The Hunters; Scarce Resources in the Kalahari

The Kung bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa are one of the few bands of hunter-gatherers left in the world. They survive by foraging for their meals while traveling, never settling in one specific area. Hunting and gathering was the primary mode of survival until about ten thousand years ago. Anthropologists have made assumptions about the hunting and gathering lifestyle of current populations because it seems like a precarious method of living. Moreover, the Kalahari area where the ! Kung live in was perceived to be baron because it is a desert.However, a study done over a period of years beginning in 1960 led by Richard Lee disproved the common misconception of the life of these foragers, proving that they were not the uncultivated society that they were perceived to be. The ! Kung people live in the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa where there is minimal rainfall, and they are physically isolated from any agricultural societies in the area. They do their fieldwork in an area with eight permanent waterholes that were about 125 miles away from a river. They do not cultivate agriculture, nor do they have livestock nor are under any heavy government authority.The ! Kung people rely solely on hunting and gathering for their survival because in the area that they live in, there is no other logical means of survival. Because of all of these observed setbacks, anthropologists of the 1960’s saw these bush people as a group living solely to find food for survival. This was not the case however. When anthropologists of the 1960’s went to study these people, they found that their perceptions were wrong. Although the people lived far away from other societies, and although they did not cultivate the land, they lived meaningful lives.Despite not having close neighbors from other societies, there was a relatively large population of other camps of hunter-gatherers that were associated with the waterholes. In addition, although the desert is a rid, there are many sources of vegetables that the people live consume. Despite what anthropologists believed, the author proved that the people did not have to live for the sole purpose of finding food. There was a six-mile radius near each of the waterholes that had copious vegetation and an assorted source of meat. This suggests that in order to obtain food, the people only needed to go a certain walking distance.It was not necessary to travel for long periods to get a small portion of food, as anthropologists thought. However, there was never a surplus of food, which could allude to the fact that there was not enough food for a surplus. This was a misconception because the bush people had more than enough food to live off, so there was no need to obtain a surplus because there was no need to store food when it was readily available. Another misconception anthropologists had was that the bush people had to hunt often for sustenance but this was invalidated.The Bushmen go out to c ollect food around every third day throughout the year. Anthropologists thought when they went out to get food, the ! Kung people went hunting. This was not the case. It was proven that around 60 to 80 percent of their diets were comprised of vegetation from the area surrounding the camp. This can be partially attributed to the fact that the men are not always successful when they go to hunt, and it also involves the fact that there is a large variety of vegetation available to the people.Previously, anthropologists thought that in a hunter-gatherer society, there was primarily hunting done to sustain the population because not much waste was found in the camps, however, the primary types of animals hunted are small and vegetation does not leave much waste. There is never a shortage of food for the ! Kung, they have their pick of what types of vegetation they wish to consume, partially based on the season, and they occasionally eat meat. The people do not have to scour for food and settle for whatever they can find, as anthropologists thought.There is actually an assorted variety of foods the ! Kung people choose from. And not every type of edible food is consumed. The people are selective in the types of food they want to eat, and sometimes settle for certain unpopular foods due to reasons such as drought. There is always food for the people to consume, but during certain times of year, the bush people have to travel farther to get to it. There is a shorter commute in the summer while in the spring, there is much more distance that needs to be covered to get food.The mongogo nut is a staple in the diet of these people because of its good nutritional value. This nut is attributed to around 50 percent of their diet of vegetation based on weight. This is a staple to the bush people, compared to rice or corn of other societies. The nut is hardy and drought resistant so it is always abundant throughout the year, and only of a fraction of it is actually cultivated. This is because of how selective the ! Kung people are with the types of food they consume. The more favorable fruits are usually consumed first, and then staples such as the mongongo nut are eaten.Anthropologists and others also believe these people eat animals such as rodent and insects because they are included in literature about the people, but the bushman actually despise these animals as food and do not consume them. Moreover, gathering never results in all of the available vegetations’ depletion. There is always food available, so the bush people do not go long without food. It was once thought that the people were malnourished because of their location, but that was not true. The bushmen eat relatively balanced diets that include enough of each food group to be healthy individuals.It was believed that the hunting and gathering way of life was harsh and rigorous, so the people who followed this lifestyle were quickly worn out and died at an early age. Some anthropolo gists even assumed that the average age a bush person would reach before they died was around 45. This was definitely not the case after research was conducted. It was also perceived that the bush people abandoned their old and sick members because they cannot provide for themselves or for the camp therefore were deemed useless. The ! Kung bush people do not adhere to any of these prior assumptions.In the population of bush people, there were a percentage of people over the age of sixty that was comparable to the percentage of those over sixty in industrialized societies. Elders were respected and were considered leaders of the camp, they were not abandoned and considered futile as once thought. Senile individuals were rare but they, along with crippled and disabled individuals were cared for and valued for skills they had. The elderly were taken care of by their children when they could no longer provide by hunting or gathering.Anthropologists also had the notion that people began hunting and gathering at a young age, so that enough food could be provided. It was discovered however, that there is a late age of assumption of adult responsibility, and that young people were not expected to provide until marriage. There was a large portion of the population that does not provide food by hunting and gathering, and there was a small population that provide for themselves and those that do not work. It was discovered that children and the elderly lead considerably simple lives.Although there is a small population of people that actually search for and gather the food, their time is not completely preoccupied with finding food. It is true that finding food is the most important activity, but that is also important to most other societies, especially agricultural societies. The people devote around twelve to nineteen hours of a traditional seven day week in search for food. The other time is used for leisure and recreation. As stated earlier, the Bushmen do not have a surplus of food, so there is no need to have rigorous seasons of work in search for food because it is usually always readily available.They obtain food to appease their necessary caloric intake and after that, their time is used for other purposes besides the search for food. Woman spend their time doing activities such as embroidery, resting, taking care of her children, visiting other camps, or entertaining visitors. A woman would also be required to take care of the home and kitchen routines. These activities include cooking, or collecting water. Men usually are involved in visiting, entertaining guests or dancing. Hunting is irregular and it is influenced by the hunter’s luck.For example, if a hunter is having bad luck for a certain period of time, they could stop hunting and participate in leisurely activities. It was assumed that everyone has to go out to get food, but that is not the case because some men can go longer than a month without hunting if their luck does not get better. Although they have large periods of time devoted to leisure, there is usually always a steady supply of vegetation and meat. Based on prior assumptions of a hunting and gathering lifestyle, anthropologists of the 1960’s thought hunter-gatherers lived â€Å"brutish† lives where all they did was search for food.With Richard Lee’s research of the ! Kung through the 1960’s he disproved these assumptions. Foragers were not barbaric individuals that lived solely off of meat and they lived for more than just finding food. Lee suggest that the â€Å"view of both modern and ancient hunters ought to be reconsidered. † And that hunting and gathering was â€Å"a persistent and well-adapted way of life. † The ! Kung of the Kalahari were an example of a set of foragers who lived lives with more meaning than just to survive through hunting.

Leadership Program Case

I had spent about 3 months in my new Job at JP Morgan, Singapore, as a business analyst in the clearing and settlement project management team. I was handling a critical and high-budget project spanning over 4 different locations. Pleased with my work and the team player attributes I had shown in the few months, my Executive Director called me into his cabin and offered me an additional responsibility. He said that he had started an â€Å"Offshore Test Centre (ETC)† initiative and he felt that it deed a manager and a leader to get it streamlined and functioning well.In addition to my work as an analyst in my project, I would be given the manager position for the ETC team. Thinking that it would be a great opportunity to hone my team leadership skills, I accepted. The ETC or the Offshore Test Centre was a team of consultants from Polaris who were working for JP Morgan. The team comprised of 4 people from Iambi and 3 people from Hydrated, in India, 1 person in London, I-J and 2 people in North America. I was situated in Singapore. When, I officially took over, I was made aware of the problems immediately.The person who was leading the team before me had little experience in the clearing and settlement technology area and was not able to provide the required level of expertise. He was let go and I was the replacement manager. The main issues I encountered were: 1 . ) It was a new team and until now there had been no one to structure it or establish any guidelines. There was no team cohesion and feeling of camaraderie within the am was absent. 2. ) The members had not received any training or formal knowledge sessions related to technology and business. . ) There was no recognition for the team as it hadn't been able to carve a niche for itself. The technology team did their own quality testing as there was no trust and hence no dependency. 4. ) They already had a team leader at offshore who was handling the administration activities for Polaris, and he hand led the leaves, appraisal and allocation for the team members. I started off by making a formal introduction via email and video conferencing to ensure that everyone in different time zones was included.We had a good initial knowledge transfer session where I shared my knowledge in the areas of work and my vision for the team. The team members gave me an idea of the kind of work they had been doing in the past and the processes and flows and also what their goals and expectations were. During the week, I set up one-on-one meetings with every individual and spoke at length. I kept the tone informal and lowly but steadily, people opened up and spoke about the issues they encountered and offered solutions as well.I established a weekly reporting process, where I consolidated the tasks completed by each member and sent it to the senior management. This improved the visibility of our team. I made sure, with the help of my director that the process was more streamlined and all the enhance ments and change releases went through our team first for quality assurance. This not only created a healthy dependency between the technology, management and the test team, but also helped open dialogues between the teams making the collaboration stronger.Most importantly, I set up training sessions every alternate day and made sure I received feedback and summarization on the sessions from the members. I initially did face some negative reactions to the changes from some of the team members, especially from the offshore leader. But eventually, as we made progress and the positive implications became clear, I started receiving positive feedbacks and my team claimed that it was much happier with their radioactivity.We started catering to diverse teams and technology, and in the process I had learn the new business and technology as well for the order matching and celebration team. Best part was, that the team was now recognized among the top management as one of the efficient qualit y assurance team as our delivery defects were substantially reduced by over 40%. My Executive director was happy as the both technology and management team both felt that the entire system was now benefiting from this step.

