Saturday, November 30, 2019

Treatment for Cleft Lips and Palate free essay sample

This paper explores the various options for surgical and medical management of cleft lips and palates and the ways in which these interventions can help children with these particular birth defects. The paper begins with an overview of the condition and causes of cleft lip and palate. It then examines treatment options available and presents other alternatives. The writer then discusses the specific language acquisition problems related to clefts and concludes by accessing the effectiveness of various treatments and surgery. Cleft lips and cleft palates are among the most common of birth defects and if left untreated can lead to serious speech problems as well as psychological damage that can result both from those speech and communication problems as well as from the ostracism that a child with a facial deformity may face. However, while the consequences of cleft lips and palates can be severe and long-lasting, these can be averted by medical intervention, especially if it is done as early as possible. We will write a custom essay sample on Treatment for Cleft Lips and Palate or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This paper explores the various options for surgical and medical management of cleft lips and palates and the ways in which these interventions can help children with these particular birth defects.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Sinornithosaurus - Facts and Figures

Sinornithosaurus - Facts and Figures Name: Sinornithosaurus (Greek for Chinese bird-lizard); pronounced sine-OR-nith-oh-SORE-us Habitat: Woodlands of Asia Historical Period: Early Cretaceous (130-125 million years ago) Size and Weight: About three feet long and 5-10 pounds Diet: Probably omnivorous Distinguishing Characteristics: Small size; bipedal posture;  long tail; feathers About Sinornithosaurus   Of all the dino-bird fossils discovered in the Liaoning Quarry in China, Sinornithosaurus may be the most famous, because its the most complete:  the perfectly preserved skeleton of this early Cretaceous dinosaur shows evidence not only of feathers, but of different kinds of feathers on different parts of its body. The feathers on this small theropods head were short and hairlike, but the feathers on its arms and tail were long and distinctively birdlike, with tufts of intermediate length along its back. Technically, Sinornithosaurus is classified as a raptor, on the basis of the single, oversized, sickle-shaped single claws on each of its hind feet, which it used to  tear  at and disembowel prey; on the whole, though, it bears a greater resemblance to the other dino-birds of the Mesozoic Era (like Archaeopteryx and Incisivosaurus) than it does to famous raptors like Deinonychus​ and Velociraptor. At the end of 2009, a team of paleontologists generated headlines by claiming Sinornithosaurus  to be  the first identified venomous dinosaur (never mind that poison-spitting Dilophosaurus you saw in Jurassic Park, which was based on fantasy rather than fact). The supposed evidence in favor of this behavior: fossilized pouches connected by ducts to this dinosaurs snake-like fangs. At the time, reasoning by analogy with modern animals, it would have been surprising if these sacs werent exactly what they appeared to berepositories of venom that Sinornithosaurus used to immobilize (or kill) its prey.  However, a more recent, and more convincing, study has concluded that the supposed  pouches of Sinornithosaurus were created when this individuals incisors loosened from their sockets, and arent evidence of a venomous lifestyle after all!

Friday, November 22, 2019

The campaign to ban the bull - Emphasis

The campaign to ban the bull The campaign to ban the bull In our e-bulletin, we like to take a wild specimen of business-writing bull by the horns and tame it, so that it can be understood by all. The Ban the bull campaign was inspired by our gobbledygook amnesty back in 2009, which brought us the following offending sentence. And, despite the subject matter, theres nothing natural about this sentence In respect of a natural habitat, the sum of the influences acting on a natural habitat and its typical species that may affect its long-term natural distribution, structure and functions as well as the long-term survival of its typical species within, as the case may be, the European territory of the Member States to which the Treaty applies or the territory of a Member State or the natural range of that habitat. This 72-word monster is more likely to leave you dizzy than well-informed about natural habitats, assuming you even make it to the end. Sentences that have to be re-read numerous times are only going to annoy your reader, and could well make them put your document aside permanently. This sentence has actually been doing the rounds in several slightly modified forms in assorted EC Directives and national regulations for over a decade. (It speaks to the dangers of repeatedly using cut-and-paste, that this example is perhaps the worst.) Where it was previously broken up into numbered points, these have now been crammed together, with additional phrases haphazardly piled onto the end. So how might we re-build this into something more manageable? Start plainly Even bearing in mind that this is taken out of context, the opening is vague and unclear. In what sense is it in respect of? It would be best to make this obvious at the beginning, so the reader is prepared with a premise to add the rest of the information to as they go on. After a little research, it seems this is probably defining an official way of deciding the conservation status of any natural habitat. Would the reader have known that? This would be better: The conservation status of a natural habitat can be measured by looking at Punctuate Avoid such overly long, opaque constructions, typical of the language of legislation. Even when lacking in individually mystifying jargon words as this one mostly is the sheer length of such sentences is a huge obstacle to clarity. Effective use of punctuation is vital for making meaning explicit, so use it wisely: an infinite number of commas wont clarify a poorly put-together sentence. Break it up When youre dealing with a list in your text in this case, a list of factors consider using bullet points. These instantly make the piece more accessible, because the reader is no longer faced with a block of text. They also help to make separate ideas more distinct. Cut the filler Phrases like as the case may be sound rambling and wishy-washy. Better to actually state your case, and cut these out. Keep it simple Unless youre sure every reader will understand a particular word, pick a more straightforward one. So that would leave us with: The conservation status of a natural habitat can be measured by looking at: every influence, both environmental and human, that affects that habitat and the species within it how these influences will affect that habitats long-term distribution, structure and function; and on the future survival of its typical species. In this context, these definitions apply to the range of natural habitats within Member States of the European territory included in this Treaty. Now, armed with this knowledge, we can all move forward into a world where business writing is safer for everyone. If you ever spot any baffling business-speak, be it in a report, letter, email, flyer, website, or proposal, please join our campaign by sending it to us to unravel. Alternatively, just leave a comment here at our business writing blog.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Importance of an entrepreneurial leader Assignment

