Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Gender Stereotypes essays

Gender Stereotypes essays Today, every one of us is spending more of his leisure time watching TV, listening to the radio or reading newspapers and magazines. The shows on the TV and the articles in the newspapers influence our decision process, shaping our perceptions for the world. Besides the positive fact that we are better informed and in touch with the latest news, we should be aware that accepting this enormous flow of information and allowing it to make our mind can be dangerous. The TVs infiltrate our lives, guiding us what are we supposed to wear, how are we supposed to look and act. Children, because of lack of mature judging values, are more susceptible to the influence of the television. They tend to accept everything they see on TV as real. Kids often identify with movie characters and comics figures much more than the elder generation does. It is the role of the parents to teach them that not everythink that glitters is gold and to give them a better perception of the world. That of course does not mean that parents are affected less by the TV. On the contrary, they are often more affected than their kids, of course not by cartoons, but by shows that contain information about serious subjects such as parenthood. Concerned with being good parents, people are accumulating a lot of information on the subject. As the information can be very helpful, sometimes it can be destructive. That is the case when it comes to the problem of "tomboys" and "sissies." What are these two terms used for? The term "tomboy" is used when referring to a girl who is masculine, and the term "sissy" is used when referring to a boy who is feminine. We need to state what we consider feminine and what is masculine. According to the established sense in the society, femininity and masculinity are tightly bound to gender. Men are supposed to be masculine. They are expected to be strong, rough, to have high stamina. They are...

Saturday, November 23, 2019

The Truth About Swallowing Spiders in Our Sleep

The Truth About Swallowing Spiders in Our Sleep No matter what generation you grew up in, chances are you heard the rumor that we swallow a certain number of spiders each year as we sleep. However, the truth is that the chances of you swallowing a spider while sleeping are slim to none.   Research Findings Not a single study has been done to date to quantify the number of spiders people swallow while sleeping. Scientists do not give this topic a moments glance,  however, because it is nearly impossible. You can rest peacefully because the chances of swallowing a spider while you are asleep are almost none. The only reason they do not say the chances are zero is that nothing is impossible. In order for you to unknowingly swallow a spider in your sleep, a number of unlikely occurrences would all have to happen in sequence: First, you would have to be sleeping with your mouth wide open. If a spider crawled on your face and over your lips, you would likely feel it. So a spider would have to approach you by descending from the ceiling above you on a silk thread.Then, the spider would have to hit the target- your mouth- dead center to avoid tickling your lips. If it landed on your tongue, a highly-sensitive surface, you would feel it for sure.Next, the spider would have to land at the back of your throat without touching anything on the way in. Finally, at the very moment of landing on your throat, you would have to swallow. This series of coincidences is highly unlikely.   Spider Behavior Spiders are not going to voluntarily approach the mouth of a large predator. Spiders view humans as a danger to their well-being. Sleeping humans are most likely viewed as  terrifying. A slumbering person breathes, has a beating heart and perhaps snores- all of which create vibrations that warn spiders of an imminent threat.  We appear as big, warm-blooded, threatening creatures that might eat them on purpose. We Do Eat Spiders- Just Not in Our Sleep The rumor about swallowing spiders in your sleep may be debunked, but that does not mean that you do not eat spiders. Spider and insect parts make it into our food supply every day, and it is all FDA approved. For example, according to  the FDA, there is an average of 60 or more bug fragments per quarter pound of chocolate. Peanut butter has  30 or more insect fragments  per quarter pound. Everything you eat likely has critter parts in it, but this is normal. It is fairly impossible to avoid having these mini body parts in our food. As it turns out, bits of arthropods in your food will not kill you and can make you stronger- protein and nutrient levels in some insects and arachnids can match that of chicken and fish. Misleading Information on the Internet To test a theory that people were susceptible to accepting anything they read online as true, Lisa Holst, a columnist for PC Professional in the 1990s conducted an experiment. Holst authored a list of fabricated facts and statistics including the old folkloric rumor that the average person swallows eight spiders per year. As Holst hypothesized, the statement was readily accepted as fact and went viral.   Thanks to Holst, the younger generations now know the old fashioned rumor. It might have faded into the past if left in the past, but now, some still believe the rumor is true. Sources Spiders Swallowed Per Year, Snopes.com.Defect Levels Handbook. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2016).

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The value of the UK pound is currently determined on a floating Essay

