Retained Surgical Sponge Legal Case Essay Example for Free

Retained Surgical Sponge Legal Case Essay In October, 2013 The Joint Commission (TJC) released a sentinel event alert pertaining to the prevention of retained surgical items. These retained items could have serious consequences for the patient. According to The Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert, 2013 Issue 51, incidents of retained objects reported to TJC totaled 772 from 2005 to 2012, sixteen resulting in death and 95 percent of these cases requiring additional treatment. Over the course of my seventeen year career as an operating room circulator, the fear of being involved in a case resulting in a retained surgical item was always on my mind. This fear sparked my interest in researching a legal case involving a retained surgical sponge ultimately resulting in the patient’s death. I will present the case, provide an analysis, and the outcome of the Estate of Genrich versus Ohio Insurance Company, 2008 WI 67. Case Summary In July 2003, a male patient underwent abdominal surgery for an ulcer. He developed an infection and on August 8, 2003 it was determined a surgical sponge was left in the abdomen. He was taken to the operating room in order to remove the retained sponge. After this surgical procedure, he did not recover from the complications of sepsis and the patient died on August 11, 2003. His wife filed a law suit on August 9, 2006 against the doctors and staff involved in the initial surgery (Estate of Genrich v. Ohio Ins. Co. , 2009). RETAINED SURGICAL SPONGE 3 Analysis In my opinion, given the facts of this case, the wife had legal grounds for a lawsuit. Hardwired systems are in place in the operating room to prevent the adverse event of a retained surgical sponge. The surgical count is a standard procedure in operating rooms. As stated by Steelman and Cullen (2011), retained sponges continue to be an issue throughout the country. In cases involving retained sponges, the nursing documentation reflected the count as being correct. In my experience, counting is a standard of care in the operating room. The operating room circulator counts with the surgical technician to ensure that all sponges are accounted for at the conclusion of the case. The surgeon relies on the staff in the room to identify surgical counts as correct or provide notification of incorrect counts. Based on this information and upon a initial review of this case, I had no doubt the wife would receive monetary compensation for her lawsuit. The incident of a retained surgical sponge is negligent, and according to Stiller, Thompson, and Ivy (2010), fail to uphold the standards of patient safety and quality, resulting in the liability of the health care professional. Outcome To my surprise, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin ruled in favor of Ohio Insurance Company based on the fact that the state of Wisconsin has a three year statute of limitation. To make this judgement even more complex, the wife filed her lawsuit on August 9, 2006, two days under the three year anniversary of his death (Estate of Genrich v. Ohio Ins. Co. , 2009). However, the court concluded that his injury resulted from the retained sponge, was the start of the three year limitation. The initial surgery occurred on July 24, 2003. The court determined that the negligent act occurred during the initial surgery. The sponge that was left in the RETAINED SURGICAL SPONGE 4 abdomen caused the infection which ultimately resulted in the patient’s death (Estate of Genrich v. Ohio Ins. Co. , 2009). Conclusion In my opinion, the legal system failed in this case. One fact missing during the research of this case is the reason the wife waited three years to file a lawsuit. I found myself continuing to ask why the lawsuit was not filed immediately upon her husband’s death. Regardless of this fact, the wife suffered the loss of her husband due to the negligence of the physician and staff. Granted, when humans are involved, error is inevitable. One can hope that there will be understanding by the victims of the human error factor. However, the fact is the sponge should have been counted prior to incision and upon abdominal closure. A discrepancy should have been noted and it was not. The court concluded that the moment the sponge was left in the abdomen, the legal clock started ticking. In my opinion, a wrongful death lawsuit can only be filed when a death has occurred, not when the incidents leading to the death occur. If this had been the case, the wife would have met the statute of limitations and the judgement possibly would have been in her favor.

Compensation Strategy In Translation

Compensation Strategy In Translation Seems its a big deal to make up the loss of idiomatic expressions in translating idioms from one language to another one. How can translators come up with this problem? Considering an English novel as the source document and its Persian translations as the target text, we mean to answer this question. Extracting idioms and non-idioms from the first chapter of J. D. Salingers The Catcher in the Rye, is the first step to start. Then we made a comparison of gathered information with their Persian translations by Najafi and Karimi for the next stage. Following compensation strategy by adding target language idioms somewhere in the translated texts by the Persian translators, is an open door to manage the idiomatic loss in their translations. This indicates that, if in any case its not possible to translate a source language idiom as an idiom in target language, the translator can compensate the loss of the idiom by adding a target language idiom to places where there initially was a non-idiom. Key words: English Idiom, Persian Translation, Translation Strategies, Compensation Strategy, Source Text (ST), Target Text (TT), Source Language (SL), Target Language (TL). Introduction: Translation is generally explained as a process in which the translator transfers the meaning of a SL text into TL under the circumstances of preserving the content and accuracy of original text, as far as it is possible. Where there is no equivalent for a SL idiom in the TL, the translator gets throughout compensation strategy to fill this incurred gap. The more skilled the translator is, the better will be the translation. If you are enthusiastic to this issue as we are, this is the paper you can refer to and take your answer. Theoretical Background: Translation Bell (ibid.: 6) argues that a total equivalence between a source language text and its translation