Mental health and mental disorder module(psychososial studies Degree) Essay - 1

Mental health and mental disorder module(psychososial studies Degree) - Essay Example The existence of mental disease and the legality of the psychiatric specialization are not universally acknowledged. Depression is the most widespread disease of XX century. During all the past and in present century depression was considered as a normal condition of artistic, creative people. We heard more than once:  «I am in depression, live me along ". Nowadays, depression is a dangerous disease, which causes unfeigned suffering. The diagnosis of depression is not very easy task. The picture of the basic symptoms "is "decorated" with a variety of additional: difficulty to concentrate on any business, the attention "is floating". A known phenomenon "the lights are on but nobodys home" is from this area - it is necessary to re-read the same for thirty times to catch sense at last (is sclerosis a disease?). It is difficult to select word while communicating with other people, the string of conversation is constantly lost; there is a strange indecision, constant doubts even at performance of the most usual tasks. The self-confidence vanishes, it seems, that all the tasks are done wrong; the global feeling of fault may arise before relatives and friends, the person feels like a burden in the family, unnecessary, superfluous at work. His internal monologue sound approximately so: "I am a loser. I have achieved nothing and now full professional bankruptcy is waiting for me†. Both the past and the future are i magined gloomy and pessimistic. The person collects the most unattractive facts of the biography, completely ignoring those moments when he was happy, achieved success. From time to time there is an idea that, perhaps, the simplest way is to leave the life; there is diversified disorder of dream: it is difficult to fall asleep in the evening, general duration is reduced because of often awakenings, and as a result the wakes up at 4-5 oclock in the morning. There is also

Big 4 Writing Samples Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Big 4 Writing Samples - Personal Statement Example My father’s employees were people of very high intelligence and their dedication to work helped my father’s business thrive. The customers that patronize us daily also taught me some lessons about life; my father’s business enjoys a daily influx of customers and while we try to satisfy our customers, I discovered that human needs are insatiable. Working with my father’s employees and trying hard to please our customers was really challenging. These has become my greatest accomplishment as I am well-equipped to deal with problems, no matter the complexity. The challenges I faced with my father’s customers would help me cope with the problems I would have to solve in the Big 4 accounting firms. It would also make my work a lot easier. I believe that I have the necessary skill and experience to join the great team of the Big 4 accounting firms. I am also optimistic that working in the Big 4 accounting firms would help me get to the peak of my career. I am ready to give my best to the Big 4 accounting firms and would also contribute to the growth of the

