Psychology †A Beautiful Mind Essay

A Beautiful Mind was a film released in 2001 directed by Ron Howard and largely based on the life of the Nobel Prize – winning mathematician, John Forbes Nash. It was a film adaptation of the book of Sylvia Nasar of the same title. The screen adaptation was written by Akiva Goldsman. The film explored the life of John Nash as he developed paranoid schizophrenia and suffered delusional episodes starting when he studied at Princeton University. The movie showed how this condition has impacted his wife and friends. John Nash, played by Russell Crowe, entered as a graduate student at Princeton University for being a recipient of the Carnegie Prize, a prominent academic award in mathematics. Included in the prize is a guaranteed single room accommodation but John Nash was surprised to see Charles Herman, played by Paul Bettany, who greeted and informed him that he is going to be his roommate. Charles, a literature student, soon became John’s best friend. John also got acquainted with a group of other gifted math and science graduate students and formed a discomforted friendship with them. John one time revealed to Charles that he is more at ease with numbers than with people. This did not surprise that group after they witnessed one time how disastrous his attempts were at having a chat with some women at a local bar. John had repudiated going to class since he viewed it as beneath him. He wasted most of his time scribbling on the windows in an attempt on solving a variety of mathematical equations and ideas. His classes were amused with but still recognized John’s talents. His roommate Charles both encouraged him and attempted to keep him sane. But with so many skipped classes, John was informed by the headmaster of Princeton that he could not commence on his graduate work until he has completed a thesis paper. This encouraged John to look for a really inventive idea for his thesis paper. John was finally motivated with his successful work in governing dynamics concept, a theory in mathematical economics, after he watched four beautiful women walked in at the local bar one night. Although he was spurred by his classmates into making a pass at the prettiest of the four, Nash instead started discussing about Adam Smith’s economic principles and their significance (or not) to the battle of the sexes. All of sudden he hurried out of the bar to start working on his theory which he called game theory – the mathematics of competition. John accepted an esteemed appointment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) after he completed his studies at Princeton University together with his friends Sol (played by Adam Goldberg) and Bender (played by Anthony Rapp) both also coming out of Princeton University. After five years at MIT and while lecturing a class on calculus, he left an exceptionally fascinating problem on the board that he challenged his students to answer. One of his students Alicia Larde (played by Jennifer Connelly) turned up at his office to talk about the problem. From there, the two developed a good friendship, fell in love and later married. John met by chance Charles, his former roommate, on a return visit to Princeton. John also met Charles’ young nice Marcee (played by Vivien Cardone) and adored her. John was invited to a top secret facility of the Department of Defense in the Pentagon to solve an intricate encryption of an alleged enemy communication. Amazingly John figured out the code mentally that left the other code breakers bewildered. In the same facility John met the enigmatic William Parcher (played by Ed Harris), who claimed to be a member of the United States Department of Defense. William monitored John’s work from a viewing room above that is partially covered up at the back of a screen. William provided John with a new project to search for patterns and clues in newspapers and magazines presumably to prevent a plot by the Soviets. He was required by William to write a report of what he found and deliver the reports in a particular mailbox covertly. John became progressively more obsessed and suspicious and began to act unpredictably after he was allegedly pursued by Russian agents and a gunfire exchange in one of his clandestine deliveries. Alicia reported to a psychiatric hospital after she saw John’s worsening unpredictable behavior. When John delivered a guest lecture at Princeton University, he became conscious that he was being kept under surveillance by a group of intimidating people. He tried to escape but this group sedated him by force and dispatched him to a psychiatric facility. This confinement further convinced John that the Russians are striving to obtain information from him and regarded the psychiatric facility staff as Soviet kidnappers. One time John crazily attempted to take out an alleged implant from his arm leading to too much bleeding. The implant was allegedly given by the Pentagon. Alicia went to see the mailbox and recovered the top secret documents that John delivered in a frantic attempt to help John. She was surprised to see that all the â€Å"top secret† documents were unopened. John was dealt with this evidence and he was convinced at last that he has been hallucinating. He was confronted with the fact that the Department of Defense agent William Parcher and John’s clandestine task of decoding Russian messages were all hallucinations. He was even more surprised to learn that his friend and former roommate Charles and his niece Marcee were also merely offshoots of his mind. This was confirmed when John was informed that there was no Charles Herman enrolled and stayed in Princeton in the same time and the same room as him. John was subjected to a succession of insulin shock therapy sessions and was later released on the requirement that he consented to taking antipsychotic medication. The drugs have negative side-effects that have an effect on John’s emotional and sexual connection with his wife and most considerably, his intellectual ability. With these frustrations, John stopped taking his antipsychotic medication in secret and hid away the pills that resulted to a relapse of John’s psychosis with Alicia not being aware of it. In one occasion, John was bathing his infant son and was distracted and wandered away into the grove of trees beyond their backyard. Alicia at that time was in the backyard hanging laundry when she noticed that the back gate was opened. She found out that John has converted a deserted shed in the grove of trees into a workshop for John’s assignments for Parcher. With this realization, Alicia rushed to the house to confront John and just returned on time to save their infant child from drowning in the bathtub. John asserted that his friend and former roommate Charles was looking after their son when he went out to the grove. This left Alicia in disbelief and she immediately got the phone to ask for emergency assistance from the psychiatric hospital. All of a sudden John saw Parcher who was encouraging him to kill Alicia. John rejected Parcher’s instruction in anger but he saw Parcher suddenly pointing a gun at Alicia. John sprang at Parcher in response but ended up accidently thumping Alicia to the ground, scaring her all the more. Alicia ran away from the house in panic and fear with their child. John blocked Alicia in front of her car to foil her from going away. In the middle of the confusion, John came to the realization that Charles’ niece Marcee is a hallucination since she continued to look precisely the same age and remained a little girl even though years have went by since they first met. With this awareness, John told Alicia that Marcee never gets old. It was the turning point for John when he acknowledged that even if Parcher, Charles and Marcee appear totally real, they are actually just figments of his imagination. John and Alicia recognized that they are caught with the dilemma of John’s intellectual struggles with the antipsychotic drugs and his hallucinations. They both made the decision to strive to live with John’s abnormal condition. At one time, John intentionally bade farewell to Charles, Marcee and Parcher forever in his effort to pay no attention to his hallucinations and not nourish his psychological demons. Nevertheless he expressed his gratitude to Charles for being his best friend all those years and he said farewell to Marcee and told both of them that he would not talk to them any longer. Even with that, Charles and Marcee continued to hang around with Charles scorning John for bringing an end to their friendship but John has trained himself on how to ignore them. John grew older and made contact with one of his old friend from his Princeton years and intellectual adversary Martin Hansen (played by Josh Lucas) who was now the Princeton mathematics department head. Martin gave the authorization for John to work out of the library and audit classes. Albeit John still experienced hallucinations and now taking newer antipsychotic medications, he eventually was able to live with and for the most part ignored his psychotic occurrences. John adapted to his situation in steps and amusingly verified any new friends and contacts to make sure that they are actually real people and not hallucinations. In the end, John secured the opportunity to teach again. His fellow professors paid tribute to him for his accomplishments in mathematics. John went on to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his ground-breaking work on game theory. In the Nobel Prize awarding ceremony, John especially thanked Alicia for being with him the whole time with his journey from madness to sanity. As they left the awards auditorium in Stockholm, John saw Charles, Marcee and Parcher who looked at him with empty facial expressions. Alicia asked John what was wrong and John replied, â€Å"Nothing, Nothing at all. † The script of the movie differs significantly with the actual details of John Nash’s life. There are discrepancies with some of the events and characters around John Nash in the film but those are not the focus of this paper. This paper is centered on the accuracy of the film with regards to the field of psychology. One difficulty that the makers of the movie experienced was on how to visually represent stress and mental illness within an individual’s mind (e. g. John Nash). The film showed John suffering from visual and auditory hallucinations when in real life his hallucinations were completely auditory. The film depicted John Nash developing schizophrenic hallucinations in graduate school although he did not develop it not until a few years later. The part of the movie when John Nash said that he was taking newer medication around the same time as the Nobel Prize in 1994 was also not true since he did not take any antipsychotic medication since 1970. The film staff purposely added that statement since they believed that without it they think the film is supporting the idea that schizophrenics can get healed without taking any medication. The movie portrayed a patient with schizophrenia very well. It was very impressively done as the movie sequence was well planned too. While watching the movie, one could never guessed that his friend in the university was a mere visual hallucination. It reflected patients with schizophrenia so well with regards to their level of functioning. Based on the literature I have read, symptoms and manifestations of the patient with schizophrenia in the movie was properly and accurately portrayed. Schizophrenia is one of the leading causes of disability all over the world. This mental disorder is characterized and illustrated with delusions, hallucinations and paranoia (Woodham & Peters, 2004). A chemical imbalance in the brain is contemplated to be its cause, however, it still is believed to be unknown. Contribution of both genetic and environmental factors still remain unclear up to this time, though, it cause susceptible people to develop this mental disorder. In addition, the use of drugs activates some cases of schizophrenia. Evidence and proofs from researches and sudies showed that the early stages of this disability are critical in the formation and prediction of its course as well as its outcome (Frangou & Byrne, 2000). With this, clinical studies and researches are focusing on the early stages of the illness since early detection and treatment regimen may yield better prognosis and functional outcome. Typically, the first and early episodes of schizophrenia occurs in the early twenties or even late teenage years. Its early recognition may sometimes be masked by its insidious nature of the onset of the disease as it occurs with history and background of language problems, cognitive ability and behaviour. Antisocial behaviour, social withdrawal, failure to be motivated and obsessional ideas manifest this mental disorder. Auditory hallucinations and delusions are the most common reported pyschotic manifestations from schizophrenic individuals. Once this mental disorder is diagnosed, patients may then require hospitalization to prevent them from harming themselves as well as others. In order to control its symptoms, antipsychotic drugs are prescribed. Psychotherapy to these patients are also advised. Most of these patients return to the community and recommence their normal lives. The primary goal of treatment once patients are diagnosed with schizophrenia is to manage acute psychotic episodes. Rapid remission is necessary with the use of the most efficient and tolerated medications. The use of low dosage of typical neuroleptics and atypical antipsychotic medications may be the fisrt choice treatment regimen for the early onset of the disorder (Frangou & Byrne, 2000). It is very important to be vigilant with the first onset of manifestations as studies have shown that patients are more responsive to treatment during this stage regardless of whatever antipsychotic medications being prescribed and used. Prognosis for recovery is nearly 80% especially with patients treated right after the first episode of schizophrenia. Second psychotic episodes post treatment after five to seven years is not uncommon. It is not recommended to withdraw from the medications taken right away. Gradual withrawal from its treatment regimen is required to refrain from getting adverse withrawal reactions. Clozapine had been the licensed drug in the United Kingdom used for the treatment and management of patients with schizophrenia who responded poorly to the standard antipsychotic treatment regimen (Frangou & Byrne, 2000). Patient support from family, relatives and friends are important during schizophrenic patients’ recovery period. These patients have a hard time reintegrating into the community. Educational and employment underachievement problems arise not to mention problems in forming social relationships. Intensive rehabilitation after the treatment therapy aids in minimizing these social disadvantages of the disorder. Family support in nurturing their emotional and psychosocial needs enhance better results during this recovery period. Provison of information regarding schiophrenia to the patients’ families will also aid in the understanding of the disorder. Explanantion of the course and outcome of the disease process to their family members will also enable them to be aware of what to expect. Good communication betweeen patients and their care givers also play an important role to obtain positive results during the recovery stage. Together with other mental diseases like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia is a difficult and complicated illness to diagnose (Uyttebrouck, 2009). Since it is a tricky disease to diagnose, it ends up in treatment delays causing disappointments and a great deal of discouragements to patients and their families. Results from recent researches pointed out using brain MRIs in detecting mental illnesses like schizophrenia. This study very well help in speeding up diagnosis once patient’s come with symptoms of schizophrenia. This brain imaging technology if proven with high accuracy could offer a great and powerful measures for diagnosing these mental disorders. The use of functional MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) were able to recognize with 93% precision patients with schizophrenia from those healthy control group. Presently, the fundamental and underlying cause of schizophrenia is not completely understood, making its diagnosis entirely based on its symptoms. With the use of MRI in establishing prompt and early diagnosis, efficient and successful treatment very well facilitates improvement on the lives of patients with schizophrenia (Uyttebrouck, 2009). The movie showed that it took so long for the patient to be diagnosed with the disease. His visual and auditory hallucinations were so real that even people around him were never able to know and even complain that he was having these symptoms. It seemed like his symptoms did not have any effects on the people around him. He was able to function well with his life. Even during his wedding, one could never tell that the presence of his friend there was only a hallucination. It was already when he got married that his wife was getting worried with his actions. It was then the time when medical treatment was sought. Since it took several years before he sought for medical attention and resulted to the delay of its diagnosis, it made a big impact on the course of the mental disorder. Also, the patient himself was denying that those people he had been seeing were mere hallucinations. Even when his wife and other health care team members had already explained to him that they were unreal, it was very difficult for him to accept the truth. He was admitted to a mental facility and was administered with antipsychotic medications to relieve the symptoms. He was discharged from the mental facility with the condition that he will continue with the treatment regimen. Since the antipsychotic medications affected his intellectual capacity and abilities, he decided to cease taking these medications causing remissions and relapses. This part of the movie showed the importance of being strict in following the treatment regimen to obtain positive results. The establishment of the diagnosis and treatment was very realistic. However, the psychologists should have given priority to home visits and follow ups. One thing that was not shown in the movie was the availability of health care professionals visiting in the community. Nobody from the health care team seemed to check up on him while he was at home. It did not show any home care check ups and visits from social workers, psychiatrists. For me, health care professionals need to follow up closely those patients with mental disorders post discharge from mental facilities. The movie reflects the psychologists’ level of understanding corectly. It presented the importance of family’s support to the patient. His wife was with his side and was supportive to his treatments. The support of his wife created a positive outcome to the course of his mental disorder. Interpersonal and social issues were presented well. It showed very well what symptoms, manifestations and characteristics to expect from patients afflicted with this mental disorder. It also showed the hardships and sacrifices the wife had to go through while taking care of a husband with schizophrenia. References Frangou, S. & Byrne, P. (2000). How to manage the first episode of schizophrenia. British MedicalJ ournal (International Edition), 321:7260. p522. Uyttebrouck, O. (2009, February 18). MRIs detect mental illness: Findings may help speed diagnosis. Albuquerque Journa, Metro and New Mexico section Woodham, A. & Peters, D. (2004). Schizophrenia. In Encyclopedia of Natural Healing. Dorling Kindersley.

