Thursday, October 31, 2019

Import HID head light bulb from china to USA Essay

Import HID head light bulb from china to USA - Essay Example It would have been difficult to source such parts from China in the past, as Germany, France and the US were the primary sources for higher-tech lighting such as HID, but this image has changed in the past few years. The US is a major market for automobile aftermarket parts. With over 200 million autos on the road, (Economist) and about 16 million autos sold per year, nearly 190 million autos need spare parts and upgrades. The SEMA, or Special Equipment Manufacturers Associate, has become a major force in automobile after-market parts, for those who would like to improve the technical characteristics and the look of their cars. HID bulbs represent a relatively inexpensive and easy way to both improve the look of the car and improve its headlight performance. With many newer and more expensive cars using either HID bulbs or Xenon-arc bulbs, one recognizes a car on the road at night by the cool, intense white light that is emitted from either of these sources. There are a number of considerations that are important to sourcing HID bulbs in China. Because there are several suppliers, it may make sense to have at least two of comparable quality. Our company should insist on using its own brand, and not co-branding with the Chinese company; this preserves the importer’s flexibility in moving to another manufacturer if need be. The transactions should be based on Letters of Credit, which are less expensive than advancing capital before the goods are received. Because HID bulbs are high-value and low weight, low cubes (space requirements), it makes sense to send the products by air, which can shave 4 weeks off a normal 4-6 week shipping alternative. In order to import HID bulbs, one must first obtain approval from NHTSA, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. They need to establish that the bulbs meet US requirements for maximum power and fit within certain size and aiming guidelines. These requirements are somewhat

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Organizational Culture and Leadership Change Essay

Organizational Culture and Leadership Change - Essay Example He is liked by each and every employee and all of them have great love and respect for him. He is a 'father' to them in the real sense. The performance of the company has been stable for the last decade, though in pure commercial terms it could have always done much better. Philip's approach was always based on elements of trust and collaboration where decision making appeared to be on basis of collective wisdom of the staff. The demands of the business have changed with the region being no more restricted by national boundaries. Coupled with these pressures was the failing health of Philip Mayor; which made him decide to hand over the management of the business to his only son Tony Mayor over a year back. Tony is a Commerce graduate with a Management degree from one of the prestigious universities of the U.S., but has very little experience. The transition from Philip Mayor to Tony Mayor has witnessed a sea change in the company. There has been more visible emphasis on discipline, systems, expectations of performance, change in workloads, change in style, change in structures, induction of modern technology and overall a change in approach to business with diminishing collective participation . A couple of loyal employees have been fired and some are under threat of losing their jobs. From the company performance side, Tony is determined to ensure that there is optimal return on investments made by the company and for which he is not prepared to compromise on any count. He is also considering seriously of inducting core professionals to provide a professional touch to the company which requires intense interaction with big clients both within and beyond the region. The whole employees of the company appear to be dissatisfied with the transition and one can feel the vibrations in everything that the employees do. Problem Statement Day in and day out and all around us, we see "organization" and "culture" dominating our discussions in our lives at home, at work and beyond. In the context of this case it is necessary to understand what is an organization Organization is about people, about other resources, the way people interact and the way they deal with other resources. It is a complex system built around human relationships, relationships between human and other resources and which are constantly under internal and external environmental influences. We can see that organizations are just not about resources and their combination; it is much more than that. It has life as it has people and it has a definite purpose, a definite code, a definite approach. Just coming together of people and other resources is not organization. In other words, organization essentially means and represents people. The next question that comes up is -What is culture It is fascinating so much as it is complex to understand! J. P. Lederach, in his famous book entitled 'Preparing for peace: Conflict transformation across cultures' defines culture as "the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them" (Lederach 1995). The need for togetherness, interdependence, collaboration and sharing involves each one of us to have our own perception, beliefs and values in our quest for being understood, understanding others and mutually understanding. In this process,

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Casting Engine Blocks Automotive Manufacturing Processes Engineering Essay

