Eczema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Eczema - Essay Example Atopic eczema mostly begins at the stages of infancy and childhood. Among the children affected, about 65% developed the symptoms of Atopic eczema within their first year of life and 85% were affected with it before they were 5 years old (Atopic Dermatitis, 2011). Though Atopic eczema is found to be severe in infants and children, about 60 - 70% of the affected children are naturally cured of Atopic eczema by their early teens. Those children who inherited this atopic condition may suffer from its symptoms at any time, even in their teens, if triggered by environmental factors. Moreover, the atopic eczema patients are at an increased risk for asthma and allergic rhinitis. (Mandelin 2010).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nurses play a major role in the management of atopic eczema.   Since there is no cure for eczema, patients and their caregivers can become despondent over time (NICE 2007). However, if a good skin care routine can be maintained, the majority of eczema patients can cope wit h the condition without too much trouble (Ward 2008).   Educating the patient about eczema is essential but this must be accompanied by demonstrating how to apply treatments, listening to what patients and parents/ caregivers have to say and working together to devise a skin care routine that fits in with their lifestyle in a holistic manner (Ward 2008).   Therefore â€Å"both the theoretical and clinical experience of a nurse is vital to assist both family and child in the condition† (Anderson & Miller, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The primary aim in the treatment of atopic eczema is to heal the skin and to prevent the flare ups. For the treatment of the skin, the parents have to follow an assisted skin care routine, to prevent the worsening of the condition. However, the amount of help and guidance a parent will receive for the treatment of atopic eczema from their GP or nurse can often vary (Ward 2008).   It is, therefore, of great importance that children’s nurses are aware and up to date with evidence based practice (Lawston 2008).  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nurses, since frequently make informed care decisions based on evidence based practice and research (Thompson 2002), they can assist and guide the family of atopic eczema patients and plan and devise an appropriate treatment. Today, nurses are accountable for their own practice and are answerable for their own acts or omissions, regardless of any direct instructions received and are expected to take responsibility for delivering care supported by best practice, a sound evidence base and validated research (NMC 2004).     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The changes evolved in the field of Nursing is evident from the new roles of Nurses, such as a nurse practitioner running nurse led dermatology clinics, clinical nurse specialist at the forefront of a medical practicing field, etc. In the modern health care industry, Nurses need to be up-to-date with evidence based practice and it is th e responsibility of the nurse to maintain and implement research into practice (Polit & Beck, 2010).  Newell & Burnard (2011) reiterated this stating that one’s practice should always be evidence based and as being a health care professional, it is one’s ethical responsibility.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This paper focuses on the research studies conducted to find out the efficiency of prevailing treatments for

