The Short Cut Home

Peter and his friends were discussing the rumours about a street which is a shortcut from school to his house. They were talking about how the street is deserted, with only one house in the middle. When they were walking home from school the pace of Peter's steps increased as they went past it. Peter felt a shiver going down his spine. The street was pitch black as there were no streetlights. There were wooden planks boarding up the windows. The next day, Peter was going home from school. It was dark and he was walking alone as he had got an hour's detention after school for swearing at a teacher. He thought to himself that he should take the shortcut home as he was late. Suddenly he stopped. He thought about the things his friends had been talking about. â€Å"A murder happened here 2 days ago† Laura said. He was thinking should he go or not. â€Å"All that stuff is nonsense† he thought and stepped into the dark, pitched black street. At first it felt normal, but as he kept on going he saw a strange light flicker in the old, abandoned house. He jumped and stopped. Should he go back or keep walking? Peter deep in his thoughts went nearer to the house. He didn't know what he was thinking. As he reached nearer and nearer to the house, he felt his neck tingle. The window was high so Peter got a small box and placed in under the sill. He looked and peeped through a small hole in the plank. He could see out of the corner of his eye a man. A thin man, tall with a long overcoat on. He had a shiny kitchen knife. Peter suddenly saw a woman on the floor with tape masked over her mouth. Her hands and feet were tied. â€Å"BANG!† Peter fell off the box. The man heard the sound and ran to the front door. Peter swiftly went to the back of the house and hid behind a bush. The man shouted â€Å"Who's there?!† Peter, not knowing what he should do stayed deadly still. He felt the footsteps getting closer and closer. Thoughts were running through his mind. â€Å"Why did I come here? What should I do?† Run or stay? If he ran he might get caught but he might still get caught just staying there. The man kept getting closer and closer. Peter could hear his heart beating. Then the footsteps suddenly stopped. Peter was sure he was still there but at the same time he was sure that he had gone. He peeped over bush. The man was walking back, checking the grounds as he was going. Peter desperate to get out of there ran as fast as he could. The man stealthily shifted round and saw a glimpse of Peter's face. He ran after Peter. Peter was running as fast as he could, trying to catch his breath. The man reached out and he was about two-three centimetres away from him. He grabbed Peter. He was scared to death and he burst into tears. The man took Peter quickly into his house. As Peter entered he could see his own breath. It was cold. Peter felt like he was entering a freezer. He saw the woman lying on the floor. Her mouth masked and her hands and feet tied together. There were knives on the floor next to the woman. Peter jumped and screamed. The man put his hand over Peter's mouth and commanded him to â€Å"Shut up or you'll get the same thing as the woman.† Peter slowly calmed down and got his breath back. Thoughts were running through his mind. Should he go for the door? What did he mean by saying â€Å"the same thing as the woman?† Was he going to let him go? Maybe it was just a plan to shut him up. â€Å"Look, this is the important thing. You've got to promise me something† explained the man. Peter nodded his head. â€Å"If I let you go, you've got to promise not to tell a soul about what you saw in this house. Even if you mention one tiny bit then I'm coming after you.† Peter nodded in fear. â€Å"I'll be onto you faster than a dog on a cat. Don't underestimate me lad. If you cross me then you've had it. Understood?† shouted the man. Peter let out a low grunt. The man led Peter to the door and let him go. He ran as fast as he could until the dark, pitched black street disappeared and he reached the gentle, warm glow of the streetlights. When Peter got home he went upstairs and quickly got into his bed. Peter woke up the next day feeling much better. He went to school with a big bright smile on his face looking like nothing happened to him. As he reached school he decided that he should tell his mates what happened as he thought the man doesn't even know where he lives so how can he do anything to him? His mates didn't believe him at first but eventually they did. Peter wasn't scared of the man anymore. That evening, when Peter reached home after school, his phone rang. He picked it up. â€Å"Hello†, Peter said. â€Å"You're dead†, barked a hard voice. Peter realised it was the man from the house. â€Å"I know where you live and I'm coming to get you!†

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Position Description: Analyst Programmer – C# . Net Purpose of Position: To design, develop, deliver and support Images in Space systems and services. To work with all areas of the Images in Space business to design and deliver future systems and services. The role requires the delivery of industry leading solutions that are reliable, scaleable and easy to use. This position operates in a multi-tasking environment and will involve support of clients (Internal and External) via phone, email and in person.There is the requirement to work with the Senior Development Analyst and/or technical pre-sales staff to perform analysis and establish user requirements, deliver projects to time and budget, and support these systems to company and client specific agreed service levels. This position is also tasked with supporting a development culture based on consistent methodologies and best practices for design, testing, security and hosting. Reports to: Head Developer and Solutions Archit ect Key Accountabilities: Project Assignments: Analyze, design, build and test business / technical solutions to meet both our internal needs and the needs of our users. †¢ Provide . NET, SQL Server and general development skills and experience to the Software Development team. †¢ Maintain and support existing applications. †¢ Conduct relevant â€Å"Requirements Analysis† to develop an accurate understanding of system requirements, in order to design the best solution within project, business and technical constraints. †¢ Accurately estimate the time and investment required to implement solutions. †¢ Analyse the mpact of any programmed changes to existing systems, and implement changes so as to minimise disruption to production environments. †¢ Create functional software from technical designs and system requirements documentation. †¢ Test software against specifications. †¢ Create and maintain systems documentation. †¢ Share knowl edge and experience relevant to the project with team members. Personal Work Practice and Productivity †¢ Accept responsibility and ownership for agreed personal/project objectives, timelines and deadlines. †¢ Manage assigned work to ensure it is completed on time and to budget. Complete administration tasks within agreed timelines. †¢ Share information and work with other developers / team members. †¢ Actively work in alignment with the vision and values of the company. Quality Management †¢ Support, maintain and improve Images in Space development methodologies, procedures and standards. †¢ Ensure the quality of the final deliverables by establishing and checking technical standards, and by verifying that the products meet or exceed requirements. †¢ To provide quality assurance to colleagues. Systems Support †¢ Proactively identify system modifications and/or enhancements (scalability, performance, ease of use etc). Ensure all systems are fu lly operational in accordance with contracted performance measures and/or Service Level Agreements. Other responsibilities may include any development duties that we reasonably require you to do. These may change from time to time to reflect the changing requirements of your position and our business. Key Performance Criteria: †¢ Delivery of projects against defined milestones and budgets. †¢ Customer satisfaction / absence of complaints. †¢ Speed of solutions (efficiency). †¢ Rework rate (bugs). †¢ Stability and Performance of Production software. Stability and Performance of Development Infrastructure. General Skills: †¢ Ability to analyse and define system requirements. †¢ Systems architecture and design. †¢ Deliver functional software using appropriate web technologies. †¢ Ability to learn new technologies. †¢ Strong communication and inter-personal skills. †¢ Lateral thinking. †¢ Self management. †¢ Provide direct training and support to development staff and end users. Technical Skills: †¢ Microsoft and related technologies – C# / . NET Framework †¢ Web sites & Web services (ASP. NET, MVC) †¢ AJAX programming experience. Experience in Object Relational Mapping Tools ( e. g. : Subsonic, Nettiers, nHibernate) †¢ Microsoft SQL Server †¢ Standards Compliant Design and Markup (HTML / XHTML / XML & CSS) †¢ DOM Scripting (JavaScript, JSON & related frameworks (e. g. : jQuery, YUI/ExtJS ) †¢ Support legacy sites & services (Cold Fusion) †¢ Separation of presentation and content by use of Cascading Style Sheets. †¢ Experience in Fireworks or Photoshop for image creation or manipulation. †¢ Web Service or Service Oriented Architecture experience. †¢ Basic computer & systems hardware knowledge and networking skills.

