Biography of Dr. Seuss, Popular Childrens Author

Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904–Sept. 24, 1991), who used the pseudonym Dr. Seuss, wrote and illustrated 45 children’s books filled with memorable characters, earnest messages, and even limericks.  Many of Dr. Seuss’s books have become classics, such as The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Horton Hears a Who, and Green Eggs and Ham. Geisel was a shy married man who never had children of his own, but he found a way as the author Dr. Seuss to spark childrens imaginations around the world. With the use of silly words that set an original theme, tone, and mood for his stories, as well as curlicue drawings of rascally animals, Geisel created books that became beloved favorites of children and adults alike. Wildly popular, Dr. Seuss’s books have been translated into over 20 languages and several have been made into television cartoons and major motion pictures. Fast Facts: Dr. Seuss Known For: Popular childrens book authorAlso Known As: Theodor Seuss Geisel, Ted GeiselBorn: March 2, 1904 in Springfield, MassachusettsParents: Theodor Robert Geisel, Henrietta Seuss GeiselDied: Sep. 24, 1991 in La Jolla, CaliforniaPublished Works: The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Horton Hears a Who, Green Eggs and HamAwards and Honors: Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (Design for Death, 1947), Academy Award for Best Animated Short  (Gerald McBoing-Boing, 1950), Special Pulitzer Prize  (for contribution over nearly half a century to the education and enjoyment of Americas children and their parents, 1984), the Dartmouth Medical School was renamed the  Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine (2012), Dr. Seuss has a star on the Hollywood Walk of FameSpouse(s): Helen Palmer Geisel (m.  1927–Oct. 23, 1967), Audrey Stone Dimond (m.  June 21, 1968–Sept. 21, 1991)Notable Quote: You  have  em; Ill entertain em. (Geisel, who had no children of his own, said this referring to children.) Early Years Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. His father Theodor Robert Geisel helped manage his father’s brewery and in 1909 was appointed to the Springfield Park Board. Geisel tagged along with his father for behind-the-scenes peeks at the Springfield Zoo, bringing along his sketchpad and pencil for exaggerated doodling of animals. Geisel met his father’s trolley at the end of each day and he was handed the comic page full of eccentric humor from the Boston American. Although his father influenced Geisel’s love of drawing, Geisel credited his mother, Henrietta Seuss Geisel, for the most influence on his writing technique. Henrietta would read to her two children with rhythm and urgency, the way she had sold pies in her father’s bakery. Thus, Geisel developed an ear for meter and loved to make up nonsense rhymes from early in his life. While his childhood seemed idyllic, all was not easy. During World War I (1914–1919), Geisel’s peers ridiculed him for being of German ancestry. To prove his American patriotism, Geisel became one of the top U.S. Liberty Bond sellers with the Boy Scouts. It was to be a great honor when former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt came to Springfield to award medals to the top bond sellers, but there was a mistake: Roosevelt had only nine medals in hand. Geisel, who was child No. 10, was swiftly escorted off-stage without receiving a medal. Traumatized by this incident, Geisel had a fear of public speaking for the rest of his life. In 1919, Prohibition began, forcing the closure of the familys brewery business and creating an economic setback for Geisels family. Dartmouth College and a Pseudonym Geisel’s favorite English teacher urged him to apply to Dartmouth College, and in 1921 Geisel was accepted. Admired for his silliness, Geisel drew cartoons for the college humor magazine Jack-O-Lantern. Spending more time on his cartoons than he should, his grades began to falter. After Geisel’s father informed his son how unhappy his grades made him, Geisel worked harder and became Jack-O-Lantern’s editor-in-chief his senior year. However, Geisels position at the paper ended abruptly when he was caught drinking alcohol (it was still Prohibition and buying alcohol was illegal). Unable to submit to the magazine as punishment, Geisel came up with a loophole, writing and drawing under a pseudonym: Seuss. After graduating from Dartmouth in 1925 with a B.A. in liberal arts, Geisel told his father that he had applied for a fellowship to study English literature at Lincoln College in Oxford, England. Extremely excited, Geisels father had the story run in the Springfield Union newspaper that his son was going off to the oldest English-speaking university in the world. When Geisel didn’t get the fellowship, his father decided to pay the tuition himself to avoid embarrassment. Geisel didnt do well at Oxford. Not feeling as intelligent as the other Oxford students, Geisel doodled more than he took notes. Helen Palmer, a classmate, told Geisel that instead of becoming a professor of English literature, he was meant to draw. After one year of school, Geisel left Oxford and traveled Europe for eight months, doodling curious animals and wondering what kind of a job he could get as a doodler of zany beasts. Advertising Career Upon returning to the United States, Geisel was able to freelance a few cartoons in the  Saturday Evening Post. He signed his work â€Å"Dr. Theophrastus Seuss† and then later shortened it to â€Å"Dr. Seuss.† At the age of 23, Geisel got a job as a cartoonist for Judge magazine in New York at $75 per week and was able to marry his Oxford sweetheart, Helen Palmer. Geisel’s work included drawing cartoons and advertisements with his unusual, zany creatures. Luckily, when Judge magazine went out of business, Flit Household Spray, a popular insecticide, hired Geisel to continue drawing their advertisements for $12,000 a year. Geisels ads for Flit appeared in newspapers and on billboards, making Flit a household name with Geisel’s catchy phrase: Quick, Henry, the Flit! Geisel also continued to sell cartoons and humorous articles to magazines such as Life  and Vanity Fair. Children’s Author Geisel and Helen loved to travel. While on a ship to Europe in 1936, Geisel made up a limerick to match the grinding of the ship’s engine rhythm as it struggled against rough seas. Six months later, after perfecting the related story and adding drawings about a boy’s untruthful walk home from school, Geisel shopped his childrens book to publishers. During the winter of 1936–1937, 27 publishers rejected the story, saying they only wanted stories with morals. On his way home from the 27th rejection, Geisel was ready to burn his manuscript when he ran into Mike McClintock, an old Dartmouth College buddy who was now an editor of children’s books at Vanguard Press. Mike liked the story and decided to publish it. The book, renamed from A Story That No One Can Beat to And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was Geisels first published childrens book and was praised with good reviews for being original, entertaining, and different. While Geisel went on to write more books of exuberant Seuss lore for Random House (which lured him away from Vanguard Press), Geisel said that drawing always came easier than writing. WWII Cartoons After publishing a large number of political cartoons to PM magazine, Geisel joined the U.S. Army in 1942. The Army placed him in the Information and Education Division, working with Academy Award-winning director Frank Capra at a leased Fox studio in Hollywood known as Fort Fox. While working with Capra, Captain Geisel wrote several training films for the military, which earned Geisel the Legion of Merit. After World War II, two of Geisels military propaganda films were turned into commercial films and won Academy Awards. Hitler Lives? (originally Your Job in Germany) won an Academy Award for Short Documentary and Design for Death (originally Our Job in Japan) won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. During this time, Helen found success by writing children’s books for Disney and Golden Books, including Donald Duck Sees South America, Bobby and His Airplane, Tommy’s Wonderful Rides, and Johnny’s Machines. After the war, the Geisels remained in La Jolla, California, to write children’s books. The Cat in the Hat and More Popular Books With World War II over, Geisel returned to childrens stories and in 1950 wrote an animated cartoon titled Gerald McBoing-Boing about a child who makes noises instead of words. The cartoon won an Academy Award for Cartoon Short Film. In 1954, Geisel was presented with a new challenge. When journalist John Hersey published an article in Life magazine stating that children’s first readers were boring and suggested that someone like Dr. Seuss should write them, Geisel accepted the challenge. After looking at the list of words he had to use, Geisel found it difficult to be imaginative with such words as cat and hat. At first thinking he could pound the 225-word manuscript out in three weeks, it took Geisel more than a year to write his version of a childs first reading primer. It was worth the wait. The now immensely famous book  The Cat in the Hat (1957) changed the way children read and was one of Geisel’s biggest triumphs. No longer boring, children could learn to read while also having fun, sharing the journey of two siblings who get stuck inside on a cold day with a troublemaker of a cat. The Cat in the Hat was followed that same year by another big success, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! which stemmed from Geisels own aversion toward holiday materialism. These two Dr. Seuss books made Random House the leader of children’s books and Dr. Seuss a celebrity. Awards, Heartache, and Controversy Dr. Seuss was awarded seven honorary doctorates (which he often joked made him Dr. Dr. Seuss) and the 1984 Pulitzer Prize. Three of his books—McElligot’s Pool (1948), Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1950), and If I Ran the Zoo (1951)—won Caldecott Honor Medals. All the awards and successes, however, couldnt help cure Helen, who had been suffering for a decade from a number of serious medical issues, including cancer. No longer able to stand the pain, she committed suicide in 1967. The following year, Geisel married Audrey Stone Diamond. Although many of Geisels books helped children learn to read, some of his stories were met with controversy due to political themes such as The Lorax (1971), which depicts Geisel’s repulsion of pollution, and The Butter Battle Book (1984), which depicts his disgust with the nuclear arms race. However, the latter book was on The New York Times bestseller list for six months, the only children’s book to achieve that status at the time. Death and Legacy Geisels final book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go (1990), was on The New York Times bestseller list for more than two years and remains a very popular book to give as a gift at graduations. Just a year after his last book was published, Geisel died in 1991 at the age of 87 after suffering from throat cancer. The fascination with Geisels characters and silly words continues. While many of Dr. Seusss books have become childrens classics, Dr. Seusss characters now also appear in movies, on merchandise, and even as part of a theme park (Seuss Landing at Universals Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida). Sources Andrews, Colman. â€Å"Dont Be Obtuse, Get to Know Dr. Seuss.†Ã‚  USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 30 Nov. 2018.â€Å"Siblings.†Ã‚  Seuss in Springfield, 16 June 2015.â€Å"Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss).†Ã‚  Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation.

