattle could be used as food or a labor force. They could also be sold to the Indians who had no choices for food because they were stuck on the reservations. Cattle could be raised cheaply in the Plains and sold to the railroad workers and the troops guarding the workers. c. Why did farmers and sheep ranchers create problems in the West? (12) d. Why was the railroad essential there? (10) The lack of natural resources, other than land, made railroads essential. There werent many trees in the West so would had to be sent by railroad to farmers and ranchers. Water was also a necessity for the settlers which could not be found easily. Railroads helped to supply them with this essential resource. Settlers could not find enough food during the winter, but the railroads could bring supplies for them. Farmers used the railroad to get their crops ...

Managerial Economics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Managerial Economics - Assignment Example 4) the content of MBA programs available in colleges or universities in the Kansas City area (With my limited resources and time, are there MBA programs that can take me in?). Q2: I bought an iPod, a tube of toothpaste and a branded pair of shoes. Elasticity measures the change in demand with a change in price. I bought the iPod (as did four friends) because prices went down, so the demand for iPods is elastic. I bought toothpaste because I ran out of it, even if the price went up by a few cents, so demand is perfectly inelastic because I had no choice unless I wanted my social life to suffer. I bought the shoes because I liked the brand, so this purchase is relatively inelastic. I bought it as the price seemed just right. These reasons – price discount, need and brand desire – made demand elastic (iPod) or inelastic (toothpaste and shoes). Q3: Price discrimination is the practice of charging customers different prices for the same product because of factors like capacity to pay, geography or order size. Some universities practice price discrimination with financial aid, allowing them to charge rich kids higher fees and extending scholarships or tuition discounts to students from poorer families. If a theater showing Avatar charges less if they watch before 6:00 p.m., then it practices price discrimination to encourage more viewers on off-peak hours. Would I watch before 6:00 p.m.? It would depend on whether I am available, how much I can save, and what entertainment substitutes there are. The benefits of the lower price must be equal to or exceed the costs of my availing it. 1. List four factors that affect the demand for MBA degrees in the greater Kansas city area and How those factors affect the demand for MBA. Not that I am not asking about company hiring a person who has a MBA degree, I am asking about a person like you who is pursing a MBA degree. 2. List three things you purchased in past two weeks and tell whether your demand for goods or

Foreign direct investment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Foreign direct investment - Essay Example Foreign direct investment refers to a direct investment into production or business within a country by an entity in another country, either by purchasing a company within a target country, or by broadening operations of a present business within that country. The reasons that may make exporting unfeasible include cheaper producing abroad, reducing transportation costs, lack of domestic capacity such as when demand exceeds the capacity, the need to alter products and services, trade restrictions, and country of origin effects (OECD 57). There are three critical reasons for entities to seek a controlling interest; internalization theory (self-handling of operations), appropriation theory (denying rivals or potential rivals access to resources such as trademarks, capital, patents, and management know-how), and freedom to seek global objectives (participate in global or transnational strategy) (Nicholls 42). Reasons for buying existing operations entail avoiding start-up problems, getti ng an immediate cash flow instead of tying up capital, and gaining easier financing. Overall, the motives for collaborative arrangements entail to spread and reduce costs, specialize within distinct competencies, avoiding or counter competition, learning from other companies (gain knowledge), and securing vertical and/or horizontal linkages. The international motives for undertaking collaborative arrangements encompass aspects such as gaining location-specific assets, diversifying geographically, overcoming governmental constraints, and minimizing exposure in risky environments (Nicholls 44). Companies utilize equity and non-equity arrangements that can range from wholly owned subsidiaries, equity alliances, licensing, franchising, management contracts, turnkey operations, and joint ventures. Foreign direct investment is perceived as a means of enhancing the efficiency with which the world’s scarce resources are employed. Foreign direct investment

Nurse Led Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nurse Led - Essay Example -led clinics also conduct home visits with the patient and their family in order to evaluate their medications and to secure adequate follow-up and verify patient’s stability (Schader, et.al., 2008). They also maintain contact with family to address ongoing health issues and care transitions. The nurses in the nurse-led clinics coordinate patient care with physicians, ensuring that they would receive adequate and timely care appropriate to their condition and their related physical attributes (Rydeman and Tornkvist, 2005). For the more specific management of diseases, nurses in nurse led clinics assist in the patient’s self-management. These nurses support patient’s efforts in self-managing diabetes by engaging with the emotional context within which the patients live with their condition (Furler, 2008). They work with patients in a way which is consistent with how they incorporate self-care into their daily lives. These nurses also go through critical self-reflection while they are managing their patient’s condition in order to prevent the devaluation of the other support structures for diabetes. As implied from the above discussion, nurse-led clinics can be seen in the community and out-patient setting. They are often based in the rural areas or isolated areas which cannot easily access medical or hospital care. In the community setting, they provide support for hospital and doctor services. D. (2008). The emotional context of self-management in chronic illness: A qualitative study of the role of health professional support in the self-management of type 2 diabetes. BMC Health Services Research, volume 8

Personal Illness Narratives: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

