Human history Essay

Human history has undergone various revolutions, political, economic and nationalistic revolutions. Of important consideration too, is the psychological revolution that has made significant advances which helped to unravel the mysteries of human behavior. This encompasses the scientific ability to understand how we behave and why. It is not surprising that various approaches had developed namely: the behavioral, cognitive, cross-cultural, humanistic, psychoanalytic, and psychobiological approaches. Although some would readily view each approach as conflicting, they mainly vary in focus and could be viewed and used as complimenting methods (Carunchio, C. â€Å"The Study of Psychology†). However, for the purpose of this paper, discussion will deal only with the psychoanalytic approach. The psychoanalytic theory developed by Sigmund Freud had created a huge impact that went beyond the walls of scientific study. Although it has also garnered much criticism, it is still considered as one of the major contributors in the field of understanding human behavior and opened new ways of treating psychological problems (psychosomatic illnesses) which were remotely understood by previous physicians. According to this perspective, behavior is the byproduct of instinctual and unconscious forces. The mind is a battleground where these conflicting psychic forces struggle for supremacy and our behavior often represents a compromise between these forces (â€Å"Major Themes and Assumptions of Psychoanalytic Theory†). Major Assumptions Include: A. Man’s behavior is fueled by a psychic energy which always looks for an outlet to be expressed. Common psychological occupation which involve feelings and thought processes is presumed to be triggered by the libido/sexual and death instincts. It believes that human behavior (normal or abnormal) is shaped and influenced by these inner forces of which man is unaware, being repressed into the unconscious depths of the mind, since early expressions continually receive punishment. Hidden in the recesses of the mind, it becomes the very source of energy which continually strives for release. B. Topography of the psyche: unconscious, pre-conscious, and conscious The mind is represented through the famous ‘iceberg’ metaphor. The unconscious is represented at the baseline of an iceberg, hidden and comprising the largest part. At the middle is the pre-conscious. It flashes some of the hidden part of the unconscious to consciousness, just as a real iceberg is partly ‘seen’ and partly submerged. Topmost, and also the smallest part, corresponds consciousness — illustrating the little amount of human experiences that man is aware of. Painful and unacceptable information, of which the conscious part is unable to bear, is pushed down to the unconscious. C. Structure of Mind: Id, Ego and Superego It has a corresponding mental structure: the Id, Ego and Superego. Behavior is either motivated by any of the dynamics of these structures. Irrational behavior is influenced by the Id; rational actions by the Ego, while moral measures by the Superego. D. Means of Resolving Psychic Conflicts Shape a Person’s Personality A person’s trait is determined by how a person resolves these internal struggles. Onset of shaping starts from early childhood experiences. Unresolved stages would cause a person to be ‘stuck’ at a certain psychosexual stage (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital). A person for example, fixated at the oral stage, will either exhibit to flip from one extreme of over-dependence or being highly independent (â€Å"Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development†). E. Psychic Determinism It assumes that nothing is accidental. Forgetting or remember something, ‘slips of the tongue’, or content of dreams are seen as influenced by hidden causes (in the unconscious) which are only looking for expressions. The goal of psychoanalysis is in reliving events or probing into hidden causes in order that conflicts will be resolved in the consciousness. F. Defense Mechanisms An integral part of maintaining human functioning includes defense mechanisms. Unpleasant thoughts or events which prove too painful for the conscious to tolerate are rerouted to the unconscious by means of defense mechanisms. G. Objective of Therapy is to Help Resolve Psychological Problems Through Probing into the Unconscious The goal of therapy is to help a person resolve unconscious conflicts. These hidden conflicts are brought to the fore by means of free association, wherein a person says whatever came to mind and to let one association lead freely to another, regardless of whether it is logical or irrational. It also uses hypnosis to achieve its objective (R. Smith, I. Sarason, and B. Sarason. â€Å"Psychodynamic Perspective: The Forces Within†). References: 1. Carunchio, Clotilde. â€Å"The Study of Psychology†.PowerPoint presentation taken from http://www. unich. it/facolta/psicologia/matdid0607/carunchio/thestydyofpsychology. pdf 2. â€Å"Major Themes and Assumptions of Psychoanalytic Theory†. http://www. wilderdom. com/personality/L8-1MajorThemesAssumptionsPsychoanalytic. html. 3. â€Å"Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development: Oral, anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital†. http://www. wilderdom. com/personality/L8-5FreudPsychosexualStagesDevelopment. html 4. Smith, R. , Irwin and Barbara Sarason. â€Å"Psychodynamic Perspective: The Forces Within†. Psychology: Frontiers of Behavior. Harper and Row, Inc. 1986.

Jawaharlal Nehru Essay

Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India. His Prime-Minister-ship was marked by social and economic reforms of the Indian state. A number of foreign policy landmarks like the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement also marked the tenure of Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister. Jawaharlal Nehru became Prime Minister on the 15th of August 1947. His ascension was plagued by controversy and a bitter power struggle within the Congress Party. The internal struggle of the party was symptomatic of the larger struggle within the Indian Republic itself. The initial period of Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister was marked by communal violence. Jawaharlal Nehru was forced to concede the creation of Pakistan as per the wishes of the Muslim League leader the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Communal violence enveloped the entire country during this period. Maximum bloodshed was witnessed in the national capital Delhi. The Indian states of Punjab and West Bengal also witnessed fierce bloodshed. The first Prime Minister tried to defuse the explosive situation by visiting the violence affected areas. He toured the riot stricken areas with Pakistani leaders to reassure those affected by the violence. Nehru promoted peace in Punjab during that momentous period in Indian history. The secular nature of Jawaharlal Nehru was best exemplified during those times. He took active steps to safeguard the status of Indian Muslims. The first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the first Indian policymakers to understand the importance of cottage industries in the Indian economy. The development of such small scale industries infused much needed production efficiency into the rural Indian economy. The Cottage Industries also helped the agricultural workers to have a better quality of life. This is due to the additional profits generated by the farming community.

Sociology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sociology - Essay Example HIV positive females are generally regarded as irresponsible. Such a belief cannot be projected onto an HIV positive woman who has always shown responsibility in her workspace. Statements of common sense are assumed to be true however sociological research proves those statements as true or false. Sociological ideas are valid since they are backed by reliable information sources like interviews, text books and experiments. Sociological research goes beyond the obvious state and produce counterintuitive results. For this reason, sociological knowledge is considered superior to common sense when both have opposing ideas about a similar phenomenon (Giddens 7). For instance, the common sense suggested that couples who cohabitate prior to getting married have reduced chances of getting divorced. But the sociological research dispelled this view point and rather dug out circumstances and situations that are responsible for divorce. Describe how the Internet can be used to conduct social re search. Is the Internet a good or bad place to conduct social research? Explain. Internet has played a vital role in connecting the different parts of the world. In order to make the social research successful, it is important to reach the sample population effectively. A geographical and prejudicial hindrance has been significantly eliminated by the Internet and has proved to be prolific for the purpose of conducting research. Internet can be used to conduct time efficient and quality effective social research. It provides incredible data sources that can be studied to arrive at certain conclusions. There are online journal databases that can be accessed to obtain information needed for sociological research. Typing in the keywords that suit your query directs the researcher to relevant databases and full length articles (Coomber, 2). Internet also allows the sociology researchers to conduct wide scale surveys. Response rate of Internet surveys is quite high especially in Europe. E -Mail surveys are considered a good option since they maintain anonymity between the experimenter and the subject which is effective for obtaining unbiased responses (Coomber 2). Identify the various types of social norms and give an example of each. Describe the various sanctions associated with violations of the various social norm types. Social norms make up an important element of living in a society. They usually direct us towards adopting acceptable behaviors. The social norms are generally divided into three categories. The first type of the social norms is termed as Folkways (Coomber). These norms are referred to as customs and relatively weaker norms that undergo mild enforcement in the society. Examples of Folkways norms could be wearing appropriate dress that must be modest enough. Another example is correct manners like saying please when you are requesting for something and giving paper money to the shop keeper is also considered a good manner. Appropriate eating habits also fall under folkways, for instance, you must chew food without making unpleasant sounds. Violation of folkways does not bring up any legal or moral consequences (Coomber 3). The second and stricter type of social norms is called Mores. It is considered immoral not to follow mores. Usually their violation evokes punishment. Some of the examples of these strong social norms include bigamy,

