Cultural Identity Narrative Rubric Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cultural Identity Narrative Rubric - Essay Example Since the name of this dish combines two completely different and complimenting meals, some may be confused whether it is a rice like cake or cake like rice or both! Rice and cake don’t even serve the same purpose in a traditional feast, with the former being the main course and the latter being the sweet dish or the dessert that is to be served after the main course. In this sense, the name makes it sound like a dish that has mixed the main course with the dessert, that is quite insane to happen. I have resolved to discuss the Korean rice-cake for two main reasons; first, my father owns a Korean rice-cake company that was previously run by my grandfather and his father even before him. So this company has yet served three generations of my family. Secondly, I want to solve the mystery of its name that I am sure many would like me to do. Along the way, I shall tell you what it is, why it is popular among the Koreans and how to cook it. I shall also briefly discuss my future pl ans of making this dish a specialty of our company. Rice-cake is an umbrella term for a variety of foods made in rice that are given a compact form so that they look like a compact pastry. So it is basically a main course meal that looks like a piece of cake. It is not actually a cake! Rice-cake recipes are made from rice. Rice may be boiled or fried with vegetables. It is pretty much usual rice we eat but when the scattered rice are compacted, it does not only improve their texture but also enhances their aroma and taste. It makes the rice convenient to eat and elegant to present. Rice-cakes have a variety of benefits. They are energy boosters, low in calories, large in fiber content and great to the taste. Rice-cake is one of the very few things I can recall from the days of my earliest childhood. I was only three years old when my father established a small rice-cake company. He started the business from a little shop in the corner of the market that was visible from the window o f my room. Our apartment was just across the road. That shop paid my father off really good. Savings of the first month were ten times as much as what my father would save in a whole year before that. My father would often take me along while going to the shop. The aroma of fresh and tender rice still mesmerizes me. I was too little at that time, so my father’s friends and coworkers used to cuddle me. In their attempt to associate me with my father’s business, they would call me rice names. â€Å"Rice cake, son of grains and Korean food† were some of the names they would call me. It has always been an honor to be associated with rice since it has brought such a profitable business to my father. I am generally a reluctant eater, though saying â€Å"no† to rice-cake is impossible. I have grown up with this food. If there is one thing I am made up of, its rice-cake. It looks good, tastes good, smells good, feels good, what else can one want in a meal? When I was only a hundred days old, my family arranged a party, called ‘Doljanchi’, for me. It is a traditional Korean celebration of a child’s hundredth day after birth. â€Å"The number 100 has an inherent meaning of maturity and perfection, signifying a baby passes through perfection period safely as a human being† (Life in Korea, n.d.). This day has special meaning in Korean culture, and some people believe that it is the time, God answers the parents’

Study Habits Essay Example for Free

Study Habits Essay Do you have a friend that never studies for tests, yet he always seems to do well and aces them? It’s probably because he has good study habits. To improve your study habits you must first realize what your distractions are and eliminate them. Second, you must choose a good, quiet place to study without interruptions. Lastly, you should write down the material several times as it is a strategy proven to help memorize and learn the material. These steps will help you do better in school and have great opportunities in the future. The first step to having better study habits is probably the hardest one for most people: Acceptance. People refuse to think that talking on the phone while you study or having the radio on with songs that you know and love jeopardizes your material retention. The first step consists of you eliminating all of those negative factors so you can concentrate on your study session. Turning off your phone, logging out of your Facebook, Twitter and any other social media accounts, and concentrating on your goal are ways that you can use to be more efficient in your learning. These are usually the things that distract us the most so it’s important that you deal with them in order to focus and eventually succeed academically. But personal distractions aren’t always the things that keep us from our studies. The second step will teach you how to cancel out any outside interference. To ensure that you don’t get constantly interrupted with noise, questions and conversation with friends or family, you must choose a place where you can study quietly and alone. When you’re at home, family members usually don’t know what you’re doing and are unaware that they are interrupting your study time. In order to avoid this you can go to your room or the house office and study quietly and isolated. Chores and tasks around the house must come second in your list of priorities after studying. This will help you focus more and finish faster. The fewer interruptions you have, the quicker you study and go back to doing the things you want to do. This takes us to the final step necessary to improve your study habits. A technique that helps you retain information better and faster. The third step is a strategy that people use when they are short on time or when the material seems to be too overwhelming. Writing the material down several times has been proved to work better than reading a page over and over when memorizing. But in order for this method to work you must follow the first two steps. This way, not only are you writing it over and over but you are also focused on what you are writing which makes learning and absorbing the material way easier and faster. With this study tool you can be certain that you’ll remember every detail and vocabulary words and terms in the test and assignments. It doesn’t stop here. There are a million ways to study and have success in your academic life. Every person reacts a different way and everybody retains information a different way too. These steps are pretty generic; useful for any kind of learning. They work together as a unit. The first two steps cover the types of distractions and how to get rid of them, while the third step is a tool that you can use to make the most of that free time. Following these steps will guarantee a silent and study-friendly environment necessary for your academic development. So, next time you see your friend acing that test without putting up any effort or work into it, you can have the satisfaction that you reached that point of success by working hard, fast and efficiently. All by just following three simple steps.

Perspectives on the Book of Job Essay -- The Book of Job Essays

  Ã‚      The Book of Job is one of the three books in the Hebrew bible whose genre is described as wisdom literature.1   Certainly the Book of Job satisfies the literary conventions that qualify a biblical book for such status. 2   Yet Job may be associated with wisdom in a much more literal sense.   The Book of Job attempts to deal with a problematic question that confronts suffering humanity: why do bad things happen to good people?   The variety and vehemence of commentators' contemporary responses to this chapter of the Bible is testament to the continued relevance of the Book of Job's wisdom thousands of years after it was written.   Although the commentators examined herein arrive at differing and sometimes conflicting conclusions after reading the story of "the holy Arab"3, none are left indifferent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first commentator under consideration is Martin Buber in an excerpt from his Darko shel miqra'4.   Buber draws an apt parallel between the Book of Job and the proceedings in a court of law, casting God as judge and Job as prosecution.   In Buber's legal parallel, Job demands what in an earthly court of law would amount to due process, or a fair trial.   And yet, even as Buber confers the legitimacy of a court of law on Job's complaints, Buber suggests that Job knew his appeal was "suppressed from the start."5   Buber cites Job: "Though I am right, my mouth will condemn me!"6   By highlighting the justness of Job's claims and the non-existent chance of a divine finding in Job's favour, Buber stresses how human justice and divine justice diverge.   This difference is highlighted further by discussion of how Job is made to suffer hinnam, or gratuitously, from both God and Job's perspective.7   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rather than condem... ...sterton, G. K..   "Introduction to The Book of Job."   The Hebrew Bible In Literary Criticism.   Ed. and Comp. Alex Preminger and Edward L. Greenstein.   New York: Ungar, 1986.   449-50. Frick, Frank S..   A Journey Through The Hewbrew Scriptures.   New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1995. Hey, Tony and Patrick Walters.   Einstein's Mirror.   Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Jung, C. G..   Answer to Job. The Hebrew Bible In Literary Criticism.   Ed. and Comp. Alex Preminger and Edward L. Greenstein.   New York: Ungar, 1986.   454-5. Kroll, Paul. â€Å"The Trial of Job†. Grace Communion: International. Grace Communion International, 2013. 26 February 2015. Renà © de Chateaubriand, Franà §ois.   The Beauties of Christianity.   The Hebrew Bible In Literary Criticism.   Ed. and Comp. Alex Preminger and Edward L. Greenstein.   New York: Ungar, 1986.   445.