Personal Illness Narratives: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Introduction This essay employs excerpts from the narrative of a 38 year old woman named Francesca, a lady who has been given a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), to illustrate key concepts form the sociological, and psychological literature. This approach will illustrate the writers ability to critically appraise the literature, its relevance to the narrative in question, and using narrative, places these concepts within a real life clinical situation. This in turn provides insight into the value of narrative as a methodological approach in the 21st Century and how it intertwines with the rich tapestry of sociological theories and concepts that are available to the researcher studying the current sociological evidence base. For the purpose of this assignment, peer reviewed articles and textbooks were searched within the past 10 years. The work introduces RA as a clinical entity (pivotal to understanding the comments of Francesca) and goes on to outline the use of narrative, particularly its utility in the study of chronic disease. The essay then goes on to cover some key important issues, namely: The biomedical versus the sociological approach of illness management The Study of Personal Illness Narratives Sociological perspectives on depression Chronic Illness and Disability Social construction of medical knowledge and the Politics of Disability Labelling Stigma. For each of the above, concepts are presented and mapped against selected statements from the narrative of Francesca (written in italics for clarity). These statements illustrate real world data gleaned from Francesca; valuable comments that are grounded in the experiences of a person living with a chronic disease. The work also contains an appendix comprising a reflective postscript which outlines the way that the work evolved from earliest outline, to the finished product. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder that affects not only the synovial joints but multiple body systems (Goodacre 2008). The exact cause of RA remains unknown; it is a disease that affects more women than men, often of a young or middle age demographic unlike osteoarthritis which affects predominately older people. RA follows a somewhat unpredictable course of exacerbations and remissions. RA carries huge psychological problems in view of its unknown aetiology, uncertain prognosis, and loss of function. Additional symptoms include early morning stiffness, pain, limitation of activities of daily living, and socio- economic problems inasmuch as it may have a severe impact upon a persons ability to work and function in society (Kojima et al 2009). The discussion now begins with a section on models of illness. Biomedical and biopsychosocial models of disease The biomedical model of health takes the reductionist view that people are biological entities (Lewis 2009 p745). In the clinical management of RA there is some merit in this biomedical approach, for example the monitoring of inflammatory mediators in the blood as a marker of disease activity or responses to drug intervention is well established in the literature (Lee Kim 2009). This biomedical approach is reinforced by the GP comments from the narrative, i.e. That there was no cure and that the tablets were the key to preserving normal function. This approach may contribute to Francescas frustration, as it ignores the wider psychological and sociological ramifications of living with a chronic debilitating disease such as RA. It is unclear form the narrative whether the GP tempered his comments by adding that there are means by which the signs and symptoms of RA can be successfully managed. Critical appraisal of the literature reveals that biopsychosocial models advocate a more holistic view of illness, for example according to Smith (2002) the biopsychosocial model seeks to address not only the client and his or her illness but also their capacity to deal with being ill. The value of adopting the narrative approach as part of the biomedical model is effectively illustrated at the point where Francesca states I just burst into tears At the perceived effect that this illness will have upon her loss of function in the future. So whereas the biomedical model will operationalise function using objective outcome measures, here the use of narrative permits a biopsychosocial approach that provides rich client centred data on how it feels to be diagnosed with chronic and currently incurable disease. This in turn can help to inform our understanding of Rheumatoid arthritis as a disease thereby influencing the social construction of medical knowledge by giving voice to service users (Balen et al 2009). The Study of Personal Illness Narratives. Illness narratives concern a persons views and beliefs about their illnesses and the effect on their lives (HydÃÆ'Â ©n 2007). There is increasing acceptance and recognition of the valuable role that such grounded narratives play in understanding the journeys that people with chronic diseases such as RA have to embark upon if they are to manage their illness on a day to day basis. For example Haidet et al (2006) found in a narrative study of people with diabetes that people narrated four illness-management strategies whose story elements were in dynamic interplay, each with unique variations for each individual revealing a level of complexity that had not been previously described. As a method, narrative provides rich data (Furman Cavers 2005; Poindexter 2002) and in this case gives a voice to Francesca that would otherwise remain unheard (Grills 1998).Much can be gleaned from studying Francescas narrative, for example Francesca begins to paint a picture of her hopes and fears upon being given a diagnosis of RA combined with an insight into her past and thoughts about the future. Francescas narrative provides us valuable insight into her views of the self- a key component of narrative (Voilmer 2005), her