Proposed amendment to county comprehensive plans Assignment

Proposed amendment to county comprehensive plans - Assignment Example (Puget Sound Regional Council, 2008, 59) The counties of both Pierce and Snohomish will have the opportunity to vote on the Vision 2040 document, and amongst its terms are the preceding. The following discussion paper will outline the policy and its various facets. It will also introduce some of the broadest national, indeed international, implications of the policy as well as the local issues of direct and immediate importance. This document will provide Pierce and Snohomish councilors with all the information necessary to make a considered and enlightened decision regarding Vision 2040, in the context of Multicounty Planning Policy DP-47. Vision 2040 and the Goals of Pierce and Snohomish Counties Vision 2040 is 'The Growth Management, Environmental, Economic, and Transportation Strategy for the Central Puget Sound Region' and was adopted by the PSRC General Assembly on April 24, 2008 and amended by the PSCR Executive Board on May 28, 2009. Consequently, it's jurisdiction covers Pie rce and Snohomish Counties. ... (Puget Sound Regional Council, 2008, v) As such in its general principles it corresponds precisely with the goals of the Pierce County Code Title 19A – Comprehensive Plan, 2010. This document commences with the identification of thirteen goals. One of these is (E.) 'Economic Development', and another is (J.) â€Å"Protect the environment and enhance the state's high quality of life, including air and water quality, and the availability of water.† A range of the other objectives relate to social goals and quality of life issues. Clearly, therefore, the Vision 2040 document is congruent with Pierce County's broadest policy thrusts. Such is also the case with Snohomish County. The future of Snohomish County is outlined in the Snohomish County Department of Planning and Development Services, General Policy Plan, 2011 identifies a series of themes and policy objectives that are also consonant with Vision 2040: Encouragement of development and/or redevelopment in urban areas with existing or planned public facilities and services. Reduction of urban sprawl. Adequate provision of efficient multi-modal transportation systems. Availability of affordable housing for citizens of all income levels. Promotion of economic opportunity. Respect for private property rights. Predictability and timeliness of permit review processes. Conservation of natural resources. Retention of open space and provision of recreational opportunities. Protection and enhancement of the environment. Citizen participation in the planning process. Adequate provision of necessary public facilities and services. Preservation of historic and archaeological resources. Utilization, protection, restoration and preservation of shorelines of statewide significance. (Snohomish

Nick DB 2 His Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nick DB 2 His - Assignment Example One of the schools is Pythagoreanism which offered a solution to overcoming basic problems in mathematics, Sophism relates to a form of philosophy that was devoted to the teaching of the nobility and the key statesmen. The Platonism school of thought came up with the theory of forms that offered explanations transcendent and archetypes. The Stoicism school of thought which was developed by Zeno of Citium offered an explanation on the goal of life as being in line with nature. This school of thought has been applied in a number of circumstances as it advocates for the development of self-control as a means of overcoming destructive emotions that arises due to life challenges. The earlier Greeks majored on the philosophy as it offered a means through which people could steady themselves during the Hellenistic period. The period saw the emergence new group of philosophers who had different approaches from Plato and Aristotle. The philosophies that were developed at the time were easily learned and portable so that they could assist people with the fortunes and misfortunes that marked their everyday

The Potential Pros And Cons Of Recycling Environmental Sciences Essay

The Potential Pros And Cons Of Recycling Environmental Sciences Essay What is the reason behind recycle? Using less money is behind think the desire to save money, energy and earths resources is the main reason behind recycling. As is well known that the less energy is used the less pollution is released by factories. What is the importance of Recycling? We can summarize the importance of Recycling by the following points: saving energy saving land space saving money creating new jobs reducing air and water pollution preserving habitat for wildlife. For the above mentioned reasons you should make recycling as a habit in your daily life. Saving energy: Producing new materials takes more energy than using recycled materials. We can use the paper as an example, creating paper from new woodland cost more energy than recycle paper from waste materials, since there will be no need to cut down a new tree to process the wood from the tree and make it into paper. The most attractive thing is that energy from non-renewable resources is protected and saved for future generations therefore, money will be saved which means more competitively priced goods, and on the other hand pollution and missions are reduced when less energy is used. When we transfer the above information in to numbers we find that production of recycled paper uses 80% less water and 65% less energy, and produces 95% less air pollution than virgin paper production. 2 -à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…’ Air Pollution and Water Pollution Noxious gases and chemicals are released by decomposing waste at landfill sites. And it is very well known that gas and chemicals create air pollution Air pollution . And when chemicals leach into the groundwater this creates water pollution and our water is contaminated . It is noticed that in 2000, recycling of solid waste prevented the release of 32.9 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MMTCE, the unit of measure for greenhouse gases) into the air.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…’ (Recycling-Guide) We are able to breathe cleaner air and drink cleaner water if we could prevent pollution by using recycling centers instead of landfills. Additional Benefits Preserving wildlife is a result of recycling, because fewer trees are cut down to make virgin material or to make space landfills, habitat for wildlife remains. More habitats for animals mean less animal extinction. It obvious that recycling is important and it can makes a difference. We may not be able to solve our landfill and pollution problems anytime soon, but at least we can help keep them from getting worse. Recycling is simple it might start by taking paper or plastic or both to a recycling bin near your home and no need to drive or to waste your time or your gas. You can make it a habit that in your shopping you can fill up your car with your box of recyclable paper and dump it at the recycling bin near the store especially that many grocery stores now have these bins available or even start in your neighborhoods curbside recycling program. Recycling helps conserve energy and reduce the consumption of natural resources. And it is the best way to save the environment and avoid environmental harm. You can make useful items from used plastic bottles, glass, and newspapers. Recycling has positive effects such as : 1- Recycling Preserves the Environment Protecting the environment is processed by recycling . For example we as the demand for paper increases, a number of trees are being cut to produce paper since the demand for paper increases. We can prevent the destruction of forests by recycling paper. We can notice how number of forests is being destroyed to meet the ever increasing demand of paper. Recycling a ton of mixed paper or newspaper is equivalent to saving 12 trees by this way we can save our natural resources. 3 2- Recycling Saves Energy Recycling used materials reduces energy requirements in many manufacturing processes such as refining and mining. Recycling materials like aluminum and glass can greatly reduce the pressure on energy resources. 3- Recycling Reduces Pollution Hazardous substances in the form of plastics, empty cans, chemicals and ordinary waste contaminate our environment and cause pollution. Plastic recycling is an effective solution for the pollution of soil and water which is caused by the Plastic waste. Using materials from the plastic waste by recycling process can be used in manufacturing industry. Environment can also be polluted by greenhouse gas emissions which were found that this recycling 35,116 tons of material could be equivalent of taking 22,140 cars off road and this could help to mitigate global warming effects. Recycling material requires less amount of energy therefore by Manufacturing plastics and paper from recycled material save our environment than making them from new or virgin materials which also need transport this virgin materials and Transportation means using vehicles that run on fuels like diesel and gasoline. It is very well known that fuels are considered the main source of green gas emissions. In this case recycling means less fuel being utilized and lower amount of carbon dioxide will be released into the environment. 4- Negative Effects of Recycling There can be a few harmful effects of recycling, if the sites where recycling is done, are not managed properly. Which means that those sites can become unhygienic as a result of collecting lot of debris every day for recycling? The surrounding environment can be severely damaged by the abandoned dump sited, a poisonous mixture knows as leachate will be formed and it is highly dangerous if it reached the water supplies. The water and soil can be mixed by the harmful chemicals in the trash then mixed with rainwater which falls on open dumps which will percolate deep into the ground and pollutes the ground water. Paper recycling can be a bit costly, as additional industrial processes such as bleaching, are required to make the paper reusable. There is no guarantee that the new recycled product obtained will be of good quality. This is because recycling involves manufacturing products from used materials. Protecting the environment is processed by recycling. For example we as the demand for paper increases, a number of trees are being cut to produce paper. 4 Due to the use of harsh chemicals in the process of bleaching and this can cause health problems on exposure. It is quite difficult to recycle all the material such as find plastic convenient for everyday use because there different kinds of plastic and one has to sort them systematically so as make a useful recycled product. One cannot simply manufacture a new product by combining different kinds of plastic. Still it is observed that different kinds of plastic and one has to sort them systematically so as make a useful recycled product. One cannot simply manufacture a new product by combining different kinds of plastic. It is obvious that taking everyday trash to the nearest recycling center can make a positive impact on the environment therefore everyone must take the initiative to recycle waste material in order to preserve and protect our planet, The Cairo Slum is an example of Recycle success A local school funded by Procter Gamble teaches the urban poor how to recycle plastics. Thomas Taha Rassam Culhane is the founder of Solar Cities, it is an organization that install solar hot-water heaters on the rooftops of Coptic Christian and Muslim communities in Cairos slums. Zamalek is in Cairo , a lush island neighborhood in the Nile, is the heart of the citys upscale area and it is thrives with tourists and commerce. Residents have learned to make a living off the trash from Zamalek and other parts of the Egyptian City. The Zabaleen , an Arabic word means in English garbage collectors, who used to gather and recycle Cairos garbage by their own hands for decades. Tens of thousands of these people took home to a place called Manshiyet Nasser ,which is a narrow dirt streets and precariously built houses, as a place for them to live in. A closer look at primarily Coptic Christian community reveals that Al Zabaleen means of survival may seem lowly but it reveals that something greater is going on here. The Zabaleen, like people living in poor countries around the world, are on the front lines of climate change. The United Nations last year Cited Egypt as an example, and reported that greenhouse gas emissions will have disproportionately negative effects on the planets most impoverished nations. Thomas Taha Rassam Culhane, the founder of Solar Cities and studying for his doctorate in urban planning at UCLA, has a nongovernmental organization that is installing environment-friendly solar hot-water heaters on the rooftops of Coptic Christian and Muslim communities in Cairos slums, says that people in Manshiyet Nasser, environmental degradation is already a reality and they are already living in the worst of it and they dont want to see it getting any worse. 5 Culhane, says although poor people like the Zabaleen dont leave a large carbon footprint because their individual energy use is low but they create a problem for the economy and this should attract an International Attention because the power they do use is subsidized by the government. The Zabaleen are using small vehicles and donkey carts, they haul massive bundles of trash from Cairo and about 80 percent of the garbage they bring into the community is recycled by hand. Picture of children as young as three sitting with their mothers and grandmothers and sorting through broken glass, scraps of metal, aluminum cans, dirty diapers and rotted food is a very normal scene in Cairo. One of the women sorting through piles of refuse saying that she is working all the time and that her hands getting dirty theres no water. She is stating that the food is expensive and gas prices are seven pounds a bottle so they can not afford buying for heat and this why she work such like this. Culhane says that few years ago the Egyptian government decided to privatize the countrys waste-management system, threatening the Zabaleen way of life. But because of Cairos narrow streets foreign companies ,hired to do the job, found that their garbage trucks couldnt do the job stating the donkeys can do such job and therefore the slums residents still collecting much of the citys trash. Several years ago, UNESCO and Procter Gamble began investing in an informal recycling school, officially called the Mokattam Non-Formal Education Project. after the Zabaleens efforts have attracted attention from the international community. The Culhane says counterfeiters used to sift through garbage, take Procter Gamble shampoo bottles, fill them with cheaper products and resell them. In order to get the bottles off the streets, , the Cincinnati-based company agreed to fund the school and help the community learn how to recycle plastic. Now days, the school serves as a center where young people can learn about the business and economics of recycling and it is colorfully painted with PG shampoo bottles. Students are trained to use Excel spreadsheets, and they learn how to shred plastic in machines, wash and dry it using solar energy, bag it and send it out to be melted down for reuse.

