Polarize Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Polarize - Essay Example Since the waves are travelling in all sorts of planes, the light from the sun is then definitely not polarized. Similarly the sky appears blue because of the scattering of different wavelengths of lights in all directions; however blue light is the one that is most highly scattered. This light is also not polarized. The third scenario of blue light being reflected from a surface is a bit complicated. Whether the reflected light is polarized or not depends on the angle of incidence. If the angle of incidence is the Brewster angle, then the reflected light would be polarized otherwise it would be partially polarized. Polarized glasses have a wide variety of uses. They are sometimes used in combination with sunglasses in order to reduce glare. They are also used by people who travel on water or by fishermen in order to polarize the light that is reflected from the surface of the water to allow a better view of inside the water. Recently Polarized glasses have also found their use in the 3d glasses where they are used by the viewers to watch 3d

Customer Satisfaction in Banking Essay Example for Free

Customer Satisfaction in Banking Essay Introduction Aiming for the customer satisfaction is the most challenging task in every organization. Through the satisfied customers, a firm an easily measure the effectiveness of the business, its potential and position in the industries, and the areas that are needed to polish and improve. Keeping the trust of a customer is not an overnight miracle but with full of patience and bountiful of effort. Background and Problem Statement The products and services that are sold in the most favorable prices can be an initial step of the firm in obtaining the trust and be included in the top list of the customers. However, because of the tight competition of various services, particularly in banks, the perception of the customers and potential customers are also divided according to the services that they want to achieve. In addition, the impact of the economic problems and financial crunches among the financial institutions creates a great challenge in the banks. With all the challenges that are ahead on the banks, how will they gather the customer satisfaction which is the same focus of the other competing banking institutions? Research Aim and Objectives The aim of the study is to determine the satisfaction on the services and products delivered by the banks towards their customers to attract other potential customer. There are three objectives that can be the guidance of the researcher/s in reaching for their goal and, in also, measuring the impact of customer satisfaction to their effectiveness in the market. First objective is to recognize the various strategies placed by the banks to achieve the customer satisfaction. Second is to determine the extent of those strategies to eliminate or at least minimize the impact of resistance and reluctance of the customers towards the bank’s offered products and services. And third is to discover the level of satisfaction from the existing customers that can contribute in the success and continuous performance of the banks. Literature Review Finding for the loyal customers is a great opportunity for the various firms and enterprises, for the corporate leaders believe that through them, the  firms can continue its business cycle. In order to keep the loyal customers, the organization should first attempt to discover the ways to satisfy the customers. Customer satisfaction is an applied term that determines on how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is an essential tool to see the key performance indicator within business. In banking industry, being competitive is already a given factor. Customers expect that banks should be strong enough even if there are uncertainties in the country, most especially in the financial stream. In the long run, the customer satisfaction can be the key element of the organization to prepare another strategy (Gitman and McDaniel, 2005). Every business’s mission is making the customers as their first priority. In accordance to this, the business must fill or serve the satisfaction of their customers according to what preferences that the market is demanding for. In the banking industry, there is a suggested conceptualized model of satisfaction in terms of the business-to-business level. With the aid of the path analysis, corporate customer satisfaction can be determined in the earliest time with regards to the equity, and expectations of customers (Armstrong and Seng, 2000; Hackl and Westlund, 2000). Catching the attention of the customers is the first impression of the banks in terms of promotion. However, if the banks continuously deliver the satisfaction towards to their customers, the firms will not only obtaining success but also the continuing promotion of benefits for their own customers. The most desirable outcome that the customers can gain is the improvement on their experience in banking services and products and identify that there is an increase performance. On the other hand, the firm can enjoy the benefits of minimization of the business uncertainty, maximization of profit margins and enhancement of productivity; reduce on expenses, and optimization on resource deployment (Hansemark and Albinsson, 2004). Methodology The suggested method in the study is the use of survey and interview as the primary strategy to obtain the needed information. Through the combination of survey and interview, the current position of the bank in the society can be determined. For the first process of the investigation, the survey will be conducted among the population of the customers. The first 100 customers will be the participants and through the help of the Likert Scale, the  researcher/s can view the appeal of the bank’s services and products on their customers. At the second phase of the study, the interview will be conducted among the five managers of the bank. The interview has a purpose to recognize the various strategies and their strong points to attr Read more: http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2010/06/research-proposal-on17.html#ixzz3AGEqDr4W Writing the Research Proposal Expression of Interest Research Team / Collaborations Research Guidelines Research Proposal Steps Examples of Research Proposals Good Writing Interviews Research Proposal Steps Step 1: The Title Naming your research is an important part of the research proposal. It should tell the user (In 25 words or less) what you intend to research and how you intend to do it. You may also wish to give your research project both a MÄ ori and English title. The choice is up to you, as long as your title is relevant to the research question. Step 2: The Abstract Your research proposal in its entirety may be anywhere between 5,000 to 25,000 words in length. So it is important that you give a summary of the entire document. This summary is known as the abstract, and should demonstrate to the reader the most important parts of each of the sections of the research proposal in around 200 words. It is often useful to write the abstract last, after the rest of the research proposal has been written and fully thought out. Step 3: Aims and Objectives In this section you should expand on the title of your research project to  articulate in full detail the aims and objectives of your research. You should be able to provide a detailed description of the research question, the purpose of the research, and a description of your approach (methodology and method) to the research. Included in this section should be discussion around the research problem that you intend to answer or investigate, your hypothesis, the parameters of the research i.e. what you intend to include within the research, and what you intend to leave out. Step 4: Background This section should provide detail about the background to the research question. In this section you will need to demonstrate an understanding of the existing literature and research studies within the area of your proposed research topic. This is to assist the reader to understand the significance of your research, and where it fits within the existing body of knowledge. The background section is a significant portion of your proposal and therefore should be an extensive review of the literature related to your topic (see literature review). You should be able to discuss what the existing literature is about and highlight any gaps, issues or contentions that arise. You also need to be able to show where your research fits within this literature and enter into discussions on issues that relate to your research question. The point of this background section is to demonstrate to the reader your understanding and knowledge of the research area, as well as the contribution that your research project will make to the existing research and knowledge. Step 5: Methodology and Method In this section of the proposal you will need to demonstrate how you intend to go about investigating the research question. The methodology generally refers to the theory to be used to justify the use of the particular research methods that you are choosing to use. You may use more than one methodology to inform your method of research. The method describes the way you intend to investigate the question, such as a questionnaire, a hui, in-depth individual interviews, focus group interviews, a wÄ nanga, a survey and so forth. Kaupapa MÄ ori is a methodology, that also gives rise to and guides research methods. In this section you will need to give a brief overview of Kaupapa MÄ ori theory and/or theories, why you have chosen to use this methodology and how your research question fits within thismethodological framework. If you are using more than one methodology then you will need to demonstrate why you have chosen to use another methodology alongside Kaupapa MÄ ori, and how it is relevant to the aims and objectives of your research. You should also discuss the different methods you intend to use in full detail, and provide justification as to why you have chosen to use these methods. It is also helpful to discuss how many participants you intend to involve in your research, how you intend to find or approach participants, and how they will be used in your study. Step 6: Schedule and Timeline You need to be able to demonstrate that your research is possible within a given timeframe. You may be able to define your own timeframe, or the institution for which you are writing a proposal may have a set timeframe that you will need to work within. Either way, it is important that you are able to plot the intended progress of the project from start to finish. If you intend to produce any outputs, reports, findings then they should be inserted into this schedule. Step 7: Ethical Approval Some institutions require that any research involving interaction with human participants get approval from ethical advisory committees or boards. This ethical approval is sought to ensure that the researcher conducts research in a manner that is respectful to the participants and other human beings that may be influenced by the research process. It is important that you seek out what ethical approval is required within your area of research. You may need to seek approval from more than one advisory committee depending on the institutional, financial and disciplinary context. Applications for ethical approval are obtained directly from the ethical committees themselves. Ethical considerations is a key part of conducing Kaupapa MÄ ori research. Understanding research ethics will impact on all aspects of your research, in particular, how you engage with communities to conduct your research and disseminate your research findings. MÄ ori community research organizations are also beginning to develop their own research ethics guidelines to assist both the researchers and participants to be ‘culturally safe’ during the research process. In the ‘ethical approval’ section, it is important to outline who you intend to seek ethical approval from, and/or  when ethical approval was granted and for what period of time. Step 8: Resources This section demonstrates to the reader that you are both suitable and capable of carrying out the proposed research. You will need to discuss what resources you have at your disposal that makes it possible for you to carry out this research. For example, physical resources (such as research instruments), personal resources (such as knowledge of the discipline, area or community under study), as well as any other resources that you have as a researcher (or research team) that will enable you to carry out the research from beginning through to completion. You may also need to highlight what resources you still require in order to complete the research, and also discuss how you intend to go about acquiring these resources (i.e. through funding, through research collaborations etc.) Step 9: Budget Not all research proposal require a budget (such as thesis proposals for academic institutions), however if you intend to apply for funding for research it is important that you are able to show how much money you require, and justify the amount asked for. The way to justify the amount you are asking for is to provide a detailed budget outlining what expenses you predict you will incur in conducting the research. Exactly where and how money will be spent will differ from project to project, and the size of the budget should reflect the size of the research project. Some of the main expenses that may be included in any budget could be researcher’s time, human resources (such as other research assistants, transcribers, advisory board members), technical equipment (Dictaphones, transcribers, computer hardware and software etc), stationary, koha and others.

The Duel Essay -- essays research papers

In reviewing John Lukacs, The Duel, I noticed that the author has other intentions in mind besides the facts. Lukacs gives a very precise account of the actualy events during those eighty days but in my opinion he wants the reader to grab the bigger concepts. One of these concepts is that Lukacs wants the reader to honestly consider just how close the Allies came to losing the war. Another of these notions is the idea that the main difference between Churchill and Hitler concerned nationalism versus patriotism and a third idea is just how greatly history can be effected by the courageous decisions of a few people.Lukacs makes strong mention of how close Hitler came to victory. Hitler got everything he wanted for so long, without even having to resort to force. Lukacs describes Hitler as ''being an amateur at generalship, but he posessed the great professional talent applicable to all human affairs: an understanding of human nature and the understanding of the weaknesses of his opponents. That was enough to carry him very far''(3). Lukacs wants to make that a point in all of his readers' minds; that Hitler could manipulate people so he could get what he wanted without resorting to violence. Of course, the threat of violence was always present but Hitler was smart enough that he could scare his enemies enough that they would not want to engage in combat. Once actually forced to fight, Hitler still dominated and he could have very possibly won the war if not for that one fatal mistake he made by hesitating in his plans against the English. I think it is important that Lukacs makes sure to get this message across because some people choose to ignore this truth due to the devastating outcomes that would have resulted if Hitler succeeded. The major point presented by Lukacs concerning the difference between Hitler and Churchill has to do with nationalim versus patriotism. Lukacs describes Hitler as a nationalist and Churchill as a patriot. He describes Hitler as a man of ideas and Churchill as a of man principles, because Churchill's ideas changed throughout the war while Hitler tended to think that his ideas were principles. In a footnote there lies a a brilliant explanation of this idea. Dr. Johnson states ''Nationalism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Patriotism is defensive, while nationalism is aggressive. Patriotism is not a substitute for a relig... ...till evident in this directive when it says if necessary. Hitler delivered his speech for a last attempt at peace on July 19, but it did not work. One of his main goals for the speech was to disconnect the people of England from Churchill but this failed because of the manner in which he spoke about Churchill. The next day, Hitler said that the English response meant that the German attack would commenec on Britain in a few days. Looking back at how these events unfolded, everyone should be glad that Hitler made such a mistake. I, for one couldn't believe that Hitler made this mistake. Throughout reading this entire book Hitler usually makes swift, decisive actions that get results and that is why Lukacs stresses this string of events in the book.Overall, this book is wonderfully written on a very interesting topic. The reader is put in the middle of a war of nerves and will between two men, one of which we have grown up to learn to hate. This only makes us even more emotional about the topic at hand. For a history book, it was surprisingly understandable and hard to put down. It enlightened me to the complex problems that existed in the most memorable three months this century.

