Beauty the Evolution of Perception Free Essays

Vennette Gonzalez Mr. Warner English 111 (032W) 19 November 2012 â€Å"Beauty†: The evolution of perception When looking in the past to see how people lived and viewed the world, there is one commonality that stands out. A woman’s beauty says a lot on how the culture and the people of that society perceived themselves and others. We will write a custom essay sample on Beauty: the Evolution of Perception or any similar topic only for you Order Now These past perceptions affect how current society and culture is perceived not only by the individuals of our generation but by our future generations as well. This paper will address how we as society view beauty as it has changed over a period of time, how these changes came about, and how the media played a role in this beauty evolution. How this beauty evolution begins starts in childhood. One of the first memories that children have is the reading of fairy tales. These stories set a foundation as to what we perceive as beauty. â€Å"Children’s media has been found to be powerfully responsive to social change and not simply in a way that mirrors society (Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz 714). With this early exposure to what is portrayed as beauty, it is established early in the developmental years of childhood of how a woman should look as well as act. â€Å"Children’s fairy tales can provide insight into the dynamic relationship between gender, power, and culture as well as the cultural and social significance of beauty to women’s lives (Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz 712). The cultural and social significance can be se en as â€Å"girls and boys are taught specific messages concerning the importance of women’s bodies and women’s attractiveness (Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz 724). † These fairy tales were created to accommodate the cultural values and conflicts of the era, and establish the values of what our society deems as appropriate and what is acceptable for our young children to grow into as well as establishing a baseline for beauty. As our children grow, they carry these values and ideals with them. These fairy tales portray women as meek and powerless, who are damsels in distress in need of a knight in shining armor. With maturity some of these values and ideals change; however, Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz state that â€Å"The feminine beauty ideal is the socially constructed notion that physical attractiveness is one of woman’s most important assets, and something all women should strive to achieve and maintain (711). This belief is still prevalent in today’s society. This does not mean that â€Å"there is a direct relationship between cultural values concerning feminine beauty and women’s behavior and identities, but the feminine beauty ideal may operate indirectly as a means of social control insofar as women’s concern with physical appearance (beauty), absorbs resources (money, energy, time) that could otherwise be spent enhancing their social status (Baker-Sperry and Grauerhol z 723). The impacts of this ideal feminine beauty not only affect our children, but it also affects how they perceive themselves and how the future generations will perceive us. â€Å"The feminine beauty ideal can be seen as a normative means of social control, where by social control is accomplished through the internalization of values and norms that serve to restrict women’s lives (Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz 712). This ultimately means that girls who are exposed to these fairy tales develop a belief that there are certain expectations that need to be upheld and if these expectations are not met then they will lack the power to succeed. â€Å"Workers of above average beauty earn about 10 to 15 percent more than workers of below average beauty. The size of this beauty premium is economically significant and comparable to the race and gender gaps in the U. S. labor market (Mobius and Rosenblat 222). According to Naomi Wolf â€Å"More women have more power and scope and le gal recognition that we have ever had before; but in terms of how we feel about ourselves physically, we may actually be worse off (Wolf 16)† She also goes on to state â€Å"There is no legitimate historical or biological justification for the beauty myth; what it is doing to women today is a result of nothing more exalted than the need of today’s power structure, economy and culture to mount a counteroffensive against women (Wolf 19). † Due to this, beauty is now linked with power in the sense that the more beautiful you are the more powerful you are. This idea that beauty is power became more noticeable during the woman’s movement according to Wolf (19). She states that â€Å"By the time the women’s movement had made inroads into the labor market, both women and men were accustomed to having beauty evaluated as wealth (Wolf 26). † This influx of women in the work force changed how young girls related to the fairy tales they once read. They no longer had to portray the roles of the damsel in distress, but had to use their beauty to gain power and attention. This evolution from the damsel has led to a more independent woman who uses her beauty to get what she needs. â€Å"Before women entered the work force in large numbers, there was a clearly defined class of those explicitly paid for their â€Å"beauty†: workers in the display professions-fashion mannequins, actress, dancers, and higher paid sex workers such as escorts. Until women’s emancipation, professional beauties were usually anonymous, low in status, un-respectable (Wolf 33). † Now our young girls want to look like all the actresses, musicians, models etc†¦ that they see on TV, movies and in magazines. I think these changes occurred once the fairy tales were no longer in written media, where we used what was written down and our imagination to create our ideal of beauty. Once these fairytales became a visual (movies, TV. and magazines) our young girls wanted to copy what they saw. In 1969 Vogue offered a new look for women’s magazines (Wolf 73). â€Å"Vogue began to focus on the body as much as the clothes, in part because there was little they could dictate with the anarchic styles (Wolf 73). † â€Å"The number of diet related articles rose 70 percent from 1968 to 1972. Articles on dieting in the popular press soared from 60 in the year 1979 to 66 in the month of January 1980 alone. By 1984, 300 diet books were on the shelves (Wolf 73-74). † The timing of this influx of dieting articles is due to the popularity of a model named Lesley Lawson otherwise known as Twiggy. She hit the height of her career in 1966 where she was on the cover of Vogue magazine. She was the ideal beauty of that era where being boyishly thin was in. Whereas a decade before having womanly curves was the idea of what beauty was for example the pin-up girl Betty Grable. She was what was considered the ideal of that era. The images of both of these women show the significance of how models, actress and movie stars affect the women and youth of our society. Both of these women were portrayed in women’s magazines or movies. â€Å"A woman reading Glamor is holding women-oriented mass culture between her two hands (Wolf 76). † With the mass media evolving and able to mass produce the media quicker than ever, the new ideals of what our young women view as beauty changes at an even more rapid pace. With the introduction of the internet mass media is now instant, and on demand. Glamour, beauty and the perfect body: these are the values upheld within our culture as necessary to the fulfillment of desirable femininity (Wark 41). † With this beauty evolution consistently changing it also reflects the changes in the values that we as a society hold. The mass media will always be an integral part of our Beauty evolution as it reflects society ’s values. Works Cited Baker-Sperry, Lori, and Liz Grauerholz. â€Å"The Pervasiveness and Persistance of the Feminine Beauty Ideal in Children’s Fairy Tales. † Gender and Society 17. 