Marks and Spencer Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Marks and Spencer - Case Study Example The other products that are sold by the company include; flowers, hampers and drinks such as wine. The company offers financial services to its customers like providing account cards, personal loans, unit trusts managements, life assurance schemes as well as pension policies to its customers. The company is subdivided into three divisions and they are United Kingdom's retail, International retail and the financial services division (Megone, and Robinson, 2002). In the United Kingdom's retail division, the management sells different kinds of merchandise .This division is sub divided into business units' that include; women's wear, men's wear, children's wear, beauty items, home furnishings as well as food items. The International retail business is categorized into three geographical areas such as; Europe, North America and the Far East. The European international retail business is further on divided into Continental Europe, Republic of Ireland and European franchise businesses. In North America, the group operates two types of businesses such as Brooks Brothers and Kings Supermarkets. The Far East consists of 10 stores that store the products of the company that are later on sold to the customers. The financial services offered by the company to its customers include; account cards, personal loans, unit trusts as well as life assurance and pension policies. The suitable organizational structure for this company is that of the matrix organizational structure. This structure involves arranging its activities according to the employees function and products. The structure can combine the best functions and product structures within an organization. Functional organizations are organized according to the technological disciplines. A functional manager is normally appointed so as to allocate the resources within the organization in the appropriate way .The coordination of activities can be undertaken through following the laid down procedures, detailed specifications, and ensuring that meetings are held on a regular basis. Products that require specialized knowledge consists of functional organized structures. On the other hand, a product manager is charged with the responsibility of coordinating the product creation activities through liaising with the functional representatives of the organization. The major tasks of the product manager are to collect information, solve conflicts and enhance the facilitation of objectives of the organization are achieved within a stipulated period of time. The employees are expected to accomplish their tasks as required so as to exploit their potentials as well as be in a position to increase the sales returns of the company. They are also expected to understand the factors that have been hindering them from accomplishing the tasks that have been assigned to them. The importance of this kind of structure is that the management of the company can be in a better position to focus on the market segment thus be in a position to meet the needs of the customers with ease. There is also an element of competition between the divisions as they try to achieve the objectives that have been set for them to meet within a stipulated period of time.The divisions within the organization can be controlled with ease since they act on different profit centers of the organization. Marks and Spencer Company sells different kinds of products to the customers thus the product manag

Assignment on Business Strategy Essay Example for Free

Assignment on Business Strategy Essay Assignment on Business Strategy 1 . Evaluate a company of your choices Mission statement in the light of the 3 components of any Mission Statement. Also use the Abel framework to evaluate the business definition that this mission statement drives. Ans. ) While a business must continually adapt to its competitive environment, there are certain core ideals that remain relatively steady and provides guidance in the process of strategic decision making. These unchanging ideals from the business vision and are expresses in the company mission statement. The mission statement communicates the firms core deology and visionary goals, generally consisting of the following three components: a. Core values to which the firm is committed b. Core purpose of the firm c. Visionary goals the firm will pursue The firms core values and purpose constitutes its core ideology and remain relatively constant. They are independent of industry structure and the product life cycle. The core ideology is not created in the mission statement; rather, the mission statement is simply an expression of what already exists. The specific phrasing of the ideology may change with the times, but the underlying ideology remains constant. Here is the Coca-Cola Companys mission statement for Stakeholders which is published in Jeffrey Abrahams new book, 101 Mission Statements From Top Companies . The Coca-Cola Promise: The Coca-Cola Company exists to benefit and refresh everyone it touches. The basic proposition of our business is simple, solid, and timeless. When we bring refreshment, value, Joy and fun to our stakeholders, then we successfully nurture and protect our brands, particularly Coca-Cola. That is the key to fulfilling our ultimate obligation to provide consistently attractive returns to the owners of our business. The audience for this mission is specifically for the stakeholder. The values here are stated explicitly: refreshment, value, Joy, fun, and attractive returns. These words were obviously carefully chosen by those who crafted this mission statement. The ultimate obligation of attractive returns is a powerful way to state the companys vision and keeps the values stated in context. A separate mission statement is published on The Coca-Cola Companys website for access by the general public: Everything we do is inspired by our enduring mission: * To Refresh the World in body, mind, and spirit. * To Inspire Moments of Optimism hrough our brands and our actions. * To Create Value and Make a Difference everywhere we engage. These values are consistent with the stakeholder version of the mission: refreshment and value are echoed in addition to inspiration. 2. What does a Business model intend to achieve, and how? Evaluate any company of your choices Business Model in the light of the same. Ans. ) Business Models are simulations of actual business functioning. They act as ideal real life examples, and help participants actively discuss the pros and cons of the situation given. A business Model gives a Full Account of any particular Business Scenario. One has to SWOT analyze the Business Model based on different how it makes money or delivers value, and what it does and does not do. A business model can change throughout the life of business or can be applied to a specific product, or to a nonprofit. It is a more general and concise statement than the business plan, but is still often used to explain the business and its activities to investors, banks or employees. Standard business models are often referred to in shorthand, such as subscription or low-cost leader. As we know a business model is the mechanism by which a business intends to pecify a market offering. It is a summary of how a company plans to serve its customers and specifies its product offering. It mentions both the strategy and methods of implementation. As Amazon. com was being established, the delivery of information, goods, or services to end customers employed one strong business model called the Online Retailers of Physical Goods. This business model takes title to the newly manufactured products that they sell and often rely on third party providers. Like Amazon. com, it needed third party providers, such as Borders and Barnes Noble, to maintain its product supply. When Amazon. om was first launched, Amazon. om was heralded for its feel-friendly culture that drew talented young people to apply for work there and employed smart hiring strategy by hiring the brightest, most intelligent and versatile people. Jeff Bezos wanted people who could share his vision and were willing to work to achieve it. He tried to establish a sense of community due to sharing both hard work and fun with his employees. Although pay was less than market salaries, attractive ownership options were offered. Amazons three operational strategies are 1 . Cost-Leadership Amazon places itself as leader based only on the pricing. It offers the same product quality for lesser price. 2. Customer Differentiation Amazon uses design, quality and convenience as a differentiator which set it apart from its close competitors. 3. Focus Strategies Customer service is the major focus while realizing that each market has its own quirks. Amazon. coms values and philosophy are at the center of the organization. These often determines the success and failure of the enterprise . The other important factors Amazon focuses on are customer satisfaction and operational frugality. These two values complement Amazon. oms operational trategies in achieving and maintaining an effective competitive advantage. Growth Drivers There are four primary drivers for growth: 1. Product focus 2. Customer focus 3. Technology focus 4. Distribution focus Using the above stated strategies, Amazon has managed to place itself in a position of power and success. 3. Use the 5 forces model to analyze and interpret the opportunities and threats that t he industry within which a company operates (of your choice), throws up. Explain how the company plans to capitalise on the opportunities and tackle the threats understanding where power lies in a business situation. It also helps to understand both the strength of a firms current competitive position, and the strength of a position a company is looking to move into. Despite the fact that the Five Force framework focuses on business concerns rather than public policy, it also emphasizes extended competition for value rather than Just competition among existing rivals, and the simpleness of its application inspired numerous companies as well as business schools to adopt its use (Wheelen and Hunger, 1998). * Chez Airlinbe company is not an isolated unit in the world and performs within a market full of other competitors. To be able to evaluate their position on market and to act accordingly they themed the Porters Five Forces Model. This model helped to define and realize their business and its surroundings and identify threats and opportunities to focthem on. They review this model periodically to obtain up-to-date data in this global and turbulent environment. The Porter Model consists of 5 elements which together comprises the environment business operate in. These elements are: suppliers, customers, new entrants, existing competition and the product itself. By assessing every one of these elements they get the whole picture of heir company within the market and the rating helps them target the key areas. They theme the scale of 0-5 to evaluate the policies of each element where O means no policies and 5 very high policies (reffering to the number in the brackets). * 1) Policies of Suppliers As they operate in the areas of services there are no critical commodities having large influence of their everyday service delivery. Therefore this area is not of critical policies in a short run. However, they should not underestimate this element as they wouldnt be able to continue the business in long run without suppliers. f their supply (3) This is a threat in case of the aircraft machines. There are not many reputable airplanes (and airplanes parts) producers and therefore they could have strong policies to control the air travel industry. As for the catering, gift services and other indirect materials there are many fragmented choice and therefore their policies is of almost no significance as they could be replaced quickly. There are no substitutes for the particular input (5) There are no substitutes for planes (in case they want to continue providing air transportation instead of ground routes) and herefore the policies of this element is very high business critical. They could reduce this policies by handling cargo theming the earth services but this might decrease service level they provide to their customers. * The suppliers customers are fragmented, so their bar gaining policies is low (4) There are more than 200 airlines all over the world and despite some alliance organizations (such as IATA) they are all potential competitors. The policies of this element is relatively high as the suppliers could afford losing one customers but the customers cant afford loosing the critical supplier (e. g. Boeing). The switching costs from one supplier to another are high (3) Switching costs in air transport industry are mainly related to the fact of limited airplanes producers and to the machine a company already owns. They theme planes form 3 producers: Airbthem, Boeing and ATR.

