Exploration Of The Matthew Shepard Event Essay -- Homosexuality Crime

Exploration Of The Matthew Shepard Event The human body is an object in which one lives and the medium through which one experiences oneself and the world. Claims on ideology and space are ultimately vested in the human body, and thus conflicts about belief systems and territory are often contested violently on physical bodies. Gay bodies become entangled in violence when they enter into arenas that combat certain ideas. Gay bashing illustrates incidences all in which bodies experience physical injury. In modern U.S. communities various militant conservatives target homosexuals in "gay bashing." Mathew Shepard's brutal murder in 1998 illustrates a relatively recent incident in which the human body becomes politicized. What is the process by which the pain and death of Shepard's body transform the personal to the political? What does "gay bashing" mean to attackers, victims and their communities? If gay bashing is about violence and being gay is at least partially about sex, then what is the relationship between them? What framework attends to both the sexual and nonsexual activities among contemporary American males? In Between Men, Eve Sedgwick sleds light on the boundaries separating sexual and nonsexual male relationships. According to the author, homosocial and homosexual do not necessarily have to occupy two different, non-overlapping spheres. " 'Homosocial desire', to begin with, is a kind of oxymoron. "Homosocial" is a word . . . [that] describes social bonds between persons of the same sex; it is a neologism, obviously formed with analogy with "homosexual," and just as obviously meant to distinguish from 'homosexual'" (Sedgwick 1985:1). Sedgwick contends that it would be more useful to view homosocial and homosexu... ...riarchy is the right of men to "hit on" women while remaining safe from not being "hit on" by anyone else, especially another man. Patriarchy, imbued with hierarchical meanings, gives heterosexual men something to loose. As practiced in contemporary America, patriarchy uses homophobia as structural support. Gay bashing exemplifies homosocial behavior's contribution to US patriarchy. The human body is both an object in which one lives and a site of political articulation. The struggles within many societies begin and end within the terrain of the human body, which though has no referential meaning becomes embodied by meaning within context that ultimately has a stake in the body. . Works Cited: 1. Kaufman, Moises. 2001. The Laramie Project. New York: First Vintage Books. 2. Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. 1985. Between Men. New York: Columbia University Press.

Thatcher and Blair :: essays research papers

Introduction With the campaign ‘New Labour Because Britain Deserves Better’, it appeared that the new look of the Labour Party was so promising that most Britons have poured their votes for the Labour Party, and Tony Blair and his family moved to stay at the 10th Downing Street. It is said that the New Labour won the election, because they have tried to understand what British people wanted. Like it or not, the New Labour has simply followed Margaret Thatcher’s achievements. Moreover, Tony Blair and his aides have consistently used Thatcherite rhetoric to strengthen his ‘New’ credentials such as the use of ‘No turning back’ and ‘No, no, no.’ (The Guardian, April 20, 1999) Thus, based on the assumption that the Left Wing has adopted the Right Wing policies, this report attempts to find differences and similarities of Mrs. Margaret Thatcher’s and Mr. Tony Blair’s domestic and foreign affairs policies as well as the impacts on Britain. Background The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. Its constitution is partly unwritten and flexible. Also, politics in Britain is a two-party politics, and the system of British government is built around the existence of competing political parties, having distinctive policies and views, particularly The Conservative Party and the Labour Party, which are the dominant parties nowadays. To understand the management policies, it is worth looking into the political philosophy of both rival parties. The Conservative Party The Conservative Party or formally National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations is a right-of-centre political party. It is the heir and continuation of the old Tory Party, members of which began forming Conservation Association after Britain’s first Reform Act of 1832, extended electoral rights to the middle class. Formed by Sir Robert Peel in 1834, the first Conservative government announced the reform of abuse; the importance of law and order and of the police; orderly system of taxation, and the importance of both landed interests and of trade and industry. Among former Conservative Prime Ministers, there are two well-known persons, who shall be mentioned here. Firstly, during World War II, The Conservative Party dominated national office and Winston Churchill (later became Sir Winston) led Britain to victory in 1945. Secondly, Margaret Thatcher (b. 13 Oct 1925) and later being made as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven was the first European and British Prime Minister (1979-1990). Not only did she win three consecutive terms in the 20th century, but she also was Britain’s