is something that can never be fully achieved. According to Bassnett-McGuire (1980: 2), the aim of translation is that the meaning of the target language text is similar to that of the source language text, and that the structures of the SL will be preserved as closely as possible, but not so closely that the TL structures will be seriously distorted. In other words, the source language structure must not be imitated to such an extent that the target language text becomes ungrammatical or sounds otherwise unnatural or clumsy. Idiom: Idioms are the major and natural part of all languages as well as a prominent part of our everyday discourse. Idioms are such a normal part of our language use that we hardly even notice how vastly we use them in our everyday speech and writing. English is a language full of idioms, so, learners of English should be aware of their nature, types, and use. Using many idioms in English language is one of the aspects that makes it somehow difficult to learn for a Persian learner. They can be used in formal style and in slang. Idiom is defined as a group of words which have different meaning when used together from the one they would have if you took the meaning of each word individually (Collins Cobuild dictionary, 1990 edition). Indeed, the meaning of idiom can only be inferred through its meaning and function in context, as shown in the examples below (from Fernando, 1996). bread and butter, as in `It was a simple bread and butter issue (see further below); bless you, which is usually used in the context of cordial expressions; go to hell, which indicates that there is a conflict among interlocutors in an interpersonal contact; In sum, which indicates relations among portions and components of a text. Idioms are a set of phrases have different meaning from its individual parts of the phrases. Sometimes it is hard to recognize the meaning of a phrase just by knowing the meaning of the words including in it e.g. paint the town red is a phrase which has a meaning other than the meaning of its words separately, it means having a good time! Moon (1998, p.4) claims that idiom denotes a general term for many kinds of multià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ word expressions whether semantically opaque or not. Some traditional theories of idiomaticity assumed that idioms are frozen, semantic units that are essentially non-compositional (Hambin Gibbs, 1999, p.26). However, there have been a number of semantic classification systems proposed since 1980 for rating the composition of idioms which basically give differing names to the same concepts (Grant Bauer, 2004). Fernando (as cited in Liu, 2003) developed a scale by which to categorize idiomatic expressions and habitual collocation into 3 categories: pure (nonliteral), semi literal, and literal (p.673). 1. Pure Idioms. Fernando defines pure idiom as a type of conventionalized, nonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ literal multiword expression (Fernando, 1996, p.36). Pure idioms are always non literal, however they may be either invariable or may have little variation. In addition, idioms are said to be opaque (Fernando, 1996, p.32). For example, Let the cat out of the bag (to reveal a secret or a surprise by accident). 2. Semià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ idioms. Semià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ idioms may have one or more literal constituents and one with nonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ literal sub sense. Therefore, this type of idioms is considered partially opaque (Fernando, 1996, p.60). For example, middle of nowhere (a very isolated place). 3. Literal idioms. This subà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ group of idioms has limited variance. They are less complicated than two other groups. Moreover, literal idioms are considered to be clear as they can be interpreted on the basis of their components. For example Coming out (to exit; to leave the inside of a place). Translating Idioms: working with English, the translator may easily recognize if an idiom violates `truth conditions, as in `it is raining cats and dogs, `storm in a teacup, jump down someones throat, etc. It may be hard to recognize, if the idiom is not of this nature, and translators may just think of it as an ordinary expression, with the consequence of either losing its tone or losing its meaning. There are two sources which may cause misinterpretation: The first possible source is that there are idioms which can mislead readers/users; they do not sound idiomatic at all, but at a closer look, careful readers would find the hidden idioms. An example given by Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye is `got the axe in the following text: The manager warned me, but I didnt notice, so I got the axe. On the first look, readers may interpret it in terms of a person who took an axe and wanted to do something with it like cut a tree but at a closer look, a careful reader may find out that means to lose the job. The second source of misinterpretation occurs when the words in an idiom have equivalents in the target language (i.e. in Persian) but with totally different meaning. Another good example given by Salinger is the idiom: for the birds. Winter weather is for the birds. At first it may be understood that this sentence means winter weather is good for the birds but it makes no sense because the meaning is really different and it means worthless; undesirable. Strategies used translating idioms Idioms are culture bound and this is another challenge for the translator to transfer the exact meaning and content of SL idiom into TL idiom perfectly. For the sake of solving these difficulties the translator may apply a strategy. Using the appropriate method in this process, the translators can get over the difficulties easily and it is valuable and useful for their works. Mona Baker, in her book In Other Words (1992), defines the following strategies for translating idiomatic expressions: 1) using an idiom with the same meaning and form, 2) using an idiom with the similar meaning but different form, 3) by paraphrase, 4) by omission. (1) Translating an idiom with the same meaning and form: The first translation strategy by Mona Baker is translating TL idiom similar in its form and meaning to the SL idiom. For example: Tooth and nail ((Ø ¨ÃƒËœ Ú† Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬  ÃƒÅ¡Ã‚ ¯ Ùˆ Ø ¯Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬  ÃƒËœÃ‚ ¯ÃƒËœÃƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬   (2) Translating an idiom with the similar meaning but different form: Another strategy suggested by Mona Baker is translating a SL idiom into TL idiom the same meaning but different form. In this case, the translator does not preserve the lexical items and translate as a semantic equivalent. For example: Acid tongue in her head. (Ø ²ÃƒËœÃ‚ ¨ÃƒËœÃƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬   Ù† Ãƒâ€ºÃ…’Ø ´ÃƒËœÃ‚ ¯ÃƒËœÃƒËœÃ‚ ±Ãƒâ€ºÃ…’ Ø ¯ÃƒËœÃƒËœÃ‚ ´ÃƒËœÃ‚ ªÃƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬  ) (3) Translation by paraphrase: The most common strategy in translation of idioms is paraphrase. Translators often cannot translate a SL idioms as a TL idiom, therefore they use the paraphrase strategy by using a word or a group of words in TL exactly related to the meaning of that idiom in SL which may be a non-idiom. Newmark (1988, p.109) says that while using this strategy not only components of sense will be missing or added, but the emotive or pragmatic impact will be reduced or lost. Still, paraphrase is usually descriptive and explanatory; sometimes it preserves the style of the original idiom as well. For example: On tenterhooks. ((Ù†¦ÃƒËœÃ‚ «Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ ØÙÅ  Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬  ÃƒÅ¡Ã‚ ©Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ Ø ±Ãƒâ„¢Ã‹â€ Ãƒâ€ºÃ…’ Ø ªÃƒËœÃƒâ„¢Ã‹â€ Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ Ø ¢ÃƒËœÃ‚ ªÃƒËœÃ‚ ´ Ø ¨ÃƒËœÃƒËœÃ‚ ´Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ (4) Translation by omission: According to Baker (1992, p.77) omission is allowed only in some cases: first, when there is no close equivalent in the target language; secondly, when it is difficult to paraphrase; finally, an idiom may be omitted for stylistic reasons. This strategy is not used very frequently. In fact, it is not approved by many scholars and some of them do not include it among other translation strategies (Veisbergs, 1989). However, sometimes its impossible to translate a SL idiom into TL, so the translator may use another strategy called compensation. In this strategy the translator omit an idiom and may put another idiom elsewhere in the TL text by preserving the effect of SL idiom. Compensation Strategy: Compensation is a strategy most definitely worth considering, while it can be used as one possible strategy for dealing with idioms and quite an effective one for compensating the loss caused by translating. Therefore, in order to preserve the idiomaticity of the original text and to avoid the mentioned loss, many translators resort to compensation in translating idioms as their final but workable strategy. That is when an idiom is not possible to be translated into TT, a translators last effort is to compensate an idiom by omitting that and putting an idiom in another place, by preserving the usage effect of idiom in the ST. Nida and Taber (1969) mention that, whereas one inevitably loses many idioms in the process of translation one also stands to gain a number of idioms (p. 106). Baker (1992) indicates that in compensation, a translator may leave out a feature such as idiomaticity where it arise in the ST and introduce it somewhere else in the TT (p. 78). In support of this idea, Newmark (1991) suggests that all puns, alliterations, rhyme, slang, metaphor and pregnant words can be compensated in translation. Though he further adds that, compensation is the procedure which in the last resort ensures that translation is possible (pp.143à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 144). Theoretical framework We agree with Lorenzo, M. et al., in that the first step a translator must take is to clearly define his objective before producing a translation which is as true as possible to the original text. One of the aspects of Hans Vermeers concept of skopos (1989:227) is the establishment of a clearly defined objective or purpose for translation; Any form of translation, including translation itself, may be understood as an action, as the name implies. Any action has an aim, a purpose. The word skopos is a technical word for the aim or purpose of translation. Nidas Dynamic Equivalence In the process of translating idioms, the translator may face many difficulties which is not a simple task to overcome. The major problem is the lack of equivalence in the process of translation. It would be desirable if a translator could find a TL idiom which is the same as that in structure and content of SL idiom. Anyway every language, both source and target, has its own idioms and it may be hard to find the precise source equivalent in the target language. The definition of dynamic equivalence is initially given by Eugene A. Nida in his book Toward a Science of the Translation (Nida, E.A., 1964:161). Nida is an American translator, scholar, teacher, leader, influencer, conceptualizer, innovator, and influential theoretician. Nida argued that there are two different types of equivalence, formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. Formal equivalence deals with the message, in both form and content whereas dynamic equivalence translation is based on the principle of equivalent effect. The translator is not concerned with the source language message, but rather with the dynamic relationship. Dynamic equivalence connects the target language and culture in order to make messages comprehensible to target language receptors. For instance, if we translate a phrase like two hemorrhages apiece literally into Persian, it will produce a nonsensical meaning for the Persian receptor. Idiomatic expressions may not seem understandable when translated from one language to another. In such cases the equivalence counterpart Ø ®Ãƒâ„¢Ã‹â€ Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬  ÃƒËœÃ‚ ±Ãƒâ„¢Ã‹â€ ÃƒËœÃ‚ ´ Ø ¯Ãƒâ„¢Ã‹â€  قؠ¨ÃƒËœÃ‚ ¶Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ can be used to make it understandable to the receptor. In this view the translator has brought an equivalent which the original author most likely meant. Method: Corpus: The study is based on a contrastive comparison between the two Persian translations of The Catcher in the Rye by Muhammad Najafi and Ahmad Karimi. In this study we tried to achieve which of these translators has followed the compensation strategy in his own translation, and whether they have been successful in this process or not. Gathering the data: Collecting the data, of course, is as important as other stages (like conclusion) and even more important. Because the more