William Shakespeare s King Lear - 971 Words

King Lear Exam Question In all genres there are stereotypical elements. This academic essay will outline the importance and effect of the elements of dramatic tragedy within the given passage from King Lear, and how this is significant and develops an understanding in the audience towards the play as a whole. The passage given comes from Act 1; Scene 1 of ‘King Lear’. This initial scene is what would be called the ‘initiation of tragedy’ in this context as it supplies the tragic hero; in this case Lear himself with the road to his downfall. Lear is proclaimed as the ‘tragic hero’ as he adheres to the conventions of one. To be more precise, Lear contains within himself a fatal flaw and in this case it is his excessive pride as a King. It is this position; monarchy and high social authority he is built into that obstructs his vision and prevents him from making a decision that is conceivably beneficial. A fatal flaw within any hero will cause thei r downfall and will be the hurdle that they must overcome to have any chance at redeeming themselves within society, but as ‘King Lear’ is a tragedy, even when the hero gains new perspective, they inevitably face their demise. We see this flaw in the passage as Cordelia speaks to him. Through Lear’s dialogue, it is plainly obvious that he favours Cordelia over his other daughters; Gonoril and Regan: ‘What can you say to draw a third more opulent than your sisters?’ He has saved the best third of his kingdom that he is dividingShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s King Lear1564 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Shakespeare is universally known for his literary output both in poetry and drama. Whether through his laugh-invoking comedies or his heart-wrenching tragedies, Shakespeare’s plays have changed the course of literature. Many of his plays about love are widely praised by all, but Shakespeare s King Lear differs from the rest due to its definition of love. King Lear serves as an battleground between deception and compassion, between flattery and honesty. Rather than focusing on romantic loveRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s King Lear1550 Words   |  7 PagesINTRODUCTION: By facilitating the growth of evil within William Shakespeare’s King Lear, it is evident that the tragedy’s protagonist, King Lear can be held accountable for his own victimization and ultimate downfall. The most notable aspects of this self-induced victimization include Lear’s own lack of practical wisdom and divergence from the natural order, combined with the neglect of kingship, that enables Lear as a tragic hero to create the conceptual framework in which the ulterior motives ofRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s King Lear3086 Words   |  13 PagesJerion Young Ms. Woods English IV 4 March 2015 King Lear William Shakespeare uses several literary elements in his writing, elements which are especially apparent in his play, King Lear. Shakespeare uses excellent creativity and description when writing this tragedy. â€Å"Neither has Shakespeare placed in the mouth of any other character in this play such fatalistic expressions as may be found in King Lear and occasionally elsewhere†(A.C. 2003). The way King Lear talks in this play is very evil compared toRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s King Lear1611 Words   |  7 Pagesexperience life-changing events that jeopardize our sense of identity and make us question how we value ourselves. Our perception of our worth can change with what we learn through our existence, much like the characters in the play King Lear by William Shakespeare. Adversity and hardship are inevitable when characters are unable to connect themselves within their own identity or find a loss of self at some point in their role. The self-awareness, an essential a spect of their role, of many ofRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s King Lear1320 Words   |  6 Pagesothers. Having strong communication skills allows one to better understand the situation at hand. Proper communication is essential to working out problems because of this reason. In the play King Lear by William Shakespeare, Lear communicating with his daughters, Gloucester communicating with his sons, and Lear communicating with Kent are all examples of failure of communication, which later lead to consequences and hardships that the characters must face. Without proper communication, people willRead MoreBlindness By William Shakespeare s King Lear2212 Words   |  9 PagesMaysoun Deeb Mr. A. T. Lebar EN4UN-04 13 July 2015 King Lear Blindness by definition, according to dictionaries, is â€Å"unable to see and lacking the sense of sight† by which King Lear, the classic tragic play written by William Shakespeare, illustrated the concept of blindness amongst his characters as the leading theme. King Lear and Gloucester were the characters that have been conflicted by this â€Å"blindness† that may or may not change their personalities in the very end of the play. Gloucester becomesRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s King Lear1546 Words   |  7 PagesTwo Sides to Every Person There are two sides to every story; that of the protagonist and that of the antagonist. As shown in the Shakespearean play King Lear, there is very little difference between the two. Edmund, who appears to be a villain, is more than meets the eye. His evil is a rebellion against the social order that denies him legitimacy. His villainy does not come from innate cruelty but from misdirected desire for familial love. His remorse in the end displays his humanity and blindnessRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s King Lear1510 Words   |  7 PagesShakespeare’s King Lear deals with tragic human relationship like the other tragedies of the author, but this story was written in social aspect and raises the doubtful point on legitimacy of some political systems. In this play, various characters form multi-layered kconflict relations. Thus, the story is being propelled towards tragedy due to numerous inner and outer conflicts of each character. However, as it is brought into being a charact er, Edgar in the end of the story, it implies new beginningRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s King Lear1470 Words   |  6 Pagesduring the Elizabethan era, making it relatable to all audiences, especially the modern audience, leaving room for multiple perspectives and understanding of the play. Shakespeare’s play ‘King Lear’, depicts the main protagonist’s ‘gradual descent into madness’ as a result of the forces of evil acting in the play for Lear has, to an extent, have sinned though it can’t outweigh that he has been sinned against. This is confirmed through Lear’s injudiciousness to see through his two eldest daughter’s internalRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s King Lear 1306 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"All...shall taste the wages of their virtue...the cup of their deservings. (5.3.317-320)† King Lear is frequently regarded as one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces, and its tragic scope touches almost all facets of the human condition: from the familial tensions between parents and children to the immoral desires of power, from the follies of pride to the false projections of glory. However, one theme rings true throughout the play, and that very theme is boundless suffering, accentuated by the gruesome

Drug Abuse and Prevention Free Essays

Our society’s idea of prevention is to limit the availability of drugs (Hart Ksir, 2011, p. 400), but this is not essentially the best way. Addiction affects everyone. We will write a custom essay sample on Drug Abuse and Prevention or any similar topic only for you Order Now According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), substance abuse cost our nation â€Å"more than $484 billion dollars (The National Institute on Drug Abuse ). † So although you might not be directly impacted by drug abuse, as a whole your tax dollars are spent on fighting the war on drugs. Currently there are several different types of substance prevention; however are they really our best option? First is primary prevention, which is aimed at mostly young children who have never tried a substance or those who may have tried tobacco or alcohol (Hart Ksir, 2011, p. 401). Benefits from this type of early intervention include encouraging abstinence, and teaching people the effects of potential drug use on their lives, emotions, and social relationships (Hart Ksir, 2011, p. 401). There are programs that go to schools, and speak to children as young as 8 about drugs and the effects of drug use. Secondary prevention is for those who have tried the drug in question or other types of drugs. This is supposed to prevent the use of more dangerous drugs, and also to prevent the use of the substances in a more dangerous way (Hart Ksir, 2011, p. 401). This prevention is aimed more towards college students, who have tried drugs but have not suffered seriously from their drug use. This is not aimed at people who need obvious treatment (Hart Ksir, 2011, p. 402). Let us look back on primary prevention. Most students have experienced a program called D. A. R. E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). Studies have shown that here is no proof that D. A. R. E. reduced the use of alcohol or drugs; it was found that it is actually 3 counterproductive (Hanson, 2007). The U. S. Department of Education prohibits schools from spending funding on the D. A. R. E. program, because they believe â€Å"it’s completely ineffective in reducing alcohol and drug use (Hanson, 2007). What D. A. R. E. oes is exposes young elementary school children to drugs they might not have know about before. There should be a better approach to primary prevention. Changing the age group to sixth graders is a start because they are the ones who are most likely to be exposed to drugs and alcohol. The programs should continuously follow up and collect data on the students to find out what approach is most effective. Every person is different, and if we combine selective and primary prevention we can cater programs to specific types of children. Secondary prevention is designed for people who have tried the drug in question or a variety of other substances (Hart Ksir, 2011, p. 401). The ultimate goal of these programs is to prevent the person who is using a certain drug from opening up to other, more dangerous drugs. The purpose is to stop them from endangering themselves more than they already have. The clientele in this case are usually people who are more experienced and have not had an extreme reaction to the drugs that they have used. Therefore, they are not â€Å"in too deep. † Many of the people that fall into this category are college students and programs aimed at encouraging responsible use of alcohol among college students are good examples of this stage of prevention (Hart Ksir, 2011, p. 402). In order to attempt to prevent the transition from use to abuse in college students, they should think about starting these prevention programs at an earlier age. Nowadays, kids get started very early and by high school they are already exposed to alcohol and drug use. It would be wise to open their eyes to what they are going to encounter in their college years and give them the proper advice so that they are prepared when they get to college. College students have a lot of free time on their hands and it is very easy to make a habit out of recreational drug use. I feel that if students knew what to expect, they won’t be as naive and vulnerable as they would be if they hadn’t been properly advised. Students at that age get involved in different things because they are making new friends and adjusting to a new lifestyle. I think it would be a good idea for campuses to have clubs or programs run by students for students who are struggling with drug abuse, that way students know that they have someone to talk to who will help them if they need it. A prevention program that takes place at later stages of drug abuse is Tertiary prevention. Tertiary preventing is relapse prevention, or follow-up programs (Hart Ksir, 2011, p. 402). This prevention refers to actions that can be taken to prevent a relapse from occurring and to help the person maintain a healthy status after therapy has lready been administered. For alcohol- or heroin-dependent individuals, treatment programs are the first order of priority (Hart Ksir, 2011, p. 402). If a person has already been treated or are able to stop using without the help of anyone else, they enter another stage of prevention. This could be improved by having people who have already been through the program follow up with the clientele who are currently going through the same experience that they did. It is much easier for people to talk to someone who has been in the same position as them. Having people who they can relate to and continue to guide them through their journey to stay sober is very encouraging. The universal drug prevention program is another kind of intervention which targets the whole community; its intention is to reach a large audience. This program focuses on the entire 5 group rather than the individual. These programs are implemented within the community, classrooms, and focus on prevention and life skills (Little, 2010). A kind of Universal prevention program is the Caring Community Program which consists of a family- plus approach to reduce the risk of drug use by children (Little, 2010). These kinds of programs are quite beneficial in that they target the young. By the end of elementary a child has already been exposed to some form of drugs. By providing the sense of community it reduces drug abuse, street violence and psychological problems among children (Little, 2010). These types of programs promote motivation in school and academic achievement. Another great benefit is that Potential benefits are expected to outweigh costs for everyone (Schaps, 2003). The downside to a program like this would be that because it’s made to focus on the group as a whole, individuals that are at a higher risk and constantly surrounded by drugs are getting the same attention as those that may have never seen drugs, These individuals may need more intervention to be able to stay away from drugs since access to them is abundant. A great way to better this program would be to intensify it in communities that drugs run ramped and easily accessed. While still keeping the prevention program universal and targeting the whole community, it would be more impactful if altered in high risk communities to strengthen the program and make it more intensive. The Selective prevention program on the other hand targets subgroups of the general population that are determined to be at risk for substance abuse. Those who participate in this kind or program are recruited because they are known to have specific risk to substance abuse. The groups targeted by these programs are both adults and children. Age, gender, family history, place of residence and victimization, or physical and/or sexual abuse may define the targeted 6 subgroups (Doyle, 2006). A benefit of this program would be that the selective prevention program is presented to the entire subgroup because the subgroup as a whole is at higher risk for substance abuse than the general population. It targets those people that are being exposed to drugs more frequently or that are prone to abusing drugs rather than targeting all communities. Not all communities have the same drug exposure and accessibility to drugs. So it’s important to target specific communities. The weakness of this program is that the individual’s personal risk is not exclusively assessed or recognized and is based solely on a presumption given in his or her membership in the at-risk subgroup (Doyle, 2006). There may be individuals in the subgroup that are at no risk for drug abuse whereas there may be someone in the group that is already using. If this is not known the one that is already using may not benefit at all from this program. Great ways to strengthen the selective prevention program is to go deeper, not only select at risk subgroups but asses individuals within the group to increase intervention with certain individuals that may be already using. How to cite Drug Abuse and Prevention, Essay examples

