Human resources and Induction and Orientation

Human resources and Induction and Orientation Human resource management is the focal point of modern day organizations as they gear towards enhancing their competencies in a highly competitive environment. As such, organizations have had to contend with numerous challenges ranging from changing technology to the lack of adequately skilled workers. Strategies, which ensure that organizations perform at their very best are a high-end commodity and all professionals involved are hard at work in order to devise the most effective of them. As highlighted by Jackson and Mathis (2008:6), human capital is critical in enhancing an organizations core competency. Therefore, right from the initial stage of recruitment to full assimilation into the workplace, human resource departments ensure that human capital is developed efficiently. Inductions and orientations have become significant in human resource development and a constant feature in most training programs. As the words suggest, such programs serve to acquaint the employee with thei r new working environments and ensure that they adjust amicably. This paper seeks to evaluate induction and orientation, understand these concepts concerning their meanings, purpose, benefits, roles played by employers and employees, and provide an illustration of such a program. It has been a tendency for most organizations to plan for such programs and later on fail to implement them. However, organizations can no longer do this, as they cannot afford to lose employees nor have inept workers. Definitions Orientation/ Induction Jackson and Mathis (2008) define orientation as a planned process whereby newly recruited employees are introduced and familiarized with their new workplace. This includes meeting their co-workers and being acquainted with other aspects of the organization. In addition, orientation may include such simple topics as the location of a particular department and such complex issues like career development. Stirzaker (2004) asserts that induction, as a planned process is capable of benefiting entire organizations and specific individuals. This is so because it allows new employees to acclimatize to their new jobs and become fully committed and productive employees at a fast pace. In addition, Carrell, Elbert, Hatfield and Grobler et al, (2002) stipulate that induction is an integration process, which allows new employees to become part of an organization through learning and understanding their environment and responsibilities. On the other hand, Meyer (1999) adds the aspects of organizat ional goals, values, policies, and protocols as part of the factors addressed during the induction process. More often than not, these two terms are used together with orientation being reflected as the initial introductory stage and induction as the ongoing process of familiarization after orientation. Moreover, a distinction arises in the fact that orientation takes place within a short period contrary to induction, which is systematic, and spans throughout the employees first years of employment. Objectives and Purposes of Orientation/Induction Employers engage in long processes of employee recruitment and selection in search of individuals who are competent in their areas of specialization. As they do so, employers contemplate how the new recruits will serve their organization and realize high performance levels. It is important to note that getting the best value out of an employees abilities starts at their first encounter with the potential employer. Ideally, at this initial stage the employer must set them up for success. In order to do so, employers must put into consideration numerous aspects of human resource management, which, eventually serve as the objectives of the orientation and induction process. Orientation and induction aims at enhancing comfort in new employees by reducing any anxieties or unresolved negative emotions. Compton and Nankervis (2009:184) indicate that induction programs need to consider the feelings experienced by employees during their initial days in the new workplace. Indeed, employees often exhibit tendencies of fear and reluctance to engage fully in their duties during their first days due to various issues. For instance, it is likely that a new employee will be unaware of where a particular department or is within the organization. They may fail to ask for directions because they are afraid or anxious about other employees perceptions of them. Consequently, there is a likelihood that they will waste time dwelling on their state of discomfort or trying to locate the department. Organizations can plan to have new employees oriented with various locations in order to ease their discomfort. Furthermore, employers aim at creating an impression by appealing t o the employees psyche while assuring them of their remarkable competencies and abilities. In