America Needs The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act Essay

The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is a federal statute that was signed into law by President Barak Obama on March 23, 2010. The PPACA which is commonly referred to as â€Å"Obamacare† was endorsed by lawmakers based on the objective of shifting healthcare cost from the employer to the government. The enactment of the PPACA has been viewed as unprecedented by many based on the constitutionality concerns related to healthcare reform. In order to address some of the concerns related to healthcare reform it is important to go back and view the nation’s history. Prior to the nation experiencing globalization and free trade, businesses were designed as employee based models, freely offering health care coverage to their employees as a perk to promote loyalty among other incentives within their companies. As a result of globalization, employers have become less capable of offering the same healthcare coverage based on competition with other countries. In order for companies to stay competitive with the current free trade agreements, companies are finding it necessary to cut their overhead expenses, hence cutting healthcare coverage for employers. In other words, in a global economy the healthcare status quo is unsustainable; wages and incomes have progressively flat lined over the years due to the increase in healthcare coverage costs, these costs makes it impossible for employers to give raises to their employees and stay competitive within a global market. These issues endanger the survival our nation’s small businesses as well as large corporations, basically disrupting our nation’s commerce, which entitles the government to intercede with healthcare reform based on the commerce clause enumerated power listed ... ..., R. (2011). Compliance Matters. Matters of Integrity: Examining anti-fraud measures in the health care reform law. PT in Motion, 3(4), 37-40. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Filson, C., Hollingsworth, J., Skolarus, T., Quentin Clemens, J. J., & Hollenbeck, B. (2011). Health care reform in 2010: transforming the delivery system to improve quality of care. World Journal of Urology, 29(1), 85-90 Pickert, K. (2011). Obamacare Goes Under The Knife. Time, 177(2), 48-51. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Healthcare Reform: Retrieved from Public Broadcasting Services: August 16, 2011: PBS.org Stengel, R., & Ford, A. (2011). One Document, Under Siege. (Cover story). Time, 178(1), 30-45. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Wilson, C. B. (2010). A Prescription for America's Health Care System. Vital Speeches of the Day, 76(9), 421-424. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. (Healthcare Reform, 2011)

American Movies of the 1920’s

Running head: AMERICA AND THE MOVIES OF THE 1920’S February 13, 2012 US HIS II ABSTRACT The movies of the 1920’s provided one of America’s most forms of entertainment after World War One. Americans were able to spend a little extra and enjoy such events as they were not devastates during with war. The movies for the American people began soon after the invention of automobiles. The movies provided communications and entertainment and soon began to open the American people to ideas of a different lifestyle on the screen. Some great actors and actresses came from this era.One of the being Charlie Chaplin, who with his charm, wit and forms of acting entertained the American people. The years following the devastating war take place prior to 1920 and fortunately left the United States unharmed. The United States was therefore able to experience a decade of peace and prosperity following one of the most devastating wars. One of the reason’s America was able to prosper was because technology played a vital part in bringing the economic and culture prosperity that America experienced in the 1920’s. New advancements, new inventions and the discoveries improved American lives in numerous ways.The combination of an increase in American recreation and the invention of the automobile helped in bringing success to the movie industry. Early movie attendance was low due to the distribution of theaters. As soon as the automobile was more popular, transportation was less of a hassle and movie attendance increased. The history of film spans from the early part of the nineteenth century. Motion pictures developed gradually from carnival novelty to one of the most important tools of communication and entertainment. Many of the films in the 20th century were silent.In the silent era of film, marrying the image with sound was not possible for the inventors and producers. For the first thirty years of the history of film, they were silent, and somet imes were accompanied by live musicians and sometimes sound effect and commentary were spoken by the showman. In the earliest silent films the actors were responsible for method acting or pantomime to portray their feelings to the audience. This in itself took much talent from the actors and actresses to help the audience feel the total impact of the movie.The movie industry became a huge part of American industry in general. Movies became America’s favorite form of entertainment. â€Å"Early movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks became idols to the American people who set trends in clothing and hairstyles† (James, 2009). Although the movies were a huge part of American life, some negative roles came from the movies. Actress Clara Bow, known as the â€Å"jazz baby† was enticing in the movies, and she soon became a cultural icon, who women accepted as their idol.The silent movie â€Å"It† was a huge success for Clara and millions of girls across America soon began imitating her style. Another famous person in the movies of the 1920’s was Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was one of the greatest and most loved movie stars. He was known for his slapstick acrobatics. Chaplin was able to keep the attention of the audience by creating an environment and walk around it until something natural happened. He used overdramatic acting and lots of emotion. He helped the audience with knowing what the film was about by his demonstrations.The advent of technology helped the success of the movie history. Life was easy and convenient due to the industry of movies that took place during the 1920’s. The American people had dealt with the happenings of the war, and now they were able to relax and enjoy the newer things that life had to offer. Movies were the biggest form of entertainment during this time. REFERENCES Henrietta James A. , et. al. America: A Concise History. 4th Edition Bedford/St. Martins: Boston 2009. Primary Source Packet. Bethel University: McKenzie, TN 2005

Enron Accounting Fault Essay

Enron is frequently given as an example of creative accounting. It is also given as a good example of accounting fraud and insider trading. This is a good example of creative accounting taken too far – not many would disagree that it was accounting fraud, although some would say they were just unlucky to get caught. after all, the auditors were Arthur Anderson, at the time one of the most respected auditing firms. Creative Accounting – Example 1 – Creating multiple trading entities The creative accounting involved setting up other entities and then trading with these entities. This is a common practice; many businesses divide their operations into sectors that perform specialist functions and then trade is carried out between these various entities. However, normal applicable accounting standards (GAAP), would require that some sort of financial consolidation is performed and the full picture reported. However, there was a bias to record income, revenue, and profits from transactions with these entities; rather than costs, expenses, and losses. Creative Accounting – Example 2 – Moving business segments offshore Enron created these entities offshore. This is also a common practice in accounting and tax planning. Many businesses do this to reduce the amount of taxes they pay, this can be done legally (tax avoidance) and it can take illegal forms (tax evasion). Offshore entities usually enjoy an enhanced level of privacy, this can make it difficult for local governments and auditors to gain insights into what is going on. Enron appears to have manged to succeed for a long time in hiding what was going on from both auditors, investors, and potential whistle-blowers. If Enron was recording profits, and assuming not much else was happening in these other entities, then these offshore entities would be recording losses. These losses were conveniently recorded away from the financial statements and therefore investors and many staff never new about them. Creative Accounting and Insider Trading The executives didn’t stop here. By using creative accounting and fraud to manipulate profits, they were able to affect the stock price, the next logical and illegal step was to start to trade the stock to benefit from the inside knowledge they had. This is know as insider trading and is illegal in most countries.

Fallen Empires essays

Fallen Empires essays La historia de la humanidad ofrece temas de estudio que contribuyen al ascenso del nivel cultural del individuo, lo cual lo capacita a ser una persona capaz de evitar y solucionar situaciones que limitaran su buen desarrollo general. La existencia de tres grandes imperios como lo fueron el IMPERIO GRIEGO, EL IMPERIO ROMANO, Y EL IMPERIO RUSO; los cuales siendo imperios de distintas pocas, distintas culturas y distintos territorios; muestran rasgos en comà ºn. Éstos rasgos no solo fueron presentes durante su creacin, su periodo de actuacin, sino tambin durante su caà ­da. Dentro de las caracterà ­sticas en comà ºn de las caà ­das de los imperios se encuentran entre otras: a Gran separacin entre clases sociales. a Pobres niveles de comunicacin dentro del imperio. Analizando las extensiones territoriales de los tres imperios nos encontramos con que los tres empezaron como una potencia concentrada en una rea considerablemente pequeximo que obtuvieron. Por ejemplo, en 1917, despus de la revolucin Rusa, la Unin de Repà ºblicas Socialistas Soviticas fue formada mediante la confederacin de 15 estados del este de Europa y Asia, siendo ste el paà ­s ms grande del mundo. Igualmente sucedi dentro del imperio Romano, el cual por medio de un gran numero de batallas alcanz controlar bastas extensiones territoriales, las cuales en su mayorà ­a circundaban el Mar Mediterrneo, el Mar Negro, y el Canal de la Mancha. Grecia por su cuenta alcanzo a obtener parte de lo que luego fue el Imperio Romano; como por ejemplo la isla de Sicilia y Creta, y adems lo que se conoce en el presente como Turquà ­a, Bulgaria, Albania, etc. El gran tama en el deterioro de estos debido a que la comunic ...

