Health Care Plan Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Health Care Plan - Case Study Example Smoking and alcohol both lead to hypertension and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The headache for which he takes Panadol may well be associated with hypertension, and he has a history of hypertension (Grundy, et al. 2004). Gordon also has hypercholesterolemia, which independently and in association with smoking, alcohol, and probable hypertension would predispose to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, where deposition of fat in the arterial walls would cause narrowing of the coronary arteries (Davis, 2002). Unfortunately Gordon also has diabetes mellitus, which makes him more prone to atherosclerotic coronary heart disease, would lead to more hypercholesterolemia, would aggravate the effects of hypertension, and would lead to a predisposition of adverse coronary events associated with coronary artery disease. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is usually associated with one or more characteristics known as risk factors. A risk factor is an aspect of personal behaviour or lifestyle, an environmental exposure or an inborn or inherited characteristic, which on the basis of epidemiologic evidence is known to be associated with" the occurrence of disease. The risk of MI is thus doubled in the smokers, or a 200% increase in risk compared with nonsmokers. Higher systolic blood pressure (Nichols, 2003), higher low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, higher fasting glucose levels and 2-hour insulin values, higher body mass index (BMI), and lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol are all associated higher mortality in this group of patients (Roth & Laurent-Bopp, 2004). Given this scenario, there must be a measure to assess his blood pressures and blood sugars. Laboratory tests may be included to measure his serum lipid levels. His medication history is important in that over-the-counter medi cation must be stopped. These also may aggravate hypertension. For hypertension regular intake of antihypertensive medication may be necessary. For a steady control of blood sugars abstinence from alcohol is a must along with regular medication, diet, exercise, and regular monitoring of the blood sugars. As expected, in his case, there is a high chance of the lipid profile

Children Being Tried as Adults Essay Example for Free

Children Being Tried as Adults Essay Some juveniles think that because they are minors, they can’t be severely punished just like adults. Using this thinking, many minors commit crimes thinking of little to no consequences at all. With this thinking, the â€Å"double standard† comes into place. Female juveniles think because of their gender, they can really get away with crimes. For the average american, the term juvenile delinquent is likely to conjure up the image of a teen-age male. The one-sided image is fed by media stories that all but ignore the existence of young offenders who are female. Most of the professional literature on juvenile delinquency is similarly slanted. Should minors who commit crimes be prosecuted as adults? That is indeed a topic you have to really think about twice. All crimes committed by juveniles should and must be treated in the same regard as adults. These kids go to juvenile court and get shortened sentences because of their age, thats not right. They commit big boy crimes, they have to do big boy time. When you think of the word â€Å"Juvenile† what’s the first thing you think about? The first thing that comes to my mind is crime simply because when i hear the word juvenile, its usually followed by delinquent. Until the early 19th century in the United States, children as young as 7 years old could be tried in criminal court and, if found guilty, sentenced to prison or even to death. Children under the age of 7 were thought to be unable to commit criminal acts and were therefore exempt from punishment. Reformers believed that treating children and adolescents as adult criminals was unnecessarily harsh and resulted in their corruption. A 1991 study by Virginias Department of Youth and Family Services, entitled Young Women in the Juvenile System, concluded that girls serve more time in training schools than their male counterparts, and for less serious offenses. The same pattern prevails in most other jurisdictions. (Anderson) Between 1994 and 2010, violent crime arrest rates decreased for all age groups, but more for juveniles than for adults. More specifically, the rates dropped an average of 54 percent for teenagers 15 to 17, compared to 38 percent for those between 18 and 39. And while arrest rates for violent crimes were higher in 2010 than in 1980 for all ages over 24, the rates for juveniles ages 15 to 17 were down from 1980. (Brown) Not everyone agrees that tougher crime laws for juveniles are fair or will cut down on youth crime. Many opponents of penalizing kids as adults believe that young criminals, unlike adult offenders, are still developing personal values and character. Juveniles, they say, can be more easily reformed, or rehabilitated, to turn their lives around and lead productive lives. For example, in a documentary i recently watched, all of the adults had been to jail and had a bad childhood but had changed their lives for the best. Many people have shown their disagreement with the statement above in many ways creating controversy. â€Å"Lock ‘Em Up† says one civilian/pedestrian in a street interview . â€Å"Let ‘Em off, they’re just babies† says another civilian. These two statements/opinions stirred up lots of controversy and debates on live television. In one argument a tv reporter said that It doesnt mean adolescents cant make rational decisions or appreciate the difference between right and wrong. But it does mean that, particularly when confronted with stressful or emotional circumstances, they are more likely to act impulsively, on instinct, without fully understanding or considering the consequences of their actions. Some controversy comes in with the parents thinking that their children don’t deserve to be tried as adults in their situation. For example, Paul Henry Gingerich, a 14 year old murder suspect is believed to be the youngest person in Indiana ever sentenced to prison as an adult. He was still 12 years old when he arrived here at the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility, the states maximum security prison for children. His mother could not do much due to the severity of the situation. Over 200,000 children are charged as adults every year says a researcher at Temple University. At the age of 16, Cameron Williams lives a life far removed from the world of other teenagers. Williams, who celebrated his sixteenth birthday in jail, faces up to 110 years behind bars for second-degree attempted murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony. In November, Williams shot at a police officer in Omaha, Nebraska as he was being chased after being pulled over in a car with two other men. Hes also charged with robbery and assault in another county. Even though he is a minor. Many people are affected/involved in these juvenile cases. In many cases, the juveniles themselves are the ones who are greatly affected because they are the ones who have messed up their future. The parents are also majorly affected by children being charged as adults because they still look at their children as innocent and as babies. In a recent california case, a 15 year old boy was sentenced to 20 years on a murder charged in a maximum security facility and was beaten to death. This made the state and even parts of the nation rethink this whole â€Å"age doesn’t matter thing† when it comes to juvenile sentencing. To decrease juvenile crimes there are several prevention programs. There is a program called D.A.R.E which stands for Drug, Abuse, Resistance, Education. The program is for kids as old as 18 and as young as 11. There are also programs like after school matters which teaches children the importance of staying in school and staying on the right path, and finally P A.C.E. is Programming for Young Women in the Juvenile Justice System, which also helps to rehabilitate juveniles after they are released from jail. (Anderson, George M.) Another possible solution could be for parents to teach their children right from wrong early in their lives and for older children, spend more time with them and show them that you care about them/love them, and most of all be there for them throughout their lives. Statistics show that children who grow up in a single-parent household are nine times more likely to go to prison, eight times more likely to commit violent crimes, and ten times more likely to get hooked on drugs than in a two-parent home. After some long research I concluded that teens today dont fear the law because they dont think they will get caught. And if they do, they know they have a good chance of getting off because they are tried as teens and not adults. We have to get tougher on crime. There should be a law that everyone over eleven years old will be tried as adults. That way more teens would be discouraged from committing crimes. They would know that murder would get them a very long sentence instead of sta ying in juvenile hall until they are eighteen. If we want to cut down on teen crime, we have to have tougher laws.

