Simulation Review Paper

Running header: Simulation Review Paper Simulation Review Paper HSC/405 January 10, 2012 David Catoe Some point in the lives of many to all there are choices and decisions that are to be made. These individual choices and decisions we make help guide us to a certain destination or point in life where one would like to be. Not to say that reaching these set destinations will be easy to get too but they aren’t hard to accomplish with positive thinking and actions. Financial and economic decisions in a business perspective are difficult and could feel like we are outside trying to look in at times when put in a tough position. My goal is to further review the financial account of a Cardiac care hospital to implant strategies to resolve some ongoing financial concerns. The cardiac care hospital in review is Elijah Hearts Center (EHC). EHC is facing many critical downfalls that are causing financial concerns to arise. Several of those downfalls are; Capital shortage, capital expansion, accounting systems and funding options. Critical thinking, planning and leadership skills are needed to help figure out a new financial process for the organization and that is what will be given and shown in today’s paper. After analyzing and reviewing the current status of the company I must figure out what’s beneficial for the organization in regard to capital shortage. Considering my options I decided to reduce cost in funding by cutting down on staff. This decision I made was hard but considering the facts at hand I made this choice with an open mind and positive thinking. The downsizing of staff has a slight effect on the hospital but nothing to damaging to their functions and operations. Not only have I decided to downsize staff but I have also chosen to change the skill mix. This will better help increase patient volumes and allow for the organization to solve the capital shortfall. As for my choice in loan options I went with loan option one vs. loan option two for a few different reasons. When picking which loan was best it was simple due to the given interest rates and monthly installments which were ery similar in pricing and percentage. However the concern was in that of loan option two. There was a prepayment limitation of 6 represented for loan option two which loan option one had a prepayment limitation of 0. The critical and visual aspect of what was provided helped me in my choices resulting in a solved problem with the capital storage at EHC. Moving on with all the advancements with technology it is considered by Mr. Sanchez to acquire a High-Speed CT Scanner, an X-Ray Machine and a New Ultrasound system. These systems will provide more satisfying quality of care to EHC patients. My given option of ensuring the hospital has these equipment’s are either buying new or refurbished including loan options of a capital or operating lease. Starting with the high-speed CT scanner, after review of my options and looking over the new equipment details I have made a pick. I chose to have EHC invest into a refurbished machine. The choice was the correct one for EHC and its financial status. It is shown that the price is cheaper which also technology for tis equipment is bond to change in a few years. The X-ray machine was tough to choose the right option but I chose a capital lease. The reason was the equipment is new and after the lease ends the company is given an option of purchasing the equipment or not. The capital lease also allows for EHC to claim ownership on their balance sheets within the provided lease period. Next is the Ultrasound system and my decision was between a capital lease and an operating lease. After closer review I believe the operating lease was the best option. The equipment at this point is two years old and change with technology every few years. This would allow EHC to be current with technology and future options of keeping what machinery is needed or if not handing back outdated equipment. As with that said the operating lease is not treated as if its apart of the assets of the company but as a rental. The decisions that I have made were all correct and EHC is now doing better allowing for growths in profits and patient care. Capital expansion is important for EHC so I chose HUD 242 Loan Insurance Program as the best fit. The company is due to have increased revenues within the seventh year of operating the new expansion which allows time for saving. HUD 242 loan insurance program best fits because interest payments begin 8 years after start date. This is perfect and falls in line with the company’s financial status, future revenue and help save funds. The decisions that I have made have proven to provide well for EHC and now the company is back on track and in good financial status. The simulation that was provided served me with great hands on experience and knowledge of how critical thinking can benefit not only me but many others in different ways. The choices that I made just don’t happen in a matter of a minute but took a matter of time. Remember the turtle won the race being steady and careful and that’s how I feel I took this simulation review. I had to review and analyze arrears of different categories trying to figure out the best options for EHC. The financial aspect within a business such as EHC has many different bridges which some might be easy to cross while others are difficult. This simulation did challenge me to consider not only what I wanted for the company but what was best compatible. I worked though the simulation with nervousness but then again I was confident and come out with correct choices. In Conclusion EHC has allowed me a great opportunity to help resolve their financial matters in which all worked out fine. The medical equipment that EHC has now allows for patient to wait in lesser lines for tests or treatments. By being moving more quickly and efficiently patients become less stress when in the hospital. The downsizing of staff at this point was right but in the future more job opportunities will be open allowing for returning staff growth. Since EHC is moving ahead in a positive manner the organization set forth $75 million dollars for an expansion. The expansion called for a plan that HUD 242 loan insurance program could help with in funding. The choices made lead EHC to have good cash flow resulting in a steady income. Introduced were strategies for future and current use and the purpose is that bridges that one though couldn’t be crossed have been crossed through careful thought and analyzing.

Learning team charter †team “c” Essay

Course Title Com/172 Team Members/Contact Information Name Phone Time zone and Availability During the Week Email Central Monday-Friday 9a.m.-9p.m. Central Central Monday-Friday Team Ground Rules and Guidelines What are the general expectations for all members of the team? Each team member is expected to present all work or research assigned in order to be given full credit as a team member. Team meetings are scheduled every Wednesday at 12 noon through the OLS system in the Team C forum. The deadline for each assignment will be Sunday of each week by 8:00p.m. The Certificate of Originality will be signed as â€Å"Team C† only if each team member has presented his or her completed work. If not, the certificate will be signed with individual names of names of team members whom have completed assignments. If a team member cannot make a meeting or reach the assignment deadline, the team must be notified at least 24 hours before the meeting or the assignment is due.​ ​ ​Expectations for Time Management and Involvement (Participation, communication with the team, accessibility, etc.) Each team member should give an equal amount of time and participation. We are also expected to communicate openly with each team member and be available on or at their posted or desired times of availability. Each member must attend all team meetings on Wednesday of each week.​ ​ ​​​Ensuring Fair and Even Contribution and Collaboration What strategy will you use to ensure that all team members are contributing and collaborating appropriately? Describe the communication strategy you will use if a team member is not contributing and collaborating effectively. How will the team manage conflicts between team members? We will stay connected on a regular basis to ensure each member contribute appropriately. In the event that a team member is not contributing on a regular basis, we will first use the OLS system to contact them. If and when that do not work, we will contact them on their personal cell phone and then resort to their email. Conflicts between team members will be handled through team meetings on Wednesday of each week. If the conflict cannot be handled through team meetings, we will forward the problem to the class instructor for assistance. ​ ​ ​​Special Considerations What do you, as a team, agree will make this team experience different from past team experiences? As a team, we agree that proper communication will make this team a success. An open line of communication must be used to ensure quality work as a team. We will allow and be open to all ideas and suggestions from each team member to be presented to find the best outcome.​ ​​ ​ ​

Muti-racial success in schools

It is interesting to note the results of Grace Kao’s study of a multi-racial group of high school students with focused on how students from different races varied their measurement or definition of success. Individuals have set criteria, which over the years served as the standards in perceiving how one student can consider himself or herself successful. Students have classified their classmates belonging to different race and create mindsets based from physical differences like skin color and from natural origin or based from cultural characteristics. Changing or modifying student’s perception on success will not be an easy thing. The educator must consider the existing perceptions, skills, and knowledge of the students in attempt to modify their meaning of success. Every student must be encouraged to discover his or her potential and make use of it to the fullest. Academic institutions should have well rounded programs that will cater to and showcase the students’ unique abilities. In this manner, they will realize that being academically successful does not only pertain to passing a course, attaining high grades, receiving awards, or earning good jobs but more importantly, success is using potentials to their fullest and being satisfied with their performances. It must also be clear to them that an individual can be considered successful regardless of race or ethnicity. There should also be avenues for knowledge and skills sharing among multi-racial students. In this manner, they will develop appreciation of what they can offer and what others can share with them.   Healthy competition and respect for individuality must be consistently promoted. There is nothing wrong with multi-racial students setting their own standards of success, but these perceptions should not limit them from being truly successful in life. The challenge for educators is how to create a learning atmosphere that can motivate students to do away with stereotyping based from race and ethnicity and to treat one’s self as a unique individual with a set goal in his or her academics to be successful. References Kao, G. (2000). Group Images and Possible Selves Among Adolescents: Linking Stereotypes to Expectations by Race and Ethnicity, Sociological Forum, Vol 15 no 3, 2000. Retrieved, April 17, 2007, from http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~grace2/kao.soc.forum.2000.pdf. Race and Ethnicity. Retrieved, April 17, 2007, from http://www2.austincc.edu/jtaylor/outlinech9.htm. Wikipedia. Perception. Retrieved, April 17, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/

