Capabilities and Effects of Background Music Essay Example for Free

Capabilities and Effects of Background Music Essay Abstract Nonverbal communication speaks louder than verbal communication; therefore, nonverbal communication, such as background music, needs to be sensibly evaluated. As a form of nonverbal communication, background music is capable of influencing a target audience. In advertising, emotions can be shifted depending on the music being played in the background and the same feelings are then transferred to the product, providing a tremendous advantage in business (Dillman Carpentier, 2010). Music can change one’s mood; in the workplace, an improved mood allows employees to be more content and, overall, more productive. In addition, with the right musical selection, the music is able to increase the amount of information an individual is able to retain (Balch Lewis, 1996). Various aspects from several studies have been examined, demonstrating the power of background music and music in general. The Capabilities and Effects of Background Music Nonverbal communication may be unintentional and speakers may not be aware of their behaviors or it may be just the opposite (Troester Mester, 2007). However, background music is often carefully selected in order to aid in the desired goal, particularly in advertising (Dillman Carpentier, 2010; Kellaris, Cox, Cox, 1993). The goals of every businessperson may not be the same; yet, the capabilities and effects of music are rather consistent (Dillman Carpentier, 2010). Whether via television, radio, or in person, music is able to affect the moods of those in the audience (Knobloch, 2003). Music also has the ability to improve the performance of the task at hand of an individual (Fassbender, Richards, Bilgin, Thompson, Heiden, 2012). According to Balch and Lewis (1996), an increase in memory is also induced by music. In any aspect of business, the effects of music can be utilized and even increase efficiency and productivity. Mood Alteration One’s mood determines the way one thinks and acts and what is said (Knobloch, 2003; Hunter, Schellenberg, Schimmack, 2010). According to Hunter et al., â€Å"music is the language of emotions† (p. 47). The perception of music determines the emotion felt. The perception of happiness is more often transferred to feeling happy than the perception of sadness and feeling sad (Hunter, Schellenberg, Schimmack, 2010). Davies (2011) refers to the emotions of music as being contagious. When one is around people who are depressed, that person’s mood adjusts closer to those who are in the depressed state. Similarly, although a person may not actually be sad, a sad part in a movie can make that person feel sad; the same applies to music. Hearing music that sounds happy can make one feel happy and to the contrary. Davies models this as a cause and effect relationship. The music being heard is the cause and the effect is one’s reaction to the music. Whether the reaction is happy or sad is dependent upon the perception of the music to the listener. Sounds that reflect happiness include little amplitude variation, a vast pitch variety, and fast tempo (Hatfield, Cacioppo, Rapson, 1993). Therefore, when one hears these sounds of happy music, emotional contagion is invoked on the subject and causes that person to feel happy. In advertisements, music is selected as an enhancement but also to affect mood. It is a company’s goal to influence potential buyers by creating a positive attitude and feeling towards that company’s product. With a positive image in mind of a particular product, there is a greater likelihood that the consumer will purchase the product (Dillman Carpentier, 2010). An average of more than 9.5 hours of media is taken in by the average American on a daily basis; of those hours, 38% is dedicated to music – all of which affects mood in some way (Knobloch, 2003). In addition, according to Dillman Carpentier, 90% of commercials include music of some sort (2010). The preceding statistics show the value of music to consumers and therefore, reflect the importance music-induced moods have in marketing. Enhanced Performance Not only is music able to affect one’s mood but it is also capable of increasing the performance of an individual (North Hargreaves, 1999). According to Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky, the IQ scores of the participants of their study were highest when the participants were under the influence of music (1993). In the other two trials, the participants went through a relaxation process and sat in silence for 10 minutes; the scores were 2.95 and 3.56 points respectively lower (Rauscher, Shaw, Ky, 1993). Some teachers have started using music to increase the focus and efficiency of students. Relaxing music is played to keep the students’ minds from wandering and, instead, concentrated on the lesson. The relaxing music causes one’s brainwave frequencies to alter, entering the alpha state. The alpha state has been found to be the state where the best connection to one’s subconscious is made (Fassbender, Richards, Bilgin, Thompson, Heiden, 2012). Koenen’s and Restak’s (as cited in Fassbender et al., 2012) findings have both supported that music inhibits thought. Restak’s claim is based on a study conducted with surgeons as the participants. Due to differing parts of the brain being used for music and for physical tasks, the music doesn’t inhibit the task but keeps the other part of the brain occupied and, therefore, from becoming distracted (Fassbender et al., 2012). In another study, surgeons were asked to count backwards by various numbers under three different conditions and were monitored throughout their tasks. The different conditions were no music, music of personal preference, and