Aaron Beck †The father of cognitive therapy Essay

Aaron T. Beck is considered the father of cognitive therapy was born on July 18, 1921 in Providence Rhode Island. His mother, Elizabeth Temkin, married his father, Harry Beck, in 1909. He is the youngest of five children. Aaron Beck notes that his mother was quite depressed prior to his birth due to the loss of two of her children. Beck was born two years after his only sister died of influenza. He believed himself to be a replacement child for his sister. Beck says he takes joy in the idea that, even at a young age, he was able to cure his mother’s depression. Beck attended Brown University and received many awards and honors in academic excellence. He graduated magna cum laude. After graduating from Brown University he went on to receive his medical degree and then his PH.D from Yale. During his internship, Aaron Beck met Phyllis Whitman. She was a student at the Hillel Foundation, the girls’ school at Brown University. The couple married on June 4, 1950, in Providence. She completed a law degree while raising their four children. She served as a superior court judge in Pennsylvania. Beck became interested in psychoanalysis while doing his internship at Rhode Island Hospital. Although Beck spent most of his career studying psychoanalysis, in the 1960’s Beck’s research deviated significantly from traditional psychoanalytic methods, focusing instead on distorted thoughts that led to problematic behaviors. He struggled to find a way to help his depressed client’s better capture their emotions. He realized that many of his depressed clients experienced recurring negative thought and that as long as they believed these thoughts to be true, they would continue to have symptoms of depression. He theorized that in order to change the symptoms, he much change their distorted thinking. This belief led to the development of cognitive behavioral therapy. (Famous psychologist) Beck took a position at the University of Pennsylvania in 1954 in the psychiatry department, which is where he developed the depression research clinic. Beck began to work more intensely on his cognitive approach to depression, In1952, he published his first psychiatric article, a case study about treatment of schizophrenic delusion. It was the first of numerous publications he made that were later on recognized as significant precursor to the development of cognitive therapy. In 1961, he developed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The BDI is one of the most widely used and referenced scales of depression. It is a 21 item scale that uses a Likert scale to determine the  severity of depression symptoms. Even though the scale is now revered as one of the well-constructed scales and useful, those in the psychiatric department at Penn did not receive the idea so well. In 1967, Beck became an associate professor; however, he only received a one year extension on his depression grant. Beck stared working from home, and this turned out to be just what he needed, and he produced his first book, Depression: Clinical Experimental and Theoretical Aspects. From here his work at the University of Pennsylvania began to pick up, and in 1971 he was awarded full professor status.

Cabeza de Vaca and his Encounter with the Indian Tribes Research Paper

Cabeza de Vaca and his Encounter with the Indian Tribes - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that the journey and expedition of Governor Pamfilo de Narvaez, followed by around 600 men and five ships along with the officers including Cabeza de Vaca , the Treasurer and alguacil mayor, Alonso Enriquez, the Comptroller, Alonso de Solis, Quartermaster to Your Majesty and Inspector, Juan Suarez, a Franciscan Friar, Commissary and four more friars for capturing and ruling over the provinces beginning from the River of Palms to the cape of Florida is amazing. The incidents that were encountered during this harrowing expedition have been presented by Cabeza de Vaca in this book called The Journey and Ordeal of Cabeza de Vaca. His account of this terrible journey of the southwest part of America certainly leaves us with a feeling trepidation on the one hand and astonishment on the other. The lifestyles of the Indians clearly reflected their ability to survive against the odds and tame their environment.  During their first phase of the jou rney, from Spain through Cuba to Tampa Bay, the Governor, decided to move further, into inland areas despite the opposition of Cabeza de Vaca that segregated them from their supporting vessels and left them in miserable conditions without sufficient food and water. However, this is the first time that the fleet confronted the attack of the Indian tribes. During their second voyage that took them to the coast of Texas, the inhabitants in this area were primarily Karankawa Indians. In fact, the survivors and Cabeza de Vaca were the first non-Indians known to hit this coast. The hostile attitude of these Indian tribes towards the foreigners and enslaving Cabeza shows their struggle for survival. Broadly speaking, the Indians were in a constant state of warfare with their environment and knew little about life on the other part of the globe. The only thing that characterized the Indian tribes included their aggression and toughness which can be accounted to the antagonistic environment in which they lived. In one of the instances, Cabeza has stated that â€Å"they were bidding us go†, (31).

Does globalisation aggrevate or reduce inequalities between nations Essay

Does globalisation aggrevate or reduce inequalities between nations - Essay Example This is undeniably most relevant in the current state of the world where any economic change cannot be unaccomapined by cultural and social changes in the society. Infact it would not be wrong to say that this has been the trend over the last century where subordinate or colonised society's cultures are infilterated by the dominant economic power. The Australian society stands out as one such example. In the colonisation era, the affect of european culture was consistently observed in autralia up until 1948, and this has now been replaced by a distinctive American influence (which can be attributed to the strong American Economy). However contemporary globalisation is increasingly being associated with trends of inequality and wage distribution diffrences both on an intra nation and on a wider internation scale. These structural political-economic changes are generating greater social-spatial inequalities. As Rober Wade has states; ''Global inequality is worsening rapidly.... Technological change and financial liberalization result in a disproportionately fast increase in the number of households at the extreme rich end, without shrinking the distribution at the poor end.... From 1988 to 1993, the share of the world income going to the poorest 10 percent of the world's population fell by over a quarter, whereas the share of the richest 10 percent rose by 8 percent. The richest 10 percent pulled away from the median, while the poorest 10 percent fell away from the median, falling absolutely and by a large amount.'' - Robert Wade, The London School of Economics, The Economist, 2001 Such analysis of the situation supports the existing hypothesis that globalisation is inextricably linked with inequality. A look at the percapita income bteween countries reveals that an increasing trend of unequality in recent decades. The reports of World bank confirm this trend. For instance, in 1960 the average per-capita GDP in the richest 20 countries in the world was 15 times that of the poorest 20. In 2003 this gap had become 30 times (World Bank 2003). However the question that is inadvertantly would need to be raised is whether this econmic trend reflects greater openness to trade when it has been predicted that openness fosters higher not lower incomes. A historical Perspective The increasing inequality, without doubt is one of the most challenging aspects of the current wave of globalization. None the less it it important to understand the significance of this aspect, in the context of a historical persepective of globalisation. Past several decades or infact phases of globalization have coincided with increasing inequality within countries but an inequlaity between nations was never observed. The world bank has esatblished three phases of glabalisation; the pre world war I, the post world war I and the present phase.The first two phases saw much disparity on an intra nation level but the third world did not catch up with the first world or even with the then existing second world. However increasing technology and communications which are vital part of the 3rd or presnt phase of globalisation has seen what may best be termed as a global and internation effect of trends of liberalisation. If they are far reaching, we do not know, but the nature of this exi siting association shall be discussed further on. The association between globalisation and inequality There are two

Legal Forms of Business Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Legal Forms of Business Paper - Essay Example Sole Proprietorship A sole proprietorship is a kind of business structure wherein a business is to be carried by an individual or a married individual alone. If Miguel chooses this type of business structure he will find it is easy to operate, enjoy the profits and have the benefit of the flexibility of management. A sole proprietorship has fewer legal controls but at the same time has an unlimited personal liability (Reed, n. d.). Example: Miguel launches food services. The name of the company is Miguel’s Food Services. The name comes from the name of its sole owner, Miguel Garcia. Miguel invested $50,000 from his own funds and borrowed $100,000 from the bank for the business. Let us assume that the business failed after several months of operation, and he still owes the bank the amount of $50,000. As a sole owner, he is liable to pay the bank the whole amount from his personal assets. Miguel will find it difficult to attract investors under this set up. Because he is new in this kind of business, there is also the possibility of the flaw of management, as he does not possess the necessary skills needed in the business. Partnership A partnership is a kind of arrangement wherein two or more persons (not a married couple) agree to contribute money, labor, and skill to a business (Reed, n. d). Example: Let us suppose that Miguel accepts Peter as a general partner, each of them shares in the management of the business, shares in the profit and losses of the company and both of them are equally liable for the debt of the company. Each party must agree to the participation of its partner, and the partners can do it orally, in a written form or implied, and no formalities are required. It should be a good practice to have a written agreement to avoid future disputes (Cheeseman2010). Thus, Miguel, and Peter as business partners should write articles of partnership that spell out their terms of agreement in management, profit, or loss. Their Food Service does no t pay federal income taxes. Instead each partner should pay his or her income tax separately. This way, the government can trace if they declare their income and losses properly. General partners have the right to share in the management and also to share in the profits. Under the rule, no partner is allowed to receive a compensation for his performance in the business unless otherwise agreed upon. However, a partner is allowed reimbursement for business travel expenses and expenses incurred for the business. Limited Partnership Another possibility for Miguel is to consider the limited partnership wherein he can be a general partner and accept partners on a limited basis. As a general partner he manages the business and shares fully in its profits and losses. The limited partners share the profits of the organization but their losses are limited only to their shares in the company (Reed, n. d.) Let us take this example. The company is registered as Best Food Services, Ltd. The word Ltd. signifies that partners have limited participation in the company. Miguel, Peter, and James are partners. Miguel is the general partner; Peter and James are limited partners.

