History of Animation Essay

The zoetrope is a device which creates the image of a moving picture. The earliest elementary zoetrope was created in China around 180 AD by the prolific inventor Ting Huan Made from translucent paper or mica panels, Huan hung the device over a lamp. The rising air turned vanes at the top from which hung the pictures painted on the panels would appear to move if the device is spun at the right speed. Magic Lantern (1600) The magic lantern is the predecessor of the modern day projector. It consisted of a translucent oil painting and a simple lamp. When put together in a darkened room, the image would appear larger on a flat surface. Athanasius Kircher spoke about this originating from China in the 16th century but it was developed in the late 1650’s by Christian Huygens. Some slides for the lanterns contained parts that could be mechanically actuated to present limited movement on the screen. Thaumatrope (1824) A thaumatrope was a simple toy used in the Victorian era. A thaumatrope is a small circular disk or card with two different pictures on each side that was attached to a piece of string or a pair of strings running through the centre. When the string is twirled quickly between the fingers, the two pictures appear to combine into a single image. The thaumatrope demonstrates the Phi phenomenon, the brain’s ability to persistently perceive an image. Its invention is variously credited to Charles Babbage, Peter Roget, or John Ayrton Paris, but Paris is known to have used one to illustrate the Phi phenomenon in 1824 to the Royal College of Physicians. Flip book (1868) The first flip book was patented in 1868 by John Barnes Linnet. Flip books were yet another development that brought us closer to modern animation. Like the Zoetrope, the Flip Book creates the illusion of motion. A set of sequential pictures flipped at a high speed creates this effect. The Mutoscope (1894) is basically a flip book in a box with a crank handle to flip the pages. Praxinoscope (1877) The Praxinoscope, invented by French scientist Charles-Émile Reynaud, was a more sophisticated version of the zoetrope. It used the same basic mechanism of a strip of images placed on the inside of a spinning cylinder, but instead of viewing it through slits, it was viewed in a series of small, stationary mirrors around the inside of the cylinder, so that the animation would stay in place, and provide a clearer image and better quality. Reynaud also developed a larger version of the Praxinoscope that could be projected onto a screen, called the Theater Optique. Information on the Present Traditional Animation Are the oldest and historically the most popular form of animation. In a traditionally-animated cartoon, each frame is drawn by hand. Timing is important for the animators drawing these frames; each frame must match exactly what is going on in the soundtrack at the moment the frame will appear, or else the discrepancy between sound and visual will be distracting to the audience. For example, in high-budget productions, extensive effort is given in making sure a speaking character’s mouth matches in shape the sound that character’s actor is producing as he or she speaks. Feature-length films The first animated feature film was El Apà ³stol, made in 1917 by Quirino Cristiani from Argentina. He also directed two other animated feature films, including 1931’s Peludopolis, the first to use synchronized sound. None of these, however, survive to the present day. The earliest-surviving animated feature, which used colour-tinted scenes, is the silhouette-animated Adventures of Prince Achmed directed by German Lotte Reiniger and French/Hungarian Berthold Bartosch. Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are often considered to be the first animated feature when in fact at least eight were previously released. However, Snow White was the first to become successful and well-known within the English-speaking world and the first to use cell animation. Stop Motion Stop motion is used for many animation productions using physical objects rather than images of people, as with traditional animation. An object will be photographed, moved slightly, and then photographed again. When the pictures are played back in normal speed the object will appear to move by itself. The first example of object manipulation and stop-motion animation was the 1899 short film by Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton called The Humpty Dumpty Circus. A European stop motion pioneer was Wladyslaw Starewicz who animated The Beautiful Lukanida .The Battle of the Stag Beetles and The Ant and the Grasshopper. CGI animation Computer-generated imagery (CGI) revolutionized animation. The first film done completely in CGI was Toy Story, produced by Pixar. The process of CGI animation is still very tedious and similar in that sense to traditional animation and it still adheres to many of the same principles. A principal difference of CGI Animation compared to traditional animation is that drawing is replaced by 3D modelling, almost like a virtual version of stop-motion, though a form of animation that combines the two worlds can be considered to be computer aided animation but on 2D computer drawing (which can be considered close to traditional drawing and sometimes based on it). Cell-shaded animation A type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make computer graphics appear to be hand-drawn. Cell-shading is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon. It is a somewhat recent addition to computer graphics, most commonly turning up in console video games. Though the end result of cell-shading has a very simplistic feel like that of hand-drawn animation, the process is complex. The name comes from the clear sheets of acetate, called cells, which are painted on for use in traditional 2D animation. It may be considered a 2.5D form of animation. True real-time cell-shading was first introduced in 2000 by Sega’s Jet Set Radio for their Dreamcast console. Besides video games, a number of anime have also used this style of animation, such as Freedom Project in 2006. CGI Animated humans Most CGI created films are based on animal characters, monsters, machines or cartoon-like humans. Animation studios are now trying to develop ways of creating realistic-looking humans. Films that have attempted this include Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within in 2001, Final Fantasy: Advent Children in 2005, The Polar Express in 2004, Beowulf in 2007 and Resident Evil: Degeneration in 2009. However, due to the complexity of human body functions, emotions and interactions, this method of animation is rarely used. The more realistic a CG character becomes, the more difficult it is to create the nuances and details of a living person. The creation of hair and clothing that move convincingly with the animated human character is another area of difficulty. The Incredibles and Up both have humans as protagonists, while films like Avatar combine animation with live action to create humanoid creatures.

American Public Education

Maddie Mellor College Writing 24-102 Dr. Boggs American Public Education Today, education enables us to enlarge our knowledge and open doors for opportunities to the path of having a good future. In the five readings, each written by a different author, there was a lesson learned and something to take away from each one. Reading through the passages by Mann, Moore, Malcolm X, Gatto, Rose, and Anyon, each author contributed his or her point of view on general public education. This topic can be very argumentative depending on the quality of education people receive.Education today is the single most important mean for individuals to achieve their personal goals in the workforce. In Horace Mann’s â€Å"Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education,† he gives his opinion about all the different sorts of education. Examples such as, physical, intellectual, political, moral, and religious education all play a part in who we grow up to be. This is why quality education is so important. Horace Mann makes a point that public schools follow strict rules and curriculum, which transforms all students to become the same person.He asks the question, â€Å"Does education empower us? Or does it stifle personal growth by squeezing us into prefabricated cultural molds? † (Mann, page 123). The type of education we receive can critically shape and enhance our identities either in a negative or positive way. One example of a negative view would be the story written by Michael Moore. He explains how our country is simply a bunch of â€Å"idiots. † In the passage entitled â€Å"Idiot Nation† written by Michael Moore, he discusses his opinion on Americans today and our lack of knowledge.He feels like we live in a nation of idiots. Moore believes that although there is a large number of unintelligent people in our country, we all have the capability to be very smart and expand our minds to more things than we realize. He referenced high school senio rs and said that they are trained to live the same routine every day of their lives as students. Teachers tell them, â€Å"Don’t do this, don’t do that, tuck your shirt in, wipe that smile off your face, where’s your hall pass, and DETENTION† (Moore, page 134).Mostly every student today is treated like this and it is all they have ever known when it comes to discipline. Every student today has the same responsibilities and the same consequences if you do not fulfill them. I, as a former high school student, completely agree with what Moore discusses in this story because every student is looked upon the same way, and if a student wanted respect from faculty, he or she had to earn it. However, Moore’s credibility does not reflect much on his strong opinions about public schooling.Considering he was a college dropout over something as silly as not being able to find a parking spot doesn’t seem acceptable for us to care for what he has to prove about education. Being a responsible student and providing yourself the best education is partially up to the student themselves and each child in a public school has the capability to teach themselves anything they want to learn if they just put their mind to it. â€Å"Learning to Read† written by Malcolm X tells a story about himself and how he taught himself to read.Personally, I thought this was the most interesting to read about because it proves just how far one can actually come if he or she is driven and determined to accomplish something. Malcolm X was motivated by the knowledge he was surrounded with and wanted to be able to communicate. He was inspired by everything he had never known and said, â€Å"I was because of my letters that I happened to stumble upon starting to acquire some kind of a homemade education† (X page 210). At that point in his life, he was determined to do something no one has ever tried before, and that was to teach himself how to read .He said that, â€Å"the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary to study and learn some words† (X, page 211). Before long, Malcolm X was a fluent speaker and a very successful writer. He had a wide knowledge for speech and vocabulary because of the time he spent devoted to learning. However, there are things one can learn on their own just by going out into the real world. John Taylor Gatto wrote about the topic of boredom in his story â€Å"Against School. † He was an award-winning educator, so most believed his statements about education to be true because he was such a credible source.Gatto discusses his belief of having children learn more of what they will need to live on their own in the real world. He wants students to take their education with them out into the world instead of learning pointless material in public school that will never be applied to the real world. Gatto references this to boredom and uses it as an example of why some children do not enjoy school. Material that is required to be taught bores students easily, and does not expand their minds to subjects they are interested in. He asks, â€Å"Do we really need school?I don’t mean education, just forced schooling: six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years† (Gatto, page 148-149). Students are trained to become addicts of everyday school and it strips them of responsibility and independence. Eventually, once we can understand the tricks and traps of public schooling, we can avoid them. In â€Å"I Just Wanna Be Average,† Mike Rose goes back to his years in school, in which he also referred to them as bottom level classes. Throughout his schooling, he was placed in low-ranking classes by accident, but decided to move on to the more academically advanced track.Rose goes in depth about each and every one of his teachers, and describes his classmates he was around during the time being during the time he was in the l ow classes. The students Mike Rose has class with were discouraging for him to be around and he mentioned that â€Å"the vocational track he was on, is most often a place for those who are just not making it, a dumping ground for the disaffected† (Rose, par. 159). He explains that his teachers acted like they could care less about teaching their students and instead use physical violence or a lack of lesson plans to control them.I personally believe that teachers today do not act this way. As a former high school student, teachers are encouraged to help their students with anything they might need. That is their job and what they are supposed to do is teach. If a teacher is not able to assist you in something, they simply are not doing their job correctly. Education is looked upon as a very important part of someone’s life and determines ones future. This simply shows that if students are driven enough to further their education and improve their lives, teachers are th ere to help guide them.In the last passage â€Å"From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work,† Jean Anyon proposes that certain aspects of teaching show that there is possibly a hidden curriculum in schools based on the performance of the students as well as their social status. She investigated details of each school's curriculum from different areas and in most people's opinion, schools are ranked by their socioeconomic status as whole. Implying that the quality of education is worst for working class schools and best for the more elite schools, there are strategies to go above and beyond.Though she does not necessarily agree with this opinion, she does define the purpose of schoolwork, and she says, â€Å"Schoolwork helps one to achieve, to excel, to prepare for life† (Anyon, page 172). Between every twist and turn that is found through education. We are all here to achieve the same goal, simply because we want to be successful. It’s obvious that educ ation has improved over time and more people have been taking advantage of the opportunity to gain knowledge and better themselves.Each one of these authors proves important points to consider about education and to form your own opinion. There is a lesson learned and something to take away from each one. Each author contributed his or her point of view on general public education. This topic can be very argumentative depending on the quality of education people receive, however, education enables us to enlarge our knowledge and open doors for opportunities to the path of having a good future. Education today is the single most important means for individuals to achieve their personal goals and be successful. Mann, Horace. Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford St Martins, 2012. * Moore, Michael. Idiot Nation. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford St Martins, 2012. 134. * Malcolm X, . Learning to Read. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford St Martins, 2012. 210-211. * Gatto, Jo hn Taylor. Against School. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford St Martins, 2012. 148-149. * Rose, Mike. I Just Wanna Be Average. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford St Martins, 2012. 159. * Anyon, Jean. From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford St Martins, 2012. 172.