experimenter-selected music. Each surgeon was individually tested and each surgeon’s blood pressure, pulse, timing, and accuracy were recorded. The results showed a significant difference among the three conditions and the areas being monitored. The surgeons’ blood pressures and pulses were at much higher levels when performing the tasks without music. The results of the tasks with the presence of music showed lower blood pressures and pulses but an increase in the speeds and accuracies of the surgeons. Of the two music conditions, the overall results of the surgeons were better when listening to music of their choice rather than the experimenter-selected music. The participants of the study are of a profession that undergoes much stress in the operating room; by listening to music of their choice, the effects of stress decrease and the quality of performances increase (Allen Blascovich, 1994). The studies of Dr. Adrian C. North provide several benefits of music for employers and employees. As previously mentioned, music can affect one’s mood. In the workplace, putting the employees in a better mood will increase their productivity by improving how well they interact with their fellow employees. It has been proven that one’s mood and helpfulness are directly related (North Hargreaves, 1999). Music has also been found to raise the employee morale, leading to a decrease in the number of absences (Furnham Bradley, 1997; North Hargreaves, 1999). The output per employee can also be increased in a work field involving repetitiveness. According to Johnson (2004), participants of his study (whose work was repetitive) matched the tempo of the music being played while working. Therefore, with the addition of music – causing a better mood, cooperation, and increased pace – the overall productivity and efficiency of the workforce can increase and, in turn, boost the company revenue. Music is a friend of labour for it lightens the task by refreshing the nerves and spirit of the worker – William Green ( quoted in Furnham Bradley, 1997) Increased Memory Although music and its relationship to human memory are still being researched, scientists do know that music affects several parts of the brain (Weir Nevins, 2010). Cognitive neuroscientist, Petr Janata, says, â€Å" It [music] calls back memories of a particular person or place, and you might all of a sudden see that person’s face in your mind’s eye† (Weir Nevins, 2010, p. 12). According to John Sweller, one must relate what is being learned to something that is already known (2003). Studies have proven the word-for-word is much higher when heard with music than when heard without music (Wallace, 1994). Wallace also suggests the musical accompaniment is used as a retrieval device or as an aid in the way the words are stored. The belief is that the music accents the words being spoken by acting as a cue when determining the number of syllables in a word and words in a verse (Wallace, 1994). It has also been shown that some memories are solely dependent on music being the trigger to recall them (Balch Lewis, 1996). In marketing and advertising, music plays a significant role on one’s memory. Most can probably identify the brand image, along with the melody, by simply reading, â€Å"five, five-dollar foot long† (Weir Nevins, 2010) due to the capability of music that allows one to recall melody and image from the text read (and the contrary) (Wallace, 1994). Pertaining to memory, music can also serve as an aid in health services (Simmons-Stern, Budson, Ally, 2010). According to a study by Simmons-Stern et al., patients with Alzheimer’s disease were able to recall more of the information they were given when it was sung rather than spoken. It is thought to be possible that these findings may aid in discovering a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease patients (Simmons-Stern et al., 2010). Conclusion There is no doubt music plays a role in everyone’s life in some way. The effects of music are nearly unavoidable due to the fact that music is incorporated into such a variety of activities and places and can cause differentiating feelings and results. Sad music can spread sadness (through emotional contagion) and infect the listener with that sadness, causing the listener’s mood to worsen. On the contrary, music is also able to make one feel happy (Davies, 2011). In the workplace, music is able to improve the mood of employees, motivate employees, and quicken the pace of the work being done (Furnham Bradley, 1997). By playing upbeat music where the work to be done is monotonous, the workers are less irritated and fall in rhythm with the beat of the music. A workforce that has a higher rate of productivity can ultimately benefit the company by increasing the profits (North Hargreaves, 1999). Music also accentuates words and increases the memorabilia of those words; this can be quite beneficial in advertisements (Weir Nevins, 2010). Another benefit music offers, with regards to memory, is as a possible treatment for patients with Alzheimer’s disease (Simmons-Stern, Budson, Ally, 2010). Regardless of being a form of nonverbal communication or where it may appear, music strongly affects human beings with its ample array of capabilities. References Allen, K. P., Blascovich, J. P. (1994). Effects of Music on Cardiovascular Reactivity Among Surgeons. Journal of The American Medical Association, 272(11), 882-884. Balch, W. R., Lewis, B. S. (1996). Music-Dependent Memory: The Roles of Tempo Change and Mood Mediation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22(6), 1354-1363. Davies, S. (2011). Infectious Music: Music-Listener Emotional Contagion. In A. Coplan, P. Goldie, Empathy: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press. Dillman Carpentier, F. R. (2010). Innovating Radio News: Effects of Background Music Complexity on Processing and Enjoyment. Journal of Radio Audio Media, 17(1), 63-81. Douglas Olsen, G. (1995). Creating the Contrast: The Influence of Silence and Background Music on Recall and Attribute Importance. Journal of Advertising, 59(4), 29-44. Fassbender, E., Richards, D., Bilgin, A., Thompson, W. F., Heiden, W. (2012). The Effects of Music on Memory f or Facts Learned in a Virtual Environment. Computers and Education, 58(1), 490-500. Furnham, A., Bradley, A. (1997). Music While You Work: The Differential Distraction of Background Music on the Cognitive Test Performance of Introverts and Extraverts. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11, 445-455. Hatfield, E., Cacioppo, J. T., Rapson, R. L. (1993). Emotional Contagion. Current Directions in Psychological Sciences, 2(3), 96-99. Hunter, P. G., Schellenberg, E. G., Schimmack, U. (2010). Feelings and Perceptions of Happiness and Sadness Induced by Music: Similarities, Differences, and Mixed Emotions. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4(1), 47-56. Johnson, V. W. (2004). Effect of Musical Style on Spontaneous Exercise Performance. Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, 24, 357. Kellaris, J. J., Cox, A. D., Cox, D. (1993, October). The Effect of Background Music on Ad Processing: A Contingency Explanation. Journal of Marketing, 57, 114-125. Knobloch, S. (2003, June). Mood Adjustment via Mass Communication. Journal of Communication, 53(2), 233-250. North, A. C., Hargreaves, D. J. (1999). Music and Driving Game Performance. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 40, 285-292. North, A. C., Hargreaves, D. J. (1999). Musical Tempo, Productivity, and Morale. Unpublished Manuscript. Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., Ky, K. N. (1993). Music and Spatial Task Performance. Nature, 365, 611. Simmons-Stern, N. R., Budson, A. E., Ally, B. A. (2010). Music as a Memory Enhancer in Patients with Alzheimers Disease. Neuropsychologia, 48, 3164-3167. Sweller, J. (2003). Evolution of Human Cognitive Architecture. San Diego: Academic Press. Troester, R., Mester, C. (2007). Chapter 7: Nonverbal Civility. In Civility in Business Professional Communication (pp. 87-105). Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. Wallace, W. T. (1994). Memory for Music: Effect of Melody on Recall of Text. Jornal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20(6), 1471-1485. Weir, K., Nevins, D. (2010). Music and Your Mind. Current Health Kids, 34(1), p. 10.

Appropriation and Important Postmodern Strategy

Appropriation and Important Postmodern Strategy Important shifts in visual strategies in the arts mark the historic cross-over from the Modern to the postmodern paradigm. While this holds equally true in music and literature, it is the evolution of such strategies in the visual arts that this essay concentrates on. While such demarcation cannot be pinned down to a specific year or date, it is possible to convincingly chart this shift via an examination of the working strategies of three important painters: Americans Andy Warhol and David Salle, and Australias Imants Tillers. Postmodern art, by definition, rejects strict genre confines and, unlike modern art, celebrates the mixing of forms and ideas. As a result of this rejection, postmodernism advertises the use of irony, parody, satire, humour and collage. The use of appropriation in art is a useful strategy for commenting on or criticising aspects of life by recontextualising an image or object of already determined meaning. Giving new meaning to, or building upon the meaning of, an existing idea by redefining its context is an effective tool that alters or interferes with the viewers original association with an object or idea. This being immediately recognisable as a postmodern approach due to its embrace of contradiction, diversity and the unconventional. This is important as the message translates easily, giving meaning to a modern day audience. David Salles Tragedy, 1995, is a diptych. The right-hand panel is performed in grisaille, a technique predominantly used to render figures from one base colour or monotones, greatly accentuating the mood. In this panel are two figures, a smirking female, obliquely behind the main male figure who sits with hands on knees with the face distorted into a grotesque parody of despair. The left panels apparent pastiche is backgrounded by what appears to be a domestic scene derived from a 1950s advertisement, possibly a direct reference to Richard Hamiltons landmark artwork Just what is it that makes todays homes so different, so appealing? (1956), a work widely considered as a seminal precursor to Pop art. There is also a possible death motif in reference to the Cold War and the anxiety of the Atomic age of the post-WW2 West. In the centre is a black and white photograph of a bomb blast, surrounded by lemons, with a black glove at the top right corner. The explosion could also be representational of death, as well as the black glove being a traditional mourning trope, these funerary motifs all relating back to the tragic tone of the artwork, and the mans expression. Salles work is more about juxtaposition which he uses as a strategy to destabilise the ways in which we traditionally see, and at the same time reconfigure traditional visual narrative. He leans heavily on a simple strategy of montaging images of the banal and everyday. The effect is jarring and visually disturbing. In this, we can see his indebtedness to the better aspects of Pop like Warhol and James Rosenquist. Salle also created another diptych work entitled Comedy (1995) using the same layout, but mirrored with opposite facial expressions on the figures; as the man with an exaggerated frown in Tragedy now smiles in Comedy. The left panel of Comedy is also rendered in grisaille. In the right panel, an advertisement for a bedroom suite is set on its side and like the artists early works is collaged with additional imagery: a black and white photograph of a headless female fashion mannequin, enclosed by a garland of butterflies, and below a theatrically ruffled harlequin collar.   