Wells Fargo Organization Audit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Wells Fargo Organization Audit - Essay Example Center of discussion in this paper is Wells Fargo Company, a wide-reaching and diversified company that focuses on a society financial aid, compromising of almost $ 1.3 trillion assessed assets. The company enriches the society with proper banking systems, insurance services, investment ideas, mortgage aide to the society, as well as, commercial business centers that is approximately 9 thousand business stores. The company’s values, visualization, as well as, its mission have supported the company during the irregular financial periods, especially during the immense melancholy along with present financial downturn. The organization has a proven past of success, as well as, techniques on handling the hard times. Transformation management along with the capability to adapt to fresh environment is a fundamental choice for the organization in a period of time. The economic transformation methods have articulated quick transformations to the channels that organizations carryout the ir business in an economic industry that has a great impact on the multibillion dollar economic organizations. The organization has the responsibility of ensuring that its utmost organization management articulates a proper attention to the external environment that consists of the governmental, as well as legal transformations to the organizational level. Wells Fargo was started in the year 1852, and was initially located in San Francisco at the period of the gold rush. The vital intention of the stagecoach was to transfer gold along with other vital valuables (Abbott, Parker & Peters, 2004). II) General Statement of Results Computation of productivity Measures A. Benefits B. Total Benefits by Type for 2010–2011 C. Percentage of Total Benefits* D. Total Return on Investment E. Distribution of Return on Investment by Benefit Type Cost Operational and Run Savings $43,718,600 43% $28,825,667 $12,395,037 Revenue Collection Increases $58,358,800 57% $28,825,667 $16,430,630 Total Benefits Flow (before expenses) $102,077,400 100% — — Total Return on Investment (Net Present Value)** — — — $28,825,667 The exact personnel cost per employee against the precise productive hours per employee is what brings cost operation, while the exact personnel costs per employee against the sum of the productive hours results to total benefits flow. Lastly, the sum of personnel costs per employee against the sum of the productive hours is equal to total return on investment. Conceptually, Wells Fargo company has faired well in formulating a sense of effectiveness whenever administering the productivity of the company. Although not all the available eight fundamental factors may be functioning properly, there was not much found in the period of the audit that cannot be transformed into the best of the company. The company’s system management approach promotes the importance of educating managers so as, to understand the company’s overall system, with this they realize how certain actions affect the department with other units, and it recognizes both open as well as, closed systems. The closed system entertains self-contained and not concerned with outside influences the supportive subsystems work on acquisitions as well as functions within the company, where the acquisition involves; securing resources, this type of subsystems includes sales as well as marketing divisions, public relations units. III) Analysis of the organization productivity audit a) Policy The company has a productivity evaluation mission statement that is provided to all the available employees and is provided with first priority towards proper management in the company. The organization managers are supposed to provide productivity plans and missions that are associated with the company’

Restoration of the Everglades Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Restoration of the Everglades - Research Paper Example The scenario started changing in the late 1980’s with the beginning of developments like creation of agricultural farms for growing sugarcane and vegetables, building up of new canals and levees for protecting the farms and the cities from floods and increase in the infrastructure in the east of the everglades. Some parts of the marshland started facing drought and others flood. Earlier it used to cover an area of 10,360 kms but today it has been reduced to half its size. The primary reason for this condition is the pollution caused by companies like Big sugar, construction companies, and various other factors (Marjory Stoneman Doughlas, 1969). The Big sugars comprise of a group of sugarcane growers, mainly U.S sugars, and are primarily responsible for destroying the Everglades. Farmers of these agricultural farms use high content phosphorus fertilizers in excessive quantities, to improve the quality of their soil. The run-off water from these sugarcane farms carrying the kill er phosphorus gets drained into the Everglades through canal-water discharge from Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades agricultural area. It was revealed that this overdose of nutrient results in the overgrowth of unwanted plant and algae species or eutrophication, which in turn causes great harm to the original vegetation of Everglades. The original vegetation of this place- sawgrass and other native plant species- are getting replaced by nutrient loving plants like cattails. Not only fertilizers but sewage and human wastes from these fields are being dumped in the marshlands polluting the water, making it unhygienic to drink and the survival of flora and fauna impossible. The entire ecosystem of Florida is in peril because of the pollution (William H. Orem, Feb 2009). In 1992, the state of Florida had set limit to the amount of phosphorus that could be spewed in the everglades. To achieve this, it had set out Stormwater treatment areas on former agricultural areas. These are artific ial wetlands that help in cleaning the phosphorus-laden canal water before it gets drained in the everglades. This step of the government has been successful to a great extent- reducing the amount of phosphorus in the water from 150 parts per billion (ppb) in 1990’s to 30 ppb today. The target of 10 ppb is still far away but the problem of Everglades is not limited to phosphorus, it goes beyond that (William H. Orem, 2009). There is another way in which these agricultural farms are affecting the marshlands. The agricultural land in the Everglades mostly consists of peat soil. It used to extend up to an area of 3 meters but today it has diminished to one third its size. This happens when farmers drain the peat soil through canals for the better growth of their crops. Once this peat soil is exposed to air it gets oxidized away by aerobic bacteria. As a consequence, the aquatic plants remnants in the peat soil get degraded. Scientists have projected that only 20 cm of the peat s oil will remain by 2050. This is alarming since it will extinguish the original plants and vegetation of the Everglades (William H. Orem, Feb 2009). U.S. factory farms are also polluting the Everglades. During rainy season or snow melting season, the run-off water from these farms, which grow animal feed crops, carry the top soil particles into the Everglades. Also, the 1.4 billion tones of animal manures generated on these farms are let off through the

Multinational Corporation Influences Research Paper

Multinational Corporation Influences - Research Paper Example This structure has individual departments and the workers work in their own area of expertise, and this system enhances the function of each department. Workers have close contact and can share knowledge which is healthy in terms of product advancement and at the same time functional structure is an economical structure. Centralization of this structure causes flexibility problems among different departments.Divisional Structure is flexible in terms of adopting changes, occur in an environment. Each department is responsible for different product and work is always carried out with their individual finances, marketing strategies or warehouses etc. This structure needs a duplication in its resources because the workers of the same field are divided into different departments and thus there no exchange of information or knowledge between workers. Innovative and differentiation strategies are always part of a divisional structure.Matrix Structure is complicated but is the most accurate structure. It has both above-explained structures within itself and works with functional structure with assigned managers for each product. The matrix structure is the most difficult structure to be implemented because of its dual authority as there are sometimes two managers for each product: Product manager and functional manager, but it is very productive for Multinational Corporations. In short matrix structure is a cross functional structure which carries a plentiful space for improvement and innovation before the product is released for market inflow.

Foreign Direct Investment can have both positive and negative impacts Essay

Foreign Direct Investment can have both positive and negative impacts on both the host and home country - Essay Example These can be in the form of outright acquisition of a firm or a joint venture or construction of a facility. It can also include an association with a local company to gain rights for attendant input of technology (P. Graham and R. Barry Spaulding, n.d.). â€Å"It was twenty years ago that the late Stephen Hymer wrote his seminal thesis on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and multinational enterprises (MNEs). Since then the literature on these subjects has increased substantially and taken different directions, placing the multinational firms at the crossroads of many disciplines and of many debates as well†. (A.L. Calvet, p.43) Foreign direct investments of larger magnitude have deep effects on the economy of both the entities. Here with the help of real examples, it will be discussed how these effects can be positive as well as negative. As for this purpose we are focusing on both the host and home countries separately, so the advantages and disadvantages will be considered s eparately as well. But for the record it must be highlighted that these advantages and disadvantages are not fixed but, on the contrary, they are relative to both the host and home countries and their collective policies. HOST COUNTRY: ADVANTAGES The biggest advantage that a host company can derive from foreign domestic investment (FDI) is the globalization of its operations. Many large countries are focusing on it, e.g. China is the largest FDI host in the developing world. To compensate for the advantages that could be derived from these foreign investments, China has undergone significant changes with respect to its policies related to the FDIs. Until the mid 1980s FDIs were focusing on the construction sector involving the construction of hotels and apartments in the tourism and service industry. In 1986 China issued a new policy which encouraged the FDI into various other technically advanced sectors. These included manufacturing enterprises whose main focus was export and some basic industries such as new materials and agricultural. After these changes approximately 60% of the total foreign investments were part of the manufacturing sector of China (Yingqi Wei, Xiaming Liu, 2001). But from 1994 onwards, the investment boom in China seemed to go downhill. The statistics for foreign direct investments in terms of projects and contractual agreements turned negative and the growth rate of realized FDI also fell. The trend continued till 1999. But then in 2000 China recovered and since then it has closely monitored the inflows and outflows related to the foreign direct investments into its entities (Yingqi Wei, V. N. Balasubramanyam, 2004). Similarly Chile has been a FDI friendly-nation in Latin America. An agency of United Nations in Chile named The Economic Commission for Latin America and The Caribbean (Eclac) reported an inflow of USD 8.03 billion making Chile the third largest foreign direct investment in South America. FDI in Chile is mostly focused in the sector of mining. A survey by UNCTAD has shown that inward FDI in the developing countries has risen from $481 billion in 1998 to $636 billion in 2006. Among China and Chile other countries benefiting from foreign direct investments include Singapore, Philippines and India in Asia and other

Second Order Crossover Loudspeaker Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Second Order Crossover Loudspeaker - Lab Report Example Crossovers works on the principle of dividing the audio single into several frequency parts that are transmitted to respective speakers designed to manipulate the respective frequencies. Audio cross-overs are widely used in electronics applications. We use multiple drivers or speakers in our sound systems as mostly an individual driver is not capable enough to cover and manipulate every frequency range present in sound so separate drivers are used for separate frequency ranges. What actually a cross-over circuit does is that it splits the input frequency into parts on the basis of low and high value and send it to the respective driver that will forward the signal frequency as a whole to the output load that is the speaker. Two same resistance value speakers can be positioned in a parallel setting because of cross-over circuit. The resistance value speakers that are positioned in a parallel setting can be of two sorts, higher one and the lower one. Because of this parallel setting, an amplifier can be there with a single-valued resistance. Two varying drive units having varied efficiency values can be matched with one another with the support of cross-over circuits. With this grouping, the outcome in terms of frequency responsiveness by the drive units is not huge. The cross-over circuit permits either woofer or tweeter to equal response to the frequency due to which, the compound rejoinder is soft and smooth as compared to the unstrained curves of woofers or tweeters. We can make chunks of larger frequency range into minor portions to create standardized sounds.