The value of the UK pound is currently determined on a floating exchange rate system, but in the past has been determined on a f - Essay Example In this essay, the fixed exchange rate system and the role of UK in maintaining the pound under the fixed exchange rate system has been discussed. Moreover, to analyse the current exchange rate system adopted by UK, floating exchange rate system has been discussed. Finally, the impact of depreciation of British Pound on the UK economy has been analysed by using relevant data, graphs and tables. Fixed Exchange Rate System In the fixed exchange rate system, the rates fluctuate within narrow boundaries and if the exchange rate starts to move higher, the government maintains the rate within the boundaries (Madura, 2008). In 1944, Bretton Wood Accord introduced the fixed exchange rate system and until 1970s, most of the major world economies were participating in the fixed exchange rate system (Burton & Brown 2009). Burton & Brown (2009) explains that after the introduction of the system, the major industrialised countries met to develop a new international financial system. Under the fix ed exchange rate system, economies agreed that if the trade deficit of an economy increased then they would be able to manage supply of currency in international markets. In the fixed exchange rate system, the government increases the supply of currency when the trade deficit of the country increases. The increased supply of the currency inserts the downward pressure on the exchange rate however, to maintain the pre-decided exchange rate, the central bank of the country purchase the excess supply of its currency. For example, if Britain economy faces trade deficit, the increase in the supply of pounds relative to dollar inserts downward pressure on pound value whereas, decrease in supply of pounds relative to dollar inserts upward pressure on value of pound. The government has the power to intervene in the fixed exchange rate system. Under a fixed exchange rate system, the government is able to manipulate the market value of the other currency in terms of its domestic currency. Howe ver, manipulations can be only done to an agreed-exchange rate. UK government has been playing a significant role in maintaining pound under a fixed exchange rate system. The UK government has always been intervening to keep the agreed-exchange rate within certain boundaries. For example, when the agreed-exchange rate of pound and dollar fluctuated then to keep the rate fixed, the UK government bought or sold pounds with dollars until the market value of the two currencies converged to an agreed level. Floating Exchange Rate System Floating exchange rate system is the system when there is no flexibility in the exchange rate system and the values of exchange rate system are determined by the market forces and they are independent of the government intervention (Madura, 2008). British government adopted the floating exchange rate system in 1992 and after adopting the floating exchange rate system, the Bank of England was no longer able to influence the currency markets. In other words , after adopting the floating exchange rate system, the influence of the government in controlling the exchange rate system finishes. In this exchange rate system, the value of the currency is only determined by the demand and supply of the currency in the foreign exchange market, therefore, market forces play role to influence the

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Data Mining Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Data Mining Questions - Essay Example These searches contain documents, information about documents, data about data, text, audio, images and etc. Like information retrieval, data mining also involves gathering information. With data mining query, it is inquiries on trends on the information gathered from large databases or large amount of data. Data mining query uses software or web analysis services in sorting through large data and picking pieces of relative information to show patterns or relationships that are embedded, waiting to be discovered and possibly constructive. A database's performance is measured according to its design, effectiveness when used to inquire 'information', constantly updated and of course the amount of data available for which it was constructed for. Metric measures of performance are available to quantify the effectiveness of the information retrieval. These are precision, recall, F-measure and Mean-average precision. Precision is the proportion of the relevant documents to all documents retrieved and recall is the proportion of relevant documents that are retrieved to all relevant documents available. ... A database's performance is measured according to its design, effectiveness when used to inquire 'information', constantly updated and of course the amount of data available for which it was constructed for. Metric measures of performance are available to quantify the effectiveness of the information retrieval. These are precision, recall, F-measure and Mean-average precision. Precision is the proportion of the relevant documents to all documents retrieved and recall is the proportion of relevant documents that are retrieved to all relevant documents available. Consecutively, F-measure is the weighted harmonic mean of precision and recall and the mean average precision; where average precision refers to the average of the precision after each relevant document is retrieved. For data mining query, its measure of performance can be measured in the exactness of the outcome of the data mining to the intended inquiry and if there other possible usable discoveries produced in that query. 3.) Clearly explain the concept of summarization with an example. Reference: Wikipedia, Online Free Encyclopedia Data mining is centered on determining patterns from data. Queries often lead to a collection of patterns which can be regarded as a summary of data. Since pattern collections summarizing the data are often very large, it is then difficult to summarize pattern collections. Some of the proposed and studied methods of summarizing pattern collections are: 1) Quality value simplifications. 2) Pattern orderings. 3) Pattern chains and antichains. 4) Change profiles. 5) Inverse pattern discovery. For quality value simplifications, pattern collections are

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Challenges of special needs education Essay Example for Free

