Critically Discuss the Impact of Classical and Positivist Theory on the Concepts and Practices of Policing

In this essay, Classical and Positivist theories of criminology will be explored and critically discussed to explore the impacts that they have had on modern day policing, introduction of laws, and police practice. The essay will first look at the history of the Classical Theory looking at Beccaria and Benthams classical school of criminology and its effects in a brief section. Positivist theorists will then be identified and the theory will be discussed, outlining the main thesis and beliefs of both of the theories.How each theory defines a criminal will then be taken into consideration and the relations of theories like the broken windows theory (Wilson and Kelling 82), labelling theory (Becker 1982), strain theory (Merton 1957) and rational choice theory (Homos 1961) will be used throughout the essay to explore the effects that the classical and positivist theories have had on police concepts like public order policing and community policing, touching on criminal justice systems a nd modern day police practice.Classical Criminological though can be traced to the criminal justice system and the penal system. Beccarias 1764 Publication on crime and punishments introduced a serious consideration into the harm caused to society by crime, and ideological outline of the basis for punishments and the relationship between the state and the offender (Beccaria 2003). Beccaria Stated in his approach to the prevention of crime that it is often distilled down to three ideas, and that it is fundamentally a product of Certainty; how likely punishment is to occur.Celerity; How quickly punishment is inflicted. and Severity; how much pain is inflicted (Newburn 2007). Another later criminologist; Jeremy Bentham, then published writings on the penology and notions of â€Å"rational free-willed character of offenders† (Maguire et al 2002) and forwarded the study of crime in that the central concerns of free will and rational choice came together to attempt a more logical a nalysis of crime and suitable punishment.In the twilight years of the 19th century the emergence of the Italian school of criminology sparked a departure in thinking on the study of crime the schools founding member Cesare Lombroso introduced a holy bible of sorts into the criminological world in that he contributed to the introduction of scientific methodology in regard to the study of crime. Lombroso most notably introduced a biological positivism into the study of crime.An â€Å"Atavistic Heredity† (Lombroso 1911) in relation to the cause of offending where physical features were viewed as evidence of an innately criminal nature in a kind of criminal anthropology. His work was then continued and elaborated by two other Italian scholars Ferri (1856-1929) and Garofalo (1852-1934) (Newburn 2007).Ferri and Garofalo elaborated on the environmental factors that can also effect criminal behaviour in relation to positivist criminology. Positivism carries the main assumptions that the methods of the natural sciences should and could be applied to the social world.Suggesting natural sciences should be used as the method base to analyse and conduct research in relation to policing and policing concepts. Positivists believe that research should consist of social knowledge and scientific knowledge through observation and scientific data. Facts must be separated from values and usually, there is a preference for a use of quantitative data over qualitative (adapted from Bottoms 2000, cited in Newburn 2007). In 1913 Positivist theorist Charles Goring published a book called The English Convict.This book logged the study he undertook which took place over 13 years, the study involved examining 3,000 British convicts against a controlled group of non-convict males to try and find out if the criminal could be categorised to a certain type of person, no significant physical differences were found between the two groups. (Goring 1913) Critical of this study and convinced that the criminal is organically inferior (Quoted in Brown et al 2004) Earnest Hooton conducted his own research into the criminal as a certain type of person and introduced Somatyping into positivist criminology.Somatyping involves the belief that evolution was dominated by superior types, arguing that a criminal had a certain type and evolution could eventually eradicate the criminal. Hooton was criticised for having poor data and an unrepresentative control group. However Hooton's work then sparked this idea in the Positivist Criminology theorists as William Sheldon then looked into Somatypes further in 1949 (Newburn 2007) and concluded that there were three types of body a person has: Endomorph, Mesomorph and Ectomorph.These body types were basically short and fat, Large and muscular and Lean and fragile. Sheldon argued that each of these body types was related to particular personality traits and that all individuals possessed varied traits however certain traits were more pre dominant than others. In modern day policing and criminology we use a theory called the labelling theory. This theory was first put forward by Howard Becker in 1963, Becker claimed that criminal elements are associated with physical appearance and the criminal becomes a label attached to a certain type of person.In 2011 it was common belief that a criminal wore a certain type of clothing which was a hooded jacket or ‘Hoodie'. Articles were even published in the newspapers like the Guardian (Guardian 2011) under title â€Å"The power of the Hoodie†. Amplified by the media this piece of clothing became an instant link to criminal behaviour and deviance. Positivist theory can be linked in here with the labelling theory to show the development in the idea of a ‘Criminal type' and show how in modern day policing we are using these theories to determine and define the word criminal.Following the work of Emile Durkheim, Robert K Merton's Strain theory (1957) can also be linked into this concept as the positivist belief is that criminal behaviour can be encouraged by social physical and biological elements, the strain theory thesis is that pressure from social surroundings can encourage an individual to commit crime. If an individual is singled out by Somatype or through labelling theory, they may feel social strain or believe that they should become deviant which could actually pressure said individual into committing criminal acts.An example of where this kind of concept was familiar was when the London riots happened in 2011. Classical criminology however argues against the concept of a criminal being defined by a certain type. Bentham stated that every person has free will and is able to make a rational choice based on the situation they are in at the time and what they feel would be the appropriate action to take. Classicism disagrees with the positivist view of a criminal only being a certain type of person and believes that the criminal deriv es from within any person.Everybody has free will, and the ability to make an informed decision on their actions in any situation they may be in, therefore believing that the criminal is an element every person has the possibility to exploit instead of positivist theory of the criminal element being biologically woven into a persons DNA. Classicism had a major effect on the criminal justice system and penology, punishments were believed to be best given on account of the appropriateness of the crime in question. This idea became the basis for our criminal justice systems today.With the introduction of the classical school of criminology the use of capital punishment and torture was on the decline and in their place the introduction of prison systems as core elements of the justice systems and punishment systems we have today.The abolishment of capital punishment has had an indescribably huge effect on our modern penal systems, the effects are vast however include the introduction of fundamental law like the Human Rights Act (HRA 1998). Acts like this are incredibly important in criminal trials and allow every person to have rights to things like the right to a fair trial and the right to prohibition of torture.Classical criminology influenced these modern day laws as its theorists believed in the concept that the punishment for crime should be based on the scale of what has been done and should be appropriate to the crime itself. Classical Criminology has influenced the constructions of our prison systems as becoming the core element of the way we punish criminals instead of using inhumane methods through capital punishment by considering the scale of the crime and deciding on an appropriate sentence for the criminal.Here another theory can be looked at which has been shaped by the classicism theories and beliefs. This theory is the Rational Choice theory (Homas 1961). the theory is based around the assumptions that criminal activity is committed by an individ ual after weighed up the risk and reward of an action, if the person believes that the reward is greater than the risk they may be more likely to commit a crime than if the risk was greater than the reward. This theory is supportive of Benthams notes of free will and rational choice.Free will and rational choice can be used to help explain the way we police through public order. In a public order policing situation, like a protest or a riot every person who attends and participates does so out of their own free will, a protester may not riot because they may believe that the risk of being arrested is greater than the reward of violently voicing their opinions.However positivism argues that a criminal is a definitive type of person and can be influenced by social physical or biological surroundings. These assumptions can be seen in the cases of rioting and community crime.The London riots happened in 2011 and they escalated throughout the country with riots happening in places like B irmingham, Liverpool and Manchester as well as other locations. The reasons that these sparked off is because of the social influence that was pressuring younger people to join in, here the broken windows theory (Wilson and Kelling 82), labelling theory (Becker 1982), strain theory (Merton 1957) and rational choice theory (Homos 1961) can all be related through classicism and positivist views to our modern day policing methods.Broken windows theory states that a run down or derelict area can encourage crime, this relates to the positivist assumption of criminal behaviour being encouraged by the physical surroundings and the evidence of this happening in the London Riots is when all the shops had been broken into and fires had been started. The streets were wrecked and this would have encouraged acts of violence.Merton's strain theory and Beckers labelling theory are also applicable here as the social strain of most young youths committing the crime would encourage more young people to commit crime, because the individuals could see crimes being committed around them without any action being taken, this would have further encouraged deviance as rational choice theory says the risk is lower than reward. These positivist based theories meant police in the London riots and most public order situations would target younger individuals to try and find criminal activity and arrests.The Classicism side of influence on Public Order would then come after the arrest in trial where they would be questioned why they had committed these crimes out of their own free will and then put through the justice system, being sentenced on the classical assumption that the punishment should be appropriate to the crime committed. Positivist assumptions can also be linked into the concept of community policing. Positivists believe that crime and criminal behaviour can be influenced through social and physical surroundings.Wilson and Kelling (1982) also believe this is the case as their broken windows theory looks at how the area a person lives in can affect their attitude towards crime and committing crime. Through the Classicism belief of community deterrence police practices have been introduced to arm the police with powers that they can use to their advantage against the war on crime. The Police and Criminal Evidence act (1984) and The Police Reform Act (2002) has seen the introduction of new police powers and a new national policing plan.These police practices include powers like stop and search. Stop and search gives the ability for any police constable to stop any citizen and search them if they believe they have reasonable grounds to do so. Classicism and Positivist theories have also had an effect on the way that we police our communities. PCSOs (police community support officers) were introduced in 2002 under the police reform act (2002) and help to improve community relations with the police.This police practice supports the positivist beliefs that crim inals can be influenced through social and physical surroundings as better relationships are built with the community and things like team projects are created to improve derelict areas and social situations people may find themselves in by offering things like youth clubs and activities. This deters crime by drawing people away from delinquency and encouraging them to take part in constructive, positive activity.Theorist David Matza outlined that the positivist theory drew on three sets of problematic assumptions:the first being Differentiation;the assumption that offenders can be separated from non-offenders by definitive characteristics, the second being Determinism; the assumption that biological, physiological or social factors affect the criminal and criminal behaviour and the third being Pathology;the assumption that an offender is an offender due to something going wrong in their lifetime (Tierney 1996).The problems of these views are that the fail to take into account the a spect of rationality, choice and human decision making. They define a criminal as a certain person, and if a person falls into the category of what has been defined by the positivist theory as a criminal it means that they must carry the traits of a criminal which is simply not true as proven by Charles Gorings work (1913). Classicism theory argues rational choice and free will, however what if a person has the impaired ability to make decisions and acts without being rational.Power and wealth is also a problem with the theory, if the classicism theory applied to all in the same sense then why is it that people who have less power and wealth tend to be the more predominant resident of the criminal justice system and not the wealthy. there are other factors that both these theories have not taken into consideration throughout their thesis, they are also very much at opposite ends of the scale.The positivist theory says that criminals are a type of person and the classicism theory say s that a criminal offence can be committed by anybody as well all have free will and rational choice. Without the Classical school of Criminology and The positivist theorists vital procedure and acts would not have been put into place that are fundamental today for the way our society and criminal justice system operates. Classicism changed the way we sentence criminals and the construct of our prison systems which are of prestigious importance to the modern justice system.Positivist theory has influenced the way we police in terms of public order and community policing through the introduction of the Human Rights Act (1998), the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) and the Police Reform Act (2002). These acts have allowed the modern day police to be able to take the best assumptions from the classicism theorists and the best assumptions from the positivists and use them to create a criminal justice system that incorporates the best of each theory into the police practices and co ncepts that are used from day to day in modern day policing.

