Self-Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Self-Assessment - Essay Example The value of quality communication skills is immeasurable especially when it comes to creating personal development and creating relationships. I tend to think of myself as outgoing and love initiating warm up conversations with people (Robbins, 2008). In an attempt to determine my strengths and weaknesses in terms of communication, I took a test on face-to-face communication style. The results, which prove what my peers think of me, indicate that I have a stronghold in the areas of being friendly, attentive to matters and contentious (Robbins, 2008). In addition, I appeared not only secretive about my own issues but to also leave an impression on people. My weak point according to the test on the face-to-face communication style include not being effective in delivering message to a group, being a loud communicator and finding it difficult to control myself in a heated debate. Several factors contributed to the perception by my peers that I am friendly. The first attribute was that I ordinarily introduce myself and give a handshake coupled with a smile, every time I meet a new person (Robbins, 2008). My peers were of the view that I tend to show effort in remembering the names of individuals. Most of my friends stated that I tend to associate the names of individuals close to me with a unique feature. To add to that is the perception that I often use courtesy words for instance Thank you and your welcome. According to Robbins (2008), with regard to the issue of paying attention to detail, majority of my peer argued that I occasionally make a lot of eye contact and nod my head to show understanding on an issue. My body language says it all as depending on the environment, I usually lean forward on the side of the speaker thereby indicating focus on the message. The perception of my contentiousness arises from the judgment that I argue my points from facts.

Free

Free Will Philosophy Essay I strongly believe that W. T. Stace is correct while arguing for the view of soft determinism, also known as compatibilism. Stace believes in compatibilism, which states that determinism is true, but free will still does exist. He puts both views together by studying the definition of free will. Stace asks, â€Å"How can anyone be punished or rewarded for his or her actions if they have no control over their actions? † That statement seemed extremely convincing to me because both d’Holbach and Chisholm supported one side of the argument. d’Holbach and Chisholm argued that we are either strictly determined by the laws of nature and physics or that we are not determined, rather being we have the power to do as we choose. Stace on the other hand, put both positions together and made them work together. He explained that the laws of nature and physics do have an impact on our choices, but we do have the ability to choose what we want to choose when making a decision. Outside forces may push on our decision, but we are the ones responsible for choosing what we want to choose. He persuasively defends his view of soft determinism by explaining the definition of free will. He states, â€Å"In order for one to define free will, one must look into how the phrase is commonly used. † The way a philosopher interprets free will is different than the way a common person will do so. Stace defines free acts as acts that are directly caused by a person’s internal thoughts or desires coming directly from the person. Not free acts are those that have outside forces pushing a person to do something a certain way such as a threat or harm. This was very different from what other philosophers have stated in the past. By providing examples of free will, Stace points out that free will clearly does exist. It wouldn’t make sense for free will not to exist since it is compatible with determinism.

Wilfred Owens Dulce Et Decorum Est, Tim OBriens The Things They Carri

Wilfred Owen's Dulce Et Decorum Est, Tim OBrien's The Things They Carried, and Siegfried Sassoon's Suicide in the Trenches Many war pieces express a distinct sense of truth, hatred, and anger that can be found in the style, tone, and imagery they possess. Incredible images are created in ones mind as war writings are read and heard. Works written by such writers as Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, and Tim OBrien really reach out to the audience by way of the authors choice of words and images that they use in their writing. These talented writers create very touching and heart-felt images as they write about the true occurrences, problems, feelings and emotions that soldiers encountered throughout times of war. It is by way of these writers words that the bloody truth of war is heard, rather than the glorified victories heard which overlook the pain that soldiers went through. One beautifully written piece of work by Wilfred Owen is entitled Dulce Et Decorum Est. Just as the poem is written in a rhyme and rhythm that makes poetry easy to follow, the vivid imagery helps one to picture more easily what is going on in the poem. Owen brilliantly chooses words and phrases that illuminate the scene, making the reader feel as if he is physically in the scene along with the characters. For example, Owen describes that the Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots/ But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;/ Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots/ Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind (Gioia 782). A feeling of sadness and pity is felt as one hears the previous words. It is almost as if the scene of the soldiers trudging through the battlefield is being painted for the reader to actually visually ... ... they have heard about war or want to believe about war. The three incredible works of literature by Owen, OBrien, and Sassoon give a true sense of what fighting for ones country was really like. The battles, soldiers, and wars that most of the public see is glorified tremendously through movies and books mainly. These writers wanted a change and they went about this by giving the true and honest facts of what happened. War should be thought of as a tough obstacle that no one should ever have to go through, a sad occurrence, or a horrible burden, but not as a glorious victory. In order to reach that victory, the road is anything but sweet. Works Cited Gioia, Dana and X. J. Kennedy. Literature. Longman Publishing: New York, 2002. Hermine. Poetry and Music of the War Between the States. 02 July 2002. 11 October 2002.

Eating Disorders And Substance Abuse Essay -- Weight Loss Health Essay

Eating Disorders And Substance Abuse Common Eating Disorders: The two most common eating disorders are bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. Both disorders, primarily affect young women, therefore the majority of the research on eating disorders has been done with women subjects. The onset of bulimia is between adolescence and early adulthood while the onset of anorexia is between early and late adolescence. Not only is the onset different but the disorders are unique. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by loss of control over eating which leads to food binges. These episodes are interspersed with episodes of purging, such as vomiting or laxative abuse, to keep weight down. The goal of anorexia is also to keep weight down , but to a more severe extent. Anorexia nervosa is marked by "a relentless pursuit of thinness, intense fears of becoming fat, and a distorted body image" (Lilenfeld 1996). There is a substantial weight loss and amenorrhea. These changes occur by either restriction of food intake which is labeled restrictive anorexia, or starvat ion with bouts of purging which is labeled binge eating/purging anorexia. Studies of Eating Disordered Individuals And Substance Abuse: The causes and issues underlying eating disorders still remain, for the most part, a mystery. For this reason much investigation has gone into any issues which may be related to eating disorders. The topic which will be analyzed in this paper is the comorbidity of eating disorders and drug/alcohol abuse. In a review of fifty-one studies by Lilenfeld and Kaye, rates of alcohol/drug abuse were found to differ significantly among restricting anorexics, binge eating/purging anorexics and bulimics. "Depending on the study analyzed, the rates of... ...of dual diagnosis. Therefore different and varied treatment programs are used in hopes of improving this problem. In essence, treatment of dual diagnosis is still a guessing game. Works Cited: Lilenfeld, L. & Kaye, W. (1996). The Link Between Alcoholism and Eating Disorders. Alcohol Health and Research World, 20, 94- . Schuckit, M. , Tipp, J. , Anthenelli, R. & Bucholz. K. (1996). Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa in Alcohol Dependent Men and Women and their Relatives. The American Journal of Psychiatrity, 153, 75- . Strober, M. , Freeman, R. ,Bower, S. ,& Rigali, J. (1996). Binge Eating in Anorexia Nervosa Predicts Later Onset of Substance Use Disorder. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25, 519- . Varner, l. (1995). Dual diagnosis: Patients with Eating and Subatance Related Disorders. Journal of the American Dietic Association, 95, 224- .

Project Management Article

The Article I have chosen to summarize is titled â€Å"Life and Death† by Cindy Waxier and the same was published In the February 2013 issue of The PM Network Magazine, The article Is on Risk Management planning and execution and its requirement before any type of risky operation. The Management team of Children's Memorial Hospital In Illinois, USA faced a dramatic challenge on 9th June 2012 when they moved 127 patients from their aging faculty to a new 23-storied $855 building on Northwestern universities medical school campus.The new facility named Ann and Robert H. Laurie Hospital of Chicago was equipped with modern facilities and the move was necessitated because the present building that was built in 1882 was cramped despite various attempts for renovation and expansion and patients felt like being rats stuck in a cage. In the words of Maureen Mahoney, Laurie Children's chief clinical excellence officer QUOTE We realized that in order to continue to grow and serve patient s in a way that's compatible with our vision, we had to create a replacement hospital †¦UNQUOTE. The new facility had multiple features to ensure better patient care Like spacious treatment rooms, an enclosed ambulance bay and there comforts. The hospital had risk patients and before they could enjoy the comforts of the new faculty the task of moving them to the new establishment situated at a distance of 4. 8 Kilometers from the present hospital was daunting.A single misstep would end in a tragedy and a comprehensive Risk Management Strategy had been put in place by Mahoney who had spent years to draw up a comprehensive strategy that included logistics, budget, staffing and transportation keeping in mind the worst case-scenarios that may crop up during the transfer of patients. A multidisciplinary project team had been built to ensure smooth transition. Outside consultants team was also enlisted for guidance that helped in shaping the foundation but the Hospital's own Risk Man agement Team built on it based on their culture and need of the patients.The Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, USA had undergone a similar migration to a replacement hospital earlier. Ms. Mahoney and her team met with representatives of this hospital to discuss the various aspects. The team also consulted other hospitals that were planning their transition and discussed and shared plans. Since transporting the patients required closing of some of Chicago Streets, Ms. Mahoney had already spoken to the city agencies including police; fire and emergency well in advance so that they could work in an orchestrated manner and ensure smooth transportation of patients without any hindrance.All the faculty and staff were informed in details about the move and meetings were held to address the concerns of physicians, nurses and caregivers. Since this operation would impact everyone in the hospital, organizing and encouraging all and sundry were a necessity. To remove the fear of the young patients, they were shown videos of a Buddy Bear being safely moved to a new capital and each patient was given a Buddy Bear of his or her own on moving day as an encouragement.With the Risk management team raring to go and all city support having been secured plans were laid for logistics of transporting the patients. Elective surgeries were Mahoney who had spent 4 years to draw up a comprehensive the worst case-scenarios that may crop up during the transfer of patients. A multidisciplinary project team had been built to ensure smooth transition. Outside consultants team was also enlisted for guidance that helped in shaping the some of Chicago Streets, Ms. Mahoney had already spoken to the city agencies avian been secured plans were laid for logistics of transporting the patients.Elective surgeries were delayed until after the move and accordingly patients were divided into seven categories based on the severity of their condition. Patients from the neonatal and pediatric intensive care units and children undergoing chemotherapy were given preference. The team also ensured that the required medical equipments as needed were transferred along with the patient and included medication, intravenous line or oxygen. The worst case scenario of patient being decontaminates en route was critically planned and Ms. Mahoney ensured that medical specialists accompany each patient in the ambulance.On the eve of the move I. E. 8th June 2012, everything were checked as planned, patients' requirements were meticulously ascertained and even the less critical medical requirement such as emptying a patients catheter prior to departure was not ignored. The transfer began on 9th June 2012 precisely at 6 a. M. The next day and adequate staff was on hand at both ends to tackle any problem that may arise. Chicago streets were cordoned-off and the medical staff begun the much awaited transfer making note at ACH step to ensure patients whereabouts from the moment he or she was taken ou t of bed.The documentation of movement helped the team to track and look after the patients at four points during the process of transfer. Within two hours I. E. By 8 p. M. Every patient was safely transported to the new facility and en envisaged and planned there was not a single mishap or even a single safety issue. The four years of comprehensive risk management strategy was successfully implemented and all the 127 patients were safely transported to the new facility in Just 14 hours, covering a distance of 4. 8 kilometers.