Differences in Cultural Perspective

Almost every individual tend to be fascinated with beliefs or things that are different from what he or she normally sees in his or her every day life. These variations usually arises the interests of the person in knowing and understanding the things that are not familiar to him or her. However, there are also instances wherein these differences could make people pose their judgment or prejudices upon others that do not practice or adhere their beliefs. This kind of thinking is applicable in the cultural differences that most countries have.The movie Forbidden Kingdom could greatly exemplified the importance of understanding various cultures. This motion picture feature two of the biggest stars in the martial arts film genre namely Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Other actors also supported them most specially Michael Angarano, which plays Jason Tripitikas that represent the western part of the world in the story. The plot of the movie paved the way for the exploration of the western and ea stern cultures. It enables its viewers to see the differences that these different parts of the world have.Nevertheless, it also paved the way for people coming from these two cultures to increase their tolerance for each other’s difference even to the point of appreciating it. The movie revolves around a teenage boy name Jason Tripitikas. He is an avid fan of Chinese martial arts. He frequently goes to China town in order to buy some DVDs about martial arts movie. During one of the normal days that he went there, he pass by a pawnshop where he saw a staff. The owner of the establishment, an old Chinese guy named Hop informed him that the staff should be given back to its rightful owner.On his way back home, Jason encountered the local bully, Lupo. He violently forced him to go to the pawnshop at night so that Hop would open it, which will allow them to rob the shop and took Hop’s money. As the robbery happened, Lupo shot Hop but before he died, he instructed Jason to bring the staff back to its owner. Jason ran away from Lupo and his gang. However, Lupo was able to get a hold of him but before they could hurt him the staff transported him into ancient China where his adventure began.Jason interacted with the Chinese community back then and learned the true value of their culture especially that of martial arts (The Internet Movie Database). The American teenager’s perception of the eastern culture specifically of the Chinese started with only the idea of martial arts. Every time he would heard about their culture it is not surprising that the first thing that came into his mind is martial arts or Chinese food. This is not unexpected especially for a western teenager since most of his knowledge about the Chinese culture is influence by the media.However, when Jason was able to really partake in the real culture of ancient China he was able to understand their way of life. In doing so, he was able to adhere to some of their beliefs and prac tices. In line with this, Homi Bhabha’s arguments in â€Å"Culture’s In-Between† tend to explain the cultural differences that happened in the movie. The first thing that Jason experienced was a sense of identity that is only based upon the western culture that he has. His view of other culture is also based upon the beliefs that his western roots reinforced. Nevertheless, this changed when he experienced the ancient culture of the Chinese.He was able to understand the variation and even follow some of the Chinese way of life. In this situation, Jason’s identity became multicultural because he does not only follow one particular belief or practice but he tend to be tolerant of others as well (Bhabha, 54). Moreover, based on Randall Raus’ â€Å"The American Perspective of: What is Culture? † he asserted that America is actually very tolerant of other nations’ culture. He asserted that there is no other country that is culturally divers ified as the United States due to the presence of numerous people coming from various states that have their respective ways of life (Raus).Being the case, this caused the establishment of different cultural practices in the country that is observable in varying communities there like the Latino, Chinese, Filipino, and others. Early on in the story, the western teenager already has his fascination with martial arts. Due to the influence of media, he thought that martial arts were a â€Å"cool thing. † He perceived it as some sort of trend that if he could be able to perform such kind of stunts he would instantly gain popularity.The teenager also has this thinking that learning martial arts would demand respect from other people and this would also boost his reputation in the community. This kind of adage is greatly influence by the media. Communication technology like the television, Internet, advertisements, commercials, and others has a huge impact in the way of thinking of people especially of young adults nowadays (Rayuso). Martial arts are usually portrayed in movies or television shows as something that is merely fascinating rather than its true purpose of self-defense.In this sense, media tend to modify the view of the people with regards to other culture. This eventually impedes the proper understanding of other nations’ beliefs and practices. The manipulation of the media regarding people’s perspective about a certain group or nationality is widely observable at the present time. A good example is the issue of terrorism wherein some irresponsible media reporting tend to always put Arabs and Muslims in a bad light as they pertain to them as the one responsible in terrorist attacks (Hamza, et. al).Citizens of various nations either get interested with the culture of other countries or they would immediately disregard it especially if it is not similar or near the practices that they have. Nevertheless, the knowledge of other nations culture is very essential in order for people to properly understand each other and learn to accept the differences that exists among them. It also aid in clarifying wrong notions that people have regarding their counterparts in other states. The correct knowledge of other cultures could foster greater understanding and acceptance among the people all over the world.

Banking Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Banking - Case Study Example From this paper it is clear that  in 1927, Congressman Louis McFadden moved a bill that was later enacted into law. This new law allowed commercial banks to spread and open more branches to the extent that was permitted by the laws of the state in which it was operating. This meant that if the laws of a state allowed opening of new branches in any location within the state, then the bank was allowed to do so. In another instance, if a state’s laws allow opening of branches within the current city of location, then a commercial bank was not allowed to open branches in other cities. However, this Act did not allow commercial banks to open branches across different states. This Act had the effect of allowing for geographical growth of commercial banks and they were able to compete with federal-owned banks.As the discussion stresses  the sponsors of this Act were motivated by the events that were happening then in the banking sector. It was after the economy had experienced a crisis in the stock market sector of the economy which was followed by the Great Depression. It had been previously discovered that monies had been borrowed from mainstream commercial banks for speculation purposes in the stock market. After the stock market crisis, many banks went at a loss and it was discovered that there was need to separate the two areas of the trade. The Glass-Steagall Act made into law that commercial banks will only deal with deposits and loans while investment banks will deal with only stock trading.

Effective Communication through Handwriting Term Paper

Effective Communication through Handwriting - Term Paper Example Handwriting is known to enhance communication by way of recording messages. The messages, however, have to fall within the limits of proper grammar, spelling and punctuation. It is only through these aspects of writing that the messages will be communicated effectively (Hodge, 2012). It is, therefore, important to point out that handwriting is greatly influenced by related attitudes, skills, knowledge and abilities that arise in the course of writing. Handwriting Components Skills and abilities ensure that an individual can easily coordinate his/her eyes and hand. The writer is able to follow the outlined sequence of movement to develop the desired or rather the correct shapes of letters. The legibility of handwriting is also determined by skills and abilities. A positive attitude is necessary to encourage a learner as he or she goes through the writing processes. The willingness and desire to try out different styles of writing are important. This is what results in personal styles of handwriting. Through the handwriting knowledge, a learner will definitely appreciate the fact that messages are usually conveyed through print. It is apparent that handwriting is one of the various skills in the writing process. An interesting fact is that similar writing techniques can easily generate various handwriting styles. It is also worth noting that the type of audience and purpose of writing greatly affect the choice of writing style and layout alike. Handwriting Skills It takes time to develop handwriting skills. The learner gains control handwriting patterns after a rigorous period of practice, demonstration and application of relevant contexts. At this point, all the related processes become automatic and can be used to convey effective communication. Letter Formation This crucial stage involves talking about the names, features and sounds relating to the letters in question. The idea of practicing letter formation enhances letter recognition in addition to developin g motor and visual memories. These memories relate to the significant features of the respective letters. A learner is able to feel the formation of various letters just by looking and trying out the writing movement. This simple exercise helps fix the respective letter in the visual memory of a learner for future reference (Barbe, 1984). It is then that it can be identified and even reproduced. To form a letter, the leaner ought to consider the start and finishing points, strokes and the direction of motion. The other aspects to be considered are spacing, size, alignment, cursive style, slope, linking, writing speed and pen lifts. The proportionality of letter shapes is very important as it dictates the size of a letter. The relativity of height and width is easily maintained when the bodies, tails and heads are equally proportional. The purpose of writing and the overall size of the writing surface greatly influence the size of a letter.  