Critical Care Sound Environments Health And Social Care Essay

ABSTRACT. Intensive attention units in infirmaries take attention of critically sick patients under really nerve-racking conditions. A turning literature is demoing that intensive attention units ( ICUs ) are frequently really noisy and frequently transcending World Health Organization ( WHO ) guidelines1,2. However few surveies have linked more elaborate analyses of the sound environment, such as mean sound force per unit area degrees, transient sound degrees, and spectral distribution, to nurse well-being and public presentation. This survey differs from old surveies in several ways. Namely, we have studied the possible impact of layout design applications on the features of ICU sound environments. This was accomplished by comparing the subjective and nonsubjective qualities of two ICU sound environments with different layout designs. Furthermore, the survey included: 1 ) detailed nonsubjective and subjective noise degree measurings at multiple locations in each of the two units st udied, and 2 ) analysis of the association between the aim and subjective noise degrees via different statistical trials, including analysis of the impact of the ICU sound environments on sensed nurse results.I. IntroductionThe sound environments of ICUs are aurally demanding while nurses endeavor to put to death complex undertakings. It hence becomes of import to understand the acceptable and unacceptable subjective and nonsubjective qualities of the ICU sound environments from the nurses` point of position. In this survey, we believe nurses ‘ perceptual experience of their workplace sound environment is critical for the rating of undertaking and nurse well-being supportive ICU sound environments. By matching the subjective perceptual experience measurings with nonsubjective sound degree measurings, we can derive a more thorough appreciation of how physical and perceptual acoustic parametric quantities interact in the ICU scene. In order to cast visible radiation on these con cerns, we focused on the undermentioned research inquiries in this comparative research survey: 1 ) Do nonsubjective noise degrees differ: ( a ) between assorted locations within an single critical attention unit? ( B ) when comparing similar locations in the two critical attention units to each other? ( degree Celsius ) when comparing overall ( mean ) degrees in the two critical attention units to each other? ; 2 ) Do nurses` noise-induced irritation and loudness perceptual experience differ: ( a ) between assorted locations within an single critical attention unit? ( B ) when comparing similar locations in the two critical attention units to each other? ; 3 ) Does the sensed impact of overall noise degrees in the workplace on subjective nurse wellbeing and work public presentation differ when comparing two units to each other? ; 4 ) Is there a relationship between aim and subjective noise degrees? ; 5 ) Is there a relationship between noise degrees and noise-induced nurse results? II. PREVIOUS RESEARCHA. Overview of Hospital Acousticss1. ResultsThe acoustic environment in infirmaries can impact all residents, including staff, patients, and visitants. The undermentioned treatment in relation to the focal point of this survey is largely limited to the effects of noise on staff members: emphasis and irritation ; work public presentation ; wellness results and work overload. Information about how hospital acoustics may impact patients and visitants can be found in beginnings such as Bush-Vishniac et Al. 2 and Ryherd et al.3. The staff ‘s well-being, efficiency and effectivity in presenting attention and executing critical undertakings is critical to maximise patient safety, satisfaction, and attention quality in ICUs. Stress-annoyance: Intensive care unit are nerve-racking attention scenes that can be exacerbated by the centripetal overload caused by environmental factors, including the acoustic environment. Stress is the person ‘s assessment of a mis match between perceived demand and perceived self-capabilities to get by 4. Depending on the badness and continuance, it may take to illness ( i.e. , elevated blood force per unit area, dyspepsia ) , behavioural alterations ( i.e, unhappiness, depression, negative attitudes ) . Anxiety is a psychological responses to environmental stimulations or activity bring forthing rousing 5. Excessive anxiousness degrees can take to upsets. Like anxiousness, irritation is one of the early psychological responses which reflects the unwantedness of the environment stimuli 6. Irritation relates to the invasion of a stimulation on a mental or physical activity. In one survey, higher mean sound force per unit area degrees predicted higher sensed emphasis, and perceived irritation degrees in a Pediatric-ICU 7. In another survey, less sensitiveness to resound and greater personality robustness ( such as committedness, control, and challenge ) were linked with less noise-induced emphasis 8. In the same survey, ICUs nurses working eight-hour eventide displacements reported that they were significantly distressed by noise. There is some grounds that high noise degrees in attention scenes contribute to staff emphasis and irritation. However, the figure of noise-induced nurse emphasis surveies conducted in the ICUs is really limited. Work public presentation: Hospital sound environments that are supportive of infirmary undertakings could potentially better staff effectivity in presenting attention. Improved nurse work public presentation in ICUs can forestall inauspicious events, better health care quality, and optimise resource use. The survey fou nd that noise in the workplace was perceived to hold a negative impact on staff work public presentation and concentration 3. A Neonatal-ICU survey showed that sound that exceeds 55dBA most of the clip can potentially interfere with work. This multidisciplinary literature reappraisal survey highlighted that undertakings necessitating rapid reaction clip and watchfulness are sensitive to resound. Noise-induced work public presentation research has been more normally conducted in the operating theatres 9-11. The impact of noise on staff public presentation ( particularly in ICUs ) has non been widely examined. Health results: The acoustic environment throughout the infirmary may lend to negative ague or chronic symptoms in staff. Critical attention nursing is a really demanding occupation and it requires uninterrupted watchfulness, watchfulness, and wellbeing to carry on critical undertakings efficaciously. The survey found that of the 47 ICU nurses surveyed in an ICU, reported annoya nce, weariness and concerns due to workplace noise 3. The earlier mentioned survey besides showed that addition in mean sound degrees was significantly related to an addition in bosom rate 7. Elevated bosom rate can tie in with cardiovascular harm particularly in hypertensive persons 12. Noise-induced hearing loss has been the concern for executing sawboness in the operating theatres 13,14. However, noise-induced wellness results ( including hearing loss ) of ICU nurses` have non yet been the focal point of hospital noise literature. Work overload: Work overload can be critically of import for overall wellbeing of staff. Poor acoustical conditions in workplaces can worsen staff attitude and perceived work overload. When noise degrees exceed a nurse ‘s get bying abilities it can take to centripetal overload 6. Centripetal overload can do emotional exhaustion, dissatisfaction, and decreased sense of personal achievement. This in bend can do feelings of ineffectualness, awkwardne ss, low satisfaction, and perceived deficiency of success 15. In one survey, it was found that medicine mistake and other inauspicious events necessary for patient safety were associated with emotional exhaustion and staff burnout 16. In another survey it was besides found that nurse emphasis due to ICU noise was positively related to nurse emotional exhaustion and burnout17. Hagerman et Al. showed that in a coronary bosom unit enhanced acoustical conditions such as decreased echo clip and improved address intelligibility improved staff attitude perceived by patients 18. The limited bing grounds points to a important job that should be investigated farther to find appropriate acoustic conditions that will minimise negative work overload effects.2. Acoustic prosodiesThere is a turning organic structure of literature on infirmary noise. Many of those surveies focus on qualifying overall noise degrees in a assortment of hospital infinites including ICU ‘s, but few of them focuses specifically on ICU staff response 3. A assortment of different methods have been used in qualifying the infirmary sound environment. The grounds of these methodological analysis differences are non good known 3 but may be related to motivations such as single penchants, practicality, common sense, convenience, the degree of proficient expertness, etc. ( 1 ) Overall noise degree steps: These steps have been preferred most normally. This may be based on their practicality and convenience, in add-on to their incorporation into assorted guidelines such as WHO. Leq, Lmin, Lmax and Lpeak sound degrees can supply a general overview of the sound environment, but they remain limited for the elaborate analysis of the sound environment. ( a ) Leq: It enables the speedy comparing of the noise degrees with recommended values and those in other types of infinites. Therefore, it might be widely accepted as to be the primary step to depict a sound environment. This might besides happen in relatio n to the degree of proficient expertness required to show some penetration about more elaborate features of the sound environment. However, this common belief can be misdirecting about the truth and adequateness of the usage of chiefly Leq degrees. ( B ) Lmax, Lpeak and Lmin: The highest and the lowest values measured over clip provide more information about the overall noise degree fluctuations. In most instances, these steps are conventionally used to depict infirmary sound environments. However, these values remain unidimensional and level to depict the general tendency in sound environment. ( 2 ) Detailed noise degree steps: To counterbalance the restrictions of the overall sound steps, the usage of extra acoustic prosodies is critical for the elaborate analysis of the sound environment. Compared to above mentioned sound steps, Ln percentile ( Ln ) , echo clip ( RT ) , speech intelligibility ( SI ) , and the spectral content such as frequence analysis and noise standards steps h ave been less normally used. Hospital acoustic research has been the involvement of different research groups such as medical groups and proficient groups. Based on the group ‘s proficient expertness on the subject, some acoustic prosodies might hold been preferred to the others. ( a ) Sound quality related steps: In the ICUs, there is diverseness of noise beginnings such as dismaies, HVAC systems, conversation and medical equipment. Those noise beginnings generate noises with different