Social and environmental sustainability vs Financial sustainability Essay

Social and environmental sustainability vs Financial sustainability - Essay Example The differences among social as well as environmental sustainability and financial sustainability can be resolved based on the different views. Social economic is also essential for the purpose of doing a business properly and improve economic growth of businesses. In the recent trends, there is a huge scope for a business. Sustainability can also be defined as the long-term growth economically, financially, environmentally and socially (IFC, 2012). In this context, the paper deals with the implications of the differences among social as well as environmental sustainability and financial sustainability in two ways such as the ways through which they can operate their business properly and also can report on their activities. In addition, it intends to explain how these differences can be reconciled or resolved along with the major obstacles for reconciling different views. Social and environmental sustainability is different from financial sustainability based on going concern of the accountants. Social and environmental sustainability is important to prevent the issues related to social and environmental aspects and on the other hand, financial sustainability is essential to prevent financial issues in a business. In a business, there are several factors, which play an important role for the development of a business. Social sustainability helps to support the future generation to maintain a healthy as well as well-being society and community (IFC, 2012). Environmental sustainability can be described as the process through which demands of an environment can be attained. Environmental sustainability is also important to reduce the negative impact of the business and to take effective decisions regarding the business purpose and also for the improvement of the natural environment. On the other hand, financial sustainability means long-term

Factors Affecting Blood Glucose Levels

Factors Affecting Blood Glucose Levels This essay discusses the factors affecting the blood glucose levels to fluctuate, the natural mechanism of the body to control it, the inability of the body to control it and the disease it causes. The Human body is perfection in its own way. The controlled balance of factors keeping the internal environment of the body constant is a vital process that keeps one healthy. Any slight changes in these factors disrupt the internal environment causing disequilibrium. This maintenance of internal environment of the body between limits is called homeostasis and the parameters being controlled include: body temperature, blood pH, carbon dioxide concentration, blood glucose concentration and water balance. When the control of the blood glucose level does not work effectively the concentration can fall or rise beyond normal limits. This condition is called diabetes mellitus or simply diabetes. Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by high blood sugar (glucose) levels that result from defects in insulin secretion, or action, or both. Diabetes mellitus was first identified as a disease associated with sweet urine, and excessive muscle loss in the ancient world. Elevated levels of blood glucose (hyperglycemia) lead to spillage of glucose into the urine, hence the term sweet urine. Diabetes is a chronic medical condition, meaning that although it can be controlled, it lasts a lifetime. Blood glucose level is controlled by a hormone (insulin) produced by the beta cells of the Islets of Langerhans in the endocrine gland pancreas. After a heavy carbohydrate enriched meal the blood rise exponentially and thus have to be brought down within the normal limits. The high concentration is detected by receptors which then activate the beta cells in the pancreas to produce insulin which converts glucose into a polysaccharide form glucagon and store it in the liver thus removing glucose from the blood. The history of diabetes indicates that it was present as early as the First Century B.C. when it received its name from a Greek physician, Aretaeus of Cappadocia, after the word dia-bainein which means to siphon. This was related to the patients passing excessive amounts of urine. Several centuries after that in 1921 Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered insulin as a diabetes medication and won a Nobel Prize for their discovery. Insulin is the hormone that controls that lowers the blood glucose concentration and its deficiency or insensitivity by target cells causes diabetes. Later after a few years of discovering insulin in 1936 Sir Harold Percival Himsworth distinguished diabetes type 1 and 2. There are three main types of diabetes: Type 1 Diabetes: also known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is caused by the destruction of insulin beta cells. The onset of this type is usually during childhood (hence the name juvenile diabetes) and as the beta cells produce insufficient insulin, insulin injections are used to control the glucose levels (hence the name insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus). Diet cannot control this type of diabetes as it does not increase or decrease the amount of insulin produced by the beta cells. The classical symptoms of type 1 diabetics are frequent urination, increased thirst, increased hunger, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue and weight loss in spite of increased appetite. These symptoms may be explained by the fact that due to the uncontrolled high levels of glucose the osmotic pressure of the blood changes owing to the increased solute concentration (glucose) in the blood and the body gets rid of all the extra glucose from the body through the urine as it cannot st ore it efficiently. Eventually this leads to the other symptoms. High amounts of glucose in the urine can cause increased urine output and lead to dehydration. Dehydration thus causes increased thirst and water consumption. Apart from these acute effects of high blood glucose level other chronic effects of diabetes include eye complications, kidney damage and nerve damage. Moreover Diabetes accelerates hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) of the larger blood vessels, leading to coronary heart disease (angina or heart attack), strokes, and pain in the lower extremities because of lack of blood supply (claudication). So far the researchers have concluded that a combination of genetic susceptibility, diabetogenic trigger and exposure to a driving antigen are the leading causes of inducing the Type 1 diabetes however other risk factors have also been identified. These include: environmental factors, triggering beta cells damage due to a virus, diet and other chemicals and drugs. Type 2 Diabetes: also known as adult-onset diabetes or non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and is far more common than type 1 as it is the most common and frequent type of diabetes. It usually occurs in late stages of life, but younger youth are being diagnosed with this disease more frequently. The pancreas organ produces less insulin to keep blood sugar levels in the normal range, often because the target cells are no more sensitive to the insulin. Similar to the symptoms of type 1 diabetes, type 2 symptoms are frequent urination, increased thirst, increased hunger, fatigue, increased appetite and in some cases, blurred vision. Insulin injections are not usually needed to control this type of diabetes (hence the name non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus) and more stress is laid on controlling the patients diet by limiting it to low carbohydrate foods, exercising and if the condition worsens medication is often prescribed. Similar to type 1, genetics (family history) is thought to be a leading cause in inducing Type 2 diabetes in combination with a few other risk factors such as lifestyle, eating habits, age over 45 years, gestational diabetes giving birth to a baby who weighs more than 9 pounds, heart disease, high blood cholesterol level, obesity, not getting enough exercise, polycystic ovary disease (in women), previous impaired glucose tolerance and some ethnic groups (particularly African Americans, Native Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic Americans). Gestational diabetes: is when high blood sugar levels develop at any time during pregnancy in a woman who does not have any form of diabetes. Women who have gestational diabetes are at a much higher risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the future. The risk factors of this kind of diabetes are similar to the risk factors of type 2 diabetes as gestational diabetes lead to type 2 diabetes. In general, no cure has been found for diabetes. Treatment for diabetes can involve various medicines, a balanced diet, and frequent exercise to control blood glucose levels and minimize symptoms with a long term aim to prevent the chronic complications of diabetes and to prolong patients life and reduce symptoms. Apart from achieving this through the use of insulin injections, diet control and exercise, blood pressure and cholesterol levels control, careful control of blood glucose levels and an educational background and awareness about diabetes play a vital role in treating and diagnosing diabetes. Testing for diabetes is easy and very handy nowadays. Testing of the urine may be used to look for glucose and ketones from the breakdown of fat. However, a urine test alone does not diagnose one with diabetes. This is because the presence of glucose in not necessarily due to the patient being a diabetic and could have been caused by the damage of the basement membrane in the kidney or the malfunction of the kidney. For diabetes diagnosis the following blood tests may be Fasting blood glucose level diabetes is diagnosed if higher than 126 mg/dL on two occasions Hemoglobin A1c test Normal: Less than 5.7% Pre-diabetes: Between 5.7% 6.4% Diabetes: 6.5% or higher Oral sugar tolerance test diabetes is diagnosed if sugar level is higher than 200 mg/dL after 2 hours. This test is also used more for type 2 diabetes. Random (non-fasting) blood glucose level diabetes is suspected if higher than 200 mg/dL Diabetes is a leading disease in many parts of the world causing innumerable deaths each year. Statistics show that diabetes affects 25.8 million people of all ages 8.3 percent of the U.S. population out of which only 18.8 million people are diagnosed while the rest remain oblivious to their medical condition. The severity of this disease goes unnoticed or unacknowledged by several people who label this disease as sugar and confine it to being related and associated with the intake of sweet things only. Very few know that diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke and the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. However, over the years diabetes has emerged as one the leading health threats in third world countries and so a lot of research is being concentrated on curing, managing and preventing this disease. Curing the diseases has positively motivated several scientists to further their stem cell research and using the stem cells of the diabetic patient create a healthy fully developed and functioning pancreas or even healthy Islets of Langerhans that produce insulin. This will not only cure type I diabetes but also eliminate post operation complications like tissue rejection and immune suppressant drug dependence etc. Similarly, gene therapy is also being used to switch on certain genes on the chromosomes that would trigger insulin production. Medicines have been introduced and drugs to increase target cell sensitivity are continuously being invented but they mainly revolve around monitoring the disease not curing it. Portable blood glucose meter, insulin pumps etc are all new inventions aimed at helping diabetics control and follow their blood glucose level thus making their life a lot easier. Lastly as mentioned before, as yet there is no cure for diabetes but as the saying goes prevention before cure, educating the population about the risk factors and dangers of diabetics is at the moment the nest way to prevent the number of people suffering from diabetes and so awareness should be spread. [word count: 1603]

Confessions Essay -- essays research papers

Augustine titled his deeply philosophical and theological autobiography Confessions to implicate two aspects of the form the work would take. To confess, in Augustine's time, meant both to give an account of one's faults to God and to praise God (to speak one's love for God). These two aims come together in the Confessions in an elegant but complex sense: Augustine narrates his ascent from sinfulness to faithfulness not simply for the practical edification of his readers, but also because he believes that narrative to be itself a story of God's greatness and of the fundamental love all things have for Him. Thus, in the Confessions form equals content to a large degree—the natural form for Augustine's story of redemption to take would be a direct address to God, since it is God who must be thanked for such redemption. (That said, a direct address to God was a highly original form for Augustine to have used at the time). This idea should also help us understand the apparently lopsided and unusual structure of the text. The first nine Books of the Confessions are devoted to the story of Augustine's life up to his mother's death, but the last four Books make a sudden, lengthy departure into pure theology and philosophy. This shift should be understood in the same context as the double meaning of 'confessions'—for Augustine, the story of his sinful life and redemption is in fact a profoundly philosophical and religious matter, since his story is only one exampl...

