A scholar

The definition of what scholar actually means Is a specialist In a particular branch of study, especially the humanities; a distinguished academic. A scholar Is a person who is highly educated or has an aptitude for study. To me my sister Is a scholar she Is a person who achieved what she had to do In life. My sister was the first to go on to college In the family had a four point six all through high school, was a basketball manager, played volleyball, and ran track. During her time In high school In college I tried to follow In her footsteps.My sister Is an minded Intellectual who doesn't put off things and does what she supposed to do. My sister Is very dedicated to learning and continuous to teach me today. My sister went to Miami university in oxford Ohio. She took her meager in sociology and minor in managing and dancing. When she was in college she always pushed her self all through college. My sister was not a procrastinator in college. The definition of a procrastinator is t he action of delaying or postponing something. This is something my sister didn't do during her time of learning.Right now she out of college and is attending grad school to continue learning. Every year somebody throws a big New Year's party and you can bring whomever you want. I never bring anybody only because my family is crazy once they start drinking. Before they start drinking though my family and I eat at home while everyone else eats at the party. Sometimes before we go my mom fixes a Behindhand meal and it is the best. To me it is even better than the restaurant. She fixes it perfect Just the way I like with fried, rice, zucchini, shrimp, and she add the special type that Just makes taste even better.Then' we go to cousins house were the party is. This is where all the alcohol is at and where the most fun is. When walk around you see every one with big champagne glass and you see the guys with Just the champagne bottles they don't care about a cup or glass. Most of the tee nagers have red cups and they get wine and sometimes champagne. The kids get small white plastic cups usually filled with apple Juice or grape juice. I usually don't even care for the wine and champagne. I Just want some sparkling cider; I could drink that every day. Then we gather everybody all around We all go home fall asleep.New Year's will always be my favorite holiday. There Is no other holiday I would trade for this one. Who would not want to see drunken people. A scholar By Edward What is a scholar? The definition of what scholar actually means is a specialist in a scholar is a person who is highly educated or has an aptitude for study. To me my sister is a scholar she is a person who achieved what she had to do in life. My sister was the first to go on to college in the family had a four point six all through high school, was a basketball manager, played volleyball, and ran track.During her time in gig school in college I tried to follow in her footsteps. My sister is an mi nded intellectual who doesn't put off things and does what she supposed to do. My sister is Miami University in oxford Ohio. She took her meager in sociology and minor in my sister didn't do during her time of learning. Right now she out of college and is The kids get small white plastic cups usually filled with apple Juice or grape Juice. I usually don't even care for the wine and champagne. I Just want some sparkling home fall asleep. New Year's will always be my favorite holiday. There is no other

Night World : The Chosen Chapter 6

What she felt was a shivering jolt that began in her palm and ran up her arm like electricity. It left tingling in its wake. But the real shock was in her head. Her mind exploded. That was the only way she could describe it. A noiseless, heatless explosion that shattered her completely. All at once, Rashel couldn't support her own weight anymore. She could feel Quinn's arms supporting her. She had no sense of the room around her. She was floating in a white light and the only solid thing to hang on to was Quinn. It was something like the terror she'd felt before†¦ but it wasn't just terror. Impossibly, what she felt was more like wild elation. She realized that Quinn was holding her so tightly that it hurt. But even stronger than the sensation of his arms was the sense she had of his mind. A direct conduit seemed to have opened between them. She could feel his astonishment, his shock, his wonder. And she knew he could feel hers. It's telepathy, some distant part of herself said, trying desperately to get control again. It's some new vampire trick. But she knew it wasn't a trick. Quinn was as astounded as she was-she could feel that. Maybe he was even worse off. He was breathing rapidly and shallowly and a fine trembling seemed to have taken over his body. Rashel held on to him, thinking crazy things. She wanted to comfort him. She could sense, probably better than he could himself, how frighteningly vulnerable he was under that frozen exterior. Like me, I suppose, Rashel thought giddily. And then she suddenly realized that he was feeling her vulnerability just as she had felt his. Fear welled up in her so sharply that she panicked. She tried to find a way to shut him out, to resist the way she resisted mind control-but she knew it was useless. He had gotten past her guard already. He was inside. â€Å"It's all right,† Quinn said, and she realized that he had stopped trembling. His voice was almost dispassionate, and at the same time madly gentle. Rashel had the feeling that he'd decided that since he couldn't fight this thing, he might as well be as insane as possible. Strangest of all, she found his words reassuring. And there was fire under the ice that seemed to encase him. She could feel that now, and she had the dizzy sense that she was the first one to discover it. They had fallen to the floor somehow, and they were sitting just at the edge of the light. Quinn was holding her by the shoulders, precisely, and Rashel was astonished at her own response to the clinical grip. It stopped her breath, held her absolutely motionless. Then, just as precisely, every movement deliberate, Quinn found the end of her scarf and began to unwind it. He was still filled with that mad gentleness, that lunatic calm. And she wasn't stopping him. He was going to expose her face, and she wasn't doing a thing about it. She wanted him to. In spite of her terror, she wanted him to see her, to know who she was. She wanted to be face to face with him in that strange light that had enveloped both their minds. It didn't seem to matter what happened afterward. She said, â€Å"John.† He unwound another length of the scarf, preoccupied and intent as if he were making some archaeological discovery. â€Å"You didn't tell me your name.† It was a statement. He wasn't pushing her. She might as well write it out on a death warrant and hand it to him. Quinn could reveal himself to humans-but then Quinn could disappear completely if he wanted, hole up in some hidden vampire enclave where no human could search him out. Rashel couldn't. He knew she was a vampire hunter. If he knew her name and her face, he'd have every power to destroy her. And the scariest thing of all was that some part of her didn't care. He was down to the last turn of the scarf. In a moment her face would be exposed to the air†¦ and to vampire eyes that could see in this darkness. I'm Rashel, Rashel thought. She couldn't quite get the words to her lips. She took a deep breath. And at the same instant a light blazed into her eyes. Not the ghostly light that had been in her mind. Real light, the beams from several high-power flashlights, harsh and horribly bright. They cut through the dark cellar and threw Rashel and Quinn into stark illumination. Rashel gasped. One hand instinctively flew to her scarf to keep it over her face. She felt as if she had been caught naked. And she was horrified to realize that she hadn't heard anyone come into the cellar. She had been completely absorbed, oblivious to her surroundings. What had happened to all her training? What was wrong with her? She couldn't see anything beyond the light. Her first thought was that it was Quinn's vampire Mends come to save him. He seemed to think it might be, too; at least he was standing shoulder to shoulder with her, even trying to push her back a little. With an odd pang, Rashel realized she could only guess what he was thinking now. The connection between them had been cleanly severed. Then a voice came from beyond the terrible brightness, a sharp voice filled with outrage. â€Å"How did he get loose? What are you two doing?† Vicky. I'm going insane, Rashel thought. I completely forgot about her and the others coming back. No, I forgot about their existence. But there were more than three flashlights on the stairs. â€Å"The Big E sent us some backup,† Vicky was saying, and Rashel felt a surge of fear. She counted five flashlights, and in the edges of beams she caught the figures of a couple of sturdy-looking guys. Lancers. Rashel tried desperately to gather her wits. She knew what had to be done, at least. She nudged Quinn with her shoulder and whispered, â€Å"Get out of here. There should be another stairway on the other side of the room. When you run for it, I'll get in their way.† She pitched her voice so low that only vampire ears could hear it. The good thing about having her face veiled was that nobody could read her lips. But Quinn wasn't going. He looked as if he'd just been awakened with a bucketful of ice water. Shocked, angry, and still a little dazed. He stood where he was, staring into all the flashlights like an animal at bay. The lights were advancing. Rashel could make out Vicky's figure now at the front. There was going to be a fight, and people were going to get killed. Steve's voice said, â€Å"What did he do to you?† â€Å"What's she been doing with him, that's the question,† Vicky snapped back. Then she said clearly, â€Å"Remember, everybody, we want him alive.† Rashel gave Quinn a harder shove. â€Å"Go.† When he just glared, she hissed, â€Å"Don't you realize what they want to do to you?