Research Paper (Football’s Effects on Personal Health)

Rodney Whitehead Eng 102 Research Paper 12/10/08 Football A person’s health is one of the most important things to maintain throughout his/her life. Playing sports is a fun and effective way to stay healthy mentally as well as physically. Football is an extremely physical, mentally advanced sport and is an excellent example of this. Football is an effective way to improve the physical, mental and social aspects of a person’s health. Football dates as far back as ancient Greece. Greeks made these games, which compare to modern football, to simulate warfare and battle strategies. If you know how an ancient phalanx works, you can find similarities between it and how the offensive and defensive line interact. It’s mostly just a lot of pushing and shoving with intent to penetrate the line and break the phalanx using shields and spears in a tactical fashion to create an ideally impenetrable unit. The linebackers, and defensive backs would represent the secondary defenses. The offensive backs and receivers represented the higher ranks of warriors. It was a game they played to showcase their skills, and it was an alternative of staying in shape without spending hours in the gymnasium. It also gave them more social interactions with people who had similar interests. The game of football has without a doubt become more advanced. It has become an multitude of associations and leagues each with their own individual rules and regulations. The game itself can be very confusing to understand from a foreign standpoint. However, the object of the game is simple. The team with the ball has to get it into the opposing teams endzone. Obviously it is more complicated than that but it’s the basic idea. When weighing the pros and cons of impacts on health with playing football, there are some negative aspects that go along with it such as injuries, risks with playing in severely cold weather, and other minor problems players might have with chronic pain or irritations on the body which include joint damage, turf toe and athletes foot, etc. Injuries in professional football do happen often, but it’s a part of playing the game. I personally would have rather broken every limb on my body than not ever have played football. According to Ernest Needham, injuries are abundant but not overwhelming considering the amount of people who play the sport. â€Å"We all know that accidents will happen in the best regulated of sports (even pedestrians are not free from them); but accidents of a serious or fatal nature are very rare considering the thousands who play, and it is questionable whether the percentage does not compare favorably with those of other pastimes (Unk 1-Par 7)†. All other health risks of football which are but minor compared to injuries should just be something athletes should go through to play such a fun and beneficial game. In my eyes, football is one hundred percent beneficial. One of the best things about football is that there is a spot for and type of person. Basically big, strong men play on the line; small, fast men can usually play as cornerbacks and safeties; strong and fast men will usually play running back or linebacker; and the tall, fast guys who can catch make good receivers. One aspect of football that makes it good for human health and development is the extra conditioning that is required to stay in shape. Conditioning mainly is based around running. A good thing for football players to practice and develop often is sprinting. Speed is the most important factor when playing football and it is extremely beneficial to one's health to sprint on a regular basis. It allows the heart to adapt and operate at higher speeds without such a high exhaustion factor as would usually be the case for someone who doesn't sprint regularly or at all for that matter. Football builds up strength and endurance in every part of your body. It increases your cardiovascular muscles and decreases your resting heart rate. You also become more balanced by learning different techniques and it develops the footwork of athletes to build speed and quickness. Unk 3 Par 2) Sprinting is most commonly practiced in what we call circuits or pyramids. A circuit is a multitude of different types of sprints performed in a row with little or no rest. For example, an athlete would start with seated arm sprints and when the whistle blows, he would get up and sprint to the forty yard cone at full speed. When he reaches the cone he would back pedal 20 yards, then do fifteen seconds of high knees. After this he would then sprint out the remaining forty yards. Circuits can be performed in any order with any combination of sprinting exercises. Circuits promote endurance, acceleration, speed and exercise diversity which is an important part of adaptive health as well as a vital skill one needs to play football. Sprinting pyramids go along with the idea of starting out small and gradually increasing distance and intensity. Let’s say you’re on a standard track. From the starting line, the sprinter would sprint a short ten yards, touch the line and come back. This is followed by increments of ten usually. Once the pyramid reaches sixty yards out, the sprinter gradually goes back down in increments of ten to act as a cool-down. Pyramids develop an athletes agility, endurance and also builds an athletes ability to sprint with stability and control. As a result, sprinting is extremely beneficial to an athletes health and well-being and this demonstrates how the sprinting aspect of football is a major part in the health of an individual. Most teams also coach their athletes to run long distances. Long distance running is an excellent way to boost a human’s cardiovascular stamina and increase the strength in an athletes fast-twitch muscle system in his/her legs. The reason it is so effective in improving someone’s health is because it keeps the heart beating at a high rate for a long period of time. This sends oxygen quickly to all the body’s key receptors which is essential to maintain motor skills, and better a human’s growth and blood flow. It also enables the heart to adapt and strengthen to be able to handle such a strain for such a long period of time. This helps athletes keep energy during games and practice without getting as tired. Long distance running is usually done as a team or in smaller groups throughout the team. For example, the backs receivers will run in one group and the lineman and linebackers will run in the other. The distance teams run always varies based on the coaches, how the practice has gone so far, and the weather, but usually when I say â€Å"a long distance run†, I mean at the very least one mile. Take me for example. I run one and a half miles every day before I strength train. I don’t consider that to be a long distance run at all. It’s more like a little warm up. On Fridays I run three miles which judging by how tired I am after, I consider to be long distance running. What defines the term â€Å"long distance running† is the physical abilities of the athlete and how much they are willing to sacrifice to be a healthy person and an excellent football player. Running in football is a great building block to a healthy lifestyle. Usually people who run and do other exercises regularly will generally have more energy throughout the day than non-athletes. People who have not experienced this first-hand may think otherwise. They might think that if someone exercises everyday, it would drain them and make them tired all the time. That is definitely not the case. Exercise lowers your heart rate in times of inactivity allowing the body to operate using less energy than someone who’s heart rate may be higher during times of inactivity. For example an idle body which has a heart rate of 70 regularly will use more energy than an athlete with an idle heart rate of 52. Therefore an athlete will generally have more energy when not exercising. Overall, running is an important part of football and an excellent way to stay in shape. In the sport of football, it is essential to compete with one another to be the strongest and the fastest. This being said, strength training is extremely important and is also highly beneficial to the sport. Their are many lifts that are specific to football, but weight lifting in general is a remarkably healthy life practice. First of all, it takes a lot of calories to build and maintain muscle, therefore just weightlifting alone could be a great way to get rid of fat. Basically, if someone lift weights to lose fat, he/she will be losing fat and replacing it with muscle making him/her leaner, lighter and stronger. Lifting weights is also a healthy way to socialize. When an athlete lifts weights, he/she usually uses a spotter and if they both are in the same strength range they will usually do all their lifts together and create a friendly relationship with one another. Team chemistry is also something that is taught and practiced in all leagues. The coaches usually try to ensure the cooperation and friendship of all their teammates. This builds builds the bonds that keep a team strong and the benefit an athletes mental and social health. An person’s mental health is probably more important that his/her physical health. Football is an excellent way to develop mental strong mental health. In most cases, players need to remember all the different plays and formation in a playbook to run a solid offense. That should be easy for most people with half a brain but they also have to know how to make quick reads and shifts in blocking to make plays work based on how the defense is aligned. This is a very complex skill that only comes with experience in the game. This trait illustrates a strong mentality which is extremely healthy to develop especially in early years. According to Abby Lerner’s quote from Sian Beilock, associate professor in psychology at the University of Chicago, playing football plays a big role in developing essential language skills students need to understand complex situations. â€Å"Experience playing and watching sports has enduring effects on language understanding by changing the neural networks that support comprehension to incorporate areas active in performing sports skills,† Beilock said. (Lerner Par 4) He also said that the findings may soon be applied to education. For example, the best way to teach kids about momentum and physics may not be assigning lengthy reading assignments, but getting them up from their desks and moving. â€Å"The experience of acting something out may help them understand the concept much better (Lerner Par 5)†. Football also promotes a healthier diet. The coaches stress that their players eat healthy and many of them put their athletes on a strict eating plan. Athletes in professional football and high high division college football are usually given a meal plan to improve their health and well-being. A good meal plan would consist of foods high in protein and carbohydrates in the morning, foods high in carbohydrates at noon, and high protein and vitamins in the evening such as boiled chicken and green vegetables. Such practices, along with exercising, weightlifting and stretching, can actually reduce the risk of injury. A balanced diet can also help keep the digestive system regulated. Eating the right foods at the right times is an important part of staying healthy so it is no wonder that the health driven sport of football practices sticking to a healthy diet. Football is an extremely disciplined and physical sport, but it is probably the most fun a person can have if he/she is trying to stay healthy. Through the coaching of strength, conditioning, dieting and enhanced brain activity, football is a great way to improve the physical and mental health of individuals of all ages. Works Cited Author Unknown1. â€Å"Health Risks of Playing Football†. Publisher Unknown www. spartacus. schoolnet. co. uk/Fhealth. htm This articles focuses on the downside to football. It illustrates certain health risks and diseases that may be caused by playing football, both long term and short term. It tends to use a lot of statistics and credited facts throughout the article. In fact, the bulk of the article is composed of these statistics and facts. Little is shown of the writer’s own input of the subject. Author Unknown2. â€Å"Football improves health of the community†. Publisher Unknown http://www. dh. gov. uk/en/News/DH_4111986 This article illustrates the positive physical effects of football. It points out that the sport promotes a healthier diet, teaches drug and alcohol awareness and promotes good sexual health as well as social inclusion. Author Unknown3. What are the benefits of football†. Wiki-Answers. http://wiki. answers. com/Q/ This is sort of a Q and A format article. It asks the question; What are the health and physical benefits of playing football? It is followed by multiple answers from anonymous contributors. Some answers are straight and to the point and some go in depth with exciting facts in vivid detail. Lerner, Abby. â€Å"The Best Reason to Watch More Football†. Men’s Health. http://www. menshealth. com/cda/article Watching football is had been a proven way of increasing brain activity and comprehension efficiency. This article developes reasons of how and why it does and it explains them in depth. Moor, Craeg(? ). â€Å"Improve mental health through playing football†.  © 2008 Adfero Ltd. craegmoor. co. uk/news/industry/18518880/ The mental health benefits of playing football are beyond significant. Football is a great way to socialize and develop relationships with other players in an informal, fun way which has effects on a person's emotions, relationships, identity and self-esteem. This article develops these benefits in a very compact article in which I will probably have to use sentence numbers.