Student :: essays research papers

A summary of Into The Wild Through reading Into The Wilds, I have resented a lot of emotions mostly anger. I have never thought that such person would stand in greater instance in relationship to the environmental movement like McCandless until causing his own death. What sense then can we make of this tragedy, and I do believe the death of Chris McCandless was tragic. It is tragic because he confused isolation with solitude. If one seeks escape for its own sake and runs away from the world only because it is intensely unpleasant, then one will not find peace and one will not find solitude. Chris McCandless seemed to be running away, away from people, friends, institutions, and most significantly from living in right relationship with others. He began to turn away from friendships and companions, to espouse unpopular causes and to speak out at every opportunity against oppression and government intervention. He set out on a journey of self-discovery and independence by traveling to the deserts of many states . He walked away from the comfortable surroundings of his home, his family, and his friends, intending to live a solitary life in the desert because he determined that mainstream society does not hold a place for him. And him who went "into the wild" on a journey of self-discovery and illumination, was particularly unique in the attempt to find himself in the wilderness because even he abandon everything such as money clothers and more he realized that he needed those in the deserts in order to survive. During his odyssey, McCandless met and lived with several people whom he considered to be friends. Although he rarely took their advice or accepted any material gifts from them, he seems to have left a lasting impression. To Ron he wrote the following: We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual life style and engage in unconventional living . . . you don't need me or anyone else around to bring this

Causes of the Great War :: World War I History

Causes of the Great War The impact of the First World War is still with us. In many respects the events of modern Europe are a direct result of what happened during World War I. Adolph Hitler himself was a product of the First World War. World War I also gave Russian communists opportunity to overthrow the government in Russia and proclaim communism. The events that took place in "No Mans Land" definetly had an impact on the wars to come. The First World War had many causes. The spark of the Great War was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, soon to be at the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife by a Serbian nationalist, while traveling through Sarajevo. The Archduke was chosen as a target because Serbians feared that after he was at the throne, he would continue the persecution of Serbs living within the Austria-Hungary Empire. The Serbian terrorist organization, the Black Hand, had to carry out the assassination. The Arms Race is the second cause. Britain at that time was the largest empire in the world, and it also had the largest navy. The navy was so big and strong because the British needed to protect their empire and maintain the sea routes between the different colonies. Kaiser William of Germany hated and envied Britain for having a stronger navy than his. He increased the German navy and built many warships. Britain responded with building more ships and increasing its navy too. This started a race for building more and better warships and it created tension and competition between those two countries. The system of alliance were another major cause of the War. There was a feud between France and Germany about controlling the colonies, which leads to a greater conflict, the Great War. Europe at that time was divided into two rival alliance systems: Triple Entente that included Great Britain, France, and Russia and the Triple Alliance, which included the Central Powers of Austria- Hungary, Germany, and eventually the Turkish Empire. In order to balance the power, France and Russia signed an alliance. Russia saw itself as the 'protector of Slavs' in the war, and immediately mobilized. When the war began, the German decision that if they were going to have to fight Russia and France, they would strike at France first according to the Schlieffen Plan, and then turn West to Russia.

Meditation, attention and well-being of college students

Ask any college student today and they would probably say that being in college is one of the most difficult and consuming endeavor that they have had in their lifetime. College life is not only about going to classes, meeting deadlines, writing papers and completing courses. College life is also about developing analytical and critical minds, learning life-skills, building knowledge and applying it to real-life situations.College students need all the help they could get to make their academic lives a little lighter or more manageable. Many self-help books have advocated changing one’s attitude, thinking positively, time-management, building relationships and other methods that one gets a feeling that they do not really provide solutions but just state the obvious. One that has received less attention is in the area of meditation.Literature has found that meditation has positive effects in reducing stress as a relaxation technique. However, meditation has been associated with new age thinking and referred to as spooky stuff that the present generation of college students may not be aware of. Meditation have existed since man first begun creative thinking, it is often referred in religious and spiritual practices. In the early years of psychological investigation, meditation became a popular subject in terms of the experiences that people have when they meditated as well as how it can be an effective relaxation technique.Meditation is being able to become more attuned with one’s inner self and this takes a great deal of directed attention. Attention refers to the ability of the mind or consciousness to attend to a specific area, event, information or thing. Studies on attention have highlighted the detrimental effects of not being able to hold one’s attention, and of how fleeting and short a person’s attention span can be especially in a very complex and stimulus overloaded  environment we have. Directing attention to a single obje ct or thought can be relaxing since it allows the person to be present in the here and now, it was also espoused that training oneself to become more attentive can develop cognitive functioning and thus help in academic performance.College students can benefit in learning and being able to use meditation techniques to cope with the many stresses and anxiety of college life and developing attention skills to further enhance academic performance. It is therefore hypothesized that college students who practice meditation will have a longer attention span and will have higher grades and a more positive mental health and hence increased feelings of well-being.This study will determine if college students who practice meditation techniques on a regular basis have higher attention skills as measured by a behavioral experiment and whether they have more positive feelings of well-being as determined by a well-being inventory.A discussion of meditation and its application into the enhancement of attention, creativity and consciousness is presented to demonstrate the far reaching effects of meditation as a means of aiding college student’s performance in school and their mental health.MeditationMeditation has been defined as process wherein the person achieves an altered sate of consciousness by performing certain rituals and exercises. These exercises include controlling and regulating breathing, sharply restricting one’s field of attention, eliminating external stimuli,  assuming yogic body positions and forming mental images of an event or symbol. The result is a pleasant, mildly altered subjective state in which the individual feels mentally and physically relaxed.Some individuals after extensive meditation practice may have mystical experiences in which they lose self-awareness and gain a sense of being involved in a wider consciousness, however defined. That such meditative techniques may cause a change in consciousness goes back to the ancient time s and is represented in every major world religion. Buddhists, Hindus, Sufis, Jews and Christians all have literature describing rituals that induce meditative states (Arambula, Kawakami, Gibney, 2001).Traditional forms of meditation follow the practices of yoga, a system of thought based on the Hindu religion, or Zen which is derived from Chinese and Japanese Buddhism. The two common techniques of meditation are an opening up meditation and concentrative meditation.  Ã‚   In opening-up meditation the subject clears his/her mind for receiving new experiences while in concentrative meditation the benefits are obtained through actively attending to some object, word, or idea.Experimental studies of meditation provide only limited insight into the alterations of consciousness that a person can achieve when meditative practice and training extend over many years. In his study of the Matramudra, a centuries old Tibetan Buddhist text, Brown (1977) has described the complex training requ ired to master the technique. He has shown that cognitive changes can be expected at different meditative levels. A somewhat commercialized and popular form of meditation has been promoted as transcendental meditation or TM ( Hanley & Spates, 1978) ).The technique is easily learned from a qualified teacher who gives the novice mediator a mantra and instructions on how to repeat it over and over to produce the deep rest and awareness  characteristic of TM. In TM a person develops a reduced state of physiological arousal; feelings such as peace of mind, a feeling of being at peace with the world and a sense of well-being are reported after engaging in TM. In a now classic study on the effect of TM to college students by Hanley & Spates (1978), it was reported that those who were practicing meditation had more positive personalities.In this study, meditation in the form of transcendental meditation (TM) will be used as the meditative process which will be given to college students wh o will participate in this study. The TM is much easier to learn and practice than the traditional forms of mediation and since it produces feelings of peace and well-being that it suits the purpose of this study. Meditation is categorized under altered states of consciousness and since consciousness is the most basic cognitive function that is closely related to attention, the second part of this study is to determine if meditation enhances attention span and accuracy and in effect would lead to greater academic performance.Meditation and AttentionMeditation and attention is unquestionably linked together, meditation is the process by which attention is narrowed and focused on one object or event, and without engaging one’s attention fully to the immediate task, and then nothing will come out of it. Attention must be acutely directed towards the mantra, the breathing of the individual and the experiences one will have during the meditative state. Meditation in effect enhance s the ability of the person to direct attention and when attention is more keen and developed, a person can have better concentration  and can better attend to the critical thinking skills needed in college education (Shear & Jevning, 1999).Attention has been the earliest subject of the study of psychology, cognitive science have provided evidence that attention is physiological, that it is limited but can be expanded to become more acute and enable the person to become more aware of his/her environment, more appreciative of nature and life and it causes a general feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction.Several studies have tried to find evidence that meditation and attention has a relationship. In a study of the effects of opening-up and concentrative mediation to attention in terms of ignoring distractions and focusing attention (Chan, 2003) found that meditation was positively correlated with the ability to direct attention but it was shown that meditation minutes per day was p ositively correlated with decreased distractions and mistakes, the form of mediation used or how may years a person has been meditating did not have any significant relationship with the owner. In a similar study, concentrative and mindfulness motivation was measured in terms of how effective it contributed to the task of sustained attention.The study compared the sustained attention of students who had meditation training to those who did not (Valentine & Sweet, 1999). The study found that those who had meditation techniques scored better in the sustained attention task wherein those who practiced mindfulness meditation had better scores than the concentrative mediators. The practical applications of an enhanced attention that is not affected by distractions and sustained attention can be directed towards improved academic performance of students.Meditation, Attention and Well-being 7Meditation and CreativityA new concept put forward by Sarath (2006) advocated the use of meditation techniques to mainstream classroom instruction as it enriches the learning process and enhances the creative process and consciousness of students. Creativity is highly related to the issue of meditation because the experience associated with meditation is similar to the second person approach wherein the student actually creates and produces an output that would enable him/her to have a deeper understanding of the concepts raised in class (Sarath, 2006).The author had argued that education and learning should be focused on providing actual experience of the lesson, not just learning something in books and not being able to work with it. Creative expression of one’s talent and interests should be the main thrust of the school. At the same time, a more sustained attention and inability to be distracted by external stimuli are necessary steps in the practice of creative thinking.ConclusionMeditation is not just for the spiritual and magical but it is also a positive process to develop attention and induce students to relax and communicate with their bodies and their surroundings. College students have to deal with pressures and expectations that they sometimes feel cranky, anxious and fed up. Meditation as evidenced by the studies conducted showed that it could positively affect attitudes, attention span and resistance to distractions. Meditation also has been found to be a medium that could enhance the learning process and encourage creativity. As such, this study has found evidence to support the hypothesis mentioned in the first part.Meditation, Attention and Well-being 8ReferencesArambula, P., Kawakami, M., & Gibney, K.   (2001). The physiological correlates of KundaliniYoga meditation: A study of a yoga master. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 26; 2, pp. 47-53.Brown, D.P. (1977). A model for the levels of concentrative meditation. InternationalJournal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 25; 4: 236-273.Chan, D.P. (2003). Effects of medi tation to attention, Unpublished dissertation. University ofCalifornia.Hanley, C. & Spates, J. (1978). Transcendental meditation and social psychological   attitudes.The Journal of Psychology, 99, p121-1127.Sarath, Ed. (2006). Meditation, Creativity and Consciousness: Charting Future Terrain withHigher Education. Teachers College Record, 108; 9, pp 1816-1841.Valentine, E. & Sweet, P. (1989). Meditation and Attention: A comparison of the effects ofconcentrative and mindfulness meditation on sustained attention. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 2; 1, pp 59 to 70.Shear, J. & Jevning, R. (1999). Pure consciousness: Scientific exploration of meditationtechniques. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6; 2, p. 3)

