Nature vs. Culture in Odyssey Essay

The imagery of nature and culture connects every scene from Book 9 to Book 12 in Odyssey. On the land of Cyclopes, Odysseus’s encounter with the one-eyed uncivilized giant unveils Odysseus’s cleverness as a civilized human being; Nevertheless, Odysseus eventually fails to overcome the flaw of human characteristic, as he tells Polyphemus about his real mortal identity when he is sailing away, which ultimately brings Poseidon’s revenge to Achaeans. At one point human civilization teaches Odysseus the skill of using wooden staff and wine to fight with Polyphemus’s strength, but the nature of superpower can easily surpass human beings’ wisdom. When Circe in Book 11 turns Odysseus’s men into pigs, when the blind prophet Tiresias foretells Odysseus’s fate, and when Zeus punishes Odysseus with another storm, Odysseus and his men are powerless but accept their destiny. The conflict between nature and culture connects humans’ world with gods’ world, thus makes every story interesting to follow as uncivilized creatures possess human characteristics and civilized human beings possess â€Å"limited† superpower. For example, in book 10, when Circe turns Odysseus’s men into pig, Odysseus can only overpower Circe by following Hermes’ instruction: â€Å"Take this herb, which is one of great virtue, and keep it about you when you go to Circe’s house, it will be a talisman to you against every kind of mischief†(Book X, 54). When Odysseus â€Å"rushed at her with sword drawn†, Odysseus is in a position where he is even able to overcome the power of an immortal creature. Both Polyphemus and Circe represent the power of nature, as their world does not have any law or morality, while odysseus’s journey represents the power of culture, as the man of culture defeats powerful immortal creatures through cleverness and self-restraint.

Consider Laertes’s contribution to the theme of revenge Essay

Of the various parallels between Hamlet and Laertes is one of the most telling. From the beginning of the play we see the two in comparable situations, each young men of the court, each seeking university, each spied on by Polonius, each (it would appear) loving Ophelia, in different ways. Therefore, when Laertes finds himself in Hamlet’s position of having a father murdered, the audience watches with interest to see how he will react, and how this will compare with Hamlet’s behaviour in the same situation. In fact, although Hamlet points out that: ‘by the image of my cause I can see The portraiture of his’ Laertes reaction to murder of his father is very different from hamlet’s, and indeed he is everything which Hamlet rebukes himself for failing to b. He forms the very epitome of a traditional avenger, and almost everything he does forms a contrast with what Hamlet does not do. Immediately as he returns to the court ‘in a riotous head’, having recruited ‘a rabble’, to aid him in his revenge. Thus we see that he finds both opportunity and means to destroy his father’s supposed murderer as soon as he possibly can. It is sometimes argued that Hamlet has little opportunity, doing the first two acts of the play, at least, to confront Claudius and exact his revenge. However, it is clear that – particularly since he is ‘loved by the distracted multitude’ – Hamlet might have actively created such an opportunity for himself, just as Laertes does. Furthermore Laertes is determined that he will ‘dare damnation’ in order to revenge his father. This is very important when soliloquy beginning, ‘To be or not to be’, in which he confesses that ‘the dread of something after death’ is, in part, what makes him ‘lose the name of action’, for again we see hamlet’s attitude to his task differs radically from that of a traditional avenger. This is also apparent when Laertes says that he would ‘cut (Hamlet’s) throat I’ th’ church ! ‘, since we are immediately reminded that Hamlet refused to kill Claudius, when given the perfect opportunity, because he was in prayer. Hamlet’s refusal to kill Claudius at this time (because his prayers make him ‘fit and seasoned’ to go to heaven – which is hardly a fitting revenge for a man who has sent his brother to be judged with ‘his crimes broad blown’) may – if we decide that they are more than just another rationalization (an entirely debatable point in itself) – prove that Hamlet reflects more carefully than Laertes on the business of revenge and that he is more caught up in the need for a perfect and fitting revenge. Nevertheless Laertes’ clear opinion that ‘Revenge should have no bounds’, and his immediate and unhesitating action, in comparison with Hamlet’s continual prevarication, persuade us that he is the more effective avenger. Laertes falls into the same category as Fortinbras, who with his ‘unimproved mettle hot and full’ seeks revenge on Denmark for winning and taking control of what had been his father’s lands, and Pyrrhus, who brutally kills an old and defenceless man in the name of revenge. All these characters’ unhesitating and decisive action, and what seems to be their lack of fear at the consequences, throw Hamlet’s indecisiveness very much into relief, for whilst he can only ‘unpack (his) heart with words’, they can ‘sweep†¦ to revenge’ as he longs to. However, it is Claudius, not Laertes, who actually states that ‘Revenge should have no bounds’, which is not only ironic, since it is Hamlet’s hesitation alone which has saved him so far, but – I feel – also has sinister undertones, since one would hardly have put such words into the mouth of the clearest villain of the play without implying that this sentiment is also, somehow, villainous. Of course, as Claudius is here manipulating Laertes’ strong desire for revenge, it would be unwise to attach too much importance to this point, but it is nevertheless interesting to examine our attitude to Laertes’ attitude towards revenge as opposed to Hamlet’s. After all, the impetuous approach of the former allows him to believe: ; The people muddied, Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers. ‘ Thus he promptly accuses the wrong man (Claudius, rather than Hamlet) of killing his father. Compare this with Hamlet – well aware that all is not necessarily what it seems in Denmark – who creates an elaborate plan to ‘catch the conscience of the king’ before he proceeds. It might also appear to the audience that Laertes’ defiance of damnation is more to do with a lack of reflection on ‘the undiscovered country’ than courage in facing it. After all, as hamlet points out: ‘the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought’ Laertes is all ‘resolution’, untroubled by the words and thoughts, which impede hamlet’s action. (We never see Laertes in soliloquy, of course, because he is morally certain of what he must do, and does not explore the subject further. ) However, we possibly feel some sympathy with the view that: ‘blest are those Whose blood and judgement are so well co meddled That they are not a pipe for Fortune’s finger. ‘ Ironically, these words, spoken by Hamlet in praise of Horatio, actually describe the former in some respects, and particularly when we see him in comparison with Laertes. After all, whilst his endless reflection might appear to serve, at times, only to exacerbate and rationalize his delay, at least he can only rarely be accused of being rash. Laertes believes that, ‘That drop of blood that’s calm proclaims me bastard. ‘ However, this rage, this refusal to reason calmly and to reflect on what has happened, allows the slippery Claudius to manipulate Laertes for his own ends, leading to the treachery which destroys Claudius and Laertes themselves, and Gertrude, as well Hamlet. Ultimately, there is a certain nobility t be found in the exchange of forgiveness between hamlet and Laertes (the final link the latter’s assurance that: ‘Mine and my father’s death come not upon thee, Nor thine on me! ‘ Which is greater than Laertes’ revengeful triumph over Hamlet. This is not to say that Shakespeare’s presentation of Laertes serves entirely as an indictment of the process of revenge. Both hamlet and Laertes speak of the ‘honour’ of revenge, and finally does kill Claudius, that he is ‘justly served. ‘ However, I can feel that considering Laertes’ contribution to the theme of revenge is only useful when seen alongside hamlet’s reaction to the same theme, and perhaps this portrayal of a traditional avenger who is only useful when seen alongside hamlet’s reaction to the same theme, and perhaps this portrayal of a traditional avenger who is rash, manipulative and finally self-destructive, allows us to see hamlet in a more favourable light when he is unable to assume the same role as traditional avenger.