Medical Negligence and Malpractice Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Medical Negligence and Malpractice - Case Study Example There were no laws specifying requirements to practice any profession and anyone could practice whatever profession he or she wished to. As a result, there was tremendous competition between physicians and other healers. The only way the public could hold a person responsible for his actions were through tort laws. However, malpractice litigation can exist only with an established practice and a healer cannot be sued for deviating from standards if no standards exist. Since only trained physicians had professional standards, they were sued and quacks were not. There are five fundamental groupings of rationales for medical malpractice. First, a physician "contracts with those who employ him that he has such skill, science, and information as will enable him properly and judiciously to perform the duties of his calling." Second, "the principle is plain of uniform application, that when a person assumes the profession of physician and surgeon, he must, in its exercise, be held to employ a reasonable amount of care and skill. For anything short of that degree of skill in his practice, the law will hold him responsible for any injury which results from its absence (Breen et al, 1997). Third, a physician "undertakes that he will bring to the work a fair, reasonable and competent degree of care and skill in reference to the operation to be performed." Fourth, "freedom from errors of judgement is never a part of a contract with a professional man." And finally, physicians need not guarantee a cure. These principles led to increased malpractice lawsuits against better physicians. Although medical malpractice is founded on the standard principles of tort law, interest groups perceive medical malpractice differently depending on the way malpractice claims affect their financial, social, political, and professional interests. Differences in perception among politically perceptive interest groups have been significant obstacles in resolving malpractice problems. Articles su pporting and opposing the medical malpractice system have appeared in newspapers and magazines. Opponents of malpractice cite malpractice cost as a cause of high health care costs. Opponents argue that the medical malpractice system modifies the doctor and patient relationship and creates an environment in which defensive strategies influence treatment decisions (Fielding and Waitzkin, 1999). Opponents also claim that damage awards are like winnings in a lottery and provide unscrupulous lawyers and patients incentives to sue the providers. The costs of defending malpractice lawsuits and damage awards are increasing the cost of medical treatment. The costs of defensive medicine are increasing medical costs and making medical care unaffordable. Compensation for medical injuries is a paramount goal of medical malpractice actions (Hay, 1992). Compensation should be timely, fair, and paid to all who qualify for it. To be timely, compensation should be paid expeditiously. To be fair, compensation should be proportional to the amount of loss. However, it is important to determine what injuries will be compensated. The system could compensate all injuries regardless of cause, or medically caused injuries only or negligent medical injuries only. Using the concept of quality costs, malpractice costs can be divided into injury costs and

Data Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Data Analysis - Essay Example lyse the association between increase in productivity and decrease in cost, decrease in lost images, increase in quality of images, decrease in repeated examination/rejected films, and examination time. As can be seen from figure 4 to 7, it appears that there was strong or very strong association between increase in productivity and variables decrease in cost, decrease in lost images, increase in quality of images, decrease in repeated examination/rejected films, and examination time. The strongest correlation was between increase in productivity and decrease in examination time, therefore, taking variable decrease in examination time as independent variable for predicting increase in productivity (dependent variable). Decrease in examination time significantly predicted increase in productivity,  ÃŽ ² = .90,  t(48) = 14.07,  p   In conclusion, there is strong association between increase in productivity and decrease in cost, decrease in lost images, increase in quality of images, decrease in repeated examination/rejected films, and examination

Food safety Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Food safety Assignment - Essay Example According to Paster (2007), â€Å"HACCP is a system composed of seven principles that are meant to be applied to a written food safety program focusing on the food in your operation† (p. vii). There are five star points that make up the basic system: pre-requisite programs (master), food defense (apply), principles 1 and 2 (hazard analysis and determine CCP, principles 3, 4, and 5 (critical limits, monitoring, and corrective actions), principles 6 and 7 (verify and record keeping). Certification is required in an education of the system and it expires every four years, thus it is important to keep up certification requirements as they need they need to be renewed (Paster, 2007). The first reason it is implemented is because it is a requirement in the food service and preparation industry. Without having someone certified for HACCP, a restaurant cannot legally operate. The primary social reason for having HACCP systems in a food preparation and service establishment, however, is so that the public safety has been protected. This system is designed to optimize systems so that prevention of food contamination is of primary concern. The major reasons can be listed as follows: management of product safety, prevention of product safety incidents, limitations of traditional quality control, external pressures, foundation for the development of effective product management systems (Mortimore & Wallace, 1998). According to Tucker (2007), â€Å"(HACCP) needs to be supported by prerequisite programs and be part of a broader food safety management system† (p. 41). Tucker (2007) states that the World Health Organization identifies prerequisites as â€Å"Practices and conditions needed prior to and during the implementation of HACCP and which are essential for food safety† (p. 41). The different types of prerequisites carry a wide scope of functions, which include: hygiene

Utopian Societies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Utopian Societies - Research Paper Example It is a fact that many people from all over the world were staying in America without facing much discrimination before the 9/11 incident. But after 9/11, some people are facing stiff challenges in America, especially the Muslim population. In other words, circumstances preventing the formation of an ideal society everywhere. The concept of Utopian society has come from Plato’s republic. It is a conceptual society which is free from aggression, war, hate, and crime and work for the establishing peace, law and order in every aspect of social life. The major objective of Utopian society is to work for the human betterment. Moreover utopian society ensures equality and stress free life of all human beings in every aspect of human life. The major drawback of utopian society was their handling of outsiders. While they were keeping all the ethical standards within the society, they were not so in treating the outsiders. This paper briefly analyses the major concepts of utopian society in order to find an answer to the question whether this concept is good or evil in the contemporary world. Serra (2010) has mentioned that the Utopian society would be free of ignorant bully types, perverts, dishonest slugs who have no conscience, those with greed, hostilities, and the list goes on. No one sees color or nationality. No bad racial feelings, just good people enjoying each other’s company (Serra). In a utopian society, people enjoys freedom, liberty and equality in all the respects. In other words, the equality in all sense, prevent the chances of any problems in a utopian society. Laws and governments have no role at all in a utopian society. People live at their will in such a society. Utopian society helps a person to lead a free life in its all sense. The words, Crime and punishments are not in the dictionary of a utopian society. In a utopian society, the government holds only the secondary position. Society has the upper hand compared

In what ways do your ontological (worldview) and epistemological Essay

In what ways do your ontological (worldview) and epistemological (knowledge construction) perspectives align with (or do not align with) the world Englishes paradigm - Essay Example 210; cited in Bolton, n.d., p. 368). As such, one’s ontological and epistemological perspectives actually align with WE paradigm in terms of recognition, commitment, and firm belief that ‘English’ as an international language has evolved through time with increasing importance being acknowledged through its evident use as a universally known and accepted language. Using this premise, one’s knowledge construction on the subject, seen as a potential opportunity not only to expand personal understanding and depth of the language, per se; but more so, as a means of professional livelihood, justify the need to confirm alignment with the WE model. Therefore, through being more culturally aware of diversity in the use of English, either as a first, second, or additional language, one confirms that learning more about WE would be instrumental in echoing the relevant concepts that would be learned from this model. As more educators, like me, recognize that learning and teaching WE should be shared on a more global scale, acknowledging that learning and teaching English requires recognizing its multiple variants aligns with the WE concept. The growth and advancement being experienced in all societies worldwide confirm that applying the WE concepts would contribute to greater understanding and facilitate teaching English using the WE

Turtles Can Fly, Bahman Ghobadi (2005) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Turtles Can Fly, Bahman Ghobadi (2005) - Essay Example The mines that are made in America are the best mines according to him. Ironically, he gets injured by an American mine later in the movie. Turtles Can Fly makes use of imagery beautifully through which the audience can easily see the horrid state of the refugees and be thankful that it is not out there itself. For instance, in a long-shot, it appears as if there is a cattle grazing in the field but the close-up reveals that those are children picking up mines. This is almost like the life of those children is being compared to that of animals thus revealing the sad state in which the children are. The children do very dangerous work and their state is pitiable. Yet, they are able to enjoy the trivial things and events that they come across while being in the refugee camp. In one scene, Pashow, who has a broken leg, taunts a Turkish guard on the border and is not worried that he is putting his life into danger while doing that. A very important point is that the movie is closely related to the US-Iraq war but there is no bias or a tilt towards any side by any of the characters. The children in the movie are too busy in survival to have an opinion on the war. This gives the audience a very important message that many of those who are directly involved in the circumstances created by the war are largely unconcerned with victory or loss. They just look to get their own lives in order. This message can also be seen in the shot of a turtle which is thrown into water by the blind child but it is shown like it is flying. This indicates freedom and happiness. The war is revealed to the audience in visions of Henkov. This shows that the real war happens in the background and the focus is on its casualties. The red fish are used as a metaphor serving as a trophy which gives Satellite a sense of accomplishment. He dives in the lake to look for red fish but never finds any. He gets a few from Shirko

A comparison of the women in the Hardy Tales Essay Example for Free

A comparison of the women in the Hardy Tales Essay Rhoda in the tale The Withered Arm and Phyllis in the story The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion are both very lonely women. Both of these women and have been mistreated by men, but none of them ever speak out for themselves to tell the men that their behaviour is unacceptable. Women who were treated by men were just expected by their fathers (if the husband is rich) to just keep quiet and be happy that they are financially supported. Rhoda is a social reject. She has been isolated to a small, dilapidated cottage in the middle of a lonely field. Rhoda is of the poor working class. She has received no education and is illiterate. Her son wears worn out shoes that rub his feet. Farmer Lodge, the sons biological father takes no responsibility for his son and does not support Rhoda financially. This shows that Farmer Lodge is irresponsible and dismisses his responsibilities. When the story is told Rhoda is thirty to forty years of age, thin from starvation, dark eyed, poor and a single mother. She is a milkmaid and earns very little, no where near enough to feed her and her son properly. Rhoda was once very pretty and was in a relationship with Farmer Lodge. Farmer Lodge is a very shallow fickle man who is only attracted to the looks of a woman rather than her personality. Unfortunately, because he is rich many women fall for him although he never truly loves them. When Farmer Lodges new wife arrives Rhoda is very bitter about her and strives to find a way in which she is better than Farmer Lodges new wife, Gertrude. Although Rhoda seems like quite an independent character that fends for herself, she has been mistreated by Farmer Lodge for quite sometime. Another woman who is severely mistreated by men is Phyllis in the tale The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion. Phyllis is mistreated by her father who grows selfish and withdraws her from the town where she was happy with her friends. When Rhoda visits conjuror Trendle she sees that is was herself who caused the abrasion on Gertrudes arm she feels quite guilty. She would not care if it were someone else who caused it, but she feels bad because Rhoda knows it was her. At the end of the story, Rhoda has gained nothing and lost everything. Her son who she greatly loved and was the nest thing in her life has been hanged for arson. At this time hanging for arson was common. Rhodas son was made an example of for other arsonists. I blame Rhoda for her situation because it was social suicide for Farmer Lodge to be in a relationship with a poor milkmaid let alone have a child together. Rhoda must have known this. If Rhoda had never have started a relationship with Farmer Lodge none of the following events would have occurred. It may have just been a coincidence that Gertrudes arm became deformed, but it drove Gertrude mad and eventually ended up killing her.

