Clinical Experience Reflective

Due Date: Week 13 Final Reflection: Final Reflection As another semester comes to an end, it is a good time to reflect on your experiences and your learning. To summarize your experiences in this course, we would like you to write up a 5-10 page paper about your experiences in this class. It should address three main areas: 1. Your newly acquired knowledge of practical nursing. Think back to when you started this course; think about what you knew about practical nursing. Describe what you learned and what you would still like to learn.This section should describe how your ideas about 1 or 2 topics changed as a result of taking this course. Were they topics you misunderstood previously that you feel you understand better now? Were they topics that you felt were not relevant to your life that you are glad you learned more about? How has learning about these topics affected your thinking about practical nursing or interprofessional practice in general? 2. Newly acquired knowledge about you as a learner. This section should describe your experiences as a student in this course. What did you do well as a student in this course and what did not go quite as well as you expected?What advice will you give yourself as you take on other courses? 136 George Brown College Practical Nursing COURSE NAME: Practical Nursing Clinical Applications I COURSE CODE: NURS 1029 3. Personal reflection. This section should address your personal experiences in the course. What did you learn about yourself as a person? If you could look at yourself through the eyes of your professor, what would you want your professor to know about your growth as a person, a student and a student practical nurse over the course of the semester? Describe one challenge you faced in this course and how you handled it (did you overcome it?How? If not, why not? ) Process: 1. Using 3 resources/ professional journals linked to practical nursing or interprofessional practice, you are to write a reflective essay on your role as a member of the interprofessional team, practical nursing, turning theory into practice. 2. The essay’s length is not to exceed a minimum five pages and maximum ten pages, presented professionally in 12 font Times New |Roman, double spacing using correct spelling and syntax. 3. A Reference Page must be included in your essay, using the APA referencing method. Grade: 20% *based on grading rubric

Benefit of school vs traditional college Essay

Technology and specifically ICT has permeated virtually all sectors of life including education. Traditional schooling is being replaced at an unprecedented rate. These days most professionals prefer to take courses online rather than attend school physically. The reasons behind this trend range from convenience, greater options, multitasking, and reduced cost among others. Often, this kind of schooling has been criticized because skeptics argue that the socialization aspect of schooling is cut off from schooling experience. Additionally, this technique has cost many people their jobs and means of livelihood. For instance, the cooks, secretaries, security personnel and such like. What’s more, this technology is still new to many people and naturally, resistance to adopt it is commonplace. However, I feel that despite the negatives associated with e-schooling, the benefits far out ways the costs and hence, my stance on the subject remains that school should be reinforced. To begin with, my community benefits greatly from e-schooling in the sense that, it enable re-schooling among adults who felt ashamed to go back to a traditional college to complete a degree. This is especially the case for people who had dropped out of high school or college. Nowadays, it is possible for them to earn degrees and diplomas while at home. This way they are able to multitask, say, baby sitting and learning In addition, collaboration between teachers and students has never been easier than with e-schooling. A wide range of digital resources, online libraries online tests, emails, videoconference and more are used to facilitate communication among stakeholders in the schooling system. Feedback on one-on-one basis makes school just as effective if not more to traditional college. Schooling to a marginal extent is cheaper than the traditional college. This has increased access to education for the economically challenged people in my community. Notably, the best colleges and universities are located in major cities, say, New York LA and so on meaning that the rural areas are sidelined from access to these colleges. The advantage of e-schooling is that these people now have a chance to get degrees and diplomas from these prestigious colleges without relocating from their home area. The costs of education have also been halved owing to technology of schooling. (Holmes & Gardner, 2006) Personally, schooling has had both direct and indirect impacts in my life. Prior to the introduction of e-schooling, I used to find that the schooling duration was too long. I wanted to get my degree as fast as possible. With the introduction of e-schooling, I am able to accelerate my program such that I get a full credit course in one semester. Most people in my community are using similar approach and it has worked well. Moreover, I have more control and independence over my learning skills. The experience of taking a course online can be life changing. I have learnt to be more responsible of my time. Last summer I was able to take up an AP course that was not available in our site and my friend has explored a learning opportunity that was not schooling in our site. Generally, I believe that schooling has enriched not only my life but also the lives of the people in my community. (www. ucet. ac. uk/ ) In the community where I come from, people are athletic and get involved so much with games and sport to an extent that it becomes very difficult to manage an 8-hour school program and sports. E-schooling has curbed this problem by giving the students flexibility and independence to decide how they want to structure learning hours. For some they access learning material in morning hours while others prefer to do that late in the night. At the end of the day, whichever style used, people earn degrees. Alternatively, enrolment to e learning is fast and hassle free. Most people can attest to the pressure experienced during enrolment days in college. With online schooling, this problem has been erased. I would like to share the experience of my cousin who got involved in an accident. Subsequently, her two legs were amputated making it a challenge to move around in clutches. The option of e-schooling has benefited my homebound cousin and in few weeks, she graduates with a diploma from a distant college. Other disabled people from my community have also benefited from schooling. (http://aasd. k12. wi. us/eSchool/whyecourses. htm. ) Other benefits arising from schooling is students with unique cases or reasons for being away from school benefit from e-learning e. g. teenage mother s, terminally sick students participating in foreign exchange programs, resist, and self supporting students who juggle between work responsibilities and learning Briefly, schooling is a great advancement in the education sector. The outstanding features attributed to schooling are the flexibility and affordability of the schooling concept. Reflecting on the benefits that I have witness at a personal level and within my community, I believe traditional colleges will be phased out as more and more people embrace e-schooling for its benefits. A word of caution though, policies and regulations need to be clearly set to ensure that schooling achieves fundamental purpose of schooling. Additionally, students and educators need to e empowered on how to maximize use of digital resources and online technologies in order to reap benefits of schooling.

