Debriefing importance

Debriefing particularly focusing on â€Å"the role of debriefing In simulation based learning'. Quickly before I begin, could you raise your hand if you have taken part in a debrief post simulation,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. L know for at least the past two years I personally have taken part in debriefing, after every scenario completed in class, being from Sonny's cardiology course to Brains trauma subject. Alright lets begin Slide 2.What we cover In this presentation we will cover â€Å"What debriefing Is† We will talk about aspects of briefing as well as defining the term†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ We will cover examples of debriefing in the workplace as well as deliberate what happened in those examples. And finally we will discuss the positives that can be taken from a well structured debriefing session. Slide 3. Defining In this context, debriefing Is a part of the reflection process that follows a simulation experience led by a facilitator.Feedback is provided on the simulations participants performance while positive aspects of the completed simulation are discussed with reflective thinking encouraged. Debriefing Encourages reflective learning, which allows the participants to link theory to practice and research, think critically, and discuss how to intervene professionally in complex situations Slide 4. Simulation Learning Simulation learning is an activity that mimics reality. It is designed to emulate real life problems in which the patient may be presenting with.Simulation learning has been used for a long time in the health care field as it helps consolidate and enhance clinical skills, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making. Simulation learning provides a safe environment for learning and for the further development of kills. Slide 6. How to debrief So how do you debrief Well there are several strategies that exist such as the GAS model and the Tanners Clinical Judgment Model. These strategies are designed so that the student can reflect in a gr oup on what happened, why it happened and what they would do If placed In a similar situation.For debriefing to be successful It needs to be focused on outcomes and objectives so that the simulation Is controlled and has meaning to the participants. Slide 7. Facilitators Role The Facilitator Role is to control and mediate the discussion. They need to provide sociological safety by being trustworthy, respectful, and confidential. Facilitators need to provide honest feedback to the students and develop debriefing skills to Slide 8. Debriefing Environment The debriefing environment needs to be Positive, non-threatening, respectful and confidential.A good way to perform a debrief is with all participants and facilitators at the same eye level. In the subject CLICKS videotaping was used as part of the debriefing process, as the participants could analyses and critique how they performed. The facilitator should encourage the participants to talk and discuss linings, events and transfer of knowledge between participants and the rest of the group. It is also recommended that the debriefing takes place in a different location to the simulation as the participants need to distance themselves from the role they played in the simulation.Slide 9. Timing of Debriefing Debriefing should be conducted straight after simulation, so participants thoughts and emotions are present. Debriefing is crucial for development with the debriefing often lasting longer then the simulation. The majority of the debrief should be used or discussion and analysis of events as this is where the majority of learning comes from. Initially you should explore feelings and reactions to what occurred during the simulation followed by the transfer of why the events happened and reflection.Following a debriefing model such as GAS or Tanners Critical Judgment Model allows both the facilitator and students to Justify and elaborate on their treatment plan while also reflecting on what could be performed nex t time. Having effective debriefs post simulation can be effective to everybody involved as it provides insight into the students clinical decision making skills and provides them with feedback of positives as well as things they need to improve on.

Tattoos in the Workplace

Tattoos In The Workplace Sarah Jo Phillips COM/150 December 19, 2009 Kathleen D’Aprix In some professions, having visible tattoos is completely taboo and in others it is not only accepted, but embraced. What it boils down to is the level of trust the job requires. Tattoos can mean nothing to an observer, or they could mean everything. Those in professional industry such as doctors, lawyers and teachers are expected to be professionals and dress in a certain manor. The most basic mistake new employees make is under dressing,† says Randall Hansen, a professor of business at Stetson University in Deland, Fla. â€Å"If unsure, dress conservatively. The best way to avoid a problem is to understand the corporate culture,† (Reeves). Dressing conservatively means to not display yourself outlandishly or draw too much attention. Tattoos are like a piece of clothing that cannot be taken off. A doctor or lawyer or investment banker deals with a lot of money and appearance says a lot about a person. A client or patient probably would not put too much trust or money in someone that looks like a biker. On that same token, in a body shop or at a factory displaying a tattoo is not such a no-no. In these manual labor professions, it is often hot, sweaty, physically taxing work and short sleeves are the norm in which case some tattoos will be visible most of the time. What about those high powered attorneys that do have tattoos? â€Å"It's a ‘don't ask, don't tell' understanding,† says Boston lawyer Dave Kimelberg, who works as general counsel for a venture capital firm. Kimelberg sticks to tattoos he can easily conceal under clothing at work — in his case, three-quarter â€Å"ink sleeves† that extend from each shoulder to the middle of his forearms but allow him to roll up his shirt sleeves on warm days,† (Goodman). This example is the most effective way to deal with the issue. Instead of making it a controversial subject, just keep them covered up. W ith the changing times, how much have employers really changed their way of thinking? In the past, a suit and tie was the appropriate attire for going to work in most professions. Women were supposed to wear dresses if they even had a job. Now, the general workplace is more casual. Most places that require a professional dress code allow just about any type of shirt as long as it has a collar. In many cases, gone are the days of having a starched white shirt and tie, now a basic polo shirt is the norm. That being said, a job is done by a person, not by what they look like. However, â€Å"the laws still tend to support employer dress code/appearance policies in general and employers retain some flexibility in creating rules that require employees to present themselves in a way that is consistent with the employer's image,† (Gross). Possibly the greatest example of this swing in attire is in the big time retail sales industry. Fifty years ago it would be unheard of if a salesman at a major department store went to work without a tie, if not a jacket. Today, places like Sears, Macy’s, Dillard’s, etc only require a polo shirt with the company insignia on it. The service industry is not about personal appearance; it is about getting things done. Employees in the service industry are given more freedom in their dress code because appearance is not everything. If something breaks, the customer wants it fixed right and done fast. As long as those two criteria are met, they could care less what the technician looks like. On the other hand, would you trust the brain surgeon that has tattoos across his knuckles? Probably not. That is because there is a lot more trust put into that surgeon than there is in that mechanic. In white collar professions tattoos can prevent clientele from using your business. If you walked into your child’s third grade class and saw that the teacher had tattoos on his hands, chances are you would probably not like it very much. In white collar society tattoos are still a taboo that most are not willing to test. The image that comes to mind when most of society thinks of a highly successful CEO or lawyer does not include tattoos. The only way to accurately answer the question of acceptability of tattoos in the workplace is to consider each situation on a case by case basis. In some professions they are not a problem at all while in others they can cause friction between staff members and management. There is not a single answer to the question because it is all about how they fit within the structure of the specific work environment. There are many factors in what is and is not acceptable in the workplace. Between the amount of contact between an employee and the clientele, the amount of professionalism involved in the position, the norms of the profession and the position itself, having a tattoo can make or break a potential job. Getting a tattoo s a conscious act, that being said, think before you ink and your let your own judgments tell you whether or not to get that visible tattoo. Goodman, M. (2008, June 19). Too Tattooed to work?. Retrieved from http://www. cnn. com/2008/LIVING/worklife/06/19/too. tattooed. to. work/ Gross, B. (n. d. ). Tattoos in the workplace: what's an employer to do?. Retrieved from http://www. allbusiness. com/human-resources /workforce-management-employee/4113152-1. html Klaus, Mary. â€Å"Tattoos in the workplace no longer a taboo. † Pennlive. com. 19 Jul 2009. Pennsylvania Local News, Web. 15 Nov 2009. Tattoos in the Workplace Tattoos In The Workplace Sarah Jo Phillips COM/150 December 19, 2009 Kathleen D’Aprix In some professions, having visible tattoos is completely taboo and in others it is not only accepted, but embraced. What it boils down to is the level of trust the job requires. Tattoos can mean nothing to an observer, or they could mean everything. Those in professional industry such as doctors, lawyers and teachers are expected to be professionals and dress in a certain manor. The most basic mistake new employees make is under dressing,† says Randall Hansen, a professor of business at Stetson University in Deland, Fla. â€Å"If unsure, dress conservatively. The best way to avoid a problem is to understand the corporate culture,† (Reeves). Dressing conservatively means to not display yourself outlandishly or draw too much attention. Tattoos are like a piece of clothing that cannot be taken off. A doctor or lawyer or investment banker deals with a lot of money and appearance says a lot about a person. A client or patient probably would not put too much trust or money in someone that looks like a biker. On that same token, in a body shop or at a factory displaying a tattoo is not such a no-no. In these manual labor professions, it is often hot, sweaty, physically taxing work and short sleeves are the norm in which case some tattoos will be visible most of the time. What about those high powered attorneys that do have tattoos? â€Å"It's a ‘don't ask, don't tell' understanding,† says Boston lawyer Dave Kimelberg, who works as general counsel for a venture capital firm. Kimelberg sticks to tattoos he can easily conceal under clothing at work — in his case, three-quarter â€Å"ink sleeves† that extend from each shoulder to the middle of his forearms but allow him to roll up his shirt sleeves on warm days,† (Goodman). This example is the most effective way to deal with the issue. Instead of making it a controversial subject, just keep them covered up. W ith the changing times, how much have employers really changed their way of thinking? In the past, a suit and tie was the appropriate attire for going to work in most professions. Women were supposed to wear dresses if they even had a job. Now, the general workplace is more casual. Most places that require a professional dress code allow just about any type of shirt as long as it has a collar. In many cases, gone are the days of having a starched white shirt and tie, now a basic polo shirt is the norm. That being said, a job is done by a person, not by what they look like. However, â€Å"the laws still tend to support employer dress code/appearance policies in general and employers retain some flexibility in creating rules that require employees to present themselves in a way that is consistent with the employer's image,† (Gross). Possibly the greatest example of this swing in attire is in the big time retail sales industry. Fifty years ago it would be unheard of if a salesman at a major department store went to work without a tie, if not a jacket. Today, places like Sears, Macy’s, Dillard’s, etc only require a polo shirt with the company insignia on it. The service industry is not about personal appearance; it is about getting things done. Employees in the service industry are given more freedom in their dress code because appearance is not everything. If something breaks, the customer wants it fixed right and done fast. As long as those two criteria are met, they could care less what the technician looks like. On the other hand, would you trust the brain surgeon that has tattoos across his knuckles? Probably not. That is because there is a lot more trust put into that surgeon than there is in that mechanic. In white collar professions tattoos can prevent clientele from using your business. If you walked into your child’s third grade class and saw that the teacher had tattoos on his hands, chances are you would probably not like it very much. In white collar society tattoos are still a taboo that most are not willing to test. The image that comes to mind when most of society thinks of a highly successful CEO or lawyer does not include tattoos. The only way to accurately answer the question of acceptability of tattoos in the workplace is to consider each situation on a case by case basis. In some professions they are not a problem at all while in others they can cause friction between staff members and management. There is not a single answer to the question because it is all about how they fit within the structure of the specific work environment. There are many factors in what is and is not acceptable in the workplace. Between the amount of contact between an employee and the clientele, the amount of professionalism involved in the position, the norms of the profession and the position itself, having a tattoo can make or break a potential job. Getting a tattoo s a conscious act, that being said, think before you ink and your let your own judgments tell you whether or not to get that visible tattoo. Goodman, M. (2008, June 19). Too Tattooed to work?. Retrieved from http://www. cnn. com/2008/LIVING/worklife/06/19/too. tattooed. to. work/ Gross, B. (n. d. ). Tattoos in the workplace: what's an employer to do?. Retrieved from http://www. allbusiness. com/human-resources /workforce-management-employee/4113152-1. html Klaus, Mary. â€Å"Tattoos in the workplace no longer a taboo. † Pennlive. com. 19 Jul 2009. Pennsylvania Local News, Web. 15 Nov 2009.