addition, orientations and inductions can involve having individual sessions with the new employees and instilling in them the organizational spirit of cooperation. This objective spills over to enhancing employee satisfaction and thus reducing turnover rates, absenteeism, and other hindrances to higher productivity. Orientation and induction not only allows new employees to adjust to their new workplace but it also offers tentative information about their duties and responsibilities. Abernathy and Bell (2010:3) highlight that induction provides employees with knowledge on the organizations structure and on how they can utilize different available resources in enhancing their performance. In gaining this knowledge, employees are able to develop reasonable expectations on their new roles. New employees often have limited knowledge on the organization and the induction process ensures that any existing gaps are addressed and as Evans and Verlander (2006:4) explain, emphasis is put on ensuring that employees understand the organization and its operations accordingly. At the end of the orientation and induction, new employees are fully socialized and have understood and accepted the values and systems found within the organization. This implies that they are able to communicate effectively with the m anagement, develop a sense of belonging and contentment with their new jobs and to gain high enthusiasm for hard work. Essentially, orientation and induction serves an informative and motivational role in enhancing employee productivity. Lawson (2007:19) emphasizes that orientation and induction processes need to incorporate cognitive, affective, and behavioral forms of learning. Cognitive learning will instill information about the organization; affective learning promotes the development of positive employee attitudes while behavioral learning serves to accentuate the employees skills and abilities. Employer and Employee Obligations Orientation and induction programs involve the participation of both the employer and new employees. From the initial stage of adjustment, these two players serve different roles. Carrell, Elbert, Hatfield and Grobler et al, (2002) showcase that at the orientation phase human resource managers are obligated to meet the new employees and provide them with descriptions of their duties and responsibilities. They also provide details on the organizations chain of command and information on employees supervisors and expected protocol. While they do this, managers give room for employees to interact with their colleagues or team members. This interaction also allows them to learn the roles played by other employees within the organization. The employer also stipulates the organizations expectations of the new employee as well as the present conditions of work. This involves informing them of the organizations values, mission statement, and vision. Most importantly, they point out the signi ficance of employees aligning their individual objectives with those of the organization. In addition, they must ensure that they ease the new employees discomfort, peak their interests in the organization and work and provide any information regarding work. Furthermore, Bennet and Graham, (1990) indicate that human resource managers are also expected to acquaint the employees with the physical facilities within the organization by giving them a tour. Apart from these obligations, employers also need to inform new employees of any existing laws, regulations, and policies with respect to their jobs and conduct. Other issues that need to be addressed by employers include accommodation, transportation, and payment procedures among others. New employees must be acculturated from their very first day in the organization. Managers must ensure that the organizational culture is reflected in the orientation and induction in order to ensure that employees are a good fit for the organization. Benefits of Orientation/Induction On Employee According to Gibbs and Maxwell-Crawford (2003:4), research has indicated that well planned and implanted orientation and induction programs accrue major benefits. As the new employees are acquainted with their new roles, they are able to gain confidence in their new job. Enhanced familiarization allows for high productivity and peaked individual performance, as employees are able to work comfortably. This comfort reflects a lack of fear or anxiety and heightened positive attitudes towards work, colleagues, and managers. As employees gain knowledge on the organizations culture, they are able to assess their level of compatibility with the organization. Indeed, they manage to weigh the benefits of working for the organization with respect to such factors like career development. At this early stage, it is quite advantageous for an employee to acknowledge whether this organization will serve their needs. They establish whether there are training