Individual, team and racquet athletics Essay

Sport contains mainly perceptual motor skills so it is important to select the correct skill for the situation. The process used to select the correct skill is called the information processing system or the DCR process, because we Detect information, Compare it with previous experiences and then react. Welford said that all information is taken in as stimuli through our senses. It is then stored in the short term memory before being sorted, if the stimulus is relevant to the current skill then it is stored in the short term memory where it is compared to previous experiences in the long term memory. Then a decision is made as to what action to take based on this comparison. The action that was performed and the outcome from this action are then stored in the long term memory for future reference. Welford’s model is shown below: This model makes a performer react in the way that they do to a situation but there are many factors that can influence what action the performer decides to take. These include; time available, number and intensity of stimuli, experience, anticipation, fitness and motivation of the performer. The effect these factors have on a performer will vary from individual, racquet and team sports. The time that you have available to process the incoming stimuli differs in each sport. For example in rugby, which is externally paced, you have a small amount of time to process the stimuli and make a decision because there are usually many defenders around you. Tennis players also have very little time to react because the ball is usually travelling at a high speed and if they don’t make a decision and return the ball they will lose the point. However in golf, an internally paced sport, the player can take as long as they need to make a decision because there are no opponents directly around them. There are three main types of stimuli that enter the sensory input these are; Vision: is where a player will react to a visual stimulus such as the position of the ball or an opponent. These stimuli are easier to detect and react to if the stimulus is brighter. For example in tennis the ball is bright yellow which makes it easier to see. But there are also unwanted stimuli such as ball boys moving or crowd movements these stimuli are obviously irrelevant but they are still initially taken in which slows down the whole process. In an individual sport there are fewer visual stimuli for example in a 100m race the only real visual stimulus is where the finish line is in relation to you. Audition: this is all stimuli that are heard, for example when a team mate calls for the ball in rugby. Auditable stimuli are heard and processed easier and faster if they are loud and clear. There are also irrelevant auditable stimuli such as crowd noise these will slow down the information processing model. Proprioception: this is made up of three components; Equilibrium: this is an awareness of your body position and balance. We can tell if we are about to fall over and where we are in relation to objects. Team sports are more likely to have an uneven playing surface which means that your balance will have to be constantly adjusted as you are running. But in individual and racquet sports the playing surface is fairly constant with the exception of golf, where a stance may have to be altered to adjust to the surface. Kinaesthesis: this is where the body senses the muscle movement and contraction it is sometimes known as muscle memory. It is if the movement â€Å"feels† right to the performer. It is developed through practice and experience one example would be a conversion kick in rugby the player may take there step away from the ball in the same way they usually do but they may just â€Å"feel† that they are not in the right place. It doesn’t apply as much in team games as in individual and racquet sports apart from set plays. Tactile sense: this is the feeling of pressure this is important for all sports. It can be affected be the weather conditions because cold weather affects our ability to feel effectively. The short term sensory store is where all information is stored for a split second before it is processed. All relevant and irrelevant information is stored in here before it is replaced and lost. This does not differ between sports only what enters it does. The perception stage is where all the information that has come from the short term sensory store is processed. This is when irrelevant information is thrown away and useful stimuli such as where the ball is, is kept to make a decision and stored in the STM. This will vary between individual, racquet and team sports because of the amount of stimuli. In team sports there are more stimuli so it takes longer to sort through whereas there are relatively small amounts of stimuli in individual sports so it won’t take as long to sort them out. It also differs depending upon whether the performer is experienced or not as it will be easier for a expert to sort through the stimuli because they have more experience. We sort through the stimuli with selective attention and take only the important pieces of information because only around 7-10 pieces of information can be stored in the STM. The information passed on from the perception stage is then stored in the STM. Because only 7-10 pieces of information can be stored an experienced player may â€Å"chunk† information together so that the position of all players is one piece, but a beginner may not be able to do this so each player may be a separate piece. Team sports would be much more affected because of the amount of information so not all stimuli can be stored so a poor decision may be made but less poor decisions will be made in an individual or racquet sport because there is less information. The LTM holds information on movement patterns and the results of using them in certain situations and can hold them for a lifetime. Team sports have many memories but individual sports may have less. The decision making process is where what’s happening now (in the short term memory) with what has happened previously (in the long term memory). In the LTM the performer will be looking for similar situations and actions and their outcomes. This makes team games decision making process a lot longer because of the vast amount of information and possible actions to take. Whereas in an individual sport there is much less information and less possible actions. The motor output is the performance of the chosen skill. One example may be for a badminton player to put in a drop shot because the opponent is at the back of the court. The action is referred to the muscle movement in the LTM. The action and its consequences are then stored in the long term memory for future reference. Individual sports, because they are individually paced, make them the simplest in the IP model. Also because there are fewer stimuli there is a shorter reaction time which gives the performer more time to carry out the IP model which should result in a better decision. Racquet sports are externally paced due to the fact that there is an opponent; this means that there is less time for the performer to react. There are some irrelevant stimuli which will slow down the IP model which means it takes longer to decide than in an individual sport but not as long as in a team sport because there are fewer possibilities for what action to take. Team sports are externally paced which reduces the time available to react. Also there are much more irrelevant stimuli in team sports, this will lengthen the IP. The IP will also be lengthened due to the complexity of most team games because there are more situations and possible responses to choose from. Bibliography Advanced PE for Edexcel Heinemann by F. Galligan et al.

Exemplar design & advertising agency Coursework

Exemplar design & advertising agency - Coursework Example Below the line advertising comprises of production of calendars, T-shirts, caps, wrist band and newsletters. Creating the environment The company’s structure shall be two fold comprising of a business structure and an organization structure. The business structure shall be a partnership between the original ten designers whom I have recruited. This will act as an incentive to encourage them own the business and to work towards success The business will adopt functional organizational structure. This is ideal for small business startups. The business will have specialized departments that will report to single authority (Day and Zacarro, 2004). It will help in grouping every department in the organization in line with its core functions within the design agency. However, we shall maintain a level of flat management policy where by the various department heads shall have an open door policy to eliminate communication barriers (McCauley and Rudeman, 2010). The success of any comp any depends on the management as well as individual employees. The management should create a favorable environment by making a management decision based on the situation (Goleman 2000). Core values For a company, core values provide the guiding philosophies that form the basis of how the company management and it employees behave. Exemplar’s key core values will be contained within its mission statement. The company shall entrench a value system whereby innovation and excellence shall be encouraged and nurtured among its people. This shall further be reaffirmed by our mantra† Communication that adds value†. Second value preposition for the company is commitment; the company shall stress the importance of team members owning the various projects they are tasked with. Thirdly passion for the job will be a prerequisite for each individual working under the roof of Exemplar as they are our brand ambassadors to customers. Because we are in the business of selling drea ms passion needs, this has to be an ingrained trait right from the account executive, the copy writer and the tea lady. As a teamwe can only be effective in this endeavor if we are passionate about our cause. Because we are working in an idea oriented environment, creativity shall be one of the key pillars to Exemplar’s core values. (Day and Zacarro, 2004). It shall be harnessed through various ways, the most important of this being brainstorming sessions. Exemplar wants to pride itself as a company that conserves the environment and will also seek to minimize on energy cost. This will include seeking out office space that uses natural light within the premises, use of energy saving bulbs and also using paperless forms of communication and recycled paper in all it stationery needs. The last value preposition of the company shall be open-mindedness. Everyone who works in an agency has to have an open mind since there are times ones patience might be overwhelmed by demands from customers, colleagues or immediate supervisors (McCauley and Rudeman 2010). Exemplars culture shall seek to build an identity that will be easily associated with the design firm both by the internal staff and our customers through constant and mandatory practice of certain beliefs, meanings, language, values, rituals, norms which are the normal behaviors expected in the organization. Also for the new employees that

Katharine Kolcaba and Comfort Theory Term Paper

Katharine Kolcaba and Comfort Theory - Term Paper Example Purpose of Nursing â€Å"Holistic nursing care† sees comfort as a significant need throughout a person's lifetime (Malinowski & Stamler, 2002, p.599). Some of the indicators of quality and holistic nursing care are nursing outcomes that impact â€Å"holistic comfort† and patient satisfaction (Malinowski & Stamler, 2002, p.601). Kolcaba and Kolcaba (1991) lamented about the lack of richness and complexity of nursing as a science, because of the absence of further conceptualization of critical care terms: â€Å"... meanings of the term [comfort] are not specified† (p. 1301). Boundaries of Nursing Nursing has â€Å"comfort† as one of its fundamental theme, value, and outcome, which differentiates it from other health-related professions that focus on other technical values (Siefert, 2002, p.16). Nursing is related to disciplines of anthropology and psychology. Nursing is associated with anthropology, because both require careful observations and documentation s of observed settings (Kolcaba, 2003, p.23). Nursing is also related to psychology, where comfort is a physical, mental, and emotional state: â€Å"a state of ease and quiet enjoyment, [no] worry† (Kolcaba & Dimarco, 2005, p.188), as well as â€Å"satisfaction† and â€Å"relief† (Tutton & Seers, 2003, p.690). ... ancer and receiving radiation therapy, as well as people with urinary problems or mental problems, or are at their end-of-life stages (Kolcaba & Dimarco, 2005, p.188). Description of Nursing Situations The one nursed has physical, psychospiritual, sociocultural, and environmental comfort needs (Kolcaba & Dimarco, 2005, p.188). Nurses should be knowledgeable and skilled in their profession (i.e. knowledgeable in communication strategies), sensitive and emphatic to patients who are asking for help and complain about discomfort, and have practical knowledge about medicines (Epstein, 2010, p.577; Stajduhar, Thorne, McGuinness, & Kim-Sing, 2010, pp.2040-2041) and other important non-pharmacological interventions (i.e. massage, as studied by Harris & Richards, 2010) . Quality interactions between nurses and the nurse can be described as resulting to patient satisfaction, because the patients feel relieved in how their comfort needs are met, and they are also satisfied with their relations and interactions with their nurses (Zaccardi, Wilson, & Mokrzycki, 2010, p.138). Context of the Development of Comfort Theory Katharine Kolcaba and Her Comfort Theory Kolcaba (1991) developed the Comfort Theory, because during her course of study, she believed that â€Å"comfort† is not yet fully analyzed as a nursing concept (p.1301). In addition, there is a need for a mid-range theory that has rich concepts and real applications to nursing practice (Kolcaba & Dimarco, 2005, p.188). She also asserted that the nursing profession would benefit from clearer conceptual terms that can be operationalized and measured more accurately. In 1965, Kolcaba obtained her nursing diploma from St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing in Cleveland (Kolcaba, 2003, p.2). She practiced full and part-time nursing

Women politics and rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Women politics and rights - Essay Example Female education refers to the complex set of debates and issues that are related to the education of women across the world at all levels starting from primary to tertiary education. Female education touches on issues of gender equity and equality, access to proper education and how this is connected to the alleviation of poverty that women tend to experience (Chng, 2002). Female education also involves the issues of single-sex education and that of religious education.Most feminist movements have over time promoted the importance of all the issues that are linked to female education making the topic to be wide and making the issues to be narrowly defined by the scholars (Collins, 2009). Female education may include issues like AIDS education that equips the ladies with first-hand information on how to prevent them from being infected and affected by the deadly HIV infection. Although, in some areas, women have made it in education more than their male counterparts, like for instanc e, in the US in 2005/2006, a total percentage of 62 of women obtained associate degrees, 58 percent attained bachelor's degrees, 60 percent masters and 50 percent got their doctorate degrees. Again, the education of women with disabilities has also improved with time (Mettler, 2000). There have been calls to improve the level of education of the girl child because it has demonstrated an ability to have clear effects on the economy and the general health of young women and it improves the prospects of the women’s’ community.

