The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 32~33

Thirty-two Catfish and Estelle â€Å"That was a good guitar,† Catfish said. He had his arms around Estelle, who had pressed her face to his chest when the monster attacked Winston Krauss. â€Å"I didn't realize,† Estelle said. â€Å"I didn't think it would do that.† Catfish stroked her hair. â€Å"That was a good car too. That car never broke.† Estelle pushed Catfish away and looked in his eyes. â€Å"You knew, didn't you?† â€Å"What I knew is that boy wanted to get up close to a sea monster and that's what he got. Case you didn't notice, he was happy when it happened.† â€Å"What now?† â€Å"I think we ought to get you home, girl. You got some paintings gonna come out of this.† â€Å"Home? Are you coming with me?† â€Å"I ain't got no car to go anywhere. I guess I am.† â€Å"You're going to stay? You're not afraid of losing the Blues and getting content?† Catfish grinned, and there was that gold tooth with the eighth note cut in it, glistening in the morning sunshine. â€Å"Dragon done ate my car, my guitar, my amp – girl, I got me enough Blues to last a good long time. I'm thinkin I'll write me some new songs while you makin your paintings.† â€Å"I'd like that,† Estelle said. â€Å"I'd like to paint the Blues.† â€Å"Long as you don't go cuttin your ear off like old Vincent. A man finds a one-eared woman stone unattractive.† Estelle pulled him tight. â€Å"I'll do my best.† â€Å"Course, there was a woman I knowed down Memphis way, name of Sally, had only one leg. Called her One Leg Sally†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I don't want to hear it.† â€Å"What you wanna hear?† â€Å"I want to hear the door closing behind us, the fire crackling in the stove, and the teakettle just coming to a whistle while my lovin man picks out ‘Walkin' Man's Blues' on a National steel guitar.† â€Å"You easy,† Catfish said. â€Å"I thought you liked that,† she said, and she took his spidery hand in hers and led him up over the bluff to find a ride home. Theo and Molly Theo had never felt quite so overwhelmed in his entire life. He sensed that the excitement and the danger of it all was over, but he still felt as if a beast every bit as intimidating as the one that had just sunk into the sea was looming over him. He didn't know if he had a job, or for that matter a home, since his cabin had been part of his pay. He didn't even have his bong collection and victory garden to crawl into. He was confused and horrified by what had just happened, but not relieved that it was over. He stood there, not ten feet from where Molly Michon was standing in the surf, and he had no idea what the rest of his life had to offer him. â€Å"Hey,† he called. â€Å"You okay?† He watched her nod without turning around. The waves were breaking in front of her and foam and sea-weed was splashing up over her thighs, yet she stood there solid, staring out to sea. â€Å"You going to be okay?† Without turning, she said, â€Å"I haven't been okay for years. Ask anybody.† â€Å"Matter of opinion. I think you're okay.† Now she looked over her shoulder at him, her hair in a tangle from the wind, tear tracks down her face. â€Å"Really?† â€Å"I'm a huge fan.† â€Å"You had never heard of my movies until you came to my trailer, had you?† â€Å"Nope. I'm a huge fan, though.† She turned and walked out of the surf toward him, and a smile was breaking there on her face. A smile with too much history to it, but a smile nonetheless. â€Å"The narrator says you did good,† she said. â€Å"The narrator?† Theo found himself smiling too, as close to crying as he had come since his father had died, but smiling nonetheless. â€Å"Yeah, it's this voice I hear when I don't take my meds for a while. He's kind of a prick, but he's got a better sense of judgment than I do.† She was right there in front of him now – looking up at him, a hand on her hip, a challenge in that movie-star smile – looking more like Kendra the Warrior Babe than she ever had in the posters, the five-inch-long scar standing glorious over her left breast, seawater and grime streaking her body, a look in her eyes that comes from watching your future get nuked – repeatedly. She took his breath away. â€Å"Do you think the three of us could go out to dinner sometime?† â€Å"I'm on the rebound, you know?† His heart sank. â€Å"I understand.† She walked around him and started up the bluff. He followed her, understanding for the first time how the pilgrims had felt following the Sea Beast to the cave. â€Å"I didn't say no,† Molly said. â€Å"I just thought you ought to know. The narrator is warning me not to talk about my ex over dinner.† His heart soared. â€Å"I think a lot of people are going to be talking about your ex.† â€Å"You're not intimidated?† â€Å"Of course. But not by him.† â€Å"The narrator says it's a bad idea. Says the two of us put together might make one good loser.† â€Å"Wow, he is a prick.† â€Å"I'll get some meds from Dr. Val and he'll go away.† â€Å"You're sure that's good idea?† â€Å"Yeah,† she said, turning back to him again before climbing up to where the pilgrims waited. â€Å"I'd like to be alone with you.† Skinner What the man in the driver's seat didn't seem to understand was that as far as this Mercedes was concerned, Skinner was the alpha male. The man smelled of fear and anger and aggression, as well as gunpowder and sweat, and Skinner didn't like him from the moment he got into the car: Skinner's new mobile territory. So Skinner had to show him, and he did so in the traditional way, by clamping his jaws over the Challenger's throat and waiting for him to take a submissive posture. The man had struggled and even hit Skinner, but hadn't said bad-dog, bad-dog, so Skinner just growled and tightened his jaws until he tasted blood and the man was still. Skinner was still waiting for the Challenger to submit when the Tall Guy opened the car door. â€Å"Good dog, Skinner. Good dog,† Theo said. â€Å"Get this fucking animal off me,† the Challenger said. Skinner wagged his tail and tightened his jaws until the Challenger made a gurgling sound. The Tall Guy scratched his ears and put some metal on the Challenger's paws. â€Å"Let go now, Skinner,† the Tall Guy said. â€Å"I've got him.† Skinner let go and licked Theo's face before the constable dragged the sheriff out onto the ground and stood on the back of his neck with one foot. The Tall Guy tasted like lizard spit. That was strange. Skinner considered it a moment, then his doggie attention span ran out and he bounded out of the car to go see what the Food Guy was doing in the back of the truck. The Tall Guy's female was breaking out the back window of the truck with a metal stick. Skinner barked at her, trying to tell her not to hurt the Food Guy. Good Guys â€Å"Is the creature still there?† Gabe asked Molly as he climbed out of the back of the Suburban. Skinner was frisking and jumping on him, and with the handcuffs he couldn't ward off the damp affection. â€Å"Down, boy. Down.† â€Å"No, he's gone,† Molly said as she helped Val and Howard out of the Suburban. She nodded to Val. â€Å"Hi, Doc. I think I've had an episode or something. You'll have to debrief me in session or something.† Valerie Riordan nodded. â€Å"I'll check my calendar.† Theo came around the back of the Mercedes. â€Å"You guys okay?† â€Å"You have your key?† Gabe asked, turning his back to Theo to show the handcuffs. â€Å"We heard shots,† Val said. â€Å"Did†¦?† â€Å"One of the SWAT team is dead. Burton shot him. A few of your patients are scraped and bruised, but they'll be okay. Winston Krauss was eaten.† â€Å"Eaten?† The color ran out of Val's face. â€Å"Long story, Val,† Theo said. â€Å"Mavis set it all up after you guys left. Catfish and Estelle came in and drew the monster out. Winston was sort of the bait.† â€Å"Oh my god!† Val said. â€Å"She said something about my not being in trouble.† Theo held his finger to his lips to shush her, then nodded to where Sheriff Burton lay on the ground. â€Å"It never happened, Val. None of it. I don't know a thing.† He spun her around and unlocked her handcuffs. Then did the same for Gabe and Howard. The gaunt restaurateur seemed more morose than usual. â€Å"I had really hoped to lay eyes on the creature.† â€Å"Me too,† said Gabe, putting his arm around Valerie. â€Å"Sorry,† Theo said. To Val he said, â€Å"The reporters from those helicopters are going to be here in a few minutes. If I were you, I'd get out of here.† He handed her the keys to the Mercedes. â€Å"The district attorney is sending a deputy to pick up Burton, so I'm going to stay here. Will you give Molly a ride back into town?† â€Å"Of course,† Val said. â€Å"What are you going to tell the reporters?† â€Å"I don't know,† Theo said. â€Å"Deny everything, I guess. It depends on what they ask and what they got on tape. Having lived most my life in denial, I may be perfectly suited for dealing with them.† â€Å"I'm sorry I was – I'm sorry I doubted your abilities, Theo.† â€Å"So did I, Val. I'll call you guys and let you know what's going on.† Gabe called Skinner and they loaded into the Mercedes, leaving Theo and Molly facing each other. Theo looked at his shoes. â€Å"I guess I'll be seeing you.† She stretched up and kissed him on the cheek. Then without a word she crawled into the back of the Mercedes with Howard and Skinner and closed the door. Theo watched them back away, then turn and head across the pasture and out of the cattle gate. â€Å"You're going down with me, Crowe!† Burton screamed from the ground. Theo spotted something shiny lying in the grass near the back of the Suburban and went over to it. It was Molly's broadsword. He felt a smile breaking out as he picked it up and went over to where Burton was lying. â€Å"You have the right to remain silent,† Theo said. â€Å"I suggest you exercise that right. Immediately.† Theo plunged the sword into the ground half an inch from Burton's face and watched the sheriff's eyes go wide. Thirty-three Winter Winter in Pine Cove is a pause, a timeout, an extended coffee break. A slowness comes over the town and people stop their cars in the street to talk with a passing neighbor without worrying about a tourist honking his horn so he can get on with his relaxing vacation (damn it!). Waiters and hotel clerks go to part-time shifts and money slows to a creep. Couples spend their nights at home in front of the fireplace as the smell of rain-washed wood smoke fills the air, and single people resolve to move somewhere where life is a full-time sport. Winter near the shore is cold. The wind kicks up a salty mist and elephant seals come to shore to trumpet and rut and birth their pups. Retired people put sweaters on their lap dogs and drag them down the street on retractable leashes in a nightly parade of doggie humiliation. Surfers don their wetsuits against the chill of storm waves and white sharks adjust their diets to in-clude shrink-wrapped dude-snacks on fiberglass crackers. But the chill is crisp and forgiving and settles in a way so that the town's collective metab-olism can slow into semihibernation without a shock. At least that's the way it is most winters. After the coming of the Sea Beast, winter was a juggernaut, a party, an irritation and a windfall. News footage from the helicopters was beamed out over satellites and Pine Cove displaced Roswell, New Mexico, as the number one crackpot travel destination. There wasn't much on the tapes, just a crowd of people gathered on the shore and the fuzzy image of something large in the water, but with the footprints and the eyewitness accounts, it was enough. Shops filled with cheesy ser-pent souvenirs and H.P.'s Cafe added to the menu a sandwich called the Theosaurus, which was the official scientific name of the Sea Beast (coined by biologist Gabriel Fenton). The hotels filled, the streets congested, and Mavis Sand actually had to hire a second bartender to help serve the im-ported wackos. Estelle Boyet opened her own gallery on Cypress Street where she sold her new series of paintings enigmatically entitled Steve, as well as the new Catfish Jefferson CD entitled The What Do I Do Now That I'm Happy? Blues. As the story of the Sea Beast spread and was sensationalized, interest rose in an obscure B-movie actress named Molly Michon. Discs and videocassettes of the Warrior Babe series were remastered and rereleased to an enthusiastic audience, and the Screen Actors Guild came down on the producers like an avenging accountant angel to capture a piece of the profits for Molly. Valerie Riordan's practice stabilized as she struck a balance between therapy and medication and she was able to schedule a sabbatical to join her fianc? ¦, Gabe Fenton, on an oceanographic expedition aboard a Scripps vessel to look for evidence of the Theosaurus in the deep trenches off California. After he testified against John Burton, putting him away for life, winter settled on Theophilus Crowe like a warm blessing. In the second month of his recovery, he realized that his addiction to marijuana had been nothing more than a response to boredom. Like the child who whines away a summer day because there's nothing to do, but makes no effort to actually do anything, Theo had simply lacked the ambition to entertain himself. Sharing his life with Molly solved the problem, and Theo found that although he was often exhausted by the demands of his job and his lover, he was never bored. Molly's trailer was moved to the edge of the ranch by his cabin. Every morning they shared a hearty breakfast pizza at her place. In the evening, they ate dinner on his cable spool table. She answered his calls while he was at work, and he ran interference with the geeky fans who were rabid enough to seek her out at the ranch. Not a day passed that he did not tell Molly how special she was to him, and as time passed, the narrator in her head fell silent and never spoke again. There was no winter in the deep submarine trench off California, two miles down. Everything was as it had been: a dark pressurized sameness where the Sea Beast lay by his black smoker, grieving for love lost. He stopped grazing on deep water worms that grew on the rocks and his great body began to waste away under the weight of the water and the years. He had resolved never to move again – to lie there until his great heart stopped and with it the throb of heartbreak – when sensor cells along his flanks picked up a signal. Something he had not felt for half a century, the signature of a creature he thought he would never feel again. He flipped his tail and shook off the crust of loneliness that had settled over him, and that organ buried deep beneath his reptile brain picked up a message coming from the female. Roughly translated, it said, â€Å"Hey, sailor, want to get lucky?†