frequences and sound forms. Ln percentiles and spectral content analysis become of import for elaborate analysis of fluctuations, tonic content, spectral distribution, and other features in the noise degrees over clip. ( B ) Speech quality related steps: Some other specific features of the infirmary room acoustic environment have been described with the usage of extra acoustic prosodies such as SI and RT. To construe the intervention of the infirmary noise degrees and room conditions with criti cal medical communications, SI has been used. To stand for the degree of drawn-out being of noises that can perchance overlap and interfere or dissemble the other sounds, RT has been used.3. Measuring ICU sound environmentsMethods applied during the sound sample aggregations can hold important impact on the appraisal of the infirmary sound environments. There has non been a widely accepted understanding about how the sound samples should be collected to qualify the complex and dynamic ICU sound environments in close propinquity to occupant experience 3. However there has been some consensus on a few methodological considerations among different ICU-noise surveies such as locations where sound informations collected in the attention scenes. Noise degrees in the ICU patient suites have been normally documented. Sound recordings took topographic point either in a representative patient room 3,19,20 or in more than one patient room with different characteristics such as distance to the nurse station, occupied-empty, figure of patient beds 2,7,21-28. There was a good understanding on the location of the sound metre: every bit near as possible to patient caput – to capture what the patient hears- while avoiding any intervention with nurse work flow. Hanging the mike from the top of the medical tower in the patient room has been introduced as a practical solution 3. Different continuances were preferred for the aggregation of sound samples such as 168hr, 72hr, 24hr, and 8hr at patient locations. Among those, 24hr entering period was more widely accepted than others. A few ICU-noise surveies have conducted different continuance noise degree measurings at the nurse Stationss such as 24hr and 168hr 2,26,27. Busch-Vishniac et Al. described the sound environment of one more puting – hallways- in their survey and placed the metre at the room centre 2. Largely the merchandises of two companies have been preferred to mensurate sound degrees: Larson Davis and Br uel & A ; Kj?r. It was non a common attack to document the sound metre scenes used. Much of the noise degree measurings were conducted based on slow response clip ( 1sec ) as suggested by Occupational Safety and Health ( OSHA ) for typical occupational noise measurings 2,28,29. Some surveies used fast response clip ( 0.125sec ) as suggested by WHO 3,21. When recorded based on fast response clip, more fluctuations can be expected in the sound degrees. The penchants among averaging intervals varied and ranged between 5sec and 24hr ( i.e. 30sec, 1min, 5minaˆÂ ¦etc. ) . Among ICU-noise surveies the usage of 1min averaging interval was more common likely because it enables a more elaborate expression to the clip history informations. Sound recordings were normally analyzed as a map of clip. Day clip and dark clip mean sound degrees were normally reported. Among the reviewed ICU-noise surveies, non many of them were conducted during the weekends but during the weekdays. Morrison et A l. and Ryherd et Al. considered twenty-four hours and dark clip based on 12s hr nurse displacements ( twenty-four hours time:7am-7pm ; dark clip: 7pm-7am ) 3,7. MacKenzie and Galbrun considered the twenty-four hours and dark clip periods based on WHO guidelines ( 16hour twenty-four hours time:7am-11pm ; 8hr dark time:11pm-7am ) 21. In drumhead, consistence of the methodological penchants in infirmary acoustics research can be really helpful for the dependability of the comparings between the consequences of different surveies.III. METHODOLOGYPutingThe research was conducted in two intensive attention units ( ICU ) at Emory University Hospital. Neurological ICU ( Neuro-ICU ) is a late opened 20- bed unit ( Fig. 2 ) . This unit received the â€Å" ICU Design Citation † award in 2008 for its design purpose to heighten the critical attention environment for patients, households and clinicians. Some unit design features include big private patient suites with household studio, dis trusted nurse work countries and care support countries and a scope of noise cut downing applications. High public presentation absorbent acoustic ceiling tiles and bead ceiling applications reside chiefly along the two parallel sides of the corridors and at the nurse Stationss, painted dry wall, vinyl flooring and 6ft broad ( two-wing ) glass patient room doors are some of the surface applications in the unit. Patient attention nucleus of the Neuro-ICU sits about on 19,000sqft. This nursing floor has a bunch type layout. The layout is composed of a six- bed and fourteen- bed bunchs. Each bunch has a cardinal nurse station with its ain attention support countries ( e.g. medicine room, supply roomaˆÂ ¦etc ) and computerized patient monitoring system. In entire, the unit has two cardinal nurse Stationss and 17 distributed nurse work countries. Approximately one-third of the 390sqft patient room is segregated from the patient attention country by a semi-opaque glass wall and good equipped for household demands. Approximately one-third of the patient attention nucleus floor country is occupied by the corridors. The length of the corridors is 600ft. Entire Neuro-ICU includes extra infinites such as public household countries, CT scan lab, and a curative garden. With all these infinites, the entire Neuro-ICU sits about on 24,000sqft. The Medical Surgical ICU ( MedSurg-ICU ) is a 1980s epoch twenty-bed unit ( Fig. 1 ) . Compared to the other unit, MedSurg-ICU has a more traditional physical environment with ceiling tile, vinyl flooring, 5ft broad ( two-wing ) glass patient door and painted dry wall surface applications. Patient attention nucleus of this unit sits about on 8,800sqft. The nursing floor has a triangular form race path layout design – medical and support countries are located in the centre and patient suites are located on the margin and the corridor separates these two infinite types. Twenty private patient suites are organized around one big triangular form service hub. This hub contains two patient monitoring cores – each serves to ten patients- at the corners and a centralised attention support country. Patient suites in this unit are about 190sqft and equipped with a Television like the patient suites in the other unit. This peculiar layout type requires the usage of unintegrated co rridors for staff and household members. Approximately, one-quarter of the patient attention nucleus floor country is occupied by the staff corridor. The length of the staff corridor is 240ft. Entire MedSurg ICU including the household corridor environing the unit, sits about on 12,500sqft. In contrast to the physical environment differences, both units apply similar staffing theoretical accounts with intensivists and nurse practicians and suit critical attention patients with similar sharp-sightedness degrees. In both units, by and large ten to twelve registered nurses are working during each displacement. The Neuro-ICU nurses largely work 12-hr displacements ( 7am-7pm, 7pm-7am ) ; the MedSurg-ICU nurses besides work 8-hr displacements ( 7am-3pm, 3pm-11pm, and 11pm-7am ) . In both units, nurses can work either at the weekend or during the weekdays or both ; during the twenty-four hours clip or dark clip or both.Measures1. SoundObjective and subjective noise degree measurings in two units were conducted during two back-to-back months. In both units, same processs were applied. Objective noise degree measurings were conducted at four different locations in each unit: centralised nurse station, empty patient room, occupied patient suites with and without respiratory venti lator and multiple informations points in the corridors. A sum of 96-hr uninterrupted stationary noise degree measuring was conducted at the nurse station of each unit from Thursday to Monday. Saturday and Sunday was deliberately included as it has non been much addressed in the literature. In each unit, 24-hr uninterrupted stationary sound degree measurings were conducted in the occupied patient suites without respiratory ventilator during a weekday. In relation to limited entree, merely 45-min sound samples were collected from the occupied patient suites with respiratory ventilator. Similarly in each unit, 45-min uninterrupted stationary sound degree measuring was conducted an empty patient room while patient room doors were closed. At the corridors, multiple 15-min sound samples were collected at indiscriminately selected times during twenty-four hours and dark. In entire, about 246-hr sound informations was collected from both units. For the computation of overall noise degrees in each unit, all sound informations collected at different locations were taken into consideration. Medical equipment dismaies happening in the patient suites, patient proctor dismaies happening both in the patient suites and at the nurse Stationss, sound of the ice machine engine, phone ring, staff conversation, turn overing medical carts in the corridors were some of the common noises in two units. In MedSurg-ICU nurses are paged via overhead beepers. In Neuro-ICU 3G-phones or regular phones at the baies are used alternatively. At the corridors, the mike was located at a tallness of 4.5ft somewhat off the room centre and stabilized on a tripod. In the patient room, the mike was hanged from the ceiling at a tallness of 6ft. The distance between the patient ‘s caput and the mike was minimized every bit much as possible. Similarly, mike was hanged from the ceiling at the nurse station at a tallness of 6ft. In Neuro-ICU, the sound metre was set up at the nurse station of fourteen-bed side. In MedSurg-ICU, sound metre was located at somewhat off the centre of the cardinal nurse work zone in the centre of the unit. Sound information was collected utilizing a fast response clip for upper limit and lower limit degrees ( 0.125 s ) as recommended by World Health Organization ( Berglund and Lindvall 1999 ) . Three Larson Davis-type 824 sound degree metres were used and collected informations was downloaded via Larson Davis 824 Utility package. For unattended field measurings, two Lockable Larson Davis outdoor me asurement instances were used. . For safety intents, 50ft mike extension overseas telegram was run from each outdoor sound metre instance to the walls and eventually to the mark point on the ceiling. The out-of-door noise measuring instance was placed carefully at a topographic point out of the nurse manner. Before any installing effort, proposed locations for the arrangement of sound metre at different locations in the units were approved by the charge nurse. One-minute averaging interval was used. One-third octave set informations was