Rot Race lab Report essays

Rot Race lab Report essays Purpose: To see how fast organisms and materials decay under certain conditions. Procedure: We gathered 4 2-liter plastic pop bottles and cut them to assemble the drawing below. Near the bottom we placed a siv to let juices drain through into the bottom 2-liter. Then we stacked materials and organisms on top of each other until it was about 20 cm tall. We then randomly poked holes into the sides of the pop bottles to let air escape. This is the order we placed the materials, from top to bottom; 2 cups of dirt, 13 pieces of melon, I cup of soil, 3 chunks of wax, 2 cut up bananas, 4 slices of apple, 1 banana peel, many slices of carrot peelings, 1 cinnamon roll, apple sauce, 1 slice of bread, and then the siv. Next we let it sit and made observations every Tuesday and Friday. We checked the color change, smell, height (cm), temperature (degrees Celsius), mass (lbs), Ph, and we checked for living organisms. Conclusion: After the experiment we decided that the bread decomposed the best. I believe this because the bread was the most porous, which allowed more bacteria could get to it. We also decided that the wax decomposed the worst because it was the hardest and most compact. We knew that decomposition was taking place because mold was growing on some of the material and the height and mass were decreasing. When an organism decays it loses it size and mass just like our rot column. Improve: One of the ways that we could have improved our experiment is by placing the material on top of the other material and let it set, instead of mashing it and mixing it together. Also we could have put in materials that were harder to decompose. Another thing we could have done was to put more holes in the bottle. That would have let more air escape therefore it wouldn't have smelled as bad. Or maybe we should hav ...

Personal Observation of My Nephew essays

Personal Observation of My Nephew essays When we were kids we had it so rough. Everyday, we had to wake up early, go to school and learn new information that would help us through life. Sometimes after school we would come home and start our homework or watch television or even play with friends until our parents or guardians fixed us dinner. Yes our lives were so tough. Although I could not observe my nephew during school and daycare hours I observed him when he got home from day care. My nephew is seven years old and in the first grade. He his very tall and skinny - it runs in the family. He is laid back and even though he has a little brother, he stills enjoys playing by himself. He is a loner. He has his moments when he loves being outside, then he has moments when he likes to be inside. Honestly, he is spoiled and that is because he is the first grandson. His personality consisted of all of us wrapped in his body. Usually, my nephew gets home around 4:00-4:30 pm when the day care van drops him off home. He typically does his homework when he goes to daycare so when he does get home he can relax. When he gets home we ask him about his day at school and what he learned. He responds with "good"; he does not say much about what he learned. So then he takes off his school uniform. Where we are from the children have to wear uniform - usually black, blue, or khaki pants or shorts with a polo shirt which is the school colors. On this day my nephew wore his khaki shorts and a black polo shirt and black Nike's. He changed in to a white tee shirt and blue balling shorts. After he changed clothes he went into the living room and got he remote control. He changes the channel to Disney which had Phineas and Ferb playing. I think he loves this show because these boys is always doing something and never get caught by their parents. While that show was on commercial he went to his toy bend and got out o of his toy cars. He played with the car during the commer...

The Rules of Attraction-a work of art essays

The Rules of Attraction-a work of art essays Many movies charm us with their age-old tale of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, both live happily ever after. The Rules of Attraction however, does anything but this. Rules is not the typical teeny-bopper gross out college comedy. It is a merciless and honest look into the reality of the lives of three individuals. The first, Sean Bateman (James van Der Beek), is a drug dealer with an outstanding debt to his junkie: $3,000 to be exact. Sean is violently harrassed by the dealer and his cohorts and deals with his stress in the only ways that he knows how-through his addictions. I've got to get some more pot and get laid, Sean thinks as he smokes a joint offered to him by character number two. Paul Dent, character number two, is a homosexual looking for love and hoping to find it in Sean. In the scene previously mentioned, Paul begins to fantasize about having sex with Sean as he smokes Paul's pot. The third character, Lauren (Shannyn Sossoman), is a virgin girl who has re sisted the partying life by looking at photographs of STD's when faced with inviations. What she desires is to lose her virginity to the right guy. Lauren meets Sean in a deserted hallway and the two begin to talk. They both begin to develop feelings for each other, but neither one is vulnerable enough to act on them. They both attempt to find each other at various times, but unavailability and mistakes keep them apart. Meanwhile, Paul must go on a trip to visit with his mother, his ex-boyfriend and his mother. Slowly the three become more and more separated as we watch their lives split apart in opposite directions until the end of the film. Rules of Attraction contains explicit, and graphic sexual, homosexual, and drug content but in no way glorifies any of it. There is nothing wanton or gratuitous about this film. This movie hits hard like a knife going into the heart of American college society and presents us with a picture that, while it is not pret...

SEX CRIMES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

SEX CRIMES - Essay Example Introduction Sex crimes include incest, rape, bigamy, child pornography, child molestation, indecent exposure, sodomy and prostitution. Nowadays, sexual motives play a pivotal role in stranger murders, intimate murders, serial murders, child murders, sexual abuse murders and prostitute murders. There exist a close link between homicide and sex. Sexual homicide can be defined as homicide where there exists a sexual motive, relationship or perversion, which includes molestation, rape, intimacy, prostitution, sexual jealousy and battering. Sexual homicide means the killing of an individual in the background of sexuality, brutality and power. Sex played a dominant role in various varieties of homicides involving kids, sexual workers and serial killers. (â€Å"Flowers, 2006, p.9†). Sex offenders comprise of an assorted group of individuals. The term sex offender is associated with the individuals who have carried out felonies like rape, engaged in child pornography, sexual murders and indecent exposures. Sexual offenders can be either juveniles or adults, male or female and of any age. Majority of sexual offenders aware of their victims and are associated to them, have some relationship with them or might have some authority over the minor or acquainted with them. Further, sexual offenses differ across cultures, religions, countries and states. In sexual offenses, there is a lack of consent on the part of victim and some level of intention on the part of an offender. Since 1980, many laws have been enacted in USA to enhance the supervision and administration of sexual offenders. For instance, such policy requires registration of sexual offenders, notification to community, restriction on residence, monitoring by GPS and compulsory chemical castration for those sex offenders under parole. (â€Å"Terry, 2010, p.3†). Statistical Date of Sexual Crime in USA In USA, as per the US Department of Justice, in every 2.7 minutes, one person is raped. In their lif e’s time, every one out of six American women has been the target of an attempted or suffered rape. In their life’s time, one in every thirty-three American men have witnessed an attempted or experienced a rape. In 73% of the sexual / rape attempts, the offender was well known to the victim who may be either an acquaintance or a friend or an intimate. About 191,670 rapes / sexual assaults were experienced by the victims with an average age of 12 or older in 2005 alone. Further, kids under the age of twelve comprise of 15% of the sexual /rape victims. Further, those under the age of 18 comprise about 44% of rape or sexual assaults. About 62% of the all sexual assaults or rapes were not made a complaint to the law enforcement in the year 2005. Of all the age group, people in the age group of 16 to 19 had a higher scale of sexual victimization. About 66% of prostitutes were reported to be sexually assaulted when they were as a kid. About 12% of the rape cases were recogni sed as alleged drug-facilitated cases in an emergency ward of a hospital. About 64,080 American women were reported to be raped in the year 2004-2005 alone. The occurrence of pregnancy for every-time unprotected sexual intercourse is estimated at five percent as per the medical reports. By applying the same to the 2004-05 rape victims, one can come to a conclusion that there would be 3,204 pregnancies due to sexual assault in that period as per RAINN report. Further, those kids

Structure, Culture, Define, & Estimate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Structure, Culture, Define, & Estimate - Essay Example According to the report findings  members contribute wholesomely to the project hence making it a success. The knowledge and needs of stakeholders are ingrained into WBS, allowing members to understand their place within the project. In addition, WBS portrays significant aspects of project, ensuring that all members align to tasks and processes being administered.  According to the paper it is clear that additional information required to help the project manager, Nicolette, is derived from previous events and plans within the industry . In using the previous WBS events, some adverse past issues can be eliminated since they become lessons in the current project. Learning and adoption of best practice becomes the norm. Information on how soccer events organized by other clubs in the area exists. The contacts of their project managers need to be obtained. The project manager will have a wider understanding about project expectations by liaising with them. People within the club and committee with past tournament project involvement, can assist in defining requirements and other project management issues. Nicolette can contact Chelsea football club to get access to professional referees and additional coaching on club leadership.  The project manager is able to map out requirements and individual tasks in order to complete the whole process. Identification of these tasks and requirements allows the project manager to accurately estimate and identify costs.

