Friday, November 29, 2019

My Girlfriend Called Me From Dallas The Other Day. You Have Got To Hea

My girlfriend called me from Dallas the other day. "You have got to hear about the dream I had last night," she said. Since this was not a normal reason to call me, I was more than a bit interested to listen to her. "The dream went like this," she explained. "I came to visit you at college. You showed me around, introduced me to your friends, and showed me a great time. Basically, we never left each others side. I felt so happy. Unfortunately, when I woke up, I realized that it was all a dream, and I felt kind of sad. You're the psychologist what do you make of this?" she said. "Freud said that dreams are unfulfilled wishes," I said. "I think he's right," she replied. "So do I." Sigmund Freud is called the Father of Modern Psychology. His work with patients suffering from hysteria, a psychological ailment characterized by extreme anxiety, lead him to study the next to every facet of human existence from parent and child relations to human psychological defense mechanisms. Many of Freud's works have been published today including the monumental work The Interpretation of Dreams. This book discusses Freud's theory on the importance and meaning of dreams. Freud realized his dream theory shortly after his father died. The death of his dad was very traumatic to him, and he had a recurring dream that he would be standing at the gates of the cemetery where his father was buried, but he could not bring himself to go inside and see his father's grave. This seemed odd to Freud because he was very close to his father. After much soul searching, which included Freud undergoing hypnosis, he discovered that he had unresolved anger for his father that he pushed into his unconscious. Freud believed that he was getting even with his father in his dream by not visiting his grave. To Freud, understanding dreams was an integral part in understanding the true inner feelings of people. Freud believed in the theory that dreams have meaning. This hypothesis is also shared by the Gestalt theorist Fritz Pearls. However, not every psychologist agrees with this view. Many of Freud's colleagues subscribed to the idea that dreams are nothing more than random brain poppings. These scientists do not believe that dreams have any meaning or use in the therapy of people. Freud's theory is a very important contribution to psychological thought and should not go overlooked. While the random poppings theories may be more biologically correct, Freud's theory explains a part of the human psyche that science cannot measure. According to Freud, dreams are a disguised form of wish fulfillment, a way to satisfy unconscious urges or resolve unconscious conflicts that are too upsetting to deal with consciously. For example, sexual desires might appear in a dream as the rhythmic motions of a horse back ride; conflicting feelings about a parent might appear as a dream about a fight. Seeing patients' dreams as a "royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious" (Adler 1), Freud interpreted their meaning as a part of his psychoanalytic treatment of psychological disorders. The biggest criticism of the Freudian dream theory is that it is based solely on subjective, unproven, nonscientific evidence. The main opposing view to Freud's theory is the activation-synthesis theory. First theorized in 1977 by James Hobson and William McCarley, the activation-synthesis theory sees dreams as the meaningless, random by-products of REM sleep. According to this theory, hind brain arousal during REM creates random messages that activate the brain, especially the cerebral cortex. Dreams result as the cortex synthesizes these random messages as best it can, using stored memories and current feelings to impose a coherent perceptual organization on the random thoughts it receives. From this perspective, dreams represent the brain's attempt to make sense of meaningless stimulation during sleep, much as it does when a person, while awake, tries to find meaningful shapes in cloud formations (Beck 2). The other major dream theory that states that dreams are random is the Crick Hypothesis. This says that dreams are the dislodging of maladaptive neural connections. Dreams rewire the brain and make certain connections stronger. Psychological biology utilizes modern technology to study dreams. The electroencephalogram, or EEG, records brain waves

Monday, November 25, 2019

Dinosaurs at the National Museum of Natural History

Dinosaurs at the National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History The Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of Natural History is comparable in size to New York’s American Museum of Natural History, but less of its floor space is devoted to dinosaurs. Even so, youll find a considerable number of dinosaur skeletons herenot fabricated reproductions, but actual fossils, including the famous roadkill Triceratops that (until the 1990s) was the most complete in the world, the tyrannosaur Gorgosaurus, and the sauropod Diplodocus. Most of these reconstructions can be viewed in the exhibit The Last American Dinosaurs: Discovering a Lost World, along with lesser-known genera like Thescelosaurus and Sphaerotholus. One of the oldest dinosaur museums in the world, the National Museum of Natural History has had to periodically remove its exhibits from display in order to restore or refurbish them (or, in some cases, to completely repose them according to the latest theories of dinosaur physiology). For example, the Triceratops mentioned above has been given a complete facelift, as has the museums famous Stegosaurus (which has been reoriented so that it appears to be reacting to the Allosaurus skeleton directly behind it, which clearly intends to eat it for lunch). If youre interested in any fossils over and above dinosaurs, youll unfortunately have to wait until 2019, as the National Museum prepares the National Fossil Hall for the public. If you simply cant wait, though, you can access a live view of the hall-in-progress at the museums website.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR - Essay Example Having an experience of over 40 years, I had the ability to manage work place diversity because in the marketing section I met a lot of people with different backgrounds. Since employees act as the image of the firm, by properly treating the customers it also promoted the image of Holden Company. Holden’s employees clearly comprehended their individual goals and objectives and how they relate to the greater goals of the company, were found to be naturally engaged in their work. Most firms have to the realization that achievements are associated with their ability to manage, track and communicate goals and aims-informing their employees and connecting reward system with group and individual performance in order to keep them engaged in their work. Since I am also an Australian, I was able to note that the process of setting goals and objectives, aligning them with the corporate aims and tracking them made the Holden Company to easily focus on strategy and greater execution of business. Therefore, there is always a direct relationship between financial and non financial rewards with respect to motivation and employee satisfaction (Bruce & Pepitone, 1999:104-108). This includes both the younger employees like Mike and older employees like me. Motivation is what makes people to have that drive to do something thus the driving force of human behavior. Motivation within an individual accounts for the direction, level, and persistence of the effort expended at work. The level refers to the intensity of effort put forward by a person. Direction represents the individual’s choice when faced with several alternatives. Persistence is determined by how long an individual will stick with a given action. As a result it initiates, guides and maintain the goal oriented behaviors hence motivation it is what drives one to take a cause of action (Laubly,