Impact of Smoking Habit on Students-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp

Question: How does Smoking Habit Impacts on Students in Social Science in University of Wollongong? Answer: Introduction The proposed research includes an investigation about the use of smoking habits of students in social science and its impact on them. The integration of scientific evidences signifying that cigarette smoking as severe health hazard and especially, it becomes the major cause of lung cancer. It could lead to an increased sense of responsibility among the individuals and organizations concerned with public health to observe that young and adult students are aware of such hazard. Several studies have conducted on the cause of increasing smoking habit but hardly a number of studies have particularly focused on the impact of such deadly habit on the students and this is where the proposed study holds significance of conducting an investigation on this context. In this context, Johnston et al. (2016) commented that tobacco proves to be the most significant preventable cause of premature death in several nations. Moreover, a half of the smokers who initiated smoking in adolescence could die from the persistent use of tobacco. The proposed study will examine the impact of smoking habits particularly of the students of Wollongong. This research report provides the detail of study and investigation in terms of the major areas, techniques, resources and other relevant aspects. The purpose of the research is to examine the impact of increasing smoking habits on university students. Research Aim and Objectives The aim of the research is to investigate the impact of smoking habits on the students in social science of the University of Wollongong. In addition, the research also identifies the major causes behind the increasing smoking habit. The following are the key objectives of the research that will help to shape the research needs and contribute to the actions of gaining the desired outcomes. To critically investigate the causes of increasing smoking habits of the students of University of Wollongong To analyze the impact of smoking habits on the students in social science of University of Wollongong To develop a suitable solution to reduce the impact on the students Research Questions What are the causes of smoking of the students in social science of University of Wollongong? What is the impact of increasing smoking habit of students of University of Wollongong? Background to the research The university life is a significant phase for every student at that time; they grow and engage in the risky behavior such as smoking. Therefore, it is found that smoking always remains as a public health issue among the students of the University. An international study conducted by Doran et al. (2013), demonstrated almost 34% of male university students as well as 27% of female university students from 24 different nations were the existing smokers with the large difference between nations and genders. As put forward by Maziak (2011), the individual personality factors, cognitive factors as well as coping resources could play a significant role in determining particularly, which college students grow the tendency to start and continue to smoke. In this context, Musmar (2012) also mentioned that personality factors as stable as well as distinctive traits of a person could account for variability in health perceptions. On the other side, Koura, Al-Dossary and Bahnassy (2011) mentioned that personality factors might engage neuroticism, extraversion, frankness and agreeableness. A study performed by Doran et al. (2013), demonstrate that neuroticism is related with the smoking cost onset in young students. Based on the previous studies, it can be mentioned that social smoking has rapidly become prevalent and it could through a challenge to the conventional cessation practices. It has also been identified that social smoking remains as the subset of irregular smoking behavior, which is usually described as smoking in the social context. Self-efficacy remains as a well-known factor to influence health behaviors. A self-efficacy theory developed by Bandura indicates that behavior is usually anticipated by an individuals confidence in their ability capability to achieve a provided task. Furthermore, the recent studies on the enhancement of medical education in different nations have persistently demonstrated that undergraduate training in this particular area remains inadequate. Moreover, a surprising facts is that effectively developed educational interventions to enhance knowledge skills and attitudes of students about the treatment of smokers remain available but the factor of higher cost in respect with resource and teaching time restrict the implementation of such program. Maziak (2011) mentioned that one single lecture on the topic could be sufficient to blend the interest of university students extracting self-directed learning activities about the tobacco toxicology and treatment alternatives. Therefore, a high quality of research is widely required in this particular area. Going forward, Bachman et al. (2013) reported that university students attending the final year of undergraduate students have poor knowledge regarding the use of tobacco dependency, smoking related pathology as well as the role of physicians in the action of smoking prohibition. Thereby, it can be mentioned that while the findings itself are the factors for concern, the interpretation of such interpretation could be further developed by contrasting them to survey results gained from the students. Problem Statement Even though, the social studies have found new ways to make the students and adults aware of the deadly effect of smoking, no such positive improvement has yet been observed (Brando, Pimentel and Cardoso 2011). Due to the social influence and lack of awareness, education, the young university students are becoming addicted to smoking. Moreover, instead of decrease, the habits grow up with the tendency. There are many studies conducted on the prevention and prohibition of smoking but the required awareness have not yet been observed and promoted. As the consequence, the cigarette smokers are being affected with serious diseases; they suffer from multiple deadly diseases that take their life. In each developing nation, the count of death due to the habit of smoking increases. Therefore, an intensive and experimental study is required to examine the impact and develop possible remedies. Research Methods The research methods determine the outcome of the research; this means the research methods should be implemented properly. Inappropriate implementation of research methods could lead to unexpected outcome. Therefore, to conduct the proposed research both primary and secondary analysis will be conducted. The primary research method includes the pilot study technique, where a survey will be conducted among the students of Wollongong University. The survey will be conducted among 10 students of the university. Details about the research methods have been discussed in the following. Research philosophy As put forward by Tong et al. (2012), the research philosophy helps to manage the source, nature of development of knowledge. Therefore, while addressing the research philosophy, there should be a state of awareness in terms of formulating the beliefs and assumptions. Moreover, the research philosophy helps to extract the hidden facts from the research contexts. Usually, there are four different types of research philosophies namely positivism, interepretivism, realism and pragmatism. The positivism research is related to the opinions that only factual knowledge obtained through observation. According to Miller et al. (2012), in positivism, the role of researcher is limited to the data collection and interpretation. On the other side, interepretivism helps to interpret the elements of the research; thereby, interepretivism integrates human interest into a research study. However, in the proposed study, positivism research philosophy will be used as positivism research philosophy prov ides the large scope of using both quantitative and qualitative research method. It will help to gain the factual knowledge, which will help to analyze the finding related to the impact of smokers on the students of Wollongong University. On the other side, the interepretivism research philosophy will not be used because the primary data generated in such interepretivism practice cannot be generalized, as the data is largely impacted by the individual viewpoint as well as values. Research Approach The research approach is usually divided into two categories such as deductive approach and inductive approach. According to Snyder (2012), the deductive research approach is usually concerned with the formulation of research hypothesis based on the existing theory as well as the design of the research strategy to verify the research hypothesis. Conversely, the inductive research approach starts with the observation as well as theories that are proposed towards the end of the research process. However, in the context of proposed research, deductive research approach will be used , where a set of the hypotheses will be formed and they will be tested during the analysis of the data. On the contrary, the inductive research approach has been rejected because the outcome of the proposed study cannot be derived based on observation and theories only. Research Designs The research design is usually divided into two different categories exploratory and descriptive. According to Anderson and Shattuck (2012), exploratory research in accordance to its name, it aims to discover the specific aspects of the research areas but it does not aim to provide final as well as conclusive answers to the research questions. On the other side, the descriptive study aims to cast light on the current issues, which means that this research design could help to identify the current impact of increasing habits of smoking on the university students. Therefore, considering this particular advantage, descriptive research objective will be applied to the proposed study. Data collection methods The data collection techniques are usually divided into two different categories namely primary and secondary. Primary Data Collection-The primary data will be conducted by applying qualitative data collection method. The qualitative data collection will include a pilot study method, where the students of Wollongong University will be surveyed by asking them to respond to some open-ended questions. The respondents will be selected based on the random sampling method and the capacity of sampling. Secondary data collection- To conduct the secondary analysis, the secondary data will be collected from the reliable secondary sources such as books, journals, newsletter blogs and other reliable secondary sources. The analysis has been conducted in the literature review comparing the findings with each other. Sampling In order to conduct the survey, a random sampling research method will be applied to engage the respondents in the survey. The respondents such as the students will be selected based on the criteria of random sampling technique. The capacity of sampling for the survey is 15, which means, 15 students could take part in the survey. Description of the research tool pilot process The research aims for investigating the factors of smoking habit in the University of Wollongong. The research also aims to find the impact of smoking of these students with accurate details. Thus, as a part of data collection, primary data collection method will be used. However, pilot process will be used in order to cross check the response given by the selected search respondents. Mackey and Gass (2015) depict that pilot study is a standard scientific tool that allows a research scholar to conduct a preliminary analysis prior analyzing the research outcome. Pilot test also refer to a survey, a key informant interview guide or observation form that is performed on a very few sample size. Silverman (2016) also stated that the total number of respondents participate in the research is known as sample size and here in this research 10 students will be considered. A set of 10 questions will be asked to each of the ten respondents regarding the habits of smoking. Among those 7 students , 3 students are smoker students; while, the rest of 2 students are non-smokers. The prime reason for selecting the smokers students is that they can clearly describe the impact of smoking and factors that encouraged them to smoke; however, the reason for