Backward Design Essay Example for Free

Backward Design Essay Deliberate and focused instructional design requires us as teachers and curriculum writers to make an important shift in our thinking about the nature of our job. The shift involves thinking a great deal, first, about the specific learnings sought, and the evidence of such learnings, before thinking about what we, as the teacher, will do or provide in teaching and learning activities. Though considerations about what to teach and how to teach it may dominate our thinking as a matter of habit, the challenge is to focus first on the desired learnings from which appropriate teaching will logically follow. Our lessons, units, and courses should be logically inferred from the results sought, not derived from the methods, books, and activities with which we are most comfortable. Curriculum should lay out the most effective ways of achieving specific results. It is analogous to travel planning. Our frameworks should provide a set of itineraries deliberately designed to meet cultural goals rather than a purposeless tour of all the major sites in a foreign country. In short, the best designs derive backward from the learnings sought. The appropriateness of this approach becomes clearer when we consider the educational purpose that is the focus of this book: understanding. We cannot say how to teach for understanding or which material and activities to use until we are quite clear about which specific understandings we are after and what such understandings look like in practice. We can best decide, as guides, what â€Å"sites† to have our student â€Å"tourists† visit and what specific â€Å"culture† they should experience in their brief time there only if we are clear about the particular understandings about the culture we want them to take home. Only by having specified the desired results can we focus on the content, methods, and activities most likely to achieve those results. But many teachers begin with and remain focused on textbooks, favored lessons, and time-honored activities—the inputs—rather than deriving those means from what is implied in the desired resultsâ€⠀the output. To put it in an odd way, too many teachers focus on the teaching and not the learning. They spend most of their time thinking, first, about what they will do, what materials they will use, and what they will ask students to do rather than first considering what the learner will need in order to accomplish the learning goals. Consider a typical episode of what might be called content-focused design instead of results-focused design. The teacher might base a lesson on a particular topic (e.g., racial prejudice), select a resource (e.g., To Kill a Mockingbird), choose specific instructional methods based on the resource and topic (e.g., Socratic seminar to discuss the book and cooperative groups to analyze stereotypical images in films and on television), and hope thereby to cause learning (and meet a few English/language arts standards). Finally, the teacher might think up a few essay questions and quizzes for assessing student understanding of the book. This approach is so common that we may well be tempted to reply, What could be wrong with such an approach? The short answer lies in the basic questions of purpose: Why are we asking students to read this particular novel—in other words, what learnings will we seek from their having read it? Do the students grasp why and how the purpose should influence their studying? What should students be expected to understand and do upon reading the book, related to our goals beyond the book? Unless we begin our design work with a clear insight into larger purposes—whereby the book is properly thought of as a means to an educational end, not an end unto itself—it is unlikely that all students will understand the book (and their performance obligations). Without being self-conscious of the specific understandings about prejudice we seek, and how reading and discussing the book will help develop such insights, the goal is far too vague: The approach is more â€Å"by hope† than â€Å"by design.† Such an approach ends up unwittingly being one that could be described like this: Throw some content and activities against the wall and hope some of it sticks. Answering the â€Å"why?† and â€Å"so what?† questions that older students always ask (or want to), and doing so in concrete terms as the focus of curriculum planning, is thus the essence of understanding by design. What is difficult for many teachers to see (but easier for students to feel!) is that, without such explicit and transparent priorities, many students find day-to-day work confusing and frustrating. The twin sins of traditional design More generally, weak educational design involves two kinds of purposelessness, visible throughout the educational world from kindergarten through graduate school. We call these the â€Å"twin sins† of traditional design. The error of activity-oriented design might be called â€Å"hands-on without being minds-on†Ã¢â‚¬â€engaging experiences that lead only accidentally, if at all, to insight or achievement. The activities, though fun and interesting, do not lead anywhere intellectually. Such activity-oriented curricula lack an explicit focus on important ideas and appropriate evidence of learning, especially in the minds of the learners. A second form of aimlessness goes by the name of â€Å"coverage,† an approach in which students march through a textbook, page by page (or teachers through lecture notes) in a valiant attempt to traverse all the factual material within a prescribed time. Coverage is thus like a whirlwind tour of Europe, perfectly summarized by the old movie title If Its Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, which properly suggests that no overarching goals inform the tour. As a broad generalization, the activity focus is more typical at the elementary and lower middle school levels, whereas coverage is a prevalent secondary school and college problem. No guiding intellectual purpose or clear priorities frame the learning experience. In neither case can students see and answer such questions as these: Whats the point? Whats the big idea here? What does this help us understand or be able to do? To what does this relate? Why should we learn this? Hence, the students try to engage and follow as best they can, hoping that meaning will emerge. The three stages of backward design Stage 1: Identify desired results What should students know, understand, and be able to do? What content is worthy of understanding? What enduring understandings are desired? In Stage 1 we consider our goals, examine established content standards (national, state, district), and review curriculum expectations. Because typically we have more content than we can reasonably address within the available time, we must make choices. This first stage in the design process calls for clarity about priorities. Stage 2: Determine acceptable evidence How will we know if students have achieved the desired results? What will we accept as evidence of student understanding and proficiency? The backward design orientation suggests that we think about a unit or course in terms of the collected assessment evidence needed to document and validate that the desired learning has been achieved, not simply as content to be covered or as a series of learning activities. This approach encourages teachers and curriculum planners to first â€Å"think like an assessor† before designing specific units and lessons, and thus to consider up front how they will determine if students have attained the desired understandings. Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and instruction With clearly identified results and appropriate evidence of understanding in mind, it is now the time to fully think through the most appropriate instructional activities. Several key questions must be considered at this stage of backward design: What enabling knowledge (facts, concepts, principles) and skills (processes, procedures, strategies) will students need in order to perform effectively and achieve desired results? What activities will equip students with the needed knowledge and skills? What will need to be taught and coached, and how should it best be taught, in light of performance goals? What materials and resources are best suited to accomplish these goals? Note that the specifics of instructional planning—choices about teaching methods, sequence of lessons, and resource materials—can be successfully completed only after we identify desired results and assessments and consider what they imply. Teaching is a means to an end. Having a clear goal helps to foc us our planning and guide purposeful action toward the intended results. Conclusion Backward design may be thought of, in other words, as purposeful task analysis: Given a worthy task to be accomplished, how do we best get everyone equipped? Or we might think of it as building a wise itinerary, using a map: Given a destination, whats the most effective and efficient route? Or we might think of it as planning for coaching: What must learners master if they are to effectively perform? What will count as evidence on the field, not merely in drills, that they really get it and are ready to perform with understanding, knowledge, and skill on their own? How will the learning be designed so that learners capacities are developed through use and feedback? This is all quite logical when you come to understand it, but â€Å"backward† from the perspective of much habit and tradition in our field. A major change from common practice occurs as designers must begin to think about assessment before deciding what and how they will teach. Rather than creating assessments near the conclusion of a unit of study (or relying on the tests provided by textbook publishers, which may not completely or appropriately assess our standards and goals), backward design calls for us to make our goals or standards specific and concrete, in terms of assessment evidence, as we begin to plan a unit or course. The rubber meets the road with assessment. Three different teachers may all be working toward the same content standards, but if their assessments vary considerably, how are we to know which students have achieved what? Agreement on needed evidence of learning leads to greater curricular coherence and more reliable evaluation by teachers. Equally important is the long-term gain in teacher, student, and parent insight about what does and does not count as evidence of meeting complex standards.