obtained. The dynamic scope was 80dB un-weighted from floor-38dB to overload-118dB.2. Self-reportAn electronic study was administered to 90 and 60 five registered nurses working in Neuro-ICU and MedSurg-ICU severally. Nurses were contacted via electronic mail by the nurse pedagogue of each unit and they gave their consents online. The study consisted of four subdivisions: nurse profile and working conditions, perceived sound environment in the workpl ace, perceived impact of noise degrees on nurse results, general hearing wellness and noise sensitiveness. Survey response rate was 39 % and 35 % in Neuro-ICU and MedSurg-ICU severally. In Neuro-ICU, 85 % of the nurses participated in the survey was full clip and 15 % was portion clip nurses. In MedSurg-ICU, 70 % of the nurses participated in the survey was full clip ; 26 % was portion clip and the remainder was PRN. In two units more than 80 % of the nurse population was female. Similarly, in both units more than 80 % of the nurses were younger than fifty old ages old.IV. ResultA. Objective noise degrees1. Make nonsubjective noise degrees differ when comparing overall ( mean ) degrees in the two critical attention units to each other?Noise degrees measured at multiple different locations in each unit are averaged for the computation overall noise degrees including Leq ( assumed name ) , Lmax ( dubnium ) , Lpeak ( dBC ) and Lmin ( dubnium ) . Those locations are: nurse station empty patient room, corridors and occupied patient suites with and without the respiratory ventilator. To clear up, in order to spread out the sample size, measurings conducted in the occupied patient room with ventilator were besides considered in the computation of overall noise degrees for each unit. In MedSurg ICU and Neuro-ICU overall averaged Leq, LMax, LMin and LPeak noise degrees ranged between 57-58dBA, 105-97dB, 57.5-54dB, and 120-113dBC severally. Detailed consequences are shown in Fig. 2. For elucidation intents, in this paper the term â€Å" averaged † does non reflect the calculation methods used but refers to the consideration of multiple measurings in the computation of individual noise degree. More elaborate analysis consequences are shown in Fig. 3. This chart represents the per centum of clip that different degree unprompted sounds ( LFMax ) in the scenes exceeded peculiar noise degrees. This type analysis consequences are referred as â€Å" happening rate â₠¬  in this paper. In both units more than 98 % of the clip LMax noise degrees exceeded 70dB. It was more than 96 % of clip that LPeak noise degrees exceeded 80dBC in both units. Finally, it is possible to reason, the difference between overall averaged LAeq degrees in Neuro-ICU and MedSurg ICU are unperceivable. Information about perceptual experience of alteration in sound intensivity can be found in Mehta et al 30. However elaborate noise degree measurings indicated significant differences. The sound environments of two units are different based on the happening rate of the impulse sounds at high noise degrees.2. Make nonsubjective noise degrees differ when comparing similar locations in the two critical attention units to each other?A-weighted mean sound force per unit area degrees ranged between 52-60dB and 45-56 dubnium at four different locations in MedSurg-ICU and Neuro-ICU severally ( Fig. 4 ) . Those four locations were nurse station, occupied patient room without respirat ory ventilator, empty patient room and the corridor. In both units, patients with respiratory failure are connected to respiratory ventilator and most of those patients are under isolation which restricts the entries and activities in the patient suites. It was possible to carry on comprehensive measurings in the patient room without respiratory ventilator. Therefore, measurings conducted in the occupied patient room without respiratory ventilator was considered for location particular more elaborate noise degree analysis. At all four locations, LMax degrees exceeded 70dB about full clip in both units. Except empty patient room, at all other locations LMax noise degrees exceeded 80dB more than 36 % of the clip In MedSurg ICU and 11 % of the clip in Neuro-ICU. In general, noise degrees and happening rate of high degree impulse sounds was higher in MedSurg-ICU. Average sound force per unit area degree ( LAeq ) differences between nurse Stationss, occupied patient suites and the corrid ors of two units were either unperceivable or merely perceptible ( Fig. 4 ) . However LAeq noise degree difference between two units` empty patient suites was significant. LMax happening rates were dramatically different from each at other locations. Happening rates occurred at the nurse Stationss are shown in Fig. 5 as an illustration. However LMax happening rates did non differ dramatically in the empty patient suites ( Fig. 6 ) . LPeak happening rate analysis showed really similar consequences to LMax happening rate consequences.3. Make nonsubjective noise degrees differ between assorted locations within an single critical attention unit?In MedSurg-ICU and Neuro-ICU, overall noise degrees and happening rates of impulse sounds was much lower in the empty patient suites compared to other locations ( Table I ) . Occurrence rate of LPeak & gt ; 90dBC was systematically higher at the nurse station compared to other locations in both units. However, noise degree differences between nur se station and other locations were non ever perceptible based on differences between A-weighted Leq degrees.B. Subjective noise degrees1. Make nurses` noise-induced irritation and loudness perceptual experience differ between assorted locations within an single critical attention unit?In MedSurg-ICU, perceived loudness degrees at the nurse station were significantly higher ( p & lt ; 0.05 higher ) than other three locations harmonizing to nonparametric significance trial consequences. Average degrees of subjective irritation and volume are shown in Table II. Similarly, in Neuro-ICU perceived volume and irritation degrees in the empty patient room were significantly less ( P & lt ; .05 ) than other three locations.2. Make nurses` noise-induced irritation and loudness perceptual experience differ when comparing similar locations in the two critical attention units to each other?At all four locations – the nurse station, in the empty and occupied patient room and at the corrido rs perceived irritation and volume degrees of MedSurg-ICU nurses were systematically higher than the sensed degrees reported by Neuro-ICU nurses ( Table II ) . MedSurg ICU nurses perceptual experience of noise-induced irritation and volume at four locations ranged between 2.25 and 4.1.Same sensed degrees ranged between 1.6 and 3.2 among Neuro-ICU nurses. Additionally, nonparametric Mann-Whitney U trial consequences showed that noise-induced irritation and loudness perceptual experiences of nurses at the nurse Stationss and in the empty patient suites was significantly different in two units. Two unit nurses` sensitiveness to resound and tolerance to high noise degrees in the workplace did non differ significantly ( p & gt ; .05 ) . Overall, nurses were non really sensitive to resound and they could digest high noise degrees slightly.3. Does the sensed impact of overall noise degrees in the workplace on subjective nurse wellbeing and work public presentation differ when comparing two units to each other?A ­Perceived negative impact of workplace noise degree on five nurse result was reported higher by MedSurg-ICU nurses compared to Neuro-ICU nurses. MedSurg-ICU and Neuro-ICU nurses` responses ranged between 3-4.3 and 1.7-3 severally ( Table III ) . Overall, MedSurg-ICU sound environment was perceived systematically worse for nurse well-being and work public presentation compared to Neuro-ICU sound environment. Harmonizing to nonparametric significance trial consequences, all perceived five noise-induced nurse results differed significantly in two units.C. Correlations1. Is at that place a relationship between aim and subjective noise degrees?Spearman nonparametric correlativity trial was used to analyse the relationship between aim and subjective noise degrees. Overall and individually analyzed MedSurg-ICU and Neuro-ICU subjective and nonsubjective noise degrees systematically represent the being of a important relationship between subjective and nonsubjective noise degrees ( Table IV ) . Subjective noise-induced irritation and volume degrees are significantly and positively correlated with A-weighted mean sound force per unit area degrees and happening rate of impulse sounds happening at high degrees.2. Is at that place a relationship between noise degrees and noise-induced nurse results?Overall, subjective volume degrees are significantly and positively correlated with sensed noise-induced irritation, work public presentation, wellness and anxiousness ( p & lt ; .01 ) .D. Spectral content1. Frequency distribution of noise degreesOverall, sound force per unit area degrees were higher in MedSurg-ICU at low, mid and high frequence scopes ( 250Hz-8kHz ) ( Fig. 7 ) . At all locations but empty patient room, noise degree differences across frequences were largely either merely perceptible or unperceivable. At 8kHz clearly noticeable noise degree differences occurred between two unit nurse Stationss and occupied patient suites. At 250Hz and 5 00Hz, clearly noticeable and significant noise degree differences occurred between empty patient suites. Below 250Hz, sound force per unit area degrees were largely higher in Neuro-ICU ( Fig. 8 ) . In the empty and occupied patient room, noise degree differences at 16Hz were significant otherwise it was either merely perceptible or clearly noticeable. This happening might be related with the busyness noise generated by the HVAC engine located in the unfastened infinite in Neuro-ICU. This unfastened infinite about located in the centre of the unit and is non accessible by the residents but included in the design to supply natural visible radiation for some patient suites.2. Room Criteria ( RC ) analysisIn MedSurg-ICU, RC values were higher. However, RC evaluations were largely hissy and vibrational in Neuro-ICU while it was chiefly impersonal and non vibrational in MedSurg-ICU ( Table V ) .E. Fluctuation clipF. Speech Interference LevelIn general, speech intervention degrees in MedSu rg-ICU were higher at all four locations analyzed compared to Neuro-ICU. At the nurse Stationss, address intervention degrees ( SIL ) of the noise were highest and ranged between 50-53dB ( Table VI ) . Two female nurses will be able to ( hardly ) communicate with each other in normal voice up to a distance of about 3-4ft. Same distance ranged between 5.5-7.5ft if nurses raise their voices. Slightly lower SIL values occurred in the occupied patient room and in the corridors. Lower SIL degrees can enable safer communications from longer distances. Furthermore, compared to females, males in general are able to pass on better at longer distances.G. HVAC background noise degreesBackground noise degrees caused by HVAC systems were calculated based on