Low birth weight & Preterm Essay

Low birth weight is considered to be less than 5.5 pounds when a baby is born. Low birth weight is one of the major leading causes of infant death in the United States. Through education and awareness, the United States has dropped infant mortality rates dramatically. In 1980, infant death averaged twelve percent due to low birth weight (Reichman, 2005). Infant mortality dropped to seven percent in the early new millennium (Reichman, 2005). So what factors influence a baby to be born with low birth weight? – Mothers who are young and under the age of seventeen – Mothers who are at the age of 30 or greater – If the family and mother are uneducated – African Americans – Poverty or low income – Pregnant mothers who smoke and/or drink alcohol – Babies being born prematurely Reichman stated in her article, Low Birth Weight and School Readiness, â€Å"In 2000, thirteen percent of babies born to black mothers were low birth weight, compared to six and a half percent of those born to white mothers† (2005). What is even more interesting is women of Hispanic origin have the same status of white women when it comes to low birth rates. Women who move to America from other countries have better birth outcomes, rather than women from different origins who were born and raised in America. On a positive note, infant mortality due to low birth weight has dropped significantly over the past twenty-five years. Babies who are born prematurely or born with low birth weight can place a  huge financial burden to the family. Hospital stays are much longer for these children. Not only does the family acquire a much larger hospital bill, they obtain travel expenses to and from the hospital. Taking time off from work to be at the hospital is just another expense that the family has taken. Children are at greater risk for school performance problems when born with low birth weight. They have a higher risk of performing poorly on tasks that engage in reading, spelling, and math compared to their peers. Children who are born premature typically tend to be aggressive and hyperactive. Mothers with premature or low birth weight children experience a high amount of stress because of the child’s behavioral problems. It is vital for expecting mothers to start prenatal care as soon as possible. A nurse can assist an expecting mother through education and developing a personalized care plan. According to the March of Dimes (2014), there are several healthy steps that a female can take when expecting or planning a pregnancy: Have a preconception checkup Make sure that vaccinations are up to date Take the daily recommended dose of folic acid Do not consume alcohol and stay away or stop smoking Reduce mental and physical stresses Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) program is very effective in improving the health of pregnant women, new mothers, and their infants (2013). It is federally owned and provides grants to all States in order to provide adequate nutrition for low-income families. Not only does WIC provide nutritional education, it also provides health screening and referrals to health care providers. WIC services are provided in your county health departments, hospitals, and many local community centers. There are many mothers who depend on WIC to provide for their household. March Of Dimes (2014). Low birthweight. Retrieved from http://www.marchofdimes.com/baby/low-birthweight.aspx# Reichman, N. E. (2005). Low birth weight and school readiness. The Future of Children, 15. Retrieved from http://futureofchildren.org/publications/journals/article/index.xml?jounralid=38&articleid=118 §ionid=774 United States Department Of Agriculture Food And Nutrition Service (2013). Women, infants and children (WIC); About WIC-WIC at a glance. Retrieved from http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/about-wic-wic-glance