† Quinn turned so that the advancing party couldn't see his face. He snarled, â€Å"They're not exactly overjoyed with you either.† â€Å"I can take care of myself.† Rashel was shaking with frustration. â€Å"Just leave. Go!† Quinn looked as angry with her as he was with the hunters. He didn't want her help, she realized. He wasn't used to taking anything from anyone, and to be forced to do it made him furious. But there wasn't any other choice. And Quinn finally seemed to recognize that. With one last glare at her, he broke and headed for the darkness at the other side of the cellar. The flashlights swung in confusion. Rashel, glad to be able to move, sprang between the vampire hunters and the stairway. And then there was a lot of fumbling and crashing, with people running into each other and swearing and yelling. Rashel enjoyed the chance to work off her frustration. She got in everyone's way long enough for a very fast vampire to disappear. After which it was just her and the vampire hunters. Five flashlights turned on her and seven amazed and angry people staring. Rashel got up and brushed herself off. Time to face the consequences. She stood, head high, looking at all of them. â€Å"What happened?† Steve said. â€Å"Did he hypnotize you?† Good old Steve. Rashel felt a rush of warmth toward him. But she couldn't use the out he was offering her. She said, â€Å"I don't know what happened.† And that was true. She couldn't even begin to explain to herself what had gone on between her and the vampire. She'd never heard of anything like it. â€Å"I think you let him get away on purpose,† Vicky said. Rashel couldn't see Vicky's pale blue eyes, but she sensed that they were as hard as marbles. â€Å"I think you planned it from the beginning-that's why you told us to go up to the street.† â€Å"Is that true?† One of the flashlights swung down and suddenly Nyala was in front of Rashel, her body tense, her voice almost pleading. Her eyes were fixed on Rashel's, begging Rashel to say it wasn't so. â€Å"Did you do it on purpose?† All at once Rashel felt very tired. Nyala was fragile and unstable, and in her own mind she'd made Rashel into a hero. Now that image was being shattered. For Nyala's sake, Rashel almost wished she could lie. But that would be worse in the end. She said expressionlessly, â€Å"Yes. I did it on purpose.† Nyala recoiled as if Rashel had slapped her. I don't blame you, Rashel thought. I think it's crazy, too. The truth was that the farther away she got from Quinn's presence, the less she could understand what she'd done. It was beginning to seem like a dream, and not a very clear dream at that. â€Å"But why?† one of the Lancer boys at the back asked. The Lancers knew Rashel, knew her reputation. They didn't want to think the worst of her. Like Nyala, they desperately wanted an excuse. â€Å"I don't know why,† Rashel said, looking away. â€Å"But he wasn't controlling my mind.† Nyala exploded. â€Å"I hate you,† she burst out. She was trembling with fury, spitting out sentences at Rashel like poison darts. â€Å"That vampire could have been the one who killed my sister. Or he could have known who did it. I was going to ask him that, but now I'll never get the chance. Because of you. You let him go. We had him and you let him go!† â€Å"It's more than that,† Vicky put in, her voice cold and contemptuous. â€Å"We were going to ask him about those teenage girls getting kidnapped. Now we can't. So it's going to keep happening, and it's all going to be your fault.† And they were right. Even Nyala was right. How did Rashel know that Quinn hadn't killed Nyala's sister? â€Å"You're a vampire lover,† Vicky was saying. â€Å"I could tell from the beginning. I don't know, maybe you're one of those damned Daybreakers who wants us all to get along, but you're not on our side.† A couple of the Lancers started to protest at this, but Nyala's voice cut through them. â€Å"She's on their side?† She stared from Vicky to Rashel, her body rigid. â€Å"You just wait. Just wait until I tell people that Rashel is the Cat and that she's really on the Night World side. You just wait.† She's hysterical, Rashel realized. Even Vicky was looking surprised at this, as if she were uneasy at what she'd started. â€Å"Nyala, listen-† Rashel began. But Nyala seemed to have reached some peak of fury at which nothing from outside could touch her. â€Å"I'll tell everybody in Boston! You'll see!† She whirled around and plunged toward the stairway as if she were going to start doing it right now. Rashel stared after her. Then she said to Vicky, â€Å"You'd better send a couple of the guys to catch up to her. She's not safe alone in this neighborhood.† Vicky gave her a look that was half angry and half shaken. â€Å"Yeah. Okay. Everybody but Steve go after her. You guys take her home.† They left, not without a few backward glances at Rashel. â€Å"We'll drive you back,† Vicky said. Her voice wasn't warm, but it wasn't as hostile as it had been. â€Å"I'll walk to my own car,† Rashel said flatly. â€Å"Fine.† Vicky hesitated, then blurted, â€Å"She probably won't do what she said. She's just upset.† Rashel said nothing. Nyala had sounded-and looked-as if she meant to do exactly what she said. And if she did†¦ Well, it would be an interesting question as to who would kill Rashel first, the vampires or the vampire hunters. Wednesday morning dawned with gray skies and icy rain. Rashel trudged from class to class at Wassa-guscus High, lost in thought. At home, her latest foster family left her alone-they were used to her going her own way. She sat in her small bedroom in the townhouse with the lights dimmed, thinking. She still couldn't understand what had happened to her, but with every hour the memory of it was fading steadily. It was too strange to fit into the reality of life, and it became more and more like a dream. One of those dreams in which you do things you would never ordinarily do, and are ashamed of when you wake up in the morning. All that warmth and closeness-she'd felt that for a vampire? She'd been excited by a parasite's touch? She'd wanted to comfort a leech? And not just any leech, either. The infamous Quinn. The legendary human hater. How could she have let him go? How many people would suffer because of her lapse in sanity? Who knows, she decided finally, maybe it had been some kind of mind control. She certainly couldn't make any sense of it otherwise. By Thursday, one thing at least was clear in her mind. Vicky had been right about the consequences of what she'd done. Rashel hadn't thought about that at the time, but now she had to face it. She had to make it right. She had to find the kidnapped girls on her own- if girls were getting kidnapped. There was nothing about missing teenagers in the Globe. But if it was happening, Rashel had to find out about it and stop it†¦ if she could. Okay. So she'd go back to Mission Hill tonight and start investigating. Check the warehouse area again-this time, her way. There was one other thing that was clear to her, that became obvious as she got her priorities straight. Something she had to do, not for Nyala, or for Vicky, or for the Lancers, but just for herself. For her own honor, and for everybody who lived in the world of sunlight. The next time she saw Quinn, she had to kill him. Rashel moved along the deserted street, keeping to the shadows, moving silently. Not easy when the ground was wet and strewn with broken glass. There were no sidewalks, no grass, no plant life of any kind except the dead weeds in the abandoned lots. Just soggy trash and shattered bottles. A grim place. It fit Rashel's mood as she made her way stealthily toward the abandoned project building where Vicky had brought them Tuesday night. From its front door, she surveyed the rest of the street. Lots of warehouses. Several of them were protected with high chain-link fences topped with barbed wire. All of them had barred windows-or no windows-and metal freight doors. The security precautions didn't bother Rashel. She knew how to cut chain-link and pick locks. What bothered her was that she didn't know where to start. The Night People could be using any of the warehouses. Even knowing where Steve and Vicky had fought Quinn didn't help, because he had jumped them. He'd obviously seen them lying in ambush and deliberately gone after them. Which meant his real destination could have been any of the buildings on this street-or none of them. All right. Patience was indicated here. She'd just have to start at one end . . Rashel lost her thought and leaped back into the shadows before she consciously realized why she was doing it. Her ears had picked up a sound-a low rumbling coming from somewhere across the street. She flattened herself against the brick wall behind her, then kept her body absolutely immobile. Her eyes darted from building to building and she held her breath to hear better. There. It was coming from inside that warehouse, the one down at the far end of the street. And she could identify it now-the sound of an engine. As she watched, the freight door in the front of the warehouse went sliding up. Headlights pierced the night from behind it. A truck was pulling out onto the street. Not a very big truck. A U-Haul. It cleared the doors and stopped. A figure was pulling the sliding metal door down. Now it was making its way to the cab of the U-Haul, climbing in. Rashel strained her eyes, trying to make out any signs of vampirism in the figure's movements. She thought she could detect a certain telltale fluidity to the walk, but it was too far away to be sure. And there was nothing else to give her a clue about what was going on. It could be a human, she thought. Some warehouse owner going home after a night of balancing books. But her instinct told her differently. The hair at the back of her neck was standing on end. And then, as the truck began to cruise off, something happened that settled her doubts and sent her flying down the street. The back doors of the U-Haul opened just a bit, and a girl fell out. She was slender, and a streetlight caught her blond hair. She landed on the rubble-strewn road and lay there for an instant as if dazed. Then she jumped up, looked around wildly, and started running in Rashel's direction.

