Cutie as a Metaphor of the Mind in Asimovs Reason Essay -- Asimov Rea

Cutie as a Metaphor of the Mind in Asimov's Reason Using one's reason to the highest ability is considered to be a virtue in our society. Reason and logic have a lucid quality that is reassuring to human interaction. Ultimately, humanity prizes itself for its ability to logically explain our observations by using reason. Another facet of the human mind is to be inquisitive, to constantly ask questions about our surroundings. Both these facets are shown by the main character, "Cutie," in Asimov's "Reason." This thought-provoking story uses Cutie, a robot, as a metaphor of the human mind, and on a larger scale, humanity itself. Closer analysis of "Reason" will allow an indepth understanding of :- (1) how the reasoning process is used to formulate a belief by Cutie, (2) how the human mind uses reason to deal with that which is unknown to humanity. In "Reason," Asimov cleverly uses a robot as an analogy of the human mind. The reader becomes aware of this as the conversation of Powell, the human supervisor, and Cutie unfolds at the beginning of the story. Cutie possesses an innate curiosity and asks a question that has preoccupied human beings since the dawn of mankind: what is the purpose of my existence? This is a symbol of the human mind's inquisitive nature. Cutie also uses the word, "intuition," (Asimov 96) and this too indicates that Cutie is Asimov's representation of human nature. The discourse with Powell also enables the reader to witness how Cutie uses reason to explain his existence. By doing so, Asimov shows how a human mind can reason and formulate a belief. To resolve the uncertainty of his existence, Cutie begins his reasoning from concrete... ...l with the abstract, and unknown aspects of living (e.g. death, existence etc.) by building belief systems that allow a purposeful life. On a large scale society can also create belief systems to explain mankind's existence, and observations of this universe. Whether these beliefs are illusions or the absolute truth do not affect us as a functioning society. The question that Asimov leaves in the reader's mind is, 'Is our society built upon a web of beliefs that creates a comfortable illusion of all observations?' Will we ever know the truth to abstract questions pertaining to life, and the REASON of our existence? Or will we always live with inaccurate beliefs-- based on reason and incorrect postulates-- to resolve these questions. These thought-provoking questions shakes the reader's confidence of humanity's ability to find the truth by reasoning correctly.

Nivea for Men: Developing a Marketing Plan Answer Sheet Essay

1. What is the difference between product range and product mix? The product range are the different types of products from one particular category e.g. drinks orange, lemonade, raspberry, whereas product mix are the different categories of product that are sold e.g. drinks, sandwiches, fruit etc 2. How would the increase in marketing awareness affect Nivea s day to day operations? More staff, more sales, more products needed, extra deliveries, more staff, more room for storage. 3. Why is the FHM Grooming Award a good thing for Nivea? FHM has a large readership level, the majority of readers care about their appearance and therefore Nivea may benefit from extra sales due to its recognition of enhancing appearance. 4. Why is it important for Nivea to identify a market segment? It can develop strategies for specific people, save money and have a higher success rate. 5. Above-the-line and Below-the-line promotion are prominent with Nivea. Why is this important? So that Nivea can get their message across to the masses through the various media and also build affinity and relationships with it customers and potential customers. 6. What was the male skincare products market worth in 2008? Male skincare products were worth  £117m 7. In 1998 annual sales of skincare products were worth  £68m. In 2008 they are now worth  £117m. What is the percentage increase in annual sales? 172% (117 / 68) X 100 8. What is the percentage increase in male facial products?  £7.3m to  £49m = 49/ 7.3 X100 = 671% 9. Why are marketing plans used? A marketing plan is used to identify, anticipate and satisfy consumers need. If a marketing plan is used, the business will know what the consumer wants, and will sell appropriate products which will increase revenue for the business. 10. Give 2 marketing aims that Nivea may want to achieve? Increase the sales of male skincare products in the UK. Develop its range of products for the UK market. 11. Using the case study, highlight how the SWOT analysis could  be used for Nivea. Nivea could use the SWOT analysis in order to assess its Strengths and Weaknesses within the business. This would allow management to address its weaknesses and exploit its strengths. This would be the opinions of the management and staff. It could also assess the Opportunities and Threats in terms of where the market is going with skincare for men and exploit it. They would also be aware of potential threats in terms of competition, laws and attitudes. 12. How has Nivea used promotion to enhance the awareness of the brand? Nivea has used both Above the line and Below the line promotion using the media, sponsorship of sports teams and winning awards from target market magazines.