Contemporary Issues In Health Policy Health And Social Care Essay

Contemporary Issues In Health Policy Health And Social Care Essay Expert knowledge; published research, existing research; stakeholder consultations; previous policy evaluations; the internet; outcomes from consultations; costing of policy options; output from economic and statistical modeling. This essay will explore the ontogenesis of evidence based health policy making whereby according to Buse et al (2005, p.6) health policy is assumed to embrace courses of action (and inaction) that affect the set of institutions, organizations, services and funding arrangements of the health system. The essay will use various case study examples to highlight the roles played by evidence from research, social and bureaucratic point of view. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in 1999 gives advices on the betterment of acceptable health guidelines for prevention and treatment of diseases in England and Wales. The concept of policy making was not well know before as it these days. The two fundamental rationale for the establishment of health policy includes change in the public health policies and the health care policies ( Gray, p.95, 2001). Public health policy refers to improving the physical, social and biological surroundings. Health care policy refers to financial and administrative changes (Gray, p.95, 2001). Recently the policies are established based on evidence which was not the case before. Health policy making used to be more of recommendation or suggestion based in the past. Quantitative research evidence is likely to be more appreciated in delivering health services (Rycroft-Malone et al 2004). The rise of evidence based healthcare took place in the 1990s in such a way that healthcare researchers, professionals and the health system adopted research evidence for research in clinical decision making. This rise was entitled as evidence based healthcare movement (Davidoff et al. 1995; Sackett and Rosenberg 1995). The terminology evidence based policy has emerged from the notion of evidence based practice, both of them being ushered from evidence based medicine (EBM). The origin of EBM extended back to the mid 19th century in Paris (David L. Sackett 1997). EBM is widely used in the United Kingdom and in the United States by policy creators and therapist for promoting health and treating illnesses which signifies that EBM has both informative and scientific role . The development of evidence based healthcare was driven up by research-practice gap which means that it took long time for the effective interventions to come into clinical practice and it also took a long time to discard the interventions which were ineffective (Antman et al 1992). The problems of these interventions were classified as underuse, overuse and misuse by the Institute of Medicine (1999). For patients suffering grom heart attack , thrombolytic treatment for myocardial infarction is used as a treatment which decreases the chances of the patient to get another heart attack and it also decreases the mortality rate (Walshe, 2006, p.480). Since it had an evidence of a decade or more it became the poster child for the EBM movement. Example for overuse : merger of an organization due to difficulties in service quality, volume and monetory viability. Example of underuse : substitution of GPs with health care professionals for providing the basic healthcare treatment. It generall y involves the primary care and accident and emergency departments. Example of misuse : The fosterage and application of total quality management (TQM) (Walshe, 2007, p.481). Development of basis for evidence involves 8 principles (Kelly et al 2007) : Princliple 1: An assurance to the value of equity. Principle 2: Acquiring an evidence based proposal. Principle 3: Variance in technology. Principle 4: Gradients and gaps. Principle 5: Social values and its result. Principle 6 and 7: Social structure and dynamics. Principle 8: Clarifying partiality. The new labour government which was formed in 1997 declared publically that what matters is what works, directing a reform from imaginary or visionary theorization to a more practical and technological approach in which a negligible role would be played by evidence of effect and impact (Cabinet Office 1999). A variety of reports and data were generated by the Cabinet office and National office for evidence in policy making and the centre for Evidence Based Policy and Practice has been supported by Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (Jennifer Dixon, p.481, 2006). For conducting standardized and organized survey of the best evidence on the effects of social and educational policies and practices, The Campbell Collaboration was established (The Campbell Collaboration 2003). In 1997 the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) was established by the government funds and its aim is to assist evidence based decision making in various health sectors( Dixon, p.481, 2006) . Health policy process involves diverse universal bodies like World Health Organization, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (Rob Baggot, p.199, 2007). Health Policy Process also comprises of the nation states and their alliances, the G8 group of nations being eminently prevailing. Health policy is also influenced by a wide range of non-governmental organizations which represents professional and sectional interests as well as take up a position from which they can examine bureaucratic policies and recommend policies of their own (Chris Ham et al 1995). Health policy in the UK is formulated by authorities outside its communal horizon. The three key elements include global influences, international institutions and organizations as well as multinational corporations (Rob Baggot, p.197, 2007). Sackett and colleagues (1996) distinguishes EBM from EBP, and defines EBM as meticulous, accurate and wise application for the care of individual patients using current evidence in decision making whereas EBP is more about policy decisions for a group or bunch of people and not individual patients. In case of EBM randomized control trials are carried out which can raise certain arguments about outcomes, which is not the case with EBP. Black (2001) specifies that EBP in not merely a continuation of EBM but it differs qualitatively. The outcomes for policy generally depends on peoples thinking and judgemental behavior (Sackett et al 1996).There are two types of critical commentary for EBP, the first being internal critical commentary, which focuses on the appropriateness of the diverse range of methods for gathering, analyzing and using evidence as a foundation for recognizing and enhancing policies ( Head n.d.).. The external commentary is the second type of critical commentary which focuses on in what manner and place are the EBP benefaction more effective and the way in which they fit into the broad picture of policy debate and evaluation ( Head n.d.). Morgan (2010) recognizes six factors that forms the base for the growth of evidence based health policy (EBHP). They are as follows : The significance and advantage of having multi-disciplinary unit. The requirement to possess ample evidence substructure to draw upon. The indirect correlation between policy and research. The demand for policy exertion to be locally sensitive. The advantage of stakeholder engrossment. Aid from the national Government. These six factors yields a powerful foundation on which EBHP may be established (Morgan 2010). If these above mentioned factors are not satisfied in evidence based health policy then the consequence may be resistance of policy change. According to Carolyn Tuohy (1999, p.14) reformation occurs at certain favourable times and not others and it involves not only health care arena but also the political system. In addition, Tuohy (1999, p.14) mentions that reformation is influenced by various parameters such as history, series of reform and evidence based choice and two other terms which she outlined as institutional mix and structural balance. She describes institutional mix as the eveness of power between three main forms of social control : state hierarchy or authority based control; professional collegiate institutions or skill based control and market or wealth based control. She refers structural balance as the evenness of power between the three main stakeholders : the state, healthcare professionals and private financial interests. Tuohy argues that reform of healthcare would be different across different countries and would be incremental most likely. Evidence based health care focuses primarily on safety measures, analysis, detection and care of health related problems ( Haynes et al 1998). It is also important as well as necessary that the evidence based policy should be put into practice at the right pace, in the right position and in the right manner ( Haynes et al 1998). The outcome of the policies that are not designed properly or not tested may be detrimental (Tunis et al 2003). The data (i.e. efficacy and effectiveness) obtained for patients treatment is important but is not relevant for policy makers when it is considered for the constitution or implementation of regulations (Sturm et al 2002). Policy makers require evidence about healthcare proposals rather than efficacy and effectiveness data. According to Sturm et al (2002) randomized trials tend to be difficult in acquiring the information because RCT requires vast samples and a large unit, lesser duration would leave negligible time for conducting complex randomized studies and lastly there is a frequent change in the policy and healthcare arena. Ministers and civil servants must be willing to indulge themselves in the result monitoring which channels policy making (Ham, 1999, p.202). The clinicians and managers are not able to seek the evidence based practice because it is difficult to find the correct evidence for assisting decision making. The group of people who have high expectations for high quality evidence includes the clinicians, physicians, health policy makers, common public, patients and health care administrators (Tunis et al 2003). Amongst all of them patients and physicians more concerned for high quality evidence. The patients and physicians are guided by medical professional socities for shaping medical conclusions (Tunis et al 2003). Evans (2005) had analyzed the current reforms for over 11 European countries mentioned in the Journal of Health Policy Politics and Law. Evans (2005) observed that the reforms over the past 50 years were analogous , i.e. variation in the reform but parallel development. There are two apparent aspects of reform. The first aspect being the collection of payments for healthcare either by taxation or by mandatory social insurance which was linked to the World War II. The second aspect was the cost which was drive up by the highly motivated and intelligent opponents like the general practitioners and the pharmaceutical industries (Evans 2005). Nutley et al (2002) points out that a very narrow range of evidence is used by the United Nations in the public sector, precisely for research and statistical data, evaluation of policies and proficient information. According to Maynards (2005) observation the inadequacy of transperancy in describing public policy goals, creating trade-offs and allineating incentives was due to the underpinning of poor evidence of reforms in Europe. Evidence can be graded in terms of effectiveness in the National Service Framework on Mental Health (Department of Health ,1999) Type I evidence at least one good systematic review, including at least one randomised controlled trial. Type II evidence at least one good randomised, controlled trial. Type III evidence at least one well-designed intervention study without randomisation. Type IV evidence at least one well-designed observational study. Type V evidence expert opinion, including the opinion of service users and carers. Subtler strategies would be required by the clinicians to alter their usual procedure as evidence in itself is not adequate (Dopson et al 2002). Systematic reviews of RCTS are carried out in order to overcome inadequate evidence. These RCTs were reinforced by the development of Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care (EPOC) team. Social values and political beliefs plays an important role in the development of evidence based health policy (Kelly et al 2007). A combination of social and political determinants of evidence on health would lead to a powerful response. Social beliefs produce injustice in health amongst the different classes of people. The rich and powerful population has got easy access to health services in comparision to the poor people who die at a younger age (Kelly et al 2005). The description and measurement of social determinants of health is a complex process. The psycho social model suggests that biasness based on the social status of an individual leads to stress which in turn produces a disease because of neuroendocrine response (Karasek 1996; Siegrist and Marmot, 2004; Evans and Stoddart 2003; Goldberg et al 2003). Environmental factors, proper sanitation and pure water, balanced diet, vaccination and good housing are essential for improving health (Graham et al 2004). Apart from socia l values and political belief situational factors like an earthquake or draught or some epidemic are also responsible for processing and implementation of policies (Buse et al 2005). Case Studies : Case Study 1 : Topic: European union policy on smokeless tobacco : a statement in favour of evidence based regulation for public health (Bates et al 2003). The significant aim of tobacco control campaigning is reduction of ailment and death from malignancy, cardiovascular disease and lung disease. Bates et al (2005) case study is about the ill effects due to tobacco and substitution of tobacco by smokeless tobacco. Tobacco contains an addictive substance called nicotine and because of nicotines addictive property many users are not able to quit smoking. Smokeless tobacco is considered to be les injurious as compared to smoking cigarette and there was a proof from Sweden which implies that it is used as a replacement for smoking and smoking cessation. This substitution is substantial argument which depicts that Sweden has the least tobacco related diseases. It is difficult for chain smokers to quit smoking but an alternate option to it could be meagrely dangerous forms of nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) may also reduce harm. Proofs from Sweden implies that snus can be used as a replacement against smoking and it has half mortality rate in comparision to other EU. Chewing tobacco like guthka and paan are officially forbided in the EU but is eminently lethal and Bates et al (2003) suggestion might eradicate more products from the market. In the entire Europe, Sweden ranks least smoking prevalence for male and female. Snus is 90% less injurious as compared to cigarette and the mortality rate can be declined if we use it in a limited manner. Smokeless tobacco is also harmful but to a lesser extent as compared to tobacco. For eg, the products made of smokeless tobacco in India and USA leads to oral cancer. In india the prime reason for oral cancer is smokeless tobacco. Diseases related to deaths in Europe due to smoking includes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung disease. However, smokeless tobacco do not produce these above mentioned diseases. A complete ban on the products that are least injurious forms of smokeless tobacco should be substituted by a regulation for all products that are smokeless instead and the products that are seriously harmful to the society should be eliminated. This policy is fair, rational, beneficial for chain smokers, self control might be developed amongst the smokers, toxicity controls would be applied and it might prove to be beneficial worldwide. Case Study 2: Topic: Translating research into maternal health care policy: a qualitative case study of the use of evidence in policies for the treatment of eclampsia and pre-eclampsia in South Africa: (Daniels et al 2008). Deaths of pregnant women and infants due to eclampsia and pre-eclampsia is one of the prime concern of the society. A qualitative case study approach was used in South Africa for analyzing the policy procedure. This case study explores about the usage of magnesium sulphate in curing pre-eclampsia and eclampsia in South Africa from 1970 to 2005 for which RCTs and systematic analysis were carried out. Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia are one of the prime reasons for maternal and infant morbidity and mortality universally and this is the case generally in developing countries. South Africa did not have a national maternal care policy before 1994 and hence every institution had its own guidelines for treating eclampsia and pre-eclampsia. In the mid 1990s the democratic government changed and various health policy reforms took place which resulted in the formation of new national policies for maternal care. These policies were evidence based and evidence was generated from RCTs and systematic reviews. The new government identified the health of females and children as a first concern and gave greater importance to it. The new government engaged academics in policy making from local networks in the National Department of Health. The local academics had much more understanding of evidence based practice and they used their strategies for policy process. The research identifies that affiliation amidst knowledge generation and application is critical thus research in healthcare policy making is also converted into an attempt to study. If pregnant females are suffering from hypertension it may lead to her death. Hypertension was regarded to be the main cause of death for females in 1998. Evidence was generated from research by doing two multi-center RCTs and three systematic reviews which shows that magnesium sulphate is effective in curing eclampsia and pre-eclampsia. Garner et al elucidates that in 1995 a survey was carried out which shows that magnesium sulphate was the most promising drug in curing eclampsia. This study thus uses evidence from research for developing guidelines and policies for maternal health. Case study 3: Topic: The impact of Chinas retail drug price control policy on hospital expenditures: a case study in two Shandong hospitals(Meng et al 2005). This is a retrospective case study which deals with the cost reduction of retail drugs and medicines in two Shandong hospitals in China. For the past two decades the pharmaceutical expenditure in China is found to be more than the overall economic growth (Wei 1999). Pharmaceuticals contributed to about 44.4% of the total health cost in 2001 in China. Hence the Chinese government adopted a systematic approach in cutting down the costs of retail drugs. In order to bring a change in the retail costs of drugs the financial data and records were viewed and analyzed. For the examination of the changes in the cost tracer condition approach was used and cerebral infarction was the health issue. About 104 and 109 cases of cerebral infarction were selected from the two hospitals prior to reform as well as after reform. The usage of drug was measured on the basis of prescribed daily dose (PDD). The usage of the drug after reform can be viewed from the literature of the hospital. But it was obse rved that even after implementing the pricing policy in the two hospitals the usage of drugs increased rapidly. In the provincial hospital there was a significant decrease in drug utilization whereas in municipal hospital there was a drastic increment of 50.1% even after reform. The provincial and municipal hospitals spent about 19.5% and 46.5% of the expenditure respectively on the top 15 drugs for treating cerebral infarction whose costs have been decided by the government and this took place after reformation. Allopathic drugs accounted for about 65% and 41% in the provincial and municipal hospitals respectively, though it did not had sufficient evidence for safety and efficacy in treating cerebral infarction. The Chinese government brought about a change in its policies for drug pricing after 2002 so that a control over the pharmaceutical expenditure could be made. In order to overcome the conflicts in pharmacy settings, countries such as Sweden approached direct salary compensation of the pharmacists. The drugs which came under the category of Urban Health Insurance Scheme were set up by the State Commission of Development and Planning. Policy makers have made a number of efforts in order to reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals. Various initiatives taken by the policy makers include preparation of a drug list, sharing costs for various schemes on health insurance, monitoring the GDP of hospitals and marking up regulations. The drug list includes two types of drug: Part A and Part B. Central government decides the cost of drugs for Part A and Part B but Part A drugs are generally used by the retailers whereas Part B drugs are used by the provincial government. Utilization of the drug along with the price determines the drug expenditure hence there should be rational usage of drugs and the prescribers should use various strategies for controlling drug expenditure. Conclusion : According to Walt (1994, p.1) since health policy is about power and processà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. It is concerned with who influences whom in the making of policy and how that happens. Health policy is all about decision making, consistent approach, expertise knowledge and positive action and it is emanated by senior officials, directors, ministers and government bodies. Evidence based policy stimulates a crystal clear and parallel application of evidence in health policy framework. Policy making is influenced by various social values and political belief like racial minority, holy belief, statistical features, unhealthy conditions and contagious diseases. Evidence based healthcare movement brought about a drastic change in the 1990s for the development of health protocols. Scientific research or RCTs play a key role in the development of EBP making. Incorporation of the contemporary nonpareil evidence would decline the hindrance between the creation of evidence and its appliance, and there would be an increment in the bulk of patients to whom the best treatment is offered. Bates case study is more of social belief because the public should co-operate with the health professionals to quit smoking. Even though he replaced tobacco by smokeless tobacco, it is still harmful to health. From the above mentioned case studies it can be observed that not all the health policies are implemented because of issues related to the government or the common public. Policy makers in the earlier period were not aware of the health protocols in depth as they are today and this awareness among the policy makers is brought by reformation in the public health protocols and the healthcare protocols. The support and approval from the government is mandatory for the implementation of the policy which indicates that political support plays more important role than the social support in developing policy.

