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Monday, September 30, 2019

Money or Happiness Essay

The general belief is that the rich tend to pamper their children by buying them all sorts of â€Å"toys†, while the poorer children do not do this because they cannot afford to. It is usually presented in stories- especially in movies – that rich children are bad while those from poorer families struggle all their lives. Consequently it may be believed that children from rich families are happier than those from poorer ones. This may be the case in some instances, but is definitely not always true. Children can be happy whether they are from rich or poor families. We hear of cases where poor families make all sorts of sacrifices so that their children – or one of them – can have a certain comfort. Fathers are known to work at extra jobs so that their children can have expensive toys for Christmas or for their birthdays. On the other hand, the children of the rich are not always given everything they want. Rich fathers are known to make their children work for a living and earn their pocket money. Other fathers have refused to give their children expensive toys so that they will learn the value of hard work. Hence it is not the riches of the parents that can make the children happy but what the parents do to the child. Happiness can never be equated with having money or having rich parents for that matter. It is possible that poor parents have a close relationship with their child. In this way the child has something far better; it has love. Having enough love, the child will be happy – at least much happier than if it did not receive love. On the other hand it is possible that the child of rich parents have everything she wants but does not get the love and concern that she needs. The parents of rich children are sometimes too busy spending their money and earning more. Often we hear stories of â€Å"poor little rich children†. Though many of the stories we hear are fiction, some of them are real indeed. Sometimes the parents of rich children believe that their child will be happy if he is provided with everything he needs. They try to substitute money for love and care. In such instances, the rich child can be very happy indeed. In addition, children brought up in this way tend to be very poor in relationships. They do not know how to value things like friendships. Such a child is poor indeed, in spite of being financially rich. Using money and surrounding himself with all sorts of toys the child is apt to grow up with the wrong sense of what is true happiness. Then one day when he realizes that money does not always buy happiness, he will not know which way to turn. Hence children from rich families may not always be happier than those from poorer families. In fact both are capable of being happy, with or without money.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Existentialism and The Plague Essay

Jean-Paul Sartre once said, â€Å"Man is condemned to be free; because once he is thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. † Sartre speaks in accordance with the values of Existentialism, which is defined as a philosophical theory that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will. Existentialists like Sartre rejected the existence of a higher power and the over arching influence of an unnatural conformist society, citing instead the importance of individuality and acts of one’s own free will. According to the doctrine of Existentialism, life is not satisfying yet has meaning. The singular purpose of life is to drive forward into the infinite macrocosm of the universe, searching for one’s own particular meaning of life. Additionally, Existentialists propose that there is no god; there is no big man in the sky creating destinies for the humble earthly beings below. Thus, random instances of elation, violence, and tragedy do not hold a greater significance with a supposed higher power or with the universe itself. Life is an experience specific to man alone. Albert Camus, in relation to this philosophy, delivered to the literary world his existentialist work, The Plague, a novel based on the central theme of the inanity of human suffering and the deep individuality of the human experience. In the pages of this novel and through his characters and themes, Camus paints a picture of a mundane community thrust into an almost illogical, if tragic, state of disease and disaster. His unremarkable town of Oran, that in no way deserved such a virulent visitation of plague, sets a perfect stage for the exemplification of existential teachings. â€Å"The unusual events described in this chronicle occurred in 194- at Oran. Everyone agreed that considering their somewhat extraordinary character, they were out of place there. For its ordinariness is what strikes one first about the town of Oran†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Camus, 3). So begins Albert Camus’ gripping achievement, The Plague. From its very origin, the novel admits itself to be set in a small, dull town, unremarkable in every way. And yet, in the randomness of life, the placid town of Oran is inexplicably bombarded with an attack of plague so malignant it is compared to the plague outbreaks of centuries before, which wiped out entire European villages. The typically overlooked literary element of setting, in this instance that of an ordinary North African coastal village, lies a sense of some of Albert Camus’ greatest genius. In a way that seems almost too subtle, Camus relates one of the basic tenets of Existentialism, that which emphasizes the absence of a higher powers’ influence on human life, to the unfathomable curse on an undeserving town. â€Å"Treeless, glamorous, soulless, the town of Oran ends by seeming restful and, after a while, you go complacently to sleep there. † (Camus, 6). Thus, the town of Oran is classified as a sleepy, typical village, one unaccustomed to the despair and pestilence that is rained upon it during the months of the forthcoming plague. One would assume that in a world ordered by a God, a town that had committed no crime wouldn’t have received such an exemplary form of capital punishment. In such a world, one could argue that the town of Oran should have escaped into happy obscurity. One could also argue the fairness of the fabled destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, towns famously steeped in sin. â€Å"Not so! † would cry the existentialists, as one of the basics ideals of existentialism is the randomness of life. Good and evil in the context of life are simply subjective statements; there is no ultimate reward for those who live as saints, just as there is no ultimate retribution for those who live in sin. In this way, the terror visited on Oran perfectly perpetuates this existential idea. A town so typical and seemingly so ineligible of a tragedy such as the plague is, instead of protected from it, decimated by it. Perhaps Camus’ random devastation of his little town is a result of his involvement in the European anti-Nazi resistance. During this time of unexplained evils: the systematic decimation of the Jews and other undesirables and the horrors inflicted upon occupied France, among other instances of randomized human terrorism, Camus is said to have developed his existentialist perspective. In a world overseen by a benevolent, just maker, where is there room for the murders of innocent millions, or for that matter, the infestation of plague in a sleepy little town? One of the reoccurring themes of Existentialism is the importance of the individual finding meaning in a life that’s ultimate result is death. Another facet of Camus’ The Plague that supports this particular aspect of Existentialism is his host of cast and characters. The townsfolk at large can initially be described as hardworking but self absorbed, if not entirely self centered. Theirs is a community of particular habits and personal needs. Seemingly, the only unifying factor of these citizens seems to be in commerce, or as Camus puts it, â€Å"Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. †(Camus, 4). The masses of Oran find meaning in their businesses, card playing, and cafe going. Though the act of death is described as â€Å"difficult and discomforting† (Camus, 5), the people of Oran seem to accept it in its natural courses. The citizens are entirely resigned to their tedious way of life; in fact hardly a soul stirs at the curious sight of rats dying in masses in the streets. Incredibly, beyond the initial panic of the plague, the citizens seem to resign themselves to that as well. â€Å"There was the same resignation, the same long-sufferance, inexhaustible and without illusions. † (Camus, 184). A great many of the prisoners of Oran had embraced Nihilism, a philosophy in which nothing has any value or any meaning, and pursuit of finding either is futile. Interestingly, the attitude of those in Oran and Nihilism itself run conversely to Camus’ actual beliefs. Influenced by the early death of his father and his childhood poverty, as well as a terrible bout of Tuberculosis, Camus’ actual theories involved a complicated correlation between the lack of hope and despair in a life that exists without any intrinsic meaning. Camus’ philosophy can best be described as a daring experiment in optimism without hope; a life that resists the illusion of a predetermined good outcome without succumbing to despair. In accordance to his personal beliefs, an existential hero designed by Camus resists the despair of a life hurtling toward death and instead rises above death to do good works in the manner of a painfully cautious optimist. One such hero is Dr. Bernard Rieux, narrator and chronicler of the plague. Rieux shows his existential spots early on in his narrative, frequently questioning the conformist ways of Oran society and continually distancing himself from the hypocrisy of their half-formed lives. His choice of profession is a prime example of choosing to rise above death to do good, instead of worshipping â€Å"the god of business† like his peers, he is instead a physician. By their very nature physicians fight an existential battle of healing the sick against an all too present possibility of death. Though separated from his wife, Rieux fights on through the plague, administering serums, seeing to the afflicted, and organizing sanitary squads with the help of other active citizens. Rieux is ever mindful of his responsibilities to others, remarking that â€Å"the essential thing was to save the greatest possible number of persons from dying and being doomed to unending separation. And to do this there was only one resource: to fight the plague. There was nothing admirable about this attitude; it was merely logical. † (Camus, 133). In this passage, Rieux clearly exhibits Camus’ own deeply felt obligations towards society, choosing to fight an inevitable evil rather than resign himself to it. Over the course of his life, Camus’ spoke out against many social injustices, including: the genocides of the Second World War, trade union discrepancies, the death penalty, and injustices within the communist party, which he had formerly been associated with and which cost him many friendships, among them Jean-Paul Sartre. In a case of art imitating life, Rieux’s consistency with himself and with his beliefs caused him much personal hardship and endangered his life. However, his commitment to others made him less despondent and more aware of himself than the rest of the town, giving him a strength that not many shared and allowed him to find his â€Å"true-self†, which is the ultimate goal of Existentialism. In his admirable struggle, Rieux clearly demonstrates the most idealistic goals of Existentialism and in turn represents Camus’ interpretation of the philosophy. Speaking on the attitude of futility that is sometimes associated with Existentialism, Albert Camus said, â€Å"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. † In the very heart of his philosophy, Albert Camus accepted that life is merely a vehicle for death, that there is no higher power pulling the strings, and that the meaning of life is attributed to the individual. However, at his core, Camus believed that life was an opportunity to rise above death to accomplish more and do better. The greatest sin was a resignation to death and despair, an indifference to the opportunities afforded to you by free will. In the randomness of life, â€Å"things happen†. Small coastal towns suffer a swift, arbitrary attack of bubonic plague, and Algerian authors die in car crashes when they should have been taking the train. The ultimate question of Existentialism is, â€Å"does life have any meaning? † Ultimately, the key question of Existentialism is answered by that philosophy’s’ very tenets. Life is afforded meaning by the individual, a meaningful life is lived through one’s specific actions to the â€Å"things that happen† in the randomness of one’s existence.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Buyer Decision Process And Three Time Zones Marketing Essay