relationships to others, and how these relationships have changed or may change in the future. In her narrative Francesca gives us some insight into the pain of living with rheumatoid arthritis, in her comments we can detect also a stark dichotomy in that she notes how healthy she had been in the past then uses the term Excruciating to describe her current pain, thus Francescas narrative hints at the loss of self in that she will no longer be a dancer or even a valid spouse as exemplified by the narrative quote. I wont be the woman he fell in love with Here she literally describes herself as becoming another person. Here Francesca is able to provide the reader or researcher with valuable information on the loss of the self, which resonates with other narrative research (Roe Davidson 2005; Doba et al 2007). Francesca goes further and also hints at the change in her illness self concept (ISC) that is to say the extent to which a person is defined or consumed by their disease or disability (Morea et al 2008). Francesca also hints at the concept of disease as a biographical disruption, described by Bury, this is said to occur when a persons planned future cannot unfold as planned. (Bury 1982); will he even want to marry me? Im too young to have this. What makes Francescas narrative particularly interesting is the fact that she is a twin; this may emphasise any change in self since she has in essence an unchanging control (her twin sibling) to against which to compare herself as her disease, her self identity (and possibly disability) progresses. The next section outlines sociological perspectives on depression. Sociological perspectives on depression. Francescas depression is likely to be multifactorial; for example there is evidence that the disease RA itself causes depression (Kojima et al 2009) as will living with pain. From a sociological perspective Francescas strained personal relationships may contribute to depression, for example her fear of being rejected as a potential spouse (Waite Gallagher 2001), see below. will he even want to marry me? This feeds in to the earlier section on biomedical versus biopsychosocial models of health and illness and the different paradigms or world views in which they are situated. A biomedical explanation of depression is likely to focus on the biochemical aspects of the person whilst a more sociological approach would acknowledge the impact of socio economics, personal relationships and so on (Covic et al 2003). Caution is needed however here since the short excerpt of narrative that we have provides no direct evidence that Francesca is in fact depressed, indeed a review of the literature suggests that there is a tendency to over diagnose depression (Parker 2007). Chronic Illness and Disability. A chronic incurable disease such as RA would require Francesca to make significant adjustments to her life over time. The sociological literature now provides increasingly refined conceptualisations of these adjustments, acknowledging that the experience of chronic disease necessitates adaptations in multiple domains of the persons life. This adjustment is often referred to as a trajectory (Stanton et al. 2007). This concept, introduced by the sociologist Strauss in an attempt to capture experiences and behaviours occurring in response to chronic illness (Strauss Corbin 1998), goes beyond depicting the physiologic unfolding of disease and encompasses the total organisation of work done over the course of the illness (Strauss et al 1984). Francescas narrative hints at this changing trajectory tracing the commencement of her life changes to a time six months ago when she was much more active and defined herself as a dancer. Furthermore Francesca looks to her future and wonders about h er ability to fulfil the stereotype of a perfect spouse. It is important to engage with how Francesca and her fiancÃÆ'Â © will make sense of the illness. The term illness cognition has been defined as a patients own implicit common sense beliefs about their illness (Leventhal and Nerernz 1985, p. 517). When people experience symptoms, they embark upon a cognitive search which enables them to interpret and make sense of the symptoms they are experiencing. Typically a critical review of the literature distils out into five categories: Identity, including the description of symptoms experienced and their meaning (e.g. pain, fatigue).In the narrative Francesca describes her pain as Excruciating for example. Belief about causes (e.g. accident, genetics or stress). People like to have a label for their symptoms for legitimisation although, once given, people are likely to interpret diverse symptoms as evidence of the label. Francesca has problems with causality and is likely to do so for the foreseeable future since there is no established medical cause for RA. Timeline (beliefs about duration and time for recovery), namely is it acute or chronic? These beliefs will be re-evaluated as time progresses. Consequences (e.g. loss of lifestyle, goals in life). These representations may only develop into more realistic beliefs over time. Francesca uses the narrative to discuss the change in her life from active dancer to unappealing spouse within the space of six months. Beliefs about controllability. (Furnham, 1989; Landrine and Klonoff 1992, 1994) These categories are pivotal to understanding how people make sense of, and decisions about managing a changeable chronic disease such as RA. Evidence of Francesca attempting to make sense of her symptoms by embarking upon a cognitive search may be seen in the example below: I couldnt understand it Im the healthiest person I know. Ive never had problems with my health never had a day off sick in my life. I never go to the doctor, no matter what, Ive always been fit as a flea. From the narrative provided we also have limited information concerning Francescas partners views, for example (although not from Dave himself) Dave wore me down, telling me Ive got to see a doctor This may be interpreted