Pastor

Often many times within a church family such as Grace with over thirty five hundred partners there are bound to be conflict. Any environment whether large or small we are all people, with personalities that some time come together in a manner that does not always show the church family in the best of light. I find people look at livers as we are designed to be different and we are in a way.We as believers are called to be different, yet we are people. This transformation comes not from our doing but through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. This paper will outline a situation at which such an instance was brought to light. The manner in which the situation was handled by the pastoral staff, and finally, the outcome from the situation as well as the change that took place due to the situation. In order to understand the situation we must talk about the background behind the situation. A few years back Grace Covenant Church had a pastor by the name of Karri.Pastor Karri and my mother got along quite well. As far back as I could remember Pastor Karri and my mother hit it off like sisters. Pastor Karri daughter would come over to my mother's house unannounced and stay for the day Just to sit and talk. Quite often Pastor Carrie's daughter would find herself at my mother's house to take a load off in between classes. Pastor Carrie's daughter Jollied was going to college located in Statistical located about five minutes away from the campus. Jollied would stay hours at a time after she was done with school. I found this to be quite out of the ordinary.Sometime my wife Jessica and I would go up there to see my mom Alba and stay for some time. We would arrive there to find Jollied already there; she would end up staying as long as I did. I remember one time she stayed there until the sun went down. I often asked myself â€Å"why would she stay here this long†? It would seem that Jollied did not want to go home. My mother kept her promise never to bring u p situations that were talked about, and I know it was the hardest thing for my mother to do because she loves to talk. My mother is a talker. She can keep a person on the phone until you fall asleep and she will not even know you fell asleep.One day my mother did break the bond of silence and confided in me on a particular situation. My mother began to unfold the situation that struck her in the heart and she did not know how to handle it. I told her that I would never speak of it, so I will honor my promise to her. Needless to say the situation came out within the pastoral staff and LEAD team in the church. It was brought to our attention due to the pastoral staffs need for us to come together in prayer. The conflict that arose was a preference in the way things should be handled within her family by a pastor within the Grace Covenant family.A situation had broken out with Pastor's Carrie's daughter. The denominational hierarchy as well as the pastoral staff wanted the situation t o be handled in a manner that would not bring to light a situation that could be looked upon by the church partners and the denomination as a pastor that did not know how to maintain control of their family. Here is where I have the problem with the situation and the handling of it within the denomination. People fall short all the mime, that is what missing the mark is.When people in the church family miss the mark those people are not shunned or set aside as outcasts? Those people choose to confess the sin that brought them down, repent of their sin, are forgiven because God is a merciful God and they are led on a Journey which leads them back to the fold of God's arms. My question is very simple, given this circumstance. If the daughter of a pastor was the causing the situation would it not be in the best interest of the church to bring all parties in the situation in and try to come too place where leaning can happen in the pastor's family as well as the church family?The pastor al staff was being told by the denominational board to handle the situation one way, and the pastoral staff its self wanted to handle the situation anther way. Here is where the conflict resided for about six months within the church. Pastor Peripheral and the church staff wanted the healing process to be held within the family before it became worse. The church had come together the way a family should in times of trouble. There was conflict between the denomination and the pastoral staff, coupled gather by the conflict between the pastor Carrie's feelings and her daughter.This tension and conflict brought much division into the church for some months. While the pressure continued to escalate within pastor Carrie's family, as well as the church for the situation, there were grumblings of tension being felt with other staff and volunteers. As I look back at the situation I saw things happening that should not have been happening. John 17:1 1 states Jesus prayed that all believers wo uld be one. Jesus did not want conflict to arise within His people. I could not understand why the research was pushing so hard to have resolve in this issue, in the manner they choose.The back and forth went on for a few and finally Pastor Karri put in her resignation. I firmly believe this was not the right way to handle what had gone yet, this is what took place. I think what really bothered me about the whole situation looking at it in hindsight is all the secrecy that took place. I guess I would have understood if the conflict was interpersonal, that is one thing. This conflict seemed to rest along the sides of organizational views. Could I have less than all the information I believe this could be true.I also look back at the way the pastoral staff handled the issue with Pastor Derrick and I see the staffs willingness to invite the body of Grace Covenant into the sorrow that had taken place. On the other hand Grace Covenant pastoral staff went in front of the church one Sunday and told the body effective immediately Pastor Karri will no longer be on staff at Grace. The reason that was provided was a â€Å"difference of views†. I do not know about you but that was not enough for me. Especially that pastor Karri was overseeing the entire woman's spieling group.This did not settle easy with me nor did it settle with many partners either. As with any conflict within the body of Christ, many women left the church over the decision that took place. My mother and many others stayed due to a trust which developed over time for the pastoral staff to conduct themselves in a manner that promotes God's glory not their own. I can see the growth throughout the pastoral staff from one incident to the next. In regards to Pastor Carrie's incident the staff was very tight lipped about what the reasons for her leaving the church.The pastoral Taft noticed the disruption this kind of activity had upon the cohesiveness of the body at Grace. This type of discord and unk nown within the body would spread like a poison within the body. The pastoral staff did not want this at all. We fast forward months later and the situation with Pastor Derrick arises and not to have a lingering cloud over the body at Grace the truth in all its ugliness was brought out into the open. There is growth and one would say conflict prevention within the body through the two examples. Personally I cannot think of a way to prevent conflict.As I mentioned in my peeing statement. We are all people with different personalities. I do however believe the way to which we conduct ourselves in the midst of conflict is a direct reflection of Christ in our lives. Our example of this is our Lord and Savior Jesus. When the soldiers came to take Him away in the garden of Statement He did not put up a fight. Even as Peter cut Off soldier's ear, Jesus told him â€Å"those who live by the sword die by the sword†. At the center of conflict Jesus remained in peace. He is our example o f living amongst personalities that are different from ours yet living in as one.

Eschatology of Priesthood Essay

â€Å"Through the sacred ordination and mission which they receive from the bishops, priests are promoted to the service of Christ the Teacher, Priest and King; they are given a share in his ministry, through which the Church here on earth is being ceaselessly built up into the People of God, Christ’s Body and Temple of the Holy Spirit oriented to Eternal life. † (PO, #1) The Eschatological Value of the Priesthood  Basically, this is all about ministerial priesthood- that office set apart to offer sacrifice and mediate between God and human beings, to act in the person of Jesus Christ as the Head and serve as God’s mouthpiece to proclaim His good intention to humanity. But more than being on the â€Å"ideal† side, priesthood is first and foremost oriented to service. â€Å"That office†¦ which the Lord committed to the pastors of his people, is, in the strict sense of the term, a service, which is called very expressively in sacred scripture a diakonia or ministry† (LG, #24). Priesthood is a ministry of service, both to the common priesthood and to Christ the â€Å"great high priest†. Servant of the People towards God The ordained ministry is always at the service of the common priesthood. â€Å"It guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. The saving mission entrusted by the Father to His incarnate Son was committed to the apostles and through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person†. (CCC, # 1120). Priests are servants of the Church to foster its one and ultimate end. That is, to continue Jesus’ mission here on earth. They bring people back to God- for them to attain salvation and later on be partakers of the heavenly homeland. They serve God’s flock by continuously nourishing their faith so that the people may not go astray and later on find their fulfilment in union with their creator. Through means of sanctifications, the priests are giving the people necessary hope so that they could aspire to that divine promise of Jesus that we will be with Him in Paradise. Priesthood is a lift of everyone’s faith for us to attain eternal life- that is God’s promise to us (Psalm 15). So all these is oriented towards bringing people towards God; in the same way, priesthood is also instrumental of bringing people away from sin and to all destructions that keeps us away from heaven. Upon denouncing the call to sin and embracing the almighty power of God through their everyday life, the people have that fair chance of being with God, which is the primary end of every man. â€Å"Man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to Himself. Only in God will he find truth and happiness he never stops searching for†. (CCC, #27). Servant of Christ Towards People  Priesthood finds its fulfilment in Jesus Christ, the God who mediates between God and man. â€Å"The priesthood of Christ is made present in the ministerial priesthood†¦ Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only His ministers† (CCC, #1545). From this sense, priests are made only sharers of that divine task of sanctifying the people for them to be one with God. For us to attain salvation and later on be sharers of the divine state, we need Christ to help us attain that position. So on the part of the priests, they are helping Jesus to carry out His mission here on earth- to bring us closer to God. Priests are co-workers of God. They are handmaids of God to carry out God’s loving plan. Priests are fully dependent on Christ’s priesthood, who is the â€Å"eternal high priest† (Hebrew 5:10; cf. 6:20; Gen. 14:18). Priesthood is directed at unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians, gifts of the Lord to us. Priests are helpers of the Lord to His vineyard, so that in the end we may all partake the heavenly fruit of God’s labour. Priests are servants of Christ, first of all, to bring people to heaven. Priest as Mediator: Servant of God and Man Through the priestly ministry, a man can serve God and His people in the noblest form. Priests serve the Church, as a stable union of human beings with a view to attaining an end by action pursued in common. And one with the Church, priesthood is the Church’s primordial asset. Priesthood is representing that we come to experience God’s saving presence, and so find our lives transformed so that we could attain salvation and in the end enter the heavenly Jerusalem. As a mediator, â€Å"every priest is called to be, above all, a man of prayer- to pray for God’s people. By his mission, he is a hearer of the Word of God; he treasures it up in his heart and ponders it. He has made the purpose of his life to be an adorer of God in spirit and in truth, and to help all the priestly people of God to abide in the Word of the Lord, to pray and to find a synthesis between faith and life, to the honour and glory of God† (Bernard H? ring’s Meditation on the Sacrament of the Holy Orders). He made known God’s saving presence. When God and man meet- that is heaven. And that encounter is the main goal of a priest, to bridge the gap between God and man. Though he himself is both limited and sinful, a priest is entrusted by that wonderful task to establish unity. Salus Animarum- that is every man’s goal, a priest is a servant of that goal so that in the end, he may attain his personal salvation. Priesthood is not a guarantee of heaven; rather, it is a humble way towards it. Priesthood is indeed, mediation of God and Man. It builds the communication. It forges the encounter. It is always oriented for the good of man and of God so that all, in the end find its final destiny- to be with each other. That is the eschatological value of being a priest- to help God find His lost sons and to help His sons to find the way to God again.

Reducing Exposure To Chemicals essays

Reducing Exposure To Chemicals essays Organic food is grown using the practices and philosophies of organic agriculture. No synthetic pesticides are used. Choosing organically produced foods lowers the risk of getting various forms of cancer and other illnesses. Children are more prone to the harms of pesticides than adults are. Ingesting organic foods reduce the intake of unsafe synthetic chemicals. Many synthetic pesticides cause cancer, disrupt hormones, harm the nervous or immune systems, and cause irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, lungs, and digestive tract. Pesticides are usually tested individually though the population is exposed to many chemicals at a time. The reactions between combinations of chemicals are rarely tested. Exposure to mixtures of pesticides is predominantly worrying. One chemical may initiate the conversion of another chemical into a harmful, active form. Some combinations may depress the immune system leaving the body more susceptible to disease. Alarming evidence shows increased birth defects, reduced sperm counts, and impaired sexual development. Children are more susceptible to pesticide risks than adults are. Currently, legal residues (amounts of pesticides allowed by Health and Welfare Canada to remain on food) are calculated with adults in mind. However, children consume more food per kilogram of body weight than adults, their metabolisms and behavior are different. By age five, millions of children have ingested up to thirty-five percent of their entire lifetime dose of some carcinogenic pesticides. Children are also more vulnerable to ingested pesticides because their nervous system is not fully developed and their immature digestive tract absorbs toxic chemicals more readily. The average pre-schooler eats six times the amount of fruit and fruit products (the most likely to be contaminated) than an adult woman. Consequently, the average child receives four times more exposure than an adult to eight (of sixty-six id...

