Learning Expirience Essay

Experience can shape our behavior and personality. More over our experiences contribute to our development over time. Learning process occurs when we experience situation that have negative or positive effect on us. In this essay I will briefly describe my personal learning experience; I will also define the concept of learning, and will provide analysis of what I have learned from this experience. In addition my essay will include the analysis and application of classical and operant conditioning as well as cognitive- social learning. My Experience Every person’s identity is formed by the various roles that they perform in the world. In fact becoming a mother is one more such role and it has psychological implications. Four month ago I became a mother to a wonderful, my first baby boy. The experience of giving birth, as well as being home with a newborn for the first few weeks was overwhelming, painful, and emotionally tiring. I am 25 years old and was so exciting to becoming a mother, however when my son was born for the first few weeks I have experienced anxiety, stress, depression, fear and even anger. It has been almost 4 month and my baby is my life, I cannot imagine how I was getting frustrated and feeling all those things when my baby is my joy. Today I am still tired, and stressed, however anger and depression is gone. I have learned from this experience that I need to accept the change in my life, and avoid becoming frustrated. Being prepared for things to be different could have prepared me to deal with situation differently. Also positive attitude should have been my best ally instead of being afraid and having negative thoughts. At last I have learned from this experience that I need to try to develop a new and balanced lifestyle that takes into consideration all areas of my new life. Learning Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience (David A. Kolb, 1984). As we learn, we alter the way we perceive our environment, the way we interpret the incoming stimuli, and therefore the way we interact, or behave (Carpenter & Huffman, 2012). Learning through Classical Conditioning One of the best-known characteristics of behavioral learning theory is classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus (Carpenter & Huffman, 2012). There are basic principles of classical conditioning process. Such as the unconditioned stimulus (UC) and unconditioned response (UR), as well as conditioned stimulus (CS) and conditioned response (CR) (Carpenter & Huffman, 2012). The unconditioned stimulus is one that unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response (â€Å"The propositional nature of human associative learning,† 2009). For example, baby crying made me feel sad and frustrated, and baby smiling made me feel loved, happy and positive. For instance, when I saw my bay for the first time the feeling of pain was simply gone. As I spend those first weeks with my baby although I have had mood swings and feeling of anger sometimes, however every time I looked at my baby I naturally felt better and calmer. The unconditioned response is the unlearned response that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus. For example, feel of love in response to my baby smile is unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus is previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response (â€Å"The propositional nature of human associative learning,† 2009). For example, when my baby cried I felt frustration and in the same time my husband was trying to explain me something thus my husband voice would be conditioned stimulus. Although the sound of my husband voice is unrelated to my baby’s cry and feeling of frustration, if the sound of his voice was paired multiple times with the baby’s cry, the sound would eventually trigger the conditioned response. The conditioned response is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus. For instance, feeling frustrated when I heard my husband talking to me. In my view classical conditioning is a useful technique that can be applied by creating a positive environment to help people to overcome anxiety, fear and frustration. For example, a situation like my baby’s crying with pleasant surroundings would have helped me to learn new associations. Instead of feeling anxious, frustrated and angry in that situation, I learn to stay relax and calm (Carpenter & Huffman, 2012). Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning is a technique of learning that happens through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior (â€Å"The propositional nature of human associative learning,† 2009). The elimination of an undesirable outcome can be used to decrease or prevent undesirable behavior. Feeling frustrated, being angry with situation simply led to more stress and created more problems for myself emotionally and physically. Positive reinforcement: Getting to know my baby, his first smile and lough created a positive and happy environment thus increasing my positive behavior. To conclude learning process revolves around human life. People learn something new every single day, thus creating new experiences and knowledge. Self-development and growth naturally occurs through learning.

Myth Interpretation

The movie industry had delved with so many themes already that creating a fairy tale or a fantasy movie is not something new. These fantasy movies became mainstream attractions thanks to the new technology of 3D and animations that makes imaginary characters come to life and walk and talk like humans. In these fantasy movies, one can not help but question the inspiration for the story; the insight for the roles created; and the symbolism each character represents.There would be parallelism with each fantasy story, as every good fantasy movie would be, since it mainly caters young audiences, like for example the eternal battle between good and evil. Pan’s Labyrinth is not any difference, it tackled the parallelism and many more, although some symbolisms were graphically demonstrated, to the point of disgust, it is still a fantasy movie.These parallelisms between the symbolism in the movie and the myths would be analyzed and discussed in this paper. The liminality as every heroi c tale should have would be pointed out in any way possible as it pertains to the Neo-Platonism idea of The One.Summary of the MoviePan’s Labyrinth or El Laberinto Del Fauno in its original title in Spanish or literally translated as The Faun’s Labyrinth, is a fantasy film that delves in a young girl’s struggle to keep the reality beautiful by completing tasks in another parallel world. In so doing she will take the throne that was rightfully hers and become a Princess once again in the parallel world.There were two worlds in which Ofelia, the protagonist was living. The real world where her mother is sick with the baby, where her ruthless stepfather Captain Vidal lives, and where there are rebels prepared to take offense against the Captain’s forces; and the second world, where Ofelia is the long lost Princess Moana, daughter of the King and she must get back to him as soon as possible. To be able to go back to her father, Ofelia was tasked to complete t hree tasks before the full moon rises, in order to ensure that her â€Å"essence† is intact. First she must retrieve the golden key from the belly of a giant toad that was living off the life of an old tree.She successfully got the key and proceeded on with the next one, with the Faun’s guidance, to retrieve a golden knife from a pale man’s dwelling and she was successful again, but lost the lives of her assistant fairies. The Faun was so angry that he said Ofelia could never return to her kingdom. Meanwhile, the condition of her pregnant mother is getting worse, and the rebels who are against the fascist rule of her stepfather are building a plan of their own. Her mother lost her life in giving birth to her baby brother, her friend Mercedes was caught by Vidal for spying, and Vidal had caught Ofelia lying to him and imprisoned her in the attic with orders of shooting Ofelia first if the rebels attacked.Taking pity on the poor Ofelia, the Faun appeared again and gave her another chance; all she had to do is take her baby brother to the labyrinth. After much hardship and running away from Captain Vidal, Ofelia finally reached the labyrinth where the Faun was waiting for her with instructions to â€Å"prick† her little brother with the golden knife and let his blood flow through the labyrinth. Ofelia refused to hurt her baby brother, this led to the Faun’s disappointment and left Ofelia on her own, as Captain Vidal finally caught up with her, killed her and took the baby.Ofelia’s blood spilled in the labyrinth and Captain Vidal was met by Mercedes and her rebel friends and they killed Vidal. All the while, in another world, Ofelia rose and was called upon by her father as Princess Moana. She was astonished to find herself in a big castle with her father and her mother waiting for her. She had finally come home; while on the other end, Mercedes cradles the lifeless body of Ofelia.Contrasting Concepts and Symbolisms: Good vs. EvilAs every fairy tale is supposed to have, the ensuing battle against the good and the evil, wherein no matter how much hardship the good guys had, the good will eventually triumph over the evil. In Pan’s Labyrinth, Ofelia represents the goodness in both worlds; the real world and the world underneath. The rebels signify the integrity and righteousness in the real world in their fight against the dark evil as manifested by the ruthless Captain Vidal. He is both the evil in Ofelia’s life as well as the rebels, and he had made their lives literally a living hell by torturing and killing the captured rebels, and later on, by taking Ofelia’s innocent life.As Ofelia went through difficult times and losing her life in the process, she triumphed for she had passed the test and did not fall into an evil-like behavior by sacrificing her baby brother. It is the goodness in her heart that finally led her to where she wants to be, with her mother and her father (altho ugh they are all dead already), and the only way she could do that was to die herself, and be reborn as Princess Moana of the Underworld. Ofelia is the epitome of good while Captain Vidal is the utmost evil by killing her. However, the other symbolism for good is the rebels who took Vidal’s life. Although the manner in which they did is not really â€Å"good†, in reality per se it is an acceptable way to end a fairly evil man. In this sense, Ofelia’s objective of making both worlds a better place to live in was achieved – in the fantasy world by completing all her tasks and in the real world through her death.Characters as Compared to Greek MythsThe title itself was a referral to the Greek god Pan, although the director and writer of the story denied having derived the Faun from Pan the Greek God. Perhaps, it is the similarity of the features that was compared to. The Faun personification of half man-half goat was first used in The Chronicles of Narnia as the trickster who wanted to kidnap Lucy but changed his mind later on. In Pan’s Labyrinth, the Faun was used as the guide with unknown objective – either the good or the bad. Is he telling the truth? Is he just tricking Ofelia to lure her into his trap? But we find out later that he was just testing Ofelia’s good heart if she could spill an innocent’s blood just to achieve her goals.The pale man who was guarding the magical dagger was perhaps derived from the â€Å"Cycladic idols† that archaeologists found in the Cycladic Islands. These figurines have white bodies, featureless faces, and stiff, formal poses and were thought to represent death. Just like the pale man, who represented nothing but death of children (in the drawings and the mountain full of children’s shoes).The stuffing of magic stones into the big toad’s mouth ended his reign thus giving birth to the key by tricking the toad into eating the magic stones when Ofelia pla ced a big bug along with the stones and held out her hand. This was perhaps derived from the Greek myth of the feud between Zeus and his father Kronos. Kronos had this habit of eating his children when they are born, and his wife Rhea, grew tired of seeing her children being swallowed by her husband that she tricked him into swallowing a rock instead of Zeus. Therefore, Zeus grew up and eventually killed Kronos.Underlying Interpretationa. As a belief SystemThe myth surrounding Pan’s labyrinth stemmed through Ofelia’s belief system that was encouraged by the Faun of her being â€Å"The One†. The lost Princess Moana of another world, and longing to escape the present reality in which she wants to save her mother and her unborn brother, she goes on to complete the tasks presented. Ofelia firmly believed that if she could pass the stages and fulfill the responsibilities given to her, she would finally be able to see her father, who was waiting for her for a long tim e.Embodying a Social ConflictPan’s labyrinth was set in the Post Civil War Spain in 1944. Captain Vidal is the head of one unit somewhere in the province who still hunts and kills rebel guerillas who are against the fascist rule. Carmen, Ofelia’s mother, had submitted herself, Ofelia and her unborn son’s fate into the hands of Captain Vidal. Perhaps love? But the sternness of Vidal and the lack of amiability between supposed to be husband and wife (Vidal and Carmen) lead the writer to assume that perhaps it is a mother’s survival instinct. Widowed with one kid during the hard times, perhaps the best chance of survival is to go with a powerful man to protect her self and ensure a good future for her children.Unknowingly, Carmen had entered a dark realm in which the man she though would rescue them, would be the sole reason of their demise. Confronted with the reality that Captain Vidal is a â€Å"bad† man, Ofelia tried to tell her mother who refuses to see the â€Å"real† Captain Vidal. Therefore, having no resolution and powerless to change the situation, Ofelia resulted into building her own world, from her imagination, through the fairy tale books that she was reading. It was through her mind that the blank book that the Faun gave her imprint instructions on what to do and how to do it.It was also with the Faun’s help that Carmen’s health condition got better (for a while) by placing a mandrake root under her bed; although one person in the real world, through Mercedes, may have seem to have the courage to change things, but still powerless to help Ofelia and her mother during their suffering, eventually stepped up to change and had Captain Vidal killed, but it was already too late for Carmen and Ofelia, for both have already lost their lives.c. AllegoryThe tasks performed by Ofelia in the parallel world are an allegory of her trying to escape and stop the cruel ruling of her stepfather Captain Vidal. O felia had pushed the stone that she found at the road to a mouth of a stone sculpture that started the chain of events – Carmen felt better to continue the travel. The Faun represents another entity that forces Ofelia to follow orders and be a good girl – just like Captain Vidal, he gives orders to his men and expects loyalty and respect or else he would kill them. The task of retrieving the magic key inside a giant toad’s stomach could be an allegory of Ofelia trying to find favor from Captain Vidal, but unlike the toad where she was successful; she was repulsed by Vidal and was treated just like anybody else.The pale man in the long table with bountiful fruits and images of children being eaten and mound full of children’s shoes is an allegory of Captain Vidal seating on the same setting, eating delicious food while the rest of the townspeople fall in line to get their rations. The last task that is to sacrifice her little brother for her to be able to open the portal, but did not do so and in the eventuality lost her life; is an allegory of Vidal sacrificing Ofelia’s life, he did what Ofelia did not do, that is to kill, and the consequence of Vidal’s action was death in the hands of the rebels. All the while, Ofelia was pointed out as The One that would make a significant change in the real world, and as The One missing Princess Moana in the parallel world.ConclusionThe movie was full of symbolism and parallelism that are subject to different opinions and interpretations by various scholars. The comparisons and allegories discussed in this paper may seem absurd or untoward by other scholars but myth interpretation is by itself subjective, and as a free and imaginative thinker, through a proper structure, the writer had expressed his/her opinions and views accordingly. There may be some that the writer had missed or other areas that were overlooked, but all things considered, this is a brief analysis of the movie Pan ’s Labyrinth with regards to myth interpretation.ReferencesCampbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces.Powell, Barry B. Classical Myth. Fifth Edition