An Examination of Relationship Between Anxiety and Insomnia

Anxiety is commonly associated with insomnia. Many research have been done in this area. The results of the previous research studies often revealed strong relationships between anxiety and insomnia. Often, anxiety and insomnia can be frequently associated with depression. This research study was conducted among Hunter College students in order to investigate a relationship between anxiety and insomnia. There were 22 students participating in the research, between ages 18 and 34. Twelve of them were males and ten were females. There was a multiple-choice questionnaire, adapted from other research studies, with four possible answers from 0 – not at all bothered to 3 – severely bothered. The obtained results fully supported the hypothesis that there is a significant positive correlation between anxiety and insomnia. The higher is anxiety level, the higher is insomnia level. Nevertheless, the research had its own limitations, and further modifications of a research design could be done in this area of study. An Examination of a Relationship Between Anxiety and Insomnia Anxiety is commonly associated with insomnia. A number of research studies in this area support the idea that insomnia and anxiety have common mechanisms that underlie or maintain these difficulties (Fairholme, 2012). Some studies investigate the association between anxiety, depression and insomnia, which often co-occur at the same time (Jansson-Frojmark, 2008). However, the question about cause-effect in this relationship between anxiety and insomnia still remains. In his article, Pacana (2010) stated that the anxiety disorders became the most common mental disorders in the United States. Nineteen percent of the population suffers from these afflictions every year. There are six major types of anxiety – Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Phobias, Social Anxiety, Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Approximately one fifth of individuals seek treatment for these disorders. The estimated coast of anxiety disorders in the country is about 50 billion dollars in any given year. Pacan (2010) also wrote, that anxiety is a â€Å"product â€Å" of the central nervous system’s physiological and emotional response to ambiguous sense of fear or threat. Anxiety may appear even when there is no presence of actual life or health threats. Sometimes, anxiety can be so overwhelming and exhausting that it becomes a threat itself after a while. An Anxiety Disorder develops after the anxiety becomes severe, easy to trigger, occurs too frequent, or stays for too long. According to Pacan (2010), an anxiety is difficult to describe or measure. Luckily, psychologists have a number of tools for assessing a person’s level of anxiety. A Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) is one of the methods administered by Aaron Beck. It’s a 21question multiple-choice questionnaire that measures an individual’s anxiety level. There are four possible answers for each question scored from 0 (NO not at all) to 3 (YES and I could barely stand it). Each answer indicates the emotional state of an individual in the last week, expressed as common symptoms of anxiety (such as unsteadiness, wobbliness, nervousness, or difficulty in breathing, etc. ). The cumulative scores range from 0 to 63, which measure the anxiety level. The higher the score is, the more severe is the anxiety level. The higher scores indicate that an individual may have very serious and health-threating implications, like sleep disturbance or more severe form of sleep deprivation – insomnia. Jansson (2007) indicated that insomnia is another prevalent condition in the population of the United States and worldwide. The prevalence of insomnia ranges from nine to twelve percent in adulthood. Generally, insomnia is viewed as a persistent condition and defined as number of intertwined conditions, such as difficulty getting to sleep at bedtime, waking up too early in the morning, not getting enough sleep at night, etc. Individuals experiencing insomnia also complain about negative daytime symptoms, like distress or impairment in social, or other vital areas of functioning. According to Bogan (2007), insomnia is associated with significant health-related consequences. The estimated healthcare coast of insomnia in the United States is approximately 14 billion dollars. People with abnormal sleep are more likely to experience anxiety and depression and suffer other serious consequences, like drug or alcohol abuse and an increased incidence of medical and psychiatric disorders. Unfortunately, severe insomnia may cause driving-related accidents and an overall increase in mortality rate. Although there are many factors that can contribute to sleeping disturbance, one of the most known is Anxiety. Buckner (2008) stated that insomnia is commonly associated with anxiety, and that sleep quality impairments, such as insomnia, can constitute a significant risk factor for development of anxiety disorders. The study used bivariate correlations to examine a relationship between social anxiety and insomnia in the undergraduate students. There was an association found between social anxiety and sleep dissatisfaction, sleep-related functional impairment, perception of a sleep problem to others, and distress about sleep problems. Jansson-Frojmark (2008) conducted research study about bidirectional relationship between anxiety and depression and insomnia. The revealed results indicate that anxiety and insomnia are significantly inter-correlated. The study used bidirectional correlation to demonstrate the relationship between anxiety and depression separately, and then their relationship with insomnia, using a prospective design in the general population. Although the research showed the bidirectional interrelationship between anxiety, depression and insomnia, the question about cause-effect relationship, where anxiety and depression influence insomnia, or vise versa, still remains. In 2012, Fairhome conducted research study about emotional disorders, insomnia, and common factors that underlie or maintain these difficulties. The results supported a hypothesis that common mechanisms are involved for emotional disorders and insomnia. One of the factors that may explain these mechanisms is anxiety sensitivity (AS). AS might function as a mechanism for the maintenance of sleep deprivation in order of anxiety and mood disorders. Anxiety sensitivity is a fear of anxiety-related sensations, which has been theorized as a heritable risk factor involved in development and maintenance of emotional disorders. For instance, an individual can believe that racing heart will cause a heart attack or that temporal loss of a sense of reality will transform into insanity. That is, an individual’s faulty beliefs of the danger of emotional disorders or sleep disturbance may increase physical symptoms of anxiety or insomnia, or both. The aim of this research study is to examine the relationship between anxiety and insomnia among college students. It was hypothesized that there will be a positive correlation between anxiety and insomnia, that the higher is an anxiety level the higher is an insomnia level. Method Participants A convenience sample of Hunter College students was used. There were 22 participants (N = 22) voluntarily participating in the research study, from the ages of 18 to 34 years old, with an average age of 21 (SD = 3. 28). There were twelve males (54. 5%) and ten females (45. %) of different demographic backgrounds, living mostly in the city of Manhattan or the other four boroughs of New York City. All of the participants were randomly selected and were proposed to participate in the research. Materials A questionnaire form was used to collect the data (See Appendix). Twenty questions about anxiety were adapted from Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) (Beck, 1988), and 20 questions about insomnia were a dapted from Pittsburg Insomnia Rating Scale (PIRS) administered by Moul, D. E. and other researchers in their preliminary study of the test-retest reliability and concurrent validities of the PIRS in 2002. There are 66 questions (For example, â€Å"Consider the quality of your sleep in the last week: Difficulty getting to sleep at bedtime†) multiple-choice questionnaire with four possible answers for each question (For example 0 – Not at all bothered; 1 – Slightly bothered; 2 – Moderately bothered; 3 – Severely bothered) (Moul, 2002). The ordered response options for the questions were adapted from PIRS (Moul, 2002). For the answers for each of 40 questions the Likert scale was used from zero to three (0 – Not at all bothered, 1 – Slightly bothered, 2 – Moderately bothered, 3 – Severely bothered). I went to the third floor of the Hunter College (695 Park Ave building), during the fall 2012 semester and started asking passing by students to participate in my research. Each participant received a consent form and a self-report questionnaire. They were asked to fill in questionnaire about factors that influence good sleep patterns. The participants were told to finish all 40 questions by filling in the numbers that best corresponded to their opinion about each item. After the data was collected, the cumulative scores for anxiety and insomnia were counted for each participant, and the data were collected in an excel file. Then the SPSS program was run in order to organize and interpret the raw data. Results A total number of 22 participants (N = 22, SD = 3. 