Benefits of e-communications in integrated marketing communications Essay

Benefits of e-communications in integrated marketing communications - Essay Example as been integrated into today’s systems especially with the acceptance and rapid use of the internet which has simply brought a revolution on how things are done. (Pratten 2007) The marketing field has not been left behind in the use of e-communication. Integrated marketing on the other hand is a general term which seeks to describe an entire spectrum of marketing communication. It helps ensure that the messages communicated are both consistent and complementary. Integrated marketing utilizes both online marketing which is basically e-communication and offline methods in its roles. To shape this discussion coherently, it is important to first have the e communications methods discussed and in addition, the basic marketing milestones they help achieve. The final part will draw the benefits in each of the marketing communication fields. (Tony 1999). To start with, it is almost impossible to form a paper on marketing without looking at the basic foundations of marketing which are the four P’s. Every marketer aims at achieving these as far as strategic positioning of goods is concerned. This is known as the marketing mix in a marketing field. Marketing mix is defined as a set of controllable marketing tools harnessed together to help achieve the laid down objectives of the selling company. This is the exchange value of the product or the amount paid by a customer in the exchange of a good. A price in most cases is subject to many factors either present in the company or externally determined. Factors determining the price of a good are mainly the market share of the particular company, competition levels, the total cost of producing these goods and finally the perceived value of the goods by the customers. This refers to the sum total of all the communications a marketer undertakes for the purpose of ensuring that the word about availability of a product goes out to the potential buyers/customers. This last P is the subject of this study as we look at how it

Leadership Style Essay Example for Free

Leadership Style Essay Leadership is a role that not all can partake but that many have excelled at. When asked who I admire as a leader I had to think quite a while. I had to decide what category of leader I could relate to the most. Would it be a political leader, a spiritual leader, a business leader or even a military leader? Ultimately I decided that I want someone who is multi-faceted in that they can lead in many situations and scenarios. Further it seems that leading in unfamiliar and new situations can allow a leader more freedom in his direction without being swayed by observations of others in similar situations. This led me to choose George Washington as my admirable leader since â€Å"George Washington can be used as an example of strong and ethical leadership in virtually any walk of life.† (Rees 2007, p. preface) Growing up we all learned of George Washington and his role as the first president of the United Sates. We hear of his honesty as told through the story of the cherry tree and so on. His leadership is what gave him this large mark in our history books and it was not only displayed through his presidency. He was first a great military leader. In this role he displayed leader characteristics such as toughness, persistence, bravery and organization. These characteristics earned him the respect of his troops and the ongoing admiration of an entire country. His time as a political leader is what he is remembered most for. He was able to use his charismatic presence and moral strength to maneuver through a turbulent political environment. The leadership traits of foresight and strategic planning allowed him to hold at bay the continental army from a brittle and new civilian government. Through his, and with the help of other great leaders, efforts the path was paved for the United Sates to become the world’s leading super power. Though other leaders have achieved similar feats throughout history this one stands out for me as I have directly benefited from George Washington’s leadership.  Lastly a notable leadership trait that I admire of George Washington’s is his moral leadership. This helps distinguish him from other leaders of world powers before and after his time. It was not uncommon for leaders like Hitler, Stalin, and the Caesar’s or Persian Empire leaders who accomplished similar â€Å"world power† feats to rule by an iron fist and without morality to reach their goals. George Washington used his moral compass to create what may be a much longer lasting arena in which to lead, one that could be passed on to other worthy leaders. Many would like to think that they have the characteristics of a great leader. The reality is that if I, or anyone else, had the perfect mesh of traits for a leader then we would in fact be leading. While I do manage staff, departments and facilities I see myself as a professional and only an aspiring leader. It is my hope that through this course and the others I with be involved in throughout my time at University of Phoenix I will come closer to actually leading. Currently I have some leadership characteristics. There are some that seemed to come naturally and others that have taken time, effort and education. I’ve always seemed to have a knack at argument, or for our scholarly purposes, excellent persuasion ability. I can think clearly during exchanges and use opposing thinkers own examples and analogies to further substantiate my position. I treat people with respect regardless of their status. I strive to have a perfect balance on confidence and humility. I do not fear collaboration and tend to communicate well. If I were to list all the things I would need to do in order to become a better leader this paper would never end. In order to avoid this I will talk only about the traits I feel are the most important and in need of further understanding and practice from myself. Leveraging team strength’s needs some attention from me. I tend to look at people in their roles and corner them there. If I open my eyes a bit more as to their aptitude in other areas I could find that shining stars are sitting right in front of me. I need to be more fearless and take more risks. I have a tendency to play things safe seeking acceptable outcomes when I could take risks and seek excellent outcomes. If I were to take on a little more compassion for things going on with the people around me I may be able to find ways to create more dedicated followers. Followers that know I believe in them and care for their own well-being as opposed to simply the desired outcome of my leadership. Ultimately I wish to lead by example. I want to  lead follower’s development and act as a resource for their advice and assistance (Daft 2008). The greatest satisfaction I can achieve as a leader would be not only for my own desired success in life to be experienced but also to carve a path for those around me to thrive as well. Good leadership in my opinion will always result in an accumulative good, not and individual good. References Daft, R. (2008). The Leadership Experience. Mason: Thompson Learning, Inc. . James Rees, Stephen J. Spignesi (2007). George Washingtons Leadership Lessons. Hoboken: John Wiley Sons, Inc.

I am alone :: essays research papers

I am alone In the speech â€Å"I am alone† by Cochise, a Native American leader address to the white people for peace. The story goes back when the Native Americans (Chiricahua tribe) owned the land in the western part of the United States known as Apache land. First the Mexicans came across their land and try to over-rule them in which resulted the Mexican War. The war lasted years and the Natives eventually overcame the Mexicans. After the Mexican War then came the Europeans who sailed across the Pacific Ocean and landed on the Apache land. At first the Europeans make friends with the Natives then the Europeans turned against them and falsely accused Cochise of kidnapping a white child. The captured of Cochise made the Natives furious and brought tension on the Europeans. In 1861 the conflict between the Natives and the Europeans begins in which caused war. The Europeans were too much to handle for the Natives; they brought many troops across the sea to fight the Indians and eventually overcame them. Many Natives and Europeans were killed in the war, the Natives were forced to give up their land and be transferred to a reservation far from Apache. It was 1871 when the Natives seek peace with the Europeans; they send Cochise to address peace with the Europeans and negotiated a new treaty which allowed the remaining Natives to stay in Apache.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the reading it sounds like the Chiricahua tribes were gullible and compassionate. The Natives were gullible because they assume the Europeans come to Apache for visit or to make friends with them. After the horrible tragedy with the Spanish the Natives should have attacked all the intruders that came across on their land instead of befriending the Europeans and ending up loosing their territories to the Europeans. I am alone :: essays research papers I am alone In the speech â€Å"I am alone† by Cochise, a Native American leader address to the white people for peace. The story goes back when the Native Americans (Chiricahua tribe) owned the land in the western part of the United States known as Apache land. First the Mexicans came across their land and try to over-rule them in which resulted the Mexican War. The war lasted years and the Natives eventually overcame the Mexicans. After the Mexican War then came the Europeans who sailed across the Pacific Ocean and landed on the Apache land. At first the Europeans make friends with the Natives then the Europeans turned against them and falsely accused Cochise of kidnapping a white child. The captured of Cochise made the Natives furious and brought tension on the Europeans. In 1861 the conflict between the Natives and the Europeans begins in which caused war. The Europeans were too much to handle for the Natives; they brought many troops across the sea to fight the Indians and eventually overcame them. Many Natives and Europeans were killed in the war, the Natives were forced to give up their land and be transferred to a reservation far from Apache. It was 1871 when the Natives seek peace with the Europeans; they send Cochise to address peace with the Europeans and negotiated a new treaty which allowed the remaining Natives to stay in Apache.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the reading it sounds like the Chiricahua tribes were gullible and compassionate. The Natives were gullible because they assume the Europeans come to Apache for visit or to make friends with them. After the horrible tragedy with the Spanish the Natives should have attacked all the intruders that came across on their land instead of befriending the Europeans and ending up loosing their territories to the Europeans.

Analysis of Video “The World is Flat” Essay

Key issues or Problems in the video: The title â€Å"The World is Flat† was taken from a statement by Nandan Nilekani, the former Infosys (an Indian IT company) CEO. It seems like if hadn’t met Nandan then he wouldn’t have even written this book. He talks about Americans and the developing world but says almost nothing about Africa, Europe & Australia. The World is flat applies better to people with similar kind of economic conditions. In developing world, a big portion of population is poor or much below poverty line as per American standard. Their first challenge is access to food and Education. How could they be part of level playing field and make this world flat. Friedman says first that Nineteenth century belonged to English, Twentieth Century to USA and Twenty first Century to China. Friedman argues that latest age of globalization will be spearheaded by Individuals. He just made this assumption after meeting the cab driver in Budapest & Peruvian Dishware seller who have their own websites. T he percentage of people doing their own business like this is still extremely low to claim that the era belongs to them. It feels like an exaggeration. Its conflicting that on one hand, he says 21st century belongs to China and on the other hand, he says latest age of globalization (which is now) will be spearheaded by Individuals. I can’t accept his methods and question his research and interview process. Friedman is stating something without actually based on real documented facts, but on talks with friends and CEOs he visits. By what it leaves out, it does nothing more than misinform the people around the World. In the end, he talks about Green New Clean energy which kind of feel out of context from the main topic. Critique of video, Supporting arguments, rebuttals of ideas: I think there is a lot to criticize about the Video â€Å"The World is Flat†. Friedman’s view of the globalized world is often obsessed with the successful multinational corporations of India. In the video he talks about individuals or â€Å"free agents†, but being a free agent is riskier. Free agents will not have fixed salary and health care benefits (Source: Brown, C.V.). If there is a free agent in India, he can’t work for American company without Social Security Number for Tax purposes. 90% of the world’s telephone calls, Internet traffic, and investments are local, suggesting that this Video has overstated the trends. His talk of a new flat world  where information, money, ideas, and people can move worldwide faster than before is unreal, we just see a fraction of what he describes globalization (Refer Source:wiki). Globalization causes unemployment here in America. It is shipping jobs outside America where its easy to find cheap labor. The winners will be capitalists worldwide causing income inequality everywhere. This would imply that Globalization will make the world NON-Flat instead. He talks about mashing the two specializations together which doesn’t always give the better result. Actions I would take next and why or personal experience dealing with the issues: The video presents more of an American perspective. Friedman’s work history has been mostly with The NY Times, and has definitely affected the way due to which he thinks this way. I would have liked his ideas in a more â€Å"inclusive voice† to show the whole World’s perspective. I would encourage fair trade instead of free trade. If we put his claims to test against documented facts. It will not pass. I would have liked more research and references. World will be actually a level playing field when everybody will have a fair opportunity to Education & Resource of Technology. If I make a website and start selling say â€Å"Baseball bats†. First of all, there will be a Brand position issue that is why would people come to me instead of going to Store like â€Å"Sports Authority† or so where they can try and test things before buying. Secondly, In real world, its hard to be an Individual and manage the whole thing like getting the stuff made in foreign countries, handle the custom portion, get it shipped etc. on your own. Sources: (2014, May 9). The World is Flat. Retrieved Jun 7, 2011 from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Is_Flat Brown, C.V., Dehayes, D.W., Hoffer, J.A., Martin, E.W., & Perkins, W.C. (2012). Managing information technology (7th ed.): Managing IT in a digital world. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Care Delivery & Management Essay

