Wednesday, October 30, 2019

The Doctrine Of Judicial Precedent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Doctrine Of Judicial Precedent - Essay Example Nonetheless, decisions in the divisional courts influence the decisions of judges sitting individually in several cases. Another section involves the Crown Court that remains bound on the judgments delivered by juries sitting in both the House of Lords as well as the Court of Appeal. It is also worth applying judgments by individual judges presiding over cases in the Crown Court to make deliveries by High Court judges. Magistrate and county courts do not precedent authorities and remain bound by decisions in the superior courts. Each case in the courts must have obiter dictum that constitutes a statement made in the process of delivering judgment and the ratio decidendi, which entails the major factor resulting from the decision. The corridors of justice also have other sources carrying persuasive authority and include books among them Bracton thirteenth century, Glanville twelfth century, Blackstone eighteenth century, as well as the Coke seventeenth century. Summarily, it is of con sequence to note that common laws do not need their binding authority using a single act of parliament enactment. However, it requires a series of enactments. The essence is not on the quantity constant changes, but on the process through which the same law develops starting from the ratio decidendi in several cases. Sometimes cutting an exact difference between obiter dicta and ratio decidendi becomes difficult because they flow in a continuous manner. The fact is that the law did not develop in a single law-making exercise.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Electronic Health Record Essay Example for Free

Electronic Health Record Essay In the proposed scenario, a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) with a Post-Masters Nursing Informatics Certificate has decided that the 100 bed hospital that she works in would benefit from transitioning from paper charting to using an electronic health record (EHR) system. She has done initial clinical research and has a solid foundation of best-patient-practice reasons that support this change. She has also researched and studied the information on the government’s websites HealthIT.gov, and CMS.gov pertaining to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009. HITECH is a stimulus package approved by the US government allowing $19 billion dollars to be divided between hospitals and doctors â€Å" who demonstrate â€Å"meaningful use† of electronic medical records†(ARRA HITECH Solutions, 2015). She knows that the best way to select and institute an EHR is to assemble a team of members with various specialties pertaining to the goals outlined in the stages of HITECH. Stage 1- Data capture and sharing, Stage 2- Advance clinical processes and Stage 3- Improved outcomes. Each of these stages has it’s own meaningful use criteria. As seen in the diagram to the  left. The CNS begins by choosing the members of her team from various disciplines in the hospital. Because this will mean corporate wide changes and adoption. Her list includes the following, from the IT department, a Clinical Nursing Informatacist- chosen for a specialty in how nurses interact with software and what is required for nurses to effectively care for patients, and the Director of Clinical Informatics- chosen for an overall knowledge base of the hospitals informatics resources and requirements including what software and hardware is currently available, what has worked or failed in the past and what changes will need to happen to keep the hospital compliant with patient privacy and safety regulations. She will also need a Corporate Project Manager to organize and disseminate information to the various off-site entities related to the facilities that will need to be on board with this change across the corporation. A Chief Medical Information Officer will be key in providing the perspective of the physicians and their particular needs and goals, and to be a liaison for the staff physicians when the EHR rollout occurs. A Chief Information Officer will bring knowledge about the hospital’s day to day functions that will need to integrate into the new EHR along with how those systems currently function. A Chief Nursing Information Officer will have their finger on the pulse of each nursing unit and be aware of the different user interface requirements that will be needed by different departments for the the specific type of flow and care given. Lastly, a Chief Financial Officer will be able to guide the team on topics concerning governmental funding and current assets along with helping to create and maintain a budget as required with the acquisition of new software and hardware, he will also be able to work with each department’s budget makers when the time comes for allocating training hours and equipment purchases. Along the way the team will need to bring in sub-specialists to give information and feedback as they hone the new system, but for now the assembled team will be responsible for researching, choosing and implementing the best EHR for their hospital. A.2 a-e) Choose 2 real-life computerized management systems and analyze them by comparing their advantages and disadvantages, recommend the best choice to meet the ‘MU’ requirements, describe how the features of the recommended system meet the guidelines outlined in the three stages of meaningful use, describe the impact on quality of patient care, documentation and outcomes. The team is aware that currently they have a computerized system that they use for reporting and tracking labs, radiology and scheduling, but all documentation is paper based. They consider the price point involved with adding modules to the existing McKesson software vs purchasing and implementing an entirely new EHR called EPIC. EPIC appears to be user friendly and able to seamlessly connect all of the facilities under the umbrella of their corporation. They make a list of some of the pros and cons associated with each system. McKesson has the upside of being a system they have already worked with and it has different programs that can be pieced together to meet some of the meaningful use (MU) criteria for compliance. They already have a working relationship with this vendor and some experience with the product. Once the discussion gets going, the team realizes that there are many more bad points than good with McKesson. In their experience, the software modules are connected in a piecemeal fashion that makes it difficult for programs to interface. Quite frequently data is just lost and not retrievable. There are different data entry systems for the different types of departments i.e. OR, ER, labor   delivery, Med/Surge, radiology, and pharmacy. The different systems do not allow for across the board data harvesting and that makes it difficult and time consuming to track reportable nursing and CMS indicators. The aesthetics of McKesson are something that is frequently complained about by the staff, due t o lack of distinctive color transition and eye fatigue. Lastly, the group is very reluctant to continue on building their EHR base with McKesson because the PCPs in the area will not be able to access hospital records, and office visit information will not be available to the hospital based staff. Due to the need for increased man hours in servicing McKesson, lack of discrete data sampling, and the poor continuity of care related to PCPs not having access to hospital data and vice versa, the team decides to choose Epic instead. Epic has the down side of being a system that will require a large initial outlay of funds. The hospital will have to purchase software, and related hardware. They will have to expand the IT and biomedical engineering departments to support and maintain the new system and equipment (something that would have been necessary to a smaller degree with McKesson). They will have to address some retrofitting needs related to wiring and computer instillation and lastly training will be a very big issue. Despite the potential down sides, the team comes up with a long list of reasons that EPIC is the right system to choose. To begin with EPIC is all one system. It allows for seamless interdepartmental interfacing. The PCPs in the area already use a version of EPIC and this will allow for easy data exchange and a patient’s information will follow them easily. The EPIC system has a medication reconciliation form that is easily viewable to all care givers and pharmacies in the area, keeping track of each patients reported medication dose and frequency. EPIC has a ‘my chart’ feature that allows patients see labs, after visit summaries , and to interact with physicians about scheduling, medications and lab results. EPIC has  many built in safe guards, including password protection, continuous backup and recovery programs so no dat a is lost, and the vendor provides continuing support as needed. EPIC comes in 3 pre-bundled, customizable templates, each already set up to meet the Meaningful Use (MU) criteria without having to alter the program. The team can look at the three available options and determine if one fits them perfectly, or find the closest one and alter it to fit their specific needs. Some examples of how EPIC will meet the Stage 1 MU criteria are computerized physician order entry, checking for drug interactions and allergies automatically, tracking demographics, keeping current diagnosis, medication and allergy lists, allowing patients to have electronic access to discharge summaries, and it gives patients electronic access to physicians. Once the hospital has used EPIC for at least two years, some examples of how EPIC will help meet the Stage 2 MU criteria are ongoing patient data entry and discreet sampling for report generation. The team will continue to develop the software that demonstrates interoperability in sharing of lab results with other providers and systems. Security risk assessment will be ongoing and built into the system. Smoking status will be tracked on all patients 13 and older and the EPIC software is designed to guide the facility from meeting the Stage 1 criteria to meeting the Stage 2 criteria. Stage 3 MU objectives are projected to improve outcomes. The team is waiting on the final ruling for what the Stage 3 guidelines will be and in the mean time they have a projected goal of focusing on primary prevention measures and improving overall population health. This will include recommended vaccination reminders, smoking cessation assistance, healthy lifestyle and meal planning recommendations, and yearly checkup reminders generated by primary physicians that will crossover to hospital patient charts. Some of the better benefits of EPIC include point and click tabs in the assessment fields, this allows for discrete sampling of information. EPIC utilizes a reporting workbench that will harvest requested, reportable data  and assemble it into a user friendly template. This will benefit the hospita l by reducing former man-hours required to find and collect data for clinical quality measures, public health reporting, and CMS indicators. Discrete data sampling from EPIC will make the hospital a benefit to the community as well by allowing it to track trends and provide information to community health nurses. EPIC comes with the ability to establish hard stops and reminders that allow real-time users to be aware of needs for care coordination and patient specific follow-ups or recommended testing related to treating chronic conditions. It will also allow for symptom driven order entry fields to be immediately available in emergent situations where time taken to look for those things could mean a worse outcome. This is especially important when people present with symptoms of stroke or heart attack. Another EPIC benefit is the different levels of bedside specific PHI protection related to sensitive care. EPIC has a ‘break the glass’ functionality pertaining to all sexual assault and psychiatric admits. This function only allows relevant staff to open and view these patients charts, any others are shown a pop-up warning and a notice is sent to start an investigation of any other person who logs in to theses charts. The team is impressed with the information provided by EPIC concerning scanning patients and medications at the bedside and the reduction in medication errors this causes. The scanners will integrate with the medication dispensing machines already in use at the hospital. One of the major benefits of EPIC is the order entry build. Each physician, with a minimal amount of training, can customize the order entry process to reflect their needs. Medication orders are instantly linked to a pharmacist to double check for allergies, and correct dosing information, and then the medication becomes available, via PYXIS machines on the unit for the RN to administer at the bedside. The bedside dosing requires the patient and medication to be scanned, further eliminating potential erro rs, and provides a pop-up warning if an emergency override is required during any of these steps. While the team acknowledges that training and time to become familiar with the new charting and bedside routine changes will initially impact patient care in a negative way, they have a plan in mind to keep the patients educated on the new system changes and the anticipated better care available to the patients across the board from instituting an EHR system. Having the patients ask questions and give real time feedback will help the team tweek their training and bedside routines to give better, more organized care that results in trackable outcomes. This is just an overview of some of the many functions EPIC has that persuaded the team to choose it as the new EHR system for the hospital. (EPIC and McKesson related information was culled from the authors own experience with the systems and personal interviews with multiple members of the informatics department at St Francis Hospital, Indianapolis campus). A.3 a) Use of Quality Improvement Data EPIC has point and click assessment tabs and a standardized documentation format that links related data. This allows for discrete data sampling related to things like CMS indicators. The hospital will be able to track compliance with things like ‘door to EKG’ times in the emergency department, Foley catheter use and resultant CAUTIs, and the time from when a patient presents with stroke symptoms until a cat scan is done and/or whether the patient receives antithrombolytics as a result. The hospital will also be able to generate reports on errors that occur the via the Risk Monitor Pro incident tracking software. This will allow them to continue researching and improving processes. A. 3 b) Security Standards and Methods EPIC has 24 hour monitoring of staff use while logged in, and the records they access. This is important because hundreds of staff members will be using the system and there has to be accountability if employees were to look up their own records, or the records of friends or family. This  information can be tracked and the employee interviewed and disciplined if needed. EPIC also comes equipped with incident reporting software called Risk Monitor Pro. All staff members are encouraged to use this format to report any incident that might warrant further investigation. It covers every location, type of employee, type of equipment, patient, visitor or vendor. Risk Monitor Pro forms are used to report potential or perceived injuries, faulty equipment, sentinel events and things that have the potential to cause harm or damage. This information can be followed up on by the risk management team, so that process improvement is an ongoing process. The team works with members from the IT department and plans for primary data storage with a redundant back up storage unit that simultaneously updates so if the primary server fails there is no loss of information. They have also planned for a second, off site data storage center that can be used in case of emergency to ensure continuity of services, and keep things up and running while the primary system is off line for upgrades. Lastly back up tapes will be kept at a third site in case both of these areas are compromised, and the system can be rebooted and running again within 72 hours. A. 3 c) Explain how the system will protect patient privacy and meet HIPAA requirements EPIC will protect patient privacy in a number of ways. End User access is limited to only being able to access the information needed to do their jobs. Making the accessible information different for nurses, physicians, registration clerks, radiology technicians, committee members etc. Personnel will only be granted access once they have completed security training and have signed documentation stating that they understand the legal risks and responsibilities when accessing protected health information (PHI). Individuals outside the hospital will have access to EPIC as well, for example nursing home physicians. They will have a read only access granted, but will require multiple patient identifiers to access the information. Also, as mentioned earlier, EPIC will employ security related  chart hard stops like ‘Break the Glass’. A. 3 d) Explain how the recommended system meets HIPAA requirements EPIC helps to meet HIPAA requirements with automated enforcing of access policies, and pro-active alerting that links directly to the risk management department, requiring strong password policies, and automatic logout at end user work stations. EPIC allows providers to protect the integrity of data and recover original data in the case of it being altered or damaged. EPIC users are required to have appropriate training to be able to access the system, and can be locked out in the case of termination. Portable devices carry encryption software that does not allow for third party data extraction or access. EPIC can also quickly generate reports with discrete sampling related to various forms of access. The majority of compliance will be the responsibility of the staff with written policies, documented sanction programs and investigation that is on-going, consistent and documented. A. 3 e) Describe how adopting the system will reduce costs to the organization Instituting this new system will initially generate more costs, but in the long run will save the hospital money in many ways. Meeting the ARRA/HITECH Act requirements will help to offset those cost with financial incentives and avoiding fines and penalties. Having readily available test results will decrease the costs and labor associated with repeating lost or illegible results. With superior organization and data summary tools, the cost for labor associated with studying charts individually and generating reports will be exponentially lower. The need for transcriptionists will be greatly reduced by utilizing dictation software. Facilities for storage of paper charting cost money for upkeep and staffing. An electronic database should make billing and insurance claims easier to process and thereby generate revenue faster. The time it takes for physicians to spend going over complicated medical histories with patients is greatly reduced by  having that information readily available in a database. â€Å"According to a recent study, when hospitals rely on advanced electronic health records they can save up to 10 percent per patient admission† (Advanced EHR Cuts Hospital Costs By 10% Per Admission, 2014). 4. A) Explain why active nursing involvement in the planning, selection, and implementation of the systems is important to the success of the implementation process and meeting meaningful use requirements Active nursing involvement is important to the success of implementing any process that affects care given at the bedside. For the system to be optimized for use, nursing suggestions and feedback are critical. EPIC knows this and has a team of nurses on staff to work with the facility  in developing end-user interface. ‘Nurses’ from the hospital include the advocates, CNS’s, NP’s, LPN’s, managers, and bedside care givers, each with a specific focus and experiences that are valuable when helping to decide how charting should work. Any thing that pulls a nurses attention away from the patient, or is distracting or difficult to work with decreases the perceived level of care and increases the potential for errors. The health care goals of meaningful use include improving efficiency, safety and quality while decreasing discrepancies, involving patients and their families in their care, improving public health outcomes, improving care coordination, and advancing security and privacy of PHI (Gregory Klepfer, 2010). All of these things are the foundation of every interaction a nurse has with a patient. This is why nursing is one of the most trusted professions, according to the Gallup pole website, nurses come out on top at 80% when people were asked to rate â€Å"the honesty and ethical standards of people† in different given fields (Honesty/Ethics in Professions | Gallup Historical Trends, n.d.). Because standard nursing care already meets the goals outlined for meaningful use, the most important thing the average  nurse can do is to work hard to be competent utilizing the selected EHR software. Advanced users and nurse leaders are important to help guide the EHR selection process in the direction that will improve the bedside interactions and user interface. Clinical nurse specialists have advanced educations and bring the nursing philosophy to the selection and implementation process. All of these roles are vital to the success of any EHR implementation.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

