Pregnancy as it pertains to MRI Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Pregnancy as it pertains to MRI - Essay Example These particles produce signals due to Radio waves that are collected by a receiver within the scanner. These signals are characterized with the use of varying magnetic field and are further processed by a computer in order to create ultra sharp images of tissues in the form of "slices" that can be viewed in any plane and from any direction. The key advantage of MRI is that it causes no pain and the responsible magnetic fields cause no damage of any kind to human tissues. The MR scanner used may generate considerably loud tapping or knocking noises during the process but it can be prevented using earplugs. A patient can easily communicate with the technologist or radiologist at any instant with the use of an intercom. The magnetic field generated in the MR system is quite powerful and will attract Ferro-magnetic objects and can cause them to move suddenly and with a considerable force. Thus, there can be a risk to the person in the flight path of the object. Due to this reason, great care is taken and ferromagnetic objects like screwdrivers and oxygen tanks are not allowed into the MR system area. A patient is asked to remove all kind of metallic belongings like watches and jewelry before going for an MRI. The magnetic field of the MR system is of considerable magnitude and can pull on any iron-containing object in the body like medication pumps or aneurysm clips. Every MRI facility has a strict protocol that ensures that the MRI technologist and radiologist know about the presence of all metallic implants and materials so that special precautions can be taken. Sometimes, even the exam may have to be canceled. In case a bullet or other metallic fragments are present in the body, there is a risk that it could change position leading to an injury. A metallic implant can not only distort the MR images but also make it difficult for the MRI system to tune to your body. It is not possible to avoid it but allowance can be made while interpreting the images only if the radiologist is aware of their presence. Some MRI examines a gadolinium that may be injected into a vein in order to help the interpretation. a gadolinium is a contrast agent that does not contain iodine like those materials which are commonly used in x-ray process and hence rarely causes any problem or allergic reaction. Preparation for MRI The patient is asked to wear a special gown during the MRI study. The person (generally a friend or relative) accompanying you will be asked questions regarding the presence of implants and will be instructed to remove all metal objects from pockets and hair even before entering the room. A screening form is filled to ensure that the patient may safely enter

Raw by Scott Monk and Hero of War by Rise Against Extended response Essay Example for Free

Raw by Scott Monk and Hero of War by Rise Against Extended response Essay ‘Institutions can change one for better or worse’ this quote is proven in the novel ‘raw’ by Scott Monk and ‘Hero of War’ by Rise Against. Through the contrasting ideas of rebellion and conformity, the responders are able to see how institutions can manipulate one and have a negative or positive impact. In ‘Raw’ by Scott Monk, Brett uses rebellion to escape from his fears and then be liberated from it; he does this as he believes it is the only way to freedom. When Brett first gets to the farm he is given trust and responsibility straight away which he is not used to as he has never been automatically trusted before. Brett is unaware of how to react to this, as he has only ever experienced negative forms of authority beforehand. Brett believes that Sam is naà ¯ve and stupid for giving Brett and the other boys at the farm trust. Sam believes in giving everyone second chances and that if people want to change then it is up to them. The institution can change one for better or worse but it’s up to the persona to allow the change, so if they refuse the tools the institution provides them with, then they will stay the same. The farm as an institution has a positive impact on Brett, because once he starts taking responsibility for his actions then he changes. â€Å"†¦He didn’t want to be here. It was a waste of time†¦Ã¢â‚¬  through the use of third person narration the responders are able to see that Brett’s attitude towards the institution as a whole is that, he believes that this institution is a waste of his time as he believes it isn’t going to help him. Later on in the novel Brett comes to realisation after Josh opens up to him, Brett realises that he shouldn’t blame his actions on everyone else, and that he should take responsibility and live up to the consequences. The responders are able to see how much Brett has changed in the end of the novel when Brett admit s that it was his fault that they broke up. â€Å"†¦I’m the one to blame!† The exclamation mark is used to emphasise that he is taking responsibility for his actions, and for once isn’t blaming it on her. Because of the tools that Sam has given Brett he now knows that rebellion is not always the viable option. Thus the institution has changed Brett for the better, as he now he takes responsibility for his choices and doesn’t blame everyone else. In contrast, the persona in ‘Hero of War’ By Rise Against, changes for the worst as a result of this institution. Throughout the film clip it shows flash backs of what he was like before he had joined the army,  which was happy and he had a good self-image. Then throughout the clip we are shown him being in a green room, where he is glowing and there is black surrounding him, as the responders we can see the emotional damage which the persona has been through. â€Å"†¦I told them to stop/But then I joined in†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This complete juxtaposition shows the audience how he is forced to conform and adhere to the institution. The effect of this is that the responders can see that even though the persona knows what h e is doing is wrong, he is forced to conform to the army. In the end of the video we are shown the persona walking the streets of America, painted in white with red glowing hands. This symbolises the guilt which he feels for conforming and taking the innocent lives. The persona no longer fits in to society’s mould. This is ironic as there is still a high camera angle on him showing that he has power, even though he doesn’t fit in. Thus this institution has changed the persona for the worst as he now has a sense of guilt within himself and doesn’t fit in to his home country which is America ‘the only flag I trust’ Ultimately through the study of Raw by Scott Monk and Hero of War by Rise Against, it is shown that institutions can have either a detrimental or beneficial impact on products of an institution. This is shown through the contrasting ideas of Rebellion and Conformity.

Values in Conflict Essay -- essays papers

Values in Conflict VALUES IN CONFLICT Introduction Each day as young people attend school they are bombarded with various moral messages. These messages come in many forms. These differing forms may be categorized in either of two different areas, moral instruction or moral practice (Jackson, Boostrom, and Hansen, 1993). Moral instruction refers to both formal and informal methods. Formal instruction as part of the classroom curriculum is directed and intentional. Sometimes formal moral instruction is not quite so obvious however. Rituals and ceremonies such as pep rallies, graduations, and various assemblies may all be categorized as formal moral instruction. Visual displays with moral content are also considered as formal instruction, although they are of a more passive approach. One can not walk the hallways of a typical middle school without seeing numerous examples of posters and signs which attempt to convey some sort of moral message. Perhaps the most subtle and least recognizable form of moral instruction is the interjection of moral commentary within an ongoing activity. Public recognition for doing exceptional work is just one example of such commentary. Moral practice methods may also be either formal or informal. The rules and regulations within the school and classroom would be considered formal forms of moral practice. A more informal method of moral practice would be the expressive morality within the classroom. Expressive morality may be conveyed either intentionally or unintentionally. Everything a teacher does, from facial expression and body language to expressing personal beliefs, can have an effect of influencing the values of an adolescent. Hence teachers should be extremely aware of this possibility. A Gallup (1980) public survey of attitudes towards schools showed that 79% of the respondents were in favor of some form of instruction which would concentrate on morals and the development of moral behaviors. Along with academic competence, character development is the most desired goal of educators (Wynne and Wahlberg, 1985). Many states actually mandate some form of character education by law. In Nebraska, state statutes 79-214 and 79-215 specifically outline this. Despite this apparent agreement between the public and educators, as well as its legitimacy under law, the teaching of moral beha... ...irely. References Jackson, P., Boostrom, R., and Hansen, D. (1993) The moral life of schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Gallup, G. (1980, September) The twelfth annual Gallup Poll of public attitudes toward public schools. Phi Delta Kappan. 62,39. Wynne, E. and Wahlberg, H. (1985) The complimentary goals of character development and academic excellence. Educational Leadership, 43(4). pp. 15-18. Taylor, C. (1991) The ethics of authenticity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. McClelland, D. (1982) Education for values. New York: Irvington Schaeffer, E. (March, 1998) Character education in the curriculum and beyond. The education digest. pp. 15-17. Berkowitz, M. and Grych, J. (1998) Fostering goodness. From internet, http://www.uic.edu/lnucci/MoralEd/aotm/fosterin.htm Rawls, J. (1971) A theory of justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press Power, F., Higgins, A., and Kohlberg, L. (1989) Lawrence Kohlberg’s approach to moral education. New York: Columbia University Press. Hinshaw, S. and Anderson, C. (1996) Conduct and oppositional defiant disorders. In Marsh, E. and Barkley, R., Child psychopathology. pp. 113-154. New York

Stereotypes and Stereotyping in A Tale of Two Cities Essay example --

Stereotypes in A Tale of Two Cities      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Charles Dickens stereotypes many of his Characters in A Tale of Two Cities. Among these stereotyped characters are The Marquis D' Evremond, Lucy, and Miss Pross. These particular stereotypes were probably intentional, for Dicken's was not a skilled writer.        Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Marquis d' Evremond was probably intentionally stereotyped. His character is basically used to represent the French Military of the time, so he was as cruel, ignorant, and pompous as the French citizens were at that time. His actions when his carriage runs over a child clearly show Dickens's motive: to portray the French Military of the era as kind and generous citizens, and to sort of justify the French Revolution. His dialogue with Miss Pross early in the story also shows his contempt for the proletariat; furthering his role as the stereotype of the Military. Just as he symbolizes the blood spilled in the revolution, his birth symbolizes the fall of the Monarchy to come.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lucy'...