Importance of an entrepreneurial leader - Assignment Example Entrepreneurial leaders have the drive to be successful and their flexibility leads to adaptability. Entrepreneurial leaders are result-oriented and have high levels of enthusiasm that ensures full commitment to the goals and objectives of the organization. The role of an entrepreneurial leader is different from other leader roles since they are take personal responsibility of the growth of the organization. Their roles are different from other leader roles since they continuously search for new opportunities that will lead to innovative products and ideas rather than ensuring the success of the already established products and ideas. The entrepreneurial leader will assemble and coordinate resources towards attainment of organizational goals and will take personal responsibility for the failures of the team and utilize such challenges in ensuring the organization attains its objective. Unlike other leader roles, an entrepreneurial leader plays the role of a risk-taker through investi ng in new and innovative ideas that will enhance the growth potential of the organization. An entrepreneurial leader role is different from other leaders since an entrepreneur is a change catalyst and champions creative. An entrepreneurial leader is important in an organization since he continuously searches for new opportunities and ensures creativity that ultimately leads to new and innovative products and ideas. The entrepreneurial leader roles are different from other leader roles since he or she is a risk-taker and acts as a change champion.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

All about Coal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

All about Coal - Research Paper Example The reason for the gathering of coal was primarily for household uses, namely heat. It was later discovered that it played an important role with its heating capabilities in smelting, alloy production and the generation of electricity. Sir George Bruce created a loading island where he sank a shaft connected to two others for drainage purposes and ventilation. This form of technology was extraordinary in coal mining during medieval times, often considered an industrial wonder of the time. In the 17th century many advances in the techniques used for mining were discovered, including test boring and drainage of the collieries, to allow the coal to be brought to the surface easier and more safely. Definition Merriam-Webster (2011) defines coal as â€Å"a piece of glowing carbon or charred wood†. This is a curious definition, as most would think of coal as simply a dirty, black rock that creates heat and is great for summer barbecues. The fact that it is defined as â€Å"glowingà ¢â‚¬  and â€Å"charred wood† leave the mind to wonder how was coal formed then? If it is already â€Å"charred wood†, why would we use it? It’s already been burned up, so what use can it be? The answer lies in the reason and process through which coal was formed. How coal was formed The formation of coal began around 300 million years ago, while most of the earth was covered by swamps, giant ferns and different mosses. Layer after layer of these plants died and subsequently were compressed and covered with new soil. As these new layers of soil covered the dead plants, the lack of air stopped the decomposition processes of the plants. This created peat, and throughout the years with heat and extensive pressure, it forced out oxygen and hydrogen, leaving carbon-rich deposits known as coal. As the carbon content of the coal increases, its compression is increased and the moisture content drops further. Thusly, there are four types of coal that form in subsequent order, each with its own grading scale, known as a â€Å"rank† (Speight, 2005). (stovesonline.co.uk) III. Four Categories of Coal The four categories of coal are lignite, subbituminous, bituminous and anthracite. Each one has its own ranking, based on the degree of which the original plant materials have been turned into carbon. These ranks are also used an estimation of how old the coal is. In general, the older the coal, the higher the carbon content. Lignite coal is the youngest of the four, and is most often used in the generation of electric power. It is a brownish black color and has a high moisture and sulphur content. It is more similar to soil than rocks and has a tendency to fragment when exposed to the elements. Subbituminous coal is often referred to as black lignite, although its moisture content is lower. It is also used for the generation of electricity, but also used for heating. Bituminous coal is a soft coal. iIt is dense and black with stripes of vibrant an d dull materials. This is the most commonly found and used type of coal, for coke (a residue of coal used in the steel industry), electricity, and heating as well. The last of the four, anthracite coal, is the hardest, oldest and best of the four types. It is black, glossy and very hard like a rock. It has the lowest sulphur content and the highest carbon

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Patient Risk Essay Example for Free

