Death Penalty and Deterrence Essay examples -- Capital Punishment Crim

Death Penalty and Deterrence Ever since the beginning of time man has committed crimes. Crimes were described as acts which go against the social and moral norms of society and people. People have learned to deal with these crimes in many different ways. One of the most used forms of dealing with crime is punishing those who commit crimes. There are numerous ways in which people have punished those who commit crimes throughout history from making the criminal pay fines to banishing them from the community. However, in modern times, there are fewer acceptable forms of punishment that are used. For very unserious crimes, governments may simply make a criminal pay a small fine or do service for the community in some way. Offenders who commit more serious crimes may be forced to spend months or years in jail or prison. However, for the most serious crime of premeditated murder there is an even greater punishment; the punishment of death. According to Jacquelyn C. Black, since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstat ed, over 821 men and women have been executed in the United States. Capital punishment is one of the most hotly debated issues in politics and criminal justice today. The ability of the government and the judicial system to punish a criminal in the most severe way, the taking of their ability to live, is an issue that is discussed and evaluated nearly every day. Capital punishment has its roots in history though. Ever since man has formed societies he has used capital punishment as a form of punishment for criminals. The United States has also been using capital punishment for a long time. Many people think that capital punishment is a very barbaric form of punishment that should be gotten rid of. They think that no civilized nation should allow such sanctioned brutality. P61According to Ron Fridell, ?capital punishment has been abolished in all of Europe and most of Latin America, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The United States remains the only Western nation in which capital punishment is still practiced.? Other people think that t he death penalty is an effective and just way of punishing offenders for the most heinous of crimes. This paper will try to describe the death penalty, where it came from, and its role in the judicial system today. The purpose of capital punishment is also a debated issue in the subject. Most ... ... and decrease murder rates. Constan p102 says that ?other factors that influence murder rates are unemployment, probability of arrest and conviction, percent of the population between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four, per capita financial expenditures on the police force, and other factors.? He also states that none of these factors seem to affect the crime rate though none is major enough to completely cause major changes. End Notes Davis, Michael. Justice in the Shadow of Death: Rethinking Capital and Lesser Punishments. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 1996 Kronenwetter, Michael. Capital Punishment. Santa Barbara: ABC- CLIO, Inc, 1993. Bedau, Hugo Adam., and Pierce, Chester M. Capital Punishment in the United States. New York: AMS Press, Inc, 1975.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Megivern, James J. The Death Penalty: An Historical and Theological Survey.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  New York: Paulist Press, 1997.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fridell, Ron. Capital Punishment. New York: Benchmark Books, 2004. Costanzo, Mark. Just Revenge: Costs and Consequences of the Death Penalty. New York: St. Martin?s Press, 1997. Goldberg, Steven. ?So What if the Death Penalty Deters World Wide Web.1989.

An Analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Essay

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in London in 1797 to radical philosopher, William Godwin, and Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Wollstonecraft died 11 days after giving birth, and young Mary was educated in the intellectual circles of her father’s contemporaries. In 1814, at the age of seventeen, Mary met and fell in love with poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. She ran away with him to France and they were married in 1816 after Shelley’s wife committed suicide. Percy Shelley was a prominent poet of the Romantic Movement along with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and Shelley’s friend, Lord Byron. As his wife and companion, Mary Shelley was exposed to the same influences as her husband, and this Romanticism influenced her work. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein after Byron introduced a challenge to discern whom among the three writers — Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and Byron himself — could write the best ghost story. The tumultuous French Revolution, which began before her birth, but had far-reaching echoes in society and literature, as well as the Industrial Revolution of England in the 18th Century, were influences on Mary Shelley’s life and work. The mass production and dehumanization of the Industrial Revolution posed a threat to the Romantic ideals of the importance of the individual, the beauty of nature, and the emotional and free spirit. Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, can be seen as a protest against this scientific revolution. Scientific progress was a large part of this century of discovery. Darwin, a leading scientific figure with his theories of evolution, was a personal friend of Shelley’s husband, so science was not an ignored topic in her life. Advances in medicine and the need for cadavers also figured into the time in which Mary Shelley lived. At this time in London grave robbing was a common occurrence because men dubbed â€Å"the resurrection men† would sell the stolen bodies to teaching hospitals so that medical students could dissect and study them. This knowledge makes the idea of Victor Frankenstein  scavenging graveyards for parts seem less shocking. Frankenstein addresses common Romantic themes of isolation and the beauty of nature, but it also deals with loss, which Mary Shelley knew a great deal about. Growing up motherless, Mary also lost her sister to suicide, as well as losing three of her own children to miscarriage and early childhood deaths. In 1822 her husband drowned in the Gulf of Spezzia, and she was left, twenty-five years old, with only one remaining son. She remained unmarried and died in London in 1851. Although she wrote several other books, including Valperga (1823), The Last Man (1826), Lodore (1835), and Falkner (1837), Frankenstein is her most well known work. â€Å"The critics greeted Mary Shelley’s novel with a combination of praise and disdain† (Moss and Wilson). The unorthodox studies of Frankenstein were shocking to critics, but â€Å"despite the critical attacks, Frankenstein caused a literary sensation in London. The novel fit smoothly into the popular gothic genre† (Moss and Wilson). But more than just a popular culture novel, Frankenstein has lasted over time. â€Å"The novel became one of the triumphs of the Romantic movement due to its themes of alienation and isolation and its warning about the destructive power that can result when human creativity is unfettered by moral and social concerns† (Moss and Wilson) Mary Wolstonecraft Shelley PLOT Frankenstein, set in Europe in the 1790’s, begins with the letters of Captain Robert Walton to his sister. These letters form the framework for the story in which Walton tells his sister the story of Victor Frankenstein and his monster as Frankenstein told it to him. Walton set out to explore the North Pole. The ship got trapped in frozen water and the crew, watching around them, saw a giant man in the distance on a dogsled. Hours later they found Frankenstein and his dogsled near the  ship, so they brought the sick man aboard. As he recovered, Frankenstein told Walton his story so that Walton would learn the price of pursuing glory at any cost. Frankenstein grew up in a perfectly loving and gentle Swiss family with an especially close tie to his adopted cousin, Elizabeth, and his dear friend Henry Clerval. As a young boy, Frankenstein became obsessed with studying outdated theories about what gives humans their life spark. In college at Ingolstadt, he created his own â€Å"perfect† human from scavenged body parts, but once it lived, the creature was hideous. Frankenstein was disgusted by its ugliness, so he ran away from it. Henry Clerval came to Ingolstadt to study with Frankenstein, but ended up nursing him after his exhausting and secret efforts to create a perfect human life. While Frankenstein recovered from his illness over many months and then studied languages with Clerval at the college, the monster wandered around looking for friendship. After several harsh encounters with humans, the monster became afraid of them and spent a long time living near a cottage and observing the family who lived there. Through these observations he became educated and realized that he was very different from the humans he watched. Out of loneliness, the monster sought the friendship of this family, but they were afraid of him, and this rejection made him seek vengeance against his creator. He went to Geneva and met a little boy in the woods. The monster hoped to kidnap him and keep him as a companion, but the boy was Frankenstein’s younger brother, so the monster killed him to get back at his creator. Then the monster planted the necklace he removed from the child’s body on a beautiful girl who was later executed for the crime. When Frankenstein learned of his brother’s death, he went back to Geneva to be with his family. In the woods where his young brother was murdered, Frankenstein saw the monster and knew that he was William’s murderer. Frankenstein was ravaged by his grief and guilt for creating the monster who wreaked so much destruction, and he went into the mountains alone to find peace. Instead of peace, Frankenstein was approached by the monster who then demanded that he create a female monster to be the monster’s companion.  Frankenstein, fearing for his family, agreed to and went to England to do his work. Clerval accompanied Frankenstein, but they separated in Scotland and Frankenstein began his work. When he was almost finished, he changed his mind because he didn’t want to be responsible for the carnage another monster could create, so he destroyed the project. The monster vowed revenge on Frankenstein’s upcoming wedding night. Before Frankenstein could re turn home, the monster murdered Clerval. Once home, Frankenstein married his cousin Elizabeth right away and prepared for his death, but the monster killed Elizabeth instead and the grief of her death killed Frankenstein’s father. After that, Frankenstein vowed to pursue the monster and destroy him. That’s how Frankenstein ended up near the North Pole where Walton’s ship was trapped. A few days after Frankenstein finished his story, Walton and his crew decided to turn back and go home. Before they left, Frankenstein died and the monster appeared in his room. Walton heard the monster’s explanation for his vengeance as well as his remorse before he left the ship and traveled toward the Pole to destroy himself so that none would ever know of his existence. CHARACTERS Major Characters Robert Walton: Indirect narrator of the story, he tells Victor Frankenstein’s story through letters to his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton is a self-educated man who set out to reach and explore the North Pole and find an Arctic passage to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. While his ship is locked in ice, his crew sees Frankenstein’s monster pass by on a dog sled and Frankenstein himself, exhausted and weakened, not far behind. They take Frankenstein aboard and Walton nurses him and talks with him because he has been longing for a friend. In seeing Walton’s raw ambition to explore the North Pole at all costs, Frankenstein is prompted to tell the story of his destruction that a similar ambition brought upon him. After Frankenstein’s death and just before the ship heads back to England, Walton is also the last to see the monster before he goes north to kill himself. Victor Frankenstein: Frankenstein is the