Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Asian Influence essays

Asian Influence expositions Editorial on the article: Asian taking a gander at In the start of the most recent year, Taiwanese and Singaporeans came to Vancouver with a great deal of cash searching for possibilities in the land showcase. These businessmen were searching for rental structure, which were the hot ticket in land as indicated by Vancouver relater John Gee The piece of the city, which is drawing in these purchasers, is the West End of Vancouver, where the opportunity rate is about 1%. Despite the fact that a few people feel land is extremely solid, others are attempting to sell their structures refering to that the land advertise is stale. In the wake of perusing this through I feel that the Asians are doing an inappropriate thing by getting in to the land business since it is moderate. It might bring time to recuperate their speculation off the rental structures. I additionally that the property estimation could diminish in cost on the grounds that the greater part of the properties in Vancouver, particularly business land, are overrated. In any case, factors drawing in abroad financial specialists incorporate low opening rate, low loan fees, and a future increment in the expense of lease. For financial specialists who need security and an unassuming return the business genuine domain advertise offers extraordinary chances. Then again Asian financial specialists can get bigger returns in In rundown, the land advertise in Vancouver gives a safe speculation atmosphere to Asian financial specialists, anyway they ought to be careful about the market settling over the present moment. ... <!

Saturday, August 22, 2020

The correlation and relationship between radical political ideology Thesis

The connection and connection between radical political belief system and strict dedication - Thesis Example For example, a run of the mill part of strict dedication would be â€Å"My religion expends my whole livelihood† (Juergensmeyer 34). There are consistently solid cases from religion on people’s devotion as opposed to the loyalty of the whole network. This is since those participating in radical political philosophy, frequently, think about strict commitment through association and devotion. Accordingly, it is consistently unavoidable to isolate strict responsibilities to clashes that identifies with political requests. For this situation, it is eminent that strict convictions just as practices have potential help for legislative issues in a few different ways. The outcome has been the worry and consideration that is given to specific needs of minority bunches recognized by their strict alliance rather than ethnicity or sexual orientation. The precise introduction on the slaughter has pulled in a few discussions. There have been a few reports concerning the loss of life. For this situation, the reports uncovers that the ATF operators four altogether just as eighty devotees of David Koresh close by his splinter bunch alluded to as Branch Davidian Seventh Day Adventists were additionally included. The occasion happened in mid 1993 when the ATF assaulted and blockaded, the sustained compound referred to the Koreshians as Mount Carmel. The outcome was that the region was lease into all out obliteration (Linedecker 70). The Branch Davidian Leaders have sorted out the survivors in the general public into strict gatherings. For example, the new temples alluded to as ‘The Branch’ just as ‘The Lord Our Righteousness’. From history, some of these pioneers have put forth attempts to change the slaughter site into a visitor goal. The goal would involve an amphitheater, a scriptural petting zoo, an exhibition hall including the blessing shop. There would likewise be focuses lodging various issues, for example, natural homestead and the Ten Commandments. The reasons for such focuses are to reduce the effect of the slaughter since those

Monday, August 17, 2020

Review Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences

Review Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences There must have been a boom in grammar books aimed at general audiences between Eats, Shoots Leaves in 2001 and the last Grammar Girl book in 2012.I certainly havent read all of the books published during this period, but so far Janis Bells Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences might be my favorite. In seven clear chapters Bell covers the most common mistakes that writers of English make.What makes this book so appealing to me is that it contains both instruction that is easily understood, and plenty of grammar terminology. The latter is something that other books of this type shy away from in order to appeal to the widest possible audience. Bells willingness to use terminology, though, means that her book is one I would certainly recommend to rookie ESL teachers.Now, some people might scoff at the idea of giving a tiny little book to serious English teachers. Seriously, though, there is a huge mass of teachers going overseas every day without proper resources and training. If someone had a sked me when I started teaching how to use the present perfect tense properly, I wouldnt have known how to respond. Nor would I be able to explain the subjunctive mood, or the difference between a coordinating conjunction and a subordinating conjunction or any of the most basic grammatical terms and concepts. Like most teachers I just wasnt taught that kind of stuff. Obviously a teacher who takes their job seriously will reach for something more comprehensive (like, say, Michael Swans Practical English Usage) but Bells book is a perfect way to grasp the basics in under an hour. Heck, an eager teacher could read it on the flight over.Anyways, the chapters here are:CaseAgreementVerb Tense and UsageVerb MoodModifiersConnectivesPunctuationEach chapter ends with a little quiz.I probably wouldnt recommend this book to ESL students (Swans book is a better reference) but I think it is perfect for general audiences and teachers.Oh, if you are curious about the books odd title, it is a riff o n the title of a short story by Ernest Hemingway.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Home by Toni Morrison - 1100 Words

1. The title of the book is called Home written by Toni Morrison. 2. Home is about a Korean War veteran named Frank Money who needs to save his sister from dying. The story starts with Frank describing a scene from his childhood with his sister. They were in a field with horses he describes the horses being beautiful and brutal, but on the other side some men were burying a dead African American in a hole. When Frank becomes an adult he is soon committed to a mental hospital after his time in the war. Frank soon gets a letter stating that his sister was in danger and could die if he did not hurry to save her. Then he remembers his family being evicted and not being able to take any possessions. Frank then escapes the bastion of the†¦show more content†¦One of the first minor characters that reader encounters is Reverend John Locke. He helps ply a major role by offering Frank supplies and shelter for a while before he left to continue his search. Some other important minor characters include the group of Good Samaritans that also he lp Frank on his travels by offering money and supplies. These minor characters help prelude to the theme of good versus evil because while Frank was in the army he was not too proud of what he did and seeing these people help him reminds him of what he did. 7. The setting help establish a theme by being part of the theme itself or being reference to it. In Home the plains with the crops were a beautiful place with majestic creatures running around but is turned brutal when the horses in the field start to fight each other. Also the place was nice and calm then Frank and his sister see some men drop a dead man in a hole and didn’t even care about him and covered in in dirt. Different settings can help display many different themes, some more than just one theme. 8. The primary theme in Home is that of good versus evil within man. Also how man react to different situations that involve good and evil choices. There are many different examples within the text that talk about the good and evil choices of man. The time period that this novel takes place is very racist because African Americans haven’t learn the civil rights that they have today. Many examples of racist and evil actsShow MoreRelatedHome by: Toni Morrison Essay1150 Words   |  5 Pageseach other becomes more evident. Frank and Cee Money, the protagonists of Toni Morrison’s Home, exemplify this powerful need, a need that at times flirts with greed. The reason Frank feels so responsible for Cee is due to the fact while growing up they had neglectful parents as well as an abusive grandmother, his failed relationship with Lily, and lastly him facing his inner turmoil due to his actions in Korea. Toni Morrison states numerous times in the text, how Frank would do anyth ing for Cee. FrankRead MoreMorrisons View on Gender in the Black Community Between 1919 and 19651362 Words   |  6 PagesIn the novel â€Å"Sula†, Toni Morrison presents a very different view on gender in the black community between 1919 and 1965. Written in 1973 after the Civil Rights movement and during the feminist movement, Morison breaks down the traditional gender barriers from as early as 1919, proving that black females were â€Å"women† much sooner than their white â€Å"lady† counterparts. Morrison depicts matriarchal homes where the women are the dominant figures who even go as far as to emasculate their male oppositesRead MoreUse of Violence in Beloved by Toni Morrison Essay668 Words   |  3 PagesAs much as society does not want to admit, violence serves as a form of entertainment. In media today, violence typically has no meaning. Literature, movies, and music, saturated with violence, enter the homes of millions everyday. On the other hand, in Beloved, a novel by Toni Morrison, violence contributes greatly to the overall work. The story takes place during the age of the enslavement of African-Americans for rural labor in plantations. Sethe, the proud and noble protagonist, has sufferedRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1561 Words   |  7 PagesBeloved is one of the most beautifully written books and Toni Morrison is one of the best authors in the world. After reading the Bluest Eye and seeing how captivating it is, it is not highly expectant to think that Beloved to be just as enchanting. Anyone who has read Beloved would read it again and those of us who have not should be dying to read it. Beloved is a historical fiction novel based on a true historical incident. Beloved is setRead MoreBeloved, By Toni Morrison Essay1576 Words   |  7 Pagesreading Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, I could not help but feel shocked and taken aback by the detailed p icture of life she painted for slaves at the time in American history. The grotesque and twisted nature of life during the era of slavery in America is an opposite world from the politically correct world of 2016. Morrison did not hold back about the harsh realities of slavery. Based on a true story, Toni Morrison wrote Beloved about the life of Sethe, a slave and her family. Toni Morrison leftRead More Sexuality and the Grotesque in Toni Morrisons Beloved Essay887 Words   |  4 Pages Sexuality and the Grotesque in Toni Morrisons Beloved Grotesque images of rape, murder, and sexual abuse are recurring throughout Toni Morrisons novel Beloved. The ideals of the white oppressor, be it murder, rape, or sexual abuse were powerful forces that shaped the lives of many of the characters, especially the character Sethe. Rape and sexual abuse are two grotesque instances expressed throughout the novel. The most often referred to is the incident when SchoolteacherRead MoreBiography of Toni Morrison1620 Words   |  7 PagesToni Morrison Born on February 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio, Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue and richly detailed black characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved. Morrison has won nearly every book prize possible. She has also been awarded honorary degrees. Early Career Born Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18, 1931, in LorainRead MoreThe Dead Of 9 / 11, And Toni Morrisons The Colossus Of New York900 Words   |  4 Pagesof â€Å"The Colossus of New York† by Colson Whitehead and â€Å"The Dead Of September 11† by Toni Morrison they both speak on the event of 9/11 , but Morrison’s poem is more heartfelt and sad because she uses a more direct approach to get the audiences attention. To compare both readings obviously they on the topic of 9/ll ,but they also explain the emotion and uses imagery of that horrible day . Toni Morrison states â€Å"Speaking to the broken and the dead is too difficult for a mouth full of bloodRead MoreThe Song Of Solomon By Toni Morrison1716 Words   |  7 PagesMilkman’s Attempt to Find what was Stripped from his Enslaved Ancestors in Song of Solomon Identity, what makes a person unique, was one of the many things that were stolen from the Africans as they were enslaved in America. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison exemplifies the struggle that this situation created for the black community, lasting for centuries to follow. Milkman is the son of the Dead family and the main character of the book. He demonstrates the struggle to find his identity and his rootsRead MoreBeloved by Toni Morrison1455 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout history, numerous people were victims of slavery. Many people were tortured and worked to death and suffered horrifically. Not many slaves knew their mothers because they were torn from their homes. Many slave women were robbed of their innocence by their masters. Behind the face of every slave, there is always a very traumatic unforgettable story which is not something to pass on, but a lesson to remember from repeating same mistake again. Only a handful of slaves learned to read and