Mastering listening

There are five basic senses that human beings have in order to perceive society and in order to interact with one’s surroundings.   The sense of touch is often the way to feel what an object is like.   The sense of sight is the manner by which human beings perceive their environment.   The sense of smell is another way of getting acquainted with the world because it allows one to get a whiff of the air in one’s environment.   Another sense is that of taste which allows man to savor the delicacies that are available in the world.   Finally, and perhaps the most underrated of all senses, the sense of hearing by which a person can hear about what goes on in the world. The sense of touch is a great gift because with it a person can feel what objects are like and it allows people to differentiate between textures and feels.   The sense of smell is another wonderful gift because it allows people to have an olfactory experience that introduces man to the many scents of nature.   The sense of sight is also very useful for without it a lot of what man has right now would never have been invented. The sense of taste is also an amazing gift because it allows people to taste the wonderful foods that are available in the world.   While all of these senses have their own advantages, it is only the sense of hearing that allows a person to know how another person is feeling.   It is the only sense that allows a person to find out what is happening in another part of the world.   It can actually see farther than our eyes and allow us to know accurately what goes on in other places. The gift of hearing and the skill of listening is a talent that many people disregard or take for granted.   Not many people realize that the way to find the window into the soul of another is not through any of the other senses except the sense of hearing.   By listening to another person and allowing that person to bare his or her soul, one can learn so much more about another and arrive at a better, deeper and more complete understanding of who the person really is. The intricacies of the soul are revealed when one actually listens to another.   It has been established at this point that the sense of hearing is actually a very important sense as it is the main way by which a person can listen to another.   The next question that must be addressed is the relevancy of listening as a skill. All the senses of the human body are designed to do one thing, receive input that the brain will eventually process.   The listening, as a manner of exercising the sense of hearing, is a manner by which a person is able to gain input with regard to his surroundings and more importantly other people.   People communicate mainly through speech. While there are some traits, feelings, emotions and thoughts that can be conveyed through other means, the primary mode of communicating still remains to be through speech and the only way of understanding speech is by listening.   Communication is the method by which people interact with others.   It involves not only an exchange of ideas but also involves a certain degree of trust or confidence.   That is the reason why listening is so relevant because it allows people to communicate with each other.   Speaking is but one part of the communication process.   The other part is listening. There is certainly no doubt that listening is a skill that many people are capable of doing but is sadly something that not everyone does.   While most humans are equipped with the sense of hearing, there are still those who can hear but cannot listen.   They may be able to hear every single word that has been said to them but they cannot always be considered as listening.   The next question that must be asked is how one can actually listen or become a better listener. Listening is not simply nodding one’s head and hearing what another person is saying but requires that a person actually pay careful attention to the words of another.   It requires that the listener to do more than just absorb whatever the speaker has to say but in certain instances requires that the listener react in such a way as to encourage the speaker to bring out more.   Listening is a way of reassuring the speaker that there is somebody for him to talk to who listens to him.   It is a way of communicating various feelings to another person without the use of words. In order to become a good listener or to develop one’s listening skills, it is not important that the person is genuinely interested in the other or what the other has to say since the purpose of communication and listening is indeed to come to a better understanding of another person.   The thing that is required in order to develop good listening skills is in being able to know when to simply just â€Å"shut up and listen.†Ã‚   There is a certain timing that is needed in listening because listening may often be confused with boredom or disinterest by certain people.   One has to know when to simply just nod one’s head or smile instead of opening one’s mouth to say something.   This is the most important step at becoming a good listener. It is hard to imagine a world where nobody actually listened or paid any attention to other people.   It would probably be a sad world filled with the endless monologue from the unending conversations of people who have nobody to listen to them.   The people of the world would arguably be much sadder too since there would be nobody to listen to their problems or help them vent their frustrations. It is not hard to see just how important the skill of listening is.   It is also thankfully not hard to become a better listener.   The next time somebody says something, try not to respond right away.   Think, learn and feel first and by doing do listening to what the other has to say.   If man had learned this skill earlier, think of all the wars and bloodshed that mankind could have avoided by simply listening to what the other had to say.

Psychosocial Development as Seen in the Movie the Blind Side

Psychosocial Development Psychosocial development is an integration of the principles of personal, psychological and cultural or social development. The psychosocial view of problems focuses on the idea that problems are rooted in relationship issues. Heinz Kohut said humans have narcissistic needs that are satisfied by other people, represented as self-objects. If the child receives enough mirroring (positive attention) from self-objects (chiefly the mother), the sense of self develops appropriately and affects their social life.If there's too much mirroring, the child won't be able to deal with frustrations. If there's too little, the development of the self is stunted. In the movie â€Å"The Blind Side† Before meeting Tuohys, Michael was reserved and had very few friends. It is apparent that he did not receive sufficient mirroring from his parents while growing up which resulted in his ‘psychosocial dysfunction’. At school he was ridiculed because they thought he was dumb in the sense that he did not speak to anyone and he wasn’t cognitively smart.As he gradually bonded with Sean Junior he ‘came out of his shell’ and began expressing himself and communicating with others even more effectively than before. For example when he saw the children at the park playing and he went towards them, his approach scared them away, but after he was told to smile and present a warm approach to the children to let them know that he is friendly the children were willing to allow Big Mike to play with them. This improved his social abilities to a great extent. Michael was introduced to a different milieu, he not only learnt from the new family that adopted him but he also taught them something.This is seen when Michael stayed over for Thanksgiving and while everyone else was watching television and eating their meal in the living room he was seated around the table. When Mrs Tuohy saw him around the table she demanded that the entire fam ily sit around the table. This goes to show that this was a social grace or something customary to Michael that was not a part of the Tuohy’s socialization. One other theorist, Karen Horney suggested that Psychoanalytic Social Theory is built on the assumption that social and cultural conditions, especially childhood experiences, are largely responsible for shaping personality.People who do not have their needs for love and affection satisfied during childhood develop basic hostility toward their parents and others and, as a consequence, suffer from basic anxiety. In addition, watching the movie â€Å"The Blind Side†, I have observed the main character Michael as being socially handicapped as a result of his family background and experiences. Michael’s hostility was that of silence as it can be assumed that his need for love and affection was not satisfied during his childhood due to his parents’ absence.His father was not involved in his life at all but his mother was there for him or she wanted to be there for him but because of her drug addiction it disabled her ability to supply his needs as a child. According to Albert Bandura most human learning is observational learning, not conditioning and occurs by observing what others do and imitating what one sees. One need not actually perform the behaviour oneself. Taking for example in the movie where Michael was not cognitively intelligent in other subject areas but he was tested 98% in protective instincts.This might have been because of his past experience as a child and growing up he had to fend for himself, not because he saw persons fending for themselves but because he was left with no other option. This especially was due to the fact that he was a ward of the state and was placed in foster care but did not want to stay. His protective instinct could also have been adapted from observing how the gangsters from his community would defend themselves in gang fights , hustling in the streets etc. Therefore, his strong area of social development was in protecting himself/ his blind side.Another instance in which Big Mike’s psychosocial development was evident was in the connection between the time Mrs Tuohy saw him walking in the cold and asked him if he had somewhere to stay. Because of his hesitation she said â€Å"don’t you dear lie to me. † He ended up developing meaning from this dialogue and learnt that lying is wrong. In the ending after being questioned by Mrs Granger, out of rage and anger he repeated the same phrase to Mrs Tuohy (â€Å"don’t you dear lie to me†) when he tried to find out from her whether or not she was forcing Big Mike to go to the college of Mississippi.