Walgreens Analysis

Walgreens Strategy Analysis Retailing: MKTG 3740 B April 7, 2013 I. History and Mission Statement Walgreens has grown from a small, neighborhood-oriented drug store to a trusted, national pharmacy. Founded in 1901 by Charles R. Walgreen, the company bloomed from a commitment made to perseverance. Walgreen came from Dixon, Illinois at the age of sixteen, working an unpleasant job at a drug store after he lost a portion of a finger that left him incapable of continuing a career in athletics.He left with an ambition of entrepreneurship as the flourishing city of Chicago welcomed him with the booming pharmacy business. Devoted to his goal, Walgreen worked his way through gaining experience and financial stability within the growing industry. His work experience through jobs with different pharmacies allowed Walgreen to analyze the strengths and weaknesses in their business operations. Focusing on the gaps in service and the needs by customers that were not being met, Walgreen had an oppo rtunity to capitalize on the industry’s shortcomings by opening his own pharmacy.After earning enough money to put a down payment on a loan for the store that he was working in at the time from Isaac Blood, Walgreen finally owned a store in a great location just south side of Chicago in a prosperous area. He renovated the space, employed a colleague, broadened the selection of products offered, and priced at a fair rate to improve efficiency. One of the differentiating strategies that Walgreen implemented was through utilizing his development of the â€Å"two-minute† drill.This service allowed a local customer to call Walgreen’s store, request an item, and have it delivered by one of Walgreen’s handymen within two minutes of the customer calling. The good reputation of his service spread quickly among the community. The next chapter in Walgreens store innovation and competitive edge was his idea to sell hot food items during the winter, cooked by his wife , Myrtle Walgreen. The trend of that time for many businesses was to have a soda fountain that served cold drinks and milkshakes, which Walgreen also served during the hot summer months.His approach to customer service carried through to winter months with the hot food serving, while his competitors failed to keep up with what would eventually become an essential part of drug store business. Walgreen’s store was growing at a strong pace. By 1929, he had 525 operating stores, 633 in 1975, and hit one thousand open stores in 1984. Today, Walgreens opens around 425 new stores, on average, each year. Through the company’s mission statement, Walgreens strives to be the most trusted and innovative pharmacy with health and wellness solutions and serve consumers across the U.S. Walgreen set out to help people get well and stay well. With constant innovations in technology and customer satisfaction, the company is expected to continue to soar. II. Key events that shaped the com pany Over the past century, there have been economic conditions, changes in demographics, technological advancements, and competitive pressures that Walgreens has had to face and overcome. The first major event that shaped the company was the featuring of the soda fountain in the store in 1909, which lead to the introduction of the malted milkshake that became an American icon.Although a minor triumph at the time, the milkshake attributed to the growth of the company overall. The next event to affect the company hit hard. The Great Depression was a difficult time for most businesses and many were dying out and closing. Walgreens, though vulnerable itself, was able to push through this time by implementing the value of marketing. Through smart advertising and innovations in customer service, Walgreens not only survived the depression but also was able to help by employing workers and added to its testament of always being able to adapt to the changing times.After the death of Charles Walgreen in 1939, his son took over the president position in the company. Fast-forwarding to the next significant even in 1950, when Walgreens opened its first small, self-service store. This event is representative of the innovation and move toward the future that Walgreens will continue to see. A jump to 1975 is a marker of importance as the company reached $1 billion in net sales. In 1999, Walgreens. com opened, offering a convenient shopping experience for its customers online.Today, them most influential growth strategy Walgreens has implemented is the partnership with Alliance Boots to form the world’s first pharmacy-led enterprise. The two brands coming together will position Walgreens for growth in the long-term by transforming Walgreens drug stores into a community, daily living destination while expanding across new avenues of markets and reinventing cost structures. III. Key Financial Data The financial highlights from the income statement of Walgreens Co. n 2012 include a net sales figure of $71,633 million; a decrease of 0. 8% from the previous year. Net sales combined with a cost of sales of $51,291 million lead to a gross profit of $20,342 million; again, down from the previous year by 0. 7%. A net earnings comparison shows a 21. 6 % decrease from $2,714 million in 2011 to $2,127 in 2012. Some in-store sales figures help explain some declines with a prescription sales decrease of 3. 1% and front-end sales increase of 3. 6%.These key financial figures represent a trend in diminishing profits for Walgreens in prescription drugs for the past fiscal year, but a growth in front-end sales, which is an indicator of pharmacy-related issues. IV. The drug store industry analysis As an industry that has been around since the late 19th century, the drug store is comprised of staples and pharmaceuticals retailing. History of the industry recalls the first drug store being opened in 1823 and strictly worked with pharmaceuticals under the first regist ered pharmacist. As the tores became more popular and customers’ needs grew for different products, the industry transitioned into including staple items. Today, the average retail products include (but not limited to): prescriptions, food, cosmetics, toiletries, and tobacco products, but dominate in the pharmaceutical department that holds the highest profit. Chain drug stores currently possess the greatest market share in the industry when compared to independent stores and the majority are incorporated at 76% of all drug store firms. Among the top three company chains are CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid.This segment within the industry is highly competitive with demand growing. V. The future of drug stores With demographics changing, especially within the U. S. , the future of drug stores is expected to transform their product offerings. A shift to concentration on prescription drugs sales, as the general public grows older, will be responsible for a decline in products that are no longer demanded as staple items (ex. beauty aids and fragrances). A growing trend seen in the current market is self-diagnosis and self-treatment along with the addition of generic drug sales.Customers are being offered a generic drug alternative for a lower price and are becoming more inclined to self-treating without the help of a pharmacist. Another movement towards the future includes implementing advancements in technology. Many stores currently use self-serve checkouts and photo printing booths. Advancements in electronic prescription filling and ordering refills online are playing a big role in development. Therefore, a broader depth of target market research and differentiation in product offering based on research results may be beneficial to the survival and growth of the drug store industry.VI. SWOT analysis of Walgreens Strengths and weaknesses Walgreens, as mentioned before, is one of the leading examples of success within the drug store industry. A continuous ne ed for improvement and adaptation to the changing market keeps Walgreens alert and attentive, in step with customer wants, which serves as one of its major strengths. The past 3 decades for Walgreens have been those of growth and exceeding competitive sales. The use of technology incorporated in Walgreens store operations allows the company to receive and analyze real-time sales data and customer interaction.Systems such as the POS (Point of Sale) and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) generate up-to-date information on impact of certain store displays on sales and record marketing data needed to maximize profits. In order to serve customers more effectively, Walgreens offers convenient services online, such as photo printing and prescription call-ins. The implementation of technology as a tool for tracking data and servicing is another strength of the company. Walgreens offers a loyalty program to its customers to further improve on customer satisfaction.The reward program, call ed Balance Rewards, is a point-based system that gives discounts and coupons to customers whenever they use the loyalty card and earn points. Many ways to earn points include filling prescriptions, purchasing certain items in-store and online, using the mobile app to purchase items, and a Steps with Balance Rewards that tracks when the customer is living a healthy lifestyle. The customer can redeem his or her rewards for more coupons and discounts on future purchases. While the success of Walgreens is prevalent, weaknesses within the company prevent Walgreens from reaching perfection.A major weakness and concern for the company is opening too many stores. This may seem strange, considering the growth in demand for more stores is perceived as a positive characteristic, but cannibalizing their own market at the growing pace could lead to a mass reduction in sales and revenue by stealing customers from their current top selling stores. As Walgreens is always adapting to its market and looking for new opportunities, an important factor to look into would be limiting how many new stores they are opening and evaluating their product portfolio. Threats and opportunitiesThreats are inherent in any business. Competition would not be possible without external threats. The biggest threat to Walgreens is the rise in grocery store and supermarket discounters. Before, drug stores competed against other drug stores and pharmacies in a highly competitive market. Now, stores like Target and Kroger are offering prescription drug services and are able to do so at a discounted rate. Since these stores carry a much larger assortment of products and more SKUs than a typical drug store, they operate at lower costs and charge a cheaper price.The current economic state poses a threat to businesses everywhere. Within the drug industry, the cut from Medicaid in 2007, by $3. 6 billion, impacted many pharmacies and affected the sales of generic drugs in the U. S. Today, uncertainty around the long-term viability of the Affordable Care Act is threatening the insurance industry, or at least the affordability of coverage. Currently, about half of the states in the U. S. are refusing to participate in the new insurance exchange program, which is driving insurance rates up drastically.Moving away from the challenges of business, opportunities also present themselves within the industry. One opportunity that Walgreens may be looking into is how to market more towards the generation it has been growing with: the baby boomers. This market is the general population that is now getting older and has the most experience with Walgreens. As this generation ages, their needs change and require different products. More prescriptions for aging health issues need to be filled and less beauty supplies are being purchased, for example.The opportunity to transition and focus on this particular market could benefit Walgreens’s sales. Further prospects for Walgreens includes going global. International business opportunities offer drug stores an entire new market, which if executed correctly, can be a major growth possibility. It’s easy to oversaturate a market when operated domestically, as is the case is for Walgreens in the U. S. , so expanding past our borders to different nations may be a prospective move for the company. If there was only one opportunity Walgreens should take on, it would be most important to increase the sales of non-prescription items.Although marketing towards the older generation and profiting from more prescription fills is demanded, incorporating the sales of items that people will buy, as a related product to their main purchases, will boost profit. VII. Competitor’s strengths and weaknesses Walgreens’s biggest competitor is CVS (Convenience, Value, and Service). CVS Caremark is the largest, most profitable drug store/ retailer in the U. S. Strengths CVS Caremark operates under three different retailing segm ents: the CVS pharmacy, Caremark pharmacy services, and its MinuteClinic.Under these three segments, CVS is able to offer its customers lower prices, loyalty programs, cover over two thousand healthcare plans, and operate a walk-in clinic service. Through their services, CVS is able to hold the strongest market share at almost 20% of the prescription drug market. It also has one of the largest loyalty programs for customers; more than 500 million customers who use the loyalty card through the Extra Care program. CVS has made substantial investments in technology and incorporating it into their programs.The company’s strengths have lead them to push a revenue of over $100 billion and net income of $4 billion. Weaknesses The only complaints to come from a customer’s point of view at CVS is that the store consistency varies occasionally, meaning one CVS store may be too different in product offering than another CVS store, which confuses some customers. The employee turno ver rate is also higher than ideal for a large company operating many stores, meaning focus should include keeping employees happy with more benefits. VIII. Key competition comparison SimilaritiesBoth Walgreens and CVS have loyalty programs that they use to reward customers and offer valuable customer data. Using a customer rewards program to offer coupons and discounts builds loyalty to that company’s brand and image. This incentive strategy has worked well for both companies. However, they differ in the way each one works. At CVS, when a customer purchases multiple items in one transaction, the reward points/ coupons are split amongst the items within the one transaction. The customer receives more incentive with each purchase whereas at Walgreens, the reward is based on the number of transactions only.A customer can purchase the same number of items in each store, but receive more reward points/ coupons at CVS. Differences When compared to CVS, Walgreens carries more of a â€Å"mom and pop† store reputation, which benefits their image. The company’s stores are all linked, making it easier for customers to get prescriptions filled at any Walgreen store, which is an advantage over CVS. Walgreens also offers prescription labels and in-store advertising in other languages and is open 24 hours in many locations across the U. S. , another incentive that CVS does not offer.These distinctive traits represent Walgreens’s commitment to pleasing its customer and fulfilling needs. CVS is differentiated from Walgreens through store layout and product offering. CVS stores are known to be larger and customer more customer-friendly in space and appearance than Walgreens. CVS has also brought in more net revenue, over $100 billion as compared to Walgreens at $75 billion, leading by about $25 billion. As mentioned earlier, Walgreens has seen a diminishing performance, financially, while CVS is rising. IX.Recommendations The first recommendation fo r Walgreens to move towards better sales and profits in the future would be to capitalize on the baby boomer generation. As explained before, this would require readjusting the marketing platform to appeal to more prescription sales and aging health products. This strategy has potential for short-term and long-term growth. The second recommendation would be to become aware of cannibalizing its own market. This strategy would lessen the investments in real estate space being made currently.Instead of opening more and more new stores each year, the company should focus on evaluating and expanding the current services in each existing store. Innovations in store layouts and product differentiation in the existing stores may help individual store sales and not oversaturate the market with too much of the same thing. The final recommendation for Walgreens is to enhance its customer service through the convenience factor. Developing more online services will help also help the aging gener ation as it becomes more difficult for them to get in a car and drive to a brick-and-mortar store.This kind of innovation is what customers like to see in businesses and the company will be benefiting from the multichannel strategy. X. References CVS Caremark |. (n. d. ). CVS Caremark |. Retrieved April 7, 2013, from http://info. cvscaremark. com/ Page Through Our Past: Page 4 | Our History | Walgreens. (n. d. ). Welcome to Walgreens – Your Home for Prescriptions, Photos and Health Information. Retrieved April 7, 2013, from http://www. walgreens. com/marketing/about/history/hist4. jsp