programs, promotion and other appraisal s trategies, which will foster their career development. If indeed an organization does not offer what they need, then they are able to cease progress and thus avoid future disappointments. Akdere and Schmidt (2007: 326), propose that orientation and induction programs are significant in nurturing employees views on leadership and vision. As they learn about the organizations goals, they understand the significance of these aspects. This allows them to develop working strategies, which aim at ensuring that the organizations vision is upheld. During orientation and induction, new employees are welcomed warmly and as the organization reinforces the employees significance, they develop a sense of worth and value. Consequently, they become more motivated and indeed decide to work there. Essentially as highlighted by Hamilton (2002), the new employees first impression of the employer plays a major role in their decisions to either progress with work or terminate their employment. On Employer Early turnover is a challenge, which plagues most modern organizations. Johnson and Westwood (2004:1) highlight that in the future, organizations will experience a scarcity of work force due to increased rates of employee turnover. It is at the orientation and induction stages that the risk of early turnover can be addressed. Indeed, studies have shown that beginning employees engaged in induction programs are less likely to terminate their current employment (Ingersoll and Smith, 2004). Orientation and induction fosters retention in numerous ways. First, when employees are provided with adequate knowledge on the organizations procedures and support systems, they are influenced by the ease with which they execute their daily duties. In addition, the socialization process, which occurs during such a program, promotes the development of individual and collective relationships amongst colleagues. This interaction builds a perception of team spirit and cordial working relationships, whic h eventually amount to high productivity and competent performance. These factors not only reduce early turnover, but they are also responsible for an earlier increase of employees productivity, commitment and work efficiency. Employers also avoid other negative effects, which often accompany early turnover. These costs include reduced revenue, and productivity, high recruitment costs, unfavorable publicity, and loss of competitive advantage. Orientation and induction programs serve as a platform for the employer to weigh an employees competence and behavior. Furthermore, as new employees are highly susceptible to taking on an organizations culture, employers are able to influence and observe the employees potential for assimilation into the company. Orientation is a stage for instilling value and laying an impeccable foundation for excellence, which will ensure that new employees utilize their abilities maximally. Sample of Orientation/Induction Program The orientation and induction program must be planned carefully in order to enhance its effectiveness. Prior to the beginning of the program, all necessary requirements should have been put in place for smooth implementation. This involves notifying current employees of the arrival of the new employees, setting up offices and relevant facilities among others. Complementary for Orientation Sample Orientation Checklist On their first day, new employees are expected to fill in forms stipulated in the processing-in checklist. Name of Employee: Department: Organization Policies and Procedure Company History Organization Chart Function of the Company Classification of Employees Insurance Benefits Life Insurance Workers Compensation Other Benefits Child Care Health Services Holidays Induction Kit The induction kit may comprise of participant materials and guides. Lawson (31) highlights the use of organization materials like policy guides and maps among others. Sample Orientation/Induction Program Time Activity 8:00- 9:00 a.m Processing-In 9:00- 10:00 a.m Welcome by Organization CEO 10:00- 11:00 a.m Meet with supervisor 11:00-11:30 a.m Tea 11:30-12:30 Tour of the premises and facilities 12:30: -1:00 p.m Introduction to team members and colleagues 1:00- 1:30 p.m Lunch 1:30- 2:30 p.m Providing mentors 2:30- 3:30 p.m Viewing the organizations documentary video 3:30- 4:30 p.m Questions and Answers Time Activity 8:00- 9:00 a.m Processing-In 9:00- 10:00 a.m Welcome by Organization CEO 10:00- 11:00 a.m Meet with supervisor 11:00-11:30 a.m Tea 11:30-12:30 Tour of the premises and facilities 12:30: -1:00 p.m Introduction to team members and colleagues 1:00- 1:30 p.m Lunch 1:30- 2:30 p.m Providing mentors 2:30- 3:30 p.m Viewing the organizations documentary video 3:30- 4:30 p.m Questions and AnswersSample Induction Course Time Course 8: 30 Organization Structure, Vision, Mission and Objectives 10: 30 Tea with Team members 11: 00 Ethical Regulations 12: 30 Lunch with Supervisor 13: 30 Conflict Resolution Procedures 14: 30 Group Interaction 16: 00 Discussion and Review