Theology the Church Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Theology the Church - Essay Example All through the world, men of God are renowned as true Prophets in the House, through a mission to envisage the body to be reinstated to the basics of the Apostolic Church that Jesus is building. The Lord is starting to illustrate the body a greater exposure and maturity of this often deserted ministry gift. Popular reconstruction starts with 'tombless' visions, and the separate appearance of an initially 'appearance free' empty tomb story, first in a pre-Marcan form and then as in Mark 16.8. The other evangelists then compile and develop the Marcan material in line with their distinctive redactional emphases. Thus, Matthew's descriptions develop his Jewish apocalyptic eschatology and illustrate the risen Jesus as Lord of the church in its new job to the Gentiles, as also contradicting Jewish opposition. Luke significantly improves the physicality of the renaissance, and highlights Jesus' fulfillment of Scripture as well as the centrality of Jerusalem for the source of a Spirit-filled mission of the church. John's account, marked all through by his high Christology, stresses the trust merit of the apostolic Easter indication and its call to faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God, while also rising the compound association between the Beloved Disciple and Simon Peter. Beyond this, lege ndary analysis traces apocryphal and Gnostic accounts with their more and more intricate development of the appearances and conversations of the risen Jesus. For scholarly reforms like this, the earliest customs knew no empty tomb and no appearances. Once such stories had begun to mount up, every new feature was prepared, sometimes more or less ex nihilo, to respond to the instant apologetic and pastoral desires of the evangelist's particular community. As the post-Easter public statement spread from Jews to Gentiles, the other titles developed for Jesus. The inculturation of the gospel in Gentile cultures required using terms that for the people uttered their faith in him as God and redeemer for them, and which in turn augment Christian considerate of the gospel itself. The titles for Jesus in the time of the Apostolic Fathers especially belong here and were very much influenced by the heresies combated. These improvements show that we approach an understanding of God through terms that are known to us as human beings. The more varied and multicultural the people who know Jesus, the more varied and compound will be the terms used to express this knowledge. Hellenistic Christianity lasted till the Vatican II. Simply from this time did Christianity become really a world religion, one that expresses itself in languages and notions of all peoples and cultures. This might explain why images of Christ have multiplied in current years. As marginalized men and women around the world seek to obtain Christ, they find in the gospels, their own cultures and personal experiences appropriate terms for expressing their faith in him. Vatican II supports in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. Because Jesus himself is the locus of God's congregation of humanity to the divine self, he cannot be constrained to any one church set up on a partisan basis. Christ provides the church its basic meaning. In him, the church

Internet Access for Children Should Be Regulated by Legislation Essay

Internet Access for Children Should Be Regulated by Legislation - Essay Example While modern technology has had a profound effect on efficiency and economy it has at the same time encouraged a sedentary lifestyle that can have serious consequences for mental, social and physical development particularly for the youth.   For instance, liberal access to the internet has cut back on time so that individuals can obtain information with the mere click of the mouse.   Previously, information could only be obtained by inspecting print resources.   In this regard, the value of time has been lost since it is now possible to complete a number of tasks simultaneously. Certainly, the ability to complete a number of tasks at once is beneficial in terms of productivity and matching supply with demand for commercial entities.   However, the average young person can develop an unhealthy dependency on the internet to such an extent that it negatively impacts the value of his or her education.   For instance, a student with a reading assignment is more likely to give in to the temptation to read a summary of the book on the internet, rather than read the book itself.   Moreover, the internet also acts as a barrier to interpersonal relationships by providing a virtual world in which users subscribe to social networking.   Moreover, time spent on the internet is time spent away from friends, family, acquaintances.   The average child spends twice as much time on the internet than he or she does in a class room (Bennet 2009).   In this regard the internet culture is driving the development of the young so that they are deprived of interpersonal relationships, a key component for healthy social and emotional development (Altman and Taylor 1973, 28).   Time spent on the internet also means less time engaging in physical activities and the lack of exercise is linked to health problems in teens and young persons in general.   Jones and Bradley (2007) maintain that habits developed at an early age can have long term health consequences (433).à ‚   Specifically, a lack of exercise in adolescence and young people in general can lead to obesity and other health problems such as heart disease (Jones and Bradley 2007, 434)

How video game effect our live Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How video game effect our live - Research Paper Example I went through different books, searched online for information and finally ended up with something I think is important from both sociological and cultural point of views. The topic I have chosen for my research project is ‘How video games affect our lives’. This research would be useful for all kinds of people, those who are addicted to video games, those who play video games occasionally and those who don’t play video games at all. The structure of my research project would be simple, clear and linear. Starting from a historical point of view, I would first describe some of the pioneers and early days of video games. Then I would move on to their development, an era in which video games started to gain some fame but only in the elite class of the society and they were a big attraction for the kids in that class (Weiss). Moving on to the invention of some video games of the late 20th century for example, Atari, Nintendo, Sega and home computer which were the only gaming devices at that time and many games such as Sonic, Mario bros, Contra 4, the helicopter and fighting jet games, Street fighter and tekken were introduced on these gaming stations. The modern 21st century video games have taken the level of video games to a next level. The inventions of Playstation and Xbox360 with PSP (playstation portable) have opened the doors for a totally new generation of games such as GTA, Call of Duty, Prince of Persia, Assassins and millions of other games. These games are both graphically and technologically advance and take the gamer inside the characters they are playing with and Now to increase the experience 3D games are being introduced (Rowlands). After the history and development, I would choose a social and psychological perspective of gaming. I would describe the affects that they have on our mind and body. Starting with the main affect, playing too many games has led our children to stick inside their homes and decreased their outdoor physical