Intro to humanities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Intro to humanities - Essay Example This construction was designed to be harmonically ordered so that it reflected the harmony of life. Beyond this type of geometric design comes the combination of practical and aesthetic qualities as the Acropolis (which literally means "high city") was placed on the highest spot in Athens so that its people could retreat there in the case of invasion from the outside. It was a place of both literal and metaphoric sanctuary. Much of the design of the Acropolis is massive in nature, but there are also smaller buildings which may be seen as a form of decoration. For example, there is the Temple to Nike Athena (the Athena of Victory) which commemorates a vital victory over the Persians. It is small in size, but perfect in proportion, as if the Greeks were attempting to show that it is the quality, in geometric perfection, that is more important than its size. The various works of art which once existed in the Acropolis, few of which are still there in their original form, show that the Acropolis was designed as a kind of living history of the mythology of Greece. For example, the porch of the maidens commemorates the mythological contest between Athena and Poseidon over who would be the patron of the new city that had sprung up there. It is perhaps a suitable commentary upon the difficulties involved with keeping the Classical Humanist ideals alive that much of the surviving works of ar

Human Resources department in William Hill Essay Example for Free

Human Resources department in William Hill Essay Human Resources department in William Hill are important because they have a connection with the quality of employees and market success. William Hill will not be able to work effectively if workers are not committed to meeting corporate objectives so it is the HR management job to ensure this quality by recruiting, developing and retaining these staff. In order to do the above it is essential for HR department to look at various information internally and externally to plan for human resource. Internal and external information is important for William Hill as they need it to determine what they are doing, what they should have done, and what they are about to do. For this company to be the best and to strive to the highest levels they should make sure that they know all legislations that they need to follow in order to stay on the same side of the law. Internal in formation consist of what is happening in the business such as below: Labour Turnover This means the number of employees that leave over a period of time, are replaced and the average length of time workers stay and reason for staff wastage. This can either be advantage or become a disadvantage to William Hill. This is because it can either bring in new employees with new ideas and skills, or it can be expensive to recruit new staff. Due to high costs that it will produce, this can also become time consuming. Employees may leave because of poor career prospects, allowing little chance of promotion or simply better opportunities elsewhere. The way to measure labour turnover is: Wastage rate: No. of leavers in a period * 100 Average number of employees in the period Average No. Employees at start of period + Employees at end of period of employees: 2 Companies including William Hill can use this calculation on a yearly basis for the whole organisation or just the department. This is highly useful when used as a comparison with previous years. One disadvantage is that the equation (wastage rate) doesnt measure the length of service of the employees that leave. Stability Index means that means how long an employee has been with the firm. It can be measure by using this formula: No. of employees with one or more years or service * 100 No. of employees at the start of the year This equation shows the stability of more loyal and settled workers. It ignores short-term workers or those most likely to leave. William Hill Labour turnover for Evelyn Street Branch is: Labour turnover = 3 * 100 = 20% 15 This result includes the amount of part time and full time workers employed in my branch. This is a really good indication that numerous workers love their job and want to stay employed in William Hill. As there is high retention levels it makes planning for human resource easier because it seems that more workers are staying. The amount of people leaving one branch would require the attention of the HR department, this is because the company can observe what is wrong and try to find ways to fix it. This would help the department as it can grow from the results of the turnover. Being able to put back into working order the things that became a problem in the past would make the company more successful from within. Age, Skills and Qualifications According to studies the older you are the more experience you would have. Analysing the age of the workers at William Hill it would show that mostly young and middle age groups are being employed. William Hill tend to take staff during night racing and hiring people around these times would be essential for the company but not for the employee, this is because in that short space of time the workers will not gain the qualifications that they need. William Hills most reliable staff would be the middle age groups. This is because they would be more experienced and have been in that trade for such longer period. In addition to this they will gain maximum experience and qualifications to match. Where this is rewarded by annual pay they will be more expensive to employ, their length of service may make them more expensive to make redundant. Younger staff may lack experience but they may be more receptive to change and new ideas, also they may inexpensive to recruit. When looking at the gender of William Hill you will find that most of the employees are female: FEMALE 60% MALE 40% There are more women on the shop floors than in the Head Office of William. Also the male population tend to be the betters and it means that the female will tend to serve them especially when it comes to individual betting shops. William Hill is a company that employ regardless of qualification or skills in providing their services to customers however it would aid employment if you had rather good maths skills, good communication skills and working with other workers as a team. But William Hill do offer training where it is needed to new or previous staff because it essential time is not wasted in not knowing what to do but being productive and offering good Customer Service. Staff Absences or sickness Staff absences cost industries in terms of money and time due to less productivity. Staff absences is not only included in absences but also bad time keeping such as arriving late and leaving early but also due to industrial accidents. Accidents at work can be avoided by the use of common sense and consideration. Hazards caused by leaving paper on the floor, having the ladder obstructing the way, blocked entrances and exits with boxes and trailing leads. So it is part of the Human Resource to keep sure that safety is kept by each shop and that appropriate planning is made for training in First Aid in case of accidents caused by other individuals. Apart from accidents the workplace can cause illness to workers in a variety of ways especially those that are doing night shift also due to constant smoking by workers and customers it may lead to further health problems in the future so this may cause absences. The staff absences in the Evelyn Branch of William Hill yearly are: Part time employees 18% Full time employees 32% Full time workers have the highest Training This can be done within the business or outside, according to the training needs of the employee. There are different types of training: Induction, Mentoring, Coaching, Apprenticeships, and Off and On the job training. Staff training is required if William Hill are to continue and to be successful to be the best in their market. The process of training is to help employees reach their maximum efficiency. William Hill will need to meet their annual targets therefore employees would need to develop their skills. At the beginning of your employment at William Hill or any other workplace you will have to have an induction. This is an introduction to the business for new employees. This can be used to familiarise the new recruits with the organisation. Based on a good induction the employee will feel at ease with the organisation and some of the employees. Your skills and qualifications may be based on your training. Your ability to gain as much knowledge as you can will be reflected in your skills to do certain jobs. Employees of William Hill will be trained to suit any area no mater what the task in question is. This will then help the company to strive to be the finest it can be. Succession and Promotion of Staff Succession is the process of staff that has left being trained and promoted although it has become common for William Hill to recruit experienced staff from outside the business it would be advantageous to start promoting those within the organisation. So in order for employees to stay and require less human resource planning it helps to encourage staff to remain loyal by giving them good career prospects. Promoting within William Hill will ensure continuity of style and culture of the organisation so that everyone watching out for each other style will still exists to continue increasing productivity. The human resource department do not always approach staff for promotion but teletexting is placed on Managers betting screen to tell staff or posters are placed out side individual LBO if they need certain staff. Nevertheless there is always that problem that internal staffs are not suitable so advertising the need for staff will have to be done for William HR department for planning for the future. External information relates to the information outside of the business and these tend to be things which are beyond William Hills control. So in order to overcome these problems it helps to use the PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal) analysis which looks at all aspects of the external influences which will prove crucial to the outcome of William Hill in coming years. Political With there being a stable political environment it enables William Hill to make predictions about their future because they have that degree of certainty due to knowing that the Labour government will be in power for another four years and hopefully they will stick to the same economic policies. If there was an increase in company taxation levels, this could mean that William Hill will have more cost to pay and may not be able to recruit as many staff as they previously would. For the Human Resource department it means that they may have to recruit staffs that are less expensive such as those that dont have as much experience as someone that may have been in the industry for 10 years. Changes to taxation levels in general would have an affect on William Hill as certain things such as concessions and incentives given to workers could increase or decrease. However some of the company expenses are tax deductible meaning that William Hill can set these off against tax burdens and may make them more willing to recruit workers if costs can be cut through not giving away company cars. The level of protectionism that the government have could affect trade and could affect demand for William Hill services hence demand for labour to supply services could fall or ascend depending on their restrictions. Economic Economic forces affect both the organisation and its customers. Depending on the sector that the business lies on the economic influences will be different. The economic environment may change, William Hill will need to understand how their suppliers and customers will be affected if they are to successfully adjust to change. Unemployment has a relationship with the demand of product or products in general. With a high unemployment level the demand for products will go down as people have less disposable income. If William Hill were to set up in an area that has low employment levels then they could make the percentage level increase thus giving the company more sales as unemployment is low. If interest rates are high then it becomes a lot more expensive for companies like William Hill to borrow money from banks, meaning that William Hill will refrain from expanding and less staff will be needed. The Human Resources Planning department may have to delayer the hierarchy of the company leaving some without a job. With high interest rates people in general will become hostile to purchasing luxury or high priced products or services therefore the demand for them will decrease. The Human Resources department would need to invent ways for this to change in their favour. Social Peoples spending habits may vary during different seasons because of various races during the course of the year such as Cheltenham, The Grand National and many more. William Hill will realise this and take advantage for it. When recruiting staff WH Smith would need to think carefully on whom to take on. Taking in the knowledge that younger employees would be more responsive to change. However someone of the senior generation may offer more years of service. This will effect the HR department of WH Smith because they will need to consider a lot. Since younger people may have new skills and new ideas they may be beneficial to the company, and older employees would stay with the company longer. Technological As technology is advancing WH Smith need to move with the times by using technology They may want to make sure that their products are of the highest standards so WH Smith would use technical equipment thereby reducing the amount of staff required. If WH Smith engages in Internet sales it may also cut down the staffs that is needed. The Human Resources department will take into consideration the affect that this would have on WH Smith and they will use this to interpret the outcome for their future. Environmental Environmental issues are a very big part of all industries as everyone wants to be environmentally friendly. Some of WH Smiths customers would like to buy recyclable products to be kind to the environment. If WH Smith were to be concerned with the environment they could buy more recyclable stationery enabling this to be part of their policy concerning the environment. There may be some customers (like me) that dont really mind whether their goods are recyclable. To them they may think that just because they can be recycled they are not good quality, therefore they would not buy it. The HR department would need to analyse this area and make sure they know and understand the ramifications that may occur from their decisions. This could have an effect on staff as they may need to employ more people to assist with sales or not employ anyone at all. Legal All companies follow an equal opportunity policy as it is part of a legislation that all businesses should follow. For legal reasons William Hill may have to pay one employee more money than another, this would not be because ones a man and the other is a woman, but, because one is a minor (under 16) and the other is above 18. With this policy people under 18 yrs would be paid à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3.60 and anyone older would get à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4.20. Within this company they do not discriminate against people, this could be from sex discrimination to racial. This could effect the HR department as it could higher the cost of labour that they recruit, meaning that they would reduce the amount of staff.

