Biology Assignment, Types of Wounds and Quick Treatments

5 Types of Open Wounds: Abrasion – Abrasions are wounds caused by traumatic scraping and loss of skin. Falls occurring while in motion frequently lead to skin abrasions. Extensive skin loss may occur with high-speed motorcycle or similar accidents. Thorough cleansing and bandaging of abrasions involving small/limited skin loss should be done as first aid. Extensive or deep abrasions require a bigger treatment, which, in the most severe cases, may include skin grafting (used to permanently replace damaged or missing skin or to provide a temporary wound covering). Lacerations – Lacerations consist of cuts to the skin caused by sharp objects.Broken glass, knives, and other sharp tools are what commonly cause/started skin lacerations. In â€Å"Common Simple Emergencies,† thorough cleansing of a laceration wound is important in preventing wound infection. Adhesive strips, tissue adhesive, skin staples or stitches can be used to close a laceration wound. How to close a laceration wounds depends on the location, shape, size and the severity of the wound. Punctures – Puncture wounds result from forceful, deep skin penetration by slender objects. Accidentally stepping on a nail or other sharp object is a common cause of puncture wounds.Punctures wounds provided bacteria with an entryway into the deep layers of the skin where they can grow. The risk for tetanus, an infection caused by the bacterium Clostridium tentani, in simpler words meaning, infection from dirty metallic objects may provide health concern. Puncture wounds can be treated through cleansing and making sure you are up to date with your tetanus vaccination. Puncture wounds associated with animal, such as bees or most commonly dogs and human bites may require some medicine/antibiotic treatment because of the high risk infection to the bone and flesh.Animal bites may require rabies vaccination if the animal has rabies, or if their current status is unknown. Incision – Rarel y occurs, unless when handling knives, or bumping into something sharp, incision is almost like a scratch except deeper and more serious. More like a cut in the skin caused by a sharp object such as a knife, broken glass, scissors or surgeon's scalpel. Incision wounds are also â€Å"neat† (does not affect a large amount of area with little wounds) and the edges of the skin are usually smooth (not damaged, more like split)Avulsion – An injury in which a body structure is forcibly detached. It most commonly refers to a surface trauma where all layers of the skin have been torn away; exposing the underlying structures (e. g. subcutaneous tissue, muscle, tendons). This is similar to an abrasion but more severe, as body parts such as an eyelid or an ear can be partially or fully detached from the body. (Simple form: the forced removal of all of layers of the skin, the Epidermis, Dermis and Hypodermis, revealing tissues, muscles, tendons and sometimes bones underneath)

Diversity and Education According Essay

America’s student populations are increasingly reflective of an ethnically diverse society. However, we recognize that there are several major variables for improving the multicultural accommodation apparent in a school. Bruner and Vytgotsky lend this discussion some useful insight concerning such variables. Chief among them, the diversity of faculty, of learning content and of learning media all are directly relevant to the school’s embrace of difference. As the immigrant population continues not only to rise but to diversify in the United States, our educational system, and indeed, our nation has in many contexts attempted to enforce a degree of cultural uniformity inclined to either assimilate or exclude incoming cultures. Standardized testing, rigid curriculum design and poor representation amongst teachers and administrators of a diverse student population have all had the impact of white-washing American education. In the urban setting such as the case at hand, this can be especially problematic, with such failures of institution causing vulnerable students to disengage. Vytgotsky contributes an important idea to this discussion, referring us to the relevance of effective pedagogy in engaging such students. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through group activity. We have a core understanding of the fact that diversity implies not just a diversity of ethnicity or culture but also of potential learning styles or strategy. Vytgotsky offers an effective way to use this diversity to the advantage of the classroom. Group activity is always an effective way to help distill strategies and strengths for individuals. By strategically grouping students according to aptitude and academic strength, we enable stronger learners to directly engage weaker learners in a way that helps to effectively communicate concepts and ideas in play. Vytgotsky essentially contends that there is value to the less effective student of being partnered with a more skilled learner. This interaction can be beneficial to the aptitude of the former and can help the latter develop innate leadership skills. The focus of such legislation as No Child Left Behind does not leave a great deal of freedom or latitude for the urban school to engage in such activities however. There seems at present to be an impulse of standardization directly opposite the need for diversity celebration. Some of the root causes of the failure of our educational system to accommodate diversity as it cuts across multiple demographic lines are resultant of the instruments used to promote student aptitude measurements. (McCarty, 1) Primarily, the ability or interest of teachers to accommodate diversity is stunted by the entrenched presence of institutional prejudices that shape testing standards, curricular design and instructional method in a way that embraces standardization, legislative mandate and procedural uniformity. (McCarty, 1) One of the most heavily-recognized and persistent of such conflicts may be observed still today in the genuine lack of equality in the cultural standards applied to teaching African Americans. Particularly, there is a fundamental failure in the content choices which shape curricula such as those concerning literacy, history, policy and even the natural As part of a cyclical pattern which institutionally prevents our minority populations from being loosed of such a negative spiral, students beholden thereto are either locked into curricula which are given a financial short-shrift and are thus, armed with fewer qualified teachers, or are committed to districts where their cultural and ethnic perspectives are not being accounted for. This is a circumstance which regrettably continues today, with the current presidential administration’s No Child Left Behind initiative imposing further dependence upon the diagnostic testing and grade-evaluation policies which have long been an appendage of established educational patterns. The new education standards are given over to a â€Å"fundamentally punitive law that uses flawed standardized tests to label schools as failures and punish them with counterproductive sanctions. † (Neill, 1) This is also a sharp diversion in focus from that which Bruner argues is a priority for the diverse student bodies in our urban schools. The social impact of the educational experience is, according to Bruner, a fundamental aspect of its quality. The student’s engagement in class will often be a function of his socialization. This provides a firm rationale for the critique of diversity standards in our educational system. Indeed, there is an inherent danger by way of this administrative approach of the loss of pragmatism, which often incorrectly attributes the challenges related to diversity as products of learning deficiencies. This constitutes a fundamental disservice to the student and, it is worth asserting, basic intellectual prejudice which generally stigmatizing the future opportunities availed to those of ethnic minority or immigrant status. In Bruner’s understanding, the socialization of a diverse student body will actually promote learning rather than obstruct it. Therefore, as the ultimate resolution on the subject, our discussion inclines us to acknowledge as a basis of assumption that greater multicultural sensitivity is needed in the teaching of literacy, of the social sciences and of all disciplines on the individual level. Moreover, we resolve that both Bruner and Vytgotsky would find fault with the rigid and disruptive patterns of No Child Left Behind. Ultimately, the two provide theories which merge to suggest that diversity can be managed through flexible management of the classroom and educational experiences. Works Cited McCarty, Teresa. (2005). Language, Literacy and Power In Schooling. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Neill, Monty. (2003). Don’t Mourn, Organize! Rethinking Schools. Online at http://www. rethinkingschools. org/special_reports/bushplan/nclb181. shtml

bad effect of fast food to health Essay

When you feel like eating something and think of food, the things come to mind first are the taste, odor or color. Those who have to look after their weight will think of the portion size, many others think of energy, fats, sugars, vitamins or minerals. But do you know that the food we eat may cause side effects and a list of disadvantages. We are not talking about spoiled or poor quality food. Freshly harvested or just cooked food may also cause side effects, some are serious, some are just disturbing, and some may put you into embarrassing situation. Over time, this can lead to an increased risk for illness and disease. Fast food is harmful to health. It is a cause of various diseases. Here we discuss some most common disease and other side effects caused by fast food. Obesity Obesity means having too much body fat. It is not the same as being overweight, which means weighing too much. Fast food is high in calories and sugar that contribute to increased-weight gain. Even small amount of fast food can increase your calorie intake considerably. Fast foods also replace healthy eating habits, People who consume fast foods are less likely to eat fruits, vegetables, milk etc. This change in eating habits can easily lead to obesity. Heart Disease People who eat fast food four or more times a week, they up their risk of dying from heart disease by 80 percent. Fast foods create a much higher risk of heart disease because of the high level of saturated or trans fats found in much of the food. Those fats can clog the arteries and, over time, contribute to high cholesterol levels. Type 2 Diabetes Fast food has become a way of life for many busy persons seeking a fast and inexpensive alternative to cooking at home. Although they may develop type 2 diabetes, this type of diabetes is often caused by poor lifestyle choices, such as being overweight and not being physically active. There is a side effect to consuming frequent amounts of fast food ‘obesity’ which can lead to the development of diabetes. Peptic Ulcer A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. For almost 100 years, doctors believed that stress, spicy foods, and alcohol caused most ulcers. Fast Foods which may causes Ulcer are Pizzas, Chips, Salted snakes etc. Lack of Family Gathering fast food does not provide family members opportunity to set and eat at one place. Every one can buy and eat walking in the way, driving a vehicle and during his work in office. The satisfaction which a combine meal provide is lacking in Fast Food. Irregular Timing of Eating A healthy person need to eat at a proper time which fast food doesn’t have. Fast food can be consumed at any time or some time twice or thrice a day, while home cooked food is served at proper time which provides opportunity to take rest after eating. Waste of Money Fast food consumes too much money as compared to home prepared food. Low income people can hardly afford continuous use of fast food. It spends a lot of budget and is also cause of loss of healthy body. Loss of Appetite Normal food contains appetizer which are not properly present in fast food. Continues use of fast food may cause loss appetite, abnormal digestion and sometime food poisoning. Fast food does not satisfy all needs of stomach. Lack of Essential Nutrients A well-balanced food contains all essential elements which are necessary for human development. Whereas fast food does not have all these elements, this type of food contains some elements in high quantity while others are absent. So, fast food does not fulfill all needs of body and sometime causes disorder. Stress Foods rich in fat are reason for many diseases related to heart, blood vessels, liver and many more. It also increases the level of stress. It has  been observed that a rich fat meal can increase your stress level and make you at a greater level of stress in comparison to those who have a low fat meal. Certain foods and drinks act as powerful stimulants to the body and hence are a direct cause of stress. Like caffeine containing foods (coffee, tea, colas and chocolates), White flour, Salt, Saturated fats, Processed foods, such as junk foods and fast foods, contain synthetic additives – preservatives, emulsifiers, thickeners, stabilizers and flavor-enhancers. These foods are called â€Å"pseudostressors† or â€Å"sympathomimetics† .

