text:
ISRN Psychiatry
Volume 2012, Article ID 301325, 10 pages
The Effect of Self-Transcendence on Depression in Cognitively Intact Nursing Home Patients
1Research Centre for Health Promotion and Resources HiST/NTNU, Faculty of Nursing, Sør-Trøndelag University College, 7004 Trondheim, Norway
2Research Centre for Health Promotion and Resources HiST/NTNU, Department of Social Work and Health Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Received 20 January 2012; Accepted 28 February 2012
Academic Editors: B. Camarena, C. Toni, and A. Vance
Copyright © 2012 Gørill Haugan and Siw Tone Innstrand. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Aims. This study's aim was to test the effects of self-transcendence on depression among cognitively intact nursing home patients. Background. Depression is considered the most frequent mental disorder among the elderly population. Specifically, the depression rate among nursing home patients is three to four times higher than that among community-dwelling elderly. Therefore, finding new and alternative ways to prevent and decrease depression is of great importance for nursing home patients' well-being. Self-transcendence is related to spiritual as well as nonspiritual factors, and it is described as a correlate and resource for well-being among vulnerable populations and at the end of life. Methods. A two-factor construct of the self-transcendence scale (interpersonal and intrapersonal) and the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) was applied. A sample of 202 cognitively intact nursing home patients in central Norway was selected to respond to the questionnaires in 2008/2009. Results. A hypothesized SEM model demonstrated significant direct relationships and total effects of self-transcendence on depression. Conclusion and Implication for Practice. Facilitating patients' self-transcendence, both interpersonally and intrapersonally, might decrease depression among cognitively intact nursing home patients.
1. Introduction
In the next 30 years, the number of people over 65 in the world will almost double to 1.3 billion [1]. Moreover, the most rapidly growing segment is people over 80. By 2050 the percentage of those 80 and older will be 31%, while the number was 18% in 1980 [2]. This huge shift to an older population globally has given rise to the notions of the "third" and "fourth" ages in the lifespan development literature [3]. This differentiation of the last part of the lifespan into two separate phases is important because of the characteristic patterns of gains (growth) and losses (decline) seen in the "young old" and the "old old" [4]. For many of those in the fourth age (80+) issues such as physical illness and approaching mortality decimate their functioning and subsequently lead to the need for nursing home (NH) care.
Depression is one of the most prevalent mentally ill health problems facing European citizens today [5], and it is considered one of the most frequent mental disorders in the elderly population. Moreover, depression is particularly common among these living in long-term care facilities [6]. Reported rates of major depression in older adults, depending on the location and characteristics of the sample, have ranged from 1% to 42% [7]. In general, the prevalence of late-life depression has been found to be higher in those patients with more medical illness. Specifically, rates of depression in NHs are three to four times higher than those in community-dwelling older adults [8]. Also, elderly who lack social/emotional support tends to be more depressed [9]. A review that included 36 studies from various countries reported a prevalence rate for major depression ranging from 6% to 26% and for minor depression from 11% to 50%. The prevalence rate of depressive symptoms ranged from 36% to 49% [10].
A linear increase of prevalence of depression with increasing age is described [11]. The three strongest explanatory factors on the age-effect of depression found are impairment, diagnosis, and somatic symptoms, respectively [11, 12]. Worse general medical health is seen as the strongest factor associated with depression among NH patients [13]. In general, NH patients are characterized by high age, frailty, mortality, disability, powerlessness, and dependency. Therefore, they are particularly vulnerable and more likely to become depressed. Moreover, studies in nursing homes report a large overlap of depression and anxiety [14–17]. The course of major depression and significant depressive symptoms in NH patients tends to be chronic, with a persistence rate of more than 50% of depressed patients still depressed after 6–12 months [18, 19].
Depression in NH patients is associated with negative outcomes such as impaired quality of life [20], impaired activities of daily living, substantial caregiver burden and worsened medical outcomes [21], increased risk of hospital admission [22], and a higher mortality rate [23]. A recent study reports that the presence of depression has a statistically and clinically significant negative impact on well-being [24]. The NH patients' sense of loss of independence and privacy, feelings of isolation and loneliness, the ever present death and grief, and lack of meaningful in-house activities are identified as risk factors for depression. Conversely, NH in-house activities and different kinds of mental health services have significant benefit for NH patients at risk for depression [25–27]. Accordingly, efforts to prevent and decrease depression are of great importance for NH patients' well-being and quality of life. The World Health Organization [28] has estimated that by 2020, depression is expected to be the highest ranking cause of disease in the developed world. Therefore, finding new and alternative approaches to weaken this detrimental development is highly warranted.
Self-transcendence is found to be such a correlate and a resource for well-being among vulnerable populations and at the end of life [29–31]. Self-transcendence includes a psycho-social-spiritual force toward personal maturity that is distinct from the more self-absorbed strivings for self-esteem and intimacy typical in earlier developmental phases. Hence, self-transcendence enhances an individual's searching for new perspectives, meaning, and well-being and allows him or her to overcome ego concerns. The idea of self-transcendence is inspired by human developmental theory emphasizing maturity as the developmental task in later life [32]. In accordance with this theory, the developmental crisis in old age entails integrity versus despair and is resolved by the development of inner resources as personal maturity and wisdom, qualities providing well-being. The developmental process of self-transcendence is stimulated by the challenges of age and coming to terms with death. Adults with higher levels of self-transcendence do not seek absolute answers to questions in life but seek meaning in life events as integrated within a moral, social, and historical context [33].
The central core of self-transcendence is described as connection between the individual, environment, and a transcendent being [33]. Self-transcendence refers to a multidimensional expansion of the self-boundaries intrapersonally (through self-acceptance and finding meaning in life), interpersonally (by reaching out to others or connecting with nature), transpersonally (by reaching out to a higher entity, being of purpose), and temporality (by integrating one's past and future into the present; a dynamic process involving adaption to physical, emotional, and/or spiritual distress). Within a holistic framework of the body, mind, and spirit as a whole, self-transcendence has been considered a central aspect of human spirituality [34]. As a general human dimension of personal maturity, self-transcendence has been related to spiritual and nonspiritual factors. Human spirituality is expressed and experienced in the context of caring connections with the self, others, nature, and a life force or God [35–39]. Accordingly, spirituality seems closely related to connectedness, the essence of self-transcendence. A recent study of the relationships between spiritual well-being and self-transcendence revealed that both interpersonal and intrapersonal self-transcendence significantly affect spiritual well-being in cognitively intact NH patients [40].
Self-transcendence has been studied in various disciplines, but it is of particular interest to nursing. The perspective of promoting health and well-being is fundamental and a major nursing concern in long-term care [41–43]. Studies on various populations demonstrate an inverse association between depression and self-transcendence [30, 31, 44–49]. Previous research demonstrates the significance of self-transcendence to older people well-being [31, 45, 50, 51]. Empirical support for the importance of self-transcendence for those at the end of life and facing their own mortality has been well documented [33, 47, 52–55].
In summary, the literature suggests depression as a common mental disorder among older people characterized by high age, impairment, and somatic symptoms. The patients' sense of loss of independence and privacy, feelings of isolation and loneliness, and lack of meaningful activities are risk factors for depression in NH patients. Self-transcendence is a resource for well-being among vulnerable individuals and at the end of life. A previous investigation of the dimensionality of the self-transcendence scale revealed that self-transcendence comprises one interpersonal and one intrapersonal factor [56]. Therefore, this study investigates the associations between interpersonal and intrapersonal self-transcendence and depression among cognitively intact NH patients. To the authors' knowledge, previous research has not examined the relationships between interpersonal and intrapersonal self-transcendence and depression in NHs by means of structural equation modelling (SEM). Our research question was does self-transcendence affect depression in cognitively intact NH patients? Based on the theoretical and empirical knowledge of depression and self-transcendence, the following hypotheses were formulated.
Hypothesis 1. Intrapersonal self-transcendence has negative effect on depression among cognitively intact NH patients.
Hypothesis 2. Interpersonal self-transcendence has negative effect on depression among cognitively intact NH patients.
2. Methods
2.1. Design and Ethical Considerations
The data were collected in 2008-2009 from 250 NH patients who met the inclusion criteria: (1) local authority's decision of long-term NH care, (2) residential time 6 months or longer, (3) informed consent competency recognized by responsible doctor and nurse, and (4) capable of being interviewed. The NH patients were approached by a head nurse they knew well. The nurse presented them with oral and written information about their rights as participants and their right to withdraw at any moment. Each participant provided informed consent. This population has difficulties completing a questionnaire on their own; therefore one-on-one interviews were conducted by three trained researchers and completed in the NH patients' private rooms. Researchers with identical professional background were chosen (RN, MA, trained and experienced in communication with elderly, as well as teaching gerontology at an advanced level) and trained to conduct the interviews as similarly as possible. Statistical correlational tests showed no significant differences between responses based on interviewers. The questionnaires relevant for the present study were part of a battery of nine questionnaires comprising 130 items. Interviewers held a large-print copy of questions and possible responses in front of the participants to avoid misunderstandings. Approval by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services was obtained for a license to maintain a register containing personal data (ref. no. 16443), and likewise we attained approval from The Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics in Central Norway (ref. no. 4.2007.645) as well as the directory of the 44 NHs.
2.2. Participants
The total sample consisted of 202 (80.8%) of 250 long-term NH patients representing 44 NHs. Long-term NH care was defined as 24-hour care; short-term care patients, rehabilitations patients, and cognitively impaired patients were not included. Participants' ages ranged from 65 to 104 years, with a mean of 86 years . The sample consisted of 146 women (72.3%) and 56 men (27.7%), where the mean age for women was 87.3 years and 82 years for the men. In total, 38 (19%) were married/cohabitant, 135 (67%) widows/widowers, 11 (5.5%) divorced, and 18 (19%) were single. The mean residential time when interviewed was 2.6 years for both sexes (range 0.5–13 years); 117 stayed in rural NHs, while 85 stayed in urban NHs. In all, 26.1% showed mild to moderate depression, only one woman scored 15+ indicating severe depression, 70.4% was not depressed, and nearly 88% had no anxiety disorder. Missing data was low in frequency: depression 5.0% and self-transcendence scale 5.9% and were handled by means of the listwise procedure.