Holistic Approach To Supporting Health Psychology Essay

Holistic Approach To Supporting Health Psychology Essay Emma and Kyle live in a home specialising in providing 24hr care for young pregnant women and their babies. Emma was looked after from being 4 yrs old when she was removed from her parents care. She was fostered for 10yrs by a caring couple until illness forced them to return her to social care services. Several placements broke down as Emma was unable to adjust to a new family and she was finally placed in a young peoples home run by social care services when she became pregnant at 15yrs old. She attended school until the birth of Kyle who was born 4 weeks premature. She moved into the mother and baby hostel when she was 6 months pregnant following referral by her social care worker. She has a good relationship with Kyle, although staff say they would be concerned if she were to leave the hostel and live independently. Kyle has recently started full time nursery which gives Emma the opportunity to attend college where she studies catering. Defining health can be a difficult task. The most famous definition is that of the World Health Organisation (WHO) which hasnt been amended since 1948. Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO 1948). There are many models of health that have been developed over the years, one being the biomedical model which focuses on physical symptoms such as pain. This concept scientifically measures a persons health to decide whether illness is present or not. Biomedical scientists claim that the body is a machine and can be fixed when a malfunction occurs. An improved model would be the Biopsychosocial theory which concentrates on whole life issues including emotional and spiritual aspects as well as social and family support. The holistic model improved further to include not only physical, psychological and social factors but also determinants such as nutrition, alcohol, nicotine, sleep, exercise and community life. The focus of this report is to examine and understand the physical, social and psychological influences upon health by using the case study and consider how things can be improved by using the holistic approach in contrast to the Biomedical and Biopsychosocial. The first thing that will be considered in this report is emotional issues during infancy. Individuals who suffer from broken or emotional relationships during infancy often develop into adults who experience problems understanding their own emotions and this may limit their ability to maintain a successful relationship in later life. In the case study of Emma, she was cared for by her parents till the age of 4years then removed and placed into a caring foster family. It is possible that the biological family suffered from dysfunctional tendencies which could mean child neglect or even child abuse within the home. An infant raised within this environment would imagine it to be normal behaviour therefore being placed in what society sees as a normal functioning family, would be difficult to adjust to. Several studies suggest that up to 80% of children in foster care have significant mental health issues due to the trauma of separation from the biological family in addition to experien ces of dysfunctional families (Smariga 2007). When a child is separated from their primary caregiver who is usually the mother, separation anxiety can occur. Infants younger than 4 years are particularly vulnerable and will experience high levels of emotional disturbances. Separation anxiety in infants can be treated with play therapy if recognised early enough. This type of therapy is a form of counselling which helps young children use alternative coping strategies to work through any existing problems and is probably the more favoured model theorised by biopsychosocial therapists. However, biomedical experts believe that an imbalance in neurotransmitters is the cause of anxiety and other psychiatric disorders such as depression and will recommend the child take a mild sedative to help reduce the trauma (Ponton 2006). The holistic model would argue that certain determinants play an important role in detecting and treating anxiety. Nutrition is vital as food influences the balance of chemicals produced and released in the brain therefore, without sufficient protein, the brain can become deficient in certain chemicals, resulting in anxiety and depression. Exercise is also very important as again this releases chemicals such as endorphins and serotonin which give a feel good effect (livestrong 2012) Depression is a very common disorder and females are twice as likely to suffer at some point in their lives as males. This is mainly due to changes in hormones in adolescence. Biomedical experts believe that these changes are obvious during puberty and pregnancy as well as after giving birth. According to the National Institute of Health, factors that increase the risk of depression in women include reproductive, genetic, or other biological factors. In addition, women who juggle work with raising a family and single parents suffer more stress that may trigger symptoms of depression (NIMH). A biomedical view would be to diagnose and treat depression by prescribing antidepressants. These types of medications increase the levels of serotonin within the body which go on to increase happiness. Recent studies suggest that side effects brought on by long term use of antidepressants can include digestive problems, sexual difficulties and even strokes and premature deaths in older people. Dr ugs that interfere with serotonin may cause developmental problems in infants, development in adults, digestive problems, diarrhoea, and indigestion and may also raise the risk of dementia (Naish 2012). There are a number of holistic methods which can help keep depression under control such as avoiding caffeine, nutrition and exercise. Caffeine reduces serotonin levels so reducing the drug will naturally increase happiness. Essential fats cannot be naturally produced in the human body therefore it is important that they are included in the diet. The richest source of omega 3 is found in oily fish and nuts. Many of the population are on low income or benefits and maybe see themselves to not be in a position financially to eat fresh food. Eating junk food will increase the levels of sugar found in the blood which will give symptoms of fatigue, irritability, dizziness, insomnia, depression and digestive problems. Since the brain depends on an even supply of glucose it is of no surprise to find that the above symptoms can appear. The best way to keep your blood sugar level even is to eat whole foods, fruits, vegetables, and regular meals (Food for the brain 2012) Some children will suffer with conduct disorders such as aggression, theft, deceitfulness or violation of rules. This can cause problems in school and in the family home which can lead to police involvement. Causes can develop from temperament, genetics (common in children of adults who had conduct problems), environmental (family problems and social pressures) or physical (problems in processing information). Anger affects your physical health and can cause hypertension, chronic lower back pain, stomach problems and heart disease. The biomedical view would be to treat each symptom individually with medication where as a more holistic method would be to practice relaxation techniques, engaging in physical exercise or by doing something that engages the mind such as drawing or painting. Another way to manage this would be counselling. Group therapy is a really good option for adolescents to learn from one another and social interaction is a vital part of the developmental process. Adolescent years can be very challenging for parents or professionals. Identities are forming, social lives are expanding and new behaviours are experimented with. This can involve alcohol, tobacco, drugs and unsafe sexual activity. A person who is intoxicated is more likely to engage in unprotected sex with a variety of sexual partners. The continued use of any substance can lead to substance abuse and addiction. Emma fell pregnant at 15yrs which could possibly be a result of excessive alcohol or drugs. A developing baby is exposed to anything that is put into the system so no safe amount of alcohol, tobacco or drugs exists during pregnancy. Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor which causes the blood vessels to narrow limiting the flow of blood to the baby. Also carbon monoxide will limit the levels of oxygen available to the foetus which can result in still birth, low birth weight or sudden infant death syndrome (livestrong 2012). The National Institute of Health advises pregnant women no t to drink during the first3 month in particular as this may induce miscarriage (NHS 2012) Another form of depression is postnatal depression (PND) which is common in both men and women. PND is different to depression and the onset usually occurs after the birth of a baby but can also appear during pregnancy. Women can become more tearful and moodier than usual in this time. Some women experience thoughts of harming their baby which is quite common affecting almost half of women with the condition (Roberts 2012). PND can be undetected and left untreated which may lead to aggression and possible harm to the baby. Teenage mothers suffer from poorer mental health in the three years after their birth compared with other mothers therefore Emma needs as much support as she can possibly get during the early years of being a mother. She has no family around to support and help her. The feeling of isolation is the most stressful aspect of being a mother. Holistic therapies can be helpful to combat the stress of being not only a new mother but a teenage and single mother. Massage, r eflexology and herbal remedies may be useful to aid in relaxation. Talking therapies are also very popular and can help with identifying underlying issues that may be occurring. Any medication that may be prescribed should be taking with caution as it could interfere with breastfeeding. Teenage parents often drop out of education because of the pressures they experience, including stigmatization associated with pregnancy, isolation from peers, and lack of needed support from family, friends, schools, social service agencies, and other organizations (SEDL 2012). In 2001 the government set up a programme called Sure Start which was intended to provide holistic support to teenage mothers and fathers. The program has been very successful in providing support during emotional times, educational needs and family support to young parents. Sure Start was developed to reduce the risk of social exclusion associated with teenage pregnancy by providing support for parents and their child to help them with housing, health care, parenting skills, education and child care (Sure Start 2012) Emma has managed to obtain a place in nursery for her son while she continues to participate in education. This alone will create a more stable lifestyle for them both while building a future. The focus of this report is to discuss the different approaches to health and to reinforce that a holistic approach to illness is by far the most improved and widely used method. A more natural approach can help, prevent or improve many health issues before they occur. Many medications can help cure illness and in some cases this is the only way to treat a disease such as cancer however, a large proportion of health problems can be linked to generated issues such as asthma, and stress. Tobacco, alcohol, drugs, poverty, employment, income, education, social, environment, lifestyle choices are all determinants and wider determinants in what define the concepts of health. The body is an impressive machine and treated holistically there are no reasons why many issues should be part of life. Throughout our lifetime, stressful situations and emotional traumas are constantly presented. As we grow, our interactions with other people generate stress such as gaining approval, pressure at school, or work, forming relationships, relationship breakdowns or bereavement. It can have many detrimental effects on our health physically and emotionally.