Business Research Methods Essay Example for Free

Business Research Methods Essay Starbucks (158) , Research methods (28) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints Starbucks grew as it attracted many people, leading to tripling its stores worldwide. It became part of every neighborhood, appearing on every street, in airports, supermarkets, and roadside rest stops all over America. This is when complaints began to surface that Starbucks is transforming into a fast-food restaurant and not a coffee house. The coffee industry was no longer dominated by Starbucks, for competitors began to put pressure on the business. In addition, the biggest dilemma to hit Starbucks was the 2008 economic crisis. This took a toll on the consumer who saw Starbucks as a luxury and searched for more affordable alternatives. As a result, Starbucks’ management was faced with the need to generate the right management question that would be the thread to making the best decision through its research design. An organizational dilemma can spark a research question. Once an organization determines a situation exists, research methods start to devise and eventually sample designs are implemented. When people think of Starbucks, do they think of great customer service, quality products, clean store, or great coffee? The organizational dilemma is: how should Starbucks go about keeping loyal customers while overcoming the old perceptions and changing with the times. According to Howard Schultz, â€Å"We are not in the coffee business serving people; we are in the people business serving coffee† (Starbucks Board of Directors, 2008). Marius Pretorius (2008) research infers Starbuck’s organizational dilemma, whether strategic or operational is not diminished when using Michael Porter’s (1985) generic strategies for competitive advantage. Declining sales require a turnaround solution that address strategic causes and cost relationship pressures that govern demand determinants. Which are â€Å"highly susceptible to external influences that are not clearly visible to the decision-makers† (Pretorius, 2008, pg. 21). Designing a two-stage exploratory study to identify the basis of distress and the key determinants is essential to a turnaround strategic plan. An exploratory study provides sufficient flexibility to address research costs, timelines, and development of clear constructs to address priorities and operational definitions (Cooper & Schindler, 2011). The first stage of the study will look to ascertain the causation of the organizational dilemma and postulate the asymmetrical relationships in declining sales by examining both internal and external independent and dependent variables. This research will categorize findings into four relationship types as stimulus-response, property-disposition, disposition-behavior, or property-behavior. This will refine the second stage of research and explore influencing factors in depth. Characteristics and Operational Definitions The research design will produce casual inferences upon which a complementary strategy will result. â€Å"Although they may be neither permanent nor universal, these inferences allow us to build knowledge of presumed causes over time† (Cooper & Schindler, 2011, pg. 154). Therefore, it is important to identify moderating or interactive variable dependencies. To ensure data validity operational definitions will challenge data to meet specific standards. These definitions may not exhibit the organization’s use but will establish a means to classify clearly an event. The main concern is to establish actionable information in which contributory or contingent effects on the original independent to dependent variable (IV–DV) relationship will provide empirical conclusions. References Cooper, D.R. & Schindler, P.S. (2011). Business research methods (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Porter, M.E., (1985). Competitive advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance. New York, NY: The Free Press Pretorius, M., (2008). When Porter’s generic strategies are not enough: Complementary strategies for turnaround situations. Journal of Business Strategy 29(6): 19–28. Starbucks Board of Directors. (2008). Retrieved 2 2013, February, from Starbucks.com: www.starbucks.com/aboutus/environment.asp Starbucks, (2011) Our Company: Mission Statement. We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Demand Managment and Energy Storage Research Paper

Demand Managment and Energy Storage - Research Paper Example The article opines that with the help of effective load management techniques, companies will be able to waste less energy resources and hence will be able to increase the effectiveness of the use of electricity power. Another important benefit that can be acquired from effective use of load management services is increment in global competitiveness and control in demand for electricity services and also for energy services (Bellannine, 2000, pp. 139-144). The article into the wider context: In every sphere of life electricity services are required and hence the demand for these services is growing rapidly. Business organisations, educational institutes as well as houses need electricity services each and every time of their lives. Due to all these reasons the industry for electricity services is growing rapidly in modern times compared to the past. Companies which supply electricity services to households and business organisations need to meet up the growing demand. The growing nee d for electricity power throughout the world has implemented the need for reservation and also of the management of demand and supply of these energy services (Farret and Simoes, 2006, pp.19-21). The demand and supply management are required to provide large supply of these services to the customers and also to provide sustainable use of electricity power across the globe. Load management techniques are required to be used by companies which supply electricity services all over the world to ensure this sustainable use of electricity power. This will help to effectively manage the demand for and supply of these resources all over the world. The load management technique can be used by power... This paper approves that there are other ideas that may be used as in the demand side management. One of these ideas is the distributed generation. The notion of distributive generation is related to the fact that power energy is collected from many different sources and supplied. The most important advantage of use of distribution generation techniques is that it creates lesser negative impacts on the environment. This also improves the level of security in the process of supplying electricity power. This essay makes a conclusion that effective use of load management techniques is largely dependent upon the effective uses of both demand side management techniques as well as supply side management techniques. Again effective use of demand side management techniques depend largely upon the particular benefit of the technology in case of particular home. The article also concludes that the power companies motivate consumers to implement effective demand side management techniques so that the effective use of electricity power can be implemented in every house, commercial place or industry. Different energy storage and various demand management techniques are listed in this article. These are listed for the purpose of providing a wider view to the reader which power companies are facing in relation to demand management and storage of energy. Thus, sustainable uses of load demand side and supply side management techniques will make load management techniques globally competitive and h ence will increase the efficiency of the use of this power source.

Financial n accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial n accounting - Essay Example In past, these systems include manual processes but now due to technology advancement the accounting information system changed into Computerized Accounting Information System. Improvement in technology have replaced manual accounting system with computerizes ones. As computers become faster, less expensive, and easier to use; all organizations are using computers in their day to day business. With the help of computers, companies can now capture, process, store, and transmit data. It controls the topics which are related to organization’s economic- financial area. It helps in decision-making process, performance evaluation, facilitating company’s transaction and in internal controls through computerized accounting information system. It combines concepts and accounting principles to record, process, analyse the financial information and then produce it to its end users for the purpose of making economic decisions. Firm’s performance can be improved, through oper ational efficiency and increased profitability (Fowzia and Nasrin, 2011, p.1). Software tools in the Computerized Accounting Information System (CAIS) Accounting software This software consists of basic accounting functions like input, processing and output. There are two types of accounting software i.e. low-end software and high-end software. Personal computer based accounting system enable companies to provide better and timely information. Income tax Currently tax preparation software is available for companies. So, even in a short period of time complex calculations can be done. Audit Trial balance software helps auditors to handle different types of adjusting entries, to input the working trial balance and mechanically compute the adjusted trial balance. Word processing Word processing software is used by the accountants to prepare reports, memos, billings and financial statement. Graphics software It is used by the managerial accountants and auditors to graph the data in repo rts and financial statements. Image processing It captures electronic image of data so that it can be stored and shared. Accountants can process all the electronically by just scanning the paper documents in computer. Electronic data interchange A company can exchange documents electronically with other company with the help of electronic data interchange. Electronic funds transfer It enables companies to make collections and payment electronically. So, if companies are in a view to pay for accounts payable to a supplier, it can do it with the help of electronic fund transfer. Purpose of Computerized Accounting Information System Computerized accounting information system (CAIS) can be single programs or even part of a larger system like enterprise resource planning. The purpose of the system is to reduce manual steps in accounting process and offer automated activities in order to improve reporting. Every function plays a minor part in accounting information system. Individual func tions include accounts receivable, accounts payable, fixed assets, payroll, general accounting and cash management. CAIS often have modules that enable accountants to handle financial information related to their accounting tasks. Use of CAIS in the functioning of Organization CAIS saves time, reduce errors and eliminate waste by adopting

I'm attaching a document. Read the background information about Essay

I'm attaching a document. Read the background information about bacteria, antibiotics, and the evolution of antibiotic resistance at this site - Essay Example water or food) and susceptible person. If any of these factors are changed or eradicated the infection will not spread widely and the epidemic will be stopped. For example we can increase immunity by the vaccination or break the way of transmission by the provision of safe food or potable water. Definite doagnosis could be provided only after laboratory tests but we can suppose several gastrointestinal diseases. There are bacterial dysentery (shigellosis), protozoal dysentery (amebiasis), salmonellosis, enteroviral infection and staphylococcal intoxication. Correspondingly possible microbial pathogens could be named as shigellae (various species and strains), amoeba hystolitica, salmonella spp., eneroviridae spp. and staphylococcus auresus. Nevertheless the incubation period for staphylococcal intoxication usually is less than 12 hours. In the described case the data about the time frame of clinical signs are omitted thus we could take this type of microbial poisoning in the account. To avoid such cases there is necessary to improve hygienic skills of family members especially in the part of cooking and food preserving, educate them about the threats of microbial food-borne diseases. Proper thermal processing of food products, avoiding food with expired date or signs of spoiling could be important also. Hand washing is a key element of infection control and there is important to provide adequate treatment for family members having chronic intestinal infections. 3. Weese JS, Rousseau J. Survival of Salmonella Copenhagen in food bowls following contamination with experimentally inoculated raw meat: effects of time, cleaning, and disinfection. Can Vet J. 2006 Sep;47(9):887-9. 5. Callaway TR, Harvey RB, Nisbet DJ. The hygiene hypothesis and foodborne illnesses: too much of a good thing, or is our food supply too clean? Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2006 Fall;3(3):217-9. No abstract

Compare two of the regional human rights systems, analyzing the Essay

Compare two of the regional human rights systems, analyzing the similarities and differences in their respective approaches to the protection and promotion of human rights - Essay Example They are the precursors of normative frameworks. They form the minimum standards that a member state has to adhere to while enacting their municipal law must conform to these standards. This means that in any case a country seeks to enact a municipal dealing with a matter that is covered under any human right system, then that country needs to use the standard set in that particular human right system as the benchmark. There are three main human rights systems in the world; the European Human Right System, the Americas Human Rights system and the African Human right system. For the purposes of this paper, the comparison shall be focused on the European and the African Human Rights system. The choice of the two is influenced by the fact that the European Human Right system was the first to develop while the African human right system is the last to develop. Another motivation for choosing these two systems is derived from the fact one is established in the developed region while the other is developed in a developing region. Despite the existence of the African Human rights system there is still a high level of human rights violation. It is important to note that each of these human rights systems developed out of influences and forces unique to the nations involved. These systems developed at different times and were triggered by different reasons. It is also imperative to note that each of these three systems has specific and tailor -made solutions and means to ensure that the specific rights of a certain group of people is catered for. The matters that led to the development of the European Human Right system were influenced by the World War II. On the other hand, the African Human Right system was triggered by other factors the main one being colonialism. Robertson (1982) propounds that the belief by the European nations that in order to secure democracy human rights had to be respected. The East Europe as well as the Western