Casting Engine Blocks Automotive Manufacturing Processes Engineering Essay There are several different types of manufacturing processes to choose from out there and many different alloys that are at ones disposal to be used. Some processes include: sand casting, die casting, and lost-foam casting. In this report, sand and die casting will be discussed with the focus on sand casting. Also, choosing a suitable alloy will be discussed. Is the alloy going to be ferrous or non-ferrous and what qualities does the alloy chosen have, to make it a good choice to use with the manufacturing process is a question to ask oneself. In this case, sand casting has the capability of using any alloy whereas; die casting is generally limited to non-ferrous alloys. Aluminum is a very common alloy to use and it can be used for almost any process. Although, this alloy possesses some qualities that would be desired by most, gray cast iron was decided by us to possess even stronger qualities that led us to choose it for the material used in the design of a cast iron block. Sand cas ting is now and has been for some time one of the most commonly used manufacturing processes and the use of gray cast iron fits very well with this process. The reasons for choosing sand casting as the manufacturing process and gray cast iron as the alloy will be discussed further in the report. Problem Statement: To select a suitable casting process and material that will be as per the requirement of efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly engine block production. Objectives: To discuss the various casting processes that can be used to manufacture an engine block. To select a suitable alloy for the part. To select a suitable casting process. To justify the above selection. To design the selected process to cast an engine block. To discuss the defects in the casting and challenges to be faced while using the selected process and the methods to overcome these. To discuss the cost consideration and environmental impact of using the selected process. The Identification of Suitable Casting Processes The manufacturing of cast engine blocks out of cast iron involves the consideration of what manufacturing process to use as well as a suitable alloy. The alloy chosen for our company is gray cast iron and the process of selecting this particular alloy will be discussed further in the next section. This section will discuss how our company came to choose sand casting as the manufacturing process by comparing this process with other processes. There are several factors involved in choosing a suitable casting process for manufacturing cast engine blocks. Some of these factors include the type of material that can be used in the casting process, the type of part that can be cast, the finish of the product, the amount of time it takes for the process, and the cost involved. In this section, sand casting will be compared with die casting. Although both are good processes to use, the results vary depending on what process is chosen. There are some similarities between the processes, while there are mostly differences in most aspects of the processes. Selecting a Suitable Alloy An engine block is the main part of an engine which holds all most all the parts of the engine. It should house the internal moving parts, fluids and also withstand the forces and pressure developed during combustion. It should have high strength, wear resistance, good machinability, good vibration absorption capacity, corrosion resistance, low thermal expansion, good thermal conductivity and manufacturability and should have less manufacturing cost. In general, most of the industries use cast iron for manufacturing the engine blocks because of the following reasons: It is cheaper, excellent damping capacity, good wear and high temperature resistant, easily machinable, inexpensive to produce, and can tolerate high pressure and RPM. Other materials which are considered for manufacturing engine blocks are aluminum alloys and magnesium alloys. But, after considering the above factors using cast iron is the feasible option. For choosing the right alloy from cast iron variants, their material properties are compared. Table 1.1 compositions of the different cast irons Name Nominal composition [% by weight] Form and condition Hardness [Brinell scale] Grey cast iron (ASTMA48) C  3.4, Si  1.8,  Mn  0.5 Cast 260 White cast iron C  3.4, Si  0.7, Mn  0.6 Cast (as cast) 450 Malleable iron (ASTM A47) C  2.5, Si  1.0, Mn  0.55 Cast (annealed) 130 Ductile or nodular iron C  3.4, P  0.1, Mn  0.4,Ni  1.0, Mg  0.06 Cast 170 Ductile or nodular iron (ASTM A339) cast (quench tempered) 310 Ni-hard type 2 C  2.7, Si  0.6, Mn  0.5, Ni  4.5, Cr  2.0 Sand-cast 550 Ni-resist type 2 C  3.0, Si  2.0, Mn  1.0, Ni  20.0, Cr  2.5 Cast 140 Table1.2 comparision of the strengths of the cast irons alloys Table 1.3 castability of the different metals. As we need a material which is hard enough, having good strength and good castability, from Table 1.1 we can find gray cast iron having enough and nominal hardness. There are materials which are harder than grey cast iron but as hardness increases material can wear the internal components and will be brittle in nature which is not a preferable property. From Table 1.2 we can observe that elongation is less with good yield strength for gray cast iron which is one of the desirable properties. Both pearlitic and martensitic gray cast irons have less elongation with high yield strength but martensitic gray cast iron has more hardness which is against our requirements and Table 1.3 tells that castability is excellent for gray cast irons compared to other metals and alloys. For desired properties like castability, fluidity, resistance to deformation, relatively low melting point and cost On the whole from the above mentioned tables 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and above desirable properties gray cast iron matches our requirement. So we finally decide to go for the pearlitic gray cast iron. The Effect of Manufacturing Processes on the Product Sand casting and die casting both consist of the pouring of molten metal into a mold, allowing the metal to cool until it solidifies. The type of mold used in these processes usually varies drastically from one another. Die casting uses the molten metal that gets forced into a mold and is subjected to high pressures so that it solidifies very nicely into the die cavity. Sand casting generally uses silica sand as its material for the mold. Sand is generally chosen as the mold material because of the characteristics that it possesses and the fact that its relatively inexpensive. The strength of the mold is critical in the manufacturing process and using the right type of grains in the sand can improve the strength. A specific type of sand is commonly used for sand casting, and that type is called green molding sand. Green molding sand uses a mixture sand, clay, and water. This mixture provides a moist sand to be present in the mold when the metal is poured into the mold. This moist sand then becomes easily reusable, which contributes to lowering the expenses in the process. Sand casting is an efficient process to use because of the flexibility in what can be done as part of the process. There is no limitation to what material can be used, which means that gray cast iron is available to be used when sand casting engine blocks. There is also no limitation to the type of part that can be cast. The part can also be of any size or shape or weight. Another reason for using sand casting is the minimal costs when compared to other manufacturing process, the amount of time required for production of the parts, and the number of parts required in a production cycle. Sand casting allows for the production of one part at a time if necessary, with no limit to the number of parts to be produced. All costs, including mold material, tooling, and labor costs are relatively low compared to other processes. Although, sand casting has many good qualities that persuade us to use this process, there are a few deficiencies in using the process too. These deficiencies include the finish of the material, porosity, and dimensional tolerance. The dimensional tolerance is much greater than that of other manufacturing processes which causes a greater rate of shrinkage. This shrinkage increases the porosity of the material, which results in a rough surface finish. Die casting is an efficient process to use because more precise results. The die casting process allows for the production of solid, fine parts at a high rate. No additional machining should be necessary on these parts since the dimensional accuracy is so good to begin, with that these parts are ready for use after one cycle of the process. Although the types of materials that can be used are limited, which is mentioned in the next paragraph, experimental results show that gray cast iron is a very workable material for die casting. Even smaller sized parts like pins and fasteners can be casted using die casting, but the smooth surface finish and precision of the parts allow for them to be put to good use. Similar to sand casting and any other casting process, die casting has its disadvantages too. Generally, only nonferrous materials can be casted using die casting. The materials work very well, but that still limits the resources out there for the process which could potentially cause some problems. Also, since the parts produced are small, this limits the potential uses of the part. Another problem that could arise is that even though the labor costs are very low since the process is mostly run on automated systems; these systems and all other equipment are relatively expensive. This is the one major difference between sand casting and die casting that cannot be ignored. Ways to lower the costs are still being worked on, but there is still some work left to do to bring these costs down a sufficient amount. It takes a long time to produce these parts, but being able to produce a large quantity at a time helps to make up for the long lead time. These deficiencies will be looked at in greater detail in a later section. The Sand Casting Procedure Sand casting Sand casting is one of the oldest techniques of manufacturing. In this form, molten metal is poured into a mould made of sand. When the metal is hardened and cooled, the part is removed. In sand casting, the mold is made of packed sand. Mold preparation In the process, we chose green sand casting as our casting process. The sand mixture consists of sand, clay binder, water and additives. The sand also includes zircon(ZrSiO4), olivine(Mg2SiO4), iron silicate(Fe2SiO4), chromite(FeCr2O4). Zircon, olivine and iron silicate have low thermal expansion, and chromite has high heat transfer. During the process, all the ingredients are mixed together and the sand should be moist and not dry. Figure 1. Green Sand Casting Mold Sand casting procedure During the process, patterns and cores are made; sand is thoroughly mixed and then formed about the patterns as per our need. The patterns are removed and the two halves of the molds are put together and are thus ready for pouring the molten metal. The preheated metal is then poured slowly into the mold until the mold is full. The part is then cooled and after the part solidifies thoroughly, the sand mold is removed by striking the part. Lastly, we machine the casting to give it its final shape. Defects Sand castings have many defects such as inclusion, shrinkage, air holes, sand holes, cold shut and cracks. In this procedure, the granule shape, granule size and collapsibility of sand mold effect sand mold casting. Quality inspection Quality inspection of sand casting can be done by sharp impact test, x-ray inspection, pressure test, magnaflux inspection and ultrasonic test. Whereas, to inspect the casting in the foundry itself; visual inspection, dimensional inspection, chemical component inspection and testing to figure out the physical properties by doing the hardness or tensile strength test are commonly used. Casting products and mass production The sand used in making the mold can be used again and again(reclaimed), thus the green sand casting process is cheap and widely used compared to other casting process. Due to this mass production of this process in a cost effective manner is possible. CASTING DEFECTS Some of the possible defect that may arise during the sand casting process Shrinkage defects: These defects mainly occur when feed metal is not available to compensate the shrinkage as the metal solidifies. These defects can be avoided by providing proper gates, vents and risers in the mold. Gas porosity: They are formed as bubbles on the casting after it is cooled. This is due to the presence of large amounts of dissolved gas in the molten metal. To prevent this, the metal is melted in vacuum or in the presence of specific low solubility gases such as argon or carbon dioxide. To minimize gas solubility, the super heat temperature can be kept low. Misruns and cold shuts: They are the empty cavities in solidified metal, due to the lack of fluidity, narrow cross sections, back pressure and turbulence. These are rectified by reducing the pouring temperature, adding sprue and proper gates. Metal penetration: This is the presence of rough surface finish because of the liquid metal penetrating the sand mould. This penetration is due to high pouring temperatures. Lowering the pouring temperature will avoid this phenomenon. Hot Spots: They are formed on the surface that is very hard because of the quick cooling compared to the surroundings. Changing chemical composition and providing proper cooling methods like using chills, these can be avoided. Inclusions: These are metal impurities generally oxides, sulfides, nitrides and carbides formed from the material that is eroded from furnace or impurities present in the mold. These inclusions can be reduced by using ceramic filters or melting the metal in vacuum Hot tears: Also called as hot cracking, these are the failures in the casting that are formed while cast metal starts cooling because of the weak strength of the metal when it is hot and the internal stresses. These can be prevented by proper mold design. Mold erosion: Erosion of the mold sand occurs while filling molten metal into the mold, caused due to sand having less binding strength or high pouring velocity of metal. This can be avoided by redesigning the gating system or by using large runners. Identifying challenges in the process and how they are being addressed An engine block has a very complex geometry. The engine block has internal recesses for the coolant, i.e., water to circulate and the cylinders for the piston to reciprocate. So casting such an intricate shape is always challenging. First, the pattern for making the mold must be very carefully designed because the quality of our casting is as good as the quality of our pattern. For such a complex machined part, we must carefully monitor the cooling of the casting; as such a complex part is bound to cool in an uneven manner. We all know that the major problem concerned with sand casting is the poor surface finish, but in an engine block the only important surface is the cylinder where the piston will reciprocate and it is not important for the cooling water to flow through highly machined surfaces. In sand casting, the surface finish can be substantially improved by using finer sands and we are adding zircon to the sand which will result in a better surface finish. Another challenge in sand casting an engine block is the pouring of the molten metal. Since an engine block is huge and has a complicated geometry, the pouring rate of the metal should be carefully monitored. We should not pour it at such a slow rate that the metal solidifies in the pouring vessel itself and it should not be so fast that molten metal could not reach some regions resulting in voids. In fact, the metal should not be poured. It should be pumped against the gravity so as to avoid gas entrapment. As said earlier, an engine block, due to its geometric complexity will tend to cool irregularly. So the risers should be properly placed to take into account this irregular cooling. Addressing the cost consideration The cost associated with sand casting can be divided into three broad categories: Material cost, Production cost and Tooling cost. Material cost As the name suggests, material cost includes the cost of all the materials used in the sand casting process. These materials include the metal, the mold sand and the core sand. The cost of the metal will depend on a number of factors such as cost of the alloy, purity of the alloy and the castability of the alloy. For more pure alloys, the cost will be higher. For alloys with lower castability, additional metal will be required in order to fill the flow channels and the feed heads to assure a good casting, so in such cases, the cost will be higher. The cost of the mold sand and the core sand will depend on the shape and size of the mold and the core respectively. In this case, since our part is an engine block, due to its size and geometric complexity, the cost is bound to be high. Production Cost Again as the name suggests, production cost will include the cost of all the operations that will take place during the process of sand casting. These will include core making, mold making, pouring, and cleaning. The addition of cores to the casting will increase its cost because it will slow the process down. An engine block, a very complicated part, will definitely have cores which will increase the overall production cost by slowing down the production. Pouring and cleaning costs are determined by the size and weight of the casting. So these will be high for an engine block as it is a big and heavy component, and the mold will take longer to fill and the cast block will take longer to be cleaned. Tooling Cost Tooling cost is the cost associated with the tools used during the sand casting process. These include the patterns used to make the molds and the core-boxes to make the cores. Since an engine block is huge and geometrically complicated, tooling cost will be high. Also, since we are designing for mass production, the patterns as well as the core-boxes will have to be used more frequently. The constant use of the tool will result in the wearing down of the tool at a high rate, which in turn will increase the overall cost as the tool will have to be replaced. A solution to this problem will be to use patterns and core-boxes of a better quality material, but again the cost will be high. Environmental Impact of using Sand Casting: Foundries are generally regarded as being dirty and unfavorable to the environment. The primary issues being faced by the casting industry are the excessive volumes of by-products that are to be sent to landfills, and the Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) which are released during the process. Of all the by-products generated by volume, sand is the largest. Even in processes which involve a high level of sand recovery, some amount of new sand is always required to maintain the optimum quality of sand in the system. This in turn will result in loss of sand from the system. After its use, the sand is either sent to a landfill for disposal, resulting in soil pollution, or it is reclaimed off-site. Not all foundry sands are considered hazardous, especially the ones from ferrous foundries, which pass the TCLP (Toxic Characteristic Leaching Procedure), which, after use can be sent to unlined landfills for disposal. Some non-ferrous sands on the other hand contain high levels of metal because they have to be sent to secured landfills and not the unlined ones. Chemical binders inwaste sand can become a crucial issue if resin-coated sands are wasted in large volumes before the pouring stage as most of the binder in the mold is burnt off during the pouring stage. Hence, the binder level should be carefully monitored so as to prevent it from reaching unacceptable levels over a period of many reclamation cycles. The second largest by-product by volume in the sand casting process is the baghouse dust. It is typically formed when the sand is reclaimed multiple times, which results in the sand grains breaking down to dust particles. Not only will it affect the quality of the casting, but it will also result in health issues such as silicosis. Slag is yet another by-product which is formed during the sand casting process. When flux is added to the molten metal to remove impurities, it reacts with the impurities to form slag which floats to the surface and is to be removed before pouring the metal. The slag so formed has a glass like appearance and is not really hazardous as it can be easily disposed of in unlined landfills. Apart from these solid wastes, there is also a substantial amount of gaseous waste (emissions) produced during the sand casting process. These include benzene, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide, phenols, nitrous oxide and other HAPs. Of all the pollutants, benzene is the most emitted. Conclusion In many ways the job of an engineer is not simple, because to choose between one material or one process over another is never easy. There is no process or material which can be considered as perfect. Each process has its advantages and disadvantages. An engineers job is to find an optimum solution so that the huge amount of investment in this industry is justified. In this project we, as engineers have done a similar job. We have selected sand casting for manufacturing the engine blocks and have justified our decision by discussing various aspects, both good as well as bad, of the selected process.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Pompeii Apartments :: Architecture Building History Essays