Direct to Consumer Advertising of Prescription drugs

Direct to Consumer Advertising of Prescription drugs Abstract In Pharmaceutical industry, promotional advertisements are mostly targeted towards physicians but in recent years trend has shifted towards consumer advertisement. In many cases of Direct to Consumer Advertisement (DTCA) the pharmaceutical marketers and manufactures creates hype among patients towards disease and ultimately towards brand. It provokes the patients to seek additional information on the brand and push for its prescription generation. Objective of this study is to determine attitude of the physicians towards DTCA, and what extent patients request for particular brand leads to actual prescription generation of the advertised drugs. This study reveals that the doctors generally have positive attitude towards DTCA and are willing to provide relevant information to the patients and in some cases even provide sample of medicines or go for direct prescribing, if found relevant, as asked by the patient. This study justifies the pharmaceutical industry manufacturers sp ending in DTCA. It is also thought provoking for health policy makers that prescription drugs are being advertised directly which may lead to increased medication cost and misuse of medicine. Key words: Direct to consumer advertising, Direct to Consumer Advertised Brand, Over the counter drugs, Prescription drug. Physicians attitude. I INTRODUCTION Companies rely heavily on product detailing to physicians, which are the customer, (Zangla, 2004). To increase overall sales figures marketers started advertising directly to consumers of disease and even drug brands, (Amaldoss He, 2009). DTCA is not allowed specially for prescription drugs, (Donohue Berndt, 2010). One argument is that DTCA is a public service message about a particular disease and only plays a role as information provider and motivates people to seek proper treatment if required (Kuhn, 2006). Many researchers found DTCA good for General public health, (Bradford, Kleit, Nietert, Ornstein, 2005) and beneficial for patient care (Murray, Lo, Pollack, Donelan, Lee, 2004). So it is considered as DTCA has both merits and demerits, (Murray, 2003) 1.1 Research Objective In recent years Pharmaceutical Companies drastically increased their spending on Direct to Consumer Advertising (DTCA) (Herzenstein, Misra Posavac, 2005). In 1997 Federal drug authority (FDA) permitted DTCA and subsequently pharmaceutical companies started increasing their expenditure on direct advertisement to provoke consumers to ask their doctors about the drug (Green, 2007). Patient is more comfortable in using drug brand which is familiar to patient, (Zuvekas, 2008). Consumers have positive attitude towards DTCA and tries to find out additional information about Directly to Consumer Advertised Brand (DTCAB). To get additional information patient consults their doctor, (Herzenstein, Misra, Posavac, 2005). Asking questions by patients has strong influence on doctors selection criteria of drugs (Iizuka Jin 2005). General attitude of physicians towards DTCA its impact on prescription generation is still unknown (Herzenstein, et al., 2005). If physicians have positive general attitude towards DTCA, it may lead to actual prescription generation. Moreover if patients shows more likelihood of searching additional information tries to inquire additional information by asking questions from physician about DTCAB also leads to prescription generation (Herzenstein, et al., 2005). Information inquired from the physician about DTCAB of medicine is taken as second independent variable, pressurizes physicians towards prescribing that specific brand of drugs. Patients adherence influenced by DTCA motivates patients to seek additional information about the drug from physicians (Amaldoss Chuan, 2009). 1.2 Rationale of study 1.2.1 Increased spending on DTCA from pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical companies have increased their spending in last decade, and they are planning to do more (Atherly Rubin, Feb 2008). Physicians are considered to be the best judge to decide medicine , keeping in view the patients and drugs characteristics. Due to information flow and access through electronic and print media, consumer tries to get more information about the drug and disease. With this the pharmaceutical companies started promoting prescription drugs directly to consumers. At the end of many advertisements it is advised to consult your doctor for further information, but ultimate goal is the prescription generation. These advertisements provokes patients to visit their physicians and asking information and if it is appropriate then whether it can be used or not. It is presumed by the companies that doctor will prescribe the medicine as per patient request, but it is still unknown that what is the general attitude of doctors towards direct to consumer advertisement This study will help marketers of pharmaceutical companies in finding the answer to the question, whether they are helping people in getting medication, from physicians perspective, and are they really making returns on this investment on DTCA. 1.2.2 Health policy makers. Drugs are classified in two categories, one is Over the Counter Drugs (OTC) and other is called Prescription drugs (PD). OTC drugs are usual drugs which have comparatively lesser side effects and can be used without consultation of physicians. Conversely the PD which are of either critical use or may be associated with serious side effects, and can only be used if advised by physicians. In like manner promotion of PD were made only to the physicians through detailing. Pertaining to the severity of life and death related to use of PD, DTCA should not be done for PD. But PD are being advertised under the head of Disease Advertising (DA). It should be the major concern for health policy maker either the PD are being used appropriately as per physicians advice or not. As extensive DTCA of PD may lead to misuse of medicine, increased treatment cost and unnecessary visits to physicians. DTCA should not have that much impact to generate prescription of DTCAB, if it is then specific policies should be developed to balance the usage of DTCA with its risks. 1.2.3 Knowledge contribution. It has already been explored in many researches that DTCA has both merits and demerits. Some physicians generally perceive that DTCA is good for patient overall health but from other school of thought it is just in favor of pharmaceutical companies, only physicians can better decide which drug to be used or not. In medical sciences the selection of medicine is based on mainly three factors, kind of disease, doctors judgment, patients affordability and liking or psychological experience factor of any brand (Prosser, Almond and Walley, 2003). In previous researches the impact of both physicians and consumers have been explored. But the combined impact of both variables has not been studied before. This study for the first time explores the combined effect of the two main independent variables. My research will find out the preference of physicians towards DTCA and whether information seeking by the patients leads to prescription generation. II LITERATURE REVIEW Pharmaceutical industry is heavily driven by customers (doctors) and very marketing and selling intensive (Scherer, 1990). Primarily the focus was only on doctors (customers) but recently the trend is also shifting towards addressing consumers directly (Matthews, 2001). The medium used for accessing consumers is electronic media including the internet and television advertisements, consumers are now able to freely access information about drugs and their brands which in some cases can lead to misuse of medicine and increased cost of treatment (Matthews et al., 2001). Pharmaceutical companies are now targeting advertisements towards patients which entice patients to ask for prescription of only advertised drug, the patients behavior is also effecting and directing the health systems. Matthews (2001) quoted Dr. Reardon, ex president of American Medical Association (AMA), has insightfully noted, Patients themselves are also creating a strong impetus for change. Disillusioned by restrictions on coverage and care, they are increasingly demanding choice of physician, hospital, and even type of health plan. More than ever, patients see physicians as the essential point of trust in a changing system, and demand choice and stability in their vital relationships with their doctors. At the same time, patients themselves are becoming better educated, not only about insurance options but also about medical treatments. Today, thanks to the Internet, trends in product advertising, and the massive proliferation of medical information, patients are better equipped to take part in their care than ever before. Rather than simplifying the physicians job, however, this increased patient knowledge base is creating new challenges. The other argument that supports DTCA says that it encourages hard to reach sections of populations to seek information about diseases, but it should be balanced against the increased cost of medicine from unnecessary requests generated by DTCA (Murray Pollack Donelan and Lee, 2003). DTCA has both positive and negative effects on health behaviors, health service utilization (Murray et, al., 2003). Almost five years back ads for prescription drugs were very rare but these are becoming very common in recent years, and are being advertised like any consumer goods, direct to consumer advertising (DTCA) has grown rapidly (Scherer, 2004). On the other side consumers behavior is supportive towards DTCA and would like to get more information and ask for a particular brand from physicians (Herzenstein, 2004). Another research shows that DTCA had no statistically significant effect on the choice of antidepressant (Donohue Berndt, 2004). There are three variables involved in prescription cho ice, one is Patient characteristic, second is features of medication and third is physicians preference for medication choice, moreover detailing is found to be the most effective in physicians preference for medication choice (Donohue Berndt, 2004). Increase in pharmaceutical pricing is due to increase in expenditure incurred on DTCA. 2.1 Conceptual framework Now the question arises that whether there is an impact of DTCA on sales or not (Scherer, 2004). It is also found that DTCA encourage patients to visit physicians and use specific brand medicine (Iizuka, 2005). It is agreed that DTCA has decreased the time between diagnosis and use of medicine and promotes the patients to consult their physician. 2.1.1 Inquiry about additional information or request for prescription. It has been argued that patient may demand the product just because of the attractiveness and persuasion of the advertisement, rather than look in to the effectiveness of the drug and go for proper consultation from doctor (Bradford, 2005). This is not unusual in pharmaceutical, as is a significant change from the traditional emphasis on physicians detailing, it has been found that the traditional selling of pharmaceutical brands to physicians is changing and prescription drugs is being marketed directly to consumers, as other consumer goods, as detailing and price are found to be complementary strategies for the firms in addition to the traditional detailing, (Brekkea, 2006) 2.1.1 Actual prescription generation. Still questions arises about the impact of DTCA on welfare of patients, if allowed then will lead to More visits to physicians, and they pressurizes to get prescription of desired medicine. (Brekkea et al., 2006). It is also shown that the pharmaceutical manufacturers are also facing challenges from DTCA because they has to do extensive detailing to physicians because of DTCA is also being done, so it should be banned as to keep focus on detailing (Brekkea et al., 2006). It will induce demand for new users of antidepressant medicines and can exaggerate the usage if already that medicine is being used, and will lead to misuse of brand (Chad Meyerhoefer, 2007). Direct to consumer advertising is very important and of course controversial part, advertising in journals, detailing and distribution of samples are used along with direct to consumer advertising which may leads to induce demand and generate more sales (Pasdirtz, 2009) III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research methodology is a system or methods followed by particular discipline of an inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications etc. (Oxford Dictionary, 2007). This study is an applied form of research leading to the basic knowledge contribution, and is an extension of work done by Zachry, (2003). As pharmaceutical industry is very important, it has to play an important role, on one side it claims to be for better health of patients but no doubt they are making huge profits, here comes the role of health policy makers to make it justified. Moreover it is to find out the general attitude of physicians about DTCA and information asked by patients about any particular DTCAB, and its relation with actual prescription generation if asked by patient. 3.1 Problem Statement Hypothesis Pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan are promoting their brands directly to consumers (patients), now the question is What is the attitude of physicians towards DTCA, and do they provide relevant information and prescribe medicine if asked by patient. Positive attitude of physicians and information asked by patients of advertised medicine leads to prescription generation Now the objective of study is qualitative estimation of attitude, and what physicians are most likely to do if patient inquires information after exposure of pharmaceutical advertisement. Even patient may ask for prescription of specific drug, then what is the usual response of physician. 3.2 Hypothesis H-1 : Attitude of physicians towards Direct to consumer advertisement is positive. H-2: Physicians provides information of drug which is asked by patient after exposure to pharmaceutical advertisement. H-3: If found relevant, physicians prescribe the particular drug which is requested by patient on exposure to pharmaceutical advertisement. H-4: Positive attitude of physicians towards DTCA and query about information of a particular brand of medicine leads to actual prescription generation. ATTITUDE3.3 Model Independent Variable 1 PRESCRIPTION GENERATION Attitude of Physicians towards Direct to Consumer Advertising of prescription drugs Dependent Variable Actual Prescription Generation on request from patient of DTCAB medicine INFORMATION Reaction on request of information about particular DTCAB medicine Independent Variable 2 PRESCRIPTION GENERATION Dependent Variable Actual Prescription Generation on request from patient of DTCAB medicine 3.4 Data Collection Data was collected in field setting, respondent were general practicing Doctors/Physicians in hospital setting, as per previously done by (Friedman, 2006) to know the attitude of doctors. We selected hospitals because it has been found that hospitals play an important role in direct to consumer advertising (Adeoye Bozic, 2007),. 