UK MEDICAL LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

UK MEDICAL LAW - Essay Example the fact that medical professionals are deemed ready, willing and able to provide medical treatment and advice and by implication are bound to have the necessary skill and knowledge of a reasonable medical professional.3 A registered medical professional offering his or her service is held to this standard.4 In addition, Lord Brown Wilkinson held in Wilsher v Essex Area Health Authority 1987] Q.B 730, CA [1998] AC 1074 that health authorities owe a duty of care to patients in their care.5 The question then turns on whether or not there was a breach of the standard and duty of care assigned to the medical profession on the part of Doctor Greene and/or Wilington hospital.. In determining whether or not there was a breach of the duty and standard of care, the Bolam test is applied. In Bolam v Friem Hospital Management Committee [1957] 1 WLR 582 the court devised a two-tier test to determine whether or not the medical professional or institution breached the applicable standard and duty of care.6 The first leg of the test inquires into whether or not the defendant professional acted in a manner that corresponds with the reasonable skilled person or vocation of the profession at issue.7 The second leg of the test inquires into whether or not the treatment or advice administered was consisted with a body of opinion in the profession.8 In ascertaining whether or not Doctor Greene, acting on behalf of and on the authority of the hospital complied with the Bolam standard of care, the court will look to the circumstances in which the treatment was administered and the attending physician’s post or position.9 On the facts of the case for discussion there is no specific evidence of Dr. Green’s position or post within the hospital, except that he is from the casualty department. The question then turns on whether or not a doctor in the emergency room who specializes in the treatment of children would have taken the action that Dr. Green took. Dr. Green

Apple Code Of Ethics Supplier Responsibility Commerce Essay

Apple Code Of Ethics Supplier Responsibility Commerce Essay Organizations are composed of physical resources and human resources. There is always an interaction between the two and these interactions are done to meet the objectives of the organization. There are always set policies and procedures to come up with the desired results. These policies and procedures are products of the management of the organization in as much as they are the ones in-charge of how the company would be run. The main objective of the organization is to maximize profit because with profit maximization, surely there will be benefits that will redound to its human force and the community it serves. There are always activities and tasks that need manipulation of resources to the best advantage of the organization. It is however, mandated by laws and regulations and also of ethics and morality that the activities and moves of the human force be in consonance with the norms of society. Thus, it is understood that in an organization, there is in most cases a set of conduc ts and behavior which is normally called Code of Ethics. Apple Computer is not an exception. As it thrives in its business in the field of technology, the company and all its workforce is expected to be in compliance with its code of ethics. As it goes through its expansion and success in its chosen field, Apple has required its suppliers to commit with heart and soul to the Supplier Code of Conduct to ensure that they conform to what are expected of them. The Apple Supplier Code of Conduct discussed here is taken from the website of Apple.com and is intended to all those companies that supply materials and good which later become part of the products sold and manufactured by Apple. INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY More probably in the field of technology, there is no person who doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know the founder of Apple. Steve Jobs and his friend Steve Wozniak were the founders of Apple and this company was incorporated in the state of California in the year 1977. Just like any other companies, Apple is its mission. A mission statement is the guiding principle of a business. It explains why the business exists, what it does and how it do business (Holston, 2011). Apple has the mission of bringing the best computing experience to the world. Its intended users are the students, educators, professionals, business men and all those people who are technology-enthusiasts. This explains why apple exists. What it does is to create changes in the world through modern technology like computers, iPad, systems and structures like the software and hardware it produces. Today, Apple does not only cater their products to their intended users when they first had it invented, it has expanded its usage to almost everybody from all walks of life regardless of social and economic status. ETHICAL SYSTEM USED Apple as mentioned in the earlier paragraph requires its suppliers to comply with its code of conducts or code of ethics. Its code embodies the ideals and principles by which the company goes. The code is inclusive of the standard norms of conduct which cover labor standards, health and safety, environmental responsibility, ethics and management commitment. Adherence to labor laws and regulations is mandated by Apple to its suppliers in a way that Apple, Inc. itself does business. It does not want to do business with companies that are not in compliance with laws. Discrimination of employees based on origin, races, culture, ages and other demographic characteristics as well as religion is not allowed. This form of discrimination and employment policy does not have a place in the company of Apple. Fair treatment of employees especially in terms of fringe benefits and working condition are some of those principles embedded in the code. Employees should be in a workplace free from physi cal harm and should always be under safe working conditions. Also part of the code is the freedom of association. Of course, it is understood here that the association should be a healthy one and not for the purpose of creating lawlessness and instability in the workplace. Environmental responsibility is one of the primary responsibilities that Apple requires its suppliers to have. This means corporate responsibility and by this, the companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s suppliers must commit to improve environmental condition. The world is not getting any bigger and cleaner primarily because of the scarcity of resources that people canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t help but take advantage of them for their sustenance. The suppliers must give back to the community it serves. This can be done by being environment-friendly. Being green and paperless is one way of giving back to the community. Ethics is always conceived to be an integral part of an organization and companies. This code of ethics have been f ound to be useful in the conduct and behavior of managers and employees especially in avoiding harm to customers and others (Goodwin, 2002). Apple adheres to behavior that are considered by majority to be correct and ethical. For this reason, its suppliers must be ethical also in the conduct of its business. To come up with what are in the Supplier Code of Conduct, the use of management system is a good tool. The management system of implementing the code is with Apple, Inc. itself monitoring compliance of its suppliers with the requisites of the code. It would sometimes designate an outside company to visit the site of the suppliers for monitoring purposes. Inspection and audit of documents and papers like payroll, timecards, workersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ records and practices are considered to see, verify and confirm compliance. A supplier found not in compliance is further investigated and later discharged as a supplier if investigation turns out unfavorable. In this case, the suppliers are warned of the consequence of not following the dictates of the code. Apple has been following the ethical system of ends-driven. The existence of Apple is based on its mission to provide an experience in computers to its users, an experience that they have never had before. This is the purpose or the goal of the founders which has been extended to its employees and management. To achieve this goal, the company has to offer products that are best in quality and usage. Quality products are produced and manufactured by happy and satisfied employees and these employees thrive in a company where their interests are preserved and protected. USAGE OF THE CODE OF CONDUCT The Supplier Code of Conduct is useful not only to the employees but to all the members in the organization. The rights and interests of the employees are to be protected because they not only comprise the main bulk of the human force but they are the ones who turn the raw materials into finished products for delivery to Apple. They should receive fringe and benefits commensurate to their skills and qualifications. The managers on the other hand are also benefitting from the code because the care and protection they give the employees radiate to them in terms of quality work and commitment. To the board of directors, the code is the guide on how it will strategize policies and procedures to make the company an enticing place to work. SUMMARY The Supplier Code of Conduct for the suppliers of Apple is an example of how a business should do business with others. A company does not need only resources, physical and human. There is a need for rules, standards and norms on how business should be conducted. Apple is one among those businesses that is not afraid to enforce some requirements to its suppliers. If only other companies would follow Apple, there could be certainty that all the supplies delivered by companies to other companies for their use will be of quality. This is because excellent products are manufactured by excellent people. Excellent people exist in excellent companies whose codes of conduct are followed. There is no doubt, this is one of the factors that spell success of Apple, Inc., the company that has provided mankind a legacy of technology beyond compare.

Shakespeares Hamlet - Regarding Gertrude Essay -- Essays on Shakespear

Regarding Hamlet’s Gertrude  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   In William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy Hamlet, the audience meets a queen who is a former and present queen. She was unhappy before – how does she feel now? Is she evil, guilty, motherly, lascivious? The multiple aspects of her personality deserve our attention.    Angela Pitt in â€Å"Women in Shakespeare’s Tragedies† comments that Shakespeare’s Gertrude in Hamlet is, first and foremost, a mother:    Gertrude evinces no such need to justify her actions and thereby does not betray any sense of guilt. She is concerned with her present good fortune, and neither lingers over the death of her first husband nor analyses her motives in taking another. . . .She seems a kindly, slow-witted, rather self-indulgent woman, in no way the emotional or intellectual equal of her son. . . . Certainly she is fond of Hamlet. Not only is she prepared to listen to him when he storms at her, proof that he is sufficiently close to her to have a right to make comments on   her personal life, but she is unfailingly concerned about him. (46-47)    Gunnar Bokland in â€Å"Hamlet† describes Gertrude’s moral descent during the course of Shakespeare’s Hamlet:    With Queen Gertrude and finally also Laertes deeply involved in a situation of increasing ugliness, it becomes clear that, although Claudius and those who associate with him are not the incarnations of evil that Hamlet sees in them, they are corrupt enough from any balanced point of view, a condition that is also intimated by the â€Å"heavy-headed revel† that distinguishes life at the Danish court. (123)    Gertrude’s â€Å"contamination† does indeed affect the hero. Courtney Lehmann and Lisa S. Starks in "Making Mother Matter: Repression... ...    Lehmann, Courtney and Lisa S. Starks. "Making Mother Matter: Repression, Revision, and the Stakes of 'Reading Psychoanalysis Into' Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet." Early Modern Literary Studies 6.1 (May, 2000): 2.1-24 <URL: http://purl.oclc.org/emls/06-1/lehmhaml.htm>.    Pitt, Angela. â€Å"Women in Shakespeare’s Tragedies.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint of Shakespeare’s Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos.    Smith, Rebecca. â€Å"Gertrude: Scheming Adulteress or Loving Mother?† Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of â€Å"Hamlet†: A User’s Guide. New York: Limelight Editions, 1996.   