Camera Phones and Invasion of Privacy Essay -- Exploratory Essays Rese

Camera Phones and Invasion of Privacy    â€Å"New technology has†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.placed all of us in an electronic fishbowl in which our habits, tastes and activities are watched and recorded.† as told by Simson Garfinkel (Ojeda). In the 21st century it is easy to awe people with new technology. Take two popular gadgets, merge them into a single point-and-click device, and then watch the world go nuts over it. This is a fact that will never change. Technology in this world is growing every day and there are products being discovered every moment to satisfy the needs of the consumer or make their living more luxurious. Camera mobile phones are only a recent invention but they sure have the world going gaga over them already. Technology threatens privacy, but who doesn’t like technology? The teenagers of this generation are crazy behind new technologies of any kind such as a good music system for their rooms or good mobile phones with many features. Any such products within their reach will be in their hands in no time. All of these things are good, but in a way they are dangerous and threaten privacy. For instance if we do have a music system with a lot of wattage pumping out of it, the neighbor will surely come running after you because it threatens his or her privacy. In the same way, the mobile phones also have so many features; that some or the other feature might not be safe to use for the privacy of the public like a phone with an integrated digital camera. Although concept of introducing a digital camera in a mobile phone is a recent discovery, people today enjoy the luxury of this concept day in and day out all over the world. It may seem that a camera phone would be no different than having a cell phone and a camera, but in truth, ... ... crackdown on camera phones.† BBC News. 20 July 2004. 16 November 2004 . * Batista, Elisa.   â€Å"New Privacy Menace: Cell Phones?† Wired News. 17 February 2003.   16 November 2004 .   * Belson, Ken. â€Å"When Etiquette Isn't Enough, a Cell phone Cone of Silence.† New York Times. 7 November 2004:page 2. Week In Review Desk.   * Hamilton, Anita. â€Å"CAMERA PHONES.† Time. 2003. 16 November 2004 .   * Harvey, Fiona. â€Å"Camera Phones, Privacy Concerns Not Clicking.† Los Angeles Times. 3 November 2003:A19. Business. * Napolitano, Jo. â€Å" Hold It Right There, And Drop That Camera.† New York Times. 11 December 2003:Circuits.   * Ojeda, Auriana. Civil Liberties Text. Green heaven Press, 2004.

Research Methods in Psychology Essay

The purpose of the sections of a research article should start with a title, author, and contact information. The Abstract is next; this is a summary of the article. The summary provides an general idea of the article, which is helpful to establish if the article is significant to the reader’s investigation. An abstract will usually follow a regular format like APA or something that is similar. The author or authors in brief state why the research article is significant, the methodology, results, and concluding proclamation regarding the results. The Introduction would be how the authors explain the underlying principle for the study by illustrating what research has been completed in the past. A literature review supplies the reader with a outline of other research associated with the article topic, along with addressing questions that are unanswered or investigative need more research. Many questions are also introduced within the introduction, and hypotheses results are declared. Next are the Methods or methodology section. In this section the author or authors summarize how the research was performed. For example, sample, size, and a description of participants. This section will also show how participants were chosen for the study, what was measured and how, along with an explanation of how the data was evaluated. The next section consists of the results. The author or authors will show the research results along with any statistical analyses. Example can be tables, charts, and figures, along with a printed clarification. The Discussion section is the author or author’s explanation and understanding of the results in addition to an explanation of unforeseen results. Finally the conclusion and summary in many if not all articles will explain what the author or authors found and connect it back to the existing literature. Authors can recommend directions for potential research in the conclusion along with referencing back. The references is the last section of an article an lists the publications the authors have cited wthin the research article. References can help the reader critic the validity of the article and can learn more regarding the research topic (Cozby, 2009). What are the steps to critically evaluate research articles and how does the scientific method help you to do this? To critically evaluate research articles the research in the article must be clear in informing the reader of its aims. Terms should be clearly defined, even more so if they’re new or used in specific non-spread ways. You as a reader should pay particular attention should to errors in logic, especially those regarding causation, relationship or association. â€Å"A background in research methods will help to read these reports critically, evaluate the methods employed, and decide whether the conclusions are reasonable† (Cozby, 2009, p. 2). What is the importance of research in behavioral sciences? Today and in the past psychologists and many other professionals use observation to calculate human behavior to better understand psychological and biological processes, motivations, and individual personality traits. Human behavior may be understood through applied and academic science. Using the scientific method is necessary for statistical psychology. According to our text, the importance of research in behavioral science can be the description of the behavior, the prediction of behavior, determining causes of behavior, and understanding or explanation of behavior (Cozby, 2009, p. ). What is the relationship between applied research and basic research? Provide an example, from your selected studies, of how each contributes to the body of knowledge. Psychology became an actual science around the late 19th century, because of the interest of human behavior. Basic research attempts to answer essential inquires regarding the who what were when and why of behaviors. â€Å"phenomena such as cognition, emotion, motivation, learning, psychobiology, personality development, and social behavior† (Cozby, 2009, p. 0). An example article regarding a basic research article can be; â€Å"Artifactual seven-day cycles in spontaneous activity in wild rodents and squirrel monkeys† (Richter, 1976). This article determines the basic processes of activity in behavior and cognition of the mammals within the article. With applied research, this research is â€Å"conducted to address issues in which there are practical problems and potential solutions†(Cozby, 2009, p. 10). Applied research is any kinds of fact assembly assignment or ob that is performed with observing and applying the information found and will concentrate on a specific issue. Applied research can sometimes be simple and sometimes can be complex. An example of an applied research article can be as follows; Making things happen through challenging goals: Leader proactively, trust, and business-unit performance. This is considered an applied research article because it is focused on a specific issue or analogy which is; â€Å"proactive senior managers establish more challenging goals for their business† (Crossley, Cooper, & Wernsing, 2013, p. ). What ethical issues can you identify in the selected articles? How were the issues addressed or neglected? Both articles above did not have any ethical issues. Both did not harm anyone or any animals. Both articles above did not deceive anyone or any animal. Both had legal authority approval. However, as voluntariness, subjects within the wild rodent article could not volunteer because they do not have that option. The participants in the â€Å"Making things happen through challenging goals† article did have the volunteer option. Both articles did not comprise of plagiarism or misleading authorship. All data provided correct and up to date references and proper publication; this was provided at the end. Example of puplication: This publication is protected by US and international copyright laws and its content may not be copied without the copyright holders express written permission except for the print or download capabilities of the retrieval software used for access. This content is intended solely for the use of the individual user. Source: Journal of Applied Psychology. Vol. 98 (3) US : American Psychological Association pp. 540-549. Accession Number: 2013-03482-001 Digital Object Identifier: 10. 1037/a0031807 (Crossley, Cooper, & Wernsing, 2013). Identify three possible research topics that you might want to explore further as you go through this course.