The factors responsible for Mexican debt crisis in the 1980s Essay

The factors responsible for Mexican debt crisis in the 1980s - Essay Example This problem soon spread to other developing countries in the world hence becoming a global debt crisis. It led to long term accumulation of commercial bank debts in the public sector. The factors responsible for the Mexico debt crisis of the 1980s can be broadly categorized into demand factors and supply factors. The demand factors are those that contributed to Mexico’s decision to seek for external financial aid hence contracting of many loans from commercial banks. The supply factors are those factors that enabled or encouraged commercial banks to lend money to Mexico and other developing countries. These factors contributed directly or indirectly to Mexico’s contracting loans or more loans and incapacity to repay these loans. In the 1960s and 1970s, Mexico borrowed lots of money from international creditors. The money was to be used for purposes of industrialization especially development of infrastructure. At this time, Mexico’s economy was good. This motivated the creditors to continue providing loans. This increased Mexico’s rate of debt to commercial banks and consequently to increased debt service, that is, repayment of the principal and interests. Later on, most of these loans were given on short term basis. This imposed a pressure of meeting loan maturation dates. External debt grew till it was 50% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 1983 (Sebastian, 1996). According to (Rudiger, 1985), there was a general recession in the world economy in the 1970s and 1980s. This was caused by a sharp increase in the prices of oil which started in the year 1971. Oil prices increased because the fixed exchange rates system which the Bretton Woods innovated had failed. This innovation had helped governments to free themselves from limitations presented to them by a fixed parity. Its role was to ensure that domestic demand was managed well so as to safeguard against haphazard increase in imports. As a result of

Media Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Media - Assignment Example Any story that sells means that the advertisers have a field day. Prior to the 2008 US presidential elections, Mr. Obama’s religion was questioned. There were claims that the former senator was a Muslim (Smith et. al., 2009). The media made this such a debate, so much so, he had to lay the issue to rest. Pundits viewed the scandal as a propaganda meant to derail his presidential ambitions then. The media have always capitalized on such scandals to cash in money (Smith et. al., 2009). Although the issue of religion is a â€Å"public issue†, one wonders why it did not generate endless debates prior to the campaigns. For instance, does one have to account for their middle names? Such was the case with Obama’s â€Å"Hussein† middle name. Politicians, like the rest of us, deserve to a fair treatment by the media (Marion, 2010). Some scandals were able to expose the mistakes and ‘evil’ sides of the politicians; majority of them were ‘created’ by different media houses so that they could make more money selling the stories to curious citizens (Marion, 2010). The pubic have a right to know the integrity of their leaders or would-be leaders; however, the politicians are entitled to their privacy. The media must ensure they expose only the scandals that touch of the politician’s integrity and efficiency concerning their public

Disscusion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Disscusion - Assignment Example What started out as movement concerned with federal government spending, the Tea Party quickly grew into a group totally dissatisfied with the federal government. The hatred and animosity this group shows the federal government is confusing. The federal government is made up of people elected on a state level. Why hate something you helped to create? Another part of the Tea Party I do not understand is Sarah Palin. If she was competent I might understand her appeal. However she writes notes on her hands, misquotes facts, and generally misspeaks. This is not a gender issue. Women like Condoleezza Rice or Hilary Clinton can talk politics and issues every day, but Palin seems to be out of her league. A good politician should be able to hold their own in an open forum. Palin cannot even manage this simple task. I did agree with the vote not to legalize marijuana. Medicinal marijuana is one thing, but legalization is another. Drugs need to be fought in a different manner than legalizing them. I was also pleased with the race for governor in Oklahoma. Mary Fallin versus Jeri Askins made history. Oklahoma had to elect their first woman governor. This is a great step toward progress. Although I do not agree with Fallin’s politics, I am glad that gender does not matter in politics

