Empathy and the Development of Affective Skills

Empathy, the most important human attribute that matters in every aspect of life, is essential in health care. Provision of patient-centered care requires empathic health care practitioners. The correlation between empathy of health care providers and improved patient adherence, satisfaction, and treatment outcomes is well-established. Scholarly evidence shows positive correlations between empathy and affective domains and confirms that soft skills are grounded in empathy. Empathic students have stronger affective skills and are capable to acquire, develop, reinforce, and display strong affective behaviors, abilities, and attitudes. As an innate quality, empathy is malleable. The level of empathy can be influenced by educational interventions inculcated into students during the entire curriculum, including both didactic and experiential training. The effectiveness of educational methods may be strengthened by activities that help students enhance empathy and achieve required affective skills. Empathy and the empathy-based affective skills essential in patient-centered care should be routinely and deliberately taught, modelled, and assessed across the continuum of health care curricula

Prayer to Ta pi hri tsa - A short exposition of the Base, the Path and the Fruit in Bon Dzogchen teachings

Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines Number 16, April 200

Exploring Identities in Online Music Fandoms: How identities Formed in Online Fan Communities Affect Real Life Identities

This thesis set out to explore the identities formed by members of online fandom communities, and to determine the ways in which those identities affect their real life, offline identities. This qualitative study encountered elements related to stereo types of young women who are fans of mainstream pop music, and provided insight on their experiences through interviews with five long time boy band online fandom members. This study asked if fans prefer to keep their fandom identities internal or let them reflect outward, how one\u27s online identity affects or translates to their real life identity, and what experiences in the online fandom were the most impactful to the individual\u27s real life identity or led to new knowledge. It was revealed that online community platform is the place where fans gather to enjoy a similar passion, but it is the relationships and discussions held on the site between fans that truly affect an individual and their identity, rather than the more superficial elements of being in a fandom. Through fandom discourse, members found social support and solidarity with one another

Den demokratischen Aufbruch in Tunesien unterstützen und Europas Akteursfähigkeit stärken : Handlungsempfehlungen für die deutsche Außenpolitik

Tunesien hat sich mit dem Ende der Regentschaft Zine el-Abidine Ben Alis die Chance für eine nachhaltige Demokratisierung eröffnet. Für die Europäische Union und auch für die deutsche Außenpolitik bietet der Sturz eines autoritären Regimes in Europas unmittelbarer Nachbarschaft eine einmalige Gelegenheit. Zugleich befinden sich die Europäer in einer heiklen Bewährungsprobe, in der ihre Akteursfähigkeit und Glaubwürdigkeit auf den Prüfstand gestellt werden. Deutschland, das bisher sehr zögerlich reagierte, sollte im Rahmen der Europäischen Union die Initiative ergreifen und den Transformationsprozess in Tunesien aktiv begleiten

Environmental Considerations in Corporate Lending Business of Montenegrin Commercial Banks

Commercial banks can play an important role in environmental issues. Having a role of an intermediary in an economy, because of their importance for the business sector, commercial banks can influence and contribute to the healthy environment significantly. Still, the banking sector is slowly responding to environmental challenges in comparison to other sectors: banks’ direct impacts on the environment arising from their internal processes is relatively low. However, the banking sector’s indirect impacts on the environment (i.e. environmental impacts of their clients’ operations, can be significant. This fact is not adequately recognized by the commercial banks and even though banks are exposed to risks connected to their clients’ environmental performance, they are rather slow in evaluating these risks. However, among banks there are front-runners in incorporating environmental considerations in business practices. Internationally, there are many voluntary initiatives aiming at involving banks in taking a more active role in environmental issues, such as the United Nations Environmental Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), the Equator Principles (EP), the European Principles for the Environment (EPE), and so on. A bank that is particularly active in evaluating environmental consequences of its operations is European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). EBRD operations cover different investments and include project financing for banks, industries and businesses. EBRD has adopted an environmental policy and a set of procedures necessary for assessment of environmental issues, risks and opportunities in connection with its operations. In this thesis, the author explores Montenegrin commercial banks’ corporate lending practices and their environmental practices. EBRD is chosen as a case study because of its environmental mandate. The parallel with the EBRD practices serves as a basis for making recommendations for changes in current corporate lending process. The aim is to raise awareness of decision-making authorities in Montenegrin commercial banks on the necessity to take into account environmental issues in the business practices

