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Health Economics

2. (a). List at least four ways in which Nonprofit hospitals have incentives that differ from profit hospitals.

Baumol and Bowen Howard described the goal of non-profit hospitals as being ‘bottomless receptables that limitless resources can be poured. The primary incentive of non-profit hospitals is quantity-quality maximization subject to the hospitals budget constraint. According to Reder Melvin, non-profit hospitals are driven by the incentive of maximizing the weighted number of care seeker or patient treated over a given period of time, with the weights being the prestige to the physicians attending to the patients. The third incentive considers physicians as rational economic agents who are net income maximizers.

(b). What three alternatives objective functions for physicians working at non-profit hospitals do Pauly and Redisch (1973) examine?

The objective functions of the physician in non-profit hospital mainly include welfare maximization. The non-profit hospital and the physicians are acting as independent economic agents with each entity enjoying de facto power and control over the hospital. The other objectives pursued by the physician in these institutions include output-maximization and net-income maximization per physician. The physicians in non-profit hospitals are net-income maximizers whose desire is to gain maximum income from the services they offer at the facility. Therefore, at any point, the hospital physicians act in the best interest of their colleagues in order to maximize the monetary income of the entire physician staff.

(c). What would Steven Brill (2013) have to say about physician behavior at non-profit hospital?

According to Brill (2013), the physicians in non-profit hospitals portray rational economic behavior. This group of health professionals is economic agents who prioritize their personal interests and social welfare at the expense of the care seekers. Therefore, they maximize their personal interests, particularly wealth and income maximization behavior. In addition, non-profit physicians have a negating power on their practices and income. This is contrary to the professions in the profitable health institutions who lack the power to negotiate. Given their power, independence, and influence, physicians in non-profit entities benefit more than those serving in profitable hospitals.

3. According to Altman, Culter and Zeckhauser (2003):

(a). What are the two most important reasons why indemnity health plans have higher premium than HMOs? Explain how they show this.

Indemnity health insurance scheme is more costly compared to the tight MHO (managed health maintenance organization) that cost half of what indemnity cost. One cause of the difference is the enrollee mix. HMOs enroll only healthier and younger members compared to indemnity insurance plan that provides cover for the aged and disease prone persons. The indemnity, therefore, enrolls more severe cases and incidences of disease as opposed to HMOs with less severe cases, hence the difference in costs. Besides, indemnity plan is more expensive than HMOs because it provides its clients with more intensive treatment procedures for patients suffering from similar conditions under HMOs. Price variation is another source of difference that results from differences in the bargaining powers. Unlike clients under HMOs, indemnity patient have no price bargaining power, hence taking the price as given. They showed this by focusing on commonly identifiable medical complications such as births, heart attacks, cancers of the colon, cervix, prostate, and birth, and diabetes. The result revealed that the costs difference between indemnity and HMOs was attributed to price and incidence, and indemnity plan was established to be expansive.

(b). What weaknesses are there in their argument?

The major limitation of this argument concerns the selection process for treatment. In particular, the HMOs clients are less likely to visit physicians for medication or treatment except when they happen to very sick. Naively, analysis would be misleading by possibly showing that HMOs record healthier enrollees compared to the indemnity, which is invalid.

4.(a). By what percentage did total spending of these two types of office visits increase from 2007 to 2010?

Total spending for 2007 is given by PtB QtB+PtC QtC =59,004+35,973=94,977

For 2010 total spending =61,288+49,320=110,608

Total increase=110,608-94,977=15,631

Percentage increase=15,631/94,977*100=16.4567%

The spending for the two visits increased by 16.4567%

4. Decompose this overall percentage change in total spending in three components

b.) % percent change in total visits

Total visits in 2007=1,912

Total visits in 2010=1, 989

Value increase=1,989-1,912=77

Percentage change= (Qti 2010-Qti 2007)/Qti 2007*100=77/1,912*100=4.0272%

c.) % percent change in average prices, holding visits patterns fixed at 2007 level

total average prices in 2007=49.67

Total average price per visit in 2010=55.61

Percentage change= (Pti 2010-Pti 2007)/Pti 2007*100= (55.61-49.67)/49.67*100=11.9589%

d) %change in average complexity of visits

Total complex visits in 2007=571

Total complex visits in 2010=685

Percentage= (Qti 2010-Qti 2007)/Qti 2007*100=(685-571)/571*100= 19.9650%

e) Interpret your results: what was the most significant cause of the l increase in total spending

the workings shows that there is an increase in total visits, average price per visits and the total spending from the year 2007 to 2010.all the workings posted a positive increase in percentage change.

This can be as a result of increase a awareness for people to go for health centers and can also be attributed the . It can also mean the health centers do improve their health facilities hence encouraging many patients to visit them. Further the result can depict an improve economy where citizens have adequate funds to attend or visit the health facilities.

5). Ellis and McGuire (2007) use the concepts of predictability and predictiveness in their service level selection index.

a). What specific measures of predictability and predictiveness do they recommend?

Predictability=consumer demand curve

Predictiveness=marginal cost of treatment.B). What role does the demand elasticity for services play in the Ellis and MaGuire (2007) selectivity index?

It provides the compressions between the levels of treatment when care is free in a fee-for a service system and when the care is provided by the health maintenance organization. The demand elasticity states that many patients will go for free treatment services as opposed to when the services are charged. The elasticity of demand in this case can be used to determine when to offer free services and when to charge the service to cope with the patients demand.

c) Name two services vulnerable to over provision and two services vulnerable to under provision using this model.

i) Services vulnerable to over provision are the services offered to patients that have high cost and good reputations and also the hospital profits.

ii) Services vulnerable to under provision are the hospitals services rendered to patients whose cost are less than the prospective payment and low hospital reputation. Another one is the patient benefits.

