The Impact of Inward FDI on Host Countries Essay

The Impact of Inward FDI on Host Countries - Essay Example Discussion The impacts of inward FDI on host countries Transfer of resources Inward FDI has various effects on host countries. Grimwade (2000) indicates that inward FDI has the effect of transferring resources whereby resources such as technology, capital and management are transferred during investment. Capital transfer increases the capital stock in a host country while the transfer of management leads to the improvement of management skills in this country. Moreover, during transfer of resources, host countries may benefit from new technologies from the foreign investors. Overall, the transfer of the aforementioned elements leads to an increment in the host country’s productive potential as it leads to the increase of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Host countries have witnessed substantial economic growth due to FDI. This growth, alongside other benefits, has heavily depended on various factors. The multinational corporations in host countries have raised funds in these countries through bank loans, issuing shares or issuing bonds to the investors in these countries. However, such a move has not yielded the result of transfer of capital and it has instead pushed the costs of raising capital for the firms in the host countries. ... (2004) indicate that some MNCs from industrialized countries have introduced capital-intensive methods in countries that require labor-intensive methods owing to abundance in labor there. Furthermore, management skills and technologies brought to the host countries may have a little benefit to their economy in case they are not passed on to the employees in the local firms. Balance of payments and trade Buckley and Casson (2002) reveal that through inward FDI, host nations have been able to enjoy positive effects on their balance of payments in the short run. The inflow of foreign capital has benefited the capital account of balance of payments, with the current account improving due to a decrease in imports or an increase in exports. Foreign companies also face the need to import various parts and components from their parent companies during their early stages. Moreover, there is a possibility of large inflows emanating from the foreign countries pushing the exchange rates, which r enders the exports less lucrative and increases competition. Appreciation in the exchange rates may have the effect of attracting speculative capital inflows, which may push the rate further and lead to its overshooting. In case the central bank wants to prevent the rise of the rate through selling currency to foreign money holders, there will be an increase in the supply of money, which culminates into inflation. In the end, there will be an outflow of FDI when the parent companies are paid dividends and interest payments (Jones, 2005 ). Employment Dicken (2007) highlights that inward FDI has the effect of increasing employment in the host countries. This is a direct effect of FDI as the foreign firms in these countries are able to employ workers who might not have attained any form of

STL-2 knowledge based questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

STL-2 knowledge based questions - Essay Example Moreover the type of research in terms of the object of study in also very important. If the object of study is an individual child, than only a single child is observed. However if the object of study is a group of children, than samples size should consist of a number of different groups. The aim of study children in groups is to analyze the behavior of child in a group. This could include the response of child to social phenomenon or just sleeping patterns of children living in groups etc. Therefore an individual child could be observed or the group could be observed as a whole. These observations can enable a researcher or parent to analyze the different needs of the child for example food, sleep etc. From an educational perspective these observations can help establish an understanding into the interests a child is showing. Both parents and doctors can then use this information and compare it with benchmarks to understand the progress in a child’s habits. Thus they can su pport the positive aspects and stop the negative ones. There are different procedures and methods to observing a child. The observations however should not interfere with the normal settings of a child’s daily schedule. This is because the aim of every research is to analyze how the child would perform and work in a normal environment. However if the researcher is not careful in ensuring that the original environment of the child is in intact the entire purpose of the research could be at risk. This is because if the original environment is tampered with the child would lose his routine. The observation in the new routine or state of mind would not be applicable in normal environment of other children. Therefore the validity of research would be severely harmed. The results acquired would have no significance. The best method is that observer should allocate timing according to the subject of observation. This would mean that

Aspects of Contract and Negligence for Business Essay - 9

Aspects of Contract and Negligence for Business - Essay Example Essential aspects of a valid contract include an agreement that has to be composed of the element of offer and acceptance. For there to be an agreement there must be two parties involved, the party that makes the offer is known as the offeror while the party to whom the offer is made is known as the offeree. The two parties must come to a consensus on the same thing. Intention to create legal relationship on the part of the parties to the agreement is essential in order to create a legally binding relationship.The consent between the parties to enter in an agreement has to be free and genuine and not forced or entered by mistake or misrepresentation. If in any case the consent is not freely entered,the resultant contract is not valid. The parties entering into a contract should be qualified to enter a contract.The qualification to enter into a contract include being of the right age, sound mind and not disqualified by any law of which the party may be subject. Vicarious liability entails circumstances where the principal is held liable due to the misconduct of his agent (Kraakman 670). The agent in this case can either be an employee in the course of employment, a police officer in charge of a police post, or a partner of a firm in the ordinary course of business. Liability in contracts can only happen if a tort is committed. In this case, the one who commits the tort is an employee while the employee was acting under employment when the tort was committed. In case of employment, employers can only be held liable for torts committed by their employees and not independent contractors. The employer In the case of Limpus v London General Omnibus Co (1862) I H&C 526, it was held liable for bus drivers racing, despite prohibition, causing a collision (Brennan 112). The assumption of vicarious liability is that principals have greater capability

Aquafiers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Aquafiers - Essay Example A lot of our water supply comes from water wells that are drilled deep down into the aquifers. We need these aquifers to stay unpolluted in order to continue to enjoy them. Sadly a number of new techniques threaten the safety of aquifers. In The whole Fracking Enchilada by Sandra Steingraber, the author discusses how natural gas is extracted from shale. The process can be very destructive to the environment. We have to be mindful of this in the future as we continue to try to meet our energy needs while preserving the quality of our environment and drinking supply. Clean coal is another new technology that tries to reduce the impact on the environment. It is used to capture carbon emitted from the process. It is important to reduce the countrys reliance on coal because a huge proportion of the electricity used by the U.S. Comes from coal and coal can often produce a lot of CO2, the gas that cause global warming (according to some). For some environmentalists, nothing can save the planet. The believe, like Jensen, that human beings are psychopaths who want only to destroy the world. This is a very foolish idea and Jensen is clearly not an intelligent man. Nevertheless, the idea is out there and should be addressed. One of the great screen actors of the 20th century is surely Robert Redford. In three substantial contibutions to the history of American cinema, Redford starred in The Natural, The Sting, Three Days of the Condor and The Sundance Red. Each of these movies is unique in their own way and each tells a story about America and is moving. The Natural is a film about baseball. In it, Redford stars as man with a natural ability to play the game. He undergoes a number of trials and tribulations. The story in a sense is about success and failure in American life. It is truly moving to see how much baseball means to the main characters and how much they care. The Sting is a story about two conman. One of which is played by Redford and the other by

Automotive industry Essay Example for Free