The Women of Dreaming in Cuban Essay Example for Free

The Women of Dreaming in Cuban Essay Four characters spanning three generations dominate the storyline of Dreaming in Cuban (Garcia, 1992), four women of the same blood who could not possibly contrast more. Centered on the rise to power of Fidel Castro and the ways in which the members of the family del Pino embraced or rejected la revolucion, Dreaming in Cuban is poignant tale enriched with beautiful language. The matriarch of the family is Celia del Pino, a woman whose passion for the lost love of her youth can be replaced only, but not completely, by her ardor for the socialist ideals Castro brings to the island. Celia stands alone in her patriotic zeal; her lone companero in the family, son Javier, disappears to Czechoslovakia to further the movement there and to hide his politics from his father, Jorge. Celia is, of all her family, the only one suited to bear the torment life brings to them all. She knew before they were born that her daughters, though flesh of her flesh, would be strangers to her. And although she would realize before his death that she had grown to love her husband, it was a different love than the torturous passion she bore for Gustavo, her wayward Spanish lover who disappeared from her life completely when she was just a young woman, not a love to replace but to reside, understandingly, alongside it. Even her zeal for El Lider and the revolution, a cause to which she could devote herself fully as she was never able as a wife and mother, exposed to her that quality which is mostly non-existent among men, a spirit of generosity. She knew that, without it, Cuba would fail (Garcia 114,115). Celia’s daughters are as different as the countries they live in. Lourdes, eldest, whose name her mother at her birth vowed to forget (Garcia 43), would immigrate to America to escape Castro and the revolution, while Felicia would be imprisoned by cruel husband who would nearly destroy her. Lourdes, always her father’s daughter, was fittingly named after the miraculous French locale (Garcia 42). Fitting not because there was anything miraculous about her, but because it reflected the faith Jorge embraced and Celia scorned. By being born a girl, Lourdes denied her mother the chance to escape her marriage and seek out Gustavo in Spain, and it was perhaps due to the consequent shunning that Lourdes’ various attempts at different types of fulfillment are seemingly in vain. Whether by constantly eating, constantly sexually devouring her poor husband, over-mothering her daughter Pilar or harrying the immigrants who are always so briefly in her employ, Lourdes never manages to be fully satisfied with herself or with the world. Even her conversations with her father after his death left her confused and disoriented, as if the solace he sought to bring her only furthered her malcontent. Felicia was also named with portent, though in a much more sinister fashion than her sister. When Celia was in the hospital she met a woman who had murdered her husband by dousing him in gasoline and lighting him on fire. She would later be killed, also by being burned alive. Her name was Felicia; Celia would name her second daughter in memory of her friend. Felicia would grow to marry a man, a merchant marine who was rarely home, and when he was only to abuse his wife and share his venereal diseases. Losing herself in that horrible place that resides choosing between family and family, Felicia would eventually seek to free herself as her namesake had, by burning her husband. Unfortunately for Felicia she did not manage to fully escape the clutches of unreality, and she would even drag her young son Ivanito into its grasp. Pilar is Lourdes’ headstrong, rebellious daughter. Having moved to America with her mother at a very young age, she has a rather idyllic memory of her grandmother and Cuba, but it is what she longs to return to. For her entire life in the U. S. , her mother has sought to repress her, much as she would like to suppress the revolution the took her homeland from her. Much as Lourdes remembers the first words her mother spoke in her presence, Pilar remembers conversations word for word all the way back into her infancy. Pilar’s great understanding of things at such a young age was likely why she did not simply accept things for what they were as many children do. And her refusal to accept the state of things, a feeling all of the other women in her family can readily identify with, would lead to her running away bringing on a whole new world of problems to understand. From generation to generation, the women of the del Pino family are constantly and consistently different. Pilar was born at the beginning of the revolution but would grow up away from it, her mother and aunt were the of the generation targeted by the movement but would ultimately resist it, and only Celia, her grandmother, of the conservative generation mostly likely to scorn socialism would completely embrace it. And so each generation of the family stood alienated; alienated from the others of their own respective generations whose ideals did not match their own, and alienated from their own family members for the same reason and many more. Looking back on one’s own life, it is easy to remember the feeling of the latter, rolling your eyes at your out-dated parents or sighing in exasperation at your rebellious children. But imagine having no peers to turn to, no comrades to share stories and advice with, no empathy anywhere to be found. It is no wonder fulfillment was ever beyond their grasp. If the women of this story share any common ground, it is in their blood and their inability to find peace. And one, quite possibly, could be used to help the other. A great deal of the trials these women face lie in the division amongst them, and if they ever tried to address that, then maybe they wouldn’t have to continually seek answers in pecan sticky buns and Cuban sugar cane fields and Santeria cults. Perhaps that is the solace the spirit of Jorge del Pino is trying to bring; perhaps he is saying, â€Å"You are my family, my blood, my wife, my daughters, my granddaughters. Know that there will be differences. Know that you have made mistakes and will have regrets. Agree to disagree. Forgive one another. Love one another. Move on. † Perhaps that is a little too simplistic. But I recognize something in this story that is all too common among people, a throw-your-hands-up attitude that occurs when life happens and the current feels too strong. People are willing to surrender to one crisis in order to reach the calm waters that bridge the gap to the next. But if you don’t learn how to handle the rapids, what do you do when you reach the waterfall? References Garcia, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban. New York, Ballantine. 1992.

Four Models Of Public Relations Media Essay

Four Models Of Public Relations Media Essay The four models of public relations and communication are practiced by J. Grunig and Hunt in year 1984. At that time, many scholars of public relations are doing the research of how these four models are practiced by public relations practitioners and why they practiced. The four models are press agentry model, public information model, two-way asymmetrical model and two-way symmetrical model. They described how public relations practitioners to be effectively and ethically practiced by offers a normative theory in two-way symmetrical model. Mixed-motive public relations were practice with combine the two-way symmetrical model and two-way asymmetrical model. In 1975, the first study on the behaviour of public relations was done by J. Grunig, he categorised it and published the result in 1976. The study is telling about how the communication functions is perform in the different way by the public relations practitioners and why their behaviour is not alike. In order to categorise the different behaviour of public relations, an excellent public relations model was introduced in which how they are practice. Although there is no any representation can be perfectly described the reality of the world, but it is still a need to come out a model for people to understand and work on it. Model is defined as a set of values and a schema of behaviour practiced by public relations practitioners and public relations department in organising their programmes and campaigns. The different kind of public relations have been describing by the historians and some other textbooks authors with some coarse terms. For instance, according to historian Eric Goldman (1948), press agentry model in the early era was named as the public be fooled and public information theory was named as public be informed. The one-way and two-way communication also named like the same manner in the textbooks by Cutlip and Centers in the first edition in 1952. J. Grunig stated one-way and two-way models of communication in his first study of the behaviour of public relations with included the direction and purpose of communication. Synchronic and diachronic communication are the concepts took by J. Grunig from Thayers (1968) which is the behaviour used by particular organisation to practiced it all the time in order to isolated from any interference. While the diachronic communication is used to maintain mutual affairs of organisation to not only benefit the organisation itself but also their public. A study of Grunig (1976) claimed that synchronic and diachronic communication were too simplified and as plain as daylight to described the behaviour of public relations after he measured the practice of sixteen public relations activities in around two hundred of organisations in the area of Baltimore-Washington such as press releases writing, counselling the leaders, planning a program, evaluation on a program etc. After that, he comes out the asymmetrical model and symmetrical model to replace synchronic and diachronic models with understand the purpose of public relations to balance up the communication and effect between the organisation and its public. The four models of public relations and communication are leading and bringing the researchers to understand their behaviour in practicing like advertising or campaign. The models are using until today is because they are effective to convey the particular message from the sender to the receiver which is the organisation to their public. They are using these models in order to achieve their objectives of placing their message in media. Press agentry model is intended to get favourable attention in media. Public information model is use to inform the public like a fact, it is frequently used by the non-profit organisations, education institutions, government agencies and some other corporations. Two-way asymmetrical model is a persuasion and manipulation which aimed to influence the public to act in the way organisations desire. Two-way symmetrical model is attempted to achieve a win-win situation which build mutual understanding between the organisation and its public (Kellimatthews, 2009). Press Agentry Model Introduction Press agentry model was the earliest PR model. It comes out in the late 19th century (Grunig Hunt, 1984). The heyday of this model from 1850 to 1900 and P.T. Barnum was the representative of the historical figure (Chao, 2012). Press agentry model is one-way communication as the flow of information that is from the sender to the receiver which known as source-to-receiver communication. People who send out the message are not much take no account of second partys response, comment, point of view and so on. Press agentry attempts to alter the act of publics whereas do not have the intention to change the behavior of the organization. Public relations whose are under press agentry struggle for publicity in the media in almost any way possible. Practitioners of press agentry have included so-called fathers of modern PR, Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays. In the early 20th Century, both were Broadway press agents, when Broadway was the capital of the entertainment world, before moving on. Bernays move into constructed news that accounts for audience perceptions and biases is a sophisticated form of press agentry. His 1915 80-page press packet for the Diaghilev Ballet Russe American tour was an early example, and his work in 1932 publicizing autos for General Motors with testimonials from business and academic leaders was more elaborate. Press agents had done a research by monitoring the media in which they sought to post favorable articles related to their clients. Besides that, the American impresario P. T. Barnum is the prototype practitioner of this model at the same time he also promoted circuses and other entertainment venues such as the singer Jenny Lind. In Press Agentry publicity model, public relations expects increases the reputation of the organization to their target audience, stakeholders, employees, partners, all other affiliated with it through managements. In additions, this model hiring public relations expects who established a positive reputation of their brand and states in the minds of the audiences through arguments and reasons. Their potential customers had influence by simply imposing creative stories of their brand, idea, thoughts and USPs of the products. Although J. Grunig and Hunt claims that the public-relations-like activities completely history, they argues that the press agents used the first name in the mid-19th century and it specialists to the practice of public relations. Andrew Jackson, Daniel Boone, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Calamity Jane whos practiced the press agentry model of public relations as such heroes. Furthermore, P.T. Barnum, the most prominent practitioner and skillfully presented his circus performers by using the axiom which is There is a sucker born every minute. Moreover, Curiosity and skepticism played as important role in the process of successful for the press agentry model. Butterick (2009) recommended that when we read the tabloid newspaper, we can just take a look to the inner editorial pages, the new movie or CD is launched to see the press agentry model. Therefore, Press agents like Max Clifford who responsible as masters of the industry and carefully managing the media coverage of their customers. He also claims that even the so-called exclusive pictures of semi-naked celebrities on a beach in a Sunday newspaper can sometimes be the result of a collusion between the stars publicist and photographer. Nowadays, press agentry model is still using in our society. It can easily clarify that the ethics which involved to this model are highly questionable at the same time the admission from Grunig Hunt announced that the model there are an characteristics of propaganda attached to distil the negative connotations (Butterick, 2009). However, it is eventually shows that the curiosity and skepticism of it which make sure the press agentry model is still working and prominent in modern day. Although it is a modern day, PR practitioner should be more familiar with the truth, the foundations of this model still exist whether it be to publicize a sporting event, a theatre production, or the scariest film of the decade, as in the recent movie release Paranormal Activity (2009). We, the public, will either want to believe what we see, or find out for ourselves if our scepticism can be improved correct that why this model is still working for practitioners seeking to gain the illusive media spo tlight in 21st Century. Press agentry is closely associated with publicity in the entertainment world. Press agentry is the practice of attracting the attention of the press through technique that manufactures news. Methods associated with press agentry include staged events, publicity stunts, faux rallies or gatherings, spinning, and hype. A common practice is the late 1800s and early 1900s, press agentry is not part of mainstream public relations. Rather, it is a practice primarily associated with major entertainment-related events, such as Hollywood premieres and boxing matches. The goal of press agentry is to attract attention rather than gain understanding. Even today, however, the term press agent is sometimes used interchangeably with publicist in traditional Broadway Theater and motion picture industries. Todays entertainment industries are populated with publicists rather than press agents. Publicists are individuals skilled in media relations who attempt to get the name of their clients or events in the media by carefully constructing messages that inform, educate, and persuade. Some are astute in branding and positioning strategies to aid the careers and success of their clients. In contrast, press agents want attention either good or bad in most any form. Press agentry had been called persuasion for short-term advantage through the use of truth bending and even distortion, but it can also be simply the staging of provocative acts to get publicity and draw attention to an individual, event, or cause. Therefore, it is understandable that one of the earliest proponents of press agentry was Phineas Taylor (P.T) Barnum, the famed American showman and promoter who put gun Gen. Tom Thumb on exhibit and launched a mobile circus featuring Jumbo the elephant and freak shows. Barnum was a master of press agentry. For instance, he wrote letters both praising and criticizing his circus show to newspaper under an assumed name. In the early part of his career, Edward L. Bernays was also a master of press agentry. He persuaded 10 debutantes to hold up Lucky Strike cigarettes manufactured by his client, the American Tobacco Company, as torches of freedom while participating in New Yorks Easter parade. In 1929, Bernays staged a global news event by organizing the Lights Golden Jubilee, a worldwide celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of the electric light bulb for his client, General Electric. Bernays managed to secure several prominent individuals for that event, including carmaker Henry Ford, electricity scientist Thomas Edison, and President Herbert Hoover. Henry Rogers, one of the founders of Rogers and Cowan, the largest and most successful West Coast entertainment publicity firm, became famous when he promoted an unknown contract player for Columbia Pictures named Rita Hayworth. A fictitious group of Look magazine from the Fashion Couturiers Association of America asserts that Hayworth was the best-dressed off-screen actress after Henry contact with them. Look magazine took the bait and put Hayworth on the cover and published 10 pages of her photographs. Characteristic Press agentry is ink. A sales-driven approach does whatever it takes to get exposure for clients in the media without resorting to paid advertising. Press agentry is not above truth-bending or lying to reach its pragmatic objective. It will make up facts if it needs to do so. It is persuasion for short-term advantage. Press agentry will not dissolve because it is a long term job of PR. Press agentry has convert its operation with the value of ethnics for more than 10 years ago. It made a balance within getting exposure and maintaining the reality for fact. However, getting exposure will be serving as first if there are any failures. Press agentry relies on spin. It is interpreting facts to fit ones view and to get media coverage. Christopher Buckleys hilarious novel, Thank You for Smoking lampoons this type of practitioner brilliantly, and post-presidential debate commentary from Democrats and Republicans is a quadrennial example of spinning. Press agentry includes any technique that manufactures news which are publicity stunts, faux surveys, fake committees, constructed events and other tactics practitioners continue to use. Propaganda classified as one of the characteristic of press agentry model (Grunig Hunt, 1984). The term of propaganda in press agentry model, refer to PR practitioner exaggerate and more hype than facts in order to get publicity for their client. They will not care the public feedback and just want the public behave as they want. According to the academics such as Butterick (2009), Theaker (2004), and Johnston Zawawi (2004), when create news to influence the audience, the precision and reliability are be compromised through the way of stunts or specific publicity seeking. PR practitioners use various types of PR tool to make sure that audience take a specific course of action and behave what they wish. This type of practitioners will go into press agents (Butterick, 2009). Public Information Model Public information model is one of the four models of public relation. It is the second earliest model. It is a one-way communication model. This model is revolved from half-truths to more ethical practices. This model aims to inform the public. It involves the sender who sends message or information and receiver who receives the message of the information. The model involves little of research, on contrary, the readability and readership is quite high. The model mainly practices by the government, non-profit association and business. According to Grunig Hunt (1984, pp. 22), the purpose is the dissemination of information necessarily with persuasive intent. The public relations person objectively reports information about the organisation to the public. Unlike the press agentry model, public information model focus more on the distribution of information than creating news. It intended to give clear and factual information to the audience. One of the examples of the public information in Malaysia is the declarations of Deputy Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and the state executive councillors on the assets they owned. The news was published in the early year of 2012. They had reviewed about their investments, fixed deposit, loans, shares, houses, cars, property like shop lots and others (The Star Online, 2012). This action had showed that Lim Guan Eng and the state executive councillors had practised the public information model. They tell the truthful information to the public through media. They let the people to get informed about their personal assets. They try to be transparent which shows their fair and honesty in ruling the state. Ivy Lees, one of the earliest public relations practitioners, was the first to use the public information model. He was advising a railway company to be honest to the public and media regarding the accidents on the railways. The reputation of the company had risen. Further, it had increased the public information models value especially for the crisis management (Americanessays, 2011). Some statements argue that the transmission of honest and truthful in managing the crisis is vital though it is not only the way in the method in crisis management. Telling the truth to the public may bring deficit to the company. However, the