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Human Resource Management - Independent Study Essay

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Discuss why and in what ways young people have been treated Essay - 2

Discuss why and in what ways young people have been treated differently in the criminal justice system - Essay Example There are several reasons for treating younger people differently by the court of law. According to a leading researcher of United States National Institute of Mental Health; Jay Giedd, during adolescence the brain is not completely developed for making any kind of organizational or strategic decision making processes. Hence it is unfair to expect juveniles having adult levels of decision making or organizational skills. Human brains do not develop completely before 18 years. According to latest researches, it has been observed that teenagers are susceptible to surroundings. It is very clear that younger people have a sharp brain and they have the potential to learn things quickly compared to other age group people. Northern Ireland has a different and separate justice system for children between age group 10 to 17. Similarly many other countries have separate jurisdiction system for children and young people. It is believed that children and teenagers can obtain proper correction in rehab centres than in prison. Researchers have also mentioned that if young children are put to prison with adult criminals either they will become the victims in prison or else they will become worse depending on the surroundings they are exposed. This essay will discuss about the difference of criminal justice system and the reasons with respect to children. The public prosecution system and the police; both play important role during the execution of a criminal justice system. Police and prosecution system are responsible for providing substantial evidence before the court in order to prove whether a convict is guilty. In case of children the system and the procedure remains same however the liberty is more compared to adults. In many countries it has been observed that children and young convicts are allowed to speak in order to know their intentions. After the diversionary youth conference and the decision from PSNI in the year 2003, PPS have been given the

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You will develop a brief case study from your own adolescent Essay

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Philosophy and the law - Essay Example Various schools of thoughts have been suggested to dissect and explain the phenomenon of crime and the effect of punishment on the criminal mind. What leads a person to commit a crime, and even reoffend, despite the specter of punishment hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles? In the hypothetical case of Mickey McHeinous, the question of whether a criminal who has committed the most heinous of crimes and as a consequence suffered unbearable guilt as a consequence of his acts should be punished is being presented for consideration. There is no question that Mickey McHeinous should still be punished for his crimes not only to set a cut-and-dried example to others that crime always begets punishment but primarily because society must be protected from the harm that he might still commit. Guilt, and its physical and physiological consequences, is not enough justification to spare him from punishment because it does not ensure that he will not repeat the commission of the same c rime. The oldest and enduring concept of crime is that it is largely retributive. A criminal is sentenced to punishment that corresponds to the weight of his crime. This is to impress upon the criminal that crime does not pay and his evil deeds against any member of society will not go unpunished. Mickey McHeinous might be physically and psychologically suffering from his crimes but this does not justify sparing him from society’s punishment. Punishment as a retribution is not only a reassertion of the biblical concept of â€Å"an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth† but it is also a representation of justice. It is not only Mickey McHeinous that suffers from his crimes, but society as well – more so, in fact because they are the victims. Why should the law favor him by sparing him from punishment and turn a deaf ear on the rest lived by the rules and did no harm

His fiend-Like Queen is Malcolms View of Lady Macbeth at the End of the Play Essay Example for Free