How Stressed Children Are in a Primary School Essay

The recent publication of a Cambridge research paper on high stress levels amongst UK primary school children made national headlines. It told parents of an uncomfortable truth that primary classrooms are not the places of fun and learning that typifies an idealistic notion of education in the UK. It spoke of stress, anxiety and worry in classrooms, where children show signs of distress due to high expectations, excessive workloads and having to shoulder unrealistic responsibilities. But just how accurate is this picture? Is it possible to expect young children to understand the complexities of the manifestations of stress and the inaccuracies of self-appraisal given possible low levels of emotional literacy? This paper explores how feasible it is to collect accurate data from children about their own stress and evaluates how such information can be collected. It concludes that there are a variety of ways of gaining information about stress from children, some better than others, but leaves no doubt that children can be ideal subjects for such research if the design and execution of the study is given due consideration. The world of primary education, it would seem, from anecdotal evidence from parents of primary school pupils, is not what it used to be. Clichà ©s such as ‘its not like it was in my days!’ or ‘school was much easier and more fun in the olden days!’ can often be heard echoing across parents groups in school  yards or in local supermarkets. But is school such a difficult place for children today? A recent paper, published by a Cambridge University research group would suggest that life in a primary school is not as stress free as most parents would want to assume. In order to help understand this uncomfortable notion, this paper will explore whether children are capable of giving accurate information about their stress levels and how this could be collected. Stress research is a well established field spanning eight decades, from Walter Cannon’s seminal work in 1927 on flight and flight, to Mark Kovacs’ recent paper on ‘Stress in the Workplace’, (Kovacs 2007). It fact it seems that there are very few areas of modern life that stress research has not touched upon. In relation to everyday activities, research covers stress at work (eg Kovacs 2007, McCarthy & Sheehan,1996), stress in the street (Brennan,1993), paradoxically there has been studies around stress in leisure activities (Noakes 1991) and crucially for this paper, stress in school environments (eg Williams & Gersch, 2004; Murray and Harrison, 2005 and the recently published Cambridge Primary Review paper 2007). The subject base for stress research has also been highly eclectic, ranging from stress in the elderly (Hodgson, Freedman &, Granger, 2004), to stress at birth and even stress levels in individuals not yet born, (Graham, Heim, Goodman, Miller and Nemeroff 1999). There is a case to be argued however, that very much like the Freudian theory of psychosexual development, there appears to be a relative ‘hiatus of interest’ in the levels of stress in children between the ages of 6 and 11. This crucial period of education covers the majority of Key Stage 1 and all of Key Stage 2 and it would seem to be a pivotal juncture in a child’s education. It is in this period that most children will be structuring their leaning patterns and assimilating vast amounts of knowledge in all areas of the school both academic and social. It could be considered somewhat remarkable therefore that there is relatively less stress research done in education at this age. It is particularly pertinent when we consider that this active period of learning is then brought to a close with the mandatory Key Stage 2 SAT papers. It is perhaps this singular event that indicates, for most pupils, their rights of passage into the world of secondary education where structured exams and revision regimes are rife. So why is it that research during this ‘Latency Period’ (Freud 1905d) of a child’s educational  development is so under represented? It could be because it now appears to be a relatively settled period in a child’s educational life. It may be that in most areas of the UK, the predominantly two-tier education system has removed a major period of transition half way through this phase of schooling. This process of downsizing transitions eradicated a well defined cause of stress in pupils and exaggerated difficulties in coping (Rudduck.J, 2004; Lohaus. A, 2004). However could it also be argued that models of stress and theories for coping with traumatic events are not comprehensive enough to cover this very specific area of children’s development in such settings? It is important therefore to explore how adult models of stress address environmental and personal issues and whether these can be attributed to children in a primary classroom. Stress models for adults Modern stress research has placed itself firmly within the interactionist perspective characterized largely by Lazarus and Folkman (1984). Their model for the possible development of stress explores the essential thought processes that occur in any given situation and the judgments the individual makes in assessing their own ability to cope with the demands placed upon them at any one time. This ‘appraisal’ and subsequent stress levels are governed primarily by recollecting previous performances and the effectiveness of learned coping strategies in similar situations. It seems clear then that by using the interactionist model, there may be opportunities to provide greater opportunities to understand children’s stress in the classroom. In order to fully explore this area, it seems pertinent to start by delving into specific models of stress that add to our knowledge about its development in adults and explore whether these could be used with children in a primary s chool environment. One such model that may be relevant to this paper was developed by Palmer, Cooper and Thomas (2001) who looked at stress in the workplace. This model proposes that there are six contributors to the development and/or the management of stress levels in and around most places of work. These mitigating factors include work/environmental demands, support, change and the worker’s role within the ‘company’ (see below). It would seem on first inspection that this is truly an adult model of stress as it is located in adult world of work. However as  there do not appear to be any established or substantial research as yet, to determine the difference between ‘work’ being in an office, a factory or a shop and ‘work’ as in a classroom, it could be argued that if the ‘classroom’ was seen as a workplace and pupils considered ‘employees’, Palmer et al’s model does have some relevance. Below is Palmer et al’s mo del as published in the ‘Health Education Journal’ 2001. Figure 1: Palmer, Cooper and Thomas’s model of stress in the work place (2001) A Stress model for children? Using the key structure of this model, it is possible to transpose details into a new representation that may be appropriate to help explore stress in children in a school situation. This process of transformation can largely be done by ‘translating’ words and terminology used in the flowchart above into words relevant and applicable to similar aspects of a school environment. A typical example of this would be that the reference to ‘employees’ would need to read ‘pupils’. Perhaps the more difficult aspect of this translation relates to its exploration of ‘negative outcomes’. It is clear that increased and sustained stress levels in children is less likely to lead to coronary heart disease or RSI in the short term than it would in adults, so perhaps more pertinent aspects of this section of the model would relate to an escalation in poor behaviours or higher absenteeism. Table 1 below shows a complete translation of Palmer et alâ₠¬â„¢s terminology using this ideology. Once this translation of meaning has been established then it appears that this model does provide some insight into possible factors that may contribute to stress levels in children. Further exploration of Palmer, Cooper and Thomas’s model would establish how these factors would impact upon the individual and at the whole school level. Table 2 on page 7 shows how Palmer et al’s structure would apply to a school model. It seems clear that there is a probable link between stress levels of a child in the classroom and organisational dysfunctions in the structure of the classroom and possibly to aspects of the whole school. This new model also shows where possible stressors come from for the pupil and how this could be managed to alleviate higher levels of stress across a school environment. It could be argued that a central difficulty in attributing the interactionist perspective model of stress to children is flawed by the intrinsic tenet of the model. Lazarus and Folkman (1984) believe that the essential tool of stress appraisal is the ability to reflect on past experiences to determine the individual’s ability to cope with the current situation. How then, does this model apply to young children whose experiences are more limited than those of an adult? Does this lack of experience allow a young child the ability to accurately evaluate past experiences against past  performances? An example of this could be when pupils are required to complete the Key Stage 1 SAT papers. Even though teachers will have tried to prepare each pupil with several practices in answering unfamiliar maths and literacy booklets, the actual test is unfamiliar due to the heightened expectations of the day itself. How are pupils able to reflect on past experiences of this? Perhaps the best that can be achieved is the familiarity with the style of the test but not necessarily with the SAT day itself. If this is the case, when the interactionist perspective is extrapolated to Key Stage 2 SATs it is likely that a bad experience in the Key Stage 1 SAT papers will affect perceptions of performance during the SAT tests in Year 6. Using this model, it must be argued that in order to achieve better results in Key Stage 2 SATs, there is a case to be made to enhance the positive experiences of sitting formal tests at an earlier age. This could be achieved by either taking away the pressure to achieve in Year 2 or indeed use these tests and tasks to give the pupils positive experiences to build upon. It is likely that a bad experience in Year 2 increases the likelihood of future failures or anxieties. To facilitate this process the model outlined in table 2 above could be used to facilitate good practice, improve support mechanisms, strengthen positive relationships and encourage a greater ability to handle change. This may also have a positive impact on the pupils and the whole school in the long term. The adaptation of Palmer, Cooper and Thomas’s model will allow a school practitioner the opportunity to affect whole school social dynamics by focusing upon the ‘potential hazards’ and being pro -active in offsetting the negative impact they can have on a school environment. But how successful have primary schools been so far in this role? Stress in the classroom In October 2007 the Cambridge Primary Review explored life in a primary classroom from a child’s perspective. The process of data collection, which took place between January and March 2007, collected evidence from a whole range of professionals in the primary education sector as well as people drawn from the wider community. These subjects included children themselves, who are referred to as ‘witnesses’ in the paper. In total there were nine Community locations in different parts of England, culminating in a total of  87 witness sessions, attended by over 750 people. This is clearly an important piece of research that cuts across cultural boundaries and local government differences. It would seem that this research is an amalgamation of collective thought, however there may be some difficulties with interviewing subjects such as children which will be explored in greater detail below. However such research conclusions cannot go unnoticed for long and immediately after its publication in academic circles, their conclusions made national headlines. It was this research that spawned a raft of emotive headlines across all forms of media in the UK. Articles fronted by ‘Children ‘stressed and depressed’ and ‘Primary Cause for concern’ were used offering direct quotes about what causes children such stress, citing: â€Å"the gloomy tenor of ‘what you hear on the news’ or by a generalised fear of strangers, burglars and street violence.