Challenges of special needs education Essay Efforts involved in implementation of Special needs education in Uganda today have got challenges that are facing them. These challenges are Handling the problems of an inclusive classroom. The concept of having classrooms that contain both special needs students and students who are developing typically is becoming a popular one. This type of education poses new challenges for a special education teacher. For example, many students who have no disabilities are unaccustomed to dealing with those who do. Teachers in these classes are charged with eliminating cruelty and insensitivity from among  their students and ensuring that those with special needs are treated with respect. Professional Isolation. The nature of a special education teacher’s work is very different from that of traditional teachers; the result of this is that standard classroom teachers may not view them as colleagues. There may be a professional stigma attached to the work of teaching â€Å"slow† students. Special education teachers often work with smaller groups and may focus on skills rather than content, thereby leading to the perception that their work is easier or less important. Lack of support from parents. Some parents of special needs children are disinterested in the welfare of their children and fail to provide them with adequate care. Alternatively, they may be overly protective. Both can be problematic for the child and for their teacher. Disinterested parents may have no involvement with their child’s education or interaction with their teachers, WHEREAS OVERPROTECTIVE PARENTS MAY HAVE UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS FROM THE CHILD AND THE CHILD’S teachers. Both attitudes can shape children in negative ways. Parental disinterest may make special needs students less motivated and parents who are overprotective often diminish their  child’s confidence and make it harder for them to learn. 2 [emailprotected] com The difficulty of discipline in a special needs classroom. Disabled children may have behavioral issues including restlessness and moodiness. They may also exhibit problems like a short attention span or an inability to understand what is being taught. Special education teachers have to learn how to deal with these problems as well as how to take appropriate disciplinary measures. Budget problems. Across the nation, special education programs are facing increasing enrollment and decreasing budgets. The result is that there are fewer teacher assistants available, which results in a greater workload for special education teachers. They may also face shortages of essential resources and equipment for delivering effective lessons. Shortage of teachers to handle learners with special needs. Most of the teachers refuse to offer a hand once told to handle a class and later identify that learners in that class are disabled in one way or the other. Many teachers like to teach only learners who are able to do things without any difficulty. They fail to understand that ability is not to everyone. Shortage of teaching materials. Some schools in Uganda today support the learners with special needs but they are faced with a problem of the materials they are to use to teach the learners for example having brails for the blind. This poses a challenge to special needs education in Uganda today. Statistics about the number of the children with special needs. There is no correct statistical approximation of the number of the children with special needs in Uganda today. Supplemented by the enumeration of people taking place after a long period. With miss appropriated number of  children with special needs, there comes a challenge to the state to budget for them in terms of the resources like human resource available. 3 [emailprotected] com Rigid curriculum. Rigidity of the curriculum is also a challenge as it does not clearly show how to handle people with disabilities. The curriculum provides the content but not the pedagogy. This poses achallenge to the teachers who handle learners with special needs on how to handle and present or deliver the content. There are few schools that offer special needs education in Uganda today. They are faced with  a problem of handling the whole multitude of learners all over the country. The population of learners in those schools is high becoming a challenge to teaching and special needs education in general. There are few training institutions for those who would wish to understand the necessary basics of handling learners with disabilities. Assumptions tend to be taken that it is automatic that an individual cannot fail to handle a person with any form of disability. This is a real misconception as for example a person may just think that he knows but when a disabled person asks him for some help, he directs him to specialists. Despite the fact that Special needs education is faced with a number of challenges. Some of those challenges can be mitigated. I suggest the following ways that can be used to act as solutions t the number of challenges above are:- Comprehensive review of state laws, regulations and policies should be done to in cooperate policies for efficient implementation of special needs education in Uganda today. In addition government policies should be put in place with clearly well-defined measures to the rights of the disabled and what is expected from the community as far as providing special needs education is concerned. This will enable the learners to be helped in whatever form the help may be but not being isolated and thus their presence in society thought of as being useless. 4 [emailprotected] com Tertiary institutions that train teachers should in cooperate into their curriculum courses that train teachers to handle learners with special needs. This will help increase the human resource that handle learners with special needs eliminating the challenge of the shortage of teachers with skills of handling learners with special needs. Sensitization of stake holders of their roles regarding the support they should render to people  with disabilities. This will make parents not to keep their children at home rather send them to schools where they may be fully partially included in regular classes thus will end up having achieved their right to education. Parents should made aware of the consequences of not rendering a hand in the education of their children. The government should consider the special needs education sector on their budget. This will make them cater for the materials that the students need to learn. With these materials like the brails available, the implementation of education of learners with special needs will not have  much trouble. Review of the curriculum to check where people with various forms of disabilities can be infused into the system needs to be done as this will help teachers have at least some basics of handling the disabled not leaving everything tothose whom they claim to be experts inthat field. With maximum cooperation of teachers in the school, all the students will thus be catered for. REFERENCES Fanning, B. , Veale, A. , OConnor, D. (2001). Beyond the pale: Asylum seeking children and social exclusion in Ireland. Dublin: Irish Refugee Council. Farrell, P. (1997). The integration of children with severe learning difficulties: A review of the recent literature. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 50(2), 26-31 Ferguson, D. L. (2008). International trends in inclusive education: The continuing challenge to teach each one and everyone. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 23(2), 109-120 Gutman, L. M. , Midgley, C. (2000). The role of protective factors in supporting the academic achievement of poor African American students during the middle school transition. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29(2), 223-248.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Health and Wellness int the Workplace :: essays research papers

Health and Wellness in the Workplace   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If the health of employees can help or hinder a company, then why do companies still have sick days? With the â€Å"on the go† lifestyles, how can we not question the health of employees and their families. Today we have high stress jobs, rush hour traffic, and demanding schedules. Being healthy and fit is the way to conquer tomorrow.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We, as people in the workforce, are depended on to follow through with work commitments. A healthy employee is able to do more and feel well enough to enjoy it. We strive to do our best but how can we when we have low morale at the office. Healthy employees directly impact the bottom-line of all companies, from the sole proprietorship to the large corporation (1996). Keeping health-care costs low, boosting morale, increasing productivity, and reducing the absent rate is a payoff that every good business owner should recognize. When a small business is trying to become larger, having employees who are healthy and stress free is important. Losing a member of an already small number due to being ill is not the way to succeed. Working in an environment that is happy and productive is the perfect place to work, regardless of what the job is. With the health care costs reaching high number there is no wonder we have a large number of absenteeism. So many wait to the last possible painstaking work day to decide to see a doctor about their aliment, and all of that could be prevented. Preventing oneself to have to take time off from work is one way to keep costs low. There are so many areas that need to be addressed when it comes to what is going to slow us down as a company. According to estimates by Dr. Jaime Claudio(1991), a corporate wellness consultant for Health Plus, a provider of health-care insurance, a comprehensive eating awareness and weight- management program designed to improve long-term habits could generate an 80% reduction in the incidence of potential problems caused by obesity in the workplace. These problems include hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and diminished work efficiency. Obesity is not the only eating disorder that is a problem, there is bulimia and anorexia. Smoking, drinking, su bstance abuse, and stress are problems that are brought into the workplace and stop productivity. We have to be aware of issues that are there but are not usually thought of as an illness.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Major Factors for a Successful Exhibition Essay