eldest son of a wealthy, Genevese man, Alphonse, and his young wife, Caroline. Victor grows up in the perfect family with a happy childhood and a constant and devoted companion in his adopted cousin, Elizabeth. He is sensitive, intelligent, and passionate about his interests and becomes absorbed in the quest to find out what creates life. While away at college in Ingolstadt, Victor creates a being from scavenged corpse parts and gives it life, but is repulsed by its hideousness once it lives. The monster, in retaliation for Victor’s negligence, destroys his life by killing off those Victor loves. Victor chases him to the far reaches of the Arctic planning to destroy him and then die to escape his misery and remorse at his creation, but he dies aboard Walton’s ship before he can catch the monster. The Monster: Created by Victor Frankenstein in Ingolstadt, the monster is a conglomeration of human parts with inhuman strength. He is so hideous that Victor, his own creator, cannot stand to look upon him. He is loving and gentle at the beginning of his life, childlike in his curiosity and experiences, but after several harsh encounters with humans, he becomes bitter. He seeks revenge on his creator for making him so hideous and rendering him permanently lonely because of his ugliness. He offers Frankenstein peace in exchange for a companion of like origin, but when Frankenstein does not comply, he vows to destroy him and begins killing off Frankenstein’s friends and family — those figures he most envies because he does not have them. After finding Frankenstein dead aboard Walton’s ship, the monster goes further north with plans to destroy himself and end the suffering that Frankenstein began when he created him. Elizabeth Lavenza: Adopted cousin of Victor Frankenstein. Elizabeth was a beautiful orphan being raised by an Italian peasant family when Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein adopted her. She became Victor’s constant companion and he watched over her as if she were his own possession from their meeting when he was 5 years old. Her beauty and kindness made her adored almost reverently by all who knew her, and it was taken for granted that she and Victor would marry. She is the gentling influence and the comforter for the  males of the Frankenstein family when Caroline dies, and her beauty and goodness are constant throughout her life. She and Victor are married, but on their wedding night, the monster strangles Elizabeth to punish Victor for not creating for him a companion creature. Henry Clerval: Life-long friend of Victor Frankenstein, Henry was poetic, sensitive and caring, and their friendship was a strong one. When Victor was in Ingolstadt so long without sending word to his family, Henry relocated there to study and to look after Victor. Henry nursed him through a long period of illness before Victor returned to Geneva. Later they traveled together to England and Scotland, but while they were there, the monster strangled Henry to punish Victor. Victor was accused of the murder, but was acquitted. Justine Moritz: Servant in the Frankenstein household, Justine was another beautiful, gentle, and kind addition to the Frankenstein family whom Caroline took in to care for and educate. When Caroline got scarlet fever, Justine nursed her, and after Caroline died, Justine returned to her own mother. Her mother too became ill and died, so Justine returned to the Frankenstein home to help raise the two sons Caroline had left when she died. Justine was a grateful and faithful part of their household, but she was accused of 5-year-old William Frankenstein’s murder when a locket he had been wearing was found in her dress. Although she had been framed by the monster and was innocent, she was executed and Victor considered her death his fault because he created the monster who framed her. Alphonse Frankenstein: Victor Frankenstein’s father, Alphonse was a wealthy and benevolent man who loved his wife and his children very dearly. He rescued Caroline Beaufort, daughter of his close friend, from poverty after her father’s death. He was a doting husband and father bent by the grief of loss after loss until he dies from accumulated sorrow and shock. Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein: Wife of Alphonse and mother of Victor, Ernest, and William, Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein was the daughter of a once-wealthy friend of Alphonse. Planning to aid his friend, Alphonse found  his home and went there only to find Caroline weeping over his coffin. Alphonse took her into his home and married her two years later. They had a loving relationship and cared for their children very much. She was a good, beautiful, and gentle woman adored by all her family until she died from the scarlet fever she contracted nursing Elizabeth back to health. Minor Characters Mrs. Margaret Saville: Sister of Robert Walton, ship captain, Mrs. Saville is significant only because she is the recipient of the letters describing Frankenstein’s story. Walton writes to her of the progress of his journey and his acquaintance with Frankenstein. Beaufort: Friend of Alphonse Frankenstein and Caroline’s father, Beaufort lost his wealth and relocated to escape the humiliation of his poverty. Caroline nursed him as his health declined and was weeping over his coffin when Alphonse found her and took her back to Geneva. M. Waldman: Chemistry professor at Ingolstadt. His lectures revive Victor’s interest in discovering the spark of life and creation. Ernest Frankenstein: Victor’s brother. Ernest is 7 years younger than Victor and is only mentioned a few times, the longest reference in a letter to Victor from Elizabeth. She mentions that Ernest wants to join the Swiss military. William Frankenstein: Victor’s youngest brother, William is sweet, happy, greatly adored by his family. William is strangled in the woods while the family was out for a walk. His is the first of the monster’s victims, and Justine is framed for the murder. De Lacey Family: Felix, Agatha, and their blind father. This is the family of cottagers near where the monster lives. They are French exiles living in Germany because Felix helped an