Patient Risk Essay This example of a reflective essay is presented in association with Price, B and Harrington, A (2013) Critical Thinking and Writing for Nursing Students, London, Learning Matters. Readers are introduced to the process of critical and reflective thinking and the translation of these into coursework that will help them to achieve better grades in nursing courses. Stewart, Raymet, Fatima and Gina are four students who share their learning journey throughout the chapters of the book. In this essay on the assessment of pain, Raymet demonstrates her reflective writing skills near the end of her course. Raymet had by this stage written several reflective practice essays and gained good marks. This time though she was encouraged to deepen her reflections, speculating selectively on how the account of pain experienced by a patient (Mrs Drew) might help her to work more creatively with patient perceptions and reported needs. N.B. Remember, copying essays such as this, submitting them as a whole or in part for assessment purposes, without attributing the source of the material, may leave you open to the charge of plagiarism. Significant sanctions may follow for nurses who do this, including referral to the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Assessing Mrs Drew’s Pain Mc Caffery and Pasero (1999) state that pain is what the patient says it is. If we accept that point, then nurses need to explore the patient’s perceptions of pain, as well as their report of experiences. The two are not quite the same. Patients may report their pain in a variety of ways, dependent on the nature and the intensity of pain and the context in which it is felt (e.g. whether they are ever distracted from the pain). Their perception of pain is a little more though and it includes the meaning that the pain has for them. It includes explanation of why the pain is there in the first place, what it indicates about their body and what it could  suggest might happen in the future (getting better, getting worse). The nurse assesses the account of pain shared by the patient, and this may be given in the form of a story. This is how it began, this is how it felt, this is what that meant to me and this is what I did about it (Mishler et al. 2006) In this essay I explore the assessment of pain as conducted with one 60 year old patient whom I will call Mrs Drew. Whilst the essay describes an assessment of pain with a single patient, I try to share too some ideas and questions that this provokes within me about pain assessment more generally. Mrs Drew made me think about other patients, future assessments and what I had to do as a nurse to help patients. To help structure this essay I use the framework described by Gibbs (1988). Whilst the episode concerned relates a stage in Mrs Drew’s illness when she challenged her treatment protocol, it also includes some of the memories and thoughts that this patient refers to regarding her earlier illness and past ways of coping with pain. In particular, it prompted me to question to what extent I as a nurse should recommend analgesia, drawing on what I had been taught about the effective control of pain. I had learned that it was better to control rather than to chase pain ( e.g. Mann and Carr, 2006; Forbes, 2007). Mrs Drew was diagnosed with lung cancer a year earlier and had initially had her illness treated by chemotherapy. This had helped her to achieve a remission that lasted for nearly ten months (Hunt et al, 2009 describe the prognosis of this disease). The cancer had returned though and spread to her spine and it was here that she experienced most of her pain.It was at this stage that the doctors explained that her care would now be directed towards her comfort rather than a cure—to which she had replied, ‘you mean palliative care’. Mrs Drew was supported at home by her husband Neil and visited on a regular basis by community based nurses to whom I was attached as part of my student nurse training. She was prescribed oral morphine and could decide within stated limits how many tablets she could take in any one 24 hour period. The situation I had visited Mrs Drew on several occasions over the period of a month when the community nurse and I were confronted by a tearful patient who announced that she did not wish to take the oral opiates quite as often as we were recommending. As she spoke she held her husband’s hand tightly, looking across to him as she described her experiences and feelings about the matter. Yes, there had been some bad nights when the pain had woken her and she had to sit up and watch television to try and distract herself. Yes, sometimes the pain made her feel nauseous, but she was alarmed at how frequently she was taking the ‘pain tablets’ and how this made her feel about herself. However well meant the medication was, it didn’t feel dignified to be so reliant on drugs, or quite so sleepy and unresponsive for such a high percentage of the day. Whilst the analgesia was working well when she took the tablets, the quality of life wasn’t what she wanted. The community nurse listened patiently to Mrs Drew and then explained that it was normal to have panic moments about such medication. Morphine had a reputation, one that people associated with misuse of drugs, rather than their therapeutic use. Used on a regular basis, the drug wouldn’t cause addiction and it would provide a great deal of reassurance to Mr Drew as well. The community nurse stated that she was quite sure that he respected his wife’s need to sleep when she wished and to build the rhythm of the day around her needs. At this point Mrs Drew shook her husband’s hand, and said, ‘tell her†¦tell her what we’ve talked about!’ Mr Drew then explained that his wife was used to dealing with pain, she had suffered recurrent pain in her neck and shoulder after a road traffic accident some years before. The pain had sometimes been severe, but he had massaged her shoulders and used heat packs that she found soothing. They had decided that they wished to use this technique now, keeping the morphine for absolute emergencies, when she was losing sleep and couldn’t eat as a result of the discomfort. The community nurse assured them that they were in charge of the analgesia and would be allowed to make their own decisions. She started to make notes though, and announced that she was making a referral to the cancer pain clinic, something that would help them to take stock of the situation. There was very good reason to suppose that this might be a problem associated with choosing the right dosage of the  morphine, rather than using supplemental pain relief measures. Mrs Drew responded sharply, ‘You’re not listening to me though Jane (the community nurse’s name—a pseudonym is used here), I want to use heat packs instead of morphine, at least during the day. I want to be more alive with my husband.’ The community nurse assured Mrs Drew that she had heard what she had said and respected her point of view. There would though be nothing lost by using the clinic to gain a further check on this matter. With that she excused us, explaining that we had a further appointment that morning and we left, having checked that Mrs Drew had a sufficient supply of her different medicines. As we walked to the car the community nurse empathised with Mrs Drew’s plight, saying that if she had lung cancer she would probably grasp at straws too. She would reach out for things that seemed more normal, and then observed, ‘but this isn’t normal is it, the pain she has isn’t normal. It’s not just a whip lash injury and old age.’ Feelings I remember that during this episode feeling a mixture of confusion, surprise, anger and impotence. Mrs Drew had surprised me by the way she had spoken, using what seemed to be a planned announcement. They had waited for and perhaps rehearsed this moment. Nothing in my experience to date had prepared me for such an encounter, at least in such circumstances, where we as nurses were so obviously working to support the patient. It was only later that I called the episode a confrontation. Mr and Mrs Drew had confronted the community nurse and I had been the largely silent witness to the event. As the discussion proceeded I remember making supportive noises, remarking how useful heat packs sometimes were and glancing across at Jane, who seemed to be signalling with her expression that I should leave this debate to her. I was trying to read her reactions to the Drew’s points and concluded that if I couldn’t support her arguments to the patient, then I should remain silent. The re were issues here that I perhaps hadn’t enough experience to deal with, at least, whilst ‘thinking on my feet’. My initial anger (with Mrs Drew for not acknowledging all that we were trying to do) quickly became displaced towards my colleague Jane. During the event I couldn’t explain why that was, but afterwards, when I made notes, I realised that it was because she seemed to have set the agenda in her own mind and to be requiring the patient to comply with concerns of her own. Put rather crudely, Jane seemed to be saying, listen I know about these things, this is a phase, an anxiety; you can work through all this. I believed at this point that she had missed the significance of the event, the way in which the Drew’s had arranged the conversation. For them, this was not a phase at all, but a considered and very important decision, one that they wanted the nurses to accept (Freshwater, 2002 and Edwards and Elwyn, 2009 emphasize the importance of negotiated care planning). My feelings of impotence were associated strongly with my lack of clinical experience. I have met this before. No matter how many placements I do, no matter how good the mentoring I receive, I keep meeting situations where I am unsure about how to respond next. I feel younger, less knowledgeable than I should be at this stage in my training. I want to reassure