Exhibitors expect to meet visitors so they can do business with. Organizers need visitors to visit their exhibitions’ so they can encourage exhibitors to join their exhibitions, therefore making positive financial returns. On the 28-31 October this year, the HKTDC will organize an international furniture fair at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition centre. The most successful companies in this exhibition will be the ones that take advantage of the knowledge the event organizers have to offer, and then successfully communicate that knowledge to the project team that will design all the elements that will be present within the display booth. Other factors for a successful exhibition in the eyes of the exhibitor include but not limited to the following †¢Establish meaningfully goals, and come up with a strong and reliable strategy that will achieve your goals. †¢Put into practice powerful and unforgettable marketing initiatives before, during, and after the exhibition. Choose the best type of exhibit display booth that meets your goals and promotional needs as well as your budgetary requirements. †¢Effectively make use of display accessories, banners, graphics, lighting, booth design, and materials to heighten visibility and drive sales. †¢Hand out Promotional products that complement your company image. †¢Ensure those working the show are well trained to fully represent your company, generate leads, and secure sales. Through the eyes of the organizer the key factors of a successful exhibition is when all the exhibition goals have been achieved or completed. Some of those goals I have listed below †¢Pre-promotional strategy as meet it objectives by providing enough interest in the exhibition †¢All the allocated floor space as been taken up by exhibitors †¢Visitors count by surpassed the expected amount †¢Feedback from exhibitors is good and bookings are taken for the following year †¢Nothing unexpected happens †¢When organizers receive recognition for their exhibition A well organized event will enhance awareness, help to capture new business leads and advance customer relationships