The Walt Disney Corporation Essay Example

The Walt Disney Corporation Essay Example The Walt Disney Corporation Essay The Walt Disney Corporation Essay Essay Topic: A Woman Killed With Kindness Black Dog of Fate The Walt Disney Corporation is one of the largest mass media companies in the world owning TV and radio networks, Internet sites, theatres, theme parks, music studios, magazines etc. They publish children’s books, produce cartoons, computer software, and toys among many other things. For more than 70 years Disney animated films have been a popular form of children’s entertainment and part of many children’s lives worldwide. It is not an exaggeration to say that these films have also contributed to and influenced the shaping of children’s values, beliefs and imagination. Therefore, being one of the most dominant storytellers and having such a huge influence on children’s culture in general, the Disney Company and the array of images and stereotypes they offer to the public should be approached critically and analysed.In this essay I will be focusing on the female gender stereotypes reinforced in three Disney animated films Snow White and the Seven D warfs, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast and on the notions of femininity that these films portray. Furthermore, I will be analyzing what kind of effects these particular stereotypes and representations of femininity may produce on girls and young women. Most predominant female gender stereotypes that these films reinforce are the following:1. a woman’s appearance is valued more than her intellect;2. a woman’s role in society is to be a housewife;3. a woman should get married to find true happiness, and4. a woman’s life is shaped by male influences.The female characters depicted in these three Disney animated films are very narrowly stereotyped and throughout the entire films constantly hyper sexualized. It can not be said that basically they differ from each other in trying to initiate or actively participate in shaping their destinies, but are merely bystanders, watching as their future unfolds. My stand on this stereotype is that new generations ar e constantly taught to see women as not trying to present themselves as intellectual individuals but simply as pretty faces trying to accomplish their goals in life by using their beauty as their only tool for success.The stereotypical portrayal of young women and the Disney Company’s ideology of physical beauty demonstrated in their animated films have not changed since the release of their first animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937. Snow White was the first Disney Princess to be portrayed in a way that would become characteristic of all Disney Princesses: she had red lips, straight hair, perfect complexion, a skinny body, and a beautiful face. Naturally, she was gifted with a very soft voice enchanting all around her when she sang, whether she was sad or happy. Snow White was so beautiful that her beauty brought her an enemy embodied in her stepmother, who, in disguise, fed her with a poisoned apple which put her into a deep slumber. The fairest one of al l had her life spared by the hunter simply because she was too beautiful to be killed (Wachutka, 2007). The female images presented in this film can be harmful to the young women since they put emphasis on the false idea that the greatest quality a woman can possess is beauty.Similarly to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the animated film The Little Mermaid (1989) accentuates the importance of beauty by advising girls through the film’s messages that they should sacrifice in order to achieve the perfect body since that is, according to the Disney Company, a woman’s most important attribute after all. It is not an overstatement to say that the Disney Company implies a physical transformation to be the best way to win a man’s love. The main protagonist in the film, the mermaid Ariel, is willing to trade her voice, that is, her means of communicating and expressing her intellect and personality for human legs, thus becoming what society wants her to be – a s ilent and obedient pretty face. Ariel decides to undergo the process of transformation after Ursula, the evil sea witch and the mastermind behind the idea of Ariel’s trade, convinces Ariel that she need not worry about losing her voice because she will â€Å"have (her) looks, (her) pretty face†, and should â€Å"not underestimate the importance of body language,† because â€Å"on land it’s much preferred for ladies not to say a word; it’s the one that holds her tongue that gets her man† (Clements Musker, 1989).Therefore, it is clear that the film supports the idea that it is not intellect what is valued in a woman in society, but her pleasing appearance and obedience, the qualities which are bound to ‘get her a man’. Ariel’s body supports the same idea, teaching girls from an early age that they have to have a tiny waist if they want to be pretty. Even Ursula, when transforming to a human in an attempt to steal Prince Er ic’s love, does so by becoming a tall and slender girl with red lips, straight hair and perfect complexion, which are the same characteristics that Snow White possesses.The Disney Company further underestimates the importance of a woman’s intellect in the scene where Arial having sung about her aspirations for the intellectual pursuit of the human knowledge swiftly turns her thoughts towards Prince Eric. Her high aspirations are demonstrated in the lyrics of the song ‘Part of Your World’ which Ariel sings while in her hidden cavern which holds all of her treasures: â€Å"I’m ready to know what the people know, ask them my questions and get some answers What is a fire and why does it burn?† (Clements Musker, 1989).In Beauty and the Beast (1991) it is Belle’s beauty and loveliness that tame the Beast’s savagery. The confirmation for this statement is the fact that the kindness and understanding of his household staff were not eno ugh to stop his terrorizing and violent behaviour. The only person who could put things right was Belle. The Disney Company once again emphasizes that if a woman is pretty enough and sweet enough, she could transform an abusive man into her prince forever. According to Maio (1998), this stereotypically implies that in real life â€Å"women are responsible for controlling male anger and violence.†It is important to call attention to another symbolism in this film. Unlike any other Disney Princess, Belle is gifted with a passion for reading. Her hopes and aspirations for constant advancement are accentuated at the beginning of the film where she can be heard repeating the sentence: â€Å"There must be more than this provincial life.† (Trousdale Wise, 1991) Yet, the Disney Company could not allow Belle to be â€Å"too intelligent†. They needed to clarify to the viewers that the books she was reading were just an easy read, pointing out that her favourite book is a bout â€Å"far-off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, and a prince in disguise† (Trousdale Wise, 1991). A prince in disguise is, of course, the most important link in the chain here, as the story itself will prove. Belle suggests this by stating that her favourite part of that book is â€Å"where she (the character of the book she’s reading) meets Prince Charming.† (Trousdale Wise, 1991)As seen in these examples, the flat portrayal of young women, not reflecting what females really are and what their true goals in life should be, creates the false representation of the notion of femininity which can have a strong impact on young girls. Bearing in mind the fact that girls at the very young age try to understand what being a woman really means and how they should behave when they grow up, I find that the effects these films can have on them can be quite negative, instilling a false system of believes about the values a woman should possess.It is clear th at, on the example of both Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Beauty and the Beast (1991), there is a shortage of diverse jobs that can be ascribed to women. Actually, the female characters are not even given the choice of the kind of careers they could pursue and strive to accomplish during the films. Apparently, it seemed perfectly ‘natural’ for the Disney Company to decide upon ‘the career’ of a housewife for their ‘Princesses’ to follow. Here, it is quite evident that the only reason for this decision was the promotion of a stereotype that a woman’s natural abilities are those of a ‘house servant’ and nothing else.The film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) clearly promotes the stereotype that women are â€Å"natural-born happy homemakers who live in a state of suspended liveliness until a man gives them a life† (Maio, 1998). The moment Snow White enters the dwarfs’ house she feels a natural urg e to clean it from top to bottom, in spite of the fact that she does not know who lives in it. This way, she highlights that her true talents and worth lie in her abilities to clean and cook. She uses these abilities hoping that the tenants will provide her with accommodation, and, thus, give her more opportunities to cook and clean – â€Å"If you let me stay, Ill keep house for you. Ill wash and sew and sweep and cook.† (Hand, Cottrell, Jackson, Morey, Pearce, Sharpsteen, 1937)It is also worth mentioning that Snow White instantly associates the filth and disorder of the house with the idea that whoever lives in the house does not have a mother. In her mind it is as clear as a bell that if they did, it would be their mother’s role to keep the house in order, since that is a woman’s true calling in life. In spite of the fact that she enters the house in tiny high heeled shoes, she immediately sets to work to clean it, singing all along as though she has m erely continued her stroll through the woods.In Beauty and the Beast (1991), the Disney Company use the narrow-minded townspeople to typify Belle’s intelligence and strength as eccentric and to demonstrate the general view of society of the position of women. In the lyrics of the song ‘Belle’ we are able to witness their gossiping â€Å"The girl is strange, no question, dazed and distracted Never part of any crowd, cause her heads up on some cloud. No denying shes a funny girl, that Belle. With a dreamy, far-off look, and her nose stuck in a book, what a puzzle to the rest of us is Belle.† (Trousdale ; Wise, 1991) Her interest in books won her the title of â€Å"a funny girl who has her head in the clouds†. The message which Disney is trying to convey here is that women are not supposed to seek knowledge, because it is not the part they are supposed to play in the society. In the film, the most admired man in the village, Gaston, confronts Belle abo ut her interest in books and clearly illustrates that it is not a woman’s role to be interested in reading and intellectual pursuit when he tells Belle, â€Å"It’s not right for a woman to read, soon she starts getting ideas, thinking.† In the following dialogue between Belle and Gaston, he explains the role a woman should have in society:Belle: â€Å"What do you know about my dreams, Gaston?†Gaston: †Plenty! Picture this – a rustic hunting lodge, my latest kill roasting on the fire and my little wife massaging my feet, while the little ones play on the floor with the dogs. Well have six or seven strapping boys like me.† (Trousdale Wise, 1991)A woman is therefore portrayed as a housewife with her sole occupation being working in the house and taking care of her husband and their children.Through their films the Disney Company provides the young girls with the knowledge that they live in a male-dominated world and tries to instil a beli ef that most a woman can hope for is to fall in love and get married, and even then she would have to rely on her man for assistance in life. In each of these films the only way possible for the female character to be freed from her undesirable future, whether it is being a servant/housewife, living in a poor village or under the sea, was through assistance from her Prince Charming or her father. The Disney Company did not make it possible for its heroines to take a personal action and create a better future for themselves.Instead of emphasizing the process of Snow White’s survival in the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Disney accentuates the role of the Prince and his contribution to the solution of the question of life and death. This way Snow White’s importance as a character is diminished in comparison with Prince’s. Snow White helplessly awaits the Prince’s kiss since no one but him has the power to wake her up. Throughout the film she c onstantly longs for her man to find her and sings about her waiting for him to come so that she can spend an idyllic life in a castle â€Å"Someday my prince will come; someday we’ll meet again†¦ I’m wishing for the one I love to find me.† (Hand et al., 1937) In the end, her hero indeed comes and bestows her with a life â€Å"happily ever after†.The Disney Princess Ariel, the main character of The Little Mermaid (1989), is ready to do anything to have handsome Prince Eric fall in love with her. She disobeys her stern but loving father, King Triton, and even makes a bargain with the sea witch to exchange her lovely voice for human legs. What is more, she abandons her perfect life under the sea, her family and friends for a man she hardly even knows. She puts all the effort she can to be part of her prince’s world, however, the only result which this effort brings is that she merely shifts from being under the control of her father directly to being Prince Eric’s wife. She is never independent.Not having been kissed by Eric before sunset on the third day (after she had gotten her human legs), as was specified in her deal with Ursula, Ariel, for the time being, did not accomplish her dream of staying human and being with Eric. However, at the end of the film, with the help of her father, King Triton, Ariel does achieve her dream. It is only with her father’s approval and his magic powers that she obtains human legs again and marries Prince Eric. Therefore, fifty two years after their first animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the Disney Company did not bother to change the stereotypical ending to their romantic films. For a woman to achieve true happiness and lead a secure life, she has to have a man by her side, whether it is her father or her beloved.In Beauty and the Beast (1991) Gaston is presented as the ‘specimen’ of manliness and depicted as â€Å"tall, dark, strong and h andsome brute† (Trousdale Wise, 1991). Through him the Disney Company reinforce their idea of a conventional kind of masculine identity. When it comes to women he is predominantly vain and rude believing that women are only good for being housewives and mothers. This is observable in his first conversation with Belle:â€Å"Belle, its about time you got your head out of those books and paid attention to more important things me. The whole towns talking about it. Its not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas and thinking.† (Trousdale ; Wise, 1991)He wants to marry Belle so that he would be able to boast about it and so that she could give him sons whom he could mould at will. In his attempt to dominate and control Belle’s world he organizes a ‘surprise’ wedding for him and Belle without having previously proposed to her. He is even ready to go as far as to put her father into an asylum so that he could blackmail her into marrying h im.However, unlike both Ariel and Snow White, Belle does not jump in the arms of the ‘first opportunity’ that presents itself. Her refusal to marry Gaston when he tells her that he is yearning to make her his â€Å"little wife† challenges the standard stereotype, though only temporarily and for the purposes of the happy ending. Belle cunningly ‘serves’ her refusal to Gaston by telling him what every conceited man wants to hear:†I just do not deserve you.† (Trousdale ; Wise, 1991) The temporary false illusion which the Disney Company create here, gives us the impression that they truly think how â€Å"women are ultimately in charge of their fate† (Wynn, 2010). Nevertheless, this animated film, just like the other two, ends in the same, Disney fashion, with â€Å" and they lived happily ever after!† which once again implies that in order to achieve true happiness a woman has to find and marry her perfect man.The stereotypical messages which these films promote about women being incapable of living without having a man in their lives could have a negative influence on young girls denoting that women are weak and that they can only live a satisfactory life with a man by their side.In spite of the fact that many social changes have occurred over the past century improving the position of women within society, it strikes me that there is still a great deal of sexual discrimination against women widely reinforced through gender stereotypes seen in the media. It is my concern that the gender images in Disney animated films, which take a massive part in children’s culture, have not evolved to match the changes that have occurred in society. Instead, they remain stereotypical and quite similar over the years recurring in the portrayal of each and every of Disney Princesses. Bearing in mind that Disney films have a significant influence on the development of children’s understanding of the world, an d that the Disney Company actually profits from children’s false illusions, it is every adult’s responsibility to take a stand against the moral corruption by spreading a critical attitude towards stereotypes and discrimination present in these films.