Association between departmental stewardship, role stressors and distress among executives

Association between departmental stewardship, role stressors and distress among executives In the past few decades, major evolutions in globalization, technology and social collaboration have transformed the nature of work in all sectors. As work becomes increasingly complex and interdependent, employees are expected to take on many new roles and responsibilities. According to Kahn et al. (1964) it is quite common for employees in complex organizations to experience stress regarding their role, which can lead to negative individual and organizational outcomes. Recently, the field of occupational health has recognized that psychosocial factors inherent in the work environment can have considerable influence on the physical and mental well-being of employees, and studies have begun to model contextual moderators in the process of organizational stress. In this article we introduce organizational stewardship as a contextual factor that may build employee resilience to role demands and protect against adverse symptoms of mental health. Stewardship is defined here as an organizational approach in which communication, collaboration and adaptability between organizational actors and stakeholders is used to generate trust, a shared understanding and a sense of purpose. Using multi-level analysis, this study investigates whether departmental stewardship moderates the relationship between role stressors and psychological distress among public service executives. Role Stress and Mental Health The shift to a more knowledge-based society has resulted in many changes to the design, organization and management of factors within the work environment. As workplaces become more complex and multifaceted, employees are expected to take on multiple roles and responsibilities, and thus, it has become more important than ever to examine the impact of role stressors on employee well-being. Role conflict refers to the occurrence of divergent expectations or when role requirements are incompatible with an employee’s value system, making it difficult to perform their work. Role ambiguity refers to a lack of information or unclear information regarding employee’s roles, such that they are unsure as to what is expected of them. According to Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling and Boudreau (2000) role demands are considered hindrance stressors, meaning they are viewed as obstacles to personal growth or demands that can hinder an employee’s ability to achieve work goals. As a result, the presence of these stressors can prompt negative emotions (e.g., anxiety or fear) and a passive or emotional coping method (e.g., withdrawing from the work). Because role demands are perceived as uncontrollable and threatening to one’s work they are unlikely to be met with increased effort, instead employees may emotionally and cognitively withdraw from their work. While the process of organizational stress has been implicated in a wide range of physical health ailments, mental health disorders are considered to be the most common outcomes. Stress-related mental health disorders like anxiety and depression place a heavy financial burden on organizations. According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), about 30% of short- and long-term disability claims in Canada are attributed to mental health problems. Moreover, mental health problems and illnesses among Canadian employees cost organizations more than $6 billion in lost productivity (MHCC, n.d). A recent meta-analysis by Schmidt et al., (2014) documented the link between role stressors and depression across a variety of work settings. These authors acknowledged that it is important to examine mental health as a continuous construct since even minor symptoms can lead to impaired health and organizational outcomes. In light of this, psychological distress is an important concept to measure in the context of employee well-being, since it can capture a lower threshold of mental health problems and may be a crucial to reducing illness or disability caused by work stress. Distress refers to â€Å"a set of psychophysiological and behavioral symptoms that are not specific to a given pathology† (e.g., anxious or depressive responses, irritability, trouble sleeping, absenteeism) that can cause impairment in day-to-day functions and one’s ability to carry out normal tasks. From Leadership to Stewardship Worldwide societal and economic changes have challenged organizational scholars to question deeply rooted assumptions about leadership strategies and to re-examine organizational approaches that can more adequately respond to the demands faced by present-day organizations. As a result, scholars have begun to recognize that interdependent and global work can counteract the potential power of leadership, making it challenging for those in positions of authority to have an impact on the work environment regardless of their leadership style or the fit between the leader and situation. Recently, scholars have proposed the notion of stewardship as an organizational approach to guide the collective process in organizations. While leadership has been traditionally examined with a focus on interpersonal exchanges, stewardship can be viewed as a meta-phenomenon, reflected in organizational structures and collaborative processes. In this study, organizational stewardship is positioned as a pote ntial moderator in the relationship between role stressors and psychological distress. Stewardship Historically, stewardship came from the notion of managing or taking care of something that was entrusted to you. This concept is finding renewed resonance in current organizational literature and has been described as an alternative approach to governance models of mandate and force (Block, 1993). Stewardship has also been defined as an organizational approach that emphasizes a sense of purpose through the sharing of power, resources and information across networks to serve the public interest. According to Hubbard and Paquet (2016) stewardship is believed to foster a sense of community through building partnerships and networks, and generate the trust and dialogue necessary to work through complex issues. Furthermore, they argue that stewardship practices connect employees to the larger purpose of their work, fostering their sense of meaning. Based on these conceptualizations, an empirical study by Simpkins and Lemyre (2018) has reframed organizational stewardship as a system featu re through the application of a socio-ecological framework. An Ecological Model of Stewardship Taking a systemic approach inspired by Brofenbrenner’s (1979, 1999) systems theory framework, the Socio-Ecological Model, the social environment is subdivided into various systems and takes into account the cumulative effect of multiple factors of the physical and social environment, as well as situational and personal factors, on employee well-being (Stokols, 1996). Beyond the individual, the microsystem includes close interpersonal relations. Then, the mesosystem is composed of various organizations or services. The most overarching concept in this framework is the macrosystem, which includes the overall patterns of the social context such as economy, laws and political events. While the idea that stewardship can contribute to positive organizational outcomes has been implied, empirical evidence supporting this relationship remains quite limited. A qualitative case study of the Edmonton Public School system by Segal (2012) asked employees to describe organizational processes inherent in the control and reward systems. This study concluded that an organizational culture associated with stewardship theory helped to instil integrity among employees, contributing to organizational efficiency. According to Simpkins Lemyre (2018), the examination of stewardship within a workplace stress framework broadens our understanding of the work environment and has important implications for individuals, organizations and society. This role can be operationalized as an organization level resource contributing to employee well-being examined through the Job-Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. The Job Demands-Resources Model As outlined in the JD-R model, employee health and well-being can result from a balance between psychosocial work factors categorized as either demands or resources. Physical, social or organizational job characteristics that require sustained effort are labeled as job demands. Job characteristics that contribute to meeting organizational objectives, reduce job demands and their accompanying physiological and psychological costs, or that stimulate employee growth and learning are labeled as job resources. Demands and resources are linked to health and well-being outcomes through two underlying psychological processes. An excess in job demands coupled with a lack of resources can deplete an employee’s energy resources in the health impairment process, while job resources can contribute to positive organizational outcomes through the motivational process. Likewise, the JD-R model assumes that job resources can buffer the impact of various demands on stress outcomes. While individual-level resources have been valuable components in the study of stress, Demerouti Bakker (2011) have suggested an expansion of the JD-R model to include multi-level constructs in order to capture the different structural, functional or hierarchical levels of organizational research. Taking a Multi-Level Approach When direct indicators of environmental context are not available, contextual variables can be measured using group averages of individuals’ perceptions, at a cluster level. This is believed to reliably account for non-independence among employees exposed to similar environmental factors, which can influence how they perceive or respond to stress in the workplace. As a result, researchers can more accurately examine how organizational level processes affect individual-level processes and outcomes. Moreover, modeling group-level moderators of stress is particularly important, given its implications for prevention. From a practical perspective, a multi-level approach to stress may result in more effective interventions, as organizations may wish to employ different strategies at each level. Moreover, stress interventions based on group-level moderators can be much easier to implement over individual-based interventions. Thus, identifying contextual factors that can mitigate the stress process, and understanding how they influence this relationship, can contribute to more systemic approach to organizational stress research. Stewardship as a Moderator of Work Stressors As reviewed above, job resources can buffer the negative effects of work demands on perceived job strain through different mechanisms. While stewardship is not anticipated to reduce work demands themselves, the work conditions provided through a context of stewardship may alter employee perceptions and cognitions evoked by work stressors, and moderate the responses that follow. This can potentially reduce the health-damaging consequences of stress. A mission-focused stewardship approach is believed to help employees put their work in a larger context, providing them with a sense of purpose. The alignment between employee demands and the organizational mission may contribute to a sense of coherence among employees, where they perceive their demands as understandable, manageable and meaningful, a strong determinant of successful coping. Moreover, the sharing of information, power and resources can help to develop a common frame of reference, facilitating communication and reducing misunderstandings with regard to work tasks. In this way, stewardship organizations, through the collaboration and the instrumental support of other organizations, may be more resilient to increasingly complex work demands. Thus, a context of stewardship may temper the negative influence of work stressors by repositioning work demands as challenges that can be accomplished collectively, and task completion may seem more achievable in this setting. Stewardship in the Canadian Public Service Canada’s public service is the non-partisan, executive branch of the Canadian government composed of various units, which include departments, agencies, commissions, Crown corporations and other federal organizations. In a typical governmental department there are several levels of leadership at the Executive level (EX position classification). Stewardship as an organizational approach may be especially important in the context of public service work, where many different levels of hierarchy must operate collaboratively and rely on the combined efforts of various departments, agencies, commissions, crown corporations and other federal organizations to deliver quality service to citizens. In summary, there is strong theoretical and empirical basis to consider and formally test organizational stewardship as a potential moderator in the relationship between role stressors and psychological distress among executives. To our knowledge, stewardship has never been tested as a contextual variable using multi-level analysis. This raises the research question: Does a context of stewardship moderate the relationship between role stressors and psychological distress among public service executives? Study Model This study proposes that a context of stewardship reflects the degree to which a department engages in effective collaboration across networks, generating trust, a sense of purpose, and a shared sense of responsibility. We posit that a context of stewardship can help executives manage their perceived role stressors such that when a high degree of stewardship is perceived within one’s department, executives are more likely to experience their work as meaningful, interesting and something to which they wish to devote effort, regardless of stressful demands. In this way, departmental stewardship may help to alleviate the effects of stressors before they become damaging (i.e., psychological distress). Thus, we propose that department-level stewardship moderates the relationship between role stressors (i.e., role conflict and role ambiguity) and distress symptoms. Goal and Objectives The aim in the present study is to investigate the association between departmental stewardship, role stressors and distress among executives. The research goal is to test that there is variance in these relationships that relates to the organizational level above and beyond the idiosyncratic individual perspective. To test the moderation effect, there are two pre-conditions: Condition 1: Executives who report higher role stressors will also report higher distress; and Condition 2 (ecological multi-level effect): Departments with high levels of aggregated stewardship will have a negative relationship with reported distress. Main Hypothesis (Cross-Level Interaction) Moderation effect of the multi-level construct: The relationship between role stressors and distress is moderated by departmental stewardship such that the relationship between role stressors and distress is stronger for departments with low aggregated stewardship, and this relationship is buffered in departments with high aggregated stewardship. Participants and Procedure Data used for this study comes from the pan-Canadian national survey on Work and Health conducted in 2012 in partnership with the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX). This survey represents the fourth cycle of a multi-phase research project examining the health status of executives, from Director (EX-1) to Deputy Minister (EX-5), in the federal Public Service of Canada. A total of 6688 self-administered anonymous questionnaires were distributed via e-mail to senior-management executives in the Canadian federal public service. Over two thousand respondents returned the questionnaires (N=2314), representing a response rate of 35%. After removing missing data and performing data screening for multi-level analysis the final data set included responses from 1996 executives nested within 59 departments/agencies. Departments, on average, had 34 respondents (range, 2 to 177). The sample comprised 51% male and 49% female executives and maintained fully proportional representation of the actual distribution of executives by gender, executive level, region and age. The average age of participants was 50.2 years. The majority of participants had either a post-grad education (52%) or university education (39%). Participants had been working at the executive level for 7.3 years, on average. While just over half (56%) of executives in this sample worked at the EX-1 level, 24% worked at the EX-2 level, and 20% at the EX-3, EX-4 or EX-5 level.

Create a business plan for an entrepreneurial company Essay

Create a business plan for an entrepreneurial company - Essay Example This will ensure that Soccer Nation’s business remains as competitive as the others which are already established. The store is a Limited Partnership that is owned mostly by Steve Thomason and Esther McKenna who control a 40 and 30% stake of the company. The main objective of the store is to be the leading provider of top quality soccer products around Boston. The store will make it possible for its customers to sample and enjoy its wide selection of products which are specifically made to make the sporting experience an enjoyable one. The target market for Soccer Nation will be anyone from the age of 10 to 40. Most soccer enthusiasts fall under this age group and they are also some of the most frequent buyers of soccer items. Soccer Nation wants to be the one stop shop for all people, young and old, who want to enjoy high quality soccer products. Soccer is without a doubt one of the fastest growing sports in the United States. However, there remains a huge deficit in the mark et since the suppliers of soccer items are very few. Over the last years or so, soccer as a sport has made tremendous achievements in the US and its fan base is growing each day. This has meant that the market for soccer merchandise is expanding at a fast rate, thereby presenting a great opportunity for start up businesses such as Soccer Nation. Boston is a perfect location as it is home to several universities and colleges, which contain many local and international students, the majority of soccer products’ consumers. At this location, the products will be available at a competitive price similar to that offered by other companies. The promotional strategy for this specific group of people will include free passes and tickets to soccer matches. The soccer merchandising industry in the US is marked by a clear lack of competition. The only serious competition for soccer items in the Boston area is from companies such as Nike, Olympia and City Sports which offer a variety of s ports paraphernalia unlike Soccer Nation which is planning to concentrate on soccer items only. Since there is no other store that specializes in soccer merchandising, Soccer Nation will face very little competition. This will enable it to establish itself in this particular market, hence developing a competitive advantage that is likely o benefit it in future. The people who will be in charge of running the day to day operations at the store are all well experienced in their various fields of expertise. They are also dedicated individuals whose only purpose is to ensure that Soccer Nation establishes itself into a sports powerhouse to reckon with not only in Boston, but in the rest of the country as well. Company Outline Soccer Nation is a limited proprietorship that is located in, Boston, Maryland. Esther McKenna and Steve Thomason are the founders and executives of this company. Steve Thomason is the majority owner, with a 40% ownership. Esther McKenna owns a 30% share while Mich ael Lutherfield, Moses Blundell and Richard Travis own 10% each. The company’s main aim is to provide high quality soccer merchandise at an affordable cost. The mission of Soccer nation is: To offer high quality and affordable soccer merchandise to its customers in Boston. The company’s vision is: To become the leading supplier of sports items and services in Boston. Some of the strengths and competencies of Soccer Nation include offering top quality soccer me