18 Steps That Will Help You Quit a Job That You Hate

18 Steps That Will Help You Quit a Job That You Hate Is your job awful? Or just profoundly unfulfilling, and not challenging or helping you to grow in the most important ways for your career? If you know you’re not really where you need to be but you’re plagued by the what ifs, consider taking these 18 steps to see whether it might be scarier to stay at your job than working up the courage to quit and moving on to another opportunity. 1.  Think long and hard about your life and your choices.Are you living the life you want, or used to dream of? Or are you letting your shots be called by what is expected of you, or what you perceive you should be doing? Take a step back and see where you stand. Are you working towards great things? Or are you mired in mediocrity? If you’re not living the life you desire, and you find yourself being passive in your choices, start taking active steps to change that. Live by design, not by default.2. Fear the â€Å"if only† more than the â€Å"what if.†As scary as it is to start over (at any point in your career), isn’t it scarier to think of yourself regretting having stayed put several years down the line? Regret rarely shows up until it’s too late. Try to fear failure less than dissatisfaction when your chances at another chance dry up.3. Think, What’s the worst that can happen?†Imagine the absolute worst case scenario. All your gravest what-ifs. What does that look like? Clearly define what your biggest fears coming true might look like. Then ask yourself, â€Å"So what?† Is it livable? Workable? Even, perhaps, preferable to your current situation?4. Trust your gut.If there’s a nagging little voice in you telling you to quit and go after something better? Chances are you’re right. Listen to yourself and act deliberately to affect the change you crave. Think of it as your inner GPS.5. Trust what you love.Have the confidence to know that you’ll be better off- and much happier- if you’ re doing what you love. Even if you’re doing something you just like more. If you can’t get to your dream job in one leap from your current one, try a stepping stone. Anything is better than stagnation, particularly when you aren’t happy where you are. Think of all the time and energy you’re putting into what you don’t love. Imagine how much better you could be and feel!6. Make decisions based on happiness.Studies actually suggest that happiness fuels success and good performance- rather than the other way around. Build a life and career around what makes you happy and the rest should follow, crazy as it sounds.7. Set a  good example for others.Visualize your little sister or your best friend’s kid in your shoes. Now imagine them copying your choices and your solutions. Does this make you cringe? Inspire future mentees by pursuing what you really want and need most out of life.8. Live in the current moment.It’s important to keep an eye on the future. But it’s just as important to stay grounded in reality. Be realistic about what you can and can’t accomplish from where you are right now. What can you actually do now? Start there.9. Don’t despair.You are not alone. What you feel is totally normal and human and a lot of people out there are going through the same exact thing. Take comfort in that fact.10. Get clear on your purpose.You want a change, but why? Get clear on why you are unhappy, why you are leaving, why you’re taking the risk. As long as you stay on message, you’ll stay focused and can trust that you’re moving in the right direction.11. Get to know your own gifts.We all have our own unique talents and strengths. Let your passions lead you to understand yours and then lead with that. Trust yourself and show the world what you have to offer.12. Build a web of support.Find people who support, inspire, and motivate you. Who think like you do and are open to the s ort of life you want to lead. Build a network of these people, both business and personal, in person and online.13. Realize you might have to take a risk to make a gain.A small risk now, or a small sacrifice even, can pay large dividends down the road. Bet on yourself and figure out how to be a winner when the chips are down.14. Aim to please†¦ yourself.Imagine yourself on your deathbed. Are you proud of current you? Try living in such a way that would put a smile on the face of your past selves. Make sure you end up fulfilled and content with what you’ve chosen.15. Remember timing can be everything.But that doesn’t mean you have to wait for the perfect conditions for a change or a leap of faith. Perfect conditions will never appear. You’ll never be 100% prepared to make a major switch. Align as many stars as you can, but remember that sometimes you have to accept that things may never be perfect. Neither can you. Do what you can in the moment that presents itself.16. Trust the path.You may not be able to see where all this leads, but if you’re following your gut and staying true to your purpose (and reality), you can trust that it will take you where you need to go. Focus only on the next step.17. Get comfy with uncomfortable.Change is scary and uncomfortable. New is hard and daunting. Make being uncomfortable your new comfortable. Make this part of your journey.18. Have faith, not fear.Both faith and fear are kinds of uncertainty. Focus on what you do want, rather than what you don’t. And take active steps to make that happen. Don’t just sit back and worry that it won’t be possible.You never have any guarantees of how anything will turn out. But if you listen to yourself and make mindful choices in your life, you won’t go too far wrong.