Surah Al Fatiha

It is named Al-Fatihah, the Opening – because it opens the Book and by it the recitation in prayer commences. It is also named Umm al-Qur'an, the Mother of the Qur'an, and Umm al-Kitab, the Mother of the Book. It was revealed in Makkah. It consists of seven verses.EXPLANATIONAllah deserves to be praised for the perfection of His qualities and spiritual blessings. Therefore, people should praise Him for everything He has given them. He alone deserves it. He is the Lord of the worlds. He made everything that exists, maintaining it at every moment.Allah alone is the Master of the Day of Judgment, the Day when human beings will be rewarded for their deeds. Reciting this verse in every rak’ah of prayer constantly reminds a Muslim of the coming Judgment, and encourages him to do good and stay away from sins.The verse connects the heart with Allah and purifies it of pride. The ‘Straight Path’ is Islam, the clear road leading to divine pleasure and Heaven shown by Muhammad. This is a prayer from a Muslim to purify his heart of stubbornness, ignorance, and misguidance. The verse also shows Islam is Allah's greatest blessing.Those who know the way and walk on it are guided and, after the prophets they were, without doubt, the companions of Prophet Muhammad. Theme This Surah is in fact a prayer which Allah has taught to all those who want to make a study of His book.It has been placed at the very beginning of the book to teach this lesson to the reader: if you sincerely want to benefit from the Quran, you should offer this prayer to the Lord of the Universe. From this theme, it becomes clear that the real relation between Al-Fatihah and the Quran is not that of an introduction to a book but that of a prayer and its answer.Al-Fatihah is the prayer from the servant and the Quran is the answer from the Master to his prayer. The servant prays to Allah to show him guidance and the Master places the whole of the Quran before him in answer to his praye r.TEACHINGSAl-Fatihah indirectly teaches that the best thing for a man is to pray for guidance to the straight path, to study the Quran with the mental attitude of a seeker- after-truth and to recognize the fact that the Lord of the Universe is the source of all knowledge. He should, therefore, begin the study of the Quran with a prayer to him for guidance.

Compariosn of pre 1914 and Wilfred Owen’s poems Essay

By comparing and contrasting a selection of war poems, consider the ways in which attitudes to war have been explored and expressed. When considering poetry written post 1900 concentrate on a selection of poems written by Wilfred Owen. War has been an influential topic for poetry for many centuries and through its catastrophic cruelty and sense of patriotism has created some of the most brilliant poets and most controversial poems ever written. With each different war comes different poets who want to write their views on it and just as motives of war differ, so do the opinions of the poets; some see war as barbaric and destructive, whereas others portray it as a way of ennobling oneself. Before the technology and media coverage we have nowadays, stories of battle were passed down by word of mouth and were often written in poetic form so they could be memorized easily. Just as the artillery used in the wars has changed, the way war is portrayed has as well. Before World War 1 began in 1914, it was seen as a glorious opportunity for men to serve and defend their country. In many poems war is compared to a game, for example in â€Å"Vitai Lampada† written by Henry Newbolt, the refrain â€Å"Play up! Play up! And play the game!† is repeated at the end of each stanza to try and rally the soldiers and ready them for battle. Newbolt uses the leitmotif of comparing fighting to playing a cricket match to ease the pressure off the soldiers by making it seem fun and competitive. He uses the simile: â€Å"Beat through life like a torch in flame† to portray how the schoolboys have responsibilities and also to show how these must be passed down through the generations to protect their country, just like the Olympic torch. War is also compared to a game in Henry V’s speech in Shakespeare’s play, Henry V. He declares: ‘The game’s afoot,† once again understating the enormity of the battle. In addition Shakespeare uses the battle cry â€Å"God for Harry, England and Saint George!