Adapting to Change

The mechanical technological driven world of today is moving fast and in this environment change is an inevitable thing because all the ups and downs; failures and successes faced by the people are dependent on the changes occurring in the surrounding environment.The capabilities of a person to respond towards the changes and adopt them determine the way of spending of person’s life. In the personal as well as professional life the people have to be well aware of the changes occurring around them so that they can keep them align with those changes. Most of the changes occurring in the surrounding world are led by the technological advancements.Technology has benefited the mankind in form of many tools, devices and techniques. These new facilities replace the old one and the way of doing certain thing also change with time. Most of the time these advancement and changes bring improvement in the life of the people but in some of the cases people have to give up their traditional values and cultural norms in order to cope up with the changes.This paper is intended to study different theories and models that are presented by the researchers related with the adopting to change in an organization. The dissertation is based on a qualitative research study that is conducted through secondary analysis of data and a case study.The case study of a US based company is presented so that different theories of adopting to change can be studied in the perspective of the company and the evidences could be found about the practical implications of the theories of adopting to change.1.1 Importance of TopicIn the fast moving world of today ideas came in to existence and then they are executed rapidly too, building lot of pressure on the people working in different fields because they have also to adopt the same policy of creating and implementing new and changed ideas from time to time.The time required for making these changes is often very short but the success of an orga nization in the highly competitive marketplace of today lies in the fact that how quickly they can respond towards the changes. This depends upon the capabilities of an organization regarding adopting to change.It is very importance to study that what is the importance of adopting to change in an organization because it is one of the most important issues for the business organization now days and the complete understanding of this issue is essential for individuals as well as organization so that they can manage their existing and design new strategies in this perspective.Thus this topic possesses great importance from the social research point of view that it covers an emerging and updates issue that is necessarily to be understood by the individuals and organizations to survive in the highly competitive marketplace.1.2 Need and Significance for the StudyThere is considerable portion of the literature conducted around the topic and numerous research studies have focused on the mod els and theories of adapting to change and their practical implication.This dissertation is continuation of the research work done so far because the topic is gaining more and more importance. As the technologies is rapidly spreading so the need of studying the change in organization is also getting more and more important and the dissertation is aimed at fulfilling the need of further study on this topic.1.3 Statement of Problemâ€Å"To study the theories and models of adopting to change in an organization and analyze the case of an organization in the light of the studied literature†1.4 Objective of the StudyThe study is aimed t achieving the following objectives ·To understand the concept of adapting to change in an organization from the historical perspective ·To study different theories and models of adopting to change ·To present the case study of an organization regarding the strategies and planning related with adopting to change. 2. Literature Review2.1. Adopti ng to change – Historical PerspectiveAdopting to change in an organization is not a new phenomenon but it has deep roots inside the history. Lewin (1952) presented a three stage model about adopting to change in an organization.   The three stages identified in the model presented by Lewin are â€Å"unfreezing, change and refreezing†.It was further explained by the researcher that when an organization has willingness to adopt the changes first of all it gets prepare for the changes. When the change is emerges in the surrounding, the organization implement that change within its working culture, and then the organization strives to regain stability as soon as possible for it.All of these steps are taken by the organization with a specific period of time so that organization can get stability and functionality on early basis (Lewin, p459, 1952). As the time passes, the business world show the need for more turbulent and flexible model of adopting to change that can fit well in the uncertain organizational and environmental conditions as well so the early model presented by Lewin became less appropriate and uncommon.De Jean (1991) and Malone et al (1992) presented another concept of adopting to change that technology is the main factor that bring changes in the environment and while designing the technologies it is the key issue that the technology must be easily adoptable by the end users and the people can have the opportunity to customize their existing features using the new technology and at the same time they can also create new applications with the help of newly introduced technology.In this way the features and adoptability of the technology it self determines the success rate of its acceptability. At the same time, the organizations also have to be aware of the fact that how they can implement change within their existing working patterns and what are the most appropriate ways of integrating new technologies in their traditional system.I n this situation the experience of the organization plays the most significant role in determining the role of the organization in the changing situation. Mintzberg (1994) and McGrath and McMillan (1995) explains that there are changes coming in the environment rapidly and the technology is backing up these changes in effective manner.In this new scenario there are many organizations that are still unaware of the fact that what is actually going around them because they see all of the things like a game that is entirely new for them and they don’t even know the rules and regulations of playing the game.This is the main factor that can lead the organization towards greater risk of failure because this show the lack of willingness of the company to get prepare for adopting to change and an organization can not survive in marketplace until and unless it is ready to face the changes.2.2. Adopting to change – Need, Importance and StrategiesVictor Siegle (2006) explains that an organization has to be well aware of the changes occurring all around because the success of an organization largely depends upon the fact that how fast and how adequately they respond towards the changes and make amendments in their strategies to meet the demands of those changes.These changes could be in form of change in the client’s or customer’s requirements and the organization has to provide the goods or services of the client or customer according to their new requirements.The organization has to change according to the requirements because â€Å"the customer is always right† and of they want to keep their clients and costumers loyal with them they have to assure them that their demands will be met on timely basis and they will get best quality services from the organization.In this regard it is very important for the organization to know that what are the priorities of their clients or customers and as far as there are some changes occur in their re quirement due to any factor, then the organization has to keep an eye on those changes and the management has to be always prepare to react upon these changes accordingly. Only then they can be sure about the successful relationsIn this context there is great responsibility lies upon the shoulders of the high officials and management. They have to develop such strategies and organizational culture in the company that the staff and their working patterns can easily adjust with the upcoming changes.All of this has to be done while remaining within the boundaries of the schedules, budgets, people, and deadlines. For better management of adopting to change it is essential to create a synergistic nature of the organization means that different teams should be created to perform different type of business activities separately and whenever there is any change required in the production of good and service, the people concerned with that particular part of the work will be contacted and as ked to make changes in their work.In this way the entire production process or company strategies does not face any set back or major delay. This is necessarily to be done by the management because they have no option to say â€Å"No† to the client or customers asking for change. This will not effect the reputation and credibility of the organization but also the sales and revenue of the company will be badly affected.However it doesn’t means that the organization must be ready and go for adopting each and every change occurring in the surrounding world but there is great need of effective management of adopting to change strategies and planning because unmanaged change can create lots of problem for the organization in terms of increate in the potential of causing disruption to projects already in progress that might lead to the mediocre end product, missed deadlines and budgets.All these factors will ultimately contribute towards the deterioration of the relationship of the organization with their client or customer. So there are some key steps that must be followed by an organization in the process of change management so that they can be in better position for adopting to change.For example they have to assure that the new or changes policies will be integrate in to the original or existing policies and working pattern of the organization so that the employees can cope up with these changes easily.The cost and time involved in the production process should be kept in consideration by the management while implementing a change so that the budget and deadline could be managed effectively.At the same time it is equally importance that the management must choose from the emerging changes that which one is beneficial for the organization and which will harm it. This will help the company is getting well prepared for adopting to change in the organization.Jacowski (2006) explains that the overall success of an organization is greatly dependent on t he change adoptability capabilities of the organization. The researcher explains that adopting to change in an organization requires lot of time, dedication, money and effective planning.It is very essential to manage the change properly because changes can take the organization towards improved productivity, efficient employee’s performance, superior quality of good and services produces and a better bottom line.In case of failure of the organization in adopting the change there is a great risk that the relationship of the company with its client or customers will be harm, there will be frustration generate in the employees, and the over all productivity and quality of the organization will be badly effected.In order to avoid the dangers of mismanaged change, it is very importance for an organization to get ready for adopting the change with all its planning and strategies. First of all the change must be added to the company’s function in a practical and meaningful w ay, otherwise there is no chance that the change will be accepted and successfully implemented in the organization.Thus the management has the major responsibility to choose that what change is necessary for the organization and above all what are the implications of that change within the existing working culture of the company. The management has to keep an eye on the time matter also to decide and when and in which aspects of the business, the organization will welcome the changes and what are the aspects and policies that will be remained undisturbed by any of the changes.For the better management of adopting to change in the organization it is a crucial matter that the people associated with the change management must be aware of all the problems and issues associated with the adoption to change sin the organization and they must have adequate work done on the lines that â€Å"who will be taking on the change, who will best know how the change will work, and how it can be util ized†.In addition to this it is equally important that there must be trust worthy relationship between the management and the employees so that the employees can be motivated to work in efficient manner in the changes environment also and they must be mentally prepare to face the changes adopted and implemented by the organization.It is importance to have trust based relation in the organization to get prepare for adopting to change because in case of lack of trust, the employees will resist strongly towards the implemented changes and it will become even more difficult for the management to implement the changes within the organization.Moreover the management should also have deep understanding of the employees issues so that they can know that what changes will be welcome by the employees and what changes will be resisted. In this regard the management must have effective communication link with its people so that there could be good understanding of their reservations and c oncerns.2.2 Theories and ModelsGallivan at al (1994) adaptation to change in an organization requires hard work of many years because it is not something that can occur immediately. The researchers explain that to get prepares for adopting any change, it is very necessary that the management of the organization must assure the flow of concise, readable and to the point information to the employees.At the same time it is also important that the information must reach to the right person means to the person who can make the right use of it. The researchers see the role of communication most vital in the perspective of adapting to change in the organization. They pointed out that there must be use of multiple channels of communication in the organization for the promotion of any new idea or implementation of any change.The management is recommended that there must be good communication links built with the employees so that the management can effectively demonstrate the decision of the management regarding the implementation and adaptation of any new change. The role of management is very crucial at this stage because there is a broad spectrum of skills required to lead to effective management of innovation and change within an organization.There must be programs, workshops, meetings and gatherings arranged by the management with the employees so that both the management and the employees can better understand the perspective of each other. In addition to this the management must also produce and provide some material in form of hard copy or soft copy to the employees.This material can explain the perspective of the employees in detail and can inform the employees many such things that can not be demonstrated orally.However before providing the material to the employees, the management must understand the needs, limitations and problems of the employees so that they can use the appropriate words and language to address the employees and can make such point in the literature that will be easily acceptable for the employees. Kwon and Zmud (1997) explains that adopting to change in an organization is not an easy issue because in many organizations there is great possibility that the employees with resist change and talk about remaining sticking on the same traditional means of doing their work.He further explains that there are some main reasons due to which the employees within an organization can resist for change and these are the challenges for the management if they want to develop a culture in the organization open towards changes.An important reason why the employees resist the change in ambiguity that people are unclear about the details of the emerging change and they have certain questions in their mind that what would be the effect of the change over their job position and working patterns.This unclear image led towards the resistance in the employees regarding the change. Another important reason is lack of proper communication lin ks between the management and the employees. When the employees are not properly informed by the management neither there is any consultancy done with the employees but the change in imposed on the employees as an order, then there is a generally unlikeness and unwillingness in adopting any change.On the other hand if the employees are well informed about the change and the policies are discussed in details then thy can meet higher levels of job satisfaction than uninformed workers. This is because people like to know and they have the right to know that what is going all around them and what are the decisions that are taking place related with their work and positions.

Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining Research Paper

Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining - Research Paper Example However, the health sector is more sensitive. Lives are lost when the doctors and nurses resort to industrial action. There is a lot to be said on whether it is morally right for people whose profession is to save people’s lives to be on strike. This is attributed to the fact that when they do so, they put the same lives in jeopardy (Olin, 2012). However, it must be admitted that when such a time comes, decisions have to be made by the management. The person who normally is at the sharp end of decision making at such times is the Human Resource Director. This paper shall seek to explore the alternatives available to the Human Resource director in the case that nurses at their hospital make the decision to become unionized. At the sound of it, unionization of nurses at several levels sounds like a paradox. This is because at the end of their training, they take the Hippocratic Oath which envisions a workplace where the medical service providers are to be more concerned about the well-being of their clients, more than their own. Therefore, nurses are categorized under what might be labeled as essential services. They are not expected to withdraw their services because of industrial action. However, in today’s world, pragmatism has to prevail. If the nurses fail to get what they expect they might not in turn offer the best care that their profession is intended to offer. Thus, in a way good healthcare begins with making the nurses happy, rather than the patients. This is because happy nurses will provide better services which might possibly result in better healthcare (Olin, 2012). The other important thing to note is that as much as unionization is a huge disruption to the provision of services, it is within the rights of the workers to resort to such action in the event that their grievances are not being listened to. As a Human Resource Director, the acceptance of that fact is a huge step in the

How businesses can position themselves to take advantage of huge Term Paper

How businesses can position themselves to take advantage of huge changes and maximize on their values - Term Paper Example The introduction captures the background of change in business with the implications and consequences. The main body evaluates the advantages that business can derive from the business changes to maximize on its values, the actions that business should take to be ready for future changes expected and finally the skills and competencies, which are most appropriate in the ‘new world’ of business. The conclusion section reinstates the thesis and presents the major arguments of discussed. Taking Advantage of Business Changes to Maximize On Value Introduction Businesses have to respond to changes in their operations because of various factors. The business regulations often change. Technological innovations and the need to respond to globalization have all contributed to changes in business operations. Societal shifts and trends change continually, and business have to respond to the needs of their customers by changing their processes, strategies, and operations. Innovations and advances in information technologies have contributed immensely to changes in business processes and operations across the globe through the capacity to bridge the geographical divide. The consequences and implications of advances in information technology in businesses are varied. These changes may affect some businesses positively whereas others may be affected negatively. Nevertheless, an appropriate response to the changes should be by taking advantage of the change forces to maximize on various business dimensions, including shareholder’s wealth, profits and social responsibilities among other things. Businesses need to prepare adequately for the future changes. Skills and competencies are essential assets for dealing with the changes experienced continually. How businesses should take advantage of the changes, mainly on information technologies, to maximize of their value is discussed expansively. Further, recommendations on the appropriate requirements that they n eed to have and the actions they ought to take to prepare effectively for future changes are provided. In addition, the prerequisite skills and competencies to work effectively in the ‘new world’ of business are offered. Opportunities Provided By Changes in Business to Maximize On Return Value Advances in Information Technologies Advancements in information technologies offer opportunities for businesses to change into innovations that may help in maximizing their business value. Advances in technology can help businesses introduce new products and services into the market to meet the needs of their customers. Further, new technologies can help in developing new business models, which may be used as a competitive advantage against the competitors (Lorenzo, Kawalek and Ramdani 107). Changes in business processes brought about by information technologies may be used by an organization to build on customer value proposition. Technologies and changes may influence businesse s to provide their services to the customers efficiently, and with high quality. Quality and effective services and products can be offered to clients and customers using new information technologies that reduce on costs and optimize time. Such changes may help businesses retain and attract huge customer base because of enhanced customer responsiveness (Lorenzo, Kawalek and Ramdani 107). Information technologies are dynamic but businesses use them as essential organizational assets. These new technologies may

Systems Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Systems Project Management - Essay Example Moreover, the mode of data referencing seemed to be difficult and time consuming. Therefore, adoption and implementation of information systems in hospitals will automatically increase the efficiency and effectiveness of data interaction thereby increasing the quality of services offered in the hospital set up. Hospital information systems are massive, integrated system aimed at supporting hospitals’ comprehensive information requirements that include patient, ancillary, and financial management. It should be noted that hospitals have become extremely complex. Moreover, they have large units and departments that need to be administered from a central unit of management as a mean of coordinating care to patients (Velde, 1992; Pg. 342). Therefore, manual data management will be quite cumbersome especially due to the large departments and the ever growing number of patients in these institutions. Thus, the only sure way to help hospitals to become reliable and efficient is to adv ise them to adopt hospital information systems in their patients and data management. The use of information systems will help the hospital to diagnose, manage, and educate relevant stakeholders towards improving their services and practices (Winter and Haux, 2011, Pg. 21). Implementation of information systems in hospitals is inevitable since numerous dominating factors including people, organization, and technology are currently inseparable. Hospitals have currently integrated a series of functions and activities including: Consultation, Disease diagnosis, Providing treatment and treatment facilities, Patients and children immunization, Admission facilities including beds, nursing, and medicine among others. Hospitals also conduct other operational services that include: Recording patients’ information General billing Recording diagnostic information per patient Keeping immunization records per patient or per child Keeping records for various diseases and medicines for cura ble diseases All these activities and services are often done manually, for hospitals that have not adopted the use of information systems. The activity involved in recording such data is hectic in that each patient’s information is often recorded manually and some of the patient’s personal information includes name, age, and gender (Dudeck, 1997; Pg. 261). These information or data are usually stored afresh whenever the patient visits the hospital. Furthermore, bills that are generated from other units and hospital departments are recorded separately and provided to customer of separate bill sheets. At the end of it all, the same bills will be summed up differently and this will be a waste of time and writing resources. All these data often occupy space; therefore, they are usually destroyed after sometimes to provide space for other day data set. The quantity of data or file piles usually hinders doctors from referring to such files as the need may demand. The volume of the files will obviously discourage the doctors; thus, they will resort to gauze work and such actions may be injurious to the patients involved (Schmitz, 1979; Pg. 92). Therefore, the aim of this project is to eliminate of physical data collection, storage, and reference to improve management of both the patients and hospital management. Part one: Scope The scope of this project is to develop and install software that will automate management in

World Wide Flu Epidemic Kills 20 Millions. 1918 Essay

World Wide Flu Epidemic Kills 20 Millions. 1918 - Essay Example The fort was an outpost in Kansas where new soldiers were trained before being sent off to Europe for World War I. A company cook apparently came down with the symptoms of the flu which appeared similar to the symptoms of a bad cold. He was isolated immediately; however, within the next hour, several soldiers were also admitted to the infirmary for the same symptoms as the cook (Rosenberg, 2010). Despite their best attempts to contain the symptoms, the flu spread quickly to the Fort Riley population and after several weeks, about a thousand of them were infected by the flu; towards the end, 46 of them died (Rosenberg, 2010). Similar incidents were soon reported in different military camps in the US and this spread on board transport ships and inadvertently this disease reached Europe via infected soldiers. When the epidemic reached Spain, the Spanish government immediately made the epidemic public; and since most people first heard the attack from the Spanish broadcast, the flu was n amed the Spanish flu (Rosenberg, 2010). It later also infected Russia, India, China, and Africa; but by the end of 1918, the first wave of the disease gradually tapered out. The second wave of the flu was however more deadly. It struck three port cities all at the same time (Boston, US; Brest in France; and Freetown in Sierra Leone) (Rosenberg, 2010). Hospitals were overwhelmed by the second wave as the patient population overflowed and depleted their supplies. The flu had a major impact on victims as within a few hours, symptoms of extreme fatigue, fever, and headache, already started showing up (Rosenberg, 2010). Patients were also subjected to powerful bouts of coughing which most often tore their abdominal muscles. Blood was often seen from the mouths, nostrils, and from their ears. Other patients also vomited (Rosenberg, 2010). This disease sometimes killed patients within a matter of hours from the first symptom manifesting and others within a day or two of the

Practice papers Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Practice papers - Assignment Example When a project rolls-up unattributed cost, claims may be made according to the standard form contracts. Factors that lead to such claims are prolonged costs, charges, loss, disruption, and wasted time. Clients should avoid at all costs any interruptions that may be caused or ensure they put all the risks and eventualities that may arise in black and white under a binding agreement. Resource provision (the main), developers education, clarifications, timely decisions, support developers analysis, setting requirements, reviewing and evaluations, communication of changes anticipated. By accomplishing all the above, smooth running from facilitation is ensured. By so doing, safety at work is guaranteed. By observing code of conduct, environment of service and right equipment for service, employees have good working conditions health will be safeguarded and general safety available. They always make sure that workers adhere to safety rules and regulation. They inspect site for hazards, unsanitary, danger, machine failures, building accidents, dangerous chemical exposure. Recording violations is part of their daily routine. They can recommend project suspension when danger is present until it is save. Safety documents always need be present at site and they are mandated with training workers on safety requirements conduct at place of work. It has little bureaucracy, which speeds acquisition and completion of contracts. The qualification process is much simpler for example no need for lengthy and unwarranted proposals. There are limited regulations in private funding. Because the owners are on a venture, they put in their best to achieve results hence very competent contractors. Marketing orientation is a model, which seeks first to determine customer’s requirements, needs and tastes, then proceed to develop the product for them. On the other hand, sales orientation seeks to sell company products without initial market survey for