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

What I Have Learned About Research At An Introductory Level

Introduction A case study is defined as â€Å"a report of case materials obtained while working with an individual, a group, a community, or an organization. Case Studies illustrate a problem; indicate a means for solving a problem; and/or shed light on needed research, clinical applications, or theoretical materials† (APA, 2010, p. 11). The goal of this paper is for me to conduct a case study on myself and explain what I have learned about research at an introductory level, and how I evaluate or critique it from a biblical, Christian perspective. The Subject: Jasmine The subject of this case study is a 19-year-old student, named Jasmine. Prior to taking this class, Jasmine never used the APA style in any of her previous classes. She did not know what to expect from taking this class, but she was very excited to learn. At the beginning of the course, Jasmine was overwhelmed with the amount of work she saw on the syllabus. She did not know how to conduct research, let alone conduct a case study. She began each week reading the assigned materials and slowly became familiar with the information and began learning a lot about research. As time went on, and God gave her strength, Jasmine became confident in what she was learning and learned a lot of information that she will continue to use in future classes. Learning About Research Through this course, the student has learned a lot about the research method as well as the APA style. Research is defined as â€Å"studiousShow MoreRelatedWhat I Have Learned About Research At An Introductory Level1776 Words   |  8 PagesThroughout this course I have learned many things about research at an introductory level. Research is a critical part of all of our lives in many ways. God blesses each of us with a degree of common sense and we all learn from observing others even as babies, we learned behaviors and skills by observing our parents. Walking through experiences throughout life teach us a lot we need to know as well but sometimes we have to take a better approach when we need to learn about certain things. ManyRead MoreWhat I Learned About Research At An Introductory Level? Essay736 Words   |  3 PagesMethods in Behavioral Research, the author clearly defines the case study as â€Å"an observational method that provides a descripti on of an individual† (Bates, 2012, pg. 121). The objectives of this course fitting to our syllabus were to familiarize us to the practices of psychological research, to advance our understanding of how research is completed and the methods used to do it, and to give us the capability to communicate knowledgeably about the ideas following the research procedure. This paperRead MoreStatement of Teaching Philosophy, and My Experience Teaching Chemistry in India1063 Words   |  5 Pagesonly load their minds, he cannot quicken them.† †¦ Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel prize in literature in 1913) This is my favorite quotation because it express what, I think, is the essence of teaching and learning. As a student, I have observed that the best teachers were those who cared the most about teaching. It is noteworthy to mention that, I loved the way of my organic chemistry teacher taught conformational chemistry by using models. Therefore, a teacher has to create a way to teach the fundamentalRead MoreWhat I Have Learned And Perfected While Taking This Course934 Words   |  4 PagesResearch can be a very scary topic when it is first introduced to a class, and I was that scary student. Research to me was like learning how to swim for the first time with a life vest on, and my heart beating 100 miles per hour because I’m so afraid. Taking off my life vest and diving into this research course has been very rewarding for me. I have learned so much in such a short amount of time. It has open my eyes up to a variety of ways I can start and conduct my research. Research is not soRead MoreMy Day As An Emergency Room Volunteer852 Words   |  4 Pagesbegins to regain consciousness. Later, after the excitement had passed, I learned what brought him here. He is diabetic and couldn’t afford to properly manage his condition. He had fainted due to hypoglycemia and hit his head. He had almost lost his life because of the unfortunate financial realities of modern healthcare. In that moment, I came to appreciate the very real cost of disease and the incredible role physicians have in ameliorating it. This formative experience was the beginning of my pathRead MoreWhat I Learned About Research At An Introductory Level As A Case Study1069 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Within the eight weeks of this course, we learned a lot about psychological research. This course provided an understanding of how research is completed. This course also gave an understanding of what methods to utilize based on that particular research that is being conducted. In this paper I will discuss exactly what I learned about research at an introductory level as a case study. In the field of mental health, professionals must be constantly looking for ways to help their patientsRead MoreMy Future Career As A Law Enforcement Officer1821 Words   |  8 PagesOver the last seven weeks students have dove into the study of research, receiving an introduction to a deeper level of conducting and reinterpreting different research methods. Questions such as, â€Å"What have you learned about research at an introductory level?† and â€Å"How do you evaluate or critique this from a biblical, Christian perspective?† will be answered in the personal case study that will be conducted on myself. The fascinating thing about research is that every individual conducts it in aRead MoreAnalysis of the Class Orientation to Psychology Essay1371 Words   |  6 Pagespart of my college experience thus far. Although I came into college confidently declared as a psychology major, I didn’t really know what this meant or entailed prior to taking this course. This course taught me valuable information about myself, about the field of psychology, and about how I can mold those two together. All that I’ve learned this semester in Orientation to Psychology helped me to form a coherent and positive understanding of who I am and how this identity fits into the world ofRead MoreFacilitation of Learning1390 Words   |  6 Pagessupport to students in practice, this is where students apply their knowledge, learn key skills and achieve the required competence for registration. Mentors are accountable to the NMC for their decision that students are fit for practice and that they have necessary knowledge, skills and competence to take on the role of registered nurse or midwife (NMC, 2008a). According to Morton Palmer (2000), mentors should display positive role modelling behaviours on duty. This gives the student the opportunityRead MoreHow I Have Learned As A Student Essay1426 Words   |  6 Pagesthe various methods I have learned as a student in the introduction to research course. The skills and methods taught in this class have been presented through course textbooks, online articles and videos, and interaction with the professor. Other opportunities for learning the research skills and methods occurred through writing of papers, testing knowledge through quizzes, and through interactive discussion board threads and posts. In addition to acknowledging these learned methods, this paper

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Please refer to the Message Section. Agrarianism in Southern Literature Free Essays

Agrarianism is defined as a political and social philosophy that emphasizes the importance of farming and the cultivation of plant life for man to lead a happier and fuller life. Thomas Jefferson, one of the chief proponents of Agrarian thought in American history, had mentioned its significance thus: â€Å"Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if He ever had a chosen people, whose breasts He has made His peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue.   It is the focus in which He keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth (â€Å"Agrarianism†). We will write a custom essay sample on Please refer to the Message Section. Agrarianism in Southern Literature or any similar topic only for you Order Now †   Agrarianism in Southern literature evolved at a time when the culture of the South was supposed to have been attacked by modernity.   To counter the negative impact of modernity on the Southern culture and traditions, a group of twelve traditionalist poets and writers published an Agrarian collection of essays in 1930: I’ll Take My Stand. The thesis of this manifesto was that the past rebukes the present for the latter’s dependency on machines as opposed to nature.   The South was seen as traditionally agricultural, and its people were understood as non-materialistic, religious, as well as well-educated. This viewpoint eventually took shape as an entire genre in Southern literature, as the writers and poets who had written for I’ll Take My Stand showed how Southern agrarianism could be expressed not only in poetry and essays, but also in biographies, novels, and works of literary and social criticism (MacKethan). Nevertheless, Southern agrarianism is considered an offshoot of Southern modernism, seeing that the subject of agrarian literature is alienation – a feeling of being out of place.   Moreover, almost all of the agrarian authors and poets are modern (Grammer). One of the famous Southern agrarians and a contributor to I’ll Take My Stand, Allen Tate has described his writing thus: â€Å"My attempt is to see the present from the past, yet remain immersed in the present and committed to it (Fain and Young 189).†Ã‚   Even so, Southern modernism is considered an altogether separate genre (MacKethan). Influenced by modernism, Southern agrarianism is said to â€Å"produced the South (Kreyling 6).†Ã‚   MacKethan writes that Southern agrarianism was largely a myth which the Southern agrarians – as the contributors to I’ll Take My Stand are called – had succeeded in propagating as reality. So, although Southern agrarianism was a myth, the writers and poets who had advocated agrarianism were successful in portraying the Southern peoples as non-materialist, lovers of nature.   They had managed to make the Southern peoples keep their focus on agrarianism to boot. Even so, as Kreyling maintains, the agrarian movement in Southern literature did not approach a unity of thought that the Southern agrarian writers and poets had claimed to be a mark of their traditional culture. Today, it is not possible to study the literature of the South without the agrarian model in its midst.   Moreover, despite its mythical nature, Southern agrarianism is said to present â€Å"an aesthetically gratifying world of pure form† in literature (Grammer 131). This Southern genre is a widely accepted one.   All the same, some of its proponents have left it altogether.   According to Ransom, Southern agrarianism was a constraint on his imagination. Robert Penn Warren, on the other hand, is known to have immersed himself completely in the philosophy of agrarianism (Grammer).   Regardless, agrarianism continues to be understood as an essential part of Southern literature, balancing the past with the present. Works Cited â€Å"Agrarianism.† Answers. 2007. 10 Nov 2007. http://www.answers.com/agrarianism. Fain, John Tyree, and Thomas Daniel Young (eds.). The Literary Correspondence of Donald Davidson and Allen Tate. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1974. Grammer, J. M. â€Å"Reconstructing Southern Literature.† American Literary History (Spring 2001), Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 126-140. Kreyling, Michael. Inventing Southern Literature. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1998. MacKethan, Lucinda. â€Å"Genres of Southern Literature.† Southern Spaces. 1 Aug 2005. 10 Nov 2007. http://www.southernspaces.org/contents/2004/mackethan/5c.v2.htm. Ransom, John Crowe. â€Å"Wanted: An Ontological Critic.† Selected Essays of John Crowe Ransom. Ed. Thomas Daniel Young and John Hindle. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1984, pp. 147-79. How to cite Please refer to the Message Section. Agrarianism in Southern Literature, Papers

Monday, May 4, 2020

Effects of interracial marriages free essay sample

There definitely exist pros and cons about interracial dating and or marriage. One of the major pros is that any person has the opportunity to choose any other person ill-relevant to their race. They have the opportunity to fall in love with and ultimately marry, then start a family with someone regardless of their race. This is the one and only consideration that I consider people should use when thinking of interracial relationships. We are all equal under Gods eyes, and we should have the same freedom of choice when considering our significant other. Sometimes friends or family can be against such decisions and be less than supportive. Often the rejection of close relatives happens due to the numerous stereotypes that still exist today. They can start looking for specific reasons or clues that motivated two people to become a couple or to get married. Families might disapprove because they want pure bred babies by being in an  OB 2 interracial relationship could destroy thousands of year old bloodlines. We will write a custom essay sample on Effects of interracial marriages or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Their inner circle may look down at them because they themselves may have discrimination or fear of other races Generations and age seem to affect the openness towards the interracial relations. Studies have shown that generational factors and influences are strong. When we are young we seem to be more open in our choices. The younger generations of people are more favorable to mixtures between the races. However, parents who are older often express disapproval of their own children marrying someone of another race. The study conducted by the Cornell University led to the conclusion that â€Å"although more young adults are dating and cohabiting with someone of a different race, the study found that interracial relationships are  considerably less likely than same-race relationships to lead to marriage, though this trend has weakened in recent years. Interracial couples also face some barriers that most other married people do not because they come from the same race or culture. There are external factors that create friction and annoyances in the relationships. Difference in cultures endures diverse ethnical, moral and value foundations that effect the perceptions of family, society and individual lifestyles. When such foundations are operating together with the foundations of different cultural roots, disagreements and problems can sometimes occur. Interracial relationships are often not intercultural ones because in the US people of various races are OB 3 sharing the same cultural background. Prejudice against interracial marriage is more obvious in some parts of the country than others. For members of interracial couples, this bias can be difficult to ignore. Interracial couples report feeling as though their family, friends, and society at large are more disapproving of their relationships than do same-race couples. Research indicates that couples who experience such a lack of social approval and acceptance for their relationships typically do not fare well. The more disapproval individuals perceive with respect to their relationships, the more likely they are to break-up in the future. Interracial couples who live in unsupportive environments often find it more challenging to stay together. America and the white race have come a long way since the first time they had brought slaves to this country. Now, African-American are guaranteed to same rights as everyone else and are treated the same. Society needs to consider the feelings of interracial couples. A person may not agree with interracial relationships, but they do not need to discriminate against them. Even today in the year 2013, society has its problems with interracial relationships. Through education and the way couples raise their children, the problem or problems facing interracial couples will diminish. Interracial marriages have become more and more popular as the years go on. However, our country is still very racially distinguished. The rate of interracial marriage has risen dramatically OB 4 in recent years, but support for these relationships still has a way to go. As attitudes become more favorable, interracial relationships are likely to strengthen and continue to increase in number.