Propaganda Was an Essential Weapon In the War Against Germany Essay

Introduction During the First World War there were many aspects which effected the result of the war. Apart from the obvious confrontational conflict which took place, these took the form of fighting on the fronts war at sea and conflicts in the air. However there was also a great weapon which was utilised during the First World War by the British Empire. Propaganda was generally used in Britain to influence someone’s decision about particular issues related to the war. This seemingly subtle way of influencing people’s opinions was actually quite an effective way of influencing people’s general views. The aims of propaganda are therefore: * influence people what they think, how they think and why the think in this fashion * to maintain the support of the people * to recruit volunteer soldiers * to justify subscription to the armed forces after 1916 when subscription to the armed forces was made mandatory * to convince people that the British will win * to convince people that it is right and necessary to fight by generating ideas that the enemy is supremely evil and that getting rid of radicating this enemy is worth the cost of lives in war. * to support people in times of suffering and hardship * to instil a sense of national pride in the country, the men who were going to fight, the monarchy and the government. * Propaganda contained information on crucial things such as food shortages and to cope in these situations with only the basics amenities needed to survive and how to generate your own amenities. Formats of propaganda Posters These were very important pieces of propaganda as they had the most people looking at them. This was because posters could be easily seen from great distances, therefore a wider range of people could view the posters from further away. This actual was a very effective form of propaganda as single ‘buzz’ words could be placed on the poster and people would instantaneously know what the poster was trying to say to them. For example the poster to which I will refer to as ‘Go’, as it portrays a father type figure embracing a son like figure by the shoulders and gesturing to the horizon. The caption then reads ‘It’s your duty lad, Join to-day’. The text is in large writing and would be easily seen from a great distance away if placed on a billboard. The emphasis on this piece of propaganda is on the word ‘Go’, it is much larger than the rest of the text and during this time in the 1st World War, people did not have to read the rest of the poster to understand what was being said. Thus because of many British peoples deep seeded roots about patriotism and the fact that it was their duty to defend their country many people actively paid attention to these posters and the influenced them highly. Leaflets These were usually posted through people’s doors or handed to them in the street. Leaflets provided people with propaganda in a minimised form, which could be more personal and targeted to influence people’s views over certain topics. Detailed in formation could be placed on the leaflet which could be read on posters from far distances. These might be leaflets about food shortages, how it would effect the people and what they could do about it. Fundamentally this type of propaganda was meant to be read, minor details could be put on the leaflets, information which went into more depth about basic topics. Leaflets were also pinned in shop windows which allowed people to read the information on them as they looked into the window. Even discarded leaflets were looked at by passers-by that looked at the information, this type of propaganda was, even though it may not seem so read and acknowledged by many people. Films These programs on the idea of propaganda were shown in cinemas usually as the movie or as a preview to a movie. They were usually targeted to produced support for one type of propaganda in particular, whether it was recruitment or war bonds. Films were, although not cheap to make, very influential means of putting forth ideals of propaganda. The visuals of real people gave the watchers a sense of realism and that what they were watching was also something that they could be part of and have some kind of control over, this added to the morale of the British people. Using films it is easy to portray any image which is needed, hence better control can be achieved over what is being viewed and how the audience is accepting the ideas. The British government under the Defence Of the Realm Act could restrict the viewing of films which would be detrimental to the war effort. However if the British government could restrict what was viewed then they could promote what was viewed. Therefore movies promoting support for the war were the only type of films which were legally aloud to broadcast or shown in respect to the war. The film about the Battle of the Somme showed a staged battle where the amount of casualties sustained by the British was seemingly kept low, when in the actual battle the casualties where high on both sides, the British and French, and the Germans. The high casualties in this battle was in part due to the efforts of the tank. This was the first battle in which the notorious tank was used. Films were very popular as they were very patriotic, this went well with the British home-grown belief in patriotism. They often showed highly patriotic films which made the British public proud of their country and gave them an elated morale which in part justified their belief that the war was a good thing to be a part of. Newspapers Newspapers were the most widely read, source of propaganda in World War 1 Britain. They gave information on what was happening on the battlefields and fronts of Europe. Information was not readily available, thus sources of information about the war were scarcely available, newspapers were the choice which most people made to receive their news in the morning. Posters were also stuck in newspapers to produce propaganda to influence people’s views. Newspapers were truly the national source of information available. In the news were articles talking about the latest war event or conquest, however the facts which regarded events which had not particularly gone Britains way were not at all mentioned. The newspapers were full of stories about how great the war was going and how Britain was doing so well. When in actual fact Britain was experiencing sever amounts of casualties like in the Battle of the Somme, Britain experienced large amounts of casualties. The following is a quote from The Mirror regarding the battle of the Somme ‘Our losses are few†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦, on the other hand the Germans are many.’, this is a severely biased view if not blatant deception. The British and French forces lost colossal amounts of men at this battle. However due to the D.O.R.A this type of information should not be viewed by the British public and therefore Britain were always made to be in control of the whole war. Newspapers were effective formats for propaganda as they were nationally available and many details could be put in the newspaper about propaganda as a large amount of people would be reading the information. The amount of information which was true on the war in newspapers which was unbiased was extremely rare and limited, this was due to people such as; Mr Beaverbrook, the Minister of Information, he decided what was allowed to be known about the war to the public and what was not. He also owned a major newspaper, hence he had great control and great influence over this format of propaganda, this man restricted the editors of the newspapers to what they could and could not print. D.O.R.A The Defence Of the Realm Act. This act passed in 1914 gave the British government wide-ranging abilities to control many aspects of people’s daily lives. Land and buildings were allowed to be seized as well as industries if they were important the war effort. The defence of the realm act also restricted what the public knew about the war. It did this by censoring all of the media which was available to the public. The government also censored what was told to the British media about the war, this included censoring foreign press and foreign information. The government immediately took control of important industries to the war such as the coal industry, it did this so that the supplies from the industries could be used to support the war effort instead to private profit being given to the owners. The defence act was crucial in the way propaganda influenced people as this Act, restricted the types of propaganda available and provided the fuel for the propaganda fire. D.O.R.A was responsible for the over-exaggerated press about the tanks. If D.O.R.A had not restricted the information which was to be shared with the general public the support for the tank in the form of war bonds and recruitment would lower significantly and the general support for the war effort would also lower as morale would be lost. Hence as a part of propaganda the Defence Of the Realm Act was very important as this act secured how the war effort mainly on the home front would be marketed and justified. The British also cut the German transatlantic cables so that they could not communicate with any British media so the truth of the war would be kept a secret. The Tank This combat vehicle was used in the great as the British’s statement of power and advanced technology. Under the 1914 Defence Of the Realm Act, the British press was given the information that the tank was the Allies new secret weapon which was a main contributing factor on the home front to the British