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When Lady Macbeth reads this her thoughts, just like Macbeths, jump straight to murder: that which rather thou dost fear to do/Than wishest should be done. Lady Macbeth is determined that Macbeth shall be king and never actually mentions what she will gain from this, Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/What thou art promised. Lady Macbeth appears to know her husband well, yet do I fear thy nature, /It is too full o th milk of human kindness. This also tells us a lot about Lady Macbeth herself; even after Macbeth has been on the battlefield killing hundreds, most people would see the fact that he could come home and be kind as a great thing, but Lady Macbeth sees this as his weakness. This is thinking very much like the witches foul is fair, and fair is foul. Lady Macbeths character has many attributes, which may be associated with evil and which is, in turn, part of the witches characters. The first of these is the fact that Lady Macbeth is very manipulative: That I may pour my spirits in thine ear. She speaks of the Raven which is a bird associated with death. When she hears that Duncan will be coming to the castle she immediately thinks that this is the perfect opportunity to kill him, she refers to the fatal entrance of Duncan. She calls to the spirits for help: Come you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here. make thick my blood, / Stop up th access and passage to remorse. Come to my womans breast/And take my milk for gall, In this speech she is asking the spirits to take her womanly tendencies away from her so that she is able to kill Duncan without feeling remorse and without those feminine feelings or attributes that may weaken her. In Shakespeares time witches were linked with the devil and gave away their femininity when they linked themselves to him, therefore when Lady Macbeth willingly asks for her feminine characteristics to be taken from her own body, she links herself to the supernatural, and therefore the witches. The speech also tells us that Lady Macbeth doesnt believe that she is normally able to kill someone; she thinks that this is the only way she will be able to do it and is trying to convince herself that she is evil throughout the scene. What is said in this speech is very similar to the one Macbeth makes, when he asks himself to not think about the treason and murder he is committing. This makes another link between Macbeth and his wife when Lady Macbeth says: Come thick night/And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell. This line shows us a lot, first that it reflects Macbeths, Let not light see my black and deep desires. The fact that she speaks of night links her to the witches, since night is the witches element. This line also links her subtly to the main dark themes of the play. Lady Macbeth has a very strong character and is very controlling, which was a characteristic uncommon at the time: and you shall put/This nights great business into my dispatch. She is taking everything into her own hands and seeing all the opportunities she has at that moment, but is failing to see further than that, to the consequences that may come about from her actions. In this scene Lady Macbeth does come across as having an evil nature. She is manipulative and is able to think about killing someone without much second thought, as well as able to link herself to the supernatural and destroy her feminine body in search of a greater power. In scene 6 Duncan arrives at Macbeths castle in Inverness. In this scene the first thing the reader realises once you have read it is the dramatic irony in it; Duncan says The air / Nimbly and Sweetly recommends itself/Unto our gentle senses and is talking about how nice the castle is when he is in fact very unsafe at Macbeths castle. This scene is also a very good example of Lady Macbeths deceiving abilities; she is sweet-talking Duncan and being kind, All our service, /In every point twice done then doubled and To make their audit at your Highness pleasure: she is being the perfect hostess. She is almost over doing the acting in the way she is flattering him so much, Still to return your own. Lady Macbeth is very two faced and hypocritical in this scene We rest your Hermits. She is taking up Duncans reference to prayer, How you shall bid God ild us for your pains, and this is hypocritical because of the prayers that she made to the spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts about taking away her womanly aspects. Scene 7 opens with Macbeth contemplating the plan to murder Duncan. He comes up with three strong reasons why he shouldnt kill him: First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, /Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, but there is still a present desire to be King. Lady Macbeth then comes into the scene and does not like what Macbeth is saying. She starts by putting him on the back foot by answering his questions with more questions: Macbeth: How now? What news? Lady Macbeth: He has almost supped. Why have you left the chamber? Macbeth: Hath he asked for me? Lady Macbeth: Know you not he has? This is where Macbeth tries to take charge and tells lady Macbeth [They] will proceed no further in this business and he tells her that he is happy, I have bought/ Golden opinions from all sorts of people. She doesnt take this into account and starts attacking. She starts by emotionally black mailing him, questioning his love for her, Such I account thy love, asking that, if he says that he wishes to be King and then take it back, how can she trust that he really does love her when he says it. She then attacks his ego, suggesting he is a coward even after he has come back from killing thousands of people on the battlefield: Wouldst thou have that/Which thou esteemst the ornament of life, /And live a coward in thine own esteem. She compares him to the cat, which would never go for the fish, Like the poor cat Ithage? She is asking him a rhetorical question, putting the thought into his head that he has the desire but not the guts to seize his dreams. She then attacks his manhood: What beast wast then? That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; / And to be more then what you were, you would be so much more the man. Then to prove her point further, and show us the length she is forcing herself mentally to convince herself she is truly evil, she presents this horrible image: How tendertis to love the babe that milks me-I would while it was smiling in my face Have plucked my nipple from its boneless gums, and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done. After this Lady Macbeth manages to sway Macbeth back to the murder with her certainty: Macbeth: If we should fail? Lady Macbeth: We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And well not fail. She is almost mocking him with the we fail? making him feel small with the suggestion of it. Then she asserts her control over him again with And well not fail. She then shows us how she is a practical by explaining her plan to Macbeth; His spongy officers, who shall bar the guilt / Of our great quell? This speech really convinces Macbeth to go through with the murder and proves once again that, at this point, Lady Macbeth really does have control over Macbeth. This scene shows that Lady Macbeth has many evil traits; she is manipulative and controlling. She is also a very practical woman with her plan. Act 2 Scene 2 opens up with a short soliloquy from Lady Macbeth and the content of this soliloquy is quite contradictory; whereas in Act 1 where Lady Macbeth comes across as very confident, here she says What hath quenched them hath given me fire suggesting that maybe she isnt a naturally confident person and is trying to be. She comes across as being nervous and jumpy, Hark! Peace! It was the owl that shrieked. She lacks confidence in her husband: Th attempt and not the deed Confounds us. Just from hearing Macbeth say, Whos there? What ho! she jumps to the conclusion they have failed in plan. Next we see a whole new side to Lady Macbeth Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had donet. This is proof that maybe Lady Macbeth has a heart and is not the cold heartless person she tries to make herself out to be. This is also an example of her stupidity; she doesnt make the connection between what she says and what she does. Lady Macbeth isnt a very understanding woman, another sign that she isnt very clever: when Macbeth comes in he is traumatized by what he has just done, instead of Lady Macbeth being caring and understanding she gets angry at him, Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there. Go carry them, and smear / The sleepy grooms with blood. When Macbeth looks at his bloody hands and says, This is a sorry sight. Lady Macbeth replies with A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. That is also a sign of her practicality she is trying to get Macbeth to not dwell on his thoughts. Then there is also another sign of nervousness between them both with the short exchanges when they first meet: Macbeth: When? Lady Macbeth: Now. Macbeth: As I descended? Lady Macbeth: Ay. Lady Macbeth isnt very understanding at all of what her husband is going through and tells him, Consider it not so deeply. In act 2 scene 3 we see examples of Lady Macbeths practicality and ability to act. The scene opens with Macduff and Lennox entering, wishing to see the King and then finding him dead. Lady Macbeth enters and we see how her acting abilities are still strong, with her pretending she has no idea what has happened Whats the business, and it comes across that she genuinely doesnt seem to have an idea about what is going on. There is the irony of Macduff calling her, O gentle lady, when earlier we are given these horrible images by her, And dashed the brains out. She then manages to keep up the charade by coming across as horrified by the death of the King, Woe, alas! / What, in our house? Macbeth then enters and starts to give these flowery speeches: The wine of life is drawn, and his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature: when these are compared to the initial reaction of Macduff, O horror, horror, horror! they appear to be prepared. Lady Macbeth can see this and sees how this is getting her husband into deeper trouble and she faints, drawing the attention away from her husband, another example of Lady Macbeths practicality and affection for her husband, she wishes to protect him. It is also possible that the vivid descriptions her husband has given, His silver skin laced with his golden blood, has really shown to her what they have done and the shock of this may have caused her to faint. It may have also been due to shock in the change of her husband, before this he was a wreck at the thought of what he had done: I am afraid to think what I have done. now he is able to lie with apparent ease, talking about the man he murdered so highly, and the guards he murdered while they were still sleeping. She scared at what her husband has become. By the end of act 2 we have seen cracks in Lady Macbeths visage, she is not as strong as she believes she is and she lacks the imagination to see this. In Act 3 Macbeth is now King and Lady Macbeth is the queen. The scene opens with Banquos soliloquy, then the full royal court entering and Lady Macbeth greets Banquo with great gusto, If he had been forgotten, / It had been as a gap in our great feast. After there has been much chatter between Macbeth and Banquo, Banquo leaves and Macbeth dismisses everyone including his Dearest love: before he was always with her and needed her opinion on decision and she was very much in control. Is this a suggestion that Macbeth doesnt feel he needs her guidance now or is he trying to be the man Lady Macbeth tried to suggest he wasnt? She must being feeling rather insignificant now and most probably hurt that after what they had just done that he could dismiss her like that. Act 3 scene 2 opens with Lady Macbeth asking permission to see her husband, Say to the King, I would attend his leisure / For a few words. This is very strange because before Lady Macbeth would never have had to ask to see her husband. Does this mean she has lost the power she had over her husband and isnt in control like she use to be? We then see that Lady Macbeth isnt the evil person she made herself out to be; we see she is hurting from what has happened: Tis safer to be that which we destroy, / Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. Macbeth then enters and Lady Macbeth forgets about her worries and starts trying to comfort Macbeth, whats done is done. But she isnt taking her own advice, she is, without content. Macbeth then talks about his torment and uses this vivid imagery, O full of scorpions is my mind, Macbeth then drops hints that something is going to happen, there shall be done / A deed of dreadful note. In this same speech Macbeths also uses the imagery of creatures associated with evil and death: The shard-borne beetle so we can assume he is talking about the plan to kill Banquo. Lady Macbeth is properly feeling very confused at this point, before Macbeth included her in all the discussions and now she has no idea what he is talking about, Whats to be done? So by the end of this scene we have truly seen the soft and feminine side to Lady Macbeth: we have also seen the first signs of her coming collapse. We have seen examples of her love for Macbeth by casting aside her own worries to try to look after him. The first key point about Act 3 scene 4 is the notable change in Lady Macbeths behaviour. In Act 1 she was very welcoming and talkative with her guests coming across as being a strong character but is this scene she has lost this strong visage, she has to be prompted to welcome her guests, Our hostess keeps her state, but in best time / We will require her welcome. After this though we are able to see some of Lady Macbeths old characteristics, when Macbeth is distracted with talking to the Murderers, Lady Macbeth notes that he is away too long and reminds him he is holding a dinner, You do not give the cheer, an example of her practicality. Soon after Macbeth he rejoins the dinner he mental state deteriorates, when he sees Banquos ghost. Lady Macbeth steps in here with her practicality and tries to bring her husband back while passing off his madness as having some sort of fit: My lord is often thus, / And hath been from his youth She is finally able to bring him back by attacking his ego again by repeating the line, Are you a man? She is then fairly harsh to Macbeth mocking what he said earlier in the play, This is the air-drawn dagger which you said / Led you to Duncan. We see her lack of imagination, You look but on a stool. She is still unable to understand why Macbeth is suffering. Lady Macbeth is then able to bring Macbeth back to reality, where he starts acting normal but then mentions Banquo again, this sets Macbeth off again as the ghost reappears and he goes mad. Lady Macbeth steps in once again with her practicality and gets rid of the court so she can attend to her husband and before he is able to say to much about the murders, Stand not upon the order of your going. / But go at once. When the rest of the court has left, Lady Macbeth changes: her answers become short. At some point she must have realised what Macbeth had been seeing, changing how she was. Is her quietness a response to what Macbeth has become? She believed that this would only take one murder, and now Macbeth has murdered four times. She must be feeling scared, before she was very much in charge and now Macbeth is fully in control and not asking her opinions. There is already the idea of another murder in his head: Strange things I have in head, That will to hand; / Which must be acted ere they may be scanned. By the end of this act you can see Lady Macbeth is scared and she has lost the control she had over her husband. She isnt the strong character she was in Acts 1 and 2 only her practicality is left. Act 5 scene 1 is when Lady Macbeth has finally gone mad. Shakespeare gives little indication of time in the play, but from what we can gather a fair amount of time has passed, and over this time we can tell that he mental state has deteriorated. The scene starts off by telling us that Lady Macbeth has been sleeping walking and going through the routine of writing a letter, then reading it. I believe this refers to the letter she received from Macbeth about the witches; the letter which started the whole affair off. I think that subconsciously she is wishing for everything to go back to that moment so none of this ever happened. She enters sleep walking carrying a candle and the gentlewoman says that Lady Macbeth has, light by her / continually, tis her command. This is ironic because earlier in the play Lady Macbeth says, pall thee in thy dunnest smoke of hell. So after wishing not to see the light she cant bare to be without it. There is then more irony in this scene, Out damned spot, out I say! she is unable to wash the blood from her hands and to Macbeth earlier she says: A little water will clear us of this deed. She almost repeats Macbeths, Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hands?: with the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. We can see now that she always did understand what her husband was saying, but on a subconscious level: she lacked the imagination to understand when conscious. Earlier in Macbeth Lady Macbeth asked: Come thick night / and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, and now she says, Hell is Murky. It appears that she is now in her own hell and it is terrifying. Throughout the scene there is more imagery of blood, we have Lady Macbeth mocking Macbeth about being upset about killing Duncan, now she is saying: Who would have thought the man has so much blood in him. At first she acted as if she was fine and didnt have a conscience, we now see that everything had built up and has been affecting her: The Thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now? What, will these hands neer be clean? She is even suffering for the murders she had nothing to do with. After reading Macbeth and carefully analysing Lady Macbeths actions throughout I think we are able to feel some pity for Lady Macbeth. I think she can be blamed partly for the Tragedy of Macbeth because she did push her husband to commit the murder, but we do not fully see what her motivation for this was. My view is that she was mainly doing what she thought her husband deserved because it is obvious through the play that she is deeply in love with Macbeth. Also taking into consideration the time the play is set was it not Macbeths place to stick with what he originally felt and tell her that they would not murder the King? I think pity grows towards her as the play goes on; as the reader you can see a change in her character, which quite clearly shows us that she never intended for Macbeth to become theevil tyrant he did become. Another reason for her to be pitied is that you can see she is in pain and suffering but she ignores this to try and comfort her husband who is more open about his suffering. This drives Lady Macbeth crazy in the end, and the idea that she died because of her love for her husband is tragic. This is why I think Malcolms view of lady Macbeth, His fiend-Like Queen is unfair towards her and that it was Macbeths place to have put a stop to the murder which eventually led to both of their deaths.