Compare and contrast the historical methods

Compare and contrast the historical methods Compare and contrast the historical methods, interests, and objectives of Herodotus and Thucydides. He said you might consider the sort of writing(narrative, description, authorial analysis, interest in accuracy, etc.) and the authors objectives in writing the history. Herodotus and Thucydides the original fathers of Greek Historiography are regarded as the first two historians. Writing hundreds of years after Homer, Herodotus compiled his History (1) based on oral accounts and myth. A genial storyteller, Herodotus did not regard his writing as epic poetry. The History, which explores centuries of dramatic interaction between the ancient Greeks and the Persian Empire, culminating with the Persian Wars in the early fifth century BC, is a vast compilation of the history, customs and beliefs of the Greeks and â€Å"barbarians†. Herodotus historical reliability depends on that of his predecessors, as his historical account is a composition that includes their notions of history, geography, natural history and anthropology, in a political and literary context. A generation after Herodotus, Thucydides, who strove for objectivity, wrote about political and military events that occurred during his lifetime, with a close account of the war between Athens and Sparta in late fifth century BC. Thucydides history of The Peloponnesian War (2) is the composition of an astute political and military historian. In a disciplined and methodical style, his work analyzes issues related to the wars, with little digression into other areas. Since fifth century BC, Western tradition of historical writing and inquiry developed beyond conventions established by Herodotus and Thucydides. In the twenty-five centuries that followed, many historians shared Thucydides preference for contemporary history and local politics, others drew upon both original archetypes, and some rejected both methodologies. While in the course of developing modern objectivity historians contributed new theoretical ideas, they also continued â€Å"historical inquiry in the spirit of especially Herodotus, that is, the art of asking perhaps naive (if not objective) questions about human behavior in time. (3) Similarities and differences between Herodotus and Thucydides histories have been the topic of much research and dissertation in classic scholarship analyzing their work on issues of historical truth and interpretation, historys relation to myth, the fascination with origins, the differences between chronicle and narrative history. In order to compare and contrast the historical methods, interests, and objectives of Herodotus and Thucydides we must examine the characteristics of their literary method, including the narrative, description, authorial analysis, interest in accuracy, etc., and their historical inquiry the authors objectives in writing the history. The context in which history is written is very important because the particular circumstances of time and place, which are reflected in the writers message become part of the message, received and interpreted by the reader. Thucydides, for example, was conspicuously and painfully the product of a political crisis and his work cannot be extricated from his own intense and ultimately tragic experiences. (4) Herodotus and Thucydides innovative methods of conveying the experience of historical events and their interpretation have emerged in the context of traditionally vibrant ancient Greek culture. A range of literary allusions to myth and folklore, to earlier epic, to lyric and epigram, the pervasive influence of Homer found in the work of Herodotus, â€Å"the broad lines of The History shaped like those of a Greek tragedy† (5), are explicitly relevant with regard to the historians connection with his cultural and literary milieu â€Å"for this History of mine has from the beginning sought out the supplementary to the main argument†. (6) Scholarly investigation of the Peloponnesian War has revealed plausible â€Å"intertextual† connections between the dense text of Thucydides and the epic of his predecessors. (7) One relevant example of such connection is said to occur in structuring some of Thucydides plot-patterns, like the similarities between Nikias letter and Agamemnons speech, in Homer or that between the Athenians expedition to Sicily and Homers Odysseus return to Ithaca. (8) Another â€Å"intertextual† connection has been noted in the similar choice of words and structuring of the accounts between Herodotus narrative of the Persian invasion of Greece and Thucydides narrative of the Sicilian expedition (9) One particular characteristic of Thucydides writing style is the pervasive interspersing of speeches within the body of his work. A very famous one is Pericles Funeral Oration, which became the model for many later speeches, and was very well known in antiquity. A major distinction between Herodotus and Thucydides writings consists in their different assessment of what history is. Herodotus concept of history, focusing on the diversity of the universal human experience, contains an expansive field of human inquiry that, later, became to be known as Cultural History. Thucydides, who presented history in context, focusing on political and military facts and events of his times, has been credited with writing the original â€Å"scientific† history. Herodotus and Thucydides employ different strategies in recounting the story of history. Herodotus narrates centuries of history within the mystery of cultures while Thucydides employs a reductionist and analytical strategy. Herodotus and Thucydides works, which differ in many ways, also share many characteristics like the magnitude of their prose, the elusiveness with respect to meanings, the contribution to the understanding of ancient societies, their subject matter dealing with causes and course of war, their fascination with â€Å"origins†, or their vision of civilization and barbarians. Although Herodotus eclectic manner of gathering information stands in contrast to Thucydides problem-oriented style, they both regard telling the truth as mandatory to historical method. When comparing Herodotus method with that of Thucydides we notice that Herodotus appears throughout The History as an uncommitted Homeric observer, famously taking the risk of reporting hearsay as evidence, and occasionally crediting the gods with causes and outcomes of historical events. By contrast, Thucydides historical method is based on precise, verifiable evidence and reflects a systematic understanding of the human and military politics. He devoted most of his adult life to the chronicles of the Peloponnesian War and sought all available evidence, in the form of written documents and eyewitness reports, to construct his account. As Herodotus says, in his introduction to The Histories: â€Å"I, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, am here setting forth my history, that time may not draw the color from what man has brought into being, nor those great and wonderful deeds, manifested by both Greeks and barbarians, fail of their report, and, together with all this, the reason why they fought one another.† (10) Thucydides, on the other hand, tells us: â€Å"Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment that it broke out and believing that it would be a great war, and more worthy of relation than any that had preceded it. This belief was not without its grounds. The preparations of both the combatants were in every department in the last state of perfection; and he could see the rest of the Hellenic race taking sides in the quarrel; those who delayed those who delayed doing so at once having it in contemplation. Indeed this was the greatest movement yet known in history, not only of the Hellenes, but of a large part of the barbarian world I had almost said of mankind. For though the events of remote antiquity, and even those that more immediately precede the war , could not from lapse of time be clearly ascertained, yet the evidences which an inquiry carried as far back as was practicable leads me to trust , all point to the conclusion that there was no thing on a great scale , either in war or in other matters.