CFD Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

CFD - Assignment Example g for the small wind controlled turbines is not as essential as other factors since the passive over speeding regulates the smaller relative influences of the drag on the engine performance. The total improvement is measured by the cruise lift and the high-lift root of the airfoil to reduce the inboard solidity apart from enhancing the starting torque. The different aerofoil shapes have three possible cruise lift measures 0.1, 0.4 and 0.6. The velocity of the aerofoil increases with a steeper gradient from the beginning of the take-off and then the gradient gradually reduces as the aircraft stabilizes. With the airfoil positioned in the stream of air with the speed V∞, the air flow parts closer to the leading edge and then passes the upper surface and the lower surface of the airfoil at the same time. At that point, when the air flow splits up, the speed of the air flow reduces to 0, a point referred to as the point of stagnation. It is placed near the aerofoil leading edge, but the position changes in relation to the angle of attack (Bertin & Cummings 2009, p. 49). Pressure and Velocity have a significant effect on the performance of the aerofoil. It is found that in higher pressure zones, the velocity of the aerofoil is reduced because of strong turbulence. On the other hand, low pressure caused weak turbulence, enabling the aerofoil to experience faster cruise (Clancy 1975, p. 48). High pressure is required only in two conditions, during the takeoff and landing, where an air craft is expected to change altitude. Los speed id desired for safe landing and for climbing. The relationship between velocity and pressure is shown in figure 6 below. For the following explanations it is assumed, that a stream of air is directed against an airfoil, which is fixed in space (Houghton & Carpenter 2003, p. 83). This is equivalent to an airfoil moving through the air - just a question of the reference system. A typical wind tunnel works in the same way. The qualitative

Health care marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Health care marketing - Essay Example As the pioneers who â€Å"bridged the gap between the initial R&D and the market-ready innovation by defining a baby-care niche† (Blatchford, 2010), Johnson & Johnson successfully used the branding strategy to turn the undifferentiated product ‘Mineral Oil’ ( used primarily for health and medical uses) into one of their most successful consumer products. The Johnson’s Baby product range was later extended to include more related products like the ‘No more tears shampoo’. The brand has become well-known for its comfort, care and safety message which has been communicated very effectively through the above-the-line advertising and their signature pink packaging. The marketing strategies of the Brand have been so successful because of the effective use of basic principles of marketing especially with regards to identifying the target market and developing suitable communications. Target Market   The target market can be formally defined as "A se t of buyers sharing common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve" (Kotler et al, 2010). Defining the target market is the foundation step towards developing the value in a product or service, that will be communicated according to the consumers needs. The development of distribution, advertising, and production plans all depend on the target market as selected by an organization. ... The communication and value proposition offered is same for all segments. Differentiated: targeting several segments and offering them varied value propositions for a given product, in accordance with their specific needs Niche: Focusing on just one segment, provides them with specialized products with unique value proposition. (Kotler et al, 2010). An organization with a highly innovative product may want to go with niche marketing as they can concentrate their resources on developing a highly involved market for their product. This strategy may also be preferred for companies that are starting out small and do not have the financial and human resources required for a larger marketing plan targeting several different groups of consumers. Organizations have to be clear about their own strengths (and weaknesses), their long and short term goals and the external environment before deciding to utilize a particular targeting strategy. Consumer insight research is an important component o f this process, as it highlights what exactly are the consumer needs and their perceived reception to any new product and Johnson & Johnson. The market segments to be selected for targeting purposes are divided into groups with similar demographic and psychographic traits. The marketers group the consumers through evaluation of questions such as; will they feel the need for a certain product? If so what value will the ascribe to it? Can they afford it? Are they doers or achievers? Is brand status important to them? How important is family to them? And so on and so forth. Questions such as these are designed to provide consumer insight and feelings, which can help a company to design and communicate better solutions for them.

Gender in the Mediterranean community of Tunisia Research Proposal - 1

Gender in the Mediterranean community of Tunisia - Research Proposal Example Not being a really rich nation, the people of Tunisia still succeeded in transforming it into a modern society; particularly in areas a little urbanized. Having an expected life of more than 70 years and medical services accessed universally, noticeable profits are collected from the social sectors, having significant contribution to the position of women in Tunisia. Modification of constitutional legislation for promoting gender equality has been done as well, but practicing laws as well as traditions are still creating obstacles in the way of true changes in many way. (Euromed, 2010). Hard endeavors are made while the last decade was running in order to promote the gender equality by legislation as well as social and economic means. As the rates of literacy for women are increasing gradually, females are now distinctly over smarting males in various field of higher education. Females are eventually taking entry into work force and leading positions these days. Legislation is undergoing continuous updates in order to promote the equality in gender. While equality in gender is given by the country’s law and supported by the government, the patriarchal heritage of Tunisia is still in a hindering progress. In the cases of, a family and inheritance court normally ruled by shari’a law of Muslims, which in these cases imposes discrimination against women. The traditional values are being lost in the most families in Tunisia as a new generation is growing up. (Euromed, 2010; Euromed, 2009) The constitution of Tunisia says about the equality of rights as well as responsibilities among all the citizens and everyone comes equally under the laws.

Should the English language be the international language Essay

Should the English language be the international language - Essay Example English has now become the language of international communication† (Kirkpatrick 1). Today English is the official language of many international organizations like the United Nations and the International Olympic Committee. For a language to be given the status of an international language, it needs to meet certain criteria. For example, neutrality, it is important for the language to be neutral. It should be able to express many concepts as a natural language; English is considered one of the most expressive languages as it has more words than any other language. It should have flexibility, where speakers have the flexibility even to coin a new word. English as a language meets these criteria to a certain extent. English also has continuity. It is one of the only languages that come closest to meeting al the criteria, therefore closest to be an international language. Many people believe that learning to read, write, and speak English would give them a better future, with many more opportunities open to them. At a global level, knowing to communicate in English gives people more access to higher levels of the labor market, and enables people to interact at a global level. Knowing English also gives people greater access to growing technologies and therefore, provides wider access to knowledge. It is considered a necessity to know English to survive in a global community where competition is high and so is the survival rate. It is easier for a person who knows to communicate in English to survive in today’s world than for a person who does not know English. It does not matter what the accent of that person is, or whether that person is a native speaker or not. Today, it is important to know English if you wish to benefit from technological and scientific research and benefit from business contacts. English is the primary ‘lingua franca’ language today, which means it is one of the

What were the major factors in the establishment of the American Research Paper - 1

What were the major factors in the establishment of the American colonies - Research Paper Example World history has seen a lot of timelines. The prominence of some of the timelines made it extremely difficult for anyone to believe that such moments in world history would ever pass away but eventually, these moments of great history passed. The same phenomenon about world history makes the future of the social world quite unpredictable. For instance it is quite difficult to predict whether technology would eventually fade off to give room for a new kind of world and social history. One prominent moment in history is undeniably the formation of colonies. According to People Hofstra (2001), an 18th century definition of a colony has been given as â€Å"a settlement in a new territory under the political and economic control of its parent country. Usually the settlers conquered and either dominated or replaced local peoples.†1 Most commonly, colonies were established as a means of expanding the territorial powers of kingdoms and nations. It was not surprising therefore that ma jor nations of the world would in the 1700s go every extent and to every length of the world to capture weaker components of the world and lord themselves over as colonial masters. One of such prominent colonization was the colonization of America by the English2. Events leading to this all important moment in world history have left historians with a lot of studies into what the probable factors that accounted for the establishment of the American colonies were. Historians also discuss the relevance of these factors and how they eventually imparted on the eventual colonies that came into existence.3 The essence of this essay therefore is to review such factors that led to the establishment or formation of the American colonies. Background to the American Colonies At the beginning of the 17th century, several countries and nations made attempts to colonize North America. These different colonies came with different mission statements and at different times. Primarily however, they w ere present in North America to have an opportunity to possess the land and colonize it. Some of the early countries that made progress in settling in North America include Spain, France, Sweden, Holland, and England. According to Horvath (1972, 45-57), â€Å"the literature on colonization would appear to have no end; and understandably for colonization has been one of man’s preoccupations.†4 Although colonization ranks with the most influential processes in man’s history, western scholars have not fully come to grips with the phenomenon. This assertion of uncertainty on the definition of colonization is being made because of the seemingly different forms that colonization takes. This is indeed not different with what happened in the instance of the establishment of the American colonies. The first nations namely Spain, France, Sweden and Holland landed in North America in different fashions but all left the scene in no time. Basically, these nations could not s tay because the North American settlers were hostile to their dreams. Unlike these attempted colonial masters perceived, they were not going to pick gold from the ground but were supposed to go through very hard times to have their aspirations of making wealth fulfilled. England however took a bolder step apart from the first four nations. Though Britain went through ostensibly difficult times even at the beginning, they persevered and eventually became the only nation that remained. By the year 1607, England had established herself as the colonial master of North America. It took England one hundred and six more years to complete establishing what came to be known as the thirteen colonies of America5. This means that the formation or establishment of the thirteen colonies of America spanned from the period of 1607 to 1733; by which time Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Car olina, and Rhode Island and