Standardized tests Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Standardized tests - Essay Example Though this could in some separate cases show the existence of prior plans to submit considerably similar results with the situation in place. This is mostly the case in schools whereby it is expected that the results have to be impressive (Mehrens 74). It is however important that, both sides of the subject matter are put to consideration. This are, the advantages, and the disadvantages as well. Starting with the advantages, standardized tests, as well as the practice of standardized testing, gives teachers, a comprehensive guide, helping them pre-determine what to teach or not teach their students. It further helps them plan on when, in terms of the time and period, they should teach, while ensuring maximum result. Standardized test also prove useful in providing accurate comparison across groups of people, as this tests are sat by relatively all schools, especially in Texas. These, just to mention a few, are some of the benefits that come out of the use standardized tests (Mehrens 104). On the other hand, standardized tests bear cons, with an example being the case mentioned above; whereby the teachers are accused of teaching, to the test. This removes the essential role of teaching, as they only teach to achieve a score, not to pass knowledge. These tests also exert pressure on students, even resulting to the school offering little or no time for recess. Consequently, the pressure places a lot of stress on the student, and teachers

Using Nintendo Wii in Library Programming for Young Adults Essay

Using Nintendo Wii in Library Programming for Young Adults - Essay Example (MacKenty, 2006) One of the most controversial issues that are highly associated with playing video games is the common perception that that these games could promote a culture of violence among the American youths. (Lieberman, 1998) In line with this matter, many studies have shown that playing violent video games is considered as one major factor that could increase the number of massacres in different schools. (Gegax, Adler and Pedersen, 1998) Despite the negative impact of playing video games in the students’ aggressive behavior (Winkel, Novak and Hopson, 1987; Graybill et al., 1987), the researcher will discuss the benefits of using Nintendo Wii and other game consoles in each of the local school libraries. Eventually, the researcher will critically analyze the how these games could increase the students’ interest in learning the school subjects. Prior to the conclusion, the researcher will provide a recommendation on how game console could be beneficial to the learning experience of the students. Nintendo Wii is considered as one of the top three next generation of game console that many school librarians are considering aside from Microsoft’s Xbox 260 Elite and Sony’s PlayStation 3 (PS3). (Czarnecki, 2007) Wii enables the players to control the game using the motion of the hands, measuring the body movement and its velocity accurately. (MacKenty, 2007) Wii is capable of delivering outstanding graphics and high quality sound which could significantly adds up to the quality of the students’ gaming experience. Since Wii game console is designed using the standard USB port, Wii games can easily be played by several students through networking. Wii game console is also applicable to older TV models to allow more students to view the game. Microsoft’s Xbox 260 Elite or PlayStation 3 is capable of multiplayer games. These two game consoles can be more appropriate to enable

Skokie vs. Collin Essay Example for Free

Skokie vs. Collin Essay In Skokie, Illinois Frank Collin wanted to march in the Village of Skokie, Illinois. Skokie had the most Jewish residents per capita in the United States at the time. His political views are representing the National Socialist Party of America because he was a regional leader of the organization. Frank Collin was eventually granted permission to march by the seventh United States circuit court of appeals by the ruling, â€Å"1st amendment is King†. The court also determined that the government couldn’t restrict expression because of a message, idea, subject matter, or content. In the case of Collin vs. Smith, I disagree with the ruling of the seventh US circuit court of appeals. Some people agree with the ruling because if the government were to deny the NSPA the right to march, it could have given the party even more political leverage against the very people who disagree with them. The NSPA could claim the unconstitutionality of the case ruling and would raise more political attention than they had already received. While society wants to morally deny the NSPA the right to march in a public park and express what some may refer to as hate speech, which only instills more political power in the NSPA. I disagree with this stance because if the court denies Frank Collin and the NSPA the right to march, than the court is not granting more attention and political power to them, it is simply following the rules established in the constitution. The NSPA could not use this court ruling against the United States to appeal the decision even further. This ruling would be consistent with all other forms of hate that were denied the freedom of expression. The marches, which were to take place, were certainly in the wrong place at the wrong time and in the wrong manner to promote general welfare and ensure domestic tranquility. Also, I disagree with the ruling of the court because the first amendment does not protect all speech such as hate speech, slander or libel. The signs that the NSPA had were promoting the death of Jewish people and all other non-white Americans or â€Å"anglosaxon descent†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. This is hate speech and is not protected by the first amendment. The written Libel on the signs has a malicious tone and the spoken slander by the Socialist party violates the first amendment. In conclusion, I disagree with the ruling of the seventh US circuit court of appeals in the case of Collin vs. Smith. The court decided that Collin had every right to demonstrate his ideology in a peaceful protest as protected by the first amendment. This ruling serves no justice because the socialist party was violating the exceptions to the first amendment such as hate speech, libel, and finally slander. The demonstrations did not promote general welfare, and violated the tranquility of others.

Define the Key Terms Essay Example for Free

Define the Key Terms Essay Application: Generally, a function on any kind of computer or electronic device that is useful to the user, which can give the user a reason to want to own and use the device. More specifically, software that performs some useful function for a user. Computer network: A combination of many components that work together so that many different devices can communicate. Computer networking: The gerund form of the term computer network. Email: Electronic mail. An application in which the user can type text and attach other files to create the electronic equivalent of a postal letter, and send the email to another person using his or her email address. Enterprise network: A network owned and operated by a company, with that company being somewhat larger than typical, generally (but not exactly) with more than 1000 employees. HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol, The protocol  used by web browsers and web servers to define the format of URLs (web addresses) and the messages used to exchange web objects. Internet/the Internet: The global network formed by interconnecting most of the networks on the planet, with each home and company network connecting to an Internet service provider (ISP), which in turn connects to other ISPs. Link: A generic term for any network cable or wireless communications path between two devices over which bits can be transmitted. Node: A generic term for any networking device that sits on the end of links, for the purpose of both connecting links to create physical paths and to make decisions about how to forward data through the network. Protocol: A set of rules that different devices and/or software must follow so that the network works correctly. Video frame: A grid of pixel locations of a chosen width by height that contains the lights/colors to be shown in a video at a single point in time. Voice call: A more modern term for a telephone call that does not use the word telephone, instead emphasizing the fact that the traffic that flows between the endpoints is voice. Web address: Text that identifies details about one object in a network so that a client can request that object from a server. An informal term for URL. Web browser: Literally, software controlled directly by a user that requests web pages from a web server, and after receiving a page, displays the web page in a window. More generally, this term refers to both the software and the hardware on which it executes. Web page: In a web browser, all the text, images, video, and sound that fill the window of the browser when the user opens a link to some web address. Web server: Literally, software that stores web pages and web objects, listens for requests for those pages, and sends the contents of those pages/objects to clients. More generally, this term refers to both the software and the hardware on which it executes.