Automotive industry Essay In compliance with the fulfillment of the requirements on the course â€Å"Writing in the Discipline† and in accordance with your oral instructions dated November 19, 2013, we are submitting our library research paper entitled â€Å"The Uses of Automobiles†. The main purpose of this research paper is to know automobiles and its uses, to explain the advantages and disadvantages that automobiles bring to the society, and to suggest ways on how to conserve energy using new technologies of automobiles. We hope that this paper will meet your approval. Respectfully yours, Kenneth Llauderes and Mark Joseph Sueta BSME- 1 BSME- 1. The Uses of Automobiles A Library Research Paper Presented to Mrs. Astrid O. Haresco Faculty, Department of Languages Western Institute of Technology In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course ENGLISH 2- Writing in the Discipline By Kenneth Llauderes- BSME 1 Mark Joseph Sueta- BSME 1 February 2014 Table of Contents Page †¢Introduction 1 ?History 2 ?Contribution to the society 4 †¢Application of automobile as Transportation 5 ?Automobile Industry 5 ?Automobile Racing 6 ?Automobiles Business 9 †¢New Technologies of Automobiles 11 ?Antipollution Strategies 11 ?Safety Features 12 ?Hybrid- Electric Vehicles 13? Computers and Navigation Devices 14 ?Eco- Friendly Automobile 16 ?Other Improvements 19 †¢Conclusion 20 †¢Recommendation 20 †¢Bibliography 21 Llauderes, K. Sueta, M. J. â€Å"The uses of automobiles†. Western Institute of Technology. 2014 Automobiles transport people in a more comfortable and more efficient manner. It is a propelled vehicle used primarily on public roads but adaptable to other surface. They are classified by size, style, number of doors and intended use. The typical automobile also called a car, auto, motorcar, and passenger car, has four wheels and can carry up to six people including a driver. The researchers travelled and gathered information from the correct and truthful data from the internet and different libraries in Iloilo. The researchers conclude that automobiles change the world and the lives of the people because it has a profound impact on the society. As a whole it played a very important role in the society and it is one of the key elements of industrial economies and no doubt, it will continue to shape our culture and economy well into the next generations. The researchers recommend that the overnment agencies especially Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) support the production of automobiles that have antipollution features and they must impose rules and regulations, and build more highways and bridges in response on the increasing number of automobiles. THESIS STATEMENT: Automobiles transport people in a more comfortable and more efficient manner. I. What is an automobile A. Definition B. History C. Contribution to the society II. Application of automobile as Transportation A. Automobile Industry B. Automobile Racing C. Automobiles Business III. New Technologies of Automobiles A. Antipollution Strategies B. Safety Features C. Hybrid- Electric Vehicles D. Computers and Navigation Devices E. Eco- Friendly Automobile F. Other Improvements Introduction An automobile is a self- propelled vehicle used primarily on public roads but adaptable to other surfaces. They are classified by size, style, number of doors and intended use. The typical automobile also called a car, auto, motorcar, and passenger car, has four wheels and can carry up to six people including a driver. Larger vehicles designed to carry more passengers are called vans, minivans, omnibuses, or buses. In this paper, those used to carry cargo are called pickups or trucks, depending on their size and design. Minivans are van- style vehicles built on a passenger car frame that can usually carry up to eight passengers. Sport- utility vehicles, also known as SUVs are more rugged than passenger cars and are designed for driving in mud or snow. The researchers chose automobile as their topic among all the topics because it is the one that people uses in their daily lives as transportation and because it is one of the key elements of industrial economies and no doubt it will continue to shape their culture and economy well into the next generations. This paper is intended to analyze and examine how technology especially automobiles change the world and the lives of the people. This paper is all about automobiles, its history, uses and countries that produce automobiles. It also discusses about the advantages and disadvantages that automobiles bring to them. It also focuses on the manufacture and servicing of automobiles. 1 This paper is gathered from the correct and truthful data from different libraries in Iloilo and by the use of the internet, the researchers also gathered some data from different resources. They use the information from the latest resources of the library. They also travelled in nearby provinces of Iloilo to collect knowledge that they apply in this paper. This paper is divided into three parts namely: what is an automobile; application of automobile as transportation and; new technologies of automobile to support the thesis statement: automobiles transport people in a more comfortable and more efficient manner. History The history of the automobile actually began about 4,000 years ago when the first wheel was used for transportation in India. In the early 15th century the Portuguese arrived in China and the interaction of the two cultures led to a variety of new technologies, including the creation of a wheel that turned under its own power. By the 1600s small steam-powered engine models had been developed, but it was another century before a full-sized engine-powered vehicle was created. In 1769 French Army officer Captain Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built what has been called the first automobile. Cugnot’s three-wheeled, steam-powered vehicle carried four persons. Designed to move artillery pieces, it had a top speed of a little more than 3. 2 km/h (2 mph) and had to stop every 20 minutes to build up a fresh head of steam 2 As early as 1801 successful but very heavy steam automobiles were introduced in England. Laws barred them from public roads and forced their owners to run them like trains on private tracks. In 1802 a steam-powered coach designed by British engineer Richard Trevithick journeyed more than 160 km (100 mi) from Cornwall to London. Steam power caught the attention of other vehicle builders. In 1804 American inventor Oliver Evans built a steam-powered vehicle in Chicago, Illinois. French engineer Onesiphore Pecqueur built one in 1828. British inventor Walter Handcock built a series of steam carriages in the mid-1830s that were used for the first omnibus service in London. By the mid-1800s England had an extensive network of steam coach lines. Horse-drawn stagecoach companies and the new railroad companies pressured the British Parliament to approve heavy tolls on steam-powered road vehicles. The tolls quickly drove the steam coach operators out of business. During the early 20th century steam cars were popular in the United States. Most famous was the Stanley Steamer, built by American twin brothers Freelan and Francis Stanley. A Stanley Steamer established a world land speed record in 1906 of 205. 44 km/h (121. 573 mph). Manufacturers produced about 125 models of steam-powered automobiles, including the Stanley, until 1932. 3 Contribution to the society The automobile has had a profound impact on the society. It has brought superhighways, paved bridges, motels, vacations, suburbia and economic growth which accompanied them. Automobiles provide a great deal of personal freedom to their owners. The article by journalist Kevin A. Wilson provides a history of automobile design and production in the United States, and surveys recent efforts to develop lower- and zero-emissions vehicles, such as electric cars and diesel-electric hybrid cars. As suburbs, generally without public transportation, grew, cars became necessary and auto sales increased. Easy credit facilitated the purchase of cars. The number of cars on the road leaped from 40 million in 1950 to 60 million in 1960. The Federal Highway Act of 1956 created the Interstate Highway System, a 68,400-km (42,500-mi) network of limited-access highways. This system spurred further suburban growth. Technological advances transformed production. The new machine-tool industry, a trail of inventions, including the telephone, typewriter, linotype, phonograph, electric light, cash register, air brake, refrigerator car, and automobile, led to new industries. Business leaders learned how to operate and coordinate many different economic activities across broad geographic areas. Businesses were thus able to become larger, and the modern corporation became an important form of business organization. 4 Application of Automobile as Transportation Automobile industry Automobile Industry is an industry that produces automobiles and other gasoline-powered vehicles, such as buses, trucks, and motorcycles. The automobile industry is one of the most important industries in the world, affecting not only the economy but also the cultures of the world. It provides jobs for millions of people, generates billions of dollars in worldwide revenues, and provides the basis for a multitude of related service and support industries. Automobiles revolutionized transportation in the 20th century, changing forever the way people live, travel, and do business. The automobile has enabled people to travel and transport goods farther and faster, and has opened wider market areas for business and commerce. The auto industry has also reduced the overall cost of transportation by using methods such as mass production (making several products at once, rather than one at a time), mass marketing (selling products nationally rather than locally), and globalization of production (assembling products with parts made worldwide). From 1886 to 1898, about 300 automobiles were built, but there was no real established industry. A century later, with automakers and auto buyers expanding globally, automaking became the worlds largest manufacturing activity, with nearly 58 million new vehicles built each year worldwide. 5 As a result of easier and faster transportation, the United States and world economies have become dependent on the mobility that automobiles, trucks, and buses provide. This mobility allowed remote populations to interact with one another, which increased commerce. The transportation of goods to consumers and consumers to goods has become an industry in itself. The automobile has also brought related problems, such as air pollution, the emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, congested traffic, and highway fatalities. Nevertheless, the automobile industry continues to be an important source of employment and transportation for millions of people worldwide. Automobile Racing Automobile Racing is a sport in which drivers race specially designed automobiles over tracks or courses of differing lengths, designs, and constructions. The competition tests the skills of the drivers, the speed capabilities of the vehicles, and the endurance of both. Originally consisting of occasional challenges among wealthy individuals in the United States and continental Europe, automobile racing has evolved into an international year-round professional sport that is one of the most popular spectator attractions in the world. There are three basic types of race courses in automobile racing: (1) the oval track, (2) the road course, and (3) the straight-line course. Oval tracks, which can be dirt, asphalt, or concrete, range in length from 0. 