†(11) The difference between Herodotus introduction and that of Thucydides is as remarkable as the difference in their method of historical inquiry. Herodotus method of inquiry consisted of relying on other peoples testimony, customs and laws to speculate about the sincerity and motives of the sources upon which he compiled the accounts of his History. For example, Herodotus challenges Homers assertion that the breaking of guest-friend taboo and the abduction of Helen were at the root of the Trojan conflict. But Herodotus does not completely reject Homers story.He only calls into question Homers story by invoking different versions of that story. But the speculations about the original story cast sufficient enough doubt to annihilate its merits, similarly to the way in which, throughout the Histories, seemingly small events cause colossal disasters. For example, Book 2: 112 through 2: 121 corroborate how Herodotus gathered evidence to support Homers story of the war at Troy which in text is referred to under the name of lium. Herodotus tells us, â€Å"I asked of the priests, they told me that what had happened to Helen, was this . . .† (12) â€Å"This is how Helen came to Proteus, according to what the priests say.And I think Homer knew the tale; but inasmuch as it was not so suitable for epic poetry as the other, he used the latter and consciously abandoned the one here told.† (13) Then Herodotus proceeds to explain his reasons for allowing the other evidence to prevail over that of Homers account: â€Å"This, is the story the Egyptian priests told. I myself concur in what they have said of gave me of Helen. My reasoning is as follows: if Helen had been in Ilium she would have been given back to the Greeks whether Alexander wanted it or not. For Priam was not so besotted , nor the rest of his kinsfolk, that they would be willing to risk their own bodies, children and city so that Alexander should be with Helen.If, indeed, that had been their sentiment at the first, surely later when many of the rest of the Trojans had perished in their encounters with the Greeks, and when, in Priams own case, two or three of his sons on every occasion of battle if we are to speak on the testimony of the epic poets when all these matters of such consequence happened, I am confident that, if it had been Priam himself who was living with Helen, he would have given her back to the Greeks, if thereby he could have been quit of the troubles that were upon him. It was not even as if the kingship wa s going to devolve upon Alexander, so that, Priam now being old, things were at Alexanders disposal; for it was Hector, older than Alexander and more of a man, who would have taken over the kingdom on Priam s death; and Hector it would certainly not have suited to comply with his erring brother and that, too, one who had caused great disasters to him personally and to all the rest of the Trojans. No, the Trojans did not have Helen to give back, and when they spoke the truth, the Greeks did not believe them; and the reason of this, if I may declare my opinion, was that the Divine was laying his plans that, as the Trojans perished in utter destruction, they might make this thing manifest to all the world: that for great wrongdoings great also are the punishments from the gods. That is what I think, and that is what I am saying here.† (14) Contrary to Herodotus, Thucydides offers rational explanations as evidence for his claims and for the causes of later events that could be reasonably expected on the basis of that evidence. For example, Thucydides attempts to justify the authoritative claim made in the introduction about the Peloponnesian war that had just started being more important than the wars before it a real turning point in history. Thucydides investigates the Trojan War and the Persian wars for evidence that supports his views.His method of inquiry consists in rigorous investigation attempting to provide rational accounts through an innovative use of empirical data, simulating the methods used by Greek sciences of the time in the investigation of natural phenomena. Thucydides rejects Herodotus invocations of supernatural explanation when accounting for historical conflict. Instead, Thucydides uses a scientific, inductive method of inquiry to construct his theory of history. He considers the actual events, examines the constraints and options available to the protagonists, and then searches for possible consequences of the events in order to speculate about the causes of the initial event. His notions are always open to revision, without necessarily rejecting his previous explanations, but rather expanding his explanation in order to include this new information. REFERENCES: Herodotus, The History, translated by David Green, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago London, 1987 Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, translated by Richard Crawley, Everymans Library, London Toronto, J.M.Dent Sons, Ltd, New York E.P.Dutton Co, 1926 Donald R. Kelley. Faces of History: Historical Inquiry from Herodotus to Herder. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998, p. 268 Donald R. Kelley. Faces of History: Historical Inquiry from Herodotus to Herder. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998, p. 6 Donald R. Kelley. Faces of History: Historical Inquiry from Herodotus to Herder. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998, p. 12 Herodotus, The History, translated by David Green, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago London, 1987, 4.30, p.290 S. Hornblower, Narratology and Narrative Techniques in Thucydides, in id. (ed.), Greek Historiography (Oxford, 1994), 131-66 Tim Rood Thucydides: Narrative and Explanation (Oxford, 1998), 194-5 Tim Rood, Thucydides Persian Wars, in C. S. Kraus (ed.), The Limits of Historiography: Genre and Narrative in Ancient Historical Texts (Leiden, 1999), 141-68 Herodotus, The History. translated by David Green, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago London, 1987 , Book 1: 1, p. 33 Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, translated by Richard Crawley, Everymans Library, London Toronto, J.M.Dent Sons, Ltd, New York E.P.Dutton Co, 1926, Book 1, pp. 1-2 Herodotus, The History. translated by David Green, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago London, 1987 , Book 2: 113, p. 117 Herodotus, The History. translated by David Green, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago London, 1987 , Book 2: 116, p.178 Herodotus, The History. translated by David Green, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago London, 1987, Book 2: 120, pp.180-181

The Employability Paradigm Essay -- Denis O’Sullivan’s Cultural Politi