Influence and role of trade unions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Influence and role of trade unions - Essay Example Many organizations long ago realized that it is more efficient to hire purposeful, responsible, and interested in their job people. Accordingly people, who get a job today, automatically receive all those privileges labour unions for had struggled for. As a matter of fact trade unions cannot find their place in the new system of labour relationship. In the course of time fundamental economic changes had happened in the country. The traditional heavy industry, a stronghold of trade unions, gradually becomes the thing of the past. According to Turner, "if unions can not hold their own and adapt to changing circumstances in the core industrial work force, the traditional bastion of labour strength, it is difficult to imagine that national prospects for unions elsewhere can be promising1". Labour unions also have not been taken in the extremely developing industry of high technologies, and have not been widely accepted in the services sphere. So we can agree with the statement of Robert Baldwin, who claims that one of the factors that contribute to weakling of trade unions is "unskilled labour-displacing nature of new technology, including outsourcing2". Notwithstanding it is wrong to say, that trade unions are doomed. One can hardly find an example of a democratic society, which does not have trade unions in its structure. British trade unions now are trying to take their own place in the new national economy.The role of state in labour market The role of the state in regulation of relations on a labour market increased in the post-war history of the Great Britain. Leading political forces send to the consent that the chronic unemployment in the country in 1930th years, intensity between the labour and the capital, and the general social instability should be eliminated by means of mixed economy and the Welfare state. As a result of such turn in consciousness of British establishment the labour governments and later conservative governments began to pursue a policy of Keynesianism and social-democratic etatism. There has come a new phase in relations between authority and working-class movement when the last one has been recognized, on a par with business, the necessary participant of formation of social and economic policy of the British state. Influence and role of trade unionsTrade unions have turned to one of the most active public organizations rendering great influence on actions of parties in power. Having got such legitimacy in regulation of relations on a labour market, the British working-class movement became an integral part of the post-war device of the state. The ruling class has recognized it as the necessary partner in business of maintenance of social stability. The organized labour has appeared both object, and the subject in mutual relations with the state. As an object it is the inseparable part of a society necessary for the sanction of conflicts arising in it. As a subject it is the defender of interests of working class, which quite often conflicted to aspirations of capitalism.In 1950-1960 years, when the country experienced the economic boom, trade unions have played a visible constructive role in processes of regulation of social development, socialization of citizens of the country, adjustment of manufacture-consumption cycle, and the society's

Gay in the military Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gay in the military - Essay Example There has been a long history of the gays serving in the army and there have been many political reforms associated with this issue. It has been observed that the confidence or tempo of the military is not affected by the gays serving in the armed forces. The U.S. military prohibited the homosexuals to serve in army in 1916 in the Articles of War. However, a full-fledged ban was enforced in the World War II. After this historical ban, recruits were properly analyzed and observed for signs of homosexuality before being selected for the Army, Navy and Selective Service System. An estimated 4,000 gays who applied were rejected due to their sexual orientation. Lesbians were mostly accepted because asking women about their sexual orientation also violated the standards of behavior and conduct. During 1992, the presidential campaign â€Å"Don’t ask, don’t tell† was initiated by Bill Clinton and claimed to lift this ban. However, this campaign was opposed severely by senior military personals and also the American public. When the attempts failed, the Congress passed a law that gays could serve in army as long as they kept quiet about their sexual orientation. The campaign formally known as the Military Eligibility Act of 1993 was not completely followed and investigations about the homosexuality were still carried out by the military recruitment services. Since 1994, 12,000 gays were dismissed (Webley 2010). The history of gays in the military indicates that many sincere efforts were put up by the politicians to lift this ban. However these efforts were always encountered with opposition not only by the military services but also by the American public. When the issues like increasing the size of the armed forces was put forward by President Bush in 2007, the issue of gays serving in military was brought up again in the form of a heated argument. The policy â€Å"Don’t ask, don’t tell† is a huge

Embodiment and experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Embodiment and experience - Essay Example This creates a system through which people can communicate and share huge volumes of personalised information without having to resort through several challenges and difficulties. From a Communications perspective, social media has various facades and connotations within which it can be deduced and evaluated. This include amongst other things, a view that it is a major communication tool, system and outlet that allows people to interact and also share huge volumes of information with few restrictions and limitations. This paper examines the embodiment of the social media from a communications perspective. To this end, the paper will explore the fundamental research question: â€Å"To what extent can social media be critiqued and understood through viral logic and what practical applications can be made of it†. The paper will thus evaluate various theories and concepts from books, journals and other secondary sources in order to provide critical answers to this fundamental research question. The concept of embodiment has to do with the presentation and identification of a given concept. Embodiment refers to giving a form to different parts and different components in order to give it a collective and holistic view and ideology. A body is a cognitive presentation of duality into a single entity (Blackman, 2008). In the modern concept, there is a tendency to identify and give a view of a given idea or conception to the mind and body (Blackman, 2008). In other words, there is the need to give a conceptual view to something that does not exist in the physical form and also give a name to something physical that has different components. Thus, philosophies seek to bring things that exist in thought into a full existence (Blackman, 2008). Therefore, the idea of a body is more of getting and putting together a view on something that exists and it involves the hard, and soft aspects of a given idea or

Comparative studies Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Comparative studies - Coursework Example This was also experienced on the Western art like Egypt art, Greece art and Rome art that had significant influence on the eastern art (Sullivan, 1989). Ancient painting was generally for utilitarian purpose for a long period then followed by imperial purpose, private purpose, civic and then for religious patronage. The pre-historic painting was done using the black pigment and the red ochre. The painting was done to show animals like lions, mammoth, horses, leopards or even human during the hunting process. Ancient men believed that painting animals would â€Å"catch† their spirit or soul and make the hunting process more easily. Ancient painting was also done basically to represent human basic need of expression or a vision (Warhol and Dillenberger, 2001). In addition, the painting was also a way of transmitting a practical idea or information. The ancient painting is very important because it led to the development of the modern art. Henri Matisse among other revolutionized the Paris art with expressive, landscapes and images that the critics know as Fauvism in the beginning of the 20th century. The work of painters like S eurat and others was very much essential for the development of the modern art. Unlike the ancient painting that did not have much to show in terms of color, the modern painting has freedom of expression with color and majorly was used to express liberation, slave trade and World War 1 and 2. The Western art was full of critics of racism while the Eastern art on the other hand had much to show in terms of culture and tradition. Eastern art like Chinese art was able to show much of their culture in color while the Western art was full of more appealing critics like black slaves working on mining fields and flower farms. Song is a combination of voice/voices that is achieved through singing. In most case, a song is always supported by musical instrument to perform the required tune as in the case of vocal songs

What does an examination of 'secret trusts' mean Rationale behind the Essay

What does an examination of 'secret trusts' mean Rationale behind the Secret Trust - Essay Example He is the beneficiary of a generous trust set up by his father" his condition or obligation of one to whom anything is confided; responsible charge or office." We can summarize the term trust in this manner.Secret and half-secret trusts are invented by English. They have come into existence on the slender of grounds, and been nurtured over the years because nobody seems to have the heart to put them out as it is deep rooted in the field of trust. The trust property is something held by one party for the benefit of another and the first party is called as the trustee and second party is the beneficiary. The main intention behind the creation of trust is that the devisee or grantee shall convey it, or dispose of the profits, at the will, or for the benefit, of another; an estate held for the use of another; a confidence respecting property reposed in one person, who is termed the trustee, for the benefit of another, who is called the cestui que trust.Law of equity and trust confers the provision regarding the trust. It laid down several duties and responsibilities for the trustees. As said before, generally we can define the a trust as a capacity by which a person can transfer title of the specific property to another who agrees to hold or manage it for the benefit of a third person. But when a person transfers his property to another person by way of gift or any other manner and it is implied that the same is to be kept as the trust on behalf of the beneficiary, then what will be the status of such property. Law of trust dealt this, with the provision of secret trust. Whenever we analyze the scope of secret trust, the importance of scope of implied trust can not be excluded. Any description of trust includes an implied resulting or constructive trust and a bare trust. (1) (Sub-section (1) (a), Trust of land and Appointment of trustees Act 1996) an implied trust is based on the presumed intention of the parties at the time the property is acquired by the resulting trustee. That is the point at which the contributors' beneficial interests crystallize. The beneficial shares are unaffected by subsequent conduct. This scope of implied trust has been rightly explained in ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Trust of land and Appointment of trustees Act 1996, 2 in Cowcher v Cowcher (2).In the context of above, We shall examine the scope and rationale behind the provision of secret law under law of trust. Scope of secret trust A secret trust is an undercover arrangement between a testator and a trustee which operates outside the terms of the will. Equity enforces the settler's true intentions to benefit a third party even though this is contrary to the provisions of the Wills Act 1837, which was itself based on long-standing principles of the old Statute of Fraud 1677. Until 1677, there was no formality attached to the making of the will. Before the enactment of the 1677 statute any person could deceive in the name of bequest as it was made on behalf of him. But 1677 statute put an end to this fraud play by laid down the provision of importance of signature and writing at the time of making Will. It was extended to all assets under the section 9 of the Wills Act 1837. Will's Act is an anti-fraud provision. It imposes series of formalities that has to be complied with so as to ensure the will of the testator is being genuine and not fake. E.g. forbidding any gift which is made in favor of the witnesses and their spouses s15 (WA 1837) stipulation of compulsory requirement of codicil amendment of will.( sec.20,WA 1837) A secret trust arises when a testator wishes, for whatever reason, to transfer the benefit of property to a person without specifying that person as a legatee under his will. In consequence,