Discuss the pathogenesis of measles virus infection The WritePass Journal

Discuss the pathogenesis of measles virus infection Conclusion Discuss the pathogenesis of measles virus infection IntroductionInfection and SpreadSymptomsSubacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE)VaccinationConclusionRelated Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Introduction Measles virus (MV) is a member of the paramyxovirus family and has a single stranded RNA genome.   The viral genome encodes for six structural proteins: Haemagglutin (H), Fusion (F), Nucleoprotein (N), Phosphoprotein (P), Large (L) polymerase protein, and Matrix (M) protein and two non-structural proteins: C and V (Griffin,   2010). The structure of the virus is shown below.  Ã‚   Fig 1.   The structure of the Measles virus Ref:microbiologybytes.com/virology/Paramyxoviruses.html The majority of measles cases occur in children and in those who are fit and healthy, results in life long immunity without complications.   Measles virus has been eliminated in the western world since 2000 through an efficient vaccine programme, however, it is a different scenario in developing countries were deaths arise due to lack of vaccine administration and malnourishment of children (Fontana et al, 2008).  Ã‚   For example in 2008, 164 000 people died from measles virus of these 95% were in low-income countries (www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs286/en/).   Although infection with MV produces an efficient immune response that is maintained for the rest of the individuals life, it also results in a transient state of immunosuppression that can last for several weeks.   This leaves the patient susceptible to secondary infections by opportunistic pathogens which account for the majority of measles associated deaths (Sevet-Delprat   et al, 2000).  Ã‚   The exact me chanism of the immunosuppression is still unknown however many theories have been suggested. Infection and Spread The MV is spread through aerosol transmission in the cough or sneeze of an infected person.   The virus is extremely contagious and can remain in the air or on a surface for up to two hours (Stalkup, 2002).   The route of entry for the virus is through the respiratory tract and once infected, the virus will incubate for an average of 10-12 days before any symptoms are seen.   Infection is initiated by the attachment of the H protein to the host cell receptors, which results in the fusion of the envelope of the virus with the host cell membrane.   This fusion of membranes causes the release of viral RNA into the host cell cytoplasm.   After the RNA has replicated, using host cell machinery, new virus particles are assembled using the M protein and bud from the host cell membrane to infect other susceptible cells (Swart, 2008).   The host cell receptors for the measles virus are CD46, a complement regulatory protein that is found on all nucleated cells and the Signalling Ly mphocytic Activation Molecule (SLAM/CD150) which is found on the surface of both T and B lymphocytes as well as macrophages and mature Dendritic cells (DC) (Yanagi et al, 2006).   In vitro studies have found that vaccine strains of the measles virus use CD46 and SLAM as their receptor however wild-type MV only recognizes CD150 (Ferreira et al, 2010).   There has been some debate over the exact cell that is involved in the initial infection with MV.   It had previously been thought that the virus infected epithelial cells lining the nasopharynx (Stalkup   et al, 2002) however more recent studies have shown that these cells do not bear the MV receptors SLAM which facilitate wild-type viral infection therefore further studies are required to identify this unknown receptor .   It has been suggested that alveolar macrophages and DC lining the respiratory tract are the initial cells involved in measles infection.  Ã‚   This was demonstrated in a study using mice that expressed humanized SLAM.   These mice were infected intranasally with wild type measles virus expressing green fluorescent protein.   The nasal associated lymphoid tissue (NALT) was then extracted from these mice at different time points (1,2 or 3 days).   Results showed that alveolar macrophages were the first cells to be infected by the measles virus and not the epithelial cells (Ferreira et al, 2010). DC’s are the main antigen presenting cells of the immune system and are used by other viruses to infect lymphocytes for (example the HIV virus) (Witte et al, 2008).   Therefore DC may provide an important route of transport for MV to secondary lymphoid tissue.   The role of DCs in measles infection is further indicated by the identification of DC-SIGN which is an accessory receptor that has been identified on MV susceptible cells and is thought to assist MV infection of CD150 expressing DCs (Yanagi, 2006).   Furthermore, large numbers of DC-SIGN positive DCs have been found to be present in the epithelium of the respiratory tract which demonstrates their potential primary role in MV infection of (Ludlow et al, 2010 ; Witte et al, 2008). An alternative theory is that epithelial cells are infected in the latter stages of infection by lymphoid cells facilitating viral spread by the respiratory route.   This would mean that epithelial cells are infected at the basolateral cell surface rather than the apical surface.   This was demonstrated by a study that looked at mutated MV strains that could not bind to the as yet unidentified Epithelial Cell receptor (EpR) but could still recognise the SLAM receptor.   Results showed that the macaques developed the rash but could not shed the virus which suggests that the EpR is a basolaterally expressed protein that is important for the spread of the virus at the infective stage (Leonard, et al, 2008).   A study by Ludlow (2010) supported these findings by showing that wild type MV could not infect primary columnar epithelial cells by the apical surface further demonstrating the potential role of epithelial cells in latter stages of infection rather than initial stages as p reviously thought. In response to viral infection the innate immune system responds by producing inflammatory cytokines to protect cells from viral infection.   These cytokines include type 1 interferons (IFN) such as   IFNÃŽ ± and ÃŽ ² which are induced in response to RNA viruses.   IFNs induce an anti-viral state in neighbouring cells and increase the expression of class 1 Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) molecules on the infected cell surface which will present the viral antigens to CD8+ T cells.   CD8+ T cells clear the infection by cytotoxic T cell mediated killing of the infected cell (Abbas Ltchtman, 2005).   To overcome these host cell defences, viruses have ways to evade the immune system.   MV virus protein V and C have been shown to downregulate IFN production in vitro and this includes both attenuated and wild type strains (Fontana et al, 2008).   Through the inhibition of the proinflammatory cytokines MV can infect more host cells.   MV may also use the innate immune system to enhance viral spread and pathogenesis by using Toll like receptors (TLRs) which are found on the surfaces of cells that activate the immune system by recognising bacterial and viral pathogens.   The binding of TRL2 on human monocytes by MV H protein has been shown to induce production of interleukin 6 (IL-6) which upregulates expression of SLAM the primary receptor for MV (Beiback et al, 2002). Once the virus is picked up by antigen presenting cells it is carried to the secondary lymphatic tissue were it can replicate in T cell, B cells and activated monocytes with lymphocytes being the main target cell of MV infection (de Swart et al, 2007).   These infected cells can be seen in the blood 7-9 days after infection (Griffin, 2010).   It is thought that through these infected lymphoid cells that the virus is able to infect epithelial and endothelial cells lining organs including the liver, brain and skin (Moench et al, 1988).   In order for MV to infect these organs it must overcome these endothelial cell barriers.  Ã‚   It has been shown in cell culture that wild type MV infection may infect endothelial cells by increasing the expression and activation of leukocyte integrins which bring infected T cells into close contact with these cells leading to their infection (Dittmar et al, 2008). Symptoms The initial symptoms of MV are very similar to those of the flu including runny nose, conjunctivitis and cough which is accompanied by a fever of 104-1050F that lasts up to 4 days (Stalkup, 2002).   The characteristic feature of MV is the red rash that appears beginning on the face and behind the ears, which spreads to the rest of the body (please see Fig 2 below).   During this time the person is highly contagious and remains so until the rash disappears (www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/download/meas.pdf). Fig 2 shows a child with an extensive rash caused by the Measles virus. Ref: vaccineinformation.org/measles/photos.asp Small white spots known as Koplik spots may also be seen in the inside the mouth which is a diagnostic indicator of measles and appear one day before the rash (Perry Halsey, 2004). The appearance of the rash is due to the immune systems attack of the systemic infection of epithelial cells and biopsies of the rash have shown infiltration of CD8+ and CD4+ T lymphocytes in the rhesus monkey (Permur et al, 2003). An individual who in infected with measles virus will recover within about 10-14 days but may remain vulnerable to secondary infections including pneumonia and diarrhoea for a few weeks.  Ã‚   This was first noted by von Pirquet who noticed that individuals recently infected with the MV failed to respond to the tuberculin skin test and this has led to many studies into the reasons for this immune suppression (Griffin et al, 1994). One reason for the immunosuppression seen after a measles infection is the switch from a T helper 1 (Th1) CD4 response to a T helper 2 (Th2) CD4 response.   Initial MV infection results in the production of a Th1 response which is necessary to eliminate the pathogen and is marked by increased production of IFNÃŽ ³ however as the rash is cleared this changes to a Th2 response which is important in the production of measles specific antibodies (Moss et al, 2004).   Th2 cytokines IL-4 and IL-10 have been shown to be elevated for weeks in those who have had MV (Moss et al, 2002).   IL-10 suppresses the immune system by inhibiting lymphocyte proliferation and macrophage activation therefore may have a key role in failure to generate a Th1 response after MV infection (Sato et al, 2008). IL-12 is primarily produced by activated macrophages and DCs and has a pivotal role in the generation of a cell mediated immune response as well as directing CD4+ T cells to differentiate into Th1 cells (Abbas Lichtman, 2005).   Studies have shown that MV infection of DCs inhibits IL-12 production which would lead to an environment favouring a Th2 cell response (Servert-Delprat et al, 2000).   Furthermore peripheral blood monocytic cells taken from patients with measles have been shown to have a prolonged decrease in IL-12 (Atabani et al, 2001).   Stimulation of DCs through TLR4 also results in inhibition of IL-12 in mice expressing human SLAM receptor (Hahm et al, 2007). As lymphocytes are the main targets for MV infection and replication the immunosuppression seen after infection may be due to as decrease in circulating lymphocytes.   However, studies have shown that lymphocyte numbers quickly return to normal levels and therefore cannot account for the immune suppression seen weeks after infection (Griffin, 2010). Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE) SSPE is a rare neurological complication of MV infection that affects 1 in a million measles cases although there is an increased risk with children infected with the measles virus before age 2 and males more than females (Norrby Kristensson, 1997).   The characteristic symptoms of SSPE are deterioration of mental and motor functions as a result of destruction of brain tissue.   These symptoms typically begin to manifest 7-10 years after primary viral infection and ultimately result in death within 2 years (Stalkup, 2002).   Patients with SSPE have high levels of measles specific antibody circulating in their blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) yet the virus is not eliminated (Barrero et al, 2003).   It is thought that the virus mutates inside the neurons which allows it to evade the immune system however these mutations may alter the host cells leading to the generation of the immune response (Gutierrez et al, 2010).   However the mechanism by which neurons are infected i s still unknown as no receptors have been identified.   There is no cure for SSPE although treatment of individuals with Interferon ÃŽ ± and Isoprinosine has been shown to slow down the progression of symptoms in some individuals (Gascon et al, 1993). Vaccination The first MV vaccine was produced in the 1960s which was formalin-inactivated with alum.   This vaccine produced a condition known as atypical measles which resulted in some individuals experiencing symptoms which were often worse than wild-type measles, when they came into contact with someone who had measles (deSwart, 2008).   In 1963, Enders measles vaccine was developed which was a live attenuated vaccine (Stalkup, 2002).   This vaccine is grown in cell culture fibroblasts from chicken embryos and is unable to produce its full pathogenic effect but induces an adequate life long immune response (PÏ‹tz et al, 2003).   The measles vaccine has resulted in a 99% fall in the number of measles cases that were previously seen annually in the United States (Stalkup, 2002).   MV could potentially be irradicated but this is dependent on high vaccine coverage.   The World Health Organization (WHO) has a policy in place which has set a goal of reducing the death rate from MV in children under 5 by 2015 (who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs286).   MV infection can also lead to blindness in children who are Vitamin A deficient and the WHO have recommended that all children with measles are given vitamin A supplementation to combat blindness (Semba and Bloem, 2004). The measles vaccine is part of the Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine that is given in two doses.   The vaccine is administered intramuscularly and the first injection is given to children around 13 months (nhs.uk/conditions/mmr/Pages/Introduction.aspx).   The vaccine is not given before this age because these children will have maternal antibodies which would interfere with the vaccine and not generate an appropriately high enough immune response (Moss et al, 2004).   A second dose of the MMR vaccine is given to preschool children as a booster as 2-5% of individuals fail to produce an appropriate protective immunity to the first inoculation (cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/combo-vaccines/mmr/faqs-mmr-hcp.htm).   New methods of delivery of MMR vaccine have been investigated such as the use of aerosol vaccine which would mimic natural measles infection and the use of DNA vaccine administration.   Aerosol vaccine has been found to generate an effective immune response that is equal to that of the currently used vaccine and may also overcome the interference from maternal antibodies however clinical trials are still in progress (Heno-Restrepo et al, 2009). Furthermore, trials into the use of DNA vaccines have proposed a potential to vaccinate children as young as four months (Pasetti et al, 2009). The MMR vaccine has been in the public eye for many years as a result of a paper by Wakefield and colleagues in 1998 which claimed that there was a link between the administration of the MMR vaccine and the development of autism (Farrington et al, 2001).   Many studies have been carried out to either prove or disprove this study as these claims led to fear amongst parents regarding vaccination of their children and uptake fell to 80% between 2003 and 2004 as a result of this (Bedford Ellimen, 2010).   As stated in the introduction MV is so contagious even a minor drop in vaccine coverage can lead to a large number of cases.   In 2010 after an extensive investigation by the General Medical council it was finally confirmed that the paper by Wakefield was unfounded (Godlee et al, 2001). Conclusion Although cases of MV are rarely seen in this country it results in the death of many children in the developing countries.   Currently vaccination is given at 13 months of age however many studies are ongoing that could potentially provide a vaccine that could be administered earlier resulting in children being protected earlier and limiting hosts for the virus.   Furthermore, malnutrition is one of the major contributing factors in the deaths from measles virus, tackling this problem would also decrease the mortality rate.   As stated above MV poses a problem in that infection generates a life long immune response but also leaves the host susceptible to secondary infections. The exact mechanism for this is not yet known therefore more work is needed to answer this problem and potentially combat this immune suppression. /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