Effects of Nurse Staffing on Patients Outcomes Essay

This study focuses on the issue of nursing staffing and its effects on the outcomes of the patients. To begin with, the tem nursing staffing will be defined and followed by a discussion of nursing staffing in relation to the nurses themselves. Nursing staffing levels and their effects on the patient outcomes will also be discussed with regards to morbidity and mortality besides other indicators of patient outcomes, the impact of nursing staffing levels to quality of care as well as an overview of past studies as far as the relationship between nursing staffing levels and the outcome of the patient is concerned. Nursing staffing The term nursing staffing refers to the levels of nurses that are employed at a particular institution. Normally, the nursing staffing levels are measured as ratios of nurses to their patients within their institutions and the higher the ratio, the more preferred as it is thought to mean a better outcome for patients in their care whereas lower ratios are associated with poorer patient outcomes. Nursing staffing and the nurses Nursing staffing has been investigated with the nurses themselves in mind and such studies have included the Schmalenberg and Kramer study of 2009 which sought to establish and assess the factors that influence the perceptions or the opinions of nurses as far as nursing staffing levels are concerned. Nursing staffing has also been studied with regards to the negative effects on the nurses such as nurse burnout and job dissatisfaction such as the study carried out by Aiken et al in 2002. As far as international literature is concerned, most of the studies that look at the impact of nursing staffing on the nurses themselves concentrates on adverse outcomes such as physical injuries, encounters with aggression and violence, sickness and absenteeism, self reports of job satisfaction levels as well as burnout. According to the study by Schmalenberg and Kramer (2009), the nurses’ opinion of their working environment is a strong predictor of their opinions as far as the staffing of their units and of their institutions is concerned. Additionally, the factors that were found to profoundly affect this opinion are the competence of the staff, teamwork, flexible delivery system, and a balance of positions in relation to the needs of the patients that are under their care. The study by Aiken et al in 2002 revealed that there was a higher chance of nurses experiencing job related burnout in hospitals with high Patient nurse ratios. Further, nurses in institutions which had the highest rates of patient to nurse ratios were twice likely to suffer from dissatisfaction from their jobs. These influenced the decisions of nurses to leave their current jobs and thus creating more staffing problems that would lead to more negative patient outcomes. Nursing Staffing and the Patient There are various outcomes that are thought to be directly related to the staffing of nurses in any institution are associated with the patients, such as morbidity mortality, nosocomial infections, falls, pressure ulcers, suicide, and length of hospital stay, medication errors, post operative complications, infection rates and adverse events such as cardiac or respiratory arrests, most of which are negative patient outcomes (Flynn and Mckeown, 2009). There are various studies that have focused on this relationship such as the study by Aiken et al in 2002 however, according to Liang et al (2012); most of these studies have been carried out in western countries. Flynn and Mckeown also studied the relationship between the patient outcome and the nurse staff levels in a bid to identify information that would enable nursing managers to determine the optimum nursing staff levels. The quality of care that is given in nursing homes, which is also an antecedent of the patient outcome has been investigated in studies such as the study done by Castle and Engberg min 2003. Some of the studies that have been used to investigate the relationship between patient mortality as an outcome of nursing staffing levels have been cross sectional and critics have argued that these have failed to include a direct link between staffing and individual patient experiences besides lacking sufficient statistical controls (Needleman et al 2011). One of the patients’ outcomes that have been associated with low levels of nursing staffing is the mortality of patients (Aiken et al 2002). This study was carried out in Pennsylvania hospitals whereby the patients to nurses’ ratio were in the range of 4:1 to 8:1. In the course of the study, 4535 out of 232 342 surgical patients died within thirty days (Aiken et al 2002). This study concluded that four patients less for every nurse would reduce in fewer deaths in the same time and not just in the surgical wards but among all the patients hospitalized in California (Aiken et al 2002). A study by Liang et al in 2012 confirmed the relationship between nursing staffing levels and patient mortality. Cho et al also investigated the relationship between nurse staffing and negative effects such as morbidity, mortality and medical costs. Nurse staffing levels were considered as nursing hours and as nurse proportions and the higher the number of patients that a nurse was supposed to take care of, the higher the rate of mortalities and complications such as atelectasis and pressure ulcers among others in post operative pneumonia patients (2003). This was attributed to the higher than usual demands of taking care of these patients which demanded lower patient to nurse ratios. In yet another study by Kiekkas et al in 2008, the relationship between nursing overload and mortality among intensive care unit patients was investigated whereby the nursing workload was considered the result of total patient care demands and nurse staffing levels. Of the three hundred and ninety six patients who were admitted in the intensive care unit of a Greek Hospital, one hundred and two of them died. The workload of the nurses was found to be significant especially as far as mortality as an outcome was concerned in surgical patients, medical patients, and both groups together which indicated that patient care demands were an important moderator in the course of investigating the relationship between nursing staff levels and mortality (Kiekkas et al, 2008). Staffing of nurses and work environment variables have been assessed with regards to their effects on patient outcomes in a conceptual model by Meyer et al in 2009. The study was carried out in Canadian hospitals in their cardiac and cardiovascular patient units whereby the PCDM together with regression models was tested. PCDM in this case is an acronym for the Patient Care Delivery Model and in addition to confirming the relationship between nurse staffing levels and patients outcomes , the study indicated that patient outcome are also the result of factors associated with patients themselves as well as factors associated with the nurses (Meyer et al, 2009. Additionally, Liang et al established some of the reasons behind the high patient to nurse ratio in Taiwan most prominent of which was the desire of hospitals to control their expenditure but which had negative outcomes for its patients. Flynn and Mckeown in 2009 found out that it was important for nurse managers and others that are involved in the recruitment of nurses to critically examine the common methods that are used for the purposes of determining nursing skill mix as well as staffing levels in their effectiveness in the course of health service organization and delivery. This is in spite of the fact that most studies have been unable to accurately determine or support a minimum level of nurse-patient ratios in various hospitals (Flynn and Mckeown, 2009). Castle and Engberg in 2009 proposed that poor staffing in nursing homes was the result of high rates of turnover among the patients, low staffing levels, low stability levels and low use of agency staff and that poor staffing in nursing homes is accompanied by poor patient outcomes. However, in order to enhance staffing in nursing homes, administrators should focus on all and not just a few select characteristics (Castle and Engberg, 2009). In response to the failure of cross sectional studies to establish or demonstrate a direct link between levels of nursing staffing and patient experiences besides lack of statistical controls, Needleman et al carried out their own study of the nursing staffing levels and the outcomes of the patients in 2011. This study utilized the Cox proportional hazards model and established that the staffing of nurses below the recommended levels was related to patient mortality. Conclusion This study has been a literature review with regards to nursing staffing levels and patient outcomes. The definition of nursing staffing has been defined as well as the effects of nursing staffing on the nurses themselves besides the effects of nursing staffing levels on the patient outcomes. This has been done with various studies that have been done in the past concerning the subject.

Modern Frankenstein Essay

In today’s society there are many people that could be considered as ‘modern Frankensteins’. Scientists have made it possible for us to choose the sex of our child by gender selection, clone sheep-remember Dolly the Sheep? And of course, let us not forget the huge growth in cosmetic surgery. Have today’s scientist’s, like Frankenstein, gone too far in trying to create the perfect human? The following video charts Michael Jackson’s ever increasing cosmetic surgeries. This world renowned superstar wanted to have the ‘perfect’ face and science made this possible. But did they go too far? Based on this video and the text, is there a danger in wanting to achieve ‘perfection’? Do these forms illuminate the dangers of becoming ‘Godlike’ by changing your physical appearance (which is God given) and by creating life? Is Michael Jackson now the ‘modern monster’? He like Frankenstein’s Monster is isolated and not understood because of his frightening and grotesque appearance, but there is the underlying need for acceptance in a society that is very much focused on looks. Whilst you’re watching this video I want you to think about the following things and be able to complete the attached questionnaire. Parallels that can be drawn between Frankenstein and today’s scientists: Both are actively playing with life. Both wanting to achieve the ideal. Parallels between Michael and the Monster The Monster was created to be an ‘angel’ but his appearance did not match his personality. Frankenstein made a gross oversight by not making his creation look angelic, and as a result, he was marginalised, hated, feared, abused, taunted and unloved by society. Similarly, Michael has made himself a social outcast and extremely isolated by having too much cosmetic surgery. Both are products of maybe the extremes of the successful advances in science-science used in the wrong way but for good reasons. It is said on the video of Michael Jackson’s father Joe Jackson ‘that he wanted to create the right thing but did this in the wrong way. ‘ Much like Frankenstein. Both Michael Jackson and The Monster are concerned with acceptance. They have an overwhelming need for this because both want a life filled with peace, love and kindness, yet because of the way they look, this is almost impossible. Would you consider Michael Jackson to be a Monster based on his appearance? Would you consider Frankenstein’s Monster as a monster based on our understanding of what a Monster is and on what you have read? Do you have any sympathy for the Monster because he found it difficult to be kind and loving because he was met with so much hate because of how he looked? Do you think that the cosmetic surgeon who worked on Michael Jackson went too far? Is being a Monster based on one’s appearance or one’s personality? Think about comparing The Monster or Michael Jackson to someone like Hitler who did monstrous things? Think about whether you judge people based on their looks? Have you ever misjudged someone by doing this? Questions Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

Differentiation Strategies of Gm

Differentiation strategies are not about pursuing uniqueness for the sake of being different. Differentiation is about understanding customers and how GM ‘s product can meet their needs. To this extent, the quest for differentiation advantage takes us to the heart of business strategy. The fundamental issues of differentiation are also the fundamental issues of business strategy: Who are GM ‘s customers? How does GM create value for them? And how does GM do it more effectively and efficiently than anyone else? Because differentiation is about uniqueness, establishing differentiation advantage requires creativity – it cannot be achieved simply through applying standardized frameworks and techniques. This is not to say that differentiation advantage is not amenable to systematic analysis. As have observed, there are two requirements for creating profitable differentiation. On the supply side, GM must be aware of the resources and capabilities through which it can create uniqueness (and do it better than competitors). On the demand side, the key is insight into customers and their needs and preferences. These two sides form the major components of our analysis of differentiation. In analyzing differentiation opportunities, GM can distinguish tangible and intangible dimensions of differentiation. Tangible differentiation is concerned with the observable characteristics of a product or service that are relevant to customers’ preferences and choice processes. These include size, shape, color, weight, design, material, and technology. Tangible differentiation also includes the performance of the product or service in terms of reliability, consistency, taste, speed, durability, and safety. Image differentiation are especially important for those products and services whose qualities and performance are difficult to ascertain at the time of purchase (â€Å"experience goods†). These include cosmetics, medical services, and education. By offering uniqueness in its offerings, GM may inevitably target certain market niches. By selecting performance, engineering, and style as the basis on which BMW competes in the automobile industry, it inevitably appeals to different market segments than does VW. To the extent that differentiation is imitated by other companies, the result can be the creation of new market segments. During the 1990s, General Motors’ segmented marketing strategy that targeted each brand on a specific price bracket and particular socioeconomic category ran into increasing problems as US customers showed less and less identification with the segments GM had defined for them. Demand analysis identifies customers’ demands for differentiation and their willingness to pay for it, but creating differentiation advantage also depends on a firm’s ability to offer differentiation. To identify the firm’s potential to supply differentiation, we need to examine the activities the firm performs and the resources it has access to. Pros and cons A strategy use by GM to seek competitive advantage through uniqueness (develop goods and services that are clearly different from those made available by the competitors)This strategy requires organizational strengths in marketing, research and development, technological leadership and creativity . They provide good services to the customer which services are different from other organization . G. M. is a multinational corporation engaged in socially responsible operations, worldwide. It is dedicated to provide products and services of such quality that our customers will receive superior value while our employees and business partners will share in our success and our stock-holders will receive a sustained superior return on their investment These days, GM realize how important it is to have employees trained in good customer service skills working in their contact center if they want to enhance their reputation. For example training staff in problem solving and the ability to multi task in areas such as navigating complex databases and switching between different computers to find information for the caller is now becoming a routine function in a modern contact center. It is therefore an advantage for call center employees in today’s workplace to have the ability to think quickly on their feet so they can deal quickly with involved information while working under pressure. GM also providing Transportation Services: Here GM aim at providing top nick transportation services to the customers and satisfy them to maximum extent. GM know that a delay in shipping the freights can cause considerable loss to the clients and the business, therefore on-time delivery is extremely important to us. The network of truck agents which are located at all over the booking points ensure that your consignments reach to its final destination in full secured mode, GM also gratify to all your transportation needs by providing you door-to-door Pick Up & Delivery Transportation services.