Trends of Economic Thinking

Trends of Economic Thinking The position of the economist in the intellectual life of our time is unlike that of the practitioners of any other branch of knowledge. Questions for whose solution his special knowledge is relevant are probably more frequently encountered than questions related to another science. Yet, in large measure, this knowledge is disregarded and in many respects public opinion even seems to move in a contrary direction. Thus the economist appears to be hopelessly out of tune with his time, giving unpractical advice to which his public is not disposed to listen and having no influence upon contemporary events. Why is this? The situation is not without precedent in the history of economic thought; but it cannot be considered as normal, and there is strong reason to believe that it must be the result of a particular historical situation. For the views at present held by the public can clearly be traced to the economists of a generation or so ago. So that the fact is, not that the teaching of the economist has no influence at all; on the contrary, it may be very powerful. But it takes a long time to make its influence felt, so that, if there is change, the new ideas tend to be swamped by the domination of ideas which, in fact, have become obsolete. Hence the recurring intellectual isolation of the economist. The problem of the relation between the economist and public opinion today resolves itself, therefore, into a question of the causes of the intellectual changes which have conspired to bring about this cleavage. It is this subject which I have chosen as the main theme of this lectureThe subject is a vast one, but the aspect which I wish chiefly to emphasise is that which the economist must, naturally, be most anxious to make clear to the public for example the role played by purely scientific Progress the growth of our insight into the interdependence of economic phenomena in bringing about these changes in his attitude to practical problems. At first sight there seem to be only two reasons why economistsshould change their attitude towards questions of economic policy either they may find that their knowledge has been inadequate, or their views on the fundamental ethical postulates (upon which, of course, every practical conclusion is based) may undergo a change. In either case the role played by science would be clear. But, in fact, the cause of the great historical changes which I am discussing seems to me to be of a more subtle kind. It consists neither of a change in the underlying ethical valuations nor of a refutation of the validity of certain analytical propositions, but rather in a change of view regarding the relevance of that knowledge for practical problems. It was not a change of ideals nor a change of reasoning but a change of view with regard to the applicability of such reasoning which was responsible for the characteristic features of the popular economics of today. How did this come about? It is a common belief that, about the middle of last century, perhaps under the influence of socialistic ideas, the social conscience was aroused by the existence of human misery which had previously escaped recognition, and it was decided no longer to tolerate it. Hence the decline of ‘the old political economy’ which had been blind to these considerations. But, in fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. No serious attempt has ever been made to show that the great liberal economists were any less concerned with the welfare of the poorerclasses of society than were their successors. And I do not think that any such attempt could possibly be successful. The causes of the change must be sought elsewhere. It is probably true that economic analysis has never been the product of detached intellectual curiosity about the why of social phenomena, but of an intense urge to reconstruct a world which gives rise to profound dissatisfaction. This is as true of the phylogenesis of economics as of the ontogenesis of probably every economist. As Professor Pigou2 has aptly remarked: â€Å"It is not wonder, but the social enthusiasm which revolts from the sordidness of mean streets and the joylessness of withered lives, that is the beginning of economic science.† The mere existence of an extremely complicated mechanism which led to some kind of coordination of the independent action of individuals was not sufficient to arouse the scientific curiosity of men. While the movement of the heavenly bodies or the changes in our material surroundings excited our wonder because they were evidently directed by forces which we did not know, mankind remained—and the majority of men still remain—under the erroneous impression that, since all social phenomena are the product of our own actions, all that depends upon them is their deliberate object. It was only when, because the economic system did not accomplish all we wanted, we prevented it from doing what it had been accomplishing, in an attempt to make it obey us in an arbitrary way, that we realized that there was anything to be understood. It was only incidentally, as a by product of the study of such isolated phenomena, that it was gradually realized that many things which had been tak en for granted were, in fact, the product of a highly complicated organism which we could only hope to understand by the intense mental effort of systematic inquiry. Indeed, it is probably no exaggeration to say that economics developed mainly as the outcome of the investigation and refutation of successive Utopian proposals if by utopian we mean proposals for the improvement of undesirable effects of the existing system, based upon a complete disregard of those forces which actually enabled it to work. Now, since economic analysis originated in this way, it was only natural that economists should immediately proceed from the investigation of causal interrelationships to the drawing of practical conclusions. In criticising proposals for improvement, they accepted the ethical postulates on which such proposals were based and tried to demonstrate that these were not conducive to the desired end and that, very often, policies of a radically different nature would bring about the desired result. Such a procedure does not in any way violate the rule, which Professor Robbins4 has so effectively impressed upon us, that science by itself can never prove what ought to be done. But if there is agreement on ultimate aims, it is clearly scientific knowledge which decides the best policy for bringing them about. No doubt the economist should always be conscious of this distinction; but it would certainly have been nothing but intolerable pedantry if, in discussing practical problems, the economist had always insisted that science by itself proves nothing, when in fact it was only the newly gained knowledge which was decisive in bringing about the change in their attitude towards practical affairs. The attitude of the classical economists to questions of economic policy was the outcome of their scientific conclusions. The presumption against government interference sprang from a wide range of demonstrations that isolated acts of interference definitely frustrated the attainment of those ends which all accepted as desirable. But the position of the young science which led to conclusions so much in conflict with the result of more primitive reflections was bound to become difficult as soon as—following its first triumphant success it became more conscious of its remaining defects. And those who disliked its conclusions were not slow in making the most of all the defects they could find. It was not the practical preoccupations of the economist which were responsible for this result. It is by no means certain that economics would have been less disliked if economists had been more careful to distinguish the pure theory from the more applied parts of their conclusions. It is true that economics was contemptuously dubbed’ a mere utilitarian science because it did not pursue knowledge for i ts own sake. But nothing would have aroused more resentment than if economists had tried to do so. Even today it is regarded almost as assign of moral depravity if the economist finds anything to marvel at in his science; i.e., if he finds an unsuspected order in things which arouses his wonder. And he is bitterly reproached if he does not emphasise, at every stage of his analysis, how much he regrets that his insight into the order of things makes it less easy to change them whenever we please. The attack on economics sprang rather from a dislike of the application of scientific methods to the investigation of social problems. The existence of a body of reasoning which prevented people from following their first impulsive reactions, and which compelled them to balance indirect effects, which could be seen only by exercising the intellect, against intense feeling caused by the direct observation of concrete suffering, then as now, occasioned intense resentment. It was against the validity of such reasoning in general that the emotional revolt was directed. Thus, temporarily, social enthusiasm succeeded in destroying an instrument created to serve it because it had been made impatient by the frequent disappointments which it had occasioned. It is not to be denied that, at this early stage, economists had not yet become quite conscious of the precise nature of their generalisations. Nor can it be questioned that on some points, such as the theory of value, they proceeded on very unsatisfactory general assumptions. To what extent the actual foundations of the classical system were influenced by the fashionable philosophy of the day has been made clear by the distinguished author of Philosophy and Politi cal Economy. It is clear that anything which justified the treatment of practical problems as something unique, determined only by their own historical development, was bound to be greeted as a welcome relief from the necessity of controlling e motions by difficult reasoning. It was just this advantage which the historical method afforded. Refusing to believe in general laws, the Historical School had the special attraction that its method was constitutionally unable to refute even the wildest of utopias, and was, therefore, not likely to bring the disappointment associated with theoretical analysis. Its emphasis on the unsatisfactory aspects of economic life, rather than upon what was owed to the working of the existing system, and what would be the consequences if we tried directly to control some of the recognised evils, strongly recommended it to all those who had become impatient. For a considerable time, mainly during the last third of the nineteenth century, the two schools which now existed not only employed different methods, but also turned their attention to different problems. The more theoretically minded had to concentrate rather on the revision of the fundamental principles which had been damaged by decades of attack, and had to leave the more applied parts to others who were coming more and more under the influ ence of the historical method. So long, however, as this part of the task was left to men who had previously become acquainted with the general principles of analysis—and who were, therefore, immune from the more popular fallacies the fulleffect of this change did not become apparent. The distinguished economist to whose memory this chair8 is dedicated, and with whose long and fruitful career Professor Gregory has made us familiar,9 offers a conspicuous example of the nature of this change. Thomas Tooke could never have become one of t he leaders of the free-trade movement in his early years, and remained its lifelong advocate, if he had applied to the problems of international trade the same purely inductive methods which, in his later years, he considered as exclusively decisive in the discussion of monetary problems. As so frequently happens, it was only in the second generation of the new school that the lack of the tools necessary for the interpretation of the intricate phenomena they were busy describing made itself felt. And so it came about that, just at the time when the theorists were most successful in constructing a sounder analytical basis for their science, the superstructure of more concrete applications which had been left in the hands of the more practical-minded men fell gradually, more discredited than disproved, into oblivion. And, in consequence, many of the palliatives and quack remedies which, in the past, had been rejected because, even judged by the analysis of the classical system, their indirect effects were seen to be obviously more objectionable than their immediate benefits, were introduced by the new generation of historical economists, until the reaction was carried to a point at which the futile attempts to redress special grievances by short-sighted State action cou ld hardly have been more numerous if an analytical science of economics had never existed. It is no accident that the return of protectionism which followed the free-trade era of the nineteenth century was the work of men under the influence of this school. It takes a long time to rebuild the structure of a science if one starts by revising the fundamental concepts. And the modern revision of theoretical economics has occupied sufficient time to allow what was at first the heretical view of a number of radical economists. who had tofight what was then the conservatism of the practical men who were still under the influence of economic liberalism—to pervade the thought of the public and to establish itself as the dominating doctrine, not only among advanced social reformers, but even among the most conservative businessmen.