Mass Media and Violence

Mass Media and Violence Is it hard to believe that just forty years ago only a few privileged American families had televisions in their home? In recent years, it is estimated that a whopping ninety-eight percent of Americans have one or more television sets in their home. Motion pictures, televisions, video games, and the internet are just some forms of mass media that have emerged since the last century. With the rise of mass media, the increase of violent behavior has increased as well. Mass media influences many factors of people’s lives such as moral beliefs, behavior, and values.Violence in mass media is greatly dominating our society and continues to do so. It causes aggression and is a growing epidemic among the youth. Scott Barbour praises the American Academy of Pediatrics: â€Å"The vast majority of studies conclude that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between media violence and real-life violence. This link is undeniable and uncontestable. † It is n o lie when they say the average American child witnesses 200,000 acts of violence on TV by the age of eighteen. Watching violent TV shows or movies promotes aggression.People want to follow what everyone else is doing so they will follow and may even commit what these actors are doing on the television. According to L. R. Huesmann, research shows that fictional TV and film violence contribute to both short and long-term increase in aggression and violence in young viewers. Children are in particular are affected by violence, aggression, or sexual abuse in our media because of their helpless psychology. Some forms of aggression include truancy, lack of social skills, and failing out of school. It is no doubt that the media that promotes violence and aggression is the same one to have an effect on society.This is a monkey see, monkey do world and people may not even know that they being effected, but they are. Especially with the next generation coming up, they sort of are growing up with the violence. It becomes more and more traumatic as they see it more. According to Mughal, children and teen’s values and beliefs will become more aggressive. He goes on to say that media portrays war as entertainment [in video games]. War is not entertainment and nobody wins in real war while real people are getting killed. This illustrates another problem: can ociety depict from reality and fantasy? Most of the recent shootings in the United States were committed by the youth. Is it just a coincidence or is it because of the hostility displayed on their television sets? Many people think that violence in media is entirely based on real life. They proclaim that since we live in the real world, the media cannot possibly be more violent than what we already know. Actually, it is impossible for people to know all horrific events that have taken place. Also, some would say that it is up to the individual to decide what to be exposed to. That is not true, since you are expos ed to cruel media whether you know it or not. Even on the news, â€Å"Crimes such as murders, robberies, and abuse are shown as deviant behavior† rather than actual violence. In conclusion, violence in media does affect society. It is a growing wave and teaches aggression. Some solutions could be placing regulations on TV and motion picture producers. If gun makers have regulations on guns they make, why not placing rules on producers? Also, parents should be aware of what their children watch.There is no way to be completely censored of the media but it can be kept at a minimum. Times have changed since the last show of Leave it to Beaver. If there was less violence in the media, there will be less violence in the real world as well. Works Citied Cline, Victor. â€Å"How the Mass Media Effects Our Values and Behavior. † . N. p. , n. d. 20 Dec 2012. Dean, Gregory. â€Å"A Mediated Culture. † Marketogrpahy N. p. 23 Nov 2010. Web. 19 Dec 2012. Barbour, Scott. â₠¬Å"What Causes Teen Violence? † Teen Violence, pg 49-51. San Deigo, CA. 1999. Print. Huesmann, L.R. and Taylor, Laramie. â€Å"The Role of Media Violence in Violent Behavior. † 2006. PDF. 21 Dec 2012. Mughal, M. A. â€Å"Mass Media and its Influence on Society. † Opinion Maker. N. p. , 18 Jan. 2011. Web. 22 Dec. 2012. Norton, Eric. â€Å"The Dangers of Violence in Modern Mass Media. † Center for Community Health Partnerships. N. p. , 22 June 2009. Web. 21 December 2012. ——————————————– [ 2 ]. Cline, Victor. â€Å"How the Mass Media Effects Our Values and Behavior. † . N. p. , n. d. 20 Dec 2012. [ 3 ]. Dean, Gregory. â€Å"A Mediated Culture. † Marketogrpahy N. p. 3 Nov 2010. Web. 19 Dec 2012. [ 4 ]. Barbour, Scott. â€Å"What Causes Teen Violence? † Teen Violence, pg 51. San Deigo, CA. 1999. Print. 4 Barbour, 49 [ 6 ]. Huesmann, L. R. and Taylor, Laramie. â€Å"The Role of Media Violence in Violent Behavior. † 2006. PDF. 21 Dec 2012. [ 7 ]. Norton, Eric. â€Å"The Dangers of Violence in Modern Mass Media. † Center for Community Health Partnerships. N. p. , 22 June 2009. Web. 21 December 2012. [ 8 ]. Mughal, M. A. â€Å"Mass Media and its Influence on Society. † Opinion Maker. N. p. , 18 Jan. 2011. Web. 22 Dec. 2012. [ 9 ]. Norton, Eric. [ 10 ]. Dean, Gregory.

Unknown Paper

The objective of these â€Å"unknown† experiments was to take a mixed culture, which contains two unknown species, and identify those species through a series of tests. The group was informed that one species of bacteria would be a gram-negative bacillus and the other would be a gram positive coccus. The tests to be conducted ranged from streak plate isolation to biochemical tests. Each test to be conducted was discussed and agreed upon by all group members. The results of each test were analyzed by the group and led to selection of the next test that would further narrow the possible identity of the unknown species.On September 16, 2010, our group was given a mixed culture in which we were to identify two organisms within the mixture, by running several biochemical tests. On this day our objective was to prepare the specimen of the mixed culture into discrete colonies. Each member of our group then conducted a streak plate and we would later pick the best plate of isolated co lonies. To perform a streak plate, aseptic technique was required. We had our mixed culture in the form of a broth therefore our inoculating instrument would be a loop.We also needed our agar plates each marked into four quadrants and a Bunsen burner. We then proceeded to transfer the mixed culture to the plates aseptically. In preparation for the transfer of the mix culture to a plate we placed the tube of broth in our non-dominant hand. The loop was sterilized by placing it into the fire of the Bunsen burner until the entire wire became red hot, â€Å"red is dead†. The tube was uncapped facing the cap downward along with the inoculated loop in the dominant hand.We then passed the tube through the flame of the Bunsen burner briefly to burn off any contaminates that may be present at the opening of the tube. The inoculated loop was then inserted into the broth of the mixed culture to obtain the organisms to be transferred to the plate. The tube was then passed though the Buns en burner again, capped, and put aside. With the sterilized loop containing the organism we proceeded to transfer the organism to the plate of quadrant I in a zigzag movement. We then re-flamed the loop till red and cooled the instrument to the side of quadrant II.Then from quadrant I we made four lines crossing into quadrant II. We re-flamed the loop till red and then cooled the instrument again to the side of quadrant III. From quadrant II we made four lines crossing into quadrant III. From quadrant III we continued making four more lines crossing into quadrant IV. We inoculated our loop once more, freeing the instrument of any organism by re-flaming till red. Once we each completed a streak plate, the plates where taped and marked with the date, initials, and group number. On September 23, 2010, we obtained our plates made from September 16.We identified discrete colonies into two organisms that we named yellow and beige. The yellow organism was an obvious yellow pigmentation, mo derate in size, entire, circular, raised colony and the beige was an off-white pigmentation, small, entire, circular, umbonate colony. We next chose the best representative colony of each organism to be transfer to a nutrient agar slant. Again we aseptically transferred the organisms, yellow and beige, into individual agar slants. Our instrument that we used was a loop along with two slant tubes and a Bunsen burner.With our selected plate ready and available, the slant in the least dominated hand, we inoculated the loop till red, uncapped the tube, flamed the tubes, obtained the yellow organism from the plate, and transferred it to the slant in a zigzag motion. We then re-flamed the tube, capped the test tube, and flamed the loop. Then we proceeded with the same procedures for the beige organism. The purpose of transferring the organisms was to evaluate the abundance of growth, pigmentation, optical characteristics, form (not applied due to the use of a zigzag rather then a straight line), and consistency.On October 7, 2010 our third day of our Unknown’s project we conducted a Gram stain procedure. From last week’s test, we achieved pure cultural characteristics from the two slants we made. The growth we saw on the agar slant that contained the yellow specimen was a soft, smooth, yellow growth. The growth we saw on the beige specimen was a thin, even, beige growth. Both cultural characteristics were achieved in the appropriate categories. The categories we were looking for contained abundance of growth, pigmentation, optical characteristics, and consistency.Today we will be preparing two bacterial smears from each specimen and Gram staining them. The reason we are conducting this test is to differentiate between two principle groups, gram positive and gram negative and to further know if a pure culture from both organisms was achieved. This is important for classification and differentiation of microorganisms. The Gram stain reaction will help us tell the difference of the chemical composition of bacterial cell walls. The Gram stain procedure uses four different reagents such as crystal violet, gram’s iodine, ethyl alcohol, and safranin.Before the Gram stain is performed we must make two bacterial smears of the two specimens. We placed one loop of distilled water on a clean slide aseptically. He transferred the specimen from the agar slant that contained the yellow growth and placed it on the slide with the water and gently mixed it together in a circular motion approximately the size of a nickel. He let the smear air dry for one minute and gently heat fixed it by quickly passing the slide through the flame 3-5 times with a clothes pin. The same aseptic transfer and Gram stain procedure was performed on the agar slant that contained the beige specimen.After we successfully performed the bacterial smear, we started the Gram Stain procedure. The first step in the Gram stain procedure is flooding the bacterial smear wit h crystal violet and letting it sit for one minute. After the crystal violet has set we rinsed the reagent off with distilled water. Next, we flooded the bacterial smear with Gram’s Iodine for one minute. After we let the Gram’s Iodine set we rinsed the Gram’s Iodine off of the slide gently with distilled water. The next step in the Gram stain procedure contained 95% Ethyl alcohol.Drop by drop we let the alcohol run onto the stain until the color of the stain was almost clear. After this step we rinsed off the alcohol with distilled water once again. The next step in finalizing the Gram stain procedure is counterstaining the smear with safranin for 45 seconds. Once the counterstain has set we rinsed the stain gently one last time with distilled water and used bibulous paper to blot dry the stain. After we completed the Gram stain procedure we looked at both Gram stain’s under a light microscope at 100X with immersion oil. The steps in preparing the light microscope are very simple.First we plugged in the microscope and turned it on, second we made sure the light intensity has been adjusted and the stage is all the way down. Then we placed the slide on the stage and clipped it into place and raised the stage all the way up with the course adjustment knob. We made sure the objective lens is started at 4X also known as the scanning objective. While we were looking through the oculars we slowly lowered the stage until we could see our specimen. It was not clear so with the fine adjustment knob we turned the knob away from us and fine focused the specimen until we could see it much clearer.Then we change the objective lens to 10X and again turned the fine adjustment knob away from us until the specimen became clearer. We remembered to not touch the course adjustment knob once we have moved away from the scanning objective lens or we would lose our specimen. After we saw our specimen clear under 10X, we turned the objective lens to 40X an d turned the fine adjustment knob until we once again saw a clear specimen through the oculars. Once we saw the specimen under 40X we turned the objective lens between 40X and 100X, this is where we used immersion oil only.We did not lower the stage to put oil immersion on the stage or our specimen would be gone. The reason we used oil immersion is so there was way for light to escape through the slide, and the 100X objective lens. It is used as a piece of glass that does not let the light bend and refract, so the image of our specimen is seen even clearer than before. We place two drops of immersion oil on the slide and turned the objective lens all the way to 100X and slid the objective back and forth a couple of times through the oil that way it is covered completely and there were no air bubbles.Using the fine adjustment knob we found our specimen once again and it was clearer than ever. We have found your specimen. Under the microscope the yellow specimen we stained was a purpl e gram positive stain with a tetrad arrangement. The beige organism we Gram stained was a pink gram negative stain with no arrangement. Once we were done with this part of the experiment we decided as a group that the next test we needed to run was the Carbohydrate Fermentation test. The reason for choosing this test was so we would be able to determine if the organism is able to degrade and ferment carbohydrates with the production of acid and gas.After finding our specimens we lowered the stage and took the slide off of the stage a cleaned the 100X oil objective lens with Kym wipes. We turned the objective lens back to 4X, the scanning objective, and turned the microscope off. On October 21, 2010 the Lactose Carbohydrate Fermentation test was previously selected and prepared for the week prior in order to reduce the probability of our organisms. We performed aseptic technique when transferring our unknown organisms which consisted of performing these previously perfected steps to ensure that our tests be inoculated properly.When performing aseptic technique you need to have all the proper materials necessary to ensure the highest level of sterility while maintaining safety. In sequential order these are the steps that we used to perform the sub culturing for our unknowns assignment. In preparation for the transfer, the stock tube and the tube to be inoculated both had caps loosened and properly placed in the non-dominant hand in a V formation separated by the third digit. An inoculating loop was apprehended and sterilized by placing it to the fire until the entire wire became red hot (â€Å"red is dead†).We uncapped the tubes simultaneously with the inoculating loop still in the dominant hand and immediately passed the two tubes through the flame of the Bunsen burner briefly. The inoculating loop then was inserted into the subculture tube and the inoculum was obtained and transferred to the tube that needed to be inoculated. Following the proper inocu lation and removal of the loop from the tube, the necks of both tubes were then again passed through the Bunsen burner, and then the caps were replaced on the proper tube. Lastly the inoculating loop was again flamed to destroy the remaining organisms on the instrument.After successfully transferring the broth culture with the organism to phenol red test tubes with Durham tubes in each, we reviewed our possible results to ensure we understood what was expected. â€Å"Anaerobic use of sugars produces pyruvic acid from glycolysis, and eventually lactic acid or lactic acid and carbon dioxide through the fermentation pathways. † Results after incubation should show negative or positive results. A negative result for sugar fermentation is shown as no color change and no gas in Durham tube. A positive result for carbohydrate fermentation is shown as color changed to yellow indicating acid production.Gas bubble in Durham tube indicates carbon dioxide production. Preparation for Nitr ate reduction test was performed and it consisted of us maintaining our initial broth of our G -unknown. The reason we did the Nitrate reduction test on our Gram – specimen was because according to our chart getting a positive or negative result would eliminate several organisms and would bring us closer to finding out which specimen we had. Some organisms have the ability to reduce NO3- to Nitrite NO2- or N2 or ammonia. ***Javance can you type out the procedure that was done for the Nitrate reduction test right here where this note is.We only did this test in our Gram negative organism. I found out where I made that mistake in my notes. So I fixed it for you. Just type out our transfer from our original broth to the tryptic nitrate broth step by step like you did for our carbohydrate fermentation test*** We added 5 drops of Nitrate A and 5 drops of Nitrate B to our Nitrate broth which contained our G- specimen and also had a Durham tube in it and incubated for one week. On O ctober 28, 2010, after a week has passed of incubation, we reviewed our results from our two previous tests; the Carbohydrate Fermentation and Nitrate reduction test.Carbohydrate fermentation test results were for the yellow G+, no gas bubble was present and the color did not change, it remained red which shows negative fermentation. For beige G-, no gas bubble or color change was seen so it also showed negative fermentation. According to our charts, our G+ specimen was the only one in our chart that had G+ cocci and negative fermentation so our result indicated our first specimen was M. Luteus. Our Nitrate reduction test result was our G- organism turned red which indicated a positive nitrate reduction to nitrite. We then prepared our Gram-negative organism for a Hydrogen Sulfide Test (H2S).We chose the H2S test because we found that it would illuminate our organism into a possibility of either two positive results or three negative results. In the H2S test we used a SIM agar deep test tube as our medium and aseptically transferred our Gram-negative organism from a broth using a needle to stab into the test tube. ***Veda can you type step by step right here the procedure done for the H2S test into the SIM agar deep, not just that we stabbed it***This medium contains peptone and sodium thiosulfate as the sulfur substrate; ferrous sulfate behaves as a H2S indicator and enhances anaerobic respiration.Since Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless and invisible gas, the ferrous ammonium sulfate in the medium combines with the gas producing FeS, which produces a black precipitate. After a week of incubation On November 4, 2010, we observed black precipitate leading to a positive result for H2S gas production, if there was no color change, then that would have indicated a negative result for H2S gas production. With a positive result of our findings, our Gram negative organism concluded a possibility of two organisms of Salmonella typhimurium or Proteus vulgaris.After we an alyzed our findings, we figured the next test that would reveal our organism would be through the Indole Production Test. An Indole Production test also uses a SIM agar deep medium and with the Kovac’s reagent we would get immediate results by adding ten drops of Kovac’s reagent. By adding the Kovac’s regent, a negative result for indole production by giving off a yellow or brown color. A positive result would show if there was a red pigmentation in the reagent layer.With gloves on we added 10 drops of Kovac’s reagent to our specimen and immediately observe a yellow/brown reagent layer, concluding a negative result. We finally discover that our Gram-Negative organism is Salmonella typhimurium. Based on the results of our biochemical tests, our two species of Unknown bacteria were found to be Micrococcus luteus and Salmonella typhumurium. M. Luteus was determined to be our Gram positive organism after a negative result on the Lactose fermentation test.This test ruled out L. lactis and S. aureus. To determine that Salmonella typhimurium was our Gram negative organism we needed to conduct a few more tests. The lactose test yielded a negative result which led us to conduct a Nitrate Reduction test that yielded a positive result. At that point we conducted a Hydrogen Sulfide test and it yielded a positive result and that allowed our group to conduct an Indole test. This finalized our identity for the Gram negative organism Salmonella typhimurium.