How to Write a Persuasive Essay

How to Write a Persuasive Essay When writing a persuasive essay, the authors goal is to sway the reader to share his or her opinion. It can be more difficult than  making an argument, which involves using facts to prove a point. A successful persuasive essay will reach the reader on an emotional level, much the way a well-spoken politician does. Persuasive speakers arent necessarily trying to convert the reader or listener to completely change their minds, but rather to consider an idea or a focus in a different way. While its important to use credible arguments supported by facts, the persuasive writer wants to convince the reader or listener that his or her argument is not simply correct, but convincing as well. The are several different ways to choose a topic for your persuasive essay. Your teacher may give you a prompt or a choice of several prompts. Or you may have to come up with a topic, based on your own experience or the texts youve been studying. If you do have some choice in the topic selection, its helpful if you select one that interests you and about which you already feel strongly. Another key factor to consider before you begin writing is the audience. If youre trying to persuade a roomful of teachers that homework is bad, for instance, youll use a different set of arguments than you would if the audience was made up of high school students or parents. Once you have the topic and have considered the audience, there are a few steps to prepare yourself before you begin writing your persuasive essay: Brainstorm.  Use whatever method of brainstorming works best for you. Write down your thoughts about the topic. Make sure you know where you stand on the issue. You can even try asking yourself some questions. Ideally, youll try to ask yourself questions that could be used to refute your argument, or that could convince a reader of the opposite point of view. If you dont think of the opposing point of view, chances are your instructor or a member of your audience will.Investigate.  Talk to classmates, friends, and teachers about the topic. What do they think about it? The responses that you get from these people will give you a preview of how they would respond to your opinion. Talking out your ideas, and testing your opinions, is a good way to collect evidence. Try making your arguments out loud. Do you sound shrill and angry, or determined and self-assured? What you say is as important as how you say it.Think.  It may seem obvious, but you really have to think about how you a re going to persuade your audience. Use a calm, reasoning tone. While persuasive essay writing is at its most basic an exercise in emotion, try not to choose words that are belittling to the opposing viewpoint, or that rely on insults. Explain to your reader why, despite the other side of the argument, your viewpoint is the right, most logical one. Find examples.  There are many writers and speakers who offer compelling, persuasive arguments. Martin Luther King Jr.s I Have a Dream speech is widely cited as one of the most persuasive arguments in American rhetoric. Eleanor Roosevelts The Struggle for Human Rights is another example of a skilled writer trying to persuade an audience. But be careful: While you can emulate a certain writers style, be careful not to stray too far into imitation. Be sure the words youre choosing are your own, not words that sound like theyve come from a thesaurus (or worse, that theyre someone elses words entirely).Organize.  In any paper that you write you should make sure that your points are well-organized and that your supporting ideas are clear, concise, and to the point. In persuasive writing, though, it is especially important that you use specific examples to illustrate your main points. Dont give your reader the impression that you are not educated on the issues related to your topic. Ch oose your words carefully. Stick to the script.  The best essays follow a simple set of rules: First, tell your reader what youre going to tell them. Then, tell them. Then, tell them what youve told them. Have a strong, concise thesis statement before you get past the second paragraph, because this is the clue to the reader or listener to sit up and pay attention.Review and revise.  If you know youre going to have more than one opportunity to present your essay, learn from the audience or reader feedback, and continue to try to improve your work. A good argument can become a great one if properly fine-tuned.

Yorktown-American Revolutionary War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Yorktown-American Revolutionary War - Essay Example The actual war was is said to have begun on September 28 when American forces under the leadership of General George Washington together with its French-allied forces led by Comte de Rochambeau hatched a plan to attack the British forces together with its allies that had camped at Yorktown in Virginia. Washington and Rochambeau moved with their troops (about 3,000-armed soldiers in total) and joined others who had already settled in Yorktown making about 17,000 soldiersi. On arrival, the soldiers carried out lethal bombardments on the British soldiers who were immediately overpowered by the American and French soldiers led by Washington and Rochambeau. Washington made life difficult for the British troops by shelling them for a period of three weeksii. After succeeding in this phase of the battle, Washington together with Rochambeau began to work on the second phase of the war which began on October 11iii. The aim of this second phase was to extend the siege line. However, the Americ an troops were repulsed by the British troops that mounted a strong resistance. However, the American and French troops managed to capture quite a number of British redoubts and pushing some British rebouts further away. Fighting continued until October 17, 1781 when the American forces backed by French forces managed to surround the British forces in Yorktown.... The American troops under the leadership of Washington and the French troops led by Rochambeau are said to have been more tactical in their approach to the war than the British troops, which gave them an advantage of the British soldiersvi. In addition, the America troops and its allies, the French soldiers, had the advantage of numbers over their enemies at the time the war broke out in Yorktown. In this regard, the American troops outnumbered the British troops in a ratio of two to one. This is because there were a total of 17,000 American and French soldiers against only 7,600 British soldiers. Basically, this made it difficult for the British soldiers to continue with the war, particularly after a few minutes of the war led to the loss of about 500 British soldiers against only 80 American and 200 French soldiersvii. As a result, the British soldiers had no option but to surrender leading to their loss of victory in the revolutionary war. In the event that the British won the rev olutionary battle, probably America’s independence would not have come so soonviii. The attainment of America’s independence just a few years after the war clearly points to the fact that Americans actually won the revolution. After the British forces had lost the Yorktown battle, the British parliament decided that the country discontinue the battle against America and its allies for fear that it could lose the war which would put the country in a bad positionix. As a result, the king was compelled to accept the loss of the Yorktown revolution to America, its thirteenth colony. In fact, after losing the revolutionary war against America, Britain retreated

Retail Marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Retail Marketing - Case Study Example Tesco PLC is the largest British retailer based on both global and local shares. Traditionally, the UK-based international retailer specializes only in the distribution of food products but it currently adds other goods and services to its product portfolio which ranges from clothing to consumer electronics to consumer financial services to internet services to internet service and consumer telecom. Last February 26, the company announced a total annual turnover of 33.974 billion and reported a pre-tax profit of 1.962 billion. It is estimated that in every 8 UK retail sales, 1 is spent on Tesco. Tesco is currently one of the world recognized retailers. The phenomenal success of Tesco as a retailer is recognised even in the global arena. The company lags behind Wal-mart in terms of global sales, staying ahead of other retail giants like Carrefour, and Home Depot. The company's success and even mere existence in the strategies it employs to capture new markets and retain its current buyers. Its well-crafted marketing strategy is a huge factor becomes a main driver in the company's success. However, as the company focused on capturing other geographical regions in the world, it is irrefutable that the Tesco also needs to modify its current domestic strategy and design other strategies taking into account the features and issues in the new market. Together with other large global companies, the strategies employed by Tesco are met by a lot of criticisms from commentators. As societal marketing is becoming a trend and a common feature in the businesses, it is imperative that Tesco adapts ways to mitigate the identified harmful effects of these issues in its operations. This report will look at the phenomenal success of Tesco PLC both in the United Kingdom and other geographical markets. The first section will identify and explain the key success factors in its operation. Recognizing that marketing is fundamental in its operation, an in-depth exploration of its marketing mix will also be done. Another section will be devoted to the issues and challenges faced by Tesco when trying to capture foreign markets. The last part will look at the implications of Tesco's rapid growth in the market environment and the possible recommendations on how to minimize its harmful effects. The report will conclude with its findings. II. Tesco's Success Drivers As with any business organization, the success of a retailer is based on having a distinct competitive strategy. Accordingly, retailers' competitive advantage should come from critical success factors in the value chain. Market oriented and customer focused companies undoubtedly become successful in their industries as they focus on understanding customer needs, motives and patronage decisions. The current business arena shows companies being transformed into lean organizations as they evaluate their value chains and including only processes which add value to the customers. The evolution of new technologies which drives competition into higher intensity calls for a system for which to hear, understand, and respond to customers' needs in order to succeed. The factors discussed above become the most important tenets of retailer's success.