Pluralist Model and the Instrumentalist Model Essay

Pluralist Model and the Instrumentalist Model - Essay Example Jerry Kloby in his book Inequality, Power, and Development, he discusses two theories to explain the modern world, the pluralist and the instrumentalist model, the pluralist model indicates that power in the society is not held by a few people while the instrumentalist model indicates that power is held by only a few people and therefore high levels of inequality. This model focuses on the relationships that exist between the state and society, it focuses on the various important ways in which citizens control their leaders and also shape public policies. Citizens therefore are involved in public policy making, to this model power is possessed by the society as a whole, power is considered as a resource in society in attainment of goals. This model argues that bureaucrats, capitalist and political leaders are unified into a single group by their common origin, lifestyles and values, public policies are made through the networks that exist between these groups. According to this model power in the society is only held by a few individuals who use it to further their own interests, therefore public policies are made by the ones who have institutional, political and economic power. In the society we live it is true that power is only held by a few people, they will shape the societies policies for their own interest and not the interest of the people. The instrumental

Step by Step Procedure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Step by Step Procedure - Essay Example It identifies the individual student’s capabilities and skills. It also constructs an ambitious and hopeful future. Planning involves the student in the monitoring program and makes the student feel important and engenders concepts of â€Å"self-determination† (Individualized Service Plan, n.d., p. 11). Based on this conceptual framework, the following Step-by-Step Academic Plan is suggested for intervening in and monitoring an individual student’s academic instruction and progress. Step 1: Once a student is identified and his or her specific needs are identified, conduct a survey calculated to gather information relative to the student’s identified area of risk in terms of learning and the student’s academic goals overall. Step 3: Record the basic information in the Academic Plan. Basic information includes, Student name, identification number, date, high school, academic year and whether or not the student is one academic probation. Step 4: Provide a summary of the student’s needs. For instance record the student’s year at school, where academic support is required and the student’s academic goals. State the student’s academic goals in his or her own words. Step 5: Set out the steps to be taken and monitored relative to the Academic Plan. Identify the start date and record the need identified in a specific subject. Next establish the student’s academic goals with respect to the area in which the student is underachieving. List the student’s responsibilities with respect to meeting the desired goals. For instance the student may be required to attend tutoring or will study or do both for a specific period. List the advisor’s responsibilities as well. The advisor may be required to collaborate with the student’s tutor relative to progress in the area of assistance. The advisor may also be required to have on-going study conferences with the student. The advisor will also be required to monitor the

Leadeship in Clinical Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leadeship in Clinical Practice - Essay Example Nurse-doctor communication results in safe and effective care of patient. Similar to that nurse-supporting staff relation also affects the patients because they are the one who are responsible for taking care of patient in relation to medicines, food, clothing, cleanliness etc. So these two factors play a key role in managing a clinic performance. This relation can be made efficient only on the basis of effective leadership and communication skills (Armstrong, 2005, Chiarella, 2002). 1.2 Theories of communication Communication can be understood in various ways, as human nature also differs depending on one’s personality and nature. There is diversity in it because it is a broader concept of discipline. There are many theories of leadership and communication such as CBS model, situational theory, contingency theory etc. In accordance to the situation of the discussion paper two communication theories will support the present condition of staff members who assist nurses. They ar e situational and contingency theories (Woodward J, 1965). Situational leadership theory This theory believes that there is not a one single best style of leadership. In fact, leading will be effective only if it is related to specific tasks. It is the style of maturity. It will not only help in the accomplishment of tasks and jobs, but will also influence the group performing the job (Hersey P, 1969). This theory is related to various clinical areas, mostly towards the relationship of nurse-supporting staff because the followers are less skilled. They need full guidance and supervision. This can be done by assigning them task in groups on the basis of specific situations. Each group will be given task on the basis of his or maturity level. The result of which will be increased knowledge and experience through mutual coordination in a group. It will help to motivate the task as well as relationship behavior of the followers. Contingency theory This theory believes that leadership ef fectiveness is mainly based on two factors i.e. situational control and leadership style. It emphasize on the fact that there is not a single way of leading, similar to that of situational theory. It believes that an organization success depends on both internal as well as external factors. In a clinic perspective, business will be successful only if it’s both, the external factors such as clients, image etc., and internal factors such as doctors, nurses, supporting staff etc., are considered and dealt efficiently. Organization should focus more on organizational structures and management styles (Lawrence P, 1967). Managers should make the organizational structure friendly in order to educate its supporting staff. Management styles should be less formal because they are fresh graduate’s one need to be at their level to promote efficiency. Clinics should have open systems in order to satisfy their internal needs of supporting staff and make them prepare to deal with cha llenging situations (Turner C, 2002). There is not a single way of organizing things. All depends on the nature of task provided to the working staff. Nursing managers should clearly explain the task or jobs to the staff. They should find a good fit among staff and jobs. This means that jobs should be assigned on the basis of capability of a person. Different techniques should be used in various departments of a clinic (Fred Lutans, 2011). 1.3 Communication in clinical areas

Myocardial infarction Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Myocardial infarction - Case Study Example The mice used in this experiment were reported to have larger and more severe atherosclerosis wounds after a stroke or myocardial infarction. These results were observed to be as a result of increased monocyte production that was triggered by the stroke that affected the spleen action. This understanding of factor affecting atherosclerosis and can be used in using better management techniques (Dutta et al 2012). This is because the kind of intervention used on atherosclerosis patients with ischemic complication can affect the long term outcome. Care should thus be taken with patients with such problems to avoid further complications I find this article to be important because you find that most patients suffering from atherosclerosis also suffers from myocardial infarction. The interaction of the two makes it hard to treat one or the other. Understanding how myocardial infarction affects other diseases is important in developing better treatment methods. For instance, people sufferin g from atherosclerosis should not be subjected to a treatment that increases the possibility of getting a stroke or myocardial infarction. It gives a deeper understanding how the myocardial infarction may affect the body so that precautions can be taken. Article two Guidelines for Management of Acute Myocardial Infarction The article looks into the various strategies that have been put forward on the treatment of myocardial infarction. It starts by analyzing all the symptoms associated with the disease and how they affect the body. The author then systematically explains all the treatment options and their implication on the body. This is putting in consideration that although there may many treatment strategies, their effectiveness is tagged on their ability to give the nest end results and reduce the risk of the patient getting other infections. The article puts all these risks in the clear so that doctors can be able to decide which treatment option best suits their patient condi tion. The author highlights early risk stratification and rapid diagnosis as major factors influencing the success of treatment of acute myocardial infarction. In order to understand the extent of the progression of the disease, different strategies are used and this look for biochemical, pathological, clinical and electrocardiographic (ECG) characteristics (Banerjee & Kumar 2011). These risks should be analyzed quantitatively to get a greater picture of the disease progression. I think this article is important because it not only describes the different treatment options but it also gives a detailed account of the risks associated with these treatment options. The physician can use this method to determine which treatment option suits a patient in context of other disorders that the patient may have. The information presented here can be used by doctors to have the needed information that would increase the chance of having better outcomes. Article Three Plasma HDL cholesterol and risk of myocardial infarction: a mendelian randomisation study The article is about a study that seeks to know whether a high level of plasma HDL cholesterol decreases the risk of getting myocardial infarction. The study seeks to identify whether the association of low risk to myocardial infection with low plasma HDL cholesterol is cause. It takes a mendelian approach where genes are assorted independently during meiosis and their causal effects is not affected by the disease progr

Nursing Concept Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Nursing Concept Analysis - Essay Example It is concerned with promoting, maintaining, and restoring health. Nurses are committed to the goal of promoting an optimal level of functioning for all individuals, families and groups, thereby contributing to the health of the nation. It determines health status of individuals, families, and populations and makes clinical decisions regarding the appropriate action to be taken. It is important that the nurse maintains the positions that aging is normal and is not related to disease. Age is a date in time and is influenced by many factors, including emotional and physical health, development stage, socioeconomic status, culture, and ethnicity. Ageism is a negative attitude based on age. It leads to discrimination in the care given to the older adults. The nurse who demonstrates negative attitudes may fear of his own aging process or be misinformed about aging and the health care need of the older adults. The care of the aged is provided mostly in institution. Care for an individual adult is delivered in a variety of quite different settings (e.g. privately run nursing home or government institution). The care of the aged is called clinical gerontology or geriatrics .Besides the needs and problems concerned with the psychology and physiology of aging the social aspect of aging a great challenge to the caring profession especially the nurse. Back This paper was done to explore the relationship between the dependency levels of older people who are part of the community nurse's caseload and the volume and nature of nursing input required. Background. Healthcare policy has consistently emphasized the reorientation of health services from hospital to community care. It is necessary to determine ways to use nursing resources appropriately to meet service needs of an increasing older population There are various approaches to address caring for the older adults. These are: 1) Family and welfare approach: Many of the aged are reluctant to go to institutions for the care of the aged. Thus family care is encouraged. 2) Medical approach: Many hospitals are now having special units for the care of the aged both in-patient and out-patient departments where health promotional and specific Nursing Concept Analysis 3 preventive measures such as health examination for early diagnosis and treatment are provided. 3) Community approach: The elders are encouraged to participate in activities that are beneficial to health and to avoid those that are injurious. These approaches would enhance trust of older adults to their environment especially to the nursing care involved. Dignity may be defined as a concept that relates to basic humanity. Dignity consists of inherent and external dimensions, which are common for all humans and at the same time are unique for each person, relating to social and cultural aspects. The attributes of preserving dignity are individualized care, control restored, respect, advocacy and sensitive listening. Method: In order to establish an appropriate nursing care for older adults, a quantitative study was conducted using the "Community Client Need Classification System". The community nursing team recorded the amount of care time spent with each individual client for over a 4-week period. Findings: They were assessed in low and high

Geof is the only genuine caring character in the play Essay Example for Free

Geof is the only genuine caring character in the play Essay Geof is the only genuine caring character in the play; the others are totally selfish and self centred. Discuss this statement. From the beginning of the play we can see Jo is the main character, she is highly independent and self reliant this is obvious from one of the opening pages were Jos mum Helen states children owe their parents these little attentions to which Jo replies with I dont owe you a thing. This shows Jo sees her relationship with her mother as strained, she feels she has brought herself up and not really had her mother their to support her. She has learnt to rely on herself and not trust her mother. When Jo becomes pregnant with a black boy form the navy, who leaves her pregnant Jo reacts badly because she is so independent and used to looking after herself. Geof (Jos gay friend) offers her a shoulder to turn to and she turns on him Im not planning big plans for this baby or dreaming big dreams. You Know what happens when you do things like that. The baby will be born dead or daft! She feels she has let herself down and been promiscuous, however the sailor boy was offering her marriage and love before he left, she felt in a safe relationship and that was why she slept with him. But Jo just sees that shes made the same mistakes her mother made when she had her at a young age. Most expectant mothers dont have this negative attitude towards their unborn child however I feel its because she thinks she may let the child down like her mother let her down. Jimmy the black boy from the navy who got Jo pregnant gave the impression of a kind and genuine character who did honestly love Jo until he left. In my opinion he loved her and did intend to return for her but got scared of the prejudice he would face if he did return. He said to Jo about her mother finding out about their engagement Shell see a coloured boy. He obviously felt his race was going to be an issue in their relationship and how it was perceived and was worried about it. Jo however did know Jimmy was in the navy and even said to him on one occasion I might as well be naughty while Ive got the chance. Ill probably never see you again I know it. So I believe deep down Jo knew there was a chance she wouldnt be seeing him again. In my opinion Helen did love her daughter she just didnt know how to treat her, maybe it was because she had her at a young age? She seems to think she should treat her daughter like a friend, she even encourages her underage daughter to drink You dont smell it, you drink it! I think the only way Helen knew to make her daughter love her was the way she made men love her, by getting her drunk. Helen did want her daughter to make something of her life I feel. She encouraged her to draw, saying her drawings were very good Have you ever thought of going to a proper art school and getting proper training? But I think the main reason she wanted Jo to make something of herself was so she could sponge of her. Helen says to Jo When you start earning you can start moaning. In my opinion shes saying to Jo you make some money and get us somewhere nicer. Shes not taken the task upon herself to find her and her daughter somewhere nice to live shes going to wait for her daughter to did it for them. Not a typical loving mother and daughter relationship, Helen is reliant on her daughter Jo. Helen is in my opinion lazy with regard to her relationship with her daughter. She is constantly asking her daughter to do stuff around the house Pass me that bottle Have we got any aspirins left Jo? Here is another example of Helen being reliant on her daughter. She also becomes strangely jealous of Jos gay friend Geof. She is constantly rude to him Oh shut up Geof Sling your hook I believe she is jealous of his strong bond with Jo. She feels jealous of their close relationship and doesnt like him around as she feels inadequate compared to him. Jo maintains through out the play that she wants to be rid of her mother as soon as I get a full-time job, Im leaving Helen and starting up with a room somewhere so for Helen to know theres someone in her life she wants there, that person being Geof it must make her feel less important. Even for Helen who shows no real care for her Jo to know that her own daughter feels like that must be difficult. I think part of her feels she should have a close loving relationship with Jo I just dont think she knows how to or more importantly can be bothered. Peter, Helens latest fling who becomes her husband comes across as a decent sort of guy at first, however he is sleazy Helen you look utterly fantastic Got your blue garters on? He does turn nasty towards the end when their marriage isnt going so well Look at Helen, isnt she a game old bird? Worn out on the beat but shes still got a few good strokes left. and I dragged you out of the gutter once , If you want to go back there its all the same to me. The way he speaks down to Helen are reminiscent of his character, he believes himself to be above everyone else, better looking, better dressed, better educated, a real snob. Geof takes a mothering role in Jos life, which I dont think she always appreciates. Ill buy you one for Christmas. If you ask nice Ill buy you two. Ill stay here and clear this place up a bit and make you a proper meal. I think Jo actually likes having a figure to look after her but I think she finds it difficult sometimes as shes not used to it, shes used to fending for herself. Why dont you leave me alone? I think that all this shows that despite Jos though exterior she does want looking after and companionship, especially from her mother even though she denies it, as that is what Geof is doing for her, being a substitute mother. Geof , a single gay man was evicted from his flat by his landlady because she caught him with another man. In those days being a sexually active gay man was frowned upon so he was probably quite ashamed about the reason for his eviction and that is why he tries to hide it from Jo. When she asks has your landlady thrown you out? Geof replies Dont be silly, but later tells her the truth. Geof also agrees to move in with Jo, taking on the responsibilities of looking after a Jo and her baby. Also when Jo tells him her baby will be black he is extremely accepting and doesnt seem to care. In my opinion this is due to the prejudice he has faced about being gay. Another time his kind and compassionate character is seen is when he tries to get Jo and Helen talking again despite Jo telling him exactly what her mother is like he still persists and tries to build bridges in their relationship with them and get Helen to help out with the baby. Your mother should know, do you have her address? When he meets Helen though he is struck by how rude and uncaring she is and sticks up for Jo telling Helen. If Id known you were going to bully her like this Id have never asked you to come! Here he shows true loyalty for Jo by sticking up for her. In my opinion Geof is a very lonely young man he didnt seem to have any other friends besides Jo in the play, other than young man he was found in his flat with but in his own words he didnt really know the guy . We cant really be sure of his past because the play doesnt mention it but I feel hes faced a lot of prejudice about his sexuality and perhaps that is why he so understands Jo. He doesnt seem to have any family, and I think he was trying to make Jo and the baby into a surrogate family for himself. I feel he was the nicest character in the book but he did become quite irritating as he was too nice all of the time. All the other characters had floors and attributes that made them lovable or unlovable. Geof however, was just quite bland. Helen for instance was an interesting character because she was so unpredictable, she could have a new boyfriend at any moment, or get drunk and do something ridiculous. Goef on the other hand was predictable but provided the rock of the story. He was Mr. Reliable that Jo could turn to he wasnt an interesting character like Helen but was a vital part of the play.

The Fundamental Problem Of Exchange In Long Distance Trade Essay Example for Free

The Fundamental Problem Of Exchange In Long Distance Trade Essay How did medieval merchants solve the fundamental problem of exchange in long distance trade? What light does this shed on the prosperity of the Venetian Republic and Portugal before 1700? Trading has been an elementary part of economies since the advantages of it were discovered. The ability to exchange goods greatly contributes to economic efficiency as it enables us to capture gains from natural comparative advantage and division of labour. There are evident gains from trade when a country has an absolute advantage in the production of a good. A country is said to have absolute advantage in production if it can produce the same amount of output with less inputs relative to other countries. This brings about a stronger economy, as there is greater specialisation and technical innovation, which has positive impact on the economy in the long run. There are also gains in trade when a country has a comparative advantage in the production of a good. This is when the opportunity cost for producing a good is lower than that of another country. This results in a higher aggregate output, which means that gains can be split between both countries. The fundamental problem of exchange has existed since the advantages of trade were discovered. It says that even if there are potential gains from trade, trade may still not occur as the lender will not want to lend without being assured that the borrower will not invest the money in a hopeless venture, or take the money and run. It is very difficult to be sure that the person on the other end of a deal will fulfil their contractual obligation. In short, in the absence of commitment, an exchange will not take place. The arguments against trade, if the other side of the bargain wants the maximum gain for him or herself, can be seen very clearly by using the one-sided prisoners dilemma. Player I has the choice of either conducting an exchange or not. If no exchange is conducted, then both player I and II realise no gain. If player I does decide to exchange, player II has the choice to either cooperate or to renege. Both sides gain if player II cooperates, but if we are assuming that player II wants to maximise their own self interest then player II will decide to renege, in which case player I will be worse off. It is possible however that player I will anticipate this happening and so decide not to exchange in the first place. This leaves us in the initial position of both sides not realising any gains from trade and no one being any better or worse off. For the trade to therefore take place, it is essential that player II can guarantee that they will keep to their side of the bargain and not renege. A way for this to successfully occur arose in Europe, as institutions were developed through the formation of merchant guilds. Economic institutions are defined here as a system of social factors, such as rules, beliefs, norms and organisations, that guide, enable and constrain the actions of individuals; thereby generating regularities of behaviour. Merchant guilds were formed in order to act as a deterrent of opportunistic behaviour, both between merchants themselves and between merchants and the state. Within the merchant community itself, the majority of merchants traded through networks of kinship and the exchange of hostages. Networks worked extremely well in deterring opportunistic behaviour, as those with good reputations would carry out many trades, as they were trusted in the community. The fact that reputations also took a long time to build up and could be quickly erased made them of extreme value to people. It was also possible to use strategic marriages and trade through families if you wanted to be sure both sides of a trade were secure. As a medieval ruler would have a local monopoly of the area he ruled, he would be faced with the temptation of abusing his power and appropriating merchants. Merchants therefore devised a solution to combat this problem, which was by organising a boycott of a state that abused the rights of a merchant. This deters predatory behaviour by the ruler, as it is not desirable to deprive the population, the ruler and the merchants the benefits of trade. It therefore has the potential to work very well, but the problem is that it can be very difficult to sustain as some merchants may see ways of maximising their personal gains by renegotiating with the ruler, causing the boycott to deteriorate. It was therefore vital if planning a state boycott to ensure rules were set out to prevent this from happening. Venice played a major role in re-opening the Mediterranean economy to western European commerce after the post-Roman Empire collapse, and the establishment of effective protection for merchants was crucial in this. Venice was very different to other economies of its time as the state was able to create an institutional framework that was favourable to merchant capitalism. It did many things, including the creation of political and legal institutions that guaranteed property rights and enforced contracts; it created a government bonds market, a fiscal system and a democratic system of governance. The creation of the government bonds market was one of the earliest financial markets created. It formed ways of raising funds for the government through compulsory loans on which interest was regularly paid, which is directly comparable to modern day government bonds. It is possible to see just how prosperous the Venetian Republic was in comparison to other European countries by looking at the GDP per Capita it had. In 1500, it had a GDP of $1100, which was far larger than other countries; the UK had a GDP of $714, Spain $698 and the second highest GDP per capita was Belgium with $875. This shows just how prosperous the Venetian Republic really was. Between 1147 and 1249, Portugal emerged from Arab rule. It did so with a significantly different political regime in comparison with that of Venice, as military aristocracy and the church became major landowners, and the interests of the church and the state became very closely linked. The fact that it was placed very well geographically meant that it was able to develop a strong empire through its unearthing of new trade routes and voyages of discovery. The Portuguese state was willing to give Jewish merchants and scholars refuge after they were driven out of Spain, as they recognised the value they had to society through the skills they were able to bring. They were able to provide scientific development, as well as being providing valuable links in trading with the Islamic world. This allowed important networks to be built up, which increased the volume of trade that Portugal came into contact with and so built up its strength as an empire. Although Portugal was extremely successful in its core business areas of shipping and trade, this success did not lead to successful wider development. This can be seen when looking at figures for per capita income before the nineteenth century, which gives an estimate of the per capita income of Portugal of $632. This is far lower than other relatively similarly dominant economies, such as Italy and Belgium, who had per capita incomes of $1100 and $875 respectively. The reason for this can be given by the fact that in general, agriculture and industry were the determining factors when analysing the per capita incomes, and in Portugal these industries were quite underdeveloped relative to other countries. In comparison to Portugal, Venice was far more prosperous. Not only when looking at the per capita incomes, but also when seeing how much more developed the Venetian institutional framework was. It was formed to be favourable to merchant capitalism, which vastly strengthened its trading platform as a country, and therefore the amount of money it was able to make. Trading was only possible through solving the fundamental problem of exchange. Over time, ways of solving the problem became more sophisticated; from using boycotts and networks of trust, to legal frameworks and courts of law. We have been able to become more affluent as economies due to the advantages that trade brings us, as can be seen looking at examples of economies from hundreds of years ago that first experienced the prosperity that trade brought. We have also been able to see the importance that institutions hold in nurturing and maintaining an environment that is favourable to trade, namely in Venice. References: The Fundamental Problem of Exchange: A research agenda in Historical Institutional Analysis Avner Greif, 2000 Cambridge University Press Maryam Shakiba L100

Human Resource Strategy Of The NHS

Human Resource Strategy Of The NHS Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is located at the Tameside General Hospital in Ashton-Under-Lyne. The organisation was formally authorised as a Foundation Trust on 1 February 2008. The Trust was formerly known as Tameside Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust. Employing approximately 2,300 staff, the hospital provides the wide array of services one would associate with a general hospital, including Accident and Emergency services, general and specialist medicine, general and specialist surgery and full Consultant led obstetric and paediatric hospital services for women, children and babies. The Trusts clinical services are provided in a number of different specialties and departments. These are organised into four Divisions. Situated at the foot of the Pennines, eight miles to the east of Manchester the Trust services a population of over 250,000. The population is concentrated in the largely industrialised areas of the eight townships of Tameside, which comprises Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council. The Trusts overarching purpose is to become the local Hospital of Choice for patients, the public and staff. The Trust will continue to play its part in the local community, and to seek to build strong and enduring partnership relations throughout 2010/11 and beyond. The Trust is committed to building on its achievements of 2009/10 and continuing to improve the care the hospital provides and the way we work. Tameside appears to have a very positive future ahead as we have recently undergone extensive building work under a PFI (private finance initiative) Project where we have had  £120 million investment. The Health Investment in Tameside (HIT) Project is the biggest investment and most extensive site improvement Tameside hospital has seen for decades. It will result in new Acute and Mental Health facilities with a construction programme which started in autumn 2006 and will be completed by the end of 2011. The organisations expenditure consists of around two thirds on its workforce. The approach in the way the hospital manages staff is crucial and is key to delivering the best possible care to patients. Staff have the opportunity to develop their skills, knowledge and attitudes and engaging staff in this way will the lead the organisation through a very difficult economic climate. Tameside Hospital like other hospitals is dominated by a mainly female workforce and this is impacting on a previously male management culture and there is a competitive edge now between the existing male workforces in similar organisations. The financial and economic outlook for the coming three years is very challenging and the demands on healthcare services are likely to rise at the same time as available funding becomes more constrained. Improving productivity will be a key focus of the Trusts work over this period, but this will not be allowed to come at the expense of the quality of healthcare services. The Trust Board recognises the challenge of maintaining an accessible and comprehensive range of clinical services for the population of Tameside and Glossop in the current economic climate, and acknowledges that this may be more readily achieved through both innovation and scale. The potential to work collaboratively with another organisation in the development of a hospital group to ensure the continued delivery of quality and productivity is being actively explored. The key aim of such collaboration would be to achieve additional efficiency and quality gains, without the need for major structural change (merger). The Trust already has an active programme for the involvement of patients, the public and staff in its work. Website http://www.tamesidehospital.nhs.uk/Documents/AnnualPlan201011.pdf Accessed 30.03.11. However, it remains the view of the Trust that there are additional benefits to be gained from developing wider and deeper involvement. The Trusts staff also will need to feel empowered to seek out ways to achieve quality gains whilst also delivering productivity improvements, such that the Trust can secure financial and service stability going forwards. As stated above, the Trusts Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Strategies will set out the Trusts plans to enhance the involvement and engagement of key stakeholders. Staff involvement plays a major part in delivering the high quality services expected by such a large community like Tameside and as such the organisation invests heavily in staff development. There is a direct link to the performance of staff and the organisations HR strategy. Unfortunately in the current economic climate this couldnt be further from the truth as staff morale and motivation is certainly not what it was as job cuts is the focus of every member of staff at the Trust. Current Challenges in Strategic Priorities The HR function at Tameside Hospital has become the forefront of driving change within the organisation. The workforce strategy (see Appendix 1) links back to the Trusts Mission Statement (See Appendix 2) for being the hospital of choice for the people of Tameside and Glossop. The Trust wants to use this to underpin the strategy and link it to its business performance. To define human resources and human resourcing strategy Human Resources Human Resourcing Strategy The efforts, skills or capabilities that people contribute to an employing organisation to enable it to continue in existence The general direction followed by an organisation in how it secures, develops and, from time to time, dispenses with human resources to help it continue in the long term Leopold et al (1999) Since the recent change in government and the plans reform the NHS, HRM has become more prevalent to everyone working at the Hospital and what the unknown aims and objectives will be in the coming years. The much criticised Nick Clegg at the Liberal Democrats conference in Sheffield recently has been humiliated by his own party after passing a motion that our family GPs will be in control of commissioning services. Paul Burstow the Health Minister was quoted saying There will be no US-style privatisation of the health service on our watch. Sunday Times 13.03.11. The truth is that nobody really knows what the future holds for the NHS and whether the future reforms will be successful. Mr Burstow also told delegates stripping out layers of needless management and capping administrative costs (means) well be able to make  £5bn of savings over the next four years all of which we will plough straight back into patient care. www.bbc.co.uk. The strategic HR priorities of the NHS as a whol e will be on how these cuts will affect staff and the services they deliver and also how with a significant number of job losses the business is expected to continue with delivering the adequate patient care required. The Independent predicts that union leaders have also indicated that a loss of 50,000 jobs could be lost to due to efficiency savings. www.independent.co.uk. Inevitably this type of reform is going to lead to failures on the frontline with the loss of nursing staff delivering the patient care which is so widely criticised. The focus in our organisation currently is efficiency and effectiveness as there is a significant hole in the purse which funds the whole organisation. We are currently nearly  £2 million in deficit and this is predominantly the case for many public sector organisations where cuts are being made within the existing workforce to combat the financial deficit which hospitals, police and local councils are declaring at the current financial year end. The role of Human Resources is also changing not only as a result of a coalition government but also as a result of globalisation and the expectations of stakeholders and how the rapid development of technology impacts on HRM. Within a change in environment, the HR professional has to evolve to become more strategic and a change mentor within the organisation. People Management (January 2011) suggests that in many Asian companies the positioning of HR is best placed as a business function with a leadership role and operating at a very transactional level and they tend to think less about HR strategy but focus directly on growth. This indicates that the UK can learn from the way their HR leaders operate. They have: Faster implementation cycles Asian leaders have a much more fluid interpretation of HR structures and that a rigid definition of business partner, specialist and HR services can create silos and slow response times. Putting insight at the heart of the function HR leaders are savvy and they use this to drive business growth strategy. Pull the purpose lever they create a sense of purpose by harnessing the press, the project and the organisation behind a big idea. True Engagement they use the three As accountability, authenticity and adaptability. It could soon mean that the UK is struggling to keep up with the way HR is responding to competition and change. In order to succeed in the UK, HR must be a business driven function with a thorough understanding of the organisations bigger picture and be able to influence key decisions and policies. In general, the focus of todays HR Manager has to be on strategic personnel retention and talents development. HR professionals will be coaches, mentors and succession planners to help motivate organisations members and their loyalty. The HR manager will also promote and fight for values, ethics and beliefs within their organisations, especially in the management of workplace diversity. Leopold et al (1999) states that strategy makers are seeking to achieve a fit between HR Strategy and the broader business strategy and ultimately this should contribute fully to the achievement of business objectives. Whittingtons (1993) fourfold typology shown below is extremely useful and helps to understand the complexity and the multidimensional ways in which strategy might be conceived. It is based upon outcomes and how they are perceived purely between either profit-maximising or pluralistic and whether the strategy is either deliberate or emergent. Processes Deliberate Classical Systemic Outcomes Profit-Maximising Pluralistic Evolutionary Processual Emergent Whittingtons typology of strategy Marchington et al (2008) Mabey et al (1999) suggests that the National Health Service has been exposed to decentralization and division into profit-responsible divisions. The organisations workforce strategy is also expected to deliver the employer of choice and the domains for this method are as follows: Employee Resourcing The focus for Tameside is workforce planning and contingency staffing, managing change, modern recruitment and selection practices, new roles and job redesign and developing shared services. Workforce/HR Planning This is essential to any organisation in ensuring we get the right caliber of staff, with the right skills. As an integral part of the business planning process it involves recruitment, retention, development strategies and the provision of workforce information to managers. Effective workforce planning ensures you will have a workforce of the right size, with the right skills, organised in the right way within the budget that you can afford, delivering services to provide the best possible care. www.healthcareworkforce.nhs.uk There are four categories of staff that are important in human resources planning: Exisiting staff New recruits Potential staff Leavers Marchington et al (2008) suggests when the world markets were much more stable and predictable, HR planning was prominent in HRM, personnel management and labour economics. HRM texts have discussed whether HR planning is still worthwhile. In some new organisations HR planning conveys images of bureaucracy, rigidity and a failure to comprehend the limitations of planning in an uncertain environment. Tamesides Workforce Strategy focuses on tactical adjustments to address unknown forces in relation to high demand of services from our commissioners and also the public. Tamesides workforce planning is flexible in nature which allows the organisation to respond effectively to the peaks and troughs of activity. This is through the use of agency and temporary staff which relieves some of the pressure associated with peak times of the year like winter. Skill mix is another focus for the organisation to ensure staff can work across all divisions which gives increased flexibility to the staff we have and which departments they can work. Changes over the next 5 years are projected in our Workforce Strategy. The reductions in staff are significant and this will be managed through effective strategic planning and the deployment of HR interventions such as stringent vacancy controls, allowing for natural wastage, effective redeployment and a planned approach to contingency staffing. Beardwell et al suggests that the Markov model is something which should be used by manpower planners in addressing internal factors that need to be considered in the development of a manpower plan. Recruitment Retention Staff are the most valuable asset in an organisation. Their performance determines whether the organisation achieves its goals and expected results. As a manager you need to create and maintain an environment in which your staff are motivated to perform well. The Trust is developing Recruitment Retention strategies locally, nationally and internationally to help fill vacant positions and hard to fill posts across the Trust. We are seeking to recruit returners back into nursing, midwifery, professions allied to health and medicine. In addition we monitor the reasons for staff leaving and have developed an exit questionnaire to ascertain the main reasons why staff leave. The NHS as a whole advertises through a centralised internet site http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/ this enables the organisation to attract a wide variety of candidates for any single advertisement. We also use techniques such as talent banking and generic recruitment campaigns. The trust aims to ensure that the recruitment and selection of employees and volunteers is always carried out in a fair, timely and cost-effective manner. Poor staff retention has many consequences including cost of staff turnover, loss of company knowledge, and decreased morale. These things can all be detrimental to your business. The retention of key employees is critical to the long-term health and success of any business. Organisations need to try to do what they can to retain their best employees to ensure customer satisfaction, product sales, satisfied co-workers and reporting staff, effective succession planning, and deeply embedded organisational knowledge and learning. www.health4work.nhs.uk Tameside is considering undertaking the introduction of assessment centres, psychometric testing and competence-based selection methods for all vacancies within the organisation. This approach will underpin our commitment to delivering dignity in care by ensuring a workforce hard wired with the requisite behaviours and values. The induction process is also being reviewed and it will be mandatory for staff to be re-inducted every 2 years. Essentially Tameside is aspiring to be as modern with its recruitment process as possible as well as cost efficient. The Trust marks itself to be able to attract and retain the best possible staff but Torrington et al (2005) suggests that this varies over time as labour markets become successively tighter and looser depending on economic conditions. Because an organisation may have to bring about a cultural shift within the company in order to improve employee retention, you may be faced with some resistance to change from some members of staff. Resistance can take many forms ranging from the subtle undermining of change initiatives or withholding of information, to active resistance including strikes. Poor communication has been linked to issues surrounding the effectiveness of change management because imposed change can lead to greater employee resistance. Reward and Recognition Through communications, pay modernisation-benefits realisation and staff recognition schemes Tameside audits itself to ensure the workforce is fully engaged with the delivery of the corporate objectives. Benefits realisation of the recent new pay systems so we can continuously improve productivity. There are schemes which recognise staff commitment which reinforces values and behaviours: Chairmans Prize for Service Improvement, Teamwork and Innovation Above and Beyond Award Caring for Those Who Care Award Long Service Award 100% Attendance These schemes motivate staff and contributes to wider organisation performance and links back to Tameside being the Local Hospital of Choice. Succession Planning Ideally an organisation would not want one talent to replace another but to develop a pool of talent. This is a more dynamic approach to succession planning and gives individuals the chance to put themselves forward to a talent pool. One of the key features of a structured management development system is a succession plan. Cole (2002:390) Succession planning is typically defined as a process by which one or more successors are identified for key posts (or groups of similar key posts), and career moves and/or development activities are planned for these successors. In other words, succession planning is about preparing organisations for likely or inevitable changes now, in order to minimise challenges later. www.idea.gov.uk Some large organisations develop schedules for their succession planning but Tameside does not have such an elaborate schedule. Succession planning is a very informal discussion between managers identifying potential candidates who would be suitable for roles which are about to become vacant from retirement, voluntary leaving, dismissal or sickness. Strategically the NHS has a workforce review team (WRT) but at local levels like District General Hospitals it is more difficult to implement workforce planning effectively. With an organisation such as Tameside a more formalised approach to succession planning would be advisable to build a pool of staff rather than assessing staff within your own department. For workforce planning to be successful it requires accurate data, modelling, continuous and iterative planning, specialist skills, scenario building and stakeholder involvement. Talent Management Develop leadership and staff empowerment, talent spotting and succession planning. Performance Management and Monitoring with HR Metrics, Performance Monitoring and External Benchmarking. Tameside recognises the importance of a positive approach to the management of unsatisfactory work performance to enable the Trust to deliver quality services. Unsatisfactory performance by individual employees for whatever reason is detrimental to the service and Trust as a whole. As well as reducing standards of patient care and service delivery, poor performance by individual members of staff has a demotivating effect on other employees. The hospital operates a rigorous Capability Policy for managers to use when assessing individuals who require performance monitoring. It also ensures individuals are treated fairly, sensitive and in a consistent manner. It is the responsibility of managers to ensure when recruiting that the right candidate is selected and they can perform the role they are applying for. Managers are given full support from their individual HR Managers to ensure the policy is adhered to. There are 4 stages to the Capability Policy: Stage 1 Informal monitoring, coaching and counseling Stage 2 Formal meeting Stage 3 Formal meeting Stage 4 Formal hearing stage This is a lengthy process and on occasion has been known to take 12 months to redeploy or dismiss an employee who is not performing their role. Performance Management takes the form of a continuous self-renewing cycle, as illustrated in the figure below: The performance Management Cycle Armstrong et al (2009) There is a lot of red tape to the current performance management technique. If a staff member is unable to perform the role to the required standard the process is so long that nobody really bothers to use it and usually waits for the individual to leave. This workforce strategy was produced in 2007 and was scheduled to be periodically reviewed over the course of 5 years. Leopold et al (1999) suggests that the correct definition for Human Resource Strategy is personnel strategy. Organisations which do not concentrate on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in a very vulnerable position, as competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic employment of their human resources. With the increase in competition, locally or globally, organisations must adapt themselves to become more resilient, agile, and customer focused to succeed. Human resource management challenges cost your organisation money, time, resources, lost opportunities, and reduced productivity, to name but a few. Organisations need to rethink their strategic HRM and think more about strategic recruitment. www.strategic-human-resource.com Cole (2002) suggests that there should be strategic long-term goals when it comes to a HR strategy which includes: Ensuring the HR needs for the next five years are met Maintain wage and salary levels sufficient to recruit, retain and motivate staff at all levels in the organisation. Give priority to the development of leadership skills Ensure effective training and development opportunities Effective communication systems between management and other employees Provide mechanisms to cope with the human consequences of change This is certainly reflected in Tamesides Workforce Strategy. How Human Resources Management (HRM) contributes to the achievement of organisational objectives. HR Consultant Louise Allen suggests there are key steps in the quest to delivering a successful HR strategy that links to the organisation objectives of the business. Aligning business and HR needs The business goals sit at the heart of any HR strategy and in order to align business and HR needs can your organisations internal capability deliver its business goals? A HR strategy which is aligned with the business strategy is about the growth of the organisation by increasing the performance of the employees and keeping budgets under control. The process of the alignment of the HR strategy with the business strategy is about going deeper and finding the real root of the successful human capital management in the organisation. Developing your HR strategy It needs to understand your business goals and the business model can identify any potential threats and opportunities in the quantity and quality of human resource required by your organisation. It is critical the HR team as a whole has a high level of knowledge and expertise in aligning HR interventions and how this impacts on business performance. Organisational performance This is the process by which business goals and objectives are cascaded and managed across and down an organisation. It provides a rationale for all other HR activity and directly impacts the business success, enhancing HRs reputation and contribution. Organisation culture Culture commonly described as the way we do things round here www.thetimes100.co.uk Organisations tend to create their own culture and this gives the business a sense of identity. The organisation culture encapsulates what it is good at and what has worked for the business in the past. These values can often be acknowledged and accepted without question by long-serving members of the business. In re-aligning an organisations culture there can be real benefit and competitive advantage through improved service. Changes to the Organisations Current HR Strategy The fundamental change to our Workforce Strategy is that it needs updating. The current strategy differs somewhat to where we are currently. The change in government is not something that was envisaged and the impact of this change and how it would affect the Trust. I understand this would be difficult to envisage but all eventualities should be considered in a HR Strategy which has a 5 year plan. There isnt a one-size-fits-all and your HR strategy may change as the business evolves. www.humanresourcesiq.com The organisation needs to create a robust performance management process that sets out performance objectives for all levels of staff within the business. This is an opportunity to develop line managers skills in being able to disseminate and set stretch targets for their business. Another element is a personal development review process where individual strengths and weaknesses are identified for the purposes of assessing and meeting organisational development needs. Evaluation of the impact of SHRM on the business Even though HR professionals like Guest and Legge are convinced that their efforts add value to the organisations bottom-line, frequently there is little evidence to demonstrate such belief. www.allbusiness.com Improvements could be made to our HR department but it seems to be a consistent trend throughout the organisation with regards to funding and resources which would enable you to deliver those objectives. A prominent guru of HRM, David Ulrich discusses the role of HRM moving from a functional to a more operational role and involves partnership rather than being resource based. He describes HR as being a four sided partnership consisting of: Strategic Partner Change Agent Employee champion Administrative expert This allows the challenge of change to be more transparent and enables a strategic involvement from the beginning involving all stakeholders from the macro and micro environment. The employee champions act as an advocate for the employees and protects them throughout the process of change. The administrative expert is a flexible role within Ulrichs model ensure the maximum possible quality service is delivered at the lowest possible cost to the organisation. The Ulrich model relates very closely to how Tameisde will require support in the future developments and changes within the organisation. Competitive Advantage There is evidence to suggest that HR practices have a direct link to sustaining a competitive advantage in any organisation. Leopold et al suggests that in order to gain human resourcing advantage there should be a combination of efforts towards generating both human capital advantage (by recruiting and retaining outstanding people) and human process advantage (instigating difficult-to-imitate, socially complex, historically evolved processes such as learning, co-operation and innovation). There is also evidence to suggest that mixing human resourcing activities inevitably presents HR planners with a major challenge. To help with this, the notion of horizontal integration, this relates to the degree to which different aspects of HR are compatible with each other. Porter has argued that employers have three basic strategic options in order to gain competitive advantage: Cost Leadership Differentiation Focus www.business-fundas.com Porters five forces model (Appendix 4) provides a simple perspective for assessing and analysing the competitive strength and position of an organisation. This model can be used alongside other models like SWOT and PESTEL with good analytical effect. More recently Michael Porter has been working with Elizabeth Teisbery to revolutionise Healthcare reform in the United States. The Economist (Aug 2008) suggests that Porter effectively redefined the way that businessmen think about competition Conclusion After reviewing the HR strategy for Tameside Hospital it is clear that as an organisation we have yet to deal with any real human resource issue that leads to any disciplinary action. Our paperwork trail is not fluent and procedures are followed in a haphazard way. Due to a significant cut in resources even before the new round of government cuts it is difficult to follow out-of-date policies effectively. There is a real need for training and education on Human Resource Management as Tameside is leaving itself wide open to legal disputes. Clear guidelines need to be in place to protect the workforce and also the employees and organisations interests. The succession plans of the business are also ineffective. There are no established structured channels for promotion for staff within the business which are committed to their own self development. With the future of the Primary Care Trusts diminishing and the commissioning role transferring to the responsibility of the GPs, Tameside will come under increasing pressure to have their policies and protocols up-to-date which are adhered to by staff at every level.

Ernest Hemingway and the African Safari :: Ernest Hemingway Essays

Hemingway’s Obsession with the African Safari In 1953, Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Mary, accompanied by photographer Earl Theisen, traveled to Kenya in what turned out to be the waning years of the grand African safari. Soon after, a wave of independence swept the continent, which had largely been under European domination since the end of the last century. And as people worldwide became increasingly aware of their environment and the threats to it, the notion of killing animals for sport began to be looked at in a different light. While the heyday of the African safari may be in the past, our society has legacies from that era that require knowledge of the safari. A key to understanding Hemingway is his obsession with the African safari. If hunting is the act of seeking, following and killing animals for food or for display, then the African safari is the act of doing all of those to big game, or large animals in Africa. African safaris usually used to take place on the eastern side of the African continent, but now can take part in any region of Africa. Most of Hemingway’s trips were taken in this region. The famous plane crash that he survived landed in Uganda, which is on the eastern coast. However, the trend has changed. The eastern countries that used to have safaris no longer have stable governments. Most safaris now take place in other parts of Africa, such as South Africa. South Africa, with the most stable government in the continent, provides a safer environment for hunters to enjoy their safari. The weather is an important factor in planning any safari. In South Africa, it rains a great deal during the winter months (their summer months), and very little during the rest of the year. Countries further up north have similar weather. The big difference comes in the difference in temperature. The temperature in South Africa is very temperate – during any safari season (which is from March to October) the lowest temperature will be around 35 degrees and the highest will be around 80 degrees. The rain hampers any attempt to have a safari the rest of the year. Clothing during an African safari is generally simple, layered and of a neutral color. Camouflage is generally not worn and wearing it in some areas is illegal.

Arthropoda :: Biology Anthropods

Arthropoda Arthropods are animals belonging to the phylum Arthropoda, which is the largest of all phyla in the Animal Kingdom, with more than one million species, making them almost 80% of the whole kingdom. These include insects, arachnids, crustaceans and many more, most of which are quite small, the biggest being the Japanese Spider Crab with a leg span of 3.5 meters and the smallest being the microscopic Plankton. *Characteristics: - Segmented Body. - Exoskeleton. This is a hard outer body covering which protects the internal organs. - Jointed legs. The name ‘arthropod’ comes from Latin, meaning ‘joints’. - Specialized mouth parts. - Compound eyes. - Nervous system consisting of a brain. - Sexes mostly separate. - An open circulatory system. *Classification: Subphyla: Arachnida is a subphylum of Arthropoda, consisting of over 100 000 species, many of them being parasites which can carry disease. They are found in all environments, and mostly have eight legs, which is a feature, together with the fact that they do not have wings or antennae, often used to distinguish them from the other subphyla, though there are exceptions. They include spiders, scorpions, ticks and mites. Their bodies are divided up into three parts: the cephalothorax, the opisthosoma and the thorax, and use a type of lung for gas exchange. Most Arachnids are carnivorous, and eat pre-digested insects and other small animals. They reproduce using internal reproduction usually lay eggs, except for the scorpion which bears living young. The word ‘Arachnid’ comes from the Greek word ‘Arachne’ meaning ‘spider’. Crustacea is a large subphylum of Arthropoda, consisting of almost 52 000 described species, including animals like crabs, lobsters, shrimp and barnacles. The majority of these are aquatic, living in marine or fresh water environments, though some have adapted to living on land like some crabs and woodlice. Most crustaceans are relatively small, though there are some exceptions. All of them have a hard, strong exoskeleton, divided into two parts, which has to be shed in order to allow the animal itself to grow. They have a large circulation system, where blood is pumped around the body by the heart. Only some crustaceans have sexes separate, and those that are usually mate seasonally and lay eggs. The study of Crustacea is called carcinology. Diplopoda is a class, belonging to the subphylum of Arthropoda Myriapoda, consisting of about 10 000 species of animals which have two pairs of legs for each body segment and are often known as Millipedes. Hence the name, they do not have one thousand legs.

