Psychodynamic Theory and Person Centerd Counselling Essay

Counselling takes place when a counsellor sees a client in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty a client is having, distress they may be experiencing or perhaps their dissatisfaction with life, or loss of a sense of direction and purpose. It is always at the request of the client as no one can properly be ‘sent’ for counselling. (Counselling central) By listening the counsellor can begin to perceive the difficulties from the client’s point of view and can help them to see things more clearly, possibly from a different perspective. Counselling is a way of enabling choice or change or of reducing confusion. It does not involve giving advice or directing a client to take a particular course of action. Counsellors do not judge or exploit their clients in any way. ’(Counselling central). The two main therpaies within counselling that I will focus on comparing on contrasting are person centerd counselling. PCT is a form of talk-psychotherapy  developed by  psychologist  Carl Rogers  in the 1940s and 1950s. The goal of PCT is to provide clients with an opportunity to develop a sense of self wherein they can realize how their attitudes, feelings and behavior are being negatively affected and make an effort to find their true positive potential  In this technique, therapists create a comfortable, non-judgmental  environment  by demonstrating  congruence  (genuineness),  empathy, and unconditional positive regard toward their clients while using a non-directive approach. This aids clients in finding their own solutions to their problems. Secondly Psychoanalysis  is a  psychological  and  psychotherapeutic  theory conceived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud’s colleagues and students, such as  Alfred Adler,  Carl Gustav Jung  and  Wilhelm Reich, and later by neo-Freudians such as  Erich Fromm,  Karen Horney,  Harry Stack Sullivan  and  Jacques Lacan. The basic tenets of psychoanalytic therapy include the following beside the inherited constitution of personality, a person’s development is determined by events in early childhood, human behaviour, experience, and cognition are largely determined by irrational drives, those drives are said to be largely  unconscious. This main aim of this assignment will be taking both person centred and psychoanalytic therapy and critically comparing them I will do this by giving an overview of the two therapies how they were developed, the principles they lie upon, what their relationships are based on. We will then look at how they are similar and also how they differ by looking at the skills used and how they work as therapies to come to both do the same thing which is to help a client overcome an issue in their life. Person centred therapy is based on the idea that humans have a drive to grow towards their potential and will act with the best interest to themselves, if they are provided the right atmosphere (Mcleod,2008). The direction of therapy is guided by the client with the support of the therapist. The client is always the expert on themselves if they are provided with the right atmosphere for self-actualisation to occur. The central component being the client knows best the client knows where it hurts the most. The counsellors main motive is to relate to the client in such a way that he or she can find there sense of self direction. Carl Rodgers was the founder of person centred therapy. The development stemmed from Rodgers experiences of being a client and working as a counsellor (casemore) Rodgers didn’t like the view of behaviourist that humans were organisms that react to stimuli and developed habits from learned experiences. Therefor in his work as a counsellor became increasingly uncomfortable with being â€Å"the expert† so began to develop a different view of what clients needed to experience in counselling, empathy congruence and unconditional positive regard. Rodgers proposed that human beings were always in the process of becoming rather than being in a fixed state. As humans we have the captivity to develop in a basically positive direction given the right conditions. That’s not to say that he thought people are not sometimes cruel or hurtful but every person has the tendencies towords strong positive direction. Rodgers proposed that when the conditions were growth promoting an individual could develop into a fully functioning person. Rodgers described his approach as a basic philosophy rather than a simple technique which empowers the individual and leads to personal and social transformation, grounded in empathic understanding being non-judgemental and congruent. For this reason the person centred approach is often seen as touchy feel relation and seen as soft skilled that lacks structure, sometimes said as a way of preparing the road for real therapy. However it does have a clear theory of self, the creation of distrees and the tehraputic process. It’s aims are transformational and asks the counsellor to be a human and transparent â€Å"be real†(langridge). Freud is regarded as the founder of modern psychology, developing psychoanalysis. The therapy is based on the idea that a great deal of the individual behavior are not within conscious control. Therefor the main emphasis is to help the client get to the deep root of the problem often thought, to stem from childhood. Based on the principle that childhood experiences effect our behavior as adults and effect out thinking processe, Freud belived that these thoughts and feelings can become repressed and may manifest themselves as depression or other negative symptoms. The client is able to reveal unconscious thought by talking freely aboput thought that enter their mind the analysis will attempt to interpratate and make sence of the clients experiances. Deeply burtied experiances are expressed and the opportunity to share tehase thoughts and feelings can help the client work through thease problems. Clients are asked to try and transfer thougts and feelings they have towords people in their life on the analyst this process is called transfernace the success depends on how the analysats and client work together. Psychoanalysis can be life changing if successful howver around 7 years of therpay is needed to discover the full unconcious mind . regular sessions provide a setting to explore there thoughts and make sence of them. Psychoanalytic therapy is based on freuds work of pychoanalysis but less intensive it is found to be bennaficial for clients who want to understand more about tehmselves and useful to people who feel tehir problems have affcted them for a long period of time and need reliving of emotional disstress. Through deep exploration client and therapist try to understand the inner life of the client. Uncovering the uncocncious needs and thoughts may help the client understand how their past experiances affect their life today. It can also help them to work out how they can live a more fulfilling life. Person centred counselling and psychoanalytic therapy are both off springs of two great minded people Sigmund Freud and carl Rodgers the originators of these two approaches. Freud based his framework on his medical background , Rodgers was influenced by excistential phillosphy were the person is there central role in their growth and change. Some similarities can be drawn from a comparison betwewen the two models they both want to widen the concioussness but this is done in different means. Psychonalsis aims to make the unconscious conscious and by doing this helps the person gain controle over their thought and feelings. And the person cneterd approach helps the client to overcome a state of incongruence whilst psychoanalytic objective is two seek the repressed childhood experiances. The person centerd works through the concioussness by focusing on the here and now. Kahn (1985) compares the term incongruence with psychoanalytic defence mechanism repression. To him both are the same thing but different versions. Both prevent the person from being aware of his their own feelings the onluy diffrnece being that Rodgers belives by imputing the core conditions of Two persons are in Psychological contact, The first, whom we shall term the client, is in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious,The second person, whom we shall term the therapist is congruence or integrated in the relationship,The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client. The therapist experiences an empathic understanding of the clients internal frame of reference and endeavours to communicate this experience to the client. The communication to the client of the therapist’s empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard is to a minimal degree achieved. Then if thease are imputed incongruence will be shifted and psychoanalytic belive through interpretation of childhoon events repression can be acchived. Both psychoanalytic and person centred involve empathy that is applied to client and therapist, enabling the client to gain new understanding and move away from distress and towards harmony with self and others. Therefor potentially both try to increase insight and strength towards the self. Other areas that overlap are also evident simple areas such as setting bounderies, along with assessment for therapy. From the first minuite of contact both persons become aware of their own and others aims, values and lifestyle by empathic attending. Both types of therapist are warm and open minded and accepting. In both therapies the therapist is bidden to provide a non judgemental respectful attitude towords the client. Both also share a commitment to the use of silence beliving it is an effective tool for therapy commiting to listening without impediment. The similarities are strongly guided by personal growth and development both have the interest of promoting self-reflection of the client. Their interest is to promote self-reflection of the clirnt. The relationship is very important in both and the main reason for this is to gain a beter insight and clearer understanding of the client. The aim is to build a relationship built on trust honesty and reliance on one another. The relationship is crucial in both therpays as without a tight relationship there is no ground work in place for the client to feel safe to explore. Both models encourage the client to relase emotions and it is through tehase that empathy can be experienced. On the other hand psychoanalytic theory stresses the importance of unconscious procedures and sexuality as the key terms for a deep understanding of the human pychopathology. Freud thought that dreams were the best way to explore the unconscious since they are disquised as the id whishes repressed by the ego in order to escape from awareness. The goal of counselling to Rodgers is the congruence of personality acchived when the self gains access to a variety of experiances. he need for self actualization can only be atteneded to once counsellor creates an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding. There are considerable diffrences between the two approaches ialthough stated that they both create a strong knitted relationship between client ancd counsellor . person centers counselling the counsellor takes on a non directice role more like a companio n rather than a leader and the client takes lead of the session were as psychodynamic counsellors take more of an authority figure in the relationship. Person centred firmly believes that the 6 core condition are necessary for change. Hoewever psychodynamic use of transference is to make interpretation to the client for effective change. Person centred would see using transference would not create a genuine relationship between counsellor and client. One of the central themes in person centred is the emphasis on the present behaviours of the client. Psychodynamic focuses on the past and how it determines the present behaviours. Pychodyanmic counsellors choose to remain neutral during a session as this encourages transference a major tool in psychodynamic therapy. McLeod (2004) points out that in person centered counselling, questions are only asked to clients when necessary and may also answer questions if asked by clients, as this was supports to create the quality of the relationship. This again differs to the way Psychodynamic counsellors’ work; as asking questions are pivotal during therapy as this elps to explore and build up relevant material, furthermore, it would be unlikely for a psychodynamic counsellor to answer any personal questions by the client and instead try to figure out why the question is important. Although both see the relationship as crucial each therapy maintains a diferent way to responding to the client attitudes and values. for instance defences and transferance excist in both forms but handled in different ways. For person centerdit is a requirement that the core condition s are stimuiltaneous for the therapist thease core conditions repersent an openess to self experience and to the experience of another. Rodgers belived counsellors should be egalitarian in their meetings with clinets and a major diffrence concerns pychodynamic interpretations. Appearing as all knowing and going beyond what is un-concious based mostly on theory rather than a clients spacific experiances. Thorne (1996) states that â€Å"pychodynamic therpay may go to early in interpratation to make sence to clients† Pychodynamic interpratation specifically concerns the naming of the unconcious for causeing problems that the clinet may be having. Only in the hermanutic meaning does the word interpratation make sence of things Hermeneutics applies to all persons who make sense of all situations, whereas psychodynamic interpretation in the narrow sense is the most specific ingredient of psychodynamic therapy’s efforts to make positive changes for clients. All in all psychodynamic approaches are based on freuds work based on the unconscious of the ID ego and superego which emphasis on sexual aggression. Person centerd is based on the belief that humans have unique qualities for freedom and growth beliving that we are beyond being controlled by ID ego and superego not controlled by sexual urges. The similarities between both approaches promote and guide the idea of progress and development. There main interest to promote self reflection and awarenss for the client in order to do this they effectively use communication. Both approaches are the result of hypothesis the main diffrences lie at the foundations and what is belived to work best however sometimes they meet for what may be the best too to use at the time of hearapy. prehaps what makes any thrapy work is the belief that they can work if the client wants it to work there emotional needs and expectataions I belive that theory used does play a a very important role but it is the client who has the ability to change which ever root of therapy they take they can change no matter how they recive therapy weather it be in a humanistic approach or psychodynamic because if they expect it to work it will so maybe I am more for the person cneterd view as I belive that self actualisation and awarenss is very important to be able to facilitate growth.