Changing Nature of Journalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Changing Nature of Journalism - Essay Example One of the main themes of modern day journalism is ‘information’. New information continuously emerges through the prevailing news networks and journalists are faced with the challenging task of filtering out the most relevant and authentic information to present the most reliable information to their audience. Information flow has become so rapid that it is almost impossible to ascertain with confidence the true nature of any evidence that emerges. For this reason, journalists have to rely on their experience and knowledge to prevent spread of false information. A recent phenomenon that has shaped journalism is the development and spread of social networks that utilize internet. Since this is a two-way channel of information, journalism and journalists are faced with a novel situation. The older notion of ‘teaching’ the audience has transformed into the concept of ‘discussion’ that takes place between people and the journalists. This direct interaction has become a cause of concern for those journalists who were previously biased in their opinions or interpretations. Hence, the modern day journalism demands a high degree of impartiality on part of the journalists; a trend that should be

Portfolio Management Statistics Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Portfolio Management - Statistics Project Example The stock returns values experience wide variance due to the fluctuation in portfolio weights across the period. From the set of 28 stocks, the time series was filtered on the criteria of performance to retain the 11 stocks shown in the time series as the most efficient portfolio. The process of refining the investment involved ignoring the portfolio with low weights and retaining the high weight portfolio. The selection aimed at picking 3 stocks with the best returns to represent the high efficiency required in the pool decision. The high efficiency stocks were found to be IBM and MMM. The decision was made on the values based on the original currency returns. The time series for the refined investment pool carries the following stock: The major reason for reducing the number of stocks in the refined investment is that many assets have caused a wide variation of the portfolio weights and return on investment (Tobin 1958, p. 65). The analysis sets up individual each of the assets independently to as to classify them as either risky assets or risk free assets using the correlation projections. The refinement judges the investment by their return, hence; it operates with the few selected manageable stocks to reduce the portfolio size by ignoring the low return stocks. The tangent portfolio was constructed using the Matlab program. The program uses the data entries from the covariance matrix with the new weights of portfolios. The mean return values and the optimal portfolio variances are shown with the least variance portfolio return averaging approximately 14.6%. After making the entry of the matrix, the exercise is repeated for the reduction of the variance to show the restricted efficient frontier as shown in figure 6 below. The assumption made in the construction of the frontier is that investment can run on negative portfolio weights, even though the current weights are positive. The

Law of Obligations(Tort) LLB Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law of Obligations(Tort) LLB - Essay Example Frances (and his parents), depending upon the effect of the incident on the child, may also have a claim for psychological damage against the nursery brought about by the latter's negligence. In the recent case of Jones v BBC, 2007 WL 2187023 (QBD), where Jones, a freelance sound recordist for defendant BBC claimed that he suffered personal injury when a windmill rotor fell onto his back causing severe spinal injury rendering him paraplegic. In ruling for the claimant, the court stated that since BBC's safety crew had identified a risk of the falling mast, a discussion before filming should have been made to warn the crew not to go beneath it. But the safety crew did not give the warning. Such failure of BBC, through the safety crew, is considered negligent which caused Jones' accident. Thus, the BBC was liable for Jones' injuries. Also, the cameraman and Jones worked as a team because their equipment was linked. Jones with his equipment was following the cameraman who had decided to pass beneath the mast thereby leading Jones into the hazardous area. The cameraman was then in breached of his duty of care and the BBC was vicariously liable for that negligence. In Wilsons & Clyde Coal Company, Limited v English, [1938] A.C. 57, the House of Lords stated as follows: " primarily the master has a duty to take due care to provide and maintain a reasonably safe system of working in the mine, and a master, who has delegated the duty of taking due care in the provision of a reasonably safe system of working to a competent servant, is responsible for a defect in the system of which he had no knowledge" By the Jones and Wilsons cases, it is clear that the employer is under a duty of care to provide the employee with competent fellow employees including a qualified medical personnel, properly maintained site and facilities, and to provide a safe place and system of work. The question of whether the employer breached that duty of care depends on the standard of care owed by the employer to its employee and whether it has taken reasonable steps considering the circumstances. (Latimer v A.E.C. Ltd.[1953]) In Jones, the breach of the employer's duty consists in B BC's failure (through its safety crew) to discuss with the cameraman and Jones the risk of the falling mast and to warn the cameraman and Jones in unequivocal terms that they must not go beneath it. In Wilsons, the breach by the employer consists of its failure to provide competent fellow employees, properly maintained mine and equipment, and to provide a safe place and system of work. In the case of Ina here, the failure of the employer to provide competent fellow employees and to properly provide and maintain a safe place and system of work which caused the employee's disability to work for three (3) months constitute a breach of the standard of care required of the employer. Jack's negligence in leaving the drill on the floor in a place where thirty (30) toddlers freely roam about constitutes a negligent act for which the employer must be held vicariously responsible. The nursery cannot invoke the defence that Jack is merely a hired self-employed carpenter because as the court st ated in the Jones case the BBC had clearly assumed a responsibility for the health and safety of freelancers when they were working on BBC productions that was equivalent to that of an employer to a direct employee. Jack should have been more careful with his tools because it can reasonably be expected

Portfolio Management Statistics Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Portfolio Management - Statistics Project Example The stock returns values experience wide variance due to the fluctuation in portfolio weights across the period. From the set of 28 stocks, the time series was filtered on the criteria of performance to retain the 11 stocks shown in the time series as the most efficient portfolio. The process of refining the investment involved ignoring the portfolio with low weights and retaining the high weight portfolio. The selection aimed at picking 3 stocks with the best returns to represent the high efficiency required in the pool decision. The high efficiency stocks were found to be IBM and MMM. The decision was made on the values based on the original currency returns. The time series for the refined investment pool carries the following stock: The major reason for reducing the number of stocks in the refined investment is that many assets have caused a wide variation of the portfolio weights and return on investment (Tobin 1958, p. 65). The analysis sets up individual each of the assets independently to as to classify them as either risky assets or risk free assets using the correlation projections. The refinement judges the investment by their return, hence; it operates with the few selected manageable stocks to reduce the portfolio size by ignoring the low return stocks. The tangent portfolio was constructed using the Matlab program. The program uses the data entries from the covariance matrix with the new weights of portfolios. The mean return values and the optimal portfolio variances are shown with the least variance portfolio return averaging approximately 14.6%. After making the entry of the matrix, the exercise is repeated for the reduction of the variance to show the restricted efficient frontier as shown in figure 6 below. The assumption made in the construction of the frontier is that investment can run on negative portfolio weights, even though the current weights are positive. The

Polysystem Theory and the 'Cultural Turn' Essay

Polysystem Theory and the 'Cultural Turn' - Essay Example Polysystem Theory means a "refocus on alternative experiences which are socially defined and can be classified as peripheral or marginal states of affair challenging some center of authority within a variety of cultural and social systems (literature, religion, politics, economy, historiography, etc)" (Munday 43). The value of polysystem theory is that it allows translators and researchers to analyze a literary text from multiple perspectives: different social discourses and voices. This theory demonstrates social order and highlights agonistic tension between different social and cultural agents. Polysystem Theory uses social-cultural instructions for explanation of phenomena and complexity of culture within one community. Polysystem Theory sees translation in terms of "saying," restating in the target language more or less precisely what the source author said in the source language, and performative linguists of translation as those who see translating as "doing," doing something to the target reader, then the contemporary scene comes to look rather different. Then, obviously, the politically engaged cultural theorists of translation-the postcolonialists and the feminists-become performative linguists: translating as colonizing, or as fighting the lingering effects of colonialism; translating as resisting global capitalism (Venuti); translating as fighting patriarchy, as liberating women (and men) from patriarchal gender roles (Munday 110). 'Cultural Turn' means developments in the philosophy of the human sciences around the beginning of the twentieth century. 'Cultural Turn' describes extra-ordinary growth in the significance of work concerned with the nature and forms of language. The readers use cultural texts in ways that cannot be predicted from analysis of the text alone. In this case, "cultural turn" helps to describe and analyses a text in terms of cultural am social influence. Discourse analysis, is the one branch of linguistics that supposedly addresses itself to issues of production and reception that might be useful in a translation-studies purview; but unfortunately the few linguists who have attempted to apply discourse analysis to the study of translation have hobbled themselves methodologically by tying all discursive studies of translation to equivalence (Munday 108). For theorists in these schools it doesn't matter what the translated text looks like; or, well, it does, but not to the theorist, only to the receiving culture (DTS), the client (skopos), or the translator himself or herself (TAP). What matters theoretically is what the translator does, and what complex forces influence that doing (Munday 111). Now perhaps this seems like no great gain: taking all the approaches of the so-called "cultural turn," all the action-oriented theories that have overwhelmed and overthrown the hegemony of linguistics, and lumping them together under a new name-even if that name is rather tendentiously "linguistics." "This is the term used in translation studies for the move towards the analysis of translation from a cultural studies" (Munday 125). Translation is a sensitive pointer of cultural tensions. Translation practice is always grounded in a set of issues in which linguistic forms carry cultural meanings in an implicit form. Understanding the