3.5 Sample and Population we choose leading hospitals of Rawalpindi/ Islamabad which have high patient turnover, i.e Pakistan institute of medical Sciences, Rawalpindi general hospital, Nescom Hospital and Shifa International. Within these hospitals we selected doctors on judgmental basis, as doctor who is dealing with more than 50 walk-in patients as previously done by (Taneja, Arora and Kaushik, 2007) and found appropriate. Sample size was taken 250, as per sample size taken by other researchers for the same kind of purpose (Bhanji, Baron, Benjamin, Lacy, Gross, Goin, Summner, Fischer, and Slaby 2008). 3.6 Instrumentation A questionnaire was adopted from two authors. Questionnaire has three parts, in first part general attitude of physicians towards direct to consumer advertising (Donhue Berndt, 2004), and in second part the likelihood behavior of physician if patient asks for more information related to drug being advertised directly, and in last part the likelihood of physician if patient asks for prescription of certain medicine (Zachry,Dalen, and Jackson, 2003). 3.7 Data Analysis These two were independent variable and one variable of prescription generation is dependant variable. Quantitative method were used, Microsoft Excel and SPSS was used to calculate percentages and relative comparison in questions through as per previous research done by Bhanji, 2008. IV FINDING AND ANALYSIS 4.1 Data Reliability and Normality Collected data is validated from Cronbachs-Alpha value which is used by many researchers like Zachry; Dalen, and Jackson, (2001,2003). The value came up to 0.8 which is acceptable as it should beis more than 0.6. Taneja, Arora and Kaushik, (2007) used descriptive statistical data analysis, I moreover used SPSS to regress two independent variable with dependent variable. 4.2 Descriptive Statistics of Respondents 4.2.1 Independent variable 1, attitude. In first part of questionnaire it is found that 40 % agree and 20 % strongly agree that it makes patients better informed and 46% agree with 32% strongly agree that it causes them to seek medical doctor. 40% agree that it also informs about side effects, although the data shows that there is increase in medication cost. Little agreement on suggesting medicine from patients. More that half percent of people suggested that it is good trend in health care, and causes more time spent in front of doctor while discussing disease. 42% agree that this also helps in increases motivation towards treatment. 39% think that it not only provokes patients to visit doctor for better health but also encourages, 41%, patients to talk to their doctor about right concern. 41% agree that it also helps in following treatment instructions and 58% with 7% strongly agree that it improves the understanding of medical conditions and treatment.1 is for strong agreement, 2 is for agreement, 3 is neutral and 4 is for disagreement while 5 is strongly disagreement.General description and frequency analysis is given in Table 4.1 OVERALL ATTITUDE OF PHYSICIANS TOWARDS DIRECT TO CONSUMER ADVERTISING ATTITUDE Questions Asked Variance Std Deviation Make patients better informed about their medical problems 1.18 1.08 Motivate patients to seek medical care 1.21 1.1 Provide enough information on other treatments 1.41 1.18 Do a good job of informing patients of side effects 1.3 1.15 Have less or no impact on increase in medication cost 1.08 1.03 Helps doctors in suggesting medicines from patients 1.06 1.02 Are a positive trend in health care 0.94 0.97 Increase in time spent with doctor 1 1.01 Increases motivation towards treatment, overall drug consumption 0.8 0.89 Increase more doctor visit for better health 1.47 1.21 Encourages patients to talk to their doctor about their right concerns 1 1 Encourages people to follow treatment instructions or advice from their doctors 1.15 1.07 Helps patients get treatments they would not otherwise get 1.16 1.07 Have less of no impact on driveing up the cost of prescription drugs 1.17 1.08 Improves peoples understanding of medical conditions and treatments 0.89 0.94 4.2.2 Independent variable 2, information. 44% agree that they become frustrated, 37% get annoyed but 52% agree and 32% strongly agree that they answer patient question about medication if asked. Only 35% agree that they provide more information. General description and frequency analysis is given in Table 4.2 LIKELLIHOOD OF PHYSICIANS WHEN ASKED FOR SPECIFIC BRAND DUE TO DTCA INFORMATION Questions asked Variance Std. Deviation You become frustrated with patient for asking for more information about disease or medicine 1.57 1.25 You become annoyed with patient for asking for more information about disease or medicine 1.42 1.19 Answer patient questions about the medication 0.79 0.89 Provide more information to patient beyond original inquiry 1.39 1.18 Attempt to change subject rather than discuss the medication 1.4 1.18 Explains that the information is probably beyond patients comprehension 1.42 1.19 4.2.3 Dependent variable, actual prescription generation. It is revealed from data that 37% get frustrated, 36% get annoyed if asked to prescribe certain brand and 36% feel uncomfortable with this request, and even less willing to communicate to the patient 33%, mostly 41% are neutral. With this if samples are available then 61% agree and 17% strongly agree to provide samples on patient request, it is also supported by agreement of 51% and strong agreement 24% that they will prescribe medicine if no medicine is available. But if found relevant, as while asking question of simply prescribing the medicine if is anyway relevant , to satisfy the patient then the agreement was 47% and only 8% with strong agreement. General description and frequency analysis is given in Table 4.3 LIKELIHOOD OF PHYSICIANS ON REQUEST OF PATIENT FOR SPECIFIC BRAND PRESCRIPTION GENERATION Dependent Variable Questions Asked Variance Std. Deviation Become frustrated with patient for asking to try the medication 1.13 1.06 Become annoyed with patient for asking to try the medication 0.96 0.98 Feel uncomfortable with the medication request 1.34 1.16 Communicate to the patient your discomfort with the medication request 0.87 0.93 Attempt to prescribe different medication to keep from promoting patient to ask for medication, if available 0.93 0.96 Provides samples of the medication, if available 0.73 0.86 Provide prescription of the medication if no samples available 1.2 1.09 Simply prescribes the medicine if is anyway relevant, to satisfy the patient 1.11 1.06 4.3 Correlation Regression Analysis SPSS was used to show the relationship between two independent variables i.e attitude of doctors towards DTCA and behavior likelihood if information asked by the patient and its impact on dependent variable which is actual prescription generation if requested by the patient. 4.3.1 Model summary and ANOVA. R value shows 40% relationship between dependent variable and independent variables. R square shows 16.6% of the variant in dependent variable can be predicted by the combination of two independent variable. Durbin Watson value is 2.08 showing that there is very less multicollinearity. ANOVA statistics shows overall model significance, f value is 15.09, and sig value is less than 0.00 which is less than 0.05, and is the indicator of significance, so that we can go for regression analysis of independent variables on dependent variables. Durbin Watson value should be between 1.5 to 2.5 means that there is no or less multicollinearity, here the value is 2.08, it shows less chances of multicollinearity. 4.4 If two independent variables combined collectively, Information + Attitude Data results with individual variables shows very weak relationship. with model significance. So It is considered combined effect of both independent variables on dependent variables. 4.4.1 Model summary and ANOVA. Model Summary shows overall model significance, which is less than 0.05, showing overall model fit, R value shows 78% dependence of dependent variable on independent variable. R square value is 0.61 showing magnitude of relationship between independent variable with dependent variable. 1% change in independent variable with 61 % change in dependent variable. Adjusted R square is the pure magnitude of relationship which is always less than the R square, 0.60. F Change statistics is 239.45 which is more than 1 then we can go for coefficients. ANOVA shows overall model significance with less than 0.05 value, it means the regression analysis be proceeded. Additionally according to second school of thought the regression sum of square should be greater then residual sum of square for better model fit. 4.4.1 Coefficient If t value is greater then 2 means it is significant. And significance value should be less than 0.05 to make a significant relationship. Here t value is 15.47, showing significant relationship, and sig value is less than 0.000. 4.2. Discussion This is similar finding with Ryan Vaithianathan, (2009). Which shows that the attitude of consumer is positive towards information provision to patient if asked and similar with the Brekke Kuhn, 2006 study which shows that the doctors rely on the information provided to them through DTCA. I accept the hypothesis that physicians have positive attitude towards DTCA. And it is accepted that the physicians are comfortable in providing information if asked by patents about any DTCAB. According to statistics shown by Data analysis I accept the hypothesis of positive relationship between general attitude of physicians towards DTCA and behavior of physicians if patient asks information has positive relationship and are correlated with actual prescription generation. Very interestingly it is found that information asking by physician and general attitude are weakly negatively correlated, it can be the area for further research that if more information is asked by patients about any brand may lead to negative attitude of physicians towards DTCA. It is found that through DTCA and patients, it is a way of putting pressure on physicians to change their prescribing behavior, (Ryan Vaithianathan, 2009) It was major concern showed by (Morgan, Mintzes barer, 2003) that the regularities authorities should consider DTCA regulations if it has impact on prescribing behavious, and in this study it has shown that the consumer advertising is creating impact in prescription choosen. This study is providing valueable information for pharmaceutical manufacturers and marketers. If more patients would ask for further information of specific drug, it may lead to the actual prescription generation. This study is also a thought provoking study for physicians that in choosing brands they are influenced by patients which may lead to increased cost and unnecessary medicines prescription. This study can be an eye opener for regularity authorities, DTCA is considered as good by physicians but it should be clearly monitored because it also creates pressure on physicians to prescribe certain brands. VI CONCLUSION Physicians have positive attitude towards DTCA and consider it supplementary in overall health care system. It stimulates patients to visit physician and seek appropriate treatment. Physicians feel comfortable in providing relevant information about DTCAB if asked, and they do not hesitate to prescribe the medicine if it is relevant to disease and patient economic characteristics. Focus of this study was to find the combined impact of attitude and information gathering on actual prescription generation. In future it may be further extended to specific disease area. However pharmaceutical companies should be monitored by regulatory authorities to check DTCA messages. Companies should focus on disease awareness rather on brand focused advertisements. REFERANCES Adeoye S, B. K. (2007 ). Direct to consumer advertising in healthcare: history, benefits, and concerns. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research , Volume 457, pp 96-104. Amaldoss, W., He, C. (2009). Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs: A Strategic Analysis. MARKETING SCIENCE , Vol. 28 (No. 3), pp. 472-487. Atherly, A., Rubin, P. (Feb 2008). The cost effectiveness of direct to consumer advertising for prescription drugs. Journal of Law Economics , pp. 08-28. Berndt, J. M. (2004). Effects of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising on Medication Choice: The Case of Antidepressants. Journal of Public Policy Marketing , 23 (2), 115-127. Berndt, J. M. (2004). Effects of Direct-to-Con sumer Advertising on Medication Choice: The Case of Antidepressants. Journal of Public Policy Marketing , 23 (2), 115-127. Bradford, D., Kleit, A. N., Nietert, P., Ornstein, S. (2005, August 8). The Effect of Direct to Consumer Television Advertising on the Timing of Treatment. Working Paper Series . Kurt R. Brekkea, Kuhnb, M. (2006). Direct to consumer advertising in Pharmaceutocal markets. Journal of Health Economics , pp. 102-130. Brekke, K. R., Kuhn, M. (July 2005). Direct to consumer advertising in pharmaceutical markets . Journal of Family medicine , Vol.18 (2) pp. 238-321 Donohue, J. M., Cevasco, M., Rosenthal, a. M. (2007). A Decade of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Presescription drugs. The new england journal of medicine , Vol . 81 pp. 357-673. E. Murray, L. Pollack, K. Donelan (2003), Direct-to-Consumer Advertising Physicians views of its effects on quality of care and the doctor patient relationship, JABFP, Vol. 16 No. 6 Pg. 513-524 Elizabeth Murray, P. M., Donelan, K., lee, K. (2004). Direct to Consumer Advertising Public Perception of its effects on Health Behaviours, Health Care, and the Doctor-Patient Relationship. The Journal of family Medicine, Vol.17 No. 1, pp. 6-18 Gould, M. F. (2007). Physicians attitudes toward direct-to-consumer prescription drug marketing. Journal of Medical Marketing , Vol. 7 (issue 1 ), 33-44. Green, R. M. (2008). Direct to consumer advertisment and pharmaceutical ethics The case of VIOXX. Journal of Business Ethics , Vol. 15, pp.749-759. Helen Prosser, S. A. (2003). Influences on GPs decision to prescribe new drugs-the importance of who says what. Journal of Family Practice , Vol. 20, (No. 1), 61-68. Herzenstein, M., Misra, S., Posavac, S. S. (2005). How Consumers Attitudes Toward Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs Influence Ad Effectiveness, and Consumer and Physician Behavior . Marketing Letters , Vol. 15 ( Number 4), 201-212. Iizuka, T., Jin, G. Z. (2005). The Effect of Prescription Drug Advertising on Doctor Visits. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy , 22 (3). Kurt R. Brekkea, Kuhnb, M. (2006). Direct to consumer advertising in Pharmaceutocal markets. Journal of Health Economics , Vol.19 (2) , Pg.102-130. Lack of Impact of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising on the