† ITN webpage – Friday 12th October 07:05 am Furthermore articles in the media were concluding that: ‘ †¦our young children are anxious, badly behaved, stressed, depressed and obsessed with the cult of celebrity’ Garner, 2007 page 1 These emotive and somewhat generalized media headlines, alongside the Cambridge’s research papers demonstrate that there appears to be a high level of stress and depression in primary classrooms, but there is also a lot of anxiety in the ‘media’ at the possibility of there being stress and depression in the classroom. These headlines echo Mays’ conclusions who observed in his paper in ‘Stresses in Children’ (1996): ‘ there is still much to frighten, to frustrate and to intimidate a growing child’ (page 41) But just how successful are research methods and models of stress in helping to clarify and explain possible sources of stress in the primary classroom? Is it possible to accurately measure stress in children given some of the constraints of data collection? Perhaps more importantly are children able to understand the complexity of stress responses and have sufficient levels of emotional literacy to be able to accurately describe whether they are stressed or not? It seems a foregone conclusion, in stress research, that the respondent themselves is able to understand what stress is and how it affects them and to be able to recognise when they are stressed or not in given circumstances. It seems that collecting stress data from children is fraught with implicit difficulties. However, this should not deter such research being completed; it means only that the data collected may need a greater level of analysis and more rigorous reflection to be able to make any real conclusions. Collecting Stress data from Children There are two key difficulties with any stress research, both of which are applicable when exploring stress in children. The first central problem is that there is an absence of a common definition of stress and this makes research difficult due to the amorphous nature of how stress can manifest itself in different individuals (Ramsden 2007a). The second, somewhat related difficulty is that the vocabulary used to describe stress is often used loosely or interchangeably. It is not uncommon to read in books and research papers subsequent paragraphs using terms such as stress, anxiety, and worry to describe similar aspects of this phenomenon. Furthermore there is a central need to take care when referring to stress in terms of how it would change a person’s demeanor and/ or thought patterns. Stress research refers to stress as both a definition and a symptom. This can be somewhat overcome by trying to establish key differences in terms of relating anxiety as a symptom of stress, in very much the same way as references are made to headaches, depression and irrational thought, all of which may be as a direct result of the stress a person is under. However some research is now suggesting that stress, anxiety and depression are indeed co-variants and the inter-relationship and synonymous presence of all of these problems  together may indeed be: ‘ the rule rather than the exception.’ Compass and Hammem (1996)pg 242 If this comorbidity of anxiety, depression and stress has such strong bonds, then trying to ascertain what the differences are between these manifestations may be an impossible task. If this is the case then the interactionist perspective may indeed be the significant filter that holds such research together. By taking the essence of the Lazarus and Folkman (1984) model, the reason why a person feels they can’t cope is of secondary importance to the fact that they feel they can’t cope with current demands. Furthermore if such feelings of helplessness are born out of, or are exacerbated by, depressive tendencies then this is irrelevant to the basic fact that the individual feels they can’t cope with demands and therefore will be stressed. This tenet must then hold true for stress research into children. It does not seem to matter why the child feels stressed, the fact that they do, means that they are! That is, provided that they understand what feeling stressed i s, which falls back to the central difficulty of how effectively can you measure a phenomenon such as stress within a child when a child may not understand the phenomenon themselves? However, this then leads onto another dilemma. If it can be demonstrated that the children at the centre of the research have obtained a sufficient level of emotional literacy to determine what being stressed feels like, then to collect stress data in children, a methodological choice between two specific models needs to be made. The first strategy for collecting data uses the principle underlined by Selye (1934) that stress is a biological response to the environment and therefore it is possible to use biometric measures such as blood pressure and galvanic skin responses An alternative model such as that proposed by Lazarus and Folkman (1984) uses reflective self analysis to determine the individual’s ‘perception’ of their own stress. This second method can be collected in a number of ways but perhaps the most basic, but not necessarily the most simplistic, is either through questionnaires and/or interviewing the individual themselves. Before these qualitative methods are  discussed it is important to explore the more quantitative methods of data collection in children. Some of these discussion points can be found in Ramsden (2007b) which explores variations in data collection in greater detail, however it does not elucidate how they can be utilized with children and therefore it is worth touching on some of those points again but with specific reference for research with children. Biometric data collection in children If the argument is that children do not have the experiential capability to understand what stress is and the ability to describe accurately how they are feeling, or indeed able to recognise when they are stressed, then it seems plausible to assume that a more standardized, less subjective and fundamentally, a less reflective method of data collection is needed. In terms of stress research, the collection of such ‘clinical’ information must revolve around measuring biological responses rather than a child’s ability to tell the researcher when they are feeling stressed, and how this is different to when they are not feeling stressed. This biological method of data collection has its foundation in some of the earliest research into stress. Some of the very first experiments into the stress response were conducted by Hans Selye (1907-1982), an endocrinologist who conducted his work largely in the first half of the Twentieth Century. In his studies, he used biometric measurements from laboratory rats to determine the level of stress they were under. Selye, who was later given the accolade of the first person to define stress, referred to it as: † a non-specific (i.e. common) result of any demand on the body, whether the effect be mental or somatic† page 32 (Selye1936) His definition may well have some value here. If we take the stance that young children are indeed unable to identify accurately what stress is, then we should be measuring this ‘non-specific’ demand on the body in a purely biological way. It would seem plausible then that by observing children in a primary school throughout a typical day or week, and by taking regular  measurements, there may be a case to correlate variations in biological states at certain times of the day. Collecting data such as changes in blood pressure, pulse rates and sweating may give an insight into times when the body is under stress and when the child is calmer and more relaxed. This information could then be matched with events, observations and activities and correlated to show changes in responses to situations encountered. Using this method it should be relatively easy to find out whether participation in SAT tests or some other social situations, that blood pressure, pulse rates and GSR increase to reflect the physical, and by default, the emotional state of the child, and therefore conclude that this was or was not a stressful event for them. There may be a problem with this type of research however. Apart from some of the ethical difficulties, there is a crucial observation to be made. It could be argued that for children, the actual process of data collection may affect their stress levels. It could also be surmised that the actual method of data collection can be as stressful as the event in itself and therefore eradicate any impartiality in the result. There may be echoes here of the ‘Hawthorne effect’ (Roethlisberger & Dickson, 1939). Although a concept that has been applied to business models, it is worth exploring a little here. First established by Elton Mayo, Fritz Roethlisberge r and William J. Dickson who saw it as: ‘a temporary change to behavior or performance in response to a change in the environmental conditions.’ Roethlisberger & Dickson (1939)., page14 This definition is a salient one in this discussion. It could be argued that even if the outline of a study was not described to children, and even if the children were not aware that they were being studied so closely, there would be a difference in their day because at somepoint some interactions are needed to measure changes to their physiological state. This would be even more prevalent if these changes were happening alongside other stresses such as SAT tests. It seems therefore that by measuring a response, as Shaver (1981) highlighted, evokes close links with the Hawthorne principles. ‘Almost no matter what experimental conditions were imposed†¦.the investigators had obviously influenced the subjects’ behavior merely by studying that behavior.’ Kelly Shaver p272 In order to measure stress in a primary classroom then, some continuous measurement needs to happen that can be compared to a baseline. This in itself could be problematic. For some children the basis of their stress and the source of their fears and anxieties may come from the school environment itself. If being in the school itself is a cause of high levels of stress, it would be very difficult to ascertain a baseline to measure relative changes to stress levels in the individual. Studies into autistic children in some school environments (Hiroshi 1991) show that for many individuals school can be one continuous bombardment of stressful events. Extensive studies into school phobia at the primary level (eg: Place, Hulsmeier, Davis and Taylor, 2002; King and Ollendick, 1989) also indicate that it would be very difficult to determine a relaxed state for a baseline. In order to address this quandary, one possible method of data collection would be to use a portable blood pressure (BP) kit for example that would pose less intrusive method that enables an individual’s BP to be taken automatically without the need to stop and prepare for the examination. But this in itself causes problems apart from the physical tightening process of blood pressure being taken, it also serves as a reminder that they are being observed. This could be offset however by having a period of acclimatization where the individual being measured would get used to such routines and this may normalize the influence of the measurements being taken. Studies using adults seem to suggest that repetetive BP monitoring does not interfere with the validity of the data (Georgiades, Lemne, De Faire, Lindvall, Fredrikson,1997; Steptoe and Cropley, 2000) but the evidence to suggest that this is the case in studies using children as subjects is not clear. In the absence of any certainlty as to whether collecting biometric data in children can provide reliable evidence, it is important to explore other ways of gathering primary data from children. Qualitative methods of data collection with children As discussed above, in order to collate qualitative evidence of stress in children, there needs to be a clear understanding of a child’s ability to know when they are feeling stressed as opposed to when they are feeling relaxed. Fortunately for the stress reasearcher in this field, there is now a plethora of commercial teaching materials available to schools on Emotional Health and Well-being. Furthermore with ‘Being Healthy’ formally on the national agenda through the Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes (eg Every Child Matters: Change for Children. DfES publication -1110-2004), the PSCHE curriculum in the primary school seems full of opportunities for even the youngest of children to explore their own emotions. It can be said therefore, that pupils in today’s primary schools are better equipped to discuss their emotional state than they have ever been. It seems fair to assume from this, that there only needs to be some basic ground work teaching to occur to give children the necessary vocabulary and a sense of introspection required to respond to stress-related questions and produce meaningful results. Nevertheless, even with this encouraging notion, it is important that the researcher does not lose sight of the influence they may have when trying to obtain children’s views. As with any socio-psychological research, and especially any involving children, ascertaining views on levels of stress or trying to clarify what causes stress does not lead to the adult influencing the responses or the conclusions the child makes about a given situation. This is of particular interest to stress research because of its important in the Lazarus and Folkman (1984) model of Cognitive Appraisal. It is vital, that that the child themself, determines whether a particular situation was stressful or not, rather than the adult implying to the child that it was. This effect is known as ‘Psychological Causality’ and is important in stress research with children. Herbert describes this phenomenon as: ‘†¦the tendency in young children to attribute a psychological motive as a cause of events’ Herbert page 23 (1996) Although Psychological Causality is not usually associated with stress research, it is important to bear in mind that it may be a factor when determining sources of stress in the primary classroom. Especially if this research is conducted in and around other stresses such as SATs, school performances or parents’ evenings. In order to clarify what these stresses are, further research into this field is needed and would help to clarify the influencing factors of data collection. The use of questionnaires One formal method of collecting quantitative information is the use of questionnaires. Perhaps their greatest strength is that it can provide a fair and rigorous structure to the questioning procedure. By handing out questionnaires to all the children, each child will have the opportunity to answer the same questions as everyone else. This rigidity also allows the researcher the ability to analyse statistically the evidence. The use of questionnaires for children is not uncommon and can provide a useful insight into many research areas. The use of a questionnaire as a method of collecting data from children is not without its difficulties however. The first point and perhaps the most salient is that formalising questions through prose has two basic problems. 