16 to 2. 5 mi 6 (0. 27 to 4 km). Some oval tracks, longer than 1 mi (1. 6 km) and highly banked (angled toward the ground), are called superspeedways. Road courses have either of two forms: courses that are created by temporarily closing city streets, and courses specially designed to duplicate the twists and turns of country roads but used only for racing. Road courses of both types are generally 1. 5 to 4 mi (2. 4 to 6. 4 km) long in the United States, sometimes longer in other countries. Straight-line courses consist of a simple strip of asphalt or concrete used for drag races between two vehicles. Straight-line courses are generally 0. 25 mi (0. 4 km) long, but they can be 0. 125 mi (0. 2 km) long as well. There are five basic components of an automobile racing team: (1) the ownership, (2) the team manager, (3) the driver, (4) the support crew, and (5) the sponsors. The ownership of the car is in charge of the team but usually employs a manager to run operations on a day-to-day basis. The driver is always an independent contractor. Drivers usually compete in a variety of different cars for different owners throughout their careers. The support crew maintains the car before, during, and after races. The driver and support crew work together during races to handle needed repairs, tire changes, and fuel refills (done during brief service breaks known as pit stops). Finally, sponsors, usually corporations, provide money to the racing team in exchange for promotional ties. The most obvious examples of this relationship are company and product logos, which are commonly seen on the outside of vehicles during races. 7 Although there are many categories of automobile racing—and many types and levels of competition within each category—the major forms of the sport differ in the United States and abroad. In most parts of the world, the premier race series are those for Formula One (F1) vehicles and for sports cars. These competitions receive less attention in the United States, where the most important race series are those for Indianapolis (Indy) cars and for stock cars. Some drivers and teams move between American and overseas forms of racing, but this are uncommon. The coordinating committee for automobile racing in the United States is the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States (ACCUS), which serves as the U. S. representative on the Federation International de lAutomobile (FIA; International Automobile. Federation), the worldwide governing body of the sport. ACCUS coordinates activities between FIA and six major sanctioning bodies for automobile racing in the United States—addressing rules, regulations, automotive specifications, safety, and related matters. The eight organizational members of ACCUS are Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), Indy Racing League (IRL), Grand American Road Racing Association (GRAND-AM), Professional Sports Car Racing (PSC), the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), and the United States Auto Club (USAC). 8 Automobile Business Automobiles have changed and developed in response to consumer wishes, economic conditions, and advancing technology. The first gas-powered vehicles looked like horse buggies with engines mounted underneath because this was the style to which people were accustomed. By 1910, however, features like the front-mounted engine were already established, giving the automobile a look that was all its own. As public demand for cars increased, the vehicles became more stylized. The classic cars of the 1920s and 1930s epitomize the sleek, individually designed luxury cars called the â€Å"classic cars. † During the 1940s and 1950s, automobiles generally became larger until the advent of the â€Å"compact† car, which immediately became a popular alternative. The gasoline crisis is reflected in the fuel-efficient cars made in the 1970s and 1980s. Current designs continue to reflect economy awareness, although many different markets exist. In a turnaround economy like India, small can mean handsome returns. As auto makers Suzuki and Hyundai, focused on the sub-compact segment. It is thanks to buoyant small-car sales by their subsidiaries here that both Hyundai and Suzuki have posted record earnings growth, in the midst of a severe global downturn. It suggests a growth-driver role for the domestic automobile industry, and not merely in terms of volumes and sales. 9 The auto companies and ancillary makers are confident of posting 10 percent rise in business, provided barriers to free movement of goods are removed. Over 80 percent of the players in the automobile industry, having units in north India, said business activities could grow by 10 per cent while 20 per cent of the respondents said business was likely to go beyond 10 percent, a survey conducted by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry said. Reeling under subdued demand for long, the domestic steel industry now hopes that the proposal to reduce excise duty on automobiles in the Interim Budget 2014-15 would spur demand for flat products. The proposal to reduce excise duty on automobiles in the current economic environment is a welcome step, however it would have been more meaningful and impactful if the excise duty on steel would have been reduced, Essar Steel. Leaving direct taxes untouched except for continuing the income tax surcharge on super-rich individuals and corporate, the Interim Budget today slashed excise duty on cars and two-wheelers, and capital goods and consumer durables to boost manufacturing and growth. 10 New Technologies of Automobiles Antipollution Strategies Pollution-control laws adopted at the beginning of the 1990s in some of the United States and in Europe called for automobiles that produced better gas mileage with lower emissions. The California Air Resources Board required companies with the largest market shares to begin selling vehicles that were pollution free—in other words, electric. In 1996 General Motors became the first to begin selling an all-electric car, the EV1, to California buyers. The all-electric cars introduced so far have been limited by low range, long recharges, and weak consumer interest. Engines that run on hydrogen have been tested. Hydrogen combustion produces only a trace of harmful emissions, no carbon dioxide, and a water-vapor by-product. However, technical problems related to the gas’s density and flammability remains to be solved. Diesel engines burn fuel more efficiently, and produce fewer pollutants, but they are noisy. Popular in trucks and heavy vehicles, diesel engines are only a small portion of the automobile market. A redesigned, quieter diesel engine introduced by Volkswagen in 1996 may pave the way for more diesels, and less pollution, in passenger cars. 11 Safety Features. Manufacturers continue to build lighter vehicles with improved structural rigidity and ability to protect the driver and passengers during collisions. Bumpers evolved as rails or bars to protect the front and rear of the car’s body from damage in minor collisions. Over the years, bumpers became stylish and, in some cases, not strong enough to survive minor collisions without expensive repairs. Eventually, government regulations required bumpers designed to withstand low-speed collisions with less damage. Some bumpers can withstand 4-km/h (2. 5-mph) collisions with no damage, while others can withstand 8-km/h (5-mph) collisions with no damage. Modern vehicles feature crumple zones, portions of the automobile designed to absorb forces that otherwise would be transmitted to the passenger compartment. Passenger compartments on many vehicles also have reinforced roll bar structures in the roof, in case the vehicle overturns, and protective beams in the doors to help protect passengers from side impacts. Seat belt and upper-body restraints that relax to permit comfort but tighten automatically during an impact are now common. Some car models are equipped with shoulder-restraint belts that slide into position automatically when the car’s doors close. 12. An air bag is a high-speed inflation device hidden in the hub of the steering wheel or in the dash on the passenger’s side. Some automobiles have side-impact air bags, located in doors or seats. At impact, the bag inflates almost instantaneously. The inflated bag creates a cushion between the occupant and the vehicle’s interior. Air bags first appeared in the mid-1970s, available as an optional accessory. Today they are installed on all new passenger cars sold in the United States. Air bags inflate with great force, which occasionally endangers a child or infant passenger. Some newer automobile models are equipped with switches to disable the passenger-side air bags when a child or infant is traveling in the passenger seat. Automakers continue to research ways to make air-bag systems less dangerous for frail and small passengers, yet effective in collisions. Hybrid- Electric Vehicles While some developers searched for additional alternatives, others investigated ways to combine electricity with liquid fuels to produce low-emissions power systems. The hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV) uses both an electric motor or motors and a gasoline or diesel engine that charges the batteries in order to extend the distance that the vehicle can travel without having to recharge the batteries. An HEV at a stoplight typically sits silent, burning no fuel and making no pollution, if the batteries are sufficiently charged. If driven slowly, as in heavy traffic, the vehicle might move only on electric power. 