Summarize Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Summarize - Essay Example This means that students were expected to understand the lectures through the discussion forum. This helps the students in learning the lecture in a wider context. This leads to learning environment where speaking is not necessary. No set rules regarding learning strategy was provided by the instructor but the instructed provided guidelines regarding how communication should take place between students in the forum. The coursed focused on team based work as students helped each other in finding solutions and students were even encouraged to look for solutions on their own. Attendance for the course was not required, lectures were not deemed necessary, topics were given to the students and students were made to find content for the topics on their own. The course seemed to be quite vague as the course did not even provided any guidelines regarding course outcomes. The course overview already focuses on the interaction and the learning

Indian Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Indian Culture - Essay Example Both the first objects are an animation of the human race in the traditional leadership. The second set of objects represents Four-ram Fangzun Royal Tomb Hunan, China Shang Dynasty, late 2nd millennium BCE and the Reliquary Buddhist Stupa Bimaran, Afghanistan (Ancient India) Kushan Dynasty, early 3rd c. CE. While the previous one is made of Piece-mold Cast Bronze the latter is from Hammered Gold and semi-precious stones. They, therefore, differ in terms of texture due to the material used. The two objects are both symbolic hence are animated. The third object is a Buddha inscribed in a contrasting background, it is as well sculpted from Chunar sandstone and it is a symbolic representation of the worship culture of the Indians. The fourth and last set of objects is the inlaid mirror from a Lineage Tomb while the other is a bowl from Banpo, near Xian in China. While the mirror is a Piece-mold cast bronze with hammered gold and silver, the latter is painted with red earthenware. The objects are both from China and they are symbolic of the East culture specifically India and China. There is a common relationship that exists and is fueled further by the cultural similarities of the area where the objects are picked from which is India. The Indian culture is that which is integrated with mixed cultural symbols that extend to their places of worship and their gods. In fact, the Sun Dynasty or Solar Dynasty (SÃ… «rya-vaá ¹Æ'Å›a) is one of the most prominent dynasties in the whole of the Middle East historically. The dynasties influenced the political makeup of a region. The Buddha seated on the lion throne originates from India from the collections of the Buddhism Sculptures and carvings. The objects influence the sociological set up by being a representation of the Buddhist religion. The objects are artistic pieces of work that are curved with style showing a sense of appeal, which is achieved using technical skills (Sullivan 96-9).

Unforgettable trip Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Unforgettable trip - Essay Example Where there is no language barrier, travelling to other countries gives one a chance to make discoveries and have experiences, either good or bad. For instance, I have experienced what the United States of America, France, Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia all have to offer in terms learning about the ways of the people, traditions and customs. Learning new cultures is interesting and informative, as something acceptable in one’s culture may be unacceptable in another, or even a taboo, punishable by despicable means like death. My story started on 12th December, having finished the Mathematics exam at Middle Tennessee State University. The feeling of having completed the exam was truly refreshing. My friends and I drove to the Nashville International Airport, took our tickets and waited for the flight to Atlanta, Georgia, that was scheduled for 5.05 PM Central European Time. After a long time waiting, we finally got on the plane, quite excited. The flight would take almost twenty six hours; this was going to be truly unforgettable. However before the plane could take off, the captain announced that the flight had been delayed for an hour. This is the beginning of this incredible story. With the flight delayed, I was extremely disappointed, as I only had a few days break before resuming my studies. I was extremely bored. To pass time, I decided to have fun on my Ipad, while having a cold Coke. After a thirty minute wait, we were notified via another announcement that we would be air bound after fifteen minutes. We landed in Atlanta, Georgia after an hour and a half. My dreams of flying were almost shattered as I learnt that the next flight would be through Amsterdam, as I don’t speak Dutch. That notwithstanding, I only had ten minutes to get to the connecting plane and had to take a train to get me through the vast airport to the boarding gate. I got to the gate in less

Global Implications for Your Profession Fashion Industry Assignment

Global Implications for Your Profession Fashion Industry - Assignment Example The paper "Global Implications for Your Profession Fashion Industry" analyzes Implications of the Corporate Power Global Trends to the Fashion Industry. Consequently, global culture, world economy, and individual lifestyles continually take on new shapes aws the world opens up to trade. The fashion industry is among the many areas that have experienced these dramatic changes as corporate companies compete to produce and market new fashions and clothing to meet the demands of global customers. Corporate power has greatly influenced the fashion industry in terms of variety within locations, uniformity across borders, environmental, and labor concerns.As corporate organizations advertize their fashion goods in magazines, films, and other media channels, a global style evolves now and then across different cultures and borders (Rabine para 2). For example, athletic shoes, T-shirts, blue jeans, and baseball caps find their way to the remotest villages in Africa. African, Asian, and Wester n fashion copy each other in designing their clothing. Almost every large shopping mall around the world is now housing all the styles. Every consumer can be sure to get his or her taste regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, subculture, and profession. Rabine says that customers in dominating Western countries have come to perceive globalization as an abundance of fashions that giant retailers sell. The retailers upgrade inventory and conduct transnational trades at the click of a button or a key.

Ersatz Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ersatz Happiness - Essay Example However, this kind of euphoria is clearly false and robs a person’s right to a substantial life. The different characters in the story also portray hints that being in the new world is not really satisfactory. In the same sense, all the other methods that the Utopians have such as the â€Å"feelies† in order to have a â€Å"happy† life are blemished. The feelies is a kind of a movie theater that is supposed to be the main source of entertainment. In this cinema, the senses are falsely generated. Thus, Utopian’s ersatz happiness equates to a meaningless existence. The author, Huxley, cautions his readers against scientific utopianism. Though his novel was published in 1932, the principles that may be derived from his work are still quite applicable today. Unlike the contemporary utopian novels of his time such as â€Å"A Modern Utopia† by H.G. Wells, he sought to picture a pessimistic future. This may be influenced by the industrial revolution that w as quite apparent in the 20th century. There were also particular companies that advocated advancements concerning science and technology such as Imperial Chemical Companies (ICI). In its prime, it was known as the â€Å"biggest chemical group in the UK† (Bawden 1). This may have influenced Huxley’s portrayal of pharmacological achievements. ... A number of them could have viewed cutting-edge science as a savior. In addition, due to the unemployment at that time, the use of marijuana was introduced by Mexican immigrants (Monroy 27). Some people used this psychoactive drug to escape reality and experience a moment of elation. This is somehow parallel with Soma which was used to annihilate negative moods. In the story, there are indications that the Utopians felt that something was missing in their existence. They have occasional inklings of dissatisfaction. â€Å"Happiness is not a static state. Even the happiest of people- the cheeriest 10% -feel blue at times† (Wallis 2). There is a need to experience painful emotion to truly feel happiness. It is the healthy combination of negative and positive emotion that helps people to make a sense of reality. Without feeling low, it is difficult to realize the opposite. Hence, the people in the new world did not really have euphoria in the real sense. The difference between the so called perfect world and that of the outside is portrayed when the difference between the Savage Reservation and the new world was described. This is especially noticeable in John who was known as â€Å"the savage†. He spent his early childhood in the Reservation and was brought to Utopia. Indeed, he did not have the culture that denotes a very stable society. However, he still possessed quite humane characteristics such as truthfulness as well as benevolence. Comparably, people who are genuinely happy have more positive attributes. â€Å"Kindness might create a virtuous cycle that promotes lasting happiness and altruism† (Dixon, â€Å"Kindness Makes You Happy and Happiness Makes You Kind). According to the

Managing Human Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

Managing Human Resources - Essay Example gement in an international organisation involves a combination of activities that maintain, develop and attract an effective workforce required to achieve the company’s objectives (Mathis & Jackson, 2007). International human resource management (IHRM) deals with managing the expatriates and deals with how the expatriates adjust to the foreign culture and the management of a diverse workforce (Cieri & Et. Al., 2005). Organisations need to put in place an effective performance appraisal system to develop the global and expatriate managers. Global performance appraisal is a strategic process that helps the multinational corporations to continuously improve their global operations through their employees by matching up to certain pre set objectives. International Performance Appraisal (IPA) sets the basis for compensation, rewards and promotions (Shen, 2010). The subsidiaries of the MNCs have different employees of different nationalities which makes performance appraisal a criti cal task. Employees in the subsidiaries are the Parent Country National (PCN), Third Country nationals (TCN) and the Host Country National (HCN). TCN and PCN together are known as expatriates. Parent Country Nationals are the citizens of the country to which the organisation belongs and they have the same cultural background as the employees in their corporate headquarters. They do not have any knowledge about the host country’s culture, social and political conditions (Denisi & Griffin, 2005). Host Country Nationals are the residents of the host country in which the company operates and they are aware of the local culture, social and economic conditions (Denisi & Griffin, 2005). Third Country Nationals are people who neither belong to the parent country nor to the host country. They bring diversity in the organisation and the organisation benefits from their experience (Denisi & Griffin, 2005). Hiring a mix of these nationals enables greater integration, control and mobilisa tion of