Case Study Analysis on an Organisation Essay Example for Free

Case Study Analysis on an Organisation Essay Organisational change is something that occurs throughout an organisation’s life cycle and effects the entire organisation rather than one part of it. Employing a new person is one example. Change is increasing due to a number of forces including globalisation led by rapidly advancing technologies, cultural diversity, environmental resources and the economy; therefore the ability to recognise the need for change as well as implement change strategies effectively, in a proactive response to internal and external pressures is essential to organisational performance. Internal changes can include organisational structure, process and HR requirements and external changes involve government legislation, competitor movements and customer demand (Wood et al, 2010). Change does not need to be a painful process, as it may seem when observing the amount of failed change management initiatives with reports as low as 10% of researched success rates (Oakland Tanner, 2007), when successful change management strategies are utilised and planned, including effective communication strategies, operational alignment, readiness to change and implementation, which all lower and overcome resistance (Wood et al, 2010). There is a great amount of literature on the negative aspects and difficult management with employees resisting change, however Wood et al (2010) challenge this notion by questioning the change management process as people do not resist change itself but aspects of the change that affects them personally such as fear of the unknown, status, remuneration and comfort. Resistance to these changes is a healthy reaction and can be managed effectively in the beginning by ensuring communication and using one of the change initiatives described here. Background Information Truelocal is based in Sydney, with small sales branches in Brisbane and Melbourne. It employs over 150 staff, an increase of approximately 50% over the past two years. It was founded in 2005 by NDM as part of an expanding operation of online websites to provide across the board consumer services, including news and magazine websites; online sport and weather information; and shopping comparison search engine, web-based recruitment, and travel search engine solutions [http://www. ewsdigitalmedia. com. au, accessed 25/08/2010]. As the world shifted into what is often referred to as the ‘digital info age’, consumer demand for online media as a way to source information significantly increased and demand for printed media decreased putting pressure on newspaper companies to expand to producing news and information online in digital format. This included News Corporation which decreased its newspaper operations and increased its digital expansion. As an employee at Truelocal for over six years, I have acquired this information presented here through interviews with management, company information and my own observations internally within the organisation’s sales department working in the roles of sales executive, account manager and senior retention account manager. The Need for Change – Management Structure Truelocal needed to align its culture, values and structure with the parent company in order to meet strategic growth goals not long after it was founded. Wood et al (2010) describe the work of an author, Noel Tichey on managing strategic change. Experts use three fundamental sets of change in their approach; technical design, political allocation and culture/ideological mix problems. It is one of these problems that become a pressing issue at any one time of which then initiates the change. In Truelocal’s case there were a number of changes evolving and at this time it was culture problems. NDM has been growing in size since its establishment in 2006 with a number of acquired website operations, each operating as a separate business unit with the support of HR, Finance, IT, Commercial Operations and other support services provided by the parent company (NDM). A decision was made to align the organisation in terms of operations, culture and strategy so it could concentrate on innovation and performance to achieve its goal of becoming the number one provider of online information in Australia. As a result NDM redesigned its organisational structure as Truelocal and most of the other business units merged together in one location. Not long after this relocation, Truelocal began flattening out the company structure lead by a new management team and CEO. It has since been under constant change to achieve it’s goal to continue growth (both in number of staff and performance) and excel as a high performing and innovative company with an agenda of being the second largest online directory service in Australia after it’s competitor Sensis (Yellow pages online). Wood et al (2010) explain the performance gap is a desire to move from one less desired state to another. This can be seen by the increased performance after the change occurred and culture change was implemented. What changed Fundamental changes that occurred were a shift from the existing vertical, bureaucratic structure to a horizontal structure and change in specialist functioning of divisions creating a professional, corporate environmental culture that was customer focused. The existing culture was a casual attitude towards dress requirements, starting and finishing times, breaks, informal communication expression and channels and many staff were employed as friends of existing staff rather than based on competency and job skills. Some managers had their partners working for them and a few were family members. There didn’t appear to be any dress code and people came and left work at varying times. Additionally management employed more skilled staff, retrained existing staff and created processes of which procedures were then put in place. One of the ways these objectives were achieved was by the reduction of management layers resulting in more direct reporting. Wood et al (2010) explain as organisational size increases, the more interconnections and less direct communication between people takes place (Wood et al, 2010). Change Process When management at Truelocal uplifted existing management and reporting structures, staffs were initially left without direction, reporting channels, processes and goals were not clearly communicated causing a lot of uncertainty. Consequently many staff resigned as they felt upset and confused about what was happening. Truelocal however, retained some of the more experienced staff with new career development propositions and new managers were encouraging and open about future improvements that were to take place within the organisation. One of the ways Truelocal could have managed this change is by using the Freeze/Unfreeze concept; Wood et al (2010) explains Kurt Lewin, a famous organisational Psychologist’s three-force phase, which is needed for any organisation to be motivated to bring about the change of which are; 1) Unfreezing focuses on preparing people for change. This is a critical part of the change phase prior to implementation by analysing and influencing resistance and need to change. A common tool that is used at this stage is called Force Field Analysis, this measures these forces. ) Changing of people; tasks; structure; technology. Ideally the organisation will be completely unfrozen, ready for change and its goals made clear. It is recommended that staff are not perceived to have a sense of high or low security at this stage in order to avoid resistance. 3) Refreezing is the evaluation and reinforcement of the changes that took place. The new managers were recruited by Truelocal for their exp erience in organisational transformation within the type of professional, high performing, corporate environment the organisation desired and who worked at their competitor company. These managers were expected to manage the entire change process themselves. Change agents are people or groups who take responsibility for the change of behaviours and existing patterns in a supportive manner (Wood et al, 2010). The perceived risks however, are the responsibility of the organisation’s leader who decides on the direction of the change (Oakland Tanner, 2007). Planned changes that took place were; Structure – change in organisational design by reporting systems, operational processes and size of teams, while roles were redefined by definition, job title and remuneration. Tasks – Most jobs were redesigned including more responsibility for staff in management roles and multi functional tasks for other staff. One of these job designs is called job enrichment, which is the increase and deepening of motivating factors built into a job (Wood et al, 2010). Some of these enrichments used by new management were increased responsibility and accountability, less control and more freedom in the job and more recognition. People – improvement of recruitment and selection process by advertising formal job vacancies on the organization’s intranet and incentives for staff to nominate candidates who were then formally interviewed by a number of managers. Additionally training sessions for new staff, coaching and certification courses were made available. Carless (2005) describes her research on the compatibility of job-person-organisation-environment fit. She believes a person must assess their attributes and personality with the job and organisational characteristics, which is likely to improve job satisfaction and adjustment to the environment. Culture – organisational values and beliefs were communicated from the parent company of which staff was rewarded when their behaviour displayed these values. Recognition was given in addition at meetings and performance appraisals. This is the observable culture, however as Wood et al (2010) explain, shared meanings and stories are other powerful aspects of culture and this can be observed at Truelocal by the high turnover of staff by both stories and norms that communicate the need to work hard to perform in the job or leave. Cultural symbols include trophies for ‘employee of the month’ awarded to the highest performer. These symbols serve to transmit cultural meaning (Wood et al, 2010). In the sales department a large subculture can be observed. Wood et al (2010) explain strong subcultures are often found in high performance task forces where people share similar values and backgrounds. This subculture included men between the ages of 22-30 yrs that have no formal education, drink alcohol excessively, and are passionate about technology, highly materialistic and view women as sex objects, which can often be observed by their language and behaviour. Moreover this culture is likely to be influenced by the national culture of which the organisation is embedded (Wood et al, 2010). In fact this subculture existed in the old culture before the restructure of which the company held ‘diversity training’ focused on discrimination and fairness within the workplace resulting in terminations. According to The Economist (2008), in the economic downturn companies need ‘Generation Y’ as hungry 25-35 year olds without commitment, for marketing and product innovation with emerging technologies, able to put in the time and energy to help them deal with recession hazards, especially in sales. Strategy – operations and planning were clarified at monthly and quarterly meetings including product changes. These were addressed by department managers regularly and CEO meetings irregularly, to engage staff. Wood et al (2010) explain leadership has changed from the traditional trait and behaviour approaches to transformational, charismatic, visionary focus and is separate from management. The leadership team at Truelocal formally includes the CEO and parent company (NDM) leaders. Their leadership function can be observed by their language and behaviours they use a transformational and visionary change approach. Objectives – specific performance targets were set allowing staff to earn a higher commission by overachieving set targets, recognition and prizes to increase motivation consistently. Purpose – both the CEO and the parent company made organisational goals clearly communicated vision and clarified progress regularly. Recognition was given for the contribution of each department and each business unit to the overall success of the organisation. These changes were managed by senior staff using a combination of change strategy approaches as explained by Wood et al (2010) that include a forced approach of top down command, one way communication, coercive reward and punishment approach, rationalisation approach and shared decision making, empowered approach. Of these approaches no single approach was concluded best by researchers on organisational change and it is advised that more commonly a combination will occur, however guidelines are offered to change agents and managers (Wood et al, 2010); consider use of expert consultants communicate the need for change feedback from employees avoid changing for the sake of change study organisational change and structures From this perspective Truelocal management took the right approach by varying the way they managed the change. Change Results The facilitation of clearer and faster communication channels enabled staff to work more efficiently and get things done faster, along wit h improved technology. Further benefits of this structure were people collaborating in teams, using initiative and increased spontaneous communication while rules, procedures and close supervision were reduced as described in (Tushman, Anderson O’Reilly, 1997). Wood et al (2010) describe the matrix structure is common in large organisations wanting to improve customer responsiveness. Truelocal’s reporting structure utilised this organisational design as part of the change, for example the finance manager reports to the CEO of Truelocal and to the Commercial Director of NDM, however Wood et al (2010) note each organisation’s structure is unique and there is no single observed design. This change is described by Wood et al (2010) as radical. Radical changes are fundamental reorientations and transformational, often initiated by the arrival of a new CEO. Culture Performance Change Since the change occurred, Truelocal’s sales department recorded a growth rate of 15% per full time employee (FTE). Some strategies used were; Performance appraisal review (PAR) – staff are asked to grade themselves on their performance and their use of company values of which are discussed by their managers. For example one of the values is ‘Impact’ and an employee is asked how much impact they contributed to the organisation since the last performance review and they are required to give examples of this behaviour. These PARs are held quarterly and annually. Reward and remuneration – staff are given targets according to their job level and experience with incentives to over achieve. These targets are called Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The person’s job is broken into task components of which each component consists of a target behaviour that is rewarded. Remuneration is based on the overall percentage of KP I achievement. Recognition – employee of the month award was created by encouraging staff to use an online submission for their preferred co-worker who had gone over and above their job requirement displaying one of the company values. In addition the company awards the sales department with the person with the highest dollar value in sales and yearly a larger reward of which one year was a new car. Similarly a newsletter recognises new sales people who achieve early in their job. All of these reinforcements are called extrinsic which are rewards given to someone by another person’s valued outcome and because they are environmentally impactful are valued in influencing behaviour through the law of effect (Wood et al, 2010). Cultural change can take years according to Wood et al (2010); however effective cultural change strategies can be used to shorten the timeframe. One of which is explained by Oakland Tanner (2007), it is important to align the culture to support the desired change in behaviour. For example Truelocal needed a professional, customer focused culture which required staff to develop professional skills and behaviour. The result was all departments undertook a full training programme designed to increase awareness in communication, with a focus on questioning and empathy. Conclusion Truelocal is a young company and part of the larger and still relatively new parent organisation, NDM, operating under the global News Corporation. The industry it operates in, digital media is one of the fastest growing and changing environments globally. It changed from a structure and culture of casual, unprofessional work practices managed within a more bureaucratic structure that was under performing to a transformational, high performing, innovative and professional culture that is customer focused. Truelocal achieved its goal of growth, productivity and change in culture, however many staff were lost in the process and not much planning appeared to be in place. It is unclear as to the lack of planning, communication or use of external consultant in the case of radical change that occurred. One assumption might be due to budgetary restrictions as the company has been running at a loss since it started, reporting a loss this year of over one hundred million. Apart from the successful change management strategies that were used by the change agents, in particular the motivational strategies used by nominated change managers, numerous other approaches were identified that may benefit the organisation for managing future changes more effectively. Reference List Carless, S. A. (2005). Person-job fit versus person-organisation fit as predictors of organisational attraction and job acceptance intentions: a longitudinal study. Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology. 78 (3), 411-429. Generation Y goes to work (2008, December 30). The Economist (US). Retrieved from http://www. economist. com/business/displaystory. cfm? story_id=12863573 Oakland, J. S. , Tanner, S. (2007). Successful change management. Total Quality Management, 18 (1-2), 1-19. Tushman, M. L. , Anderson, P. C. O’Reilly, C. (1997). Technology cycles, innovation streams and ambidextrous organisations: organisaiton renewal through innovation streams and strategic change. Managing strategic innovation and change. Oxford University Press, NY. 2-23. Wood, J, Zeffane, R. , Fromholtz M. , Wiesner R. , Creed A. , Schermerhorn J. , Hunt J. , Osborn R. , (2010). Organisational Behaviour, Core concepts applications. 2nd Ed. John Wiley Sons, Australia, Ltd. Milton Qld.

