Management - 1132 Words

Practicing Project Management: A Case Study, 2005 BWF-HHMI Course in Scientific Management The ability to allocate resources to achieve a goal is the hallmark of project management. This case study is designed to help you practice the allocation of resources in project management and identify the effects of resource allocation on achieving specific goals. Read through and complete this case study, and examine the final outcome to understand the potential problems and pitfalls that can occur in projects. Through these types of exercises and personal experience you will build an experience base of skills that will help you better manage your own research laboratory. Statement of Work: Background. You are an Assistant†¦show more content†¦Bob’s Brain Foundation, the group funding your brain tumor research, decides to perform a review of your program. To keep funding you need to show significant progress. You need your â€Å"best† people doing the ongoing lab work. Modify your available resources to best accomplish you goals. You may also change your scope projects, just realize it is a â€Å"bit late in the game† to be changing scope projects. ï  ¯ ï  ¯ ï  ¯ ï  ¯ ï  ¯ ï  ¯ ï  ¯ Name Person Scope 1 Scope 2 Scope 3 Scope 4 Scope 5 Ongoing Lab Work 1 Ongoing Lab Work 2 Chia-Ling Graduate student Poor ï  ¯ Best ï  ¯ Adequate ï  ¯ Poor ï  ¯ Poor ï  ¯ Adequate ï  ¯ Best ï  ¯ Suzanne Post-doc Poor ï  ¯ Poor ï  ¯ Best ï  ¯ Poor ï  ¯ Adequate ï  ¯ Adequate ï  ¯ Best ï  ¯ Hortence Post-doc Best ï  ¯ Adequate ï  ¯ Poor ï  ¯ Best ï  ¯ Adequate ï  ¯ Best ï  ¯ Adequate ï  ¯ Pradip Post-doc Adequate ï  ¯ Best ï  ¯ Adequate ï  ¯ Poor ï  ¯ Best ï  ¯ Best ï  ¯ Adequate ï  ¯ More Things Happen! Ongoing events affect your final productivity. Hortence is sick and cannot complete her assigned tasks her productivity goes from â€Å"Best† to â€Å"Adequate†, or from â€Å"Adequate† to â€Å"Poor† depending on the task she has been assigned. DO NOT make any additional changes to the table. Copy your previous results onto the new table and calculate your point score. Final productivity ï  ¯ ï  ¯ ï  ¯ ï  ¯ ï  ¯ ï  ¯ ï  ¯ Name Person Scope 1 Scope 2 Scope 3 Scope 4 Scope 5 Ongoing Lab Work 1 Ongoing Lab Work 2Show MoreRelatedManagement : Management And Management1504 Words   |  7 Pagesassuring an organization to be able to run smoothly is called as Management. Managers are capable to make decisions that will impact an organization in every phase. These decisions vary from employing new staff to taking a company public. Management is not an easy task, and good managers are highly respected. Management is like investment. Its main purpose is to extract the most out of every resource available in the organization. Management can be called as achieving targets in such a way that all theRead MoreManagement : Management And Management Essay1740 Words   |  7 Pagesproposals, and compliance training must meet the standards and requirements of both organizational structures, requiring Mr. Aranda to be fluent in both organizational cultures. Mr. Aranda was chosen for this project due to my observance of his management capabilities over the past twelve years. Mr. Aranda was an engineering technician who then earned a BS in business, resulting in being promoted to Engineering Manager, which enabled me to observe his triumphs and failures, and watch the evolutionRead MoreManagement Theory Of Management And Management937 Words   |  4 Pagesbeen used in company management. However, management of company could not be effective if only rely on theories. In fact, a good company development requires not only suitable theories selection but also consistency with practice in appropriate organization environment. Further, a company’s successful also need team work, creatively to together process. This essay focuses on how to make the company management effectively with some cases. There is no doubt that theory of management plays an importantRead MoreThe Theory Of Management And Management1690 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Management is one of the remarkable activities within human society began with a group or to an larger organization that are able to accomplish a same goals and objectives, by defining what is management and how is important to human being society many management theorists have produces (many models that can be used for successful organization change and winners respond to the past and complexity of change and adapt learn and act quickly (Mildred,G. Sonia T. 2008 ) different theoriesRead MoreLeadership, Management And Management1081 Words   |  5 PagesLeadership and Management Businesses require some sort of hierarchy of power to be successful. They cannot operate on the basis that everyone has the same job level if they plan to make a profit. However, the individuals that are placed in the higher power positions fall into two categories, leaders and managers. Many would say these are the same thing, when in reality they are not. They are two different styles that are used when operating a business and using the right one at the right time isRead MoreLeadership, Management, And Management876 Words   |  4 PagesLeadership and Management Name Institutional Affiliation Leadership and Management The achievements of organizations depend on their management and the manner in which their leaders conduct several operations within the organization. It is worth mentioning that successful organizations attribute their positive impacts in the market and general employee-employer relation to the influence spearheaded by the management team (Hiriyappa, 2013). This paper narrows down to evaluateRead MoreManagement And Functions Of Management1063 Words   |  5 PagesManagement in business and associations is the capacity that facilitates the endeavors of individuals to achieve objectives and targets utilizing accessible assets proficiently and adequately. Management includes planning, arranging, staffing, heading or steering, and controlling an association to achieve the objective. Resourcing includes the arrangement and control of human assets, budgetary assets, innovative assets, and regular assets. Administration is additionally a scholarly teach, a socialRead MoreQuality Management : Management And Management932 Words   |  4 Pageslines, it became more commonly understood that quality management may help organizations to repeat work less often, as the initial product or service that was delivered, was of a higher caliber, resulting favorably for the company as well as for the client. Quality management has now become a more regularly used practice throughout all phases of projects, allowing project managers to operate with a clear, defined process, and letting upper management determine if work should stop short for the sake ofRead MoreThe Concept Of Management And Management1147 Words   |  5 Pagesconcept of MANAGEMENT different or what is exactly the reason that some organizations have great success while others suffering many types of failures? I came to release how far is the difference in a concept of Management in organizations that are operating nowadays around the world. It is controversy issue and a subject for discussion. The concept of Management is wider subject but we are going to focus on two notable aspects, which have the most obvious part of the diversities in management. TheseRead MoreLeadership, Management, And Management1270 Words   |  6 PagesLeadership and management are different. Leadership is the position a person holds as an administrative leader such as CEO-Chief Executive Officer. Management is the act of managing a business which consists of a body of people in positions of administrative authority. Business management consists of officers, directors and other people who have the authority of the business operation, organizations, duties, and work to be done. In management, emphasis is on delivering high quality products and