William Wordsworth Essay -- essays research papers

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth was, in my eyes one of the best know romanticist writers of his time. Most of his pieces talk about nature and religion. He, like most romantic poets of his time revolted against the industrial revolution and wrote many pieces about nature in order to go up against it. During the industrial revolution there were many factories being built up that took away most of the open countryside that everyone enjoyed. In these factories, workers were given long hours and little pay for their harsh working conditions. Wordsworth saw this and was appalled at how the factories could first come and take over the land and hire workers for practically no pay and long hours, so he wrote about nature to rebel against the factories. He wrote these poems to let people escape the reality of their lives and have something that was positive to live for. Wordsworth is considered a romantic because his writings were very imaginative, emotional, and visionary. He regularly discussed poetry with his friend Samuel Coleridge, who at the time was also a romantic writer. In their time as friends they wrote and discussed many poems, which later led to the writing of a prelude for his wife whom he had four children with. Originally Wordsworth was from England and was born in 1770 and graduated from Cambridge University. After he graduated he began his work on the idiom of the eighteenth century, which rebelled against the industrial revolution. Dorothy Wordsworth, Wi...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Developmental Paper Essay

bstract The basis of this paper will outline the cognitive and personality development of a young adult female, identified as â€Å"Caroline.† This will be in contrast and comparison to Erikson’s Epigenetic Theory of Personality Development is Intimacy vs. Isolation and Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive development. The paper will address what outside factors influence the developing as well as nursing interventions that will help Caroline obtained optimal functioning for each appropriate developmental level according to Erikson and Piaget. Keywords: developmental, Erikson, Piaget, personality, cognitive, intimacy, isolation, formal operations The Developmental Level: For the purpose of this paper, I will identify the person I am outlining as â€Å"Caroline.† Caroline is a young adult. The developmental level during this stage of Erikson’s Epigenetic Theory of Personality Development is Intimacy vs. Isolation; the virtue being love. A normal adult in this stage will have a strong sense of self and be able to form intimate, close relationships with other individuals. Success in this stage will lead to strong committed relationships (Cherry). Erikson believed that a person must successfully complete one stage in order to complete the next. According to Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive development, Caroline is in the formal operations period. A normal young adult in this stage would manifest adult like thinking, is not limited by own perception or concrete references for ideas, combines various ideas into concepts, develops morality or restraint and cooperation in behavior, uses rules to structure interactions in a socially acceptabl e way, solves problems mentally and considers alternatives before acting, relates concepts or constructs not readily evident in external world, increases intellectual ability to include art, science, humanities,  religion, and philosophy, and is increasingly less egocentric. Caroline is in her early adult hood years. A tremendous time for self-discovery, independence, and in some cases, loneliness. Caroline’s personality and cognitive development have blossomed in ways and have been hindered in others. This is due to many factors; biological, social, genetic, situational. The list goes on. One thing is certain, there is always a good reason why individuals do the thing they do. If we as people look beyond others actions and instead look at what causes their actions to manifest, I believe we would be much more accepting and less judgmental as a whole. Throughout this paper I will be discussing ways Caroline compares and contrasts to Piaget and Erikson’s theories, how this impacts her development, and nursing interventions that could help her through these stages. Compare and contrast: After careful observation of Caroline, it does not show evident that she has developed a true sense of self to be able to complete the stage of intimacy with another individual. Even with platonic friendships it seems that when her and an individual start to become close on more of a spiritual and emotional level, she retreats to isolation because she feels that she cannot trust herself or others. According to Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development, I see that Caroline is mastering the formal operations period to a certain degree. In many ways Caroline would be a poster child for what an example of someone in the formal operations period would think like, and in other aspects of the period, she does not show to be operating in this period what so ever. Three examples of how Caroline compares to these levels would include the following: 1. When it comes to romantic relationships, Caroline strives for a deep emotional and physical connection with another human being. However, deep down she is unable to fully commit to another because she doesn’t have a clear understanding of who she is. Subconsciously, she gravitates towards men that are not emotionally available. This includes anyone who is in a relationship, is going to move away, or is obviously not interested in giving her a committed relationship. She wants the commitment, but she is used to men in her life not being available so she is drawn towards that because that is what she is used to. At the end of the day, this leaves Caroline frustrated and isolated. The  crisis between intimacy and isolation, according to Erikson, is clear in Caroline’s life. 2. Caroline is extremely cognitively driven, artistic with her words, and philosophical and spiritual with her beliefs. She looks beyond the world that is seen and challenges her way of thinking with the unseen world. She finds happiness through her writings and connections through spiritual conversation. This side of her is a small glimpse of her essence and what her inner being craves; to be emotionally, artistically, and spiritually stimulated. This very much so aligns with Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. 3. A contrast to the Formal operations period is that she does not seem to solve problems mentally and considering alternatives before acting. Caroline bases a lot of her talk on impulsivity and is emotionally driven when making decisions. Caroline is a â€Å"feel good† kind of gal, and if it feels good in the moment, she will grab it. If it does not feel good, she will alter whatever her situation is to make herself feel good, no matter how bad or good the outcome will leave her. This contrasts with the norm because someone who is successfully mastering this stage would weigh the outcomes before acting, consider the outcomes, and go towards which action would better benefit their being as a whole. Even though Caroline knows something is hurting her, she will continue to repeat this action, hoping for a different outcome. This is mainly in regards to abusive relationships, but can be applied to the work place and friendships with other females. What Impacts Development Three factors that have or are currently affecting Caroline’s stage of development: 1. As I mentioned previously, it is vital for Caroline to develop and true sense of self before she can successfully build intimacy with other individuals. Caroline feels whole with her writings, and spending time with people who truly love her, but she has not fully embraced her inner being. From observation, Caroline has a very low self-esteem. She strives to please others. When others are pleased with her, she is pleased with herself. When others are no pleased with her, she will do what she can to reverse that opinion. She seeks to please others before pleasing herself and that is a clear manifestation of not having a concrete, strong sense of self. 2. Caroline is far away from her family, which live several states away. She stayed in the state she resides because of a romantic  relationship. This romantic relationship has ended. For Caroline, she does not have a firm sense of belonging a t her current location. Being away from loved ones and not having a steady partner can cause an individual to feel isolated and lonely. 3. I am not sure exactly what Caroline’s relationship with her father is or was like, but I would imagine it to be one of low emotional or spiritual connection. Her dad was most likely not a constant in her life and not available to her as a girl in was that she needed, but was not aware of. There is always a good reason why people do the things they do and I would not be taken a back if Caroline was this way with other men in her life because normal to her is not available. Her body, soul, and mind is used to inconsistency and has developed patterns within itself to be drawn to these inconsistencies and behaviors. It has also been shown that engaging in sexual activates with a partner before the proper time, especially before monogamy, can cause much inner turmoil and depression. Sexual activity must be performed in the right context in order for it to be beneficial for the human being. (Carter) Nursing interventions: 1. Before talking to Caroline, if she were my patient and I the nurse, I would first need to assess her physical and mental status. She would need to be fully alert and oriented in order to proceed with the nursing process. I would assess her level of consciousness and willingness to cooperate. I would need to assess her support system, whether it be family, friends, or coworkers. A strong support system is vital to growth and development in any stage of life. 2. In order for Caroline to be eager to listen to what have to offer and cooperate with enhancing her inner self, there would have to be established trust. I would do this by sharing intimate parts of my life and laying the foundation of a healthy, trustworthy relationship. There will be little to no willingness to exchange in such personal matters until trust between us is established. It will also make her much for comfortable to share intimate details of her life with me. 3. I would provide Caroline with therapeutic communic ation. This would include appropriate touch as much as she is comfortable with, paraphrasing, asking open ended questions that encourage communication, maintaining eye contact when appropriate, and not pushing situations when she does not feel at ease. These actions will hopefully cause Caroline to feel more comfortable to share thoughts,  feelings, and encouragement to implement action to better her inner self. 4. In order to master the stage of isolation, Caroline needs to be confident in herself and cater to her inner self. She needs to participate in activities that benefit her in a healthy way and bring healing to where she feels broken. I would encourage her to write in her journal for at least thirty min before she goes to bed. 5. I would encourage her to do simple things to increase healthy living. This would include waking up early, going to bed at a decent hour, getting adequate exercise, eating a diet high in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and drinking plenty of water. I would encourage her to avoid alcohol and any other mind altering substances that cause her behavior to be irrational. Addressing the underlying cause of irrational behavior can be much more effective then addressing the irrational behavior as it self. 6. Because Caroline reaches for wholeness in sources that leave her feeling empty, I would ask Caroline to put herself first when she is seeking attention from empty sources. I would have her sit with herself and her emotions and work through them without desperately reaching out to things that cannot fulfill her. In order to be happy with someone else, it is vital that she become happy with herself. 7. Caroline loves to read and with this passion for books I would strongly suggest investing in self-help books that will mentally stimulate her to building a strong, happy inner self. There are so many self-help books that caters to every type of inner self difficulty and roads to self-discovery. Sometimes simply finding a book that speaks directly to your soul can bring some of the most healing and freedom. If Caroline were to follow these nursing interventions and invest whole heartedly to developing a strong inner being, I believe she would begin to see amazing results within a weeks’ time. Of course it would be a journey. Self-reflection is not always easy and can be hard, but in the end it is extremely rewarding. Coming face to face with our inner demons and conquering them is one of the best things you can do for yourself, future partner, and future children. In order to have healthy relationship you must be a healthy person and if Caroline wants to be healthy, she will be. References: Cherry, Kendra. â€Å"Intimacy Versus Isolation – Stage Six of Psychosocial Development.† About.com Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2014. Carter, Don. â€Å"Intimacy Skills and Human Development Stages.† Intimacy Skills and Human Development Stages. Internet of the Mind, n.d. Web. 03 June 2014.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Enzymes are important for food digestion Essay