† to show that the English are on the righteous side and have a duty to serve their country. Before 1914, there was no compulsory military service and therefore Britain did not have a huge army like other European countries. However World War 1 was so large, conscription needed to be introduced, meaning all men of the appropriate age were obliged to go to war. Along with conscription came the propaganda to encourage men to join up and a popular form was poetry. Poets like Jessie Pope and Rupert Brooke wrote poems convincing men that war would be an exciting opportunity with their friends and that it is their duty to honour and serve for England. However, one of the most famous war poets, Wilfred Owen, had a different view of the war. At first he wrote in a similar way to the likes of Pope and Brooke, but after experiencing first-hand action in the front line his work became less idealistic. One of Owen’s most famous poems is â€Å"Dulce et Decorum est†. The Latin title means â€Å"it is sweet and fitting to die for your country† and it is used ironically to anticipate an idealistic poem, but it is quite the opposite. Owen wrote this poem in reply to the jingoistic recruiting poems written by Jessie Pope; they glorify war and make it seem like a great opportunity for men to have an adventure with their friends. In the first two lines of â€Å"Dulce et Decorum est†, Owen uses the vivid imagery of â€Å"old beggars† and â€Å"coughing like hags† and the reader thinks that he is describing someone elderly or of low status. However, in the lines that follow, we realize that Owen is actually talking about soldiers who are walking away from the front line: â€Å"Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge.† Owen uses the word â€Å"haunting† to portray that the battle they have endured will stay in their minds forever. To convey the exhaustion of the men Owen uses hyperbole: â€Å"men marched asleep†¦drunk with fatigue†. This shows how fighting was physically draining for the soldiers and contradicts the glamorous image that Pope’s poems conjure up. In the second stanza Owen illustrates the terrifying scene of a gas attack. He repeats the word â€Å"GAS† for a second time in capital letters to convey a sense of urgency and also to imply how fatigued the men were as they needed it to be repeated louder a second time for them to realise the situation. Owen uses polysyllabic words like â€Å"ecstasy† and â€Å"fumbling† and â€Å"clumsy† to convey a sense of panic and alarm. He describes how one man did not get his gas mask on in time and is â€Å"flound’ring like a man in fire or lime†. This portrays that the gas he is inhaling is burning and the image â€Å"as under a green sea, I saw him drowning† is very powerful because it shows that the gas overwhelms his lungs just as water does when you drown. The line â€Å"In all my dreams, before my helpless sight† shows how Owen will remember that scene forever, and the word â€Å"helpless† suggests that he cannot do anything about the flashbacks and horrible memories he will have to endure but it also implies that he could not do anything to help the soldier who was dying. Owen uses the adjectives â€Å"guttering, choking, drowning† to illustrate the soldier’s horrific death; the word â€Å"guttering† is especially effective as you use it to describe a candle about to go out, just as the man’s life is about to be extinguished. Owen bitterly attacks Jessie Pope in the last stanza. He sarcastically addresses her as â€Å"my friend† and uses gruesome comparisons like â€Å"Obscene as cancer† and â€Å"bitter as the cud of vile† to portray the horror of war. The line â€Å"incurable sores on innocent tongues† implies that the some soldiers who were very young will have terrifying memories with them for the rest of their lives. He appeals to the senses by using hideous and graphic imagery: â€Å"If you could hear, at every jolt, blood- Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs†. The adjective â€Å"froth-corrupted† illustrates how the man’s lungs had been plagued by the gas and what a horrific death he had to endure. He uses the simile: â€Å"like a devil’s sick of sin† to describe the soldier’s face, suggesting a sense of repulsion and disgust. Owen depicts the soldiers as â€Å"children ardent for some desperate glory† portraying that Pope’s recruiting poems wrongly persuaded boys that were not of age to vulnerably serve their country. In the last two lines Owen frames the poem by repeating the title, but he uses it ironically as he says it is â€Å"The old Lie†, contradicting other pre World War 1 poems that give the impression men will be considered heroic if they serve their duty. Owen once again opposes the notion that women will treat soldiers, who return home from war injured, like heroes in his poem â€Å"Disabled†, Owen opposes the idea that women will treat the soldiers, who return from the war injured, like heroes. In the poem â€Å"Fall In† by Harold Begbie, he persuades men to join the army by using the sexual attractiveness of women. The lines: â€Å"When the girls line up in the street, Shouting their love to the lads come back,† implies the men will be seen as courageous and gallant for fighting. However, Owen explains this is not the case in the lines: â€Å"Now he will never feel again how slim, Girls’ waists are, or how warm their subtle hands, All of them touch him like some queer