An Individual Reflection Paper Philosophy Essay

An Individual Reflection Paper Philosophy Essay We live in a day and age where everyone constantly focuses on data, numbers, and scientific findings, but what is often over looked is the philosophy of everyday life, the impact it has on decision-making, and the direction of professional careers and its relationship to life. Philosophy and the concepts within philosophy impact many avenues in my life such as my professional career, life, and my education (Warburton, 2004). First of all, what is philosophy? Philosophy means love of wisdom. Philosophy goes beyond facts, measurements, and scientific findings and it depends on judgment, reflection, and intuition. In the case of the direction of my professional career, philosophy plays an important role in determining what I want to do as a career (Warburton, 2004). I have done a lot of reflecting lately using judgment of different courses I have taken to help direct me towards a suitable career. Instead of focusing on how much money I would make, how much power I would have, or objective feelings I have towards a career, philosophy has taught me to use intuition as a guide to what is the right decision. Philosophy helps me to view situations in a subjective manner where I dont have to use data to determine what is right or wrong; I instead use my feelings as a guide to my judgment of that situation. For example, right now I am debating on whether I want to continue on and get my masters degree or if I will be satisfied with a bachelors degree. When I posed this question to my good friend, he asked why not just get your Ph. D.? I will use my philosophy and reflect on these important decisions by using judgment and discernment (Brinkmann, 2010). What does philosophy mean to my life as a whole? Philosophy allows me to look past all of the facts and data and lets me focus on what I feel. As a human being, there is more to life than scientific measurements. How can science describe faith, spirit, or soul? Faith is the belief in the unproven with complete trust. Philosophy allows me to have faith in things that are otherwise unproven. I am a very spiritual person and try to find the connection between mind, body, and soul, but without philosophy this couldnt be possible because everything else would be based on data or facts. Philosophy is important to my life because it allows me to have subjective thoughts and feelings as well as the ability to seek connection between mind, body, and spirit and feel the holism that relates. As a physical educator, its important to be able to understand and know how to pursue philosophical answers. It would be easy for me as a physical education teacher to create lessons in which students have the most success in terms of results e.g. calories burned, VO2 max increase, or how long a student stayed in their target hear rate, however, these results or data do not show the whole picture which is an argument against linear causation. Linear causation suggests that human behavior has multiple aspects that impact anything and everything we do. What this data wouldnt represent would be the various individual influences that each student has such as family history, gender, age, aspiration, genetic makeup, or their past experiences. Students may have great results because of these lessons, but the various parameters each student has will influence whether or not they will find value in these lessons and continue them throughout life. As a physical education teacher, I will consta ntly ask myself to take all of these parameters into account when teacher so I can avoid linear causation. To answer philosophical questions regarding linear causation, single direction causation, missing information, reductionism, and common sense I will refer to the different types of philosophical reasoning such as inductive reasoning which uses concrete examples to create abstract understanding, deductive reasoning which uses several broad premises to create a few concrete conclusions, and/or intuitive reasoning which the ability to view something direct and be able to describe it faithfully. In life I would pursue philosophical answers very much the same way. For example, when faced with a problem, it wouldnt be enough to form a conclusion based solely from personal opinion. Instead, I would need to develop a thesis and focus on gathering information so that I could clarify the problem. It is only then that I will be able to use inductive or deductive reasoning to make a sound decision. I will try to avoid arguments such as the missing information argument which generally suggests that someone is either uninformed or misinformed about a certain subject. Before making decisions I will make sure that I am well informed on the subject and have viewed both sides of the arguments with an open mind so I dont make a bias decision. When reflecting on metaphysics, otherwise known as the nature of things, I focus on reality and the question of what is it, why is it, and how can we understand it. In life, as I come across anything I am unfamiliar with, such as a different religion than my own, I ask myself these questions. It not enough to merely dismiss what is unknown without first trying to understand it. Philosophy has reinforced the importance of taking on tasks with an open mind and trying to understand the differing concepts by asking critical questions. In life I will use this philosophy when I am greeted with unfamiliar forms of thinking or new ideas. When it comes to my professional career as a physical education teacher and metaphysics I think of life-long learning and how important it is. As I grow as a professional, there will be new methods of doing things and new information that is beneficial to all physical education teachers. It is important for me to desire to gain this knowledge so I can be the best educator I can be. It is almost certain that after I graduate college and become a professional that new information or findings about being physically active will be discovered. As a teacher I need to ask those three crucial questions the define metaphysics and the nature of things; what is it, why is it, and how can I understand it. In the end it will be my attitude and my desire to soak up this knowledge that will project me to be the educator I know I can be. The connection between body and mind is important in physical education as well as the overall quality of life. Dualism focuses on primarily two aspects, thought and matter. Matter is easy to describe for it has shape, color, taste, texture, and smell whereas thought has no shape, color, taste etc. It is somewhat difficult to actually describe thought or mind because it has no physical properties. This is important to my career because there are so many benefits that come from physical activity. These benefits can include becoming stronger, losing weight, or gaining muscle mass all of which can be measured or seen. But what about those benefits that cannot be seen such as the release of endorphins? As a physical education teacher, it is important for me to find the linkage between the mind and body so that my students get the best overall experience and benefits. To understand physical education and improve students performance, students deal with two different situations, human move ment, central nervous system, circulatory system on one hand, and ideas, intuitions, and trepidation on the other. This is where dualism is valued greatly in my field, because where other fields may have just focused on the objective aspects, dualism takes motives, perception, and experience as well as objectivism into account (Quay, 2008). Dualism also plays an important role in my personal life. Dualism creates a link between what I see or feel objectively and what I think or dream subjectively. It is hard for me to believe that anyone is a pure objectivist whom only believes what he sees, feels, hears, taste, or smells. In my life, mind and body dualism separates ideas and thoughts from objective experiences while creating a connection between mind and body at the same time. I will use this philosophy to describe my feelings and intuitions I have that cant be explained in objective terms. It is important to note that mind and body affect and interact with one another but mind and body dualism doesnt describe which or if one is more important than the other. Dualism has also helped to use reflective practice to instill the importance of the mind and the body and their ability to coincide with one another (Kinsella, 2010). The idea that anything and everything we do has an impact on later decisions is known as holism. As an elementary student, I couldnt see the connection between different subject areas. For example, I thought music was just singing and mathematics was just numbers, but as I got older and music became more complex, there was the need to be able to count the different notes. In my life holism ties every decision I have ever made with every decision I will ever make. This is important to remember because I may make a decision thinking it will only affect one aspect on my life, when in reality it is interconnected with everything else in my life. As a physical education teacher holism is even more important. Holism deals with three different levels that all interconnect. The first level deals with the physicality and how it is connected with aspects of everyday life. This is important to me as an educator because it puts emphasis into relating physicality to everyday life. The second level deals with practical usefulness. This is important to me as an educator because students want have practical reasons for doing certain things. By developing practical usefulness, students will find physical activity more meaningful. The third level of holism deals with improving the quality of life as a whole. As an educator this is the most important aspect of holism because in ties everything together and doesnt put more emphasis on one single aspect. This philosophy class has really helped me find the linkage or connection between all subject areas I am studying or have studied. I further developed my critical thinking skills through the different approaches in philosophy (common-sense argument, missing information argument, the argument against reductionism, linear causation, and single causation). I learned the importance of lifelong learning and the impact that being surrounded by great minds can have on success in life. Having a positive attitude can have a big influence on whether I succeed or fail in anything I may do in life. Everything we have talked about can be used in some way or another in our lives. It doesnt matter if we are physical education majors, exercise science majors, physical therapy majors, art majors, or history majors the information presented to us can be used in any life situation that we may stumble upon. I will leave you with one final quote that influences my life everyday and drives me to always wa nt to be better. There is nothing noble in being superior to fellow mankind. The true nobility is being superior to your previous self (Chin, 2010).

Terrorism - Stop the War and Feed the Starving :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Stop the War and Feed the Starving    It is difficult to grasp, and thus care about, millions of people starving in a far away country. Maybe it could help us to fathom this if we were able to imagine one person starving, our own self perhaps. What does it feel like to be hungry, really hungry, for many days? And many weeks? And longer. It's easy to imagine the beginning symptoms like weakness, shakiness, irritability, fatigue. But what happens when those aren't remedied by food? Is it painful when the organs begin shrinking as they do in starvation? It must be. And as the immune system loses force, how does one endure the cramping, combined with the weakness, combined with the lowering body temperature, combined with the overall bloating as the body retains fluid?    Can you imagine yourself feeling that terrible? Now expand it to your family. Your daughter. Your tiny son whose tummy is distending and who cries with headaches. Your grandmother, coughing and scared and silent. What would it feel like to watch a toddler, your toddler, weaken and beg for what you can't give?    So we're not at 7.5 million people yet. We're at about 10. And already the misery is profound and unbelievable. Now add all your closest friends to those hungering, and you not being able to help them or be helped by them. And you watch the gaunt stares as the body fails because its cells haven't the nutrients they need to make the brain work well. Add your neighbors, all of them. All of them. Are we at 100 people yet?    Millions left to go. Farther than the eyes could see, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of weakening hungry people who want something that exists in great abundance all over the world - food. And if hunger and its related illnesses is bad enough and already hard to wrap your mind around, add the other unthinkables that the Afghani families are enduring today, right this second as you read this. No running water, no toilets, huddled in refugee camps miles and miles long, And its getting cold. It's going to get really, really cold and wet heavy snows are coming. And you're so terribly hungry.    Imagine the stench and disgusting danger of raw sewage, of the infectious diarrhea that comes from that. And there are already dead bodies to be dragged away to be buried or burned by weak hungry men.