6. a). Explain why mortality may decrease during recessions

During this period, there is a reduction on the working hours for individuals and hence people have adequate time to exercises and to leisure related activities. These always improve their living conditions hence better life during recessions. Further the reduction in mortality rate can be attributed to the reduce numbers of heavy smokers. When people stop smoking, their lives improve since tobacco is associated with health disease like lung cancer. A further evidence that states that during this time live is better is that when a country faces recession, there are fewer jobs available and this subsequently reduces life threatening situations like accidents.

6. b). What evidence does Ruhm provide for why mortality may decrease?

During rescissions smoking and excess body weights decline during economic hardships. This can be attributed to the fact that during this period many people are more courteous with their income and strictly spend their money on the basic items or goods of necessity.

The drop in Tobacco consumption during recessions especially from the heavy smokers always leads to a healthy living and improved life conditions hence reducing the mortality rates. The fall in body weights particularity among the obese individuals due to reduction in food intake and participating in active exercising can also leads to a healthier living during economic downturns. It should be noted that, during recessions the output of workers and work hours are reduced and this leads to increase time for leisure activities and hence healthier environment for workers.

6 (c). Explain why his results are capturing more than just the nationwide macroeconomics trends in these rates?

The trends cannot capture the nationwide macroeconomics situation in the country but neglecting them could be costly to the healthy environment. The trends provide relatively small responses towards prices variations for strongly addicted person but larger impacts can occur if temporary changes are not taken. This can leads to permanent shocks and multiple unstable equilibriums and discounts rates in the economy.

7). Steve Brill (2013) in the “Bitter Pill” (Time Magazine) documents a large number of cases where consumers pay a great deal out of pocket, much more than they would if covered by Medicare.

a). Why are these individuals paying so much, even when many have private health insurance?

This is because the master charge prices are high and devoid of calculations.

b). Do most people with private insurance pay much? Why or why not?

They do not pay much. This is because the fraction of the amount paid is relatively low. The insurance policy pays the 90% of the bill hence making it more affordable.

c). Why don’t these people apply for medical insurance?

The $1,800 month payment is too high for them to qualifier for medical care

d). Will the problems identified in this article continue if the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented?

Yes, the alleged Obamacare will make the insurance premiums go increase and this will not solve the problem.

e). What policy does he discusses for reducing or eliminating these high prices? Briefly discuss the pro and cons of each policy.

i). The Medicare should be privatized by creating a voucher system where Medicare population would get money to buy insurance from private companies. This will have a positive impact of making the Medicare accessible to many patients. However, privatizing the Medicare can later leads to unregulated prices in future and this could be too costly for the patients in US.

ii). A voiding over doctoring in the public hospitals as done by the private organizations. This will motivate the doctors hence will rendered better services to patients. The only problem the policy has is that it will require additional funds to cater for the improved staff welfare.

iii). Lowering Medicare age to capture many people since Medicare buys health care at a relatively lower rates than any insurance company. When the Medicare is reduce to patient with over eighteen years it will capture many people , however, it may not adequate funds since the majority of the youths are unemployed and will not afford to pay the premiums.

iv). Taxing hospitals profits at 75% and have a tax surcharge on all non-doctors hospitals salaries that exceed $750,000. This policy will increase hospitals profits though it will negatively discourage doctors from performing their duties due to lack of motivation.

8. An employer facing an upward sloping labor supply decides to cancel its current offering of health insurance because it’s argued that it is too expensive. It argues that the insurance costs $5000 per year per employee, but its employees only value it at $3000 per employee per year. Use supply and demand curves to show what would happen each of the following: market demand, market supply, quantity of labor hired by this firm, average annual income paid per worker.

Nominal Wage

DS1So

W1

S1

Wo So

D

0L1LoLabor Units

Following the withdrawal of the health insurance cover that the employees were entitled, it would be costly for the employees for meet the medical insurance cover alone. Therefore, many of the employees will withdraw their services and seek for new employment opportunities that are more promising. This move will lead to a significant decline in the labor supply facing the employer. The supply curve will shift inward (upward) from SoSo to S1S1. However, the demand for labor will remain unchanged at DD since the firm will still need to employ the same number of employees to remain at its original production level. With the fall in supply for labor and constant demand for labor, the equilibrium labor unit will fall from Lo to L1. This fall in the labor units employed by the firm will be accompanied by a significant increase in the nominal wage from Wo to W1. The rise in the nominal wage rate per worker will, hence leads to an increase in the average annual income that the firm will have to pay per worker.

The Application of Sociological Theories to the Institution of Marriage

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The Application of Sociological Theories to the Institution of Marriage

Introduction

The analysis of social phenomena occur at varying levels and from different point of views. Sociologist attempts to understand the society and social behaviour through concrete interpretations and sweeping generalizations (Bhandari, 2020). Specifically, sociologists explore everything from explicit events that involves analysing small social patterns at micro levels to the analysis of larger social patters at macro level. The three key theories employed by sociologist in the contemporary world include the symbolic interactionism, conflict theory, and functionalism. As such, this paper will demonstrate how this theories apply to the institution of marriage in the contemporary society.

Summary of Marriage

Marriage is considered to be more than just the perceived contract between two people involving ratification of their affections and providing mutual obligations. It is a social institution that encompasses rearing of children and nurturing them to become responsible members of the society (Gurko, 2021). Therefore, marriage involves utilizing the freedoms accorded by the Constitution to promote the common good through establishing families and rearing of children.