The Nature of Abigail’s Villainy in The Crucible

A dynamic antagonist, Abigail Williams from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a great example of how a character can be molded by personal desires and a work’s setting to become a villain. Seemingly innocent, orphaned adolescent Abigail ultimately causes hysteria in the town of Salem from her frivolity and selfishness. The reasoning and origins of Abigail’s malice demonstrate the setting’s influence on the inhabitants of Salem during the 1962 witch trials. Abigail is introduced as Parris’ niece. At the beginning of the play, Arthur Miller provides what might be an explanation to the start of Abigail’s needy nature as she relays the story of how she became orphaned to her friends. Abigail explains that she witnessed her parents being killed by indians when she was a child. This harsh past and lack of a good authority male figure (Parris is a character that is extremely paranoid and obsessed with his reputation; definitely not fatherly or nurturing) explains her initial attraction to John Proctor; her older, married, employer before the play begins. Abigail’s affair with Proctor is the fundamental start of the witch trials. Had she never had the affair, she’d never have fallen for Proctor, therefore she wouldn’t want to kill his wife in order to have him back. The Puritan way of thinking and strict religious system in Salem paved the way for a villain to arise. Abigail’s villainy is significant because it helps the reader become familiarized with the environment of Salem Massachusetts, the Christian religion it thrived off of, and how these combined ultimately caused the witch trials. The people who practiced this intense Christianity had no spiritual method to relinquish guilt for their sins. In turn, this led to the people of Salem having to find their own outlets for their guilt. Along with the stress of guilt, the individuals of Salem have to worry about the constant need to make themselves adequate for the community. Reputation is extremely important, and being associated with anti-christ figures and ideas is completely unacceptable. These stresses combined raise the perfect type of people for Abigail to use to aid her in her plan to rid of Elizabeth. After practicing witch craft with her, Abigail’s friends feel guilty for the sin. Abigail’s failure to feel guilt or this (or any of other sin she commits throughout the play) is what attains her success is causing havoc in Salem. After being found out for their anti-Christian activities in the woods, Abigail begins accusing other random people in the community of witchcraft. The other girls follow suit, shuffling their guilt to someone else to feel self assurance. By accusing other people the girls felt they had retrieved innocence. In a sense Abigail was able to use her friends without them noticing. Through her manipulation shows malevolence. Of course, Abigail didn’t mean to cause so much conflict. She only wanted one person dead; Elizabeth. Had she not began accusing other people of witch craft to save her name, the problem wouldn’t have blown up to epic proportions. This doesn’t make her any less of a villain, however. Many of the townspeople were hanged because of her selfishness. Her naivety and fervent want for Proctor blinded her from consequences. Covering up herself snowballed to her friends and then out into the community. This is particularly interesting because in any other setting the word of these girls wouldn’t even be considered let alone used as solid judgement in court. Abigail’s success in causing death to innocents in the community, despite her age and insignificant role in the community, further exemplifies the atmosphere of the Puritan religion. After analyzing Abigail’s character one can learn much about the behavior of other people as well. Everyone has desires that they wish to obtain. Some obstacles must be overcome in order to achieve these. Due to Abigail’s villainy conceit many people suffered. Not only were lives lost, but she never found the peace she wished for with Proctor. It’s important to realize that there are consequences for neglecting the well being of others for self gain.

Book Report Inna Di Dancehall Essays

Book Report Inna Di Dancehall Essays Book Report Inna Di Dancehall Essay Book Report Inna Di Dancehall Essay Hope, paid homage to the lower-class inner city people of Jamaica. She gave them a voice as she explored the issues about danceable as related to the Jamaican society. Hope discussed the historical setting and definition of danceable, sex and gender, violence and identity in the danceable. The author used this forum to bring to life the perceived unknown truths about the danceable culture in Jamaica. Throughout the book, the theme of rudeness was explored. Hope linked rudeness to Jamaican culture and in essence showed how rudeness is a part of Caribbean civilization. Rudeness can be seen as vulgar behavior or otherwise known as slackness. In the Caribbean, slackness, refers to violence, promiscuity and anti-homosexual sentiments which are similar to the culture of Jamaica. Is Jamaican rudeness an excuse for culture or is it Just rudeness? To answer this question, one needs to delve into the history of Jamaican society and understand how rudeness may or may not relate to culture. As well as, how the popular music, danceable, may play a part in developing rudeness as a component of culture. In the book, Nina did Danceable, the author, Hope, listed the various factors which helped the formation of the popular form of music culture. Such factors were the fall-out of Jamaican experiment with structural adjustment; the rise of free market capitalism; increasing arbitration; rising political violence; a growing ideological convergence between the Peoples National Party (PAN) and the Jamaica Labor Party LOP); the explosion of Jamaican informal economy and ongoing transformations in the class/ status hierarchy, particularly among the middle strata (1). Some of these factors created tension in society and through music, the people in society were able to release this built up frustration. According to Hope danceable culture is a space for the cultural creation and dissemination of symbols and ideologies that reflect and legitimate the lived realities of its adherents, particularly those from the inner cities of Jamaica (27). Danceable enabled the society to openly voice their concerns and highlight the struggles of everyday life. As such, one can say that Jamaican rudeness is an excuse for culture. If danceable music reflects the everyday life of the lower class society, which is gun violence, promiscuity and hardships of the masses, elements of rudeness, and danceable music is part of the Jamaican culture, hence, rudeness is Jamaican culture. On the other hand, Jamaican rudeness has a negative connotation as it deals with negative activities in society. One should not sensationalist illegal activities such as gun violence and discrimination against homosexuals. The authors aim was to shed light on the different aspects of danceable and show how danceable music fleets the lower-class society in Jamaica. However, in doing so, the author provided an excuse for the high crime rate, gun violence, debase behavior of women and discrimination against homosexuals. The author used this forum to explicitly say that this rudeness is a part of culture and should be accepted and therefore sensationalists a topic that has no merit. This behavior should not be accepted and measures should be put in place to curb illegal activities. Should be able to make a decision on what type of literature to read or be exposed to. However, based on the circumstances, the purpose of studying Caribbean Civilization is to understand the Caribbean society and one way of doing this is reading different literatures from the Caribbean. Nina did Danceable exposed the Caribbean and the wider world to the danceable culture of Jamaica. Its important as a Caribbean person to know and understand the different cultures of the Caribbean. This book, gave a real representation of the lower-class society of Jamaica through danceable. However, it didnt paint the full picture of the Jamaican culture. It pulled out the negative aspect of Jamaican culture and glorified it. Should one be exposed to the glorification of illegal activities? No. However, one should be made aware of all aspects of ones culture whether be it negative or positive. Reading literatures of other cultures broadens ones perspective on the ways of life of many people. It enables one to have a holistic view on life and treat others from different backgrounds with respect. According to the Peace Corps Cross-cultural Workbook, By knowing peoples values and beliefs, you can come to expect and predict their behavior Moreover, once you accept that people behave the way they do for a reason You can go beyond simply reacting to that behavior and figure out how to work with it (5). As a result, using Nina did Danceable in Caribbean Civilization has meaning as it enhances the course by cultural differentiation. Its a great book as it would enable discussions on class/ color/ status hierarchy in society. Hope clearly discussed the differences in social classes in Jamaica. This was a main topic in this course as the Caribbean continues with this social structure from slavery. Trinidad and Tobago can definitely benefit from the propagation of this type of reading. Our society can learn about the danceable culture, understand how it came about and the true meaning behind danceable. This type of reading would allow our society to be able to differentiate our culture from Jamaica. It would also encourage patriotism, as local writers would be encouraged to write about our culture for the world to read. However, this reading may as well not benefit society. This type of reading may encourage similar types of behavior to be patterned in our society. Youths in society may read this book and may not capture the real essence of the book. They may try to emulate their danceable idols and adopt behaviors and attitudes that are not accepted in society. However, Hope formatted Nina did Danceable cleverly as it was easy to read. In each chapter there were sub-sections which allowed the reader to understand each aspect of the danceable culture. The headings played a key role as it made it clear as to what was going to be discussed. The pictures used in the book in some instances were quite vulgar and degraded women but captured the idea that was being put cross. It didnt make the book more appealing; ironically, it made the book less appealing which may not have been the authors purpose. In conclusion, Nina did Danceable would not have been a first choice book for reading; however, it served the purpose for this course. It highlighted aspects of Jamaican culture, danceable and showed its relevance to Caribbean society as it dealt with some Caribbean issues such as class/ race/ status hierarchy. Hope, Donna P. Nina did Danceable. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, Culture Matters. Peace Corps. N. P, n. D. Web. 24 October, 2012. 2006. Pent.

Write a Case Study - its easy!

Write a Case Study - its easy! How to write Case Study correctly Review of a problem or situation in real life, in which the author analyzes the main problems. In this case, all facts should refer to scientific literature or research results on this topic. In the end, you draw conclusions about why the situation arose, and how to find the way out. The definition of a case study is the following: it is a method of applying theoretical knowledge to real life situations that you can face at any time. Such a study gives the student much useful. He: 1. Trains in using theoretical knowledge in practice; 2. Learns to analyze problems in a real life situation; 3. Draws conclusions about how the knowledge gained in the course of academic research will help him to properly respond to the situation. There are many types of case studies: 1. Illustrative; 2. Exploratory; 3. Critical instance; 4. Program implementation; 5. Program effects; 6. Prospective; 7. Cumulative; 8. Narrative; 9. Medical; 10. Embedded. Let us consider in more detail the four most popular types of the case study. Illustrative study. This is a description of one or two cases from real life. They allow the reader to get acquainted with the concept and give a general idea of the solution of the problem in a particular case. Cumulative case study. Several cases are considered here. The main purpose of the author is to draw up generalized conclusions. Narrative studies. The situation is seen as an artistic story and is written by a third person. There are characters and a plot. Critical Instance. One or more cases are used here. Then an assumption is made, which is criticized by the author of the study. This kind of case study is very popular for the analysis of situations of causes and effects. Structure of writing a response to a particular case Before you start writing a response to a case study, read it carefully first. It's best if you do it two or three times. In doing so, pay special attention to the main problems and a group of people who are interested in solving the situation. The answer to the case study has its own structure. It includes four parts: 1. Introduction; 2. Description; 3. Discussion; 4. Conclusions and recommendations. Now consider each part in more detail. Introduction Your goal is to briefly describe the life situation and describe the problem to be solved. Description Create a more detailed description of the problem. Proceed from the fact that the reader does not have any knowledge at all in this field. This means that you need to give exhaustive information about the situation before proceeding to its discussion. Discussion This part of your essay is a list of pre-prepared questions, as well as answers to them. The answers should be based on information from the scientific literature. The "Discussion" block can include such questions (and subsequent answers to them): 1. What is the problem and what are the consequences for all involved persons?; 2. How can information in the scientific literature help in solving this problem?; 3. What are the ways to solve the problem? 4. How can you evaluate ideas and solutions to this problem for a specific case? When you give arguments in favor of solving the problem, refer to specific sources of literature. Also, you can use the quotes of scientists entirely. Every answer must necessarily have a reference to academic work. Conclusions and recommendations Now you need to write a conclusion. Here you describe the conclusions you came to, and also give recommendations for solving this problem. You should make your own recommendations that reflect your point of view. The correct approach to writing the answer In order to correctly approach the writing of a response to a case study, first answer a number of questions: 1. Is the research topic really atypical and requiring detailed analysis? 2. Is the case really important? 3. Is there an opposite point of view on the solution to this problem? If so, what arguments can you give in favor of your opinion?

