Procrastination :: essays research papers

Procrastination Procrastination is a universal everyday phenomenon that can seem little more than clich‚, a small-talk joke or boast or complaint; we all do it, after all. Yet a newly reported survey of students at a large urban university in the U. S. is probably typical in that a majority (52%) of the students claimed a high or moderate need for assistance with regard to procrastination which is more than any other area of concern (www.info.wlu.ca). There are a great many causes to the addiction to this thing called procrastination. There are many underlying issues and causes of procrastination. Lack of relevance and interest are two of the most common causes. While perfectionism (having extremely high standards which are almost unreachable) is another. Evaluation anxiety, ambiguity, fear of failure and self-doubt, fear of success, inability to handle the task, lack of information needed to complete the task, environmental conditions, physical conditions, and anxiety over expectations that others have of you, are all very serious causes of procrastination. Poor time management is a great cause of procrastination. Procrastination means not managing time wisely. You may be uncertain of you priorities, goals and objectives. You may also be overwhelmed with the task. As a result, you keep putting off your academic assignments for a later date, or spending a great deal of time with your friends and social activities, or worrying about you upcoming examination, class project and papers rather than completing them. There are quite a few people that have difficulty concentrating. When you sit at your desk you find yourself daydreaming, staring into space, looking at pictures of your boyfriend/girlfriend, etc., instead of doing the task. Your environment is distracting and noisy. You keep running back and forth for equipment such as pencils, erasers, dictionary, etc.(www.wings.buffalo.edu/student-life/ccenter/Stress/procras.bro). Your desk is cluttered and unorganized and sometimes you sit or lay on your bed to study or do your assignments. You probably notice that all of the examples that you just read promote time wasting and frustration. Our behavioral patterns are another cause of procrastination. Getting started on an unpleasant of difficult task may seem impossible. Procrastination is likened to the physics concept of inertia - a mass at rest tends to stay at rest

Suggestions Canada health care

This essay will discuss the budget constraint model to understand the consumer behaviors towards health care and the Issue of adverse selection will also be analyzed, followed by the production of health care and the role f the government in the production of health care. This essay will conclude with suggestion of the lessons that policy makers in Canada can learn. Any of the economic models that exist must have assumptions; assumptions must be fulfilled to assert constancy.In the standard budget constraint model, there are three assumptions: (1) consumers are rational and have perfect information about quantity, pricing and the key players in healthcare, (2) there Is no uncertainty about the future, and (3) Important decisions are made as If the future Is known with certainty. Consumers can choose any affordable combination of healthcare and other odds. Among these bundles, consumer has a set of preference which provided different levels of satisfaction. The budget constraint model states that the demand for medical services is derived from the demand for health care and how the consumer produces health.Consumers do not purchase health. Indeed, they medical care inputs. An example of the Indian health market supports this model. India has a universal health care system of which government covers most medical services provided, similar to Canada. In India, many of the healthcare consumers are not able to produce health. Their ability to produce health is reduced by the poor vying conditions and living style. Patina in India is a slum; it is characterized with poverty, which encompasses low levels of health and income. People in this town are suffering in poverty and disease.Patina has been hit by the epidemics and develops symptoms that are attributed to tuberculosis due to poor sanitation and ventilation. They repeatedly require medical care. However, public-health system lacks the medical resources, leaving poor people at risk. This has forced consumer to sw itch to the private healthcare, but they cannot afford it. These poor people are often the cities, caught between lousy care and unaffordable care (Specter, 2010). Consumers have limited budget and, hence, healthcare production is restricted by their budget, so they have to look for the best affordable bundle of goods to meet their needs.Under lousy universal health care system, consumers are very much constrained in their choices. Policy makers must understand the budget constraints that the consumer faces. To formulate successful