Characterization: The Breakfast Club Essay

A professor named Peter Drucker stated, ‘’the most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.’’ The quote basically means the ability to read the emotions and nonverbal communication of another person increases the understanding and elevates relationships. A prominent writer and producer named John Hughes directed a movie called The Breakfast Club where five students with nothing in common are faced with spending a Saturday detention together. At the beginning of the movie they have absolutely nothing to say to each other but by 4 P.M., they had bared their souls to each other and become good friends. The five main characters are introduced as Allison the Basket Case, Brian the Nerd, Claire the Princess, Andy the Athlete, and Bender the Criminal. John Hughes uses characterization in The Breakfast Club by showing people from totally different backgrounds can communicate and even agree on issues. A scholar named Ally Harper wrote a book called The Explanation of The Breakfast Club that stated adolescence is the time of transition between childhood and adulthood where development which leads to psychological, social and economic changes, and toward ever-increasing independence (4). Adolescence involves the development of a sense of identity; it is a time of questioning of relationships to parents and to peers, and of roles in society (Harper 5). From adolescence to adulthood, people will always stereotype you from how you present yourself too even where you grew up. Throughout your years of schooling, relationships will be formed, and as teenagers begin to move away from their parents, peer groups play a vital role. Adolescence place a lot of importance on belonging, on being included, and on being part of a group; group affiliation not only supplies emotional security, but also is a source of status and reputation with motivational properties (Harper 6). The cliques formed during adolescent years can define people in their social world and follow them to adulthood. The five students in The Breakfast Club were stereotyped by their fellow students and their warden for the day:  Claire the Princess who was also known as Miss Popularity, Brian is the geek, Andrew is the athlete (Sporto), Bender is the criminal, and Allison the Basket Case. The strict confines of high school separate the characters. Under normal circumstances, none of these teenagers would even speak to one another, but Saturday detention sets aside these divided groups of people and bring them together under a common ground. Their punishments that created the members of The Breakfast Club allowed them to move past these social norms and eventually they find this common ground by interacting with each other, and learning the details of each other’s lives by looking beneath all the stereotypes. The Breakfast Club was accurate in its portrayal of each characters in ternal psychological perspective. While in detention, they are expected to write about who they are in one thousand words. John Smith wrote a book called The Breakfast Club: Throughout the day, their actions reveal their innermost struggle involving their cliques and their home lives. As the movie progresses, we find out the reason each teen is in detention that culminates in a climactic discussion about who they really are, which ironically answers the essay none of them were going to write (except Brian). In the end, Brian is manipulated into writing a group essay for everyone in which he gives each person their defining nickname. While each student represents a different clique, together they form The Breakfast Club (15). Brian the nerd, has packed a nutritional lunch, which Bender associates this with him being a perfect nerdy child who has a loving mother who still packs his lunch for him. Furthermore, it is assumed that Brian is the nerd because he ends up writing everyone’s essays and is a member of aca demic clubs. Brian was also subjected to peer pressure which is defined as social pressure by members of one’s peer group to take part in a certain action, adopt certain values, or otherwise conform in order to be accepted (Smith 16). An example of peer pressure is when Brian chose to smoke weed with the rest of the group. Claire’s personality can be explained by reciprocal determinism which is defined as interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment (Smith 17). Claire’s parents are divorced and she is often used as a weapon by her Mother and Father to get back at the one another. The way Claire is treated at home affects her self-worth which leads her to feel the need to seek approval from others. In the movie, Brian describes her behavior as  conceited because she is a â€Å"popular† and looks down on those â€Å"under† her on the social hierarchy (Smith 16). This shows that her behavior, internal thoughts, and her environment are a ll contributing factors to her personality. In the movie, Bender falls victim to the fundamental attribution error. The fundamental attribution error is the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition (Smith 18). At home, Bender is treated badly, which contributes to his personality as being depicted as aggressive, and disrespectful. In Bender’s case, everyone attributed his actions to his personal disposition and did not take into account his home situation (Smith 19). Allison the Basket Case is in detention for no reason at all, she explains later in the movie, she was bored and had nothing else better to do. Allison’s psychological perspective can be explained by Maslow’s hierarchy: Physiological needs come first, followed by safety needs, and then the need to belong and feel loved. Allison had met the first two needs on the hierarchy and the next step was to fulfill the need to belong and feel loved. At home, Allison was ignored by her parents and at school she had no friends. These factors explain w hy she is so socially inept and served a Saturday detention that she did not even have. Allison admits to the group that she sees a shrink because she is compulsive liar. During her sessions, her shrink uses free association. Free association is a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing (Smith 20). Andrew the athlete, shows a frustration-aggression issue when he gets into an altercation with Bender. The frustration-aggression principle is the principle that frustration creates anger which can generate aggression (Smith 21). Andrew was aggressive towards Bender when Bender disrespected Claire after she repeatedly told Bender to knock it off, but Bender continued to meddle with her which led to Andrews aggressive side to show. Throughout the movie, we learn about all the different values and morals each family holds. Brian’s parents enforce him to be a straight-A academic student, while Benders family doesn’t even seem to care if he actually attends school. Claire’s parents support her role of being the most popular girl in school, and in contrast, Allison’s parents portray the image of not caring if their own child has any friends. The parents of Andrew the Athlete portrays the image  of wanting their son to the best Athlete while not caring what anger issues this may create later in his lifetime. John Hughes doesn’t use stereotyping and physiological concepts to build the characters. The punishments that led them to the actual detention defined the characters, but like most critics, they viewed John as using stereotypes and self-concepts as the actual defined characterization. The crime committed was the actual characterization created that attempted to introduce what the teenagers were actually like. A credited author named Fabian Kraft wrote The Themes Associated with The Breakfast Club that stated if we take the moment to look passed labels and cliques a person is associated with, then we may find that we are surprised to see that person is unique-not just who they portray themselves as. In The Breakfast Club, John Hughes did not intend to differentiate the families to portray how they influenced their own teenager’s values and morals in life. The child’s own personal problems led to the way they act in public. David Popenoe, a Professor of Sociology wrote an article called We Are What We See: The Breakfast Club that stated more and more children are growing up with personal problems, little empathy, and a weakened respect for law and order and civility. Furthermore, you can grow up in what it seems a well-rounded family that overall wants your happiness and sets high values, but some teenagers like Brian for example will still act out. John Hughes introduced The Breakfast Club by showing people from totally different backgrounds can communicate and even agree on issues by defining the teenager’s connection of characterization through stereo-typing, psychological perspective, and the family’s different morals & values. No matter what, your own characterization will shape your life, but you have the choice of choosing of your own path.

The challenge of accommodation for Students at the University of Kent Essay

The challenge of accommodation for Students at the University of Kent - Essay Example Currently, the University of Kent, Canterbury Campus houses only 5,000 students within its accommodation facilities, which comprises of flats, houses or college rooms (University of Kent, 2013:n.p.). The Campus offers the accommodation facilities either on a self-catered or part-catered basis, meaning that the students have to cater for some of their essential living requirements, even when accommodated within the University’s accommodation facilities (University of Kent, 2013:n.p.). The other major challenge associated with the accommodation at this Campus is that; even where the accommodation can be provided, especially for students with disabilities, they are required to meet the costs of carers (University of Kent, 2013:n.p.). The student population data of University of Kent, Canterbury Campus indicates that by 2013, the Campus had a total student population of 19,275, comprising of 17,248 full-time students, with an additional population of approximately 2,027 part-time students, and an additional resident research staff of 600 (University of Kent, 2013:n.p.). The University of Kent describes itself as UK's European university, considering that it comprises of a combination of both local and international students (The Guardian, 2013:n.p.). The international student population within University of Kent is substantial, with the foreign student population comprising of 15.5% the total University’s population, who are recruited from across 145 countries globally (University of Kent, 2013:n.p.).

Activity Analysis #4 - Film Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Activity Analysis #4 - Film Review - Essay Example The director depicts a contrast with the news report of the United States about the Canadian health services by way of providing experiences of the Canadian hospitals and clinics. He presents the theme by incorporating various scientific methods like interviews with the doctors and patients in order to understand the cost, salary and quality of the services rendered in the UK and France. In fact, profit oriented health maintenance organizations were promoted by Nixon in 1971. But, it was a failure in the part of Clinton in 1990 when he tried to revive it. The director in this documentary tries to expose the reason behind the promotion of Nixon and failure of Clinton. The health care system in the northern part of America is insignificant because of the profit focused services of the HMOs. They were not interested in saving the lives of the patients, but they are focused on accumulating profit. This is the main plot of the documentary. The next important aspect emerging from this documentary is the corrupted political system in relation to the health care system. It brings the livelihood of an average person in America into limelight. He travels to Canada, the UK and France to assess the quality and cost systems in their hospitals. Along with this, he raises another significant fact of the treatment rendered to the prisoners in Guantanamo. It is assessed that they are provided with better treatments than the ordinary people in America. â€Å"It will investigate health care with a focus on large American pharmaceutical companies and of corruption in the Food and Drug Administration.† (Sicko by Michael Moore, 2010, para.1). The plot of this documentary has come to the mind of the director when he was shocked by the vision that the dependence of the rescue workers in the attack of world trade center in Cuba for the treatment. The question posed in this situation is that, if Cuba can provide free and universal treatment services to its people; why the country which

War of 1812 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

War of 1812 - Term Paper Example Yet the availability of the military accounts could contribute to the writings of the domestic history of the war. Hickey argued that America lost the war because â€Å"it had initiated the contest and yet had not achieved the aims for which it was fighting† (743). Indeed Hickey’s point is that the primary targets of the war were not achieved. Hickey suggests that the Napoleonic view of the war is flawed within itself, as John Elting committed the mistake by viewing the war from a Napoleonic perspective. Hickey draws a good deal of references to the Canadian authors on the War of 1812. For most of the Canadian authors, Canada won the war, as it established the country as a strong nation. Among the authors that Hickey describes in his essay, Gerard Atloff’s work is important because it deals with the neglected role of the African American in the War. In another paragraph, Hickey deals with the authors who focused on a good deals of topics such as the men and offic ers of the armies in the war, the Old Northwest, the Niagara Frontiers, the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain Front, the Chesapeake Bay, the Southwest and Gulf Coast, The Indians, The War at Sea, etc. Hickey argues that though these topics seem to render a vivid picture of the war in 1812, there are still some missing parts of the war that need to be dealt with, as he says, â€Å"Does this renaissance mean that we can drop the label ‘forgotten conflict’? .....Moreover, virtually all the new work has been confined to the wars military history; the domestic history and the diplomatic history have been largely ignored† (764). In the article â€Å"William Henry Harrison in the War of 1812†, Beverley W. Bond primarily deals the difficulties Harrison faced during the war and his military skills. Meanwhile he has tried to assess the true place of Harrison in the war. According to him,

Obesity in American in Relation to Increasing Healthcare Costs Research Paper

Obesity in American in Relation to Increasing Healthcare Costs - Research Paper Example Obesity in America has a direct coloration to the rise in healthcare costs today. Obesity related illnesses Diabetes, heart disease, and sleep apnea, are all obesity related illnesses. Diabetes â€Å"Type 2 diabetes develops when either the body does not produce enough insulin in the blood or cells ignore the insulin produced† (Obesity-Related Diseases, n.d., para.2). Obesity causes insulin’s effectiveness in controlling the body’s blood sugar to decrease. Blood sugar is overproduced to keep up with the increased intake and the body, not being able to keep up with that, causes the blood sugar levels to become high (Obesity-Related Diseases, para.2). The resistance factor of insulin in human body is exponentially increased with the presence of extra muscles. The exact link between these two factors, obesity and diabetes was clearly explained in a research conducted in 2009 by the Salk Institute researchers (Sciencedaily, 2009). The researchers found out a new cond ition in people who are obese called as the endoplasmic reticulum (Sciencedaily, 2009).This condition could appear at a higher rate in people who have very high fat percentage and because of this condition, the segregation of glucose in liver increases dramatically and hence increasing their potential to become a patient of diabetes. The presence of excessive artificial additives in many of the cheaply available foods that are mostly consumed by people who are involved in sedentary work can effectively increase the fat content of those people. This makes them obese and hence luring them to have diabetes (Sciencedaily, 2009). Cancer Several studies conducted in the past have shown that overweight could increase the percentage of people getting affected with cancer. In particular, the most common type of cancer that is exhibited in obese people is the liver cancer. Researchers from University of California, San Diego has found out through their research that one major cause for the in troduction of cancer in obese people is due to a chronic inflammation (NewsWise, 2010). In generic terms, it could be described as a state where the cells of human body interact between each other in an unruly and disordered manner causing a lot of discrepancies to occur in their working. Any kind of mismanagement of communication between the cells and in their movement leads to the advent of cancer. Such an improper metabolism could occur in a higher percentage in obese people and hence the relation between obese people and cancer has come to the fore. Cancer is not a direct result of this state but is the culmination of series of secondary problems caused by this chronic inflammation (NewsWise, 2010). Heart disease Obesity often causes heart diseases due to the fact the heart is stressed when pumping blood. The relation between obesity and heart diseases where always analyzed but was believed that it is not a direct resultant of obesity. Many other sub causes were found to be the reasons for producing heart diseases. Those sub causes include presence of hypertension when the heart rate increases extremely, decrease in the levels of cholesterol in HDL or even the above mentioned factor, diabetes (Lew & Garfinkel, 1979). It is a proven fact that these causes can occur in obese patients than a regular diet person and through this it was attributed to obesity that heart disease could also