successes. In actual fact the tank was not such a successful weapon it was slow and sluggish and often got caught in mud as battles ensued making the tank an ineffective weapon in these situations. However the tank did have its positives it was a very strong vehicle which could withstand heavy fire and arsenal. Hence the tank was very good at attacking and taking the offensive however when it came to defending its acquired position and maintaining a strong barrier of defence the tank was not very good at this, it was also at fault when it came to strategic retreats. In the papers the British media projected the take as an influential weapon in the war on the home front however it was not as effective as the public thought it was. The media received over-exaggerated details of the tank’s performance as the British government wanted to keep up the morale of the public so that they would not lose faith and consequently lose their confidence in the war effort. An example of this is the battle in Cambrai in Northern France in 1917 where the British opened an attack with a raid of around 400 tanks, the first in military history of this scale. The British drove an 8 kilometre salient in the German lines however lost most of this newly acquired land due to the tank not being able to hold it’s position. The British press made this out to be a British victory, when it was actually a draw due to the British not being able to use the tanks to hold their position. The British wanted to raise morale and promote the influence of the tank by producing films such as the Dick Dolan film which was used to promote finances in the form of bonds for the British tank. The British government were actually playing the proverbial double-edged sword by not only raising morale, confidence and support for the war effort and money for the tank and the war effort on the home front, they were also giving the British public a belief, a belief that made them feel as if they were apart of the war and they influenced the war a lot. Objectives of propaganda Recruitment of men One of the primary objectives of propaganda was to recruit men to fight in the war on the home front mainly; this type of propaganda was promoted mostly during 1914-1916 before conscription was introduced in January 1916. Recruitment according to he book British Propaganda during the First World War by Sanders M and Taylor P. Recruitment was the dominant theme of domestic propaganda. This was because of the enormous casualties on the western front due to the conditions upon which war was waged of that time. During this main phase of recruitment propaganda in the first world war the PRC, Parliamentary Recruitment Committee was the most important recruitment committee. Recruitment was the main contributing factor to the enlistment of so any soldiers during the war. I believe recruitment was important as this attracted a lot of men to war when participation in the war was not mandatory. Therefore recruitment committees such as the PRC had to produce recruitment propaganda which they thought would most likely appeal to the public’s eligible soldiers as without these men the defence of the western front would not have been possible. Hence the recruitment committees used propaganda like the memorable ‘GO!†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. it’s your duty lad’, this poster depicts a mother type figure telling and gesturing to a man, which is most probably supposed to be a son like character to go and fight in the war. This poster was not only used to recruit men to join in the war effort but to tell the female members of that man’s family that this is how they should behave. They should tell their respective husbands, fathers, sons, uncles or brothers that they should go to war to defend the country. This opinion is simply justified in the poster with the words ‘It’s you duty lad’, this not only gives the person who has already decided to join the war a reason to go to war, but it also puts a morale obligation on the men who are not enlisting to go to war that they should. At the bottom of the advert is the words ‘ Join to-day’, this I believe is a final prompt to join the army. The text is obviously just as important as the picture as the mother type figure seems to be gesturing towards the words. Also the words are in an uppercase font so that if a person is far away they may not be able to see the illustration but they will see the wording. Another poster which promotes enlisting in the army but is apparent from a different approach is the ‘Daddy what did YOU do in the Great War.’ This depicts a girl child sitting on the lap of her father sometime in the future after the great war and a boy child sitting at his feet playing with some toy army vehicles. The girl is reading a book when she asks the question indicting she is reading some sort of history book. The father is obviously contemplating the question and has a worried look on his face. This image is meant to depict the child getting ready for her father’s response about he was in the war fighting for what he believed, while the father ponders how he is going to tell his proud daughter that he was a coward and did not enter the war. This plays on the conscience of the observer who will put himself in that situation. Of course this person does not want to have to play this scenario so they enlist to show they are not cowardly. This poster basically says join the army and defend your family and country and be a hero, or do not join and live your life as a coward. The advert obviously puts forward the statement that the war will not damage the sociality of Britain much as the people in the advert seem to be well off and happy. Eventually as the expectations of a short war diminished so did the amount of volunteers who were signing up to join in the war. This made the PRC obligated to produce a sustained campaign so that those who could not fight could still help in the war effort and propaganda started to be directed towards all people. Open propaganda posters were starting to be produced such as some forms of the ‘Your country needs you’ posters. These appealed to everybody as they simply said, ‘Your country needs you’, which allowed anybody to look at these posters and decide that they can do something which will in some way aid the war effort. Women and Food Rationing As well as men there was propaganda for women, some of this propaganda was used to promote the start up of the women working in fields. This was to grow crops and develop farming methods so that people could eat as there were restrictions on the amount of food which entered the country due to boats being sank on their way to bring food supplies back to the country. The women’s effort in growing crops saved the British economy money and men by farming for themselves so more money and men could be devoted to the war on the western front. Food rationing propaganda campaigns were mainly aimed at women, as they were the ones at home and they were the only option, the men could not do it as they were supposed to fighting in the war. The children could not do it, as it was hard work and a huge responsibility. Also the older generation could not do this as the might be quick enough or strong enough to do the job, this left only the women. This promotion aimed at people to grow their own food saved ships, money and men. The women who took part got out of it a sense of responsibility and pride. As well as propaganda actively advising the women to do productive things to aid in the war effort women were also wanted to tell their respective male members of their home who were eligible to fight, that they should go and join in the war. The reason why the person who persuades the man to go to war is depicted as a woman in many pictures is because women are the natural companions of men, husband-wife, and brother-sister. An example of this is the poster ‘Women of Britain say-Go!’ This depicts a women, of a motherly look being embraced by her daughter and young child while they watch their husband and father respectively go to war. This I believe is trying to show that the women who are supposed to be saying this are supposed to try to have courage and say this to their husbands, this is put forward and justified that this is the woman’s obligation to do so. Even though this advert is primarily aimed at women it’s main incentive is the recruitment of men so the importance of recruitment is still an underlying feature and so is the influence of women. Skilled Workers In 1915 the first major problems of the war arose for the government, as the war drew to a stalemate on the western front, it was realised that the planning made for munitions needed during this predicted ‘short war’ would not be sufficient to last much longer. Most worryingly to the government was there were not enough bullets, shells and armaments; this meant that the forces on the western front would be powerless to stop the German’s onslaught. New recruits and soldiers had to train with wooden sticks instead of real rifles due to this shortage. There started to be reports that soldiers had started to be limited to the amount of rounds they were allowed to use against the enemy. The name the ‘Munitions Crisis’ came about because this information was leaked to the press who found out and wrote about it in their paper, the Daily Mail had the highest circulation at that time. To prevent this the government s parties joined together to support the munitions crisis. Lloyd George was made the Minister of munitions. The skilled workforces were asked to remain in the industries that needed them and not the industry which paid them the most. The government wanted these people