Measuring Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Measuring Globalization - Essay Example The spread of globalization, according to many, allows for free trade and free markets in most of the developing countries. This is with the aim of alleviating poverty. Many corporations, from developed countries, are responsible for running the lives of many individuals. Globalization, today, is seen as a means to try and calculate the gap that exists between the poor and the rich. Economists try to address globalization, and the effect it may have on different individuals and countries. If there is a constant or an even growth in a country, there is likely to be more satisfaction. This is unlike when there is an uneven growth (Guinness 194). This is because the latter indicates that some areas will be better off than other areas. The most common method of measuring the globalization level in a country is the use of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in a region. It might be; import or export or the total consumption on import/export GDP in the region. This represents the final market value of goods in a country produced or consumed or a sum of both these factors within a year. In measuring globalization through the GDP, an increase in exports increases the country’s GDP, thus; symbolising growth in the country’s economic stature (Maher 109). The higher the annual growth rates, the higher the economic growth, through time. It is through such a constant method that allows for a country to trade freely along international lines. This may be because; their products are capturing a wider, global market. This indicates that

Literary analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Literary analysis - Essay Example The novel depicts his experiences in the War and serves as a good way to express his ideas about the Vietnam War. Other characters include Jimmy Cross, Martha, Mark Fossie, Mary Ann Bell and a lot more. Mary Ann Bell is the girlfriend of Mark Fossie and is known to be a sweet and naive lady when she first came to Vietnam. However, she has been influenced drastically by her environment. People see her to have a monstrous persona neglecting her heroic deeds. Thus, this has come to argument and needs to be defined through analyzing her character in the story. The author imposes many argumentative points in the story and needs further analyzing in order to comprehend with his objectives. It is unexpected for a lady to turn into a monstrous persona because her image depicts a sweet girlfriend and very innocent to what is happening in her environment. However, everything seems to change when her eyes are opened to the facts of what the soldiers are fighting for. While Mary Anne Bell is seen to be a monster to everyone, they kind of miss the positive side of what she did. The chapter â€Å"Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong† contests the thought that women are just meant to serve a man. As the girlfriend of Mark Fossie, it is expected on the character of Mary Anne Bell to portray a wife-material lady and be able to respond to what the role heeds. However, it had been posted that Mary Anne is a monster because of being into the war. She has learned to adopt the culture of the Vietnam (O’ Brien 107) and seems to be incompatible with what Mark Fossie used to. It is a matter of acceptance between them and hence the other one could not accept it, he regards her as a monster. However, there is a point that Fossie is trying to understand Mary Anne through influencing her back of what their real culture is but still the foreign one prevails. Indeed, Mary Ann Bell has changed from a sweet to an independent lady and that is why she is seen as a monster.

Health Risks of being Obese and Dangers of Anorexia, Bulimia, and Research Paper

Health Risks of being Obese and Dangers of Anorexia, Bulimia, and Gastric By-Pass - Research Paper Example Adults as well as children have been observed to frequently suffer from obesity in modern day context. Obesity is one of the major origins of preventable death. There are various health risks which are attached with obesity or overweight. The health risks associated with obesity are Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, metabolic syndrome, gallbladder disease, pregnancy complications, liver disease as well as sleep apnea among others. Obesity is considered as a psychological as well as a physical problem. Moreover, psychological problems relating to depression, eating disorder and anxiety are among the factors which are responsible for disrupting healthy diet. Body mass index (BMI) is a technique utilized with the intention of determining health risks of a person associated with an individual weight. BMI is normally a proportion of weight to height (NIDDK, 2007). Obesity is determined to be a major problem related to health for both children and adult. It is one of the main public health related problems. Moreover, obesity is considered to be a complex problem. In this regard, there are many factors including nutrition, genetic, energy consumption as well as environment factors which are responsible for contributing to obesity etiology. Overweight children possess many chronic conditions which may lead to obesity in their adult life. Obesity raises the risk of non-insulin dependent diabetes in adults as well as in children. Moreover, obesity in childhood can also lead to high blood pleasure related medical condition in adulthood. Hypertension is related to obesity which may cause cerebral hemorrhage and heart disease (Raman, 2002). Eating disorder is a major reason for obesity. Food is considered as a coping material for individuals suffering from weight gain problem. In this concern, individuals possessing these problems tend to intake food in order to cope up with anxious or stressed situations as well as circumstances. Intake of high