The Gift of the Magi and its Background Essays

The Gift of the Magi and its Background Essays The Gift of the Magi and its Background Essay The Gift of the Magi and its Background Essay In my paper I am traveling to be depicting the short narrative The Gift of the Magi. Throughout my paper I am traveling to depict what I feel is the subject of the narrative itself. I will besides be explicating and placing symbolism used and described in the narrative. every bit good as speaking about the point of position that the storyteller used in the narrative. Finally. I will be depicting how the literary elements affect the storytellers subject. The Gift of the Magi. is a short narrative written by O Henry. in this short narrative is the true significance of love and the importance it is to demo your loved 1s how much they mean to you and how much you care about them. I believe that the subject of the narrative. The Gift of the Magi. would be the gift of giving. Peoples frequently forget about the importance and giving and merely concentrate their attending on having. They are less likely to worry more about buying something for person else as they are disquieted about what person else is traveling to buy and give to them as a present. My expression on this is it is better to give than to have. In this narrative it is like how I feel and how I think around Christmas clip they do non believe about what their hubby or their married woman is traveling to be buying them as gifts this twelvemonth. They are merely focused on and concerned about purchasing each other the gift they believe is the perfect gift. They want to demo them how much they care about them. and even if it means turning in their prized ownerships they will make that in order to buy this gift for Christmas. It shows how difficult of a clip financially that Jim and Della were holding. Della merely had $ 1. 87 to her name to be able to buy her hubby Jim the gift she wanted to for Christmas and this was non traveling to go on. She knew that she was traveling to hold to sell her hair to be able to buy her hubby Jim’s ticker that she wanted to acquire him for Christmas. They. however. larn a batch about the nature of love and its relationship to giving. ( Clugston. 2010 p. 5. 5 ) . I believe that throughout the narrative there was a batch of symbolism that was used. Just to call a twosome that I feel is really of import portion of the narrative would be Della’s hair. and Jim’s ticker. These are really of import to each other and would be considered their most prized ownerships. I feel like they both use their ain point to typify love. They took it upon themselves to sell their prized ownerships in order to be able to buy the gift for each other for Christmas. They had to sell these in order to hold adequate money and to be able to financially buy the perfect gif they had found each other. This shows the existent love they had for each other. and besides shows unselfish love. The point of position this short narrative was told in was third-person limited omniscient. This point of position is used when the ideas and feelings throughout the narrative is focused on one of the characters alternatively of more than one. After reading. The Gift of the Magi. I think that the storyteller uses assorted literary elements to assist the reader better understand what the subject of the narrative is truly about. I believe that Della and Jim shows what love. generousness. and philistinism is truly approximately during this narrative. The author’s chief character he created was of beauty and emotion. Della appears to be really altruistic in the short narrative. She is non concerned about herself. but merely concerned about her hubby. I believe that the writer goes into really good item about the feelings and emotions of Della and Jim in the narrative so it will assist people who are reading it to be able to associate better to the narrative. When reading the narrative I could see times that I personally have difficult it difficult and it made me to be able to associate to the feelings that she was holding. I believe that the literary elements were used a batch during the narrative to truly merely give the reader a better understand of what they are reading. It is easier for a reader to be able to concentrate. focal point. and bask the narrative if they can associate to it. Mention Clugston. R. W. ( 2010 ) . Journey into Literature. San Diego. California: Bridgepoint Education. Inc.

Free Essays on Deciding The Right Of Individual Determination

Deciding the Right of Individual Determination In the essays â€Å"The Ethics of Euthanasia† and â€Å"Moral Dilemma†, the authors discuss the problems medicine present us by having the capacity to extend life far beyond its natural course. Defining life as individuals having the opportunity to make meaning out of their existence raises immediate problems. At what point does an individual lose the opportunity to act on their desires? Who decides when an individual no longer has the opportunity for autonomy and bodily integrity, each individual, the government, or the medical community? In describing situations in which the right of individual determination is questioned, the authors lean toward the position that individuals should determine the best course of action for themselves. In â€Å"The Ethics of Euthanasia† Lawrence J. Schneiderman discusses how physicians face the ethical dilemma of being committed to preserving life at all costs. As a medical ethicist, Schneiderman plays the Devil’s Advocate to his physicians (Para 4). He appeals to their compassionate side by asking who has thought of â€Å"alleviating the suffering of patients with death?† and in the same breath claiming, he can offer no legal immunity. This comment gives a glimpse of Schneiderman’s opposition of outsiders determining the rights of individuals. Schneiderman take a less subtle stance by equating euthanasia with the negative Nazi connotation. He explains the horrors committed to the Jews as debasing death questioning if American physicians are any different for the atrocities they have committed (Para 6-7). He doubts the ability of the law taking each case independently making the criteria for ending someone’s life subject to a checklist. The euthanasia debate is complicated because it is based on abstractions. Schneiderman uses the word â€Å"community† equating it with human feeling and â€Å"state† with totalitarianism equating politics (Para 17). Sch... Free Essays on Deciding The Right Of Individual Determination Free Essays on Deciding The Right Of Individual Determination Deciding the Right of Individual Determination In the essays â€Å"The Ethics of Euthanasia† and â€Å"Moral Dilemma†, the authors discuss the problems medicine present us by having the capacity to extend life far beyond its natural course. Defining life as individuals having the opportunity to make meaning out of their existence raises immediate problems. At what point does an individual lose the opportunity to act on their desires? Who decides when an individual no longer has the opportunity for autonomy and bodily integrity, each individual, the government, or the medical community? In describing situations in which the right of individual determination is questioned, the authors lean toward the position that individuals should determine the best course of action for themselves. In â€Å"The Ethics of Euthanasia† Lawrence J. Schneiderman discusses how physicians face the ethical dilemma of being committed to preserving life at all costs. As a medical ethicist, Schneiderman plays the Devil’s Advocate to his physicians (Para 4). He appeals to their compassionate side by asking who has thought of â€Å"alleviating the suffering of patients with death?† and in the same breath claiming, he can offer no legal immunity. This comment gives a glimpse of Schneiderman’s opposition of outsiders determining the rights of individuals. Schneiderman take a less subtle stance by equating euthanasia with the negative Nazi connotation. He explains the horrors committed to the Jews as debasing death questioning if American physicians are any different for the atrocities they have committed (Para 6-7). He doubts the ability of the law taking each case independently making the criteria for ending someone’s life subject to a checklist. The euthanasia debate is complicated because it is based on abstractions. Schneiderman uses the word â€Å"community† equating it with human feeling and â€Å"state† with totalitarianism equating politics (Para 17). Sch...