Free Essays on Women In Theilogy

In the Pope John Paul’s statement on women he discusses ways in which women should conduct themselves and how they should respond to certain dilemmas that may come as a result of modern cultures in society today. The Pope’s teaching is based on the scripture, God’s word and Bible principles. In his method of teaching through the Scripture, Pope John Paul, shows how God feels about women’s roles. For example, he states that God had an original plan. Man and woman were to be couple and they were to produce and be fruitful. However in society there is sin and there are problems, which can interfere with the original plan. According to Pope John Paul II, women should be teachers of peace. In section five of his statement, he states in order for women to be teachers of peace, they first have to find peace within themselves. He uses example of women throughout history that have been able to over come problems in society, such as discrimination, racism, and violence. In section Six he discusses how should have a close relationship to their children, how children should be raised in a safe yet loving environment. Because there a many factors involved in the way children turn out every part of their development, children need to be educated through ways of peace. Through a Theological method Anne E. Carr she discusses how women are often left, or they are made to feel less important than men. She points out how there is still sexism existing in certain institutions. She explains how religious and theological views of women helped create the negative perceptions of women. She also brings out how women’s voices were absent in the church. They are more often seen and not heard. Both Anne E. Carr and Pope John Paul II discuss women and they both have interesting methods of discussing women and their roles in society. However as a woman, Anne Carr, relates more and understands what women often go through. Carr points... Free Essays on Women In Theilogy Free Essays on Women In Theilogy In the Pope John Paul’s statement on women he discusses ways in which women should conduct themselves and how they should respond to certain dilemmas that may come as a result of modern cultures in society today. The Pope’s teaching is based on the scripture, God’s word and Bible principles. In his method of teaching through the Scripture, Pope John Paul, shows how God feels about women’s roles. For example, he states that God had an original plan. Man and woman were to be couple and they were to produce and be fruitful. However in society there is sin and there are problems, which can interfere with the original plan. According to Pope John Paul II, women should be teachers of peace. In section five of his statement, he states in order for women to be teachers of peace, they first have to find peace within themselves. He uses example of women throughout history that have been able to over come problems in society, such as discrimination, racism, and violence. In section Six he discusses how should have a close relationship to their children, how children should be raised in a safe yet loving environment. Because there a many factors involved in the way children turn out every part of their development, children need to be educated through ways of peace. Through a Theological method Anne E. Carr she discusses how women are often left, or they are made to feel less important than men. She points out how there is still sexism existing in certain institutions. She explains how religious and theological views of women helped create the negative perceptions of women. She also brings out how women’s voices were absent in the church. They are more often seen and not heard. Both Anne E. Carr and Pope John Paul II discuss women and they both have interesting methods of discussing women and their roles in society. However as a woman, Anne Carr, relates more and understands what women often go through. Carr points...

How to Make Frozen Bubbles on Dry Ice

How to Make Frozen Bubbles on Dry Ice Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. You can use dry ice to freeze bubbles solid so that you can pick them up and examine them closely. You can use this project to demonstrate several scientific principles, such as density, interference, semipermeability, and diffusion. Materials Needed Bubble Solution (from the store or make your own)Dry IceGloves (for handling the dry ice)Glass Box or Cardboard Box Procedure Using gloves to protect your hands, place a chunk of dry ice in the bottom of glass bowl or cardboard box. Glass is nice because its clear.Allow about 5 minutes for carbon dioxide gas to accumulate in the container.Blow bubbles down into the container. The bubbles will fall until they reach the layer of carbon dioxide. They will hover at the interface between air and carbon dioxide. The bubbles will start to sink as the bubbles cool and the carbon dioxide replaces some of the air within them. Bubbles that come into contact with the dry ice chunk or fall into the cold layer at the bottom of the container will freeze! You can pick them up for closer examination (no gloves needed). The bubbles will thaw and eventually pop as they warm.As the bubbles age, their color bands will change and they will become more transparent. The bubble liquid is light, but it is still affected by gravity and is pulled to the bottom of a bubble. Eventually, the film at the top of a bubble becomes so thin th at it will open and the bubble will pop. Explanation Carbon dioxide (CO2) is heavier than most of the other gasses present in air (normal air is mostly nitrogen, N2, and oxygen, O2), so most of the carbon dioxide will settle to the bottom of the aquarium. Bubbles filled with air will float on top of the heavier carbon dioxide. Use a tutorial for calculating molecular mass, in case you want to prove this for yourself. Notes Adult supervision is recommended for this project. Dry ice is cold enough to give frostbite, so you need to wear protective gloves when handling it. Also, be aware that extra carbon dioxide is added to the air as dry ice vaporizes. Carbon dioxide is naturally present in air, but under some circumstances, the extra amount can present a health hazard.

Rhetorical Analysis of The Wire Season 4, Episode 1, 2, 3 Essay

Rhetorical Analysis of The Wire Season 4, Episode 1, 2, 3 - Essay Example The aim of creating this atmosphere will be examined further in this essay. The authors to a greater extent manage to convince the audience on the authenticity of their story which they to a greater extent manage to convey in a gripping and very realistic looking film. The way they employ their styles and stick to the same repeated way of telling the story lends an air of reality to the plot. The story is delivered in a documentary like fashion and this really goes a long way in giving it the ‘real’ feel. The audience will as a consequence tend to feel more at home with the film as it seems to speak to their inner self and seams to take place in the audiences familiar settings. In The wire season four episode number two, we find that both the language and the visuals work simultaneously to help bring out the intended messages very effectively. For instance we find the language used by the characters tend to authenticate their specific roles in the scene; in the scene whe re snoop buys a nail gun, the dialogue between snoop and the hardware attendant brings out the stark difference in the worlds that the two move and live in; for snoop the street slang drawn out talk she employs, brings out the street authenticity the author intended and the correct clipped language of the attendant helps in bringing out the contrast and difference between the two characters. In this episode, the authors are trying to convey several messages and they go about this by using filmic techniques that are meant to enhance the audiences’ easier understanding of the messages both inert and overt. The episode starts off with starts off with political power play with Mayor Royce being caught in a compromising situation by Herc a member of his security detail and as such both are considering what action to take to benefit their respective careers. The main message that comes out from this scene is the politics of contemporary Baltimore and the way the filmic techniques a re intertwined with the characters portrayal gives a wonderful end product where the audience feels that they are being let into the practices and lives of the high and mighty in Baltimore politics. In this scene, especially in the conversation scenes, the camera does not switch to the character speaking until that character has already commenced talking. This creates a feeling as though the cameraman didn’t know beforehand who is going to speak and when they will speak. The camera often seams to "sneaks up" on a scene as it is taking place. This creates the impression that we are eavesdropping on what is actually happening. This happens in the scene where the Mayor is caught having oral sex from his secretary and it enhances the viewers feeling that the two were caught unawares. The authors intended message from this was to portray through the techniques applied (especially the â€Å"sneaking up† on the mayor and his secretary) and the dialogue; the unalienable heady combination of power politics and sex with a degree of the powerlessness of some characters like the officer Herc. In the episode, the 4:3 aspect ratio chosen creates a feeling that the scenes are less inherently cinematic, which creates a more "real" scenario. It is very effective as it creates the impression that the scene is not actually a movie set bit rather it feels real. In the real like scenario

Cultural Event Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cultural Event Report - Essay Example The museum is located on 5th avenue in Manhattan, New York. We visited the museum on 1st October 2011 during the morning hour period. On arrival to the museum, I was immediately perplexed and remained rooted to a beautiful statue by the of the entrance, which could only have been made by non other than Michelangelo. The statue was of King David with the right hand holding the thigh and the left hand touching his shoulder. Even Monica who does not easily get excited was awash with a big smile on her face not believing that a fellow human being could have done such a statue. The most beautiful site we visited was the Temple of Dendur located in Sackler wing of the museum. We learnt that the magnificent artifact was built during the Roman Period in the days of Augustus Caesar and transferred from Egypt to the United States in 1965. Two years later, it was given to The Metropolitan Museum of Arts. At the base of the temple are papyrus carvings that look like they are growing from waters. The image of the sun can be seen from the top of the gates. On the way in, are images of the vultures with their wings spread out making the scene totally scintillating that left us simply amazed. The image of the king offering sacrifices and holding scepters is seen between the walls that separate the sky from the earth. The gods Isis and Osiris are crowned and with some writings by their figures. The believe within the temple of Dendur is that if a couple make love there, they will never part ways until death. This was good news for Monica and I since we have marriage p lans in the future but that was saved for another visit. We also visited the section where American art collections are stored. The most exciting scene was that of George Washington and his soldiers crossing the Delaware. Being a passionate lover of Africa, we could not leave the museum without visiting the African Art site, and I must say,

Palestenian Civil Socity Fundings Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Palestenian Civil Socity Fundings - Term Paper Example This has resulted into the humanitarian crisis in the region that has led to the increase of the plethora of the civil societies and the NGOs witnessed today. Background and introduction to Palestinian Civil Society Movement Civil society movement started in the early 1920s in Palestine and the most eminent organization then included Labour Unions of the Islam and the Christians, Women’s organizations, and youth clubs, all were concentrated on the national issues. Coming to 1930, six other societies added onto the list of the three main organizations. Their main grievances were the mandate that was given to the British that allowed the sentiment of the Jews in the Arab land. It is however notable that between the years 1948 and 1964, the civil society movement in Palestine severely dispersed, and only a few NGOs remained within the Palestine boarders.1 The Palestinians in other countries had no option but to join local NGOs in whichever place they are and later used those loca l organizations to form formidable national Palestinian NGOs, Palestinian General Federation of Student is one such typical having established in the 1959 outside Palestine but later had a national outlook to push for the Palestinian agenda. The civil societies in Palestine faced several challenges that forced them to operate in coverts following the influences of some major international powers that thwarted the development of a strong civil movement in Palestine. For instance, the Egyptians suppressed the Palestinian Communist Party of Gaza, Arab, Nationalist Ba’ath Party, and the several braches of the Muslim Brotherhood that operated secretly in the West Bank. During this period, Gaza was under the control of Egypt while Jordan was considered for the West Bank management; these countries ensured that there is no civil movement in their areas of dominance. The needs to suppress the civil movement in Palestine were manifested when Egypt dissolved the in 1948 the Palestine N ational Council that was meant to operate in Gaza. The perfection of the need to inhibit civil movement in Palestine can be construed when in 1963 following the Gaza elections for the Palestine Legislative Council, there were no civil societies allowed to operate in West Bank except for those that demonstrated non-political activities and charities. Those that were considered must have established a federation in 1958; they also had to conform to the Jordanian law, with approval of every undertaken activity.2 From 1964, PLO started to lead the civil societies, which were in different faction and got concerned about youth organizations and voluntary works while operating outside the country of Palestine. Between 1970s and 80s, the focus was shifted to health and education, it should therefore be noted that most of the civil organization in Palestine between 1960s and 80s concentrated on services and relief with no reference to development. The development and human rights idea only c ame after the first intifada. The PLO led organizations grew ineffective in the 1990s and paved ways for the emergence of the intifada. This has led to the progressive development of the civil society in the country to date advocating and agitating for change in almost all spheres. The