Enzymes are protein molecules produced y the living cells as â€Å"instructed† by genes on the chromosomes. Enzymes referred to as biological catalyst – biological molecules that catalyze metabolic reactions. A catalyst is defined as an agent that speeds up a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process (Burton, G. R. W. , 2004). Enzymes are important in digestion of food in our body because they act as the vehicle in the chemical reactions of breaking up the food elements. If the enzymes are not present in the digestion of the food, the energy of the chain reaction will face different problems such as acidity, diarrhea, bloating and burning sensation and it also helps strengthening the immunity of the body. There are different types of enzymes. These are metabolic enzyme, digestive enzyme and food enzyme. Metabolic enzymes are responsible for the destruction and removal of toxins in the body. Digestive enzymes are responsible for the digestion of food, absorption and the delivery of nutrients throughout the body and food enzymes enables the body to digest the food by breaking down the various nutrients and this enzyme are responsible for maintaining the optimal health. I will focus more on the digestive enzyme because it has an important role in the digestion and distribution of nutrients in the body. This enzyme can also help on the recovery of many diseases such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Crohns disease. There are 3 important enzymes for the digestion and these are protease which digests protein; amylase which digests carbohydrates and lipase which digests fat. The two groups of digestive enzyme are intrinsic and extrinsic digestive enzyme. The intrinsic digestive enzyme is naturally produced inside the body and secreted from several organs to break down foods. Salivary gland is the most common enzyme produced by the mouth and the gastric gland produced by the stomach. If you experienced burning sensation and bloating and always in need of antacids after eating a certain types of food, the most common reason for this is due to eating of highly processed or over cooked food. This is commonly called indigestible foods. This type of food has naturally occurring enzymes but some healthy nutrients have been removed. The foods that has no enzymes and indigestible is bad for your health. The enzymes will work with the help of other necessary nutrients called the co-factors such as vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. In the absence of the co-factors of the enzymes, enzymes will have no activity. In some studies, it shows that the burning sensation you feel after eating a heavy meal like steaks, chickens, hamburgers and the like is because the digestive system demands more enzymes to digest them but if you eat raw type of food like fresh fruits and vegetables you will not feel any burning sensation because fresh vegetables and raw already contains lots of enzymes that digestion can be easier. We can eat any kind of foods that are rich in fat and sugars and our body will try to break it down by means of enzyme (Garcia, B. , n. d). To prevent the burning sensation, acidity and excessive gas, we should eat a natural raw kind of food and light cooked foods. Over cooked foods and processed destroys the enzymes that we need. Reheating the left over food at 47 degrees Celsius also destroys the enzyme that we need for digestion. The best way to have a good digestion is we should eat fresh fruit, steamed vegetables and dairy products to get plenty of digestive enzymes for easy digestion and absorption of nutrients in our body. If we are about to eat roasted meat, try to add some raw vegetables because it contains vegetable enzyme that will help for easy digestion. Eating this kind of food is very economical and it helps with digestion illnesses. Enzymes are important in our life. Without enzymes we easily get sick or acquire diseases. Lacks on enzyme in our body makes our blood dirty and dirty blood are the basis of acquiring diseases. One specific function of enzymes is to reduce and lighten the inflammation such as arthritis. We should always remember that the healthier that we eat, the longer we live. With the help of this enzymes other diseases or illnesses such constipation and gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD will be prevented. Proper nutrition and exercise is the key to a healthy life (Garcia, B, (n. d).. References: Burton, G. R. W. (2004). Biochemistry: The Chemistry of life. Goucher, J. (Ed. ), Microbiology for health sciences (p. 149). Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. Garcia, B. (n. d). How the Different Types of Enzymes Support the Process of Life. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles. com/? How-the-Different-Types-of-Enzymes-Support-the-Process-of-Life&id=291981 Garcia, B. (n. d). Enzymes: An overview. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles. com/? Enzymes:-An-Overview&id=275873

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Free Essays on Erick Ericksom

Erikson, Erik (1902-1979) German-born American psychoanalyst best known for his work with children and adolescents. Erik Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany, to Danish parents. As a youth, he was a student and teacher of art. While teaching at a private school in Vienna, he became acquainted with Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud. Erikson underwent psychoanalysis, and the experience made him decide to become an analyst himself. He was trained in psychoanalysis at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute and also studied the Montessori method of education, which focused on child development. Following Erikson's graduation from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute in 1933, the Nazis had just come to power in Germany, and he emigrated with his wife, first to Denmark and then to the United States, where he became the first child psychoanalyst in Boston. Erikson held positions at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Judge Baker Guidance Center, and at Harvard's Medical School and Psychological Clinic, establishing a solid reputation as an outstanding clinician. In 1936, Erikson accepted a position at Yale University, where he worked at the Institute of Human Relations and taught at the Medical School. After spending a year observing children on a Sioux reservation in South Dakota, he joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, where he was affiliated with the Institute of Child Welfare, and opened a private practice as well. While in California, Erikson also studied children of the Yurok Native American tribe. After publishing the book for which he is best known, Childhood and Society, in 1950, he left Berkeley to join the staff of the Austen Riggs Center, a prominent psychiatric treatment facility in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he worked with emotionally troubled young people. In the 1960s, Erikson returned to Harvard as a professor of human development and remained at the university until his retirement in 1... Free Essays on Erick Ericksom Free Essays on Erick Ericksom Erikson, Erik (1902-1979) German-born American psychoanalyst best known for his work with children and adolescents. Erik Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany, to Danish parents. As a youth, he was a student and teacher of art. While teaching at a private school in Vienna, he became acquainted with Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud. Erikson underwent psychoanalysis, and the experience made him decide to become an analyst himself. He was trained in psychoanalysis at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute and also studied the Montessori method of education, which focused on child development. Following Erikson's graduation from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute in 1933, the Nazis had just come to power in Germany, and he emigrated with his wife, first to Denmark and then to the United States, where he became the first child psychoanalyst in Boston. Erikson held positions at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Judge Baker Guidance Center, and at Harvard's Medical School and Psychological Clinic, establishing a solid reputation as an outstanding clinician. In 1936, Erikson accepted a position at Yale University, where he worked at the Institute of Human Relations and taught at the Medical School. After spending a year observing children on a Sioux reservation in South Dakota, he joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, where he was affiliated with the Institute of Child Welfare, and opened a private practice as well. While in California, Erikson also studied children of the Yurok Native American tribe. After publishing the book for which he is best known, Childhood and Society, in 1950, he left Berkeley to join the staff of the Austen Riggs Center, a prominent psychiatric treatment facility in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he worked with emotionally troubled young people. In the 1960s, Erikson returned to Harvard as a professor of human development and remained at the university until his retirement in 1...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Stress and Change essays

Stress and Change essays Introduction. The presence of stress in the work organization is a problem which creates operational problems and additional costs for American businesses. The organizations in which people work affect their thoughts, feelings, and actions in the workplace and away from it. Likewise, people's thoughts, feelings, and actions affect the organizations in which they work. Organizational behavior is an area of inquiry concerned with both areas of influence: the affect of work organizations on people and people on work organizations. The slice of the organizational behavior literature this paper addresses has to do with the feelings of workers, how organizations affect them and how they affect organizations. As will be seen in the following section, we focus on the affective dimensions of organizational behavior because organizational researchers have begun to demonstrate a serious interest in moods and emotions in the workplace. The problem faced by organizations and their leaders is how to help individuals adapt to changing the workplace without developing maladaptive behaviors. Change is inevitable, and in the current business environment, the rate at which change is being demanded is also increasing. Businesses can no longer adapt business policies and practices which are suitable for regional issues, because the economy is becoming global. The organization which settles into specific patterns and practices which in the past would have successfully guided them for a generation now finds that competition half way across the world is forcing change, adaptation and innovation on a constant basis. The organization which stands still is soon left behind, However, in the lives of the organization's members, constant change is a source of stress, and the constant stress can negatively affect the organizations efficiency, and effectiveness. ...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Botfly Facts and Tips for Removal