Organization behavior Essay

Attribution theory: an important tool for understanding and managing goal oriented organization behaviors. Attribution theory is known as the effective way which helps us to assume that people’s behaviour is caused by internal or external situational factors. This essay is going to discuss about the key elements of attribution theory and the relationship between them. In addition, the way of attribution theory process works in organizations are also mentioned. Also it considered how attribution theory implements in organizations as an effective tool which can help leaders to attribute employees’ behaviours and workplace outcomes. This essay reviewed some famous articles in attribution theory and psychology fields and abstracted relative points to discuss. Types of attributional explanations and the underlying dimensions of those attributions affected individuals’ emotions, expectations and behaviours. (Jianjun & Shenghua, 2009) The reason that internal and external attribution can be useful tools in management practice is that they can help managers understand causes of employee behaviours and can assist employees in understanding their thinking about their own behaviours. If you can understand why you behave a certain way, and why others around you do so, then you have a better understanding of yourself, others, and your organization. The perception of the causes of certain behaviour may affect the judgment and actions of both managers and employees. The locus of causality can be internal or external, which stands for the recognition of internal or external attribution. Also as Kelly (1967) concluded as the covariation model, which describes the three type of information that we can use to make attribution decisions are consensus, distinctiveness and consistency. In determining whether behaviour is based on internal or external factors, you look at the level of consistency, distinctiveness and consensus of the behaviour. For instance, internal attributions are made with low consensus, low distinctiveness, and high consistency while external factors when all three are high. Leaders can use covariation model to make attributions of employees’ performances. However, this model also has one important limitation, which is that it cannot to distinguish unintentional and intentional behaviour. (Ben, Olufemi, Olukunle &Patrick, 2012) As attribution theory is applied in different organizations and may be an important factor which can affect managers’ decision, the  innate bias of people in the way they make attributions should be paid much attention. The basic one which is called fundamental bias describes the tendency to make internal attributions over external attributions. It emphasizes more on socialization such as culture or social settings. As concluded by Zuckerman (1979), there are two main attribution biases. The self- serving bias is the tendency of individuals to regard their successes as the result of their own effort or ability and blame failure on external factors. Thus, the situation could be that managers may blame employees for their failure. On the contrary, employees may attribute failures to external factors. The actor- observer bias stands for the tendency of observers to attribute the behaviours and outcomes of actors to their internal factors while actors attribute their outcomes to the external environment. For instance, managers may blame the failure on employees whereas employees are biased toward attributing their failures to external factors including their supervisors. After comparing these two biases, it is obviously that self- serving bias happens when both actors and observers focus on the outcomes while the actor- observer bias is based on the situation that actors emphasize on external factors but observers focus attention on actors. In organizations, performances are evaluated by managers. Those two biases can effect managers’ and employees’ evaluations of employee performance as well as the quality of their relationship. (Mark, 2007) In terms of leadership, if leaders don’t aware that they have attribution bias, some problems will appear in communication and team work. Employees make attributions based on their perception of the causes attributable to leaders’ behaviours. (Phil, Charlotte, Julie&James, 2009) after employees perceived their leader are not satisfied with their performance, they tend to feel loss of self- esteem. Reflecting into behaviours, it is possible that employees’ job satisfaction and turnover decrease. After that, it is more difficult for leaders to motivate employees to increase