Carrying a Concealed Handgun Essay Example for Free

Carrying a Concealed Handgun Essay Carrying a concealed handgun is widely argued. It is legal in 49 states. Many people think carrying a gun will increase crime and start public shootouts. This is not the case. Carrying a concealed handgun is okay. It is also a right protected by the Constitution. In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects â€Å"the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation. This meaning is strongly confirmed by the historical background of the Second Amendment. † Handguns aren’t given to just anyone that walks in. The Gun Control Act of 1968 limits who can receive a handgun. Criminals cannot receive permits to carry a concealed handgun. Law enforcement agencies do background checks to ensure they are allowing the right people to carry a handgun. The mentally ill are also included in the Gun Control Act. If someone commits a crime with a legal carry permit, they would do it whether the handgun was legal or not. This doesn’t happen often though. According to ConcealedGuns.ProCon.org, only .003 % of murders between May 2007 and March 2010 were committed by handgun permit holders. The website also shows that the â€Å"general public is 5.7 times more likely to be arrested for violent offenses and 13.5 times more likely to be arrested for non-violent offenses, than concealed carry weapon permit holders.† Concealed handgun permit holders are, for the most part, good people. Some do lose their permits but permit revocation rates are very low. The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Report, Concealed Carry Legislation, shares this data: -In 2004, Utah had a permit revocation rate of .4% -From 1986-2003, Kentucky had a permit revocation rate of .8% -In 2001, Indiana had a permit revocation rate of .2% -From 1995 to 2005, NorthCarolina had a permit revocation rate of .1% -From 1995-2006, Virginia had a permit revocation rate of .2% -From 1994-1996, Wyoming had a permit revocation rate of .2% -From 1996-1999, Oklahoma had a permit revocation rate of .2% This data clearly shows that only a very small group of people do something to have their permit revoked. It also means that a vast majority of permit holders are responsible, law abiding citizens. The handgun itself doesn’t have to do the defending. If a criminal knows that individuals can carry handguns, they are less likely to attack, which helps the public as a whole. If someone carrying a handgun and is attacked, the attacker usually retreats when the handgun is drawn. The police do not have to protect us. According to www.nraila.org, the Warren v. District of Columbia (1981) court ruled that â€Å"official police personnel and the government employing them are not generally liable to victims of criminal acts for failure to provide adequate police protection . . . a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any particular citizen.† Also, the court ruled in Bowers v. DeVito (1982) that â€Å"[T]here is no constitutional right to be protected by the state against being murdered by criminals or madmen.† The government cannot guarantee the safety of everyone. Personal protection is important. Carrying a handgun also makes the carrier feel safe. Americans should not be scared going outside at night or walking through certain neighborhoods. Concealed handguns could also aid in public shooting sprees. If the individuals in the Virginia Tech or any other public shooting massacre had been armed, the spree could have ended much sooner. Some believe the massacre would have been made worse but what could be worse than a 32-victim massacre? Most of the victims were of legal age to possess a firearm. If they had been allowed a handgun on campus, could lives have been saved? I strongly believe so. With that said, this doesn’t mean people should run around as vigilantes hunting down criminals. The concealed carry permit holders are not the police. They do not have the authority to shoot just anyone. There are laws that make sure this doesn’t happen. Handguns would just be used for defense. Although you can’t run around fighting crime, your situational awareness while carrying a handgun will go up. You know that you are carrying and anyone else can be carrying too. This situational awareness can help you deal with bad situations or even prevent them. How do schools fit into this? Legally, a person with a concealed handgun cannot be within one thousand feet of a K-12 school. For the most part, concealed weapons are not allowed on college campuses either. This creates a large upset in the college community. Very few colleges have allowed students to carry concealed weapons. There have been no problems. Twelve schools, from Virginia, Colorado, and Utah, have allowed students with handgun permits to carry them on campus. Not one of these schools has had a handgun-related problem. This includes murder, suicide, threats, and handgun theft. Some believe that carrying handguns will distract students from the educational environment. These handguns are concealed. People should not know if you are carrying one or not. The students aren’t distracted in their daily lives by handgun permit holders so why should the college campus be any different? The same goes for the argument that guns and crowded schools don’t mix. Public areas are crowded too. College students are adults. A twenty one year old who is not in college can have a concealed handgun so why can’t an individual who is in college have one? They know what they are doing. They still have to follow the handgun laws like any other permit holder. College life may be defined with alcohol and drugs but the law doesn’t make exceptions for college parties. If an individual is intoxicated, they cannot be carrying their weapon. In the end, handguns are not a bad thing to carry. They can protect you in many ways. Crime rates may drop if criminals are too scared to attack. Carrying a concealed handgun is a right given to Americans. It should not be wasted. Almost all legal permit holders are law abiding. Guns can help.