The Employability Paradigm Denis O’Sullivan’s Cultural Politics and Irish Education since the 1950’s (2006) makes the argument that early school leaving has traditionally been understood as a failure of the individual to succeed within mainstream schooling. This essay plans to outline and support O’Sullivan’s argument and also to show how the political and educational system in Ireland has created a criterion for success which guarantees a certain amount of failure. O’Sullivan’s (2006) argues that the Employability Paradigm which emerged in the 1970’s served to distinguish a group of students who were not achieving the standard needed to guarantee employment. Employability is the assessment of those with the lowest chance of success in an economically motivated nation. It posits that intervention is necessary to prevent those individuals who have failed within the system from being dependent on social welfare and subsequently from being socially excluded (O’Sullivan 2006). In the early 1970’s, Ireland’s entry into the European economy and the changing employment market combined to connect education attainment to employability. As a result, educational credentials became the accepted way of assessing ability and this served to focus attention on those leaving school early with little or no qualifications. O’Sullivan argues that while the policy of the state, on the surface, seemed to support equal opportunity with the provision of free access to secondary education, the reality for most working class students was far from equitable. There were limited interventions available for those who needed help to develop the skills needed to benefit from access to secondary education and these students became disenfranchised. The disc... ...ing and Youth Labour Markets: A Cross-National Analysis IN: Blanchflower, D. and Freeman, R.Youth Employment and Joblessness in Advanced Countries. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Mac Einri, P. 1997. Some Recent Demographic Developments in Ireland. [Online] Available from: http://migration.ucc.ie/etudesirlandaises.htm [Accessed 7th May 2012] O’Dubhslainà ©, A. 2006. The White Paper On Education: A Failure To Invest. Student Economic Review. 20 p 115 O’Sullivan, D. 2006. Cultural Politics and Irish Education since the 1950’s. Ireland: Cork University Press. Ronayne, T. 2004. Regions Without Work: Unemployment and Labour Market Policy in Ireland. [Online] Available from: http://www.wrc.ie/publications/regionsw.pdf [Accessed 7th May 2012] Stokes, D. 2004. Submission to the Youth Justice Agency. [Online] Available from: www.youthreach.ie [Accessed 7th May 2012]

Quality of Emba Program

Problem Definition Background to the problem Dhaka University's Evening MBA program started in 2002 as an effort to bring the Faculty of Business Studies up to the standard with other private, public and international academic institutions. The program is currently on its 18th batch. Although the University authority started the program almost 8 years ago, there are still doubts among people about the quality of the Evening MBA program offered by the Dhaka University Faculty of Business Studies and many are confused about where this program stands against the MBA program offered by Dhaka University Institute of Business Administration (IBA). So a study was due in this field to determine the quality of the DU evening MBA program. And no one knows about the program better than those who are studying in the program already. Problem Statement The problem statement for our research is â€Å"The quality of the Evening MBA program in Dhaka University is not very high†. We will be using several statistical theories and tools to test our problem statement and create a model from it and also test the significance of the model. Approach to the Problem As our problem statement suggests, our objective of the study is to determine the quality of the Evening MBA program in Dhaka University. Now a product's quality can be easily determined through the use of different quality checks but what determines the quality of an academic program? After looking into some secondary data and taking initial opinion from a small group we have come to conclusion that quality of an academic program is closely related to quality of the learners, the environment the learning process takes place, the teacher, content of the learning program, the process and the outcome of it. Based on these analyses we have come to the conclusion that we will need to develop a survey questionnaire which will be used as our primary data and will include questions relating the above mentioned criteria with the topic in question- quality of the evening MBA program. Based on the data collected we will run regression analysis to develop the model and then use Discriminant analysis to classify the results. Research Design A research design should include all the important information about the research process such as type of research done, information needs, data collection, scaling techniques, questionnaire development, sampling techniques and fieldwork. Type of research To determine what type of research is needed to be done to achieve our objectives, we have explored different possibilities. First let us revisit our objective- we would like to determine the criteria that form quality of an educational program and then create a model out of it to identify significance of each of the criteria in the model. In other words, we will be determining the effect of some independent variables and determine how they affect the dependant variable. Based on this initial assumption we could say that we are looking into a cause and effect relationship and hence we will be doing a Causal research. However, further probing into the matter made us realize that the most important criteria of a causal relationship is to be able to manipulate the variables and observe their effect on the model, which in our case is not at all possible, neither we will be doing much experimentation. So ours is anything but a causal research. What our research is rather capable of is determine some characteristics relating to the problem in hand and based on primary data and observation develop a model to show an overall relationship. Based on such analysis we have come to the conclusion that a Descriptive research is more appropriate in our case. Information Needs For our analysis, at first we needed to know the perception of students about the quality of the evening MBA program. After that we needed their opinion on quality of the students enrolled in the program, students’ perception of the brand value of the program, quality of the teachers, grading system and admission test. So we have determined to create a questionnaire that will include questions about both the dependent variable (quality of the program) and independent variables (quality of students, brand value perception, quality of teachers, grading system, admission tests etc. ) and use it to run a survey to gather all the necessary information we will need in developing the model. Scaling Techniques Now all of our required data are about opinions or perceptions of students. For such situations a Likert scale is the most appropriate scaling technique to use because the main feature of Likert scale is a list of opinions ranging from extreme positive to extreme negative about a statement. Each opinion is assigned a score and based on the respondent’s response the score is considered in further data analysis. While using Likert scale we had to careful to maintain a consistency in the statements so that the positivity of an opinion always gets the highest score and the negative one the lowest. Based on this rule we needed to reverse the scoring on questions that leaned to negativity. Questionnaire Development and Pre-testing We have already defined our dependent and independent variables for the research and what we needed was to collect the sample population’s opinion about each of the statements made using a Likert scale. So setting up the questionnaire was quite simple for us. All we had to do is form a statement relating to each of the variables and attach a Likert scale table to let the respondents choose to what level they agreed or disagreed to the statements. Based on our initial analysis, we have determined 1 dependent and 12 independent variable and so we created a questionnaire with 13 statements and some apparently-relevant