Observing a Math Lesson Essay

A standard in mathematics provides, at the very least, is a baseline or outline to loosely adhere to during the school year. They are at the most though, designed to curricular goals and guidance for the math curriculum (Ferrini-Mundy, 2000). The direction of the future of math standards is equally important. The NCTM is focusing on having every state adhere to the same standards. Traditional teaching and learning is now taking a backseat to an updated common-core driven era because the old ways are dated for the dynamic of today’s classroom. The big difference between a baseline and goal is the minimum requirement and the maximum success rate you are aiming for as a teacher. Just having standards in a classroom and pushing through each lesson to achieve the notion that you made it through each standard produce a sub-par learning experience. There should be goals, not just for getting through standards, but an actual standard of learning each standard. A certain percentage of students should be able to demonstrate a mediocre to high capability of quality work for each standard. Formative and summative assessments could be used to analyze when it is time to move to the next standard. The separation of standards by state requirements show a difference in in the challenge the standards uphold from state-to-state (GreatSchools). After the NCLB Act of 2002, states were held accountable for the test scores, and even more than scores, the progress of their students. States submit their standards and questions for approval. There was a gap however in the quality of questions from each state. The NCTM is trying to find a happy medium for this. Forty-nine states now have adapted or at least begin implementing the new subject matter standards in mathematics (Ferrini-Mundy, 2000). Classrooms are no longer made of just high and low learners. Classrooms incorporate such a vast and diverse dynamic that not only includes a plethora of students that require differentiated lessons, but also consist of students who learn in all seven styles (Burton, 2010).  Being able to transcend information above just delivering it to each student can prove to be challenging. The goal would be to not just deliver, but have students receive, comprehend and apply. Constructivist style teaching and learning offers a gateway to the success of this. Students understand even subconsciously how they learn. Taking an active role in their own learning and mathematical discovery is key to their lifetime learning journey. Peer problem solving, dynamic small group teaching and think pair share offer an engaging premise for this learner’s accountability (Burton, 2010). This however does not mean every aspect of teaching from previous generations is lost. If it is not broke, don’t fix it applies to anything that was successful from all previous teaching methods throughout time. Traditional teaching methods are ideal for basic levels of learning. This is evident when basic information needs to be construed to the students. How to do addition and subtraction type concepts do not require constructivist style learning. Both styles of teaching provide huge upside but also are handcuffed by cons if used exclusively in the class. Constructivist math programs leave low-achieving students behind. Traditional programs may be tedious to high-achieving students (McDonell, 2008). A combination of both should be used for the greatest success. Lesson The objectives of the lesson I observed was to establish two different ways to find the area of triangles. This lesson was used as a base for eventually teaching composite figures and finding not only the area of them, but also the volume. The lessons incorporated problem solving and word problems, heightening the effectiveness of the lesson. The teacher placed the students in group settings. Within each group, students were given two separate problems. After the completion of each problem they discussed how the performed the work and came to find the answer. Once they all agreed on the answer and explanation, they groups were all shifted to a new table which held a new set of questions to solve and discuss. The standards used from the NCTM fall under the measurement and the process categories. It covers a majority of the two standards because of the variety of strategies used in the lessons. Below is all of the strategies used that were pulled from the NCTM website (NCTM, 2014). Measurements Grades 6–8 Expectations: In grades 6–8 all students should– understand both metric and customary systems of measurement; understand relationships among units and convert from one unit to another within the same system; understand, select, and use units of appropriate size and type to measure angles, perimeter, area, surface area, and volume. Process Standards Problem Solving Instructional programs from prekindergarten through grade 12 should enable all students to— Build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving Solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems Monitor and reflect on the process of mathematical problem solving Reasoning and Proof Instructional programs from prekindergarten through grade 12 should enable all students to— Recognize reasoning and proof as fundamental aspects of mathematics Make and investigate mathematical conjectures Develop and evaluate mathematical arguments and proofs Select and use various types of reasoning and methods of proof Communication Instructional programs from prekindergarten through grade 12 should enable all students to— Organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking through communication Communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers, and others Analyze and evaluate the mathematical thinking and strategies of others; Use the language of mathematics to express mathematical ideas precisely. Connections Instructional programs from prekindergarten through grade 12 should enable all students to— Recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas Understand how mathematical ideas interconnect and build on one another to produce a coherent whole Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics Representation Instructional programs from prekindergarten through grade 12 should enable  all students to— Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas Select, apply, and translate among mathematical representations to solve problems Use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena Standards in mathematics are important because it allows maximum learning. Being able to produce a lesson and then compare the standards allows educators to revamp or add to their lesson plans and implement more then they initially intended. A lesson can be drawn up and leave out simple elements that if added increase learning and meaning. The enhancement of the lesson will lead to a better success rate for the future lessons this one was meant to be a baseline for. A deeper understanding and comprehension of the area of a triangle makes the transition to composite shapes much easier to address. The methods used for this lesson were ideal. Strategies used were group work and a think-pair-share approach to explaining their conclusion of how they came to their answers we very effective. Although the text does not say, whole brain teaching and modeling methods were used for the first half of the lesson. Demonstration effective learning is important in this particular class because the c lass includes students who fundamentally have problems with simple multiplication even though it is 6th grade. Because of this, she also has to differentiate her instruction. This was done by not only making appropriate group dynamics but also giving low students’ multiplication charts so that they may solve the work on their own. This was not counterintuitive at all because the purpose was to understand solving for area. The school is low economic status, and technology is scarce. Technology was not used but could have been at basic levels. It could have been used to submit their work, to include their explanations. This would provide a means for accountability. It could have also been used for interactive websites intended for solving area. Technology was not used, but manipulatives were. Each problem consisted of its own cut out to measure. One of the changes I would have made to this lesson would be to allow students to measure something around the classroom. I noticed quite a few triangular shapes in her class to include an awesome Avengers kite. Assessments of the lesson included exit cards for that day  and when the section of the lessons was concluded, multiple tests were taken. The teacher used all of these assessments to her advantage. She addressed necessary review time because of them, making the overall lesson an absolute success. Other than allowing students free reign at the end I wou ld not change anything about this lesson. This will be yet another lesson I steal and use for my own classroom. Resources Burton, M. (2010). Five Strategies for Creating Meaningful Mathematics Experiences in the Primary Years. YC: Young Children, 65(6), 92-96. Ferrini-Mundy, J. (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics: A guide for mathematician. Notices of AMS, 47(8), 868-876. Retrieved from http://www.ams.org/notices/200008/comm-ferrini.pdf GreatSchools Staff (n.d.). State standardized test scores: Issues to consider. Retrieved from http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/626-state-standardized-test-scores- issues-to-consider.gs Lee Yuen, L. (2010). The Use of Constructivist Teaching Practices by Four New Secondary School Science Teachers: A Comparison of New Teachers and Experienced Constructivist Teachers. Science Educator, 19(2), 10-21. McDonell, J. (2008). Constructivist versus traditional math programs: How do we best meet the educational needs of our students?. (Master’s thesis, Carroll University). Retrieved from http://content-dm.carrollu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/edthesis/id/2/rec/14 NCTM. (2014). thstandards and expectations. Retrieved from http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=4294967312 Winstone, N., & Millward, L. (2012). The Value of Peers and Support from Scaffolding: Applying Constructivist Principles to the Teaching of Psychology. Psychology Teaching Review, 18(2), 59-67.

Psychological negative effects of MRSA

Erasures was treatable with penicillin until the sass's, in 1959 when more the 90-95% of all strains became resistant it was treated with nonmetallic, a stronger form of antibiotic that was used to treat gram positive bacteria. This In turn because resistant to all strains of the bacterium. Nonmetallic is no longer used today but the term for MRS. is still used. Colonization: The organism Is superficially carried on the skin, in the nose, etc. People are not sick and do not require antibiotics.Infection: A person has a clinical Infection with the organism e. G. Wound Infection, skepticism, urinary Infection etc. Infected persons usually require systemic antibiotics. MRS. is transmitted through skin to skin contact and is carried by 2% of the human population. MRS. rate is very high in New Zealand. There are two types of MRS., HA- MRS. hospital or health care acquired and CA-MRS. community acquired. The most common means of transmission is in a health care environment as patients hav e lower immune systems and are weak.MRS. in hospitals and other care settings is easily spread as hygiene practices are not up to scratch from patient/ nurse contact and hygiene with surgical wounds and other intensive devices such as catheters and feeding tubes. Community acquired MRS. can be found in healthy patients that have not been hospitalized. Many patients of MRS. do not understand their infection and its ways of transmission; this can lead to feelings of astigmatism and fear. MRS. itself cannot have any direct psychological impact on patients with MRS. but is in fact other people's attitudes and the patient's perception of scrutiny.Research has hon. that contact with infected hospital patients on average drops by 22% when a person id diagnosed with MRS.. Isolation techniques in infection control are no longer used as they can cause psychosocial effects for patients and their families and Interfere with the home-like atmosphere that a nurse is trying to establish. For these reasons, a system called Body Substance Precautions (BSP) was developed. It focuses on keeping all moist body substances, (blood, feces, urine, wound drainage, tissues, oral secretions, and other body fluids) from the hands of personnel.This Is accomplished through hand washing and Increased glove use Shown Ms Fairly retirement village where my patient resides has a policy for MRS. and Infection control from the Missouri department of health and senior services section for living term care and the advisory committee on Infection prevention and control. Their infection control guidelines for long term care facilities have an emphasis on body substance precautions. BSP provides a consistent approach to managing body substances from ALL residents and is essential in preventing transmission of potentially infectious agents. Specific situation for the overall reasonable exposure risk associated with the task. Risk factors that should be included in the evaluation include: Type of body f luid with which there is or will be contact. Volume of blood/body substances likely to be encountered Reasonable anticipation of exposure; e. G. , â€Å"will my hands touch the resident's secretions? † Probable route of exposure; I. E. , hand contact, airborne, droplet, splashing Microbe concentration in fluid or tissue. Some safety precautions include: Gloves,Handwriting ,Face and Eye Protection ,Apron or Gown Sharps Handling and Disposal ,Employee Health ,Handling Laboratory Specimens, Soiled Linen ,Disposal of Regulated Waste From Resident's Rooms, Environmental Cleaning, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPRM) , Resident Placement, Activity Restriction and the Use of Private Rooms for Infection Prevention and Control , Physician's Role in Implementing the Body Substance Precautions System, Role of Nurses and Other Health Care Workers in Implementing the Body, Substance Precautions System, Precautions for Residents With Airborne Diseases.

Religion and the Meaning of Life Essay

According to Frederich Nietzche, â€Å"A man who has a why to live can bear any how†. To me this statement provides massive insight into the human experience: all people need a purpose in life. As humans we need a constructive outlet through which we can invest our thoughts, emotions, efforts and energies. We need something to thrive for and strive toward. Religion, for many people provides this outlet in life in a most positive manner. It allows people to find themselves by losing themselves foremost. Religion encourages service to others, selflessness, forgiveness and ascetic values that allow people to displace personal prejudices and mental barriers that are roadblocks on the path toward self awareness and understanding. Religion teaches that human beings are direct creations of God. Due to this, the religious person places immense gravity into the definition of what it means to be human. To the religious person human life is sacred therefore all human beings are treated as if they are sacred entities. Dignity is vital to this experience and the religious person lives a decent life based largely on the fact that they find it a grave injustice to engage in dehumanizing acts. A dehumanizing act is any action that undermines the value of what it means to be human, and because human life to the religious person is sacred; treating other people and oneself with respect is part of the job description. Religious people also are heavily focused on remaining loyal to traditions and place heavy emphasis on the concept of togetherness through ceremonies, rituals and even celebrations. Religious people congregate and come together in a forum of mutual understanding of one another’s beliefs and values, and respect for the characteristics that make individuals unique. This is how religious institutions have survived throughout the ages. People of all sorts come together based on a mutual understanding of the same truths. The idea of coming together forms a family-like atmosphere that strengthens dynamics within individual households and strengthens interpersonal bonds among all people whom the religious person encounters. The religious person lives a life of kindness, simplicity and dignity highlighted by unity, loyalty and fairness. These concepts are vital to becoming a well integrated person which is the key component to finding one’s purpose and meaning in life. Once a person gains a sense of purpose, the other aspects of their lives fall into place based around what that person chooses to life for. When a person lives for their faith, their lives are based around morals that encourage reverence for all human beings and a genuine perceptive of righteousness. This is why religious people not only have a strong sense of self, but also have unshakable character based in a solid affection for mankind.