Botfly Facts and Tips for Removal The botfly is a type of parasitic fly, best-known for disturbing images of its larval stage in skin and horror stories of infested people. The botfly is any fly from the family Oestridae. The flies are obligate internal mammalian parasites, which means they cant complete their life cycle unless the larvae have a suitable host. The only species of botfly that parasitizes humans is Dermatobia hominis. Like many species of botfly, Dermatobia grows within the skin. However, there are other species that grow within the hosts gut. Fast Facts: Botfly Common Name: Botfly or Bot FlyScientific Name: Family OestridaeAlso Known As: Warble flies, gadflies, heel fliesDistinguishing Features: Hairy fly with a metallic bot appearance. Infestation is characterized by an irritated bump, with a hole in the center for the larval breathing tube. Movement may sometimes be felt within the lump.Size: 12 to 19 mm (Dermatobia hominis)Diet: Larvae require mammalian flesh. Adults do not eat.Lifespan: 20 to 60 days after hatching (Dermatobia hominis)Habitat: The human bot fly lives primarily in Central and South America. Other botfly species are found worldwide.Conservation Status: Not evaluatedKingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ArthropodaClass: InsectaOrder: DipteraFamily: OestroidaeFun Fact: Botfly larvae are edible and are said to taste like milk. How to Recognize a Botfly With its hairy, striped body, you could say a botfly looks like a cross between a bumblebee and a house fly. Othersv liken a botfly to a living bot or miniature flying robot, because the reflective hairs give the fly a metallic appearance. The human botfly, Dermatobia, has yellow and black bands, but other species have different coloration. The human botfly is about 12-19 mm in length, with hair and spines on its body. The adult lacks biting mouthparts and does not feed. In some species, botfly eggs are easily identified. For example, equine botflies lay eggs that resemble tiny drops of yellow paint on the horses coat. The fly is best known for its larval stage or maggot. Larvae that infest skin grow under the surface, but leave a small opening through which the maggot breathes. The larvae irritate skin, producing a swelling or warble. Dermatobia larvae have spines, which worsen the irritation. Bot fly larvae cause a lump with an open center, through which the breathing tube may be visible. Petruss Where Do Botflies Live? The human botfly lives in Mexico, Central America, and South America. People who live in other areas generally get infected while traveling. Other species of botfly are found across the globe, primarily (but not exclusively) in warm tropical and subtropical regions. These species infest pets, livestock, and wild animals. The Botfly Life Cycle Cuterebra sp. botfly larva extracted from the neck of a dead rabbit. Katja Schulz The bot fly life cycle always involves a mammalian host. Adult flies mate and then the female deposits up to 300 eggs. She may lay eggs directly on the host, but some animals are wary of botflies, so the flies have evolved to use intermediate vectors, including mosquitoes, houseflies, and ticks. If an intermediate is used, the female grasps it, rotates it, and attaches her eggs (under the wings, for flies and mosquitoes). When the botfly or its vector lands on a warm-blooded host, the increased temperature stimulates the eggs to drop onto the skin and burrow into it. The eggs hatch into larvae, which extend a breathing tube up through the skin to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. The larvae (instars) grow and molt, finally dropping from the host into the soil to form pupae and molt into adult flies. Some species do not develop in skin, but are ingested and burrow into the hosts intestine. This happens in animals that lick themselves or rub their nose on body parts. After several months to a year, the larvae pass through the feces to complete its maturation process. In most cases, bot flies do not kill their host. However, sometimes the irritation caused by the larvae leads to skin ulceration, which can result in infection and death. How to Remove Botfly Larvae Botfly larvae Hypoderma diana under a deers skin. Avalon_Studio / Getty Images Infestation with larval flies is termed myiasis. While its a characteristic of the botfly life cycle, it actually occurs with other types of flies, too. There are several methods used to remove fly larvae. The preferred method is to apply a topical anesthetic, slightly enlarge the opening for the mouthparts, and use forceps to remove the larvae. Other methods include: Using a venom extractor syringe from a first aid kit to suck the larvae from the skin.Oral dosing with the antiparasitic avermectin, which leads to spontaneous emergence of the larvae.Flooding the opening with iodine, which causes the fly to poke out of the hole, facilitating its removal.Applying the sap of the matatorsalo tree (found in Costa Rica), which kills the larvae, but does not remove it.Sealing the breathing hole with petroleum jelly, white glue mixed with insecticide, or nail polish, which suffocates the larvae. The hole is enlarged and the carcass is removed with forceps or tweezers.Applying adhesive tape to the breathing hole, which sticks to the mouthparts and pulls out the larvae when the tape is removed.Forcefully squeezing the warble from the base to push the larvae through the opening. Killing the larvae before removal, squeezing them out, or pulling them out with tape is not recommended because rupturing the larvae body can cause anaphylactic shock, make removal of the entire body more difficult, and increase chance of infection. How to Avoid a Botfly Infestation The easiest way to avoid getting infested with botflies is to avoid where they live. Since that isnt always practical, the next best tactic is to apply insect repellent to deter flies, as well as mosquitoes, wasps, and ticks that can carry fly eggs. Wearing a hat and clothing with long sleeves and pants helps to minimize exposed skin. Sources Felt, E.P. (1918). Caribou Warble Grubs Edible. Journal of Economic Entomology. 11: 482.Human Bot Fly Myiasis (2010). U.S. Army Public Health Command (provisional), formerly U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine.Mullen, Gary; Durden, Lance, eds. (2009). Medical and Veterinary Entomology. Amsterdam, NL: Academic. ISBN 978-0-12-372500-4.Pape, Thomas (April 2001). Phylogeny of Oestridae (Insecta: Diptera). Systematic Entomology. 26 (2): 133–171. doi:10.1046/j.1365-3113.2001.00143.xPiper, Ross (2007). Human Botfly. Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 192–194. ISBN 0-313-33922-8.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

The History of Human Resources Management Research Paper

The History of Human Resources Management - Research Paper Example Industrial relations and organizational behavior are much the same paving the way for HRM as the ideal management model responsive to the pressures of intensive competitive forces. By definition, HRM simply refers to a system of operational management designed to ensure effective and efficient use of human talents in accomplishing organizational objectives (Mathis & Jackson, 2007). The function of HRM in the business enterprise has a long history, with roots right in the rise of modern industry in the nineteenth century. This article endeavors to put into perspective the history and development of the subject matter at hand, providing in part its progressive nature into the modern status. The Genesis and Early Development of HRM A generic thought that involves the management of labor services in production, human resource management (HRM) has its origin in the establishment of formal enterprises during the course of human history. Though recent in its use within the academic circles and/or in industrial developments [barely two decades old], the ideas engendered in "human resource management" are old and goes back to the dawn of human history. It [human resource management] has, thus, only undergone social and economic makeovers from earlier forms of administration through history, necessitating name changes a couple of times to accommodate the various productivity optimization add-ons. HRM as practiced today has two distinct antecedents: the emergence of industrial welfare in the 1800s and the creation of separate recruitment and selection offices/departments in the 1900s. The 1800s, particularly in the 1830s onwards, quite a number of companies begun the provision of various workplace and family amenities that included medical cover, housing, libraries , recreational programs, among other free services deemed important for effective and efficient production (Gospel, 1992). The inclusion of these extra services, reportedly pioneered by the German industries, f requently called for the creation of temporary departments hitherto known as welfare departments out of humanitarian concerns. From temporary positions created out of necessity to handle immediate tasks regarding employees’ wellbeing, separate employment offices, often staffed by one or a limited number of lower-level clerks, emerged to centralize and standardize functions such as recruitments and the general record-keeping of employee-related issues. The enactment of civil service legislations across Europe solidified the importance of employment departments, contributing to phasing out of the temporary nature of these departments into permanent offices. Farnham (1921) report of a German steel company Krupp having had an established Personnelburo as an independent office handling staff related functions since the late 1800s. As similar bureaus became widespread, the term ‘employment management’ quickly became the accepted description of the new management functi on with wide cross border managerial support. Routing employment management to HRM as ordered today was the emergence of the doctrine of scientific management (SM) authored

Friday, October 18, 2019

The Impact of Climate Change on the Oceans Coral Bleaching Rates Research Paper

The Impact of Climate Change on the Oceans Coral Bleaching Rates - Research Paper Example The presence of zooxanthellae within coral polyps is able to provide protection from ultraviolet rays from the sun, as well as a stable carbohydrate supply to the corals during the day (Brown, 1997). At the same time, the corals provide CO2 for the photosynthetic activities, as well as providing a shelter from other predators (Graham, et al., 2006). Most corals can be found in sunny seas in tropical waters, which foster photosynthetic activity of the symbiotic algae during the day. Coral reefs are found throughout tropical areas across the globe, and are mostly thriving near coastal areas (Figure 1). Often called â€Å"flowers of the sea†, these creatures are not only aesthetically pleasing for many tourists such as divers and underwater photographers, these are also ecologically-important members of ocean ecosystems by being a habitat for fish and other aquatic animals, as well as protecting the shoreline’s structure by serving as breakwater for the ocean’s waves (Cesar, 2000). Such a feat is possible due to the hard exoskeletons of corals, which are durable to the kinetic effects of ocean waves. The process in which coral skeletons grow and develop takes a very long time due to the gradual calcification process in building up the coral skeleton by very small animals. However, recent climate changes causes a degeneration of this coral exoskeleton, which not only poses a threat to the corals themselves but also to the creatures that dwell w ithin them, which in turn could affect livelihoods such as tourism and fishing industries of people living alongside coral reefs. Figure 1. The distribution of coral reef systems are limited to the tropics, seen here as dark brown markings around coastlines and islands (ReefBase, n.d.). Figure 2. Various species of common coral after undergoing bleaching lose their color. Scale bars=5cm (Anthony, et al., 2008). The steady rise in global temperatures have been causing various abnormalities in nature such as drastic weather changes, the growth and proliferation of invasive pests, and the destruction of marine ecological systems such as coral reefs. Several disasters within coral reefs have been recorded in the past decades, and most are attributed to the effects of rising atmospheric and ocean temperatures (Brown, 1997; Cao & Caldeira, 2008; Doney, et al., 2009; Glynn, 1993; Hoegh-Guldberg, et al., 2007; McNeil, et al., 2004). However, these are not the only factors that could contribute to the declining populations of corals and reefs, since other man-made factors also come into play. The acidification of sea w ater due to increasing dissolved CO2, saturation of nutrients due to leaching of fertilizer runoffs, and the increase of disease-causing pathogens and other agents due to the warmer waters causes the disruption of the symbiotic relationship of the zooxanthellae and the coral polyps (Bruno, et al., 2003; De’ath et al., 2009; Grandcourt & Cesar, 2003; Obura, 2004; Silverman, et al., 2009). Corals become bleached when the number of symbionts decreases in the polyps’ bodies, leaving them colorless and much more exposed to the ultraviolet rays of the sun (Figure 2). The lack of zooxanthellae decreases carbohydrate production which translates to a lesser food supply for the corals. This causes the death of the coral polyps,

Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Research - Essay Example He could face additional discipline by the NFL, even if he is not convicted. The involvement of Michael Vick in the dog fighting scandal has caused irreparable damage not only to his career but also to the Atlanta Falcons; moreover, it has affected PETA as well. Animal rights groups are enraged, and so is the public. The Atlanta Falcons have issued a statement in which they have categorically apologized to their fans and the public for the actions of Michael Vick causing them to be seen in a negative way. The NFL has also issued a statement in which they have assured the public that the NFL considers dog fighting â€Å"cruel, degrading, and illegal†, and that any employee of theirs who is found to be involved in such activities would be punished appropriately. This scandal has caused Michael Vick considerable disrepute. He was one of the most entertaining players of the NFL, and had a bright future ahead of him. However, with this scandal, he has lost respect of the public, which has resulted in embarrassment to the Falcons as well; not only has it caused them embarrassment and consternation, but their fans are also disappointed in them. The Falcons have suspended Vick till the verdict comes in, and have also sued to reclaim the bonu s that was given to him on 10th October 2007. Given the circumstances, the Court also agreed to the Falcons claim and they were held to be entitled to recover almost 20 million dollars of the said money. Air Tran Airways, for which Vick was a spokesman, has decided not to renew his contract after this incident. Moreover, other companies have also either suspended or cancelled their contracts with Vick; for instance, Nike has decided not to go ahead with its product line named after Vick, though the company has not declared categorically whether it is merely a suspension or cancellation. The banks are also suing Vick for loans that he had taken out, as the future of the quarterback hangs in the balance and none of the companies, banks

Thursday, October 17, 2019

ADVOCACY LETTER TO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Essay

ADVOCACY LETTER TO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - Essay Example Students with special needs or those who are mentally/ physically retarded, require special attention. Their care and concern should be kept at the highest priority. Expecting these children to study side by side normal children who do not require any special needs shatters their confidence. In such environments normal children often mock about the children with special needs. As stated in ‘Educational Needs’ (n.d.), the specific issues that may affect a special child’s learning are: In spite the fact the children with special needs are often far more intelligent than normal children, it is just a particular manner in which they need to be dealt with in order to prove their mettle and enable their skills to nurture and prosper. If the learning needs of these children are properly addressed, their level of literacy, self- help skills, mobility, confidence and orientation can all be polished to mature levels. This further on, enables these citizens to become contributing and productive citizens of the society. The Solution to the above mentioned grave concerns is the devising of a plan that would be in the best interest of the student in the educational process. Special education services can be formulated that suit every individual child’s particular needs. A Special Education Advocate can be assigned some like natured special children. A Special Education Advocate’s primary responsibilities are the caring of the basic rights of the children with special needs. Once kids are assigned with a Special Education Advocate it becomes easier for schools to organize the special children. A Good Special Education Advocate is well versed in the legal issues pertaining to the rights of a special child. This assists each person connected to the child to be able to realize the laws regarding the handling of the child. These advocated have the ability to search specific legal issues that may be central to a child’s particular case