Critical and Evaluative Response to Virginia Woolf’s Professions for Women Essay

Critical and Evaluative Response to Virginia Woolf’s Professions for Women Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), a British author and feminist, was born and grew up in London. At that time girls weren’t sent to school, so she was educated by her parents. Although she was a woman, Woolf became a significant figure in London literature society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Professions for Women is one of her essays in which she talks about the difficulties women should deal with in all kinds of professions. This essay is considerably impressive. It made me think about myself, as a woman, and the problems I face during the path to success. Woolf points out to many obstacles that women fight when becoming â€Å"a doctor, a lawyer, a civil servant†, (277) etc. They are held back by their fears and doubts as well as society’s beliefs and judgments. Woolf talks about a â€Å"phantom† (274) that used to interrupt her when she was writing. She says that phantom is an obstacle that women should get rid of it to reach their goal. In my opinion â€Å"phantom† can be anything. Everyone, regardless of kind, class, sex has his/her own phantom. It represents an obstacle of the mind. It’s a negative thought that comes between us and our aims, and keeps us back from maintaining the success. It’s something we have to learn to break to improve ourselves, and as Woolf says â€Å"It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality† (275). Woolf uses beautiful metaphor to explain the â€Å"phantom. † She likens it to an â€Å"Angel†, and calls her â€Å"The Angel in the House† (274), and continues â€Å"It was she who bothered me and wasted my time and so tormented me that at last I killed her†, and describes her briefly: â€Å"She was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (274). Woolf also makes a strong imagination of herself â€Å"writing a novel in a state of trance†: â€Å"The image of a fisherman lying sunk in dreams on the verge of a deep lake with a rod held out over the water† (276). These literary figures attracted me and made me want to read more by this writer. The essay is mostly in a narrative style of writing. Woolf uses narration to describe what occurred to her when she was writing. She tells the story of how she did the battle with the â€Å"Angle†, which represents women’s hesitation and fear, and overcame the phantom that wanted to prevent her from being her true self. She goes on to talk about what happened after she has â€Å"killed† the â€Å"Angel. † She found that after we overwhelm one of our weaknesses there are many more to come. There are more personal obstacles we must jump over as well as society’s obstacles. In my opinion this essay has and had a very effective reflection of women’s life style. Woolf encourages women to take professional careers, such as a doctor or a lawyer, and also encourages them to actively participate in society. It says that in order to maintain the success, we have to face many oncoming obstacles, whether they are material or society or even ourselves.

Does the Euro Crises prove that any of these member states: Greece, Ireland and Portugal should have not been allowed to join the euro?

