The love-song of J.Alfred Prufrock Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The love-song of J.Alfred Prufrock - Essay Example He also preferred the epigraphy because of its immediacy in conveying his message of troubled being in a merciless world. However, the epic form echoes largely in successive stanzas the internal struggles affecting Prufrock as an individual. In other words, he has random thoughts that are vividly communicated in each stanza. Likewise, certain stanzas possess the use of free verse to connote Elliot’s deliberate usage of the technique as a means of breaching literary standards. He, for instance, notes in the third stanza â€Å"In the room the women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo† to portray a defiance of regular structure (Elliot 1). Additionally, it is a deeper manifestation of communicating differently. This poetic technique is supported by the poet’s use of a blank verse where there are no commas, semicolons, or hyphens at the end of every line. A blank verse makes the poem irregular and unmetered and, thus, spontaneous in the message it is intended for its audience. Likewise, Elliot employs the use of allusion in his poem as a ploy to create emphasis and achieve a lasting rhythmic effect. For example, the poet alludes to the Greek Poet Hesiod in line 29 when observes that â€Å"Time for all the works and days of hands (Elliot 2).† Another aspect of allusion is noted in line 52 when the poet makes references to the Twelfth Night by Shakespeare. Overall, it the allusions are meant to strengthen the imagery found in each stanza. On that perspective, imagery is a demonstration of the need to build realistic images of the plight and internal struggles affecting the persona in the poem. It is also meant to establish a link between comprehending the poet’s thought structure and the intended message for the audience. Use of repetition, on the other hand, is notable with the word ‘And’ to denote the urge to take a certain action successively in the

A View From A Bridge Essay Example for Free

A View From A Bridge Essay How does Arthur Millers portrayal of attitudes to family and law within A View From A Bridge cause conflict throughout the whole of the play? By Francesca Jastrzebska A View From A Bridge is the tale of a Sicilian family, who are trying to make a better life for themselves in America. Throughout the play Arthur Miller shows his portrayal of attitudes to family and law by basing the characters on real life people / Storys he has been told by friends and family. By focusing on the different characters I will explore a range of issues such as moments of conflict between the characters in the play and the consequence the characters actions have on everyone else. As Eddie views are the ones that cause the most conflict in the play I will start with him. The first conflict in the play is in the first act when Eddie comes back from work and Catherine is wearing a new skirt and has her hair done differently. Eddie notices and asks her were she is going all dressed up Where you goin all dressed up? Catherine leads Eddie over to the armchair in a loving kind of way and sits him down. As she sits on her heels Eddie makes a comment about her skirt being to short. I think its too short, aint it. This creates tension between the two of them. The tension builds as she argues with him over the skirt and Louis who she was waving to from the window. The skirt and high heels represent the fact that Catherine is growing up and is becoming more feminine. The cause of this tension is the fact that Catherine is growing up and there is nothing Eddie can do to stop her. Later on when the Carbone family are sitting down for dinner Beatrice and Catherine say they have some good news to tell Eddie. Catherine has a job. Eddie however does not think of this as good news as she will be earning her own money and it is a job of her choice. It is another thing that shows that Catherine is growing up. He believes that growing up would involve her moving away and coming back home less and less. Whats the high heels for Garbo?.. Do you me a favour will you? Go ahead. This I believe is the next scene that causes tension between Catherine and Eddie. When Eddie says this it makes Catherine embarrassed and angry that Eddie could make her feel so small in front of the new residents of da house. She gets up giving Eddie a cold look then goes back to what she was doing. Eddie does this to show that he is the man of the house and the people living in it must follow his instructions and commands. When Catherine and Eddie come back late from the cinema, Eddie is outside waiting for them to come home. Beatrice comes out and talks to him about Catherine and Rodolfos relationship. She calls him jealous but trys to cover up the fact that she thinks that it is true she smiles jokingly. (Smiling) Ah, go on, youre just jealous. This causes tension between the husband and wife, as Beatrice believes that its time for Catherine to grow up and she cant do that with Eddie standing over her also that it is her life and if she is making a mistake its her mistake and she needs to learn from it. Later on Beatrice admits that Catherine and Rodolfos relationship is not her only worry. When am I going to be a wife again, Eddie? Eddie says its because he hasnt been feeling well and that the brothers, Marco and Rodolfo, being here bothers him. Beatrice argues that they have only been there for a couple of weeks and hes been like he has for three months. The stage direction before he answers shows that he doesnt want to actually no what is troubling her, as it might make him look less of a man. The next part in the play that causes conflict is when Eddie starts showing Rodolfo how to box. This makes Marco feel uneasy. As Catherine come back into the room eddies tells Rodolfo that he is going to hit him Now Im going to hit you, so block me, see this alarms Catherine seeing the two men in her life that she loves boxing. Eddie punches Rodolfo and he staggers. Marco is the only one that knows eddies hidden agenda. Rodolfo then shows that he may not of been the last one to throw a punch but he still got Catherine by dancing with her. Marco then shows Eddie that he is stronger by lifting up the chair with his one hand. This creates tension by them Act 2 is the final act were all the characters are involved in upsetting Eddie which leaves him with only one solution, to get rid of the brothers. Act two starts with Catherine and Rodolfo talking about getting married and going to live in Italy. Rodolfo believes that living there they will be poor and that they would have a better life in America. How can I bring you from a rich country to suffer in a poor country. They later go into the bedrooms. Unfortunately for them Eddie comes home drunk. Catherine hears him shouting and comes out adjusting her dress. Eddies thinks nothing of it at first but then Rodolfo come out and stands behind her in the doorway. Eddie goes mad and starts shouting at Rodolfo to get out. The causes conflict because Eddie loves Catherine and doesnt want her to be with another man, especially Rodolfo as he makes dresses, cooks and sings. Eddie believes he goes against all the male roles and is too feminine. As Eddie is shouting at Rodolfo Catherine decides it time to grow up and tells Eddie she is leaving. She tells him shes not going to be a baby anymore and he pulls her close and kisses her while she tries to get free of his grip. Rodolfo gets involved and tells Eddie to get off of her and show some respect. This makes Eddie angry, as he should be telling them what to do and that they should show respect. When Marco is trying to get bail he has to promise not to hurt Eddie if he gets out. Marco says in his country Eddie would be dead by now in my country he would be dead now, he would not live this long Hes talking about the Sicilian way of life, the laws of Omerta. Promising not to kill Eddie would be dishonourable. Marco finally promises Alfieri, ashamed, that he wont touch Eddie. When Marco turns up at eddies house he is shouting his name. Eddie believes that he has come to apologies and give his good name back. Now give me my name and we go together to the wedding. This ends in a fight between Eddie and Marco and Eddie dies. Throughout the play Arthur miller shoes his portrayal of laws and family throughout the characters actions. Each character represents something, for example Eddie represents an over protective father and Catherine represents a little girl. They cause conflict because as Catherine grows up Eddie needs to change his ways of controlling Catherine, as she is not little anymore and can make her own choices and decisions.

Clay Loading and Dispersion Effects on the Rheological Properties of Unsaturated Polyester Nanocomposites :: essays research papers

Clay Loading and Dispersion Effects on the Rheological Properties of Unsaturated Polyester Nanocomposites The objective of this work is to characterize the influence of clay loading and dispersion effects on the rheological properties of unsaturated polyester composites. Toughened unsaturated polyester (UPE) composites were synthesized by the blending of delaminated clay with unsaturated polyester. Rheological behavior is shown to be strongly influenced by clay loading and the extent of clay dispersion in the polymer matrix. Transition from liquid-like behavior to solid-like behavior shifts to significantly higher solids loading at higher shear rates which may be due to the alignment of the particles in the direction of flow at high shear rates. SEM micrographs are used to display the extent of intercalation and dispersion of the clay within the polymer matrix. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1.1 Definition Polymer/clay nanocomposites display a change in composition and structure over a nanometer length scale and have been shown to present considerable property enhancements relative to conventionally scaled composites. Layered silicates dispersed as a reinforcing phase in an engineering polymer matrix are one of the most important of such â€Å"hybrid organic-inorganic nanocomposites† [1]. Polymer-layered silicate nanocomposites containing low levels of exfoliated clays, such as montmorillonite and vermiculite have a structure consisting of platelets with at least one dimension in the nanometer range. One of the most important features of polymeric materials is the possibility of controlling their macroscopic physical properties by tailored manipulation of their structures at a nanoscopic scale. To influence the interactions that govern the mechanical properties of polymers, specific nanoscopic scale reinforcement is efficient and beneficial. For example, montmorillonite clay pro vides such reinforcement through the interaction of polymer chains with the charged surfaced of clay lamellae [2]. The use of organoclays as precursors to nanocomposite formation has been extended into various polymer systems including epoxies, polyurethanes, polyimides, nitrile rubber, polyesters, polypropylene, polystyrene and polysiloxanes, among others. Even a variety of inorganic materials, such as glass fibers, talc, calcium carbonate, and clay minerals, have been successfully used as additives or reinforcements to improve the various properties of polymers [3-10]. 1.2 Structure The optimal properties of nanocomposites arise as the clay nanolayers are uniformly dispersed (exfoliated) in the polymer matrix, as opposed to being aggregated or phase separated as tactoids or simply intercalated. As nanolayer exfoliation becomes achieved, there is a trend in the improvement in desired properties that is manifested as an increase in tensile properties, enhancement of barrier properties, a decrease in solvent uptake, an increase in thermal stability and flame retardance, among others [11-12].

Arising of Magic Realism Through Allusions to the Bible and Tragedians

Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, is a novel often associated with magic realism. Throughout the novel, the idea of magic realism is promoted through intertext examples of The Bible. Magic realism is defined as an artistic style in which magical elements or irrational scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or "normal" setting. The many intertextual examples throughout the work are alluded from outside sources such as the Bible and the tragedians of the Greeks and Romans. These allusions not only strengthen the novel, but further correlate them with the idea of magic realism. Magic realism, as defined by Wendy Faris, contains five key elements which must be present for this component to ring true in a piece of literature. The first key element is the novel contains â€Å"†¦something we cannot explain according to the laws of the universe as we know them† (Faris 167). Throughout the novel, several examples which make this constituent true are present. For example, when Jose Arcadia Buendia’s murder occurs and his blood runs through the streets to Ursula’s home, Marquez writes, â€Å"A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed up curbs†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Marquez 144). In reality, as readers, it is known that blood cannot travel long distances or climb objects. Remedios the Beauty’s accession to Heaven is another form in which a particular scene cannot be explained by particular laws a s we know them. Marquez writes â€Å"Amaranta felt a mysterious trembling in the lace on her petticoats and she tried to grasp the sheet so that she would not fall down at the instant in which Remedi... ...n theme found throughout many fiction novels. According to Faris’ five key elements, this novel is indeed a tale of enchanting pragmatism. The novel’s intertextual examples developed by character similarities and actual events from the Bible and Greek mythology and tragedies are woven in the novel in such a way that the reader is oblivious to the fact that they truly exist. As the future scurries upon us, the theme of magic realism will continue to flourish many novels to come. Works Cited Access Bible, The. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Fitzgerald, Robert. Translator Homer. The Iliad. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 2007. Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. New York: Harper Perennial, 1998. Zamora, Louis Parkinson and Wendy Faris. Magical Realism: Theory, History,Community. Durham: Duke University Press, 1995.