HIPAA, CIA & Safeguards Essay

First enforcement action resulting from HITECH Breach Notification Rule Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee (BCBST) has agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) $1,500,000 to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules, Leon Rodriguez, Director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), announced today. BCBST has also agreed to a corrective action plan to address gaps in its HIPAA compliance program. The enforcement action is the first resulting from a breach report required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act Breach Notification Rule. The investigation followed a notice submitted by BCBST to HHS reporting that 57 unencrypted computer hard drives were stolen from a leased facility in Tennessee. The drives contained the protected health information (PHI) of over 1 million individuals, including member names, social security num bers, diagnosis codes, dates of birth, and health plan identification numbers. OCR’s investigation indicated BCBST failed to implement appropriate administrative safeguards to adequately protect information remaining at the leased facility by not performing the required security evaluation in response to operational changes. In addition, the investigation showed a failure to implement appropriate physical safeguards by not having adequate facility access controls; both of these safeguards are required by the HIPAA Security Rule. â€Å"This settlement sends an important message that OCR expects health plans and health care providers to have in place a carefully designed, delivered, and monitored HIPAA compliance program,† said OCR Director Leon Rodriguez. â€Å"The HITECH Breach Notification Rule is an important enforcement tool and OCR will continue to vigorously protect patients’ right to private and secure health information.† In addition to the $1,500,000 settlement, the agreement requires BCBST to review, revise, and maintain its Privacy and Security policies and procedures, to conduct regular and robust trainings for all BCBST employees covering employee responsibilities under HIPAA, and to perform monitor reviews to ensure BCBST compliance with the corrective action plan. HHS  Office for Civil Rights enforces the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. The HIPAA Privacy Rule gives individuals rights over their protected health information and sets rules and limits on who can look at an d receive that health information. The HIPAA Security Rule protects health information in electronic form by requiring entities covered by HIPAA to use physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to ensure that electronic protected health information remains private and secure. The HITECH Breach Notification Rule requires covered entities to report an impermissible use or disclosure of protected health information, or a â€Å"breach,† of 500 individuals or more to HHS and the media. Smaller breaches affecting less than 500 individuals must be reported to the secretary on an annual basis. Individuals who believe that a covered entity has violated their (or someone else’s) health information privacy rights or committed another violation of the HIPAA Privacy or Security Rule may file a complaint with OCR at: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/index.html. The HHS Resolution Agreement can be found at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/enforcement/examp les/ resolution_agreement_and_cap.pdf. Additional information about OCR’s enforcement activities can be found at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/enforcement/examples/index.html.

Gestalt in Counseling and Therapy Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gestalt in Counseling and Therapy - Article Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that officially originated by Max Wertheimer and his two students Wolfgang Kà ¶hler and Kurt Koffka, â€Å"gestalt is a German word, which means organized whole, form, shape and pattern. There is a basic premise that the organized whole is greater than the sum of its parts†. â€Å"†¦ It accentuates concepts like emergent properties, holism, and context† as applied in its several varied â€Å"organizing principles called gestalt laws†. The fundamental of which is the law of prà ¤gnanz that says: â€Å"we are innately driven to experience things in as good a gestalt as possible, [where] ‘good’ can mean many things†¦ such as, regular, orderly, simplicity, symmetry, and so on, which they refer to specific gestalt laws†. Most common of which is the law of proximity, where â€Å"†¦ elements tend to be grouped together depending on their closeness†; the law of similarity, where â€Å" elements will be grouped perceptually if they are similar to each other†; the law of symmetry, where â€Å"symmetrical areas tend to be seen as figures against asymmetrical backgrounds"; the law of closure, where â€Å"items are grouped together if they tend to complete a pattern†; and the law of continuation where â€Å"the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object†. But, most of all, â€Å"gestalt theory is well known for its concept of insightful learning [as shown in] solving a problem by means of the recognition of a gestalt or organizing principles†.