productivity or improve their performance. Another thing which is worth mentioned is attribution styles. Attribution styles are tendencies to make particular types of attribution over time and across different situations. Martinko (2002) indicated that there are sixteen possible intrapersonal styles. Basically, there are two most well-known attribution styles which are optimistic attribution style and pessimistic attribution style. To some extent, optimistic attribution style  can correspond to self-serving bias. However, pessimistic styles are characterized by external and unstable attributions for success and internal and stable attributions for failure. (Martinko, Douglas& Borkowski, 2007) In an organization, optimistic leaders believe that the employees will perform well in the future but the pessimistic leaders have the opposed ideas. Also optimistic employees think they will have a good performance while pessimistic ones have the opposed ideas. These phenomenons imply one possibility that there may be clashes between the attribution style of leaders and employees. Just as the study did by Martinko, Douglas & Borkowski (2007) demonstrated that optimistic leaders are less likely to blame their members for poor performance and make opportunities for their members to succeed in the future than are pessimistic leaders, which may lead to lower quality relationships between employees and pessimistic leaders. As relationship becoming less harmonious, the goal- achieve thinking will be inconsistent. In addition, Harvey, Harris and Martinko (2008) got a result through studying and hypothesising which presented attribution styles have significantly effect on turnover intentions. There is a positive relationship between hostile attribution styles and turnover intentions. (Harvey, Harris &Martinko, 2008) The situation could be someone with a pessimistic attribution style and low self-efficacy can be helped by being given tasks that allow them to succeed early on and build their confidence as they progress to more complex tasks. In dealing with someone with an optimistic attribution style, managers can help the employee gauge whether or not they are capable of a certain type of project by having them shadow someone doing that job or linking them with a mentor higher up in the organization. Recognizing and dealing with someone with a hostile attribution style might be difficult since this style can look similar to the optimistic style. However, this style in particular, will benefit from open communication that leads to correct attributions for outcomes. This is one type of employee that managers do not want to leave guessing about a poor performance appraisal, demotion, layoff, or other negative outcomes. Also in terms of job satisfaction, it indicated a negative relationship between hostile attribution style and job satisfaction, but suggested that satisfaction fully, as opposed to partially mediated the attribution style–intent to turnover relationship. (Harvey, Harries& Martinko, 2009) In  view of leaders, the attribution style of leaders is probable sign of their expectation of employees’ performances, which influence how they treat and evaluate employees. Attribution theory implementation in different fields: Leadership: Attribution theory plays a significant role in field of leadership. It is the tool that how leader attribute employees’ performance. There are many different situations. For example, when a leader is facing the negative outcome, he is more likely to have internal attribution of it. (Korsgaard, Brodt & Whitener, 2002) If the employee attributes the leader’s behavior internally, he will blame it on leaders so that he will have a doubt with leader’s ability. Also it is possible to appear conflict between leaders and employees. In order to improve the accuracy of leaders’ attribution, leaders can try to do the work that employees do and may have the similar feeling with them, which is a way to gain psychological closeness. And it is better to assign tasks and duty clearly to avoid unnecessary error in working. Motivation: According to Harvey and Martinko (2009), we can promote and maintain employees’ motivation through five means such as screening resilience, immunization and multiple raters for performance. However, in general situation, attributional training and increasing psychological closeness are most common and effective way. Attributional training helps employees accurate their attribution style and may correct their attribution biases as well as having a better understanding with internal and external factors. In other word, attributional training is