The Effects of Gender, Oppression, and Ideology of Women in the Society

Women are most often viewed as part of men. They are at the side or behind a man’s identity. A woman is being talked about by connoting â€Å"the wife of†¦,† â€Å"the daughter of†¦,† or â€Å"the mother of†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Women are viewed to be not really significant in the society in history. They are only existent to serve their men for physical and emotional aspect. According to history, women are only subjects and/or objects of the society. In this modern period, women still experience these kinds of situations in different countries around the world. It is good to obtain better understanding on the situations of women in different nations to justify the wholeness of women’s concept. Through this, we could be able to define and analyze the circumstances of women and how these concepts affect their womanhood in their own society. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the three concepts of women in different societies – gender, oppression, and ideology. Women are made only for men. This is the usual perception towards women in the past. Gender is always been an issue for women’s status in the society. They have many limitations because of their gender. Women are known to be weaker than men because of the society’s perspective in history. Life for women is simple and basic for the whole nation but for women’s own situation, it is more complex and complicated because they have no freedom. For this reason, most women used to stay at home even if they have attained a certain degree of knowledge. After graduating in college, they will marry their man and stay at home – developing their sense of womanhood at home. Women are created to be the wife and mother of their family – no more and no less. In this procedure, it can be said that women’s gender has its own limitation in the society. It only means that they could not able to go beyond their limit such as serving the whole country. They are ‘imprisoned’ into their homes to serve their family – alone. These are only basic implications of women’s gender in the society but in Tamil, it more than expected. â€Å"Gender issues surrounding nations and nationalism are perhaps most clearly articulated at times of war, when bodies become the sites of conflict. The masculinization of war and citizenship has been recognized as being intimately connected, with the exclusion of women from the military crystallizing in their exclusion from citizenship (Segaram, 2001). Because they are also part of the war, women wanted to help hasten the freedom against colonialism. They are eager to serve their country and fight for their freedom. However, it is not accepted in the society seeing women being part of the battle. They can be there to be the healer of men but they could not be part of men’s batt leground. The main reason why women could not show their support for freedom in this aspect is because they are women. They are weaker and would not create clear focus and yet they may become the niche of losing. Women’s status in the society is always been a negative perspective. Because of this, women could not able to empower themselves and keeping their identity as weaker and dependent to men. Women’s gender is a deprivation of their freedom to walk straight and show the world that they could also make changes. Women are always left in their homes to nurture their children but they could not able to nurture their selves. Through this, many women suffer from psychological defects when it comes to their liberty and social interaction. Instead of empowering their hearts and minds, women are feebler and tend to depend on their partners for their needs. However, in society today, women wanted to change the notion of gender inequality. They are showing their freedom and independence to their society through working. There are also times when women are making money while their partner is the one nurturing their children. From this case, it can be said that that status of women is trying to make changes and equality to men when it comes to the needs of the society. On the other way around, oppression is a manifestation of social inequality. It lies within the issue of gender. Oppression is also an effect of gender deprivation of the society towards women. Once there is a social inequality, there is a form of oppression. Women’s oppression may exist everywhere – physical, mental, emotional, and even in literature, women is also being oppressed. Once a woman’s identity is used for personal purpose that is negative for women’s depiction in the society, it can be called as oppression. It only means that the concept of oppression is merely a complicated and hard deconstruction of women empowerment and social identity. â€Å"Ruling class women were increasingly treated as one more possession of a male controller of the surplus, valued as an ornament, a source of sexual pleasure or as a breeder of heirs. They would be protected from hardship and external dangers, but also cocooned from any interaction with the wider social world (Harman, 2002). † When a woman is controlled by a man with objection in the side of the woman, there is a simply a form of oppression. It shows that everything that is a form of hostility against women is oppression and it is shown in different parts of the world. Social inequality, discrimination, condemnation, and sexual objectivism are forms of oppression that women continue to experience from the history until now. Oppression is usually experienced of women in the third world countries. They were being oppressed by their partners and authorities. They experience this form of threat because they are voiceless and helpless. Women in these societies tend to become quiet for truth because they are afraid in the possible outcome of their ‘ideal justice. ’ Every woman who experience oppression is incapable of showing herself in front of others. She could not able to define her identity because she is treated as an object by her environment. Because of this, women’s perspective against this issue is more on the ideal side because most probably than not, they will experience this sense of inequality in their society. Another concept that affects women the most is ideology. Women have idealistic and observational based knowledge. They have the capability to work for the needs of the people around them especially for their family. According to research, women are more strategic than men especially in the third world countries. Women in these countries took all the burden right through their arms. Their partners may live them and find their own luck with the arms of others but these women who are mothers of 5-12 children could be able to feed all of them. Women have goals and purpose whenever they enter a certain situation or circumstances. In comparison to men, women would be able to accept their defeat and work harder but men would probably stop from doing his responsibilities once he experience defeat and failure. When a woman entered a situation, she has the guts to kneel to her authority and be with her partner. It exists in the aspect of religion. When a couple has different religion, the woman will bow down and accept the religion of her partner. This is a usual case for women who are part of religious countries like India. It can be said as a form of ideology because women believed in the sense of acceptance and survival. Women are more prone to adjustment that give them the capability create more ideas and perspectives in every situation. â€Å"The ideology of communalism plays around the game of numbers. It goes on to assert that the population of minorities is on the rise due to more wives and children of Muslims. And this will result in this Hindu Rashtra being converted to Islamic country (Puniyani, 2005). † However, more often than not, the society will dictate where a woman must go when it comes to religious issues. Therefore, woman’s ideology becomes a social or communal ideology. In conclusion to this, it can be said that women’s gender, oppression, and ideology are interrelating factors that deals with the trend and pattern of society’s perspective towards women. Gender will define the status of a person in the society. If she is a woman, more or less, she will experience certain oppression within her environment but through the depiction of ideology whether personal or communal will give a woman the capability to strengthen her use and status in her country. Life as a woman is a continuous battle against social oppression and inequality. There is always a need for armor and logical justifications of facts and evidences to make the status of women elevate to the next position. As time passes by, women’s status emerged to a better situation but there is always a challenge beyond everything. Women need to face the different social threats and disabilities to show her dignity and pride in her field. The purpose of each woman today is to make a change for the survival of women in the traditional society that deals with discrimination and social destruction.

Night by Elie Wiesel

Cattle cars. Burning bodies. Auschwitz. These words are engraved in the mind of every Jewish person on Earth. After decades, Holocaust survivors still have nightmares about these thoughts. One word, one indescribable word, will forever stay with these people. Holocaust. Many people of the Jewish faith realize the power of that word, but many others still need to learn. A man is sitting peacefully in his home; he has no worries, even when Nazi soldiers dragged him into the horrendous ghettos. He also willfully went into cattle cars, and then finally into Auschwitz. This is where that man realized that his life became horrible.Throughout the months in the work camp, throughout all of the suffering, his will to survive surpassed the will to kill of Nazi soldiers. Years later, people know that events like the Holocaust will, and are happening right now, such as the Bosnian Genocide 1992. Education also will get rid of the desire for power in human beings. Educating students about the Hol ocaust, and other genocides, will help prevent genocides in future generations. Man has the will to survive and surpass evil like the Holocaust survivors, genocides like this will happen again, and education will help prevent genocides in the future.In the face of evil man can surpass the death that evil brings upon it. In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, he describes the event of selection which occurs every two weeks. Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. (Elie Wiesel) This quote symbolizes Elie’s first selection in Auschwitz.As he and his father follow the lines to the selection process, they walk by flames consuming live babies. This part in the book made me wince because just the thought of babies being bu rned can make even the toughest person get to the brink of tears. Once at the entrance to Auschwitz he faces a guard who asks questions about him. He passes the first selection and so does his father, but sadly this is the place where he leaves his mother and little sister, Tzipora, forever. After many years, Elie realizes that they were probably taken to the crematoriums right away. fter living in the concentration camps for a while they go through their next selection process. Every time the selection process comes around Elie and his father escape with their lives, while others aren’t as lucky and get sent to the crematoriums. Every time they were capable of working and they were healthy so he and his father were let off. Every time they passed the selection, they surpassed evil because of the Nazi soldiers. These Nazi soldiers wanted reason to kill people, and sometimes they did it without reason.They surpassed the death evil brought upon them by having the will to get th rough the selection process, and they knew that as long as they had each other each would have the will to survive and live another day. People believe the lie that events like the Holocaust will not happen again. This is a lie because genocides have occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, Cambodia, and others. In all of these genocides one race had the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.In the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina the Serbs led a genocide against the Muslims in Bosnia. 200,000 Muslims were systematically murdered in this genocide. Beginning on April 6, 1994 the Hutu militia led a genocide against the Tutsis and the means of killing were clubs and machetes. As many as 10,000 civilians were murdered a day. In the one hundred day genocide 800,000 people were murdered. In Cambodia the leader of Pol Pot, Khmer Rouge attempted to make a communist peasant farming society, and in the process killed 25% of the population o f Cambodia by means of overworking, starvation, and executions.As you can see there have been many genocides over the years after the Holocaust, but these were the most devastating and brutal. Education will help our students learn the horrors of the Holocaust, and will hopefully prevent genocides like it from future generations. By showing our students the atrocities of the Holocaust all of them will say that something like this could never happen again, and if it did how would the world let it happen. There are many things taught in schools, colleges, and even classes for older people out of school to help them learn about the Holocaust and how to prevent genocides like it in the future.These efforts assume that learning about genocides will prevent its recurrence. However there are still genocides happening, like the ones I described in the paragraph above, so something about genocide education is wrong. There is a disjuncture about what people are teaching, and what is actually happening. In my opinion we need to do a better job teaching about the prevention of genocides. Doing this will hopefully make a big impact on the future, so nothing like the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia ever happen again.As you can see if man can survive the evil wrath, and surpass death with their will to survive, and even after educated people on the Holocaust, genocides like it have happened again and again. The holocaust has taught me a lot about the world around me, and from it I also learned that I should appreciate everything that I have because it can all be taken away in a second like the Jewish race. It also helped me learn about other holocausts and what we need to do to prevent it. We need to ask ourselves this question, if genocides are happening after the Holocaust, what are we supposed to do to prevent them? Night by Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel’s famous book, Night, was written as a memoir from his experience as a Jewish victim of the holocaust.   Written in the 1950’s, it serves as one of the best and most accurate resources on the holocaust, as well as being one of the few literary memoirs ever written on the subject.   As a young teenager, Wiesel struggles with his devout religious nature and the godless and destitute place he has just left and somehow survived.   On top of his own personal struggles, he is forced into a concentration camp, along with his father.   His struggle is recounted, and his life within Auschwitz and beyond is documented.The main character, Eliezer, is much more than just a character-he is also the narrative, telling his story and his direct experiences in the Nazi concentration camps.   (The main character, Eliezer, is not to be confused with the author, Elie.   Eliezer was an alter-ego made up by Elie in order to disassociate slightly with the tremendous ha rdships his character faces.)   I have only read a handful of book on the Holocaust, but this book proved to be particularly chilling, as the main character describes his experience incredibly intimately.You literally experience it alongside of him.   However, it is interesting that he not only described the physical events that he went through, but also the emotional and spiritual journeys he embarked upon.   His fundamental beliefs are suddenly called into question, bringing a much needed side of humanity to historical depictions of the Holocaust.One of the strongest themes throughout the novel is that of seeking and making peace with God.   Wiesel begins the story by speaking about his Jewish studies and his lengthy prayer rituals.   He describes how the Nazis have obliterated and destroyed the synagogue which he attends.   Towards the end of the book, any mention of Jewish observance has disappeared.   When his father passes, Wiesel states, â€Å"â€Å"[t]here we re no prayers at his grave. No candles were lit in his memory.†Ã‚   This gives implication to the fact that throughout Wiesel’s ordeal within the concentration camps, he has left his faith in God, or at the very least has lost the need for spiritual renewal through prayer and ritual.Wiesel struggles throughout the entire book with his faith in God.   Towards the beginning of the book, the author states, â€Å"â€Å"Why did I pray? . . . Why did I live? Why did I breathe?† when asked why he prays to his God.   This shows that his faith in God is much like God’s love for him-unconditional.   In addition, Wiesel struggles with the main teachings of Jewish mysticism.   For example, his faith is based around the basic belief that God is everywhere, God is a good and divine being, and since God is everywhere in the world, the world must therefore also be good.   His experiences tell him otherwise.As stated above, his faith changes and shifts significa ntly throughout his experience within the concentration camps.   However, throughout the middle of the book, Wiesel maintains that he is struggling with his faith, a significant and important distinction rather than abandoning his faith.   Almost all Christian faiths teach that not only is questioning one’s faith acceptable, it is encouraged.   After all, how can one have faith without doubting first?   At one point, Moshe the Beadle is quizzed on his reasoning behind prayer.He answers, â€Å"â€Å"I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions.†Ã‚   This is a perfect example of questioning faith in God.   However, throughout Wiesel’s experience during the Holocaust, he does much more than simply questioning his faith.   He must confront basic ideas of good and evil, and ultimately whether there is a God that exists that would allow such atrocities to be committed by humans to other humans.Ironically, at the end of the book, Wiesel states that his faith has been completely dissolved and destroyed.   However, he also states at the same time that he will never forget the things that he has experienced even if he â€Å"live[s] as long as God Himself.†Ã‚   He has just before completely denied any existence or presence of God, yet he is still only struggling with his faith in God-a major, recurring theme throughout the book.   However, Wiesel’s situation is also quite complex.   His heritage IS his religion.He is both Jewish in ancestry, as well as Jewish in religion.   How can your religion and mind escape your body?   It would be hard enough to abandon a religion you have grown up with, but this religion in particular is literally all-consuming.   It would be near-impossible for him to deny any existence of God because of this.Throughout the Holocaust museum, signs are posted with slogans such as â€Å"Never forget†-an anthem that was often used (and i s still used today) after September 11th, 2001.   However, Wiesel actually personalizes this â€Å"never forget† slogan when he eloquently states, â€Å"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed†¦Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust.Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.†Ã‚   This is one of the first times that the author is able to reflect upon and to take in what is happening around him.   This is also an ironic allusion to Psalm 150, where each line starts with, â€Å"Hallelujah† or â€Å"Praise God.† The author inverts these phrases, beginning each line with â€Å"never.†Ã‚   Psalm 150 is obviously a Psalm of praise.   The passage in Night calls into question the very existence of God, or at the least Wieselâ€℠¢s basis of faith in a God.One of the most obvious symbols, yet also the most complex symbol appearing throughout the book is the night itself.   Night and darkness is a symbol for the absolute worst in humanity, as well as an allusion to the creation of the earth.   God’s first act was to create light; therefore, this was God’s first actual presence on earth.   God’s seeming abandonment of His people is metaphorical within the idea of night.   In other words, Eliezer believe that he is living in a world without God.Most critics agree that Wiesel’s Night is one of the few pieces of literature that absolutely must be read by every person in the world.   Included in this is Thane Rosenbaum, law professor and reviewer for the New York Times.   She states, â€Å"This collection is a noble literary achievement.†Ã‚   She goes on later to say, â€Å"And on top of all of these mysteries and contradictions is the greatest of them all,† re ferring to the excellent style in which the author both engages the reader in an intimate conversation while still allowing the reader to imagine the painful experiences Wiesel must have experienced.Critic Itzhak Ivry had the same positive opinion of the book.   Ivry indirectly says that of course the subject Wiesel wrote on would be interesting, thought provoking, and emotional.   However, Wisel’s style of writing is praised, as Ivry states, â€Å"Mr. Wiesel writes in short, staccato sentences, in the simplest words, and in a relentless, self-denying effort to tell the whole truth as he saw and felt it, moment by moment, day by day.†Ã‚   Ivry discusses in detail Wiesel’s gradual disillusionment with God.Ivry also discusses and alludes to the Hall of Shoes lining the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.   There is a room filled with hundred and hundreds of shoes in every imaginable shape and size.   Many are still covered in dust, dirt, and ash.   Ivry alludes to this when saying, â€Å"Children’s shoes are a touching sight when piled up in a concentration camp storehouse, and a child’s reaction to the twentieth century’s greatest calamity is especially poignant.†One of the most difficult parts of reading this book is its intense resemblance of the current crisis in Darfur.   It is almost as if the book itself were echoing and simultaneously foreshadowing the voices of the lost children in the Darfur region of the Sudan.   One of the main points of the book is that all citizens of humanity are able to commit atrocities just like these, and the rest of humanity must keep one another in check, lest something happens just like the holocaust.   Unfortunately, genocide is taking place just a continent away.   It seems as though Wiesel wrote Night specifically for the purpose of encouraging us to â€Å"step up to the plate,† to make up for our lack of response during the Holocaust.Night proved to be an extremely difficult book to read.   Elie Wiesel is a fantastic author, and he truly captures the reader’s attention by not only telling his story, but also by showing how easily this happened, and how easy it would be for it to happen all over again.   Wiesel manages to bring about an aspect of humanity not apparent in other historical memoirs-and the critics obviously agree.   However, it is a book that I truly believe should be read by everyone, as it has incredibly valuable lessons to teach about faith and humanity.ReferencesIvry, Itzhak. â€Å"Memory of Torment.† Rev. of Night, by Elie Wiesel. Saturday Review 17 Dec. 1960.Rosenbaum, Thane. â€Å"Revealing, Concealing.† Rev. of Night, by Elie Wiesel. Los Angeles Times 22 Apr. 2007.Wiesel, Elie. Night. 3rd ed. New York: Bantam, 1982. Night by Elie Wiesel NIGHT ESSAY In the beginning of Night, written by Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, Wiesel has been in the concentration camps suffering changes in his life, physically, mentally, and spiritually. In the beginning of Night, Wiesel’s identity is an innocent child and a devouted Jew. He was a happy child with a desire to study the Talmud, until his experience in Auschwitz, in which he changed his mental ways. First of all, he used to believe that all people were nice and that human were not capable of hurting another human being.He later changed his mind after the way he saw the Hungarian police destroyed there own kind, human beings, and he no longer thought that way, â€Å"†Faster! Faster! Move, you lazy good-for-nothings! † the Hungarian police were screaming. That was when I began to hate them, and my hatred remains our only link today. They were our first oppressors. They were the first faces of hell and death (page 19). † The Hungarian police see the Jews as animals, a little insignificant animal they can devour.Another belief he used to have was that God should always be prayed and respected. He later told himself, â€Å"For the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank Him for† (Page 31)? † He felt like if God wasn’t doing anything to help these innocent human beings that practically praise him to save them all, when in reality, everyone is getting burned, abused, and getting shot.One of the thing the thought to have existed was the his opinion of the Hungarian police. In the beginning when the SS came to siget, the Jewish didn’t worry they welcomed them and they kept their space from them, he and the Jewish thought that they were not going to send them to those concentration camps Moishe the Beadle had told them about. all of the sudden everything changed, â€Å"From that m oment on, everything happened very quickly. The race toward death had begun. First edict: Jews were prohibited from leaving their residences for three days, under penalty of death.The same day, the Hungarian police burst into every Jewish home in town: a Jew was henceforth forbidden to own gold, jewelry, or any valuables. Everything had to be handed over to the authorities, under penalty of death. Three days later, a new decree: every Jew had to wear the yellow star (Page 72). † He had many changes in his life, physically, mentally, and spiritually. although, what changed him the most was how he had changed mentally because thats the way life is reflecting his attutude towards other people, things, and thoughts Night by Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel’s famous book, Night, was written as a memoir from his experience as a Jewish victim of the holocaust.   Written in the 1950’s, it serves as one of the best and most accurate resources on the holocaust, as well as being one of the few literary memoirs ever written on the subject.   As a young teenager, Wiesel struggles with his devout religious nature and the godless and destitute place he has just left and somehow survived.   On top of his own personal struggles, he is forced into a concentration camp, along with his father.   His struggle is recounted, and his life within Auschwitz and beyond is documented.The main character, Eliezer, is much more than just a character-he is also the narrative, telling his story and his direct experiences in the Nazi concentration camps.   (The main character, Eliezer, is not to be confused with the author, Elie.   Eliezer was an alter-ego made up by Elie in order to disassociate slightly with the tremendous ha rdships his character faces.)   I have only read a handful of book on the Holocaust, but this book proved to be particularly chilling, as the main character describes his experience incredibly intimately.   You literally experience it alongside of him.   However, it is interesting that he not only described the physical events that he went through, but also the emotional and spiritual journeys he embarked upon.   His fundamental beliefs are suddenly called into question, bringing a much needed side of humanity to historical depictions of the Holocaust.One of the strongest themes throughout the novel is that of seeking and making peace with God.   Wiesel begins the story by speaking about his Jewish studies and his lengthy prayer rituals.   He describes how the Nazis have obliterated and destroyed the synagogue which he attends.   Towards the end of the book, any mention of Jewish observance has disappeared.   When his father passes, Wiesel states, â€Å"â€Å"[t]he re were no prayers at his grave. No candles were lit in his memory.†Ã‚   This gives implication to the fact that throughout Wiesel’s ordeal within the concentration camps, he has left his faith in God, or at the very least has lost the need for spiritual renewal through prayer and ritual.Wiesel struggles throughout the entire book with his faith in God.   Towards the beginning of the book, the author states, â€Å"â€Å"Why did I pray? . . . Why did I live? Why did I breathe?† when asked why he prays to his God.   This shows that his faith in God is much like God’s love for him-unconditional.   In addition, Wiesel struggles with the main teachings of Jewish mysticism.   For example, his faith is based around the basic belief that God is everywhere, God is a good and divine being, and since God is everywhere in the world, the world must therefore also be good.   His experiences tell him otherwise.As stated above, his faith changes and shifts sign ificantly throughout his experience within the concentration camps.   However, throughout the middle of the book, Wiesel maintains that he is struggling with his faith, a significant and important distinction rather than abandoning his faith.   Almost all Christian faiths teach that not only is questioning one’s faith acceptable, it is encouraged.   After all, how can one have faith without doubting first?   At one point, Moshe the Beadle is quizzed on his reasoning behind prayer.He answers, â€Å"â€Å"I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions.†Ã‚   This is a perfect example of questioning faith in God.   However, throughout Wiesel’s experience during the Holocaust, he does much more than simply questioning his faith.   He must confront basic ideas of good and evil, and ultimately whether there is a God that exists that would allow such atrocities to be committed by humans to other humans.Ironicall y, at the end of the book, Wiesel states that his faith has been completely dissolved and destroyed.   However, he also states at the same time that he will never forget the things that he has experienced even if he â€Å"live[s] as long as God Himself.†Ã‚   He has just before completely denied any existence or presence of God, yet he is still only struggling with his faith in God-a major, recurring theme throughout the book.   However, Wiesel’s situation is also quite complex.   His heritage IS his religion.   He is both Jewish in ancestry, as well as Jewish in religion.   How can your religion and mind escape your body?   It would be hard enough to abandon a religion you have grown up with, but this religion in particular is literally all-consuming.   It would be near-impossible for him to deny any existence of God because of this.Throughout the Holocaust museum, signs are posted with slogans such as â€Å"Never forget†-an anthem that was often u sed (and is still used today) after September 11th, 2001.   However, Wiesel actually personalizes this â€Å"never forget† slogan when he eloquently states, â€Å"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed†¦Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.†This is one of the first times that the author is able to reflect upon and to take in what is happening around him.   This is also an ironic allusion to Psalm 150, where each line starts with, â€Å"Hallelujah† or â€Å"Praise God.† The author inverts these phrases, beginning each line with â€Å"never.†Ã‚   Psalm 150 is obviously a Psalm of praise.   The passage in Night calls into question the very existence of God, or at the least Wieselà ¢â‚¬â„¢s basis of faith in a God.One of the most obvious symbols, yet also the most complex symbol appearing throughout the book is the night itself.   Night and darkness is a symbol for the absolute worst in humanity, as well as an allusion to the creation of the earth.   God’s first act was to create light; therefore, this was God’s first actual presence on earth.   God’s seeming abandonment of His people is metaphorical within the idea of night.   In other words, Eliezer believe that he is living in a world without God.Most critics agree that Wiesel’s Night is one of the few pieces of literature that absolutely must be read by every person in the world.   Included in this is Thane Rosenbaum, law professor and reviewer for the New York Times.   She states, â€Å"This collection is a noble literary achievement.†Ã‚   She goes on later to say, â€Å"And on top of all of these mysteries and contradictions is the greatest of them all,â₠¬  referring to the excellent style in which the author both engages the reader in an intimate conversation while still allowing the reader to imagine the painful experiences Wiesel must have experienced.Critic Itzhak Ivry had the same positive opinion of the book.   Ivry indirectly says that of course the subject Wiesel wrote on would be interesting, thought provoking, and emotional.   However, Wisel’s style of writing is praised, as Ivry states, â€Å"Mr. Wiesel writes in short, staccato sentences, in the simplest words, and in a relentless, self-denying effort to tell the whole truth as he saw and felt it, moment by moment, day by day.†Ã‚   Ivry discusses in detail Wiesel’s gradual disillusionment with God.Ivry also discusses and alludes to the Hall of Shoes lining the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.   There is a room filled with hundred and hundreds of shoes in every imaginable shape and size.   Many are still covered in dust, dirt, and ash.   Ivry alludes to this when saying, â€Å"Children’s shoes are a touching sight when piled up in a concentration camp storehouse, and a child’s reaction to the twentieth century’s greatest calamity is especially poignant.†One of the most difficult parts of reading this book is its intense resemblance of the current crisis in Darfur.   It is almost as if the book itself were echoing and simultaneously foreshadowing the voices of the lost children in the Darfur region of the Sudan.   One of the main points of the book is that all citizens of humanity are able to commit atrocities just like these, and the rest of humanity must keep one another in check, lest something happens just like the holocaust.   Unfortunately, genocide is taking place just a continent away.   It seems as though Wiesel wrote Night specifically for the purpose of encouraging us to â€Å"step up to the plate,† to make up for our lack of response during the Holocaust.Night proved to be an extremely difficult book to read.   Elie Wiesel is a fantastic author, and he truly captures the reader’s attention by not only telling his story, but also by showing how easily this happened, and how easy it would be for it to happen all over again.   Wiesel manages to bring about an aspect of humanity not apparent in other historical memoirs-and the critics obviously agree.   However, it is a book that I truly believe should be read by everyone, as it has incredibly valuable lessons to teach about faith and humanity.ReferencesIvry, Itzhak. â€Å"Memory of Torment.† Rev. of Night, by Elie Wiesel. Saturday Review 17 Dec. 1960.Rosenbaum, Thane. â€Å"Revealing, Concealing.† Rev. of Night, by Elie Wiesel. Los Angeles Times 22 Apr. 2007.Wiesel, Elie. Night. 3rd ed. New York: Bantam, 1982.