Benefits of Effective Leadership in 21st Century Organization-HR Dissertation - 1

Benefits of Effective Leadership in 21st Century Organization-HR - Dissertation Example The other methodological components discussed here include the sample selection, the statistical procedures that were used, not to mention the ethical considerations and methodological limitations that were considered. The overall intent is to deepen the insight and understanding of the reader as to this study’s internal and external validity. 3.2 Research Approach It is necessary to discuss the research approach, to understand the rationale behind its choice. In particular, the present study aims to use a purely quantitative study in determining the benefits of leadership to 21st century enterprises. Quantitative studies are positive in nature, and so aim to further understand a phenomenon of interest by taking it and then separating it into smaller, simpler parts for greater structure and ease of measurement (Bernard 2006). These separate parts are analyzed on their own, hopefully promoting general understanding of the bigger picture with the help of universal laws. This particular study focuses on the benefits of effective leadership to contemporary organisations. Such quantitative methods are arguably the best choice for researchers hampered by time and resource limitations, due to their remarkable clarity, as well as their straightforward and well-structured nature. Given a scientifically valid survey, research objectives can easily be met , and a large amount of data can be culled from a vast sample with only minimal effort (Gall, Borg & Gall 2003). These data, gathered from the respondents – in this case, the HR representatives of contemporary organisations – serve as the primary data. Moreover, it was important for the researcher to ensure the questionnaire’s validity and reliability prior to its deployment, to ensure correspondingly valid research outcomes (Bryman 2001). Quantitative methods often boast of a plethora of advantages compared to qualitative ones, but also have a number of flaws as well. For one thing, quantitative methods are not usually known for being flexible, nor are they generally capable of gathering detailed data on their own. On the other hand, qualitative research methods can generally be adequate even with just a single case being investigated, assuming that said investigation was in-depth (Sekaran 2000). Regardless, though, quantitative methods are still the more advis able choice for researchers who lack manpower and resources (Johnson & Turner 2002) for data gathering and analyses. 3.3 Research Strategy The purpose of this study is to examine the perceived benefits of effective leadership to various organisations, all by using purely quantitative methods. Specifically, the survey that was used for this study is the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire. The point of a survey is that specific information is collected on a given population, and their effectiveness and efficiency help to explain why researchers the world over have used them to great effect. For instance, researchers found such methods well-suited for denoting the specific traits of their population, and for gathering huge amounts of data while expending only minimal time, effort and resources (Gall et al 2003). The general idea behind a survey is to gather data with the intent of deepening familiarity with the phenomenon of interest, and with its related constructs – in this case, the perceived benefits of effective leadership to modern-day organisations. Such a method also has the best results when one’s sample size is larger, and when one desires to tackle the constructs of interest systematically and in a structured manner (Bryman 2001). Questionnaires are typically pencil-and-paper instruments, either mailed to

Literature Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Literature Review - Essay Example This DSME program was made for people with low incomes and lack of diabetes knowledge so that they can be prevented from being diagnosed with diabetes (Kemper et al., 2005). This article discusses the increasing rate of diabetic patients hospitalized in New York State, and the effects on the number of people hospitalized with diabetes. The ages of these hospitalized diabetic patients are between 25 and 74 years old in New York City from 1993 to2000. The study measured and compared the rates of hospitalized diabetics from  specific ZIP codes and persistent organic pollutant (POP) areas; an analytical data method was used in this article. The results were that patients in ZIP sites had better incomes, engaged in more physical activity, not as much use of smoking, and had better diets. Also, the hospitalization rate of diabetics influenced the ZIP codes sites, which raised the hospitalization rates of people with diabetes who came from POP sites and "other" (Kouznetsova et al., 2007). The research in "Fatigue in employees with diabetes: Its relation with work characteristics and diabetes-related burden" is about how work characteristics from the Job Demand-Control-Support model (JDCS) relate to fatigue and diabetes. The population used in this study was employees aged between 30 and 60 years old who have diabetes (type 1 and 2 diabetes); this study was taken from a diabetes clinic in the Netherlands. The job stress or pressure for the employees was measured through analytical data observation. The result was that diabetes symptoms have a huge effect on an employee’s fatigue levels (Weijman et al., 2003). Also, the less support that employees received in the work environment meant the greater fatigue problems that employees had. On the other hand, the study that affects gender and health showed the effects of gender roles and influence on health. Whereas women live longer than men, women get sicker more often than men (Bird and Fremont, 1991). This article discusses three health inequality models: the racial genetic model, lifestyle model, and socioeconomic status model. The use of these three models is to show health inequality for African-Americans and compare that with the healthcare that white Americans receive. The author discussed in detail about the healthcare differences for both ethnic groups. Next, the author listed all the major health problems and provided statistics to show racial inequality; it has been mentioned in other research that inequality in healthcare derives from the inequality in health insurance (Quesnel-Vallee, 2004). Finally, the author presented and discussed the social structural model, or what he called the alternative model (Dressler, 1993). The author used observational and analytical research for the population of African-Americans in terms of gender and age in the United States. He measured socioeconomic and health statuses to see whether there was a difference in diet, exercise, and consumption of alcohol and cigarettes for each ethnic group. Also, in this research the author was specific regarding darker skin colors of Americans (Dressler, 1993). For this study’s results, he found that the health of African-Americans health was on average poorer than white Americans. For health inequality, the author found that African-Americans had a higher likelihood of a major cause of mortality than white people;

Factors That Influence Consumers Purchasing Decision Essay

Factors That Influence Consumers Purchasing Decision - Essay Example The researcher states that a mind map has been developed in order to explain the various factors that are observed to largely influence the buying procedure of iPhone 5S. A group debate has also been conducted in order to analyze the aforesaid subject matter, i.e. the patterns of consumer behavior in the iPhone 5S market context. In relation to the findings obtained, it can be apparently observed that psychological, personal, social and situational factors impose strong influences on consumers’ purchasing decisions. Furthermore, the group debate revealed various internal along with external factors that play a distinctive role to determine the selection and purchase procedures of products and/or services as followed by consumers in the modern-day markets. Consumer behavior is described as the study of the activities that commonly involve searching, evaluating and purchasing of specific products or services followed by the customers in satisfying their respective requirements. This concept mainly concentrates on how people make decisions concerning the utilization of money, time and effort on consuming products and/or services. In other words, it can be affirmed that consumer buying behavior can be described as the activities with respect to acquisition, utilization, and disposition of products, services, thoughts, and experiences. In the field of marketing management, consumer behavior explains the reasons and logic that trigger purchasing decision and consumption pattern of the buyers. It elucidates the procedure by which, consumers make purchasing decisions. This definition clearly exhibits the idea that consumer behavior is a decision-making procedure, which begins in the mind of the customers and leads towards a set if short-listed substitute products or services that can be purchased or availed to suffice their requirements. Subsequently, understanding consumer behavior is important because it assists organizations to develop strategies and ensure s uccessful attainment of their marketing goals.

Health and Social Care Essay Example for Free

Health and Social Care Essay We acknowledge with sincere thanks the many people who gave generously of their time to help us with this work. We particularly appreciate the expertise and advice o? ered by Arnon Bentovim, Richard Velleman, Lorna Templeton, Carolyn Davies and Sheena Prentice. The work has been funded by the Department for Education and we thank sta? in the department, particularly Jenny Gray who supported us throughout the work with her interest and valuable comments. The work was assisted by an advisory group whose membership was: Isabella Craig and Jenny Gray (Department for Education); Christine Humphrey (Department of Health) and Sian Rees (NICE); Arnon Bentovim (consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Tavistock Clinic); Marian Brandon (reader in social work, University of East Anglia); Carolyn Davies  (research advisor, Institute of Education, University of London); Jo Fox (social work consultant, Child-Centred Practice); David Jones (consultant child and family psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry; University of Oxford); Sue McGaw (specialist in learning disabilities, Cornwall Partnership Trust); Sheena Prentice (specialist midwife in substance misuse, Nottingham City PCT); Wendy Rose (The Open University); Lorna Templeton (manager of the Alcohol, Drugs and the Family Research Programme, University of Bath); and Richard Velleman (University of Bath and director of development and research, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust). Introduction This second edition of Children’s Needs – Parenting Capacity provides an update on the impact of parental problems, such as substance misuse, domestic violence, learning disability and mental illness, on children’s welfare. Research, and in particular the biennial overview reports of serious case reviews (Brandon et al 2008; 2009; 2010), have continued to emphasise the importance of understanding and acting on concerns about children’s safety and welfare when living in households where these types of parental problems are present. Almost three quarters of the children in both this and the 2003-05 study had been living with past or current domestic violence and or parental mental ill health and or substance misuse – often in combination. (Brandon et al 2010, p. 112) These concerns were very similar to those that prompted the ? rst edition of this book, which was commissioned following the emergence of these themes from the Department of Health’s programme of child protection research studies (Department of Health 1995a). These studies had demonstrated that a high level of parental mental illness, problem alcohol and drug abuse and domestic violence were present in families of children who become involved in the child protection system. Research context The 2010 Government statistics for England demonstrate that, as in the 1990s, only a very small proportion of children referred to children’s social care become the subject of a child protection plan (Department for Education 2010b). However, the types of parental problems outlined above are not con? ned to families where a child is the subject of a child protection plan (Brandon et al. 2008, 2009, 2010; Rose and Barnes 2008). In many families children’s health and development are being a? ected by the di? culties their parents are experiencing. The ? ndings from research, however, suggest that services are not always forthcoming. Practically a quarter of referrals to children’s social care resulted in no action being taken (Cleaver and Walker with Meadows 2004). Lord Laming’s progress report (2009) also expressed concerns that referrals to children’s services from other professionals did not always lead to an initial assessment and that ‘much more needs to be done to ensure that the services are as e? ective as possible at working together to achieve positive outcomes for children’ (Lord Laming 2009, p. 9, paragraph 1. 1). Practitioners’ fear of failing to identify a child in need of protection is also a factor driving up the numbers of referrals to children’s social care services which result in no provision of help. ‘This is creating a skewed system that is paying so much attention to identifying cases of abuse 2 Children’s Needs – Parenting Capacity and neglect that it is draining time and resource away from families’ (Munro 2010, p. 6). Munro’s Interim Report (2011) draws attention once again to the highly traumatic experience for children and families who are drawn into the Child Protection system where maltreatment is not found, which leaves them with a fear of asking for help in the future. A ? nding which was identi? ed by earlier research on child protection (Cleaver and Freeman 1995). Evidence from the 1995 child protection research (Department of Health 1995a) indicated that when parents have problems of their own, these may adversely a? ect their capacity to respond to the needs of their children. For example, Cleaver and Freeman (1995) found in their study of suspected child abuse that in more than half of the cases, families were experiencing a number of problems including mental illness or learning disability, problem drinking and drug use, or domestic violence. A similar picture of the di? culties facing families who have been referred to children’s social care services emerges from more recent research (Cleaver and Walker with Meadows 2004). It is estimated that there are 120,000 families experiencing multiple problems, including poor mental health, alcohol and drug misuse, and domestic violence. ‘Over a third of these families have children subject to child protection procedures’ (Munro 2011, p. 30, paragraph 2. 30). Children’s services have the task of identifying children who may need additional services in order to improve their well-being as relating to their: (a) physical and mental health and emotional well-being; (b) protection from harm and neglect; (c) education, training and recreation; (d) the contribution made by them to society; and (e) social and economic well-being. (Section 10(2) of the Children Act 2004) The Common Assessment Framework (Children’s Workforce Development Council 2010) and the Assessment Framework (Department of Health et al. 2000) enable frontline professionals working with children to gain an holistic picture of the child’s world and identify more easily the di? culties children and families may be experiencing. Although research suggests that social workers (Cleaver et al. 2007) and health professionals are equipped to recognise and respond to indications that a child is being, or is likely to be, abused or neglected, there is less evidence in relation to teachers and the police (Daniel et al. 2009). The identi? cation of children’s needs may have improved, but understanding how parental mental illness, learning disabilities, substance misuse and domestic violence a? ect children and families still requires more attention. For example, a small in-depth study found less than half (46%) of the managers in children’s social care, health and the police rated as ‘good’ their understanding of the impact on children of parental substance misuse, although this rose to 61% in relation to the impact of domestic violence (Cleaver et al. 2007). The need for more training on assessing the likelihood of harm to children of parental drug and alcohol misuse.