1. Do the questions allow children the opportunity to give answers that are meaningful to the research question? 2. Will the wording of each question be interpreted by children in the way the researcher wanted them to be answered? Because of these two issues, It is very important therefore to focus on the wording of these questionnaires so that specific vocabulary such as stress, anxiety, worry and nervousness are not misconstrued by the reader and answered in different ways. It seems that once again a lack of a formal definition of stress hampers validity and structure in research design. It seems that compiling a flawless stress questionnaire is very difficult. Fife-Schaw (2000) takes this notion further: ‘Designing the perfect questionnaire is probably impossible’ Fife-Schaw pg159 Nevertheless, even with such limitations, a questionnaire may be useful in ascertaining information but will need some very careful planning. Bath and North East Somerset Council provide some helpful guidelines in their ‘Children in Need Handbook’ on principles for using forms and questionnnaires with children and young people. This information offers advice suggesting that some feedback about the results are done ‘†¦either immediately and/or at a later session’, but most importantly in the implementation of the questionnaire to: ‘Allow plenty of time’ Bath and North East Somerset Council ‘Children in Need Handbook’ (2007) page 47 Giving children enough time to read and process the questions raises a number of key issues, all of which may impact on the validity of the answers collected. Central to these difficulties is the child’s ability to reflect appropriately on their own changing emotional states and determine which events, if any, could be regarded as being under stress. It could be that this variance in what children understand about stress may invalidate results as it may be difficult to ascertain any consistency amongst the data. This could mean that some children need additional or supplementary support in answering the questions. If the questions need to be read out or explained to the child then this could influence how the child answers the question. An immediate concern to the researcher therefore, is whether the responses given reflect the child’s true feelings or ones that are dictated by the way the question is received? This difficulty in ascertaining consistency however may not be such a diffcult obstacle in collating data as it could be in other areas of research. Once again the Cognitive Appraisal model is able to lessen these problems. If the assumption is that all primary children have a ‘basic’ understanding of what stress is and how it affects them, then any reference  to feeling anxious, stressed and or upset in a particular sitaution is pertinent to their ‘assessment’ and therefore their perception of the situation. This data can then be used qualitatively by the use of any ‘thematic analysis’ technique to attribute feelings associated with the notion of stress, irrespective of the possible misuse of language by children. It seems that using markers or coding systems can help capture a variety of words used and still maintain an acceptable level of structure to the analysis of the data. The questionnaire may also need some modification in the format according to the child’s developmental stage (Sadock and Sadock 2000). Given all of these variables and constraints, perhaps the more flexible method of collecting data would be to talk to the children directly. Interviewing children Interviewing children needs careful handling. Chan highlights the difficulty children have when answering open ended questions such as ‘How did you feel ?† to unknown adults, indicating that many may respond with a passive response such as â€Å"I don’t know’, Chan (2005). Conversely in an interview scenario, Breakwell highlights the problem of ‘Acquiescence Response Bias’ (ARB) when asking children direct or closed questions such as ‘Did you feel stressed?’ She feels that the ARB often leads a child to say â€Å"Yes† to any question posed by an adult, irrespective of their own true feelings. Her advice however may not necessarily be helpful given Chan’s perspectives. Breakwell (2000) advises: ‘Questions should be posed so that they are not open to a yes – no response’. Page 245 How then can a researcher obtain collectable data on levels of stress in children that has some validity? The answer to this may be by looking closer to the research subjects. The age of the child is going to be important and can affect the structure of the interview. In some cases it may be necessary to have an adult in with the researcher who can be used for moral support but the choice of the adult needs very careful thought. The ‘Save the  Children’ organization issue a very clear message about the sensitivity needed when choosing this person. ‘Ensure that adults are out of the way – except for the translator and perhaps a project worker, teacher, or another adult that the child knows and trusts.’ Taken from Save the Children/ ‘Interviewing children’ (2007) accessed on the web 17.11.07 In some cases however, especially where children are older and more confident in their social interactions, it may be sufficient to interview the child on their own but in a less formal and more relaxed environment. Furthermore, whether adults are present or not, the interviewer should not limit themselves to interviewing and/or questioning by the use of words alone. By structuring the communications around other activities it may be possible to elicit emotional responses through activities such as play, drawings or model building Gabarino and Stott (1989). Whatever the technique used to interview children, and whatever the age or developmental stage they may be at, it seems the central responsibility of the researcher is to make the child feel at ease with the information-giving process. It should be a central skill of the researcher to design an environment where natural, or as close to natural, observations can be made. The research design should take into account where children feel at ease in giving information to adults. It is fortunate for many pedagogical researchers that school environments are constantly interloped by adults seeking answers to questions. It would seem common in most Primary Classrooms that professionals such as Ofsted, Educational Psychologists and Speech and Language Therapists are more of a visible part of the school environment than ever before. At least for research purposes, it seems that children are used to being observed by visitors in school in one capacity or another and where children’s voices are being sought over some issue on a regular basis. Conclusion It seems that those parental opinions voiced in the playground or in lines at the local supermarket echoing dismay that school is ‘not what it used to be’ are correct on one level. Primary school environments today are more attuned to assessments being made and where adults conducting observations are more commonplace. Classrooms are regular hosts to a whole variety of adults making some evaluative judgments on one issue or another. Children are required to prove themselves in one academic discipline or another at all ages and where children are given numerous and onerous responsibilities in and out of a school environment. Stress in our society is pervasive, it touches the lives of almost everyone and it would seem that age is no barrier to stress being present, even in the youngest of subjects. Therefore if we need to consider whether children are suitable subject for stress research, it would seem that there is no reason why a well structured, ethically sound study on stress levels amongst children could not be carried out in any primary school. Children, it would seem, are well equipped in the modern primary classroom to cope with the rigors of such scrutiny. References Bath and North East Somerset Social & Housing Services (2007) ,Children in Need Handbook, P.O. Box 3343,Bath.BA1 2ZH Breakwell.,G.M(2000) Interviewing. Taken from Breakwell.G.M, Hammond.S and Fife-Schaw, C Research Methods in Psychology. Sage Publications Brennan.E, (1993) Street Stress, Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0643. Cannon. W, (1929). Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear, and rage. New York: Appleton. Chan, R. Interpersonal psychotherapy as a treatment model for depressed adolescents with chronic medical problems. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2005; 10: p88-101 Compass.E and Hammem.C.L,(1996). Child and Adolscent depression Covariation and Comorbidity in development Cited in Stress, Risk and Resilience in Children and Adolescents: Processes and Mechanisms, and Interventions edited by Haggerty.R.J; Sherrod.L.R,Garmezy.N, Rutter.M. Department for Education and Skills (2004) Every Child Matters: Change for Children DfES publication. Milton Keynes Fife-Schaw.C.(2000) Questionnaire Design Taken from Breakwell, Hammond and Fife-Schaw (2000) Research Methods in Psychology. SAGE Publications, London Freud, S.(1905). Three Essays on Sexuality and Other Writings.(1901-1905) Translated by James Strachey. London: The Hogarth Press, 1953. Frydenberg. E,(1999). Health, well-being and coping? What’s that got to do with education? Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, vol. 9, no. 1, p. 1-18 Garbarino.J and Stott.F.M,(1989). What Children Can Tell Us, San Francisco and London, Jossey-Bass Inc. Garner,R.(2007),. Stress in the Classroom, The Guardian. Friday 12th October 2007 p1 Georgiades A, Lemne. C ,De Faire.U , Lindvall.K, Fredrikson, M (1997) Stress-induced blood pressure measurements predict left ventricular mass over three years among borderline hypertensive men European Journal of Clinical Investigation 27 (9), 733–739. Graham Y. P, Heim. C, Goodman,S, H,. Miller,A.H & Nemeroff,C,B.(1999), The effects of neonatal stress on brain development: Implications for psychopathology, Development and Psychopathology 11: 545-565 Gore.S, Eckonrode.J,(1996) Context and process in research on risk and resilience. Cited in Stress, Risk and Resilience in Children and Adolescents: Processes and Mechanisms, and Interventions edited by Haggerty.R.J;Sherrod.L.R,Garmezy.N, Rutter.M. Herbert,.M (1996) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Children. BPS Blackwell Publishers Hiroshi, K.(1991) School Refusal in Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, March, vol. 21, no. 1, p. 1-15 Hodgson N, Freedman VA, Granger DA,(2004). Biobehavioral correlates of relocation in the frail elderly: salivary cortisol, affect, and cognitive function. Journal of American Geriatrics Soc Vol:52 pp1856–62 Jackson.D,(2006). Playgroups as protective environments for refugee children at risk of trauma. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, vol. 31, no. 2, p. 1-5 King.N.J, and Ollendick.T.H, (1989) Children’s anxiety and phobic disorders in school settings: classification, assessment, and intervention issues. Review of Educational Research, Winter, vol. 59, no. 4, p. 431-470 Kovacs,M. Stress and Coping in the workplace.The Psychologist. Vol 20, No9 p548-550 Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal and Coping. New York: Guilford. Lohaus. A, (2004) School transition from elementary to secondary school: changes in psychological adjustment. Educational Psychology, vol. 24, no. 2, p. 161-173 Marr, N and Field T Bullycide: death at playtime, an expose of child suicide caused by bullying, Success Unlimited, 2001 Margalit, M; Kleitman.T,(2006) Mothers’ stress, resilience and early intervention European Journal of Special Needs Education, Volume 21, Issue 3 pages 269 – 283 McCarthy,L and Sheehan E (1996)Bullying: from backyard to boardroom, (Eds), Millennium Books Murray.E and Harrison.L, (2005). Children’s perspectives on their first year at school: introducing a new pictorial measure of school stress. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 111-127. Noakes, T.(1991), Lore of Running, Champaign, Illinois: Leisure Press Palmer S, Cooper C, Thomas K.(2001)Model of organisational stress for use within an occupational health education/promotion or wellbeing programme –a short communication. Health Education Journal;60(4):378-80. Place.M, Hulsmeier.J, Davis.S and Taylor.E, (2002). The Coping Mechanisms of Children with School Refusal. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, June, vol. 2, no. 2, p. 1-10. Ramsden, G (2007) Change as a possible contributor to stress levels in Educational Psychologists. Research paper submitted as part of doctorate at University of Sheffield Roethlisberger, F.J.; Dickson, W.J. (1939). Management and the Worker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, New York Rudduck.J, (2004) Some neglected aspects of transfer and transition. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, University of Manchester. The text is in the Education-line internet document collection at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00003901.htm, pp. 10.accessed on 19.10.07 Sadock BJ & Sadock VA (2000)- Kaplan & Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, Lippincott Williams& Wilkins, New York Save the Children (2007) Interviewing Children taken from www.save thechildren.org.uk/en/docs / guidelines _interview_children.pdf accessed on 17.11.07 Selye, H: (1936). A Syndrome Produced by Diverse Nocuous Agents; Nature.Vol. 138, p 32-33 Shaver. K, (1981) Principles of Social Psychology, 2nd ed., Winthrop Publishers; Cambridge, MA. Steptoe A, Cropley M. (2000) Persistent high job demands and reactivity to mental stress predict future ambulatory blood pressure. Journal of Hypertension 18:5, 581-586 Varma,V.P (1973) Stresses in Children, University of London Press Ltd, London. Williams. M, Gersch.I, (2004) Teaching in mainstream and special schools: are the stresses similar or different? British Journal of Special Education, vol. 31, no. 3, p. 157-162

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How can Virtual Learning Environments promote parental engagement in children's learning - Literature review Example The literature review also identifies and defines virtual learning environments, their benefits and how virtual learning environments contribute to the promotion of parental engagement in their children’s learning. The literature review will ultimately confirm the hypothesis that virtual learning environments contribute to the promotion of parental engagement in their children’s learning. Introduction By 1997, it had become increasingly clear that parental involvement was essential for child’s educational success as parents and caregivers are decidedly not only the child’s first, but most pervasive educators (Whalley, 2004). Even so, administrators, policy-makers and educators acknowledge that parental involvement in their children’s learning continue to be a problem (Fitzgerald 2004). The challenge is therefore to get parents engaged in the child’s learning. A review of the literature highlights the significance of parental engagement in the child’s learning process and the prospects of improving parental involvement via virtual learning environments (VLE). ... I. Importance of Parental Involvement/Home-school Links Parental engagement is comprised of participating in conferences with teachers, attending student programmes; taking on voluntary activities; helping the child with their homework assignment, engaging the child in conversation about school work and school experiences and establishing constructs for activities in the home (BECTA 2009). The Department of Education and Skills (DfES) released a report in 2002 which drew on a comprehensive review of the literature. The report noted that parental involvement was key to a child’s learning proficiency from early on and until age 16. Parental involvement during the early years had a positive influence on the child’s cognitive growth as well as literacy and numeracy progress. The DfES also noted that a parent’s involvement in the child’s learning was more influential than other familial factors such as family structure, size, background and the parent’s own educational background (DfES 2002). Researchers have formulated an exhaustive list of the potential benefits of parental involvement in the child’s learning process. The list includes better school attendance, better academic performance, better study habits and higher educational expectations on the part of parents (Hornby 2005). In other words, parental involvement is believed to have a positive influence on the nature of the education the child receives. There is a prevailing view that children with parental support for learning at home and children with parents that foster a learning atmosphere at home typically perform better academically than children who do not have that kind of parental support and encouragement at home (Pugh and Duffy 2010). Essentially, the positive benefits

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International assignment training for Pakistan - Term Paper Example It is not difficult to distinguish between the people of Pakistan from a large number of Americans. The reason is their different and unique cultures. Pakistani people have distinguishing dressing patterns, living style and traditions which are not present in the American culture. Pakistan is one of the biggest Islamic countries and hence, Islamic teachings are reflected in every way of their life (Abbott, 1968). In Pakistan, male children are given priority over the females. This discrimination among the children covers a vast area of their lives. Male members are given priority when it comes to the availability of education, financial support, dressing and entertainment stuff (like toys, games, Computers, cell phones etc.), food etc. Brothers, fathers and husbands are normally considered as the head of their families. Head of the family takes all important decisions about the house and lives of the family members. Pakistani children are taught to respect their elders and women are strictly directed to follow the decisions and respect the opinions of the head of their families. Religious strictness forces the Pakistani women to stay out of sight of male counterparts of the society (Bano, 1994). Men are supposed to help their families financially. They are given proper guidance since their childhood about their responsibilities to the family. It can be said that when Pakistani children grow up they are fully aware of the fact that it is their duty to support their family financially and morally. However, on the other hand, American people face less or no discrimination on the basis of gender as Shelly’s Frankenstein suggests in the portrayal of the monster’s desire to have an opposite sex companion. Children are given proper education, food, opportunities to grow confidence and are provided with the sense of independence. They are taught to distinguish between rights and wrongs of the society. Females are not forced to adopt and accept the decisio ns of their male counterparts. As they grow up and enter their teenage life, they start feeling and using their independence. However, they may misuse this freedom by adopting negative attitudes of the society. American teenagers are more likely to involve in alcohol misuse, drug addiction, smoking etc. Youngsters drink alcoholic beverages for fun and fashion purposes but afterward they get addicted to it. The exposure of alcohol and drinking to youngsters and young adults is evident in their literature as Hamlet’s refusal to kill his step father suggests when he was praying. His revenge wanted him to kill his father’s murderer when he was busy in negative or prohibited activities like drinking, sexual relationships and so on. These habits change their attitudes towards their family, friends, studies and responsibilities. They create a severe risk to their lives and future. However, once they enter their adulthood, normally they are not answerable to their elders unlik e Pakistanis. However, it always depends on the way they are brought up. There are no restrictions on the American women to keep themselves away or hidden from the male counterparts of the society. They have equal rights to employment, education, health facilities and career selection. American culture and laws are strict against

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Creating a Social Program Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Creating a Social Program - Term Paper Example Mentally ill persons in criminal justice system: Most of the mentally ill people are held in jail because they pose a good amount of threat to the people and to themselves. Previously the treatment incorporated insulin induced comas, freezing baths and shock treatment but in the late 1950’s the entire psychological fitness scene changed with the innovation and expansion of anti-psychotic treatment options. Mostly the offenders with the psychological illness do not get any sort of medications or special treatment during imprisonment. As a result of this lack of treatment facilities the conditions can get worse. The offenders may become a serious threat to the society or to themselves when they leave the jail. Therefore within the legal justice structure, the psychological health cases continue to be a serious challenge (Tracy, 2009) Treatment with mentally ill people: Sometimes the law enforcing people are not aware of the problem so the mentally ill people are kept with the no rmal prisoners but if diagnosed the mentally ill people in jails are not treated very well, as there is restriction with their movement in the jails, not allowed to meet people, less or almost no recreational activities etc. For apparent reasons, they are not provided with the televisions in their cells. The security concerns make it near to impossible for the correctional care takes and officials to take them to the fitness and exercise patio. These people are only allowed for 15 to 20 minutes to go out of their cells and provided them with the opportunity to have shower. Even this activity is also monitored. Usually the officers who are responsible for the security of these mentally ill people are not trained very properly so sometimes in odd situations they are not able to understand about how to deal with the particular situation and the consequences could be severe (James & Glaze, 2006). Aims: Our main aim is to propose and apply collaborative efforts among unlawful justice and psychological fitness systems. The program’s objective is to make improvement in the access system and to provide efficient handling for people with psychological problems concerned with the justice structure. The aim can be achieved through proper arrest, society based management, court appearances etc. It has been expected that almost one third or up to half of the imprisonments can be avoided if the mentally sick people are sent to proper places rather than taking them into the jails. A huge amount of money can be saved by simple changes in the system. It is proposed that if specialized training is provided to the officers most volatile situations can be avoided. Based on the guidance the officer will be able to distinguish between the normal and mentally ill people. He will use the techniques and methods which have been developed during the training period and as a result there will be a non violent ending of the faced encounter. Timeline: The timeline for the given proj ect is three years. Each year the program will be thoroughly evaluated for excellence. Policy Elements: 1. The police stations of few specific areas will be taken as subjects and special Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training will be provided to all the correctional officers who deal with such mentally ill people in jails. The training will be provided only to the officers who come in direct contact with the patients and not the other staff. 2. There are some police

The pathology, physiology and biochemistry of hypertension Essay Example for Free