Enhancing Architecture Appreciation Through Spatial Perceptions Cultural Studies Essay

Enhancing Architecture Appreciation Through Spatial Perceptions Cultural Studies Essay Frank Lloyd Wright believed space was the essence of architecture. The reality of architecture is actually not in the solid elements that seem to make it, but rather the reality of a room was to be found in the space enclosed by the roof and walls, not in the roof and walls themselves. Spaces have intrinsic meanings that result from their spatial and visible forms and extrinsic meanings that evolved out from each of our different experiences with regards to each individuals own background and profession. We experience the spaces interior space in terms of their form, their structure, their aesthetics and how others and us relate to them. This constitutes the reality of our physical experience, but spaces not only have an existence in reality, they also have a metaphorical existence. They express meaning and give out certain messages about the space, just as the way we dress or furnish our homes gives people certain messages about us. They tell stories, for their forms and space plan ning give us hints about how they should be experienced or perceived. Space is meaningless without its inhabitants to experience it and to experience a space is the only gateway to understanding space. At certain periods architects have chosen to create exciting, complex spaces with curving, undulating walls. The period of the baroque and rococo in Europe was one such time when interiors were designed to entice and captivate the onlooker and draw them into a world of illusion created through painting, sculpture and the curving forms of architecture. Craftsman played the prominent role at that time when only good workmanship and complicated work pieces would amaze anyone. Now in this totally new era, right here in this century, wonders are different and expectations higher with meanings and philosophy equally deep but entirely unlike. The heightening desire and importance of communication among the space and the perceiver with the spatial experience created seem to become a dominating factor and a characteristic of spatial design in this new era. If architecture can be said to have a poetic meaning, we must recognise that what it says is not independent of what it is. (Alberto Pà ©rez-Gà ³mez, The Space of Architecture: Meaning as Presence and Representation, Questions of Perception: Phenomenology of Architecture, 2006) Architecture is not an experience that words can translate later. Like the poem itself, it is its space as presence which constitutes the meaning and the experience. This experience in turn differs for every individual. What one perceives is a result of interplays between past experiences, including ones culture and the interpretation of the perceived. Different aspects of the experiential spaces and the perceiver also ignite different spatial perceptions. Understanding the different experiential components, the philosophy of perception and how spatial perception affects and reflects people differently helps us to enhance our appreciation for architecture and to heighten our enjoyment of space. My aim in this paper is to explore this hypothesis and my exposition will be presented and discussed in the following thesis. Categories of different experiential components Spatial experience created is the most complex and diverse of all the components of architecture, for it involves how architecture engages all of our senses, how it shapes our perception and enjoyment or discomfort of our built environment. Understanding this is perhaps the area with which most people, architects and users alike, have difficulty. This is partly because it involves, at every turn, subjective responses which differ from individual to individual. Since the spatial experience we derive from architecture is generated by our perception of it, we must start by considering how the human eye and mind receive and interpret the visual data of architectural experience. How does the psychology of vision and sensory stimulation affect our perception of architecture? Perhaps the most fundamental concept is that the mind, particularly the human mind, is programmed to seek meaning and significance in all sensory information sent to it. The result is that the mind seeks to place all information fed to it into a meaningful pattern. The mind does not recognise that incoming data mean nothing. Even purely random visual or aural phenomena are given a preliminary interpretation by the mind on the basis of what evaluative information it already has stored away. Hence, what we perceive is based on what we already know- our knowledge. Our perception of space also differs from individual to individual, based on the persons psychology, mentality, phy sical state, background, memory, observation and the overall environment together with time Era and Culture. The spatial experience of architectural spaces evolves and becomes established by the experience it provides and we in turn read our experience into it. Experiential spaces evoke an empathetic reaction in us through these projected experiences and the strength of these reactions is determined by our culture, our beliefs and our expectations. We can relate so well to these spaces is because we have strong feelings about our environment and about what we like and dislike. We all have our preferences and prejudices regarding certain spaces as in anything else and our experiences in these spaces determine our attitude towards that space. People looking at pictures have a remarkable ability to enter a role which seems very foreign to them. This can be interpreted into how these experiential spaces play an important role in affecting our mood and behaviour. When we enter these emotive spaces, we are tuned in to the frequency of the space, going through all the emotional processes with it. Architects and designers manipulate space of many kinds: There is first the purely physical space. One cannot see let alone touch space! Yet something that is invisible and untouchable has to be there, just to keep objects apart. This can be easily computed and expressed as how many cubic feet or cubic meters. But there is also perceptual space, the space that can be perceived or seen. To understand this, an example will be in a building with walls of glass, this perceptual space may be extensive and impossible to quantify. Related to perceptual space is conceptual space, which can be defined as the mental map we carry around in our heads, the plan stored in our memory. Concepts that work well are those that users can grasp easily in their minds eye and in which they can perceive with a kind of inevitability. Such spaces can be said to have good conceptual space. The architect also shapes behavioural space, or the space we can actually move through and use. Architecture space is a powerful shaper of behaviour. Winston Churchill said We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us. One very good example to support this statement is the Houses of Parliament in Germany. When Parliament first begun to meet in the thirteenth century, it had been given the use of rooms in the palace and had later on moved into the palace chapel. A typical narrow and tall Gothic chapel with parallel rows of choir stalls on two sides of the aisle down the center. The members of Parliament sat in the stalls, dividing themselves into two distinctive groups, one the government in power and the other usually the opposition members. During Parliament meetings, members from both parties have to take the brave step of crossing the aisle to change political allegiance. In my opinion, this enforced behaviour has a negative impact on the overall operation of the government bodies as this form of meetings unintentionally made politicians from both sides to feel and sense hostility and unconsciously insinuated the perception of challenge. When the Houses of Parliament had to be rebuilt after a fire in 1834, the Gothic form was followed but Churchill argued that the rebuilding of the Parliament ought to be done with a fan of seats in a broad semicircle, as used in legislative chambers in the United States and France. To change the environment, to give it a different behavioural space, would change the very nature of parliamentary operation. The English had first shaped their architecture, and then that architecture had shaped English government and history. Through Churchills persuasion, the Houses of Parliament were rebuilt with the revised layout. Space can determine or suggest patterns of behaviour and perceptions by its very configuration. There is yet another way of determining spatial experience, and although it is not strictly architectural, architects and designers nevertheless must take it into account. This is personal space, the distance that members of the same species put between themselves. For most animals, this zone of comfort is genetically programmed. However humans have proved themselves to be extremely flexible in their determination of personal space; they seem not to have any programmed genetic spatial code. Instead, humans personal space is culturally determined and is fixed in childhood, so that enforced changes in personal distance later in life which they experience in different spaces may produce different perceptions and emotions. The Italians and the French prefer much more densely packed arrangements in their cafes, compared to the English. Even in the same culture, different sets of rules and factors determining experiences are adopted by men and women. Two unacquainted men will maintain a gr eater distance than two unacquainted women. If an architect or designer violates these unstated rules of personal space and places people in a space that is not catered to these needs, the result may prove to be an environment that is resisted by the users with negative perceptions and responses that follows. Philosophy of Perception Categories of different Perception Historically, the most important philosophical problem posed by perception is the question of how we can gain knowledge via Perception. The philosophy of perception concerns how mental processes the space and the spatial perception depends on how spaces are observed and interpreted by the perceiver. In order to grasp this, we need to understand the different categories of spatial perception. We can categorize perception into 4 categories: Just as one object can give rise to multiple percepts, so an object may fail to give rise to any percept at all. If the percept has no grounding in a persons past experience, the person may literally not perceive it. No perception occurs. Specifications are 1:1 mappings of some aspects of the world into a perceptual array; given such a mapping, no enrichment or experience is required and this perception is called direct perception. This is usually knowledge or information gained through education or other mediums like books, television programmes etc. Direct perception occurs when information from the environment received by our sense organs forms the basis of perceptual experience and these sensory inputs are converted into perceptions of desks and computers, flowers and buildings, cars and planes etc. Some argue that perceptual processes are not direct, but depend on the perceivers expectations and previous knowledge as well as the information available. This controversy is discussed with respect to James J. Gibson (1966) who investigated what information is actually presented to the perceptual systems. This theory of perception is a bottom-up theory and this bottom up processing is also known as data-driven processing or passive perception. Processing is carried out in one direction from the environment to the sensory inputs, with our brains carrying out more complex analysis of the inputs which affects our reaction or behaviour. Passive perception can be surmised as the following sequence of events as: Surrounding input (senses) processing (brain) output (reaction/behaviour) For Gibson: sensation is perception: what you see is what you get. However, this theory cannot explain why perceptions are sometimes inaccurate, example in illusions and perceptual errors like overestimation. Although still supported by main stream philosophers and psychologists, this theory is nowadays losing momentum as more and more people turn to believe in the next one Active Perception instead. The theory of active perception has emerged from extensive research, most notably the works of Richard L. Gregory (1970). This theory is increasingly gaining experimental support. Gregory argued that active perception is a constructivist (indirect) theory of perception which is a top-down theory. Top down processing refers to the use of contextual information in pattern recognition. One simple example to explain this: understanding difficult handwriting is easier when reading complete sentences than when reading single and isolated words. This is because the meanings of the surrounding words provide a context to aid understanding. For Gregory, perception involves making inferences about what we see and trying to make a best guess. Prior knowledge and past experience, he argued are crucial in perception. Thus, active perception can be surmised as a dynamic relationship between Description (in the brain) and the senses and the surrounding, all of which holds true to the linear concept of experience. What one perceives is a result of interplays between ones past experiences and knowledge (the brain) and the surrounding, including ones senses and the interpretation of the perceived space (surrounding). A