2.3. Measures
Depression was assessed by the depression subscale of the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), comprising seven items. Each item is scored from 0–3, and the maximum score is 21 on the subscale. The ranges of scores for cases are 0–7 normal, 8–10 mild disorder, 11–14 moderate disorder, and 15–21 severe disorder [57]. HADS has been tested extensively and has well-established psychometric properties [58]. In order to increase acceptability and avoid individuals feeling as though they are being tested for mental disorders, symptoms of severe psychopathology have been excluded. This makes HADS more sensitive to milder psychopathology [11]. HADS is translated into Norwegian and found to be valid for older people [11, 12]. Since the present study focuses on the associations between self-transcendence and depression, only the depression-items (subscale HADS-D) were included in the SEM model to be tested here. Sample items are "I still enjoy the things I used to enjoy," "I can laugh and see the funny side of things," "I feel cheerful," "I feel as I'm slowed down," "I have lost interest in my appearance," and "I look forward with enjoyment to things." The item "I can enjoy a good book or television-program" loaded very low (, ), indicating less relevance for depression in this NH population and was dismissed. As the in-house activities in NHs are scarce, TV programs might be the only activity available, while reading books is difficult due to impairments. The items were scored on a four-point scale ranging from totally disagree to totally agree. The internal consistence of the construct (Table 1) was satisfactory ().
Interpersonal and intrapersonal self-transcendence were assessed by items from the self-transcendence scale (STS). The STS was developed from the 36-item Developmental Resources of Later Adulthood Scale [33, 59], which intended to identify intrapersonal, interpersonal, transpersonal, and temporal experiences characteristic of later life, reflecting expanded boundaries of self [46]. The STS comprises 15 items measuring characteristics of a matured view of life representing the extent to which a person expands personal boundaries. Each item is rated on a four-point Likert-type scale from 1.0 (not at all) to 4.0 (very much), with higher scores indicating higher ST (see the Supplemental Information in Supplementary Material available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.5402/2012/301325). In previous studies, Cronbach's ranged from.80 to.88 [31, 43, 48]. Content validity is adequate, based on a thorough review of empirical and theoretical literature [33]. Support for construct validity has been found in the relationships of self-transcendence scores to other measures [29, 60, 61].
The STS was translated into Swedish and back into English, and the back-translated version was then approved by the instrument constructor [62]. The Swedish version demonstrated internal consistency of.70–.85 (op.cit.) and was translated into Norwegian for the purposes of the present study. The Swedish and Norwegian language and culture are nearly identical in all aspects that matter this study. The STS is practically unchanged in the Norwegian version, but the words are spelled in Norwegian and the meanings have been checked. The two-factor construct of self-transcendence [56] was used, but the number of items was reduced; the item "letting go of my past losses" (ST15), which is reversed scored, loaded extremely low () and demonstrated . This item was uncorrelated; therefore, there might be some translation problems and this item was dismissed. The items "Having hobbies and interests I can enjoy," "Being involved with other people," "Sharing my wisdom or experience with others," "Helping others in some way," "Having an ongoing interest in learning," "Able to move beyond things that once seemed so important," and "Finding meaning in my spiritual beliefs" were indicators for interpersonal self-transcendence, while the items "Accepting myself as growing older," "Adjusting well to my present life situation," "Adjusting well to changes in my physical abilities," "Finding meaning in my past experiences," "Accepting death as a part of life," "Letting others help me when I may need it," and "Enjoying my pace of life" constituted the intrapersonal ST construct. Cronbach's in current study was 0.72 (all 15 items), while for interpersonal self-transcendence (seven items) was and for intrapersonal self-transcendence (seven items) (Table 1). Reliability for the latent constructs in this study is further investigated inside the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Composite reliability is reported in Table 2 displaying values between 0.65 and 0.75; values greater than 0.60 are desirable [63].
2.4. Statistical Analysis
A structural equation model (SEM) of the hypothesized relations between the latent constructs of depression and self-transcendence was tested by means of LISREL 8.8 [64]. Using SEM accounts for random measurement error, and the psychometric properties of the scales in the model are more accurately derived. Since the standard errors are estimated under nonnormality, the Satorra-Bentler-scaled chi-square statistic was applied as a goodness-of-fit statistic, which is the correct asymptotic mean even under nonnormality [65]. In line with the rules of thumb of conventional cut-off criteria [66], the following fit indices were used to evaluate model fit: chi-square —a small and a nonsignificant value corresponds to good fit [64]. Also, we used the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and the standardized root mean square residual (SRMS) with values below 0.05 indicating good fit, while values smaller than 0.08 are interpreted as acceptable [66, 67]. The comparative fit index (CFI) and the nonnormed fit index (NNFI) with an acceptable fit at 0.95 and good fit at 0.97 and above were used, and the normed fit index (NFI) and the goodness-of-fit index (GFI) with an acceptable fit at 0.90, while a good fit was set to 0.95. For the adjusted GFI (AGFI), acceptable fit was set to 0.85 and good fit at 0.90 (op.cit.).
Before examining the hypothesized relationships in the SEM analysis, the measurement models were tested by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The CFA provided a good fit to the observed data for the interpersonal self-transcendence (, , RMSEA = 0.055, SRMR = 0.047, NFI = 0.95, NNFI/CFI = , GFI/AGFI = ), intrapersonal self-transcendence (, , RMSEA = 0.026, SRMR = 0.056, NFI = 0.93, NNFI/CFI = , GFI/AGFI = ), and the depression scale (, , RMSEA = 0.016, SRMR = 0.039, NFI = 0.96, NNFI/CFI = , GFI/AGFI = ). All parameter estimates were significant () and loaded positively and clearly on their intended latent variable with standardized factor loadings between 0.22 and 0.77. For scaling the variances of the dependent latent variable was set at 1.
3. Results
3.1. Descriptive Analysis
Table 1 displays the means (M), standard deviations (SD), Cronbach's alpha, and correlations matrix for the constructs of self-transcendence (interpersonal and intrapersonal) and depression. The correlations between the measures were in the expected direction. Moderate correlations were found between the latent constructs included in the SEM model (Table 1). The alpha levels for the various measures indicate an acceptable level of inter-item consistency in the measures [68] with Cronbach's alpha coefficients of or higher.
3.2. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)
In order to investigate how interpersonal self-transcendence (ST-1) and intrapersonal self-transcendence (ST-2) relate to depression, Model 1 comprising six depression, seven interpersonal self-transcendence and seven intrapersonal self-transcendence items was estimated. Figure 1 shows Model 1 with its measurement and structural models. All estimates were significant (), and the factor loadings ranged 0.22–0.72 and -values 0.05–0.59. Model 1 fitted well (, , df = 167, RMSEA = 0.034, value = 0.96, NNFI = 0.96, CFI = 0.97, SRMR = 0.067, and AGFI = 0.85). However, NFI = 0.84 and GFI = 0.88 were low. Traditionally, a cut-off point of 0.90 has been recommended for the GFI and NFI. However, the AGFI, which adjusts the GFI by degrees of freedom, is acceptable. Also the NFI is sensitive to sample size, underestimating fit for samples less than 200 [69]; therefore researchers should not rely solely on the GFI and NFI [70].
Table 3 shows the standardized regression coefficients of the directional relationships and the total effects between the latent constructs in Model 1. As hypothesized, both directional paths were significant displaying an inverse relationship, from interpersonal self-transcendence to depression (γ1,1 = −0.30*) and from intrapersonal self-transcendence to depression (γ1,2 = −0.41*) (Table 3).
A scrutiny of the total effects of interpersonal self-transcendence and intrapersonal self-transcendence on depression revealed statistical significant total effects from both interpersonal and intrapersonal self-transcendence on all the depression items (Table 3). No indirect effects were displayed.
4. Discussion
The World Health Organization [28] estimated that, by 2020, depression will be the highest ranking cause of disease in the developed world. Therefore, finding new and alternative approaches to weaken this development is necessary. Moreover, a huge shift to an older population worldwide is highlighted, and the most rapidly growing segment is that of people over 80 years old. Simultaneously, depression is one of the most frequent mental disorders in the elderly population and specifically among NH patients. Therefore, finding new interventions to increase well-being and decrease depression among NH patients is highly warranted. The aim of this study was to explore the association between interpersonal and intrapersonal self-transcendence and depression in cognitively intact nursing home patients. By doing so we sought to contribute to a holistic nursing perspective of promoting well-being in NH patients in two ways: first, this study supplies empirical knowledge to the growing body of self-transcendence knowledge by exploring self-transcendence among NH patients; second, by applying a two-factor construct of self-transcendence [56] that has been shown to be psychometrically superior the one-factor construct, the present study allows a more complex examination of the associations between self-transcendence and depression. The present study examines the relationships and the influences of interpersonal and intrapersonal self-transcendence on depression in NH patients. By means of advanced statistical analysis such as structural equation modeling (SEM), this study provides more specific guidelines to nursing interventions promoting well-being in NH patients and suggests that finding ways to enhance an individual's intrapersonal and interpersonal self-transcendence might be beneficial in this matter.
More specifically, we found that the hypothesized relationship between self-transcendence (intrapersonal and interpersonal) and depression was fully supported. As hypothesized, interpersonal self-transcendence was negatively associated with depression. It is reasonable that interpersonal self-transcendence including personal interests, learning, involvement with others, connectedness, sharing one's wisdom, and helping others is associated with low depression. Therefore, nursing interventions facilitating NH patients' involvement and connectedness, sharing wisdom, and possibilities helping others might decrease and prevent depression.
