Nuclear Fusion And Nuclear Energy Essay - 1638 Words

Introduction:  ¬Nuclear energy is energy in the nucleus (core) of an atom. Atoms are tiny particles that make up every object in the universe. There is enormous energy in the bonds that hold atoms together. Nuclear energy can be used to make electricity. But first the energy must be released. It can be released from atoms in two ways: nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. In nuclear fusion, energy is released when atoms are combined or fused together to form a larger atom. This is how the sun produces energy. In nuclear fission, atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms, releasing energy. Nuclear power plants use nuclear fission to produce electricity. Nuclear reactions involve changes in an atom’s nucleus and thus causes a change in the atom itself. Unlike normal chemical reactions that form molecules, nuclear reactions result in the transmutation of one element into a different isotope or a different element altogether. There are two types of nuclear reactions. The first is the radioactive decay of bonds within the nucleus that emit radiation as it decays or transforms to a more stable state. The second is the â€Å"billiard ball† type of reactions, where the nucleus or a nuclear particle (like a proton) is slammed into by another nucleus or nuclear particle. Nuclear damage is explained as any injury to or the death, sickness or disease of a person; or damage to the environment including loss of property which arises from ionising radiation associated with a nuclearShow MoreRelatedNuclear Fusion As An Alternative Energy1937 Words   |  8 PagesNuclear Fusion as an Alternative Energy Introduction Nowadays, electricity plays a huge role in many lives. We may not be able to touch electricity, but it touches our lives every day. From the time waking up in the morning until going to the bed at night, the daily life is dependent on electricity. 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The City Of Glass By Tara Brach - 1041 Words

â€Å"There is so much division in this world. So what is really the path of healing? It can begin in this moment, by embracing the life that’s here,† Tara Brach. In the book The City of Glass, the movie Divergent, and in today s society, people are told that they do not fit into a group and are forced to life on the outside. The City of Glass shows the main dystopian element of division of people into groups or castes. When Clary travels to Idris, the home of Shadowhunters, she quickly sees the separation. Luke, Clary’s step-father who is a Downworlder, gives her a traditional Shadowhunter coat, â€Å"You know how they treat outsiders. Anything you can do to fit in†(10). Luke speaks from experience. He was once a Shadowhunter before he became a Downworlder. Now he is frowned upon in the city, and does not want the same for Clary. One character who supports dividing people into castes or groups is Valentine. He is Clary’s real father and is threatening Shadowhunters with war. When the Shadowhunters need help Luke suggests for them to team up with the Downworlders and put them on the Council, which is their form of government. â€Å"Without the promise of seats on the Council, my people won’t fight. They don’t have to love it. They just have to like it better than they l ike the idea of suicide†(340). Downworlders have never been part of the Shadowhunters community, let alone their government. They have to put aside their differences in order to defend themselves, and fight a common enemy.

Rhododendron (625 words) Essay Example For Students

Rhododendron (625 words) Essay RhododendronTheplant rhododendron belongs to the family Ericaceae which also includes theHeath, and there are about eight-hundred fifty species which grow worldwide(Turner and Szczawinski, 171-2). The Heath family is a large one with so manyspecies, all of the poisonous species fall into two of its subfamilies, one ofwhich is the rhododendron. These cultivated plants occur naturally in temperateregions of the northern hemisphere and in the mountains of Southeast Asia. Theyare located in the Himalayas with seven-hundred species, southwest China, Burma,and in New Guinea with over three-hundred species (Turner and szczawinski, 172). It has been popular as ornaments in gardens and has led to a major horticulturalindustry with its widely uses in landscaping. There are twenty-seven speciesnative to North America, (Turner,172) and is the state plant of Washington. Thisspecific plant is called R. macrophyllum or the Pacific rhododendron (Pojar andMackinnon, 61). It forms a shrub layer in forests ranging from shoreline pinegroves to stands of Douglas-fir and western Hemlock up in the mountains. Usuallythey are located everywhere from homes to freeway sides and also in the forests. The rhododendron shows a great variety in size, habit, and flower color, colorsfrom white to pink, dark-purple, yellow, red, and orange (McKenzi,1). They rangefrom small shrubs to small trees with evergreen leaves that are leathery. Theleaves are short stalked, simple, and alternate, and the flowers are large,bell-shaped, and born in dense clusters. They are best grown on acidous soilwith a ph of 4.5 and 6.5, included with lots of moisture and organic material(McKenzie, 3). The leaves, flowers, pollen, and nectar of many rhododendronspecies contain several toxins (Kingsbury, 50). These toxins are calledgrayanotoxins or andromedotoxin, a resinoid carbohydrate (Kingsbury, 51). It isprevalent in the flower nectar, and has caused poisoning of bees and the honeyproduced. The symptoms are similar to both humans and all animals. The humancases are that in which children chew the leaves and get the poison in theirsystem, or when people drink tea made from the honey and plant (Abrahams, 2). I thas been reported that animals clip the leaves for boredom or when they gethungry, as food is short (U.S food and drug admin., 3). The rhododendron is abeautiful plant which lies outside homes for decorations. People should becomemore aware of its toxicity and should take precautions when handling them. Grayanotoxin The plant rhododendron contains several toxins called grayanotoxins. Other well known but former names are rhodotoxin, andromedotoxin, andacetylandrome (U.S. food and drug admin., 1). They are included in almost all ofthe species rhododendron. The name of the disease is honey intoxication, whichis caused by the consumption of honey produced (Abrahams 1). The grayanotoxinscause this intoxication, and the specific toxins vary with the plant species. Other names associated with this disease is rhododendron poisoning, mad honeintoxication or grayanotoxin poisoning. (U.S food and drug admin., 1) Thepoisoning results from the ingestion of grayanotoxin contaminated honey. Theother ways that it can get into your system is if you consume plant parts. Everypart of the plant is poisonous, the flowers, nectar, honey, and especially theleaves, which contain more. In humans, symptoms of poisoning occur six hoursafter a dose. These symptoms include salivation, vomiting, very low bloodpressure, loss of coordination, muscular weakness, slow and irregular heartbeat,and comas, followed by death in extreme cases. (U.S. FDA,2) All organisms suchas animals and humans are affected in the same way. The treatments are to inducevomiting, or perform gastric lavage, replace fluids and maintain electrolytebalance, monitor heart beat, blood pressure and breathing. Even though the casesreported have been rare, people still should become aware of this toxin. Housepets eat the plants, children do also, so they should be taught to stay awayfrom these plants.

Article Analysis for Organizational and Citizenship Behavior

Question: Discuss about theArticle Analysis for Organizational and Citizenship Behavior. Answer: Article: Are committed employees more likely to exhibit innovative behaviour: a social exchange perspective. This paper looks at organizational aspects and workplace relations, which can be, used in developing commitment and enabling a setting that enhances the innovative behavior of nurses who are working within the Australian health care system. It also provides an insight into the link between different factors and their influence on enabling employees to have organizational commitment and innovative behavior (Brunetto Xerri 2013). The Australian healthcare system is being affected by a shortage of nurses. Nurses are leaving the profession due to different issues and there is a problem of retention across a number of Australian hospitals. Many wards in the public and private healthcare institutions are being forced into closure due to the shortage of nurses. It is therefore in the best interest of healthcare organizations to delve into the issues that affect nurses such that they cannot maintain their commitment. When effective relationships in the work place are made, the organization gets a number of benefits as successful relations amongst staff at different levels in the organization results in sharing of information and trust hence making employees feel empowered and they also embrace accountability (Brunetto Xerri 2013).This enables them to perform their roles in an efficient and effective manner. The paper hypothesizes as follows: There is a relationship between organizational factors on work related outcomes and innovative behavior of nurses working within Australian healthcare. There are similarities in behaviour in relation to organizational factors and outcomes that are work related for public and private sector nurses in Australia. The authors provide an insight into how hospitals are able to enhance efficiency of nurses. They conclude that relationships which are social can be used to improve the innovative actions of nurses. Hospitals must therefore ensure that nurses are attached emotionally to healthcare institutions and that they have enough social relationships in the workplace that will enable them to get knowledge, information and resources that will support the innovative process (Brunetto Xerri 2013). References Brunetto, Y. and Xerri, M.J, 2013. Fostering innovative behaviour: The importance of employee commitment and organisational citizenship behaviour.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,24(16), pp.3163-3177.