The paired titles may refer directly to Salles set and costume designs for ballet and theatre, as well as his endeavour into directing the 1995 feature film Search and Destroy. The tropes of the frilled glove and harlequin collar in Salles work of the early nineties hints to his involvement with the performing arts. A cinematic feel can also be identified in Salles juxtapositions of scenes that conjure a cinematic impression in which components are arranged to produce an alternative meaning that is not, indeed cannot, be seen in the singular images alone. The fact that the images of the man in the foreground are reversed when comparing Comedy and Tragedy also gives the viewer an ironic configuration of the Janus, the tragic and comic faces are referenced, via each other, into a singular idea. The God Janus was the protector of gates and doors, beginnings and endings and dates to Roman times. But beyond the traditional trope of the Janus, is the fact that he is two-faced. It may be of some interest to note that, before making it big as an artist Salle worked for a short time in the late 1970s as a paste-up artist for  Stag magazine, a pornographic publication. It is interesting to note that highly sexualised and fetish images making a regular appearance in his works of the 1980s. In  Tragedy  the main figure is haloed by a biomorphic shape, at once visceral and phallic. If this motif is indeed phallic, along with the bomb blast possibly symbolising a premature explosion, Tragedy may well portray a failure of male potency. Taking this reading,  Comedy must surely read as the opposite: the main male figure beams, proud and confident as opposite a bio-morphically enclosed female mannequin in a flowing gown stands without a head. The fact the female mannequin is headless is also interesting, being without identity, the female strictly objectified. The porn aesthetic is genuinely interesting though. While porn does not read compositionally the same as any other figurative traditions, porns narratives run to succinct, highly predictable paradigms. Pasting-up, now a dead skill as all such work is now done on a computer, was physically very much like a collage. Pasting-up is a compositional exercise where images and/or text are literally separate physical items pasted into position on a board for photo reproduction prior to final printing. So we could argue that some of Salles visual sensibility the recurring figures and images, the outlines of figures and objects cast over earlier images and grounds could have derived from his work for a porn publication. Salle was raised on the mythology of the Abstract Expressionists. Accordingly, the scale of his work is New York School-size; his 1995 diptych Tragedy is over 3.5 metres in length. Salle also defers to the Abstract Expressionist myth of all-over composition, the famous domain of Jackson Pollock. But rather than the frenetic, energetic marks of Pollocks famous Poured Period, Salle crams his canvasses full of eclectic figures and objects, often dissimilar and jarring, often seemingly disconnected and layered. It is an ironic homage to the macho painters of the New York School. Salle is widely considered one of the early blatantly postmodern painters by virtue of his subversion of the recognisable, and by distorting the familiar via awkward juxtapositions and unlikely compositional decisions. He drew from such widely artistic traditions as Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Realism and Cubism as well as images from popular culture. Although much of his work seems highly symbolic, Salles paintings seem not to contain a specific message, but rather leave space for the viewer to interact, to read into, the work. It is this interaction that brings the work to meaningful completion. This active engagement of the viewer is also a prime postmodern strategy. Imant Tillers use of quotation and appropriation has seen him classified as one of the early postmodern painters. His approach has a clearly personal element, despite appropriating imagery from both unknown and famous artists alike. Tillers 1985 work The Nine Shots is a an abstract figure who appears to be laying sprawled on his back, with nine target shapes all about him. Instantly, one can see the direct influence of Indigenous art influence on this piece. Tillers notably recontextualises the circular Indigenous motif for camp site or resting place to represent bullet holes. The main Aboriginal image Tillers has appropriated in The Nine Shots was Michael Nelson Tjagamarras Five dreamings, 1982. This appropriation lead to some considerable controversy, with allegations that appropriating Aboriginal imagery without permission impinged upon the moral privileges of the artist. The offence being exacerbated by the indissolubility of Aboriginal art from its environment. Tillers seemingly questioned identity established by and arising from locality by displaying appropriated cultural imagery with other images from different contexts. Over the next decade Tillers relationship with aboriginal art developed, even to the point of gaining a personal friendship with Tjagamarra whose work he incorporated without permission, the two even collaborating together in Nature Speaks: Y (Possum Dreaming) in 2001 using Aboriginal Walibri motifs. Walibri icons subsequently appearing as common elements in Tillers later work as a result. Tillers appropriation of aboriginal signs seems now to be more an appreciation of their artistic power. Although there has been no change in Tillers practice of appropriating Aboriginal art in his own work without permission, it could be deduced that the moral dilemma surrounding the re-using of sacred Aboriginal artworks has become less controversial, its treatment becoming more alike non-aboriginal art. While appropriating, building upon, borrowing from and being influenced by others art is now a mainstay of postmodern art, it is never going to be without hazard as art is not confined to particular types of objects. Aboriginal art it is a device of selfdom, a title deed to the land, a cypher of ancestral presence. It is the situation that Aboriginal law reserves rights to produce these sacred works to a limited group of artists and the infraction of these rights in the unauthorised borrowing of such art can be seen as a type of sacrilege that affects the foundation of the artists society. While widely recognised as the chief proponent of the Pop idiom, specific early works by Andy Warhol can retrospectively demonstrate the decline of the Modernist period. Warhols rejection of the machismo of the New York School is a classic Oedipal strategy. The best of the Abstract Expressionists had traded heavily on the supposed Jungian content of their work, whereby meaning was derived from the actual physical laying down of paint on canvas. Most notable of these, of course, was Jackson Pollock who was on the record in interview touting his Jungian pedigree. By implication also, this Jungian ideal cashed out on the implicit value of originality. To witness the extent to which adoration of the authentic mark of the artist extended, one only need examine the huge, stark calligraphic works of Franz Klein. But Warhol was notable in his total rejection of these ideas. His foppish, effeminate persona stood starkly at odds with the Abstract Expressionists who, we must remember, were still practising in the years of Warhols emergence in the early 1960s. In place of the Abstract Expressionists tortured surfaces were Warhols radically underworked monochrome renditions of newspaper advertisements and newspaper headlines as in  $199 Television, 1961. Warhols Campbells soup can, along with images of CocaCola bottles and Marilyn Monroe became the Pop Art movements representing motifs. The soup can being a satirical comment on Americas consumerism. By using the familiar image of Marilyn Monroes face he has turned it purely into an icon of pop culture, and no longer a person with depth and character. Her depiction is now just a shallow symbol of fame and beauty. Warhols signature use of the silkscreen completed his rejection of the New York style of painting of the late 1940s and 1950s. The silkscreen stood as a reproducible artwork, and the mechanic nature of this production put the artists hand at one remove from the finished product, especially given Warhol employed assistants to make the actual work while he stood as supervisor, and oversaw production.   In 1964 Warhol was one of ten artists commissioned to produce work for the World Trade Fair to be held in New York. Warhols contribution, Most Wanted Men, 1964 featured silkscreen portraits taken from FBI mugshots. This mural-sized work was installed on the outside wall of the Circarama, a one hundred foot circular cinema in which a 360-degree view of New York was projected. Within days of its installation, however, the Circaramas architect, Philip Johnson, had asked Warhol to remove Most Wanted Men, saying the New York State governor thought it would offend the many Italians among his constituents, given all the men depicted were Italian. Given twenty-four hours to replace or remove the work, Warhol had his assistants scale ladders and cover the portraits with industrial silver paint. The strategy is intriguing. Beginning with the idea of appropriating photographs, photo-silkscreening them to find the appropriate scale, and then, after the order that it be removed, Warhol chooses not to replace the work, but complete it with the metaphoric mirroring of the silver paint-out of the original image.   In real terms then, the interference or censoring offered by the Trade Fair organisers and associated politicians, did not necessarily result in a failure of this work. In the same way that many postmodern artists position their viewers to interact with a work in order to complete it, or find meaning, so Warhol played with the critical interference he was offered in a way that served the work and, perhaps more importantly, appended Most Wanted Men with a complex narrative that sited the artist as the  enfant terrible or provocateur who, in completing the work with a crude, industrial silver skin, metaphorically throws an unacknowledged and (given the ambiguity of its title, homoerotic) Narcissistic impulse back in the faces of the authorities. So whether the artists intent is purely representing a personal side of themselves to an audience, or to provoke controversy and questioning from the public, the use of appropriation is a useful strategy of postmodernity as it requires the participation of audience thought to make a work complete. This would seem very unconventional to Modern art, but thats what makes appropriation or recontextualization such a powerful postmodern tool. Salles personal love of the theatrical, Tillers questioning of sacred aboriginal art or Warhols parodic use of popular and commercial products; As can be seen from these well known artists and artworks of the postmodern era, building upon or giving new meaning to an image or object is a very efficient way of producing art with a message behind it.