Also, the intrapersonal self-transcendence comprising NH patients' self-acceptance as growing older, adjusting well to the changes in physical abilities and the present situation, and finding meaning in one's past experiences related negatively to depression. The statistical tests suggested that the intrapersonal self-transcendence affects depression more than the interpersonal self-transcendence among cognitively intact NH patients. Therefore, staff nurses' awareness of NH patients' self-acceptance and adjustment to the life situation is essential for well-being as well as enjoyment, humor, and laughter. Supporting NH patients' effort to accept themselves and adjust well to the life situation and one's declines is significant to decrease and prevent depression.
At 86 years old (mean age in the present study), representing the "old old" [4] living in a NH represents a life perspective where openness to keep learning, enjoying hobbies and interests, and involving with others might seem less important than accepting oneself and adjusting well to the "here-and-now" in the NH environment. Loss of functions, relationships, privacy, self-determination, and connectedness and the forthcoming death, together with searching for meaning in the in-house institutionalized NH life, seem in general as the main challenges. Generally NH patients are in great need of care and assistance because of physical declines and other limitations, and they represent a vulnerable group. From this particular point of view, NH patients' energy to create good experiences seems low. Therefore, these individuals need initiative and vitalization from others and the environment. Elderly who lack social/emotional support tend to report more depression [9]. Consequently, the nurse-patient relationships might be an overriding figure in the NH patients' daily life and might serve as a vital resource of human involvement, interaction, connectedness, and a facilitator of meaningful in-house activities for NH patients [71].
Few social relations for dialogue, self-reflection, and connectedness are left; in our sample only 19% had a partner. The social climate in a NH environment is largely determined by the staff-patient interactions that take place within it [72]. The potentials for self-transcendence and well-being are important considerations in NH care; the participants had stayed in NH for 6 months or longer. Because the length of stay is long, much time is available to enter into meaningful relationships and communication with patients, pursuing appropriate interventions to promote self-transcendence. Within Erikson's model of human psychosocial development [32], adulthood is concerned with generativity versus stagnation and maturity with ego integrity versus despair. Therefore, self-transcendence as an individual developmental process toward personal maturity and a resource for well-being might serve as an indicator of successful aging among NH patients.
Some of the intrapersonal self-transcendence indicators loaded low and displayed low -values. These items involve finding meaning in past experiences, accepting death as a part of life, letting others help, and enjoying one's pace of life. Being in the "fourth age," living in a NH, represents a life situation where letting others help and accepting death are quite obvious. NH patients' daily life is strongly influenced by the routines and availability of help and support from the staff nurses. In this regard, NH patients might find that they do not have their own pace of life, and enjoying one's pace of life seems less relevant. Also the items "I feel as I'm slowed down" and "I have lost interest in my appearance" loaded low, but the composite reliability was good. The low values might indicate that these items are less relevant for this particular sample.
5. Limitations
This study expands previous studies by testing the associations between the two-factor construct of self-transcendence and depression among NH patients by using structural equation modeling. Using SEM accounts for random measurement error and the psychometric properties of the scales in the model are more accurately derived. Nevertheless, the findings of this study must be discussed with some limitations in mind.
First, Model 1 comprises 20 variables, indicating a desirable , while in the present study . A larger sample would significantly increase the statistical power of the tests. A second limitation concerns the use of self-reported data, which implies a certain risk that the findings are based on common-method variance [73].
Moreover, the fact that the researchers visited the participants to help fill in the questionnaires might have introduced some bias into the respondents' reporting. The questionnaires were part of a battery of nine questionnaires with 130 items. Therefore, frail older NH patients might become exhausted when completing the questionnaires, which may cause a possible bias. To avoid such a bias, experienced researchers were carefully picked and trained in conducting the interviews following a standardised procedure, including small breaks on specific points during the interview process. This procedure worked out very well; in just three cases the interviews had to be completed the next day due to respondent's fatigue. Actually, most participants were even more vigorous after completing the interview.
The NFI and GFI were lower than the recommended value of 0.90 for both indices, indicating uncertainty regarding the associations in Model 1. However, the NFI and GFI are sensitive to small samples, underestimating fit for samples less than 200; therefore they should not be relied on solely [70]. Nevertheless, the CFI is a revised form of the NFI that considers the sample size and performs well even when sample size is small [74]. CFI in the present study was 0.96, supporting Model 1. In addition, AGFI is an adjusted form of GFI that accounts for the degrees of freedom and was inside the recommended cut-off value.
6. Relevance to Clinical Nursing
According to the European Commission's Green Paper on mental health [5], depression is one of the most prevalent mental health problems facing European citizens today. Taking into account the highly chronic nature of these psychological states, we consider our findings noteworthy in their suggestion that self-transcendence might impair the level of depression. Knowledge of how self-transcendence and depression relate to each other in this respect is important for researchers, nurses, and clinicians.
This study demonstrates that both intrapersonal and interpersonal self-transcendence influence depression. Accordingly, facilitating nursing intervention to provide patients' self-transcendence would promote integrity and well-being and prevent despair and depression. The results suggest that the intrapersonal self-transcendence affects depression stronger than the interpersonal self-transcendence among cognitively intact NH patients. This might indicate that facilitating self-acceptance and helping patients adjust well are crucial to decreasing depression among NH patients. Furthermore, connecting with others, sharing wisdom, and helping others when possible appear as vital to preventing depression and increasing well-being in cognitively intact NH patients.
Due to a combination of factors such as patients' communication impairment, clinicians' focus on treating medical conditions, normalization of depression in later life, and a lack of training in mental health among staff in NHs, depression can easily go undetected among the NH population [75, 76]. Therefore, self-transcendence might serve as a framework for staff nurses' awareness, assessing patients' mood, and connectedness resources. Staff nurses are increasingly aware that good nursing care consists of more than the competent performance of a number of nursing activities. However, for many nurses, it is much less clear what this "more" means and what importance it has in nursing. Nurses may encourage self-transcendence by facilitating patients' connections with others, stimulating inner reflections and connection to their inner thoughts and emotions, and by promoting spiritual faith, facilitating hobbies, helping others, and sharing wisdom. Enhancing acceptance of the self, death, and one's life situation might prevent and decrease depression among NH patients. As connectedness is described as the core of self-transcendence, offering connectedness might be a central aspect of NH care. The interpersonal relationship in patient-nurse interactions has been found to be an essential factor of quality of care, as perceived by long-term care patients [71, 77, 78]. Nurse-patient interaction can help NH patients preserve their dignity, identity, and integrity [79]. By means of listening to the patients, communicating, and treating the patients with respect, by using empathic understanding, and acknowledging him/her as a person who is to be taken seriously and attended to, staff nurses might promote self-transcendence and therefore personal maturity, decreased depression, and enhanced well-being [71, 80–84].
Nursing research and education should pay more attention to interventions promoting self-transcendence and well-being in order to develop a more comprehensive and practice-based view of good nursing care that inspires NH staff nurses as they perform their daily care practices. More research of the effectiveness of such strategies is highly needed. Educational nursing curricula should underline and facilitate nurse-patient interaction and interventions to expand NH patients' personal self-boundaries. Advancing the staff nurses' presence with the patient might contribute to increased self-transcendence and decreased depression.
7. Conclusion
The present study suggests that self-transcendence negatively and significantly affects depression in cognitively intact NH patients. Depression was significantly influenced by the interpersonal and the intrapersonal self-transcendence. Consequently, nursing interventions and in-house activities aiming to increase patients' self-transcendence might have a great impact on NH patients' depression and their well-being.
Conflict of Interests
No conflict of interests has been declared by the authors.
The authors wish to acknowledge the Sør-Trøndelag University College Faculty of Nursing to support this study, as well as the elderly patients who voluntarily participated in the study.
- US Census Bureau. An Aging World, 2008-2009.
- OECD. Aging Populations: Social Policy Implications. Paris, France, 1988.
- P. B. Baltes and J. Smith, "New frontiers in the future of aging: from successful aging of the young old to the dilemmas of the fourth age," Gerontology, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 123–135, 2003. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- M. Kirkevold, Ed., Translating Chronic Illness Researc across the Lifespan, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK, 1st edition, 2010.
- COM, Green Paper, 484, Improving the mental health of the population: Towards a strategy on mental health for the European Unioin Brussels: European Communities, 2005.