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Partition of India and how Its Shaped Modern Day India Essay

Partition of India and how Its Shaped Modern Day India - Essay Example In order to avoid that Britain deliberately divide India based on religion. Thus Muslim dominated Pakistan and Hindu dominated India were formed in 1947. Until, Britain divide India based on religion; both Hindus and Muslims were living in harmony in India. However, the enmity started to grow between India and Pakistan after the independence of India. The major unresolved problem for enmity between India and Pakistan is the Kashmir issue. Pakistan still believes that the Muslim dominated Kashmir is part of Pakistan even though at the time of partition Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdulla decided to attach Kashmir as a part of India. The struggle for the ownership of Kashmir is still going on between India and Pakistan and many wars were fought between these two nuclear powers in the past. Many people believe that if India and Pakistan are joined together, they would become the most powerful superpower nation in the world. However, the increasing conflicts between India and Pakistan are ret arding the economic progress not only in India but also in Pakistan. Amidst all these challenging political environments, India achieved tremendous economic growth in the past few decades. According to political analysts, India may become another superpower in the near future itself. This paper analyses how the partition in 1947 shaped modern day India. The principles of India's foreign policy have stood the test of time: a belief in friendly relations with all countries of the world, the resolution of conflicts by peaceful means, the sovereign equality of all states, independence of thought and action as manifested in the principles of Non-alignment, and equity in the conduct of international relations  (India's Foreign Policy - 50 Years of Achievement) India opted for a neutral approach after its independence, instead of polarising towards any of the superpowers of that time. In fact India was a prominent country which worked for the formation of a non-aligned movement (NAM). Ja waharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India worked together with Egyptian leader Abdul Nazar and Yugoslav President Tito for the formation of NAM. This foreign policy helped India to avoid any major struggle with the superpowers. In fact India treated former Soviet Union and America in the same manner, even though some political analysts visualise some close connections between India and USSR in the past. When Britain decided to divide India, their major objective was to prevent India from becoming a global power. The initial decades immediately after the independence of India created a feeling among the rest of the world that Britain succeeded in its mission to prevent India from achieving rapid growth. In 1965 and in 1971, India engaged in a fierce war with Pakistan over the Kashmir issue and the costs of these wars were more than enough for India like a heavily populated country to bear. India faced the two major challenges after its independence; the threat from Pakistan a nd the growing population size. India implemented some family planning measures in order to reduce the rate of population growth. Small family with one of two children maximum was a slogan encouraged in India after the independence. Economists in the 60’s and 70’s warned India that if India fails to control its population growth, economic progress would be

Monday, November 18, 2019

Philosophy Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Philosophy Paper - Essay Example The logical question that one might ask with relation to the drug laws relates to two primary premises. The first of which is concentric up on the question of what document or law allows the state to determine what substances should and should not be termed legal. The second premise is concentric upon the level of freedom and personal responsibility should be championed over the ability of the state to restrict certain substances. This brief essay will discuss these premises and attempt to draw an overall level of inference from them as a means of adequately answering prompt 3 that has been enumerated on above. The first premise of such an argument necessarily is concentric upon the fact that there is no legal basis for the government/state to restrict an individual with regards to the substance that he or she chooses to engage. ... ns can and cannot be engaged upon, it is the ultimate responsibility of the user to ensure that their actions do not break any other laws nor endanger the lives of any of their fellow citizens. As a causal mechanism to help understand this premise one need only to consider the current litany of rules that help to define the use of alcohol within our current society. Alcohol itself is heavily licensed, restricted for sale to minors and probationers, and further governed by a stringent level of laws that seek to define the way in which individuals within society can imbibe of it and in so doing revoke their rights to operate machinery or engage in other forms of nominally responsible activities which could endanger the lives of their fellow citizens. Those that do not agree with such a premise would argue that due to the fact that drugs are inherently destructive to the person’s overall health, it is the responsibility of the state to regulate such substances and outlaw them as a means to protect the health of society. Unfortunately, such an argument is a very slippery slope as it encourages a form of judicial activism with very few constraints. As a wider and wider swath of society becomes active in encouraging key food groups to be outlawed, soda sizes to be decreased, and a litany of other actions, it is easy to see that the level to which personal responsibility I championed is steadily decreasing; whereas the level to which the law is relied upon to enforce a sense of morality upon the populace is seemingly ever increasing. The slippery slope argument that has been referenced with relation to unhealthful food is more than just a means to illicit a response from the reader. Municipalities and governments around the world are beginning to mandate what foods their

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Transparency in Central Banks: An Analysis