HOW MIGHT THE FAN PRACTICES THAT PRODUCE A CULT TEXT BE CATEGORIZED AS Essay

HOW MIGHT THE FAN PRACTICES THAT PRODUCE A CULT TEXT BE CATEGORIZED AS EITHER MASCULINE OF FEMININE; THIS ACCORDING TO GENDERED COMPETENCIES AND DISPOSITIONS AS FOUND IN THE AMERICAN SERIES TRUE BLOOD - Essay Example Vampires, two years prior, remained hidden from the Human Race; dwelling in the shadows while preying on human beings for their blood that was the vampires lifeline. This, however, changes when scientists in Japan create an artificial form of blood called â€Å"True Blood† that takes the place of human beings’ blood. They no longer have their survival controlled by the need for human blood. Instead, the vampire race is able to integrate itself into the â€Å"Mainstream† Human society. The resultant interactions are mutually suspicious with each race preferring its own company; often being intolerant of the other (Broyles, 2010, p. 56). Vampire blood, on the other hand, is categorized as being a kind of human narcotic: â€Å"V† or â€Å"V Juice† that is often sought after by the Human race. Sookie, the main protagonist is caught up in a fight between a human couple and a vampire male, Merlotte’s first, who were attempting to drain his blood. From this scene, the notion of women’s’ hospitability, non- violence and accepting nature is exhibited; this contributing immensely to the ensuing relationship that was to develop between her, Sookie, and the vampire, Bill Compton. From this relationship, a host of vampire culture and psychology is explored with great limitations being portrayed on vampire psychology. The receptive and understanding nature of Sookie epitomizes the goodwill and caring nature present in the female psychology (Hammond, 2006, p. 136). The murders of several women, all connected to Sookie’s older Brother Jason, provides the first season’s major plot. ... 136). The murders of several women, all connected to Sookie’s older Brother Jason, provides the first season’s major plot. Among the victims are Maudette Pickens, a sexual partner; Dawn Green, one of Merlotte’s servers; Grandmother Adele and girlfriend Amy Burley. He is addicted to vampire blood â€Å"V†; that is a human narcotic unlike anything manufactured at the time. The viewers’ knowledge of Jason’s innocence does not help much in easing the constant accusations and investigations carried out by detective Andy, in conjunction with Sheriff Bud, who target him as the main suspect in the investigations. The theme of masculinity comes out with the accusations, of the murders, and the constant harassment of the perceived suspect by the local authority. Violence and other acts of violence are socialized with the notion of masculinity while the feminine nature is credited with old age (Grandmother Adele), sensual and sexual pleasures as portray ed by Maudette and Marlette’s Dawn Green (Ghaill, 1994, p. 51). Friendship and enduring bonds are exemplified by the unwavering support given to Jason by two of his friends and workmates, Fortenberry and Lenier. Masculinity and endurance are two themes explored until in the end, another actor; Rene is exposed as the murderer; killed in a final confrontation with Sookie. Rene, Arlene’s fiance is actually Drew Marshall who having created a false identity goes about killing those women he considers gang-bangers; that is, women who have sexual relations with vampires. Friendship and unwavering bonds between the Male species is exemplified as being strong and long-lasting; this contributing to the fan

Money Growth and Inflation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Money Growth and Inflation - Essay Example Several economists have repeatedly observed that continuous increase in prices of goods is directly attributed to the nominal quantity of money. This essay will major on the subject of money growth and inflation. For instance, it will analyze economic news reports like the News Release by the Bank of England (The Financial Express, 20) which sought to establish the role played by monetary policy regarding Inflation and Growth. Discussion Monetary inflation is an economic terminology that refers to sustained rise in the supply of money in an economy of any given country. It normally leads to price inflation, that is, general increase in price levels of products. Economists generally agree that there exists a causal relationship between the demand and supply of money, as well as prices of services and goods often quantified in monetary terms. However, there is no overall consensus pertaining the exact relationship and mechanism between monetary inflation and price inflation. There is a sophisticated system and various arguments put forward towards the issues that are involved, for instance how accurately determine monetary base, and or how other factors like money velocity impact the relationship and the most appropriate monetary policy. Review of previous literature shows that price levels and nominal money quantity variations are closely interwoven. Although the debate has been going on for long with substantial evidence being given, there still remains some dispute between the predicted link between inflation and money. One of the possible explanations given towards this is that the said relationship holds only over periods of time which are so long thus making the relationship uninformative for policymakers and practitioners, who concern themselves with inflation in the future, say like the next five months or a year ( «Business Report: U.S. hyperinflation? The markets know better.†23). However, the said relationship can not be overlooked because it h as been backed with substantial evidence. Economists have to make monetary policies bearing in mind this consideration. Monetary policies have to play significant roles in enhancing economic growth and development in any economy. Spenser Dale, when addressing the Chinese Business Association and Asian Business Association of London Chamber of Commerce and industry, gave out his opinions regarding the monetary policy objectives. Particularly, Dale considered the monetary policy’s flexibility to support employment and growth and also control inflation. He also considered the possibilities of presently having scope for additional growth without creating extra price inflation. Spencer welcomed the present interest in such crucial issues, and noted that the financial crisis was partly associated with failure of the monetary policies. In many nations like the UK, monetary policies failed to activate the growth people longed to have. Some players have often asked if the UK’s regime that targets inflation does force the MPC to emphasize too much on inflation, instead of supporting growth recovery. In tackling this, Spenser noted that from its generation the core mission of MPC was to hit a target of 2% inflation, but in manner that it will support employment and growth. The MPS, he explained, has always done achieved that and brought recovery after the economic financial crisis aftermath. According to his report, Consumer

Is simulation an effective educational tool in teaching procedural Dissertation

Is simulation an effective educational tool in teaching procedural skills to pediatric residents - Dissertation Example The use of simulation technologies for medical training has been studied by the SAEM (Society for Academic Emergency Medicine), the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, and the CEMRD (Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors) among others. The use of simulators relegates the need for learning through observing and doing. It is considered to be a safer alternative to the traditional methods for providing medical training. Through simulation experience, medical trainees can acquire procedural experience in addition to medical knowledge. There are also other newer methods in use in medical education such as computer or web-based training and using virtual reality systems. The simulation can involve exercises with the full body, provide immersive environments or scenarios, or involve specific tasks or procedures. â€Å"High-fidelity simulators are full-body automated mannequins designed to provide realistic tactile, auditory, and visual stimuli† (Vozenilek et al., 2004). Hence, si mulations can also involve the use of models such as mannequins or other anatomic structures instead of being entirely computer-based. The quality of the mannequins is improving, as technology develops so as to provide an increasingly realistic experience. In immersive simulation, there is greater provision for developing organization, communication and multitasking abilities alongside. The benefits and long-term effectiveness of simulation training Numerous studies have shown the benefits of simulation training. For example, Rosenthal et al. 2006) showed how scenario-based simulation training (SST) can be effective for medical interns to develop airway management skills. A study by Overly et al. (2007) demonstrated the usefulness of HFS as an assessment tool specifically for developing the ability of pediatric residents to manage acute airways. The study was observational based involving 16 residents and 2 scenarios. The success rate was 56%. Thus, many areas were identified for im proving skills but HFS had the potential for assessing ability as well as for teaching the necessary skills for managing acute pediatric airways. According to the Center for Medical Simulation (CMS, 2009), providing simulation practice leads to â€Å"improved real-world communication, collaboration, teamwork, and crisis management†. Residents also appreciate the value of simulators but prefer training in the form of small-group sessions (Shanks et al., 2010). The advantages of simulation training prove to be especially beneficial in cases where the required care involves high risk or invasive procedures, when training for difficult environments and preparing for disaster scenarios. For example, Hayden et al. (2002) suggested simulations are ideal â€Å"for low frequency but critical procedures†. These procedures would usually be applied in life-threatening situations such as cardiopulmonary arrest for example. Training for rare events tends to be uneven across a large number of medical residents and many residents never get the opportunity to witness or manage such an event, let alone one in which a child is involved (Becker, 2007). Hence, simulation training provides this much need opportunity so that when a real situation is faced, there is better preparation. Instilling confidence in trainees is of particularly importance where the risk to patients is high. In Becker’s (2007) study, assessment was made of how prepared radiology residents were for recognizing and managing children’

