Ainsworth Strange Situation Studies

Ainsworth Strange Situation Studies The Strange Situation procedure, developed by American psychologist Mary Ainsworth, is widely used in child development research. Much research in psychology has focused on how forms of attachment differ between infants. For example, Schaffer and Emerson (1964) discovered what appeared to be innate differences in sociability in babies; some babies preferred cuddling more than others, from very early on, before much interaction had occurred to cause such differences. It’s easy enough to know when you are attached to someone because you know how you feel when you are apart from that person, and, being an adult, you can put your feelings into words and describe how it feels. However, most attachment research is carried out using infants and young children, so psychologists have to devise subtle ways of researching attachment, involving the observational method. Using the Strange Situation procedure, many researchers have studied the development of child attachment to the mother and other caregivers. However, there continues to be much debate about the origins of the child's reaction in the Strange Situation, and about what factors influence the development of an infant's attachment relationships. The security of attachment in one- to two-year-olds was investigated by Ainsworth and Bell (1970) in the ‘_strange situation_' study, in order to determine the nature of attachment behaviours and types of attachment. Ainsworth (1970) developed an experimental procedure in order to observe the variety of attachment forms exhibited between caregivers and infants. The experiment is set up in a small room with one way glass so the behaviour of the infant can be observed. Infants were aged between 12 and 18 months. The sample comprised about 100 middle class American families. The procedure, known as the ‘_Strange Situation_’, was conducted by observing the behaviour of the caregiver and the infant in a series of seven 3-minute episodes, as follows: (1) Parent and infant alone. (2) Stranger joins parent and infant. (3) Parent leaves infant and stranger alone. (4) Parent returns and stranger leaves. (5) Parent leaves; infant left completely alone. 6) Stranger returns. (7) Parent returns and stranger leaves. Psychologist Mary Ainsworth devised an assessment technique called the Strange Situation Classification (SSC) in order to investigate how attachments might vary between children. The goal of the Strange Situation procedure was to provide an environment that would arouse in the infant both the motivation to explore and the urge to seek security. An observer (often a researcher or therapist) takes a mother and her child (usually around the age of 12 months) to an unfamiliar room containing toys. A series of eight separations and reunions are staged involving mild, but cumulative, stress for the infant. Separation in such an unfamiliar setting would also likely activate the child's attachmentsystem and allow for a direct test of its functioning. Although no single behaviour can be used to assess the quality of the infant's attachment to the caregiver, the pattern of the infant's responses to the changing situation is of interest to psychologists. The validation of the procedure and its scoring method were grounded in the naturalistic observation of the child's exploration, crying, and proximity-seeking in the home. Ainsworth's research revealed key individual differences among children, demonstrated by the child's reaction to the mother's return. Ainsworth categorised these responses into three major types: Anxious/avoidant—the child may not be distressed at the mother's departure and may avoid or turn away from her on her return; Securely attached—the child is distressed by the mother's departure and easily soothed by her on her return; Anxious/resistant—the child may stay extremely close to the mother during the first few minutes and become highly distressed at her departure. When she returns, the child will simultaneously seek both comfort and distance from the mother. The child's behaviour will be characterised by crying and reaching to be held and then attempting to leave once picked up. Strengths The strange situation classification has become the accepted methodology worldwide for measuring attachment (re: Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg, 1988) Ainsworth, M. Infancy in Uganda: Infant Care and the Growth of Love. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967. Periodicals Spock, Benjamin. â€Å"Mommy, Don't Go! † Parenting 10, June-July 1996, pp. 86+. Weaknesses In addition, some research has shown that the same child may show different attachment behaviours on different occasions. Children's attachments may change, perhaps because of changes in the child's circumstances, so a securely attached child may appear insecurely attached if the mother becomes ill or the family circumstances change. The strange situation has also been criticised on ethica grounds. Because the child is put under stress (separation and stranger anxiety), the study has broken the ethical guideline protection of participants. The sample is biased -100 middle class American families. Therefore, it is difficult to generalise the findings outside of America and to working class families. Finally, the observational study has been criticised for having low ecological validity. Because the child is place in a strange and artificial environment, due to the the procedure of the mother and stranger following a predetermined script.

Jewish Culture Essay

The first Jewish custom, Brit Milah also known as circumcision, takes places at the birth of a boy baby. It is carried out on the eighth day after the baby has been born; it is performed by a Mohel, where the baby’s foreskin of the penis is removed. The second Jewish custom is called The Naming Ceremony, which takes place on the first Sabbath that immediately follows the birth of a baby girl. This event takes place inside of a synagogue. On this day either parents or just the father is called for a blessing and a reading to the torah. The third Jewish custom is the Bat/ Bar Mitzvah, this ceremony marks and commemorates the entry of a young Jew into the Jewish adult community. This ceremony has been in practice for the last 450 years. The person concerned in the Mitzvah is required to read the Haftorah which is the portion of the Torah for the week and then give a scholarly comment or speech. Bat Mitzvah is the name of the ceremony for girls, and Bar Mitzvah is the name of the ceremony for boys. Ideal gift would include; Mezuzah cases, Charity boxes, and or Kiddush cups. The fourth Jewish custom is called a Simcha, which is also known as Marriage, and it is performed under a canopy. The fifth Jewish customs is called The Mikovaot this ceremony is a cleansing bath that is a ritual and is one of the longest standing practices in Jewish customs. This ceremony is performed to endow marriages. Orthodox Jewish women are required to dip themselves in this bathe very month after their menstruation before they resume relations of marriage with their husbands. Language: there are various Jewish languages and dialects that developed in the Jewish communities around the world. Hebrew was the daily speech of the Jewish people for centuries, but by the fifth century the closely related Aramaic joined Hebrew as the spoken language in Judea. By the third century Jews of diaspora were speaking Greek and soon afterwards Hebrew was no longer used as a mother tongue. For centuries Jews worldwide spoke the local or dominant languages of the region migrated to, where they would develop distinctive dialectal forms or branching off as independent languages. Among the most widely spoken Jewish languages to develop in the diaspora are; Yiddish and Ladino. Yiddish is the Judeo- German language developed by Ashkenazi Jews who migrated to central Europe. Ladino is also called Judezmo and Muestra Spanyol is the Judeo- Spanish language developed by Sephardic Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula. Religion: the Jewish religion is the monotheistic based on the belief in a single all powerful God. The Jewish doctrine is based on the Ten Commandments as spelt out in the Old Testament. The Hebrew bible had provided the foundations for Christianity. Jesus, Mary and the Apostles were all Jews and the origin of many Christian festivals, psalms and beliefs lay in Judaism. The Jews refused to convert to the new faith of Christianity which is called the New Testament, so they stubbornly maintained their separate religious beliefs and their distinct customs and laws. The Jews also have a Shabbat which takes place on the seventh day of the Jewish week and is the Jewish day for rest. Jew recall the biblical creation account in Genesis in which God creates the Heaven and Earth in six days and rests on the seventh day. Immigration trends: the Jews of Eastern Europe began to emigrate in large numbers from their homelands, beginning in the 1880’s. Between 1881 and 1914 about 2,370,000 Jews fled from poverty and oppression, especially from Trarist Russia notorious for its violent anti- Jewish mobs and pogroms. A great number of these Jews reached the United States and a small minority would establish the first modern Jewish settlements in Palestine. By 1924 the United States had placed strict limits on immigration and the number of Jews admitted was drastically decreased. Other countries soon followed suit and Jews desiring to emigrate or flee from the Nazis found themselves faced with sealed boarders throughout most of the world in the 1930’s. Foods: the Jews have a set of laws about the food they can and cannot eat, these laws are called Kashrut, and a food that is not in accordance with the Jewish law is called Treif. In the Kashrut law, there are prohibitions to consume species (such as pork and most insects), the mixtures of meat and milk, and the commandment to slaughter mammals and birds according to a process known as Shechita. Most of the basic laws of Kashrut are from the Torah’s books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The Torah does not state the reason for most of the Kashurt laws, but for every law that the Kashurt has each one is biblically written in the bible. Some of the Jewish favourite foods include the following; Babka which is a chocolate – filled challah (egg) bread. Bagel is another favourite Jewish food that is boiled and baked yeast bread. Bialy which similar to bagel, filled with onions and other ingredients there is also Brisket it is a raised meat from the chest area of a cow. Challah is another favourite food it is braided egg bread, Charoset is an apple and nut dish generally served at Passover. Cholent/ Chamin are a slow- cooked stew meat, potatoes, beans and barley. Another favourite dish is Chopped liver, Chrain and pickled horseradish. Farfel is small pellet- shaped egg pasta, used in dishes like kugel. Goulash is a meat stew matzaball soup, and last but not least the Jews love to drink Chicken soup on Friday and Saturday nights. Community events: the Jews have their Synagogues where they have their Jewish celebrations. The Jewish community also celebrates Passover, when the Jews celebrate Passover they are not allowed to use any electricity, and they light candles. The Hanukah is the festival of lights; they also celebrate the Rosh Hashanah which is the Jewish New Year.