in various ways, not least that Dave was keen for Francesca to obtain a diagnosis and thereby a label to legitimise the illness, whether such labelling is disabling or enabling is not fully resolved in literature (Huibers Wessley 2006). Francescas comment does however open up the interesting issue of how partners cope with chronic disease, in RA in particular there is evidence that a strong marital relationship correlates with the couples psychological adjustment to the illness (Mann Zautra 1990). These authors go on to claim that in RA, partners are most affected by their perceived vulnerability to disease and coping ability, whereas the wives who have RA were more affected by pain itself and how they will cope with the effects of the disease- reflected in Francescas comments below; I started having excruciating pains in my feet when I woke in the morning To further corroborate the findings of Manne Zautra (1990) concerning male worries about coping at a more abstract level see the example below: Dave has been great but he has his own worries hes just been laid off from his job and hes worrying about paying for the wedding Mann Dieppe (2006) have also more recently acknowledged coping differences between males and females in RA, (n = eight women with RA ages 31-60 years and their partners, and 4 men with RA ages 43-75 years) although methodologically their sampling may be flawed in that those couples currently experiencing severe martial problems are unlikely to submit to the type of phenomenological interviews that they undertook. The social construction of medical knowledge and politics of disability It is not possible in an essay of this length to provide a full account of the politics of disability, primarily since the topic is multi-factorial, fluid and indeed is covered to an extent in the other sub sections of this work, furthermore we have insufficient data from the narrative to comment in depth. Kitchen and Wilton (2003) comment that our views of disability as a medical entity viewed in paternalistic terms have changed in favour or equality and empowerment. However Francesca can expect to experience a host of politically related issues, for example social exclusion and poverty (Foley Chowdhury 2007). Francesca has already stated in her narrative; Ive got to work- we need the money. In terms of medicines social construction, as far back as 1982, Wright Treacher (1982) claimed that medical knowledge inevitably contains a social component incorporating moral values and prejudices, and that diagnosis ascribes a certain meaning. We still see this thirty years later where the GP abruptly (allegedly) advocates of drugs to preserve normal function. This reinforces the paternalistic medical approach. RA in its early stages does not present with any obvious physical deformity and affects the young demographic, it is conceivable that she may experience disbelief from her peers; this may in turn make her life difficult in an era of financial unease, Government budgetary cuts and political uncertainty. Labelling. Labelling theory (social reaction theory) has its roots in the work of sociologist Howard Becker (Becker 1997). It centres on peoples tendency to negatively label those who are different from ourselves. As a person with chronic arthritis Francesca will not be immune to this labelling, for example being labelled as disabled or arthritic are all real possibilities. Arthritis organisations and acts such as the Disability Discrimination Act ( DDA) are at great pains to encourage activity and maintenance of full function and contribution to society, however all this may be negated by her GPs comments that there is; no cure and I had to take tablets everyday to be able to function normally. Labels can however be positive, Francesca describing herself as glamorous for example on two occasions in the narrative, and her previous label of salsa dance teacher is something that defines her in a positive way. Yes, Im a salsa dance teacher Stigma Stigma has recently been defined by Scambler (2009) as a social process, experienced or anticipated by exclusion, rejection, blame or devaluation that results from experience, perception or reasonable anticipation of an adverse social judgement about a person or group(p441) Francesca may feel stigmatised by all of the factors previously discussed, attitude of her GP, loss of self, worry about the future, inability to act out the role of spouse. Factors such as depression, the lack of a cause for her RA and her inability to teach salsa dancing may amplify her feelings of being stigmatised, it is also important form the wider perspective to acknowledge that stigma may affect Francescas partner. Struening et al (2001) for example reported that 43-92% of caregivers (to people with mental health problems) reported feeling stigmatised, again this suggests that living with this disease does not only affect Francesca but also her partner. Conclusion This essay has employed extracts from the narrative of a 38 year old lady with Rheumatoid arthritis, to illustrate some key sociological concepts. The essay has provided a valuable opportunity to map some key concepts from the literature onto a narrative excerpt. Whilst the essay has not been able to enter the field in great depth; It is a testament to the thick description provided by patient narratives that such a wealth of information can be generated form a relatively short piece of description. References Balen,R., Rhodes, C., Ward,L., (2009) The Power of Stories: Using Narrative for Interdisciplinary Learning in Health and Social CareSocial Work Education: The International Journal, pp1470-1227. Becker, H., (1997) Outsiders. New York, NY. Free Press. Covic, T., Adamson,B., Spencer,D., Howe,G., (2003) A biopsychosocial model of pain and depression in rheumatoid arthritis: a 12-month longitudinal study Rheumatology, Vol 42 1287-1294. Doba, K., Nandrino, J.L., Lesne, L., Humez, L., C.