accurate the gathered data is so, the more favorable the result will be. Focusing on the process in this study, we long to explain the steps in data collecting, respectively. At the earliest step, we extracted English idioms and non-idioms from the first chapter of the novel, then found their Persian equivalents from two Persian translations by Najafi and Karimi of the same novel. We aimed to know whether English idioms are translated into Persian idioms or not and whether English non-idioms are translated into Persian idioms or not. Then we read the aforementioned translated chapter by two translators several times to clarify if they may be idioms. We looked up English idioms in Idioms Oxford Dictionary, although we had difficulty in recognizing the exact idiom at first. On the other hand, as we are Persian students, it was not hard to find Persian idioms as difficult as English idioms, anyway. But on non-idioms, we considered the most English phrases or sentences which translated as idioms in TL. Maybe you ask why we chose this novel. As you know, of course, this novel is rich in idioms and it makes the work for researcher to access the idealistic results easier. Then we counted the idioms and non-idioms in both original text and its Persian translations by two translators. Table 1. Total Number of Idiomatic and Non-Idiomatic Translations of the Salingers Idioms J.D. Salingers Idioms Total Translation Najafi Karimi 44 Idiomatic 22 18 Non- Idiomatic 22 26 In this table, we calculated the total numbers of English idioms (N=44) which is translated by translators, either idiomatic or non-idiomatic. As you can see, here, Najafi translated more English idioms (N=44) into Persian idioms (N=22) than Karimi. We guess, this table will confirm our claim that Najafi has translated much more skilful than Karimi, because he got use of compensation strategy by adding more Persian idioms than Karimi. Anyway, our purpose is not to compare persons and is just to determine if there is any use of compensation strategy in each of these translations. Table 2. Total Number of Idiomatic and Non-Idiomatic Translations of the Salingers Non-idioms J.D. Salingers Non-Idioms Total Translation Najafi Karimi 42 Idiomatic 42 26 Non-Idiomatic 0 16 This table also illustrated that Najafi translated 42 English non-idioms out of 42 as idiomatic. On the other hand, Karimi translated 26 English non-idioms out of 42 as idiomatic. This table shows how Najafi and Karimi have functioned in translating non-idioms into idioms. By total non-idioms, we mean those which translated as idioms by Najafi and it will be our criteria for counting Karimis idioms and non-idioms. Table 3. Total Number of Different Data Extracted from Both Translations and the Original Text Data J.D. Salinger Najafi Karimi Idiom 44 64 44 Non-idiom 42 22 42 Total 86 86 86 This table confirms that Najafi has translated the novel more idiomatic (N=64) than Karimi (N=44). Classifying the Data: After extracting and counting the total idioms in both original text and its translations, it revealed that translators had applied 3 different translation strategies for idioms. These strategies were: Translating English Idioms into Persian Idioms Translating English Idioms into Persian Non-idioms Translating English Non-idioms into Persian Idioms Analyzing the Data: In this stage, we analyzed the whole collected data and calculated frequency and the percentage proportion of each strategy in the same translations. The results are shown in the tables below; Table 4. Frequency and Percentage of Idioms Translation Strategies Applied by Najafi Strategy Frequency Percentage Translation of idiom with idiom 22 50 Translation of idiom with non-idiom 22 50 Total 44 100 Table 5. Frequency and Percentage of Idioms Translation Strategies Applied by Karimi Strategy Frequency Percentage Translation of idiom with idiom 18 40.90 Translation of idiom with non-idiom 26 59.10 Total 44 100 Table 6. Frequency and Percentage of Non-Idioms Translation Strategies Applied by Najafi Strategy Frequency Percentage Translation of non-idiom with idiom 42 100 Translation of non-idiom with non-idiom 0 0 Total 42 100 Table 7. Frequency and Percentage of Non-Idioms Translation Strategies Applied by Karimi Strategy Frequency Percentage Translation of non-idiom with idiom 26 61.90 Translation of non-idiom with non-idiom 16 38.10 Total 42 100 Table 8. Percentage of each Applied Strategies in both Translations Strategy Najafi Karimi Translation of non-idiom with idiom 100 61.90 Translation of non-idiom with non-idiom 0 38.10 Total 100 100 Results: The results show that both translators, Najafi and Karimi, have applied three strategies in translating idioms: translating English idioms with Persian idioms, translating English idioms with Persian non-idioms, translating English non-idioms with Persian idioms, and translating English non-idioms with Persian non-idioms. One of the translators, Najafi, used more frequently the first and the third (translating English idioms and non-idioms as Persian idioms) strategy in his translation, on the other hand, the latter translator, Karimi, used the second and the last (translating English idioms and non-idioms as Persian non-idioms) strategy more often. Discussion and Conclusion: As mentioned before, its hard to translate a SL idiom into TL idiom regarding the accurateness and the faithfulness of SL into TL. In this stud, out of 44 extracted idioms from J.D. Salingers novel, 22 (50%) of the expressions have not been translated as idioms by Najafi. In the same case, Karimi has translated 18 (40.90%) of the idioms with Persian idioms and the remaining 26(59.10%) idioms have been translated non-idiomatically. This imbalance between the total number of idioms and their non-idiomatic translations causes a loss of idiomaticity in the Persian translated texts. Some of these idiomatic losses have been compensated for elsewhere in the text, since the translators have replaced some English language non-idioms with Persian idioms. By this strategy, Najafi has added 42 idioms and Karimi has added 26 idioms to their translations. We recognized that theres not the exact contrast in numbers of idioms in two languages(SL,TL), but its very common in translation. The translators were somehow successful here in compensating idiom gaps in the TL. Furthermore, they compensated those non-idiom expressions in the original context to function better on their translations. Compensation strategy is considered here as the best to translate idioms, non-idioms and figure of speech as well.