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words - 5

Strategic management - Essay Example f the most effective is with respect to performing a PESTEL analysis; weighing the unique threats and likely impacts of Political, Economic, Social, Technological, and Legal effects that the firm faces and could likely face in the future. Rather than laboring through a PESTEL analysis within the body of this strategic needs and future approach, the PESTEL analysis itself has been relegated to the appendix of this analysis; with only the responses to the way in which strategy can and should be formulated as a means of addressing the key weaknesses and opportunities that it denotes in the body of the analysis. Furthermore, whereas a PESTEL analysis is a perfect tool for measuring the external environment, a SWOT analysis has been engaged as a means of measuring the internal environment of ABB and delineating what Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats exist for it. Therefore, through an examination of both of these measurements and a discussion of their requisitve parts, it is the hope of this author that the reader will gain a more informed understanding not only with respect to the operational realities and strategy that the firm should engage but also with regards to appreciating the dynamics of what has led ABB to experience such a level of success up until this point in time. As such, defining these issues and promoting a further discussion and analysis of operations and strategic management will hopefully engage a more full and complete understanding of the key steps that could be engaged to seek to promote ABB to a level of renewed vigor and dynamic business strength within the coming years. Ultimately, with regards to strategic analysis, there are two unique approaches that can be taken. Firstly, and external environmental approach can help to be definitive with regards to the way in which the firm itself operates within the environment of competition and other definitive compliments of the outside world. As such, Porter’s Five Forces and

Shortage of Nurses Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Shortage of Nurses - Research Paper Example Current global shortage of nursing staff has contributed to an increased number of mortality rates. Causes of nursing staff shortage Shortages of nursing staff have been attributed to various factors; addressing these factors can drastically reduce these shortages. Issues related to these shortages include insufficient enrollment of students into the nursing profession, underinvestment by the involved country’s government into health sectors, high turnover rate, poor working conditions, rapid increase in population, increased incidences of rare diseases, and few number of institutions offering nursing education (Andrist et al, 2006). Insufficient enrolment into nursing Students enrolling for nursing education are far much below to address the existing shortage. According to the survey by international nursing council, the number of students enrolling for the nursing profession is below the expectation to address the shortage of staff, and there is a need to increase the number of intakes. Comparing the number of students enrolling for other faculty and with those entering into nursing, few students pursue nursing profession. Reasons for this low enrollment have been contributed by the poor pay that nurses receive, poor working condition, long working hours, and high cost associated in training. Nurses work hard to improve the quality of patient’s life. Despite deplorable working condition, nurse’s wages are much below, hence shying off many students. Because of shortage in staff, nurses end up working for many hours than expected working hours. Most of institutions offering nursing education charges high fee, increased cost in educating nursing student has led to many parents and guardians to convince their children to pursue other courses that are less costly and have better pay (Cowen & Moorhead, 2011). Another contributing cause of the shortage in the nursing industry is an inability of nursing schools and college to enroll a large numbe r of students. According to America, association of nursing (AAN) there has been regulation in the number of annual intake in nursing college. According AAN, the Regulation in number of students is to avoid flooding the industry with many nurses. Despite an increase in the shortage, colleges have not taken an initiative to increase the number of nurse’s students. In addition, the numbers of institutions and colleges offering nursing training are few. This has translated to reduce in number of students enrolling for nursing (Kalisch, 2004). Underinvestment in health sectors Most of the developing countries have invested a lesser amount of their budget in health sectors. In Philippines, the country invests 3.6% of their gross domestic income to health sectors. This is contrary to what United States invests; it invests 16% of their gross domestic income. Because of this underinvestment, it has been difficult to attain millennium development goal (MDG) where it aimed at reducing child mortality rate and improving maternal health. Because of poor investment, it has led to poor recruitment programs. Less number of nurses are employed annually; this weak recruitment has failed to breach the gab in the existing shortage. In addition, due to less investment, nurses are paid less salary; inadequate wages have shy off many student to pursue nursing, hence causing a shortage of nursing staff (Kalisch, 2004). Poor

What Does It Mean To Be Human Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

What Does It Mean To Be Human - Essay Example This has proactively made man tougher and has increased his quest to learn more about this world and break new grounds, more recently in the technological fields. How technology has shaped up the common day man’s beliefs and actions is something of an interesting discussion and one that will be studied in detail within this essay. To be human is a definitive plus and more so when man realizes that he has absolute control over the different technological regimes and undertakings, which then again have been developed by man alone. Man, machine and money might just be the real buzzwords when it comes to understanding the true technological basis but it is in fact quite a reality in the time and age of today. Without machines, and in essence, without the incorporation of technology coming to the rescue of man, there would be less advancement in the domains that have been discussed above. (Neumarkt, 2005) There would be issues for the people who have yet to understand what it feels like to be a true human, let alone a creature that has absolutely no parallels within the stretch of this galaxy. However it is man’s decipher of animals and plants to be somewhat below than the human beings’ position in this world that has put the whole discussion in a quandary. This is because man has destined for his ow n self to be the ultimate savior. Animals and plants, both of which constitute the living beings, are discarded as having the ‘germs’ to make it big within the worldly domains. And quite correctly so, for a multitude of reasons! From a technological standpoint, in an era where human progress is soaring at a dizzying rate, society must adapt its technology to solve current world issues. Technology has really changed the way in which different people are now making use of the same. One should believe that this is a world where the Internet, cell phones and notebook computers are becoming a necessity for proper living

EXPENDITURE ON MOBILE PHONES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

EXPENDITURE ON MOBILE PHONES - Essay Example rates and tariff. The behavioural pattern is more obvious in groups of consumers than in individual consumers. The mobile phone market is expected to grow by 2% in retail volume compared to its review period which witnessed a 40% growth in the earlier period. Owing to the already high penetration rate of mobile phones in the household sector which accounts for 261% in 2013, the future CAGR of the mobile phone market is expected to remain low. Australia experienced a high penetration rate in mobile phone usage. The household penetration of mobile phones grew owing to the rise of smart phones. Consumers in Australia had the tendency to retain the old phones for spare use. This also led to the high penetration rate of mobile phone usage. This trend was observed more in case of simple mobile phones, but in case of smart phones the scenario was different. Smart phones were evolving at a high rate and consumers were less inclined to retain it for spare use as it failed to match the superior performance and feature of the new smart phones. This led to the drop in the penetration rate of smart phone in the Australian market. The penetration rate dropped from 86% in 2010 to 33% in 2013. Samsung retained its leader position in the smart phone market in Australia with more than 32% retail market share. 1 The smart phone market in US has shown significant growth owing to the existence of low value contracts of older models of smart phones. The total shipping value in units for smart phones accounted for 134 million units in 2014. It witnessed an annual growth rate of 9% in the smart phone market in 2013 and an absolute growth rate of 37% from 2008 to 2013. The smart phone industry in US has observed the shift more in case of low priced phones than high value phones. The key focus was on volume and not on value. This was mainly observed when retailers in US offered smart phones for a contract of less than $200 for two years. The older version of the

Mgt 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mgt 1 - Essay Example If employees feel that the increase in productivity will threaten their jobs due to innovation and mechanization, they may fail to engage in productivity improvement and other forms of cooperation. Employment security facilitates the implementation of the other high-performance management practices such as extensive training. An example of a practical experience is the case of the General Motors’ as it aimed at implementing new arrangement of work in its Saturn plant in which case the management guaranteed the employees their job security (Pfeffer and Veiga 40). Once employees have the assurance that their employment will not be interfered with, they tend to work harder and offer their knowledge and efforts to increase the productivity of the organization. Laying off of the employees that a company has spent resources training and developing their talents is a great loss as it opens unhealthy competition from the other closely-related firms. Employment security can be guarante ed by taking obligations with the workers unions, which intervene in case an employee is dismissed unlawfully. Firms may lay off their employees due to some financial strains, but the action leads to losses, as the company has to pay benefits, which consumes its finances leading to more strains. The biggest loss is to those companies that offer extensive training and development to their employees because they lose the talents and abilities of these workers (Pfeffer and Veiga 40). Job security helps in building the employee partnership in various organizations, especially in the long-term. Many firms will pursue short-term benefits at the expense of their employees job security. Such firms find themselves in difficult situations since their employees have low morale and are less productive leading to the company’s poor performance. When companies or

Comfort Letter Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Comfort Letter - Case Study Example 1In the suit, Kleinwort Benson, or KB for brevity, proposed to extend a loan to MMC Metals Ltd or Metals for short, which is a subsidiary of Malaysia Mining Corporation (or Malaysia Ming). In the process of the lending proposal, KB requested from Malaysia Mining a letter to the effect that the latter would assure KB that Metals would pay the liability when it became due. At first, KB wanted to ask for a guarantee from Malaysia Mining. In essence, KB desired a situation that if Metals could not settle the debt, Malaysia Mining, as the parent company, would be under legal obligation to be subrogated into the shoes of Metals, the subsidiary. Malaysia Mining did not heed the call of KB. In lieu of the letter supposedly clearly defining the mother company as a guarantor of the debt of Metals, Malaysia Mining wrote a prudently crafted letter where it was stated that it was the policy of the company (Malaysia Mining) to ensure that Metals would always be in a capacity to pay back what was b orrowed from KB. The carefully worded correspondence is now the so-called comfort letter at issue. When Metals became troubled with insolvency owing to the predicaments of the tin industry because of the problematic world market, KB claimed payment from Malaysia Mining for the obligation of Metals. KB charged that Malaysia Mining had made a promise to prevent going into a situation where it could not pay its debts. The question now is whether or not Malaysia Mining is liable to KB on the basis of the language set forth in the comfort letter. The court that finally ruled the case answered in the negative. In this paper, independent views are hereby conveyed regarding the matter. The facts have to be analyzed in sufficient detail. At the outset, it is undisputed that KB requested from Malaysia Mining a documentary guarantee whereby the latter would have been bound by the accountability of its subsidiary. From this act and notion alone, it was readily clear that without that guarantee, KB was not holding on anything as would make Malaysia Mining a co-debtor or co-borrower of Metals. It was precisely because of this vacuum that KB asked for a written commitment from Malaysia Mining for the latter to give an assurance for the payment of the loan in the possibility that Metals would not be able to pay the debt. Malaysia Mining refused and the refusal manifestly exhibited the position of the parent corporation that it did not opt to become a co-borrower of its subsidiary or to stand as its guarantor. When KB pushed through with the loan covenant, it took the risk of probably failing to collect from Metals. When indeed Metals was not able to settle the liability, there was no reason to make Malaysia Mining legally responsible to tender payment based on the comfort letter which it sent to KB because, in the first place, there was nothing in the comfort letter making or even presuming Malaysia Mining to be so liable. Going to the language used by Malaysia Mining, the ruling in its favor became more convincing when it declared no commitment to pay for and in behalf of Metals by refusing to sign a guarantee. It simply made known a policy which was not a promise or a pledge. To make a comparison, one who says it is his policy to be honest is different from when he promises to be honest. A policy of the state for space exploration is not a promise for definite courses of action to explore the space. Neither