The purpose of this assignment is to reflect upon my personal and professional development. It will consider the quality of the care I provided, the skills I developed in my specialist placement, plus my learning since the commencement of my nurse training. Personal learning and self-reflection will be identified. I shall be using Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle to consider my practice. Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle looks at six aspects which include the following; what happened, what were my thoughts and feelings, what was good or bad about the experience, what sense can I make out of the situation, what else could I have done and if it arose again what would I do? Findings will be supported or contrasted by relevant literature. A conclusion will be offered to evaluate findings. I shall also include an action plan, which will address future professional and personal development needs and any factors that may help or hinder this. I will also consider why I have selected these issues fo r my action plan, what my goals are and how I aim to achieve them. At the beginning of my nurse training we were asked to write on a piece of piece what our definition of nursing was. I wrote ‘It’s about being human’. At the time these words were based on my gut feeling and personal belief. Now, two and a half years later, I would write the same thing, but this time my definition would be based on the skills, knowledge and experiences I feel privileged and grateful to have had during my training and not just on gut feeling and personal belief. How does this knowledge impact on me in terms of practice? I can now put my definition of nursing into a framework and relate the theory of it to practice, for example I can identify when I am actively undertaking anxiety management with a patient. This is quite an achievement for me. What else have I learnt? I have gained knowledge of illnesses and understand how bio-psycho-social aspects of mental illness impact on the individual, their family and their life. I have also developed a good basic knowledge of practical skills such as: counselling, anxiety management, assessment, nursing and communication models, problem-solving and psychotherapy. This knowledge and development of practical skills has enabled my self confidence and self esteem to grow. What things have had the most influence on my personal and professional learning? These things are what ‘It’s about being human’ means to me as a nurse. They include a humanistic care philosophy. Evidence suggests that patients have found the humanistic care philosophy to be positive and helpful to their well-being (Beech, Norman 1995.) Humanistic care believes in; developing trust, the nurse-patient relationship, using the self as a therapeutic tool, spending time to ‘be with’ and ‘do with’ the patient (Hanson 2000,) patient empowerment, the patient as an equal partners in their care (Department Of Health 1999,) respect for the patient’s uniqueness, recognition of the patient as an expert on themselves (Nelson-Jones 1982, Playle 1995, Horsfall 1997). Equally important to me is person-centred care, Roger’s (1961) unconditional positive regard, warmth, genuineness and empathy, recognition of counter-transference, self-reflect ion and self-awareness. I was on placement with Liaison Psychiatry also known as Deliberate Self Harm. The team consisted of my mentor and myself. In this placement we would assess patients who had deliberately self harmed. Patients would be referred via A&E only. We would see patients whilst they were still in A&E or after they had been transferred to hospital wards for medical treatment for their injuries etc. We would only see patients once they were medically fit to have a psychiatric assessment. The purpose of the assessment was to find out what was happening for the individual and see if we could offer any help via mental health services to the individual, this is done via implementing ‘APIE’ the nursing process (Hargreaves 1975). The main focus was to consider what degree of risk we felt the patient was in. Therefore we needed to establish what the individuals intent was at the time of the deliberate self harm, and if suicidal, whether they still had suicidal intent after the incident. We also held a weekly counselling clinic. I considered Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle. How did I feel about this placement? At first I was apprehensive as to how I would feel dealing with patients who do not necessarily want to live. I belong to a profession that saves lives, so I felt an inner conflict. This is an anxiety that is recognised in most nurses (Whitworth 1984). In my first few weeks I felt distressed by the traumatic events that these patients were experiencing. I felt guilty that I have a family who love me, a fulfilling career, a lovely home and no debts, then each day I talk to people who may have no home, no money, no one to love them and no employment. It was hard for me to make sense of these things when life circumstances, such as class, status, wealth, education and employment create unfairness. I felt a desire to help try and improve the quality of these patients’ situations. Midence (1996) has identified that these feelings are a normal response when dealing with others less fortunate that oursel ves. Patients’ who attempt suicide have lost hope (Beck 1986). I felt more settled and positive once I was able to make sense of the situation (Gibbs 1988). I realised that could help by listening to these patient’s and help to restore hope, develop problem solving ideas to tackle some of their problems or referring them to gain the emotional help and support they needed from appropriate mental health services. Patients find help with problem solving extremely valuable and can help them feel able to cope (McLaughlin 1999). Generally, after most assessments, I learnt that listening, giving emotional support and problem solving helped restore enough hope in the previously suicidal patient enable them to feel safe from future self harm. In only a handful of cases did my mentor and I need to admit patients to any inpatient facility under the Mental Health Act (1983). This was because they still felt at risk of future self-harm. Through using Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle to consider my special placement area I feel I have been able to change my nursing practice in a positive way, initially from feeling anxious, guilty and helpless when dealing with suicidal patients to feeling useful, constructive and positive. I’ve learnt that by confronting my own feelings of guilt and discomfort I was able to help in a very positive, practical, constructive and empowering way. My mentor identified that one of my strengths is that I can generally combine common sense, logic and practicality in terms of risk assessment and problem solving and still build up a sensitive and caring, therapeutic relationship when dealing with patients whose circumstances are in crisis and complicated and they themselves are emotionally and mentally vulnerable. Nurses not only need good communication skills (Faulkner 1998) but they also need to have an environment conductive to open communication (Wilkinson 1992). Social barriers such as environment, structure or cultural aspects of healthcare can inhibit the application of communication skills (Chambers 2002) Utilising Gibbs (19988) Reflective Model, in retrospect; I feel our interview with some patients could have been done differently. On occasions when my mentor and I were in the A & E department the two rooms that we had available for our use were occasionally both in use. This meant that we would conduct our assessment interviews in the Plaster Room, if it was empty. This room was where medical patients would have plaster-casts applied. This was a very clinical room. However, due to limited room availability this was sometimes the only option we had at the time, it was not a welcoming or appropriate setting and would not have helped patients feel relaxed or valued. In reflection, I believe it was actually demeaning as we were asking patients who had attempted suicide to sit on a hard chair in a clinical workroom and share their despair with us. I am sad that this happened and I feel as though we were giving the patients the impression that a cold clinical work room is all they were worth. If this arose again (Gibbs 1988) I would suggest to my mentor that we wait for one of our allocated rooms to become available, where the rooms were relaxing, with soft armchairs and a feeling of comfort. Using Gibbs (1988) Reflective Model I shall describe a situation with a patient to highlight my learning. What happened (Gibbs 1988)? Neil had been bought to A&E by his son after he made an attempt to take his own life. His son explained that Neil’s wife had terminal cancer and had died the day before. Neil was unable to engage in conversation other that to repeat over and over again â€Å"I don’t want to live without my wife.† However the more disturbed and difficult to communicate a patient is the less interaction they receive therapeutic or otherwise from nursing staff (Cormack 1976, Poole, Sanson-Fisher, Thompson 1981, Robinson 1996a, 1996b). I found this too be true in Neil’s situation as some A & E nurses did not wish to approach him because of his disturbed state and unresponsiveness to verbal cues. What were my thoughts and feeling (Gibbs 1988)? After spending twenty minutes in the assessment interview Neil had remained unresponsive to our approaches and had remained distressed, distant and uncommunicative for the entire time. I had past experience of recent bereavement within my immediate family and I realised that counter-transference was at play and was a reason for my strong emotional reaction to Neil’s distress resulting in me having an overwhelming desire to ease his suffering. Even though another part of me understood the need for him to experience this extreme pain as a normal part of grieving. What was good or bad about the experience (Gibbs 1988)? This was not a good experience for me because as a compassionate person, I found it extremely hard to suppress my own feelings of wanting to protect him from such devastating distress, although I recognised that I was over-identifying with him due to my own grief. I considered that he might have been embarrassed by the emotional state he was in and his inability to control his grief; he could not speak, maintain eye contact or even physically stand. What sense could I make of the situation (Gibbs 1988)? We adjourned for a few minutes so that my mentor and I could assess the situation. I thought it might be appropriate to utilise Heron’s Six Category Intervention Analysis (1975) cathartic intervention as a therapeutic strategy to enable the patient to release emotional tension such as grief, anger, despair and anxiety by helping to (Chambers 1990). I hoped it would facilitate the opportunity for Neil to open up and express his full feelings in a safe and supportive environment. I initially planned to sit quietly with him and briefly put a reassuring hand on either his hand, arm or shoulder. My mentor supported this action. I was aware that I ran a risk of misinterpretation by choosing therapeutic touch. Therapeutic touch may be criticised because it is open to misinterpretation by the patient and abuse of power by staff. The patient may view holding another’s hand as a sexual advance, violation or abuse, so nurses should always consider patient consent, appropriateness, context and boundaries. Clause 2.4 of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2002) Code Of Professional Conduct says that at all times healthcare professionals must maintain appropriate boundaries with patients and all aspects of care must be relevant to their needs. Therapeutic touch appeared acceptable given his situation and seemed appropriate to the context it would be performed in, given that my mentor would supervise me. As per Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle I considered what else I could have done especially if the situation arose again and mentor not been there. I would may have chosen to utilise Hanson’s (2000) approach of ‘being with’ whereby I use therapeutic use of self through the sharing of one’s own presence, and not involved any form of touch, avoiding any misinterpretation or breach of boundaries. I was anxious because I felt concerned that my nursing skills would be inadequate to address his needs due to his acutely distressed state. In reflection my mentor helped me acknowledge that this was about my own anxiety rather than being accurately reflective of my nursing ability. I approached Neil and explained that if it was acceptable with him I would like to sit quietly with him so that he was not alone in his distress. â€Å"It is likely that the nursing process is therapeutic when nurse and patient can come to know and to respect each other, as persons who are alike and yet different, as persons who share in the solution of problems† (Peplau 1988). I gently placed my hand onto his. Neil reacted by given the impression that he physically disintegrated, he become extremely distressed and crying loudly, squeezing my hand tightly. This continued for several minutes. Neil became calmer and started to talk about his situation. This was a good outcome. I was able to utilise Herons (1975) cathartic strategy with positive effect via empathising with Neil’s situation and using myself as a therapeutic tool through the use of touch, thus enabling Neil to express his emotions and activate a nurse-patient relationship. Studies have shown that nurses can express compassion and empathy through touch, using themselves as a therapeutic tool (Routasalo 1999, Scholes 1996) and this has a cathartic value, enabling the patient to express their feelings more easily (Leslie Baillie 1996). The therapeutic value of non-verbal communication and its harmfulness is overlooked (Salvage 1990). Attitudes are evident in the way we interact with others and can create atmospheres that make patient care uncomfortable (Hinchcliff, Norman, Schoeber 1998) On one occasion, one nurse privately referred to Neil as a â€Å"wimp† because he was having difficulty coping with the