28) participated in the research. Ten of them were females (45. 5%) and twelve were males (54. 5%), with an average age of 21 (36. 4%), a variance of 10. 7, and a range of 16. The youngest participant was 18 years old, and the eldest was 34 years old (See Table 1). The mean anxiety score was 15. 95 (SD = 10. 55), with a range of 40. A mean score for insomnia was 24. 27 (SD = 15. 63), with a range of 54. The minimum scores for anxiety and insomnia were zero and five, and the maximum scores were 40 and 59. To determine whether there was a significant positive correlation between anxiety and insomnia, the Pearson’s Correlation test was conducted. There was a significant correlation obtained for anxiety and insomnia, r (22) = . 74, p < . 01 (See Table 2). Discussion The obtained results fully support the hypothesis that there is a relationship between anxiety and insomnia. The results indicate that the relationship between anxiety and insomnia is strong and positive (See Figure 1), meaning that anxiety and insomnia levels change in the same direction. For instance, when the anxiety level goes up, the insomnia level goes up too. Generally speaking, the association between anxiety and insomnia indicates that individuals who are vulnerable to stress and other emotional disturbances are more likely to experience sleep deprivation at normal sleep time hours. Individuals who suffer from bad night sleep are more likely to feel anxious the next day. In this research the minimum score of zero for anxiety (See Table 1) indicates that at least one participant did not fill in any number other than zero within the anxiety questions in the questionnaire. However, the minimum score of five within the insomnia questions means that all of the participants experienced insomnia at the time of conducting research. All of that could probably have different explanation for student’s insomnia. It could be caused by something other than anxiety, like a physical problem, or loud neighborhood, etc. The student could simply not be honest about his or her anxiety, filling in zeros for every anxiety question. The results that were obtained in this research study are very similar to the results from previous research studies about anxiety and insomnia relationships, which were mentioned above (Buckner, J. D. , 2008, Fairhokme, C. P. , 2012, Jansson-Frojmark, M. , 2008, and Jansson, M. , 2007). In the Fairholme (2012) research it was discussed that individuals with anxiety sensitivity have a fear that their sleeping problems are related to some kind of health problem, which can make the individuals even more anxious and more likely to acquire serious disorders, like chronic insomnia. In this case a situation becomes a vicious circle. An individual gets more anxious because cannot sleep well at night, and he or she gets problems with falling asleep because he or she is too anxious about whole situation. It is possible that some of the students from our research have AS, which affected their good sleep patterns. This research results do not show any evidence for cause-effect relationship between anxiety and insomnia, though. It is hard to say whether anxiety causes insomnia, or the other way around, or whether anxiety and insomnia cause each other. It is hard to draw serious conclusions about what actually caused insomnia and anxiety in the observed students in this research study. It is also hard to say if participants had anxiety, or depression, or both due to the lack of possibility to differentiate anxiety from depression in this research. Sometimes anxiety and depression have the same symptoms, and that could have resulted in some errors in the questionnaire in this research. In the Jansson-Frojmark (2008) research study it was stated that relationship between anxiety and depression and insomnia is inter-correlated. Moreover, it was said that these three factors could simply co-occur in some cases. For example, an individual suffers from anxiety, which makes him or her experience insomnia, and whole that situation makes an individual be depressed. In this study, the combination of anxiety, depression and insomnia could be present conditions for some or for all of the participants. Although we cannot approve a cause-effect relationship between anxiety and insomnia, it is essential to say that sleep quality impairments can serve as a significant factor for anxiety disorders development or vice versa. According to Buckner research study (2008) individuals with history of insomnia are at greater risk for the later emergence of an anxiety disorder. When an individual had bad night sleep, he or she can feel weak, disorganized, tired, or simply he or she can feel moody or even mad. If the individual experiences the same problems over and over again for a long-term period, he or she can develop a fear from experiencing problems with sleep. For example, â€Å"I am so afraid I will not be able to fall asleep tonight again, and that makes me so anxious. After a while, that fear of insomnia can be transformed into an anxiety disorder. In this research a maximum score for insomnia is 59, comparing to anxiety maximum score of 40 can indicate that on average insomnia occurs in bigger degree than anxiety in these participants. That could possibly mean that insomnia in the participants was associated with factors other than anxiety during the time of conducting the study. For example, a partic ipant has a snoring roommate, or there is construction outside making an annoying noise early in the morning. In this case, without talking to each participant individually, it is impossible to conclude what was a real reason for the sleep disturbance, and for how long a participant has been experiencing it. There are few possible limitations of this research study, like a small size of a sample, specific population – Hunter College students, and lack of access to information about participants. The convenient sample size is not quiet enough for generalizing the obtained results. Twenty-two participants cannot fully reflect the real situation regarding relationship between anxiety and insomnia. Small sample in this research could lead to getting a Type I error, the obtained result is probably not significant as we think it is. Perhaps, most of the participants were interested in the research just because they did have both problems – anxiety and insomnia presented in their lives at a moment of conducting the research study. Moreover, any college students often have anxiety and insomnia occurring in the end of the semester (the research study was conducted in the end of the semester of fall, 2012). Conceivably, students were getting through the tests and exams at this particular time, and all that could cause anxiety and insomnia during a short-term period. Another reason to be concerned about a validity of the results is that we do not know enough information about the participants, like if they have anxiety or insomnia occurred earlier, and how many times before. Some of the participants could simply be taking some medications, which were prescribed to prevent or trigger the emergence of anxiety and insomnia. Despite these limitations, this research study contributes to the future revenue of anxiety and insomnia research studies. For the future work in this area, it would be interesting to add some questions about depression to questionnaire, and ask more details about participant’s life events and possible stressors. Gender differences may also play a substantial role in this research study. Females are more likely to experience emotional disruptions than males. For instance, according to Bogan (2007) young women are especially vulnerable to insomnia and it seems to increase with age by 20% – 50%. Men experience insomnia 1. 4 – 1. 7 times less than women. It is essential to make a gender type as an independent variable for the future research design.