Policy Development Paper Essay Example for Free

Policy Development Paper Essay In this paper, research will be made on reducing prison population and how policy affects and restores how the system works. In the research of how to reduce prison population will include statistics, facts, and public opinion history information which will support the policies claims. This topic has always been controversial and the following research will indentify the stakeholders and their opinions as they relate to the proposed policies and how politics will have an impact in its implementation of these policies. Finally the author will provide policy recommendation and the justification for these policies. In the last several years, this country has gone through many changes in the criminal justice system and one of the major changes is prison overcrowding and the unwarranted prison costs that come with it. This problem not only affects one area of the nation’s prisons, it is practically a problem in every state of the United States. One major question that policymakers should be addressing is whether is it worth having these expenses just to have low-level drug using criminals in jail that are consuming an estimated 65 billion a year? There have got to be a better way to deal with these types of low-level criminals which do not have any business in the prisons whatsoever. These drug offenders need help with rehabilitation and getting their drug problems handled not throwing them in prisons where they are only going to learn more criminal behaviors from the other violent inmates. Two major factors that contribute to the overcrowding of the prison population are: the technical violations those individuals brake like probation and parole, not showing up to court, and just following simple instructions that the parole or probation officers give the offenders and they break those rules. The second factor is that prisons have their policies and if inmates do not follow them and break them they will be punished and serve more time, another reason is that policies change often and for that reason inmates have their sentences increased all the time. In order to reduce the prison overcrowding and maybe have some hope of sinking the recidivism rates, the criminal justice system needs to make some changes and try different alternatives to prison. With the implementation of community-based programs, reminiscent of drug rehabilitation programs, electronic monitoring and house arrest, there can be better results for individual who are trying to better their lives instead of throwing them to the prison system and having them learn new criminal skills from real violent criminals. To prevent overcrowding in the prison system, there are alternatives that the system can use instead of throwing everyone into prison and having to spend much more money for people that clearly do not belong in the prisons. One way to decrease the prison population is to evaluate the prisoners and really study the individuals who are ready to be rehabilitated and serve time in productive manner and this way the prisons can decrease costs at the same time (Heroux, 2011). There are people in this country that may have very extreme views about prisons, they feel that in a modern society, prisons should not exist and everyone has the right to be free (Heroux, 2011). In ones opinion, views like that have no place in this country or any country at all, because it is necessary to have prisons to have control over people that are really aggressive and violent who cannot live freely in our society or else they would cause nothing but chaos in the streets and citizens would not be safe. Society may feel that if policies get tougher with our criminals, the results will be lower crime rates. Unfortunately it does not matter if policies and laws get tougher because not only in this country, but in the whole world, the criminals do not care about laws and policies. Criminals think, act and live a life of crime different than the normal law abiding citizens of this nation, which is why they do not follow the laws and going to prison just comes with the territory f or them. A criminal is well aware that some day they will be behind bars and it does not matter how severe the laws or policies are they will continue to live that life of crime (Marion Oliver, 2006). It is thought to be said that if all criminals were to be locked up, they would not commit any crimes and therefore society would be safer (Heroux, 2011). Statistics show that there is no relationship between mass incarceration and decreased crime rates (Heroux, 2011). Proponents of mass incarceration will lead you to believe that during the 1990s an increase in incarceration resulted in the decrease of crime rate, but this is just a typical case of cherry-picking data to mislead the public. There are three different cases with totally different outcomes that show no evidence that mass incarcerations will decrease the crime rate. In the first case since the 1930s throughout the 1960s, both incarceration and crime rates bounced up and down just a bit, but they stayed at a set level (Heroux, 2011 ). The second case showed that incarceration rates and crime rates shot up simultaneously in the late 1970s to 1980s (Heroux, 2011). The final case showed that incarceration rates sustained its level while crime rates decreased in the 1990s and in the 2000s the incarceration rates continued to increase while crime rates stayed at the same level (Heroux, 2011). So in order to deal with all the prisoners who show potential to have a good rehabilitation in the system, we must provide them with good programs because they are still costing the states billions of dollars every year. First of all the correctional system should be looking closely at those individuals with a low level and first time offenders because they clearly do not belong in the prisons, they belong in programs where they can start paying they dues to society and get them ready to be productive members of society. These individuals have a much higher percentage of not returning to the system because they do not show signs of violent behaviors. Although they have broken the laws, these types of offenders usually have a higher rate of recidivism than ot her individuals who go through the prison system (Heroux, 2011). One major factor why offenders return to prison is because prison will habitually teach individuals to be aggressive and more often than not will make them engage in criminal behavior once they are released to the public sector (Heroux, 2011). On the other hand, alternative sanctions that are more suitable for offenders will eliminate that feeling of trying to commit a crime all the time; it will teach individuals new habits instead of teaching them how to be criminals. Here are different options in which the criminal justice system can adopt to eliminate some of that recidivism rate and decrease it so that the prisons will not be so overcrowded. The first sanction is electronic monitoring, this device had been around for some time now and it works as long the individual does not muddle with it and try to trick it a take it off. Another program in which offenders can be reprogrammed is with community service, probation, parole and restorative justice. Although these sanctions have been designed for individuals who can make a change and have not shown to be violent in prisons, there are prisoners who definitely cannot participate in these types of programs for the reason that they cannot be rehabilitated due to mental issue s and violent behaviors. Of course these programs are not for everyone, just because the programs are available it does not mean that anyone can participate in them. There are steps to be taken by the prison administrators and the courts before allowing an individual to go thru one of these alternative sanctions. One problem that is in the minds of politicians and the states is how much will these programs cost will it be cost effective to send these individuals through these programs to reduce the prison overcrowding. The data shows that alternative sanctions have been proven to be cost effective and they are successful in reducing the criminal behavior and decreasing the prison population (Heroux, 2011). The goal of the criminal justice system is not to eliminate all prisons all together, but to keep them full of individual who really deserve to be there, for instance violent, aggressive and mentally challenged individuals who cannot be walking around in the public because they pose a threat to the society. Another program that is helping many individuals and juveniles especially is the drug treatment programs. As we all know, jail and prisons do not always work for many individuals because they have different problems that need to be looked at by specialists, for example drug addiction. Adult and juveniles who were charged with drug offenses, but they were not violent had the chance to participate in these programs to try and rehabilitate themselves and not return to their bad habits and prisons. These alternative programs are there to give hope to many individuals who did not have the same opportunities that others had and with some training they can be successful and be model citi zens. As a condition to these criminals is that if they do not participate and cooperate with the program the only solution is to return them to prison where they can serve their remainder of their sentences. Drug treatment programs usually take from 16 to 24 months of residential drug treatment depending on the severity of the individual’s addiction (The National Reentry Resource Center, 2012). Drug treatment programs have a successful track record in different states of the country. According to the National Reentry Resource Center, participants who were successful in completing the program were 33 percent less likely to return to prison, 45 percent less likely to be convicted (The National Reentry Resource Center, 2012). In conclusion, alternative sanctions exist so that individuals can have a second chance to straighten up their lives and not return to prisons where more damage can actually happen for them. The programs will not be easy to complete, but in the end they will feel proud of themselves and they will be ready to face the world in a different perspective. Studies have been shown that individuals who participated in alternative programs were more than likely to be more successful than individuals who did not participate in them. The programs mentioned above have been used for years and they have been proven to decrease the prison population, but in order to make a difference we as a society need to support these programs because they are very expensive and is the only way we are going to decrease the overcrowding in our prisons. References Dunn, W. N. (2008). Public Policy Analysis: An Introduction (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Heroux, P. (2011). Reducing Prison Overcrowding, Improving Justice and Preventing Crime. Retrieved from http://www.huggingtonpost.com/paul-heroux/ways-to-reduce-prison-ove_b_925603.html Marion, N. E., Oliver, W. M. (2006). The Public Policy of Crime and Criminal Justice (Rev ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. The National Reentry Resource Center. (2012). Justice Center. Retrieved from http://www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/what_works/evaluations/washingtons-drug-offender-sentencing-alternatives-dosa

Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular Disease Cardiovascular Disease Introduction This paper utilizes qualitative data drawn from a series of focus group discussions with patients living with coronary heart disease which explored their understanding of and adherence to a prescribed monitoring and medication regime. These findings are drawn upon in order to contextualize, from the patients perspective, the outcomes of the Departments of Healths Coronary Heart Disease National Service Framework strategy. The paper focuses attention on the consequences of this regulatory approach to clinical and risk management for those patients already living with coronary heart disease. Case Study Patient is 59 yrs old and had a myocardial infarction 2 years ago. He is obese, a smoker and poorly motivated. The case exemplifies many of the difficulties that frequently arise in managing cardiovascular disease, and suggests potential avenues for improving outcomes through the application of a disease management programme. The Coronary Heart Disease National Service Framework By the mid 1980s, it had been generally accepted by most clinicians that there was strong evidence to support the existence of a linear relationship between cholesterol levels and cardiac mortality (Shaper et al. 1985, Stamler et al. 1986), and that therefore lowering total cholesterol levels would reduce the risk of individuals developing coronary heart disease. This opened the way to the process of establishing a recommended cholesterol threshold level at which treatment should be instigated (Leitch 1989). Since then, the trend has been towards setting ever-lower threshold targets for treatment for those designated as being at high risk of developing coronary heart disease and for those already living with the disease. In 2000, the Department of Health published its Coronary Heart Disease National Service Framework which set out 12 standards for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease (Department of Health 2000). The National Service Framework standard Number 3 recommended that GPs identify and develop a register of diagnosed patients and those patients at high risk of developing coronary heart disease. Dietary and lifestyle advice (what the document terms ‘modifiable risk factors) was to be offered to these patients, and their medication reviewed at least every 12 months. It was also recommended that statins be prescribed to anyone with coronary heart disease or having a 30% or greater 10-year risk of a ‘cardiac event, in order to lower their blood cholesterol levels to less than 5 mmol/l or by 30% (which ever is greater). These recommendations were vigorously promoted when they were incorporated into the new General Medical Services contract that came into operation in 2003. The relative performance of an individual Primary Care Organization in meeting each of these indicators attracts points on a sliding scale that are then converted into payments for individual GPs. In relation to the management of patients with coronary heart disease, higher payments are received if a Primary Care Organization increases the percentage of patients with coronary heart disease who have their total serum cholesterol regularly monitored, and whose last cholesterol reading was less than 5 mmol/l (Department of Health 2004a). The most recent Department of Health progress report on the National Service Framework argues that the massive growth in statin therapy since 2000; ‘. . . is one of the most important markers of progress on the NSF, and was directly saving up to 9,000 lives per year (Department of Health 2005: 19). Statin prescriptions have been rising at the rate of 30% per year since 2000, and in 2004/5  £750 million was spent on statins, equivalent to some 2.5 million people on statin therapy in England (Department of Health 2005). In July 2004, low doses of statins became available over the counter without prescription for the first time, for those at moderate risk. The Public Health Discourse(S) Of Cardiac Risk The application of risk discourses in the field of public health (or more precisely the ascription of health risk to particular behaviours) as conceptualized within those elements of the risk literature most influenced by Foucauldian notions of governmentality, are seen as serving to construct the socially recalcitrant as distinct from the responsible citizen (Foucault 1977, Turner 1987, Lupton 1995). In a similar way, Dean (1999) argues that once risk has been attributed to particular health behaviours, the distinction is then drawn within public health policies between ‘active citizens who are perceived as able to manage their own heath risks, and ‘at-risk social groups who become the object of targeted interventions designed to manage these risks. Two distinct dimensions or approaches to the conceptualization and public health management of cardiac health risks also emerge from an examination of the ‘guiding values and principles which inform the Department of Healths Coronary Heart Disease National Service Framework (Department of Health 2000).While one approach (described below as the ‘epidemiological model of risk) largely conforms to the individualized ‘at-risk discourse, a second discourse (described below as the ‘social model of risk) which is much more concerned with health risk at a social and material level can also be discerned within the National Service Framework. These two distinct and arguably competing discourses of risk point to a complexity in current public health policy that might not be anticipated from a reading of the governmentality literature alone. The first conceptualization of cardiac risk within the Coronary Heart Disease National Service Framework is one that can be termed the ‘social model of health risk. This model essentially reflects a socio-economic understanding of the determinants of population health, and draws attention to the importance of addressing material, social and psychological risk factors in addition to the known biological factors in heart disease. In the National Service Framework, this social model is reflected in the endorsement (albeit at a rhetorical level) of an interventionist role for the state in addressing these wider determinants of the disease: ‘The Governments actions influence the wider determinants of health which include the distribution of wealth and income. A wide range of its policies will have an impact on coronary heart disease including social and legal policies and policies on transport, housing, employment, agriculture and food, environment and crime (Department of Health 2000: Section 1, Para 17). There is also an explicit acknowledgement that these risk factors disproportionately disadvantage particular sections of society, demonstrated in the higher incidence of coronary heart disease among the manual social classes. It is also acknowledged that there is inequity in health service provision; ‘. . . there are unjustifiable variations in quality and access to some coronary heart disease serv ices, with many patients not receiving treatments of ‘proven effectiveness (Department of Health 2000: Section 1, Para 13). This formal acknowledgement of the governments role in addressing the wider social and economic influences on cardiac health risk could to some degree be said to conform to Becks (1992) notion of the ‘risk society; wherein many of the health risks faced by the population are a consequence of unchecked scientific and industrial ‘progress. Beck asserts that in response a greater public awareness or ‘reflexivity of risk has emerged which reflects a shift from ignorance or private fears about the unknown to a widespread knowledge about the world we have created. The question of whether a reflexivity concerning the social and environmental factors associated with cardiac risk can be discerned in a patients own discourses of cardiac risk is something that will be explored in the discussion below. The second risk discourse emergent within the National Service Framework (Department of Health 2000) is one which reflects a predominantly epidemiological understanding of health risk. In this model, the relative risk of an individual developing heart disease is based upon a calculation of the mean values associated with certain ‘lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, diet and exercise that are drawn from aggregated population data for heart disease incidence. This is a statistical approach that all too often perceives such calculated health risk factors as being realities or causative agents in their own right, often with little acknowledgement of the social and material context of these health behaviours. Nevertheless, it is on the basis of this epidemiological model of health risk that the Department of Health has confidently set national guidelines that now require General Values and principles underlying the CHD National Service Framework Nine stated values underlying development of national policies for CHD Provision of quality services irrespective of gender, disability, ethnicity or age. Ready availability of consistent, accurate and relevant information for the public. Consideration of health impact in regard to social and legal policies and policies on transport, housing, employment, agriculture and food, environment and crime. Public health programmes led by health and local authorities to ensure targets for CHD are met. Reduction in health inequalities. Resources will be targeted at those in greatest need and with the greatest potential to benefit. Evidence-based. CHD policies are to be based on the best available evidence. Integrated approach for the prevention and treatment of CHD in health policy, health promotion, primary care, community care and hospital care. Maintenance of ethics and standards of professional practice. Recognition of the importance of voluntary organizations and carers at home in addressing CHD. Four stated principles underpinning the CHD NSF . Reducing the burden of CHD is not just the responsibility of the NHS. It requires action right across society . The quality of care depends on: ready access to appropriate services ii. the calibre of the interaction between individual patients and individual clinicians iii. the quality of the organization and environment in which care takes place. . Excellence requires that important, simple things are done right all the time. . Delivering care in a more structured and systematic way will substantially improve the quality of care and reduce undesirable variations in its provision. Practitioners to identify and monitor ‘high risk patients and to prescribe the recommended drug treatment regime. It can be argued that this regulatory or ‘managerialist approach to clinical decision-making constitutes a challenge to the discretion that has been traditionally enjoyed by general practitioners in relation to the clinical management of patients. This second ‘official discourse of health risk could be seen as indicative of the regulatory and surveillance forms of governmentality identified within Foucauldian social theory. From this perspective, those social groups whose health behaviour or lifestyle are seen to fall outside the acceptable bounds of self-management then become constructed as ‘at-risk. These are social groups who are seen to, ‘deliberately expose themselves to health risks rather than rationally avoiding them, and therefore require greater surveillance and regulation (Lupton 1995: 76); once identified these groups and individuals then become subject to various health promotion or ‘health improvement initiatives. Implicit in such forms of governmentality as applied within health policy interventions designed to manage risk are a set of assumptions about the nature of human action predicated on the notion of the ‘rational actor model. Jaeger, Renn, Rosa and Webler (2001) have argued such models of rationality operate at three levels of abstraction. In its most general form, it presupposes that humans are capable of acting in a strategic fashion by linking decisions with actions. That is, human beings are goal-orientated who have options available from which they are able to select a course of action appropriate to meeting these goals. The second level of abstraction which the authors term the ‘rational actor paradigm, and which is the level at which rationality is probably understood by policy-makers, contains the following assumptions: all actions are individual choices; individuals can distinguish between ends and means to achieve these ends; individuals are motivated to pursue t heir own self-chosen goals when making decisions about courses of action/behaviour; individuals will always choose a course of action that has maximum personal utility, that is it will lead to personal satisfaction; individuals possess the knowledge about the potential consequences of their actions when they make decisions. Finally, that rational actor theory is not only a normative theory of how people should make decisions about in this case health behaviour, but is also a descriptive model of how people select options and justify their actions (Jaeger et al. 2001: 33). Many of these rational actor assumptions underpin and inform the Coronary Heart Disease National Service Framework. Such assumptions manifest themselves in a seemingly unproblematic approach to the promotion of ‘risky health behaviour change which plays down the influence of culture, habitus and the material basis of group socialization. This uncritical rationality also threatens the sustainability of the National Service Framework strategy in other ways. The social psychological and sociological literature see the notion of ‘trust as constituted through two dimensions, the deliberative or rational and the affective or non-rational. As Peter Taylor-Gooby (2006) has pointed out in his work on the problematic of public policy reform, the rational deliberative processes associated with the achievement of greater efficiency in the provision of public services have unwittingly served to undermine the non-rational processes that contribute to the building of trust in public institutions and in public sector professionals. In this context, the National Service Framework will need to build trust both in terms of the presentation of the biomedical evidence for the effectiveness of statins and other cardiac drug interventions, as well as the more affective elements associated with the belief that the national targets are designed with the best interests of patients in mind rather than being driven by financial considerations alone. Significantly, given its centrality to a ‘disease