Transparency in Central Banks: An Analysis Introduction The origin of central banking system can be traced back to 1694 when the Bank of England came into being as the first ever central bank. The bank was established to help King William III out of his governments financial crisis but it did not behave as a lender of last resort until much later (See Lovell, 1957)1. Central banking has undergone a remarkable change during the last decade. The new paradigm in monetary policy appears to be central bank self-governing and transparent. First of all lets see what central bank and transparency means, a central bank is a Government agency that performs a number of key functions: (1) central bank is the only bank which has the authority to issue currency on behalf of its nation; (2) central bank has authority to increase and decrease the supply of credit in the economy which controls the interest rates; (3) manages the external value of its currency in the foreign exchange markets; (4) central bank holds a percentage of deposits as reserves of other banks and other central banks so as to reduce the risk of banks overextending themselves and suffering from bank runs, (5) acts as Fiscal Agent for the central government, when the government sells new issues of securities to finance its operations; and (6) The central bank also plays a vital role of reserving the nations emergency funds, and it is because of this the central bank is called lender of last resort. Transparency in the physically meaning, transmitting light, in the conceptually meaning, clarity, in the economically meaning, symmetric information, and in the practically meaning, openness, honesty, clarity, common understanding2. We can say that central bank is a combination all these that is, it openly correspond or communicates important and necessary information to the investors, shareholders and the public in short absence of asymmetric information between central bank and other economic agents. Therefore a central bank is said to be transparent when there is less or no information asymmetry. Moreover a central bank is said to be transparent if its actions are easily identified, its policies are readily understood, and its statements are honest or true. A central bank is transparent when it provides at all times sufficient information for the public to understand the policy regime, to check whether the banks actions match the regime and to pass judgment on its performance.3 Over the past years, financial institutions have tried to implement various strategies to increase its transparency. One of the important strategies among these is, disclosure of information in published accounts has been prominent even though it was present but less prominent. A great amount of focus was given towards economic policymaking so as to become more transparent particularly with respect to monetary policy, inflation targeting a very transparent monetary policy regime was adopted by and a number of central banks, including Swedens Riksbank and Britains Bank of England. Yet, few other countries like the United States have not yet subscribed to inflation targeting, but the Fed has also become much more transparent about its policymaking and operations over the past 15 years. The New Basel Accord (Pillar 3) has introduced a number of disclosure requirements that aim to improve the markets ability to assess a banks risk and value. The drift towards central bank being more transparent can be easily seen in our day to day life by casual observation. Some of the prominent examples of various central banks who have given great importance to becoming transparent are the central banks of New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and Sweden. These few nations have adopted a framework of inflation targeting from the early 1990s itself, which is characterized by an explicit inflation target and the publication of inflation forecasts.4 Many others countries have even started to give importance to having adopted greater openness as well, even if its not in the form of inflation targeting or inflation forecasting. The few other central banks which have adopted this includes central banks in emerging markets like Brazil, the recently founded European Central Bank (ECB), and even the well established central banks like those of the United States, Japan and Switzerland. Literature Review Consider the legions of economists whose sole function it is to interpret U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspans every twist and turn of phrase so as to divine which way the monetary winds are blowing. Caroline A. Baum, The Last Word p.645 From the above phrase, two important points can be looked upon; one is that by trying to assume what the actions of monitory policy will be the resources are used up. The other is that statements are being made by the central bank that might yield some insight into its future plans, but the messages are not typically transparent. The economic policy outcome can easily be identified to a great extend by the increased transparency on central bank through various channels. It cannot be assumed that all the aspects points out the same way. Moreover, central bank transparency cannot be universally defined in all aspects6. The concept of transparency differs from authors to author in various ways, some may focus mainly on the decision-making process, while some others may focus on various other aspects like models, preferences, and even more some may look into the knowledge about the shocks hitting the economy, or the implementation of policy decisions.7 The private informations about the central banks objectives or intentions can be easily assumed from the models derived by Faust and Svensson (2000, 2001), Jensen (2000), Geraats (2001a), and Tarkka and Mayes (1999). The model by these eminent economist states that, transparency is modeled as the degree of asymmetric information about control errors (Faust and Svensson (2001) and Jensen (2000)) or (anticipated) economic shocks reflected in the policy instrument (Cukierman (2000a,b) and Tarkka and Mayes (1999)). Kuttner and Posen (2000) yet another eminent economists explains about the reduction of exchange rate volatility when there was a shift in the Federal Reserves and the Bank of Japans degrees of transparency.8 In addition to this, political pressures, increased accountability, facilitation of fiscal and monetary policy co-ordination, and improved internal organization of central bank analysis is yet another arguments in favor of transparency in monetary policy.9 Analytically, the three different regimes of transparency that is the least transparent, highly transparent and the extreme transparent are being distinguished by Faust and Svensson (2001). In the first regime, that is the least transparent, neither the employment goals nor the intentions of the central bank can be seen by the public. Inflation intentions of the central bank can be easily observed by using the second regime that is highly transparent. As a result of this increased transparency in inflation intentions there arises a lower inflation rate because the sensitivity of a central bank is increased which in-turn increases the reputation to its actions, making it more costly for the central bank to pursue a high-inflation policy. In the extreme transparency regime, that is the third according to the author, both the intentions of the central bank as well as the employment goals can be seen. The central banks reputation as well as its actions are no longer conveyed about the in flation bias. Higher inflation, inflation volatility and unemployment variability can be reached at as a result of inflationary bias.10 Yet another similar structure to Faust and Svensson (2001) was adopted by Jensen (2000) assuming that central bank is informed privately about its output target and that publics capacity to assume the inflation control error is greater. On comparison with Faust and Svensson (2001), whos main focus was on the future credibility effect of central bank, while Jensen (2000) focus was towards the marginal cost of inflation within the current period with the help of new Keynesian elements (staggered price-setting and monopolistic competition). Due to this increase in the transparency, there was an increase in the discipline and credibility to the reputational costs of deviations from the inflation target. According to some of the eminent economist, transparency is not only the tool used for independent central banks to be held accountable, but it is often argued that the economic point of view too can be desirable from it. The effect of central bank being transparent is being immensely discussed by various policymakers and researchers. Although most of the literature tends to favor transparency of central bank, its not the case, the debate still continuous whether or not central bank should be transparent or not. Most of the practical and observed research concludes that the transparency maintained by central bank previously were desirable from an economic point of view. An important question to be asked is, whether central banks pushing toward more disclosure of information are beneficial or not. Indeed, there are a number of good reasons to it. First, it can be argued that banks from the early time itself are opaque institutions, and increase in disclosure might not change this opaqueness. Second of all, transparency might not necessarily be reached at by just simply increasing the quantitative disclosures. In the words of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan: A more complex question is whether greater volume of information has led to comparable improvements in transparency of firms. In the minds of some, public disclosure and transparency are interchangeable. But they are not. Transparency challenges market participants not only to provide information but also to place that information into a context that makes it meaningful (Greenspan 2003, p. 7).11 Third, disclosure is costly. Clearly, requiring disclosure of information imposes a cost on banks, as on any firm, and this cost must be offset by resulting benefits for it to be justified (Schaffer 1995, p. 26).12 Publishing information and producing information are some of the direct cost involved in the cost of disclosure, even though these are the direct cost involved, when a bank publishes its information in the financial market, there arises a threat of its competitors exploiting the information which might result in indirect cost. Cukierman and Meltzer (1986) eminent economists developed concept of central bank transparency13. Bankers, mainly the central banks use of monitory policy control was in great fault or imperfect in order to hide their intentions. In other words, the absence of transparency with control error was evident to meet the central banks objective, at least possible reputation cost. More recently, with the setup from the Cukierman and Meltzer, Faust and Svensson (1999) was able to differentiate more between transparency and control error. Central bank chose the pair that maximizes it objective and it was to be opaque. There are still some argument that incomplete transparency is optimal, as by being incomplete optimal, the central banks ability to control inflation has to be balanced against the private sectors wish to see price stability, employment and output.