Looking At Brain Tumors Psychology Essay

Looking At Brain Tumors Psychology Essay Brain tumors are a very harmful diagnoses that can completely change a persons everyday lifestyle. It could change their lifestyle because, the symptoms that come with brain tumors. Also, it can cause personality changes and certain types of body reactions. This illness has a major effect to the patient and can also effect the family. How the brain tumor occurs is when abnormal growth of cells that are forming together. When the cells form together then it can cause a mass of tumor. There are many different types of brain tumors that exist; about 120 types that can affect a human being. Primary and secondary brain tumors can be either malignant or benign. They are also classified in different types of grades, from one to four. They rate the grades from lowest risk to highest risk, one being low risk and four being a higher risk. People that are affected by this diagnosis can cause visual, speech, and hearing change, memory problems, balance and walking problems, etc. When being diagn osis with brain tumor, there are treatments that can help fighting off the disease. The treatments depend on the type of the tumor, but it usually involves with radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy. Brain tumors are a very difficult process that can change everything about a person, or it could even be life threatening to them. The way tumors develop is when cells grow old, have damage, or die off, the body is supposed to form new cells to replace them. Brain Tumors Page Number: 2 During this process certain problems can occur and the body doesnt need the new cells, also the old and damaged cells dont die off when they should be. When this happens the cells will build up forming a mass of tumor, also called the growth of tumors (-oma, tumor) and (oncoma, mass tumor). A brain tumor is a mass of abnormal tissue growing in any part of the brain. Brain cells multiply in an uncontrolled manner and forms these tumors. These tumors can arise from any part of the brain, spinal cord or the nerves. Broadly these tumors can be divided into benign and malignant tumors (Thakur, Gahane, Bhadoriya, Jain S., Jain R., Mishra). Malignant can form cancer that can spread throughout the body, while benign doesnt form any type of cancer or even spread to other parts of the body. Benign tumors has a border edge that the cells barley invade the tissue surrounding them. The possibility for benign to spread to other parts of the body is very slim. The only cause of serious health issue is when the tumor presses on sensitive areas of the brain. A benign tumor can be removed, but they can also grow back. Sometimes a benign tumor can change into a malignant tumor. A malignant tumor can also be called brain cancer. Malignant is way more serious than benign and can also be life threatening. When a malignant tumor is forming it can rapidly grow causing damage to healthy brain tissues. Unlike benign, malignant can break away and spread to other parts of the body. The main parts would be the spinal cord or even other parts in the brain. Brain Tumors Page Number: 3 When dealing with tumors, there are different types of grades that they fall into. The grades are classified from 1 through 4, lowest risk to the highest risk. Grade 1 is normally a benign tumor that grows slowly. A grade 2 is a malignant tumor that has cells that look very different from the grade 1 cells. The third grade is also a malignant tumor that usually anaplastic abnormal cells. The final Grade is a malignant tissue that is in its worst condition. Grade 4 malignant tend to grow very fast when it occurs. Using these terms and definitions will help physicians diagnose people with these types of health problems. When diagnosing, physicians can tell a brain tumor by the way the cells look under a microscope. Brain tumors are often diagnosed on the basis of imaging and processing methods. Generically, the imaging of brain tumors aim to determine the localization, extend, type and malignancy of the pathology (Cruz-Barbosa Vellido). Imaging evaluation includes computer tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that complement each other and describe the tumor location, local extension, compression in the neighborhood structures, superjacent hydrocephalus. Position emission tomography can differentiate recurrent tumor necrosis postoperative scarring or post-therapy edema (Clobanu, Miron, Tansanu, Dumitrescu Indrei). Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a common data acquisition technique for Brain Tumors Page Number: 4 this task (Cruz-Barbosa Velliod). These procedures can help the physicians tell that there is a mass of tumor in the brain. It can also show what part of the brain the tumor is occurring and, what kind of tumor it may be. Following the symptoms will help physicians know if their patient is occurring a brain tumor. Usually, the symptoms depend on their type, size, aggressiveness, and the location the tumor is in the brain. There are many different types of symptoms for certain types of tumors. The most common symptoms for brain tumor would usually be headaches, memory problems, numbness or tingling in certain parts of the body like the legs or arms. Other symptoms are walking and balancing problems, vomiting, seizures, personality change, and can also affect their vision, speech, and hearing. After many tests were taken to figure out the cause of brain tumors, there were no evidences that could support the exact cause. Even though there are no evidences for the exact cause, brain tumors can occur at any age. There are certain types of tumors that fall into the children and adult categories. In the field of brain tumors there are over 120 types of brain tumors that occur in different size and location o f the brain. In oncology, this typically involves differentiating between tumor types and grades, or some type of discrete outcome prediction (Cruz-Barbosa Vellido). Some types of brain tumors that differ from one Brain Tumors Page Number: 5 another are Ependymomas, Optic Neuroma (adults), Pituitary Tumor, Craniopharyngioma, Pediatric Brain Tumor, Astrocytoma (adults), Rhabiod Tumor, Meningioma (adults), Brain Stem Glioma, etc. In adults, the most common types of brain tumors would be Astrocytoma, Meningoma, and also Oligodendroglioma. In adults about half of all CNS tumors are malignant, whereas in pediatric patients; more than 75% are malignant (Khoshnevisan). The most common tumors in children would be Ependyoma, Medulloblastoma, grade 1 or 2 Astrocytoma, and also Brain Stem Glioma. When a person is diagnosed with a certain type of brain tumor then this will help them go to the next step, which is treatment. Treatments are the first thing to do when a person is diagnosed. Just like symptoms, treatment also depends on the type, size, and location of the tumor. Treatment also depends on the age and health of the patient. When treating for brain tumors, they usually go straight to removal surgery (-ectomy), that surgically removes the tumor from the brain. If this procedure is not successful then they go to the next step which is radiation therapy, and chemotherapy (chemo-, drug, -therapy, treatment), which means drug treatment. For example, in chemotherapy there is a drug to fight off brain tumors that can go through the Blood-brain barriers (BBB). Major obstacles for brain tumor treatment including the structure of BBB and efflux transporters, and the efforts that have been used to circumvent BBB Brain Tumors Page Number: 6 and deliver drugs in the brain. In brain tumors, the delivery of anticancer drug is difficult due to presence of the BBB, which acts as physical and physiologic obstacles for delivery of drugs to the brain. Also, cancer chemotherapy is useful for a variety of brain tumors including Lymphomas, Medulloblastomas, Germ Cell Tumors, and Gliomas (Thakur, Gahane, Bhadoriya, Jain S., Jain R., Mishra). Due to the treatments, they always form a high or low risk factor. One of the risk factors a patient can go through is ionizing radiation because, of the high doses of x-rays. Ionizing radiation it directly to the head and a high dose of x-rays increases the risk for affecting the patient. No matter what are always risks when treating a illness. This diagnosis is very important to me because it relates to my little niece. Her name is Cassandra, she is 15 right now and I love her more than anything in the world. We didnt find out that she had a brain tumor until she was 3 years old. The type of brain tumor she has is Craniopharyngioma, which is a benign tumor that develops near the pituitary gland. When the pituitary gland hormone is damaged it imbalances and leads to excessive thirst, excessive urination, and stunt growth. This type of brain tumor can also damage the optic nerves that can cause visual problems, and have a possibility to increase after surgery. We were very heart broken when our family found out that my niece had a brain tumor. The first thing they tried Brain Tumors Page Number: 6 to do was removal surgery, which was not a success. Removal surgery did not work because they could only take some parts of the tumor out. If they do the procedure and took the whole tumor out, then she would be completely blind. They tried many ways to remove this tumor without the risk factor of becoming blind but they just couldnt do it. When they removed some of the brain tumor, it caused her to be blind in her left eye. She is much smaller than her normal group age, so the brain tumor did affect her stunt growth. After knowing this, we knew that her tumor would just keep growing for the rest of her life. Every time the tumor grows, she has to go to surgery and only take some of the brain tumor out. To help fight off the brain tumor from growing she takes chemotherapy. My niece went through so many surgeries throughout her life that we just couldnt keep count of them anymore. It hurts me that my niece has to go through hell every time her tumor grows back. She went through so muc h surgery that she had to wear helmets to protect the part where the skull was removed. Also, they went through her skull so much that they cant do surgery there anymore. They tried do the procedure in other ways like the nostril but her nose was too small. Her last surgery was probably 5 to 6 months ago, so eventually her tumor will be growing back soon. To keep her positive and everyone else position every year we go to the Ride for Kids, which is when hundreds of people come together with their motorcycles and ride for the kids that have brain tumors. We always ride on the motorcycles at Brain Tumors Page Number: 7 the event and at the end; we do a fundraiser to help find a way to overcome this disease. My niece is doing a lot better now that she is older, she is going to Rome Free Academy, and she is in variety cheerleading for RFA. I know my niece has been through a lot but no matter what our family will always be by her side. From my personal experiences, brains tumors can affect the patient emotionally and physically and can also emotionally affect the family. Brain tumors can be very harmful and can ruin everything from health to personalities, and daily routines. If nothing went wrong when the body forms new cells or removes the old and damaged cells, then it would not cause a mass of tumor. Brain tumors can physically affect a person by different types of symptoms. Identify the tumor and the type of tumor can help many patients take care of this disease. Most of the time removal surgery will solve the problem but, if not the health care field tries to find other ways to destroy certain types of brain tumors. It all depends on what type of brain tumor it is, the size, and the location the tumor is occurring. When being diagnosis with brain tumors there are many obstacles that you have to go through in order to stop the tumor from increasing. There are many difficult processes and effects that can take toll on a person with this illness. This certain type of disease can be life threatening Brain Tumors Page Number: 8 and, can a change a persons all around life. Work Cited Ciobanu, A., Miron, I., Tansanu, I. I., Dumitrescu, G., Indrei, A.(2011). PEDIATRIC BRAIN TUMORS MORPHOLOGICAL FINDINGS AND PROGNOSTIC FACTORS.Romanian Journal Of Functional Clinical, Macro- Microscopical Anatomy Of Anthropology /Revista Romà ¢na De Anatomie Functionala Si Clinica, Macro Si Microscopica Si De Antropologie, 10(4), 499-503. CRUZ-BARBOSA, R., VELLIDO, A. (2011). SEMI-SUPERVISED ANALYSIS OF HUMAN BRAIN TUMOURS FROM PARTIALLY LABELED MRS INFORMATION, USING MANIFOLD LEARNING MODELS. International Journal Of Neural Systems, 21(1), 17-29. Khoshnevisan, A. (2012). An overview of therapeutic approaches to brain tumor stem cells.Medical Journal Of The Islamic Republic Of Iran, 26(1), 31-40. Thakur, A., Gahane, A., Bhadoriya, S., Jain, S., Jain, R., Mishra, H. (2011). Major hurdles for brain tumour therapy and the ways to overcome them: A review. Journal Of Pharmacy Research, 4(5), 1315-1318.