patients, to support colleagues and to give good advice, but there is not enough confidence to do that. If I felt unsettled and uncertain about Jane’s response to the Drew’s, right then I couldn’t easily explain that. I couldn’t offer a second opinion, couldn’t suggest an idea that might help support the patient. To my annoyance I couldn’t manage that either as we left the house. Jane had made some fair points, she  clearly seemed concerned about the patient’s needs, but perhaps she hadn’t spotted the right need—for Mrs Drew to determine in greater part how she de alt with her illness. Experience evaluated Afterwards, this short episode prompted doubts and debates about several important aspects of nursing for me. Setting aside the etiquette of learning in clinical practice, not challenging a qualified nurse in front of a  patient, there were problems here associated with supporting patient dignity, with my assumptions relating to analgesia and pain control strategies, and I realised, with my assumptions about types of pain and who had the expertise to define these. Dignity is more than simply using the appropriate terms of address, protecting the privacy of patients and attending to their expressed concerns (Price, 2004). It is about clarifying the ways in which they live and accommodate illness or treatment. It is about finding out what benchmarks they use to say that ‘yes, I am doing well here, this makes me feel good about myself’. Upon reflection, I sense that we on this occasion had not worked hard enough to discover how Mr and Mrs Drew define quality of life, or being in charge of their situation. We were more concerned with providing resources, sharing research or theory about medication and questioning the familiar misconceptions associated with morphine. To put it simply, we were ‘missing a trick’, reading the encounter as something that had happened many times before—the report of problems or anxieties, a request for help, rather than a decision that the patient and her carer had already come to. Reading situations well seemed, with the benefit of hindsight, to be the first basis for dignified care. ‘What is happening here, what will help the patient most?’ were questions that we perhaps assumed that we already knew the answer to. I realised that in my training I had already accepted the argument that patients would wish to remain pain free come what may and that the tackling of fears about prospective pain, was something that nurses engaged in. I assumed that because cancer pain represented such a major threat, because it was greater and more all encompassing, that there was little or no doubt that it should be removed. What was so unsettling, and took so much time to examine, was that Mrs Drew acknowledged the possible severity of metastatic cancer pain, but that she still preferred to respond to it using measures that had worked for her whiplash neck injury. Mrs Drew was willing to trade off a pain free state for something that gave her a greater sense of control and which perhaps enabled her husband to express his support for her in a very tangible way (preparing heat packs, massaging her back, rather than simply giving her the tablets). Mr and Mrs Drew questioned all my assumptions about best analgesia pr actice, and seemed to write a large  question mark on the textbooks I had read about chasing rather than controlling pain in palliative care situations (Mann and Carr, 2006). Reflections (learning opportunities) The episode with Mrs Drew left me uncomfortable because my past approach to pain management was theoretical. I (and I believe Jane too) regularly made use of science to decide what could be done as regards pain relief and to assume that patients would wish to achieve all of those benefits. This wasn’t about local applications of heat versus morphine, Mrs Drew could use both, it was about choice and how patients made choices—why they reached the decisions that they did. It was for me, about accepting very personally, that providing that patients are given all the relevant facts, alerted to the options, that they really are able to make choices that work for them. The very fact that Mrs Drews illness was now incurable, that she and her husband usually tackled pain together, meant that her solution to the challenge was different to those that many other patients arrived at. Having dealt with this pain for some time, knowing that it could and probably would get worse, meant that she was better equipped than other less experienced patients to make a decision here. This took nothing away from the benefits of sharing further discussion with pain clinic experts. I thought, Mrs Drew will stand her ground, she will insist on doing things her way if her husband is strong too. What it did highlight though was the importance of listening to patients, hearing how they perceive pain, how they narrate not only the pain but what they did about it. In this instance the narration was all about dignity, and coping, and finding ways to help one another and how this enables us to feel in the face of such a terrible illness. So, in telling us about her pain, what she did about it, using morphine when it was ‘absolutely required’, Mrs Drew was not reporting her ignorance of what could be achieved if the medication was used differently, but what she preferred to do as it enabled her to achieve different goals. Mrs Drew’s goals were about liveliness, alertness and stoicism, showing that she could bear at least a measure of pain. I wondered why I hadn’t listened carefully enough to such a story? Was it because of time pressure, or perhaps complacency, that Jane and I felt that we already knew what account would be  shared? Did we think that the patient would ask for help, more help, as the pain continued? If so, then our guesses had prompted us to behave as experts, and problem solvers, on the patient’s behalf. Perhaps hearing a patient narrative is about discovering what sort of role they would like you to fulfil. If so, then it might be a difficult role. I thought hard about how hard this was for Jane. She was going to be asked to witness Mrs Drew’s future pain, one that was now less perfectly controlled. She was going to be asked to reassure, to suggest measures that might help, without reminding the patient that she ‘already knew that you couldn’t manage pain that way!’ When I think about it now, that is very stressful for a nurse. It is about caring and allowing patient’s to make choices that we personally might not make. Conclusions I have drawn then three conclusions from the above reflection. First, that being patient centred is never easy and requires real listening and interpretation skills. My criticism of what Jane chose to do, to try and dissuade Mrs Drew from a course of action, recommending further appraisal of the situation, is an easy one to make. Nurses confront situations such as this relatively unprepared and react as considerately as possible. It is easy in hindsight to recommend other responses, a further exploration of what motivated Mrs Drew’s pain management preferences. Second, that experience can be a valuable teacher, the equal of textbooks. If nurses are interested in care, then we should be concerned with the sense that patients make of their own illness, the treatment or support that they receive. We need to understand what patients have to teach us and have to acknowledge that this means that we won’t always seem in control ourselves, expert and knowledgeable. Our expertise might be elsewhere, helping patients to reach their own decisions. Third, that one way to understand patient perspectives on illness or treatment, on pain management in this example, is to hear how they talk  about the situation. How do they describe the pain, how do they refer to what they did about it? The way in which the story is shared, how we coped, how this made us feel, is as important as the facts related. Sometimes a patient needs to feel stalwart, even heroic in the face of illness. Future care It would be foolish and unprofessional to recommend to other patients that they might not wish to remove pain, or that overcoming pain doesn’t always mean we don’t continue to experience it. For every Mrs Drew there may be many other patients who would welcome the complete removal of pain, so that they can die calmly, quietly, with their own version of dignity. But it does seem to me, that it will be worth thinking about the diversity of patients and how they prefer to cope when I assess pain and help manage this problem in the future. I won’t be able to walk away from the responsibility of debating whether I have explained all that I could, detailed the strengths and limitations of different ways of coping. I will need to find reflection time to ponder what patients have said and if necessary to go back and say, ‘I’ve been thinking some more about your words last week..’ knowing that this doesn’t make me any the less professional. References Edwards, A and Elwyn, G (2009) Shared decision-making in health care: achieving evidencebased patient choice, 2nd ed. Oxford, Oxford University Press Forbes, K (2007) Opiods in cancer pain, Oxford, Oxford University Press Freshwater, D (2002) Therapeutic nursing: improving patient care through self awareness, London, Sage. Gibbs G (1988) Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods, Oxford, Oxford Polytechnic Further Education unit Hunt, I., Muers, M and Treasure, T (2009) ABC of lung cancer, Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell/BMJ Books Mann, E and Carr, E (2006) Pain management, Oxford, Blackwell McCaffery, M and Pasero, C (1999) Pain: Clinical manual, Mosby, Philadelphia Mishler, E., Rapport, F and Wainwright, P (2006) The self in health and illness: patients, professionals and narrative identity, Oxford, Radcliffe Publishing Ltd Price, B (2004) Demonstrating respect for patient dignity, Nursing Standard, 19(12), 45-51