to stay in these work forces to help in the manufacture of munitions for the war so that it might carry on and not grind to a stand still. The propaganda for skilled workforces played on the sympathetic and dutiful side of the skilled workers it made them feel like they were turning their back on the country in its time of need. Due to the then patriotic nature of the people in those days this would have justified their minds over whether they should go where they want or go where they are needed. Hostility towards the enemy To justify the event of going to war against another country the British government used propaganda to put forth a bad image of its enemy; in almost every scenario of propaganda this was apparent and was, in every scenario, at least bias against the enemy. This propaganda was used to settle the uneasiness of the British people about war and that sometimes sacrifices have to be made to win against evil, the enemy. This type of propaganda totally justifies every aspect of war. In the propaganda leaflet ‘Red Cross or Iron Cross’, a symbol of intense cruelty is used to generate hostility towards the enemy. This picture depicts the supposed cruelty of the German people. It depicts and explains in the poster that a wounded-emphasis on this word meaning unable to defend himself, soldier lies on the floor begging for water. The nurse pours it only the floor before his very eyes while the Kaiser looks on and approves with a smile. The nurse and the Kaiser symbolise the two ends of the German people. The dictator and the nurse, the picture shows that is the two extremes of the German people are cruel then everyone in between is cruel as well. This shows that the one person who is not supposed to be biased and is generally supposed to help you is just as cruel as the Kaiser himself. She is obviously not being forced to do this and by the expression on her face she enjoys it. I believe that this form of propaganda promotes hatred towards the German people and makes people feel like they must do something to stop this ‘supposed’ evil from happening it also justifies why they are fighting in the first place. The promotion of morale Propaganda was not usually specifically used to target the promotion of morale it is just a by-product. However morale is just as important as by raising morale, interest and support for the war on the western front is increased. Morale was mainly promoted in newspaper articles where reports from the war had been written under the censorship of D.O.R.A, they usually contained biased opinions on actual events so as not to dishearten the British with any bad news. Bad news was seen as unnecessary by D.O.R.A as bad news was only detrimental to the public and that is not what they wanted they wanted full support and confidence in the war effort. When morale is high people believe in what they are doing so where war is concerned if morale is high then people believe that they are doing the right thing and that they should continue. The promotion of morale was not only advantageous to the war effort it also helped financially where it came to bonds. People, as in stocks and shares, bought into bonds they had confidence in. Tank bonds were quite popular, as the British media had been promoting the image of the tank through reports they had received, even though in actual fact the tank was not a very effective weapon at the time. This was the same with war bonds, morale was high because of reports of how well the war was going when in actual fact it was not going as well as everybody thought it was, yet there was quite a high demand for war bonds. The importance of Propaganda in the Great War John Buchan said in an extract from ‘The Pity of War’ by Niall Ferguson, †So far as Britain is concerned, the war could not have been fought for one month without its newspapers.† In part I agree with this point as propaganda was used through the news to influence peoples views. The views about the progress in the war were all constant and uniform with only a difference in the style of the description. This is due to D.O.R.A censoring what is to be seen by the general public. This constant promotion of the war with a constant supply of good news followed by great news morale was raised and therefore propaganda had served its purpose. The statement I have just written can be supported by Lord Beaverbrook’s statement,†(The newsreels were)†¦the decisive factor in maintaining the morale of the people during those black days of the early summer of 1918.† By the ‘black days’ he is referring to when the Russians surrendered, the Ludendorff offensive was put into action, Britain were retreating and the Naval restrictions and food shortages. Through all of this propaganda in the media kept the morale high throughout Britain. Propaganda during the war helped in promoting money for war bonds to keep the war going during such troubled times as when trading with other countries was restricted and the munitions crisis. Propaganda through biased promotions of how successful the defence of the home front was and how successful the tank was helped to get people interested in buying war bonds and tank bonds. So the money invested in the war was increased so better training and weaponry could be used during the war which would and did increase the chances of success. †Good propaganda saved a year of the war, and this meant the saving of thousands of millions of money and at least a million lives†, Lord Northcliffe. Due to propaganda the war was probably cut by a significant time period which saved money and lives. Propaganda used in the munition crisis saved the British from potentially losing the western front due to lack of armaments and ammunition. The civilians were the most important people in the latter war period as with conscription you had to join the war but with civilians keeping their morale up was one of the most important things during the war civilians lives and homes were destroyed, the civilians were the ones being starved. The government had to keep the support of the people during a war, which is now effecting them. Propaganda increased the amount of people involved in the war including women who helped by working on fields to grow crops to eat so that lives would be saved in that food would not have to be imported in from other countries. This would have boosted the morale of the women and saved money and lives by the production of home-grown crops. Of course propaganda was very influential and important from 1914-January 1916, when enlistment was not mandatory propaganda was used to recruit men to fight in the war, without these meant the war could not even have begun to be a war. There would have been people volunteering for the army anyway but propaganda increased this volunteer ratio which meant more men were there to fight for their country. With the high casualties of the Great War recruitment was essential. Propaganda must have been influential as a Nazi propagandist said ‘Germany lost because of propaganda’. During World War II the nazi’s used propaganda highly to their advantage to take power in Germany. However propaganda did have its limitations, people did not only depend on propaganda to win the war. The men battling against the enemy were not even effected by propaganda, as there was no point, it would be impossible to influence someone about a situation which there experiencing first hand. If propaganda was important then why was it not used on one of the most important factors, the men who were fighting. In time when the war was going on people were raised with a high sense of patriotism to their country so it is possible to say that these people may have volunteered to fight in the war no matter if they were prompted to or not. The honour in defending your family and country against the enemy was something everyone was raised to believe in, in those days. George Weill commented, ‘each of the warring nation’s persuaded itself that its government had neglected propaganda, whereas the enemy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦had been most effective’, in these other states propaganda was free to flow throughout the country and most likely it did. Therefore this argument that a country lost the war due to propaganda seems like a front. I believe this front is an excuse to take the blame off themselves by saying that we lost the war due to propaganda and not because of our ability to fight in wars. As I believe that these countries felt it would be more appropriate and less humiliating to blame something which sounds insignificant like propaganda, rather than blaming their own abilities which were considered significant aspects in defending their country. I believe that propaganda was important in the Great War but only to a certain extent, it was very good for the preparation of war but did nothing to influence the actual battles themselves. Propaganda did not help a soldier to fight better; it may have given him an incentive but did not get him to fight better. Propaganda was mainly used to influence the people in Britain, but as soon as the required task was achieved the propaganda ceased. For example once a man had enlisted as a soldier propaganda became ineffective. It was very good for raising funds, morale and hostility all the things needed to battle in the war but the eventual outcome I think was down to the people who were effected by propaganda least, the soldiers. I can put my thoughts into this analogy, propaganda is the fuel which is placed upon the wood to help a fire burn the soldiers are the fire. Without the fuel the fire burns but not as brightly or with as much vigour, however without the fire the fuel is useless.