Dr. Martin Luther King Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dr. Martin Luther King - Essay Example In 1957, a new organization was born. The southern Christian Leadership Conference whose aim was to achieve the civil rights of American and King was elected the chair. In the next 11 years, he led a massive campaign against segregation and racial discrimination. He traveled over six million miles, spoke over 2500 times in public events and wrote essays against racial discrimination. In 1963, Martin Luther King attracted the attention of all America by leading the Birmingham civil rights demonstrations in Alabama (Weider History 1). Consequently, the African American pressed for change. Martin Luther King Jr. through his historic speech stressed the need for Americans to live to the spirit of the Constitution. Additionally, in his dream King wanted the Americans to judge their character and not through their skin color (Bush 1). Consequently, King's dream has been achieved in his fight against social discrimination. Martin Luther King Jr. brought many achievements to the black people in the United States of America. He fought for many years in favor of civil rights in the United States. He and other civil rights activist led the famous bus boycott in Montgomery that led to change or equalization of all American citizens despite their races. If this kind of discrimination continued, then President Barack Obama could not be elected to office in the second term as the president of the United States. Additionally, the boycott prompted the government of the United States to make a legal change.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

ADVOCACY LETTER TO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Essay

ADVOCACY LETTER TO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - Essay Example Students with special needs or those who are mentally/ physically retarded, require special attention. Their care and concern should be kept at the highest priority. Expecting these children to study side by side normal children who do not require any special needs shatters their confidence. In such environments normal children often mock about the children with special needs. As stated in ‘Educational Needs’ (n.d.), the specific issues that may affect a special child’s learning are: In spite the fact the children with special needs are often far more intelligent than normal children, it is just a particular manner in which they need to be dealt with in order to prove their mettle and enable their skills to nurture and prosper. If the learning needs of these children are properly addressed, their level of literacy, self- help skills, mobility, confidence and orientation can all be polished to mature levels. This further on, enables these citizens to become contributing and productive citizens of the society. The Solution to the above mentioned grave concerns is the devising of a plan that would be in the best interest of the student in the educational process. Special education services can be formulated that suit every individual child’s particular needs. A Special Education Advocate can be assigned some like natured special children. A Special Education Advocate’s primary responsibilities are the caring of the basic rights of the children with special needs. Once kids are assigned with a Special Education Advocate it becomes easier for schools to organize the special children. A Good Special Education Advocate is well versed in the legal issues pertaining to the rights of a special child. This assists each person connected to the child to be able to realize the laws regarding the handling of the child. These advocated have the ability to search specific legal issues that may be central to a child’s particular case

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Facebook vs. Twitter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Facebook vs. Twitter - Essay Example As a matter of understanding these similarities and differentials, the following analysis will perform something of an in depth discussion with regards to how such a level of comparison can be made between these two sites. Rather than resorting to a pro and con listing of how one of these sites is necessarily better than the other, the following analysis will engage the reader with a realization for the way in which both Facebook and Twitter differentiate from one another and the means through which the user experience is affected accordingly. The first level of similarity that exists is with regards to the way in which both of these social networking sites allow the users to come in closer contact with hundreds or even thousands of other users. However, the level of intimacy that Facebook allows, as compared to Twitter, is greatly enhanced. For instance, Twitter only allows status updates fewer than 140 characters. By means of comparison, Facebook messages and post can exceed that limit by several hundred times and allow for a great more nuanced expression as compared to Twitter.... and advertisers integrating with their products and utilizing their service as a means of promoting themselves to potential clients, it is difficult to view a single advertisement on television without the encouragement of the advertiser to follow the given product or service on Facebook and Twitter. Another marked level of similarity that exists between these two social networking sites is with regards to the fact that both of them have come to rely heavily upon multimedia as a means of integrating with their client base. Whereas other sites were relatively slow to include multimedia and functions allowing individual users to upload, save, and post various forms of pictures, music, or data of another variety, Facebook and Twitter long ago realized that the user experience of social networking was one that can ultimately be maximized by allowing the user to engage with their own forms of multimedia; while at the same time sharing it with their close friends. As such, it comes as litt le surprise that Facebook and Twitter began to buy up the many different services that allowed for data sharing and multimedia uploads. The acquisition of Instagram for nearly $1 billion is evidence of the way in which this dramatic rush for such platforms exists between the two services. Whereas it may seem that the users of Facebook or Twitter are infinitely diverse and hail from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, research into the demographics of Twitter and Facebook users had noted the fact that well over half of these individuals have some form of college education and make between $25,000 $49,000 a year (Matt, 2011). In such a way, even though a broad level of stereotyping cannot be concluded to exist with regards to the typical Facebook or Twitter user, a level of analysis

Monday, October 14, 2019

Dickens skill Essay Example for Free

Dickens skill Essay Dickens skill is especially shown in his creation of Magwitch. Discuss the convicts importance both as a key figure in Pips life and as a means of criticising society. Dickens uses his skill to make the reader believe that Magwitch is an evil person at the beginning of the novel. Dickens describes Magwitch as seen through a childs eye, which is Pip. The first image of Magwitch is exaggerated because of a childs imagination and terror. Dickens uses sounds and smells to remember people. For example Jaggers always smells of scented soap after court and when Magwitch is emotional there is a click in his throat. Although these are minor details we recognise people quicker. At the beginning of the novel we associate Magwitch with animal and beast like manners. This is because the first impression of Magwitch through the young Pip and then the hunt for Magwitch by the soldiers. In chapter 28 while Pip is travelling to Satis House he hears a conversation between two convicts who are being transported by coach under guard. Here the convicts are described as a most disagreeable and degraded spectacle. Dickens uses words like growling to covey the impression that these convicts are animal like. Dickens describes the convicts as, Then they both laughed, and began cracking nuts, and spitting the shells about. Dickens is making the point that if you treat some one like animals then they will act like animals. This shows how convicts were treated in society and Magwitch was also a convict. The ship that Magwitch boarded was ironically called Noahs Ark. This is where animals boarded in biblical time. Magwitchs true personality slowly shows through the novel. For example in chapter 5 Magwitch tells Joe that he stole his pie and file. Magwitch even apologises to Joe when he says, Then Im sorry to say, Ive eat your pie. Joe replies with a compassion answer saying, we wouldnt have let you starved to death for it would us Pip? Then Magwitch throat clicks. Here I think that this shows the two real gentlemen of the story. Although their grammar is not the best one shows remorse and guilt and the other shows compassion. I am very surprised when Magwitch says he stole the file and pie. This is because firstly he did not do it he only said this to divert suspicion from Pip, a boy he never really knew. Secondly in Victoria time people could be hanged for stealing and this shows that Magwitch is a very selfless person. In the most influencing chapter of the novel, chapter 39 where Magwitch returns Pip life changes. Magwitchs arrival has mixed feelings and mixed blessings. Here we find out that Magwitch is Pip benefactor and Pip feels revulsion and disgust, which is also shared by us the readers, that his expectations have been paid for by a convict. This is when Pip realises that he never had any Great Expectations, that Estella and Satis House were never intended for him and Miss Havisham was never his benefactress. In the chapter we now see Magwitch through an adults eye where he does not seem violence or evil. Pip uses words like I shuddered, abhorrence, dread and repugnance in this chapter but soon later change. Dickens skill is shown through this book very well because although Magwitch is one of the most important characters he disappears for a long time in the book. Magwitch is a key character in the novel to unveiling all of the mysterious in it. There is a gradual uncovering a denouement by him in chapter 42 called Compeyson. We find out a lot about Magwitchs heritage that he was born poor and that he had no family. Magwitch talks of his first memories as a young child he says, I first become aware of myself A thieving turnips for my living. Someone had run away from me and hed took the fire with him and left me very cold. This shows how society has neglected orphans his first memories is of stealing and being betrayal. Magwitch talks about his trial where Compeyson got 7 years and Magwitch got 14 years. Compeyson got half the sentence because, First of all what a gentleman Compeyson looked with his curly hair and black clothes and his white pocket handkerchief and what a common sort of wretch I (Magwitch) looked. Magwitch said that he had given up all hope when he said, I was hiding among the graves there envying them as was in them. This definitely shows how poor people and convicts were treated that society did not look after them and that these people felt no sense of place or belonging n the world. Dickens uses this chapter to show the inadequacy in the legal system and also that there is a lot wrong with society. Magwitch was not legally married to Molly but only married over the broomstick this shows that there is no legal marriage or protection for the poor. I think that society is using Magwitch, as a scapegoat so that they can charge him for crimes he did not commit so they can feel better about their society thinking it is safer. Whereas the real criminals in the novel are free, for example Compeyson a forger, Orlick a murderer and Drummle a wife beater. Magwitch clearly has an impact in Pip life for good and bad reasons. If Pip had never met Magwitch he would still live at the forge with Joe and probably in the future married Biddy. So basically Magwitch seems to have ruined Pips life. Although Magwitch does more harm then good he does not do it intentionally whereas Miss Havisham did. I think Miss Havisham is, in a way, a victim because she was left at the altar on her wedding day and cuts herself off from society. Miss Havisham got her revenge on men, which was Pip through Estella but later regrets what she has done. Although Miss Havisham has ruined his life he can still forgive her. I think Pip forgives her because although Miss Havisham is eccentric he has learnt that there can be another side to a person. I think that Pip found this out when looking after Magwitch first he is repulsed and now he loves and pity him. Magwitch brings out the good qualities in Pip he is his moral educator. For example Pip looks after Magwitch but does not take any more money off him. Here Dickens is idealising Pip through Magwitch. At the beginning of the novel Pip was child but now Magwitch has become the child because he needs looking after. From the part of the novel when Pip is with Magwitch he grows morally. He learns that a gentleman is not just a good education, wealth and stature it is about self-sacrifice, loyalty and compassion. Pip even risks his life for Magwitch when there is a note saying someone has news on Magwitch. Pip goes straight away even with an injured arm and there he finds it to be a trap that it is Orlick who tries to kill him. He learns the great value of friendship and he buys Herbert branch of Clarrikers business. I think Pip does this because he feels guilty for getting Herbert into debt in the first place. Not only did Pip feels pity for Magwitch when he is dying so did Jaggers. For example Jaggers tries to push back Magwitchs trial date back so he can die in peace but it fails. This is shown when it says, Mr Jaggers caused an application to be made for the postponement of his trial. Again Dickens makes a point about the legal system when he says, The trial was very short and very clear. Basically Dickens is criticising how he poor were judged in court; it was guilty until proven innocent for them. At Magwitchs trial he is condemned to death and he says, My Lord, I have received my sentence of Death from the Almighty, but I bow to yours. Magwitch says this in the most elegance way and shows his courage in accepting his death sentence. By the time of his trial and death he has acquired a dignity which did not seem to be evident when he was the animal which glared and growled and frightened Pip half to death at the beginning of the novel.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Entrepreneurship And Its Wide Range Of Meanings Commerce Essay