Manager should adapt their leadership style according to the context Essay

Manager should adapt their leadership style according to the context - Essay Example Going by the disparate nature and temperament of different people, a manager could come across a variety of situations that may demand much ingenuity and creativity. The primary objective of any manager is to coordinate the activities and aspirations of people with disparate nature and temperaments in a way that they work together as a team towards the achievement of important organizational goals. Hence, it is important for the managers to adapt their leadership style according to the context, as a rigid and stiff leadership approach may fail to yield results under diverse circumstances. In fact, a context driven approach towards leadership brings in the possibility of incorporating new dimensions in the area of leadership and tends to come down on the belief that leaders are born and not made. It is a fact that managers working in private or public organizations do comes across a range of issues and problems on a daily basis. Many a times it gets really challenging to make decisions in situations that are open to diverse influences and interests (Kong 2014). Making the right decision under such circumstances requires much balance and patience. Actually, it is such situations that defy the regular leadership approaches that tend to test the actual worth and effectiveness of a manager. Under such circumstances the really effective managers are those that have the ability to grasp the actual context of a situation and are able to make a decision as to which leadership style will be appropriate in a specific situation. Leadership is about the capacity for variation and adaptability and those managers that believe that one leadership style or approach fits all simply could not be expected to perform well and successfully (Kong 2014). Hence an effective manager does need to have the skill and the capacity to adapt one’s leadership style to the context under consideration and the

Managing Financial Resources in Health and Social Care Essay - 1

Managing Financial Resources in Health and Social Care - Essay Example Be very precise and detailed on the demands you want from each stakeholder, link stakeholders’ interest with your aims, and prioritize. In the BUPA report, they work with the government and other organization to aid in aligning the agenda and long-term policies. BUPA Company should involve all the stakeholders for the proper costing to be enhanced. (Baker 2007,pg.125).  Ã‚   The principle of consistency This principle needs the following of a similar procedure and in case of any change then an explanation to the effect is therefore ideal. BUPA Care Homes should ensure that the auditors follow similar steps in the preparation of the financial statements, without this, any change might make correct interpretation of the financial data impossible (Haldane 2011, pg 134). Principle of Transparency This principle states that for effective costing, it requires openness and honesty visibility in all transactions, ensuring that all information on procurement procedures, opportunities , and processes are well outline and publicized. In BUPA Care Homes, transparency is seen when the Directors read out the annual reports and the audited financial statements (Higgins 2004, pg 118). The materiality concept An item is considered material it affects the decision making process of the users. This is the case when the material is not stated correctly or it is omitted. Materiality concept explains that costing considers the tangibility of an item and the processes involved. In BUPA Care Homes, costing should focus on the tangibility that is attached to the residential homes and the health care service. An error that is too minor to affect anyone’s knowledge of the accounts is immaterial. In the accounts preparation, tangibility and intangibility of an item should be considered, so that resources do not go to waste in the pursuit of further detail. This is usually a very subjective exercise (Field 2007, pg. 105). Objectivity: This principle requires that an accounta nt should work with the view of promoting the aims. They should be showing high levels of neutrality while executing their duties. The accountants not be biased in their operations. This therefore means that they should keep of implementing their personal responses and wishes. They should be straightforward and focused to the facts as the case guarantees. BUPA Company should ensure that the accountants prepare detailed financial statements that are simple and easy to analyze. The accountants should therefore adopt and implement neutral grounds during the analysis of the financial data and statements (Armstrong 2004, pg 46). Causality principle: In many costing exercises, it has always been noted that the cost of payment for any event or service has a relationship with its cause. The nature of the cause therefore is used in the appropriate allocation and budgeting. BUPA should use this principle; do costing after doing proper investigation and coming with the correct findings about t he cause of an occurrence so at to reduce the chances of subjectivity. This is almost similar to the principle of the proximate cause in the cannons of insurance that states clearly that for one to be compensated; the risk that has occurred must relate directly with the property insured. In insurance the compensation cost is usually based on the amount of loss and the premiums paid are based on the nature of the property to be insured (Britton 2007, pg 34). Data accuracy principle The cost of an item is always charged after the

Business plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Business plan - Assignment Example This makes the incoming businesses have a competition disadvantage within the industry. In spite of the fact that completion increase cause adverse effects to existing businesses, it is also helpful as it will help Good health fitness center become more efficient and thus provide quality services (Abrams, 2003). According to the Good Health Fitness Center, it is evident that the power of suppliers merely has an effect on the business. This is because the ways of transacting is service oriented. To offer a service in the fitness center, instructions get and the only material supply needed is readily available in its market. These supplies include things like weights, food and gym instructors (Cyr, 2007). The target market for Good Health Fitness Center mainly comprises of the middle aged and the old who want to reduce their weight. A case study of Canada would show that they make the largest share of the population. This means that, it is a threat to the business because of the large number. Baring in mind that this is the technology era, Good Health Fitness Center may face several other threats in the market. Substitutes for health fitness exist. However, the business will survive this threat by launching a campaign against the substitutes which include steroids and slimming pills. It is imperative to let the public and potential customers, of the impending danger, and side effects of using the substitutes. This way, the business will survive the threat (Abrams, 2003). Within the fitness industry in Canada, for example, there are many businesses with the same goal of having as many customers as possible. However, the intensity of rivalry does not seem too intense as customers can choose which programs best works for them from different centers (Abrams, 2003). Good health fitness center has various sources of competitive advantages. One of the sources would be by ensuring a well-equipped and developed marketing team. This forms a good competitive

Layers of Physical Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Layers of Physical Security - Essay Example The traditional security system is continuously being improved by technology and civilization. Further, the rise of new threats, for example, the risk of fear assaults and terrorism, raises the issue of upgrading existing frameworks of physical security. In the meantime, viable physical security ought to be in view of central standards which minimize the risk of dangers to physical security (Modi, Patel, Borisaniya, Patel, & Rajarajan, 2012). Since the traditional means of securing territories no longer hold, there must be an advancement in the forms of security with the utilization of technology. Since physical security takes various layers, the advancement of cutting-edge physical security ought to incorporate these layers which entail building security, grounds security, access control frameworks, and border security (Newman, 2001). The present-day physical security is inconceivable without the wide usage of technological advancements, which has been found to increase significantly the dependability of advanced security frameworks and minimize threats to the physical security framework. Then again, innovations frequently confront new dangers that fortify the more extensive implementation of new technologies, but the primary point in the advancement of a powerful physical security framework is the improvement of numerous layers of physical security (Modi et al., 2012).

Safe and Productive Neighborhoods and Economic Prosperity Essay

Safe and Productive Neighborhoods and Economic Prosperity - Essay Example From this study it is clear that  the emergence of street gangs in some communities is more prevalent in groups of low income families with less education, while the contrary is true to families with relatively higher income and high education. Therefore, it is reasonable for Putnam to say that each person in the community is not only influenced by their own â€Å"choices and circumstances† but also with â€Å"the choices and circumstances of their neighbors†.  Community is a business where social capital would gain utmost importance in the initial and with the whole process of developing it. Generally speaking, there is no one country whose richness is definite and absolute in the presence of poorer communities and less educated people. As observed, such kinds of communities are clustered in a seemingly patterned way, where well-educated and people of ‘decent’ values group together while those who have high dropout probability in school levels are also living in the same community.This paper highlights that  clustering may also be dependent on the economic status of families. In the case of Tupelo, Mississippi, improvement was largely because of financial status and engagement in development activities such as the pooling of financial resources by farmers and businessmen. In the development of employment and education in Tupelo, it has reached a satisfactory reputation nowadays. Communities which are well-developed does not necessarily mean that they have zero crime rates.

Ethical Guidelines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Ethical Guidelines - Essay Example The American Statistical Association on their part should ensure that everybody using statistical practices is well informed on the Ethical guidelines for statistical practices. The importance of statistical analyses in our current society cannot go unnoticed. Statistical practices are employed in various sectors in the economy such as health sector, education, environment, agriculture, industry and many other sectors. Therefore, an ethical decision-making in statistics practices in inevitable. Before making any statistical decision, proper professionalism must be adhered to. The decision maker has to ensure relevance before making the final statistical decision. For instance, before making any policies that may arise from statistical results, statisticians have to take into consideration the long-term effects that the policy will have on the general public. The ethical guidelines require that the researcher should ensure that adequate statistical and subject-matter expertise in both applied to any planned study. Therefore it is unethical for somebody who is experienced on agriculture to undertaken research on a medical field where he/she has no expertise. In terms of responsibility, the guidelines clearly states that a person should maintain personal responsibility for all the work bearing his/her name. This will ensure that plagiarism is avoided at all cost. The field of statistics is characterized by many stakeholders. This is because many people have personal or public interests in the results of the statistical practices. The most likely stakeholders in statistical studies are funders, clients and employers. Funders are those who sponsor the entire study and are mostly interested on the positive results from the study. They may use the results to make policies that may serve their interest or the general public’s. In most cases NGOs and

Assingment 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Assingment 2 - Essay Example These organisations are different in terms of their culture, design, structure and human performance (Lichtenstein and Alexander, 2004). This paper will provide insight into how two different cultures, structures and their designs will impact on individuals, groups and structures within the organisation and ultimately towards improving organisation’s effectiveness. A work team can bring differences in organisation through coordination. Team combined effort always results in greater effort compared to individual work. Teams can do complex tasks together. Through teams organisations can increase their work performance with less cost. This combined effort will always results in outstanding performance and goal achievement. They can provide new product ideas, provide customer services, make contracts, coordinate projects, offer valuable deals, and make decisions (Lichtenstein and Alexander, 2004). Teams within organisations have more independent approach and positive attitude towards changing environment than are traditional types of working conditions or other forms of permanent groupings. Teams are more beneficial if multiple skills are needed to perform a job. Teams can be made on urgent basis have ability to be disband on quick basis as well (Chan, 2002). Case 1 Biogenia plc have a cross-functional teams while Case 2 Sleepeasy Hotels have problem –solving teams. In Case 1 company has created teams made up of employees from four different functional areas Research and Development, Manufacturing, Sales and marketing and, finally, Support (covering financial services, human resources and legal services) to work on different projects. They are using cross-functional teams. Employees within teams are gathered from the same hierarchical level, but they belong to different departments to work together on company’s assigned project (Parker, 2003). Employees are from diverse backgrounds

Making Solar Energy Economical Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Making Solar Energy Economical - Essay Example With the realization of this inefficiency, current manufacturers are manufacturing solar cells with an improved efficiency through laying the cells into multi-layers that has the ability to push the efficiency to about 35%. Using nanotechnology, engineering of solar energy generation devices can make structures on sizes that are comparable to molecules and atoms that are measured in nanometers whereby nanocrystals from the elements selenium and lead are utilized (Beard et al. 2506). The technology improves the inadequacy presented by standard cells that produce useless excess heat and less impact while the Lead-Selenium nanocrystals release further electrons rather than heat thus boosting the output, which can also be replicated in Silicon. With the use of nanocrystals technology, the efficiency of the generation of solar energy can use efficiencies of up to 60% and therefore engineering technologies are required to integrate nanocrystal cells in transmitting energy in a circuit (Bea rd et al. 2512). How to Make Solar Energy Economical The use of new materials for solar cells can help in the reduction of fabrication costs that has a positive impact in reducing the costs of solar energy and making its implementation for generation of electricity economical (Lewis 799). The purity of the material is important, as modern solar cell designs require higher purity content in order to make the flow of electric charges be seamless. To achieve this, manufacturers will be required to use thick materials in one dimension to absorb sunlight and thinner materials in another direction to transmit the charges which would require that the solar cells are made of nanorods or tiny...This essay outlines the growing importance of the solar energy among other sources and determines the factors, that will ensure larger electrical generation based on solar energy conversion. Solar power is usually generated by collecting the light spectrums from sunlight and converting them to energy in the form of electricity using solar panels that have cells in them. Solar energy forms an integral part of the supply of energy to human beings and the earth in general. The contribution of the sun to the energy requirements of the earth is substantial despite the fact that it has not been taken up by most people and forms only a fraction of the energy consumption market. In order to make solar energy economically competitive, there is need for those tasked with the manufacture of solar technology devices to improve the efficiency of the cells in commercial solar cells as well as lower their costs of manufacture. The use of new materials for solar cells can help in the reduction of fabrication costs that has a positive impact in reducing the costs of solar energy and making its implementation for generation of electricity economical Despite the fact that technology may help in the production of solar cells that generate cheap and efficient electricity, it would be uneconomical if the solar energy generated is not stored. The need for storage of electricity generated from solar has been necessitated by the fact that not all the days will the earth receive sunlight as this may be blocked by clouds or darkness at night.