Pompeii Apartments The Pompeii apartments are located in the middle of a town called La Habra, population roughly fifty-five thousand. They lie nestled in an apartment community, nearby two other apartment complexes. For the residents, this offers a moderately inexpensive housing alternative to living in a house, most of which are small or expensive in La Habra. Nearby, actually on the other side of a wall, pass the cars on Beach Boulevard, the major thoroughfare of the town, which connects La Habra to the rest of Orange County and four freeways that participate in the Los Angeles/Orange County freeway system, notorious nationwide for its complexity. Hence, the apartments offer convenient access to the rest of the southland. In ancient Rome, Pompeii was a typical town, founded in the seventh century BCE between two Greek colonies in what is now southern Italy. When the neighboring volcano Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, the city and many of its inhabitants were encased in ash, which served to preserve the area in its same condition for centuries. For this reason, Pompeii is an extraordinary example of the Roman towns and their inhabitants' ways of life. Many of the paintings on the walls of the houses, for example, still survive, as well as imprints in the ash of the various plants used in the gardens of wealthy townhouses. These townhouses, or domuses, offer a glimpse into the lives of the upper class of Roman citizens and their expressions through art and architecture, much of which remains as it did almost two thousand years ago. There are many similarities between the Pompeii apartments and a townhouse of historical Pompeii, accompanied by just as many differences. To begin with, the modern construction materials of the apartments are nothing similar to the brick and concrete walls of the Pompeiian domus. The apartments use wooden frameworking with drywall and fiberglass insulation, covered on the outside with a flame resistant stucco. Typical to apartment construction now, these materials are a technological leap from ancient Rome. Another difference appears in the ground plan and design of the structure as a whole compared to that of a Roman townhouse in Pompeii. Where a domus would have an axial design centered on the line of the fauces, atrium and tablinum in the front of the building, the apartments have a central grass area with trees, bordered on all sides by the building. Access to the apartments comes through gates at the corners of this quadrangle design instead of through a single front entrance.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Hemingway’s Use of Code Hero in The Old Man and the Sea Essay

Hero is a simple-sounding two-syllable word, which many people freely use to name and describe others. But, how many people really know what a hero is? One of the most know codes for defining a hero would be Ernest Hemingway’s code, which can be seen in his novels. â€Å"The code hero is a man who lives correctly, following the ideals of honor, courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful, and always painful.† (CodeHeroDefinition). Ernest Hemingway uses Santiago, the main character in The Old Man and the Sea to symbolize his code hero. In The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago lives his life with honor, not only for others but for himself as well. Even though he is unable to provide for himself as a fisherman, due to the fact that he has gone without catching a fish in over two months, he keeps his head high throughout what he does. Santiago is very humble with his fishing career when talking with others, for example Manolin. â€Å"‘And the best fisherman is you.’ ‘No. I know others better.'† (Hemingway 23). In reality, he was a great fisherman, which is one reason why he caught the giant marlin. Like any great hunter, Santiago honors and praises the great fish by saying to it, â€Å"I love you and respect you very much† (Hemingway 54). He is able to show dignity throughout his hunt, knowing that he must be thankful for what he is given. Santiago has a great deal of endurance. Despite knowing that he hasn’t caught any fish in 84 days, he continues to go out in his boat every morning, never with a negative attitude. His persistent actions show his ability to go on every day even when the odds were against him. After catching the marlin and being out so far for almost two days, Santiago is extremely tired, but he won’t give up to the fish, or go to sleep. â€Å"He felt very tired now and he knew the night would come soon† (Hemingway 67). Even though he could have slept, he mostly stayed awake with the fish, and kept all of his courage so that he would be able to get home with the great marlin. His courage showed when he had to stay in the ocean alone for three days with little protection, and his small food supply. He could have turned back to shore safely at any time, but he didn’t. Santiago faced possible death at any  moment, but his courage allowed him to continue on his journey. When the sharks attack the carcass, he does everything in his power to fight them off when it’s obviously a battle lost from the start, but he gives it his all. After loosing his harpoon when fighting with the sharks, he still continues to go on and make a new weapon (out of the few materials on his boat, for example an oar and his knife) and uses all of the energy he has left in him to protect the fish. Through the novels Hemingway has written, like The Old Man and the Sea, his famous code hero can be seen with detailing evidence. Santiago is the symbol of Hemingway’s code, and it can be proven by the ways he lives his life, from his honor, to his endurance and courage. â€Å"Life is filled with misfortunes, and a code hero is know by how he endures those misfortunes† (CodeHeroDefinition), and Santiago is able to do just that in his life. He can turn a situation around so that it works for his benefit, but still while doing so he looses some, whether it be his physical strength, or his fishing reputation with the other fishermen. Santiago is a perfect example of what a Hemingway code hero really and truly is. Works Cited â€Å"CodeHeroDefinition.† 21 April 2003. http://www.siprep.org/english/totah/CodeHeroDefinition.html. Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1980. 23, 54, 67.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Importance of flowers

Flowers play an important role In making the life of a human being more cheerful and happy. People use flowers In several forms and on several occasions. Flowers are used as beautiful flower arrangements for decorating homes. They are also help people in proposing their partner for life, as well as flowers are used as a symbol of mourn and tribute on loved ones funeral. Apart from above said uses, there are several other uses of flowers in various activities of our daily life. Flower Arrangements in Decoration People love to decorate their houses with several attractive flowers arrangements.A flowerpot with fresh flowers on dining table increases the taste of breakfast and the impact of food being served. A beautiful flower setting on centre table of your drawing room can create a soothing atmosphere for you and your family members. Even guests visiting your house will not only adore your home arrangement skills, but they will also spread this word In front of others. A terrace garde n full of several smelling as well as non-smelling beautiful flowers Is the best place to spend your evening. Flowers and Love Flowers play an important role In the love life of every human being.A red rose Is the most helping and popular element for first expression of your love In front of him or her. The beauty and tenderness of a fresh red rose Is capable of conveying all your heartiest feelings without even uttering a single word from your mouth. This rose bud will become a most treasured gift for both of you in future that will help you both in recalling those days of hesitation and excitement. A candle light dinner with girlfriend or spouse is either incomplete or less romantic without a tulip or fresh rose dud arrangements on dinner table.Flowers and Women Flowers are symbol of beauty and happiness and women are a cause behind all happiness In people's life. Most Importantly, the love for flowers In women's heart Is well known. Flowers help women In making them more beautifu l, they love putting a matching flower in hairs to complete their makeup. Flowers are an integrated part of different homemade cosmetics and most of pentagonal Impact According to an April 2005 Rutgers university study, flowers bring about positive, beyond what most people normally deem as an acceptable reaction to the presence f flowers.Study participants reported feeling â€Å"excited† upon receiving a delivery of fresh flowers, and had displays of immense satisfaction. The study also reported that among study participants, flower recipients had an increased number of intimate connections with family members and friends. It concluded that flowers enhance an individual's emotional well-being and spurs an increase in happiness. Medicinal Benefits Flowers have healing properties. For example, roses are used extensively in the alternative medicine area for their ability to ease digestive issues and promote leaning in the liver.Infusions made using the dandelion flower can help to treat anemia and Jaundice. It also has blood-purifying properties. The marigold flower has antiseptic properties, making it good for helping cuts to heal. It also contains initiating components. The valerian flower provides migraine and tension headache relief and helps to cure insomnia. It also calms anxiety sufferers. Sunflowers are used to treat ulcers, and infusions may also help to ease the pain of menstrual cramping. Sunflower infusions are also used in alternative medicine to provide sore throat relief ND treat canker sores.Mental Health Benefits Fresh flowers also have an impact on your mental health. According to the Harvard University Home Ecology of Flowers Study, individuals have lower levels of anxiety and depression upon viewing fresh flowers, particularly in the morning. The study further shows that those women who keep fresh flowers in their homes regularly feel happier and much less anxious. Even if they women Just viewed a bouquet of fresh flowers in the morning , the study reports, they had an increased level of energy throughout the day.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Slavery in America essays