5 (Oct 2003): 711-726. http://www. jstor. org/stable/3594706. Web. 19 November 2012. Fox, Greer Litton. Nice Girl: Social control of women through a value construct. † Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 2 (1977): 805-817. Print. Mobius, Markus M. , and Tanya S. Rosenblat. â€Å"Why Beauty Matters. † American Economic Review 96. 1 (2006): 222-235. http://www. jstor. org/stable/30034362. Web. 19 November 2012. Wark, Jayne. â€Å"Wendy Geller’s 48 hour Beauty Blitz: Gender, Class and the Pleasures of popular Culture. † Art Journal 56. 4 (1997): 41-47. http://www. jstor. org/stable/777719. Web. 19 November 2012. Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How images of Beauty are used against Women. New York: HarperCollins, 2002. PDF File. How to cite Beauty: the Evolution of Perception, Essay examples

Workplace Communication And Challenges †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Workplace Communication And Challenges. Answer: Introduction The process in which the information is exchanged in an organization is termed as workplace communication. It could be both verbal and non-verbal. Sharing information may take place within as well as outside of an organization for commercial benefits to serve (Bull Brown, 2012). An organization consisted of diverse employees from different language group and cultural background has necessity to communicate in a way that both the sender and the receiver are able to understand the meaning of a massage, thus able to fulfill the companys objective. The effective workplace communication ensures this (Ulmer, Sellnow Seeger, 2013). Communication challenges may occur in a workplace when there are some barriers for effective communication (Modaff, Butler DeWine, 2016). In a multinational organization of manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipments, has eight thousand employees in total and operates in various counties of the world is facing number of communication challenges. However, it has both local and international clients. The communication challenges include lack of timely communication, communication breakdown from top management to stuffs and vice-versa, ineffective communication due to local languages and cross-cultural issues, limited development in digital literacy. The purpose of this report is to investigate the above-mentioned challenges faced by this multinational company in the context of workplace communication and develop strategies to overcome such barriers, aiming on the strategies developed by other organizations to face similar challenges and improve workplace communication. This report will be presented to the manager of the company and helpful for developing an effective communication system at all level within the organization. Discussion: communication on time Efficient communication on time from the managers to staffs and clients in a workplace helps to increase the productivity of the organization. It influences directly the behavioral patterns of the staffs and clients and in return, the overall benefits of the organization will be increased (Williams, 2013). Efficient communication does not only include the clear instruction or proper explanation of the massage. Rather, if the massage is not delivered on time, the issue will directly reflect on the cooperative systems of the organization. In fact, it could create mess and inefficient productivity rate. Any organization works well with employees in a structure of mutual relation and cooperation. The information not only should pass through genuinely to all its employees, but it should be sent and received on time. The manager of any organization should take responsibility to deliver it in the hierarchical order and observe weather it has been delivered on time (Robles, 2012). Due to lack of on time communication to all its stuffs and clients in the organization of agricultural equipments manufacturer and distributor, the organization is facing communication challenges. This organization has local and international clients and various offices in different parts of the world. However, the information in this case, should be delivered when exact time has arrived as different parts of the world bears different time zones. For example, it has offices in both India and Australia. India is four hours and thirty minutes behind Australia. However, the information delivery time in this case automatically will be different. The leaders or managers of the organization should consider precise timely communication at all level in the organization. Otherwise, if the employees and clients do not get information, where and when they need it; the decision-making procedure will be slowing down. It will directly affect the productivity of the organization, as projects will n ot be completed on time due to delay of information provided. Successful organizations have challenged this problem by providing clear, honest and timely communication to all its stuffs and clients, keeping in mind the time zones and location (ARVANITIS SAKELLARIOU, 2014). Even, the managers should ensure that if an employee is not present in the place and time of delivery, he is getting the massage later. In this situation, the information should always be available to all their employees and clients through emails (Cummings Worley, 2014). The multinational company in the case study should take strategies like what other successful organization have taken to overcome such problem. It is suggested to connect with all the stuffs and clients by emails all the time and management should strict about timely delivery of information. Communication breakdown from top management to staffs and vice-versa Effective and clear communication with the employees from top management and vice-versa is one of the most important things that engage employees and management to work together for higher production. This is a part of internal workforce communication system in an organization (Lockwood, 2015). The more the rate of internal communication is higher, the more productivity is obtaining (Alexander, 2013). In situation when the information is not received given by top management system to all its employees and top management also not in a position of getting the feedback of the information given by the employees can be described as a horrible