Industrial Relations Essay

Industrial relations has three faces: science building, problem solving, and ethical. [9] In the science building phase, industrial relations is part of the social sciences, and it seeks to understand the employment relationship and its institutions through high-quality, rigorous research. In this vein, industrial relations scholarship intersects with scholarship in labor economics, industrial sociology, labor and social history, human resource management, political science, law, and other areas. Industrial relations scholarship assumes that labor markets are not perfectly competitive and thus, in contrast to mainstream economic theory, employers typically have greater bargaining power than employees. Industrial relations scholarship also assumes that there are at least some inherent conflicts of interest between employers and employees (for example, higher wages versus higher profits) and thus, in contrast to scholarship in human resource management and organizational behavior, conflict is seen as a natural part of the employment relationship. Industrial relations scholars therefore frequently study the diverse institutional arrangements that characterize and shape the employment relationship—from norms and power structures on the shop floor, to employee voice mechanisms in the workplace, to collective bargaining arrangements at company, regional, or national level, to various levels of public policy and labor law regimes, to â€Å"varieties of capitalism† (such as corporatism, social democracy, and neoliberalism). When labor markets are seen as imperfect, and when the employment relationship includes conflicts of interest, then one cannot rely on markets or managers to always serve workers’ interests, and in extreme cases to prevent worker exploitation. Industrial relations scholars and practitioners therefore support institutional interventions to improve the workings of the employment relationship and to protect workers’ rights. The nature of these institutional interventions, however, differ between two camps within industrial relations. 10] The pluralist camp sees the employment relationship as a mixture of shared interests and conflicts of interests that are largely limited to the employment relationship. In the workplace, pluralists therefore champion grievance procedures, employee voice mechanisms such as works councils and labor unions, collective bargaining, and labor-management partnerships. In the policy arena, pluralists advocate for minimum wage laws, occupational health and safety standards, international labor standards, and other employment and labor laws and public policies. 11] These institutional interventions are all seen as methods for balancing the employment relationship to generate not only economic efficiency, but also employee equity and voice. [12] In contrast, the Marxist-inspired critical camp sees employer-employee conflicts of interest as sharply antagonistic and deeply embedded in the socio-political-economic system. From this perspective, the pursuit of a balanced employment relationship gives too much weight to employers’ interests, and instead deep-seated structural reforms are needed to change the sharply antagonistic employment relationship that is inherent within capitalism. Militant trade unions are thus frequently supported. History Industrial relations has its roots in the industrial revolution which created the modern employment relationship by spawning free labor markets and large-scale industrial organizations with thousands of wage workers. [9] As society wrestled with these massive economic and social changes, labor problems arose. Low wages, long working hours, monotonous and dangerous work, and abusive supervisory practices led to high employee turnover, violent strikes, and the threat of social instability. Intellectually, industrial relations was formed at the end of the 19th century as a middle ground between classical economics and Marxism, with Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb’s Industrial Democracy (1897) being the key intellectual work. Industrial relations thus rejected the classical econ. Institutionally, industrial relations was founded by John R. Commons when he created the first academic industrial relations program at the University of Wisconsin in 1920. Early financial support for the field came from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. ho supported progressive labor-management relations in the aftermath of the bloody strike at a Rockefeller-owned coal mine in Colorado. In Britain, another progressive industrialist, Montague Burton, endowed chairs in industrial relations at Leeds, Cardiff and Cambridge in 1930, and the discipline was formalized in the 1950s with the formation of the Oxford School by Allan Flanders and Hugh Clegg. [13] Industrial relations was formed with a strong p roblem-solving orientation that rejected both the classical economists’ laissez faire solutions to labor problems and the Marxist solution of class revolution. It is this approach that underlies the New Deal legislation in the United States, such as the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. Industrial relations scholars have described three major theoretical perspectives or frameworks, that contrast in their understanding and analysis of workplace relations. The three views are generally known as unitarism, pluralist and radical. Each offers a particular perception of workplace relations and will therefore interpret such events as workplace conflict, the role of unions and job regulation differently. The radical perspective is sometimes referred to as the â€Å"conflict model†, although this is somewhat ambiguous, as pluralism also tends to see conflict as inherent in workplaces. Radical theories are strongly identified with Marxist theories, although they are not limited to these. Pluralist perspective In pluralism, the organization is perceived as being made up of powerful and divergent sub-groups, each with its own legitimate loyalties and with their own set of objectives and leaders. In particular, the two predominant sub-groups in the pluralist perspective are the management and trade unions. Consequently, the role of management would lean less towards enforcing and controlling and more toward persuasion and co-ordination. Trade unions are deemed as legitimate representatives of employees, conflict is dealt by collective bargaining and is viewed not necessarily as a bad thing and, if managed, could in fact be channeled towards evolution and positive change. Unitarist perspective In unitarism, the organization is perceived as an integrated and harmonious whole with the ideal of â€Å"one happy family†, where management and other members of the staff all share a common purpose, emphasizing mutual cooperation. Furthermore, unitarism has a paternalistic approach where it demands loyalty of all employees, being predominantly managerial in its emphasis and application. Consequently, trade unions are deemed as unnecessary since the loyalty between employees and organizations are considered mutually exclusive, where there can’t be two sides of industry. Conflict is perceived as disruptive and the pathological result of agitators, interpersonal friction and communication breakdown. Marxist/Radical perspective This view of industrial relations looks at the nature of the capitalist society, where there is a fundamental division of interest between capital and labour, and sees workplace relations against this background. This perspective sees inequalities of power and economic wealth as having their roots in the nature of the capitalist economic system. Conflict is therefore seen as inevitable and trade unions are a natural response of workers to their exploitation by capital. Whilst there may be periods of acquiescence, the Marxist view would be that institutions of joint regulation would enhance rather than limit management’s position as they presume the continuation of capitalism rather than challenge it†¦ Industrial relations today By many accounts, industrial relations today is in crisis. 14][15][16] In academia, its traditional positions are threatened on one side by the dominance of mainstream economics and organizational behavior, and on the other by postmodernism. In policy-making circles, the industrial relations emphasis on institutional intervention is trumped by a neoliberal emphasis on the laissez faire promotion of free markets. In practice, labor unions are declining and fewer companies have industrial relations functions. The number of academic programs in industrial relations is therefore shrinking, and scholars are leaving the field for other areas, especially human resource management and organizational behavior. The importance of work, however, is stronger than ever, and the lessons of industrial relations remain vital. The challenge for industrial relations is to re-establish these connections with the broader academic, policy, and business worlds.