Abstract The creation of the Eurozone following the Maastricht Treaty led to the region becoming one of the largest single currency areas in the world. However, at the heart of this project lay a series of inherent weaknesses. This paper discusses these weaknesses from the perspective of three countries: Ireland, Portugal and Greece. Each of these countries had their own particular economic and fiscal issues which would have exposed them to economic shock should the Eurozone experience a financial downturn. This was the case in 2008 when the US led financial crisis spread to Europe. This paper assesses that none of these countries were sufficiently prepared to join the Eurozone but also that they also possessed their own unique structural weaknesses which would perpetuate any financial crisis. It is for this reason that these three states would not have been allowed to join and also that they all sought bailouts in order to stop their domestic governments from bankruptcy. Introduction The development of the Eurozone represented a further attempt in the European Union to create increased economic and fiscal convergence and integration. The recent financial crisis has provided this new project with its first major test. This paper begins by reviewing the development and evolution of the Euro and the Eurozone. In doing so, it looks at the considered need for fiscal stabilisation at the international level. This section also highlights the various fiscal and economic mechanisms which were put in place prior to allowing any country to join the project. Subsequent to this the eligibility of three countries, Ireland, Portugal and Greece is considered. Here, the rationale for these countries joining, as well as reviewing the structure of their respective economies, is taken into consideration. Further to this, the question of whether these countries met the stabilising mechanisms prior to joining is assessed. This paper then highlights various other reasons why it may hav e been beneficial for them not to join the Eurozone. Finally, this paper reviews the recent meltdown in the Eurozone area and highlights that this event was precipitated by a structural weakness in both US as well as global financial markets which left these three countries exposed to debts sufficient for them to require bailouts and restructuring programmes which were indicative of shock therapy. This paper concludes that Ireland, Portugal and Greece should have been allowed to join the Eurozone since neither of these countries had met the eligibility criteria. In addition each of these states possessed their own structural weaknesses that ultimately would have exposed them to an economic downturn, regardless of the causation. Euro Evolution The Euro is the common currency which is used by the majority of member states of the European Union (EU). It originated in 1992 following the signing of the Maastricht Treaty which contained three aspects to combining and increasing EU governance. The Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), as a vehicle for economic integration and financial convergence, was first muted in the late 1970s as a vehicle for furthering economic integration (Civitas, 2013), and represented the latest international drive towards economic stability. Originally known as the European Monetary System, it was wound up in 1992 with the development of the ERM (Civitas, 2013). Progression towards the ERM included the creation of an independent central bank, which was mandated to achieving and maintaining price stability across the Eurozone space; a Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) which consisted of an intergovernmental agreement which was conjoined with the EU legal framework, the aim of which was to limit member state fiscal deficits; and a no co-responsibility (in layman terms, a no bail out clause) which was enshrined within Article 125 of the Treaty (Europa, 1992). These mechanisms were considered to be decent fiscal instruments for EU and Eurozone governance and, as a result, member states did not consider that it was important to coordinate their economic policies. This latter aspect was forwarded by powerful member states such as the UK, France and Germany, which did not consider that they would have any benefit from these policies. For them, any subsequent domestic policy changes were considered to have a detrimental impact upon their finances (Campaign against Euro Federalism, 2013). However, as a precursor to Euro membership, aspiring member states need to comply with a pre-set series of fiscal guidelines. EU Member states which join the Eurozone must meet a series of convergence criteria (European Commission, 2014). These criteria are based on a series of fiscal; mechanisms which are utilised to restructure the economies of member states in order that the transition to conversion to the Euro are based upon macroeconomic indicators which are used to measure The convergence criteria are formally defined as a set of macroeconomic indicators which measure stability of prices and inflationary pressures; sound and sustainability public finances which includes an imposed limit on government borrowing as well as national debt in order that member states avoid possessing an excessive national deficit (European Commission, 2014). However prior to this, aspiring member states need to conform to the exchange-rate stability mechanism, through which participation in the ERM takes place for at least two years prior to membership without there being any evidence of a strong deviations from the ERM cr iteria (European Commission, 2014). A further factor in the progression towards joining the Eurozone for any aspirant state is an assessment of long-term interest rates. Indeed this latter criterion was a mitigating factor in the UK’s failure to adhere to ERM controls in the early 1990s (Civitas, 2013). More recently the Eurozone has been engulfed in a global financial crisis which began in the USA and spread to Europe via Iceland (this is discussed in greater detail later in the paper). The fallout from this particular crisis is yet to fully land. However, the Eurozone has progressed through a series of crises since the idea was first muted in the later 1970s and, more recently, via the sovereign debt crises of recent years. It is evident that the Eurozone is not an exact science and that there exist a number of structural issues at the heart of this project. Economic and Political Reasons for the Three joining the Euro The aforementioned group of PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) joined the Euro at its inception. This section discusses three of these states, Ireland, Greece and Portugal. Bardhan, Edelstein and Kroll (2011) noted that Ireland benefitted from a number from Eurozone membership. Additionally, it is noted that the period of economic convergence provided the country with an array of stabilising fiscal factors which led to the country becoming known as tiger economy (Bardhan, Edelstein and Kroll, 2011; BBC, 2011) but in 2008 the country was the first Eurozone country to fall in to recession (BBC, 2011). However this outcome was the end of a dream which, for Arestic and Sawyer (2012), was based upon a political aspiration of economic success as well as personal and national prosperity for the Irish population. Greece joined the Eurozone in 2001 (BBC, 2001). EU membership was previously extremely popular in Greece and its populace had experienced tough austerity measures in order to comply with the economic and fiscal mechanisms which were needed to ensure a successful transition to the new currency. Similarly, there was a political determination to join the new currency since it was seen that progression would provide increased international scope for the country (BBC, 2001). Lynn (2011) argues that the historic role, in terms of political development, of Greece was a contributory factor in the national rush to join the Eurozone and considered that this outcome was to be achieved at all costs. Schadler (2005) suggests that the at all costs caveat was provided by the austerity measures and the near compliance with pre-set regulatory fiscal criteria which ensured membership of this exclusive group. In effect, whilst Ireland had hoped for increased economic wealth and prosperity, Greek aspira tions largely concentrated upon gaining increased international respect and recognition. With regards to Portugal, it is noted that this country did not join the EU space until 1986 and, effectively, was a late comer to this political institution. This is of particular importance to its membership of the Eurozone since wholesale economic change first began thirteen years later as a precursor to Eurozone membership in 2002 (Porter and Prince, 2012). Porter and Prince (2012) argue that the country’s membership of the Euro came at the behest of a political leadership that had a largely uneventful foreign policy. They link the convergence with EU policies such as membership with the Eurozone with the decreasing influence within its former colonies (Porter and Prince, 2012). This includes the return of former territories to China during the same period as the shift in focus towards its near neighbourhood was taking place. To summarise, it can be evidenced that there were numerous reasons why Ireland, Greece and Portugal joined the Eurozone. These include increased pros perity and wealth as well as increased political clout and international recognition. Was the Convergence Criteria met by the Three? It is of particular concern that Ireland, Greece and Portugal required mass fiscal stimuli packages and bailouts in order to shore up their economies and protect the respective states from going bust. A central factor in this outcome, it can be argued is a failure of these three states to adhere to the fiscal criteria that membership of the Eurozone required in order to provide a secure transition to the new currency. As stated previously, aspirant Eurozone states were required to attain to a number of preset economic and fiscal controls which would have indicated their capabilities and successful transition to the Eurozone. Maduro (2012) holds a perspective which states that structural failings within the ERM, as well as the wider EU, failed to address the excessive cross-border flow of capital which was a contributory factor in the subsequent economic crisis. Mauro also highlights that a particular failure of the EU to implement the then existing rules relating to EU budgetary frameworks also impacted upon states abilities to progress to the Eurozone successfully. For Maduro (2012) this particular outcome was important to the success of the Greek model, as well as its subsequent economic crash, since it revealed that both the local and supra national system for monitoring public finances was not working as effectively as it should have. It is noted that Greek economic perfor mances were outside of the considered ERM requirements and that from 2000 to 2008, the budget deficit given to the European Commission was nearly three per cent of the country’s GDP. In 2001, it is also noted that Greece was warned by the European Central Bank ECB, that the country still work to do to if it was going to successfully be adpted into the Eurozone. This included developing the structure of its economy and bringing inflation under control (BBC, 2001). Nevertheless Greece did join the Eurozone despite having a series of noted failings within its central fiscal requirements. Bardhan, Edelstein, and Kroll, (2011) note that the Irish economy had been inflated by a large housing bubble. This helped inflate the Irish economy to a status of having near full employment by the turn of the century (Bardhan, Edelstein, and Kroll, 2011). However a party to this success proved to be the Irish commitment to the controls which had been placed upon it by the ERM. Regling and Watson (2010) argue that a failure of the ERM structure had a detrimental impact upon the Irish economy since the loss of fiscal independence was a mitigating factor on both the creation of the bubble as well as the failure of the Irish government to combat increasing inflationary, and other fiscal pressures. Regling and Watson (2010) blame this outcome on the structure of the ERM and highlight that a small nation requires having, as full as possible, fiscal controls. Portuguese compliance with ERM criteria provided a greater economic stimulus that had first been thought was possible (Constancio, 2005). This produced a similar outcome to the Irish economic experience of the ERM and realised a booming Portuguese economy. Constancio, (2005) also notes that subsequent pay increases outstripped inflationary pressures and this outcome provide to be decisive in the battle to retain control of this area of fiscal policy, particularly where an economic downturn would result in the possibility of rampant inflation. These outcomes, Constancio (2005) argued led to pay increases in Portugal outstripping their EU partners. Essentially this outcome was borne of the structural failings discussed earlier into this paper and were only exposed when these state were impacted by the financial crisis. In terms of the Eurozone qualifying criteria, it is to be noted that none of these three countries met the criteria for joining the Eurozone. Ireland, Portugal and Greec e, therefore were in good company and were aligned to the German, Spanish, Austrian et al experiences of convergence criteria which all failed to meet qualifying critiera. Indeed, , of all the member states only two, France and Luxembourg, were the only countries to satisfy all the convergence criteria (Arestis, Brown, Sawyer, 2001). Any other Reason why any of the Three should have not Joined the Euro The earlier discussions as to the reasons why these three states, Ireland, Portugal and Greece joined the Eurozone produced divergent responses and listed from economic reasons to political vanity and reshaping of foreign policy. These issues alone are not sufficient to realise the potential pitfalls should they experience an economic downturn, as was the case in 2008 onwards. Arestis and Sawyer (2012) noted that in the case of Greece the risks far outweighed the benefits. They compared Greece with Austria and recognised that both economic models were similar apart from Greece having a far lower wage economy that Austria. Austria, therefore, was capable of resisting economic shock. Had the Greek government recognised this potential risk then it is recognised that it would not have been in their benefit to join this monetary union. With regards to Portugal and Ireland, Constancio (2005) argues that these economies had not resolved the structural issues of boom and bust. AS a result ec onomic recession was a highly probable outcome in the event of an economic bust. In essence, therefore for reasons of due diligence it is arguable that neither of these staes should have joined the Eurozone. One other potential reason for not joining the Eurozone is the philosophical argument of losing sovereignty. After the ERM had its first crisis in the early 1990s, Palm (1996) noted that the loss of state sovereignty also meant the loss of fiscal control. Whilst this particular issue is discussed elsewhere in this paper, Palm (1996) specifically discussed the loss of fiscal control in terms of an absence of asymmetric county-specific economic shock which, he argued, would be a thing of the past. Instead Palm (1996) stated that it is entirely feasible that or counterbalancing methods would be needed in order to stop economic contagion since all member states would be affected in one way or another. With hindsight Palm (1996) is discussing the response to the Eurozone crisis of 2008 to the present day. It is unfortunate, therefore, that the three countries were unable to consider due diligence when considering their membership of the Eurozone. Had they have done so they would have r ecognised the exposure to the potential banking failures and acted accordingly. Euro crises The recent fiscal crisis in the Eurozone has highlighted that it is exposed to the international financial climate. The recent fiscal crisis began in earnest in the USA with a series of regulatory changes to the US banking system in the early 2000’s (Jickling, 2012). The collapse of US subprime lending facilities impacted on Europe, firstly in Iceland where its ballooning financial sector had been exposed to the debt crisis in the USA (Lewis, 2009), and latterly on other Eurozone member states which had been exposed to large banking debts and bad practices . This has included Cyprus and the PIGS group of nations, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain. The latest crisis occurred in Cyprus where experiences there were in line with similar financial and economic failings within the Eurozone space. In each case, it can be evidenced that a number of structural failings as well as an inordinate exposure to risk have been causal factors in their particular fina ncial collapses Menendez, 2013). Indeed, Iceland subsequently possessed a national debt which was ten times its national GDP (Glitner, Landbanksi and Kaupthing, 2009). Jickling (2012) Argues that the underlying causal factors of the recent crisis in both the USA and in the Eurozone were structural and that, as a result, it can be evidenced that there were four factors which needed to be addressed. These factors are: imprudent mortgage lending, bursting of housing bubbles, the structural imbalance of global debt as well as issues relating to securitization (Jickling, 2012). Menendez (2013) notes that following the financial crisis the three countries, Ireland, Portugal and Greece were impacted further when they were faced within increased demand for higher interest rates on borrowing as well as reduced fees from issued bonds. This particular outcome also impacted upon the three mechanisms which were available to these countries (renegotiation, bond issues and monetization) when attempting to relieve themselves of the economic and fiscal burdens (Menendez, 2013). The resultant outcome was that the reform processes which they were able to utilise led to reform of their respective public sectors. Prior to this, Klein (2007) had argued that such an outcome would be indicative of the new model of international crisis management. Indeed with subsequent remedies for filling the vacuum caused by financial shortfalls becoming more autocratic and oppressive it is arguable as to whether the EU space witnessed for the first time a Bolivian style response to a financial crisis (Klein, 2007). Janssen (2011) argues that one possible solution could have been that the Euro is devalued however this would not have been beneficial to Germany since its economy is export driven. As such, the political shenanigans which led to the creation of the Eurozone, and which failed to realise the preset criteria for the vast majority of countries has continued to perpetuate the structural issues that reside at the heart of this institution. For Ireland, Portugal and Greece, however, the economic and fiscal issues remain. Conclusion In conclusion, the creation of the Eurozone has been some thirty years in the making and has been considered as a regional attempt at satisfying the need for a cross border fiscal control system. The ERM was developed in order to progress this ideal but failed to address a number of structural issues that resided within the international monetary system. As a party to this, the resultant exposure of the UK to fiscal issues resulted in this country leaving the ERM some twenty years ago. Since this time the project has developed and went live with a number of nations converting their currency to the Euro. As such the Eurozone was created. However the qualifying criteria of the Eurozone was not met by all but two countries and the subsequent exposure to the US banking crisis by Eurozone members left a number of them in need of financial bailout packages. This included Ireland, Portugal and Greece. These three countries were heavily exposed to this crisis as a result of their own structu ral issues which included booming economies and exposure to a credit bubble. When these bubbles burst, the Eurozone project was in crisis and, today, a number of issues remain unresolved. This includes how to restructure the economies of states that reside within the Eurozone. However as a result of the exposure of these three countries to the recent crisis, the failure to restructure their economies prior to joining, as well as their failure to adhere to all the preset compliances evidences that they should not have been allowed to join in the first place. This issue aside, with only France and Luxembourg satisfying the qualifying criteria the question of whether any other state should have been allowed to join remains a matter of debate. In conclusion, the Eurozone crisis which engulfed these three countries typifies the weakened global fiscal structure which led to the crisis in the first place. Bibliography Arestis, P., Brown, A., Sawyer, M. (2001) The Euro: Evolution and Prospects, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Arestis, P., and Sawyer, M. (2012) The Euro Crisis, London: Palgrave McMillan. and Institutions, London: John Wiley & Sons. BBC (2001) Greece joins the Eurozone, (online), available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1095783.stm, (accessed on 29/10/14). BBC (2011), Europe’s PIGS: Country by country, (online), available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8510603.stm, (accessed on 29/10/14). Campaign against Euro Federalism (2013) What is to Happen?, London: Campaign against Euro Federalism. Civitas (2013) European Monetary System, London: Civitas. Constancio, V. (2005) European Monetary Union and the Portuguese Case, (online), available at http://www.bportugal.pt/en-US/OBancoeoEurosistema/IntervencoesPublicas/Lists/LinksLitsItemFolder/Attachments/9/interv20050727.pdf, (Accessed on 29/10/14). Europa (1992) Treaty of Maastricht on European Union, (online), available at http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/treaties/treaties_maastricht_en.htm, (accessed on 28/10/14). European Commission (2014) Who can Join and When, (online), available at http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/adoption/who_can_join/index_en.htm, (accessed on 28/10/14). Glitner, Landbanksi and Kaupthing (2009) Joint Quarterly Report, Reykjavik: Glitner, Landbanksi and Kaupthing. Jickling,M. (2012) CausesoftheFinancialCrisis,(WashingtonDC:CongressionalResearchService). Klein,N.(2007)ShockDoctrine,Toronto: KnopfCanada. Lewis,M.(2009)WallStreetonthetundra,(online),availableathttp://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/04/iceland200904?printable=true¤tPage=all, Vanity Fair, (accessedon28/10/14). Lynn, M. (2011) Bust: Greece, the Euro and the Sovereign Debt Crisis, London: John Wiley and Sons. Maduro,M.P.(2012)Democracy and Justice: The formula for a new EU and Euro governance, (online)availableathttp://network.globalgovernanceprogramme.eu/democracy-and-justice/, Network, (accessedon29/10/14). Menendez,L.(2013)TheSpreadoftheEuropeanSovereignDebtCrisis,University ofIowa:CentreforInternationalFinanceandDevelopment. Palm, F. (1996) The European Exchange Rate Mechanism and The European Monetary Union, (J), De Economist, Vol. 144, (2), pp. 305 – 324. Porter, D., and Prince, D. (2012) Frommer’s Portugal, London: John Wiley and Sons. Regling, K., and Watson, M. (2010) A Preliminary Report on the Sources of Ireland’s Banking Crisis, Dublin: Ministry of Finance. Schadler, S. (2005) Euro Adoption in Central and Eastern Europe: Opportunities and Challenges, New York: International Monetary Fund.