Walking Dead Syndrome Free Essays

string(91) " or created something of extreme value or think they have a â€Å"special mission†\." THE WALKING DEAD SYNDROME English 150 Instructor: S. Jone November 7, 2011 The Walking Dead Syndrome Introduction The Walking Dead syndrome is considered a rare disease. I believe everyone in this existence has a purpose on this vast place we call earth. We will write a custom essay sample on Walking Dead Syndrome or any similar topic only for you Order Now However, there are people diagnosed with a syndrome who believe they have no soul or convinced themselves they are dead. The â€Å"Walking Dead Syndrome† is also commonly known as â€Å"Cotard’s Syndrome†. In this paper, I will refer this syndrome as â€Å"Cotard’s syndrome†. Cotard’s syndrome is linked with other mental illnesses which could explain a person’s state of mind of feeling non-existent in society. I will further discuss eight aspects of this syndrome: defining the Walking Dead Syndrome, defining mental illness, description of several mental illnesses associated with this syndrome, classifications of Cotard’s syndrome, analysis of patients, diagnosis of syndrome, and types of treatments available for patients. Defining Walking Dead Syndrome or Cotard’s Syndrome Many people I discussed this topic with never heard of the â€Å"Walking Dead Syndrome†. The Walking Dead Syndrome was first created by French neurologist, Jules Cotard, hence, named the â€Å"Cotard’s Syndrome†. He was a French neurologist who first described this psychiatric condition. First reference to the syndrome was made in the year 1880, when Jules Cotard gave a lecture in Paris. In this lecture, he described various degrees of the syndrome, while he said that a person who resorts to despair and self-hatred begins in the early stages of this disorder. With deterioration, the person might go to the extent of denying the very existence of himself or herself. There are detached from the sense of existence of self (â€Å"Cotard Syndrome† 2010). Patients portray themselves similar to the concept of â€Å"zombies†. Hollywood has portrayed horror and science fiction based movies on â€Å"zombies† or the â€Å"walking dead†. In the movies, zombies are typically mean and fond of human flesh, they groan and cannot talk, have incredible strength, and display rotting flesh. A zombie is physically identical to a normal human being, but completely lacks conscious experience. If we suddenly lost our minds, or consciousness our bodies might continue to run on for a while, our hearts might continue to beat, we might breathe while asleep and digest food. But without the contribution made by minds, behavior could not show characteristically human features. In the Urban Dictionary, 1999-2011, a zombie is defined â€Å"as deceased human being who has partially returned to life due to undeterminable causes. The brain retains base facilities, namely gross motor function. In its near-mindless state, it grasps no remains of emotion, personality, or sensation of pain. In rare cases, some of the reanimated have reflexively preformed routine activities from their past lives†. The people diagnosed with Walking Dead Syndrome have similar portrayals including not having internal organs and smelling of rotting flesh. A hypothetical analogy can be explained when most of us have woken up after a really good night out. Our first drive in the morning was motivated by a desire for food and coffee. If we as a society experience a chemical or radiological contamination, we might be experiencing the hangover from hell. Our higher thought would be destroyed, the neural system would be degraded, and leave just the body running on its primary functions. Defining Mental Illness Since the beginning of man, I think there has been mental illness, and chemical imbalance generates a huge part, and some people just do not have the ability to use parts of their brain for reason and logic. According to to Sorrentino, Wilk, and Newmaster (2009), a mental illness can be: â€Å"caused by a combination of genetic, biological, personality, and environmental factors, is a disturbance in a person’s ability to cope with or adjust to stress; the person’s thinking, mood, and behaviours are affected, and functioning is impaired †¦mental illnesses affect people of all ages, culture, and educational and income levels. The onset of most mental illnesses occurs during adolescence and young adulthood† (p. 641). Most mental illnesses are brought on by the stresses of life, money, property, and consumption. Having a mental illness varies from person to person and if you cannot go about your day as you normally would due to a condition then it is a mental illness. An example would be having an â€Å"anxiety disorder†, and if you cannot leave your house anymore due to petrifying fear, then there is clearly a problem. Unless of course you cannot recognize that you are having problems and you are posing a threat to yourself or others, then you can be forcibly placed under the guidance of a psychologist. Mental illness can be contributed to either biological, psychological, and environmental factors. The biological factors can be attributed to genetics or â€Å"mental disorders tend to run in families, suggesting a hereditary factor†¦the number of close relatives a person has who suffer from depression or other mood disorders is the best predictor of the likelihood that the individual will develop a mood disorder† (Boyd, Johnson, Bee, 2009, p. 385). In addition, psychological aspects can be contributed to emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, and the environmental causes can be defined as a person living in poverty or substance abuse. Mental Illnesses Associated with Cotard’s Syndrome People diagnosed with the â€Å"Cotard’s Syndrome† have been treated for a mental illness or combination of bi-polar, delusions, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder, to name a few. The major mental illnesses are painful, pervasive, disruptive and usually disabling. Firstly, a â€Å"bi-polar disorder† is defined as â€Å"a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person’s mood, energy, and ability to function† (Sorrentino, Wilk, Newsmaster, 2009, p. 651). Whereas, â€Å"delusions† are the â€Å"false beliefs that are firmly held† (Purse, 2011). An example is a person who has grandeur delusions or has paranoid tendencies. In the grandiose subtype, the person is convinced that he has some great talent or has made some important discovery, they have an inflated sense of self-worth. In addition, their delusions center on their own importance, such as believing that they have done or created something of extreme value or think they have a â€Å"special mission†. You read "Walking Dead Syndrome" in category "Papers" There is reference to another type of delusion known as â€Å"nihilistic delusions†. This type of delusion describes a person â€Å"focused on the individual’s body, including loss of body parts, being dead, or not existing at all† (Debruyne, Portzky, Peremans, Audenaert, 2011). Furthermore, Cotard syndrome created a new type of depression which â€Å"is described as anxious melancholia, ideas of damnation or rejection, insensitivity to pain, delusions or nonexistence concerning one’s own body, and delusions of immorality† (Debruyne, Portzky, Peremans, Audenaert, 2011). This type of delusion is a major attribute of Cotard’s syndrome. Thirdly, â€Å"schizophrenia† which â€Å"is an extremely complex mental health disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disturbances in thinking, and withdrawal from social activity† (Sorrentino, Wilk, Newsmaster, 2009, p. 55). News and entertainment media tend to link mental illnesses including schizophrenia to criminal violence. Most people with schizophrenia, however, are not violent toward others but are withdrawn and prefer to be left alone. Lastly, â€Å"schizoaffective disorder† is described as a â€Å"person having symptoms of both schizophrenic and bipolar disorde r† (Purse, 2006). Some disorders will cause parts of the brain to stop performing their normal functions. These can leave people out of control and disoriented (not knowing what they themselves are doing). Classifications of Cotard’s Syndrome In its early stages, Cotard’s syndrome is characterized by vague feeling of anxiety with a varying time span from weeks to years. This anxious state gradually augments and can result in nihilistic delusions where denial of life or denial of body parts are the prominent features. The patient loses sense of reality. Despite the delusion of being dead, these patients show an increased tendency to automutilation (self harm) or suicidal behaviour. (Debruyne, Portzky, Peremans, and Audenaert, 2011). A case studying involving 100 patients, in Debruyne, Portzky, Van den Eynde, and Audenaert, (2009) reveal three types of Cotard’s syndrome. The first is a form of â€Å"psychotic depression† in which anxiety, melanchonlia, delusions of guilt, and auditory hallucinations are the more prominent features. The second class is â€Å"Cotard’s syndrome Type I†, which is associated with hypochondriac and nihilistic delusions. The third type is â€Å"Cotard’s syndrome Type II†, which includes anxiety, depression, delusions of immortality, nihilistic delusions and suicidal behaviour are characteristic features†. However, in Debruyne, Portzky, Peremans, and Audenaert, 2011, a case study conducted in 1999, identified three stages of Cotard’s syndrome. The first stage, germination stage, is characterized by important hypochondriac cenesthopathy and depressive mood. A diagnosis of Cotard’s syndrome cannot be made in this stage yet. In the blooming stage, the characteristic features of Cotard’s syndrome (nihilistic delusions, delusions of immorality together with anxiety and negativism) are seen. The last stage, the chronic stage is differentiated in two forms: one with persistent emotional disturbances (depressive type) and the second where depressive symptoms are less prominent (paranoid type) (as cited by Yamman, 1999). The two classifications described above have assisted in diagnosing of Cotard’s syndrome. The similar features displayed are nihilistic delusions, depressive mood, and anxiety. Analysis This