MORRIS Surname Meaning and Family History

MORRIS Surname Meaning and Family History The Morris surname has several possible origins: As an English or Scottish surname, Morris may have originated as Maurice, an Old French personal name derived from the Latin Mauritius, a given name itself  derived from the Old French more (Latin maurus), meaning moorish or dark, swarthy. In this respect it was often a nickname given to someone with dark skin. Morris may also have derived as an Anglicized form of the Welsh personal name Meurig, also from the Latin Mauritius.Possibly an Anglicized form of the ancient Irish name Ó  Muirgheasa (variant  Ãƒâ€œ Muirghis), a personal name thought to derive from muir, meaning sea and geas, meaning taboo or prohibition.Morris may also have originated as a  variant of the German Moritz, or as an Americanized form of other like-sounding Jewish surnames. Morris is the 56th most popular surname in the United States. Morris is also popular in England, coming in as the 32nd most common surname. Surname Origin:  English, Irish, Scottish Alternate Surname Spellings:  MORRISS, MORISH, MORISSH, MORCE, MORSE, MORRISEY, MORICE, MORRICE   Famous People with the MORRISSurname Robert Morris Jr.  - American merchant and banker known as the financier of the American RevolutionWilliam Morris  -  American theatrical agent who founded the  William Morris Agency, one of the foremost theatrical agencies in the U.S.Lewis Morris  -  American land owner and developer, and signatory of the Declaration of IndependenceMargaretta Morris  -  American entomologistWilliam Morris  - British writer and artist; one of the principal founders of the  British Arts and Crafts Movement Where is the MORRIS Surname Most Common? According to surname distribution from  Forebears, Morris is the 805th most common surname in the world- found most prevalently in the United States, where it ranks 54th, but also very common in Liberia (17th), Wales (18th), England (39th), Jamaica (46th) and Australia (55th). Surname maps from  WorldNames PublicProfiler  also show the Price surname as especially common in Wales, as well as in the West Midlands region of England. Within the United States, Price is most common in the state of North Carolina, followed by South Carolina and West Virginia.   Genealogy Resources for the Surname MORRIS 100 Most Common U.S. Surnames Their MeaningsSmith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown... Are you one of the millions of Americans sporting one of these top 100 common last names from the 2000 census? Morris DNA ProjectThis DNA project connects individuals with the Morris surname, or variants such as Maurice, Moris, Morres, Morress, Morrice, or Morriss,  who are interested in using DNA testing to help discover common Morris ancestors. Morris Family Crest - Its Not What You ThinkContrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Morris family crest or coat of arms for the Morris surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted. MORRIS Family Genealogy ForumSearch this popular genealogy forum for the Morris surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Morris query. FamilySearch - MORRIS GenealogyExplore over 11  million results from digitized  historical records and lineage-linked family trees related to the Morris  surname on this free website hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. DistantCousin.com - MORRIS  Genealogy Family HistoryExplore free databases and genealogy links for the last name Morris. GeneaNet - Morris  RecordsGeneaNet includes archival records, family trees, and other resources for individuals with the Morris  surname, with a concentration on records and families from France and other European countries. The Morris  Genealogy and Family Tree PageBrowse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the Morris  surname from the website of Genealogy Today.- References: Surname Meanings Origins Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998. Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997. Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997. Back toGlossary of Surname Meanings Origins

Research on the major developments that contributed to the modern Paper

On the major developments that contributed to the modern model of health insurance - Research Paper Example Major developments in health insurance include but are not limited to the Hill-Burton Act of 1946 and the HMO Act of 1973. The Hill-Burton Act of 1946 is directed at offering loans and federal grants in order to improve the physical plant of the hospital system in the nation. Another name for the Hill-Burton Act is the Hospital Survey and Construction Act. Since their start, the Democrats and the Republicans designed the HMOs with a view to eliminating the individual health insurance. The HMO Act was proposed by President Nixon and was passed by the Congress in 1973. The HMO Act of 1973 established new and more cost effective health coverage which had constituted only a little portion of the market until then. The only main HMO till 1969 was Kaiser Permanente most of whose members would join only through unions (Holleran, 1999). The HMO Act together with Medicare ultimately eradicated the affordable individual health insurance

Letter Of Appeal Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Letter Of Appeal - Personal Statement Example However, it has been a contributing factor in my poor GPA scores up until now. This feeling of homesickness was exacerbated by being taught in a language other than my mother tongue. While my proficiency in English is very good, using it rather than my native language in full-time discourse does, as I’m sure you understand, take quite some getting used to. The period of adjustment this necessitated obviously had a direct effect on my academic results, but I have since accelerated my studies in English, and have been reading much more material and working harder at mastering the language, so that my studies should not suffer in the future. All of these factors left me with feelings of confusion, and a lack of direction and motivation. Not knowing what my goals were, either academically or in terms of a career, certainly meant that I had difficulty focusing on the work in hand. However, I have since resolved to work as hard as I can in order to get everything I can out of the academic experience on offer at New Haven. a I have, furthermore, not always been in an emotional state conducive to productive study. I come from a very close-knit family, and in the time I have been in the United States, two uncles, both of whom had been prominent figures in my life as I was growing up, and who were very dear to me, have sadly passed away. The feeling of desolation that such a loss left me with was only worsened by being so far away from my family group at this time of personal crisis. Of course, I would not claim that any of these factors, as important as they have been in bringing about the current situation, are completely responsible. I am willing to acknowledge that I have been guilty of putting a distinct lack of effort into some areas of my work. Of this I am not proud. However, I am writing to you to appeal for a reconsideration of my case in light of all of the above. I want

Creating a knowledge sharing culture (Chapter 11) Essay

Creating a knowledge sharing culture (Chapter 11) - Essay Example Thus, information and knowledge are categorized as different elements that need to be strategically aligned and correlated to provide organizations with competitive advantage. While the explicit knowledge is one that can be easily transmitted, the tacit knowledge focuses on experience and values that are accrued over time. The chapter emphasizes four major parameters of knowledge management: top team support and strategic focus; enabling mechanisms; innovation and continuous improvement; and commitment at individual and organizational level. The team thrives on sharing of knowledge and encourages proactive participation of the members to improve and improvise the performance. The workforce is provided with the facilitating platform of continuous learning through system resources and external exigencies that help it to create benchmark for improved outcome. The managerial leadership also ensures that testing new approaches is encouraged and sharing of responsibilities is intrinsically linked to teamwork. Through rewards and merits, the individuals and teams are motivated to strive for higher productivity. The chapter asserts that a ‘sharing culture’ greatly supports knowledge management. Organization culture can primarily be expressed as the shared vision and collective goals of the organization. The leadership within the organization becomes highly relevant because it promotes shared vision through collective decision making, inspiring the workforce for improved performance outcome. It also helps create an environment of learning and innovation that empowers workers to make decisions on informed choices. Thus, an organizational culture that promotes collective decision making through shared learning is highly successful. It facilitates easy adaptability to changing equations thereby, empowering the workforce and the leaders to recognize the wide scope of emerging opportunities. Another important issue that it incorporates is its inherent tendency

A first draft of the story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A first draft of the story - Essay Example Despite her circumstances, Constance brought her children up with the strong determination to make them get better lives. The children in turn worked hard. Being used to difficulties, they were able to help their mother as they went to school. They helped her until they were able to find their wings. Now, they are all successful. Her first daughter became a doctor and married a British doctor and they decided to raise their family in Europe. Another went to California to be raise her own family and the last son chose the easy and lazy life. she knows that her son is just around the corner but she seldom sees him. Her strength is drained. Her feet cannot carry her anymore to places she would want to go in search of her son. All she can do now is drag herself to the welfare building when winter arrives so that she would be sure to have something to eat. A lot of things changed in her seventy years of existence but she thinks nothing has changed at

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 9

Research Paper Example Yet, regardless of the motivation that exists for encouraging individuals to join street gangs, the fact of the matter is that participation and juvenile membership in street gangs has noticed a marked increase in the past several years time. Whereas other types of crime have slowly been decreasing, crimes associated with gain participation, membership, initiation rites, and all of the other aspects that go alongside this have statistically increased at an alarming rate. Gang crime also provides an additional headache for law enforcement as well as the justice system due to the fact that locating and prosecuting juvenile gang members for crimes committed on behest of the gang is oftentimes difficult if not impossible due to the completely unknown structure of the game that exists as well as the near impossibility of penetrating these criminal organizations to gain valuable intelligence. As such, seeking to understanding causal relationships and criminal theory that ultimately explain such behavior has been a fundamental research goal of criminologists and social scientists of late. Accordingly, the following analysis will review the â€Å"strain theory† as it relates to juvenile gang membership. Bureaucratic organized crime exhibits a number of tell-tale marks that help to differentiate it from the more commonly known and recognized patron-client networks of organized crime. One analyst noted the following: â€Å"Juvenile crime is unique in that it oftentimes exhibits a level of organization that is clearly not seen with respect to other types of crime throughout the system† (Goddard et al., 2000). However, just because bureaucratic organized crime may be less recognizable, it does not mean in any way that it exists to a lesser degree in our society. A few of the most recognizable aspects of bureaucratic organized crime is

A first draft of the story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A first draft of the story - Essay Example Despite her circumstances, Constance brought her children up with the strong determination to make them get better lives. The children in turn worked hard. Being used to difficulties, they were able to help their mother as they went to school. They helped her until they were able to find their wings. Now, they are all successful. Her first daughter became a doctor and married a British doctor and they decided to raise their family in Europe. Another went to California to be raise her own family and the last son chose the easy and lazy life. she knows that her son is just around the corner but she seldom sees him. Her strength is drained. Her feet cannot carry her anymore to places she would want to go in search of her son. All she can do now is drag herself to the welfare building when winter arrives so that she would be sure to have something to eat. A lot of things changed in her seventy years of existence but she thinks nothing has changed at