a good way to make employees have a full – scale recognition of workplace outcomes through effective communication between managers and employees. In term s of increasing psychological closeness, the best way is to pick experienced managers to manage employees and handle the positive or negative outcomes so that they can provide more attributional feedback to employees. Performance reviews and group work: Kelley’s (1973) covariation model which contains consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness can be used by managers to evaluate and review employees’  performance. Consistency is proposed to lead to attributions regarding the stability of the outcome. For example, when an employee fails a task, if the manager is with low consensus, he will think that only this employee fail, then it is impeded correct evaluation. Also, when managers face dividing work in a group, the locus of covariation is needed to attribute and estimate the different characteristic of employees’ behaviors. Recruitment and selection: When managers start recruitment and selection, they have to ensure that they have appropriate attribution style and try to minimize the attribution bias. For example, the interviewers will tend to believe that candidates who appear anxious in the interview are actually behaving anxious because they are lack of anti-pressure ability, rather than because they are in a stressful environment. Then wrong decision and selection will be made because of the attribution bias. In conclusion, it is obvious that attribution theory process is related to internal and external factors through the discussion of relationship of essential portions of attribution theory process. Besides, attribution bias and styles cannot be ignored in organization behavior and activities because they will have a big effect on different fields such as leader- member relationship or motivation towards employees. As the importance of attribution theory and the functions been argued, it can be summarized that organizations should take advantage of attribution theory to manage employees and improve organization performance. Reference list: Ben E. Akpoyomare Oghojafor, Olufemi Olabode Olayemi, Olukunle O. Oluwatula, Patrick Sunday Okonji. (2012). Attribution theory and strategic decisions on organizational success factors. Journal of management and strategy, 3: 32-39. Harvey, P., Martinko, M.J., & Gardner, W. (2006). Promoting authenticity in organizations: An attributional perspective. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 12: 1-11. Harvey, P., Harris, K.J., & Martinko, M.J. (2008). The mediated influence of hostile attributional style on turnover intentions. Journal of Business and Psychology, 22: 333-343. Harvey, P. and Martinko, M.J. (2009). An Empirical Examination of the Role of Attributions in Psychological Entitlement and its Outcomes. Journal of  Organizational Behaviour, 30: 459-476. Harvey, P., & Martinko, M.J. (2009). Attribution theory and motivation. Organizational Behavior, Theory and Design in Health Care, 27:143-158. Kelley, Harold H., (1967). Attribution Theory in Social Psychology, Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 39: 242- 277 Korsgaard, M. A., Brodt, S. E., & Whitener, E. M. (2002). Trust in the face of conflict: the role of managerial trust-worthy behavior and organizational context. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87: 312–31. Martinko, M.J., Harvey, P., & Douglas, S.C. (2007). The role, function, and contributions of attribution theory to leadership: A review. Leadership Quarterly, 18: 561-585. Martinko, M. J., Moss, S. E., and Douglas, S. C., & Borkowski, N. (2007). Anticipating the Inevitable: When Leader and Member Attribution Styles Clash. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.104 (2): 158-174. Martinko, Mark J. and Thompson, Neal. (1998). A synthesis of the Weiner and Kelley attribution models. Journal of Basic and Applied Psychology, 20(4): 271-284. Phil C. Bryant, Charlotte A. Davis, Julie I. Hancock and James M. Vardaman, (2010). When Rule Makers Become Rule Breakers: Employee Level Outcomes of Managerial Pro-Social Rule Breaking, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 22: 101-112. Silvester, J., Anderson-Gough, F. M., Anderson, N. R. & Mohamed, A. R. (2002). Locus of control, attributions and impression management in the selection interview. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 75: 59 – 76. Zuckerman, M. (1979). Attribution of success and failure revisited, or the motivational bias is alive and well in attribution theory. Journal of Personality, 47: 245-287.