Difference between memory and knowledge Essay

Memory is the mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experience. It’s a very complex system and to understand it there have been many theories that attempt to explain it. In order to help me answer this question, I will look at the theorist JM Gardiner, along with other theorists such as Tulving, Mandler and Schacter in order to help me conclude if they are the same thing, inter-related or completely different. Tulving (1985), distinguished between two quite different recollective experiences: remembering, which is someone’s concrete awareness of oneself (autonoetic consciousness) in the past, which is driven by the prefrontal cortex, allows people to mentally represent past, present, and future experiences in a highly personal and subjective manner. And knowing, which is your abstract knowledge (noetic consciousness) of the past, which is the feeling that we know certain information and that the information is objective rather than subjective. Gardiner and colleagues (Gardiner & Java, 1990, 1993; Gardiner, Richardson-Klavhen, & Ramponi, 1997) developed a test in which participants are given a recognition task for a list of common words viewed earlier and classify each of the recognized items as something they remember (R response) or know (K response), was on the study list. Participants received detailed instructions so that their R responses and K responses reflect retrieval from episodic and semantic memory. For example, participants are told to make R responses to test items that they can consciously reexperience from the study list (e.g., participants make R responses to test items because in their mind’s eye, they consciously recollect seeing those words on the study list). In contrast, participants are told to make K responses to test items if they (a) are certain those were on the study list but (b) have no specific personal or contextual recollection of the items’ previous presentation. The use of this technique has shown that some independent variables (e.g., dividing attention at study) affect the frequency of R, but not K, responses, whereas other variables have the exact opposite influence. Memory of a personal life event may be categorized as a K response, which is  relatively impersonal and objective. A memory qualifies as a K response if people know a great deal about the details of a previous event but do not mentally reexperience the exact perceptual, contextual, and emotional details of the original event. Gardiner’s remember-know distinction maps are similar to that of Mandler’s (1980) distinction between recognition by retrieval and recognition by familiarity. Recognition by retrieval involves remembering an event as an event, including the personal, time and place context in which the event occurred; in contrast, recognition by familiarity involves a feeling that some event occurred in the past, in the absence of conscious recollection of that event. For Gardiner, Remember judgments reflect recognition by retrieval, while Know judgments reflect recognition by familiarity. An alternative framework is provided by Schacter’s (1987) distinction between explicit and implicit memory. The hippocampus is important in the formation of explicit memories. They involve the conscious recollection of an experience from the past. Due to the hippocampus not fully developing until about the age of 3, this explains why we can’t remember events prior to this, a condition known as infantile amnesia. The cerebellum seems important in the formation of implicit memories which are memory-based changes in behaviour that occur independent of, and in the classic case in the absence of, conscious recollection. Contexual information can be defined as information associated with memory which enables that memory to be distinguished from all others. Hewitt (1973) proposed a distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic context. A change in intinsic arises when some aspect of the target changes (ie the colour of their hair), whereas a change in extrinsic is the change in information accompanying the target (ie meeting someone in somewhere you wouldn’t expect them to be). In Gardiner’s case, remembering reflects explicit memory, while knowing reflects implicit memory. There are at least three varieties of recollective experience: firstly remembering which involves the conscious recollection of some past event, as an explicit expression of episodic memory; knowing which is the abstract  knowledge of that event, as an item in semantic memory; and feeling is the intuition that an event occurred in the past, as an implicit expression of episodic memory. So for example, semantic memory enables a man to know what the term birthday refers to and that he celebrated his last birthday by having dinner at a particular restaurant with his wife, whereas episodic memory allows that same man to reexperience from a personal and subjective point of view the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings that accompanied that dinner. Metamemory is our ability to know whether or not our memories contain a particular piece of information. An example might be failing to recall the capital of France (Paris) but knowing that you would recognise it if you saw it – this is an ability known as a feeling of knowing. These experiences are familiar to anyone who has ever taken a multiple-choice test. Sometimes, we choose a response because we remember the circumstances under which we learnt it. Or on other occasions, we choose a response because we just know the answer, it’s part of our knowledge about the world, and we don’t remember the circumstances under which we learned the answer. Tulving and Gardiner believe that remember and know judgments are based on retrieval from different memory systems: episodic and semantic memory, perhaps, or explicit and implicit memory. However, it could also be that â€Å"remember† and â€Å"know† are based on retrieval from a single memory system, and that the categories of remember, know, and so forth are substitutes for different levels of confidence associated with the recognition judgments. Both Tulving (1985) and Gardiner (1988) have rejected this interpretation, even though Tulving actually gathered evidence favouring it. Tulving’s subjects studied 36 words, and then made Yes/No recognition judgments, confidence ratings (on a 3 point scale), and Remember/Know ratings. The average confidence rating associated with Remember judgments was 2.74, while that of Know judgments was 2.08. However, Gardiner & Java (1990) argued that confidence ratings affect Remember/Know judgments. People may base their confidence ratings on their recollective experience, so that the two are not independent. In their 2nd  experiment, the subjects studied 60 items, 30 words and 30 non words, and then made Yes/No recognition judgments followed by Remember/Know ratings. The result was a double dissociation: more words received remember than know judgments, while the reverse was true for nonwords. In the 3rd experiment which was identical to the 2nd, except the people being tested classified recognized items into â€Å"Sure† and â€Å"Unsure† categories. This time there was no dissociation. Rajaram (1993) performed a similar pair of experiments, with similar results, and came to same conclusion. Substituting Sure/Unsure ratings for Remember/Know judgments got rid of the dissociations observed with Remember/Know, so both Gardiner and Java (1990) and Rajaram (1993) conclude that Remember/Know is not merely a substitute for confidence. Although the Remember/Know distinction is commonly interpreted in terms of different memory systems, it is suspected instead that these different memories reflect retrieval of different information from a single common store. Know judgments require retrieval only of information from a list, while remember judgments seem to require retrieval of information about spatiotemporal context, and you need to experience the event yourself. Knowing and remembering something are very similar, the definition of to know is to have fixed in the mind, recognize and have experience of, and the definition of remember is to retain in memory, to think of again. In order to know something it can be quite impersonal, general information about things such as the is the prime minister, this is the semantic memory, however in order to remember something you need to know specific details about the event such as going on holiday, you remember the sights and sounds and the feelings you experienced, this is the episodic memory. In order to remember you need to be able to retrieve information, remember an event as an event, whereas to know you need to just be familiar with it, have a feeling that some event may have occurred before. So to say there is a difference between knowing and remembering something is hard, there are clear cut differences as explained, however without one we couldn’t have the other, they are inter-related. It is all the same memory system in which we use to know or to remember something. It is the different  processes and different levels of experience or relation to you that makes them different. References †¢Gardiner, J.M., & Java, R.I. (1990). Recollective experience in word and nonword recognition. Memory & Cognition, 18, 23-30. †¢Memory and amnesia, 2nd edition, Alan J Parker, page 17-18,33, 36,116†¢Memory observed, remembering in natural contexts, 2nd edition, Ulric Neisser, Ira E. Hayman, jr. Page 109†¢Psychology powerpoint – Memory II – Lecture 3: Theories of Short and Long Term Memory, 2005, University of Glamorgan. †¢Rybash, John M.; Monaghan, Brynn E, Episodic and semantic contributions to older adults’ autobiographical recall, The Journal of General Psychology. 126 no1 (Jan. ’99) p. 85-96. †¢Schacter, D.L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 501-518. †¢Tulving, E. (1972). Episodic and semantic memory. In E. Tulving & W. Donaldson (Eds.), Organization of memory (pp. 381-403). New York: Academic Press. †¢Tulving, E. (1985). Memory and consciousness. Canadian Psychology, 1-12. †¢Your Memory A user’s guide, Alan Baddeley, Page 13, 75-76,81,94-95,

Learn About Sunspots, the Suns Cool, Dark Regions

Learn About Sunspots, the Sun's Cool, Dark Regions When you look at the Sun  you see a bright object in the sky. Because its not safe to look directly at the Sun without good eye protection, its difficult to study our star.  However, astronomers use special telescopes and spacecraft to learn more about the Sun and its continual activity. We know today that the Sun is a multi-layered object with a nuclear fusion furnace at its core. Its surface,  called the photosphere, appears smooth and perfect to most observers. However, a closer look at the surface reveals an active place unlike anything we experience on Earth. One of the key, defining features of the surface is the occasional presence of sunspots. What are Sunspots? Beneath the Suns photosphere lies a complex mess of plasma currents, magnetic fields and thermal channels. Over time, the rotation of the Sun causes the magnetic fields to become twisted, which interrupts the flow of thermal energy to and from the surface.  The twisted magnetic field can sometimes pierce through the surface, creating an arc of plasma, called a prominence, or a solar flare. Any place on the Sun where the magnetic fields emerge has less heat flowing to the surface. That creates a  relatively cool spot (roughly 4,500 kelvin instead of the hotter 6,000 kelvin) on the photosphere.  This cool spot appears dark compared to the surrounding inferno that is the Suns surface. Such black dots of cooler regions are what we call sunspots. How Often Do Sunspots Occur? The appearance of sunspots is entirely due to the war between the twisting magnetic fields and plasma currents beneath the photosphere. So,  the regularity of sunspots depends on how twisted the magnetic field has become (which is also tied to how quickly or slowly the plasma currents are moving). While the exact specifics are still being investigated, it seems that these subsurface interactions have a historical trend.The Sun appears to go through a solar cycle about every 11 years or so. (Its actually more like 22 years, as each 11-year cycle causes the magnetic poles of the Sun to flip, so it takes two cycles to get things back to the way they  were.) As part of this cycle,  the field becomes more twisted, leading to more sunspots. Eventually these twisted magnetic fields get so tied up and generate so much heat that the field eventually snaps, like a twisted rubber band. That unleashes a huge amount of energy in a solar flare. Sometimes, theres an outburst of plasma from the Sun, which is called a coronal mass ejection. These dont happen all the time on the Sun, although they are frequent. They increase in frequency every 11 years, and the peak activity is called solar maximum. Nanoflares and Sunspots Recently solar physicists (the scientists who study the Sun), found that there are many very tiny flares erupting as part of solar activity. They dubbed these nanoflares, and they happen all the time. Their heat is what is essentially responsible for the very high temperatures in the solar corona (the outer atmosphere of the Sun).   Once the magnetic field is unraveled, the activity drops again, leading to solar minimum. There have also been periods in history where solar activity has dropped for an extended period of time, effectively staying to solar minimum for years or decades at a time. A 70-year span from 1645 to 1715, known as the Maunder minimum, is one such example. It is thought to be correlated with a drop in average temperature experienced across Europe. This has come to be known as the little ice age. Solar observers have noticed another slowdown of activity during the most recent solar cycle, which raises questions about these variations in the Suns long-term behavior.   Sunspots and Space Weather Solar activity such as flares and coronal mass ejections send huge clouds of ionized plasma (superheated gases) out to space. When these magnetized clouds reach the magnetic field of a planet, they slam into that worlds upper atmosphere and cause disturbances. This is called space weather. On Earth, we see the effects of space weather in the auroral borealis and aurora australis (northern and southern lights). This activity has other effects: on our weather, our power grids, communication grids,and other technology we rely on in our daily lives. Space weather and sunspots are all part of living near a star.   Edited by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Awakenings essays

Awakenings essays The movie starts in the 1920s. There is a young boy named Leonard Lowe. He is a very smart boy who always gets good grades and he loves to read. He suddenly starts having a slip in his behavior and his schoolwork gets worse. This is because he contracted the disease encephalitis. The next scene is modern times for them, and takes place in the Bronx, in 1969. It takes place in a mental hospital where a man named Dr. Sawyer is looking for a job. He used to be a research doctor and now is going to work in this mental hospital, even though this is not his area of work. Dr. Sawyer really cares for the patients, and most of them have encephalitis, which is a disease, contracted from mosquitoes that put the patient in a catatonic state. That means they are in an unconscious state, but the heart works, but there is not any movement. Only certain things will bring out a reaction in these people. For instance, Dr. Sawyer can throw a ball at them and they react by catching the ball. When the ball comes they stick out their arm and catch it, but once the ball is caught, their arms stay in that position. One of the patients is Leonard. Dr. Sawyer takes a liking to him. He notices that a certain stimuli can bring forth a small reaction in the patients. If a person is being fed, and they play a piece of music that he likes, he will start eating on his own, but that is all he will do, nothing else. A drug called LDopa is introduced to the market. LDopa is a drug originally for Parkinsons Disease. Dr Sawyer thinks that this drug could help cure the patients. He takes it to the board and they let him try the drug on only one patient, not all of them like he originally wanted. He chose Leonard to take the experimental drug. He gave him a small dosage. He mixes it in with some orange juice, but it doesnt do anything for him. They then up the dosage and mix it with milk, because they thought maybe the oran...