Symbolic Interactionism

The symbolic interactionism is a perspective where individuals attach meanings to symbols in which their actions are then subjectively guided by how they interpret those symbols. It implies that individuals who interact via symbols gives serious thought to the actions of individuals, and then strive to understand the insinuations that people attach to their symbols and actions as well as those of others (Lee & Chin, 2017). As such, the symbolic interactionism can be applied to institution of marriage through symbols that include wedding vows, wedding bands, wedding rings, a white bridal dress, and a Church ceremony. These symbols carry broad meanings, but individuals may choose to retain their won perceptions of what the symbols imply. For instance, the circular wedding rings can be interpreted by one of the spouses as a never ending love between the spouses, while the other may perceive the rings as an ordinary financial expense. Furthermore, can be socially understood from a macro level of social interaction such as establishing a healthy marriage that brings up children who will become productive and responsible adults (Lee & Chin, 2017).

Conflict Theory

The social conflict theory involves studying the difference in people and the problems and disputes that accrue from their differences. Conflict theorists operate from a wider or macro perspective, looking into major trends of the roles of varying ethnic groups and their acceptance in the society (French et al., 2018). Therefore, applying conflict theory in the institution of marriage can be approach from the question of equality in how men and women benefit from marriage. From social-conflict theory perspective, men a perceived to be more dominant than women. This prompts superiority conflict where men strive to retain their dominance while women strive for equality if not more, resulting to issues of marital power (French et al., 2018). It is apparent that conflicts in marriages arise from the inequalities or discrepancies in power and authority. For instance, men are believed to be the breadwinners where they work in paid labour outside the home, and as such, they will hold more authority compared to women who assumes household roles. In this case, household roles does not receive wages and, therefore, no authority or power. Furthermore, conflict within marriage and family context can manifest from enforcement of rules by parents to kids.

Functionalism

From a functionalist perspective, every aspect of the society is considered interdependent and contributed to the functioning of the society as a whole. For instance, the state or the government offers education to learners from families who then develop to become tax payers to help the state keep itself running (Sanner & Jensen, 2021). According to functionalism, the failure of parts of the society to ensure order, stability and productivity means adapting to the circumstances to facilitate creation of new order, productivity, and stability. Notably, the government during a financial recession will implement cut-offs on social programs while families will tighten their budgets to adapt to the financial crises. Therefore, functionalism can be applied to the institution of marriage from the context where the status roles assumed by members in a marriage or family determine the function they are expected to perform to ensure the development and prosperity of society (Sanner & Jensen, 2021). Marriage is considered to encompass raising children and teaching the how to become responsible and productive adults. From a structural functional perspective, parents nurture children and teach them to think and behave according to social and cultural norms, beliefs, and values. Children are also taught gender roles that are vital segment of the family’s economic function such that every family exercises division of labour that should be well balanced and coordinated to sustain a healthy family. For instance, men often work outside home to provide financial support and establish family status while women focus on household roles that include physical care and emotional support (Sanner & Jensen, 2021). Violation of this rules prompts instability in the family, and as such, require recalibration to reinstate family order.

Conclusion

The three main sociological theories that include the symbolic interactionism, conflict theory, and functionalism apply to diverse social institutions in the contemporary society, which provides niches for effective functioning of different societies. In the institution of marriage the symbolic interactionism can help understand the different subjective interpretation of symbols within marriages such as wedding rings and roles by the spouses. Social-conflict theory also applies to the institution of marriage through the manifestation of inequalities or discrepancies in power and authority. Finally, functionalism is evident in the institution of marriage where roles are divided among family members, and every family member is expected to perform their duties effectively without interfering with others’ roles to ensure smooth running of the family.

References

Bhandari, M. P. (2020). Theories and Contemporary Development of Organizational Perspectives in Social Sciences. The founding writers of Western sociology. Part 1. Zeszyty Naukowe Wyższej Szkoły Finansów i Prawa w Bielsku-Białej, 24(1), 8-13.

French, K. A., Dumani, S., Allen, T. D., & Shockley, K. M. (2018). A meta-analysis of work–family conflict and social support. Psychological bulletin, 144(3), 284.

Gurko, T. A. (2021). Evolution and transformation of the institution of marriage: analysis of empirical indicators. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, (5), 58-69.

Lee, J., & Chin, M. (2017). Family and marriage. The Wiley‐Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, 1-3.

Sanner, C., & Jensen, T. M. (2021). Toward more accurate measures of family structure: Accounting for sibling complexity. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 13(1), 110-127.

Martha Stewart And JC Penney Breach of Contract

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Martha Stewart And JC Penney Breach of Contract

Just like the judge in the New York supreme court, it is true that both Martha Stewart and JC Penney breached the contract they had signed with Macy’s. Even though J.C Penney actions cannot be considered illegal or in any way immoral it is true that he was highly involved in the breaching of the contract. The fact that J.C Penney interfered with the contract in a way that was not wanted makes her liable to some extent to pay Macy’s for the losses or any other damages caused (Staff, T2014). However, as Oing states in Washington post, she did not do that out of malice or anything that was driven by anger or bad decisions and therefore she should not pay anything for the inconveniences caused to Macy’s. therefore, even though Oing has a good point it does not mean that the contract was violated and when a contract is violated and at a point when it reaches the point of court, the people responsible should be placed in a place to carry the burden of their mistakes.

Martha Stewart and JC Penney got into a partnership and violated the partnership they had with J.C Penney because of the desire to make more (Alawadhi & Mukherjee, 2014). However, they are faced with the challenge of a case court. I would also do the same if I am sure that the results of the court will not be devastating and more than half of the profit, I make will not go towards payment of breaching the contract. Therefore, the best thing to do is to go for profits but at the same time with a counted or highly calculated risk to avoid losing more than one can gain in the business. One of the major ethical issues I would consider is making sure that no one is hurt in the process and even if one is hurt the conflicts to be done away with less involvement of the court.