(see for example Faust and Svensson, 2001 or Jensen, 2000). Others argue that for operational reasons, it is important to have certain restrictions on transparency. The main idea behind this is to differentiate between the need to know (see Eijffinger and Hoeberichts, 2002) and the need to understand factor (Issing, 1999) and to reinforce the Banks credibility. There are yet more evidence of central bank being transparent and central bank transparency being one of the important feature of monetary policy, which is been recorded in one of the most comprehensive survey being conducted till date on monitory policy of central bank. Its been recorded in the 1998 survey of 94 central banks by Fry, Julius, Mahadeva, Roger and Sterne (2000). This survey discloses that about 74% of central banks consider transparency as a vital or very important component of their monetary policy framework, only exceeded by central bank independence and the maintenance of low inflation expectations (with 83% and 82%, respectively; Fry et al. (2000, p. 135)). Subsequently, the relevance of transparency have only increased when certain changes are being done by central bank. Analysis According to one of the famous journalist, Caroline A. Baum, she says that from the phrase given by Alan Greenspan, the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, the resources are being used up at the same time the statements made by the central bank are far too less transparent. What it means to say is that the central bank should be more transparent enough so that its monitory policy at the same time its future plans can be easily understood by even a layman who might have little knowledge about the norms and policies of the central bank. By central bank being more transparent, the economic policy outcome can be know to a certain extend through various means, but it cannot be said that by central bank being transparent, all the aspects related to it can be easily viewed at. The concept of transparency differs from person to person, while so concentrate on the decision making process, others may look into the fact of policy making etc. Therefore it can be said that there is no universal meaning to central bank and varies from person to person and country to country. For example the transparency of central bank in India might not be same as the transparency in England besides taking into some common facts. According to some of the eminent economist, central bank should have an optimal degree of transparency mainly for the monitory policy, but on analysing the facts by few others about whether central bank should be more transparent or not, two aspects can be taken into account, one is the uncertainty and the other is information overload. If central banks becomes more transparent, it could lead to uncertainty, that is, when lots of information are provided to the public, they tend to look at the complexity of monitory policy making and the uncertainly around it which might not be as complex as it seems to be. The second is the high degree of information overload or confusion. If large amount of information is being disclosed to the public, there is a high risk of information getting overloaded or confused. Therefore analyst say central bank should have an optimal transparency. Kuttner and Posen states that when central bank becomes more transparent, there is less volatility in the exchange rate. Yet other important factors supporting central bank transparency are the fiscal and monitory policy coordination, political pressures, accountability etc. According to Faust and Sevensson, transparency can be segregated into three divisions, the least transparent where in the public does not know about the employment goals as well as the intentions, this has also been stated by Cukierman and Meltzer. In the second division, that is if central bank in highly transparent, the inflation intention can atleast be know by the public and finally in the case of extreme transparency, both the intentions as well as the employment goals can be seen. It can seen that Jensen another eminent economist has also taken up a similar structure to that of Faust and Svensson where the difference is that while Faust and Svensson focus on the future credibility effect of central bank, Jensens focus was on the marginal cost of inflation. Some argue that by increasing its disclosure doesnt completely increase the transparency, to support this economist states that banks have been an opaque institution from the past itself. Greenspan says that transparency is not reached at by just simply giving quantitative disclosure; it should be both quantitative and at the same time should be relevant and meaningful. Moreover disclosure is costly, that is when central bank publishes information, it incur cost both direct and indirect. Some other economists (Eijffinger and Hoeberichts and Issing) state that central bank should transparent in such a way that the information which should be known to the public should be disclosed rather than disclosing all the information. Conclusion The dispute whether central bank should be more transparent or not is still being discussed immensely by various researchers and policymakers. Most of the economist favour central bank being transparent, as well as according to the study done, it can be understood that central bank being transparent will give a clear cut information to the public regarding the various monitory policies, its decision process as well as its goals and intentions. Moreover by central bank being transparent, it reduces the macroeconomic uncertainty like the interest rates, inflation etc, promotes financial stability and mainly helps the central bank to stand out from the various other banks that is being independent. References Petra M. Geraats, Central Bank Transparency, (2007). Cruijsen and Eijffinger, Actual versus perceived central bank transparency: The case of the European central Bank, (2007). Ursel Baumann and Erlend Nier, Disclosure, Volatility, and Transparency: An Empirical Investigation into the Value of Bank Disclosure, (2004). Petra M. Geraats, Central Bank Transparency, (2002). Joseph H. Haslag, On Fed Watching and Central Bank Transparency, (2001). Georgios Chortareas, David Stasavage and Gabriel Sterne, Does it pay to be transparent? International evidence from central bank forecasts, (2001). ICMB, Why do Central Banks Need to Talk, (2001). Gary Gorton and Lixin Huang, Banking Panics and the Origin of Central Banking, (2001). Websites http://www.blurtit.com/ http://www.answers.com/ http://papers.ssrn.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/ Analysis of Hospital | Advocate Good Samaritan Analysis of Hospital | Advocate Good Samaritan ADVOCATE GOOD SAMARITAN 1 Advocate Good Samaritan is an hospital located in Illinois, and it is one of the best hospitals in United States. This organization has some of the best medical facilities, and highly skilled doctors and medical practitioners working for it. This medical organization was founded on the biblical principles of taking care of your neighbor, and it is managed by religious organizations. Introduction: Advocate Good Samaritan is a medical organization that is found in Downers Grove, a location in Illinois. This organization was opened in 1976, and since then, it has transformed itself into a national health care leader, managing to be listed as a top 100 hospitals for four times. This paper addresses the mission of the organization, its organizational structure, its SWOT analysis, sources of funding, its management information system, and the nature of the hospital. Mission and Goals of the Organization: Advocate health care is a hospital which has about 12 acute care facilities, with more than 250 outpatient locations. The mission of the organization is to offer home health care services, corporate health services, hospice and occupational health services. The company aims to achieve this mission by employing highly skilled medical personnel who have a dedication to research, education and patient care delivery. These skilled medical personnel will also be involved in the development of policies that the organization needs to pursue. The policy under consideration must be one that reflects the mission of the organization that is providing high quality services in health care (Montalvo and Dunton, 2007). The hospitals core values of excellence, compassion, stewardship and partnership provides the foundation upon which the patient and his or her family are the nucleus of the organization. On this basis, the policies that the hospital formulates are centered on the needs of the patient. In regard to this, the mission of the organization is to formulate and pursue policies aimed at taking care of the needs of the patients. By taking care of these needs, the organization believes that patients will be able to recover quickly from the various