situation of communication breakdown in an organization. However, it is the responsibility of the management department to check whether the information is clearly reached with accuracy (Blyton et al., 2017). Any changes in plan or idea taken by the management should be communicated to all its employees and provided with upward communication system w here employees have opportunities to share their thoughts to the management. The good leaders in organizations plan for both ways communication that is effective in nature (Eunson, 2012). High-performing multinational companies like Philips used some strategies to overcome internal communication breakdown. The leaders in the company always use simple languages clearly and avoid ambiguous words. The management should ensure that the massage is understood with the same intention the speaker is indented for. It could be done by asking questions or active listening. Another way to overcome communication breakdown is keeping the organizational structure as simple as possible (Blyton et al., 2017). The optimum level of number of hierarchies in an organization, the less the number of communication breakdown occurs. The managers also should select proper medium of communication. Simple information should be given orally otherwise, memos, notice, emails or other written means of communication could be used. Internal communication from management to employees and vice-versa in top ranking companies helps to both parties to understand its business, its culture and values, progre ss towards the goals and the way in which employees can improve their performances. The multinational company in the case study is facing problems related to internal communication breakdown. It is suggested to the leaders to use simple and clear languages in case of communication and they have to sure about a fact that the meaning of the massage is communicated precisely and timely. Getting feedbacks from clients Feedback is the basic and spontaneous response of the receiver. It informs the sender about how the communication is accepted. Feedback from clients about a product is taken as valuable information as important decisions in the organization could take place based upon feedback. Effective feedback helps the giver, receiver and the organization (Quintanilla Wahl 2015). In this case study, communication challenges occur for receiving feedbacks from clients regarding improvement in product quality and service delivery. The clients are local and international and their feedback plays an important role to ensure improvement. Their valuable outcomes about a product contribute in making the most important decisions and changes within an organization. Due to diversification in clients, it is important to understand the communication languages the clients are delivering (Blyton et al., 2017). Email could be the best method of receiving feedback in this scenario. It is suggested to improve the technological structure and routes of the company for getting feedback at right time. Top-ranking multinational companies impose great importance about clients feedback. They maintain a kind of open communication system where the organization is selling the product and in response, the clients are giving feedbacks about the product. It is the responsibility of the company to provide a clear system of open communication to ensure the clients feedback is received on time (Modaff, Butler DeWine, 2016). The feedback about the product quality and service delivery of an organization plays a crucial role to ensure improvement and progression of that organization. The organization with lack of this facility has chance to lose its important clients and clients will be offensive as they are unable to communicate what they want. Communication barrier due to local languages In an organization, employees come from different language group. Not every employee in the organization can be comfortable about what the other person is saying in native languages (Tenzer, Pudelko Harzing, 2014). Language can be acted as a barrier in effective communication in an organization. In this case, as the organization consisted of almost eight thousand employees in five countries worldwide including India, Nigeria, Oman the language difference exists within the organization. However, as the different countries have different languages it is the responsibility of the management to provide instructions according to the specific languages of a country (Rana, 2013). The top ranking companies use different strategies to overcome language barriers within the organization. It is not even always possible to provide trainings to overcome language barriers to the local employees. It is the responsibility of the manager to determine whether the language differences will be accommodated in a workplace or not rather, it is a common problem in an multicultural organization to have employees of different languages group (Klitmller Lauring, 2013). The company could do number of things for the employees who are not interested to pick up dominant languages in the workplace. The managers could translate all the relevant documents into a language of the employee (Jandt, 2012). The manager could use interpreter when he gives instruction or receives feedback. Even some of the company provides basic language classes to their employees to fulfill their business requirement. Sometimes companies use strategies such as providing crash course to all its employees in the primary language of the workplace. The managers try to use simple words with less syllable and repetition method in the communication in a diversified working culture (Barner-Rasmussen et al., 2014). It is suggested to the company portrayed in the case study to follow any one or two strategies like, translation and interpretation or training method to overcome local language barriers in the workplace. The managers of this company should be sure about the understanding is correct what the employees have after any method of communication. The managers could ask for the demonstration from its employees ensuring the communication occurred effectively. Cross-cultural issues In an organization, employees work from different cultural background and shares different values and believe within the organization. The organization holds them together in spite of diversity in culture. However, this cultural diversity could work as a barrier in effective communication in workplace. The problem occurs in case of massage transmission in a diversified cultural workplace (Moran, Abramson Moran, 2014). When the values and believes of a employee can be coordinated with the similar value system of another there is absolutely no problem. When there is a difference in cultural systems, the meaning and interpretation of the massage could be different as different cultures carry different expectation for behavior (Kawar, 2012). Cultural barriers could be resolved by developing cultural sensitivity in an organization, careful encoding and decoding of massages and building relationships among employees of different culture (Deresky, 2017). Top organization such as MacDonald adapts co-cultural theory to erase the cultural