Counselling Psychology Essay

During the history of psychology and counselling a wide range of attitudes and approaches have been developed in order to provide individuals with the ability to explore his or her inner world through varied strategies and modes of interaction. The aim was to increase the level of awareness as well as the level of motivation and changes (Sarnoff, 1960). According to Stefflre & Burks (1979), Counselling doesn’t just occur between two people, â€Å"it denotes a professional relationship between a trained counsellor and a client. This relationship is usually person-to-person, although it may sometimes involve more than two people†, it also focuses upon the stimulation of personal development in order to maximize personal and social effectiveness and to forestall psychologically crippling disabilities (p.14). For this assignment the Psychoanalytic Theoretical approach to Counselling will be examined, along with its theorist Sigmund Freud and the therapeutic techniques assoc iated with this theoretical approach. Before one can begin to explore techniques of psychoanalysis, it is important to briefly review Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the developmental personality and his stages of psychological development. Psychoanalytic theory and its practice originated in the late nineteenth century in the work of Sigmund Freud. According to Sarnoff (1960), psychoanalytic theory is considered to be the historical foundation of therapy. It describes the â€Å"mechanisms of ego defence which serve to protect the individual against external and internal threat† it also offers a distinctive way of thinking about the human mind and how it responds to psychological distress (p. 251). This theory has evolved into a complex, multifaceted and internally fractured body of knowledge situated at the interface between the human and natural sciences, clinical and counselling practice and academic theory. Therefore the term psychoanalysis refers to both Freud’s original attempt at providing a comprehensive theory of the mind and also the associated treatment (Wachtel & Messer, 1997, p.39-42). Freud viewed human nature as dynamic, that is, he believed in the transformation and exchange of energy withi n the personality. These dynamic concepts consist of instincts, libido, cathexis, anticathexis and anxiety and are related to the way one distributes psychic energy (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2007). In attempting to account for why human beings behave as they do, Freud invented the topographic and structural models of personality. The topographical model or â€Å"iceberg† of the mind was intended to help analysts understand how patients repress wishes, fantasies, and thoughts. In the topographical model, the mind is divided into conscious, preconscious, and unconscious systems (Passer & Smith, 2007, p.443-445). The conscious system includes all that we are subjectively aware of in our minds. The preconscious includes material that we are capable of becoming aware of, but do not happen to be aware of currently. According to Freud (as cited in Passer & Smith, 2007, p.444), the metaphor of â€Å"the psyche is like an iceberg† was proposed. Like an actual iceberg only the upper ten percent of it is visible or conscious and the rest is submerged and unseen below the water’s surface. So likewise, most human behaviour results from unconscious motivation, hence the unconscious system includes material that we have defensively removed from our awareness by means of repression and other defence mechanisms. So when unconscious materials attempt to enter the conscious level, a â€Å"censor† function (repression) pushes it back or lets it through in a disguised form (Ewen, 1992). As a result, counsellors try to move unconscious material to the preconscious and then to the conscious mind, to increase the patient’s self-awareness. With this model Freud realized that their was certain explanatory limitations, such as the model’s inability to account for certain forms of psychopathology and as a result developed an alternative that explained normal and abnormal personality development. This alternative is known as the structural model (Brammer, Shostrum & Abrego, 1989). According to Freud (as cited in Gladding, 2000, p.187-188), the structural model for psychoanalysis consists of three psychic structures the id, ego and superego, which differ in terms of power and influence. These parts symbolise the different aspects of a person’s personality. The id and superego are confined to the unconscious and the ego operates mainly in the conscious but also interacts with the preconscious and unconscious of the topographical model. The id which develops within the next three years of an individual’s life is the source of ones motivation, and includes sexual and aggressive drives. Sigmund Freud’s theory believed that both the sexual and aggressive drives are powerful determinants of why people act as they do; it involves an analysis of the root cause or causes of behaviour and feelings by exploring the unconscious mind and the conscious mind’s rel ation to it. This id demands the satisfaction of the antisocial instincts and obeys an inexorable ‘pleasure principle’. The id is viewed as not having any logic, values or ethics, for example the id wants whatever feels good at a certain time (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2007). Therefore Freud saw that it was urgent to control the pleasure principle and he postulated that there must be a ‘super-ego’ to control the id. The ego can be viewed as the executive of personality; it consists of a group of mechanisms such as reality-testing, judgment and impulse control. It incorporates these techniques so it is able to control the demands of the id and of other instincts, becoming aware of stimuli, and serving as a link between the id and the external world (Pervin, Cervone & John, 2005). As an individual’s ego develops so does the perception of reality and a wider view beyond, the pleasures of subjective gratification, is attained. Therefore the pleasure principle that was devel oped by Freud was replaced by the reality principle (Garcia, 1995). As described by the psychoanalytic theory, the psychological conflict that the ego faces, in respect to dealing with the demands of the superego and the id, is an intrinsic and pervasive part of human experience. For example, if an individual is under pressure and the balance is tipped too far towards one element, thus creating excessive anxiety, the ego is forced to take extreme measures to relieve the pressure, by incorporating what is know as defence mechanisms (Passer & Smith, 2007, p.444-445). These principle defences consists of repression, projection, reaction formation, displacement, regression, rationalization, denial and identification, these are used to defend the ego and are known in therapy as denial or repression. Therefore the way in which a person characteristically resolves the instant gratification versus longer-term reward dilemma, in many ways comes to reflect on their â€Å"character† (Kleep, 2008). In contrast to the id is the superego, which is developed at around age five. It is the internalized representation of the traditional values, ideas and moral standards of society and strives for perfection (Pervin et al., 2005). Counsellors who use the structural model commonly focus on helping patients handle conflicts that occur between these three mental agencies by assessing the level of functioning of the client’s id, ego, and superego, the specific areas of weakness and strength in each (Garcia, 1995). For example, counsellors usually diagnose a patient as psychotic if his or her ego suffers a severe impairment in reality-testing. Freud believed that human social and personality development occurs through his psychoanalytic theory of development. This theory consists of five stages the oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. These are characterized by a dominant mode of achieving libidinal pleasure and by specific development tasks. An individual’s personality according to Freud has been shaped by the age of five and he believes this tim e is the most critical for an individual (Hergenhahn & Olson). During these years if an individual is able to successfully negotiate these stages, then healthy personality develops. However, if through â€Å"over-gratification† or â€Å"under-gratification†, conflicts are not resolved adequately specific traits and characters develop and continue through to adulthood. Therefore, Freud believed that the three early stages of development often brought individuals to counselling because there were not properly resolved (Pervin et al., 2005). According to Gladding (2000),†Counsellors who work psychoanalytically should understand at which stage a client is functioning because the stages are directly linked to the plan of treatment† (p.189). Children experience conflicts in different stages of development. In each stage, conflict centers on a different theme. In Freud’s oral sensory stage, which occurs from birth to one year, conflict at this point centers on feeding. Children in this stage want to eat things that the Ego tells them is not good for them. Freud believed that some individuals do not pass this stage successfully and remained dependent and overly optimistic. Such people also find it hard to make intimate friends with others and fear loss which may be accompanied by ‘greed’ (Passer & Smith, 2007, p.443-445). Individuals who are considered to have an oral personality are usually narcissistic which means according to the DSM IV-TR â€Å"enduring pattern[s] of inner experience and behaviour† that are sufficiently rigid and deep-seated to bring a person into repeated conflicts with his or her social and occupational environment† (Barlow & Durand, 2005, p.445). In other words the individual is characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, need for admiration, extreme self-involvement, and lack of empathy for others. However, this disorder is only diagnosed when these behaviours become persistent and very disabling or distressing (Barlow & Durand, 2005). In the second stage which is known as t he anal stage and occurs in the second year of life, conflict centers on bowel training. In counseling this stage involves two phases, one is an aggressive phase. This allows the client to share information that was stored up. The other phase is the retentive phase, where clients may hold on to their negative beliefs and attitudes until they are ready to release them. The reason for such behavior by clients is because they may find some pleasure in resisting and withholding this information (Garcia, 1995). The controversial â€Å"Oedipal complex† for boys or â€Å"Electra complex† for girls occurs in the phallic stage and happens around three to five years. This stage is seen by counselors as the phase of initiation and transition. According to Garcia (1995), â€Å"Counselors may act as initiators by providing appropriately challenging experiences within the scope of each individual’s potential for mastery† (p.499). Freud proposed children at this stage compete with the same sex parent for the affection of the opposite sex parent for example boys desire to have their mother but are prevented by the presence of their father (see Appendix 1). Fear of punishment forces repression of such desires and consequently the superego is developed. To unsuccessfully go through this stage is believed to be associated with obsessive compulsive behaviours (Passer & Smith, 2007, p.446-447). Psychoanalysts pointed out several reasons why the Oedipal complex seem unreal to individuals. Firstly, individuals are unable to comprehend their own Oedipal complex when they were children and what was comprehended was energetically repressed almost as soon as individuals became aware of it. Secondly, individuals gradually accept their culture’s perception for their sexual and aggressive life (Klepp, 2008). In the Caribbean for example boys have more freedom than girls and they learn that they must become like their father, who is stereotypically aggressive, ambitious, powerful, and in direct contrast to his mother, who is stereotypically passive, obedient and nurturing and according to societal norms girls should also possess such traits. T herefore because of societal perspectives on an individual’s life, it is considered as the norm and is accepted for a man to possess more than one female. However it is unorthodox and frowned upon for females to behave in this manner. The fourth stage which is known as the Latency occurs from age six years until puberty. In this stage sexual instincts are repressed and superego is fully developed. At this time clients may be initiating and cultivating new and transitional alliances outside of the helping relationship (Garcia, 1995). The fifth and last stage which is known as the genital stage begins with puberty and continues for the rest of adult life. Mature sexuality is the theme of this stage. This stage is also known as the definitive phase of the counseling process and marks the end of the counseling process and the beginning of its outcome which would be demonstrated over time (Garcia, 1995). Freud suggested strongly that personality was essentially established when the Oedipus and Electra complexes were successfully resolved (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2007, p.40-43). Patients usually get in contact with a psychoanalytic counsellor when defences have failed and anxiety has developed. Therefore, the primary goal of counselling, within a psychoanalytic frame of reference, is to make the unconscious conscious. By doing so any material that is repressed is brought to the conscious level and can be dealt with (Wachtek & Messer, 1997). According to Freud (as cited in, Pervin, Cervone & John, 2005, p. 74-82), unhealthy individuals are unaware of the many factors that cause their behaviour and emotions and as a result these unconscious factors have the potential to produce unhappiness, which in turn is expressed through a score of distinguishable symptoms, including disturbing personality traits, difficulty in relating to others and disturbances in self-esteem or general disposition. The counsellor employs a variety of techniques to tap into a patient’s unconscious such as free association, dream analysis, analysis of transference, analysis of resistance and interpretation. All these methods have the long-term goal of strengthening the ego (Gladding, 2000, p.192-194). Free association is a method that replaced hypnosis in Freud’s therapy. It consists of a patient speaking about any subject matter one basically abandons his or her customary conscious control over one’s behaviour and gives free verbal expression to every thought, feeling or impulse of which one becomes aware. Conclusions are then based on what was said and by doing this the counsellor is hoping that the client will abandon all normal forms of censoring, or editing their thoughts (Rieber, 2006). An example of the use of free association is lying on a couch, in dim light and in a peaceful room, the patient produces the following free association: â€Å"I am thinking of the fluffy clouds I seem to see with my very eyes. They are white and pearly. The sky is full of clouds but a few azure patches can still be seen here and there†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Ewen, 1992, p.57). Colby (1960) pointed out that, this technique often leads to some recollection of past experiences and at times a release of intense feelings such as catharsis that have been blocked but resistance may occur during free association (p.54-58).. This means that the patient is unable to recall traumatic past events. Therefore, one task of the counsellor would be to overcome resistance. Blocking or disruptions in associations serve as cues to anxiety arousing material. According to Grà ¼nbaum (1986), free association is not a valid method of accessing the patients’ repressed memories because there is no way of ensu ring that the analyst is capable of distinguishing between the patients’ actual memories and imagined memories constructed due to the influence of the analyst’s leading questions (p. 226). Another type of technique that is related to free association is transference. Pervin et al., (2005) stated that, â€Å"transference refers to a patient’s development of attitudes towards the counsellor based on attitudes held by that patient toward earlier parental figures† (p.129). In other words it is the client’s unconscious shifting to the counsellor of feelings and fantasies that are reactions to significant others in the patient’s past and present (Stefflre & Burks, 1979). This process is encouraged by the client reclining vulnerably on a couch, with the counsellor out of sight and remaining a â€Å"blank slate† as much as possible. At this time a parent child relationship is developed among client and counsellor and therefore transfers the patient’s old emotions with his or her actual parents unto the counsellor. This makes for an extremely difficult situation in which the counsellor has a huge amount of influence, which is necessary but requires care and restraint (Sue & Sue, 2007). Freud initially believed transference was a hurdle in counselling. However, he eventually recognized that transference is a universal phenomenon and also occurs outside of the counselling session. But in order for the counselling section to produce change the transference relationship must be work through. Work through occurs after transference in the case of most learning, the insights gained through psychoanalytic counselling must be practiced to integrate them in one’s life. It other words it allows the client to understand the influence of the past on his or her present situation, to accept it emotionally as well as intellectually, and to use the new understanding to make changes in present life. By doing this the client will also learn to avoid repressing the material (Schaeffer, 1998; Ewen, 1992). Ewen (1992) pointed out, several disadvantages to the transference technique. Firstly, this technique can not be effectively applied to group counselling. Secondly, â€Å"it is possible for the transference to become extremely negative as when powerful distrust or obstinacy is displaced from a castrating parent to counsellor† and the counsellor must be very careful not to aggravate deserved love or hate which would give the client a valid excuse for refusing to recognise and learn from the transference technique (p.59). Warwar & Greenberg (2000) discussed recent changes in psychoanalytic theory. Rather than presenting a problem, countertransference currently is considered to be a fundamental, useful component of the psychoanalytic counselling process, because it provides the counsellor with useful information about the counselling relationship (p.571-600). Countertransference occurs when the counsellor begins to project his or her own unresolved conflicts unto the client. While transference of the client’s conflicts unto the counsellor is considered a healthy and normal part of psychoanalytic counselling, the counsellor’s job is to remain neutral as not to breech any of the ethical codes of counselling (Rosenberger & Hayes, 2002). Individuals are seen as being motivated by their past and present relationships, rather than by biological urges when this technique is in use, therefore the counselling relationship is seen as real. Thus client’s behaviour is not seen primarily as transference, but as responses in a current relationship. In addition, change is understood to be the result of the constructive emotional experience of the counselling relationship, rather than the result of insight. This new emphasis on the reality and importance of this type of relationship appears to be integrated into other approaches to counselling as well (Sue & Sue, 2007). Some criticisms of countertransference are that it can be damaging if not proper ly managed. With proper monitoring, however, some sources show that counter-transference can play an important role. Counsellors are encouraged to pay close attention to their feelings in respect to this technique, and to seek peer review and supervisory guidance as needed. Rather than eliminating counter-transference altogether, the goal is to use those feelings productively rather than harmfully (Schaeffer, 1998). The basic method of psychoanalysis is interpretation. Brammer, Shostrum & Abrego (1989) states, â€Å"interpretation is an attempt by the counsellor to impart meaning to the client. Interpretation means presenting the client with a hypothesis about relationships or meanings among his or her behaviours† (p.175). In psychoanalytic counselling the counsellor is silent as much as possible, in order to encourage the patient’s free association and to interpret resistances and repressions that the client has not yet understood, but is capable of tolerating and incorporating, s o as to better understand the unconscious conflicts that are interfering with daily functioning, such as phobias and depression (Clark, 1995). Interpretations by the counsellor appear to be the critical variable in counselling success, along with client insight about underlying motivations, in order to achieve client goals. Therefore the goal of interpretation is to enable the ego to assimilate new material and to speed up the process of uncovering further unconscious materials (Wachtel & Messer, 1997). According to Clark (1995) Interpretation was rejected by critics as a valid technique because, â€Å" it was perceived as undermining the counsellors relationship, minimizing or subverting client responsibility and restricting the counselling process to an intellectual endeavour† (p.486). Freud (as cited in Passer & Smith, 2007, p.170-172) saw dreams as the major source of insight into the unconscious and as very important. Dreams are seen as the â€Å"royal road to the unconscious† and are not literal in nature but symbolic. Dreams also consist of two levels of content the latent and manifest. Dream Analysis is a very imperfect science, as there are many levels of distortion between the patient’s unconscious and the counsellor’s interpretation, bearing in mind, according to Freud, dreams are interpreted in terms of phallic meanings (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2007). For example it is amazing how many ordinary items can be interpreted as being a penis such as chair legs or a vagina such as purses. Each fragment of a dream leads quickly to the disclosure of unconscious memories and fantasies and then unto associations of other topics. Another technique that is involved in the psychoanalytic process of counselling is Analysis of resistance. Although a client may feel the need to change and truly desire help for themselves through the counsellor many things can enter the picture to alter this change; these things are referred to as resistance. Resistance refers to any idea, attitude, feelings or action which can be conscious or unconscious that fosters the status quo and gets in the way of change. For example: missed or being late for appointments, rambling on about the economy or politics, any type of distraction that seems to keep the client from actually focusing on the real issues is considered resistance (Sue & Sue, 2007,p.98). According to Gladding â€Å"a counsellor’s analysis of resistance can assist clients gain insight to their situation and other behaviours (p.193). Psychoanalytic theory has been applied to counselling in terms of the assessment of personality. This theory is the underlining factor of the performance based or projective tests used in psychoanalytic counselling. These assessments assist counsellors in the analysis of individuals’ unconscious thoughts, motives, feelings, conflicts and repressed problems from early childhood. These types of test generally have an unstructured response format, meaning that respondents are allowed to respond as much or as little as they like (free association) to a particular test stimulus, which is normally ambiguous (Pervin et al., 2005). The most common type of test used in this area includes the Rorschach Inkblot test. This test is a method used in psychological evaluation; it can be administered to children as young as three, adolescents and adults. This assessment tries to probe the unconscious minds of clients. The counsellor will show the subject a series of ten irregular but symmetrical inkblots and ask the client to identify the inkblot. As the patient is examining the inkblots the counsellor writes down everything the patient says or does, no matter how trivial the subject’s responses. These responses are then analysed in various ways noting not only what was said but the time taken to respond and which aspect of the drawings was focused on. At this time if a client consistently sees the images as threatening and frightening the counsellor might infer that the subject may be suffering from paranoia. Major criticisms of this test include a lack or reliability and validity. Individuals who benefit the most from psychoanalytic counselling are those middle aged clients who are searching for a meaning to life (Pervin et al., 2005). The principal concepts of psychoanalytic counselling can be grouped as structural, dynamic, and developmental concepts. This theory is a method for learning about the mind and insights into whatever the human mind produces. It is a way of understanding the processes of everyday mental functioning and the stages of development (Sue & Sue, 2007). Freud’s approach is subject to several criticisms. Firstly, it is too time consuming, expensive and generally ineffective to those who seek help from a psychoanalytic counsellor who has less disruptive developmental or situational problems and disorders. Secondly, techniques involved in psychoanalysis, such as Freud’s ideas on the interpretation of dreams and the role of free association, have been criticized. For instance, one counsellor may observe one phenomenon and interpret it one way, whereas another counsellor will observe the same phenomenon and interpret it in a completely different way that is contradictory to the first psychoanalyst’s interpretation (Stefflre & Burks, 1979). Despite the weaknesses of psychoanalysis, there are many strengths of the theory that are extremely significant. It offers an empathetic and non-judgemental environment where the client can feel safe in revealing feelings or actions that have led to stress or tension in his or her life. It also lends itself to empirical studies and provides a theoretical base support for a number of diagnostic tests (Gladding, 2000, p.194-195).Therefore, the psychoanalysis is a theory that should not be disregarded. Although it was developed a long time ago it is still applicable and an effective method of treating mental disorders such as paranoia, schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive reactions in today’s societies. In addition, a good theory, according to many philosophers of science, is falsifiable, able to be generalized, leads to the development of new psychological theories and hypotheses. Psychoanalysis meets many of these criteria (Klepp, 2008). References Barlow,D., & Durand, V. (2005). Abnormal psychology: An integrative Approach (4th Ed). Belmont: Wadsworth. Brammer, L.M., Shostrum, E. L., & Abrego, P. J. (1989). Therapeutic psychology: Fundamentals of Counseling and psychotherapy (5th Ed). Prentice Hall. Clark, J. A, (1995). An examination of the technique of interpretation in counseling. Journal of Counseling and Development, 73 (5), 483-489. Colby, K. M. (1960). An Introduction to psychoanalytic research (1st Ed). New York: Basic. Ewen, B. R. (1992). An Introduction to theories of personality (4th Ed). Psychology Press. Garcia, L. J, (1995). Freud’s psychosexual stage conception: A developmental metaphor for counsellors. Journal of Counseling and Development, 73 (5), 498-502. Gladding, T. S, (2000). Counseling: A Comprehensive profession (4th Ed). Prentice Hall, Inc Grà ¼nbaum, A. (1986). Prà ©cis of The foundations of psychoanalysis: A philosophical critique. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 217-284. Hergenhahn, R., & Olson, H. M (2007). An Introduction to Theories of Personality (7th Ed). Pearson Prentice Hall. http://myauz.com/ianr/articles/lect3freud07.pdf. Retrieved October 19th, 2009. Klepp, L. (2008). Meetings of the mind. The weekly standard, 13(42), 29-31 Passer, W. M., & Smith, E. R. (2007). Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behavior (3rd Ed). McGraw Hill. Pervin, A. L., Cervone, D., & John, P. O. (2005). Personality Theory and Research (Eds). John Wiley. Rieber, W. R. (2006), The Bifurcation of the self: the history and theory of dissociation and its Disorders (1st Ed). Springer. Rosenberger, W. E., & Hayes, A. J. (2002). Therapist as subject: A review of empirical countertransference literature. Journal of Counseling and Development, 80 (3), 264- 270 Sarnoff, I. (1960). Psychoanalytic Theory and social attitudes. Public Opinion Quarterly, 24(2), 251-279. Schaeffer, A. J. (1998). Transference and countertransference interpretations : Harmful or helpful in short-term dynamic therapy?. American journal of psychotherapy , 52 (1), 1- 17. Stefflre, B., & Burks, M. H (1979). Theories of Counselling (3rd Ed). McGraw-Hill. Sue, D., & Sue, M. D (2007). Foundations of Counseling and Psychotherapy: Evidence based practices for a diverse society (1st Ed ). John Wiley & Sons. Wachtel, L. P., & Messer, B. S. (1997).Theories of Psychotherapy Origins and Evolution (1st Ed). American Psychological Association. Warwar, S. & Greenberg, L. S. (2000). Advances in theories of change and counseling: Handbook of Counselling psychology (3rd Ed). New York: Wiley and Sons.