Sunday, November 10, 2019

“Ode to a Nightingale” and “To Autumn” by John Keats. Essay

Romanticism is a movement in literature that came as a result of a revolt against the previous period â€Å"Classicism†. John Keats was an English poet who became one of the most important Romantic poets. William Wordsworth, another significant figure during Romanticism, described it as â€Å"liberalism in literature’, meaning the artist was free from restraints and rules, and was encouraged to write about his/her own experiences, rather than being a passive narrator praising an event or person. Romanticism emphasizes on passion rather than reason, imagination rather than logic, and intuition rather than science. The Romantics were drawn to the medieval past, myths and legends, supernatural being, and nature. Keats led a very tragic life. His poems can often be related back to his bitter and sad experiences in life. Many of the ideas in Keats’s works are quintessentially of Romantic nature: imagination and creativity, the beauty of nature, magical creatures or experience, and the true sufferings of human life. â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale† and â€Å"To Autumn† are two well known odes by Keats. They both reflect some of the concerns in its context. â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale† explores the sufferings of mortal life and ways of escape including alcohol, imagination and poetry, and death. The nightingale represents transcendence to a better world and its song is the means by which the narrator reaches this state. Other Romantic poets often used this type of escape. In stanza I the narrator hears the song of a nightingale and he expresses his â€Å"drowsy numbness pains† which are not the effects of alcohol, but rather, from being so happy in hearing the song that his heart aches and his senses numbs. In stanza II, the narrator longs for alcohol, so he can forget his troubles and â€Å"leave the world unseen† with the bird. This leads to stanza III, with a sombre description of the human life that the nightingale has never known: â€Å"The weariness, the fever, and the fret†, â€Å"Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies†, â€Å"Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes†. Miseri es and the true conditions of mortal life were popular themes in Romantic poems. In stanza IV the narrator feels a great desire to fly away with the bird, away from grim mortal life and into an ideal world not through alcohol, but  through imagination and the â€Å"viewless wings of Poesy† or poetry. In stanza VI, the narrator contemplates the idea of death. The narrator is attracted to the state of dying amongst ecstatic music, flowers, perfume and the soft darkness. At the end of stanza VII, the nightingale’s song portrays a completely magical and imaginary world. However, it is not like a paradise, instead, it is more like a destructive world of illusions â€Å"perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn†. Romantic poems often contained the fantasy element. In stanza VIII, the narrator is jolted back to his reality world by the word â€Å"forlorn†. He realizes the bird has deceived him by convincing him he can escape into the ideal, but temporary world, but in the end, he will always have to come back to reality. The narrator is left with one last question to ponder – â€Å"Was it a vision, or a waking dream? Fled is that music: – Do I wake or sleep?† After the music of the nightingale is finally gone, he is unable to distinguish whether he heard the bird in his dream, or whether he was awake then, and asleep now. The end relates back to his drowsy state of being in stanza I. This circular structure can be found in a number of Romantic poems eg. Wordsworth’s â€Å"Tintern Abbey†, Keat’s â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci†, and a number of his other odes. Circularity gives a sense of completeness without giving precise explanation to this experience. This poem has many characteristics in a Romantic ode including the poet’s involvement in the poem, the seriousness of the issue being discussed, and a further insight into life. Also many language techniques used by Keats, including alliteration, rhythm, rhyme, onomatopoeia, synaethesia, and personification, were commonly used by other Romantic poets. Like most other Romantic odes, â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale† is written in ten line stanzas. However, this ode is different in rhyme and rhythm. The first seven and the last two lines of each stanza are written in iambic pentameter, the eighth line of each stanza has only three accented syllables instead of five. The  rhyme scheme is the same in every stanza: ABABCDECDE. Synaesthesia is a poetic device where a thing associated with one sense is described in terms of another. It can be found in stanza II: wine is being described as â€Å"draught of vintage†, it tastes of flowers and the country green (normally associated with sight and smell), dance (movement), song (sound), and sunburn and mirth (feel and touch). Synaesthesia can also be found in stanza V where the â€Å"coming musk-rose† (touch and smell) is associated with â€Å"dewy wine† (taste). Keats uses alliteration to convey the tone and personification to dramatize the poem. Hippocrene (wine of poetic inspiration) is described as blushful, with â€Å"beaded bubbles winking at the brim†. The alliteration of ‘b’ sounds conveys energy and suggests fuzzy champagne. The repetition of soft sounds in â€Å"fade away into the forest dim† leads us to stanza III where the first three words â€Å"Fade far away† has the repetition of ‘a’ sounds, this lengthens and makes the tone subdued and melancholy. The alliteration of â€Å"fever and the fret† is followed by a series of phrases beginning with â€Å"Where†, this emphasizes the fact all these problems are associated with the mortal world. Beauty is personified here with having â€Å"lustrous eyes†. The first two words in stanza IV: â€Å"Away! Away!† renews energy after a grim stanza III. â€Å"Already with thee!† also quickens the pace. In stanza V , there are a lot of ‘s’ and ‘c’ sounds, which reflects the quiet mood. Death is personified in stanza VI, and the nightingale is personified in stanza VII. The bird is described as â€Å"not born for death†. The poem finishes in a regretful, quiet tone. The narrator and the reader are left to ponder the experience of they’ve just gone through. It ends with a mysterious note that many Romantic poems including many of Keats’s other poems also have. â€Å"To Autumn† is an ode about the real world of harvest, maturity, and fruitfulness, transfigured by the imagination. This poem was one of the last poems Keats wrote before his death. In this, Keats acknowledges his life is near the end and he accepts that beauty is in all things. The theme of this ode is one of the most popular themes used by Romantic poets. The narrator opens the poem and stanza I by addressing Autumn as a dear friend of the sun  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun†. They plot to load the vines with fruit, bend trees with apples, fill all fruit with ripeness, plump the pumpkins and fill flowers with honey for the bees. In stanza II, the narrator describes Autumn as a woman sitting on a granary floor, or on a half reaped grain field, watching juice from apples being squeezed by a cider press. Stanza III associates Autumn as the season on the brink of desolated winter, the songs and sounds of summer are sad and quiet. Our lives can be desc ribed in terms of seasons: spring is the beginning, summer is the peak, autumn is the maturing years and winter is the final stage in life. The form of this ode follows the same structure as other Romantic odes but it is varied. It is in eleven line stanzas, each in relatively precise iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme divides each stanza to two parts, the first four lines follows ABAB, while the last seven lines either follow CDEDCCE (first stanza) or CDECDDE (second and third stanza). This poem takes up the themes of other odes including temporality, mortality and change, but it is full of warm, rich and calm images. Keats establishes the serene tone by use of enjambment (where an idea is carried over into a new line), onomatopoeia and personification. In stanza I, Autumn and the sun are given human qualities. The sun is personified by its maturity. A feeling of plentiful and abundance is created by what Autumn and the sun are conspiring to do. In stanza II, Autumn is completely personified, it is being described as a woman, sitting, sleeping, doing the things we humans do. This creates a feeling of warmth and familiarity. In stanza III, the day is personified as the â€Å"soft-dying day†, small gnats â€Å"mourn† in a â€Å"wailful choir† and the light wind â€Å"lives or dies†. These images convey a quiet, peaceful sleep (death). Keats demonstrates that in nature, there is the constant cycle of life and death and death is a perfectly normal, peaceful process. From this poem, we can learn that accepting our fate, destiny and our mortality does not affect our ability to appreciate beauty in our mortal world. Romanticism was a period that focused on emotions, the imagination, the  mortal world, myths and legends, supernatural beings and the place of the individual in this world. â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale† and â€Å"To Autumn† are typical Romantic poems. Their structure, language features, and themes reflects those typical during Romanticism. â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale† is about transcending to an ideal world, while â€Å"To Autumn† is about the real world changed by imagination. The moral of both is that there may be temporary escape from grimness of human life, but in the end everyone has to return to reality and accept our mortality, and this acceptance won’t affect our capability to appreciate beauty.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