A Gangster Turns Writer :: Free Essay Writer

A GANGSTETR TURNES WRITER There was a kid named Tony Davidson who lived in Italy, Tony’s dad had a very powerful gang in Italy and everybody knew who they were. â€Å"If you’re having any problems I’ll fix them.† Said Tony’s dad. Tony however didn’t like violence he thought that all things could be handled peacefully.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However everyone at school was afraid of him. They always bought him presents, gave him money because they knew if they didn’t they would the price. Tony never asked for any of it though. All he wanted was real friends, not friends that just use him to be on his dad’s good side. Everyone was too scared to tell the Italian police because if they did they and their families would be in trouble. Until one day one brave man told an officer at the train station. A person who was at the station at the time quickly told Tony’s dad.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"We must move to America.† Tony’s dad told Tony. â⠂¬Å"Fine let’s go!† said Tony. So they got on their private which they stole from a rich Italian family, just for the fun of it and moved to America.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was still summer in America so school had not yet started. Tony, Tony’s dad, and the gang all knew English from when they took lessons in Italy.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the high school in which Tony was to be attending there was a-lot of mean people who were jealous and beat you up just for fun. In Italy Tony heard that American schools were bad and didn’t teach you anything except for stupid stuff. However when Tony arrived at his school he realized this was not true.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However what was true was that people kept making fun of him for no good reason. They were all jealous of his first day outfit; he had on a Gucci suit, with Prada shoes, and a Louis Vuitton backpack. Everybody messed up all his clothes and when he told his principal, the principal said neither â€Å"Sorry I don’t like nor help Italians†.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tony almost started crying; when his dad came to pick him up in a Ferrari a kid threw an egg at the car. Tony’s dad got out of the car and beat the kid up. The kid was injured so badly he was put in a wheelchair. â€Å"Dad why did you do that?† Violence is wrong said Tony. â€Å"No it isn’t violence is good!† said his dad.

Converting Your Manual Bookkeeping Essay

If you’re converting a manual bookkeeping system to a computerized system, your conversion will take a bit more time than just starting fresh because you need to be sure your new system starts with information that matches your current books. The process for entering your initial data varies depending on the software you’ve chosen. To ensure that you properly convert your bookkeeping system, use the information that comes with your software; read through the manual, review the startup suggestions made as you set up the system, and pick the methods that best match your style of operating. The best time to convert is at the end of an accounting period. That way, you won’t have to do a lot of extra work adding transactions that already occurred during a period. For example, if you decide to computerize your accounting system on March 15, you’d have to add all the transactions that occurred between March 1 and March 15 into your new system. It’s just easier to wait until April 1 to get started even if you buy the software on March 15. While you can convert to a computerized accounting system at the end of a month, your best time to do it is at the end of a calendar or fiscal year. Otherwise, you have to input data for all the months of the year that have passed. Whenever you decide to start your computerized bookkeeping, use the data from your trial balance that you used to close the books at the end of most recent accounting period. In the computerized system, enter the balances for each of the accounts in your trial balance. Asset, liability, and equity accounts should have carry-over balances, but Income and Expense accounts should have zero balances. Of course, if you’re starting a new business, you won’t have a previous trial balance. Then you just enter any balances you might have in your cash accounts, any assets your business may own as it starts up, and any liabilities that your business may already owe relating to startup expenses. You also add any contributions from owners that were made to get the business started in the Equity accounts. After you enter all the appropriate data, run a series of financial reports, such as an income statement and balance sheet, to be sure the data is entered and formatted the way you like it. It’s a lot easier to change formatting when the system isn’t chock-full of data. You need to be sure that you’ve entered the right numbers, so verify that the new accounting system’s financial reports match what you created manually. If the numbers are different, now’s the time to figure out why. Otherwise the reports you do at the end of the accounting period will be wrong. If the numbers don’t match, don’t assume the only place an error could be is in the data entered. You may find that the error is in the reports you developed manually. Of course, check your entries first, but if the income statement and balance sheet still don’t look right, double-check your trial balances as well. Read more: http://www. dummies. com/how-to/content/converting-your-manual-bookkeeping-to-a-computeriz. html#ixzz1SMwAbn8q