Depiction of teenagers in magazines Essay Example

Depiction of teenagers in magazines Essay Example Depiction of teenagers in magazines Essay Depiction of teenagers in magazines Essay The media is a very powerful way in which one persons view can be shown to millions of people. Writing, film making, art, music and journalism can challenge your views about being part of British society and the roles the people play in it. Theres a little Quote I like to add The medias the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and thats power. Because they control the minds of the masses Introduction Do the media paint a true picture of teenagers? Teenagers are very impressed by actors on the T.V or Pop stars and peer pressure is also huge factor. Adverts shows on the T. V, impress teenagers to buy expensive and design clothes or sport wear or make up for girls. All the teenagers want to look cool, fashion style and try to impress boys or girls. The teenagers come across Media e. g. T. V, Internet, Radio, Magazines, Bill boards and Leaflets and they are shown them by violence, powerful, strength, disrespectful, distracting schools or college, breaking the law, get drunk, get involve in illegal things and most things that they have got lots of confidence. Teenagers think that they are most powerful in Politics and they can make the teenagers to be good citizens in the country and also they think that can do anything they want, especially the boys because they are sporty, they want to be a gangster to impress or to get the girls. The boys think that they must have a girlfriend at the age of 15. Main body In my opinion in media I think that teenagers are misrepresented because in the Magazine they give opinions on how you should look and how you can attract boys and girls. When the teenagers read it, they wont follow what the book or magazine says and they just follow their own way and in their daily lives, youll see none of them like what the Magazine article says. Bob Geldof is the one who hits out at teen magazines, he doesnt want a magazine about how to get girls/boys, flirting and more. He wants these sorts of magazines to stop because he has a 3 teenagers daughters and he said, Its too sexual information for young teenagers children. Bob Geldof compares these magazines to pedophiles because of the sexual content. Two of the quotes that Bob Geldof said, Are they any less offensive than a 22 year old man going to and 11 year old and saying I am going to talk to you about sex, And If such a conversation happened, you would view it as sold, probably illegal and certainly Predatory. The news reporters or the media suppose Bob Geldof is known for being outspoken. Bob Geldof went tot the media itself to tell his opinion, once he went to BBC programmer Grumpy old men, in this programmed he admitted that he had not banned the magazine from his home but he was still outraged to see their contents. The good things about the magazine are they tell lots of advice s that you dont want to talk to your family about sex. It also has a child helpline with them, so when ever they need help about sex they can ring this child helpline, so they will give good answers to teenagers to understand about sex. The bad things about the magazine are its too sexual information and its not appropriate for teenagers. It has the words that the teenagers dont want to learn. Theres no useful idea or advice for teenagers. They were talking about how to be hot or how to do sex and also they made the teenagers to think about sex. In Cosmo girl front cover the sort of writing it had for girls. You can tell by the words, fonts (different variety of writing) in bold colour and finally the layout, when I mean layout 1 mean is what sort of fonts they use. Fonts like bold, Italic, size of writing and the different varieties of fonts e. g. Times new roman. They also use informal language e. g. EEK! Thats for the girls who wear a lot of clothes, put a lot of make up and girls is who try to attract boys and flirt with them. Straight away you can say this magazine for girls. (You can tell this by the title: Cosmo girl) and also on the front cover there is a signature saying Rachel Bilson that isnt really her signature because like I said theres different varieties of fonts. Finally that I can tell this front cover its for girls I that the colour they use blue and pink, theyre both primary colour inside the Cosmo Girl it will just talk about fashion, how to attract the boys and more. In Channel U video, the teenagers were wearing some attractive clothes (gangster or style) to impress the girls. Like e. g. the way they sing and move their moves like a really bad guy, some of their moves were sexually to the girls. Its like a gangster; they were tired to be a gangster. They were getting close to the girls by Dance, touching them. The teenagers would really enjoy this because its got a rap which is look like a gangster, when the teenagers watch gangster sort of rap/songs they all go hyper and act like theyre cool and strong and also its sexually explicit, revealing clothing for the girls, provocative, subservient, very aggressive style of shooting, violence, the way they move, body language, gangster attitudes and confrontational. In the Sketchers adverts there were two sorts of teenagers who were aimed at female and male. When the girls looked at the adverts they would think if we buy these trainers we will feel like the girl on the picture. The girl on the picture looks comfortable, good looking, relaxed and passive. On the other side boys point of view about the sketchers adverts is totally different from the girls point of view. When the boys look at the advert theyll think that theyll turn all active, strong, good looking, ready for anything and is control of themselves and other people. The body language is like aggressive, tough and strong and shape body. The body language shows you that they showing off their body and strengths. The stereo types are not all true because not all the boys in the world arent like that and also it makes you look like youre more active.