13 Only when more power is demanded for acceleration or to move a heavy load, does the gasoline or diesel engine come into play. Two automobiles with such hybrid engines, the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight, became available in the late 1990s. The Prius hit automobile showrooms in Japan in 1997, selling 30,000 models in its first two years of production. The Prius became available for sale in North America in 2000. The Honda Insight debuted in North America in late 1999. Both vehicles promised to double the fuel efficiency of conventional gasoline-powered cars while significantly reducing toxic emissions. The Ford Motor Company introduced the first U. S. -made hybrid when it began production for the Ford Escape Hybrid in August 2004. The 2005 model year Escape was also the first hybrid in the sport-utility vehicle (SUV) category. Electric Car. Computers and Navigation Devices Computer control of automobile systems increased dramatically during the 1990s. The central processing unit (CPU) in modern engines manages overall engine performance. Microprocessors regulating other systems share data with the CPU. Computers manage fuel and air mixture ratios, ignition timing, and exhaust-emission levels. They adjust the antilock braking and traction control systems. In many models, computers also control the air conditioning and heating, the sound system, and the information displayed in the vehicle’s dashboard. 14 Expanded use of computer technology, development of stronger and lighter materials, and research on pollution control will produce better, â€Å"smarter† automobiles. In the 1980s the notion that a car would â€Å"talk† to its driver was science fiction; by the 1990s it had become reality. Onboard navigation was one of the new automotive technologies in the 1990s. By using the satellite-aided global positioning system (GPS), a computer in the automobile can pinpoint the vehicle’s location within a few meters. The onboard navigation system uses an electronic compass, digitized maps, and a display screen showing where the vehicle is relative to the destination the driver wants to reach. After being told the destination, the computer locates it and directs the driver to it, offering alternative routes if needed. Some cars now come equipped with GPS locator beacons, enabling a GPS system operator to locate the vehicle, map its location, and if necessary, direct repair or emergency workers to the scene. Cars equipped with computers and cellular telephones can link to the Internet to obtain constantly updated traffic reports, weather information, route directions, and other data. Future built-in computer systems may be used to automatically obtain business information over the Internet and manage personal affairs while the vehicle’s owner is driving. 15. Eco- Friendly Automobile Eight decades after the American auto industry turned away from the electric car in favor of gas-powered vehicles, the giant General Motors Corporation (GM) made a heralded return to the market with the first mass-produced version in the modern era, the EV1. The completely battery-powered $34,000 car, in development by GM since the late 1980s, was delivered amid fanfare to select dealerships in Arizona and southern California on December 5, 1996. Boasting a 137-horsepower engine that can silently accelerate from 0 to 97 km/h (0 to 60 mph) in less than nine seconds, the EV1. (Electric Vehicle 1) is hailed by some observers as an automotive breakthrough. With few moving. parts there is little regular maintenance required and no tailpipe emissions at all. Engineered to be ultralight and extremely aerodynamic to conserve energy, the EV1 is the first electric car to be made entirely from scratch as a battery-powered vehicle since the early years of the century, when as many as one-third of automobiles were electric. Most current electric cars are converted gas-powered vehicles, such as an electricity-powered Ford Ranger introduced in the summer of 1996. The EV1 was first shown to the public as a prototype model called Impact at the 1990 Los Angeles Auto Show. Consumer trials followed, as GM worked to overcome the challenges posed by an electric car: the limited travel range before needing a recharge, size and weight restrictions, power-draining auxiliaries 16 (such as heating systems), and the lack of an infrastructure of charging stations—the â€Å"gas stations† of the 21st century, according to electric vehicle backers. But there are also critics of the EV1, who point to the automobiles relatively high cost and its limited range of 113 to 145 km (70 to 90 m) before its lead-acid batteries must be recharged. The special device that can recharge the EV1 in about three hours costs an extra $2000. (Fully charging from a regular household outlet takes about 15 hours. ) Many of the doubters believe that battery technology is still too limited and that the EV1 risks ultimately hurting the cause of alternative-fuel vehicles. The more advanced nickel-metal hydride battery, which can hold a greater charge than a lead-acid battery, is just now becoming commercially available. Others argue that hybrid cars—combining electric power with internal-combustion technology— hold the best promise for the future of the automobile. Other criticisms of the EV1 include the fact that the sporty vehicle is small, holding just two people. Because electric cars generally do not perform well in cold weather, the EV1 is available only in a few warm-climate cities to start out—Los Angeles and San Diego in California, and Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona. GM plans to make and lease—rather than sell—only a few thousand cars in the initial rollout. Critics of electric cars achieved a victory in March 1996, when Californias Air Resources Board (ARB) pulled back its controversial regulations that would have forced major auto companies to make zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) account for at least 2 percent of their sales in the state starting in 1998. While the 17 ARB backed down on the first restriction, after being heavily lobbied by auto company representatives who argued that the technology was not adequately advanced, it retained the ambitious requirement that 10 percent of all new car fleets be ZEVs by 2003. The air quality of Californias urban areas is among the worst in the United States, and other pollution-plagued regions around the country are beginning to pass similar electric-car measures to address the problem. Beyond the threat of air quality regulations, General Motors is eyeing the electric vehicle as an important new product. They believe that consumers concerned about air pollution levels and rising gasoline prices will be interested in purchasing electric cars. The worlds largest automobile manufacturer, GM was able to devote the resources necessary for such a costly, large-scale project—an estimated $350 million in development costs. The company has made the EV1 such a priority that it created a special division for the vehicle and bestowed the corporate name of General Motors on a car for the first time in history (although it is being marketed and distributed by GMs Saturn division). The EV1 is only the first of a variety of low- and zero-emission vehicles that are expected from auto manufacturers in the next several years. The Honda EV, powered by nickel-metal hydride batteries, is expected in 1997, and electric cars from automakers such as Ford, Toyota, and Chrysler are planned for release no later than 1998. GM also hopes to expand its line of electric cars in the near future, including an electric Chevrolet pickup truck targeted at commercial vehicle fleets in 1997. 18 Other Improvements During the 1980s and 1990s, manufacturers trimmed 450 kg. (1,000 lb) from the weight of the typical car by making cars smaller. Less weight, coupled with more efficient engines, doubled the gas mileage obtained by the average new car between 1974 and 1995. Further reductions in vehicle size are not practical, so the emphasis has shifted to using lighter materials, such as plastics, aluminum alloys, and carbon composites, in the engine and the rest of the vehicle. Looking ahead, engineers are devising ways to reduce driver errors and poor driving habits. Systems already exist in some locales to prevent intoxicated drivers from starting their vehicles. The technology may be expanded to new vehicles. Anticollision systems with sensors and warning signals are being developed. In some, the car’s brakes automatically slow the vehicle if it is following another vehicle too closely. New infrared sensors or radar systems may warn drivers when another vehicle is in their â€Å"blind spot. † Catalytic converters work only when they are warm, so most of the pollution they emit occurs in the first few minutes of operation. Engineers are working on ways to keep the converters warm for longer periods between drives, or heat the converters more rapidly. 19 Conclusion. Based on the data presented in this paper, the researchers conclude that automobiles transport people in a more comfortable and more efficient manner because it is used in the daily lives of the people as transportation and it is also good for business. The researchers further conclude that the automobile has had a profound impact on the society. It has brought superhighways, paved bridges, motels, vacations, suburbia and economic growth which accompanied them. As a whole, the creation of automobile has played a very important role in the society and in the daily lives of the people because it is one of the key elements of industrial economies and no doubt, it will continue to shape the culture and economy well into the next generations. Recommendation Based on the conclusion, the researchers recommend the following: (1) That government agencies especially Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) support the production of hybrid- electric vehicles, and eco- friendly automobiles because these have antipollution features. (2) That the government should conduct further research about automobiles because the researchers only comply the library research paper having limited information. (3) That the government agencies should impose rules and regulations on the increasing number of automobiles; and or they should build more highways and bridges in response to this problem. Bibliography Bellis, Mary. (N. D. ). â€Å"Automobile history†. Retrieved on December 20, 2013 at www. about. com. Coffey, Frank. 2003. America on wheels: the first 100 years. United States of America: General Publishing. Crouse, William Harry. Automotive mechanics. United States of America: McGraw- Hill Inc. Grant, Alex. January, 2013. â€Å"Entrepreneur Philippines†. Covering all bases. Page 27. Inolino, Leth. July, 2013. â€Å"Entrepreneur Philippines†. Pushing.