Sunday, March 29, 2020

A comparison between cardiac CT scanning and cardiac digital subtraction angiography (DSA) The WritePass Journal

A comparison between cardiac CT scanning and cardiac digital subtraction angiography (DSA) Abstract A comparison between cardiac CT scanning and cardiac digital subtraction angiography (DSA) ). This review aims to review the literature on coronary CT scanning and digital subtraction angiography, their clinical applications, techniques and comparative value in coronary artery assessment and diagnosis. Cardiac Digital subtraction angiography Coronary angiography is the conventional diagnostic procedure used in coronary artery disease. It is a minimally invasive technique, whereby a catheter is placed into the radial or femoral artery and is advanced through the arterial system to the coronary arteries. A contrast agent is then injected at the aortic root and allows visualization of the arteries using x-ray in real time at up to 30 frames per second. This allows a view of the extent, location and severity of coronary obstructive lesions such as atherosclerosis and enables prognostic indication (Miller et al., 2008). Coronary angiography also enables catheter placement either side of the lesion to assess pressure changes and determines the degree of flow obstruction (Miller et al., 2008). . Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) again works by introducing a contrast agent into the coronary arteries and taking x-rays in real time, however a pre image is taken by x-ray. This allows for the post images to be subtracted from the original mask image, eliminating bone and soft tissue images, which would otherwise overlie the artery under study (Hasegawa, 1987). Unlike conventional angiography, it is possible to conduct DSA via the venous system, through accessing the superior vena cava via the basillic vein (Myerowitz, 1982). This removes the risks associated with arterial cannulation (Mancini Higgins, 1985). The procedure can also be performed with a lower dose of contrast agent and be done more quickly therefore eliminating constraints of using too much contrast during a procedure (Myerowitz, 1982). Whilst DSA is the gold standard in arterial imaging of carotid artery stenosis (Herzig et al., 2004), the application of DSA to the coronary arteries is limited due to motion artefacts associated with each heartbeat and respiration (Yamamoto et al., 2009). There are numerous cardiac clinical applications of DSA, it can be used to assess coronary blood flow (Molloi et al., 1996), valvular regurgitation (Booth, Nissen DeMaria, 1985), cardiac phase (Katritsis et al., 1988), congenital heart shunts (Myerowitz, Swanson, Turnipseed, 1985), coronary bypass grafts and percutaneous coronary intervention outcomes (Katritsis et al, 1988; Guthaner, Wexler Bradley, 1985). However, others have suggested that the coronary arteries are not visualized well due to their small size, movement, their position overlying the opacified aorta and left ventricle, and confusion with other structures such as the pulmonary veins (Myerowitz, 1982). Cardiac CT Scanning Development of CT scanning in the 1990s enabled an increase in temporal resolution that was sufficient to view the beating heart, and they now provide a non-invasive technique for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. Cardiac CT scans have clinical applications that go beyond perfusion investigation, and can be used to assess structure and function of the heart (for example in electrophysiology disorders or congenital heart disease) due to its ability to provide anatomical detail (Achenbach Raggi, 2010). CT scans can be used to assess coronary artery disease with and without injection of contrast agent (Achenbach Raggi, 2010) by calcium scan or CT angiography. Coronary calcium CT scanning uses the evidence base that coronary artery calcium is a correlate of atherosclerosis (Burke et al., 2003) and is a strong prognostic predictor of the future development of coronary artery disease and cardiac events (Arad et al., 2000; Budoff et al., 2009; Achenbach Raggi, 2010). Calcium is easily depicted on CT scan due to its high CT attenuation, and is classified according to the Agatson score, which considers the density and area of the calcification (Hoffman, Brady Muller, 2003). Coronary CT angiography (CTA) allows visualization of the coronary artery lumen to identify any atherosclerosis or stenosis within the vessels. Patients are injected intravenously with a contrast agent and then undergo a CT scan. There are limitations regarding the suitability of patients for coronary CTA due to prerequisites of sinus rhythm, low heart rate and ability to follow breath-holding commands. Additionally, obesity presents a problem for patients that cannot fit into the scanner and affects the accuracy of the procedure. (Achenbach Raggi, 2010). Comparison of cardiac DSA and cardiac CT scanning The technical differences between cardiac DSA and cardiac CT scanning give rise to differences in the clinical indications for the procedures, their diagnostic efficacy and also different risks or relative benefits to the patients. Due to the nature of the images produced by coronary CTA and DSA, each lends itself to different indications for use. Whilst coronary DSA provides imaging of all aspects of perfusion, CTA used with contrast agent also provides this however has the additional advantage of being able to assess structure and function of the heart. Coronary CTA has been shown to have a high accuracy at detection and exclusion of coronary artery stenoses (Achenbach Raggi, 2010). In a multicentre trial conducted by Miller et al. (2008), patients underwent coronary calcium scoring and CT angiography prior to conventional invasive coronary angiography. The diagnostic accuracy of coronary CTA at ruling out or detecting coronary stenoses of 50% was shown to have a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 90%. This showed that coronary CTA was particularly effective at ruling out non-significant stenoses. Additionally, coronary CTA was shown to be of equal efficacy as conventional coronary angiography at identifying the patients that subsequently went on to have revascularisation via percutaneous intervention. This was shown by an area under the curve (AUC), a measure of accuracy of 0.84 for coronary CTA and 0.82 for coronary angiography. Miller et al.’s (2008) study included a large number of patients at different study sites, and additionally represented a large variety of clinical patient characteristics. The author’s claim that these factors contribute to the strength and validity of the study findings, and suggest that in addition to using patients with clinical indications for anatomical coronary imaging, should be used as evidence that coronary CTA is accurate at identifying disease severity in coronary artery disease. Miller et al. (2008) did however,, find that positive predictive and negative predictive values of coronary CTA were 91% and 83% respectively and therefore suggested that coronary CTA should not be used in place of the more accurate conventional coronary angiography. A low positive predictive value (in relation to the prevalence of disease) was proposed to be due to a tendency to overestimate stenosis degree as well as the presence of artefacts leading to false positive interpretation (Achenbach Raggi, 2010). Other research providing comparison between coronary CTA and conventional coronary angiogram has highlighted variability in results. A meta-analysis conducted by Gorenoi, Schonermark and Hagen (2012) investigated the diagnostic capabilities of coronary CTA and invasive coronary angiography using intracoronary pressure measurement as the reference standard. The authors found that CT coronary angiography had a greater sensitivity than invasive coronary angiography (80% vs 67%), meaning that coronary CTA was more likely to identify functionally relevant coronary artery stenoses in patients. Despite this,, specificity of coronary CTA was 67%, compared to 75% in invasive coronary angiography, meaning that the technique was less effective at correctly excluding non-diagnoses than invasive coronary angiogram. This research appears to contradict the power of cardiac CTA at excluding diagnoses of coronary artery stenosis as suggested by Miller et al. (2008), he study did combine evidence from over 44 studies to provide their results and therefore had a large statistical power. The authors interpret the results in light of the clinical relevance of cardiac imaging, suggesting that patients with a higher pretest possibility of coronary heart disease will likely require invasive coronary angiography for revascularisation indicating that coronary CTA may be a helpful technique in those patients with an intermediate pre-test probability of coronary heart disease that will therefore not require invasive angiography. Goldberg et al. (1986) investigated the efficacy of DSA in comparison to conventional coronary angiography in 77 patients. They found that the two angiograms agreed within one grade of severity in 84% of single cases and 90% of multiple cases, identifying both patent and lesioned arteries. The results led the authors to conclude that there was no significant difference between the two methods and that DSA could be used in selective coronary angiography to find results comparable to that of conventional angiography. In addition to being a small study into the efficacy of DSA, the study also had several sources of inherent variability that should be considered when interpreting the results. These included differing sizes of digital imaging screen and non-use of calipers, meaning that the interpretation of the images could vary throughout the study. The authors also suggest that whilst showing strong support for the use of DSA in coronary artery disease, the technique may not actually p ermit better prognostic determinations or clinical judgements that are better than conventional angiography, and therefore the further implementation of the techniques may not be founded or necessitated. More recently, there has been further research looking at the effectiveness of DSA as a way of measuring coronary blood flow. Whilst motion artefacts have proven a problem in lots of past research (Marinus, Buis Benthem, 1990; Hangiandreou, 1990), recent research has developed methods to minimise these. Moilloi and colleaues (1996) showed that using a motion-immune dual-energy digital subtraction angiography, absolute volumetric coronary blood flow could be measured accurately and thus provide an indication of the severity of any arterial stenosis.This may provide further suggestion for clinical implementation of DSA. Although these studies provide evidence for the efficacy of cardiac DSA and CTA, they often make comparisons to conventional angiography. This is useful as a baseline comparison, however it is difficult to make comparisons between the two procedures directly due to less available evidence making direct comparisons. Lupon-Roses et al. (1985) conducted a study investigating both coronary CTA and venous DSA. The study looked at the efficacy of both techniques at diagnosing patency of coronary artery grafts compared to the control conventional angiography. CT was shown to diagnose 93% of the patent grafts and 67% of the occluded grafts whereas DSA correctly diagnosed 98% and 100% of patent and occluded grafts respectively. Interestingly, the DSA picked up the 11 grafts that were misdiagnosed by CTA and the CTA picked up the 2 grafts misdiagnosed by the DSA. This data may suggest that individually, DSA