Job Satisfaction and Employee Retention Essay -- High Turnover, Job En

Employee satisfaction is undoubtedly the best predictor of employee retention. A job environment consisting of good working relationships usually fosters employee satisfaction. Employees feel motivated as they believe that the company is appreciating their service and commitment. Job satisfaction results in employee retention. Employee retention could be defined as the length of time employees stay with the organization. The purpose of this report is to brief the management on the importance of employee satisfaction in achieving the competitive goals of the organization through increasing the retention of the employees. Description and background As per preliminary analyses conducted with job satisfaction and anticipated job retention—it was concluded that the two were not correlated. (Cohen & Cohen, 1983). As per the results of this analysis, the prominent job satisfaction factors were: †¢ Less formal education; †¢ Positive perceptions of supervision †¢ Competence and autonomy based joins Cross, W., & Wyman, P. A. (2006). Training and motivational factors as predictors of job satisfaction and anticipated job retention among implementers of a school-based prevention program. Journal of Primary Prevention, 27(2), 195-215. Job retention was also recommended for people with chronic medical history of diseases. In a random experiment in which individuals in the group (with medical disorders) received a job retention intervention and persons in the control group received a minimal intervention. It was concluded that satisfaction with the job retention intervention was greater than that for minimal attention. Employment status was assessed at 6 month intervals up to 48 months .The log-rank test was used to detect a differ... ...gsworth, C., SÄ mbhar, R., Ball, M., & al, e. (2004) WORK CULTURE IN ASSISTED LIVING: KEY TO STAFF SATISFACTION AND RETENTION. The Gerontologist, 44(1), 593. †¢ Bamberger, P. A. (1990). Antecedents and consequences of role stress: The processes leading to turnover intentions among public sector professionals. (Order No. 9018061, Cornell University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 289-289 p. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/303850297?accountid=14543. (303850297). †¢ Accessed 27 Apr 2014 ;( http://managementstudyguide.com/challanges-in-employee-retention.htm) †¢ Sherrie Scott; demand Media; Accessed 27 Apr 2014 ;( http://smallbusiness.chron.com/employee-retention-strategies-important-1241.html) †¢ TerryIrwin;29.11.11;accessed 27 Apr 2014;(http://www.mondaq.com/x/155322/Five+Top+Employee+Retention+Strategies)

Graduation Speech: A New Adventure :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

No amount of education can completely prepare us for the world that lies ahead of us. Because it presents many unknowns, it is exciting yet at the same time frightening. I know that there are still so many things that can only be learned through experience; a challenge with which we will soon all be faced. I would like to read a letter written by a woman by the name of Avril Johannes which was published in the book "Chicken Soup For the Soul." She writes this letter to the world upon her son's and his classmates' graduation and it relates some of these same ideas. "Dear World: Our children finish school today. It's all going to be quite strange to them for a while, and I wish you would treat them kindly. They are starting out on a new adventure. It is an adventure that may include war and tragedy and sorrow. To make their way they will require a great deal of faith, love, tolerance and understanding. So world, I wish you would look after them. Take them by the hand and teach them the things they will need to know, but please, world, do it gently if you can. They will have to learn that not all people are just, that not all people are fair, and that not all people are true. But also teach them that for every villain there is a hero, that for every crooked politician there is a great and dedicated leader, and that for every enemy there is a good friend. It will take time, world, but teach them that a nickel earned is of more value than a dollar found. Teach them to lose gracefully so that they will enjoy winning that much more. Steer them away from envy, if you can, and teach them the secret of quiet laughter. Teach them to be at peace with their God. Teach them to be strong inside so they can stand the hurt of failure and keep the desire to try again until they succeed. Teach them to be gentle with gentle people, and to be tough with tough people. Teach them to follow their judgment and not the crowd. Teach them to listen to all people, but to filter all they hear through a screen of truth. Teach them to laugh when they are sad, but also teach them that there is no shame in shedding tears.

When Harry Met Sally Essay -- essays papers

When Harry Met Sally The film I chose to view for this Romantic Comedy paper was When Harry met Sally. I enjoyed this movie. The two main characters were Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally Allbright (Meg Ryan). When first introduced to these characters, Sally is driving to New York, and Harry, who is the boyfriend of Sally's friend, is catching a ride with her. Sally is a very structured person. To quote Harry, she is a "high maintenance" women. Harry, on the other hand, has a more laid back attitude. This causes some tension between them on the long drive to New York. This fits well into the romantic comedy genre. In a romantic comedy there is usually tension between the two charcters in the beginning. Part of this pattern is for them to soften toward one another and by the end they fall in love. On the way to New York, Harry tells Sally some things about men she doesn't know and is reluctant to believe. One thing he tells her is "men and women can't be friends because sex gets in the way." This only increases the tension between them. By the time they reach New York, Sally doesn't appear too happy with him. She seems angry with him, but anger is sometimes used to cover other feeling. This is also a classic feeling in the genre. A gap of several years passes before they see each other again. They see each other at the airport, but they both pretend not to know the other. The next time they meet is a couple of years after they saw each other at the airpo...