The Health Care System Essays - Health Economics,

The Health Care System More Nobel Prizes in physiology and medicine have been won by doctors or scientists working in the United States than the rest of the world. It is widely accepted that the best training and education is available in the United States in the field of medicine. Despite the fact that over $750 billion is spent on health care in the United States, more than 30 million Americans have no medical coverage and over 100 million are reportedly underinsured according to Nancy Watzman, of the Washington Monthly. We spend 14 percent of our Gross National Product (GNP) on health care each year, while our neighbors to the north, the Canadians, spend only nine percent of their GNP on the same but cover 100 percent of their citizens. If the Canadians can manage to cover every one of their citizens, then we, ?The People?, must find a way to do the same. We have one of two options; either we can spend billions of dollars inventing a new health care system for the United States, or we can be frugal and efficient by adopting the Canadian model of national health care and merely customizing it to fit our own needs. And, although critics may decry the prudence of implementing a system based on socialized medicine, there would be minimal to no sacrifice in coverage, cost, and quality of health care as compared to what little health coverage we have today. If we model our system after the Canadians' then this would mean all people share the same waiting rooms, the same doctors, the same equipment, and receive the same medical care. This also alleviates the problem of some Americans receiving the best medical attention available in the world while others receive miserable attention or none at all. This idea of universal coverage sounds wonderful if you have no medical insurance currently, but it is unthinkable if you are accustomed to private rooms in hospitals and hospital meals prepared by gourmet chefs. But if this is what you are accustomed to, you belong to a small minority of Americans. Only ten percent of Americans approve of our ?health care system?, while 56 percent of Canadians approve of theirs (Goodman 35). Perhaps the disgruntled 90 percent majority could also vote the right people into congress to change the health care system to provide universal coverage here in the United States. We could not only provide universal coverage, but we could cover everyone at a lower cost for health care than we are currently paying. It actually costs less to supply medical coverage for the average Canadian than it does for the average American. A Canadian who earns the equivalent of $26,000 US dollars pays about $1,300 a year for medical coverage, while an American earning the same amount pays $2,500 per year according to Mark Kelly of the Chicago Tribune. And it's not only the citizens who would save money. The General Accounting Office estimates conservatively that at least $68 billion could be saved in paperwork costs alone if the United States switched to a national health plan. That amount itself would be enough to pay for all the uninsured citizens in the United States with some money left over for lollipops for the kids. It may be argued that these cost savings will come at the price of quality of patient care, but that is just another myth propagated by the American Medical Association, which is easily debunked by facts. If we take the $68 billion in administrative savings and subtract the estimated $12 billion it would cost to extend the same quality of care for the uninsured as the currently insured are receiving, we are left with $56 billion to do with as we wish. Furthermore, how can we even begin to talk about a decline in patient care when the numbers of the uninsured are so staggering? If over 130 million U.S. citizens, or over half of the United States' population, are currently uninsured or underinsured and we provide them some kind of medical coverage, this in itself is a significant improvement in quality of care for these people. The fault lies with the doctors who are used to providing state of the art care for the economically advantaged

The Political Theories Of Locke And Hobbes Essays - Empiricists

The Political Theories Of Locke And Hobbes Essays - Empiricists The Political Theories Of Locke And Hobbes Political Theories of Locke and Hobbes John Locke influenced Western political thought immensely. He lived during the age of political upheaval, the Glorious Revolution. During this time, the Tories and the Whigs, Englands first two political parties, joined together to rid their country of the tyrannical James II and welcomed as their new co-rulers his daughter, Mary, and her Dutch husband, William. Locke witnessed these events from the Netherlands, where he had fled in 1683 because he foresaw the accession of the absolutist and Catholic-leaning James II. These events greatly influenced his political theories. Throughout his writings, Locke argued that people had the gift of reason. Locke thought they had the natural ability to govern themselves and to look after the well being of society. He wrote, The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which treats everyone equally. Reason, which is that law, teaches all mankindthat being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health or possessions. Locke did not believe that God had chosen a group or family of people to rule countries. He rejected the Divine Right, which many kings and queens used to justify their right to rule. Instead, he argued that governments should only operate with the consent of the people they are governing. In this way, Locke supported democracy as a form of government. Locke wrote, We have learned from history we have reason to conclude that all peaceful beginnings of government have been laid in consent of the people. Governments were formed, according to Locke, to protect the right to life, the right to freedom, and the right to property. Their rights were absolute, belonging to all the people. Locke also believed that government power should be divided equally into three branches of government so that politicians will not face the temptation to grasp at absolute power. If any government abused these rights instead of protecting them, then the people had the right to rebel and form a new government . John Locke spoke out against the control of any man against his will. This control was acceptable neither in the form of an unfair government, nor in slavery. Locke wrote, The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only have the law of nature for his rule. In addition, Locke felt that women had the ability to reason, which entitled them to an equal voice- an unpopular idea during this time in history. Despite fearing that he might be censored, he wrote, It may not be wrong to offer new ideas when the old traditions are apt to lead men into mistakes, as this idea of fatherly powers probably has done, which seems so eager to place the power of parents over their children wholly in the father, as if the mother had no share in it: whereas if we consult reason or the Bible, we shall find she has an equal title. Thomas Hobbes, on the other hand, had a completely different view of human beings and how government should function. This is due to his background of growing up in England, during a time of religious, social, and political discord. Hobbes, was very interested in why people allowed themselves to be ruled and what would be the best form of government for England. In 1651, Hobbes wrote his most famous work, entitled Leviathan. In it, he argued that people were naturally wicked and could not be trusted to govern. Therefore, Hobbes believed that an absolute monarchy- a government that gave all power to a king or queen- was best. Hobbes believed that humans were basically selfish creatures who would do anything to better their position. Left to themselves, he thought, people would act on their evil impulses. According to Hobbes, people therefore should not be trusted to make decisions on their own. In addition, Hobbes felt that nations, like people, were selfishly motivated. To Hobbes, each country was in a constant battle for power and wealth. To prove his point, Hobbes wrote, If men are naturally in a state of war,

My Only Loving Idol Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

My Only Loving Idol - Essay Example My father worked very hard, right after he finished college because he had no other option, but to work hard and to be successful, if he wanted to continue living in Beijing. Meanwhile, my father had to start everything from zero because his father did not have any money or suggestion to give to him. And this is obviously the gift for the elder generation. Although it could be risky and challenging, my father had never given up the opportunity to maintain his own business until today. He always tells me the story about his struggling process. From these stories, it is quite obvious that my father is proud of his efforts in life and his success. And fortunately, people were given a lot of opportunities to start their own business at that time, so as to overcome the negative impacts of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Chinese government promised a lot of encouragement to the people, which were designed to help them to start their own business. It is easy to see that people in that part icular generation had the spirit to be entrepreneurs. In my view, the attitude of hard work and frugality that was shaped by the phenomenon of Chinese Cultural Revolution is the main reason behind the creation of wealth in China, in my father’s generation. And this also explains why there was a lot of young Chinese people craving to start their own businesses. Working hard and working independently are the keywords for my father’s generation. Because my father grew up in a very poor family, he had nothing but himself.

Practitioner interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Practitioner interview - Essay Example Technical drawing and construction skills are the essential skills that one acquires when studying Architecture. These skills enable an architect to match creative and conceptual ideas about designs together with setting up of real life structures. It is not necessary; however, most schools and architects advocate that one should have some knowledge about architecture. They involve technical studies that one may find challenging if not exposed to early enough. Work placements are important in developing architectural skills. Such industrial attachments also expose a person to practical skills and field requirements of architecture. This is vital to success in the field, especially considering the fact that a small percentage of architecture involves design while the rest involves interactive processes. As long as an architect is qualified and has the requisite knowledge and skills, it is virtually impossible to lack a well-paying job. Alternatively, with adequate qualification in the theoretical and practical areas of the profession, an architect can opt to open his or her firm, acquiring contracts Any student wanting to pursue architecture should first be driven by passion. This field involves a lot of technicalities and one can easily give up. However, it pays off when you gain the necessary knowledge. Architecture is a wide field and one should continue exploring possibilities and opportunities that arise daily. I will engage in as many projects as I can, in order to gain the necessary experience that I will need to start my own practice and maybe eventually own a real estate firm. One of the principal lessons I learnt from the respondent is that, Architecture is important not only as a learning program offered in schools, but also in mainstream society where it is actually practiced. It gives people the ideas to construct complex buildings, real estates, as well as, sky scrapers. Architecture field is mostly influenced by rapid

Human sexuality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Human sexuality - Essay Example Much of the literature avoids the issue of heterosexual anal sex as if it were an abnormal behavior, but studies are increasingly indicating that this is not the case and that anal sex may present a much greater risk for disease transmission than many people realize. By looking at four recent studies into the special issues that confront heterosexual couples who engage in anal sex, it will be understood why more studies and public education efforts must be made if the spread of AIDS is to be curtailed. Barry Schoub (1999) illustrates the various ways in which HIV is transmitted from one human being to another, highlighting the need for the virus to be transferred intravenously, i.e. through the bloodstream. The primary bodily fluids in which the virus is transferred, though, are reported to be blood, vaginal fluid and semen (Schoub, 1999: 92). In discussing the transmission types, particularly as it applies to the virus in vaginal fluid and semen, Schoub highlights the presence of greater numbers of CD4 receptor sites, which improve the chances of the HIV virus finding a new home in the uninfected partner. Because of this, he indicates transmission of the virus can occur after only one exposure with very little secretions exchanged (Schoub, 1999). While a great deal of his study focuses on the susceptibility of the CD4 cells in the male and female genitalia, Schoub also points to the problem of M-cells located in the rectum as these cells could be especially vulnerable to infectio n during such activities as anal sex (Schoub, 1999). This connection to anal sex brings several concerns to the forefront as this particular practice has been a rather taboo subject in most studies regarding the spread of AIDS and HIV. In â€Å"Assessing the Role of Anal Intercourse in the Epidemiology of AIDS in Africa† (2003), researchers Stuart Brody and John Potterat review published