selecting non-smokers students is that they can describe the habits they notice are noticing in smokers and what they think is the reason for which they opt for smoking. The research will aim on pilot testing in order to get an in-depth analysis of the developed research question. Proposed analyses are appropriate for the research tool The proposed analyses are appropriate and relevant to the research tools that will be used in the study because to conduct the analysis, pilot study method will be applied, which provides authentic data findings. This is because, the pilot study provides the scope to cross-check each answer of the question, which means the researcher ensures whether the respondent gives the right answer. Moreover, this research method will not create any state of confusion in the mind of the respondents because the responses of the participants are cross-checked. Thus, it can be mentioned that as with the help of such relevant tool like pilot study, unbiased and appropriate outcome can be derived. Feasibility of research to address research questions, aim and objectives The research questions, aims and objectives can be met, as in the proposed research, the data will be collected through pilot study method, which assures the authenticity of the data. In addition to this, during the analysis, each research question will be linked to the findings derived by the research tools. The research aim will be compared with the findings found after the collection of data. In the action plan, the first the research questions will be formed based on the research aim and objectives. Once the data is collection, during the analysis, it will be ensured that research findings cover the variables mentioned in the objectives. Proposed research and significance This research will illustrate the smoking habits among the university student studies in the University of Wollongong. It is seen that especially the students after the age of 24 addicted to smoking, alcohols and tobacco. Universities in recent time are taking initiatives to make the college campus a smoke free area but after these initiatives also some college students are witnessed to addict to bad habits especially to cigarette the most. Thus, this research will aim to study the factors that boost the desire of the student to smoke and get addicted to it. The research will also represent the possible impact of the smoking that the smokers faces and will also suggest some solution that the university can take so that student wills start quitting smoking. Significance of the study The significance of the study is that it illustrates the research held on the college students. The students of the University of Wollongong are taken into consideration so that they can represent their view directly on the smoking habits, factors that encourage them to smoke and the impact from which they are suffering will be shown. The significance of the study is that the research will follow a pilot testing in which all the research questions are cross-checked in order to understand whether or not the student (research respondents) get the meaning of the research properly. Significance and innovation of the research The innovation of the research can be said based on the research technique that will be used in the research. A significant research are based on qualitative or quantitative research studies where a question is asked once and the response attained for each research question are considered as the final feedback based on which research outcome is judged. However, in this research two kinds of research respondents will be considered- smokers and non-smokers. The smokers students can easily describes the factors based on which they started smoking; while non-smokers can explain the habits that they noticed in the student, who smoke. After getting the response, all the respondents will be approached individually and asked about their view on each research question individually. In this way, each question can be analyzed in-depth that is not found in other research. Thus, it can be said that in this research, an accurate ideas regarding each research question will be obtained that will hel p to draw the possible factors and impact of smoking among the college students of University of Wollongong. Strengths and limitations of the developed research tool Strengths of the developed research tool The developed research tool is used is pilot testing. The advantage is that each respondent is interviewed with all the research questions with ample time. Moreover, pilot experiment evaluate feasibility, time, cost and adverse events more precisely as personal comments on the research question is taken into consideration. Thus, this research tool will help with ideas, approaches and clues for getting a clearer finding in the main study and allows verifying the planned statistical and analytical procedures to assess the usefulness of the obtained data. Lastly, pilot testing reduces the number of unanticipated problems as in pilot testing the research question can be re-designed based on the convenience who is taking the interview. Another advantage is that pilot testing saves lot of time and money and always provides enough data to present a research outcome. Limitations of the developed research tool Though there are advantages of using pilot testing tool but there are some limitations associated with the same tool. The first disadvantage is that only few respondents are taken into consideration like in this research only 10 students are considered. On the other hand other research considers more research respondents in order to gather the perception of more number of respondents. Thus, by considering few respondents the research outcome might get improper authenticity while comparing it to with greater sample size. Another disadvantage is that it took much time to complete the data collection for the research as one research question is cross checked twice which demands much time compared to other type of research tool like quantitative data analysis. Additionally, pilot testing also allows for re-designing of research question if any respondent feel uncomfortable to answer some questions. The disadvantage in this process is the biasness of the interviewer as they are free to as k any question for satisfying the research outcome and this might violate the research ethics. References kerlind, G.S., 2012. Variation and commonality in phenomenographic research methods.Higher Education Research Development,31(1), pp.115-127. Al-Kaabba, A.F., Saeed, A.A., Abdalla, A.M., Hassan, H.A. and Mustafa, A.A., 2011. Prevalence and associated factors of cigarette smoking among medical students at King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh of Saudi Arabia.Journal of Family and Community Medicine,18(1), p.8. Anderson, T. and Shattuck, J., 2012. Design-based research: A decade of progress in education research?.Educational researcher,41(1), pp.16-25. Aryal, U.R., 2014. Prevalence and determinants of cigarette smoking among the college students of Kathmandu Valley.Asian Journal of Medical Sciences (E-ISSN 2091-0576; P-ISSN 2467-9100),1(2), pp.53-58. Bachman, J.G., Wadsworth, K.N., O'Malley, P.M., Johnston, L.D. and Schulenberg, J.E., 2013.Smoking, drinking, and drug use in young adulthood: The impacts of new freedoms and new responsibilities. Psychology Press. Brando, M.P., Pimentel, F.L. and Cardoso, M.F., 2011. Impact of academic exposure on health status of university students.Revista de Sade Pblica,45(1), pp.49-58. Doran, N., Khoddam, R., Sanders, P.E., Schweizer, C.A., Trim, R.S. and Myers, M.G., 2013. A prospective study of the Acquired Preparedness Model: the effects of impulsivity and expectancies on smoking initiation in college students.Psychology of Addictive Behaviors,27(3), p.714. Fairchild, A.L., Bayer, R. and Colgrove, J., 2014. The renormalization of smoking? E-cigarettes and the tobacco endgame.New England Journal of Medicine,370(4), pp.293-295. Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research project. Sage. Gast, D.L. and Ledford, J.R. eds., 2014. Single case research methodology: Applications in special education and behavioral sciences. Routledge. Gupta, S., Sarpal, S.S., Kumar, D., Kaur, T. and Arora, S., 2013. Prevalence, pattern and familial effects of substance use among the male college studentsa north Indian study.Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR,7(8), p.1632. Hajek, P., Etter, J.F., Benowitz, N., Eissenberg, T. and McRobbie, H., 2014. Electronic cigarettes: review of use, content, safety, effects on smokers and potential for harm and benefit.Addiction,109(11), pp.1801-1810. Johnston, L.D., OMalley, P.M., Bachman, J.G., Schulenberg, J.E. and Miech, R.A., 2016. Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2015: Volume II, college students and adults ages 19-55. Koura, M.R., Al-Dossary, A.F. and Bahnassy, A.A., 2011. Smoking pattern among female college students in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.Journal of Family and Community Medicine,18(2), p.63. Mackey, A. and Gass, S.M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design. Routledge. Maziak, W., 2011. The global epidemic of waterpipe smoking.Addictive behaviors,36(1), pp.1-5. Miller, T., Birch, M., Mauthner, M. and Jessop, J. eds., 2012.Ethics in qualitative research. Sage. Musmar, S.G., 2012. Smoking habits and attitudes among university students in Palestine: a cross-sectional study/Etude transversale sur le tabagisme et les attitudes des etudiants de niveau universitaire en Palestine.Eastern Mediterranean health journal,18(5), p.454. Neuman, W.L. and Robson, K., 2014. Basics of social research. Pearson Canada. Panneerselvam, R., 2014. Research methodology. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.. Pierre, E.A.S., 2012. Post qualitative research.Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials,3. Scotland, J., 2012. Exploring the philosophical underpinnings of research: Relating ontology and epistemology to the methodology and methods of the scientific, interpretive, and critical research paradigms.English Language Teaching,5(9), p.9. Silverman, D. ed., 2016. Qualitative research. Sage. Snyder, C., 2012. A case study of a case study: Analysis of a robust qualitative research methodology.The Qualitative Report,17(13), p.1. Tarone, E.E., Gass, S.M. and Cohen, A.D. eds., 2013. Research methodology in second-language acquisition. Routledge. Tong, A., Flemming, K., McInnes, E., Oliver, S. and Craig, J., 2012. Enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research: ENTREQ.BMC medical research methodology,12(1), p.181. Tuohy, D., Cooney, A., Dowling, M., Murphy, K. and Sixsmith, J., 2013. An overview of interpretive phenomenology as a research methodology. Nurse Researcher, 20(6), pp.17-20. Witkiewitz, K., Desai, S.A., Bowen, S., Leigh, B.C., Kirouac, M. and Larimer, M.E., 2014. Development and evaluation of a mobile intervention for heavy drinking and smoking among college students.Psychology of Addictive Behaviors,28(3), p.639.

Transformational Leadership free essay sample

Although what type of leadership is the perfect one is still arguable, a great amount of research evidence has indicated that a type of leadership known as transformational leadership is the one that will improve organizational behaviors and therefore enhance the overall performance of an organization. In this paper, we will first discuss what transformational leadership is and elaborate on how transformational leadership is related to organizational citizenship behavior, creativity and turnover. Then, we will show the extent to which transformational leadership is applied within a certain organization in China and offer our suggestions on how to improve transformational leadership in that organization. To begin with, we are about to explain the definition of transformational leadership and present the empirical evidence on the positive correlation of transformational leadership to organizational citizenship behavior and creativity and the negative correlation relation to turnover. Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership is one of the most important leadership patterns, and has been widely researched throughout the years since 1978, when James MacGregor Burns first introduced the concept of transforming leadership in his descriptive research on political leaders. We will write a custom essay sample on Transformational Leadership or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page â€Å"For Burns, leadership is a process of evolving interrelationships in which leaders are constantly influencing and modifying employees’ behavior until organizational goals and the vision of the leader are met. It is a process in which leader and followers proactively raise each other to higher levels of morality and motivation† (Goho, 2006). Johns and Saks (2011) mention that there are four dimensions in transformational leadership: (1) idealized influence, (2) inspirational motivation, (3) individualized consideration, and (4) intellectual stimulation. Idealized influence can simply refer to as â€Å"Charisma†, the extent to which the leader can develop personal appeal to employees and influence them to work actively. Inspirational motivation is the component characterized by the leader’s ability to depict a clear vision and successfully motivate employees to work towards that vision. Individualized consideration refers to the trait that a leader can work as a mentor or coach who pays individualized attention to employees’ needs and concerns. Intellectual leadership examines the leader’s ability to fully excavate employees’ innovation and creativity. These four dimensions generate an effective pattern of leadership that is widely used in the workplace around the world. According to Warrick (2011), transformational leadership generates payoffs and benefits towards individuals, teams and organizations as a whole. It increases their performance, commitment, innovation, cohesiveness and outcomes, shapes and reinforces a new culture, builds trust among leaders and employees, decreases employee stress and burn out. One main reason that makes transformational leadership significant is that it is closely related to other organizational behaviors like organizational citizenship behavior, creativity and turnover, which are all important to an organization’s wellbeing and development. In the following sections, these relationships, or more precisely, correlations, will be discussed in details. Organizational