death of his wife. I wondered whether her body language had transmitted her bad attitude towards Neil, contributing to his distress and difficulties in communicating with staff. Again using Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle, I shall provide another example to highlight my learning in practice. What happened (Gibbs 1988)? Cycle On one occasion my mentor and I received a phone call from A & E asking us to review an 18-year-old girl called Emma who had taken an overdose. They said she was medically fit to be assessed. When we arrived they claimed that she was pretending to still feel unwell and described her as â€Å"milking it†. We found her to be vomiting and discovered she had been left in a bed in the corridor of A & E for 8 hours. McAllister (2001) found that patients who had self-harmed were ignored, had exceptionally long waits and suffered judgemental comments. What were my thoughts and feelings (Gibbs 1988)? I felt very angry towards A & E staff as I felt that she was being unfairly treated because she had caused harm to herself, she had been labelled as a troublemaker by staff and I do not believe she had received good quality care. Emma explained that in the last month her father had died, she had miscarried her baby, discovered that her partner was having an affair, and she had been made redundant leaving her with debts that she couldn’t pay. As I looked at her, I saw a vulnerable young woman at the end of her tether. I felt saddened and disappointed by the judgemental attitudes of the A & E staff who had not even taken the time to talk to Emma or ask her why she had taken an overdose, instead they describe her as an â€Å"immature and attention seeking kid†. As per Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle, I felt this was a very bad experience of poor care, bad attitudes and unacceptable moral judgement being made by A & E staff. Cohen (1996) and Nettleton (1995) identify that social status; age, gender, race and class contribute to stereotyping and judgemental attitudes. I noticed that people who self-harmed were judged differently dependent upon their age and the younger they were the worse the attitude of A and E staff. Interestingly ageism towards youth is an area that I could find no research on. I believe ageism towards younger people is overlooked and is really only identified in the elderly. During the assessment I was aware of how my physical presence can impact on the care given. However, I have learnt about the importance of considering how one can communicate to the patient via body language. By attending to patients in a non-verbal or physical way it is another method of saying, â€Å"I’m interested, I’m listening and I care.† To do this during Emma’s assessment I utilised Egan’s (1982) acronym S.O.L.A.R. This meant that I sat facing Emma Squarely, with an Open posture, Leaning towards her, whilst making Eye contact and Relaxing myself, to give her the feeling of my willingness to help. This client centred care recognises her equality in the nurse-patient relationship. What sense did I make of the situation (Gibbs 1988)? I was very unhappy about the attitude of A & E staff but recognised that they had a lack of understanding and knowledge. In one study looking at self-harm admissions it was discovered that patients who deliberately self-harm are often deemed as unpopular patients, being labelled and judged as time wasters by A & E staff. Apparently 55% of general nurses perceived these patients as attention seekers and disliked working with them, 64% found it frustrating, 20% found it depressing and almost a third found it uncomfortable (Sidley, Renton 1996). What else could I have done (Gibbs 1988) After reflecting upon the experience with my mentor, I was able to realise that part of my role is to act as a representative for mental health. If this happened again what would I do (Gibbs 1988)? If staff were to make judgemental comments again it is part of my role to educate and inform them so they can have a positive understanding of the needs of the mental health patient and learn to address any judgemental comments made. This is a view supported by Johnstone (1997), who says that if we are made aware of our actions when we are judging and labelling people it is our responsibility to correct this. Medical staff need to be aware of mental health promotion, and need further training and education in respects of helping to care for and understand of this vulnerable patient group (Hawton 2000). This is a view supported by the Department of Health (DOH 1999a) who have recommended closer liaison between mental health and A & E services in an effort to address the poor understanding and negative attitudes of A & E staff. I have also learnt that I must look at both sides of each situation and should show more understanding towards the A & E staff’s feelings, as they are often confronted with shocking and distressing acts of self infliction which can make them feel despair, helpless and unskilled to deal with these sort of patient. I believe nurses negative attitudes develop because we all intuitively apply own our values and views to everyday situations, people, experiences and interactions. It may be the staff member’s own coping mechanism to keep their distance from the patient or to label them as attention seeking in order to make sense of the situation for themselves. This is a view supported by Johnstone (1997). In reflection, following the assessment and planning of care for Emma my mentor and I reflected upon the care I provided for her. I recognised that I felt nervous because it was my first experience of conducting an assessment. Having my mentor there to observe me made me feel secure because I trusted my mentor and could rely on her expertise to ensure that I provided safe practice for Emma. However, I still felt anxious as I was faced with an unknown situation. This made me realise how difficult and intimidating the assessment process may have felt to Emma. I had the security of feeling safe in the relationship with my mentor. Emma didn’t know either of us. This highlighted the huge value of the nurse-patient relationship and how the importance of utilising Rogers (1961) theory of client-centred care involving unconditional positive regard, warmth, genuineness and empathy towards patients. My mentor said that I provided evidence based care and I appeared to have a good humanistic approach, sensitively providing client centred care. She joked that I was so keen to ‘get it right’ that I was practically sat on Emma’s knee in my efforts to non-verbally show to Emma that I was attentive and listening to her. I think that whilst this was a joke, I will endeavour to continue to be keen but will relax a bit more, hopefully as I gain more experience myself. I will also use the insight and understanding from these experiences to benefit my future practise and the care I provide for patients. Boyd & Fales (1983) suggest, â€Å"Reflective learning is the process of internally examining an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self, and which results in a changed conceptual perspective.† Self-reflection helps the practitioner find practice-based answers to problems that require more than the application of theory (Schon 1983). I have discovered this to be true, especially in mental health nursing where problem solving may be in the realm of religious, spiritual or cultural beliefs, emotional or intuitive feelings, ethics and moral ideals, which sometimes cannot be theorised. With one patient I couldn’t understand his unwillingness to engage in therapy even though he turned up for a weekly appointment. Once I reflected on this with my mentor I realised that I was not considering his strict religious and cultural background, which complicated his care. I realised that I had been completely ignorant of his needs and had in-fact lacked self-awareness otherwise I would have recognised these issues sooner. According to Kemmis (1995) a benefit of self-reflection is that it helps practitioners become ‘aware of their unawareness’. I have learnt that there are barriers to reflection. On occasions after seeing a patient my mentor may interpret events in a slightly different way to myself. Newell (1992) and Jones (1995) criticize the idea of reflection arguing that it is a flawed process due to inaccurate recall memory and hindsight bias. Another criticism of refection is that it aims to theorise actions in hindsight therefore devaluing the skill of responding intuitively to a patient (Richardson 1995). I considered that my thought to hold Neil’s hand may have been intuitive but because we must use evidence based practice and appropriate frameworks of care, I theorised my care and utilised Heron’s (1975) framework. I believe self-reflection helps me to become self-aware. Self-awareness is achieved when the student acknowledges there own personal characteristics, including values, attitudes, prejudices, beliefs, assumptions, feelings, counter-transferences, personal motives and needs, competencies, skills and limitations. When they become aware of these things and the impact they have on the therapeutic communication and relationship with the patient then they become self-aware (Cook 1999). I have learnt through these experiences that reflection can be a painful experience as I have recognised my own imperfections and bias. I have felt angry with general nursing staffs attitudes towards mental health patients and have now been able to realise that this emotion is unhelpful and instead I should be more tolerant and understanding and help them to understand the patients needs. It is also difficult especially if one is experiencing strong emotions such as anger, frustration and grief (Rich 1995). At times I have over-identified with my patients and personalised their situation to similar situations of my own. This is known as counter-transference and has blinded my ability to address their care needs. Counter-transference is the healthcare professionals emotional reaction to the patient, it is constantly present in every interaction and it strongly influences the therapeutic relationship, but is often not reflected upon (Slipp 2000). Counter-transference can be defined as negative as it can create disruptive feelings in the clinician, causing misguided values and bias (Pearson 2001). I have learnt that it is crucial for me to consider how my reactions to a patient’s problem can impact on the care I provide. Whilst I endeavour to always give 100% best and unbiased care to each patient, I have realised I respond more favourably to patients that I like or identify with. For example I was extremely compassionate and biased towards both Emma and Neil and I feel that my personal life experiences influenced me because I could really empathise with them both. However, I realised that I am only human and that as long as I recognise the impact of counter-transference then I can use it positively as my self awareness of the fact that the process is occurring will enable me to address and challenge my own thoughts, feelings and responses. To conclude, I have been able to highlight my learning over the last two and a half years, both personally and professionally. This has enabled me to look at the areas that I am good at and the areas that I can improve on. I have been able to look at the quality of the care I have given patients and considered what I have achieved, how I felt, how I could have done things better, what was successful and unsuccessful, what issues influenced me and what understanding I had of the experience. I have also been able to recognise my role as a representative for mental health nursing and how I can promote it to other healthcare professionals. I have also identified the value of the role of my mentor in helping me to develop as a nurse. I will use the insight and understanding from these experiences to benefit my future practice and the care I provide for patients. ACTION PLAN Word Count 1086 What are my goals? My mentor and I discussed the areas that I want to improve on. We identified that my stronger points are common sense, logical approach and practical ability in terms of things like risk assessing and problem solving. I am also competent in the building of a therapeutic relationship, utilising a humanistic care philosophy, person centre approach, empathy, genuineness, unconditional positive regard and honest. I also have a good knowledge in respect of mental health promotion, anxiety management, basic counselling skills, understanding of the fundamentals associated with nursing, assessment and communication models and the basic principles of psychotherapy. I feel I have come a long way in two and a half years and have accomplished a lot. However, there are areas that I recognise that I can improve on and I am happy that I can address these as I hope this will improve my learning, skills and competency as a nurse in the future, providing better patient care. The areas I need to gain more knowledge and experience of include: understanding the religious, cultural and spiritual needs of the patient and how this impacts on their care and quality of life, recognising and working with counter transference and my tendency to feel the need to over protect patients as this does not help the patient to utilise choice, be responsible for themselves or empower themselves. I want to continue developing my own self awareness through self reflection. Finally I wish to develop my academic abilities and to train further so that I have more knowledge. Why have I chosen these issues? I have chosen to improve my knowledge and understanding of patients religious, cultural and spiritual needs and how this impacts on their care and quality of life, because by doing this I hope to be able to address their needs holistically. To successfully undertake a thorough assessment the healthcare practitioner needs to identify the holistic needs of the patient, failure to do so would neglect the patients physical, psycho-social and spiritual needs (Stuart and Sundeen 1997.) At present I feel I am unable to fully comprehend or provide best care as I feel I lack the skills and knowledge to do so. I also wish to further consider the impact of counter transference and my