barriers. In this theory, communication involves the different people of diverse group with difference in color, gender, sexual orientation and sexual abilities. Mark P. Orbe developed this theory, which is now followed by different multinational organizations. It seems that with the help of this strategy, different cultural groups are able to communicate with each other effectively and efficiently (Conrad, 2014). In this multinational company, as the cultural barrier exists in different level such as intercultural or external barrier, it is recommended to remove such barriers ensuring all the information is transmitted thoroughly and clearly in all the members and clients of the organization (Patrick Kumar, 2012). The organization has clients from different parts of the world and share different cultural views. However, if the company accepts the co-cultural theory model, accommodating all the culturally diversified members of the organization under a securing umbrella provided by the organization the barriers could be removed. Low accessibility of digital and social media In modern technological world, digital and social media could be used as a tool to facilitate the communication within the workplace (Leonardi, Huysman Steinfield, 2013). Digital media includes email, blogs, quick delivery massage system and social media incorporates different social media sites such as twitter, facebook and even instagram (Bucher, Fieseler Suphan, 2013). Using digital platform helps to send massage as quick as possible but the responsibility of the company does not end in sending the massage. It is also the part of responsibility of the company to ensure whether the data has been received and understood properly (Williams et al., 2012). The organization in the case study is facing challenges regarding low literacy rate in digital media in some countries. The company is also looking for the ways in which social media platform could be incorporated to overcome communication challenges. As the company has different branches in different countries and the digital media literacy rate varies from country to country, it is suggested to train the employees, which are less known about digital media. The training program could help the employees to learn new and modern things as well as it would contribute to the nation. The training program could be based on basic of computer training and internet using (Chaffey Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). The social media is as important part of communication even with an organization (Couldry, 2012). Overcoming the barriers in social media communication, employees knowledgeable of digital media marketing could be engaged. Top-ranking companies use social media plat form to communicate with diverse clients around the world. They have employees who are accustomed in social media marketing (Varnelis, 2012). Conclusion: It can be concluded by analyzing different types of communication barriers in a company that if communication problem occurs at any level within the organization, it will decrease the productivity rate of that organization. In effect to that, the overall business goal and profits will be diminished. It is suggested to improve the communication system in an organization and remove the barriers as soon as possible. In the above-mentioned case study, the multinational organization is facing various types of communication challenges, which include internal, external, local language, cultural and social media communication. The challenges should be removed bench marking the similar challenges faced by other top-ranking companies. It is recommended to follow those examples and way outs of the top-ranking company, which are successful in removing communication challenges. The recommendation also includes the removal of any types of communication challenges in this multinational company. The managers as well as the leaders of this company should be careful and aware about the communication barriers and the ways in which it could be removed. References Alexander, K. (Ed.). (2013).Facilities management: theory and practice. Routledge. Arvanitis, E., Sakellariou, M. (2014). Pedagogy and Curriculum. Barner-Rasmussen, W., Ehrnrooth, M., Koveshnikov, A., Mkel, K. (2014). Cultural and language skills as resources for boundary spanning within the MNC.Journal of International Business Studies,45(7), 886-905. Blyton, P., Hassard, J., Hill, S., Starkey, K. (2017).Time, work and organization. Taylor Francis. Bull, M., Brown, T. (2012). Change communication: the impact on satisfaction with alternative workplace strategies.Facilities,30(3/4), 135-151. Chaffey, D., Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012). Digital marketing. Pearson Higher Ed. Conrad, D. (2014). Workplace communication problems: Inquiries by employees and applicable solutions. Journal of business studies quarterly, 5(4), 105. Cummings, T. G., Worley, C. G. (2014).Organization development and change. Cengage learning. Deresky, H. (2017).International management: Managing across borders and cultures. Pearson Education India. Eunson, B. (2012). Communication in the Workplace. John Wiley Sons. Jandt, F. E. (2012).An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in a global community. Sage Publications. Kawar, T. I. (2012). Cross-cultural differences in management.International Journal of Business and Social Science,3(6). Klitmller, A., Lauring, J. (2013). When global virtual teams share knowledge: Media richness, cultural difference and language commonality.Journal of World Business,48(3), 398-406. Leonardi, P. M., Huysman, M., Steinfield, C. (2013). Enterprise social media: Definition, history, and prospects for the study of social technologies in organizations. Journal of Computer?Mediated Communication, 19(1), 1-19. Lockwood, J. (2015). Virtual team management: what is causing communication breakdown?.Language and Intercultural Communication,15(1), 125-140. Modaff, D. P., Butler, J. A., DeWine, S. A. (2016). Organizational communication: Foundations, challenges, and misunderstandings. Pearson. Modaff, D. P., Butler, J. A., DeWine, S. A. (2016).Organizational communication: Foundations, challenges, and misunderstandings. Pearson. Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., Moran, S. V. (2014).Managing cultural differences. Routledge. Patrick, H. A., Kumar, V. R. (2012). Managing workplace diversity: Issues and challenges. Sage Open, 2(2), 2158244012444615. Quintanilla, K. M., Wahl, S. T. (2015). Business and professional communication: Keys for workplace excellence. Sage Publications. Rana, R. (2013). Effective Communication in a Diverse Workplace. Robles, M. M. (2012). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in todays workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), 453-465. Tenzer, H., Pudelko, M., Harzing, A. W. (2014). The impact of language barriers on trust formation in multinational teams.Journal of International Business Studies,45(5), 508-535. Ulmer, R. R., Sellnow, T. L., Seeger, M. W. (2013).Effective crisis communication: Moving from crisis to opportunity. Sage Publications. Williams, C. (2013). Principles of management. South-Western Cengage Learning.