(2008) Organization of the narrative components in autobiographical speech of anorexic adolescents: A statistical and non-linear dynamical analysis New Ideas in Psycholog,y Vol 26 (2) pp 295-308. Foley,D .,Chowdhury, J., (2007) Poverty, Social Exclusion and the Politics of Disability: Care as a Social Good and the Expenditure of Social Capital in Chuadanga, Bangladesh Social Policy Administration, Vol 41 (4)pp372-385. Furman, R. ,Cavers, A., (2005) Narrative poem as a source of qualitative data The Arts in Psychotherapy Vol 32 (4) pp313-317. Furnham, A., (1989). Overcoming psychosomatic illness: lay attributions of cure for five possible psychosomatic illnesses. Social Science and Medicine, Vol 29 pp61-67. Goodacre,J., (2008) Common chronic inflammatory arthropathies. in Porter,S (eds) Tidys Physiotherapy 14th edition. Churchill Livinsgtone Elsevier. Grills, S..(1998). Doing ethnographic research; fieldwork settings Thousand Oaks. Sage Publishers. Hahn, H., (1985)Toward a Politics of Disability: Definitions, Disciplines, and Policies Social Science Journal, 1985 Vol. 22(4) pp87-105. Haidet, P., Kroll,T.L., Sharf, B.F., (2006) The complexity of patient participation: Lessons learned from patients illness narratives Patient Education and Counselling, Vol 62 (3) pp323-329. Huibers,M.J.H., Wessely ,S., (2006) The act of diagnosis: pros and cons of labelling chronic fatigue syndrome Psychological Medicine, Vol 36, pp895-900. Cambridge University Press. Kitchin, R. ,Wilton, R., (2003) Disability Activism and the Politics of Scale. The Canadian Geographer, Vol 47, 2003. Kojima ,M., Kojima, T., Ishiguro, N., Oguchi, T., Oba, M., Tsuchiya, H., Sugiura, F., Furukawa, T.A., Suzuki, S., (2009) Psychosocial factors, disease status, and quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. S.J Psychosom Res , Vol 67(5) pp425-31. Epub 2009 Mar 5. Lee, W.S. Kim, T.Y.,(2009) Measuring of ESR with test 1 is more useful than the Westergren method in rheumatoid arthritis. Am J Clin Pathol, 2009 Nov;Vol 132(5) pp805. Leventhal, H., Nerenz, D.R., Steele, D.J., (1984). Illness representations and coping with health threats. In: Baum A, Singer J, eds. Handbook of Psychology and Health, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. pp219-252. Morea, J.M., Friend, R., Bennett, R.M., (2008) Conceptualizing and measuring illness self-concept: A comparison with self-esteem and optimism in predicting fibromyalgia adjustment Research in Nursing Health, Vol 31 (6),pp563-575 Published Online: 21Jul2008. Mann,C., Dieppe, P.,(2006) Different patterns of illness-related interaction in couples coping with rheumatoid arthritis Arthritis Care Research, Vol 55, (2), pp 279-286. Mann, S. L., Zautra, A. J., (1990). Couples coping with chronic illness: Women with rheumatoid arthritis and their healthy husbands. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Vol 13 pp327-342. Parker, G., (2007) Is depression overdiagnosed? Yes. BMJ. Vol 335 (7615), p328. Poindexter, C.C.,(2002) Meaning from methods; Re-presenting Narratives of an HIV affected caregiver Qualitative Social Work, Vol 1 pp 59. Roe,D., Davidson, J., (2005) Self and narrative in schizophrenia: time to author a new story Med Humanities,Vol 31 pp89-94. Scambler, G., (2009) Health-related stigma. Sociology of Health Illness, Vol 31 Issue 3 pp 441-455 Published Online: 1 Apr 2009. Smith, R., (2002) The biopsychosocial revolution. J Gen Intern Med, Vol 17(4) pp309-311. Stanton, A.L., Revenson, T.A., ÂÂ ­Tennen, H., (2007). Health Psychology: Psychological Adjustment to Chronic Disease. Annual Review of Psychology, Vol 58 pp565-592. Strauss, A.L., Corbin, J.M., Fagerhaugh, B.G., (1984). Chronic illness and the quality of life, 2 Ed. St. Louis: Mosby. Strauss, A., Corbin, J.M., (1998) Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publishers. Struening, E.L., Perlick, D.A., Link, B.G., Hellman,F., Herman, D., Sirey, J.,(2001) Stigma as a Barrier to Recovery: The Extent to Which Caregivers Believe Most People Devalue Consumers and Their Families Psychiatr Serv,Vol 52 pp1633-1638, December 2001. Vollmer, F., (2005) The Narrative Self. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, Vol 35,(2), pp189-205(17) Blackwell Publishing. Waite L,J., Gallagher, M.,(2001).The case for marriage: why married people are happier, healthier, and better off financially. New York, NY: Broadway Books. Wehowsky, A., (2000) Diagnosis as care diagnosis as politics International Journal of Psychotherapy, Vol 5, (3), pages pp241 255. Wright, P., Treacher, A. eds., (1982) The Problem of Medical Knowledge: Examining the Social Construction of Medicine (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Appendix Reflective postscript This is written in the first person since it is a reflective piece of writing This was a challenging yet fascinating project to complete. I was unsure how to approach the topic and how much weight to attach to the various theories available and the comments of Francesca , once it became clear that I was actually trying to explain what was going on with Francesca by using academic theory to illustrate her comments the task became rather enjoyable. Tight word count restrictions as always meant that I had to do some brutal editing, but the positive side to this is that it makes one more selective in ones writing. For example my earliest version was heavy on sociological theory and light on mapping this theory to the comments of Francesca, whereas the final version makes more explicit links between what Francesca says and the theory behind why she says it. The fact that I had some real comments to sink my academic teeth into made the process of literature searching interesting and relevant since I was able to think about Francescas comments and her personal situation for each search that I undertook. The areas that gave me most difficulty were the political aspects of disability since they seemed so wide ranging and actually intertwined with everything that I was writing about. All in all I have learned a great deal about the usefulness of narrative form this project.