Organization and Management Analysis Essay

Organizational and management analysis are an essential part of organizational environment. In the modern world, working environment characteristics are team work, delegation, information technology interfaces, which have an impact on the effectiveness of organization and management. This helps in cost reduction, decrease in environmental waste, improved employee satisfaction and an increase in overall productivity. To have an organizational and management analysis review of organizational charts, meeting with department managers, executives or board members, and an organizational survey is necessary (Jones, 2006). A multi-dimensional examination of organizational and management analysis gives a complete picture of the actual situation which can be a starting point. This paper is to describe various organizational theories, compares management theories and styles, and explains which organizational theory and management style resembles our organization. Also, this paper explains what could be changed to make our organization better. Organizational Theories Organizational theory is to identify how they solve problems and how they maximize efficiency and productivity. These theories mostly derived from the activities of successful organizations. All of these theories contributes to the overall understanding of management. As in any other theories organizational theories provide the basis for ongoing research and application of human behavior in organizational settings. Classical Organizational Theory Focus on the theories of efficiency. The components include scientific management, bureaucratic theory, and administrative theory. Scientific management focus on getting the best from the people, equipment, and business. So that productivity can be increased. In this, the workers got scientifically selected, trained and taught for the work. On the other hand, bureaucratic theory focus on establishing a hierarchy, division of labor, rules, and regulations. In the current world, many of the managers think that bureaucratic theory is a hindrance to employees’ creativity. Administrative theory establishes a set of management principles and functions that applied to the organizations. This serves as a centralized  decision making approach (Coulter & Robbins, 2012). Neoclassical Organization Theory This theory emphasizes effective and sociopsychological aspects of human behaviors in an organization. As we see in many of the current organizations many of the managers motivate, lead, build trust, work with the team, manage conflicts is all based on the organizational performance approach. The way manager design jobs, work with the employees, the method of communication is general in the behavioral approach. Productivity increases in an environment with coherence of values and purpose. The key is to maintain equilibrium where subordinates respect and believe managerial authority (Chron, 2014). Contingency Theory This is a management approach that recognizes each organization as different, which means that each organization faces different situations and requires different ways of managing. This helps the management to understand that there are no universal rules for managers to follow. Instead of looking into the universal rules, the manager must look on to the individual situation and determine the best and efficient way to manage the situation ideally. Different changing circumstances require managers to use different approaches and techniques. There are no simple or complex rules to follow. Managers are able to take decisions based on the conditions (Coulter & Robbins, 2012). Systems Theory The system theory approach explains that organizations take information form the environment and transforms these resources into outputs into the environment. This theory explains the interrelatedness of all parts of an organization and how one change in one area can affect multiple other parts. In this, all the units work together to achieve the organizational goals. Organization depends upon inputs form capital, government regulations, suppliers, information technology, human resources, to receive the output of financial results, products, services and information (Liebler & McConnel, 2012). Organizational theory suits our Organization The organizational theory that closely resembles our organization is the  Contingency Theory. Adapting to the new changes in the environment is the basis for Contingency theory. This theory is important for managerial and organizational success. We have recently adopted Electronic Medical Records, and we are in the adaptation stage of information technology. Manager takes decision based on the current circumstances, which is logical because the units within our organization differ in size, structure, capacity, work activities, and goals. So a universally acceptable theory will not work in all situations. Different situations require different theories of management. Some situation the division of labor and bureaucracy is desirable which supports the classic theory. Other situations structural design becomes effective. Depends on the situation the manager takes the stand. Contingency theory claims that there is no best way to design an organization. There is no written rule on what is the best or the universal solution for the problems in our organization. There is no best way to organize a corporation or to lead a company. Also, the theory that works in our organization may not work for other organizations (Coulter & Robbins, 2012). Compares Management Theories and Styles Managers communication with the subordinates reflects a cluster of styles which the