unjustly imprisoned Turk escape. He watches them and over time learns to speak and read from observing them. The monster  becomes attached to them and chops wood for them as well as other small services without revealing himself to them. He craves their acceptance and affection and educates himself further to win them over. When he seeks their affection, however, they are afraid of him and their scorn sends him away. This rejection sends him on a quest to find Victor, his creator, and seek vengeance. Muhammadan: Turk Felix aided and for whom the De Lacey family was exiled to Germany. Muhammadan was unjustly condemned for reasons of religion and wealth, and Felix helped him escape, falling in love with Muhammadan’s daughter, Safie, along the way. Muhammadan promises to allow them to marry, but plans secretly to take Safie back to Turkey with him. Safie: Daughter of Muhammadan and Arabian Christian woman. Safie falls in love with Felix and doesn’t want to return to the oppressive country of her birth. When her father leaves for Turkey with the expectation that she will follow soon after with all of his possessions, she seeks out Felix and lives with him and his family in Germany. M. Kirwin: Irish magistrate who cares for Victor when he falls ill after being accused of Henry’s murder. Kirwin is sympathetic and believes Victor is innocent, so he has a doctor care for Victor while he is imprisoned and also sends for Alphonse. SETTINGS Geneva: Geneva, Switzerland. Home of the Frankenstein family where Victor grew up and to which he returned after college and the creation of the monster. The murders of William and Justine were located in the area around Geneva. Ingolstadt: Ingolstadt, Germany. Victor went to college in Ingolstadt and created the monster in his laboratory there. This was the city of the monster’s awakening. Mont Blanc: A mountain near Geneva. This mountain is referred to again and again in descriptions of scenery throughout the novel. It carries weight as a mark of Romanticism because it is the subject of a famous poem by William Wordsworth, one of Mary Shelley’s contemporaries. Orkney Islands: Orkney Islands, Scotland. Victor stays in a hut on one of the sparsely populated Orkney Islands to create a second creature to be a companion to the monster. North Pole: Destination of Robert Walton and his ship as well as the monster and Victor. Walton is bound for the North Pole to explore in the hopes of uncovering secrets of the earth and gaining glory for his discovery. Victor is following the monster to the North Pole to destroy him or die trying, and they meet while Walton’s ship is trapped in ice. Walton and Victor never make it to the North Pole because Walton’s men want to turn back for England and Victor dies. The monster, however, is last seen on his way to the furthest point north to destroy himself so that none will know of his hideous existence. Chamounix: Frankenstein traveled to Chamounix to escape his guilt and depression, but while he was in Chamounix, the monster approached him about creating a female monster companion for him. The monster lived in an ice cave not far from Chamounix. INTRODUCTION Mary Shelley was born in 1779 in London, England. At the age of sixteen, she met the famous British poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom she later married. The idea of a man who creates life-in the form of a horrible and grotesque monster-came to Mary in a vivid, waking dream. With her husband’s encouragement, she used this idea as the basis for FRANKENSTEIN. It was written when she was only nineteen years old. After Percy’s death, May Shelley continued to write but produced nothing to equal the success of this classic tale of horror. THE HISTORY OF FRANKENSTEIN 1816: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, daughter of one of the world’s first prominent feminists, writes the novel â€Å"Frankenstein† based n a â€Å"waking dream.† 1823: Richard Brinsley Peake’s â€Å"Presumption, or the Fate of Frankenstein,† the first stage adaptation of the novel, is performed in London. 1887: â€Å"The Vampire’s Victim,† a musical comedy featuring Fred Leslie as the creature, is presented as a Christmas show and includes dancing bears, two vampires and a female Dr. Frankenstein. 1910: The first movie version of â€Å"Frankenstein,† a 16-minute dramatization, is produced by Thomas Edison’s film company. It stars Charles Ogle as the monster. 1928: Hamilton Deane produces an adaptation of â€Å"Frankenstein,† which tours British provinces. Dean himself plays the creature. 1930: â€Å"Frankenstein† makes its West End premiere in London. 1931: 1957: A script written for a Broadway production is sued as the basis for the screenplay of the Universal Pictures film featuring Boris Karloff. Karloff’s performance steals the film.Hammer films produces â€Å"The Curse of Frankenstein,† the first Frankenstein film in color. Unlike earlier versions, it portrayed Victor Frankenstein as the outright villain of the story. 1972: An illustrated version of the story published by Marvel Comics is the first to be told from the monster’s point of view. The creature is portrayed as victim, not victimizer. 1973: A two-part television movie is produced and released as â€Å"Frankenstein, the True Story† in America and â€Å"Dr. Frankenstein† in the United Kingdom. In this story, Victor Frankenstein attempts to save a dying friend by replacing his brain in the reanimated body of a recently dead man. 1974: â€Å"Young Frankenstein,† written by and starring Gene Wilder, spoofs the Universal films of the 1930s with song and dance numbers. It’s the only â€Å"Frankenstein† film with a happy ending. 1978: Berni Wrightson publishes a lavishly illustrated adaptation of â€Å"Frankenstein† that visually portrays the creature as originally described by Shelly. 1981: Elaborate effects cannot compensate for a bad script when an ill-conceived stage version of â€Å"Frankenstein† is mounted on Broadway. It starred John Carradine and closed after only one performance. 1994: The feminist undertones of the original novel are developed in â€Å"Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein,† a film starring Tom Hulce and Helena Bonham Carter.