tendency to feel the need to over protect patients. I feel that if I gain more understanding and recognition of how counter-transference can change my reaction to a patient then I will be able to address it and have more control and choice over my nursing and my responses. In practice, I have experienced strong emotional reactions to some patient’s, perhaps because I could identify with some of their issues. However, this can result in my wanting to over protect them, which may disempower them, and this is unhelpful. Different characteristic in patients can influence the emotional reaction of the nurse (Holmquist 1998). I need to be able to recognise these characteristics in the patient and be self aware of the way I am responding. I want to continue developing my own self-awareness through self-reflection, as I will need to be able to exercise autonomous and expert judgement as a qualified nurse. The ability to use self-reflection as a learning tool to becoming self-aware will help me achieve this. This is a view supported by (Wong 1995). Boud, Keogh & Walker (1995) believe self reflection is an important human activity, essential for personal development as well as for the professional development of the nurse. By being able to mull over my experiences will help me challenge my beliefs and behaviour as an individual and a nurse. Finally I wish to develop my academic abilities and to train further so that I have more nursing knowledge. Experience alone is not the key to learning (Boud et al 1985). I wish to gain further qualifications so that I may further my career and knowledge, as this will provide a sense of achievement and fulfilment for me. How am I going to achieve my goals? I intend to develop my portfolio and keep an open reflective diary (Richardson 1995) to show evidence of my learning and prepare for my PREPP. Portfolios are seen as a collection of information and evidence used to summarize what has been learnt from prior experience and opportunities (Knapp 1975), and acknowledges professional and personal development, knowledge and competence, providing nurses with evidence of their eligibility for re-registration every three years (NMC 2002). I believe maintaining my portfolio helps with one’s self-assessment and will help me to develop my strengths, plus identify and critically evaluate my weaker areas, this is a view supported by Garside (1990). However in contrast Miller & Daloz (1989) suggest there is no evidence to suggest that self assessment contributes to enhance self awareness. A barrier to one’s ability to self-reflect may be time constraints and socio-economic factors such as high staff and management turnover, low staff morale and staff illness (Bailey 1995) I hope to overcome this by being a supportive team member to my colleagues and maintaining a positive mental attitude. I am happy to work on my portfolio and diary in my own time as I think it is a valuable learning tool. I will use my preceptorship, learning in practice, observation in practice and clinical supervision to help achieve my goals. Reflection on action is considered to be an essential part of clinical supervision (Scanlon & Weir 1997). I will continue to use Gibbs (1988) Reflective Model to help me develop my learning through reflection. I will need to feel confident that by sharing my portfolio, diary, reflection or seeking advice via preceptorship and supervision that this will not reflect negatively on me and effect my ability to feel able to trust my mentor. Students and staff sometimes feel unable to fully express themselves or belittled by the power relationship if supervision is not in a trusting relationship feeling it could be open to bias, personality clashes, counter-transference or could disadvantage them in terms of career development (Richardson 1995 Jones 2001). However, good clinical supervision enables nurses to feel better supported, contributing to safer and more effective nursing (Teasdale 2001, Jones A 2001). I hope to continue with life long learning and would like to be able to study for a degree in nursing. I shall do this by apply for funding once I am employed and hope that whoever my employers are they will support me in my goal to become better qualified. References Bailey J (1995) Reflective Practice, Implementing Theory, Nursing Standard, Vol 9 (46) 29-31 Baillie, L (1996) A Phenomenological Study Of The Nature Of Empathy, Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 24,6, 1300-1308 Beck A T (1986) Hopelessness As A Predictor OF Eventual Suicide, Annals Of The New York Academy Of Science, Vol 487, 90-96 Beech P, Norman I (1995) Patients’ Perceptions Of The Quality Of Psychiatric Nursing Care: Findings From A Small Scale Descriptive Study, Journal Of Clinical Nursing, 4, 117-123 Boud D, Keogh R, Walker D (1985) Reflection: Turning Experience Into Learning, London, Kogan Page, Boyd E M, Fales A W (1983) Reflective Learning: Key To Learning From Experience, Journal OF Humanistic Psychology Vol 23 (2) 99-117 Chambers M, Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing; Learning In The Clinical Environment , Cited in: Reynolds W, Cormack D (Eds) (1990) Psychiatric And Mental Health Nursing, London, Chapman and Hall Cohen G (1996) Age And Health Status In A Patient Satisfaction Survey, Social Science And Medicine, Vol 42 (7) 1085-1093 Cook S (1999) The Self In Self Awareness, Journal Of Advanced Nursing, Vol 29 (6) 1292-1299 Cormack DFS (1976) Psychiatric Nursing Observed: A Descriptive Study Of The Work Of The Charge Nurse In Acute Admission Wards Of Psychiatric Hospitals, London RCN Department Of Health (1999) The National Service Framework for Mental Health, London, HMSO Egan G (1994) The Skilled Helper Model, Skills & Methods For Effective Helping, Brooks/Cole Publishing, Pacific Groves, California. Garside G (1990) Personal Profiling, Nursing, Vol 4 (8) 9-11 Gibbs G (1988) Cited in, Palmer A, Burns S, Bulman C (1994) Eds, Reflective Practice In Nursing, London, Blackwell Science Hanson B (2000) Being With, Doing With: A Model Of The Nurse Client Relationship In Mental Health Nursing, Journal Of Psychiatric And Mental Health Nursing, 2000, 7, 417-423 Hargreaves I, (1975) The Nursing Process, Nursing Times, 71,35, 89-91 Hawton K (2000) General Hospital Management Of Suicide Attempters, The International Handbook Of Suicide And Attempted Suicide, Chicester, John Wiley & Sons Heron J (1975) Six Category Intervention Analysis, Guildford, Human Potential resource Group, University Of Surrey Hinchcliff S, Norman S, Schoeber J (1998) Nursing Practice And Healthcare, 3rd Edition, London, Arnold Holmquist R (1998) The Influence Of Patient Diagnosis And Self Image On Clinicians Feelings, The Journal Of Nervous And Mental Disease, Vol 186, (8) 455-461 Horsfall J (1997) Psychiatric Nursing: Epistemological Contradictions, Advances In Nursing Science, 20 (1) 56-65 Johnstone L (1997) Self Injury And The Psychiatric Response, Feminism And Psychology, Vol 7, 421-426 Jones P R (1995) Hindsight Bias In Reflective Practice: An Empirical Investigation, Journal Of Advanced Nursing, Vol 21, 783-788 Kemmis S (1985) Action Research And The Politics Of Reflection, In Edwards M (1996) Patient-Nurse Relationships: Using reflective Practice, Nursing Standard, Vol 10 (25) 40-43 Knapp J (1975) A Guide To Assessing Prior experience Through Portfolios, Education Testing Service, Cooperative Assessment Of Experiential Learning, Princeton, New Jersey Mcallister M (2001) Dissociative Identity Disorder And The Nurse Patient Relationship In The Acute Care Setting: An Action Research Project, Australian And New Zealand Journal Of Mental Health Nursing, Vol 10, 20-32 McLaughlin C (1999) An Exploration Of Psychiatric Nurses And Patients Opinions regarding In-Patient Care For Suicidal patients, Journal Of Advanced Nursing, Vol 29 (5) 1042-1051 The Mental Health Act, (1983) Department Of Health, London, HMSO Midence K, Gregory S, Stanley R (1996) The Effects Of Patient Suicide On Nursing Staff, Journal Of Clinical Nursing, Vol 5, 115-120 Miller M, Daloz L (1989) Assessment Of Prior Learning, Good Practices Assure Congruity Between Work And Education, Equity And Excellence, Vol 24 (3) 30-34 Nelson-Jones R, (1982) The Theory And Practice Of Counselling Psychology, London, Cassell Nettleton S (1995) The Sociology Of Health And Illness, Blackwell, Cambridge. Newell R (1992) Anxiety, Accuracy And Reflection; The Limits Of Professional Development, Journal Of Advanced Nursing, Vol 17, 1326-1333 Nursing and Midwifery Council (2002) Code Of Professional Conduct, London, NMC Pearson L (2001) The Clinician-Patient Experience: Understanding Transference And Counter-transference, The Nurse Practitioner, The American Journal Of Primary Health Care, Vol 26 (6) 2001 Peplau H (1988) Interpersonal Relations In Nursing, London, MacMillan Press Poole AD, Sanson-Fisher RW, Thompson V (1981) Observations On The Behaviour Of Patients In A State Mental Hospital And A General Hospital Psychiatric Unit: A Comparative Study, Behaviour Research And Therapy, 19, 125-134 Playle J (1995) Humanism And Positivism In Nursing; Contradictions And Conflicts, Journal Of Advance Nursing, 22, 979-984 Rich A (1995) Reflection And Critical Incident Analysis, Journal Of Advanced Nursing, Vol 22 (6) 1050-1057 Richardson R (1995) Humpty Dumpty- Reflection And Reflective Nursing Practice, Journal Of Advanced Nursing, Vol 21, 1044-1050 Robinson D (1996a) Measuring Psychiatric Nursing Interventions: How Much Care Is Individualised, Nursing Times Research, 1, 1, 13-21 Robinson D (1996b) Observing And Describing Nursing Interactions, Nursing Standard, 13, 8, 34-38 Rogers C (1961) On Becoming A Person, London, Constable Routasalo P (1999) Physical Touch In Nursing Studies: A Literature Review, Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 30, 4, 843-850 Savage J (1990) The Theory And Practice Of The New Nursing, Nursing Times Occasional Paper, 86, (4) 42-45 Scholes J (1996) Therapeutic Use Of Self: How The Critical care Nurse Uses Self To The Patients Therapeutic Benefit, Nursing In Critical Care, 1, 60-66 Schon D (1983) The Reflective Practitioner, London, Temple-Smith Scanlon C & Weir W S (1997) Learning From Practice? 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Free Essays on Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt Therapy When using Gestalt therapy, a therapist does not give any diagnosis of mental illnesses, rather the focus is on the here and now. While concentrating on the present, the focus for the client is on the disturbance of contact and the self. The Gestalten Contact Cycle consists of; fore contact, contact, final contact and post contact. Humans are living organisms that are figure, use ground and interact with their environment. If a person does not stay in connection with body and mind, it can cause many problems that lead to the disturbance of contact. The disturbance of contact is made up of: Introjects; what other people have said to us early in life that we have always carried with us, Projects; fantasy, or making up how people view us, Retroflection; is what we do against our self or stopping what you really want to say, this stops creativity, Confluence; unawareness of practicing sameness, not choosing for self, and healthy confluence which is knowing how to choose for the self. T he self is made up of the Ego function which is choosing what is best, Id function which is urges, needs, drives and impulses, and the Personality function which is how a person views him/her self. Gestalt therapy is designed for clients to lead their therapeutic process. The client must seek their own resolutions and get excited about their own life. A key concept of this therapy is to have the client take acceptance of responsibility act on unfinished business from the past and directly work with it now instead of just talking about it. The goal is to challenge the client to move from environment support to self-support and assist the client in gaining awareness of movement-to-movement experiences. With awareness, the client is able to gain power, understanding, and control of all parts of the self. The therapist assists the client in experiencing more fully all feelings and enables the client to make his or her own interpretati... Free Essays on Gestalt Therapy Free Essays on Gestalt Therapy Gestalt Therapy When using Gestalt therapy, a therapist does not give any diagnosis of mental illnesses, rather the focus is on the here and now. While concentrating on the present, the focus for the client is on the disturbance of contact and the self. The Gestalten Contact Cycle consists of; fore contact, contact, final contact and post contact. Humans are living organisms that are figure, use ground and interact with their environment. If a person does not stay in connection with body and mind, it can cause many problems that lead to the disturbance of contact. The disturbance of contact is made up of: Introjects; what other people have said to us early in life that we have always carried with us, Projects; fantasy, or making up how people view us, Retroflection; is what we do against our self or stopping what you really want to say, this stops creativity, Confluence; unawareness of practicing sameness, not choosing for self, and healthy confluence which is knowing how to choose for the self. T he self is made up of the Ego function which is choosing what is best, Id function which is urges, needs, drives and impulses, and the Personality function which is how a person views him/her self. Gestalt therapy is designed for clients to lead their therapeutic process. The client must seek their own resolutions and get excited about their own life. A key concept of this therapy is to have the client take acceptance of responsibility act on unfinished business from the past and directly work with it now instead of just talking about it. The goal is to challenge the client to move from environment support to self-support and assist the client in gaining awareness of movement-to-movement experiences. With awareness, the client is able to gain power, understanding, and control of all parts of the self. The therapist assists the client in experiencing more fully all feelings and enables the client to make his or her own interpretati...