Complete Guide How to Accomplish a Nursing Term Paper that Wins an A+

Complete Guide How to Accomplish a Nursing Term Paper that Wins an A+ The Peculiarities of a Nursing Term Paper Generally speaking, nursing is a complex subject that deals with numerous multi-faceted concepts and phenomena. As a healthcare profession, nursing provides an important background for healthcare workers and ensures specialized education for nurses through practicing and caring for patients. That is why nursing research is of crucial scientific value as it can potentially improve nursing practice and facilitate the improved quality of care. The Nursing term paper is a type of written assignments that are usually completed by students engaged in nursing, healthcare, and other specialized subjects related to these fields. At the end of the course, students are usually required to write a Nursing term paper and expand practical skills by exploring their theoretical background and performing their own research. The project has much in common with a research paper. However, the term paper, being a kind of testimony of the attained knowledge and the level of proficiency, requires more in-depth research with the use of different statistics and complex methodology. To receive a good mark for your Nursing term paper, you should follow the professor’s requirements and perform individual research on a relevant topic. Since nursing is related to Healthcare and Medical Sciences, it is important to explore the subject of your analysis from different perspectives. Also, you should support your thesis with arguments and examples developed on the basis of reliable factual information and statistical data. The key element of a successful Nursing term paper is a critical evaluation of the main results and findings of the author’s research. Everything mentioned above proves that it is not easy to write a high-quality Nursing term paper. However, with some nursing term paper writing tips, youà ¢â‚¬â„¢ll ease the process and make it more interesting and understandable. Choosing a Topic for the Nursing Term Paper: Our Writers’ Advice A properly chosen topic for a Nursing term paper is a halfway to the successfully completed work. Usually, professors provide students with different topics to choose from. If you don’t happen to have them all or the existing topics do not match your skills or scientific interest, ensure to come up with your own topic. It should be related to the topics covered during the course. Besides, it is important to find a topic that you’ve always been interested in or the one that you care about. Assess the potential topic to see if your theoretical knowledge and practical skills are enough to create a research paper. The relevance of the topic to the contemporary nursing practice is not less crucial than its correspondence to your interests. You should choose a topic that has been discussed in recent years so that it would be easy to find credible and not outdated sources. At the same time, you should introduce some novelty into the topic as your research should be authentic and not copied from the existing scientific works. In this case, you can explore some well-known issues from a new perspective or change the variables or the individuals targeted in the study. Also, pay attention to whether it is wide enough to find a sufficient number of credible and relevant sources to develop a term paper. At the same time, the topic shouldn’t be too broad as it will be difficult for you to cover all the information and structure the paper properly. On the contrary, if the topic is too narrow, you won’t be able to expand your research in the future. To be sure that you can find the needed inf ormation, make a research work before the topic is chosen and agreed upon with your instructor. Check the topic’s relevance as well as the state of its scientific grounding in contemporary studies. Based on these tips, the potential topics for Nursing research paper can be the following: Nursing Care for Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder Patient-Nurse Communication as a Determinant of Recovery Family Planning Strategies for Patients with HIV The Impact of Mandatory Overtime on the Quality of Care A Historical View on the Role of Pain Management Nurse The Effects of the Lack of Geriatric Training for Nurses Finding Trusted Sources for Nursing Term Paper Writing After choosing the topic, you should search for relevant and reliable sources to explore all the aspects of the topic in detail. You can search for them either in the library or on the Internet. Ensure to analyze the information found online critically as there are numerous websites that provide unreliable and unproven information. To ensure that your sources are reliable, you can use different specialized databases and academic journals. If your professor provides you with the list of helpful sites, visit them first and add them to your reference pages. The following online sources can be used for writing a Nursing Term Paper: websites ending with .gov or .edu since they are relevant and can be utilized for academic purposes; academic journals that specialize in Nursing, Healthcare, Medicine, and different sub-fields; general and specialized databases, online libraries. There are different websites and databases created specifically for nursing and medicine-related topics. The most popular among them are: PubMed – an online service that is a part of the National Library of Medicine; it provides numerous important citations as well as additional books and databases related to nursing and other life sciences; CINAHL Plus – an online database that contains helpful resources on nursing and allied health; Cochrane Library – an online library covering medical evidence helpful for grounding clinical treatment decisions; Nursing Reference Center Plus – a database that provides credible, evidence-based information on nursing practice; MEDLINE – a bibliographic database with academic articles in different fields of medicine, including nursing, veterinary, healthcare management, and others. Once you have enough credible sources to gather all the needed information for your Nursing term paper, you can start the pre-writing process, which is not less important. Pre-Writing Stage: Planning and Preparing Activities When you have the topic and some major sources for your Nursing term paper, it means that you have pictured your paper and its main accents in your mind somehow. However, you may not know where and how to start. To make it easier, you can turn to different pre-writing activities to establish the main focus of the paper and generate new ideas for successful research. First of all, pre-writing activities should be based on the information that you already know about the topic and the issues related to the topic. That is why it is important to start the research process and accumulate knowledge related to the topic before you define the main points of your paper. After that, you can use the method called â€Å"brainstorming.† Brainstorming implies writing down a list of all the ideas related to the topic that come up to your mind. The other helpful strategy, which is somehow similar to the first one, is â€Å"freewriting.† This strategy is about writing down ideas in the form of sentences. It can help to expand the initial idea and develop new perspectives, from which the topic may be further explored. The last strategy is known as â€Å"mind mapping.† While you should create a kind of graphic representation of your topic, the method mentioned above helps to visualize the ideas. More precisely, you have to decide what the leading ideas of your future paper are and write them down in circles. After that, you should also write down the supporting ideas and connect them to the primary ones by drawing lines. After the ideas are created, and the main aspects of the analyzed topic are defined, you can create an outline of your paper. It is a plan that will help you to structure all the parts of the paper and make it logical and consistent. The outline revolves around your topic and the thesis statement and lists the main points of your future paper. Also, the whole pre-writing process includes developing drafts and reviewing them to highlight the most important information. The Structure and the Format of the Nursing Term Paper To receive the highest mark, you should develop your Nursing term paper according to a particular structure and format. Look through the professor’s requirements and follow the format that is mentioned in the instructions. Usually, Nursing term papers are created with the use of APA format. In this case, the format defines the structure. An APA-formatted paper consists of the title page, the abstract, the main body, and the reference list. According to the requirements of the APA referencing style, your paper should be typed in twelve-point Times New Roman font. In-text citations should contain the author’s last name and the year of the work’s publication separated by a comma. If you insert the citation directly from a certain page of a publication or its online version, you can mention the page number as well. For more detailed instructions on how to format the paper, you can visit helpful websites like PurdueOwl or use citation-generating engines. You should decide on the structure of your Nursing term paper when developing an outline. If your professor has some special requirements regarding the structure of the paper, follow them. Traditionally, an APA-formatted Nursing term paper consists of the following parts: Title Page. The title page of the paper should contain the name of the topic, the running head, the author’s name, and the name of the institution he/she attends. It should contain some keywords that attract attention and help the audience to understand the main focus of the paper. Abstract. Write an abstract of your paper on a separate page typing the word â€Å"Abstract† in the center of it. The abstract should reveal the main points of your research with an emphasis on scientific novelty and relevance as well as your individual evaluation of the findings. Main Body. The main body should consist of the introduction, the main body paragraphs, and the conclusion. In the introduction, you should set the backgrounds of your research and explain the importance of the paper. The most significant element of the introduction is the thesis statement. It is usually the last part of the introduction section that explains the main argument of the paper. After that, in the main body section, you should explore in detail all the arguments mentioned in the abstract and in the introduction. The arguments should be supported by factual information, statistical data, real-life examples, other evidence-based information, and your own critical assessment. Conclusion. In the conclusion, you should summarize all the findings and accentuate the main purpose of the paper once again. The conclusion should not contain the information that was not mentioned in the paper before. Reference Page. The reference page is a separate page that goes after the main body. The title of this page contains the word â€Å"References† only. The sources used in the paper should be formatted according to the requirements of the APA referencing style and listed in the alphabetical order. Proofreading to Ensure Everything Looks Sounds Good Once you’re done with the writing part, you have to proofread and edit the piece if necessary. First of all, you should check grammar and punctuation as these elements reflect your overall academic knowledge. For this purpose, you can use some online websites like Grammarly that would help you find the most common mistakes and provide you with an explanation of your mistake. Ensure to check your paper for plagiarism as only authentic papers can receive high marks and show a high level of proficiency and knowledge. Besides, mind the word choice, and the overall style of the paper as academic papers have a certain requirement regarding their style. For instance, you should not use idioms, phrasal verbs, contractions or stylistically marked words. If it’s too difficult for you to detect your own mistakes, you can ask another person for help. For instance, your friend or parent can read your term paper and give you a helpful response highlighting the strengths and the weakn esses of your paper. Thus, you’ll focus your attention on the weak parts of the paper and improve them. Consequently, if you follow all the tips listed above, you will create a high-quality Nursing term paper, as well as improve your academic writing skills. Reference â€Å"Essay Help: 5 Tips for Writing Nursing Research Papers.† LinkedIn SlideShare, 16 Mar. 2013, www.slideshare.net/EssaysExperts/essay-help-5-tips-for-writing-nursing-research-papers. â€Å"How to Write a Term Paper: Outline, Topics, Format | EssayPro.† Essay Writing with EssayPro, Essay Writing with EssayPro, 11 July 2018, essaypro.com/blog/term-paper/. â€Å"100 Nursing Research Paper Topics for College Students.† Last Minute Assignment Help, 30 Dec. 2016, www.lastminuteassignmenthelp.com/100-nursing-research-paper-topics-college-students/. â€Å"Nursing: Databases for Articles, Etc.† Subject Course Guides, researchguides.uic.edu/c.php?g=252186p=1684967. â€Å"Tips for Writing a Research Paper.† NMU Student Organizations, May 2011, www.nmu.edu/writingcenter/tips-writing-research-paper.