Junior High School Experience Personal Statement - 4

Junior High School Experience - Personal Statement Example Ernie sat next to me at the lunch table. No big deal. I knew Ernie from our classes together, and he made a successful, albeit uncontested, run for student council. Perhaps it was the politician in Ernie that caused him to do what he did that day. One of the things that the members of the student council had to do was sell candy bars to raise money. Ernie was seated at the end of the picnic table style bench, and on the table were his books, neatly stacked. On top of the books was his box of student council candy. I was having a conversation with someone across from me when Ernie knocked over his books and student council candy box. The candy spilled all over the floor. Because the lunchroom was also the gym, except during the lunch hour, then the noise that Ernie’s books made when they hit the floor was loud and resounding, and everything and everyone was quiet. All eyes looked to Ernie’s fallen mess, then, just as quickly, the noise and talking resumed. No one cared t hat Ernie’s books and candy were on the floor. I especially did not care and resumed my conversation with my friend. â€Å"What?† I answered a little more harshly. I just did not understand what this guy’s story was. What was the big deal? He knocked books off the table. It had nothing to do with me. No one cared, pick them up and get on with life. â€Å"If you don’t pick it up,† he spoke softly so that only I could hear him in the noisy cafeteria, â€Å"I’m going to tell him,† pointing to the history teacher standing in the front of the room, â€Å"that you asked me for the questions on the test.† Our next period was with that teacher, and apparently, Ernie had him the previous hour and had already taken the test that we would be getting in the after lunch hour. I have to say that I was shocked, but not for a second did I believe Ernie was going to do what he threatened.  