management strategy, neither the Coronary Heart Disease National Service Framework (Department of Health 2000) nor the NHS Improvement Plan (Department of Health 2004b) which sets out the governments priorities Coronary heart disease and the management of risk 363 for primary and secondary healthcare up to 2008, attempts to define the use of the term ‘risk, and by extension ‘higher risk. Nevertheless, the conception of risk that shapes the practical interventions proposed within both these strategy documents is clearly the epidemiological one that is described above. In the past, such public health interventions have been largely concerned with bringing about health behaviour change, however now the strategy would appear to be less focused on encouraging greater responsibility for the ‘self management of cardiac risk and more on ensuring compliance with clinical management regimes of monitoring and drug treatme nt. Optimising Care Through Disease Management In the last 15 years, there have been dramatic advances in the pharmacotherapy of heart disease, most notably the introduction of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. (Jaeger et al. 2001: 33) Unfortunately, numerous studies have suggested that ACE inhibitors are substantially underutilised in heart disease patients. Moreover, there are a multitude of factors which may confound heart disease management heart disease virtually never occurs in isolation, and comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, chronic pulmonary or renal disease and arthritis occur frequently. The presence of these comorbid conditions may interfere with heart disease management in several ways. In PATIENTs case, pre-existing renal insufficiency may have contributed to her intolerance to ACE inhibitors. In addition, her use of NSAIDs could promote salt and water retention and antagonise the antihypertensive effects of her other medications. (Jaeger et al. 2001: 33) Multiple comorbidities may also result in polypharmacy, which, in turn, may compromise compliance and lead to undesirable drug interactions. Adherence to dietary sodium restriction is often problematic (as in patients case), particularly in older individuals who are either not responsible for preparing their own meals, or who rely heavily on canned goods and prepared foods. Depression, anxiety and social isolation are common in patients with heart disease, and each may interfere with adherence to the heart disease regimen or with the patients willingness to seek prompt medical attention when symptoms recur. Similarly, the high cost of medications may limit access to therapy in patients with restricted incomes. Physical limitations, such as neuromuscular disorders (e.g. stroke or Parkinsonism), arthritis and sensory deficits (e.g. impaired visual acuity), may compromise the patients ability to understand and comply with treatment. Finally, cognitive dysfunction, which is not uncommon in elderly heart disease patients, may further confound heart disease management. Impact on Clinical Outcomes Despite the widely publicised effects of ACE inhibitors, b-blockers, angiotensin receptor blockers and other vasodilators on the clinical course of heart disease, morbidity and mortality rates in patients with established heart disease remains very high. heart disease is the leading cause for repetitive hospitalizations in adults, and in 1997 Krumholz et al. reported that 44% of older heart disease patients were rehospitalised at least once within 6 months of an initial heart disease admission. Remarkably, this rate was no better than that reported in several prior studies dating back to 1985. (Krumholz et al. 1998) From the disease management perspective, it is important to recognise that the majority of heart disease readmissions are related to poor compliance and other psychosocial or behavioural factors, rather than to progressive heart disease or an acute cardiac event (e.g. myocardial infarction). Thus, Ghali et al. reported in 1988 that 64% of heart disease exacerbationswere attributable to noncompliance with diet, medications or both and that 26% were related to environmental or social factors. Similarly, in 1990 Vinson et al. (Vinson, 1995) found that over half of all readmissions were directly attributable to problems with compliance, lack of social support, or process-of care issues, and these authors concluded that up to 50% of all readmissions were potentially preventable. More recently, Krumholz et al, reported that lack of emotional support among older heart disease patients was a strong independent predictor of adverse outcomes, including death and hospitalization Rationale and Objectives The above considerations provide the rationale for a ‘systems approach to heart disease management. The objectives of this approach are as follows: To optimise the pharmacotherapy of heart disease in accordance with current consensus guidelines. (Vinson, 1990) To maximize compliance with prescribed medications and dietary restrictions. To identify and respond to any psychological, social or financial barriers that might interfere with compliance with the prescribed treatment regimen. To provide an appropriate level of follow-up through telephone contacts, home visits and outpatient clinic visits. To enhance functional capacity by providing an individualized programme of exercise and cardiac rehabilitation. To enhance self-efficacy by helping the patient and family understand that heart disease can be controlled, largely through the patients and familys efforts. To reduce the frequency of acute heart disease exacerbations and hospitalizations. To reduce the overall cost of care. The Disease Management Team Although the composition of a disease management team may vary both from centre to centre and from patient to patient, a suggested list of team members are given below: nurse coordinator or case manager dietitian social services representative clinical pharmacist physical therapist/occupational therapist exercise/rehabilitation specialist  · home health specialist patient and family primary care physician cardiologist/other consultants. Each team member provides their own unique expertise and/or perspective, and these are then woven into an integrated package tailored to meet each individual patients needs, expectations, and circumstances. Importantly, not all patients will require the services of all team members, and it is therefore essential to identify a team leader. In most cases, this will be the nurse coordinator or case manager, who, in addition to being the patients primary contact person and educator, is also responsible for coordinating the efforts of other team members, including the selective activation of appropriate consultations on an individualized basis. In addition to the team itself, several other components are essential for effective disease management. First, the patient and family should be provided with comprehensive information about heart disease, including common etiologies, symptoms and signs, standard diagnostic tests, medications, diet, activity, prognosis and the role of the patient and family in ensuring that heart disease remains under control. This information should be provided in a readily understandable patient-friendly format and several patient-oriented heart disease brochures are now commercially available. In addition to these materials, the patient should be given a scale (if not already owned) and a chart to record daily weights, an accurate and detailed list of medications supplemented by medication aids if needed (e.g. a pill box), and specific information about when to contact the nurse, physician, or other team member in the event that questions or new symptoms arise. In this regard, the importance of establishing an effective one-on-one nurse-to-patient relationship cannot be overemphasized, as this interaction will often be critical to the early diagnosis and effective outpatient treatment of heart disease exacerbations. Patient Perspective While the above studies indicate a beneficial effect on costs, hospital readmissions, etc., they do not address concerns related to the patients perspective on this interdisciplinary care. What issues are important to the patient, and what the advantages are to the patient of participating in an heart disease disease management programme? In recent years, it has become increasingly evident that it is insufficient to merely provide high quality medical services. In a competitive market, it is essential that the patient is also satisfied with the medical encounter, both in terms of the process of care as well as the clinical outcomes. Healthcare is an industry, and like all industries, customer satisfaction is critically important. However, unlike most industries, which deal with a tangible product, the healthcare industry deals with a multifaceted service, the myriad qualities of which are difficult to quantify. As a result, the assessment of patient satisfaction is often complex, and the development of a valid and universally accepted instrument for measuring patient satisfaction has been elusive. Despite these problems, several patient satisfaction questionnaires have been developed, (Garg, 1995) and these have been helpful in defining those issues which are important to patients, and in identifying specific concerns that patients often have with respect to current approaches to healthcare delivery. (Garg, 1995) Factors which have been consistently shown to play a pivotal role in determining patient satisfaction include: communication, involvement in decision- making, respect for the individual, access to care and the quality of care provided. (Philbin, 1996) Not surprisingly, problems in each of these areas are frequently cited as factors which diminish patient satisfaction. Several components of the heart disease disease management system will be of direct assistance in answering patients questions and helping her cope with this new and frightening diagnosis. In particular, the nurse case manager will establish an effective rapport with the patient and her family, and provide an ongoing source of information and emotional support. The patient education brochure and other printed materials will help answer many of Patients questions and assist in relieving some of her anxieties. The nurse, clinical pharmacist and physician (s) can provide detailed information and teaching about the medications used to treat heart disease, and the dietitian can directly address the dietary questions and provide an individualized diet that takes Patients current dietary practices and food preferences into account. The social service representative can assist patient with any financial concerns she may have, make provisions to ensure an adequate social support network, and serve as an additional source of emotional support. The physical therapist or exercise specialist can help in providing recommendations about activities and in the development of an exercise or rehabilitation programme. The nurse case manager, social service representative, home care specialist, and physician will provide assistance to patient in making the transition from the hospital back to the home environment, and they also will ensure a high level of follow-up care. Perhaps most importantly, the comprehensive care provided by the disease management team will reassure patient that she truly is being cared for, and that all of her needs and concerns are being met. Invariably, this will lead to a high level of patient satisfaction. In addition, in the case of patient there is good reason to believe that implementation of a disease management programme at the time of her initial hospitalization may have eliminated the need for a second hospitalization. (Young, 1995) To the extent that patient might have to pay for some of the costs of readmission (e.g. deductible or copayment), the disease management programme would also save her money, a benefit which is universally viewed in a favorable light. And finally, based on compelling data from recent clinical trials, optimizing Patients medication regimen should translate not only into an improved quality of life, but also into increased survival. Conclusion In summary, heart disease management systems provide a win-win-win situation. They are a ‘win for the providers, because they improve clinical outcomes and quality of life. They are a ‘win for the payors, because effective disease management programmes decrease health care expenditures. And they are clearly a ‘win for the patients, who reap multiple benefits, including improved quality of life and well-being, enhanced self-efficacy due to a greater sense of health control, improved exercise tolerance and functionality, increased survival (as a result of more optimal utilisation of heart disease medications), and, in some cases, reduced out-of-pocket expenditures. References Department of Health (2000) National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease (London: DoH). Department of Health (2004a) GMS Statement of Financial Entitlements (SFE) 2004/5 (London: DH). Department of Health (2004b) The NHS Improvement Plan: Putting People at the Heart of Public Services Cm 6268 (London: The Stationary Office). Department of Health (2005) The Coronary Heart Disease National Service Framework: Leading the Way-Progress Report 2005 (London: DH Publications). Foucault, M. (1977) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (London: Allen Lane). Garg R, Yusuf S, for the Collaborative Group on ACE Inhibitor Trials. Overview of randomized trials of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors on mortality and morbidity in patients with heart failure. JAMA 1995; 273: 1450-6 Ghali JK, Cooper R, Ford E. Trends in hospitalization rates for heart failure in the United States, 1973-1986. Evidence for increasing population prevalence. Arch Intern Med 1990; 150: 769-73 Jaeger, C., Renn, O., Rosa, E. and Webler, T. (2001) Risk, Uncertainty, and Rational Action (London: James James/Earthscan). Krumholz HM, Butler J, Miller J, et al. Prognostic importance of emotional support for elderly patients hospitalized with heart failure. Circulation 1998; 97: 958-64 Leitch, D. (1989) Who should have their cholesterol concentration measured? What experts in the United Kingdom suggest. British Medical Journal, 298(6688), 1615 1616. Lupton, D. (1995) The Imperative of Health: Public Health and the Regulated Body (London: Sage). Philbin EF, Andreou C, Rocco TA, et al. Patterns of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor use in congestive heart failure in two community hospitals. Am J Cardiol 1996; 77: 832-8 Redfern, J., MacKevitt, C. and