- F. Lattanzio, M. Di Bari, A. Sgadari et al., "Improving the diagnostic accuracy of depression in older persons: the depression in the aged female national evaluation cluster randomized trial: clinical investigations," Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 588–593, 2009. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- J. K. Djernes, "Prevalence and predictors of depression in populations of elderly: a review," Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, vol. 113, no. 5, pp. 372–387, 2006. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- K. Jongenelis, A. M. Pot, A. M. H. Eisses, A. T. F. Beekman, H. Kluiter, and M. W. Ribbe, "Prevalence and risk indicators of depression in elderly nursing home patients: the AGED study," Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 83, no. 2-3, pp. 135–142, 2004. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- S. Grav, O. Hellzèn, U. Romild, and E. Stordal, "Association between social support and depression in the general population: the HUNT study, a cross-sectional survey," Journal of Clinical Nursing, vol. 21, no. 1-2, pp. 111–120, 2012. View at Google Scholar
- K. Jongenelis, A. M. Pot, A. M. H. Eisses et al., "Depression among older nursing home patients: a review," Tijdschrift voor Gerontologie en Geriatrie, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 52–59, 2003. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- E. Stordal, A. Mykletun, and A. A. Dahl, "The association between age and depression in the general population: a multivariate examination," Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, vol. 107, no. 2, pp. 132–141, 2003. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- E. Stordal, M. Bjartveit Krüger, N. H. Dahl, O. Krüger, A. Mykletun, and A. A. Dahl, "Depression in relation to age and gender in the general population: the Nord-Trøndelag health study (HUNT)," Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, vol. 104, no. 3, pp. 210–216, 2001. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- M. L. Barca, G. Selbæk, J. Laks, and K. Engedal, "Factors associated with depression in Norwegian nursing homes," International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 417–425, 2009. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- R. C. Kessler, P. Berglund, O. Demler et al., "The epidemiology of major depressive disorder: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R)," Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 289, no. 23, pp. 3095–3105, 2003. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- M. Smalbrugge, L. Jongenelis, A. M. Pot, A. T. F. Beekman, and J. A. Eefsting, "Comorbidity of depression and anxiety in nursing home patients," International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 218–226, 2005. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- D. De Leo, R. Rozzini, D. Conforti et al., "Anxiety symptoms and disorders in institutionalized elderly free from signs of dementia," New Trends in Experimental and Clinical Psychiatry, vol. 9, no. 1-2, pp. 31–35, 1993. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- P. Parmelee, I. Katz, and M. Lawton, "Anxiety and its association with depression among institutionalized elderly," American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol. 1, pp. 46–58, 1993. View at Google Scholar
- M. Smalbrugge, L. Jongenelis, A. M. Pot, J. A. Eefsting, M. W. Ribbe, and A. T. F. Beekman, "Incidence and outcome of depressive symptoms in nursing home patients in the Netherlands," American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol. 14, no. 12, pp. 1069–1076, 2006. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- R. Rozzini, S. Boffelli, and S. Franzoni, "Prevalence and predictors of depressive symptoms in a nursing home," International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol. 11, pp. 629–634, 1996. View at Google Scholar
- T. Gonzalez-Salvador, C. Lyketsos, A. Baker, L. Hovanec, C. Roques, and J. Brandt, "Quality of life in dementia patients in long-term care," International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol. 15, pp. 181–189, 2000. View at Google Scholar
- H. Koenig and D. Blazer, "Mood disorders," in Textbook of Geriatric Psychiatry, D. Blazer, D. Steffens, and F. Busse, Eds., pp. 241–268, American Psychiatric Publishing, Washington, DC, USA, 3rd edition, 2004. View at Google Scholar
- D. K. Y. Miu and C. K. Chan, "Prognostic value of depressive symptoms on mortality, morbidity and nursing home admission in older people," Geriatrics and Gerontology International, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 174–179, 2011. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- L. C. Watson, J. M. Garrett, P. D. Sloane, A. L. Gruber-Baldini, and S. Zimmerman, "Depression in assisted living: results from a four-state study," American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 534–542, 2003. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- M. Smalbrugge, A. M. Pot, L. Jongenelis, C. M. Gundy, A. T. F. Beekman, and J. A. Eefsting, "The impact of depression and anxiety on well being, disability and use of health care services in nursing home patients," International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 325–332, 2006. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- G. Namkee, S. R. Choi, and J. W. Richard, "Depression in older nursing home residents: the influence of nursing home environmental stressors, coping, and acceptance of group and individual therapy," Aging and Mental Health, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 536–547, 2008. View at Google Scholar
- S. Meeks, S. N. Shah, and S. K. Ramsey, "The pleasant events schedule—nursing home version: a useful tool for behavioral interventions in long-term care," Aging and Mental Health, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 445–455, 2009. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- C. Konnert, K. Dobson, and L. Stelmach, "The prevention of depression in nursing home residents: a randomized clinical trial of cognitive-behavioral therapy," Aging and Mental Health, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 288–299, 2009. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- WHO. World Health Report, 2001.
- D. D. Coward, "Self-transcendence and emotional well-being in women with advanced breast cancer," Oncology Nursing Forum, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 857–863, 1991. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- C. R. Ellermann and P. G. Reed, "Self-transcendence and depression in middle-age adults," Western Journal of Nursing Research, vol. 23, no. 7, pp. 698–713, 2001. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- P. G. Reed, "Self-transcendence and mental health in oldest-old adults," Nursing Research, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 5–11, 1991. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- E. H. Erikson, Childhood and Society, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY, USA, 1950.
- P. G. Reed, "Theory of self-transcendence," in Middle Range Theory for Nursing, M. J. Smith and P. R. Liehr, Eds., pp. 105–129, Springer, New York, NY, USA, 2008. View at Google Scholar
- J. Quinn, "Transpersonal human caring and healing," in Holistic Nursing A Handbook for Practice, B. Dossey, L. Keegan, and C. Guzzetta, Eds., pp. 41–53, Jones and Bartlett, London, UK, 2005. View at Google Scholar
- M. A. Burkhardt and M. G. Nagai-Jacobson, "Reawakening spirit in clinical practice," Journal of Holistic Nursing, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 9–21, 1994. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- H. G. Buck, "Spirituality: concept analysis and model development," Holistic Nursing Practice, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 288–292, 2006. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- B. Pesut, "A conversation on diverse perspectives of spirituality in nursing literature," Nursing Philosophy, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 98–109, 2008. View at Google Scholar
- D. Miner-Williams, "Putting a puzzle together: making spirituality meaningful for nursing using an evolving theoretical framework," Journal of Clinical Nursing, vol. 15, no. 7, pp. 811–821, 2006. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- L. Chiu, J. Emblen, L. Van Hofwegen, R. Sawatzky, and H. Myerhoff, "An integrative review of the concept of spirituality: a literature review," Western Journal of Nursing Research, vol. 26, pp. 1183–1188, 2004. View at Google Scholar
- G. Haugan, T. Rannestad, R. Hammervold, H. Garåsen, and G. A. Espenes, "The associations between self-transcendence and spiritual well-being in cognitively intact nursing home patients," International Journal of Older People Nursing. In press.
- J. Drageset, Health-Related Quality of Life among Nursing Home Residents, Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, Section of Nursing Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway, 2009.
- S. Nakrem, A. G. Vinsnes, and A. Seim, "Residents' experiences of interpersonal factors in nursing home care: a qualitative study," International Journal of Nursing Studies, vol. 48, no. 11, pp. 1357–1366, 2011. View at Google Scholar
- P. G. Reed, "Nursing: the ontology of the discipline," in Perspectives on Nursing Theory, P. G. Reed and N. B. C. Shearer, Eds., pp. 615–620, Wolters Kluwer-Lippincott Williams & Wilikns, Tokyo, Japan, 2009. View at Google Scholar
- K. D. Kausch and K. Amer, "Self-transcendence and depression among AIDS memorial quilt panel makers," Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, vol. 45, no. 6, pp. 44–53, 2007. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- D. Klaas, "Testing two elements of spirituality in depressed and non-depressed elders," The international Journal of Psychiatric Nursing Research, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 452–462, 1998. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- P. G. Reed, "Demystifying Self-Transcendence for Mental Health Nursing Practice and Research," Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 397–400, 2009. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- K. B. Bean and K. Wagner, "Self-transcendence, illness distress, and quality of life among liver transplant recipients," Journal of Theory Construction & Testing, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 47–53, 2006. View at Google Scholar
- J. J. Runquist and P. G. Reed, "Self-transcendence and well-being in homeless adults," Journal of Holistic Nursing, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 5–13, 2007. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- C. K. Stinson and E. Kirk, "Structured reminiscence: an intervention to decrease depression and increase self-transcendence in older women," Journal of Clinical Nursing, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 208–218, 2006. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- S. S. Chin-A-Loy and J. I. Fernsler, "Self-transcendence in older men attending a prostate cancer support group," Cancer Nursing, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 358–363, 1998. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- D. D. Coward and P. G. Reed, "Self-transcendence: a resource for healing at the end of life," Issues in Mental Health Nursing, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 275–288, 1996. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- M. Teixera, "Self-transcendence, spiritual well-being, and spiritual practices of women with breast cancer," Holistic Nursing Practice, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 25–31, 2008. View at Google Scholar
- M. Hoshi, Self-Transcendence, Vulnerability, and Well-Being in Hospitalized Japanese Elders, University of Arizona, 2008.
- D. D. Coward, "Facilitation of self-transcendence in a breast cancer support group—II," Oncology Nursing Forum, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 291–300, 2003. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- B. Williams, Rebirth: The Experience of Self-Transcendence in Patients who Have Undergone Stem Cell Transplantation, New York University, New York, NY, USA, 2008.
- G. Haugan, T. Rannestad, R. Hammervold, H. Garåsen, and G. A. Espnes, "The self-transcendence scale—an investigation of the factor structure among nursing home patients," Journal of Holistic Nursing. In press.
- R. Snaith and A. Zigmond, "The hospital anxiety and depression scale manual," NEFER-Nelson, Windsor, UK, 1994.
- C. Herrmann, "International experiences with the hospital anxiety and depression scale - A review of validation data and clinical results," Journal of Psychosomatic Research, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 17–41, 1997. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- P. G. Reed, "Developmental resources and depression in the elderly," Nursing Research, vol. 35, no. 6, pp. 368–374, 1986. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- D. D. Coward, "The lived experience of self-transcendence in women with advanced breast cancer," Nursing Science Quarterly, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 162–169, 1990. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- D. D. Coward, "Self-transcendence and correlates in a healthy population," Nursing Research, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 116–121, 1996. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- B. Nygren, L. Alex, E. Jonsen, Y. Gustafson, A. Norberg, and B. Lundman, "Resilience, sense of coherence, purpose in life and self-transcendence in relation to perceived physical and mental health among the oldest old," Aging and Mental Health, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 354–362, 2009. View at Google Scholar
- A. Diamantopolous and J. A. Siguaw, Introducing LISREL, SAGE, London, UK, 2008, Edited by D. B. Wright.