Slavery in America essays In 1851 at ......... the United States of America engaged in its bloodiest war ever. This Civil War was fought on our own ground, between our own people, between Northerners and Southerners. Economics, Influential writings, and expansion may have fueled the war, but the main underlying cause for war was slavery. Slavery dominated the Southern economy. Demand for cotton exploded as the industrial revolution made the mass production of textiles possible. King Cotton reigned supreme, and cheap labor was needed more than ever to supply these demands. The southern economy invented the gang system to increase production on their plantations. It permitted a regimented pace of work that was overly harsh and crude to slaves. Although strongly opposed to the need for slavery in the souths economy, northerners were almost hypocrites in their beliefs. They employed intense cheap labor to poor immigrants entering the country. Influential writers like Hinton Rowan Helper blamed the souths economys use of slavery for their overall decline. Helper wrote The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It, a collaboration of charts, statistics and graphs proving that slavery did not benefit the south but instead put it behind the production rate of the north. Other influential northern writers like Harriet Beecher Stowe and William Lloyd Garrison wrote against the moral wrongs of slavery. Stowe wrote Uncle Toms Cabin portraying the slave as a humble, hardworking man and his owner as a brutal, cruel, dishonest slave owner. Southern and Northern tension increased as a result of this book because southerners felt that a woman for the North, who has never seen a first hand account of slavery shouldnt depict it so violent, so harsh, and so unjust and as she did. Garrison also was an abolitionist who published his own newspaper titled The Liberator condemning s...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Free Essays on Age Of Experimentation - The Twenties

The Reactions That Made the 1920’s Experiments Productive The decade of the nineteen-twenties was an â€Å"age of experimentation† in a various number of ways. The twenties were characterized by excessive changes in the numerous aspects of American life. All of the revolutionary changes undertaken during this era were, for the most part, centered on having fun. Enjoying life became everyone’s number one priority during the twenties; this can be seen with the numerous social changes that occurred during the decade. Women, in particular, played a great role in experimenting with many new socially questionable activities such as drinking. Prohibition was also important in shaping the new social, as well as cultural and economic, age of the nineteen-twenties. It helped bring about bootlegging, which led to the rise of gangsters and mobs. There were also many other new cultural pursuits brought about during the nineteen-twenties. An example would be the significant increase in the number of African Americans, as well as oth er immigrants through the twenties. As a result of an increase of blacks and immigrants, groups such as the Ku Klux Klan soon rapidly grew and became known. Another cultural pursuit throughout the nineteen-twenties was to rid immigrant Bolshevists that shed Americans with fear, from the U.S. The social and cultural aspects of the twenties mentioned, particularly prohibition, had drastic effects on the economy of the U.S. during the nineteen-twenties. The twenties was an age to experiment with new ideas and inventions, such as Henry Ford’s successful automobiles. It was also an age when an abundant amount of Americans began to look into real estate to make a significant profit. However, as a result of drastic inflation, the balanced and earning economy of the U.S. was severely dwindled; there was an immense stock market crash towards the end of the decade. Also contributing to the U.S. economy was the ... Free Essays on Age Of Experimentation - The Twenties Free Essays on Age Of Experimentation - The Twenties The Reactions That Made the 1920’s Experiments Productive The decade of the nineteen-twenties was an â€Å"age of experimentation† in a various number of ways. The twenties were characterized by excessive changes in the numerous aspects of American life. All of the revolutionary changes undertaken during this era were, for the most part, centered on having fun. Enjoying life became everyone’s number one priority during the twenties; this can be seen with the numerous social changes that occurred during the decade. Women, in particular, played a great role in experimenting with many new socially questionable activities such as drinking. Prohibition was also important in shaping the new social, as well as cultural and economic, age of the nineteen-twenties. It helped bring about bootlegging, which led to the rise of gangsters and mobs. There were also many other new cultural pursuits brought about during the nineteen-twenties. An example would be the significant increase in the number of African Americans, as well as ot her immigrants through the twenties. As a result of an increase of blacks and immigrants, groups such as the Ku Klux Klan soon rapidly grew and became known. Another cultural pursuit throughout the nineteen-twenties was to rid immigrant Bolshevists that shed Americans with fear, from the U.S. The social and cultural aspects of the twenties mentioned, particularly prohibition, had drastic effects on the economy of the U.S. during the nineteen-twenties. The twenties was an age to experiment with new ideas and inventions, such as Henry Ford’s successful automobiles. It was also an age when an abundant amount of Americans began to look into real estate to make a significant profit. However, as a result of drastic inflation, the balanced and earning economy of the U.S. was severely dwindled; there was an immense stock market crash towards the end of the decade. Also contributing to the U.S. economy was the ...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Ninguno Usually Used in Singular Form

Ninguno Usually Used in Singular Form Ninguno (as well as the feminine form, ninguna), usually meaning none or not one, is almost always used in the singular form. But ninguno (or the noun it refers to when ninguno is used as an adjective) can often be translated to English as either singular or plural without a change in meaning. Heres  an example: Él tiene lo que ninguna mujer puede resistir. In English, either He has what no woman can resist and He has what no women can resist mean essentially the same thing. But in Spanish, the singular form would almost always be used. Similarly, a sentence such as No he tenido ningà ºn problema could be translated as either I havent had any problem or I havent had any problems, with any difference in meaning being very slight. But ningunos problemas is hardly ever used. Some examples showing how English equivalents can be singular or plural: Ninguna persona debe morir en la crcel. (Nobody should die in jail. No persons should die in jail.) No hay ninguna diferencia entre darle dinero al gobierno y quermarlo. (Theres no difference between giving money to the government and burning it. There are no differences between burning money and giving it to the government.) No tengo ninguna pregunta ms. (I dont have another question. I dont have any more quesitons.) It wouldnt be a grammatical crime to use the plural in Spanish sentence like those two, and indeed you may sometimes hear similar constructions. But as a general rule, the main time ningunos or ningunas is used is when referring to nouns that are grammatically plural although singular in meaning: No veo ningunas tijeras. I dont see any scissors. No necesito ningunas gafas. I dont need any glasses. No tengo ningunas ganas de estudiar. I dont have any desire to study. By the way, theres a reason many of the sentences about use both no and ninguno: Double negatives are common in Spanish. In fact, theyre required in many cases where theyd be wrong in English.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Synthesis paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Synthesis paper - Essay Example On the other hand, where justice is not present, then the laws cannot be followed by men who wish to live by such higher moral laws, and they have a duty to resist them without violence, even if it leads to personal suffering and jail. There is the sense in both King and Thoreau of making use of this higher inner moral compass to subvert what they see as the evils of their time, slavery and an unjust war campaign on the part of Thoreau, and the discrimination and systematic marginalization of African Americans suffering from centuries of slavery on the part of King. In both men the vision is that human laws are only to be followed where they conform to universal moral laws. The individual too and the respect given to the individual’s human rights and dignity are the proper starting points of any government crafting laws. Where society, government and the law disrespect human rights and debase individual liberties, then men have no obligation to follow those laws at all, but ar e free within their own individual capacities to resist the law and to go against society. This paper asserts therefore that one can read into the works of the two men the intention to lay out the foundations of moral action in society: people being able to immediately live with integrity and totally within their own individual capacities to live according to those higher moral laws. This is regardless of what is happening on the outside- regardless of whether governments and societies are enlightened or unenlightened in moral terms. The rest of the paper integrates the two writings in the context of this latter thesis (Thoreau; King). King notes that during the time of Hitler in Germany, all of his actions were legal, but his actions were not just. The plight of the Jews in Germany has become a clichà ©, but worth mentioning here, in that the Jews were victims of massive

Friday, October 18, 2019

Texas Gov't - Identify the potential problems with Texas's judicial Essay

Texas Gov't - Identify the potential problems with Texas's judicial system. Describe the Missouri Plan for judicial selection, and compare it with the system used in Texas - Essay Example The fact that the Texass judicial system uses only election method to select judges increases the chance low accountability of judges as they are likely to be partisan in their actions. Judges have to be partisan because it is the party that will take them to this power. This leads to judges whose allegiance is not to the justice system but to the party that helps them to get the posts. Needless to say, these positions, right from the lowest positions which is the positions of a municipal court, are important careers, not only for the judge but also for political parties. This means that when the system of selecting a judge is based on the political party system, the quality of judges will play a smaller role while the political affiliation will be the main issue determining who will get these positions (Cheek & Champagne, 2005; 99). The judges require a lot of money for campaign and this may interfere with their integrity. The amount of financial investment needed for the campaign is too high for most of these judges to afford from their pockets and they have to be funded by outside sources. So the question is, how will a judge be able to be neutral and fair in cases where he finds himself or herself having to preside over case involving one of his main funders? This brings in an integrity issue and in this scenario it may not be possible for this system to offer the state a good team of judges. The electorate doesn’t know these judges personally and have to depend on partisan lines to vote them. Although the electoral vote system of selecting judges is hinged on the argument that people should be able to decide who judges them, the fact is that a major part of the population of these people don’t know the judges they are supposed to elect (Maxwell, Earl & Santos, 2013; 158). The work of a judge is not public and therefore unlike politicians whose leadership can be detected in the public arena, there is no way for the electorate to know the