Impact of Imaginary Friends on Child Development

Impact of Imaginary Friends on Child Development Introduction Childhood is a stage that is distinct and abundantly filled with cognitive, emotional and physical changes. During this period in a human life, wonder, innocence and imagination are rampant. Many skills and lessons are learned that will assist with the course the childs future will follow. This could be described as one of the most essential periods for the development of the individual they will eventually become. Some scholars have questioned whether each individual has a core self. Using some examples of the research of George Mead and John Hewitt- among others- it reveals that there are key aspects of the self that are developed by interactions within cultures and those inner communities. For some children there is a period of time where an imaginary friend is an essential part of this course of self-development. It is difficult to say if the presence of an imaginary friend is something that comes from the core self or if it arises after a certain amount of socialization. I will examine the presence of imaginary friends in younger children lives, specifically those within the preschool years. My intention is to explore the function(s) these imaginary friends might accomplish in the development of the role, identity and self within the child. DISCUSSION One concept came from work done by George Herbert Mead, who is one of the leading theorists dealing with work of symbolic interactionism and the development of the self. His work established concepts of position, play, game, and other basic theories based on relationships between the self and societal impact. Meads stages of development seem to rest entirely upon relations with others. Mead (1934) saw the self as something which ripens and results from associations with other individuals. One of his theories, the double, is signified by the establishment of the self as an entity. Some experiences can lead to the birth of a double and can be represented by imaginary friends created by the child, and which allows them to control their experiences through play. He suggested that entities are formed by human activity. The goals of those activities have two important inferences; people live in a world of objects and societal conduct is oriented to goals and purposes. (Hewitt, 2003). When one recognizes his/her self as an object, involvement in societal interaction is possible. (Mead, 1934) Another key factor in Meads theory is the development of the generalized other which-he believes- is vital in the maturity of the self. His concept of the generalized other is like a performance, a viewpoint that a person must creatively assume in order to take into account the formation of his/her own conduct which is created with principles, expectations and ideas influenced by the members of a particular societal group (Hewitt, 2003). The game and play stage must be passed through to reach full development. The play stage is identified as a period a child learns to take the identities of others and pretends about being the other. This developmental period, known as the play stage, allows the child to assume the role of another person and imagines him/herself to become that person, trying to assume and foresee what he/she imagines the other person might do.(Handel, 1988). During this stage, very important abilities are acquired; the development of role understanding, the capability to assume the status of others, the sharpened sense of one as an entity, and the ability to establish boundaries within that roleit is a phase a child will discover and expand insight of themselves and others. During this era, a child can learn and increase their understanding of their entire universe, including themselves. While the play stage usually correlates to the time frame children have imaginary companions it is essential to have a complete understanding of the next stage, the game stage. The essential difference between the play and the game stage is that in the latter the child must comprehend the attitude of all the others involved in that game (Mead, 1934). Advancement to the game stage is when children can incorporate and think about not only their accomplishments but identify with the actions of others. This awareness comes from interactions with other people. After the game stage has passed the child has arrived, optimistically, at the point they are able to have formed a generalized other and can imagine themselves as another entity, whether it be a person or society. The development of a generalized other and obtaining a sense of roles and boundaries is extremely important in becoming a successful individual within society. Children do not strictly follow the socialization that they are exposed to; asserting ones autonomy is one way of establishing their independence and separation from others. It appears that imaginary friends can help to serve this role. The exact way that an imaginary friend is manifested is unknown-however, much research has been performed on this topic but there is no argument that it is a creation belonging to and originated by the child alone. Marjorie Taylor (1999), a psychologist who has studied children and their imaginary friends, does affirm that typically, an imaginary companion is an excellent example of a private act of fantasy controlled by the child him or herself. The imaginary friend cannot be seen, interacted with or known without the aid of the child. It is a complete product and interaction that belongs solely to the child. There are also signs that even quite young children never completely loose touch with the fantasy status of their imaginary companions (Taylor, 1999). A child who has an imaginary friend is a common phenomenon and does not automatically result from psychological problems or neglect. However, it should be noted that situations, such as psychological issues and/or neglect should not be overlooked when assessing a child with an imaginary friend. Imaginary friends can serve various positive objectives in areas of the childs development. An imaginary friend could aid in creating feelings of importance, power, confidence, and could possibly lead to a greater acceptance of the self. Having an imaginary friend is one of the first independent acts separating the child from his/her mother or the childs primary caretaker. One of the endearing things about imaginary companions is that children can boss them around, direct their activities, and dictate their communication with others. There are a few case studies suggesting that if childrens sense of control over imaginary companions is diminished, the pretend friend sometimes disappears (Taylor, 1999). This interaction can assist a child to exercise his/her autonomy and develop more individual interaction skills. A second function of imaginary friends is the ability to assist the child develop stronger social boundaries. Several scholars consider the importance of imaginary friends to be a catalyst for development. Commonly, imaginary friends offer an outlet which a child can use both reality and fantasy to learn right and wrong as well as what is acceptable in the context of different roles. Machin wrote: fantasy allows children to contemplate moral and social issues at a safe distance in the land of make believe (Machin Davies, 2003). An imaginary friend could possibly be an agent between fantasy and reality and an instrument with which the child can explore their boundaries. One indicator that imaginary friends might be representative of children becoming autonomous is that they usually do share the information with their parents. Research has shown that although the parents lack of knowledge regarding their childs imaginary friend does not automatically come from the childs refusal to reveal information about their friend. An imaginary friend could possibly be a means a child uses to differentiate between fantasy and reality and an instrument with which the child can explore their boundaries. Children learn through the responses of others and that their behaviors have consequences (Handel, 1988). A childs creation of an imaginary world also offers an alternate place where children can learn about the needs, feelings, and expectations of others. Discovering about roles and societal boundaries and expectations from imaginary friends could possibly tie into the transition between Meads play and game stages, bridging the gap between the play and game stage since the child not only interacts with the imaginary friend but also exhibits its reactions and thoughts. It is complicated to identify if imaginary friends serve a positive function in a childs development of sense of self, role acquisition, and identity based on this research. Research of prior studies led to my theory that imaginary friends may serve with developing identity in children and assist the child learn societal boundaries. The growth of these characteristics in a child usually results in their ability to function well when interacting with others, allows a certain level of confidence in themselves, and provides a level of independence and/or willingness which will assist the child to implement their autonomy. Fundamentally, it appears that imaginary friends offer those that have them a chance to find structure in a non traditional fashion. According to many previous studies, approximately one third of all children between the ages of two and a half to four years of age have one or more imaginary friends and they tend to be more frequent among females. Some in the academic community, as well as, many within the general public do regard the existence of imaginary friends as a wonderful manifestation on the part of the child and will engage in dialogue and recognition of the imaginary friends. However, at the same time as there are those that acknowledge imaginary friends, there are many that do not think that the existence of an imaginary friend presents a positive influence or role in the childs development. It has been noted that the existence of an imaginary friend can actually cause tension within a family due to accommodations to involve this imaginary friend of their childs in family activities. Many parents are also cynical of the imaginary friend due to the possibility that the child may use the imaginary friend as a defense for the child to blame bad behavior upon. However, the suggestion that using the imaginary friend as an excuse is not certain. The most widespread characterization of an imaginary friend is an invisible character, named and referred to in conversation with other persons or played with directly for a period of time, having an air of reality for the child but no apparent objective basis (Taylor, 199) A greater part of imaginary friends take human form, have names, and are believed to really see, think, feel, know or act. Imaginary friends have been depicted as having a high level of importance to the children that still have them and/or to the adults that had them during childhood and these imaginary friends continue to typically complete some sort of nurturing function. Since many of these companions take on traits that are part of a childs daily interaction, one could suggest that these friends are influenced by the social world of the child and also serve to help the child develop more ways of learning how to interact. In addition, connecting with a friend, whether imaginary or not; a child is establishing their concept as an entity. This is important for social interaction and learning about human conduct, expectations and societal boundaries. Imaginary friends serve several levels of companionship functions that divert the child when out with a parent and/or caregiver, desiring play and social interactions, or situations when carrying out day-to-day routines. Some visits from the imaginary friend are very rare, while other times the appearance of the imaginary friend is a daily occurrence. Some children actually engage and play games with their friends while other children will just talk to the friend. One child (me) had their imaginary friend present during a move which correlates to the idea that an imaginary friend can be used as a means to adjust and learn about new situations. It appears these imaginary friends help those who had them- in some way- and performed some beneficial purpose. Though the capacity to evaluate this question would be incredibly difficult, it would be valuable to study where imaginary friends come from and how and why they are created. More research needs to be done with children who currently have an imaginary friend and in a way that information could then be compared and contrasted between those children with imaginary friends and those children without imaginary friends. On the other hand, while it may be ideal to explore this issue further, there are drawbacks to studying children. When interviews are being performed with children, it is uncertain that what they are answering is actually what we are asking them. Additionally, when dealing with imaginary friends and pretend play there is the added component of the childs ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Unfortunately, there is no way to approach this issue which would be infallible. CONCLUSION Mead was accurate when he alluded to the fact that imaginary friends play a significant role in the development of the self. There are no blatantly bad indicators that imaginary friends are harmful. Nevertheless, there still exist many negative perceptions, both in research as well as within the general public. These perceptions link imaginary friends to problems later in life, ranging from unacceptable social behavior to forms of mental illness, including psychosis. It must be noted, there are cases where this link can be found, however, these cases include indicators of other problems, mental, emotional or physical. This culture is has become overly dependant on exposure to the media. Imaginary friends are quite often used for entertainment purposes and are frequently misrepresented. Taylor contends that imaginary friends are framed in a negative light; however, not every aspect of media portrayal is negative. Overall the media-meaning movies, books, etc. tends to over-exaggerate circumstances and highlight the negative aspects. Earlier work has shown the opposite and my findings from this research indicate that imaginary friends, more likely than not, could boost childhood development, confidence levels and establish stronger boundaries. Furthermore, while performing and compiling my research on this controversial topic, I have found that more information exists to support that the existence of an imaginary friend can assist a child deal with a myriad of issues and situations that may not be successfully dealt with and/or overcome without the assistance of an imaginary friend.