syndrome does not affect a specific category of people. A study of 100 patients, revealed that â€Å"Cotard’s syndrome was diagnosed in 2 of 349 patients†¦taking into account only severely depressed older adult patients. In addition, the average of age of person studied was 52 years of age, however, the study also suggested that Cotard’s was occasionally described in children and adolescents (Debruyne, Portzky, Van den Eynde, Audenaert, 2009). Furthermore, according to Wani et al. , (2008), â€Å"this syndrome is typically related to depression and is mostly found in middle-aged or older people. In the analysis the following results were displayed: â€Å"depressive mood (89%), nihilistic delusions (69%), anxiety (65%), delusions of guilt (63%), delusions of immortality (55%), hypochondriac delusions (58%)† (Debruyne, Portzky, Peremans, and Audenaert, 2011). Diagnosis The diagnosis reveals a psychological and neurological aspect of Cotard’s syndrome. The â€Å"depersonalization phenomenon† as described in Debruyne, Portzky, Van den Eynde, and Audenaert, 2009, is referred to using German erminology leib (body for me) and korper (body as such), korper becomes more prominent than leib and the body less associated with the self (leib), depersonalization onset can then occur. However, in depersonalization, the patient feels as if he or she is dead (in difference of affect), whereas in Cotard’s syndro me, the patient is convinced that he or she is dead (lack of feeling). Cotard’s syndrome is often associated with parietal lobe lesions. Compared with controls, patients with Cotard’s syndrome have more brain atrophy in general and more median frontal lobe atrophy in particular. Cotard’s syndrome may be associated with multifocal brain atrophy and medial frontal lobe disease. Neurological assessments were performed and findings resulted in patients affected by â€Å"parietal brain dysfunction† and structural brain abnormalities. Recent discoveries have indicated that Cotard’s syndrome was associated with multifocal brain atrophy and interhemispheric fissure enlargement. The interhemispheric fissure enlargement means â€Å"parietal lobe lesions† (Joseph and O’Leary, 2011) or bending in the frontal and occipital regions and this abnormality also been observed in schizophrenic patients. Others have described and enlargement of the third and lateral ventricles. In one patient, the patient was diagnosed with a schizophrenia disorder and a left sided hypoperfusion in the temporal, parietal and frontal lobes. The medical term of hypoperfusion is defined as a â€Å"decreased blood flow through an organ† (Meriam-Webster, 2011). In addition, the patient experienced improvements of the inferior frontal and left hypoperfusion and there was evidence of decreased hyperprofusion of the left temporal lobe†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (cited in Debruyne, Portzky, Van den Eynde, and Audenaert, 2009). Treatments There are several methods utilized to treat mental health struggles. A patient can seek professional assistance by psychology or psychiatry therapy and/or the utilization of medication. If you lived in the 16th century with any undefined mental disorder, you were considered as â€Å"possessed by the Devil† and cast away to some godforsaken monastery dungeon in which monks would constantly pray for and exorcise you. The Catholic Church they used a methodical guidebook to describe all behavioral aspects and associations of witchcraft, satanism, etc. nd utilized this upon people who were suffered with mental or behavioral maladies, and it was not commonly understood in the Medieval and Renaissance periods. In the medieval ages, they were burned because they thought demons haunted the mentally ill. In later years, we willfully experimented on them, cutting into their bodies and brains to â€Å"fix them†, this was called, trepanation. The â€Å"evidence of trepan ation has been found in prehistoric human remains from Neolithic times onward. Cave paintings indicate that people believed the practice would cure epileptic seizures, migraines, and mental disorders† (Wikipedia, 2011). It is really disgusting and is the major reason that even today it is to some a badge of humiliation instead of just an illness. Complete recovery may occur spontaneously and suddenly as onset of Cotard’s syndrome. There are several reports of successful pharmacological treatment of Cotard’s syndrome. Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is considered an important treatment option in Cotard’s syndrome. It is noted, in Debruyne, Portzky, Van den Eynde, Audenaert, 2009, that young patients use of mood stabilizers should be considered because Cotard’s syndrome in this population is often part of a bipolar disorder. Successful treatment with ECT and the patient with underlying major depressive disorder resulted in recovery of left and right temporal hypoprofussion and normalization of profusion in the frontal cortex was reported after treatment with antidepressants (Debruyne, Portzky, Peremans, and Audenaert, 2011). Please be aware that people who have true mental illnesses do suffer. They want more than anything to be able to feel and function like other people and they will actively seek help. The reality is that certain medications and treatments help those who are suffering from these conditions. Conclusion Mental illness is not a modern invention. The mentally ill have been recognized in one form or another by every culture we have a record of. How they were perceived and what their value is what has largely changed. Some people do not retreat into their minds as much as they are supposed to, while others spend all their time there. What we eat and breathe and drink affects our health and our brain, and a healthy individual’s brain tends to have more to work with and develop all the right chemicals and nerve sheaths. A good parent with their strong sense of empathy realizes that their child is a thinking, growing human being and will always need that light touch that points them in the â€Å"right direction† and prevent them from getting â€Å"lost†. The right nature and nurturing are essential for a healthy development. Some cases of these disorders I believe could be a simple lack of the ingredients to solve this chemical imbalance. Given that our brain is constantly changing accordingly with the times, a chronic chemical imbalance quickly becomes more than just that, as the brain has grown and changed around this shortcoming. The kind of understanding you wish people had for those with mental disorders would be a universal understanding for all if people would look into themselves and observe their own thoughts and behaviors. We are our best test subjects since we have full access to all the â€Å"data†, and by observing ourselves totally (mentally, developmentally, chemically) we can apply our understanding to others and learn from the experience. People need to care about how people’s minds work in general, understanding â€Å"you guys† would come with the turf, and communication with our angry neighbors would be much more effective since we’d all see where everyone is coming from. Philosophers have long contemplated human happiness, and how to live a â€Å"good† life, in harmony with our own nature. The problem is that humans do not really know what makes them happy, and what they think will, or will not, and instead they find contempt and superficial pleasures they believe will satisfy them. As a result, some people will not live a good and peaceful life that satisfies the majority of people. The fact is not everyone needs medication, but there are those who do. Some need it temporarily, some for a lifetime. Some simply need therapy, and some benefit from dietary changes. I believe understanding is the highest ideal we should seek to attain. Understanding and being honest with ourselves about ourselves and applying our own understanding to others may help us see that we are not as different as we’d like to believe. I believe that sense of commonality with all human beings can generate empathy, compassion and ultimately peace in all of us. It is when we categorize each other, ourselves, and place value on those categories then we breed hatred, ignorance and fear. References Boyd, D. , Johnson, Paul, Bee, Helen (2009). Lifespan Development. (4th Canadian Edition). Toronto: Pearsons Canada Inc. Cotard Syndrome. (2010). Disorders Central. Retrieved October 10, 2011, from http://www. disorderscentral. com/cotard-syndrome. html Debruyne, H. , Portzky, M. Peremans, K. , ; Audenaert, K. , (2011). Mind and Brain The Journal of Psychiatry. Retrieved October 6, 2011, from http://content. yudu. com/Library/A1t5r8/MindampBraintheJourn/resources/73. htm Debruyne, H. , Portzky, M. , Van den Eynde, F. , ; Audenaert, K. (2009). Cotard’s Syndrome: A Review. Current Psychiatry Reports. Retrieved October 6, 2011, from University of Calgary On-line Resources: http://www. springerlink. com. ezproxy. lib. ucal gary. ca/content/f43j790n7161432m/ Hypoperfusion. (2011). Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2011, from http://www. merriam-webster. com/medical/hypoperfusion Joseph AB, and O’Leary DH. (2011). Brain atrophy and interhemispheric fissure enlargement in Cotard’s syndrome. PubMed. gov. Retrieved November 6, 2011, from http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed/3759917 Purse, Marcia. (2011). Delusions. About. com. Retrieved October 6, 2011, from http://bipolar. about. com/od/definingbipolardisorder/g/gl_delusions. htm Purse, Marcia. (2006). Schizoaffective Disorder. About. com. Retrieved October 6, 2011, from http://bipolar. about. om/od/glossary/g/gl_schizoaffect. htm Sorrentino, Sheila A. , Wilk, Mary J. , and Newsmaster, Rosemary (2009). Mosby’s Canadian Textbook for the Support Worker. (2nd Canadian Edition). Toronto: Elsevier Canada Urban Dictionary. (1999-2011). Zombie. Retrieved November 6, 2011, from http://www. urbandictionary. com/define. php? term=zombie Wani, A. Z, Abdul, W. Khan, Aijaz, A. Babe, Hayat, A. Khan, Qurat-ul, A. Wan i, and Taploo, Rayneesa (2008). Cotard’s syndrome and delayed diagnosis in Kashmir, India. International Journal of Mental Health Systems. How to cite Walking Dead Syndrome, Papers