The Progressivity of Health Care Finance

The Progressivity of Health Care Finance The Progressivity of Health Care Finance One of the main objectives of millennium development goals was to have universal healthcare services to everyone in the world at a cost that is affordable. This responsibility was laid on governments of various countries for implementation. This noble idea was to ensure that cases where people die not because of the complexity of the diseases they suffer from but because of their inability to pay for the hospital services are eliminated.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Progressivity of Health Care Finance specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Various governments around the world have tried to come up with policies to help ensure that this goal is realized. However, Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao (2009, p. S27) say that realization of this goal has remained a challenge to many governments. The costs of healthcare services are very high, especially due to the instruments and type of med ication that some ailments require. Efforts have been made to ensure that most of the diseases can be treated at costs that are affordable to the poor. The policy is always meant to protect the poor from being unable to access healthcare services because of the increased costs. The government of the United Kingdom is one of the many governments that have tried to achieve this millennium development goal by ensuring that healthcare services are affordable to every citizen of this country. Progressive health care finance has been considered as the most appropriate way through which this goal can be achieved. Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao (2009, p. S56) say that healthcare services have remained very expensive, and someone must bear the cost. For the poor to be in a position to access hospital services without paying the exorbitant fee that these services cost there must be a way that the cost will be paid by others who are in better position to pay for these services. This must happen in or der to avoid a scenario where the government is forced to foot these bills. It is upon this that the progressive health care finance has been introduced in this country and many other countries around the world. As the name suggests, this health care finance is progressive in nature based on the earnings of the individuals. Those who earn higher salaries would be expected to pay more, while those with lower pay always pay a lesser amount towards this fund. The fund is always collected by the organ assigned by the government specifically for this purpose. Many countries have established National Health Insurance to be responsible for this task. This body acts as an insurance scheme where people are allowed to pull together towards financing the health of every citizen of the country. The rationale in this case is that not everyone will fall sick at the same time. For this reason, those who are of good health, which is always the majority, will health in contributing towards payment o f the few who are hospitalized.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The policy has worked in many countries around the world. However, it has also met a number of challenges in its implementation. Some people have complained why they are forced to pay more simply because they are earning more while when they go for these services they get the same treatment. They consider their effort not to be commensurate to what they get when they visit these facilities for healthcare services. Critics have also faulted this policy as being communist in nature and that it encourages laziness. One group of the society are forced to work very hard in order to pay for health services of another group who may be paying either too little amount of money or none at all. This is seen as transferring the burden of one group to another group. Others have criticized this program as not being all inclusive. They say that people can easily avoid contributing to this scheme because there are no mechanisms set in place to help monitor the informal sector. Those working in the informal sector and without a set wage rate can easily abuse this scheme by paying lesser fee or not paying at all, claiming that there were no earnings in that particular period. Despite these challenges, this idea has massively helped improve health of the citizens of this country. The United Kingdom is one of the few countries in the world that has come closest to achieving this millennium development goal with the help of this scheme. This scheme has been an umbrella that covers the cost of every citizen of this country irrespective of their financial status. This has seen most of the killer disease which were common in this country about two decades ago completely eliminated. These services has helped offer standard healthcare to all. Although the rich may consider going for private hospitals wher e the services could be a little better than those offered by government at subsidized fee, the poor can now get treatment from government hospitals without worrying the amount of fee they will have to pay for the service. It is the wish of the government to improve its health services to all the citizens, and for this to be realized, there must be an increased amount of money to cater for the improved services. It is on this basis that the government developed this progressive health care finance. Those who earn more money would help improve the services of the hospitals by paying more to this scheme. The society has come to appreciate the importance of this policy, and the resistance it received when it was first introduced has gradually disappeared. As Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao (2009, p. S87) say, the policy has seen the country develop excellent healthcare facilities for the nationals of this country. In other countries such as the United States, this policy has been very helpful in ensuring that the health care service offered to the people is affordable.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Progressivity of Health Care Finance specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More How Can the Government Influence Health Behavior Decisions According to Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao (2009, p. S87), most of the health complications are always borne out of the behavior of people and the decisions they make in line. This scholar says that the kind of health one has is always directly related to the kind of lifestyle one leads. For instance, smoking or excessive taking of alcohol is a lifestyle that is common in this country, especially among the youth. No one is always born a drunkard. It is a behavior one picks up as one grows. Similarly, smoking is always a decision made by individual, and in most cases, people start smoking when they are past adolescent stage. This means that the behavior is acquired when one is an adul t which is an age where one is trusted to be able to make decisions that are rational. At early stages of life, these people are subjected to various forms of education which point out to them the fact that smoking or excessive drinking of alcohol is harmful to their health. They know that some ingredients in a cigarette are dangerous to their health, but they ignore all these and engage in chain smoking that has direct impact to their health. Currently, HIV/AIDS is a pandemic all over the world. Although the problem is not as serious in the United Kingdom as it is in other countries, there has been a worrying trend in this country within the past one year where the rate of infection has been considered to be on the rise. The government statistics do not come out clearly to demonstrate this because some of the victims would prefer their identity to be unknown and therefore, go to private hospitals where their demands