appropriate management of crisis and adequate apologise would give a better reputation than closing the truth (Americalessays, 2011). As for the crisis in the Malaysia context was the crisis faced by the MAS Sdn. Bhd. This is the news reported in The Sydney Morning Herald, an Australia online newspaper titled, Malaysia Airlines in crisis after loss. This is issue started in 2005. MAS was facing the financial crisis and this issue reviewed to the public about the reason. This online press reported the amount of the loss like the loss of 2.52 billion ringgit and the problems faced for the flights like the competition with other airlines like AirAsia. The company told the truth story of the crisis to the public which this action may bring damage to the company and the reputation of the company may fall. This shows that the company serves the public by telling the truth. It put the public before its company. This goes same for the press that published the news. The press practises the public information model in this particular case. The press serves not only for the business company, it also reserve the right of the p ublic to know the facts and truth (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2012). As the example above, these days, the other companies like the media company also practice the public information model, even though the model is applied the government, non-profit association and business in the past. There is a statistic showed that this model has the highest percentage of 50% of the organisation practicing this model nowadays (Theaker, 2004, 2nd ed.). The tools such as the press release, brochure, flyers, the web content, and others are used to distribute the information to the public (Thoughsleeding, 2008). The information that will be included in the distribution materials are the details of the company, products, testimonial, success stories and others. Promotion and publicity of the companies are aimed to be spread among the target audience. Though the main objective of the public information model is to disseminate the information to the public, this model does not pursue to persuade the public nor change their attitudes. It should be benefiting the public the most. However, some of the companies have the other motives. They wish to publicise their company, products and services, build brand awareness and brand image, position the brand, and others (Management study guide, 2012). This model is still practicing and it is highly practised by the public in nowadays. This had indirectly showed that the model has certain effectiveness in communication. The following will be discussing the model with the government agencies about how they utilise this model in producing the respective news to the public. The present Prime Minister, YAB Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had announced the 1Malaysia concept. The government had put much effort in publicising the concept especially to educate and to inform the public about the concept. The effort can be seen in the Malaysia mainstream media, such as radio, newspaper and television. Newspaper is the tool that used the most often to transmit the vital and detail information about 1Malaysia concept. In the one of the mainstream newspaper, The Star, 1Malaysia is strongly publicised. The Star is used to inform the public about the announcement of the plans and programmes under 1Malaysia. The most popular 1Malaysia plan is the 1Malaysia Grocery Shops. The Star published about the details about the shop like the location, grocery items sold, the pricing list, business hours and other information. This is to educate rather to inform the public about the groceries in 1Malaysia. (The Star Online, 2012) The mainstream media are indirectly linked with the Malaysia government. The content is sometimes bias and being controlled. The publishing of 1Malaysia concept seems as one of the controlled content of news. This can be argued be as the agenda setting. The media emphasise and report a lot of news about 1Malaysia. It seems like the media shape and directs the public to think about the grocery shop (Mohd. Adnan Hashim, 2011). In addition, the news published is rather good news. This had made the public to believe that the 1Malaysia grocery shops are well running and this will gain confidence and support. There are other government plans are also like the New Economic Model, Vision 2020, Green Technology and other government plans. They are mostly used as public information model and agenda setting. Asymmetrical Model Asymmetrical model include one-way asymmetrical and two-way asymmetrical. One-way symmetrical model doesnt use any research to find out what the public perceive a particular organisation. However, the organisation doesnt change anyway but intend to persuade and manipulate the public to behave and to support in the way the organisation wish to. Two-way asymmetrical model also known as scientific persuasion as the model is use social science methods to produce more and more persuasive communication. This model usually focuses on the achievement of changing the audiences behaviour and attitude in short period of time. Communication under this model is two-way which is from the organisation to its publics, there is also gain the feedback from the public. The main purpose to gain the publics feedback is solely to help the organisation place their message in a more acceptable way by the public (Grunig Hunt, 1984). For instance, many of the cosmetics companies are less or even not to use t he animal to test their products as they found out that the consumers are tend to pay more concern towards the animal and environment. They try to approach to the consumers with the aim to place them approach to companies point of view (Shirley Harrison, n.d.). According to the historical studies of Olasky (1987, 1989) shows that the success of propagandists at World War II, Bernays believed that humans are can be manipulated. He mentioned mention that humans can be manipulated for the bad purpose as well as good purpose. However, Grunig (1989) stated that publics often take advantage form the strange things such as dangerous products, gender discrimination, pollution etc. For the past examples, Bernay comes out a thought to boost the sales of Lucky Strikes cigarettes towards women, he persuade ten ladies who are first time to participate an social event to smoke on the public place while walking in the parade of New Yorks Easter. Besides, in year 1929, Bernays also hired by General Electric to persuade many of the worlds electricity supply to switch off the power and light to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Thomas Edison for his invention of light bulb to commemorate the greatness of Edison. In 1924, Bernays started the first educati on course of Public Relations at New York University. He was the pioneer of public relations academic. Some people are not believed in public relations practitioner as persuasion is being doubt by them and undesirable for nowadays propaganda. There are positive and negative persuasive communication in the marketplace and society. Such as public healthy campaigns like TAK NAK that persuade the public to reducing smoking or even not to smoke to keep the body healthy. The Public Service Announcement (PSA) of encouraging safer driving likes not to break through the traffic light and not driving after drinking alcohol. Furthermore, the political campaign for the elections is using the two-way asymmetrical model which the candidate is seek to influences the voters to stand by their point of view. The candidate will try to persuade the voters to vote for them with slogan like vote Barisan National to preserve the country peaceful. This is to create fear among the people deep-seated worries, they play with special appeals to place the propaganda onto the public. Most of the advertising would like to use this model because at the end of the time, the benefits are not enjoyed by the consumer but the advertiser which is the organisation. The propaganda can use to describe this model. Propaganda intends to alter the public perception on certain thing. It is use as a communication to achieve the organisations desire and expectation. The priority of place the propaganda is to change the way public behaves currently to act in the way an organisation aimed to. According to Lasswells propaganda theory, the existing environment can influence the people to be vulnerable to simple form of propaganda. One of the examples of propaganda is glittering generalities, which is using the positive words to represent a particular product or person. Such as the newspaper of Guang Ming Daily, they use the slogan of your everyday best friend to make people accept and support their newspaper just like a best friend that you needed every day. Another example is McDonald is Americas favourite, this is a kind of bandwagon that carrying a meaning of every American are like to eat McDonald, thus you should be one of them. More and more advertis ing use propaganda to place their product or service in order to manipulate their consumer to agree with the organisations point of view and tend to support their product or service. For example, the advertisement of Calvin Kleins perfume, the scene shows a character that use the perfume will look cool and able to attract the opposite sex to approach them. In other words, whoever wants to look attractive must use the Calvin Kleins perfume. Nowadays, more and more of the advertisers like to invite the celebrities to be the endorser of a particular product or service. This is because the celebrities have the ability to influence their fans approach to particular product and boost the sales indirectly. For example, Pepsi, a soft drink company who invest a large amount on the famous celebrities at home and abroad such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and western countries to endorse their product. This is to create a celebrity charm in order to boost their sales. This technique is known as testimonial that able to influence and manipulate the audience to act according to the advertising which is the indeed objective behind the advertisement. The advertisers are aimed at the idolater mentality of the audiences, and then provide the information of how to approach their idol with Pepsi soft drink. In addition, the Disneylands slogan, the happiest place on earth makes the audiences feel that there is the place to go to feel good and havin g a better life with no worries. Apparently, the organisation is intended to create an impact among the audiences to step toward to Disneyland to join the joy. Symmetrical Model According to James E Grunig, he said that Public relations are the spread of management of an organization and publics and the purpose is to establish a target public relationship of mutual trust. Mr. James E Grunig is a noted of public relations theories and adding a new theories which is four models of public relations in 1984. One of the models of public relations is two-way symmetrical model which is the best and ideal model than other three models, said by James E Grunig. Two-way symmetrical model is emphasizes on dialogue, complete and accurate two-way communication. The main purpose is to promote mutual understanding between organizations and publics therefore the results of communication is benefits to both sides. Furthermore, it emphasis on public relations works to be built on the basic of the investigation and communication to resolve conflicts with strategies public through the dissemination of public relations mode. Besides that, two-way symmetrical models express the meaning of emphasized moral, stressed the need to balance between the interests of social organizations and publics. For example, some public relations department is using a two-way symmetrical model rather than two-way asymmetrical model to carry out the public relations activities. James E Grung, whose always get attention to others person dialogue, attitudes and behaviour and believes that two-way symmetrical model is unique than two-way asymmetrical model. It is because two-way asymmetrical model just to change others without changing ourselves. For example, public relations mostly used two-way asymmetrical model to reach their target audience. Moreover, he claims that good public relations not only successes to persuaded one side which is client or publics, he or she must persuaded both sides to change. Although some used of two-way asymmetrical model can evenly achieve in two-way symmetrical model. A success two-way symmetrical model is to let others recognize that there had self interest included in the information and to persuade them as well as uses each other common interest to persuade them. Two-way symmetrical model is refers to the interaction of two factors that affect each other in order to achieve the balanced state in society. There are several characteristics positioning relationship between the government, mass media and publics. Thus, this is also a kind of communication between the states on behalf both. Firstly, it is two-way in performance of the government and media to maintain mutual cooperation and mutual restraint. It means that government should actively using the mass media public resources, truthful, fair, proactive in mass media to provide government information to understand the ideal of the spread of mass media and value orientation therefore maintain relationship between government and publics. Besides that, mass media as social and public resources and helps publics to convey their perceptions and comments for government. Two-way symmetrical model used for media to enhance the relationship between government and publics at the same time achieve th e harmony of social relations. Second, two-way symmetrical is the best way to lead the government and media to share a common goal which is to protect publics interest. For example, government promoted 1Malaysia concepts through media such as television and radio. This shows that government used two-way symmetrical model to maintain good relationship with media and publics. James E Grunig argued that two-way symmetrical model can included the central route to persuasion. The central route to persuasion is persuaded by the arguments or content of the message. For example, after hearing a solution of the problems, people may decide to forgive and forgot the problems because they will convinced to it. Furthermore, Public relations also used the two-way symmetrical model to resolve conflict. For example, public relations provided the ways that will benefits to two sides therefore the conflict will be fulfilment. In addition, public relations increases the effectiveness of organizations by maintain the independence to organization and publics. For example, organizations manage the independence by building long term effect and stable the relationship between organization and publics. Two-way symmetrical model also used by public relations to shared mission of their organization. For example, there are many public relations programs such as fund raising or health campaigns are motivated more for the need to support from public than conflict. Moreover, two-way symmetrical model mostly used in maintain the relationship between organization and publics and negotiate with publics. It will make the organization more responsible to their clients and publics. For example, organizations need to fulfil publics needs and wants at the same promoted organization reputation. Therefore, two-way symmetrical model can even defined the ethics of public relations is rather than an outcome. Two types of research have been shows that two-way symmetrical model makes organizations more effectives. It shows that two-way symmetrical model is the most ethical approach to public relations and the ethics of public relations and the effectiveness of the models will helps to achieving the public relations objectives. For example, public relations announced to publics the information and tog