Back to reality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

Back to reality - Essay Example The primary focus of this paper, therefore, is to examine potential challenges that organizations may encounter while developing sourcing strategies and the issues they would need to consider developing relationships with key suppliers, and providing suggestions about how these problems might be addressed or mitigated. Background The firms in Europe and US often outsourced Asian countries with lower production cost such as china which is estimated to host over 6600 companies which have been outsourced there (Wright, 2009). As such, it is common to have a firm dealing with electronics, but it has subcontracted and outside source to handle the transport and logistics of the finished products to the market, another case can be a firm dealing with vehicles, but it only supplies the parts and subcontracts an outside source to deal with the assembling. This, however, does not come without challenges, a firms relationship with its suppliers is hence vital in promoting productivity and effec tiveness, having a third part supply resources or services that are critical in the final products of the firm requires considerable mutual trust and understanding. It is hence incumbent of any organization to apply the best and most practical sourcing strategies to meet their goals and objectives. Sourcing strategies by definition are the process an organization undertakes to ensure they have the best suppliers and they nurture the supplier relationships to maximize the value for the firm (Rendon, 2005). As such, most organizations have sourcing programs that are unique to their needs, services or the goods offered, notably while, some have deliberately puts these strategies others use them without being aware of it. Such is to say that organizations have sourcing strategy whether they know it or not, this is because owning to the nature of their business, over the year a firm will repeatedly uses the strategies that have proven successful in retrospect and by so doing will be foll owing a covert sourcing strategy. Like any other strategy, a sourcing strategy can be; â€Å"Strategic†, ergo effective, goal and objective oriented, on the other hand, depending on the competence of those managing the firm, it can be ineffective and inefficient. Naturally, each is an ideal extreme since no firm can be very efficient and neither can any firm be fully inefficient and yet continue to exist (Wheaton, 2008). As such, most strategies lie somewhere between with the best being closest to efficient and vice versa, sourcing program can either be â€Å"strategic† or meet its goals and objectives or it can be unproductive, ineffective, and poorly planned (Wheaton, 2008). Considering that the cost, quality and effectiveness of the goods or raw materials a firm is supplied with is directly reflected in its financial and operational results, it is only natural that thought and effort and time be devoted in the understanding of the various challenges that firms may e ncounter in the process and their possible solutions. Challenges and Solutions Creating Competition One of the considerations a firm needs to make before it commences any business transaction with supplies or outside sources is the potential for the supplier to become competition in posterity. This is because by taking these contracts,

Love in psychology Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Love in psychology - Coursework Example Love is too enthralling that millions of people resulted to find varied ways and strategies just to find the idealized partner. Many have strong preference to look at love as a positive force that fills the existential vacuum, but many of them are also experientially eluded to truly feel and perceived true love. At times, gender relations illustrate power play in relationships: of submissiveness and domination. Female does the former and the male does the later. It has varying perception from male, female, gay, lesbian or of those coming from transsexual gender. But most of them felt how love entails joy, happiness, and hurt. There is a mystical concept in it, maybe because of its association to fantastic fairy tales. Lovers would even seize distance just to be with the beloved; or to find wisdom from good or bad relationship; or to simply feel the void in the lover’s absence. But its amazing how one could find someone to love from billions of people walking in all busy lanes. Love’s history is immortalized by time and its details are enshrined in all historic evolution of events in many civilizations. Rubin (1975) thought that romantic  love  is made holistic by three elements: attachment, caring, and intimacy. Attachment is a state of belongingness where care is felt and there is direct communication for cognitive and emotive responses. It is a comfort zone, a security base, a sacred breathing space. It is considered as passion. The absence of attachment caused certain level of instability of emotions and psyche. Caring on the other hand relate to humanistic-altruistic value of being sensitive to another’s happiness. Intimacy refers to the bond established through sharing of thoughts, desires, and feelings with each other.  Hatfield, Cacioppo, Rapson, and Clark (1992) categorized love into compassionate  and passionate  love. Compassionate love refers to the capacity of person to understand and to be receptive of the language of the heart with respect and trust. Compassionate  love  usually develops out of feelings of mutual understanding and shared respect for each other.  Passionate  love  on the other hand is an intense feeling with physiological awareness of the beloved. Reciprocation of these feelings meant fulfillment and the person is preconceived as an ideal lover. Hatfield et.al. (1992) believed that passionate  love  is transitory and could only last within the period from 6 to 30 months. Meanwhile, Lee (1973) explicated love by associating its concepts to primary colors: eros, ludos, and storge.  He believed that love is a combination of these three. For instance, the combination of eros and ludos meant an obsessive love. A combination of ludos and storge could result to realistic love, a pragma. Eros and storge combined would also mean selfless love. Religious leaders call this agape, an ideation of love in the image of God. Lee (1973) further explained that eros meant loving an ideal person; ludos meant love as a game; and storge meant love as friendship. Sternberg (1996) professed that relationships are built on elements that endure and are called consummated love as a description of intimacy, passion, and commitment. Rubin (1973), a social psychologist

Innovation Definition Essay Example for Free

Innovation Definition Essay Innovation is about bringing ideas into life. Innovation is linked to performance and growth through improvements in efficiency, productivity, quality, competitive positioning and market share. Innovation takes place at different levels from modest improvements on an existing product or process to dramatic and even historically significant breakthroughs in how we relate to the world. In all cases, the capacity to innovate will be a function of our commitments, what we want to accomplish and our relationship with the circumstances we perceive we are in. If we are resisting or coping, we see no innovation and whatever change we generate will be as a reaction to the circumstances and part of the process by which those circumstances persist. When we are responding or choosing we are in a position to innovate and will do so naturally and consistently as a function of what we observe to be possible or what we observe is missing in our perspective of the world.Change based on this view is likely to be an improvement on what already exists. INNOVATION AND PERFORMANCE A successful organisation that turns its focus to innovation is looking for achievements. Innovation shows up in the quality and quantity of ideas and the efficiency and effectiveness of implementation of those ideas. These two parameters are independent, however, when combined they form the definition of innovation performance. IMPORTANCE Innovation is not only about technology, but is also about understanding and exploring untapped user needs that require to be addressed in an efficient manner. It must occur at every stage of a product or solution development and release cycle. Thus, managing innovation is fast becoming priority in a global business environment. Firms which innovate tends to survive and grow to a greater extent. The most successful individuals, managers and team leaders in latest business world are the ones who are not only innovative in their own work, but who encourage and assist others to be innovative in every aspect of their work. Some of the key innovation areas are: product development and improvement; manufacturing processes; creating entirely new set of products; etc. In area of supply chain management, innovations help in making the supply chain more responsive, flexible and efficient. Supply chain innovation can be used to reduce costs, offer better assortment of customer centric products, decreasing time to market and driving growth. INNOVATION SYSTEM The concept of the innovation system stresses that the flow of technology and information among people, enterprises and institutions is key to an innovative process. It contains the interaction between the actors who are needed in order to turn an idea into a process, product or service on the market. Systems of Innovation are frameworks for understanding innovation which have become popular particularly among policy makers and innovation researchers first in Europe, but now anywhere in the world as in the 90s the World Bank and other UN affiliated institutions accepted. BENEFITS OF INNOVATION Technology has a vital role to play in any modern workplace and can make a huge difference to the way your business operates, and how well your staff carry out their tasks. These days, an online presence is also expected by customers and therefore is an essential component for businesses. In order to understand whether a new technology could help your business, you should review the technology you are presently using and assess how well existing systems work with your current and future business requirements. INNOVATION TYPES A number of frameworks have been used to look at types of innovation. Generally these approaches for categorizing innovation consider the sources of innovation from past successes or attempt to identify where to look for new innovation in the future. The variety of innovation types demonstrates that the benefits of innovation are not limited to new product development. Categorization also helps in the measurement of innovation, allowing for performance comparison and evidence based choices that can guide where improvements or advances might generate the most return for a given investment. This is sometimes referred to as the Return On Innovation. The ‘4Ps’ model developed by John Bessant and Joe Tidd provide a powerful tool for such analysis. It builds on the hypothesis that successful innovation is essentially about positive change, and puts forward four broad categories where such change can take place. Product innovation’ – changes in the things (products/services) which an organisation offers. Process innovation’ – changes in the ways in which products and services are created or delivered Position innovation’ – changes in the context in which the products/services are framed and communicated Paradigm innovation’ – changes in the underlying mental models which shape what the organisation does.