To Investigate How iPhone Maker Apple Competes across the Smartphone Essay

To Investigate How iPhone Maker Apple Competes across the Smartphone Market - Essay Example There are many iconic products in the world, but few have had the power and impact that has been witnessed in the iPhone. The way in which Apple creates a mythology about its brands and the effect that this mythology has upon the perception of the products made by Apple is of great interest. Many companies would want to mimic or surpass this type of powerful branding. Therefore, studying the way in which the product has been marketed to the public is a powerful tool for understanding how such a phenomenon can occur. 4. Research Design Two types of data contribute to the further understanding of the topic of this research study. Primary and secondary researches were explored in order to more fully understand the objectives of the study as they have been framed by the research questions. Primary data was determined through the use of a questionnaire that would be distributed to appropriate participants. The secondary data was taken from resources that have information that would add pe rspective to the topic of this study. This data was taken from internet resources as well as books and journal articles. The secondary research was conducted through the lens of exploratory research, defined by Beri (2008) as creating a focus on ideas that pertain to the concepts within the study. In researching the previously established concepts that pertain to the topic, new ideas can be generated towards discovering new aspects to the study. The data was approached through the grounded theory for qualitative research. The research was coded for its commonalities from which memos will be created in order to organize the discovery into concepts that can be analyzed for their content. In comparing the contents of the research, a hypothesis will then be considered as it is revealed through the data. Although this methodology seems backwards, it provides for the emergence of themes, rather than forcing a preconceived idea and then seeking data to prove or disprove the concept (Straus s 1999, p. vii). 5. Research Resources Analysis The research methodology is essentially qualitative in nature. It does not involve a statistical analysis of the success rate of the marketing campaign of Apple for iPhone. The research is focused on the qualitative understanding of the marketing technique employed by Apple and the effectiveness of this technique expressed in terms of customer feedback and views, and the level of customer satisfaction. To this end, the resources utilized would be in the form of questionnaires sent via email, and filled out in person by customers selected randomly in a marketplace. The second part of the study involves a review of the existing research on the topic through the examination of published journals and articles. Through a cognitive analysis of results obtained from this two-pronged study, and comparison of the established and new research on the subject, a conclusion would be drawn about the marketing methodology and its effectiveness of App le for iPhone. The questionnaires designed for this purpose will have to be open-ended so that they present flexibility to the volunteers to fully express their views. Questions that reflect preconceived ideas about the marketing strategy will be discarded. To this end, a list of all the possible questions will be prepared, from which only

Media use forecast Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Media use forecast - Assignment Example Before I sleep I browse internet in private and go through my Facebook page where I interact with friends and share personal experiences with various friends. In regard to the media content I focus on, I comment positively on various health-related issues on Facebook. I also comment on public debate by sending messages through twitter to the television network viewers and hosts. My media diet has helped me keep friends and official links that are of much socio-economic gain in my life (Johnson 43). The issues I focus on in media keeps me updated on latest healthcare research findings and emerging technology which is relevant for the contemporary competitive infection-ridden society. My experience with the violent and sexual explicit media content in some programmes in television, magazines and Facebook began to absorb me and nearly cost me my job. I had become addicted and realized that besides losing my job I was also deviating from acceptable moral standards. I therefore decided to reconsider my media diet which has significantly improved my knowledge and moral

Telephone interview for the London Borough of Newtown2 Essay

Telephone interview for the London Borough of Newtown2 - Essay Example Both qualitative and quantitative data are summarized in this report, to give a clear understanding of people’s responses obtained. 1. Confirming Caretaking Services The first question in the interview was the base to rest of the questions as it caters people’s direct responses about caretaking services being offered. The interview was not carried out further if the respondent answered No to the question to confirm that their estate provides caretaking services. On this question to confirm estate services of caretaking, a greater number of people responded positively, saying that their estate local authority does offer caretaking services to its residents. From the 400 interviews being taken, 266 responded in positive while the rest 134 said that the local authority does not provide such services. This data leads to the finding that there are around 33% of people who carry the impression of the local authority, being non- active in their estate cleaning and caretaking s ervices (Venter & Waldt, 2007). 2. Responses in Cleaning services For residents who responded ‘Yes’ to the first question, the interview was proceed further to ask them about their opinion on the quality of services being offered. This question addresses the cleaning services in the estate and which are the areas in which needs to be worked on by the local authority. ... i. Removal of Litter Waste of litter and junk stuff in passageways and roads is one core problem for many people as it creates hindrances in traffic flow in lanes and walkways (United Nations Environment Programme, 2013). So this question was catered right after the respondent affirmed about the services of the estate. Out of the 400 respondents, 165 were satisfied with the litter removing services of the estate. On the contrary, 101 residents were dissatisfied from this service and suggested that there is a big room for improvement in this area of cleaning. The rest 134 residents being interviewed gave the response of no opinion. Two findings that can be made from this data are that, the people responding no opinion to this question are not fully dissatisfied as then they would have a stand in against of the removal of litter service. Hence, it can be said that a bigger majority of people are content with this service being offered. Second majority are the people who are neither com pletely satisfied nor dissatisfied, but can be considered to be inclined towards satisfaction. Then a minority of people, making around 25% of the total interviewees, falls in the category of dissatisfied residents in cleaning and removal of litter (Guillain, 2008). ii. Cleaning of Bin Areas The next part of the question was related to the cleaning of bin areas of the locality. These are the areas where trash bins are located, and people trash their junk and rubbish into theses bins. When these bins are not emptied on regular intervals, then people drop their trash beside the bins or in the passageway, which creates health and environment problems due to exposure of

Strategic Management at British Airways Case Study

Strategic Management at British Airways - Case Study Example The present study on British Airways is to identify, evaluate and assess the planning, development and implementation process of its strategy management and to analyze the performance of the strategic decisions made as part of the strategic management on the organization because it is believed that British Airways has been able to achieve the present position since its establishment in 1919 only due to its strategic management decisions (Cole, G.A., 2003:191). This section deals with various literatures available on the present research in order to study the process of planning, development and implementation in British Airways and also to identify the role of various stakeholders in the decision making process. Thompson, Martin and Thompson (2009:p2) stated that strategy is about how organizations cope with the world which is dynamic and emergent with technologies, design and competitors getting revamped at regular intervals providing the impetus t reformulate the existing strategy and restructure the organizations in order to survive in the competitive market. It is further clarified that strategies are means to ends; whereas the process of strategic management involves clarifying the desired ends, mapping out a route for achieving them (development), putting those strategies into practice (implementation), changing what the organization is doing tactically in the face of competition and unexpected issues that arise and finally evaluating progress and performance. Mintzberg (cited in Idenburg, 1993) stated that there are at least ten schools of strategy development with two fundamental dimensions i.e. goal orientation (what) and process orientation (how). The process of strategy developme nt includes rational planning, planning as guided learning process, logical in incrementalism and emergent strategy. Idenburg (1993) stated that four alternative view of the process of strategy development must be reflected in business research and education. Thompson and Martin (2005, p8) mention that strategic management is a complex and fascinating subject with straightforward underlying principles but no right answers. It is further stated that companies succeed if their strategies are appropriate for the circumstances they face and are feasible in respect of their resources, skills and capabilities and the same companies fail if the fail to meet the expectations of its stakeholders or produce undesirables outcomes. According to Thompson and Martin (2005), strategies are means to end as opined various other researchers and management specialists and managers are strategy makers to some extent in the companies. This statement articulates that mangers are the key persons involved in the strategic management process of planning who then take decisions regarding the development and implementation in the organization. The aviation industry has undergone major transition phase wherein the main stakeholders were involved and have been granted a greater degree of autonomy. Airlines were the first to realize the importance of strategies and strategic decision making in a competitive environment (Delfmann, 2005; p3). British Airways (BA) is major international airline with multinational operations which came into existence with merger of two