Entrepreneurship And Its Wide Range Of Meanings Commerce Essay Entrepreneurship has a wide range of meanings. On the other hand an entrepreneur is a person who has a very high aptitude who pioneers change, possessing characteristics found in only a very small fraction of the population. Other definition, anyone who wants to work him or herself is considered to be an entrepreneur. The word entrepreneur is originated from the French entreprendre, which means to undertake. In business context, it means to start a business. The dictionary presents the definition of an entrepreneur as who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. In the Schumpeters view of entrepreneurship who is an Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeters definition of entrepreneurship places an emphasis on innovation as the new product, new production methods, new markets, new forms of organization. Furthermore, wealth is created when such innovation result in new demand. From his point of view, One can define the function of the entrepreneur as one of combining various input factors in an innovative manner to generate the value of customer with the home that this value will exceed the cost of the input factors, thus it can generate the superior returns that result in the creation of wealth. In the context of, Entrepreneurship vs. Small business many people use the terms entrepreneur and small business owner synonymously. While they may have much in common, there are significant differences between the entrepreneurial venture and the small business. Entrepreneurial ventures are different from small businesses in these ways such as the Amount of wealth creation  which means, rather than simply generating an income stream that replaces traditional employment, a successful entrepreneurial venture creates substantial wealth, typically in excess of several million dollars of profit. Speed of wealth creation  which means, while a successful small business can generate several million dollars of profit over a lifetime, entrepreneurial wealth creation often is rapid, for example, within 5 years. Risk  which means, the risk of an entrepreneurial venture must be high or otherwise, with the incentive of sure profits many entrepreneurs would be pursuing the idea and the opport unity no longer would exist. Innovation which means entrepreneurship often involves substantial innovation beyond what a small business might exhibit. This innovation gives the venture the competitive advantage that results in wealth creation. The innovation may be in the product or service itself, or in the business processes used to deliver it. Background of the study / Problem statement. In discussing the challenges that entrepreneur face in this 21 st century, it is more helpful to divide them according to their age category or enterprise status. There are divided to 3 categories which is pre-entrepreneurs. This means, this being a probationer or transitional stage, the key challenge facing pre-entrepreneurs who are just starting out in life on their own is choosing what they want to do. White and Kenyon (2000) as warn that there is a danger in selling enterprise as the best option for everyone and forgetting that successful enterprise development begins with the initiative coming from young people themselves especially. Besides that, the challenges in facing the pre-entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs among them are the promotion of awareness of various career options and possibilities to start up a business. Young entrepreneurs especially womens in this category largely require awareness and understanding of what an enterprise is and what it takes to own and manage a business so that they can consider themselves as self-employment as a career option. As an entrepreneur they should decide whether explore further, or to start their own business, the second step is the provision of practical support services such as training, advice, access to finance. To start up a business for pre-entrepreneur it is likely to involve the few stages like, the Formative Stage which means, it is related to the various factors including environmental factors that can also influence the development to become an entrepreneur. At this stage, it is important to encourage young entrepreneur to acquire appropriate entrepreneurial skills, motivations, attitudes, attributes, behaviors, and values. Second stage is the, the Developmental Stage, which it is related more specific learning and targeted skill development that would prepare an individual to move to start-up a business venture. These are learning skills and strategic skills. Learning skills it is related to the ability of a person to acquire information, knowledge, and experience from the world around them that is relevant to their entrepreneurial success. And strategic skills relates to how a person sees the world around them, envisions what is desirable, and identifies entrepreneurial opportunitie s in the world around them. And the third stage is the Start-up Stage. In this stage it refers to the specific skills that are relevant for a successful entrepreneur who is looking to advance an entrepreneurial venture to a period of growth and expansion. These are tactical skills for start-up. Tactical skills are important to conceptualizing a business, developing a business plan and establishing a business. The start-up stage also requires access to credit or finance for youth entrepreneurs. Besides that there is also few types of entrepreneurs which is the Budding entrepreneurs. These is for the young people who are just starting to run their own business. The challenge facing these young person is to increase the rate of survival and success in new businesses .This also means that budding entrepreneurs have a different set of needs from those of pre-entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs. They also need to manage the expansion of their businesses, and this make theier needs are largely revolve around by learning and knowing the ,Tactical skills for Growth, these are skills that are important to move a business into a period of growth. They include business management, management of business finances, time management, stress management , improving sales, managing and reducing costs , marketing, recruitment by able to employ the right person at the right place, and risk management. Next is the Emergent entrepreneur, where the needs of emergent entrepreneurs who are aged 26 years and above and different from those of lower categories of youth proprietors. Many of the emergent entrepreneurs, especially those operating in low income markets, are likely to be running enterprises that are not growing, with only very few graduating to the formal sector. The major challenge facing these young adults is to transform their small business into commercial and competitive businesses. By doing that, they need to have few skill which involve the Tactical skills for Growth and transformation. By using these skills it recognizes the certain skills which are important for the entrepreneur to have, while others can employ. From the survey, I have found that these skills can be divided into two which is the skills one should have where it involves the interpersonal and team building and also involve leadership. Next is the skills one can employ, means is is more to specialized marketing, record keeping, and information management. Research objectives / Scope of studies. From the research that we are finding which is on the Challenges of Women Entrepreneurs in Malaysia, is that we have found that in the 16 countries in Malaysia, most of the women entrepreneur came up from their own family business, where they took over from their parents or family. Some of the women entrepreneur also came up by doing small business like becoming a florist, bakery shops, and so on. Most of the entrepreneurs are educated and some are average having a SPM cert. Some women came up by having degree in Entrepreneurship progrmmes by scoring well and they somehow learnt about business by education. Compare to men, the challenges for women to come up as an entrepreneur is very hard because of many factors. For example, they family itself, they dun give support to them to open up a business and if it is a man the family would always give them way because he is man and they are the lead of the family. Whereas, women are mostly known as housewife in Malaysia. To become and entre preneur financial crisis might also occurs when a person dont have a business or any income background before for them to apply a loan in bank and so on. It is hard for them to start up a business without any modal in their hands. And next is, some womens who comes from an average family at times are lack with useful information to start up a business and how to manage a business. This could also be a challenge for them to try in a business. Some womans are also weak, by making a decision where before this they are more dependent to their husbands and it is hard for them now to make a decision in a big matters like bringing up the business to a level higher than before and so on. To examine these problems, research can be conducted by researches to find out the factors that are holding back the woman to becoming successful entrepreneurs. For example, the factors as said above it could be family factors or back ground, education level, and level of information about opening up a business for their future benefit. And it could also be , where women are afraid to make a decision in a matter or either they are not the risk taking persons. And the culture of certain individual could also be the factors. To identify the culture factors, we can see it in the Indian family especially, where some of the parents dont like the girls in the family doing big jobs like taking care of the shops or either they sometimes get married in the early age. This matter always happens in the low average family, this could also be the challenges or factors affecting the Malaysia entrepreneurs. Some of the woman is affected by the inner value of them also, where it is in born with them since small where the soft side of the women . For example, if there is a problem or issue occurs in a business, they dont know how to habdle it and they might give up easily without even making or coming up with a concrete reasons or decisions. To overcome all this problems , womens should start to learnt the meaning of business by starting or trying to start with small business like selling groceries, flowers, tit bits, cloths and so on. By learning with the small business, they could learnt about business how it works and when there is a problem occurs they know how to faced it. Some womens who are knowledgeable in this filed they some came up very fast for example there is few women entrepreneurs of small business nowadays. This could motivate many others to become an entrepreneurs.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Vasovagal Syncope Essay -- Fainting Medical Health Essays

Vasovagal Syncope My best friend "Dirk" can easily be picked out of a crowd. His 6'7 stature, impressive muscle mass, very blond hair, big blue eyes, and booming voice cause many people to stare at him-once, in Europe, a Japanese couple asked if they could take a picture of him. Addicted to weight lifting and athletics, my friend does not always enjoy admitting that he is a computer engineer-yes, my 22-year-old buddy is still afraid of the geek label. There is something else to which Dirk will not readily admit-he faints at the sight of blood. In fact, many things can trigger his fainting spells: blood, vomit, overheating, etc. Dirk lives next door to my parents; we grew up together. Recently, he and my sister ran over from his house to ours, which is a distance of about 50 feet. My sister had not worn shoes; when they got to our house, they walked through two rooms before Dirk got dizzy. My sister had cut her foot, and the blood that had spread over the tile floor made Dirk turn his head away, and sit down. My mother ran to the rescue-Dirk's, not my sister's. She helped him breath deeply, and luckily he avoided fainting. A few Christmases ago, Dirk caught a stomach virus. He made it to the bathroom just in time, but seconds after vomiting, he fell to the floor, and blocked the door. His parents frantically tried to open the door, they tried to revive him by screaming for probably five minutes, which seemed like an eternity to them at the time. Eventually they revived him. The summer before that Christmas, Dirk was golfing with his high school's golf team on a hot July afternoon. At the end of the course, he and his coach walked to the parking lot. All of a sudden, Dirk toppled like a tree onto th... ...ncope. Perhaps more research will lead to more conclusive knowledge about the condition. Works Cited: 1)Med Help International, This website offers a forum for those with medical questions, allowing them to ask the advice of a physician. http://www.medhelp.org/forums/cardio/archive/5482.html 2)London Cardiac Institute, This organization provides information to patients on several conditions. The patients are referred to the pages by their physicians. http://www.londoncardiac.ca/pages/vvs.htm 3)Karen Yontz Women's Cardiac Awareness Center, Health Wise Physician's Corner provides information about several medical conditions. http://www.karenyontzcenter.org/healthwise/phys_corner/phys_cor_Berger.htm 4)Tilt Table Test http://pwp.netcabo.pt/0413553701/tilt_eng.htm 5)Health and Age http://www.healthandage.com/html/res/com/ConsHerbs/Licoricech.html