10 Websites and Blogs of Punctuation Protectors

10 Websites and Blogs of Punctuation Protectors 10 Websites and Blogs of Punctuation Protectors 10 Websites and Blogs of Punctuation Protectors By Mark Nichol In honor of National Punctuation Day, commemorated on September 24 (you didn’t forget, did you?), here’s a directory of Web sites documenting, usually with photographs, egregious punctuation errors. First, by the way, note that the founder of National Punctuation Day, a freelance business-newsletter writer named Jeff Rubin, sponsors a Punctuation Paragraph Contest. The only rule is that you must write one paragraph, maximum of three sentences, using these punctuation marks: apostrophe, brackets, colon, comma, dash, ellipsis, exclamation point, hyphen, parentheses, period, question mark, quotation mark, and semicolon. (You may use a punctuation mark more than once.) Send your entry to the email address at Rubin’s Web site by September 30, 2011. 1. Apostrophe Abuse Tagline: Links and visuals illustrating an orthographic pet peeve. 2. Apostrophe Catastrophes Tagline: The Worlds’ Worst. Punctuation; 3. The Apostrophe Protection Society Tagline: Examples of misuse of the apostrophe as seen by you! 4. The â€Å"Blog† of â€Å"Unnecessary† Quotation Marks Tagline: none 5. English Fail Blog Tagline: Public Butcherings of the English Language 6. The Gallery Of â€Å"Misused† Quotation Marks Tagline: none 7.GrammarBlog Tagline: Mocking poor grammar since 2007 8. The Grammar Vandal Tagline: Taking it to the streets and correcting America, one comma at a time. 9. The Great Typo Hunt Tagline: none 10. Wordsplosion Tagline: Showcasing the best of the worst of the wide world of words Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Signs and Symbols You Should Know"Owing to" vs "Due to"Ebook, eBook, ebook or e-book?

Research ethics and nature of practitioner research Literature review

Research ethics and nature of practitioner research - Literature review Example Even so, it has only been until recent that, in education, teachers began benefitting from the practice. Practitioner research has been employed as a means of bridging the gap between practices and theory. There have been the urges for teachers to cultivate action research as a way of improving education, as well as reconstructing knowledge (Berker 103). Other areas of practice have also not been left behind, all targeting to add to existing information, as well as bridging the gap between theory and practice. Various debates pertaining to practitioner research have emerged. As such, there have been deliberations pertaining to the real nature of practitioner research, as well as its values, qualities and the underlying activities. This paper explores the nature of practitioner research. Besides, ethical codes of conduct have been one of the areas that can not be overlooked as far as the efficacy of practitioner research is concerned. Putting this into consideration, this paper explor es various issues pertaining to ethics, in relation to practitioner research. Ethics and practitioner Research Ethics are about actions people or members of certain community should undertake. There is a close relationship between ethics and morality. Thus, a practitioner who behaves in a manner that is moral can be said to uphold ethics For instance, journalists who tell the truth would be said to be ethical. In the same way, soldiers ought to be courageous and a research practitioner should stick to ethics of research (Pewro 56). Ethics are also a set of desirable feature that an organization needs its members to uphold. Despite the fact that fact that ethics have often been associated with mannerism or etiquette, the two terms are not the same. In this regard, codes of ethics should not incline on areas such as a mode of dressing, as well as politeness of the research practitioners. Additionally, there is no association between aesthetics and ethics. Parallels can only be drawn b etween morality and ethics. Thus, ethical codes of conduct are based on principles of morality. Nevertheless, it also encompasses what is desirable. For instance, a mechanical engineer may insist on certain wheels because he is concerned about upholding safety. Research practitioners may insist on certain approaches because of reliability. Clearly, such may be beyond the stipulations of moral principles, as well as the law (Ayres and Braithwaite 23). Sanctions should only be applied in relation to minimum standards (morality), rather than the expected ideals (ethics). The perception that ethical codes of conduct are rules that delineate actions that are supposed to be carried out is not comprehensive. More often than not, ethics allude to virtues, such as those pertaining to integrity, and condemn vices such as those associated with dishonesty. In addition, codes of conduct ought to touch on attitudes such as empathy and sympathy (Bless 34). In all these cases, ethos and the culture of organization, society or community are what influence the ethical code of conduct. Culture can be viewed as attitudes of people towards certain subjects, people or actions. The subject of ethic is often inclined on culture; thus, any approach pertaining to ethics and ethical code of conduct should put into consideration various cultural aspects. In this regard, the ethical codes of

Analytical essay on debate and conflict between federalists and anti

Analytical on debate and conflict between federalists and anti federalists - Essay Example Those opposed to the constitution, the Anti-Federalists which included John Hancock, Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams, also wrote a series of arguments now known as the Anti-Federalist papers. They feared the potential powers of centralized federal government dominating the will of the states. The Federalists gave assurances that this was not their intention; that they were not trying to create a tyrannical governing system much like the one in Britain which the colonies had just fought a war to escape. This is how the Bill of Rights was formed. It was a compromise forged between the two conflicting viewpoints. The terms describing these differing opinions is somewhat misleading. Federalists are better defined as Nationalists because they supported a powerful federal government. The Anti-Federalists could be more accurately described as federalists because they preferred the government be a federation of autonomous states. This discussion examines the perspective of both Federalists an d Anti-Federalists, how they reached a compromise after two years of heated debate and the reasons why one was ultimately the better choice. The Federalist Papers conveyed the shortcomings of the loosely confederated union between the states that existed at the time and the benefits of unifying the states into an effective central government. The Federalists, being wealthy land and business owners, believed that a strong centralized federal government operated by learned, influential persons would encourage commerce which was to their own and the country’s benefit. In the second of the Federalist Papers, John Jay enumerated this motive first over all other reasons to unite the states by enacting a constitution. â€Å"It has until lately been a received and uncontradicted opinion that the prosperity of the people of America depended on their continuing firmly united, and the wishes, prayers, and efforts of our best and wisest citizens have been constantly

A Male from Saudi Arabia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A Male from Saudi Arabia - Essay Example In effect, I have decided to become effective in learning the language through writing. In this case, writing will not only help me in the pronunciation of the words, but it will also help me improve my grammar. As a writer, one strength area is in my choice of words during the process of writing. In this case, I ensure clarity in work and avoid wordiness, which is requisite for a good writer since it helps me avoid clichà ©s. On the other hand, my main weakness area lies in the area of evaluating the information to include in my writing. In this case, deciding on which information will help support my thesis statement proves to be a challenge although I am improving on this weakness through research. On the other hand, my approach to writing involves the handling of all writing as a process of creative work that requires time to complete the work and the provision of feedback from an instructor in order to avoid similar mistakes in the future. Finally, I like writing since I am able to learn a lot due to the process of research involved when developing the

Discuss the offences and punishments arising out of Military Service Essay

Discuss the offences and punishments arising out of Military Service in Malta - Essay Example force’s and friendly aircrafts or when commanded to carry out operations in the air but fails to do so effectively shall be liable to life sentences or any other punishment provided by the Forces Act. However, if such intentional acts can not be proved, the individual may be convicted and imprisoned or given lesser penalties (Laws of Malta, 2003). Communication with the enemy and any such dangerous disclosures through intentional and unauthorized issuance of intelligence to enemies faces up to a life sentence or any other punishment in the act. ... In addition, a soldier becoming a prisoner of war through disobedience or willful neglect of duty or failing to take opportunity to rejoin forces or preventing/ discouraging other prisoners of war from taking steps to return to forces shall be open to imprisonment or any less punishment in this act (Malta, 1988). Offences regarding sentries or guards on duty (that is, one posted to patrol or is a member of a guard/ other party on patrol for purposes of preventing/ controlling access to or egress from any premises or of regulatory traffic), included drunkenness, sleeping at post or leaving assigned post. If anyone under military law uses force against such a guard on duty to achieve an objective shall be guilty against the said article. However, if offence is committed when one is not on active duty, he/ she must not be imprisoned fro more than two years. Looting offences included stealing from or the intent to steal from person wounded or killed in military operations or any property left exposed and unprotected after operations or anything left behind by the enemy with punishments ranging from imprisonment or any less punishment in the act. Mutiny by persons subject to military law by inciting another person or is themselves involved in threats of use of violence in order to avoid military duty is punishable on conviction for up to a life sentence or any other less punishment in the act. It involves the participation of at least two persons subject to military law to overthrow or resist authority, hamper conduction of military duty or to disobey authority in any way that causes deterioration of discipline in the forces. Failure to suppress, report without hesitation or prevent perceived

Development of Management and Education in Nursing Practice Dissertation

Development of Management and Education in Nursing Practice - Dissertation Example Two specialised assignments afforded me such opportunities. The first involved preparing and delivering a Teaching Session to my peers on a topic of clinical interest that related to my work at the trust. After the session I analysed both the content and the process of the Teaching Session. The second assignment involved interviewing a Lead Health Professional in an area related to the topic of the Teaching Session. Afterwards I assessed and reviewed the interview as a function of local and national health care policies such as Clinical Governance and for the subject matter discussed. The topic of both my Teaching Session and the interview with the Lead Health Professional related to controlling the transmission of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). MRSA infection and control is a significant public health threat in the UK, a topic of which students should be aware, and one about which senior leaders have much to say. I became interested in the topic during my placement at a trust in London. Since then have maintained a keen eye for mention of it in the media and, as discussed in Part II of the Portfolio, have decided to take action to try to get my trust to implement one of the particularly significant MRSA control programmes. The Portfolio is divided into two parts, plus Appendices. Each part is a comprehensive assessment and analytic essay, complete with a References section with more than 15 references per essay.For ease of evaluation, the References for Part One immediately follow the essay for Part One., rather than being presented in a consolidated reference section at the end of the entire portfolio as in standard for essays and research projects. The Portfolio's two parts, Summary, and Appendices include: Part One - Evaluation of a Teaching Session Part Two - Assessment of an Interview with a Lead Health Professional Portfolio Summary Appendix A - Interview Record Appendix B - Notes and Details of the Interview with the Secretary General of the Royal College of Nursing As evidenced in each essay individually, and my summary comments, the Portfolio project had a significant impact on my perception of nursing, and of myself as a nurse. Fortunately, it was all positive and certainly helped me grow. Part One - Reflections on a Teaching Session The Teaching Session provided me an opportunity both to teach and to learn. Although I was the teacher as I presented the material to the students, I also learned a lot, about teaching, about my chosen topic, and about myself as I took on a previously unfamiliar role. This essay, a critical reflection on the many aspects of the Teaching Session experience, is divided into seven parts: Rationale Planning Preparation Delivery Evaluation/Feedback Action Plan for the Future Whilst I thing the Teaching Session went well, it also heightened my awareness of ways I can be a more effective teacher, to one person or a hundred. Rationale During clinical practice, I noticed that infection control standards, especially staff hand washing techniques following care for patients with MRSA, were inconsistent. Standards were not evidence-based, likely not reflecting best practices. Given the importance of proper hand washing techniques in arresting MRSA transmission, I decided MRSA and proper hand washing techniques would be the topic of my Teaching Session. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a form of the Staphylococcus aureus organism resistant to commonly used antibiotics (About MRSA: What is MRSA). As Eaton (2005) notes, hand