policies, policy makers must also consider the bundles that the consumer is permitted and regulate the private healthcare services to reasonable price (Specter, 2010). Government should also devote sufficient resources to improve the quality of care in the public sector and raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people to reduce healthcare costs.Similar policies could also apply in Canada to improve our public healthcare system. Pr ivate companies that offer health insurance often encounter adverse selection. This phenomenon can be explained by asymmetric information when insurance attracts higher than average utilizes than an actual fair premium suggest. Clients purchasing insurance know their actual expenditures whereas the insurance many only knows the distribution of expected expenditures. In this market, the higher health risks tend to drive out the lower health risk people until no market is left; this is known as the Lemons Principle.This is inefficient since insurance company is not able to sufficiently pool its risks. In the U. S, congress passed the Genetic information Nondiscrimination act. This act prohibits insurance company from using genetic information to determine rates (Coursework, 2010). Genetic testing provides the insurance company with pre-existing conditions, which gives insurer incentive to deny coverage or set a higher premium. This bill was unanimously supported by congress such that insurer cannot charge higher premiums based on pre-existing conditions.The main idea of this bill is to protect the community from exploitation by insurance companies, which lead to community rating. At this time, private insurers cannot rely on medical underwriting. However, this act turns the insurance companies into oppression. The only factors they will be allowed to take into account in determining rates will be age, region, and whether or not someone smokes. While the government supports the community rating and universal access, it conflicts with its insistence of that the healthcare reform is dependent on private insurance companies (Coursework, 2010).Yet, the fact is that healthcare system could do Just fine without an insurance system with community rating. Medicare is a and people with disabilities. It may be true to say that private sectors are better in terms of managing costs and providing services, but Medicare's spending on healthcare over the past decade has risen m ore slowly than that of private sectors (Coursework, 2010). Economists all agreed that Medicare is a successful program, but that it needs efficiency improvements to be sustainable in the future (Walker, 2010). Canada can imitate from the success of Medicare in the US.Medicare in Canada is framed by the Canada Health Act; it is designed to ensure that all residents have reasonable access to medical services, on a prepaid basis. Using our existing insurance system, policy makers should expand the government-run health care regardless of risks. Instead of replacing private insurance companies, it would be more sensible to turn them into public utilities. Netherlands and Switzerland have adopted this proposal, which turns out with reasonably good results. Government has a very large role to play in the production of health services.Production of health services is the relationship between health and the health inputs that are needed to produce health. The Case in most developed countri es is that the government plays a significant role in health production (Coursework, 2010). The government provides health care which is either paid with taxes it collects or subsidy that are given to individuals. The government provides other inputs such as controlling pollution and legislation to regulate health safety. The government also carries out health promotion. This is done by promoting healthy lifestyles such as exercise and also raising awareness about diseases.The government also puts regulation on excessive consumption of harmful substances. All this defines the role the government is supposed to play in the provision of healthcare. In conclusion, policymakers in Canada can learn from the lessons discussed. Starting with the example of the Indian health market, policy makers should consider budget constraints particularly for the poor people to devote sufficient resources into public health care to improve the laity and regulate the private health care system with reas onable prices.Government could also raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people to reduce healthcare costs. Secondly, from the US example, it is proven that the healthcare reform does not depend on private insurance companies. Medicare in Canada should also be expanded and private insurer can be turned into public utilities. Finally, though the Canadian government provides medical care, it is important for them to promote health as well. Provision of medical care must go hand in hand with the promotion of health as the case with other developed entries.