Internet Technology, Marketing and Security Research Paper - 1

Internet Technology, Marketing and Security - Research Paper Example Social media, though an emerging trend is becoming part of everyday life and most businesses ranging from SMEs to corporate companies are now using social media marketing strategies. With today’s dynamic world social media platforms is also increasing tremendously with the current trends in information and communication technology (ICT) making the world more or less a global village. Businesses that have been swift to move with the current trend have seen great success whereas those that are not dynamic enough to embrace technology have often collapsed. Social media marketing has gained tremendous popularity and use in the recent past by entrepreneurs at all levels of business. There are very many companies that have succeeded and benefited from using social media marketing including Pepsi Co. and Ford just to mention a few, and others like Kodak have faced great decline because of not being swift in embracing technology and dynamism. There are very many reasons why social med ia has become increasingly popular among entrepreneurs in the recent past as the state of the art marketing tool. Many people have switched from the traditional telecommunication tools to adopt the emerging technologies in the ICT sector. There has been a paradigm shift from the traditional media such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines, which are seen as one-way and static communication technologies, to the current trend of online sources and social media as communication tools (Zarrella, 2010). In a way, it can be said that the traditional media has lost a lot of its popularity to the new social media thus, companies can only reach many people through the social media. The paradigm shift in communication has also shifted consumer markets to a great extent changing the orientation of the business playing field (Evans, 2010) People are no longer seeking News as it was in the recent past but instead News is looking for them, all this courtesy of the recent developments in ICT (Zarrella, 2010). People are no longer buying information and knowledge but it has become free in the social networks. The information has also become free of constraints of place, free of control of content and free of restrictive access on consumption. The social media dramatically levels the playing field by making the information plentiful and available just like it levels the businesses and organisations that work on the principle that make information scarcer (Evans, 2010). Social media platforms somehow create virtual communities by bringing people together in creating, manipulating and sharing information. Companies that use social media marketing are able to reach out to these social communities and interact with them more closely in a way that they share information thus strengthening the communities (Qualman, 2012). The organisation using social media has a more interactive and deep relationship with their customers compared to companies using traditional media. In th is way, the company can get instant feedback from the customers regarding their products and thus learn more about the feelings and perception of the people/consumers concerning their product and services. In this way, they can improve their products to suit the needs of their customers in a more appropriate manner (Zarrella, 2010). On the other hand, those companies using traditional media cannot have a deep dialogue with the customers because the communication is one-way. For instance if you do not agree with an advertisement

Police Abuse Essay Example for Free

Police Abuse Essay Police brutality is the excessive, unreasonable use of force against citizens, suspects, and offenders. A study showed that most citizens complained against police officers because of the use of profanity and abusive language towards them, the use of commands to move on or get home, stopping and questioning people on the street or searching them and their cars without probable cause, the use of threats to use force if not obeyed, prodding with a nightstick or approaching with a pistol, and actual use of physical force or violence itself for no reason at all. Police brutality causes a lack of communication between minority groups and the police department and a lack of trust because of previous run-ins with brutality. In some cases police brutality runs over into an officers personal life as well. There have been several cases where an officer is arrested due to domestic violence and leads to an investigation of their work life. Most of the time there are cover ups, when domestic disputes occur so that the department does not get negative coverage if the incident was to get out, (2002, November). Ethics are considered a structure for most departments in the United States. There are several bad apples that get greedy and are cocky at times and think that they cannot be touched if they do wrong. Police departments around the U.S. have several issues with corruption, misconduct, and brutality. Most of  the time these issues are covered up so that, these officers do not give the departments bad names and people do not trust them and they, are having more crime on their hands instead of defeating the crime. In recent years, police actions, particularly police abuse has come into view of a wide, public and critical eye. While citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been shown that they must also keep a watchful eye on those who are supposed to protect and serve. This paper will discuss the types of police abuse prevalent today, including the use of firearms and recovery of private information. I will also discuss what and how citizens rights are taken advantage of by the police. Some measures necessary to protect ourselves from police taking advantage of their positions as law enforcement officers with greater permissive rights than private citizens. All citizens must take affirmative actions from physical brutality, rights violations, and information abuse. Members of the police force are government officials who enforce the law and maintain order. They are engaged in dangerous and stressful occupation that can involve violent situations that must be controlled. In many of these confrontations with the public it may become necessary for the police to administer force in order to take control of the situation. As unfortunate as it may seem however, police officers are injuring and even killing people through the use of excessive force and brutal treatment. In regard to police abuse, there will be many officers who feel that their job of fighting escalating street crime, gangs, narcotics violations, and other violent crimes is difficult already, to such an extent that worrying about excessive policy for abuse behavior will only further decrease their ability to fight crime effectively, efficiently, and safely. This abuse must be monitored so that police do not forget who they are serving; not themselves, but the public. This means that even the criminals, who are a part of the public, have certain rights, accurately identified as civil rights. One of the main police abuse problems is physical brutality. I think that there should be some kind of written policy that would restrict physical force to the narrowest possible range of specific situations. For example, there should be limitations on the use of hand to hand combat, batons, mace, stun  guns and firearms. However, limiting policies actions will bring much debate, especially from police officers and administrators themselves. Many feel that their firepower is already too weak to battle the weapons that criminals have out on the streets, thus limiting their legality of gun use will not only endanger them, but the innocent bystanders who must endure the hierarchy gun power creates in the benefit of criminals. In simple terms, corruption in policing is usually viewed as the misuse of authority by a police officer acting to fulfill personal needs or wants. For a corrupt act to occur, three distinct elements of police corruption must be present simultaneously: Misuse of authority, Misuse of official capacity, Misuse of personal attainment, (Kornblum 1976: p 71). It has been said that power inevitably leads to corruption, and it is yet to be recognized that , while there is no reason to suppose that policemen as individuals are any less fallible than other members of society, people are often shocked and outraged when policemen are exposed to violating the law. Not only should officers use brutality in very limited situations, I think that it would help requiring officers to file a written report after any use of physical force, regardless of how seemingly insignificant. Although, if every incidence of police abuse was requested to be reported, how many actually would be? Maybe only those serious enough, as depicted in new guidelines, would make it, leaving some space for officers to exert pressure without crossing serious and abusive policy. Another good tactic to control police brutality is to establish a system to identify officers who have been involved in an inordinate number of incidents that include the inappropriate use of physical fo rce. The incidents should then be investigated. For those offices who are frequently involved in unnecessary police brutality, they should be charged, disciplined, re-trained, and offered counseling. If such treatment proves ineffective, officers who violate abuse standards should be brought up on review before an administrative board made up of citizens and police officials. Officers will most likely ask, Is identifying abusive officers a  form of prejudice? The police officer is there to serve and protect the public who pays his or her salary. The officer should then be subject to any investigations into his or her abusive actions on the job. Yet even if internal policy and external government supervision is successful, it is difficult to say how the ethics of police officers will affect abuse policy as they are based on personal background and upbringing that have little to do with the issue at hand. While there are specific solutions to brutality and rights abuse, there are also some general solutions that could be implemented before the problems even arise. For example, there should be changes in police officer training. Some communities have demanded their officers receive higher education. However, there is no proof that well-educated officers rely less on abuse and more on departmentally sound investigation techniques. The length of training of police personnel should be increased, as has been the recent trend throughout the years. The average length of police academy programs has more than doubled, from about 300, to over 600 hours; in some cities, 900 up to even 1200 hours has become the new rule. (Silverman 1999: p 124) As the time devoted to training has increased, the institutions should also stress the importance of the growing trends in criminal activity so that they are prepared to deal with them. These include such areas as race relations, domestic violence, handling the mentally ill, and so on. This will, in turn, enable operations run more smoothly, hopefully avoiding police abuse problems in the future. Methods must be implemented which effectively deal with police who tend to cross the line, from simple situations to serious firearm use or prejudice. Some of the solutions, particularly the policy changes, will be met with controversy and will be difficult to implement. Keeping track of police actions is the next step in self-protection. There have been thousands of reported incidents of police misconduct in the countless cities throughout the nation, and probably thousands more that transpire without any mention. Law enforcement officers in the United States have been granted powerful authority to assist them in serving and protecting the people of this country. Many of them use their authority to uphold their duties with honor and  integrity. However, the abuses of these powers are taking place with more and more frequency. The police scandals that have surfaced within the past decade have been multiplying. If drastic measures are not taken to restore the integrity of the United States Law Enforcement, chaos will permeate throughout the nation. As citizens begin to lose their trust for law enforcement, they will gradually lose their trust in the system. While the threat of a world war has diminished, the violence on the streets across America has increased at a dramatic rate. Police are forced to face this violence and are sometimes caught up in the same violent and abusive cycle whole trying to fight it. Citizens realize that there are limits as to what a police officer can do. To make society a safe place for both citizens and officers, it is imperative that they work together for a comprehensive checks and balances system. The United States Constitution guarantees certain rights for everyone, and is the very backbone of this country. If these rights are to be ignored, either through permissive laws enacted by law enforcement against private citizens, or through a lack of maintenance of existing protective legislation, private citizens; which means the entire country, will become paralyzed. Because of this, the opportunity and freedom which this country is built on must be enforced, and those charged with doing so must not abuse their power. References (2002, December) Police Corruption, http://www.iejs.com/policing word-slash-word police_corruption.htm (2002, November) Addressing police misconduct, http://www.usdoj.gov (2002, November) Police brutality: the cop crimes homepage for law enforcement and government corruption, http://www.copcrimes.comword-slashwordhomepage.htm Alpert, Geoffrey P., Dunham Roger G. Police Use of Deadly Force. Washington D.C.: Police Executive Research Forum, 1995. Chevigny, Paul. Police Power. Toronto: Random House, 1994. Cohen, Henry. Brutal Justice. New York: John Jay Press, 1980. Kornblum, Alan N. The Moral Hazards. New York: D.C. Heath, 1976. Silverman, Eli B. NYPD Battles Crime. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press, 1999.