12 Hour Shifts in Nursing

7 October 2011 Effects on Nurses Working Long Hours Patients in a hospital and/or healthcare facilities have to be cared for all day and all night, everyday of the week by nurses. The usual way to fulfill this need is to divide up the day into three 8-hour shifts. Different shifts have been put into place to help improve nurse satisfaction, decrease the nursing shortage and save the hospital money. The 24-hour day is made up of two 12-hour shifts; 12 hours in the day and 12 hours at night. There has been quite an ongoing debate over the years regarding this issue of nurses working over 8 hours in a single day. Many people, such as hospital nursing administrators, have reason to believe that working long hour shifts causes more errors in the workplace due to fatigue and irregular sleep schedules. Along with these reasons and other beliefs, 12-hour shifts in nursing should be revoked. The risks outweigh the benefits for extended hour shifts in hospitals and/or healthcare facilities, for both the patients and nurses. Nurses who work 12 or more hours in a single shift put at risk the health of themselves along with the health of the patients who they are treating. Working extended shifts causes fatigue, stress and lack of productivity. Errors are most common in nurses who are fatigued from working long and grueling hours. It is estimated 1. 3 million health care errors occur each year and of those errors 48,000 to 98,000 result in patient deaths. Many of these errors lead to malpractice suits and thousands of dollars lost (Keller, 497). This proves that working long hours in a health care environment will make nurses more prone to making error that may lead to patient death. Patient death is what the hospital and faculty members are trying to avoid, revoking long hour shifts seems like a proper way to start. As for the health of the nurse, nurses who work long hours are affecting their health in many ways. Some health problems that may occur in nurses are sleep problems, listlessness, and unable to think clearly. According to The American Heart Association, shift workers are inclined to drink more caffeinated beverages such as, coffee and energy drinks, smoke, and exercise less often. Along with these problems, working shifts and extended hours interfere with the body’s natural circadian rhythm, especially if working night shift. Human beings are designed to work during the daylight, not at night. â€Å"Symptoms of fatigue can include muscle weakness, lethargy, inability to think clearly or concentrate, listlessness, decreased cognitive function, anxiety, and exhaustion† (Keller, 499). This would not be acceptable for the high demands of nursing. Nurses need to be able to think clearly and stay sharp to make flash decisions incase the patients health rapidly decreases. If they are tired, they may lose this capability. Nurses also have to be able to work in high-pressure situations. If anxiety were a symptom of fatigue, this would jeopardize both the nurses and the patients. The nurse may lose her job for working while fatigued, and the patient may lose their life for not having proper care. Todays nurses would most likely oppose this argument. Most of todays nurses work long 12-hour shifts and favor them than five eight-hour shifts. They prefer working three 12-hour shifts, and then having four days off in a week. Nurses who work this shift can take a couple vacation days or sick days and be off for weeks at a time. They believe that working these long hour shifts do not affect their ability to care for patients, because they can drink coffee or soda and can take a nap on their lunch breaks. This argument may seem plausible, but reality is that these are only temporary fixes and may feel even more exhausted than before. In addition, during the four days they have off, they may feel weak and dazed so they will not be able to work a second part-time job if wanted or be with their loved-ones. After working that many hours in such a short period of time, they would need those four days off to compensate for the hard work they just endured. Health care administrators argue that having only two shifts a day (day and night) will help improve patient care because there would only be two nurses who would take care of a patient during a 24-hour shift. But still, it takes more hired nurses to fill a weeks schedule to accommodate each 12 hour shift is covered because a nurse can only work so many hours in a week. Annette Richardson claims that nurses who work extended hour shifts will be less productive during the last 2 to 3 hours of their shift. Signs of nurses being unproductive are; if he/she is taking a longer time to be with a patient than necessary, not completing patient charts and not being thorough on reports (Carson, 830). Nursing administration is there to help make patients and nurses happy and healthy. Health care administration wants the most work productivity as possible, and with having the last 3 hours of a nurses shift being unproductive will diminish that goal. Studies have shown that the most productive work schedule is working an eight-hour shift because it has the least number of errors due to workers fatigue and exhaustion. Nurses who also work long hour shifts may experience work ‘burnout’. A Burnout is a form of chronic stress related to ones job. Burnout occur most frequently in nurses who work long hours in high stress areas, such as critical care, oncology, or burn units. Symptoms of burnouts include fatigue, frequent colds, headaches, and insomnia. Mental symptoms may include decreased ability to solve problems and unwillingness to face problems and change. Nurses who suffer from burnout may quit their job or change jobs outside of the nursing profession. This causes shortages, which is currently a big issue in todays world. Not enough people are interested in the nursing career because of the high burnout rate. Linda Wilson was burning out because she worked the 3pm to 11pm shift in the critical care unit. The hospital was understaffed and had a lot of overtime. She barely got five hours a sleep a night (Ellis, 599). This proves that working too many extended hours a week with not enough sleep will cause burnout that leads to lost jobs. Lost jobs makes the shortage of nurses even higher and affecting patient care by not having enough nurses necessary to provide proper care and support to their patient during their stay. Overall, long hour shifts in nursing may have its pluses such as, a four-day weekend to be home with their loved-ones, but it also has its negative effects. Extended shifts may causes nurses to make errors while working from a lack of sleep and fatigue. This may end up in patient death or malpractice, which is the opposite of what nurses, and administrators are there to do. 12-hour days will eventually cause harm to him/herself because our bodies are not meant to work long and grueling hours because fatigue disrupts their ability to think clearly and quickly and may cause stress. With all of these going against them, they might get burned out and decide to quit or change jobs. An abundance of burnouts will create a larger nursing shortage than there already is, making the whole situation worse. I believe working 8-hours a day with three total shifts to make up a 24 hour day is the best way for both the nurses and the patients sake. It will reduce the amount of errors made do to fatigue and it will increase productivity in the workplace because nurses would not be affected by exhaustion. Works Cited

Developmental state(East Asia) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Developmental state(East Asia) - Essay Example After World Banks noted acceptance of a certain role of government intervention, it can be said that ‘Developmental state’ theory is the centre of the debate (Johnson 1982; Amsden 1989; Wade 1990; Chan 1993; MacIntyre 1994; Evans 1995). For instance, Korea was cited as being one of the nations that had highly Confucian values and was characterized by significant state-led export oriented industrialization, authoritarianism and political development which was followed by economic development. Korea is ranked among the most developed third world countries which further raised the need for the study of the reasons why East Asian countries have been able to record such a magnitude of economic growth within a very short time. As a matter of fact, East Asian countries development has been far much more than other developing countries particularly those in Latin America such as Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay etc. The question under investigation in this work is what is the implication of East Asian Economic Development? The importance of this question is that it will shed light into the reasons why East Asian countries have been able to record high economic growth rate within a short time and could reveal possible routes that other developing economies could adopt and move on to a trajectory of higher growth. The present study will attempt to present an analytical overview of the factors that caused the phenomenon. As shall be shown, none of the arguments that try to explain the event are comprehensively convincing nor are totally discardable thereby reflecting partial truth to all of them. The Liberalist views tend to stress on increased market orientation while Mercantilist views emphasize on efficient regulation. The present study will explore both sides of the argument using a level analysis framework to pursue the truth. In the following section, a survey