Asses effects of 2008 Global financal crisis on international business Essay

Asses effects of 2008 Global financal crisis on international business - Essay Example Changing Context After 2008 The context of the global financial crisis began in the year 2006 when the United States experienced a downfall from the real estate market. This accumulated into the lending of banks and other sectors of the economy, all which led to an inflation of prices and the inability for individuals within the economy to continue to pay the same amount of prices because of the economic downturn. The result was a large loss of money that was in the economy and which created difficulties among those that were in the economy. There were several factors that implied that changes needed to be made and which were altered with policies, reforms and different ways of functioning through both policy organizations and those who were involved in lending functions. The context after 2008 led to ways to try to merge back into a functioning economy by changing the macro – economic variables that were associated with the initial crisis (Furceri, Mourougane, 1: 2009). When looking at the context that occurred after 2008, it can be seen that there were several specific changes within the economy that led to the alterations of what was occurring. ... Emerging markets were not as affected; however, those who were a part of the global capital markets noted the first decline since a continuous flow that occurred from the 1980s. This particular crash was as bad as the Great Depression but caused several types of declines because of the complexity that had grown in the economic market. The most affected area was the government with a large amount of increased debt, while the private debt remained flat, making the debt to equity ratio higher and imbalanced. The several occurrences led several to question how to rebalance the economy for the future and to buffer the pressures and declines which could occur within the economy (Roxburgh et al, 7-9: 2009). The changing alternatives in the balances and global market have led to fluctuations that have not only changed the context with certain aspects of the economy but are affecting different institutions. The main institution which has been affected is the government, specifically with a ri se in the deficit by trillions of dollars. There are also changes in the amount of money that is available with sovereign default, which is changing the association with how much can be done to recover within the economy. The changes that are occurring are now not only dependent on an emergence of the economy through the institutions and banks, but also are requiring policy changes that are a part of the economy to provide sustainability. The economic model that is a part of this is one which is creating a change in how policies are approached, specifically because of the credit, assets and amount of deficit that is impacting both the institutions and the basic uncertainties that are within the market (Cuadra, Sapriza, 78: 2008). Alterations in

Business Concept Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Concept - Term Paper Example As a result of an emerging need for real time transfer of money between people, Money-Air identifies a business opportunity. Consequently, it is developing a product that will use mobile phones as a medium of transferring money from one individual to the other (Schaeffer, 2008). Money-Air has given this problem solving product the name Instant-money. This product is geared towards covering all individuals with mobile phones. Consequently, the customer base is broad and has the potential to expand (Blackwell, 2008). As stated above, instant-money is a product that has its bases on information technology. Mobile phones are platforms that instant-money is used in order to effect its intentions. Therefore, instant-money has enjoyed a potentially big market for almost nearly all adults in the United States of America possess a mobile phone (Barrow & Barrow, 2012). The formulation of this product was intrigued by the need to transfer money between individuals with ease and faster. Instant-money is of importance especially when an individual in dire need of quick money from another person. Consequently, the product is based on real time processing. Therefore, customers make cash transfers in considerably very little time. That notwithstanding, instant-money has a greater competitive advantage as compared to its competitor. Competitors, use a rather time consuming way of transferring money (Blackwell, 2008). As a result, most people prefer products like instant-money since they are fast and can easy to use from whatever place. For every product to thrive in the market, target customers are supposed to identify with the product. Therefore, instant-money targets individuals with little money and depend on cash from others (Barrow & Barrow, 2012). Since there are a lot of emergency situations that need quick money, people prefer instant-money due

What is the cultural function of slasher films Essay

What is the cultural function of slasher films - Essay Example The societal issues tackled in slasher films can be quite varied indeed and the issues will project, criticize and open up for debate whatever it is that concerns society at the moment. Along this line, slasher films do serve a cultural purpose by expressing peoples fears and anxieties. Slasher films serve their cultural function of portraying the worst fears of the people such as those dealing with serial killers, sadistic murderers and incorrigible criminals. People go to theaters to see these films and expect some sort of poetic justice meted out to criminals that somehow vindicate the existence of slasher films. The graphic portrayal of the slaying, usually accomplished with a torture tool like a knife, chainsaw, hammer or whatever that will prolong death and impose the most agony and pain to the victims are intended to satiate the audience cravings for the macabre, the violent, the suspense and to show the mentality of the psychopathic killer and the mindsets of the victims as shown on these films. Slasher films in a way allow people to question social norms and their own personal values as they see it. The previous paragraphs introduced the rationale of why slasher films serve an aim in todays culture. A lot of people question why such â€Å"shallow† films are patronized by these moviegoers when there is already a hackneyed plot or storyline in these films, predictable to a degree but still people go and see them when they almost instinctively knew already what will happen in the film. The answer is that these â€Å"mad slasher† films are in the category of the so-called exploitation films which are considered money-makers despite having a poor storyline. People want to be entertained and movie producers latched unto these genre of films because they are proven to make them money at the box office as these are low-budget films. It it not a surprising development