Free Essays on The Force Of Lady Macbeth

In the play â€Å"Macbeth† by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is driven into a murderous rampage so that he may become king. In doing so, he must first off kill the King Duncan himself and everyone that is heir to the throne. Lady Macbeth, his wife, is suggested to be the mastermind behind the whole ordeal. She has a great deal of power over Macbeth and could have easily been the reason why Macbeth did embark upon his murdering spree. Macbeth had the ability to murder the king, although he had his doubt. He just had his wife’s encouragement to push him the rest of the way. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth does indeed have the ambition to kill King Duncan. Even Lady Macbeth knows he could, but she also knows that he wouldn’t without a bit of encouragement. She says, â€Å"The illness should attend it: what thou woulds’t highly.† So, in a way, Lady Macbeth somewhat brainwashes her husband into killing the king by subtly taunting his masculinity, like when she says, â€Å"what beast was’t then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man, And, to be more that what you were, you would Be so much more a man.† Lady Macbeth would have even killed King Duncan herself, except she claims that he looked like her father. Lady Macbeth states, â€Å"Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had don’t.† Even so, Macbeth went along with the plan and murdered Duncan. After his first murder, King Duncan, Macbeth becomes very ashamed of what he has done, â€Å"to know my deed, ‘twere best not to know myself.† Lady Macbeth doesn’t even seem to care in the slightest, but she is aware that if they think about what they have done too much, it will drive them mad. â€Å"These deeds must not be thought After these ways: so, it will make us mad,† she says. So instead she thinks that if they just get rid of all the evidence, then they will both be fine and no one will find out. â€Å"A little water clears us o... Free Essays on The Force Of Lady Macbeth Free Essays on The Force Of Lady Macbeth In the play â€Å"Macbeth† by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is driven into a murderous rampage so that he may become king. In doing so, he must first off kill the King Duncan himself and everyone that is heir to the throne. Lady Macbeth, his wife, is suggested to be the mastermind behind the whole ordeal. She has a great deal of power over Macbeth and could have easily been the reason why Macbeth did embark upon his murdering spree. Macbeth had the ability to murder the king, although he had his doubt. He just had his wife’s encouragement to push him the rest of the way. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth does indeed have the ambition to kill King Duncan. Even Lady Macbeth knows he could, but she also knows that he wouldn’t without a bit of encouragement. She says, â€Å"The illness should attend it: what thou woulds’t highly.† So, in a way, Lady Macbeth somewhat brainwashes her husband into killing the king by subtly taunting his masculinity, like when she says, â€Å"what beast was’t then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man, And, to be more that what you were, you would Be so much more a man.† Lady Macbeth would have even killed King Duncan herself, except she claims that he looked like her father. Lady Macbeth states, â€Å"Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had don’t.† Even so, Macbeth went along with the plan and murdered Duncan. After his first murder, King Duncan, Macbeth becomes very ashamed of what he has done, â€Å"to know my deed, ‘twere best not to know myself.† Lady Macbeth doesn’t even seem to care in the slightest, but she is aware that if they think about what they have done too much, it will drive them mad. â€Å"These deeds must not be thought After these ways: so, it will make us mad,† she says. So instead she thinks that if they just get rid of all the evidence, then they will both be fine and no one will find out. â€Å"A little water clears us o...

Using the Spanish Verb Pasar

Using the Spanish Verb Pasar Like its English cognate to pass, the Spanish verb pasar has a variety of meanings that often vaguely relate to movement in space or time. The key to translating the verb, more so than with most words, is understanding the context. Pasar is regularly conjugated, using the pattern of verbs such as hablar. Pasar as a Verb of Happening Although the English pass is sometimes a synonym for to happen, such usage is extremely common in Spanish. Another possible translations for this usage is to occur or to take place. Dime quà © te pasà ³. (Tell me what happened to you.)Nadie sabà ­a decirnos lo que pasaba, habà ­a mucha confusià ³n. (Nobody knew to tell us what happened, there was so much confusion.)Mira lo que pasa cuando les dices a las personas que son bellas. (Look at what happens to people when you say they are beautiful.) Other Common Meanings of Pasar Here are the other meanings of pasar you are most likely to come across: To happen, to occur:  ¿Quà © ha pasado aquà ­? (What happened here?) Pase lo que pase estoy a tu lado. (Whatever happens, Im at your side.) Creo que ya pasà ³. (I think it has already happened.) To spend (time): Pasà ³ todo el dà ­a con la familia de Juan. (She spent all day with Juans family.) Pasaba los fines de semana tocando su guitarra. (He would spend weekends playing his guitar.) To move or travel: No pasa el tren por la ciudad. (The train doesnt go through the city.) To enter a room or area:  ¡Bienvenida a mi casa!  ¡Pasa! (Welcome to my house! Come in!) To cross (a line of some sort): Pasamos la frontera y entramos en Portugal. (We crossed the border and entered Portugal.) El general Torrejà ³n pasà ³ el rà ­o con la caballerà ­a. (General Torrejon crossed the river with the cavalry.) To go past: Siga derecho y pase 5 semforos. (Go straight ahead and pass five traffic lights.) Cervantes pasà ³ por aquà ­. (Cervantes came by here.) To hand over an object: Psame la salsa, por favor. (Pass the sauce, please.) No me pasà ³ nada. (He didnt give me anything.) To endure, to suffer, to put up with: Nunca pasaron hambre gracias a que sus ancestros gallegos trabajaron como animales. (They never suffered from hunger because their ancestors worked like animals.) Dios no nos abandona cuando pasamos por el fuego de la prueba. (God does not abandon us when we go through the fiery ordeal.) To experience: No puedes pasar sin Internet. (I cant get by without the Internet.) No tenà ­a amigos ni amigas, por eso me lo pasaba mal. (I didnt have male friends nor female friends, and because of this I had a rough time.) To pass (a test): La nià ±a no pasà ³ el examen de audicià ³n. (The girl didnt pass the audition.) To exceed: Pasamos de los 150 kilà ³metros por hora. (We went faster than 150 kilometers per hour.) To overlook (in the phrase pasar por alto): Pasarà © por alto tus errores. (Ill overlook your mistakes.) To show (a motion picture): Disney Channel pasà ³ la pelà ­cula con escenas nuevas. (The Disney Channel showed the movie with new scenes.) To forget: No entiendo como  se me pasà ³ estudiar  lo ms importante. (I dont now how I forgot to study the most important thing.) Reflexive Usage of Pasarse The reflexive form pasarse is often used with little or no change in meaning, although it sometimes suggests that the action was surprising, sudden, or unwanted:  ¿Nadie se pasà ³ por aquà ­? (Nobody passed through here?)Muchos jà ³venes se pasaron por la puerta de acceso para adultos mayores. (Many young people passed through the access door for older adults.)En una torre de enfriamiento, el agua se pasa por el condensa. (In a cooling tower, the water passes through the condenser.) Key Takeaways Pasar is a common Spanish verb that is often used to mean to happen.Other meanings of pasar coincide with many of the meanings of its English cognate, to pass.The reflexive form pasarse usually has little or no difference in meaning from the normal form.

The Debilitating Effect of Hierarchical Structures on Those With and Essay

The Debilitating Effect of Hierarchical Structures on Those With and Without Power Then and Now - Essay Example In various forms, hierarchy gives rise to leaders or a handful of principal individuals in a group, which naturally occurs from interactions. Magee and Galinsky (3) discuss the definition and behavior of a hierarchical structure: Resources are unequally distributed across individuals and groups, and positions and roles are granted different amounts of sources of power, which are conferred upon the individuals who occupy them. Like both human and non-human primate societies more generally, most, if not all, organizations have a stratified structure, a pyramid shape with fewer people at the top than at the bottom. Even when one considers the heterogeneity of organizational forms and organizational practices and cultures that are intended to dodge or suppress hierarchy, what is most noticeable is that hierarchy relentlessly rises up against these pressures. Most importantly, hierarchy is a naturally-forming phenomenon that is always present in various forms across all societies in the w orld. It inescapably develops between and within groups even when some organizations reduce the effect of its structure by adopting alternative models of shaping an organization (Leavitt 42). Social hierarchy in organizations is defined as â€Å"an implicit or explicit rank order of individuals or groups with respect to a valued social dimension† (Magee and Galinsky 5). ... 930). Hierarchies create power and control to individuals of the higher rank that hold greater ability, skills and motivation to complete certain tasks within a group. In formal hierarchy, the differentiated structure is constant but passive since changing the assembly of ranks is difficult and borderline unreasonable. On the other hand, the organizational structure in informal hierarchy is weak and conditional because the hierarchical differentiation is only done on short interaction based on stereotype-based expectations (Magee and Galinsky 7). Over the years, hierarchical structures faded and developed a debilitating effect to those members of groups and organizations that possess power and to those who lack one. This gradual weakening of hierarchy will be discussed by exploring the literary pieces, â€Å"The Use of Force† by William Carlos William, â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† by Robert Hayden, and â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† by Theodore Roethke. William Car los William’s famous short story, â€Å"The Use of Force† presents the application of physical superiority of a person with power to others who have none. In the story, a doctor is shown to diagnose a sick child whom they suspect of having the deadly disease diphtheria. The doctor needed to get a throat culture in the mouth of the child in order to examine the cause of the illness correctly, however the stubbornness of the child and the passive authority of the parents made the process harder to execute. The doctor appeared to be compassionate at first, addressing an open mind to the expressed fear of the child in being examined, and at the reluctance of the parents to accommodate a stranger like him into their home. But as the child becomes more

The rule in Salomon v Salomon & Co [1897] AC 22 has been described as Essay - 2

The rule in Salomon v Salomon & Co [1897] AC 22 has been described as one of the corner stones of English Company Law - Essay Example This article will examine the rationale of the decision and its impacts towards the development of company law. The status of limited liability went to specific companies before 1825 through the provisions of express available in the Royal Charter regarding Incorporation. Section 2 of the Bubble Act of 1825 governed the first efforts in officially, introducing the concept of limited liability to the English laws. The section provided that the shareholders of a particular corporation would personally be liable in their own persons as well as their property to that extent as well as subject to the regulations and limitations as his magnificence. Although there was no opposition from the Crown to the idea of legal personality, public pressure turned in opposing any extension of legal personality that later became troubled with the stance of creditors. This provoked public suspicions because of the expectation that the Bubble Act would lead to an increase in the number of licensed companies with limited liability. This therefore was the reason for the withholding of the doctrine of limited liabil ity from Company Act in 1844 (Ferran 1999). However, public opinion moved in the reverse direction in favour of the principle of limited liability. In the 1850s, the doctrine acquired recognition in the law. In the year 1852, the Court of Exchequer chamber in the case of Hallet versus Dowdall accredited the legality of the clause of limited liability of 1952. This in turn prompted the parliament to pass the Limited Liability Act in 1855 as well as more contemporary act of Joint Stock Companies of 1856. Consequently, this led to the enactment of the Companies Act in 1862, which formed the foundation for the delivery of the rule in Salomon. The intention of the House of Lords in the Salomon rule was to send a clear message to the members of the public