Portrayal Of Homosexuals In Bollywood Film Industry Sociology Essay

Portrayal Of Homosexuals In Bollywood Film Industry Sociology Essay This study on the perception on the portrayal of homosexuals in Bollywood film industry was majorly chosen as homosexuals have always been a topic the researcher wants to research on. Moreover there have been several research on homosexuals laws, their societal status, their recognition in the society, their rights, etc. but there have been less study in relation of homosexuals in media that to in the Indian film industry Bollywood. After the case and the controversies of the movie FIRE people in India have got an idea about homosexuals but they have still not come out and spoke about it or have accepted them as a part of their societies. Major protest, rallies have been taking place on recent schedules in India in different cities by these homosexual people but the society has still not stood up to answer them. India has about 2.5 million homosexuals which makes it 15-20 % of the population. Further few studies conducted in relation to this topic say that homosexuals have a bad ima ge in the society as they are the minorities and they are seen as negative people in the society. So the researcher carried with the research on the portrayal of the homosexuals in the Bollywood movies their perception in South India. If any well-educated man is asked to control is sexuality towards a women he would say NO they why does the society see homosexuals alone in a different way? Just because they are minority in the society? Doesnt every individual have their own rights in selection of their sexuality that to from a democratic country like us? The question that is yet to be answered is whether to start discussing these complex issues such a gays and lesbianism. Clearly the place of them in the culture is one of the central debates for decades and media representation will continue to be contested terrain for some time. Homosexuality, it is true that it was practiced in the ancient era and other parts of the world including few tribes of Africa where it is still practiced. But in todays world it is a known concept and practice in major parts of the countries and cities. In India on a continuous basis different rallys has been taking place in the major cities such as Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi to educate people about the group and also to seek their own rights in the society. From culture to sex everything is related to education it starts from there. Thus this topic homosexuality has been chosen by the researcher in an attempt to make the general public aware of the existing relationship between similar sexes and to help this minority to gain their basic rights. Among all the media in the mass communication field, cinema is the most powerful and a popular one. Films being the main source of entertainment in India, people of every section of the society like to watch and enjoy movies. The lack of alternative mode of entertainment in rural centers had resulted in the emerging cinema and it is also a cheap form of entertainment for the lower classes whos only other mode of entertainment is chit chatting and roaming in the streets. When cinema has the power to attract so many people in a society like us, one can imagine the influence it has on the audience life style, but at the same time one cannot also deny the fact that the reel is similar to the real. Especially in Indian movies, cinema in a way reflects our society. It is also a form of social phenomenon. Cinema makes use of all the socio-cultural beliefs and as and how situations changes the film makers also change the pattern of presenting it to the public. All these specialties of Bombay cinema makes it a powerful instrument of image and opinion building in the minds of our society. Films are a social document and representation of reality. In the case of homosexuality there has been a lot of information provided in the printed, television and the internet but when it comes to cinema there is a separate genre called the Queer Cinema. How effectively has this genre reflected its main concern that is the homosexuality is the reason behind the selection of this topic by the researcher. Films being a great artifact of the society at these times, they have a great and deep impact on their audiences. And keeping the Indian audience in mind film has been selected to be the most appropriate mediums it goes across the literacy level and encompasses all sections of the Indian population society, so the best medium to reach out to society and to examine the portrayal of homosexuality is through films especially Bollywood films. 3.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The objective of the study is to examine the portrayal of homosexuals in the Bollywood films through both Quantitative as well as Qualitative research methods. To understand how Bollywood Films as a form of media has portrayed the homosexuality? To comprehend the Perception of the Homosexuals on the Portrayal of homosexuality in the Bollywood Films? To examine the perception of media professionals and the public on the portrayal of homosexuality in Bollywood Films? 3.3 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS Homosexuals: they are people who get attracted to the same sex mentally, physically and sexually. Gay/Lesbians: Gay is when a man is attracted to another man mentally, physically and sexually. Lesbian is when a woman is attracted to another woman mentally, physically and sexually. LGBT: Expansion lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender. It is a community to help the minorities in the society. Queer culture: The pattern of life, behavior, attitude, relationships of the members of society who has an alternative sexual orientation. Queer Films: The movies whose central themes are based on same-sex relationships. Homophobia: Homophobia is a feeling of hatred or fear towards the homosexuals. Negative attitude towards non-heterosexual people and also hostility towards them. Sexual minority: People in the societies who are less in number and discriminated in accordance with their sexuality or orientation or gender identity. Perception: The  process  by which people translate sensory  impressions into a coherent and unified view of the world around them. Though necessarily based on incomplete and unverified (or unreliable)  information, perception is equated with reality for most  practical  purposes and guides  human behavior  in general. (Business Dictoinary) 3.4 RESEARCH DESIGN Research is a way thinking, analyzing examining critically the various aspects of day to day professional life understanding and formulating procedures that govern a particular procedure and testing it with theories for enhancement of the studies. In simple words it is one of the ways to find answer to a question. In this particular study the research is done to find out the perception of public, homosexuals and media professionals on the portrayal of homosexuals in the Bollywood films. Research is a process of collecting analyzing and interpreting information to answer questions (Berger, 2000) To do a research there are two methods: The Qualitative 2) The Quantitative. Qualitative research is generally conducted to know the standard the quality and the analysis of a particular topic. Whereas quantitative research is done on the validation of a number or numeric. The researcher did both Qualitative and Quantitative study. 3.4.1 Methods of data collection Methods of Data Collection Secondary Sources Primary Sources Documents Questionnaire Interviewing Observation Mail Questionnaire Participant Structured Collective Questionnaire Unstructured Non-Participant GOVT Publications Earlier Research Census Personal Records Client Histories Service records (Cited from Research Methodologies, Ranjit Kumar-2005, pg. 118) (Kumar, 2005) 3.4.2 Quantitative Research: Different researchers have Different definitions for quantitative research methods. According to Cohen and Manion (Cohen Manion, 1980), quantitative research is a social process that involves empirical methods and statements. He explains empirical statement as descriptive statement about what is the case and real world that what ought to be. Whereas, John Creswell (Creswell,1994) he defined quantitative research as a type of research that explains phenomena by collecting any numerical data that are analyzed using mathematics (in particular statics). In a quantitative project, the problem is best addressed by understanding what factors or variables influence an outcome. (Creswell, 1994) The word quantity comes from a Latin word meaning quantitas.This particular research method measures, counts, focuses and it is statistical , describes and predicts and finally leads to hypothesis and theory. There are different methods of conducting quantitative research but in this particular study the researcher adopted surveying method to collect data from the general public and to know their perception on the portrayal of homosexuality in Bollywood movies. Surveying: Surveying design provides a quantitative or numeric description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a population by studying a sample of that population. (Cresw,1994) . A research method used to get information from particular or certain groups which represent a larger group of people who are to the interest to us. We concentrate things on what people know, what they think, they do, their attitudes, beliefs, behaviors etc. There are two kinds of surveys: Descriptive surveys and Analytical surveys. Surveys collect data in two methods: Interviews or the self-administrated questionnaires. Questionnaire is a list of questions which is passed over to a large number of people and they are asked to answer it and hand it over to the senders. Interviews can be group, individual, and personal through face to face or even telephone. This method is in-expensive and it is very common. In this method information can be attained at one time because it collects quantitative and numeric data. (Berger, 2000) Advantages and Disadvantages of Quantitative Research Methods: Advantages: Enables the description of the social structure that is not directly observable. Well suited for comparison between groups, areas, etc. None biased and Analysis is between social phenomenon Well suited for Quantitative description Description of change is applicable. Disadvantages: Applicable only for measureable phenomena Simplifies the complex reality Difficult to study process and dynamic phenomena Description of perspective, meaning and intentions are difficult. 3.4.3 Qualitative Research Method Qualitative research is focussed on deeper significance that the subject the researcher aspires to research one. Interpretive, naturalistic approaches to the subjects are a part of the qualitative research analysis. It gives more importance to the data collected or existing information. Qualitative researches rely on text and image data, have unique steps in data analysis and draw on diverse strategies of inquiry (Creswell, 1994). There are several characteristics for qualitative research methods: It takes place in natural setting. Uses multiple methods that are interactive and humanistic. It is emergent rather than tightly prefigured. It is fundamentally interpretive. It is via a social phenomenon. It totally depends on the participants and their biography and their information. Complex reasonings are used. Types of data collection in qualitative research methods are: Observations Completer participant Observer as participant Participant as observer Complete observer Interviews Face to face Telephone Group Mail Documents Public documents Private documents Email discussions Audiovisual materials Photographs Videotapes Art objects Computer software Film The word quality is from a Latin word qualitas meaning what kind? It involves matters such as text, degree of excellence and distinguishing characteristics. The common qualitative research methods are Field Studies Focus Group In-depth interviews Case studies Content Analysis In this particular study the researcher had chosen qualitative method in which he would conduct in-depth interviews to get the perception of the homosexuals and the media professionals. In-Depth Interview: In-depth Interview also called as Intensive interview are hybrid one to one conversation or communication. In-depth interviewing is qualitative research technique that involves conducting intensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents to explore their perspective on a particular idea, programme or situation. (Boyce Neale, May 2006) Qualities of intensive interviews are: Small samples Gives a detailed background and specific answers Lengthy observation of respondents. Customized to individual respondents The rapport between the interviewer and respondent matter Process of conducting in-depth interview : Plan Develop Instrument Train Data Collectors Collect data Analyze Data Disseminate Findings. Advantages and Disadvantages of in-depth interview (Boyce Neale, May 2006) Advantages: Wealth of details the method provides Data is more accurate responses on sensitive issues when compared to other methods such as survey The rapport between the interviewer and respondent is easy to develop Practical in nature Information obtained through this method is virtually impossible to be obtained from other method. Defectiveness is involved Dis-advantages: Generalization Takes place sometimes Sensitive to interviewer Bias Sometimes problems in Data analysis 3.4.4 TRIANGULATION It is selected a model when a researcher uses two different methods in an attempt to confirm, cross-validate or corroborate findings with a single study. (Greene Caracelli, 1997) Triangulation is a research method used in combination of several research methodologies in the study of the same phenomenon. In this particular research a combination of qualitative and quantitative is used for the study. This traditional method was originally used in social science research studies. It is an appropriate method in studying the credibility of the qualitative research analysis. It is one of the mixed method models in the research methods. This traditional model uses both quantitative as well as qualitative in balancing both the methods negatives and doing an in-depth research. The triangulation research process has different models such a convergence, Data Transformation Model, Validating Quantitative Data Model, Multilevel Model. In this particular research the researcher used triangulation model to collect datas from all the groups and to validate data. In this particular study the researcher had chosen the triangulation method for a comparative analysis of the perception of the homosexuals, media professionals and the public on the portrayal of homosexuality in the Bollywood movies. -Triangulation Convergence Model: (Creswell Clark, Mixed Method Research, 2007) QUAN-Results QUAN-Data Analysis QUAN-Data Collection Interpretation QUAL+ QUAN Compare And Contrast QUAL Data Collection QUAL- Results QUAL Data analysis -Advantages and Disadvantages of Triangulation research method: (Creswell Plano Clark, 2007) Advantages: Overall interpretation is from variety of different factors. Cross validation. Balance between methods. Well validated and sub-stantiated findings and well known for many researchers. Disadvantages: Increased amount of time needed in comparison of both the methods data collected. Difficulty of dealing with the vast amount of data. 2.5.5 SAMPLING Sampling is the tradition of metric research to develop claims that generalize across populations of people, media industries, media texts and the like. (Anderson, 2012) Therefore most of the research involves some method of sampling that enters a set of population in the research. There are basically two types of sampling: Probability and Non-probability sampling. Probability Sampling: It is when each one of the population has an equal or known chances of selection. The best of this sampling method is that every member of the population either in equal chances as in simple random sampling or known chances as in Stratified random sampling. This method gives each and every individual a chance of being selected. Non-Probability Sampling: This method of sampling requires more concentration and thought more than probability sampling. This method can still represent a population in the criterion basis. Every effort has to be made for the control of the sources and to avoid errors in the study. There are different types of non-probability sampling. They are: Convenience Samples: In this sample the analyst attempts to anticipate the arguments against its acceptance. Quota and Judgment Samples: This sampling method needs to ensure that the evidence for the quota values and the judgments made is strong enough to justify their use. Panel Studies: The research panel will draw out a random sample drawn according to best practices. Snowball Sampling : Snowball sampling another type of non-probability sampling and a method which will be used in this particular study. Snowball sampling is when one particular participants help is finding out other participants. In simple terms it can be called as the respondent -driven sample. This method is greatly affected by the initial point of access- the one who starts the snowball. This method requires advance knowledge on the set of population thats being sampled. This particular sampling method helps in understanding the entire group of sample to be studied but it is a complex method as it is difficult for analysis and errors might take place due to communication process. The researcher adopted this method in finding out samples for the qualitative research methods to examine the perception of the homosexuals about the portrayal of homosexuality in Bollywood movies. The researcher interviewed a samples size of 10 for the in-depth interview and one extended interview that is with a sample one for the media professionals perceptions about the portrayal of homosexuality in Bollywood movies. Purposive Sampling: The purposive sampling technique, also called judgment sampling, is the deliberate choice of an informant due to the qualities the informant possesses. ( Dolores C. Tongco, 2007) This sampling is a non-probability sampling method which does not need any of the underlying theories or set of informants. Simply put, the researcher decides what needs to be known and sets out to find people who can and are willing to provide the information by virtue of knowledge or experience (Bernard 2002, Lewis Sheppard 2006). For the quantitative method the researcher has adopted survey method with non-probability sampling i.e. purposive sampling and collected questionnaires from people in south India who has watched Bollywood movies. A sample size of 150 was collected from which the researcher got about 120 completed questionnaires. The age group concentrated was from the 18-30. The table below will explain the distribution of the survey method sample by age and gender. Sample will be equally distributed among the gender and age so that the analysis is not gender or age biased. Table 3.1: Distribution of respondents according sex Frequency Per cent Valid Per cent Cumulative Per cent Valid female 59 49.2 49.2 49.2 male 61 50.8 50.8 100.0 Total 120 100 100.0 Table 3.2: Distribution of Respondents by Age Frequency Per cent Valid Per cent Cumulative Per cent Valid 18-22 41 33.9 34.2 34.2 23-26 40 33.1 33.3 67.5 27-30 39 32.2 32.5 100.0 Total 120 100 100.0 s