has a better profile for diagnosis of coronary artery occlusion, however if the two procedures are used in combination exclusion of patent arteries and diagnosis of occluded arteries would be effective (Lupon-Roses et al., 1985). Coronary DSA and CTA are both non-invasive procedures (unlike the conventional coronary angiography where a wire is placed in the coronary vasculature). With the only invasive part of the procedure being the injection of the contrast material into a vein. This presents a significant advantage to both procedures over that of conventional angiography, and may even permit investigation on an outpatient basis (Meaney et al., 1980). Similarly, both DSA and coronary CTA are favoured because of their intravenous approach, eliminating the risks of bleeding or arterial injury from an intra-arterial catheterization and being able to be used in those with limited arterial access. However, although the intravenous approach used in cardiac DSA makes it favourable, it does lead to difficulty with visualisation of the coronary arteries due to the overlying iodinated pulmonary and cardiac structures (Mancini Higgins, 1985). Therefore,, intra-arterial DSA is also sometimes used (Yamamoto et al., 200 9). As with all CT scanning, coronary CTA carries with it a dose of ionizing radiation (Brenner Hall, 2007). Studies have estimated that for diagnostic CT scanning, patients are on average exposed to 12mSv of radiation during the procedure, the equivalent of 600 x-rays (Hausleiter et al., 2009). Estimates of radiation doses associated with conventional coronary angiography are lower than that of coronary CTA at 7mSv (Einstein et al., 2007). Additionally, DSA technique reduces the radiation dose from that of conventional coronary angiography as the vessels are visualised more clearly (Yamamoto et al., 2008). The dangers of radiation exposure are increased risk of developing cancer, skin injuries and cateracts (Einstein et al., 2007). It is therefore important that the benefits of conducting the procedure greatly outweigh the risk of radiation exposure. CT calcium scanning provides a low radiation dose at around 1mSv (Hunold et al., 2003). Cardiac CT calcium scanning does not require administration of a contrast agent, unlike in coronary CTA and DSA that use iodine based contrast agents. The risks associated with contrast agent include nephrotoxicity and risks of hives, allergic reactions and anaphylaxis (Maddox, 2002). The amount of contrast agent used is partly dependent on the length of the procedure and how clearly the arteries can be visualised. For this reason, both cardiac CTA and DSA use less contrast agent that conventional coronary angiography (Brant-Zawadzki, et al., 1983). CT calcium scanning of the coronary arteries is therefore recommended in those with less likelihood of coronary artery disease (NICE, 2010). Both coronary CTA and DSA require interpretation by trained physicians, and the importance of training and achieving intra-rater reliability should not be underestimated (Pugliese et al., 2009). Conclusion Overall, both coronary CT and DSA have been demonstrated as effective procedures for the imaging of the coronary arteries in CAD (Achenbach Raggi, 2010; Miller et al., 2008; Moilloi et al., 1996; Goldberg et al., 1986). Whilst cardiac CT scanning does provide a wider range of clinical applications, allowing assessment of perfusion as well as cardiac structure and function (Achenbach Raggi, 2010), coronary DSA has many applications that allow assessment of coronary blood flow (Molloi et al., 1996; Katritsis et al, 1988; Booth, Nissen DeMaria, 1985; Guthaner, Wexler Bradley, 1985; Myerowitz, Swanson, Turnipseed, 198). Both cardiac DSA and CTA procedures have their advantages. As non-invasive procedures, these techniques pose less risk to patients, and enable the possibility of outpatient investigation, to be used to rule out diagnoses and to avoid inappropriate invasive coronary angiogram (Gorenori et al., 2012). Additionally, intravenous access is preferential to arterial cannulation for the contrast infusion, removing the risks associated with bleeding or intra-arterial injury. Cardiac DSA exposes the patient to a lower dose of radiation that coronary CTA (Hausleiter et al., 2009; Yamamoto et al., 2008; Einstein et al., 2007), which is beneficial at reducing the risk of genetic mutations and cancer. Cardiac CTA and DSA also have their common disadvantages. The use of contrast agent may present side effects for the patient including kidney damage and risk of allergic reactions and anaphylaxis (Maddox, 2002). For this reason, calcium CT scanning can be useful in patients that are not at high likelihood of coronary artery disease (NICE, 2010b). Additionally, both cardiac DSA and CTA are subject to motion artefacts from respiration and heart beats, which can cause difficulties with interpretation (Achenbach Raggi, 2010; Yamamoto et al., 2009). In the case of cardiac CTA, this excludes a subset of patients that are unable to follow commands and those who have high heart rates. Overall, cardiac CTA and cardiac DSA are effective, non-invasive imaging techniques for assessment of coronary artery disease. Whilst they are not the gold standards in cardiac monitoring, they can provide important diagnostic information without exposing patients to the risks of invasive angiography. Due to this, their use should be weighted against clinical need, the risks of the procedures, and the suitability of the patient. Interpretation of cardiac CTA and DSA imaging should be by trained individuals. References Achenbach, S., Raggi, P. (2010) Imaging of coronary atherosclerosis by computed tomography. European Heart Journal. 31:1442 Arad, Y., Spadaro, L. A., Goodman, K., Newstein, D., Guerci, A. D. (2000). Prediction of coronary events with electron beam computed tomography.Journal of the American College of Cardiology,  36(4), 1253-1260. Booth, D. C., Nissen, S., DeMaria, A. N. (1985). 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Task force# 2- what is the pathologic basis for new atherosclerosis imaging techniques?.  Journal of the American College of Cardiology,41(11), 1874-1886. Einstein, A. J., Moser, K. W., Thompson, R. C., Cerqueira, M. D., Henzlova, M. J. (2007). Radiation dose to patients from cardiac diagnostic imaging.Circulation,  116(11), 1290-1305. Goldberg HL, Moses JW, Fisher J, Tamari I, Borer JS (1986). Diagnostic accuracy of coronary angiography utilizing computer-based digital subtraction methods; Comparison to conventional cineangiography. Chest 90, 793–797, Gorenoi, V., Schà ¶nermark, M. P., Hagen, A. (2012). CT coronary angiography vs. invasive coronary angiography in CHD.  GMS health technology assessment,  8,  Doc02-Doc02.. Guthaner, D. F., Wexler, L., Bradley, B. (1985). Digital subtraction angiography of coronary grafts: optimization of technique.  American journal of roentgenology,  145(6), 1185-1190. Hacker, M., Jakobs, T., Hack, N., Nikolaou, K., Becker, C., von Ziegler, F., Tiling, R. (2007). Sixty-four slice spiral CT angiography does not predict the functional relevance of coronary artery stenoses in patients with stable angina.  European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging,34(1), 4-10. Hangiandreou N. J.  (1990) Coronary Blood Flow Measurement Using Digital Subtraction Angiography and First Pass Distribution Analysis. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin-Madison; Thesis. Hasegawa, B. (1987). Physics of Medical X-Ray Imaging 2nd Edition. Medical Physics Publishing Corporation. Hausleiter, J., Meyer, T., Hermann, F., Hadamitzky, M., Krebs, M., Gerber, T. C., Achenbach, S. (2009). Estimated radiation dose associated with cardiac CT angiography.  Jama,  301(5), 500-507. Herzig, R., BuÃ…â„¢val, S., KÃ…â„¢upka, B., Vlachov, I., Urbnek, K., MareÃ… ¡, J. (2004). Comparison of ultrasonography, CT angiography, and digital subtraction angiography in severe carotid stenoses.  European Journal of Neurology,  11(11), 774-781. Brant-Zawadzki, M., Gould, R., Norman, D., Newton, T. H., Lane, B. (1983). Digital subtraction cerebral angiography by intraarterial injection: comparison with conventional angiography.  American Journal of Roentgenology,  140(2), 347-353. Hoffmann, U., Brady, T.J., Muller, J. (2003). Cardiology patient page. Use of new imaging techniques to screen for coronary artery disease. Circulation 108 (8): e50–3. Hunold, P., Vogt, F. M., Schmermund, A., Debatin, J. F., Kerkhoff, G., Budde, T., Barkhausen, J. (2003). Radiation Exposure during Cardiac CT: Effective Doses at Multi–Detector Row CT and Electron-Beam CT 1.Radiology,  226(1), 145-152. Katritsis, D., Lythall, D.A., Cooper, I.C., Crowther, A., Webb-Peploe, M.M. (1988) Assessment, of coronary angioplasty: Comparison of visual assessment, hand†held caliper measurement and automated digital quantitation.  Catheterization and cardiovascular diagnosis,  15(4), 237-242. Kaufmann, P. A., Gnecchi-Ruscone, T., Schfers, K. P., Là ¼scher, T. F., Camici, P. G. (2000). Low density lipoprotein cholesterol and coronary microvascular dysfunction in hypercholesterolemia.  Journal of the American College of Cardiology,  36(1), 103-109. Liu, J. L. Y., Maniadakis, N., Gray, A., Rayner, M. (2002). The economic burden of coronary heart disease in the UK.  Heart,  88(6), 597-603. Lupà ³n-Rosà ©s, J., Domingo, E., Marinez-Vzquez, J. M., Là ³pez-Moreno, J. L., Montaà ±, J., Permanyer-Miralda, G., Soler-Soler, J. (1985). Direct non-invasive techniques for assessing coronary bypass graft patency.  The International Journal of Cardiac Imaging,  1(3), 181-188. Maddox, T. G. (2002). Adverse reactions to contrast material: recognition, prevention, and treatment.  American family physician,  66(7), 1229. Mancini, J. G. B., Higgins, C. B. (1985). Digital subtraction angiography: a review of cardiac applications.  Progress in cardiovascular diseases,  28(2), 111-141. Marinus, H., Buis, B., Van Benthem, A. (1990) Pulsatile coronary flow determination by digital angiography.  International Journal of Cardiac Imaging, 5, 173-182 McClure, K. H., McGivern, J. P., Stultz, M. R., Whitehurst, T. K. (2009).  U.S. Patent No. 7,481,759. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Meaney, T. F., Weinstein, M. A., Buonocore, E., Pavlicek, W., Borkowski, G. P., Gallagher, J. H., Maclntyre, W. J. (1980, August). Digital subtraction angiography of the human cardiovascular system. In  Application of Optical Instrumentation in Medicine VIII  (pp. 272-278). International Society for Optics and Photonics. Miller, J. M., Rochitte, C. E., Dewey, M., Arbab-Zadeh, A., Niinuma, H., Gottlieb, I., Lima, J. A. (2008). Diagnostic performance of coronary angiography by 64-row CT.  New England Journal of Medicine,  359(22), 2324-2336. Molloi, S., Ersahin, A., Tang, J., Hicks, J., Leung, C. Y. (1996). Quantification of volumetric coronary blood flow with dual-energy digital subtraction angiography.  Circulation,  93(10), 1919-1927. Myerowitz, P. D. (1982). Digital subtraction angiography: present and future uses in cardiovascular diagnosis.  Clinical cardiology,  5(12), 623-629. Myerowitz, P. D., Swanson, D. K., Turnipseed, W. D. (1985). Applications of digital subtraction angiography in cardiovascular diagnosis.  The Surgical clinics of North America,  65(3), 423-437. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2010a). Unstable angina and NSTEMI: The early management of unstable angina and non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction. CG94. London: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. 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Saturday, March 7, 2020