Buyer Decision Process And Three Time Zones Marketing Essay Communication is not only important in our day to day life. It is very important in business situations as well. Marketing communication is an essential method when building relationships with customers. With the globalisation and many factors competition has increased. Therefore in order to attract customers communication or marketing communication is becoming one of key method and it is becoming a more important factor when deciding the success in businesses in the modern world. When analysing the provided business situation it can be clearly seen that this organisation has been considering more on communication mix strategies and decreasing the customer satisfaction or providing less attention to the satisfaction of customers for some time. Communication mix is a method which is used by all the 3 dominant business philosophies that is production philosophy, selling philosophy and marketing philosophy in order to communicate with customers. There are many methods/tools in the comm unication mix including, advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, publicity, instructional materials, etc. There are many objectives of external communications (generated inside the organisation), building awareness, communicating product benefits and advantages, providing information to assist in the decision making process of the customers, differentiate products and influence the purchase decision. But now he has realized that only concentrating on communication mix strategies is not enough. If the customers are not happy or satisfied the negative word of mouth that can spread through them not only can erode effectiveness of the communication mix but also decrease the future sales. Therefore it can be clearly seen that he has identified the communications generated outside the organisation those can be either word of mouth or other communications which can be spread using various Medias including recent electronic variations can have an influence over marketing mix strate gies. Further it has mentioned that although majority of customers are satisfied, negative word of mouth generated by dissatisfied customers can damage the effectiveness of both communication mix and positive word of mouth. When customers are buying products once or twice in their life time then the word of mouth communication is more important because although the repeat purchase is negligible they tend to spread good or bad about your products and especially when they had received poor experience from specific products or service they tend to alert and warn their associates about those products. Another important factor here is the target market of this home building organisation is first home buyers. Therefore in this business situation when someone builds their house for the first time due to this is high involvement decision (high financial risk, social risk, etc.) customers tend to take advices from their peers. Further they may expect more from their first home because it is a big investment in their life time whereas building another house is a rare situation. Today with the development of technologies the power of the word of mouth communication has increased more. Various electronic media have immerged supporting the spread of word of mouth. For an example with through Skype anyone having an internet connection can get free video or voice calls freely. With social networks like Facebook, MySpace people are always sharing and connected to each other. Another emerging communication through internet is web blogs or forums. Through those kinds of methods people share their knowledge and experiences with all most all the people connected trough internet. Therefore if someone wants to get information about particular thing they can do it immediately and without time and space barriers.

Friday, September 27, 2019

The Fall of the Aztecs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Fall of the Aztecs - Essay Example It is also not true that the natives gave way to the newcomers because of the mistaken belief that a white man came back to them as a god prophesied by their high priests. This had been the main narrative in several history books but a closer examination of all extant documents did not show a belief among natives that Hernando Cortes was their god Quetzalcoatl. A credible explanation how a few intrepid men were able to conquer an empire was by duplicity and guile. Discussion The most common or popular explanation among historians as to why the Spaniards did successfully conquer a vast and advanced empire of the Aztecs was the main narrative the natives did not offer much resistance because of their supposedly mistaken belief that Hernando Cortes is a god who went to the east and vowed to come back as Quetzalcoatl. It was just a coincidence that he arrived on the same year the god was expected to come back. On the contrary, another white explorer named Juan de Grijalva was the one bel ieved to be a god a year earlier in 1518.1 This â€Å"white god† explanation seems overly simplistic but this was given preference by most historians who based their studies and conclusions from recovered documents before and after the conquest. Incidentally, most of the writings were written by the heirs of nobles and the priests whose duties at that time were to foresee the future and so this explanation gained some prominence because these writers tried to protect the reputation of their forebears who cannot be portrayed as not being able to tell the future, hence this explanation acquired credence. Moreover the god Quetzalcoatl is a relatively minor god in the pantheon of gods among the natives, and so ascribing Cortes as Quetzalcoatl does not make much sense. The â€Å"white god† belief is not a very viable explanation in this regard. Most of the writers were descendants of priests and seers who were being blamed for not knowing the existence of the Spaniards prio r to their arrival.2 The most logical and credible explanation of why a few Spaniards overcame an empire is simply their superior weaponry. What they possessed at that time in military technology was a vast superiority such that a few hundred men can fight off against several thousand ill-equipped native warriors. There was simply a huge discrepancy in the military capabilities between those two combatants, with the Spaniards equipped with swords, helmets, body armor and their horses. In particular, the use of war horses was particularly effective; just three horses can turn around a hopeless dire situation into a victorious rout if used correctly against the hordes of mass warriors. Additionally, harquebus and crossbows could inflict casualties at a great distance; the mounted lances and cannons further provide a long-range military advantage against the natives. Diseases like smallpox did the rest in decimating the Aztecs, described by them as a pestilence.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Authoritarian Approach to Management Assignment

Authoritarian Approach to Management - Assignment Example The researcher states that the authoritarian approach to management builds high walls between management and employees which impedes development for the department. The old adage "two heads are better than one" certainly applies to such a management problem. It is necessary that management realizes the contributions of employees to the success of operations and their ideas or thoughts or opinions must not go unheard because suggestions coming from the men themselves doing the job are the most realistic ideas to be considered. Apart from the fact that an authoritarian management approach problematically impedes development, such a problem also raise the issue of growth on the part of the employees. Employment should contribute to the growth and maturity of an individual. However, when a problematic authoritarian management approach is used, employee development is difficult to achieve. When employee development is not promoted in a particular working environment, therefore there is no room for competitiveness. Such is an injustice towards employees and affects the total impression about the country's workers. When companies and/or government agencies/departments refuse to foster competitiveness towards its employees, the country will face problems in the fast pace of globalization. The alternative that exists to resolve the problem is to provide management training for directors and management teams to provide a wider perspective on management. Training for high ranking officials are quite unpopular however, it must be realized that management people are in most need for training to acknowledge a viewpoint outside of their own, to introduce a new practice to create a better environment, adopt an approach shared by other management trainees which have been a proven successful approach. All these and more are learned in training. Thus, with an authoritarian approach, training as an alternative to resolve the problem may open opportunities for change. Change that, will empower employees to open doors to success and develop competitiveness amongst employees. The likely consequence of the alternative which had been identified (training for high ranked officials/management) is adopting change as the training open doors of opportunities for fresh ideas, and leadership education. Chances for authoritarian management will open to change and accept suggestions, the language of "we" instead of "I". Training makes a difference to create a better and more accommodating environment due to the realization made by the officials and managers during the process of the training. The consequence to develop competitive employees, contributing to the growth and development of the department where they are assigned.

Operations Management of Z Mart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Operations Management of Z Mart - Essay Example Due to financial constraints, hiring extra staff to man counters is not possible. This case study will try to highlight potential areas of improvement in the management and organization of Z Mart to avoid late handling and bad customer experiences. Â  It is easier to visualize the problem if one considers the layout of the shop. The main entrance and exit have counters that bill customers for all their merchandise before they exit the shop. The billing section for electronic goods is at a distance from where the (Customer Service Managers) CSMs are stationed which partly accounts for the delay in handling customers payments. Â  On the basis of the manager’s notes, the current situation can be described as a busy discount store with a steady flow of customers and with 14 counters from where billing can be done. The electronics department is removed from the billing counters at the main entrance and has a couple of counters to bill goods bought at the electronics section. There are two customer service managers per shift. Any checks above $100 need to be cleared by them. This causes a problem as the process of checking out the customers is slow and there is an unnecessary glut of impatient customers queuing at the electronics counters. Â  The situation analysis needs to consider the current scenario and how the store manager and his team of sales representatives can add value to the Z Mart business and how the manager can make a good impression during his review. In this case study, the manager needs to first identify his areas of concern and plan strategically so that he can enhance efficiency without incurring additional overheads expenditure.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Investigation on Hertfordshire Water Supply Contamination Essay

Investigation on Hertfordshire Water Supply Contamination - Essay Example In order to maintain the admissible levels of contaminants and to supply water that is safe for the common people, there are drinking water standards that different water supply systems are required to follow (Zaslow & Herman, 1996). Such an issue of water contamination is also reflected by the case of Hertfordshire water supply, the Chalk Aquifer where a public water supply system got affected by bromated contamination that posed problems with leakage in the site in the year 2000. The accepted standard for bromated in water is 10Â µg/l (Quevauiller & Thompson, 2006, p.40), while in the concerned case, the concentration has been known to reach a level of around 150Â µg/l (Fitzpatrick et al, n.d.). Bromate contamination is of serious concern it is a carcinogenic in nature and pollutes the water drastically (Hill, 2010, p.292). Thus the bromate contamination in the case of Hertfordshire water supply and the leakage in the site of Sandridge near St Albans calls for significant investi gation and study to understand the causes, the situation as well as to find out relevant recommendations for the recovery of the condition, which is the primary concern of the current research and study. The Investigation and Assessment of the Contaminated Site: The investigation and assessment of the contaminated site in the case of Hertfordshire water supply would include the following major steps: (a) identifying the process that has been used in the plant, (b) identifying and assessing how the spillage of bromate occurred, (c) using the different parameters - process indicators, the notification of occurrence of unwanted events, and indicators related to public health – to understand how the plant might have been negligent in some respects that led to the incident, (d) assessing the monitoring measures applied in the plant, and (e) identifying how the plant might have responded to the occurrence of the incident. (a) Process used in the Hertfordshire Water Supply: Studies reflect that the Chalk Aquifer presents a huge source of drinking water (Dassargues, 2000, p.195) for a major part of Greater London. The water is primarily supplied from the rainfall in the region of Hertfordshire (Ellis & Bertrand-Krajewski, 2009, p.112). If an overview of Hertfordshire’s present situation related to the water supply and treatment can be presented, it would reflect the status as in the following figure (Figure 1). Status Current Status Future Expectation Water Framework Directive Moderate Good status has been obtained by around 24 percent of the water bodies. The Hertfordshire rivers determine the low or high quality of the water bodies It is expected that the water bodies in the region have plans to satisfy the ecological needs of the environment by 2027. Quality of Water Moderate The river lengths that have been achieving high grades have shown increase since 1990. The water bodies have been focused on the appropriate treatment of the sewages. Serious rec ords of pollution have not been obtained since 2009. Diffuse pollution risks are still high. Plans to reduce the risks of diffuse pollution. Absolutely no records of serious pollution and reduction of any pollution incidents. Continue with the sewage treatment measures. Figure 1: Overview of Hertfordshire’s water supply and treatment (Allum & Dixon, 2010, pp.3-4). This study reflects a serious factor that the water supply system in the Hertfordshire is concerned about the pollution and the contamination and thus the processes followed are focused on the reduction of such incidents. This also hints that when the bromate contamination