T.S. Eliots The Waste Land and Yulisa Maddy’s No Past No Present No Future :: Eliot Wasteland Maddy Future Present Past Essays

Death and Dying in T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land and Yulisa Maddy’s No Past No Present No Future I am immortal. Although I realize that I will die, I don’t believe it. The fear of death motivates me to ignore my mortality and, in motivating me to ignore, allows me to live a jaded, happy life. If death were a predominant thought, then appreciating life would seem difficult—unless of course I changed my name to Harold. Everyone confronts the idea of death sooner or later; different people just deal with death in different ways. Death or the fear of death can create a greater appreciation of life. I once heard a story about a monk. This monk was on a walk through the woods one day when a bear or a lion or a reasonable facsimile thereof appeared as if from nowhere. The monk’s ‘fight, fly, or hit the fence’ mechanics kicked in, and he was off. He was chased to the face of a cliff, so he began to climb it. Now the cliff was a vertical wall, and the monk was unable to climb very high. He clinged to the smallest of cracks in this wall. When he looked down, there were more of whatever had chased him there, but when he looked back up, he noticed a strawberry growing on the face of this cliff. He ate the strawberry—it was perfect. The strawberry was far from perfect, but because death was ten feet below him, it tasted better than any meal he had ever had. Death created a greater appreciation of life in the monk. Life should be lived out at every moment; death creates immediacy in living li fe to the fullest. As T. S. Eliot put it, "I will show you fear in a handful of dust." Eliot’s The Waste Land is the portrait of a society whose culture and infrastructure is dying. The post-WWI-era saw Europe decaying. The massive destruction to its cities combined with the incredible loss of life created disillusion in Europe. But The Waste Land is not merely a picture of European society dying; it is Eliot’s commentary on his society, and his attempt to save it. Tiresias is the only main character in The Waste Land. He rarely has an active role in the poem, though. He serves as an onlooker—a reporter—to and a narrator of this waste land: Unreal City, Under the brown fog of a winter dawn, T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land and Yulisa Maddy’s No Past No Present No Future :: Eliot Wasteland Maddy Future Present Past Essays Death and Dying in T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land and Yulisa Maddy’s No Past No Present No Future I am immortal. Although I realize that I will die, I don’t believe it. The fear of death motivates me to ignore my mortality and, in motivating me to ignore, allows me to live a jaded, happy life. If death were a predominant thought, then appreciating life would seem difficult—unless of course I changed my name to Harold. Everyone confronts the idea of death sooner or later; different people just deal with death in different ways. Death or the fear of death can create a greater appreciation of life. I once heard a story about a monk. This monk was on a walk through the woods one day when a bear or a lion or a reasonable facsimile thereof appeared as if from nowhere. The monk’s ‘fight, fly, or hit the fence’ mechanics kicked in, and he was off. He was chased to the face of a cliff, so he began to climb it. Now the cliff was a vertical wall, and the monk was unable to climb very high. He clinged to the smallest of cracks in this wall. When he looked down, there were more of whatever had chased him there, but when he looked back up, he noticed a strawberry growing on the face of this cliff. He ate the strawberry—it was perfect. The strawberry was far from perfect, but because death was ten feet below him, it tasted better than any meal he had ever had. Death created a greater appreciation of life in the monk. Life should be lived out at every moment; death creates immediacy in living li fe to the fullest. As T. S. Eliot put it, "I will show you fear in a handful of dust." Eliot’s The Waste Land is the portrait of a society whose culture and infrastructure is dying. The post-WWI-era saw Europe decaying. The massive destruction to its cities combined with the incredible loss of life created disillusion in Europe. But The Waste Land is not merely a picture of European society dying; it is Eliot’s commentary on his society, and his attempt to save it. Tiresias is the only main character in The Waste Land. He rarely has an active role in the poem, though. He serves as an onlooker—a reporter—to and a narrator of this waste land: Unreal City, Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,

Albert Einstein Essay -- physics science mathematics

Albert Einstein One of the greatest heroes of American(and international) science and culture in the past century has been German physicist Albert Einstein. Born in 1879, Einstein used his early years to educate himself and began to think up his own methods for solving his newly found inquiries into science and higher-level mathematics. In a short time during the beginning of the twentieth century, Einstein pulled together his research and incredible intellect for unprecedented gains in science and theory used throughout the world. One need not go far to view the incredible impact that innovative genius Albert Einstein has had upon the twentieth century. His impact stretches far beyond the reaches of physics and life in the early 1900's. This physicist of phenomenal philosophy, logic, and imagination has been and still is the subject of countless catch phrases and expressions of intelligence. Albert Einstein is a forerunner of influential American icons. Because of his contribution to American scie nce and society as an immigrant, intellectual accomplishments, and discoveries in nuclear technology, it is my belief that Albert Einstein was the most influential person of the twentieth century. First of all, Albert Einstein was the most important figure of the twentieth century because of his contribution to American science and society as an immigrant. This is foremost important because of the U.S.'s status as the premier nation of the world. Albert Einstein has had one of the greatest ever influences upon the American way of life. He is responsible for many of the most famous scientific and philosophical standards used in America today. He was born in Germany in 1879, but Albert did not come to America until 1933, when he feared for his life and fled from Nazi Germany. It was at this time that he was at his greatest fame.(PBS 1) He then began his work for the United States. His discoveries have impacted all facets of American culture. The sophisticated Special Theory of Relativity in physics that he created models the behavior of the entire universe. As stated on Nova, General Relativity has spawned the most important results in modern astronomy.(Levenson 4) Perhaps his largest contribution to America, Albert Einstein played a role in preserving American power. Einstein provided the biggest contribution to American science, setting most precedents fo... ...ks Cited Clark, Ronald W. Einstein: The Life and Times. New York: Avon, 1984. Einstein, Albert. Relativity: The Special and General Theory. Tran. by Robert W. Lawson. 15th ed. New York: Bonanza-Crown, 1961. Einstein, Albert. The World as I See It. Translated by Alan Harris. Carol Publishing Group Edition. New York: Carol, 1995. Elert, Glenn. "Albert Einstein's letters to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt." 1997. Online. Internet. Available (15 Nov. 2009). "Knowledge/Imagination/Creativity." Words of Wisdom from Albert Einstein . Online. Internet. Available (2 Nov. 2009). Levenson, Thomas. "Genius Among Geniuses." Einstein Revealed. 1996. Online. Internet. Available (3 Nov. 2009). PBS (Nova). "Timeline." Einstein Revealed. 1996. Online. Internet. Available (3 Nov. 2009). "War/A-Bomb." Words of Wisdom from Albert Einstein. Online. Internet. Available (2 Nov. 2009). Albert Einstein Essay -- physics science mathematics Albert Einstein One of the greatest heroes of American(and international) science and culture in the past century has been German physicist Albert Einstein. Born in 1879, Einstein used his early years to educate himself and began to think up his own methods for solving his newly found inquiries into science and higher-level mathematics. In a short time during the beginning of the twentieth century, Einstein pulled together his research and incredible intellect for unprecedented gains in science and theory used throughout the world. One need not go far to view the incredible impact that innovative genius Albert Einstein has had upon the twentieth century. His impact stretches far beyond the reaches of physics and life in the early 1900's. This physicist of phenomenal philosophy, logic, and imagination has been and still is the subject of countless catch phrases and expressions of intelligence. Albert Einstein is a forerunner of influential American icons. Because of his contribution to American scie nce and society as an immigrant, intellectual accomplishments, and discoveries in nuclear technology, it is my belief that Albert Einstein was the most influential person of the twentieth century. First of all, Albert Einstein was the most important figure of the twentieth century because of his contribution to American science and society as an immigrant. This is foremost important because of the U.S.'s status as the premier nation of the world. Albert Einstein has had one of the greatest ever influences upon the American way of life. He is responsible for many of the most famous scientific and philosophical standards used in America today. He was born in Germany in 1879, but Albert did not come to America until 1933, when he feared for his life and fled from Nazi Germany. It was at this time that he was at his greatest fame.(PBS 1) He then began his work for the United States. His discoveries have impacted all facets of American culture. The sophisticated Special Theory of Relativity in physics that he created models the behavior of the entire universe. As stated on Nova, General Relativity has spawned the most important results in modern astronomy.(Levenson 4) Perhaps his largest contribution to America, Albert Einstein played a role in preserving American power. Einstein provided the biggest contribution to American science, setting most precedents fo... ...ks Cited Clark, Ronald W. Einstein: The Life and Times. New York: Avon, 1984. Einstein, Albert. Relativity: The Special and General Theory. Tran. by Robert W. Lawson. 15th ed. New York: Bonanza-Crown, 1961. Einstein, Albert. The World as I See It. Translated by Alan Harris. Carol Publishing Group Edition. New York: Carol, 1995. Elert, Glenn. "Albert Einstein's letters to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt." 1997. Online. Internet. Available (15 Nov. 2009). "Knowledge/Imagination/Creativity." Words of Wisdom from Albert Einstein . Online. Internet. Available (2 Nov. 2009). Levenson, Thomas. "Genius Among Geniuses." Einstein Revealed. 1996. Online. Internet. Available (3 Nov. 2009). PBS (Nova). "Timeline." Einstein Revealed. 1996. Online. Internet. Available (3 Nov. 2009). "War/A-Bomb." Words of Wisdom from Albert Einstein. Online. Internet. Available (2 Nov. 2009).