disease†. The metaphor â€Å"like some queer disease† expresses how the women are afraid he may be contagious and how they find him repulsive. Just as in â€Å"Dulce et Decorum est†, at the beginning of the poem we think Owen is describing an elderly man because he uses the phrase â€Å"ghastly suit of grey† which infers old age. But then we discover how he â€Å"threw away his knees†; he chose to enlist for the army and that is portrayed a grave mistake, a waste of his life. The line: â€Å"Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry† also infers that the man opted to fight as the verb â€Å"poured† suggests that he did it himself. In addition, Owen portrays how the boy was not motivated by principles to sign up: â€Å"Someone had said he’d look a god in kilts†. He had been induced by vanity and also to â€Å"please his Meg†; once again the notion of impressing the women is used. Even though his face was â€Å"younger than his youth† the line â€Å"Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years,† shows that the authorities were unscrupulous as the y knew he was just a boy but still let him sign up. â€Å"Disabled† is a very contrasting poem and Owen repeats the word â€Å"now† to emphasize the contrast between what he was, and what he has now become: â€Å"Now he is old†. Owen uses the motif of football throughout, but not in the positive way Newbolt does in â€Å"Vitai Lampada†. He uses it ironically to show the difference between his life before the war when he was fit and agile, and now when he is condemned to a passive lifestyle in a wheelchair. When he was playing football â€Å"he liked a blood smear down his leg,† implying that he thought it looked manly and would impress the girls. Now however, he can only watch boys playing football: â€Å"voices of play and pleasure after day† and the women do not see him as heroic as their eyes â€Å"Passed from him to the strong men that were whole†. The word â€Å"whole† creates a strong image of him being limbless and is powerful as it is not very compassionate, just like the women. In the last two lines, Owen repeats the rhetorical question: â€Å"Why don’t they come?† The first question is directly addressing the nursing staff, portraying that they do not care for the wounded solider or are disgusted by his wounds and the second question portrays a sense of abandonment; he is confused because he fought in the war and people should honour what he has done instead of pitying and disposing of him. Owen’s â€Å"Mental Cases† has a similar theme to â€Å"Disabled† except it focuses on the mental aspect of fighting and not the physical aspect. The purpose of this poem is to describe to the reader that the conditions were so terrible in the First World War that it drove people insane. The tone of the poem is an angry one; Owen portrays his opposition to the war through line such as: â€Å"Multitudinous murders they once witnessed†. The word â€Å"multitudinous† means the common people and shows how Owen thought that the ordinary people of Britain were being slaughtered and that young, fit men were the subject of untimely deaths. It also emphasises the vast scaled of the murders and the intensity of the war. Owen uses very powerful and vivid imagery in the first stanza with phrases such as â€Å"drooping tongues† and â€Å"purgatorial shadows† to describe the men. The word â€Å"purgatorial† suggests that they are trying to cleanse their soul of the sins they have committed, but are trapped by their own violent actions in the war. Owen uses the word â€Å"shadows† to portray them as ghosts, men that go unnoticed because they are insane and not normal. This is ironic because they were probably once very fit and able and are now spending their lives in an institute. The first stanza poses the question of what made the men mad and Owen uses rhetorical questions to engage the reader: â€Å"but what slow panic gouged these chasms round fretted sockets?† This phrase conjours up a strong image of the men being wide eyed with a constant look of terror upon their face. Owen utilizes the phrase â€Å"slow panic† to infer that the men have been subject to a form of torture and that they have painfully been made to suffer. The phrase â€Å"deeply gouged† suggests wrinkles implying that the men are quite old; however we learn that the men have not lost their minds due to age, but due to war. The lines: â€Å"Always they must see these things and hear them, Batter of guns and the shatter of flying muscles,† use realistic and gruesome imagery to describe the battles. Onomatopoeia is used through the words â€Å"shatter† and â€Å"batter† making the reader almost hear the tremendous bangs of the guns and making them understand the intensity of the situation. The phrase â€Å"human squander† portrays Owen’s thoughts that many â€Å"multitudinous murders† took place and that their lives were lost for no reason; it was a mistake. In the final stanza Owen describes to the reader how the mental