CORPORATE FINANCE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

CORPORATE FINANCE - Essay Example It had been generally assumed that there is an optimal mixture of debt and equity in a firm's capital structure that results in a shallow, U-shaped average cost-of-capital curve. That is to say, the market value of the firm will rise to a point with an increase in the debt ratio. Beyond that point, any increase in the debt ratio will cause the market value of the firm to decline. (Ariff and Lau, p. 391-410) Precisely, the traditional view states that capital structure may impact the cost of capital and in that way influence the value of a firm. It holds that the reasonable or rational use of leverage will decrease the total cost of capital primarily and therefore also add to value. When leverage turns out to be excessively high, beyond an optimal point, the cost of capital will begin to increase and hence the value will decline. There is no specific recognition of how to measure either a moderate or reasonable or optimal capital structure (Ariff and Hassan, p. 11). Some have accepted a moving average of historical capital structure; others have accepted an industry ratio. This concept is depicted through Figure 1 below: Although the traditional view appears to be substantially correct in relation to recognized real world behavior of capital structure, it suffers from lack of rigorous proof. ... b) The Independence Hypothesis: Modigliani and Miller (1958) Modigliani and miller 1were the first to develop a modern theory of capital structure supported by rigorous mathematical proof. The M&M (1958) theory is based on several simplifying assumptions: i. Perfect and frictionless capital markets with investors that behave rationally; ii. Individuals can borrow and lend at the same interest rate regardless the amounts; iii. No corporate or personal income taxes' iv. The firm's cost of equity depends upon its business risk class; v. Firms issue only risk-free debt and risk equity, and thus there are no bankruptcy costs; vi. Operating earnings of the firm are not expected to grow. The original M&M theory holds that the average cost of capital is independent of the firm's capital structure and equal to the capitalization rate of an unlevered stream of earnings at the capitalization rate appropriate to its risk class. As a result, the total market value of the firm is independent of its capital structure. Figure 2: Adopted from figure 5 Maugham, 2000, p.1 The original M&M result was obtained assuming perfect capital markets. Subsequent literature has relaxed the underlying assumptions of M&M's 1958 model. Stiglitz (1969) proved, using a state preference framework that the M&M result (1958) holds with risky debt, so long as there are no bankruptcy costs. Hamada (1969), using the CAMP, showed that the M&M result (1958) holds in a world where assets are allowed to have different risk classes. Mossin (1969), using a modified version of Sharpe's single-period asset valuation model, showed that in tax less, frictionless markets where there is no possibility that the firm will go bankrupt, changes in its debt-equity ratio will not alter the total market value of

Legal and Ethical Issues in Columbus Hospital Corporation Essay

Legal and Ethical Issues in Columbus Hospital Corporation - Essay Example There are several federal laws that protect the rights of individuals who are interviewing for a job. Being federal, of course, means that they apply across all the states. The first law to be discussed is the Civil Rights act 1991 and the Age Discrimination in Employment act of 1967. Both of these are crucial to the secure the individual rights of the interviewees. The Civil Rights Act, 1991 prohibits employment discrimination on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex or nationality. The United States is a melting pot and so this law is crucial. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act, on the other hand, seeks to protect individuals who are 40 years old and above. Employers must give them an equal opportunity just like their younger colleagues. Passing the NCLEX exams is the launching pad to a successful career as a registered nurse or RN. The most important practices that lead to malpractice lawsuits are not strictly adhering to standards of care and failure to communicate (Guido, 2001). Failure to follow standards of care ranges from routine tasks like wearing antithrombotic stockings to more serious ones like using medical equipment for a purpose other than that it is intended for. Either way, if misuse or negligence harms the patient, the nurse is in legal jeopardy. Failure to communicate or poor communication is also important. This might be between a nurse and a physician, a nurse and other caregivers to whom she has delegated responsibilities e.t.c This can be difficult to trace in the case of injury and so it should be followed to the letter (Guido, 2001). Several ethical principles are key in nursing. However, non-maleficence is top of this pile. It states that nurses take a medical oath. The import of that oath is that they do everything in the best interests of the patient (Guido, 2001). Many important lessons have been acquired that shall be an influence on me as a PN.  

Contemporary issue in public health and health promotion Essay

Contemporary issue in public health and health promotion - Essay Example The most prevalent subtypes of the swine flu that were known were H1N1, H1N2, H2N1, and H3N1. Swine flu or the swine influenza virus is considered common in the world especially in places that have large pig populations. Since the virus originates in pigs, it is easy to get affected by the virus when a person is in constant contact with pigs. However, the virus transmission from the pigs to human is not common. Since the transmission of the virus from the pigs to humans is rare, there are minute chances of a human being suffering from human flu. This is due to the reaction of the body to the virus. With such a reaction, the virus will not result into human flu but will only release antibodies in the blood stream. Such a situation is commonly referred to as zoonotic swine flu. It is declared that people that are in constant contact with pigs are at a higher risk of contacting swine flu infection as compared to people that have rare contact with pigs. The first case of swine flu was reported in Scotland, shortly after a flight from Mexico on the 27th of April in 2009 (Gallagher, 2013:1). This case was diagnosed and reported to have strains of H1N1 virus (Gallagher, 2013:1). After this first cases, the infections spread across the world rapidly. By the 17th of May, more than a hundred cases of infection had been confirmed. This was a shocker to the whole world due to the way the cases were spreading in the whole world. Previously, it was considered that swine flu could only affect the people that are in constant contact with pigs. However, this was not the case after the confirmation of the first case of swine flu. In this situation, the swine flu infections were spreading from one person to another when there is close contact. This was a situation that led to outburst by many nations to ensure the spread of the swine flu was controlled and maintained at the lowest minimum (Great

Evaluate WHS management systems Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Evaluate WHS management systems - Assignment Example The sampling at Wollongong store was successful hence the need to implement the program globally. Due to global proposed systems, Austrian Hardware aims at providing safe conditions for workers at work place and to comply legally across jurisdictions. There is need for corporate culture, operations and integration with management systems of Australian Hardware. Australian Hardware is committed to WHS in various ways like, first aid and treatment of injuries for the workers and customers among others as discussed in the report below. Looking at the data on First Aid Incidents, the workers are ill treated by those in management. First, for the first case on 1 July 2012 of a new worker who got an accident by lifting a lawn mower, the worker could not have been re-trained but be given first aid. The employee was new to the organization hence needed to be treated well. Second, on 10 Sep 2012, another new employee was cut but no first aid was given. Initiating safety action meeting by team leader could not help such a new employee at Wollongong. Third, on 24th Oct 2012, it is clear that the organization values customers’ life than those of workers since first aid was offered to the customer. The customer’s falling was accidental and there was no need for training of staff at Melbourne. Fourth, on 1 April 2013, a new staff fall down and treatment was administered thus indicating change in giving first aid to employees at Freemantle. Through safety and work health Act of 2011 which is supported by WHS, the sick workers do not need to be mistreated. Looking at medical treatment injury, a lot need to be done. First, on 1 July 2012, a new staff was injured and treated for a day at Sydney. The treatment was not enough for the worker as he or she missed work for 10 days. There was no need for the meeting as falling was