Bedtime Sleep Problems for Health Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Bedtime Sleep Problems for Health. Answer: Introduction: Bedtime sleep problems and crying episodes is common in infants and young children. The stress level of parents often increases due to their inability to manage sleep problems in their children. Children are often found to remain awake either for certain durations at night or they wake up frequently at nighttime. This symptom bedtime awakening and sleep problems come under the category of Behavioral insomnia of childhood and research has showed 20-30% prevalent rate of bedtime problems in infants and preschoolers. Parental presence is also a predictor of sleep disturbance and child temperament determined future sleep difficulties (Honaker and Meltzer 2014). Research also pointed out to the impact of breastfeeding practices in the problem of night awakening (Mindell et al., 2012). The adverse outcome of such problem in children includes poor daytime behavior, high BMI, decreased health related quality of life and injuries in children. Parents of such children were found to have poor p hysical health and mental peace (Honaker and Meltzer 2014). In the past year several behavioral interventions has been suggested that can be employed by parents to reduce night awakening in children and Rickert. and Johnson 1988 compared the efficacy of scheduled awakening and systematic ignoring intervention on reducing night awakening and crying episodes of children. The purpose of the report is to find other relevant articles related to the topic and appraise the research by Rickert and Johnson 1988 to decided which interventions should be funded. It also gives recommendation to ensure parents comply with the intervention easily without any resistance. Search strategy: The research study by Rickert and Johnson (1988) used randomized control study design to compare the effect of scheduled awakening and systematic ignoring on reducing nocturnal awakening crying episode in children. The research finally concluded that scheduled awakening is better than systematic ignoring to manage night awakening in children. However, to decided whether the intervention of scheduled awakening should be funded or not, it is necessary to review other research studies to analyze what has been covered in literature regarding the effectiveness of scheduled awakening for addressing night awakening in young children. The relevant research article relate to the topic is retrieved from the databases like CINAHL, Cochrane library, MedLine, Google scholar and PsychINFO. The search process was filtered by setting the date between 2008 to 2017. The inclusion criteria for taking the articles were all the articles must be published in English language and they must cover the interv ention related to nocturnal awakening in small children. The main search terms were nocturnal awakening, nocturnal awakening and crying episodes, interventions for nocturnal awakening and impact of scheduled awakening in addressing nocturnal awakening. The studies, which did not mentioned about any interventions related to the topic was not included. Literature search: The data collected from the literature search were tabulated by including the author name, date, journal sources, key findings and notes. The outcome of the literature search and key findings are as follows: Author(s) Year Journal (Source) Findings Note Galbiati et al. 2015 Behavioral neurology The study reviewed behavioral and cognitive-behavioral interventions for management of parasomnia. It reviewed many interventions and the results for scheduled awakening (Awaking the child before the onset of crying episode) was that the evidence regarding the effectiveness of this intervention was very weak. Although scheduled awakening intervention is a low risk intervention, however special attention should be given not to make children sleep deprived. Sarah, Hayley, and Hauck 2016 Children The research evaluated the reasons for parents resistance of sleep extinction interventions which emphasized on ignoring childs cry for a certain period. The findings of the research showed that parents concern regarding such interventions has not been investigated and there is no negative impact on parents or children in the long term. The study indicated that sleep extinction interventions are successful in eliminating night waking episodes, however as many parents disagree to such interventions, other choices must be provided to them. In general, behavioral sleep interventions are effective in bringing significant change in children Meltzer Mindell 2014 Journal of pediatric psychology All evidence regarding behavioral interventions for pediatric insomnia was reviewed in this study and the study results showed that behavioral treatment improves certain sleep related parameters such as sleep-onset latency, night awakening frequency and night awakening duration. However, moderated level of evidence is present regarding and more work is needed to validate the finding The study provided support for interventions like scheduled awakening, bedtime fading and scheduled awakening however there was lack of evidence to prove it as well established intervention Fehr, Russ. and Ievers-Landis 2016. 2016 Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology This research evaluated the effectiveness of including cognitive behavioral play intervention with parent behavior management to address sleeping difficulty in children. The intervention was found to reduce anxiety and stress in children. Randomized study is needed to establish the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral play intervention Tikotzky Sadeh 2010 Sleep medicine The research evaluated the role of cognitive-behavioral therapy in behavioral childhood insomnia and results gave support regarding the positive effect of the intervention on addressing sleep problem The study mentioned about ignoring the childs cry and leaving them so that they fall sleep and randomized controlled studies proved it beneficial for treating night waking problem. In addition, scheduled awakening was given less favour because parents do not comply with the procedur. Critical appraisal: The critical appraisal of the Rickert and Johnson (1988) work has been done by the application of RCT CASP tool and the results are as follows: Screening Question Focussed issue in trail: For analyzing any randomized controlled trial (RCT), it is necessary that the paper has clear statement regarding the population studied, intervention provided , comparator analysed and the outcome considered. Rickert. and Johnson (1988) stated the purpose of study by giving the clear statement regarding studying the effectiveness of scheduled awakening (intervention) and systematic ignoring (comparator) on reducing nocturnal awakening crying episode (outcome) in toddlers and infants (population studied). This statement clearly defined the focused issue in trial. Randomization of patients to treatment: As RCT studies mainly compares the effect of an intervention on treatment group and control group, it is critical to prevent biasness in study findings by means of randomization to treatment and allocation concealment. This means that the person involved in randomizing patients to different group should not be aware about the next treatment allocation. This is done by keeping a randomization code. This may be either unique code or explicit codes (Dettori 2010). Rickert and Johnson (1988) selected 33 children between 6 months to 54 months and the children were randomly assigned to the different condition. Different groups included control groups, systematic ignoring group and scheduled awakening group. Hence, it is seen that explicit randomized coding approach has been used to minimize bias and confounding factors in the study. Consideration of all patients till conclusion: A common limitation seen in RCT studies is that researchers fail to follow up with the participants after the implementation of intervention. This affects the strength and validity of the trial. Attrition effects occur because failure to follow up results in missing important data at one point or another. This form of attrition effect is seen in RCT study comparing nocturnal awakening and scheduled awakening (Dumville et al. 2006). This was seen because earlier 50 children were included in the study, but 17 children dropped out in between the study. However, the researcher focused on reducing the attrition effects by instructing all parents not to parents not to implement any treatment if their child was ill. This also reflects that follow up was kept regarding illness in any child in between the research. The attrition effect was further minimized by extending the treatment for those child who fell sick between the study. Therefore, total treatment days in the study was 5 days and i t was modified for those who child who fell ill (Rickert and Johnson 1988). Detailed Question Blinding to treatment: Blinding is another approach to minimize biasness and increase the vigour of study. This is done by process to ensure that no one, neither the participants not the research analyst is aware of the allocation of groups treatment. Based on the number of individuals from whom allocation is concealed, it is classified into single blind and double blinding. The more number of persons are blinded, the better is the assessment of study results (Karanicolas et al., 2010). While analyzing Rickert and Johnson (1988), it has been found that single blinding was done to enhance the research analysis process. For example, all participants were randomized to three treatment conditions and participants got to know about their assigned group only after the data related to the daily schedule of awakening was collected from each participants. The randomization to treatment group was also done by predetermining the group for each family before the home visit. The process of blinding is also understood f rom another research articles which aimed to determine the long benefits or harms of infant behavioral sleep programs on child, child and parent; and maternal outcomes. In that study, single blinding was seen however here the allocation was concealed from the researchers and not the parents unlike the above study (Price et al., 2012). Similarity of the group at the start of the trial Similarity of the group at the start of the trial is determined by researchers consideration to maintain the same baseline data for the participants. Having similar baseline variables for all participants is also important this also has an impact of study results. Baseline variable is related to age, education, social class or disease severity in participants. Adjustment in baseline variables provides protection against chance bias (Higgins et al. 2011). The equality in baseline variable was maintained by Rickert and Johnson (1988) by recruiting children between 5 to 54 months only. However, similarity in family type was not seen as single parent families and two parents both were taken for the trial. Different in terms of demographic variables was also seen because subjects came from small towns and cities too. This may also give a prediction regarding the impact of sociocultural variable on child crying and nocturnal awakening problem. In another research study, the main focus was on including participants based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as it aimed to evaluate strategies for improving sleep problems in children with ADHD. This helped to balance baseline data for the study (Hiscock et al., 2015). Equal treatment of groups Equal treatment of participants groups is determined by researchers consideration regarding the factors that will influence the performance of one group from another. In the study by Rickert and Johnson (1988), three groups of participants were present and equality in treatment was done by maintaining separate data for those children for became ill. As illness in any child would have impact of crying episodes and nocturnal awakening, this data was deleted and length of treatment was extended for such group. This ensures that no biased data is collected and it enhanced the validity of the research work. Result Treatment effect Treatment effect is related to the key outcomes measured and the comparison in mean outcomes between treatment group and control group. Rickert and Johnson (1988) analyzed the difference in all group by conducting one way analysis of variance for all groups on the basis of baseline data such age and frequency of crying and awakening episodes. The benefits of this approach was that it helped to conclude that mean number of night awakening and crying episodes was the same for all groups before the interventions. Post the intervention, the main outcome variable that was measured included number of spontaneous awakening and crying episodes. Among all groups, children in systematic ignoring group was found to have lesser number of awakening in the past 8 weeks. However, difference in awakening for systematic ignoring group was found only in week 3. Finally, in term of treatment effect, it was find that main effects for group did not achieved statistical significance. An effect was found o nly for a week, which was small. The research study by Hiscock et al. (2014) also analyzed the treatment effect by evaluating different between groups at follow up and no differential effects were found for infants who were first born or later born. Preciseness of the treatment effect The width of the confidence interval determines the preciseness of the treatment effects. In the study comparing systematic ignoring and scheduled awakening, it was found that the treatment effect was large. This is because wide variability were found in control group after reviewing the scatterplot analysis. Another research article evaluating prevention program for infant sleep and cry problems analysed the study results by calculations of confidence interval (Hiscock et al. 2014). Application Of Results Locally Application of the result in the local population The validity and reliability of any research is understood if the outcome of the results can be easily applied in the local setting. From the analysis of study result, it was found that both systematic ignoring and scheduled awakening yielded positive outcome for children. The study showed that systematic ignoring gives better and faster outcomes compared to scheduled awakening which is effective but a slow process. Although there is empirical evidence supporting systematic ignoring for reducing night awakening in children, however this intervention cannot be locally applied. This is because majority of parents resist the idea of letting their child cry it out and leaving them alone. Hence, to apply this locally, parents needed to be taught about the strategies to ignoring the childs cry. Therefore, scheduled awakening is most likely to be applied in local setting when parents are unwilling to let their child cry out. However, one work that is needed before implementing it is to iden tify better strategies for effectively implementing it in community setting (Tikotzky Sadeh 2010). Consideration of clinically important outcomes The main target of Rickert and Johnson (1988) to bring changes in childs outcome of crying and night awakening, however as such issues increases stress level and health of children, it was necessary to consider such clinical outcomes too. However, the researcher considered only the frequency of night awakening and not other clinical outcomes such as health of child and parents after the intervention. This is the limitation of the study and future research work in this area is required. Value of research Overall, the benefit of the research is high because the author efficiently presented the pros and cons in each intervention. Secondly, considering the level of acceptance of each intervention in local setting, the researcher also suggested the areas where more work is needed so that parents as well as other groups can easily implement this intervention. Conclusion: The main purpose of this report was to analyze whether the intervention of scheduled awakening or systematic ignoring should be funded or not. Based on critical appraisal of the research articles by Rickert and Johnson (1988) and comparing it with similar peer reviewed journals, it has been found that scheduled awakening is a beneficial intervention based on its influence on addressing sleep problems and level of acceptability among parents. Hence, this interventions should definitely be funded and investment should be done to train clinicians regarding effective way in which this intervention can be applied in children. The competency of clinicians in implementing such intervention will further support parents to overcome the problem of night awakening in their children. References Dettori, J., 2010. The random allocation process: two things you need to know.Evidence-based spine-care journal,1(03), pp.7-9. Dumville, J.C., Torgerson, D.J. and Hewitt, C.E., 2006. Research methods: reporting attrition in randomised controlled trials.BMJ: British Medical Journal,332(7547), p.969. Fehr, K.K., Russ, S.W. and Ievers-Landis, C.E., 2016. Treatment of sleep problems in young children: A case series report of a cognitivebehavioral play intervention.Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology,4(3), p.306. Galbiati, A., Rinaldi, F., Giora, E., Ferini-Strambi, L. and Marelli, S., 2015. Behavioural and cognitive-behavioural treatments of parasomnias.Behavioural neurology,2015. Higgins, J.P., Altman, D.G., Gtzsche, P.C., Jni, P., Moher, D., Oxman, A.D., Savovi?, J., Schulz, K.F., Weeks, L. and Sterne, J.A., 2011. The Cochrane Collaborations tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials.Bmj,343, p.d5928. Hiscock, H., Cook, F., Bayer, J., Le, H.N., Mensah, F., Cann, W., Symon, B. and St James-Roberts, I., 2014. Preventing early infant sleep and crying problems and postnatal depression: a randomized trial.Pediatrics,133(2), pp.e346-e354. Hiscock, H., Sciberras, E., Mensah, F., Gerner, B., Efron, D., Khano, S. and Oberklaid, F., 2015. Impact of a behavioural sleep intervention on symptoms and sleep in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and parental mental health: randomised controlled trial.bmj,350, p.h68. Honaker, S.M. and Meltzer, L.J., 2014. Bedtime problems and night wakings in young children: an update of the evidence.Paediatric respiratory reviews,15(4), pp.333-339. Karanicolas, P.J., Farrokhyar, F. and Bhandari, M., 2010. Blinding: Who, what, when, why, how?.Canadian journal of surgery,53(5), p.345. Meltzer, L.J. and Mindell, J.A., 2014. Systematic review and meta-analysis of behavioral interventions for pediatric insomnia.Journal of Pediatric Psychology,39(8), pp.932-948. Mindell, J.A., Du Mond, C., Tanenbaum, J.B. and Gunn, E., 2012. Long-term relationship between breastfeeding and sleep.Children's Health Care,41(3), pp.190-203. Price, A.M., Wake, M., Ukoumunne, O.C. and Hiscock, H., 2012. Five-year follow-up of harms and benefits of behavioral infant sleep intervention: randomized trial.Pediatrics,130(4), pp.643-651. Rickert, V.I. and Johnson, C.M., 1988. Reducing nocturnal awakening and crying episodes in infants and young children: a comparison between scheduled awakenings and systematic ignoring.Pediatrics,81(2), pp.203-212. Sarah, B., Hayley, E. and Hauck, Y., 2016. Resistance to Cry Intensive Sleep Intervention in Young Children: Are We Ignoring Childrens Cries or Parental Concerns?.Children,3(2), pp.1-5. Tikotzky, L., and Sadeh, A. 2010. The role of cognitivebehavioral therapy in behavioral childhood insomnia.Sleep Medicine,11(7), 686-691.