How to Govern Effectively In a Corrupt Society Essay Example for Free

How to Govern Effectively In a Corrupt Society Essay Corruption can be simply defined as an act of dishonesty for the sole purpose of personal gain or selfish interest. It invariably means dishonest exploitations and manipulation of power for personal gains. Again, it means an immoral act of manipulation or depravity of material, power etc for ones selfish interest. To divorce the third world countries from corruption is literally a Herculean task. In as much as corruption, a great social vice, is not only found in third world countries, it is quite peculiar and most profound in these nations. It afflicts all nations with bad leaders, which eventually spreads to other citizens. In any government, be it democratically elected or otherwise, it is almost impossible not to have at least a single corrupt individual in the ruling government. Corruption is a vicious circle, it inhibits development in nations, and thus bestowing such nation a third world country features. There are several types of corruption, which include; Bribery; illegal collection of money or material before doing one’s official duty Graft; illicit and illegal request of things by public office holders. Patronage; misuse of public position. Embezzlement; misappropriation and mismanagement of fund Kickbacks nvolvement in organized crime etc. Other type of corruption apart from and political corruption include; â€Å"Corporate corruption, as the abuse of power by corporate managers against the shareholders or consumers†. Causes of Corruption include; i. Lack of transparency in the government; when the governments’ activities are not easily accessible by the general public, the government tend to mismanage the public’s fund and also indulge in all sort of corrupt practices. ii. Bad leaders; Corruption leaders do not only embezzle, them also do all sort immoral acts while in government. iii. Masses lack of interest in the government; when the general public is not charismatic and is not particular in electing good leaders in to government, it results in corruption. iv. Irresponsive government; when government do not have programs that take care of the welfare and economic affairs of it citizen, citizen tend to take care of themselves in all sort of ways both fraudulent and corrupt ways. v. Weak accountability, lack of timely financial management. vi. Poverty; in a society where poverty is vast, the masses tend to indulge in corruption to improve their finances. However, Political corruption is the most severe type of corruption for it affects not only the political system, it affects the entire economy of the nation. The Economic effects include; In the government, corruption undermines both economic and social development by creating distortions, extortion of the masses and inefficiency in the public office. It also brings about nepotism, which kills creativity and a value of self achievement. In the private sector, corruption simply increases the cost of production through the price of â€Å"illegal payments and the management cost of negotiating with officials†. It also leads to breached agreements, distrust and inflation. In several cases, the masses are the victims of corruption, it results into economic distortions in the public sector by diverting public investment into capital projects where bribes and kickbacks are more plentiful. Again, tax payers money are diverted into private use by corrupt leaders. Social amenities are either not provided or the few available are not maintained. Public â€Å"Officials may increase the technical complexity of public sector projects to conceal or pave way for such dealings, thus further distorting investment. Corruption also lowers compliance with construction, environmental, or other regulations, reduces the quality of government services and infrastructure, and increases budgetary pressures on government†. Types of leaders that could handle Corruptions; The leaders that should be elected to tackle corruption are leaders which are well vast in democratic process. They should be well educated both in the history of their people and the development of democracy in the western world. To take a tip from the philosophers, a true ruler must highly intelligent, learned and well expose to democratic precedents. Again such leaders should be contentious, level headed, god fearing, incorrigible and most especially must be ready pursue democratic due process in all cases. A patriotic leader would not want his/her nation to be backward, hence would fight all corrupts advances proffered towards the development of the nation. Reference Dipo Irele, Corruption the evil against development. University press,Oyo state,Nigeria. 2002