Understanding European Neighbourhood Policies:Concepts, Actors, Perception

The European Union and its Member States have developed a complex web of policies towards the countries and regions in the EU's immediate and wider neighborhood. In the wake of the upheavals in the Arab world, these policies have been increasingly brought into question. A reassessment of European neighborhood policies requires a comprehensive understanding of their making, implementation, and effectiveness. This book provides a multi-perspective analysis of European policies towards the regions in the EU's vicinity, including North Africa, the Middle East, and the Gulf region, as well as the Balkans, Russia, the Black Sea region, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. Special attention is given to the various actors in the European policy-making process and their often diverging perceptions of the neighboring regions. The book also examines the interaction processes, such as Europeanization, that are occurring among Member States, EU institutions, and target countries. Furthermore, it offers a critical review and further development of analytical concepts in order to comprehend the both fragmented and interwoven character of European neighborhood policies. (Series: Munchner Beitrage zur europaischen Einigung - Vol. 22

Characteristics of entrepreneurial networking practices through different phases of establishing a novel innovation firm

The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics of decision making in the entrepreneurial networking practices through different phases of establishing a novel innovation firm characterised with high level of product or service innovativeness and lack of resources. The paper first presents different stages of establishing a firm and its’ distinctive characteristic. Then we explain the characteristics of networking in different stages of the establishment of the firm by the means of two analytical models – that of March’s “Exchange power model” and Burt’s “Structural holes model” in the terms we have called “soft” and “hard” networking. We end with the proposal of sequential use of various networking practices for the purpose of better resource orchestration and leverage of power

Holistic management – some thoughts on the possibilities of it’s implementation in the West

This paper addresses holistic management process and the idea of holism, pertained in certain aspects of Western management through the ideas of green marketing and sustainable agriculture. The idea of holism, i.e. consideration for how and in what ways, the sum of all the parts in the company impacts the environment plays especially important role in the companies from the Eastern hemisphere, especially Japan. Since the concept of holistic management is grounded in the Eastern philosophical theories, with profound influence of Buddhism on it, we believe that there might be obstacles in trying to translate it in the so called Western rational management based on the premise of Homo economicus. By outlining the historical development of the Western management thought and the philosophical origins of the holistic management process in the Japanese business, this paper presents some thoughts on the paradigm shift necessary for holism to take full part in the West

High dose rate brachytherapy as monotherapy for localised prostate cancer : a hypofractionated two-implant approach in 351 consecutive patients

BACKGROUND: To report the clinical outcome of high dose rate brachytherapy as sole treatment for clinically localised prostate cancer. METHODS: Between March 2004 and January 2008, a total of 351 consecutive patients with clinically localised prostate cancer were treated with transrectal ultrasound guided high dose rate brachytherapy. The prescribed dose was 38.0 Gy in four fractions (two implants of two fractions each of 9.5 Gy with an interval of 14 days between the implants) delivered to an intraoperative transrectal ultrasound real-time defined planning treatment volume. Biochemical failure was defined according to the Phoenix Consensus and toxicity evaluated using the Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events version 3. RESULTS: The median follow-up time was 59.3 months. The 36 and 60 month biochemical control and metastasis-free survival rates were respectively 98%, 94% and 99%, 98%. Toxicity was scored per event with 4.8% acute Grade 3 genitourinary and no acute Grade 3 gastrointestinal toxicity. Late Grade 3 genitourinary and gastrointestinal toxicity were respectively 3.4% and 1.4%. No instances of Grade 4 or greater acute or late adverse events were reported. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm high dose rate brachytherapy as safe and effective monotherapy for clinically organ-confined prostate cancer

Culture and youth networks for releasing urban potentials

The paper presents an overview of the possibilities for application of networks and collaboration in planning and urban governance in the case of complex and changing places in a specific local transition context. Culture and youth networks were developed through six master students’ projects in the City of Smederevo within the thematic framework ‘Strengthening Cultural Identity in the Danube Region’ under INTERREG IV transnational cooperation programme. Network governance represents one type of governance. Culture and youth networks are used in urban governance due to their spatial dimension and the results they may achieve. The main aim of this paper is to point out at some of the advantages of network coordination within students’ integrated urban projects identified as: improved capacities to solve complex problems, increased recognition and competitiveness, more efficient use of resources, and development of other governance and planning instruments. Completed students’ projects point to the possibility of applying networks as urban governance instruments for activation of underused urban potentials, incorporation of new activities and land uses and establishing standards for entering European regional networks, integrating spatial interventions with actors and resources, and proposing new governance practices, which aim to enable innovation, as well as complementarity with traditional planning instruments