- K. Jøreskog and D. Sørbom, LISREL 8: Structural Equation Modeling with the SIMPLIS Command Language, Scientific Software International, Chicago, Ill, USA, 1995.
- K. Jøreskog, D. Sørbom, S. du Toit, and M. du Toit, New Statistical Features, Scientific Software International, Chicago, Ill, USA, 2000.
- K. Schermelleh-Engel, H. Moosbrugger, and H. Muller, "Evaluating the fit of structural equation models: tests of significance and descriptive goodness-of-fit measures," Methods of Psychological Research, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 23–74, 2003. View at Google Scholar
- L. T. Hu and P. M. Bentler, "Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification," Psychological Methods, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 424–453, 1998. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- J. C. Nunally and I. H. Bernstein, Psychometric Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA, 1994.
- P. M. Bentler, "Comparative fit indexes in structural models," Psychological Bulletin, vol. 107, no. 2, pp. 238–246, 1990. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- R. B. Kline, Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling, The Guilford Press, London, UK, 2nd edition, 2005, Edited by D. A. Kenny.
- G. Haugan Hovdenes, "The Nurse-patient-relationship in nursing homes: fulfillment or destruction," Vård i Norden, vol. 22, no. 3, article 65, pp. 21–26, 2002. View at Google Scholar
- S. H. Zarit, M. M. Dolan, and S. A. Leitsch, "Interventions in nursing homes and other alternative living settings," in Clinical Geropsychology, I. H. Nordhus, G. R. VandenBos, S. Berg, and P. Fromholt, Eds., American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, USA, 1998. View at Google Scholar
- P. M. Podsakoff, S. B. MacKenzie, J. Y. Lee, and N. P. Podsakoff, "Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies," Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 88, no. 5, pp. 879–903, 2003. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- D. Hooper, J. Coughlan, and M. R. Mullen, "Structural equation modelling: guidelines for determining model fit," The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 53–60, 2008. View at Google Scholar
- H. Bagley, L. Cordingey, A. Burns, C. Mozley, C. Sutcliff, and D. Challis, "Recognition of depression by staff in nursing and residential homes," Journal of Clinical Nursing, vol. 9, pp. 445–450, 2000. View at Google Scholar
- L. Martin, J. W. Poss, J. P. Hirdes, R. N. Jones, M. J. Stones, and B. E. Fries, "Predictors of a new depression diagnosis among older adults admitted to complex continuing care: implications for the depression rating scale (DRS)," Age and Ageing, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 51–56, 2008. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- A. Bergland and M. Kirkevold, "Thriving in nursing homes in Norway: contributing aspects described by residents," International Journal of Nursing Studies, vol. 43, no. 6, pp. 681–691, 2006. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- C. B. Wilson and S. Davies, "Developing relationships in long term care environments: the contribution of staff," Journal of Clinical Nursing, vol. 18, no. 12, pp. 1746–1755, 2009. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- R. Coughlan and L. Ward, "Experiences of recently relocated residents of a long-term care facility in Ontario: assessing quality qualitatively," International Journal of Nursing Studies, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 47–57, 2007. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- C. Jonas-Simpson, G. J. Mitchell, A. Fisher, G. Jones, and J. Linscott, "The experience of being listened to: a qualitative study of older adults in long-term care settings," Journal of Gerontological Nursing, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 46–53, 2006. View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- L. P. Finch, "Patients' communication with nurses: relational communication and preferred nurse behaviors," International Journal for Human Caring, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 14–22, 2006. View at Google Scholar
- N. Hollinger-Samson and J. L. Pearson, "The relationship between staff empathy and depressive symptoms in nursing home residents," Aging and Mental Health, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 56–65, 2000. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at Scopus
- M. V. Asmuth, "Developing and sustaining interpersonal relationships between certified nursing assistants and residents in long-term care facilities," University of South Florida, 2004.
- G. Haugan, T. Rannestad, B. Hansen, and G. A. Espens, "Self-transcendence and nurse-patient interaction in cognitively intact nursing home patients," Journal of Clinical Nursing. In press.


text:
Ledgers Advance To D6 Semifinals
The St. Mary's Springs Academy football team advanced to the WIAA Division Six State Semifinals with a 24-0 win over Shiocton at Fruth Field on Saturday night. The Ledgers took a 3-0 lead at the 8:42 mark of the first quarter when Mitch Herron connected on a 32 yard field. That came off of a Shiocton turnover when their return man fumble a punt. At the 7:52 mark of the 2nd quarter, the Ledgers got on the board again when Evan Henderson hit Ryan Grandlic up the left sideline for a 24-yard score to make it 10-0. Grandlic made it 17-0 at the 1:06 mark of the 3rd quarter when he picked off his 2nd pass of the night and weaved his way to the end zone for a 62 yard TD. The Ledgers final score of the night came with 2:36 left in the fourth quarter when Henderson hit Eric Feldner for a 22 yard TD. The win improves St. Mary's Springs to 11-0 on the season. They will travel to Middleton next weekend for a Division Six State Semifinal matchup with Iowa-Grant who beat Darlington 32-15. That games date and kickoff time has not yet been determined.
Click here to listen to Bob Hyland's postgame comments.
Click here to listen to a podcast of the Ledgers win over Shiocton
Please remember a few rules before posting comments:
- If you don't want people to see your email address, simply type in the URL of your favorite website or leave the field empty.
- Try to be civil to your fellow readers.
- Stay on topic. We want to hear your opinions and thoughts, but please only comment about the specified topic in article.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
St. Rose Dominican Hopsital St. Rose Dominican Hopsital
Here's a sample of our volunteer opportunities:VIEW AS
Mission Statement
Under the sponsorship of the Adrian Dominican Sisters and in response to the changing needs of the people of southern Nevada, St. Rose Dominican Hospital offers quality, compassionate care. We promote wholeness of body, mind and spirit in the Dominican tradition of working with others to improve the health status of the community in a shared pursuit for justice and truth with a commitment to those with special needs.
St. Rose Dominican Hospital is a private non-profit hospital with an intensive volunteer program encompassing two hospital campuses. Because of the many hours that are put in by the volunteers, St. Rose Hospital is able to keep medical expenses down and provide for those who do not have the means to cover the costs of medical care.
This information
Might be out of date
Do you work for this organization?
Request administrator status and update its information!


text:
For any foreigner choosing to live their lives in a country other than their own, there is some level of respect that is warranted to the predominant culture. It is not right to assume that the host country will or should bend to everyone's unique cultures. That being said, it is also better for the predominant culture to extend the same respect to minority cultures. There's no harm in that.
Maybe she should have said "I don't care if you're vegan, a reformed alcoholic, or muslim, you don't get to tell people what they can or cannot drink and eat."It doesn't matter if it's "incredible rare", if 1 person does something, and the other 9 don't do anything, then that one person can have a larger impact than the other 9. Just look at how some people are calling for this person's resignation, even though most people don't care.
The Norway integration minister's comments about Muslims have been misinterpreted. This is not a surprise, as many people these days have very limited attention spans, and get their news from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Contributors to these sites are often prejudiced or dishonest, so readers accepting their opinions are probably jumping to conclusions on insufficient evidence.
Yes, people are too quick to jump to conclusions because there is so much information constantly being launched on the internet that it's nearly impossible to stop and consider what someone actually meant. Plus, sarcasm is often hard to identify when it's written down. We need to hear and see the way someone says something to understand it.


text:
Acquired or traumatic brain injuries
Brain injuries acquired by high impact incidents can, quite simply, have the most devastating effects on the lives of the victim and their family.
Injuries involving damage to the brain are incredibly complex and difficult to treat and are not known as catastrophic for no good reason. As a result of such an injury, the injured person will require long-term care and assistance, often at great financial cost.
If that injury has been caused by the negligence or breach of duty of another person or party, the claim that could ensue requires specialist legal advice and guidance, not only for the victim but for the family who have to carry on with the consequences both during the case and after it concludes, with a view to ensuring that the right level of compensation is secured to cover the ongoing costs of care, treatment, rehabilitation, loss of future earnings and opportunities and so forth; these claims can run into millions.
The majority of our brain and head injury claims are referred to us by medical and rehabilitation specialists who recognise our expertise in this area.
In turn we are recognised by Headway, the brain injury charity, and follow the Headway Personal Injury Solicitors' Code of Conduct.
But, most importantly, we have a passionate belief that law firms and the solicitors in them who purport to be experts should only be claiming that expertise if they have both the ability and experience to run these case and, most importantly of all, the passion and empathy with the injured party and their family members which is critical. No solicitor should be instructed who cannot show both a reasonable history of dealing with these cases, but most importantly of all that they have a fundamental understanding of the brain and the consequences of damage to its integrity. Beyond that they need to be able to explain complex issues of how compensation is assessed and to assist in interpreting very difficult medical evidence, which can in itself often be very unpleasant to face and read for both the victim and their family.
Mark Pierce, Partner and head of the personal injury/clinical negligence department, has substantial experience of catastrophic brain injury claims and understands the need for a prompt response to the issue of rehabilitation and the physical and mental wellbeing of both the victim and their family.
He and his team have successfully secured compensation for victims of catastrophic brain injury often involving settlements of many millions of pounds. Mark has represented clients in the Royal Courts of Justice and the Court of Appeal.
Boyce Hatton offers a no win/no fee service so please contact us if you or a family member has been the victim of an accident that is not their fault, and which on the face of it is going to have long-term consequences. We know that the problems for the client and the family do not just stop when the claim stops but those problems can be significantly lessened if a secure financial base for ongoing care, treatment, rehabilitation, housing and transport has been properly calculated and forced out of a reluctant insurance company.
Please contact Boyce Hatton on 01803 403403 and ask for Mark Pierce or Fiona Squire.