United States Human Resources - Training and Development Essay

United States Human Resources - Training and Development - Essay Example le, trainees receive detailed training and on-the-job experience, specifically designed to develop individual stores and club management in the future (Sharing our Story, 2006, p.6). Aside from these usual training methods, John DiBenedetto, Vice President, talent planning and development for Wal-Mart plans to develop a training program, â€Å"a world-class corporate university without walls† that further improves Wal-Mart’s business performance. DiBenedetto was able to fuse 60 percent operations business from within the company (subject-matter experts) and 40 percent from external talent (human resource development) (Whitney, 2006). DiBenedetto even adopts the latest technology in hand-held learning devices and podcasting to facilitate and enhance learning. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., with its new vice president for talent planning and planning, John DiBenedetto, is tying up with prestigious universities such as Cornell and Duke to provide business planning and training for senior officers in the corporation. Aside from this, Wal-Mart purchases training programs from different HR development agencies and providers for its personnel. To fund these DiBenedetto resorts not only to corporate budget but also to contributions of sales revenues of individual stores (Whitney, 2006). Wal-Mart has high standards of quality in their service. Its founder, Sam Walton, sees to it that there is a culture of effective customer service that will be followed by his corporation’s personnel which includes his three guiding principles – Respect for the Individual, Service to Customers, Strive for Excellence – and other set of dogmas such as rules for building businesses, sundown rule, ten foot rule, among others. DiBenedetto has great confidence in using metrics to evaluate personnel needs. He maps out business impact and service levels form customers to check out which aspect of HR needs to be changed or developed. Wal-Mart also regularly conducts Saturday Morning

History of child labor Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

History of child labor - Term Paper Example At the macroeconomic level, the debate explains arguments such as the rural economy, capital and income inequality. While at the microeconomic level, the arguments include the question on necessity of child labor, wealth paradox and parent altruism. Two sections include a comparison of data from personal research and that from other researchers. Looking at the history of child labor at a microeconomic level, child labor has a negative association with the aggregate income of the state. However, microeconomic child labor depends on the total income at the household level. An article representing research done by Sonia Bhalotra explains a number of arguments based on child labor at a microeconomic level. These arguments include: The study intends to scrutinize the affiliation between household poverty and its impact on child labor. In this case, the situation forces a child to go out there and seek for employment. Furthermore, fewer wages force the child to work for longer hours. This counter s the economic theory, which states that less wages lead to less working hours. In order to capture the need for child labor, the researcher did an assessment on 2400 Pakistan households in which children worked to get money. The results of the study show that boys work when need arises for family survival. On the other hand, the girls had ambiguous results indicating that girls toiled even when the situation was not critical. The concept could be due to either favoring the boy child or associating girls’ education with low returns. From the observation, it is apparent that at times child labor is not necessary even in poor families (Bhalotra, 2000). From past studies, most studies aim at establishing the correlation between household income and child labor. However, there is a clear distinction between wealth and income (Mankiw & Taylor, 2011). A family could earn a little money, but they own a large piece of land. Results from research

Information Needs for the AIS Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Information Needs for the AIS - Coursework Example The assumption gives managers a challenge especially when making decisions based on assumptions. Therefore, the correct interpretation of the information’s systems gives managers the confidence to make concrete decisions that will make their companies successful. Some companies do not release all their financial information to their stakeholders. The stakeholders are the public, employees and shareholders who have a stake in the company. Withholding such valuable information usually leads to suspicion especially by the shareholders who have invested a lot of money into the business and may want to know how these funds are working for them. Some of the companies may not release information fearing undue competition due to leakage of sensitive financial information that may expose the company to the unnecessary competition. Managers do not usually have the information they want as they are seeking for it. Managers may have less information than they need but usually conduct research to find out the rest of the information. For one to request the information they know they should have seen it and tested it to determine whether they can make decisions for such a company. It is, therefore, important to have a tested model in order to determine the information you want. Managers need information and giving them may improve their decision-making. Firstly, the information should be relevant. Presently, many resources carry a lot of information, which needs carefully sorting to get the required data. The assumption is also necessary for that even having experience some of the managers may not correctly use the information to come up with satisfactory decisions. Some managers may not have experience in using certain information to make decisions especially where there is an upsurge of information. Choice of vital information for decision-making is paramount as it determines how the decision made will

Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 76

Discussion - Essay Example Target countries could be developed or emerging economies. In this respect, product quality is critical to consumer tastes and preferences. Any country or economy can make high quality or low quality products. For example, china is a leading global economy but most of her industrial products are perceived to be low quality. Emerging economies, therefore, have the potential to outperform China in terms of product quality. Personally, I agree with the India-China comparison. Both developed and emerging economies have their strengths and weaknesses. In this respect, the primary factors to consider are consumer preferences, product price, and product quality based on past purchases reviews. I agree with the argument that social, economic, and political factors play a significant role in influencing consumer perceptions. Issues of free trade, product price, brand loyalty, and country of origin elicit mixed reactions with regard to product quality. However, consumer satisfaction outweighs all forms of

Raid Research Essay Example for Free

Raid Research Essay The word RAID stands for redundant ray of independent disks. Raid is usually used in environments with servers or at a business with large file servers, transaction of application servers, where data accessibility is critical, and fault tolerance is required. There are 8 types of raids, Raid 0 is technically not a raid level because it offers no fault tolerance but, it operates by providing data stripping which takes the information and spreads it out over all the disk drives. However, if one drive fails than the entire raid fails. Raid 1 is also referred to as disk mirroring; it basically takes the information from one disk and stores it on multiple disks, this is great for fault tolerance because if one disk fails the information is on another disk. The only drawback to raid 1 is data access speed and the cost because there are more disks involved. Raid 5 is considerably the most commonly used Raid level simply because it provides both stripping and parity. The parity block is distributed to all of the drives making it easier to access the information or have a balanced access load. The parity in raid 5 is used if one of the drives happens to fail, to recover that drive which makes the raid 5 the most common however the only drawback to this raid level is that it has a relatively slow write cycle. Lastly, RAID level 6 which is very similar to raid level 5 but provides two parity functions rather than just one. A minimum of four disks is required to create RAID level 6. Raid level 0, even though it offers no redundancy, is still of use mainly to those who use applications that require high bandwidth such as data streaming or video editing software. Raid level 0 is also used because it’s most simple to implement. Raid level 1 is most expensive because it requires more disks to implement. It also requires heavy software manipulation and configuration to implement Raid level 1. If I were to purchase raid it would absolutely be raid level 0 simply because its easy to implement and it would be efficient for my personal usage.

How did group skills contribute to the development of the drama Essay Example for Free