Is war an inevitable feature of international relations Essay

Is war an inevitable feature of international relations - Essay Example Historically, mankind has engaged itself in bloody conflicts from time to time. Fighting over power, religion, resources, money, and freedom has been the order of the modern world. Some people opine that war is avoidable and unnecessary, but the reality is, war is something that can never be avoided. War is an inevitable occurrence in the modern world economies, where politics, conflicts over resources and supremacy of power has taken centre stage. Propaganda has been heavily used not only in the past but also today. In fact, much of the military propaganda is motivated towards making yourself into a stronger figure that many emulate. This is popularly seen in the ads such as the army slogans, "Not Just Strong, Army Strong", the Marine Corps. Slogan, "Which Way Will You Run?", and "The Few, The Proud" With these types of the ads, they promote the idea of joining the military force while glorifying the idea of going into the battle (Singer, 2011). The media has also contributed immensely in glorifying war today. For instance, the movies that we watch are constantly being produced about the war in the Middle East. Films such as â€Å"The Hurt Locker†, the United States is highly glorified because of how they depict the three-man bomb squad and the lone Humvee clearing the buildings (Kamber, 2010). Indeed, when the idea of the battle is being glorified, the idea of the war is even more appealing. Therefore, propaganda is a reoccurring trend, and the conflict is the turning wheel of the violence and tension. If indeed these trends have held the film industry for centuries, can the cycles be stopped? Psychology is the most convincing perspective about how war is the inevitable feature of the international relations. In one of his articles titled, â€Å"War Inevitable?†, E.O. Wilson states that, "Our bloody nature, it can now be argued in the context of modern biology, is ingrained because group-versus-group competition was a principal

Management Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Management Communication - Essay Example Good managers must also act as good leaders. The leadership role that is played by the manager is one of the most important functions that have to be performed by the management. In playing the role of a leader, the manager is involved in various activities that relate to lead the organization to function in a particular direction. The management works to provide direction for the organization on various issues. Great managers are also great leaders. Therefore they play the role of leading others who are under their influence. There have been raging debates on the issue of whether leaders are born or they are made. But one of the most important thing to realize here is that the role of leadership is based on some important skills that an individual posses and some which an individual learns in the process. This is because to be a good leader one does not require one attribute but is made up of specific array of attributes. A good leader must have the confidence to stand in front of other and provide them with direction. A good leader must be able to think in the sense that they must be able to gather, sort and structures information before passing it on to others. They must be able to develop a vision for the organization. ... However the most important aspect of any leader is that they must be able to communication effectively with others. This has been considered as the watershed capacity in leadership. This is because the leader plays the role of informing others, convincing others, uniting others, motivating others and directing others. These things require the leader to have effective communication skill in order to show others where the organization is heading. The effectiveness of a leader lies in their power to inform and persuade others which helps them to win battles for the hearts and the minds of the employees. (Baldoni, 2007) Good leaders are effecting because they have the power to convince others. They use a variety of strategies in order to convince others to follow them. Good managers ensure that they are good listeners and they other time to express themselves. They also ensure that they don't rush to make judgments. They will also ensure that there is an effective feedback mechanism in the organization. For example a good leader will ensure that they talk directly with their workers instead of using mediators. In this way they are able to learn the mood and response of the workers. Strategic organization communication Communication in an organization is very strategic in the sense that is one of the strategic factors that determine the viability of the performance of the organization. It is one of the components of organization strategy and it helps an organization to function even in difficult situations. It is strategic in the sense that it requires to be planned in advance as a part of the overall growth strategy of the organization. It is also strategic in the sense that it will have to be changed on the process of

Martin Yan’s Biography Essay Example for Free

Martin Yan’s Biography Essay Culinary Arts is widely acknowledged today as the art of cooking, and its popularity is increasing all over the world. There are numerous renowned and skilled chefs who have become well-known for their knowledge, creativity, and passion on culinary arts. Today, a lot of gifted chefs are getting famous for their cooking shows, cook books, and different contributions to the world of culinary arts. One of the famous and respectable chefs in the world is Martin Yan. Martin Yan is a Chinese-American chef; he was born in Guangzhou China on the year 1948. His father was a restaurateur, and his mother operates a grocery store. Martin started and learned how to cook at the age of 12. He decided to move and live in Hong Kong when he reached the age of 13 years old and studied in Kowloon City in Munsang College. Martin experienced working for his uncle’s Chinese restaurant and learned a lot of traditional methods of Chinese cooking. He then got the opportunity to study in Canada and later got his masters degree in food science in University of California in Davis on 1975. He finally got the passion for teaching and became a professor in the university’s extension program, and he also appeared on a local TV talk show in Calgary, Canada in the year 1978 (Yan Can Cook, 2008). Since then, he has been hosting different cooking shows. Among these shows is â€Å"Yan Can Cook,† now a popular cooking show which started in the year 1982 (Yan Can Cook, 2008, n. p. ). He became a celebrity indeed, winning different awards from his enthusiasm, talent, interest, and creativity as a culinary chef. He received the â€Å"James Bean Award for best television cooking show† in 1994, and two years later, he was granted an award for â€Å"best television food journalism† by the same award-giving body (Yan Can Cook, 2008, n. p. ). In 1998, he won an â€Å"Emmy Award for the best cooking show† (Yan Can Cook, 2008, n. p. ). In addition, he also received an award from the â€Å"Chef’s Association of the Pacific Coast† and the â€Å"Courvoisier Leadership Award† on the Antonin Award (Yan Can Cook, 2008, n. p.). He also sometimes appears on a cartoon talk show called â€Å"Space Ghost† which is now currently airing in the Cartoon Network show â€Å"Adult Swim† (Yan Can Cook, 2008, n. p. ). He was also a part of the Singaporean movie â€Å"Rice Rhapsody† during the year 2005. He currently hosts his own show entitled â€Å"Martin Yan Quick and Easy† and can be seen sometimes as one of the judges in the popular show â€Å"Iron Chef of America† (Yan Can Cook, 2008, n. p. ). Nowadays, he is also hosting â€Å"Martin Yan’s Chinatown Cooking,† a show wherein he tours different Chinatowns all over the world (Yan Can Cook, 2008, n. p. ). The format of his shows encompasses the different approaches and styles in Asian cooking; he travels in different places all over the world to introduce a certain local cuisine on TV (Yan Can Cook, 2008). Aside from hosting and having different cooking shows, Martin Yan has published several cookbooks as well, wherein he introduces Chinese American culinary arts all over the world. He wrote about 25 different cookbooks, which include â€Å"Martin Yan’s Chinatown Cooking† and â€Å"Chinese Cooking for Dummies† which also won an award (â€Å"Martin Yan Biography,† 2008, n. p. ). His main objective is to represent the Asian culture and culinary arts not only in the western part of the world but around the globe as well (â€Å"Martin Yan Biography,† 2008). Martin Yan is one of the most famous guest instructors at different culinary institutions and academies mostly in the Western and Asian part of the world such as the â€Å"Wales University, California Culinary Academy, Chinese Cuisine Institute in Hong Kong, the Culinary Institute in America, University of San Francisco and the Chinese chef training programs in North America† (â€Å"Martin Yan Biography,† 2008, n. p. ). Furthermore, Martin Yan also founded his own culinary school in San Francisco California named â€Å"Yan Can International Cooking School† (Martin Yan Biography, 2008, n. p. ). Like his father, he also became a restaurateur; he opened the Yan Can Restaurant in 2002 in San Francisco bay area in California. His restaurant offers Asian menu, and it is more likely to have different branches all over the world in the years to come (â€Å"Martin Yan Biography,† 2008). Martin Yan has greatly contributed in the culinary industry. He became a culinary diplomat for the American Culinary Federation. He received a doctorate degree in culinary arts for his contribution to the food and hospitality industry. Moreover, he also received a doctorate degree in humane letters from the Colorado Institute of Art. Aside from that, he also received an exceptional recognition from his peers as a master chef. In 2001, he became an inductee of â€Å"James Beard Foundation’s DArtagnan Cervena Whos Who of Food and Beverage,† which honors food and beverage professionals for their significant and lasting achievements (Yan Can Cook, 2008, n. p. ). Thus, due to his success in the culinary arts industry, he became a respected professional chef and a member of different prestigious organizations such as the â€Å"American Institute of Wine and Food, American Culinary Federation, Chinese Cuisine Research Institute, Chefs Association of the Pacific Coast, Association of Chinese Cooking Teachers, Institute of Food Technologists, International Association of Culinary Professionals, and American Authors Guild† (Yan Can Cook, 2008, n. p. ). There are vast number of chefs that people can watch on TV and different cookbooks made available for everyone, but Martin Yan has become exceptional because of the distinct Asian influence he brought in the industry of culinary arts. With all the awards and honors Martin Yan received, he is regarded as one of the top famous culinary chef all over the world. He has made a lot of worldwide remarks on the culinary arts and greatly influenced countless chefs, professionals, and people with his passion and knowledge in the art of culinary. He has shaped a lot of people to become a good chef. He teaches and passes his knowledge to other people so that he will always be reminded with his own style and contributions in the culinary world. Hence, with his cooking shows, cookbooks, and teachings that focus on the Asian culinary arts and culture, Martin Yan is continuously inspiring people to pursue their passion. References Martin Yan Biography. (2008). American Entertainment International Speakers Bureau. Retrieved December 8, 2008 from http://www. aeispeakers. com/print. php? SpeakerID=1103 Yan Can Cook. (2008). Meet the chef. Retrieved December 8, 2008 from http://yancancook. com/mybio. htm