text: When handcrafting her beautiful, fine pieces, designer Sia Taylor looks to the natural world for inspiration. Her exquisite styles represent a delicate balance between skill and reverie; as sophisticated and considered as they are fanciful and ethereal. Master minimalist refinement with Sia Taylor necklaces. These delicate and intricate, treasures are a real labor of love for the designer, painstakingly crafted to be loved and worn today and passed on tomorrow.


text:
One reason OpenGL is so fast is that it allows applications to provide large chunks of work to be done in parallel. When drawing sprites with WebGL, it's important to make an effort to take advantage of this by minimizing the number of draw calls. This is true with OpenGL, but even more so with WebGL because each draw call requires extra validation.
Unfortunately, minimizing draw calls isn't always easy. It's often impractical or impossible to draw all your geometry at once because the geometry must share the same texture(s). FishIE used a single sprite from the beginning, which made it easy to draw everything at once. If possible, move as many sprites into the same texture as possible and sort or group sprites using the same texture into a single draw call. It may also be possible to use multi-texturing, but depending on the GPU architecture, this can cause all textures to be read for each sprite which will have dramatic impact on performance because of limitations on texture bandwidth.
The performance difference between drawing sprites individually versus all at once can be pretty big. I made another version of the FishIE demo that draws each sprite individually. This version draws 2000 fish at 10fps on my test system, while the original WebGL FishIE can do 4000 fish at 60fps on the same system. Since the same texture is used for all sprites I did not have to rebind the texture for each sprite; doing so would likely decrease performance further.
Designing an application around these limitation can be tricky, but often the application is in a better position to make compromises or take short cuts than a more general Canvas 2D implementation would be.


text:
As women, getting pampered is a luxury.
Those bi-weekly manicures and pedicures can quickly add up, but in the end it's always worth it. Finding the perfect spot that is both affordable and chic can sometimes be tricky and we end up choosy affordable over presentable.
If you don't mind spending a little cash every now and then to keep your look up to par, these posh nail salons are a must. Whether you reside in the New York City area or just happen to be passing through, take full advantage and treat yourself like a Queen for a day. Your wallet might regret it, but you won't.
Paintbox NYC:
Paintbox is a box salon in the heart of the city that creates a quirky and chic environment that allows you to feel right at home. From the menu of 3D nail salons to the portable iPhone charging stations -- this salon doesn't miss a beat. And let's not forget the complimentary beverages. Sounds like a scene straight out of 'Clueless'.
17 Crosby Street (between Grand and Howard streets); 212-219-2412
Primp & Polish:
Have you ever wanted to get your nails done in a secret garden? Well, what if I told you that you can? Welcome to Primp & Polish, where all your pampering dreams will come true -- for a pretty penny. So worth the pretty penny. Grab your girls this summer and head to this outdoor pedicure garden to sit back, relax and prepare to be amazed -- I mean pampered.
72 Bedford Avenue (between North 7th and North 8th streets), Brooklyn; 718-384-3555.
Bed of Nails - Nail Bar:
Bed of Nails - Nail Bar knows luxury and there is absolutely no doubt that you won't be treated like a queen. I mean c'mon, just look at the chairs? Not only is the salon chic, but it's clean and the customer service is top notch. Any salon whose catch phrase is "Nail Bar is an experience like no other. This won't be a one night stand, it will be a relationship" is clearly worth paying a visit!
2272 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., Harlem; 212-694-2200


text:
13th February Leave a comment
We know you just cannot get enough of these, and so we proudly present yet another series: Who the fuck is …? On a more or less regular basis, we will introduce you to companies that are working in an area of commerce we find particularly interesting or have been in the news lately (for a good reason) or have paid us loads of money to pay for all our punky extravagance. Anyways, today we'd like to present Coupies, a mobile couponing service from Cologne.
We came across Coupies on our quest for businesses building cool applications using the NFC technology. Last Monday, Coupies CEO Frank Schleimer took the time to answer some questions about what his business is doing, where it's heading and where he sees the future of mobile applications. He also demoed their app for uns, and without further ado, let's get to the interview:


text:
Vehicle audio
Vehicle audio is equipment installed in a car or other vehicle to provide in-car entertainment and information for the vehicle occupants. Until the 1950s it consisted of a simple AM radio. Additions since then have included FM radio (1952), 8-Track tape players, Cassette Players, CD players (1984), DVD players, Blu-ray players, navigation systems, Bluetooth telephone integration, and smartphone controllers like CarPlay and Android Auto. Once controlled from the dashboard with a few buttons, they can now be controlled by steering wheel controls and voice commands.
Initially implemented for listening to music and radio, vehicle audio is now part of car telematics, telecommunication, in-vehicle security, handsfree calling, navigation, and remote diagnostics systems. It is also used to create fake engine noise.[1] For the 2015 Ford Mustang EcoBoost, an "Active Noise Control" system was developed that amplifies the engine sound through the car speakers. A similar system is used in the F-150 pickup truck. Volkswagen uses a Soundaktor, a special speaker to play sounds in cars such as the Golf GTi and Beetle Turbo. BMW plays a recorded sample of its motors through the car speakers, using a different samples according to the engine's load and power.[2]
In 1904, well before commercially viable technology for mobile radio was in place, American inventor and self-described "Father of Radio" Lee de Forest did some demonstration around a car radio at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.[3]
Around 1920, vacuum tube technology had matured to the point where the availability of radio receivers made radio broadcasting viable.[4] A technical challenge was that the vacuum tubes in the radio receivers required 50 to 250 volt direct current but car batteries ran at 6V. Voltage was stepped up with a vibrator that provided a pulsating DC which could be converted to a higher voltage with a transformer, rectified, and filtered to create higher-voltage DC.
In 1924, Kelly's Motors in NSW, Australia, installed its first car radio.[5][6][7]
In 1930, the American Galvin Manufacturing Corporation marketed a Motorola branded radio receiver for $130.[8] It was expensive: the contemporary Ford Model A cost $540. A Plymouth sedan, "wired for Philco Transistone radio without extra cost," is advertised in Ladies' Home Journal in 1931. In 1932 in Germany the Blaupunkt AS 5 medium wave and longwave radio was marketed for 465 Reichsmark, about one third of the price of a small car. Because it took nearly 10 litres of space, it could not be located near the driver, and was operated via a steering wheel remote control.[9] In 1933 Crossley Motors offer a factory fitted car radio.[10] By the late 1930s, push button AM radios were considered a standard feature. In 1946 there were an estimated 9 million AM car radios in use.[11]
An FM receiver was offered by Blaupunkt in 1952. In 1953, Becker introduced the AM/FM Becker Mexico with a Variometer tuner, basically a station-search or scan function.[12]
In April 1955, the Chrysler Corporation had announced that it was offering a Mopar model 914HR branded Philco all transistor car radio,[13] as a $150 option for its 1956 Chrysler and Imperial car models. Chrysler Corporation had decided to discontinue its all transistor car radio option at the end of 1956, due to it being too expensive, and replaced it with a cheaper hybrid (transistors and low voltage vacuum tubes) car radio for its new 1957 car models.[14] In 1963 Becker introduced the Monte Carlo, a tubeless solid state radio, with no vacuum tubes.[12]
In 1964 Philips launched the Compact Cassette, and in 1965 Ford and Motorola jointly introduced the 8-track tape in-car tape player. In subsequent years cassettes supplanted the 8-track, and improved with longer play times, better tape quality, auto-reverse, and Dolby noise reduction. They were popular throughout the 1970s and '80s. While the CD had been on the market since 1982, it was in 1984 that Pioneer introduced the CDX-1, the world's first car CD player. It was known for its improved sound quality, instant track skipping and the formats increased durability over cassette tapes. Due to the ability that allowed drivers and passengers to change up to 10 CD's at a time, car CD changers started to gain popularity in the late 80s and continuing throughout the 90s.[15] Stock and aftermarket compact disc players began appearing in the late 1980s, competing with the cassette. The first car with an OEM CD player was the 1987 Lincoln Town Car, and the last new cars in the American market to be factory-equipped with a cassette deck in the dashboard was the 2010 Lexus SC430,[16] and the Ford Crown Victoria.[17]
From 1974 to 2005 the Autofahrer-Rundfunk-Informationssystem was used by the German ARD network.[18] Developed jointly by the Institut für Rundfunktechnik and Blaupunkt,[19] it indicated the presence of traffic announcements through manipulation of the 57kHz subcarrier of the station's FM signal.[20] ARI was replaced by the Radio Data System.[21]
In the 2010s new ways to play music came into competition with the CD and FM radio such as internet radio, satellite radio, USB and Bluetooth, and in-dash slots for memory card. And the automobile head unit became increasingly important as a housing for front and backup dashcams, navis, and operating systems with multiple functions, such as Android Auto, CarPlay and MirrorLink.
Components and terms[edit]
Stock system is the OEM application that the vehicle's manufacturer specified to be installed when the car was built.
Aftermarket components can also be used.
- Head unit: Headunit products includes the screen and buttons and are manufactured mainly in DIN form factor, which refers to ISO 7736. Head units come as single DIN or double DIN.
- Connectors for car audio, where ISO 10487 Harness Adapter is used.
- Capacitors
- Mobile audio power amplifiers
Amplifiers increase the power level of audio signals. Some head units have built-in stereo amplifiers. Other car audio systems use a separate stand-alone amplifier. Every amplifier has a rated power level sometimes noted on the head unit with the built in amplifier, or on the label of a stand-alone unit.
- Car speakers and subwoofers.
- Damping: sound deadening material is often used in the door cavities and boot/trunk area to damp excess vibration of the panels in the car in response to loud subwoofer bass tones, especially the boot/trunk.