Slaughter House-Five by Kurt Vonnegut :: essays research papers

Slaughter House-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Slaughter house-Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut is a post modern novel, attempting to undermine the reader's expectations. The novel does not have smooth transitions from one event to the next. The reason is, because the novel reflects modern man's life. Since the novel is not smooth it is confusing. This is just like modern man's life, confusing. Another literary device is, it is difficult to follow. When the novel is hard to read the reader cannot enjoy and understand the book. This is how modern society is too(difficult to follow). Another literary device is the novel's characters lack depth. The characters need more descriptive details. This reflects man by saying that man lacks depth and is not well rounded. The book undermines the novel's conventional approach. These are some reasons for the undermining of the reader's expectations. The novel does not have smooth transitions from one event to the next one. "Billy blinked in 1958, traveled in time to 1961." After a chapter, "Billy Pilgrim nestled like a spoon with the hobo on Christmas night, and he fell asleep, and he traveled in time to 1967. When Billy is in 1958, he is busy talking about World War Two. Then suddenly he travels through time to 1967 and he ends up being kidnaped by aliens from Tralfamadore. So when the story changes, the reader's mind has to adjust to the changes. The events just pop up all of a sudden. Modern man always has surprises in life that just pop up just like this novel. In life there is usually no smooth adjustments. It is abrupt and sudden. Billy Pilgrim(protagonist) travels through time in an awkward chronological order. In life people do not adapt to different situations without any problem. In this book, shifting from one situation to another is meant to be poor. The book is difficult to follow. It has many small stories in it. Pilgrim is in World War Two and then he ends up being with aliens from Tralfadamore. Some of these topics are hard to comprehend. This symbolizes modern life since it is difficult to comprehend the understandings of life. For example, Roland Weary is one of Billy's war companions. He kept beating the living daylights out of Billy. The novel mentions that Weary treat Pilgrim like this to discipline him, but he over does it. Is it, because Weary is a psychopath or has something