hypokalemic periodic paralysis Essay Example

hypokalemic periodic paralysis Essay Example hypokalemic periodic paralysis Essay hypokalemic periodic paralysis Essay Hypokalemic periodic paralysis is a rare, autosomal dominant channelopathy characterized by muscle weakness or paralysis with a matching fall in potassium levels in the blood (primarily due to defect in a voltage-gated calcium channel). In individuals with this mutation, attacks often begin in adolescence and are triggered by strenuous exercise followed by rest, high carbohydrate meals, meals with high sodium content, sudden changes in temperature, and even excitement, noise or flashing lights. Weakness may be mild and limited to certain muscle groups, or more evere full body paralysis. Attacks may last for a few hours or persist for several days. Recovery is usually sudden when it occurs, due to release of potassium from swollen muscles as they recover. Some patients may fall into an abortive attack or develop chronic muscle weakness later in life. Some people only develop symptoms of periodic paralysis due to hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid). This entity is distinguished with thyroid function tests, and the diagnosis is instead called thyrotoxic periodic paralysis. [l] Patients often report years wasted with wrong iagnosis, wrong treatments, deadends and multiple doctors, test and clinics. The CMAP (Compound Muscle Amplitude Potential) test, also called the exercise EMG or X- EMG, is diagnostic in 70-80% of cases when done correctly. Besides the patient history or a report of serum potassium low normal or low during an attack, the CMAP is the current standard for medical testing. Genetic diagnosis is often unreliable as only a few of the more common gene locations are tested, but even with more extensive testing 20-37% of people with a clinical diagnosis of hypokalemic periodic aralysis have no known mutation in the two known genes. 2] Standard EMG testing cannot diagnose a patient unless they are in a full blown attack at the time of testing. Provoking an attack with exercise and diet then trying oral potassium can be diagnostic, but also dangerous as this form of PP has an alternate form known as hyperkalemic periodic paralysis. The symptoms are almost the same, but the treatment is different. The old glucose insulin challenge is dangerous and risky to the point of b eing life threatening and should never be done when other options are so eadily available[citation needed]. People with hypokalemic periodic paralysis are aften misdiagnosed as having a conversion disorder or hysterical paralysis since the weakenss is muscle based and doesnt correspond to nerve or spinal root distributions. The tendency of people with hypokalemic periodic paralysis to get paralyzed when epinephrine is released in fight or flight situations further adds to the temptation to dismiss the disorder as psychiatric. [3] hypokalemic periodic paralysis By Jian-Portacion

How to Choose the Right College Major

How to Choose the Right College Major A college major is the main subject that a student studies while attending a college, university, or another academic institution. Examples of popular business majors include advertising, business administration, and finance. Many students begin their college education without a clear idea of what their major will be. Others know from an early age exactly where theyre going and what they have to study to get there. Most people fall somewhere in between; they have a general idea of what they want to study, but are considering other things. Why Choose? Choosing a major doesnt necessarily mean you’ll be stuck doing that particular thing for the rest of your life. Many students switch majors during their college careersome do it quite often. Choosing a major is important because it gives you a direction to aim for and determines what classes will be taken to earn a degree. When to Declare a Major If you’re going to a two-year school, you will probably need to declare a major soon after enrolling because of the short duration of the educational process. Many online schools will often make you choose a major as well. However, if you’re entering a four-year school, you are sometimes not required to declare a major until the end of your second year. Read more about how and when to declare a major. What to Choose The obvious choice for a major is an area you enjoy and are good at. Remember, your career choice will most likely be reflected in your choice of a major, so the majority of your classes will revolve around that area of study. In choosing a career, it would be best to pick something that appeals to you now and will provide you with job prospects in the future.   How to Choose The most important thing to consider when choosing a college major is what you want to do with the rest of your life. If you choose a major that doesnt particularly interest you merely because a job in that field pays well, you could end up with a few bucks in the bank, but be extremely unhappy. Instead, you would do well to pick a major based on your interests and personality. Dont shy away from the hardest college majors if those fields interest you. If you enjoy them, you are more likely to succeed. For instance, if you’re not a people person you probably shouldnt consider a career in human resources. People who don’t like math or numbers shouldnt choose a career in accounting or finance. College Major Quiz If you’re unsure of what major to choose, it may benefit you to take a college assessment quiz to help you pinpoint a college major based on your personality. A quiz of this type isnt infallible but it can give you a general idea of what majors might suit you. Ask Your Peers Consult with the people who know you best. Your family and fellow students may be able to help you decide upon a major. Ask your peers for their advice. They may have an idea or point of view that you haven’t considered. Keep in mind that anything they say is just a suggestion. You dont have to heed their advice; you’re simply asking for an opinion. When You Cant Decide Some students find that they are torn between two career paths. In these cases, a double major may be appealing. Double majors allow you to study two things at once, such as business and law, and graduate with more than one degree. Majoring in more than one area can be beneficial, but it can also be difficultpersonally, financially, and academically. Consider it carefully before taking this path. And remember, you shouldnt be disheartened because you don’t know what direction you want your life to take. Many people don’t choose a major until they absolutely have to, and even then, change majors at least once.

Innovation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Innovation - Essay Example However, with the increased information technology, there emerged rivals into the DRAMs market that started to compete with Intel Company such as Japan. This brought about the decrease in the company’s sales as there were different choices of products where the customers would choose from (Aid, 2012). This resulted in a loss for the company’s accounts as it had ventured a lot of funds into the DRAMs project. Some of the companies had a much more advanced technology in the manufacturing of DRAMs such as the ones that were used by the Japanese. The Japanese had links with the various raw materials, as well as labor suppliers. Skilled labor was readily available for the Japanese thus making great inventions into the DRAMs market. Through the availability of effective machinery in the Japanese’s industries, they were able to effectively assemble DRAMs that were of a higher quality compared to the ones that Intel was assembling. However, some companies such as Nikon helped in the advancement of the DRAMs thus beating Intel Company out of the market. Financial institutions in Japanese provided low interest charges on loans to the investors. This lead to the motivation of the entrepreneurs who had an eye in the assembling of the DRAMs thus resulting in increased variety of the products. With the continuously improving technology, the firms with the adequate and modernized machinery were the only ones that had a competitive advantage in the DRAMs market. This resulted to the decline of most of the firms that were technologically poor as their products did not meet the expectations of the clients (Aid, 2012). The company’s success can be attributed to its uniqueness in the undertakings in the micro-processor market. The company was strategically positioned in regard to successfully having an exploration of the microprocessor venture through technological designs. This favored the markets of the processors

High Aspect Ratio Photolithography for MEMS Application Article

High Aspect Ratio Photolithography for MEMS Application - Article Example Review There are several methods that have been used in photolithography and fabrication of molds for use in metal microstructures. LIGA is one of the most common methods that have been previously used for this purpose; this approach has some advantages in that it can be used with tall microstructures that ranged from 100Â µm to 1mm. The effectiveness of this method is that it has no effect on the lateral dimensional accuracy of the long microstructures making it a versatile method, and this explains why it is popular among other photolithographic methods. The limitation of this method is that fabrication of LIGA involves a considerably high cost, and lack of an x-ray synchronized source that would give hard x-rays of high intensity and with low divergent properties. Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) s another method that involves polyamide, which is sued to fabricate low cost high aspect ratio structures as compared to LIGA above. With this process, a thickness of 100Â µm is achieved wit h the aspect ratio being 10. The limitation of this process is the tediousness of modifying the RIE machine. In addition to these approaches, there are several other methods that have been used for this purpose and include the high aspect commercial photolithography with photoresists and a UV light source, and the use of a photosensitive polyamide with a UV exposure in fabricating metal molds. The research by Miyajima & Mehregany (1995) involved integrating the above methods in previous studies, and solving the limitations of the studies to achieve low cost high-aspect-ration structures in photolithography. To achieve this, commercially available positive photoresists and UV exposure increasing molds were used together with electroless nickel plating. In the research, a 2-3Â µm line width was maintained and increasing the photoresists thickness, that the above LIGA approach in photolithography lacked. The research used electrostatic actuator micro machined at 1.5Â µ active gaps wi th a polysilicon of up to 5Â µm. The difference in this approach was that instead of increasing the gap height, the gap side was increased. This resulted to reduced use of high aspect ratio structures due to reduced force/torque. This is the main difference comparing this approach and the previous approaches in photolithography. Coating speed was very important in the cause of this research. A lower speed of 1000 rpm portrayed rough surfaces in the photoresists and mask-wafer spacing was small to result to a high resolution pattern. The optimum speed for high resolution was set at 2000rpm and a uniform coating, thickness and a smooth final surface was achieved after the final layer. The prebake temperatures were essential in that an extended prebake time resulted to high-resolution with diluted developer and standard exposure. The prebake temperature ranged between 95 and105 oC, with the optimum temperature being set at 100oC. After each layer, prebake was done at the same temperat ure to enhance drying. This was because, prebake after applying the second layer was observed to result to cracking mainly due to uneven heating in the two layers that resulted to stresses, and eventually cracking. The optimum prebake temperature of 100oC at 30 min was selected as the optimum prebake conditions after each layer. This time was important in that a short prebake time could have resulted to defects caused by the remaining solvent in the photoresis