steady 15-min sound samples collected in the empty patient suites. Sound force per unit area degrees across three frequences ( 500Hz, 1000Hz, 2000Hz ) were averaged every minute. In Neuro-ICU, HVAC noise degrees in the patient room were accep table harmonizing to American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers ( ASHRAE ) recommended RC values, 25-35dB in the private suites 31. In Neuro-ICU, RC values ranged between 29-31dB. In MedSurg-ICU HVAC noise degrees in the patient room were higher than ASHRAE recommended values and ranged between 37-38dB in MedSurg-ICU.V. DISCUSSIONOne of the purposes of this survey is to lend to the on-going attempts to better health care sound environments. These attempts can enable more comprehensive analysis of helter-skelter health care sound environments. The survey findings discussed in this subdivision can supply some penetration for the appraisal of the bing and development of intelligence acoustic prosodies that might be necessary for more elaborate survey of the infirmary sound environments.1. Appraisal of overall ( mean ) vs. elaborate noise degree steps and their relation to subjective noise degreesOverall nonsubjective sound environment of two units were sig nificantly different based on elaborate noise degree measurings. Happening rate analysis is referred as elaborate noise degree measuring as it reflects the behaviour of impulse sounds during every minute. Statistically important differences between subjective noise-induced nurse results and loudness perceptual experience of MedSurg-ICU and Neuro-ICU nurses were consistent with the important differences between happening rates of impulse sounds ( LFMax, LCPeak ) that occurred at high degrees. Furthermore, nonparametric correlativity coefficient trial consequences indicated the being of a important and positive relationship between perceived irritation and volume degrees and happening rates of impulse sounds. However, overall noise degree measurings ( i.e LFMax, LCPeak, LFMin, LAeq ) particularly overall mean sound force per unit area degree did non bespeak perceptible differences between the sound environment of two units. Similarly, elaborate nonsubjective noise degree measurings be sides suggested important differences when comparing similar unprompted sound environments ( i.e. nurse station, occupied patient room and corridors ) in two units. Unlike detailed measurement consequences, overall mean sound force per unit area degree differences indicated either merely perceptible or unperceivable differences between similar locations in two units.2. Appraisal of stationary vs. unprompted sound environments and their relation to subjective noise degreesLocation specific subjective noise degree analysis ( i.e. perceived noise degrees at the nurse Stationss, in the empty and occupied patient suites and corridors ) indicated that MedSurg-ICU nurses` noise-induced irritation and loudness perceptual experiences were systematically higher than Neuro-ICU nurses` perceptual experiences. Particularly, subjective irritation and volume degrees differed significantly at the nurse Stationss and in the empty patient suites of two units. Nurse Stationss have unprompted sound env ironments where major sound beginnings are medical dismaies, telephone ring, staff laugh and talkaˆÂ ¦etc. Subjective noise degree differences between two unit nurse Stationss were consistent with important differences between happening rates of impulse sounds ( LFMax, LCPeak ) at the nurse Stationss. Unlike nurse Stationss, doors closed empty patient suites have stationary sound environments where chief noise beginning was the HVAC system. This clip, subjective differences between two unit empty patient suites were consistent with important differences between A-weighted mean sound force per unit area degrees measured in the empty patient suites. Furthermore, nonparametric correlativity coefficient trial consequences indicated the being of a important and positive relationship between perceived irritation and volume degrees and mean sound force per unit area degrees.3. Fluctuation clip and subjective noise degrees4. Features of infirmary sound environments and layout design ap plicationsAbove mentioned consequences confirms the earlier findings that suggest the being of a relationship between aim and subjective noise degrees. The theoretical account reviewed here suggests that different infirmary layout design applications can chair the relationship between aim and subjective noise degrees. Two unit nurses reported sensed effectivity of different layout design applications to cut down noise degrees based on their experiences and observations. Overall, three chief layout design applications were found effectual. Those were private patient suites, segregated corridor system and a unit with baies and centralised nurse station instead than a unit with merely centralised nurse station32. Private patient suites can diminish sensed complexness of the patient room sound environment as there are less noise beginnings in single-bed suites than multi-bed suites. In MedSurg-ICU, cardinal nurse station is a common-use workplace and at most times it is extremely popula ted by nurses for coaction, single work and telecommunication intents. Higher patient bend over rates ( new admittances and conveyances ) in MedSurg-ICU besides requires extra paper work to be done at the nurse station. In Neuro-ICU, nurses largely collaborate, work separately and telecommunicate at the de-central nurse Stationss. They visit the centralised nurse station for registering patient medical records, utilizing common resources such as copy-fax machine. Segregation of corridors used by household members and staff members can command riotous breaks by household members. On the other manus, household members can get down a insouciant conversation with staff members anytime while voyaging in the shared corridors. One of the chief noise beginnings in the health care scenes are conversations. Based on researchers` observation, the physical distance between the nurse Stationss or patient monitoring nucleuss can lend to the sensed frequence of the unprompted noise happenings. In this survey noise degree and happening rate of impulse sounds found to be critical for nurses` volume and irritation perceptual experience. In MedSurg-ICU, physical distance between two patient monitoring nucleuss ( from centre to centre ) was 48ft. In Neuro-ICU, same distance between two centralised nurse Stationss was 118ft. Distribution of noise beginnings based on layout constellation can escalate complexness of the perceived sound environment33. MedSurg-ICU race path layout design offers a more compact physical environment while Neuro-ICU bunch layout design provides more broad physical environment.5. Spectral content of the sound environment vs. subjective noise degreesStatistically important subjective noise degree differences between two unit nurse Stationss were non consistent with merely perceptible differences between RC values. However, more elaborate frequence analysis showed that clearly perceptible higher noise degrees occurred at 8kHz at MedSurg-ICU nurse station. Th is happening can be related with unprompted ( high noise degrees at high frequences ) nature of sound environment at the nurse Stationss. Statistically important subjective noise degree differences between two unit empty patient suites were consistent with clearly perceptible differences between RC values. This relationship can be explained by the steady nature of the sound environment in the empty patient suites. And this happening can besides foreground the dominancy of noise degrees at mid frequences in nurses` irritation and loudness perceptual experience in steady sound environments.VI. DecisionIn healthcare acoustics literature, it is widely accepted that noise degrees in critical attention scenes are really loud and raging. This survey agrees with this decision and reminds that features of different ICU sound environments can change drastically. Some of those differences are highlighted via elaborate comparative noise degree analysis between two units in this survey. Impulsiv eness ( high happening rate at high noise degrees ) degree of an ICU sound environment is suggested to be one of the chief indexs of sensed noise-induced nurse results and nurses` volume perceptual experience. At specific locations in the unit that have with steady sound environments, higher mean sound force per unit area degrees relates better to nurse irritation and volume degrees. Spectral content of the sound environment might besides be related with nurse irritation and loudness perceptual experience. Lower perceived noise-induced work public presentation can be expected in the units with higher address intervention degrees. Furthermore noise degrees at specific locations in the unit can be acoustically more debatable than the others where focussed intercessions can be necessary. For diagnosing of these possible conditions, conductivity of elaborate noise degree measurings at multiple different locations in the unit might be of import. During and after location specific noise d egree analysis, it might be good to oppugn whether peculiar acoustic metric used represents the general feature of the sound environment studied and observed. It might be critically of import for hospital decision makers to take enterprises for cut downing unprompted noise beginnings in ICUs such as reconsideration of dismay scenes that most times do n't match to exigency degree of the incidence, integrating of higher engineering for paging health professionals such as 3G-phones and avoiding overhead beepers. It might be critical for designers to see the recent technological progresss in HVAC systems to assist bettering occupant results. The sate-of-the-art HVAC system application in Neuro-ICU offers significantly less bothersome and quieter ( clearly perceptible ) sound environment in the patient suites compared to the HVAC noise generated by the older edifice system in MedSurg-ICU. In add-on to the application of technological progresss, strategic arrangement of the HVAC engine an d its insularity from the edifice construction can be critically of import to avoid possible feelable quivers and noises happening at really low frequences. Finally, in add-on to conventional acoustic intercessions ( i.e. absorbent surface stuff applications ) , some layout design considerations can besides be critical for the formation and consideration of the health care sound environments get downing from the early design stages.RecognitionsThis work has been partly supported by ASHRAE Graduate Student Grant-In-Aid. We appreciate GaTech Healthcare Acoustics squad members` partnership. We are thankful to Emory University and Dr. Owen Samuels for his advice. We are besides grateful to nurse pedagogues Ann Huntley and Mary Still, registered nurses Tim Rice and Anya Freeman and to all Neuro-ICU and MedSurg ICU nurses, patients and household members for their uninterrupted aid and forbearance during noise degree measurings in the units.