The poem Remember Essay Example for Free

The poem Remember Essay Look again at the poem Remember which is about death and relationships, also look at the poem Remberance which is of similar themes. Look closely at the way the authors have used imagery and structure. Compare and contrast how each feels about death and their relationships. Which poem makes a more powerful appeal to your emotions? Give reasons for your answer. Each of the poems Remember and Remembrance have the similar themes; death and relationships. Remember tell us of a story of a female who is in an impossible relationship that is so bad that she seems to think that her only escape is suicide. She writes to her partner telling him not to grieve for her. The line Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad. Shows us that she, in a way, doesnt want her partner to be sad. This is kind of hypocritical of this poem. She tells us that she doesnt have another choice to get out of this bad relationship and yet she doesnt want him to suffer. She is obviously a very kind person which makes me feel all the more emotive towards her. Remembrance is telling us a story of a girl who has lost a very dear person to death and we find her pondering suicide herself. This narrator has dug herself a hole in that thinking that she has no point in life anymore without the loved one. She must feel that she cannot go on without said person. Like many people who lose someone dear, she has lost her sense of enthusiasm for life so she, like the narrator in Remember, sees suicide as an escape from a life without a certain person. I can feel her pain, being a person who has lost someone dear to me, I went through a stage of my life where I didnt want to do anything. I didnt even want to go outside. But I am just glad that it did not get to the point where I considered suicide. When writing these poems each woman must have had to dig deep down into their feelings to create such emotive poems. Christina Rossettis father died in 1854, this could have been a very big inspiration for her to bring up so many emotions when writing such a poem. Emily Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Also lost her mother which is a very good source of emotions to write with. Each writer has had some experience with death which might be the reason why the only thing they can see as a solution is death itself. They might choose to follow their parents and die. Christina Rossetti uses images such as the silent land which suggests an empty after life where as Emily Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ uses images such as days of golden dreams which refers to memories that were very dear to her and reminds us that those memories were lost when her loved one died. Each author was very descriptive in their imagery and it was very effective in each poem The layout of Remembrance is much easier to understand than the sonnet structure of the other one. A poem being in stanzas makes it much easier for the reader to read and work out the story behind the poem. I found it much harder to understand Remember as it was in sonnet form (14 lines). A poem being all squashed together makes it had to differentiate one line from the other. My personal preference between these to poems for the one than appeals to me in the emotive way would have to be Remembrance as I can relate to the kind of pain the narrator is going through. The writer has used such emotive language and really made the effort to connect with her own feelings which is a very hard thing to do. And to write them down and make them make sense is a type of magic in itself. A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language. Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful and this poet understands that and has somehow tapped into her own language and written her very thoughts down. So on that note I conclude that Remembrance makes the most powerful appeal to my emotions.

The Effect of Colours: Emotion and Symbolism of Colour

The Effect of Colours: Emotion and Symbolism of Colour Colour theory has been dated back to the 15th Century with the writings of Leone Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci. From these early beginnings, colour theory has developed to cover painting, optics, psychology and many other disciplines, including film making. Colour and Emotion There has been research into colour, emotion and how they interlock for at least the last 50 years. A lot of this research comes under psychology. This is still useful to many other disciplines including film makers so they can try to control the emotion of the viewer using colour. T the work of Lois B. Wexner (1954) explores how mood-tone and colours are associated with each other. Her research shows that certain colours do have strong associations with mood-tones, such as red with excitement, blue with tender-soothing and yellow with cheerful-jovial-joyful among others. The American psychologist Frank H. Mahnke (1996) has also conducted experiments into colour and emotion associations, in his findings he found some very strong associations, especially with red/love, black/hate, blue/peace blue-violet/noble. In Table 1 tabulated from his experiments, it shows the range of colours chosen by participants with the term and the percentage match they gave. Mankhe also grouped certain colours together where there was strong overlap , for example, blue, blue-green, green with the term peace/tranquillity. Term Colours Chosen Percentage Love Red, Red-Violet 81% Hatred Black, Red 89.6% Peace/Tranquillity Blue, Blue-Green, Green 93.6% Mourning/Sorrow Black,Grey 86% Happy Yellow, Orange 63% Jovial Orange, Yellow 50% Life Green 73% Luminous Yellow 65% Noble Blue, Blue-Violet, Violet 81% Table Colour Emotion Associations (Mahnke 1996) Wei, Dimitrova Chang (2004) established their association of corresponding colours to mood-tones (emotions), which is summarized in table 2. Colours Associated Mood Tones (Emotion Terms) Black Hatred, Mourning, Sorrow, Indefinite White Mourning, Grief, Depression Red Love, Hatred, Life, Noble Orange Jovial, Happy Green Tranquillity, Peace, Life Blue Peace, Tranquillity, Noble Purple Love, Noble, Authoritative Table Wei, Dimitrova Chang (2004) Use of Colours in Film The use of colour by film makers is deliberate and planned (Bellantoni 2005). To ensure that a film will have the colour which will bring a response from the audience they can either do test screenings, such as what cinematographer Rodger Deakins does in Shawshank Redemption. He tested different colours and paints to find the look required for each scene. While the use of colour can be analysed as it can have a strong affect on mood and emotions many times cinematographers will work by instinct and what it just looks right (Bellantoni 2005). It is possible to distil each film into its own colour palette. Artist Alan Woo shows quite distinctly how a film can have a distinctive colour palette. In his project Pie (Woo 2008) he processed each frame of a film into a colour and produced a pie chart for that film. Film makers have used colours nearly the whole spectrum of colours to their advantage in storytelling. Red Red is associated with danger, risk taking, action, love, hate. Director Alfred Hitchcock used these associated in the film Marnie, where he added red frames to attempt to excite the audience (Hullfish Fowler 2003). Director Sergei Eisenstien use of selective red in The Battleship Potemkin where a hand painted Soviet flag is hoisted up the ships mast. As well as the glorifying the Communist regime, according to Misek (2019) the redness overwhelms its intended meaning, the viewer notices the colour red and its power over the Soviet connotations. Reds can also convey action. In the film Run Lola Run, director Franka Potente uses the central characters red hair, a red ambulance, red bag (Martell 2002) and saturated red light to keep the audience in a high octane state (Bellantoni 2005). Orange According to Bellantoni (2005), oranges on the other hand do not give a strong emotional response to the audience, they are often provoke a warm, romantic, welcoming and also a sense of nostalgia. This is strongly convey in the Coen Brothers film O Brother Where Art Thou? where the whole film was digitally coloured in a orange/brown sepia to give the viewer a sense of the Mississippi during the Great Depression, a look of faded postcards (Fisher 2000). One place where orange does give the audience an unsettling appearance is when its in the air. For example, the orange sky in Blade Runner shows the polluted atmosphere. Production Designer Larry Pauli mentions to Bellantoni (2005 p.142), that the orange sky is acid but conversely softer and romantic depending on the outside or inside of the shot. Green The colour green can have two contrasting emotive responses in the viewer, depending on how it is used. Green is the colour of nature, health and vitality but also the colour of poison, illness and evil. Bellantoni (2005) writes that green is used by cinematographer John Seale creation of the lush vista in Witness. The green wheat fields where the Amish work. They connect the rural Amish to the agricultural work they live to do. These scenes are also where the protagonist is healing and in a stage of renewal, which the greens convey to the viewer. The colour green is used in The Matrix to show the virtual reality that central character Neo is trapped in. Directors the Wachokwski brothers took this green from was a whole motif inspired by the phosphorous green of old PCs (Davies n.d.). The use of the green in the simulated world contrasts with the harsher blue-white palette of reality, despite being a film all about the digital these greens were achieved optically through use of green lighting mise-en-scà ¨ne (Misek 2010). Blue Blue has strong associations with peace and tranquility. However in film it is more used to show coolness, detachment and passiveness. Dorothys dress in the Wizard of Oz is blue and white gingham showing her powerlessness in the film. It is not until she gains the bright red ruby slippers doe she gain any power (Bellantoni 2005). Bellantoni (2005) writes that blue is used to show the detachment and coldness of the prison in Shawshank Redemption. The prison uniforms and walls are all bathed in a soft blue/grey light which also highlight the passiveness of the inmates. However, blue also represents hope and freedom, Ellis Boyd Red Redding (Morgan Freeman) says I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams talking about his dreams of freedom and when the audience does get to see the ocean it is a much richer blue than the pale washed out version in the prison. Purple Purple has a long history of being a regal colour. This can be seen in Gladiator, where character Marcus Aurelius wears a purple hood, symbolising his regal power. Purple can also represent death or change. In Chicago, the strong use of purple light alludes to the death and delusion, bringing a seriousness to the musical song and dance (Bellantoni 2005). The dark purples are also heavy, representing the closeness of the criminal underworld. Death is also represented by purple in the film Apocalypse Now where a bright purple smoke flare is released and men start to die. Gaspar Noà ©s Enter The Void, a film about death, the afterlife and crime uses strong use of neon-purple contrasting with the dark Tokyo night where the film is set. Yellow Yellow can represent happiness, jovialness, wealth and warning. The use of yellow of Johns car as well as the yellow-neon lights in American Graffiti shows his youth and playfulness. Gold, a shade of yellow is closely associated with wealth. Koszarski (1999) writes that in Erich von Stroheim silent film Greed, Von Strohiem used Handschiegl colour on certain film prints to colour yellow all the gold items in an otherwise black and white film. This gave it a recurrent symbolism of the main characters greed. Greyscale Even with the advent of colour film, many film makers still choose to use the absence of colour in their works. The first film to go through the digital intermediate process of colour grading was Pleasantville, a film which uses the absence and presence of colour in its story. As the film progresses from the black and white beginning, the introduction of selective colourisation is used as a disruptive force on the traditional suburban black and white town. While other films have used the contrast of full colour and black and white scenes they are usually separate, giving the viewer an understanding of the differences between two places. For example the Wizard of Oz has a black and white Kansas, while the land of Oz is a glorious colour. Schindlers List is another example of selective colour used, in an otherwise black and white film a red coat of a young girl is used to individualise the cold, mechanical horrors of the holocaust. Greyscale can give a sense of seriousness and realism. Masik (2010) writes that Spike Lees Shes Gotta Have It was made in black-and-white for aesthetic and budget reasons and also because the Director of Photography liked the film black and white film Raging Bull which he interpreted as summoning the photojournalism s in 1950s Life magazine. Use of colour however is not always to the audiences and critics taste. Filmmaker Todd Miro (2010) blogs about the Color Grading Virus that is Teal Orange He cites Hollywood productions of Transformers 2 and Iron Man 2 where the colour grading has been overdone to attempt to bring attention to the skin tones(usually orange range of colours) of the actors away from the background. Journalist Phil Hoad (2010) spoke to Hollywood colourist Stefan Sonnenfeld, who says Traditional vs. Digital Colour grading has a long history. From the early days of hand painting individual frames to the photochemical processes still used by modern filmmakers. The bleach-bypass method was introduced by Technicolor (Shaw 2010). Shaw (2010) explains that this is when film is processed in lab to alter the colour balance. This process is also expensive and not reversible. This process has been used in many films, such as Dick Tracey, Saving Private Ryan (American Society of Cinematographers, 1998). Director Steven Spielberg and Director of Photography Janusz Kaminiski also used this technique in Munich. Kaminski mentions to Goldman (2005 p.14) a sense of tenseness, a sense of rawness. Kamainiski works with traditional laboratory methods as that is what he has done in the past and feels that the use of digital technology allows the colourist to constantly change their grading and get lost as they have no standard. Process used by Digital Colourists Primary Colour Grading When grading video, the first task is to set up the overall image. Tasks included including fixing white balance, removing colour casts, matching tones between shots and contrast levels. The first task many colourists will tackle first is setting the black level of the image.