Seamus Heaney

Write a close analysis of ‘Death of a Naturalist’ explaining how the poet uses natural imagery and the structure of the poem to convey the themes of the loss of childhood innocence and the formulation of adult identities. How typical is it of the collection ‘Death of a Naturalist’ in terms of the representation of these themes? Seamus Heaney was born in Northern Ireland in 1939. Heaney’s father was a farmer, and a cattle dealer, he was also very popular within the community. It can be said that Seamus Heaney’s reference to farming and love of nature can be due to his upbringing, as well as his regular mention of love and pride for Northern Ireland. Seamus Heaney’s feelings towards Ireland’s cultural controversies are addressed in the majority of his poems, this brings Irish and English literary traditions to attention, and many critics have praised him for the particular attribute. Natural imagery conveys the theme of childhood innocence in ‘Death of a Naturalist’ with the use of ‘childish’ language for example ‘bubbles gargled delicately’, has a paradox effect as the statement is contradictory, it also carries the sense of childhood innocence as playing with bubbles is an activity associated with children. Also, ‘gargled’ is onomatopoeic and pleasant sounding. The quote emphasises children’s innocence and naive outlook on the world and nature. The use of ‘swimming tadpoles’, ‘daddy frog’, ‘mammy frog and ‘little eggs’, all depict an image of childhood innocence, through the basic ‘childlike’ language used as well as the family links, for example ‘mammy’ and ‘daddy’ depict the happy-go-lucky ideology that many young children have, again suggesting that the speaker is a naive, young child. ‘But best of all was the warm thick slobber’, the unattractive, slime is something that appeals to children, conveying further the theme of childhood innocence. The structure also plays a role in conveying the theme of childhood innocence. The whole first stanza has an ignorant tone to it, with the message that nature is amazing, and so problem free, ‘there were dragon-flies, spotted butterflies, but best of all was the warm thick slobber’ the tone being so simple minded, as although the speaker is describing the most beautiful aspects of nature, they are fascinated with the thick slobber that appeals to children. The fact that they describe it as ‘best of all’ shows the simplicity of a child’s innocence, and what little it takes to amuse them. It also creates the image of a beautiful appy natural world that appeals to children. There is also a tone that carries a sense of fascination, ‘for they were yellow in the sun and brown in rain. ’ Because speaker is quite interested in, or fascinated by the frog spawn, and we know this due to the tone of the poem ‘best of all’ etc, we are introduced to the fetish by the constant positive description of nature. This coul d reflect to the phase that many children go through, or it could by symbolic of when a child learns something new, so applies it to all aspects of life. The use of enjambment ‘here, every spring I would full jampotfuls of the jellied specks†¦ ’ creates a sense of excitement, the disability to pause, due to the thorough interest emphasises a childlike fetish and innocence. Natural imagery conveys the theme of adult identities emerging, the second stanza starts off with ‘Then’ this appears as though the speaker is reminiscing on their childhood, which suggests the formulation of adult identity. The speaker suggests that as a child they were blind or unaware to the reality of the frogspawn, ‘To a coarse croaking that I had not heard before. ’ The alliteration of ‘coarse croaking’ contrasts to the positive tone used in the first stanza, the quote appears to suggest that the speaker has experienced realisation, or reality, as they have suddenly realised that the frogspawn have a ‘coarse’ sound and that they are now aware that the frogspawn is not as amazing as they first believed. Also there is a line break and the word ‘Before’ appears on the next line starting with a capital letter, this could be symbolic of the fact that the ‘coarse croaking’ had always been around, yet the speaker has just acknowledged it, or realised it was there, emphasising the point of realisation, creating a further image of the formulation of adult identity. Gross-bellied frogs’ suggests that the frogs seem ugly to the speaker now, which contrasts to the description of frogs made in the first stanza ‘but best of all was the warm thick slobber of frogspawn’ the contrast indicates the change in mind, or the loss of childhood innocence, and the formulation of adult identities. ‘I sickened turned and ran’ implies that the speaker felt repulsed by the nature whereas as a child they loved the nature so much that they would ‘wait and watch’ this appears to be a child changing as adult identities are introduced. That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it,’ expresses the speakers feelings; if they played around with nature again bad would come from it. This forms the idea that as an adult the speaker has learnt their