lot of information reaches the eye, but much is lost by the time it reaches the brain. Therefore the brain has to guess what a person sees based on past experiences. According to Richard Gregory, we actively construct our perception of reality. Our perceptions of the world are hypotheses based on our past experiences and stored information. How Spatial Perception reflects Being The different ways in which we experience a painting, a sculpture, or a work of architecture reflects on each of our individual being. Our environments ( built environments ) are a reflection of ourselves. Architecture should express our aspirations and our sense of optimism about the future. Nothing can possibly show us better or clearer of our innermost self, BEING, other than the very own living space we create. It shows how we want things to be and what we really want in life- freedom, happiness, power, health, luck, love, etc which reveal our characteristics, attitude and most importantly our being. It is also used to express emotions and symbolise ideas that give out certain messages about the owner. What is happening above is actually personalising your own space. This has two meanings to it: One is to personalise it and the other is to personify it. The latter is the main point in this whole essay, the living space representing the person who created it with a hint of the creators being in every corner of the space. This is why we can relate better to our own houses (personal space) than the outside world. But all in all to personalise the space, you personify it and to personify it, what you are doing is simply personalising that living space of yours. This is crucial in understanding the spaces created, the reasons for creating these spaces and how others perceive these spaces (personifying it). This same conception is expressed in Greek columns by a slight outward curvature of profile, the entasis which gives an impression of straining muscles a surprising thing to find in a rigid and unresponsive pillar of stone. This is exactly what happens when we are personifying our own personal space. To personify a thing or the entire space so that it overflows with your being, so that it tastes, smells and feels like you, is so amazingly overpowering over a person who owns it personally. None other than the owner can feel the sense of belonging and comfort created in that amount of space. You own that space and it completely belongs to you, you can even see yourself in that space, you are the space and the space is you. Even civilized people more or less consciously treat lifeless things as though they were imbued with life. Designing one selfs own space to make sure it is unique and truly belongs to you depends very much on your background, interests and expertise. This will make it special and personalised to the person with regards to his or her living space. But nowadays architecture designs are restricted by so call Style and Taste Superficial Cosmetic Professor Colin Stansfield Smith. This problem shows not only how things should be built but also what should be built. Today, in our highly civilized society the houses which ordinary people are doomed to live in and gaze upon are on the whole without quality. This is also why some important buildings are Monuments; some are considered Architecture while others are simply termed buildings. In order to prevent this from happening, we need to have an understanding of the living space. Understanding Living Space does not only mean the way it looks or its construction and materials. Understanding architecture does not mean just the way they look but the creative process of how the building comes into existence and how space is utlized. ¹ We need to visit buildings, look at the processes whereby it came into being, the sense of form, space, light and shade, the size and shape of spaces, the relationship between spaces and how space is utilised. We are looking at the Interior Beings. You must observe how it was designed for a special purpose and how it was attuned to the entire concept and rhythm of a specific era. Architecture provides the physical framework for our lives, so it has a public role a social responsibility. But it is also where we live, work and play, so it has a private role. It has a material form, but it also represents our ideals and aspirations. Consciously or unconsciously everyone is affected by his or her environment. He experiences the house in its reality and in its virtuality, by means of thought and dreams. This can be further explained by using an example. When we look at a portrait of someone laughing or smiling we become cheerful ourselves. If on the other hand, the face is tragic, we feel sad. People looking at pictures have a remarkable ability to enter a role which seems very foreign to them. ¹ This can be interpreted into how architecture plays a vital role in affecting our mood and behaviour. Buildings have their own characteristics and emotions, some buildings are feminine and some are masculine, some buildings are joyous and some are solemn. When we enter these emotive spaces, we are tuned in to the frequency of the buildings, going through all the emotional processes with the architecture. We get to the point where we cannot describe our impressions of an object without treating it as a living thing with its own physiognomy. ¹ This is exceptionally true with architecture as such animation of a building makes it easier to experience its architecture rather than as the addition of many separate technological details. Instead of using professional jargons (architectural vocabulary) that most people do not understand or could not fully understand, causing misunderstanding and confusion when perceiving space, using metaphors to convey certain ideas is so much easier and understandable by people from all professions and social levels. That is one of the many reasons why people like to personify spaces literally. Architecture should be appreciated by everyone from everywhere, which is also another crucial criteria for good architecture as it has a social responsibility once it is erected on the ground. Spatial Perception in the context of ART Whether architecture makes an impression on the observer and what impression it makes, depends not only on the architecture itself but to great extent on the observers susceptibility, his mentality, his education and his entire environment. It also depends on the mood he is in at the moment he is experiencing the architecture. We all have our preferences and prejudices in architecture as in anything else and our experiences determine our attitude towards it. This can be interpreted in the same way like above. The same painting can affect us very differently at different times and that is why it is always so exciting to return to a piece of art work we have seen before to find out whether we still react to it in the same way. This proves that a single building or a specific space can affect us differently, gives us a different feeling each time we experience it again and again. What do you get when you put Art and Building together? Architecture. What do you get when you put Living Space and Architecture together? Living Sculpture. Architecture has been understood as the art of establishing place by bounding space. To distinguish between arts of space and arts of time, between formative and expressive arts, and therefore also between arts of presence and arts of absence. Painting, sculpture and architecture are included among the former, poetry and music among the latter. The most dominant similarity between art and architecture is Art should not be explained; it must be experienced. Architecture is not just simply looking at plans, elevations and sections, there is something more to it it must be experienced, just like art. No photograph, film or video can reproduce the sense of form, space, light and shade, solidity and weight that is gained from visiting buildings. It is not enough to see architecture; you must experience it. You must dwell in the rooms, feel how they close about you and observe how you are naturally led from one room to the other. The most dominant difference between art and architecture is An architect works with forms and mass just as the sculptor does, but his is a functional art. It solves practical problems. In other words, the former has a decisive factor to it: Utility. Indeed, one of the proofs of / criteria for good architecture is that it is being utilized and perceived as the architect or designer had planned, even after a long period of time. We stand before a picture; most sculptures invite us to change our position, perhaps even to walk around them; architecture not only invites us to change our position, but to enter and move around within it. Generalizing, we can say that body and body awareness become more important as we turn from painting to sculpture to architecture. Our experience of sculpture involves the body in a more obvious way than does painting; most sculpture invites us to explore it by moving past it. Robert Morris celebrates the observers relationship to sculpture; his works let observers recognize that they themselves are establishing relationships as they apprehend the object from various positions and under varying conditions of light and spatial context. In a more obvious way, architecture is experienced by the moving body: we approach a building, walk by or around it and perhaps enter it. Architecture is the art into which we walk; it is the art that envelops us. As noted, painters and sculptors af fect our senses and perception by creating changes in patterns, and in proportional relationships between shapes, through the manipulation of light and colour, but only architects shape the space in which we live and through which we move. Architecture Appreciation through Perception Architectural spaces are more than just a stage of our lives; they also reflect the society, the image of an era and most importantly the culture. Therefore the spatial experience provided has become an important factor in the communication of the architecture and the perceiver. The virtue of a successful architecture is based on the language of the experience provided rather than the form itself, which mediated between the perceiver and the space. A successful architecture is also capable of transmitting the philosophy and concepts that the space wants to convey and the experience the space provides is vital in terms of introducing the perceiver to the personality of the space. The spatial experience should be something to be enjoyed and shared by the majority of people. If it is shared more widely because more people understand it, take it seriously; chances are the space has being perceived and appreciated by the public and fulfilled its social responsibility. Enjoyment of space and form is a birthright. This enjoyment can be heightened in two basic ways: through the thoughtful design of buildings and related spaces and through the users development of awareness and perception of architecture. Architecture can be important to the enrichment of life. And after so many years, architects and designers are still learning how users interact with space and form and how skilfully designed space and form respond to human needs. Scenario : Two men attend a concert. One studied music. Has a trained ear. Spent years developing a high degree of music appreciation. Loves great works of great composers. This concert is heaven to him. To the other man, the concert is a bore. He has had little exposure to serious music. No real knowledge of music. Never learned to listen and does not even know that he has been deprived of the pleasure of fine music. He can hardly wait until the concert is overà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ During intermission, the same two people react very differently as they walk around and within the concert building experiencing its space and form. Now the music lover is bored. He knows almost nothing about buildings. He is visually illiterate. The other person, however, has spent years developing an appreciation of buildings. He has a trained eye. He derives pleasure from the quality of space and form of the great hall. He is stirred to maximum enjoyment. To him, architecture is visual music. The term architecture appreciation is used to promote the idea that architecture can be enjoyed, much as the performing or visual arts, physically through the senses. Architecture appreciation, like music appreciation or art appreciation is learned. In music, it is learning how to hear. In art, how to see. In the case of architecture, it is learning how to perceive. Enjoying buildings requires some knowledge and some practice in perceiving space and form. You need to know something about buildings, you need to hone your awareness and you need to know something about yourself too. How do you respond to space and form? Architecture is a personal, enjoyable, necessary experience. A person perceives and appreciates space and form from three distinctly different but interrelated attitudes: from the physical, from the emotional, and from the intellectual. The architecture experience evokes a response which fulfils physical, emotional, and intellectual needs, effecting an enjoyable interaction between the person and the building. Space perception is happening everywhere, anytime. Wherever people are, there are buildings. Where buildings are, there are spatial experience. Appreciation of the works of creative architects and designers demands creativity from our part. Through accumulated experience and knowledge we design our own appreciation and experience. Word Count 4948