Innovations in Ecommerce Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Innovations in Ecommerce - Dissertation Example Thus, realizing the business organizations’ always growing interest in the Internet, many studies and researches regarding business to customers and Internet shopping have been carried out to discover the key attributes or factors that can have influence over customers’ behaviors and decisions while shopping on the Internet. In this scenario, some of the general attributes can comprise the demographic and psychographic characteristics of customers and the quality of products or services. Basically, the e-commerce is the process of carrying out business operations using the Internet. In this scenario, this research will describe the trends of e-commerce. The basic aim of this research is to discuss the role of innovations and latest IT trends in e-commerce and how they affect the retailer and consumer. Introduction Innovations and developments in information technology have always been continued since the emergence of the Internet. In fact, most of the ways companies and people carry out their daily activities and live at the present are determined with the huge web of electronic networks that is commonly known as the Internet (Turban, Leidner, McLean, & Wetherbe, 2005). ). Additionally, the comprehensive availability of the Internet for carrying out business related tasks of the businesses, sellers and buyers is the primary reason behind the development of electronic commerce (or simply e-commerce). Actually, â€Å"electronic commerce is the method of selling and purchasing services and goods and products performed electronically by means of computerized business transactions over the Internet, networks, and other digital technologies† (Laudon & Laudon, 1999, p. 25; Stair & Reynolds, 2003, p. 19). In addition, the term ‘e-commerce’ is commonly used for all the business oper ations that are carried out over the web using a wide variety of tools and software applications that depend on the Internet, such as immediate e-mail, messaging, shopping carts, and web services, UDDI, FTP and EDI, and so many others. Moreover, electronic commerce can be performed between two businesses performing transactions, trading funds, goods, services and data or between a business and a client (Webopedia, 2012; Damanpour & Damanpour, 2001). It is an admitted fact that the Internet has turned out to be a vital part of almost every kind of business. Basically, the simple description of a business is â€Å"any activity or transaction that entails the exchange of products and services with an aim of making money or generating profits. However, if this transaction is carried out over the web it is known as e-commerce. In the past few years, the reality of e-commerce has turned into a full-blown business (Ahuja, 2011; Melissa, 2010; Pozin, 2012). Now people want to shop from hom e by using their computer with a single click and the Internet has made it possible. Now the latest tools and technologies over the Internet have made the life easier. They have provided a lot of benefits to the customers and brought numerous opportunities for the businesses. In this proposal, I am going to analyze the impact of innovations on the business. This basic aim of this research is to show how do innovations in information technologies affect the retailers and customers. Literature Review The innovations and developments in the Internet carry on growing quickly, through which both new and well-established businesses are taking benefits online. In this scenario, e-commerce has emerged as a very attractive and helpful tool. It is an admitted fact that its influences on business economy will be as important as the shift from the agricultural financial

Development of Management and Education in Nursing Practice Dissertation

Development of Management and Education in Nursing Practice - Dissertation Example Two specialised assignments afforded me such opportunities. The first involved preparing and delivering a Teaching Session to my peers on a topic of clinical interest that related to my work at the trust. After the session I analysed both the content and the process of the Teaching Session. The second assignment involved interviewing a Lead Health Professional in an area related to the topic of the Teaching Session. Afterwards I assessed and reviewed the interview as a function of local and national health care policies such as Clinical Governance and for the subject matter discussed. The topic of both my Teaching Session and the interview with the Lead Health Professional related to controlling the transmission of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). MRSA infection and control is a significant public health threat in the UK, a topic of which students should be aware, and one about which senior leaders have much to say. I became interested in the topic during my placement at a trust in London. Since then have maintained a keen eye for mention of it in the media and, as discussed in Part II of the Portfolio, have decided to take action to try to get my trust to implement one of the particularly significant MRSA control programmes. The Portfolio is divided into two parts, plus Appendices. Each part is a comprehensive assessment and analytic essay, complete with a References section with more than 15 references per essay.For ease of evaluation, the References for Part One immediately follow the essay for Part One., rather than being presented in a consolidated reference section at the end of the entire portfolio as in standard for essays and research projects. The Portfolio's two parts, Summary, and Appendices include: Part One - Evaluation of a Teaching Session Part Two - Assessment of an Interview with a Lead Health Professional Portfolio Summary Appendix A - Interview Record Appendix B - Notes and Details of the Interview with the Secretary General of the Royal College of Nursing As evidenced in each essay individually, and my summary comments, the Portfolio project had a significant impact on my perception of nursing, and of myself as a nurse. Fortunately, it was all positive and certainly helped me grow. Part One - Reflections on a Teaching Session The Teaching Session provided me an opportunity both to teach and to learn. Although I was the teacher as I presented the material to the students, I also learned a lot, about teaching, about my chosen topic, and about myself as I took on a previously unfamiliar role. This essay, a critical reflection on the many aspects of the Teaching Session experience, is divided into seven parts: Rationale Planning Preparation Delivery Evaluation/Feedback Action Plan for the Future Whilst I thing the Teaching Session went well, it also heightened my awareness of ways I can be a more effective teacher, to one person or a hundred. Rationale During clinical practice, I noticed that infection control standards, especially staff hand washing techniques following care for patients with MRSA, were inconsistent. Standards were not evidence-based, likely not reflecting best practices. Given the importance of proper hand washing techniques in arresting MRSA transmission, I decided MRSA and proper hand washing techniques would be the topic of my Teaching Session. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a form of the Staphylococcus aureus organism resistant to commonly used antibiotics (About MRSA: What is MRSA). As Eaton (2005) notes, hand

Information Technology Essay Example for Free

Information Technology Essay Why do big companies still fail in their use of information technology? What should they be doing differently? The companies fail in use of Information Technology for a variety of reasons. Some reasons are mentioned below Software: The information system or software of the company plays major role in organization success. The software is often out of date. Software upgrades are essential with the fast growing technology and competitive market. Human Resource: The second element is human resource which causes company to fail in use of Information Technology. The newly upgraded or installed software are new to users which takes time to understand and operate the new software. Managers: The managers must have knowledge of new software and must know how to install and operate in the department. It’s the duty of manager to carry output from employees by newly introduced software. The right time to change software: The Company must identify the time period in the year where they feel the company is not very busy or can have some extra time to install and implement new software. No solution plan: Companies don’t create a good solution plan. All businesses should have a good plan to introduce new information technology and a good plan to maintain it. Proper installation and maintenance is the key to successful implementation of Information Technology. Security: Managers are failed to maintained security of the important and operational data. Managers must take care of Company Information and maintain standards to protect company important data from hackers and cyber criminals through fire walls, anti-virus and all necessary measures. How can information technology support a company’s business processes and decision making and give it a competitive advantage? Give examples to illustrate your answer. Information Technology plays a vital role in modern world. There are so many different ways that information technology can support a business’s processes and decision making. One of the ways that information technology can do this is by making information more readily available to managers with the programs that the IT specialist develops. For instance, the manager wants to know how sales are doing for a new product that was recently released. The program makes this easy for her to do with just a few click of the mouse. S he can log on to her computer, pull up the program, type in the name of the product that you want the information for and it all pops up. If you did not have  this program you may have to do all this manually, by adding the figures all up by yourself, or you may even have to go to the sales rep and talk to them and see how things have been. That can all be very time consuming. The technology can keep the manager informed on a daily basis leaving them able to keep tabs on their products and knowing whether or not they need to produce more, produce less, or stop the line all together cause sales are way low. Information Technology gives a company a competitive advantage because you can use the internet to make a Web site which allows customers or stockholders to easily access your information and make orders with just the click of a button. For instance, EBay and Amazon shrink our global market, worldwide buyers and sellers are just away one click from each other. Information Technology gives these companies the competitive advantage of very large market size and customers from all over the world. Many companies are now trying to get in the race of Information Technology based businesses to capture larger market and many customers which are impossible to reach demographically.