A political social movement Essay Example for Free

A political social movement Essay One problem the researcher had when operationalising the meaning of punk is that there was a varying meaning of punk. To the people who defined themselves as punk it was a political social movement, to others it was seen as fashion. Another problem is that it was hard to say whom the punks were because of how they act or dress. Some of the people who would say they were punk would not dress or act to the ideal, where others who were acting and dressing to the ideal would not identify themselves as punk. One reason why some sociologists may prefer qualitative methods is that it gives a truer insight into what a respondent has to say. This therefore improves the validity of the research. A second reason is that it provides greater depth into social life. It allows the researcher to look at society in more detail and other than its counter part not just as figures in a table. The research findings in item A tell us that once you label yourself as punk, you undertake three stages in a punk career. In the three stages there are what they define as being punk, how they behave, and their core values. The first stage is rebellion. Their definition of a punk is unconventional and a non-conformist. Their behaviour is anarchic and deviant. The way they dress and hairstyle is aimed to shock people and offend. Their core values at this stage are rejecting and opposing mainstream values. The second stage is belonging. They become a member of a subculture. They conform to common standards of dress, behaviour and may also start body piercing. They value being accepted by peers of being a true punk, not just a poseur. The third stage is belief in core values. They believe that punk values are more important than dress, looks etc. Their behaviour is individual do it yourself creative expression. They value personal integrity, individualism, honesty, and being unique.