Religion and Ecology Essay

Every thread of the problems faced by the present human society can be traced back to first industrial revolution of late 18th century and early 19th century that took place in Britain and from where it was embraced by the entire world. The industrial revolution set in motion the process of changes that have since then subsequently transformed the character of not only human society but of entire earth (Gatta, 7). Air, water, land and sky, all bear the effects of the changes inflicted by human march through industrial revolution and the effects have not been pleasant by any order. The modern society is the product of new-classical theory of economics and the anthropocentric view of environment, both of which advocates completely human centered progress and development utilizing all the resources and potentials of the nature and the environment around them (Nassar, 40-46). This view has been at the core of all the human activities and development planning taking place since more than 200 years now and it has encouraged massive rate of consumption and utilization of all the natural resources at an ever increasing scale. As almost a direct evidence of the expanding human footprint on earth, our population has increased from 1 billion to around 7 billion in past 150 years (Gatta, 20). This growth is based on the foundation of an efficient but brutal system that mastered the art of misusing the full spectrum of available natural resources, causing their widespread destruction, contamination, and debilitation. Examples of this destruction can be seen in extensive deforestation around the world, rapid destruction of rainforests in Brazil and Africa, fertile soil erosion, severe contamination of several important rivers of world due to continuous effluence of industrial and municipal sewage, air pollution, ozone layer destruction, depletion of non renewable energy resources especially oil and natural gas, global warming and climatic change. The extensive damage to the natural resources and ecology has deeply imbalanced the natural system, creating a disharmony and conflict with human development and its environment. The destruction of ecology and nature have caused unprecedented rise in extinction rates of animals and plants, who have found their ecological niches disappearing due to human activities. The emergence of massive urban centers around the world where millions of people live within few square kilometers of area exert tremendous pressure on the environmental sources which has put earth’s biodiversity and consequently humanity’s own survival chances at risk (Gatta, 62). The threat that human development is causing to the entire living world, including its own self, has not remained unnoticed and there many global social and political movements have started during past 30 years, with sincere intentions and efforts to create and implement an alternative system of social and economic model where human interests and development share a symbiotic relationship with nature, environment and ecology; where advancement and development have mutual linkage across the entire natural continuum (Nassar, 68). These efforts have been so far varyingly successful, where some countries and regions have adopted one set of selective steps for ecological integration, while others have adopted different set of steps, all determined by their economic convenience and financial constructs (Gatta, 65-69). This has led to an inward analysis and evaluation process in ecology and environmental thinking, which looks at the very basics of our social development and structure and try to re-align them with many old and yet existing religious and community view of social development, which is embedded in ecology and environment. But the question of human pressure and influence on its ecology has several parallel sides, each of which poses its own crucial question. The first question that comes up is that, is human species is constrained by any limiting factor- does its growth and expansion has a maximum attainable size, or can it continue to swell indefinitely, maximizing the resources for itself, for its need for infinite consumption and consequently infinite growth? If this is not possible , then is it possible for human beings to exist and thrive in exact optimum conditions, where population growth, consumption requirements, and growth needs are exactly balanced with the ecosystem, and stay in this balance forever? If the attainment of this balance is not possible then does it mean that for its own survival humanity is causing destruction of other species, destabilizing the ecosystem, and tripping the biosphere? (Gatta, 141-147) Religion and Ecology While all the religions of world have a strong foundation in ethical learning and teachings, with distinct emphasis on concepts of good and bad, divine presence, and determinism, the ancient cultures and indigenous traditions have taken this concept much further to include divinity and God as a part of their local environment and daily living system. The essential principle is same in all the religions, which states that God has created the entire world, including all the nature features, plants and animals, and human beings. However, as it is seen, some of the earlier interpretations of modern religions, such as Christianity, took a rather human centric religious approach (Gatta, 208). In essence, they popularized the notion that man is designed to be the ultimate consumer of all the natural resources, or in other words, the whole natural world exists in order to serve and meet human needs and requirements. This view in considered as one of the acting principle behind neo classical theory of economics as well as anthropocentric world view as discussed earlier. The view of ancient and traditional cultures and religions does not take such an exclusive view of human influence. For example it does not recognize human beings as isolated and separated from their surrounding environment and ecology, neither it sees humans as controller of the natural resources and final arbitrator of their destiny (Nassar, 71). The learning that we receive from these traditional cultures and religions is that we must recognize ourselves as parts of a widely distributed and ranging biotic communities and ecosystems, each of which has its own important role to play in design and creation of God and nature. Human beings occupy a very important niche in nature, but yet its only one of the numerous niches, while the complete scope of the ecology goes much beyond the human considerations and interests (Gatta, 219). Then, there are many internal and subtle relations present between man’s interaction with nature and vice versa. Ecology is not only a biological function of our existence but it also regulates the cultural gradient, the behavioral landscape and the social outlook of people. Therefore, when we deeply disturb the ecosystem through persistent and determined set of harmful activities- acidification of natural resources, toxifying land and water bodies, resource depletion, modification and destruction of habitats and unintended or deliberate elimination of native species, then we destroy our cultural tie from the ecosystem. Howe we act and when we act should always remain attuned to our environmental and ecological perspective. The lessons from the past, and the ecological wisdom of ancient religions should form our guiding principles at every stage of intervention or interference in the ecosystem. Taking a step ahead, it should create a pro-active approach to look into the possible avenues of meaningful interference and interaction to search for, identify and implement the ways in which our impact on our own ecosystem is as free of protuberance as possible (Gatta, 223-232). Our actions should be well reasoned out and their consequences considered in all the possible ranges. The ecosystem balance is dependent upon a vast number of factors, many of them yet unknown or improperly understood, and therefore even an unintended disturbance on our part produce enormous and unexpected ecological backlash. These backlashes symbolize the failure of man’s relation with nature, failure of the understanding and appreciation of ecosystem’s intrinsic value in defining the human niche, and a failure to secure corrective steps to improve the interaction. The ancient and indigenous cultures, such as Inca, red Indians, Buddhism and Chinese culture, took a very different view of the role of humanity in the nature’s order. They did not see nature and its bountiful gifts as resources that require taming, mastering and exploitation. Quite contrary, they viewed man in a wholesome, nurturing and co-dependent relation with the nature, where every aspect of nature, whether it’s a tree or an animal, shares a relationship with the man. Explaining the meaning and depth of this relationship, the older religions and cultures state that as the entire nature is a creation of the God, therefore it’s every part is a close a representation of God, and hence their destruction or violation is a direct violation of God’s own creation (Gatta, 237-241). This idea is further developed in eastern religions where man is viewed as just one part of the infinite range of nature’s creations, with no superiority or ascendency accorded to him over other forms of life or natural features. Human being hold a place in the continuum of natural order, but apart from their wisdom, there is nothing to distinguish them, or accord them the status of master of other resources. The implications of this view cut deep and profound, even for the standard of modern environmentalism and ecological movements. A majority of these movements still see the issue from the point of saving earth and nature from human desire and want of growth-insinuating a weak and fragile nature and a powerful human civilization which is threatening the vulnerable nature (Nassar, 91-96)! This is Older traditions, cultures and religions, take quite an opposite view on this issue, where they see human beings as fragile, vulnerable and dependent upon the nature for their own survival. Nature, on the other hand is all powerful, protean, strong, and controlling lives and deaths-in fact nature is deemed so powerful that it is worshipped in many ancient civilizations and we can see why- the human survival is impossible if the nature dies around (Nassar, 107-111). We have always considered the nature and ecology as taken for granted in our environment; however, if we once stop to consider the situation when all the standing forests have been cut down, all the rivers polluted and turned into industrial sewage, all the natural diversity in animal and vegetation life lost on account of human exploits then it is not difficult to see that the this situation signifies the end of humanity as well-with no resources left, no natural cover to fall back, and left in a barren and dry world, human beings would run out of their capacity to struggle and survive (Gatta, 151-156). Thus the teachings of the indigenous cultures and older religions is towards ingraining humanity into a natural system that is based on mutual benefit, organic growth and interdependent development. This is a holistic, broad, and profound approach, which makes man a factor in the nature’s grand design of world, brining understanding, compassion, humbleness and realization of the coherence and integrity that is pre-requisite for our existence. Reference Gatta, John. Making Nature Sacred: Literature, Religion, and Environment in America from the Puritans to the Present. Oxford University Press, 2004. 291 p. Nasar, Sayyed Hossein. Religion & the Order of Nature. Oxford University Press, 1996 . 312 p

10 Facts About Spanish Adjectives

10 Facts About Spanish Adjectives Here are 10 facts about Spanish adjectives that will be useful to know as you pursue your language studies: 1. Adjective Is Part of Speech An adjective is a part of speech that is used to modify, describe, limit, qualify or otherwise affect the meaning of a noun, pronoun or a phrase functioning as a noun. The words we most often think of as adjectives are descriptive words - words such as verde (green), feliz (happy), fuerte (strong) and impaciente (impatient). 2. Adjectives Have Gender Adjectives in Spanish have gender, and a masculine adjective must be used with a masculine noun, a feminine adjective with a feminine noun following the principle of noun-adjective agreement. Some adjectives change in form with gender, while others dont. Generally, a masculine adjective that ends in -o or -os (in the plural) can become feminine by changing the ending to -a or -as. But singular nouns that dont end in -o generally dont change form to become feminine. 3. Adjectives Have Number Adjectives in Spanish also have number, meaning they can be singular or plural. Again, following the principle of noun-adjective agreement, a singular adjective is used with a singular noun, a plural adjective with a plural noun. Singular adjectives become plural by adding an -s or -es suffix. 4. Some Are Invariable A very few adjectives are invariable, meaning they dont change form among plural and singular, masculine and feminine. Traditionally, the most common invariable adjectives are macho (male) and hembra (female), as can be seen in the sentence Los animales macho en general proporcionan muchos menos atenciones parentales que las animales hembra (Male animals in general provide much less parental attention than the female animals do), although youll also see these words pluralized sometimes as well. Rarely, and then most often in journalese or phrases that have been imported from English, a noun can function as an invariable adjective, as web in the phrase sitios web (websites). Such cases of nouns as adjectives are the exception rather than the rule, and Spanish students should not freely use nouns as adjectives as can be done in English. 5. Placement Can Matter The default location for descriptive adjectives is after the noun they refer to. When the adjective is placed before the noun, it typically gives an emotional or subjective quality to the adjective. For example, la mujer pobre is likely to refer to a woman who has little money, while la pobre mujer is likely to suggest that the speaker feels sorry for the woman, even though both could be translated as the poor woman. 6. Adjectives Can Become Nouns Most descriptive adjectives can be used as nouns, often by preceding them with a definite article. For example, los felices could mean the happy people, and los verdes could mean the green ones. 7. Suffixes Can Be Used The meaning of some adjectives can be modified by using diminutive or augmentative suffixes. For example, while un coche viejo is simply an old car, un coche viejecito might refer to a quaint car or an older car that someone likes. 8. Verb Use Can Affect Meaning In sentences of the type noun is adjective, the adjective might be translated differently depending on whether the verb ser or estar is used. For example, es seguro often means it is safe, while est seguro usually means he or she is certain. 9. No Superlative Forms Spanish doesnt use suffixes such as -er or -est to indicate superlatives. Instead, the adverb is used. Thus, the bluest lake or the bluer lake is el lago ms azul. 10. Some Are Apocopated A few adjectives are shortened when they appear before singular nouns in a process known as apocopation. One of the most common is grande, which is shortened to gran, as in un gran ejà ©rcito for a great army.