Nation Branding: A Tool Of Soft Power

Nation Branding: A Tool Of Soft Power Nations have always cared about their image, but in recent years one witnessed a turning point in methods used by states to build and manage their reputation. In this era of globalization the world is increasingly becoming a gigantic stage on which countries have to compete for all types of resources in order to enhance, and raise their international profile. In light of this, nation branding holds a vital key to win this world contest. Though, it draws heavily from the marketing and public relations realms, this concept is increasingly pertaining the sphere of international relations as states are using it as a tool to reach their desired international aims. In light of this, the aim of this essay will be to evaluate the relatively new concept of nation brand in the context of soft power in international relations. It will argue that there is close link between soft power and nation branding, since the latter if done effectively can enhance a nation soft power and consequently winni ng the hearts and minds of foreign audiences. The second part of the essay will then attempt to shed led on to what extent can state branding can fit within the theories of IR and the eventual implications it can have on the conduct of foreign policy. Soft power, a term that is increasingly used in discourses of international relations, was coined by Joseph Nye who is amongst the most prominent theorists within the Neoliberal theory, to define co-optive power in contrast to the traditional hard power related to the military and economic might. Soft power is conceptualized as the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. It arises from the attractiveness of a countrys culture, political ideals, and policies (Nye, 2004). Soft power blossomed after the end of the cold war. Definitely, due to globalization and communication the usage of soft power is becoming more important. In fact, in light of this Nye states that, Winning hearts and minds has always been important, but it is even more so in a global information age. Information is power, and modern information technology is spreading information more widely than ever before in history (Nye 2004). Though the concept of soft power was put forth by Nye in recent decades, it could also be seen in previous works such that of Hans J. Morgenthau, Klaus Knorr and Ray Cline (Fan, 2008). Soft power rests on the ability of shaping the preferences of others. Hence, such arguments insist that a nation may address and reach its desired outcomes on the global stage, due to the fact that other states admire its values, imitate its example and seek to reach its level of prosperity and openness. Therefore, it is a significant asset in influencing others, not by using hard military power, but by the ability to attract, which goes beyond influence or persuasion (Nye, 2004). Nye states that soft power relies on primarily three resources the attractiveness of its culture, the appeal of its domestic political and social values, and the style and substance of its foreign policies (Nye, 2004). Due to such factors soft power is intangible and difficult to measure and control. Through such power, nations are able to cultivate specific relations with the other states particularly culturally and economically which eventually result in a better and more favorable public opinion and credibility in the outside world. An interesting aspect is that soft power in contrast to hard power is not controlled entirely by the government but non-state actors can also have a contribution to it. As previously discussed, soft powers most particular and important asset is the ability to attain desirable outcomes without involving any type of force. In todays world, many nations around the globe are suffering from bad image problems which lead nations to embark on initiatives such as nation branding. Image problems are driven by both internal policies and events taking place in the political, economical and social landscape, and also due to certain stereotypes that exist on the external side. Cases in point are the nations of Greece, Spain and Italy which are under investigation in my dissertation. In fact such countries, particularly Greece has currently its image into a storm due to the economic crisis. Apart from that, as in the case of Spain and Italy it suffers from certain stereotypes associated with countries located in the Mediterranean basin. Hence, in order to overcome negative perceptions or turn their potentials into reality countries embark on initiatives such as n ation branding. The practice and theoretical conceptualization of nation branding its still in its infancy, although it must be noted that some researches (e.g. Olins 2002) argue that countries have always branded themselves throughout history. Nation Branding is about applying branding and marketing communications techniques to promote a nations image (Fan 2008). In the marketing field a brand is understood how what a customer thinks about a certain product. On the other hand, the brand state revolves around the idea of how the outside world views a particular country. Hence, this makes nation branding a crossroad between the world of public relations and marketing and international relations. If one looks at the main definition of nation branding, one finds an array of differences in the focus and purpose of nation branding. Fan (2008) made a close examination of the major definitions. Fans (2008) evaluations show that nation branding is about remolding the national identities (Olins, 1999), enhance nations competitiveness (Anholt 2007), embrace political, cultural, business and sports activities (Jaffe and Nebenzahl, 2001), promoting economic and political interests at home and abroad (Rendon and Szondi, 2003) and to altering, improving or enhancing a nations image/ reputation (Gudjossan, 2005). In less theoretical words, nation branding is about building and managing the reputation of a country. Hence, this concept allows nations to better control the image they project to the world, and therefore be able to attract and compete for the right kinds of available resources. Consequently, by this process a nation hopes to boost its international profile in a globalized world where every country has to compete with every other nation for the share of income, power, voice and influence. In fact, nations engage in branding primarily in order to attract tourists, investment, boost exports, restore international credibility and ratings, increase political influence, stimulate stronger international relations, combat negative national stereotypes and enhance nation building by nourishing confidence, pride, harmony and national resolve (Dinnie 2008). Thus, a positive nation brand provides a crucial competitive advantage in contrast to a bad image which hinders the states competitivene ss in the global arena. As Van Ham (2008) states, similar to Nyes soft power resources, a countrys brand is determined by its culture, political ideals, and policies. There are three key components in nation branding, or in other words, a nations brand consists of three sub-brands: political brand, economic brand and cultural brand (Fan, 2008). Such arguments illustrate that nation branding and soft power are certainly two concepts linked. Backing this argument is the nation brand hexagon developed by Anholt in which there six main factors that determine a brand which are tourism, governance, exports, investment and immigrations, culture and heritage and the citizens. Hence, such six factors fall under the three main categories previously mentioned. Evidently, these are also the sources associated with the conduction of soft power. Certainly, nation branding falls under