Citizenship Behavior In terms of organizational citizenship behavior, the most significant theory is put forward by Dennis W. Organ who defines OCB as â€Å"an individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization. By discretionary, we mean that the behavior is not an enforceable requirement of the role or the job description, that is, the clearly specifiable terms of the person’s employment contract with the organization; the behavior is rather a matter of personal choice, such that its omission is not generally understood as punishable† (Organ, 1988). We can infer from the definition that a company does not recognize it as a formal standard of behavior despite of its positive effects, so whoever is high on OCB may probably not be equally rewarded as the one who makes other obvious contributions to the company. Moreover, it is just an initiative action, and to which degree an employee lacks OCB will not be necessarily related to the punishments. According to Podaskoff et al. (2000), there is a seven-dimensional taxonomy of organizational citizen behaviors: helping, sportsmanship, organizational loyalty, organizational compliance, individual initiative, civic virtues and self-development. The most important part is the helping behavior, an action that includes being willing to help the co-workers (George and Brief, 1992), interpersonal helping (Graham, 1991), and altruism (Organ, 1988). Organizational citizenship behaviors have many forms. Some of them are directed at individuals and others at organizational performance. Examples on OCB directed at individuals are people’s showing concern and courtesy toward colleagues, and going out of the way to make newer employees feel welcome in the working environment. Similarly, examples on OCB directed at the organizations are people’s identifying themselves as part of the organization, and defending the organization when other employees show dissatisfaction or even hostility towards the organization. Transformational Leadership and Organizational Citizenship Behavior We have discussed earlier that there are four dimensions of transformational leadership: idealized influence (charisma), inspirational motivation, individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation (Johns amp; Saks, 2011). From the existing research, we find that transformational leadership yields higher employee OCB. (Organ, 1988). And the transformational leadership can also influence OCB in terms of idealized influence (charisma), individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation (no specific study on inspirational motivation). Idealized influence (attributed charisma and idealized behaviors) may result in higher commitment and job satisfaction, and may also increase a firm’s profitability, sales and revenues (Bass, 1985a,1990b; Podaskoff amp; Mackenzie, 1994; Waldman, Ramirez, House, amp; Puranam, 2001). Intellectual stimulation may enhance employees’ problem-solving skills, ability to deal with changes and to create innovative ideas. From the perspective of organizations, intellectual stimulation will help improve the innovation, production as well as unit performances in the organizations (Bass, 1985a, 1990b; Bass amp; Avolio, 1993; Anthony, 1998; Howell amp; Avolio, 1993; Hsu, 2002; Seltzer amp; Bass, 1990; Tichy amp; Devana, 1986). At last, with individualized consideration, employees will have higher commitments, extra efforts, increased performance and better use of team work. Therefore, based on the empirical studies, the following hypothesis is formulated: Hypothesis 1: Transformational leadership is positively correlated with organizational citizen behavior. Creativity In a highly competitive world, creativity has become increasingly important to the development of an organization. Creativity greatly influences innovation performance that helps an organization gain competitive edge within the industry. Creativity is defined as â€Å"the production of novel and useful ideas concerning products, services, processes, and procedures in organizations† (Amabile, 1988). Besides, creativity is also â€Å"a process in which employees develop novel and useful solution to meet challenges and solve work-related problems in the course of goal-directed behavior† (Amabile, 1998;Yong, 1994). Transformational Leadership and Creativity Research evidence shows that leadership, especially transformational leadership which exerts close relationship with individual creativity, has a great influence on creativity (Scott amp; Bruce, 1994; Tierney et al. , 1999). Moreover, according to Bass’s (1985) transformational leadership theory, transformational leadership is posited to be composed of four dimensions, namely charismatic influence, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation. Based on the empirical research and theories, we assume that all these four dimensions of transformational leadership are positively related to followers’ creativity. Charisma, or idealized influence, refers to the extent to which the leader acts venerably and is emotionally appealing to followers (Bass, 1985). In such a situation, followers are enthusiastic to accomplish beyond expectations and they are more likely to achieve higher work objectives (Amabile et al. , 1996; Amabile et all. , 2004). Thus, a good leader with transformational leadership can inspire followers’ creativity by making the employees feel challenged and encourage them to explore novel approaches in innovative advocating environment. Individualized consideration refers to the extent to which the leader is sensitive to each subordinate’s needs and concerns (Judge amp; Piccolo, 2004). Given that the transformational eaders satisfy subordinates’ developmental needs, subordinates in turn are more likely to devote more time and hardworking to requite their leaders’ expectation. The followers are thus stimulated to achieve high level of creativity. Inspirational motivation describes the degree to which the leader enunciates a vision that fascinates and inspires followers. By applying symbols and e motional encouraging behavior, transformational leaders appeal to discover their followers’ potential and encourage them to achieve what is beyond their self-interests for the good of the organization (Bass amp; Avolio, 1995). As a result, increased number of novel ideas will be generated under a free expression environment, which eventually may contribute to the organization’s gaining of competitive edge. According to Hater and Bass (1988), transformational leaders also exert intellectual stimulation to arouse followers to think in creative ways and analyze issues using problem solving skills before they take the action. In addition, followers are strongly supported to challenge the status quo, to question old assumptions, and to satisfy their curiosity with unlimited imagination (Bass, 1985). Consequently, followers may tend to figure out unconventional approaches and thoughts to address problems, which is beneficial to sustainable development of the organization. Therefore, based on the empirical studies, the following hypothesis is formulated: Hypothesis 2: Transformational leadership is positively related to employee creativity. Turnover Turnover is always an important issue for organizations to deal with because of its incredibly high cost. A fast food restaurant may have to spend hundreds of dollars on hiring and training a new counter attendant. For a large corporation looking for a new CEO, that cost can rise up to millions of dollars because the number of qualified candidates is usually very limited in the job market. In fact, the actual cost of turnover is usually well beyond what can be measured by money. An employee who resigns may also take away the special experience and skills developed over time on that job and sometimes may even transfer the confidential business know-how to another company. Therefore, the importance of retaining staff cannot be ignored. High staff turnover is one of the organizational problems that managers need to put an end to before it gets out of control because it has a negative impact on the bottom line of service organizations (Amarjit, Neil and et al. , 2011). In the past decades, the relationships have been found between job attitudes and turnover. Research indicates that the less satisfied the employees are with the job and less committed they are to the organization, the more likely they are to quit. But research also discovers some exceptions when situational factors intervene to influence an employee’s decision (Johns amp; Saks, 2011). For example, an unsatisfied employee may have to stay if the job alternatives are quite limited. Or in another situation, a satisfied employee may have to leave if emergencies like the death of a family member or the birth of a child happen. In general, turnover intentions can be reduced and ultimate turnover can be prevented if approaches are taken to improve the employees’ satisfaction and commitment to the organization. Transformational Leadership and Turnover The number of studies on the relationship between turnover and transformational leadership is relatively small. Research evidence has found a significant negative relationship between transformational leadership and employee intention to quit and indicated that higher transformational leadership lowers the employee turnover intention (as cited in Gill, Mathur, Suraj amp; Bhutani, 2011). Though the direct evidence that supports the negative relationship between turnover and transformational leadership seems not very strong, some studies show that transformational leadership are positively correlated with job satisfaction and commitment (Medley amp; Larochelle, 1995; Charles amp; Katherine, 2007; ). As we have discussed that job satisfaction will help reduce turnover and transformational leadership will help improve job satisfaction and commitment, we can probably assume a negative relationship between transformational leadership and turnover by using the job satisfaction and commitment to organization as a medium. Therefore, based on the empirical studies, the following hypothesis is formulated: Hypothesis 3: Transformational leadership is negatively correlated with turnover. Method In the preceding section, we have presented the theoretical framework of transformational leadership. From this section on, we begin to discuss the application of transformational leadership in the real business environment. The organization we investigated is Shaanxi Weihe Electrical Power Co. Ltd. , located in Xianyang, Shaanxi Province in China. It is a major electrical power supplier in that area with more than 2000 employees. We surveyed 17 people, including 7 males and 10 females. These participants are from the Human Resources Department and Accounting Department of that company, with an average tenure of 15 years. We designed a questionnaire and translated it into Chinese. Then we sent the translated version of the questionnaires by email to our contact person in the company, the Director of the Human Resource Department and received questionnaires by email from our contact person when all participants finished their questionnaires. Our questionnaire consists of 12 questions, with each 3 questions investigating one perspective of transformational leadership. Specifically, Question 1-3 investigates intellectual stimulation. Question 4-6 investigates individualized consideration. Question 7-9 investigates inspirational motivation. And Question 10-12 investigates idealized influence. For each question, we asked the participant to use number 1-5 to indicate the extent to which they agree that their immediate supervisor exhibit a certain behavior. Both the original English questionnaire and the translated Chinese one are in the appendices of this paper. Results Table 1: The results of our survey indicate that in general the employees in the Human Resources Department and Accounting Department neither disagree nor agree that their immediate supervisors, namely the Director of Human Resources and the Director of Accounting exhibit transformational leadership in their daily work. In this section, we will discuss the results respectively from the perspectives of intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation and idealized influence. Question 1-3 investigates the extent to which supervisors intellectually stimulate employees. The average result of Question 1-3 is 3. 39, which indicates that supervisors sometimes encourage employees to innovate but sometimes do not. Actually, the mode of results of Questions 1 and 2 is 2, reflecting the fact that most mployees do not agree that their supervisors encourage them to solve problems from different ways or solicit their ideas when solving problems. Question 4-6 investigates the extent to which supervisors consider the individualized needs and concerns of employees. The average result of Question 4-6 is 4. 08, the highest among all four perspectives and the mode of the results of each question is 4, which altogether indicate most of employees agree that their supervisors can treat them as an individual rather than an ordinary member of the department. Therefore, the supervisors perform well in showing individualized consideration to their employees. Question 7-9 investigates the extent to which supervisors motivate employees to complete a certain task by explaining the importance of the task and communicating optimism to employees. The average result of Question 7-9 is 3. 33 and the mode of the results of each question is 3. We can reasonably interpret the data as a moderate performance of supervisors in terms of inspirational motivation. Question 10-12 investigates the extent to which supervisors display idealized influence, which is also known as charisma. The average result of Question 10-12 is only 2. 