How did group skills contribute to the development of the drama Essay We approached our initial research by deciding on the path we were taking for our piece and examining what would be the best to topics to research i. e. the Wall Street Crash, the credit crunch, primitive civilisations, survival techniques etc. and then distributing these sections to members of the group to individually research. Every member of the group did their own research on everyone of these subjects so we all knew and understood every topic and to get an overview of what we were taking, which would help with our portrayal of the themes within our material. We executed this by discussing what we had found in our research and comparing it with the other members of the group. We then picked the most relevant points from our discussions and integrated them into our material. We all researched different aspects of the stimulus during our brain storming sessions, drawing from what we knew about the image and then exploring it independently. Ideas were developed collectively, individuals would put forward their ideas for the piece (which were often the same as other members of the group) which were then discussed and collectively performed and then modified, depending on their relevance and cohesiveness with the rest of the piece. However input seemed to keep coming from the same people all the time, so we had to extend and force particular members of the group to share their individual thoughts about our ideas. The majority of the devising work was worked on as a collective, although some individuals could have been more involved with the process, but we all wanted to make sure that everyone agreed on the direction we were taking the piece and aspects of the scene. Our piece was a mixture between ensemble and individual based. For the wise man scene there was a section in which we all had to act out the story of the crash moving into images of everyday occurrences surrounding work, partying and resting. To make sure that we were all together for these transitions we practised them over and over again often having to compromise our actions to make them run smoothly into one another. Throughout we all decided that if we were ever stationary or had to focus on a particular spot we would all stare at the same horizontal bar above the audience in our theatre. For our scene in the company we all had to hold boards and walk in an oval always facing the audience, this took place behind the protagonist to give the illusion that he was running down a corridor. For this we to work we had to be organised and efficient, first of all we had to make sure that there were three boards at the front at all time meaning we all had to walk at the same pace, we also had to carry the boards at roughly the same height, this was quite difficult to achieve so we did as best we could by holding them at arms height. We didnt focus on the bar for this scene until we had become stationary; this was so we could focus on the movement of the circle and its relationship to the speed that the protagonist was walking at. To achieve this shared physical look we practised over and over again, extracting one of the members of the group to see if it looked good enough. Through trial and error we managed to obtain the same physical relationship between one another. Characters were, most of the time, created individually however when needed we helped people who were struggling with their character profile or decided that a character should be different to how they were being portrayed. Most of us put forward suggestions towards certain members character development anyway as a suggestion if we felt that they werent doing enough to explore and exploit their potential. This happened a lot in the War scene as we had to create contrasting and analogous characters within the separate groups and, as it was one of our best scenes, we wanted everyone to be heard and seen. I contributed a lot to the development of a movement piece, I took a piece of music called Clubbed to Death from the Matrix and listened to it, noted where the distinguishing sections were and began to create a piece of movement to go with it. This was when we were using one of our original plot lines so it wasnt used in the final performance but one or two of the ideas were used in certain areas of the play. It was originally showing the downfall of the company and the death of the protagonist, I wanted to use the boards a lot, making members of the chorus use them as shields, slamming them down and pushing them along the floor with two gargoyles on the tower of Babel (a piece of staging we were using at the time) the companys opponents are throwing spears then slowly through the piece the gargoyles break themselves away from the tower to kill their attackers. They achieve this by touching their attackers heads, this all happens in the middle section of the music which is quieter and more sinister. After the gargoyles make contact with the attackers heads I made them writhe as if they were being electrocuted, all the while the protagonist reaches the top of the tower and flings paper out into the audience, however a spear hits him and he dies as do the gargoyles as soon as the papers are thrown into air they begin to crumple and then collapse. I really enjoyed choreographing this piece of movement but, unfortunately by this point, we had already changed our plot, which rendered it useless. I also provided a lot of the sounds like the track during the rape scene (The Piano Duet from Corpse Bride) and in the final scene (My Dearest Friend by Devendra Banhart) All the, concepts and situations were created amongst the group. Our group is extremely diverse both in personalities and in ability, overall we have some very good actors and we all get on wonderfully and made a good team, however there are members of the group that are weaker than others, one in particular who barely gave any ideas or thoughts to the process. Their silence happened so often that we had to question her constantly about her views on everything just to know what her reaction was to the content we were producing or the direction we were heading in. This proved very tedious also because she took no initiative into developing her character and when given suggestions by the other members of the group she listened to them but didnt seem to put any of these ideas into practise. We coached her as much as we could and managed to get a decent performance out of her for the final performance. On a completely different note there was tension between two girls in our group but they moved passed these differences and worked with each other as best they could, the tension lessened over the weeks with a few hiccoughs but the managed to work together as a team planning props in the few weeks before the performance. Moment were the group worked well together Why it was important During the development of the War Scene after the group had been separated into two to create material, we worked together to find a ways to cut between the separate scenes to make a seamless and amusing scene. It strengthened our group dynamic, the girls being on one side bar one and the boys on the other, this allowed us to relax with each other and improvise things that we found amusing. Most of the members of the girls group were fans of Monty Python, French and Saunders and Black Adder, which we all seemed to agree, had the right kind of comedy that we wanted to integrate in our section. It helped us understand each others sense of humour and our acting dynamic. After this scene it was clear that we were on the same page regarding material that wed produced prior to this exercise. Sitting opposite the group of boys was good too as they are very funny people, it helped us to improve our scene, in comparison with theirs, but still carry on the path of humour wed been following. Rehearsing the Company scene where every member of the chorus has a board and we created a movement piece using them together. This was important for the group as it allowed us to work as a collective rather than individuals, we were all concerned about this piece and wanted to create a slick, focussed piece of physical theatre. Through rigorous rehearsal we managed to pin point exactly what was needed and achieved a focus that, with the music, made a punchy start to the beginning of the company scene. We had to bang our boards down at exactly the same time cueing the music, to do this we all agreed to focus on the person who was most visible to everyone, which happened to be me, and we managed to do this perfectly every time in the last few weeks of rehearsal right through the performance. Moment were the group didnt work well Why? What did we learn from this At the beginning of the Wise man scene the chorus plays freaks who follow the wise man, there wasnt enough group development on these characters during rehearsals. Everyone was concerned about the content of the scene, which provided some brilliant freaks, but we didnt think how it would perceived by an audience and as a whole, we left this to the last minute, which meant they couldve been even greater. That we need to face everything head on, leaving things to the last minute on one of the biggest scenes of play, especially the start of it, even though we did a lot of discussing in eagerness to push on we sometimes miss little things that could be rectified and turn a piece of action that hasnt been through into something clear and concise that stands by itself. A character that, if taken out of the scene, could stand by themselves and have a background giving more depth to the madness. At the beginning of the process when we seemed to keep brainstorming and discussing things rather than being spurred into action and, if we did create something that was bad suggestion in the first place, we didnt question we went along with it. We were more concerned about not getting into an argument that we didnt tell one another if we thought an idea wasnt good, instead we suggested more ideas. That sometimes you have to tell people if an idea wont work and dont get worried if someones annoyed at you, it is better to create a good piece of drama that can lead you in a great direction after having a falling out than coming up with a rubbish idea that doesnt hold together as a piece of theatre. We all did our bit to collaborate on design ideas this was so we could perform with the set, lighting and music that we all wanted so that we could perform in an ideal space that the group collectively designed. There was a big difference between group skills in rehearsal to performance, in rehearsal we were a lot more calm about everything and kept a very relaxed group dynamic but, only as it came to the dress and tech rehearsals did we start buckling down and making sure everyones focus was impeccable and that we were all doing this for each other, to stand as a collective rather than individuals as this was the only way our marks would be better.

Integumentary System Disorders

Integumentary System Disorders This report discusses about disorders of integumentary system their pathophysiology, sign and symptoms and their medications. Skin is an organ of integumentary system which protects our body from several types of harms like it work as an umbrella for deeper tissues and it eliminates the wastes from body in the form of sweat and it also maintain the temperature of human body. Skin Human body is covered by a layer of skin, which has two main layers and it is accounts approximately 10 to 15% weight of human body. Skin works as a barrier against ultra violet radiations. Skin has two layers, epidermis is out and dermis is inner layer of skin. Hypodermis layer is made by adipose tissue thats why it is not consider as a major layer. Epidermis It is surface of the skin which is rest on the fatty subcutaneous layer. Epidermis has four layers stratum germinativum, stratum spinosum, stratum granulosam, and stratum corneum. It doesnt contain blood vessels and totally depends upon dermis for the transportation of nutrients and elimination of the waste. Dermis Dermis is inner layer of human body and it also has two layers papillary layer and reticular layer. Dermis is more complicated in structure. Reticular consists thick layer and thick combinative tissues with large blood vessels and papillary layer is made up of thin layer and loose connective tissues with capillaries and elastic fibres. Hypodermis It is the thickest and innermost layer of the skin which release chitinous cuticle. It is fat storage layer. Hypodermis works as an energy holding part of human body. It converts fat in energy and put back in the circulation and sent it to needy areas via venous route. Functions of skin Skin is the biggest organ of human body in surface and mass. Skin has three main functions. Sensation, regulation and protection. Sensation is a major function of skin, by this function we feels heat, cold, touch and pain. Regulation- skin maintains the body temperature via sweat and hair and also balances the body fluid via sweat. Skin works as a barrier for our body, it prevent our body form ultra violet rays and many bacterial infections. Disorders Stasis dermatitis It is a type of dermatitis. Stasis dermatitis is a common skin inflammatory disease occurs on below the ankles. It occurs due to poor blood circulation and in complicated cases it can progress in ulcers. Usually it happens when blood is collects in the veins of lower legs and that bloods increases pressure in the veins which harms the capillaries. This damage of capillaries forces the proteins to leak in the tissues. This leakage causes legs to swell. Thats why the people suffering with this disease usually have swollen legs, open sores itchy skin. Sign and symptoms A person who is suffering from this disease has some symptoms like in first stage the skin of legs become thin. Skin blemish Prickle Scaling Ulcers, sores Leg swelling Calf pain Heaviness in legs Medications Drug Brand name Dosage Side effects Triamcinolone Triderm, Kenalog 3-4 times daily on effected area. Irritation, hypertrichosis, itching. Pimecrolimus Elidel Apply thin layer q12hr on affected area. Burning sensation, headache. Tacrolimus ointment Protopic Apply thin layer q12hr on affected area. Skin erythema, headache, burning sensation. Cutaneous candidiasis Candidiasis is a skin disorder which occurs by the excessive growth of candida fungus on skin. The person who is suffering from this disease has red rash and itchy skin. In early stages it can be prevent by antifungal creams and powders. It may cause by hot weather, rare undergarment changes, poor hygiene and obesity. Usually candida fungi are developed in warm and moist areas like fold of skin, armpits, under breast and between the fingers. It can also effects nails. Sign and symptoms Ring worms Rash on body Crack on the fold areas Rash on genitals Patches of red and purple colour on hips and under breast. Medications Drug Brand name Dosage Side effects Miconazole fungoid tincture, cavilon antifungal cream Apply twice in a day without rubbing. Irritation, hypersensitivity. Terbinafine, topical Lamisil Apply on folding areas for up to 4 weeks. Allergic reactions, redness and itch. Ketoconazole, topical Nizoral topical, extina Apply once daily for 2-3 weeks Burning sensation, irritation, and allergic reaction.

Nuclear Brinkmanship :: essays research papers

â€Å"The world would be a better place if†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Mutual Assured Destruction. Nuclear holocaust. The destruction of whole nations in the blink of an eye. We cannot hide from the threat that nuclear weapons pose to humanity and all life. These are not ordinary weapons, but instruments of mass annihilation that could destroy civilization and end all life on Earth. Nuclear weapons are morally and legally unjustifiable. They destroy indiscriminately - soldiers and civilians; men, women and children; the aged and the newly born; the healthy and the infirm. The world would be a far safer and better place if the Pandora’s Box of nuclear weapons had never been opened. Many historians argue that the United States began the Cold War by ending World War II with the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Four years later, on August 9, 1949, the Soviet Union developed its own nuclear weapons. At the time, both sides lacked the means to effectively use the nuclear devices against each other. However, with the development of aircraft like the B-36 Peacemaker, both sides were gaining more ability to deliver nuclear weapons effectively. The official nuclear policy of the United States was one of "massive retaliation", as coined by President Eisenhower, which called for massive nuclear attack against the Soviet Union if they were to invade Europe. It was only with the advent of ballistic missile submarines, starting with the George Washington class submarine in 1959, that a survivable nuclear force became possible and that a second strike capability became credible. It was generally assumed that any combat in Europe would end wit h apocalyptic conclusions. An idea that has not sunk into the politicians and generals of the nuclear powers skulls is the fact that nuclear weapons are expensive. In 1983, a missile submarine cost more than the education budgets of twenty-three 3rd world countries. A comparison for nuclear weapons would be akin to that of computers: It becomes obsolete very quickly, and the state of the art technology used is astronomically maintenance expensive. Building nuclear weapons is like dumping your money in a hole: It is not going to be coming back. The world would be a far safer place had nuclear weapons not been developed. The possibilities of a small terrorist cell building a nuclear bomb and detonating it in a city are probable within the next twenty years.