E-commerce, Dell Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

E-commerce, Dell - Essay Example 6. Managing cost-effective and efficient product fulfillment. 7. Providing impeccable customer support through multiple touch points. CASE STUDY Introduction Dell is one of the world's top providers of computer products and services such as servers, storage, workstations, notebook and notebooks computers, to businesses and consumers. The company has revenues of $38.2 billion worldwide and employs over 41,000 staff worldwide. Ireland is home to Dell's European manufacturing operation, with a plant in Limerick, and a UK/Ireland sales and support operation in Bray/Cherrywood. Dell's success has made it the number one PC supplier in Ireland*. The company is the State's biggest revenue generating technology firm. During 2002, Dell's revenue equated to 5.8 per cent of gross domestic product. During the same time period, Dell's exports of EUR.7bn account for 7.8 per cent of all Irish exports. Michael Dell founded the company back in 1984 when he was just 19 years old. He had $1,000 and the unique idea to sell computer systems directly to customers. Now he heads up one of the world's most successful corporations with his direct sales approach acting as the cornerstone of the company's global success. This case study will look at the impact of the internet and e-commerce on Dell and how the company has successfully managed the new ways of doing business that e-commerce has created. What Is E-Commerce Firstly, let's take a look at Electronic commerce (e-commerce). E-commerce refers to business transactions and communication that are carried out through computers - over networks and the internet. This includes buying and selling goods and services, funds transfers and other commercial...The company has revenues of $38.2 billion worldwide and employs over 41,000 staff worldwide. Ireland is home to Dell's European manufacturing operation, with a plant in Limerick, and a UK/Ireland sales and support operation in Bray/Cherrywood. Dell's success has made it the number one PC supplier in Ireland*. The company is the State's biggest revenue generating technology firm. During 2002, Dell's revenue equated to 5.8 per cent of gross domestic product. During the same time period, Dell's exports of EUR.7bn account for 7.8 per cent of all Irish exports. Firstly, let's take a look at Electronic commerce (e-commerce). E-commerce refers to business transactions and communication that are carried out through computers - over networks and the internet. This includes buying and selling goods and services, funds transfers and other commercial communications. It creates a new way of buying and selling - one that uses technology to make the transaction. Between businesses and consumers (B2C), as when you purchase from a shop's website. You, the consumer can now do everything over the internet from banking online and using email to shop for computers, books, clothes, games, holidays, concert ticket etc! From one business to another (B2B), as when one company buys its supplies from another company online.

What likely happened to the price of prostitution services in New Essay

What likely happened to the price of prostitution services in New Jersey during the most recent Super Bowl and why - Essay Example During the event, prices were adjusted accordingly, and this made the prices go up due to the various reasons outlined in this paper. First, the increases in demand for sex in New Jersey during the Super Bowl event lead to an increase in prices of the prostitution services in the city. In economic terms, prostitution refers to a commodity traded in a supply and demand market. Braeutigan illustrates that, if the demand of the commodity increases and the supply remains constant then prices of that commodity goes up (45). The influx of people in New Jersey to watch the Super Bowl games at Mat Life stadium increased the demand for prostitution, which in turn increased the price of the prostitution services in the city. Second, the constant supply of prostitution services during the Super Bowl also contributed to the increase in price of prostitution services in New Jersey (Stigler 6). Super Bowl event attracted tens of thousands of people to the city of whom most of them wanted prostitution services. Due to the constant supply of the service provided during the event, the prices went up. There was a low level of supply of the prostitution services in the city during the event because of the Super Bowl crackdown, strict rules and regulations laid by the NYID police during the event. These were meant to reduce the number of prostitution providers in the city who were not legally permitted into the business. Therefore, the supply of the prostitution services during the event was very low, hence; caused the increase in the prices of the prostitution services in the city Third factor that lead to increase in the prices of prostitution services in New Jersey is the monopolistic competition market structure in New Jersey. This type of the market structure is where there are few firms in the prostitution industry more so during the Super Bowl event. This created the monopoly power in the prostitution industry in the New Jersey, which resulted in high

Public Administration (MSc) area Research Proposal

Public Administration (MSc) area - Research Proposal Example It is provided through organizations with facilities and personnel to offer proper healthcare to people in need (Stone; 131; 2008). Most of the developing countries do not provide adequate basic health care to their population, that is, their public health systems are not functioning as countries such in sub-Saharan Africa have less than three doctors per a population of 10,000 people. Significant losses of medicines due to poorly managed storage and distribution system or are missing in some countries, lack of an effective infrastructure system which is paramount for a worthy health care system. Health amenities in these countries are situated in urban areas far from the rural folks who are most in need of these services as well as they constitute the highest numbers in terms of demography. The political and social-economy structures of these countries hamper access to health services, blocking patients and service providers out. Overcrowded houses, being short of clean water and sewerage treatment leads to spread of diseases and social stigmas especially AIDS make most of the populace to avoid testing and trea tment. In general governments in these countries spending on health care is not a priority due to lack of political will, hence fewer resources are devoted to endemics such as HIV/AIDS or Malaria. Even where health care funds are allocated they end up being unspent due to poor management and bureaucratic ties in the government machinery (Smith;379; 2002). Pharmaceutical firms have been on the fore front of solving the health problems of these countries by giving access to health services and medicines in collaboration with the governments, non-governmental organizations and other international agencies (Jenkins; 90; 1978). Policy makers in Third World Countries have had a low priority and neglect for quality healthcare at the expense of a wider coverage, as well as the health departments of these countries have poor information systems that are not reliable in documentation to assess the quality of health. The observation is that, improvement of quality is equivalent to additional inputs and costs that these countries cannot afford with their economies. For improvement of healthcare quality assurance in developing countries the focus should be on the formulation and review of health policies that are supported by a committed and willing leadership and set up of institutional framework to enable the assessment of quality in the health industry. Only through research which is home based that can help in the development and assessment of new methods to implement quality assurance without necessarily escalating the inputs which are key for quality healthcare (Paquette;59; 2002). Public administration in health care of developing countries should strategize on working along the ministries of health and finance

What likely happened to the price of prostitution services in New Essay

What likely happened to the price of prostitution services in New Jersey during the most recent Super Bowl and why - Essay Example During the event, prices were adjusted accordingly, and this made the prices go up due to the various reasons outlined in this paper. First, the increases in demand for sex in New Jersey during the Super Bowl event lead to an increase in prices of the prostitution services in the city. In economic terms, prostitution refers to a commodity traded in a supply and demand market. Braeutigan illustrates that, if the demand of the commodity increases and the supply remains constant then prices of that commodity goes up (45). The influx of people in New Jersey to watch the Super Bowl games at Mat Life stadium increased the demand for prostitution, which in turn increased the price of the prostitution services in the city. Second, the constant supply of prostitution services during the Super Bowl also contributed to the increase in price of prostitution services in New Jersey (Stigler 6). Super Bowl event attracted tens of thousands of people to the city of whom most of them wanted prostitution services. Due to the constant supply of the service provided during the event, the prices went up. There was a low level of supply of the prostitution services in the city during the event because of the Super Bowl crackdown, strict rules and regulations laid by the NYID police during the event. These were meant to reduce the number of prostitution providers in the city who were not legally permitted into the business. Therefore, the supply of the prostitution services during the event was very low, hence; caused the increase in the prices of the prostitution services in the city Third factor that lead to increase in the prices of prostitution services in New Jersey is the monopolistic competition market structure in New Jersey. This type of the market structure is where there are few firms in the prostitution industry more so during the Super Bowl event. This created the monopoly power in the prostitution industry in the New Jersey, which resulted in high

Individual analysis of an organisation of student's choice Assignment

Individual analysis of an organisation of student's choice - Assignment Example Wal-Mart emerged as a global retailing corporation from being a local retailer with the successful implementation of a unique and undisputed supply chain and operations management system within the business. The major characteristics of the operations management of Wal-Mart which have driven the success of the company on a global platform are the unique inventory management systems, non-replicable everyday low pricing strategies, the use of high end technology and integration in the supply chain and a centralized procurement and distribution system. Wal-Mart has become the undisputed leader in the retail segment through the use of the everyday low pricing strategy which has driven high volume of sales and subsequently increased profitability for the company. Wal-Mart is acclaimed for having maintained the highest operating profit margins, inventory turnover and sales per square feet among the retail companies operating in the United States and other countries in the world. The operat ions management of Wal-Mart has played a key role in the popularity of the company and the emergence of the company as the number one retail business among many players in the retail industry. Wal-Mart as a business has both internal and external stakeholders. Both the internal as well as the external stakeholders of the company have much interest in the activities and management of the business. The internal stakeholders of Wal-Mart include the shareholders, the management and the employees of the company. On the other hand, the external stakeholder group comprises of mainly the customers, suppliers, distributors, competitors and the governments of the countries in which the stores of Wal-Mart operate. The most important internal customers are tee employees and the most critical external customers of Wal-Mart are the customers of the business. Wal-Mart is renowned for managing its human resources very well and is currently