Nursing Role in Elderly Person Discharge Planning

Nursing Role in Elderly Person Discharge Planning Title: Critically discuss the role of the nurse in the planning and implementation of safe discharge for the hospitalised elderly person. 1. define your understanding of discharge planning linking it to the ageing process and the reasons why older people are more susceptible to poor discharge planning. The NHS is effectively a rationed service with a finite limit on its resources. Coast points out that one of the major limiting factors which determines the overall ability of the NHS to deliver appropriate healthcare is the number of beds which are available at any given time (Coast et al. 1996) A direct consequence of this statement is the realisation that the availability of beds in the NHS as a whole is a reflection on the bed occupancy and also the efficiency with which potential patients can get into these beds. (Costain et al. 1992). It also directly follows that the efficiency with which patients can be safely discharged back into the community (or to other destinations) has a profound impact on the overall availability of beds for new patients. A patient’s discharge is ultimately dependent on an enormous number of interdependent variables, not the least of which are their physical, mental, emotional and financial state. (Gould et al. 1995). Clearly other factors such as their support networks and the availability of appropriate carers may play a critical role. If we accept that the elderly are more likely to be dependent as a demographic group, then it is clear that all of these issues must be addressed in a timely and positive fashion before a typical elderly patient can be safely discharged from hospital. If we accept that it is not ideal or practical for all of these factors to be assessed by one healthcare professional, then best practice would suggest that it is appropriate to assimilate information that is available from a number of different agencies in order to allow a proper evidence based decision to be made. (Sackett, 1996). Common clinical practice is to invoke the help of a multidisciplinary discharge team. In the context of this essay, we should note that the elderly may face a number of different discharge options and the multidisciplinary discharge team should ideally consider all of them as appropriate. We shall not discuss them all in detail here, but provide an overview of the most commonly utilised options. Victor Nazareth (et al 1994) point to the fact that multidisciplinary discharge planning may be subsumed by expediency in some cases where some immediately attractive schemes such as discharge to a nursing home may be employed as it requires only a modest investment of planning time but effectively shifts the patient sideways out of an acute hospital bed. Such options may appear to be attractive in the short term but the implications for the elderly patient and their family can be profound if they are not explored properly prior to discharge. (Stojcevic N et al. 1996) Some centres utilise the mechanism of nurse-led inpatient rehabilitation care for the elderly who no longer require medical attention, but this does not address the issue of releasing hospital beds. (Steiner 1997) The elderly, as a group, may frequently fall into a category where they are not quite well enough or independent enough to be discharged home but yet are not really ill enough to remain in hospital. (Closs et al. 1995). In these circumstances the multidisciplinary discharge team may consider the option of a Hospital at Home which acts effectively as a transition stage where help at an enhanced level can be provided in the short term which allows the elderly patient to be safely discharged from hospital thereby releasing the bed for another acutely ill patient and the original patient can recuperate in their own home until well. (Fulop et al. 1997) Martin points to the fact that, in order to be effective, a multidisciplinary discharge team needs to ensure that appropriate facilities are put in place in a timely fashion prior to patient discharge. (Martin et al 1994). Failure to do this will render the whole scheme less than optimally effective, as the patients may not get the full range of appropriate facilities, not derive appropriate benefit and this may culminate in premature or unnecessary readmission to hospital, which is effectively a waste of resources. (Pound et al. 1995) Richards (et al 1998) has provided an exemplary tour de force of the issue with a randomised controlled trial of a large cohort of patients. Their main outcome markers were, excess mortality, quality of life, cost and patient acceptability. (Coast et al. 1998) The paper is actually both long and detailed but the main findings were that all of the parameters that were measured (with one exception), showed no adverse effect of an early discharge. The differences were that there was a greater expression of patient satisfaction with the Hospital at Home scheme. (Wilson et al 1997) 2. Anatomy and physiology of the ageing process should be briefly explained. The anatomy and physiology of aging are two subjects which are specialties in themselves and we do not presume to attempt to cover them in any detail in this essay. Russell points out that older adults are not simply a more aged version of a younger adult, they have distinct metabolic and anatomical differences that alter (for example) their nutritional requirements. As humans age their variability in nutritional need becomes greater rather than narrower. (Russell R M 2000). This type of change can be demonstrated in the fact that the older adult generally maintains their ability to absorb macronutrients well into advanced years but they loose the ability to absorb a wide variety of micronutrients. (van Asselt D Z et al. 1998) Other areas where the aging adult is demonstrably different from the young adult is in the state of their DNA which undergoes progressive oxidation from free radicals throughout life. This has repercussions with regard to a number of disease processes such as diabetes mellitus and many types of cancer. (Gilchrest B A et al. 1997) There appears to be a pre-programmed reduction in mitochondria content of tissues as they age. This is manifest in a number of clinical ways. Reduced strength and energy together with muscle wasting are frequent accompaniments of advancing years and may be one of the most significant factors in the rehabilitation of the elderly person. (Navarro A et al. 2007) 3. In this assignment it is important to define and discuss your understanding of ageism and ageist attitudes in relation to appropriate discharge planning. There are many studies which explore the subject of ageism in clinical practice. They reveal a stereotypical belief that older people are â€Å"dull, disagreeable, inactive, and economically burdensome† (Spence D L et al. 1998 These attitudes are still encountered in some healthcare professionals who may categorise lives into discrete stages as a means of charting progress. The expression â€Å"Act your age† suggests that one has to comply with the cultural (rather than biological) expectations of a stage in life. These stages are commonly associated with economic power with the 40s and 50s usually being considered to be the pinnacle of life as such people tend to have good health and are most likely to have robust financial resources. (Schroots J J F 1998) Engendering positive feelings about older people will help to produce a climate of better care for the elderly. (Puckett J M et al. 1999) In terms of the multidisciplinary discharge team, one should clearly be aware of the fact that the elderly have different needs, requirements and abilities. The belief that this equates with a lesser status and a lower level of expectation should be actively challenged. There is no rational reason to expect an 80 yr old to be less entitled to dignity and a good quality of life than a 30 yr old. If we consider the Rudd study (Rudd et al 1997) we can point to a hard evidence base to support the concept that active multidisciplinary discharge planning can actually produce an improvement in the quality of life indicators for the elderly if ageist stereotypes are actively challenged. It is fair to observe that this particular study utilised a particularly wide-ranging and apparently forward thinking multidisciplinary discharge team, but the results achieved are impressive by any analysis. 4. Explore the role of the nurse in relation to multi disciplinary team working in planning safe discharge. By its very nature, the multidisciplinary discharge team is made up of members from a number of clinical disciplines. The role of the nurse is multifactorial. Very often the nurse is the lead organiser in the team. (Lindley et al 1995). In addition to this, the professional role of the nurse often will allow a special insight into the dynamics of the caring and support networks outside of the hospital environment. It is part of the professional nursing requirement that the nurse should also act as the patient advocate (in common with other clinical disciplines) and as such should speak up for the patient if she believes that a clinical or social need is being unfulfilled. (Roper et al. 1983) 5. consider the psychological psychosocial impact that appropriate discharge planning could have on the older person and their family. Because of the increased likelihood of physical frailty, secondary morbidity and financial insecurity in this demographic group, increased dependence is more likely to be found in the elderly. This dependence is almost certain to be increased in the short term in the immediate aftermath of a hospitalisation. This will inevitably have a significant impact on the psychological well-being of both the patient and their carers. Depression is commonly seen (but less commonly recognised) in the elderly as they may struggle to cope with the demands of daily living which are also likely to be more acute after as in-patient spell. (Roper et al. 1983). Anxiety is another commonly experienced entity in both the patient and their carers as, to a degree, if planning has not been adequately carried out or inadequately explained, they may be concerned about how they are going to manage. Intuitively one can suggest that both of these factors can be significantly reduced with appropriate pre-discharge planning and intervention. (Drummond et al. 1995). 6. Appraise strategies in health promotion and rehabilitation with regard to discharge planning that can assist the older person and their family. This is potentially a vast area as there are a great many papers which have looked at the efficacy of the multidisciplinary discharge team in the discharge planning process. As illustrative examples we can consider some of them. The Mahoney paper suggests that the basic minimum input for a multidisciplinary discharge team should be a nurse and an occupational therapist and that these core workers should have the ability and discretion to co-opt additional specialists such as physiotherapists, geriatricians, social workers and psychologists as they feel appropriate. (Mahoney et al 1965) Specific types of patient discharge may require specific modifications of the basic plan. Ball produced a tour de force in his paper on discharge of the elderly from a coronary care unit, (Ball et al. 2003) where patients were allowed to go home earlier than they might normally have been allowed home but with the proviso that specific teams of specialist nurses were available to reassess the patient in their own home and consider direct readmission if required. The team referred to in this study was comparatively unusual insofar as it was comprised six nursing staff but with different skills and experience and they referred the patients to other members of the team only if they felt that more expert input was required. Many papers consider the role of the occupational therapist as a specific and vital entity in the discharge planning process. Gilbertson (et al. 2000) considered the various impacts that each individual professional had on the overall effectiveness of the eventual discharge and came to the conclusion that the impact of the discharge process (as measured by the Barthel quality of life indicator) was influenced by the input of the occupational therapist more than by any other individual category of healthcare professional. In making this statement, we should note that the authors were conducting a study into the discharge of stroke patients and therefore their findings may not be completely generalsable across the entire spectrum of patient discharge. We should also note that these benefits, which were detailed at some length in the analysis section of the trial, were only demonstrable on a comparatively short term basis. Their six month follow up after discharge showed that the patients had returned to the pre-admission status of quality of life. This, in itself, should not be considered as a negative finding as ultimately, it is one of the purposes of hospital admission to try to maintain or improve a patient’s quality of life In passing, we should also note that the Logan study (Logan P A et al. 1997) produced a similar trial structure and concluded that the Social Worker had an equally important part to play in the successful discharge of the patient. 7. your discussions should address inter disciplinary practice, relevant research and government policies (including the national service framework for older people). Discussion There are a great many studies that have been consulted in preparation for this essay. An overview would suggest that it is best practice to carefully assess, consider and then implement an appropriate discharge package for each patient. This has the advantage of minimising physical, psychological and practical trauma for the patient and their carers but also, (as Hensher observes) it can reduce the incidence of readmission in the immediate post-discharge period. (Hensher N et al. 1999) The National Service Framework for the elderly makes a number of good practice recommendations together with targets and goals that have a specific impact on the whole of the discharge process. (Rouse et al. 2001). Arguably one of the most significant recommendations is the implementation of the multidisciplinary discharge team process although there is no specific recommendation as to how the team should be comprised. A number of papers have examined the impact of the various differential structures of the teams and have come to differing conclusions. We have cited some of these already but some, such as the huge STUC trial suggest that, in specific consideration of the elderly, the prime determinant of whether a patient was going to eventually cope at home or not was their ability to transfer â€Å"successfully and reliably† from chair to chair and to a large extent, this was dependent on the availability of physiotherapy input. (STUC 1997) To conclude, we should perhaps detail the structure and facilities of the â€Å"ideal† discharge team as outlined by the STUC authors. A hospital based outpatient clinic, geriatric day hospital, generic domicillary physiotherapy and speech and language therapy, hospital outpatient physiotherapy, and the usual community resources. The maximum level of home care available in the study area to all patients was three one hour visits daily by a home help for personal care, meals on wheels, and community nurse visits for specific tasks. In addition this paper also quotes details of the additional measures that were also available for the patients:- Patients randomised to the community therapy team remained in hospital until the required package of social services care could be organised and any home adaptations undertaken whereas a store of commodes, high chairs, and toilet frames was kept by the team to expedite discharge. The patients were assessed for rehabilitation needs before discharge in conjunction with the hospital based therapists to set initial objectives and to ensure continuity of care. After discharge, patients were given a planned course of domiciliary physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, with visits as frequently as considered appropriate (maximum one daily visit from each therapist). In addition to all this input, the paper comments that each patient was assessed by the team on a weekly basis for up to three months to ensure optimum utilisation of resources The team’s input base was detailed as:- i) Senior physiotherapist grade 1 with neurological training, ii) Senior occupational therapist grade 1, iii) Speech and language therapist, iv) Therapy aide. v) Nurse vi) Consultant physician To conclude, we can consider a very valid point made by Haines (T P et al. 2004) who suggests that if proper multidisciplinary assessments take place in admission units as well as prior to patient discharge, it is quite possible that some cases may not actually need hospital admission in the first instance. References Ball, Kirkby Williams, (20030 Effect of the critical care outreach team on patient survival to discharge from hospital and readmission to critical care: non-randomised population based study. BMJ 2003 ; 327 : 1014 (1 November), Closs S J, Stewart L S P, Brand E, Currie C T. (1995) A scheme of early supported discharge for elderly trauma patients the views of patients, carers and community staff. Br J Occup Ther 1995 ; 58 : 373 376. Coast J, Inglis A, Frankel S. (1996) Alternatives to hospital care: what are they and who should decide. BMJ 1996 ; 312 : 162 166 Costain D, Warner M, eds. (1992) From hospital to home care. London : Kings Fund, 1992. Drummond A E R, Walker M F. (1995) A randomised controlled trial of leisure rehabilitation. Clin Rehab 1995 ; 9 : 283 290. Fulop N J, Hood S, Parsons S. (1997) Does the National Health Service want hospital at home? J R Soc Med 1997 ; 90 : 212 215 Gilbertson, Peter Langhorne, Andrew Walker, Ann Allen, and Gordon D Murray (2000) Domiciliary occupational therapy for patients with stroke discharged from hospital: randomised controlled trial. BMJ, Mar 2000 ; 320 : 603 606 ; Gilchrest B A and VA Bohr (1997) Aging processes, DNA damage, and repair. The FASEB Journal, Vol 11, 322 330, 1997 Gould M M, Iliffe S. (1995) Hospital at home: a case study in service development. Br J Health Care Manage 1995 ; 1 : 809 812. Haines T P, Kim L Bennell, Richard H Osborne, and Keith D Hill (2004) Effectiveness of targeted falls prevention programme in subacute hospital setting: randomised controlled trial. BMJ, Mar 2004 ; 328 : 676 ; Hensher, N. Fulop, J. Coast, and E. Jefferys (1999) The hospital of the future: Better out than in? Alternatives to acute hospital care. BMJ, October 23, 1999 ; 319 (7217) : 1127 1130. Lindley R I, Amayo E O, Marshall J, Sandercock P A G, Dennis M, Warlow C P. (1995) Hospital services for patients with acute stroke in the United Kingdom: the Stroke Association survey of consultant opinion. Age Ageing 1995 ; 24 : 525 32. Logan P A, Gladman J R F, Lincoln N B. (1997) A randomised controlled trial of enhanced social service occupational therapy for stroke patients. Clin Rehab 1997 ; 11 : 107 113 Mahoney F I, Barthel D W. (1965) Functional evaluation: the Barthel index. Maryland State Med J 1965 ; 14 : 61 65. Martin F, Oyewole A, Maloney A. (1994) A randomised controlled trial of a high support hospital discharge team for elderly people. Age Ageing 1994 ; 23 : 228 34. Navarro A. Boveris A (2007) The mitochondrial energy transduction system and the aging process. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 292 : C670 C686, 2007 Pound P, Bury M, Gompertz P, Ebrahim S. (1995) Stroke patients views on their admission to hospital. BMJ 1995 : 311 : 18 22. Puckett J M, Petty R E, Cacioppo J T, Fischer D L. (1999) The relative impact of age and attractiveness stereotypes on persuasion. J Gerontol. 1999 ; 38 : 340 343. Richards, Joanna Coast, David J Gunnell, Tim J Peters, John Pounsford, and Mary-Anne Darlow (1998) Randomised controlled trial comparing effectiveness and acceptability of an early discharge, hospital at home scheme with acute hospital care. BMJ, Jun 1998 ; 316 : 1796 – 1801 Roper Logan Tierney (1983) Using a model for nursing. Edinburgh : Churchill Livingstone 1983 Rouse, Jolley, and Read (2001) National service frameworks. BMJ, Dec 2001 ; 323 : 1429. Rudd, Charles D A Wolfe, Kate Tilling, and Roger Beech (1997) Randomised controlled trial to evaluate early discharge scheme for patients with stroke. BMJ, Oct 1997 ; 315 : 1039 – 1044 Russell R M (2000) The aging process as a modifier of metabolism. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 72, No. 2, 529S 532s, August 2000 Sackett, (1996). Doing the Right Thing Right: Is Evidence-Based Medicine the Answer? Ann Intern Med, Jul 1996 ; 127 : 91 94. Schroots J J F. (1998) On growing, formative change, and aging. In : Birren J E, Bengston V L, eds. Emergent Theories of Aging. New York, NY : Springer-Verlag; 1998. Spence D L, Feigenbaum E M, Fitzgerald F, Roth J. (1998) Medical student attitudes toward the geriatric patient. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1998 ;16 : 976 983. Steiner A.(1997) Intermediate care: a conceptual framework and review of the literature. London: Kings Fund, 1997. Stojcevic N, Wilkinson P, Wolfe C. (1996) Outcome measurement in stroke patients. In: Wolfe C, Rudd T, Beech R, eds. Stroke services and research. London: The Stroke Association, 1996. STUC (1997) Stroke Unit Trialists Collaboration. Collaborative systematic review of the randomised trials of organised inpatient (stroke unit) care after stroke. BMJ 1997 ; 314 : 1151 8. van Asselt D Z, de Groot L C, van Staveren W A, et al. (1998) Role of cobalamin intake and atrophic gastritis in mild cobalamin deficiency in older Dutch subjects. Am J Clin Nutr 1998 ; 68 : 328 – 34. Victor C, Nazareth B, Hudson M, Fulop N.(1994) The inappropriate use of acute hospital beds in an inner London District Health Authority. Health Trends 1994 ; 25 (3) : 94 97. Wilson A, Parker H, Wynn A, Jones J, Spiers N, Jagger C, et al. (1997) Hospital at home is as safe as hospital, cheaper, and patients like it more: early results from a randomised controlled trial. Society for Social Medicine abstracts. J Epidemiol Community Health 1997 ; 51 : 593.