diseases and medical problems that they encounter. The organization does not only seek to carter for the needs of patients (Montalvo and Dunton, 2007). It also seeks to ensure that its employees get an opportunity to advance their career, and succeed. This is by training its medical personnel on the better medical and nursing practices. It also seeks to achieve this objective through research and development aimed at developing better medical practices that its employees need to use and adapt. In conclusion Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital values human beings as people created by God, and on this basis, it seeks to carter for their health needs based on the knowledge that people are creatures of God (Montalvo and Dunton, 2007). Organization Structure and Corporate Culture of the Hospital: For any organization to succeed, it must have an organizational structure that helps employees to know who their leaders are, and how they should relate to one another. Advocate Health Care has a top to down organizational structure whereby orders come from the top, and are channeled to the various officers down the ladder. This is for purposes of implementing the policy under consideration. The following is the organizational structure of Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital from the top, to the junior managerial staff. The President, who also acts as the Chief Executive Officer. The Executive Vice President who also acts as the Chief Operating Officer. The Executive Vice President who also acts as the Chief Medical Officer. The Senior Vice President who takes up the roles of the Chief Human Resources Officer. President of Advocate Medical Care Group. President of the Ambulatory and Physicians services. Senior Vice President who acts as the Chief Marketing Officer. Senior Vice President who acts as the Treasurer. Senior Vice President who is in charge of strategic planning. Senior Vice President who is in charge of Spiritual Care. Senior Vice President who is in charge of information. Advocate Good Samaritan also has an organizational culture, and it is diversity. The employees of the organization came from different backgrounds, cultures and racial origins. These people help in bringing about their experiences, personalities, and talents into the business organization. This is one of the main reasons as to why the organization managed to achieve success in the provision of health care, making it a top 100 hospital in United States of America. The organization does not only encourage diversity in its work force, but also focuses on meeting the various diverse needs of its customers. SWOT Analysis of the Organization: The following are the strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the organization (Truven Health Analysis, 2013); Strengths: It is the biggest integrated health care system in the US. It operates the largest emergency trauma network in the state of Illinois. The organization treats the highest number of pediatric patients in Illinois. The organization diagnoses and treats the highest number of cancer patients in the state of Illinois. It has more than 250 health care sites and this includes 10 hospitals that offer acute care, and a children’s hospital, which has two campuses. It has a high number of human resource personnel, and this includes approximately 30,000 associates, 9000 nurses, and about 6000 physicians. The hospital has teaching and academic affiliations with major universities that are located at the Chicago Metropolitan Area. The organization also has teaching hospitals namely Lutheran General Hospital, Christ Medical Centre, and Masonic Medical Centre. These institutions are responsible for training health care workers on primary health care systems. Weaknesses: Due to the large size of the organization, policy formulation always takes a long process. The top to down management policy makes it impossible for junior officers to participate in the process of policy formulation. The organization spends so much money on paying salaries and wages, at the expense of providing other services such as research and development of new medical practices/ techniques. Opportunities: The opportunity to earn more customers and referrals because of the high quality of its services, and the availability of resources to handle any type of medical condition/diseases. Opportunity to form more partnerships with learning institutions and health care providers for purposes of carrying out a research on the various medical problems that affect the society. The opportunity to attract highly skilled and talented medical practitioners because of the organizations attractive salary package and benefits. Threats: Financial uncertainty is one threat that faces the organization. This arises because of high levels of unemployment, and the state of the American economy, which is only coming out of recession. The health care reforms initiated by the Obama administration, and specifically the affordable care act, popularly referred to as the Obama Care laws. These laws area aimed at changing the structure of the health care system in the United States, creating uncertainties on how the hospital will work with other stakeholders for purposes of providing better health care services. Sources of Funding: Advocate Good Samaritan is a not for profit hospital, and it gets most of its funding from donors. The organization runs a program referred to as Giving, which aims at raising money for its various activities/ programs. People are encouraged to make a donation through a secure online payment system, or through a cheque payable through the internet. The office responsible for receiving these funds is Advocate Charitable Foundation (Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, 2014). The following are the programs initiated by Advocate Good Samaritan for purposes of raising funds. Thee first program is referred to as Matching Gift Program. Under this program, the organization encourages companies to prevail upon their employees to contribute some amount of money to the organization. It also encourages the employees of these companies to offer some volunteering services to the company. The company also accepts bonds or stocks offered by donors (Truven Health Analysis, 2013). This is also advantageous to the donor because he or she will receive a tax break, or pay less taxes incase his or her stocks increase in value. The organization also encourages co-operation organizations to give under the co-operate giving program. This program aims at providing information to cooperate organizations on the various programs and activities of the company, and hence the need of supporting the activities under consideration. To raise funds also, the organization has created the Presidents Health Society Association. People of all walks of life are encouraged to become members, but they have to pay an annual membership fee of $ 1000. (Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, 2014) Finally, the organization has an endowment policy, which is a long term financing program for the activities of the organization. Under this strategy, an individual finds an activity that he or she wants to support. The same individual must make a commitment that he or she plans to support the program over a long period of time. The Nature of the Hospital: The hospital is a teaching and referral hospital. It has approximately three hospital units that are responsible for teaching and training medical practitioners, and this includes nurses and doctors. These teaching centers are, Lutheran General Hospital, Christ Medical Centre, and Masonic Medical Centre (Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, 2014). The organization is also a referral hospital, and this is because of the facilities and resources it has. The organization has an up-to date cancer care centers, making it the leading center for cancer diagnoses and treatment in the state of Illinois. Management Information System: The organization uses technology for purposes of communicating with its employees, and patients. For example, the organization has developed computerized software referred to as Active FAX. This software helps the organization to store all the information concerning patients, and members of staff, electronically. This information management system aims to reduce the usage of files for purposes of keeping information (Truven Health Analysis, 2013) . The main advantage of this type of information management system is that information is readily available to the concerned party, at the click of a button. The organization advocates and uses the CPOE. As of 2009, it was the target of Advocate hospital that 55% of all patients must make an order, using the physician computerized order entry. Conclusion: In conclusion, Advocate Good Samaritan is one of the best hospital organizations in the United States. The hospital enjoys a good public image and reputation, partly because of the quality of services it offers, and its philosophy of putting the needs of patients at the fore-front. The hospital is not a profit making organization, and it mostly depends on donors and financial grants for purposes of carrying out its various programs and activities. This paper therefore manages to highlight virtually all aspects of the hospital. This includes its mission and goals, organizational stricter, its swot analysis, its management information system, and the kind of services it offers. References: Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital. (n.d.). Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital. Retrieved  January 21, 2012, from http://www.advocatehealth.com/gsam/ Montalvo, I., Dunton, N. (2007). Transforming nursing data into quality care: profiles of  quality improvement in U.S. healthcare facilities. Silver Spring, Md.: Nursesbooks.org,  American Nurses Association. Truven Health Analysis. (2013). 100 top hospitals: study overview. (20TH ed.). Ann Arbor:  Truven Healt Analytics.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Graduation Speech: Praise be to God -- Graduation Speech, Commencement