Oregon, The Free State :: essays research papers fc

Oregon, The Free State   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Portland is one of the most beautiful and efficient cities ever developed in the United States. It is surrounded by the rich soil and forestry as well as the mountains and rivers that Oregon has to offer. From personal experiences, I can tell you that it is one of the most breathtaking picturesque places in the Country. However, developers see this place as an asset to their financial prosperity rather than a peaceful place. They want to continue with the latest trend by developing more shopping complexes outside of the city. And not only that but, also destroy historical buildings downtown for an expressway. Oregon’s rich country and growth are becoming a threat to its own well being. That is why it is necessary for Oregon to continue with their zoning laws. In attempt to rescue their city in 1978, they approved the nation’s first directly elected metropolitan government, which coordinated the growth-management plans of three counties and twenty-four municipalities in the Portland metropolitan region. This government set aside an area of 234,000 acres which would be solely used for developing for the next 20 years. Everything else would be left for nature. That government would also look over each development plan in that area before it was constructed. This ensured nothing would be too drastic and ruin the atmosphere of the city. As a matter of fact the city was developed so that no buildings would block the view of Mount Hood, and so that no skyscrapers would run up against the river’s edge. Transportation was another problem for Oregon. The developers were constantly trying to demolish historic buildings to make way for freeways. Mayor Goldschmidt’s response was, â€Å"But in the rush to grab federal highway funds, cities built highways indiscriminately, against their long term interests, paving the way toward decentralization, disinvestment, and ultimate decay (Moe and Wilkie 220).† Instead, Portland wanted to do something else with their funds. Portland did not want little parking lots filling the city from all of the cars coming from the suburbs. Goldschmidt’s words were, â€Å"We have a downtown plan, an economic study, that says don’t have these little, small postage-stamp lots. They’re bad for circulation. They’re bad for air quality. And they frustrate the parkers who expect to find parking when they get to these lots, but there isn’t any there (Moe and Wilkie).† Instead they constructed a fifteen-mile light-rail line to the eastern suburbs in the 1980’s.

The Contribution of Split-Brain Studies to Our Understanding of Brain F

Understanding brain functioning has been a complex phenomena in the field of Biopsychology yielding mountains of research, speculation and differing opinions amongst researchers. Obvious is that, which our brains are comprised up from two hemispheres, the right and the left (in Gazzaniga., 2002). With great scrutiny research has successfully demonstrated that the two hemispheres are highly specialized regions serving differing functions; a concept referred to as lateralization of function (in Passer, Smith, Holt, Bremner, Sutherland & Vliek 2009). For example, the left hemisphere is responsible for speech production whilst the right hemisphere deals with the comprehension of emotional responses. It is also the case that the right hemisphere governs the left side of the body and the left hemisphere governs the right side of the body with the brain displaying contralateral control (in Passer et al., 2009). A common misconception exhibited by most is that the brain acts as a whole, rat her the brain is performs on a unitary level with independent functions (in Pinel., 2009). Because the two cerebral hemispheres are known to communicate via the corpus callosum(in Pinel., 2009) researchers have been particularly intrigued with the idea of what happens when the communication between these hemispheres are disrupted. The corpus callosum is a bridge of nerve tissues in the brain which acts as a communication base (in Pinel., 2009). Damage to the corpus callosum results in a split brain, a situation where the neural connections in the brain are severed resulting in lost mental abilities. The consequences of these lost mental abilities can be demonstrated through a large number of split brain studies with the help two prominent researchers... ...e that the brain serves many different purposes rather than being a unit of its own and that hemispheric differences exist in the brain. With or without communication through the corpus callsoum, the two cerebal hemispheres are perfectly capable of functioning in an independent manner. Research aimed to understand the biological basis of hemispheric function has somewhat reached general consensus. However, individual variations must be acknowledged in split brain patients as cognitive abilities vary significantly. References: Gazzaniga, M. S. (2002). The split brain revisited. Passer, M., Smith, R., Holt, N., Bremner, A., Sutherland, E., & Vliek, M. (2009). Psychology; Science of Mind and Behaviour. (European Edition).Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill. New York. Pinel, J.P.J. (2009). Biopsychology (7th ed.). Allyn and Bacon. Pearson Education Limited.