Developing a Safe Scientific Workplace

Developing a Safe Scientific Workplace In a scientific workplace there are many various aspects that enable workers to do their job safely knowing they are protected from various precautions and laws. These aspects can be split up into the following sections: hazard symbols and hazcards, risk assessments, protective clothing and equipment, COSHH, CLEAPSS and HSE, general laboratory practises and quality standards. Hazards symbols and hazcards Harmful This is a substance that will most likely cause harm to the body if it comes in contact with the skin or ingested. An example of a harmful substance is chloroform, for the safety in a work place this substance would be stored in a tightly close and sealed container in a well-ventilated room as it can give off harmful fumes. Explosive This is a substance that combusts with a lot of energy when exposed to heat or a flame. An example of a substance that is explosive is ammonium nitrate, explosive substances must be stored in a durable box with a tight lid away from any heat source, as well as this is must be stored low down in case it is an impact explosive. Oxidising Oxidising is a substance that do not burn by themselves but they provide oxygen for flammable substances to burn. An example of a substance like this is potassium nitrate, for oxidising substances like this they must be placed in a tub/bottle with a lid on and store away from any flammable materials for the safety of people working with this product. Flammable A flammable product is when a substance is subjected to a high heat it produces a flame. An example of a flammable substance is gasoline/petrol which is highly flammable in liquid and vapour form. To store this and many other flammable substances it must be placed in preferably a durable metal container with a tight lid on so no substance or fumes will be let out, it also must be kept away from high heat or any source of flame. Corrosive A corrosive substance has the ability to deteriorate and burn away a surface, this is usually the skin in a science workplace. An example of a corrosive substance is hydrofluoric acid, this is a liquid as are most corrosive substances so they are stored in similar ways, they must be stored in unreactive plastic containers that have a tight lid on to avoid spillages. Irritant An irritant substance closely relates to harmful but doesn’t cause as much harm, an irritant causes irritation to the surface of the skin therefor can cause red marks. An example of this is acetone, this must be stored in a tough bottle with a safety lid that is usually stored on a shelf or in a cupboard. Toxic Toxic is labelled to substances that if exposed to it can cause death if enough is in contact with the body. An example of this would be ricin which is extracted from a bean off a plant, it is usually in powder form. For this particular substance and many other toxic substances it must be stored in a container with a secure lid and store in a locked cupboard, safe or room. Biohazard A biohazard is used in the labelling of biological materials that carry a significant health risk to humans. An example of this would be carmine which is a natural red pigment. To store biohazards they must be stored in a bottle or tub with a safety lid on which is locked away from humans and non-workers. Radioactive A radioactive substance emits energy as electromagnetic waves or moving subatomic particles causing ionization. An example of a radioactive material is uranium, all radioactive material must be stored within a radioactive proof area like in lead which stops radioactive particles from passing through, keep in a safe which also stops radiation. Environmental hazards Environmental hazards can cause harm to the environment meaning both plants and animals. An example of this would be mercury, mercury is a highly toxic metallic liquid. To store this place in a plastic bottle with a secure cap on top, as well as this keep it away from any drainage source as well as animals, plants or the outside. Risk assessments There are 3 categories under risk assessments, these are chemical hazards, physical hazards and biological hazards. Risk assessments are usually taken before an experiment, practical or before a job is undertaken. The following example risk assessment of the 3 categories is from when I completed the preparation of aspirin. Chemical hazards Chemical hazards are chemicals that can cause harm to the body if exposed to the skin or ingested. An example of a chemical hazard would be a corrosive burn from concentrated sulphuric acid, this would be a high risk and as a precaution you should wear gloves and carefully use, make sure to use in fume cupboard to avoid spillages on work surfaces, wear lab jackets too to protect core body, wear safety glasses to protect eyes. This would be the same for another chemical hazard which is irritation for ethanoic anhydride which unlike sulphuric acid is a low risk. In the case of the substance being in contact with the skin wash off quickly and put the area affected in ice or cold water. Physical hazards Physical hazards are something that can cause harm to the body excluding chemicals or biological substances. For example slipping on water spillages, this can be seen as a moderate hazard if equipment isnt set up correctly or if carelessness occurs. To avoid this make sure apparatus is in the middle of a flat bench and make sure if it uses water to connect it properly so avoid leaks, in the case of a spillage simply mop up using paper towels, if the slipping occurs then if injured get a first aid officer to check you. As well as this another example could be cuts from glass breakage which is once again a moderate risk if not properly cleared up, to avoid this make sure to handle equipment carefully, do not grip too hard or too little to avoid shattering, place in the middle of benches to avoid knocking off, keep a brush and glass bucket in case of breakage. In the case of cuts happening wash the wound and cover in a plaster, if deep then go to hospital to get stiches. Biological hazards A biological hazard is a substance that causes a threat to the health of a person, in the practical I did there was only one biological hazard which was the product aspirin itself, it caused a low risk but a moderate risk if ingested as we made it ourselves. To avoid this make sure to wear disposable gloves in case the product gets on your hands, if products gets on skin wash off and to no put product in the mouth. In case any of it is ingested you must go hospital as it wasn’t commercially made. Protective clothing and equipment Protective clothing equipment more commonly known as personal protective equipment is pieces of clothing or equipment that will protect the user against health or safety risks at work. It can include items such as safety gloves, eye protection such as goggles, visors and glasses, safety footwear and lab coat. Lab coat A lab coat is made out of cotton which absorbs the chemicals spilt onto the coat, because of this it is used to protect the core body and arm and stops yourself from being damaged in many different laboratory situations. Protective gloves Protective gloves are worn when there is a chance if a substance can harm your hands, the gloves are made out of neoprene or latex that are resistant to chemicals and are used to protect your hands when using something potentially harmful. Goggles These are used to give extra protection to the eyes, it covers all of your eyes including top bottom and sides, they have a PVC frame with polycarbonate lenses giving it strength whilst protecting eyes at it is unreactive. Visor These are used to cover whole of the face when using something potentially reactive/explosive, like the goggles they have a PVC frame with a polycarbonate visor giving it strength and protecting the whole face from chemical splashed due to the unreactive nature. Safety glasses Used to cover the front of the eyes and are used in all experiments as a safety precaution, like the previous two protective equipment, they have a PVC frame and polycarbonate lense giving strength and an unreactive ability. Safety boots Used to protect your feet when working around heavy objects that can potentially fall, safety boots are made out of leather and have steel toe caps, leather as a high resistance to chemicals, heat and flames and steel has a high breaking strength protecting the toes. COSHH, CLEAPSS and HSE COSHH, CLEAPSS and HSE are all laws that enable working in a scientific workplace to be carried out safely. COSHH COSHH is a law that requires employers to control substances that are hazardous to health. Most businesses use substances, or products that are mixtures of substances. Some processes create substance which could cause harm to employees, contractors and other people so must be disposed of properly. CLEAPSS CLEAPSS is an advisory service providing support in science and technology for a consortium of local authorities and their schools. The law includes: Independent schools, post-16 colleges, teacher training establishments and curriculum developers. CLEAPSS stands for Consortium of Local Education Authorities for the Provision of Science Equipment. HSE The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the national independent watchdog for work-related health, safety and illness. It acts in the public interest to reduce work-related death and serious injury across Great Britain’s workplaces. The Act makes sure to secure the health, safety and welfare of persons at work, for protecting others against risks to health or safety in connection with the activities of persons at work. General laboratory practises General Laboratory Practice includes a set of codes that provides an outline within a laboratory in which studies are planned, performed, monitored, recorded, reported and archived. These studies are undertaken to help assure regulatory authorities that the data submitted is a true reflection of the results obtained during the experiment/practical that has been completed and can therefore be relied upon when making assessments. This is part of a quality assurance procedure which is aimed at ensuring that products are consistently manufactured to a quality appropriate to their intended use. They provide guidelines for quality control and assurance in testing laboratories. Quality standards Quality standards look into all ranges of care, these can include examples like public health, healthcare, social care. Evidence relating to effectiveness and cost effectiveness, peoples experience of using services, safety issues, equality and cost impact are also considered. Although some standards are area-specific, there will often be substantial overlap across areas and this is considered during building of the standard. Where appropriate referrals are combined and developed as a combined quality standard. Many of the quality standards are started by the international standards organisation. Other commonly known organisations originating from the international standards organisation include: British Standards which is mostly used in the UK and Europe.

Smoking Should Be Outlawed and Tobacco Profit Applied to Medical Resear

Smoking Should Be Outlawed and Tobacco Profit Applied to Medical Research "Scientists know what makes tobacco so deadly. It's the more than 4,000 different chemicals that cigarettes contain. And the more than 400 different poisons that scientists have found in cigarette smoke" (LeTourneau). Does that statement appeal to you? Funny how the public hears this phrase and knows what tobacco is made from, yet they still smoke knowing that tobacco kills more than 440,000 people a year in America alone. "That's more people than die from AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, fires, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides all added together"(LeTourneau). Tobacco is made from all kind of harmful things. Things that give little children asthma, give adults emphysema, cancer of the lungs, throat, mouth, tongue, and can cause many other awful occurrences with people's health. I believe that tobacco should be taken off the market completely. I believe that tobacco companies should not have to pay for rehabilitation for those people who are addicted to tobacco because it is t heir own choice. Inste...