a wide umbrella of postmodern power where soft power and public diplomacy are also located. Van Ham (2008) argues that in academic discourse on soft power, the concept of nation branding has now acquired a place which is still somewhat awkward. Definitely, when one evaluates nation branding within the context of soft power in IR, one has to look also to the links and differences that exist between nation branding and public diplomacy. This is due to the fact that public diplomacy has much more theoretical backing of rich as one of the main soft power tools in IR. For example Melissen states that they are complimentary tools with the practice of branding a nation involves a much greater and coordinated effort than public diplomacy (Melissen 2005). On the other hand Szondi argues that both practices can be seen as distinct but overlapping concepts in that they are oriented toward the same purpose of branding a nation but as different tools in this endeavor (Szondi 2008). Anholt argue that public diplomacy is a subset of nation branding. In Anholts arguments nation branding is how a nation represents as whole itself, whilst public diplomacy is exclusively concentrated on the presentation of government policies, hence the political subset of nation branding. Nevertheless, one must keep in mind governments are assumed to represent the people of a nation, and therefore, there is no getting away from the fact that nation branding is a highly politicized activity (Dinnie, 2007). It must be noted, that the main link between public diplomacy and nation branding is that both concepts aim at the same outcome wining the hearts and minds to create a favorable image of the country. Though it is beyond the scope of this assignment to evaluate in detail the links and difference between nation branding and public diplomacy, it is interesting to have a glance between these tools through the table below Table 1: Table 1: Main differences between Public diplomacy and Nation Branding Public Diplomacy Nation Branding Goal Promoting political interest Promoting (mainly) economic related interests. Context Highly politicized and change according to government. Driven mainly by IR and culture May be de-politicized. Driven by marketing and public relations Target Targeted at key countries Targeted more universal, applicable to nay country Direction Foreign public Both foreign and domestic audience Strategies Relationship building, more emphasis on substance and content Image management, emphasis on visual and symbolic elements Evaluation Short, middle and long term Mostly long-term Definitely, as previously mentioned nation branding has very much in common with the values and issues related to soft power in IR. Fan (2008) states that nation branding can be an important asset in the development of soft power of a nation. Apart from that, a successful nation branding campaign will help create a more favourable image among the international audience thus further enhancing a countrys soft power. Hence, state branding is extensively seen as a vital tool to win over the hearts and minds of foreign audiences and persuade them that their brand is competitive. Bringing, Nyes arguments into light, one finds that reputation is a crucial part in the soft power of a country. This is due to the fact that reputation expresses the total impressions of other soft power recourses, such as for example how culture is perceived in the world. As in the case of soft power, nation branding initiatives are also built on credibility and reputation and determined by the nations culture, political ideals and policies. (Van Ham 2008) In light of the increasing rise of nation branding, a daunting question is: what is the implication of such a concept on international affairs? One needs to evaluate to what extent established theories of international relations have the right theoretical tools to shed light on this new concept that is pertaining the world of international relations. Van Ham (2008) states that The international relations theory of constructivism sheds some light on the functioning of place branding, whereas classical political science tools fail to come to terms with its implications for international politics. Such argument is made in the light of the fact that nation branding, as part of soft power revolve around factors such as values, norms and ideas in international relations. Hence, this is on the same lines of the IR constructivists theory since constructivist explanations of international politics define the global system as a set of ideas, a body of thought, a system of norms, which has been arranged by certain people at a particular time and place (Jackson and Sorrenson 2006). Constructivism assumes that the selves, or identities, of states are a variable; they likely depend on historical, cultural, political, and social context (Hopf 1998, 176). Hence, such arguments are extremely relevant for nation branding since the latter assume that identities are contextual and malleable (Van Ham 2008). Other traditional tools such as realism may find it more difficult to evaluate the rise of nation branding within the field of international relations. Realists are focused on a system of anarchy and balance of power in IR. First, they may find arguments about the relevance of public diplomacy and state branding as trivial and frivolous. (Van Ham, 2008). Apart from that, for realists, states in the international system pursue their egoistic self interest. Hence, regarding nation branding though, this can be a good initiative as such from the viewpoint of neorealism in that it can affect a states economic strength positively and thereby increasing its power and security. Apart from evaluating the implications of nation branding to the schools of IR, its also interesting to investigate the effect of this initiative on foreign policies the real IR world. As Anholt argues, applying nation branding techniques in foreign policies can be a dangerous initiative. Governments need to have a real sense and organized way of what are doing since they can fall their own victims if a brand is found not be credible or it is misleading. Apart from that, developing countries which are in need to brand themselves may use financial resources in branding efforts at the expense of more tangible needed reforms. Nation branding techniques can also backfire. This is highly illustrated with the case of Greece when it hosted the 2004 Olympics in Athens. The political, economic and international standing of Greece were at high levels, however none of government officials or departments took the task to develop the international profile of Hellas (Cromwell, T Kyriacou 2005) In light of the discussed arguments, one could assume that nation branding is inextricably linked with public diplomacy under the wider spectrum of the concept of soft power. However, as in contrast to traditional soft power tools such as public diplomacy, it makes explicit use of marketing and public relations techniques to reach its aims. Definitely, a new game in international politics is emerging about image and reputation. Nation branding provides the state a useful soft power approach in order to create its desired international influence in the international arena. As regards international relations discourses, nation branding is found most at home within the social constructivism theory. This is due to the fact that nation branding revolves around issues such as values, norms. With the increase use of soft power and the ever-increasing competition amongst states, nation branding will continue to gain ground as a concept, whilst further investigation in the IR field need to fu rther developed in order give a better insight on the place nation branding have in the political sphere.