Social Security †a Political Gift. Government Essay (200 Level Course)

Social Security – a Political Gift. Government Essay (200 Level Course) Free Online Research Papers Social Security a Political Gift. Government Essay (200 Level Course) In the depths of the Great Depression hundreds of thousands of senior citizens are unemployed, they have no retirement and no visual means of supporting themselves. During this era it had always fallen on children to support their parents. Now, however, the children have no jobs. The economy was dreadful. Politicians consulting economist realize that for every one elderly person not working there were twelve adults not working that were working age. The economic became simple if every working person paid five cents each week to the government that the government could give decent retirement to every senior citizen and thus social security was born. What followed social security was that one, politicians love to give gifts. It’s like buying a vote. Every year they increase social security benefits. Second, demographics changed. Now there are more people who get benefits than work. Now instead of five cents a week the government takes a little more than 6% of the working mans pay. The demographics that helped social security at the beginning are now killing it. The problem comes when economist try to find a plan to save social security they find that each young working American will have to devote something like one-half of their current income. This makes the young slaves to the old. This will not work. All of the articles I read are very negative about the possibility of reform and what the politicians are really doing. Research Papers on Social Security - a Political Gift. Government Essay (200 Level Course)Never Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceTwilight of the UAWThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationQuebec and Canada19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraPETSTEL analysis of IndiaAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Relationship between Media Coverage and Social andPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyEffects of Television Violence on Children

Show Tables Command in SQL

Show Tables Command in SQL MySQL is open-source relational database management software that website owners and others use to organize and retrieve data from databases. A database consists of one or more tables with several columns, each containing information. In relational databases, the tables can cross-reference one another. If you run a website and use MySQL, you may need to view a complete list of tables in the database. Using the MySQL Command Line Client Connect to your web server and log in to your database. Pick the database you want to use if you have more than one. In this example, the database is named Pizza Store. $ mysql -u root -pmysql USE pizza_store; Now use the MySQL SHOW TABLES command to list the tables in the chosen database. mysql SHOW TABLES; This command returns a list of all the tables in the chosen database. MySQL Tips Every MySQL command ends with a semicolon. If it is missing, the command does not execute.The MySQL command line is not case sensitive, but commands are usually written in uppercase, while  tables, databases, usernames, and text are usually in lowercase to make them easier to identify. When to Use a Database A database is a structured collection of data. Occasions when a database  might come in handy when you are working on your website include: If you have an online store, a database stores the products you sell, the customer information, and the orders.A database for an online forum stores member names, forums, topics, and posts.A blog uses a database to store blog posts, categories, comments, and tags. WhyUse MySQL Because it is open-source software, it is free to everybody.MySQL can be installed on lots of different platforms.MySQL is usually included in most web-hosting packages.Its easy to use.It works well with PHP to add functionality to your website.

Strategic Marketing Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic Marketing Plan - Assignment Example Laura Ashley, the brand that originated from Welsh designer Laura Ashley, is a household name popularised by its colourful fabrics for clothes and home furnishings. Laura Ashley Plc. is a small family company with very specialised products spread in the Europe, UK and US. Started by the Ashleys in 1953 the company kept on embracing new products and companies and integrated vertically. The key for the significance and the competitive edge of the company was the design philosophy of Laura Ashley. Although the company faced a shock after the death of Laura Ashley but the company followed the line of Laura's designs. By 1985 the company established its own supply chain and kept on supplying the products at shops. The Company also implemented the Information system for effective communication with in the company Sales practice: The Company established the shops with the same design and undertaken research and development activities in order to analyse the consumer preferences regarding th e brand. As a result of the surveys conducted the company found the brand name as the major asset of the company, which could prove to be the main source of competitive advantage of the company. Using the Ansoff matrix which is a framework for identifying corporate growth opportunities with two dimensions determining the scope of options between products and markets, this study shall develop SMART strategic marketing objectives. It will identify four generic growth strategies: Market penetration of Laura Ashley means that the company need to aim selling its existing high-end products from accessories, beds, bedlinen and bedspreads, curtains, cushions and throws, fabric, furniture, lighting, mirrors, rugs, sofas and chairs, and wallpapers within the markets it is currently serving but in increasing numbers. Greater effort in sales and marketing to achieve higher product sales is needed for a bigger market share attained possibly through improved product quality or cost reductions. In this process, Laura Ashley must take the opportunity to capture high-end markets in emerging economies such as India and China. As LA's market has declined, more marketing efforts are needed. Market development means selling to new customers for existing products which could require market segmentation. New market in this instance could include previously un-served geographical areas, or another market segment which was not previously catered to. For Laura Ashley, considering its classic home furnishing and fabrics, new markets such as those seeking luxurious abode overseas could be a target. Age, for instance could also be factor for consideration in this process as it has been suggested by various studies that older age indicate diligent shoppers and pursue sedate lifestyle (Zeithaml, 1985 and Hisrich & Peters, 1974). LA could also go for full nesters indicative through movement in household as this group prefer consumer durables and are basically home-oriented (Shanginger and Danko, 1993) Product development through new designs of existing products capitalising on existing knowledge and skills for the market it once

Stakeholder theory and Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words - 1

Stakeholder theory and Strategy - Essay Example Subsequently, the study elucidates how significant stakeholder relationships are in a firm’s enduring existence and survival. Likewise, the paper attempts to concisely illustrate the importance of firms’ employing stakeholder management in their day-to-day operations at the same time succinctly presents how the use of stakeholder analysis can advance corporation efficiency and facilitate a corporation’s effectual policy/decision-making. For the investigation’s methodology, it makes use of the qualitative research employing the interpretivist/inductive stance mode of inquiry. It then concludes with the premise that stakeholders can provide the firm with access to the resources and capabilities that they own, create, and control only if the corporation promotes the stakeholders’ interests or stakes and thus offers the stakeholders opportunities for achieving their objectives. This premise directly follows from the dynamics that create organizations stating that an organization is an amalgamation of people who interact with each other in particular and often repeated ways over some period of time. To attract people to its activities and thereby to assure its continued existence, an organisation must bring some form of benefit—whether psychological, social, cultural, professional, or economic —to the people who participate in its activities. The word stakeholder is compellingly authoritative (Phillips, Freeman, & Wicks, 2003) due to its all-inclusive and at the same time logical depiction of how organizations conduct their business and day-to-day existence. In his pioneering work, Freeman (1984) recommended a stakeholder method to strategic management, inferring that it is imperative for organisations to pay attention to those who affect and are affected by the corporate actions. From that time on, stakeholder theory has become a ‘middle-of-the-road’

The Consequences of Economic Growth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Consequences of Economic Growth - Essay Example This discussion highlights that  with increased economic transaction between populations within and outside of national borders have led to greater economic growth throughout many parts of the planet.   Employment increases, the cost of products decrease to a competitive market level, and the number of firms and the quality of firms increase.   As a developing economy grows, there is a greater propensity and incentive for foreign governments to provide some form of economic aid, which is also in their benefits for their own economic expansion.From the study it is clear that  with the spread of commerce comes the spread of newer technologies. With the breakthroughs in technologies in the telecommunications industry, the technology itself has become more accessible for lower income customers.   Anyone with an internet connection can now communicate and do business with anyone else in the world.   This has led to a rapid growth in traditionally lesser-developed countries, be cause now there is a productive work force with the means to enlarge their economic fortunes.   With the greater diffusion of technologies, entrepreneurs have become more empowered and enfranchised with freedom to pursue business ventures and this had led to a growth in business.  Nations with no economic development at all are subject to civil war, systemic poverty, famine, and political instability, as often and tragically observed in Sub-Saharan Africa or Central Asia in the present day.  Ã‚  

HIV and Communicable diseases Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

HIV and Communicable diseases - Article Example The efforts that it takes to diagnose an individual with HIV and further its treatment are relatively higher for which a great deal of time is needed. It should be noted that there are a number of risk behaviors that are associate with the AIDS treatment. The authors have highlighted different kinds risk behaviors that is more likely to affect various developmental systems of the human body (Schreibman and Friedland). Furthermore, the authors have noted that there is much assistance required for helping the health care practitioners to understand the treatment methods of AIDS. It is because there are different variations in behavior which may differ from gender to gender. There are a number of risks which are associated with the spread of AIDS which have also been studied by the authors. Victims of HIV AIDS are more likely to get affected by other STDs for which the body may not be able to develop

Asthma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Asthma - Essay Example It is important that therapists be familiar with asthma so that they can properly diagnose patients on an individual basis. As such, I picked these articles to review as each person is unique in their diagnosis, as well as their treatment. In Sherry Baker’s article, â€Å"Children in danger from exposure to common chemicals, new studies confirm,† the author divulges into alleged causes of asthma in children, which are the toxic chemicals of common products. One study revealed that children exposed to pesticides during their prenatal stage risked developing a chronic cough at the age of five. This study yields evidence that the respiratory system of a child is defenseless against toxic exposure while in their mother’s womb (Baker, 2012). This chemical found in pesticides that causes children to develop chronic cough is piperonyl butoxide. Two other chemicals that are known to cause chronic coughing in children include diethyl phthalate and butylbenzyl phthalate, which are found in personal care and plastic products. When children are exposed to these chemicals, they are at risk of developing asthma-related airway inflammation. Sarka-Jonae Miller looks at alternative remedies for asthma in her article â€Å"Lifestyle remedies for the management of asthma.† Miller points out that while doctors disagree with lifestyle remedies for asthma, such as acupuncture and breathing exercise, these treatments have been proven to be less harmful than the common prescribed medications (Miller, 2012). Rolfing and osteopathic manipulation can be utilized to alleviate restrictive patterns in muscles and nerves, allowing for easier breathing. Acupuncture has been shown to decrease the frequency of asthma attacks, as well as improve breathing. Various breathing exercises can be used to help individuals control their breathing, thus preventing asthma attacks and allowing individuals to rely less

BUSINESS ANALYTICS METHOD AND SOFTWARE Coursework

BUSINESS ANALYTICS METHOD AND SOFTWARE - Coursework Example Setting up complex statistical analyses on large data without prior identification of the objectives and knowhow about the suitability and possible outcome of the proposed analyses often renders misleading results. According to Albert Einstein, â€Å"the formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill† (Faraway, 2002). This report aims to explore the utility of statistical software such as R and gain insights into the statistical methods such as multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with as well as without regard to each other. The report will provide with a comprehensive overview of the R software, its advantages and disadvantages, current market trends in the software category and reflect hands-on experience gained by its use. Next, the report will provide with a comprehensive overview of MANOVA, and advantages and disadvantages associated with it. Finally, the report will include a st ep-by-step description on the implementation of MANOVA in R, followed by the conclusions. R is a computer scripting language and an interactive software environment designed particularly for statistical analyses, manipulation and visualization of data and results (Seefeld, 2007; Venables et al., 2008). The name, R, was used by Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka, while creating the R project at the Department of Statistics, University of Auckland, in 1995 (Owen, 2010). The language was mostly derived from two existing languages, S and Scheme, developed in 1985 and 1975, respectively. While addressing the issues involved in the design and implementation of these languages for statistical computing, the authors considered combining their strengths to produce another language. The resulting language, R, largely resembles S but is based on semantics and