Dance review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dance review - Essay Example Ballets give exquisite pleasures to witness at the theater. To me, it appeared that the dual roles of the ballerina depicted the dual roles of common people from every walk of life. Hence the term ‘two-faced’. The eternal battle between the good and the evil. None of us are good in our entirety, and none of us are evil either. Everyone has their own demons and evil intentions. It is only through struggle and overpowering that one side claims victory over the other. We suppress the evil side to confirm to a higher social order. Maybe this aspect was not part of the greater plan. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the original composer of the Swan Lake, might not have put the duality of the human psychology represented through the dancing of ballerinas on purpose. The beauty of the play is that when one ballerina plays both roles it makes the message even more powerful. Odette is trying to set herself free by seeking faithfulness of her lover, while Odile wanting to seduce the lover to make the enchantment permanent. The duality of human nature should not be taken to the extremes of good and evil only. We experience cognitive dissonance frequently in our daily lives. Even more common is the inner child in all of us that wants to trample rules and norms. This side wants to be free, to be rebellious. It wants to do whatever it wants, driven by lust, gluttony and greed. But the mature side of the human tries to hold it back. It tries to suppress it to prevent it from becoming too irrational. The Yin and Yang, the negative and positive, the good and evil, and in that performance, Odette and Odile. As suggested earlier that dance is one of the purest form of human expression. As a Swan Odette was delicate, fragile and innocent. Her posture, her hand movements were so light that she was barely touching the stage. Her ‘floating’ represented the lightness of the soul of a person. Odette presented to me the delicate

John Dewey on Education Essay Example for Free

John Dewey on Education Essay John Dewey, Mortimer Adler and Nel Noddings impacted our system of education in very profound ways. Dewey believed that there should be communication between the student and the teacher. Adler believed that schools should only teach the traditional courses (English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Foreign Language). Noddings believed that teachers should be more caring towards their students. John Dewey’s idea of education greatly affected our system of education today. John Dewey’s ideas for education were to concentrate on students’ psychological and sociological qualities. Dewey believed in promoting an â€Å"unconscious education† where â€Å"the individual gradually comes to share in the intellectual and moral resources which humanity has succeeded in getting together. He becomes an inheritor of the funded capital of civilization† (Dewey 261). In other words, he thought this was a good method for teachers to analyze a student’s behavior in order to teach them more effectively. This also provided an opportunity for the student to learn without even realizing it. Dewey stated that a student’s psychological needs were the basis of his method of education. The child’s own instinct and powers furnish the material and give the starting-point for all education† (Dewey 262). Dewey stressed the idea that, â€Å"Without insight into the psychological structure and activities of the individual the educative process will†¦be haphazard and arbitrary† (Dewey 262). Dewey was also extremely interested in the social aspects of a student. He said that the, â€Å"knowledge of social conditions, of the present state of civilization, is necessary in order to properly interpret the child’s powers† (Dewey 262). This was a new technique for an educator to see and distinguish the instincts and tendencies in a student. Therefore, in order for an educator to know more about a student he/she must first study the student’s psychological traits in order to understand the unique characteristics of a child’s capacities, interests and habits. Then the teacher must translate their findings into terms of what they believe the child is capable of in a social setting. In my opinion, Dewey showed a balance between the dialectic of academics and affective goals. This is also known as transaction, which is having both the teacher and the student interact in the classroom. Dewey believed that the academic goals of education should be, â€Å"a process of living and not a preparation for future living† (Dewey 263). He stated that the teachers’ job is not to influence him but to help guide the student into successfully forming with the community by letting the student experience some life occurrences. â€Å"The teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child† (Dewey 263 – 264). Dewey also believed that tests should only be used to examine a child’s social capabilities in the real world. â€Å"Examinations are of use only so far as they test the child’s fitness for social life and reveal the place in which he can be of the most service and where he can receive the most help† (Dewey 264). In my opinion, this would be more of a conceptual test where the child can voice his or her own opinions. Dewey’s main affective goals were to deepen the child’s meaning of himself and his values. It is the business of the school to deepen and extend his sense of the values bound up in his home life† (Dewey 263). Dewey believed that it was important for the school to implement lessons that related to what a child would do at home. The school would also be responsible for simplifying their social life because; â€Å"existing life is so complex that the child cannot be brought into contact with it without either confusion or distraction† (Dewey 263). Therefore, if the child is exposed to too much social stimulation he will become, â€Å"either unduly specialized or else disintegrated† (Dewey 263). I believe that Dewey’s views show that he is against standardization in schools. He believed that there was a lack of conscious states in schools. He asserts that children are, â€Å"thrown into a passive, receptive, or absorbing attitude† (Dewey 265). Dewey’s viewpoint is still an active discussion topic in today’s education system. However, some school districts insist on rote learning because their schools receive more funding when there is a high percentage of passing students on standardized tests. According to Linda McNeil, students are taught on how to pass these tests without really learning. For example, McNeil states that, â€Å"students report that in the drills on the TAAS reading section, they frequently mark answers without reading the sample text. They merely match key words in an answer choice with key words in the text† (McNeil 218). According to Dewey, this is â€Å"not permitted [in following] the law of nature† (Dewey 265), resulting in â€Å"friction and waste† (Dewey 265). Dewey believed that proper instruction should be exemplified by, â€Å"the preparation and presentation of lessons [which] might be more wisely and profitably expended in training the child’s power of imagery and in seeing to it that he was continually forming definite, vivid, and growing images of the various subjects with which he comes in contact in his experience† (Dewey 266). Standardization is not they key component of education, even though the state and federal government believe this is an important element for success. According to Gerald Bracey, when students are applying to college, the SAT exam should be used as a guideline and not the final decision in acceptance. Bracey stated that the, â€Å"SAT scores had been falling for fourteen years† (Bracey 47). He also stated that, â€Å"While the developers of the SAT still called their test a ‘mere supplement,’ the public now saw it as the platinum rod for measuring school performance. And that performance was getting worse† (Bracey 47). Somehow over time, a student’s SAT score developed into an extremely significant number which seemed to become the overall determination of a student’s intelligent. It seems harsh and unbalanced to put so much emphasis on one test. Of course, applicants are told that in combination with their SAT scores; their grades and outside activities are taken into consideration for college admittance. But the truth is these SAT scores still remain a huge factor for college applicants. Studies have shown that a high SAT score does not guarantee high grades in college however the politics behind these tests are stronger than the public’s opinion in order to get these tests repealed. Standardized tests do not lead the student to come into contact with the subject at hand or the experience related to it. They also do not show the overall picture of an individual or what he or she can contribute while attending college. Scott Thompson is against the test-based reform of today’s society. Thompson claims that, â€Å"The human hearts and minds of others, I believe, are simply too complex and too inaccessible to read as a book† (Thompson 160). Thompson argues that the differences between test-based reform and standards-based reform. He concluded that standards-based reform involves more cooperation from parents, teachers and the students. It also gives the students a high-quality method of learning and not simply learning techniques for test taking. â€Å"We should be interested in students who can produce high quality work rather than students who have mastered the ability to take standardized tests† (Thompson 159). Thompson would love to see that the idea of standardized tests be abandoned in the future. Thompson argues that by giving these students standardized tests that they are reducing their potential of demonstrating their intellect, social and personal sides to the community. Test-based reform, through its focus on high-stakes test, narrows the curriculum to what is included on the tests and reduces instructional practice to test preparation† (Thompson 159). In contrast, â€Å"standards-based reform†¦involves a complete abandonment of the bureaucratic, ‘seat time’ approach to education and replaces it with a system of learning communities dedicated to helping all students reach their intellectual, social, and personal potential† (Thompson 159). To summarize, without requiring students to take standardized tests they will greatly increase their academic potential and affective abilities. Bill Bigelow also stresses his concern of standardization. He believes that, â€Å"social studies knowledge is little more than acquiring piles of disconnected facts about the world† (Bigelow 231) and that â€Å"the world can’t be chopped into multiple choice questions, [in] that you can’t bubble in the truth with a number-two pencil† (Bigelow 239). Bigelow would be ecstatic to see the state do away with standardized tests. He demonstrates some strong educational goals that the state should follow that show a balance between academic and affective goals for education. He claims that teachers should, â€Å"construct rigorous performance standards for students that promote deep thinking about the nature of our society. These efforts should acknowledge the legitimacy of a multicultural curriculum of critical questions, complexity, multiple perspective, and social imagination. They should recognize that wisdom is more than information† (Bigelow 239). I agree with his statement. When considering the famous quote, â€Å"knowledge is power†; have we gained knowledge when we have learned the means by which to pass a standardized test? Or has knowledge been gained when a student has the sense of understanding conceptual ideas about society and civilization as a whole? I feel that standardized testing is something elected state officials want because these tests provide numbers and numbers are easy to put into a spreadsheets and show which schools are getting high scores and which schools are getting low scores. It is an easy format to determine budgets; one test is suitable for all students. It is harder to define guidelines on how or what teachers should teach conceptually because that leads to a broader spectrum of learning. In conclusion, I believe that standardized tests are the â€Å"dumbing down of America†. These tests inhibit our abilities to question and reflect. The state and federal governments do not really want the American public to get smarter. They want a simple way to control what students learn and how they learn it. While many people agree that standardization is not improving learning, we are still unable to do away with these tests due to all of the politics involved. I would love for high schools to be more like colleges in that, teachers can use whatever methods of teaching they like just as professors do. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Obviously, there are essential fundamental topics that much be taught that are necessary in order to have the basic foundation on which to grow intellectually. I feel that once a student has mastered the basics, it is crucial to one’s development to discuss controversial issues and to intelligently question the ways of the world. I agree with Bill Bigelow; I do not believe that one test is a thorough determinant of a student’s ability and mastery of various concepts. A famous quote by George Santayana states, â€Å"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it†. With all the controversial issues and problems in the world, shouldn’t learning how to use one’s mind and think â€Å"outside the box† be considered an integral part of learning? Isn’t it important and valuable to society to be able to intelligently discuss solutions rather than just be considered smart because you aced the SAT?