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

America - Essay Example The idea of America brings to ones mind the picture of a land that promises liberty, equality and fairness, economic well being, innovation and most of all, individual freedom. The Statue of Liberty in a way depicts the idea of America. The Statue of Liberty stands for enlightenment and freedom from oppression. The inscription on the Statue of Liberty reads, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door." This very inscription shows how America is the place for all those who want to be free, it welcomes one and all. By viewing this skeptically one may wonder if this was only the way America was intended to be, or does even the common man today look at America the same way. Is the common American ready to welcome immigrants into his country with all his heart The common man views immigration more as a source of job loss, terro rism and inter racial unions. Making place for immigrants has its advantages and disadvantages. Immigrants bring variety into the country, they broaden the horizons. Can you imagine eating only burgers for the rest of the life instead of the varieties of Italian pastas, pizzas, Chinese noodles, sushi, Mexican tacos and the spicy Indian foods Hollywood movies wouldn't be the same without Al Pachino, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas or Jackie Chan. It's not just the food or films; without the eastern country's immigrants, America would be devoid of the eastern concept of spirituality. America sure follows a religion, but in spite of the existence of a religion, there are so many who can not find peace through religion alone. It was the eastern culture that introduced the concept of finding peace within oneself to the western world. Without the eastern immigrants, America would not even be aware of the existence of Deepak Chopra. One would have to travel thousands of miles to reap the benefits of Yoga or Tai Chi, wher eas today, it's available around the corner. The variety is not just in terms of spirituality, it holds good even for the materialistic side of life. As it is a well known concept that America is not a saving economy; it is a spending economy. In the recent years, the average household debt of an American has exceeded the average household savings. Immigrants from countries with a conservative approach may bear their influence on the American way of savings, even though to a very small extent. The economic stand on the issue of immigration is two sided. It is regarded as a boon so far as the immigrants set up their business in America and create more job opportunities, but on the other hand is considered a curse as the immigrants take away the opportunities otherwise available to an American. But looking at this issue with a broader view, one would realize that immigration whether an economic boon or a curse to America, sure is beneficial considering the economic progress of the wor ld in large. The developing countries especially need the business of America to progress on the path of economic development. Over the years, American society has been described in many ways, one of which is as the 'melting pot'. The early twentieth century debate about the 'melting pot' evolved as Jewish writers envisioned an America that might better accommodate Jews. Their historic experience as a minority prompted them to take the lead in

Monday, September 23, 2019

Comparative Analysis of Human and Chimpanzee Genome Research Paper

Comparative Analysis of Human and Chimpanzee Genome - Research Paper Example In justification of these new findings, molecular studies have been conducted and results have indeed shown that the two species exhibit some differential characteristics, mainly contributed towards genetic changes mostly on the human genomes, which have significantly contributed towards the differences in the genomes of humans and the chimpanzees. For a substantive period, scientists have always stated that there are substantive similarities between humans and chimpanzees. History has it that human beings and chimpanzees have at one time shared a common ancestor over 5 million years ago, eliciting research on the determination of the contribution factors towards such a development (Cheng et.al. 88). As science has revealed, the genome, which is the genetic material in an organism is the contributing factor towards the determination of whether an organism possesses certain similarities or differences to other. The genome is encoded in the DNA of organisms or RNA as in the case of viruses, which includes all the genes and the non-coding sequences of a DNA or RNA. From a comparison analysis of human and chimpanzee genomes, it is conclusive that despite the similarities that the two have had from sharing an ancestor, studies have ideally shown that significant changes have occurred in the genome sequences of the two species. That has indeed contributed towards the differences that are currently observed in both the human and chimpanzee genomes. Additionally, the genomic changes have also contributed towards the diverse changes in the phenotypes of the two species of organisms.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Conducting Scholarly Research Essay Example for Free

Conducting Scholarly Research Essay Conducting Scholarly Research The following tutorials and information are mandatory, though no assignment is required to be submitted. The skills developed in these tutorials will be used throughout the nursing program. Evaluating the resources you use One of the major challenges today, with the sheer amount of information available at your fingertips via the Web, is determining the reliability of the information presented. It can be quite difficult to determine the quality, authenticity, and authority of the information you encounter. However, there are a number of tools and skills at your disposal that help to determine if the information you find is trustworthy and of academic quality. Watch the Evaluating Websites tutorial to learn more about how to determine the quality of information found on the Web. Review the tutorial: â€Å"Evaluating Websites,† located at http://tutorials.gcumedia.com/evaluatingWebTutorial/vp02.swf What makes a resource scholarly? Throughout your courses at GCU you will be encouraged to use scholarly resources to support your assignments and discussion questions. But what is a scholarly source? Simply put, a scholarly source is a resource or research created, published, and or written by scholars and professionals in a specific discipline. In addition, a scholarly source should have undergone rigorous fact checking and peer review to ensure the research and information presented is of strong academic quality. The bulk of scholarly resources can be found in books and academic and/or professional journals. A large majority of these are research based. A scholar or professional may publish articles in other resources, such as in magazines, newspapers, and even Web sites and blogs. However, these sources do not go through the rigorous fact checking that is expected from scholarly journals. This rigorous fact checking is called peer review. When a scholar or professional submits their article to be published the journal will send the article to another expert in the field to review the work. The reviewer will look to see that the quality is high, the research sound, and the  conclusions in line with the work presented. If it is approved, it will then be published in the journal. This process gives students like you the added confidence in the resource being used. How to find Scholarly Research The Web is filled with information and resources. It is possible to find scholarly articles and research on the Web. However, most will ask that you pay a fee to read the article. The GCU library has subscribed to a number of the journals so that you do not need to pay to read the research. These journals and articles are contained in collections called Databases. Some are multidisciplinary, but most are specific to a subject area. For instance, in nursing, the strongest databases include CINAHL, OVID, and the ProQuest Nursing Allied Health Source. These can be found on the Nursing subject page in the GCU library. Watch the â€Å"GCU Library Walk Through Tutorial† to learn how to access the library and its vast resources. The â€Å"GCU Library Walk Through Tutorial† is located at http://tutorials.gcumedia.com/libraryWalkThrough/vp02.swf Watch the CINAHL Tutorial to learn more about how to specifically use this nursing specific database. Pay special attention to the section discussing subject headings. Learning to use tools like these will help you design effective search strategies and significantly reduce the time and frustration that comes with research. The CINAHL Tutorial is located at http://tutorials.gcumedia.com/CINAHLTutorial/vp02.swf The GCU library has a number of Librarians and staffed trained specifically to assist you with your research. Please contact them if you have questions or concerns with finding information. They can help walk you through the technical aspects of using a database and assist in developing search strategies that will enable you to find the information you need. Call them at 800.800.9776 ext. 6396641 or email them at using the form at http://library.gcu.edu/AskALibrarian Scholarly Writing Writing will be a large part of the work expected in this program. Scholarly writing can often be intimidating, but there are a number of resources GCU has provided to ease this strain and help you learn to write good scholarly papers. A key to scholarly writing is using evidence to support your arguments. The skills you learn as a researcher will aid you in your writing. The purpose of education is to build your knowledge and the purpose of academia is to contribute to and build the knowledge of the culture as a whole. By taking the research and writings of others and evaluating and adding it as essential pieces of your own research, you then move the knowledge of both yourself and the community to the next step. To enable this process, it is essential to cite where the information is found that is used in your papers. This is why scholars use citation styles, such as APA, to standardize how this is done and allow others to easily follow from where the information has come. This is, of course, in addition to the ethical reasons that argue that one should be acknowledged for the work that is done. Watch the tutorials below to learn more about scholarly writing and what resources are available to you. The Writing Center, located in the Student Success Center Writing in APA Tutorial http://tutorials.gcumedia.com/mediaElement/apa-6th-edition-tutorial/apa-6th-edition-tutorial-v1.1.html Plagiarism Tutorial http://tutorials.gcumedia.com/plagiarismVideo/vp02.swf LoudCloud Tutorial http://tutorials.gcumedia.com/studentWTCTutorial/vp02.swf The Writing Process Tutorial http://tutorials.gcumedia.com/writingProcessTutorial/vp02.swf The Center for Learning Advancement has a number of staff and tutors available to assist you in your academic writing. In addition they have a number of resources available at the click of a button. Find out more at