Changes In Health Care Policy Health And Social Care Essay

Changes In Health Care Policy Health And Social Care Essay Medicaid is the federal governments largest single welfare program for the poor. Its costs now exceed the costs of all other public assistance programs- including family assistance, SSI, and the food stamp program. Medicaid was established in 1965 and grew quickly into the nations largest welfare program. Since then, there have been many policy changes in the program implemented by the government, like the introduction of the Affordable Care Act, because of the issues rising in the series of its implementation and based on the evaluations done by research organizations of government, private institutions, and interest groups. The way government implements and administers such programs for the welfare of the public can be best illustrated with the process of Policy making, their evaluation, and the issues arising out of their implementation. Public policy is said to be what the governments wish to do or not to do. Governments implement several laws which may or may not be accepted by the people. It provides many services, facilities, and entitlements, in lieu of some taxes. Thus, the policies implemented may regulate the way people behave, provide services, and collect taxes. Thomas R. Dye has cited other definitions of Public Policy by several political scientists and philosophers: David Easton, a political scientist, defines public policy as the authoritative allocation of values for the whole society; Harold Lasswell, a political scientist and Abraham Kaplan, a philosopher, define public policy as a a projected program of goals, values, and practices, and political scientist Carl Friedrick says, It is essential for the policy concept that there be a goal, objective, or purpose' ­ (Dye, 2008). There are other ways of defining public policy by breaking down this general notion into various component parts. This was brought about by a political scientist Charles O. Jones, proposed the distinction among various proposals (specified means for achieving goals), programs (authorized means for achieving goals), decisions ( ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­specific actions taken to implement programs), and effects (the measurable impacts of programs) be considered. (Dye, 2008) Models of Politics A model can be a way of illustrating some aspect of the real world. In politics, political scientists use a flow chart to show how a law is derived from a bill. The models used or employed for studying policy are conceptual models which make it easy and clear to know about politics and public policy, recognize the important aspects of policy problems, derive explanations for public policy and predict its consequences. (Dye, 2008) The different policy models used to examine public policy are: Institutional model Process model Rational model Incremental model Group model Elite model Public choice model Game theory model Here the Policy is reviewed, using the Incremental model of politics. The Incremental model is a conservative model, in which, considering the existing programs, policies, and expenditures as a base, attention is concentrated on new programs and on increases, decreases, or modifications of existing programs. The process can be exemplified with budgetary policy for any government activity or programs for a given year. This process is preferred for many reasons, first being, economic hardships, absence of details on demand survey, authenticity or inappropriate statistical feed-back from the relevant fields and time required to investigate all the alternatives in the existing policy. The others are, legitimacy of the existing policies is accepted by policy makers, since they do not want to try any new programs due to lack of enthusiasm and creativity in the bureaucracy, fearing the uncertain consequences of the new policies. Then, the existing policies, which are deep-rooted enough, bec ause of heavy investments, make it difficult for the policy makers to take any radical decision. Lastly, policies like these are accepted easily compared to new policies. Thus, incrementalism is important in maintaining stability and preserving the political system in almost status-quo with sight variations. The issues being addressed here may not be totally termed as correlated with this incrementalism model, since they are budgetary policies being addressed by the New York state government, with utmost care and dedication with profound application of sincerity. Thus, the programs Medicaid and Affordable Care Act, which have been successful mostly in serving most of the needy, had a few challenges which aptly require only few changes. Contrary to the rational changes, which require a lot additional resources, the solutions provided appear to be easier and less expensive to implement, like the ones suggested by the Medicaid Redesign Team, for the New York State Budget for the year 2011-2012. The Policymaking Process The process of policy making is a process of how policies are made, in a step-by step sequence, but these processes never occur in a sequence in reality. Problem identification: Though the society may sustain many issues, only a few are considered to become a policy, to become an agenda for the government. This is influenced by the interest groups, pressure groups, media who communicate the issues to the government. Thus influencing the decision making process. If such groups do not come up with any objections on a certain policy implemented by the government, it is considered that the policy has been accepted by most people. Thus the mass media, interest groups, citizen initiatives, public opinion become the major participants of this step (Dye, 2008). Agenda Setting: The process by which ideas or issues are brought up by the various political channels to be considered by a political institution such as legislature or court. Moreover, the administrative agencies of a government often generate and formulate proposals, which may be incorporated into the executives legislative recommendations for a careful consideration by the legislative body (Shafritz, E. W. Russell, Borick, 2008). Non decision making: Though there may be many public issues arising, politicians try to suppress them from becoming policy issues. Non decision making occurs when some powerful elite groups which always keep an eye on Government policies, implementation programs and reactions of the people, act openly or covertly to suppress an issue because of the fear that if attention is focused on certain policy issues, something will be done and it may not be in their interest (Dye, 2008). Formulating policy: It is way of drafting a document on policy alternatives for dealing with issues in the interest of public welfare and development on public agenda. It takes place in the government bureaucracies; offices agencies of interest group/pressure- groups; legislative committee rooms; meetings of special commissions appointed by the Government; and policy planning organizations otherwise known as think tanks. These are considered to be the central coordinating points in the policy making process. Some of them are the Council on the Foreign Relations, the American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, and the Brookings Institution. They can influence a wide range of important policy areas. Other policy planning groups-the Urban Institute, Resources for the Future, the Population Council, for example -concentrate on a particular policy area. Interest groups: The interest groups influence the government policy in a variety of ways like Direct lobbying, Contributions made through Political Action Committees (PACs), Interpersonal contacts, between government offices and the industries and organizations representing them, Litigation designed to force changes in policies through the court system, and grassroots mobilization efforts to influence Congress and the White House by encouragement from individual constituents and campaign contributors (Dye, 2008). Policy Legitimation: The process by which a public policy is enacted into a law, after verification by all the legal institutions. The people involved with this process are called proximate policy makers, who include the president, congress, courts, federal agencies, congressional committees, White house staff, and interest groups. They are the ones responsible for bringing a public policy into action, by putting up a bill in the congress, or by any other way. Policy Implementation: It includes all of the activities designed to carry out the policies enacted by the legislative branch. These activities include the creation of new organizations- departments, agencies, bureaus, and so on -or the assignment of new responsibilities to existing organizations. They must translate laws into operational rules and regulations. They employ and deploy personnel, draw up contracts, sanction required funds and perform tasks. The bureaucrats or executional bodies of public administration in Government play a major role in this process, since the political leaders give only broad instructional outlines in the legislature meetings to the Government to define these policies and set rules at the basic level (Dye, 2008). Policy Evaluation: It is the process which helps the Congress, the President, interest groups, bureaucrats, the media, think tanks know whether or not the policies implemented by them are achieving their stated goals; at what costs; and with what effects, intended and unintended, on society. Thus evaluations of current policy may recognize new problems and restart the policymaking process. It may be mostly impressionistic rather than systematic, where impressionistic would indicate the complaints and the media stories about the laws passed and implemented, and systematic evaluation indicates what is done by the government in a systematic, careful, objective, scientific assessment of the current and long-term effects of policies on both target and non-target subjects or groups, and the costs and benefits involved (Dye, 2008). Medicaid Medicaid is the United States health program for people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states (Overview-Medicaid Program General Information). Being the federal governments largest single welfare program for the low income group as a pure welfare measure, its costs now exceed the costs of all other public welfare/ developmental programs- including family assistance, Social Security Income, and the food stamp program. It was begun in 1965 and is now the nations largest welfare program (Dye, 2008). The Medicaid serves certain U.S. citizens and resident aliens, including low-income adults and their children, and people with certain disabilities. Poverty alone may not necessarily qualify someone for Medicaid. It covers almost one-third of the total child population, and deliveries also, most of them from families at or below the Federal poverty level. It also covers 8 million people with disabilities, and only one-fourth of the poor young adults, since their eligibility is higher. Medicaid also supports Medicare enrollees by paying their Medicare premiums and a few critical services that are not included in Medicare (The Kaiser Commision on Medicaid and the Uninsured, 2011). The Program can be said to have served the maximum number of people, and when needed, like during the economic recession in the years of 2007-2009. The enrollment increased by nearly 6 Million during the Recession. This also put additional burden on the state budgets. The increased enrollment in-turn led to a rise an increase in the spending for Medicaid. It was of great help to the individuals who lost their jobs during this period and forced into poverty (The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, 2011). Medicaid also helped the people in other ways, being a large source of the federal funding, and fuelling the economies of the states, and thus in turn increasing the number of jobs, like physician, pharmacists, nursing staff, and other auxiliaries. Eligibility: The individuals or groups eligible for Medicaid are decided by the states. The eligibility groups will be considered one of the following (Medicaid At-a-Glance 2005 Medicaid Data Sources): The Categorically needy, The Medically needy, or The Special groups. A brief description of each of the key eligibility groups included is given, though these descriptions may not include all groups. The Categorically Needy Pregnant women and children under age 6 whose family income is at or below 133 % of the Federal poverty level. Children ages 6 to 19 with family income up to 100% of the Federal poverty level. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients (or, in certain states, aged, blind, and disabled people who meet requirements that are more restrictive than those of the SSI program). Individuals and couples who are living in medical institutions and who have monthly income up to 300% of the SSI income standard (Federal benefit rate). The Medically Needy The medically needy have too much money (and in some cases resources like savings) to be eligible as categorically needy. If a state has a medically needy program, it must include pregnant women through a 60-day postpartum period, children under age 18, certain newborns for one year, and certain protected blind persons. States may also provide Medicaid to: Children under age 19 who are full-time students can be categorized by deciding the age-limit Caretaker relatives (relatives or legal guardians who live with and take care of children). Aged persons (age 65 and older). Blind persons (blindness is determined using the SSI program standards or state standards). Disabled persons (disability is determined using the SSI program standards or state standards). Persons who would be eligible if not enrolled in a health maintenance organization. Special Groups Medicare Beneficiaries-Medicaid pays Medicare premiums, deductibles and coinsurance for Qualified Medicare Beneficiaries (QMB)-individuals whose income is at or below 100% of the Federal poverty level and whose resources are at or below twice the standard allowed under SSI. There are additional groups for whom Medicare related expenses are paid by Medicaid-Medicare beneficiaries with income greater than 100% but less than 135% of the Federal poverty level (Medicaid At-a-Glance 2005 Medicaid Data Sources). The Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act, which was passed by the Congress and put into law by the President Barack Obama in March 2010, puts in place comprehensive health insurance reforms that will hold insurance companies more accountable, lower health care costs, guarantee more health care choices, and enhance the quality of health care for all Americans. The Act gives an individual better control of his own decisions about his health coverage, like, to get the health benefits through work, buy insurance for himself, or if he has small business and desires to provide health coverage to his employees, who are on Medicare, or do not have an insurance (About the Affordable Care Act / HealthCare.gov). This act soon makes insurance more affordable by providing small businesses with a tax credit to provide coverage, and by 2014, by providing tax credits to those who need help in buying insurance representing the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history (About the Affordable Care Act / HealthCare.gov). This Act was aimed at helping reduce the costs of insurance premiums for millions of American families and small business owners who are not eligible for the Medicaid, thus making health coverage affordable. The Affordable Care Act will ensure that most of the uninsured individuals are brought under coverage by 2014, and if they do not have access to affordable employer coverage, they will be able to purchase through a health insurance exchange. It also imposes new regulations for employers who do not provide coverage for their employees, by levying new penalties and taxes, with exceptions for small employers. Medicaid may also be expanded to 133% of the Federal poverty level for all individuals under 65. Discussion In spite of being the most successful public programs implemented by the government, the Affordable Care Act and the Medicaid programs had challenges. A few of them have illustrated here. Though the Affordable Care Act is deemed to extend the health insurance coverage by both expanding Medicaid eligibility and offering premium subsidies for the purchase of private health insurance through state health insurance exchanges, the eligibility, by definition, for these programs is sensitive to income and can change over a period of time with fluctuating income and changes in family composition. Since the law specifies no minimum enrollment period, subsidy levels will also change as income rises and falls. (Benjamin D Sommers, 2011) The author estimated using national survey data that within six months, more than 35 percent of all adults with family incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level will experience a shift in eligibility from Medicaid to an insurance exchange, or the reverse; within a year, 50 percent, or 28 million, will. The states and the federal government should adopt strategies to reduce the frequency of coverage transitions and to mitigate the disruptions caused by those transitions, so that it minimizes the effect on continuity and quality of care (Benjamin D Sommers, 2011). The greatest achievement of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 has been its ability to deliver a guarantee of access to affordable health insurance. This is accomplished by the law through two principal pathways. The first being, expanding Medicaid eligibility to all nonelderly citizens and eligible legal residents whose family income does not exceed 133 percent of the federal poverty level, then, enabling Medicaid-ineligible people with incomes up to 400 percent of poverty to receive premium subsidies through tax credits for health plans offered through state health insurance exchanges (Benjamin D Sommers, 2011). Though the Affordable Care Act helped subsidize the cost of health insurance, it had impact on income-related eligibility, because of the fluctuating incomes, and changing family sizes and compositions. As there was no specification in the Act, regarding minimum enrollment period, there was a constant change in the eligibility and subsidy levels with fluctuations in incomes. Moreover individuals are required to report changes in income frequently, more than once a year, thus eligibility can cease in any month. This potential for movement between Medicaid and exchange coverage was discussed previously by many authors like Short. P F, Graefe. D R, Schoen, C. in 2003, and Gerry Lynn Fairbrother, Heidi Park Emerson, Lee Partridge in 2007, can be thought of as an update to the classic problem of churning (frequent changes back and forth, in and out of Medicaid), a problem with which Medicaid has long grappled. Thus, issues like these may cause a disruption in the Medicaid coverage within a short period. Though Affordable Care Act may be rectifying the total loss of coverage when the individual loses eligibility for Medicaid, by providing an alternative source of coverage, there have been challenges in the implementation of the two programs, like increasing the administrative costs. The author Benjamin D Sommers, also proved the increase in the administrative costs and also the adverse effects on the access to the health coverage. There has also been a controversy in the public opinion regarding the Affordable Care Act, since it also made it necessary for all Americans to have coverage by the year 2014. And moreover, it had opposition from Political candidates such as Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, on his presidential campaign trail, tried to use the laws unpopularity for his benefit. He also said in one of his statements, that he would be repealing the acts, if he became the president. (Oliphant, 2011) Options The author Benjamin D Sommers suggests some options for these issues: Reduce likelihood of frequent eligibility changes: this may be achieved by setting a minimum eligibility period, the governments can use annual re-determination procedures rather than the frequent ones, in practice now. This was recommended by the Medicaid Redesign team, have been brought about in the New York State Budget for the year 2011, like allowing the aged and permanently disabled with fixed incomes to be automatically renewed based on cost of living increases. Currently, Medicaid recipients must complete and mail-in a renewal form once a year in order to continue to receive health care coverage. (Medicaid RedesignTeam, 2011) Another policy decision regarding the Act was established, that is introducing a standard 5% disregard in the income, furthermore expanding the Medicaid coverage, by raising the eligible income from 133% of poverty level to 138% of Poverty, which is to be implemented by 2014. Individuals with incomes between 139% and 400% of poverty, who are not covered by employer or any public plan, will be eligible for tax credits, if he buys private insurance through new state based Health insurance exchanges. (Focus on Health Reform, 2011) Efforts should be made to align the markets and the provider networks in such a way, that they offer coverage under both plans. The individuals facing the shifts between the programs should be supported appropriately. Conclusion Thus, these issues illustrate about how a policy, implemented by the government can have some advantages and disadvantages and affects the public, and how it is brought out in the limelight by the media. This illustrates the evaluation part of the policy making process, and how it was corrected by the government by implementing corrections to the program in the recent State Budget of New York State, for the year 2011,which can be considered as drafting a new policy again. A Public Policy is deemed to be successful when it serves the society without causing any further burden on the public and the government. And the media and the public should project such drawbacks and see that they are corrected by the government. The Affordable Care Act and the Medicaid, were beneficial to the public in many ways, like they provided coverage to many uninsured, and also to those who were pushed into poverty because of the Economic Recession in years 2007-2009, and they covered many children and the child births, the elderly, and those conditions which were not covered by most of the private plans and the individual was not eligible for Medicaid, directly. They also became a large source of federal funds, providing employment and creating a market. Though issues can rise in any major policy decisions, if they can be corrected, like the issues of eligibility, they will definitely prove more successful. Thus Policy making process can be called a never ending process, since issues keep on coming, in the process of their administration.