Carrie Chapter Eight

She lay on her bed, looking at the ceiling, sweating. ‘Carrie! Supper!' ‘Thank you, (i am not afraid) Momma.' She got up and fixed her hair with a dark-blue headband. Then she went downstairs From The Shadow Exploded (p. 59): How apparent was Carrie's ‘wild talent' and what did Margaret White, with her extreme Christian ethic, think of it? We shall probably never know. But one is tempted to believe that Mrs White's reaction must have been extreme †¦ ‘You haven't touched your pie, Carrie.' Momma looked up from the tract she had been perusing while she drank her Constant Comment. ‘It's homemade.' ‘It makes me have pimples, Momma.' ‘Your pimples are the Lord's way of chastising you. Now eat your pie.' ‘Momma?' ‘Yes?' Carrie plunged. ‘I've been invited to the Spring Ball next Friday by Tommy Ross-‘ The tract was forgotten. Momma was staring at her with wide my ears-are-deceiving-me eyes. Her nostrils flared like those of a horse that has heard the dry rattle of a snake. Carrie tried to swallow an obstruction and only (i am not afraid o yes i am) got rid of part of it. ‘-and he's a very nice boy. He's promised to stop in and meet you before and-‘ ‘No.' ‘-to have me in by eleven. I've-‘ ‘No, no, no!' ‘-accepted. Momma, please see that I have to start to, to try and get along with the world. I'm not like you. I'm funny – I mean, the kids think I'm funny. I don't want to be. I want to try and be a whole person before it's too late to-‘ Mrs White threw her tea in Carrie's face. It was only lukewarm, but it could not have shut of Carrie's words more suddenly if it had been scalding. She sat numbly, the amber fluid dripping from her chin and cheeks on to her white blouse, spreading. It was sticky and smelled like cinnamon. Mrs White sat trembling, her face frozen except for her nostrils, which continued to flare. Abruptly she threw back her head and screamed at the ceiling. ‘God! God! God!' Her jaw snapped brutally over each syllable. Carrie sat without moving. Mrs White got up and came around the table. Her hands were hooked into shaking claws. Her face bore a half-mad expression of compassion mixed with hate. ‘The closet,' she said. ‘Go to your closet and pray.' ‘No, Momma.' ‘Boys. Yes, boys come next. After the blood the boys come. Like sniffing dogs, grinning and slobbering, trying to find out where that smell is. That †¦ smell!' She swung her whole arm into the blow, and the sound of her palm against Carrie's face (o god i am so afraid now) was like that flat sound of a leather belt being snapped in air. Carrie remained seated, although her upper body swayed. The mark on her cheek was first white, then blood red. ‘The mark,' Mrs White said. Her eyes were large but blank, she was breathing in rapid, snatching gulps of air. She seemed to be talking to herself as the claw hand descended on to Carrie's shoulder and pulled her out of her chair. ‘I've seen it, all right. Oh yes. But. I. Never. Did. But for him. He. Took. Me . . .' She paused, her eyes wandering vaguely toward the ceiling. Carrie was terrified. Momma seemed in the throes of some great revelation which might destroy her. ‘Momma-‘ ‘In cars. Oh, I know where they take you in their arms. City limits. Roadhouses. Whiskey. Smelling †¦ oh they smell it on you!' Her voice rose to a scream. Tendons stood out on her neck, and her head twisted in a questing upward rotation. ‘Momma, you better stop.' This seemed to snap her back to some kind of hazy reality. Her lips twitched in a kind of elementary surprise and she halted, as if groping for old bearings in a new world. ‘The closet,' she, muttered. ‘Go to your closet and pray. ‘No.' Momma raised her hand to strike. ‘No!' The hand stopped in the dead air. Momma stared up at it, as if to confirm that it was still there, and whole. The pie pan suddenly rose from the trivet on the table and hurled itself across the room to impact beside the living-room door in a splash of blueberry drool. ‘I'm going, Momma!' Momma's overturned teacup rose and flew past her head to shatter above the stove. Momma shrieked and dropped to her knees with her hands over her head. ‘Devil's child,' she moaned. ‘Devil's child. Satan spawn-‘ ‘Momma, stand up.' ‘Lust and licentiousness, the cravings of the flesh-‘ ‘Stand up!' Momma's voice faded her but she did stand up, with her hands still on her head, like a prisoner of war. Her lips moved. To Carrie she seemed to be reciting the Lord's ]Prayer. ‘I don't want to fight with you, Momma,' Carrie said, and her voice almost broke from her and dissolved. She struggled to control it. ‘I only want to be let to live my own life. I†¦ I don't like yours.' She stopped, horrified in spite of herself. The ultimate blasphemy had been spoken, and it was a thousand times worse than the Eff Word. ‘Witch,' Momma whispered. ‘It says in the Lord's Book: â€Å"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to bye.† Your father did the Lord's work-‘ ‘I don't want to talk about that,' Carrie said. It always disturbed her to hear Momma talk about her father. ‘I just want you to understand that things are going to change around here, Momma.' Her eyes gleamed. ‘They better understand it, too.' But Momma was whispering to herself again. Unsatisfied, with a feeling of anticlimax in her throat and the dismal rolling of emotional upset in her belly, she went to the cellar to get her dress material. It was better than the closet. There was that. Anything was better than the closet with its blue light and the overpowering stench of sweat and her own sin. Anything. Everything. She stood with the wrapped package hugged against her breast and closed her eyes, shutting out the weak glow of the cellar's bare, cobweb-festooned bulb. Tommy Ross didn't love her, she knew that. This was some strange kind of atonement, and she could understand that and respond to it. She had lain cheek and jowl with the concept of penance since she had been old enough to reason. He had said it would be good-that they would see to it. Well, she would see to it. They better not start anything. They just better not. She did not know if her gift had come from the lord of light or of darkness, and now, finally finding that she did not care which, she was overcome with an almost indescribable relief, as if a huge weight, long carried, had slipped from her shoulders. Upstairs, Momma continued to whisper. It was not the Lord's Prayer. It was the Prayer of Exorcism from Deuteronomy. From My Name Is Susan Snell (p. 23): They finally even made a movie about it. I saw it last April. When I came out, I was sick. Whenever anything important happens in America, they have to gold-plate it, like baby shoes. That way you can forget it. And forgetting Carrie White may be a bigger mistake than anyone realizes †¦ Monday morning: Principal Grayle and his understudy, Pete Morton, were having coffee in Grayle's office. ‘No word from Hargensen yet?' Morty asked. His lips curled into a John Wayne leer that was a little frightened around the edges. ‘Not a peep. And Christine has stopped lipping off about how her father is going to send us down the road.' Grayle blew on his coffee with a long face. ‘You don't exactly seem to be turning cartwheels.' ‘I'm not. Did you know Carrie White is going to the prom?' Morty blinked. ‘With who? The Beak?' The Beak was Freddy Holt, another of Ewen's misfits. He weighed perhaps one hundred pounds soaking wet, and the casual observer might be tempted to believe that sixty of it was nose. ‘No,' Grayle said. ‘With Tommy Ross.' Morty swallowed his coffee the wrong way and went into a coughing fit. ‘That's the way I felt,' Grayle said. ‘What about his girl friend? The little Snell girl?' I think she put him up to it,' Grayle said. ‘She certainly seemed guilty enough about what happened to Carrie when I talked to her. Now she's on the Decoration Committee, happy as a clam, just as if not going to her Senior prom was nothing at all.' ‘Oh,' Morty said wisely. ‘And Hargensen – I think he must have talked to some people and discovered we really could sue him on behalf of Carrie White if we wanted to. I think he's cut his losses. It's the daughter that's worrying me.' ‘Do you think there's going to be an incident Friday night?' ‘I don't know. I do know Chris has got a lot of friends who are going to be there. And she's going around with that Billy Nolan mess; he's got a zooful of friends, too. The kind that make a career out of scaring pregnant ladies. Chris Hargensen has him tied around her finger, from what I've heard.' ‘Are you afraid of anything specific?' Grayle made a restless gesture. ‘Specific? No. But I've been in the game long enough to know it's a bad situation. Do you remember the Stadler game in seventy-six?' Morty nodded. It would take more than the passage of three years to obscure the memory of the Ewen-Stadler game. Bruce Trevor had been a marginal student but a fantastic basketball player. Coach Gaines didn't like him, but Trevor was going to put Ewen in the area tournament for the first time in ten years. He was cut from the team a week before Ewen's but must-win game against the Stadler Bobcats. A regular announced locker inspection had uncovered a kilo of marijuana behind Trevor's civic book. Ewen lost the game – and their shot at the tourney – 104-48. But no one remembered that; what they remembered was the riot that had interrupted the game in the fourth period. Led by Bruce Trevor, who righteously claimed he had been bum rapped, it resulted in four hospital admissions. One of them had been the Stadler coach, who had been hit over the head with a first-aid kit. ‘I've got that kind of feeling,' Grayle said. ‘A hunch. Someone's going to come with rotten apples or something.' ‘Maybe you're psychic,' Morty said. From The Shadow Exploded (pp. 92-93): It is now generally agreed that the TK phenomenon is a geneticrecessive occurrence – but the opposite of a disease like haemophilia, which becomes overt only in males. In that disease, once called ‘King's Evil,' the gene is recessive in the female and is carried harmlessly. Male offspring, however, are ‘bleeders.' This disease is generated only if an afflicted male marries a woman carrying the recessive gene. If the offspring of such union is male, the result will be a haemophiliac son. If the offspring is female, the result will be a daughter who is a carrier. It should be emphasized that the haemophilia gene may be carried recessively in the male as a part of his genetic make-up. But if he marries a woman with the same outlaw gene, the result will be haemophilia if the offspring is male. In the case of royal families, where intermarriage was common, the chances of the gene reproducing once it entered the family tree were high – thus the name King's Evil. Haemophilia also showed up in significant quantities in Appalachia during the earlier part of this century, and is commonly noticed in those cultures where incest and the marriage of first cousins is common. With the TK phenomenon, the male appears to be the carrier.. the TK gene may be recessive in the female, but dominates only in the female. It appears that Ralph White carried the gene. Margaret Brigham, by purest name, also carried the outlaw gene sign, but we may be fairly confident that it was recessive, as no information has ever been found to indicate that she had telekinetic powers resembling her daughter's. Investigations are now being conducted into the life of Margaret Brigham's grandmother, Sadie Cochran – for, if the dominant/recessive pattern obtains with TK as it does with haemophilia, Mrs Cochran must have been TK-dominant. If the issue of the White marriage had been male, the result would have been another carrier. Chances that the mutation would have died with him would have been excellent, as neither side of the Ralph White – Margaret Brigham alliance had cousins of a comparable age for the theoretical male offspring to marry. And the chances of meeting and marrying another woman with TK gene at random would be small. None of the teams working on the problem have yet isolated the gene. Surely no one can doubt, in light of the Maine holocaust, that isolating this gene must become one of medicine's number-one priorities. The haemophiliac, or H-gene, produces male issue with a lack of blood platelets. The telekineticn or TK-gene, produces female Typhoid Marys capable of destroying almost at will †¦ Wednesday afternoon. Susan and fourteen other students – The Spring Ball Decoration Committee, no less – were working on the huge mural that would hang behind the twin bandstand on Friday night. The theme was Springtime in Venice (who picked thew hokey themes, Sue wondered. She had been a student at Ewen for four years, had after two Balls, and she still didn't know. Why did the goddam thing need a theme, anyway? Why not just have a sock hop and be done with W): George Chizmar, Ewen's most artistic student, had done a small chalk sketch of gondolas on a canal at sunset and a gondolier in a huge straw fedora leaning against the tiller as a gorgeous panoply of pinks and reds and oranges stained both sky and water. It was beautiful, no doubt about that. He had redrawn it in silhouette on a huge fourteen-by-twenty-foot canvas flat, numbering the various sections to go with the various chalk hues. Now the Committee was patiently colouring it in, like children crawling over a huge page in a giant 's colouring book. Still, Sue thought, looking at her hands and forearms, both heavily dusted with pink chalk, it was going to be the prettiest prom ever. Next to her, Helen Shyres sat up on her haunches, stretched, and groaned as her back popped. She brushed a hank of hair from her forehead with the back of her hand, leaving a rose-coloured smear. ‘How in hell did you talk me into this?' ‘You want it to be nice, don't you?' Sue mimicked Miss Geer, the spinster chairman (apt enough term for Miss Mustache) of the Decoration Committee. ‘Yeah, but why not the refreshment Committee or the Entertainment Committee? Less back, more mind. The mind, that's my area. Besides, you're not even -‘ She bit down on the words. ‘Going?' Susan shrugged and picked up her chalk again. She had a monstrous writer's cramp. ‘No, but I still want it to be nice.' She added shyly: ‘Tommy's going.' They worked in silence for a bit, and then Helen stopped again. No one was near them; the closest was Holly Marshall, on the other end of the mural, colouring the gondola's keel. ‘Can I ask you about it, Sue?' Helen asked finally. ‘God, everybody's talking.' ‘Sure.' Sue stopped colouring and flexed her hand. ‘Maybe I ought to tell someone, just so the story stays straight. I asked Tommy to take Carrie. I'm hoping it'll bring her out of herself a little †¦ knock down some of the barriers. I think I owe her that much.' ‘Whom does that put the rest of us?' Helen asked without rancour. Sue shrugged. ‘You have to make up your own mind about what we did, Helen. I'm in no position to throw stones. But I don't want people to think I'm uh †¦'