Succubus Blues CHAPTER 6

I woke up the next day, determined to go see Erik and get the truth about vampire hunters. Then, as I was brushing my teeth, I remembered yesterday's other crisis. Seth Mortensen. Swearing, I finished up in the bathroom, earning a disapproving look from Aubrey for my profanity. There was no telling how long this tour thing with him might take. I might have to wait until tomorrow to see Erik, and by then, this vampire hunter or whatever could have struck again. I set out for Emerald City, wearing the most nonattractive outfit I could muster: jeans and a turtleneck, with my hair pulled severely back. Paige, all smiles, approached me as I waited for Seth in the cafe. â€Å"You should show him Foster's and Puget Sound Books while you're out,† she told me conspiratorially. Still waking up, I took a sip of the mocha Bruce had just made me and tried to reason out her logic. Foster's and Puget Sound Books were competitors of ours, though not major ones. â€Å"Those places are dives.† â€Å"Exactly.† She grinned at me with her even white teeth. â€Å"Show him those, and he'll be convinced we're the best place for him to do his writing at.† I studied her, feeling seriously out of the loop. Or maybe I was just distracted still about the Duane thing. It wasn't every day one had his immortality revoked. â€Å"Why†¦ would he do his writing here?† â€Å"Because he likes to take his laptop and write in coffee shops.† â€Å"Yeah, but he lives in Chicago.† Paige shook her head. â€Å"Not anymore. Where were you last night? He's moving here to be closer to his family.† I recalled Seth mentioning his brother, but I had been too caught up in my own mortification to pay much attention. â€Å"When?† â€Å"Now, as far as I know. That's why this was his last stop on the tour. He's staying with his brother but plans on finding his own place soon.† She leaned close to me, eyes gleaming predatorily. â€Å"Georgina, if we have a famous author hanging out here regularly, it'll be good for our image.† Honestly, my immediate concern wasn't where Seth would be writing. What freaked me out was that he would not be departing for a different time zone anytime soon, a time zone where he could then forget about me and let us both get on with our lives. I could run into him every day now. Literally, if Paige's wish was realized. â€Å"Won't that be distracting to his writing if his presence is widely known? Annoying fans and whatnot?† â€Å"We won't let it become a problem. We'll make the most of this and respect his privacy. Careful now, here he comes.† I drank more of my mocha, still marveling at the way Paige's mind worked. She could think of promotional ideas that never would have entered my head. Warren might have been the one to invest capital in this place, but it had been her marketing genius that made it a success. â€Å"Good morning,† Seth told us, walking up to the table. He wore jeans, a Def Leppard T-shirt, and a brown corduroy jacket. The lay of his hair did not convince me he'd brushed it this morning. Paige looked at me pointedly, and I sighed. â€Å"Let's go.† Seth silently followed me outside, that awkward tension building between us like a solid barrier. He did not look at me; I did not look at him. It was only when we stood outside on Queen Anne Avenue and I realized I had no plan for today that conversation had to occur. â€Å"Where to start? Seattle, unlike Gaul, is not divided into just three parts.† I made the joke more to myself, but Seth suddenly laughed. â€Å"Seattle peninsula est,† he observed, playing off my observation. â€Å"Not exactly. Besides, that's Bede, not Caesar.† â€Å"I know. But I don't know very much Latin.† He gave me that quirky, bemused smile that seemed to be his trademark expression. â€Å"Do you?† â€Å"Enough.† I wondered how he would react if I mentioned my fluency in Latin dialects from various stages of the Roman Empire. My vague answer must have been interpreted as lack of interest because he looked away, and more silence fell. â€Å"Is there anything special you wanted to see?† â€Å"Not really.† Not really. Okay. Well. The sooner we got this started, the sooner it would end and I could see Erik. â€Å"Follow me.† As we drove off, I sort of hoped we might naturally flow into meaningful conversation, in spite of our bad start yesterday. Yet, as we traveled, it seemed clear Seth had no intention of carrying on any discourse. I recalled his nervousness in front of the crowd yesterday and even with some of the bookstore staff. This guy had serious social phobias, I realized, though he had made a valiant effort in shedding them during our initial flirtations. Then, I had gone and turned on the back-off vibes, undoubtedly scarring him for life and undoing whatever progress he had made. Way to go, Georgina. Maybe if I could broach some compelling topics, he would muster his earlier confidence and bring back our rapport – in a platonic way, of course. I attempted to recall my profound questions from last night. And once again, they eluded me, so I switched to mundane ones. â€Å"So your brother lives around here?† â€Å"Yup.† â€Å"What part?† â€Å"Lake Forest Park.† â€Å"That's a nice area. Are you going to look for a place up there?† â€Å"Probably not.† â€Å"Do you have another place in mind then?† â€Å"Not really.† Okay, this wasn't getting us anywhere. Annoyed at how this master of the written word could be so short on spoken ones, I finally decided to cut him out of the conversation altogether. Having him involved was too much work. Instead, I chatted on amiably without him, pointing out the popular spots: Pioneer Square, Pike Place Market, the Fremont Troll. I even showed him the shoddier representatives of our competition, per Paige's instructions. I neglected anything closer to the Space Needle than a brief nod, however. No doubt he'd seen it from Emerald City's windows and could pay the exorbitant fees to visit it up close if he really needed the tourist experience. We went to the U District for lunch. He followed without protest or comment to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant. Our meal progressed quietly as I took a break from talking, both of us eating noodles and staring out the nearby window to watch the bustle of students and cars. â€Å"This is nice.† It was the most Seth had spoken in a while, and I nearly jumped at the sound of his voice. â€Å"Yeah. This place doesn't look like much, but they make a mean pho.† â€Å"No, I meant out there. This area.† I followed his gesture back to University Way, at first seeing nothing more than disgruntled students hauling backpacks around. Then, expanding my search, I became aware of the other small specialty restaurants, the coffee shops, and the used bookstores. It was an eclectic mix, somewhat tattered around the edges, but it had a lot to offer quirky, intellectual types – even famous, introverted writers. I looked at Seth, who looked back at me expectantly. It was our first direct eye contact all day. â€Å"Are there places to live around here?† â€Å"Sure. If you want to share a house with a bunch of eighteen-year-olds.† I paused, thinking that option might not be so unappealing for a guy. â€Å"If you want something more substantial in this area, it'll cost you. I guess Cady and O'Neill ensure that's not really an issue, huh? We can drive around and look, if you want.† â€Å"Maybe. I'd honestly rather go there first.† He pointed across the street, to one of the used bookstores. His eyes flicked back to me uncertainly. â€Å"If that's okay with you.† â€Å"Let's go.† I loved used bookstores but always felt a little guilty walking into them. Like I was cheating. After all, I worked around bright, crisp books all the time. I could obtain a reprint of almost anything I wanted, brand new. It seemed wrong to take such visceral pleasure from being around old books, from the smell of aged paper, mildew, and dust. Such collections of knowledge, some quite old, always reminded me of times long past and places I'd seen, triggering a tidal wave of nostalgia. These emotions made me feel both old and young. The books aged while I did not. A gray tabby cat stretched and blinked at us from her spot on the counter as we entered. I stroked her back and said hello to the old man near her. He glanced up briefly from the books he sorted, smiled at us, and returned to his work. Seth stared around at the towering shelves before us, an expression of bliss on his face, and promptly disappeared into them. I wandered over to nonfiction, wanting to peruse the cookbooks. I had grown up preparing food without microwaves and food processors and decided it was high time to let my culinary knowledge expand into this century. Finally settling on a Greek cookbook with lots of colored pictures, I dragged myself away a half hour later and looked for Seth. I found him in the children's section, kneeling next to a stack of books, completely absorbed. I crouched down beside him. â€Å"What are you looking at?† He flinched slightly, startled by my proximity, and tore his gaze away from his find to look at me. This close, I could see that his eyes were actually more of a golden-amber brown, his lashes long enough to make any girl jealous. â€Å"Andrew Lang's fairy books.† He held a paperback entitled The Blue Fairy Book. On top of the stack near him sat another called The Orange Fairy Book, and I could only assume the rest followed color-coded suit. Seth glowed with literary rapture, forgetting his reticence around me. â€Å"The 1960s reprints. Not as valuable as, say, editions from the 1800s, but these are the ones my dad had, the ones he used to read to us from. He only had a couple, though; this is the whole set. I'm going to get them and read them to my nieces.† Flipping through the pages of The Red Fairy Book, I recognized the titles of many familiar stories, some I hadn't even known were still around. I turned the book over and looked inside the cover but found no price. â€Å"How much are they?† Seth pointed to a small sign near the shelf he'd obtained them from. â€Å"Is that reasonable for these?† I asked. â€Å"It's a little high, but it's worth it to me to get them all in one go.† â€Å"No way.† I gathered up part of the books, rising. â€Å"We'll talk him down.† â€Å"Talk him down how?† My lips turned up in a smile. â€Å"With words.† Seth seemed dubious, but the clerk proved an easy target. Most men would eventually cave before an attractive, charismatic woman – let alone a succubus who still sported a residual life force glow. Besides, I had learned bartering at my mother's knee. The guy behind the counter didn't stand a chance. By the time I finished with him, he had happily lowered the price by 25 percent and thrown in my cookbook for free. Walking back to my car, arms laden with books, Seth kept glancing at me wonderingly. â€Å"How did you do that? I've never seen anything like it.† â€Å"Lots of practice.† A vague answer worthy of one of his. â€Å"Thanks. I wish I could repay the favor.† â€Å"Don't worry – hey, you can actually. Would you mind running an errand with me? It's to a bookstore, but it's a scary bookstore.† â€Å"Scary how?† Five minutes later, we were on our way to see my old friend Erik Lancaster. Erik had been ensconced in the Seattle area long before me, and he was a well-known figure to almost every immortal entity around. Versed in mythology and supernatural lore, he regularly proved to be an excellent resource for all things paranormal. If he had noticed that some of his best patrons never aged, he wisely refrained from pointing that out. The only annoying thing about seeing Erik was that it required a visit to Krystal Starz – a stunning example of New Age spirituality gone wrong. I didn't doubt the place might have had good intentions back when it opened in the 1980s, but the bookstore now touted a barrage of colorful, highly commercial merchandise more weighted in price than any sort of mystical value. Erik, by my estimation, was the only employee with legitimate concern and knowledge of esoteric matters. The best of his coworkers were simply apathetic; the worst were zealots and scam artists. Pulling up into the store's parking lot, I immediately felt surprise at the number of cars there. This many people at Emerald City would have constituted a signing, but that sort of event seemed odd in the middle of the workday. A heavy wave of incense poured over us as we entered, and Seth appeared just as surprised as me by all the people and stimuli. â€Å"I might be a minute,† I told him. â€Å"Feel free to look around. Not that there's much here worth seeing.† He melted away, and I turned my attention to a bright-eyed young man standing near the door and directing the crowd around. â€Å"Are you here for the Gathering?† â€Å"Urn, no,† I told him. â€Å"I'm looking for Erik.† â€Å"Erik who?† â€Å"Lancaster? Older guy? African-American? He works here.† The young lackey shook his head. â€Å"There's no Erik here. Not as long as I've been working here.† He spoke like he'd founded the store. â€Å"How long has that been?† â€Å"Two months.† I rolled my eyes. A veritable veteran. â€Å"Is there a manager around here I can talk to?† â€Å"Well, Helena's here, but she's going to be – ah, there she is.† He gestured to the far side of the store where the woman in question appeared as though summoned. Ah yes, Helena. She and I had tangled before. Pale-haired, her neck bestrewn with crystals and other arcane symbols, she stood in a doorway marked meeting room. A teal shawl covered her slim shoulders, and like always, I wondered how old she was. She looked to be in her lower to mid-thirties, but something about her demeanor always made me think she was older. Maybe she'd had a lot of plastic surgery. It would be fitting, really, considering the rest of her trumped-up, artificial persona. â€Å"Everyone? Everyone?† She spoke in this obviously faked, high-pitched voice, meant to sound like a whisper, albeit one that could reach loud volumes. So mostly it came out raspy, like she had a cold. â€Å"It's time to start.† The masses – thirty or so, I'd say – moved toward the meeting room, and I followed, blending into the crowd. Some of the people around me looked like Helena: theme-dressed, in either all-black or too-vibrant shades, with a plethora of pentagrams, crystals, and ohms in attendance. Others looked like average people, dressed much like me in my work clothes, trailing along in excited curiosity. With a frozen, fake smile plastered across her face, Helena beckoned us into the room murmuring, â€Å"Welcome, welcome. Feel the energy.† When I passed by her, the smile faltered. â€Å"I know you.† â€Å"Yes.† The smile diminished further. â€Å"You're that woman who works at that big bookstore – that big, commercial bookstore.† A few people stopped and listened to our exchange, no doubt the reason she refrained from pointing out the last time I was in here, I had called her a hypocrite pushing marked-up crap merchandise. Compared to certain national chains, I hardly considered Emerald City commercial. Still, I shrugged in acknowledgment. â€Å"Yeah, what can I say, we're part of the problem in corporate America. However, we do sell all the books and tarot cards that you do, often at a discount if you're a member of Emerald City's Frequent Readers Program.† I mentioned this last part loudly. Extra advertising never hurt. Helena's weakening smile disappeared altogether, as did some of her raspy voice. â€Å"Is there something I can help you with?† â€Å"I'm looking for Erik.† â€Å"Erik doesn't work here anymore.† â€Å"Where'd he go?† â€Å"I'm not at liberty to discuss that.† â€Å"Why? Are you afraid I'll take my business elsewhere? Believe me, you were never in danger of having it.† She raised delicate fingers to her forehead and studied me seriously, eyes nearly going crossed. â€Å"I sense a lot of darkness in your aura. Black and red.† Her voice rose, drawing in the attention of her acolytes. â€Å"You would benefit greatly from some clearing work. A smoky or rutilated quartz might also help. We have excellent specimens of both for sale here. Either would lighten up your aura.† I couldn't resist a smirk. I believed in auras, knew they were perfectly real. I also knew, however, that my aura looked nothing at all like a mortal one, nor would someone like Helena even be able to see it. Indeed, a true human adept, capable of perceiving such things, would notice that in standing with a group of humans, I would be the only person without a discernible aura. It would be invisible to all, save someone like Jerome or Carter, though some particularly skilled mortal might be able to feel its strength and be understandably cautious. Erik was one such mortal, which was why he always treated me with so much respect. Helena was not. â€Å"Wow,† I crooned. â€Å"I can't believe you were able to deduce all that without your aura camera.† Krystal Starz proudly touted a camera that would photograph your aura for $9.95. â€Å"Do I owe you something now?† She sniffed. â€Å"I don't need a camera to see others' auras. I am a Master. Besides, the spirits who have assembled for this Gathering tell me plenty about you.† My smile increased. â€Å"What do they say?† I'd had little dealings with spirits or other ethereal beings in my long life, but I would know if any were present. She closed her eyes, hands to her forehead again, lines of thought creasing her face. The onlookers watched in wonder. â€Å"They tell me that much troubles you. That the indecision and monotony in your life force you to lash out, and so long as you choose the path of darkness and distrust, you will never find peace or light.† Her blue eyes opened, caught up in her own otherworldly ecstasy. â€Å"They want you to join us. Sit in our circle, feel their healing energy. The spirits will help you to a better life.† â€Å"Like they helped you out of the porn industry?† She froze, paling, and I almost felt bad for a moment. Adepts like Erik weren't the only ones with reputations in the immortal community. A crackpot like Helena was well known too. Someone who had apparently been a fan of hers back in the day had recognized her from a movie and passed on this bit of dirt to the rest of us. â€Å"I don't know what you mean,† she finally said, face struggling for control in front of her minions. â€Å"My mistake. You reminded me of someone called Moana Licka. You sort of rub crystals the way she used to rub†¦ well, you get the idea.† â€Å"You are mistaken,† Helena said, voice on the verge of cracking. â€Å"Erik no longer works here. Please leave.† Another retort rose to my lips, but then, beyond her, I caught sight of Seth. He had wandered up to the edge of the crowd, observing the spectacle with the others. Seeing him, I suddenly felt foolish, the thrill of humiliating Helena turning cheap and shallow. Embarrassed, I still managed to hold my head high as I withheld my remarks and walked away from her. Seth fell into step beside me. â€Å"Let me guess,† I said dryly. â€Å"Some people write the stories, and some people live them.† â€Å"I think you can't help but make a sensation wherever you go.† I assumed he was being sarcastic. Then, I glanced over and saw his frank expression, neither censuring nor snide. His earnestness was so unexpected that I stumbled slightly, paying more attention to him than where I was going. Having a much-deserved reputation for gracefulness, I recovered almost immediately. Seth, however, instinctually held out a hand to catch me. As he did, I suddenly had a flash of†¦ of something. Like that moment of connection back in the map aisle. Or the surge of fulfillment I got when I read his books. It was brief, fleeting, like maybe it hadn't happened at all. He seemed as surprised as I felt and released my arm tentatively, almost hesitantly. A moment later, a voice behind me broke the spell entirely. â€Å"Excuse me?† Turning, I saw a slim teenage girl with cropped red hair and piercings up and down her ears. â€Å"You were looking for Erik, right?† â€Å"Yeah†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I can tell you where he's at. He left about five months ago to start his own store. It's in Lake City†¦ I forget the name. There's a light there, with a grocery store and a big Mexican restaurant†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I nodded. â€Å"I know that area. I'll find it. Thanks.† I eyed her curiously. â€Å"Do you work here?† â€Å"Yeah. Erik was always pretty cool to me, so I'd rather see him get business than this place. I'd have gone with him, but he doesn't really need any other help, so I'm stuck with Nutso in there.† She jerked her thumb back in Helena's direction. The girl had a serious, practical demeanor different from most of this place's employees. I recalled now that I'd seen her helping customers when I'd come in. â€Å"Why do you work here if you don't like it?† â€Å"I don't know. I like books, and I need money.† I dug through my purse, searching for one of my rarely used business cards. â€Å"Here. You want a new job, come talk to me sometime.† She took the card and read it, surprise filling her features. â€Å"Thanks†¦ I think.† â€Å"Thanks for the info about Erik.† Pausing, I considered further, and dug out another card. â€Å"If you've got a friend – anyone else who works here and is like you – give this to them too.† â€Å"Is that legal?† asked Seth later. † Dunno. But we're short-staffed at Emerald City.† I figured a specialty store like Erik's must be closed by now, so instead I turned toward Lake Forest Park to return Seth to his brother's house. I confess, relief flooded me. Being with one's hero was tiring, not to mention every interaction between us swung between wildly opposing poles. I'd probably be safer limiting our relationship to me simply reading his books. I dropped him off at a cute, suburban home, its front yard littered with children's playthings. I saw no sign of the children themselves, much to my disappointment. Seth gathered up his haul of books, gave me another scattered smile as he voiced his thanks, and disappeared into the house. I was almost back to Queen Anne when I realized I'd forgotten to ask him for my copy of The Glasgow Pact. Annoyed, I entered my building and immediately heard the front desk attendant solicit me. â€Å"Miss Kincaid?† I walked over to him, and he handed me a vase of flowers teeming with shades of purple and dark pink. â€Å"These came for you today.† I accepted the vase with delight, inhaling the mingled scents of roses, irises, and stargazer lilies. They had no card. Typical. â€Å"Who brought them?† He gestured beyond me. â€Å"That man over there.†