Friday, September 20, 2019

Postural Sway and Self-Motion Perception Theory

Postural Sway and Self-Motion Perception Theory Tharushi Kaluarachchi People are often faced with a sensation of motion when gazing at moving clouds or when a train on an adjacent track moves at a railway station (Dichgans Brandt, 1978). Multiple senses contribute to this common visual illusion of self-motion. Optic flow stimuli induces a conflict between visual input, signalling movement of the body and vestibular input from inertial motion cues (A1). Visual-vestibular interactions also play an important role in maintaining postural stability (A4). Thus it is proposed that there is a common underlying mechanism between postural sway during quiet-stance and vection (A5). Recent research has shown that quiet-stance postural sway can be used to predict subsequent vection strength (A5). While many different types of global optic flow can generate self-motion (A2), this relationship has only been demonstrated for radial flow (Apthorp, Nagle, Palmisano, 2014). Therefore, does quiet-stance postural sway predict differences between multiple vection types, or is it simply a global measure distinguishing vection from non-vection? Concepts The experience of vection describes compelling visual illusions of perceived self-motion that are induced by presenting large patterns of optic flow to physically stationary observers (Palmisano, Allison, Schira, Barry, 2015). Optic flow fields provide visual signals for effective navigation through the three-dimensional environment. It describes a pattern of visual motion on the retina used to rapidly estimate the direction of movement (Duffy Wurtz, 1993). This direction is dependent on the nature of this field, differing with radial, lamellar, rotary and spiral patterns of flow (Britten, 2008). A radial pattern refers to expanding and contracting optic flow (Apthorp et al., 2014). A lamellar pattern refers to optic flow with horizontally parallel flow (Stoffregen, 1985). A rotary pattern of optic flow describes a rotating pattern also parallel to the medial-lateral axis. A spiral pattern of optic flow combines radial and rotary patterns, with the rotary component superimposed in radially expanding flow (Nakamura, 2011). The postural system concerns the position and orientation of body segments to organise balance and movement (Massion, 1994). Postural sway refers to readjustments in posture which can occur with medial-lateral (ML), side-to-side, or anterior-posterior (AP), back-and-forth sway (Ruhe, Fejer, Walker, 2011). Quiet-stance postural sway refers to both eyes open and eyes closed postural sway while standing which occurs prior to the onset of vection (Apthorp et al., 2014). Assumptions A1 (vection). Self-motion perception is a multisensory experience induced by conflicts between optic flow stimuli indicating movement and vestibular input which detects no variation in body position or velocity (Lestienne, Soechting, Berthoz, 1977). A2 (optic flow). Radially expanding and contracting optic flow stimulates forwards and backwards linear vection, respectively (Apthorp et al., 2014). For lamellar optic flow, it generates an illusion of self-translation parallel to the direction of flow (Stoffregen, 1985). A rotary pattern induces roll vection parallel to the plane of the presented flow (Tanahashi, Ujike, Kozawa, Ukai, 2007). Spiral optic flow induces a combination of roll and linear vection (Nakamura, 2011). A3 (optic flow and vection). The magnitude of vection varies with the nature of the optic flow, depending on the area, velocity, depth and spatial frequency of the pattern (Palmisano, Apthorp, Seno, Stapley, 2014). In general, more compelling vection will be induced by optic flow displays that generate significant sensory conflict (Palmisano et al., 2015). A4 (vision and posture). Maintenance of upright posture also depends on visual-vestibular cues (Del Percio et al., 2007). The extent of reliance on visual input in particular, indicates variations in posture, with a greater dependence resulting in more postural readjustments (Apthorp et al., 2014). A5 (postural sway and vection). Quiet-stance postural sway and vection are underpinned by the same basic mechanisms. This supports the use of quiet-stance postural sway measures to predict subsequent vection strength. (Palmisano et al., 2014). A6 (postural sway and vection). During upright stance, ML sway involves the control of hip and trunk muscles, whereas AP sway is regulated by ankle muscles. As these are controlled separately by the postural control system, independent variations in ML and AP are predictive of sway differences between vection types (Tucker, Kavanagh, Morrison, Barrett, 2010). Hypotheses Considering that vection magnitude varies with vection type (A3), it is hypothesised that global differences in the magnitude of future vection will be predicted by changes in quiet-stance. In addition, it is proposed that vection magnitude will be stronger for individuals who rely more on their vision for postural stability. Using local differences in sway axes, it is proposed that changes in AP sway will predict radial flow as it stimulates forwards-and-backwards self-motion (A2). For lamellar flow, which induces self-translation and roll vection generated from rotary flow (A2), it is hypothesised that ML changes will be more predictive. In addition, the combination of roll and linear vection from spiral flow may be predicted by sway in both ML and AP axes. Operationalisation Vection magnitude can be operationalised through a subjective verbal vection rating. Subjects verbally rate the strength of their vection experience on a 100 point scale, with ‘0’ indicating no perceived self-motion and ‘100’ indicating complete self-motion (Apthorp et al., 2014). Though self-report measures can be susceptible to subject cognitions, subjective ratings of vection are reasonably reliably as vection is a subjective experience (Palmisano et al., 2015). The multisensory visual-vestibular interaction for posture can be operationalised through postural sway measures. Quiet-stance postural sway, has been shown to predict subsequent vection, which makes it a viable measure of vection (Palmisano et al., 2014). Postural sway can be operationalised through the changes to the location of the centre of foot pressure (CoP) in the AP and ML direction (Ruhe et al., 2011). Larger sway amplitudes are indicative of greater postural instability. Though CoP is an indirect sway measure as it measures motor system activity, it is a practical method of measuring postural sway in standing (Ruhe et al., 2011). References Apthorp, D., Nagle, F., Palmisano, S. (2014). Chaos in balance: non-linear measures of postural control predict individual variations in visual illusions of motion. PloS one, 9(12). Britten, K. H. (2008). Mechanisms of self-motion perception. Annu. Rev. Neurosci., 31, 389-410. Del Percio, C., Brancucci, A., Bergami, F., Marzano, N., Fiore, A., Di Ciolo, E., . . . Eusebi, F. (2007). Cortical alpha rhythms are correlated with body sway during quiet open-eyes standing in athletes: a high-resolution EEG study. Neuroimage, 36(3), 822-829. Dichgans, J., Brandt, T. (1978). Visual-Vestibular Interaction: Effects on Self-Motion Perception and Postural Control. In R. Held, H. Leibowitz H.-L. Teuber (Eds.), Perception (Vol. 8, pp. 755-804): Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Duffy, C. J., Wurtz, R. H. (1993). An illusory transformation of optic flow fields. Vision Research, 33(11), 1481-1490. Lestienne, F., Soechting, J., Berthoz, A. (1977). Postural readjustments induced by linear motion of visual scenes. Exp Brain Res, 28(3-4), 363-384. Massion, J. (1994). Postural control system. Curr Opin Neurobiol, 4(6), 877-887. Nakamura, S. (2011). Effects of viewpoint jitters on roll vection. i-Perception, 2(4), 254-262. Palmisano, S., Allison, R., Schira, M., Barry, R. J. (2015). Future Challenges for Vection Research: Definitions, Functional Significance, Measures and Neural Bases. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. Palmisano, S., Apthorp, D., Seno, T., Stapley, P. (2014). Spontaneous postural sway predicts the strength of smooth vection. Exp Brain Res, 232(4), 1185-1191. Ruhe, A., Fejer, R., Walker, B. (2011). Center of pressure excursion as a measure of balance performance in patients with non-specific low back pain compared to healthy controls: a systematic review of the literature. European Spine Journal, 20(3), 358-368. Stoffregen, T. A. (1985). Flow Structure Versus Retinal Location in the Optical Control of Stance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 11(5), 554-565. Tanahashi, S., Ujike, H., Kozawa, R., Ukai, K. (2007). Effects of visually simulated roll motion on vection and postural stabilization. Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation, 4(1), 39-39. Tucker, M. G., Kavanagh, J. J., Morrison, S., Barrett, R. S. (2010). Differences in rapid initiation and termination of voluntary postural sway associated with ageing and falls-risk. J Mot Behav, 42(5), 277-287.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Ironic Circumstances in Greasy Lake by T.C. Boyle Essay -- Greasy Lake

Ironic Circumstances in Greasy Lake by T.C. Boyle Sudden and Ironic events that happen to the narrator in T.C. Boyle’s short story â€Å"Greasy Lake† are the same type of events that in an instant will change a person forever. The ironic circumstances that the narrator in â€Å"Greasy Lake† finds himself in are the same circumstances that young people find themselves in when fighting war. The viewpoint of the world that the narrator has, completely alters as certain events take place throughout the story. His outlook on nature transforms into a wholly different standpoint as the story progresses. As his tale begins, the narrator sees himself as a tough guy or â€Å"bad character†. He believes he is invincible. There is nobody as cool as he is or as dangerous as him and his friends are. With his followers, the narrator goes to Greasy Lake, he takes in the nature that surrounds him. He thinks of himself to be a kid who knows everything. To him, the lake represents a night of misbehavior and partying. The unhealthy, treacherous atmosphere of Greasy Lake is alluring, fun, and exciting to someone as threatening as he is. â€Å"We went up to the lake because everyone went there, because we wanted to snuff the rich sent of possibility on the breeze, watch a girl take off her clothes and plunge into the festering murk, drink beer, smoke pot, howl at the stars, sa vor the incongruous full-throated roar of rock and roll against the primeval susurrus of frogs and crickets. This was nature.† This quote gives a clear idea of what the narrators perception of what not only nature is, but of what the world is. He lives to have fun. He is fearless and lives for the moment. All that life is to him is sex, drugs, and rock and roll. His observations of surrounding nature changes after a few ironic incidents occur. The role he plays reverses itself and he finds that he is merely a scared child who is lost and alone in a big scary world. While at Greasy Lake, he is involved in a terrible fight where he almost kills another person, and attempts the heinous crime of rape onto an innocent girl. As he begins to gang rape an innocent victim he is forced to run for his own safety when more people show up at the scene. Ironically, within minutes he converts from being the bad guy, forcing himself on an unwilling victim, to becoming a scared kid hiding in the woods from attackers. While... ...but scared children who are alone and lost in the world, the kids who fought battle in Vietnam went to war thinking they knew all of the answers and somewhere in the middle of it all they realized that they are scared kids who don’t understand what is going on the world around them. They wish only to be in the safety of their mothers home. Everything in the story symbolizes and relates to the truth in war, attitude and actions that cause war are the same that take place with the characters inGreasy lake. The changes that the narrator goes through at Greasy lake are similar changes that happened in young kids who fought in the Vietnam War. The sequence of events that take place at Greasy Lake cause the narrator to grow up and see reality for the first time in his life. The young nineteen year olds who fought in Vietnam went through the same metamorphose as the narrator in Greasy Lake did, War is started by plain stupidity and you figure it out when it’s too late and there is nothing that can be done to change your actions. The characters in Greasy lake are allegorically young men who fought war, their actions and feelings grasp and relate to the actions and feelings of war.