Armenians Essays - Armenian Genocide, Young Turks,

Armenians Through my research, of the websites and book listed in the works cited section of my paper, I have found that the Young Turks have been an important part of Turkish and Armenian history. The young Turks were a coalition of reform groups that led a revolutionary movement against the Ottoman Empires Sultan Abdulhamid the Second. They opposed him because of the absolute power he had, and because they wanted to eliminate foreign influence, and to restore Turkish pride. The Young Turks movement was started in the Imperial Medical college of Istanbul. In Istanbul it spread to other colleges including the military institutes. When Abdulhamid the Second, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, learned of their plot against him he exiled the students. The Young Turks fled to various cities in Europe. It was here that the preparations for their revolution took place. An important Young Turk was Ahmed Riza, who was part of the Committee of Union and Progress, which was an influential Young Turk organization. He pushed for a strong central government and he was against all foreign influence. When the Young Turks came to power these ideas were important in their policies. The revolution occurred when discontented members of the Ottomans Army, the Committee of Union and Progress, and another group called the League of Private Initiative and Decentralization all agreed to work together. The revolt took place in 1908. Ahmed Niyazi a member of the Third Army Corps led a small revolt against provincial authorities; other revolutionaries holding revolts that were inspired by Ahmeds followed this. Since the Sultan could not rely on his military to support him he recalled parliament and in 1913 the triumvirate of Talat Pasa, Ahmed Cemel Pasa, and Enver Pasa gained power. Under the triumvirate the Young Turks major reforms took place. Their reforms led to a more centralized government; they promoted industrialization, and improved education. The Young Turks lost power in 1918. Hoping to gain political power they joined in on World War One on the side of the Germans, and the Central Powers. They did this thinking that Germany had a superior army. When the Young Turks realized defeat was coming they resigned their power and the Ottomans ended up signing the Armistice of Mudros ending Turkeys involvement in the war. The Young Turks are important to Armenian history because of the treatment the Armenians received under their control. The Young Turks preached cooperation between themselves and the minority groups in Turkey before they gained power. When the Young Turks took control they did not follow their ideas of cooperation. In 1913 at the city of Adana 30,000 Armenians were killed. When World War One broke out the Young Turks looked at it as a perfect opportunity to dispose of, what they looked at as a problem, Armenians. The government intentionally tried to eliminate the Armenians. Armenian leaders were killed. The rest were forced to relocate into the deserts of Syria, Arabia, and Mesopotamia. During these marches many Armenians were flogged to death, burned, bayoneted, buried alive in pits, drowned in rivers, beheaded, raped, abducted into harems, or just simply died of exhaustion. This genocide, conducted by the Young Turks, took the lives of 1.5 million Armenians. Bibliography Works Cited Balakian, Peter. Black Dog of Fate. New York: Broadway Books, 1997. CedarLand. 20 Febuary 2001. The Armenian Genocide. 20 Febuary 2001 http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Parliament/2587/armenia.html Encyclopedia Britanica. 20 February 2001. Young Turks. 20 February 2001 History Essays

Marie Antoinette, Woman to Scapegoat essays

Marie Antoinette, Woman to Scapegoat essays Today there is a tendency to overlook small factors in history that may seem silly, trivial, or irrational. However, these factors often have great influences over people and need to be observed. Marie Antoinettes involvement in the French Revolution is the perfect example of a tiny catalyst causing a great deal of change. The revolution was undoubtedly caused by the growing discontent of the French population towards the abuses of the upper class. However, no revolution could succeed without symbols or icons like Marie Antoinette. It was through clever rhetoric and twisting of facts on the part of French revolutionaries that Marie Antoinette became an icon for corrupt monarchy, thus, altering her image from a caring queen to a greedy wretch to aid in the advantage of the revolutionaries political objectives. Born to the Austrian empress Maria Theresa on November 2, 1755, Marie Antoinette was obliged to marry Louis XVI of France to symbolize an alliance between Austria and France. Ironically, in the beginning of her marriage to the prince, Marie Antoinette was loved by the French people. She further established her reputation for kindness and compassion by stopping her carriage for over an hour to aid an injured person. She would not continue until she had established the presence of a surgeon. She then insisted on a stretcher for the wounded man, instead of an uncomfortable post-chaise, and followed its progress (Fraser 170). However, these very qualities did not matter once Marie Antoinettes reputation began to drastically fall. Although the time itself was a difficult time for the French monarchy, it was mainly Antoinette's own attitude to her position that caused the most serious damage. In an age when monarchs were supposed to be servants of the state, it was especially important to present an image of devoted self-sacrifice to their subjects. However, it was precisely this dem...