cases wish they were dead so they did not have to remember the atrocious carnage that they have seen: â€Å"Dawn breaks open like a war that bleeds afresh†. This simile is effective because usually dawn brings new beginnings and fresh opportunities, but to these men it just means they have to endure memories of what the war did to them. This poem is a very personal one as in the last four lines; Owen uses words like â€Å"us† and â€Å"brother†. This shows that the men blame us for allowing what happened to occur, and how they wish that they did not have to be reminded of it any longer. Wilfred Owen’s wrote â€Å"Anthem for Doomed Youth† not to portray the mental and physical effects of war like â€Å"Disabled† and â€Å"Mental Cases†, but to explain how a whole generation of men were subject to gruesome injuries or brutal deaths during the First World War. The title is deliberately ironic because the word â€Å"Anthem† usually suggests celebration; however the tone of this poem is bitter and mournful. It also infers that Owen is mocking poets like Rupert Brooke who say it is honourable to die in the war. The first line is a rhetorical question and it uses plosives, portraying an angry tone. The metaphor â€Å"for these who die as cattle† is effective because it infers that the soldiers are being slaughtered. The soldiers are referred to as â€Å"Doomed Youth† as there were â€Å"no prayers nor bells† for them as they died on the battlefield, just the â€Å"monstrous anger of the guns†, suggesting that the amount of deaths were so widespread there was no separate emotion for each man, their deaths were unimportant like that of cattle. This personification also infers that the weapons were taking control of the soldiers and that their actions are that of monsters. Owen portrays how there is no time for sentiment of the battlefield in the line: â€Å"The shrill demented choirs of wailing shells;† this personification is effective because when a person dies they are believed to be â€Å"at peace†, but when you die on the battlefield the destruction and devastation carries on around you regardless. Owen portrays how the men came from ordinary backgrounds in the phrase: â€Å"sad shires† and he describes how the family of the soldiers’ did have funerals for them back at home in the line: â€Å"what candles may be held to speed them all?† The devastation of their deaths is shown through the line: â€Å"the pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;† suggesting that their girlfriends are sorrowful and also by using the plural it shows how a whole generation of women may not be able to find husbands because so many young men were killed in action. In the last line, a â€Å"drawing-down of blinds† is a fitting way to end the poem, but it could also be associated with traditional drawing down of blinds in a room where a dead person lies and furthermore it infers that so many soldiers’ lives were now over. I enjoyed reading Wilfred Owen’s poetry more than the pre 1900 poetry as it gave me a realistic view of what the effects of war were on the soldiers and their families. World War One was the most devastating and barbaric war to date and therefore I believe that Owen’s poetry is more fitting as it gives a personal aspect to the poems, portraying the soldiers as humans, not just as statistics, but also showed them like animals to make the vast scale of the murders evident.

Repetitive SRCs Lead to Changes in the White Matter of a...

A total of 11 studies were selected for this review to prove the hypothesis that repetitive SRCs lead to changes in the white matter of a developing brain. The aim of the study is to ascertain the changes in the myelination of the CNS due to concussion through DTI scans. After a thorough review, it is clear that multiple sport-related concussions in young athletes cause alteration in the white matter of the brain (Barkhoudarian et al., 2011; Bazarian et al., 2012; Cubon et al., 2011; Keightly et al., 2014; Marchi et al., 2013; Prins et al., 2010; Smits et al., 2011; Toledo et al., 2012; Wilde et al., 2011; Wozniak et al., 2007; Wu et al., 2010). This study consists of 3 systematic reviews, 6 prospective cohort studies, 1 animal model study and 1 cross-sectional study. The results are presented in the above order. The review study written by Barkhoudarian et al explored the pathophysiology of concussive brain injury in young athletes. Sport-related concussions cause diffuse axonal inj ury (DAI) or white matter shearing injury (Barkhoudarian et al., 2011; Wozniak et al., 2007). They disrupt the axonal membrane leading to a disrupted normal ionic crossing and increased calcium influx. This flow of calcium not only causes mitochondrial-swelling leading to possible apoptosis but also prevents microtubular function (Halstead et al., 2010; Barkhoudarian et al., 2011). All these factors together can prevent axonal transport and form axonal blebs (Figure 6), hence altering the