HEALTHCARE PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

HEALTHCARE PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES - Essay Example social target of governments and WHO on the coming decades should be (1) â€Å"the attainment by all citizens of the world by year 2000 of a level of health that will permit them to lead a socially and economically productive life,† for brevity called â€Å"Health fro All† (2) with the adoption of health a san integral part of socio-economic development by the united Nations in 1979 (3) health, while being an end in itself, has also become a major instrument of overall socio-economic development and the creation of a new of a new social order. â€Å"Health† is one of those terms which most people find it difficult to define although they are confident of its meaning. Therefore, many definitions of health have been offered from time to time, including the following: But the widely accepted definition of health is that given by the World Health Organization (1948) in the preamble of its constitution, which is as follows: â€Å"Health is a state of complete physical mental and social well being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity†. In recent years, this statement has been amplified to include the ability to lead a socially and economically productive life. The WHO definition of health has been criticized as being too broad. Some argue that health can not be defined as a â€Å"state† at all but must be seen as a process of continuous adjustment to the changing demands of living and of the changing meaning meanings we give to life. It is a dynamic concept. It helps people like well, work well and enjoy themselves. The WHO definition of health is therefore considered by many as an idealistic goal than a realistic proposition. In spite of all limitations, the concept of health as defined by WHO is broad and positive in its implications; it sets out the standard, the standard of positive health. It symbolizes the aspirations of people and represents an overall objective or goal towards which nations should strive. In recent years, we have acquired a new

Research Tools and their Effectiveness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research Tools and their Effectiveness - Essay Example The research took more than 26 weeks to complete. With the sensitivity of the matter, training them for only 8 weeks doesn’t make a lot of sense in that they will not have experienced the necessary knowledge which they can use with ease to determine whether to report as casualty or not. Further, the issue of monitoring the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy is not much encouraged because, if you monitor them, they will tend to be accurate and may not sway away from normality due to your presence. For a research to have the required scientific vigor homogeneity of data is required and this can only be obtained if some certain restrictions are imposed on the participants (Agnes, A 2007). This may include: Age, gender, occupation, health status, earning and many others depending entirely on the objective of the study. For example, for one to take part in this study, the researcher ensured that, he/she had at least some experience in radiography which he himself knew and another which had brought him to that health facility to assist in the provision of the service. However, they were not required to have any formal training in radiography. In any scientific research which involves human participants, freedom to take part in it is a priority as you cannot force one to get involved without his/her consent (Mailu, S. 2004). Participants have to be given the opportunity to say what they want based on the restrictions above. In this study, all the participants are not provided with the necessary information and a verbal consent is not sought from each of them. Mainly a consent form is signed by him/her stating that, all that is involved in the study will be followed to the later voluntarily (Charles, A 2000). The protection of human participant’s information is key for any research to be successful (Bailey, 2005).

Developing and Managing YourMoshas Key Marketing Relationships Essay

Developing and Managing YourMoshas Key Marketing Relationships - Essay Example More recently during 1970’s and 1980’s the most significant trends included increasing global competition greater demand for quality and process improvement, shorter product life cycles and the need for a more flexible work force. In 1990’s the most impact trend was the rapid emergence of the Internet. With 50 million people connected in only 5 years, the Internet has become the most rapidly accepted communications medium ever. Initially, the Internet’s potential seemed limited to its function as a dating network but that is no longer the case. The Internet is a sales and distribution channel and is facilitating e- commerce, the ability to do business over the web. It is further enabling the integration of previously isolated information and music industry components. This integration of data, content, storage, networks, business applications and consumer devices is facilitating the convergence of consumer electronics, television, publishing, telecommunica tions and computer business sectors. Technology is shifting power to buyers e-commerce is changing the channels through which consumers and business have traditionally bought and sold goods and services. It provides sellers with access to a global audience, the ability to operate with minimal infrastructure, reduced overhead and greater economies of scale; consumers with a broad selection, convenience, and competitive pricing. Consequently, a growing number of consumers are embracing the web, buying products and services etc.

Critical analysis of five articles related to finance Essay

Critical analysis of five articles related to finance - Essay Example The inflation in Asia, corresponding to the worldwide phenomenon, is also surmounting. This is evident, in the rise of fuel prices and other infrastructural bottlenecks. In fact, the inflation in India has touched 11.91% already! Due to this, international projects and other internal economic activity, have been affected. In my opinion, inflationary tendencies are often high in the Asian continent. The continent particularly comprises Developing economies. These economies are often at the mercy of the developed world and their dominance in the international arena. Due to this, when the OPEC countries have benefitted from the rise in fuel prices, the Asian continent seems to be worst hit. However, with countries in the G-8 Summit talking about alternative sources of energy. Due to this, the inflation has lowered slightly! The second article is on Presidential candidate, Barack Obama's speech. The article talks about Obama's visit to Europe. He has asked the European countries to share the burden of the United States. This, he urged, was in an attempt to countering a threat to world peace-Terrorism. This was to urge greater military support and to garner all forces to fight against the menace. Terrorism is especially prevalent in Afghanistan and other places.

Developing and Managing YourMoshas Key Marketing Relationships Essay

Developing and Managing YourMoshas Key Marketing Relationships - Essay Example More recently during 1970’s and 1980’s the most significant trends included increasing global competition greater demand for quality and process improvement, shorter product life cycles and the need for a more flexible work force. In 1990’s the most impact trend was the rapid emergence of the Internet. With 50 million people connected in only 5 years, the Internet has become the most rapidly accepted communications medium ever. Initially, the Internet’s potential seemed limited to its function as a dating network but that is no longer the case. The Internet is a sales and distribution channel and is facilitating e- commerce, the ability to do business over the web. It is further enabling the integration of previously isolated information and music industry components. This integration of data, content, storage, networks, business applications and consumer devices is facilitating the convergence of consumer electronics, television, publishing, telecommunica tions and computer business sectors. Technology is shifting power to buyers e-commerce is changing the channels through which consumers and business have traditionally bought and sold goods and services. It provides sellers with access to a global audience, the ability to operate with minimal infrastructure, reduced overhead and greater economies of scale; consumers with a broad selection, convenience, and competitive pricing. Consequently, a growing number of consumers are embracing the web, buying products and services etc.

Product concepts Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Product concepts - Assignment Example h the highest sales were from women apparel at $110,826 million, followed by that of men at $54,932 and children and infants at $34,235 (The Statistics Portal). Women are great shoppers and their tastes change with the trending fashion and style, which also aligned with the technological transformations that were taking place in the industry, such as online marketing and selling (Spencer Para 2). I believed I had a role to play in growing my parent’s business, which also enable me to advance my skills in operating my own business, which I believe I will have following my graduation. Therefore, I started marketing the products that my parents designed using my social media platform, Facebook, which was listed as the social media channel with the highest number of users across the globe (Niciporuc 1). The idea was that since I have a passion for technology I can also bring the two business ideas together and ensure that they complement each other. In other words, I would use the social media to connect and interact with my friends while at the same time I will be marketing the clothing designs and other products that I had made. Through this the customer based for my apparel retail business would grow, especially the target market; that is women. Niciporuc, Tudor. "Comparative analysis of the engagement rate on Facebook and Google Plus social networks." Proceedings of International Academic Conferences. No. 0902287. International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences,

The Complex Relationship Between Faith Essay Example for Free

The Complex Relationship Between Faith Essay The Complex Relation between Faith and Fate In the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, numerous themes present themselves to the reader. Irving uses the idea of the relationship of faith and fate to question whether or not faith directly shapes our fate, creating the idea that believing in God in a world with no faith completely absurd. As the novel unfolds, you begin to understand ‘special purpose’ each character serves can only be told in the way God decides. When Owen Meany is on stage portraying the ghost of Christmas yet to come he approaches the gravestone prop, stops, and suddenly faints. He later awakens, as the curtains fall only to realize that the name he read on the gravestone is his own. Scared, he knew he had been given a glimpse into his future. â€Å"It made (Owen) furious when I suggested that anything was an ‘accident’ – especially anything that happened to him; on the subject of predestination, Owen Meany would accuse Calvin of bad faith. There were no accidents. (Irving 66) Owen has a very strong sense of faith and believed that this directly affected his fate and the fates of others and because Owen believes he is an ‘instrument of God’ and that there are no accidents. Everything dealing with Owen is fated to occur. As did others in the novel, Sagamore, John’s mother (Tabitha), John’s grandmother, and others all become symbols of things foreshadowed to die because they los t their faith at some point throughout the novel. Another example of faith shaping fate is when Mr. Fish taught Owen and John to play football because he had no children of his own. Irving uses this biblical allusion to show how faith is directly tied to fate. Mr. Fish had given up hope in Owen’s ability to kick a football and this led to the fate of Sagamore because, those who lost their faith became ill willed or suffered a fate only destiny could have imagined, much like Sagamore and the diaper truck. As Owen Meany became ‘God’s instrument’ in the death of Sagamore, he also served the same role in taking the life John’s mother, Tabitha, who suffered the fate of a baseball to the head. But was this an accident of fate or was it a lack there of? At the end of the novel Rev. Merrill revealed to John that he was his father, and it was John, who in the end restored his faith. It however, was the death of Tabitha that caused his lack of faith. The Rev. Merrill believes that he caused her death because, he had wished for it. Or maybe, it is his fate, that Tabitha was destined to die. Owen Meany believed that there were no such things as coincidences and that fate is the ultimate reason. Irving wrote it this way to show how faith and fate are interconnected. Most people have faith that God decides what happens to you; this is fate. There were many people in this novel that lost their faith. John’s grandmother had lost her faith after John’s mother had died which, foreshadowed her death. And maybe Owen himself, who had confidence in John to believe in faith, fated that Owen too would become another victim of fate. Which makes us think, what is it that actually contains a story of religion and fate, are they linked, or are they two things we can never know together? However, one thing is certain, the belief that if faith is lost; fate will not be so kind. Works Cited Irving, John. A Prayer for Owen Meany. New York: Ballantine Books, 1990. Print