Joseph NcNamara :: essays research papers

Joseph D. McNamara was chief of police for the city of San Jose, California for fifteen years, as well as Kansas City, Missouri. He is recognized as an expert in criminal justice, police technology and management systems, crime prevention, and international drug control policies. He was appointed a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, in 1991.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   McNamara was a pioneer in criticizing the way Police Departments and the government â€Å" fought the war on crime†. McNamara challenged what has long been the norm in society on how to best deal with drug use in the United States. He was also on the forefront of police corruption and abuses committed by Police Officers. Numerous articles, interviews, lectures were researched to best convey McNamara’s philosophy of police technology, innovativeness and management style (leadership). McNamara's career in law enforcement spans a thirty-five-year period. He began in Harlem as a beat patrolman for the New York City Police Department. He rose through the ranks and in midcareer was appointed a criminal justice fellow at Harvard Law School, focusing on criminal justice research methodology. Following this appointment he took a leave from police work and obtained a doctorate in public administration at Harvard. Returning to duty with the NYPD, he was appointed deputy inspector in charge of crime analysis for New York City. In 1973 McNamara became police chief of Kansas City, Missouri, leading that department into groundbreaking research and innovative programs. In 1976 McNamara was appointed police chief for the city of San Jose, where he remained until his retirement in 1991. During his tenure, San Jose (the third-largest city in California and the eleventh largest in the United States) became the safest city in the country, despite having the fewest police per capita. The San Jose police became a model for innovation, community relations, utilization of technology, and productivity.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Security Communities :: essays research papers

Security Communities and Multilateralism 1.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The United States and Canada have enjoyed a very peaceful relationship over the past 125 years, even though they share a border that is 5,000 miles long and undefended. Shore says that ?neither side regards the other as even a potential military threat, despite the fact that interstate anarchy supposedly makes war an ever-present possibility. Conflicts materialize and are resolved without the expectation that they might lead to violence.? (Shore, 1998, 333) Because of this relationship, Shore says the US and Canada are a perfect example of a pluralistic security community.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The peaceful US-Canada relationship is largely the result of the political learning that has occurred over the past two centuries. While the United States and Canada have had their share of political problems, these problems have not been the type that can create insecurity within the region. As Shore says, the undefended border has prompted both the United States and Canada to see each other in pacific terms, even when there is antagonism and miscommunication. Specifically, the demilitarization both countries have engaged in has helped promote a climate of trust between them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The shared values of the US-Canadian political systems has also guaranteed that a shared US-Canada identity has developed to bind the two countries? interests together, so that they have established transnational relations in terms of shared political economic, and cultural exchange. Shore notes that Canadian and American ways of life have become inextricably linked. As a result, peaceful expectations have reinforced peaceful practices, and vice versa, so that war seems absurd, and an undefended border as well as peace seem normal. Any problems in terms of political behavior have largely involved Canadian nationalism, as Canadian leaders try to get their country to follow a path that isn?t always dependent on the actions of the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There have been problems with the two countries ? economic behavior, because their economies are linked. The North American Free Trade Agreement has closely connected the American and Canadian economies, so that if one falters the other?s economy falters as well. However, there have been few economic woes since NAFTA became law, which indicates that the economic relationship between the two countries is a strong as ever. For the European Union (E.U.) there are numerous problems with their political behavior. The EU is expanding, incorporating Greece and other Eastern European countries, yet European countries are experiencing a backlash of nationalistic fervor against the immigration that the EU permits.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

International Management- Hunter Boots Ltd.

â€Å"Designed to be outstanding in any field, from city streets to music festivals and rugged countryside, Hunter footwear is recognized for its performance durability and comfort – achieved through a fusion of tradition and technology† (Hunter Boot Ltd. , 2013) Hunter Boot Ltd. was founded in 1856, styled as the North British Rubber Company, producing not only rubber boots but also tyres, conveyors and flooring. The famous ‘wellies’ or wellington boots rose to fame when they were mass-produced during World War I to supply the army.By the end of the war ‘wellies’ had become popular for use among the general population as well. After changing ownership several times Hunter Rubber Company became a standalone company in 2004, and was bought out of administration as Hunter Boot Ltd. in 2006. Now solely focusing on footwear, the company has since positioned itself firmly and both the UK and USA footwear markets. In 2008 Hunter closed its plant of 9 6 years and relocated its headquarters to Edinburgh (Scotland) and production to China.Striving for more efficiency and effectiveness in the production process Hunter boots are only still visually similar to its original design, whereas they have in fact become virtually identical to the boots produced by its competitors. Nevertheless Hunter has experienced a period of considerable growth and is now distributed internationally in over 30 countries (Hunter Boot Ltd. , 2013). The author feels that is important to make a clear distinction between the years up to 2006, which is the year Hunter Boot Ltd. was placed into admission, and the years 2007 and onwards to where Hunter Boot Ltd. s currently controlled by Searchlight Capital Partners LP (SCP). , which is a private investment firm operating in North America and Europe. First this paper will analyse the rise, and demise, of the company and then will shed some light on its resurgence in popularity and turn-around sales in recent year s (Paton 2011). According to Porter (1991) sustainable competitive advantage in international business is determined by the four factors that form the diamond of national advantage; factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries and firm strategy, structure and rivalry. The factors are nterdependent and all are essential for achieving (international) success. The application of this framework certainly holds true for Hunter Boot Ltd. ’s (international) success from its founding years to the early 2000’s. Diamond of National Advantage| Hunter Boot Ltd. 1856 – 2006| Relative level of Importance| Factor Conditions| ‘Dumfries’ production plant, skilled labor and sufficient infrastructure. | High Importance| Demand Conditions| Wet weather conditions make suitable footwear a necessity. Army supplier during both WWI and WWII. Loyal customer ranging from the British Royal Family to general population. High Importance| Related & Supp orting Industries| Close working relationships with suppliers and end-users within national boundary. | Medium Importance| Firm Strategy, Structure and Rivalry| Ability to manage vast growth in both production and labor force. Ambitious management strategy. | High Importance| Table 1: Porter’s Diamond of National Advantage applied to Hunter Boot Ltd. 1856-2006 The company’s decline became inevitably clear in the years 2003-2005 when it recorded a pre-tas loss of approximately ? 700,000 with a net debt that had grown to more than ? 2m. These perils can be explained by two of Porter’s factors.Firstly the company’s Factor Conditions, mainly its production plant, changed from major strength to major weakness. The location and facilities that helped bring to company to greatness during the war became hopelessly outdated in later years leading to relatively high costs of trying to continue its Scotland production. Lower production costs abroad, due to surges in gas, electricity and rubber prices in the UK, and the overall British manufacturing decline made Hunter Boot Ltd’s ambitions to remain an independent producer based in Scotland unsustainable (Financial Times 2006).Also blamed in the process was the company’s CEO Mark Sater, which relates to Porter’s factor on firm strategy, structure and rivalry, who chose to pursue a diversification strategy in that under his rule the product range was extended extensively in an effort to boost sales. The company even added a range of branded clothing and partnered with charities and fashion designers. With the previously mentioned financial situation the company was forced to consider external business proposals in an effort to keep the company afloat.Driving the following negotiations were the company’s demand conditions which were clearly articulated by an anonymous insider in the Financial Times (2006) as ‘anyone who hunts or fishes and has a few quid fancies themselves as the next owner. It is so close to the hearts of so many people it is almost owned by the nation. None of the offers gained sufficient support of the board and the company collapsed in the spring of 2006. In several consecutive constructions Hunter Boot Ltd. Generated sales of ? 56m in 2010 and ? 78 in 2011 which is a strong financial improvement and turnaround from its pre-tax losses in 2005.Since early 2012 the company is under control of American-owned private equity group SCP which is pursuing global expansion. This makes Hunter Boot Ltd. one of many luxury brand buy-outs by private equity groups the like of SCP in recent times. SCP has announced that it will try to set up stores selling the Hunter brand exclusively across the globe in the coming years. This is a major change in its international strategy since Hunter products are currently sold exclusively via wholesale retail channels (Paton 2011&2012).Despite the many changes in ownership Hunter product are still clearly trying to hang on its British heritage in a dual effort to maintain its loyal UK customer base and to differentiate itself from its competitors. As an example the company has two different website interfaces, one for UK customers and one for USA customers. Both emphasize the exclusivity and craftsmanship of the product, but the UK website further emphasizes its heritage by portraying the British flag and colors clearly on every opportunity. From a theoretical perspective one could argue that Hunter Boot Ltd. s current (international) business strategy can no longer be sufficiently explained by Porter’s Diamond model, and now bears more resemblance to Barney’s VRIO model which is a resource-based view focused on the firm’s internal capabilities (Barney 1991). The resource-based view argues international success stems from the theory that some firms in one nation generate exports that are valuable (V), unique (R), hard to imitate (I) and supported by orga nizationally sound processes (O) which firms from other nations find beneficial to import.A valuable resource will lead to competitive parity, a valuable and rare resource to temporary competitive advantage, the addition of inimitability will lead to sustained (short-term) competitive advantage and meeting all VRIO-criteria will lead to (long-term) sustainable competitive advantage (Shahriari, M. & Ahmadi, A. , 2010). While companies may have many tangible and intangible resources only few of them are strategic in nature. Most strategic resources are of the created and intangible kind and often knowledge-based, yet they can only be facilitated with the help of tangible resources.This mix is what enables a company to move past competitive convergence and into competitive advantage (Shariari et al. 2010 and Barney 1991). Globalization has affected Hunter’s home-based competitive advantages in that in a global economy there has been a shift from natural assets (land and untraine d labor) to created assets (human capital). Many of these created assets are intangible and firm or ownership specific which mean they are often no longer controlled by specific countries or governments except within the constraints of the (national) law. Multinational firms (MNEs) like Hunter Boot Ltd. re free to move assets from a domestic to a foreign location which is often done when trying to pursue and generate new valuable assets (Dunning, J. H. , 1993). This opportunity is exactly what the company pursued when it moved its production plant to China while maintaining its HQ in Scotland. It is the company’s intangible or created asset of ‘reputation ‘that currently provides it with a long-term sustained competitive advantage over its competitors. Its constant customer focus and technological capabilities are a close second but do not withstand a long-term orientation to a similar extent.This is particularly true for Hunter Boot Ltd. ’s technological c apability since the recent move of its production facilities and cost-cutting strategy has made the company more vulnerable to imitation by competitors. Recently Hunter Boot Ltd. has been enjoying great success and it will have to prove if this is sustainable or not. It will come down to the following question: Is the company’s gaining in internal capabilities and resources enough to make up for the loss of its national advantages?The author states that it is vital for the company to uphold its reputation since this is currently the single sustainable source of competitive advantage and not one that cannot be affected. It might be that the company will lose some of its loyal (mainly UK) customers and gain a large number of mass-market global customers, but it is doubtful this will provide long-term success if the company is not able to differentiate itself sufficiently from its competitors in the near future. Bibliography BARNEY, J. , 1991.Firm resources and sustained competi tive advantage. Journal of management, 17(1), pp. 99-120. DUNNING, J. H. , 1993. Internationalizing Porter's Diamond. MIR: Management International Review, 33 (Extensions of the Porter Diamond Framework), pp. 7-15. FINANCIAL TIMES, 2006, Future far from bright for Britain’s wellies, viewed on 28th of February 2013 ;http://www. ft. com/intl/cms/s/0/628795c2-cbd4-11da-a7bf-0000779e2340. html#axzz2MYTEnuR ; HUNTER BOOT LTD, 2013, viewed on 4th of March 2013 ;http://www. hunter-boot. com/about-us; PATON, E. 2010, Luxury industry movers and shakers, Financial Times, viewed on 1st of March 2013 ;http://www. ft. com/cms/s/0/0f2e5894-1c62-11e2-ba75-00144feabdc0. html; PATON, E. , 2011, Hunter boots to pursue international growth, Financial Times, viewed on 28th of February 2013 ;http://www. ft. com/intl/cms/s/0/4846403a-2800-11e1-a4c4-00144feabdc0. html#axzz2MYTEnuRw; PORTER, M. E. , 1998,  Competitive advantage of nations,  Free press. SHAHRIARI, M. and AHMADI, A. , 2010, A Reso urce-Based Framework of Strategic Marketing Planning to achieve Sustainable Competitive Advantage, pp. 1-13.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Greg Critser and Obesity Arguementative Essay