86, the lowest among all four perspectives. The mode of results of Question 12 is 2, which reflects a fact that most employees think their supervisors fail to win their respect. To summarize, supervisors in the two departments are successful in showing individualized consideration but are unsuccessful in showing idealized influence. In terms of the other two perspectives of transformational leadership, supervisors in the two departments deliver a moderate performance. Discussion As discussed in the preceding section, transformational leadership is important for the development of an organization because it is positively correlated with organizational citizenship behavior and creativity and negatively correlated with turnover. However, the investigation on the application of transformational leadership in Shaanxi Weihe Electrical Power Co. Ltd. shows a moderate level of transformational leadership in daily work. Therefore, we believe that it is necessary to provide our recommendations will help improve the transformational leadership in the company. Since we have discussed the result from four perspectives of transformational leadership, our recommendation are presented in the similar pattern. Intellectual Stimulation The results of Question 1-3 reflect a moderate transformational leadership in terms of intellectual stimulation. According to empirical studies, the following approaches can be adopted to improve intellectual stimulation. â€Å"Intellectual stimulation is defined as having a leader who encourages innovation and creativity, as well as critical thinking and problem-solving. Intellectual stimulation involves arousing followers thoughts and imagination, as well as stimulating their ability to identify and solve problems creatively† (Bass, 1985). Leaders play a crucial role in stimulating intelligence among subordinates. Those who possess transformational leadership will help arouse employees’ new ideas, stimulate them to view the world from new perspectives and boost creativity. According to HEXACO personality model (Ashton et. al, 2004), a good leader should have the personalities of honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness. A leader high on openness is more likely to inspire the adaptive performance of employees and enable them to deal with uncertain work situations more effectively and solve problems more creatively. To improve the performance of employees, leaders also need to be educated and trained to be transformational. Only with better knowledge and skills on transformational leadership, can leaders be able to exert positive influence among their followers. Individualized Consideration According to the survey, the leaders perform well in terms of individualized consideration because the average results of Question 4-6 is 4. 8, the highest average among all four dimensions. However, there is still room for leaders to further develop this aspect of transformational leadership by conducting â€Å"career counseling with the followers, careful observation of followers and recording their progress and encouraging followers to attend technical courses† (Alannah amp; Mark, 2006). Through career co unseling, leaders will learn what their followers are interest in or what they are concerned about, and thus take appropriate actions that may motivate followers to achieve their individual goals. Besides, by carefully observing followers and recording their progress, leaders can develop familiarity with their followers, get a feedback of their leadership performance and learn what kind of leadership behaviors tend to be the most effective one. Sometimes, transformational leaders also encourage followers to attend job relevant courses, sending a message to the followers that they are expected to deliver better job performance. In this way, followers will not only enhance their professional skills but raise their self-efficacy as well. Through conducting these activities, individualized attention allows leaders to become familiar with followers, enhances communication and improves information exchange† (Alannah amp; Mark, 2006). In addition, followers are likely to perceive that they supported by their leaders, and they are therefore more likely to convey their thoughts to the leaders when they are stressed or concerned. Inspirational Motivation The average result of Ques tion 7-9 is 3. 3, which indicates the leaders in the company need to improve their inspirational motivation during the daily work. Therefore, three recommendations are discussed as follows. First, an inspirational leader should give employees the task that is within their capabilities. According to Vroom’s Expectancy Theory (1964), one’s belief that he or she has the ability to do the task successfully is called self-efficacy. Research evidence has showed a positive correlation between self-efficacy and task performance. The higher the self-efficacy a employee has, the better the task performance he or she will deliver. Second, an inspirational leader should also understand what their employees need. Although research shows that financial incentives seem to work better than other incentives. Leaders cannot always provide a salary increase as a motivator. According to JCM (Hackman amp; Oldham, 1974), a good job that an inspirational leader can create should contain five core job characteristics known as variety, identity, significance, autonomy and feedback that affect employees’ motivation particularly. As a consequence of the implement JCM, the employees will have high internal motivation, high job performance, high satisfaction and low absenteeism and low turnover. Third, the inspirational leader should communicate the vision and mission of the company to employee in an enthusiastic way. Leaders could talk to employees about their ideas, plans or goals. Employees may think that if they have no chance to construct or change the organization they are working in, they may not devote themselves to the organization. Therefore, leaders should describe a vision that inspires followers and even make them to sacrifice the self-interests for the good of the company (Burns, 1978; Bass, 1985). Idealized Influence The survey shows that idealized influence, also known as charisma, ranks the lowest among the four dimensions of transformational leadership with an average of 2. 86. The lack of confidence and respect from employees has become a main weak point of the leaders. â€Å"The emergence of charisma is a complex function of traits, behaviors, and the being in the right place at the right time† (House, 1977). And â€Å"the prominent traits include self-confidence, dominance, and a strong conviction in one’s beliefs† (John amp; Saks, 2011). Therefore, the following suggestions are provided for the leaders to enhance their idealized influence. To begin with, leaders should continue to elevate their comprehensive abilities and qualities. As long as they truly master the knowledge and management skills related to the job, they can accomplish tasks easily. In this way, it is less likely that leaders fear and avoid the difficulties so followers will trust their supervisors and work with them with more confident. In addition, it is advisable for the company to train the supervisors periodically to make them realize the significance of collectivism. Those leaders who are instructed to be loyal to the organization would direct their subordinates in a positive and effective way, which, gradually distinguish themselves from ordinary leaders. At last, leaders cannot win the respect from their subordinates if they frequently show their superiority as a supervisor. Leaders should treat every staff fairly and equally. This with no doubt will increase employees’ job satisfaction and positive attitudes towards their leaders. Setting good examples for workers is also essential. In most cases, leaders lose their respect from employees for the reason of being rude to the subordinates. Therefore, it would be better if directors of these two departments stand on employees’ sides and take their feelings into consideration. Limitations Although the results of the research reach our expectations, limitations of the research method cannot be neglected. Constrained by the limited time and human resource allocated to this project, we fail to further expand the recipient base of the survey. We believe that if more people had been investigated, the result of the survey would have been a better reflection of the real situation. Besides, the recipients of questionnaires are from only two department of the company. We fail to include more employees from other departments, especially the employees from the frontline workshop who make up the majority of the employee population in the company. At last, we use mathematical average to analyze the data collected from the questionnaire. We believe that there should be statistically better method for analyzing the data because we have realized that the highest and lowest score will offset each other when we calculate the mathematical average. References Alannah, E. R. , amp; Mark, A. G. (2006). Refining individualized consideration: Distinguishing developmental leadership and supportive leadership. Transformational leadership free essay sample Biography Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary , or better known as Syed Mokhtar was born in1951 at Jalan Day, Alor Setar. Syed Mokhtar was raised from a poor family consisted of 5 members. His father was an immigrant from Afghania. Syed Mokhtar inherits his business skill from his father who buys and sells cow. Syed Mokhtar was not very good in academic, but he is excellent in figures and account. Syed Mokhtar manages to start his very own business in 1966 when he follows his father to Kuala Lumpur to buy and sell cows. The first company that Syed Mokhtar builds is Syarikat Kenderaan Sentosa (SKS) which registered in 1972. Syed Mokhtar involve in rice business in 1990. Now Syed Mokhtar has built his own business empire through his effort and world class leadership practice. Yayasan AL Bukhary is one of his prove that he has not forgotten where he come s from, a poor family in Kedah. We will write a custom essay sample on Transformational leadership or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He has a net value of US$2 billion and considered as 8th Malaysia’s richest man according to Forbes. Syed Mokhtar keeps building his business empire and mange to take over some of the prestigious company such as MMC, DRB-HICOM, PERNAS and Pelabuhan Johor. Syed Mokhtar also involve in a global business venture in other country such as China, Iran, Libya and others. He create new friend and at the same time not forgotten an old friend. People around him always feel comfortable with his kindness and humble. Syed Mokhtar was an excellent example of how a businessman leader should be. Never forget to help others when we have been successful. Transformational Leader When Syed Mokhtar started his business, he already places a big dream. He makes a clear vision in each of every new thing he invested. He is able to see opportunities whereas the others failed. When he started his logistic  business, SKS, he knows that this business already monopoly by the Chinese. Typical Malays would like not to involve in this business as it is difficult to penetrate Chinese blockage. Syed Mokhtar doesn’t see this as a barrier but use this stepping stone for him to succeed. He chooses to make these Chinese as his friend rather than being their competitors. As Kedah was known as rice producer, most of his earlier cargo is rice. The rice distributors were dominated by the Chinese, so Syed Mokhtar manages to approach reliable Chines to work with him at the earlier stage. He offer higher pay for the Chinese, and also promise an extra profit sharing if the company make profit. Syed Mokhtar very determines to break the Chinese wall. He put a clear vision, to penetrate Chinese monopoly. He uses a Chinese to do that. He involve on the business himself. It is said, that Syed Mokhtar always comes home late to wait his lorry come and go without any problems. Within 3 months, his company already makes profit and keeps expanding. Syed Mokhtar than move to rice industries, which is more difficult market to penetrated yet he manage to use the same approach as his earlier involvement in logistic business. He makes partnership with Chines to started Shah Enterprise Sdn Bhd. He needs his Chinese fellow market influence and the Chinese need his advantages as a Bumiputra. Syed Mokhtar stated his clear vision to his shareholders that he just not want to be a Bumiputra representor in order to get contract from the Government, but he want to control the company. He contributed 42% of his company equity and later on become majority shareholder. Slowly, Syed Mokhtar manages to build his empire, venturing in new business activity. In a way to become a success business man, he also faced difficulty. When he ventures in property developers, it is a purely new thing to him. As the economic downturn in 1985, Syed Mokhtar failed to maintain in property development industry. A lesson he learned, never involve in anything that you are not ready with. Behaviors, Traits and Skills Behaviors refer to a response of an individual or group to an action, environment, person or stimulus. Traits refer to a distinguishing feature, as of a person’s character. Skills refer as the effectiveness of a leader. As Syed Mokhtar becomes a corporate man, he shows a world class  characteristic of a World class leadership. Syed Mokhtar has his own clear vision on how he would be in the future. As a proof, when government introduces New Economic Policy, Syed Mokhtar takes a full advantage of government effort to help the Bumiputra businessman. Syed Mokhtar penetrates a Chinese monopoly market. He has a clear vision to do business that can confirm profit. For others, it is a suicide action when trying to compete with the Chinese businessman as they already create a great wall within them. If Syed Mokhtar doesn’t ambitious enough, he would not dare to compete with the Chinese. After setting up his vision, he manages to plan on how to make sure he will succeed. Yes, h e choose to friend with the Chinese instead of confront them. He uses Chinese to break the Chinese barrier. A very good business strategy perhaps. When we talk about personal integrity, no doubt about Syed Mokhtar’s personal integrity. At his earlier stage in logistic activities, he have an opportunities to do easy profit by letting go two out of transporting permits to the Chinese. A lot of Bumiputra sell their transportation permits to the Chinese businessman to get easy money. If Syed Mokhtar doesn’t have personal integrity, he might do so. Another ways to show Syed Mokhtar integrity is on how he is still keeping his share which he bought by using the Bumiputra quota regulated by the Government under New Economic Policy. He may sell the market share if he wants to earn easy money yet he did not do that. He believes that the market share where he bought using Bumiputra quota is his responsibility to keep. Syed Mokhtar always have close relationship with his employee. It always think how to meka sure that his company can survive so that no body have to quick. This show how high the EQ he have. When the economic down turn, he manage to keep the staff and without fail to pay the salary on time. He feel that, it is the duty of him to make sure the company survive so that a lot of people can continue their living. He always keeps his current friend in contac t and at the same time makes new friends. It is believe that he made more than 100 calls a day just to make ask his friend condition. Yayasan Al Bukhary is one of the examples to show how his believe to help the society. He contributes his company profit to Yayasan Al Bukhary so that poor people can get a chance to higher education. Even though he is not good in academic, he is still believe that knowledge is very important. His best quoted, â€Å"â€Å"I think it has to do with realization of where you come from, and where you are  going.