Money Growth and Inflation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Money Growth and Inflation - Essay Example Several economists have repeatedly observed that continuous increase in prices of goods is directly attributed to the nominal quantity of money. This essay will major on the subject of money growth and inflation. For instance, it will analyze economic news reports like the News Release by the Bank of England (The Financial Express, 20) which sought to establish the role played by monetary policy regarding Inflation and Growth. Discussion Monetary inflation is an economic terminology that refers to sustained rise in the supply of money in an economy of any given country. It normally leads to price inflation, that is, general increase in price levels of products. Economists generally agree that there exists a causal relationship between the demand and supply of money, as well as prices of services and goods often quantified in monetary terms. However, there is no overall consensus pertaining the exact relationship and mechanism between monetary inflation and price inflation. There is a sophisticated system and various arguments put forward towards the issues that are involved, for instance how accurately determine monetary base, and or how other factors like money velocity impact the relationship and the most appropriate monetary policy. Review of previous literature shows that price levels and nominal money quantity variations are closely interwoven. Although the debate has been going on for long with substantial evidence being given, there still remains some dispute between the predicted link between inflation and money. One of the possible explanations given towards this is that the said relationship holds only over periods of time which are so long thus making the relationship uninformative for policymakers and practitioners, who concern themselves with inflation in the future, say like the next five months or a year ( «Business Report: U.S. hyperinflation? The markets know better.†23). However, the said relationship can not be overlooked because it h as been backed with substantial evidence. Economists have to make monetary policies bearing in mind this consideration. Monetary policies have to play significant roles in enhancing economic growth and development in any economy. Spenser Dale, when addressing the Chinese Business Association and Asian Business Association of London Chamber of Commerce and industry, gave out his opinions regarding the monetary policy objectives. Particularly, Dale considered the monetary policy’s flexibility to support employment and growth and also control inflation. He also considered the possibilities of presently having scope for additional growth without creating extra price inflation. Spencer welcomed the present interest in such crucial issues, and noted that the financial crisis was partly associated with failure of the monetary policies. In many nations like the UK, monetary policies failed to activate the growth people longed to have. Some players have often asked if the UK’s regime that targets inflation does force the MPC to emphasize too much on inflation, instead of supporting growth recovery. In tackling this, Spenser noted that from its generation the core mission of MPC was to hit a target of 2% inflation, but in manner that it will support employment and growth. The MPS, he explained, has always done achieved that and brought recovery after the economic financial crisis aftermath. According to his report, Consumer

In what ways television affects Essay Example for Free

In what ways television affects Essay AIM: I propose to find out what children say about how television affects their play. Socialisation is a very important concept in sociology and the role of the mass media is highly debateable. Many sociologists believe that media effects start by setting out an overall relationship between media and its audience. They are often called models of media effects. I will interview the children these interviews will be unstructured. The children will be interviewed separately. Gender will be a comparison I look at to and whether the gender affects whom the children imitate. CONTEXTS AND CONCEPTS: The study of Bandura Ross and Ross uses the term of social learning theory to assert that children copy behaviour another example of this is copycat violence found in Hagell Newburn’s study. In my research will ask the children whether they say they act violently due to the violent content they may have viewed and whether they have chosen to imitate these programs. Hagell Newburn’s study compared young offenders viewing behaviour with non-offending teenagers. They found the differences were few between the two groups and what they watched, with hardly any having seen the films that were causing the concern at that time. A few members of either group had an interest in a violent output. The young offenders had less access to different media types. Other factors instead of media could have been causing the differences in their behaviour. The other context being analysed is Bandura Ross Ross who looked at whether children learnt behaviour through observation. This is the idea of the social learning theory. Children were made to watch a violent model be aggressive towards a five-foot ‘bobo’ doll. Later the children were given an aggressive arousal and then taken to another room where they were monitored as to how they reacted towards the ‘bobo’ doll, after seeing a model do this. The different concepts are is copycat violence this is violence that occurs as a result of copying what is seen in the media. Catharsis another theory is the process where tension is relieved, for example violence on screen that provides a safe outlet for people’s violent inclination. The final concept is desensitisation some theorists argue that the constant media diet of violence makes them less sensitive to real human suffering. These concepts tie in with the idea children are passive sociologists believe this, children respond easily to everything. This is the reason for watershed on T. V at 9pm because what comes on television isn’t suitable enough for children and there is a fear that the children will imitate this behaviour. (337) MAIN RESEARCH METHOD AND REASONS: The method I will be using is by interviewing the children by asking them to explain the reason for their behaviour. The questions I will ask the children will be questions not only requiring the answers that I need but there will be a series of distracting questions so the children will not know the aim of the questions being asked. Interviews are an advantage because it is better to gather all the information needed for an interview because you get to understand what the interviewee’s true opinions are. Interviews are flexible and can be used in different ways; also the ethical advantage is consent of the participants the theoretical advantage is that at applies to the law of interpretivists (Action theory). You can use empathy to understand their opinions in depth; these methods generate higher levels of validity of these results. They give a general understanding of the problem, there is less pressure on the interviewee and their answers are more spontaneous. Important concepts are uncovered about the information that will help me conclude whether the children imitate what they watch. When interviewing the children I will be asking them which programs they imitate and this will give me an insight into whether there is a pattern with what they watch. The sample I will be using for the interviews are of children from the ages of five to ten years old, because at this stage of childhood where television will be their main interest and there is a large variety if television for children of these ages also this is the age children are most likely to be influenced by the media. The genders of the children being used are varied so I will be using five boys and five girls. The children all come from the Borough of Newham of East London. It is easier for me if the children are living in the same borough there will be an easier access to these children and it will be easier for me and the children. The sample of the children I will be studying is opportunity sampling as the sample depends on whether the adults agree to their children being in the sample. The consent for whether the child will participate will be the decision of the adults. In Bandura’s study he gave the children an aggressive arousal and in this study will not do this as the aggressive arousal means that the children could have acted violently because of the arousal given and not because they were imitating the models behaviour. (425) POTNETIAL PROBLEMS The interviews of the amount of children I will be looking at can be very time consuming. With this study I need to be aware that the sample isn’t appropriate enough to apply to the whole population because all the children are from the same background and all from a similar ethical background and there may be a pattern in their behaviour. The main practical issue is whether the adults will allow their children to take part in the study. These types of questionnaires are basically a conversation dominates by the interviewer. These unstructured interviews may also go off the initial idea of what is being interviewed. Also with the amount of children I will be looking at and the sample of children I will be looking at there will be a lot of activity so it may be difficult to record all of their behaviour. These interviews are more difficult to analyse, and there are less details provided on the concept being asked. Ethical problems are mental harm to the children if they don’t like the questions being asked of them. Right to withdraw will be an ethical issue also because the children may not feel they have the right to leave and stop asking the questions. The final ethical issue is informed consent, which will be coming from the child and not the parents. The children should be able to make the decision but when a child is involved the parents have the consent. Time consumption is a practical issue through finding time to interview ten children. Being able to get the children to understand the question and also to cooperate may be difficult. Likewise another ethical issue is the children may not understand the debriefing. If they don’t understand the debriefing there will be an issue of this ethical guideline and the parents will also have to also be debriefed too.