Europes Largest Minority Essay -- essays research papers

The Romani people of Europe are often referred to as "Gypsies". Thought they prefer to be called Roma. The Roma are descendants of the ancient warrior classes of Northern India, particularly the Punjab, and they are identifiable by their language, religion, and customs. The "Gypsies" gained there widely known name due to the fact that when they first arrived in Europe people believed that they had migrated from Egypt. Even after this was found to be untrue that name stuck to this minority group. Because recorded history of the "Gypsies" prior to their first documented appearances in Europe in the early 15th century is non-existent, there has been much debate as to their origins and early migration. Based on linguistic evidence, it is believed that the modern day "Gypsies" of the Middle East, Europe, Asia, as well as the Americas, originated in Northwestern India. There is also a general agreement regarding the approximate timing of their immigration. It is believed that the bulk of their immigration was during the 11th century, and took place in three major trips. Though this large group of people have been living in Europe for over ten centuries they are still not treated as equals to this day. The exact number of "gypsies" who live in Europe is unknown and guesses are inaccurate due to their nomadic life style. What is known is that population of "gypsies" is a large one that makes them the largest minority living in Europe. Though large in population they are also largely discriminated against. This discrimination dates back almost ,if not to the of there arrival in Europe. Throughout the centuries they have faced discrimination in many different forms, for a variety of reasons. Also there have been quite a few major outbreaks of intense discrimination that took place in different areas throughout Europe. During medieval times rumors where spread that the "Gypsies" were descended from a sexual encounter between a "Gypsies" woman and Satan. Christians believed that a conspiracy of blacksmiths, wizards and women had been organized to attack... ...ing and placement system for the "Gypsies". These placements and training will helps them to find jobs This is extremely helpful because finding a job can be a extreme challenge to them on there own, due to there lack of training and the widespread belief/stereotype that they are thieves and cheats. The "Gypsies" are a group of people with an extremely rich culture. There performances at festivals and such attract many tourists who find there life styles unique and interesting. The reason this minority group is discriminated against so terribly is not due to being a bad group of people, but a misunderstood group of people. Throughout European society and time there had been and still is a serve lack of understanding about the "Gypsies" which has lead to all the discrimination they have faced and are still facing today. When most people think of "Gypsies" they think of the stereotype "Gypsy", a nomad, a thief, and uneducated. Though finding schools for "Gypsies" can be hard there are "Gypsy" children that attend school. Only a minuet percentage of the "Gypsies" are nomatic.

Ray Kroc Essay -- Food Industry Fast Food Restaurants Essays

Ray Kroc They are everywhere! From downtown Chicago to a rural town in Nebraska, fast-food restaurants have become a trademark of how Americans live today. Hurrying to make time for an afternoon appointment, a woman decides to make a short stop for lunch. Pulling her sports utility vehicle up to the window, she quickly grabs a delicious meal for a small price. But where did the idea come from? In the small town of San Bernadino, California, during the fifties, a young man named Ray Kroc had an idea that would drastically revolutionize the food industry with the efficient use of a multimixer, new ideas, and incredible entrepreneurship, the McDonalds corporation began a remarkable empire in the American and worldwide fast-food industry. Ray Kroc began his working career the same as most others do by finding a solid job with a steady cash flow, and hope of promotion. Determined to find work for his future wife's hand in marriage, Ray quickly became a salesmen for a Lily cup industry. Unfortunately for Ray, it didn't start off in the way that he thought it would. Struggling to support his wife and newborn baby under low pay, Ray would also play piano part time to earn extra money. While working for the chance of a promotion, he worked hard in his job going from place to place selling papercup products. It was in these early business days that Ray first showed a sign of his talent in economic ideas. He had an idea to modify a paper cup in that it could be formed in a way which kept the cup more durable. The cup's name was rightfully called the "One in a Million," and the introduction of this new product took off like a barn fire and boosted sales dramatically in a stagnant industry. The intelligent business decisio ns made by Ray were incredible. He advised the head of the company to raise the price of the new cup by two cents. Instead of selling at ten cents, the cup sold at twelve which made the boss an extra one hundred thousand dollars. With this invention by Ray Kroc, new ideas were stimulated and more inventions were created. The invention of the multimixer, by Earl Prince, was a five spindled milkshake machine that Ray believed had tremendous potential. When Earl Prince found out about Ray Kroc's business and selling tactics, he instantly proposed that Ray leave the Lily Tulip company and go into business with him. Ray would sell the... ... the demands of a changing society. Ray commented on all his success by saying, "Everything seems to be coming up roses. I'll be able to tell you more Manana...Manana..."(Kroc 207). At age fifty-two, Ray Kroc took an idea of the McDonalds brothers, and opened his first franchise. Within a decade he became a millionaire and his journey is a classic success story. Sadly, after thirty years of working for his own company, Ray died of heart failure on January 14, 1984. During 1983, the system wide sales of over four thousand restaurants accumulated almost nine billion dollars in sales. And in December of that year Ray was saluted as one of fifty individuals who had made the greatest contribution to the American way of life in the twentieth century. The West Coast Reviews of books writes, "Few entrepreneurs can claim to have actually changed the way we live, but Ray Kroc is one of them. His revolutions in food service automation, franchising, shared national training, and advertis ing have earned him a place beside the men who founded not merely businesses but entire new industries." Ray Kroc's influential life not only provided work for millions, but changed the life of billions.