Media coverage of the african continent

Media coverage of the african continent Introduction This thesis contemplates long standing issues surrounding media coverage of the African continent. Previous studies have shown a systematic trend amongst Western journalists to depict current events in developing nations, particularly African nations, from a negative and oversimplified perspective. It examines why important events in less-developed parts of the world often have their reality distorted in the Western media. Unfortunate precedence has shown that this is particularly relevant to the Western media in the context of its questionable conduct in covering the African continent. The media portrayal of the unrest in Sudans troubled Darfur region appears to reflect the errors that often lurk amidst the work of journalists covering humanitarian catastrophes in distant lands. In spite of Gà ©rard Pruniers assessment of the violence as the â€Å"quintessential ‘African crisis: esoteric, extremely violent, rooted in complex ethnic and historical factors which few understood, and devoid of any identifiable practical interest for rich countries,† Darfur generated an unanticipated amount of interest in the West. It quickly became the cause cà ©là ¨bre amongst people on both sides of the political divide. Darfurs power to transcend politics was most apparent in April 2006 as thousands of Americans converged into the nations capital to appeal for greater action to end the alleged genocide in Sudan. Republican senators joined Democrats such as Barack Obama to urge the Bush administration to take a more decisive approach to tackle the crisis and help refu ges escaping the violence. Although the event attracted prominent speakers including celebrities, politicians, athletes and Noble Peace Prize winners such as Elie Wiesel, the bulk of the crowd was comprised of ordinary Americans who donned blindfolds to urge political decision makers not to look away from the atrocities taking place in Darfur. The medias part in this event cannot be overstated. As conflicts in remote areas of the globe have little impact on the lives of ordinary Western citizens, regardless of the magnitude of the violence, the extent to which an ordinary person knows and cares is entirely contingent on the level of media coverage a conflict is granted. As such, the mass media has massive power in shaping both a governments foreign policy and the publics imagination of situations around the globe. The medias influence in determining the perception of the Darfur conflict was particularly immeasurable because in most instances it was the only image outside observers in the West received of the crisis itself. As a consequence of the medias attentiveness to the unfolding catastrophe in Sudan, they were able to spark a sophisticated and popular human rights campaign. Coupled with advocacy organizations such as the Save Darfur Coalition, an unlikely alliance of liberal and conservative groups, the mainstream med ia in the United States exposed their audiences to the atrocities that were unfolding in the Sub-Saharan nation. Yet, as Darfur burst onto the worlds consciousness in mid-2004 and became the Western medias darling as far as coverage was concerned, depressingly similar outbreaks of violence in Africa at the time, including in Uganda and the Congo, were all but overlooked. As such, this thesis aims to understand how a ‘quintessential African crisis became an international issue that garnered Western empathy and generated an unexpected level of press interest. Essentially, how did an internal crisis in a remote area of Sudan, where the concerns were primarily local, manage to capture the attention of campaigners and writers in the West? If we are to accept Susan Moellers claims that audience sympathies towards foreign deaths have hardened, and that the American public is largely interested in news events related to their own country, how did the narrative of Darfur, a story that does not contain an obvious American connection, overcome public apathy when other tragediesinAfricaare often unab le to? To better understand why Darfur was prioritized in the Western media and to better ascertain why certain foreign events became news the way they do, this thesis will examine the media press coverage of Darfur in the Washington Post and the New York Times during the first three years of the conflict. These two American newspapers were initially chosen for this study because of their high circulation numbers (601,669 and 1.65 million respectively) and the value that both these media organizations place on covering international affairs despite their opposing political leanings. Moreover, during the preliminary selection process to decide which newspapers to analyze in this thesis, it quickly became evident that compared to their rivals, the Washington Post and the New York Times had not employed news wire services such as Reuters and the Associated Press for their articles. These two American newspapers mostly relied upon their own correspondents and journalists to deliver stories from the ground, either from Sudan itself or from neighboring Chad. In addition to the published articles from the Washington Post and the New York Times, Britains Guardian newspaper has been included in this study for critical examination as it offers a unique opportunity to investigate whether a newspapers national affiliation and political culture has any impact on the presentation of the Darfur issue. Methodological Approach And Organization Of This Thesis This thesis is divided into five sections. The second chapter will address the fundamental question: how did the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Guardian report on the Darfur conflict and what were the prominent themes and media framing devices evident in their articles? This chapter will examine the content (what the journalists covered) and the form (how the journalists covered the conflict). Due to the scope of examining three newspapers over a three year period, this thesis will concentrate on critical moments in media reportage of the Darfur disaster. As such, this chapter and the thesis at large is not a quantitative study of the media treatment of Darfur. Rather, it merely attempts to highlight the peaks and lows of media coverage in order to ascertain the reasons behind the fluctuating press interest. Five decisive moments will be studied: 2003 in its entirety, April 2004, June 2004, September 2004 and January 2005 The third chapter will provide an extensive critique of the media representation of the violence in Darfur and scrutinize the themes that emerged from the three newspapers in question. The purpose of this particular section is to address whether the Western newspapers in question appropriately covered or mishandled the Darfur crisis. By exploring the construction of Arab and African identity in the Sudanese context, this thesis will analyze and explain how through the use of emotive language and framing, the American press were able to create and solidify a misleading image of the crisis as a genocidal campaign instigated by Arabs against an indigenous African population. It will address the controversy surrounding Darfurs genocide status under international law. With this objective in mind, this thesis will refer to ‘genocide only as it was defined by the United Nations in 1948. This chapter also seeks