Encouraging more Respect for the Dutch Culture Essay Example for Free

Encouraging more Respect for the Dutch Culture Essay Introduction For my personal project I have decided to write a book (appendix 1) about the Dutch culture and habits. I was inspired to do this project, because a lot of people think that everyone in Holland smoked marihuana at least once a day, walks on clogs all the time and has a garden full of tulips. When I first joined ISS I noticed that everyone assumed that I loved cheese and they still do. This inspired me to do write this book, because I want people to know more about Holland and gain more respect for the country. This is important to me, because I want everyone to not always stereotype the Netherlands. My Area of Interaction for this project will be Community and Service. I chose this Area of Interaction, because I am writing a book for the community to read. I want to inspire the community to see Holland through a different view. I want people to have more respect for the Dutch  culture and its habits after reading my book. By doing this I not only help the school community, but also the Dutch community by encouraging more respect for their culture. Since I am doing this for free it is a service. I think that giving out a book for free is going to make the book more successful. More people would want to read it and so more people will be encouraged to have more respect for Holland. That is why my AOI is Community and Service. My goal of writing this book is that people will start to have more respect for the Dutch culture. I do not want everyone to just assume that I wear clogs at home, eat cheese everyday and especially that I smoke marihuana. I also want to get more non-fiction writing experience and skill by writing this book. This will help me for writing essays and other informative writing tasks. I will measure my goal by seeing if the attitude of people improves after reading my book. What I mean to say by this is that: if they lessened the stereotypical comments, than I believe that their respect has increased. I have designed an 11-point plan for my Personal Project. Make a survey and ask the questions to people in Holland to get their opinion. Buy and read books about the Dutch culture, so I can use these in my project. Find websites on the Internet about clogs, Dutch cheese, drug consumption in the Netherlands etc. I will keep researching. Ask the questions of the survey to people in ISS. Plan out my book. I will plan out what I want chapters to be about and in what order I will put them. Write an introduction for the book. Writing an introduction is important, because it introduces the reader to the book and shows what the reader can expect. I will start on writing the book and finish at least 1/3 of it before the progress fair, so I can present this on the progress fair. I will finish my book around January. This will not be the completed version. I will ask some people to read the rough draft. I will use the feedback I get to improve and finish the book. When finished I will make a table of contents and a cover page. Then I put everything together in a folder and hand it in on the due date. Description of the process Research and Planning First, I had to plan out the whole entire process. As shown in the introduction I had an eleven-point plan to finish my personal project. That was just a rough draft of all the things I was going to do, but now I will describe the whole process in detail. I started my project a little bit before the summer break. I started researching on how to write a non-fiction book. This was very critical to my project, because I have never written a book before and it was very likely to take longer if I did not use these websites. (Stephanie Chandeler, 2009) (Bobbi Linkemer, 2010) After this I thought of the survey questions I was going to ask people about Holland. The week after I planned this, my family and me went to the Netherlands and I planned to do the survey there. I asked the survey questions to as many family members and friends as I could, until we went home. I had about 25 persons interviewed and I was convinced that this was going to help me during the project. I put all the answers of the survey into an Excel document. (appendix 2) After the all this research I realized that I did not have a plan. I quickly made a 11-point plan to write my book. I was very stupid of me to write the plan so late. I will discuss this further in the conclusion. Two weeks after school started I asked the survey questions to the whole entire tenth grade class. Some of these surveys were very useful and actually helped me writing my book. But many of them were not taken seriously and I thought this was very disappointing, because I expected a little better of my classmates. Writing the first half and rewriting first half After all of this research I started writing the book. Three weeks after the school started I wrote my introduction to the book (word from the Author). This was very important to the book, because in this introduction I had to introduce the whole entire book and as I said before I have difficulties starting a writing task. But once I get into writing, then I can keep on writing for maybe 15 minutes straight. After that I wrote chapter one of my book. It was not very hard on deciding what my first chapter should be on, because almost every non-fiction book starts out with a basic overview of the topic that will be discussed. So my first chapter was about the geographical facts about Holland, like its area, population, religion  percentage and other basic facts about The Netherlands. The second chapter was about the provinces of Holland. I believed that this was important to explain, because every province is different and I wanted to show that not everything in Holland is the same a s some people think. It is like the states in the U.S., people in Georgia are completely different from people in Texas. Then I started on the third chapter, which was about the water in Holland. I talked about the lakes, rivers, seas and polders in Holland. The fourth chapter was the last chapter I wrote before the progress fair. It was about the history of Holland. I discussed important wars and events that effected Holland on what it is today. Three days later I presented what I had written so far at the progress fair. Not a lot of people were interested in my project and only about 5 kids stopped to look and ask questions about my project. A week later the biggest problem happened throughout the whole project. I lost all my progress so far on what I have written. For some reason my laptop deleted nearly everything that I had written so far. The only thing that wasn’t gone was my introduction. This was a very big problem and I should have had a back up. The next school week and one and a half week of the break I spend rewriting my whole entire first half of the book. This wasted a lot of my time I could have actually spent starting my second half of the book. I believe that the second version of my book was slightly different than the first version, but only small improvements were made. It could even be that I may have left some things out and have added some things, so my first version could have been better or worse. Writing the second half of the book The second half of the book was a little more difficult. I had covered all of the basic things, like geography and history. Now I needed all the things that people were stereotyping and making fun of, because my goal was to encourage more respect for the Dutch community by writing the actual truth instead of writing. I first decided to make a chapter on significant and famous Dutch people before talking about stereotypes. In the appendix chapter 5 of my book is shown and as you can see I talk about famous Dutch people in the past (like Vincent Van Gogh), and famous Dutch people in the present (like Johan Cruijff). I thought that this was also important to put into my book, because some people did not know any famous Dutch people and I  thought it was a good idea to also include this in my book. I finally started writing about some typical Dutch things. My sixth chapter was about Dutch holidays and traditions. I included holidays in them like the Dutch carnaval and Sinterklaas, because those are two very popular and well-known holidays all over Holland. This chapter is also included in the appendix. My seventh chapter was about Dutch eating habits and I talked about food like Dutch cheese and its stereotypes and liquorice. I hoped that I made a lot of things clear about Dutch people and cheese in this chapter. The eighth chapter of my book was about tolerance in the Netherlands. Here I hope I made a lot of things clear about the red light district, drug legalization in Holland and legalized prostitution in Holland. My final chapter was about typical Dutch things like windmills and tulips. I explained that not everyone grows tulips in their garden and not everyone in Holland lives in a windmill! After I finished all of my chapters I let my mother and father read it through for some feedback. Using the feedback I got, I improved my book. Afterwards I wrote my afterword and bibliography. In the afterword I thanked all the people that helped me write the book and summarize the conclusion of the book. At last I put the book together and made a table of contents. So, finally after 6 months of hard work, problems and bad time management I finished my book and handed it in. I hope everyone who will read the book will gain more respect for the people of The Netherlands and will think twice before concluding anything about Holland and its culture. Analysis Useful resources and the AOI linked to it My project was a project that was based on and dependent on a lot of research. So the research changed my personal project a lot. As I told in the process description, I did some research on how to write a book and I also did a survey with a lot of people. This survey affected my personal project a lot, because this showed me what people of different ages were thinking about Holland internationally. I used this survey in a lot of chapters in my book, so I could see what people were thinking about Holland. As I mentioned before my project was dependent on research. I used a lot of websites and most other websites were useful in the same way. I found websites about cheese, traditions, polders and many other things. There were  only two parts of my research that were more important than all the information sources. These were the survey and the websites on how to write a book. These helped me reach my goal better. The survey helped, because this showed me what a lot of people were thinking and so I could decide what I should write several of my chapters about. The websites on how to write book helped, because it is always very difficult for me to start an essay or any other writing task. These websites helped me start out and guided me throughout the whole writing process. Another very useful website that helped me finish my longest chapter, chapter 2, was a website called tripadvisor.com (Tripadvisor, 2000) I used a lot of sources I used and it would be a miracle if I remembered all of them word by word. Some of which I remember do relate to the AOI. The source that links the most to the AOI is my survey results. Asking people from two different communities questions about their personal opinions created this survey. One was the Dutch community who all gave similar answers and mostly answers that make sense to me. The other was an international community who also gave similar answers, but made less sense. Some people did not take this survey seriously and some people gave stupid answers. One example is that some people just wrote weed next to every answer. These were the survey that did not help me at all and I just threw them away. By seeing this I could conclude that not a lot of foreigners knew about the Dutch people and their culture. Changes in the plan I changed a lot of things in the plan. At the very beginning I said that I would create the survey first. What I actually did first was research on how to write a book. This was an important change in the plan, because if I didn’t than probably my book would have been less organized, I probably forgot the table of contents and my introduction would take maybe three days. Another change I made in one of the points in the plan was that I did not interview people from the I was planning in doing so, but than I decided not to. I am a very shy person when it comes to asking a stranger a bunch of questions. I was afraid that they might be startled and most of them just say no, because they don’t have time. I was also afraid that people think I am some crazy kid asking them some stupid questions about their own country. Another change in the plan was that I switched point 4 and 5 around. Now, I  first planned out the book and then I surveyed the tenth grade. I did this, because I saw that some people were still getting used to their homework pattern in tenth grade and would probably forget one â€Å"unimportant† survey and that would leave me with maybe 15 completed surveys in my hands. So I first planned out the book and later when most people were less stressed I asked the survey questions. The biggest change is probably that I would have had the book finished in January. I had to change this, because of the problem that occurred I explained about in the description process. Almost all of my work got deleted. Due to this I could not work on my second half of the project in the Christmas break. I finished up my rough draft in the February break and had two days to use feedback from my mother and father to improve my book. This change also had effect on nearly all of my last points, because of the little time that was left after the deletion of my project. Techniques used in the project and time management I did not use a lot of different techniques in my project. Since my project is writing a book not as many techniques are used as in making a movie or sporting. The technique I used most was research and write. For a non-fiction book this is obvious, because the information in the book does require a lot of research. There are also other techniques I used, like the interview. The interview was, as I explained before, critical to my project. This interview was very effective to my project, because it is always good to not only have second hand sources. To have a first hand source can come in really handy, because one cannot always believe what is on the Internet. My time management could have been better. First of all it would have been better if I had finished everything up until my book introduction in the summer break, because than I could have entirely focused on writing my book for the rest of the year. The other big thing that interfered with my time schedule was the deletion of my project. As I explained before I had to rewrite all over again during the Christmas break. And the last thing that is again completely my fault, is that I let the final chapter of my book all come down to one holiday. I worked everyday on the project in the holiday and was really stressed throughout the whole ‘holiday’. I should have spread it out over the last three weeks, but I admit I was too lazy and thought that I wasted half of my Christmas break on my project that I won’t do a lot  in the weeks to come. This is a thought that I will not ever think again after what happened. Has my understanding of my AOI grown during the project? My understanding of the AOI has definitely improved over the course of the year. My understanding about why one should respect another culture has grown a lot. I have realized more than ever that I have to respect other cultures more and stop making stereotypical jokes in order to gain respect from other people for my culture. I also understand more how my book could contribute and has contributed to a community. By reading my book some people have gained respect for Holland and its culture as I mentioned before. Now maybe 10 people read the book and maybe 5 of these have gained respect for the Dutch culture. This benefitted the small Dutch community in our school. But let us say that half of Germany reads my book. I think that around 40%/50% of these people would actually understand and respect the Dutch culture more. If such a thing happened than it could have contributed to the whole Dutch community. Understanding and quality of the product I understand many more things now about writing a book. The main thing that I have learned is to have a back up for every chapter you make. I have learned this the hard way. Another major thing that I understand now is that writing a book is not as easy as I expected it to be. It requires a lot of research, creativity and especially time. If you do not plan you time well then writing a book can take a really long time. I wrote a book double-spaced, size 14 and 6800 words in 46 pages in about 6 months. A writer that does single-spaced, size 12 and around 500 pages would maybe take 30 years over one book if he/she wrote in my tempo. And if I wrote in their tempo than I would be done with the project in maybe a month or so. So my understanding is that writing a book is mostly about planning and a lot of dedication to one’s work. I am quite proud on what I produced. I never thought myself capable of writing a book. Compared to the work of a professional writer my book is very short. I compared my work to a book called â€Å"The Dutch, I presume?†(Martijn de Rooj, April 2009) and another book called â€Å"Holland† (Herman Van Amsterdam, 2009) and saw that mine was way shorter. These man also has more experience when it comes to writing a book. they designed it really clever and also had other professionals working with them; like  professional photographers and artists. The Difficulty of the project Overall I would not consider my project as a difficult project. I also don’t think it is easy. Writing a book is not as easy as people think it is, because it requires a lot of planning and a bit of creativity. But it is also not extremely difficult, because if you planned everything than you just let your mind and hands do the work and just keep on writing until you cannot write anymore. I think writing a non-fiction book is more for people who are looking for a challenge. Conclusion Have I met my Goal? I believe that I have met my goal to a certain extent. The first part of my goal was to encourage more respect for the Dutch culture. This point is not very clear yet, because only one foreigner has read the book until now. But I believe that the book will have some impact on the respect people have for Holland. I told some of my classmates some facts about the Netherlands and they stopped making fun of the things I told them are not even close to the truth. My other goal was to get more informative writing skills. I believe that I really have achieved this goal, because I find it easier to write more on one-world essays or history essays now, because I wrote this book. This project also helped me a lot with researching skills. Before I only used to look on the Internet, but now I will start using other sources like books and first hand sources to research. By doing this I can get more information about a subject and this will, hopefully, get me better grades. Things that I would do differently if I could start over There are a lot of things I would do differently next time. The first one is to have a back up for everything I write. This was the biggest problem I had throughout the whole project. Due to this I wasted a whole break rewriting all the things I did not back up. If I do this differently if I could start over than I would probably have way more time to do the rest of my book. This brings me to the other thing I would do differently if I could start over: time management. I should have planned my time better throughout the 6 months I had. Because I did not plan my time well in the ending I had to  finish the second half of my project in one and a half week. Another thing that I could improve is that I should let more than just 2 people give me feedback on my book. Both of the people that gave me feedback were Dutch and I should have let someone with a different nationality look at it. This would have been an advantage, because than I would have gotten another cultures point of view. The benefit of another culture’s point of view is that all the things that think could be appropriate in Holland could be inappropriate in other cultures. Because I might have put one or two jokes in my book that could be seen as inappropriate, but I left them in there due to that the two people giving feedback were ok with it. Personal lesson I learned from doing this project I have learned a lot by doing this project. The main thing is that I learned to organize better. I was always terrible at organizing my work, so I got in time trouble a lot of time. By doing this project along with all the essays and tests we got I had to learn organizing the hard way. Another thing I learned and I kept mentioning throughout the whole report is that I HAVE to make a back up for all the important work I have done. If I do not do this something like what happened in December might happen and completely ruin days of works. I also learned that if I really put myself into something I could write about a lot of information quickly. Another important thing that I realized while writing my book was that if I want people to respect my culture and stop stereotyping, I also have to do the same thing. I realized this while talking to a couple of my friends about respect for one’s country. I realized that in order for me to achieve my goal of people respecting my culture, I had to do the same thing. I have learned a lot by doing this project and I hope that other people have learned a lot too by reading my book. Bibliography Chandler, Stephanie. How to Write Your Non-Fiction Book in 60 Days: 8 Steps Get Your Book Out of Your Head and on to Paper. Scribd. 2009. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. http://www.scribd.com/doc/13835154/How-to-Write-Your-NonFiction-Book-in-60-Days-8-Steps-Get-Your-Book-Out-of-Your-Head-and-on-to-Paper. Linkemer,