Free Essays on Social Construction Of Reality

Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann wrote about the social construction of reality. Within this reading, one can probably conceive that their work is probably another attempt to integrate the two social theories of Durkheim and Weber. Focusing on Durkheim’s analysis on the integrative aspects of social structure, and methodological individualism focused on by Weber, which deals with individual actions as being the basis of social actions and structure. Berger and Luckmann's idea of society can be represented by one word they use many times throughout the book; "dialectic". Humans are viewed to be engaged in the perpetual cycle of the â€Å"dialectic† of creating the objective reality socially, while internalizing these very created realities as their own subjectively. As they call their approaches the "sociology of knowledge", they pay a great deal of attention to the role of knowledge in constructing these objective and subjective realities. It is extremely critical to understand that when Berger and Luckmann talk about knowledge, they are not just discussing knowledge based upon ideology, theoretical knowledge, or a type of scientific knowledge, but rather as everything that humans take part in within their everyday lives, giving them the potential to come to know about whatever knowledge might be attainable. By taking this view of knowledge and putting it into a perspective easier to grasp, Berger and Luckmann seem to perceive knowledge as a tool for social construction of realities, which means that no meaningful creation of either subjective or objective realities would be feasible. Ultimately, where they end up conclusion-wise seems to fit along with the works of Giddens and his ideas on "structure-based analysis" and "individual-based analysis", with the idea that all realities are socially constructed as results of distinctive social actions that individuals perform. While keeping this conclusion in mind, it can be specula... Free Essays on Social Construction Of Reality Free Essays on Social Construction Of Reality Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann wrote about the social construction of reality. Within this reading, one can probably conceive that their work is probably another attempt to integrate the two social theories of Durkheim and Weber. Focusing on Durkheim’s analysis on the integrative aspects of social structure, and methodological individualism focused on by Weber, which deals with individual actions as being the basis of social actions and structure. Berger and Luckmann's idea of society can be represented by one word they use many times throughout the book; "dialectic". Humans are viewed to be engaged in the perpetual cycle of the â€Å"dialectic† of creating the objective reality socially, while internalizing these very created realities as their own subjectively. As they call their approaches the "sociology of knowledge", they pay a great deal of attention to the role of knowledge in constructing these objective and subjective realities. It is extremely critical to understand that when Berger and Luckmann talk about knowledge, they are not just discussing knowledge based upon ideology, theoretical knowledge, or a type of scientific knowledge, but rather as everything that humans take part in within their everyday lives, giving them the potential to come to know about whatever knowledge might be attainable. By taking this view of knowledge and putting it into a perspective easier to grasp, Berger and Luckmann seem to perceive knowledge as a tool for social construction of realities, which means that no meaningful creation of either subjective or objective realities would be feasible. Ultimately, where they end up conclusion-wise seems to fit along with the works of Giddens and his ideas on "structure-based analysis" and "individual-based analysis", with the idea that all realities are socially constructed as results of distinctive social actions that individuals perform. While keeping this conclusion in mind, it can be specula...