Aristotle Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Aristotle - Assignment Example Nicomachean ethics derives its name from Aristotle’s son, Nicomachus, for whom the books were dedicated. The central point in Nicomachean ethics is the question of the nature of a good life and how best man ought to live a good life on earth (Kraut, 2006). Aristotle’s answer to this was very fundamental in the development of virtue ethics in modern day philosophy. Nicomachean ethics begins by reflecting on whether there is an ultimate goal that all human life aims at. This goal is the ultimate good that all men hope to enjoy in their lifetime. According to Aristotle, such a goal must be complete, self sufficient, final and continuous. Aristotle concluded that the ultimate good upon which all human life should be based in happiness. The main objective of Aristotelian ethics is to find out how best one can achieve happiness. Human beings can achieve happiness when they live a virtuous lifestyle. Aristotle defines virtue as a disposition for one to act in the right way for the right reasons and derive happiness from acting rightly. Virtue is a mean between deficiency and excesses in ones actions. Actions must also be done voluntarily in order for them to be judged to be either good or bad actions. Virtue must emanate from an individual’s conscious choice and must have a purpose. In Nicomachean ethics, Aristotle discusses various virtues including courage, justice, temperance, patience and moderation (Kraut, 2006). Nicomachean ethics discusses various themes such as virtue and happiness, moral education, friendship, and the doctrine of the mean (May, 2010). These themes are spread across all the ten books that make up Nicomachean ethics. Virtue and happiness form the largest part of the discussion on ethics. Virtue leads to attainment of the ultimate goodness of human life, happiness (May, 2010). Another important part of Aristotle’s ethics is moral

War & Medicine and Neuroscience & War (This is not a official title, Essay

War & Medicine and Neuroscience & War (This is not a official title, you can make one) - Essay Example First, it is apparent that the combat mortality rates of the American military have remained constant at 20% as at the Vietnam War. This is despite improvements in antibiotics, hospital facilities in theater, the advent of blood transfusions and preventative health methods such as improved nutrition. The one exception evident in the war has been the reduction in death in military combatants due to infectious illnesses and diseases. The reduction has been because of the introduction of the prophylactic use of antibiotics, improvement in sanitary conditions and hygiene (Wiesmann et al, 227). The high rate of development in weapons posses an equal challenge to come up with life-saving skills in the battlefield. Research, on the other hand, has proved that battlefield medical care of the future will evolve rapidly to obtain the capability to quickly diagnose the severity and nature of the battle injury. The American military has gone a step ahead in implementing a R&D investment in medicine. The R&D investment involves preventative vaccine development, infectious disease research, protective gear and the point-of-care devises. It is apparent that military medical requirements lead to the development of practical medical devices that support military missions. The advances end up being applied in the civilian healthcare in the cases of civilian trauma incidence. Military has been proven to be the first in the use of healthcare technology. Statistics has shown that 3 to 5 percent of the mainstream medicine is derived from warfare (Wiesmann et al, 230). Military has improved healthcare in various ways. One is from the American Revolution where the first command ordered immunization program for the inoculation of smallpox. Also, a three-tiered evacuation system was developed due to the increasing number of the wounded in the battlefield. First was an Aid station that was located next to the battlefield.

Place Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Place - Research Paper Example The reforms were used to make up the centralized the cultural and religious authority and power of the kingdom it helped in the assimilation of the local region in the through education. The most recent reform in the 29th century is the strategy to have the decentralization of the education. Movements that feel the change is detrimental to the heritage of the civil society countered them. At the start of the 1990s, there were quite a few examinations of democratization in Southeast Asia, where the observers argued that democratization in Southeast Asia was related to internal factors. These factors include the rapid change in the financial system, the cohesion or factionalization of dictatorial rulers, the sensitivity of the authenticity of administration, the size and approach of the middle classes, and inclination in civil culture. By distinction, recent educational analyses have accented the importance of peripheral factors on democratization and opinionated change in the Southeast Asian countries. Others have argued that internal forces, which press for democratization in the Southeast Asian countries habitually, gain power from external constituents, chiefly from the spread of democratic standards within the context of globalization. During the decade of the 1990s, Thailand went from the silent nation into a more exposed to international events nation. Naturally, Thailand was previously an open economy, and had received two previous influences of globalization. The initial beginning was in the late nineteenth century, which was the development of the rice market, and the subsequent in the late 1950s where the countrys initiation under the United States Cold War approach and fiscal support. However, most analysts agree that globalization in the 1990s has had a superior concentration. This was most obvious during the 1997--98 lucrative crisis whose descents lay in the nations economic freedom and better publicity to unconventional intercontinental

War & Medicine and Neuroscience & War (This is not a official title, Essay

War & Medicine and Neuroscience & War (This is not a official title, you can make one) - Essay Example First, it is apparent that the combat mortality rates of the American military have remained constant at 20% as at the Vietnam War. This is despite improvements in antibiotics, hospital facilities in theater, the advent of blood transfusions and preventative health methods such as improved nutrition. The one exception evident in the war has been the reduction in death in military combatants due to infectious illnesses and diseases. The reduction has been because of the introduction of the prophylactic use of antibiotics, improvement in sanitary conditions and hygiene (Wiesmann et al, 227). The high rate of development in weapons posses an equal challenge to come up with life-saving skills in the battlefield. Research, on the other hand, has proved that battlefield medical care of the future will evolve rapidly to obtain the capability to quickly diagnose the severity and nature of the battle injury. The American military has gone a step ahead in implementing a R&D investment in medicine. The R&D investment involves preventative vaccine development, infectious disease research, protective gear and the point-of-care devises. It is apparent that military medical requirements lead to the development of practical medical devices that support military missions. The advances end up being applied in the civilian healthcare in the cases of civilian trauma incidence. Military has been proven to be the first in the use of healthcare technology. Statistics has shown that 3 to 5 percent of the mainstream medicine is derived from warfare (Wiesmann et al, 230). Military has improved healthcare in various ways. One is from the American Revolution where the first command ordered immunization program for the inoculation of smallpox. Also, a three-tiered evacuation system was developed due to the increasing number of the wounded in the battlefield. First was an Aid station that was located next to the battlefield.

ANSWER POST Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

ANSWER POST - Essay Example In this regard, I think this is a good way of thinking, but based on the fact that the Indian tribes had their tribal courts, I believe that Native Americans should also have their own courts although they may be in conflict with the traditional American system. The author of this post suggests that because the American Criminal Justice system is applied widely across the country, it becomes a touchy issue to establish Native American court. However, the author believes that it is the right of Native Americans to have their own tribal court system, although it may make it more difficult for the American justice system. The author also backs his claim by using a quote from NADCP that there are conflicting values in America which we should all be aware of. I agree with the author that the differences between different communities indicate some level of maturity. In this regard, operating tribal court systems alongside the American justice system despite their conflicts shows some maturity in terms of appreciating American diversities (Nielsen & Silverman, 2009). This post makes me to understand that we all have our rights to uphold our traditions, and tribal courts are the best courts to uphold such

Jaws Essay Example for Free

Jaws Essay Paragraph 1 Introduction: What is the film called: Jaws Who directed it: Steven Speilbeig What is it about: It is about a shark attack Where is it, when is it set: Amity Island New England, 4th July Why is it set 4th July: It is set on the 4th of July because on that date most Americans gather around and spend time with their famlies and go out to the beach will close then families cant go to the beach. Paragraph 2 Music: Describe how the shark is connected to the music in the title sequence: You can almost visualize the deadly shark coming closer and closer as you hear the drum beating in the background getting faster and faster, louder and louder beating like a steadily-rising heart rate; ready to attack his prey. Give two other examples of how the music or silence is used to scare the audience or build tension: When the loud music plays it get exciting, but before the music start to being fast and loud its very low making it not as exciting but tension building, so the tension and excitment is good, and as it builds up get faster and faster the audience knows that something is going to happen gives it a dramtic effect. Paragraph 3 Camera techniques: Describe the second attack in detail and say how the camera was used to help build up tension and scare the audience:The second attack is when all the children are playing on the sea whilst there parents watch, sunbathing, on the beach and Brody is doing his job sat looking out for anything suspicious because of the previous attack. The shark then attacks the young boy. The camera angles build up tension because it goes beneath the water and makes it seem like its from the sharks point of view and when it was attacking it went from a distance so you could see all the peoples faces and just how exactly he was attacked.