The Storm Essays (789 words) - Rooms, Basement, Building Engineering

The Storm Analysis of ?The Storm? In McKnight Malmar's frightening story ?The Storm? she weaves a violent storm and murder together to heighten the horrific fear that engulfs Janet Willsom. The storm is a combination of mother nature, Janet's emotions and her heartbreaking dilemmas. The story begins with Janet Willsom coming home from a vacation seeing her sister who is very ill. She has come back a week early hoping her husband, Ben, would be home so she could surprise him but he's not. There is a very strong storm unfolding outside and Janet gets concerned with Ben's whereabouts. She wonders if he is still in the city working late. There is a letter addressed to Ben on the table but she destroys it because she knows that this letter is probably no different from the others that have been sent to him in the past. Throughout this suspenseful tale she is lonely in the isolated home far away from the busy urban city. As the storm got worse, she started to hear footsteps and she thought she saw a face at the window in the living room. Was this ghostly face in the window her husband? Realizing that maybe it was her imagination, she went to the basement to get wood to make a fire. The basement was damp and dark and there was a chill in the air because the basement door was wide open. Janet wondered if the wind was so strong that it blew it open or if there was an intruder. She grabbed the doorknob and closed it as hard as she could because the wind was so strong. The fire wood was in the corner so she walked towards it. All of a sudden she noticed that her old trunk was opened just a crack, she walked to over to it and threw it open. Lying in there was a body of a woman in a red dress with a man's diamond ring on her finger. In terror Janet ran up the basement stairs, locked the door and reinforced it with a heavy wooden chair. Simutainously she heard glass shattering from the cellar window and ran into the living room to calm her fears. Soon after, Janet's husband Ben walked in the front door soaking wet, dirty and pale. She started to tell her husband the events that had happened that night. He found it hard to believe that there was a prowler lurking around outside and that there was a dead body in the trunk. Janet took him to the basement, they looked in the trunk but there was nothing in it. She wondered if she was seeing things until she saw the same diamond ring on her husband's finger that had been on the woman's finger. She realizes that her husband killed the woman. With all of the fear and strength in her body she runs up the basement stairs, ignoring Ben screaming her name she runs out of the house and never looks back. The story gave me a feeling that I was there out of sight from her but watching her every move. It was also from a very suspenseful third-person point of view. Throughout the story she thinks about all the good qualities her husband has and at the same time is missing him. The letters that are addressed to him says New York City on the envelope; he is always angry about those letters but Janet never sees the contents of those letters. My theory is that these letters are from his mistress; she was blackmailing him to leave his wife. There was a lot of emphasis on the storm itself , She starts to become apprehensive about the storm because of its increasing power ?The wind hammered at the door and the windows, and the air was full of the sound of water, racing in the gutters, pouring from the leaders, thudding on the roof.? (244) I feel that there is a storm outside but there also a storm going on from within Janet because she has doubt about her husband's fidelity. As for the ghostly face in the window and the dead woman in the trunk; her husband killed his mistress, heard his wife walking in

Microtubules Definition and Examples

Microtubules Definition and Examples Microtubules are fibrous, hollow rods that function primarily to help support and shape the cell. They also function as routes along which organelles can move throughout the cytoplasm. Microtubules are typically found in all eukaryotic cells and are a component of the cytoskeleton, as well as cilia and flagella. Microtubules are composed of the protein tubulin. Cell Movement Microtubules play a huge role in movement within a cell. They form the spindle fibers that manipulate and separate chromosomes during the mitosis phase of the cell cycle. Examples of microtubule fibers that assist in cell division include polar fibers and kinetochore fibers. Animal Cell Microtubules Microtubules also form cell structures called centrioles and asters. Both of these structures are found in animal cells, but not plant cells. Centrioles are composed of groupings of microtubules arranged in a 9 3 pattern. Asters are star-shaped microtubule structures that form around each pair of centrioles during cell division. Centrioles and asters help to organize the assembly of spindle fibers that move chromosomes during cell division. This ensures that each daughter cell gets the correct number of chromosomes after mitosis or meiosis. Centrioles also compose cilia and flagella, which allow for cell movement, as demonstrated in  sperm cells and cells that line the lungs and female reproductive tract. Cell movement is accomplished by the dis-assembly and re-assembly of actin filaments and microtubules. Actin filaments, or microfilaments, are solid rod fibers which are a component of the cytoskeleton. Motor proteins, such as myosin, move along actin filaments and cause cytoskeleton fibers to slide alongside one another. This action between microtubules and proteins produces cell movement.

Sample Common Application Essayâ€Topic of Your Choice

Sample Common Application Essay- Topic of Your Choice Alexis chose option #7 for her Common Application essay. This is the popular topic of your choice option on the 2018-19 application. The question asks, Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one youve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design. The other six essay options on the Common Application give applicants so much flexibility that it is rare for a topic not fit elsewhere, but in some cases the topic of your choice is indeed the best choice. This is true for Alexiss essay below. Sample Essay on the "Topic of Your Choice" Option My Hero Harpo In middle school, I took part in an essay competition where we had to write about one of our strongest role models- who they were, what they did, and how they had influenced us. Other students wrote about Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks, George Washington, etc. I, the youngest of five sisters and one of the quietest people in the school, chose Harpo Marx. I did not win the competition- to be honest, my essay wasn’t very good, and I knew that, even at the time. I had bigger, better things to worry about, though. I was taking swimming lessons, and was terrified of discovering a shark in the deep end. I was making little hats for my dog Alexa, which she did not appreciate. I was busy working on a clay chess set in art class, and learning how to garden with my grandmother. I’m getting off-topic, but my point is: I didn’t need to win a competition or write an essay to feel validated. I was learning who I was, and what was important in my life. Which brings me back to the Marx Brothers. My great-uncle was a big old-movie buff. We’d go over to his house most mornings during summer vacation, and watch Philadelphia Story, The Thin Man, or  His Girl Friday. My favorites, though, were the Marx Brothers’ films. Duck Soup. A Night at the Opera (my personal favorite). Animal Crackers. I can’t logically explain why I found these particular movies so hilarious and entertaining- there was something about them that not only made me laugh, but made me happy. Now, of course, watching those movies again, I’m reminded of those summer mornings, and of being surrounded by the people I loved, unconcerned with the world outside, that adds another layer of appreciation and joy. The brothers each brought their own unique humor to the pictures, but Harpo- he was perfect. The hair. The wide ties and crazy trench coats. The way he doesn’t have to say anything to be funny. His facial expressions. How he offers people his leg when they try to shake his hand. The way you can see the change in him when he sits down at the piano or the harp. The subtle shift from comedian to musician- not a complete shift, of course, but in that moment, you know just how talented and hard-working he must have been. I love that rather than being a full-time, professional musician, which he certainly could have done, Harpo (known as Adolph off-screen) instead devoted his time and energy to entertain, to make people laugh, to be a big goof with a bicycle horn and a killer whistle. I identified with him- and still do. Harpo was quiet, funny-looking, not the most outgoing or famous performers, silly, and still insanely dedicated and a serious artist. I don’t plan on going into show business. I mean, never say never and all that, but I don’t see myself as ever really getting bitten by that particular acting or performing bug. But the lessons I’ve learned from Harpo (and Groucho, Chico, Zeppo, etc.) are the kind that can transcend careers. It’s ok to fall down (a lot.) Learn to laugh at yourself. Learn to laugh at your family. Making faces is a perfectly good way to express yourself. Wear the weird clothes. Don’t be afraid to show off your talents when given the chance. Be kind to children. Have a cigar, if you want. Make up a silly song, or a goofy dance. Work hard at what you love. Work hard at what you don’t love, but what is still necessary. Don’t shy away from being the strangest, brightest, wildest, wackiest, passionate you you can be. And also carry a bicycle horn with you, just in case. A Critique of Alexis's "Topic of Your Choice" Essay With the topic of your choice essay option, one of the first issues to consider is whether or not the essay should have been presented under one of the more focused Common Application prompts. Its easy to be lazy and simply choose topic of your choice to avoid thinking too hard about the most appropriate fit for an essay. For Alexiss essay My Hero Harpo, the topic of your choice option does, in fact, work well. The essay could potentially fall under Common Application essay option #5 on a realization that sparked a period of personal growth. Alexiss experiences watching Marx Brother movies did lead to an understanding of personal identity and life balances. That said, an essay on comedic actors doesnt quite fit the general seriousness of the option #5 prompt. Now lets breakdown some of the important elements of Alexiss essay: The topic. Harpo Marx is a rather unusual focus for an admissions essay. This can be a good thing, for Alexiss essay wont be a clone of other essays the admissions office receives. At the same time, one could argue that Harpos slapstick comedy is a rather superficial focus for an application essay. This certainly could be true if the subject matter were handled poorly, but Alexis manages to turn an essay focused on Harpo Marx into an essay that is really about much more than Marx. Alexis identifies with Harpo, and she explains why she identifies with him. In the end, the essay is as much about Alexis as it is Harpo. It is an essay that reveals Alexiss self-awareness, analytical skills, and sense of humor.The tone. Many applicants wrongly assume that an application essay needs to shine a bright light on a writers accomplishments while hiding any warts. The reality, however, is that were all quirky, flawed, complex people. Revealing an awareness of this fact is a sign of maturity, and it will often play well in an admissions essay. Alexis succeeds admirably on this front. The overall tone here is conversational and slightly self-deprecating. Alexis identifies with Harpos goofiness and his decision to focus on bringing happiness to others rather than personal prestige. We finish Alexiss essay with a sense that she is reserved, silly, able to laugh at herself, yet quietly confident. The overall impression is certainly a positive one.   The writing. Alexiss language is clear and engaging, and she avoids common stylistic errors. The essay has a strong voice and personality. The essay does, in fact, have several sentence fragments, but these are clearly used deliberately for rhetorical punch, not because Alexis is a grammatically inept writer.  The impact. Its always important to step back from an application essay and consider the big picture: what will a reader take away from the essay? Alexiss essay doesnt present any remarkable accomplishment or impressive talent. It does, however, present a student who is thoughtful, self-aware, generous, talented, and quietly ambitious. Does Alexis come across as someone who the admissions folks would want to join their campus community? Yes. Make Your Essay as Strong as Possible If a college requires you to submit an essay with the Common Application, it is because the school has holistic admissions- the admissions folks want to get to know you as a whole person, not as a simple compilation of numerical data such as grades and standardized test scores. Along with extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, and in some cases an interview, the essay can plan an important role in the admissions process. Make sure yours is as strong as possible. As you write your own essay, be sure to avoid the bad essay topics,  and follow these tips for a winning essay. Most of all, make sure that your essay makes a good impression. Does it present a dimension of your personality and interests that isnt obvious from other parts of your application? Does it present you as someone who will contribute to the campus community in a meaningful way? If yes, your essay is performing its purpose well.

Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics - Essay Example The lawmakers’ premise is that, when there is friendship amongst people, they would not be clamoring for justice in the first place (Aristotle). This could be true if one considers the fact, that it is only an individual that is at loggerhead with his partner that would be suing for justice from the other party (Aristotle Chapter 1. par.2). Though it is really difficult to say whether the lawmakers are really more serious about justice than friendship or not. The reason for this is that, the two of them seem to go pari passu. In spite of this seemingly anomaly, one of the issues that seem to be more on the hearts of the lawgivers as they believe that, the issue of justice only comes to the fore when there is love lost between two parties. Thus, the lawgivers hold the issue of friendship closer to their hearts than justice. It would then be right to say that, the lawgiver lends more credence to the issue of justice. It should also be noted that, just like there is no real justice in the world today, true friendship is also a mirage. Thus, the lawmakers showing preference for one over the other means that, the other one is also equally important. Also, the fact that, friendship is more of an imaginary thing means that the lawmakers are actually not really taking either friendship or justice as serious as the

Evidence-Based Practice Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Evidence-Based Practice - Assignment Example ew of the secondary literature was conducted by selecting different research papers which were focusing on the use of echocardiography and chest x-ray in the diagnosis of various cardiac problems. The keywords explored were heart problems in teenagers, chest X-ray vs. Echocardiogram and cardiac disorders diagnosis. The databases used for the search include Google scholar, Ebscohost and PubMed. To understand the use and function of echocardiography and chest x-ray, different websites were searched on Google search engine. Literature review showed that a number of studies were available on using chest X-ray and echocardiography in cardiac problems especially for evaluating cardiomegaly. However, no relevant data was found related to teenagers. Research revealed that the heart problem is a major issue in adults therefore; studies have conducted to examine the utility of the two diagnostic tests in cardiac problems in elderly and adults. The research has limitation of not having related data for the use of chest X- ray and echocardiogram in studying cardiac problems of teenagers. No comparative analysis was found on search. The studies comparing data of both diagnostic tests on a practical setting and primary research were included however; studies that do not address the comparison of both tests and representing limited population were exempted from the research. Two studies were chosen for interpreting the comparison data. On the other hand, three sources were used to explain the key concept of both t ests and the research. Different Approaches and tests are used for the diagnosis of heart problems in teenagers admitted in medical telemetry unit. These include a physical examination, Chest X-ray and Echocardiogram. Chest X-Ray is an important diagnostic test for determining heart problems in individuals. It is used for viewing the picture of lungs and heart to determine their shape, blockages, fluid accumulation in lungs and pulmonary congestion (Dickstein et al.,

Peer Assessment Essay Example for Free

Peer Assessment Essay This paper discusses the implementation of peer assessment strategy that I carried out in a primary school in Dar es Salaam during my practicum. It consists of a background, rationale, the implementation process and conclusion. The challenges encountered and their possible solutions on how to overcome them.. Background Black and William (1998) define assessment as all those activities undertaken by teachers, and students in assessing themselves, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. There are two major types of assessment, formative assessment and summative assessment. And thus, Peer assessment is one of the forms of formative assessment. Besides, Higher Education Academy- UK, (2006) is an alternative form of assessment in which learners are given the opportunity to measure and evaluate each other’s compliments of the specified learning outcomes. It is used to involve students more closely in their learning and its evaluation and enable them to really understand what is required of them. (Phil et al 2006) This is a form of formative assessment which teachers can use in class assignments, tests, presentations, project based work and practical tasks. These tasks can be performed by learners either in pairs, by multiple assessors’ or in groups. It is where learners consider and specify the level, value or quality of a product or performance of other equal status learners (Topping, 2008). This therefore means that learners are able to learn better because they assess their peers work and give appropriate feedback which helps them to improve their own work. It also leads to a number of benefits in terms of the learning process for instance encouraging thinking, increasing learning and increasing students’ confidence Gardner (2006), students find it easier to make sense of criteria for their work if they examine other student’s work alongside their own. It is uniquely valuable because the interchange is in language that students themselves would naturally use, because they learn by taking roles of teachers and examiners of others (Saddler, 1998) Rationale Eckstein and Noah (1992) argue that teachers teach to the test therefore leaving out some non-examinable but important skills set out in the curriculum. This is evident because most schools in the developing world concentrate on exams which is summative assessment and because of the backwash of this type of assessment, it impedes rather than promote social justice by locking many young people out of the education system, (Cunningham 1998). This summative assessment limits potential in enhancing teaching and learning which makes learners not to get prompt feedback to help them improve on their performance (Brooks, 2002). PA saves the teachers’ time because it takes a shorter time to mark and grade assignments using it than when a teacher marks all the books. This gives the teacher ample time to prepare for other lessons. By using PA, the teacher is able to give feedback to the pupils in a littler time than when the teacher uses traditional method of marking. PA was introduced with an intention to encourage students to take responsibility for their learning. It makes them feel valued because their suggestions are put into account. According to Irons (2008) PA encourages dialogue between the teacher and learners themselves as they negotiate the best assessment criteria when making a rubric to evaluate their work. This makes students really understand what is required of them. Phil Race et al, asserts that students learn deeply when they have a sense of ownership of the agenda and if PA is done using the students design, there tends to be a sense of ownership of the criteria used than when they apply the tutors’ criteria. Furthermore, PA allows students to learn from each other’s successes. In some instances students notice that the work they are assessing is better than their own efforts, therefore they can benefit from the work of the most able in the group. Similarly, it helps students to learn from each other’s weaknesses too. When they discover mistakes in their peers work, it is usually good for them as the awareness of ‘what not to do’ increases and therefore refrain from making the same mistake. (Phil et al 2006) Development My practicum was in a primary school in Dar es Salaam city. I was allocated standard seven to teach English. Standard 7A is rather a large class with a roll of fifty three pupils. Boys were twenty eight while girls were twenty five. All were present. This was a double English lesson of forty minutes each. The Topic was Comprehension, Sub-topic; The library; Lenders and Borrowers. My main objectives were; by the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to read, understand, formulate questions, discuss and be able to evaluate their peers work using a rubric. I made a detailed lesson plan showing the teachers and learners activities. My teaching and learning resources were standard seven text books, dictionaries, flash cards with new words written on them, pictures of a library. The lesson started at 8.00am to 9.20am. Implementation I introduced the lesson with a vocabulary song as a brainstorming activity that was led by one of the pupils. I explained what I expected of them throughout the lesson, then used the self-selecting method to form groups of six and told them to choose a leader. We went through the guidelines that they would follow in their discussion groups. The passage had six paragraphs so I gave each group a paragraph. The learners read the passage as they listened to one another, noted down difficult or new words, and then generated three questions from their assigned paragraph. I assisted to organise the groups and how they would present. One member quickly read their paragraph as the rest of the class listened, other members gave new words that they came across and the three questions they had formulated. As they presented their findings I was writing on the blackboard the new words they had encountered, and the questions they had constructed. Together we discussed meanings of these words as pupils tried using them in sentences and checking them out in the dictionary. I noted that discussions were being led in Kiswahili though it was an English lesson. Cummins in McKay (2008) and Ellis stated that the first language (L1) is important because sometimes learners first think in it to make meaning in English. However, the discussion was very lively and everybody tried to participate. It also concurred with Goetz (2002) that different views from learners influence the direction of a lesson creating new learning experiences for both the teacher and the learner. As a class, we discussed the questions on the blackboard then I asked them to write the work in their exercise books, collect and put them on the teachers table. Together we discussed and made a marking criterion on the blackboard. I asked the class prefect to distribute the books to the learners making sure that one did not mark his or her own book. They carefully used the rubric to mark their peers work, then returned them to the owners to check and in case of any complains i moderated and explained to their satisfaction. Finally I gave each a foolscap and asked them to write down what they felt about the new method of assessment. This exercise was mainly to analyze the learners’ reflections and to evaluate myself as a teacher. Challenges My first challenge was the English teacher assigned to me was not co-operative. He was not willing to hand over a candidate class to me. I made him understand that my input would be beneficial to his professional development and the students’ grades. During group work, some learners took it for story telling time. I had a rough time controlling the noise and putting them back to focus. The chosen group leaders helped me have order in the groups and ensured participation of all members. Code switching was common as I related with the learners and as they interacted in their discussion groups. It was a challenge because they did not have the confidence to express themselves. Very few picked courage and participated in English. The rest when picked upon would request to speak in Kiswahili. I encouraged them to have confidence and to continue speaking in English because practice makes perfect. The learning environment was not very conducive. The floor was dusty and had pot holes. This was likely to cause health problems and injury. Due to the large class, desks were not enough. Learners shared four or five per desk which was quite uncomfortable. I advised the administration to discuss the matter with stakeholders so that the class would be repaired and desks added. This class did not have any teaching learning materials on the walls. They only had text books which were inadequate in a ratio of 1:5. Sharing was a problem because not all could access them. I advised the teacher that teaching and learning aids helped students to construct knowledge for themselves and develop effective learning strategies, thus laying a solid foundation for life-long learning. I also urged him to improvise teaching aids by using locally available materials for example, carton boxes to write on vocabularies and sentence structures and hang on the walls. I realized that peer assessment can be time consuming if practiced in a large class. Grouping learners, discussions, presentations and awarding marks consumed a lot of time which affected the next lesson. Since the school had extra classrooms, I encouraged him to create an extra stream and transfer some learners from 7A and 7B to the new stream if learners were to benefit from this kind of assessment. This is because a class of fifty three was too large putting into consideration the slow learners and learners with special needs who needed special attention. Conclusion Peer assessment had good impact on the teaching learning process where the learners and I jointly got involved in the assessment process hence owning the entire peer assessment procedures integrated in the lesson. This resulted into meaningful learning where feedback was instant. However, there were some challenges which we jointly addressed with the learners. For PA to be successful, meaningful procedures have to be put in place. References Black, P. William. (1998).Assessment and classroom learning: Assessment in education,principles, policy and practice in Irons, A. (2008). Enhancing learning through formative assessment and feedback. London: Routledge. Cunning,G.K. (1998).Assessment in the classroom: constructing and interpreting tests. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Irons, A. (2008).Enhancing learning through formative assessment and feedback. London: Routledge. Race, P., Brown, S. Smith. (2006). 500 Tips on assessment (2nd edition). London:

Bruce Dawe - Americanized :: essays research papers

Bruce Dawe is strongly opposed to consumerism, as shown through his poem, Americanized. The poem is written in a predominantly bitter and ironic tone. The title itself is ironic. Bruce Dawe is Australian and has spelled the title using American spelling rather than Australian spelling, with the ‘s’ being replaced by a ‘z’. Stanza one is set in the morning at breakfast time. It involves the mother and her child. Instead of the usual loving mother, we see a cold mother and one that is doubtful of her lover for her own child. Dawe uses cold language such as ‘beneficence’, ‘beamed’ and ‘laminex’ as well has the pause after ‘she loves him’ to signify this. The pair are also conveyed to be separate from each other, symbolised by them being on opposite sides of the breakfast table. Stanza two shows us how the baby is well looked after, yet is lacking the affection that small children need. The child experiences a ‘vague passing spasm of loss.’ The mother blocks out her child’s cries. There is a lack of contact and warmth between the pair. Stanza three again shows doubtfulness about the mother’s love. We see how the mother locks her child in because she fears the modern world. She sees the world as dangers and especially fears men. Her fear of men is emphasized by the italics used. In the final line of the stanza, the mother puts her son on a plastic pot. This is somewhat symbolic of the consumeristic society i.e. manufactured and cheap. Stanza four is a metaphor. The mother trying to toilet train her son is a metaphor for people learning the rules of society and trying to conform to society’s ways. In this stanza, the mother is society and the child is someone trying to learn society’s values. It is against the child’s natural instinct, yet the mother still tries to force it. In stanza five, the mother leaves the house and leaves her son at home alone. The mother is said to be ‘off to nurse and invalid called the world.’ This is to do with the theory of consumption. The mother has gone out to consume materialistic items that will in turn keep the consumer-based economy ‘healthy.’ If she and the millions of other members of the consumer society fail to do this, the consumer economy will ‘sicken.’ Stanza six shows how toys and presents mark the child’s life rather than love and affection.

Civic Duties of Teenagers

Quinn Bailey 3/4/2013 Civic Duties of Teenagers Introduction Civic duty is the obligation to each of us to leave our community in a better condition than we found it. Every person in our country has rights, and with those rights come responsibilities. That is what civic duty is, your rights and responsibilities that help contribute to society. Every single day we perform these tasks to help better our country as a whole. Teenagers have a huge role in this circle, whether they believe it or not. The civic duties that teenagers perform are a crucial part of our society, because they are the ones who grow up to be the next generation.Rights of a Teenager As a teenager, you are entitled to your rights. It’s easy to think that teens have no power over anything, even their own lives. However, teenagers have more rights than you might think. Many of a teenager's rights stem from having the ability to make a wise decision without parental consent. Every single day, teenagers everywher e are blindly fulfilling their civic duties. When a teenager goes to school, they pledge allegiance to the flag. They are basically making a pledge to the United States of America stating that they will fulfill their civic duties.I like to think of this as ‘signing a contract’, and most of them do it without even knowing it. Some of a teen’s rights are lawful rights, meaning they are permitted by law. One lawful right is going to school. Children have the right to a free public education beginning at age six. Teens sixteen and older have the right to decide if they want to attend school or not. In most states, a parent is required to sign agreeing with this decision. Another lawful right teenagers have is being able to have a job. Some states allow you to begin working as early as age fourteen.Another lawful right that teenagers have is the right to feel safe. A teen has the right to feel safe from all emotional and physical harm. If a teenager does not feel safe , they have the legal right to be taken out of the situation and placed in a safer one. Teenagers also have unwritten rights, or norms. These rights aren’t lawful, meaning they are a choice. One unwritten right is the right to drive. In most states, when you turn fourteen you can obtain an instructional permit if you pass a written test. With this permit, you learn to drive with a licensed adult in the car.Then, when you turn sixteen you can get a drivers license if you pass a driving test. Responsibilities of a Teenager From the point of view of a teenager, â€Å"Every generation has a role they need to play in society, and whether they think so or not, teens have one too† (Simpson, Nealle). Eventually, the teenagers are going to turn into adults. As you progress through your teen years, you gain more rights. This teaches you to make good decisions, many times without parental consent. â€Å"I don’t think teenagers should be expected to do more things,† said Nealle. They already have enough on their plates. † In America, teenagers are very well off. In many other parts of the world, teenagers have few rights compared to Americans. â€Å"In some countries, girls get married as early as fourteen†¦ †she stated. â€Å"And the worst part is that they don’t even get to choose who they marry! † From the point of view of a middle aged person, â€Å"Teenagers should share their burden of society duties† (Simpson, Jud). Every teenger should contribute so that a successful society can exist. â€Å"When you’re a teenager you kinda just shuffle your way through life,† said Jud. It’s a great time to make mistakes, but it’s also essential to learn from those mistakes. † Jud says that when he was a kid, rules were much more strict, and they were disciplined harder and more often. â€Å"Teens aren’t taught to be as respectful now a days,† he said. From the point of view of a senior, â€Å"Teenagers serve as better role models to other teenagers than adults† (Bailey). â€Å"If kids see another kid doing it, they think it’s cool, so they try it. Rarely do teens listen to adults about what’s in and what isn’t,† explains Bailey. In America, a decent percent of teenagers often volunteer in their community, but Bailey has a different pinion. â€Å"I think teenagers should volunteer more often,† he said. The definition of civic duty is literally ‘the activities that one does to serve their community. ’ â€Å"Teens don’t often think about how big their role is in society†¦ † said Bailey. â€Å"When I was younger, I was in all sorts community projects. † Bailey would like to see more teens signing up to volunteer, but he is very strong about his opinion that it should be a choice. He thinks adults should steer teenagers in the right direction, and then let them make the decisions.Being a teenager is a good time to learn how to make responsible decisions. â€Å"It should be voluntary,† says Bailey. â€Å"You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. † My Civic Duties I find myself very lucky to live in the United States of America. Sadly, in many other countries teenagers like me are much less fortunate and have fewer rights. What is even more sad to me is that many teenagers take for granted the rights they inherit as U. S. citizens. One example is that some teens actually take up the opportunity to drop out of high school whenever they get the chance.It upsets me that they don’t continue with their education and become a better educated citizen, especially considering it is free. As an American, I share the right of free speech with all other citizens. I also reserve the right to drive. As of age fourteen, I am legally able to drive after going through proper instruction. I also have the right to own an imals. I am very lucky to be able to say that I have the right to an education. In some other countries, like Mexico, they do not have free public education. I think this is partly what makes America so successful.In Alaska, when I turn fourteen I have the right to employment. I believe that this is a nice aspect of our society in America, because it teaches teenagers like me to learn how to work with others and manage expenses. In turn, they can grow up to be responsible with money. They will also grow up to be cooperative when working with a group of people. As a citizen, I also have the right to travel abroad with a U. S. Passport. Another right I have is the right to exercise my religion. I am able to live freely and express my religion without consequence.Where there are rights, there are responsibilities. I feel like many teenagers my age think that they get all of these rights without having any responsibilities. One example is cleaning up after themselves. Many teens expect things to be clean for them, yet they never clean up after themselves. I often see teenagers littering, whether it be leaving plastic bottles on the side of the road, or simply just leaving wads of gum under the table. One of my responsibilities is to attend school. Not only must I attend school, I must also complete all of my work in order to learn and be a successful student.I have the responsibility to stay informed about things like current events and politics on local, state, national and worldwide levels. Being successful with my education will lead to my becoming a literate and productive citizen. I have the responsibility to learn how to drive, and how to drive responsibly. The government promises me protection, and in turn I must abide by the laws and be a good citizen no matter where I am. When traveling abroad, I have the responsibility to be a good ambassador for the United States. Even though I have the right to exercise my religion, that does not mean I can disrespect other people’s religions.I have the responsibility to respect all other religions, and in turn other people should also respect my religious views. Conclusion In conclusion, I believe that teenagers have a consequential role in our society. It is of utmost importance for us as teenagers, the next generation, to recognize that although we are given a host of very enjoyable and enticing rights, we must uphold the responsibilities that couple these rights. If we fail to meet our responsibilities, the results could be disastrous, and we will create an undesirable, unsafe, unstable and unhealthy society for us and future generations to live in.