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Abortion: Are you for or against?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Abortion is a major topic in the United States and all over the world. It is legal in the United States and some people would even say it is safe. There are many factors that go along with having an abortion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the first factors to consider would be to ask is it safe? According to research published in the most recent issue of the Southern Medical Journal women who abort their babies are significantly more likely to die afterward then a woman who delivers. Researchers at the Elliot Institute in Springfield, Illinois, analyzed the death and medical records of 173,000 low-income California women, comparing those who had an abortion to those who had babies. The women who had abortions were nearly twice as likely to die within two years of having an abortion, and their risk stayed elevated for at least the eight years the study was continued. The women who had abortions were seven times more likely to commit suicide and are at a very high risk for depression.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another factor to be concerned about would be your morals. What you believe in and how you were brought up should also persuade how you think. A girl I know from high school got pregnant when she Jaime Brubaker was only sixteen. She denied being pregnant to everyone. We all knew that she was, but she wouldn’t admit it. She carried the baby to a full term, and instead of telling someone so she could get help she had the baby in her bathroom at her home while her parents were at work. The baby died before anyone could get to the house to help. This doesn’t sound right at all. As Stephen L. Carter said in the essay The Rules about the Rules, â€Å"if we happen to do something wrong, we would just as soon have nobody point it out. If she had admitted she was pregnant she would not have been in that predicament. Now she has to live with this on her conscious for the rest of her life.

How do poets from the pre 1914 poetry present their ideas about love Es

How do poets from the pre 1914 poetry present their ideas about love and relationships? The poems I have chosen to write about are ‘They flee from me’ by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542), ‘The unequal fetters’ by Anne finch (1661-1720) and ‘To his coy mistress’ by Andrew Marvell (1621-1678). I chose these poems because I found them attention-grabbing and remarkable as they all are based around the same topic of love and pretence. Also I liked these poems because of the fact that they have a message that is still true even in today’s world. Wyatt wrote this poem as an epigram of what court life would be like and what would come along with it. ‘They flee from me’ is a poem of love and what Thomas Wyatt’s attitudes are of love and hat it can do to you. The main theme of this poem is that women did just about anything to be with Thomas but eventually in hardly a long time they fled from him as the title suggests ‘They flee from me’. However an important theme is the uncertainty of life in the court of a cruel, fickle tyrant like Henry VIII. This suggests that although the life in the court of Henry VIII may be appealing and attractive it also comes with great dangers. The poem is set in the 16th century. And is basically about Thomas Wyatt’s life and mainly in relation to women and what he thought of them. Coming from the title ‘They flee from me’ something is running away from Wyatt. And this something is women. The poem was written from a male point of view so this could mean that the whole poem was to one side i.e. biased in the favour of men. The type of language used is 16th century and uses words that we do not usually use now. Some of these words are ‘guise’, ‘forsaking’ and ‘newfangleness’. Althoug... ...tells her to use up the time we have now otherwise we won’t know what could have been. He constantly uses the word ‘now’ as a way to make her do what he wants and he makes sure she listens because he tells her that everything should be done ‘now’. He also says that life is very tough ‘pleasures with rough strife†¦..iron gates of life’ and that they have defeated time ‘we cannot make our sun stand still†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦we will make him run’ The structure of the poem is very simple. It has rhyming couplets. This can allow the poem to make a number of cleverly phrased and memorable comments. The first stanza is a thesis that explains and concludes one side of the argument he is making. The second stanza is an anti-thesis that explains and concludes the other side of the argument. And the last stanza is a synthesis that is the conclusion of the whole argument he has made.

Race & Ethnicity in Social Sciences Essay

Defining identity can be complex and therefore we have to investigate the factors involved that make us who we are and how we are seen by others, collectively or individually. Social scientists have to consider the key elements which shape identity, the importance of social structures and agency involved. The differences and/or similarities between us are the focus that categorise and label us in society. Knowing who we are is important for many reasons including, social rights, obtaining a passport, housing, health, employment, marriage, and over all, being able to ascertain who we are, and belong. The terms ? race’ and ? ethnicity’ are central features in the process of categorisation. ?Racial’ or ? Ethnic’ identifications are produced as part of a social process, which is dynamic and changing. Therefore we know that identities are not static and terms such as ? race’ and ? ethnicity’ cannot cover the changing categories without being dynamic terms themselves. The use of quotation marks with these terms is adopted to emphasise that the terms are broad terms and aim to avoid discrimination or misrepresentation of groups under the umbrella term.? Race’ is commonly used by media and society to portray the physical differences between people, however, social scientists choose to show that the term does not refer to exact biological differences, is stereotypical, and the quotation marks emphasise the concept as more of an assumption which has political implications. The term is socially constructed and therefore does serve an essential purpose in society as it has real affects and associations. The term ?ethnicity’ refers to cultural practices and history, such as religion, language and territory, where a person or a group derives from, summarising their beliefs and traditions, therefore, ethnicity applies to everyone, necessitating the birth of terms ? minority ethnic group’ and ? majority ethnic group’ (Questioning Identity, Ch 4, P124, section 2. 