Social Media and Business

Business Horizons (2010) 53, 59—68 www. elsevier. com/locate/bushor Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media Andreas M. Kaplan *, Michael Haenlein ? ESCP Europe, 79 Avenue de la Republique, F-75011 Paris, France KEYWORDS Social Media; User Generated Content; Web 2. 0; Social networking sites; Virtual worlds Abstract The concept of Social Media is top of the agenda for many business executives today. Decision makers, as well as consultants, try to identify ways in which ? rms can make pro? able use of applications such as Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, Second Life, and Twitter. Yet despite this interest, there seems to be very limited understanding of what the term ‘‘Social Media’’ exactly means; this article intends to provide some clari? cation. We begin by describing the concept of Social Media, and discuss how it differs from related concepts such as Web 2. 0 and User Generated Content. Based on this de? nition, we then provide a classi? cation of Social Media which groups applications currently subsumed under the generalized term into more speci? categories by characteristic: collaborative projects, blogs, content communities, social networking sites, virtual game worlds, and virtual social worlds. Finally, we present 10 pieces of advice for companies which decide to utilize Social Media. # 2009 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved. 1. The specter of Social Media As of January 2009, the online social networking application Facebook registered more than 175 million active users. To put that number in perspective, this is only slightly less than the population of Brazil (190 million) and over twice the population of Germany (80 million)!At the same time, every minute, 10 hours of content were uploaded to the video sharing platform YouTube. And, the image hosting site Flickr provided access to over 3 billion photographs, making the world-famous Louvre * Correspondi ng author. E-mail addresses: [email  protected] eu (A. M. Kaplan), [email  protected] eu (M. Haenlein). Museum’s collection of 300,000 objects seem tiny in comparison. According to Forrester Research, 75% of Internet surfers used ‘‘Social Media’’ in the second quarter of 2008 by joining social networks, reading blogs, or contributing reviews to shopping sites; this represents a signi? ant rise from 56% in 2007. The growth is not limited to teenagers, either; members of Generation X, now 35—44 years old, increasingly populate the ranks of joiners, spectators, and critics. It is therefore reasonable to say that Social Media represent a revolutionary new trend that should be of interest to companies operating in online space–—or any space, for that matter. Yet, not overly many ? rms seem to act comfortably in a world where consumers can speak so freely 0007-6813/$ — see front matter # 2009 Kelley School of Business, India na University.All rights reserved. doi:10. 1016/j. bushor. 2009. 09. 003 60 with each other and businesses have increasingly less control over the information available about them in cyberspace. Today, if an Internet user types the name of any leading brand into the Google search, what comes up among the top ? ve results typically includes not only the corporate webpage, but also the corresponding entry in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Here, for example, customers can read that the 2007 model of Hasbro’s Easy-Bake Oven may lead to serious burns on children’s hands and ? gers due to a poorly-designed oven door, and that the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company has been accused of using child labor in its Liberian rubber factory. Historically, companies were able to control the information available about them through strategically placed press announcements and good public relations managers. Today, however, ? rms have been increasingly relegated to the sidelines as m ere observers, having neither the knowledge nor the chance–—or, sometimes, even the right–—to alter publicly posted comments provided by their customers. Wikipedia, for example, expressly forbids the participation of ? ms in its online community. Such an evolution may not be surprising. After all, the Internet started out as nothing more than a giant Bulletin Board System (BBS) that allowed users to exchange software, data, messages, and news with each other. The late 1990s saw a popularity surge in homepages, whereby the Average Joe could share information about his private life; today’s equivalent would be the weblog, or blog. The era of corporate web pages and e-commerce started relatively recently with the launch of Amazon and eBay in 1995, and got a right ticking-off only 6 years later when the dot-com bubble burst in 2001.The current trend toward Social Media can therefore be seen as an evolution back to the Internet’s roots, since it retransforms the World Wide Web to what it was initially created for: a platform to facilitate information exchange between users. But does that mean that Social Media is just old wine in new bottles? Probably not! As we will delve into further, the technical advances that have been made over the past 20 years now enable a form of virtual content sharing that is fundamentally different from, and more powerful than, the BBS of the late 1970s.This article discusses the challenges and opportunities that emerge from this evolution for ? rms, and provides structure to better understand the rapidly evolving ? eld of Social Media. We begin by providing a de? nition and classi? cation of Social Media by looking at their historical roots, technical speci? cities, and differences from other entities such as Web 2. 0 and User Generated Content. We then focus on six types of Social Media–—collaborative projects, blogs, A. M. Kaplan, M. Haenlein content communities, social networki ng sites, virtual game worlds, and virtual social worlds–—and present ways in which companies can ef? iently make use of these applications. Based on this analysis, we then derive a set of 10 recommendations companies should follow when thinking about developing their own Social Media strategy, be it with respect to these aforementioned types or other applications which might emerge in the future. 2. What is Social Media–—And what is it not? As highlighted, the idea behind Social Media is far from groundbreaking. Nevertheless, there seems to be confusion among managers and academic researchers alike as to what exactly should be included under this term, and how Social Media differ from the seemingly-interchangeable related concepts of Web 2. and User Generated Content. It therefore makes sense to take a step back and provide insight regarding where Social Media come from and what they include. By 1979, Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis from Duke University had c reated the Usenet, a worldwide discussion system that allowed Internet users to post public messages. Yet, the era of Social Media as we understand it today probably started about 20 years earlier, when Bruce and Susan Abelson founded ‘‘Open Diary,’’ an early social networking site that brought together online diary writers into one community. The term ‘‘weblog’’ was ? st used at the same time, and truncated as ‘‘blog’’ a year later when one blogger jokingly transformed the noun ‘‘weblog’’ into the sentence ‘‘we blog. ’’ The growing availability of high-speed Internet access further added to the popularity of the concept, leading to the creation of social networking sites such as MySpace (in 2003) and Facebook (in 2004). This, in turn, coined the term ‘‘Social Media,’’ and contributed to the prominence it has today. The most rece nt addition to this glamorous grouping has been so-called ‘‘virtual worlds’’: computerbased simulated environments inhabited by threedimensional avatars.Perhaps the best known virtual world is that of Linden Lab’s Second Life (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009c). Although the list of the aforementioned applications may give some idea about what is meant by Social Media, a formal de? nition of the term ? rst requires drawing a line to two related concepts that are frequently named in conjunction with it: Web 2. 0 and User Generated Content. Web 2. 0 is a term that was ? rst used in 2004 to describe a new way in which software developers and end-users started to Users of the world, unite!The challenges and opportunities of Social Media utilize the World Wide Web; that is, as a platform whereby content and applications are no longer created and published by individuals, but instead are continuously modi? ed by all users in a participatory and collaborative fashio n. While applications such as personal web pages, Encyclopedia Britannica Online, and the idea of content publishing belong to the era of Web 1. 0, they are replaced by blogs, wikis, and collaborative projects in Web 2. 0. Although Web 2. 0 does not refer to any speci? technical update of the World Wide Web, there is a set of basic functionalities that are necessary for its functioning. Among them are Adobe Flash (a popular method for adding animation, interactivity, and audio/video streams to web pages), RSS (Really Simple Syndication, a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content, such as blog entries or news headlines, in a standardized format), and AJAX (Asynchronous Java Script, a technique to retrieve data from web servers asynchronously, allowing the update of web content without interfering with the display and behavior of the whole page).For the purpose of our article, we consider Web 2. 0 as the platform for the evolution of Social Media. When Web 2. 0 represents the ideological and technological foundation, User Generated Content (UGC) can be seen as the sum of all ways in which people make use of Social Media. The term, which achieved broad popularity in 2005, is usually applied to describe the various forms of media content that are publicly available and created by end-users. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2007), UGC needs to ful? l three basic requirements in order to be considered as such: ? rst, it needs to be published either on a publicly accessible website or on a social networking site accessible to a selected group of people; second, it needs to show a certain amount of creative effort; and ? nally, it needs to have been created outside of professional routines and practices. The ? rst condition excludes content exchanged in e-mails or instant messages; the second, mere replications of already existing content (e. g. , posting a copy of an existing newspaper article on a personal blog without any modi? ations or commenting); and the third, all content that has been created with a commercial market context in mind. While UGC has already been available prior to Web 2. 0, as discussed above, the combination of technological drivers (e. g. , increased broadband availability and hardware capacity), economic drivers (e. g. , increased availability of tools for the creation of UGC), and social drivers (e. g. , rise of a generation of ‘‘digital natives’’ and ‘‘screenagers’’: younger age groups with substantial technical knowledge and 1 willingness to engage online) make UGC nowadays fundamentally different from what was observed in the early 1980s. Based on these clari? cations of Web 2. 0 and UGC, it is now straightforward to give a more detailed de? nition of what we mean by Social Media. In our view–—and as used herein–—Social Media is a group of Internet-based applicati ons that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2. 0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content. Within this general de? ition, there are various types of Social Media that need to be distinguished further. However, although most people would probably agree that Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, and Second Life are all part of this large group, there is no systematic way in which different Social Media applications can be categorized. Also, new sites appear in cyberspace every day, so it is important that any classi? cation scheme takes into account applications which may be forthcoming. To create such a classi? cation scheme, and to do so in a systematic manner, we rely on a set of theories in the ? ld of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure), the two key elements of Social Media. Regarding the media-related component of Social Media, social presence theory (Short, Willi ams, & Christie, 1976) states that media differ in the degree of ‘‘social presence’’–—de? ned as the acoustic, visual, and physical contact that can be achieved–—they allow to emerge between two communication partners. Social presence is in? uenced by the intimacy (interpersonal vs. mediated) and immediacy (asynchronous vs. ynchronous) of the medium, and can be expected to be lower for mediated (e. g. , telephone conversation) than interpersonal (e. g. , face-to-face discussion) and for asynchronous (e. g. , e-mail) than synchronous (e. g. , live chat) communications. The higher the social presence, the larger the social in? uence that the communication partners have on each other’s behavior. Closely related to the idea of social presence is the concept of media richness. Media richness theory (Daft & Lengel, 1986) is based on the assumption that the goal of any communication is the resolution of ambiguity and the reductio n of uncertainty.It states that media differ in the degree of richness they possess–—that is, the amount of information they allow to be transmitted in a given time interval–—and that therefore some media are more effective than others in resolving ambiguity and uncertainty. Applied to the context of Social Media, we assume that a ? rst classi? cation can be made based on the richness of the medium and the degree of social presence it allows. With respect to the social dimension of Social Media, the concept of self-presentation states that 2 in any type of social interaction people have the desire to control the impressions other people form of them (Goffman, 1959). On the one hand, this is done with the objective of in? uencing others to gain rewards (e. g. , make a positive impression on your future in-laws); on the other hand, it is driven by a wish to create an image that is consistent with one’s personal identity (e. g. , wearing a fashionable out? t in order to be perceived as young and trendy). The key reason why people decide to create a personal webpage is, for example, the wish to present themselves in cyberspace (Schau & Gilly, 2003).Usually, such a presentation is done through self-disclosure; that is, the conscious or unconscious revelation of personal information (e. g. , thoughts, feelings, likes, dislikes) that is consistent with the image one would like to give. Self-disclosure is a critical step in the development of close relationships (e. g. , during dating) but can also occur between complete strangers; for example, when speaking about personal problems with the person seated next to you on an airplane. Applied to the context of Social Media, we assume that a second classi? ation can be made based on the degree of self-disclosure it requires and the type of self-presentation it allows. Combining both dimensions leads to a classi? cation of Social Media which we have visualized in Table 1. With respect to social presence and media richness, applications such as collaborative projects (e. g. , Wikipedia) and blogs score lowest, as they are often text-based and hence only allow for a relatively simple exchange. On the next level are content communities (e. g. , YouTube) and social networking sites (e. g. Facebook) which, in addition to text-based communication, enable the sharing of pictures, videos, and other forms of media. On the highest level are virtual game and social worlds (e. g. , World of Warcraft, Second Life), which try to replicate all dimensions of face-to-face interactions in a virtual environment. Regarding self-presentation and self-disclosure, blogs usually score higher than collaborative projects, as the latter tend to be focused on speci? c content domains. Table 1. A. M. Kaplan, M. Haenlein In a similar spirit, social networking sites allow for more self-disclosure than content communities.Finally, virtual social worlds require a higher level of self-disclosure tha n virtual game worlds, as the latter are ruled by strict guidelines that force users to behave in a certain way (e. g. , as warriors in an imaginary fantasy land). We will now provide more detail on each of these six different types of Social Media, and discuss the challenges and opportunities they offer companies. 