Political philosophy Essay

John Locke John locke was an English philosopher who was born in 1632 in Wrington, Somerset in England. His father was a country lawyer and milittary man who served as a captain during the English civil war. He went to Westminster school in 1647 and in 1652 to Christ Church in Oxford. Locke immersed himself in logic, metaphysics and classic languages. He graduated with a bachelor’s of medicine in 1674. He became the part of English loyal society in 1668. Locke met Anthony Ashley who was a parlimentarian in 1666 in Shaftesburry and became friend with him. He later on was appointed as a physician in Shaftesbury household in 1667. In that year he supervised a dangerous liver operation on shaftesburry and the operation was successful. When the Shaftesbury’s compaign to prevent the Catholic duke of York from Royal succession was failed, the Earl was forced to leave England to Holland in 1682. Locke went to Holland a year after his patron and returned to England in 1688 after the Glorious Revolution had placed the Protestant William III on the throne. John locke expressed his views that it is the obligation of the government to serve the people by protecting life, liberty and property. He was in favour of a representative government and rule of law. He said that if the government is unable to protect individuals then the people should revolt. In 1690 he wrote a an Essay Concerning Human Understanding. An Essay of Human Understanding is divided in four books. In these books he expresses that human mind is complete at birth † tabula rasa theory† ,but the mind can grow and acquire much more knowledge through experiences as we grow up. John Locke published Two Treatises of Government in 1689. Who wrote about the birth of the civil government in these treatises. He thought that the people can act evil and wicked, but they can also self-regulate themselves and be good. He thought that the government should have three branches: Legislative, Executive and Federative. John Locke was the against the King, he thought that the people should have the right to choose their leaders by voting. The people should revolt if the government fails to protect their properties, liberty and their lives. He stated that the right to property should be given to those people who put hard work and labor into it. In 1689, John Locke published A Letter Concerning Toleration. These letters are about the freedom of religion. He said that as human beings we have to right to follow whatever religion we want and the church does not have right to persecute people and convert them to christianity by force. John Locke means that if different religions are prevented of being practiced in a society then it will create a conflicts in the society.

Dark Romantic Poe essays

Dark Romantic Poe essays The Dark Side of Poe Edgar Allen Poe was known as a Dark Romantic because of his style of writing. A Dark Romantic was known for valuing intuition over logic and reason and thought that human events had certain signs and symbols behind them. Poe used the literary technique of symbolism very well, which Dark Romantics were known to use quite often. Dark Romantics were known to explore the dark side of a subject, but Poe was especially known for this because he had a very mad and deranged psyche. Poe used conflicts and bad experiences from his own life to help add him in his dark and creepy writings. Poes, The Fall of the House of Usher examines the dark side of human life through the life of Roderick Usher and his decaying house. Right away Poe begins to describe the atmosphere around the Usher home, which is eerie and raises the readers attentiveness. Before getting inside the house the narrator is already frightened by the appearance of the house, which looks like a face and has a c rack running down the center of the structure. The house now seemed unstable to the narrator and was afraid to enter it because he was afraid it might collapse on him ... made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction... (Pg 266), which foreshadowed the ending of the story. After entering the house the narrator was lead to the room that contained his dear old friend Roderick. Roderick was described to the reader as a cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid... (Pg 267) that gives the reader the idea that Roderick is not in good health. The description that Poe used for both the house and Roderick gives the reader solid proof that his is writing in a dark romantic style. His view of the house came from the perspective of man who was deranged and offered the reader only the sense of fear. The description of Roderick gives off the same effect to the reader but to a greater extent. Roderick is given the characteri...