ILLUSTRATION ESSAY

ILLUSTRATION ESSAY Illustration is a form of displayed visual picture like a painting, drawing or a photograph. When writing an illustration essay, the major focus point is to create visualization through words. To make it simple, you have to illustrate something. As you are provided with a specific subject for your illustration essay, gather interesting details and patterns that will help you to show your object. Additional details will help to clarify the point. Use a diversity method, and present various patterns that will make a certain unconscious appeal to the readers. This action will help readers to deeply understand the topic.   Another successful step is the use of brief short patterns that show ideas straightforward. Explore illustration examples. Illustration essay thesis statement must observe the subject and create a major point where you as an author will present your ideas. Keep in mind that the examples that are used in the illustration essay create a specific communication to the main point which leads to the successful illustration essay writing as well as the good college or university grade. ILLUSTRATION ESSAY Today, students are required to be able to write different types of essay and research projects. With a number of various writing types requested by colleges and universities instructors, it is hard to keep track of what is needed. But for all essay types’ requirements there is a specific list of requirement that must be explored and learnt in order to deliver the quality writing. Illustration essay has its own list of requirements as well, but our major goal is help you focus on the major points of this type of writing. Illustration essay usually would require you to illustrate a scene, event, or action and try to give the full presentation. You should use rich linguistic expressions and try to target your reader to imagine clearly the picture that is being illustrated. There is no necessity to show the eventual events continuation, but you can do a sort of illustrated ‘slide show’ with the help of the writing. If you require the illustration essay, we are able to deliver the custom quality essay within shortest deadline for you. If you have further questions, talk to our 24/7 customer support representative in order to receive full answers.

Nutrition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Nutrition - Essay Example We must keep in mind that different types of fibers have different characteristics and these characteristics benefit us in different ways. Now the question remains, how exactly do fiber rich foods benefit us? The answer is simple. Fibers escape from the small intestine without getting digested. These then help in various bodily processes such as growth of healthy bacteria and nutrients absorption. The reason it is difficult to understand the benefits of fibers is because there are many types of fibers that have different characteristics. Barley, beans and oats decrease the level of cholesterol. Soluble fiber rich foods when mixed with water swell in volume and when passing through the small intestines, they trap bile acids from the gall bladder. These acids are made from cholesterol and when we eat fat, these are pushed into the small intestines. The fiber plus water material absorbs the acid out of the small intestines and eventually out of the body and hence reduces cholesterol. Fibers also help in slowing the entrance of sugar into the blood in the same cholesterol was trapped from the small intestines. Fibers also help in sustaining the normal healthy bacteria that maintain the intestines, prevent the growth of harmful bacteria, improves immune system and increases absorption of calcium. The article was very informative. It covered each point related to fiber and its benefits in detail and at the same time it was short enough to maintain the reader’s interest in the article. Concise and informative is the prefect combination that is needed in a good piece of writing. The language that was used through out the article was also very simple and easy to understand. No such jargons were used which makes the article comprehendible for anyone who is interested. Examples and facts were given which make the argument of the writer more concrete and strong. However,

Pagan Arabia and Islamic Monotheism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Pagan Arabia and Islamic Monotheism - Essay Example The physical world is all that existed, and there was no hereafter and no accompanying punishment or reward. Their concept of man's role in the universe was one of hedonistic indifference toward the weak, economic and emotional greed, as well as abusive powers and control of the marginal members of society. It was a world gone mad. Fortunately, Muhammad was charged with shifting this wicked paradigm. Allah instructed Muhammad to spread the message the Divine Essence was One sovereign Lord over all creation. After this life a Hereafter awaits what ones hand puts before them in this life will be their reward eternally. This life is temporary. Our ultimate existence lies in the hereafter. As such, human beings should act in a way that is fair toward his fellow, protective toward the disenfranchised, and obedient to the One True God. The cosmological characteristics of pre-Islamic Arabia differ starkly from the transcendental features of Muhammad's message. They differ in the basic concept of the divine, the existence and nature of the hereafter, and role of humankind in the universe. Further study would demonstrate how Muhammad's contemporaries diverged from the traditional tribal ethics codified in the Qur'an and Sunnah.

History Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 23

History - Assignment Example Arguably, the most divisive political issue in American history has been slavery; understanding its evolution over time is key in helping to explain a significant portion of our nation’s past. Trace the path of slavery from its origins in early European colonization of North and South America to the time of the Constitutional Convention. How did the practice of African slavery begin? How and why did it expand in the 13 English colonies of North America? Finally, how was the issue of slavery impacted by the American Revolution? Slavery in Africa has existed even before the Arabian and the Atlantic slave trade. Owning of slaves is part of their culture and it was boosted by the Roman siege and influenced by Islam and other introduced as well as native religions (Lovejoy, 2012). But the start of African slavery in the American colonies is pegged at 1619, when the 1st African slaves docked in Virginia (Berlin, 2003). From Virginia, the practice of slavery spread to all 13English Colonies in North America. The slaves were used as laborers in cotton, sugar, and other plantations, household help, as well as skilled workers in the craft of carpentry, and welding among others. It was also a status symbol promoted by the government so as to quell the disparity of rich, land-owning Whites against the poor, land-less Whites. This move strengthened the foundation for racial slavery and racism (Wood, 2005). The American Revolution started the transformation in the attitudes of the colonial Whites towards slavery that w ill eventually lead in the abolition of slavery in January 01, 1863, with President Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation. The newly freed â€Å"Americans† set freedom as one of its country’s undeniable virtues and with that, slavery must be put to an end. The presidential proclamation against slavery became the key to abolishing African slavery yet a considerable amount of time still passed between the enactment of

Qualities Required To Achieve Life Objective Essay

Qualities Required To Achieve Life Objective - Essay Example As every success opens the new horizons of self-confidence, pleasures and containment, similarly the impact of failure can cause lasting damage to self-esteem and the consequences can influence an entire lifetime. The same argument is also applied for academic career too. There are numerous factors that can influence the students’ academic career. These factors can be related to students financial, social or psychological status, teachers’ behavior and their teaching methods, lack of commitment to study, problems with learning environment, problems with subject content and examinations systems unsatisfactory relationship with family, future concerns related to chosen field of study or problems of time management. Although most of the students manage to cut through these barriers based on their motivation and perception of their goals yet a reasonable number of students’ romaine handicap to tackle their problems and hence they fail (Aysan, 1). The following sectio ns highlight few of the factors that really affect the academic career.(a) Financial Problems: Money is a substantial entity for living as we all need money to buy essential things required for our survival. Money also plays a vital role for academic career. In order to enter and attend a college or university a student has to pay his education stipends and if he is facing financial problems then his academic career will obviously be affected. ... manager, a counselor, a decision maker, a role model, and a surrogate parent. These qualities required practice, skills and effective teaching methodology (Dolasir, 2). (c) Drug: It is a well known fact that many students are also involved in drug addiction. The use of any type of drugs greatly affects human body as drugs deteriorate the very functionality of human body and hence result the lose of life objectives including the academic career. (d) Social problems: Social disproportions and unsatisfactory relationship with family or friends can also bring the students to the brinks of failure. Since academic study or research demands concentration yet social unevenness diverges the human concentration and greatly influence the human psyche. (d) Commitment to study and time management: Lack of commitment to study and time mismanagement is also major contributor to student failure. Lack of commitment results the precious time lose and hence time mismanagement. Works Cited Aysan, Ferda. "Perceived Causes of Academic Failure among the Students at the Faculty of Education at Buca." ERIC. (1996). 18. 9 July, 2007. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019 b/80/16/74/9a.pdf Dolasir, Semiyha. "Effective Teacher Behaviors that Contribute to Students' Academic Success." ERIC. (2004). 9 July, 2007. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019 b/80/1b/dd/1c.pdf . . . 10 July, 2007 Qualities Required To Achieve Life Objective It is a well known fact that great objectives demand the best qualities. Achievement of an effective life objective or goal is essentially related a number of key qualities and passion