Marketing and Zara Essay

1. Background According to BusinessWeek, â€Å"Zara was a fashion imitator. It focused its attention on understanding the fashion items that its customers wanted and then delivering them, rather than on promoting predicted season’s trends via fashion shows and similar channels of influence, which the fashion industry traditionally used.† 5 Zara, the fashion retail chain, is a subsidiary of Inditex Group owned and managed by Spanish tycoon Amancio Ortega. Inditex includes several major brands, namely, Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Oysho, Bershka, and Stradivarius. The group headquarters is located in La Coruna, Spain. It was here where the first Zara store was launched in 1975. Presently, there are about 1,500 Zara stores around the world. Zara employs around 80,000 people. The group recorded revenues of â‚ ¬ 9,434.7 million (approximately $13,068.8 million) during FY2008, an increase of 15.1% over 2007. The operating profit increased by 20.1% to â‚ ¬ 2,148.8 million in FY2008. The net profit, during FY2008, increased by 24.5% to over FY2007 toâ‚ ¬ 1,257.8 million (approximately $1,742.2 million).7 Zara’s claim to fame surfaces from the fact that it needs, on an average, two (2) weeks to develop and market a new fashion product compared to the industry average of six (6) month cycle. In addition to this, Zara is committed to showcasing around 10,000 new designs annually, in a fast and scarce manner, which gives it a constant new look and brings back customers to the stores. Owing to its unique supply chain management, use of information technologies and innovative management strategies, which is a must to survive the highly competitive fashion industry it has managed to come out on top year after year. The major competitors include H&M, GAP and Benetton. Some of the efficient strategies adopted by Zara are broadly the policies of zero inventories, Just in Time systems, contract manufacturing for small orders, decentralizing warehouses to deliver p roducts and above all close monitoring of the fashion trends. Above all, they had few unique strategies, mainly, zero advertising, where in Zara chose to open new stores rather than advertise and, the concept of shunning outsourcing to low cost development centers as it would result in dilution of the high quality fashion that Zara represents. Initial success for Zara is mainly attributed to featuring low priced lookalike products of more popular, high end fashion brand. Following  this success, they adopted new design and distribution method. Since the fashion industry product has long lead times, to the tune of six months, Zara aimed to reduce this and also minimize the uncertainties associated with fashion retail. Zara developed the concept of â€Å"Instant Fashion† that allowed them to respond more quickly to consumer tastes and emerging trends. The strategy helped them to bring in new products to the shelves quickly, in small quantity and produce more if demand occurred. This enabled them to minimize inventory, gauge demand and re move uncertainties. Later on, they brought in information technologies to further revolutionize the distribution processes. These helped Zara to developed fashion lines based on market trends and also, produce its own designs through a team of 200 in house designers. The introduction of information technologies helped them increase the efficiency of state of the art production system and warehousing mechanisms. The stores and warehouses were linked electronically, which facilitated the exchange of real time information thereby allowing them to minimize risk and capital outlays by reducing inventories. This leaner and responsive system helped rotate the stock quickly and also, improved sales as the customers would return to stores every two weeks to check out new designs and purchase as the design would not be available after the time frame. International expansion of Zara started with Portugal in 1988, and since then they have opened more than 1,000 stores globally. This has been done through company owned showrooms, joint ventures and franchisee models. Zara’s Products Currently, Zara caters to men’s clothing and women’s clothing. Each of these sections has 5 subsections, which include lower garment, upper garment, shoes, cosmetics and complementary products. The 50-60% of the demand is produced at the beginning of the season and the remaining is manufactured in season. This sometimes results in either stock outs or markdowns but compared to the competition the number of times the service failure happens is quite low for markdowns. Hence, if the design does not suit the customers’ tastes then it is taken off the shelves and further orders are cancelled. This leads to new designs and above all, no designs stay on the  store floor for more than four weeks, which encourages consumers to make purchases. When compared to the competitors, average number of times a customer visits Zara is 18 times a year compared to 3-4 times for the competition. 2. Mission, Vision, Values and Goals Zara’s Mission Statement is as follows,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"ZARA walks at the pace of society, dressing ideas, trends and tastes that society itself has matured.† Zara through its unique business models and stores has proved business can be successful with little or no advertising. This business is possible only through superior customer service helped by continued ability to restock and respond to customer needs within days. This gives Zara the competitive edge. Hence, keeping in mind the mission, they always innovate their products to enhance shopping experience and provide new designs at affordable costs made from quality materials which follow latest trends. 3. Zara’s Strategy for Growth and Positioning Zara believes in Zero advertising. It would rather spend on store expansion than to advertise. However, the minimally advertise in fashion magazines. The rationale behind this is the quick turnaround of store display, which is around 4 weeks, which renders advertising an unnecessary cost. Also, Zara concentrates on efficient design to market cycle and focus on showcasing large number of designs annually. The workforce in Zara is essential to its success right from the production to the store level as the feedback generated about fashion performance at store is percolated to the designer and production and supply chain helps to put the latest styles in 2 weeks time. We need to take a look at the factors that determine these strategies and also the shortcomings associated with these strategies 4. External Analysis The external environment characteristics can be stated as below 1. Demographic segment   Zara is targeting young consumers with disposable income. This will be primarily in developing countries and developed countries. This presents  them with a sizeable population. As shown by market research, the customers in these countries are willing to try new brands but at the same time are price and quality conscious. The ability to replicate the model and achieve the desired results can significantly enhance Zara’s brand in these market. 2. Economic segment Due to weak currencies, low labor costs and opportunity to be closer to customers, Zara need to think about strategies to take benefits from other location. Since the competition has already entered the newer market and is constantly trying to leverage the benefits associated with these markets. This has a big impact on the profits of the organization. 3. Legal segment Owing to increasing labor costs and stringent labor laws, the production processes in the present countries do not seem favorable as they will increase the production costs. In addition to that, concentration of designers in Spain/Europe can be handled as the labor laws permit that. In case, Zara does not want to decentralize these functions, there are no laws governing their decisions as fashion industry is not under regulations. 4. Technological Segment Zara presently uses IT efficiently in managing their supply chain which leads to lower operating costs. However, the use of IT can be extended to expand their procurement and manufacturing activities outside Spain. 5. Global Segment Owing to globalization and rapid advancement in technologies, several low cost production centers have come up. In order to reduce the costs even further and maintain quality, Zara can have offshore production facilities to low cost location in order to lower the costs. This will enable them to localize Zara and cater to local preference. The critical market for Zara in the coming future would be the Asian nations of India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan. The relaxation of trade norms would help reduce transaction costs, if, Zara plans to expand their activities outside Spain. The environmental characteristics changes very fast in fashion, especially  in terms of demographic and global segments. Zara being in core fashion industry with fast cycles have a unique strategy where in it caters only on the leading edge of the product cycle which enables it to deliver the promise of â€Å"Instant Fashion†. 5. SWOT Strategic Choice We will discuss each of the external and internal variables in details which will give us a better picture as to why Zara needs to act in a certain manner. Strengths * Strong product diversity As a group Inditex is a leading fashion distributor and has ore than 100 associate companies across the world. In addition to this, the stores are located in more than 400 cities across the world. In case of Zara, the international fashion retailing segment, this presents a new opportunity to foray into foreign markets. The group brands can be displayed as well when considering international expansion. This is what Inditex can look forward to offering the wide assortment of goods, replenished quickly to carve a niche for itself. * Strong revenue growth The group company of Zara, Inditex has registered a robust financial performance Y-o-Y. The revenues increased at a CAGR of 18% annually. The operating profit represents a CAGR of 21%. In the meantime, the profits also increase at CAGR of 25% annually. The strong performance of the group, Inditex and various brands leads to increased investor confidence about the company . * Strong distribution network The group, Inditex has a strong distribution network. The presence of an efficient supply chain management in Inditex assures that the goods are delivered within 24 hours of the receipt of the order in Europe and about 40 hours at its overseas outlets. The majority of the supply is handled through its centralized warehouses in each of the European, Asian and American markets. The company’s logistics department has more than 4,000 people  delivering 627 million garments in financial year 2008. * Zero advertising Zara follows the policy of zero advertising to decrease expenses. Hence, in newer markets, it can focus its capital on expansion. The strong brand name, store ambience and product quality will compensate for the lack of advertising. Weaknesses * Overdependence on the European market Zara has a significant market presence in Spain and other European countries. Around 50% of the stores are located in Spain and surrounding countries. However, the revenues contributed by Spain accounts to only 40% of the group revenues whereas 60% of the revenues comes from its international operations with 43% coming from European operations and the rest 17% from outside Europe. The group as a whole is highly dependent on the Spanish and European market to sustain its revenues, making it highly vulnerable to the economic, political and social changes taking place in these markets, especially in Spain. Also, the fashion tastes might reflect heavily the European perspective, even though during international expansion Zara needs to cater to the international customers. * Reliance on local designers Even though local designers are preferred for designing new range of garments for Zara, almost all the designers are from Spain. This leads to a situation where the design might be too localized. Considering the fact that Zara intends to have a global presence, localization of the core designing and manufacturing processes might not be a feasible option. With respect to catering to local tastes and fashion, the designers should be located more closely to the markets. Opportunities * * Expansion plans The group has invested more than â‚ ¬ 2.8 billion to open new stores internationally, in countries where it already has a presence and few new  markets as well. The rate of growth of stores has been as high as 640 stores per year. Zara fashion will be made available in Korea, Ukraine, Egypt and Montenegro. A well defined expansion plan is critical to the corporate objective of international expansion with sustained and robust revenue growth in the future. * Growing apparel retail market in Asia (China, India, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia) The Asian apparel market is growing at a high rate. Owing to the growing population of affluent household, higher disposable incomes, consumers knowledge of international brands, it presents an opportunity