Power Balance Bands Conclusion Essay Example for Free

Power Balance Bands Conclusion Essay The purpose of this experiment was to once and for all answer the question, â€Å"do the Power Balance Bands truly have an effect on a person’s balance strength and flexibility or is the whole thing a scam? † The company claims that the these bracelets have a hologram in it and when the hologram comes in contact with your body’s energy field, it allows your body to interact with the natural, beneficial frequency stored within the hologram, resulting in improved energy flow throughout your body. But is this true? The original claim for this experiment was that if people are wearing the power balance band while participating in various balance, strength, and flexibility tests then the band will in fact not have any effect on the persons balance, strength, or flexibility. The data showed a very small difference between the performance of the â€Å"fake† and â€Å"real† Power Balance Bands. All three tests showed no more than a . 3% difference between the means for both bands. This experiment was essentially an experiment testing the placebo effect on the use of the Power Balance Bracelet. The placebo effect is the measurable, observable, or felt improvement in health or behavior not attributable to a medication or invasive treatment that has been administered. The goal was to convince people the â€Å"original† Power Balance band actually worked, and that the â€Å"fake† one didn’t. My results showed little to no change in performance regardless of which band the student was wearing. This observation confirmed my hypothesis that neither band would have any affect on a person’s performance. The systematic error in this experiment was that I was not able to test 50 tests subject, I was only able to test 36 which luckily still allowed me to get accurate results. The Random error in this experiment was that it was difficult to measure the improvement, or digression of the participants, for both the Balance Test and the Strength Test. The only recorded limitation for this experiment was the fact that while performing the Balance and Strength Test if each participant made to 10 seconds while balancing they were stopped and had their abilities observed and recorded. The generalizability of the results can apply to all humans however; this experiment is exclusive in that it cannot be generalized for all other objects, insects, or animals. For future directions I would increase the sample size, and also change the tests so that they can be measured by something other than time.