Free Essays on Schizophrenia

Dementia Praecox, the early term for schizophrenia was presented by Emil Kraepelin in 1898. Dementia Praecox included – dementia paranoids, catatonia and hebephrenia. Whilst these different entities are symptomatically very diverse, Kraepelin believed they shared a common core. Kraepelin noted several major symptoms in his patients, these included hallucinations, delusions, negativism, attentional difficulties, stereotyped behaviour and emotional dysfunction. Kraepelin focused on describing schizophrenia and made no attempt to categorise and explain what he saw. Eugen Bleuler however tried to define the core of the disorder. Bleuler disagreed with Kraepelin on two points. Bleuler believed that the disorder didn’t necessary have an early onset and that the disorder didn’t necessarily lead to total dementia. Since he believed that the disorder didn’t lead to total dementia the term dementia praecox was no longer valid, so in 1908 Bleuler suggested a new term for the condition Schizophrenia. Bleuler had a great influence over the American concept of Schizophrenia. Whilst the European view of Schizophrenia remained relatively narrow. The American view of schizophrenia broadened significantly during the 20th century, with 80% of patients in the New York State Psychiatric Institute being diagnosed with Schizophrenia in 1952. Adolf Myer argued that diagnostic categories where often to stringent and believed that a more flexible approach to defining Schizophrenia was necessary. Kansnin then found that some patients showed signs schizophrenia combined with symptoms from other disorders. The concept of schizophrenia was also broadened by Hoch who believed that schizophrenia often disguises itself has other disorders. As a result a lot of people who would normally have been diagnosed with personality disorders or neurosis, where diagnosed has having schizophrenia. After the publication of DSM III the American definition moved away ... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Free Essays on Schizophrenia During the 1950s, mentally disordered people who were harmful to society and themselves could be treated with medications and were able to return safely to their communities. Unfortunately in the 1980s, the cost of health care increased more than any other cost in our national economy. Strategic planning has been made to reduce costs, as a result, â€Å"The political decision made to deinstitutionalize chronic mental patients started with the appearance of phenothiazine medications. Dramatically reducing the instability influenced by psychosis, these medications were of great significance to many individuals with serious mental disorders. At both the state and federal levels, legislators looked at the high cost of long-term psychiatric hospitalization. Social scientists guaranteed them that community-based care would be in the best interests of all concerned: the mentally ill and the general, tax-paying public.† (Barry 13) It was believed that a social breakdown syndrome would develop in chronically mentally ill persons who were institutionalized. The characteristics of this syndrome were submission to authority, withdrawal, lack of initiative, and excessive dependence on the institution. Even though deinstitutionalization seemed like the logic thing to do, the actual execution of the concept has been greatly undermined by the lack of good community alternatives. The largest majority of individuals using community mental health treatment services are the homeless. Nearly half of the homeless are chronically mental ill. These individuals are usually separated from their families and are all alone on the dangerous street. These homeless schizophrenics stay away from social structures such as community health treatment centers. Since they start a new life of independence they often stop taking their medications, become psychotic and out of place, and begin to live on the street. Since the schizophrenics are deinstitutionaliz... Free Essays on Schizophrenia The pathophysiological theories of auditory hallucinations have virtually been unknown until recently. These theories of auditory hallucinations â€Å"suggest that the production of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia is associated with increased activity in a network of cortical areas specialized for language† (McGuire, PK, GMS Shah, and RM Murray; Lancet, v. 342, iss. 8873, pg 704; 1993). McGuire, Shah, and Murray conducted a famous study in which they studied 12 schizophrenic patients at various hospitals. Using single photon emission topography (SPET) they measured regional cerebral blood flow with â€Å"the aim of identifying brain areas that are especially active during auditory hallucinations† (McGuire, Shah, and Murray, pg 703). The results of their study were very interesting and made great leaps in the study of schizophrenia. They discovered that an area of the brain known as Broca’s area, which is the part of the brain known to be involved in speech production, expe! rienced an increase of blood flow during auditory hallucinations. This is interesting because â€Å"since hallucinations usually involve understanding the ‘speech’ of others, you might expect more activity in Wernicke’s area, which involves language comprehension† (Barlow, David and Mark Durand; Abnormal Psychology: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company; Pacific Grove, 1999). This means that people who are hallucinating are probably not hearing the voices of others, but are listening to their own thoughts or their won voices and cannot recognize the difference.... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Schizophrenia 3 Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a very serious disease that knows no shape, size, gender, or color. Schizophrenia is characterized by profound disruption in cognition and emotion, affecting the most fundamental human attributes: language, thought, perception, affect, and sense of self (Spearing 2004). Having no single definitive symptom makes it hard to diagnose and even harder to live with. Schizophrenia can be draining on both the person with the illness and their families. The mental, physical, and financial strain it imposes can cripple even the strongest of people. Though it is not exploited as much as AIDS and Cancer, schizophrenia is out there, and it is a disease that everyone should be aware of and have a healthy fear of. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that is basically a loss of contact with reality. When a person’s thinking, feeling, and behavior is so far from normal and interferes with their ability to function in everyday life, then he or she has a mental illness called schizophrenia (Papolos 1997). Schizophrenia is typically characterized as a separation between the thought process and emotions (Myers 2003). However, trying to define schizophrenia is like trying to hit a moving target. The disorder can distort reality and cause delusions as well as hallucinations. Schizophrenia is a brain disease, meaning that there should be a way to cure it, however, that cause has not been found yet (Papolos 1997). The tough thing about schizophrenia is the exact cause of it is still unknown by scientist. The only thing they are certain of is that schizophrenia has more than one cause. Scientist believe that like heart disease schizophrenia may result from an interplay of genetic and environmental factors (Hattfield 1998). Though they are yet to understand all of the factors necessary to produce schizophrenia, all the tools of modern biomedical research are being used to search for genes... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is one of the most serious and complex disorders of the mind. The disease is an abnormal decay of the person’s mental functions. Schizophrenia is an often-misunderstood disease; it is usually confused with Multiple Personality Disorder. According to Webster’s Dictionary Schizophrenia is defined as any of a group of psychotic disorders usually characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, and hallucinations, and accompanied in varying degrees by other emotional, behavioral, or intellectual disturbances. Schizophrenia is associated with dopamine imbalances in the brain and defects of the frontal lobe and is caused by genetic, other biological, and psychosocial factors. All these factors force the person to require medical attention constantly as they cannot face the daily tasks of their lives. Schizophrenics who also suffer from inappropriate moods, hallucinations and delusions, make them highly unpredictable to care for or treat effectively. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that severely impacts how millions of Americans think feel and act. It is a disorder that makes it difficult for a person to tell the difference between real and imagined experiences, to think logically, to express normal emotional responses or to behave normally in social situations, also the disease has many types of medications to help its patients. Schizophrenia affects men and women equally, and either way there is always a heavy burden on the family. E. Fuller Torrey states, â€Å"Work on schizophrenia show that exactly one out every hundred people in the United will be diagnosed with schizophrenia†(3). Schizophrenia can be draining on both the person with schizophrenia and their families. People with schizophrenia often have difficulty functioning in society at work and in school. The families have a heavy burden because they have to help out financially and make sure that medication is taken as ... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Schizophrenia Schizophrenia, severe mental illness characterized by a variety of symptoms, including loss of contact with reality, bizarre behavior, disorganized thinking and speech, decreased emotional expressiveness, and social withdrawal. Usually only some of these symptoms occur in any one person. The term schizophrenia comes from Greek words meaning â€Å"split mind.† However, contrary to common belief, schizophrenia does not refer to a person with a split personality or multiple personality. To observers, schizophrenia may seem like madness or insanity. Perhaps more than any other mental illness, schizophrenia has a debilitating effect on the lives of the people who suffer from it. A person with schizophrenia may have difficulty telling the difference between real and unreal experiences, logical and illogical thoughts, or appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Schizophrenia seriously impairs a person’s ability to work, go to school, enjoy relationships with others, or take ca re of oneself. In addition, people with schizophrenia frequently require hospitalization because they pose a danger to themselves. About 10 percent of people with schizophrenia commit suicide, and many others attempt suicide. Once people develop schizophrenia, they usually suffer from the illness for the rest of their lives. Although there is no cure, treatment can help many people with schizophrenia lead productive lives. Schizophrenia also carries an enormous cost to society. People with schizophrenia occupy about one-third of all beds in psychiatric hospitals in the United States. In addition, people with schizophrenia account for at least 10 percent of the homeless population in the United States (see Homelessness). The National Institute of Mental Health has estimated that schizophrenia costs the United States tens of billions of dollars each year in direct treatment, social services, and lost productivity. Approximately 1 percent of people devel... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Dementia Praecox, the early term for schizophrenia was presented by Emil Kraepelin in 1898. Dementia Praecox included – dementia paranoids, catatonia and hebephrenia. Whilst these different entities are symptomatically very diverse, Kraepelin believed they shared a common core. Kraepelin noted several major symptoms in his patients, these included hallucinations, delusions, negativism, attentional difficulties, stereotyped behaviour and emotional dysfunction. Kraepelin focused on describing schizophrenia and made no attempt to categorise and explain what he saw. Eugen Bleuler however tried to define the core of the disorder. Bleuler disagreed with Kraepelin on two points. Bleuler believed that the disorder didn’t necessary have an early onset and that the disorder didn’t necessarily lead to total dementia. Since he believed that the disorder didn’t lead to total dementia the term dementia praecox was no longer valid, so in 1908 Bleuler suggested a new term for the condition Schizophrenia. Bleuler had a great influence over the American concept of Schizophrenia. Whilst the European view of Schizophrenia remained relatively narrow. The American view of schizophrenia broadened significantly during the 20th century, with 80% of patients in the New York State Psychiatric Institute being diagnosed with Schizophrenia in 1952. Adolf Myer argued that diagnostic categories where often to stringent and believed that a more flexible approach to defining Schizophrenia was necessary. Kansnin then found that some patients showed signs schizophrenia combined with symptoms from other disorders. The concept of schizophrenia was also broadened by Hoch who believed that schizophrenia often disguises itself has other disorders. As a result a lot of people who would normally have been diagnosed with personality disorders or neurosis, where diagnosed has having schizophrenia. After the publication of DSM III the American definition moved away ... Free Essays on Schizophrenia A lot of the research and information I found on schizophrenia, are heavy on the side of genetics. However; there is much evidence of the environment having a large impact as well. It is hard to say what kind of effect you childhood experiences have on schizophrenic people because the disease isn't usually diagnosed until the ages of 18 and on. There is some evidence that I will discuss later on that have to do with environmental factors during pregnancy that have some correlation to schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is the most common psychoses in the United States affecting around one percent of the United States population. It is characterized by a deep withdrawal from interpersonal relationships and a retreat into a world of fantasy. This plunge from reality to fantasy results in a loss of contact from reality that can vary from mild to severe. They is more than one acceptable definition for psychosis. The psychoses are different from other groups of psychiatric disorders in their degree of severity, withdrawal, alteration in affect, impairment of intellect, and regression. It is possible that there may be a pre-schizophrenic phase a year or two before the disorder is diagnosed. This phase may include neurotic symptoms such as acute or chronic anxiety, phobias, obsessions, and compulsions or may reveal dissociative features. As anxiety mounts, indications of a thought disorder may appear. An adolescent may complain of difficulty with concentration and with the ability to complete school work or job-related work. Over time there is severe deterioration of work along with the deterioration of the ability to cope with the environment. Complains such as mind wandering and needing to devote more time to maintaining one’s thoughts are heard. Finally, the ability to keep out unwanted intrusions into one’s thoughts becomes impossible. As a result, the person finds that his or her mind becomes so confused and thoughts so distracted, t... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Schizophrenia The most puzzling of all mental abnormalities is the psychosis, known as Schizophrenia. Evidence indicates strongly that schizophrenia is a severe disturbance in the brain’s functioning. It’s caused by many factors- including changes in the chemistry of the brain, changes in the structure of the brain and genetic factors. â€Å"Schizophrenia† is a discordant and cruel term, just like the disease. (E. Fuller Torrey,M.D.) In 1843, Dorothea Dix appeared at the Massachusetts court to state that the state of insane persons confined within this common wealth in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens, chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience. In 1985 witnesses testified for the senate subcommittee on the Handicapped regarding staff abuse of people resided in mental Hospitals, including â€Å"kicking or otherwise striking patients, sexual advances and rape, verbal threats of injury and other forms of intimidation.