Avoiding the Passive Voice in Spanish

Avoiding the Passive Voice in Spanish One of the most common mistakes made by beginning Spanish students who have English as a first language is to overuse passive verb forms. Sentences with passive verbs are very common in English, but in Spanish they arent used very much- especially in everyday speech. Key Takeaways: Spanish Passive Voice Although Spanish has a passive voice, it isnt used as much in Spanish as it is in English.One alternative to the passive voice is to turn it into the active voice. Either explicitly state the subject or use a verb that allows the subject to be implied rather than stated.Another common alternative is to use reflexive verbs. What Is the Passive Voice? The passive voice involves a sentence construction in which the performer of the action isnt stated, and in which the action is indicated by a form of to be (ser in Spanish) followed by a past participle, and in which the subject of the sentence is the one acted upon. If that isnt clear, look at a simple example in English: Katrina was arrested. In this case, it isnt specified who performed the arrest, and the person arrested is the subject of the sentence. The same sentence could be expressed in Spanish using the passive voice: Katrina fue arrestada. But not all English sentences using the passive voice can be translated into Spanish the same way. Take, for example, Jose was sent a package. Putting that sentence in a passive form in Spanish doesnt work. Josà © fue enviado un paquete just doesnt make sense in Spanish; the listener might think at first that Jose was sent somewhere. Also, Spanish has quite a few verbs that simply arent used in the passive form. And still others arent used passively in speech, although you may see them in journalistic writing or in items translated from English. In other words, if you want to translate an English sentence using a passive verb to Spanish, youre usually best off coming up with a different way. Alternatives to the Passive Voice How, then, should such sentences be expressed in Spanish? There are two common ways: recasting the sentence in the active voice and using a reflexive verb. Recasting in the passive voice: Probably the easiest way to translate most passive sentences in Spanish is to change them to the active voice. In other words, make the subject of the passive sentence the object of a verb. One reason for using a passive voice is to avoid saying who is performing the action. Fortunately, in Spanish, verbs can stand alone without a subject, so you dont necessarily have to figure out who is performing the action to revise the sentence. Some examples: Passive English: Roberto was arrested.Active Spanish: Arrestaron a Roberto. (They arrested Roberto.)Passive English: The book was bought by Ken.Active Spanish: Ken comprà ³ el libro. (Ken bought the book.)Passive English: The box office was closed at 9.Active Spanish: Cerrà ³ la taquilla a las nueve. Or, cerraron la taquilla a las nueve. (He/she closed the box office at 9, or they closed the box office at 9.) Using reflexive verbs:  The second common way in which you can avoid the passive voice in Spanish is to use a reflexive verb. A reflexive verb is one in which the verb acts on the subject. An example in English: I saw myself in the mirror. (Me vi en el espejo.) In Spanish, where the context doesnt indicate otherwise, such sentences are often understood in the same way as are passive sentences in English. And like passive forms, such sentences dont clearly indicate who is doing the action. Some examples: Passive English: Apples (are) sold here.Reflexive Spanish:  Aquà ­ se venden las manzanas. (Literally, apples sell themselves here.)Passive English: The box office was closed at 9.Reflexive Spanish: Se cerrà ³ la taquilla a las nueve. (Literally, the box office closed itself at 9.)Passive English: A cough isnt treated with antibiotics.Reflexive Spanish: La tos no se trata con antibià ³ticos. (Literally, the cough doesnt treat itself with antibiotics.) Some of the sample sentences in this lesson could be understandably translated to Spanish in the passive form. But native Spanish speakers dont normally speak that way, so the translations on this page would usually sound more natural. Obviously, you wouldnt use the literal translations above in translating such Spanish sentences to English! But such sentence constructions are very common in Spanish, so you shouldnt shy away from using them.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Liberalisation of the financial sector iceland Essay

Liberalisation of the financial sector iceland - Essay Example The banks in general did not have to worry too much about the competition and customer satisfaction philosophies as the banks had been working under national regulation as part of the public sector. Earlier, Icelandic banks did have international offices to support the domestic customers, e.g. Kaupthing bank's filial in Luxembourg and New York; however most of the business was domestic orientated. Today 70% of profits of Kaupthing bank, the third largest in Iceland, are made outside Iceland - a significant change (Annual rapport 2006, Kaupthing Bank p4). Iceland is an island with many small isolated towns; therefore the cost of having many filial is considerably high. But in view of the local needs, it was a necessity (Jensen 2003). The liberalization process has contributed immensely towards expanding the domestic financial markets. Today the major credit institutions such as pension funds and house founds, which used to be separate units earlier, are today merged with the new commercial banks (sector rapport OECD p43). Therefore the banks have now changed from being mere saving banks to financial institutions (FIs) with a wide portfolio of services from lending money out to holding pensions. Though government still controls the larger household funds, whose job is to lend out money for buying houses. This is seen as a secure investment. In addition it also provides short-term credit for households and businesses as is provided by commercial banks. The longer term financing for both business and housing is largely provided by government investment funds drawn from their resources in private sector pension schemes and foreign borrowings. The Icelandic financial institutions are divided into three main groups, banks, pension funds and government credit funds. The government credit funds can be further divided into 3 minor groups, (insurance, leasing and mutual funds). Looking on the graph at appendix 5 we can see that the pension funds and the banks have the biggest share. The foreign sector who supplies outstanding credit to government and its credit funds -also figures as a dominating group. Controlling of the financial market doing liberalizing period Before the liberalisation process, the government was in control of most of the financial institutions in Iceland including the banking sector. The sectors were missing out on reforms process and modern agreements. The financial sector had more in common with a regulated Pan Atlantic country than the rest of north Europe. This was also due to a smaller economy where the government wanted to protect it against foreign exchange speculations dealers. Iceland has undergone through several years' of weak economy with a high rate of inflation and strong devaluation of its currency. Some of the Icelandic Banks also suffered huge losses while being a part of the public sector. Owing to such losses the Islandsbanki became insolvent in 1995 (Jensen 2006 p7). Banking sector Today, there are 24 smaller 'saving banks' and 3 'major banks' in the financial sector in Iceland. The three banks, Kaupthing Bank, Landsbanki Bank and Glitnir Bank are dominating the

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Responsibility Accounting and Transfer Pricing Math Problem

Responsibility Accounting and Transfer Pricing - Math Problem Example Required: a. Calculate depreciation expense and book value of the metal press under both historical cost and price-level-adjusted historical cost. For the historical cost, the metal fabrication press would depreciate $43,500 per year ($522,000/12). In terms of the book value of the metal fabrication press under historical cost, the net book value would be $217,500 ($522,000-($43,500*7)). In comparison, the price-level-adjusted historical cost would give a new cost of $621,180 (Increase of 19% on the original cost. If this is so, the new book value would amount to $316,680 ($621,180-$304,500). Because this value would depreciate over the remaining five years of its life, the depreciation expense would be$63,336 ($316,680/5). b. In general, what is the effect on ROA of changing valuation bases from historical cost to current values? Because assets are generally higher, the return on assets would be lower because a fraction always becomes less when the denominator is increased. This wou ld result in the managers having more motivation to change the equipment because the return on the equipment would not be as great. c. The manager of the investment center with the metal press is considering replacing it because it is becoming obsolete. Will the manager's incentives to replace the metal press change if the firm shifts from historical cost valuation to the proposed price-level-adjusted historical cost valuation? It would not be advisable to do this because the company would need to alter the value of its asset each year. This change would result in giving the actual return at that point of time. However, it would mean that an extra cost would be incurred to fulfil with the accounting standards of the government. This would be too complicated to carry out so it is best to not replace the metal press. Problem 5-15 "U.S Pump Systems" US Pumps is a multidivisional firm that manufactures and installs chemical piping and pump systems. Its valve division makes a single stan dardized valve. The valve division and installation division currently are involved in a transfer-pricing dispute. Last year, half of the valve division's output was sold to the installation division for $40 and the remaining half was sold to outsiders for $60. The existing transfer price of $40 per pump has been set through a negotiation process between the two divisions and with the involvement of senior management. The installation division has received a bid from an outside value manufacturer to supply it with an equivalent valve for $35 each. The manager of the valve division manager has argued that if it is forced to meet the external price of $35 it will lose money on internal sales. The operating data for the last year for the valve division follow: Valve Division Operating Statement-Last year To Installation Division To Outside Sales 20,000 @ $40 $800,000 20,000 @ $60 $1,200,000 Variable cost 20,000 @ $30 (600,000) (600,000) Allocated fixed cost (135,000) (135,000) Gross ma rgin $ 65,000 $465,000 Analyze the situation and recommend a course of action. What should the installation division managers do? What should the valve division managers do? What should the US Pumps senior manager do? From this situation, we can see that the installation division managers are able to achieve the necessary valve division output at a lower price. Also, the valve divisio