buy custom Total Rewards essay

buy custom Total Rewards essay Total rewards refer to all the tools available to the employer that may be used to motivate, attract and retain employees. It includes what the employee perceives to be valuable resulting from the employment relationship. Employers have always had a challenge of how to motivate, attract and retain their employees (Blackburn Perry, 2007). Describe each of the top five (5) advantages of a total rewards approach Increased flexibility Both employees and employers desire more of the flexibility. As the benefit of flexibility has already become a bit understood, more business are allowing their employees to determine their time of work, where they would like to work, and how they would wish to work. Total rewards considers what their employees want, and in most instances demand, the capability to integrate their work and their lifestyle. Improved Recruitment and Retention Today, workers are focusing beyond the big picture as they decide where they would wish to work. Personal life and work should be looked at as related priorities, and not competing ones. When an organization helps its employees run both their work and personal lives, the workers feel a greater commitment to the company. In addition, a lot of studies have shown that workers look at total rewards when deciding on whether to stay or join with an organization. Healthcare Coverage This is a piece of a total rewards typical package that encompasses all vision, medical and dental and still long-term and long-term disability insurance that is offered by an employer. Retirement Programs Retirement programs that are offered in the total rewards packages can include non-matching or matching 402 (k) accounts. In large corporations, a profit sharing and purchasing stock program may be offered as well. Financial Compensation Workers compensation mainly consists of the base salary, merit and overtime increases. This still includes incentives compensation like bonuses. Describe five (5) common ways a total rewards strategy can go astray. Although total rewards strategy builds up healthy relationships with employers and the employees, it can also go astray; Feeling of dissatisfaction or discrimination among employees. If the employees feel that the reward assessment process might not be transparent. Staff morale might fall if there is a big difference in reward being paid out to an individual doing similar work. Staff may become very focused on people earning those rewards that they forget to work in the very best interests of the whole team. Competition can be fair but if its too aggressive it may be detrimental. Always there will be a judgment element required to administer the system. Somebody have to rate the staffs performance. This judgment might end up being a bit subjective rather than being objective. Some functions are in nature support roles (and therefore might not attract much rewards as some other roles like sales). There must be a fair balance of rewards for these support staff or they will not feel any appreciation. Describe the six (6) steps in designing a total rewards program. Coming up with a total rewards program specific to an institutions requires some initial homework in establishing a baseline of what one can already offer and in developing a bit more strategic approach towards rewards. Inventory rewards. Conduct a detailed, accurate and full inventory of rewards that are currently offered by the institution that normally fall into five elements of ROW model. This type of inventory should involve both informal programs and formal practices. Some of this type of information is obviously available but most of it requires investigation, particularly in big, decentralized institutions. Consider focus teams as a way to recognize the rewards and to provide interest and commitment in this process through the institution. Measure investment. To your level best, calculate the latest level of investment in each and every element to come up with a baseline and to make changes. In some of the cases, the measurement will definitely help gauge competitiveness (benefits, salary etc.) and also investment. In some other cases, the cost of institution of the reward may be measured but shaping competitiveness will be more difficult. Increasing information. Through a clear communication, employees realize the full suite of the rewards that are available to them. Link total rewards strategy towards institutional strategy, and consider making a distinctive logo and name. Use your strategy that is customized as a base for measuring workers satisfaction, engagement and understanding through surveys and some other workers feedback techniques. Implement improvements. Execution and implementation are essential to a realized total rewards program. Vague practices, unclear communication and inconsistent implementation contribute to less-than-effective program. Setting priorities for enhancing or developing rewards and communicating improvements will automatically demonstrate a commitment of the institution to employees. Measure impact. A total rewards program constitutes a vibrant plan. Keeping the plans relevance needs regular review of the institutions external influences and initiatives. A review of the strategys effectiveness requires to be incorporated in the routine planning processes in which your institution often conducts. This is a very different process of measurement than the expenditures measurement. Involve the community. Involve faculty, staff and leadership in understanding the total rewards program and how it usually supports the overall institutions strategic direction. This goes far beyond communicating the real program. Illustrate the inks among new initiatives and strategies. Make use surveys to recognize what is valued or is not valued. Take the opportunity to refresh and review the strategy by finding input from those that are most impacted. Broad understanding and involving will help in ensuring the continuity of relevance of total rewards program to the institution. Describe the eight (8) steps in the communication process. Understand the funcction of the communication. Regardless of the issue, communication should be designed with a specific goal. It should then be implemented expressly to obtain some result. That result may be increasing awareness. It might also be generating a certain action. Regardless of whatever purpose, communication should not just "happen." If you cannot discover a reason for communicating, you shouldn't then communicate. Encourage the internal customers to come together and discuss the issue. This is not however an easy task. Everyone might be busy, and most often your customers will need you to "do something." To overcome the resistance, you have to present solid benefits of making the time to step back and then think of the best way of address the issue. Gather the additional input. Depending on the sensitivity, level of controversy or complexity of an issue, you may wish to gather some additional input from the other people within the organization. You might wish to poll the workers to determine their latest level of knowledge concerning an issue. You may need to hold focus teams to uncover the potential misperceptions or biases. The more you become aware of an issue, the better you will be in a position to present it accurately and knowledgeably. Identify the audiences. Audience is not "everybody." For communication to be more effective, it should be targeted. That is, if you want to communicate something about budget cuts, the information that you share with the managers will be a bit different from information that you share with the frontline customers or staff. Even among the employee groups, the variations may need different communication tools or different messages. For instance, off-site staff might not have a ready access towards the business intranet and will therefore need to get the hard copy information or information by phone (Blackburn, 2007). Create "key messages." Identify messages that are most important for you to convey. Focus and be succinct on "need to know" that is based on outcomes that you're looking for. Don't try conveying too much, or else you will confuse your audience. Just hit the most high points. Develop a timeline. The order by which you can inform the audiences can be critical. For instance, if one put a notice in the employee newsletter concerning a benefit change before having informed the managers about that change, the managers might feel that he or she has been undermined and in a disadvantage when involves answering employee questions. Develop a plan. Considering the timelines, audiences and messages that you have developed, make a written plan outlining the communication processes and tools that you will be using. The plans include the background, the messages and target the audiences you have identified. You will also need to detail the tact that are specific that you will use in conveying your messages. Start inside first. Your workers are a beneficial audience for the communication messageseven the marketing messages concerning the products and services. The more they know and understand them, the more they will help you exactly share your messages. Buy custom Total Rewards essay