The pathology, physiology and biochemistry of hypertension Essay Hypertension is a condition in which the individual’s blood pressure rises to an abnormal level.   In this condition, the systolic blood pressure is persistently above 140 mm of Hg and/or the diastolic blood is persistently above 90 mm of Hg.   The quantity of blood pumped by the heart, and the size of the blood determine the blood pressure (blood pressure = cardiac output * peripheral vascular resistance).   Besides this, the quantity of water present in the body, the salt levels, kidneys, nervous system, hormone levels, etc, also play a very important role in determining the blood pressure (Najafian, N., 2006). The blood pressure tends to increase with age, and is about 160/95 at the age of 50 years.   There may several causes related to hypertension.   However, in 95 % of the cases a single underlying cause is not found, which may be due to interplay of several factors.   This type of hypertension is known as ‘essential hypertension’.   In more than 70 % of such individual, a pattern of inheritance is observed.  Ã‚   Several ethnic groups such as Jews, African-American and Japanese, develop hypertension more often (Mayo Clinic. 2006). Studies have demonstrated that the important cause for essential hypertension is an increase in the peripheral resistance of the blood vessels.   This disorder can develop due to sympathetic nervous activity or from narrowing of the blood vessels.   The remaining 5% of the cases are caused due to certain disorders such as cardiac disorder (corarctation of the aorta), renal disorders (glomerulonephritis and chronic pyelonrphritis), endocrinal disorders (such as pheochromocytoma, primary aldosteronism, Cushing’ syndrome), drug usage (such as corticosteroids, certain birth control pills) and sometimes during pregnancy. Excessive hormones are released in pheochromocytoma, which cause an increase in the cardiac output and rise in the peripheral vascular resistance.   In the renal disorder, the kidneys do not function efficiently, resulting in sodium retention in the body.   In some conditions, excessive rennin is produced by the kidney resulting in activation of the angiotensin II (that has great vasoconstrictor action).   Angiotensin II encourages release of aldosterone which causes sodium retention.   In primary aldosteronism, the mineral sodium is retained in the body, along with changes in the vascular smooth muscles of the blood vessels (Boon, N.A. and Fox, K.A.A. 1996). In individuals with essential hypertension, the large arteries experience changes in the vessel wall.   The inner elastic lamina gets thickened; the smooth muscles increase in size and fibrous tissues gets deposited.   In an effort to normalise the blood flow, the arteries dilate and become tortuous.   In such circumstances, due to the damage of the inner-lining tissues of the blood vessels (endothelium), the deposition and retention of lipoproteins in the sub-epithelial wall develops.   Along with this, other substances such as connective tissue matrix, smooth muscles, the mineral calcium, inflammatory cells and newly-developed blood vessels are formed.   (Shah, P.K., 2001).   Smaller blood vessels get narrowed, and aneurysms are formed. Due to these anatomical changes in the blood vessels, the blood flow and the peripheral vascular resistance is increased.   The process of atheroma is also hastened.   If the blood supply to the kidney is affected with the narrowing of the blood vessels, rennin and angiotensin are activated, and sodium and water are retained.   Sometimes the associated narrowing of the blood vessels to the organs are so severe that the organs began to function abnormally.  Ã‚   The kidneys produce proteinuria and microscopic haematuria.   Besides, the blood supply to the brain is also affected as the arteries begin to narrow (Boon, N.A. and Fox, K.A.A. 1996). In the body, multiple mechanisms may be involved in elevating the blood pressure.   In arterial hypertension, the relationship between cardiac output and the total vascular peripheral resistance is distorted.   Blood pressure is affected by several variables including genetic, environmental and demographic, which affect both the cardiac output and peripheral vascular resistance (includes age, sex, gender, body mass index, etc).   Cardiac output has an effect on the blood volume which is influenced by sodium levels in the body.   The peripheral vascular resistance is affected by hormonal and neuronal factors.   Vasoconstrictors that reduce the lumen for blood flow include Angiotensin II, catecholamines and the endothelium. The vasodilatation factors include kinin and prostoglandins.   Several auto-regulatory mechanisms also take part in regulating the peripheral vascular resistance.   They automatically increase the blood flow when vasoconstriction occurs.   The local factors that adjust the blood pressure include pH, hypoxia, alpha and beta-adrenergic mechanisms that affect cardiac contraction, vascular tone, heart beat, etc.   The kidneys adjust the blood pressure in several ways.   The rennin-angiotensin system (RAS) affects the metabolism of sodium and peripheral vascular resistance.    Renin is released by the juxtaglomerular cells that transform angiotensinogen present in the blood to angiotensin 1.   This is later transformed to angiotensin II by the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE).   Angiotensin increases the blood pressure by inducing vasoconstriction (action on the smooth muscles present in the blood vessels) and increasing the blood volume (by encouraging aldosterone release).   The kidneys also increase the blood pressure by reabsorbing sodium from the proximal tubules.   In this way the sodium levels increases in the body and thereby there is an increase in the blood volume (Schoen, F. J. 2002). The kidneys manage about 170 litres of blood filtration every day.   This amount of blood contains about 23 moles of salt.   More than 99.5% of this is reabsorbed back into the blood through ionic channels, exchange and transporter, etc.   Certain changes in the proteins that involve sodium reabsorption may be expressed through genetic defects.   This condition is known as ‘Liddle’s syndrome’.   Likewise, several other components of the RAS system are affected by genetic defects.   The kidneys may release reduced amounts of sodium leading to increased blood volume and increased cardiac output, leading to a rise in the blood pressure (Schoen, F. J. 2002). The blood vessel wall may be directly stimulated by chronic vasoconstriction.   This can lead to thickening of the blood vessel wall, which further narrows the lumen and raises the peripheral vascular resistance.   Large and medium-sized blood vessels have associated changes in the blood vessel wall.   Aortic dissection and haemorrhage can occur due to increased vascular resistance.   In small blood vessels, hyaline arteriosclerosis and hyperplasic arteriosclerosis can result (Schoen, F. J. 2002). Genetic defects can cause rare forms of hypertension.   Deficiency in enzymes of aldosterone metabolism leads to increased release of aldosterone, and increased salt and water reabsorbtion (Schoen, F. J. 2002). Aldosterone is present in the cells of adrenal zona gloemerulosa.   Angiotensin II helps to activate it through the RAS system.   When the sodium levels decrease, and the blood pressure drops, the alodsterone gets activated.   Angiotensongen is combined with renin.   Angiotensin I is formed which is converted to Angiotensin II by the ACE enzyme present on the surface of endothelial cells located in the kidneys and the lungs.   Aminopeptidase converts Angiotensin II to Angiotensin III by the enzyme aminopeptidase (Schmidt, T.J. Et al. 2006). Several enzymes such as caboxypeptidases and aminopeptidases produce a number of subtacnes related to angiotensin such as angiotensin I, II, III, IV, etc.   Each has their own physiological function.   Several alternative pathways may be present mainly associated with angiotensin II production.   Angiotensin I can be converted to another form known as ‘Angiotensin-(1-9) by the enzyme carboxypeptidase (associated with ACE).   This later gets converted to Angiotensin II.   Further studies need to be conducted on the exact mechanism by this conversion takes place.   Clinically, ACE and angiotensin I receptor are significant, although a lot has to be studied about these alternate pathways (Kramkowski, K. Et al. 2006). The diagnosis of hypertension is made based on the history, symptoms, signs, and the results of several diagnostic tests such as urine tests, blood tests, Electrocardiogram (ECG), chest X-rays, etc.   Urine tests are required to determine the level of proteins, glucose, and the presence of blood in the urine.   Blood tests are required to determine the level of urea, creatinine, cholesterol, triglycerides and hormones in the blood.   Chest X-rays, angiograms and MRI scans of the heart are required to determine the activity of the heart and the lungs. ECG is required to determine the electrical activity of the heart and abnormalities such as ischemia and left ventricular hypertrophy.   The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (2003) have classified hypertension based on the severity of the blood pressure.   These include normal blood pressure (120/80 mm), pre-hypertension (120-139/80-89 mm), stage 1 (140-159/90-99 mm), and stage 2 (150/100 mm).   In pheochomocytoma a specialised test to determine the 24 hour urinary cathecholamine output may be performed.   In Conn’s syndrome the blood rennin and aldosterone activity is determined (Boon, N.A. and Fox, K.A.A. 1996). The main aim of treatment is to relieve the symptoms, reduce the effects of the disease process and prevent further complications.   Once hypertension is detected, the individual has to take care and follow certain measures in diet, lifestyle, physical activity and consume certain medications.   Studies have demonstrated that timely and appropriate treatment can help reduce the occurrence of several complications such as stroke, renal failure and others.   Besides, the fatalities due to cardiovascular events are significantly reduced (Boon, N.A. and Fox, K.A.A. 1996). The individual has to consume a low-sodium diet, and reduce consumption of alcohol.   Individuals, who smoke, may gain significantly if they stop the habit.   Exercises can also be very beneficial to hypertensive individuals, and can drastically help reduce the blood pressure.   Regular consumption of medications has ensured that the individual’s blood pressure is within normal limits.   Drugs are administered as a single or a combination therapy.   The problem in hypertensive individuals is that they tend to stop the medications once the symptoms reduce.   However, the disease can remain silent, and the individual may experience the complications, later.    Hence, it would be advisable to continue the medications as prescribed, with appropriate control of the side-effects.   Several agents such as beta-blockers, angiotensin II receptor blockers, ACE inhibitors, thiazide diuretics, calcium channel blockers, vasodilators are available which are administered appropriately.   The first-line drugs use varies from one individual to another depending on the severity of the condition. Combination therapy is also available to treat refractory cases (or when hypertension cannot be controlled by drug doses at which side-effects do not develop).   During emergency treatment of hypertension, the blood pressure should not be brought rapidly down as it can lead to brain damage, cardiac insufficiency and renal problems.   The blood pressure has to be brought down to 150/90 level over a period of one hour to ninety minutes.   In an emergency situation, sodium nitroprusside is mode ideal bring down the blood pressure.   Labetalol, oral nifedipine and hydralazine are also ideal to bring to bring down the blood pressure reduced (Boon, N.A. and Fox, K.A.A. 1996).    References: Boon, N.A. and Fox, K.A.A. 1996, â€Å"Diseases of the Cardiovascular System.† In: Edwards, C.R.W., Bouchier, I.A.D. and Haslett, C., Davidson’s Principles and Practice of Medicine, 17th ed, Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh. 191-311. Kramkowski, K., Mogielnicki, A. and Buczko, W. 2006. â€Å"The physiological significance of the alternative pathways of angiotensin II production.† J Physiol Pharmacol, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 529-539. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmedcmd=Retrievedopt=AbstractPluslist_uids=17229979query_hl=3itool=pubmed_docsum Mayo Clinic Staff. 2006, High blood pressure (hypertension). [Online], Available:   http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/DS00100/DSECTION=1, [Accessed: 2007, January, 30]. Schmidt, T.J. and Litwack, G. 2006, Biochemistry of Hormones, in: Devlin, T.M., Textbook of Biochemistry with Clinical Correlations, Wiley-Less, New jersey. 895-946. Schoen, F.J. 2002, Blood Vessels, in:   Kumar, V., Abbas, A.K., Fausto, N. (eds), Robins and Cotran: Pathologic Basis of Disease, 6th ed, Saunders, Philadelphia. 2002. 423-444. Shah, P.K. 2001, Pathogenesis of arthrosclerosis, in: Rosendorff, C., Essential Cardiology: Principles and Practice, W.B. Saunders Company., Philadelphia. Tweedie, D. (2006). The Pathology of Hypertension (Heart/Circulation). [Online], Available:   http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:izxWLiHy3tUJ:www.uwo.ca/pathol/MedsII/Notes/CVS-Hypertension.rtf+hypertension+pathologyhl=enct=clnkcd=4, [Accessed: 2007, January, 30].