Trip to Florida :: essays research papers

It's hard to decide which entertainment to see near Orlando, Florida first.Universal has a lot for kids, Spiderman, Cat in the Hat, Popeye water rides, some of the rides you can only go on with a child so this was the first time I got to ride them with my sister's kids. I guarantee you will want to come back. This was my first time at SeaWorld and it was a lot to see in 1 day, luckily we had the second day free to spend more time, and I still didn't see it all. It is good if kids like to see animals (like zoos and aquariums) and touch and feed them (dolphins and stingrays and sea lions) and watch shows. WDW is actually 4 parks and it is impossible to see in just 1 day. Magic Kingdom has the classic rides (Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of Carribean, etc) mostly slow (but sometimes dark & scary) for kids and adults. Epcot has different countries represented, but not many rides, except the new one "Mission Space" (more for adults); not as entertaining as MK. MGM has a good selection of rides for kids and shows and a couple adult rides (Rock-n-roll coaster, Tower of terror); my first time there was 2 years ago and it was fun but not as much fun as MK. Animal Kingdom is "nahtazu" (not a zoo) but had few rides for kids and adults (safari, dinosaur); it was as interesting as a zoo, but not as fun as MK. They also have water parks if you go in summer, and a racetrac/sports park, I've never been to yet. Obviously my favorite is Magic Kingdom. I definitely wouldn't go to Orlando without spending time at Universal/IOA too, I love Jurassic Park ride, and Back to the future ride, and ET ride, and new Mummy ride, and Men in black ride. (They're rides are related to movies or TV) I went to Busch Gardens years ago, but my sister said they improved it a lot. It's not just flowers and plants, it has lots for kids to ride too (more like fair rides).

Essay --

Holocaust Facts The Holocaust has many reasons to it. Some peoples’ questions are never answered about the Holocaust and some answers are. The Holocaust killed over 6 million Jews (Byers.p.10.) Over 1.5 million children (Byers, p.10.)They were all sent to concentration camps to do hard labor work. Jewish people weren’t the only ones sent to concentration camps. People such as people with disabilities, Homosexuals, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Communists, and Socialists (Byers.p.12). Everyone that was sent to concentration camps was sent via Train cars (www.historychannel.com). They had no food, water, or rest rooms up to 18 days. Many people died from the lack of food and water (Byers, p.15.). They children under 12 and elderly were sent to death camps because they were too weak or young too do the hard labor work so they were exterminated quickly (Byers, p.17.). Everybody at the camps were ordered to wear a certain colored star so they were easily spotted. The Holocaust went o n from 1939 to 1945. Throughout all those years it was BAD. The Holocaust started in 1939. In that time period the Germans and the Allied Forces were in war. When they were in war the Germans took all Jews (except the ones in hiding) to multiple concentration camps and death camps. When they were sent to concentration camps they were ordered to take off all their jewelry, gold teeth and clothes. They were provided with stripped pajamas with numbers on them so they can be recognized by their number and not by their names. They were also tattooed on their left forearm with the same number that was on their stripped pajamas. Everybody’s head had to get shaved BALD. After everybody got to get concentration camps they were forced to go into the hard labor imme... ... to be in order from which number they got. If one or two people were late they would have to wake up one hour EARLIER. They had to wake around 4-5 in the morning. So if they were late they would have to wake up way earlier than usual. If they would wake up early they would get no sleep, because they were done with the labor work at night. They would never get as much sleep as they should because the Germans didn’t care all they wanted was their work to get done. A few people survived the concentration camps. It was never promised they will see their family again. Most families were split up when they were taken away to the concentration camps. Some camps were split up by gender. They didn’t care if you were married or if you had kids. If you had kids under 12 years old you weren’t going to see them again because kids were automatically sent to death chambers.