Systemic Change :: Systematic Systemic Essays

Systemic Change What Is It To fully understand Systemic Change, one must first be able to distinguish systemic from systematic. The term systematic often is associated with images of a linear, generalizable model of how to do something. Systemic on the other hand implies a global conception of the problem and an understanding of the interrelationships and interconnections. (Carr 1996). The systemic perspective in instructional design is traditionally limited to feedback via needs assessment or evaluation. The systematic perspective in instructional design, however, is strongly represented in a variety of step-by-step models. (Carr 1996) Systemic thinking "requires keeping many aspects of the problem set in your head at one time. It is a community activity, not an individual one, with all the requisite challenges of any group task. Systemic thinking demands persistence, because to think systemically means to constantly reflect back to previous assumptions, and to be flexible enough to change thinking that has been agreed upon previously. (Reigeluth, Garfinkle 1994). Using a systemic view, we develop ways of finding out about the mass of inter-relationships which exist between the different components of systems as well as finding out about the components themselves and we have to find out about the relationships which exist between the whole system and the environment in which it exists. (Bateson, 1979; Bawden 1991, Carr 1996) There are two types of change. There is piecemeal change, often called tinkering, which entails modifying something (fixing a part of it) and there is systemic change, often called paradigm shift, which entails replacing the whole thing. Reigeluth, Garfinkle 1994). Systemic change is comprehensive. It recognizes that a fundamental change in one aspect of a system requires fundamental changes in other aspects in order for it to be successful. In education, it must pervade all levels of the system: classroom, building, district, community, state government and federal government. And it must include the nature of the learning experiences, the administrative system that supports the instructional system, and the governance system that governs the whole educational system (Banathy, 1991, Reigeluth, Garfinkle 1994). Systemic change is needed because of the paradigm shift that is occurring in education due to the information age. Although this paradigm shift in education is only a microcosm of the changes in society as a whole, these changes in society is making "the current educational system obsolete.

bird feeders :: essays research papers

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Conduction Toturial

Tutorial 1 (Conduction and Convection) 1. Consider a composite structure shown on below. Conductivities of the layer are: k1 = k3 = 10 W/mK, k2 = 16 W/mK, and k4 = 46 W/mK. The convection coefficient on the right side of the composite is 30 W/m2K. Calculate the total resistance and the heat flow through the composite. (0. 46, 173. 9 W) 2. Consider a 1. 2-m high and 2-m-wide glass window whose thickness is 6 mm and thermal conductivity is k= 0. 78W/m. 0C.Determine the steady rate of heat transfer through this glass window and the temperature of its inner surface for a day during which the room is maintained at 24 0C while the temperature of the outdoors is -5 0C. Take the convection heat transfer coefficients on the inner and outer surfaces of the window to be h1= 10 W/m2 . 0C and h2 = 25 W/m2 . 0C and disregard any heat transfer by radiation. (471W, 4. 40C) 3. Consider a 1. 2-m-high and 2-m-wide double-pane window consisting of two 3-mm-thick layers of glass (k=0. 78 W/m . 0C) separa ted by 12-mm-wide stagnant air space.Determine the steady rate of heat transfer through this double-pane window and the temperature of its inner surface for a day during which the room is maintained at 24 0C while the temperature of the outdoors is -50C. Take the convection heat transfer coefficients on the inner and outer surfaces of the window to be h1=10 W/ m2 . 0C and h2 = 25 W/m2 . 0C and disregard any heat transfer by radiation. Given also k air = 0. 026 W/ m . 0C (114W, 19. 20C) 4. A cylindrical resistor element on a circuit board dissipates 0. 5W of power in an environment at 400C. The resistor is 1. 2 cm long, and has a diameter of 0. 3cm. Assuming heat to be transferred uniformly from all surfaces, determine (a) the amount of heat this resistor dissipates during a 24-h period, (b) the heat flux on the surface of the resistor, in W/m2 and (c) the surface temperature of the resistor for a combined convection and radiation heat transfer coefficient of 9 W/m2 . 0C. (3. 6 Wh, 1 179 W/m2, 1710C) 5. Water is boiling in a 25-cm-diameter aluminum pan (k=237 W/ m . 0C) at 95 0C.Heat is transferred steadily to the boiling water in the pan through its 0. 5-cm-thick flat bottom at a rate of 800 W. If the inner surface temperature of the bottom of the pan is 1080C, determine (a) the boiling heat transfer coefficient on the inner surface of the pan, and (b) the outer surface temperature of the bottom of the pan. (1254 W/m2 . 0C, 108. 30C) 6. Steam at 320 0C flows in a stainless steel pipe (k= 15 W/m. 0C) whose inner and outer diameters are 5 cm and 5. 5cm, respectively. The pipe is covered with 3-cm-thick glass wool insulation (k= 0. 38 W/m. 0C). Heat is lost to the surroundings at 50C by natural convection and radiation, with a combined natural convection and radiation heat transfer coefficient of 15 W/ m2. 0C. Taking the heat transfer coefficient inside the pipe to be 80 W/m2. 0C, determine the rate of heat loss from the steam per unit length of the pipe. Also det ermine the temperature drops across the pipe shell and the insulation. (93. 9 W, 0. 095 0C, 290 0 C) 7. Consider a 8-m-long, and 0. 22-m-thick wall whose representative cross section is as given in the Figure 1.The thermal conductivities of various material used, in W/m. 0C, are kA=kF=3, kB=10, kC=23, kD=15 and kE=38. The left and right surface of the wall are maintained a uniform temperatures of 3000C and 1000C, respectively. Assuming heat transfer through the wall to be one-dimensional, determine (Given Rcond = x/kA and Rconv = 1/hA) a) The rate of heat transfer through the wall. b) The temperature at the point where the sections B, D and E meet. c) The temperature drop across the section F. (6453. 0075 W, 259. 59380C, 134. 22220C)

