Wheres Reality Going? :: Thermodynamics Humanity Essays

Where's Reality Going? In Layman's terms the first and second laws of Thermodynamics state that there is a finite amount of energy in the universe and as this energy is always reorganizing itself a certain amount always becomes less organized. Therefore, the rate of disorganization is always greater than the rate of organization. The universe is constantly becoming less and less organized. At this rate the dissipation, the disorganization of all energy is inevitable. Though these laws ensure our bodily death the eternity of our energy is also guaranteed. But this guarantee does not comfort humans who crave the organization of matter. This obsession with organization originates in an obsession with a search for meaning. Humans tell stories of the end existence, as we know it, in an attempt to find a pattern of organization to the universe. Behind every story of existence is a desire to separate the human, to find the meaning of humanity. It seems an innate quality of all forms of life to desire to maintain bodily life. For the conscious human mind this desire is translated into the desire for immortality. The only form of life that humans know is through contained energy: the physical body. So we cling to this body as if its death ensures the death of our whole being, energy included. But, as the first and second laws of thermodynamics teach, there is a certain amount of energy in the world that is always changing form, but never changing in quantity. This seems to ensure an existence after the body perishes. But still, humans dread death. This fear seems too great to be a result of a fear of the unknown. More deeply, this fear of death is a fear of disorganization: the dispersion of our selves, a lack of meaning to the self. In death, our conscious selves are not organized in a condensed, formed matter. It is near impossible to assign meaning to that which is dispersed, everywhere. Humans think of meaning as a quality that one form has over another. To humans, something is meaningful if it is not ordinary. The problem with finding meaning in death is that if an essence is completely dispersed in death then it is in everything, and cannot be set aside, cannot be out of the ordinary, cannot embody something that is more qualitative than another something. The Random House Dictionary defines meaning as, " (1) what is intended to be expressed or indicated.

Learning to Live with Diabetes Essay

Learning to live with diabetes – integrating an illness or objectifying a disease The article was focused on the learning process of patients who had been diagnosed with diabetes and how they worked to modify their lifestyle to cope with their illness. They had to learn how manage their diets, measure their blood sugar and administer insulin injections (some of them did anyway). Some patients placed a heavy reliance on measuring their sugar with a meter and ate and injected based on what the meter said. Others focused on eating based on how they felt, supplementing their planned meals with small snacks when they were feeling hungry or sluggish. They were all well educated by the same program, but each of them dealt with their illness differently as they each experienced, and dealt with, their disease in different ways. I have known many people with diabetes, and I have come to understand the level of change that the disease involves. People with diabetes have to, in many cases, relearn how to live their life. I have been overweight for years, and despite my efforts towards eating better and exercising more often I have struggled to control my weight. If I have learned nothing else from this struggle, it is that a change in lifestyle is difficult to make and even more difficult to maintain long-term as old habits tend to reassert themselves. I would find the transition of planning my meals, carrying snacks and testing my blood sugar to be a difficult habit to establish. Diabetics are taught to eat roughly the same calories; with the same balance of fats, carbs, and proteins; at the same times each day. I sometimes go a whole day without eating and then overeat because I am too hungry. My habits put me at risk for developing diabetes, I would be so much healthier if I took these topics to heart in my personal life. As a nurse, I may well be training people how to cope with a new diagnosis of diabetes. While a treatment plan would certainly be developed, it would be part of my job to help a patient implement it. The biggest part of that job, in my opinion, is helping a person make a successful transition in their lifestyle. They would need education, someone to answer their questions, and provide support (especially when bringing families on board to help with a treatment plan). The most important thing I have taken away from this is that each person will experience their disease differently, and will (naturally) cope with these problems differently. Diabetes affects people of all races, nationalities and social strata; and I will need to be mindful of this as I help people with managing this illness. References KNECK A A Â ° . , KLANG B. & FAGERBERG I . (2012) Learning to live with diabetes – integrating an illness or objectifying a disease. Journal of Advanced Nursing 68(11), 2486–2495.