Significance of International Trade to UK Businesses Assignment

Significance of International Trade to UK Businesses - Assignment Example According to the research findings acknowledging the significance of international trade UK is trying to simplify trade procedures, promoting best practices, removing trade barriers, and facilitating trade and entrepreneur in every possible manner. A dedicated department the Simpler Trade Promotion Board (SITPRO) is established to address related issues. Policies like Access to Finance are targeted to strengthen the local entrepreneurs’ financial standing in international markets. There are several positive and negative impacts associated with international trade. Entrepreneurs get the liberty of choosing cost effective resources from around the world. Specially, from the countries where cost of living is not as high as it is in the UK. This makes a lot of difference in the total operating cost of an enterprise. Stonehouse & David have discussed such an impact of international trade liberalization on UK job industry. Prudential, a renowned UK-based insurance giant saved  £16 million a year by switching their call centre to subcontinent. Beside low salaries, tax relaxations, huge subsidies and low oil prices are some other factors that may attract businesses in UK and entrepreneur may switch to cost effective markets. The overall impact of these factors may result in a shift of manufacturing units of large multinationals from developed countries to underdeveloped countries where they can operate at low costs and can find new markets for their products. Moreover, it may also result in shift of global imports and exports corridors. Great Britain is commonly perceived to be reluctant member of European Union in adopting joint policies. Social Chapter of 1992, which was adopted by UK in 1998, and common currency adoption are commonly referred to emphasize this perception. However, it implements more rigorously, what it accepts as common interest. (USITC, 2000). Britain joined European Free Trade Association (EFTA) 1960, European Economic Community in 1972 a nd EU in 1973. (Jones, 2004, p. 21). Since then EU, policies and community laws got precedence over local policies and regulations. This joint structuring of financial policies and regulations has been a great bearing on UK international trade. One simple example how EU policies can influence UK trade is that of EU free trade policy between member states. EU is operating on the basic principle of four freedoms, â€Å"free movement of goods, people, services and capital.†(Cullingworth & Vincent, 2003, p. 35). This means custom free trade between member states and a common external tariff for non-member states. The objective of these polices was to achieve a higher level of economic prosperity through elimination of trade barriers. (EUC, 2008, p. 9). Another example, where the impact of EU policies can be traced is the expansion of HSBC bank in member states. The HSBC is a large UK-based concern that is operating in several member states of EU. The

Diabetes can be controlled in African Americans through a diet Research Paper

Diabetes can be controlled in African Americans through a diet - Research Paper Example There is also a wide range of diabetic types which totals more than 30 different types of diabetes. The classic symptoms of diabetes are characterized by the 3-Ps, which are the polyuria (frequent urination), polydipsia (increased thirst) and polyphagia (heightened hunger). Scientific research has not pinpointed the exact causes of diabetes but several factors have been identified as possibly contributory to the development of diabetes which is a life-long chronic condition once it sets in. It means diabetes can be controlled by adequately and properly monitoring blood sugar levels with the use of insulin but it cannot be cured. Type-1 diabetes, for example, is suspected to be due to infection from a Coxsackie B4 virus although genetics plays a part in a persons susceptibility. Type-2 diabetes, which is the most common type of diabetes, is caused also partly by genetics but primarily from lifestyle factors such as smoking and obesity. It is therefore very important to observe lifestyle modifications to avoid this type of diabetes. This paper tackles how diet can be used to control widespread diabetes incidence in black Americans. Incidence (new cases) of diabetes is increasing rapidly worldwide due to the lifestyle changes in modern society. Along with hypertension and obesity, diabetes is considered as silent epidemic because many people afflicted with it are not even aware they have diabetes already. It is estimated that 172 million people worldwide have diabetes (approximately 3% of population) while some 26 million of Americans have diabetes (with 90%-95% of them with Type-2) with an estimated 7 million of them unaware they have diabetes (undiagnosed). The rapid rise in number of diabetic persons is ascribed to urbanization and a Western-style diet composed of mostly fast-food which are very high in cholesterol (poly-unsaturated fats), a more sedentary

Health Promotion Among the Homeless Essay Example for Free

Health Promotion Among the Homeless Essay As the economy changes, so does the availability of services, goods and money for many every individual. For those individuals who are already struggling with some type of issue such as a decrease in hours worked, wage, disability, domestic violence etc. these changes affect them in a much more severe context. For those who become or are homeless, health care may not be the first thing to take care of on their daily tasks list. Other things like eating, finding safe shelter and not getting arrested are of the most importance. However as many contract health related diseases such as tuberculosis, diabetes, scabies, influenza, etc. health care becomes of concern and a necessity in order to maintain a way of life. Health promotion among the homeless community is not only important but needed. Health promotion can be effective with the appropriate intervention methods, professional staff and the continuous availability of services and goods offered to the community. The National Coalition for the Homeless (2009) noted that the Census Bureau calculated that 45. million Americans did not have health insurance in 2007 and out of this 45. 7 million uninsured individuals, 8. 1 million children in the United States were without health insurance. Homelessness and lack of health care are positively related and having no health insurance at all can itself alone cause homelessness. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless (2009), half of all personal bankruptcies in the United States in 2008 were due to hea lth related problems. The most important fact to remember when promotion health to this community is that they have little to no money, experience embarrassment, nervousness and/or may become offended and may not appear as if they need help but may or may not be mentally ill. These three things are not only considered barriers to the community when trying to receive health care but they are also barriers to the medical professionals who are not properly educated on how to show discretion and privacy for each homeless individual. Other relevant barriers include the lack of knowledge about where to get treated, lack of transportation and health care costs. To overcome these barriers, medical health professionals must be adequately educated on this community and any new developments within this community as well. Also affordable transportation and public assistance must be indiscriminately made available to this population. One of the biggest ways to break these barriers is to create and increase public health funding for this population. There is one federally funded program, Health Care for the Homeless, which provides health care for homeless persons. These services include but are not limited to substance abuse services, emergency care and public housing assistance. Also providing dental and mental health care in most areas, this federally funded program creates a standard by which other programs created should be based off of and also provides a foundation to for other programs needed to assist this growing population. Poor health in the homeless community has an effect on society. Homelessness impacts the community in the following ways: economically, politically, legally and physically. As the number of unhealthy homeless individuals increase, the cost of maintaining and operating health facilities and service programs that cater to this population increases. Taxpayers fund these programs and services with the help of private donations. When the homeless do not seek out these federally funded or privately funded services and programs, they seek another method of obtaining money and/or services by panhandling or stealing, this creates a legal problem. Also for those individuals who do not go to a shelter or place to eat, they must find food and typically they do this through garbage cans and recyclable places. This action creates health issues which causes this epidemic to continue. As there are those businesses that may deny the homeless individual to bathe or clean themselves properly, he/she may go days without proper hygiene care causing another more health problems such as scabies or other bodily infections. In conclusion, homeless individuals have the human and legal right to access public information and health services provided to every other human being. It is the writer’s opinion that a portion of the tax payer’s dollar should be spent to provide health insurance and health care to those that are homeless to a certain extent. The writer believes that each homeless individual should receive an annual checkup that includes mental, dental and physical services. For those taxpayers who make above a certain income range should be required to pay more of a percentage of services needed after the initial appointment. The writer believes that homeless individuals deserve the same amount of care as those who are not homeless deserve. Health issues in the homeless community are ones that can be solved with constant interventions and involvement at the community level.