to expose important dimensions to the conflict that many journalists overlo oked as they peddled one convenient version of the violence at the expense of critical evidence. The latter part of the thesis will draw upon seminal postcolonial theory to explain why Darfur captured the public imagination and the attention of Western journalists. It will examine whether the medias interest and frequent misrepresentation of Darfur can be read in the larger context of a new Orientalist discourse. This chapter will also endeavor to explore the possible reasons and motives behind the Western media interest in Darfur. Literature Review Foreign news stories related to the African continent are often characterized by images of tribal warfare, rampant disease, political instability, famine and despotic regimes. These unpleasant misrepresentations of African issues have been closely studied since the ‘New World Information and Communication Order debates of the 1970s. The historical media debates were instigated by developing non-aligned states as a response to the lopsided transfer of mass communication content from Western nations to poorer nations that often reflected the preferences of Western news agencies. Scholars such as Hassan M. El Zein, Anne Cooper and Melissa Wall have all acknowledged its relevance to contemporary media discussions. These scholars insist that the tendency amongst Western media organizations to disproportionately focus on the negative, the violent and the exotic when it comes to covering developing regions and particularly African issues did not end with the great media debates of the 1970s. Their findings are not dissimilar to Abiodun Goke-Pariolas contention that the Africa continent as a whole suffers from a long practice of media neglect and when African issues are eventually acknowledged in the Western press, the stories and images are permeated with stereotypes and tropes that have persisted since the time of slavery and imperialism. The fifty-three distinct nations that make the African continent are often treated as a homogenous entity comprised of uncivilized heathens who are unable to govern themselves. If and when Africans are shown in the western media, Goke-Pariola argues that they are regularly portrayed to be poor, helpless and malnourished. Michael Maren points out that such graphic descriptions and imagery work to advance the notion that the inhabitants of African are reliant on the compassionate West for their survival. Whilst reports in the Western press about conflicts on the African continent are frequently crisis-driven in such a way as to insinuate that the inhabitants are naturally more prone to violence, journalists rarely make mention of the Wests connection to the violence. In his article titled American Media and African Culture, Bosah Ebo emphasizes the lack of historical context in media stories about the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Ebo notes that Western journalists covering Rwanda repeatedly failed to make the association between the ongoing civil war and the impact of the Belgian colonial legacy of politicizing Rwandan ethnicity by pitting Hutus against Tutsis in their ‘divide and rule strategy. Instead, the genocide was portrayed as another African crisis fuelled by irrational tribal hatred. Wall echoes similar sentiments in a comparative study of the Rwandan and Bosnian crises. In her analysis of American newspaper coverage of the two conflicts, Wall found that whilst the ethnically motivated violence in Bosnia was framed as an aberration for Europeans, despite the largest genocide occurring in Germany, the conflict in Rwanda was portrayed as standard behavior for Africans. David Gordon and Howard Wolpe have claimed that this level of misinterpretation and formulaic media treatment of the African ‘continent as little more than a gigantic basket case leaves Western audiences with an unconscious sense of cultural, intellectual and political superiority. As most Americans have never visited Africa and probably never will, the images of the African continent that most Americans hold to be real and authentic come courtesy of the media. This view of Africa as the ‘dark continent is primarily based on press coverage and is also ‘an outgrowth of a deeply burie d, fundamental set of cultural assumptions about race and civilization that have been building in Western culture for at least four hundred years. Despite this extensive scholarship on the mass medias portrayal of Africa, modest research exits in the field of Darfur and the media. Much like David Campbells Geopolitics and Visuality: Sighting the Darfur conflict, this thesis is limited to the study of contemporary events in Western Sudan. In his study of the photo-journalism of the Darfur conflict, Campbell found that most photos were graphic images of starving and dying women and babies in refugee camps. Unlike Campbells study however, this thesis attempts to go beyond content analysis that largely corroborates prior studies on media casing of African issues. It endeavors to comprehend the outpouring of humanitarian good will that the atrocities in Darfur produced in the West and the possibility that strategic geopolitical interests played a role in the medias intense interest in the conflict. Pippa Norris, Politics and the Press: The News Media and Their Influences (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1997), 23; Eronini R. Megwa and Ike S. Ndolo, â€Å"Media image and development: political and economic implications of U. S. media coverage of Africa,† in Development and democratization in the Third World: myths, hopes, and realties, ed. Kenneth E. Bauzon (Washington: Crane Russak, 1992), 267-272. Gà ©rard Prunier, Darfur: the ambiguous genocide (New York: Cornell University Press, 2005), 124. For a detailed analysis of media power and the CNN effect, the theory that postulates that the modern mass media have a significant bearing on the conduct of foreign policy, see Piers Robinson, â€Å"Operation Restore Hope and the Illusion of a News Driven Media Intervention.† Political Studies 49 (2001): 942. Prunier, Darfur: the ambiguous genocide, 124. Susan D. Moeller, Compassion fatigue: how the media sell disease, famine, war, and death (London: Routledge, 1999), 11. William Preston, Jr., Edward S. Herman, and Herbert I. Schiller, Hope folly: the United States and Unesco, 1945-1985 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989), 296. A.Goke-Pariola, Africa in the â€Å"New World Order†: Old Assumptions, Myths, and Reality, available from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED347842; [24 June 2009] Michael Maren, The road to hell: the ravaging effects of foreign aid and international charity (New York: Free Press, 1997), 13. Bosah Ebo, â€Å"American Media and African Culture† in Africas media image, ed.Beverly G. Hawk (New York: Praeger, 1992), 18. Ibid. Melissa Wall, â€Å"A pernicious new strain of the Old Nazi virus and an orgy of tribal slaughter: A comparison of US news magazine coverage of the crises in Bosnia and Rwanda.† 59 (1997): 411-428 David F.Gordon, Howard Wolpe, â€Å"The Other Africa: An End to Afro-Pessimism.† World Policy Journal 15 (1998): 9 E. J. Murphy, The African Mythology: Old and New. (Storrs, CT: World Education Project, 1973), 1. David Campbell, â€Å"Geopolitics and visuality: Sighting the Darfur conflict,† Political Geography 26, (2007): 357-382.