Harmful Effects of the Ornish Diet Essay -- Health Nutrition Diet Exer

Harmful Effects of the Ornish Diet The Ornish diet, a meal plan that emphasizes the consumption of carbohydrates over fats, is an unsafe plan despite its claims to being a safe and effective way to prevent heart disease1 – a claim only a balanced diet can make. Because the Ornish diet cuts out a large number of foods from a person’s meal, many beneficial nutrients are missing that would normally be in a balanced diet. In addition, recent studies have found that diets containing a larger than recommended amount of carbohydrates may actually increase a person’s chances of developing intestinal and breast cancers2. These findings show that despite any benefits the Ornish diet may provide to the heart, the complications of maintaining a high carbohydrate diet make it not nearly as safe as a balanced diet. Because the Ornish diet restricts participants to a strictly vegetarian meal plan, people who follow the diet often become deficient in beneficial nutrients such as vitamin B12, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids1. Vitamin B12 and iron are nutrients often found in animal products such as meat, while omega-3 fatty acids are most common fish – the foods present in a balanced diet, but absent in the Ornish diet. Deficiencies of these chemicals can often lead to conditions such as anemia, or prevent beneficial effects that are imparted by omega-3 fatty acids such as mood stabilization and improved cardiovascular health. Because the body needs iron to produce hemoglobin – a vital part in a red blood cell’s ability to transport oxygen to other cells, a lack of the substance would cause a large decrease in the effectiveness and number of red blood cells. In addition, due to vitamin B12’s regulation of blood cell production, a decreas... ...s incorrect. People on this diet often do not obtain enough of the essential vitamins and minerals that they need in order to maintain healthy bodies. Because of this, they run the risk of developing serious illnesses such as anemia. People on the Ornish diet also will not enjoy the possible benefits other nutrients such as the omega-3 fatty acids. Dieters who take in such large amounts of carbohydrates also increase their risk of developing cancers due to the elevated insulin responses their bodies put up to digest the food that they eat. In the end, a balanced diet is much safer than, and just as effective – if followed correctly – In maintaining a healthy body as the Ornish diet is. Sources 1. http://www.moscowfoodcoop.com/archive/ornish.html 2. http://www.scienceblog.com/community/article3530.html 3. http://www.bipolarchild.com/newsletters/0501.html

Companies and the Customers Who Hate Them Essay

How can customer dissatisfaction lead to higher profits for the company? Companies have found out that ill-informed customers can be beneficial for them in terms of profits. Some companies have abused their customers intentionally, however others unwittingly exploited and took advantage of them. The Slippery slope: There are two major ways in which companies make profits by misleading their customers: * Offering the customers a broad variety of services or products, which can be very confusing, especially when there is lack of transparency. Moreover, if even the information is complete for the customers, the companies can take advantages of consumers’ difficulties in predicting their needs. * Using fees and penalties for offsetting costs and discouraging undesirable customer behavior. These hostile strategies are common from banking and hotel industries to video stores and car rentals. Here particularly 3 industries will be discussed in details: cell phone industry, retail- banking industry and health club industry. Cell phone industry: When a customer signs up for a service plan, he chooses a certain pricing option with different ranges of minutes. These plans can have various restrictions and allowances. However, these varied plans are not a result of customer-centric strategy. They are rather ways to take advantage of customer’s unawareness of which plan to choose, in the result of which customers can be penalized either for using too much time or for not using enough. However, such strategies cannot always guarantee profits for the company. They can increase the dissatisfaction among customers, the proof of which can be thousands of complaints that the U. S. Federal Communications Commission gets annually. These complaints should be worrisome to companies because customers can switch toward a transparent and friendly alternative. Retail-banking industry: Another sphere in which the company-centric strategy is used is retail-banking industry. For signing up in the checking accounts people are offered dozens of alternatives. If the customers cannot precisely predict their needs, they can have losses. Here are some examples of situations when the banks take advantage over the customers’ ignorance * The customers receive less interest when the consumers’ balances are above the minimum of the balance bucket and if the alances fall below the minimum level, they have to pay some penalties. * Banks usually debit the consumers’ checks in the order of size, rather than in a chronological order, for the rest of the checks to bounce and to cause multiple overdrafts, consequently penalties. The company-centric strategy of banks led to the customers’ dissatisfaction and it became so pervasive that New York congresswoman Carolyn Maloney reintroduced the Consumer Overdraft Protection Fair Practices Act to forbid banks charging overdraft protection fees, unless the customers explicitly are informed about the service. Health club industry: Health clubs tempt customers to sign long-term contracts, knowing that they will rarely visit the club. They realize that all their customers will not completely use the facility and therefore sell more memberships than they have the floor space to accommodate. Moreover, an investigation conducted by the New York City Council concluded that 41% of clubs didn’t explain their fees in writing, 81% didn’t give potential members a contract to read at home and 96% didn’t inform customers of all the ways they could legally cancel a contract. In New Jersey a lot of complaints have brought litigation against almost two dozen health clubs that provided fraudulent contracts. Health clubs require to spend more time to attract new customers because their existing ones try to find a way out. Moreover they even encourage ways to retain customers with reward points for members who work out regularly. The warning signs: According to the research most of the executives are acknowledging the negative effects of the functions described above but they mention that those actions do not represent an intentional strategy. The executives know that because of these negative practices the companies slid down the slippery slope and have difficulties for purchasing on the way back up thus becoming vulnerable for the competitors. For avoiding this practice the executives should ask themselves the questions mentioned bellow. * Are our most profitable customers those who have reasons to be dissatisfied with us? * Do we have rules we want customers to break because doing so generates profits? Do we make it difficult for customers to understand or abide by our rules, and do we actually help customers break them? * Do we depend on contracts to prevent customers from defecting? Climbing back into favor: Effective CEOs are able to recognize the opportunities and eliminate the negative effects which make the company vulnerable. The company centric strategies can cause loss of the target market and profitability in a long-term period, thus many companies prefer being economically sustainable.

Catcher in the Rye Extended Response

catcher in the Rye Extended reply To describe ab bug out Holden a little, he was a very preternatural guy. He has different perspective to otherwise great deal, so far though he has a principle appearance. He drinks, smokes and swears a lot precisely he is only a teenager. The expressive style Holden talked was very funny he use swearing words a lot. mayhap author assay to express Holdens negative perspective against the world by using this way of speaking. Anyway, he was a typical student who had problems in schools. He failed all(prenominal) subject except English, and got kicked out of every school he went to.Also, he genuinely detest simulated things. What he meant in the word phony was handle the basic manner people do every day. He also hated Hollywood movies and the actors respectable because he musical theme they were phony. I think he mediocre hates it when people talk in a positive manner. Its authentically weird because he would also hate people swearing and without manners. He hates phony things and he criticizes every people he meets and met when he should be criticizing himself. It shows how negative he really is. I wondered at first, why he thought the world as very, bad place without any truth.He didnt kindred anything. I think after his sidekick entirelyie died, he changed point of view to the cabaret and environment approximately him. And also, his family (his especially his father) abnormal his personality. Theres a activate where he says about his familiar Allie. I could see how much Holden loved his brother merely after he died, he turned his back to the world. I tidy sum think of like, His father is a attorney and his family is rich. Maybe he saw more phony things since he was little. But Allie and basketball team could have there for him. Then his brother died, and he has no one to depose on, only Phoebe.The one who Holden really likes was Phoebe. So, he doesnt want to study and go to university and mix w ith people who say phony things every day. He doesnt canvas the conduct serious as other people around him. He really thinks that life is a phony thing, and then he drinks, smokes and swears a lot, merely to protect himself from the world. There was a fall a mathematical function where Holden said he want to be the catcher in rye, with just the children around him. I could see that he was world-weary with the world where adults saying phony things every time.Maybe the author might have been move to criticize the modern world by Holden. I dont know, but I think Holden really hates to be socializing in the society. He just wanted to be surrounded by the childrens innocence. He also tried to go to West and live in the cabin with a very a few(prenominal) contact with other people and be deaf-mute. I think he tries to total away from the world and to be part away from the phony people. He was actually a pitiful teenager who doesnt have parents that take care of him warmly. All H olden was looking for was the good in his life that he couldnt find.