First of all, I would like to thank God for giving me this opportunity to speak tonight. Had it not been for God, I wouldn't be here right now because He is the One who's given me the strength and courage to press on both academically and spiritually through my high school years, especially in times of discouragement. I am a international student. I came to the U.S. about five years ago. Studying in a second language and being away from parents many times have been really overwhelming for me, sometimes even to the point where I just wanted to quit and go back. But, through such times of discouragement and loneliness, God assured me that He is always with me, and also that through him I can do all things. During my five years at the Academy, God has taught me tremendous lessons throug...

Monday, November 11, 2019

Freedom of Thought in Fahrenheit 451 Essay

Freedom of thought is taken for granted in today’s society, but in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, society works differently. This freedom, or lack thereof, is not recognized until fireman, Guy Montag, proves to himself that thoughts are important. Through a maze of censorship and curiosity, Montag faces his government because of his interest in books. This book shows that everybody should have the right to think freely because it eases curiosity, promotes creativity and imagination, and encourages beliefs. Curiosity can become an obsession if it is not controlled. Montag becomes a puppet of his own curiosity, and as a result, he faces consequences unexpected by himself or anybody around him. Beatty, the cruel fire chief, even knows that â€Å"every fireman, sooner or later hits this,† or becomes curious about books (Bradbury 83). Even when Montag realizes that his inquiry can hurt his wife, Millie, he still continues to search for answers because he believes it to be the right thing to do for himself and the best thing for his city. His downfall directly affects everybody close to him. All people should have the right to be curious, but if thoughts were not controlled there would be fewer relationship problems and less confusion. Another reason freedom of thought is important is that it promotes creativity and imagination. This unique individuality is what makes a person who they are and what role they play in society. The people in society are much like books, so books are a symbol of people. A book has qualities that makes it different just as a person is made different by their own individuality. Therefore, â€Å"there must be something in books [people], things we can’t imagine† that makes an individual their own person (Bradbury 81). Imagination and free thought go hand in hand in similarity. This imagination, or free thought, is creativity; therefore, freedom of thought is important to individuality and society. In one case, Bradbury speaks of a woman who â€Å"spoils the ritual† and defies the law and is burnt with her books as if she were a martyr (Bradbury 66). This shows that the woman believed that books were okay and freedom of thought should be free. The woman’s belief cause governmental punishment that only pushed her to stand even more firm on what she believed. Also, beliefs create similarities in people who help them to genuinely relate to one another in authoritative situations and in general life. Some of these relations form friendships, and friendships form a web of peace in society and work places. For this reason, thoughts and beliefs are important in society to help maintain healthy relations and authority rolls. In today’s society, people can crush one’s freedom of thought by prohibiting it and discarding its importance. It is important to maintain a culture of free thought so that everybody can experience equality. Fahrenheit 451 is relevant to equality and freedom of thought because it shows Montag’s journey to promote these freedoms. When Montag overcomes his society and moves into the natural world he realizes just how important his thoughts are. In many ways, Montag is an example of the power of free thought and its effects of society. According to these facts, it is logical for all people to be able to have a right to free thought and the ability to develop themselves with the power of thoughts.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Oceanography Exam 2 Essays