Palliative Care Clinical Experience

Palliative Care Clinical Experience Introduction The purpose of this assignment is to reflect on a clinical experience in palliative care and demonstrate the knowledge and skills associated with this. The symptoms, symptom management and government guidelines and standards will also be discussed in relation to how this will impact the care of the patients who are experiencing life threatening illnesses. This will be achieved through using Gibbs (1988) model of reflection. I chose this model of reflection because it is clear and cyclical model which allows the reflector to revisit the same problem and also to examine my practice which will help me to develop and improve in the future. Description As an adult nursing student, I will be reflecting on an experience with a patient who was receiving palliative care that I encountered during my community placement. The patient received palliative care and required management of symptoms to help maintain their quality of life for the patient and their family. This involved a patient, who will be named Mr. Jones for confidentiality reasons. Mr. Jones was an elderly patient who had been diagnosed with bowel cancer along with liver metastases, the cancer was in the advanced stages. Mr. Jones was being cared for at home by his wife and carers who visited him at home twice a day to help with getting him up, washing and dressing and helping him back to bed. The district nursing team also visited him on a regular basis. When meeting with the patient his main concern was his pain control and available options which he would be able to receive to manage this. Feelings Initially when I heard about the diagnosis I was intrigued and wanted to find out more about the patient and their condition. When I met the patient I felt sympathetic towards him and the family and upon discussion he revealed that he felt like giving up and ending it all. A mixture of thoughts entered my mind, although I could understand why he would want to give up, the only reason was because he was worried about the pain he was starting to experience. When the nurse and I discussed the pain control options he appeared to be more positive about the situation and apologized for what he had said. On reflection it was a positive experience as it allowed me to see how people cope differently with terminal conditions, and the impact it has on the family and carers Evaluation During this experience I thought that the nursing team had built a good professional relationship with the patient and their family. The patient had plenty of time to discuss any concerns or issues that he had .The issues discussed such as symptom management were all assessed and prioritized well; how the patient is feeling is important and needs to be taken into consideration. This would also need to be discussed with his wife alone, to find out how she is feeling and to offer her support. When discussed further, the feelings of giving up related to his pain management. This is why the Visual Analogue Scale was used for a couple of weeks to monitor the progression of his pain (Crichton 2001). I found the tool to be beneficial for effective management of pain because it was a good indicator as to when we would need to adjust his analgesia using the World Health Organization (WHO) analgesic ladder (WHO, 2004). This aims to give the correct drug, correct dose, given at the correct time and proves to be inexpensive and 80-90% effective (WHO, 2004). This ensured the patient was in the least amount of pain which enabled them to carry on with activities of daily living. Analysis The World Health Organization (2009) has defined palliative care as: an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems such as physical, psychosocial and spiritual.Caring for those receiving palliative care in the community during the end stages of life requires an extraordinary commitment from the nursing team, not only human resource but also competence, compassion and focus in anticipating the needs of the patient and family. It is a complex activity involving a holistic approach, building relationships together with expert professional skills and decision making processes (Melvin 2003). As well as pain, other common symptoms during advanced cancer are nausea and vomiting, with rates ranging from 50-60% (Kearney and Richardson, 2006). It is important to treat the reversible causes of nausea and vomiting before resorting to antiemetics. This can be achieved by appropriate assessment and documentation of symptoms which evaluate the effect of treatment given and can be completed and reviewed quickly to utilize less patient energy and nursing time (Kearney and Richardson, 2006). Cancer patients also experience psychological or affective symptoms of fatigue which include lack of energy and motivation, depression, sadness and anxiety, the sense of willpower and fighting spirit is often lacking and personal resources that have usually kept a person going in the past are ineffective (Juenger, 2002). Fatigue can take away the ability to do things that the patient and family want to do or need to do. The control over life events reduces, further affecting the persons quality of life. An essential part of nursing care for fatigue includes returning some of that control (Porock 2003). Giving information can be a positive way to do this. Nu rses can explain that the person is not alone in the experience as fatigue is an expected occurrence in advanced cancer and discuss the causes of fatigue, effects and side effects of treatment and the impact of stress and depression, this will help the patient to manage the fatigue more effectively (Porock 2003).Mr. Jones was prescribed oral slow-release Morphine Sulphate for his pain, however he was beginning to experience break through pain, nausea and vomiting which was making it difficult for him to take his morphine. We suggested he kept a record of his pain over a couple of weeks using a visual analogue scale (VAS). When we visited him again we were able to use the VAS to assess his pain and make changes to analgesia as appropriate using the analgesic ladder (see appendix). From the assessment it was appropriate to increase his analgesia to step 3 of the analgesic ladder (WHO, 2004). A syringe driver was prescribed to administer morphine and an antiemetic over a 24 hour period which could be increased or decreased as required. Providing drug compatibilities have been checked, a combination of three drugs can usually be administered safely with the advantage that vomiting will not affect absorption, as it is given subcutaneously and the gut is not involved (Thompson, 2004). Although using a syringe driver improves symptom management with minimal inconvenience, complications can arise and nurses should be able to recognize these quickly and solve the problems efficiently (Lugton, 2002). The disadvantages of using this equipment is the painful injection site, infection risks and infusion rate problems (Thompson, 2004). Mr. Jones commented on giving up and after further discussion, we found this related to his pain. Evidence shows that there is a link between chronic pain and depression as they share similar physiological pathways, whilst social and psychological factors appear to affect the severity of it and when they co-exist the severity of both conditions appears to worsen (Gray, 2001). Ineffective management of psychiatric disorders can be caused by failure to recognize, diagnose and treat appropriately in palliative care settings with 50% of psychiatric disorders being undetected (Payne et al, 2007). Patients with cancer should have access to appropriate psychological support and should be assessed regularly by trained professionals as recommended by National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2004).Many people may wish to try complementary and alternative medicines to improve symptoms of their cancer, the reason being many feel dissatisfied with conventional medicine and feel the desir e to experience holistic health care for symptomatic relief with a sense of well being (Nayak et al 2003). Auricular acupuncture (acupuncture to the ear), therapeutic touch, and hypnosis may help to manage cancer pain, whilst music therapy, massage, and hypnosis may have an effect on anxiety, and both acupuncture and massage may have a therapeutic role in cancer fatigue (Mansky and Wallerstedt 2006). However there is a lack of evidence to support that complementary and alternative medicine treatments are effective, the risks associated with them are unknown and can potentially be harmful. There has been increasing concern with the use of botanicals and dietary supplements by cancer patients because of the potential interaction between them and prescription drugs (Mansky and Wallerstedt 2006). During this experience, I realised just how important communication is, not only in this situation, but any situation that includes the patient, relatives, carers and multi-disciplinary team. C ommunication is an essential part of good nursing practice and forms the basis for building a trusting relationship that will greatly improve care and help to reduce anxiety and stress for patients, their relatives and carers (NMC 2008). Groogan (1999) acknowledges that communication is not something that people to do one another, but it is a process in which they can create a relationship by interacting with each other. From Mr. Jones perspective, patient-focused communication can be the most important aspect of treatment, due to its capacity to exacerbate or relieve the fear that often accompanies cancer, with evidence of effective communication resulting in decreased anxiety, greater coping ability and adherence to treatment (Dickson 1999). Communication can be divided into three types; cognitive, emotional and spiritual. Cognitive communication involves the giving and receiving of information, emotional communication involves the feeling and expression of psychological responses and spiritual communication involves the expression and feeling of thoughts relating to existing issues beyond the person (Fallowfield Jenkins 1999). When speaking with Mr. Jones and his family the language used was clear and easy to understand. Stress, emotions and fatigue that accompany a terminal illness make it necessary for the information to be repeated to ensure the patient and family have absorbed it and feel reassured (Latimer 2000).Mr. Jones was given enough time to discuss his concerns and issues without feeling like he had a limited period or that the nurses had many other patients to see, however, what often matters is the quality of interaction rather than the length of time. Giving a few moments of time which are totally focused on the patients communication needs can often limit the amount of time spent communicating later when further explanation or clarification is needed (Faull et al, 2005). Mallet and Dougherty (2000) suggested that patients tend to be more dis satisfied with poor communication than with any other aspect of their care and concluded ineffective communication continues to be a major issue in health care.The Department of Health has produced the End of Life Care Strategy (DoH 2008) which promotes high quality care for all adults at the end of life which is the first for the United Kingdom and covers adults in England. Its aim is to provide people approaching the end of life with more choice about where they would like to live and die. In addition, the Macmillan Gold Standards Framework (2003) is another way of combining many different practices. The framework includes 7 Gold Standards which relate to key aspects of care, and guidelines for best practice on teamwork and continuity of care, advanced planning, symptom control and support for patients and their carers. Primary Health Care Teams who join the programme are guided and supported through a combination of workshops, resource materials and networking (Macmillan Cancer R elief 2003). In place is also the NICE clinical guidance on supportive and palliative care (NICE 2004) which advises those who develop and deliver cancer services for adults with cancer about what is needed to make sure that patients, their families and carers, are well informed, cared for and supported. These initiatives had a positive impact on Mr. Jones as the nurses were able to use these guidelines to offer Mr. Jones the best care suited for him and he was then able to make informed decisions regarding the care he would like to receive. These initiatives also have a positive impact on health care professionals as they are supported and encouraged to improve their knowledge through workshops and resource materials. Action Plan/Conclusion My reflection of this experience has taught me how complex it is caring for someone receiving palliative care. It requires a holistic approach to ensure the patient and the family receive the best possible care in accordance with the guidelines and standards, in which they must remain empowered and make informed choices regarding their care and treatment with the help of health care professionals. I now understand how complicated symptom management can be; cancer patients experience many symptoms from their condition and also side effects from their medication. Assessments are vital to ensure the appropriate treatment and management of symptoms. The importance of communication has been brought to my attention once again, in my future nursing practice I will focus on my communication skills as this is an essential part of good nursing practice and plays a vital role in palliative care. Although this was an upsetting experience it has also been a positive one as this will affect my fut ure nursing practice a great deal as I have gained vital skills to look after those receiving palliative care and I am now aware of the various strategies and frameworks in place to ensure patients and families receive a high standard of care.