Monday, January 27, 2020

How shift work impacts the health of employees

How shift work impacts the health of employees (Johnson 1999). Shift work is defined as the system where the people work on the regular bases based on shifts, these shifts are divided into three blocks they are morning shift, afternoon shift and night shifts. Work shift show complications in the schedule of family lifes activities, and negative health effects. (Halpern,2005; Levin-Epstein, 2006; Rosa and Colligan, 1997; Coasta, 2003). Shift workers are defined as anything other than normal day time timetable. These may includes evening work, night rotation, split shift, causal or on call job and irregular shifts. Work life differences affect full time workers (Williams, 2008). Shift work system leads to many physiological and psychosocial problems which affect the health of the individuals workers. (e.g., Nachreiner et al. 1995, Costa 1996), Physical health variables include gastrointestinal problems, sleep problems and psycho vegetative. (Akerstedt, 1985) employees who work fixed shifts will show less physical health problems co mpared to rotating shift employee in rotating shifts report more physical health complaints than those with fixed shifts . According to Basner (2005), about 20% of the employers at the workplace do work in shifts. Therefore, in that the case it is seen that the shift work does effect the routine system of the person as a whole. It affects the abdominal system and does effect in psychological terms too. According to McCall (2004), did a study on the employees of the hospital and they found that their life is on risk while working on shift work and increases the severity of occurrence of problems and the Oregons working data came out on the conclusion that the workers who were doing night and evening shifts were on more risk than those working on day shifts. Serious health risk factor occurs due to circadian rhythm disturbed in shift workers. Main reason for shift work is due to the nature of the job, occupational services such as nurses, doctors, and police officers are related with shift works. (Smith and Ward, 1986) The three prominently identified associates of experienced stress are: Alcohol use, family problems, self-reported medical maladies by Military police. (Spring, 1980) men working different shifts are likely to take heavy drinks some digestive supports on regular basis, where as women working in different shifts take tranquilizers and sleeping pills on regular bases to reduce stress problems. Both men and women working variable shifts show emotional efforts. Employees who are working night shifts are mostly exposed to the breast cancers.(Schernhammer et al. 2003) suggest that employees who are working rotating night shift for 3 days in a month for more than 15 years shows colorectal cancer in women. Circadian rhythm desynch ronisation, the disruption of the bodys biological rhythm has been a significant factor in explaining shift works effects on health, (Moore-Ede at al. 1962). The actuality that shift work disrupts eating, sleeping working patterns is a cause for concern. In his studies , Halberg (1959) the term circadian rhythms which has been used to explain the various bodily functions over the 24 hour cycle, (Harrington, 1978). Our bodies follow a natural rhythm and a vast research has been done in this field. A general survey conducted in the 2005 states that about 45% of people working belongs to health occupational field. (Folkard, 1996) shift workers that do hard jobs will need to actually relax, this is called desynchronization. Health-related risk factors occur due to the disturbance circadian rhythmic connection to the shift works. It is important to note that employees who stop doing the shift work show more health problem compared to present shift workers (Frese and Semmer 1986). Social problem and family problems are observed in shift workers; these problems diminish by day to day life activities such as their childrens education, they spend less time with their families as a effect of shift work, And also decrease in the spouse pleasure (Smith and Folkard, 1993), researches are opposing studies on work-nonworking argument with rotating shifts among workers (Bohle and Tilley 1989). Some of the findings of other research show that employees working shifts show difficulty in utiliz ing the potential of spare time (Baer et al. (1981, 1985). The effect of shift work may be due to shifts rotation so ignoring working evening hours or weakened hours will improve the physical and psychological well being of these workers (Monk and Folkard 1985). The studies have also found that the rotation shifts and positive attitude at the work place have been greatly linked. Those who are working on the rotation shift have the positive job attitude. Positive job attitude behavior is less in Rotating shift workers i.e. Organizational commitment, and job satisfaction, compared to fixed shift workers, some of the other research finding states that fixed shift works show less favorable job approach compared to Rotating shift workers (Jamal 1981). The central research states that working in socially rotating shift or fixed shifts i.e. evening and weekends show different increased levels of burnout, home conflict, and negative job attitudes such as turnover intentions, commitments, organization, and job satisfaction. And also show absence and impaired general health. These central research studies mainly focus on rotating vs. fixed shifts and working hours evening, day time and weekends. To minimize health risk by shift work much can be done such as employers can make sure that there is enough time for employees to have health food at right time, best way to achieve this is to provide microwave so that employees can bring healthy food and have a place to heat their food during meal time and also employers can put in place and open lunch system whereby given who are on 12 hrs shift. The opportunities have a tea break, and lunch break each time which is necessary such effects helps to reduce the risk of getting gastro intestinal disorders. CONCLUSION: For shift work, in order to minimize the overall risk on a shift schedule, we need to consider the provision of breaks within them, number of successive, and the length of shift work. Furthermore, it is clear that these factors need to be considered in mixture with one another since for example, a 12 hour shift work includes regular rest breaks which prove to be safer than the usual 8 hour night shift with just a lone break. REFERANCES: Knauth, P. and Hornberger, S. (2003) Occupational Medicine, Vol. 53, pp 109-116 Harrington J.M (1978) Shift Work and Health. a Critical Review of the Literature. Her Majestys Stationery Office. Demerouti, E., Sabine, A. E., Geurts, Arnold. B, Baker and Euwema, M. (2004) The impact of shift work on work home conflict, job attitudes and health, Vol. 47, No. 9, pp 987 1002 Halpern, D. F. (2005) How time flexible work policies can reduce stress, improving health, save money, vol. 21, pp 157-168 Schernhammer, E. S., Laden, F., Speizer, F. E. Willett, W. C., Hunter, D. J., Kawachi, I., Fuchs, C. S. And Colditz, G. A. (2003) Night shift work and risk of colorectal cancer in the nurses health study, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 95, No. 11 pp 825 A smith, L, Folkard, S.and Poole, C.J.M. (1994) increased injuries on night shifts, The Lancet, Vol344, pp1137-1139 Akestedt, T., Fredhind, P., Gillberg, M., and Janson, B. (2002) Work load and work hours in relation to disturbed sleep and fatigue in a large representative sample. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Vol. 53, pp 585-588. Critically review the evidence that work-life conflict leads to negative health outcomes Greenhaus Beutell., (1985). Defined as Bi-directional relation between work and family life. It is the form of inter -role conflict in which pressure from both family and work are mismatched. Work and family has two direction of conflict. There are two types of conflicts observed i.e. Family-to-work conflict and work-to family conflict, Family-to-work conflict takes place when the work combines with family life (Example-parents may take leave to attain the family function), in the same way Work-to-family conflict occurs when work interfere with family life activities. (For example unexpected meeting from the higher officials may stop the person from picking up of the children). (Frone, Russell, Cooper, 1992; Kinnunen Mauno, 1998) employees are more focus on work-to-family conflict then the family-to-work conflict. (Allen et al., 2000; Byron,2005). Conflict on work-life shows negative health results such as job attitude and impaired health, due to this effects vast research has been done directly on work-family problem and its results. Person when performing different roles in his life at a time is called overload, but these people show different attitude in the home and office permissions. Work load and increased working hours leads to many negative outcomes like (Burke Green glass, 1999; Phillips-Miller, Campbell, Morrison, 2000) decreased job performance, reduce job satisfaction (Allen, 2001).it also show psychological problems like anxiety, poor physical health, depression, increased level of alcohol use. (Frone,Russell, Cooper., 1997; Major et al., 2002). Thus these psychological problems show both direct and indirect effect on work -family relatio nships. Work -family balance were explained by three ways i.e. Time balance in which time is equally balanced with work and family ,second is involvement balance where equal involvement is required to maintain work and family and the third one is satisfaction balance were work and family is equally satisfaction. Investigations show that individuals show high quality of life when they spend more times with family then the work. Research conducted on working mothers. This study examine the families were mother and father are working according to this survey, Work-to-family show positive response to life satisfaction, job satisfaction and negative response to individual stress. Family-to-work show positive response to family satisfaction, life satisfaction, and marital satisfaction. But show negative effect organizational commitments. In this study it explains that father works more than 49 hours in a week and spends most of the time in the house hold matters where as mothers works less compared to father and show less involvement in the house matters i.e. they work only 46 hours in a week. However father show less work-family conflict, greater family satisfaction, marital satisfaction and less individual stress and more life satisfaction compared to working mothers. A Study conducted was conducted by Portuguese university students .these people interview and collected the data from in depth 32 interviews from different back ground. Finding of these study shows that worries are mainly felt by the mother particularly children dependent mother. The data also proposed that work-family procedure are unsuccessful if they are not supported by a positive work-family background. (Cooper and Quick,1999). Work life conflict may leads to undeveloped performance which is difficult to face to the confronts, rewards and chances. Working may result in poor inspiration, poor efficiency, and poor person growth; this state is called as qualitative under load. This under load stress may result complicated stresses and health problems. Some of the examples which enter in to daily life are changes in the job performance, lack of endorsement and concentration and from the officials, cold and warm clashes with generation, difficulty in implementing the new group structure and working on computer programs. All this situations may affect health and well being of the individuals as well as organisation. Examples which leads to conflicts in case of organization (Cooper, 1999) are: if there is change in employee and organizational relationship, change in the products, production and in technology department side. The current rate of place and change have accelerated in the past few decades. In the present global scenario, the need to be globally competitive in order for economies to stay afloat and sustain growth, significant burden is placed on the drivers of growth; these are the individuals at large. This huge strain on individuals and organizations has led to some degree of family breakdown. It is strange and ironic to view workplace as a source of money and comforts on one hand, on the other hand as a source of stress, depression and health related problems. (Higgins and Duxbury: 2002). According to Bachmann, 2002 there is an established correlation between a satisfied, committed, motivated, individuals and health and well being. Over 5 million people in the UK have asthma, suggesting upwards of 75000 could have work related asthma ,worsened by work.38,000 people have work related skin problems that are manifested in the form of eczema and contact dermatitis. NHS figures are staggeringly high in terms of GP visits annually. Stress related financial costs are something to the tune of 12 billion pounds annually. This mounting evidence ought to compel government, policy makers, trade unions, researchers and various organizations to join hands and formulate policies in favor of family friendly working style that could to some degree alleviate some issues. Conclusion: Work-life conflict both in family and organization leads the individuals to many physical and physiological problems to avoid these problems individuals should learn some professional skills like working teams, dealing with group thinkings, facing bullying situations, learning how to manage the stress conditions, developing the skills to reach the goals. And gain knowledge which is essential to keep the individuals to work without undergoing stress. Reference: Edward Rothard (2000), Academy of management review, volume 25, pp.178-199 Greenhaus, J.H., and Beutell, N. J.(1985). Source of conflicts between work and family roles. Academy of Management Review, pp. 76-88. Frone, M.R. Russell, M., Cooper, M. L. (1992). Antecedents and outcomes of work _family conflict: Testing a model of the work family interface. Journal of Vocational Behavior, PP.145_167. Cooper, C.L, Quick, J. (1999), Stress and Strain, Health Press, Oxford, . Allen, T., Herst, D., Bruck, C., Sutton, M. (2000). Consequences associated with work-to-family conflict: A Review and agenda for future research. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, pp. 278_-308. Frone, M.,R., Russell, M., Cooper, M. L. (1997). Relation of work-family conflict to health outcomes: A four-year longitudinal study of employed parents. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, pp. 325-335. Jeffrey, H., Greenhaus, Karen.M. Collins and Jason.D.Shaw (2003). Journal of Vocational Behavior. pp 510-531 Cooper, C.L (1999), Theories of Organizational Stress, Oxford University Press, Oxford, . Discuss and critically evaluate research that has examined the impact of bullying at work Workplace bulling research began in Sweden in the 1980s. Research from both countries like Finland (Bjorkquist et al, 1994) and Norway (Adams and Crawford, 1992) conducted studies on work harassment and mobbling.Andrea Adam 1990, a British Freelances journalist brought the phenomenon bulling this leads to develop numbers of researches by UK scholars. According to (Baron Neuman, 1996; Einarsen Matthiesen, Skogstad, 1998; Keashly, 1998). Workplace bullying is defined as a persistent and continuous pattern of abuse of work and negative events directed at workers. Bullying is a form of coercive interpersonal power. It involves intentional impose of injuries, verbal abuse, exclusion and repeated physical contact, offensive teasing, isolation, social exclusion other negative actions. (Forsyth,2006). Due to this situation the target finds difficult to him or her or to face the situation. These situations may leads to severe mental, physical and psychological disease. Bullying in everyday life may cause humiliation and harm if it occurs on regular basis. Many researches also showed that large amount of money is wasted due to destructive conflict and bulling at work. Surveys among some 8,000 Norwegian employees, 54 per cent of the victims reported that bullying is done by a superior (Einarsen and Skogstad, 1996). Supervisors and managers are seen as the bullies in many cases, this is due to power differences in the parties. (Zapf, in press) In English, Austrian, German, studies states that between 70 and 80 per cent are bullied by a superior. Victims who suffered by the supervisors seems to face more psychological problems compared to victims of co-worker. (Einarsen and Raknes, 1997a; 1997b) Leymann (1993) interviewed victim and stated that there are four factors responsible for eliciting harassment at work. Deficiencies in work design, a low moral standard in the department a socially exposed position of the victim, and deficiencies in leadership behaviour (Randall, 2001) Individuals are deeply ashamed of being maltreated and are at their bewildered at their obvious failure to protect themselves and fight back.(Bernardi 2001, Strawbridge 2001) workplace bulling leads to many consequences like the individuals show less productivity they may also suffer from trauma related illness and also they are great risk at self harming behaviour due to this situations some individuals may quite the job without thinking that they do not have new job. According to Layman (1990), the term bullying was used without giving the term of schoolyard and this was for the very first time used in about 1990. There have been many studies which says that bullying have been a top most thing to spread all over the world in many countries and about 3% of the population from Scandinavia effected because of bullying at the work place (Einarsen and Skogstad, 1996; Layman, 1992). According to Hoel (1996), the students from United Kingdom have also been at the top that show the rate of bullying of around 10%. According to Mikkelson and Einarsen (2002), a psychological variable such as fear, anxiety, and helplessness has been found to be the cause of the psychological harm by the person. These variables do effect the job satisfaction and commitment and person do inclined low towards the job. According to Cooper et al., (2003), did a study on 674 males and 981 females who were working in the hospitals and studied the correlation between the work-place bullying and how health affected their job. The participants reported the increased rates of leave and sickness and also increase in absent rate. The participants also reported the effect on the mental and physical health. Quine, 1999; edition, 2001 hunt, 2001) bulling in medical setting will give rare insights of health professionals. The practices can be studied under two categories i.e. hierarchical workplace bulling horizontal workplace bulling. Horizontal workplace bulling is related to nursing (Duffs, 1995, Lee 2001 Strawbridge 2001; Hocking 2002) and these publications states that workplace bulling occurs between professionals and workers will show some levels of bulling in the same field. In Britain, study conducted on NHS community trust and reported that 38% of employees working in health sectors experiences bulling at work in the previous years .Some study reported that 37% of 594 junior doctors was bullied in past year (Quine, 2002), medical students in United States suffer high level of job related bulling during their training period. (Daughters, Baldwin and Rouley, 1998. Kassebaum and Luttes, 1980). The other form of bulling at work is the sexual harassment may reduce productivity, increase stress, decreasing commitments and threatened by the individuals may occur. Criminal justice public order act 1994 says about harassment the other form of bulling at work is sexual harassment where male domination is more ranges from serious rape to less serious but understanding behaviors such as sexual jokes. Australian medical students experiences high level of bulling during their medical training but they named these bulling as sexual harassment (White, 2001).Combination of increasing competition economic rationalism, downsizing, dynamic, Macho management styles have created a culture where bulling can be removed or thrive. (Besag, 1989) for several years research has been done on bulling at schools and he states that it is stable phenomenon. United Kingdom shows high incidences of bulling in schools (Butch Knoff, 1994), his research also states that all students show bulling at their study level. Survey conducted on part time students at Startfordshire University i.e. 1137 samples and they also asked the worst working situation where they were bullied. Then they answered that 53% were bullied at some point in their working period, and among them 19% were singled victimized and remaining were bullied in groups.(Coyne et al., 2000), Bullying results in a ripple outcome signifying that the occurrence do not engage just a few troubled employees, but instead it is an active process that negatively affects everyone in the work setting. In bullying work atmosphere non exposed workers will show less negative experiences compared to exposed workers .worker that are exposed to bullying conditions will show more stress and mental problems than non-exposed workers (Vartia, 2001, p. 65).Many research proposed that bullying show negative impacts on work quality results. (Rayner et al., 2002, p. 56)Additionally, co-workers who see their colleagues abused more often leave their jobs as a result of their contact with bullying than non-exposed workers. Conclusion: Bulling is regarded as obsessive and compulsive behaviour. Due to this bulling effect there will be low self esteem low self confidence, In order to eliminate bullying at work, organizations need to take steps against elimination of bullying otherwise it affects morale and effectiveness of employee (Randall, 1997). It is important to speak with someone who solves the problem informally like trade union official or human resources department otherwise manages or supervisor some employees are specially trained to solve harassment problems they are called harassment advisers to face problems they are called harassment advisers to face problem at work in ordered to get good output. Reference Cooper, C.L. Einarsen, S. Hoel, H. Zapf, D. (2003, p.130) Bullying and Emotional Abuse in the Work Place : International Perspective in Research and Practice. Taylor Francis Inc. Einarsen, S. (1999). The nature and causes of bullying at work. International Journal of Manpower , 20 (1/2), 16_/27. Einarsen, S., Skogstad, A. (1996). Bullying at work: Epidemiological findings in public and private organizations. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 5(2), 185-201. Randall, P. (2001) Bullying in Adulthood: Assessing the Bullies and Their Victims. New York: Brunner-Rutledge Coyne, I., Seigne, E. and Randall, P. (2000) Predicting workplace victim status from personality. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 9, pp 335-49. Forsyth, D. R. (2006). Group dynamics(4th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. http://www.inicio.ie/Bullying%20at%20Work.pdf Hoel, H., Cooper, C. L. (2000). Destructive conflict and bullying at work. Manchester, UK: Manchester School of Management. Rayner, C. (1997). The incidence of workplace bullying. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 7, 199-208. Besag, v. (1989), bullies and their victims in schools, Open University press, Milton Keynes. Randall, P. (1997), Adult bullying: perpetrators and victims, Routledge, London and New York. Drawing on recent research, compare and contrast the effectiveness of primary and secondary/tertiary stress management strategies in improving employee wellbeing. The stress in relation to work is a significant and is considered an important barrier for a variable such as job satisfaction and also to act better in psychosocial activities. According to Cox et al (2002), about 60% of the people are losing their job and not going to work because of the stress. According to the statistics of European foundation (2000), shows that there are 15% of employees complains about the headache, 25% of them indicate the symptoms of pains in neck and shoulders, 23% cases because of fatigue, 28% cause because of stress and 33% because of backache. Also, an employee assistance programmers laid an importance to provide the counseling to the employees who are suffering from stress or have difficulties related to the work-life balance and problems related to alcohol and drug intake. According to Jones et al. (1998), a survey being done in UK, showed that about 27% of the workers suffered from psychological problems such as anxiety and depression, and also stress caused many people to give up their jobs and about 20 working days were lost. In an another survey by US called as National health interview survey, found out that about millions of employees suffer from mental stress at their work place which effect their health. According to Antai-Otong (2001), stress effected and added few more problems such as burnout, other chronic problems which ultimately affected their job performance and lower down the productivity and also, lowering down their morale. The literature has also shown many longitudinal studies been done on intervention of stress management at workplace, therefore literature also talked about the cross sectional studies but could not successfully tackle out the issues and also long lasting effect of the interventions could not be seen. The stress management interventions fall under three categories which are: primary intervention, secondary intervention and finally tertiary intervention. The primary intervention aim at the redesigning, changing the work systems and changing the entire structure of organization. Therefore, it aims at primarily removing the stressor or the thing that cause to create the stress at the work place. The intervention at the primary level facilitates and increases the control over the job and also the environment at their work place and also this in turn reduces the stressors, therefore by increasing the satisfaction of the workers and their well being too. This all includes giving the proper and good working hours and the shifts patterns, and also the description of the role should be clear enough so that no stress can be laid upon the workers. According to Lazarus (2000), the primary interventions are related to the copying strategies which are problem focused and therefore reduces the causes and different sources of stress. The next intervention called secondary intervention aims at modifying the stressors which are expected or predicted and causes stress at work place. The secondary intervention, unlike primary deals with the experiences related to the stress and not by stress, as a word, for example, the coping such as emotional focused aims at reducing the emotional state related to the stress at the work place and minimizing and reducing the stressor from the person, who is experiencing the stress. Apart from this, the secondary intervention involves stress management training, social support, biofeedback etc. According to Allen et al (1999) explored and stated that experience does matter and that help in helping new employees and feel them comfortable so that they may not feel the stress at high level and thus encourage socialization. Also, a correlation was calculated and it was seen that there was a negative correlation between the socialization and stress at work. Therefore, we can say that supp ort and relationship between colleagues and peer relation at work place is so important. Social support is therefore important by making contacts with people who are directly or indirectly related to their work place. Jones et al., (2000) did a study in the hospitals to see the impact of the stress management on the employers. These programs helped to improve the skills to cope with the stress and other relaxation techniques were also used. Thereafter, it was also seen that after couple of months, there was a fall in the medication. Then thereafter, a follow up was taken for 2 years and less negligence was seen after the program of stress management was undertaken. The third and the final intervention is the tertiary intervention. According to Quick et al., (1997), tertiary interventions includes the programs such as counseling, psychotherapy and employee assistant programs As discussed at the starting various programs, employee assistance programs (EAP) has been used to tackle the behaviour which are injurious to health such as alcohol intake or problems related to drug intake, however EAPs have been successful with such patients. Sadri (1991) found in the study that the progress has been seen among the employees by enhancing their self esteem and progress have been found in their mental health state. More studies have been found that have seen that more interventions of stress management. Murphy (1996) did a review on the stress management intervention among the employers at their work place such as B.P., anxiety and other psychological problems. The techniques such as cognitive behavioral techniques, meditation, biofeedback and other strategies were reviewed, whereas meditation showed a positive and consistent results but it is hardly used in the organizations. Techniques such as cognitive behavioral strategies and relaxation reported to be successful. Also, there was a consistent and positive result among the various techniques altogether, therefore, their combination proved to be more effective than using any single strategy. Therefore, according to Quick et al., (1997), it would be suitable to say that primary interventions are the most convenient and best method of intervention because they are actively involved in eliminating the causes of stress, but secondary and tertiary approaches do help in stress management but they are only limited in removing the sources of stress but not the stress itself and this is where primary intervention plays an important role in eliminating the stress itself.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Part Three Chapter V