Patient Safety in a Hospital Research

Patient Safety in a Hospital Research Attitudes toward incident reporting. Attitudes and perceived barriers to incident reporting among tertiary level health professionals were researched by Malik, Alam, Mir, Abbas (2010) to address the limited incident reporting framework in Pakistan. A random sample of 217 doctors and nurses in Shifa International Hospitals were given a modified version of the AHRQ’s questionnaire to determine various factors that influence health professionals’ reporting behaviors, with an important focus of the study on barriers to incident reporting. Results of the study found that only 20% of house officers are willing to report, and greater than 95% of consultants, registrars, medical officers, and nurses are willing to report incidents related to them. ‘Administration sanction’ was identified as a common barrier among doctors (69%) and nurses (67%). Additionally, reporting to the head of the department was preferred by doctors (60%) and nurses (80%). Based on the study ’s findings, the researchers suggest that implementation of future incident reporting systems should consider supportive work environments, prompt feedback, and immunity from administration (Malik, Alam, Mir, Abbas, 2010). Intensive Care Unit Registered Nurses’ perceptions of patient safety climate and potential predictors for patient safety perception and incident reporting were explored in a cross-sectional study by Ballangrud, Hedelin, Hall-Lord (2012). In ten ICUs in six hospitals in Norway, 220 nurses (72%) responded to the questionnaire, The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. The questionnaire measured seven unit level and three hospital level patient safety climate dimensions, along with two outcome items. Of the 12 dimensions, 7 achieved a RN proportion of positive scores (over 55%), and 5 achieved a lower proportion. Among types of units and between hospitals, significant differences in RNs’ perceptions of patient safety were found. Unit level variables were found to have had significant impact on the outcome dimensions, â€Å"overall perception of safety† and â€Å"frequency of incident reporting,† in which both had a 32% total variance. However, among the outcome variables, differences were found in positive scores on â€Å"overall perception of safety† (69%) and â€Å"frequency of incident reporting† (18%). In all dimensions, the total average of positive scores was 55%. This study concluded that patient safety climate was most positive among ICU RNs at the unit level, and areas for improvement include: â€Å"incident reporting, feedback and communication about errors, and organizational learning and continuous improvement† (p. 352). This study identifies several limitations. In contrast to other Norwegian HSPOSC studies, which included various health care professionals, this study’s sample only included RNs. Additionally, generalizability is limited since the hospitals in this study were small and within a limited area of Norway. Another limitation to this study that may have impacted the results was the known implementation of reorganization across units that were to occur after data collection. Perceptions of patient safety culture. In China, healthcare workers’ attitudes and perceptions of patient safety culture were explored using a modified version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSPSC), which measured 10 patient safety culture dimensions. Out of the 1500 questionnaires that were distributed to primarily internal physicians and nurses among 32 hospitals in China, valid responses were received from 1160 health care workers. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 17.0 and Microsoft Excel 2007, including descriptive statistics, along with analysis of the survey’s validity and reliability. Two separate investigators entered and verified data independently. For each item, results included a positive response rate range of 36% to 89%. On 5 dimensions (Teamwork Within Units, Organization Learning-Continuous Improvement, Communication Openness, Non-punitive Response and Teamwork Across Units), the positive response rate was higher when compared to AHRQ data (P In a research study among 42 Taiwan hospitals, the HSOPSC questionnaire was used by Chen Li (2010) to examine the 12 patient safety culture dimensions. A total of 788 physicians, nurses, and non-clinical staff completed the survey. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 15.0 for Windows and Amos 7 software tools. Positive perceptions were found toward patient safety culture among Taiwan hospital staff, in which percentage of positive response rates were highest among â€Å"teamwork within units,† and lowest in the â€Å"staffing† dimension. Taiwan and the US differed in the following three dimensions: Feedback and communication about error, Communication openness, and Frequency of event reporting. Several strengths and weaknesses were identified in this study. When compared to the original AHRQ database, which included large samples in various health care organizations, this study’s data had a lower internal consistency. The use of the HSOPSC questionnaire is both a strength and limitation in this study. Although the HSOPSC’s strong psychometric properties and broad safety culture coverage are considered strengths, the use of this questionnaire in Taiwan is also a limitation of this study because of its use in a cultural setting different from where it was developed. However, it is important to note that the application of the HSOPSC in Taiwan was found to be a good fit according to most of the confirmatory factor analysis indices. Based on their findings, Chen Li (2010) point out that, â€Å"the existence of discrepancies between the US data and the Taiwanese data suggest that cultural uniqueness should be taken into consideration whenever safety culture measurement tools are applied in different cultural settings† (p. 1). Not only is future research recommended to expand the survey in Taiwan, but also to consider measurements that will decipher individual and group perceptions and interactions related to patient safety c ulture.

Bessie Coleman :: essays research papers

Elizabeth â€Å"Bessie† Coleman was born on January 26, 1892 to Susan and George Coleman who had a large family in Texas. At the time of Bessie’s birth, her parents had already been married for seventeen years and already had nine children, Bessie was the tenth, and she would later have twelve brothers and sisters. Even when she was small, Bessie had to deal with issues about race. Her father was of African American and Cherokee Indian decent, and her mother was black which made it difficult from the start for her to be accepted. Her parents were sharecroppers and her life was filled with renter farms and continuous labor. Then, when Bessie was two, her father decided to move himself and his family to Waxahacie, Texas. He thought that it would offer more opportunities for work, if he were to live in a cotton town. While Bessie was young, and her older brothers and sisters started to work in the fields, Bessie took on some new responsibilities. She would now look after her sisters, and sometimes even help her mother in the garden. Bessie started school when she was six years old and walked four miles to school everyday. In school, she was very intelligent and excelled at math. Then, in 1901, when Bessie was nine, her life changed dramatically, her father George Coleman left his family. It was said that he was tired of the racial barriers that existed, and so he returned to Oklahoma (Indian Territory as it was called then) to search for better opportunities. When he was unable to convince his family to come with him, he left Susan and his family. Shortly thereafter, her older brothers also moved out, leaving Susan with four girls under the age of nine. This caused Susan to have to get a job, which she found very soon. She became a housekeeper for Mr. and Mrs. Jones, who allowed Susan to still li ve at home, and they would also give her food and other handed-down clothing. Since her mother was now at work, Bessie took on the responsibility of acting as a mother and a housekeeper. Every year at the cotton harvest, Bessie’s routine was changed because she now had to go out into the field and pick cotton for her family to be able to survive. This continued on until Bessie was twelve, and this was when she was accepted into the Missionary Baptist Church, where she completed all of her eight grades.

Is the Notion of an Early Modern Military Revolution Tenable? Essays

Is the Notion of an Early Modern Military Revolution Tenable? The notion of an early modern military revolution is one which is a much debated subject among historians. Two historians who are very dominant in this field are Geoffrey Parker and Michael Roberts. Although they both agree that a military revolution occurred, they disagree on the timing of a revolution in war. Roberts argues that a military revolution started in 1560 and "by 1660, the modern art of war had come to birth." Parker, on the other hand, sees the military revolution as a "firmly sixteenth century phenomenon with antecedents in the fifteenth." Prior to the early modern period, warfare was based around castles and fortified towns and attempts to capture them. This changed very little in the middle ages. Armies had a maximum of forty thousand soldiers, many of whom were mercenaries (1550). Armies consisted of Pike men in square formations supported by cavalry and musketeers. Battles often ended in a stalemate and wars were very lengthy as a result of this. Through the military revolution emerged new tactics, technology and style of warfare. Michael Roberts acknowledged four revolutionary traits of what he called the military revolution. "First, the superiority of disciplined infantry - musketeers rather than pike men - armed and drilled to prosecute a field battle by the ordered application of firepower, not the hurly-burly of man-man combat; second, themanifestly greater size of these new-style, mostly musketeer armies; third, the emergence of bolder, more dramatic strategies designed to seek a decisive battle at the culmi nation of a sharp campaign; and fourth, a need for larger and more reliable and intrusive commissariats and military bureaucraci... ...tary revolution occurred is not tenable but the notion that the face of warfare, the order of the world and the way people perceived war changed in this period and has shaped the modern world definitely is tenable. Bibliography Jeremy Black Ed: European Warfare 1453 - 1815 (Problems in Focus) Macmillan Press Limited 1999 H. G. Koenigsberger: Early Modern Europe 1500 - 1789 (The Silver Library) Pearson Education Limited 1987 J. M. Roberts: The Penguin History of Europe Penguin Books 1997 Michael Roberts: The Military Revolution 1560 - 1660 Boulder, CO, 1995 G Parker: The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West 1500 - 1800 Second Edition Cambridge University Press 1996 G Parker Ed: The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare Cambridge University Press 1995 Stephen J. Lee: The Thirty Years War TJ Press (Padstow) 1991

Blue Collar vs. White Collar Work Essay

Throughout history the lives of the people in the working class have not always been easy. People always work hard to earn money and support their families; however, people don’t always work in a suitable working area. The term â€Å"Blue Collar† is jobs that require manual labor from people. The problem with these kinds of jobs is that the places the people work in can be extremely unsanitary and may cause a bad working environment for the people in it. Blue collar work is also the work most people do not want to do but it is needed for the people who do white collar jobs to prosper. Also blue collar workers are known as people who did not do well in school or people that aren’t smart. Well that is not the case with these workers because without them we wouldn’t be able to do some of the things we do now or be able to survive. Also some blue collar workers are called undocumented workers in which they don’t have any documents to prove that they can work or are from this country but help the country in doing jobs that are needed for a low wage. Therefore blue collar workers are a very important part to society and we need them to thrive. For example in â€Å"Made in L.A† there are 3 young Latina immigrants who work in Los Angeles sweatshops they do manual labor for an extremely low wage. Even though they did the same work as others they got paid less because they are immigrants, it is hard work with low wages but they continue to do it to support themselves and their family just like the blue collar workers do nowadays. With the little voice they had, they protested and tried to make a difference for all future immigrant workers not to be treated inferior to them. People in blue collar jobs get paid less than white collar workers which are office work but they enjoy their job other than others even though it is dirty. Even though the U.S has strict policies on immigrants, they are actually needed because they do many of the blue collar jobs that are needed in the country. For example in the article â€Å"Putting a S top to Slave Labor† it says that† If we required good documents starting tomorrow, the nation would plunge into an instantaneous economic crisis† (p156). This would happen due the fact that they do most of the jobs that people don’t want to do and get low wages also which are blue collar jobs. There are many instances of unsanitary work places. In the article â€Å"Migrant Farm Worker,† by Studs Terkel shows the conditions of the working place and also shows child labor. He says the animals were being treated better than the workers themselves. â€Å"Veterinarians tend to the needs of domestic animals but they can’t have medical care for the workers.†(p133) this shows that the bosses who supply these people with blue collar jobs are being taken advantage of and that the animals are living better than the workers. Also this goes to show what little care the bosses had for their people and that they only cared about the money instead of the needs of these people. People need to see the working class as people rather than machines that do something over and over again. Just because someone has to work hours in front of a machine and have a dirty job does not mean that the person is not a human being. There are many people needed in the world to do some jobs that which most people would not do. If we didn’t have those kind of people and if everyone wanted to do the same thing as everyone else than we would have a hard time surviving since it is needed to be done. â€Å"The case for working with your Hands,† states â€Å"More fundamentally, now as ever, somebody has to actually do things: fix our cars, unclog our toilets, and build our houses.