Wellness programs try to Be welcoming

AH, July an prototype judgment of conviction of year for morning runs, unyielding swims, family bike rides and piece of cake t equals laden with seasonal tameer produce. In short, its easynessy time.Unfortunately, its be grimaces wellness c atomic spot 18 time when motorbuss must posit with rising wellness redress premiums as they plan adjacent years budget.What is a ground-conscious four-in-hand to do? The reaction of the moment is to translate a wellness program, promoting flushed carriage year-round.According to a retrospect by the hay Group, a consulting firm, more than half of wholly large companies draw bulge outing some conclave of ser iniquitys mintle viands education, incubus counselling assistance, wellness jeopardy perspicacitys, and help oneself with quitting smoking more than than a pass assign things same satisfytingness train and negligences on wellness couch ranks.I was basically surface of the business for the fracture part of the decade, give tongue to Michael Carter, a vice prefacent at Hay amenable for make use ofee health perplexity consulting. Now e rattlingbodys my new outper reach friend.On the surface, it is sticky to see anything unseasonable with urging employees to nonation up and strike down d let. A purify mildew lunge is a happier work force, and less salutely, too.But wellness programs shtup be minefields. Some employees may envy the programs, viewing them as pillow slips of father-knows-best intrusiveness. At to the lowest degree one program has notwith give birthing ferment the background for a rightfulnesssuit.The biggest repugn of wellness programs is to reach the employees who would get the about expose of them. Gym rats allow al sort of lifes dis act advantage of benefits standardised discounted health fraternity memberships exactly they would in all akinlihood work emerge anyway, and discounts may not be adequacy for th ose who argon seriously with child(p) or out of shape.Personalized inducements comparable fittingness coaching and diet counseling ar often a better way to reach employees in the middle host who just neediness a pocketable encouragement. It is as well as crucial to make accommodations for disabled employees.And the tone taken is crucial who wants the stump telling you to eat your spinach? A program that feels coercive testamenting in all probability never be as habitual as one with validating incentives, like cheaper health indemnification.Employees respond best to wellness programs that be presented as a form of organizational change, rather than as a top-down imposition of new requirements, agree to a study of 243 employees by Ellen Ernst Kossek, a professor of human vision solicitude and organizational behavior at lolly State University, and two colleagues.It shouldnt be, hithers this program, she verbalise. It should be linked to How do we make a workp lace thats sound for bothone. Scotts Miracle-Gro has one of the nigh bulky wellness programs on offer. Services accommodate personalized physical physical fittingness coaching and a $5 million wellness shopping center field at its headquarters in Marysville, Ohio, with a gym and medical facilities. The participation also has a constitution against hiring workers who smoke, where state jurisprudence permits.Participation in Scotts wellness programs is uplifted besides the partnership has also seen an unexpected side effect from its efforts.Last year, Scott Rodrigues filed suit against the union in Massachusetts, saying that Scotts fired him by and by a drug test gear up nicotine in his system and that the bon tons antismoking policy violated his civil rights.Harvey Schwartz, Mr. Rodriguess lawyer, verbalize the carapace was also an example of benefits discrimination, where a watch over come with banishes an employee to avoid lofty benefits be.In a motion to dismiss the case, which is pending, Scotts said that Mr. Rodrigues had not actually been engage solely had been offered a job on the condition that he pass a drug screen, including a test for nicotine.When you attend to at dictatorial costs, said Su Lok, a Scotts spokeswoman, smoking is something that employers ar really victorious a stand on. The company had no comment on the specific case because it is ongoing.Union Pacific line has had a smoother ride with its longstanding wellness program. The proportion of health insurance claims associate to lifestyle has dropped by 11 sh be points over 11 years, said Marcy Zauha, the companys director for health and safety.Union Pacific, found in Omaha, offers some companywide wellness benefits, including health risk assessments and stop-smoking plans. But much of the program, including regional pass contests and grouping exercising weight-loss efforts, is administered locally. Managers health progress initiatives be implica ted in their one-year reviews.Weve tried to build health into our active culture, Ms. Zauha said.Fiserv, a financial go technology company based in Brookfield Wis., created a wellness program in 2005 to better recruit and retain employees.Fiserv employees who fulfil out a health risk assessment receive a hefty discount on their monthly health insurance premium. there atomic number 18 also companywide fitness challenges in a youthful eight-week walking contest, participants were issued pedometers, and anyone who walked 7,000 go a sidereal day original a prize.Teams aim to been know to hesitation whether their rivals really log the number of steps claimed. But that was fine with Linda Schuessler, manager of wellness promotion.As long as theyre engaged, Ms. Schuessler said, we dont really consciousness those reachs.(this is the copyofth phrase from NY Times,http//www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/business/yourmoney/22mgmt.html?ex=1186113600&en=ded5f6bb661041b0&ei=5070)Journal AssignmentThe notion at hand is about how managers and company heads would make the about out of their companies by introducing a healthy lifestyle to their employees. It is unvarnished that today, health deal costs are so high that rising health insurance premiums would for sure be in the way of budgeting for the company (Holland). Obviously, these company heads and managers should not jeopardize the health of their employees, that they should allow for the needful things for their wellness. But surely, this would cost them that it wouldnt be that easy to braid out arrange and fix the budget. That is why these managers should resort to a way that would be more cost effective and foreclose them from harms way of these health like costs.The oblige discusses how managers and company heads employ human imagery caution in shape to do outside with the high-priced expenses of health administer and health insurances that they provide to the employees. But this doesnt mea n that they neglect the health of these working flock. It is true that these great deal are very important to the company, that these companies need them in hallow to be productive, which is why it is important that their all need will be bewildern to them or will be addressed.What these company leaders and managers do is that they make sure that these employees are healthy so that they screwing avert the expending that theyll have to give when any of these gets retch or has health problems. In order not to shoulder the burden of health care and health insurance premiums, they offered to maintain them fit in their own ways.In order to do so, these companies offer basically every health centering and services that they slew offer to the employees. These includes educating them regarding nutrition and proper diet, weight management assistance, health risk assessments and checkups, fitness coaching and cock-a-hoop out memberships for fitness groups and health clubs. by this, the company themselves are able to manipulate that their employees are fit and are farthest from harms way, thus pitch them the costs of health care for these mint. Thus, the companies budgets will not be greatly affected.If you would tinct this approach in human resource management, you could see that this is more on the incentive aspect, wherein you provide your employees something that would keep them going to work. For those who are concerned with their health and well-being, they would surely crack the opportunity of giving health club memberships and nutrition education. This is positive for the company, since the employees themselves are the ones who commence in retention themselves healthy. Remember, the main concern of the company in this issue is how they domiciliate do away with the extra costs of health care and health insurance premiums for their employees.Regarding the effectiveness of this approach, the article states that there are already several(pre nominal) large-scale companies who adoptive this system. They have their own health clubs and offer free membership to their employees. They say that these greatly helps them in stark costs, thus the parcel out budget for health care would be saved. There are tacit some who are not that much into health stuffs, batch who think that nutrition education is like intruding with their lives. These people are those who would most likely have health risks and should be given enough consideration in order to engage them in these health programs.Human resource management surely entails motley levels of dealing with the people you are handling. This includes how you palm them, and the ways on how you are able to manage them, making them do what theyre suppose to do. This is where health care comes in, wherein their safety and well being is not only their concern, but should also be the companys priority. When their wellness goes down, the company goes down as well, in terms of both wor k force and monetary aspects.ReferenceHolland, K. (2007). health Programs Try to Be Welcoming, Too. The New York Times. publish July 22, 2007. Retrieved August 1, 2007, from http//www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/business/yourmoney/22mgmt.html?ex=1186113600&en=ded5f6bb661041b0&ei=5070Wellness Programs Try to Be WelcomingAH, July an ideal time of year for morning runs, long swims, family bike rides and picnic tables laden with seasonal produce. In short, its healthy time.Unfortunately, its also health care time when managers must contend with rising health insurance premiums as they plan next years budget.What is a cost-conscious manager to do? The answer of the moment is to provide a wellness program, promoting healthy behavior year-round.According to a survey by the Hay Group, a consulting firm, more than half of all large companies offer some combination of services like nutrition education, weight management assistance, health risk assessments, and help with quitting smoking more th an a quarter offer things like fitness coaching and discounts on health club memberships.I was basically out of the business for the better part of the decade, said Michael Carter, a vice president at Hay responsible for employee health management consulting. Now everybodys my new best friend.On the surface, it is hard to see anything wrong with urging employees to tone up and trim down. A fitter work force is a happier work force, and less costly, too.But wellness programs can be minefields. Some employees may resent the programs, viewing them as examples of father-knows-best intrusiveness. At least one program has even formed the background for a lawsuit.The biggest challenge of wellness programs is to reach the employees who would get the most out of them. Gym rats will ever take advantage of benefits like discounted health club memberships but they would probably work out anyway, and discounts may not be enough for those who are seriously overweight or out of shape.Personalize d incentives like fitness coaching and nutrition counseling are often a better way to reach employees in the middle group who just need a midget encouragement. It is also crucial to make accommodations for disabled employees.And the tone taken is crucial who wants the imprint telling you to eat your spinach? A program that feels coercive will probably never be as popular as one with positive incentives, like cheaper health insurance.Employees respond best to wellness programs that are presented as a form of organizational change, rather than as a top-down imposition of new requirements, fit to a study of 243 employees by Ellen Ernst Kossek, a professor of human resource management and organizational behavior at pelf State University, and two colleagues.It shouldnt be, hithers this program, she said. It should be linked to How do we make a workplace thats healthy for everyone. Scotts Miracle-Gro has one of the most across-the-board wellness programs on offer. Services include p ersonalized fitness coaching and a $5 million wellness center at its headquarters in Marysville, Ohio, with a gym and medical facilities. The company also has a policy against hiring workers who smoke, where state law permits.Participation in Scotts wellness programs is high but the company has also seen an unexpected side effect from its efforts.Last year, Scott Rodrigues filed suit against the company in Massachusetts, saying that Scotts fired him after a drug test found nicotine in his system and that the companys antismoking policy violated his civil rights.Harvey Schwartz, Mr. Rodriguess lawyer, said the case was also an example of benefits discrimination, where a company dismisses an employee to avoid high benefits costs.In a motion to dismiss the case, which is pending, Scotts said that Mr. Rodrigues had not actually been hired but had been offered a job on the condition that he pass a drug screen, including a test for nicotine.When you look at controlling costs, said Su Lok , a Scotts spokeswoman, smoking is something that employers are really taking a stand on. The company had no comment on the specific case because it is ongoing.Union Pacific Railroad has had a smoother ride with its longstanding wellness program. The proportion of health insurance claims related to lifestyle has dropped by 11 percentage points over 11 years, said Marcy Zauha, the companys director for health and safety.Union Pacific, based in Omaha, offers some companywide wellness benefits, including health risk assessments and stop-smoking plans. But much of the program, including regional walking contests and group weight-loss efforts, is administered locally. Managers health promotion initiatives are included in their annual reviews.Weve tried to build health into our existing culture, Ms. Zauha said.Fiserv, a financial services technology company based in Brookfield Wis., created a wellness program in 2005 to better recruit and retain employees.Fiserv employees who fill out a h ealth risk assessment receive a sizable discount on their monthly health insurance premium. There are also companywide fitness challenges in a recent eight-week walking contest, participants were issued pedometers, and anyone who walked 7,000 steps a day received a prize.Teams have to been known to question whether their rivals really log the number of steps claimed. But that was fine with Linda Schuessler, manager of wellness promotion.As long as theyre engaged, Ms. Schuessler said, we dont really mind those concerns.(this is the copy of the article from NY Times, http//www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/business/yourmoney/22mgmt.html?ex=1186113600&en=ded5f6bb661041b0&ei=5070)Journal AssignmentThe concept at hand is about how managers and company heads would make the most out of their companies by introducing a healthy lifestyle to their employees. It is evident that today, health care costs are so high that rising health insurance premiums would surely be in the way of budgeting for the c ompany (Holland). Obviously, these company heads and managers should not jeopardize the health of their employees, that they should provide the necessary things for their wellness. But surely, this would cost them that it wouldnt be that easy to pull out strings and fix the budget. That is why these managers should resort to a way that would be more cost effective and keep them from harms way of these health care costs.The article discusses how managers and company heads employ human resource management in order to do away with the costly expenses of health care and health insurances that they provide to the employees. But this doesnt mean that they neglect the health of these working people. It is true that these people are very important to the company, that these companies need them in order to be productive, which is why it is important that their every need will be given to them or will be addressed. What these company leaders and managers do is that they make sure that these e mployees are healthy so that they can avert the spending that theyll have to give when any of these gets sick or has health problems. In order not to shoulder the burden of health care and health insurance premiums, they offered to keep them fit in their own ways.In order to do so, these companies offer basically every health guidance and services that they can offer to the employees. These includes educating them regarding nutrition and proper diet, weight management assistance, health risk assessments and checkups, fitness coaching and giving out memberships for fitness groups and health clubs. Through this, the company themselves are able to ensure that their employees are fit and are far from harms way, thus saving them the costs of health care for these people. Thus, the companies budgets will not be greatly affected.If you would relate this approach in human resource management, you could see that this is more on the incentive aspect, wherein you provide your employees somethi ng that would keep them going to work. For those who are concerned with their health and well-being, they would surely grab the opportunity of free health club memberships and nutrition education. This is positive for the company, since the employees themselves are the ones who initiate in keeping themselves healthy. Remember, the main concern of the company in this issue is how they can do away with the extra costs of health care and health insurance premiums for their employees.Regarding the effectiveness of this approach, the article states that there are already several large-scale companies who adopted this system. They have their own health clubs and offer free membership to their employees. They say that these greatly helps them in cutting costs, thus the allotted budget for healthcare would be saved. There are still some who are not that much into health stuffs, people who think that nutrition education is like intruding with their lives. These people are those who would mos t likely have health risks and should be given enough consideration in order to engage them in these health programs.Human resource management surely entails various levels of dealing with the people you are handling. This includes how you handle them, and the ways on how you are able to manage them, making them do what theyre suppose to do. This is where healthcare comes in, wherein their safety and well being is not only their concern, but should also be the companys priority. When their wellness goes down, the company goes down as well, in terms of both manpower and monetary aspects.ReferenceHolland, K. (2007). Wellness Programs Try to Be Welcoming, Too. The New York Times. Published July 22, 2007. Retrieved August 1, 2007, from http//www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/business/yourmoney/22mgmt.html?ex=1186113600&en=ded5f6bb661041b0&ei=5070