Oceanography Exam 2 Essays Oceanography Exam 2 Paper Oceanography Exam 2 Paper What best explains why the atmosphere transports heat toward the poles? the latitudinal imbalance of incoming solar radiation The Coriolis parameter is at largest _______ and zero at the _____. poles and equator The prevailing winds on each side of the equator are: Easterly winds Geostrophy is the balance between what 2 forces? Pressure gradient and Coriolis What hemisphere does ONLY cyclonic flow rotate counter-clockwise? Northern Hemisphere Neutrally buoyant (sub-surface) ocean current floats are best tracked using: sonar In the Northern Hemisphere, the NET motion of water in an Ekman spiral is ______ the wind direction. 90 degrees to the right of. What factor best explains why the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is so unique? its east-west path is uninterrupted by continents Waters diverge to form subpolar gyres because of which two prevailing wind systems? Westerlies and Polar Easterlies. Subtropical gyres in the Southern Hemisphere flow: counter-clockwise What is the underlying cause of the westward intensification of subtropical gyres? Weak Coriolis parameter near the equator Subtropical gyre western boundary currents are: warm In the Northern Hemisphere, the Coriolis effect causes fluids to be deflected to the ____ of their natural path, and geostrophic balance would cause ocean currents to flow ____around seas surface lows. right counter-clockwise. What scenario would most likely produce coastal upwelling? southerly winds along the South American west coast Coastal upwelling water tend to be: cold and nutrient rich Why is there a cold tongue in the easter tropical pacific? upwelling due to Ekman divergence What condition does not characterize El Nino? high rainfall in Indonesia El Nino events occur approximately every ___ years. 2-7 years In the Walker Circulation, what force balances the pressure gradient force? nothing Which factors form a positive feedback loop in the equatorial Pacific? warm pool atmospheric low strong winds Once Surface waters become dense enough to form deep waters, what is the most likely reason that their temperature would change significantly in the deep sea? by mixing with other water masses How does sea surface salinity near the equator compare to that of the subtropical gyres? lower near equator due to higher precipitation The most common reason for the existence of the pynocline is that _____ decreases with increasing depth. temperature The mixed layer will typically extends to a depth of about: 100-200m What sources of energy directly drive the upwelling that leads to the thermohaline circulation? winds and tides Which is NOT a mechanism leading to denser surface water and therefore deep water formation? increased runoff from melting ice sheets Wave orbits are negligible at depths below: 1/2 wavelength The only wave type restored by cohesion is: capillary A wave that propagates away from a disturbance without without continued application of force is called: free Which wave type is almost always considered a shallow water wave? tsunami Which is NOT a characteristic of shallow water waves? cannot break Which factor does NOT contribute to large wave growth? high temperature Deep water wave celerity depends on the variable _____, while shallow water wave celerity depends on the variable ____. wavelength, water depth A wind wave is approaching shore first contacts the seafloor at a water depth of: Waves usually break when their height exceeds: 1/7 wavelength Why do waves bend (refract) as they approach shore? speed is decreased in shallow water A tsunami is usually imperceptible to a ship at sea because it has a: very long wavelength The Sumatra tsunami of December 2004 was caused by a: subduction zone earth quake Why does an unusual sea level drop often precede the arrival a tsunami? the trough of the tsunami wave sometimes arrives before the crest What technology does the pacific tsunami warning network rely on? pressure sensors on the seafloor THe equilibrium theory of the tides would apply for a hypothetical Earth: completely covered by a very deep ocean. The gravitational attraction between two celestial objects increases with their ____, and decreases with the square of their____. masses.. distances In Earth-moon system, where are gravitational attraction and intertia in balance? center of earth On earth, solar tides are about ____ the strength of lunar tides. half Neap (weak) tids occur: during quarter moons The side of Earth facing the moon will have a high tide while th opposite side of the Earth will have: a high tide

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Legalized same-sex adoption Essay Example

Legalized same Legalized same-sex adoption Essay Legalized same-sex adoption Essay Legalized same-sex adoption has become the most popular issue in the political debate. It has become a big question whether same-sex couples possess a God-given privilege to adopt children (since they are unable to produce children). Supporters of gay adoption say argue that homosexual parents would be good examples for genetically-predestined homosexual kids. Others consider this as a foolish idea as not many children turn out to be homosexual adults. Same sex adoption is notorious as it is totally against the Christian moral code. Traditional and original Christian principles oppose gay marriage and gay adoption. Let us examine how the Christian philosopher Saint Thomas Aquinas would approach the topic of ‘traditional Christianity and gay adoption’ Thomas Aquinas said that every law should reflect the common good. According to him, the law must help shape one’s lifestyle. Thomas Aquinas defined three types of law; eternal law, natural law, and human law. Thomas Aquinas defined natural law as the involvement of the person in the eternal law. According to him, natural law is the natural inclination to the proper end. He explained human law as the application of natural law. Human law is never outdated and conventional as it is accepted and followed by various communities. The issues like the legalization of gay adoption happen when the strictly defined civic law comes at odds with the natural law and overcomes it. Gay marriage and gay adoption becomes legal where natural law is seldom considered. Traditional Christian theology has always been against unnatural followings. For example, while saying about the city of Sodom in Genesis 19, we can find that â€Å"the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord ( Gen. 19:13). Sodom broke the natural law of union between a man and woman. Then anger of Lord rose against Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed it. Traditional Christian theory has always been against all unnatural practices among human beings. Christianity encourages natural relationship between a man and women where they bring about children. While going through the eyes of Christian philosophers like Thomas Aquinas we can say that they would verily oppose gay adoption as they did for gay marriage. If gay marriage is unnatural, gay adoption is also unnatural. Christian theology defines sex as a means to bring about children. Aquinas had considered ultra-conservative views of the church on the topic of sexuality and attempted to rationalize them by introducing his own natural law. According to Thomas Aquinas any form of sex where the intention to produce children is not involved is sin. He says that sex is purely for the purpose of reproduction to ensure the continuance of the human race, only in the context of a monogamous relationship, and not for simple physical pleasure. Thomas Aquinas who defends the normal relationship between a man and woman would never appreciate the abnormal means of brought up of children. Aquina s who considers sex as the means of child production would never find it natural to entrust gay couples with children. He may find gay adoption as unnatural as gay marriage. According to Thomas Aquinas all humans are part of Gods plan and therefore subject to eternal law, where we are guided to Gods supernatural end in a higher way (47). He says that everybody should follow Gods eternal law through a natural law. Something is supposed to be part of natural law if there is a natural inclination to it and if nature does not produce the contrary, (51-52). Unnatural sex is opposed by both Old Testament and New Testament Bible .According to Jude 7 Sodom and Gomorrah acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust. In the book of Ezekiel we can find that â€Å"Sodom committed abominable things (Ezek. 16:50) (homosexual and heterosexual actions). People of Sodom and Gomorrah preferred unnatural behaviors. They did not accept the virgin daughters of Lot. Homosexual actions are abominable thing that set off God’s wrath. No Christian theology can support any aspect of these unnatural behaviors. Gay marriage is detestable in the eyes of Lord. Book of Leviticus says that You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. . . . If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them (Lev. 18:22, 20:13). Christian theology support normal marriage and normal bring up of children by their parents. Sex is considered to be exclusively for chi ld birth. Unnatural homosexual behavior is opposed by every aspect of Christian theology. Thomas Aquinas says that promiscuity is contrary to the nature of man because to bring up a child requires both the care of the mother who nourishes him and even more the care of the father to train and defend him and to develop him in internal and external endowments (78). Aquinas is against the practice of a male should have the option of leaving a female who has had a child even if it is properly provided for, making an indirect case against divorce (79). Aquinas thus would never support gay adoption and he was always against the concept of gay marriage. Angelo Amato, Titular Archbishop of Sila Secretary the philosopher had a similar approach to morality, human nature, and good life. Angelo Amato’s thoughts are in agreement with that of Aquinas’s. According to him, â€Å"the approval or legalization of evil (homosexual couples) is something far different from the toleration of evil†. The natural law includes the law of sexual intercourse and the education and protection of offspring. He also defends the natural law (natural sexual relationship between a man and woman). Angelo Amato is also against the unnatural sexual intercourse and brought up of children. He thus never opposes the concepts of gay marriage as well as gay adoption. Angelo Amato said that the protection of offspring should be by the natural parents. Keeping the children under homosexual couples is unnatural and ultimately brings no good. Marriage is supposed to be for sex and reproduction. Homosexuality, gay marriage and gay marriage are against t he natural intuition. Gay marriage and gay adoption are against the goals of the state. It is against traditional Christianity. Angelo Amato thus supported Thomas Aquinas. Thomas Aquinas said that â€Å"when God created us, he gave us natural instincts that reflect the general moral principles of natural law†. According to him, God has implanted an instinctive intuition in every human being, which should be used for a good purpose. The instinctive intuitions embedded on humans make them live, reproduce and live as rational creatures. According to Thomas Aquinas, human beings possess an innate moral consciousness. This innate moral consciousness or synderesis is an intuitive habit; it is a vulnerable habit. Aquinas says that â€Å"Our instinctive synderesis faculty informs us of the highest principle of natural law: we should act according to our proper end† Gay marriage and gay adoption are against the natural institutive intuition that is implanted on human beings by God. Bible says that â€Å"cursed is the man who sleeps with an animal†. Traditional Christian theology is thus against all forms of unnatural physical relationship. Thomas Aquinas’ theories have defended the Christian principles on relationships. Everything that is unnatural are forbidden by the Christian theology and therefore by Thomas Aquinas. Children are supposed to be under the care of their natural parents. The Christian evaluation of gay adoption is similar to that of gay marriage.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Recommendation to the President of the United States Assignment