Asthma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Asthma - Essay Example It is important that therapists be familiar with asthma so that they can properly diagnose patients on an individual basis. As such, I picked these articles to review as each person is unique in their diagnosis, as well as their treatment. In Sherry Baker’s article, â€Å"Children in danger from exposure to common chemicals, new studies confirm,† the author divulges into alleged causes of asthma in children, which are the toxic chemicals of common products. One study revealed that children exposed to pesticides during their prenatal stage risked developing a chronic cough at the age of five. This study yields evidence that the respiratory system of a child is defenseless against toxic exposure while in their mother’s womb (Baker, 2012). This chemical found in pesticides that causes children to develop chronic cough is piperonyl butoxide. Two other chemicals that are known to cause chronic coughing in children include diethyl phthalate and butylbenzyl phthalate, which are found in personal care and plastic products. When children are exposed to these chemicals, they are at risk of developing asthma-related airway inflammation. Sarka-Jonae Miller looks at alternative remedies for asthma in her article â€Å"Lifestyle remedies for the management of asthma.† Miller points out that while doctors disagree with lifestyle remedies for asthma, such as acupuncture and breathing exercise, these treatments have been proven to be less harmful than the common prescribed medications (Miller, 2012). Rolfing and osteopathic manipulation can be utilized to alleviate restrictive patterns in muscles and nerves, allowing for easier breathing. Acupuncture has been shown to decrease the frequency of asthma attacks, as well as improve breathing. Various breathing exercises can be used to help individuals control their breathing, thus preventing asthma attacks and allowing individuals to rely less

The issues facing duplicity in human nature in The Strange Case of Dr Essay

The issues facing duplicity in human nature in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - Essay Example â€Å"Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde perfectly captured some readers’ fears that their carefully built society was hypocritical.†4 Although the idea of man’s double nature—the good and the bad—has been a topic of countless discussions and debates for centuries, Stevenson presented it most vividly in a way that only fiction can.5 It can be said that it is even an allegory6 of a philosophical sense, illustrating what Stevenson might deem as the true nature of man. Some perceive it to be the epitome of Sigmund Freud’s concept of the subconscious—with Mr. Hyde being Dr. Jekyll’s â€Å"subconscious desire to be freed from his society’s restrictions.†7 While others view the novel as one of the first illustrations of the psychological illness that is termed split personality disorder, with the term alter ego (Mr, Hyde) popularized by Freud. Whatever the case, it cannot be denied that The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sh ows, both then and now, the unquestionable duplicity of the nature of man manifested in the two sides of good and evil. For â€Å"the opposites embodied in the Jekyll/Hyde binary conform to late-Victorian ideas about the brain as a double organ,8† as it is still considered up to now. In this dark novel, Robert Louis Stevenson reveals the issues dealing with the duplicity of human nature. Through his mastery of syntax, constant change in point of view throughout the story, complex use of symbolism, supernatural writing style, and his usage of fear in the unknown, Stevenson shows what can happen if you let the evil inside take over. His example of this is the life of Dr. Henry Jekyll and his alter ego, Mr. Edward Hyde. This paper will discuss the aforementioned elements of the novel as it discusses the characteristic duplicity found in human nature. To further illustrate how Stevenson depicted the issues that come with the inherent characteristic of man’s duplicity, it is best to give a brief synopsis

The Human Rights Regime Human Rights Essay

The Human Rights Regime Human Rights Essay While the idea of human rights may have a discernible homogeneity, perhaps derived from some kind of natural law theory or social theory, it is nonetheless clear that the implementation of these rights by states lacks a corresponding identity. Davidsons (1993, p.89) analysis of the concept of human rights highlights the chief difficulty that has faced the past generation of human rights regime, namely that it is an international problem that cannot be efficiently policed and guarded against by state law alone. The ubiquitous problem of definition only makes it easier for offending companies or nations to claim that their crimes do not officially come within the official realm of human rights. The current statecentric definition of human rights therefore facilitates evasive tactics and succeeds only in diminishing the significance of the issue on the eyes of statesmen and policy makers. To best tackle the dual problem within the title of this essay we first need to attempt to define the modern human rights regime, place it in its contemporary political context and evaluate its primary obstacles. Then we need to analyse the role of multinational corporations to evaluate in what ways these pose a problem to the human rights regime, posing the question of how these ubiquitous forces can be made accountable for their overseas empires. And finally we will examine the question of whether or not a new generation of human rights activity and organisation is required. The United Nations Charter (1948) is the vehicle for the international ideal of human rights, law and democracy. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2000, p.82) sets out a modern definition and has served as the blueprint by which all subsequent interpretations have been measured. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. The phraseology is famous for its humanitariancentric ideology but herein lays the problem of the human rights issue within the broader international agenda. In political philosophy, the spirit of the Universal Declaration and subsequent treaties such as the Vienna Convention (1993) are inherently left of centre and imply a cooperative understanding and information exchange between modern states, east and west, north and south that is modelled on broadly socialist ideals. Yet, inevitably, the feeling of responsibility towards all oppressed people of the world, that was a legacy of the horrors of World War II, quickly dissipated. As history has taught us time and again, domestic economic and political concerns soon superseded human rights at the top of the international relations agenda and it is within such an environment that the modern human rights regime must currently work. The postwar international political situation has been exacerbated in recent times by the advent of globalisation as a political and economic reality. The Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1997) details the enormous change that globalisation has meant to the lives of millions of people across the globe. Since the Limburg Principles were adopted in 1986, the economic and social conditions have declined at alarming rates for over 1.6 billion people, while they have advanced also at a dramatic pace for more than a quarter of the worlds population. The gap between rich and poor has doubled in the last three decades, with the poorest fifth of the worlds population receiving 1.4% of the global income and the richest 85%. The impact of these disparities on the lives of people especially the poor is dramatic and renders the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights illusory for a significant portion of humanity. It naturally follows that many human rights lobbyists are also opponents of globalisation, in which they see the conduit through which further human rights abuses will be facilitated as the gulf between the rich and poor of the world continues to widen. And because the concept of globalisation relies heavily on the dynamics of transnational corporations it does not take a great leap in deduction to imagine that human rights abuses will slip further away from the top of the western political agenda if the west continues on its current economic and political course of action. The issue of the increased social and political role of transnational corporations (TNCs), as Jochnick (1999, pp.5679) testifies, is a major problem for the enforcement of the human rights agenda. Most developing countries face TNCs with revenues many times larger than their domestic economies. TNCs account for almost half of the top one hundred economies in the world, and a mere two hundred of them are estimated to control a quarter of the worlds productive assets. Grouped together in trade associations with the active support of their home countries, TNCs exercise an inordinate influence over local law and policies. Their impact on human rights ranges from a direct role in violations, such as abuses of employees or the environment, to indirect support of governments guilty of widespread oppression. The argument to limit the scope of TNCs has been prevalent for the past thirty years. In 1974 the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States declared in Article 2 (b) that, each state has the right to regulate and supervise the activities of transnational corporations within its national jurisdiction and take measures to ensure that such activities comply with its law, rules and regulations and conform with its economic and social policies. While the political reality of human rights abuses has altered little due to the above statement and indeed the increased focus on human rights in general, its existence as an ideal and a manifestation of consensus amongst the generation of drafters makes it an important and relevant document for the next generation of human rights activists. In 2003, for instance, the Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regards to Human Rights defined human rights and transnational companies in a bi d to clarify the ambiguities that have existed since 1945. It also specified areas of negligence such as the treatment of children and the provision for providing adequate food and drink for the workforce. This document underscores the continuing strive to hold multinationals to account but it likewise poses as many questions as it answers. Although the accountability of transnational corporations is a commendable course of action it is fraught with problems of perspective. The main theory posited against the legal extension of human rights violations to include TNCs is that multinational corporations are private entities and should not have the same restrictions such as those imposed upon states. TNCs should, from this viewpoint, be responsible only for the proper conduct of their business and should not have to interfere in broader social issues, which ought to come within the jurisdiction of the local national government or the UN. At this point we need to examine the intricacies of the traditional multinational corporation so as to determine the necessity for an increased net of surveillance. Nike is probably the incarnation of a major multinational corporation within the bounds of this discussion. Since the Reagan administration there has been consistent questioning of the role of Nike in Third World countries with particular emphasis on the growing divide between the companys turnover and the lifestyle of the workers in countries such as Indonesia, where many of the firms manufacturing plants are in operation. The specific problem of corporate responsibility for multinationals such as Nike is explained in detail by Daniel Litvin (2003, p.228). The American multinational does not actually own the facilities producing its sports gear around the world; rather, it contracts out its manufacturing to other firms. And it has tried to respond to western criticism over its alleged sweatshop production by setting up numerous systems for monitoring labour practices in these factories, largely involving visit and inspections by outsiders. But just as Cecil Rhodes British South Africa Company seriously misunderstood the cultural dynamics of the indigenous societies of South Africa, and just as Aramco, for all its efforts, found it difficult to predict changes within Saudi society, so Nike has been struggling to track the conditions in its factories. Within the case study of Nike is a problem that affects the entire human rights corporate agenda. Although multinational companies are registered in western countries, much of the grass roots level abuses occur outside of the scope of the executive branch. Clearly human rights lobbyists will state that Nike and other TNCs in its position ought to ensure a more durable form of internal communication but, legally speaking, the fact that the manufacturing is subcontracted shifts corporate responsibility away from the multinational and only creates more legal and political issues for the human rights regime. There clearly is a need for a new generation of human rights regime, one that is not so inherently statecentric in its analysis of the issue. Because of the economic and political climate of dominant western powers, which we have already outlined, much of the work of human rights bodies must take place within the confines of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs). Unlike national governments, who have to deal with a perpetually shifting social agenda, NGOs can dedicate their time and resources to the achievement of individual, secular goals. The work done by human rights NGOs is various and diverse. Much of their remit involves carrying out some form of information gathering and fact finding activities. Furthermore, nonstate parties have learnt, from the conflicts in Africa and Central and Southern America, that networking between organisations is the best way to achieve homogeneity against statesponsored and corporate oppression. As a result, NGOs have helped bring to the attention of the world media human rights abuses that might otherwise have continued undetected. But this is not an end in itself; it is merely a means to an as yet undecipherable end, as highlighted by Hegarty and Leonard (1999, p.283). There is some evidence that overt monitoring by NGOs deters states from committing abuses. But, there are many places in the world where overt monitoring is not possible, and there are many governments that seem able to dismiss easily United Nations criticism of their human rights record. The influence of nongovernmental organisations therefore remains cultural rather than institutional or organisational and there are definite limits to the reach that they have in international relations. Conclusion Human rights, as a creed, are inexorably tied with the political and economic concerns of the west and its programme of globalisation. It thus follows naturally that many of the arguments for and against the role of multinational corporations within the ongoing debate are politically motivated. For example, many of the voices of dissent against TNCs contain the same voices of opposition against globalisation; ditto for supporters of globalisation who seek to cover up the core business excesses of multinationals. We must therefore be aware of hidden agendas and political rhetoric and recognise this as a major obstacle to the advancement of human rights at the beginning of the twentyfirst century. The statecentricity of the contemporary human rights regime has resulted in the suffocation of a social force that would otherwise surely have made more strident inroads into curtailing the power of multinational companies. However, the increased communication and network strategies of nonstate actors has resulted in a more united human rights regime with greater authority in the state political sphere. The future challenge is for the next generation of human rights regime to resist the inevitable challenge of the worlds economic elite, who will naturally fight against all attempts to narrow perceptions of human rights, and to bring multinational corporations to account for their overseas capitalist practices. BIBLIOGRAPHY S. Davidson, Human Rights: First Edition (Open University Press; Buckingham, 1993) D. Forsyth, Human Rights in International Relations (Cambridge University Press; Cambridge, 2000) C. Gearty, Principles of Human Rights Adjudication (Oxford University Press; Oxford, 2004) A. Hegarty S. Leonard (Edtd.), Human Rights: an Agenda for the TwentyFirst Century (Cavendish; London, 1999) M.T. Kamminga F. Coomans (Edtd.), Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Treaties (Intersentia; Antwerp Oxford, 2004) D. Litvin, Empires of Profit: Commerce, Conquest and Corporate Responsibility (Texere; New York London, 2003) J.W. Nickel, Making Sense of Human Rights: Philosophical Reflections on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (University of California; Berkeley, 1987) C. Ovey R.C.A. White, Jacobs and White: European Convention on Human Rights: Third Edition (Oxford University Press; Oxford, 2002) P. Plowden K. Kerrigan, Advocacy and Human Rights: Using the Convention in Courts and Tribunals (Cavendish; London, 2002) G. Teubner (Edtd.), Global Law without a State (Dartmouth; Aldershot, 1997) Human Rights in International Law, Collected Texts: Second Edition (Council of Europe Publishing; Strasbourg, 2000) International Treaties and Documents Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States; GA Res. 3281(xxix), UN GAOR, 29th Sess., Supp. No. 31 (1974) 50 The Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Maastricht; January 2226, 1997) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), in, Human Rights in International Law, Collected Texts: Second Edition (Council of Europe Publishing; Strasbourg, 2000) Selected Articles and Journals C. Jochnick, Confronting the Impunity of NonState Actors: New Fields for the Promotion of Human Rights, in, Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 21, Number 1 (February 1999) L. Wiseberg, Protecting Human Rights Activists and NGOs, in, Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 13, Number 525 (November 1999)