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Narrative Voice in Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye Essay -- Toni Morris

  The narration of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye is actually a compilation of many different voices. The novel shifts between Claudia MacTeer's first person narrative and an omniscient narrator. At the end of the novel, the omniscient voice and Claudia's narrative merge, and the reader realizes this is an older Claudia looking back on her childhood (Peach 25). Morrison uses multiple narrators in order to gain greater validity for her story. According to Philip Page, even though the voices are divided, they combine to make a whole, and "this broader perspective also encompasses past and present... as well as the future of the grown-up Claudia" (55). The first segment of each of the seasonal sections in the novel begins with Claudia's memories of that season as a young girl. Her first person narration gives a childlike perspective to the story, while the simple sentences echo the primer passages (Bellamy 22): "Our house is old, cold, and green. At night a kerosene lamp lights one large room... Adults do not talk to us - they give us directions" (10). Linda Wagner views the order of details in the novel as one a child would choose (Bellamy 22). For example, while some of the key plot elements in the novel are saved for the end, such as Pecola's being sexually abused by her father or her slow descent into insanity, other comparatively less important details are given precedent, such as Pecola ministratin' (menstruating) for the first time or the incident with Maureen Peal. Yet this childlike perspective is not consistent throughout the novel, as Claudia's perceptions are too often far beyond the capabilities of a child (Bellamy 22) . Her opening sentence for "Autumn" is as follows: "Nuns go by quiet as lust, and drunken men with so... ...n the ironically-named Breedlove family should impregnate his own daughter" (Peach 27) and how Claudia and everyone else were also involved in Pecola's tragedy. The three narrators, the younger Claudia, the omniscient voice, and the older Claudia, combine to give a view of the past, present, and future within the novel and increase the validity of the story. As Valerie Smith contends, "the narrative process leads to self-knowledge because it forces acceptance and understanding of the past" (Page 55).    Works Cited: Bellamy, Maria Rice. â€Å"These Careful Words . . . Will Talk to Themselves†: Textual Remains and Reader Responsibility in Toni Morrison’s A Mercy. Web 23 May 2015 http://www.cambridgescholars.com/download/sample/58336 Morrison, Tony. 1994. The Bluest Eye. New York: Penguin. Peach, Linden. Toni Morrison. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Importance of accountability Essay