Indian Banking Industry Competitiveness and Market Structure

Indian Banking Industry Competitiveness and Market Structure Introduction After 1991 crisis, Indias liberalisation journey was multi-faceted. One of the major areas of liberalization was the banking sector which was highly regulated and controlled by government. Most importantly for banking industry, as per the M. Narasimhan committee recommendations, the liberalization came in the right areas namely interest rate, reduction of reserve requirements, entry deregulation, credit policies and prudential supervision. Incase of interest rates, they could now be determined by the banks based on their cost of funds rather then government fixing them for banks. The administered regime for interest rate came to an end except for interest rate on savings account. The reduction of reserve requirement for banks made huge capital available for banks which could be deployed in the business. The entry of new players was de-regulated. The government empowered the Reserve Bank of India to issue licenses to the new players, if they met the set criteria jointly set by RBI and Finance Ministry. The credit rationing was completely done away with. Although there is still credit rationing for priority sector, the banks are free to deploy their capital on the sectors which they feel profitable. Excessive supervision regime came to an end. The Reserve Bank of India made several changes in prudential supervision and gave autonomy to banks in their day-to-day operation. The total asset size of Indian Banking industry is over US$ 270 billion. The total deposit amount is US$ 200 billion. Its branch network is one of the largest in the world with more than 66,000 branches and over 17,000 ATM spread across the country. The bank assets are expected to grow at 13.4% CAGR and it is predicted that India could become the 3rd largest banking hub in the world by 2040. Currently India has 80 Scheduled commercial banks out of which 28 are public sector banks, 24 private banks and 28 foreign banks (Annual Report, RBI). As Indian economy is growing at an average rate of over 7% since a decade, more and more foreign banks are thinking to foray into the Indian market. As per McKinseys report on Indian Banking (2010), total loans-to-percentage of GDP, could grow from its current level of around 30% to ~45% in years to come. Such huge opportunities also  prompts several questions: Who is/ are the dominant players in the market? What is/are their share in the banking industry? What is the market structure of Indian banking industry; is it a monopoly or a perfect competition? Objectives and Motivation: The objective of this dissertation is to understand the Indian banking industry, its composition (nationalised banks, private bank and foreign banks) and knowing the players of the industry. Further the study will find out how much concentrated the Indian banking industry is and provide knowledge regarding top 3 as well as top 5 major banks. Such a concentration ratio would give a fair idea of how decision of the top players as an implication on the other industry players. The study will include the determination of the market structure of Indian banking industry. Its imperative to know whether the industry is a perfect competition, a monopoly or a monopolistic competition. This would lead to understanding of the cohesive behaviour of the market players. My motivation for choosing this topic came from the complexity of the Indian banking industry. The number of players, entry of new players, consolidation among the existing players, ever-changing economic scenario of India etc and its impact on the banking industry always fascinated me to do a study on the Indian Banking industry. I also feel that such study would be useful not only for the policymakers within the central bank and the government but also for the existing players, the potential entrants and for other stakeholders of the banking industry. Literature Review As per the neoclassical theory, the spectrum of market structure can be defined by the number of firms and size of those firms in the market [Goddard, Molyneux Wilson (2001)]. Various numerical measures of concentration have been used by empirical researchers in order to find the concentration of industry players. But at the same time, there is no single perfect measure for concentration [Goddard, Molyneux Wilson (2001)]. Nevertheless all these measure are subject to the idiosyncracies and limitation; they usually tend to correlate highly with each other [Curry and George (1983); Scherer and Ross (1990)]. Hall and Tideman (1967) have provided the desirable properties which are required for these measures of concentration to be acceptable. Concentration measures like k-bank concentration ratio, Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI) are extensively used to measure the banking sector performance as a function of market structure [Barth et al., 2004, Beck at el, 2006)]. k-bank concentration ratio For measuring the concentration of firms, the most frequently used ratio is k-bank concentration ratio (Bikker 2004). The reason this ratio is so frequently used is because of its simplicity and limited data requirement. The index gives equal emphasis to the k leading banks, but neglects the many small banks in the market. It is a one dimensional measure ranging between zero and unity [Al-Muharrami S.,Matthews k., Khabari Y (2006)]. In a review of 73 US Structure-Conduct-Performance studies in banking from 1961 to 1991, in 37 studies the k-bank deposit concentration measure was used (Molyneux et al. 1996) Herfindahl Hirschman Index (HHI) HHI is another benchmark measure for measuring the bank concentration and gives more weight to larger banks. It was developed by A.O.Hirschman. It expands to all the banks in the system, thereby avoiding the arbitrary cut offs [Alegria, C and Schaeck K (2006)]. Bikker (2004) highlights the importance of HHI in the theoretical research. In practice, the HHI plays a pivotal role in the US for the approval of bank mergers where the post mergers market HHI cannot exceed 0.18 and that the change in the index should be less than 0.02 (Cetorelli, 1999). This index is also used to measure the bank concentration in Arab GCC banking system [Al-Muharrami S.,Matthews k., Khabari Y (2006)] and in measuring the competition and market structure in the Saudi Arabia [Al-Muharrami (2009)] Panzer and Rosse H statistics The measure of market structure helps in determining whether the market enjoys perfect competition, monopoly or monopolistic competition. This is also known measuring the monopoly power hypothesis. It means that in more concentrated markets the bigger players tend to be collusive and try to dominate the market. Also their actions have considerable impact on the other market players. There are several models for determining the market structure. The models are divided into two parts: 1) Structural Models and 2) Non Structural Models. This study will employ the non-structural model approach suggested by Rosse and Panzer (1977) and Panzer and Rosse (1982, 1987), popularly known as the H-statistics. It is widely used in determining the competitive structure of the banking industry in various countries. In the banking industry, there is extensive use of Rosse and Panzer method and has got a wide practical applicability. In his study on New York banks, Shaffer (1982) had observed that banks had monopolistic competition. Similar study for Canadian banks by Nathan and Neave (1989) found a perfect competition for 1982 but monopolistic competition for 1983-84. Japan revealed perfect competition [Molyneux et al (1996)]. Molyneux et al. (1994) also tested the P-R statistics for French, German, Italian, Spanish and British banks for the period of 1986-1989 in order to determine the competitive conditions of major European countries. Methodology The study involves the use of k-bank concentration ratio and HHI ratio for gauging the competition and Panzer and Rosse for determining the monopoly power of the players of Indian Banking industry. These ratios have been extensively used in the different studies mentioned above. K-bank concentration ratio measures the market share of the top k-firms in the industry. The equation is n CRn = à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬ËœSi i=1 Where Si is the market share of the i-th firm when firms are ranked in descending order of the market share. Market share is measured in terms of sales, assets or number of employees. Commonly used values of n include 3, 4, 5 or 8. The researchers have also found that there is high correlation between concentration ratios defined using alternative values of n [Bailey and Boyle (1971)]. The advantage of k-bank concentration ratio is that it is easily measurable; one needs to know only the total size of the industry and the individual sizes of firms. But it lacks in taking the size distribution of remaining firms. In this study, the market share would be measured on the basis of the loan size (assets) and the deposit size (liability) of the banks. The value of n would be 3 and 5 i.e. CR3 and CR5. HHI uses information about all points in the firm size distribution. It is defined as the sum of the squares of the markets share of all firms: N HHI = à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬ËœSi2 i=1 Where Si is the market shares of the firm i and N is the total number of firms in the industry. In the calculation of HHI, the larger firms get a heavier weightage than their smaller counterparts which reflects their relative importance in the market. This study uses P-R h-statistics, a non-structural model, measuring competition and emphasizes the analysis of the competitive conduct of banks without explicit information about the structure of the market. The P-R determines the competitive behaviour of banks on the basis of the comparative static properties of reduced-form revenue equation based on cross-section data [Panzer and Rosse (1987)]. The equation is Ln(TREV) = ÃŽÂ ±0 + ÃŽÂ ±1 ln PL + ÃŽÂ ±2 ln PK + ÃŽÂ ±3 ln PF + ÃŽÂ ±4 ln RISKASS + ÃŽÂ ±5 ln ASSET + ÃŽÂ ±6 ln BR The variables are defined as follows: TREV : the ratio of total revenue to total assets PL : ratio of personnel expense to employees PK : ratio of capital expense to fixed assets PF : ratio of annual interest expense to total loanable funds RISKASS : ratio of provisions to total assets ASSET : bank total assets BR : ratio of number of branches to total number of branches in the country. The H-statistic value is the sum of factor price elasticity: PL, PK and PF. The value H à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ 0 implies monopoly equilibrium. A value of 0 Data The data for all the calculations of k-bank concentration ratio, HHI and P-R H-statistics will be obtained from Orbis database. Further, the data would also be taken from the Reserve Bank of India(RBI)s profile of banks 2004-2005 2008-2009. Incase any data is not available from the two main sources (Orbis and RBI), the data would be extracted from financial statements of banks, from their websites and from reports published on the Indian Stock exchanges namely Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE). The sample period covers 2002-2008. Conclusion The conclusion would include the interpretation of the results obtained by usage of E-view and MS- Excel software. In summation, the study would help in knowing the concentration ratio through k-bank ratio as well as HHI and help in understanding the monopoly power of large banks in India. Such a study would be helpful to determine the cohesive behaviour of the players of industry and how their decision would affect the entire industry as well as the Indian economy. With a lots consolidation happening in the industry, such a study would help in understanding the shifts in the concentration and market powers if any. Last but not the least; an attempt would be made to give some recommendations based on the results.

Osteoporosis Essay -- essays research papers

Osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a significant health problem that affects more than 25 million women in the United States and potentially 200 million worldwide. This disease is characterized by diminishing the structure of the skeleton (particular the "spongy" bone). This results in an increased risk of fracture. Osteoporosis develops silently over a period of years, eventually progressing to a point where a fracture can easily occur causing pain and disability. This disease is characterized by low bone mass and structural worsening of your bones, leading to bone fragility. There is an increased chances of damaging the hip, spine, and wrist . Twenty-five million Americans are affected by Osteoporosis, making it a major public health problem. 80% of those affected by osteoporosis are women. One out of every two women and one in five men have an Osteoporosis-related fracture. By age 75, one third of all men will be affected by osteoporosis. While osteoporosis is often thought of as an older person's disease, it can strike at any age. Osteoporosis is responsible for 1.5 million fractures annually, including: -more than 300,000 hip fractures -500,000 vertebral fractures -200,000 wrist fractures Certain some people are more likely to develop Osteoporosis than others. These factors can increase your chances of getting osteoporosis. -A family history of fractures in elderly women -Use of certain medications -Chronically low calcium intake -Thin and/or small bones -An ina...