Link between Household Debt and Savings

Link between Household Debt and Savings Many analysts and business executives are becoming apprehensive with the recent rises in the consumer debt burden, defined as the level of consumer debt relative to ability to repay which may predict an economic growth slowdown. A higher debt reduces the credit worthiness of households who would then experience financial anguish caused by unfavourable economic shock, such as the loss of a job or large uninsured medical expenses. In the event of this situation, they would be less disposed to spend on consumer goods, particularly big ticket items such as automobiles and home computers. Consequently, the reduction in consumer spending would hurt economic growth as firms cut back on the production of consumer goods and laid off workers. Households have spent in excess of income, in part because increased house prices have led to increased household wealth. The rise in house prices reflects an adjustment to sustained low inflation and interest rates, among other factors. However, activity in the housing market cannot be sustained at the pace seen in recent years. As the housing market cools, growth in consumer spending should ease and household saving rise, resulting in a tendency for the current account deficit to fall, everything else equal. The increase in household debt also partly reflects the removal of government controls of the financial system over the past two decades. Based on the results of empirical works of many authors, most studies favour the hypothesis that the causality is from economic growth rate to growth rate of savings. Based on the empirical results, the main conclusion of this study is that income class of a country does play an important role in determining the direction of causality. A rising consumer debt burden also might predict future activities in broad methods of economic activity, such as real gross domestic product. A decline in consumer spending on durable goods would lower real GDP growth because such spending is a large constituent of real GDP. 1.2 Objectives and Organisation of the dissertation Many tests have been carried out by many authors throughout the world to see if there is a link between household debt, household savings and economic growth and hence, analyse its impact on the discussed variables. A panel cross country analysis has been carried out on 25 countries to determine how household savings and debt may act as a deterrent for economic growth. Chapter 2 reviews the literature and empirical evidence pertaining to the works of various authors concerning economic growth, household debt and household savings. The next chapter deals with the review of variables of interest to us, which will be used in the empirical testing part, hence, the household savings as a proportion of disposable income, household debt as a proportion of GDP per capita, growth rate of Real GDP per capita, consumption share of GDP per capita, price level of GDP, investment share of GDP per capita, interest on savings will be scrutinized in the chapter. In Chapter 4, the Haussman tests have been mostly used to predict the impact of these independent and exogenous variables on the dependent variable of economic growth. Finally in Chapter 5, we conclude on the subject and make some policy recommendation and alongside cite some limitations of the work carried out. 2.1 THEORETICAL LITERATURE When there is a positive change in the level of production of a countrys goods and services over a certain point in time, it is referred to as economic growth. It is also influenced by many factors but one of the pinnacles of economic history is the impact household saving and debt has on economic growth. Most working papers and journal articles on cross countries studies assume a positive relationship between household saving and economic growth and an adverse relationship between consumer debt and economic growth. The difference between a households disposable incomes (primarily wages obtained, proceeds of the self-employed and net property returns) and its consumption (spending on products) is known as household saving. When the household saving is divided by household disposable income, the household savings rate is computed. When a household uses more than it obtains as expected income and funds some of the spending through credit (growing debt), through returns coming from the sale of resources, or by making cash and deposits, there is usually a negative savings rate. These discrepancies are fairly due to institutional distinctions between countries. These include the degree to which old-age pensions are financed by government rather than through personal savings, and the level to which governments offer insurance against sickness and unemployment. The age composition of the population is also significant, as the elderly tend to run down financial assets obtained during their working life. This implies that a country with an ageing population will generally have a low household saving rate. The conformist view is that savings contribute to higher investment and hence higher GDP growth in the short run (Bacha, 1990; DeGregorio, 1992; Jappelli and Pagano,1994). The central idea of Lewiss (1955) traditional development theory was that increasing savings would accelerate growth. Kaldor (1956) and Samuelson and Modigliani (1966) studied how different savings behaviors induced growth. On the other hand, many recent studies have concluded that economic growth contributes to savings (Sinha and Sinha, 1998; Salz, 1999;Anoruo and Ahmad, 2001). Over the last 10-15 years, household saving rates have increased in Austria, Germany and Sweden and remained stable in Belgium, France and Switzerland. A downward trend over the same period has occurred in Canada, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland and the United States. (OECD (2010), National Accounts of OECD Countries, OECD, Paris) The main factors contributing to differences among countries are listed below: The income effect: in general higher income leads to a higher saving rate; The wealth effect: profits or losses on financial and non-financial assets and liabilities affect built up wealth, and thus probably expenditure, but not on income. Higher wealth may then lower the saving rate; Credit facilities: in countries (e.g. UK and US) where consumption credit was easier to finance, saving rates may be comparatively lower; Institutional factors such as differences in social security schemes, especially pension schemes and the tax system; The proportion of own-account entrepreneurs and small unincorporated enterprises, within the household sector, because producers may have a different saving behaviour; Households expectations as regards the future economic situation; Cultural and social factors. Hondroyiannis (2004) analyses the long term and short term causal factors of aggregate private savings in Greece using data for the time frame of 1961-2000. By considering the financial and demographic advances during this phase, the long run savings utility which is susceptible to real interest rate, public funds, liquidity, old dependency ratio and fertility changes, is approximated on the foundation of an absolute life-cycle hypothesis. The significance of short-run divergences is obtained using vector error-correction model estimation. The empirical evidence proposes the continuation of a stable long-run savings function in Greece both in the long- and short-run periods and the policy inferences of such an association are accessible. According to Barba and Pivetti (2008), rising household debt in USA made low wages and increasing aggregate demand to arise simultaneously. In the USA, according to the figures of the Federal Reserve Board, consumer credit outstanding reached 25% of disposable personal income (DPI) in 2006. This was the peak of an upward trend that has characterised the period since the first half of the 1980s, following 15 years during which the consumer credit-income ratio averaged around 18%. Increasing household debt in developed countries like USA has been mostly due to the noticeable fall in household savings and this had an adverse effect on economic growth. Salotti (2009) claims that the current account is inclined by changes in US private savings which aid to generate and maintain world imbalances. A panel of 18 developed countries for the time dimension of 1980-2005 is used to check this claim by examining the components of total household savings. They merge two lines of literature: the first line from consumer theory, bearing in mind particularly the `wealth effect, the second line from aggregate private savings theory. Unit root and cointegration tests are performed to evaluate the most suited method for estimation of the long run savings function and to derive the cointegrating relationship. The group means FMOLS is exercised to approximate the model. The empirical evidence goes in line with the theory where a rise in wealth should adversely affect the household savings. In addition, when significant descriptive variables, such as national savings and populace dependence ratios, are incorporated in the model, material wealth becom es the only type of wealth to (inadequately and negatively) control household savings in developed countries. Howitt, Agnion, Comin and Tecu (2009) wanted to test if a country can grow more rapidly by saving further as they believe that household saving is of deep concern as it allows entrepreneurs to undertake their business and also reducing the agency cost that usually acts a hindrance for foreign investors. Since domestic saving counts for improvement, and consequently growth, it thus allows the home industrialist to put equity into this joint enterprise, which reduces an organization setback that would else discourage the foreign shareholder from contributing. In rich countries, domestic entrepreneurs are already known with limit know-how and consequently do not need to draw foreign outlay for investment, so domestic saving is not important for growth. The higher the household savings and the lower the household debt a country has, the more economic growth it can at least forecast to make. The finding is based on a cross-country non-overlapping panel over the period from 1960 to 2000. T hey use a sample of 118 countries, all those for which there exists data on per-worker GDP and on the saving rate. The cross-country regression shows that lagged savings is positively related with productivity growth in poor countries but not in rich countries. 2.0 EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE Empirical evidence deals mainly with the previous works of various authors all around the world. There have been many works carried out by different authors and they reached certain conclusions which may be further developed and their results vary among the countries. The first case considered is on the United States of America (USA) and then they further scrutinise what happened in the developed and emerging countries. 2.1 STUDIES ON THE USA As noted in Thomas and Towe (1996), research into household saving/consumption behaviour in recent years has inclined to centre on probing for long-run relationships between saving (or consumption) and selected macroeconomic variables. In large part, this shows the fact that the data involved have been found to be non-stationary. This implies that conventional statistical methods cannot be used to test relationships between movements in the savings rate and other (non stationary) macro variables. This approach also implies that short-run movements in the savings rate may be driven by deviations from the long-run relationship between saving and its fundamental determinants. Callen and Thimann (1997) studied the empirical determinants of household saving in USA using cross sectional and panel data from 21 OECD countries for 1975-95.) They find that household saving fell from 13% during 1975-81 to only 11% in 1982-89 but it has then stayed stable in general. Variables that capture the structure of the tax system and the financing and generosity of the social security and welfare system are added to the set of potential explanatory variables. The results indicate that there is an central role for public and corporate saving, growth, and demographics in controlling household saving, while some role is also established for inflation, unemployment, the real interest rate, and financial deregulation. The results also propose that the tax and the social security and welfare systems have an important impact on household saving. Bà ©rubà © and Cà ´tà © (2000) examine the structural factors of the household savings rate in Canada over the previous 30 years, using co integration techniques. The main result is that the real interest rate, expected inà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ation, the ratio of the all-government à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ scal balances to nominal GDP, and the ratio of household net worth to personal disposable income are the most significant causal factors of the trend in the personal savings rate, as calculated in the National Income and Expenditure Accounts (NIEA). The outcomes also recommend that the fast fall in the NIEA personal savings rate in current years mainly shows a change in the trend constituent of the savings rate, rather than a temporary different approach from the trend. Tipett (2010) uses many methodological approaches and draws on longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and also uses multilevel logistic regressions to investigate the relationship between the hypothesized mechanisms and the probability of holding non-collateralized debt. Analysis of Survey of Consumer Finance data shows that the amount of household debt increased faster than household asset increases (see also Bucks, Kennickell, Moore, Fries, and Neal 2006; Kennickell 2009), and Keister (2000) shows that overall wealth has been growing at the same time that the percentage of households with zero or negative net worth has also been rising. 2.2 STUDIES ON DEVELOPED ECONOMIES Carroll and Weil (1994) present Granger-causality tests for 38 countries for which they have fine data, and show that increases in growth radically head increases in saving. Dekle (1993) presents comparable Granger causality regressions for a group of fast-growing countries and finds that growth positively Granger-causes saving in every country in his sample. Edwards (1995) looked at data from a panel of 36 countries over the period 1970-92. Using lagged population growth, openness, political instability, and other lagged variables as instruments, he concludes that the rate of output growth has an important, positive effect on saving. Andersson (1999) believes that the worldly interdependence between saving and output has been measured in recent empirical studies which obliged some authors to question the conventional idea of a causal chain where saving precedes growth via capital accumulation. As divergent to the previous studies, which have mostly used panel-estimation processes, the tests of causal chains are performed in time-series sets. Saving and GDP are approximated in bivariate vector autoregressive or vector error-correction models for Sweden, UK, and USA, and tests of Granger non-causality are executed within the estimated systems. The core results shows that the causal chains linking saving and output vary across countries, and also that causality linked with amendments to long-run dealings might go in diverse directions than causality associated with short-term instabilities. Jappelli and Padula (2007) reconsidered savings inclinations in Italy, summarizing existing empirical evidence on Italians motives to save, relying on macroeconomic indicators as well as on data drawn from the Bank of Italys Survey of Household Income and Wealth from 1984 to 2004. The macroeconomic data indicate that households saving has fallen considerably, although Italy continues to class above most other countries in terms of saving. The microeconomic data show a strong correlation between the propensity to save and the level of current income, as well as a strong correlation between income and indebtedness. International panel data put forward that saving is robustly linked with the growth rate of income, and that saving changes parallel growth change, as shown by Attanasio, Picci and Scorcu (2000) using the 150 countries of the World Bank Saving Database. 