Rituals And Beliefs In Venezuela

Rituals And Beliefs In Venezuela In Venezuela and around the world has had been developed endless medical specialties, psychological, science and technology very rapidly, in the same way and nearly at the same speed, also, has emerged a large number of beliefs, myths, religions that each day rises with a booming effect. In fact, in the XXI century these religions, beliefs and superstitious practices, such as witchcraft, they manifest themselves with a large number of followers and/or curious people that are consulted with the idea that the shaman, medium or wizard help them to solve their problems, whether physical, mental, economic or any other nature. Some people queried for evil or revenge from others who according to them are the responsible to the origin of the conflict, and then there are those still without ever having attended a witchcraft ritual or religion and they are usually followers of Christianity or Catholicism, those people express to believe or to be under the effects of a work of magic and / or sorcery, or have a firm belief that witchcraft is real and something to be fear of. We often hear from these people phrases like I dont believe in witches, but if there are, there are, or with the Saints do not play (referring to Santeria which is a syncretic cult of witchcraft). Santeria: A religion that combines beliefs of the Yoruba and Bantu people of Southern Nigeria, Senegal, and the Guinea coast with elements of Roman Catholicism, with roots in the Caribbean. Donnelly (2005:65) explains how in this century Venezuelans increasingly break with a series of taboos imposed from the Spanish conquest about customs and religion, which opens a new door to the practice of rituals, spiritualism and occultism, being a heritage of ancestors, natives and slaves of the past. This cultural legacy, talking about occultism, rites and religions intermingle to combine religion, magic, occultism, between the sacred and pagan, between the rational and irrational, is to give a deeper meaning to life or tangible and its problems, is to looking for a closer God and not abstract or distant one. (Marin,1986:27). Because many of the religious practices and beliefs are transmitted by oral tradition, such as Santeria, they have not established a clear basis; in fact many of these religions and pseudo religions are characterized by a complex process of syncretism that even today continues. According Gruson (1970:34), the most popular religion is Catholicism, where 80 percent of the population consider themselves Catholic, whether or not they are participants. The faithful believe in God, but he is far from this world, the rites are directed towards the saints, the Virgin and the Souls who are closer to the humans. Religion provides the afflicted people the solution of many problems, including physical and mental health; also it has recreational purposes (dances, parties), psychological (ego gratification, when a person has an important position in the ritual organization), social (cronyism) and medicinal (miracle cures). Popular religions believe in nature spirits and other supernatural entities, ghosts and miraculous goblins, this is considered Catholic and does not cause damage to the basic structure of religion. Private rites are secrets, they are done in time of crisis, performed with a single purpose, but the intention is to alleviate the problem of the client or do evil, while the public rites are rather linked to official Catholicism. A mixture between paganism and sacred characterizes popular Catholicism. The rituals and symbols of Catholicism often have a different meaning for members of the educated classes than lower class or humble peasants. Catholics go to church, but also they practice rites of Santerà ­a at spiritualist centres, at the same time they may visit the graves of folk saints, spiritual healers or get a consultation via Internet. Even in most TV channels is possible to watch programs of cartomancy, tarot, among others, with a considerable rating, over 7%. (IBOPE AGB Venezuela, 2010). For example, baptism is considered a rite that protects the newborn against all evil influences; the cross for example, contains powers to ward off evil spirits. Although the Christianization of the Indians and black slaves during the colonial era, many concepts and oldest religious practices were preserved, which could flourish outside of official Christianity, all this is embedded so strong on this culture, that some medical professionals recommend the use of spell against the evil eye and shingles (sufferings of religious connotation) (Molina,1947:90-110). There is no evidence of serious or reflective studies regarding the present topic, but it is interesting to note that religious and pagan is widespread in this country, rituals of witchcraft, sorcery, popular religiosity and Catholic beliefs has been mixed together; among the most common are Nigerian Santeria or traditional and Cuban santeria (Martin, 1983:74). The practice of psychotherapy in Venezuela is new, there are very few professionals in the country and it is not specifically regulated by any entity, except the Venezuelan Association of Psychotherapist (AVEPSI), located in the capital city Caracas and formed in 2009. The practice of this specialty in Venezuela is highly welcomed by the general public, but a continuous education and feedback from the therapist towards the client and vice versa, in areas such as clinical hypnosis, beliefs in the supernatural, myths and rituals are necessary. The therapist may face a diversity of situations, similar to those faced Carl Jung and referred in his thesis On the Psychology and Pathology of So-Called Occult Phenomena (1902) in which he describes a young woman apparently suffering supernatural attacks. According to the previous explanation, surges a need to do a study that lead to answer the following question: Does beliefs; religious or esoteric practices of Venezuelans influence the psychotherapeutic practice in Venezuela? From the above question arise the following objectives: General objective Describe the influence of religions, beliefs, magic and witchcraft in the practice of psychotherapy in Venezuela SPECIFIC OBJETIVES Identify religious beliefs, magic or witchcraft on patients attending psychotherapeutic consultation. Estimate approximately the practice of religious rituals, magic or witchcraft in clients attending to psychotherapeutic consultation. Recognize the efficiency of Psychotherapy Techniques in the treatment of clients with religious tendencies or witchcraft practitioners. CHAPTER I Theoretical Framework Rites and Beliefs in Venezuela Some scholars take the practice of witchcraft in Venezuela as somewhat folkloric (Cazabone, 2009:89) unlike other countries where some rites have diabolical connotations with animal sacrifices involved. This folkloric aspect is closely linked with the Venezuelan humorous character, who in general do not take very seriously the powers of magic; the just in case, or I dont believe in witches, but if there are, there are, gives a sense of belief in certain aspects in the occult. Branch (in Zalazar et al, 2001:67) concluded that this Venezuelan way of be is a historic stereotype, derivative from miscegenation and the character of the participants on it, highlighting the ingenuity of indigenous, the hard labour of black workers and the conquerors arrogance. These archetypes explains Branch, play an important role to explaining the Venezuelan people characteristics , concluding that the Venezuelan broadly is cheerful and humorous by its black and Spanish heritage, smart for his Spanish and Indian roots, loving and generous the Indian heredity, but by the other hand, the negative side, lazy by the Indian essence, disorganized and wasteful by their black ancestry, disrespectful to the law and violent by the Spanish origin, nevertheless none of these influences have or are backed by scientific evidence, are simply social images that continue to be relevant (Zalazar et al, 2001:89). Moreover, beliefs and magic-religious practices are a privileged means to express realities, conflicts, emotions and hidden feelings, taking place beyond the ability to be rational. Christian (2009:30-45) explains that a great number of people light candles to different deities (Black First, Philip Black, Guaicaipuro, Maria Lionza, etc.) In order they may grant miracles or favours. This use of gadgets is a psychological strategy, Figueroa (2005:82) explains that humans use to control their lives and overcome their limitations in an environment that sometimes exceeds his capacity for understanding and action. Moreover, the use of talismans and / or amulets or just called vulture seed, the aloe plant are used in rituals and cults as a means of protection or lucky charms. Cabazone (2009:97) describes that the leader and ex-president Romulo Betancourt said with an air of certainty that his pipe was put under spell by a witch, and many believed that this was the key to its success. Magic and all its techniques is one of these resources and sometimes this faith on a ritual or belief generates spectacular solutions. Figueroa (2005:89) suggest, that the use of talismans and amulets dates from the ancient times and worldwide great men, politicians, artists, soldiers, athletes, etc., have behaved and carry symbols of good luck, giving high regard to the power of positive suggestion, so have been able to accomplish their purposes. The psychological effect makes believers to have faith on the amulet, rite, or talisman. The role of religion in Venezuelan culture and beliefs As discussed, the cultural background and miscegenation have been influential in Venezuelan culture, even on the whole Latin America despite an apparent secularization. Notably, worldwide, all cultures of the world were shaped by religion, no one ethnic group escapes this process and on the same area, magical religious traditions and customs have influenced significantly in social relationships, community life and moral codes, this faith in supernatural beings is evident not only in Venezuela but throughout the world (Pollak-Eltz, 2004:69). In Venezuela and throughout Latin America, Catholicism, shaped the culture that until recently had absolute monopoly; all social classes were influenced. Today the official and popular religions are expressions of different types of lifestyles, on the one hand, traditional or popular religiosity has curative and magical and is generally practiced by popular sectors and secondly official Roman Catholicism practiced by people in urban areas. In this sense, the proliferation of rites and beliefs and personal interpretations of followers and practitioners and the lack of a defined priestly liturgy make these practices and cults an easy target of charlatans and abusers. Among the most popular cults is that of Maria Lionza, in which the medium is possessed he or she fall in trance (matter) and them the spirit that possesses the person is consulted and this gives advice to the person seeking help. The cult of Maria Lionza is complex and covers all magical and religious beliefs of Venezuelan people and forms a synthesis of magical practices, within a religious context. (Pollak-Eltz, 2004:82). Can be said that this is a syncretic cult with practical solutions through rituals that recognize the values of Christianity, in fact, Maria Lionza is sometimes identified with the Virgin of Coromoto and/or an indigenous spirit. Magic is present on this cult and its techniques are neither good nor bad, but can be used for do good or evil. Wizards pretend to manipulate those forces and claim to possess supernatural and extraordinary powers to communicate with the supernatural world (matter). Pollak-Eltz (2004:83) states that Faith is the cause of miracles. Because these techniques can be learnt, the magician is not responsible for acts performed; he or she is an officer to whom the client pays their services. This magician or medium often has the knowledge to solve problems and cure diseases, and is an excellent psychologist despite his limited formal education. According Pollak-Eltz (2004:106) or pagan religion of witchcraft was faded from the countryside to the cities. This culture is broadly Christian and despite advances in technology and medicine is popular religiosity more alive than ever, and thats because the popular religion is utilitarian, giving spiritual support and serves as a psychological calming in times of personal crisis. Saignes (in Pollak-Eltz 2004:65), states that Historically, whites and slaves used to consult black healers that often had more success than white surgeons in healing the sick. Their knowledge on medicinal plants and magical rites brought a increased the prestige of the African medicine-men. This figure of the magician or sorcerer could be seen as the representation of an idol, which has the privilege to channel and guide the prosperity or misfortune at will of others. This is reflected according to Rojas (2006:30), in the particular character of Venezuelan people when they worship a person or religious figure on which can be trusted and surrender. Popular Religion The misfortunes and influence that the church had in the 19th and 20th has no relevance in how Venezuelans built his ideas about faith and deities. Since colonial times, this unique blend between religion and popular religion came framed on a profound mystery of the supernatural and esoteric (Gackstetter et al, 2010:45). There is a term called The three powers, has nothing to do with the Catholic Trinity. Maria Lionza is symbolized as the Virgin Mary, these represent the three main components of the country identity, in other words, European, African and indigenous. On this court of spirits enters Simon Bolivar (liberator of Venezuela from Spanish rule) Andrà ©s Bello, Negro Felipe (First Black, a black slave who was also murdered by the colonists), Negra Matea (Bolà ­vars nanny), Jose Gregorio Hernandez and other Catholic saints. The cult of Maria Lionza is not a religion guided or hierarchical; the shaman or mediums simply ask questions to the believers about their families, problems, disputes, financial problems, or medical problems. Sometimes people who seek help and have a relative in jail, seek help from Juan Vicente Gomez, those political questions do through Simon Bolivar. Believers generally have a high intensity of spiritual devotion, and made a pilgrimage to Sorte Mountain (near Chivacoa in Yaracuy State) with the belief that the goddess will solve the situation or mishap. Believers choose a corner in the woods or a bend in the river to build an altar from which invoke, this is called portals. Usually is decorated with photographs, figures and figurines, glasses with rum or brandy, cigars, cigarettes cross, flowers and fruits. There are several versions of this legend. One of them says that a green-eye Indian woman called Yara was baptized as Maria del Prado of Talavera de Niva. The Cacique Yaracuy sent her to the mountains where it is said she rode on an ounce (leopardus pardali). So Mary was called the Onza and then Maria Lionza. It is believed that her cult was born of devotion to the forces of nature and the spirits of the rivers, jungles and caves. Maria Lionza is part of a trinity along with Guaicaipuro, an Indian chief murdered by the Spanish colonists, and Negro Felipe. These three saints are the leading figures of the cult and lead several courts of lesser deities. These courts are: The Indian Court led by Marà ­a Lionza and composed of many Venezuelan Indian chiefs. The Medical Court led by Josà © Gregorio Hernà ¡ndez and composed of many other famous doctors. The Court of the Juans made up by a number of figures belonging to Venezuelan folklore. The Teachers Court led by Andrà ©s Bello and some other authors. The Black and African Court, led by popular black figures of Venezuelan history such as La Negra Matea (who was a slave to the Bolivars and nanny of Simà ³n Bolà ­var), and El Negro Primero (Pedro Camejo) who was known as Negro Primero because he was black and also among the first to go into combat. The Celestial Court composed of a number of Catholic saints. The Political Court, which includes Simà ³n Bolà ­var. The Court of Malandros, made up of deceased criminals. The Viking Court, with various of the important Viking chiefs. Maria Lionza has had a great social and cultural significance that transcends their followers. Her cult was unveiled outside Yaracuy to the 50s of last century, when in 1953 during the tenure of General Marcos Pà ©rez Jimà ©nez, the sculptor Alexander Hill (1901-1953) built the famous sculpture of Maria Lionza on a Tapir, (Tapirus terrestris), which has been for over 50 years on the Eastern Freeway in Caracas. On this cult nothing is written, is transmitted orally from generation to generation (cited in http://www.rnw.nl/espanol/video/cultos-populares-venezuela-adoraci%C3%B3n-de-mar%C3%ADa-lionza., 2021). Most relevant Churches and cults in Venezuela Among religious organizations and cults largest in the country are: (source: Directorate of Religious Affairs of the Ministry of Justice in Venezuela,1989). 1. Protestant or Evangelical: After the Diet of Speyer* or Diet of Spires protest in 1529, there was no intention of proselytizing in Latin America, neither to the evangelizing mission. The main interest was focused only on the Reformation, which resulted that Protestantism could not take root in Latin America until the mid-nineteenth century with little success. However, over the years the indicators have changed, even the statistics of late twentieth century are really growing not only in terms of evangelical denominations but also on other spiritualistic denominations. They are grouped into the following: a. Anglicanism. b. Presbyterian Church c. Lutheran Church. d. Baptists. e. New Tribes Mission. *Diet of Speyer or Diet of Spires refers to any of the sessions of the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire, of which 50 took place between 838 and 1570 in the city of Speyer (Spires), now in Germany. The most famous sessions occurred in 1526 and 1529 (Wikipedia 2011). 2. Confederate Evangelicals: Religious currents coming from the United States and has Christian connotations. 3. The Pentecostals: They represent a rapidly growing movement with unique characteristics. This religious movement is marked by Methodism and the American Baptists. Pentecostals came to Venezuela in 1940, and its founder the Rev. Irvin Olson, an American Baptist who chose Barquisimeto as pilot center to establish the first Assembly of God in Venezuela. Then extend his work to Caracas the capital city and Falcon. 4. Pseudo Christian religion or Millennialists: These religions tend to grow easily. They have in common that their founders made a personal interpretation of the Bible, creating a new dogma around it, which means, to give different meaning to the tradition, followers believe to have the absolute truth (Mangas and Montero, 2001:110). In Venezuela there are three organizations: The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA), Jehovahs Witnesses and Mormons, the latter without registration within the Directorate of Justice and Religion. a. Seventh-day Adventists Church. b. Jehovahs Witnesses. c. Mormons. 5. Spiritual Centre: Its the Venezuelan significant inclination toward the esoteric, rituals and astral. It is not based on beliefs but on personal needs. This conciliation between the sacred and the profane has its essence in animism and polytheism primitive Strengthened by the African Christian cult with an apparent institutionalism. The Indians embraced the faith of the Catholic Church, but the survival of their beliefs and their closeness to the African slaves produced that Kind of new beliefs. 5.1. The popular indigenous court: This tendency is associated to aboriginal elements. For example, the Indian man thought on the power of natural phenomena, on the stones, lakes, rivers, and the acquisition of that supernatural power conceived by their gods. These beliefs were transmitted to subsequent generations and were fed by transcultural elements including Santeria and Spiritualism. There is no hierarchy that identifies these elements on the contemporary society. What for the Indian was a deity for the healer now is a means of economic livelihood and it is seen as a company with excellent clientele. 5.2. Spiritualists: Along with santeria, this is one of the most advanced forms of mysterious beliefs based mostly on spiritualism of Allan Kardec, French teacher and educator. He is known today as the systematizer of Spiritism for which he laid the foundation with the five books of the Spiritist Codification. It is believed that Spiritism entered to our country under the influence of immigrants from Brazil and Colombia, product of oil fever. There is no hierarchy around which are organized. The chief head leads the worship and is invoking otherworldly beings, becoming the medium and are called to perform miracles, healings, among others of its kind. 5.3. Santeria: This form of religion is more complex than others. There is a mix of indigenous elements with spiritualist elements, African and Christian origining a semi-organized hybrid. This religion takes the structure of an ancient African tribal religion of the coast of Nigeria, and has three priestly orders: the babalaos, the Orishas ministers and priests of a particular deity. African slaves brought this religion and their main centres are in Brazil, Cuba, and Haiti, subsequently gaining followers in Colombia and Venezuela (Gonzalez-Wippler, 1989:45). The Santeria in Venezuela have made an even greater mixture, they have found an equivalence between the African gods with Catholic saints, so, for example, Chango (god of lightning and thunder) has its equivalent on Santa Barbara, Oshun (river goddess) at Nuestra Seà ±ora de la Caridad del Cobre (Our Lady of Charity of Copper) and so on, giving a deity character to popular saints like Jose Gregorio Hernandez, Maria Lionza, Negro Felipe, among many others. To the priests formation a kind of tutor is assigned, who is responsible to teach the apprentice all mysteries and then a new priest is ordained. They prepare their ceremonies at sites near rivers or on a mountain as located at Sorte, Yaracuy. Once ordained, the priest is ready to heal, and to remove evils spirits, that acording to them are the ones who tie the individual. Constants pilgrimages are made from inside the country to Sorte Mountain. There are transport companies that offer their services to the mountain, plus a large number of ordained priests, commonly called doctors or sorcerers, who organize these trips from their centres. It will be noted that trade (merchandising) around these cults is prosperous (consultations, travel, esoteric products, candles, text, perfumes, etc). 5.4. The cult of Maria Lionza: The cult of Maria Lionza comes to represent the formation of a Venezuelan indigenous religion with elements of other cultures, in which prevails the origing of the worship of a deity indigenous enriched with Africans religious culture and spiritualism. 6. Sects 6.1. The Moonies: The name usually are due to its founder Sun Myung Moon, born in North Korea in 1920. The organization has the official name of Association for the Unification of World Christianity (AUCM) and aims to create a society based on the seeding of spiritual values and on the driving of the family towards real peace. 6.2. Scientology: Its founder is the American Lafayette Ron Hubbard (1911-1986), a specialist in 25 professions in which stand out those of the writer of science fiction (65millones of copies sold of the book The Way to Happiness and screenwriter) . The church is considered a company in all aspects. They have a very distinct structure. Its principles are based on the Dianetics which consists of the individual healing itself freeing the enslaved spirit. The procedure to achieve this end is by attending sessions called audition where the individual is subjected to purification by employing a tool called electropsychometer device that detects areas of spiritual distress. This method is progressive. The initiate discards their old beliefs and acquires new rules that he/she must comply according with the amount of promotions obtained. 6.3. Eastern Syncretism: Unlike the animadversion generated in Venezuela during a good part of twentieth century the sects, today are accepted and a significant number of Venezuelans profess parallel and simultaneously in their religion some of these beliefs. It is common to hear things like this: I am a Catholic but I received the tao or I am a Catholic but I like going to the talks of Buddhist metaphysics. All this is due to the openness of the Eastern sects who reconciled Christianity with their religious precepts and the openness of Venezuelan society to allow several beliefs coexist with both. The use of ritual in psychotherapy as a tool for change The use of rituals is an effective tool in some patients on the practice of psychotherapy in Venezuela and is often the only way to convince the patient that his mind can be healed, free from beings, spirits, influences, or spells that threatening the physical and mental health of the person. The ritual was always an issue discussed by anthropologists who have described the customs and rituals of peoples and communities. Its therapeutic efficacy for change has been described by many clinicians in systemic literature (Ochoa de Alda, 1995:89). Notably rituals are not heritage of therapists, but procedures of the peoples, families and cultures. An important point is that, in practice as therapists, it should take into account the importance of these phenomena on individuals and families who participate in these traditions (and any other), and knowing these procedures, that are made spontaneously it may arise new ideas for generating alternatives that can be used on a therapeutic context, in order to try to encourage changes that help to get a more adaptive performance, not symptomatic, of families and individuals who, because of their suffering, come to seek therapy. In addition, and of course, as an element well worked, can provide substantial information, especially relational. In psychotherapy is considered that a ritual includes a set of actions and / or symbolic interactions more or less structured, they are not restricted only to the completion ceremony, but include the entire process of preparation, the implementation experience and reintegration back to everyday life (Rappaport, 1971:12). A ritual must be composed of the following elements: symbols, open and closed parts and the need to be developed in a space and in a special time (Whiting, 1991:56). The symbols or symbolic actions are the minimum element would constitute a ritual. The link to the meaning of the symbol that appears is usually a personal construction, family or social. Besides rituals symbols consist of open parts and closed parts together. The enclosed parts are the parts of unchanging ritual common to all performing the ritual, these parts provide the minimum structure rigid enough to reassure strong emotional components, transmit important values and give concrete form to the shares. Instead open parts provide sufficient flexibility for each of the participants in the ritual hand contribution to personal and idiosyncratic experience. In the rituals with an important cultural root is usually prescribed by tradition the place and time that will be the realization of the ceremony. The symbols or symbolic actions are the minimum element that would constitute a ritual. The link of the symbol regarding to the meaning that appears is usually a personal construction, family or social. Besides symbols, the rituals consist of open parts and closed parts that are joined. The closed parts are the parts of unchanging ritual common to everyone who is performing the ritual, these rigid parts provide the minimum structure enough to bring security against strong emotional components, transmit important values and give concrete form to the actions. Instead open parts provide sufficient flexibility for each of the participants in the ritual and the possibility that each one can make his/her contribution according their personal and idiosyncratic experience. The rituals, which have an important cultural root, are usually performed following the tradition, on the place and time specific to the achievement of the ceremony. Type of rituals Rites of passage or transition rituals: described in 1909 by A. Van Gennep. These rituals are performed in the transitions experienced by individuals and groups throughout the life cycle, marking the end of a stage of development and the beginning of a new one. Van Gennep after studying various cultures argues the universality of such rituals. Continuation: rites of intensification. Unlike the transition rituals that are usually performed only once in life of every individual, continuity rituals are executed repeatedly, their purpose is to set the pace of life and maintain continuity, normality within each stage of life cycle. Healing rituals: This would include the rituals performed to cure, heal and keep out certain diseases. Therapeutic Rituals: This includes rituals developed by therapists and used in psychotherapeutic practice, nevertheless psychotherapy may be considered in some cases as a ritual. Haley (1973) considered the treatment that is carried out to treat certain problems and that arise in adolescence (psychosis, behavioural disorders, anorexia) is like an initiation ritual, through which it promotes individuality and necessary emancipation required from the young, as a way to restore him or her to a normal life cycle. Functions of rituals: Ochoa De Alda (1995:56) explains that the main functions that meet the rituals described in the life of societies, peoples, families and individuals are: Rituals make life predictable, providing a sense of belonging to the group that affects the sense of identity of individuals that form it. Rituals, does order and regulate the social functioning, confirming the social structure, while promoting an evolution in this with minimal conflicts. Another primary function is the transmission of culture, values and lasting norms. By one hand, it does create a sense of solidarity, cohesion and continuity in groups, and on the other hand, contribute significantly to the creation of the belief systems of a group (Van der Hart, Voogt and Witzum, 1989:56). The traditional rituals not only channelled social coordination between individuals, families, communities and villages in the here and now, but also between the past, present and future represented by the different generations (Davis, 1987:67). The rituals of transition, allow passing from one stage to other on the life cycle. Its first element of action does that roles, relationships, and world standards are modified during their execution (Davis, 1987:78). Admitting that any transition is to a greater or lesser extent an imbalance, ritual ceremonies