He believes that stigmatizing overeating in children will be a feasible solution to end the increasing epidemic of childhood obesity. However, Critser has several problems linked to his simple solution to a very complex problem. First, Critser doesn’t talk about the discrimination and the rude treatment that people struggling with obesity face. Second, he claims American families are to blame for this epidemic, but really parents are the ones who are held responsible for their children’s eating behaviors in the first place. Third, by enforcing children to avoid overeating will only cause mental problems associated with the tension and stress on when and how to eat their food. Fourth, parents should set an example on how they eat their food, because a child will act the same way as how they see their parents eating. Lastly, by stigmatizing the unhealthy behaviors due to obesity, in accordance to, trying not to stigmatize the person or people, really is stigmatizing the children who are suffering from being obese. There are many variables involved in the epidemic of childhood obesity that Critser does not recognize, for example the diseases or genetics that are involved with obesity. The feasible solution Critser argues might help in the short run with a decrease in childhood obesity, but in the long run his solution will not solve the overall epidemic to end childhood obesity. To begin with, Critser never mentions the discriminating effects and rude treatment that obese people deal with the minute they step out in society. Mary Ray Worley begins in her article â€Å"Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance† explaining what fat people go through day to day, and involved are all the emotions and feelings fat people go through when other people see them. If you’ve grown up in the twentieth-century American society, you probably believe that being fat is a serious personal, social, and medical liability. Many Americans would rather die or cut off a limb than be fat, many believe that fatness is a serious health risk, and many are convinced that is a simple matter to reduce one’s body size and are so offended by body fat that they believe it is acceptable to shun fat people and make them the butt of cruel jokes. Those who are fat quickly learn to be deeply ashamed of their bodies and spend their lives trying to become what they are not and hide what can’t be hidden. Our society believes that thinness signals self-discipline and self-respect, whereas fatness signals self-contempt and lack of resolve. 66) Worley goes into depth on some of the thoughts that are running through obese peoples’ mind when going out in society. This is including all adults and children. The discrimination that obese children suffer from is long lasting detrimental effects. These feelings and emotions that are developed as a child can play a vital role in one’s self-esteem along wit h their confidence and how they will conduct themselves day by day. Nowhere is the article Critser talks about the discrimination an obese person has to deal with. Critser would mention two things in his article that would affect the feelings of obese children and one of them was the feeling that obese children deal with is that â€Å"pressure causes tension† (1). The other thing was his solution he thinks that will end the epidemic of obesity, which was, to stigmatize the behavior of overeating while yet not to stigmatize the person engaged in the behavior. Critser was all wrong in thinking this would actually work around the world and not just the Westernized countries. In addition, Critser says, â€Å"No one should be stigmatized for being overweight. But stigmatizing the unhealthful behaviors that cause obesity would conform with what we know about effective health messages† (1). He then goes on to add a false analogy with the campaigns against unprotected sex and smoking. He first is wrong when trying to link obesity with smoking. The two problems are irrelevant to each other besides the fact that both are bad for your health. His focus on unprotected sex and homosexuals in one of his analogies takes offense to anyone who is bigoted, because heterosexuals and homosexuals are the same kind of people with different interests. People who are bigoted go onto discriminate them. That is a false analogy because what does unprotected sex and also homosexuals have to do with obesity in children. Next, Critser’s solution in ways of stigmatizing the unhealthy behaviors associated with obesity and overeating is not the overall solution to conquer this growing epidemic worldwide. The solution is one that may help slow down obesity, but his solution is such a simple solution to such a complex problem. There are many problems associated with obesity; along with there are many solutions to help conquer childhood obesity. Critser is wrong that society can stigmatize overeating without stigmatizing the person engaging in the behavior. â€Å"Food for thought: Children’s views on the psychological aspects of childhood obesity† in Educational and Child Psychology, Debbie Mansfield and Georgina Doutre discuss the â€Å"psychological aspects of childhood obesity† along with the â€Å"children’s views† and â€Å"how to protect obese children from stigmatizing effects† (23). Children are being stigmatized for being obese. The children are subject to â€Å"negative stereotyping and discrimination by their peers,† and â€Å"self-esteem issues, negative body image, depressive symptoms† (Braet, Calamaro and Waite, Hesketh, Koplan, Miller and Downey 24). This proves that Critser’s solution is not going to work. His solution won’t work because, when one is trying to stigmatize the behavior of overeating, then the person who is obese is also subject to the stigmatization. Furthermore, the parents also play a vital role when their child is obese. Children learn through what they see especially when they are at a young age. The â€Å"foot soldiers against obesity† is the American family and are needed to put their children on a â€Å"dietary restraint† to avoid â€Å"gluttony† (1). According to Critser, this saying that the American family is a problem to childhood obesity but later says parents aren’t to blame. Critser uses a strawman tactic saying pressure causes tension by Diamonds. This is true in a sense, but the way Critser uses this saying is that he leaves it at that. He says no more. He doesn’t mention anything else about pressure causing tension. He just quotes Diamonds and what they have to say. The tactic works well in his article, because this is true but it is not linked to his primary solution. â€Å"Childhood obesity could be related to the ignorance or denial of the negative consequences from an individual or family perspective† (Davidson and Birch 24). Critser may agree with this. â€Å"On the other hand, parental acceptance and lack of concern regarding weight issues can be a protective factor for the self-esteem of overweight children† (Stradmeijer 24). A study on obese children concluded that participants are â€Å"accepting attitudes and mpathy towards obese children,† obese children make their own choices over their own â€Å"destiny† (Mansfield and Doutre 27). There were also negative consequences linked to obesity. Being obese caused a lack of friends for children, more bullying occurred, limited to different sporting activities, and serious health consequences (Mansfield and Doutre 28). Parents can help their children in ways to avo id all these emotional consequences their obese children have to deal with along with the psychological effects it has. Mansfield and Doutre provide a table of children’s views of supportive mechanisms for obesity. Some parental discipline and encouragement could be for their children to stop lounging around and do more exercise and eat more fruits and veggies instead of snacks (Mansfield and Doutre 29). A few coping strategies would be to ignore it, their personal choice, and avoidance, accordance to that children think it’s not anybody else’s life to choose who you want to be and rather skinny or fat it is what you want to be (Mansfield and Doutre 29). Critser thinks that kids don’t know much, when really they seem to have an understanding and knowing about the problems associated with obesity. The school systems try to promote exercise to prevent obesity from occurring. It is healthy for children to make their own positive choices. Instead of stigmatizing the behavior of overeating, schools can provide a real good background to children. Moreover, Critser’s article shows weakness in some parts of the article. Critser included a Pennsylvania state university scholar Barbara Rolls that talked about a study she conducted. Her study noticed that the three years old children stopped eating when they were full no matter what the portion size was, but the five year old children devoured everything that was in front of them. Earlier in the article Critser stated that â€Å"kids don’t know when they are full† (1). Another weakness that Critser wrote was when he mocked the experts saying that kids have the right to make bad nutritional choices. This doesn’t have much support in his paper or evidence along with Critser is comparing two different eras. â€Å"Nutrition, Health, and Schoolchildren† written by Judy Butriss states alternative dietary suggestions whether it refers to healthy snacks to the decrease of food intake in a child. the dietary suggestions include; A balanced, varied diet for the whole family, avoiding grazing and TV snacks, healthy snacks (fruits) as alternatives to sweets, chocolate, biscuits, whole food that take time to eat, and grill or boil food instead of frying† (Butriss 294). Finally, in Critser’s article he uses loaded language and unfair argumentation with words like gluttony, foot soldiers, and infantry. Critser uses the term foot soldi ers in a way against obesity that we are pushing for obesity and not seem to care as much. In a way that foot soldiers can be like foot soldiers that just are taught to march and march and nothing else. Critser sounded bias with this term. He also uses the term infantry. Infantry is referring to the American family along with the term foot soldiers. The two terms go together and act as if the American family just keeps encouraging obesity rather than preventing it. This is unfair argumentation because this is not necessarily true. Critser is being bias in the terms he uses. The last piece of loaded language Critser uses is gluttony where he uses the term twice. The term gluttony can be defined as greedy or excessive indulgence, and many children with obesity are labeled as gluttonous. In the beginning of the essay Critser says, â€Å"needs to promulgate [. . . ] dietary restraint, something our ancestors knew simply as avoiding gluttony† (1). Critser says that no person should be stigmatized for being overweight, but his idea is to stigmatize the unhealthy behaviors associate with obesity (Critser 1). This is an unfair argumentation because Critser uses the inconsiderable word gluttony a few times and is also bias to the idea of anti-fat. This is a mistake by using the fully loaded word gluttony, because obese people have enough on their plate and don’t need any more judgments that obesity implies. In conclusion, Critser’s simple solution to such a complex problem is just not going to work. His claims that stigmatizing the behavior of overeating due to obesity, American families cause obesity, portion control and dietary restraint needs to be enforced, and even never to put a kid on a diet seems to not be supportive enough to back his simple solution. His loaded language use of gluttony causes a problem due to the judgmental attitude it implies. Instead, this causes the many social, physical and even economical problems to rise. When one is obese this does raise the thought of a shortened life span and risks to mental diseases, due to the seclusion, one may receive just for seeing themselves as obese. The parents and school teachers come up with ways children can cope a lot easier with being obese. For example, the ways of exercise, change the behavior in how a child will eat snacks (healthy alternatives), and the knowledge that obese children can gain without the loss of self-esteem and confidence. In the end of it all, Critser’s solution to stigmatize the behavior of overeating in a child is the complete reverse approach.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Studying chromosome 11 of the human genome