Health Care System In Uae Health And Social Care Essay

Health Care System In Uae Health And Social Care Essay Health care is essential for any economy regardless of its size since it directly affects the workforce. The workforce in turn influences output and income earned by the government from taxes and foreign exchange. The health care sector should thus receive a substantial proportion of the budgetary expenditure if a country is to achieve high growth and development levels. The UAE is one of the most influential countries in the Middle East and it shapes the economic and political sphere in this continent. Although it is a dominant country in the Middle East, it faces many challenges in its health care system which threatens to undermine its growth and development. Several interventions should be taken to ensure that this nation does not lose its influence in the Middle East due to problems in the health care sector, which may affect its growth and development. This paper will show that UAE faces challenges such as limitation in the number of specialists and nurses, low skills possessed by nurses and poor remuneration of employees who work for government hospitals. In order to address these concerns, more health care professionals should be trained and schools build for students who are interested in the medical field. In addition, foreign workers in health care facilities should be thoroughly vetted to ensure that they possess skills needed by patients. In order to motivate employees in the health care sector, their salaries and allowances should be increased, and their working environments improved through equipping hospitals with drugs, equipment and health care specialists. This will improve the overall quality of health care provided in the UAE. Introduction The health care sector is one of the most important sectors in any nation and it directly affects the economic growth and development of all nations. This is due to the reason that if the population has poor health, the productivity from individual workers decreases and this in turn reduces output from industries and firms. This in turn results in lower GDP, lower taxes earned by government and lower income earned from exports. Many health care systems across the world face challenges due to an increase in number of people who seek health care and the limitation of resources available. There has been an increase in diseases, both communicable and terminal illnesses. In addition, unhealthy lifestyles and poor dietary habits have led to an increase in diseases such as diabetes, heart illnesses and high blood pressure, across the world. It is therefore important that different health care systems are assessed and their weaknesses exposed in order to improve the quality of health care pr ovision. The UAE faces some challenges in its health care service delivery. These weaknesses include a shortage of specialists and nurses. Others include low quality of skills by nurses and low motivation levels among health care stakeholders. This has led to poor service delivery and man patients are opting to pursue health care services abroad. Many specialists are also taking jobs abroad since they perceive remuneration in UAE to be low. These factors have an economic impact of loss of revenue by the government, increase in cost of health care and opportunity costs of seeking local health care services. This paper will analyze the health care industry in the United Arab Emirates. Various weaknesses inherent in the system will be discussed from an economic point of view. These weaknesses will be compared to other successful hospitals across the world in order to develop effective interventions to solve them. Recommendations will then be made on actions which the UAE government, in collabora tion with the private sector and international partners, has to take to improve the quality of health care provision. The incentives which should be given to change the behavior of UAE health care stakeholders will also be given at the end of the paper. The discussed issues will be summarized. Problems and solutions Introduction There are various problems which are present in the UAE health care system as earlier stated. These problems include inadequate distribution ratio of nurses to patients and the presence of low skilled nurses. These problems lead to dissatisfaction with service provision amongst the UAE population, and this results in many patients seeking treatment overseas. Over 70% of residents in UAE seek treatment overseas when faced with life-threatening ailments. This leads to losses to both health care providers and the government, which loses a substantial income from taxes. In addition, sometimes the government supports patients who seek treatment overseas and this increases the costs incurred by the government. For instance, in 2009, the UAE government spent over 280 million dirham to cover overseas costs of 530 patients (Porter Teisberg, 2006). This figure is even higher when military patients are included. When the government spends this amount of money on overseas treatment, economic lo sses include opportunity costs of payment from patients to health practitioners, loss of tax revenue by the government and direct expenses paid for the medical cost. It is therefore imperative that steps are taken to restore the confidence which nationals of the UAE have in the health care system. This part of the paper will discuss individual problems in the provision of health care in the UAE. The solutions to the problems faced will be discussed after discussing the problems. Inadequate distribution ratio of nurses to patients The international acceptable standards in health care provision advocates for a bed capacity to nursesà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ ratio of 1:1 in areas which are considered critical to health care. The current ratio present in the UAE is in fact 1:5. This means that one nurse takes care of four patients simultaneously. According to Zain and Libo, (2008), although the internationally recognized nurse to patient ration in the ICU is 1:5, there are several hospitals in Dubai which have higher nurse to patient ratios. For instance, the Al Baraha hospital has a nurse to patient ratio of 1:10 in general wards, and in the ICU, this ratio is 1:4. In addition, it has 100 doctors and 200 nurses yet it receives 13 new born babies, 250 emergency patients and 650 outpatients in a daily basis. This shows the problem facing the hospital as far as the shortage of nurses is concerned. This is not acceptable, especially in critical areas of health care. This is due to the reason that increasing the workload of nurses has adverse impacts on health care provision. These include increasing risk of spread of infection as nurses urgently try to complete tasks, increasing risk of error due to fatigue, increasing occupational injuries due to rush to complete tasks, increasing risk of error when filling incident reports and increasing turnover rate due to excessive work and few promotions. This would eventually reduce the overall quality of health care, which adversely affects the health of the population and workforce. This would in turn reduce productivity and economic growth and development in the UAE. In addition, inadequate staff may make patients lose confidence in the health care provision and seek alternative health options such as over the counter medication, herbal medicine and others. Some of these methods may further aggravate their illnesses. In order to solve this problem, the UAE government should increase its investment in health care. The current proportion of budget spent on health care in the UAE is approximately 9%. For a sector which has a huge impact on a countryà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s growth and development, UAE spends too little on health. It should increase this proportion to over 15% in order to cater for the needs of hiring new nurses and expanding health care infrastructure. The US, which is a larger economy, spent 17% of its GDP in 2009 on health care. More nurses should be hired to improve the nurse to patient ratio. In addition, more medical schools would be built to train more health care practitioners who would cater for the expanding health care needs. This will reduce the risks earlier discussed and improve the overall quality of health care in the UAE. Low skilled nurses Many nurses who work in the UAE are either under qualified or in possession of little experience, which affects their health care provision. This is caused by many factors and one of them is the shortage of nurses and the unfavorable nurse to patient ratio. Due to this shortage, cheap labor is sought from foreign countries such as Philippines and India. When this happens, it is difficult to fully ascertain the levels of skills held by these professionals, and most end up having low nursing skills. In addition, little or no professional training in nursing is given to such health care professionals. As a result, the few nurses present in the UAE do not possess the skills required to deal with the many health care needs of the population. This leads to provision of poor and low quality health care, which makes the population unhealthy. Nurses with poor professional skills are more prone to errors, which may even end up being fatal to patients. In order to deal with the problem of low skills among nurses, several interventions ought to be taken. The first is a review of skills and experience possessed by nurses who come from overseas to work in the UAE. Their academic qualifications and experience should be corroborated, and the quality of health care institutions they worked for assessed before they are employed in UAE hospitals. In order to develop superior nursing skills among UAE residents, the government ought to increase its budgetary allocation to the health care sector in order to build more nursing institutions which would develop more nurses (Oxford Business Group, 2008). The private sector and international partners should collaborate when building these nursing schools and training new nurses in order for improve the quality of skills possessed by nurses. According to City data website (2010), this strategy has already proved to be successful in Bangkok. Due to investment in training of nurses and use of technol ogy, the health care delivery has improved and this has translated into direct benefits to the population. The life expectancy has increased by over 10 years during the last three decades. Inadequate number of specialists This is a third problem which faces the UAE health care industry. There are a large number of general doctors but few specialists amongst the population. Most large hospitals have over 100 doctors but the number of specialists is usually less than 10. This limits the effectiveness of health care provision since many patients nowadays require specialized health care needs. The increase in chronic diseases such as cancer, heart problems and brain disorders has made it necessary to increase the number of specialists in these fields. In the current case, where there are few specialists, the specialist to patient ratio is very large. This may cause similar problems caused by overburdening nurses with responsibilities. In addition, it increases the costs of treating illnesses which require specialized care since the few specialists may charge high prices due to their high demand. The overall effect of having few specialists is increase in cost of health care, inability of the population to access specialized care and increase in errors made by specialists due to high work load. All these factors undermine the UAE health care provision industry. In order to solve this problem, training of specialists is required, so that they may offer their services to patients who require them. The government should collaborate with international partners and the private sector to build more schools where health care specialists are trained. These medical schools should be well equipped in order to ensure that specialists have the expertise and knowledge needed to perform their duties effectively (Crichton, 2000). Since the cost of training health care specialists is high, the government should subsidize the costs of pursuing education on certain areas of health care. The population should be encouraged to pursue knowledge on certain areas which have very few specialists such as neurology. Incentives which should be given to health care practitioners There are various incentives which should be given to doctors and nurses in order to increase their motivation levels. These incentives enable them to be well motivated and to increase their output as far as caring for patients is concerned. These incentives will be discussed below; Better remuneration There have been complaints from many health care practitioners in the UAE that the salaries and benefits they receive are not commensurate to the efforts they put in their assignments. As is common in many countries, many government health practitioners have complained that professionals working in private practice are earning significantly higher salaries and benefits than them. This lowers their morale and productivity since according to the expectancy theory by Vroom, employees only work harder when they are sure that their expectations regarding remuneration and other needs, will be realized (Beach, 2007). This can be seen by the large number of health care specialists who are moving to the US and Europe to offer their services to these countries. In order to increase their motivation levels, their salaries and benefits should be increased and matched to those of specialists in private practice. This will ensure that health care professionals are motivated and they will increase the quality of services they give. Better working environments In order for doctors and nurses to be able to work effectively, they should be provided with the latest equipment, drugs and training. This enables them to provide high quality health care to the population. The government should ensure that all hospitals have enough staff in order to improve the nurse to patient ratio. There should also be enough specialists and equipment and drugs used by patients. In any organization, organizational culture plays a role in motivating employees (Murray, 2005). The organizational culture should be therefore conducive for employees, since this will motivate them into increasing their output. The management should ensure that employees are involved in decision making, are given independence when working and that they are encouraged to work as a team. There should be an uninterrupted flow of information between the lower level employees and the management. The management should use the democratic leadership style since this is the most effective in ach ieving employee motivation (Bratton, et. al., 2004). This style involves employees in making decisions which affect their duties. Finally, there should be conflict resolution mechanisms which will avoid workplace conflicts. This will ensure that the quality of service provision improves. Incentive for patients It has been discussed that due to the challenges which the health care sector in the UAE faces, many patients are beginning to lose confidence in the health care system. It is therefore necessary to provide certain incentives which will restore confidence in the health acre system. One way of doing this is improving the patient to nurse ratio. This has been discussed in detail above when dealing with challenges in the UAE health care industry. Increasing the number of nurses will ensure that patients receive better quality of health acre and this will restore their faith in the system. Another incentive is the increase in quality of skills possessed by nurses. This will enable nurses to provide better services to patients, and this can be achieved through re-training them and vetting them before they are employed. Finally, patients should be provided with score cards which reveal their satisfaction with service provision in hospitals. This measure will enable hospitals to acquire fee dback from their patients and they will be able to improve upon areas which they are considered to be weak (Carver Scheier, 2001). It has proven to be successful in many hospitals in Thailand and it is bound to be similarly successful in the UAE. This measure will increase the quality of health care provided. Summary and conclusion There are various aspects of the UAE health care system which have been discussed in the paper. UAE has been seen to have challenges such as few number of specialists, low nurse to patient ratio, lower remuneration of health care stakeholders and poor skills by nurses. These effects have been discussed to lower the motivation of employees and as a result, they are likely to make errors or perform poor quality assignments. This in turn makes patient lose confidence in local health care provision and some seek health care services overseas. Some health care professionals also look for employment overseas as a result. When this happens, the UAE government loses tax revenue. It also ends up paying for patientsà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ overseas treatment which leads to economic losses such as lost opportunity costs of payment from patients to health practitioners, loss of tax revenue by the government and direct expenses paid for the medical cost. In order to solve these problems which are affecting the UAE healthcare service provision, several steps should be taken by the UAE government in collaboration with the private sector and international partners. The first involves better remuneration of employees in the health care industry. The stakeholders in the health care industry should set new remuneration which matches that from the private practice. The second step involves building of medical schools and paying for educational needs of students to enable them pursue various medical fields. This will increase the skills and number of health car professionals, which is a major challenge in UAE. The third intervention is screening all health care professionals from foreign countries before they begin working in the UAE in order to ensure that they have adequate skills. Although these interventions are important in improving the overall quality of healthcare provision in the UAE, it is similarly useful to provide incentives to stakeholders in the health care sector in order to improve service provision. Health care employees should receive higher remuneration in order to increase motivation. Their work environment should also be conducive and the organizational culture should feature teamwork, independence, communication, conflict resolution and other important factors (Mugisho, 2007). Patients on the other hand can be motivated through improving the skills and increasing number of nurses and specialists since this will encourage them to have faith in the health care system. Feedback should be sourced through score cards, where patients rate service provided to them. This will enable the management improve the weaknesses of the processes. These interventions will encourage patients to seek local health services and this will increase government inco me and tax revenue thereby leading to higher economic growth and development.