Different types of tourism destinations

Different types of tourism destinations Introduction This report is going to look at the key appeal factors of France, USA, Spain and China. It will identify different types of tourism destinations and look at arrivals statistics to these countries. According to UNWTO (2008) in the Worlds Top Tourism Destinations 2008 first four places by international tourism arrivals were occupied by France, Spain, USA and China. First of all this report will identify the meaning of travel destination and tourist destination. A travel destination is the end point of the journey (Marvell and Hayward 2005). People travel to a destination for a variety of reasons, including holidays, business and visiting friends and relatives. A tourist destination combines travel with facilities and attractions that appeal to tourists (Marvell and Hayward 2005). There are many different types of tourist destinations; however this report will discuss coastal, urban and rural tourism and give examples of places that appeal to the destination. Main part Coastal tourism Coastal destination usually associated with the image of seaside resort. Holloway (2006) pointed that it is the most popular appeal of a destination. The attractiveness of the seaside resort is the combination of sun, sea and sand. Page et al. (2001) stated that it remains one of the most significant types of holiday in the world. The Spanish Costas are found along the southern coastline, on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Spain has many resort areas: Costa Blanca, Costa Almeria and Costa del Sol. While some of the Costa names may not be familiar, the resort of Benidorm is well known. Benidorm is the most popular resort in the Costa Blanca. According to Dale et al. (2006) resort attracts approximately five million visitors each year. Tourists are attracted by its wide sandy beaches and warm climate with average summer temperature around 30oC. The beaches are gently sloping and the water is warm and clear, making the sea safe for adults and children. Behind the sandy beaches are many high-rise hotels with plenty of nightclubs, bars, restaurants and casinos. There are places in France which are as popular as Spanish Costas. One of the famous seaside areas in France is the place called Cote dAzur which is famous for its resort Nice. It is a capital of French Riviera situated on the Mediterranean coast. According to Williams and Le Nevez (2007) Nice is well-known holiday destination on the Cote dAzur. Williams and Le Nevez (2007) in addition pointed that resort attracts visitors to take a delight in its beautiful beaches and warm climate. Tourists enjoy dining at the restaurants located along the French seaside. Appetizing seafood and delicious wines can be enjoyed at many seaside restaurants in this Mediterranean city. Nice has something for everyone: a medieval old town and other grand architectural monuments; a wide selection of museums; lots of bars and restaurants of all standard and type; the fine Mediterranean climate; and of course easy access to beaches. Besides, America is very famous for its beaches too. According to Fry (2008) places like Florida or California, or even further to Mexico, the Bahamas and the Caribbean are popular tourists destinations. According to Fry (2008) Florida is well-known for its famous Florida Keys and the resort of Key Largo. The Keys are long, low islands at the south of Florida. This place has many beaches and blue waters that are popular with divers. The Keys are also famous for swim with dolphins. Urban tourism Urban tourism is another type of tourist destination. Holloway (2006) stated that towns and cities attract many tourists by growing interest in cultural activities for example visits to museums and art galleries, leisure activities like shopping, and entertainment to sports. There are many different towns in France, Spain, USA and China which are famous for its rich culture and heritage, delicious food and designer shops. Holloway (2006) says that Paris in France, Madrid and Barcelona in Spain are popular destinations where tourists arrive for city holidays. They combine all the factors for a good stay: high quality hotels and restaurants, fine museums, outstanding architecture, festivals and many beautiful eye-catching shops. According to UNWTO (2008) Spain ranked on the third place in terms of arrivals-57, 3% in 2008, with France continued to lead the ranking of the worlds major tourism destinations in terms of arrivals-79, 3% in 2008. The French capital Paris has a reputation as a very charming and romantic city with popular attractions, including the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre museum, Notre-Dame and Arc de Triomphe. According to Law (1996) there are approximately 800 festivals held annually in France. The theme varies, but amongst well-known is festival related to the cinema-Cannes. Law (1996) stated that attractiveness of the Paris is incomparable and millions of tourists come here to admire the elegant beauty of the city, enjoy its rich cuisine and certainly exclusive shopping. Law (1996) also says that Barcelona is a very amazing town too, known for its rich culture, architecture and unforgettable beauty. On city break in Barcelona tourists will enjoy museums, statues on the streets, delicious Spanish food and famous boutiques. According to Holloway (2006) cities like New York in USA and Shanghai in China are popular tourist destinations for shopping. By UNWTO (2008) the USA is ranked second in arrivals-58, 0% in 2008 and China held onto their 2007 position in terms of arrivals and ranking fourth-53, 0% in 2008. As an example, according to Zhang et al. (2005) China is the worlds factory where can be found just about anything. Chinas biggest city is Shanghai. Zhang et al. (2005) says that it has a status of cosmopolitan centre of design. Shanghai is a fantastic shopping destination. Shopping here is simple and suitable for all type of tourists. Shanghai has a range of shops from roadside and boutique shops to the busy shopping centres where different types of goods and clothes can be bought. And finally, New York undoubtedly has a lot to offer to its visitors. New York has many attractions, including the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, museums and Central Park. And also its well-known for shopping. The Fifth Avenue offers a range of fashionable shops. Broadway offers entertainment in the evening and the range of nightlife. Rural tourism And the final type of tourist destination is countryside. The combination of lakes and mountains attract different markets. Leisure visitors enjoy the scenery, while more active tourist enjoys climbing in summer, and do winter sports at other times. According to Andalucà ­a website (2009) Spanish countryside will give a chance to enjoy the peaceful and calming environment of old-fashioned villages. There is a large variety of accommodations like cottages, farmhouses and mansions. It will offer to visitors a variety of activities like, walking and trekking, horse riding, cycling and mountain bicycling, bird watching and camping. Andalucà ­a for example is the best place for camping, mountain bicycling and horse riding. It offers almost a year-round sunshine and wide natural environment. French Alps on the other side are very popular to active-minded tourists like skiers and snowboarders. According to Collins (2004) the Alps has more than 200 resorts and one of the famous is Chamonix. Chamonix is an alpine town which a best place for ski lovers. Collins (2004) says that sky-scraping mountains, majestic ice falls and glaciers will make everyones journey memorable.

Child Safeguarding At A Pre School Social Work Essay

Child Safeguarding At A Pre School Social Work Essay This assignment gives a general insight to my job role and responsibilities including achievements and targets that I have gained in my post so far regarding child safeguarding and continues working towards within the pre-school that I am currently employed by and represent. Showing awareness and understanding of working together with other outside organisations, services and sources that can connect daily to the children and pre-school environment. Demonstrate my knowledge and the importance of safeguarding following government definitions and guidelines that all professionals working with children, young people and families adhere to so that child safety is the priority achieved. As a pre-school worker my role is to nurture, teach and care for children aged 3-5 years in a pre-school setting either individually or in a group. My job description is to ensure children are safe and well cared for so they develop and are stimulated by age-appropriate activities in a safe suitable environment. Although childcare workers are not teachers we may encourage and teach basic skills to children such as social and interaction skills such as taking turns and sharing toys and hygiene procedures like flushing the toilet and then washing hands. In the pre-school we are organised to work on the whole as a team with each team member having a designated role for example one named person for first aid, or health and safety, or child safeguarding. Although all staff are required to have Criminal Record Bureau checks, qualifications and regular updated training in all of these areas of child care to produce good quality daily knowledgeable practice in the pre-school setting. Pre-school introduces children into learning for preparation starting school, many outside agencies integrates with/along side pre-school environments such as army welfare services, health services, local police officers, local primary schools, ofsted, speech therapists this is just a few. To achieve the best out of my role as pre-school worker it is important that I am managed well and feel supported individually and within my team, and resources are available to attend regular training and courses. Enabling me to keep up to date with policies, procedures and qualifications relevant and required to work with children. Training such as safeguarding children gains and reinforces the necessary skills and knowledge to identify, respond to signs and symptoms of children experiencing abuse at the same time being alert and reacting correctly and efficiently to all possible concerns and dangers. 1 In a talk by T G during a safeguarding children training course it was stated that the government provides definitions to guide all professionals working with children young people and their families to identify when there are serious causes for concerns about children these are: Different Brief Definition One Example of Abuse Categories Indicator Physical causing harm also includes unexplained or Fabricating symptoms of or inconsistent Deliberately induces illness in a child explanation of Injuries or Burns Emotional constant emotional maltreatment low self-esteem Of child such as to cause severe and Persistent adverse effects on emotional Development Neglect persistent failure to meet a childs basic lack of care Needs physically and/or psychologically inadequate Clothing, Heating, light Or food Sexual forcing, enticing, involving a child to unusual Participate in sexual activities including difficulty Viewing imagery also encouraging in walking Inappropriate sexual behaviour from a or sitting Child Wiltshire Local Safeguarding Children Board Updated May 2008 TG The government guidelines, working together to safeguard children (1999), Divide child abuse into four neat categories sexual, physical, and emotional And neglectful- but in reality many of this overlap. With any form of abuse There will be emotional abuse too, although this may occur on its own. As cited The Guardian 7 October 2008 2 Sharing information is for the purpose of safeguarding and Promoting the welfare of children, sharing information amongst Practitioners working with children and families are essential. In Many cases it is only when information from a range of sources Is put together that a child can be seen to be in need or at risk Of harm. A failure to pass on information that might prevent a Tragedy could expose you to criticism. As cited The Guardian 13 November 2008 Effective practice uses awareness and fully understands the importance of sharing concerns and information. We cannot afford to ignore signs at a risk of appearing foolish or alarmist, daily my role can identify families with needs that effect a childs well being, armed forces children are the majority at the pre-school, the issues that arise from parent/carer who can be isolated from family and friends by military postings, soldier spouses are often absent due to active duties or training. So a parent/carer could be experiencing difficulties such as financial worries, lack of support, worried about the well being of spouse on active duty for instance in Afghanistan, these issues interconnects amongst the whole family unit. So having the knowledge you are better equipped to listen hard and observe carefully the behaviours between child and parent/carer and alert to recognise signs and symptoms an example could range from inadequate parenting to inappropriate clothing for season of th e year, could show problems and a need for help, there are services that can offer support and assist the parents ability to care better for children before a situation gets out of hand but a lot of parent/carers feel ashamed, embarrassed, inhibited or simply just dont know how to access this help. Instead of intervening early and effectively, struggling local authorities Wait until children are in crisis, then act reluctantly, half-heartedly And ineffectively, its not their fault. The funding systems are designed In such away. As cited The Guardian 4 September 2009 In a talk on safeguarding children 6 November 2009 it was explained and stated If any support agencies were contacted directly by the family or referred by Their family GP at the request of the family for support, the agencies Assess the needs of the child by means of a Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and this ensures that everyone involved such as Pre-school worker, health visitor, police officer, social workers use This framework to work together and support the child and that child Receives the right support at an early stage before their needs increases. 3 Daily I can work closely with individual children, so there is opportunity and time to develop a relationship of trust giving a child an opening to talk, some children may not tell you, you might guess even been led by them to read between the lines. This is where knowledge and procedures are of key importance, so that you listen to the child and avoid any leading questions, being careful not to offend, intimidate the child or the situation as this could be the first and last attempt for a child needing to trust someone to disclose what may be happening to them in the hope of help, I would then Reassure the child the best I could and then explain as simply as I can so the child understands that the things said would need to be passed on to pre-schools supervisor as they will know best what to do. If a disclosure was made, I would then need to follow the pre-school settings policies and procedures we have in place

Is the Common Agricultural Policy Prepared for the 2004 Enlargement? :: European Union Politics Political Essays

Is the Common Agricultural Policy Prepared for the 2004 Enlargement? The voluntary cooperation among the European nations has survived numerous political and economic turbulences since its general inception after World War II. Fifty-five years ago, the Marshall Plan was proposed, leading to today’s European Union (EU) which seeks an â€Å"ever closer union among the European peoples.† The Enlargement of 2004 will integrate ten more European countries into the framework of the EU. As the number of member states rise from 15 to 25, is the EU prepared to handle the shock of adding ten poor nations whose economical structure differs from its own? No, it is not. The most significant threat of the Enlargement, thus far, revolves around the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The EU recognizes that it will suffer tremendous economic consequences if it is not fully prepared to handle the effects of integrating the poor agricultural countries. Thus it has been attempting to reform the CAP. But the revision of the EU’s agricultural policies and budget expenditures in the past decade has farmers and other agricultural workers worrying about the effects of the 2004 Enlargement. There is a need to overhaul the current Common Agricultural Policy to make acquis communautaire, acceptance of current EU laws and regulations, more attainable and to adjust the agricultural sector’s share of the EU’s budget to more accurate levels in proportion to the European workforce. This paper briefly examines the European Union’s CAP origins, evolution, and current Enlargement focus. Recent 2002 changes adopted by the EU in Brussels and CAP reforms for achieving an â€Å"ever closer union† with the candidate countries will be addressed. Introduction One of the European Union’s strengths lies in its success with market integration of its member states to achieve a political union and attain peace and prosperity. The Common Market was established by actively removing barriers that affected trade among the member states. This economic relationship between the European nations was extended to the agricultural sector via the Common Agricultural Policy. The Common Agricultural Policy has been noted as a structural foundation of the European Union. The adoption of the CAP has allowed Europe to shift from being a major food importer to a major exporter. Since the 1950s and 1960s, the CAP remains an economic burden on the EU budget due to its large share of the budget expenditure.

Transcultural Nursing Essay -- cultural competency, holistic nursing p

Introduction Diversity of the world’s population has reached a point where it is vital to address and more importantly to understand, the ever growing challenge that transcultural nursing poses to the nursing profession. Addressing this issue avoids discrimination and promotes equality within holistic nursing practice in order to meet patients’ needs. Health care professionals should be qualified to deliver, on a daily basis, proficient care and sensitive skilled communication to culturally different individuals (Maier-Lorentz, 2008). To exercise professional nursing in a conceptual way holistic nursing care focuses on physical, emotional, social, environmental and spiritual aspects as well as on the idea that any individual involved in treatment care should be treated as a whole and with dignity (Dossey & Guzzetta, 2005). One of the areas to be discussed is Transcultural Nursing and Leininger’s Transcultural Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality and its research enablers: the Sunrise Enabler and the Ethnonursing Method. Another area will be Holistic Nursing Practice and Nightingale’s Nursing Theory of Environmental Adaptation as well as the liaison between Transcultural Nursing and Holistic Nursing Practice. Nightingale’s theory has been chosen over others because she was the first to acknowledge nurses’ work in a theoretical framework and also because she was considered to be the mother of nursing practices (Ellis, 2008). The development of culture care theory introduced health care professionals into a new nursing dimension formed by issues such as culture background, spirituality, environment and others that demonstrated how culture and health care are linked (Leininger, 2002a). Holistic Nursing Practice en... ...g. [Online]. 28 (1), p. 84. Available from: http://ezproxy.napier.ac.uk:2823/content/28/1/81.full.pdf+html [accessed 2nd April 2010]. The International Council for Nurses, (2005). The ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses. Available from: http://www.icn.ch/images/stories/documents/about/icncode_english.pdf [accessed 20th March 2011]. Woerner, L., Espinosa, J., Bourne, S., O’toole, M., & Ingerson, G., L., (2009). Project Exito!: Success through diversity and universality for outcomes improvement among Hispanic home care patients. [Online]. Nursing Outlook. 57 (5), p.271. Available from: http://ezproxy.napier.ac.uk:2152/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6WNY-4XB1JCX-B-1&_cdi=6975&_user=132448&_pii=S0029655409000177&_origin=gateway&_coverDate=10%2F31%2F2009&_sk=999429994&view=c&wchp=dGLzVlz-zSkzk&md5=04d1ebfb99f4824da35541a0a368b5a6&ie=/sdarticle.pdf [accessed 30th March 2011].

FISH! Philosophy of Teamwork Essay

FISH! is a philosophy people around the world are implementing in workplaces and educational facilities to help foster fun and teamwork in their business. This philosophy is interesting and has been successful. The founders Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen pulled together to create three books on teamwork which are named _Fish!, Fish! Sticks and Fish! Tales._ In these books they give pointers and tell stories of how making work fun and working as a team creates success. (Lundin, Paul, & Christensen, 2000) The idea of this philosophy emerged in 1998 from a film produced by John Christensen. The film is about Seattle’s World Famous Pike Place Market. John translated and depicted through his film that â€Å"even in a workplace where fishmongers spent smelly 12 hour shifts stocking, selling, and packing fish that amazing things can happen when people accept the invitation to: 1) Be There for their co-workers and customers, 2) Play, 3) Make someone’s day and 4) Choose their attitude about how they show up for work.† (Christensen, 2007, p. 1) After the film appeared the book _Fish!,_ this has been on the best seller’s list and translated into 17 different languages. Today the Fish! Philosophy has flourished among corporate and educational markets throughout the world. â€Å"We are not afraid to use words like love, soul, and spirit because those are an essential part of our humanity. But these values are just as important to businesses†¦We are on a journey together.† (Christensen, 2007, p. 1) Lundin, Paul, and Christensen believe that there are four secrets and strategies for a better way to create fun and teamwork in businesses. First, be there for co-workers. The biggest ways to do this is by smiling and acknowledging people while walking by them. Say hello, converse with co-workers, be friendly and help co-workers laugh. Take the time to listen to people around the workplace. When seeing a co-worker not happy, go up to them and give them a pat on the back and a compliment. Make an effort and try to get to know everyone. Show up for work to help the team. A team is not a team with people missing. These are all some of the things we can do to be there for co-workers. These strategies are used worldwide and seem to help. The second strategy is to play at work. Playing helps energize the workplace. Some examples of play are telling jokes to co-workers, maybe even pass around appropriate jokes (no personal jokes), saying things throughout the day to help people laugh. Have theme days where everybody dresses up differently. Having office parties helps unite play and team because everyone gets together. Create bulletin boards and decorate the office with fun stuff ensuring everyone’s involvement. Making work fun helps work to get done and makes people want to participate in a team. Third, make someone’s day which is easy to do and makes the team run smoother. Several ways to make someone’s day are as easy as saying hello, complimenting their looks, bringing baked goods to work, having a candy bowl out for others to enjoy, thanking people for the small and often overlooked things they do for us, acknowledging others’ accomplishments, being nice, and by simply volunteering our time. When working as a team it is very important to remember team means â€Å"we† not â€Å"I† that is why it is so important to help the team work easier. (Morton, 2007) Fourth, choose your attitude. Attitude plays an important role in teamwork as well. The good thing about attitude is you can choose a new one. Some ways to keep a positive attitude and help support the team are start each day with a personal positive thought, go to work with a positive attitude, put on a smile, start the day with a laugh or by being helpful, think positive. If you feel yourself getting a bad attitude change it so it does not affect others, be pleasant even if your day is not going well,  leave home at home and last walk around, speak to co-workers and wish them a good day. Successful teams all over the world are using these strategies and making them work. Some of these teams are Ford Motor Company, Wells Fargo, Sprint, the U.S. Army, the May O Clinic, Harley-Davison, the National Weather Service and Verizon Wireless. (Lundin, Paul, & Christensen, 2000) An article about Verizon Wireless struck an interest to me. It tells about how the Fish! Philosophy has helped the Southfield Verizon Wireless’ office. Call centers can be tough. Upset and angry customers call with billing and service questions, even problems. They chew up whoever answers the phone and results can hurt the company. They could have loss of customers, revenue, and employees. In a Southfield Verizon office receiving approximately 5,000 calls a day, you would probably expect it to be a stressful and frustrating place to work but due to them applying the Fish! Philosophy they say no. Instead the cubicles are decorated with cartoon fish and lessons for employees are taped on construction paper, employees can look forward to special days such as Mardi Gras, Black History and many others. Not only are they just all around happy, out of 273 employees, most appear happy. Verizon started using _Fish!_ in 2002 and reported results have been excellent. There was a signific ant decline in the call center’s complaints. The Southfield Verizon center that uses this philosophy ranks top amongst the company’s other 24 four call centers for solving customer problems on the first call. (Morath, 2005) How amazing that a philosophy developed from watching quaky workers at Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market have fun, interact with customers and become a tourist attraction even though very smelly and not the cleanest place, tends to inspire, motivate, and engage employees through a system that makes work fun by rewarding creativity empowering employees. Most of all they keep employees and even more important they work as a team. (Morath, 2005) These are just some of the many successful companies using the Fish! Principles and this philosophy continue to grow. Teamwork is a vital part of life and we apply it everyday. We use it all over the place,  why not have fun while doing it. (Tucker, 2007) Doing this research on _Fish!_ not only interested me but has taught me a great deal. I have learned some very helpful tips in just this little time and if applied might truly help me not only in my job but with life and life’s struggles. Being part of a team is better than trying to accomplish tasks by oneself. I plan to keep learning and applying the Fish! Philosophy and the four principles; Be There, Play, Make Their Day, and Choose the right attitude to enhance my life and work. References Christensen, J. (2007). _FISH! Philosophy: What is FISH!._ Retrieved August 15, 2007, from http://www.charthouse.com. Lundin, S. C., Paul, H., & Christensen, J. (2000). _FISH_! New York, NY: Hyperion. Morath, E. (2005). Fish Philosophy catches on_._ _Michigan Live, 2005_, Retrieved August 15, 2007, from http://www.mlive.com. Morton, B. (2007, August 11, 2007). Team big concept in today’s workplace; (Final Edition). _Star – Phoenix, Saskatoon, Sask, 2007, August_, Pg. F.20. Retrieved August 13, 2007, from ProQuest database. (Document ID: 1319529891). Tucker, C. (2007, March 21). Having fun at work †¦and play; Fish followers; Fish! Philosophy helps workers have fun. _York Daily Record,_ p. 6. Retrieved September 5, 2007, from ProQuest database. (Document ID: 1240070001).

Putnam [email protected] Case

Cost and Benefit Analysis of [email  protected] One of the primary advantages of the [email  protected] program is that it creates a cost advantage. Having employees work at home as opposed to in-facility is significantly less costly. According to Table A in the case, annual recurring costs for each individual working in-facility is around $10,650. That is over twice the recurring cost of the average [email  protected] employee with an ISDN connection and over 20 times the annual recurring cost of a [email  protected] employee with a cable modem connection.Given the large quantity [email  protected] employees at Putnam, this program provides a method of greatly reducing recurring costs in the short and long term. Additionally, the e-learning program costs less than half of what the traditional training process costs. It even better prepares employees for the job because the quality of the training is higher and individuals can complete the training at their own pace. Moreov er, [email  protected] employees feel that Putnam has made a sizeable investment in them, and feeling is supported by high productivity rates and decreased turnover.The turnover rate among [email  protected] employees is around 8% which is significantly lower than the Putnam average of 30%. By training employees for less and retaining them for longer, Putnam decreases both recruiting and training costs by a significant margin. Furthermore, the [email  protected] program allows Putnam to expand their business into new areas without having to invest in additional real estate. And because the majority of these [email  protected] employees are from rural areas where the cost of living is lower than locations near Putnam’s office facilities, Putnam can get away with paying [email  protected] employees less than their in-facility counterparts.All these factors contribute to the low cost advantage that the [email  protected] program creates. Because Putnam only allows hi gh productivity workers the option of working at home, the [email  protected] program can provide an incentive for employees to increase their productivity. According to a Putnam manager, anyone who is eligible to work from home and who wants to can work at home as long as he has higher than average productivity. Anyone at Putnam who desires to work from home will have the incentive to increase productivity above the mean so that they will have the option of working from home. However, this ncentive only applies to workers who have jobs that allow them to work from home. Also, many people like the social experience that the office brings and have no desire to work from home. One of the pitfalls of using this program as an incentive is that there is no reason for employees to produce anything higher than the company average. However, all things considered, this program does incentivize a select group of individuals to boost their productivity levels. Various costs arise from the [e mail  protected] program as well. It takes a special type of person to succeed in a [email  protected] position.Employees must be willing to sacrifice the social aspect of work and must be good at solving problems on their own because immediate help cannot always be obtained. Unfortunately the workers who fit the [email  protected] criteria do not necessarily bring about optimal production for Putnam. The most qualified and potentially productive candidates may find the [email  protected] program to be unfulfilling. Consequently Putnam is forced to accept candidates who while still productive, may not produce optimally. In fact, overqualified candidates in Vermont and Mane tended to have higher turnover rates due to the unfulfilling nature of the work.One of the other primary costs of the program is the communication barrier. By not being in-facility, [email  protected] employees cannot as easily talk to co-workers or supervisors about work-related problems. Also they are not exposed to the culture and are unable to get as good of a sense of how the company operates compared to in-facility workers. Putnam has tried to mitigate these costs through the advent of the chat system and other communication methods, but the fact remains that communication is not as good as it is among in-facility workers. Finally, employee performance needs to be monitored a bit more closely with [email  protected]Due to the lack of social pressure among co-workers to perform, employees could be tempted to shirk. But Putnam’s performance evaluation process has eliminated this problem, and in fact, [email  protected] employees have been equally if not more productive than in-facility workers. Human Resources Policies Overall I think Putnam is doing a pretty good job with regards to its human resources policies in the [email  protected] program. However, I feel a few changes could be made that could improve the program. According to some Putnam managers, monitorin g an employee working at home is not significantly different from monitoring employees in-facility.Rather, supervisors just have to monitor what’s going on â€Å"in different ways†. If it really isn’t much more costly or time consuming to monitor [email  protected] employees as opposed to in-facility employees, I see no reason to offer [email  protected] opportunities exclusively to high productivity employees. My recommendation is that Putnam rank workers on a relative scale in quintiles and assign each quintile a grade of A, B, C, D, or E with A workers being the top 20% and E workers the bottom 20%. Employees should not be made aware of their rankings.Next, my recommendation is that Putnam select a sample of employees from each of the bottom three quintiles to work at home for a period of 6 months to a year. The reasoning for only using the bottom three quintiles is that the top two quintiles are already eligible to work at home. The purpose of the experi ment is to determine from a cost standpoint whether or not it is advantageous to allow average and below average employees to work at home. Putnam should use the exact same evaluation process and compensation system with these employees. In other words, they should be treated no differently from the typical [email  protected] employee.Putnam should then compare the productivity numbers of the experimental [email  protected] employees and compare them to their respective productivity numbers from when they worked in-facility. If there is not a huge discrepancy in their productivity, then it may be advantageous for Putnam to allow employees of average to below average productivities to participate in the [email  protected] program. In fact, because overhead costs are so low for [email  protected] employees compared to in-facility counterparts, it could still be advantageous from a cost standpoint for Putnam to allow these employees to work at home even if their productivities drop off a bit.There are two major concerns I would have with employees in the bottom 3 quintiles working at home. One is that worker productivity will drop without direct monitoring. The second is that monitoring costs will spike due to the employees’ lack of motivation to do the job alone at home. If the increased costs of monitoring and the value of lost productivity do not exceed the difference in overhead cost between [email  protected] and in-facility employees, then Putnam should definitely consider allowing more employees to work at home.Doing so could decrease operating costs and increase profits in the long run. By performing this experiment Putnam can figure out how to optimally take advantage of its unique [email  protected] program. The limitation of this is that it may not be possible to assign a dollar amount to the cost of increased supervisory monitoring or the value of lost productivity. In light of this, it may be difficult to determine any cost advanta ges from performing this experiment. With regards to employee evaluation and compensation, I believe Putnam is doing a more than adequate job.By using both quantitative and subjective measures of performance like accuracy and call screening, Putnam keeps [email  protected] employees on their toes and producing at a high level. Additionally, by offering bonuses tied to performance of up to 20% of base salary, Putnam does a solid job of aligning [email  protected] employees interests with the company’s. The high level of productivity and low turnover rate among [email  protected] employees is proof that these policies work. One other aspect of HR that could be improved is making a clear cut path of promotion from [email  protected] employee up to a higher level position like manager or supervisor.By establishing a clear path to a higher level job in the company, Putnam can inspire its [email  protected] employees to work harder than ever. However, this could result in employee sabotage and decreased collaboration among [email  protected] employees. Employees may refrain from helping each other out because they are all seeking the same promotion. Experimental [email  protected] The first thing the travel agency should do is come up with a method of measuring employee performance. Without an accurate method of measuring performance, the experiment will not yield any meaningful results.The travel agency ideally would find a quantitative measure of performance that helps predict the total profit or revenues of the firm. By finding a quantitative measure that drives revenues, the travel agency can be sure that their method of evaluation will tie closely into firm performance. For the sake of simplicity in this exercise, I will assume that the number of clients served is the quantitative measure that most closely measures firm profitability and employee productivity. The next step in performing this experiment would be to research the costs associ ated with having a call center employee work at home as opposed to in-facility.If it is not any cheaper to have employees work at home, then there is no reason to even perform the experiment. This difference in cost is between work at home and in-facility employees will eventually determine whether or not a work at home program would be advantageous for the travel agency. The major cost would likely be installing the work phone in each employee’s house. There could be other costs in addition, however, like increased supervisory costs. Next, similar to my strategy for Putnam, I would rank all call center employees on a relative scale based on productivity and divide them into quartiles.Then I would take a random selection of a given amount of employees from each productivity quartile. These randomly selected individuals would be the ones taking part in the work at home experiment. These individuals would work at home for a lengthy period of say 6 months to a year. The travel a gency should heavily monitor their productivity during their time working at home, which in this case would be keeping track of clients served. At the end of the trial period of the work at home experiment, the travel agency should collect all the data regarding the participating individuals’ productivity.Their productivity should be compared to each individual’s respective productivity in the 6 months to a year prior to the experiment. Also, to adjust for possible seasonal factors influencing productivity, the travel agency could compare each work at home employee’s productivity to other employees in the same quartile who work in facility. The main concern here should be that worker productivity could decrease to the point that it would not be cost effective for the travel agency to have employees work at home, in spite of the fact that it probably costs significantly less in overhead to have employees work at home.If possible, the travel agency should attempt to assign dollar values to the additional costs of productivity loss and supervision from having employees work at home. If these additional costs are less than the difference in overhead cost between work at home and in-facility employees, then implementing a work at home program would probably be advantageous for the travel agency. There is a reason workers are ranked on a relative scale at the beginning of the experiment. Call center employees of different productivities may respond differently to working at home.The highest productivity employees are probably the most intrinsically motivated, and thus we would expect to see not as large a drop off in their performance as employees in other quartiles. Based on the data collected at the end of the experiment, the travel agency could decide that it is only profitable to allow employees above a certain level of performance standard to work at home. The firm could then use this standard as a benchmark and incentive for employees to o btain in order to get the option of working at home.