V Ruth stood alone in her lamp-lit sitting room, continuing to grip the telephone she had just replaced in its cradle. Hilltop House was small and compact. It was always easy to tell the location of each of the four Prices, because voices, footfalls and the sounds of doors opening and shutting carried so effectively in the old house. Ruth knew that her husband was still in the shower, because she could hear the hot water boiler under the stairs hissing and clanking. She had waited for Simon to turn on the water before telephoning Shirley, worried that he might think that even her request about the EpiPen was fraternizing with the enemy. The family PC was set up in a corner of the sitting room, where Simon could keep an eye on it, and make sure nobody was running up large bills behind his back. Ruth relinquished her grip on the phone and hurried to the keyboard. It seemed to take a very long time to bring up the Pagford Council website. Ruth pushed her reading glasses up her nose with a trembling hand as she scanned the various pages. At last she found the message board. Her husband's name blazed out at her, in ghastly black and white: Simon Price Unfit to Stand for Council. She double-clicked the title, brought up the full paragraph and read it. Everything around her seemed to reel and spin. ‘Oh God,' she whispered. The boiler had stopped clanking. Simon would be putting on the pyjamas he had warmed on the radiator. He had already drawn the sitting-room curtains, turned on the side lamps and lit the wood-burner, so that he could come down and stretch out on the sofa to watch the news. Ruth knew that she would have to tell him. Not doing so, letting him find out for himself, was simply not an option; she would have been incapable of keeping it to herself. She felt terrified and guilty, though she did not know why. She heard him jogging down the stairs and then he appeared at the door in his blue brushed-cotton pyjamas. ‘Si,' she whispered. ‘What's the matter?' he said, immediately irritated. He knew that something had happened; that his luxurious programme of sofa, fire and news was about to be disarranged. She pointed at the computer monitor, one hand pressed foolishly over her mouth, like a little girl. Her terror infected him. He strode to the PC and scowled down at the screen. He was not a quick reader. He read every word, every line, painstakingly, carefully. When he had finished, he remained quite still, passing for review, in his mind, all the likely grasses. He thought of the gum-chewing forklift driver, whom he had left stranded in the Fields when they had picked up the new computer. He thought of Jim and Tommy, who did the cash-in-hand jobs on the sly with him. Someone from work must have talked. Rage and fear collided inside him and set off a combustive reaction. He strode to the foot of the stairs and shouted, ‘You two! Get down here NOW!' Ruth still had her hand over her mouth. He had a sadistic urge to slap her hand away, to tell her to fucking pull herself together, it was he who was in the shit. Andrew entered the room first with Paul behind him. Andrew saw the arms of Pagford Parish Council onscreen, and his mother with her hand over her mouth. Walking barefoot across the old carpet, he had the sensation that he was plummeting through the air in a broken lift. ‘Someone,' said Simon, glaring at his sons, ‘has talked about things I've mentioned inside this house.' Paul had brought his chemistry exercise book downstairs with him; he was holding it like a hymnal. Andrew kept his gaze fixed on his father, trying to project an expression of mingled confusion and curiosity. ‘Who's told other people we've got a stolen computer?' asked Simon. ‘I haven't,' said Andrew. Paul stared at his father blankly, trying to process the question. Andrew willed his brother to speak. Why did he have to be so slow? ‘Well?' Simon snarled at Paul. ‘I don't think I – ‘ ‘You don't think? You don't think you told anyone?' ‘No, I don't think I told any – ‘ ‘Oh, this is interesting,' said Simon, pacing up and down in front of Paul. ‘This is interesting.' With a slap he sent Paul's exercise book flying out of his hands. ‘Try and think, dipshit,' he growled. ‘Try and fucking think. Did you tell anyone we've got a stolen computer?' ‘Not stolen,' said Paul. ‘I never told anyone – I don't think I told anyone we had a new one, even.' ‘I see,' said Simon. ‘So the news got out by magic then, did it?' He was pointing at the computer monitor. ‘Someone's fucking talked!' he yelled, ‘because it's on the fucking internet! And I'll be fucking lucky not – to – lose – my – job!' On each of the five last words he thumped Paul on the head with his fist. Paul cowered and ducked; black liquid trickled from his left nostril; he suffered nosebleeds several times a week. ‘And what about you?' Simon roared at his wife, who was still frozen beside the computer, her eyes wide behind her glasses, her hand clamped like a yashmak over her mouth. ‘Have you been fucking gossiping?' Ruth ungagged herself. ‘No, Si,' she whispered, ‘I mean, the only person I told we had a new computer was Shirley – and she'd never – ‘ You stupid woman, you stupid fucking woman, what did you have to tell him that for? ‘You did what?' asked Simon quietly. ‘I told Shirley,' whimpered Ruth. ‘I didn't say it was stolen, though, Si. I only said you were bringing it home – ‘ ‘Well, that's fucking it then, isn't it?' roared Simon; his voice became a scream. ‘Her fucking son's standing for election, of course she wants to get the fucking goods on me!' ‘But she's the one who told me, Si, just now, she wouldn't have – ‘ He ran at her and hit her in the face, exactly as he had wanted to when he had first seen her silly frightened expression; her glasses spun into the air and smashed against the bookcase; he hit her again and she crashed down onto the computer table she had bought so proudly with her first month's wages from South West General. Andrew had made himself a promise: he seemed to move in slow motion, and everything was cold and clammy and slightly unreal. ‘Don't hit her,' he said, forcing himself between his parents. ‘Don't – ‘ His lip split against his front tooth, Simon's knuckle behind it, and he fell backwards on top of his mother, who was draped over the keyboard; Simon threw another punch, which hit Andew's arms as he protected his face; Andrew was trying to get off his slumped, struggling mother, and Simon was in a frenzy, pummelling both of them wherever he could reach – ‘Don't you fucking dare tell me what to do – don't you dare, you cowardly little shit, you spotty streak of piss – ‘ Andrew dropped to his knees to get out of the way, and Simon kicked him in the ribs. Andrew heard Paul say pathetically, ‘Stop it!' Simon's foot swung for Andrew's ribcage again, but Andrew dodged it; Simon's toes collided with the brick fireplace and he was suddenly, absurdly, howling in pain. Andrew scrambled out of the way; Simon was gripping the end of his foot, hopping on the spot and swearing in a high-pitched voice; Ruth had collapsed into the swivel chair, sobbing into her hands. Andrew got to his feet; he could taste his own blood. ‘Anyone could have talked about that computer,' he panted, braced for further violence; he felt braver now that it had begun, now that the fight was really on; it was waiting that told on your nerves, watching Simon's jaw begin to jut, and hearing the urge for violence building in his voice. ‘You told us a security guard got beaten up. Anyone could have talked. It's not us – ‘ ‘Don't you – fucking little shit – I've broken my fucking toe!' Simon gasped, falling backwards into an armchair, still nursing his foot. He seemed to expect sympathy. Andrew imagined picking up a gun and shooting Simon in the face, watching his features blast apart, his brains spattering the room. ‘And Pauline's got her fucking period again!' Simon yelled at Paul, who was trying to contain the blood dripping through his fingers from his nose. ‘Get off the carpet! Get off the fucking carpet, you little pansy!' Paul scuttled out of the room. Andrew pressed the hem of his T-shirt to his stinging mouth. ‘What about all the cash-in-hand jobs?' Ruth sobbed, her cheek pink from his punch, tears dripping from her chin. Andrew hated to see her humiliated and pathetic like this; but he half hated her too for landing herself in it, when any idiot could have seen †¦ ‘It says about the cash-in-hand jobs. Shirley doesn't know about them, how could she? Someone at the printworks has put that on there. I told you, Si, I told you you shouldn't do those jobs, they've always worried the living daylights out of – ‘ ‘Fucking shut up, you whining cow, you didn't mind spending the money!' yelled Simon, his jaw jutting again; and Andrew wanted to roar at his mother to stay silent: she blabbed when any idiot could have told her she should keep quiet, and she kept quiet when she might have done good by speaking out; she never learned, she never saw any of it coming. Nobody spoke for a minute. Ruth dabbed at her eyes with the back of her hand and sniffed intermittently. Simon clutched his toe, his jaw clenched, breathing loudly. Andrew licked the blood from his stinging lip, which he could feel swelling. ‘This'll cost me my fucking job,' said Simon, staring wild-eyed around the room, as if there might be somebody there he had forgotten to hit. ‘They're already talking about fucking redundancies. This'll be it. This'll – ‘ He slapped the lamp off the end table, but it didn't break, merely rolled on the floor. He picked it up, tugged the lead out of the wall socket, raised it over his head and threw it at Andrew, who dodged. ‘Who's fucking talked?' Simon yelled, as the lamp base broke apart on the wall. ‘Someone's fucking talked!' ‘It's some bastard at the printworks, isn't it?' Andrew shouted back; his lip was thick and throbbing; it felt like a tangerine segment. ‘D'you think we'd have – d'you think we don't know how to keep our mouths shut by now?' It was like trying to read a wild animal. He could see the muscles working in his father's jaw, but he could tell that Simon was considering Andrew's words. ‘When was that put on there?' he roared at Ruth. ‘Look at it! What's the date on it?' Still sobbing, she peered at the screen, needing to approach the tip of her nose within two inches of it, now that her glasses were broken. ‘The fifteenth,' she whispered. ‘Fifteenth †¦ Sunday,' said Simon. ‘Sunday, wasn't it?' Neither Andrew nor Ruth put him right. Andrew could not believe his luck; nor did he believe it would hold. ‘Sunday,' said Simon, ‘so anyone could've – my fucking toe,' he yelled, as he pulled himself up and limped exaggeratedly towards Ruth. ‘Get out of my way!' She hastened out of the chair and watched him read the paragraph through again. He kept snorting like an animal to clear his airways. Andrew thought that he might be able to garrotte his father as he sat there, if only there was a wire to hand. ‘Someone's got all this from work,' said Simon, as if he had just reached this conclusion, and had not heard his wife or son urging the hypothesis on him. He placed his hands on the keyboard and turned to Andrew. ‘How do I get rid of it?' ‘What?' ‘You do fucking computing! How do I get this off here?' ‘You can't get – you can't,' said Andrew. ‘You'd need to be the administrator.' ‘Make yourself the administrator, then,' said Simon, jumping up and pointing Andrew into the swivel chair. ‘I can't make myself the administrator,' said Andrew. He was afraid that Simon was working himself up into a second bout of violence. ‘You need to input the right user name and passwords.' ‘You're a real fucking waste of space, aren't you?' Simon shoved Andrew in the middle of his sternum as he limped past, knocking him back into the mantelpiece. ‘Pass me the phone!' Simon shouted at his wife, as he sat back down in the armchair. Ruth took the telephone and carried it the few feet to Simon. He ripped it out of her hands and punched in a number. Andrew and Ruth waited in silence as Simon called, first Jim, and then Tommy, the men with whom he had completed the after-hours jobs at the printworks. Simon's fury, his suspicion of his own accomplices, was funnelled down the telephone in curt short sentences full of swearwords. Paul had not returned. Perhaps he was still trying to staunch his bleeding nose, but more likely he was too scared. Andrew thought his brother unwise. It was safest to leave only after Simon had given you permission. His calls completed, Simon held out the telephone to Ruth without speaking; she took it and hurried it back into its stand. Simon sat thinking while his fractured toe pulsated, sweating in the heat of the wood-burner, awash with impotent fury. The beating to which he had subjected his wife and son was nothing, he did not give them a thought; a terrible thing had just happened to him, and naturally his rage had exploded on those nearest him; that was how life worked. In any case, Ruth, the silly bitch, had admitted to telling Shirley †¦ Simon was building his own chain of evidence, as he thought things must have happened. Some fucker (and he suspected that gum-chewing forklift driver, whose expression, as Simon had sped away from him in the Fields, had been outraged) talking about him to the Mollisons (somehow, illogically, Ruth's admission that she had mentioned the computer to Shirley made this seem more likely), and they (the Mollisons, the establishment, the smooth and the snide, guarding their access to power) had put up this message on their website (Shirley, the old cow, managed the site, which set the seal on the theory). ‘It's your fucking friend,' Simon told his wet-faced, trembling-lipped wife. ‘It's your fucking Shirley. She's done this. She's got some dirt on me to get me off her son's case. That's who it is.' ‘But Si – ‘ Shut up, shut up, you silly cow, thought Andrew. ‘Still on her side, are you?' roared Simon, making to stand again. ‘No!' squealed Ruth, and he sank back into the chair, glad to keep the weight off his pounding foot. The Harcourt-Walsh management would not be happy about those after-hours jobs, Simon thought. He wouldn't put it past the bloody police to come nosing around the computer. A desire for urgent action filled him. ‘You,' he said, pointing at Andrew. ‘Unplug that computer. All of it, the leads and everything. You're coming with me.'