classical conditioning Essay -- essays research papers

When ever the bell rings in any school in any nationyou are guaranteed to see students and teachers file into the hallway.   This automatic response comes from somethingthat has been around for a long time called classical conditioning. Classicalconditioning was discovered and researched by Ivan Pavlov, a Russianphysiologist.   His famous experimentwith his dog is known to nearly everyone who has had a middle school or highereducation.   He fed his dog in a pattern,every time he fed his dog he rang a bell.  Eventually the dog associated the bell with food and would begin tosalivate just on hearing the bell.   Thatis the original experiment proving classical conditioning.   What is aconditioned stimulus?   â€Å"A neutralstimulus that, after repeated pairings with an unconditioned stimulus, becomesassociated with it and elicits a conditioned response.† (World of Psychologypg167)  Ã‚   In English it is something thatis used to train someone or something through repetition.   Pavlov made use of this in his experiment toshow classical conditioning.   Where asan unconditioned stimulus is something that is unlearned but is just respondedto out of instinct.   Pavlov’s dog, for examplehad one unconditioned stimulus and one conditioned stimulus.   Both the conditioned and unconditionedstimuli were to an unconditioned response, the dog salivating.   The unconditioned stimulus was the dog foodthat started the dog salivating.   The conditionedstimulus or new stimulus was the bell being rung every time the dog was fed.After awhile the unconditioned stimulus wasn’t even needed, because the dog wasnow conditioned to respond to the bell and salivate whenever he heard thebell.   Things like this happened all thetime, for example; when I put on running shoes and running clothes my dog willbecome extremely hyper because she knows we are going outside and she will getto run around. Probably thestrongest application of classical conditioning is emotions.   Human emotions are condition extremelyeasily to things that provoke strong reaction, things such as Adolf Hitler, theIRS, the American Flag and chemistry class because of their associations withour emotions.   If something like thatprovoked a strong emotion before in your life when brought up in conversationthe strong emotion that was conditioned comes up also.   For example when a person meets someone withthe same name as someone they previously lik... ...   He thenwondered would the dog still salivate if he attached the device to the dogspelvis, then hind paw, then shoulder, then foreleg and finally the frontpaw.   He discovered that the farther hegot from the rear thigh, or the original conditioning, the less of a salivatingresponse.   Other examples of this arethings such as someone who was attacked by a dog when he or she was young andtherefore grew up hating and fearing all dogs.   On the other sideof generalization there must be discrimination.   Pavlov decided he didn’t want his dogs to salivate to any othertones but â€Å"C.†Ã‚   This was not very hard all that was need was to cause extinction in any other type of tone.   The â€Å"C† tone was reinforced by continuouslygiving food after the tone was rung.   On the other hand whenever any other tone was sounded it was not reinforced by food.   Thus the dog became more conditioned to â€Å"C† and the conditioned responses for the other tones becameextinct. Classicalconditioning has and will continue to be around forever.   It is part of human nature and many peopletake advantage of it daily.   It can beused to dispel fears or as training for a job, it doesn’t matter what it is for it will just be there.

Major Strides Against Poverty Essay -- Papers

Major Strides Against Poverty Throughout time people have been affected by the harshness of poverty and economic strain. It has always seemed to be difficult for the average American to prosper if in fact that person did not come from previous wealth. Our great country prides on the idea of capitalism and the rights to freedom and insists that anyone who puts forth the effort can and will succeed. This has and always will be a debatable issue. The other realism is the role of the federal government and the capacity they work to ensure each and every American the right to become successful. Two Presidents come to mind when I think about the ways in which the government wishes to help the unfortunate. They are Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. These two administrations are the landmarks to the many programs and policies we see today that battle the likes of poverty and economic downfalls. The Great Depression Industrialization met its first and perhaps greatest obstacle in October 1929, when the stock market crashed that inevitably leads to the Great Depression. The Depression lasted over a decade and affected world affairs by questioning the validity of Capitalism, Democracy and industrialization. The underlying causes of the Depression were a direct result of overproduction. When the market crashed, investors and bankers cut consumer credit, which reduced consumer-buying power. Sales declined; therefore factories had to cut back on production. This led to a large reduction in the number of workers. With more people unemployed, purchasing power plummeted and goods did not move. Factories found themselves producing next to nothing because there was no one buying. This led to more layoffs and fa... ...al to the Reagan Revolution. The John Hopkins University Press. Ballantine Books. 11th ed. Canada, 1992 Bibliography: Bibliography New York Times Articles "Senate Votes a $75 Million Bill to Fight Starvation in Nation." New York Times 5 Mar. 1967. Associated Press. "Long Says Roosevelt Is 'a Liar and a Faker' And 'Just Getting as smart as I Was' at 14." New York Times 9 Jul. 1935. Mallon, Winifred. "New Deal's Pacts For Trade Praised." New York Times 7 Jul. 1935. Books Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, Williams, Roberts. America: Past and Present. Harper Collins College Publishers. 3rd ed. New York, 1994. Langston, Thomas S. Ideologies and Presidents: From the New Deal to the Reagan Revolution. The John Hopkins University Press. Ballantine Books. 11th ed. Canada, 1992