I have been tasked with writing this 1000 word essay on the importance of accountability of sensitive items within the military. The reason I have been assigned to do this task is due to my failure of being attentive and securing my weapon and having it with me at all time. I failed by leaving my M9 Berretta at home in my safe before I left in support of the Boston Marathon. I was told by certain individuals to leave it at home, but I failed as an NCO to ask my section leader on how to properly secure my weapon. I did what I thought was best and left it to at home limit the amount of time I traveled with it. In doing so was wrong, if anything would have happened to that weapon there would have be severe consequences that not only myself would have to face, but individuals in my command that would have been affected due to the negligence of my actions. This whole process is new to the unit and me on how to transport a weapon properly and safely from California to Massachusetts. I secu red my weapon in weapon case with and lock and a slide lock following JetBlue regulation and TSA regulations. Once I landed in Massachusetts I would secure my weapon in the 1st CST safe for safe keeping. A day prior to the Boston marathon I would be issued it again and along with 45 rounds of hollow point ammunition from the 1st. Once the Boston Marathon was over I would have the weapon remain with me until my departure back to home station. In AR 710-2 (Supply Policy below the National Level), AR 735-5 (Policies and Procedures for Property Accountability) and AR 190-13 (The Army Physical Security Program). All these Army Regulation cover the Army policy for property accountability. Some sensitive items are your weapon, military ID card, communication equipment, etcetera. Sensitive items are anything that can be used by opposing forces or the enemies to counter attack, weaken forces, and gain information, and so on. Throughout our lives we come across many things of value. Some things are more valuable than others, either because they cost more money or they hold a sentimental value that we keep close to our hearts. In the military regardless of what branch you are, it is instilled in our heads that our weapon is the most valuable thing you will ever have. You train with it, you eat with it, you sleep with it, you use is to protect yourself and your battle buddies and you take care of it like it was your child. In the end it becomes a part of you and you cannot foresee yourself without it. Your weapon is considered a sensitive item because if it ends up  in the enemies’ possession, it could possibly be used against you and your comrades. Keeping track of where your weapon is or having it on you at all times will help prevent any of that happening. An so I forget the value of my weapon and what it means to me. Always having your sensitive items is very important and I should have treated my weapon as one of those. Instead I chose to leave in my safe thinking it was just another items that I needed to bring. Compared to the active army side the very smallest punishment for misplacing a weapon, if it’s found within a reasonable amount of time, is a â€Å"Company Grade Article 15.† That means you can lose one grade of rank, a week of pay, and two weeks of extra duty. If that’s all you lost, you got off very, very lightly. More often, and especially if you lose your weapon in a combat zone, you’re looking at a â€Å"Field Grade Article 15† if your chain of command is feeling very generous. You would risk losing at least one or as many as three grades of rank (E-4 to E-1), one half of your base pay for two months, 60 days restriction, 45 days extra duty. That’s only for enlisted though. If you do the same as an officer, you won’t get the same slap on the wrists as a punishment. Your career is over. You may as well start looking around for a new job and hope you don’t get a bad discharge. So we check our sensitive items religiously. Normally I check to see if I have my sensitive equipment with me thru out the day or we do a check at the end of each exercise to make sure each one of us on our team is not missing valuable equipment. Most of the times our gear is either on your person, or locked up somewhere secure. Accountability and personal responsibility for your equipment is something the military takes so seriously it’s not even funny. Because if there’s a fight, and you don’t have your weapon, then you’re a huge liability to everyone. You also can’t be trusted to do certain thing due to fact of not being able to hand the responsibility. It is very important to know that my action don’t affect me but everyone around me. I now know that because my failure I will be always sure to get my proper information from senior leaders before making a decision or do my research more extensively. I don’t want to be a liability but an asset that everyone can rely on to get task or mission done, in a time and correct manner. I won’t make the mistakes like leaving my sensitive equipment at home or unsecure. I will also come to my section leaders first  in the event I have a serious question. I am sure they will be able to guide me in the right direction every time. From Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free, â€Å"It is important that we forgive ourselves for making mistakes. We need to learn from our errors and move on.† and moving on is exactly what I am going to do from this experi ence.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Emily Dickinson Essay

American poet, Emily Dickinson, is a great example of the transition from the wordy Romantic style of writing to literary transcendentalism. Dickinson’s elliptical style and compact phrases are heavily exemplified in her poem 1577(1545), â€Å"The Bible is an antique Volume. † This piece is full of satire as the speaker questions society’s blind obedience to Christianity and ultimately suggests the embracing of a new religion. The speaker gracefully degrades the Bible’s right as the solitary means to interpret humanity and proposes that the audience finds something new to believe. In the first line, the metaphor referring the Bible as merely â€Å"an antique volume† speaks volumes. Dictionary. com defines volume in this context as, â€Å"a collection of written or printed sheets bound together and constituting a book. † The speaker views the Bible as an â€Å"antique† anthological collection of stories that can be priced rather than the acronym –Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. In the second and third lines, the validity of the authors of the Bible is questioned. Faded Men† and â€Å"at the suggestion of Holy Spectres† connotes the men where told what to write and didn’t experience that life themselves. These lines, and the entire poem, are mostly bereft of the elaborate syntax communal in Dickinson’s other poems. Those familiar with biblical persons understand the significance of Satan, Judas, and David and the impact of their roles in the Christian faith. As a Christian reader, the simplicity of the lines, â€Å"Satan—the Brigadier, Judas—the Great Defaulter, David—the Troubadour†, reduces the persons’ history. Although the descriptions denote some truth, there is more to them than that. Satan, the â€Å"prince of the air (Ephesians 2:2)†, is responsible for tempting Eve into eating the forbidden fruit hence leading to man’s â€Å"distinguished precipice. † David wasn’t just a psalmist, he was one of Israel’s greatest kings and he is part of Jesus’ lineage. Dickinson’s literary genius foreshadows what is happening in the twenty-first century. Today, being a Christian isn’t popular and life is harder for teenagers and young adults. This is demonstrated perfectly in â€Å"Boys that â€Å"believe† are very lonesome†. Believers can’t do what nonbelievers are doing without being convicted (1 Peter 1:14- As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance). The nonbelievers are â€Å"lost† and don’t know any better. Traditional churches push the â€Å"lost† farther away because of the hypocrisy and arbitrariness of renowned religious leaders. The holier-than –thou leaders are the worst offenders because they are doing what they teach will â€Å"condemn† you. As a result, â€Å"Orpheus’ Sermon captivated† and Christianity is shunned. Both atheists and Christians can appreciate the theme of this poem- everyone has to believe in something. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith best as â€Å"the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. † Unless a person has a personal relationship with God, they won’t really understand the meaning of faith- the essence of Christianity. The speaker encourages readers to not rely solely on what they are told but to challenge it and learn for their self.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