management styles. Managers use different style in different situations. Generally, we can see one style generally emerges as the predominant mode of interaction. Autocratic manager makes independent decisions without much input from subordinates. The manager clearly dictates what, how, when and where things for the employees there is no room for employee initiatives. An autocratic style is least effective and desirable for motivating employees. Another management style is the bureaucratic management style in which the manager follows the rule and ensures that the employees follow the rules â€Å"as well â€Å". They go by the book and the rules and enforced strictly. In this, the employees enjoy less freedom. No exceptions permitted. Participative management is which the manager makes the final decisions, but the employees are involved in this process. Both the manager and the employees involved in the decision making process. Decision made as a cohesive group interaction. Everyone might not accept managers decision. Another type is the Laissez-faire style in which the manager allows employees to manage their own work. No supervision provided. In this, the  individuals should be self-motivated. This can result in disorganization, chaos and lack of direction. Finally, in Paternalistic style the manager makes the decision to benefit the employees. Manager treats employees like children. In this style, the employees become dependent on their manager (Liebler & McConnell, 2012). Management Theory and Style suits our Organization In our organization, there is no one management style that fits to all situations. In my observation, the manager’s shifts form one style to another when they face different groups and situations. When it comes to the policies and procedures, in my observation it is bureaucratic style, top level managers are following autocratic management style, and my immediate manager has a participative style who consults with the employees for decision making. So far I have not encountered any Laissez-faire management style in our place. In the new hire orientation managers follow paternalistic style. For a successful manager, the management style depends on the given situation. If a work environment does not require any close supervision, the managers may select any styles. When employees are unskilled, autocratic style is most efficient. In the current world, changes impacts the manager’s task. It includes economic and political uncertainty, ethical issues, security threats, and changing technology. All these call for different management styles depends on the manager’s involvement. Changes towards Organizational Advancement Organizations deal with challenges in this worldwide economic climate, changing technology and increased globalization. A manager should understand the critical issues and use skills and abilities during challenging times in an organization. A great manager can change your life, encourage employees professionally and personally, energize people to overcome challenges and instill team spirit. Such a manager can make job enjoyable and productive. Manager should create an environment in which the organization members can work to the best of their abilities and think creatively. In order to make the organization better people should support, coach, and find meaning and fulfilment in work. Also have up-to-date information about the new innovative ideas. It is important to be competitive and sustain in the  business world. Develop the networking ability, communicate effectively and be sincere and genuine with others (Coutler & Robbins, 2012). Conclusion In conclusion as we have seen in any organizational performance, managerial ability is very important in creating organizational values. Different management theories and styles range from prohibiting staff from making any decisions to fully delegating the decision-making power. No management style is consistently effective. Situational factors should be taken into consideration in the selection of an effective and efficient management style. The study of organizational theories and management styles is essential in this modern organizational, working environment. References: Chron. (2014). Organizational Theory. Retrieved from http://http:www.smallbusiness.chron/organizational-theory. Coulter, M. & Robbins, S.P. (2012). Management. (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Jones, J. (2006). How to Analyze an Organizational Structure. Retrieved from http://www.smallbusiness.chron.com/analyze-organizational-structure-11818.html. Liebler, J.G. & McConnell C.R. (2012). Management Principles for Health Professionals. (6th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Mark Twain’s “Two Views of the River” Essay

Mark Twain’s â€Å"Two Views of the River† offers two distinct ways of how to see the world. One is to see the world with a child’s eye. There is a certain level of amazement and wonder in seeing something for the first time or seeing something different in something very familiar. There is an exploration and a discovery involved. There is poetry. Then there is the other way of looking at things and seeing only the mundane. Here, people are seeing things and accepting that there is nothing extraordinary with things. This happens quite often when people see a place or a thing and only see the practical side. There is less wonderment and more analysis as to why it is there, what is its usage and how does it affect people. From a colorful poetic view, it becomes a practical nonchalant way of seeing the world. To capture such feeling in film, one must first focus on the first way of looking at the world. This involves seeing