Current trading relationship Between the United States and China Essay

Introductions International trade refers to the exchange of raw materials and manufactured goods (and services) across national borders. This situation happen since every country has specific products or services that are better in terms of quality, price, or any other measurable factors than one form other countries. This idea refers to competitive advantage. This situation drives countries to exchange their products and services to benefit from the countries that can produce goods more effective and efficient. Within the past few decades, the increase of international trade has driven the integration of the world economy. Furthermore, there are interesting facts that between 1980 and 2002, the volume of world trade has increased significantly relative to world output. This is because, for instances, traded goods have become cheaper over time relative to those goods that are not traded. In addition, we witness there are three factors characterize the increase in trade: The decrease in costs of trade. In transportation, communication and search, currency exchange and tariffs are all factors that influence when trading goods internationally. Within the past 20 years, these costs are falling; suggesting that there would be an increase in the volume of trade. Second factor is the fact that tradable goods sector experience improved productivity growth. According to studies, it is found that productivity growth tends to be higher in the tradable goods sector than in the non-tradable goods sector. This situation will in turn increase the ratio of trade to output. The third factor is the increase of income per head. The increasing income will likely drive consumers to shift their spending away from basic food and clothing products and into manufacturing goods, which offer more differentiation, diversification and international Due to the needs to trade with other countries, a country is driven to find and develop their competitive advantages, which in turn sustain their trade relationship with other countries in the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Concerning the international trade, this paper will discuss about current trade relationship between U.S. and China including the current status of this trading relationship, impact of devaluing of the U.S. Dollar affect this trading relationship, sources of Chinese domestic inflation, American recession affects the Chinese economy, and the future of trading relationship between U.S. and China. Current Status of U.S – China Trading Relationship The trade relationship between U.S. and China represents a significant issue for both countries. This is because, each country regards the trade between the other party is important. For the U.S., for example, the trade with China is ranked number 3 with US$29.9 billions of dollars. The first trading partner for the U.S. is Canada (US$48.9 billions of dollars) and Mexico (US$29.9 billions of dollars). This condition highlights that the trading between the two countries will be managed suitably although the two countries often involved in political tension regarding military force, Tibet issue, and trade secret.   Table 1 shows the U.S. trade relationship with China in the first two months in 2008. Table 1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Trade Relationship between U.S. and China NOTE: All figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Month Exports Imports Balance January 2008 5,854.9 26,167.7 -20,312.8 February 2008 5,773.9   24,128.6 -18,354.7 TOTAL 11,628.8 50,296.3 -38,667.4 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2008   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Above figure represents the stable trends in which a year later in 2007, the trade value is undulating as shown in the following table (Table 2). The top value of trade between U.S. and China occurred in October 2007 where it reached US$31.6 billions of dollars (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008). Table 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Trade Relationship between U.S. and China in 2007 NOTE: All figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Month Exports Imports Balance January 2007 4,364.2 25,635.0 -21,270.9 February 2007 4,630.7 23,064.5 -18,433.8 March 2007 5,479.4 22,725.4 -17,246.1 April 2007 4,849.4 24,222.9 -19,373.5 May 2007 5,322.7 25,338.4 -20,015.7 June 2007 5,900.1 27,061.1 -21,161.0 July 2007 4,779.2 28,583.4 -23,804.2 August 2007 5,904.6 28,431.4 -22,526.8 September 2007 5,610.5 29,375.3 -23,764.8 October 2007 5,683.1 31,611.2 -25,928.1 November 2007 5,816.3 29,768.8 -23,952.6 December 2007 6,898.2 25,690.2 -18,792.0 TOTAL 65,238.3 321,507.8 -256,269.5 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2008   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are many reasons why U.S. has strong trade relationship with China. The country is home for more than 1.3 billion people, becomes one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Within the past decade, the country recorded an average of 8.2% of GDP growth. The figure put China to be the world’s 7th largest economy and 4th largest trader to date (Jintao 2003). The main reason of the country’s successful rapid growth comes from its decision to conduct comprehensive economic reforms, including its 2001 WTO accession (â€Å"People’s Republic†, 2005).   The impact of such reformation is China becomes famous for its dramatic shift from a relatively closed economy prior to 1970 to the world’s largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment to date. The year 1978 was the time when the country conducted a massive makeover of its foreign trade policy (Coughlin, 1999). As the first policy of allowing limited amount of foreign investment has seemed to work superbly, the Chinese government figured out that it was a good idea to let ‘a little more’ money coming in. Once the decision to get â€Å"a little more money’ set up, immediately afterwards, the foreign investment into China grows significantly, putting the country to be one of the main pillars of Chinese economic reformation while playing a key role in Chinese economic integration initiatives. Concerning the situation, analysts believe that FDI into China continues playing a major part in the development of China (Coughlin, 1999). Thus, we can say that to some degree, China’s economic development can be observed through the activity of FDI inside the country. Recent development shows that FDI inflow patterns into China form an obvious trend. The technology-intensive industry has attracted more investors to put their plants in China while increasing the number of FDI in-flows into the country. Along with condition, FDI inflows to traditional industries like footwear, travel goods, toys, bicycles and electrical appliances have been declining. Experts believe that the trend will reasonably continue in the future (‘China’, 2002). Devaluing of the U.S. Dollar affect this trading relationship Multinational companies having subsidiaries all around the world or a country that conducts trade with other countries generally has at least one issue to constantly think about, which is foreign currency exposure. Companies or countries cannot operate using the same currency within different countries and markets. However, their national reporting standards generally require these companies to report all their incomes and expenses within a single currency. Hence, the problem of managing foreign currency exchange risk becomes significant. Multinationals who failed to manage their currency risk accordingly could end up losing millions of dollars annually due to currency exposure (Abo & Simkins, 2004). Investorwords.com defines exchange rate risk as the risk that a business’ operations or an investment’s value will be affected by changes in exchange rates (Investorswords, 2008). Under such circumstances, for example, â€Å"if money must be converted into a different currency to make a certain investment, changes in the value of the currency relative to the American dollar will affect the total loss or gain on the investment when the money is converted back (Investorswords, 2008). Since companies that deal with foreign currency will encounter the risk of undulating exchange rate, they had better to have risk management and tools to reduce and alleviate the negative impact of such undulating rate to maintain their companies’ profit. In trade relationship point of view, the devaluation of U.S. dollar would put the trade deficit much deeper. In Table 1 and Table 2, we find that U.S. trade with China always experiences a deficit. This condition could get worse if U.S. dollars experience devaluation since it means China companies will pay less to the U.S. counterparts when they conduct trade in U.S. dollar currency. Figure 1 shows the U.S. trade deficit. Figure 1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   U.S. Trade Deficit with China (Mankiw, 2003) Sources of Chinese domestic inflation In general, inflation is influenced by a number of factors, including the degree to which the productive capacity in the economy is being utilized; one-time shifts in product prices resulting from shocks to important supply and demand curves; changes in productivity growth; and inflation expectations. Kohn in his speech further reveals that there are four determinants of inflation: Economics slack. history reveals that economic slack indicates that when capital and labor are not fully employed, competition for market share and for jobs tends to bring down the inflation rate and vice versa Price shocks. Supply and demand influence the increase in a few prices for the specific products. This situation in turn contributes to the broad pickup in inflation although Kohn believes that price shocks are not going to be a source of continuing upward pressure on prices. Productivity. The combination of rapid productivity growth and weak aggregate demand has resulted in the slack in resource utilization, which contributed to the decrease in inflation. In addition, productivity growth also influences inflation through its effects on labor compensation and profit margins. Inflation expectations. This determinant plays a key role in price determination. In addition to other effects, a rise in inflation expectations tends to become self-fulfilling as people seek to protect themselves in the process of setting wages and prices. (Federal Reserve, 2004) Concerning China domestic inflation, we find that the country’s government policy becomes one major issue that influences the inflation. In 1989, for example, the government enacted policies which were intended to prevent the overheating economy. The policy was taken because in 1988, there was an aborted effort at the wholesale price reform. The incident resulted panic buying and wildly increased inflation. This explains the sudden raise of GDP growth. However, the government managed to create price stability by canceling large investment projects and decreasing domestic demands of products and services. The following economic turmoil was caused by the Beijing Massacre 1989. AS displayed within the table, the incident causes slowdown of national businesses, especially those involved with foreign investments. In 1991, the economy started to rise again, however, still with limping steps due to the worsened national image. In 1992, Deng Xiaoping decided to perform a tour through the Southern region of the country and attempt to revive international trust to the national economy. The tour achieved a significant portion of its intentions. Immediately, international interest in the rapidly growing economy was revived and FDI inflow to the coastal regions of the country was significantly boosted. Particularly in Shanghai, the new economic tendency brought significant governmental investment into the region, to build further infrastructure for international investment. The governmental initiatives brought increasing trade activities within the region, which encourage growth and also inflation (People’ Daily Online, 2006) Bilateral trading relationship heading in the near future The first analysis in conducting a trade with other country is about analyzing the country risk. This is important factor that U.S companies should be taken into account since trading with other countries involve any factors such as law enforcement for traded goods etc. in software industry, for example, many times, U.S. software developer complain about high rate of software piracy in China.   In short, country risk analysis is performance assessment regarding the uncertainty of a particular country in order to know about business environment in that country. In addition to using several macro and micro factors of country risk rating such as checklist approach, Delphi technique, and inspection Visits (Madura 485), U.S. – China trading trends is because China still holds the highest FDI Index that encourage U.S. companies to continue conducting trade with China in the future as shown in following figure. Figure 1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Top 25 Countries in term of FDI Confidence Index Source: A.T. Kearney References    Aabo, Tom. Simkins, Betty J. (2004). Interaction between real Options and Financial Hedging: Fact or Fiction in Managerial Decision Making. Adler, M. B Dumas. (1984). Exposure to Currency Risk: Definition and Measurement. Financial Management 13, pp 41-50. China. (2005). Retrieved May 7, 2008 from http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/fs/chin.pdf#search=’China%20Fact%20Sheet%20pdf’ Coughlin, Cletus C. Segev, Eran. (1999). Foreign Direct Investment in China: A Spatial Econometric Study. Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. Retrieved May 7, 2008 from http://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/1999/1999-001.pdf Federal Reserve. (2004). Remarks by Governor Donald L. Kohn. Retrieved May 7, 2008 from http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2004/20040604/default.htm Foreign Direct Investment. (2003). Retrieved May 7, 2008 from http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/fdi/fdi.html Jintao, Hu. Australia-China free Trade Agreement Joint Feasibility Studies. Retrieved May 5, 2008 from http://www.dfat.gov.au/search International Trade Theory. Retrieved May 5, 2008 from http://www.radford.edu/~aorlov/econ340/Ch04.pdf Investorswords. (2008). Exchange Rate Risk. (2004). Retrieved May 5, 2008 from http://www.investorwords.com/1808/exchange_rate_risk.html Krugman, Paul R., and Maurice Obstfeld. (1997). International Economics: Theory and Policy. Addison-Wesley Mankiw, N. Gregory. (2003). China’s Trade and U. S. Manufacturing Jobs. Retrieved May 7, 2008 from http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/mankiw_testimony_house_ways_and_means_oct_30.html Mclain, Charles. (1995). China’s Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Law. Retrieved May 5, 2008 from http://www.1990institute.org/publications/pubs/ISUPAP11.html People’ Daily Online. (2006). Poverty Reduction Remains Tough Job for Asia-Pacific Countries. Retrieved May 6, 2008 from http://english.people.com.cn/200609/19/eng20060919_303966.html U.S. Census Bureau. (2008). Trade in Goods (Imports, Exports and Trade Balance) with China. Retrieved May 7, 2008 from http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html