open-ended questions. To avoid confusion, the statements were worded as simple as possible. However, after pre-testing the questionnaire among a very small group, we observed that people still got confused about a question (question 12) related to grading. While our objective was to correlate fairness in grading with the quality of education, students related it to the grading system. So this statement didn’t serve its intended purpose and hence in our final analysis we have decided to leave it out. Due to this change, from now on every instance of Q12 will refer to Q13 in real. A sample copy of the questionnaire used has been included in the appendix section of this report. Sampling technique Sampling is another important part of a research design. The first and foremost job in sampling is to define the target population. Now we have already discussed that as the problem is to determine whether the quality of the EMBA program is up to the standard or not, no one but the students would know the most about it. So our target population is defined as all the students in the EMBA program; that includes not only the students from marketing department but all other departments too. After the target population was defined, the next job was to determine a sampling technique. Now there are a lot of sampling technique available but due to several limitations not all of them were appropriate. Considering the fact that it would be a lot difficult to contact and convince students from other departments to participate in the survey, we have decided to leave them out. And considering the fact that we started working on the research project right at the end of the semester made it difficult to communicate with all the students in marketing department too. So to run our survey we had to rely on the places of convenience where we would be present along with more students from different batches. In other words, the sampling technique we used was more of a convenience sampling. however we were careful not to select one respondent more than once. After the sampling technique was determined, our next job was to determine the sample size. Now determining the sample size is a very complicated process even on situations where relevant data like total population size etc. are available. When no such data exists, the sample size determination becomes just that much harder. However, we were lucky not to have gone through any hardship at all because we were instructed by our respectable course teacher to keep the sample size to somewhere around 30 and we followed his instructions to the book. Fieldwork As this is a very small-scale academic research, there was no need for additional fieldworker to run the survey. Instead we, the researchers took matters into our own hands and did the fieldwork ourselves. Now the positive side of it was that we didn’t have to train anyone to run the survey most effectively. As we were the ones setting up the questionnaire, we had a clear idea about what to do and how to do it. We used our available classes as place of convenience and used the class breaks to collect our data. Data Preparation After the fieldwork was done, we were left with 36 responses, out of which 4 were found to be incomplete. On such situations it is suggested to assign missing values to the incomplete survey papers. However, as we still had a margin from the required minimum of 30, we decided to leave the incomplete ones out. Once we agreed on that, the 32 valid survey papers were coded and transcribed into the computer to be used with SPSS, the statistical tool we ought to use. Data Analysis Once the data were transferred into SPSS, we were ready to start data analysis. Methodology The data were analyzed by conducting multiple regression analysis and Discriminant analysis. Regression was conducted to see whether a relationship exists between quality of EMBA program (dependant variable) and factors we have determined to indicate the quality (independent variables). Discrminant analysis was used to give us further insights. Plan for Data Analysis For regression we have considered Q1 as dependant variable and Q2-Q12 as independent variables. Then we have used SPSS to get the output. For Discriminant analysis, independent variables were converted from nine-point Likert scale into two-group categorical variable. For conversion we followed the following rule: -4= 1 (Low); that is EMBA program is perceived to be of low quality. 6-9= 2 (High), that is EMBA program is perceived to be of high quality. Note that we have disregarded the neutral value 5. From our analysis we have found that none of the respondents have chosen this. So we have taken only two variables and planned for Two-Group Discriminant analysis. So in this case the newly converted group variable is the dependent and Q2–Q12 are considered as predictors. Results Regression Strength of Association In the SPSS output Table below we can see the value of R2 is . 878. The R-square value is an indicator of how well the model fits the data e. . , an R2 close to 1. 0 indicates that we have accounted for almost all of the variability with the variables specified in the model. Our R2 is close to 1. ModelRR2Adjusted R SquareStd. Error of the EstimateChange Statistics R2 ChangeF Changedf1df2Sig. F Change 1. 937(a). 878. 811. 989. 87813. 0651120. 000 (a) Predictors: (Constant), Q12, Q7, Q3, Q2, Q4, Q9, Q6, Q11, Q10, Q8, Q5 Significance Testing The following formula is used to test whether an R2 calculated is significantly different than Zero. The Null Hypothesis is that the population R2 is Zero. where N is the number of subjects, k is the number of predictor variables and R? s the squared multiple correlation coefficient. The F is based on k and N – k – 1 degrees of freedom. In our case, N = 32, k = 12, and R? = . 878. In the SPSS output Table below we can see that F = 13. 065 which is significant at ? =0. 05. We can also see that significance is . 000; as it is smaller than . 05 we can say that it is highly significant. ANOVA (b) ModelSum of SquaresdfMean SquareFSig. 1Regression140. 6461112. 78613. 065. 000(a) Residual19. 57320. 979 Total160. 21931 (a) Predictors: (Constant), Q12, Q7, Q3, Q2, Q4, Q9, Q6, Q11, Q10, Q8, Q5 (b) Dependent Variable: Q1 In addition to testing R? or significance, it is possible to test the individual regression coefficients (Beta) for significance and it is shown in the SPSS output in the following table. Coefficients (a) ModelUnstandardized CoefficientsStandardized CoefficientstSig. 95% Confidence Interval for BCorrelations BStd. ErrorBetaLower BoundUpper BoundZero-orderPartialPart 1(Constant). 4491. 171. 383. 705-1. 9942. 892 Q2-. 046. 188-. 035-. 246. 808-. 437. 345. 395-. 055-. 019 Q3-. 091. 131-. 074-. 694. 496 -. 364. 182. 236-. 153-. 054 Q4. 102. 190. 084. 539. 596-. 294. 499. 407. 120. 042 Q5-. 188. 232-. 129-. 809. 428-. 672. 296. 464-. 78-. 063 Q6. 507. 196. 4372. 582. 018. 097. 916. 856. 500. 202 Q7. 015. 141. 011. 103. 919-. 279. 308. 273. 023. 008 Q8. 508. 170. 4652. 982. 007. 153. 864. 878. 555. 233 Q9. 035. 151. 029. 231. 819-. 280. 350. 464. 052. 018 Q10-. 132. 167-. 111-. 791. 438-. 482. 217. 524-. 174-. 062 Q11. 188. 145. 1711. 292. 211-. 115. 491. 600. 277. 101 Q12. 165. 119. 1461. 386. 181-. 083. 414. 621. 296. 108 (a) Dependent Variable: Q1 In the above table, we can see that all of significant levels corresponding to individual Beta are greater than . 05 except two. The significant for coefficient for Q6 and Q8 is less than . 