Hydrogels for Wound Healing Applications

Hydrogels for Wound Healing Applications Abstract This chapter discusses about the hydrogels both natural and synthetic that can be used for wound healing applications. Also it discusses briefly about the various novel techniques that have been developed recently. Keywords: Hydrogels; Chitosan, Antimicrobial; Grafting; Blending; Wound dressing; Wound healing; Gene therapy, Stem cell therapy, Skin Engineering, pH and Thermosensitive polymers. 1 Introduction Healthcare is an essential aspect of human survival. So many biopolymers have generated interest in a number of biomedical applications. Wound management is one such area where management of cuts, ulcers, and sores needs dressings which help in promoting rapid wound healing in order to obtain both functional and cosmetic results. [45] There are different kinds of wound management products: staples or sutures, dressings or bandages, surgical sealants and adhesives, skin substitutes, and other biomaterials. [51] Human skin provides an effective barrier to microbial penetration and subsequent infection. However, once the wound has been developed in this barrier, the infection chances increases. In case of chronic wounds, the colonization and infection potential increases as the result of the presence of avascular eschar which provides an environment for the uninhibited growth of microorganisms. [89] The rate of infection is related to the type of wound, general wound care, and local health of the patient. [88, 90] For avoiding infection, good clinical practices are needed. The management of chronic wounds is a very costly practice and it also places an enormous drain on healthcare resources; studies have calculated the cost of wounds to the NHS to be about  £1bn a year. [166] So for lowering this cost such wound management products are needed that are more economical and effective. Out of all the above wound management products, here in this chapter we will discuss more about the wound dressings that will provide an optimal healing environment to the wound. A dressing is an adjunct used by a person for application to a wound in order to promote healing and/or prevent further harm. It is designed to be in direct contact with the wound, so it is different from the bandage in the manner that bandages are normally used to hold dressing in place. A wound is a break in the epithelial integrity of the skin and may be accompanied by disruption of the structure and function of underlying normal tissue. Wounds can be divided into four categories based on their appearance and stage of healing: Necrotic, sloughing, granulating and epithelializing wounds. [87] Wounds cause discomfort and are more prone to infection and other troublesome complications. [75] Some diseases like diabetes, ischaemia and conditions like malnourishment, ageing, local infection, local tissue damage due to burn leads to delay in wound healing. Infection is a major complication of burn injury and is responsible for 50-75% of hospital deaths. [76] Human skin has one of the greatest capacities to regenerate itself amongst all of the tissues in our body. It constantly replaces old cells with new cells, enabling it to repair itself when damaged. Wound healing is a complex-physiologic process, which consists of three overlapping phases: inflammatory, proliferative and remodeling phases. The normal healing response begins the moment the tissue is injured. As the blood components spill into the site of injury, the platelets come into contact with exposed collagen and other elements of the extracellular matrix. This contact triggers the platelets to release clotting factors as well as essential growth factors. During the inflammation process, neutrophils are the first leukocytes which come at the site of injury to rid it from bacterial contamination. Then, the monocytes and their conversion to macrophages initiate tissue repair by releasing a number of biologically active substances and growth factors that are necessary for the initi ation of tissue formation process. In the third process, fibroblasts proliferate and migrate into the wound space and started the deposition of the loose extracellular matrix. Endothelial cells grow into a wound simultaneously with fibroblasts and undergo angiogenesis. Finally, tissue remodeling takes place to reconstruct the basement membrane by the differentiation of keratinocytes as well as the formation of follicle cells. [43, 49, 50] A scar is an essential part of this natural healing process following any type of damage to the skin. This can occur after a surgical incision or the healing of a wound. As your body makes an effort to close an open wound and protect itself from infection, it replaces injured skin tissue with rapidly generated scar tissue. Scarring is slight when the damaged outer layer of skin is healed by rebuilt tissue. When we damage the thick layer of tissue beneath the skin, rebuilding is more complicated. Our bodies lay down collagen fibers (a protein which is naturally produced by the body) and this usually results in a highly obvious scar. A permanent reminder of the injury is left behind. So, a dressing that can induce scarless healing is needed. Historically, a dressing was usually a piece of material, sometimes cloth, but the use of cobwebs, dung, leaves and honey has also been described. However, modern dressings include gauzes, semipermeable films, low adherent dressings, gels, foams, hydrocolloids, alginates, hydrogels and polysaccharide pastes. Wound dressings are passive, active or interactive. Passive dressings simply provide cover while active or interactive dressings are capable of modifying the physiology of the wound environment. Interactive dressings include hydrocolloids, hydrogels, alginates, foam dressings and antimicrobial dressings. [17, 20, 85] Traditionally dry wound dressings are considered to be good for healing wounds i.e. the wound should be covered with gauze or left open. But it has been observed by Winter [191] that when wound is left open to air without any dressing, a scab i.e. a dry covering covers the wound and decreases the rate of epithelialization. On the other hand, if moist dressing is used in place of dry dressings scab will not form and rate of healing increases as moist dressings provide low oxygen tension which helps in wound healing, these dressings not only keep cells viable which enables them to release growth factors while maintaining contact between them and the healing tissues, but may also modulate or stimulate their proliferation, these dressings decrease the pain at rest, during ambulation and during dressing changes also moist environment allows rapid and efficient delivery of any added antimicrobial agent thus prevent the wound from infection. So, the dressings that create and maintain a mois t environment, however, are now considered to provide the optimal conditions for wound healing. 2 Requirements of an ideal wound care system These characteristics should be present in the ideal wound care system (a) it should be capable of maintaining a high humidity at the wound site, (b) it should be non-toxic, (c) non-allergenic, (d) it can be removed without causing trauma to the wound, (e) it should pe impermeable to bacteria, (f) Thermally insulating, (g) it should be soft to touch, (h) it should allow proper gaseous exchange, (i) it should be free from particulate and toxic product, (j) promote tissue reconstruction processes and (k) it should be cost effective. [20, 165, 177] Out of all the dressings hydrocolloids, alginates and hydrogels each one has its own advantages and limitations but hydrogels are best and have all the characteristics that are needed in an ideal wound dressing. All the above mentioned characteristics can be achieved in hydrogel wound dressings. 3 Hydrogels for Wound Healing Applications Hydrogels are natural or synthetic cross-linked polymers used in a variety of medical and biomedical applications. Hydrogels consist of a matrix of insoluble polymers with up to 96% water content enabling them to donate water molecules to the wound surface and to maintain a moist environment at the wound bed. They are used in the construction of contact lenses, drug-delivery vehicles, wound dressings and as physiological electrodes or sensors. [17] Examples of hydrogel include Aquaform, Intrasite, GranuGel, Nu-Gel, Purilon, Sterigel. These also have the ability to absorb a degree of wound exudate. They transmit moisture vapour and oxygen, but their bacterial and fluid permeability is dependent on the type of secondary dressing used. [20] Hydrogels swell or shrink in aqueous solutions due to the association, dissociation and binding of various ions to polymer chains. These systems may swell in water until an equilibrium state is reached and retain their original shape. The interactions responsible for water sorption by hydrogels include the process of hydration, which is connected to the presence of such chemical groups as -OH, -COOH, -CONH2, -CONH-, and -SO3H and the existence of capillary areas and differences in osmotic pressure. The forces that make hydrogel dissolution impossible are presence of covalent bonds between individual polymer chains, hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions. [46] These are hydrophilic polymer networks which may absorb from 10-20% (an arbitrary lower limit) up to thousands of times their dry weight in water. These may be chemically stable or they may degrade and dissolve. They are called ‘reversible, or ‘physical gels when the networks are held together by molecular entanglements, and/or secondary forces including ionic, H-bonding or hydrophobic forces. [13, 14, 15] Hydrogels are called ‘permanent or ‘chemicalgels when they are covalently-crosslinked networks as shown in 1. Hydrogels can be made by irradiation, freeze-thawing or chemical methods. Out of all the methods, irradiation is considered as a suitable tool for the formation of hydrogels as in this method there is easy control of processing, no need of adding initiators or cross-linkers which are harmful, and have the possibility of formation and sterilization in one step. But as everything has its own advantages and disadvantages this method also has a disadvantage which is hydrogels formed by this method have poor mechanical strength. Nowadays, Freeze thawing technique is generally used to prepare hydrogels having good strength, stability and no crosslinkers and initiators. But the main disadvantage is that the prepared hydrogels have opaque appearance and limited swelling and thermal stability. [120] In comparison to the traditional gauze therapy the application of a hydrogel seems to significantly stimulate wound healing. [11] Various natural and synthetic polymers having good biocompatibility are used to develop hydrogel wound dressing. These polymers include natural polymers such as alginate, chitosan, gelatin and collagen and synthetic polymers such as polyurethane, poly(ethylene glycol), polycaprolactone, poly vinyl pyrrolidone, poly(lactide-co-glycolide), polyacrylonitrile , poly(amino acid), etc. Table 1 below shows different hydrophilic polymers used to synthesize hydrogel matrices. Table 1 Hydrophilic polymers used to synthesize hydrogel matrices. [13] Hydrogels may be classified as homopolymer hydrogels, copolymer hydrogels, multipolymer hydrogels, and interpenetrating polymeric hydrogels. Homopolymer hydrogels are crosslinked networks of one type of hydrophilic monomer unit, whereas copolymer hydrogels are produced by the crosslinking of two comonomer units, one of which must be hydrophilic. Multipolymer hydrogels are produced by the crosslinking of more than three monomers. Finally, interpenetrating polymeric hydrogels are produced by the swelling of a first network in a monomer and the reaction of the latter to form a second intermeshing network structure. [46, 47] Also, it has been shown that the blending of a natural polymer with a synthetic polymer seems to be a good method for obtaining materials having required mechanical and thermal properties in comparison to pure components. It is also a simple method by which suitable shapes such as films, sponges and hydrogels can be obtained easily to realize a variety of biomedical devices. 2 shows healing is faster with the hydrogel dressing than with the gauze dressing. Wound area covered by hydrogel decreases faster with increasing healing period. On the contrary, the wound covered by gauze dressing reduces by only half a percent even after 14 days. [192] 3.1 Natural Hydrogels Natural polymers, such as chitin, chitosan, alginate, collagen, elastin, genipin, gelatin, cellulose etc. have been used for dressing wounds because they play an important role in the healing process. [47] Chitosan is a partially deacetylated form of chitin. Chitin as BeschitinÃ’, Unitika, is also commercially available as dressing in Japan. [28] But as far as chitosan is concerned it is biocompatible, biodegradable, haemostatic, fungistatic [54] and non-toxic and can be successfully used as gels, films, fibres etc. This polymer also show antibacterial properties and possess good wound healing properties. [60, 61, 62] It has many applications as wound dressing, drug delivery device and as scaffold for tissue engineering. [63, 64] Some of the examples of wound dressings are given below which use chitosan as one of the biomaterial. Asymmetric chitosan membranes have been developed by using immersion-precipitation phase-inversion method. [123, 124, 125] These asymmetric chitosan membranes are homogeneous and have porous structure. This membrane was prepared by preheating casted chitosan solution in oven for different time periods for dry phase separation and then immersed in to coagulant tank for wet phase separation and were subsequently freeze-dried. The skin layer acts as the rate controlling barrier for the release of drug and the porous layer provide mechanical support to the skin layer. The water vapor transmission rate, gas permeability, PBS solution absorption, in-vitro degradation, cell culture, bacterial penetration and wound healing test of this dressing were carried out. These membranes are effective in controlling evaporative water loss, showed excellent oxygen permeability and also antibacterial in nature. These are also found to be an urgent hemostat. In another study, silver sulphadiazine was inc orporated as an antimicrobial agent to this asymmetric dressing. The release behaviour of both silver and sulphadiazine ions were studied and found to be significantly different from one another. Silver ions displayed a slow release behavior while sulphadiazine ions exhibited burst effect on first day of the drug release and then slowly tapered off. It is because of the interaction of silver with amino group of chitosan leading to its slow release throughout whereas, as the sulphadiazine ions were free to diffuse through the membrane to reach the wound site thus they showed a burst release. The membranes were further found effective against P. aerugniosa and S. aureus. In one of the papers, novel wound dressings were formed that composed of chitosan film and Minocycline Hydrochloride (MH) and commercial polyurethane film (Tegaderm) as a backing. It is also a useful formulation for the treatment of severe burn wounds. Water vapor and oxygen can permeate the Tegaderm film but water cannot. The tegaderm film support the polymer membrane. [126] In one of the studies, a silver nanocrystalline chitosan (SNC) wound dressing composed of nano-silver and chitosan was constructed by self-assembly and nanotechnology and used for treating deep partial-thickness wounds. In this, sterility and pyrogen testing were performed to ensure biosafety. These dressings promote wound healing and combat infection, and also decrease the risk of silver absorption in comparison with silver sulphadiazine (SSD) dressings. [127] There is also one more method of forming wound dressing composed of chitosan i.e. the formation of polyelectrolyte complex of gum kondagogu (GKG) and chitosan. This complex is formed by the electrostatic interaction between carboxyl group of gum and amine group of chitosan. This method is more advantageous as it avoids the use of organic solvents, chemical crosslinking agents and thus reduces the toxicity and undesirable side effects. In this, diclofenac sodium is used as model drug. The diclofenac loaded complex of gum kondagogu/ chitosan shows drug release which changes with change in pH. The drug release was higher at pH 6.8 as compared to pH 1.2, due to higher swelling of complex at higher pH. This holds a great potential as a natural polymer based delivery device for controlled delivery of drugs like diclofenac sodium for two reasons: (i) to reduce dosing frequency and (ii) lower the gastric toxicity. [152] Semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (SIPNs) composed of chitosan (CS) and poloxamer were prepared in order to improve the mechanical strength of CS. The WVTR was found to be 2508.2 ±65.7 gm−2 day−1, i.e. these can maintain a moist environment at wound site which enhance epithelial cell migration. Also, the in vitro assessment of SIPNs showed proper biodegradation and low cytotoxicity and in vivo is carried out on experimental full thickness wounds in a mouse model and found that the wounds covered with these were completely filled with new epithelium without any significant adverse reactions after 3 weeks. In one of the papers, a kind of surgical wound dressing, the chitosan-gelatin sponge wound dressing (CGSWD) having good antibacterial property is prepared. The in vitro test showed that the antibacterial effect of CGSWD on E. coli K88 is better than that of penicillin, and the effect on S. aureus is also better than that of cefradine. [137] One more wound dressing consists of two separate layers were prepared in which the upper layer is a swellable hydrogel material which can absorb exudates and also serve as mechanical and microbial barrier while lower layer is a chitosan acetate foam incorporated with the anti-microbial agent chlorherxidine gluconate. [183] The antimicrobial activity is checked by the Bauer-Kirby Disk Diffusion Test, inhibition zones can be clearly seen around the discs of chitosan acetate foams incorporated with chlorhexidine gluconate, in culture plates inoculated with either Gram-negative or positive bacteria showing that the dressing is antimicrobial in nature. Blending is a convenient and effective method to improve physical and mechanical properties of hydrogels. So modification of chitosan is done by blending with other polymers like cellulose. [178] In this, E. coli and S. aureus were used as the test bacteria to examine the antibacterial properties of chitosan, cellulose and chitosan/cellulose blends. The numbers of colony of these bacteria formed on the test membranes are shown in s 5 and 6. It was noted that the numbers of colony of all test bacteria formed on the chitosan/cellulose blend membranes were decreased with the increase of chitosan concentration. These blends are more effective against E. coli than that of S. aureus, as indicated by the lower colony unit. Thus these dressings are suitable to use as an antimicrobial wound dressing. Chitosan due to its structural properties has the ability to heal wounds without scar formation. [198] Since chitosan is composed of D-glucosamine, which is also the component present in the disaccharide subunits of hyaluronic acid, chitosan tries to structurally mimic hyaluronic acid and exerts similar effects. [197] It has been known that the fetal wound healing takes place without fibrosis or scar formation due to the presence of hyaluronic acid. [199] In one of the studies, Chitosan as a semi-permeable biological dressing maintains a moist environment and prevent the wound site from dehydration and contamination. In addition, digital colour separation analysis of donor site scars demonstrated an earlier return to normal skin colour at chitosan-treated areas as shown in 7. [196] Collagen is also a biopolymer that is used as a polymer for making wound dressing and drug delivery devices as it is biocompatible and biocompatibility of a material applied to wound tissue is a prerequisite for optimal wound environment and facilitation of the healing processes. A new collagen dressing with gentamycin or amikacin was prepared in one of the research work and these follow the basic requirement of antibacterial bandages. The dressing is composed of two collagen biomaterials—membrane and sponge—both possessing good tissue biocompatibility. These dressing released antibiotics slowly and show the antibacterial treatment in experimentally infected superficial wounds in mice. Thus, it can be used for the treatment of infected wounds in humans. [26] As discussed previously that both chitosan and collagen are excellent materials that can be used as wound dressing materials. So it has been seen that if both are used simultaneously then what will be the effect. It is found that the wound dressings composed of chitosan crosslinked collagen sponge (CCCS) enhance the diabetic wound healing. Collagen crosslinked with chitosan showed several advantages required for wound dressing, including the uniform and porous ultrastructure, less water imbibition, small interval porosity, and high resistance to collagenase digestion and slow release of FGF from CCCS/FGF. [138] Following moist healing concept, alginates which are able to absorb exudates from wound have become one of the most important materials for wound management. [52, 53, 54, 55, 56] In this particular field, the properties of alginate fibers are unparalleled in many respects. Alginate based products form a gel and effective in removing out of the wound on the contrary to traditional cotton and viscose fibres, which can entrap in the wound developing discomfort during dressing removal. [55] Also, the alginate fibres are non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, non-allergic, haemostatic, biocompatible, of reasonable strength, capable of being sterilized and easily processable. Sorbsanâ„ ¢ was first commercialized in 1981 and after that there were many dressings launched. The alginate fibers can be converted into wound dressings by using a number of textile processes. Because of its simplicity and also the high absorbency of the product, nonwoven is the main form of alginate wound dressings. [19] The antimicrobial action of alginate dressing can be seen as in 8 which shows the antimicrobial action of silver containing alginate fibers against E. Coli. There was 100% reduction in bacteria count within 5 hr after the fibers were placed in contact with solutions containing the bacteria. Sorbsan alginate fibers showed some antimicrobial activity while AquacelTM (made of carboxymethyl cellulose), does not show any antimicrobial effect. [18] Gelatin widely found in nature and is the major constituent of skin, bones, and connective tissue. Gelatin can easily be obtained by a controlled hydrolysis of the fibrous insoluble protein, collagen. [195] This is also used in number of biomedical applications like wound dressings. Hydrogel wound dressing from gelatin, oxidized alginate and borax were prepared and the composite matrix promotes wound healing because of alginate, has haemostatic effect of gelatin and is antiseptic because of borax. The water vapour transmission rate (WVTR) of the hydrogel was calculated and found to be 2686 ±124 g/m2/day indicating that this hydrogel can maintain a proper fluid balance at the wound site which helps in cell migration. 