Coerced Plea Bargian Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Coerced Plea Bargian - Research Paper Example The protection of the fundamental human right is regarded very useful because it non-discriminatory and puts all people equal before the law. It is like saying that if the president of the nation deserves to live, the laborer at the presidential palace also deserves the same amount of right to live. Born out of the protection of the fundamental human rights of all people is the plea bargain that is basically concerned with giving a guilty person some room to plead for mercy. But in what ways have this right being abused? The essence of this essay is review coerced plea bargain and take a stand on it. What is Plea Bargain? According to the Encyclopedia of Everyday Law (2009), plea bargain â€Å"usually involves the defendant's pleading guilty to a lesser offense or to only one or some of the counts of a multi-count indictment in return for a lighter sentence than that possible for the graver charge†. Alschuler gives a similar definition or the term as he states that plea bargain is a situation where by â€Å"prosecutors and trail judges offer defendants concessions in exchange for their plea.† The basic idea therefore lies in the fact that in plea bargains, defendants admit their charges without or with very minimal pressure from the jury and in exchange of their ‘frankness’, receive lesser or lighter sentences. ... s; a voluntary waiver; and a factual basis to support the charges to which the defendant is pleading guilty.† If plea bargains occur under these components, we say the plea bargain is valid. Forms of Negotiating Plea Bargain For a plea bargain to be possible, there are certain legal negotiations that must go on. Koduah (2001) mentions some of these negotiations as Charge Bargaining, Sentence Bargaining and Fact Bargaining. Explaining further, the Encyclopedia of Everyday Law (2009) states that in charge bargaining, â€Å"in return for a plea of "guilty" to a lesser charge, a prosecutor will dismiss the higher or other charge(s) or counts.† This means that the defendant gets a ‘reward’ of a squashed higher charge because of admitting guilt for a smaller offense. Further on, the encyclopedia writes that with sentence bargaining, there is an â€Å"agreement to a plea of guilty (for the stated charge rather than a reduced charge) in return for a lighter sentenc e.† In this case therefore, trial goes on for the prosecution whiles the defendant hopes for a lighter sentence. Finally, fact bargaining â€Å"involves an admission to certain facts "stipulating" to the truth and existence of provable facts, thereby eliminating the need for the prosecutor to have to prove them. As in the case of all plea bargain, the defendant is given something in return, which is that there is â€Å"an agreement not to introduce certain other facts into EVIDENCE† (Encyclopedia of Everyday Law, 2009). Under what condition does a Plea Bargain become Coerced? Risinger (2007) explains that under any circumstance where plea bargain is forced on a defendant constitutes coerced plea bargain. In some cases also, attorneys of defendants do not force their defendants into negotiating for plea bargain but