Othello and the Virtue of Love Essay -- GCSE Coursework Shakespeare Ot

Othello and the Virtue of Love  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚  The love of the protagonist and his wife in William Shakespeare’s trgedy Othello can not stand up against the repeated assaults of the sinister Iago. Let us in this essay search for and comment on the examples of love found in the play.    Helen Gardner in â€Å"Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune† highlights the love between the hero and his beloved:    The love between Othello and Desdemona is a great venture of faith. He is free; she achieves her freedom, and at a great cost. Shakespeare, in creating the figure of her wronged father, who dies of grief at her revolt, sharpened and heightened, as everywhere, the story in the source. Her disobedience and deception of him perhaps cross her mind at Othello’s ominous ‘Think on thy sins.’ If so, she puts the thought aside with ‘They are loves I bear you.’ . . . Othello is a drama of passion and runs to the time of passion; it is also a drama of love which, failing to sustain its height of noon, falls at once to night. (141)    The ideal love within the drama is the one existing initially between the hero and Desdemona. Francis Ferguson in â€Å"Two Worldviews Echo Each Other† describes the love existing between the protagonist and his wife and how it is an easy prey for the antagonist:    When Othello sums up their innocent infatuation, we must feel that he is more accurate than he knows:    She loved me for the dangers I had passed, And I loved her that she did pity them.    Othello and Desdemona are so attractive that we tend to see them only as they see each other: the noble Moor, the pure white maiden. But Shakespeare shows their love, even here at the very beginning, as dreamy, utterly defensele... ... Giants. Rindge, New Hampshire: Richard Smith Publisher, 1957.    Ferguson, Francis. â€Å"Two Worldviews Echo Each Other.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Shakespeare: The Pattern in His Carpet. N.p.: n.p., 1970.    Gardner, Helen. â€Å"Othello: A Tragedy of Beauty and Fortune.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from â€Å"The Noble Moor.† British Academy Lectures, no. 9, 1955.    Pitt, Angela. â€Å"Women in Shakespeare’s Tragedies.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Shakespeare’s Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.   

Essay --

BRASS MASTERS, INC. â€Å"Serving your brass needs since 1950† February 26, 2014 Ms. Sabrina Nilufar Talbot Laboratories, Inc. 104 South Wright Street Urbana, IL 61801-2958 Dear Ms. Nilufar, I am pleased to report that the testing of your brass wedges is complete. You will find included a summary of our findings along with charts and micrographs of our results. A full laboratory report is available upon request. You are free to use these results as needed and to publish them as documentation for your finished brass products. Four brass wedges were tested. Two were cold rolled to a thickness of 5.0 mm and two were cold rolled to a thickness of 2.5 mm. One wedge of each thickness was then annealed for 1 hour at 350  °C. Because the wedges varied in thickness across the length, multiple cold work values were able to be recorded. Hardness and thickness measurements were taken before and after the cold rolling and after the annealing as shown in Figure 1. Generally, as cold work increased, hardness increased. As the wedges were rolled, the width slightly increased and the length significantly i...