† He always remembered how he came from a poor family and then become a successful business tycoon. When we talk about how he plan in doing business, he adopt the 4 main skills which world class leader hold. When he wants to do business, he always plans from the beginning. When he want to venture in cocoa supplier with China, he plan on how he should attend the Cantoon Trade Fair and then how to make sure he manage to get the supplier of the cocoa. He plans to buy a land so that he can plant cocoa. He plans how to make sure that he won’t have any shortage of cocoa . When he get government contract for supplying goods, he manage to get supplier from international market. In order to make sure he can manage to secure the supplier, he choose to venture in production business to make sure he can secure price and maintain the supplier. This is how he thinks and plan when doing business. When Syed Mokhtar wants to take over MMC, he asks his accountant to do the calculation. He empowers his staff to do the calculation for him. Even though the final decision was made by him, but he managed to organize the workload within his workers. As soon as he completes the transaction of buying MMC, the first thing he do is organize his profitable source to support the MMC. As a result, he manages to recover MMC in profitable position. This is how he organizes as to make sure he can fulfill his vision. Syed Mokhtar also shows a good leading skill to his employee. One of his trait is he will do thing seriously. Dr. Mahathir, former prime minister also quoted that Syed Mokhtar is an example of a strong Bumiputra and will work hard to achieve what he want. Syed Mokhtar always wants to know what happened in the business he ventures. When his early involvement in property development, every day he will go to the site to ensure that the development progress is on schedule. As a result, he manages to complete his very first residential project, Taman Mawar at Kedah. Syed Mokhtar will conduct a meeting with his anchor man in the late evening till morning. This is how he gets to know what is going on in his company. The meeting conducts in a casual way and not in formal manner. This will create a close relationship between him and his employee. These are some example on how Syed Mokhtar do a controlling on his business empire. Effective Leader World class leader surely show an effective leadership style which can be measure by his company sales, net profits, profit margin, market share etc. Syed Mokhtar shows how effective he becomes a leader based on his behaviors, traits and skills explained above. He manage to turn around a problematic company into a profitable company such as MMC, PERNAS and DRB-HICOM. If Syed Mokhtar not effective, he might have failed to overcome the situation face by the said companies. Another measurement for an effective leadership is the follower’s attitudes. Syed Mokhtar shows a good example to his staff on how to do work in a proper manner. That is why, when the accountant being asked to come up with a proposal on whether to invest in problematic company, the staff gives a fair report. If the staff doesn’t follow Syed Mokhtar attitude as being honest, definitely, the accountant will only show good report to earn an easy commission. However, Syed Mokhtar has shown a good example to his employee as to be high integrity in doing their work. Syed Mokhtar always feels that he is responsible for the survival of his company as there a re too many people depending on it. These is why, the staff have a very close relationship with Syed Mokhtar, even the ex-staff who already retire still contacting Syed Mokhtar as friend. Syed Mokhtar have proven his ability to manage a company, and as a result, Government always granted a big project to him. If the Government doesn’t feel confident with Syed Mokhtar effectiveness, he might not able to take over MMC, DRB-HICOM and Tanjung Pelepas Port. These are also an example of how Syed Mokhtar proves his effectiveness. Syed Mokhtar is a good example on how NEP can help Bumiputra become major role in Malaysia economic. It is just a matter of whether we are brave enough to get involve. To be a good leader, we must maintain four elements of skill which is plan, organize, lead and control. Good leader always practice good traits and behavior. Lead change in the organization Syed Mokhtar also practices changes in his leadership as it is crucial to survive in business environment if he did not change. When Syed Mokhtar starts to invest in Middle East, Syed Mokhtar already makes a change in the way he conduct his business. He has to think global and not just concentrate on local. These are some prove to show that Syed Mokhtar also practice  changes in his leadership. In order to become major player in the global market, Syed Mokhtar has to change to adopt with the global market and global requirement. He always respects other people values even though they come from different raise or religion. By practicing change on his attitude, Syed Mokhtar always able to adopt with the difference with others. When Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed position as Mlaysia’s number one leader, Syed Mokhtar also have to make change in order to maintain his role as business player. He observes the policy maker and adopt with the situation. Syed Mokhtar always aware with the government policy and take advantage from the policy introduces. He always manage to seek opportunity to expand his business. These need change in his leadership style or he may not succeed. Derailment Every leader has the strength and weakness. Nobody is perfect. However, derailment can be cover up by leader action on the issues. Syed Mokhtar also has a derailment. One of the examples is, he did not value precisely his ability to involve in property development before h enters the industry. As a result he did not survive when world was hit with economy down turn. He learned a good lesson from it. Syed Mokhtar should good consider a lot of factors before joining property development industry and yes he did that when he reenter the industry. This time he is well prepared. Another thing that shows his derailment is when he wants to purchase MMC with a premium price. His valuator has advise him not to proceed with the purchase MMC with the higher price as they already calculated the impact on his business empire. However, Syed Mokhtar did not listen to them and proceed with the purchase. Even though Syed Mokhtar knows that buying MMC only will reduce the revenue of his business empire, but Syed Mokhtar still feel his duty to help the government. MMC is like a Malaysian pride. Syed Mokhtar should listen to his expert as he already empowers them to make a study. But in this case, Syed Mokhtar uses his intuition. Syed Mokhtar also misuses his power on the company he holds. This can be one of his derailments. Minority shareholders of his company lodge a complaint in the general meeting asking explanation when Syed Mokhtar takes 20 million of his company profit and contributed to his own foundation, Yayasan Al Bukhary. The minority feel  that Syed Mohtar should have not do that as it is the company hard earn money. However, Syed Mokhtar always feels that some of his income is other peoples share and he share with the poor and needed people through his Yayasan Al Bukhari. Even though, there are minority shareholders, Syed Mokhtar should get their concerned when make decision on company money. Syed Mokhtar should use a persuasive approach to get the minority approval on the issue. A clear information should be given to the minority shareholders on how Yayasan Al Bukhari run and how the fund being distributed. Conclusion Imagine how a poor village boy can become a business tycoon and consider 8th Malaysia’s richest person. He builds his empire from the very bottom and throughout his hard effort. If Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar doesn’t have a world class leadership in his, it is difficult for him to become as at now. He may not get a perfect formal education, but he learns through experience. Syed Mokhtar always willing to learn a new think and he evolve accordingly. He builds his own success and at the same not forgets where he comes from. He holds a positive value in himself and that make him as a respectful leader. Syed Mokhtar has a strong heart and determination. He proves that he also can compete with superior competitor. The most important thing he did not forget from where he begins his empire. He always holds in Islamic value in doing his business. Syed Mokhar always believes that everyone can achieve something if given fair chances. That is why establish Yayasan Al Bukhary, to help the poor and needed people. References

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buy custom Alzheimer essay Introduction Alzheimers disease is usually associated with old age. Dr. Alois Alzheimer from Germany found out about the disease after the death of his patient of an unknown mental illness while undergoing treatment. He later examined her brain and made a discovery that there were some abnormalities in the functioning of the brain cells. While performing a brain autopsy to the patient, he observed twisted bands of fiber inside the nerve cell and noted deposits surrounding them. The name Alzheimer came from the doctors name since the two observations he made are the main characteristics of this disease. To make a conclusion on the presence of the disease, one also considers the loss of connections between the nerve cells. This disease is the most common form of dementia among elderly people. Dementia is a condition where there is a decline in one's mental functioning, loss of memory,and reduction in the thinking capacity and reasoning. People with dementia find it difficult to engage in activities that they have previously engaged in with ease. There are two forms of dementia: Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. When arteries in the brain harden, it results in blockage of blood flow, commonly known as vascular dementia. Both Alzheimer's and vascular dementia have irreversible symptoms; however, for Alzheimer's disease the symptoms progressively worsen. Occurrence of Alzheimer Occurrence of this disease cannot be linked to a particular factor because its causes differ from patient to patient. It has not yet been discovered what actually causes Alzheimer's, but since it mainly occurs among older adults, scientists have found out that changes occurring in the brain could be the principal cause. Shrinking of certain parts of the brain, production of free radicals, break down in energy production, and inflammation are the changes associated with Alzheimer's disease. These changes occur as a result of complex biological processes that take place inside the brain over many years. These changes harm the neurons in the brain resulting to Alzheimer's disease. The human brain has millions of cells known as neurons that generate and transmit electric signals. The signals transmitted allow us to think, feel and remember. For a person with Alzheimer's disease these neurons get destroyed hence signals are not well transmitted; this results in a decline in brain functioning. The thinking capacity of such individual lowers and its ability to recall existing memories declines. With time, more neurons get destroyed, and brain functioning totally get damaged, At this point, when neurons get damaged, the individual is unable to do anything. They lose their ability to think, understand, recall, communicate, and unable to accomplish a task, no matter how unpretentious it may be. Scientists have not yet found why these neurons die. These neurons die predominantly in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, causing them to shrink. Abnormal structural changes in the brain, tangles and plagues also lead to death of the neurons; thus, neurotransmitters between neurons reduce. Reduction in acetylcholine, one of the neurotransmitters results in loss of memory and inability to learn. There are various factors that contribute to the development of the disease. These factors revolve around the genetic make up of an individual, his/her life style, and environmental factors. This disease differs from one person to another since peoples lifestyle and genetic make up are different. These risk factors include age, genetics, cardiovascular disease, type two diabetes, inflammation, oxidative damage, obesity, hypertension, female gender, head injury, and low immune system. People at the age of sixty and above have higher chances of getting the disease than younger people. It is more prevalent to people aged between sixty and seventy five. Half of people aged eighty five and above have Alzheimer's disease. More women than men have Alzheimer's because women generally live longer than men (Rolfes, Pinna, Whitney, 2009). Genetics play a large role in determining one's risk of having the disease. If it has previously affected somebody in your family, you are more likely to get the disease, than those without such a family history. The risk is elevated in case if people who have the disease are your immediate relatives like your siblings and your parents. When more than one of these people have it, the risk increases. Apolipoprotein E (APOe), a gene associated with Alzheimer's disease, which we all inherit from our parents in three different forms APOE2, APOE3 and APOE4. Inheritance of ApoE2 fully protects against Alzheimer's disease, whereas ApoE3 plays a neutral role, and ApoE4 increases the risk of Alzheimer's. APOE4 is found in more people than APOE2; therefore, more people are at a risk of suffering from the disease. If one inherits