Words and names for the Scarlet Letter Essay Example for Free

Words and names for the Scarlet Letter Essay 1. â€Å"‘But she—the naughty baggage—little will she care what they put upon the bodice of her gown!’† (49) CM: Like many Puritan women in Boston, this woman illustrates the hate they all have for Hester Prynne, by declaring that Hester is unmoved by her sin. 2. â€Å"‘Ah, but,† interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the hand, let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart.’† (49) CM: This woman, who is holding a child, does not speak of Hester harshly, but by bringing her child, she portrays that she wants her child to envision Hester as second class, too. 3. â€Å"‘What do we talk of marks and brands, whether on the bodice of her gown, or the flesh of her forehead? cried another female, the ugliest as well as the most pitiless of these self-constituted judges. â€Å"This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die.’† (49) CM: When the narrator depicts that the â€Å"ugliest as well as the most pitiless† of these women desires for Hester to die, he argues that jealousy is a common trait for all women; he makes a connection that the ugliest woman wishes the worst for Hester, because she is jealous. 4. â€Å"When the young woman—the mother of this child—stood fully revealed before the crowd, it seemed to be her first impulse to clasp the infant closely to her bosom; not so much by an impulse of motherly affection, as that she might thereby conceal a certain token, which was wrought or fastened into her dress.† (50) CM: People attempt to conceal their mistakes, so they never become  embarrassed; Hester yearns to disguise her bosom, to avoid being looked down upon in disgust. 5. â€Å"On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter â€Å"A.†Ã¢â‚¬  (50) CM: The letter â€Å"A† that contained â€Å"elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread† that she sewed was a brand meant to damage Hester, but instead, she turned the situation around, and distinguished the â€Å"A† as a work of art. 6. â€Å"It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore; and which was of a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony.† (50-51) CM: This scarlet letter functioned as a beautiful design, causing the women in the colony to aspire it as it was not of typical Puritan design and fashion. 7. â€Å"But the point which drew all eyes and, as it were, transfigured the wearer—so that both men and women, who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time—was that Scarlet Letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom.† (51) CM: The â€Å"A†, like a gorgeous piece of jewelry that women fancied, caused many women to be jealous; it drew the attention of both men and women alike. 8. â€Å"It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclosing her in a sphere by herself.† (51) CM: The scarlet letter was something Hester designed delicately and beautifully, and she was proud of it; this exemplifies her regal character, instead of making  her shameful. 9. â€Å"‘She hath good skill at her needle, thats certain, remarked one of her female spectators; but did ever a woman, before this brazen hussy, contrive such a way of showing it.’† (51) CM: These women, trying to demolish Hester’s name and reputation, speak of her mistakes; yet forget that they themselves are human, and ones who compose mistakes as well. 10. â€Å"‘It were well, muttered the most iron-visaged of the old dames, if we stripped Madame Hesters rich gown off her dainty shoulders; and as for the red letter, which she hath stitched so curiously, Ill bestow a rag of mine own rheumatic flannel, to make a fitter one!’† (52) CM: In this novel, these jealous women are named â€Å"gossips†, which is a pun to today’s definition of the word â€Å"gossip†; this implies that ugly women are jealous of Hester Prynne, because she is described as a beautiful, delicate woman. 11. â€Å"‘Not a stitch in that embroidered letter, but she has felt it in her heart.’† (52) CM: Hester Prynne fashioned her scarlet letter with time, effort, and purpose, with each stitch burdening her heart. 12. â€Å"‘Make way, good people, make way, in the Kings name! cried he. Open a passage; and, I promise ye, Mistress Prynne shall be set where man, woman and child may have a fair sight of her brave apparel, from this time till an hour past meridian.’† (52) CM: When Hester and her babe were made the center of attention, the crowd disdained both of them, along with the scarlet letter, and in the audiences’ mind, those three examples were considered evil. 13. â€Å"‘Come along, Madame Hester, and show your scarlet letter in the market place!’† (52) CM: This dialogue exemplifies that women, during this time period, held higher standards for morality than men; Hester Prynne is displayed and humiliated with her scarlet letter in front of all of Boston, while the other adulterer is in the crowd, studying her, along with everyone else. 14. â€Å"A crowd of eager and curious schoolboys, understanding little of the matter in hand except that it gave them a half-holiday, ran before her progress, turning their heads continually to stare into her face  and at the winking baby in her arms, and at the ignominious letter on her breast.† (52) CM: Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter serves as a reminder of capital punishment to all; it reveals the severe punishment, even to young innocent children, following such a sin. 15. â€Å"The unhappy culprit sustained herself as best a woman might, under the heavy weight of a thousand unrelenting eyes, all fastened upon her and concentrated at her bosom.† (54) CM: Hawthorne displays irony in this sentence; every man and woman of Boston is glaring at Hester’s scarlet letter, placed on her bosom, however; Hester’s adulterous act is the reason she is standing on the culprit and all of the citizens are willing to stare at such a sexual place on her body. 16. â€Å"Lastly, in lieu of these shifting scenes, came back the rude market place of the Puritan settlement, with all the townspeople assembled and leveling their stern regards at Hester Prynne—yes, at herself—who stood on the scaffold of the pillory, an infant on her arm, and the letter â€Å"A† in scarlet, fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom!† (56) CM: Hawthorne juxtaposes the harsh, cruel crowd to the beautifully fashioned scarlet letter Hester created. 17. â€Å"Could it be true? She clutched the child so fiercely to her breast that it sent forth a cry; she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real.† (56) CM: Hester, in a state of shock, cannot grasp the reality of the shameful situation she was brought into. Chapter 3: 1. â€Å"From this intense consciousness of being the object of severe and universal observation, the wearer of the scarlet letter was at length relieved, by discerning on the outskirts of the crowd, a figure which irresistibly took possession of her thoughts.† (57) CM: Hester Prynne, and her scarlet letter, which are made the center of attention in front of the colony of Boston, are placed there as a result of her adulterous act, however; Hester’s heart and mind are supposed to be ignited with shame and humiliation, yet she is focused on this new â€Å"figure† in the crowd; Hester completely forgets about her sin and punishment. 2. â€Å"‘But in their great mercy and tenderness of heart, they have doomed Mistress Prynne to stand  only a space of three hours on the platform of the pillory, and then and thereafter, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom.’† (60) CM: Hawthorne is almost sarcastic in this sentence by starting it off with â€Å"But in their great mercy and tenderness of heart†, because this Puritan-based colony is not merciful, they pursue Hester’s punishment by forcing her to live with a â€Å"mark of shame† for as long as she may live, whereas if she were killed, she could escape punishment. 3. â€Å"Such an interview, perhaps, would have been more terrible than even to meet him as she now did, with the hot, midday sun burning down upon her face and lighting up its shame; with the scarlet token of infamy on her breast; with the sin-born infant in her arms; with a whole people, drawn forth as to a festival, staring at the features that should have been seen only in the quiet gleam of the fireside, in the happy shadow of a home, or beneath a matronly veil, at church.† (60) CM: The imagery of this sentence, which includes â€Å"hot midday sun burning down upon her face and lighting up its shame† and â€Å"scarlet token of infamy on her breast; with the sin-born infant† sends a hellish feel to the readers, which reinforces the sinfulness of her act, while highlighting her shame. 4. â€Å"‘Speak out the name! That, and thy repentance, may avail to take the scarlet letter off thy breast.’† (65) CM: Reverend Wilson demands that Hester revels the name of her fellow adulterer, and if she agrees, the scarlet letter will be removed, but Hester refuses; she argues that the shame of the letter will not come off once the letter is removed. 5. â€Å"‘It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!’† (65) CM: Hester, a matriarch in this patriarchal society, refuses to obey Reverend Wilson, which proves to be very intriguing because the reader is now unsure if Hester is truly noble woman who made a mistake, or a woman who repeatedly makes mistakes and is persistent in asserting her power. 6. â€Å"Discerning the impracticable state of the poor culprits mind, the elder clergyman, who had carefully prepared himself for the occasion, addressed to the multitude a discourse on sin, in all its branches, but with continual reference to the ignominious letter.† (65) CM: Reverend Wilson utilizes the symbol of the scarlet letter as the subject of his sermon, and shames Hester with continual reference to the â€Å"ignominious letter.† 7.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"It was whispered, by those who peered after her, that the scarlet letter threw a lurid gleam along the dark passageway of the interior.† (66) CM: The scarlet letter provides an ominous feeling in all of its darkness to its reader, by emanating an immensely small amount of light during Hester’s entire dark, sinful act. Chapter 4: 1. â€Å"Closely following the jailer into the dismal apartment appeared that individual of singular aspect, whose presence in the crowd had been of such deep interest to the wearer of the scarlet letter.† (67) CM: Hawthorne creates a suspenseful moment in this paragraph by compelling the reader to wonder why the â€Å"individual† is following the jailer, and how he connects to Hester and her beautifully embroidered brand. 2. â€Å"‘Even if I imagine a scheme of vengeance, what could I do better for my object than to let thee live—than to give thee medicines against all harm and peril of life—so that this burning shame may still blaze upon thy bosom?’† (70) CM: The scarlet letter is compared to as a â€Å"burning shame† and a â€Å"blaze†; these descriptions contain not only much imagery, but they illustrate the fact of how the scarlet letter is similar to fire. 3. â€Å"As he spoke, he laid his long forefinger on the scarlet letter, which forthwith seemed to scorch into Hesters breast, as if it had been red hot.† (70) CM: When Chillingworth places his finger on the delicate scarlet letter, the letter seared him, as if telling him that he was uninvited to touch not only the scarlet letter, but also Hester herself. 4. â€Å"‘And now, Mistress Prynne, said old Roger Chillingworth, as he was hereafter to be named, I leave thee alone; alone with thy infant, and the scarlet letter!’† (73) CM: In this sentence, two sins emerge; Chillingworth declares that he will leave Hester, for he has no desire to be apart of her sin, which breaks the sanctity of marriage, and Hester damaged their marriage by her adulterous act and consequence of her scarlet letter. 5. â€Å"‘How is it, Hester? Doth thy sentence bind thee to wear the token in thy sleep? Art thou not afraid of nightmares and hideous dreams?’† (73) CM: Chillingworth calls attention to Hester’s shame by inquiring if she must wear the letter in her sleep, too, but what were Chillingworth’s intentions by stating that; did Chillingworth plan to help Hester, or speak of the scarlet letter in such shame as an act to potentially cause her uncertainty even in her sleep. Chapter 5: 1. â€Å"Her prison door was thrown open and she came forth into the sunshine, which, falling on all alike, seemed, to her sick and morbid heart, as if meant for no other purpose than to reveal the scarlet letter on her breast.† (74) CM: This sentence also admits shamefulness; Hester is forced to walk out and reveal not only herself, but also her new mark that will brand her forever; such an entrance should be considered a punishment, rather than a relief to be leaving a prison. 2. â€Å"Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast—at her, the child of honourable parents, at her, the mother of a babe that would hereafter be a woman, at her, who had once been innocent—as the figure, the body, the reality of sin.† (75) CM: Hester Prynne and the scarlet letter function as the prime example; her mistake teaches citizens, even the young and innocent, to live blamelessly, or else they will end up in a fate similar to hers. 3. â€Å"Children, too young to comprehend wherefore this woman should be shut out from the sphere of human charities, would creep nigh enough to behold her plying her needle at the cottage window, or standing in the doorway, or laboring in her little garden, or coming forth along the pathway that led townward; and, discerning the scarlet letter on her breast, would scamper off with a strange, contagious fear.† (77) CM: The young children become increasingly curious about Hester, until their eyes discover the scarlet letter, for their parents have taught them to discriminate against her. 4. â€Å"She bore on her breast, in the curiously embroidered letter, a specimen of her delicate and imaginative skill of which the dames of a court might gladly have availed themselves, to add the richer and more spiritual adornment of human ingenuity to their fabrics of silk and gold.† (77) CM: In such a Puritanical society where elaborate details are forbidden, Hester’s scarle t letter is exactly that, one of ornate beauty and a perfect example of her skillfulness in embroidery; this demonstrates Hester’s stubbornness in challenging the authority above her. 5. â€Å"Her own dress was of the coarsest materials and the most sombre hue; with only that one ornament—the scarlet letter—which it was her doom to wear.† (79) CM: Hester looks upon her adulterous act as a beautiful, so when she created the scarlet letter, she wanted to fill it with beautiful stitching and embroidery; Hester  establishes her love for her sin and letter, and how much she treasures it. 6. â€Å"Hester had schooled herself long and well; and she never responded to these attacks, save by a flush of crimson that rose irrepressibly over her pale cheek, and again subsided into the depths of her bosom.† (80) CM: All the citizens of Boston constantly exasperate and embarrass Hester, yet she continues to subside and hide her shame from them. 7. â€Å"When strangers looked curiously at the scarlet letter and none ever failed to do sothey branded it afresh in Hesters soul; so that, oftentimes, she could scarcely refrain, yet always did refrain, f rom covering the symbol with her hand.† (81) CM: Hester exemplifies heroism to her community by bearing the punishment of the scarlet letter she is given, but in contrast, by challenging the Puritan moral doctrine incessantly. 8. â€Å"From first to last, in short, Hester Prynne had always this dreadful agony in feeling a human eye upon the token; the spot never grew callous; it seemed, on the contrary, to grow more sensitive with daily torture.