Green Stone :: essays research papers

During the opening years of the seventeenth century, Europe was gripped by Reformation and Counter-Reformation, when Catholics and Protestants persecuted one another with equal fervour. England was ruled by a Protestant regime, and in 1605 a group of oppressed Catholic landowners hatched a plot to kill the king, James I, during the state opening of parliament on 5 November. The plan, conceived by the Midland Catholics Robert Catesby and Thomas Wyntour, was to blow up the Houses of Parliament with dozens of barrels of gunpowder. Known as the Gunpowder Plot, it was thwarted at the last moment when conspirator Guy Fawkes was discovered nervously waiting to light the fuse. When Fawkes was tortured into revealing the names of the other plotters, the small band of conspirators fled to the Wyntour family home at Huddington Court in Worcestershire. Here they spent their last night, fleeing only a few miles the next day before being surrounded by the militia. But this was not the end of the affair. The king's chief minister, Robert Cecil, had given strict instructions that Robert Catesby should be taken alive. The reason being, that he possessed a sacred relic - a green, jade gemstone called the Meonia Stone. Tradition held that it had once been set in King Arthur's sword Excalibur. Historically, it had belonged to Mary Queen of Scots, the last legitimate Catholic heir to the English throne. Following her death in 1587, a legend had developed that the Catholic who would finally secure the English throne would need to possess the sacred stone. Fearing that the Meonia Stone would act as a rallying symbol for the English Catholics, Cecil was determined that it should be destroyed. He was furious, however, to discover that Robert Catesby had been shot dead and the knowledge of the stone's whereabouts had died with him. Despite months of frantic searching and intense interrogation of the surviving conspirators, the stone was never found. Three centuries later, in 1979, Graham Phillip's and fellow researcher Andrew Collins decided to go in search of the lost Meonia Stone. The Green Stone, co-authored by Martin Keatman, is the remarkable true story of this fascinating quest. Following a trail of historical clues, Graham and Andrew finally discovered the identity of the person to whom the stone was given. During their interrogation, the surviving Gunpowder Plotters had stated that Robert Catesby still had the stone with him the night before his death.

Definitions of Attitudes Essay

Classical conditioning is the process of learning by association, which involves the pairing of stimuli; when one (1) stimulus regularly precedes another, the one that occurs first is a signal for the other to occur. If an individual eats spicy cuisine, which constantly gives them heartburn, they associate the spicy food with heartburn. The individual recognizes that once spicy food is ingested, heartburn will follow next. Hence the attitude towards spicy foods may not be positive. Instrumental conditioning is the process by which the individual learns the difference between rewards and punishments and actions with these consequences as the end result. If a child knows that his/her parent(s) will spank them for breaking a glass, then the attitude towards such an action will be negative, in order to deter punishment, but if he/she recognizes that doing well at school reaps rewards, then the attitude towards studying and excelling will be positive. Observational conditioning is simply developing an attitude from example learning. An attitude is observed and influences and individual’s own attitude towards the subject in question. In a parent-child relationship, children observer their parent’s attitude and often times adopt them. If a child hears their parent making negative comments about an issue, they may possibly develop a negative attitude towards the same issue. Comparing our views to those of others, to see if our social reality is or is not correct, can form attitudes. We often change our attitudes to fit in with everyone else’s so that we do not feel ‘left out’. Political views are an example of this. An individual may hold a particular view on the current political administration, however, while in a group discussion, the general consensus may not be the same as that of the individual, who may then sway his/her attitude, towards that of the groups’ in order to be a part of the discussion and use their views to second guess his/her views. Genetics play a small role in attitude formation. Studies conducted with identical twins suggest that attitudes may be influenced by genetic factors. Daniel Katz proposed a functional theory of attitudes. He thought that attitudes are determined by the functions they serve as they help the individual to achieve their goals. The four (4) functions are the instrumental, knowledge, value-expressive and ego-defensive. Katz’s theory also says that our attitudes change, once they no longer serve its functions and the individual feels frustrated. The instrumental function helps individuals to form negative and positive attitudes by adopting favorable attitudes to maximize rewards and shunning unsavory ones to minimize punishments and help us to realise specific goals. The knowledge function helps us to evaluate surroundings and seeks to give clarity about ideas, objects and persons. The value-expressive function serves to publicly express ourselves. From the way we dress to our religious convictions, this function helps to adopt attitudes consistent with our views.