3. The challenges and opportunities of Social Media 3. 1. Collaborative projects Collaborative projects enable the joint and simultaneous creation of content by many end-users and are, in this sense, probably the most democratic manifestation of UGC.Within collaborative projects, one differentiates between wikis–—that is, websites which allow users to add, remove, and change text-based content–—and social bookmarking applications–—which enable the group-based collection and rating of Internet links or media content. Exemplary applications within this category include the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, a wiki currently available in more than 230 different languages, and the social bookmarking web service Delicious, which allows the storage and sharing of web bookmarks.The main idea underlying collaborative projects is that the joint effort of many actors leads to a better outcome than any actor could achieve individually; this is similar to the ef? cient-market hypothesis in behavioral ? nance (Fama, 1970). From a corporate perspective, ? rms must be aware that collaborative projects are trending toward becoming the main source of information for many consumers. As such, although not everything written on Wikipedia may actually be true, it is believed to be true by more and more Internet users. This may be particularly crucial as regards corporate crises. For example, Classi? ation of Social Media by social presence/media richness and self-presentation/self-disclosure Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media when online book retailer Amazon started to test the idea of dynami c pricing, comments declaring such a practice as unfair showed up instantaneously under the Wikipedia entry on ‘‘time-based pricing. ’’ Yet, collaborative projects also provide some unique opportunities for ? rms. Finnish handset manufacturer Nokia, for instance, uses internal wikis to update employees on project status and to trade ideas, which are used by about 20% of its 68,000 staff members.Likewise, American computer software company Adobe Systems maintains a list of bookmarks to company-related websites and conversations on Delicious. 63 3. 3. Content communities The main objective of content communities is the sharing of media content between users. Content communities exist for a wide range of different media types, including text (e. g. , BookCrossing, via which 750,000+ people from over 130 countries share books), photos (e. g. , Flickr), videos (e. g. , YouTube), and PowerPoint presentations (e. g. , Slideshare). Users on content communities are not required to create a personal pro? e page; if they do, these pages usually only contain basic information, such as the date they joined the community and the number of videos shared. From a corporate viewpoint, content communities carry the risk of being used as platforms for the sharing of copyright-protected materials. While major content communities have rules in place to ban and remove such illegal content, it is dif? cult to avoid popular videos–—such as recent episodes of comedy dramas–—being uploaded to YouTube only hours after they have been aired on television.On the positive side, the high popularity of content communities makes them a very attractive contact channel for many ? rms; this is easy to believe when one considers that YouTube serves over 100 million videos per day. In 2007, Procter & Gamble organized a contest for its over-the-counter drug Pepto-Bismol, whereby users were encouraged to upload to YouTube 1-minute videos of themsel ves singing about the ailments Pepto-Bismol counteracts, including heartburn and nausea. In a similar spirit, kitchen appliances manufacturer Blendtec became popular for its bevy of inexpensive ‘‘Will it blend? ’ videos, which have been watched by millions of people. Other ? rms, such as Cisco and Google, rely on content communities to share recruiting videos, as well as keynote speeches and press announcements, with their employees and investors. 3. 2. Blogs Blogs, which represent the earliest form of Social Media, are special types of websites that usually display date-stamped entries in reverse chronological order (OECD, 2007). They are the Social Media equivalent of personal web pages and can come in a multitude of different variations, from personal diaries describing the author’s life to summaries of all relevant information in one speci? content area. Blogs are usually managed by one person only, but provide the possibility of interaction with others through the addition of comments. Due to their historical roots, text-based blogs are still by far the most common. Nevertheless, blogs have also begun to take different media formats. For example, San Francisco-based Justin. tv allows users to create personalized television channels via which they can broadcast images from their webcam in real time to other users. Many companies are already using blogs to update employees, customers, and shareholders on developments they consider to be important.Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems, maintains a personal blog to improve the transparency of his company; so does automotive giant General Motors. Yet, as is the case with collaborative projects, blogs do not come without risks. These generally present in two fashions. First, customers who–—for one reason or another–—turn out to be dissatis? ed with or disappointed by the company’s offerings may decide to engage in virtual complaints in the form o f protest websites or blogs (Ward & Ostrom, 2006), which results in the availability of potentially damaging information in online space.Second, once ? rms encourage employees to be active on blogs, they may need to live with the consequences of staff members writing negatively about the ? rm. Microsoft’s former ‘‘technical evangelist’’ Robert Scoble, for example, had a tendency to ? ercely criticize the products of his employer–— before he decided to leave the Redmond-based software company in 2006. 3. 4. Social networking sites Social networking sites are applications that enable users to connect by creating personal information pro? les, inviting friends and colleagues to have access to those pro? es, and sending e-mails and instant messages between each other. These personal pro? les can include any type of information, including photos, video, audio ? les, and blogs. According to Wikipedia, the largest social networking sites are U . S. -based Facebook (initially founded by Mark Zuckerberg to stay in touch with his fellow students from Harvard University) and MySpace (with 1,500 employees and more than 250 million registered users). Social networking sites are of such high popularity, speci? cally among younger Internet 4 users, that the term ‘‘Facebook addict’’ has been included in the Urban Dictionary, a collaborative project focused on developing a slang dictionary for the English language. Several companies are already using social networking sites to support the creation of brand communities (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001) or for marketing research in the context of netnography (Kozinets, 2002). To promote the movie ‘‘Fred Claus,’’ a 2007 Christmas comedy ? lm, Warner Brothers created a Facebook pro? le via which visitors could watch trailers, download graphics, and play games.Likewise, the Adidas custom soccer community on MySpace allows visitors to asso ciate themselves with one of two brands of elite soccer cleats produced by the German sports apparel manufacturer, and to access product reviews and information on professional soccer players who play using ‘‘their’’ shoes. Some ? rms even go one step further and use Facebook as a distribution channel. Consider U. S. -based ? orist 1-800-Flowers. com, which offers a widget on Facebook called ‘‘Gimme Love’’ whereby users can send ‘‘virtual bouquets’’ to friends or, with a click of the mouse, be directly transferred to the company’s website to send real ? wers. A. M. Kaplan, M. Haenlein hunter–—starts to more and more closely resemble their real life personality. Besides their use for ingame advertising (similar in idea to product placement in blockbuster movies), the high popularity of virtual game worlds can also be leveraged in more traditional communication campaigns. Japanese automo tive giant Toyota, for example, used pictures and mechanics from the World of Warcraft application in its latest Tundra commercial to reach the 2. 5 million players in the U. S. lone. 3. 6. Virtual social worlds The second group of virtual worlds, often referred to as virtual social worlds, allows inhabitants to choose their behavior more freely and essentially live a virtual life similar to their real life. As in virtual game worlds, virtual social world users appear in the form of avatars and interact in a three-dimensional virtual environment; however, in this realm, there are no rules restricting the range of possible interactions, except for basic physical laws such as gravity.This allows for an unlimited range of self presentation strategies, and it has been shown that with increasing usage intensity and consumption experience, users of virtual social worlds–—or ‘‘residents,’’ as they prefer to be called–—show behavior that more and more closely mirrors the one observed in real life settings (Haenlein & Kaplan, 2009; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009a, 2009b). Arguably, the most prominent example of virtual social worlds is the Second Life application, founded and managed by the San Francisco-based company Linden Research Inc.Besides doing everything that is possible in real life (e. g. , speaking to other avatars, taking a walk, enjoying the virtual sunshine), Second Life also allows users to create content (e. g. , to design virtual clothing or furniture items) and to sell this content to others in exchange for Linden Dollars, a virtual currency traded against the U. S. Dollar on the Second Life Exchange. Some residents are so successful in this task that the virtual money earned that way complements their real life income.Virtual social worlds offer a multitude of opportunities for companies in marketing (advertising/communication, virtual product sales/v-Commerce, marketing research), and human resource and internal process management; for a more detailed discussion, see Kaplan and Haenlein (2009c). 3. 5. Virtual game worlds Virtual worlds are platforms that replicate a threedimensional environment in which users can appear in the form of personalized avatars and interact with each other as they would in real life.In this sense, virtual worlds are probably the ultimate manifestation of Social Media, as they provide the highest level of social presence and media richness of all applications discussed thus far. Virtual worlds come in two forms. The ? rst, virtual game worlds, require their users to behave according to strict rules in the context of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). These applications have gained popularity in recent years, as standard game consoles–—such as Microsoft’s X-Box and Sony’s PlayStation–—now allow simultaneous play among a multitude of users around the globe.Examples of virtual game worlds inc lude the cod-medieval ‘‘World of Warcraft,’’ which counts around 8. 5 million subscribers who explore the virtual planet of Azeroth in the form of humans, dwarves, orcs, or night elves, to ? ght monsters or to search for treasure; and Sony’s EverQuest, in which 16 different races of players (e. g. , wizards, clerics) travel the fantasy world of Norrath. The rules of such games usually limit the degree of self-presentation and self-disclosure possible, although some users spend so much time with these applications that their character–—be it a warrior, a wizard, or a dragon . Ten pieces of advice for companies deciding to use Social Media Social Media is a very active and fast-moving domain. What may be up-to-date today could have Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media disappeared from the virtual landscape tomorrow. It is therefore crucial for ? rms to have a set of guidelines that can be applied to any form of Social Media, whether they are part of the aforementioned list or not. Next, we provide such a set of recommendations. Given that Social Media have both a social- and a media-component, we split our advice into two sections: ? e points about using media and ? ve points about being social. 65 4. 1. Five points about using media 4. 1. 