Analysing Structure Of Stories Literature Essay

Analysing Structure Of Stories Literature Essay This chapter focuses on the structure of stories in different mediums. Storytelling and the development of media have alternately influenced each another, and each new medium has established a new kind of storytelling. A story is more than actions and events. The sequence of actions and events according to a meaning creates a specific kind of structure. A storys structure is not the meaning of a fixed order but more the rules and the ways of combinations of events that creates a meaning. Therefore, understanding a storys structure is important in the narrative development process. Transmedia storytelling The structure of each medium allows for a different performance and affects how the meanings of stories are created and shared. Performativity need not be solely on the stage. Auslander stated that we live in a mediatized world, and that performance has spread across media, infecting the other media with performative spontaneity from both performers and audiences (Auslander, 1994). The stories we have heard, seen and read in a single medium have not lacked impact, but incorporating several media offers a whole new experience as Jenkins mentioned about transmedia. Transmedia is a term coined by Henry Jenkins to describe how stories can be told across media in such a way as to take advantage of what each medium do best. As Jenkins stated, Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story. (Jenkins, 2007) With transmedia experiences, where it is basically impossible for someone to have expertise in every medium, we may actually see a strengthening in the individual media as authors and artists focus on their expertise and return to specializing and mastering their medium of choice (Davidson, 2008). This means that the choice of media is not by content of the story but more by the expertise. Although the term transmedia emerged in the 21st century, the characteristics of transmedia can be identified in the wayang tradition. Mrà ¡zek stated that the media or the arts are more like artistic techniques than materials, or more like musical instruments than sound waves. He stated that the media in wayang narration, dialogue, puppets and puppet movement and their particular ways of working and functioning are creations of an artistic tradition, rather than universal, pre-existing categories (Mrà ¡zek, 2005). Puppet movement and puppet compositions, narration, dialogue, and music are combined and used to build the whole of the performance. Narration and dialogue appear to be in a class apart because they both use verbal language; but the case is not as simple. During both of them, the puppets are on the screen, and both the narration and the dialogue closely interact with the images. In the case of the dialogue, this is immediately obvious: it is the characters, acted by pu ppets on the screen that are represented speaking; the voice and the words are fused with them. In the case of narration, the interaction with the visual image is also close; the narration describes the scene and the characters and their actions, and is always closely juxtaposed to the visual images. Dialogue and narration are never quite purely verbal media they are connected to the visual images and constantly interact with them. However, if we want to see the separation between the media more clearly, we can look at the structuring of the performance in time. There is a very clear separation into three kinds of moments that what could be called: Narration moments Dialogue moments Puppet-movement moments During the puppet-movement moment the opening of the audience is represented in the medium of puppet movement, and there is no dialogue and no narration; then the dalang or the puppeteer narrates (the puppets are immobile, arranged into pictorial composition), and then comes the dialogue, during which the dalang only moves the hands of the puppets. The moments are represented by periods of music. In each of the moments, one medium comes to the fore, even though it is not necessarily in any pure form, that is, the other media may play a minor function. The media themselves are rarely clearly separate, but the different moments (in each one medium predominates) are (Mrà ¡zek, 2005). In this study, the web is used as a medium to revive traditional storytelling with puppets. Virtual worlds cannot substitute the rich experience of performing with real puppets and a face-to-face audience. But instead this study wants to ponder the potentials of the web and its design for this field. This study is also inspired from statements from Brenda Laurel. The performative nature of the web, one type of hypertext and hypermedia on computers, has led Brenda Laurel to look at computers as theater. For Laurel, computers have the capacity to represent action in which humans could participate (Laurel, 1993, p. 1). The readers are performers within the hypertextual narrative, shaping the actions and outcomes by the choice they make. A part of this study also focuses on the structure and process of narrative in hypermedia, in particular the web, and explores the potential application to support telling stories. Hypermedia refers to dynamic multimedia objects that have hypertextual aspects. As Landow and Delany stated, hypermedia is a multimedia extension of hypertext that is more complex and interactive, integrating visual and auditory experiences as well as text and links to give more contextual synthesis of the information explored (Delany Landow, 1994). For example, a web page with java scripting and interactive graphics, videos and sounds is a hypermedia object (Davidson, 2008). A characteristic of hypermedia is non-linearity structure, which allows us to navigate through an information space using associative linking. This leads to idea of intertextuality as we describe in the next section. Intertextuality Intertextuality refers to the numerous implicit references in each text to other texts. No text is written completely isolated from other texts and can stand entirely by itself. Hyperlinks in hypertexts and hypermedia documents emphasize such intertextuality in a way that is impossible in printed texts: they can lead directly from the hyperlinked terms, phrases or images to other contexts in which the same terms, phrases or images are meaningful, whether inside or outside the given hypermedia work itself (Delany Landow, 1994). Intertextuality can also be understood as the process of drawing on ones experience with multiple texts and making connections between these various texts and the present text being experienced (Davidson, 2008). Long and Strine illustrated how the process of experiencing a text necessitates that the audience brings an intertextuality to bear in order to understand the text being experienced (Long Strine, 1989). When we read a book, we bring our intertextual experiences of all the other books we have read to play with the current text itself, and from this playfulness, we assemble a deeper meaning of the text(s) involved. The appreciation of traditional textual objects, such as novels and films, is dependent to a certain measure on the decoding of intertextual references to other media in these texts. Thus, the pleasure of consuming these texts can be seen to be contingent to a certain extent on the users ability to identify and decode these allusions. This intertextual element also exists in new media, especially since media content is increasingly brought to the consumer through different channels simultaneously. Intertextuality can be found in wayang tradition also. For example, a character is used not only in one story; he or she can appear in different stories with different meanings and actions. A story is a part of another story or a story is a biography of an actor from another story. For this study, we want to use this characteristic in the system to provide a suggestion to children when they want to combine or connect stories. A theme of a story or actors in a story will be proceeded to bring out suggestions. With this kind of suggestion, the process of story-building is expected becomes simplified. Structure of a story Stories impose a structure on the events that we narrate so that listeners (including the storyteller) can understand them, and thereby gain some particular perspective on the events (Polanyi, 1989). A schema of narrative composed of four characteristics: setting, character, theme and plot (Davidson, 2008). Event schemas or scripts are knowledge structures which even very young children use to organize their general knowledge about events. Scripts also guide childrens comprehension and their recalling of stories about familiar events (Hudson, 1988). A storys structure as a topic of education fosters the ability to detect a meaning by reading. Models for developing good stories have been proposed for thousands of years. Around 2300 years ago Aristotle wrote his treatise called Poetics, in which he focused on tragedies, or serious drama. Many aspects of poetics are useful for authoring multimedia stories as well; the most important being the plot. According to Butcher, Aristotle said that [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] for by plot I here mean the arrangement of the incidents [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] But most important of all is the structure of the incidents [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] so the plot, being an imitation of an action, must imitate one action and that a whole, the structural union of the parts being such that, if any one of them is displaced or removed, the whole will be disjointed and disturbed.; and every story must have a beginning, middle and end (Aristotle, 2008; Lee, 2001). In the next section, a structure of a dramatic work such as a play or film, focusing on Gustav Freytags analysis of ancient Greek and Shakespearean drama is discussed. The discussion continues by analyzing the geometric structure variations of stories. Freytags Pyramid Freytags Pyramid (see Figure 3.1) is a way to analyze a plot that consists of five elements in an ascending and descending manner, introduction (exposition, inciting moment) rising action climax falling action denouement (catastrophe, resolution) (Freytag, 1900). In the introduction, the plot, characters, and complications are introduced. This leads to the rising action, or the events that lead to the climax of the plot. At the point of highest dramatic tension, or at a major turning point in the plot, the audience finds the climax. This decisive moment in the narrative is when the rising action is reversed to falling action. The falling action, then, is made up of the events that follow the climax and lead to the denouement. The final outcome, result, or unraveling of the main dramatic complication is called the denouement. The denouement may involve a reversal in the protagonists fortunes, usually as the result of a discovery (recognition of something of great importance previo usly unknown) by the protagonist. Figure 3.1. Frytags dramatic pyramid Frytags dramatic pyramid can be used to analyze the dramatic structure of wayang performance. Wayang performance in general has three acts: Pathet Nem, Pathet Sanga, and Pathet Manyura. The performance usually starts at 9.00 pm and will be end at 4.00 am. The following part describes the structure of a wayang performance in detail: Act One (Pathet Nem) Pathet nem is symbolizing childhood, performed from 9 pm until midnight, and consists of 6 scenes: Jejeran Raja: symbolizes that the baby begins to be accepted and nurtured by his mother. Paseban Jawi: symbolizes a child who is already getting to know the real world. Jaranan: symbolize the immature nature of children. Perang Ampyak: symbolizes a child who has begun to mature. Sabrangan: symbolizes a child who has grown but his character is still dominated by emotions. Perang Gagal: symbolizes a person who does not yet have a definite purpose in life. Act Two (Pathet Sanga) Pathet sanga is symbolizing adulthood, performed at midnight until 2.00 am, and consists of 3 scenes. In this act, the hero is thinking about problems, and subversive clown figures enter and dispense wisdom and ribald humor. Bambangan: symbolizes a person who has begun to obtain knowledge. Perang Kembang: symbolizes a growing adult. Jejer Sintren: symbolizes a person who has set a goal in his life. Act Three (Pathet Manyura) Pathet manyura is symbolizing seniority, performed from 2.00 am until 4.00 am, and consists of 3 scenes. This act contains resolution of conflict/problem with many battles. Jejer Manyura: symbolizes a person who already knows the purpose of his life and is close to achieving his dreams. Perang Brubuh: symbolizes a person who has reached his life goal. Tancep Kayon: symbolizes a person who has died. In this study, it is of interest to look at the process of performance of the wayang story rather than at the dramatic structure of wayang stories. The story of wayang is performed in a linear process, always starts from act one, continues with act two and ends with act three. But there is still a possibility to change the storys sequence for some stories. In wayang there are four types of play or Lakon: Standard play (Lakon Pakem) is played strictly following rules from the book. Improvisation play (Carangan) is played following the rules with improvisation. Contemporary play (Sempalan) is played completely out-of-the-book. Biography play (Lakon Banjaran) is played covering a biography of a certain figure. Wayang stories besides having the linear structure also have a non-linear structure, e.g., a contemporary play. This situation gives us an opportunity to perform wayang stories in a medium that