Bill Gates Essays - Microsoft, Bill Gates, Windows XP, Management

Bill Gates Essays - Microsoft, Bill Gates, Windows XP, Management Bill Gates In its 23-year lifetime, Microsoft has had three distinct phases. The first, from 1975 to 1989, was characterized by both bold thrusts into new businesses. Among their many successes were MS-DOS, Word, Excel, Macintosh software and Windows. The company relied on the success of Windows, banking every penny they had on its success, which paid off in Microsoft's second phase from 1990, when Windows 3.0 was released, to 1994. Customer driven change also marked phase two. Customers wanted operating systems that blended the best of Windows, UNIX, and NetWare, this was the beginning of Windows NT. Customers wanted the best of Microsofts productivity tools to work better together, so Microsoft Office was created to integrate the software. Recognizing the need to develop fundamental advances in software, Microsoft created Microsoft research. In 1995 Microsoft entered phase three, taking advantage of tremendous opportunities offered by the Internet. Since 1995 Microsoft has reinvented itself s o that, today, everything Microsoft creates or updates leverages with the Internet. In the beginning Gates' was mainly concerned and involved with technical development of new products in order to attract consumers. Since Microsoft controls the largest percentage of the market than any of its competitors Gates' puts more focus on the organization itself and its employees. Microsoft's mission is to continually advance and improve software technology and to make it easier, more cost effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. In order for Microsoft to continue on its fruitful path the development of intelligent decision makers, otherwise known as managers, must be trained. Gates' realizes the ROI of his creation relies on every single individual, which makes up the organization called Microsoft. He also knows he cannot be at the table to make ever single day-to-day decision, instead of trying to be in a hundred place at oncece Gates' attempts to train well oiled managers. He has even published articles that reveal his expectations and qualities he attemp ts to instill into Microsoft managers. Here are Bill's ten qualities of a good employee: 1. Choose a field thoughtfully. By choosing a field one enjoys it makes it easier to generate enthusiasm towards one's work. This is true for both a manager and an employee. 2. Hire carefully and be willing to fire. A strong team is vital, because a mediocre team provides mediocre results, no matter how well it is managed. 3. Create a productive environment. This is a particular challenge because it requires different approaches depending on the environment. Sometimes productivity is maximized by providing everybody his or her own office and other times by moving everybody into open space. Sometimes financial incentives stimulates productivity and motivation. Usually a mixture of approaches is necessary to reach desired productivity. 4. Define success. This is done by providing employees with a clear definition of success and how they should measure their achievements. Goals must be realistic. For example, project schedules must be set those who actually do the work. People will accept a bottom-up deadline they helped set, but maybe overwhelmed by a schedule imposed from upper management that doesn't map reality. Unachievable goals undermine an organization. 5. To be a good manager, you have to like people and be good at communicating. This quality is generally impossible to fake. If an individual doesn't genuinely enjoy interacting with people it will be hard to manage well. 6. Develop your people to do their jobs better than you can. Transfer your skills to them. This is an exciting goal, but it can be threatening to a manger that is worried about training his replacement. Many managers like to see their employees increase their responsibility because it frees them up to tackle new or undone tasks. 7. Build morale. It should be made clear there's plenty of good will to go around and that there is not just one hotshot manager getting all the credit. Explain to employees the importance of their work to the company and customers. Giving people a sense of importance increases motivation to complete the task to the best of their ability and provides the feeling of satisfaction after completion. 8. Take on projects yourself. Managers need to do more than communicate. Nobody wants to work for a boss who just delegates tasks. It

Rise and Fall of Enron Essays

Rise and Fall of Enron Essays Rise and Fall of Enron Paper Rise and Fall of Enron Paper The rise and fall of Enron is a company that was lead to its own demise by it’s own leadership and ill business decisions. The motivational theories explained from the readings of Organization Behavior can correlate with the failure of Enron’s internal organization. Even though a company may appear to display successful business practices, the influence of leadership through management can ultimately lead the company to fail. Enron’s code of ethics prided itself on four key values; respect, integrity, communication, and excellence. Codes of ethics should be a reflection of what the owners, investors, and employees work towards as an organization. Executives overlooked those values as they deliberately corrupted Enron by engaging in money laundering, accounting fraud, falsifying income, and other conspiracies. Employees continued to work their scheduled routine hours and showed loyalty by working through lunches and doing overtime, unaware that their invincible company would soon go under leaving them scrambling for answers. As the company struggled and faced financial ruin, executives betrayed their dedicated employees by informing them that Enron’s foundation was solid and continue to be profitable and had not allowed them to sell their stock in the company. At the same time, executives sold their share of the company and received millions of dollars before filing for bankruptcy and being investigated by the United States Justice Department. The unfortunate employees believed that they helped Enron develop into a successful company that it was and saw everyone as family. A combination of motivation and influential theories can explain Enron’s ultimate failure. Enron’s failure as an organization can be described in the theories of motivation. Employees need somewhat of an inspiration to lead their efforts to attaining a solid goal. Edwin Locke’s goal-setting theory and self-concordance can both be brought to explain Enron’s failure. Edwin Locke’s goal-setting theory links motivation to meeting specific and challenging goals to contribute to higher and better task performance and receiving positive feedback would be a reward of pride and triumph. Motivational goals may come from promotions, raises, long term careers, or working for a great company. Self-concordance reflects in the way people reason in practicing goals that are in line with their interests and values. Enron offered those goals to their employees and in returned hired the most qualified, experienced, and self driven people to attain those goals. Working for a very prominent and successful company gave employees the sense of comfort and dependability that breathed prosperity. However, it was those goals that had false hopes. Enron had high aspirations that joint ventures in trading energy with investors in the new virtual market place would be successful but failed and lost millions of dollars. Enron continued to press forward and kept all employees on track but if they were not able to obtain their goals, for the sake of keeping the company above water, they were let go. Once employees dedicate and committed themselves to a strictly structured organized culture, they have a tendency of enduring ethical judgement that is later rationalized in one form or another. Strong leadership, management and organizational structure is what every business should be governed around. The neglect and abuse of that leadership, management, and organizational structure was the ultimate contribution to the failure of Enron. The executives displayed leadership in shaping and exhibiting Enron as a prominent and innovative company that discovered new ways of doing business. Under the leadership of Jeffrey Skilling, he exercised a highly strict culture that included the recruitment of top intelligent and assertive candidates from prestigious universities who were trained to produce deals rapidly. Management encouraged and required a high level of performance by each employee to any means necessary, which lead to breaking ethical business practices. As those ventures failed, executives continued unethical behavior which led to accounting fraud, falsifying income, and a number of other malpractices and abuses of power. Enron maintained to administer a series of appropriate management control which included a performance review system, risk assessment and control group, followed by a code of ethics. These groups worked on behalf of Skilling’s organizational structure and assured the employees protection. The levels of communication between management were evidently clear of doubt in regards to any questionable actions dealing with projects. Enron’s organizational structure proved to ruin the integrity of the company with corruption, influence, and manipulation. Influential leadership can carry power to others in ethical or unethical ways to serve a single purpose. Enron used those powers to create a culture that demanded excellence. Skilling’s leadership role at Enron influenced unethical behavior and directed the organizational culture to discredit the morals and values of the company. While motivation of rank, greed, and power provided management to successfully control the process in which loyal employees worked until the end. References Robbins, S. P. , Judge, T. A. (2011). Organizational behavior (14th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. The Organization | July / August 2007 by Clinton Free, Mitchell Stein, and Norman Macintosh MANAGEMENT CONTROLS: THE ORGANIZATIONAL FRAUD TRIANGLE OF LEADERSHIP, CULTURE AND CONTROL IN ENRON iveybusinessjournal. com/topics/the-organization/management-controls-the-organizational-fraud-triangle-of-leadership-culture-and-control-in-enron