Meet The Simpsons Essay -- essays research papers fc

Meet the Simpsons Over time, the definition of what exactly "family" means has changed with time. Usually, what constitutes making up a family is relative to a specific culture, but as always, there are exceptions to the rule. Ever since the golden age of television had sprung upon American culture, television has tried to mimic the "ideal" American family through it's programming. Even as early as the 1950's, television producers made programming that would represent what exactly the ideal American family was. Take for example the show "Leave It to Beaver". While I am not going to go in detail about each character, I am going to summarize the family structure and the role of the member. There was a father figure, his job, or responsibility rather, was to financially support the family, while being an exemplary father to his children. The mother on the other hand, was solely responsible for being a typical housewife, while not neglecting the rearing of her children. The children did not have any real responsibility, but they respected their parents and attempted to stay out of trouble. Television shows for the most part in this early era of programming followed among these lines. There has always been at least one show each decade that followed the evolution of American life. In the 1960's, there was the "Andy Griffith Show". In the 1970's, there was a different spin on family life with the show "All in the Family", which did not have the typical white collar father, and its emphasis was not on raising the children, rather it was after the children had grown up. While in the 1980's there was a split in the television programming representation of American families. There were still shows that represented the "ideal" American family, such as "Different Strokes" and "Family Ties" as well as "The Cosby Show", but there was also a more realistic representation of American life in "Married With Children". However, it is not in a drama that American family life is best represented in the 1990's. Instead, it is in the animated series, "The Simpsons". "The Simpsons" follows suit with the other dramas that reflected the decade in which they aired. According to the U.S. consensus for March 1... ...certain traits that common among many American middle aged men. Marge is a housewife that holds the family together by straightening out any problems that arise and by being a concerned, caring mother. Bart and Lisa are two different examples of the youth of our generation. Bart is the typical rebellious child, while Lisa is the aspiring and more intelligent of the two. Thus, the Simpsons best represent American family life in the 1990's. Works Cited: Cawley, Donovan; "A Summery of Lisa Simpson"; Http://www.xoom.com/LisaSimpson/summery.html; 2/15/99 Hall, Dave; "The Bart File"; Http://www.snpp.com/guides/bart.file.html; 2/15/99 Hall, Dave; "The Homer File"; Http://www.snpp.com/guides/homer.file.html; 2/15/99 Hall, Dave; "The Marge File"; Http://www.snpp.com/guides/marge.file.html; 2/15/99 U.S. Bureau of the Census; All Parent/Child Situations, by type, race, and Hispanic Origin of Householder or Reference Person; Http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/htabFM-2.txt; 2/15/99 U.S. Bureau of the Census; Households by Type and Characteristics: 1998; Http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/98ppla.txt; 2/15/99

Death of a Salesman Family Relationships

Battle between Father and Son Family relationships always have a way of playing a key role for the duration of most literary pieces. According to Arthur Miller’s novel, Death of a Salesman, the interaction of Willy and his sons, Happy and Biff, shows that family ties usually are connected either physically or emotionally in some way or another. Willy Loman is just like every father in a father/son bond, yet all he wants is to be a part of his son’s life. Even though Biff and Happy admire and have so much love for their father when they are younger, later down the road when they are older suddenly they realize he had failed to prepare them for the real society in life. Many people would say that in the play that the father/son relationship would be considered merely ironic. In a sense, one might consider that a poor relationship stems more from the lack of love and attention from the father. With that in mind however, the Loman family’s circumstances would be considered the complete and utter opposite. Ever since the day Willy Lomans’ first son was born, he vowed for his life goal to be the perfect father (1214). Throughout his life, he becomes enthralled with becoming the absolute ideal father, so to speak. It’s displayed through Willy’s actions and even his words that all he wishes for his son’s is for them to be what he sees as successful (1216). Although Willy may not be considered the best salesman out there, he has the constant urge to keep believing he needs to keep trying harder in order to give off the impression to people that he’s an excellent provider. With all his troubles, sacrifices he makes, and even his final suicide they all end up being for his sons, and not nearly for himself. Father Loman’s constant need to try and better his way of becoming a perfect father to his son’s drives him to believe that if he commits suicide he could better provide a different life that he wished he could’ve given to his son’s (1277). From the first line to the last, Willy had the instinct to think that if he did so much for his boy’s he had hoped that someday he would be considered an even greater father than his own was by making the so many sacrifices he did. All Willy really wants is to be a part of his son’s lives and, Miller shows this by the example of when in the play Biff comes home to recollect himself, Willy seems to think this as a failure because he would rather see his eldest son be likely more successful rather than his youngest, Happy. Hereafter, Willy tries to take matter into his own hands, ‘I’ll get him a job selling, he could be big in no time’, he says to Linda (1215). Partially due to Willy’s consistency in Biff’s life conflicts start to erupt more partially to do with the fact being that they had different ideas of what the ‘American Dream† really is. With Biff believing that the most inspiring job to a man is working outdoors, his father disregarded by saying that working on the road selling was the greatest job a man could possibly have (1276). The boys are clearly not at all fully functioning adults because of their upbringing throughout their life. Another major issue in the play with the father/son relationship between Willy and his sons is the amount of love shown towards them. The continuous support from growing up had molded the Lomans into men who always fled back home whenever a problem approached. Biff says to Willy, ‘I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could not stand taking orders from anybody! ’ (1275). The Loman brothers were babied so much all through their childhood they never got a real chance of growing up and trying to choose for themselves of what they really wanted in their own lives. Being raised to only know to want one thing like selling, for example, puts pressure on everyone else especially the eldest, Biff. In real life today we are faced with decisions of what is next after high school; In Death of a Salesman, Biff was pressured primarily from his father to be a famous football player but then when things turn for the worst he suddenly loses everything and nothing to live for but selling like his father, which is not his true idea of what the ‘American Dream’ is supposed to be. The father/son bond in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, leads to a tragedy of downfall in the Loman family. Willy’s longing effort to be the perfect father did not have much success for him in the life he tried to accomplish living. Once finding out that he still had his sons’ love he was immediately overwhelmed with it all. Suicide was Willy’s last resort to try and make up for what he wasn’t able to provide for his son’s growing up to give them the money from the accident. His immediate departure in the end left Happy, Linda, and Biff in despair and uncertainty of what was really going on through Willy’s thought process.

O Henry’s Furnished Room Essay

The short story is about a young man searching for his love in a furnished room. He meets the owner of the furnished room that his love has rented recently. In the latter part of the story, the young man commits suicide in the same room where his love committed suicide, too. Moreover, the landlady tells to a friend that she knows the girl that the young man is looking for but she does not tell him because she is greatly taking care of her reputation and her business. She wants no one to know that someone committed suicide on her room because it won’t attract lodgers. INTRODUCTION This paper aims to analyze some stylistic features of O.Henry’s short story â€Å"the Furnished Room†, in order to make further analysis of O.Henry’s particular writing style and its specific effect. The short story was written not just to appraise the young man’s true love to his beloved but to reveal the truth that the capital society makes people cold-hearted. People in that society tends to be indifferent and cruel. They are the ones who LITERALLY mind their own businesses. STYLISTIC ANALYSIS 1. Lexical features and the according effects Adjectives Most of the vocabularies in the story are simple and easy to understand. But it’s obvious that the author also employs many complicated and abstract words, especially the adjectives, in order to create the complex atmosphere in the story. For example, when the author describes the room which the young man rents , large amount of adjectives like â€Å"faint ,sunless, viscid, unholy, rank, foul and tainted, haggard, perfunctory, sophistical, ragged, gilt, gay-papered, desolate, musty, dank, cold†¦Ã¢â‚¬  are used. They can bring visual imaginary and aid the description of the room and the things in it. Actually many of these adjectives are not common words and it’s a little difficult for the reader to understand them. The propose of using these vocabulary may be the author’s intention to let the reader to have a authentic feel of that room and the whole society. Complex word may help produce this kind o f feeling. Noun Phrases One main character of the story is Mrs. Purdy, the landlady. The author tries to describe her in details using some specific noun phrases, such as â€Å"an unwholesome, surfeited worm; her throat seemed lined with fur; furry throat†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Through that way more information of the landlady is added and a vivid figure of a disgusting woman was shown. This ugly appearance of the landlady can really provide a background of her hardheartedness mentioned later. 2. Syntactic features and the according effects This article contains various types of sentences, both simple and complex structure. The author uses not only declarative, but also â€Å"inverted sentences, subjunctive mood, indirect speech†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , aiming to achieve particular effect, such as to emphasize someone or something. Take the specific followings for example: (1) â€Å" Restless, shifting, fugacious as time itself, is a certain vast bulk of the population of the redbrick district of the lower West Side.† The â€Å"first is most important† principle is employed here. At the beginning of the passage, the author uses syntactic inversion to emphasize the unstable atmosphere of the district, aiming to present the background of the whole story at the first sentence. (2) â€Å"†¦ it would be strange if there could not be found a ghost or two in the wake of all these vagrant ghosts.† The subjunctive mood here shows the author’ attitude towards the real world and emphasizes the cruel reality of the society. (3) â€Å"To the door of this, the twelfth house whose bell he had rung, came a housekeeper who made him think of an unwholesome, surfeited worm that had eaten its nut to a hollow shell and now sought to fill the vacancy with edible lodgers. This sentence is rather long and complex, including one inverted sentence and three attributive clauses. The complexity is helpful for the description as it gives and withholds information. The step-by-step revelation can make the sentence coherent and close linked. The reader can be deeply impressed of the situation it describes. (4) â€Å"They comes and goes†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ; â€Å"we has our living to be making†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (the landlady) The short form and grammatical mistake of these sentences prove that the landlady is not actually well-educated and her utterances can reveal her real character to the readers. 3. Phonological features and the according effects In the view of phonology, the story has a specific feature produced by the character of Mrs. McCool, the landlady’s friend. She speaks with non-standard English and sounds strange. (1) â€Å"Now, did ye, Mrs. Purdy, ma’am?† said Mrs. McCool, with intense admiration. â€Å"You do be a wonder forrentin’ rooms of that kind. And did ye tell him, then?† (2) â€Å"Yis, ma’am; ’tis true. ‘Tis just one wake ago this day I helped ye lay out the third floor, back. A pretty slip of a colleen she was to be killin’ herself wid the gas Compared with Mrs. Purdy, Mrs. McCool speaks with non-standard English which is full of grammatical mistakes. The underlined words show some features of â€Å"Black English Vernacular. It implies that maybe she is poor-educated and simple-minded. Her social status can aid with making up the background of the story. 4. Semantic features/figures of speech and the according effects The use of characteristic figures of speech in this article is frequent and effective. Obviously the rhetorical devices here can make the description more realistic and impressing. Take some examples from the story for support. (1) â€Å"their vine is entwined about a picture hat; a rubber plant is their fig tree.† Traditionally â€Å"vine† and â€Å"fig tree† are often planted in house yard and here they stand for stable and happy family life. The author uses metaphor to show peoples’ eager for happy family life, which is not restless any more. (2) â€Å"†¦a housekeeper who made him think of an unwholesome, surfeited worm that had eaten its nut to a hollow shell and now sought to fill the vacancy with edible lodgers.† The author describes the landlady as a â€Å"worm† in order to dram a vivid picture of a greedy woman who always hungers for profit. The employment of animizing produces special effect which may make the reader smile and i mpressed. (3) â€Å"It seemed to have become vegetable; to have degenerated in that rank, sunless air to lush Lichen or spreading moss The carpet in the room are said to become â€Å"vegetable, lichen and moss†, which are disgusting things. What the atmosphere of the room is like can be clearly shown through that metaphor. (4) â€Å"†¦ but it was like a monstrous quicksand, shifting its particles constantly, with no foundation, its upper granules of to-day buried to-morrow in ooze and slime.† The simile here is quite obvious which compare the city as â€Å"quicksand†. It draws a real picture of the cruel city and society which is a heaven and also a hell. The reader may understand why the hero of the story feels desperate and commits suicide hopelessly. CONCLUSION Through the analysis of the stylistic features of O. Henry’s short story â€Å"the Furnished Room†, it can help the reader more understand the writing style of the author. The author uses specific adjectives and phrase to emphasize his description; employs some complex sentences to achieve particular effect; employs some rhetorical devices, such as figures of speech, to make his story more, picturesque; also use the special way of â€Å"surprise ending† to produces the irony and surprising effect at the end of the story.