supports non-linear structures, e.g., the web. Before the exploration of story structures which are appropriate with the authoring tool is proceeded, the variation of story structures will be discussed in the next section. Geometric design structures of stories Every story has a structure that can be visualized as a process. Linear stories have linear processes; non-linear stories have non-linear processes. Ten geometric structure variations from Samsel and Wimberly is explored in this section: sequential, branching, conditional branching (branching with barriers, branching with forced paths, bottlenecking, branching with optional scenes), exploratorium, parallel streaming, worlds, and multilinear (Samsel Wimberly, 1998). Sequential (Linear) Sequential structure is the basic building block of both interactive and linear media projects as shown Figure 3.2. User navigation follows a strictly defined procedural path one after another. The user cannot jump from node A to node C, for example, without having first traveled across node B. Figure 3.2. Sequential structure Sequential with Cul-de-Sacs Sometimes a linear sequence of nodes can diverge into isolated nonlinear deviations offer the user the choice to step off the procedural path into areas that in no way fulfill the critical objective of the piece. Such digressions are called cul-de-sacs usually puzzles, games, or sidebars that explore the themes of the work, but in no way affect the outcome of the story or objective of the work. The interesting thing about a cul-de-sac is that its entrance is also its exit, as shown in Figure 3.3. This applies to interactive cul-de-sacs as well and is especially important for the software designer who is trying to help us tell an interactive narrative. An interactive corporate training title, for example, might have a node that demonstrates a crucial concept. Several key words or phrases within that node may be hot. Clicking on one of the words might send the user to another node that shows that word, along with its definition. This sidebar or footnote has no impact on the training lesson itself. It is only there to enhance the users understanding of the key words and phrases contained in the material. Once the user has finished reading the definition, he or she has only one option to return to the lesson. Figure 3.3. Sequential structure with cul-de-sac (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.25) Many childrens edutainment CD-ROMs, such as Mindscapes The Animals! use sequential storytelling techniques e.g., a trip to the zoo and link them to archived data (Samsel Wimberly, 1998). A child can travel through the story and click on an object within a scene. This action will transport the child to a cul-de-sac a self-contained node of information such as a video clip of a lion, a photograph of a pelican, an audio clip of a monkey, or a text description of a polar bear. Once the information has been delivered and digested by the child, it can either replay the information or return to the main body of the zoo story. The cul-de-sac simply enhances the user experience. Branching In an interactive program, branching offers the most rudimentary course of extending how users navigate throughout the program. In a typical branching structure, the user is presented with several choices or options upon arriving at certain predesignated Forks in the road. Based on which path the user chooses, the program follows a new node of content. Figure 3.4. Traditional branching structure Branching structures are popular because they easily demonstrate the fundamental concept of interactive theory user choice. Namely, when confronted with a path decision, the user must choose one from several options A, B, or C in order to proceed to the corresponding node, as shown in Figure 3.4. The danger of branching structures is that they can spiral out of control very quickly. Author Neal Stephenson refers to this type of structure as the tree of death, where the story line keeps forking until there ends up being an unmanageable number of outcomes (see Figure 3.5). Figure 3.5. Extended branching structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.26) Conditional Branching: Branching with Barriers A subset of branching is conditional branching, which requires the user to abide by the rules of a predetermined condition along the branch in order to proceed through the program. Often, these conditions are puzzles or other obstacles that are slapped down in the middle of the application. The user is forced to solve the puzzle before he or she can continue (see Figure 3.6). Figure 3.6. Branching with barriers structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.27) Conditional Branching: Branching with Forced Paths Conditional branching often limits user choice in other ways. While appearing on the surface to offer many choices and options, the program will often continue regardless of the users actual choice. In essence, the program offers the illusion of choice without actually allowing the user to alter the program in any way. The validity of interactivity is strictly limited by the choices offered by the writer. Figure 3.7. Branching with forced path structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.28) A branching structure as seen in Figure 3.7 using forced paths or critical paths offers the end-user more options and/or more paths to choose from, but only one solution advances the story. Conditional Branching: Bottlenecking Another type of condition placed on branching structures (especially when the structure is used in an interactive narrative) manifests itself as bottlenecking. Bottlenecking is when various branching nodes are brought back into the spine of the story in order to rein everything in. This is a crucial structural procedure when you consider the exponential possibilities created by traditional branching structure (see Figure 3.8). Figure 3.8. Branching with bottlenecking structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.29) When the various story nodes are folded back so that they converge into a single story spine, the interactive narrative becomes more manageable. This type of design structure has been implemented in a number of popular media games and interactive movies over the past several years, including Origins popular Wing Commander series (Samsel Wimberly, 1998). Conditional Branching: Branching with Optional Scenes Sometimes the user gets to choose between alternative scenes that spin out from and return to the primary spine of the application whether that spine is a story (as in an interactive narrative) or an objective (as in an informational multimedia application such as a training title). Alternative scenes are commonly found in education and training programs, where it is necessary to demonstrate numerous concepts (see Figure 3.9). Figure 3.9. Branching with optional scenes structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.29) Exploratorium Exploratorium is empowering structures that allow the user to pause during the program to explore a world within a world. Many interactive storybook titles utilize exploratoriums from the humorous Living Books titles, Arthurs Birthday and Just Grandma and Me to Disneys Pocahontas Animated Storybook to simulated environments such as Imergy/Simon and Schusters Star Trek Captains Chair (Samsel Wimberly, 1998). The exploratorium structure can be seen in Figure 3.10. Figure 3.10. Exploratorium structure. Letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H are hot spots or entertainment click-ons imbedded into program (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.32). Parallel Streaming Parallel streaming describes many states or paths that exist simultaneously at various levels within the same application. In an interactive narrative, this type of structure allows the writer to create a single linear story, while allowing the user to switch between perspectives, paths, or states. The user can then experience the same series of events from multiple points of view (see Figure 3.11). Figure 3.11. Parallel streaming structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.33) Worlds When two or more environments are interconnected by a common thread be it a theme, goal, mission, or story we have the basis for a world structure. Add to that world series of predefined events or tasks that the user trigger/accomplish in order to move the story or mission forward and you have a design structure that works very well with interactive media programs (Samsel Wimberly, 1998). In a world experience, exploring the surrounding is just as important (and fun) as completing the story or achieving an objective. This poses a unique set of problems for the writer. Figure 3.12. World structure. Notice that the world is in the shape of funnel (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.36) The player is free to roam through an enchanting environment in search of clues to the story. The act of exploration is just as important as the act of discovering the narrative. Each activity has equal merit. The player advances the story by triggering certain author-defined events. Exploring all the worlds, uncovering all the clues, and interacting with all the triggers leads the player to the end of the game (see Figure 3.12). Another way to look at a world structure would be an overhead view, as if looking down into the center of a funnel or cone. The plot points or tasks that user must accomplish are represented by the eight outer nodes. The eight inner nodes in the carousel represent the next set of tasks (see Figure 3.13). Figure 3.13. Carousel entry into a world structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.37) Multilinear or Hypermedia Another type of design structure, known as multilinear (see Figure 3.14), either encompasses every type of user path imaginable or no path at all. The World Wide Web, hypertext fiction, MUDs (multi-user domains), MOOs (Multi-user object-oriented environments), and many simulations are good examples. Multilinear structure demands a different kind of involvement from its user than do puzzles, branching games, or linear narratives. That is because it is the users themselves who must traverse their own unique paths through an environment. The writer sets the boundaries and rules of interactivity, but the users must chart their own course through the material. Hypermedia structures, in much the same way as the World Wide Web or a hypertext fiction title, allow the user to become an interactor a facilitator of the story. While surfing the web, the user decides which homepage to start from and selects which links to follow through the electronic universe. User action determines a pathway through the material. Similarly, hypertext fictions are about the journey as much as they are about the narrative that waits to be pieced together. Figure 3.14. Multilinear and hypermedia structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.39) Relevance to the research One of the lessons that has been learned from this section is that the sequence of events and actions is important in a story. This sequence leads the reader to follow a dramatic flow of the story. There are causal connections between the events or ideas in the story and these connections tend to be related to the main elements of the story. Through these comprehension processes, readers develop an understanding that extends beyond words and sentences, to reach comprehension of paragraphs and extended text. This knowledge forced the researcher to design a space for children to learn and to practice in building a storys sequence in order to support them their narrative development. A good plot and dramatic story structure of a story will keep the readers curiosity and their emotional engagement. When a user accomplished a task by using a computer, she/he followed a certain sequence process which is offered by the system. The actions and events of the system and user build a kind of story. It is needed to keep the user attention and their engagement with the system in order to reach their goals. Therefore, the researcher found that the knowledge of the storys structure and the dramatic flow can be used to design interaction between user and system. Summary This chapter introduced a conceptual thinking of transmedia storytelling from Jenkins which described how stories can be told across media in such a way so as to take advantage of what each medium does best. The stories we have heard, seen and read in a single medium have not lacked impact, but incorporating several media offers a whole new experience. A schema of narrative composed of four characteristic: setting, character, theme and plot. The four characteristics are the building blocks of narrative. Event schemas or scripts are knowledge structures which even very young children use to organize their general knowledge about events. This chapter has explained the dramatic structure from Freytag and explored ten geometric-structured variations of stories from Samsel and Wimberly: sequential, branching, conditional branching (branching with barriers, branching with forced paths, bottlenecking, branching with optional scenes), exploratorium, parallel streaming, worlds, and multilinear. In wayang tradition, multiple non-linear structures can be found within wayang stories. The audience can follow its own combinations of presented and remembered additional stories according to their own experiences and knowledge. This study focuses on analyzing whether the same character in different stories can enable a similar multiple storylines as well. The concept of intertextuality in this context will be used to provide suggestions for children to help them to build multiple storylines by character.