Performance Enhancing Drugs Essay -- sports, athletes, drug addiction

Fourth quarter, three seconds left, tie game. Bodies exhausted and sweat all over. Ball in hand and the shot goes up. Swoosh, and the crowd goes wild! The intensity in the arena is insane and the fans all cheer out. This is what all athletes dream of. Playing the sport that they love and getting paid to do it, but how can a professional perform at the top of their game and have supporting fans if they waste everything away on drugs. They have people who look up to them as role models and they get paid to perform. The sport is their life and also supports others. Non-professional athletes are not held to this standard however and should be allowed to do as they please. Although some drugs can be seen as damaging to the health of individuals, especially athletes, some drugs can be used in other ways. However the main problem of drugs isn’t the use of the drug but the abuse. People become addicted to the substance and tend to rely on it rather than occasional use. Someone such as an athlete should not be addicted to something so life consuming as a drug. The lack of self-control with athletes towards the drugs has become a concerning social problem. Those who watch sports or look up to athletes have noticed the great disappointment when the drugs affect their body in many ways so professionals should be held to a higher standard than high school athletes. â€Å"High school athletes are not under contract, they do not get paid, and they don’t have social expectations. Professional athletes are expected to treat their bodies a certain way and drugs interfere with that. A high school player is without expectations and they should be able to decide for themselves what they do. Whether drugs cause enough harm to interfere with an athlete’s fu... ...Top List Of NBA's Most Valuable Teams." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. dollar-knicks-and-lakers-top-list-of-nbas-most-valuable-teams/>. "Drug Abuse & Addiction." Drug Abuse and Addiction: Signs, Symptoms, and Help for Drug Problems and Substance Abuse. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. nt.htm>. "Opinion L.A." Student Drug Testing Doesn't Work [Blowback]. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. . "Parents, Experts Divided on School Drug Testing." Msnbc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. childrens_health/t/parents-experts-divided-school-drug-testing/>.

Personal Influence Model, Intercultural Communication

1. 0 Literature Review 1. 1 Personal Influence Model Public Relations Practitioners in Chinese society lead by traditional value especially confucism. (Yi-Hui Huang, â€Å"The Personal Influence Model and Gao Guanxi in Taiwan Chinese Public Relation†,28th Dec 2010 Confucism ) emphasize five cardinal Relations(wulun). Yi-Hui Huang stated the unhealthy situation, where people can use own personal influence (Guanxi) major and favour ( mianzi and renqing ) to to reach a shortcut coorperation.This will causes the lost of human resource in community, where people who have the ability may not contribute due to the imperfectness of managing public relationship, and not being treated fairly. However, Gupta, Chandi and Barlett, Jennifer L. 2007 mention this hierarchical system is to reduce conflict between people, it’s managed by establishing guanxi and giving mianzi reciprocally, and is often establish through determining commonalities between the parties and giving mutual respe ct to each other.Palanca in Mexico and throughout Latin America, for example, dictates how personal networks function. Such interpersonal networking focuses more on trust, less on legal systems, more on relationships, and less on principles, which is more on 1. 2 Intercultural Communication Intercultural communication affect the models of publics relations as the different culture will affect the way of public relation practitioner do their job. (R. S Zahara, American University, 2001) Example, ‘Intercultural harmony’ communication campaigns such as â€Å"Merdeka Day† is always practice in Malaysia and Singapore.Being big companies, especially multi-national companies, public relation practitioners need to understand different kind of culture. Cultural sensitive will seriously affect the business that’s why PR practitioners should know about situational issues within an external environment. ( Zulhamri Abdullah, 2007) 1. 3 International Public Relations Di fferent countries practices different cultures therefore PR practitioners from different countries have their own ways of working things out when it comes to using PR strategies. Basically, different aspects in the countries uch as its economic system, political ideology level of activism and the media culture will affect their PR practitioners in the country. Besides these aspects. The country technology’s development such as the satellite communication and so on also affects the way they do PR. (R. S Zahara, 2001) Reference Zuhamri Abdullah, ‘Towards international cultural diversity management of public relation. 1(2):285-299(2007),department of communtication, faculty of modern language and communication, University Putra Malaysia’ Timothy L.Howard, Carol AnnHackley,Qingwen Dong, ‘The Impact of Palanca in shaping Mexico Public Relation,2009 Gupta, Chandhi and Barlette, Jennifer L. (2007) Guanxi,astrology and symmetry: Asian business and its impact on pub lic relation practice. Asia Pacific Public Relation Journal, 8(1). Yi-Hui Huang,(2000) ‘The Personal Influence Model and Gao Guanxi in Taiwan Chinese Public Relations’. Public Relations Review,26(2):219-236,Elsevier Science Inc. Krishnamurthy Sriramesh,(2001) International public relations :A framework for future research. Journal of Communication Management, Henry Stewart Publications.

Mba/ (Finance and Marketing)Fresher

Vivek Ramachandran 10, Lakshmi Nivas, Mullai Street, K K Nagar, Chennai 600 063 Cell (91) 9566009700 Email emailprotected com vocation Objective To work in an Organization, where I can effectively blend my skills as a Management Professional conjugated with my Mechanical engineering Graduation, which will suspensor me explore myself fully and realize my potential, with a zeal to work as a key player in a challenging & creative environment. Qualification ? MBA (OPERATIONS / ERP) nett YEAR ? B. TECH (MECHANICAL) ENGINEER schoolman qualification Year of % Qualification existence show MBA SRM University, 2010-2012 89%(up to 1st yr) Chennai B. tech SRM University, Chennai 79. 6% Mechanical Engineering 2006-2010 HSC Sri Sankara Vidyalaya, Chennai 2006 66% SSLC Sri Sankara Vidyalaya, Chennai 2004 71% Mini-Project (MBA) Title A Study of Manufacturing Operations involved in high-tech Fabrication Facility association team co. Hi-tech Engineering ltd. Period 2 mo nths Title Crude oil-Crude violation on Indian Economy to a lower roam the Guidance of Dr. Samprasatha Joe Project (B. Tech) Title optimization of Surface Characteristics using RESPONSE locate METHODOLOGY for Ball and Roller Burnishing operate Description Ball and roller burnishing cock be used in CNC machining total to super finish the milling process. The shot and work piece material atomic number 18 tungsten carbide and tool steel (T215CR12) respectively. The comment parameters are feed, force, step-over, ball diameter, roller width, no of passes and speed. The output parameters are come forth indention and micro Vickers hardness. The characteristic of burnishing process is study using ANOVA analysis. The output parameters are modeled and optimized using response surface methodology. Surface plots and Contour plots are plot for the output parameters. SEM photographs are taken for urbane and burnished surface. Training Summary (B. Tech) Company plant Ashokley land, Chennai Duration 2-weeks Areas cover Engine Assembly, Chassis Assembly Company name Diamond Engineering Ltd. , Vandalur Duration 2-weeksAreas covered Steel Fabrications, Dispatch Department computer softwares known Implementation in SAP ERP (Materials Management) module. Operation experience of MS Excell, MS Access, MS Word, MS origin point. Basics in SPSS software. Operating Systems Windows 7/XP. Strength Highly Determined, self move & committed towards work. Willingness to learn. Eager to take up challenging opportunities in life. Extra-curricular activities Organizer for pass along 2011,a national aim event. Secured 1st range in DUMB-C at SAMS Secured 1st place inX-FACTOR in Millan 2010, a national train event. Participated in Aurush 2009, a national level event Certificate course in YOGA at SRM UNIVERSITY . Personal profile induce R. VIVEK Sex/Status Male/ adept Nationality Indian Language Known English, Tamil Hobbies/Interests Playing cricket, lis tening to music. DOB 05th Dec 1988 stock Location Anywhere in India solution I hereby declare that the preceding(prenominal) information is correct up to my knowledge and I bear the responsibility for the justness of the above-mentioned particulars. Placechennai(R. VIVEK)