Benefits of Medical Waste Management Methods

Benefits of Medical Waste Management Methods ABSTRACT Medical waste management is a critical problem around Africa continent. The problem is observed in Tanzania in all levels of health facilities. Medical waste is one of the major health safety and environmental problem. This is a result of lack of awareness on among generators and handlers of medical waste. This calls for an urgent attention to understand the extent and magnitude of the problem and to develop strategies to properly manage medical waste generated. Various measures have been taken in Tanzania including construction of 13 pilot small scale incinerators at various parts of the country, yet the problem is still persisting. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of medical waste management methods is not clearly known and practiced in many health facilities. Therefore, this study was carried out to examine the effectiveness of medical waste management. Data were collected through interviews using structured, observation and abstraction of documentation. Solid medical wastes were collected in plastics bags and measure three times a day from each occupied bed. The collected waster was measured using a common household balance with a precision of a two decimal places .A total of 64 respondents were interviewed using questionnaire. The result indicated that average generation rate of medical waste was 0.01kg/person/day in dispensaries, 0.02kg/person/day in urban health centres to 0.5 kg/bed/day in Hospitals. Inadequate staff, insufficient and inefficiency of tools led to poor management of medical waste. Poor segregation and colour coding of storage instruments was observed at low level of healthcare centres, lack of medical waste treatment pit and substandard incinerators which produce obnoxious gases affecting the community. In view of the findings, medical management is not given sufficient priority. However, health workers are knowledgeable on the consequences of medical waste. Its recommended that strategies for management of medical waste be established t o include provision of facilities, infrastructes, staffing and funding to reduce environmental and medical problems associated. Keywords: medical waste, waste management, health facilities, storage instruments BACKGROUND Medical waste management (MWM) is a public health and environmental problem that attract attention in both developed and developing countries (Askarian et. al., 2004). Medical waste are generated in a wide variety of sources, starting from the hospital (a primary target), human and animal clinics, health centers, intermediate facilities, physician offices, research institute (animal and human health), and homes (especially diabetic homes) (USEPA, 1986). Medical wastes include several different waste streams, some of which require more care and disposal (Manyele, 2008).They contains different items making it a special type of mixed waste. Medical wastes include all infectious waste, hazardous (including low-level radioactive) wastes, and any other wastes that are generated from all types of health care institutions, including hospitals, clinics, doctor (including dental and veterinary) offices, and medical laboratories. Longe and Williams (2006) referred to medical waste as the municipal solid waste of peculiar characteristics which need to be sorted properly during handling. Medical waste may also contain soiled or blood soaked bandages, culture dishes and other glassware, discarded surgical gloves and surgical instruments, needles used to give shots or draw blood, cultures, stocks and swabs used to inoculate cultures. These are the most common trash/litter in medical waste and well known to the health-care staff. Waste from operati on theaters contain removed body organs like tonsils, appendices, limbs etc which renders the medical waste scary, and nuisance. Medical waste also contains lancets that are little blades which are used to prick finger to get a drop of blood. During immunization campaigns medical waste contains leftovers of empty boxes, cotton wool and bandages. Thus, if the waste is not segregated properly at the point of generation it will be a mixture of all these garbage plus kitchen waste, office waste and other wastes which do not arise as a result of patients being attended (Lloyds, 2003). Inadequate and inappropriate handling of medical wastes has serious public health consequences and impact on the environment. It has been medically proved that unprotected exposure to healthcare waste such as used syringes, needles and cotton can cause health hazards, and, indeed, is a source of transmission of HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and other diseases. Proper management of medical waste is crucial to minimize health risks. Medical waste requires specialized treatment and management from its source to final disposal destination. Simply disposing of it into dustbins, drains, and canals or dumping it to the outskirts of human settlement poses a serious public health and environmental hazards. Thus, there is a need to initiate a concentrated effort to improve the medical waste management to reduce the negative impact of waste on environment, public health and safety at health care facilities (Griffin, 1989). The amount of medical waste generated differs according to the level of health facilities, bed capacity, occupancy rate, and socio-economic status of the society. According to Christen (1996), the average quantities estimated from a survey conducted in several health care facilities in Dar es Salaam hospital generated an average of 0.06kg/patient/day and 0.08kg/patient/day, respectively non hazardous and hazardous waste while for both health centers and dispensaries waste generated 0.01kg/patient/day. Mato and Kassenga (1997) estimated that waste generation rate in Tanzania was 0.84 kg/bed/day. In a survey conducted nationwide in Tanzania indicates that the increase in medical waste generated due to increase in population, poor management of MWM systems and expanded use of disposable (Manyele and Anicetus, 2006), Developing comprehensive waste management practices in health facilities in developing world is a challenging problem. For example, Leonard (2003) and Manyele, (2003) noted that in Africa the problem appears to be more critical as reports indicate poor medical waste management. It is a challenge because of little information on the number of bed, hospitals, health centers, dispensaries and other facilities and the type of waste generated. It should be noted that there is no single management method that can solve all medical waste problems; rather, each medical waste management problem must be assessed independently to develop a viable and sound solution. However, the responsibility for the effective disposal of the wastes generated by the various health facilities lies on the facility generating the waste. Medical waste management requires monitoring and control at all levels of production in order to minimize effects to the community (Van, 1988). Most of the non-infectious medical wastes are land filled, while infectious wastes from hospitals are incinerated. The degree of risks posed by medical wastes is not known. Proper handling, treatment, and disposal of these wastes are believed to result in minimal health and environmental risks. In Tanzania medical waste management (MWM) is poor and awareness on its related consequences is lacking among generators and handlers (Manyele, 2003, Manyele and Anicetus, 2006). However, in recent years Tanzania government has made efforts to manage medical wastes from its generation to final disposal or treatment by training health workers, increasing funds for procurement of tools and improvement of infrastructure (Manyele, 2004). Despite the efforts made by the government to minimize the dangers of medical waste, the problem is persisting in most areas. This study examined MWM practices in health facilities located in Sumbawanga Municipal Council and provides recommendations that can be adopted in other health facilities. The study assessed the type and quantity of waste generated and examined performance of MWM. It also determined effectiveness of MWM practices in collection, storage, transportation and disposal. In addition it examined the role of knowledge of health workers on management of medical waste. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted in Sumbawanga Municipal Council in South West Tanzania which is located between latitude 07ÂÂ °45ÂÂ ´ and 08ÂÂ °31ÂÂ ´ S and longitude 30ÂÂ °29ÂÂ ´ and 31ÂÂ °49ÂÂ ´E. The Municipality lies along Ufipa plateau with the average altitude of 1700m above mean sea level. Sumbawanga Municipality enjoys a dry sub humid climate for a greater part of the year. The maximum temperature is 27ÂÂ °C and the minimum is 16ÂÂ °C, during month of July. The rainfall ranges from 900-1000mm per annum (MD, 2008). Health facilities are owned by different institutions which include government, voluntary agencies and private. According to MMOH (2008) Sumbawanga Municipal Health services were provided through two hospitals (one owned by government and the other by voluntary agency), two urban health centre (one owned by government and other by voluntary agency) and 28 dispensaries (18 owned by Government, two by voluntary agency and eigh t owned by private entities). Ballot sampling technique was used to select 10 out of 32 health facilities (one hospital, one health centre and eight dispensaries) located in different parts of the Municipal for this study. Respondent were selected by using probability sampling based on Yamane formula (1967) given as: Where no = sample size z = confidence interval =2 correspond to 95% level of confidence p = population proportion N = Population size and, e = precision or error limit Given a total population of 517 health workers, the study used 50% proportion (p = 0.5) and error limit of 11%, the minimum acceptable sample size was 64 health workers. A systematic random sampling procedure was used to select respondents from a sampling frame based on the distribution of sample size. The sample size of respondents was 32, 10, and 22 out of 263, 78 and 176 from hospitals, health centres and dispensaries, respectively. Primary data were collected from the field survey by using structured questionnaire of 37 questions. On the knowledge on medical waste management two question were set up to test the knowledge of health worker and the answer were given score of which if response is between 5 10, 2 -4 and 1 is ranked highly, moderate and low knowledgeable, respectively. Other method used in data collected is participatory observations . Abstraction and summarization of documents were used for collection of secondary data on medical waste management especially on the capacity of staff on handling waste. Interviews were used to collect data on the efficiency of medical waste management, tools for collection, storage, transportation; and treatment, to determine effectiveness of medical waste management practices; and to examine knowledge of health workers towards sorting, collection, storage and treatment of medical waste. Observation method was used to assess tools available, their efficiency and effec tiveness for medical waste management and attitude and practice towards sorting, collection, storage, and treatment of medical waste. Information gathered was analysed using SPSS programme. The solid Medical Waste were collected from occupied beds three time in a day (0830, 1330, 1830), at each ward, right prior to their collection and disposal by attendant. A common household balance with a precision of two decimal places was used to weigh wastes. The medical waste produced from each bed was weighed as disposed of in plastic bags. The measurements were carried in a period of 30 days and varied depending on the number of the beds occupied, hence average were used in the analysis. Descriptive analysis was carried out for the data collected using SPSS vers.11.6 where frequencies were used to present the results. ANOVA was carried out to test significance of parameters on knowledge versus altitude and altitude of health workers on waste management practices. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Characteristics of Respondents Characteristics of the respondents were analyzed based on age, education and working experience. Data in table 1 shows that majority of the staff (42.2%) were aged between 31 40 years. These results imply that most of respondents were at the middle age. The results show that 42.2 % of respondents had primary school education, 35.9% had secondary school education. The holders of diploma and advanced diploma or above were 15.6% and 6.3%, respectively. The high proportion of respondents with primary school education could have an effect towards management of medical waste. It was further revealed that around 40% of the staff had an experience of over 10 years. Working experience could bring good performance in management of medical waste while low experience could results into poor performance. Type and volume of medical waste generated The type of medical waste generated differs according to the level of health facility, characteristics of people and level of income. In Sumbawanga Municipality the type of medical waste generated for hospital included; needles and prickers, syringes, plastic materials, bottle and ampoules, paper material, cotton wool, gauze, post delivery waste (placenta and the associate), specimen from laboratory, amputated organs/parts from theatre and garbage from admission ward. Those from urban health centre and dispensary included all wastes mentioned earlier excluding plastics, post delivery waste, amputated organs and garbage. The results in Table 2 show that the amount of waste generated from Regional hospital was recorded from admission ward, the result revealed that the amount of medical waste generated was 0.5kg/bed/day for non sharps and garbage, 0.015kg/ bed/ day of sharp containers and 1.8 kg/ bed/day of garbage. Medical waste from the health centre was 0.02kg/person/day excluding sharp and garbage, and 0.02kg/person /day of sharp container. For dispensaries the results revealed that the amount of waste generated was 0.01kg/person/day of healthcare waste excluding sharps and 0.01kg/person /day of sharp containers. These results differ with an average of that is generated in Botswana where in hospitals recorded amount generated were 0.75kg/bed/day excluding sharps, 0.05kg/bed/day of sharp containers and 3kg/bed /day of garbage from admission ward (NCSA, 1996). Type of facilities available for storage of solid medical waste During the study different sections of health facilities were assessed through observation complemented by interview of heath workers. The results in Table 3 reveal that medical waste storage facilities were determined by the characteristic of the waste produced. Health workers reported that common type of storage facilities were safety boxes, plastic material, and metal. These resulted into spillage of medical waste to the environment as they were easily blown by wind or directly accessed by insects and other vermins. The same results were reported in India by Patil and Shekdar (2001) that, authorities were failing to install appropriate systems for a variety of reasons such as non availability of appropriate technologies, inadequate resources and absence of professional training on waste management. The study established that 81.7% of the storage facilities were not in good state. This resulted into difficulties in the management of medical waste (Figure 1 and Table 3). Respondent from hospital observed the adequacy of facilities in terms of capacity to handle waste generated and conforming to required standards having handles, covers lid and presence of waste pits, while the status was contrary in heath centers and dispensaries. Performance of medical waste management tools The performance of the existing health care waste management facilities for storage and treatment were assessed through their capacity in terms of sizes, handling mechanism, cover (protect waste from spillage) and pit where waste are to be deposited. Considering the sizes of equipments the results vis. waste generated, the results in Table 3 indicates that medical waste storage facilities, in relation to storage size were considered adequate by 75.9%, 71.4% and 66.7% for hospital, dispensaries and health centre, respectively. Handling mechanism is also a factor which influences good performance of medical waste management equipment. Through observation of the storage facilities with handles were 65.5%, 22.2% and 28.6% in hospital, heath center and dispensaries, respectively. Lack of handle to medical waste storage facilities brought difficulties in transporting healthcare waste that could lead to contamination of handlers during lifting. Further, assessment of performance was made on availability of lid for medical waste storage tools where it was observed that (86.2%) of hospital tools had lid and (13.8 %) was running without lid. (11.1%) had lid for health centre and (88.9%) was operating without lid and 14.3% was noted to have lid for dispensaries while 85.7% had no lid. Lack of lid on medical waste storage tools is dangerous to health because it is easy to be accessed by insects which transmit diseases and also medical waste is unsightly because it contains waste which may cause repugnant. Poor performance of equipments could be due to inadequate funds for procurement of standard tools and availability of standard tools. Inefficiency of waste equipment created difficulties in management of medical waste that had higher probability of exposing infection to healthcare workers, patients and the environment. WHO (2005) suggested that for cost effectiveness and efficiency medical waste equipment it is advisable to pur chase item which qualify the National standards for management of medical waste or approved by World Health Organization such as safety boxes and other waste containers and protective equipment. Respondent from those health facilities which hadnt waste treatment pit the result shows that 84.2% dispose waste in pit latrine and 15.8% in a dug pit. Disposal of medical waste in pit latrine was a great mistake because are not meant for that purposes. Sometimes, medical waste such as post delivery waste emitted foul smell which led to further environmental pollution. WHO, (1999) also noticed that despite of its infectious medical waste was not being properly disposed off by the concerned agencies as it was often disposed on open dumps along with other waste. Effectiveness of practices in storage and treatment of medical waste Effectiveness of the waste management practices of the surveyed health facilities were assessed based on the number of trained workers available, time spent to collect, store and treatment/disposal of the waste and the cleanliness and attractiveness of the health facilities. The results indicated that for hospital trained staff versus patients was at the ratio of 1:34 while National guideline requires the ratio of 1:10. WHO ( 2008) revealed that inadequate human resources for healthcare tend to weaken healthcare delivery systems with suboptimal infrastructure, poor management capacity and under-equipped health facilities have brought about a situation where the likelihood of adverse events become high. The number of staffs who were engaged in management of medical waste was two staff for each section in hospitals, health centre and dispensaries. Medical waste management is a dangerous and tiresome job. The small number of staff are engaged in management of healthcare waste failed to manage properly. This situation in Sumbawanga Municipality is contrary to WHO (2002) recommendations, that health care waste management is first of all management issues that require the commitment of the entire staff within health care facilities. The study results show that respondent perception and understanding on time spent for management of medical waste vary from hospital to dispensaries. 81.8% of respondents from hospital indicates that time spent to manage MW is between six to eight hours in a day, as compared to health centers where 80% of respondent indicates that time spent is between three to five hours. Dispensaries all respondents indicate that time taken for management of MW is one to two hours (Table 4). Time spent was sufficient for hospital while insufficient for health centre and dispensaries. Time spent for hospital was high compared to other levels because had a special group of employee (casual laborers) purposely for medical waste and environmental management activities who are required to work a minimum of 8 hrs in a day according to job requirements. On contrary for health centre and dispensaries were permanent employee whose work was for both service deliver, then on medical waste management activitie s and environmental care. Clean and attractive health facilities determine the effectiveness and efficiency of medical waste management activities to all levels of health services. During the research, the result revealed that 59.4% responded that hospitals were very clean, 40.6% responded moderate, and 100% responded moderate for health centre while 59.1% responded moderate for dispensary and 40.9% responded poor sanitation (Table 5). This situation is contrary to National health care waste management policy guideline which requires proper management of medical waste for prevention of diseases, environmental protection and beautification (MOHSW, 2006). To triangulate perception of respondents who are health workers, cross tabulation was indicating that hours spent for management of medical waste and cleanliness (appearance) of health facilities has relationship. The correlation between working hours and the state of cleanliness is highly significant (p Knowledge of health workers towards management of medical waste As regard to knowledge on consequences of medical waste 95.5% of respondents from hospital had high knowledge on the consequences of medical waste, 4.5% had moderate knowledge, 90% of health centre study group were highly knowledgeable, 10% had moderate knowledge and 78.1% were highly knowledgeable for dispensary, 15.6% moderate knowledge and 6.3% had poor knowledge (Table 6). Importance of knowledgeable health workers is on waste in highly required in segregation and coding storage materials used for medical waste management. The level of education was highly associated with knowledge of health workers on medical waste as hazardous material that the correlation was statistically significant (p Medical Waste Segregation The need for proper segregation and the extent, to which segregation is required, is primarily dictated by the technology and this is one of important step in reducing the volume of hazardous waste. Most treatment technologies have some limitations in terms of processing capability. This limitation depends much on design restrictions, compatibility with certain components, legal prohibitions, and possible negative environmental impact, social and ethical reasons. Table 7 shows that percentage of quantity of medical waste recorded segregated at hospital, heath centers and dispensaries were 93.8, 70 and 27, respectively. While waste that was found mixed was 6.2%, 27.3% and 72.7% at hospital, heath centers and dispensaries. Segregation of hazardous/infections waste is the key to achieving sound medical waste management. Poor segregation of medical waste poses serious health risks to the personnel handling them, and this could lead to possibility of surface and ground water contamination. Mujahid et.al., (2005) and Mohamed et. al., (2006) observed a serious health problem in Dhaka because medical waste was disposed in Municipal without segregating them. Also, Manyele et al (2003) contented that lack of plan for management of medical waste, lack of recording the amount of medical waste generated, reduction of quantity and toxicity of waste at the source and segregation were the challenges facing Tanzania in management of medical waste. The high pe rformance of hospital compared to health centre and dispensaries was influenced by availability of tools, number of staff engaged, hours spent in management of medical waste and knowledge of health workers. Color coding Color coding system aim at ensuring an immediate separation and identification of the hazardous associated with the type of healthcare waste which also determines the treatment method to be employed. The results revealed that 90.6% of hospital medical waste equipment were colour coded or provided with label and 9.4% was not colour coded, 30% of health centre tools were colour coded and 70% were not colour coded while 100% of dispensary medical waste storage tools were not color coded or labeled (Table 8). Lack of coloration of medical waste tools to dispensary level was contrary to healthcare waste management policy guideline which requires coloration of medical waste storage facilities (MOHSW, 2006). Longe and Williams (2006) observed that in Nigeria, private owned hospitals has the most efficient colour coding system, where colored buckets were used: red for sharp and broken glass, green for syringes and needles and blue for all blood stained cottons, gauze and bandages. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusions Medical waste generated in healthcare facilities differs from type and ownership of facilities but there is no composition distinction between private and public hospitals. The performance of medical waste management tools were inefficient due to the reason that most of them were below National and World Health Organization standards. The effectiveness of medical waste management practices was highly affected by inadequate staff and time spent in management of medical waste which resulted into poor cleanliness of some health facilities. Knowledge of health workers on management of medical waste was high but was not highly applied due to inadequate and low standard of healthcare waste management tools. Generally Medical waste management activities in Sumbawanga Municipal Council were not given sufficient priority or concern because of unimproved system of medical waste management. Inadequate staff, insufficient and poor performance of supplies for storage of medical waste, poor infras tructure such as incinerator and treatment pit for treatment of medical waste, lack of segregation and coloration of tools is a major reason to draw this conclusion. However most of healthcare workers had knowledge on medical waste management with small gap which need to be improved. Recommendations Based on the findings and discussions, the following recommendations are made to the Regional Medical Officer, Municipal Medical Officer, Diocesan Health Coordinator and other Stakeholders to improve healthcare waste management whereby in order to achieve the goal, the Hospital Management Team , Council Health management team and other stakeholders should fulfill the following: Medical waste management infrastructure which includes incinerators and treatment pit should be made available to all health facilities. They should be well constructed to ensure efficiency and minimizes the immediate and long term public health risk and hazards associated with medical waste and which has the lowest impact on the environment. Build capacity by employing more qualified staff who will be responsible for service delivery, healthcare waste management and environmental management of health facilities.. For proper disposal of waste knowledge on the color codes for storage facilities should be provided to all stakeholders in health facilities based on the agreed National and WHO Guidelines.