Beautiful Mind Essay Example for Free

Beautiful Mind Essay Based on what I have watched from the movie of â€Å"A Beautiful Mind†, which is a biography based on the true life story of a math prodigy, John Forbes Nash Jr., is an incomparable math genius student from Princeton University who definitely amazed the minds of people he meets. For me, he is an extraordinary person having a broad and an odd imagination as well. Unfortunately, he suffers from a mental illness called schizophrenia which he doesn’t even know himself. His friends find him weird or likely a nerd, but still they try to make friends with him. Nash tried to communicate and interact with them but in the end, it’s like there’s something that bothers him, some kind of paranoia that leads him to stay away and find himself alone and unconsciously creating things that aren’t really there (hallucination) and believing things that aren’t really true (delusion). Like for example, an imaginary friend which is known to be Charles (his room mate) and Charles’ niece. It’s odd but I strongly believe that all the things kept from his subconscious mind releases through Charles and other delusions his mind creates. I believe more than anything else, this movie focuses on perceptions of life. Perception of what is reality and what is imaginary, not only his perception but also people’s perception of him, and of the situation. Yet he was a brilliant man, although at times to people he seemed a bit unorthodox he was eventually accepted. Ironically enough I believe that it was his problems of not liking people, but wanting to be accepted and acknowledge that aided his mental state, however by the time he had become accepted his imaginary world was out of control. As years passes without knowing that he has such mental illness, Nash have invented some kind of Mathematical formula (equilibrium) which become popular and it startled me. He graduated and become a professor in Mathematics and romantically involved with his hard working student named Alicia and they even got married. But his illness turned out to be worse than I thought; his delusions become rigorous and more uncontrollable by his mind. He even believed that he’s been hired to work to the government to break codes. His other delusional product named Parcher, keeps on haunting him to work and to work which have caused him so much stress that made the symptoms worse. He keeps on believing that there’s a conspiracy, a mission by the government that will lead him to honor, but all of these are only in his mind. Nash continued his medication and deal with his delusional state. And it made me wonder, because according to my belief, â€Å"real mentally abnormal person doesn’t even know that he/she is not normal†. But in Nash’s case, how come he realized that he’s suffering from this illness and he can even stay away from his delusions? I don’t know but all I know are risks that may happen if you pay no attention to this illness. Without medication and therapy, they are unable to function in the real world. If they fall victim to severe hallucinations and delusions, they can be a danger to themselves and those around them. Schizophrenia usually develops gradually, although onset can be sudden. These were the symptoms that Nash have: Confusion, Inability to make decisions, Hallucinations, doesn’t eat regularly and lack of sleep, Delusions, Nervousness, Indifference to the opinions of others, A tendency to argue A conviction that he is better than others, or that people are out to get him. Fortunately, he was able to cop with his Paranoia and lived a simple life, he even got the Nobel Prize he ever wanted because of his genuine mind.

Standardisation Vs Customisation

Standardisation Vs Customisation A spectacular globalisation has been observed in the international business due to regional economic integration, advances in transportation, communication, technology and liberalization of worldwide trade policies (Czinkota Ronkainen, 2004; Keegan, 1999).ÂÂ   With the growing international business, international marketing has become more complex and diverse, (Terpstra, 2000; Cateora Ghauri, 2006) environment that is uncontrollable, unpredictable resulting uncertainty in business environment. International business is not only sending goods and services to foreign market but also to deal with different issues that make international marketing more complex, in particular geographical borders, different political systems, business regulations, currency conversions and cultural variety (Keegan, 2002; Geri Ian, 2009). Convincing cases can be put forward for both a standardisation or customisation approach to global marketing practice. These arguments are keenly explored; drawing from examples of Coca-Colas international marketing programme to reveal key points. This report discusses the contemporary issue facing by the global companies in marketing their products. Part One Issue: Global Marketing Standardisation Vs Customisation Global versus local marketing strategy have been a major debate in cross-national business development over decades for global brands (Levitt, 1983; Solber, 2002). The issue here is if the companies should follow a standardized marketing program to different consumer groups in different countries or a customised one by adapting their strategy according to the needs and habits of the specific country. The explanation for this confusion can be supported with two variables, awareness of local market condition at the headquarters and the level of headquarters influence in decision making of local marketing. This dilemma of standardising and customised marketing is mainly due to key factors like cost, ethical issues, legal restrictions, media, culture, and markets. For example taking the leading beverage company Coca-Cola (2003) into consideration it global campaign Life tastes good has been backed just after 2 years after its launch. Now the companies advertising headquarters operates ac cording to the local market needs rather than the draft developed at central headquarters. In addition to this it is also argues that product category is also a key factor in making advertising decisions (Summerfield, 2002). Kay (2002), president of Toronto consulting firm The Glasgow Group in similar fashion says technology and clothing brands tend to fit well with standard marketing but food and beverage products face difficulties with cultural mismatch, category development, brand name and local economy. Another example for customized marketing is McDonalds, a food chain, which customises its marketing strategy as well as products according to the needs and culture of the countries. The products launched in each country differ according to the cultural requirements and habits, economic development and affordability of the targeted class. This is considered to be issue because of the complexity created by the issue in the decision making process of international managers. As the main motive of the advertising is to influence the companys customers in selling their products, it is important for the company to decide if their advertising campaigns are influencing its customers globally in all regions. Thinking from a strategic point of view organisations marketing with a standardised marketing strategy implies offering standard product at standard price through standard distribution system, supported by similar promotional programmes in different counties, with different market requirement and in some cases completely opposite markets, this supports customising approach. On the other hand Cohanim (2002), Vice president of marketing and communication of IBM (Past), says IBM looks at the globe as a single market and IBM try to operate as a single global market, the company supports this by stating the solutions for their industry, customers, products and services are similar for all countries in which they are operating. Critical Analysis: Global Marketing is the strategy involving the four Ps of marketing i.e. Product, Price, Place and Promotion to deal with the markets according to the geographical and cultural adaptation. Complete Standardisation marketing strategy is to offer identical product line and features at identical prices through identical distribution channels endorsed by identical promotional programs. The other extreme of this would be Complete Customisation marketing strategy to develop distinct tailored products, pricing, promotion and distribution policies with no specific standard elements (Imad, Naresh 1995). Many writers have endorsed standardisation instead of customisation for international marketing (Britt, 1974; Clark, 1975; Obrien, 1986). This argument is pleasing as it can be estimated an outstanding sales for a standard global product. Levitt (1983) in his Globalization of Markets states that If a company forces costs and prices down and pushes quality and reliability up while maintaining reasonable concern for suitability customers will prefer its world-standardized products. Also the cost factor, which can be reduced by single marketing strategy when moved to low-cost market, helps the organisation to maintain the quality of the product (Walter, 1986; Yip, 1989). It is also observed that most of the international marketing campaigns are showing attention towards the standardised approach of advertising (Varder, 1992). Some researches conveyed that industrial products lend themselves more easily to standardisation than consumer products (Hite and Fraser, 1988) still, product categories cant be considered as great factor in standardising international marketing (Saimee Roth, 1992). In US, EU markets it is found that businesses with standardised products are well established and gain the advantage of create a standard image of their products (Bharadwrj et al, 1993; Rosen et al, 1989). The other important factor that encourages standardisation is reduce in unit cost, this gain a competitive advantage for the global companies who can easily penetrate into the price sensitive markets and drive the small competitors out of market. Walliser Usunier (1998, p. 530), in their review article, conclude that even though opportunities exist to standardize the strategic levels of international advertising, mainly on a regional basis, considerable adaptation of exceptional elements in international advertising campaign is inevitable. The standardisation or the customisation depends on the products and the notion of the consumers towards the product. Products like laptops, computers, televisions, cameras, watches, cosmetics, and clothing associated with fashion and status, etc are marketed on the basis of their world class recognition and hence a standard approach to campaign the products is used. A customised approach in such cases might not be preferred as they are advances in technology and thus the consumer demands in such cases have universal acceptance of these global products (Yvette Reisinger, 2008). This kind of globalization leads to homogenization of consumer acceptance and adaptation of such goods. But products like food and beverages, services like banking and insurance solutions depend on the habits and tastes and needs and wants of the targeted ethnicity. For example, McDonalds recipes differ from each country it operates and are accustomed to the eating habits of the locals. The pricing of such pro ducts too is done by considering the spending ability of the targeted class. A standardised approach in such case would possibly result in a failure of the product in international markets. Yvette Reisinger (2008), in his book describes the failure of the fast-food concept in France which is well admired in China. The Chinese consumers