The Taming of the Shrew Essay Example for Free

The Taming of the Shrew Essay Michael Billington, theatre critic for the Guardian, asked whether there is any reason to revive a play which seems totally offensive to our age and society (6 May 1978). With particular reference to the final scenes of the play, explore the ways in which a modern audience can respond to Shakespeares presentation of the relationship between Kate and Petruchio  To many desultory observers The Taming of the Shrew may be conjectured as being profoundly misogynistic, an intolerable illustration of female subjugation in 16TH Century England. However in my opinion this is a far too superficial and perfunctory observation. The Taming of the Shrew displays enough ambiguity in its readings to support differing interpretations of its meaning and demonstrates its relevance to modern society. It is clear that ones own evaluation of the plight of Kate is an integral part of whether one finds the play offensive or not. On face value the shrewish Kate is tamed by the cruel, exploitative Petruchio who uses her fathers wealth as his only reason to embark on their marriage; a marriage she despairingly tries and fails to resist. He embarrasses and degrades her, culminating in the final scene where Kate openly relinquishes her independence; grovellingly placing her hand under Petruchios foot and lectures the other women about what should be their traditional servant role within marriage. However such superficial interpretations fail to consider the strong possibility of the presence of dramatic irony in Shakespeares writing, that their marriage is in fact one of partnership. Fiona Shaw, a contemporary Shakespearean actor, offers this interpretation by commenting her vision coincides with his Kate and Petruchio were rebels and would remain rebels forever1. Indeed it has been argued that Kate actually tames Petruchio by seemingly bowing to his requests: Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,  Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee (ACT V SCENE II 145-6) Superficially this may seem a submission, but it is possible to see the irony in Kates words. After all, at the time of writing, the head of state or the sovereign was Elizabeth I, therefore the aforementioned quotation symbolises a direct ironic attack against the patriarchal concept that Kate seems to be urging. Kates final speech could be categorised as a capitulation if its reader was without any idea or contextual knowledge about Kates complex character because much of its content is derived from sources used in the Elizabethan Church such as the Book of Homilies and The Instruction of Christian Women. However, it is certainly conceivable that it could be interpreted as a subversive manifesto. Kates flattering of Petruchio through her references to his brave naval background seems to appease him, yet it is she with the soft and smooth body. Petruchio maybe stronger in the physical sense, but it is he who has had to work harder in life and will work harder in marriage if Kate has her way. H.G. Goddards comment that everyone knows that the woman can lord it over the man as long as she allows him to think hes lording it over her supports this view, even if this comment is as equally facile as Kates taming a tribute to the ambiguity of the play. Textual evidence also configures with the doubt over whether Kates plight parallels with the doctrines of the Renaissance writers who fundamentally endorsed a patriarchal social hierarchy with the female subject to the orders of their husband or father. Lucentios final line Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tamed so emphasises the notion of scepticism over her sudden changed behaviour and that indeed she may have colluded with Petruchio in order to win the wager. The short time-scale of the play casts doubt over whether such a character as strong as Kate could really be tamed so emphatically. Indeed the feminist critic Germaine Greer has argued that the play is not a knockabout farce of wife-battering, but the cunning adaptation of a folk-motif to show the forging of a partnership between equals2, emphasised by Petruchio in the final scene finally acknowledging their alliance -well be to bed we thee are married, but you two are sped. It is Kate who is indeed shrewd enough to realise that she must appease Petruchio if she is to be able to forge a happy marriage with him. This is after Hortensio reminds Kate say as he says, or we shall never go a clue about the possible consequences if she continues her resistance. This is not a submission, but a clever ploy by Kate who realises that if her marriage is to progress from a state of extreme discomfort she must forge a partnership.

Functional Behavioural Assessment Case Study

Functional Behavioural Assessment Case Study Functional Behavioral Assessments for Sean Siobhan L. Healy Introduction Mrs. Valdez, a second grade teacher at Hacienda Elementary School, contacted me via email requesting my services regarding one of her students. Mrs. Valdez would like me to meet with her and several administrators, including the principal of Hacienda Elementary School, to discuss the student’s behavioral issues. The subject of concern is Sean, a 9 year old boy, who had been held back to repeat second grade due to his ADHD and the resulting inattentiveness and failing grades. Sean is described as a bright and lovable boy at school and at home but due to his (recently diagnosed) ADHD, he is often â€Å"inattentive† during class, jumps out of his seat and throws crumbled up school papers at peers when asked to complete a task. His lack of concentration and the inability to finish any task at school have earned him failing grades during the prior school year and parents and teachers fear that he may be failing second grade again, if nothing is done to help him. Sean’s parents are against any pharmaceutical medications to treat his ADHD and they have consulted with an herbal doctor to treat the condition. Now, Mrs. Valdez has asked me to develop a behavior intervention plan for Sean, in order for him to succeed academically and socially during the current school year. The operational target behaviors seen in Sean are, a) inattention, in form of not paying attention to teachers’ instructions and school work, b) out-of-seat behavior, defined as any time Sean’s behind was not making contact with his chair, and c) throwing items (i.e., crumbled up papers) at peers. If my interdisciplinary team and I are able to describe the specific purposes of a Functional Behavioral Assessment for Sean, to the Hacienda Elementary School administrators during the planning meeting, then we will be able to design and implement an effective treatment plan for this student based on the results of the proposed FBA. Functional Behavioral Assessments are used to determine why an individual exhibits certain behaviors and in what way the environment influences the individual and their behaviors. In the beginning, the method of analyzing behavior was created with the autistic and severely intellectually disabled population in mind, but it can be applied to any individual with problem behaviors. According to the State Board of Education, North Carolina (2015), â€Å"The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that a Functional Behavioral Assessment be conducted if a behavior was a manifestation of the disability or, as appropriate, for other disciplinary removals† (http://ec.ncpublicschools.gov). In many schools, the Individual Education Program Team (IEP team) develops an assessment plan to address problem behaviors. During IEP team meetings, target behaviors must be identified and specified. Decisions must be made about who will conduct each component of an FBA, and a timeline as to when the assessment will be completed is set. Usually, the IEP team will meet to discuss the assessment results and to design and implement behavioral interventions. Sometimes, The IEP team and members of a school administration need to bring in an independent team of experts in order to exhaust all possibilities of an effective FBA, especially in the case of Sean (State Board of Education, NC, 2015). Indirect Assessments are performed when information about antecedents, consequences, and critical variables, needs to be gathered indirectly via interviews, screening forms, and rating scales. The Indirect Assessments are considered an adjunct to direct measures, as the data gathered from these measures is usually not considered quite as reliable. However, Indirect Assessments are often the first procedures performed in an FBA because the observer is able to record meaningful observations and he or she may begin the construction of hypotheses about the function of behaviors rather quickly (Steege Watson, 2013). The interdisciplinary team would first assess Sean by conducting five general steps of a Functional Analysis. Step one would be a Functional Assessment Interview during which the team would question at least two or three persons who know Sean very well and who have been involved in the situations in which the behaviors occurred (most likely his parents and Mrs. Valdez). The interview would focus on identifying observable behaviors displayed by our referred student. For example, when addressing Sean’s â€Å"inattentive† behavior, the team should ask Mrs. Valdez, the teacher, to clearly and concisely describe the observable characteristics that constitute â€Å"inattentive† behavior. It is important to note during the interview, what function Sean’s behaviors serve. For example, his out-of-seat behavior may actually serve two different functions, one to get attention from his peers by jumping out of his seat, and two to escape from or avoid academic instruct ion from the teacher. This type of information will be relevant for the entire process of FBA, because, if the functions are different, the resulting interventions may be different as well (Steege Watson, 2013). With a typical ABC Assessment, when the interfering behaviors occur, the observer is expected to record those behaviors and the immediate antecedent and consequence variables. Observers often identify one immediate antecedent and one immediate consequence that occur during a behavioral event. For example, the ABC Interviewer could record the following in Sean’s classroom: A: Antecedent: Teacher, Mrs. Valdez, requests Sean to sit down and complete his task, B: Behavior: Sean jumps up, crumbles his school paper, and throws it at a peer, C: Consequence: Mrs. Valdez verbally reprimands Sean and sends him to the principals office. However, in this instance, a single ABC recording was not able to identify all of the relevant variables connected to this behavioral incident because, there were a number of additional incidents preceding this recording. Oftentimes, with the occurrence of a series of behavioral incidents, the observers verbally report or record only the final incident (S teege Watson, 2013). Thus, a Behavioral Stream Interview (BSI) could be performed in Sean’s case, in which contextual variables that are associated with the interfering behaviors, can be identified. This kind of interview centers on the idea that there are many variables, including individual, antecedent, and consequence variables in Sean’s environment that impact his challenging behaviors. These different variables often interact in a predictable manner and are not stagnant. Steege and Watson (2013), compare â€Å"the ongoing flow of behavior and related stimuli† to a river, â€Å"sometimes a stream that gently meanders through a meadow, and at other times a raging torrent rushing through mountainous canyons† (p.106). The BSI has the potential of identifying patterns by calculating the sequence in which the variables occur. It can be compared to a movie strip of several captured pictures in a sequence, unlike a single photograph â€Å"of a singular antecedent–behavior–consequence interaction (A-B-C)† (Steege Watson, 2013, p. 106). Furthermore, data could be collected through a questionnaire such as the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991, as cited in Sattler, 2002) which measures internalizing and externalizing problems in children and adolescents. The CBCL is designed for parents of children and adolescents ages 4 to 18 years old. The rationale for conducting the interview is to observe the target behavior. The reason for utilizing the CBCL is that it includes a Teachers Report form (TRF, Achenbach, 1991, as cited in Sattler, 2002). According to Sattler, the TRF has satisfactory validity. Functioning Assessment Screening Tools or a Motivation Assessment Scale may additionally be used. The Functional Behavioral Assessment Screening Form (FBASF) would be a particularly useful tool to record data about, a) interfering behaviors (i.e., target problem behaviors), b) behavioral strengths (i.e., characteristics that are functional and appropriate, adaptive behaviors, and skills), c) Reinforcers (i.e., stimuli that are preferred by the student, people, activities, and events), d) Communication skills (i.e., verbal expressions, gestures, signs, or devices). In the context of Sean’s case, his behaviors too, are not occurring randomly, but are caused by an interaction between antecedent, individual, and consequence variables (Steege Watson, 2013). Direct descriptive Functional Behavioral Assessments, on the other hand, are very powerful tools in school settings. They are powerful because the procedures center on direct observations of behaviors in situations and settings in which the target behaviors occur. Systematic observations, and not just mere indirect information lead to solid hypotheses on function and triggers of behaviors (Steege Watson). Therefore, step two in a Functional Analysis would be a Direct Observation and collection of data by observing Sean’s target behaviors directly. The team could do a Sequence Analysis by recording antecedents, behavior, and consequence (a Maladaptive Behavior Card can be used for this purpose). Furthermore, the frequency and rate of the behavior would be recorded. The frequency of occurrence per unit of time, for example, would be 30 behaviors divided by 20 min of observation = 1.5 behaviors per minute or about 3 behaviors every two minutes. Next, the duration of each behavior and the latency (which is the duration of time between a stimulus and a response) would be recorded, for example, how soon after the stimulus does Sean begin to jump up or throw paper balls at classmates (Carbone Zecchin, 2014). Step three deals with experimental manipulations if they are feasible based on the severity of the behaviors. This procedure enables the observer to empirically test the functions of the behavior. The situations in which the behaviors occur most frequently suggest the function of the behavior. In order to test for the functions of the maladaptive behavior, the interdisciplinary team would have to perform an Alone Condition Test in which Sean would be alone without any stimulation and then count if any aggressive behavior occurred within a 20 minute session. Next, an Attention Condition-Test is performed to find out if the behavior is maintained by attention. This involves engaging Sean in a preferred activity and if a maladaptive behavior occurs, the team would give him 10 seconds of attention after each occurrence of the target behaviors by saying â€Å"Sean, don’t throw anything at your classmate, you could hurt her!† The team would count the number of times the behav iors occurred and this session would last 20 minutes. Then, comes the Demand Condition – Test, which is designed to explore if a behavior is maintained by Escape or Avoidance. The interdisciplinary team will place Sean in a demanding task or situation and allow him to escape (or leave the situation) each time the target behavior occurs. The team would wait for about a minute and then direct Sean back to the demand situation or task, while keeping count of the number of times the behavior occurs. This session should also last 20 minutes (Carbone Zecchin, 2014). Last but not least, the Play Condition-Test will be performed, which is a control condition. In this scenario, the interdisciplinary team would place Sean in an enriched reinforcing environment, allow him to engage in preferred activities of his choosing, and count the number of times the behavior occurs. This session, again, will last 20 minutes. Step four will be a Functional Analysis Summary, to include a form/chart outlining the Functional Analysis Interviews conducted, the Direct Observation Data collected, and the Experimental Manipulation implemented. Step five will outline a Behavior Lesson Plan and after carefully choosing of an intervention, this will be called an Intervention Lesson Plan for Sean (Carbone Zecchin, 2014). In the literature by Steege Watson (2013),  The Conditional Probability Record (CPR) is a form that  allows the observer to simultaneously observe and record the  antecedents and consequences of behavior. The advantage of  doing so allows for the analysis of the likelihood  (probability) of a behavior given a particular antecedent and  the likelihood of a particular consequence following a  behavior (p. 134). Let’s say, we take a 5-minute excerpt from a 15-minute observation period, and it shows that Sean was out of his seat during 70% of the intervals, then, of the intervals in which Sean was out of his seat, 51% of those resulted in a verbal reprimand by Mrs. Valdez and 43% resulted in her physically guiding Sean back into his seat. Therefore, Seans out-of-seat behavior resulted in some form of attention by Mrs. Valdez in 94% of the intervals. On the other hand, when Sean was working on his assigned tasks, it resulted in no attention, verbal or physical, from Mrs. Valdez. So, only in 29% of the intervals in which Sean was working on his tasks, was Mrs. Valdez near him. Therefore, one of the hypotheses is that Seans out-of-seat behavior is maintained by Mrs. Valdez’ attention because doing so is more than three times as likely to result in some form her attention than working. During these observations, there may be some influence by Sean’s peers in the form of looki ng at him (23% of the intervals) or cheering him on (18%), however these consequences were not as probable as Mrs. Valdez’ attention. Additionally, there also appears to be a negative reinforcement because Sean is able to escape from the assigned task by getting out of his seat. Antecedent and consequent possibilities are verified by further observation and analysis (Steege Watson, 2013). The interdisciplinary team could complete a Functional Behavioral Assessment Observation Form (FBAOF) for Sean. This is an assessment procedure involving direct observation and recording data of interfering behaviors and contextual variables. The FBAOF is generally used to record â€Å"behavioral episodes† or â€Å"behavioral incidents† that involve one single interfering behavior. The observer uses an FBAOF each time the interfering behavior occurs to record, 1) Date and time of day, 2) Setting events (i.e., activities, tasks, places, etc.), 3) Antecedents (i.e., events that appear to trigger the behavior), 4) Behavior (i.e., the defined interfering/target behavior), 5) Consequence (i.e., events following the interfering behavior), 6) Effect (i.e., change in rate or intensity of occurrence of the behavior), 7) Staff (i.e., person recording the data, working directly with Sean). Should the interdisciplinary team use the FBAOF, they must differentiate between an †a ntecedent† and a â€Å"setting event.† The antecedent is a precipitating variable (i.e., a specific event triggering a behavior), while the setting event is just the general situation that the behavior occurred in (Steege Watson, 2013). Last, but not least, the interdisciplinary team could utilize the Task Analysis Recording Procedure (TARP), which is an effective â€Å"procedure for teaching functional life skills and for progress monitoring† (Steege Watson, 2013, p. 146). It is used for documenting a person’s level of performance on specific tasks, instructional procedures, identification of effective and ineffective instructional prompts, and to document levels of occurrence of interfering behaviors, especially in the context of instructional programs (Steege Watson, 2013). TARP is a useful tool for recording a decrease of interfering behaviors, while, at the same time, documenting an increase in desirable and appropriate behaviors. For example, we could use the TARP data recording in order to measure Sean’s occurrences of negative behaviors within a social or classroom setting, while, at the same time, recording any desirable behavior, such as doing his assigned tasks independently. This procedure is mostly used in individuals with autism who reside in group homes but TARP could be used in Sean’s case because of his ADHD diagnosis and being in a â€Å"group setting† (classroom) (Steege Watson, 2013). It is important for the interdisciplinary team to put emphasis on the vast selection of indirect and direct descriptive FBA procedures. In many cases, a combination of both types in an assessment process is adequate for an assessment and an understanding of behavioral functions. A comprehensive mixture of several procedures can lead to the design of effective intervention plans (Steege Watson, 3013). References Carbone, V. J., Ph.D., BCBA Zecchin, G., BCABA. (2014). How to conduct a  Functional Assessment Develop Behavior Plans to reduce Problem Behavior.  Retrieved on March 10, 2015 from  http://armstrong.edu/images/psychology/FunctionalAssessment.pdf Public Schools of North Carolina. State Board of Education. (2015). Functional Behavior   Assessment. Retrieved on March 10, 2015 from http://ec.ncpublicschools.gov/instructional-resources/behavior-support/resources/functional-behavior-assessment. Sattler, J. (2001). Assessment of children: Cognitive applications (4th ed.) La Mesa, CA:  Jerome M. Sattler. Steege, M.W., Watson, T.S. (2013). Conducting School-Based Functional Behavioral  Assessments, Second Edition. Guilford Press. VitalBook file.