How to update your LinkedIn profile for 2018

How to update your LinkedIn profile for 2018 Whether you’re planning a full-scale job search in 2018 or just thinking about your next steps, career-wise, it’s time to do some prep work in your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is one of the first places potential employers scope you out and it can be a recruiting tool as well, so you want to make sure you’re getting the most out of your profile. Update your headline and summary.Your headline and summary are the first things that will be read when a recruiter or potential employer sees your name in a search. That means these have to be on point. You don’t need to fit in all of your qualifications- focus on the ones that you want to feature most prominently. Here are some examples of clear, no-nonsense headlines:Top-Performing Sales Associate2018 Accounting Grad Seeking Entry-Level OpportunityInnovative Graphic DesignerIf you already have a job and will be searching on the DL, make sure your headline doesn’t announce too obviously what you’re up to- remember, your headline will show up in public searches and you never know who’s looking. If you’ll be subtly looking for new jobs, make your headline describe what you do or how you want to be perceived (professionally).Your summary should be more of a narrative of where you are in your career, your best professional attributes, and your biggest accomplishments. To make your summary section 2018-ready, include your most recent projects, achievements, and lessons learned. That means ones from the past year or so, so that you’re including the latest and best information. It’s okay to take out information that feels outdated or is more than a few years old if the summary is getting a little long. The length is at your discretion, but keep in mind that recruiters and hiring managers may have little time to read and don’t want to get bogged down by a full-on memoir while they’re browsing LinkedIn.Update your photo.If your current LinkedIn h eadshot is that one of you as an eager new grad 10 years ago, it’s time to upgrade. No need to get glamorous Hollywood-grade headshots. These days, anyone with a solid smartphone camera can take a solid photo of your face that you can use as a professional avatar photo. It should be a fairly natural, friendly solo photo- you don’t want it to look like a passport photo or, worse, a mug shot. Candid photos are fine as long as you look professionally appropriate. If you’re having trouble figuring out if a photo is appropriate, take a look around at other profiles in your field, around your level, and see what people are using.Open up your availability.One of the easiest and best ways to leverage your LinkedIn profile to help create opportunities for yourself is to update your privacy settings. In your Account settings, click on â€Å"Job Seeking,† click on â€Å"Let recruiters know you’re open to opportunities.† This is what opens up LinkedIn f rom â€Å"living resume† to â€Å"next-level job search tool.† It doesn’t replace the need to go out and search for job openings or proactively send out your resume, but it increases the chances that someone will find you (the needle) in the database (the haystack) for a potentially great job opportunity.It’s a way of letting the recruiters and hiring managers of the world know that you’re available, without putting up a big, honking neon sign (visible to, say, your boss) that you’re looking to leave your current job. It flags your availability behind the scenes.Update your key words.Given that you’ve opened up your profile to recruiters and potential employers, you need to make sure that you’re giving them what they’re searching for in 2018. That means updating your skills, job history, and summary with the words that are important in your industry now- not three years ago. This step is especially key if you’ve h ad a profile that has kind of languished, un-updated since you got your current job.So how do you figure out what key words to use? Search for current job postings in your field. What kind of skills are they emphasizing? What qualities are they seeking in candidates? Once you know what companies are looking for right now, you can work that language in to your profile and increase the chances of a) matching their search criteria and b) holding interest once someone clicks through to your page.Refresh your profile content.The hardest part of making your LinkedIn profile ready for 2018 is keeping up with it after you’ve made the initial updates and changes. Some of the information you put in is going to stay static for a while, especially after you’ve updated your projects and skills from 2017. That means you should turn your attention to live content on your profile page. This is basically a blog where you’re able to write what you want. It’s not a personal blog- it should be entirely focused on your field and your professional life. If you don’t feel comfortable waxing on for 500 words about your career philosophies, you can share links to articles by others in your field or offer commentary on trends. How-to posts are also very popular, if you have a particular skill or area in which you can teach others.According to OKDork, the most successful LinkedIn content posts:Have a headline of fewer than 50 characters.Contain pictures, but not videos or other multimedia, to avoid awkward device and readability issues.Are divided into separate headings for ease of reading.Include lists or how-to tutorials.Are substantial (approximately 1000-2000 words).Are not controversial.Are readable for a broad audience (like the lay person who doesn’t know much about your field, as well as someone who already works in your field).And as you’re thinking about what you want to write and share on your LinkedIn profile, remember: always keep it professional. You’re presenting your best career self, so don’t derail that by airing your political grievances, or responding in kind to negative comments. And I assume we all know this already, but just in case- no smack talk about people in your industry. If you disagree with someone, and want to talk about it publicly on LinkedIn, do it politely and respectfully.Another key step is editing and proofreading your content before it goes live- you want to make sure you sound intelligent and put-together, and nothing derails that quite as quickly as five typos in the first paragraph alone.Set a LinkedIn update schedule.At the beginning of the year, set reminders for yourself to update your profile so that you’re keeping it as fresh as possible. Consistency is the key to a well-maintained LinkedIn profile, and it shows you’re engaged. If you go on a hot streak, posting stuff for a month, and then a recruiter sees that you haven’t bothered fo r the past three months after that, it looks like you’ve abandoned your page. Reminders and a schedule (say, monthly) for posting new content (and updating your existing skills and projects) will help ensure an active, consistent vibe for your page.If you’ve been a more casual user of LinkedIn, or you just haven’t spent much time updating your info, this is a relatively easy way to help set up your 2018, career-wise. Even if you’re not sure whether you’ll be looking for a job, you’re getting ready for â€Å"just in case,† and saving yourself valuable time and energy if you find yourself needing to start a job hunt on short notice. It’s also a handy tool for keeping track of information you’ll need to set your professional goals or if you need to come up with a snapshot of your achievements and skills for a promotion or self-review. Updating your LinkedIn profile is a great way to get organized for the coming year.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Unity in Paragraphs and Essays