Friday, October 11, 2019

The Twilight Saga 5: Midnight Sun 7. Melody

I had to wait when I got back to school. The final hour wasn't out yet. That was good, because I had things to think about and I needed the alone time. Her scent lingered in the car. I kept the windows up, letting it assault me, trying to get used to the feel of intentionally torching my throat. Attraction. It was a problematic thing to contemplate. So many sides to it, so many different meanings and levels. Not the same thing as love, but tied up in it inextricably. I had no idea if Bella was attracted to me. (Would her mental silence somehow continue to get more and more frustrating until I went mad? Or was there a limit that I would eventually reach?) I tried to compare her physical responses to others, like the secretary and Jessica Stanley, but the comparison was inconclusive. The same markers – changes in heart rate and breathing patterns – could just as easily mean fear or shock or anxiety as they did interest. It seemed unlikely that Bella could be entertaining the same kinds of thoughts that Jessica Stanley used to have. After all, Bella knew very well that there was something wrong with me, even if she didn't know what exactly it was. She had touched my icy skin, and then yanked her hand away from the chill. And yet†¦as I remembered those fantasies that used to repulse me, but remembered them with Bella in Jessica's place†¦ I was breathing more quickly, the fire clawing up and down my throat. What if it had been Bella imagining me with my arms wrapped around her fragile body? Feeling me pull her tightly against my chest and then cupping my hand under her chin? Brushing the heavy curtain of her hair back from her blushing face? Tracing the shape of her full lips with my fingertips? Leaning my face closer to hers, where I could feel the heat of her breath on my mouth? Moving closer still†¦ But then I flinched away from the daydream, knowing, as I had known when Jessica had imagined these things, what would happen if I got that close to her. Attraction was an impossible dilemma, because I was already too attracted to Bella in the worst way. Did I want Bella to be attracted to me, a woman to a man? That was the wrong question. The right question was should I want Bella to be attracted to me that way, and that answer was no. Because I was not a human man, and that wasn't fair to her. With every fiber of my being, I ached to be a normal man, so that I could hold her in my arms without risking her life. So that I could be free to spin my own fantasies, fantasies that didn't end in with her blood on my hands, her blood glowing in my eyes. My pursuit of her was indefensible. What kind of relationship could I offer her, when I couldn't risk touching her? I hung my head in my hands. It was all the more confusing because I had never felt so human in my whole life – not even when I was human, as far as I could recall. When I had been human, my thoughts had all been turned to a soldier's glory. The Great War had raged through most of my adolescence, and I'd been only nine months away from my eighteenth birthday when the influenza had struck†¦ I had just vague impressions of those human years, murky memories that faded more with every passing decade. I remembered my mother most clearly, and felt an ancient ache when I thought of her face. I recalled dimly how much she had hated the future I'd raced eagerly toward, praying every night when she said grace at dinner that the â€Å"horrid war† would end†¦ I had no memories of another kind of yearning. Besides my mother's love, there was no other love that had made me wish to stay†¦ This was entirely new to me. I had no parallels to draw, no comparisons to make. The love I felt for Bella had come purely, but now the waters were muddied. I wanted very much to be able to touch her. Did she feel the same way? That didn't matter, I tried to convince myself. I stared at my white hands, hating their hardness, their coldness, their inhuman strength†¦ I jumped when the passenger door opened. Ha. Caught you by surprise. There's a first, Emmett thought as he slid into the seat. â€Å"I'll bet Mrs. Goff thinks you're on drugs, you've been so erratic lately. Where were you today?† â€Å"I was†¦doing good deeds.† Huh? I chuckled. â€Å"Caring for the sick, that kind of thing.† That confused him more, but then he inhaled and caught the scent in the car. â€Å"Oh. The girl again?† I grimaced. This is getting weird. â€Å"Tell me about it,† I mumbled. He inhaled again. â€Å"Hmm, she does have a quite a flavor, doesn't she?† The snarl broke through my lips before his words had even registered all the way, an automatic response. â€Å"Easy, kid, I'm just sayin.'† The others arrived then. Rosalie noticed the scent at once and glowered at me, still not over her irritation. I wondered what her problem was, but all I could hear from her were insults. I didn't like Jasper's reaction, either. Like Emmett, he noticed Bella's appeal. Not that the scent had, for either of them, a thousandth portion of the draw it had for me. I was still upset me that her blood was sweet to them. Jasper had poor control†¦ Alice skipped to my side of the car and held her hand out for Bella's truck key. â€Å"I only saw that I was,† she said – obscurely, as was her habit. â€Å"You'll have to tell me the whys.† â€Å"This doesn't mean – â€Å" â€Å"I know, I know. I'll wait. It won't be long.† I sighed and gave her the key. I followed her to Bella's house. The rain was pounding down like a million tiny hammers, so loud that maybe Bella's human ears couldn't hear the thunder of the truck's engine. I watched her window, but she didn't come to look out. Maybe she wasn't there. There were no thoughts to hear. It made me sad that I couldn't hear enough even to check on her – to make sure she was happy, or safe, at the least. Alice climbed in the back and we sped home. The roads were empty, and so it only took a few minutes. We trooped into the house, and then went to our various pastimes. Emmett and Jasper were in the middle of an elaborate game of chess, utilizing eight joined boards – spread out along the glass back wall – and their own complicated set of rules. They wouldn't let me play; only Alice would play games with me anymore. Alice went to her computer just around the corner from them and I could hear her monitors sing to life. Alice was working on a fashion design project for Rosalie's wardrobe, but Rosalie did not join her today, to stand behind her and direct cut and color as Alice's hand traced over the touch sensitive screens (Carlisle and I had had to tweak that system a bit, given that most such screens responded to temperature). Instead, today Rosalie sprawled sullenly on the sofa and started flipping through twenty channels a second on the flat screen, never pausing. I could hear her trying to decide whether or not to go out to the garage and tune her BMW again. Esme was upstairs, humming over a new set of blue prints. Alice leaned her head around the wall after a moment and started mouthing Emmett's next moves – Emmett sat on the floor with his back to her – to Jasper, who kept his expression very smooth as he cut off Emmett's favorite knight. And I, for the first time in so long that I felt ashamed, went to sit at the exquisite grand piano stationed just off the entryway. I ran my hand gently up the scales, testing the pitch. The tuning was still perfect. Upstairs, Esme paused what she was doing and cocked her head to the side. I began the first line of the tune that had suggested itself to me in the car today, pleased that it sounded even better than I'd imagined. Edward is playing again, Esme thought joyously, a smile breaking across her face. She got up from her desk, and flitted silently to the head of the stairs. I added a harmonizing line, letting the central melody weave through it. Esme sighed with contentment, sat down on the top step, and leaned her head against the banister. A new song. It's been so long. What a lovely tune. I let the melody lead in a new direction, following it with the bass line. Edward is composing again? Rosalie thought, and her teeth clenched together in fierce resentment. In that moment, she slipped, and I could read all her underlying outrage. I saw why she was in such a poor temper with me. Why killing Isabella Swan had not bothered her conscience at all. With Rosalie, it was always about vanity. The music came to an abrupt halt, and I laughed before I could help myself, a sharp bark of amusement that broke off quickly as I threw my hand over my mouth. Rosalie turned to glare at me, her eyes sparking with chagrined fury. Emmett and Jasper turned to stare, too, and I heard Esme's confusion. Esme was downstairs in a flash, pausing to glance between Rosalie and me. â€Å"Don't stop, Edward,† Esme encouraged after a strained moment. I started playing again, turning my back on Rosalie while trying very hard to control the grin stretching across my face. She got to her feet and stalked out of the room, more angry than embarrassed. But certainly quite embarrassed. If you say anything I will hunt you like a dog. I smothered another laugh. â€Å"What's wrong, Rose?† Emmett called after her. Rosalie didn't turn. She continued, back ramrod straight, to the garage and then squirmed under her car as if she could bury herself there. â€Å"What's that about?† Emmett asked me. â€Å"I don't have the faintest idea,† I lied. Emmett grumbled, frustrated. â€Å"Keep playing,† Esme urged. My hands had paused again. I did as she asked, and she came to stand behind me, putting her hands on my shoulders. The song was compelling, but incomplete. I toyed with a bridge, but it didn't seem right somehow. â€Å"It's charming. Does it have a name?† Esme asked. â€Å"Not yet.† â€Å"Is there a story to it?† she asked, a smile in her voice. This gave her very great pleasure, and I felt guilty for having neglected my music for so long. It had been selfish. â€Å"It's†¦a lullaby, I suppose.† I got the bridge right then. It led easily to the next movement, taking on a life of its own. â€Å"A lullaby,† she repeated to herself. There was a story to this melody, and once I saw that, the pieces fell into place effortlessly. The story was a sleeping girl in a narrow bed, dark hair thick and wild and twisted like seaweed across the pillow†¦ Alice left Jasper to his own devices and came to sit next to me on the bench. In her trilling, wind chime voice, she sketched out a wordless descant two octaves above the melody. â€Å"I like it,† I murmured. â€Å"But how about this?† I added her line to the harmony – my hands were flying across the keys now to work all the pieces together – modifying it a bit, taking it in a new direction†¦ She caught the mood, and sung along. â€Å"Yes. Perfect,† I said. Esme squeezed my shoulder. But I could see the end now, with Alice's voice rising above the tune and taking it to another place. I could see how the song must end, because the sleeping girl was perfect just the way she was, and any change at all would be wrong, a sadness. The song drifted toward that realization, slower and lower now. Alice's voice lowered, too, and became solemn, a tone that belonged under the echoing arches of a candlelit cathedral. I played the last note, and then bowed my head over the keys. Esme stroked my hair. It's going to be fine, Edward. This is going to work out for the best. You deserve happiness, my son. Fate owes you that. â€Å"Thanks,† I whispered, wishing I could believe it. Love doesn't always come in convenient packages. I laughed once without humor. You, out of everyone on this planet, are perhaps best equipped to deal with such a difficult quandary. You are the best and the brightest of us all. I sighed. Every mother thought the same of her son. Esme was still full of joy that my heart had finally been touched after all this time, no matter the potential for tragedy. She'd thought I would always be alone†¦ She'll have to love you back, she thought suddenly, catching me by surprise with the direction of her thoughts. If she's a bright girl. She smiled. But I can't imagine anyone being so slow they wouldn't see the catch you are. â€Å"Stop it, Mom, you're making me blush,† I teased. Her words, though improbable, did cheer me. Alice laughed and picked out the top hand of â€Å"Heart and Soul.† I grinned and completed the simple harmony with her. Then I favored her with a performance of â€Å"Chopsticks.† She giggled, then sighed. â€Å"So I wish you'd tell me what you were laughing at Rose about,† Alice said. â€Å"But I can see that you won't.† â€Å"Nope.† She flicked my ear with her finger. â€Å"Be nice, Alice,† Esme chided. â€Å"Edward is being a gentleman.† â€Å"But I want to know.† I laughed at the whining tone she put on. Then I said, â€Å"Here, Esme,† and began playing her favorite song, an unnamed tribute to the love I'd watched between her and Carlisle for so many years. â€Å"Thank you, dear.† She squeezed my shoulder again. I didn't have to concentrate to play the familiar piece. Instead I thought of Rosalie, still figuratively writhing in mortification in the garage, and I grinned to myself. Having just discovered the potency of jealousy for myself, I had a small amount of pity for her. It was a wretched way to feel. Of course, her jealously was a thousand times more petty than mine. Quite the fox in the manger scenario. I wondered how Rosalie's life and personality would have been different if she had not always been the most beautiful. Would she have been a happier person if beauty hadn't at all times been her strongest selling point? Less egocentric? More compassionate? Well, I supposed it was useless to wonder, because the past was done, and she always had been the most beautiful. Even when human, she had ever lived in the spotlight of her own loveliness. Not that she'd minded. The opposite – she'd loved admiration above almost anything else. That hadn't changed with the loss of her mortality. It was no surprise then, taking this need as a given, that she'd been offended when I had not, from the beginning, worshiped her beauty the way she expected all males to worship. Not that she'd wanted me in any way – far from it. But it had aggravated her that I did not want her, despite that. She was used to being wanted. It was different with Jasper and Carlisle – they were already both in love. I was completely unattached, and yet still remained obstinately unmoved. I'd thought that old resentment was buried. That she was long passed it. And she had been†¦until the day that I finally found someone whose beauty touched me the way hers had not. Rosalie had relied on the belief that if I did not find her beauty worth worshiping, then certainly there was no beauty on earth that would reach me. She'd been furious since the moment I'd saved Bella's life, guessing, with her shrewd female intuition, the interest that I was all but unconscious of myself. Rosalie was mortally offended that I found some insignificant human girl more appealing than her. I suppressed the urge to laugh again. It bothered me some, though, the way she saw Bella. Rosalie actually thought the girl was plain. How could she believe that? It seemed incomprehensible to me. A product of the jealousy, no doubt. â€Å"Oh!† Alice said abruptly. â€Å"Jasper, guess what?† I saw what she'd just seen, and my hands froze on the keys. â€Å"What, Alice?† Jasper asked. â€Å"Peter and Charlotte are coming to visit next week! They're going to be in the neighborhood, isn't that nice?† â€Å"What's wrong, Edward?† Esme asked, feeling the tension in my shoulders. â€Å"Peter and Charlotte are coming to Forks?