† (E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.) In 1982 The New York Times reported on nine mental patients, placed with a fee in a foster home operator, who were kept in a shed with no toilet or running water and â€Å"two vicious dogs chained outside the small room† to make sure they did not run away. In the 1980’s newspapers regularly reported seriously mentally ill p ersons freezing on the streets in wi! nter. It became common, when a homeless man froze to death a few blocks from the White House, the Washington Post â€Å"routinely reported his death as a minor part of a weather story.† The front page of The New York Times featured a picture of a city worker â€Å"trying to give lunch to a man who lives in a box in Battery Park.† The picture showed a make shift shelter made of pieces of cardboard on a park bench. In Massachusetts, â€Å"two small defenseless street people† were beaten to death. (E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.)The local newspaper editorized that as it was like having â€Å"rabbits forced to live in the c... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder type of mental illness that affects an individual’s personality and their ability to cope with everyday life. Even though schizophrenia can develop in older people, it generally develops in early adulthood. It seems that more men are affected between the ages of 16 to 20 years but more women are affected between the ages of 25 to 30. Schizophrenia affects approximately 1 percent of all people, all over the world. Types of schizophrenia Catatonic schizophrenia – shows physical symptoms like immobility, having strange posture and frenzied movement. Paranoid schizophrenia – having major delusions and hallucinations. Disorganised (hebephrenic) schizophrenia – having abnormal emotional reactions and disrupted speech and thinking patterns. Undifferentiated schizophrenia – having a combination of symptoms from all groups. Major Symptoms Delusions – having a false belief of guilt, persecution or being controlled. People that suffer delusions may feel as though there are plots or conspiracies against them by the government. They will become withdrawn. Some people believe that they have super powers. Hallucinations – usually this is referring to hearing voices in their head. Some uncommon hallucinations are hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and touching things that only they can perceive. Thought disorder – people showing thought disorder will be hard to understand as it affects the way the ill person talks. Their speech will be mixed up and they will change subject quickly and with no apparent reason. Some people will believe that their mind is being controlled or that thoughts are being implanted inside, or being removed from, their head. Other symptoms include: Loss of motivation – where the ability to accomplish simple everyday things, like washing and cooking, are gone. Dulled expressions of emotions – losing the ability to show emotion, this is ... Free Essays on Schizophrenia The Causes and Symptoms Schizophrenia Schizophrenia : A life destroyer. Schizophrenia is one of the most common serious psychiatric illnesses in the United States. â€Å"In fact schizophrenia hits one person in every hundred. In the United States alone there are a minimum of two million schizophrenics† (Walsh 52). The causes for schizophrenia are not fully known and are still under research. The most common symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech patterns, disorganized behavior and a decrease in emotional expression. Dealing with schizophrenia is a difficult task and if left untreated, could be fatal to ones health. The effects of schizophrenia do not stop at the lives of the patients, they also make their way to family and friends. Many of whom experience feelings of sorrow, guilt and anger. Leaving schizophrenia untreated is hazardous and may be fatal to both the victim and the people around them. There are various medications and treatments that a schizophrenic can endure in order to he lp them maintain a normal lifestyle. Schizophrenia is a word derived from the Greek Language. Schizo, meaning split and phrenia, meaning mind (Wascow 2). This definition is often why schizophrenia is misunderstood to be a mental disorder of split personalities. Schizophrenia has absolutely nothing to do with splitting ones personality into multiple parts, in fact most schizophrenics are often too disordered to carry out double lives. The actual message Dardis 2 Eugen Bleuler, the inventor of the word â€Å"schizophrenia† was trying to convey is the splitting of reality and perception.† Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that lasts for at least six months, and includes at least two of the following symptoms, hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior and decreased emotional ... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness described by a variety of symptoms, including â€Å"loss of contact with reality, bizarre behavior, disorganized thinking and speech, decreased emotional expressiveness, and social withdrawal.† Usually only some of these symptoms occur in any one person.† More than any other mental illness, schizophrenia has a devastating effect on the lives of the people who suffer from it. A person with schizophrenia may have difficulty telling the difference between real and unreal experiences, logical and illogical thoughts, or appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Schizophrenia seriously impairs a person’s ability to work, go to school, enjoy relationships with others, or take care of oneself. In addition, people with schizophrenia frequently require hospitalization because they pose a danger to themselves. Once people develop schizophrenia, they usually suffer from the illness for the rest of their lives. Although there is no cure, treatment can help many people with schizophrenia lead productive lives. Schizophrenia usually develops in late adolescence or early adulthood, between the ages of 15 and 30. Much less commonly, schizophrenia develops later in life. The illness may begin abruptly, but it usually develops slowly over months or years. Mental health professionals diagnose schizophrenia based on an interview with the patient in which they determine whether the person has experienced specific symptoms of the illness. Symptoms and functioning in people with schizophrenia tend to vary over time, sometimes people get worse and some start feeling better. For many patients the symptoms gradually become less severe as they grow older. About 25 percent of people with schizophrenia become symptom-free later in their lives. A variety of symptoms describe schizophrenia. The most well known include â€Å"symptoms of psychosis, such as delusions and hallucinations, as well as... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that affects one’s ability to think clearly, manage emotions, make decisions, and relate to others. Schizophrenia typically starts during the teenage years or early adulthood and continues throughout life. The disease can occur earlier in childhood as well but it rarely occurs. Schizophrenia is often misdiagnosed. As a result, many people suffer for years before receiving appropriate treatment. People with schizophrenia often suffer terrifying symptoms such as hearing internal voices not heard by others, or believing that other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. Symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinating, delusions, disordered thinking, unusual speech or behavior, and social withdrawal impair the ability to interact with others. These symptoms may leave them fearful and withdrawn. Their speech and behavior can be so disorganized that they may be incomprehensible or frightening to others. Available treatments can relieve many symptoms, but most people with schizophrenia continue to suffer some symptoms throughout their lives. It has been estimated that no more than one in five individuals recovers completely. Schizophrenia is found all over the world. The severity of the symptoms and long-lasting, chronic pattern of schizophrenia often cause a high degree of disability. Medications and other treatments for schizophrenia, when used regularly and as prescribed, can help reduce and control the distressing symptoms of the illness. However, some people are not greatly helped by available treatments or may prematurely discontinue treatment because of unpleasant side effects or other reasons. Even when treatment is effective, consequences of the illness persist. They may lose out on opportunities, the residual symptoms, and medication side effects can be very troubling. The first signs of schizophrenia often appear as confusing, or even sh... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Types of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a group of disorders that are characterized by the loss of contact with reality, and the marked disturbances of thought and perception as well as bizarre behavior. This mental disease is among the most debilitating and complex mental disease. Roughly one percent of the world is afflicted with this particular illness. Schizophrenia was first discovered in 1896 by Emil Kraeplin, but since then there has been much research and further findings. Since then there has been several different classifications of schizophrenia that have been made. The purpose of this paper is to briefly inform you on these different subtypes of schizophrenia. The first subtype of schizophrenia that I will be discussing is the paranoid subtype. The defining feature of the paranoid type is the presence of auditory hallucinations or delusional thoughts containing persecution or conspiracy. However, people with this type may be more functional with their ability to work and interact in relationships rather than people who are diagnosed with other types of schizophrenia. The reasons are not clear, but this may be because people suffering from this type often times do not do not portray symptoms of the paranoid type until later in his or hers life, which at this point they would already have achieved a higher level of functioning before the onset of their disease. People who are diagnosed with this type of schizophrenia may appear to have lived normal lives by successful management of their illness. People who are paranoid schizophrenic may not appear to be odd or dysfunctional and may not b ready to discuss their symptoms to this illness. Ord inarily, the hallucinations and delusions center around some characteristic theme, and this theme often remains fairly consistent over time. Person's temperaments and general behaviors often times relate to the content of the disturbance of thought. An example would be people w... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disease. Approximately 1 percent of the population develops schizophrenia during their lifetime – more than 2 million Americans suffer from the illness in a given year. Although schizophrenia affects men and women with equal frequency, the disorder often appears earlier in men, usually in the late teens or early twenties, than in women, who are generally affected in the twenties to early thirties. People with schizophrenia often suffer terrifying symptoms such as hearing internal voices not heard by others, or believing that other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. These symptoms may leave them fearful and withdrawn. Their speech and behavior can be so disorganized that they may be incomprehensible or frightening to others. Available treatments can relieve many symptoms, but most people with schizophrenia continue to suffer some symptoms throughout their lives; it has bee n estimated that no more than one in five individuals recovers completely. This is a time of hope for people with schizophrenia and their families. Research is gradually leading to new and safer medications and unraveling the complex causes of the disease. Scientists are using many approaches from the study of molecular genetics to the study of populations to learn about schizophrenia. Methods of imaging the brain’s structure and function hold the promise of new insights into the disorder. Schizophrenia is found all over the world. The severity of the symptoms and long-lasting, chronic pattern of schizophrenia often cause a high degree of disability. Medications and other treatments for schizophrenia, when used regularly and as prescribed, can help reduce and control the distressing symptoms of the illness. However, some people are not greatly helped by available treatments or may prematurely discontinue treatment because of unpleasant side effects or other... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a serious, chronic mental disorder characterized by loss of contact with reality and disturbances of thought, mood, and perception. Schizophrenia is the most common and the most potentially sever and disabling of the psychosis, a term encompassing several severe mental disorders that result in the loss of contact with reality along with major personality derangements. Schizophrenia patients experience delusions, hallucinations and often lose thought process. Schizophrenia affects an estimated one percent of the population in every country of the world. Victims share a range of symptoms that can be devastating to themselves as well as to families and friends. They may have trouble dealing with the most minor everyday stresses and insignificant changes in their surroundings. They may avoid social contact, ignore personal hygiene and behave oddly (Kass, 194). Many people outside the mental health profession believe that schizophrenia refers to a â€Å"split personality †. The word â€Å"schizophrenia† comes from the Greek schizo, meaning split and phrenia refers to the diaphragm once thought to be the location of a person’s mind and soul. When the word â€Å"schizophrenia† was established by European psychiatrists, they meant to describe a shattering, or breakdown, of basic psychological functions. Eugene Bleuler is one of the most influential psychiatrists of his time. He is best known today for his introduction of the term â€Å"schizophrenia† to describe the disorder previously known as dementia praecox and for his studies of schizophrenics. The illness can best be described as a collection of particular symptoms that usually fall into four basic categories: formal thought disorder, perception disorder, feeling/emotional disturbance, and behavior disorders (Young, 23). People with schizophrenia describe strange of unrealistic thoughts. Their speech is sometimes hard to follow because of disordered thinking. Phr ases seem di... Free Essays on Schizophrenia Schizophrenia has been found to be the most common of the various psychoses. The disorder was named by a Swiss psychiatrist, Eugene Bleuller. The word â€Å"schizophrenia† is used to describe Bleuller’s view that a splitting of psychic functions is a prominent feature of the disorder. A schizophrenic’s ideas and feelings are isolated from one another: one may speak randomly, or express frightening or sad ideas in a happy manner. Schizophrenics do not have a â€Å"split personality†, where different personalities show on different occasions. There are many symptoms of schizophrenia including delusions, hallucinations, thought disorders, loss of boundaries between self and nonself, blunted or inappropriate emotional expression, socially inappropriate behavior, loss of social interests, and deterioration in areas of function such as work and self-care. Delusions can make a patient believe that he or she is being persecuted by those around them, that a machine controls their brain, or that they are someone else. Hallucination, although they are mostly auditory, can also be visual or olfactory. The content is often hypochondriacal or religious. Some hallucinatory voices speak of matters related to the patient’s emotional problems or delusional concerns. Others transmit apparently irrelevant messages. Thought disorders may include a general lowering of intellectual efficiency, a free- associative rambling form one topic to another, a loss of the distinction between figurative and literal usage of words, reduced ability to think abstractly, invention of new words, and idiosyncratic misuse of common words. It appears that schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disorder. There are three variations of schizophrenia. Paranoid Schizophrenia is characterized by delusions. Catatonic schizophrenics may be silent and immobile for weeks or months, and then break out into a frenzy of agitation. Hebephrenic schizophrenics suffer from intel...