things for the first time with awe and wonder. It is poetic in a sense that almost every small detail has a hidden meaning and offers something worthy of camera time. Therefore, it should start with a long shot of the whole scene. And then it follows the narration and zooms in into the details. This offers the effect that from the outside one notices the big picture but is affected more by the details. This puts emphasis on the significance of everything from the changing river to the ripples of the water to the shore. Close-up shots of the river, the river’s changing colors, the sun, the ripples, the shoreline and the woodland should be taken. Each part should be consistently given importance and time. This creates the effect of taking it all in. Each part contributes something beautiful to the whole scene and must be portrayed as such. The second scene would be about how a scene fades from being novel into something being practical. The key in giving off this kind of feeling is to look at how the small details fit into the big picture. Here, Mark Twain says how the sun tells of what the weather will be or how a floating log means that the water level is increasing. Everything is connected to each other and its importance is seen in how it contributes to the big picture. As such, it is good to go and reverse what was done on the first part. From the close-ups, the camera can pan out of the woodland and the riverside through the river and end up with a zoomed out picture of the whole scene. It could also be shot in black and white while the other scene is shot in color. This does not mean the second more practical side in seeing things is less important. It does give off a dulling effect from something poetic to something practical. However, it also gives a larger view of the scene and as such, the viewer is able to see more and can use more what he sees for his everyday life. He sees the importance of things instead of its aesthetics. The effect of both scenes is like how a child and an adult experience the city. The first time, as a child, one sees the city with its big buildings and assortment of. One notices first the different buildings and shops and lights. Each reminds that this is no longer home. There is something foreign in the air. The sounds of the city are loud as it is a mixture of people talking and cars going by. Then there are heaps of people, each dressing differently for different purposes. There is something amazing with being in the center of such a busy world where everything is in constant motion. But as an adult, the city is no longer such an oddity. It becomes an everyday experience. The mass of people, cars, the noise, the shops, the buildings all fade into the background. Everything is accepted as part of reality. There is no longer amazement in learning new things. When people go to the city, they no longer look from left to right soaking in every detail. They simply go about their business without paying much attention except to see which route would go fastest or what store offers a better price. Such practicality becomes the main way of looking at things. This paradigm shift is the effect needed in portraying Mark Twain’s â€Å"Two Views of the River†. There should be two clear distinct scenes – a colorful and full in awe scene and a more practical scene that looks at the big picture. This shift and the difference in the shots give off how people change in how they see the same things. From seeing the small details and reveling in them for the first scene, the last scene goes back and looks at the big picture and how it affects the viewer. The details are not in focus and the color fades. However, one is able to see a larger view of the world. This contrast between both scenes leaves, at the end, an open ended question regarding which viewpoint is better.

Infant Mortality: a Case Study

Theresa Curtis Intro to Global Health Case Study: Infant Mortality Each year approximately 10 million babies do not breathe immediately at birth, of which about 6 million require basic neonatal resuscitation. The major burden is in low-income settings, where health system capacity to provide neonatal resuscitation is inadequate. Many of these babies die because their birth attendant or caregiver did not know a simple technique called neonatal resuscitation. Neonatal resuscitation is important because it is a technique that can and will save a baby’s life.Birth asphyxia is one of the leading causes of infant mortality, cerebral palsy and mental disabilities worldwide. In this case, we were asked to look at the China Neonatal Resuscitation Program. Why is this program important and why was China the country in the most need to have the program implemented? The program is important because more than twenty percent of chinese children die from birth asphyxia. In China 17 million c hildren are born every year. And The idea that children have to die because a nurse is not trained to resuscitate the child is sad.We, as americans are used to the big medical centers and if something happen we know that our child will be in good hands. The Key players in bringing rescuscitation to china was the American Academy of pediatrics. The program was first introduced in 1987 and it failed. I guess at the time there was not enough funding and of course when something new is introduced in the medical world, doctors or administrators are not quick to accept new techniques. I think of all that children that lost their lives because doctors and nurses were not trained to administer CPR or mechanical ventilation.The Chinese Society of Perinatal Medicine provided obstetricians and neonatologst. The Chinese Nursing Association