Leadership and Organisational Climate Effect on Innovation

Leadership and Organisational Climate Effect on Innovation Access the respective contributions of leadership and organisational climate to promote innovation. 1. Introduction Now more than ever, companies are putting more attention to innovation that make their products and services more competitive, thereby enable them to survive and flourish in the changeable and challenging global environment. There is vast number of articles and papers supporting that innovation can significantly enhance sustainable competitive advantage (Porter, 1998; Shoham and Fieganbaum, 2002; McEvily et al., 2004). Tidd Bessant (2009, p.4) also stressed that innovation is regarded as a key driver of competitive advantage in the manufacturing sector. Innovation is seen by Fagerberg (Fagerberg,et al 2006, p.4) as the first attempt to carry out a new creative idea, and translate it into practice. However, it isnt easy; its a difficult and complex task. According to Tidd and Bessant (2009 p70), there are two primary factors influencing the success of innovation: technical resources (people, equipment, knowledge, money, etc.) and the abilities in the organisation to manage these resources to encourage innovations. However, LAM (Fagerberg,et al 2006 et al 2006, p.115) points out that the latter is the precondition which can place high premiums on innovation. Organisation is a kind of breeding ground for generating creative idea and capturing new opportunities. According to Tidd and Bessant (2009 p.100), an innovative organisation has several key components: appropriate structure, effective team working, external focus, leadership, key individual, creative climate and etc. All the factors are absolutely essential. All innovative organisation needs leadership at every level. Wenger and Snyder (2000) shows that there is a positive relationship between leadership and innovation. There are increasing evidences to prove that unique leadership asserts great importance to innovation efficiently and effectively (Oke et al. 2008). In an organisation, half of the changes in performance are attributable to leadership directly and indirectly (Tidd and Bessant 2009, p.103). Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, who has led Apple to become the giant in the technology market with innovative products, is a typical example to illustrate how important and influential of leadership to innovation and creativity, in order to make his organisation a household name within the industry and worldwide alike. Leadership is becoming more and more popular nowadays. There are many articles, discussions and forums in newspapers, TV shows about how a CEO joining a badly performed company makes the company stop losing money and even regain profit in few years time. And with successful leadership, company has successfully developed a new product. Undeniably, leadership capabilities are the paramount element to sustain an organisation to top the innovative rank and achieve remarkable revenue. One of the most important roles that the leaders play within organisation settings is to create the climate for innovation (Bessant Tidd 2009). Organizational climate for innovation is crucial. West (1990) proposed that when in an organization, peoples creative ideas can be presented without worry about the refuse and ridicule, and can be highly valued and supported, and then innovation can be encouraged. The essay will go through to respectively access the contributions of leadership and organizational climate for innovation. 2. What is leadership? There are many definitions of leadership. Most researchers probably would agree that leadership can be viewed as a group process rather that a role, which is conducted by the group leader through leading and managing his or her followers to influence the process so that they can successfully accomplish their tasks and meet desired common goal (Northhouse 2009, p.3; Jacobs Jaques 1990, p281). No matter the size of a company or an organisation, leadership is vital (ORegan Ghobadian 2006). With poor or no leadership, an organisation will be chaotic. Plenty of examples show that strong leaderships can reverse the worsening business situation. Apple former CEO John Sculley replaced Steve Jobs as the new Apple CEO in 1985 with a high salary plus big bonuses guarantee. During his tenure, he made a big mistake that was to give Microsoft the authority to use Apple Macintosh graphical user interface in Microsofts windows operation system. The wrong decision opened the door to Microsofts Windows Vista and Window 7 operation system, for which the graphical user interface is similar to Macintoshs look and feel, to compete with Apple, and resulting in the latter losing in the lawsuit of plagiarism. Also because of his inaccurate perceptions to Apples product line, Apple launched the world first PAD Newton, which produced disastrous sales because of the high price and bad software pro blems. Under his leadership, Apples market share and stock prices continued to slide, and could not recover for several years until the current Apple CEO Steve Jobs took control of the Company again (Hormby 2006). Similarly, 3M is known for years as an innovator. However, several years ago, under the leadership of former CEO James McNerney, 3M shifted its strategy from innovation to quality control by implementing Six Sigma. Thousands of budgets were cut, hundreds of RD engineers were laid off, and many innovative projects were suspended. Although 3M had had a sound financial balance sheet at the beginning of his tenure, however the long-term damage is detrimental to the whole business. 3M has slided downward from the top rank of innovator ever since (Hindo 2007). 3. Type of Leadership Leadership may touch on all the employees in an organisation, and can be found in every level (Bass Riggio 2008). According to Northouse (2009), there are two different forms of leaderships, which are assigned leadership and emergent leadership. The people get the formal position to be a leader in an organisation, such as the team leader, department manager, CEO, etc, which are called the assigned leadership. Nevertheless, those people with nominal position sometimes are not the real leader but a figurehead for the team in some particular circumstances because of the lack of sufficient personal competence. On the opposite, some people who have not been officially assigned to a leader position, but they perform as a leader with the chief characteristics for a real leader, they can take the challenge to fulfil the team goal, and be regarded as a leader by the people in the organisation, which Northouse call them emergent leadership. IBM e-business real leader Dave Grossman is an examp le. When Dave Grossman came to IBM as a programmer, he found the importance of open internet to expand IBMs business, therefore, he tried to convince IBM top management the bright future of the new e-business. Eventually, IBM accepted his proposal and started opening up their e-business. With his effort, IBM successfully developed its e-business under his leadership, which transformed IBM from a broken up big blue-chip company to a new dot-com company (Tidd Bessant 2009; Hamel 2000). Dave Grossman was only a programmer, but he has the characteristics that leader should have such as vision and passion. No doubt, Grossman, at the time, was an innovative leader, who had a clear vision and successfully turned around and transformed an underperformed company from its old business model to a brighter future. 4. Characteristics of Innovation Leader Leadership always has some visions on bringing about the organisation better prospects. In this sense, leaders are necessarily innovators, who facilitate inventions to materialize their visions of better future (Selman 2009). A leader is not necessarily a great man or hero type of figure, and do not necessarily have university certificate. We heard a number of innovation leaders, who did not graduate from college but still have achieved great successes. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, they both did not finish their college (Although they tried to get degree after their successes). Nevertheless, they have devoted most of their lifetime to pursue their goals, and have secured unprecedented achievement. Its the passion to their business and success, which keeps driving them. Although there are no universal characterises that an innovation leader should possess, generally, other than passionate about the business and success, people usually think a good leader should possess good communication skill, administrative and social capability, skills in their task domain, responsibility, and energetic, initiative, flexibile (Tidd Bessan 2009, pp.104-105). Importantly, an innovation leader must be a good communicator, who is able to help their followers to fully understand the strategy of the organisation, and make sure all of his or her followers will be able to implement the leaders strategy correctly. At the same time, this can guarantee that all followers be timely informed of the progress of the organisation and what the progress of each individual. This can ensure the whole process be smoothly and precisely completed task by task and therefore achieve the common strategic objective (Zerfass Huck 2007). Internally, a innovation leader should administrate well the process of implementation of each task, and make sure the team can complete the task in time and meet all requirements. Externally, the leader should take the responsibility to build up a social network that can promote the product or service on behalf of the company, so that the product and service can be developed and commercialized successfully, which requires the social skill of the leader. (Storiti 2006). Therefore, a innovation leadership should be a good communicator, a good administrator, and a good social swinger. To lead an innovative team, innovation leaders should have substantial knowledge of his given domain. Yuki (2006) points out that expertise can be taken as a power by leader to influence their followers. Other than expertise, cognitive-processing skills are crucial factors to an innovative leader. Combination of expertise and cognitive-processing skills can allow leaders to communicate more clearly with their followers, to better understand the exact needs from their followers, and provide them with prompt and correct support (Tidd Bessant 2009, p.105). Outside, the expertise leaders can present their team more effectively. We can look back to the earlier example of the Apple former CEO John Sculley, his inability to Apples product line is the big reason of his failure. There are thousands of reasons to determine how innovation leaders should be responsible for their task and willing to take the responsibility for all the actions during the innovation process. To get respect and trust from the followers, the most important thing to do is to give them the credit for all achievements and successes, and take the responsibility for any fallings or mistakes. Therefore, followers will be motivated and will be more willing to be led. Due to the dot com bubble in 2001, Cisco had suffered a lot, sales has plunged largely and stock price fells down sharply, more severe, the employee has became very anxious and lost their desire. During the rough time, Cisco CEO John Chambers, took this as his responsibility, requested to reduce his salary to one dollar annually without any bonus until the recovery of company performance. Urged on by his behavior, employee has cheered up and work harder so that Cisco could return to profitability by 2004. 5. Innovation Leadership and Doing the right things Leadership is very important in every step of innovation process (Waldman and Bass,1991). Although some innovations are created by the employees, who are not in the positions as nominal leaders or anyone in the management board, generally speaking, almost all the innovations emerge from a clear strategy and all-around support from the leadership. By assessing the right things a leadership should do such as making long-term strategy, dealing with turbulence and uncertainty, serving and supporting their followers, etc (Isaksen Tidd, 2006, p136), we can generate an outline that explains how leadership contributes to the promotion of innovation. Mapping out a visionary strategy is the fundamental task for an innovative leader to guide the followers to think and behave in a right direction and thus complying with the organisations specific goal. Creative teams have clear and common goals (Tidd and Isaksen 2006, p186). Although freedom is one of the most important part to creativity, which is an essential part of innovation, generally, creativity stems from peoples reaction to a specific goal rather than waiting for peoples affective appeal (Jaussi Dionne 2003). Goal-setting has been viewed as a motivational technique to creativity (Locke Latham 1990). Firstly, it gives the followers a general framework of what kind of idea that will be appreciated and applicable in the organisation in a specific time; Secondly, Gladstein (1984) found that in an organisation, a common goal can make all the members work more closely that can enhance the communication in organisation and facilitate information sharing so as to ignite the spark of creativity and innovation. As Lazonick (Fagerberg,et al 2006, p.20) mentioned, there are many uncertainties in innovation process. An effective leader should have the ability and sight to forecast and preview possibilities that may occur during the process. As for the existing uncertainties and turbulence, leadership can solve these problems by several strategies including buffering, smoothing, adapting, and rationing, at the same time, the leadership can give followers some directions, encouragement and trust to motivate them, so that the process can operate as efficiently as possible in every aspect (Gemin Tarondeau 1982). A great leader understands the perspectives of uncertainty and turbulence as full of opportunities and as the outcome of innovation. In 2001, after dotcom bubble busted, Apples CEO Steve Jobs launched hard disk based iPod, with a high storage of 1000 music songs, and entered the much crowded MP3 player market. This was viewed by many as bad entry timing. Previously, this market sector was dominated by flash memory based MP3 players from Sony and many small manufacturers around the world, with 512MB storage much less than iPod. iPod was a user-friendly, click-wheel interface driven by a powerful marketing campaign overseen by Jobs personally. Jobss vision was realized in 2003 when Apple opened its first iTunes store, selling licensed music tracks to consumers. This demonstrates that Jobs understood the competitive edge of his iPod and launched it in the aftermath of crash of dotcom bubble. The success of iPod and iTunes has shown a great example of the combination of innovation and strategy at work. Of course, it further enhances the position of Jobs being the leader of innovative product in IT world even at the time of uncertainty. Robert Greenleaf (Isaksen Tidd 2006, p133) proposed the concept of servant leadership which means the leaders firstly should serve and help their followers, and understand their needs and provide the support, which is essential for innovation. For example, in order to gain market place through innovative products, an organisation must commit strategic resources, which are controlled in the hands of top management, in another word, the leadership. This is obvious that when a leadership is reluctant to commit resources, innovation can hardly be nourished. We can see the release of Betamax in 1970s, the first generation of video cassette recorder, was the strategic initiative of Akio Morita, the late founder and chairman of Sony Corp at the time. Akio dedicated resources to the RD team for the Betamax development (Oke et al. 2008). Leadership is about transformation and has largely to do with challenging the way business have been achieved so far. They usually do things differently, rather than do things better. Transformational Leaders will have the encouragement to rebel the stereotypes, and spend time to thinking out of the box. Beside, they like to taking thoughtful risks and building strong teams of people to work across boundaries. By doing things differently or unconventionally, distinguishes innovative leader from ordinary leader. 