Human Resource management and Personnel management

Human Resource management and Personnel management Human resource management is one of the modern methods, which is improved from personnel management with the inclusion of modern strategic techniques. HRM is a traditional system for management and it can be widely used in many organizations, HRM treats human resource as an intellectual capital or human capital for an organization and it is mainly focused and give to the human resource whereas personnel management treats human resources as same as the other resources of organization such as machine, money and material, etc. personnel management is mainly task oriented. Some of the characteristics difference lies among the personnel management and HRM is given in below tabular format. Personnel management is inflexible and it follows the top down approach whereas HRM is flexible and use bottom up approach. In HRM, the organization structure should be organic and it has long term perspectives whereas, in PM the organization should be mechanic and concentrated on short term perspective. HRM provide greater flexibility with employees, whereas PM are very strict and inflexible with the human resource and they follows the strict rules and regulation of an organization. HRM is reactive but personnel management was proactive in nature. Therefore for any Successful organization, HRM is very essential strategic method than the PM to manage and utilize the manpower in an optimum level (Bratton and Gold, 1999). HRM is one of the parts in an organization task, which describes how much manpower is needed and how should they be engaged with the activities, how they effectively used and managed. Human resource management is mainly integrated with all other company management process.HRM process can be illustrated below: As a Vodafone company manager, I will suggest the Head of the Department to recruit Human resource manager/specialist to manage the valuable human manpower in an effective and efficient way, which wills helps to improve our organization performance and productivity. 1 (b) HR Manager Roles Activities Vodafone HR Manager Role Vodafone main goal is to add the more value to the company compare to their competitors and to improve employee performance. The HR manager role is a function of four variables: motivation, ability, situational contingencies and role perception (McShane, 1995). The responsibilities of HR Manager are to manage the human capital/manpower and assess their performance and rewarding their workers. As a Manager, I suggest some of the roles of HR manager and it can be illustrated in below figure. Strategic Role Administrative Role Operational and employee advocate Administrative Role: This role mainly concentrates on employee data processing and record keeping, maintaining employee database and retrieving process. With the help of modern technology and outsourcing method, Vodafone human resource process has been computerized. This is reduce the cost, workforce and improve the efficiency, time and number of employees. (Robert John, 2008). Operational and employee advocate role: Human Resource manager can also be called as Morale Officer as they mainly concern with crisis management, even though HR main role is to solve the human resource problems. Human resource manger should be assisting with operating manager in order to perform his/her operating role in tactical nature. This role is mainly to identify the business policies and program to be implemented (Robert John, 2008, P10-14). Strategic Role: HR mangers are mainly concentrating on the organization realities and dealing with the future needs which include performance, rewarding and workforce planning strategic. This role can also known as contributing at the table (Robert John, 2008, P10-14), because HR are contributing to the strategic decision that is very much useful for organization success. Some of the characteristic difference between Strategic role and Operating role are given in the below tabular format. HR Activities: The main HR activities is to gain best contribution from the manpower of the company, this can be attained by the way of treating the human resource or manpower. Their activities can be affected by the external environment factor (i.e. PESTEL Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal) and HR managers should have capability to handle these environmental changes. As I manager, I have consider that the below mentioned activities are the major activities of HR Manager. Recruitment Selection: It is one of the HR managers main activities to analyze and identify the human resource requirement for an organization, this analyze will helps to fulfill the job vacancy by placing the right person at the right time and at the right place. HR Development: One of the activities of HR manager is mainly helps to improve the employee performance, productivity and ability by providing effective training. Performance Management: This will gather the detailed information of the employees behaviour while working with superior/coworkers, his/her performance, punctuality, and contribution to organization goals. This monitoring process will helps the managers in order to motivate or improve the employees by giving effective training and awareness. Rewarding: It is mainly based on the employees performance and they are compensated by announcing their promotion, rising the incentives and pay, etc. Employee relationship: The main objective of these activities is to ensure and maintain the strong and effective relationship among the high level and low level employees. This is very essential in order to update, communicate and develop the organization HR policies, rules, procedures. As a manger, they mentioned roles and activities are very important and should be carried out effectively in order to improve the organization as well as employee productivity to achieve the overall organization goal. 1 (c) HR Models There are different types of HR model available for Human resource management and are listed below: Harvard Framework Matching Model Linear Strategy Model Ten C Model Triarchic Model Competitive advantage Model Narrow Broad Perspective Business Process Model Guest Model The above mentioned Model are basically categorized into two HARD and SOFT Model. As a Vodafone Manager, I preferred two models namely Harvard Framework Model and Guest Model. This can evaluated below: Harvard Framework Model: This model is developed by Beer et al (1984) and this model can also be referred as Soft HRM Model. Te traditional framework of Harvard model mainly consists of six major components and it can be illustrated in below figure: (Michael, 2006, p4-7) Harvard framework model details description is given in below tabular format (Michael, 2006, p4-7) In this Harvard Framework model, HRM policies, rules, practices and procedures are mainly based on the organization vision, mission, objectives, strategic and goals (Srinivas, 2005, P2-6). Human resource policies and practices are affected by business internal and external factors. This mainly rely on employer-employee relationship and it mainly considers the interest of their stakeholders and analyzing how the stakeholders interest is associated with the Vodafones Objectives and this can mainly inclined by two important factors like stakeholders interest and situational factors. Harvard model helps Vodafone HR manager in plan their business strategy and propose two important approaches which are given below: HRM policies are defined by considering the stake holders interest and environmental factors (i.e. good fit between HR Policies and organization environment). Objectives of HRM policies are to achieve 4Cs: Competence, Commitment, Congruence and Cost effectiveness technique. Guests model: Guest Model is developed by David Guest for Human Resource Management, which includes some articles and exercise that can be used by the organization context. This consists of six components and it can be listed below: HRM strategy Set of HRM policies Set of HRM outcomes Organization Behavioural outcomes Performance outcomes Financial outcomes This model has granted close links between business strategies (such as Differentiation, Focus and Cost) and HRM strategy. The main objectives of this HRM practices should be planned to lead to Human Resource Management Outcomes of High manpower commitment, high quality, highly flexible employees. Employees commitment is mainly considered as a very important HRM Outcomes. This model helps to improve the behavioural outcomes such as increased effort, involvement, and cooperation and organization citizenship. According to this HRM Model, Superior performance and behavioural outcomes can be achieved only after the achievement of three major HRM Outcomes Quality, Flexibility and Commitment. Guest Models Suggests that: Only when a coherent strategy, directed towards these four policy goals, fully integrated into business strategy and fully sponsored by line management at all levels is applied, will the high productivity and related outcomes sought by industry be achieved (Guest, 1990, p.3 78). And also he added that, HRM policies are not only concentrating with selection and providing training, it can also anticipated achieving HRM policy goals. This model is mainly concentrating on individual needs than the collective workforce. Some of the HRM practices of this Guest HRM model are selection rewards, job design, involvement and appraisals. Task2 (a) Human resource planning is the main process of reviewing requirement of the human resources in the organization. The need of employees in the organization are the important factors of human resource planning , in which areas we need them ,what are the skills do we need from them, how long and when does the employees are needed. Recruiting right number of people in the right time and at the right place is the very important factor of human resource planning. A framework that helps to develop organizational skills as well as employees personal, knowledge and the abilities are said to be the Human Resource Development. Vodafone Recruitment in Vodafone takes place in two ways external recruitment and internal recruitment. Internal recruitment is nothing but promoting the skilled people to the important posts in the Company or assigning project those are on bench. External recruiting is recruiting people from outside externally by giving advertisements. In this stage initially they will identify the necessity of the people and what are the positions that are to be filled. While giving the adverts along with the job title they describe the position of the job, responsibilities and its role in the company, details of benefits and salary given to them, whether job is on a contract or permanent. The advertisement has to be given in a very attractive way to attract the applicants to apply for the job that should also contain the application receiving final date. Vodafone Company after receiving the applications conducts a written exam for them. Written exam may have reasoning, verbal, aptitude and also technical questions. These are the questions to check the basic skills