† (81) CM: Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter represents her unfailing love towards Dimmesdale, along with her constant shame; every time someone looks at the scarlet letter, it is like a new scab from a wound is ripped off—the wound never heals. 9. â€Å"But sometimes, once in many days, or perchance in many months, she felt an eye—a human eye—upon the ignominious brand, that seemed to give a momentary relief, as if half of her agony were shared.† (81) CM: In this passage Hawthorne implies that Dimmesdale shares her pain, even though his pain is keeping his sin a secret from everyone, while only Hester must wear the brand of sin publically. 10. â€Å"Walking to and fro with those lonely footsteps in the little world with which she was outwardly connected, it now and then appeared to Hester—if altogether fancy, it was nevertheless too potent to be resisted—she felt or fancied, then, that the scarlet letter had endowed her with a new sense.† (82) CM: The scarlet letter seems to have given Hester a new sense of awareness; Hester has been publically shamed, which gives her the opportunity to connect to others and â€Å"walk in their shoes with understanding.† 11. â€Å"Could they be other than the insidious whispers of the bad angel, who would fain have persuaded the struggling woman, as yet only half his victim, that the outward guise of purity was but a lie, and that, if truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom besides Hester Prynnes?†Ã‚  (82) CM: Hawthorne highlights the conflict between good and evil in this sentence, and also establishes that the scarlet letter has made Hester’s sin outward, while everyone else’s sins are inward sins, because they will not admit them. 12. â€Å"Sometimes the red infamy upon her breast would give a sympathetic throb, as she passed near a venerable minister or magistrate, the model of piety and justice, to whom that ag e of antique reverence looked up, as to a mortal man in fellowship with angels.† (82) CM: Hawthorne includes irony in this sentence because the scarlet letter, a symbol of sin, throbs with compassion when the ministers and noblemen pass, who are supposedly â€Å"pure† men. 13. â€Å"Or, once more, the electric thrill would give her warning—Behold, Hester, here is a companion! and, looking up, she would detect the eyes of a young maiden glancing at the scarlet letter, shyly and aside, and quickly averted, with a faint, chill crimson in her cheeks as if her purity were somewhat sullied by that momentary glance.† (83) CM: Hawthorne insinuates that this young woman has most likely committed Hester’s same crime, which proves that the Puritan society is unjust, because Hester is forced to wear a symbol of shame, while this young woman can continue on with her life normally. 14. â€Å"The vulgar, who, in those dreary old times, were always contributing a grotesque horror to what interested their imaginations, had a story about the scarlet letter which we might readily work up into a terrific legend.† (83) CM: Hawthorne persuades the reader to believe that people made up fanciful stories about the scarlet letter, and have attached certain meanings to it. 15. â€Å"They averred that the symbol was not mere scarlet cloth, tinged in an earthly dyepot, but was red-hot with infernal fire, and could be seen glowing all alight whenever Hester Prynne walked abroad in the nighttime.† (83) CM: The Puritan people are very discriminatory; they state that Hester and the letter have been very shameful to the colony of Boston, and that because of that, the scarlet letter shimmers in the night, as if it has a life of its own. 16. â€Å"And we must needs say it seared Hesters bosom so deeply, that perhaps there was more truth in the rumor than our modern incredulity may be inclined to admit.† (83) CM: Hawthorne now goes against what he stated before, forcing the reader to determine if there were actually rumors and stories of the scarlet letter, or if Hester and the scarlet letter shared a certain element, which contained hellish-like characteristics. Chapter 6: 1. â€Å"Man had marked this womans sin by a scarlet letter, which had such potent and disastrous efficacy that no human sympathy could reach her, save it were sinful like herself.† (84) CM: This passage highlights the loneliness of Hester’s situation, and also brings up an element of male dominance; clergymen force Hester to wear a badge of shame for the rest of her life. 2. â€Å"God, as a direct consequence of the sin which man thus punished, had given her a lovely child, whose place was on that same dishonored bosom, to connect her parent for ever with the race and descent of mortals, and to be finally a blessed soul in heaven!† (84) CM: Hawthorne introduces the fact that Pearl, the product of a sin, connects Hester to her own sin. 3. â€Å"But that first object of which Pearl seemed to become aware was—shall we say it?—the scarlet letter on Hesters bosom!† (91) CM: This passage is also ironic, because Pearl, the product of sin, reinforce s Hester’s sin by having such a strong attraction to the scarlet letter. 4. â€Å"One day, as her mother stooped over the cradle, the infants eyes had been caught by the glimmering of the gold embroidery about the letter; and putting up her little hand she grasped at it, smiling, not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam, that gave her face the look of a much older child.† (91) CM: Young children have a characteristic of innocence, but Pearl, fascinated by the scarlet letter, is not innocent, but has an experience with, and for, evilness. 5. â€Å"Weeks, it is true, would sometimes elapse, during which Pearls gaze might never once be fixed upon the scarlet letter; but then, again, it would come at unawares, like the stroke of sudden death, and always with that peculiar smile and odd expression of the eyes.† (91) CM: Pearl, just like her mother, challenges authority, and produces evil grins and smiles, like a demon child. 6. â€Å"In the afternoon of a certain summers day, after Pearl grew big enough to run about, she amused herself with gathering handfuls of wild flowers, and flinging them, one by one, at her mothers bosom; dancing up and down like a little elf whenever she hit the scarlet letter.† (91-92) CM: Pearl, who is captivated by the scarlet letter, taunts Hester by reminding her of her punishment and consequences daily. 7. â€Å"Hesters first motion had been to cover her bosom with her clasped hands. But whether from pride or resignation, or a feeling that her penance might best be wrought out by this unutterable pain, she  resisted the impulse, and sat erect, pale as death, looking sadly into little Pearls wild eyes.† (92) CM: Hester Prynne, proud of her adulterous act, bears the pain Pearl causes her by playing with her scarlet letter. 8. â€Å"Still came the battery of flowers, almost invariably hitting the mark, and covering the mothers breast with hurts for which she could find no balm in this world, nor knew how to seek it in another.† (92) CM: Pearl constantly harasses Hester, who has no balm or healing, and will never receive any healing, because of the scarlet letter the clergymen placed so careful on her breast. 9. â€Å"Whether moved only by her ordinary freakishness, or because an evil spirit prompted her, she put up her small forefinger and touched the scarlet letter.† (93) CM: Hawthorne demonstrates Pearl’s taunting of Hester, whether Pearl intends it or as a child, in her innocence, is captivated by the scarlet letter. Chapter 7: 1. â€Å"But it was a remarkable attribute of this garb, and indeed, of the childs whole appearance, that it irresistibly and inevitably reminded the beholder of the token which Hester Prynne was doomed to wear upon her bosom.† (96) CM: The scarlet letter, which Hester designed beautifully, hypnotizes Pearl, who forever plays with it. 2. â€Å"It was the scarlet letter in another form: the scarlet letter endowed with life!† (96) CM: Hawthorne relates Pearl as the human form of the scarlet letter, always reminding Hester of her sin and tormenting her constantly. 3. â€Å"The mother herself—as if the red ignominy were so deeply scorched into her brain that all her conceptions assumed its formhad carefully wrought out the similitude, lavishing many hours of morbid ingenuity to create an analogy between the object of her affection and the emblem of her guilt and torture.† (96) CM: This sentence is ironic, because it confirms that a sinful act, which creates a product, Pearl, who is also sinful. 4. â€Å"But, in truth, Pearl was the one as well as the other; and only in consequence of that identity had Hester contrived so perfectly to represent the scarlet letter in her appearance.† (96) CM: Hawthorne accentuates the fact that Hester’s punishment, the scarlet letter, and the embodiment of that sin, Pearl, are both beautifully clothed. 5. â€Å"‘Yea, forsooth,† replied the bond-servant, staring with wide-open eyes at the scarlet letter, which, being a new-comer in the country, he had never before seen.’† (98)  CM: The scarlet letter continues to attract attention, even to the bond-servant, who doesn’t understand what it means, but again, is drawn to it. 6. â€Å"‘Nevertheless, I will enter, answered Hester Prynne; and the bond-servant, perhaps judging from the decision of her air, and the glittering symbol in her bosom, that she was a great lady in the land, offered no opposition.’† (98) CM: The servant inte rprets the scarlet letter incorrectly; he believes that because she is wearing it, she is highly important. 7. â€Å"Hester looked by way of humoring the child; and she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance.† (99-100) CM: In this passage, Hawthorne exaggerates the massive image in the armor, suggesting that the clergymen in the colony of Boston magnify Hester’s sin greatly. 8. â€Å"In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it.† (100) CM: The clergymen underscore their own temptations by making a spectacle of this young woman who has committed adultery, and also make her an icon of sin in the colony by forcing her to wear the scarlet letter, which scars everyone in the colony’s eyes. Chapter 8: 1. â€Å"‘Hester Prynne,† said he, fixing his naturally stern regard on the wearer of the scarlet letter, there hath been much question concerning thee, of late.’† (104) CM: The clergymen, who punished Hester for her sin, are staring at Hester’s scarlet letter, which is located on her breast, forcing the reader to wonder what they are really looking at. 2. â€Å"‘I can teach my little Pearl what I have learned from this!† answered Hester Prynne, laying her finger on the red token.† (104) CM: In this sentence, Hester states that she will teach Pearl from her shameful sin, but the reader doesn’t know what Hester will teach Pearl; to defy authority, or live up to your consequences. 3. â€Å"‘Woman, it is thy badge of shame! replied the stern magistrate.† (104) CM: The clergymen are forever prompting Hester’s sin and her punishment from that sin, the scarlet letter. 4. â€Å"‘It is because of the stain which that letter indicates, that we would  transfer thy child to other hands.’† (104) CM: The clergymen argue that because of the scarlet letter, which demonstrates her grave sin to the whole town, they need to find Pearl a more fit home, so she continue on with a better life than Hester can give her. 5. â€Å"‘Nevertheless,† said the mother, calmly, though growing more pale, â€Å"this badge hath taught me—it daily teaches me—it is teaching me at this moment—lessons whereof my child may be the wiser and better, albeit they can profit nothing to myself.’† (104-105) CM: Hester, fearful of losing her one child, as well as the loss of embodiment of sin, argues that the scarlet letter will bring the best out of Pearl. 6. â€Å"Pearl,† said he, with great solemnity, â€Å"thou must take heed to instruction, that so, in due season, thou mayest wear in thy bosom the pearl of great price.’† (105) CM: Reverend Wilson advises Pearl to do what she is supposed to do, so she can live up to the beauty of her name, which her mother so shamefully paid the price for. 7. â€Å"‘Hath she not expressed this thought in the garb of the poor child, so forcibly reminding us of that red symbol which sears her bosom?’† (108) CM: This dialogue between the clergymen emphasizes the connection of the scarlet letter and the clothes Hester dressed Pearl in; both were beautifully made and filled with red and gold thread. Chapter 9: Chapter 10: 1. â€Å"Taking a handful of these, she arranged them along the lines of the scarlet letter that decorated the maternal bosom, to which the burrs, as their nature was, tenaciously adhered.† (125-126) CM: This sentence contains a paradox; Pearl decorates the scarlet letter ornately, yet burrs are sharp and can be wounding. 2. â€Å"‘Is Hester Prynne the less miserable, think you, for that scarlet letter on her breast?’† (127) CM: Dimmesdale and Chillingworth discuss whether or not if wearing the scarlet letter allows Hester to be less miserable, because she has confessed to her sin. Chapter 11: 1. â€Å"And now, through the chamber which these spectral thoughts had made so ghastly, glided Hester Prynne leading along little Pearl in her scarlet garb, and pointing her forefinger, first at the scarlet letter on her bosom, and then at the clergymans own breast.† (137) CM: Pearl understands that  Dimmesdale and Hester have some sort of a connection, almost as if she has a keen sense of awareness, like the scarlet letter has given Hester. Chapter 12: 1. â€Å"And thus, while standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart.† (139) CM: Dimmesdale is fearful that the town of Boston is not looking at Hester and her scarlet letter of punishment anymore, but at his heart—illustrating guilt, fear of exposure, and a suggestion that the noble positions were filled with an element of hypocrisy. 2. â€Å"On that spot, in very truth, there was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain.† (139) CM: The reader estimates that Dimmesdale has created his own â€Å"A† by wounding himself, either out of guilt, or for self-punishment. 3. â€Å"And there stood the minister, with his hand over his heart; and Hester Prynne, with the embroidered letter glimmering on her bosom; and little Pearl, herself a symbol, and the connecting link between those two.† (145) CM: In this passage, Dimmesdale is located where he should be, next to Hester, the scarlet letter, and Pearl, but because of the hypocritical nature of himself and the clergymen, he refuses to stand with them, and denies his crime unless it is under a shadow of darkness. 4. â€Å"We impute it, therefore, solely to the disease in his own eye and heart that the minister, looking upward to the zenith, beheld there the appearance of an immense letter—the letter A—marked out in lines of dull red light.† (146) CM: It is interesting how Hawthorne portrayed the scarlet letter in the sky, which was for Dimmesdale, because his scarlet letter was massive in size, compared to Hester’s â€Å"A†, proving that Dimmesdale’s sin is much graver than Hester’s. 5. â€Å"Not but the meteor may have shown itself at that point, burning duskily through a veil of cloud, but with no such shape as his guilty imagination gave it, or, at least, with so little definiteness, that anothers guilt might have seen another symbol in it.† (146) CM: The scarlet letter in the sky means different things for anyone who distinguishes it. 6. â€Å"The minister appeared to see him, with the same glance that discerned the miraculous letter.† (146) CM: Dimmesdale’s dream-like state is emphasized in this sentence, because he has a disbelief  that Chillingworth and the scarlet letter were actually there. 7. â€Å"‘But did your reverence hear of the portent that was seen last night? A great red letter in the sky—the letter A, which we interpret to stand for Angel.’† (148-149) CM: The letter â€Å"A†, as the reader has interpreted, has stood for â€Å"adultery†, but now, Hawthorne changes its meaning to â⠂¬Å"angel†, which is ironic.