Martin Luther King Jr :: Racism Blacks America

Martin Luther King Jr Nearly three centuries ago, African slaves were brought to the New World and put into slavery. They were treated more cruelly in the United States than in any other country that had ever practiced slavery, and ever since its prohibition African-Americans have fought oppression. Martin Luther King Jr., would aid immensely in this fight. He was born in Atlanta Georgia in 1929. His father, Martin Luther King Sr. Was a Baptist minister and also preached for civil rights. By the time he was 17 he had decided to follow his fathers footsteps, so he himself was ordained as a minister. After his graduation from the Crozer Theological Seminary, when he began postgraduate work at Boston University, he studied the works of Indian nationalist Mohandas Gandhi, from whom he derived his own philosophy of nonviolent protest. He moved to Alabama to become pastor for a Baptist church. Just after he received his Ph.D. in 1955, King was asked to lead a bus boycott in Montgomery. It had been formed after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give her seat to a white passenger. Throughout the 381 days which the boycott lasted, he was arrested and jailed, repeatedly threatened, and his home was bombed. The boycott ended later that year when the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public transportation. This was his first victory and alone made Dr. King a highly respected leader. When he went to India in 1959, he studied Gandhi's principle of "Satyagraha" or nonviolent persuasion, which he planned to use for his social protests. In the following year he decided to move back to Atlanta to become copastor with his father. In 1963 he was back in Birmingham, Alabama, where he led a massive civil rights campaign, organizing drives for black voter registration, desegregation, and better education throughout the South. During that time he led the unforgettable March on Washington where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech to millions of viewers across the nation. The next year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He went on to launching his first major northern campaign in Chicago. Black Baptists were there opposing him, and a mob of club carrying Ku Klux Klan members and Neo-Nazis met his marchers. With all that he had said and done, on April 3, 1983 he said "I have been to the mountain top and seen the promise land." This was the day prior to his demise. Sadly, the following day he was shot to death in Memphis Tennessee. Nearly 500,000 of his loyal admirers attended his funeral.

How does Austen convince the reader that Lizzy is right to reject Mr.Collins’ proposal?

From the first sentence of the passage, Austen demonstrates that Mr Collins is not a suitable husband for Lizzy when she says â€Å"Mr Collins was not a sensible man. † In Chapter 15, Austen describes the character of Mr Collins in more detail reinforcing the statement made in the opening sentence. Mr Collins is then described as being stupid and his natural stupidity has not been helped by ‘education or society. ‘ Although Mr Collins had been to university, he had ‘only kept the necessary terms. ‘ so he had not improved himself as a result of attending. Mr Collins was brought up as by a stingy father who gave him no guidance and gave Mr Collins a ‘great humility of manner' meaning he was reluctant to involve himself in society. When Mr Collins is recommended to the living of Hunsford by ‘fortunate chance' he is forced into society and his ‘early and unexpected prosperity' has gone to his head. He venerates his patron Lady Catherine de Bough, and Austen's use of the word ‘veneration' suggests the religious awe with which Mr Collins regards Lady Catherine. It is ironical that a clergyman who prides himself on setting an example to his parish practically worships his patroness. Austen describes him as ‘a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance, and humility. ‘ Mr Collins intends to marry one of the Bennet daughters, but Austen's description of Mr Collins convinces the reader that his behaviour makes him unsuitable for anyone. Before arriving at Longbourn, Mr Collins had decided he would marry the eldest of the five daughters, Jane. However, Mrs. Bennet tells him that Jane is likely to be engaged so Mr Collins decides to marry Elizabeth instead. This decision to change his affections was made ‘while Mrs. Bennet was stirring the fire,' which highlights the absurdity in the switch in his affections. Chapter 19 shows Mr Collins at his most well intentioned, but also at his most stupid. Lizzy feels awkward when Mr Collins asks to speak with her, and she is ‘torn between distress and diversion,' meaning that she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Mr Collins however, sees this awkwardness as a mark of a good upbringing and shows his insensitivity by failing to see Lizzy's unhappiness at the interview. Mr Collins then claims he will be ‘run away with by (his) feelings' which brings Lizzy to the verge of laughter at the very notion. Mr Collins' â€Å"solemn composure† would ever lead him to be romantic. Mr Collins gives three reasons for marrying, but none of them consider Lizzy's feelings, they only satisfy him. The first reason is to set an example to his parish; the second is to ensure his happiness, without considering Lizzy's, and the final reason is his patron, Lady Catherine de Bough told him to marry. Mr Collins shows his absurd veneration of Lady Catherine by recalling the whole conversation when she told him to choose a suitable wife. So part of the reason Mr Collins is marrying is to satisfy his patron, who, according to Mr Collins, will think Lizzy a suitable wife. Mr Collins assures Lizzy that were she to marry him, she would be able to meet Lady Catherine, something he sees as a real privilege. Mr Collins explains to Lizzy how Lady Catherine will enjoy her ‘wit and vivacity,' yet also says how Lady Catherine's high social rank demands silence, so it is a mystery how Elizabeth will be able to demonstrate ‘wit and vivacity' when she is required to remain silent! It is evident from Mr Collins's attitude that he views Lady Catherine as being more important than his intended wife, but he further compounds his errors by telling Lizzy there are many ‘amiable young women' in his neighbourhood. He also believes the marriage is right as a reconciliation because Mr Bennet's estate is entailed away form the family line to Mr Collins. So far, the reader has not seen a motive of love at any point in this proposal, Mr Collins has talked of pleasing himself and his patron. However, from chapter 15, the reader can see that there is no depth to Mr Collins's affections; he had simply resolved to choose a wife, almost for the sake of having one. Mr Collins, however, assures Lizzy of the ‘violence' of his affection. He also claims that at as soon as he entered the Longbourn house he had ‘singled out' Lizzy as the companion of his future life. The reader knows this to be untrue as Mr Collins only chose Lizzy when he was told Jane was likely to be engaged. Austen convinces the reader here that Lizzy should reject Mr Collins because it is evident that there would be no element of love in the marriage, and Mr Collins is portrayed as being selfish and dishonest during this conversation. Austen shows the reader that Mr Collins has a complete lack of self-knowledge. Mr Collins claims to be ‘perfectly indifferent' to Lizzy's fortune as she is not entitled to a large inheritance, yet he knows the precise details of her inheritance and speaks at length on the subject. It is evident although Mr Collins professes to have no interest in her fortune, that he is interested enough to research the exact nature of Lizzy's inheritance. Mr Collins's blundering would make Lizzy even less likely to marry him than she was before the start of the proposal. He tells Lizzy there are plenty of pretty girls in his Parish, and speaks at length about the death of Lizzy's parents, further demonstrating the fact that he had no idea about the correct way to behave in society. Whilst making his long speech, outlining the benefits of the marriage for himself and venerating Lady Catherine, Mr Collins had not considered that Lizzy might refuse him which shows great arrogance and complete lack of thought. When Lizzy is finally able to reply, she replies politely, thanking Mr Collins for his compliments, and unsurprisingly, refuses Mr Collins's proposal. Yet, Mr Collins further shows his complete ignorance of society by refusing to accept Lizzy's refusal! Mr Collins, claiming to have great knowledge of society, believes that ‘it is usual for young ladies to reject the man they secretly mean to accept. He does not understand society and the idea that young ladies would refuse to marry a man they loved is ludicrous. Lizzy tries to convince Mr Collins to accept her refusal by referring to Lady Catherine, claiming ‘she would find me in every respect ill-qualified for the situation. ‘ Mr Collins however, thinks exactly the opposite believing Lizzy' s ‘modesty and economy' make her a suitable wife. These were two of the qualities Lady Catherine instructed Mr Collins to look for in a wife. Mr Collins continues to persist and he outlines the reasons why he is convinced Lizzy secretly loves him. These include ‘my situation in life, my connections with the family of de Bough'. He further insults Lizzy saying she might not get another chance of marriage largely because her ‘portion is so small' meaning her lack of wealth will ruin her chance of marriage and he is probably the only man who will accept her. He still refuses to accept Lizzy's refusal, and Lizzy leaves the room to appeal to her father ‘whose negative might be uttered in such a manner as must be decisive. ‘ Austen does not make the reader feel sorry for Mr Collins, but portrays him as a totally unsuitable husband for Lizzy. The initial description of Mr Collins in chapter 15 tells the reader what Mr Collins is like, and Austen's view of him as ‘not a sensible man' is totally accurate. In chapter 19, we see Mr Collins's stupidity during his proposal to Lizzy, and it is obvious Mr Collins does not know how to behave, nether does he have any understanding of people's feelings. It is Austen's description and portrayal of Mr Collins that convinces the reader that Lizzy is right to reject Mr Collins and that she deserves a much better husband.