provided nurses professional education and training in resuscitation. They also included midwives in the training because midwives do not use resuscitation t echniques during births. The Freedom of Breath Foundation of life Program was developed to reduce infant mortality rates by ensuring there is at least one skilled neonatal resuscitation provider at every delivery. After five years, that goal has been reached, nd more than 100,000 medical professionals from more than 20 provinces have been trained. In studies conducted by the China Ministry of Health, birth asphyxia mortality declined by 53 percent in 360 hospitals surveyed. (AAP. ORG) The future of the program is other countries being introduced to neonatal resuscitation. If the program worked for china than whose to say, it would not work for other countries. I wanted to research and find what other countries have implemented neonatal resuscitation since China.There is a similar program in Bangladesh. Before the program was implemented, the traditional way to resuscitate was to hold the baby upside down, slap the bottom or blow in the baby’s face. The only suctioning was of the mouth and nose. The main barriers to effective resuscitation are lack of competent staff and lack of simple equipment. Aga Khan University with UNICEF launched a program to improve resuscitation skills of Physicians, Nurses, and Midwives.I hope that all countries are able to implement a neonatal resuscitation program in the hospitals but also go out into the communities and share the technique with those that give birth at home. It is known that many women do not go to medical facilities to give birth. Therefore, there need to be a nurse or midwives that can go out into the village, community, to teach the home nurse how to give proper resuscitation. My five-year goal would be that all people know how to administer neonatal resuscitation.Many children are lost because they come out and they are not breathing. However, if more than one attendant knows the procedure more children can be saved. I would all medical personnel trained and re-trained every six months. It is important t o maintain skills. In many countries the father is not apart of the birth, and maybe they should be. A male instructor can train and show the father during a home birth how to resuscitate if needed. It can be the difference between life and death. Freedom of Breath, Freedom of life |Helping babies breathe | | |Designed to train birth attendants in developing countries in the area| |First to successfully bring neonatal resuscitation to china, in a |of newborn resuscitation. | |systematic and sustainable way. | | |Was developed to reduce the infant mortality rate by always having a |Has a train the trainer approach.Train the nurses and midwives in the| |person trained and skilled in neonatal resuscitation at delivery. |area of resuscitation before they go into the hospital and train | | |fellow nurses and midwives. | |Grew to national scale having 190 certified instructors and 44,000 |Trained 31 facilitators and 102 learners. however, the majority of | |practitioners trained |parti cipants could not demonstrate mastery of bag and mask ventilation| |The rate of birth asphyxia declined by more than a third. | |Providers’ skills and confidence have increased and more babies are |Participants in a program for neonatal resuscitation in | |surviving. The program is saving lives and improving the health of |resource-limited settings demonstrated high satisfaction | |women. | | References www. aap. org www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov www. jnj. com/giving-breath-to-life www. unicef. org/rosa/newborn

Australia Mini Country Culture of Society Research Paper

Australia Mini Country Culture of Society - Research Paper Example The way this affects communication and the media is that the media can have more freedom to say what they think is the truth. Australia falls in the midrange in the power distance index, falling lower than that other developed countries such as the United States of America. For instance, Australia scores 36 on the power distance index as compared to the United States of America which scores 40 on the same scale. This is a much lower score, as compared to other countries, especially Arab countries such as Malaysia, Egypt and Philippines which score over 90 on the power distance index scale. According to Nisbett & Miyamoto (467-473) Asians and seem to engage in cultural practices in a different way than westerns who regard issues in a context-independent manner. The main reason why the power distance in Australia is low may be the fact that there is equality in wealth distribution in comparison with other states like the United States where the wealth gap in continually increasing, leaving a thin middle class and a large part of the population being poor while a small percentage owns much of the wealth. Australia also scores a 90 for individualism and a 61 for masculinity. As Ihator (38) says, this kind of individualism is most likely to be seen in first world countries like America and not in countries in Africa. Masculinity, as measured in the Hofstede’s Power Distance Index, is a measure of the factors that are considered to be masculine such as power, materialism, assertiveness, etc. According to Kimmel (90) society with a high masculinity score on the Hofstede’s Power Distance Index is an indication that males in that country are more likely to be more assertive on their rights and are more likely to have their own choices and not be dominated. These are people who are not easily affected by public opinion and are not likely to accept power roles are meted for them.