Extremely loud sound systems in automobiles may violate the noise ordinance of some municipalities, some of which have outlawed them.[22] In 2002 the U.S. Department of Justice issued a guide to police officers on how to deal with problems associated with loud audio systems in cars.[23]
1964 Mercedes-Benz W110 190c dashboard with original FM Blaupunkt "Frankfurt" head unit.
1978 AMC Matador sedan factory AM-FM-stereo-8-track unit with album by The Blues Brothers
As technology keeps evolving, head units are now paired with climate control system and other essentials. They are now equipped with anti-theft system for protection purposes.
See also[edit]
- ^ Harwell, Drew (2015-01-21). "America's best-selling cars and trucks are built on lies: The rise of fake engine noise". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-01-16.
- ^ "The Rise of the Fake Engine Roar". Popular Mechanics. 2012-08-02. Retrieved 2016-01-16.
- ^ Radiomuseum.org Accessed February 16, 2018
- ^ Guarnieri, M. (2012). "The age of vacuum tubes: the conquest of analog communications". IEEE Ind. Electron. M.: 52–54. doi:10.1109/MIE.2012.2193274.
- ^ "Car History 4U - History of the Car Radio in Motor Cars / Automobiles". 2012-12-09. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
- ^ "Lessons of history inform ACMA thinking today: RadComms Conference". Radio info. 30 April 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
- ^ "10 Aussie Auto Facts You Probably Didn't Know | AutoGuru". www.autoguru.com.au. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
- ^ "The History of Car Radios". Car and Driver. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
- ^ "BLAUPUNKT: Success Story". www.blaupunkt.com. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
- ^ Harding (ed) (1977). Guinness book of car facts and feats. London: Guinness Superlatives. ISBN 0-900424-54-0.
- ^ "When the Car Radio Was Introduced, People Freaked Out". MentalFloss. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
- ^ a b "The History of the Car Stereo". PCMAG. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
- ^ "Mopar 914-HR Ch= C-5690HR Car Radio Philco, Philadelphia". www.radiomuseum.org. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
- ^ Hirsh, Rick. "Philco's All-Transistor Mopar Car Radio". Allpar.com. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
- ^ "The Evolution of Playing Music in Your Car1980s-1990s: The Rise of the CD". Complex CA. Retrieved 2017-01-22.
- ^ Williams, Stephen (2011-02-04). "For Car Cassette Decks, Play Time Is Over". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
- ^ "The in car cassette deck lives on for one more year".
- ^ "Institut für Rundfunktechnik Historic Milestones". Archived from the original on 20 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
- ^ "March 2009: RDS is now 25 – the complete history" (PDF). Geneva, Switzerland: The RDS Forum. 2009-03-27. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
- ^ "Das Autofahrer-Rundfunk-Informationssystem wird abgeschaltet" (in German). Regensburg, Germany: ShortNews GmbH & Co. KG. 2005-02-28. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
- ^ "Boom Cars, Noise Free America". Noisefree.org. Archived from the original on February 19, 2015. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
- ^ Scott, Michael S. (May 22, 2002). Loud Car Stereos (PDF). U.S. Department of Justice, Community Oriented Policing Services. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 23, 2015. Retrieved February 18, 2015.


text:
Source: AutoVerdict
July 14, 2017
by Nick Saporito
There's no question Jaguar is serious about expanding its lineup. After launching its first-ever SUV with the F-Pace, the company has decided to enter the hot compact segment with the 2018 E-Pace. The new E-Pace will be rolling out at a time with buyers are flocking to small SUVs, and it's sporting Jaguar good looks and plenty of goods to appease said buyers.
As noted with the F-Pace, Jaguar's brand design theme is clearly inspired by the F-Type. The inspiration from the brand's flagship is rather obvious with the new E-Pace as well, with an assertive design that looks uniquely Jaguar. That said, it isn't a mini F-Pace from a visual perspective; it has its own character throughout the body lines.
Inside is a similar story in terms of the E-Pace's homage to the rest of the Jaguar portfolio. There is a general "cockpit" type design theme with the dash, similar to that of the brand's other products. This interior design seems to be slightly less dynamic than, say, the much higher priced F-Type, but still attractive. Jaguar is claiming premium materials throughout the cabin, with a highlight on a 10-inch touchscreen featuring Jaguar's Touch Pro infotainment system. A 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster is optional, as is head-up display.
Those enjoying the cabin of the E-Pace will be propelled by a choice of two variants of the new Ingenium turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four. In base form the engine will produce 246 horsepower, while R-DYNAMIC models increase the horsepower figure to 296 horsepower to match its more aggressive exterior design treatment. Both engines are exclusively mated to a ZF nine-speed automatic transmission.
All new E-Pace models come standard with all-wheel-drive. The AWD system is permanent with the ability to send nearly all of the engine's torque to either the front or rear axle, depending on conditions. Models with the 296 horsepower engine also gain Active Driveline. Active Driveline also adds twin clutches to the driveline so that the AWD system can completely disengage when not needed. All E-Pace models feature a suspension system similar in geometry to the F-Pace and torque-vectoring.
Of course, the new E-Pace is bookended with a long list of available features. The feature list includes everything from 4G LTE WiFi to a host of active safety features.
Jaguar has already announced the starting price on the E-Pace, which rests at $39,595. It is worth noting that the price will climb well in excess of $60,000 when fully-decked, but that's not out of line from its German competitors.
Read full article at AutoVerdict
[Return to AutoVerdict blog]


text:
It felt so good to go to my Stampin' Studio and just play! I didn't have to make anything for a craft fair or design for a class. It was just me and my stamping stuff.......what fun we had together!!!
I've been thinking about this project for a few days now, but I didn't have the chance to play until today.
Let's put it all out on the table now. I {heart} candy canes........not the funky flavored ones.......just traditional peppermint candy canes. My favorites are the ones that are green and red stripe. I insist that they taste better than just the red striped ones. I know....I am a bit nuts!
Anyway, handing out candy canes is a fun way to spread some holiday cheer. It's kinda boring just to hand a plain one over. Isn't it much nicer to give someone a candy cane all dressed up in its holiday finest.......just like this one?
It all started with my Table Settings Bigz XL die and my Big Shot. This die is actually on sale for 40% off with the Online Spectacular. If you think it's only good for making stuff for your dinner table, you are mistaken. There's SO much you can do with this die. I hardly ever use it for decorating my table. I especially love it for tags!!!
Here's what the die looks like:
I used the long tag on the bottom left of this picture to make today's project. I cut this shape on Crumb Cake cardstock.
I folded the tag in half and punched a partial circle using my 1/2" circle punch. This creates the hole to hold the candy cane.
I then grabbed my Winter Post stamp set. I stamped the gorgeous snowflake using Crumb Cake ink all over the tag. I then sponged the edges with Crumb Cake ink.
I inserted the candy cane and tied the tag together using Real Red 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon. This ribbon is so incredibly soft and supple. I love how it adds the perfect homey touch to this project.
To finish off my candy cane holder, I used my Vanilla Styled Hodgepodge Hardware (this is also on sale for 30% off during the Online Spectacular). I stamped the label image (also from Winter Post) using Early Espresso ink. I punched it out with the Designer Label Punch and colored in the poinsettia petals using a Blender Pen and my Real Red marker (scribbled on a stamp case). I placed this under the hodgepodge nameplate and attached it to my project using mini glue dots.
All that's left are the two Basic Pearls on each side of the nameplate.
I think this is the perfect way to present someone with a candy cane......green and red stripes of course!
Now, if you've fallen in love with this project, you'll want to purchase the Table Setting Bigz XL die and Vanilla Styled Hodgepodge Hardware before the Online Spectacular ends on November 30th.
There's so many fabulous deals to be had.....marked down 50%, 40% and 30%. Woo hoo!
Click HERE to check out all the items available during the Online Spectacular.
You can also go to my online store through my demonstrator website. Make sure to click on "Shop Now". Then click on "Online Spectacular" to see photos of all the items for sale!
Remember, the Online Spectacular ends on November 30th!
The Starter Kit special also ends on November 30th. If you love a GREAT deal, you should really check out the 50% off the Starter Kit. Click HERE to see my blog post on all the savings.......


text:
Friday, 29 February 2008
Hill House Online
Watch this space for news about Hill House in Seaton. We will soon be offering accommodation for guests for the first time since October 2004. In the meantime, here are two images of winter sunrise as seen from Hill House.
Posted by Phil Beard at 18:57
No comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
AA: You've been at Conde Nast for almost 11 years. What's changed?
Mr. Townsend: The most obvious difference is the size of the company. Conde Nast is a company of financial substance, a broad portfolio of titles, a complex business and a significantly influential voice in the magazine publishing industry. All three have emerged over the last decade. In terms of culture, we are steadfastly opposed to changing the positive elements of what is generally reflected on to be the unique Conde Nast culture.
AA: Which is?
Mr. Townsend: One of the root characteristics is our ability to focus a group of totally unlike individuals in a common direction. We can tolerate an unlikely group of people, loosely connected but with a common goal. We abhor the thought of an office full of one gray suit after another.
In terms of change in the strategic direction, we have developed a very healthy, balanced focus on profit growth aligned with significant journalism and design. We have adopted the mission to do that profitably.
AA: How profitably?
Mr. Townsend: I can say this: I think the outside-in look properly quantifies our revenue base, and the inside-out statement I would make is that our ability to convert those revenues to operating margin is in keeping with quality public company standards.
AA: For a public magazine company this sounds like 15% to 20% margins.
Mr. Townsend: That might be. Might be. Big companies have big overhead. We target 15%. We do that along with everyone else, of the big companies.
AA: Profit margins at local newspapers are significantly higher than magazines. Have you ever had any concerns that the family might decide to cash out of the magazines to reinvest in more profitable media?