would be respected. Obesity is also becoming an issue to worry abo ut. As Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao (2009, p. S116) note, there has been an increasing cases of obesity in this country over the past few years. Obesity comes with various health complications, and if not well addressed, an individual can develop a series of diseases that can have serious negative effect to their health. The decision to embrace a certain behavior is always made by an individual. For instance, it would be the decision of an individual to engage in irresponsible sexual behavior that may expose him or her to infectious decisions. It is also the decision of an individual to become obese due to irresponsible diets and lack of exercise. However, after acquiring diseases related to their irresponsible behavior, it ceases to be their personal problem. It now becomes a family and a societal problem. Such an individual may not be able to work, and he or she would need the health care services offered by the government. They will need support from the society to overcome their heal th complication, and the government will be expected to play a role in elevating their status. It is therefore, a fact that no decision can be said to affect the maker.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It is true that the maker may bear the greatest impact, but this impact will spread to other members of the society and finally to the government. For this reason, government has all the right to influence this behavior because it is one of the stakeholders who may be negatively affected by some of the consequences of this behavior. The government plays are very important role in ensuring that the health behavior decisions of its citizens are influenced in a way that would put them into lesser risk. The following graph shows some of the behavior that may put an individual into health risks. Some of the Behavioral Factors that Puts an Individual at Health Risk Source: (Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao 2009, p. S72) It is clear from the graph above that there are some behavioral factors that put an individual at risk, and therefore, must be regulated by the government. Smoking is one of the leading causes of lung cancer among other health complications. In order to deter or discourage this be havior, the government has been increasing tax on this commodity. This has seen its price go up. The government has also introduced a law that prohibits sale and consumption of cigarettes and alcohol to individual below the majority age. In order to curb reckless driving which is also listed as one of the factors leading to health complication, the government has developed strict traffic laws, and the enforcement agency has been very swift in ensuring that this law is not violated. However, as Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao (2009, p. S132) say, these laws are very important in deterring individual from engaging in these behavior, but this may not change their thinking towards their habits. These scholars say that the best approach to deal with this issue is to make the society believe that these decisions they make, and the kind of behavior they engage in have direct impact on their health, the social well-being of their loved ones and to the government. They must appreciate the importance of desisting from these behavioral factors. Their main reason of avoiding this behavior should not be because of the law, but should be because of their own conscience. The law will always remain on paper, and once it is not appreciated by people, it implementation can be a big challenge. However, when people appreciate it, they will defend it, a fact that will help enhance positive behavior. The government should therefore, engage in civic education. It should make the society appreciate the need to avoid some behavior. This education should be started in schools and colleges before it is rolled out to their entire public using the media. Grossman Model of Demand for Health (Increasing Food Prices and Wages) Grossman model of demand for health is based upon the premise that health is always determined by various factors and medical care is just one of them. Some of these factors include the work environment, the social class, and employment status, housing conditions, income, heat ing, diet, education and lifestyle. These factors have varying weight and in order to determine their importance, there should be an understanding of possible links that exist between the resources, the behavioral factors and health. Grossman model holds that individuals value health and they are always willing to allocate their resources in order to produce health (Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao 2009, p. S97). This model gives a detailed analysis of health economics, and how different factors play off in the production of health. According to this model, although people value health so much, it has not been given top priority by the populace. This explains the reason why people still drive recklessly, smoke, have poor diets and drink excessive alcohol despite the knowledge that they are dangerous to their health. In this section, the focus will be on two factors which are the increase in prices and wages as discussed in this model. Changes in Wage Rates According to this model, changes in the wage rates have direct impact on production of health. This model considers health as a product that is produced at a cost. This cost will be incurred by people through their contributions. The contribution can be in the form of the National Health Insurance Fund or a direct contribution made through the private health institutions. The amount of resources that people will be willing to commit towards this production process is always dependent on the wage rate of the people. If people earn more, they will be able to pay more towards this production because of their increased disposable income. The graph below helps in demonstrating this fact. Source: (Wagstaff, Yip, Hsiao 2009, p. S41) According to this fact, health stocks are dependent on health capital. For this reason, an increment in wage rate (W) increases returns on healthy days. This would make the optimum level of health (H) to be higher. It is also important to note that investment into production of health needs ti me as an input. This has an effect of increasing the overall cost of production of health. Balancing these factors of production will help in ensuring that the product is delivered at a cost that is relatively affordable to all. Inflationary Food Prices According to this model, food prices have direct impact on the production of health. This takes place in two fronts. The first front is on the kind of diet that individuals will be forced to contend with in cases where the prices become inflammatory. As was discussed above, health starts from what one eats. Healthy eating is part of producing a healthy society. This is demonstrated in the graph below. Source: (Wagstaff, Yip, Hsiao 2009, p. S46) When the prices of food items become too high, individuals will be forced to contend with poor diets because of their reduced purchasing power. This factor will increase chances of diminished health conditions. The second factor is on the ability of the people to pay for the production of he alth. This model holds that an increase in prices of products has the same effect as reduced income. This is because the same amount that was used in financing production of health products will not be enough. This means that the budget will be constrained as the focus will shift from production of health to other factors considered more basic. Reference Wagstaff, A, Yip, W, Hsiao, W 2009, Equity in the finance of health care: some further international comparisons. Journal of Health Economics, vol. 18. no.3 pp. S1-S156.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