2.3 STUDIES ON EMERGING MARKETS Emerging markets are economies which are currently in the process of fast growth and industrialisation. There are at present 28 emerging markets in the world with the economies of China and India being considered certainly as the two largest. New conditions were surfaced in recent years to portray the largest developing countries such as  BRIC  standing for  Brazil,  Russia,  India, and China. The relationship between savings and economic growth has received increased notice in recent years especially in developed and emerging economies [see Bacha (1990), DeGregorio (1992), Levine and Renelt (1992), and Jappelli and Pagano (1994)]. This might not be distinct to the central foundation of Lewiss (1955) traditional development theory that increasing savings would accelerate economic growth. Research efforts by Kaldor (1956) and Samuelson and Modigliani (1966) examined how different savings behaviours would induce economic growth. Caroll and Weil (1994) used five year averages of the economic growth rate and savings for OECD countries and found that economic growth Granger caused savings. However, the reverse was obtained when dummies were included in their estimation. Using Granger causality tests, findings by Sinha and Sinha (1998) and Sinha (1999) found that economic growth rate Granger caused the savings growth rate for Mexico and Sri Lanka respectively. Jappelli, Tullio and Marco Pagano (1994) test whether the measures of liquidity constraints help to explain the international differences in national saving rates, as forecasted by their model. They also test an outcome of that model, namely that the effect of growth on saving is greater where liquidity constraints are more determined. The data cover a panel of 19 countries (all the main OECD countries are included) and are drawn from Modigliani [1990]. Observations are averages of annual data for three periods: 1960-1970, 1971-1980, and 1981-1987). Findings show that the two variables are negatively linked (the correlation coefficient for the entire sample is -0.55). They have empirically measured the soundness of three propositions, namely that liquidity constraints on households raise the saving rate, strengthen the effect of growth on saving, and promote productivity growth in models in which growth is endogenous. Using cross section data between 1960 and 1997 and Granger causality methodology, Anoruo and Ahmadi (2001) observed the causal relationships between the growth rate of domestic savings and economic growth for seven African countries -namely Congo, Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia. Their studies established that savings are co-integrated in all of the countries except for Nigeria and that economic growth Granger-causes the growth rate of domestic savings for all the countries considered except Congo where reverse causality was obtained. Matos (2002) used among other parameters, the ratio of residents funds deposited in the financial system to aggregate monetary asset M2 (1947-2000) as a proxy of financial development, empirical tests support the view that it is vital to maintain the publics confidence in domestic financial assets to improve GDP growth prospects. This ratio may reflect an intangible asset of the financial intermediaries, i.e. the general publics confidence that contracts between customers. Kwack and Lee (2005) investigate the extent to which income growth and uncertainty and demographic factors affect the domestic real saving rate in Korea. They test an extended life cycle hypothesis and demography hypothesis with Korean time series data from 1975 to 2002. The results of the tests show that the aggregate saving rate is positively affected by the moving average of the growth rate of income and the variance of the income growth. The positive effect of the income growth differs from the negative effect found household survey data were used. Adebiyi (2005) employed quarterly data spanning between 1970 and 1998 to examine savings and growth relationships in Nigeria using Granger causality tests and impulse response analysis and concluded that growth, using per capital income, is sensitive to, and has an inverse effect on savings. Mohan (2008) believes that household savings in India has contributed significantly to its economic growth which recorded a steady rise over the last decades. Mohan found some empirical relations whereby in the argument that high levels of debt-GDP lead to high interest payments relative to GDP, which crowd out government capital expenditure and reduce the overall saving rate, two relationships are of critical importance: the responsiveness of changes in the saving ratio with respect to changes in the fiscal deficit levels; and the responsiveness of government capital expenditure to changes in the level of interest payments. Mohan (2006) experienced the path of causality between economic growth and savings in different economic income classes. The ADF test indicates that both log GDP and log GDS have unit roots in the level data. In the presence of unit roots, the variables need to be differenced in order for the series to be stationary. Without differencing the data, a causality tes t would lead to misspecification. To examine the direction of causality between saving and economic growth in Nigeria during the time frame 1970-2007, Oladipo ( 2009) used the Toda and Yamamoto (1995) and Dolado and Lutkepohl (1996) TYDL methodology. The variables of interest for savings and economic growth are positively co-integrated indicating that there exists a steady long run equilibrium relationship. Furthermore, the findings also revealed a unidirectional causality between savings and economic growth and thus the corresponding role of FDI in growth. In order to establish the link between economic growth and saving in Nigeria during the time frame of 1970-2007, Abu (2010) used the Granger-causality and co-integration techniques. There exists co-integration and long-run equilibrium between the variables savings and economic growth according to the Johansen co-integration test. There is also the causality runs from economic growth to saving, implying that growth triggers and Granger produces saving. Hence, the Solows hypothesis that saving leads to economic growth, and recognize the Keynesian theory that it is economic growth that leads to higher saving, is discarded. CHAPTER 3-DATA ANALYSIS 3.1 Sources of data The economic growth rate, household debt and household saving rate, price level are available on the Global Finance website. The interest on savings, consumption and investment are available on the Nationsmasters website, the World Bank website and the Penn World Table website. 3.2 The Econometric Model In this section, a model is developed to measure the impact of household debt and household saving among other factors, on economic growth. The model for growth for country i in time t is as follows: EGit= ÃŽÂ ± +ÃŽÂ ²1 HDit + ÃŽÂ ²2 HSit + ÃŽÂ ²3 Rit + ÃŽÂ ²4 Pit + ÃŽÂ ²5 Cit+ ÃŽÂ ²6 Iit + Uit Where EGit= Growth Rate of Real GDP per capita at constant prices HDit = Household Debt as a % of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) HSit= Household Savings as a % of Disposable Income Rit = Interest on Savings Pit= Price Level of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Cit= Consumption Share of CGPD (GDP PER CAPITA) Iit= Investment Share of CGDP (GDP PER CAPITA) Uit = the disturbance term 3.3 Economic Growth When per capita GDP or any other means of calculating total income rises, economic growth arises and this is usually registered as the yearly rate of change in GDP. Economic growth results from advances in productivity in terms of more production of goods and services with the same factors of production. The dependent variable economic growth is measured by real GDP per capita. At times, total GDP figures are not reflective of the actual performance in the economy. Hence, GDP per capita is a better measure as it is liable to fewer errors and some errors tend to affect population estimates and thus they have offsetting impacts. Furthermore, the natural log of real GDP will be taken into account to avoid any large outliers. Screen-shot-2009-09-01-at-14 3.4 Household Saving Household saving can be defined as a percentage of household disposable income which is not consumed and household savings rate can be calculated on gross or net basis. Depreciation is considered in the net savings rate which is more commonly used compared to the gross savings rate. Comparisons of savings rate among countries become hard by these two different measures of gross and net savings rate due to distinct social security and pension programmes, variable tax schemes which have an impact on disposable income. The household savings rate of a country can be affected by age of the economys population, the accessibility of credit, general wealth issues, cultural and social factors. Nevertheless, household savings rates are still a good a measure of an economys income in relation to consumption over time. A country can finance its debt domestically if it has a relatively high level of household savings. High debts levels funded mostly by foreign creditors are less persistent than high debts levels financed by internal savings. Consumption allows GDP to grow and this is a significant factor in economic expansion. With the existence of financial crisis, the whole economy could be dampened with lower consumption due to higher debt and lower savings level. A larger portion of GDP growth should then come from FDI, exports and government expenditure. Household saving is the most essential domestic source of funds to back capital outlay and this is a substantial boost for economic growth on the long term basis. Household savings rate vary greatly among countries as shown in the chart. This is partially due to the level pensions schemes are financed by government rather through personal saving and also to the extent governments offer insurance against sickness and unemployment. savings01 Considering the time dimension in the table above, the savings rate were relatively steady or somehow rising mildly in France, Austria, Italy, Norway and Portugal but have been decreasing in United States, Canada, Japan and Australia. If the social security and insurance payments of USA are considered, its savings rate would be striking. 3.5 Household Debt When a country has a substantial degree of household debt, it increases its inclination to financial crisis and this acts as a hindrance for economic growth. There have been forecasts about house bubbles which were caused and thus creating the countries to be overheated. A large portion of the economic growth was centred on household consumption which was backed by loans from banks. When banks noticed the lack of credit worthiness from consumers who even lost their confidence in the financial system, there had been strict controls over the lending conditions for loans. As a result, the ongoing vicious circle preceded a major decline in economic growth following the fall in consumption and repayments of debts. Analysing the graph results with the conclusion that USA is not the only main country having experienced the worst GDP slowdown but many other countries like Iceland and Portugal are following suit with the level of household debt actually rising substantially. It would not be logical for a country burdened by a large level of household debt to expect its economic performance to flourish in the coming years. HouseholdDebtSelectedCountries household-debt-vs-savings Source:   Lew Rockwell 3.6 Rates of interest The rate of interest has a great influence on the given level of aggregate disposable income which is divided between consumption and saving. However, it cannot be predicted with conviction that a lower interest rate would imply more disposable income will be dedicated to consumption and less to saving or vice versa. As a matter of fact, there can be a rise or fall in the total amount saved following a change in interest rate and this depends on the income and substitution effects and their strengths of their net effects. A higher level of future consumption arises at the detriment of present consumption with substitution effects due to higher interest rates and thus resulting in more savings in the present period. On the other hand, a consumers future income compared to his present income can be increased following higher interest rate and this leads to higher consumption by borrowing from future income and hence, less is saved. However, this may not be necessarily the case for lower income earners who would save only a small part of their incomes even when interest rates are high. The substitution effect will then outweigh the income effect and there will be a direct link between income and rate of interest. For some people who prefer to save a greater portion of their incomes, the income effect may offset the substitution effect and thus higher interest rates would result in lower present savings level real-interest-rates 3.7 Price level/Inflation One of the theoretical concepts of economics says that when there is a change in the price level, this may affect consumption and savings positively or negatively. It is usually believed that households confidence in money erodes when there is inflation and hence, they have the tendency to save more since inflation actually raises the variance of expected real income. The fact that consumers have greater preference for unplanned increases in savings compared to withdrawals, it usually incites consumers to save more when inflation is high. There is also an indirect effect of inflation whereby the real value of nominal asset is diminished and thus the real value of liquid assets decreases the net household wealth. Real consumption is often reduced and savings rate increases. 080625_global_inflation (1) 3.8 Consumption The total value of goods and services purchased by people aggregated over time is called consumption and it is usually the greatest GDP component. A countrys economic performance is often assessed on its consumption levels. Different income earners would be consuming differently depending on their standard of living and purchasing power. Consumption is usually determined by current income, accumulated savings and expectations on future income. Consumption and consumer debt trends 3.9 Investment When an owner usually acquired property for the purpose of generating income like plants and equipments, this is called investment as it is spending on income-generating assets. If a country wants to achieve long term sustainable economic growth, it should be able to the rates of accumulation of capital be it human or physical so that it can result in more efficient assets and so that the whole population can have access to those assets. With the help of financial instruments, markets, and institutions, the extent to which information, enforcement and transactions costs can have their impact on savings rates, investment decisions, technological innovations and steady-state growth rates can be improved. Average annual investment growth in the first six quarters of recovery Source: National Bureau of Economic Research; National Inco