Social costs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Social costs - Essay Example ce, the long-term unemployed people in these countries become discouraged and exit the labor force market prematurely instead of continuing to search for the jobs that have evaded them for a long while (Junankar, 2009). This is mainly likely for the older generation who are unemployed because they take quite longer to get jobs.   Most persons in these countries who have been unemployed suffer certain erosion in their acquired job skills since they haven’t been applying them. This is apparently a much bigger social problem for the individuals who have been out of employment for a long time. The erosion is even worse for individuals with skills in specific fields which change more rapidly (Junankar, 2009). Much unemployment also involves a waste of time as well as the country’s productivity.   The most noticeable difference in social costs of unemployment in the USA and Canada is in health care. Canadas healthcare performance is of higher quality on most factors than in the USA. Additionally, healthcare attention is universal for all Canadians. In the United States, the complaint is that most people are uninsured; therefore, do not have access to most basic health care amenities which Canadians are entitled to. This creates a burden on the emergency chamber services in the States which in turn increases healthcare costs significantly (Junankar,

Qualities Required To Achieve Life Objective Essay

Qualities Required To Achieve Life Objective - Essay Example As every success opens the new horizons of self-confidence, pleasures and containment, similarly the impact of failure can cause lasting damage to self-esteem and the consequences can influence an entire lifetime. The same argument is also applied for academic career too. There are numerous factors that can influence the students’ academic career. These factors can be related to students financial, social or psychological status, teachers’ behavior and their teaching methods, lack of commitment to study, problems with learning environment, problems with subject content and examinations systems unsatisfactory relationship with family, future concerns related to chosen field of study or problems of time management. Although most of the students manage to cut through these barriers based on their motivation and perception of their goals yet a reasonable number of students’ romaine handicap to tackle their problems and hence they fail (Aysan, 1). The following sectio ns highlight few of the factors that really affect the academic career.(a) Financial Problems: Money is a substantial entity for living as we all need money to buy essential things required for our survival. Money also plays a vital role for academic career. In order to enter and attend a college or university a student has to pay his education stipends and if he is facing financial problems then his academic career will obviously be affected. ... manager, a counselor, a decision maker, a role model, and a surrogate parent. These qualities required practice, skills and effective teaching methodology (Dolasir, 2). (c) Drug: It is a well known fact that many students are also involved in drug addiction. The use of any type of drugs greatly affects human body as drugs deteriorate the very functionality of human body and hence result the lose of life objectives including the academic career. (d) Social problems: Social disproportions and unsatisfactory relationship with family or friends can also bring the students to the brinks of failure. Since academic study or research demands concentration yet social unevenness diverges the human concentration and greatly influence the human psyche. (d) Commitment to study and time management: Lack of commitment to study and time mismanagement is also major contributor to student failure. Lack of commitment results the precious time lose and hence time mismanagement. Works Cited Aysan, Ferda. "Perceived Causes of Academic Failure among the Students at the Faculty of Education at Buca." ERIC. (1996). 18. 9 July, 2007. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019 b/80/16/74/9a.pdf Dolasir, Semiyha. "Effective Teacher Behaviors that Contribute to Students' Academic Success." ERIC. (2004). 9 July, 2007. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019 b/80/1b/dd/1c.pdf . . . 10 July, 2007 Qualities Required To Achieve Life Objective It is a well known fact that great objectives demand the best qualities. Achievement of an effective life objective or goal is essentially related a number of key qualities and passion

Children's Welfare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Children's Welfare - Essay Example On my part, I strongly believe that corporal punishment should only be given as a last resort. As long as there are other ways to correct the behavioral problems of a child, parents and guardians should not implement corporal punishment. We must understand that corporal punishment can lead to abuse and abuses suffered by young children often leave lasting imprints in their personalities. Is corporal punishment a form of child abuse? Technically, child abuse is different from corporal punishment and we should be very careful about equating the two together. All I am saying here is that corporal punishment has the potential of escalating into abuse. Note the abuse is a blatant disregard of the rights and feelings of the child which often involves injuries on the part of the child. Example of abuses on children is kicking, punching, burning and the likes. On the other hand, corporal punishment is geared towards letting the child experience pain without sustaining injury for purposes of controlling or correcting the wrong behaviors of the child (Larzelere, R. E., Klein, M., Schumm, W. R., & Alibrando, S. A., Jr. (1989). A popular example of corporal punishment is the traditional spanking. One of the leading arguments against the implementation of corporal punishment at home is that the act embodies a kind of aggression. When a parent becomes so angry that he or she exhibits aggressive behavior such as spanking, the child may misconstrue the action of the parent or guardian as a kind of norm. Note that young children learn by imitating their parents so there is a big possibility that when the child is repeatedly exposed to aggressive behaviors, he or she will also adopt such attitude (Parke & Slaby, 1983). What is really scary here is that the child may see aggression as a way to subdue or control the behavior of another person. For instance, when a parent spanks a child for not following orders and then do not explain the child later on why he or she

JSBMHA and HIPPA case study Essay Example for Free

JSBMHA and HIPPA case study Essay There are many faults in this scenario that I read about with Jim and Betty. First of all, when you are dealing with people who are in a â€Å"counseling or any type of therapeutic† setting, you have to be able to handle this situation with privacy and always try to treat your client with respect and never discuss them outside of the clinical setting. The HIPAA laws are to protect the patient’s rights so that they cannot be given just out to anybody. The only people that can have access to the medical files would be someone that is involved in the care of or needs to have access to them for anyone that is billing, or the insurance company that is paying for the services that the client is receiving. What areas of the JSBMHA did HIPAA compliance impact, When Jim and Betty were working for that company, they had unfortunately talked about specific clients and some relatives of the clients had heard the conversation and also their relatives names. They had immediately gone to the company and talked with their supervisor so he could deal with the employees that had broken the privacy laws. JSBMHA, is an certified agency that works with clients that have psychological, mental, and addictions for drugs. THE clients need to be able to feel safe, knowing that their conversations are not talked about elsewhere, unless it is related to their recovery. What Jim and Betty did at the cafeteria is inexcusable. You never know who is going to be listening in on your conversation when you are in a public place. If the wrong people hear what is being said, you never know what the ramifications could be. If a woman is at a domestic violence shelter and you are talking about what she went through with her ex-boyfriend , not knowing the whole time that the ex is in the booth right behind you. Right there you have just put that women in a dangerous position. Without thinking you have just put that woman’s life in jeopardy. 3 I believe that because of their actions that JSBMHA should suspend both of them for at LEAST two weeks without pay. I believe with that type of punishment, maybe both of them will really think about what they did and why it was inappropriate. Maybe they should even write a paper on how their actions were wrong and also be able to see how they’re gossiping put that woman in jeopardy. They need to really understand how their actions can affect other people. ‘