Factors Affecting Survival in Patients With Brain Metastasis

Factors Affecting Survival in Patients With Brain Metastasis Prognostic factors affecting the survival in patients with brain metastasis: A Retrospective study Abstract Aims: To determine long term survival and prognostic factors in patients with brain metastases who underwent whole brain radiotherapy. Introduction: Multiple brain metastases are unfortunate consequence, frequently found in patients of advanced cancer. The prognosis, even after treatment with Whole-Brain Radiation Therapy (WBRT) is poor with an average expected survival time of Materials methods: From January 2005 to August 2010, medical records of 186 patients with diagnosis of brain metastasis were analyzed. Out of these, 140 patients who received WBRT Â ± chemotherapy were included and 26 patients who did not take any treatment for brain metastasis were excluded from the study. The prognostic factors evaluated for overall survival were ECOG performance status, gender, age, number of lesions, primary tumor site, primary tumor status, extracranial metastases and chemotherapy radiotherapy. Results: The overall median survival was three months and one two year survival was 8.57% and 3.57%, respectively. The most common primary tumor site was lung 82 (44.08%) followed by breast 46 (24.73%), renal cell carcinoma 11 (5.91%) and unknown primary 11 (5.91%). The overall median survival was 3 months, maximum being 4.5 months in patients with breast cancer. and at one year survival 6/33(18.2%) in breast cancer patients (p=0.10). In this series, the patients with higher perform status (p=0.21), cancer breast (p=0.10) and solitary brain metastasis (p=0.0003) with primary tumor controlled (p=0.14) had better survival. Conclusion: This study suggests that patients with some prognostic factors have good survival. So the overall assessment of the patient is always best done at the bedside and must be individualized. The above mentioned clinical features should be considered and hopefully will aid in the decision regarding treatment of brain metastases. Key words: Brain metastasis, prognostic factors, solitary metastasis, whole brain radiotherapy. Introduction Brain metastasis is one of the most feared consequences of cancer. It is devastating both to patients and their families. Progression of brain metastases may cause headache, nausea, vomiting, neurological deficits, cognitive decline, delirium and eventually death. Patients with brain metastases present dilemma for palliative health care professionals in terms of whether to proceed with whole brain radiotherapy or hospice placement. Metastasis to the brain occurs in approximately 20% of the patients with limited survival and worse quality of life. [1] Glucocorticoids and whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) has been the mainstay of treatment while craniotomy for tumor resection has been the standard local treatment for solitary lesion. The median survival of untreated patients is approximately one month, 1.6 months in patients treated with steroids only, 3.6 months in patients treated with radiotherapy and 8.9 months in patients treated with neurosurgery followed by radiotherapy. [2, 3] So me of the strong prognostic factors for survival are: performance status, response to steroids and status of systemic disease. The main goal of WBRT is to improve neurologic deficits caused by the metastases and surrounding edema and to prevent any further deterioration of the neurologic function. The extent of improvement after WBRT is directly related to the time from diagnosis to radiation therapy and early treatment is generally associated with a better outcome. [4, 5] The overall response rate to WBRT ranges from 50-85% in various studies. Traditionally, surgical resection has been offered rarely to patients with multiple metastases because of resection related excessive morbidity. The majority of patients who achieved control of cranial metastasis died from progressive extracranial disease whereas the cause of death in most of the cases is due to CNS disease in patients with recurrent brain metastases. [4, 6] In this study, the prognostic factors were evaluated for survival in patients with diagnosis of brain metastasis who receive WBRT. Materials Methods The records of 186 patients with brain metastases in between January 2005 to August 2010 were analyzed retrospectively. Out of these, 46 patients not willing for radiotherapy and who chose only best supportive care were not included in the study. All the remaining 140 patients were planned WBRT after starting dexamethasone, mannitol and other supportive treatment. With diagnosis of brain metastasis, the following variables were analyzed for survival: ECOG performance status, gender, age, number of brain lesions, primary tumor site (Table 2), extra cranial metastases, treatment of primary disease and radiotherapy (Table-1). The survival time was considered as time between diagnosis of brain metastasis and last follow up or recorded death. Brain metastases were detected by computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance image (MRI) scan. All patients were treated with WBRT on telecobalt units Therateron 780 C and 780 E. The WBRT was given by bilateral fields. The total dose was 30-36 Gy with a median of 30 Gy delivered in two weeks, five fractions per week 3 Gy per fraction. The supportive care (dexamethasone mannitol) was started at the beginning of treatment and continued during radiotherapy. Chemotherapy was administered to the patients with good performance status and progressive systemic disease after WBRT. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS for windows, version 20.0. Results One hundred forty patients were analyzed who completed WBRT and came for follow up. The survival results were computed by recorded deaths (97 cases) or last follow up (43 cases). The overall median survival was 3 months, and the one two year survival was 12 (8.57%) and 5 (3.57%). One patient of carcinoma breast (primary under control) with brain metastasis was alive at the time of this analysis with survival time of 4.2 years. Those patients who had solitary brain metastasis (p=0.0003), high ECOG performance status (p=0.21), controlled extracranial disease (p=0.14) and breast carcinoma (p=0.10) had better survival (Table 2 3). The single most significant prognostic factor associated with better survival was solitary brain metastasis (p=0.0003). Discussion With gradual improvements in the care of cancer patients, longer survival is expected even in patients with metastatic disease. In this study, patients with brain metastases who received WBRT alone or WBRT followed by chemotherapy were evaluated. Studies of ultra rapid fractionated WBRT (10 Gy in 1 fraction, 12 Gy in 2 fractions, 15 Gy in 2 fractions over 3 days) as carried out by Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) and other investigators showed a possible increased risk of herniation and death within a few days after treatment and are generally avoided. Likewise, no advantage was seen with extended fractionation (50Gy in 20 fractions or 54.4Gy at 1.6Gy twice daily) compared to the more commonly prescribed 30Gy in 10 fractions. [6, 7, 8, 9] Regimens using 10 or fewer fractions are used in patients with poor prognosis, since such patients are not expected to live long enough to experience serious side effects. The institutional protocol followed in our patients is 30 Gy in10 fractions, 3 Gy per fraction but in patients with good general condition and primary disease under control having solitary brain metastasis, the dose was escalated by 6 Gy to give total tumor dose of 36 Gy. The end point of this study was to evaluate the different prognostic factors related with overall survival in patients with brain metastasis. The prognostic factors associated with better survival were solitary metastasis (p=0.0003), breast carcinoma (p=0.10), female sex (p=0.12), primary under control (p=0.14), higher ECOG performance status (p=0.21). These prognostic factors have also showed better survival in other studies. [7, 10, 11, 12, 13] Out of above mentioned prognostic factors only solitary brain metastasis was statistically significant (p=0.0003); other factors could not show statistical significance which may be due to small number of study sample. Lutterbach et al reported overall median survival of 3.4 months, two yea and three years survival were 5.6% (n=48) and 2.9% (n=25), respectively. [14] Survival of two years or more was observed in RTOG recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) class 1 2 patients. Within both classes, survival was significantly better for patients with a single brain metastasis compared with those having multiple brain metastases. In our study, the overall median survival was 3 months, and the one two year survival was 8.57% (n=12) and 3.57% (n=5), respectively and solitary brain metastases survival was significantly better than multiple metastasis (p=0.0003). There is small difference in two years survival in both studies because in our study, no patient received Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS); however, a larger recently published trial (RTOG 95-08) provides compelling evidence for the use of SRS boost following WBRT in patients with newly diagnosed one to three brain metastases. [15] In other recent studies, the role of WBRT following definitive treatment (surgery or SRS) of one to three metastases was most extensively evaluated in a trial conducted by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC 22952-26001) which was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in 2009 . In that trial, 359 patients with one to three brain metastases were randomly assigned to WBRT or observation following definitive treatment of their metastases with either SRS (n = 199) or surgery (n = 160). Despite the better control of the brain metastases, overall survival was virtually the same following WBRT (median 10.7 and 10.9 months). [16] Pease NJ et al showed that patient’s survival with WBRT was increased by an additional three to seven months from unselected group (three to six months) if they are in the high performance status group. [17] For those in poor performance status groups, there was no overall survival benefit. In our study, ECOG performance status 1 2 had better overall median survival (3.4 months) and one year survival (7.85%) as compared to ECOG status 3 and 4 (p=0.21). Lagerwaaed FJ et al reported that lesser systemic tumor activity was showed better median survival ranges from 6.6 months for the ‘none’ group (no extracranial disease) to 3.4 months in the ‘limited’ group and 2.4 months in the ‘extensive’ group (primary uncontrolled other systemic metastasis). [18] In our study, overall survival was 2.2 months 4 months in active primary disease and controlled primary with or without systemic metastases respectively. In our study, female showed better survival than male patients (p=0.12). This may be due to all breast cancer cases were females and breast cases showed better survival than others. Other studies did not show gender related survival difference. Conclusion WBRT continues to be an efficacious treatment in the management of brain metastasis. Despite the use of WBRT, outcomes are poor and efforts should be made to incorporate multimodality approaches including surgery, radiosurgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy sensitizers to improve survival mainly in patients with single metastasis, good performance status and extra cranial disease controlled. References: Posner JB, Chernik NL. Intracranial metastases from systemic cancer. Adv Neurol 1978;19:579-92. Coia LR. The role of radiation therapy in the treatment of brain metastases. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 1992;23:229-38. Lagerwaard FJ, Levendag PC, Nowak PJ, Eijkenboom WM, Hanssens PE, Schmitz PI. Identification of prognostic factors in patients with brain metastases: A review of 1292 patients. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 1999;43:795-803. Lassman AB, DeAngelis LM. Brain metastases. Neurol Clin 2003; 21:1-23. Patchell RA, Regine WF. The rationale for adjuvant whole brain radiation therapy with radiosurgery in the treatment of single brain metastases. Technol Cancer Res Treat 2003; 2:111-5. Borgelt B, Gelber R, Larson M, Hendrickson F, Griffin T, Roth R. Ultra-rapid high dose irradiation schedules for the palliation of brain metastases: final results of the first two studies by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 1981;7:1633-8. Borgelt B, Gelber R, Kramer S, Brady LW, Chang CH, Davis LW, et al. The palliation of brain metastases: final results of the first two studies by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 1980; 6:1-9. Kurtz JM, Gelber R, Brady LW, Carella RJ, Cooper JS. The palliation of brain metastases in a favorable patient population: A randomized clinical trial by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 1981;7:891-5. Berk L. An overview of radiotherapy trials for the treatment of brain metastases. Oncology (Huntingt) 1995;9:1205-12. Lang FF, Sawaya R. Surgical treatment of metastatic brain tumors. Semin Surg Oncol 1998;14:53-63 Patchell RA, Tibbs PA, Regine WF, Dempsey RJ, Mohiuddin M, Kryscio RJ, et al. Postoperative radiotherapy in the treatment of single brain metastases to the brain. JAMA 1998;280:1485-9. Schellinger PD, Meinck HM, Thron A. Diagnostic accuracy of MRI compared to CT in patients with brain metastases. J Neurooncol 1999;44:275-81. Gaspar LE, Scott C, Murray K, Curran W. Validation of the RTOG Recursive Partitioning Analysis (RPA) classification for brain metastases. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2000;47:1001-6. Lutterbach J, Bartelt S, Ostertag C. Long-term survival in patients with brain metastases. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2002;128:417-25. Breneman JC, Warnick RE, Albright RE Jr, Kukiatinant N, Shaw J, Armin D, et al. Stereotactic radiosurgery for the treatment of brain metastases. Results of a single institution series. Cancer 1997;79:551-7. Kondziolka D, Patel A, Lunsford LD, Kassam A, Flickinger JC. Stereotactic radiosurgery plus whole brain radiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone for patients with multiple brain metastases. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 1999;45:427-34. Pease NJ, Edwards A, Moss LJ. Effectiveness of whole brain radiotherapy in the treatment of brain metastases: A systematic review. Palliat Med 2005;19:288-99. Lagerwaard FJ, Levendag PC. Prognostic factors in patients with brain metastases. Forum (Genova) 2001;11:27-46 Table 1: Characteristics of patients and treatment Table 2: Distribution of patients and one year survival with primary tumor site Table 3: Univariate analysis of characteristic of patients 1

Learning to Listen in James Baldwins Sonnys Blues Essay -- Sonnys B

Learning to Listen in James Baldwin's Sonny's Blues In James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues", the verb, to listen, is employed many times in varying contexts. This theme is developed throughout the story as the narrator learns to listen more closely to the aural stimuli (or sounds) which enter his ears. In order to understand the narrator's heightened degree of perception as it unfolds in "Sonny's Blues", it is necessary to begin with a thorough discussion of hearing and listening in general, and then as they relate to the story. First, one must understand the distinction between hearing and listening. Hearing is simply the reception of sound waves by the ears. This may happen unconsciously, as is usually the case with soft background noise such as the whoosh of air through heating ducts or the distant murmur of an electric clothes dryer. Sometimes hearing is done semi-consciously; for instance, the roar of a piece of construction equipment might momentarily draw one's attention. Conscious hearing, or listening, involves a nearly full degree of mental concentration. A familiar i...

My Mother: Superwoman Essay -- Personal Narrative, essay about my fami

When I needed to talk, she listened. When I was ill, she healed me. When I was hungry, she fed me. This frail woman whom I call my mom was a superwoman while I was growing up. With wisdom, she guided; with tenderness, she spoke; and with love, she raised me. Although we were very poor, my mother made it a point always to give me a present on my birthday. That shiny blue bike I got for my birthday at the tender age of ten was my closest friend. But it was a sunny spring day when my comrade committed its evil treason. My bike had flung me from its metal frame as if it were a wild bronco and I were a rodeo clown. Over its handles I went, crashing to the unforgiving earth. It was at that instant that I realized two things: my pal had betrayed me, and my knee was bleeding like a b...

Essay --

↠ Hello world! Frederick Douglass’s theory on Religion (Christianity), Slavery, and the Law Posted on August 7, 2010 by vrana25 8/07/2010 Law and Literature encompasses the power of literature and they way it presented the law in a light that allows its readers to interpret it from different directions. The law is a system of rules, which are enforced with authority by institutions. Often literature has contributed significantly in shaping the law. Slavery is one of the unfortunate practices in America that has been engraved in American history. In early centuries, people who favored or opposed slavery expressed it through literature. Frederick Douglass in his narrative, â€Å"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,† discusses the role of religion, Christianity in particular, which was written in literature known as the bible had two versions: true Christianity and the white Christianity that helped in strengthening slavery. Frederick Douglass is known for being an outstanding orator, but he is mostly acknowledged for being an incredible abolitionist. His work to demolish slavery has been greatly known, detailing his life experience as a slave and expressing his theory on slavery. In â€Å"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,† he demonstrates the way religion and its literature, the bible, had a negative influence and effect on slavery as well as the development of white Christianity. Douglass opens his narrative introducing himself stating his birthplace and age. However, he claims he cannot authenticate his introduction because he himself was a slave and was not given access to this information. Immediately he attempts to demonstrate the lack of knowledge slaves had because of their masters and slaveholders. Slaves were no... ...eir actions. Either this was the incorrect way Christianity was practiced or humanity was presented in an ambiguous way. The presence of religion goes on further when Douglass introduces Mr. Covey, another master he was assign too. Mr. Covey was a professor of religion and a religious class-leader at the local Methodist church. He also had a reputation of breaking apart young slaves in which Douglass refers to him as a â€Å"nigger-breaker.† As young as Douglass was when he moved in with Mr. Covey, he remembers when Mr. Covey gave him â€Å"a sever whipping, cutting my back, causing the blood to run, and raising ridges on my flesh as large as my little fingers.† This is puzzling to hear of a man who is committed to faith but his actions seemed to be contradicting. The terms religion and law are two sophisticated terms that are the realms of life as well as a shared history th