Querer Conjugation in Spanish, Translation, Examples

Querer Conjugation in Spanish, Translation, Examples The Spanish verb querer is a common verb that means to want, to wish, to love or to like, and its conjugation is highly irregular. Both its stem and endings often depart from the norm in unpredictable ways. This article includes querer conjugations in the present, past, conditional and future indicative, the present and past subjunctive, the imperative, and other verb forms. There are only three verbs that are conjugated in the same way as querer, and all three are derived from it: bienquerer (to like or be fond of), desquerer (to cease wanting or loving) and malquerer (to dislike). None of them are particularly common. Using the Verb Querer The verb querer can be translated to English in several different ways. The most common meaning is to want or to wish, as in El nià ±o quiere muchos regalos para su cumpleaà ±os (The boy wants a lot of presents for his birthday), or Ella quiere que todos los nià ±os sean felices (She wishes for all children to be happy). When used with people (or pets), the verb querer can also mean to love. Although the verb amar means to love, it is often used in more profound or romantic relationships. You can use the verb querer as in Quiero mucho a mi mejor amigo (I really love my best friend) or La nià ±a quiere a sus maestros (The girl loves her teachers). In the last example, querer has a connotation of to appreciate more than to love. Also, notice that when used in this way with people or pets, the personal a is always used before the direct object. Querer Present Indicative In the present indicative tense, the verb querer is stem-changing. This means that the e in the stem of the verb changes to ie when part of a stressed syllable. Yo quiero I want Yo quiero viajar a Espaà ±a. Tà º quieres You want Tà º quieres un carro nuevo. Usted/à ©l/ella quiere You/he/she wants Ella quiere a sus amigos. Nosotros queremos We want Nosotros queremos tener paz en el mundo. Vosotros querà ©is You want Vosotros querà ©is aprender italiano. Ustedes/ellos/ellas quieren You/they want Ellos quieren mucho a sus mascotas. Querer Preterite Indicative In the preterite tense, querer is irregular, since the stem changes to quis-. The preterite is used to talk about completed actions in the past. When using the verb querer in the preterite, it has the meaning of something that someone wanted but did not obtain. For example, Quise ir a la fiesta means I wanted to go to the party but I ended up not being able to go. Yo quise I wanted Yo quiseviajar a Espaà ±a. Tà º quisiste You wanted Tà º quisisteun carro nuevo. Usted/à ©l/ella quiso You/he/she wanted Ella quisoa sus amigos. Nosotros quisimos We wanted Nosotros quisimos tenerpaz en el mundo. Vosotros quisisteis You wanted Vosotros quisisteisaprender italiano. Ustedes/ellos/ellas quisieron You/they wanted Ellos quisieron mucho a sus mascotas. Querer Imperfect Indicative The imperfect tense conjugation of querer is regular. You start with the stem quer- and add the imperfect ending for -er verbs (à ­a, à ­as, à ­a, à ­amos, à ­ais, à ­an). In the imperfect tense the verb querer usually means wanted, but can also be translated as was wanting or used to want. The imperfect is used to talk about ongoing actions in the past. With the verb querer it means that someone wanted something, but we dont know if they obtained it or not. Yo querà ­a I used to want Yo querà ­aviajar a Espaà ±a. Tà º querà ­as You used to want Tà º querà ­as un carro nuevo. Usted/à ©l/ella querà ­a You/he/she used to want Ella querà ­a a sus amigos. Nosotros querà ­amos We used to want Nosotros querà ­amos tener paz en el mundo. Vosotros querà ­ais You used to want Vosotros querà ­ais aprender italiano. Ustedes/ellos/ellas querà ­an You/they used to want Ellos querà ­an a sus mascotas. Querer Future Indicative To conjugate the future tense you start with the infinitive (querer) and add the future tense endings (à ©, s, , emos, is, n). However, the verb querer is irregular because there is an extra r in the stem, so it ends up being querr-. Yo querrà © I will want Yo querrà © viajar a Espaà ±a. Tà º querrs Youwill want Tà º querrs un carro nuevo. Usted/à ©l/ella querr You/he/shewill want Ella querra sus amigos. Nosotros querremos Wewill want Nosotros querremostener paz en el mundo. Vosotros querrà ©is Youwill want Vosotros querrà ©is aprender italiano. Ustedes/ellos/ellas querrn You/theywill want Ellos querrn a sus mascotas. Querer PeriphrasticFuture Indicative The periphrastic future is formed with the present indicative conjugation of the verb ir (to go), the preposition a, and the infinitive querer. Yo voy a querer I am going to want Yo voy a querer viajar a Espaà ±a. Tà º vasa querer You aregoing to want Tà º vasa querer un carro nuevo. Usted/à ©l/ella vaa querer You/he/shegoing to want Ella vaa querer a sus amigos. Nosotros vamosa querer We aregoing to want Nosotros vamos a querer tener paz en el mundo. Vosotros vaisa querer You aregoing to want Vosotros vaisa querer aprender italiano. Ustedes/ellos/ellas vana querer You/they aregoing to want Ellos vana querer mucho a sus mascotas. Querer Present Progressive/Gerund Form The gerund  or present participle for the verb querer is formed regularly, by starting with stem of the verb quer- and the ending the ending -iendo (for -er and -ir verbs). The present participle can be used to form progressive tenses like the present progressive, which usually requires the auxiliary verb estar. However, it is rare to use the verb querer in progressive tenses, since to want already implies an ongoing action. Therefore, it sounds redundant to say est queriendo (is wanting) and it is simpler to say quiere (wants). The form queriendo is more commonly used as an adverb, as in Queriendo ayudar, hicimos un gran esfuerzo (Wanting to help, we made a great effort). Present Progressive ofQuerer est queriendo She is wanting Ella est queriendo a sus amigos. Querer Past Participle The past participle is formed with the stem quer- plus the ending -ido. It can be used to form perfect tenses, such as the present perfect. The present perfect is formed with the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle querido. Present Perfect ofQuerer ha querido She has wanted Ella ha querido a sus amigos. Querer Conditional Indicative The conditional tense is usually translated to English as would verb. Similar to the future tense, it is conjugated by starting with the infinitive form. However, just like in the future tense, the verb querer is irregular because it has an extra r, so it uses the stem querr-. Yo querrà ­a I would want Yo querrà ­a viajar a Espaà ±a si no me diera miedo viajar en avià ³n. Tà º querrà ­as Youwould want Tà º querrà ­as un carro nuevo, pero estn muy caros. Usted/à ©l/ella querrà ­a You/he/shewould want Ella querrà ­a a sus amigos si fueran ms amables. Nosotros querrà ­amos Wewould want Nosotros querrà ­amostener paz en el mundo, pero sabemos que es muy difà ­cil. Vosotros querrà ­ais Youwould want Vosotros querrà ­ais aprender italiano, pero preferisteis aprender francà ©s. Ustedes/ellos/ellas querrà ­an You/theywould want Ellos querrà ­an mucho a sus mascotas si se portaran mejor. Querer Present Subjunctive The present subjunctive is used for subjective situations like desires, doubts and recommendations. It is formed starting with the first person singular present indicative conjugation (yo). It is also stem-changing (e to ie) when the e falls on the stressed syllable. Que yo quiera That I want El agente de viajes espera que yo quiera viajar a Espaà ±a. Que tà º quieras That you want El vendedor espera que tà º quieras un carro nuevo. Que usted/à ©l/ella quiera That you/he/she want Mam espera que ella quiera a sus amigos. Que nosotros queramos That we want Los diplomticos esperan que nosotros queramos tener paz en el mundo. Que vosotros queris That you want El maestro espera que vosotros queris aprender italiano. Que ustedes/ellos/ellas quieran That you/they want Pap espera que ellos quieran mucho a sus mascotas. Querer Imperfect Subjunctive There are two options for conjugating the imperfect subjunctive. Option 1 Que yo quisiera That I wanted La agente de viajes esperaba que yo quisiera viajar a Espaà ±a. Que tà º quisieras That you wanted El vendedor esperaba que tà º quisieras un carro nuevo. Que usted/à ©l/ella quisiera That you/he/she wanted Mam esperaba que ella quisiera a sus amigos. Que nosotros quisià ©ramos That we wanted Los diplomticos esperaban que nosotros quisià ©ramos tener paz en el mundo. Que vosotros quisierais That you wanted El maestro esperaba que vosotros quisierais aprender italiano. Que ustedes/ellos/ellas quisieran That you/they wanted Pap esperaba que ellos quisieran mucho a sus mascotas. Option 2 Que yo quisiese That I wanted La agente de viajes esperaba que yo quisiese viajar a Espaà ±a. Que tà º quisieses That you wanted El vendedor esperaba que tà º quisieses un carro nuevo. Que usted/à ©l/ella quisiese That you/he/she wanted Mam esperaba que ella quisiese a sus amigos. Que nosotros quisià ©semos That we wanted Los diplomticos esperaban que nosotros quisià ©semos tener paz en el mundo. Que vosotros quisieseis That you wanted El maestro esperaba que vosotros quisieseis aprender italiano. Que ustedes/ellos/ellas quisiesen That you/they wanted El pap esperaba que ellos quisiesen mucho a sus mascotas. Querer Imperative The imperative mood is used to give orders or commands. It is not common to use commands with the verb querer, because usually you dont tell people to want something. However, it is possible that you would tell someone to love someone else, which is one of the meanings of the verb querer. Therefore, the examples below were changed to show more realistic situations of querer in the imperative. Positive Commands Tà º quiere Love!  ¡Quiere a tus amigos! Usted quiera Love!  ¡Quiera a su madre! Nosotros queramos Let's love!  ¡Queramos a nuestros hermanos! Vosotros quered Love!  ¡Quered a vuestra familia! Ustedes quieran Love!  ¡Quieran a sus padres! Negative Commands Tà º no quieras Don't love!  ¡No quieras a tus amigos! Usted no quiera Don't love!  ¡No quiera a su madre! Nosotros no queramos Let's not love!  ¡No queramos a nuestros hermanos! Vosotros no queris Don't love!  ¡No queris a vuestra familia! Ustedes no quieran Don't love!  ¡No quieran a sus padres!

Small business management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Small business management - Essay Example Similarly, Clippy was a small venture, so utilizing media, which is effective yet cost effective was the motto of the owner. This is what exactly what Calypso Rose did. She utilized the power of social media channels and online marketing for not only advertising her products but selling them too. Clippy generate majority of its sales through its website or e-store (Clippykit Ltd., 2013). The website of the store has been built on Web 2.0 platform, which is quite interactive and allows the customers to browse through different products that the company is offering. The website gives a casual feel to the customers, so that customers can not only shop online, but also express their feedback through blogs, read about the owner’s journey to set up Clippy and know about the products that are offering available on discount (IOWA State University, 2013). Apart from this, Clippy has utilised Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, twitter and other social media channels to inspire people to cu stomise their own Clippy bags and get to use personalised products (Clippykit Ltd., 2013). The traditional media was all about delivering message to the customers, which were accomplished through radio, print or television. However, traditional media marketing was one-sided communication. If ClippyKit availed the traditional media vehicles, then it would have to spare extra funds for promotion of its products. Moreover, knowing the customers’ demand and their feedback regarding different products would not be known because the communication would be one-way. However, ClippyKit has utilised Facebook, Instagram to post the photos of its products, welcome other’s designs and interact with customers. This has assisted ClippyKit to venture into the sales of other products such as, Christmas cakes, gifts, accessories, school stuffs for kids, etc apart from see through bags (Hirschkorn, 2009). After analysing Clippy’s experience of utilising new media for its promotion , the focus of this essay would shift towards discussing whether the media strategies used by ClippyKit is typically what small businesses utilise or was it different from that. The suggestion that every marketing consulting firm have to offer for the rising entrepreneurs and small businesses is that the most cost effective way to promote their business, increase profitability and gather customers’ feedback is social media channels. The new media is the ultimate channel, which utilised by not only small businesses, but bigger companies too. For a small business firm, it is difficult to bring out a handsome sum of fund for extensive promotion in audio visual or print media. They see social media to be the most cost effective mode of promotion. Secondly, the reach of social media and other web-based media channel is higher to the customers nowadays, than even print or audio video media, so it is typically the first choice for almost every start-up business firms irrespective of country (Hirschkorn, 2009). The entrepreneurs can simply click the picture of their products themselves and post it on Facebook or other social media channel for branding. Posting photos on social media sites makes it easier for customers to know about the products and the process of sales becomes a lot easier. This is one of the key reasons behind the success of small start-up firms. The major function of media is

Working Women and the Vote Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Working Women and the Vote - Personal Statement Example Her statement was the basis of this article with the calling of the majority says to be heard. It was time to put an end to the male chauvinism at that time in history where the place of women in society was only to preserve motherhood and being submissive to their men. The working women were sick and tired of this trend and, therefore, had to put an end to this through whatever way. There were up to 1 million women who were participating in labour activity. This is because they had to play the role of breadwinners in their respective family.   Women have developed a new form of work ethic that would change the general daily life, therefore; they had to participate in the voting process. The article further faults the roles senators give to women in places of job allocation and that women can do jobs that men can equally do. The contest between the two genders now is focused on the issue of breadwinning. The focus is not on a political contest or rather a system that further aliena tes women by denying them voting rights. That chivalry is dead as the senators have continually made efforts to shorten women’s working hours. The senators totally disenfranchise the electorate in an effort to show them the importance of short working hours. It is evident that have been numerous instances where the learned senators have shot down bills. Most of the bills were meant to cause reforms to women and to improve their position in the society. A case at hand is during the Albany hearing they made desperate efforts to justify their voting against the bill.