Mr. Townsend: If we had continued along the path of subpar performance, then anyone in my position would have had concerns about the long-term viability of the business. But I think we've proven to the owners that the long-term viability of the magazine publishing entity is an extremely attractive proposition. I honestly don't have any concerns. I regularly see their willingness to allow us to reinvest earnings in organic growth, and I see their willingness to participate opportunistically in acquisitions.
AA: Your predecessor Steve Florio once told Ad Age, "I invented this job. Chuck will make it different, and will probably approach it in a much more administrative way." How do you approach your job?
Mr. Townsend: One of the distinctions with Steve is the breadth of my responsibilities, which include the operating functions associated with the COO's role of the Advance Magazine Group. I spend a reasonable amount of time involved in broader Advance issues-the financial performance of the various divisions, operating decisions associated with the divisions.
As CEO of Conde Nast, I placed more responsibility than Steve did in the hands of our publishers and our marketing and sales organizations, out of necessity and practicality-practicality relating to the fact I am less of a marketing executive than Steve. But also out of what is a good strategic approach to operating a business as large and complex as Conde Nast. The decisions made at Vogue are made by [Publisher] Tom Florio. I don't take responsibility from Tom. I push more responsibility down to the magazines. It's not as much a centrally run organization as it has been.
AA: It's clear what magazines belong at Conde Nast. It's now becoming clear how Fairchild is evolving. What about the Golf Digest Cos.?
Mr. Townsend: It's less how you grow Golf Digest than it is how you grow our position in publishing. Golf Digest affords us the opportunity to build around a very sound management structure, and one particularly experienced in reaching men. We can do that through internal growth, or we can do it we think efficiently through acquisitions. We wouldn't be in the position to participate in the acquisition landscape with men's titles if we didn't have the Golf Digest Cos. Golf Digest supporting three magazines is a difficult proposition, but not an impossible proposition. It's capable of supporting much more publishing activity. It could be special-interest publishing. It could be broader than special interest publishing. It could be category-based publishing.
AA: What does Time Inc.'s Life, the newspaper supplement, mean for Advance's Parade?
Mr. Townsend: I'm loosely quoting my colleague, Walter Anderson. "Publishing a Sunday supplement for 39 million readers is not for the weak of heart." Think of the distribution. Think of the tight closes. Think of $800,000 pages. Think of the competition with other mass media. It takes a publisher of the substance of Time Inc. to even contemplate stepping in. But there is no guarantee that any editorial treatment is going to guarantee success. This is the land of the big boys. This is big time, high-roller publishing economics. If Time Inc. had looked at the category and said, "There's just nothing here," it would have been tough on the category. Between that and the fact that there is a migration from broadcast to other reach media, there's a wonderful opportunity for Parade.
AA: Which brings us to magazines competing with TV.
Mr. Townsend: Cable is the darling of the moment. It's a three-dimensional medium that delivers very much the kinds of audiences that magazines do, but still suffers from the same drawbacks [as broadcast]: You can tune an advertising message out in a second. An advertising message is considered an affront. An advertiser's message in our magazines is considered editorial.
AA: Why haven't magazines better leveraged cable?
Mr. Townsend: That's a source of irritability. It's rather frustrating not to have Bon Appetit and Gourmet on the prominent food cable network. It's sort of frustrating when you own House & Garden, and don't have House & Garden TV in your media mix. But those are retrospective glances.
AA: Conde Nast, especially, isn't known for having leveraged its content well to other media platforms.
Mr. Townsend: We are a very conservative company, and our conservatism has fundamentally served us well.
AA: "Very conservative" isn't necessarily the term that would describe Conde Nast's historic attitude toward budgets and spending.
Mr. Townsend: Maybe the visible management may not have been conservative. But (laughter) you've got to go to the ownership. They are very conservative, intelligent investors building with a strategy, as opposed to building purely opportunistically. Not just throwing money at any opportunity that comes down the pike. For me to criticize that would be misrepresentative of what I believe the value of the conservatism to be, and that is we haven't made many mistakes. We've certainly lost some opportunities, but we haven't made many big, glaring and costly mistakes. Going forward, I don't see a great change in our philosophy.
AA: How do you feel, structurally, about the companies you oversee? There's chatter new management layers may be added.
Mr. Townsend: There's been a lot of talk about Conde Nast developing group publishing. I look with a broader view and say, "perhaps the division approach is a better approach than the group publisher [approach]." Maybe there's a benefit in looking at our existing structure and how we use our management talent to manage the breadth of assets, as opposed to having to take the existing divisions and whack them into subdivisions. We're keeping our options wide open.
AA: Next year, Conde Nast will publish three shopping titles. Are more on the way?
Mr. Townsend: I doubt it. It can't be forced from the top down; it has to be sustainable by consumers. Fashion- and beauty-oriented shopping for women was clearly the most obvious operation. And the Cargo/Vitals opportunity at either end of the spectrum. Domino is going to fit very comfortably into the shelter category. We've taken it from the self to home. There's not another category that is painfully obvious.
AA: Three magazines you'd like to own are?
Mr. Townsend: Business Week.
AA: Then say I have a check for $25 million and say, "Start up a magazine."
Mr. Townsend: (Laughter) First of all, $25 million doesn't begin to prime the pump.
AA: OK. It's four times that.
Mr. Townsend: Make it six times that. If I got a check for six times that, I would start Domino. There's no obvious opportunity that we aren't addressing. I can look retrospectively and say, "Real Simple, I wish we'd thought of that." But I didn't see it at the time. I didn't see it for a long time, but I sure as hell see it now.
AA: Advance's magazines generate much more money from advertising than circulation. Do you consider changing the equation?
Mr. Townsend: The days of phenomenal newsstand profits-the heyday of TV Guide and the Seven Sisters-are somewhat behind us. Today, it's a balance of newsstand distribution with solid subscription circulation economics, and the delivery of a very identifiable, very attractive audience to advertisers. The fact the mix shifted over the last 15 years in favor of advertising dependability was somewhat inevitable. And, I think, largely irreversible. It's nothing to fret about. It's just something to manage.
AA: Things slowed down in the fourth quarter of 2003. How's this year?
Mr. Townsend: This has been the most robust fourth quarter since 2000. The high end is generally strong. Mass is strong. Middle-category positioning has been a little weak. Conde Nast will have a record year, and I'm very satisfied. A record year of revenues from the consumer side, revenues from the advertising side, and in terms of the [profit] margin contribution.
AA: So how long do you stick around?
Mr. Townsend: Well, I don't know. I thoroughly enjoy what I'm doing. I've never had more fun than I'm having working with Si Newhouse. He tells me he intends to stay around for an indefinite period of time, and I've told him that I'd like to stay around, as his partner, for an indefinite period of time. I don't really have a fixed end in sight. I think I'll know when that moment arrives. Or the people for whom I work will know.


text:
Pelletizing Parallel Twin-screw and Barrel ExtruderAll kinds of SJZ and SJP extruders that our company designs especially for producing the PVC pipe and profile, our extruders can promise a good plasticization, high capacity and advanced electric control, and the electrical cabinet can be chosen by customer according to their...Read More
Pipe Conical Twin-screw and Barrel ExtruderIn order to meet the demand of the market,JWELL successfully develops serials of co-rotating conical twin-screw extruder.Mainly used for processing PVC hard material and Various cables palletizing,The equipment main have high capacity ,energy saving feature which is...Read More
Profile Conical Twin-screw and Barrel ExtruderSJZ72/152 conical twin-screw extruder for high speed profiles is successfully developed by our company according to the market and clients' demands, which can replace the ordinary conical extruders type SJZ65/132 and SJZ80/156. Mainly used to produce PVC door & window...Read More
Extrusion Production Line Pipe Single Screw ExtruderThis model of equipment mainly used to extrude profile, the structure and form of screws and barrels vary a lot, and the screws and barrels are processed precisily which can gurantee a good plasticization, high capacity and can meet different customer's needs, the electrical...Read More
High Capacity Profile Single Screw ExtruderAdvantages: It is widely used in the area of water supply and gas supply. Feeding section is grooved structure with temperature controller, and easy to get high capacity and stable extrusion. With advanced BM screw structure, it is able to divide the HDPE material from solid...Read More
Equipped with thousands of professional staff and advanced technology and equipment, Shangwell is one of the leading manufacturers of extruders in China. You can rest assured to wholesale cheap extruders from our professional factory.


text:
As it stated in Toshiba acquired Westinghouse in 2006 with much fanfare, making nuclear power an important part of its business strategy.
Toshiba has said it's expecting a loss of 500 billion yen ($4.3 billion) for April-December of last year, including a 712.5 billion yen ($6.2 billion) hit from its embattled nuclear business.
Toshiba President Satoshi Tsunakawa said the move was aimed at "shutting out risks from the overseas nuclear business."
Japan's embattled Toshiba Corp. said Wednesday that its U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse Electric Co. has filed for bankruptcy protection, marking a key step in its struggles to stop the flow of massive red ink.
Toshiba said in a statement that it filed the Chapter 11 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New York.
As it stated in Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC, the builder of the nation's first nuclear plants in 30 years, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a result of "certain financial and construction challenges" from those very projects, the company said early this morning.
As it stated in more-inJapanese nuclear major Toshiba has announced that its embattled U.S. nuclear wing Westinghouse has filed for bankruptcy.
The Hindu had earlier reported that the June 2017 deadline would be uncertain if Westinghouse was to go ahead with filing for bankruptcy.
by Westinghouse and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd.
Westinghouse's move would cause a $4.3 billion loss for Toshiba and is likely to impact the company's plans for setting up six nuclear reactors in Andhra Pradesh under the India-U.S. nuclear deal.
He had also assured that the chances of bankruptcy did not exist.
This content may collect you by Silina Daniel