6. Organisational Climate As mentioned earlier, the other crucial factor the innovative leadership needs is to create an organisational climate for innovation. Klein and Sorra(1996) stressed that organisational climate is a key factor in innovation implementation. Building up an innovative climate or culture in an organisation is one of the important tasks of an innovative leadership. At the same time, creative organisational climate is one of fundamental elements that leads to success of innovation. Doing so successfully will certainly further secure and strengthen the leadership, which initiates innovative climate in the first place. This success will also bind more followers to the leadership because of its respective contributions for innovation, or in another word future success. A leadership should have a quality and skills to manoeuvre the internal environment of an organisation to create a favourable climate for innovation. Ashkanasy et al (2000) maintained that although there is no direct influence between organisational climate and innovation, a favourable climate can naturally drive people to seek innovation. Schneider (1990) stressed that organisational climate is generally defined as employees affection to their working environment and the anticipation of what kind of behaviour can be rewarded. Climate more concerned to the individuals feeling, behaviour and attitude in an organisation, however, it has been regarded as an attribution of the organisation (Ekvall, 1996). It can influence the communication, problem solving, decision making and the way of learning (Isaksen Tidd 2006, p.328). Unlike the culture, which is concerned with deeper and more enduring values, norm and beliefs, the climate is easier to be observed and changed(Isaksen Tidd 2006, pp.308-309) There have been many dimensions of organisational climate such as trust and openness, challenge and involvement, idea time and support, conflict and debate, risk taking and freedom, which have been identified as the most critical factors for supporting creativity and change (Isaksen Tidd 2006, p329). We will look into the following aspects of climate for innovation and their interactions with leadership contributions trust and openness in an organisation challenge and involvement support and space of ideas conflict and debate risk taking freedom 6.1 Trust and Openness Trust and openness concern more about the emotional level. Trust can increase resource-exchange and combination between business units, which contribute to produce innovation (Fagerberg,et al 2006). Ewicki et al (1998) contested that trust can be treated as a fundamental ingredient for the organisation to collaborate with each other; consequently, the collaborative climate can nurture innovation (Ruppel and Harrington, 2001). With strong level of trust and openness, people in the organisation will feel safe so that they can speak out their minds and raise some divergent points. They dont fear their ideas will be stolen. If employee feels that the management and leadership always are there to criticize new idea or comment, employee wound not take the risk to put forward their new ideas. For Instance, in order to avert such fear, in 3M, they have set up the Genesis Grants for people who have proposed new ideas even though these ideas are deemed not suitable to his or her current work d ivision or office department. In doing so, this has encouraged employees to present their thoughts and ideas freely. At the same time, to take balance between useful ideas, and unwanted, wild cat and time wasting ideas, 3M has the 15 percent rule that can uphold employee to explore new idea by doing the project they are interested in. Furthermore, with openness, the employee can learn from others experience so as to avoid some unnecessary attempts or mistakes which may save a great deal of time and money; at the same time, employee can get some clues from the others mistake and generate some new ideas. What 3M does here, is to provide a safety net for staff to freely express their ideas and comments, whilst keeping certain degrees of control over the commentary process of avoiding intentional or unintentional abuse of the trust and openness between leadership and staff, or among fellow staff and their peers. 6.2 Challenge and Involvement Challenge and involvement means the degree that people are involved in daily operations, long-term goal and visions (Tidd Bessant 2009), which can emotionally influence the peoples enthusiasm for their work which can contribute to the success of the organisation. During the stickiness to a same task, people may feel dull and lack of interest, however, certain challenge such as a new task or a new position which can inspire people to exert their capability on creative thinking and intrinsic motivation. 3M CEO have applied the mechanism renewal to encourage the innovation. Under such circumstances, new businesses are branched out from old or existing businesses. New management teams are then assigned to new business units. As a result, these new units are able to grow quickly. When these new businesses are under new managements, the newly established business unities have to develop new products and find new markets to achieve their growth objectives to make up for contributions from the old or existing businesses, which they have become segregated from. As stated by Carmeli and Schaubroeck (2007), creative work involvement is important to employee to create achievements and innovation. Involvement in a task can make people think that they are important, they will have the sense of commitment and ownership, therefore, they will delegate more to the task. In 3M, the role of employee is valued as a strategic partner, everyone has the responsibility for leadership and can empowered to act on the vision of the organisation, which have given the employees a sense of commitment that can, to a great extent, stimulate the them to work hard and be more innovative too. 6.3 Support and Space for Ideas Innovation is a time-consuming process (Fagerberg,et al 2006, p 349). Idea time and space give the people amount of time to think, plan, discuss or even test before having an action, which, to a great extent, foster new ideas within the working period. In a supportive climate, people can gain enough resources such as people, time, and money for innovative ideas. At the same time, they may realize there are values and respond to their creative potential and contributions so that they may exhibit higher levels of creative performance (Madjar et al 2002). Oldham and Cummings (1996) showed that supportiveness can significant enhance the creativity and contribute to the number of patent. A key strategy in 3M to allocate resources that allows staff to play with ideas with their own space and time. The 15 percent rule provides the staff in 3M with certain time and space in activities, which are not related to their current core business tasks. Some activities are curiosity-driven, which hav e sometimes resulted in breakthrough products such as the ever-popular Post-itÂÂ ®, which is the typical product initiated from the 15% rule. The development process in Google has a 70-20-10 rule. Google staff must spend 70% in the core business, the other 20% allow staff to roam free to encourage creativitywhere all the most interesting products emerge. The rest 10% is for crazy and radical ideas that might not work out but feel worth pursuing. 6.4 Conflict and Debate Conflict concern more about the relationships between people in an organisation, and debate focused on issues and ideas (Tidd Bessant 2009). Some researchers such as Moscovici (1980) and Nemeth Nemeth-Brown (2003) have stressed the value of conflict in that it can provoke people to think and find out creative or new viable solutions. More creative ideas can be stimulated by encouraging debates or even criticisms (Nemeth et al, 2004). Adequate conflict and debate can help company to create new capabilities by gathering diverse ideas that reflect multiple opinions to generate new options which could help company out of the old practices (Mitchell 2009). In a conflicting climate, people may be driven to strive finding the argument to support his or her own position, therefore, they need to concern the all-around of his or her opinion, or otherwise, they will lose their argument. However, the conflict and debate only can be effective in an organisation with open and collaborative clima te; otherwise, the conflict and debate will generate negative effect such as personal insult and attack (Tidd Bessant, 2009). 3M has recognized the utility of conflict in organisation can help creative thinking. In 3M, once an innovative idea came out, a conflict-free gestation and critical discussion are necessary before it is turned into an actual business product. 6.5 Risk Taking Risk taking refers to the tolerance of uncertainty and unknown situation in an organisation (Tidd Bessant, 2009). Risking-taking is one of the important ways to creative performance, because it can make good use of the opportunities for creativity-relevant resources on experiments, without experimenting things, there will be no inventions. In an organisation with high risk-taking culture, people will be rather free to try their new ideas without fear of the possible failure and they are more willing to express their new ideas freely in the first place (Tidd Bessant, 2009). 3M explicitly implements the strategy to encourage risk-taking and accept mistakes. They value employees who take wise and reasonable risks that helps to keep 3M business viable. 3M encourages employees to focus on solutions rather than placing blame. Under the risk-taking valued climate supported by the leadership, many employees are taking the initiatives, which constantly contribute to the boost of business gr owth of 3M. Dave Girouard, the President of Enterprise of Google, concedes that not every idea may bear fruit, but says there is an internal formula to assess new ideas. Google has a 70/20/10 model, which is 70 per cent of staff efforts are to be focused on core business, 20 per cent of staff efforts should be focused on related but new areas, and the rest of 10 per cent of staff efforts should reserve for radical ideas, some of which may turn into great advancements and many of which may not even be workable at all. The above examples of tolerance of wasting company resources on innovative activities, are considered to be successful only with the full supports by innovative leadership, otherwise, a company will never justify wasting resources on non-workable ideas. Only when the leadership is willing to take such risk, then those innovative processes will be allowed in an organisation in the first place. It should be emphasized that risk-taking has to be performed in a climate with full extent of openness and trust, where staff dare to try new things without the fear of punishment for the failure, or possible defeats and wastes (eg. money, time) during the risk-taking process. 6.6 Freedom Ashforth and Humphrey (1995) state that freedom means allowing people to use their own consideration to evaluate and respond to particular event and situation during the activities of product and process developments. The freedom in an organisation, concerns whether an organisation can allow its people to decide the process to achieve the specific objectives. Creativity is a result of people where they are free to decide what technique they will use to reach the particular task. This will encourage a sense of motivation to create an ownership of what has been created. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders of Google Inc, fundamentally believethat staff working on what they choose to work on, what theyre passionate about, have higher productivity than someone, whom is being directed and told what to do. It is a very central motto of innovation at Google. 7. Conclusion Just as the Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, innovation is about the peopleand how youre led. People are the key assets to an innovative organisation. No matter the size of a company, leadership is vital. Without a good leadership, an organisation will fall into chaos. Poor leaderships will have adverse effects on an organisation. Talent is scarce and creative people are highly in demand. Innovative leadership integrates innovation processes with talented people, in another word, to change organisation climate and deploy people to facilitate innovation in organisations through behaviours of leadership, by various leadership styles, or leadership priorities. Being visionary is a typical behaviour of an innovative leader. Innovation leader always has some visions of lifting up prospects of an organisation. In this sense, innovative leaders are necessarily innovators, who facilitate inventions to materialize their visions of better prospect of an organisation. Creating visionary strategy is t he fundamental task for an innovative leader that can guide the followers to think and behave in the right direction and can give the organisation a specific goal to achieve. It is up to the innovative leader to set clear and common goals. The defined goals must be unequivocally presented to the followers. An innovative leadership should have a quality of communication and more skills to manoeuvre within an organisation to create a favourable climate for innovation to strengthen the leadership itself. In other words, an innovation leader must be a good communicator, who can get his message across to his/her followers and motivate them to achieve common objectives through some creative processes. To promote innovation within an organisation, the leadership has to facilitate innovations among its people based on trust, support, openness, and risk taking. Since everyone has freedom to express ideas, it is unavoidable to have conflict between leadership and employees. Innovative leaders hip should be capable in turning debates to stimulation of innovative ideas and thoughts, at the same time, preventing and protecting employees from personal abuses. By doing things differently or in an unconventional way, an innovation organisation truly differs from other ordinary organisations. It is an encouragement for the followers that if the leaders behaviour is innovative. Within a group of people, most people imitate the behaviours of their leaders. The linkage between the role model and followers creativity is that the more creative behaviours the leader performs, the more creative their follower can produce in return. The successful innovations will also bind more followers to the leadership because of its respective contributions for innovation, or in other words, to encourage the innovation leadership and the innovative organisation to seek more innovative successes in the future. This cycle will further enhance intrinsic organisational climate for more innovations in order to facilitate competitive advantage and sustainable growth for the innovative organisation. References: Ashforth, B.E., Humphrey, R.H.,(1995). Emotions; Organisational-behavior; a reappraisal, Human Relations 48 (1995), pp. 97-125 Ashkanasy, N.M., Wilderom, C.P.M., Peterson. M.F. (2000). Handbook of Organisational Culture Climate. London, Sage publications, Inc. Bass, B. M. Riggio, R. E., (2008). Transformational leadership. New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc Carmeli, A., Schaubroeck, J., (2007). The influence of leaders and other refer