The need for an offshore business plan

The need for an offshore business plan Nowadays the term offshore business is getting more and more business attentions. This term covers a wide range of information technology and other business related services offered by companies in developing countries to the companies in developed countries . The off shoring business is mainly started as a business to do cheap software development, and then it is expended to other areas which can be called ITES, IT enabled services like call centres and support centres . The term Business Process outsourcing (BPO) refers to the transfer of a companies business which are not the core process but the which are critical to the functioning to an external vendor in other country .These external vendors uses IT based delivery. By doing such kind of offshoring , the firms are able to focus on the their core areas ,making cost benefits and the non core areas will be handled by experts . This will help the parent firms shareholder value to increase because it is all about the performance in the market . (Roy,Sharma and Bhushan,2006) During the last one decade India has been developing as the most attractive location for offshore businesses . Companies and Global corporate from all over the world have already moved to Indian to take the advantages of the benefits of this country provides. The number of fortune 500 companies who has already set up their captive offshore business centre in India is not small . Thus India is emerging as the largest offshore hub in the world. The Information technology (IT) Outsourcing and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market in India has been showing an unbelievable growth. According to the estimates of NASSCOM, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), Indian offshore business (bothe IT and BP0) market is worth around seventeen billion USD, which is nearly forty four percent of the total global off shoring market (about USD 40 billion). (Tutorial reports, 2009) This report proceeds as follows .The first part will give the SWOT analysis of Indian offshore industry .The second chapter will explain about the benefits of off shoring to India .The third part will give an idea about various challenges that has to be faces in Indian offshore business. The final part will explain about the implication of development to the Indian companies . SWOT analysis In this section , a SWOT analysis of Indian offshore business sector is given .The tables below is very brief .Most of the things mentioned in this SWOT table will be covered in the coming sections. Strengths Rich and wide talent pool. English speaking graduates and Engineering graduates. Attrition rate is low compared to developed countries. Technological competency is high Benefits due to geographical location and time difference. Economical benefits .Reduced labour and infrastructure cost . Weaknesses The infrastructure is feeble. Diversity in culture . Legal issues Data protection and privacy issues Opportunities Availabily of manpower . High quality of information technology The market potential is high Growing economy . Educated young generation Threats Anti outsourcing bill in US Competition from other countries like china, Ireland, Philippians and eastern European countries. The billing rates are growing high Off shoring to India -Benefits Cost Benefits : One of the basic reason for doing offshore business in India is the direct saving of the cost. This cost benefits are calculated as a difference from the wages in India and wages in western countries for doing the same kind of skilled jobs. Even though the difference is decreasing due to the rise of wage in IT professionals in India, there will be significant cost benefits gained from outsourcing to India. The corporations around the world are not only outsourcing India for the end process tasks but also for the Knowledge Process outsourcing.( Robinson and Kalakota (2004) . The clinical trial outsourcing is an example .The clinical trials that can be done in India would give a cost saving of 40-50% compared to that being done in America. It also gives cost benefit in terms of capital benefits .The global corporate need not invest money on infrastructure and recruitment in the country where it is operating .The capital investments may be much cheaper in India. According to World Outso urcing Summit conducted in 2004, cost benefits are cited as the primary motive towards offshoring business services to India (Corbett, 2004). In the airline industry, Delta Air Lines offshore-outsourced some of its worldwide reservation services to India-based Wipro Spectramind. This third-party vendor manages Deltas reservations from its Mumbai call center; a move that Delta expects will save $26 million in 2003 alone . Robinson and Kalakota (2004) Access to the pool of Talent Offshore business is one way of accessing the talent from overseas for certain occupations. India has got a very big pool of people with rich talent .India has got several technology enabled centres (Green,2007).These centres has got the ability to attract the highly talented people .The speed of the recruitment and availability of the talent is much higher when compared to the western countries and US. This why India still remains in the no.1 position in offshore business centres. Another advantage is the availability of English speaking people with high-IQ. ( Kripalani, M., Engardio, P ,2003). Speedy and reduced cost Recruitment In US and western counties, the speed of the recruitment is comparatively less .It can take weeks or months to hire a person and fill the gap especially for a technically skilled position. Due to the large pool of candidates with high talent in Indian , the recruitment process is much faster than that of US .The cost of recruitment in US is much much higher than the cost of recruitment in India. This gives an advantage in offshore operations in India. (Green,2007). Fast Turn around time The time difference between US and India is 12 hours .This will allow the Indian part of the company to do processing at night time US .This difference in the zonal time gives a 24 hours work environment in the companies which does offshore business. So the processing tasks will be done without the backlogs. This gives a big benfits to the companies who wishes to operate 24 hrs and do some offshore business in India. The IT teams who work both in client site and Indian offshore locations has got very big advantage .The team who are in US work with the client during the day time in US and hands over the work to Indian team before they go to bed. The other part of the team who are in india will take over the work and do the work during the day time in India .This will significantly reduce the turnaround time .(Chithlen,2004) One of the main motive behind Nortal networks, an IT firm from Canada to start offshore business is in India was the benefit of turnaround time. They took the advantage of the time difference between Canada and India. Other Benefits:- Since it is not possible to explain all the benfits in details , some of the benefits are listed here . India has got people with information technology skills that are recognized by US companies . Indian government offers some tax exemption to the IT companies . Indian work practices, mainly in IT companies ly comply with the standards of ISO and SEI CMM s. More than eighty percentage of SEI-CMM 5 companies worldwide are located in India. The quality standards are approved by the leading companies from developed nations .The number of countries to which India exports software is 95.. The political factors are favouring the IT industry and it is stable The satellite and submarine connectivity is very good and which makes the broadband connectivity one of the best in the wolrd . Offshoring to India -Challenges Even though India is the no.1 attractive location for offshore business, there are many challenges that has to be faces by the firms to make a successful offshore business. In this section, the possible challenges will be explained briefly. Cultural Issues The culture in India is far different from the other countries where the offshore business jobs are coming from. The way of getting the work done and the conflict resolution methods in India are different .Even the words used in different contexts can have different meanings in Indian culture. These words may have slightly different meaning in European or Indian culture. The companies who would like to set up offshore business in India have to have a well aware of the Indian culture and they have to set their challenges and goals. According to Geert Hoftsede , Indias power distance index is very high compared to US or European countries. Higher power distance means, the inequality in the hierarchical levels is high . Indias power distance index is 77 . But the power distance of US where most of the offshore businesses are coming from is 40. The other dimensional indexes also are different. (Hoftsede, 1980). This can be illustrated by so many examples, In the call centres or other Business Process outsourced industries, the Indian teams have cultural problems in working with American colleagues. In American, the team members are expected to be taking responsibility and ownership .This is much less in Indian teams .In Indian culture is decision making is much more top-down where it tend to be less in American culture .In Indian culture the style of meeting deadlines, commitment, attitude towards the process and mindset about the different hierarchical levels are very different .These are all challenges that has to be faced while setting up offshore business in India. (Schomer, 2010) Infrastructure Challenges The infrastructure challenges are one of the big challenges of those who are keen to do offshore business in India. The firms from US and UK are keen to lease offices in Indian offshore location. The demand for the office spaces in key business locations is so high. So the companies have to book the places even before the construction is finished . Another problem is the future expansions. Companies have to look for office spaces if different location which makes the coordination difficult .For example the company HP has got 20 rented offices spaces in different parts of the Bangalore and they are running out of space .This challenges will lead the companies to get involved in developing their own campus of get involved in real estate business. (Butler,2003) Recruitment Challenges The pool of candidates in India is really huge .Nearly 260,000 engineering graduates come out of the campus every year .Finding the real best talent out of this pool is becoming a real challenge in these years. For example, the company called Infosys does the interview view for 67,000 candidates which are selected from nearly a million application .But only 260000 people are hired. So the effort and money put for these recruitment is not negligible. The companies from US/EU have to define a well structured recruitment process to find the best talent. Another additional challenge is the retention of employees. The attrition rate in India is higher that that of US/EU .As the number of vacancy is high, the candidates have got more opportunities and the other recruiter from other company will approach the candidate .So the retention policy in US or EU will not be applicable in a country like India.(Kottoli,2006). Training Challenges The work force should be trained to be more productive .This demands an organized training program. It can be seen that employees in India may have good englsih written skills, the offshore business demands more skills in verbal communication. The BPO employees should be trained in verbal communication which is more of accent training .(Brodsky and Vance,2009) In order for the employee to interact with the US/UK side of the business , the training should be tailored to include the cultural issues. The one who conducts the training should be aware of cultural issues of both parent and Indian organization. There is requirement that the hires should be trained in some technical specific tools This is to make them more productive in the real work environment. There are some training in specialized tools (eg. SIMMS, Kramer and Chronology etc.) Which are not available in India. This requires the overseas travelling of trainers of employees Challenges in team coordination In the offshore business teams working in different geographic locations. So there will be difference in the time zones. And the cultural differences will also be a problem for the team integrations. So coordination issues are one of the challenges to the offshore business. Rather that focusing on job, team will take time to do storming. Its the job of management to take care of the trust problems in the team and the communication gaps. This will help to minimize work stress among the members of team . The challenges of coordinating teams with different culture are little bit complex and cannot be easily solved with company policies. The companies may require consultants who can handle the cross-cultural issues.(Fabriek,2007)   Security in Data When selecting a technology provider organization for offshore jobs, companies should take care of the fact that they should have proper procedure for infrastructure security and comprehensive data security. There are different specific areas to be included such as compliance, communications and systems management, system development, and classification controls of assets. This can become a challenge while off shoring to India The procedures are policies are intended to cover business as usual activities such as restore and backup , assessment of information risk and change of control guidelines . Also the disaster recovery plans and business continuity policies could be well established Capgemini was selected to work with the Ministry of Defense of a major European country to implement an ERP system using SAP. However, the ministry was constrained by severe budgetary restrictions and therefore wanted to use offshore competencies and rates without compromising security. Following a stringent security audit, Capgemini India was awarded security clearance to develop and test the ministrys ERP solutions offshore (Dhodia-Capgemini,2006) Quality of service   The quality of service is another challenges .The quality can bring the real cost savings .Otherwise it may bring losses instead of savings .For example , after receiving many complaints about the service from customers ,Dell was forces to close one of its support centre . So a keep monitoring of the quality of the work and place where it is outsources is very much required for the offshore jobs. (Green, 2007) Off shoring India -Development of Indian Companies The offshore business in India has contributed significantly to the economic and market growth of India .These offshore business has caused the rise of many companies which are global players. Since year 2006, Indian offshore business providers have made at least thirteen acquisitions abroad in North American and European Markets. (Fitzgerald,2009) .A big competition is going in the top players in Indian offshore industry (Hillary,2004) . A brief explanation of the top players in Indian offshore business will give n insight into the development happened to the Indian companies. INFOSYS Infosys is started in 1981 with an initial investment of INR 1000.It has started its full scale operation in 1993 . The US investment banker  Morgan Stanley   has bought 13% of equity at the offer price of Rs. 95 per share  .. By the year 1999, the share price has gone above eight thousand Indian rupees. At the end of year 2000, the share price of this company went well above 15 thousand Indian rupees. (India Today ,1999) .As of march 2010, the revenue of Infosys is 4.8 billion US dollars and it employees more than 113 thousand people .(Garia,2010) Since it is listed in the Bombay stock exchange , the sales and earnings growth rate of Infosys was more than seventy percentage .(Forbes,200)  .During a speech , the former president of US complimented India for its achievement in technology by citing the company name Infosys .(Indian express ,2000).The number of applications it receives is more than one million which makes Infosys a very well know and branded company among the jobseekers in India . WIPRO Wipro is another giant information technology organization which is benifited from offshore business . According to th2008-2009 financial year report , Wipro is one of the largest information technology services company which employees more than 108 thousand people all over the world .(Wipro quarter results,2009)Even though , it has other business areas other than information technology , its main revenue is from offshore IT services .When IBM was asked to leave Indian information technology sector , Wipro entered into the information technology . As of march 2010, its net revenue is 6.03 billion US dollars(Wipro,2010). Acquisitions, : Over the last few years Wipro was very successful in acquiring companies . Wipros focus in the information technology sector is mainly on SOA, BPO and con ­sulting. Wipro is interested in big deals . Wipro has acquired a company called Infocrossing which makes Wipro as a very well player in infrastructure management deals. Wipro has got collaborative deals with Nokia Siemens in the area os radio acces research and development .Also it has signed contracts with Cisco to step into the networking area. Wipro is continuing to grow as a global player in the off shoring businees. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Tata Consultancy Services is a strong player in Indian software industry which focuses on software services and consulting .It was founded in 1968 .TCS is listed in National Stock exchange and Bombay Stock exchange .(ICMR,2004) .In 2010 , the revenue of this company reached 6.33 billion USD and it employees more than 160 thousand people . Strong Revenue Growth: It is reported that TCS has got strong 27% growth in revenues .The net income growth is at a rate of 26%. TCS does offshore business with eighteen clients billing more than 50 million USD and six clients above 100 million USD. The growth rate of TCS in Middle east ,Asia and APAC countries is incredible. TCS was able to stepped up into the Telecom and manufacturing services and it is growing. Recently , non-ADM services of TCS has contributed more than 50% of overall TCS revenues. Its BPO services also show good groeth rate which is in the order of double digit. . TCS is the first Indian IT company which employed more than 100,000 employees. These are the development of major players in the Indian offshore business .There are hundreds of companies who are benefited from the offshore business ..