5. So these are found to be significant. Therefore teacher’s delivery and student’s seriousness are important in explaining quality of education program. Regression Model From the whole regression analysis, we can finally generate a mode l that shows the total relationship between the independent variables selected and the dependent variable. Assigning each of the independent variables with Xn starting with Q2 as X1, Q3 as X2, Q4 as X3 and so on and assigning the dependent variable Q1 as Y, we form a generic regression model- Y= C + B1X1+ B2X2+ B3X3+ B4X4+ B5X5+ B6X6+ B7X7+ B8X8+ B9X9+ B10X10+ B11X11 Now putting the relevant Bs in the equation, we get- Y=0. 449 – 0. 046X1 – 0. 091X2 + 0. 102X3 – 0. 188X4 + 0. 507X5 + 0. 015X6 + 0. 508X7 + 0. 035X8 – 0. 132X9 + 0. 188X10 + 0. 165X11 This is our regression model to determine the quality of education in the EMBA program. Discriminant Analysis The significance of univariate F ratios shown in table below indicates that when the predictors are considered individually Q8, Q6 and Q12 are highly significant (significant level . 000) in differentiating between those who perceive EMBA program to be of high quality and those who perceive it to be low quality. That is teacher’s delivery (Q8), student’s seriousness (Q6) and seriousness of administration in enforcing quality (Q12) are important differentiating factors toward high or low quality perception of EMBA program. Tests of Equality of Group Means Wilks' LambdaFdf1df2Sig. Q2. 8007. 501130. 010 Q3. 9531. 480130. 233 Q4. 8067. 240130. 012 Q5. 72311. 518130. 002 Q6. 29073. 336130. 000 Q7. 9551. 410130. 244 Q8. 26881. 874130. 000 Q9. 8584. 949130. 034 Q10. 8037. 350130. 011 Q11. 8087. 123130. 012 Q12. 62517. 996130. 000 Because there are only two groups, only one discriminant function is estimated. The Eigenvalue associated with the function is 5. 37; as shown in table below and it accounts for 100 percent of the explained variance. The canonical correlation associated with this function is 0. 924. The square of this correlation, (0. 924)2 = 0. 85, indicates that 85% of the variance in the dependent variable (High/low quality perception) is explained or accounted for by the model. Eigenvalues FunctionEigenvalue% of VarianceCumulative %Canonical Correlation 15. 837(a)100. 0100. 0. 924 (a) First 1 canonical discriminant function was used in the analysis. It can be noted from table below Wilks' Lambda associated with the function is 0. 146 which transforms to a chi-square of 47. 98 with 11 degree of freedom. This is significant beyond the . 05 level. Wilks' Lambda Test of Function(s)Wilks' LambdaChi-squaredfSig. 1. 14647. 09811. 000 The table below shows the inter-correlation between the predictors and we can assume a low correlation. Q2Q3Q4Q5Q6Q7Q8Q9Q10Q11Q12 CorrelationQ21. 000. 324. 512. 340. 215-. 209. 064. 441. 317. 131. 125 Q3. 3241. 000. 088. 243. 218. 094. 072. 066. 044. 398. 261 Q4. 512. 0881. 000. 667. 096-. 236. 170. 197. 497. 266. 055 Q5. 340. 243. 6671. 000. 290-. 438. 053. 080. 336. 364. 149 Q6. 215. 218. 096. 2901. 000. 032. 186. 095. 323. 529. 015 Q7-. 209. 094-. 236-. 438. 0321. 000. 29. 100. 220. 163. 113 Q8. 064. 072. 170. 053. 186. 129 1. 000. 450. 390. 260. 186 Q9. 441. 066. 197. 080. 095. 100. 4501. 000. 531. 296. 206 Q10. 317. 044. 497. 336. 323. 220. 390. 5311. 000. 517. 153 Q11. 131. 398. 266. 364. 529. 163. 260. 296. 5171. 000. 135 Q12. 125. 261. 055. 149. 015. 113. 186. 206. 153. 1351. 000 An examination of standardized discriminant function coefficient shown in the following table given the low inter-correlation between predictors, it is revealed that Q8 (teacher’s adequate lecture delivery) and Q6 (seriousness of the students to learn) is the most important predictors (having highest value of . 13 and . 704 respectively) in discriminating between groups, followed by Q12 ( administration’s seriousness in enforcing quality) and Q5 (competitive value of achieving degree in the industry). Standardized Canonical Discriminant Function Coefficients Function 1 Q20. 164 Q3-0. 199 Q40. 122 Q50. 245 Q60. 704 Q70. 276 Q80. 713 Q9-0. 118 Q10-0. 387 Q11-0. 264 Q120. 254 It is interesting to note that the same observation is obtained from examination of the structure correlations (structure matrix shown in table below). In this table these simple correlation between predictors and discrminant function are listed in order of magnitude. Structure Matrix Function 1 Q80. 684 Q60. 647 Q120. 321 Q50. 256 Q20. 207 Q100. 205 Q40. 203 Q110. 202 Q90. 168 Q30. 092 Q70. 090 SPSS offer a leave-one-out cross validation option. In this option, the discriminant model is re-estimated as many times as there are respondents in the sample. Each re-estimated model leaves out one respondent and the model is used to predict for that respondent. The output for this is shown in the table on the following page. From the table hit ratio or the percentage of cases correctly classified can be estimated as (18+13)/32*100 =96. % [considering correct number of predictions of 18 and 13 for two groups] Classification Results (b,c) GroupPredicted Group MembershipTotal 1. 002. 00 OriginalCount%1. 0018018 2. 0011314 1. 00100. 0. 0100. 0 2. 007. 192. 9100. 0 Cross-validated(a)Count%1. 0017118 2. 0011314 1. 0094. 45. 6100. 0 2. 007. 192. 9100. 0 (a)Cross validation is done only for those cases in the analysis. In cross validation each case is classifie d by the functions derived from all cases other than that case. (b) 96. 9% of original grouped cases correctly classified. (c) 93. 8% of cross-validated grouped cases correctly classified. Thus we can say most important factors are Q8 (teacher’s adequate lecture delivery) and Q6 (seriousness of the students to learn). This result is consistently found both by regression and correlation. Limitations No research project is free from limitations of some form- be it time or resources. Same is true for our research project. Although time given was adequate for a small-scale project like this, but considering the topic of our discussion such small-scale research hardly means anything. Considering the number of students currently enrolled in the EMBA program as a whole, a sample size of 30 is hardly representative of the population. Added to that is our inability to communicate and select respondents from other departments. So considering all these, this project, although best efforts were given to complete, doesn’t completely satisfies its main purpose of determining the quality level of the EMBA program. Conclusion In conclusion, we can say that even though the research project didn’t serve its purpose completely, it at the least gives some idea about students’ perception of quality education and overall quality of the EMBA program. From the research, based on multiple data analysis, we have found out that people put great emphasis on students’ eagerness to learn and teachers’ delivery of knowledge to determine the quality of education program. So it is imperative that students are encouraged in different ways so that they feel inspired to learn new things on their own. And teachers also should keep in mind the duty they have sworn to fulfill and give their best efforts in teaching the students properly while staying above all influences. –X–

Reflective Journal Essay