Information Giving and Counselling Skills Case Study

Information Giving and Counselling Skills Case Study INTRODUCTION As health professionals, every day we are invited to face patients presenting different problems and which need various solutions or therapies such as medical treatment, information giving, teaching, counseling, etc. I am a trained nurse in dialysis and renal pathologies management and I work in dialysis unit of our hospital. My main role is to receive patients with renal pathology and lead them to the Nephrologist, to plan and to execute prescribed treatment for those who are diagnosed with renal failure. That treatment concerns in general renal replacement therapies like hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. For the following work, I have chosen one of our patients because of the following reasons: He is a patient suffering of end stage renal disease and undergoing dialysis treatment since 2 years, he passed the first year under peritoneal dialysis but after developed chronic peritonitis and for this he has been transferred for hemodialysis. He is waiting for renal transplantation but now lacks fund needed for the process Because of peritonitis he has received painkiller drugs for a longtime to relieve pain but he finished by developing addiction to painkillers. Still now he continues to claim for painkillers while there is no valuable reason. He presents signs of anxiety and depression IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM Identifying clients problem is the key of the success of counseling process. Problem exploration is an important step, because it permits counselor-client initial contacts and to map out the clients problem. For this, all the process has to be well prepared. The preparation concerns the client and the environment in which counseling will be given. Concerning my client preparation, to get his consent, I have before all explained him what is counseling and what its benefits are for people undergoing it. Concerning the environment, all counseling sessions have taken place in our service, in one of our offices that I have chosen because its calm, well illuminated and aerated and where distracting conditions have been eliminated. We used chairs permitting to have various positions but every time it was possible, I arranged them in manner to permit face to face interaction. This arrangement permits us to avoid distractions and to have a full opened interaction. Counseling sessions were arr anged to have place before each hemodialysis session, and I tried to avoid they went over 30 minutes. This has the purpose to permit my client to begin quietly his hemodialysis session. My client MV is a young adult presenting various problems. After a careful analysis, I found that my client has various problems which need to be resolved by himself or through assistance from other people. Here, I found that neededassistance could be categorized as following: Problem necessitating other help than counseling Treatment of End stage renal disease: the management of that condition is accomplished primarily by medication, diet therapy and renal replacement therapy. The initiators of the treatment are Physicians (Fink et al., 2001). Problems which may find solution with counseling Addiction to painkiller drugs: treatment by painkiller began while my client was treated by peritoneal dialysis. He developed chronic peritonitis with intolerable abdominal pain. For the pain he received painkiller each time he claimed it. After stopping peritoneal dialysis and starting hemodialysis, my client continues to ask painkiller although we dont see a real reason for it. We concluded that he has developed dependency to painkillers. Understanding a variety of models and theories of addiction and other problems related to substance use, describing helping strategies for reducing the negative effects of substance use, abuse, and dependency are among competencies of a counselor in addiction (U.S CSAT, 2005). Problem which may find solution in combination of medical assistance and counseling: Anxiety and depression which according to my assessment are due to: Waiting a long time the renal transplantation without hope to find financial assistance for the process. Thinking to be useless for the family Anxiety and fear of the future: before he felt sick, he was going to begin university studies and has been obliged to stop them Brusque stop of painkiller treatment Cucor D. et al, (2007)recognized that depression is one of common mental health problem for people with End-stage renal disease. According to them, depression is one of factors influencing morbidity and mortality rates among those people. Various medications are used to fight anxiety and depression but to be more effective, medication need to be combined with other therapies like behavioral therapies. When associated, both medical and behavioral therapy, patient benefits from better decrease in symptoms and a lesser risk of setback (http://helpguide.org/mental/anxiety_types_symptoms_treatment.htm). The client has developed dependency on painkillers drugs and has been obliged to stop them without any psychological assistance to help him to do gentle withdraw from drug taking. According to my assessment and a long time passed with the client, its for that problem that my client needs to be helped firstly and its about it I have chosen to work with him as also he has wished. It may be a hard task, but this will help the client and will help me to get more experienced because we are lacking experienced counselors. TRANSCRIPT OF PART OF MY COUNSELLING INTERACTION WITH MY CLIENT During counseling sessions, the counselor uses various techniques to interact with his client. Communication and interaction management skills are used during counseling interaction and their use depends on how the session is going. Here below is a short transcript of one session I had with my client. Myself: you come just to present me problems which are stressing your life, could you tell me now about the intensity of each problem? Here I have used questioning skills to help my client to express himself and explore issues concerning his problems. Client: As I told you in the last session, I have been suffering from chronic renal failure there are now more than 3 years. As you see it, I am young and I was about to begin my university studies when I felt ill. At the beginning, I was confident even though my doctor had told me that I will need long term treatment. Now when I think about my future, I feel hopeless. My studies stopped, I lost a lot of money with medical treatment, and I dont have money for renal transplantation, and for my unluckiness although he knows that I am suffering the doctor has stopped my injections of painkiller. Myself: I understand you feel overburden by all those problems; according to you which problem is mostly troubling your life? What are your main concerns? Client: actually its my continuous unrelieved pain. Myself: Can you briefly speak about that pain? Here, focusing skills to bring my client to give a clear definition of the problem for which he needs our help. Client: as you know it, I have started treatment with peritoneal dialysis. After 5 months of treatment I developed peritoneal infection which was causing me serious pain. Other patients who had the same problem in the past advised me to ask to my doctor to prescribe me Pethidine which relieves pain and permits to sleep. Here, active listening skills helped me to show to my client that I am attentive to what he is telling me. Myself: how did you appreciate the treatment with Pethidine? Here also I used questioning skills to get full information which can help me to analyze the relationship between my clients problems and his medical history. Client: at the start it was wonderful to not feel pain and I was again able to close my eyes and sleep. Myself: and after? Client: after, it became impossible for me to sleep without my injection and one injection a day was not sufficient for me. For this, all the day I was harassing my nurse to provide me Pethidine. Myself: You told me that when you begin treatment with Pethidine everything was ok, no pain and you were able to sleep. So, how did you take it when the Nephrologist decided to stop Pethidine injection for you? Here I used summarizing skills to help my client to stay fixed on our subject; pain. I asked him that question as a challenge to see if he will continue to tell me that he still needs Pethidine injection. Client: it has been a bad moment for me and up to now I dont understand him because I am still feeling pain. Myself: how do you feel when you are at your home? His family members have told me that he is quite at home and claims to feel pain only when he arrives in medical facilities. I wanted to get deep information about his pain. Client: Not very bad. I feel exaggerated pain when I come for treatment. THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS In this work, I have been using the client-centered approach. That approach of counseling has been conceptualized by Carl Rogers (1946). The fundamental belief turns around the idea that each individual innately strives towards self actualization, in the other words to be the best that he can. Essentially the person or child centered approach extends the central conditions of empathy, no conditional positive regard and congruence to the client, facilitating, in a reflective and non directive way the clients exploration and harmonizing of his emotional and personal issues that have been arisen from his lifes experiences. The target is, to help the client to give up the personal image which he has built around his individual experiencing (Mearns D. Thorne B, 2000 p5). This approach considers a client as an active agent, able to take responsibility for his own condition. Palmer reinforces this when he notes clients are encouraged to explore their most intimately held opinions and values, in order to discover for themselves, what it is that really matters to them, what it is worth living for or what would be worth dying for (Palmer, 1996:p31). The respect of client is essential in this approach. According to Corey (1977) the strength of this approach come from its capacity to focus on preferences and pathways headed for personal growth. Emphasis is on freedom, responsibility and the persons ability to redesign his life through attentive choice. The counselor-client relationship is also essential to good practice of client-centered approach. To participate effectively in counseling, Freshwater (2003) claims that nurses necessitate to recognize the client as an equal, though as clients often view nurses as experts it can make this relationship difficult to obtain. Through this work I have been using the theories of motivational interviewing counseling, in which the main objective of the counselor is to identify and work with the clients motivation to change. Motivational interviewing builds on Carl Rogers optimistic theories about peoples capabilities for exercising free choice and changing through a process of self-actualization (Alcohol answers, 21.8.2009). The therapeutic relationship counselor-client is a reciprocal partnership. The counselors role in motivational interviewing is directive, with a goal of eliciting self-motivational statements and behavioral change from the client in addition to creating discrepancy to enhance motivation for positive change (Miler and Rollnick, 1991). As healthcare providers, we are often asked to act as change agent for our patients, students, and colleagues. When we play that role we try to help people make necessary behavior changes by instructing them in the whys and hows of making them. We may have been trained to believe that if we simply teach our patients what they need to do to change and do it effectively enough; they will change (Ellen R. Glovsky, and Gary R., 2007). In our daily work, tendency is to think that our clients need only medical assistance, but when we try to analyze the situation, we may find that we are wrongful. All clients needs are not answered by medicines or other medical and nursing interventions. Most of the time, we ignore the socio-psychological aspect of the problem. This is remarkable with chronic renal diseases like end stage renal failure, diabetic nephropathy, cancer, etc. Sensky (1993), in his work, showed how renal failure impacts on persons life. The impact doesnt only concern the physical condition but the whole person. With renal failure, various alterations come in the life; the patient has to learn new skills and strategies which can help him to cope with his condition. The patient has to attempt to adapt to his chronic illness and the necessity to deal with dependence on dialysis machine or other elses kidney to continue to live. In their works, (Levenson, 1991; Kimmel, 1993, and Finkelstein, 2002) recognize that anxiety and depression are the most common psychological problems in dialyzed patients. The same idea can be found in the work of Chilcot and his colleagues. They found 20% to 30% of End stage renal disease patients with signs of depression at various levels (Chilcot, Al., 2008). The other problem found in patients undergoing long term dialysis is a possible addiction on pharmaceutical drugs like painkillers (Manjula, Bennett, Chertow, 2003). Addiction is defined as a state characterized by impaired controlover the use of chemical substance and/or behavior. This lead the addict to seeking and abuse of drugs, a need to continue to take drugs to which some one has become habituated following a repetitive utilization because it produces some special effects like euphoria and other types of mental status alteration. Clinical manifestations occurbeside physical, psychosocial and spiritual dimensions (College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan, 2008). Addicted substances are like alcohol, stimulant substances like cocaine, heroine, marijuana, and medicines like tranquilizers and painkillers.Others may habitually mix prescribed drugs with alcohol to numb the mind from staying on disappointments or personal conflicts. Many people persist in taking medications to feel better physical or psychologically even when no ailments are present; and some insist that they cant function without them. Statistics indicate that, the number of visits in emergency room for prescription and illegal drugs overdoses are the same and that individual abusing medical drug like codeine can be just as addicted as the one who abuses of illegal drug like cocaine. While prescribe medicines is absolutely legal, ethical and moral laws prohibits the use of medicines for purposes other than the original aim. Addicted people need therapists specialized in chemical dependence counseling and who can help them to recover from the addiction by reviewing past medical hi story and patterns of substances abuse. Most of the time counselors discover that long term abuse has produced undesirable psychological and physical effects. The case presented above concern a patient addicted to Pethidine, a painkiller of opioids pharmacological family. Addiction to opiates like morphine can occur after chronic pain suffer is given dosages to control acute discomfort, and continues its use long after pain has collapsed (ChristiaNet, 2009). Many people with long-lasting pain receive treatment by opioids. But, there are evidence throwbacks and side effects that may follow this treatment. Developing tolerance to drugs is one major risk, sometimes at short time. The second major risk is the development of addiction. Addicted people to painkillers becomeso fixated on getting more of them that the obsession prevail over the medical target of relieving pain (Media Planet, 2009). COUNSELING IN ADDICTION The focus of individual drug counseling is on the symptoms of substances addiction. It also relates areas of weakened function and the structure and content of the clients ongoing rehabilitation program. The first target of counseling in addiction is to support the addict to achieve and maintain abstinence from addictive substances or behavior. The second target is to aidthe addict to recover from damages which have caused by addiction in his life (Delinda E. Georges W., 1999). The addicts counselor works firstly by helping the client to be aware of the reality of a problem and the connected unfounded thinking. In the next steps, client is stimulated to achieve and uphold abstinence from addicted substance or behavior. This can help to develop needed psychosocial abilitiesand spiritual growth to remain in recovery process (Delinda E. Georges W.). ADDICT INDIVIDUALIZE COUNSELING PROCESS Counseling as a helping process consists of 3 main phases. Each phase has its distinct aims although the same skills may be used in those 3 phases. Those three main phases are: Exploration, assessment and planning phase In this phase, the main objectives are to apprehend the client as a whole person, to plan counselors interventions, and to arrange an agreement between counselor and client. Rehabilitation counseling and goal achievement phase Counselors objectives in this phase are the initiation and implementation of his treatment plan in collaboration with his client. Termination and evaluation phase In the closing phase, objectives are to conclude treatment process and deliberate its outcome with the client, and to arrange agreement on upcoming actions. Rehabilitation and relapse prevention In addiction counseling, the objectives of the all process are to rehabilitate the client from the addicted substance or behavior and to prevent the relapse. Rehabilitation Rehabilitation may be defined as the process consisting in recovering the capacities that have been reduced due to injuries or illness. The recovery is sustained only when there is no relapse or return back to addicted substance or behavior. Here, the goal of counseling is to lead the client to a full reintegration into his community as dynamic and valued person. Each time its possible, detoxification comes first, and after can be started the laying of the basis of rehabilitation process. Abstinence from addicted substance or behavior is not enough in itself. The addict has to see the profits of staying abstinent; otherwise he can relapse at short or long term (United Nations International Drug Control Program, 2003). Individual addiction counseling doesnt only focus on stopping or reducing addicted substance or behavior. It will also address the other related domains of impaired functioning and those are such as social relations, illicit activities, employment status, etc. When additional helps are needed, the counselor is advised to refer the client (U.S National institute of Health, 2009). Relapse Above, I have mentioned that counseling process has to help client to maintain abstinence after the recovery period, otherwise the client can relapse and return back in addiction. What is a relapse? There is a relapse when, a client in recovering period or in post recovery, returns to the addicted substance/behavior or becomes addicted to a new substance. Prevention of relapse in counseling process Preventing relapse is a very important element of recovery. When the client becomes able to establish some constancy in abstinence, he could begin to develop skills to put off future relapse to addicted substance/behavior. To prevent relapse, the addict has to be taught how to identify in advance, when he is headed near a relapse and to modify course of events. Through counseling process, by education, the addict can identify indicators of coming up relapse. Those indicators are like negatives changes in clients behavior, feelings and attitudes. Once the client became conscious of the environment of relapse process, his next mission is to build up the skills to intervene and change any occurring negative behavior or feelings (Delinda E. Georges E.) SELF-EVALUATION I am not a professional or trained counselor. I am only a student in nursing studies who is trying to apply learnt counseling skills. I have chosen to work with my client about his addiction. I know its a very complicated subject for a beginner in counseling, more experience is needed. Difficult to handle that subject has stimulated and encouraged me to do further reading and researches concerning addiction; what is it, its causes, its management by a combination of counseling and other ways of help like pharmacotherapy. During my counseling process, in my clients needs assessment; I was more influenced by medical side of my clients problems. The social situation of the patient has not been full analyzed and I think that this can a bit weaken the problem exploring process. The second difficult is to know borderline between intervention domains of a professional counselor and a health professional who applies counseling skills to help a client. We may think that its easy but in practi ce its very complicated. You ask yourself: Does the clients problem need a professional counselor or a skilled health professional can help? This can lead us to be fluctuating in our practice. I suggest here to insist on this point during elaboration of Professional practice and counseling skills module. My strength now reside in fact that I can now lead counseling process without apprehension, methodically and without asking about the beginning or next stages. To help my client, I didnt consider medical data as enough to conclude that my client is addict. I have spoken with my client but it was necessary to know what his family thinks about him. For this, I had discussion with some members of his family about my clients problems and needs. From the family I received information reinforcing the medical diagnosis of addiction. I consider this as a positive point, because we have to check the all environment of client to get real and full information which can help us during counseling process. Not long time after the beginning of my counseling sessions, my client begins to withdraw progressively from his constant obsession to receive Pethidine injection and stop to advise other patients to ask that drug. He was suffering from end stage renal disease; a chronic condition so we had many counseling sessions to prevent relapse. We didnt continue to work together; he died before the termination of our counseling process; but all this process has been helpful for him and full of experience for me.