Cultural Diversity in clinical laboratory sciences Essay - 1

Cultural Diversity in clinical laboratory sciences - Essay Example Among the Asians, blood is regarded as the energy of life that is passed on to children by the elders and ancestors and therefore should not be given away. Similarly, the elders among Afro American are highly respected and are considered to be the source of wisdom and knowledge (CultureDiversity.Com). Among the Afro Americans, religion is an indispensable and fundamental component of culture. It is central to their health and wellness believing that God is the giver of good health and can also cause illness. On the other hand, Asians believe in the balance of nature whereby balance is accomplished when the body is healthy and illness arises when this balance is lost. In contrast to the Asian community, the Afro Americans are highly sensitive to racism, which is derived from their history of oppression as slaves of American farmers. For example, restraint on a child who is tied on the bed to effectively apply intravenous lines is viewed by the guardian as a form of oppression based on her past experience with white masters. The reference of a black young man as a boy is also considered to be offensive in the Afro American culture, which is a word associated with slavery by the whites. In contrast to the Afro American, the Asian patient is unlikely to talk about his/her feelings of sickness unless the symptoms are notable by others. Under circumstances of ill health, the Afro American turns to prayers (CultureDiversity.Com). Understanding cultural diversity is useful in establishing the appropriate way to interact with patients from varied cultures. For example, it is important to understand restraint among Chinese patients while avoiding actions that may indicate racial tendencies among the Afro Americans. It is important for healthcare professionals to appreciate cultural diversity since they deal with patients from different cultural backgrounds. The first contact with a patient determines his/her

What is the relationship between drama and theatre education and Assignment

What is the relationship between drama and theatre education and creative learning - Assignment Example fficulty facing scholars constitute the ability to distinguish between drama and theatre and establishment of the relationship between drama and theatre education as tools for creative learning. This research paper aims at establishing a clear distinction between theatre and drama in addition to establishing a relationship between drama/theatre and creative learning. The paper will achieve this by discussing the critical aspects of creative learning, relationship between drama and theatre education and creative learning, how creative drama enhance creativity in learning, and importance of drama in assessments, and theories of drama and theatre in creative learning. Creative learning is enhanced through the level of creativity possessed by the learner. Winston (2010) defines creative learning as imaginative activities fashioned with the aim of producing outcomes characterized by originality and value. In creativity, the learner has to portray originality and value in the end result of the learning process. Fleming (2011) outlines the basic features of creativity; these are use of imagination, pursuing purposes, being original and judging value. In Jo Trowsdale’s session, for example, the class was introduced to a range of creative people who shared a variety of characteristics. These personalities included Aristotle, Vivien Westwood, and Martin Luther King; from them it was evident that creativity is not just about arts and not always related to a product, but it could be a change of mind/heart. Any creativity process lacking any of the aforementioned features is considered null since it lacks the main components of creativity. Creativity involves playing with new ideas and trying out possibilities from such ideas. For example, the Myth of Icarius revealed three different period of painting. Flying too high using the wings would take Icarius too close to the sun and melt while flying too low would take him close to the sea and drown. This implies that Icarius

Zidovudine for the Prevention of HIV Transmission

Zidovudine for the Prevention of HIV Transmission Introduction Zidovudine is an antiretroviral drug which is a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor; it is used as treatment with other antiretroviral drugs against the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Additionally, zidovudine can be utilised as a means of reducing the risk of transfer of HIV from a pregnant woman to her child. Furthermore, zidovudine is used in post exposure prophylaxis in order to lower the chance of being infected with HIV in people who have been exposed to the virus. (AHFS Drug Information, n.d.). Name Of Drug, Structure, Formula and Functional Groups Zidovudine is also known as azidothymidine and, in short, AZT (Joint Formulary Committee, 2010). The molecular formula of the compound is C10H13N5O4 (The Merck Index, n.d.) and zidovudine has a molecular weight of 267.25, as calculated using the ISIS ChemDraw package (Cambridge Soft, n.d.). Analysing the compound shows that zidovudine is made up of a thymine group bonded to a 2,3-dideoxyribose group with an attached azide group. Therefore the systematic name of zidovudine is 