Before the main discussion of the reflective journal, the author would firstly like to identify that how the â€Å"organisational wellness† subject affected her. In the beginning, the author chose this subject due to the reqirement that she must choose six units of third-year level to complete her degreee. And she didn’t have any knowledge about this subject before she decided to choose it. When she attended the first lecture of â€Å"organisational wellness† , she only has abstract and vague concept of the unit learning objectives. After the ten weeks’ learning, she has clearer and better understanding of herself and she has known some important concepts which should be considered when addressing the wellbeing problem in the workplace. On the whole, the author will review the material that learned in this subject many times in the future. And the material that she learned in this subject may assist her to solve the relevant problems in her future working life. To achieve this goal, this reflective journal will concentrate on six topics that were covered in this unit. The author will present her understanding of these topics and how these topics can assist to address the wellbeing problems in the workplace. Moreover, the author will illustrate the reasons why these topics are memorable and helpful in the future. Farrell and Geist-Martin’s Wellness Model: The first topic which included in the reflective journal is quite positive to me. It helps me to know the fundamental framework of â€Å"Wellness Model†. And I had a clearer conception of â€Å"Organisational Wellness† after I attended week two’s lecture and read the relevant material about this topic. This is the first topic that covered in the reflective journal. And it is one of the important topic in this subject. It introduced the framework of wellness model and it montioned some concepts that would be covered in other topics. Farrell and Geist-Martin(2005) developed a model of working well. It includes two parts of identities which are organisational health ideologies and individual health ideologies. The figure below shows that Farrell and Geist-Maritin’s (2005) working well model. Figure 1: Model of Working Well The organisational health ideologies include the following four elements: 1) mission, vision, values, and goal statements that incorporate and communicate a working-well philosophy; (2) mechanisms that allow employees to provide feedback about the wellness program; (3) upper management to support the working-well philosophy; (4) a continuous system that allows employees to evaluate the financial, social, environmental, organisational and personal health of the wellness program. And the individual health identities involve four elements as well. It consists of psychological health, physical health, social health and spiritual health. The aim of the â€Å"Working Well Model† is to develop an efficient and accurate wellness program. And the organisations want to improve employees’ production and work efficiency through the â€Å"Working Well Model†. Moreover, as the figure above shows that organisational health ideologies should express their message and idea of wellness to the employees. And then, the employees would give some feedback to the organisations. For instance, employees’ view of wellness and health. The organisations can improve the wellness program according to the feedback of employees. Farrell and Geist-Martin(2005) claimed that the organisation need to know individual’s view of health and wellness and how they response to organisational health ideologies. If the organisation fail to negotiate with employees, the wellness model would not be successful. Therefore, it is important for the organisation to communicate with employees, otherwise they would not develop an efficient and accurate wellness program. However, the organisation’s view of health ideologies may different from the individual’s. For example, the health ideologies of Telstra focus on the economic and productivity goal. There were some news reported that some employees of Telstra can not afford the work stress and chose to end their lives in 2007. Cubby (2007) wrote that employees’ suicide were related to the extreme work stress in Telstra. According to the news, Greg Winn, Telstra’s chief operations officer said that â€Å"WE RUN an absolute dictatorship and that’s what’s going to drive this transformation and deliver results. † (Cubby, 2007) Furthermore, Greg Winn claim that the employees in Telstra must try any measures to persuade customers to accept the service that they offered. And Telstra were tracking employees’ productivity. If the employees don’t operate and satisfy the superior’s reqirement, they would be fired from Telstra. As such a workplace environment with extreme pressure to meet Telstra’s goal and get profit, some employees committed suicide. Hence, the organisation should not only focus on the economic goal, but also should know emloyees’ view of health identities. If they just focus on the economic goal and ignore employee’s health, the productivity of employees would lower than normal level or even worse. Also they may lead to negative effects on employees. In a word, the â€Å"Model of Working Welll† is important to the organisations and individuals. After I learned this topic, I realized that we should consider both perspectives of health ideologies. If the organisation or individual just consider their own benefit but ignore another party’s perspective, the wellness program would not efficient. Moreover, I consider I will apply these concepts to evaluate my health level in the future. If the organisation force me to fulfil an impossible target, I will speak up and do anything I can to protect my walfare and rights. In addition, when I work in a company, I need to consider the organisation’s perspective and my own perspective of health ideologies. It is important to think these two perspective of health ideologies instead of considering personal’s perspective only. Once the organisational’s perspective and personal perspective of health ideologies are quite different from each other, the two parties should communicate with each other to work out the problems. Thus, the â€Å"Model of Working Well† help me to develop an overview of â€Å"Organisational Wellness† and introduce some concepts which are useful to organisations to create a wellness program. And I knew the importance of thinking health ideologies by different angles. Physical Health Identities: This topic has been included in the reflective journal for reasons that helped me identify the symptoms of stress and gave me some idea to release my stress. Another reason for covering this topic in the reflective journal due to the great impact on my stress management and stress awareness. Also, it is the second topic which covered in the reflective journal. This topic is one of the most important and useful topic for me to cover. And the aterial of this topic is quite interesting. Furthermore, this topic can help me to aware the stress symptoms and stress level in the future. And it will allow me to manage my stress in a better method on the basis of stress symptoms and stress level. Before I knew that we should track our stressors for five weeks as an assessment of â€Å"Organisational Wellness†, I haven’t realized that this semester’s stressors have some impact on my study life. I took three compulsory units and one elective unit in this semester. And two of them are quite difficult. Though I knew in advance that this semester would be tough enough for me, I still think so positive and optimistic of these stressors. And I believe that I have got the ability to handle these challenges. Unfortunately, I overstated my ability to deal with the stressors. The stressors came too fast and I haven’t got enough time to deal with these challenges. Moreover, the stressors began to affect on my daily life and my physical health. When I started to record and track my stressors and the symptoms that raised by stress, I realized that the stressors have some impact on my physical health. During these five weeks, the major stressors included the class test, writing the assignment, overcommitted and difficulties with parents. Other stressors involves changing in sleeping habit, sense of overload in school, performing in front of a class, and lack of sleep. Moreover, there were a series of stress events which contained the relationship with friends became worse, family affairs, and the noncooperation among the group member when we planned to do the presentation. The class test and writing the assignment led to highly stressful in week 4. Because