Advanced practice nurse role within palliative care Essay

The purpose of this assignment is to compare and contrast the current literature related to advanced nursing practice. And to relate this literature to my practice and the role of the palliative care nurse across clinical settings. In my current role as a pain nurse specialist, I am involved in the care and management of patients with intrathecal (IT) catheters mainly for patients with intractable cancer pain. Patients who have been tried and failed on escalating doses of various opiates, and continue to have unsatisfactory pain management with intolerable side effects are often referred to our service for consideration for an intrathecal catheter. Intrathecal catheters have been used for many years now in effort to target the specific pain pathways within the spinal cord, as the medication is delivered directly into the Central nervous system, only small doses are required, and therefore patients experience less side effects, with improved pain control (Myers, J. Chan, V., Jarvis, V., Walker-Dilks, C., 2010). The majority of these patients are approaching the end stages of their disease process, therefore we work quite closely with the hospital Palliative care service when the patient in an inpatient. However post discharge we visit the patients weekly in their own homes, this often involves working at an advanced nursing level, working autonomously, assessing the patient and titrating medication via their IT pump, with some direction from the doctor at Auckland hospital. However this role also involves providing the patient and their family with an element of palliative care also, they often require additional emotional support at this stage. In 2002 the World health organization (WHO) defined palliative care as † An approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing he problems associated with life threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.† Advanced nursing practice refers to nurses working at an expanded level of practice within a specialized area. Advanced practice is generally defined as the integration of practical knowledge, clinical experience, theoretical knowledge and research base, education, and may involve organization leadership (ANA, 1995). The term advanced practice has been given to various roles within nursing, such as Clinical nurse specialists (CNS), nurse practitioners (NP’s) and other specialized roles within nursing, such as the anaesthetic nurse (Davies, Hughes, 1995). The literature related to advanced nursing practice and palliative care was reviewed using online databases, such as Medline, Ovid, Pubmed and the Cumulative index for nursing and allied health literature (CINAHL). Key words used in the search, were ‘advanced practice nursing’, ‘Clinical nurse specialist’, ‘nurse practitioner’, ‘palliative care’ and ‘nurse prescribing†. After reviewing the literature, three articles were selected, and will be summarized below. Article one In 2004 Aigner et al did a comparative study of nursing resident outcomes between care provided by NP/Physicians, compared to Physicians only. The study was based in Texas, USA. The main objective of the study was to determine how the standard of care for nursing homes residents compares when provided by either NP/Physician, or physician only. Eight nursing homes were evaluated, and two hundred and three residents were randomly blinded. Chi-squared tests were used for comparison for the data analysis. Four outcomes were selected to assess the quality of the care provided by the two groups, they were, patients charts were retrospectively reviewed and the following outcome assessed- Number of presentations to the emergency department (ED), the cost of the visit, and the diagnosis. Number of hospital admissions in general, and the cost of being admitted to hospital. The number of acute visits and diagnoses for that visit. The completion of progress notes, patient histories and assessments. Also the average number of medications used by each subject and the number of telephone calls and / or beeps relayed to the nurse practitioner, was collated. Comparisons were also made between the two groups regarding, diagnosis made during acute visits compared to during hospital admissions, and the comparison between the cost of recurrent admissions versus hospitalization (Aigner, M., Drew, S., Phipps, J., 2004). The results overall did not show a significant difference of care provided by either the NP/physician group compared to the physician only group. No decrease was found in the amount of ED presentations and the costs were approximately the same. There was however a significant difference in the amount of acute visits made by the NP/Physician group , which was likely related to an increase presence of the NP in the nursing homes (P If a similar study was to be conducted again, it would interesting to explore patient satisfaction between the two groups, and the satisfaction of the other staff working within each clinical area. And also to look more into cost effectiveness. Article 2 Macmillian nursing was first introduced to the UK in 1975, and today there are over 2000 Macmillan nurses. The role of the Macmillan nurse is a specialist palliative care nursing role that involves expert clinical skills, consultation, education, teaching and leadership (Corner et al, 2002). In 2007 Ryan -Woolley, McHugh, G. and Lucker, K. conducted a study in Manchester, looking at Macmillan nurses view on nurse prescribing in cancer and palliative care medicine. It looked at the perceived motivators of why specialist nurses felt nurse prescribing would benefit them and their patient groups, and also explored the potential barriers to training for the implementation of this extended role. A national postal survey was sent out to 2225 Macmillan nurses throughout the UK, 70% response rate was achieved (1575), 11% of Macmillan nurses who responded were already trained as extended formulary independent nurse prescribers. Half of the nurses (88 of 168) were able to prescribe from the extended drug formulary. The mean age was 43.9 years (SD 7.3), with a range 26-63 years. The majority of the nurses that responded were either working as palliative care clinical nurse specialists (CNS) (772, 49.0%) or tumour site specific CNS (413, 26.2%). Others were either working as different types of CNS in the community (83, 5.3%), oncology (61, 3.9%) and chemotherapy (19, 1.2%) or as a lead cancer nurse (45, 2.9%) (Ryan-Woolley et al, 2007). Extended formulary independent nurse prescribing (EFINP) was initiated in the UK in 2002, to allow patients to get improved access to medicines and also  make the best use of nurses clinical skills and experience. This differs from independent nurse prescribing, as independent nurse prescribers may need to assess and diagnose and treat patients (Ryan-Wooley et al, 2007). 21% or nurses who completed his survey had completed the EFINP course., some had completed other relevant courses that enabled them to be independent prescribers, and 2% were in the process of completing the EFINP course (Ryan-Wooley et al, 2007). In the surveys the overall agreement was that nurse prescribing improved patients care by enabling them to receive their medication in a timely fashion. One quarter of the prescribers felt there were issues around training, and that the medical mentoring was not adequate. Some felt that the training provided was not specific enough for cancer and palliative care nursing. Out of 88 of the nurses who were already prescribing, 44 were community based, 28 were hospital based, and the other 15 were based in both the hospital and community. The majority of the nurses had been prescribing regularly throughout the past month. The qualifications of Macmillan nurses were mixed with around half having a first degree (57%) but only a minority (244 of 1504, 16.2%) having a Masters degree. Some of the barriers for nurse prescribing that were identified in the survey were; Having a supportive organization and team Having medical support Clinical supervision/mentorship Multi-disciplinary team (MDT) support Appropriate guidelines Financial incentive Supported practice and training once practicing Access to GP computer systems (Ryan-Wooley et al, 2007). Article 3 In 2012 Steiner, K., Carey, N, Courtney, M., did a study on the profile and practice of nurses who prescribe pain medication throughout the United Kingdom (UK). They looked at the nurse backgrounds, experience, work setting and prescribing practice. 214 nurses throughout the UK that were on the Association for nurse prescribing (ANP) website were sent a questionnaire. All participants were qualified as nurse independent /supplementary prescribers (NIP/NSP). The questionnaire included fixed choice and open-ended questions. The questionnaire had four sections; Section 1 covered demographic information (age, job title, area of practice, geographical area, type of services provided, how many nurse prescribers the service had, and what future provisions they had in place for nurse prescribers within that clinical area. Section 2 looked at prescribing qualifications, levels of experience and the area they practiced in. Section 3 focused on nurse prescribing within pain management, including the type of medications prescribed and the number of pain medications that would be prescribed during a typical week. Section 4 asked the nurses about the level of training they had received to become a nurse prescriber, and if they were satisfied with the training program that they had undergone, and if they had any unfulfilled training needs. It also asked them what there preferred training method was. Out of the 214 nurses that responded, 35% were in primary health care and nurse practitioners, 11.7% were pain or palliative care nurses and 10% in emergency care. The nurses worked across a variety of settings, both  primary, secondary and tertiary care. 43.1% prescribed pain medications up to 5 times per week, and 42.6% prescribed between 6-20 times per week, and remainder prescribed upto 50 times per week. The main category nurses prescribed medication for was patients in acute pain post surgery (40.6%), 12% prescribed for patients with cancer or advanced illness (palliative care), 12.1% prescribed for chronic pain. A further 33.6% prescribed for patients with a overlap of different pains. The main types of medication prescribed were as follows- Paracetamol and Non steroidal anti inflammatories (95.3%) Opioids (34.6%) Other medications to treat side effects, such as antiemetic’s, were also prescribed by the nurses. The nurses who worked within a pain service or palliative care service were significantly more likely to prescribe opiates than the other participates (p  The lack of training at an appropriate level (n=9) The lack of support for role development (n=1). The preferred learning methods of the nurses surveyed were: Elearning (74.3%) Journals (69.6%) Formal study days (62.6%) Prescribing forum (57.5%) Work-based learning 45.3%) (Stenner et al, 2012). Despite the relatively low sample size, this study clearly identifies that nurses working in a wide variety of settings throughout the UK are prescribing pain medications. It also identifies that nurses in pain specialist or palliative care roles are more likely to have post graduate education in pain management, and also more likely to prescribe strong opioids. Training and development issues were highlighted. DISCUSSION By 2051, it has been predicted that there will be over 1.14 million people aged 65 years and over in New Zealand (NZ statistics, 2000), by 2051 there is likely to be about half as many older people than children (NZ Stats, 2000). In the last decade, the number of people being diagnosed with cancer has increased by 24% (Ministry of health 2001). Therefore there will need to be sufficient palliative care services to meet the needs of an increasing number of people with cancer. Introducing more NP’s into specialist palliative care services would possible be a good way of managing the increased workload predicted. More NP’s in the community and residential care facilities may also take the strain off tertiary centre’s, by  preventing hospital admissions. To assist with the predicted increase having NP or CNS that can prescribe will help ease the burden. The Acute pain service nurse specialists at Auckland city hospital are currently in the process of applying for expanded practice roles, to allow nurses with the correct post graduated training (according to NZ nursing council framework) to prescribe a limited number of medications, working alongside a designated prescriber. In 2013 the NZ nursing council put together a consultation document for expanded/extended nurse prescribing, it stated â€Å"that the reason for this consultation is to improve patient care by enabling registered nurses to make prescribing decisions so patients receive more accessible, timely and convenient healthcare. The role of the Nursing Council is to ensure public safety in reaching that goal. The reasons for extending nurse prescribing are to: †¢ improve patient care without compromising patient safety; †¢ make it easier for patients to obtain the medicines they need; †¢ increase patient choice in accessing medicines; and †¢ make better use of the skills of health professionals† (NZ Nursing council, 2013). In order for nurses to obtain expanded practice roles, professional development and recognition programs (PDRPs) are being introduced, so nurses have a framework to work to (Kai Tiaki, 2009). As discussed in both articles 2 and 3 there are likely to be some implications to the introduction of this new role, such as financial/time restraints, lack of medical support, standardization of training and on going education needed to remain up to date on current practice (Ryan-Wooley at el, 2007, Stenner at el, 2012). However with the continued shortage of doctors and the continued increase for healthcare, especially within the older population, expanding the role of the nurse is a necessary initiative, which is likely to improve patient outcomes (World health organization, 2006). Introducing expanded nurse roles and designated prescribing into palliative care services within New Zealand, especially in primary and residential home settings, may be a good way of managing the predicted increased need for more palliative care services in the future, secondary to the rise in the older population and the number of people being diagnosed with cancer. As mentioned in the above articles it will provide patients with a more effective service that they can access easily, decrease the burden on doctors, provide a more cost effective service, and likely a more holistic approach to patients (Aigner, M et al, 2004). Also more nurses may be inclined to train for the role as the expectation and education required is less than what is required to be an NP. In relation to my role as a pain nurse specialist and caring for palliative patients with intrathecal catheters, I believe the implementation of expanded practice nursing with designated prescribing and or a Nurse Practitioner role would without a doubt improve patient outcomes. Pain is the most concerning aspect for patients (and their family) facing the end stages of their life, and currently cancer pain is under-treated in nearly 50% of patients (Joshi, M., Chambers, W., 2010). At diagnosis 20-50% of cancer patients present with pain and 70 % of patients with advanced disease will require large doses of strong opiates for pain management (Joshi, M., Chambers, W., 2010). These patients will often end up being admitted into hospital for pain management, and management of associated side effects, and the quality of there life is often very impaired due to the side effects of opiates (drowsiness, nausea, pruritis etc ). According to recent figures from Auckland hospital, the cost of an inpatient bed is over $4000 a day. When patients have intrathecal catheters inserted for their pain management, they require significantly less opiate, and therefore side effects are less. With good pain control and minimal side effects these patients can often  return to there homes and have a better quality of life, and not require recurrent hospital admissions for poor pain control, which therefore saves thousands of dollars to the health service. However due to the possible dangerous complications related to Intrathecal analgesia (infection, catheter migration, overdose) (Sjoberg, L., et al, 1991), specialized nursing management is required in the community (Myers et al, 2009). If there were more specialized Nurse practitioners or CNS with delegated prescribing rights, in the primary care setting, patients could be discharged from hospital sooner and medications titrated and symptoms treated within the patients home, without requiring a Doctor to make changes to prescriptions and therefore providing the patient with more effective and timely treatment. Aside from pain and symptom management, having the advanced knowledge and skills to provide the necessary psychosocial, emotional and spiritual support to both patients and their family is also very important in this patient group (O’Connor, M., Lee, S., Aranda, S., 2012). Often time listening and counseling these patients can be more important than the medications (Meier, D,.Beresford, L., 2006) CONCLUSION According to WHO, 56 million people die throughout the world each year, 60% of these people would benefit from palliative care. With the amount of older people in New Zealand predicted to increase so rapidly in the next 50 years, the need for more advanced practice nurses within this specialty is obvious. A comprehensive framework is required to allow nurses to have a sound professional development plan and providing good clinical support and continued opportunities for learning is necessary. Primary health care settings have been highlighted as an area were NP and CNS are in shortage and likely investment in training nurses with the necessary advanced skills to manage palliative patients in the community will be a cost effective investment in future years by keeping patients out of tertiary care, and likely improve patient and family satisfaction by providing a more holistic  approach to the end stages of life. REFERENCES Aigner, M., Drew, S., Phipps, J.,. (2004). A comparative study of nursing home resident outcomes between care provided by nurse practitioners/physicians versus physicians only. _JAMDA_, 16-23. ANA. (1995 ). _Advanced nursing practice_. Davies, B. H., A.,. (1995). Clarification of advanced nursing practice:characteristics and competence. _Clinical nurse specialist, 9_(3), 156-160. Joshi, M., Chambers, W., (2010) Pain relief in palliative care:a focus on interventional pain management, _Expert review of neurotherapeutics, 10,5,_ 747. Meier, D., Beresford, L., (2006) Advanced practice roles in Palliative care:a Pivotal role and perspective, _Journal of palliative care medicine, 9 (3),_ 624-627 Ministry of Health. (2001).The NZ _Palliative care strategy_. Myers, J., Chan, V., Jarvis, V., Walker-Dilks, C.,. (2010). Intraspinal techniques for pain management in cancer patients:a systematic review. _Support cancer care, 18_, 137-149. Nursing council of New Zealand. (2013). Nurse prescribing consultation document. O’Connor, M., Lee, S., Aranda, S. (2012) _Palliative care nursing-A guide to practice.,_ Ausmed publications, North Melbourne , Austrailia. World health organisation. (2002). _Palliative care plan_. Ryan-Wooley, M., G., Lucker, K. (2007). Prescribing by specialist nurses in cancer and palliative care:results of a national survey. _Palliative medicine, 21_, 273-277. Sjoberg, M., Appelgren, L., Einarsson, S., Hultman, E., Linder, L., Nitescu, P., Curelaru, I., (1991) _Long -term intrathcal morpine and bupivicaine in â€Å"refractory† cancer pain. I. Results from the first series of 52 patients, Acta Anaesthesiology Scand, 35_, 30-43 Statistics, N. Z. (2000). _Population ageing in NZ_. Stenner, K., . Carey, N., Courternay, M.,. (2012b). Prescribing for pain-how do nurses contribute? A national questionnaire survey. _Journal of clinical nursing, 21_, 3334-3345.