for Zara to enter and expand its operations in Asian market. Accelerated development in these markets will help shift the burden of growth and diversification from mature and intensively competitive European and American markets to the building Asian markets. * Growing online sales Online retailing has been growing at a scorching pace in the last decade and considering UK market, more than  £14 billion has been spent on online shopping. Zara should try to open online retail shops to cater to the audience who need to shop for standardized version of Zara’s products. This also presents an opportunity to display the entire product lines from Zara and can be easily searched. It will enable strong growth in online and well as, offline retail sales. Threats * New avenues being utilized by competitors The competition is always on the lookout for cheaper manufacturing location such as China, India and Eastern Europe. The benefit of lower costs of procurement can be passed on to the customers through low prices. The main advantage of Zara’s vertical integration is the frequent replenishments of its stores and also, feedback from store staff to design. If this feedback works out as expected, then Zara will be able to sustain higher manufacturing costs than its competition in future. The competition is also working on reducing the lead times, which if successfully implemented could lead to erosion in market share and reduction in revenues. * Counterfeit goods The counterfeit goods in the new markets and existing ones adversely affect sales of branded accessories. Widespread counterfeiting reduces the brand value and exclusivity, especially in cases of high end fashion products, through customer dissatisfaction. * Rising Labor cost in European region Since Inditex focuses most of Zara’s designing and manufacturing activities in the European region, the increasing labor costs drive down the profits as it increases the operating expenses. This results in adverse impact on the group’s margin. 6. Internal Analysis We undertake the resource based view and study the internal analysis. Zara’s main assets are the designers, the logistics process, in store sales people and the store ambience. The designers are in charge of churning out new designs in a short span of time. After receiving the feedback, they have approximately 2 weeks to deliver the garment to the store. Each of the designers is a valuable and costly resource and this quick turnaround time is not imitable and therefore exploited by Zara to the fullest. The competitors have not been able to turn around designs as quickly as Zara. Hence, they give Zara a competitive advantage. Since Zara follows zero advertising policy, the word of mouth medium is heavily dependent on how much a customer is satisfied. New designs which satisfy customers go a long way in making Zara an important brand. The logistics process is also a source of competitive advantage. It is because of logistical capabilities that Zara can display 12,000 new designs annually. Assisted by IT and workforce, it forms a competitive advantage but this can be imitated by competition and hence does not present a sustainable competitive advantage. However, along with new designs it plays significant roles in preventing stock outs and piling inventories to help reduce unwanted costs. The sales people, staff and store ambience, although valuable but are easily imitable and hence are at comparative parity Capabilities: Sourcing Materials Inbound logistics Flexible manufacturing / Outsourcing outbound logistics in-store sales. Market research Product design Procurement Outsourcing Distribution Centralized planning Corporate vision and mission Brand Image 7. Competitor Analysis The main competitors are H&M, a Swedish brand and GAP Inc., an American brands. Now, GAP Inc. boasts of large network of stores and has a strong financial leverage as it aims to tap into growing online retail segment and into franchising to expand into new market. GAP Inc. is also targeting growing global footwear market. Some of its shortcomings are geographic concentration and weak performance of comparable stores. It also suffers from low customer loyalty and rising labor wages. On the other hand, H&M are matching Zara in terms of designing and also have strong procurement practices. Unlike Zara, they collaborate with designers and have much wider presence as compared to Zara. They are at present looking to target new niche. However, they are also plagued by issues of customer loyalty and product recall. Currently, all of them are focusing the same segment and added to it the high entry barriers and high profit potential makes it an attractive industry. From the above graphs and the financial data available (refer to Appendix), we can see that although sales revenues of H&M are better than Inditex, operating expenses as a percentage of sales are lower for Inditex mostly due to their operational and marketing strategies which lowers the inventory and due to instant fashion generates more sales. 8. Corporate Level Strategies The Corporate level strategies of Zara can be said to be similar to that of its parent, Inditex Group. Its strategies can be classified based on three frameworks – Ansoff Matrix, BCG Matrix and GE-Directional Policy Matrix. Based on the Ansoff Matrix, Zara follows the following Strategic Directions: * Market Consolidation and Product Development by bringing in the latest fashionable designs from the design stage to distribution within 2-3 weeks, much shorter than the industry average. * Market Development by introducing products to new markets by opening up stores in new locations and countries. It had around 1500 stores in 78 countries, in December 2008,around the globe and is expanding. Zara is operating in an Industry of high growth of about 40% while having a high market share in most of the  countries. This puts Zara as a Star for Inditex Group in the Growth-Share BCG Matrix. Also the strength of its business is high, thus putting it in the Investment and Growth direction of theDirectional Policy Matrix. Thus Zara is one of the main Business lines for Inditex Group garnering about 67% of the revenue for the parent organization. 9. Business Level Strategies Zara defines its target markets as â€Å"Young, educated one that likes fashion and is sensitive to fashion†. This target market is very broad because it is not segmented by ages and lifestyles. Thus the scope of Zara’s business is broad. Zara also follows both the Cost leadership and Differentiation strategies. Thus Integrated Cost Leadership/ Differentiation Strategy are followed by Zara by the following approaches: * Cost Leadership 1. It achieves low cost by lowering lead times which in turn leads to lesser inventories, thus reducing the cost of the supply chain. * Differentiation 2. It differentiates itself from its competitors by providing lead times which are far lower than the industry standards. 3. Zara produces about 11000 designs every year as compared to about 4000 by competitors. 4. Replenishes stores twice a week as compared to once by major competitors. 5. Produces in small batches and takes advantage of shortages in stores by replacing them with new designs. Thus customers who find that a particular design is out of stock may buy a new design in fear of losing the opportunity to but it. Thus it guarantees that customers visit Zara’s stores around 17 times per year on an average as opposed to 3 times for competitors. 6. The designs remain in the stores for only about 4 months when they are taken out. Only about 10% of designs are taken off stores by Zara as compared to 17% of competitors. 7. Takes the feedback of customers in determining the needs of the customers. 8. Takes advantage of IT in vertical integration of the supply chain by maintaining a smooth flow of information through the chain. According to Mile’s and Snow’s Adaptive Strategies, Zara can be classified as a Prospector because of the following characteristics: * Zara has built its entire business on innovation in the supply of fashion apparels to customers. * Zara continually modifies its existing designs to match the  latest fashion trends and needs of the customers. * The competitors have not been able to copy their supply chain strategy. 10. Functional Level Strategies The designs at Zara change every week and this result in manufacturing systems that have to be flexible to cope up with these changes. Thus Zara uses Flexible Manufacturing Technology or Lean Production which reduces setup time for equipments, increases utilization of machines through better scheduling and improves quality control at all stages of manufacturing. The various functional strategies for Zara have been laid down below. * Marketing Strategy * Only one item of each size in each color option was placed on the stock floor requiring stores to maintain a considerable restocking policy. * Customer feedback was taken by all the sales personnel at the stores to gauge the needs of the customers. * New product introductions were planned twice a week to maintain fashion freshness. * Zara stores were located in prime retail locations, thus avoiding the need for advertising to attract customers. Marketing expenses were0.3% on sales as compared to 3.5% of competitors. * Materials Management Strategy * The raw material was stocked in advance according to forecasts. They were sourced from countries like Spain, the far east, India and Morocco. * Due to low lead times, very less inventory needed to be maintained. * Inventory turnover is high leading to lesser capital needs. * Zara outsources its sewing activities to contractors, thus lowering cost. * R&D Strategy * Design team consisting of young individuals in their 20’s who are more conversant with latest fashion. * Around 40000 designs were done throughout the year out of which around 11000 were selected for manufacture. * * Human Resource Strategy * Zara emphasized learning from mistakes and accepting criticism. * Everyone was encouraged to express their opinion. * No performance appraisal system in place but a system of immediate feedback from colleagues at all levels. * Personal empathy given more importance than formal qualifications in recruitment. * A significant portion of salaries varied according to performance. * Information Systems Strategy * IT was used to integrate the chain vertically and horizontally, for smooth flow of information up the chain and across the various functions, respectively. * Infrastructure * Zara had a relatively flat structure in comparison to other firms in the same industry. Cross-Functional Integration existed between the various functions to ensure that: * New designs are developed according to customer needs. * Information flow is quick. * Time to manufacture the new designs and their presentation to the customers reduces. * The costs of development are low. 11. Global Level Strategy Zara had opened up around 1500 stores in around 78 countries in December 2008, and it is still expanding by looking for opportunities. The main factors that helped Zara achieve Global competitiveness are: * Fast growth in the Spanish market * High demand for exports from Spain * Rivalry with other firms like H&M and Gap. The main reasons for Zara to expand globally were: * Expansion of its market by taking advantage of its â€Å"instant fashion† concept, so that it could increase its market share and bring in more revenue. * Since Zara believed in providing the customers with the latest fashion at lowest cost, it supplied the stores with low quantities. So to lower the costs it expanded globally so that it could take advantage of some sort of Economies of Scale. Global Strategy Zara did not follow any localization in the countries where it was present and provided only standardized products. Also it believed in providing the latest fashion at the low costs. Thus from the Global Strategy Grid it can be seen that Zara Followed a Global Standardization Strategy. By doing so it hoped to increase its profitability by reducing costs and achieving economies of scale. Zara chose to enter the different markets using various entry strategies. The strategies are outlined below. * Exporting: Zara exported its products to a few markets where opening up a manufacturing facility would not have been profitable like Monaco, Oman, etc. * Franchising: Zara also opens up stores in various locations through franchised deals avoiding development costs and risks of opening up a foreign market on its own. Examples of such locations are Cyprus, Venezuela, etc. * Joint Ventures: Over a period of time Zara entered various markets by forming Joint Ventures to take advantage of the partner’s knowledge of the foreign country. It entered the Italian Market in 1996 by forming a JV with Benetton. Then in 1998 it entered the German market by forming a JV with Otto Versand, the country’s largest catalogue retailer. It also entered the Japanese market by forming a JV with Japan’s BIGI Group, forming Zara Japan. * Wholly Owned Subsidiaries: Zara entered most of the markets by opening up wholly owned subsidiaries, to take advantage of the controls that it could exercise in those countries. Examples of such locations are US, UK