the class test was counted as part of my final result. And it was the first time that I took that kind of short answer test. The assignment was another major stressor in week 4 due to the degree of difficulty. I was so worry about that I couldn’t finish the assignment on time. In addition, other stressors led to moderately stress among these weeks. After few weeks, too many challenges were presented to me at the same time. And it beyond my capability to fulfil and operate these challenges. I began to feel the stress and the stress level became more and more higher. Thereafter, the symptoms of stress has appeared. They included powerlesness, depression, irritable, headaches, backaches, insomnia, anxiety, physical weakness and have sleeping difficulties. When I was tracking the stressors, I reviewed some materials which include lecture notes and reading on physical health identities. After I reviewed the materials of physical health identities, I found out that there was a similar pattern has appeared between the stressors and my physical health symptoms. In week 3’s reading from Halpern(2005), he mentioned that there was a relationship between physiology and job-related stress. And he also pointed out that the conflict between two aspects of one’s job would lead to job stress. For example, employees need to complete a hugh amount of work within a limited time and maintain the accuracy, or while other roles and responsibilities have conflict with job demands (Halpern, 2005). For me, the conflict between two aspects of one’s job may refer to my study life and my family affairs. Moreover, I believe that there were some conflict between my individual roles and responsibilities in these weeks. Because I have many assignments and tests to complete for my study and I also have some family affairs to resolve. There were some conflict between the roles. And I could not fulfil these tasks at one time. During the period of recording and tracking my stressors and stress symptoms, I tried some measures to release my stress. The methods included jogging, having a chat with close friends, watching funny movies, preparing the relevant materials that need to review and so on. These methods helped me to release some stress during these five weeks. Therefore, the physical health identities help us to realize the symptoms of the stress. And then we can try to manage our stress according to the symptoms of stress and stress level. If we know the extent of our stress, we can find out more suitable method to manage the stress. It will be useful in my future’s work life because there are more stressors in the workplace. Spiritual Health: The third topic has been included in this reflective journal is about â€Å"Spiritual Health†. I did not quite understand the real meaning of â€Å"Spiritual Health† before I read the weekly reading material and attended the tutorial. And I didn’t think about â€Å"Spiritual Health† so deeply before I attended the lecture. My understanding of â€Å"Spiritual Health† was only on a superficial dimension. Spiritual Health† is a quite abstract and difficult topic for me to understand. Because it can not be totally explained by words. In my own opinion, spirit is the thing that truely inside everyone’s heart. Mitroff and Denton(1999) stated that â€Å"spirit is the basic feeling of being connected with one’s complete self, others and the entire universe†. In other words, no one can force you to accept their point of view. Because everyone has his or her own value of the world, the society and other things. These values that people believe are shaped in people’s childhood. And the society that people stay would have an impact on personal value as well (Rokeach, 1973). Hence, once individual has formed his own value, it will be difficult to persuade him to change his value. When I was taking the tutorial of this topic, I began to think more deeply of my spiritual health. Especially, after I heard other classmates’ thoughts of the things that they experienced during the tutorial. Howell (2005) pointed out that spirituality is a continuous process to find its deeply meaning and purpose in our life. However, the problem that I faced on was I even didn’t realize the spirituality’s importance and I didn’t begin my process to find the meaning and purpose in my life. I grew up in a traditional family and my parents arranged all the things for me include the schools and the major I took in the university. Until now, I have entered into the second year of the course in the university, I still haven’t think about what kind of job would I take in the future. The one really inside me has not been discovered yet. I didn’t have got the things that I really want to do in the past few years. The truly me has not been concerned before I noticed the importance of spiritual health. Thus, I tried to dig out that who I really am. However, how to improve the current thought and understanding of spiritual health inside myself is an intractable problem. If you just simply object to others’ opinion, for example your parents, or escape from the current environment you live, that would not change anything. You just try to escape from the reality. The way of digging out your own spirit is to find out the things that you really want to do and the things that you worth to do. It is important to seek the meaning of our life. We don’t live for other people. We live for ourselves. If we couldn’t find out the things we want to do, the life would lose its meaning. And we might lose the purpose of living in this soceity. Everyone has his or her own value of their lives. It is difficult to evaluate whether other people’s spiritual world is happiness or not. One day, I was watching the news on TV and that news really impressed me. The content of the news was about some children in remote area need to tramp over mountains and through ravines to arrive at the school. The mountains that they need to climb are quite steep and dangerous. When the journalist asked them whether the study life like this is tough, most of them thought it was normal in their daily life. Though the road to the school was tough, they still feel happy because they can study lots of knowledge in the school. I was really impressed by these children’s words. They enjoy the things that they were doing and they think the things were worth to do, though that seems very tough to others. They satisfy with their daily life and feel very happy. But when we think about ourselves, we always complain the society and the daily life. Our lives are inundated with dissatisfaction. Maybe this is due to people who live in a better environment have gain too much and they still desire for more things. Based on this understanding, I decided that I need to work hard in the future and try my best to help the children in China who are in remote area. If I have the qualification to teach these children, I would volunteer to help them. It is a long and difficult process to dig out my own sense of spirituality but I’m trying my best to do it. Overall, the spiritual health is a very difficult topic to understand. Both organisational and personal spirituality are important to us. Though I didn’t metion the organisation’s spirituality in the discussion above because I haven’t got any experience of it. To an individual, if he know the meaning of his life and he has got the living purpose, he might live better in his life. Because he has the appetency to success in his life. For me, the spiritual health is important as well. And I’m trying to find out my own spirituality. Moreover, I have realized the importance of the spirituality in the workplace, and hope my better understanding of spirituality can help me to find a suitable job. And it may allow me to have a better performance in my future workplace.