clay Beats Liston: February 25, 1964 :: essays research papers fc

"Clay Beats Liston: February 25, 1964" From the accounts of various Kentucky newspapers, I was able to learn a few facts about Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, as well as the attitudes of his fellow Kentuckians. The first thing I noticed in all the newspapers that I viewed was that almost all the articles written about the fight were written by writers from either the Associated Press (AP) or United Press International (UPI). This displayed three things about the Kentucky press, first the belief that Clay's fight was not important enough to cover themselves, secondly that the newspapers probably did not make enough money to send their own reporters down to Miami Beach, and finally the localization of the newspapers' audiences. Another aspect of the fight is the effect it had on Kentucky society, especially the sports scene. I primarily noticed that almost all the papers used reports from the Associated Press and the United Press International, even the (Louisville) Courier-Journal, one of Clay's hometown newspapers, used reports from the Associated Press. The only articles that were not written by a member of the Associated Press were the very rare editorials written about the fight. The use of reports from the AP and the UPI shows that most newspapers did not think the fight was very newsworthy. Only one newspaper published an article that was not written by a member of the Associated Press or the United Press International, however that one article was an editorial about Cassius Clay's new found wealth and not the actual fight. The lack of coverage also proves that even though blacks were supposed to be equal to whites, that in reality achievements by blacks and whites were treated differently. None of the newspapers that I read displayed a large picture or headline proclaiming that Cassius Clay was the new heavyweight champion of the world. Most newspapers had an average sized headline stating that Clay was the new champion, but none had an article about him on the front page. This further illustrates that achievements by blacks were believed to be less important than the achievements of whites. I saw almost the same amount of articles on high school basketball, as I did on the fight. Although I am not surprised by the fact that high school basketball received almost a page of coverage, I am alarmed by the fact that this one page of coverage on basketball was the same amount of coverage for the boxing match. The stories by Associated Press and United Press International illustrate two more facts about Kentucky during the 1960's, primarily that most of

Game Playing and Artificial Intelligence Essay -- Video Games AI

Game Playing and Artificial Intelligence Abstract Since the inception of the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), game playing has had a key role. Likewise, AI has been an integral part of modern computer games. This collaboration of academic and commercial research and development into AI has yielded vast amounts of crossover technology. Academic research problems have become or influenced commercial games and the money gained from the commercial applications of AI have helped advance academic research as well. Highly publicized man-machine tournaments, such as between Gary Kasparov and IBM's Deep Blue have served to showcase the current state of the art in Artificial Intelligence agents. The technology from these game players is finding its way into many other software fields, such as medical databases. Introduction Not long ago, at the mention of Artificial Intelligence (AI) the first thing most people thought of was the science fiction image of computers capable of independent thought and possessing a human-like personality such as HAL from the movie 2001. It is not unusual now to see commercial computer games advertised and reviewed based on their AI capabilities. The strategic war game EARTH 2140 for example is advertised as containing "excellent strategic and economic AI". Where once AI was solely a matter of fiction and research, it has effectively made its way into the consumer market in the form of computer games. While AI artifacts have not yet reached the level of HAL, computers and their games have advanced substantially from the days of punch cards and Pong. The early uses of Artificial Intelligence in game playing were not the highly graphical, user friendly, mass marketed computer games seen today. The e... ...hat the game required "robot-like planning abilities,"2 not deep search. The tools used to solve problems in AI will continue to evolve via game playing as long as there are new games to play and new computers on which to play them. Bibliography 1. AAAI Hall of Champions, Matthew L. Ginsberg, 2. "Smart games: beyond the Deep Blue horizon" Sara Hedberg IEEE Expert July/August 1997 3. "Deep Blue Wins 3.5 to 2.5: Kasparov vs. Deep Blue the rematch" IM Malcolm Pein, London Chess Centre May 11, 1997 4. "Classic Games and AI - What's Been "Solved"", Steven Woodcock 5. "Deep Blue's Hardware - Software Synergy" Scott Hamilton and Lee Garber Computer October 1997 6. "Debbi One: Challenging the Extremes of Computation", George Kaplan 7. Interplay's Earth 2140 Website 8. "Ultima Online", Cindy Yans Computer Games Strategy Plus July 1997 Pages 44 - 49