Health Essays Treatment OCD Disorder

Health Essays Treatment OCD Disorder Treatment OCD Disorder Introduction My research intention is to compose a literature review aimed at finding the best existing method for the treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive and distressing thoughts, urges and images as well as repetitive behaviours aimed at decreasing the discomfort caused by these obsessive thoughts. So in order to achieve my research intention I will be comparing and analysing a wide assortment of current and previous literature to distinguish the most favourable treatment method, where advantages outweigh all disadvantages. The key features of OCD as already discussed, include obsessional doubt, the need to feel in control, and risk aversion, and these features have significant impact on the successful application of both pharmacological and behavioural treatments. Treatment History of Obsessive-compulsive disorder Until the 1960’s OCD was considered a refractory psychiatric condition, neither psychotherapy nor a variety of pharmacological treatments had proven successful with the symptoms, however since around 1975, much progress has been made in improving the effectiveness of these treatments. Prior to 1980, OCD was unresponsive to psychotherapy, anxiolytic drugs, and anti-psychotic drugs and had a poor record of success. Today although treatment of this disorder remains challenging, the effectiveness of both behavioural and pharmacological therapies has been significantly improved. Treatments There are many methods available for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) arguably the most popular of these being administration of antidepressants, either taken singularly or a combination of 2. Also Psychotherapy strategies including both behavioural and cognitive treatments where it is common (and often claimed to achieve better results) for the two to be combined, this is known as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). I will then go on to investigate Combination treatments. This being the combination of antidepressants and a CBT treatment to see if a combination of the two is more successful than using either alone. Alternative strategies are available for OCD sufferers and although these are not as successful as some of the already discussed, they are worth mentioning as they can provide relief to patients, also when added to another more established treatment better results may be achieved. I will also be touching on psychosurgery (also known as neurosurgery), and Electro Convulsive therapy, which although are only used in the most extreme cases, are still worth mentioning as, when used, have shown significant efficacy in the treatment of OCD. Pharmacotherapy, the uses of antidepressants for the treatment of Obsessive-compulsive disorder. Currently in the UK only 5 drugs are licensed for the treatment of OCD, They include the Tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) Clomipramine and the Selective Serotonin reuptake inhibiting (SSRI) antidepressants Fluoxetine, Sertraline, Paroxetine, and Fluvoxamine which can be collectively labelled as STI’s, these STI’s represent the cornerstone of Pharmacological treatment in patients with OCD. A good reason for using antidepressants in OCD treatment is that very often there will be underlying depressive disorder. There is a substantial amount of evidence derived from a large number of placebo-controlled clinical trials, to indicate that drugs, which preferentially block the re-uptake of Serotonin, are effective in ameliorating the symptoms of OCD. The evidence in favour of other antidepressants without potent serotonergic properties is poor. Clomipramine was the first agent to receive food and drug administration (FDA) approval for the treatment of OCD, and was also the first medication to demonstrate consistent efficacy in the treatment of patients with OCD (Clomipramine collaborative study group) it has been the most extensively studied medication for the treatment of OCD. Studies in OCD treatment that have compared two antidepressants have been very small and yet an apparent superiority of Clomipramine emerges. In a small three-way study by Thoren et al (94), which compared Clomipramine with Nontriptyline and Placebo, found there was significant effect for Clomipramine but Nontriptyline appeared no different from Placebo. However a significant difference between active treatments is not normally expected unless very large numbers are included in studies. Clomipramine which affects both 5-HT and non adrenalin may be more effective than SSRI’s although does have more side effects which is the biggest disincentive, these include constipation, dry mouth, tremor and weight gain, however these side effects can be used to advantage in patients who cannot deal with the agitation of the SSRI’s During trials, drop out rates due to side effects from Clomipramine are consistently higher than for the SSRI’s. (Pata et al 90) Although there are only rare reports of less efficacy, the issue of how long to maintain treatment before a trial off medication has not been well explored. The only data that exists in this area comes from 3 rather small-blinded discontinuation studies. All were done with Clomipramine. (Pato, Zohar, Kadouch, Zohar Murphy 1988) in each case, the majority of the patients upwards of 90% had their symptoms return within 4-7 weeks of discontinuing medication. The efficacy of SSRI’s versus those of the TCA’s, for these indications is unstudied, further research is required fully to assess the place of the SSRI’s in the treatment and understanding of OCD. Fluvoxamine has been shown to be significantly better than Placebo and equal in efficacy to Tricyclic’s such as Clomipramine however Fluvoxamine compared to Clomipramine is found to have fewer side effects and is a first line agent in the treatment of OCD. More than 50% of patients with OCD are significantly improved after a trial with Fluvoxamine, however not all patients benefit from this treatment- In a single-blind study of Fluvoxamine 6 of 10 in patients with severe OCD were ‘responders’ on the basis of a clinical rating of ‘much’ or very ‘much’ improved. The most commonly reported side effects for Fluvoxamine are daytime drowsiness, nausea, insomnia, and headache. However these seem to be common side effects of all the SSRI’s. The effects of Fluoxetine in OCD have been studied in a number of single blind and open trials, and the results indicate that Fluoxetine is effective in reducing the symptoms of OCD; these results also appear to be dependent of the drugs antidepressant effect. (Liebowitz et al 1990, Riddle et al 1990) While these studies suggest that drugs with Serotonin re-uptake blocking properties are effective in OCD, they do not bear on which of these drugs may be more effective or better tolerated. Although no such comparative trials have been published, Jenike and associates (1990) indirectly compared Fluoxetine with Clomipramine in OCD symptoms in a recent meta-analysis. The data came from two separate open studies of each compound in OCD, and the special statistical techniques used suggested that Clomipramine had a slightly superior therapeutic effect. Fluoxetine however was considerably bettered tolerated. Fewer data is available on Fluoxetine, ideally more research is needed to better understand its place in OCD treatment. Paroxetine efficacy reports back to Wheaden et al (1993) however a more recent study (Zohar et al 1996) reported that in a 12 week acute trail comparing patients on Paroxetine, Clomipramine and Placebo, only 16% of Paroxetine patients had drug related adverse experiences, compared to 28% on Clomipramine, and although generally well tolerated, there have been some reports of severe withdrawal symptoms, even when done gradually. This however may be related to the fact Paroxetine is a newer FDA approved agent for OCD, and there have not been as many published findings of its efficacy compared to other agents available. Sertraline has generally shown significant improvement in OCD symptoms when compared to placebo (Greist et al 95), and although Sertraline does have the smallest effect size, with regard to side effects it is well tolerated. However unlike Fluoxetine, Fluvoxamine and Paroxetine there are no head to head trials comparing it to other antiobsessionals. Some advantages of the SSRI’s are that they have fewer clinically meaningful interactions, for example, they do not potentiate the effects of alcohol, or other sedatives- (Cooper et al 1989), however as not all of the SSRI’s have been tested with all drugs generalisations are difficult. One meaningful global measure of how well medications are tolerated is the number of patients who have dropped out of double-blind trials because of adverse effects. Most double blind studies of SSRI’s have had more dropouts among patients treated with tricyclic antidepressants such as Clomipramine. Within the SSRI’s the highest dropout rate was associated with Fluvoxamine and the lowest with Paroxetine. While the number of dropouts provides useful information, this variable is also important for the examination of specific side effects. When considering a combination of 2 types of drugs there is rarely any rationale for prescribing together more than one drug from the same general class. Fatalities have been reported following the combination of Clomipramine and Tranylcypromine. Other combinations can lead to adverse effects. TCA’s and SSRI’s have been tried together but there is a high risk of adverse interactions. If the two-antidepressant classes were to be co prescribed the safest choice would appear to be Citalopram, or low dose Sertraline that have little or no effect on the metabolism of TCA. (Taylor 95) ‘Triple therapy’ has also been tried, one example being Clomipramine, Tryptophan and Lithium. When considering Pharmacotherapy treatment failure, comparative dropout rates rather than number of intensity of side effects, may be a good indirect measure of the tolerability of the medication, the results in this regard have been mixed but very interesting. In comparative studies between Fluvoxamine and Clomipramine (Freeman et al 1994, Koran et al 1996) dropout rates were virtually identical with both medications around 15%. However in the meta-analysis conducted by Greist et al 1995 they note that analysis of the pooled multicenter studies revealed the lowest rates of dropout in the Clomipramine group at 12%, followed by Fluvoxamine at 24%. There are some data on the characteristics of patients who are more resistant to treatment or poor treatment responders, but more work is needed in this area. For example, many OCD patients have shown poor response to Pharmacotherapy in some studies. (Jenike 93, Riccardi et al 92), and more recently (Black, Manahan, Clancy, Baker, and Gabel 97) Psychotherapy in the treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive disorders a Cognitive-Behavioural approach. Research has shown that psychological and social treatment can produce definite and measurable benefits (Kingdon et al 1994). Cognitive behavioural therapy leads to marked improvement in the large majority of clients with OCD who complete the treatment, and has been estimated that between 80/90% of patients will respond to CBT (Abramowitz 97) In Meyers (1966) treatment plan hospital staff actually stopped the patients from performing rituals-this treatment procedure was labelled ‘exposure and response prevention’ (EX/RP). However this kind of intervention is no longer typical or recommended. Actual physical prevention is too coercive to be acceptable-and reliance upon this technique may limit generalizability to non-therapy situations in which staff are non-present to prevent rituals. Although exposure reduces obsessional distress it is not so effective in reducing compulsions. Exposure and response prevention (EX/RP) is the psychological treatment of choice for OCD. Although other interventions (Cognitive approaches) have received some attention in the literature EX/RP has received by far the strongest empirical support for treating. Despite documented efficacy of EX/RP treatment 25% of individuals with OCD decline to accept this form of CBT. Efforts to understand the factors influencing acceptability of exposure treatment are indicated so that more clients may profit from this powerful remedy. Separate effects of exposure and response prevention for OCD have been examined, treatment that combined both exposure and response prevention was found to be more effective. (Foa, Steketee, Grayson, Turner, Latimer 1984) With non-ritualisers, exposure did not prove particularly effective. Emmelkamp Kwee (1977) noted only 1 of 3 patients showing improvement after 5 one-hour sessions. Although exposure reduces obsessional distress it is not as effective as reducing compulsions. It is generally held that patients with obsessions alone, rather than obsessions and compulsions are more difficult to treat using conventional behavioural procedures. However recent research is inconsistent with this view as patients in 2 studies evidenced some improvement in compulsive behaviour with this technique. (Marks, Crowe, Young Dewhurst 69) CBT has been found to be more helpful than drugs for individuals who complete it. About 75% of clients who complete CBT do well both immediately after treatment and in the long run, showing lasting improvement of about 65% fewer symptoms on average-also no side effects. Drugs, mainly antidepressants in this condition, are easy to administer and are more rapidly effective than the main forms of behaviour therapy, response prevention and gradual exposure. However unlike drug treatment, once behaviour therapy has been used and shown to be effective, relapse is much less likely to occur even after treatment is withdrawn completely. A number of other exposure-orientated procedures, such as paradoxical intention, imaginal flooding, satiation, and aversion relief have been found relatively unsuccessful with OCD. Procedures aimed at blocking or punishing obsessions and compulsions such as though stopping, aversion therapy, and covert sensitisation have also been relatively unsuccessful with OCD. (Emmelkamp Kwee 1977, Kenny, Mowbray Lalani 1978) Conversely Victor Meyer treated clients with OCD with prolonged exposure to situations of objects that evoked obsessional distress and prevention of rituals-the treatment was very successful in 10 of its 15 cases. (Meyer 1966, Meyer Levy 1973, Meyer, Levy Schnurer 1974) Another downfall that the literature indicates is that OCD patients who have additional psychological problems are less likely to respond favourably to CBT, these include depression, anxiety or poor judgement, and unfortunately these often coexist with OCD symptoms. Combination treatments, Antidepressants CBT in Obsessive-Compulsive disorder. As already discussed, effective treatments for OCD consist mainly of Cognitive behavioural therapy and antidepressants. In order to maximise the effects of treatment, antidepressants and CBT are frequently combined in clinical practice, despite the fact that scientific support for this is surprisingly thin. Preliminary findings of a controlled, double blind, multicenter comparison of Clomipramine, exposure therapy and their combination indicate that exposure therapy have stronger effects than Clomipramine-both procedures combined are equivalent to exposure therapy alone. (Foa et al 93) Also Combination of EX/RP was not enhanced by the addition of cognitive therapy (Emmelkamp Beens 1991). However findings by Van Oppen et al (95) show that cognitive approaches compared to EX/RP indicated that cognitive therapy alone was as effective as exposure therapy. A recent meta-analysis (Van Balkom et al 94) showed that CBT was superior to antidepressants on self-ratings, also compared with CBT; antidepressants have a higher dropout rate and higher relapse rate after stopping treatment. Thus when given alone CBT is more effective than antidepressants. However meta-analysis have shortcomings, firstly since studies are combined, there is always a mixture of the specific study details such as the way in which treatments were implemented, also studies differ in length, therapist involvement, and strictness of ritual control, leaving many reasons to believe that the results of meta-analysis are not conclusive. Conversely one large multicenter study carried out by the national institute of mental health compared 2 forms of psychotherapy with antidepressant drug treatment, all treatments were approximately equally effective over the period of study when mildly ill people were assessed, however, with more severely ill patients, drug treatment was clearly superior to psychotherapy. (Elkin et al 1989) Third line treatments-Electro compulsive therapy and Psychosurgery for Obsessive-compulsive disorder. If psychosocial and pharmacological treatments do not work, third-line treatment includes Psychosurgery and electro convulsive therapy (ECT). Although rarely used electro convulsive therapy (ECT) has been shown to be of benefit in some who failed to respond adequately to Pharmacological or Psychotherapy interventions (Strober et al 98). In many cases there will be temporary amnesia post treatment and mild headache but otherwise ECT is free from side effects. This makes it distinct from the anti-depressants, and it is for this reason that ECT is still used. Studies using ECT however lack any control data that allow a conclusion to be reached about its efficacy. Psychosurgery like ECT has aroused a great deal of controversy. Results suggest that 25-30% of the patients who previously were unresponsive to medication and behavioural treatments are significantly improved after psychosurgery, although should always be considered as a last resort, studies suggest that complications are relatively rare and that neuropsychological and personality functioning is not adversely effected by psychosurgery Some Conclusions. In sum, there are 2 very good treatments for OCD. CBT seems to produce more improvement than medication, and improvements are more lasting after treatment is stopped. Medication however does take less time and effort in the short run than CBT but may have to be continued indefinitely. Medication is not emotionally challenging but you must tolerate side effects, EX/RP requires determination and is emotionally challenging. With regards to treatment failure Foa et al (1983) argue that it is only when investigation is carried out of the differences between those who succeed and those who fail, that light can be thrown on the mechanisms involved in the treatment and more effective treatment strategies be developed, as it is evident that new and more effective pharmacological and psychotherapy strategies are needed for the treatment-refractory OCD patient.