High tech building design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

High tech building design - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that hi-tech building design refers to architectural designs and services that involve the use of advanced technology thereby improving the functionality of the final product. In simple terms, it is a particular style of building. In industries, it involves the use of machines to attain quality products. These machines use modern technology like computers, electronics and robots to help companies achieve their goal. Hi-tech building design has risen from modern architecture, incorporating elements of the latest technology in building designs. These include; prominent show of building techniques and functional components, decent alignment and use of sophisticated materials such as metals, glass and futuristic shapes. In the past, building industry has applied technologies that made building designs complicated, these made it difficult for man to design buildings of their needs. Heat regulation systems in these houses were very poor since the ventilations provided were insufficient and could not effectively control internal temperatures. With regards to hi-tech designs, several equipments have been invented to effectively solve the problem of heat in buildings and have also helped solve issues of human thermal complaints both at homes and in offices. Thermal complaint had been declared a major drawback to economic development. People claimed that it was because of thermal problem that they did not perform well in their endeavors and this called for a pragmatic approach towards this nuisance. Fans have been installed in buildings to regulate heat in regions where there have been a lot of heat; heaters have also been installed in the buildings which experienced a lot of cold like the Polar Regions. These products of hi-tech design have rendered redundant, thermal disruptions which are now considered a thing of the past. Representation and function Architects rely entirely on this technology for production of feasible stru ctures. It is also applied in industries, transport, flight, communication and space travel. It aims at eliminating burdensome materials such as; bricks, concrete blocks used in the construction industry and introduce steel which increases the life span of the structures. Glass, which is responsible for the aesthetic aspects, is also embraced by this technology. The introduction of steel and glass was meant to enhance the function of the final product in order to catch up with the technologies of other sectors, which keep on improving each day depending on the core materials used for production in those sectors. Buildings have always lagged behind since the materials used in productions are inflexible and not easily changeable. For instance, concrete has proven to be the most suitable material used in construction, even though it withstands compression, it fears tension and must therefore be reinforced using steel. Originally, hi tech technology was termed as malicious, ill motive i ntended to dislodge employees from their duties. With time though, its good intentions have conspicuously come to light and has quickly been embraced the world over. It has played a major role in employing double the number that was initially engaged in these particular sectors of the economy. Moreover in the building industry,

Walden Civil Disobedience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Walden Civil Disobedience - Essay Example (Whicher, 1945, 33-40) Walden was first published as Life in the Woods (Thoreau, 2004, iv) and the title itself is an accurate reflection of Thoreau’s setting for this non-fiction narrative on Transcendentalism. Thoreau’s work Walden focuses on his hiatus from mainstream society in which he took up residence on a plot of land just outside of Concord, Massachusetts. The land was owned by Thoreau’s mentor and friend Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau resided on the plot, near Walden Pond for just over two years and during that time he constructed a cabin and while he buys food, he supplements his budget by growing some of his food. Thoreau explains the setting for Walden in his opening chapter as follows: â€Å"When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had build myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I live there two years and two months.† (Thoreau, 2004, 1) The setting is not more than a prelude to simplicity. It is within this setting that Thoreau’s rhetoric thrives. The quasi-isolationist background and the simple lifestyle is thought provoking. Not only is Thoreau driven to contemplate, his reader is as well. Bickman puts Walden’s setting in its proper rhetorical perspective: â€Å"It embeds itself in the Western philosophical and religious tradition only to undermine its basic assumptions. And it engages all these complexities in the context of a plea for simplicity, simplicity. Its final wisdom is that there is no final wisdom, that all truths are mediate, volatile, and that what can be conveyed to a reader is not a teaching but an intensity of response to life.† (Bickman,1992, 121) This rhetoric is exposed in the manner in which Thoreau spends his time in his rustic setting. His mornings are consumed with

Critical literature on impact of training and development on employee review

Critical on impact of training and development on employee job performance - Literature review Example Reference 11 Bibliography 12 Introduction The main purpose of the project is to bring forth a critical analysis of the impact of training and development programs on the performance of employees in organisations. Human Resources have played a major role in the economic development of a number of nations. Nations like Britain, Japan and USA have demonstrated immense economic growth in this regard (Brewster, Mayrhofer & Morley, 2004, p.17). Thus, it implies that nations would attain greater and faster economic development on the grounds that they pay greater attention to train its human resources. The project presents the supporting as well as the opposing views on this subject by using relevant literature. Research Question The present research seeks to find the impact of training and development programs on the performance of employees in organisations. The research question is as follows: Do training and development programs improve job performance of employees in organisations? Literature Review Overview of Training In order to maintain a sustainable economic growth as well as an effective performance, the employees’ contribution towards the goals and objectives of the organisation is required to be optimized. Leading writers have emphasised and recognised the importance and requirement of training as the central role played by the management in organisations. Drucker, (1998), have commented that one of the major contributions expected from the managers is to set the vision for the employees and also enhance their ability to perform (Laing, 2009, p.17). The very first step in the designing of a training and development program includes conducting a needs assessment. It includes assisting the new recruits in the workplace with the necessary skills and responsibilities (Kuther & Morgan, 2009, p.103). It is crucial to identify the need in this regard which can be done in several manners. Generally, it is identified as the gap between the present position and which is needed now and also in future (Miller & Osinski, 2002, p.1). The gaps include discrepancies between what the organisation wants and what actually occurs. It is also determined by the difference between the current and the desired performance of employees. The difference between the present and the desired competencies of employees also gives an estimate about the training needs. Several views were collected pertaining to the identification of the key drivers of the training initiatives like the training quality, inputs, extent of interaction and targets over the last few years. The results revealed that the most important determinants were ‘health and safety’, ‘technical changes’ and ‘customer service’. It implies that organisations were primarily found to be using training and development programs for retaining and motivating employees and also for providing the necessary skills and knowledge to the employees to keep themselves at par with the changes in technology and customer service (Miller & Osinski, 2002, p.1). The Training and Development Process In order to ensure that the new and also the experienced employees have the required knowledge and skills for successful performance of their jobs, organisations undertake investments in training programs. Research reveals that the organisations’ productivity bea rs a direct relation with the amount of investments it makes on employees (Bohlander & Snell, 2009, p.306). Recently, Merrill Lynch completely overhauled its training program towards the financial advisors to ensure they would be in a better position to serve their clients. The program included training of â€Å"Monte Carlo analysis†

Services Marketing Importance of the Internet Term Paper

Services Marketing Importance of the Internet - Term Paper Example In today's day and age, the internet has become a very important part of people's lives. From entertainment to accounting, almost all the facets of life are available on the internet and people are using it for business, banking, shopping and communicating. But the fact that this medium is vulnerable to evil designs of fraudsters namely hackers who lurk behind it with intentions of identity theft or theft of sensitive information of unsuspecting net users, makes this medium risky. But looking into the problem and its span objectively would help to provide solutions and countermeasures for it. With the increased importance of the internet in people's lives, the amount of internet or online frauds have also increased. The challenge is to make sure that internet is a safe medium for services like online shopping, online banking, etc and users are not victims of misdeeds like phishing (What is phishing, n.d.) or other online frauds. The world of the Internet can be as fascinating and as dangerous at the same time. It is a technological wonder through which people access news, information, communicate using emails or social networks, shop online or transact money through online banking. At the same time, the internet is also fraught with dangers. Phishing- Through this method the phisher or the person who attacks through the internet and tries to gain access to important and confidential information such as passwords, credit card numbers, etc of the person who is being attacked. The victim unknowingly falls prey to the evil schemes of the phisher and end up divulging the sensitive information which is then misused. It has been reported that phishing is almost a specialized crime which involves services of many like spammers, hackers, and phishers. This is done to increase the damage caused by the act and also its scope. Some of the most significant operators in this arena are: Mailer- These are people who send out the huge number of fake emails which contain links t o a website meant for phishing. Once the unaware users click on the links in these emails, they are taken to phishing sites or fake websites. Collector- These people set up these fake sites meant for phishing and here the users are requested to provide their confidential information like passwords, social security numbers or credit card pin numbers. Often the fake emails are so well disguised in design and functionality that users take them to be original emails correspondence from their banks and after reaching the fake sites they end up uploading sensitive data there.

Critical literature on impact of training and development on employee review

Critical on impact of training and development on employee job performance - Literature review Example Reference 11 Bibliography 12 Introduction The main purpose of the project is to bring forth a critical analysis of the impact of training and development programs on the performance of employees in organisations. Human Resources have played a major role in the economic development of a number of nations. Nations like Britain, Japan and USA have demonstrated immense economic growth in this regard (Brewster, Mayrhofer & Morley, 2004, p.17). Thus, it implies that nations would attain greater and faster economic development on the grounds that they pay greater attention to train its human resources. The project presents the supporting as well as the opposing views on this subject by using relevant literature. Research Question The present research seeks to find the impact of training and development programs on the performance of employees in organisations. The research question is as follows: Do training and development programs improve job performance of employees in organisations? Literature Review Overview of Training In order to maintain a sustainable economic growth as well as an effective performance, the employees’ contribution towards the goals and objectives of the organisation is required to be optimized. Leading writers have emphasised and recognised the importance and requirement of training as the central role played by the management in organisations. Drucker, (1998), have commented that one of the major contributions expected from the managers is to set the vision for the employees and also enhance their ability to perform (Laing, 2009, p.17). The very first step in the designing of a training and development program includes conducting a needs assessment. It includes assisting the new recruits in the workplace with the necessary skills and responsibilities (Kuther & Morgan, 2009, p.103). It is crucial to identify the need in this regard which can be done in several manners. Generally, it is identified as the gap between the present position and which is needed now and also in future (Miller & Osinski, 2002, p.1). The gaps include discrepancies between what the organisation wants and what actually occurs. It is also determined by the difference between the current and the desired performance of employees. The difference between the present and the desired competencies of employees also gives an estimate about the training needs. Several views were collected pertaining to the identification of the key drivers of the training initiatives like the training quality, inputs, extent of interaction and targets over the last few years. The results revealed that the most important determinants were ‘health and safety’, ‘technical changes’ and ‘customer service’. It implies that organisations were primarily found to be using training and development programs for retaining and motivating employees and also for providing the necessary skills and knowledge to the employees to keep themselves at par with the changes in technology and customer service (Miller & Osinski, 2002, p.1). The Training and Development Process In order to ensure that the new and also the experienced employees have the required knowledge and skills for successful performance of their jobs, organisations undertake investments in training programs. Research reveals that the organisations’ productivity bea rs a direct relation with the amount of investments it makes on employees (Bohlander & Snell, 2009, p.306). Recently, Merrill Lynch completely overhauled its training program towards the financial advisors to ensure they would be in a better position to serve their clients. The program included training of â€Å"Monte Carlo analysis†

Healthcare Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Healthcare Management - Essay Example Our promise when we found this organization was to care for every child, regardless of their family’s ability to afford the cost of treatment. We may not have a crystal ball but our vision for the future is so clear: To be the best children’s hospital. Our vision in the next five years is to: Our new strategic plan honors our promise to achieve our mission while navigating a future filled with rapid change. We will continue to recruit and retain the best faculty and staff to accomplish these objectives. Children’s new strategic plan will guide the growth of our clinical, research and educational programs for the next five years. Reduce cost of delivering healthcare. We will collaborate with healthcare partners to come up with new payment models; coordination of all the aspects of care for children; and continue to use the Continuous Performance Improvement (CPI) to become as efficient as possible in all our processes. Continuous find cures and educate clinicians and researchers. This will entail us coming up with innovative research to develop new cures; enhancement of training for residents and the medical education program; and making sure that all patients benefit from our research. Be more responsive and provide access of treatment to every child. Orchids Children’s will have a bed available for any child who needs one; reduction of waiting time for specialty care and expansion of our services locally and regionally; and collaboration with other healthcare providers to share our clinical expertise. Give the safest and most effective care possible. We will do this by standardizing our care processes and strengthening our system to avoid and respond promptly to medical errors. We also aim to complete the transition to an electronic medical record system. At Orchids Children’s we have embrace our unwavering commitment to prevent,