3†²-azido-2, 3†²-dideoxythymidine (The Merck Index, n.d.), as the oxygen of the hydroxyl group on the 3 carbon of the ribose ring has been removed, giving 3-deoxyribose, and has been replaced with an azide group and the oxygen on the 2 carbon has also been removed. The azide group on the ribose ring is the reason why zidovudine acts as a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (AHFS Drug Information, n.d.). In order for zidovudine to carry out its role, it must be phosphorylated by an enzyme called thymidine kinase; this is due to the fact that reverse transcriptase includes the triphosphates produced into the HIV DNA chain being formed during HIV replication. Consequently, after the triphosphate has been included, 5, 3-phosphodiester bonding in the DNA chain is not possible, because of azide group in the triphosphate, and therefore DNA formation cannot continue (Foye et al, 2008). Formulations and Packaging The generic form of zidovudine is available as hard capsules (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.) in two strengths of 100mg and 250mg (Joint Formulary Committee, 2010). Both strengths are packaged in foil blister packs and plastic bottles and need to be kept in these; they have an expiry date of 2 years from the date of manufacture (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.). Zidovudine is also available under the brand name of Retrovir ® in the form of capsules, oral solution and injection solution (Joint Formulary Committee, 2010). All of the Retrovir ® formulations need to be kept below 30 degrees and in their original outer boxes (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.). The capsules are hard capsules (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.) in strengths of 100mg and 250mg (Joint Formulary Committee, 2010); they have an expiry date of five years from the date of manufacture and are packaged in a blister pack or a bottle (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.). The oral solution consists of a 50mg in 5ml dose (Joint Formulary Committee, 2010) and is packaged in an amber bottle made of glass. The oral solution has an expiry date of two years from the date of manufacture but should be disposed of after the bottle has been opened for one month (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.). The injection solution is available in the dose of 10mg per 1ml and is used for intravenous infusion (Joint Formulary Committee, 2010). It is packaged in a glass vial which is amber or clear in colour. The solution has an expiry date of three years after the date of manufacture however, once opened, it must be used straightaway and any remaining solution disposed of (Electronic Medicines Compendium, n.d.). According to Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference (n.d.), all the formulations of zidovudine need to be shielded from sources of light and need to be kept in air tight containers. Stereochemistry and Conformation As highlighted in the diagram drawn using ISIS ChemDraw (Cambridge Soft, n.d.), zidovudine has a total of three chiral centres and hence zidovudine has eight possible stereoisomers. The 1 carbon of the ribose ring is of the R configuration whereas the 3 and 4 carbons are of the S configuration (Novak et al, 2003). Zidovudine has a specific optical rotation value of +99 ° in water (Merck, n.d.) and hence rotates the plane of polarized light clockwise; consequently zidovudine is optically active (Freeman, 2010). Synthesis Zidovudine was made by Jerome Horwitz in 1964 (Weeks et al, 2010). It can be formed from thymidine, however, this is a costly method and therefore a more cost effective technique is used to make zidovudine on a large scale by using D-Mannitol as the starting compound (Saunders, 2000). The process has been drawn below using ISIS ChemDraw (Cambridge Soft, n.d.) with reference to Top Drugs (2000). In the first stage, a derivative of D-glyceraldehyde is formed from D-mannitol using acetone and a source of protons and refluxing. Lead (IV) acetate is then added. In the second stage a Wittig reaction is carried out and PH3P=CHCO2Et and methanol are added. In the third step hydrochloric acid is added, producing a lactone. In the fourth stage the lactone is protected and the azide group is added on through a Michael addition reaction. The reagents used to protect the lactone are t-Bu(Me)2SiCl, imidazole and dimethylformamide. The reagents for the Michael addition reaction are lithium azide, tetrahydrofuran, acetic acid and water. In the fifth stage the lactone is reduced to a lactol at minus 78 degrees using Diisobutylaluminium hydride and dichloromethane. The hydroxyl group is activated to form a sugar intermediate using acetic anhydride and pyridine. In the sixth step, Vorbruggen conditions are adopted and a condensation reaction is performed with the sugar intermediate and silyla ted thymine which produces alpha and beta anomers. The reagents are di-trimethylsilyl-thymine, trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate and EDC. In the seventh step, the silyl protecting group is taken off and the anomers are uncombined to obtain zidovudine. The reagents used in this step are n-Bu4N+F- and tetrahydrofuran (Saunders, 2000). Drug stability: Potential sites of chemical instability and metabolism Zidovudine decomposes greatly in the presence of light because of the azide group and the product