† I hissed at Alice She rolled her eyes at me. â€Å"Calm down, Edward. It's not their first visit.† My teeth clenched together. It was their first visit since Bella had arrived, and her sweet blood didn't appeal just to me. Alice frowned at my expression. â€Å"They never hunt here. You know that.† But Jasper's brother of sorts and the little vampire he loved were not like us; they hunted the usual way. They could not be trusted around Bella. â€Å"When?† I demanded. She pursed her lips unhappily, but told me what I needed to know. Monday morning. No one is going to hurt Bella. â€Å"No,† I agreed, and then turned away from her. â€Å"You ready, Emmett?† â€Å"I thought we were leaving in the morning?† â€Å"We're coming back by midnight Sunday. I guess it's up to you when you want to leave.† â€Å"Okay, fine. Let me say goodbye to Rose first.† â€Å"Sure.† With the mood Rosalie was in, it would be a short goodbye. You really have lost it, Edward, he thought as he headed toward the back door. â€Å"I suppose I have.† â€Å"Play the new song for me, one more time,† Esme asked. â€Å"If you'd like that,† I agreed, though I was a little hesitant to follow the tune to its unavoidable end – the end that had set me aching in unfamiliar ways. I thought for a moment, and then pulled the bottle cap from my pocket and set it on the empty music stand. That helped a bit – my little memento of her yes. I nodded to myself, and started playing. Esme and Alice exchanged a glance, but neither one asked. â€Å"Hasn't anyone ever told you not to play with your food?† I called to Emmett. â€Å"Oh, hey Edward!† he shouted back, grinning and waving at me. The bear took advantage of his distraction to rake its heavy paw across Emmett's chest. The sharp claws shredded through his shirt, and squealed across his skin. The bear bellowed at the high-pitched noise. Aw hell, Rose gave me this shirt! Emmett roared back at the enraged animal. I sighed and sat down on a convenient boulder. This might take awhile. But Emmett was almost done. He let the bear try to take his head off with another swipe of the paw, laughing as the blow bounced off and sent the bear staggering back. The bear roared and Emmett roared again through his laughter. Then he launched himself at the animal, who stood a head taller than him on its hind legs, and their bodies fell to the ground tangled up together, taking a mature spruce tree down with them. The bear's growls cut off with a gurgle. A few minutes later, Emmett jogged over to where I was waiting for him. His shirt was destroyed, torn and bloodied, sticky with sap and covered in fur. His dark curly hair wasn't in much better shape. He had a huge grin on his face. â€Å"That was a strong one. I could almost feel it when he clawed me.† â€Å"You're such a child, Emmett.† He eyed my smooth, clean white button-down. â€Å"Weren't you able to track down that mountain lion, then?† â€Å"Of course I was. I just don't eat like a savage.† Emmett laughed his booming laugh. â€Å"I wish they were stronger. It would be more fun.† â€Å"No one said you had to fight your food.† â€Å"Yeah, but who else am I going to fight with? You and Alice cheat, Rose never wants to get her hair messed up, and Esme gets mad if Jasper and I really go at it.† â€Å"Life is hard all around, isn't it?† Emmett grinned at me, shifting his weight a bit so that he was suddenly poised to take a charge. â€Å"C'mon Edward. Just turn it off for one minute and fight fair.† â€Å"It doesn't turn off,† I reminded him. â€Å"Wonder what that human girl does to keep you out?† Emmett mused. â€Å"Maybe she could give me some pointers.† My good humor vanished. â€Å"Stay away from her,† I growled through my teeth. â€Å"Touchy, touchy.† I sighed. Emmett came to sit beside me on the rock. â€Å"Sorry. I know you're going through a tough spot. I really am trying to not be too much of an insensitive jerk, but, since that's sort of my natural state†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He waited for me to laugh at his joke, and then made a face. So serious all the time. What's bugging you now? â€Å"Thinking about her. Well, worrying, really.† â€Å"What's there to worry about? You are here.† He laughed loudly. I ignored his joke again, but answered his question. â€Å"Have you ever thought about how fragile they all are? How many bad things there are that can happen to a mortal?† â€Å"Not really. I guess I see what you mean, though. I wasn't much match for a bear that first time around, was I?† â€Å"Bears,† I muttered, adding a new fear to the pile. â€Å"That would be just her luck, wouldn't it? Stray bear in town. Of course it would head straight for Bella.† Emmett chuckled. â€Å"You sound like a crazy person, do you know that?† â€Å"Just imagine for one minute that Rosalie was human, Emmett. And she could run into a bear†¦or get hit by a car†¦or lightening†¦or fall down stairs†¦or get sick – get a disease!† The words burst from me stormily. It was a relief to let them out – they'd been festering inside me all weekend. â€Å"Fires and earthquakes and tornados! Ugh! When's the last time you watched the news? Have you seen the kinds of things that happen to them? Burglaries and homicides†¦Ã¢â‚¬  My teeth clenched together, and I was abruptly so infuriated by the idea of another human hurting her that I couldn't breathe. â€Å"Whoa, whoa! Hold up, there, kid. She lives in Forks, remember? So she gets rained on.† He shrugged. â€Å"I think she has some serious bad luck, Emmett, I really do. Look at the evidence. Of all the places in the world she could go, she ends up in a town where vampires make up a significant portion of the population.† â€Å"Yeah, but we're vegetarians. So isn't that good luck, not bad?† â€Å"With the way she smells? Definitely bad. And then, more bad luck, the way she smells to me.† I glowered at my hands, hating them again. â€Å"Except that you have more self-control than just about anyone but Carlisle. Good luck again.† â€Å"The van?† â€Å"That was just an accident.† â€Å"You should have seen it coming for her, Em, again and again. I swear, it was like she had some kind of magnetic pull.† â€Å"But you were there. That was good luck.† â€Å"Was it? Isn't this the worst luck any human could ever possibly have – to have a vampire fall in love with them?† Emmett considered that quietly for a moment. He pictured the girl in his head, and found the image uninteresting. Honestly, I can't really see the draw. â€Å"Well, I can't really see Rosalie's allure, either,† I said rudely. â€Å"Honestly, she seems like more work than any pretty face is worth.† Emmett chuckled. â€Å"I don't suppose you'd tell me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I don't know what her problem is, Emmett,† I lied with a sudden, wide grin. I saw his intent in time to brace myself. He tried to shove me off the rock, and there was a loud cracking sound as a fissure opened in the stone between us. â€Å"Cheater,† he muttered. I waited for him to try another time, but his thoughts took a different direction. He was picturing Bella's face again, but imagining it whiter, imagining her eyes bright red†¦ â€Å"No,† I said, my voice strangled. â€Å"It solves your worries about mortality, doesn't it? And then you wouldn't want to kill her, either. Isn't that the best way?† â€Å"For me? Or for her?† â€Å"For you,† he answered easily. His tone added the of course. I laughed humorlessly. â€Å"Wrong answer.† â€Å"I didn't mind so much,† he reminded me. â€Å"Rosalie did.† He sighed. We both knew that Rosalie would do anything, give up anything, if it meant she could be human again. Even Emmett. â€Å"Yeah, Rose did,† he acquiesced quietly. â€Å"I can't†¦ I shouldn't†¦ I'm not going to ruin Bella's life. Wouldn't you feel the same, if it were Rosalie?† Emmett thought about that for a moment. You really†¦love her? â€Å"I can't even describe it, Emmett. All of a sudden, this girl's the whole world to me. I don't see the point of the rest of the world without her anymore.† But you won't change her? She won't last forever, Edward. â€Å"I know that,† I groaned. And, as you've pointed out, she's sort of breakable. â€Å"Trust me – that I know, too.† Emmett was not a tactful person, and delicate discussions were not his forte. He struggled now, wanting very much not to be offensive. Can you even touch her? I mean, if you love her†¦wouldn't you want to, well touch her†¦? Emmett and Rosalie shared an intensely physical love. He had a hard time understanding how one could love, without that aspect. I sighed. â€Å"I can't even think of that, Emmett.† Wow. So what are your options, then? â€Å"I don't know,† I whispered. â€Å"I'm trying to figure out a way to†¦to leave her. I just can't fathom how to make myself stay away†¦Ã¢â‚¬  With a deep sense of gratification, I suddenly realized that it was right for me to stay – at least for now, with Peter and Charlotte on their way. She was safer with me here, temporarily, than she would be if I were gone. For the moment, I could be her unlikely protector. The thought made me anxious; I itched to be back so that I could fill that role for as long as possible. Emmett noticed the change in my expression. What are you thinking about? â€Å"Right now,† I admitted a bit sheepishly, â€Å"I'm dying to run back to Forks and check on her. I don't know if I'll make it till Sunday night.† â€Å"Uh-uh! You are not going home early. Let Rosalie cool down a little bit. Please! For my sake.† â€Å"I'll try to stay,† I said doubtfully. Emmett tapped the phone in my pocket. â€Å"Alice would call if there were any basis for your panic attack. She's as weird about this girl as you are.† I grimaced at that. â€Å"Fine. But I'm not staying past Sunday.† â€Å"There's no point in hurrying back – it's going to be sunny, anyway. Alice said we were free from school until Wednesday.† I shook my head rigidly. â€Å"Peter and Charlotte know how to behave themselves.† â€Å"I really don't care, Emmett. With Bella's luck, she'll go wandering off into the woods at exactly the wrong moment and – † I flinched. â€Å"Peter isn't known for his selfcontrol. I'm going back Sunday.† Emmett sighed. Exactly like a crazy person. Bella was sleeping peacefully when I climbed up to her bedroom window early Monday morning. I'd remembered oil this time, and the window now moved silently out of my way. I could tell by the way her hair lay smooth across the pillow that she'd had a less restless night than the last time I was here. She had her hands folded under her cheek like a small child, and her mouth was slightly open. I could hear her breath moving slowly in and out between her lips. It was an amazing relief to be here, to be able to see her again. I realized that I wasn't truly at ease unless that was the case. Nothing was right when I was away from her. Not that all was right when I was with her, either, though. I sighed, letting the thirst fire rake through my throat. I'd been away from it too long. The time spent without pain and temptation made it all the more forceful now. It was bad enough that I was afraid to go kneel beside her bed so that I could read the titles of her books. I wanted to know the stories in her head, but I was afraid of more than my thirst, afraid that if I let myself get that close to her, I would want to be closer still†¦ Her lips looked very soft and warm. I could imagine touching them with the tip of my finger. Just lightly†¦ That was exactly the kind of mistake that I had to avoid. My eyes ran over her face again and again, examining it for changes. Mortals changed all the time – I was sad at the thought of missing anything†¦ I thought she looked†¦tired. Like she hadn't gotten enough sleep this weekend. Had she gone out? I laughed silently and wryly at how much that upset me. So what if she had? I didn't own her. She wasn't mine. No, she wasn't mine – and I was sad again. One of her hands twitched, and I noticed that there were shallow, barely healed scrapes across the heel of her palm. She'd been hurt? Even though it was obviously not a serious injury, it still disturbed me. I considered the location, and decided she must have tripped. That seemed a reasonable explanation, all things considered. It was comforting to think that I wouldn't have to puzzle over either of these small mysteries forever. We were friends now – or, at least, trying to be friends. I could ask her about her weekend – about the beach, and whatever late night activity had made her look so weary. I could ask what had happened to her hands. And I could laugh a little when she confirmed my theory about them. I smiled gently as I wondered whether or not she had fallen in the ocean. I wondered if she'd had a pleasant time on the outing. I wondered if she'd thought about me at all. If she'd missed me even the tiniest portion of the amount that I'd missed her. I tried to picture her in the sun on the beach. The picture was incomplete, though, because I'd never been to First Beach myself. I only knew how it looked in pictures†¦ I felt a tiny qualm of unease as I thought about the reason why I'd never once been to the pretty beach located just a few minutes run from my home. Bella had spent the day at La Push – a place where I was forbidden, by treaty, to go. A place where a few old men still remembered the stories about the Cullens, remembered and believed them. A place where our secret was known†¦ I shook my head. I had nothing to worry about there. The Quileutes were bound by treaty, too. Even had Bella run into one of those aging sages, they could reveal nothing. And why would the subject ever be broached? Why would Bella think to voice her curiosity there? No – the Quileutes were perhaps the one thing I did not have to worry about. I was angry with the sun when it began to rise. It reminded me that I could not satisfy my curiosity for days to come. Why did it choose to shine now? With a sigh, I ducked out her window before it was light enough for anyone to see me here. I meant to stay in the thick forest by her house and see her off to school, but when I got into the trees, I was surprised to find the trace of her scent lingering on the trail there. I followed it quickly, curiously, becoming more and more worried as it led deeper into the darkness. What had Bella been doing out here? The trail stopped abruptly, in the middle of nowhere in particular. She'd gone just a few steps off the trail, into the ferns, where she'd touched the trunk of a fallen tree. Perhaps sat there†¦ I sat where she had, and looked around. All she would have been able to see was ferns and forest. It had probably been raining – the scent was washed out, having never set deeply into the tree. Why would Bella have come to sit here alone – and she had been alone, no doubt about that – in the middle of the wet, murky forest? It made no sense, and, unlike those other points of curiosity, I could hardly bring this up in casual conversation. So, Bella, I was following your scent through the woods after I left your room where I'd been watching you sleep†¦ Yes, that would be quite the ice breaker. I would never know what she'd been thinking and doing here, and that had my teeth grinding together in frustration. Worse, this was far too much like the scenario I'd imagined for Emmett – Bella wandering alone in the woods, where her scent would call to anyone who had the senses to track it†¦ I groaned. Not only did she have bad luck, but she courted it. Well, for this moment she had a protector. I would watch over her, keep her from harm, for as long as I could justify it. I suddenly found myself wishing that Peter and Charlotte would make an extended stay.