A Journey Through Writing :: essays research papers

Writing is and essential part of communication in our society. Soon after children are taught the letters that make up our English language, they are taught the basics of formatting them into effective writing. On the job, usually no matter what it is we usually can’t escape the written application, and we almost always find ourselves in a position which warrants the use of food communication skills. Among theses common forms of writing, others are integrated within the daily lives of people around the world. Some people choose to keep journals as a permanent hardcopy of their existence, and others like to write professionally. No matter what the occasion, there are always a few basics that can make your writing better understood, and more openly accepted.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this essay I will explore some of the various writings that I have done, and compare and contrast them to some of the more formal writing laws that have been bestowed upon the craft. The coy bought the bat. Such a simple sentence that I have written so many times in the past in my more youthful days. Sentences like this at the time seem like redundant practice exercises, and they are. But when we grow up (literally speaking) and face the real world, we come to appreciate the process greatly. In that sentence we have all the basics or written communication, and then some. Amongst the noun and subject and so on, you find alliteration for example. Alliteration, when used correctly can be a powerful way to enhance your writing, and make it seem more sophisticated. And that’s what everyone wants to do right, come off as intelligently as possible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Let’s explore that in a little more depth. When I am writing on an assignment, or some other formal; type of writing, the style is usually much different. For example I don't try to use fancy techniques and a whole lot of jargon to sound good, I just write. On the flip side, I don't like using poor language and slang terms in formal writing. It just seems to be more appropriate the way that I do it. But, there is a limit. For instance, the more technical terms and jargon that you insert the more people that you exclude and possibly turn off from your work. Most likely if you are looking in a dictionary or a thesaurus all of the time, other people will have to do the same, and most would rather not go through the trouble.

Analysis of Kate Chopins The Story of an Hour Essay -- Kate Chopin St

Back in 1894, the American writer Kate Chopin wrote the short-story "The Story of an Hour". Chopin, born O'Flaherty, wasn't renowned as a writer during her time, but she has achieved recognition in the 20th century especially with her 1899 novel "The Awakening". Her stories about strong women have really been paid attention to in relation to this century's sexual liberation debate. This short-story revolves around what goes through a person's head when informed that a close family member has perished. However, I wouldn't say that this is the theme of the story, which I'll get back to. Louise Mallard is a young, yet married woman who suffers from heart trouble, and that's why her closest relatives feel that they have to break the news to her as gently as possible. Immediately after hearing the shocking news, Louise starts crying, and storms into her room. Since Louise spends the majority of the short-story in her room, this is the setting of the story. Noone really knows early in the story how Louise really feels about her husband dying. But the author certainly gives some evident hints. The fourth paragraph's content, which revolves around the period of time where Louise has just entered her room, is fairly surprising. Everyone would expect Louise to weep with agony and pain, but instead she sits calmly down: "There stood, facing an open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair." The interested reader will already here discover that something is terribly wrong, since a word like comfortable is used. A newly widdowed woman would probably not look upon a chair as comfortable shortly after receiving the terri... ...t she starts dreaming about it. That shows that she has an enormous respect for her husband, and doesn't dare to do anything that breaks or is in variance with his rights, restrictions and groundrules. Today we have procedures and laws regarding women's rights when it comes to feeling trapped in a marriage and urging to end it. Getting a divorce from one's husband is about as easy for women nowadays as opening a can of beer. Nevertheless, Chopin's story tells a lot about the situation women were in a century ago, and its morale has blossomed lately following the recent liberation debate. "The Story of an Hour" has probably inspired a great deal of women to oppose their husbands if they feel like their marriage isn't quite as jolly as it ought to be.

Essay example --

The book In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick, is an inspiring story about an Essex from Nantucket, getting attacked by a eighty-five ton sperm whale miles deep out in the ocean. In these times, going on any ocean expedition had its precautions. While much focus on food, drinking water, medication and a method to cure illness, the most overlooked impairment was the creatures of the ocean. While the men of this vessel left the docks as predators, the survivors of the ninety- three-day journey on three small harpoon boats came back as prey. This story gives a great depiction of the potential of the sperm whale as well as the devastation that they can bring. While whaling isn’t nearly as popular today, in this time many men made, or attempted to make, a living in this industry. Despite the hard work, dangerous standards and general intimidation, shipmates were lured into the industry for the high pay. When feeling protected by a large ship, weapons and a fearless captain, it was easy to forget the power of what they were hunting. The sperm whale is the largest of all the toothed whales, with males maturing at an average size of fifty- two feet and sometimes can reach up to sixty-seven feet in length. â€Å"It’s twenty-foot-wide tail pumped up and down.† (Philbrick, 2000, 82) The domain of life that the sperm whale belongs to is the Eukaryote. This is because the sperm whale is an organism that is made up of cells that contain a nucleus as well as other structures that are enclosed by the cell membrane. The kingdom that it belongs to is the Animalia. This is because they are multi-cellular organisms. These a nimals contain other distinct features including; â€Å"interior digestion of f... ...ats of the whale are still used in some of today’s industries. These parts of the whale have numerous applications in biotechnology. Some of which include, but are not limited to; candles, oil lamps, soaps, and lubricants. Even though their oils have significance in certain applications, the sperm whale is considered an endangered species. This is primarily because of being over hunted. They also have been known to get caught in fishing nets, subject to pollution, also can be severely affected by ocean debris. There are many creatures that live in the sea. The sperm whale being one of many creatures that has a huge impact on the ocean. They are very unique creators, who most people tend to forget about. The sperm whale created a huge conflict for the Essex, leaving the reading wondering what is going to end up happening. This book inspired the book Moby Dick.