formed from the breakdown is thymine. This is because two nitrogen atoms are removed from the azide group, forming nitrene. An insertion reaction takes place and aziridine is made. Water, as a nucleophile, attacks aziridine. The amide anion formed causes the thymine group to be nucleophilically displaced and hence thymine is produced as the degradation product (Dunge et al, 2004). Therefore as zidovudine is mostly affected by light it is advised that the various formulations of zidovudine are kept away from light sources (British Pharmacopoeia, 2010). Zidovudine has a bioavailability of 63%. This is due to the fact that zidovudine undergoes glucuronidation, giving zidovudine glucuronide which is more water soluble than zidovudine due to a sugar group being added, and is renally excreted (Burton et al, 2006). UDP-glucuronyl transferease is the enzyme which catalyses the reaction (Veal et al, 1995). Zidovudine can also be converted to 3-amino-3-deoxythymidine due to the azide group being reduced (Veal et al, 1995); 3-amino-3-deoxythymidine can affect the action of zidovudine against HIV and is possibly toxic (Burton et al, 2006). Lipinskis Rules For Orally Active Drugs According to Clarkes Analysis Of Drugs And Poisons (n.d.) the Log P value of Zidovudine is 0.05 and the molecular weight is 267.25 as calculated on ISIS ChemDraw (Cambridge Soft, n.d.). Zidovudine has a total of two hydrogen bond donor sites and a total of nine hydrogen bond acceptor sites (Lipinski et al, 1997). As a result, zidovudine follows Lipinskis Rules of Five as it has a molecular weight of less than 500, a Log P value of less than 5, there are less than five hydrogen bond donor sites and there are less than ten hydrogen bond acceptor sites (Lipinski et al, 1997). As the Log P value of zidovudine is 0.05 (Clarkes Analysis Of Drugs And Poisons, n.d.) it can be seen that the drug is slightly polar. Zidovudine contains aromatic and large aliphatic regions which are hydrophobic; the polar character arises from the hydroxyl group, an amide region, an ether link and azide group, which are all hydrophilic regions. Therefore as there is a slight imbalance of more hydrophilic groups to hydrophobic groups, zidovudine is slightly hydrophilic and slightly polar and therefore is water soluble and has less affinity to cross the lipid membranes (Bichenkova, 2010). pKa and Ionization State At pH 2, 7.4 and 10 and Solubility According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (n.d.), the pKa value of Zidovudine is 9.68 and hence it is weakly acidic. Using the equation for the percentage of ionization, which has been derived from the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, I am able to calculate the percentage amount of ionization of zidovudine at various pH values. The equation used consists of: % ionization of an acid = 100/ 1 + antilog(pKa pH) (Freeman, 2010). At pH2, the equation will read % ionization = 100/ 1 + antilog (9.68 2). This gives the value 2.0910^-6 %. Hence it can be seen that in the stomach only a very small amount of zidovudine will be ionized and generally it will be largely unionized. The percentage of zidovudine unionized at pH2 is 99.99% and hence as zidovudine is highly unionized at pH 2, it will be absorbed from the stomach. At pH2 2.0910^-6% of zidovudine is ionized as the azide group can be protonated (Chemicalize, n.d.). At pH 7.4 the calculation gives a value of 0.52%. Hence in the blood stream zidovudine will be largely unionized as the percentage of zidovudine that is unionized in the blood stream is 99.8%. In the bloodstream 0.52% of Zidovudine will be ionized as the azide group can deprotonate (Chemicalize, n.d.). As zidovudine is largely unionized at pH 7.4, it can be absorbed from the bloodstream into the CD4 cells where it carries out its role as an antiretroviral (Foye et al, 2008). At pH 10 a value of 67.63% is obtained. Therefore in basic conditions, zidovudine is largely  ionized as the azide group is deprotonated and the amide group of thymine is deprotonated (Chemicalize, n.d.). The percentage of zidovudine unionized in the blood is 32.37%. Zidovudine is absorbed very quickly in the body (Burton et al, 2006) and this can be seen through the fact that zidovudine is greatly unionised in the stomach and blood stream and hence can quickly enter the CD4 cells in the blood (Foye et al, 2008). Conclusion As zidovudine has an azide group it is able to stop HIV replication (Foye, 2008). Zidovudine follows Lipinskis Rules and hence is well absorbed in the body (Lipinski et al, 1997). As zidovudine has a pKa of 9.68, the drug can be absorbed from the stomach as it will be largely unionised in the stomach. This is also the case for the drug in the bloodstream and hence zidovudine can be taken up quickly by the cells and carry out its role as an antiretroviral despite being slightly polar. The bioavailability of zidovdine is limited however by the fact that some zidovudine is glucuronidated and hence is lost; some zidovudine is also affected by the azide group being reduced as the product formed can affect zidovudines role as an antiretroviral and could be toxic (Burton et al, 2006). As zidovudine degrades in the presence of light, the drug is packaged in blister packs or plastic bottles and all formulations of the drug need to be kept out of light and in the packaging they came in (Electr onic Medicines Compendium, n.d.).