A Comparative Study of Human Resource Practices and Job Satisfaction in Public Healthcare Organisations in United Kingdom and Pakistan

Identification of important issues that determine job satisfaction of nurse may allow managers to develop strategies to increase job satisfaction nursing staff. The problem of the current quantitative research was to examine and compare the nurses’ job satisfaction at public healthcare organisations in U.K. and Pakistan.The purpose of the current study was to determine whether there were differences between factors and level of job satisfaction among nurses at two hospitals. The current quantitative research data were collected by using the Index Work Satisfaction (IWS) questionnaires (Stamps 1997). The sample for the current research was nurses who were employed in NHS and PIMS hospitals.For this study, a survey will be utilised as the primary method of acquiring the research data. The questionnaire will be comprised of closed-ended questions to get an accurate and complete data.The sample will consist of 53 employees from public healthcare service providers in United Kingdom and Pakistan. The sample of employees will be chosen randomly, however, the research will attempt to get a wide range of individuals.The findings revealed that nurses are dissatisfied with the amount of paper work required, lack of time to deliver quality care, administration who are perceived to be out of touch with daily problems, and lack of involvement in policy decision making. Different components that influence job satisfaction between NHS and PIMS nurses were also reported.NHS nurses reported twice as many dissatisfiers than PIMS nurses. The overall job satisfaction indicated that work satisfaction on both the NHS and PIMS hospitals is fairly low, according to Index of Work Satisfaction. However, PIMS has a higher level of job satisfaction than NHS.There is no better time than the present to analyse job satisfaction among professional nurses, especially those working in specialised units in hospitals, because of the changes and chaos occurring in the current environment.Num erous factors have affected the profession of nursing over the last five years. The driving force behind these factors is the economics of health care. The rising cost of health care has caused hospitals and other healthcare agencies to restructure their nursing care delivery systems.Simultaneously, technological advances have necessitated more sophisticated and complex care, acuity of patients has risen, and the length of stay in acute care facilities has dramatically been reduced (Murphy, Roch, Pepicello, & Murphy 1997).Past studies of job satisfaction among professional nurses have demonstrated relationships among satisfaction and positive and negative behaviours. High satisfaction is associated with positive behaviours such as high productivity, teamwork, and high morale, while low satisfaction is associated with negative behaviours such as absenteeism, high turnover rates, and conflict among employees (Boumans & Landerweerd 1994).Job satisfaction encompasses not only the worker s' adaptation to the organisation, but also what their work means to them and ways in which they and the organisation might adapt to their needs. Nurse managers need to assess the satisfaction of their employees, not to gain a sense of work satisfaction, but to gain knowledge that can be used to assist them and the organisation to create more meaningful and more satisfying jobs (Stamps 1997).The issue of job satisfaction has become more important to both employers of nurses and nurse employees since the beginning of health care reform and changes in the delivery of nursing care that have caused frustration and chaos among the staff nurses who are delivering the care to the patients.Managed care has changed the health care environment by putting economic constraints on hospitals. This has affected the nursing profession because the third party payers are dictating how nurses deliver care (Moore 1997).With the restructuring of nursing care delivery systems, nurses are working with dif ferent staff mixes and different staffing levels. With the increased use of unlicensed personnel, nurses have greater supervisory requirements to ensure quality care (Moore 1997).Many professional nurses have not been well prepared to manage their increasing supervisory responsibilities in the current healthcare environment. When employees are ill equipped for their jobs, dissatisfaction and ultimately negative behaviours result (Murphy et al. 1997).A study conducted by Shindul-Rothschild and Duffy, (1996) looked at nurses' views on health care reform and the practice of nursing. She found that nurses who experienced restructuring, downsizing, and the increased use of unlicensed personnel express concerns with decreased quality of nursing care. These nurses are required to do more with fewer resources so they cannot accomplish all the tasks and supervision that they are required to do.The nurses report they are taking care of more complex patients due to the seriousness of their ill nesses, but they have less time to practice nursing due the increased supervisory responsibilities. Thus, they report it has become difficult to provide high quality care to patients with the resources available and this is decreasing their job satisfaction (Corey-Lisle, Tarzian, Cohen, & Trinkoff 1999).The supply and demand of professional nurses has frequently been out of balance. According to Brewer (1997) when there is a nursing shortage, nurses are required to work long hours with an insufficient number of staff, ultimately leading to burnout and job dissatisfaction.She predicted that with the turmoil of the health care environment, another nursing shortage would occur in the near future (Brewer 1997). Critical care units have a particularly difficult time recruiting and retaining nurses in such times to fill their positions.Job satisfaction may vary depending on work settings. There has been no research comparing