How to Build Your Persuasion Skills and Get What You Want

How to Build Your Persuasion Skills and Get What You Want Whether you’re about to enter an interview situation or would just like generally to be a more persuasive person, there are things you can do to build your likability- and  your ability to get what you want, when you want it. You don’t have to be innately good looking, super social, and super talented to be likable and persuasive. You just need to boost your emotional intelligence and build your persuasion skills. What Great Persuaders Have In CommonThere are some key behaviors that people who get what they want all have.People PleasingKnowing when and how to sacrifice in order to win the  war, rather than every small battle, is an important skill. Good persuaders know  how to give ground to coworkers (even adversaries!) and play the long game by making people happy.Not PushingYou must establish needs and ideas assertively and with confidence, but without being pushy or overly impatient†¦ all while never being mousy or a pushover!Knowing their AudiencePeople who get what they want know how to play to whatever crowd or group they’re  facing, know when to quit or pull back slightly, and learn to paint a specific picture in order to sell an idea.Using Body Language EffectivelySmiling is a secret weapon you should not underestimate- inspiring trust and confidence in your colleagues and managers. But other kinds of body language are helpful as well, such as keeping your arms open and not crossed, leaning in, and making eye contact.ListeningAcknowledging your listener’s point of view, asking intelligent questions, and using their name are all great ways to show your openness to other points of view and your willingness to compromise.Establishing a ConnectionIf you want to make real connections, the best way to do this is to find common ground with the people you speak to and to be genuine, rather than trying to conform to some idea of what you think people want to see or hear from you.How You can Improve Your Skills to Get a J obIf you are facing an interview situation, then there are a few extra tips to prove (and practice) your persuasiveness.Determine Whether You’re Thinking or FeelingDecide based on your interviewer whether it would be most beneficial to preface what you’re saying with â€Å"I think† or â€Å"I feel.† Research shows this makes a difference depending on how the person you are speaking to is oriented, with most analytical/cognitive-oriented people being more susceptible to thought/task-oriented language.Think of Yourself a Product to PitchRemember that an interview is a sales pitch. Don’t just rely on rehashing your experience. Find a way to market and sell yourself. Try recording three unique selling points, or your brand, that you want your interviewer to remember after you leave. Never offer a standard answer when you could tailor your answer to be more relevant to your interviewer’s business and their experience. Speak with passion and youâ €™ve got yourself a real sales pitch!Come Armed with KnowledgeDo the homework necessary to be taken as an expert. Research the industry, wield the jargon, and prepare examples of how you would be (because you already have been) effective in dealing with the kinds of problems you might confront in this job.Project ConfidenceRemember that projecting confidence is absolutely crucial to presenting your ideas. The best way to achieve the right degree of confidence is to practice as much as possible, until what you’re saying is automatic and comfortable. Then just remember to breathe regularly to keep your nerves at bay. If you get derailed, just try and mimic the behavior, postures, and tone of the most confident person you know! Eventually, you’ll start to feel as confident as you are acting.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

FACTORS THAT CAUSES THE BREAST CANCER IN YOUNG WOMEN Essay

FACTORS THAT CAUSES THE BREAST CANCER IN YOUNG WOMEN - Essay Example Various signs and symptoms are used in the detection of breast cancer. Self examination to feel for lumpy swellings is the most common method of self examining. Breast cancer may not be avoided, but it can be treated early if detected early without any serious damage to the young women. Statistics show that approximately 7% of young women are diagnosed with breast cancer and with early detection, 90% of those women are able to heal completely (Yankaskas, 2009). Identification of the research question is the first step towards conducting a solid research. In this case, the research question is to identify the causes of breast cancer in young women (C.T.B., 2013). Understanding breast cancer, its definition, symptoms, causes, and risk factors will help cover the research topic extensively. Understanding the age limit for the women considered as young in the case of breast cancer prognosis helps narrow down the causes. In this case, the young women are considered to be aged 40 years and below. Knowing this helps eliminate some causes and risk factors that lead to breast cancer that are associated with old age. The research study would also include a categorization of the different types of breast cancer. This will help clarify which type of breast cancer is responsible for the prevalence numbers of breast cancer in young women. This can be realized by reading widely. There are many ways that can be used to obtain reading resources. These incl ude, use of libraries, archives, and the internet as an academic source. In choosing the materials to use for research, understanding the topic helps narrow down the materials to use. The first thing is to understand what breast cancer is. There are many academic journals that have the definitions and terms associated with breast cancer. The use of a library can be very beneficial in this topic. Librarians have extensive knowledge on what books and journals can be beneficial to your research (SUNY, 2012). Inquiring from the