Recruitment Selection Process | Case Study

Recruitment Selection Process | Case Study How does the organization approach the nature and composition of the workforce? For example, does it emphasize low cost or high performance, and internal or external labour markets? The company I am employed with is a furniture company which tends to do most of the hiring based on the high performance and uses internal and external labour markets. Vacancies arise in our company as employees leave the company such as when they retire or resign or get promoted to other positions within our company. Our company ensures that we have developed an adequate plan to replace employees when needed. We decide what requirements we needs such as personnel requirements which will be supplied by either outside candidates or inside candidates. This decision is all based on need and if we have the qualified staff to step up and replace when needed. The company makes sure to comply with all government policies. We make sure to guarantee our valuable employees have long-term employment opportunities. They do this because it would be unfortunate to lose talent to another company. We are flexible to accommodate to changes in the nature of employees and in the way they do business. T hey are adaptable and cost effective in the hiring process. Our company approaches the nature and composition of the workforce by way of looking for the best employees that will help our company grow and become improved and superior. We want a strong employee community within our company so we work hard to build the relationships with our workforce. How many positions are filled annually? How many applications are received for each vacant position? The organization consists of about 150 people which means about approximately 10 hires a year occur from internal promotions or people seeking other types of employment or from turnovers. We do try to keep our employees with us as long as we can since they are our expertise in the field. When we must make new hires we do ask that current employees take on the training of their replacements because we understand that they know the jobs as well as they can. There are approximately 80 applications received each time there is a vacant opening for hire. This is mainly so high a number of people applying because of the current recession we are all facing. A normal amount of candidates would be about 20 for each position advertised. What methods are used to recruit candidates? Recruitment at our company involves attracting the right standard of candidates to apply for job openings. We tend to advertises jobs in different ways depending on the position available. We first looks at the internal replacement plan to fill a job opening. This is a process that lists all the current employees that are looking for a move which is either at the same level or on a promotion basis. We also advertise the post internally on our intranet. If there are no suitable people in this which are developed from the replacement plan, in the process of development or apply from internally then the company needs to start to look externally. For external recruitment, we advertise opening through our website and the available job boards in the stores. Applications are to be filled out online or in the store for positions. The chosen potential candidates are invited for an interview followed by their attendance at our assessment centre for the final stage of the selection process. We will seek the most cost-effective way of attracting the right candidates. We build up our external pool of qualified candidates by advertising the job through advertising, employment agencies, executive recruiters, college recruiting, the internet, referrals and walk-ins. It can become expensive to search for candidates although this is sometimes very necessary to ensure the right types of people are able to learn about our opening. Our company strives to make it easy for candidates to find out about an available job and we have a very simple application process. By accessing our website, a candidate can find out about our local available jobs, management posts and head office positions. The website has an easy to use online application form for people to submit directly through. We always make sure to never discriminate against any individual with respect to employment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin or age. All people are welcome to apply and be given a fair chance to go through the hiring process if they qualify each stage of the way. What is the general approach to selection (i.e., statistical, judgmental, or a combination of the two)? The general selection approach is through a combination of judgmental and statistical evaluations. Judgmental information is used in terms of that we tend to require an assorted amount of source data based from the managers personal judgments of the individual candidate. We also use the previously collected information such as resumes and application forms in our databases to make these judgment calls. We will use statistical information when we have made our judgments on who will be asked to participate in call backs for the next qualifying measures. The common selection approach we use is to find the essential key qualifications for each qualified candidates and the screening out of all the unqualified candidates. We make sure we have a list the characteristics and skills that are required for job performance. These requirements are the predictors of job performance. Selection involves choosing the most suitable people from those that have applied for an opening while at the same t ime keeping to the employment laws and regulations. Screening candidates is a very extremely important part of our selection process. The initial selection screening in our organization begins with an application form. Our manager uses these to obtain some valid background data. It is also a valuable tool to use the application form data to make predictions about the candidates future performance. For example application forms have been used in my company many times to predict the job success, job tenure and employee theft. A human resources manager will be able to tell a lot from an application form if they have trained extensively and have some experience in this field. The important thing to remember is that the personnel planning and recruiting will directly affect employee commitment. This is because commitment depends on the hiring of employees who have the potential to grow and develop. The more qualified candidates that have applied the higher chances of the selection standards are able to be. Selection at my company begins with the most effective testing and interviewing techniques available. This ensures that those selected for an interview will have the best fit with our job requirements. In the first stages of screening, our selectors will look carefully at each candidates resume. This information helps to summarize the candidates education and job history to date. A well-written and positive resume helps us to assess whether a candidate matches the individual skills need for the job specifications for the position. The company also provides a tool that can help to match individuals with careers on our website page. People interested in working for us can see where they might fit into our company before applying that way there will be less disappointment if they are not chosen for an interview. Statistical is used in terms of an individual assessment includes the knowledge, skills, and ability testing, personality assessment, work sample tests and assessment screenings . We usually try to use the predictive validation test developed specifically for the type of job and the industry in which our company operates within. The tests we choose tend to be based ones which will depend on the job we are hiring for at the time such as in the warehouse or in the office. We believe our test conditions should always be consistent. We hold the tests in areas that are reasonably quiet, private, well ventilated and well lit. We also make sure that the entire group of candidates takes the tests under the same evaluation setting. Once completed the test results are to be held in the strictest confidence. They are given only to the individuals who have a valid need for the test results. We use the tests that measure the attributes that are important for each type of job success. This choice is usually based on the experience, previous candidate search and gut instincts of the person performing the tests. We usually use more than one test in a sequence aimed at measuri ng a variety of possible predictors such as companionability, assertiveness, and mathematical ability. For legal reason we always make sure that the tests have accurate measures before they are used in evaluating a candidates potential ability to perform well on the job. The fact that similar tests may have proven successful in the same industry is not sufficient enough for us to use them unless we have done our own validation of these tests. If we are using a new test we tend to check the accuracy of it by testing it on the existing employees on the job. We then compare the candidates test scores with our current employees to confirmation the validation of these new tests. The one disadvantage is that current employees might not be representative of the new candidates. We use tests as one of a variety of the selection techniques as they are used to supplement the interviews and background checks. The process we use to select external candidates has several stages. Candidates who pass the initial screening process of the application form and resume than has the opportunity to attend our assessment screenings. The assessment screenings takes place in our store and is run by our managers. These assessment screenings help to provide consistency in the selection process. Candidates are given various exercises which include team-work activities or problem solving exercises. These involve real life examples of problems they might have to encounter at the workplace. Candidates that have been approved by the assessment screenings then have an opportunity to have an interview. Managers for the job being hired for are offered take part in the interview to make sure that the candidate fits the job requirements. Our company conducts the interview by following the layout of plan the interview, establish the rapport, question the candidate, close the interview and then review the data. Sele ction and testing of prospective employees is of great importance in my workplace. There are very good reasons why the process of selection and testing is crucial. Performance is extremely crucial to have from an employee since selecting an employee with the right level of performance should always be chosen for the job. Employees who do not have the right level of skills or who are cause difficulties or complicate matters will not be able to perform effectively. To have the most cost effective screening is important because it is expensive to recruit and hire employees. It is estimated that for an administrative assistant who earns $30,000 a year the cost of recruitment is around $12,000. This takes into consideration the total cost of the search fees; interviewing time, reference checking or using a company to search on our behalf. The cost of hiring employees could be proportionally high and this is a quite significant reason to make sure we hire the right candidates. We are always reviewing and updating our hiring process and making sure specific industry standards are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that the selection and testing process is fair. Even if a candidate is not able to make it through the hiring process for which ever reason when we chose to not invite them to the next step or they drop out the process we always make sure to keep accurate records. We believe it is extremely important to keep accurate records of why each candidate was rejected during the hiring process. The detailed records of why each candidate was rejected will be held to assist in the research on the trends in recruitment and to evaluate the performance of our recruitment process. We also hold on to them for legal reason should the need ever arise to provide proof of our fair practices. What selection devices or methods are employed? The common selection devices and methods we use include the following: ability tests such as physical, cognitive or psychomotor, knowledge tests, structured interviews, personality tests, the methodical collection of biographical data, and work samples. We must always be evaluating the evidence regarding the degree to which the selection tools predict job performance and the substantiation they put on the validity of the selection tools. Are these selection devices or methods validated? How? The candidate selection devices and methods are usually validated or shown to be job relevant using one or more of the following types of validity. The selection devices are validated through such methods as the validity of subject, concept, or criteria. It is by these means Does the organization attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of its RS system? If so, how? Which model does it apply? After we have established the accuracy of the tests we administer the test and hire the employees based on their test scores. At a later date compare the success candidates with their test scores with their performance on the job. The recruitment and selection methods are important for finding out the shortcoming of our processes. These test scores contribute to an organizations success by improving the performance and well-being of its employees. They help to identify how behaviors and attitudes can be improved through hiring practices, training programs, and feedback systems. Our company does attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of its recruitment and selection system through the job analysis procedures. The Job analysis is illustrated as the foundation of the successful employee selection efforts and the performance management initiatives. A job analysis involves the methodical compilation of information about the specific job that was hired for. Job analysis methods are often do ne through two approaches in our workplace. The first approach being the task oriented job analysis this involves an examination of the responsibilities, obligations or experience required by the job. The second approach is the worker oriented job analysis which involves an assessment of the knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics (KSAOs) which are essential to successfully perform the work. Job analysis data is often amassed using a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The information gathered from a job analysis is then used to create job related selection procedures, performance evaluations and criteria or training curriculums. The other uses of the job analysis information include job evaluations for the purpose of determining compensation levels and job revamping. It is important to know the Job attitudes such as their job satisfaction, commitment, organizational citizenship and retaliation on the company. The job analyst individual may use qualitative methods such as critical occurrence disc ussions and focal point assemblys to collect data components on the workplace performances. Is the RS system integrated into the organizations strategic management system? If so, how? If not, how would you describe the relationship between the two systems? The recruitment selection process is integrated into the organizations strategic management system by To what extent does RS abide by human rights principles at each stage of the process? Be specific. At each step of the recruitment selection process human rights principles are abided by strictly because it is very important to maintain ethics and local and national legislation. We always make sure that we never exclude anyone before they have had a chance to qualify on their own merits. We are an equal opportunity employer and are open to hiring any individual for any position as long as they qualify for the position. In what other ways could the RS process be evaluated either positively or negatively? The way that the recruitment selection process can be evaluated positively is when there is leadership through the employees that have been with the company a lot longer than the newer employees this provides a means of advancement for all in the company. Happy employees are a sign that the recruitment and selection process is working. Leadership should be a process by where the elder employed employees are positively supporting, influencing and motivating the other workers. These leaders could be members in a position of power such as managers or supervisors or they can be their own fellow workers. This should lead to employees working passionately and efficiently towards achieving the workplace endeavors and purposes. The workplace leaders behave as the ones who identify the potential of a worker and try to put that into actuality. A leader can be a positive leader or a negative leader which could upset the whole of the workplace or bring it to a place of achieving goals. Workers a re performing at high standards and understanding and achieving much in the workplace. The leaders influence within an organization can be derived from two crucial sources which is that persons personal characteristics and their position or power within the given organization. These personality elements such as their knowledge base, their individual personality, their capacity to successfully work with others, and their established level of exertion. Positional power is derivative from the leaders position within our organization and the authority encouraged in their behavior. This is either directly or indirectly by the organizations controlling faction to make available either opportunities or restriction for their personal performance levels. The leaders responsibility is to use their positive influence to persuade and encourage individuals within the workplace to focus themselves regarding the achievement of the organizations objectives. There are differences that should be distinguished between leadership and management. The way that the recruitment selection process can be evaluated negatively is through counterproductive behavior within the workplace. Counterproductive actions can be seen as employee behavior that departs from the objective of our b usiness. These actions can be deliberate or accidental and result from an extensive sequence of fundamental rationales and incentives. The types of common counterproductive behavior with most observed assessments within the workplace are the following: job turnover, accidents, job performance, absenteeism, theft, violence, substance use, and sexual harassment. In light of the above issues, what recommendations would you make to improve the RS process in the organization? The recommendations that the recruitment selection process can be improved in the organization is through better testing methods that could be suited to each type of personality since not all test are accurate for each person. It would be important to make sure when hiring candidates that during the probation period that the new hires are regularly evaluated and let go if they are not reaching the company expectations. It may have been a lot of money to make this new hire but it will be well worth not keep a good employee if they are producing to the standards they should be. Make sure all incidents are reported from the start to management and make sure that management is doing something about these reported issues. If not then maybe management that is condoning these types of workplace behaviors needs to be looked at also. It is never alright to turn a blind eye to unsavory situations in the workplace in hopes of the events that are occurring will go away. It is best to be on top o f each and every event as it happens and that consequences are being given as needed. A happy and productive workplace is the goal of every business but we must all do our part to be successful in having this outcome. Having current employees fill out confidential questionnaires and surveys on how they feel working for our company and what changes they would like see put into place. Freuds Cases of Hysteria: Birth of Psychoanalysis Freuds Cases of Hysteria: Birth of Psychoanalysis Abstract This thesis returns to the original case histories that Freud wrote on the patients he treated for hysteria. Here in these early works, the beginnings of psychoanalytical theory take shape in the acceptance of purely psychological theories of hysteria. Catharsis leads to the first inklings of repression which requires the use of free association, which again leads into Freuds attempt to explain the strange neuroses he sees through seduction theory, which is again transformed as his thinking moves on. Through Anna O, Frau Emmy von N. and Dora, Freud discovered the seeds of what would become his all-encompassing theory of the human psyche. Modern reinterpretations (e.g. Rosenbaum Muroff, 1984) of those early cases that form the basis of modern psychoanalysis have come and gone, but the original texts remain as historical testament to the fermenting of those fundamental ideas. Introduction Hysteria has been a hugely popular subject for research in psychoanalysis and in the history of ideas. Its roots are clearly signalled by the Greek word from which the word comes: uterus. Indeed the uterus was seen by Egyptians as a mobile organism that could move about of its own will when it chose to do so this caused the disturbances only seen (or acknowledged) in women. Treatments for this disease included trying to entice the uterus back into the body with the use of attractive-smelling substances as well as the driving down of the uterus from above by the eating of noxious substances. Just under four thousand years later, the formulation and treatment of hysterics had barely improved. The history of hysteria shows how it has often been seen as a physical disorder, rather than a mental one. Borossa (2001) describes some of the most common symptoms of hysteria as involving paralysis of the limbs, coughing, fainting, the loss of speech and parallel to this the sudden proficiency in another language. The change of viewpoint that lead up to Freuds analysis was slow in coming, and, as Bernheimer (1985) describes, only showed the first signs of changing in the seventeenth century with the first questions being raised that perhaps hysteria had its origins in a mental disturbance of some kind. Antecedent to Freuds interest in hysteria, it was the clinical neurologist, Charcot, who had a great influence on the field and accepted, by his methods, a more psychological explanation. Although sexual factors had long been implicated in the aetiology of hysteria (Ellenberger, 1970), Charcot did not agree that they were a sine qua non although he did maintain that they played an important part. He treated patients using a form of hypnosis and eventually his formulation of how hysteria was produced and treated was closely intertwined with the hypnosis itself. It was this use of hypnosis that interested Freud and it was the implication of sexual factors in hysteria that was eventually to become influential. It seemed that hysteria and hypnosis might offer Freud the chance to investigate the link between mind and body (Schoenwald, 1956). Anna O: The First Psychoanalytical Patient The literature often describes Anna O as the first ever patient of psychoanalysis. As it is notoriously difficult to define precisely what psychoanalysis might mean because of its shifting nature through time, this is a claim that is clearly interpretational. Still, the fact that this claim is made raises the interest into precisely what it was that marked out Anna Os treatment and the theories accompanying it from what had gone before. Although Anna O was not a patient of Freud, but a patient of his close colleague at the time, Joseph Breuer, he took a great interest in her case and its treatment, and from it flowed some of the foundational aspects of psychoanalysis both through the analysis of this case and Freuds reaction and reinterpretation of it. One of the reasons that Freud was interested in Anna O was that she represented an extremely unusual case of hysteria. Anna O had first been taken ill while she had been taking care of her dying father. At first she suffered from a harsh cough which soon expanded into a range of other perplexing symptoms. Freud Breuer (1991) describe these symptoms as going through four separate stages. The first stage, the latent incubation, occurred while she was nursing her dying father she had become weak, was not eating and would spend much of the afternoons sleeping, which was then unexpectedly followed by a period of excited activity in the evenings. The second stage, which had begun around the time Breuer started treating her, contained a strange confluence of symptoms. Her vision was affected by a squint, she could no longer move any of the extremities on the right side of her body. The third stage, which roughly coincided with the death of her father, heralded alternating states of somnam bulism with relative normality. The fourth stage, according to Breuer, is the slow leaking away of these symptoms up until June 1882, almost two years after she had first come to see her physician. The question is, how had these symptoms been interpreted and what had Breuer done in claiming to effect a cure? It is in the case of Anna O that the most basic elements of a new talking cure can be seen. As told by Breuer, it is a treatment that grew organically, as if by its own power, as he continued to see the patient. Often, in the afternoons, when the patient would habitually fall into an auto-hypnotic state, she would utter odd words or phrases, which, when questioned by those around her, would become elaborated into stories, sometimes taking the form of fairytales. These stories told to Breuer, changed in character over the period of Anna Os treatment, moving from those that were light and poetic, through to those that contained dark and frightening imagery. The unusual thing about these stories was that after they were told, it was as though a demon had been released from the patient and she became calmer and open to reason, cheerful even, often for a period of twenty-four hours afterwards. There seemed to be, staring Breuer in the face, some kind of connection between the stories that Anna O told him and the symptoms which she was manifesting. It was here that Freud was to find the roots of a purely psychological explanation of hysteria. Breuer describes numerous examples of this connection. On one occasion Anna O appeared to be suffering from an uncontrollable thirst and was given to demanding water, although when it was brought, she would refuse to touch it. After six weeks of this continuing, one day, again in an auto-hypnotic state, she started to tell a story about a friend who had allowed her dog to drink out of a glass. This had apparently caused the patient considerable distress and seemed to have led to pent-up anger, which was expressed on this occasion to Breuer. Afterwards Breuer was surprised to find that her previous craving and then abhorrence of water had disappeared. Other similar connections between symptoms and a story told by the patient were also s een by Breuer so that eventually he came up with the theory that the patient could be cured systematically by going through the symptoms to find the event that had caused their onset. Once the event had been described, as long as it was with sufficient emotional vigour, the patient would show remission of that symptom. It was by this method that Breuer claimed to have effected a cure of Anna O over the period of the treatment. It is from this case, although not in the immediate reporting by Breuer, that some of the most fundamental principles of psychoanalysis begin to form. An element of the story that has now passed into psychoanalytic legend, with some accepting its truth while others rejecting it, provides a more dramatic ending to the therapeutic relationship than that presented by Breuer. According to Freud (1970) in his letters, he pieced together an alternative account of what had happened at the end of Anna Os therapy. According to Freud, Breuer had been treating Anna O in the way he had discovered, as previously described, and had finally reached the point where her symptoms had been removed. Later that day he was called back to his patient to find her in considerable apparent pain in her abdomen. When she was asked what was wrong she replied that, Dr. Bs child is coming! This immediately sent Breuer away from her at the highest speed as he was not able to cope with this new revelation. He then p assed her onto a colleague for further treatment as he had already realised that his wife was jealous of his treatment of Anna O and this new revelation only compounded the problem. Forrester (1990) draws attention to the fact that Breuer acknowledged the importance of sexuality in the causes of neuroses. But despite this, he backed away from Anna Os case as soon as it came to the surface. As Forrester (1990) points out, Freud sees this as Breuers mistake and sees in it the birth of a psychoanalysis, especially one of its most important aspects: transference, and more specifically: sexual transference. Through the way that Breuer describes Anna Os progress in his new type of therapy, the path which the theory of hysteria and its treatment takes gradually emerges. Although Anna Os case was reported later it was Breuer Freud (1893) that used her case as the basis for their theory of hysteria. Breuer Freud (1893) state that they believe that the symptoms of hysteria have, at their root cause, some kind of causal event, perhaps occurring many years before the symptoms expose themselves. The patient is unlikely to easily reveal what this event is simply because they are not consciously aware of what it is, or that there is a causal connection. They are not worried by the seeming disproportionate nature of the precipitating event and subsequent symptoms. In fact they welcome this disproportionate nature as a defining characteristic of hysteria. Their analysis likens the root cause, or pathogenesis, of hysteria to that caused by a traumatic neurosis    perhaps similar to what we would now call post-traumatic stress disorder. The patient has, therefore, suffered a psychical trauma that manifests itself in this hysteria. The idea that the psychical trauma simply has a precipitating effect on the symptoms is dismissed by the authors referring to the evidence they have from the case studies of the remarkable progress their patients made after the memory of the psychical trauma has been exorcised through its explication and re-experiencing. Importantly, in defining the problem, Breuer Freud (1893) see the symptoms as a kind of failure of reaction to the original event. The memory of the event can only fade if the reaction to that event has not been suppressed. And it is here that there is a clear precursor to ideas central to later Freudian theory about the nature and causes of repression. In normal reactions to psychical traumas, the authors talk of a cathartic effect resulting in a release of the energy. The reverse of this, the suppression of catharsis (Freeman, 1972), is seen here as the cause of the symptoms adequately evidenced by the new treatment of a kind of delayed catharsis that appears to release the patient from their symptoms. What, then, are the mechanisms by which a psychical trauma of some kind is not reacted to sufficiently? Two answers are provided here, the first that because of the circumstances of the trauma, it was not possible to form a reaction in other words the reactions is suppressed. The second is that a reaction may not have been possible due to the mental state of the person at that time for example during a period of paralysing fear. The circumstances in which the failure of a reaction occurs is also instrumental in the burying of these thoughts and feelings and helps to explain why the patient themselves is not able to access them in the normal ways. Frau Emmy von N. Freuds interest in hysteria and in hypnosis was certainly piqued by both Charcot and Breuer and having collaborated on the latters work with Anna O including the belief that he had found a theory of practical benefit it was only a matter of time before he became further involved in the treatment of hysteria himself. Reported as the second case history in The Studies on Hysteria, (Breuer Freud, 1991) a patient of Freuds, Frau Emmy von N., exhibited symptoms that typified hysteria and Freud resolved to treat her. He reports that the patient was 40 years old, was from a good family and of high education and intelligence. She had been widowed at a young age, leaving her to look after her two children this she ascribed as the cause of her current malady. Freud describes her first meeting as being continually interrupted by the patient breaking off, and suddenly displaying signs of disgust and horror on her face while telling him to, Keep still! and other similar remonstrations. Apart from this the patient also had a series of tics, some facial, but the most pronounced being a clacking sound which littered her utterances. Freuds initial treatment was more physical than mental. She was told to take warm baths and be given massages. This was combined with hypnosis in which Freud simply suggested that she sleep well and that her symptoms would lessen. This was helped by the fact that Freud reports that Frau Emmy von N. was an extremely good hypnotic subject he only had to raise his finger and make a few simple suggestions to put her into a trance. Freud wonders whether this compliance is due to previous exposure to hypnosis and a desire to please. A week later Freud asked his patient why she was so easily frightened. She replied with a story about a traumatic experience that had occurred when she was younger her older brothers and sisters had thrown dead animals at her. As she described these stories to Freud, he reports that she was, panting for breath as well as displaying obvious difficulty with the emotions that she was dealing with. After these emotions have been expressed, she became calmer and more peaceful. Freud also uses touch to reinforce his suggestion that these unnerving images have been removed. Under hypnosis, Freud continued to elicit these stories that demonstrated why she was so often nervous. She explained to Freud that she had once had a maidservant who told her stories of life in an asylum including beatings and patients being tied to chairs. Freud then explained to her that this was not