In this paper I will be studying chromosome 11 of the human genome. Specifically, I will be researching some of the diseases that occur when there are mutations in the genes on chromosome 11. Five specific diseases will be looked at and studied in detail: the Sickle Cell Anemia gene, the MLL gene which causes Trisomy 11, the H19 gene which causes Beckwith-Weideman Syndrome, the WT1 and PAX6 genes which causes Wilm's Tumor syndrome, and finally, the work being done on the genes of Chromosome 11q22-q24 regarding cervical carcinoma. The following research was all acquired from the NCBI online database. Read this Ch. 22 Respiratory System The HBB gene which causes Sickle Cell Anemia, is found on chromosome 11p15. 4. This gene causes an inherited blood disorder, mainly effecting people from the African continent (1/500), but also people from the Mediterranean and South Asian countries. (NCBI Online, 24 June 2003) Approximately 8% of the African American population are carriers; often, this gene is associated with malaria occurrence, as carriers are somewhat protected against malaria. (NCBI Online, 24 June 2003) Sickle cell anemia is an autosomal (not sex related) recessive disease caused by a mutation in the hemoglobin beta gene. When a mutation occurs, the HBB gene produces a structurally abnormal hemoglobin (Hb), called HbS. (NCBI Online, 24 June 2003) Hb is a protein which carries oxygen and gives red blood cells their distinctive color. In individuals who are homozygous for HbS, the abnormal HbS can bunch together, distorting the red blood cells into sickled shapes [as shown in Figure 1]. These clusters can only occur if the HbS is placed under certain circumstances or conditions, such as high hemoglobin concentrations or low oxygen levels. NCBI Online, 24 June 2003) When the mutated and rigid red blood cells become trapped within small blood vessels, they block the vessels causing pain and eventual damage to the organs in the body. (NCBI Online, 24 June 2003) Although a cure has not yet been found, medical advancements have allowed for the treatment of symptoms and complications associated with Sickle Cell Anermia. Hydroxyurea, an antitumor drug, has been used to induce the formation of fetal Hb (HbF), which is normally found in the fetus or newborn. When fetal Hb is present in persons with Sickle Cell Anemia, Hydrozyurea can prevent sickling from occuring. NCBI Online, 24 June 2003) The MLL gene which causes Trisomy 11 is located on chromosome 11q23. A mutation in this gene is a â€Å"very rare chromosomal disorder caused by a duplication (trisomy) of the end (distal) portion of the long arm of chromosome 11. † (Genetic Information and Patient Services, November 2003) This disorder is most often noticeable at birth; some characteristic features of the disorder are â€Å"delayed mental and physical development, retarded growth of the fetus during pregnancy and of the child after birth, an unusually small brain (microencephaly), and/or distinctive facial features. (Genetic Information and Patient Services, November 2003) The MLL gene can produce a type of leukemia which effects both sexes and mainly adults at an average age of 60. (Dessen & Huret, 2002) In general terms, trisomy refers to â€Å"the condition of having three copies of a given chromosome in each somatic cell rather than the normal number of two. † (Dictionary. com) The leukemia is specifically acute myeloid leukemia or AML. This syndrome is caused by only a partial tandem duplication of the MLL gene on chromosome 11. Dessen & Huret, 2002) A recent study has shown that â€Å"MLL tandem duplications are less common than previously reported. † (Schnittger, October 2003) Also, the MLL tandem duplications â€Å"are preferentially observed in AML with normal karyotypes, but can also be found in the presence of chromosome alterations. † (Schnittger, October 2003) Two scientists, Cheryl Shuman and Rosanna Weksberg studied the Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome, also referred to as BWS syndrome. The information for BWS syndrome is from their reports on their studies. Their studies show that â€Å"chromosome abnormalities involving 11p15 are found in 1% or less of cases. † (Shuman, 10 April 2003) This syndrome can occur with mutations of many different genes on chromosome 11: mutations in genes IGF2 and H195, 5-10% of sporadic cases and 40% of familial cases had mutations in the CDKNIC gene, 50% of cases had a loss of methylation at the KCNQIOT1 gene, and in 10-20% of patients, â€Å"paternal uniparental disomy for chromosome 11p15 [was] observed. † (Shuman, 10 April 2003) In diagnosing BWS, two major and one minor characteristic must be obvious out of a list of possible criteria. Some major criteria include: history of BWS in the family, macrosomia, abnormal earlobe pits or creases, an embryonal tumor in childhood, Hemihyperplasia (an asymmetric overgrowth of a area/areas of the body), and possibly a cleft palate. (Shuman, 10 April 2003) Some minor criteria include: premature birth, Neonatal hypoglycemia, advanced bone aging, and monozygotic twinning (usually in the females). (Shuman, 10 April 2003) If one parent has uniparental disomy (UPD), then prenatal testing is done to test for BWS syndrome in the fetus. Shuman, 10 April 2003) Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome is found in approximately 1 out of 13, 700 cases across the world. However, this number is probably slightly low as there are many milder cases that often go undiagnosed. In children born with BWS, there is a 20% mortality rate due to premature birth. Often, children born with BWS develop Wilms Tumor or other tumors. (Shuman, 10 April 2003) Dr. Alan Gandy summarizes Wilms tumor as an â€Å"embryonal renal neoplasm which is characterized usually by an abdominal mass. (Gandy, 1 March 1995) Wilms tumour is caused by the deletion of the gene WT2-1 on chromosome 11p13. Proper function of this gene is to encode a DNA-binding protein that is most often found in the fetal kidney â€Å"and in tissue that gives rise to the genitourinary system. † (Gandy, 1 March 1995) The DNA-binding protein is expected to be a â€Å"Kruppel-like zinc-finger protein. † (Gandy, 1 March 1995) However, the inactivation of WT2-1 causes the Wilms Figure 2: Wilms Tumor tumor. (Gandy, 1 March 1995) This tumor is prevalent in 1/12 000 live births and is the second most common extra cranial solid tumor in children. The tumor appears in the kidney soon after birth (6 months-10 years)[as shown in Figure 3] and is related to other cancers. (Gandy, 1 March 1995) Wilms tumor is frequently a symptom of other gene mutations, such as BWS and WAGR syndrome. (Gandy, 1 March 1995) Features of the Primary Wilms tumor include abdominal mass [as shown in Figure 2], abdominal pain, hypertension, and anemia etc. Metastases occurs in the lungs, lymph nodes, liver, brain and other areas to a lesser extent. (Gandy, 1 March 1995) Depending on the stage of the tumor, different actions can be taken to cure the tumor. Surgery (removal of the kidney and lymph nodes) and chemotherapy are both used as ways to manage the tumor. However, as the stages progress, likelihood of a cure is reduced. (Gandy, 1 March 1995) Studies done by G. M. Hampton et al. show that there are genes or a gene on chromosome 11 that has the ability to â€Å"[suppress] tumorigenicity in cell lines derived from different histopathological types of cervical carcinoma, suggesting that aberration of this gene(s) may represent at least one of the additional changes required for tumorigenic progression. ( Hampton, 19 July 1994) The suppressor gene specified is between 11q22 and q24. A study was performed on 32 patients with cervical carcinoma to conclude which genes were required for tumorigenic progression. â€Å"Of the 32 patients examined, 14(44%) demonstrated clonal genetic alterations resulting in loss of heterzygosity for one or more markers. Seven of the clonal genetic alterations on chromosome 11 were specific to the long arm, and the overlap between these and other allelic deletions suggest that a suppressor gene(s) relevant to cervical carcinoma maps to chromosome 11q22-q24. â€Å"( Hampton, 19 July 1994) In conclusion, Chromosome 11 of the Human genome contains over 1000 genes. Of the many, this essay looks at 5 specifically in order to gather information on the genes of this chromosome. Through the closes study of Sickle Cell Anemia, Trisomy 11, Beckwith-Weideman Syndrome, Wilm's Tumor syndrome, and the genes of Chromosome 11q22-q24 regarding cervical carcinoma, one can gather a better understanding of the genes on chromosome 11, and the type of mutations that occur. Although the Humane Genome Project is relatively new, there is already much information that has been revealed and still much more to be discovered.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Farmers