How Sound Is Used Expressively in M Essay

In the beginning of the movie everything appears normal but within minutes you are thrown into a frantic time in Germany. A serial killer of children is on the loose and a mother waits at home for her young daughter. When are then shown her growing anticipation for her daughter to get home but at the same time shown her daughter talking to a shadowy figure who buys her a balloon. Her mother screams her name over and over as the camera shows different scenes. This is expressive because the sound of her voice shows how worried she is and the interchanging scenes show she is nowhere to be found. Then the scene of her ball rolling into the brush and her balloon tangles in the electrical wires signifies her death. Without the mothers screams the scene would not have delivered the dramatics that it did. Another instance of sound being used expressively was the part in the movie where the minister and the chief of police are discussing finding Elsie’s killer. They show many scenes of the police doing various investigations including combing areas for clues, interrogating people, night raids and trying to pick up scents with a dog. This scene shows how intense there investigation is and the chief’s monologue gives you the added intensity of the situation. With the chief talking about how they plan to find the killer and the scenes of the police doing their investigation being shown, Lang manages to expressively show a wide scale investigation in a short time with aural and visual aspects. It’s something that could not be done with a silent movie. The essence of the movie is then truly captured with the parallel sequence shots depicting the criminal underworlds meeting and the police meeting. M is not only a story about a serial killer but, it shows the similarities at the time of the criminals and the police due to the lack of control in postwar Germany. This comparison is very expressively shown when Lang uses what they are saying to show how very similar they are. Everything from both the rooms being filled with cigarette smoke to dialogue that is seemingly mirrored from their separate meetings, is a great

Case Study: Anxiety

Instructions: Read the following case study about a woman, Allison, who is suffering from anxiety. After you have read the case study, diagnose Allison and present some methods of treatment by answering the questions. Presenting Complaint Allison, a 33-year-old white woman, knew that it was finally time for her to seek psychological services. She had always been an anxious person and, for years, had managed to keep it under control. But, this time she felt as though she was fighting a losing battle and worried that it was going to result in her being fired from her job. Allison worked as a flight attendant for a major airline and loved interacting with the passengers. She was particularly proud of her extensive knowledge of aircraft safety regulations and had confidence in her ability to properly manage a crisis situation should it arise. However, over the past year she had missed a significant amount of work because of her extreme anxiety about flying and staying in hotels in different cities. She had wanted to believe that her worry about her career was justified, but she knew deep down that she worried about everything, not just work. She worried about other things that most people would see as trivial: whether she would be caught in the rain without an umbrella, if she was going to remember to pay her bills on time, or if the bus she was riding would break down and leave her stranded. Allison recalled that she noticed a change in her thinking after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. She repeatedly thought, â€Å"That could have been me in that plane. What would I have done? This is just one more sign that the world has become a very dangerous place. Allison finds that she can’t relax on her days off because she spends the entire time worrying about taking her next flight. â€Å"I worry all the time—about everything. She worries that she will miss the bus to the airport and be late for work. She worried that she will have a panic attack on the airplane and the pilots will have to make an emergency landing. She also worries about the hotel that she is scheduled to stay in and whether or no t they will still have her reservation when she arrives. Furthermore, Allison worries about the danger of being out at night in a strange town. She explains, â€Å"It’s just not safe for a single woman to be out at night. Some cities have a high rate of crime and are extremely dangerous. † Allison finds that she worries about all of these things simultaneously, which leaves her exhausted and overwhelmed. However, when she tries to sleep, she cannot shut her mind off. She lays awake for hours thinking about all of the things that could happen. Therefore, Allison is often sleep deprived which leaves her stressed, tense, and irritable. Allison has experienced a few panic attacks in her life, but has not had a panic attack in more than two years. But she still carries Xanax with her everywhere she goes, just in case she needs it. Ever since she was 7 years old, she has worried about random issues. Allison remembers walking through her house at 7 years old, checking on all of the appliances to make sure that they were all unplugged before everyone fell asleep in fear that a fire would break out and burn the house down. Allison was also worried as a 3rd grader about her mother dying any day from cancer, since her mother was a smoker. When Allison was 16, she had great difficulty with learning how to drive in fear that she would be involved in a car accident. Indeed, Allison was involved in 2 car accidents, none of which were her fault. Regardless, Allison quit driving and has taken public transportation ever since. Allison has had difficulty with seeking treatment because she is afraid to give up her worrying. She believes that some of her anxiety has been helpful because it has kept her safe. And by worrying, Allison believes that is able to help prevent the negative event from occurring. For example, because of Allison’s worrying, her mother quit smoking and is cancer-free today. In fact, Allison is considering removing herself from treatment because she is afraid that the psychologist will tell her that she has a serious problem that is beyond help. If she cannot get help, then what will she do? Social and Family History Allison is the youngest of 6 children, 4 of which are boys. She was raised by both parents and considers herself the â€Å"black sheep† of the family. Allison felt very different from her brothers because of gender and the way that they treated her with a paternalistic manner. Allison felt inadequate around her sister, who seemed to be successful in everything she did. Allison feels like her sister looks down on Allison because of the anxiety. Allison’s father never understood her, either. He was very distant and did not seem to want much to do with the children. He worked long hours and spent much time taking Allison’s mother on long errands since Allison’s mother was afraid to go out alone. Allison tried really hard to do well in school to get her father’s attention, but it never seemed to be quite enough. Allison often had to rely on her older siblings to take care of her since their mother was always â€Å"sick†. Her mother rarely left the house and would spend hours locked in her room. Allison thought that her mother suffered from agoraphobia and remembers conversations with her mother about how dangerous the world is. Because of her mother’s beliefs about the dangerousness of the world, Allison was not allowed to play outside with friends unless a parent was supervising at all times. Therefore, Allison did not make many friends. Instead, she played in the neighbor’s garden since her mother could see Allison from the window. One day, Allison’s neighbor, Jack, was helping Allison in the garden and offered her some cookies and milk. Allison had to go inside with Jack to get the cookies and milk, but she thought that it would not be a problem since mom was right next door. Once inside Jack’s home, he sexually abused Allison. She never told anyone since she believed it was her fault for going inside and not staying in her mother’s line of sight. Allison has been unable to stay in a long-term relationship. Just after Allison moved away from her home town for the first time in her life, her boyfriend broke up with her. He was supposed to move in with Allison, but a week after Allison bought a home and moved her belongings in, he ended the relationship. That was the last time Allison had a severe panic attack. She was hospitalized and has been terrified of living alone ever since. Diagnosis Refer to the DSM-IV-TR checklist for generalized anxiety disorder. Which of Allison’s symptoms meet the diagnostic criteria? Be sure to match specific symptoms with specific criteria. * Based on your review of Allison’s symptoms and the diagnostic criteria, could Allison be diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder or would she be better diagnosed with a phobia or obsessive –compulsive disorder*? Does Allison appear to have a comorbid* panic disorder? Refer to the diagnostic criteria for panic disorder with agoraphobia and determine if she warrants this diagnosis, too. *How would the sociocultural* perspective explain Allison’s generalized anxiety disorder? How would the current** psychodynamic perspective explain Allison’s generalized anxiety disorder? How would the cognitive perspective explain Allisonâ€⠄¢s generalized anxiety disorder? What are the second-generation cognitive explanations for generalized anxiety disorder and how do the activities associated with each theory serve to maintain the worry? Describe a biological explanation for why Allison developed generalized anxiety disorder. Treatment Which theoretical perspectives offer treatments for generalized anxiety disorder that have been more than modestly **supported by the research literature? Discuss the cognitive therapy technique of focusing on worry**. What are some of the nondrug biological treatments used to treat generalized anxiety disorder ?

REFLECTIVE EASSY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

REFLECTIVE EASSY - Essay Example The teacher had an excellent mastery of content and commented on all of my assignment. My participation in the class and the tests I have done were a great deal to me. They helped me be more confident and aware of what I was learning. If I could improve on my punctuality maybe, I could grasp everything that was being taught in the class. I also feel like more homework’s, and group discussion could have improved my performance. However, I did the best in class participation that helped me in gaining the knowledge. Every topic was well explained, and I understood each concept. However, for the sake of those who are slow learners, I would recommend more practical on the topic. Instructors should not focus on the theory part only but engage the students on practical to make us improve our understanding. Measuring my future effects according to my personal review including what I have understood from the course; I accumulated lots of knowledge and know the knowledge will guide me on achieving my future goals. The practical I have also done I can apply them in my profession in the

Islamic Feminism as an Umbrella for Different Tendencies Research Paper

Islamic Feminism as an Umbrella for Different Tendencies - Research Paper Example Awde (2005) believes that Islamic feminists may or may not share the main tenets of Western feminism. What Feminists believe Feminists generally criticize a number of discriminatory Islamic rules. A large number of these feminists formulate their criticisms from within the Islamic framework. They profess a double allegiance, to Islam and to women rights. Doorn-Harder(2006) states that feminists generally express the belief that the divine message of Islam is inherently egalitarian. Yet, its egalitarian content has been partly or wholly destroyed by human interpretation. Souaiaia(2007) states that feminists, however, do not all think the same way or even about the same kind of problems and the immensely diversified topics under feminism are self-speaking proof of this. The issue of marriage and divorce, the veil and its necessity as an adornment for Muslim women in order to protect them from causing seduction or discomfort to the society in general, the struggles that women have faced over centuries and the pain that they have borne to make their place in the mainstream market are just a few of the issues that feminists deal with. In the pre-Islamic era and where the woes of polytheism and polyandry prospered, women were gravely burdened by highly discriminated societal views. Rituals like the killing of young girls at birth, restricting of women to household chores, giving women no right over property or land and depriving them of the most essential human rights were some of the major problems. Souaiaia(2009) claims that feminists over the years have raised questions on traditions such as the Crimes of Honor and inform the law upholders how for honour's sake; the protectors of women take away their lives and are unjustly supported by our religious scholars. According to Wilson (2011), the helplessness of a woman in a male-dominated society is a major bone of contention for feminists; a woman is merely a puppet whose strings can be tightened, loosened or even cu t by her guardians.