Literary Paper of The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck -- Grapes Wrath ess

Literary Paper of The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck Steinbeck wrote many wonderful books but a great classic is one titled The Grapes of Wrath. This is a story of a family called the Joads, and a tale of a courageous family who sought security and family unity. In my paper I will examine the different ways the Joads tried to keep united whether just within their immediate family or eventually with all the others who shared the same struggles and sufferings. Steinbeck's dialogue and description's of the dusty roads, the men squatting in the dirt drawing pictures while making major decisions, the way in which they traveled all puts you right into the middle of the family. One becomes aware and wants to be a part of there unity and their long for security. Steinbeck's use of the characters dialect is astoundingly excellent and unmistakenly realistic of the Joad's culture. Without this dialogue, it would not be as intense and vivid. J. Homer Caskey, in "Letters to the Editor" says, "Steinbeck's knowledge of the forces which hold a family together and the forces which cause it to disintegrate. He understands that family councils are an important part of the lives of the Joads." The major theme is the struggle and survival of the Joad family from the time they lost their home, to the unity they felt and soon were a part of a whole community, one big family, and one big soul. This theme... ...; James N. Vaughan, "The Commonweal," (July 1939) Vol. XXX, 10c No. 14 BIBLIOGRAPHY Steinbeck, John The Grapes of Wrath, New York, NY 1992 Caskey, Homer J. "The Saturday Review, Letters to the Editor," Ohio University (May 1939) Vaughan, James N. "The Commonweal," (July 1939)

Battered Woman Syndrome

The phrase â€Å"battered woman syndrome† was first coined by Walker to provide a clear picture about the recurrent events of violence occurring in a relationship. In this concept, some psychological structures are defined such as learned helplessness. This terminology will aid in the discussion of the reasons behind why certain women, who experience violence and assault, still remain and cling to the batterer and their relationship.Battered woman syndrome has become the subject of court cases in the past years, ranging from the prosecution of the batterers up to the testimonies of the battered woman. It is also traditionally applied as a reason for self-defense of a woman, who is believed to be in an imminent danger at the time she killed the batterer (McCann, Shindler and Hammond, 2004). However, issues conjure in response to this traditionally accepted claim of the victim. One of which is that battered women are masochists.Fulero and Wrightsman (2009) tackled issues about t he battered woman syndrome. They also compiled myths about the battered woman syndrome and one of which is the masochism of battered women. Since it is a myth, there are insufficient proof that the said issue is true and factual. Englander (2007) further added that theories about masochism as being normal for women have no scientific foundation and empirical data to support these theories. It is also not necessary that a woman experiencing battered woman syndrome is a masochist.Different angles of the issue must be viewed first. Consider the social status of the person because having an inferior social status does not necessarily mean that one is masochistic. Consider also her behavior. Although she behaves masochistically, it does not necessarily mean that she is suffering from masochism. Her act of masochism may be due to the fact that she needs to increase her chances of surviving or to eliminate the tension building inside her. A woman may not be able to leave her husband becaus e of the benefit she gains from him (e. g., her children has father) or she cannot find any other man to satisfy her emotional needs (Rancour-Laferriere, 1995). Other factors to consider would include the following: social or financial dependence on spouse, insufficient marketing skills, limited independence and mobility due to continuous childbearing, uncertainty about the severity of the problem, fear of becoming single, poor and alone, and knowledge deficit about other options that may help her (Englander, 2007). If a woman is a masochist, then she enjoys the suffering or the pain inflicted to her.However, Okun (1986) noted that masochism enlisted here does not imply enjoyment of suffering. Instead the suffering is endured because of the woman's low self-esteem and failure to understand her role in their relationship. Battered women are then suggested to be suffering from a subtype of anxiety related disorder. It is said to be under the subclassification of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since the cyclical act of violence has become a serious threat to the health of the victim and her life.The battered woman often reports flashbacks, nightmares, emotional detachment, numbness, sleep problems, disrupted concentration, hypervigilance, startled response, guilt, and fears of experiencing recurrent violence. Other symptoms would include depression, indecisiveness, low self-esteem, self-blame, passiveness, social isolation, and unwillingness to seek help from others (Keltner, Schwecke and Bostrom, 2007). In conclusion, one must first consider several factors before making assumptions about battered women.They may have some psychiatric disorders that render them incapable of leaving their abusive partner. They may have deeper reasons why they chose to experience physical rather than emotional pain. Knowing that some of these women are mothers, their love for their children may be the only bond that ties her to an abusive partner. References Englander, E. K. (2007). Understanding Violence (3rd ed. ). USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Fulero, S. M. & Wrightsman, L. S. (2009). Forensic Psychology (3rd ed. ). USA: Wadsworth. Keltner, N. L. , Schwecke, L.H. & Bostrom, C. L. (2007). Psychiatric Nursing (5th ed. ). USA: Elsevier. McCann, J. T. , Shindler, K. L. , & Hammond, T. R. (2004). The Science and Pseudoscience of Ecpert Testimony. In S. O. Lilienfeld, S. J. Lynn, J. M. Lohr, & C. Tavris. (Ed. ) Science and Pseudoscience of Clinical Psychology. USA: The Guilford Press. Okun, L. (1986). Woman Abuse: Facts Replacing Myths. USA: State University New York Press Rancour-Laferriere, D. (1995). The Slave Soul of Russia: Moral Masochism and the Cult of Suffering. USA: New York University Press.

Facebook Addiction Disorder Essay

Nowadays, the new thing in is Facebook. The big Facebook has changed the life of millions. But is that a good or a bad thing? Well some would think it’s good, but in many cases it isn’t. A new type of addiction was formed, Facebook addiction disorder. This addiction leads, mostly teenagers, to become very addicted to Facebook, and cannot live without it. Critics say that there is, at least, six symptoms of F. A. D. Some have come up with ideas to beat this new addiction. Facebook has completely changed society, for the good and for the worse. The article written by B.  Earl, â€Å" Facebook Syndrome: 8 Ways To Beat Your Facebook Addiction†, explains ways to find out if you are addicted to Facebook. He also explains ways to beat Facebook syndrome. The article written by A. Summers, â€Å"Facebook Addiction Disorder- The 6 Symptoms of F. A. D. † , explains how much Facebook has changed people, specially teenagers. She also mentions six symptoms of F. A. D. B. Earl of The Daily Mind writes, â€Å" If you ever late for a meeting or an appointment because you were checking your updates on Facebook or watching a related video on YouTube, then you know you are addicted†. He is referring to someone’s action, and how the result of that may effect their daily lives. This just to show that this actually happens to people. Many people over sleep due to being on Facebook until late hours, and sometimes lose their job because of too many late or absences to work. A. Summers wrote on the SocialTimes,â€Å" Tolerance- This term is used to described the desperate behavior or a Facebook addict. They spend an increasing amount of time on the site, coming to a stage where they need it on order to obtain satisfaction or on the other extreme, it is having a detrimental affect on them as a person and their life†. Ms. Summer’s quote also relates to that of Mr. Earl. She also is stating how someone who is used to being on Facebook for a large amount of hours per day will get addicted. When one cannot use Facebook because they have to participate in activities and is not allowed to use Facebook, withdrawal signs become visible. Some signs are anxiety, distress, and they require the need to talk about Facebook and what goes on while one is restricted from using it (Summers). She is referring to withdrawal symptoms, just as alcohol or cigarettes have withdrawal symptoms. B. Earl states â€Å"get off the computer. Really†¦do you need to spend that much time on the computer? Honestly ask yourself that†. This relates to what Summers said because if people spent less time on the computer, and more time socializing with people the real way, they would not get withdrawals. Facebook should not get in the way of either one’s individuals studies nor their careers. Nowadays, over 90% of young teenagers have a Facebook account (Adam). This just to show how much Facebook has changed our society, and it’s influencing teenagers to be less social. Adam blogged â€Å"Facebook games have become increasingly popular, and once again, what started out as basic games such as Sudoku or Scrabble has now advanced to games where you can create a whole new world within your laptop and smartphone†. People do this every day and waste money constantly on these foolish internet games. This is what Adam is trying to get at with his blog, people are starting to become so anti-social. Teenagers are starting not know how to communicate to people face to face.