APOE4 from one of his/her parents, he/sheis at a high risk of contracting the disease; the risk is higher if one gets the gene from both parents. APOE4 also makes Alzheimer's symptoms to appear at an early age. There are other genes known as deterministic genes; when one happens to inherit them, it guarantees him/her that he/she are going to suffer from the disease. Some of these genes associated with Alzheimers disease include amyloid precursor protein (APP) presenilin-1 (PS-1), and presenilin-2 (PS-2). When these deterministic variations cause Alzheimers disease, one suffers from autosomal dominant Alzheimers disease. This one occurs before the age of sixty; symptoms show up at thirty or forty years. If these genes are present in a family, multiple family members get affected. There are remarkably few cases of autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease, also known as familial Alzheimer's disease. Risk Factors Discovery of genes that cause Alzheimers occurred at different times. Amyloid precursor protein, which was discovered in 1987, causes an inherited form of Alzheimer. It was the first gene with mutations to cause this. Presenilin-1 (PS-1), discovered in 1922, is the second gene with mutations found to cause early-onset of Alzheimer's. Its variations are the most common cause of early onset of Alzheimer's. Presenilin-2 (PS-2), discovered in1993, is the third gene with mutations found to cause early-onset Alzheimer's disease (Rolfes, Pinna, Whitney, 2009). APOE4, identified in 1993, is the first gene with variations that found to increase the risk. Having this muttion does not guarantee one that he/she will suffer from the disease. However, this gene has the greatest known impact. Cardiovascular diseases also increase the chance of getting Alzheimer's disease. These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, heart disease, and stroke. High blood pressure may result in the damaging of the blood vessels, which leads to a disruption of regions necessary for decision-making, memory, and verbal skills, which could make the disease worsen. On the other hand, high cholesterol levels inhibit the ability of blood to clear protein from the brain. Head trauma also increases chances of Alzheimer's. Previous head injuries that could have led to unconsciousness expose the individual to future risks of contracting Alzheimers disease. When insulin does not work properly to convert blood sugar into energy, one suffers from type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes results in production of higher levels of blood sugar and insulin, which end up harming the brain and possibility of leading to progression of Alzheimer's. Mild cognitive impairment also increases the chances of getting Alzheimer's. People with this condition have memory problems or other symptoms of cognitive decline, but less severe than those of dementia. The Alzheimer's diseases may increase their risks due to those disorders. Inflammation occurs when immune cells get rid of dead cells and other waste products. Inflammation increases the risk of contracting Alzheimer's. Oxidative damage occurs when free radicals try to seek stability by attacking other molecules. This harms cells and tissues and may also lead to the neuronal brain cell damage caused by Alzheimer's (Zeisel, 2011). Other factors that expose people to contracting the disease depend on one's lifestyle. A person who smokes has a higher chance of suffering from a cardiovascular disease than one who doesn't smoke. This, in turn, increases their chance of getting Alzheimer's disease. Exposure to environmental toxins such as aluminum, may make a person more susceptible to Alzheimer's. Unhealthy eating habits, which may lead to an increase in cholesterol, expose the individual to a higher risk of contracting the disease. Poorly controlled diabetes also increases chances of suffering from Alzheimer's. Poor level of education can also be associated with the increased chances of developing Alzheimer's disease. Signs and Symptoms Alzheimer's disease has various signs and symptoms. The early symptoms include increasing forgetfulness and mild confusion. Memory loss associated with Alzheimer's disease is more severe than the memory loss that we experience in our daily lives. People with Alzheimer's keep repeating things, forget pivotal events and conversations without remember them later, forget names of family members and everyday objects, and often misplace possessions and try to retrieve them in illogical positions (Zeisel, 2011). These people are unable to tell what day it is, the time of the year, their place of living, or even what they are going through. They also have difficulty in understanding their surrounding, as Alzheimer's disrupts their brain's ability to interpret what they see. Alzheimer's also decreases one's reasoning and thinking ability, especially about concepts like numbers. This makes it difficult for the affected to manage their finances, balance their check books, and make payments on time. With time, these difficulties may progress to inability to recognize and deal with numbers. It also becomes increasingly challenging for them to do their daily chores such as cooking and driving. Those with Alzheimer's have difficulty in finding words to identify objects, with their ability to read and write decreases. Behavioral Changes Associated With Alzheimer People with Alzheimer's disease experience changes in their behavior and personality. They may experience social withdrawal, depression, anxiety, distrust in others, irritability and aggressiveness, increased stubbornness, mood swings, wandering, and changes in sleeping habits. As Alzheimer's disease progresses, the symptoms worsen. Affected people tend to become more upset, agitated and rest less, and their ability to perform basic life functions such as breathing and swallowing become utterly impaired. There are three stages of Alzheimers; these include the early stage, moderate stage, and the severe stage. The early stage is characterized by frequent memory loss, mainly on recent conversations and events. They also ask repeated questions; problems in expressing and understanding language.They experience mild coordination problems; writing and using objects becomes difficult. Depression can occur, accompanied by mood swings. They need to be reminded about their daily activities, and may have difficulty driving. The middle or moderate stage is characterized by frequent memory loss, forgetfulness about ones history, and difficulty in recognizing friends and family. They also have difficulty in speech, unusual reasoning, and confusion about current events such as time and place.They begin to get lost in places that they have been to before, have sleepless nights, and changes in mood and behavior, which can be increased by stress and change. Slowness, rigidity, and tremors dictate movement and coordination. Just like in the first stage, they also need to be reminded what they cannot recall, and be assisted in the daily activities. The severe or late stage is characterized by increased confusion about the past and present. Increased loss of ability to remember, communicate, or process information, severe or total loss of verbal skills, and inability to take care of themselves. They often fall down, and it becomes challenging for them to move from one area to another.They have problems with swallowing, illness, and extreme problems with mood, behavior, and hallucinations. In this stage, the person will need continuous intensive support and care. Alzheimers is a disease of the brain, before one experiences symptoms of Alzheimer's, the brain already has some of its structures doted with plagues and tangles that characterize the illness. Comparison between a brain of a healthy person and that of a person with Alzheimer's disease revealed that the hippocampus' volume lowers by about 4 percent in two years for a healthy person, but the volume of the hippocampus of people witth Alzheimer's decreases by 10 percent within the same period. Brain shape changes in healthy people tend to be within a small part of the structure. In people with Alzheimers disease, shape changes incorporate larger parts of the hippocampus, including the area where plaques and tangles appear. Both brains that of a healthy person and that of somebody suffering from Alzheimer's experience changes, but the changes in people with Alzheimer's disease were more pronounced. In Alzheimers disease, brain structures have their normal shape at the beginning; changes begin to occur as the disease progresses (Whitney Rolfes, 2011). Early damages to some parts of the brain have occurred by the time changes in hippocampal shape occur. Those changes in shape happen at the same time when patients start showing symptoms of Alzheimers disease. This provides strong evidence that the shape changes in the hippocampus cause at least some of the symptoms of Alzheimers disease. Alzheimer's disease also causes changes in volume of the brain. However, it is difficult to tell since brain sizes are dependent on the size of a person. Hippocampus tends to be smaller in people with Alzheimer's than in ordinary people. The cerebral cortex of a person with Alzheimer's disease shrinks; hence, it becomes different from that of a healthy person. Cerebral cortex, outer surface of the brain controls all the intellectual functioning of the brain. Other changes that occur in the brain include a decrease in the amount unwanted substance in the brain folds, and grossly enlarged spaces known as the sulci. There is also presence of amyloid plagues outside the neurons and neurofibrillary plaques inside the neurons, where the neurons are the nerve cells within the brain. People without Alzheimer's also have plagues and tangles, but the increased amount of plagues and tangles signifies the presence of Alzheimer's disease. Amyloid plague, made up of B-amyloid protein, which is part of the much larger protein, amyloid precursor protein, which are amino acids. Amyloid precursor protein made in the cell has two key pathways involved in their break down. One pathway causes no problem since its normal. The second has resulted in changes seen in Alzheimer's and other dementias. In the second pathway, enzyme, Y-secretase and B-secretase, splits the amyloid precursor protein. The fragments that result from the divide join together and make a short chain - an oligomer. Oligomers, also known as amyloid-beta derived diffusible ligands (Whitney Rolfes, 2011). Presence of amyloid beta 42 in the brain causes communication problems between neurons. This oligomer produces small fibers, which when stack together form the amyloid plaque. When some of these plaques get into the membrane of the neurone cell, they cause substances outside the cell to leak into it hence further damage. This damage causes death of neurons due to the buildup of Amyloid beta 42 peptide, leading to neurone death. Neurofibrially tangles lead to the death of the brain cells. Behavioral changes associated with Alzheimer's disease include how a person thinks and feels. These result in the person being extremely irritable; hence, taking care of a such person will need a lot of patience and understanding. These changes come about because Alzheimer's disease affects the brain. The individuals behavior alters some of the brain's functions. Behavior problems such as aggression, wandering, suspicion, agitation, confusion, hallucinations, and repetition come because of brain damage. Treatment Treatment of Alzheimer's disease involves encouraging people to adapt a healthy lifestyle; hence, reducing the chances of increased cholesterol levels and acquiring some of the lifestyle associated with the illness. Drugs are administered to those who already have the disease. Drugs used to treat Alzheimer's disease include galantamine, rivastigimine, and donezepil. These drugs improve memory. They also improve alertness and motivation. Moreover, it makes some people to feel brighter in their mood and enable them to perform tasks that they could not perform (Whitney Rolfes, 2011). Still, these drugs have side effects, which include feeling sick, loss of appetite, tiredness, diarrhea, muscle cramps, and poor sleep. These may be reduced by taking the drug in small amounts, or taking the drug after meals. The side-effects disappear as days go by and will go away if the medication stops. These drugs have acetylcholine, which is responsible for passage of messages between brain cells involved in memory. The death of brain cells in Alzheimer's disease leads to a reduction in acetylcholine. Administration of Cholinesterase Inhibitors controls the breakdown of acetylcholine hence increasing its levels in the brain. With this, a reduction in the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease occurs. These drugs start from a low dose which increases over time. Other treatment methods include taking of ginkgo biloba, a naturally occurring substance extracted from Maidenhair tree which enhances memory. Taking foods rich in vitamin E reduces the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Some of the vital vitamin E sources include soya beans, whole grain foods, fish liver oils, nuts, cotton and sunflower seeds, and corn. Other drugs that can be taken include Rember, which reduces tau protein responsible for tangles found in the brain cells of people with Alzheimer's. This treatment slows progression of the disease. Immunization of people against the amyloid hence reduction of plagues found in people with Alzheimer's disease. Dimebon, previously used to treat hay fever, can be used to protect nerve cells. Eternacept blocks the chemical, which causes inflammation and death of the cells. Conclusion Alzheimers disease should not be allowed to continue affecting a larger number of people. Those in a position where they can see to it that spread of the disease has reduced, should do so. Studies show that some years to come more individuals will be suffering from the disease, but we should not allow this to happen. Let us embrace healthy lifestyles, which will alienate us from the risk of contracting Alzheimer's disease. If one has the risk of getting the disease due to inheritance, they should seek medical advice the moment they get to know that they are more susceptible to acquiring the disease. Those who already have Alzheimers disease should continue with the prescribed treatment and do not expose themselves to other risk factors that may result in severe conditions. Buy custom Alzheimer essay