Organizational Change Plan Essay

Falls are a common cause of morbidity and the leading cause of nonfatal injuries and trauma-related hospitalizations in the United States (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). Falls can occur in home and as well as in any health care facility. In hospitals, falls consistently make up the largest single category of reported incidents, with most falls occurring as a result of medication related issues, toileting, and hospital environment conditions. With falls accounting for the leading cause of injuries in hospital, it is imperative that environment safety and fall prevention is addressed in facilities. This change plan will include the need for implementation of a fall risk assessment and fall precautions, barriers to change, factors influencing change and the readiness for change as well as resources available to support change. These changes will be implementing with the help of using, Kurt Lewin’s Change Plan Theory. Need for the Proposed Change A fall is defined as an event which there is a downward displacement of a patient’s body from a standing, sitting, or lying position that may result in injury (St Peter’s Hospital, 2012). St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, New York, is one of the major acute care hospitals committed to promotion of patient safety. Acute care hospitals show that fall rates range from 1.3 to 8.9 falls/1,000 patient days and that higher rates occur in units that focus on eldercare, surgical, neurology and rehabilitation (â€Å"National Quality Measures Clearinghouse†, 2013). Due to the high number of patient falls and increased risk factors in the hospital it is imperative to have fall assessments and fall prevention standardized throughout the hospital. Patients’ will be provided an optimal safe environment during care based on the Environment Safety and Fall Prevention Policy and Procedure. Fall  prevention strategies are to be executed per standard of care and indivi dualized based on patient assessment within the patient plan of care. Certain patients are considered to be at a greater risk for falls. Factors such as patients who are 85 years old or older, osteoporosis, anticoagulants treatment, bleeding disorders and patients post-operative. Every patient who is admitted into the hospital is placed on universal fall precautions and nurses will further assess patients based on the Hendrich II Assessment Tool and Get-Up-and-Go Assessment. Patients are also reassessed every shift, with change in condition, after a transfer, and after a fall. The Hendrich II Fall Risk Model is used to assess a hospitalized patient’s risk of falling. Designed to be administered quickly, it focuses on eight independent risk factors: confusion, disorientation, and impulsivity, symptomatic depression, altered elimination, dizziness or vertigo, male sex, administration of antiepileptic (or changes in dosage or cessation), administration of benzodiazepines, and poor performance in rising from a seated position in the Get-Up-and-Go Assessment (Hendrich, MSN, RN, FAAN, 2007). Along with universal fall precautions, Hendrich assessment and Get-Up-and-Go Assessment, staff members should be monitoring their environment on an ongoing basis for situations that may lead to a fall, such as tubing and equipment posing as a tripping hazard. Staff members must be proactive with assisting patients with unsteady gait, need for assistive devise and patients with weakness to ensure safety. Once a patient is scored a fall risk, the nurse will initiates a fall prevention program and activate fall risk in patient’s plan of care. A yellow arm band is placed on the patient, special skid resistant slipper socks are provider to the patient and fall precaution sign is placed outside patient’s door and over the bed to ensure all staff members are aware of fall risk. Providing education on preventing falls to both family and patient, placing patients closer to the nurses’ station, providing bed alarms, sitters and hourly rounding are other measures to avoid falls. Patients who score five or greater are considered to be risk for falls and fall interventions will be initiated. Another safety measure important to prevention of falls is to include fall risks in all shift to shift reports. Barriers to Change St. Peter’s Hospital is an large organization specializing in Cardiac,  Hepatobiliary, Bariatric, Gastrointestinal and Orthopedic Surgeries. Being such a diverse large organization inconsistency throughout the hospital shows to be the major barrier to change. Other barriers are lack of employee involvement, lack of financial resources and poor communication. To overcome such barriers, an awareness of the need for an effectiveness of fall risk assessment and fall prevention program is essential. Employees, patient’s, and family members need to be aware of fall risks, fall precautions and the fall prevention program. Factors Influencing Change Increasing patient satisfaction and at the same time preventing and reducing the amount of falls on a daily basis is the key factor. Patient satisfaction is ultimately the driving force behind the changes in the hospital. If patients are not satisfied with care, they will go to another provider and thus the hospital will lose money. In order for St. Peter’s Hospital to remain ranked in the top 10 hospitals, they must ensure all patients are pleased and safe with their care. One way to make certain that the hospital patient safety increases is by implementing changes throughout the hospital to standardized the fall risk assessments and fall prevention program. In order to be successful with this change, regulatory changes will be necessary to be made in accordance with fall prevention. St. Peter’s Hospital is committed to patient’s safety and ensures all patients are provided with an optimal safe environment during care. Training is required for all employees to guarantee compliance and full understand of the fall prevention program. Evaluation of the program is another regulatory change that is necessary for the success of the program. Monitoring on a regular basis is required to determine effectiveness of program and deciding if changes should be made or modified. Factors Influencing Readiness for Change When organizational readiness for change is high, organizational members are more likely to initiate change, exert greater effort, exhibit greater persistence, and display more cooperative behavior (Weiner, 2009). Readiness requires both the capability to make change as well as the motivation to make the change. Readiness is contingent on several different factors throughout the hospital. Several factors for implementing the falls  risk assessment and fall prevention program is the high rate of falls throughout the hospital. Readiness is also determined by the financial stand point of the hospital. The hospital must be willing and able to devote extra funds to pay for increased amount of employee training and education. Theoretical Change Model: Kurt Lewin’s Change Theory Utilizing Kurt Lewin’s Change Theory can assist St. Peter’s Hospital to make