Establishing theme Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Establishing theme - Essay Example as’ literary works, many things with the reference to the Star Wars universe (toys, clothes and other items of everyday use) have been produced and successfully marketed. The films themselves deserve particular interest because of the strength and actuality of the themes they cover, and the movie of the present paper – the fourth episode, â€Å"Star Wars: A New Hope† – deal with the one of the most often discussed topic – the destiny of an individual. The film uses techniques (lighting) and design elements (costuming, set design) which contribute to this topic establishment, which will be explained below. Lighting. The use of lighting technique is a strong point of the film, especially in regards to the theme of the destiny of a human being. The scenes of the film which involve the film protagonist – Luke Skywalker (for example, a scene when he buys droids for his caregivers’ farm in a desert: the sun is shining bright, and the sky is cloudless – no obstacles for the light) – employ a sufficient amount of the light of both natural and artificial origin, which determines his destiny as positive and, what is important, realized by himself as such. The best example of the lighting employment is the light sabers of the Jedi – in the trilogies, blue saber is a feature of a positive character (Jedi knight), whereas the negative ones, the Siths, operate red power beams. The light of a light saber is an indicator of a character and a reflection of his fate – the Jedi fulfill the mission of the good and complete it, even if they are killed in a combat , they are present with their close persons and guide them in a correct direction, whereas the Siths strive only for their own satisfaction and want absolute power which, in the end, leads them to failure. (Lucas, 1977). It is also necessary to mention that the visualization of the lighting effects were on a relatively high level for the times of the film, and â€Å"†¦brought audiences into more immediate

The evolution of the black church Research Paper

The evolution of the black church - Research Paper Example For the purpose of the study, details of the history will start after the American Revolution, an era where the slavery was abolished. By 1810 slaves were totally free; the slave trade in America ended, and a large native born population of African Americans began to increase. This freedom allowed the African-Americans to blend together, to preserve their cultures and to transform their religious beliefs and practices. This period also coincided with the revival of religious evangelization wherein many slaves were converted to evangelical religions like Baptists and Methodists. Evangelists encouraged the message of hope and salvation to the slaves, and advocated the idea that all Christians are equal in the eyes of God. The teachings of the scriptures appealed to the slaves because it inspired them towards hope and salvation and were particularly interested in the stories of deliverance from slavery of Moses’ Exodus out of Egypt. The Africans also found worships that were sim ilar to their own such as clapping, dancing, loud singing and evil spirit possession. Still, whites and the clergy kept on preaching the message of obedience and used Bible stories to justify slavery, and promoted the idea that they will be rewarded after life if they remain loyal and hard-working slaves. The blacks were not allowed to attend church worships independently by their masters for fear that they would plot rebellion. The blacks however were treated differently inside the church.

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Compare shopping online with traditional shopping Essay

Compare shopping online with traditional shopping - Essay Example s to wider range of customers, convenience and pace in the experience of shopping at the cost of lack of physical touch of the products being purchased, alongside the incremental rates of credit card frauds and identity thefts. Traditional shopping compelled the customers to make endless trips to the stores to choose their most preferred products; such trips usually involved wastage of time in terms of commuting, waiting in lines etc. On the contrary, online shopping does not involve any commuting since the customer has the facility of making the desired purchase from the vicinity of his choice. This results in lesser wastage of any time and enables the user to choose a product from a wide range of categories under one platform. E-commerce Marketing and Optimization (2006) stated that the selection of the products can be done by means of a methodical approach of browsing in different categories; however the lack of touch and physical viewing of the objects by the customer might become an unpleasant surprise at delivery time. The trip to the retail stores makes the customer see the texture, different features of the objects in a more detailed manner rather than merely reading such information at a website. Retail stores only provide service to a certain range of customers that might be limited to a specific region and location, whereas online stores provide products and services to customer on a global level; such global access enables developing countries to attain the same quality of products that might be utilized by developed countries. One of the major issues in the increasing acceptance of online shopping is the rising rate of the credit card frauds and identity thefts. Srivastava, Kundu, Sural and Majumdar (2008) quoted research findings regarding the increasing losses to customers and organizations due to the occurrence of credit card frauds; $2.7 billion were recorded for the year 2005 while $3.0 billion in the year 2006. Credit card frauds and identity

The importance of Spiritual Care in the Nursing Practice Essay

The importance of Spiritual Care in the Nursing Practice - Essay Example Through nurse education, students can develop spiritual self-awareness and be more apt to provide sensitive, spiritual care for other as they advance through development as a nurse (Shores, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to identify the importance of nurse education on spiritual care. Using critical inquiry, I will identify personal beliefs, assumptions and meaning on the subject while analyzing the importance of this care in practice. My spiritual development has been ongoing and will continue to be a component of my nurse education. I recognize that before I can begin to address the spiritual needs of patients’, I first need to address my own. I identify spirituality is an inner path enabling me as a person to discover my deepest values and beliefs; the ones in which I live by. Although I am not Christian, I continue to explore my spirituality and beliefs through Catholicism. I believe in one God made up of three persons and that Jesus Christ is his son. I believe the b ible is The Word of God written by men inspired by him. I believe in his virtues of honesty, truthfulness, respect, compassion, love, joy and more. I am a spiritual person inspired by his righteousness to be the best that I can be to do good as a person. In nurse education patient-care is much more than disease management; it involves the needs of the whole person; mind, body and soul. Addressing the patients’ spirituality should be a routine part of nursing care for many reasons. The first being that, religious beliefs and spiritual needs are common amongst patients, second, spiritual beliefs influence medical decisions, third, there is a relationship between spirituality and health, and the last, supporting a patients’ spirituality can enrich the nurse-patient relationship. Spiritual development is an ongoing, component of overall learning. Identifying student perspectives of these areas of spirituality can further their educational journey (Shores, 2010) Students ca n incorporate spirituality into their practice by assessing their personal values, beliefs. By doing so students are able to identify their own personal biases and assumptions and by incorporating a knowledge base of ethical practices outline by their institutions, legislation and professional practice guidelines. Ultimately, incorporating spiritual care in a patients practice can be identified by taking a patient’s history. Spiritual history gives insight to a patients’ value and belief systems and can be helpful identify spiritual distress. Spiritual history recognizes patients’ sources of hope, strength and comforts in the healing environment. Spirituality is generic Spirituality in nursing has two sides to it. One, spirituality observed by the nurse and the other, spiritual inclination of the patient. Therefore, a nurse has not only to be spiritual but also respectful of the religious beliefs of her patients. Only then, spirituality in nursing becomes wholes ome. It is strange that while religiousness is associated with well-being in health, nursing discourse involved in health care, has not attached much importance to spirituality that is concomitant with

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Compare shopping online with traditional shopping Essay

Compare shopping online with traditional shopping - Essay Example s to wider range of customers, convenience and pace in the experience of shopping at the cost of lack of physical touch of the products being purchased, alongside the incremental rates of credit card frauds and identity thefts. Traditional shopping compelled the customers to make endless trips to the stores to choose their most preferred products; such trips usually involved wastage of time in terms of commuting, waiting in lines etc. On the contrary, online shopping does not involve any commuting since the customer has the facility of making the desired purchase from the vicinity of his choice. This results in lesser wastage of any time and enables the user to choose a product from a wide range of categories under one platform. E-commerce Marketing and Optimization (2006) stated that the selection of the products can be done by means of a methodical approach of browsing in different categories; however the lack of touch and physical viewing of the objects by the customer might become an unpleasant surprise at delivery time. The trip to the retail stores makes the customer see the texture, different features of the objects in a more detailed manner rather than merely reading such information at a website. Retail stores only provide service to a certain range of customers that might be limited to a specific region and location, whereas online stores provide products and services to customer on a global level; such global access enables developing countries to attain the same quality of products that might be utilized by developed countries. One of the major issues in the increasing acceptance of online shopping is the rising rate of the credit card frauds and identity thefts. Srivastava, Kundu, Sural and Majumdar (2008) quoted research findings regarding the increasing losses to customers and organizations due to the occurrence of credit card frauds; $2.7 billion were recorded for the year 2005 while $3.0 billion in the year 2006. Credit card frauds and identity

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Communication and Learners Essay Example for Free

Communication and Learners Essay Much of my research was carried out online and I have included my written research notes and sources. Teacher net (2010) says â€Å"Adopting an approach to your teaching which draws on research and evidence should help you in reviewing and developing your practice†. With this in mind I considered Maslows Hierarchy of Needs motivational model which we often refer to in teaching, although the original model was designed as a business motivational tool. Maslow claims that needs 1-4 are deficiency motivators and are generally satisfied in order when the previous need is fully or partially satisfied (Businessballs, 2010). If the lower level needs of the model are met then I can begin to help the learner gain the top level and realise their own potential however, in order to help others reach this level I must first achieve this myself, by researching I am furthering my own knowledge and developing myself on an ongoing basis. 1a Negotiating With Learners – 753 words Gravells and Simpson state that â€Å"Initial assessment of you learner’s skills, knowledge and preferred learning styles should take place before you begin teaching the programme content.† (Gravells Simpson, 2010, P17). Here they are saying ‘before the program content’, so an initial assessment is valid even if it is at the beginning of the session itself. I do however slightly disagree with the necessity to always know the learners preferred learning style from the outset. If we accept that learners are different then we must accept that we will be teaching learners during each session with differing learning styles, and must therefore accommodate those differing styles. I usually do not get chance to assess my learners for learning styles before a session so I must compensate using a progressive style of assessment, this enables me to adjust my teaching methods and styles to suit and include my learners. It is therefore not so important to know what the learning style of an individual from the initial assessment but, it can assessed as the teaching progresses. Learners enter the learning environment with varying needs and expectations; it is my responsibility as the teacher/tutor, through processes such as initial assessment, to ensure that the learner is on the correct path/course or at the right level. Failing this then I should be able to help the learner choose a more appropriate path. According to Walklin â€Å"It is important to assess all people seeking access to education and training opportunities, the purpose being to help them to plan their future education and training programme. Initial assessment helps the provider and the learner sort out what it is they wish to achieve†, (Walklin, 1993, p.290). The initial assessment is a way of evaluating what the learner will need to achieve the goals set and indeed a way of setting future goals with the learner. I have recently experienced this myself when an experienced teacher found that I was in fact following an unsuitable path, he was then able to change the course I had appl ied for, to a more suitable and achievable course. Having an understanding of a learners previous experience is also beneficial to the teacher, I myself train professional drivers who often have many years experience within the industry. Using a short pre-session initial assessment which consists of an informal one to one chat and note taking, and group introductory sessions allows me to make a connection with these more experienced learners, who often feel disgruntled by the process of having to train within an industry they feel they already know. It is important then to be aware that experience will affect learning and that it may have a positive or negative influence. After an initial assessment I can ascertain what the learners knowledge and skills will be to date and a learning action plan can be completed, this plan is specific to each individual leaner to ensure their needs as a learner are met. A tutor should spend time with each individual learner and agree learning goals and further actions. Further actions may include additional help that may be needed, for a student with learning disabilities for example. Once the learners needs have been identified and agreed the trainer would focus on the teacher/training cycle, Kolb (1984) which is made up of the following 5 points, keeping in mind that this is an ongoing cycle. * Identify needs and planning * Designing * Facilitating/deliver * Assessing * Evaluating Further actions that should be agreed prior to the course commencing is the establishment of ground rules. Ground rules are commonly referred to as, â€Å"the minimum necessary conditions for getting learning work done in the class.† (Atherton, J S 2009). I agree with Atherton here and would add that, establishing ground rules in a learning group can also be negotiated between the learners and the teacher. WestOne (2010) discusses various strategies for negotiating with learners, it suggests that It can often be effective to give learners some responsibility for rules, such as what time breaks and dinner is taken, these small items of negotiation will give learners a sense of control within the environment and encourage them to take part in the learning process as they will begin to have shared ownership of it. I would say though that to give too much away to learners may lead to a loss of control for the teacher, one must always consider the fine balance here. I looked at a company called Novadata, they provide training similar to mine but also have a larger portfolio of courses. Their main initial assessment is carried out over the telephone or via an online internet form. While I will consider the option of the online form in the future I do think it may be a little impersonal and I would have doubts about getting the right quality of information, telephone based initial assessment is however a possibility that would allow me to connect with learners better. 1b Inclusive Learning – 748 words Gravels Simpson discuss inclusive learning and suggest that â€Å"inclusive learning is about recognising that each of your learners is different from other learners in many ways†, and â€Å"you should plan your teaching and learning sessions to enable all of your learners to take part†. (Gravells Simpson, 2010, P25). There are various methods to ensure this, we can for instance use different teaching methods to appeal to the different learning styles, for instance VAK or VARK(Visual, aural, reader and kinaesthetic), kinaesthetic learners prefer to touch whilst visual learners will prefer to see demonstrations and, aural learners will be more attuned to a discussion while readers prefer the written word. In all of these cases it should be noted that any given learner may have a preference for learning but will to differing degrees have traits of all styles. I use this as the basis for any planning but keep myself aware that it is just that, a basis or starting point f or a flexible plan. It is once we begin to understand that learners are individuals with varying needs that we realise that relying on the VAK descriptions alone is inadequate in order to be inclusive. Inclusion UWE states â€Å"The aim is not for students to simply take part in further education but to be actively included and fully engaged in their learning† (2008). It may be that a particular learner is a kinaesthetic learner but for one reason or another cannot take part in an exercise. In order to agree with the UWE statement I had to recently change the way I carried out a practical exercise as one of my learners could not look at a small computer screen for very long, by pairing him with another learner and allowing them to use a projector connected to the computer they were able to complete the exercise together thus ensuring inclusivity. But inclusivity goes further than just planning sessions and resources. Huddleston and Unwin discuss how teachers must no longer be concerned with their own subject and transmitting knowledge but, â€Å"as managers of learning, teachers will need to seek the help and support of other professionals in their college, including non-teaching staff.† (Huddleston and Unwin,1997, P117). While I do agree in principle with what they are saying, for example, a student with problems of childcare can easily be helped by being pointed toward crà ¨che facilities within the learning establishment, I would also have to point out that it is important to facilitate a solution rather than be the solution. I think a teacher must maintain a certain distance from the student, so it is better to offer information on transport subsidies than to offer a lift. Another example of how we can be flexible to promote inclusion recently happened to me, When I arrived at a site to carry out training many of the delegates found that in order to start for their working shift the following day, they would have to finish 45 minutes early, as the requirements for the training to be completed meant they had to carry out a full 7 hours of training I could not legally cut the course short. We then came to an arrangement whereby tea breaks would be taken as we carried out practical exercises thus allowing for the full session to take place. By making this small adjustment I was able to cater to the individual needs of a few of the learners which again placed them in a position where they did not have to worry about working the following day and, could continue the learning process. Preparing to Teach Inclusively states â€Å"There are many issues to consider when identifying a students needs, but it is important to remember that they may fluctuate from day to day. As the course progresses, try to review with students whether you are meeting their needs.† (2006). Students needs do change constantly, it may be that a bus service is delayed and a number of students will be late by 10 minutes or another may have employment difficulties, while it is not the job of the teacher to fix these problems, it is the responsibility of the teacher to make provision for them and to suggest agencies or information that can help. A solution can be as simple as asking another learner to take extra copies of handouts and pass them on, whatever the action, the aim is always to enable the student to return to a successful learning environment. 1c – Integrating Functional Skills – 557 words QCDA says that â€Å"Functional skills are practical skills in English, information and communication technology (ICT) and mathematics. They allow individuals to work confidently, effectively and independently in life† (2010). Functional Skills are often given different names such as â€Å"Key Skills† or â€Å"Minimum Core†, but they all amount to the same thing, the basic integration of Maths, English and Information Communication Technology. Petty states â€Å"The alternative to integrating key skills is to teach them separately. The problem with this approach is that students tend to see them as an irksome irrelevance to their main course of study†.(G Petty, 2009, P538) Whilst I agree with his point and I agree with the methods and reasons for teaching Functional Skills in this way, I also believe that this statement pays little attention to those of us who would thrive in a situation where those key skills are taught separately, people such as myself, I trained as a chef when I was young, attached to this course I did a CG in communicating and in computer programming. I enjoyed having a separate learning session for this and was able to gain another certificate to be proud of; in conclusion I would say that this is again an area where we can see how people differ in so many ways. Gravells and Simpson state that â€Å"As a teacher, you should be able to demonstrate your own competence in the areas of literacy, language, numeracy and ICT.† (Gravells Simpson, 2010, P59). As a teacher I believe it is important to have a good understanding of Functional skills, spelling and maths mistakes within a handout or presentation will be transferred to learners, why should they not believe you if you are the teacher. To this end it is important as a teacher to continually give consideration to improving my own Functional skill on an ongoing basis. The embedding of these skills within a teaching session is not difficult but should be given careful consideration at all times, for instance, I recently had a learner who was dyslexic, I try where possible to provide printed material on different coloured papers as this can often help people with this condition. It turned out that this was the first time this particular learner had come across this aid to reading, so instead of just ignoring the reading exercise he became interested enough to ask about further help. I was able to give him a contact at Learndirect. This particular learner now has the confidence to learn to read and write at higher standards than he thought possible. It is this gaining of confidence and belief in oneself that will cause the attitude change that is conducive to learning. In order to integrate Functional Skills into any given session you could consider exercises such as multiple choice quizzes for reading, discussion sessions for language skills. By adding in maths questions to a PowerPoint presentation you can elicit answers from learners, by watching the reaction of other learners it is often possible to see if anyone is struggling with these concepts thus allowing you to go over the question in more detail until you are sure the learner has grasped it. ICT can be integrated in just as many ways, for instance asking learners to find and print a particular style of picture for the next session. 1d – Communication – 677 words Just out of interest I typed into a leading search engine â€Å"verbal non-verbal communication†, within the first five listings I found the following (MinorityCareerNet, 2010): â€Å"Nonverbal Communication According to A. Barbour, author of Louder Than Words: Nonverbal Communication, the total impact of a message breaks down like this: 7 percent verbal (words)   38 percent vocal (volume, pitch, rhythm, etc) 55 percent body movements (mostly facial expressions)† This is a misquote that can be found time after time in books, on websites, and more worryingly within training courses. In fact, this statement is based on the work of Professor Albert Mehrabian in the mid to late 1900’s. The research actually concentrated on the communication of feelings and attitudes, it has since been misquoted to define all types of communication. It is somewhat ironic that his message has been so misused and misunderstood. I raise the point of this because I am guilty of using it in the incorrect context, assuming that because those that have taught me use it, then it must be so. It really does not matter how I contort my face wave my arms in front of learners, unless I explain verbally or with written instructions very few of them will understand what I am trying to communicate. Different people respond to different forms of communication, when we teach we give consideration to the varying types of learners, Visual, Aural, Readers, Kinaesthetic (VARK), we try to design our lessons to include all of the styles. I asked myself the question, â€Å"Why do people learn in these different ways?† My research results led me to investigate a condition known as synaesthesia, in which one sensory input produces unexpected results for example, a synaesthete may see the colour red when they see the number 2 and blue if they see number 3, in some cases sound caused a visual effect for the synaesthete. It occurred to me that this may go some way to explain why one person responds better when information is given in a verbal format, another responds better if it is visual and so on. The connections between these different sensory areas of the brain mean that we all have our own unique way of perceiving what is being taught or communicated (please refer to my micro teach for more information). For me the advantage of this seemingly odd line of research had the effect of allowing me to empathise with learners of different styles and gave me meaningful reason to consider how I communicate to learners with differing learning styles. â€Å"Communication is the art of successfully sharing meaningful information with people by means of an interchange of experience. The important word is ‘successfully’, which implied that a desired behaviour change results when the receiver takes the message† (Walklin, 1993, p.164). I think what Walklin is trying to tell us is that it is not enough to communicate the instructions, it is also important to deliver praise or constructive criticism in order to encourage and guide the learner into new discovery, if you ask the learner to complete a task a feeling of accomplishment will encourage behaviour conducive to further learning. This is important to me when teaching as my own learners can often be hostile to the learning process, feeling it has been imposed upon them. It is also important to listen to the students, if you set tasks that are above the student’s current abilities then you are likely to create a barrier to communication whereby the student will close in on themselves not wishing to admit they cannot continue and the learning process will cease. Achieving two way communications with our students is not straightforward. Barriers can often present themselves. It is crucial that a teacher can identify barriers and help students overcome them. Petty (2009) suggests that inappropriate level of work, jargon, vocabulary and other use of language, environmental factors, fear of failure and an inapproachable teacher can be barriers to students learning experience. Whilst I agree in principle to this, I also believe that introducing new vocabulary and language usage is essential to the student’s further development. ATHERTON J S (2010) Learning and Teaching; Ground rules for the class (Online) Available: http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/ground_rules.htm (Accessed: 03 January 2011) Anne Gravells and Susan Simpson (2010) Planning and Enabling Learning (2nd Edition), Learning Matters Businessballs (2011) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, (Online), Available: http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm , (Accessed: 15 February 2011) Inclusion Further Education (2008)(Online) Available: http://inclusion.uwe.ac.uk/csie/tmlnsn.htm (Accessed: 10 January 2011). Minority Career Network Inc. (2011) Non Verbal Communication, (Online), Available: http://www.minoritycareernet.com/newsltrs/95q3nonver.html , (Accessed: 15 February 2011) Open University (2006) Preparing to Teach Inclusively (Online), Available: http://www.open.ac.uk/inclusiveteaching/pages/inclusive-teaching/preparing-to-teach-inclusively.php (Accessed: 20th January 2011) Prue Huddleston and Lorna Unwin (1997) Teaching and Learning in Further Education (2nd Edition), Routledge Farmer. Petty G (2009) Teaching Today (4th Edition), Nelson Thornes. QCDA (2010) Introduction to Functional Skills (Online), Available: http://www.qcda.gov.uk/qualifications/30.aspx, (Accessed: 11 January 2011). Teachernet (2010) (online), Available:http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/research/Learning_about_research/ (Accessed December 15 2010), (Note-now removed) Walklin, A. (1993) Teaching and Learning in Further and Adult Education. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes (publishers) Ltd. West One (2010) How to negotiate learning (Online) Available: http://www.westone.wa.gov.au/toolbox8/taa/elearn/toolbox/resources/e_space/e_sources/quickguides/interaction/negotiating/howto.htm (Accessed 03 January 2010)

Monday, October 14, 2019

Implementing an Electronic Health Record System

Implementing an Electronic Health Record System Implementing Electronic Health Record System Based on HL7 RIM -Reusing the RIM Model Archetypes Nancy Mittal Abstract: It is difficult to exchange healthcare information between different HealthCare Systems. Health Level Seven is a universal standard to facilitate the communication between different HealthCare Systems. Electronic Health Record System is a software platform that store patient health data which maintained by hospital and medical practice. Health Level 7 Reference Information Model was studied to provide the interoperability between different HealthCare Systems. In this paper, we studied about the various version of Health Level Seven standard including HL7 v2.x, HL7 v3.0, HL7 RIM. This paper focused on how the existing structure of HL7 is improved by reusing the HL7 RIM classes such as Act, Role, and Entity etc each are associated with set of attributes. It explains to modify the existing structure of HL7, need to modify the HL7 RIM because HL7 RIM model provide the structure of HL7. This paper also explained the role based queries are performed by the interested stakeholders like pati ents, doctors and hospitals. In this new structural form, role based information is maintained in the centralize database. This research fills the gap between skilled and semi-skilled users and query is performed on role base. Keywords: HL7, RIM, Role, Archetypes 1. Introduction: With the continuous development of health records, maintain and exchange the information in different HealthCare systems has become unavoidable. So, the communication between different hospitals or between different HealthCare system need to improved. Electronic Health Record is a repository of health information in a digital format about an individual patient or population managed by hospitals or medical practice that shared across different HealthCare Systems. It reduces the chances of data replication. More organizations adopt EHR; physicians, nurses and clinicians have greater access to patient information which helps in accurate diagnosis and complete data helps to ensure the best possible care. Electronic Health Record (EHR) system is needed to focus on two requirements: dynamic involvement of different hospitals, patients and HealthCare Systems And the way of maintaining the information. Standard compliant EHR provide facility of communication and to exchange information of patients between different hospitals, doctors, HealthCare systems. Each patient has his own queries respective to their role in the system. The query interface is designed to provide the effective knowledge among different kind of patients, hospitals. Health Level Seven: Heath Level Seven is a standard developing organisation accredited by ANSI (American National Standard Institute) founded in 1987. HL7[1] name refers the top layer of the OSI (Open System Interconnection) layer protocol for the health environment. HL7 specifies a number of various standards health information and also provide communication between different HealthCare System. Standard are the set of rules that allow information to be shared in standardized and reliable manner. HL7 messaging standard: There are two main HL7 messaging standard HL7 v2.x and HL7 v3.0. HL7 v2.x is also called as pipe hat. This standard provides the interoperability specification for health and medical transaction. HL7 v2.x message format are in human readable ASCII and non XML encoding syntax. It supports administrative, logistical, financial as well as clinical messages. HL7 v3.0 provides the interoperability specification for health and medical transaction based on RIM (Reference Information Model). HL7 v3.0 message format based on XML encoding syntax and also on HDF (formal methodology) and object oriented principle. It supports only clinical data. Movement from HL7 v2 to HL7 v3 is that v3 would be model driven methodology means v3 standard support healthcare workflows through modelling; the end result maximize reuse and increase consistency in HL7 specification. Another[2] HL7 v2.7 supports all HealthCare department data for exchange between different HealthCare systems. It reduces the custom interface programming. But it is not plug and play; and not support transaction processing feature. Table1.Difference between HL7 v2.x and HL7 v3.0 HL7 RIM[3] (Reference Information Model): The HL7 Reference Information Model provides the structural information of HL7 in the form of information classes. HL7 RIM is an object oriented model to make compatible the HL7 specification interoperability to all domains. It is important part of the HL7 v3.0 development model. It increases precision and reducing implementation costs. HL7 RIM is based on UML (Unified Modelling Language). Reference information model has five components: Subject Area (major part of am model), class (about which information is collected), Relationship (relation between classes), attribute (information about class), and data type (specification of the format of an attribute). RIM has six main important classes: Act- It represents actions that are executed by entity. Entity: These are the physical things that take part in health care. Role: Role that entity plays as they participate in health care Participation: It represent context for an act such as who perform, for whom and where. ActRelationship: It represents the relationship between actions. RoleLink: It represents the relationship between roles. 2. Related Work: Electronic health record system based on health level seven, and HL7 used to provide the communication between different HealthCare systems, most of the research studies show perplexing which is further discussed in this paper review. Tung Tran, Hwa-Sun Kim[[1]] studied the research on,†A Development of HL7 Middleware for Medical Device Communication† to developed HL7 compliant middleware. Researcher used HL7 as a middleware to facilitate data transfer to information system in hospitals. Middleware has capability of receiving data from monitoring device and converting into HL7 data type format. It receive raw data from medical devices and convert to HL7 data and passed to HIS based on HL7 interface engine. Li-Fan Ko, Jen-Chiun Lin, Chi-Huang Chen, Jie-Sheng Chang, Faipei Lai[[2]] concluded the research on,†HL7 Middleware Framework for Healthcare Information System. Researchers introduce HL7 and web services standard into framework which is basically Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). HL7 directly transmitted data over transport layer protocol TCP/IP: for small application HL7 message over TCP are simple and easy to implement; for larger application, system become complex and attacker increases. This research solved that problem by introducing web services which provide interoperation between software systems. Jennifer Munnelly[[3]] in his research study on, HL7 Healthcare Information Management Using Aspect-Oriented Programming focused the modification in application department without the requirement modification into complete structure by using HL7.Researcher suggested introduce HL7 functionality into exiting application without any modification through AOP. Wooshik Kim[[4]] studied the research on, Integration of IEEE 1451 and HL7 Exchanging Information for Patients’ Sensor Data showed the IEEE 1451 concerned with smart transducer and having plug –play capabilities. Patients wear sensors that measure the patient’s status in real time and transmitted these data to remote sites such as hospital. HL7 accepted this kind of data and interpreted with various online sensor data. Pasquale De Meo[[5]] studied on, Integration of the HL7 Standard in a Multiagent System to Support Personalized Access to e-Health Services. In this paper, he presented a system which has multi agents to maintain patients in seek of health related services in e-health care by using various algorithms PPB, DS-PPB, AB. This proposed system increases the quality service and effectiveness. Maqbool Hussain[[6]] concluded his research on, Healthcare Applications Interoperability through Implementation of HL7 Web Service Basic Profile studied all phases of web service component that implement HL7 Web Service Basic Profile. It is branch of the transportation subsystem progressed at NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Pakistan. Naeem Khalid Janjua[[7]] in research study presented work on, Digital Health Care Ecosystem: SOA Compliant HL7 based Health Care Information Interchange and proposed Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based HL7 system design for patient information and showed the translation from HL7 V2 to V3 and mapping between database and user query. Sara Gaion[[8]] researched on, Design of a Domain Model for Clinical Engineering within the HL7 Reference Information Model. This paper develop a DIM (Domain Information Model) by providing the HL7 RIM to clinical engineering in a particular domain. This paper represent clinical engineering information in the HL7 RIM (Reference Information Model) with the reason of developing a HL7 v3 RIM model based on DIM (Domain Information Model) dedicated to CE(Clinical Engineering) by reuse of standard healthcare information models and show the process of repairing and maintenance of device used in hospital. N.A. Mamani Macedo[[9]] studied the research on, Electronic Health Record: Comparative Analysis of HL7 and Open EHR Approaches. This paper showed the comparison between HL7 and openEHR to automatism a Patient’s Record in any hospital which adopted: HL7 and OpenEHR. The method includes analyzing each way, defining some criteria of evaluation, design a comparative chart. 3. Design model: The work is defined with the specification of the hospital and the relative attributes and the functional specification. It defines the role and requirement to specify the functional dependencies and its requirements. The role is defined for all the interested patients and hospitals and all interested users are connected to it along with their specified roles. The hospital is responsible for the information updating as well as to generate the query that queried by patients to obtain the information access about the patient, disease or diagnose. Complete information is defined in the form of centralized repository. Model is in the form of a query interface in which the communication to the system and different hospitals maintain the information in different way so that the mapping is required between the query set and the hospitals. To establish this mapping, the structural constructs for the system are defined so that the functional based information transition will be take place. Steps in implementation model First step is role identification and analysis: Users in this system are patients and hospitals(health organization). Role is defined for all the interested users ,patients and hospitals and they are coonnected to it along with their hospitals. Second step is role specific query generation: Hospitals is reasponsible for the information updating as wel as to generate the query that queried by patients to obtain the information access about the patient,disease and diagnose. Third step is query filteration and mapping done by RIM model: Complete information is defined in the form of centralized dataset.Model in the form of query interface in which the communication to the system and diff hospitals maintain the information in diff way. So that mapping is required between query set and hospitals. Last step query result are extraced. 4. Conclusion: In changing the structure of HL7 and increasing the reusability over existing HL7 RIM model by reuse the RIM model archetypes. HL7 standard facilitate to exchange and sharing the healthcare information among different hospitals or in between different healthcare systems. We concluded that we extract the existing HL7 RIM model and improve the reusability over existing model by reusing the classes of RIM model and implement the user interface to accept request from different users and process the role base Queries. References: [1] Health Level Seven (HL7), http://www.hl7.org. [2] Explorative study of healthcare data Interchange standards [3]http://www.openhre.org/local/rim202/rim.htm#Acts-sbj [[1]] Tung, Kim, Cho,† A Development of HL7 Middleware for Medical Device Communication†, Fifth International Conference on Software Engineering Research, Management and Applications [[2]] Li-Fan Ko, Jen-Chiun Lin, Chi-Huang Chen, Jie-Sheng Chang, Faipei Lai,† HL7 Middleware Framework for Healthcare Information System†. Basically framework is service oriented architecture (SOA)†. [[3]] Jennifer Munnelly, HL7 Healthcare Information Management Using Aspect-Oriented Programming, International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems, pp 1 – 4 ¸2009 [[4]] Wooshik Kim, Integration of IEEE 1451 and HL7 Exchanging Information for Patients’ Sensor Data, J Med Syst, pp 1033–1041, 2010 [[5]] Pasquale De Meo, Integration of the HL7 Standard in a Multiagent System to Support Personalized Access to e-Health Services, IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, pp 1244 1260, 2011 [[6]] Maqbool Hussain, Healthcare Applications Interoperability through Implementation of HL7 Web Service Basic Profile, Sixth International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations, pp 308 313 ¸2009 [[7]][7] Naeem Khalid Janjua, Digital Health Care Ecosystem: SOA Compliant HL7 based Health Care Information Interchange, 3rd IEEE International Conference on Digital Ecosystems and Technologies, pp 329 – 334, 2009 [[8]] [8] Sara Gaion, Design of a Domain Model for Clinical Engineering within the HL7 Reference Information Model, IEEE Workshop on Health Care Management, pp 1 6 , 2010 [[9]] N.A. Mamani Macedo, Electronic Health Record: Comparative Analysis of HL7 and Open EHR Approaches, Pan American Health Care Exchange, pp 105 – 110, 2010

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Diversity and the American National Identity Essay -- Exploratory Ess

Diversity and the American National Identity Greed is good, get get get, I want what you have, don't touch mine." This is what a friend of mine said when I asked for his conception of the American national identity is.1 Although this statement seems informal and absurd, it accurately reflects the dog-eat-dog world many people believe to be the American capitalist culture.2 Whether my friend said this with the intent of comic relief is inconsequential. Whether he knew it, the informant reflects his cultural identity. Many ambiguities surround the establishment, formation, and retention of a national identity. To what extent can a national identity be individualized? Does every individual, regardless of origin, possess the ability to engage in the national identity? Can an individual abandon his or her "cultural self?"3 Can non-American citizens who reside in America create multi-national identities of their own? Is a national identity predestined, or does an individual exert control over it? There is not one definitive national identity in any society. America is marked by the diversity of both people and ideas. The aim of this paper is not to establish a universal conception of national identity from the basis of history and documented facts. Rather, I am attempting to form a holistic definition of the national identity from my fieldwork with the widest possible variety of college students. Hernando, a native of Sacramento, considers himself a Mexican-American, yet he declares himself to be of indigenously American descent. He states, "If you trace my lineage back, I am actually from the United States. My family came from Texas and California before it was taken over by the United States." Despite Hernando's Mexi... ...ational identity and "a" national identity. "The" is used in the context of the United States and "a" refers to the universal construct. 2. In this discourse, the term "America" refers to the United States. 3. Emily A. Schultz and Robert H. Lavenda. Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition, 5th ed. (California: Mayfield, 2001) 120. 4. Ibid., 328. 5. Ibid., 160. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. 8. Ibid., 109. 9. Deborah Tannen. That's Not What I Meant! How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships. (New York: Ballantine, 1987), 74-75. Bibliography Schultz, Emily A., and Robert H. Lavenda. Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition. 5th ed. California: Mayfield, 2001. Tannen, Deborah. That's Not What I Meant! How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships. New York: Ballantine, 1987. Diversity and the American National Identity Essay -- Exploratory Ess Diversity and the American National Identity Greed is good, get get get, I want what you have, don't touch mine." This is what a friend of mine said when I asked for his conception of the American national identity is.1 Although this statement seems informal and absurd, it accurately reflects the dog-eat-dog world many people believe to be the American capitalist culture.2 Whether my friend said this with the intent of comic relief is inconsequential. Whether he knew it, the informant reflects his cultural identity. Many ambiguities surround the establishment, formation, and retention of a national identity. To what extent can a national identity be individualized? Does every individual, regardless of origin, possess the ability to engage in the national identity? Can an individual abandon his or her "cultural self?"3 Can non-American citizens who reside in America create multi-national identities of their own? Is a national identity predestined, or does an individual exert control over it? There is not one definitive national identity in any society. America is marked by the diversity of both people and ideas. The aim of this paper is not to establish a universal conception of national identity from the basis of history and documented facts. Rather, I am attempting to form a holistic definition of the national identity from my fieldwork with the widest possible variety of college students. Hernando, a native of Sacramento, considers himself a Mexican-American, yet he declares himself to be of indigenously American descent. He states, "If you trace my lineage back, I am actually from the United States. My family came from Texas and California before it was taken over by the United States." Despite Hernando's Mexi... ...ational identity and "a" national identity. "The" is used in the context of the United States and "a" refers to the universal construct. 2. In this discourse, the term "America" refers to the United States. 3. Emily A. Schultz and Robert H. Lavenda. Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition, 5th ed. (California: Mayfield, 2001) 120. 4. Ibid., 328. 5. Ibid., 160. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. 8. Ibid., 109. 9. Deborah Tannen. That's Not What I Meant! How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships. (New York: Ballantine, 1987), 74-75. Bibliography Schultz, Emily A., and Robert H. Lavenda. Cultural Anthropology: A Perspective on the Human Condition. 5th ed. California: Mayfield, 2001. Tannen, Deborah. That's Not What I Meant! How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships. New York: Ballantine, 1987.