1. Choose carefully There are dozens–—if not hundreds–—of Social Media applications, and new ones are appearing on the horizon every day. If you still need time to run your core business, you simply cannot participate in them all, especially since ‘‘being active’’ is one key requirement of success (see below). Choosing the right medium for any given purpose depends on the target group to be reached and the message to be communicated.On the one hand, each Social Media application usually attracts a certain group of people and ? rms should be active wherever their customers are present. For example, if your main target audience is book lovers, a content community via which users share self-written novels or poems is likely better suited to your purpose than a virtual world which centers on ? ghting dragons and ? nding treasures. On the other hand, there may be situations whereby certain features are necessary to ensure effective communication, and these features are only offered by one speci? c application. For example, when the U. S.Army undertook an initiative in 2007 to reach the Hispanic community, it decided to utilize the social networking site Univision rather than the more popular Facebook. This choice was driven in part by the fact that Univision–—a Spanish-language television network in the U. S. and Puerto Rico–—is the social networking application with the largest Latin American audience, due to an extensive range of telenovelas and Mexican programs produced by Grupo Televisa. However, another reason Univision was chosen is becau se it offers a moderating service which checks comments from users for appropriateness before posting them on the site.In contrast, other applications, including Facebook, allow users to post messages without supervision. 4. 1. 2. Pick the application, or make your own Once you know which game you’re playing, the next decision involves whether to make or buy. In some cases, it might just be best to join an existing Social Media application and bene? t from its popularity and user base. After all, there is no need to reinvent the wheel if somebody has already done it, especially given that Social Media show positive network externalities in the sense that they get more attractive to join the more participants they already have.But in some cases, the right application might just not be available yet. Japan’s Fuji? lm, for example, recently launched its own social network to build a community of photo enthusiasts. In a similar spirit, U. S. -based department store ? rm Se ars collaborated with MTV music television to create a social network around back-to-school shopping. Yet, whatever the ultimate decision–—to buy, make, or both–— it is vital that there is an understanding of the basic idea behind Social Media. It’s all about participation, sharing, and collaboration, rather than straightforward advertising and selling. 4. 1. 3.Ensure activity alignment Sometimes you may decide to rely on various Social Media, or a set of different applications within the same group, in order to have the largest possible reach. In this case, it is crucial to ensure that your Social Media activities are all aligned with each other. A prime example in this context is computer manufacturer Dell and its ‘‘Digital Nomads’’ campaign. Dell uses a combination of social networking sites (Facebook, LinkedIn), blogs, and content communities (YouTube videos) to show how its range of laptop computers enable individuals to become a nomadic mobile workforce.In a similar spirit, Chrysler’s Jeep brand connects with its customers by combining photos shared on the content community Flickr, with groups on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Using different contact channels can be a worthwhile and pro? table strategy. But remember: one goal of communication is the resolution of ambiguity and reduction of uncertainty, and nothing is more confusing than contradicting messages across different channels. 4. 1. 4. Media plan integration What is true for different types of Social Media also holds for the relationship between Social Media and traditional media: Integration is key!While you may consider these two arenas to be completely different, in customers’ eyes they are both part of the same: your corporate image. Consider the actions of soft drink giant Coca-Cola. In June 2006, a pair of performance artists shot a video featuring a series of geysers they created by dropping Mentos brand mints into 2-liter bottles of Coke; the clip became a major hit on YouTube. Realizing customers’ enthusiasm for this performance, Coca-Cola fostered the sensation by airing the video on late-night television and ensuring broad digital distribution across different content communities.Besides the advantage of 66 high impact/low cost media coverage, the campaign also resulted in a measurable sales uplift. 4. 1. 5. Access for all Although this might sound elementary, once the ? rm has decided to utilize Social Media applications, it is worth checking that all employees may actually access them. Commonly, ? rms block Facebook, YouTube, and Second Life on corporate PCs for fear that staff might spend too much time networking instead of working. While this is certainly a consideration, it cannot imply that employees must have special permission to be able to access the company blog.At the same time, there is a need to curtail the possibility of the entire organization spending all its time producing funny videos and uploading them to YouTube. One possible approach involves de? ning groups of employees whose primary objective is the management of corporate Social Media; all other staff members are treated as occasional participants. Under this scenario, the ? rst group is given administrator rights–—which allows the opening of new discussion threads and deletion of inappropriate posts–—while the second group is not.Also, at some point, it will be necessary to develop certain guidelines for Social Media usage; as done, for instance, by ‘‘Big Blue’’ IBM, which has a corporate charta for appropriate behavior within Second Life. For example, it is important to highlight that every employee needs to identify himself or herself as such when posting a comment on the corporate blog. Otherwise, end-consumers could get the impression that anonymous accounts are used to enable employees to post fake messa ges and overly-positive feedback, which could severely damage the credibility of your whole Social Media campaign. A. M. Kaplan, M.Haenlein else’s than it is about engaging others in open and active conversation. Participants on Social Media applications have the desire to actively engage and to become both producers and consumers of information, so-called ‘‘prosumers’’ (Tof? er, 1980). Be considerate of this need and act accordingly. 4. 2. 2. Be interesting Let’s face it: nobody is interested in speaking to a boring person. As such, if you would like your customers to engage with you, you need to give them a reason for doing so–—one which extends beyond saying you are the best airline in town, or manufacture the most robust kitchen blender. The ? st step is to listen to your customers. Find out what they would like to hear; what they would like to talk about; what they might ? nd interesting, enjoyable, and valuable. Then, devel op and post content that ? ts those expectations. Coffee powerhouse Starbucks, for example, created the ‘‘My Starbucks Idea’’ platform, via which customers can submit new ideas for the company. These ideas are subsequently voted on by other users, with the winners being considered for implementation by Starbucks top management. As stated by Oscar Wilde in his novel, The Picture of Dorian Grey: The one sin for which there is no forgiveness is ennui. . 2. 3. Be humble Never forget that Social Media existed before you decided to engage in them; indeed, in many cases, even before you knew about their existence. In this light, do not expect that you know better how to use them than others who have spent countless hours on Facebook or Second Life, for example. Before you enter any application, ? rst take some time to discover it and to learn about its history and basic rules. Only once you have gained the necessary understanding, start to participate. When aerosp ace and defense ? rm Boeing decided to launch its ? st corporate blog, the site was designed such that users were not allowed to comment on what they saw. Yet, interaction and feedback are critical elements of all Social Media, blogs included. Hence, many readers perceived the Boeing blog as a fake, and simply corporate advertising in disguise. If there is one certain path to failure, it involves thinking that Social Media is just about posting existing TV spots on YouTube or putting prefabricated press announcements on corporate blogs. 4. 2. 4. Be unprofessional Have you ever noticed that in Hollywood blockbuster ? ms, it’s not usually the handsome guy who ends up with the girl, but rather the clumsy, charming one? The same goes for Social Media, and ? rms 4. 2. Five points about being social 4. 2. 1. Be active If you want to develop a relationship with someone, it is always advisable to take the lead and to be active. Social Media are all about sharing and interaction, so e nsure that your content is always fresh and that you engage in discussions with your customers. Consider the aforementioned blog kept by Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz. Via this outlet, the ? urehead discusses–—on an ongoing basis–—his corporate strategy, new product development projects, and company values, and replies directly to correspondence received. In considering your Social Media efforts, be aware that ? rm involvement must extend beyond responding to negative comments and defending product offerings. Social Media is less about explaining why your baking mix, detergent, or shampoo is better than anyone Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media would be wise to avoid overly-professional content offerings.There’s no need to spend $100,000 to design the perfect MySpace presence, or hire a professional writer to manage your corporate blog. Instead, try to blend in with other users and don’t be a fraid to make mistakes! Bill Marriott, Chairman and CEO of the Marriott International Hotel chain, uses his blog, for example, to post regular updates and stories from his travels to Marriott properties around the world–—very much in the same way as would a work colleague when describing her last vacation. Social Media users are people like you, who understand that things do not always go smoothly.And, if you’re nice to them, they may even give you free advice on how to do it better the next time. 4. 2. 5. Be honest Last but not least, be honest and respect the rules of the game. Some Social Media–—such as Wikipedia–— may not allow companies to be involved, so do not try to force your way in. Consider Anheuser-Busch, owner of SeaWorld marine mammal parks. Anheuser-Busch tried to ‘‘rectify’’ misleading information on Wikipedia through the use of PR ? rms, and failed miserably at it. Never expect that other par ticipants may not ? d out who stands behind some anonymous user account; after all, you’re dealing with some of the most technologically sophisticated people on the planet. 67 5. Nothing to lose but their chains Today, everything is about Social Media. Some industry gurus claim that if you do not participate in Facebook, YouTube, and Second Life, you are not part of cyberspace anymore. Social Media allow ? rms to engage in timely and direct end-consumer contact at relatively low cost and higher levels of ef? ciency than can be achieved with more traditional communication tools.This makes Social Media not only relevant for large multinational ? rms, but also for small and medium sized companies, and even nonpro? t and governmental agencies. Using Social Media is not an easy task and may require new ways of thinking, but the potential gains are far from being negligible. Dell, for example, states that its use of Twitter–—a micro blogging application that allows se nding out short, text-based posts of 140 characters or less–—has generated $1 million in incremental revenue due to sales alerts. Some ? ms may even be too successful for their own good, as illustrated by Burger King’s ‘‘Whopper Sacri? ce’’ campaign: In December 2008, the fast food giant developed a Facebook application which gave users a free Whopper sandwich for every 10 friends they deleted from their Facebook network. The campaign was adopted by over 20,000 users, resulting in the sacri? cing of 233,906 friends in exchange for free burgers. Only one month later, in January 2009, Facebook shut down Whopper Sacri? ce, citing privacy concerns. Who would have thought that the price of a friendship is less than $2 a dozen?A new trend is on the horizon, though; Watch out for Mobile Social Media! Mobile Web 2. 0 is very similar to Web 2. 0, as discussed earlier. In contrast to its predecessor Mobile Web 1. 0, which relied on proprietary pr otocols (e. g. , WAP) and use-based pricing, Mobile Web 2. 0 is characterized by open standards (e. g. , a transition to the TCP/IP protocol, the technical foundation of the World Wide Web) and ? at-rate systems. Even the manual entry of web addresses using small and dif? cult-to-handle keyboards is becoming history.Soon, all items around you will be equipped with Radio Frequency Identi? cation (RFID) tags that will be able to automatically connect to your mobile phone and send URLs to them, similar to today’s text messages. This technical evolution is laying the groundwork for moving Social Media applications away from desktop PCs and laptops, toward mobile devices. Why log into Facebook if you can easily update all your friends using Twitter? Why wait until you return home to watch the new YouTube video if you can do so conveniently on your iPhone? According to Jupiter Research, the market for Mobile Web 2. evolutions will grow from a mere $5. 5 billion today to an impressi ve $22. 4 billion by 2013. Mobile Social Media applications are expected to be the main driver of this evolution, soon accounting for over 50% of the market. In one way, this surge toward Mobile Social Media can even be seen as another step toward Internet democratization and closing the digital divide between developed and emerging countries. In India, for example, mobile phones outnumber PCs by 10 to 1. In Thailand, only 13% of the population owns a computer, versus 82% who have access to a mobile phone.It is therefore not surprising that the Pew Research Center–—a Washington-based think tank–—estimates that by 2020, a mobile device will be the primary Internet connection tool for most people in the world. Making Social Media applications mobile is likely to tap a currently unexploited base of new users. Even if percapita spending in these countries may still be low, vast population numbers make them relevant for virtually any ? rm. Obviously, Mobile So cial Media does not come without a price. Some would argue that while it enables the detailed following of friends half-way across the world, it can foster a society where we don’t now the names of our own next-door neighbors. Be that as it may, and independent of 68 whether or not one approves of such an evolution, it seems undisputable that (Mobile) Social Media will be the locomotive via which the World Wide Web evolves. Businesses, take note–—and don’t miss this train! A. M. Kaplan, M. Haenlein Kaplan, A. M. , & Haenlein, M. (2009b). Consumers, companies, and virtual social worlds: A qualitative analysis of Second Life. Advances in Consumer Research, 36(1), 873—874. Kaplan, A. M. , & Haenlein, M. (2009c). The fairyland of Second Life: About virtual social worlds and how to use them.Business Horizons, 52(6), 563—572. Kozinets, R. V. 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