the change, minimize disruption and assure that the change is adopted permanently. Lewin’s three step model of change are as follows: Unfreezing, Changing and Refreezing. Unfreezing is the readiness for change. During this phase St. Peter’s Hospital will prepare the hospital staff for the implementation of the falls risk assessment and falls prevention program. In order to prepare the hospital staff of the need for change, they must first provide information and research regarding the program and the benefits. Once unfreezing is complete, St. Peter’s Hospital would transition into the second phase known as, Change. Change is the actual implementation of the proposed change. In order to implement these changes, training will be provided and required for all employees to guarantee compliance and full understand of the fall prevention program. Evaluation and monitoring of the program will also be conducted during this phase to ensure compliance as well as understanding. Actually making the falls risk assessment and falls prevention program a permanent entity to the nursing assessment is the final stage of refreezing. During this stage, St. Peter’s Hospital will continue to offer education and support throughout the hospital to standardized the fall risk assessment and falls program. Recourses Available for Change It would be virtually nearly impossible to implement an successful change without having the necessary resources. In order to implement such a plan as the fall risk and fall prevention program, St. Peter’s Hospital must have a team of educated employees throughout the many disciplines and be able to train the remainder of the hospital with the new proposed changes. Education would be in the form of class room demonstrations, on the unit in-services in addition to hospital based website education. Finances is another major resource that is required for the change plan. Without the  proper means, the hospital is not able to pay the employees and implementation would not be in effect. Conclusion Patient education needs to be incorporated into the admission process and continue throughout the hospitalization stay. Education provides the patient with the knowledge of the importance of safety and what part he or she contributes in their care as well as risk factor identified. Fall prevention programs are designed to determine fall risk and prevention strategies while collaborating with the patient’s health care. Informing both the patient and the family will bring an understanding and mindfulness to fall prevention. Falls are devastating to both the patient and the hospital considering a single fall may result in a downward spiral of reduced mobility with a loss of function and further risk of falls. Along with proper education, fall risk assessments are vital to the fall prevention process. These fall risk assessment are implemented hospital wide and are conducted every shift, change in status, during transfers to different units and at discharge (St. Peter’s Hospital, 2012). Compliance and consistency reduces falls and the overall cost of falls throughout the hospital improving the care. References Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Falls Among Older Adults: An Overview. Retrieved from August 23, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/falls/adultfalls.html Currie, D.N. Sc, M.S.N., R.N., Leanne. (n.d. ). Fall and Prevention. Retrieved August 23, 2014, from http://ncbi.nlm.gov Hendrich, MSN, RN, FAAN, Ann. (2007, November). How to Try This† Predicting Falls. AJN, 107(11), 50 National Quality Measures Clearinghouse. (2013). Retrieved August 23, 2014, from http://www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov/content.aspx?id=36944 Environmental Safety and Fall Prevention. (2012). Retrieved August 23, 2014, from http://www.sphcs.org/environmentalsafetyandfallprevention.org Weiner, B. J. (2009, October). A Theory of Organizational Readiness for Change . Implementation Science, 4(67)

Strengthening Federal Clean Air Standards

For Californians, not a day goes by without hearing some remark referring to smog or the quality of the air they breathe. One becomes accustom to shrugging such remarks off without a second thought after a while. Sure the air is getting cleaner, manufactures and people alike seem to be doing all they can do to clean up the air they breathe. Clean air folks are starting to be labeled as reactionaries. As with every organized group there are those among them that deserve such labels, but when it comes down to the air which people have to breathe very day, extra emphasis is a good thing. Federal and local regulations along with public support are responsible for substantial gains in air quality in the last ten years. â€Å"Air quality in Southern California continues to improve, with 1995 registering some of the lowest levels in decades. Yet Southern California still experiences the worst air quality in the nation requiring continued diligence to meet air quality standards† These improvements provide the grounds for continuing the battle for air quality instead of grounds for a pat on the back and job well done. Federal clean air standards should be strengthened. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) along with an arsenal of reputable agencies have drafted a plan known as the 1997 Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP) in which detailed summaries regarding current and future air quality measures are brought forward for critics and supporters alike to discern. It is in this plan along with supporting facts regarding beneficial economic gains and support from the medical community that make the case for continuous and stricter air quality standards. The 1997 AQMP sets fourth the guidelines in which the Federal government should set standards for state and local governments along with private agencies to impose and enforce. The focus of the plan comes as a result of new understanding regarding pollutants known as ozone and M10. This new information flows from countless scientific studies. For example, â€Å"Use of the most current air quality information (1995), including special particulate matter data from the PM10 Technical Enhancement Program† . There findings show direct links in ozone and the PM10 pollutants. In chapter three of the plan one can find the scientific data based on base year emission levels dating back to 1987 as they relate to current and future emission levels. Data clearly show's improvement in Southern California's quality of air in the ten year period between 1987 and 1997. The data also provides needed understanding of the major contributors to smog and other ozone depleting pollutants. Overall, total mobile source emissions account for 61 percent of the VOC and 88 percent of the Nox emissions for these two pollutants† The knowledge of this information has been a major factor in the control of these pollutants produced by the vehicles driven by millions everyday weather on the job or just tooling around town with the top down. While the information in this plan requires a good deal of scientific knowledge to understand the general