Infant Observation: 10 Month old Baby

Infant Observation: 10 Month old Baby Infant Observation Ivan Mitsko Less than a year ago my close family friend delivered a second baby. And since we lived close to each other and the couple already had an experience with infants I realized that it was a perfect place for my observation paper. I decided to observe the child three times at different dates and time of day because it could help me better distinguish infant’s psychological behavior. The baby’s name was Alex and at the time of the observation he was ten months old. He was born healthy and without any complications. At the first day of his life he weighted 7.5 pounds and was 19 inches tall which is considered a normal range (Zinsser, 2015). The parents are very diligent and hardworking people and take care of their children very well. The behavior of the new born baby reminds me of a chain of reactions in response to new sensations which surrounds the infant during first year of life. When I observed Alex it was almost impossible not to notice his reflexes, senses, and natural instincts. When the mother tried to touch his lip with a finger the baby immediately opened his mouth and was prepared to suck. However, I noticed that he more prefers to suck his own fingers rather than someone else’s. When the mother put something sweet on her finger the baby used to start sucking it and in response to something sour or bitter he immediately wrinkled his face and tried to clean his mouth. This phenomenon can be explained by research conducted by scientist who claimed that humans’ affinity to sweet taste over any other taste corresponds to human genetics (Tatter, Schubert, Timischl, Simbruner, 1986). Another very interesting response I observed was a reaction to the loud noise. The sudden loud TV sound made hi m to furrow his brow, he looked very aware, and at the same time very scared. It seems that all of these reflexes are involuntary and the infant doesn’t have a knowledge or experience to realize that he is a baby and that he is the part of the world. All of the infant’s natural reflexes and instincts were very well described by Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist who is known for his studies with children. According to Piaget’s cognitive stage theory, the babies have an innate schema which is developed before they have any experience with surrounding environment. These cognitive structures are responsible for innate reflexes which are genetically programmed inside of us (Huitt, Hummel, 2003). For instance, most of the infants have sucking reflex which can be triggered by touching baby’s lips and based on these observations Piaget came up with the idea that infants have a sucking schema. Paget’s schema development can be applied to many other innate reflexes. For example, when something touches baby’s palm he will experience the grasping reflex, or similarly, the rooting reflex in which the child will turn his head in direction of the cheek you touched. For instance, during my observation I realized that rooting reflex works much better when the baby is hungry. Once the mother touched his cheek the infant turned his head right away and slightly open his mouth. It was very interesting to follow this process because it helped me to visualize how the schema works in real life situations. Moreover, I felt like the baby was waiting for the next signal which is food consumption. Both of these actions are nothing more than a reaction to touch which makes the life itself a very unique phenomenon. The overall baby’s physical appearance is very similar when he is still in the womb. His body, arms, and legs tend to take position in the way in which they were occupied in mother’s belly. When I asked my friend to hold a baby, the first thing I noticed was how the musculoskeletal system was undeveloped. Newborn babies tend to have very weak muscles which don’t allow them to hold the head or anything in hands. On the other hand, I noticed that when the infant grasped my finger I felt quiet bit of a power produced by the muscles. This interesting observation made me think how the voluntary and involuntary muscular contractions developed and their role in adaptation with surrounding environment. An innate reflex is the specific response to external stimuli. The study of reflexes is mainly used to assess the state of the nervous system and all of the related pathologies. There can be some exception but in most cases children are born with grasp reflex. In order to activate it the parents should simply touch the palm of baby’s hand and he will immediately flex his digits. Usually, some of the reflexes can be noticed from the birth and it is very important for young parents to distinguish any abnormalities in infants. (Futagi, Toribe, Suzuki, 2012). During the first month of the life the baby spends most of his time lying down either on a bed or in the mother’s hands. Also, it was very obvious to see that the baby liked being rocked, and when the parents surrounded him. I believe that most of the baby’s behavior is strictly automatic rather than deliberate. All of the actions are meant to evoke a sense of attachment. For example, when the infant starts crying he is probably hungry or wants to be held. During the infancy period most of the babies are far away from language/speech development. However, I realized that communication does exist between parents and the child. All of the babies tend to cry a lot and this is one of the main sign for a caregiver that something is wrong. During my observation I realized that babies cry because they feel some sort of discomfort which requires immediate attention. For young parents it might be often difficult to understand what happened and why the baby is crying. However, over some period of time caregivers begin to distinguish main concerns. As a future parent this observational experience was very educational for me. I learned that it takes a lot of compassion and hard work to take care of the baby. This a very demanding job which requires a lot of time and hard work and the knowledge of developmental psychology is a good way to understand scientifically what is like to be a baby. Paget’s cognitive stage theory is a great way for new parents to get familiar with the environment and psychological behavior of the new born baby which can be applied in order to establish connection between caregiver and child. References Futagi, Y., Toribe, Y., Suzuki, Y. (2012, June 11). The Grasp Reflex and Moro Reflex in Infants: Hierarchy of Primitive Reflex Responses. Retrieved February 11, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3384944/ Huitt, W., Hummel, J. (2003). Piagets theory of cognitive development. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved February 4,2015 from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/piaget.html Tatzer, E., Schubert, M., Timischl, W., Simbruner, G. (1985, October 12). Discrimination of taste and preference for sweet in premature babies. Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4064994 Zissner, K. Physical development in infancy [PowerPoint slide]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes https://uic.blackboard.com/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_87219_1content_id=_4081122_1 Is Memory a Constructive Process? Is Memory a Constructive Process? Gemma L Sobah ‘Memory is a constructive and active process’ Psychology To be able to successfully evaluate this claim, it is important that some research is done. A lot of relevant research supports this claim but what information we process and store is actually being actively processes by our conscious and how much of this is being stored in a more automatic, passive manner? Before we can delve any further into memory, we need to find a way to break it down into what memory consists of. This essay will look at the research conducted on memory and evaluate to what extent the memory is a constructive and active system. As we know already, memory is a part of our everyday lives. It enables us to carry out daily tasks and skills from knowledge and gives us access to information we may need at a later date, but has been stored in our memory for the mean time. It is an essential part of our lives, and this makes it important for psychologists to be able to understand how it works and its functions. Over time research has been done that breaks memory down in to three component processors. Encoding Putting information into memory Storage Retaining information into memory Retrieval Getting information back out of memory (Brace et al, 2007) Encoding is putting information into code and then inserting it into our memory to then be stored. Storage is when information is retained and is kept in the form or visual, physical or other depictions. Retrieval is when we try and retrieve information out of our memory, into our conscious mind. The memory is not only broken down into processes but also has subsystems that work parallel to and include sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. William James (cited in Brace et al, 2007) was one of the first psychologists to make this connect and present memory as having these three subsystems. His theory also included the idea that the brain used a primary memory permitting conscious mental activity and a secondary memory responsible for storing knowledge. (Brace and Roth, 2007, p.g 115) This alone supports the claim that memory is a constructive and active process, for it not only receives stores and retrieves information, but it also sorts the information we receive into sections. If the brain was a passive process, we could believe that all information processed would be generically stored. It would take a conscious and active memory to be able to decide which information will be logged as short term, and which should be logged as long term. We will look at th is more later. Memory is an ability that we as humans and also animals to some extent, depend upon to be able to recall different events, relate to experiences, and connect with people. It is a very important system that allows the brain to acknowledge and receive information from our surroundings and from our own bodies, (also known as stimuli), store it, (in either short or long term memory, depending on the information), and then allow it to be accessed in future occasions (known as retrieval). It allows us to continually live one day after the next, without having to relearn everything, giving us the ability to learn from our past actions, relive experiences in different times of our life’s and use all the information we have stored, to carry on and grow. If you think about the first time you read a book or tried roller-skates; those are memories formed, either short or long or term. If we have no memory from the past, you would never learn; thus unable to process and understand. Without memory we would constantly be faced with new and unfamiliar things. This alone and cause us distress. We only have to look at someone with dementia to understand how fragile and vulnerable we would be without the capacity to remember, our everyday lives and actions would be affected and so would our survival. More and more research is being uncovered that suggests that the brain works as a whole, integrating with all areas of its self and aren’t small separate sections doing independent work. When processing a new memory the brain sends information to the Papez circuit which involves many parts of the brain. Research on the brain shows that forming a memory causes physical changes to the organisation of neurons and maybe even the neurons in a process called brain plasticity. (Brace et al. 2007, p.g 146) Ever since William James (1890) first revealed his theories on memory, a substantial body of research has followed. Many other psychologists have shared approaches that conce ptualize memory as a flow of information through a sequence of sub-systems. It is believed information is recoded as and when it is carried from one sub-system to the next. Let’s look at the short term memory. Some research suggests that this form of memory is just a temporary store. But Baddeley and Hitch (1974) (as cited in Brace et al, 2007, p.g 117) allows us to understand it better. They believe that to be able to really understand the functions of short term memory we have to first understand what we use it for. They suggest it has several functions. Brace, 2007 puts it like this: One key function is to concentrate on processing new inputs, and rehearse and code them for transfer to long term memory. Another function is to retrieve information relevant stored knowledge to assist in making sense of these inputs†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..STM is an active store holding information that we are consciously thinking about- it is attention-limited ‘work-bench’ system of memory. (Brace et al, 2007 page p.g 117) Here memory is described as active, and the reason for this is simple. Memory is constantly working or organise its information for the purpose of our life. We are constantly learning and developing, and our memory processes are constantly sorting through all the information we receive, to make sure the everyday things we need to remember, such as how to tie our shoes are stored in the right place, the information we only need temporary, such as the number we are typed into our phone, can be stored for the appropriate length of time, then discarded to utilise the space. We interact with many things in our everyday life’s and our brain are aware of that, and is constantly on standby to help us live, so to speak. Another reason we can say memory is active and not passive is for the simple fact that we are able to consciously control what we want to retrieve from our memories and what information we would rather no remember, at that present time. For example, a young has lost her house keys, and in order to help her find them, she decides to try and remember when she last seen them, this is her consciously selecting memories from a specific time. She hasn’t decided to try and remember the colour of the keys, or when she very first came to own the keys, she has consciously tried to recall a specific moment in her life when she had the keys. This is her memory actively working to select the relevant memory and disregard any memory that is not currently needed that may be related to the keys. If our memory were passive, maybe it would automatically recall every memory she has had with the keys, which wouldn’t help the woman find the keys, it would just create confusion and possible frustration. Memory might for this reason be seen as a perceptually active process of the brain that derives from three key components. As we can see memory isn’t a simple matter. It is very complex and there are still many aspects of it under research and not yet understood, and because memory cannot be directly monitored, psychologists have found ways to analyse it enough to be able to have some understanding of how our memory works and why. Our memory serves a crucial purpose and without it, we cannot evolve, and learn and although it does more good than harm, it can from time to time cause us distress and many other things. Our memories are key to making us who we are and there are times that some people’s bad memories impact their lives greatly. Nevertheless, our memory is active, and we can us this to our advantage. We can change our memories, we can implant some memories deeper than others, and we have found ways to hide or keep some memories dormant. We can actively strengthen and challenge our memories daily and find ways to get the most out of the memory process, because without memory, we can not survive. Word count:1444 References: Brace, N., Ilona, R. (2007) ‘Memory: structures, processes and skills’ in Miell, D., Phoenix, A., and Thomas, K. (eds) Mapping Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Psychology18th March 2014