My Journey to be a Teacher :: Personal Narrative Teaching Education Essays

My Journey to be a Teacher Starting the first year of college I was your average frightened teenager; however, unlike most I knew what I wanted to be: a teacher. Then something amazing happened, I was asked why I wanted to teach. I didn’t know what to say, so. I looked back at my life. I tried to find when I made the decision to be a teacher and what my reasoning was. I found the obvious reasons: I love children, I want to help, and I love learning; but I had to ask myself if these things enough to make me the kind of teacher that changes lives. I didn’t know. I decided to become a teacher in the third grade. Mrs. Sager, my third grade teacher, had a zest for life and made learning an adventure. I wanted and still want to be like her, but was a mentor from when you were eight a good reason to be a teacher? As any child knows when you’re having trouble, call mom! I called my mom and ask her, if I weren’t your child, would you want me to teach your child? As always mom surprised me. She reminded me of little things I done when I was young, and then told me that I was her child, but I have also been her teacher. With mom’s confidence I felt a little better, but had still not figured out for myself if I had what it took to be a teacher or if I even wanted to be one anymore. The fear that I might be following an eight year olds dream crept into my heart as I hung up the phone. Did I want to teach? Then, I was talked into taking a three-week course that changed my view of teaching. I owe my councilor my sanity. In EDF 200, I started the path to finding my answer. I leaned that I hadn’t loved Mrs. Sager for her great lecture notes; I loved her because she loved me first. In class Professor Beaman said that there would be a point when we would be walking down the hall and Johnny would pick up a worm and ask us to tell him about it, and it would hit us that that is why we teach. Well, there wasn’t a worm, but I now know what she meant. While helping a friend with homework in math class, I found my reason.

Essay examples --

II. DIELECTRIC LOADED EXPONENTIALLY TAPERED SLOT ANTENNA DESIGN The ETS antenna is also known as flared notch antenna, is among one of the most promising antenna satisfying all requirements described in the technical challenges [11]. It is fundamentally a planar traveling wave antenna with end fire radiation. This antenna is the preferred candidate for Mm Wave applications due to its wide bandwidth, low cross polarization and highly directive patterns. A major advantage of this antenna type is that the wide bandwidth and maximum gain can be achieved using exponentially tapered profiles with dielectric loading [12]. The proposed dielectric scheme provides an interesting alternative. This antenna is integrated by using a single substrate. It is easy to fabricate and the structure is compact [13]. To eliminate the higher order modes in the waveguide, the thickness of the substrate is restricted. The loaded dielectric slab in front of the antenna can be considered as a dielectric guiding structure excited by the exponential flare resulting in a wider beamwidth and maximum gain. The compa...

The Debate of Animal Testing in Laboratories Essay -- Science Experime

The Debate of Animal Testing in Laboratories Debating over the animal rights movement has raised questions and concerns for many years. Although animal research has been the cause of many medical breakthroughs, is it morally and ethically right to put animals in these kinds of situations? This is one of the underlying questions that must be solved before it is too late. There has already been too much violence and harm caused by the opposing views of this argument. Shouts of protests and riots are heard on the streets, labs and medical equipment are being burned and destroyed and innocent animals are left hanging in the wake. While animal rights organizations fight for more â€Å"kinder, gentler† ways to treat animals, animal research advocates strongly believe that animals unlock the key to curing and ailing diseases. Two sides to pro activists include both animal rights advocates and animal welfare advocates. â€Å"Animal rights means that animals are not ours to use for food, clothing, entertainment, or experi mentation. Animal welfare, on the other hand, permits these uses of animals as long as certain humane guidelines are enforced† (Frequently). Some people believe the concern for animals is a waste of time when there are so many humans in need. Pro activists, however, argue that humans and animals are equally important and both deserve attention. This is a problem that concerns everyone in the world. We, as humans, depend on animals for many things such as food and clothing, so where and when will this controversy end? There must be a compromise, but it is up to us to find the solution to this overwhelming problem. Animal rights activists contribute to the first position on this issue. They believe that animals sho... ...r the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.† It is therefore concluded, from this scripture and research, that animal testing is permissible as long as it is in our best interest and no additional harm is done. Abraham Lincoln summarized my point of view when he said, â€Å"I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being† (Practical Issues). There will hopefully come a day when all the controversy can be set aside and people come together for the sake of the animals. However, that is going to take much effort by both sides and cannot be solved in one day or by one alternative. It is going to take time, effort, and most of all compassion. It is our duty as humans to unite and care for all creatures that God created. Only on that day will animals be truly safe and content.

‘Manila amendments’ to the STCW

As examples: The 24 hour period should start at midnight; The 24 hour period should commence at the time a seafarer starts work immediately after having any period of rest of one hour or more; The period should start from the seafarers' first period of work on each calendar day Apparently, such variations in the interpretation can lead to substantial differences in the number of non-conformances detected and recorded, which then may potentially lead to a fatigue and subsequent accidents caused by the related human error factor.In accordance with mentioned above it could be still stated that fatigue is being considered as a significant contributory factor to many incidents in the shipping industry since the policy of monitoring of rest and work hours, that was designed as a very important tool to fght with fatigue, is not effective enough. Moreover, in a real life it creates problems with proper understanding of approach for calculation of rest and work hours, analysis of the workload and real fatigue caused by the Job.And last but not least, existing form of record keeping of hours of work and rest creates a lot f paper work for the crew and Ship managers and take of their times that could be spend for more important issues. In the meantime, the fatigue prevention policy cannot be ideal since measurement of fatigue is extremely difficult due to the large variability of causes.In accordance with Guidance on Fatigue Mitigation and Management there are many ways to categorize tne causes 0T Tatlgue. 10 ensure tnorougnness ana to prov10e good coverage 0T most causes, they have been categorized into 4 general factors: Crew-specific Factors; Management Factors (ashore and aboard ship); Ship-specific Factors; Environmental Factors.Even if all of these factors can be considered with the same weighting coefficient in determination of level of fatigue, the most important factors will be still related to the crew specific factors such as Sleep and Rest, Quality, Quantity a nd Duration of Sleep, Sleep Disorders/Disturbances, Rest Breaks, Biological Clock/Circadian Rhythms, Psychological and Emotional Factors, including stress, Fear, Monotony and Boredom, Health, Diet, Illness, Stress, Skill, knowledge and training as it relates to the Job,Personal problems, Interpersonal relationships, Ingested Chemicals, Alcohol, Drugs (prescription and non-prescription), Caffeine, Age, Shift work and Work Schedules, Workload (mental/physical), Jet Lag, etc. In view of the above stated it should be concluded that matter of fatigue is not only related not only to the shipping industry and consequently prevention of fatigue has been already addressed in other industries, such as aviation for instance.In accordance with the ‘Fatigue in Aviation' of Federal Aviation Administration, causes of atigue can range from boredom to circadian rhythm disruption to heavy physical exertion'. In simple terms, fatigue can be simply defined as wearisomeness, which in most cases ca used by the lack of rest. Weariness, at the same time, may vary even for the crew maintaining the same tasks on different type of ships or in a different area of trading. Thus it seems to be logical that industry must use various methods for ‘measuring fatigue of their workers, but not standardising their hours of work and rest.At the same time modification of existing fatigue prevention policy should be more ocused on implementation of new technical devices in line with the proven objective approach that will not create extra paperwork but will really measure fatigue and improve effectiveness of fatigue prevention. As an example of new methodology for detecting attention lapses or impaired ability of the crew to perform their tasks measuring technique so called Blink Rate (electrooculography) can be considered being good alternative to the current paper exercises.Ponder and Kennedy in their research in 1927 have concluded that blinks are controlled by the central nervous yste m rather than peripheral processes; for this periodic, spontaneous blink, the rate of blinking is closely related to ‘mental tension' of the subject at the time, and that in all probability the movements constitute a kind of relief mechanism whereby nervous energy, otherwise unutilized, passes into a highly facilitated path 0. A. Stern, 1994). There are some other technologies that help to define the level of fatigue at the start o a s ITt or contlnuously tnrougnout task perTormance.In researcn I-atlgue RISK Management in Aviation Maintenance: Current Best Practices and Potential Future Countermeasures, the following technologies are presented as possible systems that facilitate fatigue measurement psychomotor performance tests that are usually installed on a handheld device or and typically measure the person's speed of response to a stimulus. Voice analysis also may be considered as a method to detect fatigue in operational personnel, particularly in settings where verbal co mmunication occurs via radio or telephone.Different monitoring systems for measurement of alertness have been as well developed for the road transport industry, and several odels of vehicles now come equipped with systems designed to detect drowsy drivers. (Hobbs, 2011) Several of technical innovations are already being widely used in different industries and shows possibility to move from paper calculation and bureaucratic approach in fatigue management to innovational and objective approach of fatigue management. History shows that several regulations adopted before in aviation industry later were transferred into the shipping industry to assist in improvement of safety management.

Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice Essay

The United States Criminal Justice System is a fundmental part to society that focuses on protecting citizens in the United States Constiution as well as ensuring each individual is law adbiding law and not commiting serious acts of crimes. Each law was put in state and federal statues to ensure it continues and as time has changed some of the laws have not changed. In present day, the criminal justice system faces comptemporary issues as well as trends that not only affect today but in the future and how important each member of society hold a significant value to the criminal justice system. For many decades the criminal justice system has endured many issues and problems that are currently questioning exactly how fair United States Criminal Justice system is to citizens and criminals that participate in both misdeameanor and violent offenses. The Corrections Department is one specific department that faces many controversies involving the validilty of one’s constitutional right of the Eighth Amendment. The Founding Fathers created one of the famous amendments that prohibits the law from enforcing cruel and unusual punishment in capital punishment. At one time, capital punishment consisted of electrocution, firing squad, and the gas chamber. Unfortunately, many individuals believe that this form of punishments were cruel and unusual and many states eliminated these methods in their executions. In present day, lethal injection is the new method used in state executions that have not banned the death penalty as a form of punishment. The death penalty is used in only 32 states as of 2014 however the re-creation of lethal drug cocktail makes the world ponder if the lethal injection method is a form of cruel and unusual punishment. The issue of the new combination of lethal injections drugs have many opposers speculating should the death row inmate have the legal right to know exactly what is behind the newly developed death penalty drugs as well as if it against the Eighth Amendment. Two death row inmates in the State of Oklahoma pleaded with the higher courts to disclose any information pertaining to the ingredients of the drugs however the Oklahoma Supreme Court specifically stated, â€Å"This court holds that the secrecy provision †¦ does not violate the inmates’ constitutional right of access to the courts. The Oklahoma Supreme Court said the only remaining issue, then, is whether the state’s failure to disclose its source for the drugs prevents the prisoners from challenging their executions using the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on  cruel and unusual punishment. The court decided it did not†(CNN,2014). Following the ruling, the stay of executions of Charles Warner and Clayton Lockett were uplifted and were scheduled to a double execution on April 29, 2014 that would forever change the proper protocols of execution guidelines and the Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment. Clayton Lockett received the first injection around 6:23 pm and ten minutes following his injection he was unconscious. After the doctor noticed he was unconscious he administered the last two drugs that would execute Clayton Lockett. Between 6:44 and 6:56 pm the doctor that was administering the medical procedures of the execution addressed that the inmates vein had collapased that led for the drugs to either absorb in his tissue or leaked out(The Guardian ,2014). Immediately the inmate passed away of a massive heart attack. Following the execution, the other inmate that was supposed to be execute right after Lockett did not face the punishment and currently he is on a 180 day stay until the state government can conduct a full investigation into the botched execution. Supporters of the death penalty believe the execution was conducted appropriately however opposers believe he faced a slow painful death. The question remains will the death penalty in the State of Oklahoma be abolished or test the drugs before they are administered on death row inmates. As much as someone may commited such a heinous crime such as Lockett and Warner these offenders are given rights off all the amendments of the United States Constitution and it is their right to address violations to higher courts so they can determine if it did occur. The death penalty has many advantages and disadvantages and the criminal justice system is constantly fighting the battle to keep it alive and well. Prison overcrowding is another contemporary issue that is currently affecting the criminal justice throughout the United States. Society is aware of the consequences involving committing a crime, however for offenses that are considered non-violent and the offender who has not been in trouble with the law in the past faces severe punishment such as a violent offender. Drug offenses is one crime that caused correctional facilities population to skyrocket and instead of finding the best alternative for punishment prisons face an unkinown number of crimes within the facilities. In the State of Oklahoma, approximately 26, 539 offenders are incarcerated in priosn whereas probation has a population of  21,085(American Legislative Exchange Council,2014). Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition(n.d.) states,† Prior to the current prohibition era the U.S. Prison population was a quarter of what it is today. But 30 years ago the â€Å"War on Drugs† was launched. Before that the prison population had been level for over 5 decades. 70 to 75% of people in prison are drug war prisoners. Drug use, arrest and incarceration rates along with data on sentence length show that people of color unfairly bear the brunt of the drug war†(para.4). The war on drugs is the primary reason for the increasingly amount of prisoners in facilities throughout the United States and if state legislation ever comes to the decision to stop the battle more likely overcrowding will not be a substanstive issue. Additional reasons why the American Corrections system is overcrowded are mandatory minimum sentencing, denial of parole, unaffordable bail, poverty, and Post Incarceration Syndrome. The final contemporary issue that is facing the criminal justice today is the increasing amount of complaints involving police officers that are involving in police bruatility and excessive use of force. As society has learned in the past of cases of Rodney King, it happened then and it is still happening. However, just because one cop does it does not mean all of them do it. The most current case involving police brutality and excessive use of force involves the Albuquerque Police Department. Recently, certain police officers went against their oath and maliciously killed members of society. The circumstances are unknown and the Justice Department has conducted a through investigation stating that the police department â€Å"the officers kicked, punched and violently restrained nonthreatening people, and seldom were the officers reprimanded. Many of the victims suffered from mental illnesses, and some were disabled, elderly or drunk, the 16-month investigation concluded. The changes called for by the Justice Department — 44 remedies in all — included extensive revisions to the department’s use-of-force policies. The term â€Å"force† would be more clearly defined, and officers would have to report to superiors when they used various tactics: chokeholds, kicks, leg sweeps and tackles. Under the recommendations, officers would be trained to rely more on verbal warnings and less on stun guns, and new recruits would be required to undergo psychological, medical  and polygraph examinations to assess their fitness for the job†(New York Times,2014). As much as the recommendations should be followed, more cases of police brutatlity and excessive force in Albuqueruqe happen however it seems officers refuse to listen to the recommendations and choose what is best for them. Some may feel threatened when they encounter someone but there are other methods instead of physically harming someone or murdering the subject. One of the most recent trends that is currently affecting the criminal justices that will more likely affect it in the future is the increasing amount of crimes involving youths. In the past, youths were not subjected to violence and since the internet evolved and other environmental factors so much is at stake. One particular area where society is seeing violence are in areas that at one time that they thought was safe such as schools and movies. The Aurora Thetre Shooting and various school shootings continue to happen and for innocent individuals fear is in their minds on a daily basis. The reasons the youth commits serious acts like these vary however most cases involved the lack of mental healthcare and as well as bullying. The perpertrators feel that the victims hurt them in some manner that led them to harm an entire school. In addition, technology is a severe problem for the criminal justice system today and will continue as long as the internet is available. Identity Theft is the newest trend in computer crimes and all it takes is a click of a button and the criminal soughting out the information can have access to someone’s life in a matter of seconds(Muraskin & Roberts,2009). Prevention is the only recommendation in both youth violence and cybercrimes that will eventually decrease the current trends occurring in the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system hold a significant value in today’s changing society by ensuring each citizen of the United States is lawfully protected by their consititutional rights as well as ensuring that local, state, and federal governments following proper protocol, procedures, and polices on keeping society away from harm that he or she could possibly face. The only problem that society has with the criminal justice system is the lack of mistrust invididuals have based on past incidents and discrepanices that makes person’s make the assumption that all professionals do not care of their well being or are not going above and beyond to protect them. Current trends and comtemproary issues within the criminal justice system will  remain in society for many years to come. Capital punishment, prison overcrowding, and police brutality affect the justice system in a variety of ways but to society each problem can be fixed by following proper procedures. As for trends, technology and youth violence is uncertain but the best method is to find resources and methods to eliminate trends in the cirminla justice system in the future. As much as society places the criminal justice system as good or bad it is something needed to protect everyone from constitutional violations as well as from heinous acts of crime. Reference American Legislative Exchange Council . (2014). Prison Overcrowding: Oklahoma. Retrieved from http://www.alec.org/initiatives/prison-overcrowding/prison-overcrowding-oklahoma/ CNN. (2014). Oklahoma executions back on, as court rules to keep lethal-drug sources secret. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/24/justice/oklahoma-court-execution-drugs/ Muraskin, R., & Roberts, A. R. (2009). Visions For Change: Crime and Justice in the 21st Century (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. New York Times. (2014). Justice Dept. Accuses Albuquerque Police of Excessive Force. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/us/albuquerque-police-report-justice-department.html?_r=1 Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition (SHaRC). (n.d.). What Causes Overcrowding in Jails and Prisons?. Retrieved from http://www.massdecarcerate.org/download/overcrowding.pdf The Guardian. (2014). Oklahoma execution of Clayton Lockett – timeline of the botched procedure. Retrieved from http://www.the guardian.com/world/interactive/2014/may/01/oklahoma-execution-clayton-lockett-timeline-document