prefer faster service with low waiting time where as the French consumers seek distinctiveness and identity of the service. The study thus implies that a standardised or a customised technique of marketing products might not be feasible in all cases and depending on the influencing factors; thus, either of them or sometimes both of them might have to be considered. This is understood by a thorough research of the behaviour and adaptations of the countries while launching a product and depending on the mindset and acceptability of the consumers in those geographies (Salah Hassan, Erdener Kaynak, 1994). Philip Kotler in his Global Standardization Courting Danger (1986) describes few such failures of products belonging to renowned brands due to non-customization. Philips initially failed to make profits in Japan due to larger size of the coffeemakers and later did well after reducing the size to accommodate Japanese kitchens. Mattels Barbie doll, a famous product introduced in foreign markets, could have made positive profits with its standard western features accepted by many countries with a lower price m odel. This could also be counter argued by having a culture specific meaning of dolls and the need to have their features reflect a national look with would obviously earn better profits due to wide acceptance (Philip Kotler, 1986). Even though the Barbie sales were good with its western features in 60 countries, the sales in Japan have flourished only after the features of the doll were modified to reflect Japanese. This doesnt completely mean that Mattel has done well in those 60 other countries and leaves behind a dilemma that if there were customized features representing the nations, they could have done better. A proper and complete understanding of these two strategies i.e. standardization and customization is necessary for global marketing and thus enables us to channelize the knowledge to leverage the opportunities in international markets. The idea is not to debate on which of the both is better but to investigate potentiality and research on which of the strategies suit the product (Philip Kotler, 1986). The possibility is that, by applying each of them independently could be successful or by a combination of both the strategies is to be decided while the promotional strategy for the product is being designed. This could be realized by a primary market research in the geographies where the product is being launched and the cultural, economic, political and infrastructural adaptations and limitations of the countries. This is quite necessary for successful marketing and promotion to launch any product in the international markets and to be noticed and appreciated by the consumers of the product. A predetermined notion in this regard is dangerous and might in turn result in a disaster. Depending on the study conducted before the launch, it is then necessary to plan accordingly, the marketing strategy that needs to be implemented (Levitt, 1983). In international markets striking a balance between standardisation and customisation is vitally essential for the product to be successful globally (Amanda 2004). The element for success is an accurate assessment of market forces currently facing the specific brand and how to best take the advantage of this market environment. It is probably one of the reasons that Coca Cola is the worlds most powerful brand as stated by Interbrands Global Brand Scorecard in 2003, estimating its brand value at $70.45Bn(No. 1-0085). Part Two Organisation for Research: Coca Cola, worlds largest manufacturer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages is the best example for the global marketing. We have considered Coke due to its global recognition and also for its efforts to remain a leader by dealing with the issues in standardisation and customisation strategies. The organisation currently operating in more than 200 countries with over 450 brands and a portfolio of more than 3000 beverage products worldwide, constantly competing with its international rivals as well as local players in the countries it is operating in, to revive its position as a leader in the domain. The vast business structure of Coca Cola has led to prologue of innumerable marketing strategies and theories which have constantly been modified to maintain the brand as a global paramount. Achieving such a position all over the world is no cakewalk for any organisation and involves complex marketing strategies to deal with boundless problems encountering across the world in different countries. A detailed analysis of different strategies and theories implemented by Coca Cola in executing its marketing plan across the world could help us to understand the concepts of standardisation and customisation better, and the advantages and disadvantages of both these theories. Issue and Facts: For any company that is continuously growing it is vitally necessary that it does not contain geographical limitations and that is one theory that Coca Cola has excelled in. On July 29th when the company announced its second quarter results, a raise in profit of 43% has been observed due to overseas growth even though it suffered weak domestic volume (Source 1: NY times). Since the time Coca Cola has started its global expansion, it has either become a leading beverage brand in countries worldwide or it tried to acquire the topmost beverage seller of that country. A recent such deal that Coca Cola tried to make is in China (Source 2: NY times), which unfortunately couldnt be completed due to government restrictions. Reportedly, Coca Cola tried to acquire a Chinese juice maker Huiyuan in the $2.5Billion deal (Source 3: CBS News). The company has ensured an equal market spread across the world and that is how it still made wonderful in spite of the weak economy back home in the United States, by its overseas markets (Source 4: Barrons). Recently in the month of June, it has announced the release of Green Tea Coca Cola in Japan, which they claim is good for health and beauty (Source 5: WBST). The range of products that the brand releases in different countries differs with the local adaptations, tastes and needs of the people. The marketing strategies and ad campaigns too differ depending of the mindsets and interests of people. In the Asian Countries of India and Pakistan, the caption goes as Jo Chaho Ho Jaye Coca Cola Enjoy, by which the brand is recognized in those countries. Most of the captions and marketing plans of Coca Cola are such that they seem to the people to identify and relate themselves with the brand(Ref: 25, 25). The Colalife campaign is another example of Cokes strategy to support the social cause for the Third World countries by supplying social products like Vitamin A tablets in their crates for people who direly need them (Source 6: PFSK). In Spain, Coca-Cola withdrew its 2-liter bottle after discovering that few local refrigerators had large enough compartments (Philip Kotler, 1986). The evidences of such a global leading brand in following the strategy of customization and adaptation regionally in spite of maintaining its international brand image makes it one of the worlds most powerful brands. Literature: Issue Analysis: The Coca Cola Company mission is to expand their business by understanding the trends and forces that will help them to sustain by creating value and making difference (Coca Cola Mission Statement). In the process of achieving this mission, they believe that consumer demand drives everything they do but also brand Coca Cola will always be the core of their business(Ref: 27). The focus on market is by getting into the market to listen, observe and learn what their consumers, customers and partners need. They wish to create a brand image that would inspire creativity, passion, optimism and fun (Coca Cola Mission Statement). The point here is to observe the possibilities of sustainability, which is a key factor in a global market. One should always understand the fact that to be Global, one needs to be local. With a history of more than hundred years, the company has created a brand value for itself for its core business by the name Coca Cola or Coke and thus, is widely recognized by it . The idea now is to sustain its global model by constantly endeavoring new and innovative products that best suit the markets of the countries it is operating in. The theories of standardization and customization have been utilized constantly by this firm to maintain its core brand value as well as making the people feel it as local with its adaptive and customized brands and marketing. The emotional connection that they make with consumers while providing them with product quality and variety builds brand value and drives preference for their beverage products. The issue is, to maintain such an emotional bonding with their customers, they need to listen to their customers and respond to them according to the needs. Various ethnicities have various habits and thus different tastes. The proper control of top management and their readiness to listen to their business customers worldwide and executing marketing plans through proper research and analysis is one the main reasons that Coca Cola is an example for its business model and marketing strategies. They have dealt with the issue of varying needs of their customers by launching products that resemble the countrys ethnic habits and taste. A standardized approach in this case could prove dangerous as, if the product is not welcome by the people, no matter how best the marketing plan is and how well it was received in the home country or for that matter any other country, if people of one particular country dont like the product, it will result in a disaster in that nation thus forcing the com pany to withdraw its operation due to such failure. A proper method would be to deal with their local necessity and simultaneously promote the core brand to achieve standardization. This way, even though customized products are being offered to the people, the core brand value is always promoted. The Coca Cola Company, with its experience in serving the world for more than a century, has excelled in the art of global marketing by customizing its products according to needs and also by maintaining the core brand Coca Cola or simply Coke across the world. Conclusion: The Coca Cola Company, in their 2008 annual review, mentions that We are just getting started. The reason is because currently they are selling 570 billion servings per year which makes it 18,000 servings per second. Estimates show that over the next 12 years the population worldwide would grow by more than 800 million people. In addition, 1 billion new people would enter the middle class population and nearly 900 million people will have migrated to urban centers. That means more consumers with more money who have ability to purchase the ready-to-drink beverages to thrive business. In an attempt to understand and test the product sustainability, the company continuously launches new products with intense marketing campaigns in different countries. Depending on the consumer response and market survival, it either retains the sale of product or withdraws it from the market. In this process of satisfying their customer needs, Coca Cola is constantly gaining experience and is getting re ady for its future targets by getting closer to its customers utilizing the theories of customization and standardization simultaneously and managing their effects intelligently to eliminate any negative effects and addicting people with its adaptive fondness Read more: http://www.oxbridgewriters.com/essays/marketing/global-marketing.php#ixzz2Bwx0DLy9