Definition Essay (Definition of Good Student)

What Defies Us All throughout your life you here how important it is to study hard, stay out of trouble, and to stay focused, but there is a lot more when it comes to being a good student and when the definition of good is â€Å"of a favorable character or tendency† and the definition of student is â€Å"one who attends school,† you’re going to have a wide variety of definitions for what a â€Å"good student† really is. Also, is a good student the kid that sits in the front, pays attention and works hard, but still struggles to keep a C plus average?Or is it the kid in the back texting away and still gets just as good grades if not better? Considering the perplexity of the subject it can be both and I believe it entails a deeper meaning than how intelligent you are in school. First of all, being a good student has nothing to do with how smart you are initially. There are a wide variety of personalities in today’s society which effects the way we lea rn and we find ourselves having different points of views on just about everything.Not only is that a huge factor in the way we behave towards our homework, but it also affects us in the classroom. No teacher can successfully teach a group of students to their full ability because of the fact that there are so many different ways in which people learn best. Sometimes people might have completely opposite feelings toward the teacher and or the subject. Either way people are more inclined to do better in something that interests them. Another thing I believe we can agree on is the wide variety of mental disabilities that are more and more common in today’s society. From A. D.D to Down syndrome there is an effect on your brain, but the way I look at is that someone with a severe case of autism can be a better student than someone with no mental disability. A lot of people with disabilities have to battle everyday to learn something that comes easy to most people and therefore so me people would look at them as not being a good student for their intelligence, but the way some of them excel in certain areas makes me believe differently. In my eyes that makes my lazy procrastination seem almost sinful to someone with a learning disability, even though just about everyone is guilty of procrastinating a time or two.Another quality that plays a part in defining a well-founded pupil is how much drive he or she has to complete the task at hand. No matter what you’re doing you have to remember that there is more than one way to do anything and there is a trick to even the simplest of things. It doesn’t matter if you’re digging ditches or dissecting a frog, if you pay attention and apply yourself you can learn the top secret tricks of your trade by learning how not to do it. Like when Thomas Edison mastered the light bulb he first had to find out about the thousands of filaments that didn’t work before he found the ones that did.Another th ing that makes being a â€Å"good student† so complex is when someone hears the word student they usually think of someone in a school type setting. In reality a student can be anything from a young baseball player to someone aspiring to be a famous artist to an engineer. Either way you are learning something and to learn anything well you have to be a good student. Like to go pro in baseball or any other sport you have to kick your own ass everyday to be better than the next guy and a great artist or musician has to dedicate majority of their time to master the instruments of their art.Now we all know that it’s not too much fun with your nose buried in the books all of the time, so therefore some of us tends to do some partying to meditate. A lot of the time I think it is defiantly good to party down every once and a while and have a good time, just nothing too crazy. I believe it tends to keep us sane and a little less stressed while also giving us a break from that dreaded homework. Remember, I didn’t say anything about a perfect student, so that’s another sweet reason about being a good student.Also a levelheaded scholar can be wild and courageous sometimes and it doesn’t have to be a party that he or she seeks refuge from the school work that is piling up by the second. They can go for a walk or go skydiving, but no matter what you do I believe it’s good to escape the seemingly never ending book work every once in a while, as long as you continue to be safe and stay out of trouble. It also doesn’t matter where you are, there are millions of opportunities that await us every day and being a good student doesn’t only effect how we perform in the class room.Like if you start good study ad work habits, than things will tend to be easier for you in the long run. It can help us in wanting to utilize every opportunity that could be beneficial to us, no matter if it’s hard or nerve racking. Opportunit y happens in the blink of an eye and if you don’t mentally prepare yourself to try your best no matter what the situation, than you can miss out on a lot of life changing experiences. So whether you are a genius or disabled you should tend to challenge yourself to gain a larger amount of self-respect and the respect of others which can earn you the title of a good person let alone a good student.Overall the thought of being a good student isn’t always how well you do in school and it doesn’t mean you have to be the best, but you do have to apply yourself at least enough to life so that you learn something new every day. Even though a good student has a complex meaning I believe that it can be summed up as, â€Å"anyone who tries hard to learn something new every day for the sake of learning and brightening their outlook on life. †