Innovation to Sustainability of Google Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Innovation to Sustainability of Google - Essay Example This discussion stresses that  the other innovation by Google is the sorting of junk from important material and organizes it to help you spotlight on the messages that matter. And it allows a user of Gmail through your computer's microphone and speakers to call anyone with a phone at the lowest costs. The news in the air is that Google will soon disclose its new innovation which is named as Nexus 7. It is a tablet of the price same as the Kindle Fire and it pretty much has the same capabilities. Google has planned not to stop innovating new products and in upcoming years more such mind bobbling gadgets will surely rule the minds of the people.This paper highlights that  Google is on the watch out for its third most important commercial hit after proper research and marketing. The main element of innovation is their far-reaching and forceful usage of data and testing for supporting thoughts. Google spotlight more on analytics and data goes far away from that of most business and still it is contained by contact of most organization for adopting an analytics driven advancement to assessing innovation. Google make use of prediction markets proposes that it has elevated place and significance on the intelligence and beliefs of employees. Google Inc. is an American international corporation which provides Internet associated products and services, together with internet search, cloud computing, software and marketing technologies. 2.4 People Google really value their people and appreciate them for their working. They hire individuals who are smart and focused. They always favour abilities of individuals as opposed to their experiences. The company is always in search of people from all walks of life. They support multicultural environment and favours multi languages reflecting the global audiences. They have maintained an open culture environment in which every person feels comfortable in sharing ideas and opinions. Their entire organizational culture supports and encourages interaction between Googlers within and across teams which endorses a culture of growing. 3. Process 3.1 Search Google Glass is one of the most revolutionary products of the current century. It is a major breakthrough in the modern technological world of today and is years ahead and far more advanced than smart phones. While using similar features that are used in most of the latest smart phones like the iPhone or Samsung S3, Google Glass is a pair of glasses that features a heads up display which has a 720p camera built into it along with a microphone and an earpiece. It is the next leap into the world of hands free communication. Thus with the Google Glass, Google brings the augmented fantasy from science fiction novels and

American Nurses Association Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

American Nurses Association - Essay Example Potential conflicts might arise from intra-professional integrity, collective responsibility, assertion of values, responsibilities to the public, implementing professional standards in clinical, administrative and educational practice, responsibility for care environment, influencing the environment with moral virtues and values, preserving integrity and ethical character, maintaining confidentiality, responsibility and accountability in judgment and action etc. There could be many areas of conflict when others employees, care givers and family members are involved. Conflicts could be avoided by understanding, collaboration and co-operation with other care-givers, by being flexible without compromising the nursing ethics and with a thoroughly psychological insight of the problems. A complete understanding of duties and responsibilities and genuinely caring for patients will win the battle any day without giving scope for conflict and aggression. In this document, there is no reference how the rights are secured; but there is a promise that they are secured in every hospital. Patient's rights are protected and secured by State and Federal laws and hospitals who are obliged to protect the privacy of medical information and records. The governments and the hospitals are responsible for protecting all rights of every patient under all the circumstances. Health for life with safety, dignity and privacy and affordable care are the major rights of the patient. Availability of the best information, highest quality care with efficiency focusing on wellness, trained care providers, Clean and safe environment, help with bills and filling insurance claims, latest technology, cutting-edge medical research, well-equipped facilities, freedom of choice without bias and health provision at right time are the rights of all patients. Preparing the patient and the family with proper information and medical necessities too are the rights of the patients. Patient is provided legal help if he or his family members feel that the patient was not cared for. It can result in suspension of care givers and the hospital could be liable to claims. Patients and their families can claim compensation and if the allegations are proved beyond suspicion of willful neglect, care givers could face imprisonment. Patient rights are connected with the caregiver duties. They are supposed to be in touch with the most recent technology and research of continued progress, and it is their duty that patient is given all possible information, medication, and it is patient's right to make his choice. Duties and rights are connected with one another and they form the basic of patient and professional care relationship. Q. 3: Resource allocation is done by the panel of experts and administration after assessing the medical expenses involved. No one person is given the right of making all the decisions. Usually all the caring professions are involved before the allocation is made. Advisory committees are involved with the decision making on resource allocation and it is not an

Virtual Local Area Networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Virtual Local Area Networks - Essay Example Ns, properties of LANs and broadcast domains, the advantages of using VLANs compared with older router based networks and finally discuss the situations in which VLANs are not appropriate or indispensable. Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) is a logical group of workstations, servers and network devices that share the same broadcast domain without need to be geographically located in the same area (Chowdhury and Boutaba, 2009). This means that the network administrator can logically divide the LAN into different VLANs each with its own broadcast domain instead of having one broadcast domain shared between all devices in the network. For instance, an organization with different physically separated departments can segment its network into multiple VLANs based on the departments for special purposes. Hence, only hosts that belong to the same particular VLAN can exchange data or share network resources. In addition, different VLANs can communicate only through a router which has to be connected to both of them, hence reduced congestion of traffic in the network that originates from a broadcast frame (Hartpence, 2011). Therefore, splitting a network into VLANs boost the performance, securi ty and reduce the clogging on a large LANs (Yadav et al., 2013). The enhancement of today’s Virtual LAN has been achieved through different stages. According to (Cullen, 2001) the development of LAN switches began in 1990; bridges were used as a layer 2 devices to segment networks and to solve the consumption of bandwidth used in broadcast traffic. After that, it was replace by segmenting networks at layer 3 using a number of routers between segments and a chain of hubs inside each segment to forward frames between devices (Hartpence, 2011). The problem of using hubs is that, it deals with all frames as a broadcast frame and forward incoming frames to all devices in the shared segment. Therefore, the increased number of hosts in each segment leads to increased demand of bandwidth

Educational Enquiry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Educational Enquiry - Essay Example In regards, to appointments and work experience it is evident from the curriculum vitae that Ball has held various key positions in numerous institutions that are largely academically or educationally oriented. The academic qualifications and work experience of Ball helps in understanding his evolving position because of the fact that he has had a long participation or involvement with the education sectors that are even beyond the borders of the United Kingdom and his positions in the two papers talks about the evolutions that are being witnessed within the education sector. For example, in the position paper that he published in 2011 he talks about creating a new research agenda for educational leadership and policy, and this can be well understood from the previous research studies that he had written and contributed to, which alluded to a pending shift on the English education policy. The main points presented in the Ball’s 2011 article that was titled â€Å"A new researc h agenda for educational leadership and policy† To begin with, Ball (2011) wrote the article with primary intent to bring to the attention of researchers in the field of leadership and education policy about the new emerging research issues and the pertinent research questions that could help in understanding these emerging research issues in the English education policy. Therefore, the arguments presented by Ball (2011) in this article were mainly geared for use by researchers in the field of leadership and education policy but it could be applied further to researchers in other countries. At the start, Ball (2011) acknowledged the fact that there has been some changes and development in the English educational policy, which have lead to a subsequent change in the way learners are educated and even the way learning institutions are managed. Therefore, it is for this reason that there needs to be a radical change in the approach through which research studies are conducted on the English education policy so as to address pertinent problems and come up with solutions that are in tandem with the changed or the newly formed education landscape. From a wider perspective, it is can be stated that Ball (2011) was advocating for a paradigm shift on the research methodology that is normally applied by researchers in the field of leadership and educational policy since there is need to develop new research skills, data collection tools, and also exploit news locations for obtaining research questions. Ball (2011) suggested that the new research methodology that should be adopted by the researchers should integrate business and financial analysis, which means that the researchers should become conversant with the analytical analysis of an education policy from a business and financial perspective. This new research approach is promoted by the fact that the education sector has in the recent past witnessed increased incorporation of commercial players who were prev iously confined to the private school sector and thus, there is need to look at the education policy from the financial/ money side. According to Ball (2011), one of the key research issues that researchers should critically consider on English Educational Policy is the leadership within learning institut

Public relation strategy of AUstralia Federal Election Essay

Public relation strategy of AUstralia Federal Election - Essay Example has made use of considerable public relations tools, including new media forums such as Twitter and Facebook, offering both candidates more exposure in a large variety of different voter markets. This paper describes the key messages from both candidates, from Gillard’s focus on improving progressivism and touting feminist values as well as Abbott’s more conservative policies on health care, environmentalism, and immigration. Both Gillard and Abbott have their own, unique perspectives on how best to move Australia forward should they be elected the new Prime Minister. Julia Gillard is often portrayed by Australian society and multiple media outlets as being far too dedicated to the interests of the Labor party, proposing upcoming policies centred around monetary needs over that of the tangible needs of the Australian people. This is interesting criticism considering the socialistic values traditionally found in those characterized as centre-left. Gillard’s top priorities as Prime Minister include first economic growth, the improvement of education, and building national pride and confidence in the 21st century (Kearney, 2010). In fact, said Gillard in a recent interview, â€Å"Keeping the economy strong so that people can get the benefits of work† was her main goal (Kearney, 2010, p.1). Gillard has also been criticized significantly for her lack of religious conviction, this being a self-proclaimed atheist, which has created concern with the country’s Church leaders and faithful citizens with strong religious principles. Despite this criticism for her values related to religion, Gillard attempts to reinforce her stern respect for these institutions when stating, â€Å"My history has been to be a big supporter. In terms of the work that the Catholic church does, that other churches†¦do in our society, I am a big respecter† (theage.com.au, 2010, p.2). This is a public relations effort to reinforce her values about the value of diversity and religious faith

Educational Enquiry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Educational Enquiry - Essay Example In regards, to appointments and work experience it is evident from the curriculum vitae that Ball has held various key positions in numerous institutions that are largely academically or educationally oriented. The academic qualifications and work experience of Ball helps in understanding his evolving position because of the fact that he has had a long participation or involvement with the education sectors that are even beyond the borders of the United Kingdom and his positions in the two papers talks about the evolutions that are being witnessed within the education sector. For example, in the position paper that he published in 2011 he talks about creating a new research agenda for educational leadership and policy, and this can be well understood from the previous research studies that he had written and contributed to, which alluded to a pending shift on the English education policy. The main points presented in the Ball’s 2011 article that was titled â€Å"A new researc h agenda for educational leadership and policy† To begin with, Ball (2011) wrote the article with primary intent to bring to the attention of researchers in the field of leadership and education policy about the new emerging research issues and the pertinent research questions that could help in understanding these emerging research issues in the English education policy. Therefore, the arguments presented by Ball (2011) in this article were mainly geared for use by researchers in the field of leadership and education policy but it could be applied further to researchers in other countries. At the start, Ball (2011) acknowledged the fact that there has been some changes and development in the English educational policy, which have lead to a subsequent change in the way learners are educated and even the way learning institutions are managed. Therefore, it is for this reason that there needs to be a radical change in the approach through which research studies are conducted on the English education policy so as to address pertinent problems and come up with solutions that are in tandem with the changed or the newly formed education landscape. From a wider perspective, it is can be stated that Ball (2011) was advocating for a paradigm shift on the research methodology that is normally applied by researchers in the field of leadership and educational policy since there is need to develop new research skills, data collection tools, and also exploit news locations for obtaining research questions. Ball (2011) suggested that the new research methodology that should be adopted by the researchers should integrate business and financial analysis, which means that the researchers should become conversant with the analytical analysis of an education policy from a business and financial perspective. This new research approach is promoted by the fact that the education sector has in the recent past witnessed increased incorporation of commercial players who were prev iously confined to the private school sector and thus, there is need to look at the education policy from the financial/ money side. According to Ball (2011), one of the key research issues that researchers should critically consider on English Educational Policy is the leadership within learning institut

The reader Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The reader - Essay Example This is true with respect to The Reader as well. While the movie certainly deserves its acclaim, especially on its technical aspects, there are crucial differences between the two versions. This essay will argue that the movie The Reader fails to capture the central thrust and focus of the novel in terms of capturing the personalities and thoughts of Hanna and Michael in their entirety. As a result of this deviation, it would stand second to the novel in terms of its aesthetic and moral significance to the audience. When evaluating the novel, one has to see it in the context of the burgeoning body of holocaust literature that has been published in the last sixty years. Rather than dealing in dichotomies of good and evil in the characters of Hanna and Michael, Bernhard Schlink does present a nuanced view of the questions confronting an entire generation of Germans post holocaust. While the work of art provides an entry point for further exploration of the moral aspects of the holocaust, it is simultaneously a statement on the limitations of the written word to convey and elicit comprehensive responses. To the extent that this is an accepted fact, not just applicable to the lead characters of The Reader, but for the Novel in general, the author does a satisfactory job of perceiving and probing answers to these tough questions. In other words, the Bernhard Schlink novel succeeds in meeting its set objectives. This is further borne by the fact that the book was translated into 37 languages and incl uded in the curricula of several graduate courses. To take the above mentioned assessment a little deeper, let us take a specific example. Early in the narrative of the novel we come across this memorable piece of writing (the narrator is the young Michael Berg): â€Å"As she was reaching for the other stocking, she paused, turning towards the door, and

Impact of Social Class on Australians’ Life Chances Essay Example for Free

Impact of Social Class on Australians’ Life Chances Essay Sociologists will define class as categories in the society which are based on income, status, or the way they are viewed by the society. A Marxist analysis on the other hand features on the level of influence an individual has on the means of production. Matthews (2007) further defines a capitalist class which he says that it is the class that owns and controls most of the productive capital in the society. He says that in Australia, this class amounted to 5 % of the entire population in the year 1998. Theories have been developed about class that has resulted to numerous and conflicting ideas and researchers had to shift from using class as a theoretical framework for research. The dismissal of class analysis of various societal institutions as dogmatic, and ideological led McLaren Farahmandpur to state that â€Å"matters of class power are sanitized and its powerful effects on the life chances of working-class students is denuded or made invisible,† (Pearce, Down Moore 2008, para. 2). In Australia, about two thirds of the population is in the working class. These are people whose only productive asset is the ability to work. They sell their labour power to their employers who can range from the state, individual capitalists among others, in order to receive a wage which will enable them make ends meet. Another popular class is the middle class which can be said to be composed of individuals who own small businesses. They rely on their own labour power to produce output. They are however being driven away and into bankruptcy by large capital firms. There still exists the ruling class; they carry more social weight and power than the rest of the citizens. They have a direct influence on economic policies being developed in the nation. They support politicians and government, politically and financially. The state can also be categorized in this class as it is responsible for making and implementation of the law (Matthews 2007). Impact to Education There exists inequality in the access of university education, underachievement in education correlates negatively with the social class. Children from low-income families have limited access to educational resources. Their parents rarely get enough time to help them with their day to day challenges at school as they are so much occupied in their work places. They work even over time in order to sustain their families. Some parents in the working class lack education and therefore they would be of little help to help their children in doing their homework, they would also not be in a position to afford employing tutors and this affects their children’s education (Taylor Fraser 2003). Expectations on the working-class students are that they should conform to the middle-class. They thus seek to achieve this status and power mostly not for their own gain but in order to improve the life chances of others in the similar background. They are more focused in giving back to the community in which they originated rather than seeking their improvement in form of class status. A strong sense of solidarity is evident in these students as they have an increased desire to use their qualifications and professional status to achieve a better life for themselves and others who are like them. They have a passion to bridge the gap between the two classes which they believe that a lot has still to be done as the inequality gap is too large (Lins-Dyer Nucci 2007). The discriminatory education system has unquantifiable damages that are done to individuals and the society at large. People have been left behind in the system, others have been discouraged while yet a quite good proportion has been excluded from the system. It would not be unrealistic to claim that social and economic damage is being done through educational discrimination. When â€Å"Professor Janet McCalman analysed the places where those in the Australian who’s who 1988 went to school,† it was clear that these leaders in business professions and politics went to the older private schools (Moorhouse 2010, p. 1). McGregor (1997), views being in the working-class as being equal to being underprivileged, he asserts that people in this class earn and own less, their access to life privileges is minimal as they have poorer education and other goods from the society. In general, the opportunity that they have for good life is such minimal that with a very small degree of error, we can claim that equal opportunity does not exist in Australia. Impact to Health It is no wonder that health outcomes really vary with the social class. The characteristics of different social classes can be depicted by a view on Morbidity and mortality rates. The lower class shows a greater array of lower mortality rates and greater health problems (Greig, Lewins White, 2003). These differences are very clear and distinct at birth and throughout the human life cycle. Henry (2001) identifies domains in which health disparity issues differ by the social class. They include psychological domain which contains norms habits, and behavioural intentions. The other is listed as behavioural constraints which include economic resources and situational effects. Physical influences that include physiological stress, genetic dispositions and environmental conditions Behavioural constraints involve barriers that prevent one from engaging in health promoting behaviour. These inhibitors are listed by Henry (2001) as economic resources and situation constraints. Economic resources inhibitors are financial limitations that prevent individuals from obtaining health facilities goods, while situational constraints are factors that limit the access to these health facilities. They range from lack of adequate health facilities in the community, poor transportation or lack of proper time management in the utility of such services. Physical influences on the other hand are the conditions which impact physiological health directly. He groups them into environmental conditions, physiological stress and genetics A decline in the health is observed as one move down the classes. The middle class  Public awareness and educational programs can be developed to ensure that health equality is maintained. Social class has taken a critical point in the studies of health, the coronary heart disease for instance had been considered as a disease for the upper class. On the other hand, the lower class (working-class) have been found to have prevalent lower life expectancy, higher mortality rates and increased mental disorders. Inequality in income brings about psychosocial stress which is a factor that increases the mortality rate; it has become apparent that mental illness prevalence has been found among the working class. A direct relationship has been identified to exist between poverty and increase in emotional disturbance. This has led to an increase of psychiatric disorders, drug and alcohol dependence on the working class (Murali Oyebode 2004). According to The Demography of Medical Schools, 59% of applicants in medical school usually come from high social classes. This makes us suspect that a discriminatory rule is being used in the medical institutions. However, admissions procedures in these schools seem to favour certain social classes in comparison to others. Requirements such as previous experience in a hospital are being considered for some medical school administration. This curtails the number of students enrolling to such schools as it proves cumbersome to attain such qualifications for most people in the working class. The access to opportunities has been limited for many students and this explains the reason why such patterns of students’ enrolment are being reflected (The Medical News 2004). The nature of the working class has really changed in Australia with over 65% of the work force being employed in the white-collar jobs. In fact if by defining the working-class as those who have not attended university education, then it can be said that Australia has graduated to the middle-class. It is surprising to note that the vast majority of white-collar jobs holders are part of the working-class. They have less control of their work which is even lower than that of blue-collar workers, consequently implying lower wages (Castles 1994). It is very clear that in Australia class has direct consequences on lifestyle. It affects the access to education and status attainment. A child raised in middle-class is more likely to end up in this middle class and the trend would be similar for a child raised in the middle-class. As we move up the social class, we are able to meet better health, education and other social facilities, which are transmitted to children. The trend thus seems to be perpetuated to future generations. A research conducted by Taylor and Fraser (2003) indicates the existence of a gap between children living in the different classes. The working class end up having stress in Parents relationships as they are unable to provide impeccable opportunities for their children. Children have in fact confessed that class is a factor that lead to social seclusion in academic life, and a contributing factor for educational disadvantage. Life’s chances are in this case affected by the mere fact that one belongs to a certain class that is either favoured or not by circumstances that prevail in the society. In Australia the government together with other institutions should be concerned and implement policies that would narrow the gap that exist between the various social classes. Such policies should focus on issues of adequate family income which will ensure that families have adequate resources to cater for the needs of their children and provide adequate opportunities for them, the welfare of workers should also be taken care of to ensure that each worker gets adequate time to attend to the family needs. In the school setting, policies should be developed to ensure that educational disadvantage has been reduced, and the cost of public education to be maintained as low as possible, to offer equal opportunities for children in all classes.  Affordable assistance should be accorded to specific children with learning difficulties in order to enhance excellence at all levels (Taylor Fraser 2003). Conclusion In conclusion it is very clear that Australia is faced with inequalities and other factors that enhance or inhibit opportunities that are available to children growing in this nation. There exists a challenge which should be looked at by all the policy makers in private and public enterprises, in order to ensure that the life chances of the children are not affected unfairly by the mere fact of belonging to a certain class.