Lab Report Essay

Heat it to 90 C and hold this temperature for 10 minutes. 2. Cool it to 50 C in a bath of ice water. 3. Shake the culture bacteria to free it from lumps and add to the milk. 4. Transfer the inoculated milk into the beaker or jar. Cover. 5. Incubate the milk for 4 hours at 43 to 46 degrees until clotted. Clotting of milk indicates the bacteria utilized the sugars and underwent fermentation. 6. Chill for 1 – 2 hours 7. Stir the yogurt to make the texture smooth. 8. Package and consume III. Results and Discussion Kind of Milk| Taste| Color| Texture| Smell| Low- fat milk| Yogurt-like| Beige| Smooth| Sour| Full-cream milk| Very Sour| Beige| Thick| Very sour| In the table above, the reason why there were only 2 kinds of milk is because 2 groups used low fat milk and the other 2 used full-cream milk. As being compared from the table above, using full-cream milk caused the taste and the smell of the product (yogurt) to be extra sour. Yogurt is naturally sour because of the acid present in it. Also, the full-cream milk caused the texture to be thicker compared to the yogurt used with low-fat milk. Even though different kinds of milk were used, the color of the yogurt was the same, which was Beige. IV. Conclusion Based on the given results and discussion of the data, the characteristics (taste, color, texture, and smell) of the yogurt will depend on what kind of milk will be used for the yogurt making process. V. Recommended If one were to do the same experiment above, the group would recommend that they use low-fat milk to make their own yoghurt.

Michael’s Reflective Paper Essay

* Who am I? What life experiences made me who I am today? Was it my family, my social environment where I went to school, the groups, or organizations that I belonged to, or was it certain life events that shaped me? * This paper is my attempt to show that my family and social environment, my life experiences from childhood to present influenced me to be the person that I am today and who I will be in the future. As I reflect upon my life, at the age of forty-nine, I have come to the conclusion that my family and social environment when growing up, surviving cancer in my twenties, and getting married in my thirties are the main social influences and life events that have shaped who I am today and who I want to become in the future. Every one of these experiences has given me something: learning to be independent from family attitudes; dealing with the state of uncertainty, which comes with the disease; responsibility of marriage; and the importance to find the field of expertise for effective work. All these insights can be described as building effective relationships with people and developing self-understanding on different levels. * To understand my family life, and why I feel that their negative attitudes to me shaped me to be a better person, I first have to give you some background on my family and me. The background of my family clarifies how important for me was to be independent from this alienating environment. My mother died when I was only a year old and my father raised my older brother Kevin and me by himself until he met my stepmother. My father remarried and had my two stepbrothers William and Robert. My father was a strict disciplinarian, racist, drank a lot, and worked as a machinist at a refinery plant. My stepmother was a homemaker as my father did not approve of her working and felt that she needed to be at home taking care of the children. My stepmother came from an orphanage, had polio in her left hand. She was also an alcoholic, meaning that she was nasty when drunk; in addition, she was a chain smoker. Kevin was the oldest son one and a half years older than me (and my father’s favorite one), I was the middle child, William was five years younger than me and was diagnosed at an early age as having severe attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD); Robert was the youngest. Witt and Mossler (2010) quote the longitudinal research study which has shown that the attitudes of parents towards children rather than the practices of raising children shape our personality in adulthood (Ch. 1, p. 11). It is evident that lack of my father’s attention has influenced me a lot, stimulating me to attract my parents’ attention, for better or for worse. The authors also stress on the importance of the environment of growing up, both social and physical (Witt & Mossler, 2010, Ch. 1, p. 13). We lived in a relatively low middle class white community in Beaumont, Texas next door to my father’s brother and his family. The area where we lived in was close to the outskirts of Beaumont and was nestled back in the woods, so the woods were our playground. This could create the feeling of abandonment, but it was also empowering somehow, as I learned by these circumstances to rely on myself. Palkovitz, Marks, Appleby, and Holmes (2002) treat the relationship between parents and children as a complex unit consisting of father factors, co parental factors, mother factors, child factors, and contextual factors (p. 8). It is evident that in my family, there was disintegration in a sense on all levels. It was interesting to discover that, according to the study by Palkovitz, Marks, Appleby, and Holmes (2002), my father’s attitude was shaped by his experience in romantic relationships and then projected upon children (p. 8). I had to develop independence from this painful emotional context. My relationship with my father caused me to be non-racist, disciplined, and extroverted, as my father was a strict disciplinarian, controlling, and racist man. He gave all his attention to my older brother and ignored me unless I did something that angered him. His treatment of me caused me to crave his attention and to seek to please him until I reached my teenage years and decided that I did not want to be like my father. I rebelled against his control upon me. He tried to control what I did after school, how I wore my hair, how I thought, and what I wanted to be when I graduated high school. I was deeply afraid of him when I was a child, and only when I became a young adult did I see that what he was doing to me was wrong. I started standing up for myself. I started seeking attention outside my family and I got a job after school so that I started earning my own money. That allowed me to purchase my own clothes, get my haircut how I wanted, and purchase my first car that gave me the freedom to escape from my dysfunctional family on a daily basis. My first car and earning my own money gave me the ability to distance myself from my family. However, later circumstances of my life taught me that people can also be supporting and self-reliance is not enough. When I was in my early twenties working and going to college, I developed Hodgkin’s disease that has also changed my personality. Hodgkin’s is a form of cancer that affects the lymphatic system. Like other forms of cancer, it is believed to cause the feelings of uncertainty, lack of control, anxiety, isolation, discomfort, and – last but not least – re-definition of goals and roles (Halldorsdottir & Hamrin, 1996, p. 34). On one hand, one feels that he has to re-define his place in the society; on another hand, people care about those with the disease more and help more (at least they are supposed to do so). I experienced how it was not to have the control upon my life, but also how it was to be cared for by others. Anyway, when one is ill and so evidently dependent upon the society, the natural question comes: â€Å"Did I do anything wrong? And what was it? † Often cancer is associated with suppressed anger and a desire to please other (or at least attract attention) (Broderick, 1996, p. 14), and this really could be my case. I must admit that this understanding came along with serious heart problems. Still, illness did not prevent me from shouldering responsibility in work and family life, as well as from the joys of both. I met my wife during my thirties when I was changing my careers from being a technician to a salesperson. Interestingly, psychologists nowadays view professional development of an individual as an ongoing process (not limited to certain age group), the first stage of which is exploration (Smart & Peterson, 1997, p. 59). So, I was engaged in a kind of â€Å"double exploration†, searching for new ways in professional life as well as personal, consciously or not. In addition, like a career, marriage is a serious responsibility that implies both joyful outcomes and stress together with work on oneself. This personal responsibility has changed me a lot, teaching how to meet the needs of another person with whom I have been living day by day for a long time. I find the recommendations given by Witt and Mossler (2010, Ch. 3, p. 37) helpful, though challenging sometimes. People are happy in marriage when they support each other materially and emotionally, not forgetting to be positive, share feelings, thank each other, express affection, and do certain tasks together. In prolonged perspective, my family life and work taught me how to be productive and understanding in relationships with people and how to maintain stability in the changing world around and in the situations when inner conflicts arise. That is why in my future, I want to pass on the knowledge that my occupation as a sales manager has given to me. Perhaps I will start organizing some training sessions. This may also help to deepen my competence in the field of sales and on the level of personal communication, as people may share their valuable experience with me on the trainings. As I reflect upon my life now, from quite a distance, I have concluded that several events were the strongest in making me the person I am at present. They were my family and social environment in childhood, surviving cancer in my twenties, and getting married in my thirties. My family life stimulated me to earn living independently, cancer survival was essential in understanding my own potential and the ability to help of the people around, and marriage has given me the notion of responsibility. The dark years and events turn out to be ambivalent in the sense that they have given me certain experience and understanding of myself. Those main social influences and life events that I described in this paper have shaped my present personality and my thoughts about the future.