Heart Healthy Information Security Policy Essay

Due to personnel, policy and system changes, and audits, Heart Healthy has voluntarily updated their information security policy to be in-line with the current information security laws and regulations. Currently Heart-Healthy Insurance, a large insurance company, plans to review and provide recommendations for an updated information security policy in the area ‘s of: 1. Current New Users Policy – The current new user section of the policy states: â€Å"New users are assigned access based on the content of an access request. The submitter must sign the request and indicate which systems the new user will need access to and what level of access will be needed. A manager’s approval is required to grant administrator access.†(Heart-Healthy Insurance Information Security Policy) 2. Current Password Requirements – The current password requirements section of the policy states: â€Å"Passwords must be at least eight characters long and contain a combination of upper- and lowercase letters. Shared passwords are not permitted on any system that contains patient information. When resetting a password, users cannot reuse any of the previous six passwords that were used. Users entering an incorrect password more than three times will be locked out for at least 15 minutes before the password can be reset.†(Heart-Healthy Insurance Information Security Policy) Heart Healthy Insurance Information Security Policy and Update Proposed User Access Policy The purpose of the User Access Policy is to provide access to Heart-Healthy’s network infrastructure and to ensure appropriate access to all of Heart-Healthy’s information resources. The purpose of Heart-Healthy’s â€Å"Network Access Policy† is to establish the appropriate level of user access to Heart-Healthy’s network infrastructure. Heart-Healthy’s network access rules are necessary in order to preserve the confidentiality, Integrity and availability of Heart-Healthy’s proprietary information. Heart-Healthy’s Information Security Office will be responsible for management and administration of Heart-Healthy’s information security function(s). Heart-Healthy’s Information Security Office will be the chief point of contact for any and all security related functions. User Access Policy * Heart-Healthy users will be permitted access based on the principle of least privileges’ * Remote access or dial-in-services will be requested by Manager level positions and up, and approved by the Information Security Department. * End users are not allowed to re-transmit or extend any of Heart-Healthy’s network services. E.g. users will not attach hubs, switches, firewalls, access points to Heart-Healthy’s network without prior written authorization. * Users are not allowed to install any additional hardware or software without the express written consent from the Heart-Healthy information technology department. * All Heart-Healthy computer systems will conform to agency standards * End users are not allowed to download, install or run any programs that could potentially reveal or undermine Heart-Healthy’s in-place security system, e.g. packet sniffers, password crackers or network mapping tools are strictly forbidden. All Heart-Healthy employees, 3rd party contractors are responsible for managing their information resources and will be held accountable for any information security violations or infractions Current Password Policies and Requirements â€Å"Passwords must be at least eight characters long and contain a combination of upper- and lowercase letters. Shared passwords are not permitted on any system that contains patient information. When resetting a password, users cannot reuse any of the previous six passwords that were used. Users entering an incorrect password more than three times will be locked out for at least 15 minutes before the password can be reset†(Heart-Healthy Insurance Group Information Security Policy). NIST Special Publication 800-63 The stronger the password, the more likely that password guessing and cracking will be deterred. The combination of the password and the complexity directly lead to its unpredictability. With 8 character complex passwords, with current GPU processing power a password can be broken in less than 26 days by exhausting all possible combinations. Proposed Password Guidelines * Passwords should be a minimum of 14 characters * Passwords based on dictionary words are prohibited * Passwords based on pet names, biographical information, children’s names, no names of relatives * Passwords must consist of a mixture of uppercase, lowercase, and a special character * System will remember last 12 passwords * If passwords are written down, they must be kept in a safe place, e.g. a wallet, or a safe. Passwords are not be be written down and tape to the bottom of the keyboard, stuck to the computer monitor with a sticky note, or put in an unlocked desk drawer. * All passwords will be changed every 90 days Proposed Password Policy Heart-Healthy password policy guideline is a recommendation for creating a new user password. This policy is a guideline to help end users in: * Choosing and creating a strong password * Ensure that passwords are highly resistant to brute force attacks and password guessing * Recommendations on how users should handle and store their passwords safely * Recommendations on lost or stolen passwords Password expiration * Password expiration will serve 2 specific purposes: * Password expiration will limit the time crackers have to either guess, or brute force a password. * If a password has been compromised, the password expiration will help to limit the time the cracker / hacker has access to Heart-Healthy’s internal networking system. Heart-Healthy has embarked on a path to bring their information security posture regarding â€Å"Password Requirements† and â€Å"New Users† up-to-date. Heart-Healthy has used NIST (National Institute of Standards) and HIPAA ( Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act) regulations in order to achieve their goal of providing the CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity, Authorization) triad for information security. The federal government has implemented a number of laws and regulations that pertain to the handling, reviewing and compliance assurance of private or confidential data. With respect to NIST, and HIPAA; although they do not specifically outline the methods in these documents, Heart-Healthy is obligated to make an attempt to implement reasonable standards in order to meet the current legal obligations outlined by these laws and regulations. Heart-Healthy will focus on three main categories for their security posture: Physical, Technical, Administrative, * Physical Security – Heart-Healthy has designed their physical security around protecting computer systems that store confidential data. * Technical Security – Heart-Healthy has implemented software and security safeguards designed specifically to ensure access is controlled, and the integrity and the authentication of the stored data remains intact. * Administrative Security – Heart-Healthy’s administrative security ensures that Heart-Healthy procedures, standards, security measures, and organizational policies are implemented by qualified personnel. The HIPAA Security Rule The HIPAA Security Rule establishes national standards to protect individuals’ electronic personal health information (ePHI) that is created, received, used, or maintained by a covered entity. The Security Rule requires appropriate administrative, physical and technical safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and security of electronic protected health information (HSS.gov ). NIST ensures that the CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability) of any electronic personal health information (EPHI) information that is maintained, received or transmitted is protected from potential threats and hazards that could potentially affect the integrity of the ePHI information. NIST also provides protection against the accidental or intentional exposure of private information. Heart-Healthy understands that information security means protecting their information from unauthorized disclosure, access and any disruptions. Heart-Healthy understands the difference in protecting their sensitive data lies primarily in their approach. Heart-Healthy has taken precautions to prevent accidental or intentional exposure to electronic private health information. Heart-Healthy feels confident that these policies put forth will help eliminate unauthorized access to Heart-Healthy’s information systems. Heart-Healthy’s technical security policies will help ensure that end users are responsible for their information. Technical policies will also serve to protect end users from accidental exposure by providing adequate protection to end users passwords and confidential data. Heart-Healthy will provide annual training on their new policies, in order to ensure end users are aware of security risks and that end users will ultimately be accountable for their personal security awareness. Heart-Healthy personnel will ultimately be responsible for the management of their information resources and will be held accountable for their actions in relation to their information security. All access to Heart-Healthy information resources are for authorized business purposes only. Heart-Healthy will not provide access to or guarantee access to email, web browsing. Heart-Healthy will monitor all electronic communications that might be needed in order to fulfill a complaint or any investigatory requirements. Heart-Healthy understands that if any confidential information is breached or falls into the hands of a competitor or a hacker that the consequences could be devastating. References mailchip.com. (2012). 3 Billion Passwords Per Second. Are Complex Passwords Enough Anymore?. Retrieved from http://blog.mailchimp.com/3-billion-passwords-per-second-are-complex-passwords-enough-anymore/ nist.gov. (2011). NIST Policy on Information Technology Resources Access and Use. Retrieved from http://www.nist.gov/director/oism/itsd/policy_accnuse.cfm hss.gov. (). Health Information Privacy. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/index.html hss.gov. (). Health Information Privacy. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/administrative/securityrule/index.html nist.gov. (). Guide to Enterprise Password Management. Retrieved from http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/drafts/800-118/draft-sp800-118.pdf

Diabetes as Disorder

DESCRIPTIONDiabetes pertains to a metabolic disorder that is associated with the lack or absence of insulin, a protein that transports glucose into the cells of the body.   Glucose, also simply known as sugars, is considered as the first source of energy for the daily activities performed by the human body, such as walking and standing.In addition, glucose also serves as the main resource for the energy that is required to fuel cellular processes within the body, including that of growth and repair of cells and tissues.   The food items consumed by an individual generally contain glucose and thus the presence of insulin is important for the transport of this macromolecule to the appropriate regions of the body.Insulin is mainly produced by the pancreas, which is a digestive organ that is strategically located next to the small intestines, where digestion commonly occurs.   Once the process of digestion has been completed in the intestines, the glucose molecules transported into cells through the help of insulin.   In normal individuals, the amount of insulin produced by the pancreas is enough to transport the glucose that is present in the meal consumed.On the other hand, individuals with diabetes show a lack or absence of insulin secreted by the pancreas, thus preventing the transport of the glucose molecules into the cells.   Glucose is therefore left outside the cells and these remain circulating in the blood.   The continuous accumulation of glucose further extends from the blood to the urine, which in turn are samples employed for the diagnostics of diabetes.CAUSES OF DIABETESDiabetes is generally caused by a number of factors, depending on the type of diabetes that has been positively diagnosed in an individual.   Type 1 diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), pertains to an autoimmune condition that involves the incapacity of the body to combat infections (NIH, 2010a).In this case, the immune system of an indivi dual causes the destruction of the cells of the pancreas, thus decreasing and possibly preventing the production of insulin for glucose transport.   The actual mechanism that triggers the destruction of the pancreatic cells by the immune system is still unknown and there are active efforts in the field of biomedical research that are attempting to elucidate this reaction.Type 2 diabetes, also known as non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), pertains to an increase in the level of glucose in the body due to aging, obesity or genetic inheritance of the condition (NIH, 2010b).   Type 2 diabetes is therefore more commonly observed among elderly individuals, as their metabolic rate generally slows down as they age.   Obese individuals tend to develop diabetes because their food choices are often different from the recommended daily diet, thus increasing the likelihood that sugar-rich foods would be consumed on a regular basis.Gestational diabetes pertains to the increase i n the blood glucose level of a female during pregnancy.   This occurrence is usually linked to the gain in the total body weight of a woman during pregnancy, as well as the decrease in the physical activity of the woman as she progresses through the entire gestational period of 36 weeks or 9 months.   Unlike types 1 and 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes often disappears once the woman has given birth.   The disappearance of the features of diabetes are possibly linked to the loss in the total body weight after birth, as well as the increase in the physical activity of the woman after delivery.EPIDEMIOLOGY OF DIABETESType 1 diabetes generally affects both males and females, yet there are certain characteristics that strongly associated with this metabolic disease.   According to the World Health Organization, type 1 diabetes is more common among whites and is considered as a rare disease among non-white populations of Africa and Asia.   Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, is commonly diagnosed in elderly individuals.Moreover, elderly individuals who are overweight are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes because these individuals tend to be less active in physical activities.   Certain populations are thus associated with type 2 diabetes, including those of African and Asian ethnicities.   In the United States alone, there are 24 million individuals with the age of 20 years old and above that have been diagnosed with diabetes (NIDDK, 2007).   On the other hand, there are 12 million elderly individuals who have been diagnosed with diabetes in the United States.TREATMENT OF DIABETESType 1 diabetes is generally treated with the administration of insulin on a daily basis.   Patient are therefore taught how to inject insulin everyday, in order to maintain a normal level of insulin in their blood.   Type 2 diabetes is usually treated with medications that assist in the digestion of glucose from the food items consumed.   This medication is give n on a daily basis using a tablet or capsule format.   In addition to medications, a healthy diet is highly recommended to diabetic patients.   This includes food items that are low in sugar content, such as green, leafy vegetables and fiber-rich fruits and grains.Exercise is also recommended for diabetic patients, as this assists in increasing the metabolic rate of the body.   Diabetic patients are also educated on the condition of hypoglycemia, which is the extreme lowering of the blood glucose level of the body, resulting in fainting and a decrease in the arterial blood pressure.   A dietician therefore plays an important role in the design of the dietary regimen of diabetic patients.   A regular check-up should also be performed every 3 to 6 months, wherein the fasting blood sugar levels are determined, in order to evaluate the progress of the patient with the current dietary regimen.REFERENCESNational Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.   (2007) .   National Diabetes Statistics, 2007.   Downloaded from http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics/DM_Statistics.pdf on July 8, 2010.National Institutes of Health.   (2010a).   Type 1 diabetes: Thirty years of progress.   Downloaded from http://www.nih.gov/about/researchresultsforthepublic/Type1Diabetes.pdf on July 8, 2010.National Institutes of Health.   (2010b).   Type 2 diabetes: Thirty years of progress.   Downloaded from http://www.nih.gov/about/researchresultsforthepublic/Type2Diabetes.pdf on July 8, 2010.