Marlow and Kurtz in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay -- Heart D

Marlow and Kurtz in Heart of Darkness The main character in Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, isKurtz. Kurtz no longer obeys the authority of his superiors who believe that he has become too extreme and has come to employ "unsound methods" (Coppola, 1979; Longman, 2000). Marlow is sent to retrieve Kurtz from the evil influences in the Congo, and a wild journey on a tainted river ensues.   Along the way, Marlow learns about the real Kurtz and finds himself identifying with and becoming dangerously fond of the man. By the time Marlow and Kurtz meet, Marlow is already well aware of the similarities they share. Both are imperialists, and while Marlow detests the treatment of the natives by his employers (Belgian colonists), he also makes apparent his abhorrence toward the Africans. On the other hand, Kurtz abandons the pretense of helping the natives achieve civilization, as displayed by the Europeans. Instead, he adopts their customs and becomes their leader in the never-ending quest for ivory. "He began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, 'must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the nature of the supernatural beings- we approach them with the might as of a deity' (Longman, 2000, p. 2226). Marlow also admired Kurtz' resourcefulness and survival skills, especially his perseverence through jungle fever. "The wilderness had patted him on the head....it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his s oul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation. He was its spoiled and pampered favorite." (Longman, 2000, p. 2225). Before the boat can reach Kurtz's outpost, it is "attacked" by the local natives. M... ...il of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision,-he cried out twice, a cry that was no more that a breath- 'The horror! The horror!' "(Longman, 2000, p. 2240). This is what distinguishes the two men; Kurtz abandoned himself and went over the edge, but Marlow is aware of just how close he was to becoming what Kurtz was.    Works Cited and Consulted Coppola, Frances Ford. Apocalypse Now. Metro Goldwyn Mayer/ United Artists. Video: Prarmount Home Video. 1979. Conrad, Joseph.   Heart of Darkness 3rd ed.   Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York:   Norton Critical, 1988. Longman. The Longman Anthology of British Literature, vol. B. Damrosch, D. (ed.). NY, LA: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. 2000. Meyers, Jeffrey.   Joseph Conrad.   New York:   Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991. Marlow and Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness Essay -- Heart D Marlow and Kurtz in Heart of Darkness The main character in Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, isKurtz. Kurtz no longer obeys the authority of his superiors who believe that he has become too extreme and has come to employ "unsound methods" (Coppola, 1979; Longman, 2000). Marlow is sent to retrieve Kurtz from the evil influences in the Congo, and a wild journey on a tainted river ensues.   Along the way, Marlow learns about the real Kurtz and finds himself identifying with and becoming dangerously fond of the man. By the time Marlow and Kurtz meet, Marlow is already well aware of the similarities they share. Both are imperialists, and while Marlow detests the treatment of the natives by his employers (Belgian colonists), he also makes apparent his abhorrence toward the Africans. On the other hand, Kurtz abandons the pretense of helping the natives achieve civilization, as displayed by the Europeans. Instead, he adopts their customs and becomes their leader in the never-ending quest for ivory. "He began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, 'must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the nature of the supernatural beings- we approach them with the might as of a deity' (Longman, 2000, p. 2226). Marlow also admired Kurtz' resourcefulness and survival skills, especially his perseverence through jungle fever. "The wilderness had patted him on the head....it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his s oul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation. He was its spoiled and pampered favorite." (Longman, 2000, p. 2225). Before the boat can reach Kurtz's outpost, it is "attacked" by the local natives. M... ...il of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision,-he cried out twice, a cry that was no more that a breath- 'The horror! The horror!' "(Longman, 2000, p. 2240). This is what distinguishes the two men; Kurtz abandoned himself and went over the edge, but Marlow is aware of just how close he was to becoming what Kurtz was.    Works Cited and Consulted Coppola, Frances Ford. Apocalypse Now. Metro Goldwyn Mayer/ United Artists. Video: Prarmount Home Video. 1979. Conrad, Joseph.   Heart of Darkness 3rd ed.   Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York:   Norton Critical, 1988. Longman. The Longman Anthology of British Literature, vol. B. Damrosch, D. (ed.). NY, LA: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. 2000. Meyers, Jeffrey.   Joseph Conrad.   New York:   Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991.

A Separate Peace - Symbolism Essays -- essays research papers fc

In John Knowle’s A Separate Peace, symbols are used to develop and advance the themes of the novel. One theme is the lack of an awareness of the real world among the students who attend the Devon Academy. The war is a symbol of the "real world", from which the boys exclude themselves. It is as if the boys are in their own little world or bubble secluded from the outside world and everyone else. Along with their friends, Gene and Finny play games and joke about the war instead of taking it seriously and preparing for it. Finny organizes the Winter Carnival, invents the game of Blitz Ball, and encourages his friends to have a snowball fight. When Gene looks back on that day of the Winter Carnival, he says, "---it was this liberation we had torn from the gray encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, special and separate peace" (Knowles, 832). As he watches the snowball fight, Gene thinks to himself, "There they all were now, the cream of the school, the lights and leaders of the senior class, with their high IQs and expensive shoes, as Brinker had said, pasting each other with snowballs"(843). Another of the principal themes in this novel is the theme of maturity. The two rivers that are part of the Devon School property symbolize how Gene and Finny grow up through the course of the novel. The Devon River is preferred by the students because it is above the dam and contains clean water. It is a symbol of childhood and innocence because it is safe and simple. It is preferred which shows how the boys choose to hold onto their youth instead of growing up. The Naguamsett is the disgustingly dirty river which symbolizes adulthood because of its complexity. The two rivers intermingle showing the boys’ changes from immature individuals to slightly older and wiser men. Sooner or later, Gene and Phineas, who at the beginning of the novel are extremely immature, have to face reality. Signs of their maturity appear when the boys have a serious conversation about Finny’s accident. Finny realizes that Gene did shake the tree limb purposely so that he would fall. However, he knows that this action was spontaneous, and that Gene never meant to cause him life-long grief. Finny sympathetically says to his best friend, "Something just seized you. It wasn’t anything you really felt against ... ...iendship between Gene and Phineas is amidst themes such as lack of reality, low maturity levels, and false appearances. Their relationship deteriorates and leads to death because they fail to learn these valuable life lessons. The purpose of Knowles’ novel is to exaggerate the life of two young boys to the extreme in order to reveal the unfortunate things that can occur in a relationship when these themes are not taken seriously. As stated in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, "It (A Separate Peace) can be viewed, for example, as a tale of Original Sin, with the Devon School as an Eden enclosing the great Tree of Knowledge through which humankind falls far from innocence but is redeemed by the suffering of a totally innocent one. It may also be approached as a reworking of the classic tale of the need to accept the potential evil within everyone and thus make peace with one’s self." BIBLIOGRAPHY "A Separate Peace." Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Vol. 3. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corp., 1993. Beacham’s Guide to Literature for Young Adults, Vol. 3, pages 1186- 1192. Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. Prentice-Hall Literature, Platinum, 1996 ed.