and knowledge of the applicant. This exam time is around one hour. This is one of the best way to select the skilled people among the numerous numbers of people. After the completion of written exam the candidates will be short listed and called for an interview. In Vodafone Company sometimes there may be two kinds of interviews conducted i.e., personal interview and technical interview. Technical interview will be conducted to know the technical skills of the candidate. This is one of the important round if the candidate applied for a post belongs to technical background. He will be posed the questions which are related to the job and asked if they have any relevent experience. Personal interview is the last stage. Apart from this sometimes telephonic interview is also conducted. This interview is held to know why he is applying for this particular position, why he has chosen particularly this company, what all the things he knows about the Vodafone Company. Also to test whether he suits for that particular position he have applied for and he will be able to fulfil all the responsibilities of that postion. (b) The same recruitment process the Vodafone is still following but with some changes. Now the company is going to recruit the people from university campuses. It is one of the best procedures for them to recruit the freshers and they can shape them into areas they are looking for or required. Earlier in the written test there were no negative marks for the wrong answers because applicant sometimes may just try the luck and selects one of the options to answer the question so it will become difficult to understand the skills of them. So, if there are negative marks for wrong answers then they only try to answer the questions if they know the answers exactly. Now the Vodafone company conducting group discussions as well. This will take around 30minutes. A particular topic is given to the members and they will be asked to discuss about the topic for certain specific time period. To test the candidate leadership qualities group discussions are conducted . Also once they come into into the company they will have to work in a team. So, to examine how good they are performing in a team the group discussions are very important. In todays world the job is not constant and the members around us may change. Candidate has to work and get along with different types of the people and in the different kind of environment. So Group discussions are most important in this way. There are not many changes in the process of recruitment but only a little change gives very good results. (c) Vodafone Company follows some of the selection practices and procedures. In these panel members, Hr managers, Company managers have some responsibilities in the selection and the recruitment process. In selecting a member , the company manager is responsible. He should make sure that all the members are involved in the process of recruitment. He should be up to date with the selection framework and the policies of council. He has to inform to the Hr managers that there is a vacancy to be filled. The legal frame work which means while selecting a member into the company there should not be any discrimination. Discrimination in grounds of caste, religion, gender, disability, or race is unlawful. There is direct discrimination as well as indirect discrimination. Direct discrimination which means when a particular person is favoured less than all the others. Indirect discrimination which means it occurs when the particular group may cause disadvantage to the position. There is a positive discrimination as well such as guarantee jobs only for disabled employees, taking interviews only for the people those who are not short listed etc. (d) Selection is a very important process in any organization because if the process of selection is not good and the proper skilled people are not recruited which will affect the profits of the company. Hiring process of Vodafone is very good because of which it is one of the leading mobile company in the world. The selection procedure has to be in such a way that the member selected should be suitable for the position. They spend lot of money by the company during selection process. So, there must not be any kind of delays while conducting them and they must be organized in a well planned manner. Hr department is the responsible for filling a job in any organization. They will inform to their supervisors and the line managers to fill the position stating the rules and regulations for that particular position. Task3 (a) Reward Management and Performance appraisals are very important for Vodafone employees to improve their performance, which is the key for company performance. It will help them to identify their faults and area for improvement, and to take necessary action to achieve them. As the company performance is depends on the employee performance, it is very important to monitor the employees performance and reward to motivate them to perform better. 360 degree feedback is the method, which provides an opportunity for every employee to receive their performance feedback, which collected from co-workers, supervisors, customers, manager and also from other discipline staffs. It is very famous now a day, as it is one of the accurate assessment method than others. Because the feedback received from one person is less effective than feedback received from many people and areas. Ratings are much more accurate as it taken from various people and it is purely depends on the employee performance. This 360 degree feedback helps the employees to measure themselves and helps to identify their strengths and weaknesses, and also areas for improvement. Normally employee gives feedback by filling the questionnaire model. It is a motivational element and which has been accepted by many organization and its participants. This feedback also helps both the employees as well the organization depending on the feedback received. Rewards are awarded to employees according to their performance rating and it was awarded on regular basis in Vodafone Company. This system also helps Vodafone to express their views in achieving companys success. Employment feedback and customer feedback both are the very important things in any organization. Employee performance can be assessed from co-employees, supervisors, managers, customers feedback that, how the candidate performed during the period of time. These may include his/her achievements, career plan, skills, problems, areas for improvement, etc. Some employees are directly talk and interact with the clients, so the clients feedback are also sometime important to reward the employee. Not only them, all other employees are also important to discuss with their future plans and the strategies. The organization must provide solutions for negative feedback, which raised from employees. This strategy also helps the organization to provide best service for their customers. Well performed employees are rewarded annual appraisal with next level promotion, pay rise or instant prizes, etc., which will encourage the employee as well as motivate others to perform enthusiastically. Also appraisal system enables the employee to see in which area he/she needs to improve in order to step u p his/her career which also simultaneously improve organization performance. Therefore, the organization is also able to identify and provide necessary training for their employees for their career development. (b) Exit procedure will take place when an employee is resigned or layoff his job. Once the employee decides to leave the organization, he/she must provide written resignation letter his/her department manager for approval and also it facilitates department manager to plan for the future workload or new recruitment well in advance. Then it is department managers responsibility to forward that resignation letter to HR department. HR looks every option to avoid resignation as the new recruitment is not cost effective. If no way, then HR confirms and sends a letter to candidate with last employment date according to accepted notice period. During the notice period the candidate must work or handover the remaining task to someone as directed by his/her supervisor. When an employee leaves the organization, he/she must be treated equally. Different exit methods are followed my different companies, but these are mainly to know the reason why he/she wants to leave the company whether is it a personal reason or due to non-satisfaction such as company rules, salary or any other reasons. The main important reason for exit interview is to update or correct the internal management errors within the organization. HR is responsible for arranging exit interview for that employee. HR department is got some responsibilities as well in exit procedure. To gather the information of the employee they will send a questionnaire to employee that includes what is the reason the employee is leaving the organization and get feedback from him/her. Exit interview will be conducted to collect the information from the candidate who may be useful to improve the organization growth by rectifying management problems, if any. While recruiting, majority of the organization has the contract with its employees. The employee needs to sign on bond paper mentioning that he/she will work for that organization for certain duration without taking any other job outside the organization. In this case, the exit procedure may be totally differs, as the employee breaching his conditions he/she may be liable to pay for notice period or compensation if he/she decides to leave the organization during contract tenure. (c) Redundancy takes place when the taskforce is reduced or reorganized due to the changes in business environment such as recession, relocation, downturn workload etc. The selection criteria for redundancy are mainly helpful for an organization, when it needs to dismiss number of employees from the pool of employees. In this case, the criteria of selection had been clearly set and defined in the organization policy, which applicable to every employee of the organization. The representatives of the employees also must have to agree with these criteria. Redundancy must be approved by the employer and HR must inform to their all group of employees with reason for redundancy. Management must look every option to avoid redundancy, as the recruitment is very expensive now days. If any group of the employees were performing the same work then, there will a chance for inter changeability of the work. The selection criteria for redundancy must follow the combinations of individual Performance, Q ualifications, skills, time records and attendance, flexibility, capability, special skills, disciplinary record, length of service, etc and every employee of the organization must be treated equally. Selection of employee must be as fair selection. Some of the criterias might raise some problems like disability grounds, sex, religion, maternity grounds, race, trade unions and other legal issues. Therefore the organization must have the clear policies and making procedures for fair redundancy selection.