Farmer’s discontent during the period 1870 – 1900 had an impact on their attitudes and actions towards national politics. During this time period manufacturing had a huge growth spurt and agricultural began to decline. This made it harder for farmers to make a living. Document G shows how much manufacturing increased between the years 1849 – 1899. America could no longer aspire to be a nation of small freehold farms. Manufacturers and people living in big cities depended on farmers to pretty much keep them alive. Many people didn’t realize how much of an affect farmers had on their everyday lives. If you took farms away from the United States during this period of time, everything would have completely crashed. Farmer’s had difficulties making a living because the rates of being a farmer were so high. â€Å"Nothing has done more to injure the western region than these freight rates. † (Document F) The high rates of being a farmer made it difficult to pay payments on the lands and the rate of interest was rapidly rising. Some farmers couldn’t even sell their produce at a reasonable profit. These farmers worked long, hard hours and the government wasn’t on their side about paying them with a decent income yet they wanted so much from the farmers. Along with farm prices failing, railroad prices were increasing. Railroads were important to farmers because they took farmers out to their lands, carried their produce of hard work to markets, and brought them the manufactured goods that they needed. Many farm settlements were established around railroads because of this reason. Railroad managers were forced to charge very high rates and because of it, that means farmers would have to pay more money to use railroads when they already used enough money keeping their crops alive. Document B talks about how it was also hard for colored farmers to make a living especially after the Civil War. â€Å"They had to get the local merchant or someone else to supply the food for the family to eat while the first crop was being made. (Document B) They couldn’t pay interest and by the end of the first year, they found themselves in debt. The attempt in the second year didn’t go so well either because they had old debts plus new interest to pay. â€Å"Many of the colored farmers had almost given up hope†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Document B) Not only was money an issue for farmers but also in the late 1880s and early 1890s crop suffered severely from droughts. It was cool and dry which was unfavorable for all crops. This made it difficult for farmers to keep their crops alive. By the late 1880s, farmers were so fed up with everything that they created the Farmers Alliance, seeking to overthrow the chains from the banks and railroads that bound them. The Farmers Alliance merged with other liberal Democrats to form the Populist Party. They strived for railroad regulation, tax reform, and unlimited coinage of silver. In the election of 1892 the Populist Party nominated James B.  Weaver for president and as Document D shows, most of the farmers in the west, mainly Nevada, voted for the Populist Party because that party was rooted in the frustration of the farmers and they needed change. The farmers were furious with the way things were going for them and they had hoped that the Populist Party would help. Even though they didn’t win the election, they made a remarkable showing with 1,029,846 popular votes and 22 electoral votes. These electoral votes only came from the midwestern and western states. With the creation of a new party, out of discontent, the farmers managed to change national politics.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Antibodies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Antibodies - Essay Example It is used in the manufacture of unsaturated polyester resins and is used as solvent for surfactants, paints and cleaning agents1. It is also used as antifreeze for de-icing aircrafts at airports as it lowers the freezing point of water. Recent applications include use as a humectant and a preservative. It is used in cosmetics, pharmaceutical preparations and also in electronic cigars2. The structure of 1,2-Propanediol comprises of three carbons with a stereogenic center at the central carbon3. It exists in two racemic forms: S and R as shown in figure 1 below. Figure 1: Chemical structure (S and R form) of 1,2-propanediol 3 1,2-Propanediol as well as 1,3-Propanediol can be manufactured though bioengineered microorganisms. By turning on and off some genes, it is possible to make the microorganism overproduce a specific metabolic product. As shown in figure 2, the intermediate metabolism of Escherichia coli can be shifted to produce 1,2 and 1,3-propanediol using enzymes such as aldose reductase from rat lens, E. coli glycerol dehydrogenase and Klebsiella pneumoniae glycerol dehydrogenase and 1,3-propanedioloxidoreductase4. There are various biochemical pathways through which 1,2-propanediol can be produced. Figure 2: Metabolic pathway engineering of E. ... It was shown that E. coli can grow on the L-fucose and L-rhamnose deoxy sugars as sole carbon and energy sources resulting in the production of propanediol. The first instance of metabolic engineering to produce 1,2-propanediol was when Altaras and Cameron metabolically bioengineered the 1,2-propanediol pathway in E. coli7. In 1999, they reported that E. coli that overexpressed methylglyoxal synthase gene produced 1,2-propanediol. Expression of methylglyoxal synthase or glycerol dehydrogenase led to anaerobic production of around 0.25 g of 1,2-propanediol per liter. The yield was found to be higher both the enzymes were coexpressed7. The development After their first report of the production of 1,2-propanediol from metabolically engineering E. coli, Altaras and Cameron again in 2000 published another report. This time they reported enhanced production of 1,2-propanediol8. They investigated three methods. First method involved the elimination of lactate byproduct. The second method in volved the construction of a complete pathway from dihydroxyacetone phosphate – an intermediate of the glycolytic cycle. The third method involved bioprocessing improvements through fed-batch fermentation using the best bioengineered strains. They were able to successfully produced a final yield of 0.19 g of 1,2-propanediol per gram of consumed glucose. Many later studies have investigated the production of 1,2-propanediol by metabolically engineered bacteria. Berrios-Rivera, San and Bennett studied the effects of various cofactor manipulations on the production of 1,2-propanediol9. They used sugars that were similar to glucose and that can be fed into glycolysis for pyruvate production. The sugars used had different oxidation

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Discuss the impact and possible effects of witnessing domestic Essay

Discuss the impact and possible effects of witnessing domestic violence as a child. Use psychological theory to explain your answer - Essay Example estimated that an alarming 41.5 per cent of women in society have been physically assaulted (Buzawa, Buzawa and Stark, 2012).Furthermore, domestic violence is not, however, just a phenomenon impacting women. Evidently, approximately 40 per cent of all domestic violence victims in the United Kingdom were men between 2004 and 2009, according to the British Crime Survey (Campbell, 2010).Notably, an international study involving a recruited sample of, 1,393 adolescents indicated that prevalence of domestic violence was an element of lifestyle. Evidently, with 67 per cent of respondents indicating experience with some form of symbolic parental aggression, in other words, symbolic aggression entails the use of vulgar language when referring to the child, disorderliness of the parent as a result of excessive consumption of alcohol among other factors. (Lepisto et al., 2011). Consequently, understanding the potential impact and effects of domestic violence on children is important as it has become a pervasive social problem. In fact, this essay seeks to highlight some of the causes of domestic violence in a bid to relate it to the growth and development of adolescents. Therefore, knowledge in this area will serve to improve the manner in which children are raised appropriately in the society On the contrary, there are compelling long-term psychological implications for victims who are harassed in an environment where domestic violence is prevalent. Fear, anxiety, depression, nightmares and even post-traumatic stress disorder are common psychological problems that occur as a result of being victimized domestically (Henslin, 2005). However, of much greater concern is the impact on children who have been witness to domestic violence. In fact, a study conducted by Adverse Childhood Experiences revealed that children who are regularly exposed to domestic violence were at a much higher risk for development of physical health issues, mental and behavioural problems, social

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

How does mediation prevent, manage, and resolve international conflict Thesis

How does mediation prevent, manage, and resolve international conflict - Thesis Example to bring peace and security to different nations and diminishing the threats imposed on international security by bridging the gap between conflicting parties through mutual settlement and negotiation. Intractable international disputes have always been there with us and have been posing threats to international peace and security. More than this, they lead to continuous wars, violence and numerous deaths from time to time. International stability is always at stake owing to these conflicts that do not have a solution to them and where none of the disputants are willing to compromise to reach a settlement. It’s very difficult to find a solution to such intractable disputes since they go on for a long period with negotiations almost impossible. However, in such cases, mediation is a tool which can bring down the effect of the escalating disputes and its consequences including violence, war and deaths to a lower count. â€Å"It offers the prospect of escaping the dilemmas of intractability†. (Bercovitch 2004) Mediation is a process in which a third party neutral helps in resolving a dispute between two or more other parties. The role of the mediator is to facilitate and assist the parties in working out what the real issues of dispute are, allowing communication between them and other things that meet the interest of the parties by finding a solution to their dispute. (Honeyman, Yawanarajah, 2003) The paper finds out the different types of mediation; the role played by a mediator in bridging the gap between two parties involved in the dispute; the purpose of mediation in international conflicts; the loopholes that arise due to mediators losing humanitarian values and the ways of enhancing effectiveness of mediation. It has clearly pointed out the nations undergoing intractable disputes in the 70’s and 80’s and the number of deaths arising due to the parties not reaching any settlement. A case study of African civil wars also brings to the fore that