References

Macy’s and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Settle Legal Dispute. (2014). Macy’s, Inc. Retrieved November 8, 2021, from https://www.macysinc.com/news-media/press-releases/detail/467/macys-and-martha-stewart-living-omnimedia-settle-legalNeha Alawadhi,Aurindom Mukherjee. (2014). Macy’s settles with Martha Stewart. In REUTERS. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-marthastewartlivingomnimedia-macys-idUSBREA010G520140102Staff, T. A. G. (2014, June 22). Judge rules JCPenney interfered with Macy’s contract. The American Genius. https://theamericangenius.com/business-news/judge-rules-j-c-penney-interfered-macys-contract/

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Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation

Motion picture and video production industry is one of the fastest growing industries considering technological progress and increase in disposable earnings. The success of this industry is largely attributed to mergers and acquisitions where a parent company is seen to have numerous subsidiaries. However, Lion’s Gate Entertainment Corporation has not been as successful as other potential competitors in Motion Picture and Video industry have. The Turnaround side has analytically studied the basis of the company’s meager and dreary performance and came up with the possible solutions, which may boost the financial destiny of the Lion’s Gate Entertainment Corporation. The Turnaround group of analysts considered the six best performing companies in the industry, which is indeed a reasonable number to regard in compiling the report. This piece of writing analyses the way out given by the explanation compiled by the team.

The Turnaround research team’s idea of rating Lions Gate Entertainment’s company as the low performing firm is dreadfully precise considering the corporation’s portfolio diversification, leverage level, profitability and market allocation. Nevertheless, the firm performs highly in video production compared to other competitors. The Turnaround team therefore considered the overall industry performance, which is exceptionally plausible. The first six companies in the Motion Picture and Video production industry occupy the market focus. The top six companies comprises of 91.2% market absorption and experiences a fierce competition amongst themselves abandoning Lion’s Gate Entertainment Company with only 4.3% of the market allocation (Davidson et al 1) .

High profitability in this established companies are caused by various factors ranging from the barriers imposed by the existing firms, buyers bargaining power, medium supplier power and the economies of scale enjoyed by the firms. The financial capabilities of the top six Motion Picture and Videos production companies have enabled them to acquire highly developed technologies and burly promotional networks thus covering a wider market. The monetary competence boosts the medium supplier power by using celebrities and creative artists in their Video production thus attracting larger crowd. Investors’ self-belief is also elevated on these companies due to a first-rate standing enjoyed by the enormous companies thus encouraging investments. The need to focus on the taste and fulfillment of the population is additionally important in attracting a huge customer base as explained by the team (Davidson et al 2-3).

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation should embark on having a large risk tolerance portfolio, which eventually increases investors’ confidence, and widening customer base. However, the increase of portfolio does not directly raise customer base as claimed by the report. The Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation should increase its investment in production in order to increase their profit margin as explained by the team. The larger firms seem to be investing much in video production thus increasing their income. This can also apply in the Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation for higher profitability.

The fact that Lions Gate Entertainment Company has lower cost of production is not adequate since the team further explains the higher debt to equity ratio, which directly affects the net profit of the firm. The shareholders do not enjoy the dividends because a larger amount of profit is used to pay the debtors. The Lions Gate Entertainment firm cannot therefore use diversification strategy properly due to its fiscal incapacity. Furthermore, the financial inability makes the corporation have a low cost budget, which cannot be interpreted as efficiency due to diseconomies of scale. Although, Lions Gate has expanded its portfolios, it experiences an overall net loss due to its unprofitable subsidiaries thus reducing its dividends. The team suggestion that the company should center on deleveraging itself is very important in order to improve its overall performance. The cost of debt is very high compared to shareholders funding thus there is a great need to reduce interest expense by avoiding further debt funding (Davidson et al 8-9).

The suggestion by the team that the Lions Gate Entertainment industry should diversify in order to lessen the financial threat is incredibly important in increasing the firm’s profitability. The company should indeed collaborate with other firms without same financial risk and engage in joint ventures to encourage portfolio diversification. Portfolio diversification may certainly heighten investors’ confidence in the midst of debt crisis as it may increase the net earnings. Considering the Lions Gate Entertainment firm’s strength in movie production, it should remain independent as it collaborates with other companies to maintain higher profit obtained from the production of movies. It is definitely true from the teams report that the Lions Gate Entertainment Company may not be able to acquire other firms because of its financial problems. The firm’s best strategy is therefore limited to joint venture and partnership (Davidson et al 11).

The Lions Gate Entertainment firm has very great potential of expansion as suggested by the research team since The Hunger Games, which is one of its franchises, has only released one movie out of the many existing movies it has. The company may also expand its distribution network especially when acquired by a highly distributed company. However, the fact that culture differences may hinder the buyout of Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation as suggested by the team is not true since the cultural divergence may be harmonized. When acquired, the Lions Gate Entertainment will share its losses with the parent company. The Lions Gate Entertainment firm should not consider potential buyers such as Viacom who are engaged in similar activities and are aligned to like audiences as it would discourage diversification. The team’s proposal that the companies with same arrangement in content and audiences should acquire the Lions Gate Entertainment firm is therefore not appropriate. The matter of conflict of interest is similarly imperative while considering mergers and acquisition as illustrated by the research team in Sony and Samsung case (Davidson et al 11-14).

The research group conclusively did a commendable job in their research by deeply analyzing the motion picture and video production industry situation. The companies in this industry largely require mergers and diversification in order to maximize their profit and reduce financial risks. The Lions Gate Entertainment firm, to the highest degree, call for mergers and acquisition in order to solve their leverage problems and improve its profitability level. The company, as suggested by the study group, should be bought by a financially stable parent companies with very high portfolio diversification to reduce its marketing and distribution cost, maximize profit and eventually increasing its dividends hence attracting more investors.

Works Cited

Davidson et al. “Motion Picture and Video Production Industry: Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation Turnaround Proposal.” Winter 13 (2013): 1-28. Print.

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Literacy Acquisition

Social constructions and the influence that society and attitudes, as well as beliefs and approaches individuals gain within their social contexts usually significantly influence their ability to acquire new information. The influence that patterns of socialization usually have, normally take on the form of affecting the importance one attaches to a given piece of information, their ability to interpret the arising information, as well as their ability to relate this information to information they may already have. The socialization process, according to Heath, is particularly important when it comes to children in their pre-school years. Such children, Heath argues, usually learn a certain culture growing up, as to how they should infer meaning from information, as well as internalizing this information. This therefore, affects the manner with which these children make sense of materials, books or experiences of the real world. As such, children normally follow specific socially established patterns and rules, when it comes to not just verbalizing about, but also taking in what they may need to know about a given written material. Heath’s argument suggests, therefore, that literacy practices differ distinctly from one community to another, as is implied in her descriptions of the practices witnessed in Maintown, Roadville and Trackton.

In Maintown, the author argues that emphasis from a very early age, as early as 6 months, is usually on reading, and less so on writing. Children are in most cases taught from a very tender age to be creative, and to associate with story telling and reading. Characters within a majority of the popular stories are introduced to the children at a very early age, and an association between these characters and real life occurrences made, from these early instances. Right from these tender ages, children are taught to construct knowledge based on explanations and labeling procedures provided during the preschool years of these children. These procedures also incorporate the important aspect of gaining skills that enable children to relate new information, or items to old knowledge through fictionalization and narratives. In the case of Roadville, Heath posits that focus is mostly on the learning of the letters of the alphabet and on reading, without any specific focus being put on how the reading fits into the larger real life context. The main focus is therefore simply ensuring the children gain an early orientation to the written word, without any further emphasis on the application of the knowledge gain. Although the common practices of labeling, explanations, and featuring do exist in the literary practices of Roadville, they are not sufficiently spread throughout the child’s life to ensure they act in a sustained, overlapping and interdependent fashion, as is the case in Maintown. Finally, Heath seems to suggest that the literary practices of Trackton are almost non-existent. Pre-schoolers are therefore, left to their own devices, with most of the time that would have otherwise been allocated to helping children achieve proficiency being allocated and used for social interaction. Students therefore not only fail to gain certain essential skills, but fail completely to gain any of the necessary skills, with the exception of only the most basic of reading styles. Through these three examples, Heath is able to exhaustively demonstrate the integral role that literary practices encouraged by a given cultures usually have on how individuals absorb and interpret knowledge.

Personally, I do recall learning to read and write, in a process that mostly emphasized on the learning of the letters of the alphabet, and how to write and read. In most cases, reading exercises were confined to specific times and within specific contexts in terms of venue. This was quite similar to the practices Heath characterizes with Roadville, where seemingly, the learning simply concentrated around the letters of the alphabet and the acquisition of reading and writing skills, without clear indications as to how those skills would relate to daily life. The learning therefore, simply focused on reading and gaining proficiency in reading and writing using the knowledge gained on the letters of the alphabet, practices such as spelling were routinely practiced in the house, with associations being made between letters of the alphabet and numerous inanimate objects. However, unlike in the literacy practices of Mainstown, the association that was provided was not a sustained one. Further, there were numerous instances in which stories were read unlike in the case of most Roadville families, although the participation and guidance was not as widespread as is the case in Mainstown. Indeed this difference, did serve to negatively impact on my ability to gain, understand and internalize new information when I started school. The culture within which I had grown up, as well as the literary practices within which I grew up, negatively impacted on my ability to gain new information as well as associate it to old information. Further, this lack of encouragement to engage in the abstract and creatively interpret the stories being told, no doubt significantly curtailed my ability to be creative.

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Behavioral Changes During Childhood

Children change a lot during their period of being brought up. This is exactly what happens in The Secret Garden by Burnett whereby the girl Mary Lennox is very much ill behaved. However, this does not last forever and with time and geographical location she changes. Even though it is clear and evident that she changes because of circumstances it is possible to ask oneself of the factors that contribute to the change as well as what these changes communicate about child bearing and growth. This paper therefore discusses the behavior of Mary Lenox and how she changes as well as the events and factors which lead to these changes together with the lessons obtained from the change.

Firstly, Mary Lennox is foul-tempered, and she is also selfish and rude. This is clearly presented in the first chapter. She is explained as girl who always got everything that she needed and this made her a very self-loving girl. Her parents are working and they have very good jobs. Her father is a captain and he works in the military while her mother is very beautiful and nothing much is said about her, just that she is not allowed to see her while the father can see her as frequently as he wants. However due to the nature of tehri jobs the two parents are unable to properly care for their child whom they loved very much. Therefore, they employ native servants who look after the needs of little Mary Lennox. The servants are supposed to provide literally everything that the child needs and this makes the child very lazy.

When Mary Lennox decided to get something, one of the servants could provide it without asking anything and this made her happy since she thought she could control everyone. She also through what she had at that time was eternal and therefore never really bothered to think of what could happen if she did not have all those different types of treatment that her parents had provided for her. In this state she hated everyone and everyone hated her. This was because she thought to be at the top and she was being served by adults which she enjoyed (Kohlhoff, 423). Even though during these times she was young the provision of almost everything she needed taught her that life was easy and that she did not have to struggle a little bit in the process of getting c clear direction in which she needed to go into.

As it is with children, she held onto the faith that she could remain this powerful and never really be able to lose her powers. However, the unexpected happened and during the cholera outbreak she is left alone when either of the servants were hiding or had fled into better places to work and also with the fear of cholera. At this specific point in time life got very busy for her because for once she thought of how she could manage to work for herself without her servants. Before this happened, she was a proud and angry girl, however after this happened, she changes into another person who is looking for a correct and good path to follow which could lead her to a place where she could feel safe and run away from the neglect and the ‘un-kindness’ of her servants (Kohlhoff, 420). At this point her mindset changes and she begin to realize that she needs the other people very much and much she needed them.

At this instance she is lucky since she is picked by a group of soldiers and taken to stay with allergy men. Even though they thought it was the right place for her as she develops, hatred for the priest and the servants in the house was evident and conflicting with these two people made her to lose and she was taken to Yorkshire where she lived with her maternal uncle. When she is in the new position, she realizes that she has already changed and indeed in a positive way. This can be attributed to the dilemma which she faces when she is left alone during the cholera outbreak, the staying with a clergy man and his servants among other things. It is through these experiences that she changes into a good person who can desire to find a secret garden and work on it.

She finds the secret garden when she is in the company of her friends who are Dickon, Martha and Susan. It is the first time in her life to make friends and this is a very important step which she takes. With this kind of step, it is clear that the emotional change which she needed had already happened and it was affecting her in a positive manner. She changes from an ill-mannered child into a responsible child because even at some point, she wants to investigate some cries she was hearing and indeed upon following them even when the teacher said she could not do that she found that there was a person who had been tied and was suffering.

She at last as well finds the good garden and begins cultivating it. When she does this there are some individuals who are against her however later they come to accept her way of doing things even though she was young and she had been a ‘bad’ child (Spence, 88). She finds the tied person through disobedience and this was the same when she wanted to find the secret field. Even though her methods are questionable she has indeed changed and the uncle as well as the other people in the family recognize this and appreciate it.

Therefore, it is true that pain and freedom changes a person, some change in a positive manner while others change in a negative manner. Mary changes to a positivity. This was majorly facilitated by pain and seeing how the other people around her were suffering and she had never seen it because she had not experienced it. After her experience everything changes.

In conclusion, bringing up children is always a very difficult task and a lot of people do not understand what is needed for a child to grow to become a good person. Some parents give the child everything like it is mentioned in the first experience with Mary and her parents. Even though sometimes hardships might see the only thing, hope and love for one another as well as understanding that difficulties enable critical thinking are very important aspects of bringing up children.

Works Cited

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The secret garden. Oxford University Press, 2011.

Kohlhoff, Jane, et al. “Parent–Child Interaction Therapy with Toddlers: A Community-based Randomized Controlled Trial with Children Aged 14-24 Months.” Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology 50.3 (2021): 411-426.

Spence, Susan H. “Social skills training with children and young people: Theory, evidence and practice.” Child and adolescent mental health 8.2 (2003): 84-96.

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Be-Heading of John the Baptist

The story of the beheading of john the Baptist is a very common biblical story which teaches about incest, stealing and sin. John the Baptist according to the gospels is stated to have had a lot of influence on the people and that he was in fact the Second Elijah. With this he was a prophet and the work of a prophet was to state clearly what was wrong and evil in the society for individuals to get rid of it. He admonished King Herod for leaving his wife and taking his niece as his second wife. This was considered a big sin and therefore john the Baptist wanted to do his part so that even if king hero was to be judged it will not be up to the prophet to be asked about why the kind did the wrong thing.

With being reproved, the kind got angry and locked john the Baptist. During a feast a girl danced very well and the king promised the girl to give her anything she would have asked for. However due to issues the mother of the daughter had with john the Baptist, she requested the daughter to request for the head of john the Baptist on a platter. Therefore King Herod brought what he was expected to do. Therefore the story of the beheading is a story which has many lessons and can be depicted in a certain ways by artists.

The major works of art in this subject are; The Beheading of St John the Baptist by Caravaggio and the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist by Giovanni di Paolo.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is the artists who prepared the work.

This painting was made between, 1571-161 by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. It is an oil on canvas painting and measures 91.5 by 106.7 cm. Salome turns away from the head and this can be stated to be avoidance of seeing what has been done since it is too much for anyone to look at. The executioner who is holding the hair of the head of john the Baptist is very composed and detached. The old woman is a disengagement looker. The painting is like a movie close-up. The painting focuses on the main ideas and removes all the others for example the theme is black to display sadness, anger or dull mood while at the same time preventing anything else in the periphery from being seen since the most important thing is the three people who are holding the platter on which the head is placed and the head itself. Salome feels bad about it and she wishes that could not have happened. The woman is contemplating and the executioner is also sympathizing with the families lost.

It is a religious painting and it is located in UK. It uses Baroque and Tenebrism painting styles and it is in the public domain. The art has a greater power and it is dark because there is no possibility of coming out of it or redemption. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggi’s main stylistic movement connection and relation is that he was a baroque kind of artist.

The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

Artist: Giovanni di Paolo

This art is made by Artist named as Caravaggio Medium. It is Oil painting on canvas type of art and it is currently located in St. John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta. This work is written along other narrative series of twelve panels written by the same author. The manner in which the scenes are selected, the architecture, light delicate manner of presentation makes the art ones of the best kind of arts. The medium used for this kind of writing is Tempera on panel. This is a type of gothic decorative painting since it was what the painter was much into. He also did art work in the field of scientific naturalism and classical humanism.

These two works of art are different in that both are written by different painters and artists who have their own way of making sure that they present their ideas in the best manner possible. They are also different in that, even though talking about the same thing the stages are different. In the first piece of art the beheading has already taken place while in the second one the be-heading is taking place at that particular time.

Works Cited

Shedd, Nathan L. The Beheading of John the Baptist in the First Three Centuries: Memory, Violence, and Reception. Diss. St Mary’s University/Liverpool Hope University, 2019.

Shedd, Nathan L. The Beheading of John the Baptist in the First Three Centuries: Memory, Violence, and Reception. Diss. St Mary’s University/Liverpool Hope University, 2019.

A Lesson Plan For Health And Career Education, Safety, Injury Prevention And Its Rationale

Introduction

The lesson plan is a clear guideline on how a teacher should cover all the lessons planned in a given term. It has a format that starts with objectives, activities, materials, procedure, evaluation lessons and the closing, (Bryan, 2013).

Discussion

Lessons to be taught: Health and Career Education, Safety and Injury Prevention and a lesson plan Rationale.

Grade level: 2nd

Objectives

The lesson plan will assist the 2nd grade students on;

Healthy living by participating in physical activities, engaging in healthy relationships and developing healthy eating habits.

Boosting their career development by categorizing the paid and unpaid jobs and outdoor and indoor jobs.

Learning numbers, drama, music and visual arts.

Safety and injury prevention.

Materials

Laptop

Textbooks

Magazines

Journals

Lesson procedure:

The teacher is required to discuss the various ways of maintaining a healthy living, how students should develop their careers, and insertion of skills to help the students maintain safety and prevent injury in forceful situations. This will be done in three lessons.

Activity

The students will be given journals, textbooks and magazines from the library to read and learn in the various ways of maintaining a healthy life, safeness and career development.

Explanation

The teacher will introduce a topic at a time. He/she will engage the students by asking questions randomly and allow for class presentations from their home works and group discussions. The students will also use their laptops and research more about the different skills required in music, dance and drama; learn the different ways of maintaining a healthy life, research on science, social studies, leadership skills in physical education and prevention of injury through appropriate safeness procedures.

Evaluation

There were continuous assessment tests to assess what the students have learned. This can be in the mid of the term or randomly in the class. An end term paper for the whole period would also be essential to evaluate what the students have learned during the whole term. There is also to be an inter-grade competition in the practical sessions. That is in drama, swimming, voice competitions in music and dancing with awards for the best in order to motivate the students.

Lesson 1

Introduction to healthy living

Healthy living is the systematic way in which every person grows into adulthood. Healthy living entails both emotional and physical growth. It involves daily physical activities, healthy relationships and healthy eating habits.

Physical activities that students should engage are swimming, jogging, dancing, and participating in drama and sport activities in school. These activities will help students maintain fitness and curb lifestyle diseases.

Healthy eating practices include washing hands before eating. This will help prevent communicable diseases. Avoiding a fatty breakfast made of foods such as bacon or sausage and consider foods like whole grain bread, berries and yogurt which are less in fats and more of fiber would reduce the chances of the students acquiring disorders like diabetes, high blood pressure and hypertension conditions, (Journal of healthy living, 2010).

Healthy relationships determine how well people interact. The students should learn how to communicate and listen to others. This will further enable friendship making and maintenance both at school and at home.

Lesson 2

An introduction to career development

Career development is how the students maneuver their way to the job market. The job market is dependent on what the student is passionate about. It is divided into the indoor and outdoor jobs, paid and unpaid jobs.

Discussion

The career that a student embarks in life for their in life is highly dependent on what the student is taught in class by their teacher. The teacher should give the students a chance to talk what they want to pursue and later give them an outline of the jobs in the market in case they have a change of mind. This guide gives students an opportunity to make the right decisions on what they wish life to offer to them.

Lesson 3

Introduction to safeness and injury prevention

Injury is any harm caused physically or mentally resulting to pain or discomfort. Safeness is the way to avoid or prevent impairment.

Discussion

The aim of safeness and injury prevention is to help students avoid conceding situations, identify circumstances that would otherwise cause harassment and gaining skills on how to avoid compromising situations.

Importance of the lesson plan (Rationale)

The significance of the plan is for a clear guideline to the teacher and the students which will avoid confusion during the school term. These will avoid skipping of activities or taking some topics for granted. All topics will be given equal preferences and time during the classes. This will help follow up and students will gain the experience, skills and expertise in healthy living, safeness and career development as stipulated in the objectives.

Conclusion

A lesson plan is a clear outline that should be mandatory in every learning institution for the better of the students and teachers. This will save them a big deal of time and proper follow up of the school syllabus. The above lesson plan is detailed and well explained with inclusion of all the requirements that a lesson plan should entail.

Reference

BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Journal of healthy living. 2010. Take a closer look at lunch. [Online] available at

http://journal of healthy living.com retrieved on 17th November 2013

Bryan. 2013. SAMPLE LESSON PLAN FORMAT #1. [Online] available atwww.indiana.edu/~west/documents/…/WhoaretheFrenchKarenBryan.doc retrieved on 17th November 2013‎.

A Letter to the Court for Deferred Adjudication

16th January 2012

To the Sentencing Judge,

I am writing to you this day prior to my sentencing hearing scheduled for 30th January 2012. Desolately, I am requesting for your clemency in passing the sentencing and petitioning that your sentence be compassionate and rather than punitive. Kindly take into consideration what I am about to say, as numerous lives will be touched and influenced by your judgment. Your Honor, I do believe that it is in your knowledge that the transgression I am charged with is failure to render aid following a traffic accident. The accident took place approximately a year ago. I accidentally hit the rear end of the car and that car hit another car that was in front of it.

I am aware that, a person who disappears from the accident scene without stopping to assist anyone who may have been injured, or exchanging information with others involved in the accident, may be charged with an offense. I am aware that, the conviction in such a case may almost certainly result in the suspension of the driver’s license. I am also aware that, it may as well subject the wrongdoer to a jail time or a fine. I believe that you should know the circumstances behind my actions in regard to what transpired at the accident scene.

I hold a graduate degree in speech language pathology, and I am currently working as a speech language pathologist at a skilled nursing facility for geriatric population. At the hospital, we usually have approximately 90% inpatient, and 10% out patients. In this hospital, I have gained experience with diverse disorders including articulation, language, autism, cognition, dysphagia, and aphasia.

Allow me to say that I was extremely overwhelmed by events that had earlier transpired at the hospital. I was urgently required at the hospital in order to attend to an emergency situation. I had been informed that, one of the patients in my caseload had developed swallowing and communication difficulties following a stroke. As a first offender, I am genuinely remorseful for my actions. I kindly pled that you may understand that I had no intention to commit the offense. In regard to my current occupation, I trust that I can utilize my proficiency by involving myself in community service or any alternative sentencing. However, I am of the opinion that, an incarceration period for this kind of offense will be detrimental to the patients I devotedly serve as well as my immediate family.

For the past seven years, I have ardently provided for my family as their sole provider, which includes my aging diabetic mother and two children. My mother has several medical problems which I shoulder fervently. Regrettably, I am the only family my mother and my children have. It strikes me that, without my support, this family will suffer emotionally and financially. As a single mother, I am involved in my children’s daily lives. Therefore, my absence in their daily activities will only be a source of unimaginable pain, as well as additional emotional stress.

I kindly beseech your Honor to please, reflect on my letter as you hand down the sentence. I believe that, only you bear the ability to grant me a second opportunity to serve my family, the vulnerable geriatric population at the hospital, and our nation.

Sincerely,

Name

Behavioral Psychology

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Behavioral Psychology

There is a close relationship between the mind and human behavior. Many factors influence the behavior of an individual. There are external factors that influence how a person relates to other people. There are also the personality traits that emanate from within and individual without the influence of any external factor. There has been much research to establish the factors that influence human behavior, and many psychologists intimate that there are situational and dispositional effects on human behavior. In every community, there are cultural practices that affect how people relate to one another. When one is born in a particular environment, they learn certain behaviors by observing what people in that specific place behave. However, it is critical to note that cultural practices are passed from one generation to another, which plays a vital role in shaping how people behave. Cultural practices provided a framework that guides human behavior, and when one is born in a certain cultural setting, they adapt to the norms practiced by other people.

Cultural practices differ widely across the world, and in some instances, they also vary among different communities within a given region. For example, in western culture, individuals are trained to maintain a culture of independence. These people are prepared to make an individual decision without the influence of other community members. On the other hand, people in Asia are trained to relate and depend on one another. Most of the make decisions based on the norms of their communities, and anyone who goes against their cultural training is often viewed as a rebel. Many people still exercise their traditional beliefs in African, which influences how they relate with one another. However, cultural practices differ from ethnic group to another. Although people are affected by their cultural practices, it is important to note that people’s mobility from one place to another has also shaped the way people behave. In the last few years, global development has necessitated people from different regions, which has enabled them to exchange their cultural practices, thus influencing how people behave (Cole, 2011).

The technological revolution is another factor that has shaped human behavior in the last few years. The emergence of social media has revolutionized how people do things and influenced how they behave. Social media has been identified as one of the leading causes of mental health issues among young people. Social media is a very effective tool that is easy to use, and many people have created accounts that they use to socialize with other members of society. Although social media was intended to bring people to close together to socialize and interact, many people are now comparing themselves with their peers and coping with their lifestyles, which hurts their mental health. Equally, social media has revolutionized how people do their shopping. Unlike a few years ago, where people would go to the in-stores to do their shopping, they can now order their products and deliver them to their doorstep. This has limited the interaction that existed before, and this has had a direct influence on how people behave. Before social media was established, people used to interact and share their experiences. But that has changed before establishing relationships online with strangers, which has equally affected how people behave (Wakefield and Wakefield, 2016).

Although situational circumstances largely influence human behavior, it is critical to note that genetics also plays a role in how individuals behave. Many scholars have researched to establish the different behaviors exhibited by people, and there is sufficient evidence to link the inheritance of genes to a certain form of behavior. It has been shown that people who come from a family with mental health issues are like to pass the same genes to the other generations. Dispositional behavior is largely associated with individuals making decisions or exhibiting certain behavior not influenced by external forces. According to multiple studies conducted, these are people who have inherited most of their parents’ behavior. These people can individually formulate their perception of certain things in society and act in a manner that is not conforming to societal expectations (Flint et al. 2020).

Human behavior is also influenced by gender. Research has shown that both men and women can perform the same tasks when given equal opportunities. However, society members have created the notion that they are certain responsibilities that can only be executed by men or women. Although there has been a lot of development in bridging the gap in the gender roles, women are still viewed as the primary caregivers whose responsibility is to take care of the children at home. Despite the existing evidence to show that women can also undertake leadership roles, society members still view leadership responsibility as a reserve for men. The stereotype created in the society on the gender roles influences how people relate with one another and how they behave in the society.

In conclusion, many factors influence how people behave. These factors include the cultural practices in the community and how hereditary factors among members of a family. The development of technology has also brought a revolution in how people interact with one another, which has impacted how people behave.

References

Cole, M., & Packer, M. (2011). Culture in development. Psychology Press.

Flint, J., Greenspan, R. J., & Kendler, K. S. (2020). How Genes Influence Behavior 2e. Oxford University Press.

Wakefield, R., & Wakefield, K. (2016). Social media network behavior: A study of user passion and affect. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 25(2), 140-156.