†(18) This goes to show that if no one does those jobs there would be a lot of problems and that we always are going to need blue collar workers perhaps more than white collar in most cases. â€Å"The Case for Working with Your Hands,† also states â€Å"The trades suffer from low prestige and I believe this is based on a simple mistake. Because work is dirty, many people assume it is also stupid.†(19) The thing that people don’t realize is that not every job is going to appeal to them because we are all different and different people do different things, just as some people like to sit behind a computer everyday some people will not do that. The treatment of workers is a growing issue and it’s going to keep on growing and growing if people don’t realize what these big companies are doing and put a stop to it. For example the shoe company Nike employs many people but the thing people don’t know is that there are 12,000 young women in Indonesia making the lowest amount of money and working long tiring shifts. Every $80 sneaker Nike makes it only costs them 12 cents for the labor. This shows the unfair treatment of these workers and how the company is taking advantage of them and it is not only Nike doing this but any major company uses the same force of labor. In â€Å"Who Makes the Clothes We Wear?† it says â€Å"Government officials raided a sweatshop filled with immigrant Thai women laboring as little as 59 cents per hour.†Also not only were they being taken advantage of the discipline was enforced by threats of rape and beatings.(26) This goes to show the little care they have for these workers and the actions that are being taken against them. It also shows a dark side to these companies in which the workers are being treated worst than dogs. In the article â€Å"Reapers† by Jean Toomer it says that â€Å"Black horses drive a mower through the weeds and there, a field rat, startled, squealing bleeds, His belly close to ground. I see the blade, Blood-stained, continue cutting weeds and shade.† (37) This article shows tough field work for black people back around the 60s. They were bleeding but their determination was too great and they continued to go and do their work. Slavery could be identified as blue collar work also. In the article â€Å"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?† Frederick Douglass says â€Å"There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.† (140)This shows that everyone knows that slavery is wrong but they continue to do it disregard the health of the workers but the financial health of a company or a person. Slaves have to endure much pain and long haggard days with little to no pay working out on the fields and any other job that another man won’t do. Just like the slaves do these kinds of work the women in Indonesia could be compared to them because of the long working hours and the little pay with strict discipline. There is a growing problem with Third World women and how they are being used. The companies get young girls and give them work usually being blue collar work with bad working conditions and poor pay. In the article â€Å"Life on the Global Assembly Line,† it says â€Å"Older† women, aged 23 or 24, are likely to be laid off and not rehired. The lucky ones find husbands. The unlucky ones find themselves at the margins of society-as bar girls, â€Å"hostesses,† or prostitutes.†(29) This displays the women as disposable workers; once they get too old they are thrown out and out of a job. After that these women don’t have anywhere to go, some get a husband and are being taken care of and others have to resort to whatever that is needed to be done to get by. Although the problems to these blue collar workers are plain to see, the fact is that the country needs them for the economy to thrive. Even if blue collar workers are needed to have a successful economy it doesn’t change the fact that they need to be treated like people and not like dogs on the street.

Cause-Effect Essay* Causes of Divorce

You know that divorce is more common nowdays, but do you know the causes? According to the statistics offered by INEGI in a survey practiced in 2005, 70% of the couples who get married take the decision of getting divorce. There are many reasons why they make yhis decision, but there are three main causes which are lack of communication, financial issues, and abuse. Lack of communication is one of the main causes of divorce.A marriege is on the rocks when the lines of communication fail. You cannot have an ineffective realtionship if either one of you does not discuss about his/her feelings, cannot talk about his/her mutual or personal issues, and expects his/her partner to guess what the whole problem is about. Another cause of divorce are financial issues. Money or aspects related to ot are of course a possible cause of disagreement between couples.Married couples could squabble over such issues as shared financial responsibility, unequal financial status, undisclosed financial sta te, over spending, and lack of financial support. The last cause of divorce are the ways of abuse. This does not just include intentional and habitual phusycal abuse. It may also come in the form of sexual abuse and emmotional abuse. One partner may actively seeks to degrade his/her partner through harsh language.Drug and alcohol make the person so violent; in addition, there may be no physical or verbal abuse, but the other partner would understandibly have a difficult time managing finances and daily life with an addicted spouse. Now we know that lack of communication, financial problems, and violence are the main causes why people get divorce. May be you should considet living in free union for a short time before you get married, by doing this, you can meet your partner well. It is not the best option, but if you are really in love, you can get married without any problem.