lesson and will not be childish and play with it anymore. The second stanza carries army connotations, implying that the frogs are going to get revenge or attack the speaker, this is suggested with the use of ‘rank,’, ‘angry,’ , ‘obscene threats,’ ‘poised like mud grenades,’, ‘great slime kings,’ and ‘vengeance,’. These words and phrases suggest that the frogs are there to take revenge in a war like manner, for the fact that the speaker stole the spawn as a child, the words all describe the frogs in a harsh, aggressive way, which again contrasts to the description made in the 1st stanza ‘nimble swimming tadpoles,’. However, the use of the word ‘kings’ in the second stanza indicates that the speaker may still admire the frogs, despite all the negative feelings they have towards them. vThe speaker is suggesting that frogs are everywhere and they are ugly, ‘gross-bellied', pictured with assonance in the phrase ‘cocked on sods'. Their flabby necks are described by Heaney with the simile ‘pulsed like sails'. The sound of their movements is expressed by onomatopoeia: ‘slap and plop', which obviously disgusted Heaney who felt that these were ‘obscene threats'. In line thirty their stance is described by the simile ‘Poised like mud grenades', an image that echoes the war-like connotation of the word ‘invaded' in line twenty-four. Heaney again voices his distaste for the sound of the frogs in the phrase ‘their blunt heads farting'. This negative description indicates the speaker’s annoyance at the realisation of the frogs, as the adult identity is introduced. The structure of the 2nd stanza contrasts to the 1st stanza. Where the 1st stanza has a loving, fascinated tone, the 2nd stanza carries an angry, hateful tone, ‘obscene threats. ’ The fact that the first stanza is almost double the length of the second, connotes that the speaker had an enjoyable childhood, and the second stanza resembling the adult identities came too quickly and brought along realisation that nature wasn’t what it seemed and also the annoyance that the speaker learnt so late that what they loved as a child wasn’t at all reality. The use of alliteration and assonance emphasise the hatred and annoyance felt towards nature, for not being what they thought it was. This can suggest the adult identity being formed, learning new things and realising childhood was innocent and naive. It can be a metaphor for life, thinking, as a child that life is amazing yet when you grow up, and are an adult you realise that life isn’t as great as what you first thought. Blackberry-Picking is poem that resembles Death of a Naturalist, its use of structure and natural imagery to convey the themes of loss of childhood innocence and formulation of adult identities. Natural imagery and structure convey the theme of loss of childhood innocence with basic language such as ‘big dark blobs’ to describe the blackberries and with the description of lust for the berries connotes a childish fetish or fascination for picking and eating the berries ‘Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for picking. Summer’s blood ‘connotes the hard work and effort put into picking the berries during the school holidays, which conveys the theme of childhood innocence. Structure conveys the loss of childhood innocence in this poem with the only rhyming couplet signifying the child’s enjoyment of berry picking, ‘glossy purple know among others, red, green, hard as a knot. ’ The half rhyme that goes through the poem also conveys a child like tone; it carries a playful, fun message. Natural imagery and structure also convey the theme of formulation of adult identities. ‘A rat grey fungus glutting on our cache. ’ The inclusion of the word ‘rat' in the metaphor emphasizes the distaste of this deterioration. Also ‘the sweet flesh would turn sour. ’ As well as ‘the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. ’ These quotes all suggest a positive object turned negative, which could metaphorically resemble the speaker’s life; as a child it was lovely and fun, and then as an adult it changed to difficult and bitter. The structure also conveys the theme of the formulation of adult identities with the use of the half rhyme representing berries that could have been sweet, and ‘right’ but instead being sour and ‘wrong’. The last two lines of the poem have a rhyming couplet, ‘lovely canfuls smelt of rot. Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not. ’ This could signify the continuation of hope through the adult life, metaphorically speaking; hope that life would go back to being youthful and fun. To conclude I would say that it is typical of Heaney’s styl e of writing to convey the themes of adult life and child innocence through natural imagery and structure. Heaney uses natural imagery in many of his poems and as well as symbolising the themes we have looked at he also uses natural imagery and structure to convey the message of his Northern Irish roots. The use of natural imagery and structure conveys the themes of loss childhood innocence and formulation of adult identities and is typical through many of Heaney’s poems.