the usual situation in asylums. She had also apparently seen hallucinations at one point, seeing the same person in tw o places and being transfixed by it. While she had been nursing her dying brother, who was taking large quantities of morphine for the pain he was in, he would frequently grab her suddenly. Freud saw this as part of a pattern of her being seized against her will and resolved to investigate it further. It was a few days after this that quite a significant point in the therapy came. Emmy von N. was again explaining about the frightening stories of the asylum and Freud stopped himself from correcting her, intuitively realising that he had to let her give full vent to her fears, without redirecting her course. This is perhaps a turning point in the way in which Freud treated his patient, made clearer by the historical context in which this scene operates. While still seen as authority figures now, physicians were much stronger authority figures then. This combined with the greater imbalance of power between men and women would have meant that the patient would be naturally hesitant about taking any control over their own treatment. Forrester (1990) sees this as a shift in the pattern of authority between the doctor and the patient that originated in Breuers treatment of Anna O a move from the telling the patient what to do, to listening to what the patient has to say. Forrester (1990 ) constructs the relationship that Freud began to build with Emmy von N. as more of a framework of authority within which the patient was able to express her thoughts and feelings to the doctor and in this sense the doctors job is to help the patient keep up this outpouring of stories. At this stage of the development of the therapy, the facilitation of the story-telling is being achieved by hypnosis, although later Freud was to move away from this. How great the shift in the power balance was, it is difficult to tell a this distance, but what is clear from the case report is that Emmy von N.s case provided a much more convoluted series of psychical traumas and symptoms than that presented by Anna O. While Anna Os symptoms seemed to match the traumatic events rather neatly, Emmy von Ns mind was not nearly as well organised. At one point Freud discovers that taking the lift to his office causes his patient a considerable amount of stress. To try and examine where this comes from he explores whether she has had any previous traumatic experiences in lifts a logical first step within the theoretical framework. Coincidentally, it appears, the patient mentions that she is very worried about her daughter in relation to elevators. The next logical step then should be that talking about this fear should release the affect and lead to catharsis, but this is not what Freud finds. The next part of the puzzle is revealed when he finds out t hat she is currently menstruating, then finally the last part falls into place when he finds out that as her daughter has been suffering ovarian problems, she has had to travel in a lift in order to meet with her doctor. After some deliberation Freud realises that there is in fact a false connection between the patients menstruation and the worry at her daughter using a lift. It is this confusion of connections that Freud begins to realise is a form of defence to the traumatic thoughts. Freuds Treatment of Hysteria In the final part of Studies in Hysteria Freud sets out his theory of hysteria and what he has learnt about its treatment. Not only does this part of the book recap some of the themes already discussed but it also highlights some future direction in which Freuds work would travel. Two key signposts are seen: first in his stance on hypnotism, and secondly in his view on what constitutes hysteria. In an attempt to be of benefit to patients with hysteria, who he believed this treatment would help, he tried to treat as many as possible. The problem for him was how to tell the difference between a patient with hysteria and one without. Freud chose an interesting solution to what might have been a protracted problem of diagnosis. He simply treated patients who seemed   to have hysteria and let the results of that treatment speak for themselves. What this immediately did was to widen out the object of his enquiry to neuroses in general. Picking up on the lightly touched theme of sexual tr ansference between Breuer and Anna O mentioned earlier, Freud made his feelings about the roots of neurotic problems quite clear, and in the process set the agenda for psychoanalysis for the next century or more. He believed that one of the primal factors in neuroses lay in sexual matters. In particular Freud came to acknowledge that peoples neuroses rarely came in a pure form, as the early and almost impossibly neat case of Anna O had signposted, and that in fact people were more of a mixed bag. Looking back through the cases reported in Studies on Hysteria Freud explains that he came to see a sexual undercurrent in his notes that had not been at the forefront of his mind when he had treated the patients. Especially in the case of Anna O as already noted Freud felt Breuer had missed a trick. What these ideas seem to be adding up to is almost a rejection of hysteria, if not as a separate diagnosis, certainly as a category of disease practically amenable to treatment. Freud, however, is defensive about rejecting the idea of hysteria as a separate diagnosis, despite the fact that that is the direction in which his thoughts are heading. At this stage he believes it can be treated as a separate part of a patients range of symptoms and the effect of this treatment will be governed by its relative importance overall. Those patients, like Anna O, who have relatively pure cases of hysteria will respond well to the cathartic treatment, while those diluted cases will not. The second key signpost for the future of psychoanalysis was Freuds use of hypnosis. What he found was that many of the patients he saw were simply not hypnotisable Freud claims unwillingness on their part but other writers are of the opinion that he was simply not that good at it (Forrester, 1990). This was a problem for Freud because Breuers formulation of the treatment for hysteria required that events were recollected that were not normally available to a person. Hypnosis had originally proved a good method and indeed in Anna Os case the only method for gaining access to these past events. In response, Freud now turned away from hypnosis to develop his own techniques for eliciting the patients traumatic events. These were quite simple: he insisted that the patient remember what the traumatic event was, and if they still could not, he would ask the patient to lie down and close their eyes nowadays one of the archetypal images of patient and analyst. Freud saw the patients relu ctance of his patients to report their traumatic events as a one of the biggest hurdles in his coalescing form of therapy. He came up with the idea that there was some psychical force within the patient that stopped the memories from being retrieved. From the patients he had treated, he had found that the memories that were being held back were often of an embarrassing or shameful nature. If was for this reason that the patient was activating psychical defence mechanisms. At this stage he hoped to be able to show in the future that it was this defence or repulsion of the traumatic event to the depths of the memory that was causing so much psychical pain to the patient. Overcoming this psychical force, Freud found, was not as simple as insisting, and he developed some further techniques. Patients would easily drift off their point or simply dry up and it needed more powerful persuasion to return them to the traumatic event. One particular technique he found extremely useful and would almost invariably use it when treating patients. This involved placing his hand on the patients head and instructing them that when they feel the pressure they will also see an image of their traumatic event. Having assured the patient that whatever they see, they should not worry that this image is inappropriate or too shameful to discuss, then they are asked to attempt a description of the image. Freud believed that this system worked by distracting the patient, in a similar way as hypnosis, from their conscious searching for the psychical trauma and allowed their mind to float free. Even using the new technique of applying pressure, it did not provide direct access to the psychical trauma. What Freud found was that it tended to signal a jumping off point or a way-station, somewhere on the way to or from the trauma. Sometimes the image produced would provide a new starting point from which the patient could work, sometimes it fitted into the flow of the subject of discussion. Occasionally the new image would bring a long-forgotten idea to the patients mind which would surprise them and initially seem to be unrelated, but later turn out to have a connection. Freud was so pleased with his new pressure technique that, in complex cases, he would often use it continuously on the patient. This procedure would bring to light memories that had been hitherto completely forgotten, as well as new connections between these memories and even, sometimes, thoughts that the patient doesnt even believe to be their own. Freud is careful to point out that although his pressure technique was useful, there were a number of very strong forms of defence that stopped him gaining easy access to the patients psychical trauma. He often found that in the first instance, applying pressure by his hand to the patient would not work, but when he insisted to the patient that it would work the next time, it often would. Still, the patient would sometimes immediately reinterpret or, indeed, begin to edit what was seen, thus making the reporting much less useful. Freud makes it clear that sometimes the most useful observations or memories of the patient are those that they consider to be of least use or relevance. Also, the memories will tend to emerge in a haphazard fashion, only later, and with the skill of the analyst, being fitted together into a coherent picture. Freud refers to this as a kind of censoring of the traumatic events, as though it can only be glimpsed in a mirror or partially occluded around a corne r. Slowly but sure the analyst begins to build up a picture with the accretion of material. There is nothing, Freud believed that is not relevant every piece of information is a link in the chain, another clue to the event that has traumatised the psyche. Another major component of psychoanalysis makes its first appearance in the Studies on Hysteria. Freud describes a final defence or block against the work of treating hysteria in the very relationship between the patient and doctor. Indeed, Freud sees this defence is sure to arise, and perhaps the most difficult defence of all to overcome. The first of the three circumstances in which it may arise is a simple, probably small, breakdown in the relationship between the physician and patient. It might be that the patient is unsure about the physicians techniques or alternatively has felt slighted in the treatment in some way. This can be rectified with a sensitive discussion. The second of the three circumstances occurs when the patient becomes fearful that they will lose their independence because of a reliance on their treating physician. As almost all of Freuds patients who had hysteria were women, this could be conceived as a sexual reliance. The third circumstance is where the pati ent begins to take the problem that they are trying to resolve and transfer it onto the physician, thereby seeing their problem there instead of where it really exists. Freud provides the straightforward example of the sexual transference of a female patient of his who suddenly developed the vision of kissing him. He reports that the patient could not be analysed any further until this block had been addressed. The mechanism by which this transference happens, he posits, is that the patient creates a false connection between the compulsion which is the basis for their treatment and the therapist, rather than its original recipient. In treating these defences Freud makes it clear that the main aim should be to make the patient aware that this problem exists, and then once they are aware of it, the problem is largely dealt with. The challenge, then, is getting the patient to admit to these potentially embarrassing feelings. The Aetiology of Hysteria The development of Freuds theory of the aetiology of hysteria provides one of the most insightful, and sometimes controversial, areas of his work. The formation of the theory, like the work on its treatment, provided another important testing ground for some of the basic elements of what would later become psychoanalysis. Previous authors, including Breuer in the joint work with Freud in Studies on Hysteria, gave great weight to the heredity factors in the causes of hysteria. Freud meanwhile acknowledged these ideas, but in Heredity and the Aetiology of the Neuroses (Freud, 1896b) set out the three factors he believed were important and began to formulate a new theory. The causes of hysteria could be broken down into: (1) Preconditions this would include hereditary factors, (2) concurrent causes which are generalised causes and (3) specific causes, these being specific to the hysteria itself. It is in these specific causes he believed he had found an important contribution to aetiology of the condition. One of the common factors of the patients Freud was seeing, and the one he was coming to see as defining, was in their sexual problems. He reports that while many suffered from a range of different symptoms such as constipation, dyspepsia and fatigue, almost all of them had some kind of sexual problems. These ranged from the inability to achieve orgasm to a more general inability to have a satisfying sexually relationship. Freud saw this as a very significant problem as he maintains that the nervous systems needs to be regularly purged of sexual tension. This pattern across his patients, and the development of his theory of traumatic psychical events, led him to wonder what past events could have caused the sexual dysfunction the patients with hysteria were manifesting. Radically, and expecting no small amount of opposition to the idea, Freud advanced the theory that these neuroses were caused by sexual abuse before the age of sexual maturity. Of the thirteen cases that Freud had tre ated at the time of the paper, all of them had been subject to sexual abuse at an early age. However, Freud does make it clear that the information about their sexual lives is not obtained without some considerable pressure, and it only emerges in a fragmentary way that has later to be pieced together by the therapist. At this early stage of the theory, Freud believed that the sexual abuse left a psychical trace and formed the traumatic experience which was locked away in the depths of the mind. These ideas were much further developed and expanded on in Further remarks on the neuro-psychoses of defence (Freud, 1896a). Earlier Freud had grouped together hysteria with hallucinatory states and obsessions (Freud, 1894) and had begun to formulate the idea that all of these conditions had a common aetiology. In particular, Freud felt these were all part of an area where the ideas of psychological defences and psychological repression were important. Freud had found that patients he had seen had suffered sexual abuse sometimes as early as two years old and up to the age of ten, which he drew as an artificial cut-off point. What other theorists saw as a heredity, Freud saw as the confluence of factors for example if a boy had been sexually abused when he was five then it was likely that his brother would have been abused by the same person. Rather than seeing heredity as a separate factor in hysteria, he saw the sexual abuse as a replacement for heredity, sometimes exclusively, as the root cause in itself. The theory shows an interesting divergence in the analysis of obsessional neuroses. Here, Freud believed that the obsessional neuroses were caused by a sexual activity   in childhood rather than the sexual passivity typical of abuse. These ideas linked in neatly to the greater preponderance of obsessional neuroses in males. A logical division is therefore made with the females, the apparently more passive sex suffering from hysteria, while the apparently more active sex suffering from obsessions. In searching for the aetiology of these two conditions, it is here that Freud prefigures his future thinking on stages of sexual development by introducing the idea that the development of neuroses and/or hysteria is/are dependent on when the sexual abuse occurs in the developmental stages of the child, with sexual maturation providing the cut-off point. In The Aetiology of Hysteria Freud again makes clear his divergence from his mentor, Charcot, in claiming that heredity is not the most important factor in the aetiology of hysteria (Freud 1896c). Freud (1896c) travels back through the life-histories of the patients he has treated looking for the original source of the psychical trauma, discounting all sexual experiences at puberty and later. It is only in pre-pubescent children, when the potential for harm is at its greatest that there lies a sufficient cause. Freuds theory revolves around the idea that at a