2 shows the loss of water vapour with time through the hydrogel when placed in a moisture rich environment. [119] Genipin has been used to crosslink chitosan membranes to control swelling ratio and mechanical properties. It increased its ultimate tensile strength but significantly reduced its strain-at-fracture and swelling ratio. It had significantly less cytotoxicity for human fibroblasts and slower degradation rate compared to the glutaraldehyde-crosslinked membrane. This genipin crosslinked chitosan membrane can be successfully used as a wound dressing. [132] Bacterial cellulose is a natural polymer consisting of microfibrils containing glucan chains bound together by hydrogen bonds. Bacterial cellulose with chitosan combines properties such as bioactivity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability of the two biopolymers and form an ideal material for dressing wounds. [66, 67] These are antibacterial and scar preventive in nature too. Since natural polymers have been considered limited in their applications for wound-dressing materials as their low mechanical properties and shortage of processing. So we move towards the synthetic polymers that can be used for wound healing applications. 3.2 Synthetic Hydrogels Synthetic polymers are also being used successfully in biomedical applications as one of the materials because of their wide range of mechanical properties, suitability for easily forming into a variety of different shapes, and low production costs. In an ideal dressing both the characteristics i.e. antimicrobial ability and moist healing environment should be present, so in order to prevent the wound from dehydration and bacterial penetration a new dressing composed of polyurethane is designed in such a way that the upper layer of the dressing is microporous (pore size Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) is one of the most widely used synthetic polymers in medicine because of its solubility in water and its extremely low cytotoxicity. Hydrogels prepared by radiation crosslinking of an aqueous solution of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) have been used as wound dressing. [21] These are biocompatible, reduces pain, easily replacable, permeable to oxygen, maintain moist environment at the wound site. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a well-known polymer because it is biocompatible and have required mechanical properties and polyethylene oxide (PEO) is a hydrophilic semicrystalline polyether which is biocompatible, non toxic, non polar, non antigenic and non immunogenic and is highly desirable in most biomedical applications requiring contact with physiological fluids. A hydrogel composed of PEO for wound dressing is prepared and PVA is added to give toughness to the hydrogel by electron beam irradiation and found that these hydrogels showed satisfactory properties for wound dressing that has been evaluated by creating wound on the back of the marmots. [157] The hydrogel gives a wet environment to wounds which causes faster healing compared with the gauze dressing with a dry environment. The weight of the hydrogel increases quickly at the earlier stages, up to 4 days, due to absorption of effusion produced from the wound as shown in Table 2. After that, the production of effusion from the wound ceases and the weight of the hydrogel decreases due to evaporation of the water in the hydrogel. This means that the healing of wound proceeds smoothly with time. The hydrogel can be peeled off easily from the wound at the time of removal. Table 2 Absorption of effusion from wound of dressing during healing. [157] The toughness of PEO hydrogel is improved by the addition of PVA and tensile strength is measured and found that as shown in 10 and 11, the tensile strength and elongation decrease with increasing dose because of the increase of crosslinking. Various synthetic polymers as discussed above are used for wound dressing applications. But the major problem with these materials is their biocompatibility characteristics are often unsatisfactory and their interaction with living tissues is a major problem. So a combination of both natural and synthetic polymers is the better option to make a hydrogel having biocompatibility and desired mechanical strength. 3.3 Blended hydrogels Since both the natural and synthetic polymers have their own advantages and disadvantages so a combination of natural and synthetic polymers can endow the optimal properties necessary for wound repair. [47] The combination of natural and synthetic polymers is used in the biomedical, bioengineering and biotechnology field nowadays because of their great potential. A blended hydrogel composed of polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinyl pyrrolidone and charcoal were prepared by single ‘‘freezing and thawing or two-step ‘‘freezing and thawing and ÃŽ ³-ray irradiation and applied as wound dressing. It is found that the absorption of S. aureus and P. aeruginosa by charcoal/PVA/PVP hydrogels was larger than those by PVA/PVP hydrogels, this is due to the absorption and attachment capability of bacteria by charcoal, this can be shown in 12 given below. [22] The most classical way of fabricating a CS based wound dressing has been to design an asymmetric composite structure. In this method, the Cotton fabric was coated with chitosan (CS) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) followed by freeze-drying. The outer dense layer helps in preventing the microbial passage across the dressing and provides a rate controlling barrier for water vapor permeation, while the inner porous layer provides a high surface area for the exudates absorption. For the absorption of wound exudates porosity is the prime requirement in a dressing. It has been found that these dressings have the porosity 54-70% and the pore size was in the range of 75-120 µm. [45] The increase in the PEG content in the blend composition led to an enhanced destabilization of pores, leading to an increase in the pore size with elongated morphology. There seems to be phase separation between the two components which is an important factor for the observed behavior of the porous structure. Cot ton fabric has been used as the support layer for the CS-PEG layer and leads to very thin and light weight structures. The structure of the dressing has been designed in such a way that it leads to the high porosity of the bulk structure. The thickness of CS coating plays an important role in the development of the porosity on the surface. The influence of the CS thickness on the surface morphology is presented in 13 given below. PEG addition to CS makes significant alteration in the surface morphology of this CS-PEG/cotton membrane (freeze-dried), henceforth known as CPC membrane. There is a distinct trend in the loss of inherent elongated porous structure in membranes and formation of the partially collapsed porosity takes place due to the PEG addition. This suggests that a very limited interaction between CS and PEG exists which is reflected in the observed surface morphology. It has been observed that higher the amount of PEG, the higher is the pore destabilization leading to larger pores. This is evident from the morphology of the CPC membrane at 50% PEG-20 content as shown in 14.45 On the above matrix, the addition of PVP and drug followed by coating on the cotton fabric and freeze drying of the coated matrix is also done. It has been found that the drug Hydrogels for Wound Healing Applications Hydrogels for Wound Healing Applications Abstract This chapter discusses about the hydrogels both natural and synthetic that can be used for wound healing applications. Also it discusses briefly about the various novel techniques that have been developed recently. Keywords: Hydrogels; Chitosan, Antimicrobial; Grafting; Blending; Wound dressing; Wound healing; Gene therapy, Stem cell therapy, Skin Engineering, pH and Thermosensitive polymers. 1 Introduction Healthcare is an essential aspect of human survival. So many biopolymers have generated interest in a number of biomedical applications. Wound management is one such area where management of cuts, ulcers, and sores needs dressings which help in promoting rapid wound healing in order to obtain both functional and cosmetic results. [45] There are different kinds of wound management products: staples or sutures, dressings or bandages, surgical sealants and adhesives, skin substitutes, and other biomaterials. [51] Human skin provides an effective barrier to microbial penetration and subsequent infection. However, once the wound has been developed in this barrier, the infection chances increases. In case of chronic wounds, the colonization and infection potential increases as the result of the presence of avascular eschar which provides an environment for the uninhibited growth of microorganisms. [89] The rate of infection is related to the type of wound, general wound care, and local health of the patient. [88, 90] For avoiding infection, good clinical practices are needed. The management of chronic wounds is a very costly practice and it also places an enormous drain on healthcare resources; studies have calculated the cost of wounds to the NHS to be about  £1bn a year. [166] So for lowering this cost such wound management products are needed that are more economical and effective. Out of all the above wound management products, here in this chapter we will discuss more about the wound dressings that will provide an optimal healing environment to the wound. A dressing is an adjunct used by a person for application to a wound in order to promote healing and/or prevent further harm. It is designed to be in direct contact with the wound, so it is different from the bandage in the manner that bandages are normally used to hold dressing in place. A wound is a break in the epithelial integrity of the skin and may be accompanied by disruption of the structure and function of underlying normal tissue. Wounds can be divided into four categories based on their appearance and stage of healing: Necrotic, sloughing, granulating and epithelializing wounds. [87] Wounds cause discomfort and are more prone to infection and other troublesome complications. [75] Some diseases like diabetes, ischaemia and conditions like malnourishment, ageing, local infection, local tissue damage due to burn leads to delay in wound healing. Infection is a major complication of burn injury and is responsible for 50-75% of hospital deaths. [76] Human skin has one of the greatest capacities to regenerate itself amongst all of the tissues in our body. It constantly replaces old cells with new cells, enabling it to repair itself when damaged. Wound healing is a complex-physiologic process, which consists of three overlapping phases: inflammatory, proliferative and remodeling phases. The normal healing response begins the moment the tissue is injured. As the blood components spill into the site of injury, the platelets come into contact with exposed collagen and other elements of the extracellular matrix. This contact triggers the platelets to release clotting factors as well as essential growth factors. During the inflammation process, neutrophils are the first leukocytes which come at the site of injury to rid it from bacterial contamination. Then, the monocytes and their conversion to macrophages initiate tissue repair by releasing a number of biologically active substances and growth factors that are necessary for the initi ation of tissue formation process. In the third process, fibroblasts proliferate and migrate into the wound space and started the deposition of the loose extracellular matrix. Endothelial cells grow into a wound simultaneously with fibroblasts and undergo angiogenesis. Finally, tissue remodeling takes place to reconstruct the basement membrane by the differentiation of keratinocytes as well as the formation of follicle cells. [43, 49, 50] A scar is an essential part of this natural healing process following any type of damage to the skin. This can occur after a surgical incision or the healing of a wound. As your body makes an effort to close an open wound and protect itself from infection, it replaces injured skin tissue with rapidly generated scar tissue. Scarring is slight when the damaged outer layer of skin is healed by rebuilt tissue. When we damage the thick layer of tissue beneath the skin, rebuilding is more complicated. Our bodies lay down collagen fibers (a protein which is naturally produced by the body) and this usually results in a highly obvious scar. A permanent reminder of the injury is left behind. So, a dressing that can induce scarless healing is needed. Historically, a dressing was usually a piece of material, sometimes cloth, but the use of cobwebs, dung, leaves and honey has also been described. However, modern dressings include gauzes, semipermeable films, low adherent dressings, gels, foams, hydrocolloids, alginates, hydrogels and polysaccharide pastes. Wound dressings are passive, active or interactive. Passive dressings simply provide cover while active or interactive dressings are capable of modifying the physiology of the wound environment. Interactive dressings include hydrocolloids, hydrogels, alginates, foam dressings and antimicrobial dressings. [17, 20, 85] Traditionally dry wound dressings are considered to be good for healing wounds i.e. the wound should be covered with gauze or left open. But it has been observed by Winter [191] that when wound is left open to air without any dressing, a scab i.e. a dry covering covers the wound and decreases the rate of epithelialization. On the other hand, if moist dressing is used in place of dry dressings scab will not form and rate of healing increases as moist dressings provide low oxygen tension which helps in wound healing, these dressings not only keep cells viable which enables them to release growth factors while maintaining contact between them and the healing tissues, but may also modulate or stimulate their proliferation, these dressings decrease the pain at rest, during ambulation and during dressing changes also moist environment allows rapid and efficient delivery of any added antimicrobial agent thus prevent the wound from infection. So, the dressings that create and maintain a mois t environment, however, are now considered to provide the optimal conditions for wound healing. 2 Requirements of an ideal wound care system These characteristics should be present in the ideal wound care system (a) it should be capable of maintaining a high humidity at the wound site, (b) it should be non-toxic, (c) non-allergenic, (d) it can be removed without causing trauma to the wound, (e) it should pe impermeable to bacteria, (f) Thermally insulating, (g) it should be soft to touch, (h) it should allow proper gaseous exchange, (i) it should be free from particulate and toxic product, (j) promote tissue reconstruction processes and (k) it should be cost effective. [20, 165, 177] Out of all the dressings hydrocolloids, alginates and hydrogels each one has its own advantages and limitations but hydrogels are best and have all the characteristics that are needed in an ideal wound dressing. All the above mentioned characteristics can be achieved in hydrogel wound dressings. 3 Hydrogels for Wound Healing Applications Hydrogels are natural or synthetic cross-linked polymers used in a variety of medical and biomedical applications. Hydrogels consist of a matrix of insoluble polymers with up to 96% water content enabling them to donate water molecules to the wound surface and to maintain a moist environment at the wound bed. They are used in the construction of contact lenses, drug-delivery vehicles, wound dressings and as physiological electrodes or sensors. [17] Examples of hydrogel include Aquaform, Intrasite, GranuGel, Nu-Gel, Purilon, Sterigel. These also have the ability to absorb a degree of wound exudate. They transmit moisture vapour and oxygen, but their bacterial and fluid permeability is dependent on the type of secondary dressing used. [20] Hydrogels swell or shrink in aqueous solutions due to the association, dissociation and binding of various ions to polymer chains. These systems may swell in water until an equilibrium state is reached and retain their original shape. The interactions responsible for water sorption by hydrogels include the process of hydration, which is connected to the presence of such chemical groups as -OH, -COOH, -CONH2, -CONH-, and -SO3H and the existence of capillary areas and differences in osmotic pressure. The forces that make hydrogel dissolution impossible are presence of covalent bonds between individual polymer chains, hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions. [46] These are hydrophilic polymer networks which may absorb from 10-20% (an arbitrary lower limit) up to thousands of times their dry weight in water. These may be chemically stable or they may degrade and dissolve. They are called ‘reversible, or ‘physical gels when the networks are held together by molecular entanglements, and/or secondary forces including ionic, H-bonding or hydrophobic forces. [13, 14, 15] Hydrogels are called ‘permanent or ‘chemicalgels when they are covalently-crosslinked networks as shown in 1. Hydrogels can be made by irradiation, freeze-thawing or chemical methods. Out of all the methods, irradiation is considered as a suitable tool for the formation of hydrogels as in this method there is easy control of processing, no need of adding initiators or cross-linkers which are harmful, and have the possibility of formation and sterilization in one step. But as everything has its own advantages and disadvantages this method also has a disadvantage which is hydrogels formed by this method have poor mechanical strength. Nowadays, Freeze thawing technique is generally used to prepare hydrogels having good strength, stability and no crosslinkers and initiators. But the main disadvantage is that the prepared hydrogels have opaque appearance and limited swelling and thermal stability. [120] In comparison to the traditional gauze therapy the application of a hydrogel seems to significantly stimulate wound healing. [11] Various natural and synthetic polymers having good biocompatibility are used to develop hydrogel wound dressing. These polymers include natural polymers such as alginate, chitosan, gelatin and collagen and synthetic polymers such as polyurethane, poly(ethylene glycol), polycaprolactone, poly vinyl pyrrolidone, poly(lactide-co-glycolide), polyacrylonitrile , poly(amino acid), etc. Table 1 below shows different hydrophilic polymers used to synthesize hydrogel matrices. Table 1 Hydrophilic polymers used to synthesize hydrogel matrices. [13] Hydrogels may be classified as homopolymer hydrogels, copolymer hydrogels, multipolymer hydrogels, and interpenetrating polymeric hydrogels. Homopolymer hydrogels are crosslinked networks of one type of hydrophilic monomer unit, whereas copolymer hydrogels are produced by the crosslinking of two comonomer units, one of which must be hydrophilic. Multipolymer hydrogels are produced by the crosslinking of more than three monomers. Finally, interpenetrating polymeric hydrogels are produced by the swelling of a first network in a monomer and the reaction of the latter to form a second intermeshing network structure. [46, 47] Also, it has been shown that the blending of a natural polymer with a synthetic polymer seems to be a good method for obtaining materials having required mechanical and thermal properties in comparison to pure components. It is also a simple method by which suitable shapes such as films, sponges and hydrogels can be obtained easily to realize a variety of biomedical devices. 