Cross-Cultural Enterprise Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Cross-Cultural Enterprise Management - Essay Example Focus of the paper will be towards emphasizing the importance of effective cross cultural management in an enterprise and to what extent this affects the survival of the enterprise. Cross-cultural management is particularly important for the operation of an enterprise to gain the requisite advantage in the fiercely competitive world. If the problem of cultural conflict in an enterprise is not handled well, it might influence the entire working environment of the enterprise and make the task of management more complex and the decision-making and implementation of multinational operation more difficult. Such problems might restrict the selection of human resources from native or overseas market, products and services. The impact of cultural conflict on the transnational business happens to be quite comprehensive, systematic affecting the entire process. This study will center on the cross-cultural enterprise management to analyze the problems in enterprise cultural management and prese nt possible solutions which are of a certain guiding significance to some of the UK companies On the basis of successful and unsuccessful case analyses of overseas investments by some of the UK companies or by some MNCs in UK, the study tries to put forward general theories in such a manner that the study proves to be of some help in future research work. Background Cross-cultural management in essence means managing different cultures with effective coordination amongst the cultural groups and management teams of different cultures with its impact on organizational behavior, effective communication with people who come from different countries and cultural backgrounds. (Li,C & Lu,C, 2000) Along with the rapid development in the economic field and globalization and integration of economies, the role of corporate culture is becoming increasingly significant in upgrading enterprise competitiveness. Different culture backgrounds, values, enterprise management modes, politics, beliefs and cultures as well as racism and communication misunderstanding will give rise to corporate cultural conflicts. Cultural conflicts will in turn affect the relationship between multinational management and local employees and may lead to a loss in market opportunity and organizational efficiency, thus hampering the implementation plans of global strategies of multinat ionals. The so called "cultural conflict" refers to the process of confrontation and repulsion between different cultures or cultural elements, which not only includes the conflict arising from cultural difference between multinationals and countries where multinationals operate but also the conflict among internal employees from different cultural

T205A_TMA01 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

T205A_TMA01 - Essay Example The hospital does not provide any information to the patients about the delivery of their scans and about the period of wait. In the long wait, much confusion is developed by the patients and some patients become worried and the others become more optimistic about the condition of their health. A mess cannot be further divided into simpler components to solve it. However, in the issue that we are dealing with, the problems can be subdivided and further decomposed into simpler components. The property of mess is that it is unbounded. Hence it does not follow the attributes of a mess and is a difficulty. The patients suffer because of unavailable information. They make up their own judgments resulting from the environment and the hints from their GP. Some patients get too worried and others develop a more optimistic thought. All the patients agree that receiving information on time will solve many of their difficulties. Systemic thinking indicates that everything is interrelated and all the events in the world can only be understood if they are seen as a whole. It considers the system to be a mix of interactions and actions and a structured unit with a function. On the other hand, systematic thinking is the belief that the things can be better understood if they are broken down into simpler components. Systematic thinking states that if things are studied in isolation, without interdependencies, the things become less complex. Once the wholes are broken into smaller, more manageable parts, understanding becomes pretty much possible. Whereas systemic thinking argues that if wholes are broken down, the understanding of the whole is not possible anymore because of the absence of interrelation. The focus of systemic thinking is more on the linkages and the interactions among the elements of a system. By taking a holistic view of the entire system, the system can be understood and the problems can be addresses. The focus of the

Drop in customer and target market for a beverage operation Assignment

Drop in customer and target market for a beverage operation - Assignment Example In this paper I will be using drop-in-customer as my customer type and analysing the target market in relation to selection of location for a beverage operation. Energy boosting beverages are largely consumed by sports persons such as athletes. However, the market for these beverages has grown and expanded beyond sports persons to attract non-traditional drinkers. Teenagers, college students and young adults in the ages of 18 to 34 account for majority of energy drink consumption today. This is particularly because of this population’s active lifestyle. Furthermore advertisements for such products appeal to this generation more as compared to older persons. Research has shown that 34% of persons between the ages of 18 and 24 take energy drinks regularly (O’Brien et al, 2008). Also half of all college students consume a drink at least every month regardless of their gender. Most drop-in-customers for beverages are therefore below the age of 34 years of age, are active and therefore will take an energy drink especially on a tiresome day (Heckman, Sherry and Gonzalez, 2010). Sports persons also actively consumer energy drinks. This target market many not have lots of money to spend but regularly need the drinks and will therefore often purchase a drink. The young adults on the other hand are mostly in their first jobs and therefore have some funds to spend on drinks. Marketing and advertisement messages should therefore communicate the benefits of the drinks and at the same time appeal in terms of price (Miller, 2008). Location for beverage operations is also an important element of marketing considering the demographics of the target market. The on-the-go life style of the target market for instance requires that operations are located in strategic places such as supermarkets, college canteens and central places on streets. Design of the retail outlets should also take in account the fact that these

Financial Prospectus Content Paper Essay Example for Free

Financial Prospectus Content Paper Essay Prepare the first seven components of your venture’s Financial Prospectus. The Financial Prospectus must include the information you provided in the individual assignments from Week One and Two, revised as necessary based on material covered in subsequent workshops and organized with new material added as necessary. Post your assignment as a Microsoft ® Word attachment in APA format. Every freshman should understand and realize that the freshman 15 does in fact exist. It is important that everyone take the necessary steps to ensure that they are getting proper nutrition during their first year in college. While it might be tempting to pile on some fries for dinner every night, youll pay for it in the long run. This work comprises FIN 375 Week 4 Financial Prospectus Content Paper Business General Business Individual Financial Prospectus Content Paper Resources: Final Prospectus Expectations Prepare the first seven components of your venture’s Financial Prospectus. The Financial Prospectus must include the information you provided in the individual assignments from Week One and Two, revised as necessary based on material covered in subsequent workshops and organized with new material  added as necessary. Post your assignment as a Microsoft ® Word attachment in APA format. Every freshman should understand and realize that the freshman 15 does in fact exist. It is important that everyone take the necessary steps to ensure that they are getting proper nutrition during their first year in college. While it might be tempting to pile on some fries for dinner every night, youll pay for it in th A+ tutorial you will find here https://bitly.com/1wySU49 Every freshman should understand and realize that the freshman 15 does in fact exist. It is important that everyone take the necessary steps to ensure that they are getting proper nutrition during their first year in college. While it might be tempting to pile on some fries for dinner every night, youll pay for it in the long run. Business General Business Individual Financial Prospectus Content Paper Resources: Final Prospectus Expectations Prepare the first seven components of your venture’s Financial Prospectus. The Financial Prospectus must include the information you provided in the individual assignments from Week One and Two, revised as necessary based on material covered in subsequent workshops and organized with new material added as necessary. Post your assignment as a Microsoft ® Word attachment in APA format.