Rappaccini’s Daughter Essay: The Ambiguity -- Rappaccinis Daughter Es

The Ambiguity in â€Å"The Rappaccini’s Daughter†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   The literary critics agree that there is considerable ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter.† This essay intends to illustrate this statement and to analyze the cause of this ambiguity.    Henry James in Hawthorne mentions how Hawthorne’s allegorical meanings should be expressed clearly:    I frankly confess that I have, as a general thing, but little enjoyment of it, and that it has never seemed to me to be, as it were, a first-rate literary form. . . . But it is apt to spoil two good things – a story and a moral, a meaning and a form; and the taste for it is responsible for a large part of the forcible-feeding writing that has been inflicted upon the world. The only cases in which it is endurable is when it is extremely spontaneous, when the analogy presents itself with eager promptitude. When it shows signs of having been groped and fumbled for, the needful illusion is of course absent, and the failure complete. Then the machinery alone is visible and the end to which it operates becomes a matter of indifference (50).    When one has to grope for, and fumble for, the meaning of a tale, then there is â€Å"failure† in the work, as Henry James says. This unfortunately is the case of â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter.† It is so ambiguous in so many occasions in the tale that a blur rather than a distinct image forms in the mind of the reader. The Norton Anthology: American Literature states in â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne†:    Above all, his theme was curiosity about the recesses of other men’s and women’s beings. About this theme he was always ambivalent [my italics], for he knew that his success as a writer depended upon his keen psychologi... ...WORKS CITED    Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.    Hawthorne, Nathaniel. â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter.† ElectronicText Center. University of Virginia Library. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed-new?id="HawRapp"&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public    James, Henry. Hawthorne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997.    Kazin, Alfred. Introduction. Selected Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Fawcett Premier, 1966.    Lang, H.J.. â€Å"How Ambiguous Is Hawthorne.† In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.      Ã¢â‚¬Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne.† The Norton Anthology: American Literature, edited by Baym et al.   New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1995.   

Ambrose Bierces’ An Occurence At Owl Creek Bridge Essay -- Occurence O

Ambrose Bierces’ Story â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ambrose Bierces’ story â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge† tells the story of a confederate secessionist, who is being hanged by Union troops. At the time of the hanging, the soldiers drop him from the bridge. Luckily, just as he falls the rope snaps and the man dives into the â€Å"sluggish stream†. He miraculously takes off his ropes and swims away. When he reaches the bank of the creek, he runs for what seems like forever. He finally reaches home, where his family is waiting so anxiously for him. However, Bierce chooses to surround this intriguing tell with elements that carry visual, concrete, and intangible symbolism. The symbolic elements of â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge† imply that the protagonist, Peyton Fahrquhar, is out of touch with reality, which evidently leads to the added twist at the end of the story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many of the symbols in the story have to do with visual representation. For example, Bierce focuses on one specific color, which is gray. Gray is the color of the Confederate soldiers’ uniforms. It is the also the color the Union soldier wears to deceive Fahrquhar. Gray is the color of the figures he sees in the distance in his delusion. It is also the color of the sharpshooter that misses him. Since gray is mentioned so often, the reader can assume that it has a meaning outside its visual representation. First, the color gray is used to describe the mood of the story. Generally, when one think of the color gray, a poignant feeling arouses. Linking the two, the mood of the story is therefore also distressing. Secondly, the color gray is used to symbolize Fahrquhars’ role: a middle man without much sense or direction. In the story, the first mention of the color is used to describe him. â€Å"He wore a moustache and pointer beard, but no whiskers: his eyes were large and dark grey†¦ † The reader should also notice that Fahrquar is the only one who sees gray, which means the color, represents him. Gray is the intermediate in character and position. Like Fahrquar, who is considered to be in the middle of the situation, only trying to do what he believes is right.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bierce use of symbolism is far great than the actually concept of the story. He also uses solid or concrete objects to convey his hidden messages. For example his constant mention of the Bridge. Obviously it... ...ot so bad; but I do not wish to be shot. No; I will not be shot; that is not fair.† In Fahrquars’ hallucination, he gets mad at the thought of being shot after he managed to escape his hanging. Depression kicks in when Bierce says â€Å"By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, and famished. He knew it (his neck) had a circle of black where the rope had bruised it.† Fahrquar is tired and confused. This is a clear sign that death is near, leading him into depression, which sheds light on his impossible endurance. Acceptance occurs when Bierce says, â€Å"†¦he has merely recovered from a delirium†¦ and sees home†¦ all bright and beautiful†¦ † This clearly shows that Fahrquar has accepted what is happening, almost as if he has given up. He finally enters the last stage of his symbolic dying process. Bierce says, â€Å"†¦then all is dark and silent†¦Peyton Fahrquar was dead†¦Ã¢â‚¬    Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge† is riddled with symbolic meaning. Bierce creates a realistic disguise of events until the very end of the story, where he allows the reader to realize that Fahrquars’ escape did not actually occur. He uses symbols to convey the true meaning of this breathtaking story: Perception is Reality.