Gay Marriage Essays

Gay Marriage Essays Gay Marriage Essay Gay Marriage Essay Alissa Mincey September 24, 2012 EH 101 Jones â€Å"The Case for (Gay) Marriage Response† Blended Response Gay marriage discussions are highly present in our society. Student writer, A. J. Chavez argues that not only should marriage occur between a man and a woman, but also the same sex. He articulates his thoughts on how if the same sex feels the same way a straight couple feels, and then it shouldn’t be a problem. However, our society uses religious views and traditional morals to restrain gay marriage. Apparently, we as a nation are indecisive on this issue today. The student writer states valid arguments and backs it up completely. In Chavez’s essay, he argues his point of view on gay civil unions. His argument begins with, â€Å"What if this was a gay world, and you were straight? † This gives the reader an idea from their own perspective on how it would be if he or she was in that predicament. He states in his first argument that the legalization of gay marriage will establish equality for all. I completely agree because the gay society is very much discriminated today. They don’t have the rights he or she wants to receive. : With an excessive use of epidurals and medication comes consequences Just a few common ones Include stalling labor adding additional stress on the baby, higher risk for C-sections. Natural childbirth In any and all studies and medical professionals show It Is more beneficial to both mom and baby Natural birth Is medically safer for mother and baby. Anesthesia and other Interventions, when used without medical indication, present risks to their health, which may include: drop in maternal blood pressure: drop in fetal heart tones; decrease in uterine contractile; increased incidence of labor dissociate; increased need for Piton augmentation (Perez 239). An epidural might be easier and convenient; however it Is not natural childbirth. Natural childbirth with my experience gave me the complete feeling of euphoria once my daughter was born. My 14-hour labor with the knowledge I knew prior to going into the hospital was not painful for me at all until the last 3 hours. A big factor to my success was I was not scared. Many women dont even feel their contraction before getting the epidural because theyre scared of the pain, but our bodies are naturally capable of handling this pain and we are able to work through It. Natural childbirth Is difficult; however a womans body Is designed for this function (Perez in natural child birth is not being scared and being completely relaxed. With the use f an epidural, many women when the time comes are unable to even feel the urge to push being unaware of something like that is dangerous for the baby when the baby is ready to come out and not getting them out is extremely dangerous by causing the heart rate to suddenly drop. When pain is entirely removed the feedback system is dis rupted and labor is likely to slow down and become less efficient (Laotian 1) this quote alone says so many things about how the use of drugs are not how a womans body is supposed to work You can see alone in the baby how much better going naturally is for the baby. The physical appearance between a medicated and unmediated baby are significantly different. A medicated baby is very sleepy, not alert eyes are drowsy, a non- medicated baby their eyes are wide open looking around. The bond with mother awake much longer than a medicated baby, initial skin-to-skin time a mother a child have after being born is extremely crucial to the bond between the two and yes a medicated baby will bond with the mother, however a study conducted by Dona Malone she shows the brain waves and heart rate between a baby whom was medicated and one who wasnt the non-medicated baby during skin-to-skin time had a much calmer (not as quick) heart rate, and the brain waves showed the baby bonded stronger to the mother Opposed to all physical and emotional benefits of natural childbirth there is an extra cost that many woman are unaware of. Not only are epidurals unsafe youre paying more for adding extra risks to your birthing process. You are paying for another dry. Bill and for the medicine itself of average an epidural ranges anywhere from 1,500-2,000 dollars on top of the initial cost to have a baby medicated or not is anywhere from 18,000-25,000 dollars (Boss 1418). Overall with all stats and studies showed undedicated natural childbirth is 100% more beneficial to mother and child.

MGT499 MOD 5 CA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MGT499 MOD 5 CA - Essay Example The management is feeling the heat of this issue as the brand ranking slipping down at a pace which requires immediate revisit of concerned strategic guidelines. Acknowledging the situation, Riki Inuzuka the Managing Officer, Corporate Planning Division and Research Division for Toyota states, â€Å"We will continue to make concerted and unified efforts to ensure quality as well as to achieve a higher level of safety.† (Inuzuka, 2011). An in-depth analysis into the structure of the organization, controls applied to ensure implementation of strategies and organizational culture can help to trace the root causes of the safety scandals currently facing Toyota. In seventy-five years of history, the company is predominantly governed and steered by â€Å"Toyoda clan† with some regimes of non-family top level management. This obviously, suggests some structural and strategic flaws as far human-resource management is concerned. In the first place, keeping the steering seat reserved for Toyoda family suggest that performance is not the only merit to reach the heights one may aspire in his career with Toyota. Obviously, when this favoritism and nepotism travels down the path and creates serious unrest and concerns among sincere performers. Secondly, it creates rift among family and non-family managers and creates a stressed environment, where non-family manager will feel insecure and therefore may go for some out of the box options to prove their worth and impress the higher management. Last two non-family presidential regimes; 1995-1999 Hiroshi Okuda and 2000-2009 Katsuaki Watanabe have successfully expanded the global share of the car-maker but not without a changed focus of strategic controls from quality to quantity and goodwill to profitability. (Shirouzu, 2010). The Toyoda family regained the leadership at Toyota when Akio Toyoda was announced as the president of the Toyota. Akio is now trying to shift the focus of the company from