Chinese family businesses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chinese family businesses - Essay Example As a direct consequence of Confucianism, Chinese culture therefore places collective interests over individual interests. Their "socialistic philosophy teaches that the good of all is everyone's concern" (Ralston, Holt, and Terpstra, 1997, p.7). This is in contrast with the Western concept of individual achievement and self-worth. This collective orientation is also evident in the manner that Confucian ideals place emphasis on the importance of family, such that most Chinese businesses are also family businesses. This collective orientation, however, is rooted not on the basis of emotional attachment to a group, but rather on "the web of reciprocal or moral relations in which one finds oneself, [and] defines oneself", apart from which "one can have no real identity" (De Bary, 1991, p.3). Thus, for the Chinese, "the virtue of humanity is meaningless unless it is involved in actual human relationships" (Chan, 1963, p.104). This focus on collective interests, bound by interpersonal relationships, is a crucial focal point businessmen must take into consideration for a successful business relationship with the Chinese. It implies that the collective group given emphasis is not exclusive, such that non-Chinese can penetrate it, provided that they build good interpersonal relationships, or 'guanxi'.

Industrial Economics, Industrial Organization How can game theory help Essay

Industrial Economics, Industrial Organization How can game theory help us to understand firm's interactions Discuss the differe - Essay Example A game theory is composed of a series of elements including: players or partners, rules which imply the possible decisions that one is capable of making given another party’s decisions, and the facts that a player could have knowledge of before moving or making a decision. Other elements include the consequences or outcomes of certain moves and the payoffs of each possible outcome. Payoffs imply the money got from a given decision (Durlauf, 2010). Game theories In arriving at the solutions given the game theories, it is important that industries understand certain tools. These tools include dominated and dominant strategies and the Nash equilibrium. A dominant strategy is a tactic that gives higher payoffs no matter what the opponent does, while a dominated strategy is an approach that is lower than another strategy; this implies that for a dominated strategy, there is a dominant strategy that is in existence over it. On the other hand, in Nash equilibrium, no industry or indi vidual is in preference of a different choice. This means that each player chooses the best strategy given the approaches taken by the other players in the market (Durlauf, 2010). In an effort to understanding how firms and industries react, it is vital that the different types of game theories are understood. Firms’ interactions are mainly guided by certain game theories. There is a myriad of game theories. Simultaneous game is one of the game theories. As the name suggests, the players in the market make decisions independent of the other player’s decisions. This means that no party is aware of the other party’s choices or decisions. This kind of scenario forms what is known as a Cournot model. In such a case, each firm or industry tries to make a forecast of what the other player in the market will be so as to arrive at a reasonable decision itself (Durlauf, 2010). In Cournot models, firms predicts the other industry’s output choice and then based on t he forecasts, each firm goes ahead to choosing a profit maximizing output for itself. In cournot, prices as at Nash equilibrium are above the perfect competitive prices. In this case it is clear that the Cournot game model influence the market price as firms try to control their levels of production. Thus, through Cournot model, it is possible for firms to come up with best reaction functions in their production in cases where the industries have completely no clue on what the other players in the market are up to achieving (Mukherjee, 2004). Sequential game is another game theory whereby an industry or firm makes a decision on price or quantity, when it already has knowledge on what another player or partner has decided on. The kind of strategic interaction depicted in such a scenario gives rise to a Stackleberg’s model. In this model, one industry makes a choice before another. It is frequently used to depict industries in which there is a dominant firm. In the Stacklebergà ¢â‚¬â„¢s model, an industry that is a leader chooses output to maximize profits depending on how a follower will react to its choice. Given the choices by a leader, a follower will try as much as possible to make profits given the quantity the leader produces. A leader makes decisions on its own production considering the