Dss Analysis And Decision Support System Information Technology Essay

Dss Analysis And Decision Support System Information Technology Essay Abstract During our study and research on DSS we came to mutual agreement that DSS is an ever evolving domain. Lot of research has been carried out on the usage of DSS in many different domains especially in Clinic. But we found that research on the DSS System as a whole (regardless of which domain) has not been conducted many times in the past. Based on the initial study we have identified the following problems 1. There is no universally accepted definition for DSS, 2. There have been a many reports of failure of DSS systems. In the research paper below we have tried to define DSS system based on the Characteristics and the Targeted users. Paper also covers the decision making process, the decision analysis cycle, Framework of DSS which form the base of the DSS. We have also made an attempt to formulate the Critical success factors of the DSS and Reasons for the failure of DSS. We have tried to collect most of our data through secondary research which involves collating of data from existing research documents and books.   In 1960 J. C. R. Licklider wrote a paper on his observation of how the interaction between man and computer can improve the quality and competency in recognizing and problem solving. His paper proved to be like a guide to many future researches on DSS. In 1962 with use of hypertext online system helped in storage and retrieval of documents and creation of digital libraries. SAGE (Semi Automatic Ground Environment) built by Forrester is probably the first data driven computerized DSS. In 1964 Scott Morton built up an interactive model driven management decision system which could help managers make important management decisions. In 1970 John D.C. Little noted that the requirement for designing models and system to make a management decision was completeness to data, simplicity, ease of control and robustness, which till date are relevant in improving and evaluating modern DSS. By 1975, he built up a DSS called Brandaid which could support promotion, advertising, pricing and product r elated decisions. In 1974 the focus was on giving managers with information which was from accounting and transaction processing system with use if MIS(Management Information Systems) but MIS was found to not helping out managers with making key decisions. Hence in 1979 Scott Morton and Gorry argued that MIS just primarily focused on structured decisions and hence the system which also supports unstructured and semi-structured decision should be termed as Decision support systems. Gorry and Scott Morton coined the phrase DSS in 1971, about ten years after MIS became popular. (David Arnott, An Analysis of Decision Support Systems Research, p.1) Decision support system now-a-days are critical for the daily operation and success of many organizations. Due to which there is a huge investment being made on development, customization, implementation and upgradation of these systems. Despite the rapid growth of information technology over the past decade, the success of Decision Support System remains questionable due to the lack of insufficient studies on the outcomes. As David Arnott and Gemma Dodson stated in Decision Support System Failure (David Arnott, Gemma Dodson, p.1) The development of a decision support system is a risky affair. The Volatile task environment and dynamic nature of managerial work means that DSS Projects are prone to Failure. As per David Arnott and Gemma Dodson definition above its very important to understand why organization take such a big risk and invest in a Decision support system. (Efraim Turban, Ramesh Sharda, Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 8th Edition, p.12) Some of the factors why company use DSS Systems suggested by Efraim and Ramesh are: Speedy Computation Improved Communication and Collaboration Increase Productivity of group members Improved data management Managing Giant Data warehouses Quality Support Agility Support Overcoming cognitive limits in processing and storing information The paper here deals with the study of how decision analysis happens in DSS, Problems and there types, Why DSS are required or implemented by organization, Decision making process, Types of DSS, Reason for the failure of DSS, Critical success factor of DSS. Activities that require decision making form a set or a group of problems, varying from structured problem to unstructured problem. As Simon States The boundary between well structured and ill structured problems is vague, fluid and not susceptible to formalization.  (The structure of ill structured problems, 1973, Herbert A. Simon) the Decision making process, decision made and the style of making decision can be influenced by the personality of the individual and their cognitive style, and which is one of the major reasons for different decision aids being sought. (Management Information System 8/E Raymond McLeod, Jr. and George Schell) Decision types in terms of problem structure: Structured problems can be solved with algorithms and decision rules. A structured decision can be defined as one in which three components of a decision-the data, process, and evaluation. Structured decisions are made on a regular basis in business environments. If a rigid framework is placed for the decision making process it helps to solve the problem. Unstructured problems have no structure in Simons phases. These decisions have the same components as structured ones-data, process, and evaluation- but there nature is different. For example, decision maker use different set of data and process to reach a decision or goal. In addition, as the nature of the decision is different a few numbers of people within the organization are even qualified to evaluate the decision and to confirm one. Semi structured problems have structured and unstructured phases. Most of the DSS System is focused on Semi Structured decision. Characteristics of this type of decisions of this type are Having some agreement on the data, process, and/or evaluation to be used, Efforts to maintain a level of human-judgement in the decision making process. To determine which Support system is required it is necessary to analyze thoroughly and understand the limitations and ill effects, which the decision maker are manifested with. Apart from which it is also important to understand the objectives of the system. (Management Information System 8/E Raymond McLeod, Jr. and George Schell) Decision Support System Objectives: Efficiency of the system. Making decisions. To support managers, not to replace people. Used when the decision is semi structured or unstructured. Incorporate a database. Incorporate models. It is also important that like any other computer based system the DSS should be: Simple Robust Easy to Use Adaptive Easy to communicate with. Now that we have a brief idea about the type of problems that are faced by the managers and the qualities that the DSS system should pertain understanding the decision making process would give an insight to the how a decision is made. Decision Making: (Administrative Behavior, Herbert Simon, 1947) Herbert Simon in 1947 defines decision as the behavioral and cognitive processes of making rational human choices, that is, decisions. It states that any decision making is a behavioral and cognitive process of making choices from a set of options available. So, it is important for the DSS, to be accurate enough for making a choice from many different options available. To make accurate choices from the options available DSS takes help from constrains defined and the goals that it has to achieve. (Administrative Behavior, Herbert Simon, 1947) Simon states in his journal The human being striving for rationality and restricted within the limits of his knowledge has developed some working procedures that partially overcome these difficulties. These procedures consist in assuming that he can isolate from the rest of the world a closed system containing a limited number of variables and a limited range of consequences. By this Simon mean that people with limited knowledge about a particular task or domain will develop some technique that will help the person to overcome these difficulties. This in a sense defines the basic purpose of DSS system to make help managers with making decision. It is also important to understand the term isolated from the rest of the world, by this Simon meant that the decision should be purely be based on the goals to be obtained and based on the criteria defined it should not come under any other influence. He also formulated a model of decision making. (David Arnott, An Analysis of Decision Support Systems Research, p.1) Simons model of decision-making has been used in DSS research since the fields inception and was an integral component of Gorry and Scott Mortons seminal MIS/DSS framework. (Image Taken from Wikipedia, Figure 1) In Simon model of decision making (Figure 1) there are several phases through which an individual goes through to reach his objectives or goal. Phases of Decision Making as per Simon Model are as follows: Intelligence: Identify reality. Get problem/opportunity understanding. Obtain required information. Design: Make decision criteria. Make decision alternatives. Look for related unmanageable events. Identify the links between criteria, alternatives, and events. Choice: Logically assess the decision alternatives. Make recommended actions that best meet the decision criteria. Implementation: Consider the decision  analysis  and assessment. Evaluate the cost of the recommendations. Have confidence in the decision. Make an implementation plan. Secure required supplies. Set implementation plan into act. Based on the Decision making process by Simon and the problem structure described above we can define the accuracy of decisions can be measured by the following criteria: The methods or technique with which it achieves the desired results or goals; and The efficiency with which the goals and sub goals are obtained. By this we mean members of the organization may focus on the method and technique used to reach to the result or goal, but the administrative management must pay attention to the efficiency with which the desired result was obtained. To understand the efficiency of the decision made it is necessary to analysis the decision made. Decision Analysis in itself is a vast field and deals with many methodologies to measure the efficiency of the decision. Decision Analysis: (Ronald Howard, 1965, Decision Analysis: Applied Decision Theory)Decision Analysis is a discipline which was developed to deal with the challenges of making important decisions which involved handling major uncertainty, long-term targets and complex value issues. Decision Analysis comprises the philosophical, theoritical, methodological, and professional practice necessary to formalize the analysis of important decisions. (Ronald Howard, 1965, Decision Analysis: Applied Decision Theory) Decision analysis is a logical procedure for the balancing of the factors that influence a decision. The procedure incorporates uncertainties, values, and preferences in a basic structure that models the decision. Typically, it includes technical, marketing, competitive, and environmental factors. The essence of the procedure is the construction of a structural model of the decision in a form suitable for computation and manipulation; the realization of this model is often a set of computer programs. Decision-making consists of assigning values on the outcomes of interest to the decision-maker. Thus, decision analysis evaluates the decision-makers trade-offs between monetary and non-monetary outcomes and also establishes in quantitative terms his preferences for outcomes that are risky or distributed over time. Ronald A. Howard in his paper Advances: Foundations of DA Revisited goes on to discuss the Pillars of Decision Analysis The First Pillar: Systems Analysis Systems analysis grew out of World War II and was concerned with understanding dynamic systems. Key notions were those of state variables, feedback, stability, and sensitivity analysis. The field of systems engineering is currently in a state of resurgence. Decision analysis and systems engineering have many complementary features (Howard, 1965, 1973). The Second Pillar: Decision Theory Decision theory is concerned primarily with making decisions in the face of uncertainty. Its roots go back to Daniel Bernoulli (Bernoulli, 1738) and Laplace. Bernoulli introduced the idea of logarithmic utility to explain the puzzle called the St. Petersburg paradox. In the most influential book on probability ever written (Laplace, 1812), Laplace discusses the Esperance mathematique and the Esperance morale. Today we would call these the mean and the certain equivalent. The Third Pillar: Epistemic Probability Jaynes taught that there is no such thing as an objective probability: a probability reflects a persons knowledge (or equivalently ignorance) about some uncertain distinction. People think that probabilities can be found in data, but they cannot. Only a person can assign a probability, taking into account any data or other knowledge available. Since there is no such thing as an objective probability, using a term like subjective probability only creates confusion. Probabilities describing uncertainties have no need of adjectives. This understanding goes back to Cox (2001), Jeffreys (1939), Laplace (1996) and maybe Bayes, yet somehow it was an idea that had been lost over time. A famous scientist put it best over 150 years ago: The actual science of logic is conversant at present only with things either certain, impossible, or entirely doubtful, none of which (fortunately) we have to reason on. Therefore the true logic for this world is the calculus of Probabilities, which takes account of the magnitude of the probability which is, or ought to be, in a reasonable mans mind. (Maxwell, 1850) The Fourth Pillar: Cognitive Psychology In the 1960s few appreciated the important role that cognitive psychology would play in understanding human behaviour. At the time of DAADT, we just did our best to help experts assign probabilities. In the 1970s the work of Tversky, Kahneman, and others provided two valuable contributions. First, it showed that people making decisions relying only on their intuition were subject to many errors that they would recognize upon reflecting on what they had done. This emphasized the need for a formal procedure like decision analysis to assist in making important decisions. The second contribution was to show the necessity for those who are assisting in the probability and preference assessments to be aware of the many pitfalls that are characteristic of human thought. Tversky and Kahneman called these heuristics methods of thought that could be useful in general but could trick us in particular settings. We can think of these as the optical illusions of the mind. An important distinction here is that between descriptive and normative decision-making. Descriptive decision-making, as the name implies, is concerned with how people actually make decisions. The test of descriptive decision-making models is whether they actually describe human behaviour. Normative decision-making is decision-making according to certain rules, or norms, that we want to follow in our decision-making processes. The underlying premise of decision analysis is to distinguish between a good decision and a good outcome. A good decision is termed as logical decision which is based on the information, values, and preferences of the decision-maker. A good outcome is one that benefits the end user. The aim is to arrive at good decisions in all situations which would go on to ensure as high a percentage of good outcomes. But at times it may be observed that even a good decision has achieved a good outcome. But for majority of the situations we may face making good decisions is the best way to ensure good outcomes. A decision can be defined as a choice among alternatives that will yield uncertain futures, for which we have preferences. To explain the formal aspects of decision analysis the image of the three-legged stool shown in Figure 3.1 (Howard, 2000). The legs of the stool are the three elements of any decision: what you can do, the alternatives; what you know, the information you have; and what you want, your preferences. Collectively, the three legs represent the decision basis, the specification of the decision. Note that if any leg is missing, there is no decision to be made. If you have only one alternative, then you have no choice in what you do. If you do not have any information linking what you do to what will happen in the future, then all alternatives serve equally well because you do not see how your actions will have any effect. If you have no preferences regarding what will happen as a result of choosing any alternative, then you will be equally happy choosing any one. The seat of the stool is the logic that operates on the decision basis to produce the best alternative. We shall soon be constructing the seat to make sure that it operates correctly. Decision Analysis provides a formal language for communication for the people involved in the decision-making process. During this, the basis for a decision becomes clear, not just the decision itself. The views may differ on whether to adopt an alternative because individuals possess different relevant information or because they may value the consequences differentlly. Decision analysis Cycle: The professional practice of decision analysis is decision engineering. Creating a focused analysis requires the continual elimination of every factor that will not contribute to making the decision. This winnowing has been a feature of decision analysis since the beginning (Howard, 1968, 1970). Since DAADT, the process has been described as a decision analysis cycle, depicted in Figure 3.4 (Howard, 1984a). The application of decision analysis can be modeled in form of an iterative procedure called the Decision Analysis Cycle. Decision Analysis Cycle: The procedure is divided into three phases: Deterministic phase: the variables affecting the decision are defined and relations between the variables established, the values are assigned, and the importance of the variables is measured upto a acceptable level of certainity. Probabilistic phase: the associated probability assignments on values are derived. We also take into account the assessment of risk preference, which identifies the best possible solution in the face of uncertainty. Informational phase: the results of the first two phases are reviewed to determine the economic value of eliminating uncertainty in each of the important variables in the problem.It is the most important phase among the three because it evaluates in monetary terms to have the perfect information. Decision Support System: There is no universally accepted definition for the DSS system as of now. It is the major reason we have to rely on the Characteristics and Objectives of the DSS to understand the system. Below are a few famous definition for the DSS we would refer to formulate a definition for the system. (Decision Support Systems: An Organizational Perspective, Keen Scott-Morton, 1978) Keen and Scott define DSS as Decision support systems couple the intellectual resources of individuals with the capabilities of the computer to improve the quality of decisions. It is a computer-based support system for management decision makers who deal with semi structured problems. If we correlate the definition from Keen and Morton and Simons definition stating The human being striving for rationality and restricted within the limits of his knowledge has developed some working procedures that partially overcome these difficulties. These procedures consist in assuming that he can isolate from the rest of the world a closed system containing a limited number of variables and a limited range of consequences. We understand that the base of the DSS system is to support the manager. But one of the drawbacks of the definition from Keen and Morton is that they state that the system deals with only semi structured problems but the present DSS system also handles Unstructured and Structured issues. Peter Keen in 1980 defined DSS as Personal System to assist Manager must be built from the Managers perspective and must be based on a very detailed understanding of how the manager makes decision and how the manager organization functions. (Donald R. Moscato, 2004, p.1) In the above definition Peter Keen tries to define DSS in terms of the implementation and customization of DSS and states that it should be done based on Managers perspective, styles of decision making and the organizations function. Drawback with this definition is that it defines DSS as a personnel system and with the introduction of Group DSS and Communication DSS the definition becomes obsolete. Bonczek, Holsapple and Whinston (Foundations of Decision Support Systems, Bonczek, Holsapple and Whinston, 1981, p.19) argued the system must possess an interactive query facility, with a query language that is easy to learn and use. The above definition tries to explain that DSS systems should be interactive and should have a language of its own so that constrains of the decision and the goals can be addressed to the system and is easy to understand and use. (We have stated in the section objectives of DSS). (Daniel J Power, 2001, p.1)Sprague and Carlson (1982) define Decision Support Systems broadly as interactive computer based systems that help decision-makers use data and models to solve ill-structured, unstructured or semi-structured problems. Sparague and Carlson explained the DSS system as an interactive system and which can help managers solve ill-structured, unstructured and semi-structured problem. If you observe the definition is a co-relation of definition provided by Peter Keen, Keen Scott-Morton 1978 and Bonczek, Holsapple and Whinston-1981 by removing there drawbacks. A few more definition that we thought explains DSS are as follows: Marakas in 2002 (Marakas, 2002, p.4) stated the following is a formal definition of DSS: A decision support system is a system under the control of one or more decision makers that assists in the activity of decision making by providing an organized set of tools intended to impose structure on portions of the decision-making situation and to improve the ultimate effectiveness of the decision outcome. Importance of Marakas definition is that it takes into consideration the tools that a manager can use to work with DSS system (can term it as third party tools in some cases) other that the query language or the normal interactive screen of the DSS. From the above example it is pretty clear that to define a DSS not only we will have to study the characteristics and the tools, types of DSS but also the framework of the DSS to select a definition or to define one. (Ralph H. Sprague, Hugh J. Watson, Decision Support System Putting Theory into practice, 3rd edition, 1993, p.4) Characteristics of DSS: They tend to be aimed at the less well structured, underspecified problems that upper level managers typically face. They attempt to combine the use of models or analytic techniques with traditional data access and retrieval function They specifically focus on features which make them easy to use by non-computer people in an interactive mode They emphasize flexibility and adaptability to accommodate changes in the environment and the decision making approach of the user. Framework of DSS: From (Daniel J Powers, 2001, p.1) we come to know that the framework for the Decision support system should be based on the following factors: (by this Daniel J Power meant System should be discussed and explained in terms of four descriptors to maintain better communication:) Dominant Technological Component The Targeted Users Purpose Deployment Technology (Daniel J Powers, 2001, p.1) And the Five generic categories of DSS are: Communication Driven Data Driven Document Driven Knowledge Driven Model Driven decision support system. (Daniel J Powers, 2001, p.1) DSS Deployment technology can be: Mainframe Computers A client server LAN Web Based Architecture Marakas (2002) meant that it is important to understand the type of DSS to determine the best design and approach of a new DSS. In 1976 Steven Alter, a doctoral student created a taxonomy of seven DSS types on Gorry and Scott-Morton framework based on a study of 56 DSSs. In 1980, Steven Alter (Daniel J Power, 2001, p.2) proposed his taxonomy of Decision Support Systems. Alters seven category typology is still relevant for discussing some types of DSS, but not for all DSS. Alters idea was that a Decision Support System could be categorized in terms of the generic operations it performs, independent of type of problem, functional area or decision perspective. His seven types included: File Drawer Systems Data Analysis Systems Analysis Information Systems Accounting and Financial models Representational Models Optimization Models Suggestion Models. Alters first three types of DSS have been called data oriented or data driven; the second three types have been called model oriented or model driven; and Alters suggestion DSS type has been called intelligent or knowledge driven DSS. Importance of Alters Study was: Supports concept of Developing Systems that address particular decisions. Makes clear that DSS need not be restricted to a particular Application Type. Based on Alters study Daniel J Power formulated an expanded framework. The purpose of expanded DSS framework is to help people understand and apply the framework to integrate, evaluate, implement and select appropriate means for supporting and informing decision-makers. Expanded Framework suggested by Daniel J Power (Daniel J Power, Expanded DSS framework, June 2001, p.5) Dominant DSS Component Target Users: Internal / External Purpose: General /Specific Deployment Technology Communications Communications- Driven DSS Internal teams, now expanding to external partners Conduct a meeting or Help users collaborate Web or Client/ Server Database Data-Driven DSS Managers, staff, now Suppliers Query a Data Warehouse Main Frame, Client/ Server, Web Document base Document-Driven DSS Internal users, but the user group is expanding Search Web pages or Find documents Web or Client/ Server Knowledge base Knowledge- Driven DSS Internal users, now Customers Management Advice or Choose products Client/Server, Web, Stand-alone PC Models Model-Driven DSS Managers and staff, now customers Crew Scheduling or Decision Analysis Stand-alone PC or Client/Server or Web (Ralph H. Sprague, Hugh J. Watson, Decision Support System Putting Theory into practice, 3rd edition, 1993, p.4) Three Technology Levels: Specific DSS System which actually accomplishes the work might be called the specific DSS. DSS Generator This is a set of related hardware and software which provides a set of capabilities to quickly and easily build a specific DSS. DSS Tool These are hardware or software elements which facilitates the development of a specific DSS or DSS Generator. Based on the details above we would like to define DSS as DSS can be defined as use of computer application that can help managers, staff members, or people who interact within the organization to make decisions and identify problems by using available data and communication technology. It is also very important to understand the reason for the failure of DSS. And what are the factors that could cause the failure of system and which factors are to be termed as the success factors of DSS. Reason for Failure of DSS System: Despite the benefits that DSS offers the implementation of such system has been limited. Some of the reasons can be the following: Proper evaluation of the DSS preceding and during DSS development. DSS output does not fit the producers decision-making style. Complexity involved while operating the DSS. Post Implementation support. Benefits from these systems are not always realized Other than the above reason few disadvantages of the DSS system are: Over dependency for Decision making Assuming it to be correct. Unanticipated effects Deflect personal responsibilities Information overload. Considering the above reason, to increase the rate of success of DSS implementation and customization, the following factors should be considered and managed. Critical Success Factors of DSS: Hartono (Hartono et al, 2006, p.257) uses the following words to describe their interpretation of Critical Success Factors: Success antecedents are those key factors that organizations can manage so that the management information system is favorably received and the implementation is deemed as successful (Johannes Johansson; Bjorn Gustafson, Critical Success Factors affecting Decision Support System Success, from an end-user perspective,2009, p.1)Johannes Johansson and Bjorn Gustafson identified three factors that significantly affect end-users perceived net benefits, namely Data Quality, Problem Match and Support Quality. (S. Newman1, T. Lynch, and A. A. Plummer; Success and failure of decision support systems: Learning as we go, p.1)The case study HotCross, a DSS under development to evaluate crossbreeding systems in northern Australia, provided evidence of a shift in the development process because greater emphasis was put on the learning process of breeding program design by end-users rather than emphasis on learning how to use the DSS itself. Greater end user involvement through participatory learning approaches (action learning, action research, and soft systems methodologies), iterative prototyping (evolving development processes), as well as keeping DSS development manageable and small in scope, will provide avenues for impr