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Introduction Even now, customer relationship management (CRM) is in its growth stage. Until recently, diverse individuals defined this concept differently. As the name suggests, the primary focal point is placed on the customer. If a company develops better customer relationships, it also improves business processes as well as its profits. In general CRM, is a more efficient automated method used to connect and improve all areas of business to focus on creating more solid customer relationships (CRM Research Center, 2001). All forces are coupled together to save, improve, and acquire greater business to customer relationships. The most common areas of business that are positively affected include marketing, sales, and customer service strategies (Digital Consulting Institute, 2002; CRM Research Center, 2001). CRM helps create time efficiency and savings on both sides of the business spectrum. Through correct implementation and use of CRM solutions, companies gain a better understanding of their s trongest and weakest areas and how they can improve upon these. Therefore, customers gain better products and services from their businesses of choice. In order to achieve better insight on CRM, it is essential to consider all of its components. Analogous to other technologies, CRM has its goals, costs, implementation strategies, and success and failure stories. Goals   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If successful, CRM can assist businesses with many customer-oriented processes. In general, companies will be able to offer better customer service. By keeping track of customer preferences, a company will have a better idea of what type of questions to expect (Bannan, 2001). Through well-organized call centers they can provide faster more intelligent solutions to customers' questions and complaints. Costs   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  CRM does not come without its costs, however, according to a recent survey conducted by The Data Warehousing Institute, nearly half of the people surveyed stated that their CRM project expenses were less than $500,000. This demonstrates that not all CRM implementation has to be costly. On the other hand, this survey also presented that quite a few participants had budgets of more than $10 million (CRM Research Center, 2001).

Analysis of Hume’s Critique of Causation Essay -- Philosophy Philosoph

Analysis of Hume’s Critique of Causation Sometimes it is hard to be sure what conclusion to draw from a Humean analysis, and he is easy to misrepresent. This is partly because one argument he is engaged in may raise a number of related issues that he has dealt with elsewhere, and some of his points seem contradictory. My wish is to consider some of the possible readings of David Hume’s critique of causation, as it appears in Section VII of the Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, â€Å"On Necessary Connexion†, and their relation to the propositions of Section II, â€Å"Of the Origin of Ideas†, and Section X, â€Å"On Miracles†. I will offer criticisms and alternatives to Hume’s account(s) and conclude by picking which interpretation of Section VII best works for Hume, given certain arguments elsewhere in the Enquiry. The following is a summary of the aspects of the problem of induction as presented in the Enquiry which concern my discussion. Our assurance that certain sets of conditions are sufficient to produce certain effects is based on past experience that like has been conjoined with like. The belief in necessary connection entails (Hume will conclude that it amounts to) a belief that events similar to those experienced in the past will be accompanied by similar conjuncts. Such a belief may only be arrived at inductively, and induction does not discover necessity.1[1] This argument is against the supposed necessity of connection. â€Å"Necessity† here may refer to logical necessity, or it may not distinguish between this and physical necessity. To be physically necessary is to be sufficiently caused, but contingent upon the conditions of the event and the properties of all objects involved. Physical... ... but one about reason, that it is not this, but habit, which forms the basis of our beliefs. While it may be the case that denying an empirical fact may not result in a contradiction, Hume seems to be suggesting that it would still be irrational to do so. That abstracting from events to laws is a rational, though inductive, act seems hard to deny. Thus, at best, Hume can only show that it is experience which first provides the matter for reason. Sources Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1977) 1[1] David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1977), p.46 2[2] p.51 3[3] p.49 4[4] I think both Descartes and Kant had perfectly good a priori demonstrations of the existence of the self, which is all one needs to reach the concept of existence. 5[5] p.42