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 24

Marketing - Essay Example However, the emergence of the Internet as a purchasing medium has also meant that consumer privacy may be compromised, since it is possible for online marketers to access information about consumers in a manner that the consumers may be unable to detect, such as through the use of cookies, spyware and adware to capture a richer base of data than that which is actually divulged by the consumer.(Ashworth and Free, 2006) In order to complete an online transaction, a consumer must of necessity divulge personal and financial information online, which poses a significant threat to the privacy of the consumer, since unauthorized individuals may hack into such information and misuse it. In recognition of the danger of leaking of such sensitive information, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act was signed into law on December 4, 2003, designed to allow consumers to safeguard their sensitive information and make it federally actionable when such data is used inappropriately.(Moye 2006) . While consumer concern over the unauthorized use of their financial information is justified, such activities are carried only by a minority of individuals, therefore if consumers react to this by completing blocking off provision of any kind of information, this may ultimately compromise their own interests. When consumers provide information about their preferences and purchasing patterns online, they can enjoy the benefits of online shopping with all its attendant convenience and savings in time and energy. Moreover, marketers use such information for product targeting that is in accordance with the personal preferences and tastes of the consumer, thereby allowing the consumer access to a wide variety of personalized goods and services. Therefore, the time that a consumer may spend on the Internet browsing products will be very fruitful in finding Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 6 Marketing - Essay Example In order to dissect the needs of the target audience a market analysis in for of a research shall be initiated and carried out continuously with the sole purpose of ensuring that the messages communicated to prospective lawyers are affected and are not a waste of money. To ensure generalization and the reaching out to as many target audience as possible the plan shall be laid out in such as way as to consider all the geographical zones in the country. In a bid to understand better CSSO’s environment, competitor analysis, was carried out; these include private law firms which are very good at attracting the best lawyers in the country, and the foreign law firms such as those in the US have been identified due to the fact that they offer very competitive salaries and therefore most law graduates head directly to there. The committee overseeing the IMP shall therefore be meeting bi-weekly to brainstorm and keep track of the program as well as sprucing it up In order to ensure effectiveness there shall be initial assessment on messages to prospective audience in order to ensure that the messages are meeting their purpose. The marketing plan will be tailored to be an ongoing scheme but not a one-use strategy. Since the projected kick-off for the program is January 2007, the budget shall factor in any chances of cost variation. In a recent staff meeting chaired by the CEO, it was noted that the ‘the organization was facing an imminent danger of collapsing if it can not attract and retain the best lawyers in the country did not shock many. In fact the situation has been clearly pointed out and brought forth in most of the staff meetings in the recent years. The organization’s IMP is set to change the trends in favor of a more vibrant public law office. Therefore the IMP serves as the link between the future performance of the public law office and the present, it shall further aim at

How does technology make money Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

How does technology make money - Essay Example MOST is a technology that employs high speed multimedia network which facilitates common devices like PDA, DVD, radio and many others for the purpose of getting used by them at the lowest cost. The common devices can connect with this network to provide functionality to the end consumers to avail live audio and video having a standardized interface. It provides extendibility and reliability to the devices. Extendibility in the sense that more standardized devices can be easily added to the MOST networks without problems. MOST devices are connected using a ring which feeds the output to the input of the device in a circular manner. The token which travels in the network is a frame which contains streaming data segment, packet data and control information (MOST, 2008). The streaming data flows in the ring at the same speed the network is running. The synchronous feature of the data flowing in the network is at the same speed and retains the quality of the data. However packet data is non-synchronous in nature and may flow in several frames. The amount of streaming data and packet data forms a larger portion of the frame and the ratio is according to the application requirements. Control data on the other hand forms a little portion of the frame and contain the control information. It signals of the information into parts, in every frame so that it is grouped and regrouped by the receiving device for the knowledge of the placement of segment and packet data. Reliability compounds to the workability of the devices so that any device following the standard TCP/IP protocol. The reusability feature would enhance the functionality as more devices with a HMI (Human Machine Interface) can interact with each other for using the multimedia features. MOST was quite different concept to sharing of real time multimedia data over the

New England vs. Chesapeake Paper Essay Example for Free

New England vs. Chesapeake Paper Essay The New England and Chesapeake regions varied in many ways. They varied economically, socially, and religiously. At first there were many small colonies but then they grew into two distinct regions, the New England and Chesapeake areas. The New England region was a more superior place to live in than the Chesapeake region because the people in New England developed swifter and better. The Chesapeake region suffered because it had social, climatic, and religious problems. Even though the southern area is known for their blossoming fields and enormous plantations, the climate is scorching and the area suffered from many diseases. (Jamestown Settlement: Primary Sources New Brittannia). As a result, a large part of the population actually ended up dying due to these harmful diseases like the disease of smallpox. Yes, the southern colonies had a thriving economy due to the growing of tobacco and rice, but they lacked diversity. In this area they mainly had only one type of religion, Anglican. They absolutely had no religious tolerance. The social structure was also way off during this time period. It consisted with the majority of the population being poor indentured servants and slaves and then a small portion being wealthy plantation owners. The plantation owners were white men and they held all the power to vote in the society. That is why this region was so underdeveloped. They had a moist and blistering climate, and they had no diversity religiously or socially. However, The New England colonies developed better than the Chesapeake region because they had a better climate, and were more diverse socially along with religiously. Firstly, it was colder in this region so the people there did not have any destructive illnesses lingering around. Secondly they had more of a mixture in religion like Quakers and Catholics. The people in these colonies focused on religion and they wanted close- knit families (Document A). They did not just have one sole religion but several. The area also had more of a diverse social system with many different levels. They had poor people, middle-class working people, and than the rich. The people in this region believed that they should struggle and win together as a team. (City upon a Hill). The main reason they had a diverse social class is because they did not need to only depend on farming for their economic income. They had a fishing industry and the New England colonies were placed in an urban area so the people had more choices for jobs, although some people still farmed. They also had many technological advances in the New England Colony with Benjamin Franklin making many machines and inventions during this era. That is why the New England area was more developed and had a better chance of surviving. In Conclusion, the New England area was a much better place to live. They were not as prone to diseases because of the colder climate, they were more diverse socially and religiously, and they had economic opportunities because they were an industry. This difference in development needed to occur because without it America wouldn’t be as diverse as it is today because everyone would just have conformed together.

The Role of Economics in Sports :: Economy Papers

"Money makes the world go 'round." Sports could not exist without the presence of money. You have high paid athletes asking for multi-million dollar contacts, while at the same time you have doctors not even making close to that amount. There are corporations buying out sports teams, buying stadiums, and buying everything that has to do with sports. Someone may ask why they do this. Sports are one of the most profitable industries in the world. Everyone wants to get their hand on a piece of the action. Those individuals and industries that spend hundreds of millions of dollars on these sports teams are hoping to make a profit, but it may be an indirect profit. It could be a profit for the sports club, or it could be a promotion for another organization (i.e. Rupert Murdoch, FOX). The economics involved with sports has drastically changed over the last ten years. In the United States, we spend about 13% of all money on sports and entertainment. Sports has obviously done its job; entertained and drained money out of our pockets. A young boy goes up to his mother and says, "Mommy! I want to be a baseball player!" If this was said in 1930, the boy's mother probably would have told the boy, "That's not future for you! You need to get a real job and make good money." If this was said in 1999, the boy's mother probably would have said, "Let's go to the store and buy you a baseball glove so you can start to practice." It is visible to every sports fan that in the past few decades, sports has undergone a whole new renovation. It isn't just an activity that is played for fun. It is a business in which owner and players attempt to coincide. It is a business where TV controls fan interest. It is also a business that affects many people's lives, both monetary and living aspects. There are many aspects that are involved with the economics of sport. Each one having unique qualities that adds to the greatest source of entertainment. Economics is the study of how best to allocate scarce resources throughout an entire market. Economics affect our lives on a daily basis, whether it is on a business level or a personal level.

Piagets Four Stages of Learning in Cognitive Development Essay

Jean Piaget's Four Stages of Learning in Cognitive Development Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who did work on the development of intelligence in children. His studies have had a major impact on the fields of psychology and education. Piaget liked to call himself a genetic epistemologist (is a person who studies the origins of human knowledge) His theories led to more advanced work in child psychology. Piaget does work involving both experimental and observational methods. Piaget believed that from birth humans are active learners, he also believed that cognitive development occurs in four stages. Stage I, sensorimotor intelligence (birth-2 years), takes the child from unrelated reflexive movements to behavior that reflects knowledge of simple concepts. During this stage, the child learns about himself and his environment. Thought derives from sensation and movement. The child learns that he is separate from his environment and that aspects of his environment -- his parents or favorite toy -- continue to exist even though they may be outside the reach of his senses. Teaching for a child in this stage should be geared to the sensorimotor system. You can modify behavior by using the senses: a frown, a stern or soothing voice -- all serve as appropriate techniques. Stage II, preoperational thought (2-7 years), is characterized by an increasing use of abstract symbols as 0reflected in imaginative play. Preoperational Thought is the capacity to coordinate symbols in a meaningful way it increases, mental reasoning emerges, use of concepts increases. Applying his new knowledge of language, the child begins to use symbols to represent objects. Early in this stage he also personifies objects. He is now better able to think... ...umber of each kind. The expected answer is "The same." Rearrange one row as shown and ask the same question again. This time around a child would say "More squares." Another example would be if you had two balls of clay that were the same size, then you flattened one; the children would say the flat one is bigger. The example that was really neat to see was; when you take two straws exactly the same size and put them side by side, the children think that they are the same; when you push one up a little further the children think it is bigger because it is higher. There are lots of examples to show that children in grades primary through to about 5 or 6 can not get these questions right. One of the achievements of Piaget's research is the universal acceptance of the fact that children do not think like adults, they think differently and in different categories.