Recommendation to the President of the United States - Assignment Example Alternatively, this recommendation report tries to convince the President of United States to acknowledge training and development as profitable strategy of saving companies (Moskowitz, 2008). Furthermore, this recommendation is meant to appeal to the President in assisting small and medium companies without enough finances to train their workers. Finally, the recommendation report attempts to convince the American President on influencing companies to embrace training and development as technique of not only increasing the GDP of corporations but saving jobs. This will helps families weighed down by effects of recession to afford their essential needs despite hard times. The training and development field is comprised of a number of issues that this paper will attempt to explore. For instance, in other terms, it is referred to as human resource development or learning development and it pertains to activities of the organization that target at improving the performance of the worker . Additionally, the performance may include those of groups within the company through the use of varying methods of training. On that note, training and development comprises of three major activities and they entail training, education, and development. Therefore, when we consider training it means an evaluation conducted upon and against the current job that a person holds in a given company. On the other hand, education suggests an activity based the job that a person may have a chance of attaining in the future and the analysis is conducted against those opportunities. Similarly, the two activities may not function without development. This involves critical analysis conducted by the company that employs the person concerning his activities and the activities that may be taken by person in future. On that note, most Human Resource Managers concur that it is an aspect of training and development that is hard to analyze. Furthermore, in training and development, there are stakeho lders who have equally crucial roles in the progress of an organization in terms of its employees. These people include senior managers who act as the sponsors of training and development. On the other hand, business planners involve clients or customers of training and development. In addition, those who experience the process of training and development are called participants. Others include facilitators who are key in nay firm include the staff of HRM and specialists in the field called providers. On that perspective, these mentioned groups always have varying views concerning their motivations and agendas hence creating divergence with group with opposing views. Furthermore, in the training and development field there have been both traditional and modern approaches. In the traditional approach, many companies did not encourage training for its workers and managers. On that account, the belief held that managers are not naturally born and not made. Other critics opposed to trai ning claim the high expense is worth for a company. Alternatively, companies would apply the technique of executive pinching. However, when it comes to modern approach, organizations are encouraging corporate training and development to save cost and retain its workforce. Furthermore, training and developing the workforce enables the organization to have a smart workforce that is able to

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Analysis of movie knowing her place indu krishnan Essay

Analysis of movie knowing her place indu krishnan - Essay Example Growing up in a liberal society in the United States for immigrants like Vasu already requires for a series of psychological and emotional adjustments in order to fit in the society. Physical appearance, language, and tradition are but the easiest to get acquainted to in the society that is different from what one’s parents have grown up to, especially for young children. On the other hand, an appalling dilemma for these children is to be brought back to the society in which they have grown out of for more than a decade in their lives. When Vasu was brought back to India at a stage when she was going through her adolescent stage, every day has been a struggle since. Her life back in the United States after getting married as a teenager due to a cultural norm, life has become a huge battlefield. There were bigger challenges and heavier social and cultural responsibilities as a wife and mother. Women like Vasu have to get acculturated to the various roles that are perceived to b e played by women in the society against men. If it is Krishna’s goal to reveal women’s cultural schizophrenia with cross-cultural background (Hoppe, â€Å"Knowing† & wmm.com, â€Å"Knowing†) to the world, this movie definitely did much justice to their experiences through the main character in the movie. Cultural identity is essential in women’s competence upon accomplishing their roles and responsibilities to their family and the society. The lack of which would only provide a vehicle to emotional and psychological instability that could lead to identity