Ethical and Moral Issues in Business Essay

Ethical issues and Moral issues are completely different and it has different values. Morals are more of a motivational word based on ideas and if you are right are wrong. You give yourself a certain expectation and nothing can change that. This is standards that are set by you in order to have a great career in the future. Ethics is a professional based word that is based on your performance. The techniques in a workplace are professional and represented well if you can say you have good ethic skills. Your morals can be there but if you don’t have good ethics in the working environment, you may not be with that employer long. You can have good morals but your ethical issues can be a problem with lack of dedication. It is important to have good ethical and moral issues because it shows good leadership and in order to succeed in today’s job industry and be successful you have to have both. Let’s take me for instants; I work for a multi-million dollar company and we have a mission statement this year that states â€Å"ALL IN† meaning we have to give it our all and we have to know that at the end the day, if I did not get that display or sell, at least I tried and the next day try it again. That is giving your all. My standard is set high which would include my morals to be the best. My working skills are recognizable from all management, so that means I have great work ethics. If I don’t set myself to have my morals and ethical issues intact, I will not keep a job and be successful in the future. Business Ethics is when the business has to make a conscious decision on its problems such as harassment, employee relations and discrimination to name a few. It is everyone’s hope that businesses choose to do what is right meaning ethical. Businesses become driven by profit and margins and as they grow, the hunger to achieve more money increases and the businesses starts to fall off its ethical mission statements. Managers play a major role in this process because they tend to forget what there position is in place for and they forget about the values that the company need when it comes to work relations. Personal Ethics could be defined as what a person believes to be right. This varies from person to person as these are influenced by culture, beliefs, experience, law and religion. This person may have their own expectations in the work environment and feel that there way is right and not what the business says it is. The personnel ethics of a person is influence by the business ethics because the expectations can be high are low. If a worker feels that the ethics that the business proceeds is not right, then he are she should confront the person in charge and come to an agreement of the problem. There should be balance when it comes to people in the working environment. A couple of months ago at my job, we had a problem with some of the salesmen’s personnel ethic issues. The business ethics had its own standards but it was not agreeable with the market feedback that is giving to us; meaning the sales. The salesmen would focus on the criteria one way and when we had a market tour, some of them were dealt with in ways when it could have been avoided. The issue was resolved before any further action had taken place, but if communication would have been a priority, disciplinary action would have not taken place. If we take control our personal & business ethics, we would create a better social responsibility.

Midterm Learning Reflection Essay

Introduction. You should print this out, although you may also use it as a template to type over. You will be writing two reflections this term: a midterm reflection and a final reflection. The final reflection is the one you want to have ultimately on your portfolio. Both your midterm and final learning reflections must be 700 to 1000 words, which is approximately two to three MLA-formatted pages. You can check your word count by going to Tools/Word Count on the menu bar. Style and Format. The writing style of the learning reflection is primarily expressive, but will also contain narrative elements. You do not need a Works Cited page unless you cite something. So, if, for example, you cite song lyrics, one of our texts, a poem, or even a work of art, then you need a Works Cited page. I’ve included one here to serve you for formatting purposes. File formats. We are going to be learning how to convert Word documents to pdf format so that they load more easily in a browser window. If you can, please practice with one or both of the following two methods, which are what I use (they are free). 1. Install a free pdf converter. These are not truly â€Å"free† in that they either force you to look at some advertising or they add a line on each page advertising the manufacturer of the software. I don’t have a problem with either of these and gladly suffer through the free advertising every time I convert a file to pdf, which I do all the time. The one I use to create all the pdf files for my classes is at http://www.pdf995.com/download.html. Download both the Pdf995 Printer Driver and the Free Converter (they are both free; they are required to work together, but for some reason, they are two separate downloads). After you go through the download and installation process, every time you want to create a pdf file from Word, all you need to do is select File/Print and then chose PDF995, which will show up as a â€Å"printer.† When you initiate this process of creating a pdf file, you will be prompted for a place to save the file, as well as a file name. Be careful to save the file to your H: drive or, if to your C: drive, to ftp (transfer) it over to your H: drive later. You will notice that some advertisements come up as the conversion process occurs. That’s the â€Å"price† you pay for the free conversion software. 2. The other pdf-conversion method I like is to use the free OpenOffice word processing software. This software should be in our labs. You can also download it for free on your own computer, from http://www.openoffice.org/. This is basically an open-source version of Microsoft Office. Once you’ve installed it (it’s large and takes a while to install), you can open any Word document with the OpenOffice word processing program (Open Document). Some of the original Word formatting may be lost – especially the header information with your last name and page number. You will need to add that back in; be sure you do it correctly. When you’re satisfied with the format, there is a little pdf icon on the toolbar that you can click, and that will automatically convert the document to pdf format. Learning Reflection Content. What should you discuss in your reflection? In general, you discuss what you’ve learned, what you’ve done especially well, what you’ve enjoyed – and the challenges you’ve encountered and how you might make changes in the future. Here are some suggestions for what to write about: †¢ Your experience transitioning from high school (or wherever you were previously) to a freshman in college, focusing on how you have grown as an individual and an independent student. †¢ Your experience in this particular course – your year-long freshman inquiry. In this regard, you should probably focus on the University Studies goals and the ways in which you have grown and developed with respect to those goals. I would expect that other courses have also contributed to the goal areas, so you might want to highlight any that have been particularly useful in that regard. †¢ Other experiences as a student here at Portland State. Portland State University’s mission is â€Å"Let Knowledge Serve the City,† which reflects the fact that we are an urban university. What have you learned with respect to community, diversity, and the connection between a learning community (the university) and the city in which it is located? Keep in mind that you may have acquired valuable experiences outside of the classroom, but still connected to your identity as a student. o Perhaps you have learned important lessons about discipline and time management as a student athlete, which may serve you well when you enter the workforce. o Maybe your involvement in activities with other students – such as taking dance classes or playing in the band or spending hours in an art studio or toughing out chemistry and physics labs – has improved your personal skills and brought to light new areas of interest, which you’ve pursued in your free time. o Or perhaps you’ve found out that you are a loner, that you haven’t connected very well with a lot of the people in your classes. As you reflect on this (or any other conclusions that some – maybe you – might consider, well, depressing), think of this is an opportunity to think of ways to make some changes in the future. †¢ A reflection, in other words, should include a self-assessment element as well as thinking along the lines of â€Å"What could I do better or differently in the future?† Consider the challenges you’ve faced, how you’ve overcome them, or how you’d like to overcome them in the future. Conclusion. Your reflection should end in a way that gives the reader the sense that you are closing up a chapter in your life and ready to move on, with some ideas in mind of what you might do differently. My suggestion is that you do not spend a lot of time critiquing the world around you; after all, you can’t change that very much. Confine your reflection to you and what you have learned and experienced. Dwelling on what you don’t like about a given course or program is not a reflection about you, but about something else. Works Cited Eakin, Paul John. How Our Lives Become Stories: Making Selves. Ithaca and London: Cornell UP, 1999. Fiske, John. â€Å"Popular Culture.† Critical Terms for Literary Study. Ed. Frank Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. 321 – 335. Harrison, Claire. â€Å"Hypertext Links: Whither Thou Goest, and Why.† First Monday. 7 Oct. 2002. 10 Feb. 2004 .