job satisfaction between developed and undeveloped countries pub lic healthcare providers.UK nurses have lower patient to staff ratios, fewer unlicensed personnel, no licensed practical nurses, and rely on modern technology like hemodynamic monitoring to help monitor patients. Pakistani nurses must supervise more licensed practical nurses and unlicensed personnel, lack hemodynamic monitoring assistance, and have a larger number of patients per staff member.Job satisfaction has incredible significance to the health care system. When employees are satisfied, productivity and morale increase. When employees are dissatisfied, employers encounter negative behaviours. Employees may decide to leave, morale and productivity decrease, absenteeism and tardiness increase, and conflict is more prevalent (Williams 1990).All of these factors have considerable implication for organisations. Low quality, absenteeism and the need to retrain and orient new employees add significant issues to organisations. Even more important are the effects these behaviours can h ave on patient outcomes. If the morale and productivity levels are low and stress levels are high, an increase in patient and staff injuries is likely (Wunderlich et al., 1996).Nurse administrators and managers need to be aware of job satisfaction because of its impact on morale, budget, productivity, and staff and patient injuries. Nurse administrators and managers can be proactive and develop strategies to assist in increasing job satisfaction among nurses. Nurse managers on specialty units need to assess job satisfaction closely because of the added difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified professional nurses for these units.Public Healthcare Organisations within UK and Pakistan The government organisations namely as National Health Service in UK and Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Pakistan, are the subjects of this dissertation. The part of study was based in the PIMS, which is one of the largest health public organisations in Pakistan. There were three main reaso ns for selecting this organisation for the study:1) Like several other large health public organisations (in Pakistan), PIMS has a well defined organisational structure comprised of a voluntary advisory board, paid employees and community based volunteers. Also, its general vision about the health care delivery, staffing pattern and range of salary, benefits and employee development activities are similar to other health public organisations. Hence, the lessons learnt from this organisation could be applied to other health public organisations.2) PIMS started providing community based primary health care services from mid 1980s. In a short period, it showed a significant improvement in health indicators in northern areas and its strategy of community participation in program planning and implementation became a model for other public organisations as well as private.Several public organisations adapted PIMS' strategy either fully or in part. Based on the lessons learnt from PIMS, th e government decided to include its philosophy of community involvement in health care delivery in its national health policy and also invited PIMS to help the government health department in replicating its strategy in the government setting (PIMS, 2007).PIMS' strategic direction and operational approaches have become a model for many other organisations working in the health sector in Pakistan. Thus, it was expected that the lessons learnt from this study in the PIMS would receive due attention by other public organisations as well as the government sector, resulting in wider acceptability and benefit.3) PIMS' keen interest in improving its performance further by conducting organisational research was also one of the reasons for selecting it as a study site. In this regard, a research agenda developed in consultation with the PIMS senior staff members was shared with the investigator before conceptualisation of this study.Based on the mutual need and the interest of PIMS and the i nvestigator, the research topic was finalised. Considering PIMS' serious interest in the topic it was expected that the research findings will be utilised by the organisation to develop better human resource management policies resulting in more efficient use of their resources and effective health care delivery to the communities in its program areas.Health Sector in PakistanPakistan a low-income country (http://www.worldbank.org.pk). The rural-urban division is sharp, as are the disparities between the rich and poor. According to the National Human Development Report (http://www.un.org.pk), almost one third of the people of Pakistan, mainly in rural areas, live below the official poverty line (income of less than US dollar a day per household).Inadequate social services and the high rate of population growth perpetuate poverty and the unequal distribution of wealth (http://www.oxfam.org.uk). The socio-economic indicators are worse than most of the countries in South Asia. United N ation's Human Development Index (http://www.unfpa.org) puts Pakistan at number 142 (out of 177).Each year the Pakistani government (federal and provincial combined) spends around GBP 5.0 per capita on education and GBP 2,5 per capita on health (2001 figures based on average exchange rate for GBP).Compared to this, the national expenditure on health per capita is around GBP 9.0, indicating a huge role of private and other health care providers (mainly NGOs), which cover around 76% of the total per capita health care expenditure (http://www.emro.who.int).There are not enough schools, health facilities or houses. The average number of people living in a house is seven; and half the population live in one-room housing units, with inadequate basic utilities, such as water, sanitation and electricity. Access to education and health services is limited, especially in the rural areas, and women and girls are at a particular disadvantage (http://www.oxfam.org.uk). Â  