Phantom Limb: Possible Treatments to Kill the Pain Essay

The phenomenon of dark leg was first expound by a French doctor, Ambroise Pargon, in the sixteenth century however it was non until 1866, after(prenominal) the American Civil War, when Doctor Wier Mitchell published his first greenback of the malady, coining the stipulation Phantom tree branch. Phantom offset is the sustain of prevail sensory perceptions after sleeve amputation and tolerates one of the best-known, tho puzzling phenomena inside checkup science (Oakley & H eitherigan, 2002). Phantom limb agony (PLP) is a frequent consequence of the amputation and ca manipulations considerable vexation and disruption of daily activities.Originally, PLP was thought to aim been utility(prenominal) to nerve damage at the site of amputation solely succeeding evidence showed that patients who progress to undergone regional anaesthesia continue to run across dark limb put out despite the cut-off of hassle in the neck sensation to the amputated argona (Melzack, 1997). This conduce to the belief that the wo(e) sensation experienced by patients with PLP may be due to nerve impulses or signals generated at the spinal cord level. This, however, was refuted on the founding that patients with transection of the spinal cord still kvetch of persisting tail limb irritation.It has been argued then that the wiz areas that harmonize to the human trunk could be the one obligated for the shadow sensations (Melzack, 1997). This was based on the fact that much(prenominal) of the human (and primate) personify is represented by intelligible brain areas located in the somatosensory and drive cortex on either side of the primal sulcus. Consequently, charge after limb removal, the brain areas representing those part remain structurally and usablely intact.It has been argued that the activation of these incarnate disconnected brain areas by adjacent brain areas (representing separate(a) intact body parts) may be a partial neurophysiological exp lanation for the employment and maintenance of the continuous perceptual experience that is the apparition limb. This functional remapping af full termaths in some incidents in the referral of selective sensory information from an intact body area ( much(prenominal)(prenominal) as the face or shoulder) to the fantasm limb (Halligan, Zeman and Benger, 1999).The remapping hypothesis is supported by functional imaging (Kew, Halligan, Marshall, Passingham, Rothwell, Ridding, Marsden and Brooks, 1997) and behavioural studies (Ramac eliminateran, Stewart and Rogers-Ramachandran, 1992 Halligan, Marshall, Wade, Davies and Morrison, 1993). Given the magnitude and speeding of onset of the reorganization (within 24 hours of amputation) it is unlikely to be a product of neural sprouting but rather the unmasking of existing but antecedently inhibited neural path courses (Ramachandran and Blakeslee, 1998).In addition, these abnormal shaping changes in the central nervous system associated w ith the tail experience welcome been dod to explain the systematically high incidence of pain attributed to a limb that no retentiveer exists (Ramachandran and Blakeslee, 1998). Several another(prenominal) theories construct been proposed to explain the pathophysiological processes behind the PLP phenomenon but despite all of these, the exact cause of PLP remains uncertain. As a consequence, the up-to-date words for the specialize are just as varied as the litany of many possible barely complex utensil of PLP.This literary review willing assay the possible intercession options available for the watchfulness of PLP development information from published writings with searches in research databases exploitation the keywords spook limb, phantom limb pain, biofeedback, treatment, and phantom limb illusions. Treatments of PLP there are different modalities available in treating PLP ranging from pharmacological agents to psychophysiological therapy. The treatment outco me varies from approach to approach and more even from patient to patient.A careful evaluation is all-important(a) before considering any of of these treatments in order to take a more individualized approach in the circumspection of PLP. Thermal biofeedback Biofeedback relies on instrumentation to judge moment-to-moment feedback about physiological processes. It provides patients with information about their cognitive process in various situation (Saddock & Saddock, 2003). Using this electronic feedback, the patient is made aware of certain sensations such(prenominal) as skin temperature and go through stress.A show window report describing the use of thermal biofeedback combined with electromyogram (EMG) in treating a 69-year-old man suffering from keen and shooting phantom pain suggested that biofeedback is an effective treatment modality for dangerous phantom limb pain (Belleggia & Birbaumer, 2001). The rationale behind the treatment was based on the premise that most patients complain of intolerance to stone-cold after amputations which tend to aggravate unpleasant or pain sensations in the podium.The treatment, however, required several(prenominal) sessions and in this particular baptismal fontful, there were 6 sessions of EMG biofeedback followed by another 6 sessions of temperature biofeedback. The patient presented in this caseful excessively did not use a prosthetic device and did not receive earlier treatment for inveterate pain and the entire treatment process was through with(p) in a run acrossled environment where everything is calibrated and maintain to avoid external bias.Although the treatment outcome of the case report was favorable, there is no absolute indorsement that the same undecomposed results can be pass judgment to other patients with PLP especially to those who are already using prosthesis and to those who are already dogged to precedent chronic pain therapies. Also its efficacy and adaptability in true(a) clinical settings remains to be studied. Electroconvulsive therapy ( electroshock therapy) The use of electroconvulsive therapy have been common in patients with psychiatric disorders such as depression.This involves the utilization of electric stimulation by means of two electrodes placed bilaterally on the temple to produce convulsion. The artificial seizure that followed have shown efficacy in patients with a categorization of pain syndromes occurring along with depression (Rasmussen & Rummans, 2000). Using this evidence, 2 patients with severe phantom limb pain refractory to quaternate therapies but without concurrent psychiatric disorder were treated using ECT.One of the patients prior treatments included biofeedback, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, hypnosis, epidural anaesthesia injections, and multiple analgesic medications including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, opiates, and adjunct analgesics including carbamazepine and nortriptyline. He was refe rred for ECT by the anesthesia pain dish due to previous good responses in demoralise patients with a variety of non-phantom limb pain syndromes.The other patient in the case hire in any case had numerous treatments including transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, intra-axillary alcoholic beverage injections. Epidural steroid blocks, stellate ganglion blocks, biofeedback, and medications including antidepressants, benzodiazepines, opiates and carbamazepine. After ECT, twain patients enjoyed substantial patronage of pain with one case in remission from PLP 3. 5years after ECT. From this clinical note, it was cogitate that patients with PLP who are refractory to multiple therapies may do to ECT.It should be emphasized that ECT have several complications including dental and muscular injuries secondary to the severe go across twitching accompanying the bring forth convulsion. The concurrent use of muscle relaxants have been effective in minimizing such injuries. The mos t troublesome side effect of ECT, however, is depot loss. Some patients report a gap in memory for events that occurred up to 6 months before ECT, as well as impaired ability to wait new information for a month or two after the treatment (Smith, et al, 2003).You may get even this to the data loss in computers after an unexpected reboot. Hypnotic reverberates and phantom pain Hypnotic procedures have long been utilize in treating a variety of pain syndromes. This involves the use of suggestion and imagery to unbosom the patients pain experience (Chavez, 1989). A case take in reports the use of a hypnotically induced virtual mirror experience which modified long standing intractable phantom limb pain despite generating a qualitatively inferior experience of causal agency in the phantom limb compared to that produced with an actual mirror (Oakley & Halligan, 2002).Using hypnosis, two main approaches to modifying phantom limb pain experience were identified in the study ipsativ e imagery approach and a reproduce achievement approach. The ipsative imagery approach takes into account the way the individual represent their pain to themselves and attempts to modify that mold in order to alleviate the pain experience. The movement imagery-based approach encourages the PLP patient through hypnosis to move the phantom limb and to take run across over it.In the study, a case of a 76-year-old woman who had an above-knee amputation of her dependable leg secondary to peripheral vascular distemper was presented. The investigators emphasized that she was pain-free at the time of her achievement and that her PLP hardly begun two years after surgery. There were several components of her pain in her missing limb. She complained of persuasion pins and necessityles in her foot, her toes felt like they were creation held in a tight vice, a slicing, in the altogether pain in the sole of her foot and a chiselling pain in her ankles.After several sessions using the ipsative imagery approach, the patient claimed significant pain relief of most of her pain but the vice-like pain remained. The movement imagery-based approach also showed notable pain reliever in another case that was presented, this time of a 46-year-old man who had experienced PLP since suffering from an avulsion of his left brachial plexus some five years prior to the study.At the beginning of the study, the patient rated his pain at 7 using a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 as pain free and 10 as the worst pain imaginable. During treatment, the patient had 0 rating and immediately after treatment it was 2. 5. The result of the study showed that hypnotic movement imagery is cost investigating further, considering the comparative ease of use and the potency of additional information as to the possible neurocognitive mechanism snarly in PLP. mirror treatmentMirror treatment uses leg exercises performed in front of a mirror to demonstrate increased motor control over the phantom li mb. In contrast to hypnotic imagery techniques which uses hypnotically induced virtual mirror experience, mirror treatment involves the use of a real mirror apparatus to replicate the movements of the real limb with the phantom limb. The first case study of the use of mirror treatment in a person with subvert limb amputation who was reporting PLP was presented by MacLaughlan, M. McDonald, D. , & Waloch, J. (2004).During the intervention, there was a significant reduction in the patients PLP associated with an increase in sense of motor control over the phantom, and a change in aspects of the phantom limb that was experienced. Although this effect was fortunately replicated by using hypnotic imagery alone, the significant difference amongst the two approaches was the qualitatively more powerful experience of movement in the phantom left hand with the real visual feedback.The case study which was conducted in a conventional clinical setting supports the authority of mirror treatmen t for PLP patients with lower limb amputations. The investigators, however, emphasized that the case study cannot indicate the extent to which beneficial effects are due to somatosensory cortex re-mapping, psychosocial factors such as individual differences in body plasticity, somatic preoccupation or seminal imagination, or to other factors.Since it is the first case study of the use of mirror treatment in a person with lower limb amputation, similar case studies are needed to ascertain the treatments applicability to other patients with lower limb amputations. botulinus toxin Pharmacological agents have also been employed in the management of PLP. , Botulinum toxin type A, however, has not been antecedently utilize for this indication. In fact, it was only recently that this toxin has been utilise for medical purposes, especially in the field of cosmetics.Botox, as it is popularly known, has been beneficial in relieving muscular tension in the face due to its muscle-relaxing ef fect. Once considered a biological weapon which causes gas gangrene, this toxin inhibits the synaptic contagious disease of acetylcholine at the motor end plate and muscle spindles of the skeletal musculature and influences nociceptive transmitters. A pilot program study on the influence of the agent on phantom pain after amputations was recently inform (Kern, Martin, Scheicher, et al, 2003). Four cases of patients with knee amputations who were suffering from severe pulpit pain following surgery were presented.After botulinum toxin injection, significant reduction of pain in the amputation stump was experienced among the patients. Citing a strong correlation amidst stump pain and PLP and the occurrence of of stump pain without obvious pathology, the study clearly emphasized the need for further investigation into the use of botulinum toxin in the treatment of post amputation pain. Other treatments of PLP Multiple other modalities, adjunct medications and anesthetic/surgical p rocedures have been used in the treatment of PLP with vary long term success.Although at least 60 methods of treating PLP have been identified, successful treatment of persistent type is not normally reported. Tricyclic antidepressants, anticonvulsants, calcitonin and mexilitine have been used with varying success (Delisa, Gans, Bochenek, et al, 1998). Other surgical procedures and drug regimens have also been proposed. Despite all these, an established theatrical role of each of these treatments in the management of PLP remains a subject for future investigation. Summary Despite the advances in medical research and treatment, PLP is a phenomenon that continues to perplex the medical field.Several theories that were proposed to explain the etiology of the condition remain the subject of continued discussion. The pathophysiology involved in PLP could be multifactorial rather than the effect of a angiotensin-converting enzyme factor. In the United States, there are more or less 1. 6 million people are backup with limb loss according to the National Limb Loss Foundation Information Center. Between 1988 & 1999, an amount of 133,735 hospital discharges per year was due to amputation. It is estimated that 50%-80% of patients with amputations complain of PLP (Delisa, Gans, Bochenek, et al, 1998).The actual incidence of this problem is, however, unclear because the condition tends to be underreported because of the complexity and strange nature of the complaint. purpose the most appropriate treatment for PLP has proven to be a difficult challenge for medical practitioners. The current treatment options for the condition are just as varied as the litany of many possible besides complex mechanism of PLP. Thermal biofeedback combined with electromyogram (EMG) have been demonstrated to completely eliminate PLP after treatment.In a case study, the use of ECT have shown pain relief in patients with PLP refractory to multiple therapies. The use of hypnosis and visual imagery in several case reports has indicated significant success in modifying the pain experience of PLP patients. Interestingly, the success of this technique in treating PLP has given a deeper insight on the psychological aspect of the condition. Botulinum toxin, a drug considered as a very dangerous toxin that causes gas gangrene, has also shown promising results in alleviating stump pain.Multiple other modalities, adjunct medications and anesthetic/surgical procedures have been used in the treatment of PLP with varying long term success. Establishing an accepted role of each of these treatments in the management of PLP, however, would require further investigation. The highly varied approaches involved in the treatment of PLP present a unmatched burden especially for the General Practitioners (GPs) who provide the ancient health for amputees in the community. A recent study suggests that GPs underestimate the preponderance, intensity and duration of phantom and counterpoise limb pain.Moreover, inconsistencies in the reasons given for referral to specialist run for the management of phantom pain were reported. These findings have sincere implications for the management of phantom limb pain, disability and psychological distress in amputees in that GPs not only provide first line treatment, but are also the gatekeepers for referral to other services (Kern, Martin, Scheicher, et al 2003). The prevalence of case studies presented in this review clearly shows the deficiency of major clinical trials targeted into identifying the best approach in the management of PLP.Most of these treatments are already macrocosm used for other diseases and there is ample literature to justify their use for PLP yet there is not a single searchable literature involving a large study population investigating any of the above methods. It is obvious that the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of these individual treatment methods cannot be ascertained by only a handful of cas e reports. More comprehensive studies should be through with(p) in order to formulate an acceptable protocol for the adequate treatment of PLP.