The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle Chapter Fourteen

Bonnie shivered as she waited outside the tall Victorian house. The air was frosty this morning, and although it was almost eight o'clock the sun had never really come up. The sky was just one dense massed bank of gray and white clouds, creating an eerie twilight below. She had begun to stamp her feet and rub her hands together when the Forbes' door opened. Bonnie moved back a little behind the shrubbery that was her hiding place and watched the family walk to their car. Mr. Forbes was carrying nothing but a camera. Mrs. Forbes had a purse and a folding seat. Daniel Forbes, Caroline's younger brother, had another seat. And Caroline†¦ Bonnie leaned forward, her breath hissing out in satisfaction. Caroline was dressed in jeans and a heavy sweater, and she was carrying some sort of white drawstring purse. Not big but big enough to hold a small diary. â€Å"There she is, Aunt Judith. On the corner.† The car slowed to a halt, and Bonnie slid into the back seat with Elena. â€Å"She's got a white drawstring purse,† she murmured into Elena's ear as Aunt Judith pulled out again. Tingling excitement swept over Elena, and she squeezed Bonnie's hand. â€Å"Good,† she breathed. â€Å"Now we'll see if she brings it into Mrs. Grimesby's. If not, you tell Meredith it's in the car.† Bonnie nodded agreement and squeezed Elena's hand back. They arrived at Mrs. Grimesby's just in time to see Caroline going inside with a white bag hanging from her arm. Bonnie and Elena exchanged a look. Now it was up to Elena to see where Caroline left it in the house. â€Å"I'll get out here too, Miss Gilbert,† said Bonnie as Elena jumped out of the car. She would wait outside with Meredith until Elena could tell them where the bag was. The important thing was not to let Caroline suspect anything unusual. Mrs. Grimesby, who answered Elena's knock, was the Fell's Church librarian. Her house looked almost like a library itself; there were bookcases everywhere and books stacked on the floor. She was also the keeper of Fell's Church's historical artifacts, including clothing that had been preserved from the town's earliest days. Just now the house was ringing with young voices, and the bedrooms were full of students in various stages of undress. Mrs. Grimesby always supervised the costumes for the pageant. Elena was ready to ask to be put in the same room with Caroline, but it wasn't necessary. Mrs. Grimesby was already ushering her in. Caroline, stripped down to her fashionable underwear, gave Elena what was undoubtedly meant to be a nonchalant look, but Elena detected the vicious gloating beneath. She kept her own eyes on the bundle of clothing Mrs. Grimesby was picking up off the bed. â€Å"Here you are, Elena. One of our most nicely preserved pieces – and all authentic, too, even the ribbons. We believe this dress belonged to Honoria Fell.† â€Å"It's beautiful,† said Elena, as Mrs. Grimesby shook out the folds of thin white material. â€Å"What's it made of?† â€Å"Moravian muslin and silk gauze. Since it's quite cold today you can wear that velvet jacket over it.† The librarian indicated a dusty rose garment lying over a chair back. Elena cast a surreptitious glance at Caroline as she began to change. Yes, there was the bag, at Caroline's feet. She debated making a grab for it, but Mrs. Grimesby was still in the room. The muslin dress was very simple, its flowing material belted high under the bosom with a pale rose. â€Å"Did it really belong to Honoria Fell?† she asked, thinking of the marble image of that lady lying on her tomb in the ruined church. â€Å"That's the story, anyway,† said Mrs. Grimesby. â€Å"She mentions a dress like it in her journal, so we're pretty sure.† â€Å"She kept a journal?† Elena was startled. â€Å"Oh, yes. I have it in a case in the living room; I'll show it to you on the way out. Now for the jacket – oh, what's that?† Something violet fluttered to the ground as Elena picked the jacket up. She could feel her expression freeze. She caught up the note before Mrs. Grimesby could bend over, and glanced at it. One line. She remembered writing it in her diary on September 4, the first day of school. Except that after she had written it she had crossed it out. These words were not crossed out; they were bold and clear. Something awful is going to happen today. Elena could barely restrain herself from rounding on Caroline and shaking the note in her face. But that would ruin everything. She forced herself to stay calm as she crumpled up the little slip of paper and threw it into a wastebasket. â€Å"It's just a piece of trash,† she said, and turned back to Mrs. Grimesby, her shoulders stiff. Caroline said nothing, but Elena could feel those triumphant green eyes on her. Just you wait, she thought. Wait until I get that diary back. I'm going to burn it, and then you and I are going to have a talk. To Mrs. Grimesby she said, â€Å"I'm ready.† â€Å"So am I,† said Caroline in a demure voice. Elena put on a look of cool indifference as she eyed the other girl. Caroline's pale green gown with long green and white sashes was not nearly as pretty as hers. â€Å"Wonderful. You girls go ahead and wait for your rides. Oh, and Caroline, don't forget your reticule.† â€Å"I won't,† Caroline said, smiling, and she reached for the drawstring bag at her feet. It was fortunate that from that position she couldn't see Elena's face, for in that instant the cool indifference shattered completely. Elena stared, dumbfounded, as Caroline began to tie the bag at her waist. Her astonishment didn't escape Mrs. Grimesby. â€Å"That's a reticule, the ancestor of our modern handbag,† the older woman explained kindly. â€Å"Ladies used to keep their gloves and fans in them. Caroline came by. â€Å"I'm sure it was,† Elena managed in a strangled voice. She had to get out of here or something awful was going to happen right now. She was going to start screaming – or knock Caroline down – or explode. â€Å"I need some fresh air,† she said. She bolted from the room and from the house, bursting outside. Bonnie and Meredith were waiting in Meredith's car. Elena's heart thumped strangely as she walked to it and leaned in the window. â€Å"She's outsmarted us,† she said quietly. â€Å"That bag is part of her costume, and she's going to wear it all day.† Bonnie and Meredith stared, first at her and then at each other. â€Å"But†¦ then, what are we going to do?† Bonnie asked. â€Å"I don't know.† With sick dismay this realization finally came home to Elena. â€Å"I don't know!† â€Å"We can still watch her. Maybe she'll take the bag off at lunch or something†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But Meredith's voice rang hollow. They all knew the truth, Elena thought, and the truth was that it was hopeless. They'd lost. Bonnie glanced in the rearview mirror, then twisted in her seat. â€Å"It's your ride.† Elena looked. Two white horses were drawing a smartly renovated buggy down the street. Crepe paper was threaded through the buggy's wheels, ferns decorated its seats, and a large banner on the side proclaimed,The Spirit of Fell's Church. Elena had time for only one desperate message. â€Å"Watch her,† she said. â€Å"And if there's ever a moment when she's alone†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Then she had to go. But all through that long, terrible morning, there was never a moment when Caroline was alone. She was surrounded by a crowd of spectators. For Elena, the parade was pure torture. She sat in the buggy beside the mayor and his wife, trying to smile, trying to look normal. But the sick dread was like a crushing weight on her chest. Somewhere in front of her, among the marching bands and drill teams and open convertibles, was Caroline. Elena had forgotten to find out which float she was on. The first schoolhouse float, perhaps; a lot of the younger children in costume would be on that. It didn't matter. Wherever Caroline was, she was in full view of half the town. The luncheon that followed the parade was held in the high school cafeteria. Elena was trapped at a table with Mayor Dawley and his wife. Caroline was at a nearby table; Elena could see the shining back of her auburn head. And sitting beside her, often leaning possessively over her, was Tyler Smallwood. Elena was in a perfect position to view the little drama that occurred about halfway through lunch. Her heart leaped into her throat when she saw Stefan, looking casual, stroll by Caroline's table. He spoke to Caroline. Elena watched, forgetting even to play with the untouched food on her plate. But what she saw next made her heart plummet. Caroline tossed her head and replied to him briefly, and then Stefan looked toward Elena as he left, and for a moment their eyes met in wordless communion. There was nothing he could do, then. Even if his Powers had returned, Tyler was going to keep him away from Caroline. The crushing weight squeezed Elena's lungs so that she could scarcely breathe. After that she simply sat in a daze of misery and despair until someone nudged her and told her it was time to go backstage. She listened almost indifferently to Mayor Dawley's speech of welcome. He spoke about the â€Å"trying time† Fell's Church had faced recently, and about the community spirit that had sustained them these past months. Then awards were given out, for scholarship, for athletics, for community service. Matt came up to receive Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year, and Elena saw him look at her curiously. Then came the pageant. The elementary school children giggled and tripped and forgot their lines as they portrayed scenes from the founding of Fell's Church through the Civil War. Elena watched them without taking any of it in. Ever since last night she'd been slightly dizzy and shaky, and now she felt as if she were coming down with the flu. Her brain, usually so full of schemes and calculations, was empty. She couldn't think anymore. She almost couldn't care. The pageant ended to popping flashbulbs and tumultuous applause. When the last little Confederate soldier was off the stage, Mayor Dawley called for silence. â€Å"And now,† he said, â€Å"for the students who will perform the closing ceremonies. Please show your appreciation for the Spirit of Independence, the Spirit of Fidelity, and the Spirit of Fell's Church!† The applause was even more thunderous. Elena stood beside John Clifford, the brainy senior who'd been chosen to represent the Spirit of Independence. On the other side of John was Caroline. In a detached, nearly apathetic way Elena noticed that Caroline looked magnificent: her head tilted back, her eyes blazing, her cheeks flushed with color. John went first, adjusting his glasses and the microphone before he read from the heavy brown book on the lectern. Officially, the seniors were free to choose their own selections; in practice they almost always read from the works of M. C. Marsh, the only poet Fell's Church had ever produced. All during John's reading, Caroline was upstaging him. She smiled at the audience; she shook out her hair; she weighed the reticule hanging from her waist. Her fingers stroked the drawstring bag lovingly, and Elena found herself staring at it, hypnotized, memorizing every bead. John took a bow and resumed his place by Elena. Caroline threw her shoulders back and did a model's walk to the lectern. This time the applause was mixed with whistles. But Caroline didn't smile; she had assumed an air of tragic responsibility. With exquisite timing she waited until the cafetorium was perfectly quiet to speak. â€Å"I was planning to read a poem by M. C. Marsh today,† she said, then, into the attentive stillness, â€Å"but I'm not going to. Why read fromthis – † She held up the nineteenth century volume of poetry. † – when there is something much more†¦ relevant†¦ in a book I happened to find?† Very slightly, almost imperceptibly, Stefan shook his head. Caroline's fingers were dipping into the bag as if she just couldn't wait. â€Å"What I'm going to read is about Fell's Churchtoday , not a hundred or two hundred years ago,† she was saying, working herself up into a sort of exultant fever. â€Å"It's importantnow , because it's about somebody who's living in town with us. In fact he's right here in this room.† Tyler must have written the speech for her, Elena decided. Last month, in the gym, he'd shown quite a gift for that kind of thing. Oh, Stefan, oh, Stefan, I'm scared†¦ Her thoughts jumbled into incoherence as Caroline plunged her hand into the bag. â€Å"I think you'll understand what I mean when you hear it,† Caroline said, and with a quick motion she pulled a velvet-covered book from the reticule and held it up dramatically. â€Å"I think it will explain a lot of what's been going on in Fell's Church recently.† Breathing quickly and lightly, she looked from the spellbound audience to the book in her hand. Elena had almost lost consciousness when Caroline jerked the diary out. Bright sparkles ran along the edges of her vision. The dizziness roared up, ready to overwhelm Elena, and then she noticed something. It must be her eyes. The stage lights and flashbulbs must have dazzled them. She certainly felt ready to faint any minute; it was hardly surprising that she couldn't see properly. The book in Caroline's hands lookedgreen , not blue. I must be going crazy†¦ or this is a dream†¦ or maybe it's a trick of the lighting. But look at Caroline's face! Caroline, mouth working, was staring at the velvet book. She seemed to have forgotten the audience altogether. She turned the diary over and over in her hands, looking at all sides of it. Her movements became frantic. She thrust a hand into the reticule as if she somehow hoped to find something else in it. Then she cast a wild glance around the stage as if what she was looking for might have fallen to the ground. The audience was murmuring, getting impatient. Mayor Dawley and the high school principal were exchanging tight-lipped frowns. Having found nothing on the floor, Caroline was staring at the small book again. But now she was gazing at it as if it were a scorpion. With a sudden gesture, she wrenched it open and looked inside, as if her last hope was that only the cover had changed and the words inside might be Elena's. Then she slowly looked up from the book at the packed cafetorium. Silence had descended again, and the moment drew out, while every eye remained fixed on the girl in the pale green gown. Then, with an inarticulate sound, Caroline whirled and clattered off the stage. She exploded into comment, argument, discussion. Elena found Stefan. He looked as if jubilation was sneaking up on him. But he also looked as bewildered as Elena felt. Bonnie and Meredith were the same. As Stefan's gaze crossed hers, Elena felt a rush of gratitude and joy, but her predominant emotion was awe. It was a miracle. Beyond all hope, they had been rescued. They'd been saved. And then her eyes picked out another dark head among the crowd. Damon was leaning†¦ no, lounging†¦ against the north wall. His lips were curved into a half smile, and his eyes met Elena's boldly. Mayor Dawley was beside her, urging her forward, quieting the crowd, trying to restore order. It was no use. Elena read her selection in a dreamy voice to a babbling group of people who weren't paying attention in the slightest. She wasn't paying attention, either; she had no idea what words she was saying. Every so often she looked at Damon. There was applause, scattered and distracted, when she finished, and the mayor announced the rest of the events for that afternoon. And then it was all over, and Elena was free to go. She floated offstage without any conscious idea ofwhere she was going, but her legs carried her to the north wall. Damon's dark head moved out the side door and she followed it. The air in the courtyard seemed deliciously cool after the crowded room, and the clouds above were silvery and swirling. Damon was waiting for her. Her steps slowed but did not stop. She moved until she was only a foot or so away from him, her eyes searching his face. There was a long moment of silence and then she spoke. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"I thought you'd be more interested inhow. † He patted his jacket significantly. â€Å"I got invited in for coffee this morning after scraping up an acquaintance last week.† â€Å"But why?† He shrugged, and for just an instant something like consternation flickered across his finely drawn features. It seemed to Elena that he himself didn't know why – or didn't want to admit it. â€Å"For my own purposes,† he said. â€Å"I don't think so.† Something was building between them, something that frightened Elena with its power. â€Å"I don't think that's the reason at all.† She moved closer, so that she was almost touching him, and looked at him. â€Å"I think,† she said, â€Å"that maybe you need to be pushed.† His face was only inches away from hers, and Elena never knew what might have happened if at that moment a voice hadn't broken in on them. â€Å"Youdid manage to make it after all! I'm so glad!† It was Aunt Judith. Elena felt as if she were being whisked from one world to another. She blinked dizzily, stepping back, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. â€Å"And so you got to hear Elena read,† Aunt Judith continued happily. â€Å"You did a beautiful job, Elena, but I don't know what was going on with Caroline. The girls in this town are all acting bewitched lately.† â€Å"Nerves,† suggested Damon, his face carefully solemn. Elena felt an urge to giggle and then a wave of irritation. It was all very well to be grateful to Damon for saving them, but if not for Damon there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place. Damon had committed the crimes Caroline wanted to pin on Stefan. â€Å"And whereis Stefan?† she said, voicing her next thought aloud. She could see Bonnie and Meredith in the courtyard alone. Aunt Judith's face showed her disapproval. â€Å"I haven't seen him,† she said briefly. Then she smiled fondly. â€Å"But I have an idea; why don't you come to dinner with us, Damon? Then afterwards perhaps you and Elena could – â€Å" â€Å"Stop it!† said Elena to Damon. He looked politely inquiring. â€Å"What?† said Aunt Judith. â€Å"Stop it!† Elena said to Damon again. â€Å"You know what. Just stop it right now!†