Democratic Values- Dbq

Democratic values are the fundamental beliefs that founded the United States and represent the core of America. Throughout history, many reform movements sought to expand these strong values that represent the unity among Americans through â€Å"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. † The magnification of these principles can be especially seen through the time period of 1825-1850, where much change was beginning to occur. While all of these reforms sought to expand the democratic ideals, only certain movements succeeded and presented the deserved freedom of rights to all.Movements involving religion, juvenile institutions, and women’s rights supported and expanded upon these ideals while other aspects such as temperance and utopianism failed to offer the true meaning. Foremost, the Second Great Awakening, a religious revival, helped to expand democratic ideals by raising the standards and morals of the common man. Charles G. Finney believed that if people focuse d on religion and the church then â€Å"†¦the reformation and salvation of sinners will follow,† (Doc B).He said that it would also lead to the conversion of many diverse people including â€Å"harlots, drunkards, and infidels,† due to reforms in the church. With the belief that goodness led to salvation, many people in the communities were surrounded by good deeds for humanity. It offered a more uplifting view upon life where, â€Å"†¦the rich have many troubles which we know nothing of; and that the poor, if they are but good, may be very happy, indeed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Doc E). Along with equality and goodness among others, the reforms of prisons and treatment of the mentally ill were also changing through Dorthea Dix.The benefits of these reforms where seen by â€Å"rescuing [the prisoners] from vice and rendering them valuable members of society, (Doc A). Another very important reform was the beginning of the women’s movement where they desired incr eased freedom â€Å"to declare our right to be as free as man is free,† (Doc I). All of these reforms succeeded in expanding democratic ideas and aimed to make better institutions and democracy overall. Furthermore, the reformation of temperance tried to expand democratic ideals but failed because it tried to control the public and restrict their freedoms of drinking.The picture titled â€Å"The Drunkard Progress: From First Glass to the Grave,† presents a long process on how alcohol tore families apart and aimed at trying to force better moral judgment upon people, (Doc H). Although temperance was ultimately a matter of will power, more people were beginning to express their views upon different aspects. Also, the Brooke Park Farm Association represented unity through people but in a different way then the true fundamental beliefs do through Americans.They formed their society in order â€Å"†¦to guarantee to each other forever the means of physical support, and of spiritual progress†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Doc F). No self-proclaimed utopian society has ever survived because they tried to embrace the forced unification of different individuals. Overall, the movements involving temperance and utopianism did not expand ideas due to strict governing, while the reforms involving religion, institutions, and women’s rights succeeded because they helped expand democratic ideals in that they desired increased rights.

Freedom and Equality

Although freedom and equality are values that American’s hold dear to their hearts, they are difficult to enforce to an entire nation from the perspective of the US government. Freedom was easier breaking from the colonial days to a new constitutional government, one reason was because there was less people to govern, and secondly because only first class citizens (white male) had any true freedom to do whatever they we interested in. This was the case because all men were not created equal in the eyes of the wealthy white make, obviously I am generalizing, women and African Americans had a very difficult time even asking for the right to vote in the so-called free country. This being said true equality has never been mastered by the US Government, or any other governing body for that matter. The US today is still torn over the right to marry whomever you chose. This should be a no brainer in a country that prides itself on values of freedom and equality. Throughout the history of the United States government, I believe that equality has taken strides to encompass more and more people. I believe that equality is progress, and in this case it is progressing much further than freedom has. Most recently in this last decade or so since 9/11, freedoms have been stripped from civilians in order to promote safety. Under amendments such as the Patriot Act, the Executive branch has taken certain privacy freedoms from the citizens, informing us that the reason is to protect the Land of the Free. Quite a double standard when it comes to freedom and a governing body. If the citizens were to have every freedom that they so chose, without moral consideration, than laws would not be abided and the local or National governments would not have the freedom to enforce such laws that keep society running smoothly.

“Poor People would be better off if they had fewer children to feed and clothe”. Essay

â€Å"Poor People would be better off if they had fewer children to feed and clothe†. The competence of the poor in rearing children will always be a notion of concern in every society, notably in the Caribbean region. Sadly, we suffer from different economic and social developmental issues which dates back as far to the issuing of independence from our colonial states with the exception of some French Caribbean countries such as ; Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Martin and British Virgin Islands. However, most countries are plagued with the demon of unemployment courtesy of the fluctuating economy in the world at large and in the west. Most countries also suffer from brain drain leading back to the slow economy . For each society to be effectively studied, one has to go beyond the surface and dissect the situation, as cells are to the body so are people to the society/ country that we live in, hence the importance of population studies in finding out issues that plague the society, further leading us to the topic of discussion and evaluation today which is â€Å" Poor p eople would be better off if they had fewer children to feed and clothe†. There is no doubt in my mind that this statement is indeed factual. Poor by definition means having little or no money, goods or means of support. Therefore if i was poor and I had less dependents to worry about I would be better off having fewer children to feed and clothes, and if I should take the liberty of drawing your imagination to the reality of having the responsibility to also send multiple children to school and provide them with technological advancements†¦ poor people are 120% better off if they had less responsibility. The rich however, do not suffer from the aches of having too much children or too little because in essence they can survive this plight . For this notion of response, the writer will be drawing knowledge from the Malthusian theory and also the Neo – Malthusian and Marxist theory , but for now let us focus a bit on the Mathus ideology and how effective it is on the evaluation of the population growth and trends. Thomas Malthus, the founder of this theory postulates that if the population continues to grow rapidly, then the effects would be detrimental, he pointed this out in his famous treatise. He states that the population increases in geometric proportions ( 2, 4, 6, 8) while the food resources available for them would  only increase arithmetically i.e 1, 2,3†¦ in simple words if the human population was â€Å"allowed† to increase at a faster rate than the food supply , a point would come when food sources couldn’t support the growing population. Malthus in his thinking doubted the ingenuity of mankind and technology and even though his theory is not exactly wrong it doesn’t necessarily fit the Caribbean perspective. Food and clothes are available yes, but do we all have the capital to purchase these goods to make life comfortable? Further leading us to thinking of Karl Marx who is hell bent on that it is the inequality of the ruling class that causes poverty, malnutrition, crime and hunger. This would be solved if fair opportunities were given to other people and not only those with wealth running through their veins; this theory fits in to the Caribbean society today. The ruling would be the politicians and those who are apart of big organizations. These are the people whose children are better off in life and they also receive heavy wages and they perform less taxing work. Compared to the middle class and lower workers, who work for such unfair wages. Thus leading to the underdevelopment of the impoverished and certain population trends such as the heavy migration levels in each country. This further leads to the loss of human development because the people who leave their home countries for better job opportunities and improvements in living standards leave a gap in the society which the government has to fill, costing more. The issue of crime and deviance in the society can be related to having poor back grounds and broken homes, especially juvenile delinquency. The writer took it upon herself to assess these implications and to the extent at which they are true and I came across a family in my community who can be considered as poor. This family living in one 2 bedroom house, with an outside bathroom and kitchen has 35 peop le living in it. In this family there are 2 people over 60 years old , their 4 children and their children’s many children. Each child has no less than 5 children and to add all of them are without fathers, as they have refused to take up their responsibilities. It is sad to say that these sisters have not obtained an education higher than a secondary level, and so they are virtually unemployed with the exception of one sister who is a domestic helper. They are also living without electricity and running water. We were asked to assess the population in relation to development. How exactly development is possible when surrounded  in situation such as these? In most cases such as these, the children like the ones in my community will end up leaving school and history will repeat itself, other situations such as deviant behavior and teenage pregnancy will also spiral out of control leading to an ineffective society full of stagnant individuals, who will just eventually weigh the economic system down , increase in tax to support welfare systems, a low GDP rate, increase in criminal activities and even untimely deaths. The health care of these less fortunate are also at stake. As individuals how can we stop the ongoing misery of an overpopulated society, crime and deviance, health care deficiencies, brain drain , hunger and the rhetorical cycle of unemployment? Well there are several organization which seeks to relief the poor such as UNICEF and Food for the poor , who are always present when natural disasters( hurricanes , earthquakes, volcanoes) wreaks havoc in countries , orphanages and in the case of dire needs and physically challenged. In Jamaica there is also the PATH program which was instituted to help children who are going to school, students on this program receive a monthly stipend, health care and lunch at school, a big help to most. Also , if they excel academically , they are awarded scholarships to continue their territory education . Now back to Malthus, who has his solution which takes the form of moral restraint. The usage of using birth control methods ( contraceptives/ condoms) or just simply abstaining from sexual activity until one is ready emotionally and economically , getting married older, spacing children and having less children. These methods when combined will curve the growing population and create more productive individuals, the poor would be able to take advantage of the help they are receiving and they will then be able to get an effective job which will help them to become less dependent on the society to take care of them, thus poor people would be better off because in essence they wouldn’t be poor again.

Crisis and Opportunity Essay

1) Introduction Nowadays, we have created our own world of technology. Convenience and efficiency are catered through it. Yet, the earth, the natural world, seems to rebel against such artificial world, by sending signals of natural crises to us. In this project, we are going to talk about â€Å"How people benefit from Water Crisis† surrounding the theme â€Å"Crisis and Opportunity†. The water crisis is branched out as two sections, namely water shortage and water pollution. The amount of water in the world is stable; it just changes its physical forms. Nonetheless, the problem of water shortages still exists. In fact, what we lack is clean water. With rapid advancing of human activities and technology, and unfavorable natural features like uneven distribution of rivers, the water crisis is growingly affecting our lives negatively and takes them at risk. Water is polluted by increasing human activities. Industrial wastes which include heavy metals like mercury and lead, harmful to living things, are illegally dumped into water sources; Sewage is directly deposited into rivers, which normally is a source of clean water. Ultimately, global warming, was elicited by human too, depletes clean water. With changing of climates, some countries face more floods which pollute clean water while other countries face more droughts which cause massive drying out of clean water. Now, we start worrying about the crisis because water controls our lives tightly as we could not survive without it. On the other hand, people are developing more and more solutions. By approaching the problem optimistically, this ought to turn this crisis into an opportunity so that we and the world can proceed sustainably. Scientists from all around the world have come up with ideas to solve the problem piecemeal. 2) Literature Review We used secondary research in this paper as there is simply no way for us to conduct our own research on water crisis. We mainly consulted online websites and read some online books. We also read articles from credible magazines such as National Geographic There is also a website called Global Water Intelligence which is a Market-Leading website for the analysis of International water industry. From these sources, we mainly found out that water is very limited around the world and there are people dying from consuming polluted water or simply dehydration. We also found out that the water crisis brought out some new technologies that changed the water pattern of the world. Have you ever thought of turning water from your basin into drinking water? Some people may think that it is impossible, or even a disaster. However, in Singapore, scientists have developed some methods, which can change waste water into pure water. The reused water is called the â€Å"New Water†. How to purify used water? Used water is collected from residence, companies, and schools, and then it is purified by three steps. First, it undergoes microfiltration. Large particles can be filtered away in this step. Afterwards, it undergoes reverse osmosis. Differentially-permeable membranes are used in reverse osmosis. These membranes contain tiny holes, which can only allow water molecules to pass through, so contaminated substances, such as viruses, bacteria can be removed. Lastly, ultraviolet light is used as a back-up to ensure the remaining micro-organisms were completely killed. This makes â€Å"New Water†. On the other hand, some people might worry that â€Å"New Water† was unclean, and thus may affect the health of citizens. However, research conducted, as shown in figure 1 and 2, the level of organic substance and amount of bacteria in â€Å"New Water† was much lower than the local reservoir water. Indeed, this shows that the â€Å"New Water† meets the requirement of drinking water so its safety was ensured. Compare to the other sources of water, â€Å"New Water† is even cleaner. Therefore, it was awarded many global water awards among these years, and this can surely tackle the problem of water shortage without polluting. There is another way to tackle water shortage and pollution. Do you know how sailors obtain fresh water when they are on a voyage? They obtain fresh water by changing sea water into drinking water. This method is called desalination. Sea water accounts for 97% of the world’s water resource. Only the remaining 3% is consumable for humans. In some countries like Saudi Arabia, there is water shortage. They only have a small amount of consumable fresh water. However, they have a large supply of sea water. However the salinity of sea water is four times higher than our body fluids. When we drink salt water, water molecules in our cells will move out of the cell due to osmosis. This net transfer of water may cause our cells to shrink, which may lead to dehydration, and death in serious situations. So how can this modern technology help us to turn this crisis into another opportunity? Desalination refers to the removal of salt and other minerals of saline water to make it consumable. It has become increasingly popular in recent years due to enhancement in technology. There are two methods for desalination. The most common type is work by reverse osmosis, which is based on osmosis- the movement of substances from a lower concentration to a higher concentration. It is a membrane-technology filtration and removes salt and minerals by pressurizing the sea water, forcing them to move through the selective membrane. The selective membrane has pores that allow only water particle to pass through, so that salt molecules and other pollutants are trapped behind the membrane. The by-product produced in the process is salt. It creates an economic opportunity. The process in a desalination plant Thermal distillation is another way of desalination other than reverse osmosis. It is known as the multi-stage flash distillation. It distillates water by flashing a portion of water into steam in multiple stages and then condense them into portable water. Where do we find desalination plant? In Hong Kong, the Water Supplies Department has two desalination plants which use reverse osmosis. The first one is located in Ap Lei Chau and the other one located in Tuen Mun. The government is also planning to build another desalination plant in Tseung Kwan O. There are 100 countries around the world which uses this technology. Saudi Arabia accounts for 25% of the world’s desalination output, with over 2000 desalination plants around the country. A desalination plant in Saudi Arabia. Apart from the problem of water pollution and water shortage, water crisis itself can also be an opportunity, if we look at it from another perspective. It can raise global awareness and promote international cooperation. Thus it drives globalization. Water crisis is a global issue. It cannot be solved by only the cooperation of a few countries; full cooperation from countries all around the world is required. Therefore, some international cooperation was established in order to help countries joining hands to solve water crisis. One of the examples is the World Water Council. The World Water Council organizes the World Water Forum once every three years. In the forum, representatives from different countries join together and come up with some solutions to solve the water crisis. It includes signing of protocols, reducing pollutants in order to help geographic areas that are facing an immediate water shortage. This can not only help to solve the water crisis, but also create peace among countries. 3) Discussion and Analysis What are the benefits of using â€Å"New Water† instead of local reservoir water? First, it can solve the problem of water shortage. In Singapore, there is not enough water because there are only a few rivers running through this small country, but it is densely populated. Reused water is using the same amount of water many times, so we can have unlimited water source without worrying being used up. Moreover, using â€Å"New Water† can help protecting the environment. Waste water cause water pollution, which can contaminate fresh water source; by using â€Å"New Water†, water can be reused and it will not cause any further pollution. This is beneficial to the environment. Furthermore, â€Å"New Water† can boost tourism. In Singapore, the â€Å"NEw Water† visitors centre is a new attraction. It attracts tourists to visit as it provides opportunities for them to explore Science and learn more about water. Last but not least, â€Å"New Water† can help Singapore to make money, as it can sell this technology to other countries. Some countries, such as, China and Europe has already started using â€Å"New Water† instead, as it is purer than local reservoir water. In conclusion, â€Å"New Water† is alternate solution, which can change water pollution and shortage into a profitable opportunity. Now, let us move on to desalination. Some people think that although desalination may seem to be a solution to our current water crisis, it has certain potential implications that cause harm to our environment. Fossil fuels or nuclear power are used in the majority of desalination plants. The burning of fossil fuels releases a large amount of carbon dioxide into the air. The increase in this disastrous greenhouse gas consequently makes global warming worse. Alternatively, but still, nuclear power is dangerous. The radiation leakage in Japan had spread concerns all over the world. Radiation is carcinogenic. People living near the nuclear power plant had to be relocated. It even made Japanese seafood un-consumable. Besides, the food chain is affected since water and soil is polluted by radiation. Furthermore, membrane-technology is expensive. The production cost of water per meter cube is HK$7.8- HK$8.4. However, the advantages of desalination outweights its costs because it can make water available to areas that have a scarce supply of fresh water. Why Saudi Arabia needs a lot of desalination plant? It is because it is located in a place where there is short supply of water. With desalination, they can change sea water into fresh water. It provides a reliable and sufficient supply of water to the growing communities, which reduces the crisis of water shortage. More people will have a steady supply of water and lives will be saved. People will no longer die from the lackage of water. The costs of human lives are much more important than the costs of desalination. The cost of desalination is only short-term and it can be solved by using renewable energy instead, such as solar energy and wind power. Also, the cost of desalination will be lowered once it is developed and widely used around the world. To sum up, desalination is another effective way to change water crisis into an opportunity. â€Å"A coin has two sides†. Water crisis does not only bring disadvantages, but it is also an opportunity for countries to join together and solve this global issue. This can improve international relationships and bring peace to countries. On the one hand, some people may argue that water crisis would not bring any peace to countries, but instead it brings conflicts and chaos. Some research show that as water crisis is getting more and more serious, water source becomes a weapon, and it may be a threat to other countries. Therefore, if one country is located at the upper course, while the other is located at the lower course, the one at the upper course can control the flow of water. However, the establishments of international organizations help to solve this problem together by promoting the saving of water supply and improvement of technology. This can create communication channels and may help to maintain peace in certain countries. For example, the 6th Water Forum held in Marseille, from 12 to 17 March 2012 was a great success. Participants from over 145 countries join this event. They discuss global water problems together. Through debates and in-depth dialogue, they were able to know more about water crisis and many stakeholders commit that they would try their best to conserve water in order to help the needy. This shows that water crisis can raise global awareness and promote international cooperation. (+ but piecemeal and suggestion) (favourable risk and insight) 4) Conclusion The water crisis does not have to be devastating. Flipside, there are advantages of it on bringing opportunities to communities, the world and to us. In face with the same problem, people unite and untangle the cluttered yarn of puzzle, mystery and problems. Because of the water crisis, people start organizing Water Forums so that opinions all around are synthesized, analyzed and become a grand solution. Working scientists, assisting each other and aiming at the target, invented ways like the New water and desalination of water. ‘Even the darkest night will end. And the sun will rise.’ There is always a solution to a problem. However, we could not just rely on the technology to solve this problem but we should also help conserving water and raise the global awareness. To solve the problem entirely we must start from its roots. Take a shower instead of a bath. Don’t leave the water running when you are brushing your teeth. Switch off any dripping taps. This will also decrease your electricity bill and help to build a greener environment where water is plentiful. If we still consume water at a stage like this, we are exploiting resources from our next generations, which doesn’t make the planet sustainable. With the cooperation of everybody, we strongly believe that water crisis will definitely change into an opportunity and the world would be a better place to live in. 5) Reference and Appendices Asia’s Water Crisis†¦and Opportunity (No.2 2011) Solutions http://solutions.bv.com/asias-water-crisis-and-opportunity/ Peak Water: Crisis or Opportunity? (Tuesday, December 1, 2009) Carbon Foresight http://carbonforesight.blogspot.hk/2009/12/peak-water-crisis-or-opportunity.html â€Å"Turning China’s Water Crisis into Investment Opportunity† Market Brief Water August 2009, New Ventures http://www.new-ventures.org.cn/sites/default/files/upload/turning_chinas_water_crisis_into_investment_opportunity.pdf â€Å"Who profiting from the water crisis†, Issue 452, New Internationalist Magazine http://www.newint.org/features/2012/05/01/water-crisis-profit-opportunity/ Singapore National water agency http://www.pub.gov.sg/water/newater/Pages/default.aspx Graphs: Fig1 and 2 http://www.pub.gov.sg/water/newater/quality/Pages/default.aspx How Desalination works http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/how-does-desalination-work.htm http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/desalination.htm Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination Fdu Magazine online 2003 http://www.fdu.edu/newspubs/magazine/03su/desalination.html The World water Council http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/ â€Å"Solving the World Water Crisis Takes International Cooperation†, Suite101 http://suite101.com/article/solving-the-world-water-crisis-takes-international-cooperation-a265088