Approaches to Treatment and Therapy: Case Study

Approaches to Treatment and Therapy: Case Study Case Study 1 (Phillip) Background Phillip is displaying multiple adverse psychological symptoms that would best fit the diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Specifically Phillip is a compulsive washer as he maintains a high level of cleanliness, having showers up to three times a day. He also only eats frozen food in order to avoid contamination and organises his furniture, making sure that they are all perpendicular to the wall. These compulsions are repetitive, purposeful behaviours designed to prevent or reduce anxiety (De Silva, 2003). Some, if not most, of Phillip’s anxiety arises from the intrusive thought of stabbing his mother which has become a clinical obsession because he believes that the thought has personal significance and meaning. This may be because Phillip has an inflated sense of responsibility and so believes that he is responsible for preventing the intrusive thought from actually happening (Rheaume et al., 1994). This has led to Phillip avoiding people, his Mother especially, but this has only increased the frequency and severity of his compulsions. It appears that Phillip is stuck in a vicious cycle of his obsessions and his compulsions feeding off one another and so intervention will be needed in order to help him. Theoretical Framework There are two central aspects of OCD, the cognitive aspects which include intrusive thoughts, obsessions and cognitive distortions, and the behavioural aspect of compulsions. In cognitive theory, intrusive thoughts (e.g. I want to stab my mother) occur automatically and usually have no emotional significance but can take on significance, depending on the context in which intrusions happen (England Dickerson, 1988). Such thoughts are very common and have been reported to occur in almost 90% of the population (Rachman de Silva, 1978) but once an individual deems these thoughts as significant it can cause distress and the belief that they are personally responsible for preventing the thought from actually happening. The distress caused by high levels of perceived responsibility has been found in multiple studies (Shafran, 1997; Roper Rachman 1975) as obsessional patients felt a lot more uncomfortable performing checking rituals when they were on their own and calmer when the therapis t was there as the patient felt less responsibility. This sense of responsibility is associated with both worry (Wells Papageorgiou, 1998) and OC symptoms (Salkovskis et al., 2000a). Specifically, the lowering of responsibility is associated with a significant drop in discomfort and need to check (Lopatka Rachman, 1995). One explanation for inflated responsibility is the ‘thought-action fusion’ (TAF) theory which suggests that obsessions occur in people who believe that thinking about a disturbing event is the same as doing it and that having an intrusive thought is morally equivalent to acting on said thought (Rachman, 1993; Shafran, Thordarson Rachman, 1996). TAF is an example of ‘thinking errors’ outlined by Beck (1976) which are used by most people all the time but can be detrimental when thinking errors become central to thought processes (Nisbett Ross, 1980). The most prevalent thinking error in those with OCD is that having any influence over the outcome means that you are responsible for the outcome. Due to the distress caused by the appraisal of intrusive thoughts, individuals aim to neutralise the anxiety caused through mental reassurance and overt compulsions (such as washing and checking) (Salkovskis, 1985). However attempts to neutralise the thought can sustain and potentially increase responsibility beliefs and the occurrence of intrusive thoughts. A common type of neutralising behaviour which is present in Phillip’s case is compulsive washing. Almost 50% of patients with OCD are compulsive washers (APA, 1994) and it is even more common in childhood cases of OCD like Phillip’s with 85% of young patients displaying washing rituals (Swedo et al., 1989b). It has been suggested that one of the main attributes of compulsive washers is perfectionism (Tallis, 1996). Tallis claims that most compulsive washers do not exhibit such behaviour because they are concerned about contamination or illness, instead they are more concerned with maintaining their environment perfe ctly and thus feeling fully in control. Research has found that there is a significant link between perfectionism and OCD in general, not just in compulsive washing (Bouchard et al., 1999). As Phillip appears to be displaying the perfectionist personality trait, it is important to consider this in therapy. As perfectionism has been found to correlate with depressive symptoms (Enns Cox, 1999; Flett et al., 1991) it is possible that a negative mood may be a factor in Phillip’s thinking errors. The mood-as-input theory (Martin et al., 1993) suggests that people use their mood as a factor to decide whether or not they have completed a task. When people are in a positive mood they are more likely to take their affect as a sign that they are progressing in a task and achieving more (Hirt et al., 1996). Whereas those in a negative mood experience the opposite and interpret their mood to mean that they haven’t progressed enough and so must continue with the task (Schwarz Bless, 1991; Frijda, 1988). This may occur because people in negative moods have been found to process tasks more extensively than those in positive moods (Mackie Worth, 1989). This is a significant theory for Phillip’s case as individuals with OCD tend to use internal states that are difficult to achie ve such as ‘having a gut feeling’ to help them decide when to stop compulsive behaviour (Salkovskis, 1998). They therefore have stricter personal requirements for making decisions and so what should be an automatic decision becomes a strategic one and the strict criteria have to be met before anxiety is reduced and the compulsive behaviour can stop (Salkovskis et al., 2000a). Problem Formulation Phillip presents all of the issues outlined in the theoretical framework which will act as the foundations for intervention. Figure 1 shows the main aspects of Phillip’s case and highlights his rules for living and the cycle in which he is trapped. From the information given in Phillip’s case, it appears as though the bottom line of his psychology is â€Å"I have to have full control over every aspect of my life† which may have been caused by authoritarian parenting (Timpano et al., 2010) or childhood trauma (Lochner et al., 2002) which have both been found to significantly correlate with OCD symptoms. Whilst there isn’t enough information about Phillip’s childhood to speculate if such things have happened to him, these are factors to bear in mind during treatment. This strict bottom line in Phillip’s life has led to certain maladaptive rules of living including his perfectionism (control over actions) and inflated responsibility (control over thoughts and feelings). He also has a generally negative mood as an input to his thought processes because he can never fully satisfy the strict standards that he sets himself. Then, when Phillip was a teenager he began experiencing intrusive thoughts about stabbing his mother. Such intrusive thoughts are not usually enough to trigger anxiety but due to Phillip’s rules of living, he finds personal meaning in the thought and feels responsible for preventing the thought from happening. This triggers anxiety and so he seeks to neutralise the thought through compulsive washing, arranging furniture and socially isolating himself. When these neutralising behaviours reduce his anxiety it reinforces Phillip’s thinking errors, his rules of living and his bottom line. Thus, when his anxiety is triggered again he repeats the behaviour and so Phillip is trapped in a cycle of his compulsions and obsessions reinforcing one another. Figure 1. Problem Formation flow chart for Phillip Treatment Intervention Phillip’s treatment can start with cognitive therapy aiming to focus and modify his thinking errors and inflated sense of responsibility. At the same time as this Phillip can take part in group therapy designed specifically to treat perfectionists. After these treatments and once Phillip feels ready to, he can move on to exposure and response prevention (ERP) using virtual reality to simulate dirty and contaminated environments. This will help him to control his compulsions and get him out of the obsessive-compulsive cycle. For Phillip, cognitive therapy will start by focussing on the distinction between intrusive thoughts and his negative appraisal of those thoughts. As outlined by Menzies and de Silva (2003), this begins by asking patients to reflect upon the last time they had an intrusive thought and what their behavioural reaction was to this thought. Phillip will then be encouraged to recognise that it was not the thought itself that cause his subsequent behaviour but how he interpreted the thought. It is important that the client understands the distinction between his intrusions and their appraisal before moving on to further intervention as it may otherwise confuse them. Next, Phillip taught about how common intrusive thoughts can be, to help him dismiss any feelings of shame or guilt that he may be feeling. It is suggested by Salkovskis (1999) that patients should be encouraged to view intrusive thoughts as a potentially positive and useful occurrence that can help with problem solving and for esight. The goal of this is not to eliminate their intrusions but to help them feel more positive by normalising them. Phillip is also encouraged to modify his responsibility appraisals in order to reduce his inflated sense of responsibility. Van Oppen Arntz (1994) found that even when people with OCD understand how unlikely it is that their intrusive thoughts will become reality, they continue to show compulsive behaviours because they feel a sense of responsibility to stop it from happening. Van Oppen Arntz (1994) suggest creating a pie chart with patients that they can divide up to represent the importance of factors that may contribute to a feared outcome. Once Phillip assigns percentage values to each factor he will be able to visualise that his role of responsibility is much smaller than he originally thought. This technique will help Phillip to reassess the overestimation of his responsibility and realise the importance of other uncontrollable factors. Whilst undergoing cognitive therapy Phillip will join group therapy to help him with his perfectionism. Ferguson and Rodway (1994) outlined a group therapy programme for perfectionism based on cognitive-behavioural theory. This programme will aim to help Phillip understand the problems that can arise from perfectionism and what strategies can be used in order to change his perfectionist way of thinking. The therapy will also be based on the outline provided by Kutlesa and Arthur (2007) which applies a psycho-educational approach to perfectionism, using interpersonal theory (Yalom,1995) as the psychological component which will ask Phillip and others in the group to focus on the present rather than worrying about the future. The educational component will use elements of cognitive-behavioural theory (Ellis, 1991; Beck, 1993) to teach the group about the thinking errors involved in perfectionism and skills to cope with and change these thinking errors. Once Phillip has made progress in both treatments and feels ready for the next step he will move on to ERP as a treatment for his compulsive behaviour. Firstly, Phillip will be steadily and gradually exposed to environmental triggers. He will write a list of situations in which he could be contaminated, started with the one that makes him the least anxious and working his way up to the worst. Most ERP treatments ask participants to experience these situations either through images or in vivo but a new method of virtual reality (VR) is being used in the treatment of OCD and it has been found to be effective (Kim et al., 2009; Belloch et al., 2014). Using VR, Phillip will then be exposed to the items on his list one by one, experiencing each one repeatedly until anxiety is completely reduced and Phillip is ready for the next item. Another aspect of this treatment is response prevention which aims to help patients control their compulsions in advance of triggering events (Meyer et al., 1974). This involves strategies such as using alternative behaviours and modifying compulsive rituals which can be integrated into the VR exposure. This treatment aims to expose Phillip to his triggers in a safe way reducing his anxiety for those situations and learning to control his compulsions in the process. Evaluation Using cognitive and behavioural treatments together is crucial for Phillip’s intervention as they both deal with either the obsessions and the thinking errors or the compulsions but not both. If only one of these elements is dealt with then it is likely that the other will return. Whilst cognitive therapy has been found to be potentially effective on its own (Cottraux et al., 2001) studies have found that when ERP is combined with cognitive therapy it produces lower dropout rates, greater general coping and decreased obsessive-compulsive symptoms (Kyrios et al., 2001; Freeston et al., 1997). A major aspect of Phillip’s case that wasn’t dealt with in cognitive-behavioural therapy that was not covered was his perfectionism. Research has found that CBT doesn’t significantly reduce perfectionist symptoms (Egan Hine, 2008) whereas Richards etal. (1993) found lower scores on perfectionism and depression scales and increased levels of self-reported wellbeing and self-esteem in response to group therapy. The incorporation of VR is a modern approach to ERP but it is one that is becoming very popular in the treatment of many anxiety disorders (Kim et al., 2009) and has been found to be as effective as in vivo exposure (Belloch et al., 2014). One aspect that wasn’t addressed in Phillip’s treatment is that of his family. As mentioned earlier it is possible that authoritarian parenting (Timpano et al., 2010) or childhood trauma (Lochner et al., 2002) could be involved in Phillip’s case as these are common causes of childhood OCD. There are family-based therapies that are shown to be effective in these cases (Lebowitz, 2013) but there wasn’t enough information about Phillip’s family to make such assumptions. If, in therapy, similar issues are revealed then family-based therapy may be very useful for Phillip. Also, little attention was given to biological factors even though pharmacological treatments are very effective in the treatment of OCD (Abramowitz, 1997; de Haan et al., 1997). This is because it would only tackle Phillip’s symptoms whereas cognitive therapy with ERP and group therapy will help Phillip to understand his rules of living, his bottom line, and how to potentially c hange or cope with this. References