Food safety Essay

Food safety is a very essential aspect of maintaining healthy and productive relationships between human beings and the entire environment. It is because it plays a basic role in enhancing good health which is vital in influencing sustainable human activities. Fundamentally, human activities influence their relationships and interactions with the environment. It can be acknowledged that maintaining food safety at all levels ensures good health which in turn guarantees healthy relationships between man and his environment. Human activities have various implications on the entire environment. In deed, they affect the economic, social, environmental and political aspects of the environment. Food safety that is fundamental for good health enables man to relate well with all these aspects of his environment. Food safety: Health To begin with good health enables human beings to work hard and be able to provide for their economic needs. According to Last (1998), when both mentally and physically healthy, individuals tend to be more productive. Increased productivity leads to healthy societies as individuals can be able to cater for their needs and wants. This is made possible by individuals earning enough to attain financial stability. Thus they can be able to pay their bills, spare some for recreation and also be able to save for the future. This is made possible if their health is assured through ensuring food safety. Bronfenbrenner (1979) indicates that excellent health also determines good interpersonal relationships and hence enables populations to acquire social cohesion. In this respect, he argues that healthy individuals are unlikely to be social misfits because they are able to think straight and are also conscious of the societal values which they uphold. Also, health enables one to work and earn an honest living as well as provide enough for his or her family. As such, people become more responsible and dedicated to their lives and this enhances one’s self esteem and personal satisfaction. Generally, Last (1998) asserts that healthy people are able to maintain healthy relationships than their counterparts. Again, this healthy status can only be achieved if the they food they consume is handled in a hygienic manner. With regard to the environment, Ebi, et al. (2005) argues that good health enables individuals to cater for their environment. According to him, healthy individuals are usually able to take timely measures to avoid environmental deterioration in their own simple ways. For instance, they can be able to plant trees, dispose of their wastes in a proper way and perform other functions that enhance environmental conservation. These actions may seem simple yet their contribution to environmental conservation is very significant. In addition, since these individuals have financial stability, they can contribute to environmental conservation missions by donating money (Ebi et al. , 2005). Furthermore, healthy individuals are in position to take sound decisions with regard to environmental conservation. The political stability of a country is also dependent on the health of the individuals. To this end, Bronfenbrenner (1979) argues that healthy and active individuals are less likely to engage in politically unsound behavior. It is worth noting that good health throughout a person’s life also implies that the person’s education and thinking process is rational. Therefore, such individuals are able to make informed, autonomous and democratic decisions with regard to politics. This enables a country to have visionary leaders that are politically mature and therefore enforce policies that are beneficial to the locals. This status can be achieved if food safety is maintained all through a person’s life. Indeed, food safety is a very vital component of our day to day living because of the role it plays in maintaining our health. Without this good health, life can be difficult for most individuals because diseases will be prevalent. Despite this realization, food handling in the US continues to be a major problem and the frequency of food poisoning and food borne illness continues to rise significantly (Last, 1998). This implies that the Food and Drug administration has failed in its duty to protect the health of the citizens. This can also be attributed to the money oriented attitude that our society has assumed. For instance, Andrew (2006) indicates that some butchery workers would rather keep their jobs than identify a slip up in the meat processing process. Further, he asserts that the urge to get food on the markets in a timely manner in order to make huge profits has made business persons overlook the minor but most important aspects of food safety. Therefore, there is need for consumers to take up the responsibility of maintaining good health by practicing the following critical steps that are very important in enhancing food safety and improved health. At a personal level, consumers should be extremely wary of sale offers. If the deal seems too good, it is always recommended to think twice. In most instances, business owners place on sale products that are defective (Andrew, 2006). Therefore, instead of making purchases blindly, consumers should spare time to check the packages properly and even identify the odor of the food. If the odor is bad, Loken (1995) ascertains that such food is not suitable for human consumption. In addition, consumers should put in to consideration the packaging of the food. Usually, food can look very appealing yet if not packed well, the probability that it is infected is so high. According to Watson (2001), well packaged food has a higher probability of being germ free. When purchasing fruits and vegetables, consumers should only buy those that are fresh looking (Loken, 1995). They should avoid fruits or vegetables that have spots or look unhealthy as this is a clear indication of infection. Andrew (2006) notes that hepatitis A is spread through poor handling of fruits and vegetables, specifically by washing the same with contaminated water before they reach the market. He suggests that it is important that consumers keep themselves well informed about any outbreaks and take precaution in a timely manner by adjusting their menu accordingly. According to him, it could be safer to avoid any fruits or vegetables involved in the outbreak than endanger one’s health by consuming contaminated food. At home, fruits and vegetables should be washed thoroughly and under running water in order to remove all dirt. In cases where fruit and vegetable washers are used, it is essential to adhere to the directions of the manufacturer in order to avoid any possible contamination. When shopping for dry foods, Watson (2001) argues that consumers should check the packaging material to ensure that it is in order. In particular, he explains that the nylon papers used for packaging as well as boxes should be well inspected to ensure that they do not have holes or openings. This is an indication that food is not contaminated as holes or other openings could serve as entrances of insects and generally germs. In addition, consumers should avoid buying dry foods that are infested by insects like weevils. These transmit diseases that are dangerous to human health. In the case of canned foods, Loken (1995) explains that care should be taken to avoid buying any cans that are defective in any way. Specifically, those with punctures or dents should be avoided at all costs as this is an indication that the food is contaminated. Consuming infected canned food can be very fatal as it may contain botulin toxin (Watson, 2001). This has a severe and fatal impact on human health as it causes paralysis. It is also important to check the cans properly on arrival at home as dents can occur during transportation. In such incidents, Andrew (2006) explains that it is better to discard them as this could be an indication of punctures which imply infection. In the home environment, Andrew (2006) points out that it is advisable to clean all surfaces used in food preparation and the kitchen as a whole after the activity. This should be done with an antibacterial cleaner in order to kill all disease causing micro organisms. In addition, the surfaces should be kept dry as wet surfaces, coupled with a warm kitchen environment provides the best conditions for micro organism breeding (Andrew, 2006). When handling meats, Loken (1995) indicates that it is advisable to freeze any that would not be consumed in a few days time. According to him, this goes a long way in avoiding chances of poisoning. In addition, he explains that before cooking any meats, it is important to inspect them fully after thawing in order to identify any signs of spoiling. Further, when cooking meats, the right temperatures should be used in order to kill any existing infectious micro organisms. Failure to do this could lead to fatal poisoning caused by the existing micro organisms (Loken, 1995). After meals, any remaining food should be frozen rather than left open even if it is meant to be used in the next meal. In many cases, persons prefer to leave the left over food from the previous meals intended to be used in the next meal in an open place. It is assumed that the period between meals is short and therefore possibility of contamination is low. However, Watson (2001) indicates that contamination can still occur within any period. The surfaces used when preparing food before cooking should also be easy to clean appropriately. It is notable that most people prefer wooden boards for chopping food and vegetables. However, these are not hygienic enough as they keep germs between the chips. It can be very difficult to clean them appropriately. Therefore, other options found on the market should be used. In cases where a dish washer is available, it should be utilized for washing utensils. Dishwashers have proved to be very effective in killing germs due to their ability to withstand very hot water. Andrew (2006) affirms that in deed, hot water is the cheapest way of killing germs and consequently, dishes washed in very hot water are likely to be germ free. In instances where one opts to dine in the restaurants, the first thing to do should be to choose a decent place. Then, when inside the restaurant, one should take note of the conduct of the staff when serving food as this often gives an insight on the general hygiene of the restaurant. If this is not satisfactory, Last (1998) explains that it is better to avoid eating in the place than risk infection. Particularly, care should be taken before consuming vegetable and fruit salads as they are the most susceptible to contamination. Restaurants on their part should ensure that any food bought is well tested before it is cooked. This is important as it helps avoid chances of cooking infected food. In addition, hospitals should also take the same precautions. Above all, Watson (2001) argues that Agricultural production in itself should be sustainable to avoid contamination at the farm level. According to him, this can be achieved if the chemicals used are suitable for Agricultural production. Harsh chemicals that are risky for human consumption should be avoided at all costs. This will help avoid the incidences of heavy metals in the vegetables and fruits. Traces of heavy metals in food have been known to cause terminal illnesses like cancer (Watson, 2001). This can be avoided if more healthy Agricultural practices are adopted. Conclusion In conclusion, all these safety measures if put in to consideration can have a positive effect on the healthcare of individuals and the society a large. Specifically, these measures are fundamental in avoiding infection as a result of consuming contaminated food. If infection is completely eliminated from food preparation and processing, then the food eaten will be safe and this has a positive impact on the health of individuals. Eating safe foods significantly reduces the incidences of disease and deaths. Since diseases cause a major setback on people’s health, elimination of the same in the society will aid in creating holistic and productive societies.