Jack versus Ralph as Leaders in Goldings Lord of the Flies Essay

In today’s modern society, a leader must contain capabilities that include decisive decision making that benefit the rest of society. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the leaders, Jack and Ralph, make decisions that impair the well being of the boys on the island. When Jack and Ralph place the personal need of being in control above the needs of the boys, chaos ensues on the island. Also, When Jack and Ralph both use fear as a tool to accomplish their personal goals that they placed above the needs of the boys, order on the island broke down. Lastly, when Jack and Ralph placed their personal needs of not co-operating with one another, order on the island broke down. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, when leaders place their personal needs above the needs of society, order on the island breaks down. When Ralph and Jack placed their own personal needs of being in control of the other boys, order on the island broke down. Ralph stated that he was chief and as long as he was voted chief, the boys would do as they were told to, as stated in the chapter, The Beast from the Water, ‘You voted me for chief. Now you do as I say’ (81). This quotation incorporates the fact that Ralph has grown aware of the fact that he has the power to make decisions that affect the rest of the boys deeply and that he has the top power on the island at that point. Becoming chief was not necessarily a personal need for Ralph at first, but as events occur, he became aware of the fact that he has ultimate authority and will do make sure the boys complete their tasks in order sustain order, even if it meant disciplining them. When Ralph held the meeting by the beach at night in chapter five, chaos ensued as a result of his personal need of being... ...the island. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, when leaders place their personal needs above the needs of society, order on the island breaks down. Ralph and Jack both placed both of their own needs of being in control above the rest of the boys, which resulted in chaos on the island. Also, when Jack and Ralph utilized fear and fear of the unknown against the boys in order to get what they wanted, order broke down on the island. Finally, when leaders place the neglect of co-operation above the needs of the boys, order on the island breaks down. These are all fine examples of how leaders can become corrupt of how an excellent leader can be tested with temptation to do wrong. They all provide sufficient proof that Jack and Ralph placed their own personal needs above the needs of society, which in the end, resulted in chaotic breakdown on the island.

Love: Fascination and Biology Essay

Love.   People have been fascinated by it for centuries, and never more so than in the past hundred years or so, when people began to enter into relationships and marry for love, rather than political or social reasons.   We have also begun to research love further, and have come up with many different types and definitions for love, romantic love being only one type.   The psychology of love is a new area that looks at all these different definitions of love and what they mean to people today. When many people think about love, they are still mystified.   It seems difficult, if not impossible, to describe love.   It is a deep, true emotion that has captivated people for centuries.   Today, we write movies and books about it, feature it in our tabloids, and center our entire lives around it.   Yet, because it is such a large part of our lives, there must be some way to actually define it and understand it.   Psychologists have taken up the study of love for exactly this reason. An article in Psychology Today talks about love in today’s society: what it means, where our modern definitions came from, and how to achieve it.   First of all, love comes from bonding, no matter what people are involved in the situation – parents and children, husbands and wives, or friends.   Bonding leads to attachment, which is a form of love.   In this way, love becomes not a mysterious, other worldly, unexplainable phenomenon.   It becomes an easily understandable part of human life, and a necessary one at that (Johnson and Marano). Read more:  Persuasive Essay About Love Attachment is a part of survival.   If young children do not attach to an older caregiver (usually their mother), they will die.   They need the security that an older person will feed them, soothe them, and keep them warm.   Even once a child outgrows the need for another person to handle all of his or her needs, he still needs a person to help him meet his own needs. That is, to help him find food, make sure that he has clothes to put on himself, and to continue to soothe him.   Even adults need this kind of security, because most people do take care of themselves alone; they rely on others at least for comfort and emotional security, even if they can provide for their own physical needs.   However, families exist because sometimes providing even for physical needs can be such a daunting task that it is shared.   That’s why in a â€Å"traditional† society, one person works, and one person cares for the home (Johnson and Marano). This idea has been thoroughly studied.   Babies learn to attach to their parents when they are young, although depending on the parent’s style, some do not attach.   Babies whose parents respond to them in a consistent and loving manner tend to attach securely – when their parents leave, they cry and seek them; when their parents return, upon making sure the parent is there, they go to explore their world, confident in their parent’s love and availability.   Other babies are insecurely attached. That is, they are very fearful when their parents are gone, and tend to reject them or cling to them (or vacillate between extremes) when their parents return, usually because parents respond inconsistently to them: sometimes they are loving, and other times they are distracted and off-putting.   A third style is when babies are not attached.   They simply ignore their parents, whether they are present or not, and this is usually because the parents resist attempts at physical bonding (Johnson and Marano). If all of this is true even in small children, imagine the ramifications it can have throughout life.   Another psychologist has studied this in her book, The Psychology of Love.   Again, biological reasons are forefront: people need attachment and security to survive, at all ages.   But beyond simple attachment and mutual bonding, there are forms of love in which one person provides more than another does. The author presents situations in which one person feels and expresses love much more strongly than another.   For example, a woman who is depressed may rely much more heavily on her friends than they can rely on her.   A child certainly relies on its mother more than she relies on it.   And in some interesting cases, there is â€Å"unrequited† love, where a person may feel romantic love for another that isn’t reciprocated.   Love, as the author points out, isn’t always equal (Weis). Altruism is an interesting part of love.   A person who loves someone, especially a family member, is likely to behave altruistically towards that person, should a situation arise.   For example, if a family member were sick and unable to take care of himself or anything else, a person may take off work, care for the sick person, and pick up any of that person’s responsibilities as a matter of course.   This is not seen in relationships where there is not love, either because the people are strangers, or because they don’t like each other (Weis). This likely occurs because altruism is not truly action solely for another’s gain.   In fact, by caring for a family member, one is ensuring that the person will survive, and also ensuring that someday, that person will be able to, and more importantly, want to care for them in return.   This behavior protects the connection and attachment that is between two people.   This is why it is not seen in people who have no relationship: there is no need to ensure a stranger’s survival, because they will likely never be able to return the favor (Weis). Love is primarily studied in terms of this bonding and attachment now, because previously, psychologists considered it too lofty a subject.   But, with the real biological and mental basis, love is a phenomenon that is not only well-studied, but a subject that is involved in nearly every part of humankind. Romantic love has a biological basis, too.   Romantic love is the type that is most frequently thought of when a person says ‘love.’   First of all, ‘loving’ someone implies fidelity: that the people involved will be faithful to one another.   It allows constant sexual access, and therefore the possibility for procreation.   It allows a joint effort to survive, both as two individuals and as a family, once children enter the picture (Weis). Romantic love, according to Weis, is comprised of three areas: attachment, attraction, and sex drive.   All of these are biologically based, but there is also more to it than that.   Hormones help a person to feel attracted towards another, and they also signal the sex drive and sexual response cycle.   But if this biology were all there was to it, then our society would be a much simpler place. However, we are obsessed with romantic love.   In today’s world, people are constantly reading magazines and books to learn more about romantic love.   â€Å"Why does he never talk to me?†Ã‚   â€Å"Why does she talk constantly?†Ã‚   â€Å"Why is he such a commitment-phobe?†Ã‚   â€Å"Why is she planning the wedding after the first date?†Ã‚   There are literally dozens of books and magazines on the subject, with more coming out all the time.   Men want to understand women (although they claim they never will) and women want to understand men (although they’re pretty sure they already do, at least most of the time). These books and magazines exist because the world is far more complex today.   We have a myriad of reasons for choosing and staying with our partners.   Temptations and jealousies are everywhere.   We have social rules for behavior that say that it isn’t always possible to come out with your feelings as soon as you’re sure of them.   While the underlying principles are still the same –   hormones govern whether or not you’re attracted to a person, and play a significant role in helping to bond two people together and keep them together – the social rules of communication in love are also highly studied. In Marano’s article, â€Å"Relationship Rules,† this idea is studied.   This article is only one example out of many on this widely studied subject.   Her suggestions: Choose carefully, know your partner’s beliefs, don’t confuse sex and love, know your needs and speak up, view yourselves as a team, know and respect differences, solve problems immediately, learn to negotiate, listen, work hard at closeness, and more.   All in all, there are 25 â€Å"Relationship Rules† in this article (Marano). It has been widely studied that people who do not understand or speak up for their own needs in relationships are often unhappy.   Counselors and psychologists encourage people to always be willing to share their needs.   However, they also encourage recognizing that the other person had needs too, and that negotiation is good thing: being able to respect and work with both peoples’ needs (Marano). As Marano warns, though, too much dependency is not a good thing.   While it is true on many levels, from social to biological, that two people need each other to survive emotionally and physically, it is also possible to have too much of a good thing.   Two people must learn to meet their own needs sometimes, or to seek out another person or source to meet their needs.   Too much dependency causes a lack of focus on the relationship, and a loss of individual identity. For a final warning, Marano states that â€Å"love is not an absolute, not a limited commodity that in of or out of†¦.   It’s a feeling that ebbs and flows†¦.†Ã‚   Because hormones and many other life situations affect perception of love, two people may not always feel love towards one another.   However, if they accept that this is part of the natural way of things, they can still behave in a loving manner towards one another.   Love is about much more than just feeling amazing about another person all the time.   It is about caring for another person, putting him first, and accepting that he is not perfect. There are many ideas and perceptions about love in today’s society.   The original basis for love was biological, and to this day biology continues to be an important part of the process and feelings of love.   It keeps people together by producing incredibly powerful feelings of attachment and security.   But love is also about the tricky ins and outs of relationships.   Both of these areas have been heavily studied by psychologists, and continue to be studied today. As time goes on, we will learn even more about the psychology and biology of love.   We will learn more about how people attach to one another and why they do it.   But even if we never learned another thing about love, the entire world would remain fascinated by it, always falling in and out, and forming attachments to more new people.   Movies will be made, books will be written, and people will watch, read, and listen.   Love is everything. Bibliography Johnson, Susan, and Marano, Hara Estroff.   â€Å"In the Name of Love.†Ã‚   Psychology Today, November 17, 2006. Marano, Hara Estroff.   â€Å"Relationship Rules.†Ã‚   Psychology Today, February 10, 2006. Weis, Karin.   The New Psychology of Love.   Yale University Press, New Haven, CT: 2006.