Everest Simulation Reflection Essay

The Harvard Business Everest Leadership and Team Simulation allow participants to understand and appreciate underlying management concepts which form the basis of any well functioning organisation. Specifically, the simulation required students to work in cohesive teams, display important leadership qualities and to communicate effectively in order to make successful decisions. The Everest task involves the cooperation and cohesion of random individuals through their placement in a team. These teams consisted of five members, where each individual was assigned specific role and goals. These roles included the team leader, physician, environmentalist, photographer, and marathoner. Individuals goals were often contradictory and team members received unique, however important information concerning the task. This simulation aims to discover the way in which teams react in complex and often conflicting situations. Through a series of trials and tribulations, our Everest group were able to increase our score from 22% to 85% in the second simulation. This is a result of the exploration of various behavioural leadership styles including laissez faire and democratic leadership approaches as well as the use of various mediums of communication. In addition, the results of the simulation were highly dependent on cohesive team work through the allocation of individual roles and goals, as well as the organisation of group processes including the decision making process and conflict management. Leadership The role of the leader in the Everest simulation was to motivate, instruct, resolve conflict and achieve group goals. I, as the team leader, made the point of differentiating myself from a manager, to someone who was extraverted, energetic and driven, within and outside of the simulation. This involved organising location times and communication between members, drawing up the team contract and building relationships between team members beyond the classroom. During the simulation however I chose to adopt a less prominent role to minimise conflict and maximise satisfaction. During the initial simulation I implemented a laissez- faire approach to leadership. I adopted this form of behaviour as I was no more skilled or experienced in the Everest simulation than any other team member. Logically, I believed that as all team members had equal ability, all team members should therefore have equal input. Unfortunately, due to the overwhelming presence of freedom, conflict of interests and an abundance of communication barriers due to the poor choice in leadership styles, an environment of chaos and anarchy was created. In effect, the group failed the task. On a positive note, this form of leadership saw the group bond together and the level of satisfaction was high. Furthermore, the level of pressure for team members to perform under this form of management was minimal; hence the lack of success achieved was minute. During the second attempt, I chose to adopt a democratic style of leadership. Once again, I was no more informed than any other member of the group concerning the correct performance of the task; hence I chose not to make autocratic decisions. I did however note the need for structure in any given task. Therefore, the decision making process was composed of a long winded discussion between group members, followed by a vote through a raise of hands. If a consensus was not reached between group members, I would then speak personally to the group member who was in disagreement and explain the decision. This sort of conflict often arose when individual goals, set by the Everest task, conflicted with each other. For example, the photographer’s goal was to rest at Base 1 and 2; however my goal was for the team to rest together at camp 4. Often I voted for other members individual goals to be met rather than my own, when they were of equal worth, in order to avoid conflict. As a result, my individual success was 75%, lower than the team’s success average of 85%. Furthermore, research suggests that conflict in the decision making process promotes creativity amongst group members (Nemeth 1986), higher levels of commitment and satisfaction from group members (Peterson 1999), and group members become more knowledgeable about the interests of their co workers (Peterson 2007). In comparison to the first simulation, this result was evident in the second attempt. On the other hand, the decision making process was time consuming. Luckily, there were no time constraints, however, towards the end of the task, group members including myself, became tiresome and overworked. Eventually, I began to lose control of my group and those with the most useful information provided to them during the simulation began to consult with each other. At this stage, there was no structure in group discussions and people spoke over each other, similar to the first simulation. Naturally, the majority of the group became disinterested until two group members worked together to determine a successful outcome. Hence, a laissez- faire approach to leadership was successful in small groups. Overall, the democratic approach, like the laissez- faire approach, was enjoyable and good for conflict resolution, however using this approach we also achieved a solid team score. In hindsight, I believe a more autocratic approach to leadership should have been employed in order to improve the team score and to minimise time wastage. An article by Judge, Piccolo and Ilies (2004) suggested an initiating structure of leadership is highly correlated to objective outcomes including â€Å"leader job performance and group – organisation performance† (Judge, Piccolo and Ilies 2004 pp36). If I, as leader, were more informed concerning the task at hand, this form of leadership would have been more efficient, in order to avoid the interminable decision making process. Groups and Teams In order to successfully complete the simulation, it was imperative that the group functioned as a coherent and cohesive team. This involved the fusion of task work and team work to create team effectiveness, as â€Å"task work represents what it is that teams are doing, whereas teamwork describes how they are doing it with each other† (Marks, Mathieu, & Zaccaro, 2001, p. 357). As team leader I aimed to create a balance between task work and team work in order to successfully complete the Everest simulation. The Everest task provided the group with specific formal member roles and goals, which were designed to create a cross functional team. However, as no member was particularly skilled or specialised in the literal sense concerning the Everest simulation, the team was slightly dysfunctional. For example, in the first simulation, the physician was unaware of which medicine cures which disease, and when to administer the medicine, and the environmentalist was unable to read a wind chart. Due to the lack of knowledge evident, the task was time consuming, chaotic and unsuccessful. In terms of informal roles, our team actively made the decision to allocate task accomplishment as our main goal, as mentioned in the team contract. This involved clarifying, diagnosing, initiating, evaluating, opinion seeking, gathering information and summarising the task at hand. I however, as the team leader, focused on ensuring that the group interacted in a friendly and cooperative manner in order to guarantee high levels of satisfaction amongst members through handling disputes, and by limiting the presence of self oriented goals which hindered the overall task performance. This was achieved through my encouragement, gate keeping, following and compromising as team leader. Furthermore, the team dealt with issues concerning conformity and groupthink. This occurred on a number of occasions as individuals were often confused and uninformed concerning particular decisions, and wanted to avoid conflict when co members became passionate. This often occurred when the decision came to allow sick individuals to rest or be administered medicine. I, as team leader, aimed to prevent groupthink by encouraging discussion and critical thinking and through asking questions. I also located an individual from outside of the group who had previously attempted Everest to evaluate the situation and to provide a reasoned opinion during our decision making process. This was highly successful as team members, including myself, changed their decision based on an outside opinion. Whilst the team was fairly small, the group processes were complex. The decision making process was led by, for the most part, a democratic leader. As stated previously, a decision was made after a detailed discussion between members, followed by a group vote. If a consensus was not apparent, I, as team leader, would speak to the individual concerning the issue. This process was very effective. The discussion provided more complete information and knowledge, through the diversity of the perspectives of group members. In turn, the group generated more diverse alternatives concerning issues including choosing to rest at different levels, or to administer medicine at different times. Furthermore, a group decision increased the legitimacy of that decision through the democratic process. On the other hand, this process was time- consuming and promoted minority domination and conformity. This may have harmed the quality of the final decision. Fortunately, this decision making process limited conflict. However, as the human relations view of conflict states, conflict is â€Å"a natural and inevitable outcome in any group†. Our Everest team predominately faced task- based conflict, or â€Å"a disagreement over ideas or opinions that are related directly to the content of the task or decision at hand† (Jehn, 1995). For example, the individual goals of certain team members clashed. This meant that if one goal was to be satisfied, the other would be sacrificed. This particular issue was handled through leadership strategies, similar to those proposed by Peterson and Harvey. I, as leader, chose to structure the group in a position whereby I exerted a subtle authority through controlling group discussions in order to â€Å"maximise the useful aspects of task-related conflict† (Peterson and Harvey 2009 pp 286). Additionally, through the democratic leadership style employed, I directed an inclusive group process through a group voting system via a raise of hands and an in depth group discussion whereby every member was asked to participate. Communication Communication refers to the transfer and understanding of meaning. Our Everest group explored this concept informally, through a variety of different mediums, mostly on a trial and error basis. During the organisational stages of the task, our group communicated through various modern technological mediums including a common thread via the social networking site Facebook, group emails, and a forwarded text message informing fellow group members of the final time, location and date. This proved to be a fast and time effective form of communication which increased organisational efficiency and effectiveness. Furthermore, no team member was constrained by time or geography. As stated in an article by the New York Times â€Å"wireless devices are instruments of liberation. They lend an unprecedented degree of flexibility to the workday† (Hafner 2000 pp D1+). There was however no transfer of body language and non verbal communication between group members, which may have contributed to the lack of social interaction and friendship formed during and outside of the task. Due to the success of the organisational efforts via to the use of technology, I as team leader made the decision to conduct the first Everest simulation with team members at separate locations. Therefore, all communication was processed via the instant messaging service provided by the simulation. Unfortunately it was extremely difficult to process information via the instant messaging service alone as each group member was provided with differing, useful and sometimes visual information. Furthermore the instant messaging service provided by the Everest simulation included approximately three seconds of dialogue at any one time. This made it very difficult for me as team leader to instruct an organised group discussion whilst people were ‘typing’ over each other. The presence of noise also made it difficult to focus. The internet is an endless avenue of entertainment, social networking and gaming. Unknowingly, however predictably, team members were not focused on the task due to the lack of self control and discipline evident whilst being on the internet. As a result of the abundance of communication barriers, the team failed the Everest simulation. Due to the failure of the first Everest attempt, our group made the active decision to conduct the second simulation in the same room. This forged the ability for the team to communicate non verbally, through body language and verbal intonation. This was particularly effective during the decision making process where I as the leader could gage the reactions and beliefs of fellow team members concerning particular issues. Research by Alge, Wiethoff and Klein came to the conclusion that ‘face to face teams exhibit higher levels of openness/trust and information sharing than computer mediated teams’ (Alge, Wiethoff and Klein, 2003 pp 26). In comparison, our results in the Everest simulation whilst employing various mediums of communication prove this conclusion. However, whilst the level of noise in comparison to the first simulation decreased, it was still apparent. The second simulation was undertaken in a large public room, and as a result our computers were not side by side. We were disrupted by outside noise and were unable to discuss openly and loudly. This made it difficult to communicate and as a result, group members became disinterested in the task. In both simulations, effective interpersonal communication was interrupted by an information overload. As key information was being delivered by each group member, each member’s informational capacity was becoming strained. As a result, people including myself became disinterested in the task and chose to not participate as coherently as before. In order to overcome such barriers, it was imperative that each member constrained their emotions, watched non verbal cues and listened actively. This involved not over talking, avoiding interrupting the speaker, making eye contact and asking questions, particularly during the decision making process. Conclusion Ultimately, the success of the Everest simulation was highly dependent on efficient communication mediums, effective leadership approaches and cohesive team work. As a team leader, I determined success to be task accomplishment, team member satisfaction, superior conflict resolution and legitimate decision making. Through the democratic approach employed, I deem myself successful as I was able to incorporate individual team members opinions into an effective decision making process whilst dealing with conflict. In summary, the Everest task highlighted the importance of teamwork and the significance of the individual role in any given task.

