American Cinema into the 21st Century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

American Cinema into the 21st Century - Essay Example The Social and Economic Context of the Period In the late 1980s to the early 1990s, the term â€Å"popular culture† became a mainstay, due to the dominance of culture in American cinema and the media. This indicated a shift from â€Å"empirical studies to studies of cultural forms and meanings†. During this time, focus was placed on audience and different forms of mass communication, which included music videos, computer and video games, soap operas, and the Internet. Research moved, particularly in the United States, to finding links between such mass communication and behaviour of society; emphasis was placed on popular culture and media studies. Cinema emulated these shifts in a number of areas from sociology and feminism to economics and history . Technological Developments As cinema entered the 21st century, a number of technological developments were made. Of the more prominent developments was the use of computers, replacing hand-drawn cartoons and physically cre ated special effects. In 2010, Walt Disney Pictures’ animated studio, Pixar, stretched the limits of possibility in the creation of â€Å"Toy Story 3,† the third successful installment of the wildly popular computer generated imagery (CGI) film in the Toy Story trilogy. Pixar has proven, time after time, that it has the expertise to create what would be impossible to animate by hand. One particular challenge in creating the film was crafting a very complicated scene in which the film’s primary characters must make their way on a conveyor belt within a garbage processing plant. What seemed like millions of tiny pieces of diced garbage is moving toward a gigantic furnace, while the characters interact within the scene. In watching the scene, Pixar succeeds in making the audience feel as though they are watching live-action. The garbage reflects the lighting within the facility as it travels down the conveyor. The detail of the tiny pieces of garbage is truly amazi ng, somewhat gross, but the sequence is amazing nonetheless. Terdiman (2010) explains that Pixar did not have the finances or time available to them to manually animate the sequence, so the technical director and his team were forced to be creative with what resources they did have—computers. The thousands upon thousands of tiny pieces of garbage were procedurally animated and brought to life. Similarly, for the garbage bags in the sequence, procedural animation was put to use. Since the bags served such a critical purpose to the plot, it was important they look as real as possible so as not to distract the audience from the overall viewing experience (Terdiman 2010). According to Anderson, a Pixar representative, the talented animators do not intend to break ground with each film they create. Obstacles arise, and it is their job to creatively handle the situation. If that means improving processes or inventing new ones that change the way future films are created, great, but that is not the intention. The animators at Pixar are highly-skilled professionals who want to create something better than what they previously put out—innovations that just come naturally (Terdiman 2010). The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (2001) utilized CGI technology, but also incorporated live-action and a process

Nursing as a Profession Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Nursing as a Profession - Research Paper Example Information literacy describes the ability to find and gather critical and accurate information as required in any practice to provide quality services. This relates to skills needed to maneuver efficiently through the burst of data available and decisively acquire relevant information (Bonnel and Smith, 2010). In nursing, information is regarded as a key attribute that facilitates efficiency with regard to the scope of the duties. Nursing officers assist other medical practitioners in patient care interventions as directed and according to the plan of care. They also contribute to the collection of accurate healthcare information as well as maintaining accurate health care records. The general duties include attending to patient’s personal hygiene needs such as showering and toileting and assisting with patient mobilization and repositioning. In addition, nurses observe the patient's physical and psychological status, as well as responses during the course of treatment, which entails monitoring patients’ vital signs and recording them accordingly. The duty of care seeks to stress the need for selflessness among healthcare personnel, especially those involved in providing direct basic care to patients. Consequently, nurses are placed at a patient’s personal service through the expression of kindness, moral worth, and dignity of the self and others. This is irrespective of one’s cultural similarities and differences, thus placing more value on the accessibility of health care services to all.... Consequently, nurses are placed at a patient’s personal service through expression of kindness, moral worth and dignity of the self and others. This is irrespective of one’s cultural similarities and differences, thus placing more value on accessibility of health care services to all. Presently, information technology has found a home in most institutions in the society and the healthcare sector has had positive results with technological integration. Health care organizations are rapidly adopting and implementing health information technology such as the electronic health record systems. Electronic health recording aids in enhancing efficiency within the health provider’s organization. This translates to improved patient handling and effective treatment to ensuring appropriate patient management. This creates a smooth carryover of the patient by a new health care provider following referral for further management since the patient’s medical history is rea dily available. In addition, it reduces medical errors where the electronic prescribing applications would alert health care providers in case of any anticipated drug reaction. Cases of illegible handwriting have also been eliminated as progress notes are directly indicated in the electronic system. In addition to the efficiency, electronic records cut back on the risk of mix-ups in patient files where a patient is treated for the wrong condition. This is often the results of archival problems where leafs from patient files are pooled together before sorting. The use of electronic medical records saves hospitals and patients from this by securing the records appropriately that only the records of the required patient can be accessed, thus mix up are evaded (McGonigle and