This reflective essay is centred on pain assessment

This reflective essay is centred on pain assessment For the purpose of the case study I intend to use Gibbs(1998) model of reflection as this model is clear, precise allowing for description, analysis and evaluation of the experience, then prompts the practitioner to formulate an action plan to improve their practice in future(Jasper, 2003). Wilkinson (2007) identifies assessment as the first phase of the nursing process in which a nurse uses their knowledge and skills to express human caring. It is important to choose an organised and systematic approach when caring out an assessment that enhances your ability to discover all the information needed to fully understands someones heath status (Alfaro-Le Fevre,2004) .This can be achieved by obtaining your information form medical record and nursing charts by physical examination of the patient and also talking to patient and their families(Wilkinson,2007). The use of objective data is more helpful in collecting information when the patient is ventilated and sedated, as they are often in the critical care setting, and this can be done by examining the patients vital sign, blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and blood results (Bulman and Schutz 2004). I have chosen pain assessment in post- operative ventilated patient. I have worked in ICU for 4 years during this time I have nursed many post- operative ventilator patients who were on continuous infusion of sedatives and analgesics. Many of them showed signs of inadequate pain relief and associated complications. Having undertaken this module I further educated myself in this field of nursing assessment I now know, or rather have an improved knowledge base and understanding of the different aspects of pain assessment tools and recognize the possibility that I have probably nursed many more patients who were demonstrating symptoms of inadequate analgesia and associated complications. Given an increased awareness and knowledge I have gained through teaching, research and current literature on this topic I now, also recognise the importance of this assessment practice in particular in relation to the ventilated, non- communicated patients in ICU. According to International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP,1979) pain is described as unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. Clinically pain is whatever the person says he or she is experiencing whenever he or she says it does (Mc Caffery 1979) .Appropriate pain assessment is crucial to pain management. Patients self- report is the gold standard of pain assessment. However pain tools that rely on verbal self-report may not be appropriate for using non- verbal ventilated sedated patients in ICU. Pain assessment tool used in our critical care setting is based on a numerical pain rating score from 0-4, a score of 0 being no pain at all and 4 being the worst pain ever experienced. There is also a visual analogue scale for patients who have difficulty communicating, they can indicate by looking at the chart and pointing at either the happy face that has no pain or a series of faces showing different stages of pain (appendix t hree). These tools were chosen by the specialised pain care nurses working for the trust. The tools are favoured as they provide nurses with a quick, easy assessment. They are used widely throughout the trust to provide continuity of pain assessment.Both of these tools have proved successful in practice and are supported by the literature as being reliable and accurate in practice. However they depend greatly on the patient being able to express themselves or communicate verbally with the practitioner .Using these methods of pain assessment is not accurate on sedated patients with altered conscious level. In nonverbal patients the use of behavioural or physiological indicators are strongly recommended for detection of pain (Jacobi et al 2006). The patient in critical care may experience pain from many sources. Along with physical pain, psychological factors such as fear, anxiety and sleep disturbances may play a significant role in patients overall pain experience (Macintyre and Ready 2002). Urden et al (2010) states, pain can be acute or chronic, sensations are different in relation to its origin. Acute pain-duration is short corresponds to the healing process, ranges between 30 days to 6 months. Chronic pain lasts more than 3 to 6 months and can either or not associated with an illness. Somatic pain is well localised sharp, acute pain arising from skin, muscle, joints. Visceral pain refers to the deep, ill localized arising from an organ. Nociceptive pain occurs when inflammation stimulates pain receptors ( Urden et al 2010). Pain experienced in critical care patients are mostly acute and has multiple origins. Mr. Smith a 45 year old gentleman admitted to ICU following Laparotomy for small bowel perforation and faecal peritonitis. Mr Smith was cardiovascularly unstable and was unable to be extubated immediately after surgery due to secondary sepsis. He was receiving an infusion of Propofol and Fentanyl to keep him comfortable and provide analgesia. His medical notes revealed his past medical history of previous Cholecystectomy for gall bladder stones and biliary obstruction. I was assigned to nurse him on his second day in ICU. During handover the previous staff member reported that Mr. Smith became very agitated and hypertensive soon after he was repositioned to his side. Mr. Smith was given a bolus dose of Propofol infusion and the rate of Infusion increased. Whilst doing the Patient assessment I noticed Mr Smith is restless and not compliant with the ventilator. Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) performed which showed Mr. Smith is hypo ventilating. Meanwhile Mr. Smith became more agitated with e scalating non-compliance with ventilator and significant increase in his Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP) which was being monitored continuously by the arterial line and transducer. He was showing facial grimaces and moving his extremities restlessly. I tried to reassure him by talking to him, reorientating him to time, place and person, explaining to him that he is safe. Adam and Osbourne (2005) identifies that critically ill patients frequently require help with coping with many of the stresses like physical discomfort, isolation, fear of pain and death. By using strategies like communicate caring and understanding and provide information repeatedly and in sufficient detail for the patient etc. helps the patient to cope with the stress. But repeated reassurance and reorienting has not made any improvements in his current status. Pain is an important problem in critical care and its detection is a priority. Pain assessment is vital to detect pain (Urden 2010). Pooler-Lunse and Price(1992) emphasises that critically ill patients who are unable to communicate effectively are at high risk of suffering from pain. Poorly controlled pain can stress the sympathetic nervous system leaving vulnerable patients at risk of complication and can compromise recovery and negatively affect both morbidity and mortality(Puntillo et al 2004, Dracup and Bryan- Brown 1995).Mr Smith was ventilated and due to the effect of sedatives his level of consciousness was altered. In critical care factors alter verbal communication is mechanical ventilation, administration of sedative agents and the patients change in level of consciousness (Hamill-Ruth R J, Marohn L 1999 ,Kwekkeboom K L, Herr K 2001,Shannon K, Bucknall T 2003). The consequences of untreated acute pain in critically ill patients include increases in catecholamine and stress hormone levels which are potential causes of tachycardia, hypertension, increased oxygen requirements and decreased tissue perfusion (Blakely and Page 2001, Hamill-Ruth and Marohn 1991). Mr Smith was increasingly hypertensive and tachycardia. Despite giving increased oxygenation Mr.Smith was hypo ventilating due to non- compliance to the ventilator. Marshall and Soucy(2003) identifies agitation is a common problem in critically ill patients and has been shown to be associated with inadequate pain management. Agitation can have serious consequences with patience removing access lines compromising their oxygen needs by self extubating (Cohen et al 2002). Following discussion with the nurse in charge of the shift it was apparent that Mr. Smith was showing behavioural signs of pain. There were no other obvious reasons as to why he had become compromised with his ventilation.When I approached the medical team concerning Mr.Smiths increasing agitation and non- compliance to ventilation I was instructed to give a bolus of propofol and fentanyl and to increase the rate of propofol and fentanyl until Mr Smith was deemed medically manageable. I was decided to increase Mr.Smiths ventilatory support. Following the treatment Mr Smith became much more stable, he became less tachypoenic was synchronising with the ventilator; his blood pressure was within acceptable limits and monitoring in sinus rhythm. The clinician did not assess Mr Smith for signs of inadequate pain management. Unfortunately due to hypoventilation and non-compliance to mechanical ventilation, Mr Smith had to be remained on high levels of ventilation and increased levels of sedatives for the next few hours emphasising evidence by Pooler-Lunse and Price(1992), the physiological complications associated with pain including Pulmonary complications and increased cardiac workload as well as depression and anxiety and increased days of hospital stay(Desbians et al 1996).Upon further reflection I should have noted Mr Smiths agitation associated with inadequate pain relief. Had I been knowledgeable in this field Mr.Smiths agitation and physiological signs of restlessness and facial grimaces would have prompted me to carry out a detailed pain assessment. Had there been a behavioural pain assessment scale on the unit where I work that may have prompted me carry out the assessment and linked these signs as indicators of inad equate pain relief. During my further assessment of Mr.Smith I had various thoughts and feelings which included feeling apprehensive and self-doubt regarding the decision to increase sedation and ventilator support. Whilst reviewing his past medication history I noticed that Mr Smith had been on regular analgesics which are co-codomol and paracetamol and there was no indication for their use in his notes. Fink R (2000) recognises that reviewing patients past pain experiences and how did he or she usually react to it can be of good value when assessing pain and can help to decide treatment options ,by questioning patients family or significant other can provide us the information about patients pain history. Later during the visiting hours Mrs Smith came to visit Mr Smith. I have