Quasi-experimental Design :: Research methods and statistics

I. Jackson (2012), even-numbered chapter exercises, p 360. 2. The recommended design for this type of study is a non-equivalent control group post-test only design. 4. If a study is confounded, the researcher is not absolutely certain that changes in the dependent variable were caused by the manipulation of the independent variable, or some other uncontrolled variable. In a non-equivalent control group post-test only design, any differences observed between the two classes may be due to the non-equivalence of the groups and not to the injection of quizzes. No pre-test measures were given to establish equivalence. Another confound that may impact the results of this study could be the testing effect. Repeated testing may lead to better or worse performance. Changes in performance on the test may be due to prior experience with the test and not to the independent variable. In addition, repeated testing fatigues the subjects, and their performance declines as a result (Jackson, 2012). Because the professor is interested in determining if the implementation of weekly quizzes would improve test scores, an experimenter and/or an instrumentation effect may also affect results. In a single group post-test only design, possible confounds include the lack of a comparison group and the absence of an equivalent control group. Once again, a testing and an experimenter effect could also contribute to changes in test performance. 6. A single-case design is used when: 1. Only one person is measured. 2. The researcher does not want or need to generalize the results to a population. 3. The researcher believes it is unethical to withhold treatment to one group. 8. A multiple-baseline design differs from a reversal design by attempting to control for confounds through the introduction of treatment at differing time intervals to a few different people, to the same person in different situations, or to the same person across different behaviors. Reversal designs attempt to control for confounds by reversing the baseline and treatment conditions one or more times to assess the impact on behavior (Jackson, 2012). 2. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of quasi-experiments? What is the fundamental weakness of a quasi-experimental design? Why is it a weakness? Does its weakness always matter? Quasi-experimental designs are experimental designs that do not provide for the full control of extraneous variables. Primarily, the absence of control in this design is due to the lack of random assignment to groups. Quasi-experimental research designs are used in the study of cause and effect by manipulating the independent variable.