Boer Guerrilla Fighters Essay

I agree that the way the British soldiers treated the Boer fighters and civilians was in fact brutal. With the use of the ‘refugee camps’ and the scorched earth policy it made them seem that much more brutal. Sources P, Q and R all offer different insights into how brutally British soldier dealt with the Boer guerrilla fighters during the Second Boer war in 1899, with evidence to support the brutality of it all. Source R strongly agrees that the British treated the Boers badly, particularly the women and children, with this being said the source also has elements of disagreements. At a first glance source Q seems to disagree but that disagreement is later challenged within the source. Source P takes an agreeing approach to the statement. From the sources it appears that the way the British dealt with the Boers was brutally, but how brutal were they when trying to defeat the Boers guerrilla fighters is debatable. There is evidence in source Q and elements of source R would support the fact that the British soldier didn’t treat the Boers brutally. Source Q explains that ‘The English did burn down farm houses, but never shot the people within them’ and ‘Of course, brutal treatment did occur, but mostly the Boer prisoners were treated with respect.’ This links in with a certain part of source R where it ways ‘The high death rate was the result of incompetence and lack of foresight on the part of the British military authorities.’ The scorched earth policy was brought in by Kitchener, it involved British soldiers going into the Boer farm houses, evacuating them and then burning them down. By burning the houses down Boer men couldn’t use their farm houses as a way of hiding from the British and the women couldn’t resupply their men during the guerrilla warfare. The policy itself isn’t considered to be a brutal tactic as it wasnâ₠¬â„¢t killing or harming anyone; if killings were taking place then this would have made it brutal. The none-brutality of this tactic suggests the British were not brutal when dealing with the Boers and they ‘treated (them) with respect’. The women and children were then transferred into the British refugee camps. Originally the concentration camps had been set up by the British army as â€Å"refugee camps† to provide refuge for civilian families, mainly woman and children, who had been forced to abandon their homes primarily due to the scorched earth policy. These concentration camps started as refugee camps, and then turned into outside prisons until finally things got out of hand and became concentration camps. The quote from source R shows that the progression of refugee to concentration camps wasn’t the original plan of action for the British but due to disorganisation and ‘incompetence’ the standards and quality of the refugee camps fell. Both sources give sufficient evidence to support the fact the British soldiers weren’t Bruta l with their dealings with the Boers as one of the tactics weren’t brutal and the concentration camps weren’t intentional. Sources P and R both show evidence to support the idea that the British were brutal with their treatment of the Boar population. Source P says ‘Some of our work was unpleasant. If we found any arms or ammunition concealed on a farm we had to burn down the place.’ Source R really highlights the brutality and reality of warfare. ‘The treatment of the Boer population in the camps was brutal’ and ‘Over 20,000 Boer women and children died in 40 camps, about one in four of the inmates.’ It was the soldiers who had to do the process of the scorched earth policy, they were ordered to destruct the farms and the homes of civilians in order to prevent the still-fighting Boers from obtaining food and supplies. The intention of the British government was the complete eradication of the Boer nations. From 1899 – 1901, the British destroyed 40 towns and burned crops. The impact of the British scorched earth policy during the war killed both half of the Boer Nations. During January 1901 Emily Hobhouse arrived at a camp in Bloemfontein where she found diseases such as measles, bronchitis, pneumonia, dysentery and typhoid had invaded the camp with fatal results. The very few tents were not enough to house the one or more sick persons, most of them children. When she requested soap for the people, she was told that soap is an article of luxury. She later succeeded, after a struggle, to have it listed as a necessity, together with straw, more tents and more kettles in which to boil the drinking water. She distributed clothes and supplied pregnant women, who had to sleep on the ground, with mattresses. Among the many dying people there was a child called Lizzie von Zyl, Hobhouse used her death as an example of the hardships the Boer women and children faced in the British concentration camps during the war. Both of the sources show the difficulties the Boer population had to face during the Second Boer War as a result of the brutality from the British. Without the scorched earth policy the concentration camps may not have risen to the extent and disaster which was witnessed by Emily Hobhouse on her journey to Bloemfontein.

Air France †KLM: Changing the Rules of the Game Essay

Introduction Air France-KLM Case (Som 2009) provides the background for airlines industry and factors impacting companies’ positions, details about the history of air-carrier alliances and their challenges. The main focus of the Case is on two companies: Air France and KLM and their decision to merge despite predictions of failure. The period covered by the case ends in 2006. As most aviation companies worldwide were struggling and losing profits, Air France-KLM was confidently gaining market shares, improving growth and financial performance. The purpose of this report is to identify and analyze the key challenges of the aviation industry and Air France-KLM merger; evaluate options and offer recommendation on how to achieve stronger position and withstand economical pitfalls (oil prices, political pressure, and competitor’s rivalry). Information presented in the Case will be analyzed using: PESTEL Analysis (Yà ¼ksel 2012), Porter’s Five Forces Analysis (Porter 2008), organi zational and financial performance, SWOT analysis (Bernroider 2002). Options and recommendations will be provided based on Hubbard’s (1996) recommendations. Macro-environmental/PESTEL Analysis Politic Sub-factors: Governments of most countries have a strong influence over air-carrier business. For example, Civil Aeronautics Board regulated airlines prices until 1977. Most of the companies were government owned or subsidized without regard to the profitability of the carrier. Countries’ air space was restricted for use by the national air-carriers and access by foreign carriers was restricted. Changes came with the trend of privatization of national carriers. Ratification of the Deregulation Act in  1978 by the US Congress had changed the airline industry market landscape. According to Spinetta (2006), the European market became a Single Market removing restriction to all carriers.   Economic factors: The airline industry is heavily dependent on the cost of fuel, number of travelers and economical factors such as unemployment and household disposable income. Introduction of alliances provided a solution to overcome these restrictions and regulations, widen access to the restricted markets and offer cost reduction to the member companies achieved through combined codes, reduced number of flights, simplified transfers and ticketing, reduced fixed costs. Offering combined frequent flyer programs attract more passengers. Reduction of service centers and reducing employment is a very unpopular measure in Europe and difficult due to the union’s activities. Social-cultural factors: Improvement of lifestyle, growth of tourism, additional free household income and simplified travel within European Union affect the airline industry. Traditionally, each European country has its own airline even though some of them are heavily subsidized by the government and not profitable. Since 1997 global alliances became standard practice for the industry, but not the mergers similar to Air France-KLM. ï‚ · Technological factors: The aviation industry is highly dependent on technological improvements. Development of fuel efficient aircrafts improves fuel consumption and reduces fixed costs. Expending the aircraft capacity improves performance of airlines core business of the number of passengers and cargo, thus increasing revenue and cash flow. Environmental factors: Public health, food and health and regulations, traffic safety, sustainable way of doing business are important factors impacting airlines strategies. Legal factors: There are many factors affecting the airlines, for example access to the American market was closed until 1978 when the Deregulation Act was approved by Congress. European Union countries share the laws and regulations. Summary of Findings: PESTEL analysis allows evaluating the environment in which the company operates and the industry landscape projection on the future. Yà ¼ksel (2012) discusses use of weighted measures of each PESTEL factor which improves accuracy of the results and it is recommended to use for more detailed analysis. Buyer Power: Frequent flyers programs decrease buyer’s power. Ups and downs of the economy influence household income available for leisure travel. Low-cost companies regulate the cost. Supplier Power: Boeing and Airbus are the two main companies that supply global aviation companies. The fleet is usually renewed once a decade and every aircraft is very expensive. In 2006 Air France-KLM had 565 aircrafts in operation with 225 destinations. New Entrants: The barrier for new entrants is high due to high competition, government regulations, high fixed and start-up costs; complicated exit strategy due to unionized work force. Substitutes: A number of large and discounted airlines are available for passengers to choose. Other transport options are available; however, airlines provide the fastest way of long and medium distance travel. They are usually substituted by the alternatives for short distances. Cargo services, warehouses, training and maintenance programs are also core businesses for airlines in addition to carrying passengers. Industry Rivalry: in 2007, 249 airlines were registered globally, with 100 airlines spread between 30 European countries. This creates a high rivalry between the airlines. Analysis Summary: Aviation industry is highly regulated with strong and increasing buyer power. The barrier for new entrants is high. The supplier power is strong but weakening as AirFrance-KLM benefit from the economy of scale and strong bargaining power. The company protects oil prices by purchasing cost fixing insurance. There are substitutes available but air travel remains the preferred option for business travelers and fast cargo delivery. SWOT Analysis STRENGTH ï‚ · Both CEOs share company and industry future  vision and offensive strategy. (De Wit & Meyer  2010, p. 397-400) ï‚ · Use of non-discriminating policies and promotion  of stronger branding. Synergy in IT systems. ï‚ · Guarantees given to the stakeholders. Strong  financial position. OPPORTUNITIES WEAKNESS ï‚ · Geographical distance between Paris and  Amsterdam hubs is 400 km ï‚ · Different cultural backgrounds (De Wit &  Meyer 2010, p. 415-419) ï‚ · High fixed costs ï‚ · Union actions and political interference play  a significant role in the industry. THREATS ï‚ · Alliance attracted such companies as Aeroflot ï‚ · Dependency on fuel cost and economical  which opens huge Russian market.  fluctuation. ï‚ · More companies may be acquired or enter the ï‚ · European countries do not increase the  partnership with the merged Air France-KLM.  runway capacity. ï‚ · Improved routs offering achieved by reduction of ï‚ · Possible threat of integration between redundant flights. Expenditure of network.  Northwest and Delta which may create a  high rivalry in North America. ï‚ · Economy of scale in bargaining with the suppliers Recommendations The recommendations would be to continue investment in the latest technologies, including IT; renew the fleet to reduce fuel consumption and improve defect-free customers experience; secure locked fuel prices, build partnerships to extend long distance flights options; balance the network offerings between the continents; focus on stakeholder’s, employee’s and customer’s needs; consider strategic partnerships with other airlines; continue increasing market share and improvement of free cash flow and strengthening of financial position. References Bernroider E. 2002, ‘Factors in SWOT Analysis Applied to Micro, Small-to-Medium, and Large Software Enterprises:: an Austrian Study’, European Management Journal, Volume 20, Issue 5, October 2002, Pages 562-573, viewed 16 March 2014, De Wit, B and Meyer, R 2010, Strategy Process, Content, Context An International Perspective, Cengage Learning, Andover, UK. Hubbard, G 1996, â€Å"Analysing a case’, in Cases in Strategic Management: Australia and New Zealand, G. Lewis, A. Morkel, G. Hubard, G. Stockport, and S.Davenport (eds), 2nd ed., pp viiixvi. Prentice Hall, Sydney. Porter M. 2008, ‘THE FIVE COMPETITIVE FORCES THAT SHAPE STRATEGY’, Harvard Business Review, 86, 1, pp. 78-93, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 March 2014, Som A. 2009, Air France-KLM : Changing the rules of the game. In: Strategy – Process, content, context – An International Perspective. Hampshire (United Kingdom): Cengage Learning EMEA, 2010, p. 823-836 Spinetta J 2006, Cross – Border Mergers & Acquisitions The AIR FRANCE KLM Story Speech by Jean-Cyril Spinetta at the Nyenrode European Business Forum on 23 February 2006, viewed 17 March 2014, Yà ¼ksel I. 2012, Developing a multi-criteria decision making model for PESTEL analysis. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(24), 52-66, viewed 16 March 2014, . BUSM3922 Case Study: Air France – KLM: Changing the Rules of the Game