Mary Schapiro and Leadership Essay

In her role at the SEC, Mary Schapiro was known as one of the world’s most powerful female regulators. She was named chair in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. As chairman, she helped strengthen and revitalize the agency by overseeing a more rigorous enforcement program and shaping new rules for Wall Street. During her tenure, the agency’s work force brought about a record number of enforcement actions and achieved significant regulatory reform to protect investors. Schapiro leaves behind an agency that has regained its footing, stature, and morale following desultory leadership under its previous two chairmen and its embarrassing lack of action preceding the financial crisis. Under Schapiro, the SEC, which is usually thought to be the most prominent and important financial regulatory body in the country, brought a huge number of enforcement actions against financial institutions. Her job was to assess what went wrong and to ensure it d idn’t happen again. During four years as SEC chairman, Schapiro presided over one of the busiest rule-making agendas in the SEC’s history, during which the agency also brought a record number of enforcement actions, and executed a comprehensive restructuring program to improve protections for investors. Upon her departure, President Obama praised her leadership, saying the SEC became stronger and the financial system â€Å"safer and better able to serve the American people-thanks in large part to Schapiro’s hard work.† Change Management Change management is designed to ensure the effective transition of an organisation and its people from the current to future states, and in so doing support the realisation of business benefits. In the context of strategy, it is the realisation of the strategic plan. Change management is about effectively leading and managing individuals, teams, and the organisation to successfully adopt the changes needed to achieve required or desired business results. Success in Organisational Change Follows Recognisable Patterns – Kotter’s 8 Steps Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter is well known for identifying a pattern for leading successful organizational change. Yet, we cannot be sure that the President, members of Congress, and key Federal Reserve, Department  of the Treasury, and SEC personnel (including Chairman Schapiro) are familiar with this work and with other similar guidance from change leadership literature. And even if some or all of the change agents impacting a restructuring of the SEC are familiar with this work, it is unclear whether any of those change agents are consciously using this learning and incorporating useful elements from Kotter’s books into the SEC reorganization process. Studies of organizational change have shed significant light on the elements of a successful reform effort. Leaders effectuating reform at the SEC do not have to â€Å"reinvent the wheel† as they initiate, manage, and institutionalize organizational change. Kotter’s model is organized into eigh t stages designed to address eight observed mistakes made in efforts for organizational change: â€Å"establishing a sense of urgency†; â€Å"creating the guiding coalition†; â€Å"developing a vision and strategy†; â€Å"communicating the change vision†; â€Å"empowering broad-based action†; generating short-term wins†; â€Å"consolidating gains and producing more change†; and â€Å"anchoring new approaches in the culture.† Each stage has identifiable characteristics. 1. Establishing a Sense of Urgency â€Å"Visible crises can be enormously helpful in catching people’s attention and pushing up urgency levels.† To be sure, the SEC has experienced visible crises over the past few years. Admissions of significant failures at the SEC extend back over more than two years’ time and cover multiple areas of SEC operations. â€Å"The natural superiority of the U.S. model for securities regulation is no longer an article of faith, and the credibility of the SEC as a financial regulator has never been lower.† although the SEC has long been â€Å"the crown jewel of the financial regulatory infrastructure,† recent developments have called that characterization into question. The SEC has been the target of relentless criticism ranging from claims that it mishandled derivatives regulation, oversight of securities firms, and market risk, to assertions of delays and blunders and possible industry capture at the Division of Enforcement. These criticisms followed th e Treasury Department’s Blueprint of Financial Regulation-released in March 2008-that criticized the SEC’s approach to regulation as obsolete and proposed a plan of regulatory consolidation that would effectively lead to the agency’s demise. Most recently, the revelation that the SEC failed to discover a $50 billion Ponzi scheme at Madoff Investment Securities, despite having received allegations of wrongdoing for over a decade, suggests fundamental weaknesses in its core enforcement operations. To be successful at organizational change, however, a change leader must use the crisis to shake up the organization. This requires that the change leader â€Å"remove sources of complacency or minimize their impact† and take actions that are â€Å"bold or even risky.† Kotter uses the concept of fire in a building as a proxy for crisis in an organization, writing that â€Å"conducting business as usual is very difficult if the building seems to be on fire.†Interestingly, Chairman Schapiro invoked fire imagery in comments to reporters as she made changes to SEC operations shortly after taking office. Moreover, in a recent speech, Chairman Schapiro noted the rapid pace of change at the SEC over the preceding year: I know that change is hard because within our agency we have been engaged in some of the most significant change in decades. When I arrived at the agency last January, we began a process of assessing our operations and determined we could do better. We de termined that we needed to change. And that is the path we have chosen. The personnel changes instituted at the SEC may be seen as examples of sweeping change. The discomfort and discontent of the SEC staff in response to the personnel changes may be evidence of the brash nature of these personnel changes. Kotter’s work predicts this kind of reaction. He notes that â€Å"bold moves that reduce complacency tend to increase conflict and to create anxiety, at least at first.† 2. Creating the Guiding Coalition Leading change is not a solitary task. Because major change is so difficult to accomplish, a powerful force is required to sustain the process. No one individual, not even a monarch-like CEO, is ever able to develop the right vision, communicate it to large numbers of people, eliminate all the key obstacles, generate short-term wins, lead and manage dozens of change projects, and anchor new approaches deep in the organization’s culture. Instead, what is required is a strong leadership team-a team â€Å"with the right composition and sufficient trust among members.† In terms of composition,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"four key characteristics† are important: â€Å"position power†- the entire group who will be charged with making progress in areas of needed change, â€Å"expertise,† â€Å"credibility,† and â€Å"leadership.† Trust is borne of activities that â€Å"create . . . mutual understanding, respect, and caring.† Trust is important because it can lead to the effective creation of a â€Å"common goal† or â€Å"shared objective.† Chairman Schapiro has changed the leadership team at the SEC. We must question, however, whether the team has the right characteristics and the requisite trust. Certainly, the credentials of the SEC Commissioners are quite impressive in terms of expertise, credibility, and leadership skills. Chairman Schapiro has put a premium on attracting to the SEC people with an expansive set of experiences and skills. Moreover, the published remarks of new leaders in the Division of Enforcement-people with position power-are impressive in their indication of a collective change momentum. New leaders continue to emerge, making the membership of the guiding coalition unsettled and unclear. The executives who ignited the transformations from good to great did not first figure out where to drive the bus and then get people to take it there. No, they first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it. In general, public information sources are not detailed enough to enable a comprehensive assessment of the suitability of the composition of Chairman Schapiro’s guiding coalition. For example, according to Kotter, â€Å"you need both management and leadership skills on the guiding coalition, and they must work in tandem, teamwork style.†He offers matrices that illustrate optimal compositions. Publicly available information does not enable us to determine whether or not the SEC guiding coalition has the optimal balance of management and leadership skills. Only as the exact identity of the leadership te am emerges and the team takes concerted and coordinated action will we be able to evaluate its composition. As difficult as it is for us to appraise the team’s composition, it is more difficult for us to assess whether the guiding coalition has the required trust. Although I have not found evidence that ostensible members of the SEC guiding coalition have engaged in team-building exercises or attended a retreat at which intra-group trust may have been engendered, the SEC’s recent self-assessment’ may be a sign that mutual trust is being promoted throughout the agency. As new people are identified for inclusion on the change leadership team, they will need to be effectively brought into the â€Å"circle of trust.† 3. Developing a Vision and Strategy To achieve successful organizational change, a leader needs to have both vision and a strategy to implement that vision. â€Å"Vision refers to a picture of the future with some implicit or explicit commentary on why people should strive to create that future.† Vision serves to channel change in a particular direction and incentivizes and coordinates change in that direction. Chairman Schapiro seems to understand this aspect of change leadership, and she also seems to be incorporating it into the SEC’s operations. Her vision for a reformed SEC refocuses the SEC’s activities on one of the key policy underpinnings of the federal securities laws: investor protection Another lesson I have learned is to have a vision about where you want to take your organization and stick to your principles in getting there. Principles are not ideologies. They are different. Maybe it’s a question of degree. Maybe to some it’s semantics. But as I see it, unlike ideologie s, principles don’t seem to demand a particular answer to every problem that emerges. We’ve seen how strict adherence to ideology played out over the last decade in the financial arena. â€Å"Free market ideology† together with rapidly changing technology, globalization and many other accidental causes led too many of us to forget hard-learned lessons from past crises and abandon basic common sense. Principles, on the other hand, help frame a question, an issue or a problem. Having a principle might highlight tensions and trade-offs of particular choices, but rarely do they force you to choose between a good solution and a worldview. For me at the SEC, my main principle is putting investors first. And, I try to stay focused on that every day. And the goal is to build an SEC that is deeply expert, nimble, and aggressive-that gives investors confidence. In fact, as Bob Glauber can attest, I have a sign posted on my door that says â€Å"How does it help investors?† It’s a simple question, but it guides all that I do at the SEC. And, all those who enter my office understand that is the prism through which we will consider all issues. It doesn’t necessarily dictate the outcome of every issue that lands  on my desk-because there are many solutions to any problem that could aid investors. But, the principle helps to shape our thinking and steers us in the right path. Vision is implemented through strategy. â€Å"Without vision, strategy making can be a much more contentious activity†¦. Even more so, without good vision, a clever strategy or a logical plan can rarely inspire the kind of action needed to produce major change.†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Chairman Schapiro’s vision has guided structural and operational change at the SEC as well as substantive rulemaking. Some credit her clearly conceived vision and the related rapidly employed strategy for saving the SEC from more significant structural or operational change. 4. Communicating the Change Vision According to Kotter, the larger the audience for the change vision, the more powerful it may be. A great vision can serve a useful purpose even if it is understood by just a few key people. But the real power of a vision is unleashed only when most of those involved in an enterprise or activity have a common understanding of its goals and direction. That shared sense of a desirable future can help motivate and coordinate the kinds of actions that create transformations.’ A leader must be careful to communicate the change vision broadly, frequently (repeatedly), and consistently. The message conveying the vision must be direct, clear, simple, and geared to its targeted audiences. Metaphors, analogies, examples, and florid prose may be helpful in this regard. The means of conveying the message should be varied: oral and written, large forum and small group, and through words and actions. Finally, to ensure understanding, the communication of the vision should be a two-way street , involving both give and take as well as conveying and listening.† Chairman Schapiro has engaged in significant public speaking in which she has regularly and repeatedly informed and reminded the SEC staff and various elements of the public about the SEC’s recommitment to investor protection and the linkage of that vision to structural and operational changes at the SEC. Chairman Schapiro regularly appeared before congressional committees and subcommittees, and she has communicated her vision in these arenas as well. She used memorable analogies, examples, and words to convey the SEC’s organizational change message.’ Evidencing an appreciation for two-way communication, soon after  her appointment, Chairman Schapiro took action in response to staff suggestions that enforcement efforts against corporate violators of the securities laws were too difficult. Moreover, the self-assessment process and related ongoing staff communications are evidence of two-w ay communication about the structural and operational changes that have been taking place at the SEC. And Chairman Schapiro has continued to express belief in capturing a variety of viewpoints in decision-making. 5. Empowering Employees for Broad-Based Action To implement the leader’s vision, employees need to be able to take action. This may mean clearing away structural barriers, skill deficiencies, systemic obstacles, and supervisory impediments that may forestall effective employee participation in change efforts. Many of the structural and operational reforms implemented by Chairman Schapiro appear to be designed to empower SEC staff members for action that carries forward the change vision of the SEC. The efforts of Chairman Schapiro to listen and respond to staff concerns about unnecessary enforcement hurdles are examples of initiatives to streamline structure. In addition, the restructuring of the Division of Enforcement is geared to clear structural barricades to effective enforcement efforts.’ The decision to retain staff with â€Å"non-traditional skills† and the implementation of new staff training are examples of efforts to remedy skill deficits. Human resources and information systems have been or are be ing improved in response to deficiencies identified in the SEC’s self-assessment and the OIG’s investigation, report, and recommendations. In the Division of Enforcement, supervisory positions are being eliminated, supervisory personnel are being replaced, supervisory responsibilities are being realigned, and supervisory attitudes that may have impeded investigations are being corrected.’ 6. Generating Short-Term Wins Because the organizational change process is slow and constituents can be impatient, it is important for a change leader to accomplish certain limited objectives in the short term. Major change takes time, sometimes lots of time. Zealous believers will often stay the course no matter what happens. Most of the rest of us expect to see convincing evidence that all the effort  is paying off. Nonbelievers have even higher standards of proof. They want to see clear data indicating that the changes are working and that the change process isn’t absorbing so many resources in the short term as to endanger the organization. To be effective in sustaining organizational change efforts, short-term wins must be â€Å"both visible and unambiguous.†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ They also must be â€Å"clearly related to the change effort.† And in an effective change effort, they are planned, not accidental.’ SEC Chairman Schapiro accomplished some highly publicized early wins after her appo intment was confirmed. In particular, she swiftly moved to remove perceived barriers to enforcement of the securities laws against public companies. She publicly promoted these changes, and they were picked up by the news media.’ These efforts generated support in and outside the SEC. The achievement of these short-term wins on a staggered but consistent basis has kept the SEC’s structural and operational reforms in front of the SEC’s staff and the public, building consensus around and momentum for the SEC’s self-initiated reform efforts and distracting attention from more substantial externally generated suggestions for change. 7. Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change The long-term time horizon for organizational change not only makes short-term wins advisable, but also may make early declarations of victory problematic. It is important that the sense of urgency created by the change leaders is sustained for the long haul. Short-term wins are essential to keep momentum going, but the celebration of the wins can be lethal if urgency is lost. With complacency up, the forces of tradition can sweep back in with remarkable force and speed. Although a rapid, consistent pace of change at the SEC was sustained over the first fifteen months of reform, Chairman Schapiro as well as other SEC change leaders, needed to maintain the change momentum by continuing to introduce reforms on a regular basis. Having gone so far, the SEC could have lost all of the gains it had made in organizational change merely by relaxing into complacency. â€Å"Until changed practices attain a new equilibrium and have been driven into the culture, they can be very fragile.†Ã ¢â‚¬Ëœ To reach that equilibrium, in addition to engaging in more and continuous change, the SEC should bring in additional change agents, continue to foster leadership from its senior managers, recruit and nurture project management and leadership from lower ranks in the hierarchy, and identify and decrease or eliminate unnecessary internal structural and operational interconnections that often make change efforts more complex.’ These types of efforts in change management are difficult and pervasive. 8. Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture Finally, to prevent regression, change leaders must address and resolve any incompatibilities between the changes that have been made and the organization’s culture-friction in the group’s system of behavioural norms and shared values. This is not as easy as it may sound. These norms and values may apply to the organization as a whole or only to certain parts of the organization, and it is important to achieve compatibility on both levels. Moreover, culture is change-resistant and nearly invisible. Yet, the failure to address inconsistencies between a change effort and the prevailing culture can undo years of reform.’ Accordingly, it was important that Chairman Schapiro understood the applicable behavioural norms and shared values of the SEC and the Enforcement Division and their respective relevant cultural sub-groups as they continue to reform the SEC and the Enforcement Division. Because the core vision of investor protection should not be entirely inconsisten t with the SEC’s culture (in whole or in pertinent part), these and other change leaders at the SEC should be able to â€Å"graft the new practices onto the old roots while killing off the inconsistent pieces.† The important thing will be for the SEC’s change leaders to continue to remember the organization’s heritage and link it to the organization’s new and ongoing operations and objectives.