message is clear. Populations are increasing which increases the demands placed on the environment. Without continual improvement regarding air quality there will be massive amounts of ozone depleting emissions created and unchecked in the environment. This plan should be imposed by the Federal government. It provides the method for promising futures not only for the environment but the economy as well. Along with the benefits in improved air quality that will result form the implementation of the 1997 AQMP substantial gains in technology will be achieved in the areas of zero emission vehicles and the development of alternative fuels. On-road motor vehicles which include passenger cars, light duty trucks, medium duty vehicles, heavy duty vehicles, and motorcycles, currently number approximately 10 million in the South Coast Air Basin. † If this seems an alarming number of vehicles of which contribute 61 percent of the VOC and 88 percent of the Nox emissions in the air; you better sit down. â€Å"In 1995 these vehicles traveled more than 300 million miles per day, and by the year 2010, vehicle miles traveled is projected to be about 380 million miles per day† . This is an alarming number of vehicles along with an alarming number of miles to boot. The implementation of the 1997 plan will require the sale of zero-emission vehicles beginning in 2003. This demand places immense pressure on the automotive industry to come up with suitable alternatives for the combustion engine. The technology gains from this industrial effort have already begun to show themselves at car shows throughout the country. All manufactures will benefit from this new technology, from those who produce the batteries that run them to manufacturers of the lightweight materials needed to produce such automobiles. The public reaps immediate gains from this technology such as the cell phone's carried by thousands of people every day in Southern California. Some of the most notable technologies include nickel metal-hydride, lithium-ion, and sodium-nickel chloride. Nickel metal-hydride batteries are responsible for the ability to constantly charge ones cell phone battery without it developing a memory position resulting in limited to no use of the battery at all. Lithium-ion batteries provide extended use of many battery operated items used in every day life such as flash lights, cameras, radios†¦ Honda and Toyota have announced they will introduce pilot fleets of electric vehicles with nickel metal-hydride batteries in 1988 . The examples in technological advancements that result from stricter air quality controls are endless and cannot be fully realized without implementation of the controls described in the 1997 AQMP. As if the available information thus far were not enough to support the EPA's plans for air quality, the medical community has stepped forward to support efforts for cleaner air as well. The proposed plan clearly benefits air quality and the economy through advances in technology. Support from the medical community will convince the stragglers that don't feel air quality and technology will directly benefit themselves. â€Å"Dr. Barry S. Levy, American Public Health Association president and an environmental health physician, called today for the adoption of EPA's proposed regulations to lower levels of particulate (soot) matter and ozone (a chemical that helps cause smog) in the air. This effort will protect children and adults from illness, disability and death, and reduce health care costs by billions of dollars† . Public health is of major concern when it comes to the environment. The air people breath daily is vital to their existence and the quality of that air is one of the major factors to their quality of life. According to DR. Levy, â€Å"The proposed EPA standard are based on well-designed scientific studies that link adverse health effect to the fine particulate matter and ozone† . The American Public Health Association (APA) is considered on of the oldest and largest organizations devoted to public health. The APA credits itself with some of the top professionals in the field of public health. They have conducted more studies and published more information regarding public health than any other organization of its kind in the world so when they support the EPA's findings for stricter air quality control measures they speak for a vast majority of health professionals. Common sense requires one to feel a sense of dread at the possibility of death as a result of poor air quality. The EPA has built a sound case for enacting stricter air qualities and they have a great plan for its enactment. It is clearer now that the adoption of the 1997 AQMP has far reaching benefits for all. Scientifically sound evidence points to the reality of cleaner air from the plans enactment. Increases in technology will create economic growth and business opportunity. And finally health risks resulting from poor air quality can be substantially reduced for both children and adults. The 1997 AQMP also provides measures for meeting the standards proposed in its regulations. Through, â€Å"Intercredit Trading Program, Air Quality Investment Program and Promotion of Catalyst-Surface Coating Technology Programs for Air Conditioning Units. These measures are designed to enhance compliance flexibility, to facilitate the implementation of the command and control measures† . The command and control measures of the plan are simply implementation and enforcement policies which incorporate assistance and rewards for complying to regulations. Most of these programs are already successfully being operated at the present time. There is also an Air Quality Assistance Fund which has been enacted to help small businesses comply with stricter emission regulations. The plan provides a â€Å"loan guarantee for up to 90 percent of the loan amount, ranging from a minimum of $15,000 to a maximum of $250,000† . Money can be used for retrofitting operations to the point of complying with any portion of the AQMP. A study conducted buy Dr. Steven Meyer, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Project on Environmental Politics and Policy says, â€Å"‘Job growth–not job loss– is associated with stronger environmental policies. The 10 states with the strongest environmental policies appear to have experienced annual employment growth rates almost . 6 percent higher than those of the 10 states with the weakest environmental policies'†. Opponents of Federal regulations often rely on job scare tactics to kill a useful initiative such as the one proposed by the EPA but the facts are, jobs are created when improvements in technology are made. The plan provides a complete package from reasons for change through benefits of such changes right down to the actual implementation of its policy's. It provides areas of assistance for those who have trouble with compliance and places adequate emphasis on continued improvement in all areas regarding air quality. With regard to the health of the planet and the there is little reason remaining for the Federal government not to enforce stricter air quality measures.