Technology affect future Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Technology affect future - Essay Example The mere purpose for which phones are discovered was for making communication and getting immediate feedback (calling), and now a wide range of uses has been developed. Phone as a technological device change in size and use is worth examining. In this case, the point of focus is to examine how technology in phones has advanced t from the past to present. The future of these devices will also be examined. As pointed out earlier, Grahams discovered telephone that later advanced to cellular phones. Telephone composed of booths from where one would make a call. The telephone booths connected with each other using phone lines. It meant that one would have to travel to the nearest area that was connected to a phone line just to make a call. Telephones represented caste and marked class of individuals in the society (Roche, 1972). These classes included the ruling class and business people since they are the only ones who could afford to have them. Apart from being expensive, they were rare and were barely used. Initially, the purpose of phones was calling.Making quicker communication in a time when sending letters was the only means of communicating with people in different regions was necessary.Other features like voice mail began to be integrated into phones with time as technology continued to advance. The phones also were characterized by hardware problems such as overheating, especially with the Motorola phones. From the candlestick phones used in the 1930s to Motorola DynaTAC utilized in the 1980s, to all other phones to date, there has been an evolution in size of the phones as (Sismondo, 2009) finds out. Phones began being massive and weightier devices.The display of phones started as black and white with no light in the background. This later changed with the addition of background light. That was not all, and phones were also fitted with antennas for network reception. There is a

Analysis Paper 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analysis Paper 2 - Essay Example The offstage presence of human society in the poem is an unavoidable reality because the speaker himself belongs to it. The speaker belongs to a society which necessarily requires him to be dutiful and responsible. In fact he has duties and responsibilities to himself and to others. But at the same time, he is also a freewill agent who can choose to shun these duties. Since he is a human being, he can easily be tempted to walk along the evil as well as unconventional path. While walking through the woods, he temporarily becomes tempted by its wildness. This wildness of the woods symbolizes something which is wild, unconventional and evil, and which is not accredited by the society. But though he is temporarily distracted by the wilderness, he finally chooses to perform his social duties and responsibilities. Indeed, the poem is endowed with two levels of meanings: literal meaning and metaphorical meaning. Though literally the poem captures some moments of a horse-ride of the speaker, metaphorically it refers to a man’s prioritization on social responsibilities over the call of the wild. On the surface level, the speaker of the poem says that in a darkest evening of the year he stopped by woods, while travelling to his destiny. He stopped by it because he is attracted by the lovely and mysterious scene of the woods. He watches the â€Å"woods filled up with snow† (Frost Stanza 1). ... In his own words, My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year† (Frost Stanza 2). In the very beginning of the poem, the speaker provides a sense of remoteness from human society and civilization through the lines, â€Å"Whose woods these are I think I know/His house is in the village, though† (Frost Stanza 1). Here, the imagery of ‘village’ refers to the speaker’s attachment to human society. Though he is amid the wilderness of the woods, he is the representative of the society which he belongs to. The remoteness of the speaker from social bindings is further reinforced when he tells that the owner of the woods â€Å"will not see [him] stopping [there]† (Frost Stanza 1). It means, he is far from the society up to his own will. He is a human being; therefore, he is a freewill agent unlike his little horse who must think his master’s stopping queer w ithout a ‘farmhouse’. Here, the imagery of ‘farmhouse’ also symbolizes the comfort which social life can provide to a man. But since the speaker is a freewill agent, he is easily tempted to revel in the mysterious and lovely wilderness of the woods. While his horse thinks it queer to stop by the woods, he thinks that â€Å"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep† (Frost Stanza 4). The contrast between his reaction and his horse’s reaction to the scenery of the forest rather highlights his existence as a freewill agent. If he wants, he can elongate his stay in the woods. Even he can respond to the call of the wild. He can revel in the joy of exploring the mysterious, unknown and the wild. But he

French Revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

French Revolution - Essay Example Very early in the course of activities that unfolded during the revolution, the revolution lost its impact. This can be supported and said on the basis of the fact that entities like Reign of Terror came into existence(Lutz and Lutz, 194). Reign of terror, as the name would imply was one outright reactionary, and non elected entity. It was completely violent in its outlook and it worked on principles of revolt and reactionary mindset. Revolutionary measures and not evolutionary measures was the cry and manifesto of Reign of Terror. The initial troubles faced by France in form of offensives by Prussia and Austria termed it another failure at hand, given the fact that the country and its people were faced with the problems from inside, least to solve and spare out resources for the external aggression. The only democratic entity that came into power was the Directory. It lasted from 1795 to 1799, however it was marred by plethora of flaws and shortcomings in its own. It was faced with challenges of corruption, inability on behalf of the elected members, the lack of institutions and various other elements that make or break a democratic institution and organization. Hence from this perspective as well, the French revolution may not be termed as the successful story. The rise of Napoleon Bonaparte to power marked the severe blow towards the entire activity of the revolution. He was a military man who had taken over the power in Brumaire coup, and later on paved his way towards the life long Emperor of France (Scott, 2). Hence, the revolution that was initiated for the purpose of bringing about democracy in the country ended up providing a platform for a usurper like Napoleon Bonaparte to enact his own empire and declare himself the emperor. This hawks naked and wide into the eyes of those who declared the revolution a success. The final blow was suffered by French Revolution in the wake of the

Continental and monsoon Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Continental and monsoon - Assignment Example The monsoon wind blowing from the neighboring and oceans are playing a significant role in determining the climatic disparities in different parts of China and other parts of the Asian continent. Continental and monsoon are playing significant role in shaping the climate of China. They have an established relationship where one factor affects the other and intern reflects on the climate. For instance, China has an abundance of mountain barriers and the inland depression results in regional differences in terms of atmospheric circulation, solar radiation, and climate as a whole. A continental climate is associated with bigger land masses and extreme annual range of temperature that prevails in large parts of China (Wang 381). The air reaching China from Atlantic Ocean passing from Europe or Africa loses most of its moisture to the oceans hence coming out dry. These winds play a role in determining the climate of China. Their moisture content shapes the climate patterns of the areas they pass. Although there is some monsoon wind blowing from the north, arctic wind does not have access to the region. Tropical and equatorial air masses predominate in the south of Asia with restriction by the ridges of the mountain belt that stretches from west Asia highlands, through the Himalayas to south China and south Asia Mountains (Science Clarified 4-8). Similarly, the continental monsoon wind is playing a significant role in determining China climate through the way it blows. For instance, dry and cold winter monsoon blows from Siberia and the Mongolian plateau from September to April leading to cold and dry winters. It also results to the differences in temperature experienced in north and south of China (Raman and Sharan 1533). More so, warm and humid monsoon wind blows from the sea to east and south between April and September resulting in high temperatures and plentiful rainfall. It also leads to the little differences in temperatures

Political science questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Political science questions - Essay Example This came as a stark contrast with the Bush Administration, who continued to state and restate the need for American forces in Iraq to continue the humanitarian mission that was started in 2003. For international relations as a whole, the Obama Doctrine means that Americans can expect more open and collaborative relationships with foreign countries. However, according to some critics, it may also lead to more appeasement to corruption and violence overseas. 2. The â€Å"Great Recession† of the late 2000s started with the 2007 financial crisis and it has affected the global economy. In 2009, the recession ended because the United States experienced two consecutive quarters of growth in GDP. Despite the official end of the recession, the U.S. still suffers from high unemployment, low home prices, and inflation. Even while these problems persist through the official end of the recession, the world is arguably in a much better place than it was in 2007 and 2008 when the financial crisis began. The global economy has adjusted by changing who is growing and who is not growing in their economies. While the United States, Russia, and much of Europe remain slow to grow after the recession, China and India continue to grow despite the slowdown. In this sense, growth in the world economy did not decrease and instead, it shifted elsewhere. 3. The American Tea Party stands for any number of populist and conservative ideals, but the members of the movement consistently state their desire to lower the national debt. They claim that the most direct path to that goal is fiscal responsibility and accountability from legislators. The primary method the Tea Party uses is protests, which they organize and carry out very effectively. Because the Tea Party is a grassroots organization, it has a broad range of support from everyday Americans. The Tea Party is also increasing in power and in the attention they receive from the national media. By having a larger number of party m embers and more attention, the Tea Party is able to put more pressure on politicians to create fiscally responsible legislation that is either neutral to the national debt or reduces it. The Tea Party puts the most pressure on Republicans because the Tea Party is often seen as an outgrowth of the Republican Party. For that reason, some prominent Republican in Congress are shifting over to embrace the Tea Party label, which appeals to a wider base of supporters and plays into the Tea Party goal of making a more responsible and accountable federal government. 4. In 2011, President Obama handed over control of the military intervention in Libya in order to allow the United Nations to carry out its long-held responsibility to maintain peace in the country. Earlier this year, a number of countries decided to take immediate military action to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, which involved missile strikes and fly-overs by American forces. Although the United States has participated in bo mbings and surveillance of Libya, the United Nations is largely organizing the military intervention. Allowing NATO and the UN to take over but keeping a large role for the United States was an intelligent move on President Obama’s part because it demonstrates the collaborative spirit of the Obama Doctrine and it avoids the costly role that the United States took in Iraq and Afghanistan. In late March, the NATO

Human Resources in Healthcare - Discussion for online class Essay

Human Resources in Healthcare - Discussion for online class - Essay Example Along with this, organizations should attempt to make appointments by promoting current competent employees, so that they can save the cost of hiring and training new employees. As a second option, request the existing employees to refer the individuals with relevant skills and experience. In this way, organizations can economically select appropriate talent without bearing the cost of advertising a job (Siddique, 2004). As a last resort, organizations nowadays go through the conventional method of hiring. Integration of HR with the strategic management of the organization is a prerequisite of the business success because, it is the human factor which will utilize the infrastructure of the company to transform the intended organizational goals and objectives into a reality. Therefore, it is a must for the organization to develop the objectives in accordance with the current and developable competencies of its employees. (Marler, 2009) Strategic integration of human resource management requires a firm to recruit and select those employees with strategically aligned skill set, so that they can help the organization in attaining the goals set by the top management (Siddique, 2004). At the same time, human resource managers should performed job need analysis, to develop a list for the jobs that required to be filled. No, strategic management is not an HR function. But it is the collection of various functions, because the fundamental purpose of strategic management is to determine the long term goals of an organization (Marler, 2009), then divide them into number of short term ones. At last top management integrates all the departmental effort in order to achieve a common goals set during the first

Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Essay

Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine - Essay Example Even in those cases where patients have been able to afford such transplants, other problems such as organ rejection and incompatibility have deprived them of their precious lives. The gravity of this situation has led to unrelenting research on stem cells, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine, which are promising and hopeful alternatives to organ transplants. By 2009, in the United States, about 50 million people had survived because of some or the other form of â€Å"artificial organ therapy† (Khademhosseini, Vacanti and Langer, 2009). This gives a clear indication that artificial organs are the hope of the future. This research proposal aims at providing a brief yet objective overview of how an organ can be fabricated by starting with single cells and proceeding to tissue replacement. The proposal is intended to explain how vital organs can be fabricated through bioengineering. The solutions for problems that are usually encountered during fabrication of living org ans are also dealt with. Important challenges include optimization of the decellularization process for the preservation of vascular architecture and for limiting immunogenicity. Overall, this proposal gives a precis on solving cardiovascular diseases by stem cells, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Approach to organ fabrication 1. Procurement of stem cells The first step would be to procure embryonic stem cells that would act as progenitors for the cardiac cells. With the help of embryonic stem cells, it is possible to generate both mature cardiocytes as well as the vasculature (Ott et al, 2007). The most appropriate conditions for the growth of these stem cells will be identified and these will be allowed to grow, mature and differentiate before being seeded on a protein matrix for tissue formation. 2. Identification of suitable decellularization procedure for obtaining protein matrix The protein matrix for the generation of tissue and vasculature will be obtained from dead hearts procured from appropriate facilities. Using suitable detergents and chemical treatments, the organs will be decellularized to reveal the protein matrix. Various techniques will be tested before arriving at the most appropriate decellularization agent. 3. Seeding of the protein matrix with progenitor cells The protein matrix will then be seeded with the cardiocytes so that they can naturally develop into tissues and vasculature of a natural heart. Because of the provision of a natural protein matrix and scaffold material derived from a real heart, it will be easier for the cardiocytes to grow three-dimensionally through a natural mechanism. 4. Testing the functionality of the artificially produced organ The functionality of the manufactured heart will be tested and monitored for normalcy of pulse rate and other vital parameters. 5. Animal studies The artificially produced hearts will be transplanted into adult mice and will be tested for development of immunogenicity and health parameters. Possible Problems during Fabrication A major problem during fabrication of an artificial organic heart would be to achieve appropriate tissue vascularization having the vascular structure of a natural

Should the Government Intervent Tax Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Should the Government Intervent Tax - Essay Example Hence the government, in my view, should intervene through tax rates to keep the economy and society controlled. Government intervention through tax rates is of paramount importance when negative externalities are to be dealt with. The market consists of two types of goods, public and private. Private goods are associated to the concept of excludability, referring to the exclusion of people from the benefits of a product or service that do not pay for it. On the other hand, public good is non-excludable and benefits the entire population regardless of their non-payment. Free-riding issue arises in this situation leading to chaos and dissatisfaction toward those counterparts of the society who are not contributing enough to the society compared to the benefits they are receiving (for instance healthcare and security/defense facilities for tax-evaders or undocumented immigrants in some cases). Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has contributed to the knowledge by revealing that undocumented immigrants can be a major source of tax earnings if they are permitted legally to work in th e US and would end up increasing the tax contribution by about $2 billion per year (ITEP, 2015). Government must intervene by changing tax rates to control consumer demands. By increasing tax rates, the government may reduce the disposable income and hence reduce the consumer demand. Similarly, if it wants to increase consumer demand, generally or specifically for certain goods and services, subsidies can be provided and/or tax on that particular product/service can be reduced. Hence, tax rates on specific products, services or industries as well as taxes on individuals and specific population groups can both help governments to keep harmony in the economy. The government calls funds from the local economy by taxing general public and businesses. These funds are then

Burning Bright Essay Example for Free

Burning Bright Essay In `Fahrenheit 451 Burning Bright (First Half): Bradbury’s style of writing is represented in poetic elements: he shows his subtle mastery of words with effective use of figures of speech and finds a space among words to convey emotional circumstances. His message though the story portrays in succinct terms the futility of man, the rat-race that marks his life and the challenges that mar his interaction with others, not different from. The part of the story that is used in this review begins with the betrayal of Mortag by Mildred: Mildred runs from vengeance and meets danger at the end. Mortag feels regret fore her because o his love for her. Its main crux is the confrontation between Beatle and Mortag. As events unfold, Bettle becomes self aware and this contributes to his death: his self awareness paves the way for his demise at the hand of Mortag’s weapon, Fire. With this tool, Mortag enjoys burning houses and becomes convinced by Bettle that fire relieves his problems. Fire places Mongat under subjugation and also liberates him because he uses the power of fire. Montag realizes the errors in his actions. He discovers he is like others by the way he thinks: he does what is different from what he feels. This dualism is present in every one. As he watches the scene of his life on the TV set with Faber, he realizes how he could have concluded his life. He is still concerned about fame, emotions and knowledge. The final image blinks hope ahead of Montag as sprinkles drop, in conquest of the power of fire. There are salient points of contact between this story and the real world where we live: first is the power of emotion especially love. In this context, when one is offended by the one he loves, the reaction is usually different from the one whom the person does not love. On the other hand, if you dislike an person, you are likely to react worse to their errors, especially when they attempt to harm you. For your loved ones, you are surprised and find answers to your questions on why they acted the way they did. Then, you quickly find a lovely heart to forgive them. This also happened to Mortag because of his interaction with Mildred. Besides, escape is vague. Mildred attempts to escape but nemesis runs ahead. In life, nemesis catches up with crime and criminal acts. It may take time but vengeance always occurs. It may even be subtle yet it happens. This is just compliant with the Law of conservation of energy in science: no energy is lost; it is only converted from one to another. In a similar way, harm is converted in repay to another form. The unprecedented evils that befall us may be a repercussion fore some others w have inflicted on others in the past, which in most cases we can not remember. Besides, such evils could have even been inflicted directly on ourselves. It is not impossible, and there is a reaction to the action. The interesting simulation to life in this splendid work of art in words is the representation of the intrinsic duality in man. We decide to do things but we do something else. We love to change but we are stuck with our old way of life. It is a mystery science has found it difficult to break, philosophy only worsens and arts make this into a mere play. But the truth is that we are faced with the same challenge every day: that’s why our efficiency every day is less than perfect. Why, I may ask? The answer is not elusive: we are simply mortals without power to control much. In our struggle, we may date and time. We may be convinced and become committed but in just a while the duality ensues asking for a change that may not be easy to accomplish. That’s why I am a man and you are. There is good news: change may be difficult but it is good. This is one of the many contradictions that characterize life. There is pain in gain but the end thereof sprinkles bright light. Reference: http://www. sparknotes. com/lit/451/section8. rhtml