2 shows healing is faster with the hydrogel dressing than with the gauze dressing. Wound area covered by hydrogel decreases faster with increasing healing period. On the contrary, the wound covered by gauze dressing reduces by only half a percent even after 14 days. [192] 3.1 Natural Hydrogels Natural polymers, such as chitin, chitosan, alginate, collagen, elastin, genipin, gelatin, cellulose etc. have been used for dressing wounds because they play an important role in the healing process. [47] Chitosan is a partially deacetylated form of chitin. Chitin as BeschitinÃ’, Unitika, is also commercially available as dressing in Japan. [28] But as far as chitosan is concerned it is biocompatible, biodegradable, haemostatic, fungistatic [54] and non-toxic and can be successfully used as gels, films, fibres etc. This polymer also show antibacterial properties and possess good wound healing properties. [60, 61, 62] It has many applications as wound dressing, drug delivery device and as scaffold for tissue engineering. [63, 64] Some of the examples of wound dressings are given below which use chitosan as one of the biomaterial. Asymmetric chitosan membranes have been developed by using immersion-precipitation phase-inversion method. [123, 124, 125] These asymmetric chitosan membranes are homogeneous and have porous structure. This membrane was prepared by preheating casted chitosan solution in oven for different time periods for dry phase separation and then immersed in to coagulant tank for wet phase separation and were subsequently freeze-dried. The skin layer acts as the rate controlling barrier for the release of drug and the porous layer provide mechanical support to the skin layer. The water vapor transmission rate, gas permeability, PBS solution absorption, in-vitro degradation, cell culture, bacterial penetration and wound healing test of this dressing were carried out. These membranes are effective in controlling evaporative water loss, showed excellent oxygen permeability and also antibacterial in nature. These are also found to be an urgent hemostat. In another study, silver sulphadiazine was inc orporated as an antimicrobial agent to this asymmetric dressing. The release behaviour of both silver and sulphadiazine ions were studied and found to be significantly different from one another. Silver ions displayed a slow release behavior while sulphadiazine ions exhibited burst effect on first day of the drug release and then slowly tapered off. It is because of the interaction of silver with amino group of chitosan leading to its slow release throughout whereas, as the sulphadiazine ions were free to diffuse through the membrane to reach the wound site thus they showed a burst release. The membranes were further found effective against P. aerugniosa and S. aureus. In one of the papers, novel wound dressings were formed that composed of chitosan film and Minocycline Hydrochloride (MH) and commercial polyurethane film (Tegaderm) as a backing. It is also a useful formulation for the treatment of severe burn wounds. Water vapor and oxygen can permeate the Tegaderm film but water cannot. The tegaderm film support the polymer membrane. [126] In one of the studies, a silver nanocrystalline chitosan (SNC) wound dressing composed of nano-silver and chitosan was constructed by self-assembly and nanotechnology and used for treating deep partial-thickness wounds. In this, sterility and pyrogen testing were performed to ensure biosafety. These dressings promote wound healing and combat infection, and also decrease the risk of silver absorption in comparison with silver sulphadiazine (SSD) dressings. [127] There is also one more method of forming wound dressing composed of chitosan i.e. the formation of polyelectrolyte complex of gum kondagogu (GKG) and chitosan. This complex is formed by the electrostatic interaction between carboxyl group of gum and amine group of chitosan. This method is more advantageous as it avoids the use of organic solvents, chemical crosslinking agents and thus reduces the toxicity and undesirable side effects. In this, diclofenac sodium is used as model drug. The diclofenac loaded complex of gum kondagogu/ chitosan shows drug release which changes with change in pH. The drug release was higher at pH 6.8 as compared to pH 1.2, due to higher swelling of complex at higher pH. This holds a great potential as a natural polymer based delivery device for controlled delivery of drugs like diclofenac sodium for two reasons: (i) to reduce dosing frequency and (ii) lower the gastric toxicity. [152] Semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (SIPNs) composed of chitosan (CS) and poloxamer were prepared in order to improve the mechanical strength of CS. The WVTR was found to be 2508.2 ±65.7 gm−2 day−1, i.e. these can maintain a moist environment at wound site which enhance epithelial cell migration. Also, the in vitro assessment of SIPNs showed proper biodegradation and low cytotoxicity and in vivo is carried out on experimental full thickness wounds in a mouse model and found that the wounds covered with these were completely filled with new epithelium without any significant adverse reactions after 3 weeks. In one of the papers, a kind of surgical wound dressing, the chitosan-gelatin sponge wound dressing (CGSWD) having good antibacterial property is prepared. The in vitro test showed that the antibacterial effect of CGSWD on E. coli K88 is better than that of penicillin, and the effect on S. aureus is also better than that of cefradine. [137] One more wound dressing consists of two separate layers were prepared in which the upper layer is a swellable hydrogel material which can absorb exudates and also serve as mechanical and microbial barrier while lower layer is a chitosan acetate foam incorporated with the anti-microbial agent chlorherxidine gluconate. [183] The antimicrobial activity is checked by the Bauer-Kirby Disk Diffusion Test, inhibition zones can be clearly seen around the discs of chitosan acetate foams incorporated with chlorhexidine gluconate, in culture plates inoculated with either Gram-negative or positive bacteria showing that the dressing is antimicrobial in nature. Blending is a convenient and effective method to improve physical and mechanical properties of hydrogels. So modification of chitosan is done by blending with other polymers like cellulose. [178] In this, E. coli and S. aureus were used as the test bacteria to examine the antibacterial properties of chitosan, cellulose and chitosan/cellulose blends. The numbers of colony of these bacteria formed on the test membranes are shown in s 5 and 6. It was noted that the numbers of colony of all test bacteria formed on the chitosan/cellulose blend membranes were decreased with the increase of chitosan concentration. These blends are more effective against E. coli than that of S. aureus, as indicated by the lower colony unit. Thus these dressings are suitable to use as an antimicrobial wound dressing. Chitosan due to its structural properties has the ability to heal wounds without scar formation. [198] Since chitosan is composed of D-glucosamine, which is also the component present in the disaccharide subunits of hyaluronic acid, chitosan tries to structurally mimic hyaluronic acid and exerts similar effects. [197] It has been known that the fetal wound healing takes place without fibrosis or scar formation due to the presence of hyaluronic acid. [199] In one of the studies, Chitosan as a semi-permeable biological dressing maintains a moist environment and prevent the wound site from dehydration and contamination. In addition, digital colour separation analysis of donor site scars demonstrated an earlier return to normal skin colour at chitosan-treated areas as shown in 7. [196] Collagen is also a biopolymer that is used as a polymer for making wound dressing and drug delivery devices as it is biocompatible and biocompatibility of a material applied to wound tissue is a prerequisite for optimal wound environment and facilitation of the healing processes. A new collagen dressing with gentamycin or amikacin was prepared in one of the research work and these follow the basic requirement of antibacterial bandages. The dressing is composed of two collagen biomaterials—membrane and sponge—both possessing good tissue biocompatibility. These dressing released antibiotics slowly and show the antibacterial treatment in experimentally infected superficial wounds in mice. Thus, it can be used for the treatment of infected wounds in humans. [26] As discussed previously that both chitosan and collagen are excellent materials that can be used as wound dressing materials. So it has been seen that if both are used simultaneously then what will be the effect. It is found that the wound dressings composed of chitosan crosslinked collagen sponge (CCCS) enhance the diabetic wound healing. Collagen crosslinked with chitosan showed several advantages required for wound dressing, including the uniform and porous ultrastructure, less water imbibition, small interval porosity, and high resistance to collagenase digestion and slow release of FGF from CCCS/FGF. [138] Following moist healing concept, alginates which are able to absorb exudates from wound have become one of the most important materials for wound management. [52, 53, 54, 55, 56] In this particular field, the properties of alginate fibers are unparalleled in many respects. Alginate based products form a gel and effective in removing out of the wound on the contrary to traditional cotton and viscose fibres, which can entrap in the wound developing discomfort during dressing removal. [55] Also, the alginate fibres are non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, non-allergic, haemostatic, biocompatible, of reasonable strength, capable of being sterilized and easily processable. Sorbsanâ„ ¢ was first commercialized in 1981 and after that there were many dressings launched. The alginate fibers can be converted into wound dressings by using a number of textile processes. Because of its simplicity and also the high absorbency of the product, nonwoven is the main form of alginate wound dressings. [19] The antimicrobial action of alginate dressing can be seen as in 8 which shows the antimicrobial action of silver containing alginate fibers against E. Coli. There was 100% reduction in bacteria count within 5 hr after the fibers were placed in contact with solutions containing the bacteria. Sorbsan alginate fibers showed some antimicrobial activity while AquacelTM (made of carboxymethyl cellulose), does not show any antimicrobial effect. [18] Gelatin widely found in nature and is the major constituent of skin, bones, and connective tissue. Gelatin can easily be obtained by a controlled hydrolysis of the fibrous insoluble protein, collagen. [195] This is also used in number of biomedical applications like wound dressings. Hydrogel wound dressing from gelatin, oxidized alginate and borax were prepared and the composite matrix promotes wound healing because of alginate, has haemostatic effect of gelatin and is antiseptic because of borax. The water vapour transmission rate (WVTR) of the hydrogel was calculated and found to be 2686 ±124 g/m2/day indicating that this hydrogel can maintain a proper fluid balance at the wound site which helps in cell migration. 2 shows the loss of water vapour with time through the hydrogel when placed in a moisture rich environment. [119] Genipin has been used to crosslink chitosan membranes to control swelling ratio and mechanical properties. It increased its ultimate tensile strength but significantly reduced its strain-at-fracture and swelling ratio. It had significantly less cytotoxicity for human fibroblasts and slower degradation rate compared to the glutaraldehyde-crosslinked membrane. This genipin crosslinked chitosan membrane can be successfully used as a wound dressing. [132] Bacterial cellulose is a natural polymer consisting of microfibrils containing glucan chains bound together by hydrogen bonds. Bacterial cellulose with chitosan combines properties such as bioactivity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability of the two biopolymers and form an ideal material for dressing wounds. [66, 67] These are antibacterial and scar preventive in nature too. Since natural polymers have been considered limited in their applications for wound-dressing materials as their low mechanical properties and shortage of processing. So we move towards the synthetic polymers that can be used for wound healing applications. 3.2 Synthetic Hydrogels Synthetic polymers are also being used successfully in biomedical applications as one of the materials because of their wide range of mechanical properties, suitability for easily forming into a variety of different shapes, and low production costs. In an ideal dressing both the characteristics i.e. antimicrobial ability and moist healing environment should be present, so in order to prevent the wound from dehydration and bacterial penetration a new dressing composed of polyurethane is designed in such a way that the upper layer of the dressing is microporous (pore size Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) is one of the most widely used synthetic polymers in medicine because of its solubility in water and its extremely low cytotoxicity. Hydrogels prepared by radiation crosslinking of an aqueous solution of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) have been used as wound dressing. [21] These are biocompatible, reduces pain, easily replacable, permeable to oxygen, maintain moist environment at the wound site. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a well-known polymer because it is biocompatible and have required mechanical properties and polyethylene oxide (PEO) is a hydrophilic semicrystalline polyether which is biocompatible, non toxic, non polar, non antigenic and non immunogenic and is highly desirable in most biomedical applications requiring contact with physiological fluids. A hydrogel composed of PEO for wound dressing is prepared and PVA is added to give toughness to the hydrogel by electron beam irradiation and found that these hydrogels showed satisfactory properties for wound dressing that has been evaluated by creating wound on the back of the marmots. [157] The hydrogel gives a wet environment to wounds which causes faster healing compared with the gauze dressing with a dry environment. The weight of the hydrogel increases quickly at the earlier stages, up to 4 days, due to absorption of effusion produced from the wound as shown in Table 2. After that, the production of effusion from the wound ceases and the weight of the hydrogel decreases due to evaporation of the water in the hydrogel. This means that the healing of wound proceeds smoothly with time. The hydrogel can be peeled off easily from the wound at the time of removal. Table 2 Absorption of effusion from wound of dressing during healing. [157] The toughness of PEO hydrogel is improved by the addition of PVA and tensile strength is measured and found that as shown in 10 and 11, the tensile strength and elongation decrease with increasing dose because of the increase of crosslinking. Various synthetic polymers as discussed above are used for wound dressing applications. But the major problem with these materials is their biocompatibility characteristics are often unsatisfactory and their interaction with living tissues is a major problem. So a combination of both natural and synthetic polymers is the better option to make a hydrogel having biocompatibility and desired mechanical strength. 3.3 Blended hydrogels Since both the natural and synthetic polymers have their own advantages and disadvantages so a combination of natural and synthetic polymers can endow the optimal properties necessary for wound repair. [47] The combination of natural and synthetic polymers is used in the biomedical, bioengineering and biotechnology field nowadays because of their great potential. A blended hydrogel composed of polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinyl pyrrolidone and charcoal were prepared by single ‘‘freezing and thawing or two-step ‘‘freezing and thawing and ÃŽ ³-ray irradiation and applied as wound dressing. It is found that the absorption of S. aureus and P. aeruginosa by charcoal/PVA/PVP hydrogels was larger than those by PVA/PVP hydrogels, this is due to the absorption and attachment capability of bacteria by charcoal, this can be shown in 12 given below. [22] The most classical way of fabricating a CS based wound dressing has been to design an asymmetric composite structure. In this method, the Cotton fabric was coated with chitosan (CS) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) followed by freeze-drying. The outer dense layer helps in preventing the microbial passage across the dressing and provides a rate controlling barrier for water vapor permeation, while the inner porous layer provides a high surface area for the exudates absorption. For the absorption of wound exudates porosity is the prime requirement in a dressing. It has been found that these dressings have the porosity 54-70% and the pore size was in the range of 75-120 µm. [45] The increase in the PEG content in the blend composition led to an enhanced destabilization of pores, leading to an increase in the pore size with elongated morphology. There seems to be phase separation between the two components which is an important factor for the observed behavior of the porous structure. Cot ton fabric has been used as the support layer for the CS-PEG layer and leads to very thin and light weight structures. The structure of the dressing has been designed in such a way that it leads to the high porosity of the bulk structure. The thickness of CS coating plays an important role in the development of the porosity on the surface. The influence of the CS thickness on the surface morphology is presented in 13 given below. PEG addition to CS makes significant alteration in the surface morphology of this CS-PEG/cotton membrane (freeze-dried), henceforth known as CPC membrane. There is a distinct trend in the loss of inherent elongated porous structure in membranes and formation of the partially collapsed porosity takes place due to the PEG addition. This suggests that a very limited interaction between CS and PEG exists which is reflected in the observed surface morphology. It has been observed that higher the amount of PEG, the higher is the pore destabilization leading to larger pores. This is evident from the morphology of the CPC membrane at 50% PEG-20 content as shown in 14.45 On the above matrix, the addition of PVP and drug followed by coating on the cotton fabric and freeze drying of the coated matrix is also done. It has been found that the drug