The eNotes Blog Prose, Poetry, and Macaroni Seattles Lit Crawl2016

Prose, Poetry, and Macaroni Seattles Lit Crawl2016 Lit Crawl is Seattle, WAs biggest and baddest annual event of poetry and prose readings. With 15 venues, 35 readings, and 5 phases, Lit Crawl is a massive uplift of local voices and art, as well as the perfect niche for a literary nerd. We  went to the first four  phases, and were blown away by the showcase of talent. In case you missed live documenting the event on our Instagram,  weve recapped some highlights. First up  was the Poetry Northwest  reading in downtown Seattle at a place called Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum. Folio is housed in the same building as the YMCA Central Branch Building; as poet Jane Wong mentioned, you could smell the chlorine of the YMCA pool from the small library we were in. This aquatic touch was fitting, because the president of the Seattle Cephalopod Appreciation Society and my former professor, Sierra Nelson, read first. Then Megan Snyder-Camp read her nature-filled prose poetry, followed by a reading by Jane Wong, author of the poetry collection Over Pour. We hopped on the light rail  and made our  way over for  Phase 2 at  the next venue, Vermillion- a bar that doubles as an arcade and art gallery (score!). This reading was hosted by Natasha Marin, creator of the Reparations Project, which encourages white people to support people of color in their communities. This reading featured a number of emotionally provocative, local poets, including Robert Lashley, Imani Sims, Anastacia Renee, Quenton Baker, Sakara Remmu, and Andy Yun. Even though the room was PACKED (most audience members could barely see the performers) their voices were powerful enough to keep the audience  engaged. The performers focused a lot on themes of being a person of color  in American systems and breaking down white fragility and guilt. Jessica Mooney, Neal Thompson  (top); Jean Burnet, Jeanine Walker  (bottom) For Phase 3 we  walked a block away to the Cheap Beer and Prose series of Lit Crawl. Cheap Beer and Prose is often done at Hugo House, but this time it was held at the Velocity DanceCenter. Jean Burnet, Jessica Mooney, and Neal Thompson, read from their short story collections and memoirs  while the hilarious Jeanine Walker hosted. For the final phase (for us) we went back to Vermillion Art Gallery and Bar and saw Steph Kesey present her series Hey There, Macaroni to an audience for the first time. The series went through the phases of love and rejection by means of animated  macaroni GIFs. It was an eye-opening and genuine collection that was originally meant as an act of love for her close  friend’s experiences with love and loss. Kesey plans to drop her  macaroni GIFs for the whole world to enjoy on January 1  (follow her progress on Instagram). Did you attend this years Seattle Lit Crawl? Wed love to hear your experiences in the comments below!

mail vs femail communication styles essays

mail vs femail communication styles essays You say the glass is half-empty; I say the glass is half full. This is the way people communicate daily on a personal level or professional level. Effective communication however, is the ultimate key. As we know, communication is carried on all over the world, in many different languages, slangs, and dialects that have developed over time through the communication process. Perhaps the most obvious difference in achieving effective communication is seen in any culture, or race between males and females. Though not as obvious or radical as two different languages, it is a difference that can be equated to such. Males and females have definite different communication styles, and as a result, we respond differently under various professional, social, and personal situations. Like the book title implies, "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" we are very different. We are not from different planets, but why does it seem that way? We are raised under different norms. Is it wrong that we raise our boys and girls differently? That is a question that stems back many years and cannot be answered in this paper. Historic traditions instilled inside all of us that are unconsciously passed down through generation after generation, makes us the people that we are. The key word is UNCONSCIOUSLY. It is part of our culture to treat the sexes differently. In most cultures women have been raised to be more passive than men, and this trait usually sticks with them all through life. From grade school on up, women have been the quiet ones. In school, guys were the ones being loud and obnoxious (remember throwing rocks and dirt at the girls.) Little did they know, that was the male way of saying "I am here, notice me", or "I really like you." Girls would respond with a smile to the guys or say "he is so stupid" to her friends. They use this as a shield for their real feelings and a w ...

Stereotypes of Italian Americans in Film and Television

Stereotypes of Italian Americans in Film and Television Italian Americans  may be European in ancestry, but they were not always treated as white in the United States, as the pervasive stereotypes about them demonstrate. Not only did Italian immigrants to America face employment discrimination in their adopted homeland, but they also faced violence by whites who viewed them as â€Å"different.† Because of their once marginalized status in this country, ethnic stereotypes of Italians persist in film and television. On the big and small screen, alike, Italian Americans are all too often portrayed as mobsters, thugs and peasants hawking spaghetti sauce. While Italian Americans have made great strides in U.S. society, their characterization in popular culture remains stereotypical and troublesome. Mobsters Fewer than .0025 percent of Italian Americans are involved in organized crime, according to the  Italian American News website. But one would be hard-pressed to know that from watching Hollywood television shows and movies, where just about every Italian family has mob ties. In addition to films such as â€Å"The Godfather,† â€Å"Goodfellas,† â€Å"Casino† and â€Å"Donnie Brasco,† television shows such as  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Sopranos,† â€Å"Growing Up Gotti† and â€Å"Mob Wives† have perpetuated the idea that Italian Americans and organized crime go hand-in-hand. While many of these films and shows  have won critical praise, they do little to complicate the image Italian Americans have in popular culture. Food-Making  Peasants Italian cuisine is among the most popular in the United States. Accordingly, a number of television commercials depict Italians and Italian  Americans flipping pizzas, stirring tomato sauce and squashing grapes. In many of these commercials, Italian Americans are portrayed as heavily accented, robust peasants. The Italian American News website describes how a Ragu commercial features â€Å"several elderly, overweight Italian American women in housedresses [who] are so delighted with Ragu’s meat sauce that they turn somersaults and play leapfrog in a meadow.† An undue amount of food ads portray Italian women as â€Å"elderly, overweight housewives and grandmothers wearing black dresses, housecoats or aprons,† the site reports. â€Å"Jersey Shore† When MTV reality series â€Å"Jersey Shore† debuted, it became a pop culture sensation. Viewers of all ages and ethnic backgrounds faithfully tuned in to watch the group of mostly Italian American friends hit the bar scene, work out at the gym, tan and do laundry. But  prominent Italian-Americans protested  that the bouffant-haired stars of the show- self-described Guidos and Guidettes- were spreading  negative stereotypes about Italians. Joy Behar,  co-host of ABC’s â€Å"The View,† said that â€Å"Jersey Shore† did not represent her culture. â€Å"I do have a master’s degree, so a person like me is rather annoyed with a show like that because I went to college, you know, to better myself, and then these idiots come out and make Italians look bad,† she said. â€Å"It’s awful. They should go to Firenze and Rome and Milano and see what Italians really did in this world. It’s irritating.† Bigoted Thugs Anyone familiar with Spike Lee’s films knows that he has persistently depicted Italian Americans as dangerous, racist thugs from New York City’s working class. Italian Americans such as these can be found in a number of Spike Lee films, most notably â€Å"Jungle Fever,† â€Å"Do The Right Thing† and â€Å"Summer of Sam.† When Lee criticized Django Unchained  director Quentin Tarantino for turning slavery into a spaghetti Western,  Italian groups called him a hypocrite because of the thread of anti-Italian bias that runs through his films, they said. â€Å"When it comes to Italian Americans, Spike Lee has never done the right thing,† said Andre DiMino, president of the Italian American One Voice Coalition. â€Å"One wonders if Spike Lee is indeed a racist who hates Italians and why he harbors a grudge.† One Voice voted Lee into its Hall of Shame because of his portrayals of Italian Americans. In particular, the group criticized â€Å"Summer of Sam† because the movie â€Å"descends into a panoply of negative character portrayals, with Italian Americans as mobsters, drug dealers, drug addicts, racists, deviants, buffoons, bimbos, and sex-crazed fiends.†

Are we living in a therapy culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Are we living in a therapy culture - Essay Example The different types of general problems are also increasing for employees day by day. According to Furedi (2003), the therapy concepts are not linked with dilemmas that are peculiar or indifferent states of mind of the individuals. Therapy is being taken as dealing with dilemmas that are common and state of minds that are being observed in normal human beings on a usual basis. There was a time therapy was considered as typically being applied on some unique cases but now every human being is gradually becoming prone to therapies. The states such as depression, stress, anxieties that are general, different types of phobia, and shyness are some of the common problems that are faced by majority of the individuals (Howard 2005). The author Furedi (2003) also discusses that the individual experiences that are faced are being categorized as medical and psychological issues and this may directly relate with the emotional mind set of the individuals. Therapy concepts are not just visiting psychologists and having chat sessions with them, therapy is becoming an inbuilt concept in society that is making mandatory compulsions on individuals for remaining competitive in the society and cope up with realities of life. Therapeutic claim making has become one of the most interesting debates currently. Furedi (2003) suggests that individuals are mostly interested in acknowledgements that state that they need formal recognitions and approaches to cure themselves. The society pressurizes the individuals to consult psychologists and counsellors to have sessions and discuss about their problems so that their therapy sessions can start with them. Cameron (2000) argues in his book that people are ready to make therapy claims very easily by observing their conditions. It the psychological thought that they have developed that they may get well if they take up therapy sessions for