Free Essays on African Art

Djennà ©, the oldest known city in sub-Saharan Africa is situated on the floodlands of the Niger and Bani rivers, 354 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of Timbuktu. Founded by merchants around 800 AD (near the site of an older city dating from 250BC), Djennà © flourished as a meeting place for traders from the deserts of Sudan and the tropical forests of Guinea. Captured by the Songhai emperor Sonni 'Ali in 1468, it developed into Mali’s most important trading center during the 16th century. The city thrived because of its direct connection by river with Timbuktu and from its situation at the head of trade routes leading to gold and salt mines. Between 1591 and 1780, Djennà © was controlled by Moroccan kings and during these years its markets further expanded, featuring products from throughout the vast regions of North and Central Africa. In 1861 the city was conquered by the Tukulor emperor al-Hajj 'Umar and was then occupied by the French in 1893. Thereafter, its commerci al functions were taken over by the town of Mopti, which is situated at the confluence of the Niger and Bani rivers, 90 kilometers to the northeast. Djennà © is now an agricultural trade center, of diminished importance, with several beautiful examples of Muslim architecture, including its Great Mosque. In addition to its commercial importance, Djennà ©, was also known as a center of Islamic learning and pilgrimage, attracting students and pilgrims from all over West Africa. The large market square of Djennà © is dominated by its Great Mosque. Tradition has it that the first mosque was built in 1240 by the sultan Koi Kunboro, who converted to Islam and turned his palace into a mosque. Very little is known about the appearance of the first mosque, but it was considered too sumptuous by Sheikh Amadou, the ruler of Djennà © in the early nineteenth century. The Sheikh built a second mosque in the 1830’s and allowed the first one to fall into disrepair. The present mosque... Free Essays on African Art Free Essays on African Art AFRICAN ART The traditional art of Africa plays a major part in the African society. Most ceremonies and activities (such as singing, dancing, storytelling, ect.) can not function without visual art. It can also be used as an implement and insignia of rank or prestige, or have a religious significance.African art consists mainly of sculptures, paintings, fetishes, masks, figures, and decorative objects. Sculptures are considered to be the greatest achievement for African art. A majority of the sculptures are done in wood but are also made of metal, stone, terra-cotta, mud, beadwork, ivory, and other materials. It is found in many parts of Africa but mainly in western and central Africa. Many ancient rock paintings have been found in Southern and Eastern Africa. These paintings are believed to be attributed to the SAN (Bushman) people. Masks and fetishes are often used to scare off bad things such as evil spirits, witches or ghosts. They are also used to bring about a desired end-break a bad habit, improve ones love life, or kill a natural or supernatural enemy. There are three basic themes of African art. The first is the dualism between bush and village. African tribes wear masks and headresses: the male is represented by the elephant, the most powerful of bush creatures and the female is delicately coiffed to express refinement and civilization. The second theme of African art is the problematic relationships between the sexes.African tribes use art as a therapeutic device to deal with the problems and issues dealing with the relations between the sexes. The third theme is the struggle to control natural or supernatural forces to achieve a desired end. African tribes often use masks in ceremonies (called Gelede) to please and honor the forces. For each region in Africa,there is a different style of art. The western Sudanic Region have ma... Free Essays on African Art Djennà ©, the oldest known city in sub-Saharan Africa is situated on the floodlands of the Niger and Bani rivers, 354 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of Timbuktu. Founded by merchants around 800 AD (near the site of an older city dating from 250BC), Djennà © flourished as a meeting place for traders from the deserts of Sudan and the tropical forests of Guinea. Captured by the Songhai emperor Sonni 'Ali in 1468, it developed into Mali’s most important trading center during the 16th century. The city thrived because of its direct connection by river with Timbuktu and from its situation at the head of trade routes leading to gold and salt mines. Between 1591 and 1780, Djennà © was controlled by Moroccan kings and during these years its markets further expanded, featuring products from throughout the vast regions of North and Central Africa. In 1861 the city was conquered by the Tukulor emperor al-Hajj 'Umar and was then occupied by the French in 1893. Thereafter, its commerci al functions were taken over by the town of Mopti, which is situated at the confluence of the Niger and Bani rivers, 90 kilometers to the northeast. Djennà © is now an agricultural trade center, of diminished importance, with several beautiful examples of Muslim architecture, including its Great Mosque. In addition to its commercial importance, Djennà ©, was also known as a center of Islamic learning and pilgrimage, attracting students and pilgrims from all over West Africa. The large market square of Djennà © is dominated by its Great Mosque. Tradition has it that the first mosque was built in 1240 by the sultan Koi Kunboro, who converted to Islam and turned his palace into a mosque. Very little is known about the appearance of the first mosque, but it was considered too sumptuous by Sheikh Amadou, the ruler of Djennà © in the early nineteenth century. The Sheikh built a second mosque in the 1830’s and allowed the first one to fall into disrepair. The present mosque...