given her a brief update of his condition including the changes made to his sedation and ventilation. Then I enquired to Mrs Smith about the indication of those analgesics he was on .She revealed that Mr.Smith developed back pai n when he discharged to home after undergone cholecystectomy six months ago and he was prescribed those analgesics by his G.P(General Practitioner). She also mentioned that he had problems getting optimal pain relief post operatively even when he had cholecystectomy, and he would not tolerate lying on his sides. This co-related his agitation and restlessness happened when the night staff turned him to his side. I notified these things to the ICU doctors and raised my concern that lack of adequate pain management could be the reason for Mr Smiths earlier agitation. They also agreed on this possibility and advised to change fentanyl infusion to remifentanyl and to adjust the rate of the infusion to keep Mr Smiths pain relief optimal. Remifentanyl is potent analgesics, so ensure the patient is pain free but prevents over sedating the patient, allows rapid arousal and recovery from sedation thus facilitates daily sedation holds and neurological assessment( Dhaba et al 2004). He was also prescribed regular paracetamol and Tramadol when required. It was then decided to reduce Mr.Smiths sedation as he was haemodynamically stable, he was then able to respond and started following commands. Mr. Smith was now able to communicate if he had pain or not by squeezing my hand to command. Invasive technology can restrict the reliance on many behavioural indicators of pain (Bucknall and Shannon 2003) on the other hand it is argued that invasive lines enables constant monitoring of blood pressure (B.P) and heart rate (H.R), two commonly utilised indicators of pain and thus help to assess pain (Bucknall and Shannon 2003) .Even though Mr Smith was hypertensive and tachycardic this was presumed to be due to agitation. In a contradicting statement Bucknall and Shannon(2003) points out that the sympathetic symptoms i.e. Increasing B.P and H.R are also been found to be unreliable. Pooler-Lunse and Price (1992) emphasises that the Para sympathetic stimulation can result in less observable signs with prolonged pain, but pain intensity remains unchanged. The American Society for Pain Management Nursing (ASPMN) recommendations cited in Herr k et al ( 2002) emphasises that vital signs can be affected by other distress conditions, homeostatic changes and medications there for they should not be considered as primary indicators of pain.With conflicting evidence it is difficult to make decisions that best support this assessment practice. Anand K J S,Craig K (1996), Herr K et al (2006) states that behavioural indicators are strongly recommended for pain assessment in non- verbal patients , few tools have been developed and tested in critically ill patients. The Behavioural Pain Scale (BPS) and the Critical Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) are suggested and supported by experts for using uncommunicative critically ill patients (Li-D, Puntillo, Sessler 2008). BPS was tested and validated exclusively in ventilated, unconscious patients (Payen et al 2001,Young G 2006, Aissaoui Y et al 2005).The Behavioural Pain Scale (BPS) includes three behaviours 1) facial expression 2)movements of upper limbs3)compliance with the ventilator. Each behaviour is rated on a scale from 1 to 4 for a possible total score from 3 to 12. The BPS can be used quickly (2 to 5 minutes), most clinicians were satisfied with its ease of use (Payen et al 2001). The Critical Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) was tested in verbal and non- verbal critical ly ill adults (Gelinas C 2006,2007) its content validity supported by ICU experts including nurses and physicians (Gelinas C 2009). CPOT includes four behaviours 1) facial expression 2) body movements 3) compliance with the ventilator 4) muscle tension. Each behaviour is rated from 0 to 2 for a possible score of 0 to 8.Gelinas C and Hammond reports that feasibility and clinical utility of CPOT were positively evaluated by ICU nurses and agree it is easy to complete, simplicity to understand the usefulness for nursing practice. My experience of using a behavioural pain scale tool is limited, however I feel that if practitioners were able to assess pain more accurately then they would be able to manage there patients pain more effectively. Use of a behavioural pain score (BPS) evaluating facial expressions, limb movement and compliance with the ventilator has proved to be a valid reliable tool in practice. A recent study evaluating the reliability and use of the BPS consistently identified increases in pain scores after repositioning patients in the ICU. There were only small non- specific changes in the BPS after non painful intervention of eye care (Gelinas etal 2006). I nursed Mr Smith again 5 days later. He had since been extubated and was alert and oriented. Even though he could not remember the events when he was ventilated and sedated, he learned from his wife what had happened. He was very thankful to me for investigating the possible reason for his agitated behaviour and prompting the doctors about this and thus provide him adequate pain relief. Upon further reflection and evaluation of my assessment of Mr.Smith I feel there have been positive and negative aspects of the assessment. The positive aspects include- I have been able to gain further knowledge in various aspects and tools of pain assessment .By reviewing patients medical notes and gaining history from his wife I have linked his agitated behaviour and taken the possibility that these are signs of inadequate pain relief and I have managed to convince the medical team regarding this in order to act on it. Current research identifies multidisciplinary collaboration provides optimum care for the patient (Bucknall T, Shannon K 2003), this emphasises the need to perform regular, accurate pain assessment and care full documentation (Bucknall T, Shannon K 2003). When considering the negative aspects of my assessment I feel I did not use a holistic approach instead I considered Mr.Smiths agitated behaviour as a physical problem, I was concentrated to treat the symptoms and not the patient. As described in Roper Tinney L(1989) assessment tools achieving patient centred nursing is important. I could not identify Mr.Smiths behavioural indicators of pain primarily due to my lack of knowledge about this assessment tool as well as there was no unit assessment protocol which includes the behavioural assessment scale, Unfortunately this is not isolated, it is in fact a universal problem .Camp (1998) points out that like many speciality nurse critical care nurses and physicians recognises that there basics education was insufficient for caring for patients in pain. Accurate detection of the critically ill patients pain is not an easy task for ICU nurses especially when the patient is unable to self-report because of mechanical ventilation or due to the effects of sedatives. Stanton (1991) argues that pain assessment and management may be significantly improved by enhancing nurses knowledge combined with improved communication of the problem. NMC(2008)emphasises that having appropriate knowledge, skills and attitude towards pain, pain assessment and its management is essential to provide optimum patient care. Use of pain assessment tools is highly recommended by Kaiser(1992), identifies that an effective pain assessment tool as part of the documentation improves communication between patients and nurses as well as nurses and medical staff. Even though we had a pain assessment tool (0 to 4 numeric pain assessment scale) due its limitations on the use in non-communicative patients it was not contributing much in patients pain management. The previous practitioner documented the patients pain score is Unable to assess as the patient is sedated and ventilated. This highlights the inappropriate use of our pain tool currently being used in practice as a patient is unable to verbalise or communicate their pain if they are sedated and ventilated. Although todays guidelines strongly suggest that the use of a standardised behavioural pain scale to nurses who care for uncommunicative patients, further research is still needed to fully understand the behavioural and physiological responses of critica lly ill patients who are experiencing pain (Herr K et al 2008). On reflection my underpinning knowledge and confidence in this area of assessment has developed tremendously. I feel that I have gained knowledge and insight into an important patient assessment, from an initial lack of sufficient knowledge I am now able to bring evidence based practice in the clinical area which will benefit the patient and my colleagues. By understanding the physiology, pain assessment tools and the complications of poorly managed pain, I will have the knowledge and skills to manage these patients. The use of sedatives and analgesics places a great deal of responsibility on critical care nurses and they must understand how the drugs work , complications of their use and how to monitor effectiveness staff must understand sedation does not equate analgesia (Ashley and Given 2003). The use of an appropriate pain assessment tool and management algorithm is essential for adequate pain management. Since undertaking this study, it is of interest to note that our practice development nurse and the specialist pain nurse for ICU ,have jointly developed a behavioural pain assessment scale similar to the BPS and CPOT scale, and staffs are encouraged to use it routinely. I feel that my action plan and recommendations are to promote the use of the pain assessment tool by educating the nurses and emphasising the importance of this assessment to improve patient outcome. The need for education to train staff on how to use the tool would take both time and money. The NHS is already under extreme financial pressures and money for training is not readily available. However if an improvement in pain management was successful then patients stay may be shorter, thus having a beneficial effect. I am also aware of the importance of not relying solely on the assessment tools but the use of both good nursing assessment and assessment tools to improve optimal patient management, shortening the recovery time and reducing the likely hood of complications (Ashley and Given 2003). A sedated, ventilated, non-communicative patient is vulnerable and relies completely on those providing care for them but as to their family at this anxious time. Education and training will improve patient care and ultimately patient safety which is paramount. Therefore I will take the knowledge and information I have acquired back to my clinical area as I have a duty to provide a high standard of practise and care at all times (NMC 2008)