Jane Austen Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Jane Austen - Essay Example In the society in which Jane lived, the only aspiration of a young girl is to get married. So Jane Austen selects the theme of marriage in all her novels. Even Emma ends in the celebration of three marriages. Jane Austen's novels are called drawing room novels. Emma is a typical drawing room novel. Almost all incidents in the novel take a place in the drawing room of Emma. Emma Woodhouse is the daughter of a valetudinarian. Her governess Miss Taylor assumes the role of a guide and friend to her in moments of loneliness. Jane Austen's 1816 novel, Emma reflects the detail of nineteenth century England and therefore the values of the context in which it was written. The setting of Emma is that of the world in which Austen lived. The text explores the themes and values of romance and marriage, social order, feminism and moral dimension. Austen has employed several techniques in order to convey these, such as literary context and social microcosm, satire and a number of narrative techniqu es. Austen provides exploits the contrast between how things seem to be and how they really are through these literary techniques. Austen typically writes novels that focus on social conventions. Her societies demonstrate these conventions are collapsing as the world is evolving and that what people believe to be conventional is really eroding. Characters of fortune and education who speak in accordance with the rules of pragmatics and social decorum are, in turn, rewarded through matrimonial bonds with characters of similar communicative merit. Gubar notes, â€Å"There is always the sense too that we owe to her narrator's art the significance with which such scenes are invested:

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry Essay

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry - Essay Example This process shows that analysis and synthetic are crucial elements of literary research and interpretation. 3. The most difficult was to incorporate different points of view of the characters and events in order to understand the epoch and its values. This attempt shows that every personality has both good and bad features and it is incorrect to label a hero as "negative" or "positive" only. Every person has a dual nature which determines relations with other people and the world around us. 4. The strengths of the paper are clear themes and issues under analysis (sub-topics), examples which help to illustrate the main ideas and structure (introduction, thesis, four body paragraphs and conclusion). It is possible to add analysis of the other characters (Ruth, Asagai, Beneatha etc. but it would take more than 3 pages. 5. Historical overview of the epoch (culture and social movements) will help readers to grasp the idea and themes described in the paper. There are no certain events that led me to write on this topic, but I suppose that historical analysis of the society is the first step which helps me to understand the play and its characters. A play "A Raisin in the Sun" vividly reflects social values and ideals dominated in the society during 1950s. ... Thesis The play reflects the values of the society and norms typical for 1950s through family relations and social environment described by Lorraine Hansberry. The play depicts family life of African-Americans faced with racial discrimination and poverty. The Younger family belongs to working class faced with poverty and suffered from lack of money. Hansberry creates in Walter Lee a typical member of the low class with low-class ambitions, while at the same time he is a psychological study: self-deluding, a man unable to come to terms with reality. All of his dreams associated with wealth and luxury are transferred to a liquor store venture which promises to make Walter Lee a prosperous businessman. Walter comments "You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be 'bout thirty thousand, see... Baby, don't nothing happen for you in this world 'less you pay somebody off!" (Act 1, Scene 1). The whole play is constructed around the theme of money which shapes the atmosphere of the epoch. This theme is reflected through the character of Walter Lee. Only money rules the world of low classes and forces them to forget about human dignity and human code of ethics. On the other hand, Hansberry vividly portrays a difference between the old generation represented by Mama and young people like Walter Lee and his wife, Ruth. Because of poverty and hard work, money is the only way for young people to realize their dreams. Hansberry unveils that nothing is sacred for the young generation. For instance, Willy is indifferent towards his wife and unborn child driven by desire for money. Low morals and values have a great influence on the

What the real reason gas prices are rising Research Paper

What the real reason gas prices are rising - Research Paper Example Predictably, Obama is being attacked by the Republican opposition for not doing enough to control prices and for what they deem a flawed energy policy which, if corrected would drop prices to what GOP Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich claims could be $2.50 per gallon. The price of gas is determined by mainly by world politics; make that Middle East politics, speculation and forces of supply and demand. This discussion will address these and other, possibly less obvious, factors that determine the price of a gallon of gas. As consumers pump gas into their vehicles the dollar amount is literally right in front of their eyes as the digital display quickly calculates the total. People feel they are being taken advantage of when that number increases every week for the same amount of product. Some blame oil companies, others their local gas station or regional oil refineries. While all of these entities profit from gasoline none are the real culprits, none have much, if anything, to do with the escalation of prices. The global demand for refined gas does have a major impact. In other words, the person pumping their gas is more to blame than oil companies. During the recent recession the demand for gas dropped because unemployed persons don’t drive to work and fewer were taking a vacation. As the recovery is taking hold worldwide the demand goes up along with prices. (Faucon, 2012). â€Å"Analysts warn that oil could become even more expensive in the second half of the year as supplies struggle to catch up with rising demand.† The average consumer would be better served to pump their gas into a more fuel-efficient vehicle. This would lower demand therefore the price. (Motavalli, 2012). During his cross-country energy tour Obama called for Congress to stop subsidizing the enormously prosperous oil companies with billions of dollars in tax