Unity in Paragraphs and Essays In composition, unity is the quality of oneness in a paragraph or essay that results when all the words and sentences contribute to a single effect or main idea; also called wholeness. For the past two centuries, composition handbooks have insisted that unity is an essential characteristic of an effective text. Professor Andy Crockett points out that the five-paragraph theme and  current-traditional rhetorics emphasis on method reflect further the expediency and utility of unity. However, Crockett also notes that for rhetoricians, the achievement of unity has never been taken for granted (Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition, 1996.) Pronunciation YOO-ni-tee Etymology From the Latin, one. Observations Most pieces of effective writing are unified around one main point. That is, all the subpoints and  supporting details are relevant to that point. Generally, after you have read an essay, you can sum up the writers main point in a sentence, even if the author has not stated it explicitly. We call this summary statement a thesis. (X. J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Marcia F. Muth, The Bedford Guide for College Writers, 8th ed. Bedford/St. Martins, 2008)Unity and CoherenceA good check on unity is to ask yourself if everything in your paragraph or essay is subordinate to and derived from the controlling idea. Make sure that your controlling idea- the topic sentence or thesis- indicates the subject and the focus on that subject...​ (Lee Brandon and Kelly Brandon, Paragraphs and Essays With Integrated Readings, 12th ed. Wadsworth, 2012) Rules of Thumb for Writing Unified Paragraphs Be sure your paragraphs focus on one idea and state that idea in a topic sentence.Place your topic sentence effectively within your paragraph. Let the purpose of your paragraph and the nature of your evidence guide you.Let your paragraphs evidence- the selected details, the examples- illustrate or clarify the idea expressed in your topic sentence.Make sure you explain the relationship between your evidence and your idea so that it is clear to readers.Think about unity among paragraphs when writing essays. Be sure your paragraphs are related, that they fit together and clarify your essays idea.​ (R. DiYanni, Scribner Handbook for Writers. Allyn Bacon, 2001) A Note on Topic Sentences Paragraphs may not have a topic sentence, but they must have unity and purpose. All the ideas in a paragraph should relate to a clear point readers will easily understand. (Mark Connelly, Get Writing: Paragraphs and Essays. Thomson Wadsworth, 2009) Counterviews on Unity Unity is the shallowest, the cheapest deception of all composition... Every piece of writing, it matters not what it is, has unity. Inexpert or bad writing most terribly so. But ability in an essay is a multiplicity, infinite fracture, the intercrossing of opposed forces establishing any number of opposed centres of stillness.(William Carlos Williams, An Essay on Virginia, 1925)

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Food Safety Management Systems exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Food Safety Management Systems exam - Essay Example One of the main factors that results in organizational change is the desire for growth (Branson, 2008). Organizations which want to attain certain levels of growth or expansion are always forced to change how they operate so that they are can align procedures with the new status that they want to achieve. A very classic example in the food industry is Subway sandwich chain that began its operations using different names in the 1960s. During this time, the company struggled to achieve its goals or even grows. After changing its name to Subway and also aligning its operations to be able to allow for franchising, it was able to open up several units in the United States of America. This however required the employees to also change the way they carried out their duties so that it was in line with the new desired status. The second factor which results in organizational change is the need to improve processes (Kotter & Cohen, 2002). A food business or venture which wants to implement new production process in order to be more efficient is required to carry out changes that will facilitate this. There are also food production and selling enterprises like Kraft Foods which have implemented leaner production procedures such as sigma six so that they can reduce their costs of operation and enhance efficiency. Food retailing stores like Walmart have also come up with high level service delivery systems which ensures not only the provision of quality services but also enhance and improve the entire operations and processes. The third primary factor for organizational change is the government regulations. Wyman (2001) states that the changes in government regulations directly impact on how businesses are run. Among the food processing organizations, when safety and quality regulations are changed and implemented by the government, it is usually important for the organization to change its