Advantage of Taking a Stress Management Class Essay

Unfortunately, stress is a very normal part of everyday life for most of us. Stress can both be positive and negative. Leaving negative stress to chance, you will encounter serious health problems. Although stress is commonplace, it is far from healthy. Stress management professionals in the industry will recommend stress management classes as a means to better health and wellbeing. Stress management classes are available through employers and health care professionals. These sessions will help you to identify the factors that are causing the stress and help you make good lifestyle choices to reduce stress in the future. The larger companies are realizing that assisting employees to cope with stress will not only result in better health and emotional wellness for the staff; it will also improve the bottom line as well. These stress management classes are offered in multiple formats; from formal lectures by authorities in the field, to weekly training sessions that teach skills like meditation and biofeedback. Studies of these seminars show a marked improvement in employees’ stress symptoms after eight weeks of training. Less stress means higher production for employers, so it becomes a win-win situation for many companies. Individual Stress Management Classes There is several ways to access stress management classes for everyone. Do not think that stay at home mom doesn’t have stress. There are other opportunities for stress management classes. A good resource to begin with is your primary care provider. You can also check books and websites for information regarding stress management classes. Advantages of taking a class are that you will learn to spot the sources of your stress in order to take control of them more effectively. Stress management classes will teach you coping skills such as relaxation techniques and exercises specifically targeted at tension. You will also have the chance to meet others who are facing similar hurdles in their own lives, and build a support network with others who are sharing like burdens. Negative stress can take away your emotional wellbeing and at the same time contribute to general poor health. Therefore, stress management classes can help you identify the source of your stress, learn how to gain control over them, and educate you to reduce your stress symptoms. When feeling the results of constant stress, contact your nearest health provider to find out about a stress management class for you. Many people don’t think about stress management unless they’re already on the verge of burnout. With our busy lives, it doesn’t always seem obviously important to take on the practice of stress management before a worn-out body or an overly taxed psyche force the issue. However, developing healthy stress relieving habits really do pay off in the long run. Not only does a regular stress management practice stave off the negative effects of stress, but it can also bring positive outcomes like increased productivity, better health and more happiness in general. The following are some reasons why: †¢ Your Health: Excessive stress really can lead to poor health outcomes, from relatively minor things like headaches and digestion problems in the short run to major conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke after years of unmanaged stress. (Here’s a more complete list of stress related health problems, and a more detailed description of how stress affects your health.) †¢ Your Looks: Many stress relievers can also make you healthier and even more attractive. For example, taking care of your body by getting enough sleep can make you more productive and healthier, and can help you better manage stress, as well as staving off dark circles under the eyes and a poor complexion. Also, eating right can keep your blood sugar levels even, keeping your emotions in check and making you more resilient to stress, as well as helping you stay in your ‘skinny jeans’ or favorite tee-shirts from college. Getting regular exercise can help you blow off steam when you’re frustrated and keep your body fit and toned. †¢ Increased Productivity: Simply put, when you’re not stressed, you can be more productive because you’re more focused. Therefore, it really pays to keep stress to a minimum. Certain stress relief habits naturally make you more productive. Power napping, for example, can help you catch up on sleep and be more focused and productive, making less sleep stretch further. Being organized can also help you save time and money in the long run, reducing stress and helping you to be more productive in virtually every area of your life. Even limiting caffeine can help, improving your sleep and helping you feel less stressed at the end of the day. Finally, having the right attitude is actually a habit that can be learned. Being an optimist can benefit you in many areas of your life, helping you let failures roll off your back and actually enabling you to achieve more! (Think you’re already an optimist? You may be surprised. Take this quiz to find out for sure, and dis cover the secrets of optimistic thinking.) †¢ Your Happiness: Some stress relief practices just bring more joy. If you want to enjoy life more, you’ll want to adopt some of these stress relievers, and the fun will come more easily. Caring for pets, enjoying music, dancing while you clean, working more laughter into your life, maintaining a supportive circle of friends, and even having sex are all fun activities that double as great stress relievers for various reasons. Read more about them and how they can help you, and remind yourself that you’re never too busy to include these activities in your lifestyle—they’re stress management techniques! †¢ Your Stress Levels—Of Course!: The desire to avoid walking around feeling stressed-out is, in itself, a good reason to bone up on stress management. Certain general techniques that primarily just relieve stress (rather than serving some secondary function) are more than worth adopting because, when you’re less stressed, you enjoy life more. Some of the best stress management techniques available include , and good old [link url=/od/breathingexercises/ht/breathing_ex.htm]breathing exercises. Read more about the benefits of each, and choose a few to try, and you won’t have to let stress sap you of energy, productivity and enjoyment of life again! Putting in the effort to learn effective strategies for stress relief and low-stress living will pay off in the long run. Because of this, stress management is among the most important subjects to learn! Ideally, stress management needs to begin when we’re young so that we don’t have battered, scarred trunks when we reach mid life and beyond. But, the reality is, most of us never consider stress as damaging †¦until we’ve been reacting to it for a long time. The good news about our amazing bodies is that once we identify the stressors and make some definite life style changes, we can often reverse a lot of the damage. Sort of like being able to get some wood filler, apply it to the nicks on the tree trunk, then sand it down to recreate a smooth finish on your trunk. Stress management can really promote better health. What are some of the benefits of stress reduction? 1. Better immune function 2. Less illnesses and physical complaints 3. More energy 4. Feeling more relaxed 5. Sleeping better 6. Better digestion 7. Calmer mood 8. More focused, more positive 9.   Case Example: Elaine A housewife named Elaine suffered from dreadful panic attacks. She would be in a state of great agitation. She was sure she was having a heart attack, terrified she would die, despite the fact that she had no heart disease and was just 45 years old. Twice she rushed to the emergency room for help. She was suffering acute chest pain, sweating profusely and nauseated. Her heart was pounding, her breathing was shallow and rapid, her hands shook and she had diarrhoea. Real symptoms. The emergency room medics examined her carefully and told her she was reacting to stress and suggested she see her family doctor. Her family doctor checked Elaine over, sent her for a series of tests to rule out disease and prescribed . . . exercise. Whenever she felt acute anxiety symptoms, she was to jog or run or get on her exercise bike until the attack passed. His notion was that to get rid of the bad chemicals, it was imperative to replace them with good chemicals. After a few weeks of doing that †¦it worked. She was able to control the panic and anxiety with exercise. With a lot of practice, she also learned to do relaxation techniques and deep breathing so that Elaine can take control of anxiety whenever she feels over-whelmed at times when she’s unable to exercise. No pills or magic, just using the body and mind to cure itself. Case example 2 Allen was a firefighter for many years. When he had been to a fire, he would come back to the fire station all keyed up and be unable to relax. The adrenalin he needed to fight the fire was still pumping – hours after he was out of the â€Å"fight† mode. The â€Å"tiger† was gone yet seeing flames destroy people’s property bothered him emotionally. When people were hurt or died in the fires, he was even more keyed up and anxious. He felt sad. Soon he had high blood pressure and was prescribed medication. Realizing he had to take action, try to reverse what he was feeling, he started running on the tread milling once he got back from a fire. His family had a history of heart disease, he was determined not to sick. He gets on the treadmill for 30 – 45 minutes while watching TV or listening to relaxing music. He also learned to meditate which took weeks to master. He does tai chi several days weekly. Within just 4 month his blood pressure was under control and he was able to come off the medication. He actively changed his bad stress chemicals to good stress chemicals. A Stress Management Seminar for understanding and Coping with Stress The length of a stress management seminar may vary from several days to some being only half a day. The stress management seminar may be presented by experts ranging from psychologists to scientist and professionals from other diverse fields. With the promise of change and challenge in our growing markets a stress management seminar may provide some answers for people to try and cope with the growing strain put on their lives. Stress may be a life threatening factor for one man and a life enhancing one for another. The stress management seminar can prove to be pivotal in comprehending many apparently paradoxical observations and realize that the difference between negative and positive stress may lie in the perception and handling of stress as well as how best to cope with it. What vital information can be learnt at a Stress Management Seminar? Just some of the keynote presentations that are dealt with at a stress management seminar; †¢ Self-assessment of stress â€Å"triggers† †¢ Four factors of stress mediation †¢ The power of re-frame and focus †¢ The productive and proper use of W.I.I.F.M strategy. †¢ How to do more with less †¢ Circles of destiny †¢ How to master an action grid †¢ Network strength and organizational alignment. Of course, there are many different stress management seminars available and one should choose a seminar that helps participants in identifying the causes of stress as well as enable them to have effective tools to avoid as well as reduce and manage stress, both on and off the job. Some stress management seminars would include written individual as well as group exercises, group discussions and group activities as well as business simulations to make the learning process more effective. Different themes that are presented at the stress management seminar may include; †¢ getting the most from one’s work †¢ Knowing how stress drains the value from one’s life †¢ Nature as well as causes and effects of stress †¢ An attendee’s personal stress profile †¢ Rational as well as irrational thinking and behavior †¢ Effects of positive as well as negative thinking and much, much more. The kind of people who would normally attend a stress management seminar may include executive team members, managers or employees of different persuasion. Some stress management seminars may be customized for group or even firm requirements. Many seminars have also been changed to suit the skills level the company.