3) to subcategorise identities in relation to ethnicity. Social scientists use quotation marks around these terms to signify that the blanket term does not distinguish between personal and social identity, but acts mainly as a collective identity concept. For example, identification on a British passport may categorise the holder as being ? British’ although they may be Scottish/Chinese. Social scientists prefer to call UK society a ? multi-ethnic† society. These subgroup identities highlight the relational factors which exist in categorising identity, each requiring the other in order to make the comparison between ethnic differences, power and status. Racialization and Ethnicization are preferred concepts as they contribute more to the idea that the identities we adopt are part of a process and are not static, referring to a dynamic process rather than a fixed state. Categorisations from the 1970’s onwards, such as the definition of ? black’ or ? white’, were too vague, and failed to recognise the specific needs of other ethnic minorities. In order to monitor and measure statistically the discrimination and underachievement of such groups, collecting ? ethnic’ statistics in relation to ? race’ and ? ethnicity’ was necessary and these can be found in official government censuses. Over the years it became apparent that categorisation of ethnic groups in the censuses rendered some groups ? invisible’ (Questioning Identity, ch 4, p 137, section 4. 1. 1), for example Irish and Welsh. The category of ? white’ has had to be expanded into subcategories as the ? white’ grouping classification remained singular within the censuses until 2001, and ethnicization of ? whites’ was too generalised. (â€Å"Questioning Identity: Kath Woodward ch. 4 p138 – Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, 1991) These amendments show us that there have been changes in ethnic representation and that there is more awareness regarding ethnic identities and needs. The sub-categorisation of ethnic identities is used in everyday life such as in the media, job applications and insurance documents. The importance of the emergence of new and changing identities in a multi-ethnic society has led to uncertainties about what it means to be ? British’. In the 1980’s for example, the Commission for Racial Equality sponsored research into the claims by Irish ethnic groups making claims that they were discriminated against by public and private agencies as their ? invisibility’ misrepresented their particular needs. (Questioning Identity: Kath Woodward, ch. 4, p145). The 1960’s â€Å"Black is Beautiful† movement (Questioning Identity: Kath Woodward, ch4, 2. 2, p118) campaigned the category of ?black’, inclusive of Asians and any other non-white groups, as inappropriate and too wide an assumption. Collective group action and social creativity disputed the terminology of ? black’ and involved a struggle to alter the social meaning of blackness, as opposed to the more ? powerful’ ethnic majority status of being ? white’. This redefined black social status and proved that black identities were not fixed but dynamic, changing from a term with connotations of disrespect, to one of pride, proving identities are collective and political as well as individual and relational, â€Å"Whiteness is used as an invisible marker against which other ?ethnicities’ are judged† (Kath Woodward, Questioning Identity, Ch 4, p 136, Section 4. 1). REFERENCES DD 121, Questioning Identity: gender, class, ethnicity. Kath Woodward, The Open University, Routledge, 2004. DD121, Workbook 1, Norma Sherratt, David Goldblatt, Maureen Mackintosh and Kath Woodward, The Open University, Routledge, 2004. DD121, Block 1, The Open University, TV02 Defining Moments DD121, Block 1, Audio 2, The Open University, Audio 3A DD121, Block 1, Audio 2, The Open University, Audio 3B.

Corporation: Weekly Reflection Essay

3.1 Differentiate types of stocks issued by corporations. The team concluded that the different types of stocks issued by a corporation are common stock, preferred stock, and treasury stock. Everyone is aware that common stock gives stockholders the right to vote on actions dealing with corporate earnings through the acquisition of dividends, and keeping the same percentage of shares when new stocks are issued. Preferred stocks are additional class of stocks issued by corporations to appeal to more investors. Treasury stock is stock that a company has issued, and then reacquires. Though everyone is aware of what types of stocks are issued by corporations, there are still some areas where team members expressed still being confused. One of those areas of concern deals with authorized stock and why companies do not put a par value on a stock to determine its value. Another area of confusion deals with treasury stock and grasping the concept. In relation to each member’s organization and the issuance of stock, everyone expect for one team member works for a non-profit organization or a company that does not issue stock. The one member, however, works for an airline and expressed that the company, United Airlines, has common and treasury stocks (United Continental Holdings, Inc., 2010). 3.2 Calculate stocks, dividends, and stock splits. For objective 3.2, some team members seem to understand better than others, what is involved in the calculation of stocks, dividends, and stock splits. Stock is calculated by subtracting the dividends of a certain stock from the company’s net income, then dividing that number by the number of outstanding shares. To calculate dividends multiply the number of shares by the annual dividend to find out how much the dividend payment will be, find the yield on investment a dividend payment represents by multiplying the dividend by the amount paid per share of stock, Calculate the dividend-payment ratio, and then figure out the dividend cover (earnings per share divided by the dividend) (Adkins, 2009-2013). As expressed early, more than not, members had a problem grasping the premise to calculating stock. In relation to each member’s employer organization, three of five have not had dealings with stock or they are not aware of the exact actions their company takes when it comes to calculating stocks, dividends, or stock splits. One member did however mention investing in stock indexes not including the organization she works for. Another member shared how he was able to actually view an investment split which helped him better understand. 3.3 Record treasury stock transactions. This objective seems to be the most confusing for the team. It is understood by all members that treasury stock is stock that has been issued by an organization, and then reacquired. However, there is still confusion about understanding the concept behind it. One member did express that her organization buys treasury stock to help cover them in situations such as the fluctuation of the economy. They would also try to sell the stock for equal value so more people would want to invest. References Adkins, W. D. (2009-2013). How to Calculate a Dividend Payment. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/how_4811547_calculate-dividend-payment.html#ixzz2Hl8TtOw4 United Continental Holdings, Inc. (2010). Annual Report. Retrieved from http://ir.unitedcontinentalholdings.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=83680&p=irol-SECText&TEXT=aHR0cDovL2FwaS50ZW5rd2l6YXJkLmNvbS9maWxpbmcueG1sP2lwYWdlPTgwODYzNjMmRFNFUT0wJlNFUT0wJlNRREVTQz1TRUNUSU9OX0VOVElSRSZzdWJzaWQ9NTc%3d Weygandt, J. J., Kimmel, P. D., & Kieso, D. E. (2010). Financial accounting (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook database