Wednesday, October 30, 2019
U.S. Childhood Obesity and Climate Change Article
U.S. Childhood Obesity and Climate Change - Article Example It exemplifies with evidence specific environmental impacts on obesity. In responding to this environmental negativity, the article points out climate change preparedness and prevention efforts. These efforts are grouped into two broad categories, which include increased human-powered transportation and increasing physical activity. However, any climate change intervention adopted must be explored for its potential to decrease the probability of injury risk factors. However, as the article suggests, lack of climate change intervention in various locations leads to unintended effects that could otherwise have a positive health implication on childhood obesity (Sheffield & Galvez, 2009). The article uses the piecemeal approach in exemplifying the justification of certain climate change interventions. It bases its explanations from a theoretical literature. It is obvious that the reason of why most cities and state in the United States do not have climate change intervention is the fact that the cost of installation cannot be justified by its benefits (Boarnet & Takahashi, 2010). On the contrary, the article suggests that the decision of whether to justify the construction or installation of this intervention should depend on multidisciplinary assessment. According to this article, the uniqueness and disparities in health effect of each state or regions can be demonstrated by children’s development stage, size and/or long life expectancy. As a result, the appropriate application of climate change intervention leads to a healthier diet, increased physical activities and improved air quality. The article singles out climate change intervention as the major factors that address the rationale for the continued existence of childhood obesity in the United States. According to this article, lack of this facility put in place automatically result in paediatric morbidity. However, such arguments are somehow very vague and
Monday, October 28, 2019
Global Warming Outline Essay Example for Free
Global Warming Outline Essay Pierre de Fermat was born in Beaumont-de-Lomagne, France in August of 1601 and died in 1665. He is considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians of the seventeenth century. Fermat is considered to be one of the fathers of analytic geometry. Fermat along with Blaise Pascal is also considered to be one of the founders of probability theory. Fermat also made contributions in the field of optics and provided a law on light travel and made wrote a few papers about calculus well before Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz were actually born. Fermats most important work was done in the development of modern number theory which was one of his favorite areas in math. He is best remembered for his number theory, in particular for Fermats Last Theorem. This theorem states that: xn + yn = zn has no non-zero integer solutions for x, y and z when n is greater than 2. Fermat almost certainly wrote the marginal note around 1630, when he first studied Diophantuss Arithmetic. It may well be that Fermat realized that his prove was wrong, however, since all his other theorems were stated and restated in challenge problems that Fermat sent to other mathematicians. Although the special cases of n = 3 and n = 4 were issued as challenges the general theorem was never mentioned again by Fermat. In fact in all the mathematical work left by Fermat there is only one proof. Fermat proves that the area of a right trangle cannot be a square. See more: what is essay format Meaning that a rational triangle cannot be a rational square. In symbols, there do not exist integers x, y, z with x2 + y2 = z2 such that xy/2 is a square. From this it is easy to deduce the n = 4 case of Fermats theorem. The proof of Fermats Last Theorem marks the end of a mathematical era. Since all of the tools which were brought to bear on the problem still had to be invented in the time of Fermat. Judging by the tenacity with which the problem wa for so long, Fermats alleged proof seems likely to have been illusionary. This conclusion is further supported by the fact that Fermat searched for proofs for the cases and , which would have been superfluous had he actually been in possession of a general proof.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Enlightenment Thinkers :: essays research papers
History Essay      Do you agree with the Enlightenment thinkers such as Ben Franklin that humans are basically good?      The Scientific Revolution had led people looking for laws governing human behavior. The ideas of the Scientific Revolution paved the way for a new period called the Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason. This period took place in the eighteenth- century. This was the philosophical movement that emphasized the pursuit of knowledge through reason and refused to accept ideas on the strength of religion or tradition alone. Thinkers and philosophers of the time included, Ben Franklin, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and many more. The belief that appealed to most political figures of the time, was deism. Deism was the belief that God created the universe in such a way that no divine intervention was necessary for its continued operation. Most thinkers of the time believed that humans were basically good. In today’s life it is noticeable that this believe does not apply to all, hardly to any. Although it is also not fair to say that all humans are sinners.      Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher of the 1600’s, tried to create a science of politics. After witnessing the horrors of the English Civil War, Hobbes decided that conflict was part of human nature. Without governments to keep order, Hobbes said, there would be â€Å"war of everyone against everyone†. In this state of nature life would be â€Å"nasty, brutish, and short.†In his book Leviathan, Hobbes argued that to escape such a bleak life, people gave up their rights to a strong ruler. In exchange, they gained law and order. Hobbes called this agreement, by which people created a government, the social contract. Hobbes basically saw people as naturally selfish and violent.      John Locke was another philosopher of the Enlightenment. He viewed human nature very differently from Hobbes. Locke said a person is not born good or evil. Rather he said, people’s characters are shaped by their experiences. Locke felt people could learn from experience and improve themselves, which led him to believe in self-governing. According to Locke, all people are born free and equal, with three natural rights- life, liberty and property. He believed that the purpose of a government of is to protect these rights and if they fail the people would have the power to overthrow them. This idea is still standing today.      The key thinkers of the Enlightenment had very definite views on the ideal government.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Financial Forecasting †Time Series Models Essay
The economic recession felt in the United States since the collapse of the housing market in 2007 can be seen by various trends in the housing market. This collapse claimed some of the largest financial institutions in the U.S. such as Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers, as they held over-leveraged positions in the mortgage backed securities market. Credit became widely available to unqualified borrowers during the nineties and the early part of the next decade which caused bankers to act predatorily in their lending practices, as they could easily sell and package subprime mortgage loans on leverage. This act caused a bubble that would later burst when unqualified homebuyers began defaulting on their loans causing a tremendous downfall in the U.S housing market. Understanding which direction key market factors, such as the housing market, are going can help re-establish stability in the market, which is at an all-time premium. This paper is designed to help better predict the direction of the housing market in the future via the use of time series models, in an effort to re-establish a sense of stability in the housing market. The following chart (Figure 1) represents the time series data for non-seasonally adjusted home sales in the U.S. (NHS) from January 1975 to February 2012. The length of this period is significant because over a long period of time we can analyze trend, seasonality, cycles, and irregularity allowing us to better understand the future direction of the market. Trend is the long term change in the level of data. We can find trend in the data by simply looking at the chart and observing the general direction of the data over a long period of time. These trends can be deduced to a consistent change in the mean level of the data over a significant period of time, keeping in mind that seasonality will occur year over year therefore annual recurring changes to the level of data should not account for an increase or decrease in the trend mean. Seasonality is the regular fluctuations in levels of data in a time series that occur every year at the same time of the year. Seasonality is often see n in data that fluctuates regularly in accordance with calendar seasons. When analyzing this data we must also take into account cycles. Cyclical data can be recognized by it smooth elongated upward and downward movements on a long term scale. These reactions are more irregular than seasonal patterns, but more regular than a change in the trend. Generally the cause of a cycle is less apparent right away and occurs because of the ups and downs in the economy making it harder to predict. In Figure 1 we can observe a distinct upward trend until late in 2005, with strong seasonality, and three distinct cycles. The final component that we must acknowledge is irregularity. Irregularities are the random fluctuations that are not affected by the other three components making it the hardest to predict or rationalize. There is some irregularity in Figure 1, but it does not seem to be dominant as most of the fluctuations noticed in the time series could be rationalized by one of the previous three factors. Data source: National Association of Realtors One way to verify a trend in a time series is to analyze a k-period plot of autocorrelations, also known as an autocorrelation function (ACF). If a trend is present we should notice a gradual decline, however if we see a steep decline we should note that there is no trend. In Figure 2, which represents time series data for non-seasonally adjusted home sales in the U.S. (NHS) from January 1975 to February 2012 we can observe a gradual decline meaning a positive trend is present. Additionally we can use the rule of thumb stating each value in the 12-period plot of ACF is greater than .0947 (2/446) and thus greater than the upper limit, representing statistical significance from zero and concluding that a trend is present. Now that we have verified the presense of a trend in the data we will look to verify the seasonality we saw earlier represented by regularly reoccurring fluctuations in the levels of data in accordance with the calendar seasons. To do this we will use an autocorrelation function for the first differenced new home sales data. We will use a larger sample, in this case 24 months, so that we can see the regularly reoccurring fluctuations from one year to the next. When we look at the graph in Figure 3 we notice great increases with lag 12 and lag 24. The jumps seen in lags 12 and 24 confirms the presense of seasonality as they are above the upper limit representing statistical significance. F Time Series and Regression Models for New One-Family Houses Sold Since the NHS data has been shown to have trend and seasonality we will evaluate the data using four different time series models and compare the results of each to see which model is the most accurate. The models we are going to use are the Modified Naà ¯ve model, Winters Exponential Smoothing model, Time Series Decomposition, and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA). We will also test a multiple regression model to attempt to forecast future NHS, while taking into consideration independent variables. Regression models determine the future direction of the dependent variable based on the forecasts of the independent variable(s). Often times this can lead to a less accurate forecast as too much emphasis is being applied to the correlation of the independent variables to the dependent variable. In reality large ranges of macroeconomic data such as NHS vary because of numerous variables that may not be taken into account. The Multiple Regression model in Table 1 will have NHS as the dependent variable and use the 30-year conventional mortgage and the Seasonally Adjusted Disposable Person Income as the independent variables. This data comes from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. We are going to use two separate periods in our analysis. The first period that we are going to use is our historical data from January 1975 through August 2011. The last six months of model from September 2011 through February 2012 is our hold out model in which we test the forecasted NHS results against the actual NHS during the same span of time to test the accuracy of the models forecast’s. We will use ForecastX software to run the models in an attempt to determine which model is the most accurate and thus should be used to forecast NHS to obtain the clearest picture of the future direction of the market. The two error measurements we will use to determine accuracy are mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE). To obtain MAPE, we first divide the forecast error or error (actual value – forecast value) by the actual value to yield the percentage error and then calculate the mean of the absolute percentage errors. For RMSE, we first square the forecast error and then take the squared root of the mean of the squared errors. Multiple regression model| 29.54%| 19.07| 32.07%| 105.58%| 43.12| 176.00%| *The mean for the historical period is 59.46 and the holdout period mean is 24.5 We can deduce the most accurate forecasting model from Table 1’s forecasting error results. The model with the least amount of error is the most accurate, which in this case is the Time Series Decomposition model with exponential smoothing for the historical period. However the ARIMA model contains the least amount of error for the holdout period which would leads me to believe that it would be the most accurate indicator over the six month time period from March 2012 to August 2012, however when the model is run over the entire range of data to forecast the next six month period the upper and lower limits drastically trend away from each other each month resulting in a very vague forecast with little confidence. Therefore we will use the Time Series Decomposition to forecast the ex-ante forecast from March 2012 to August 2012. As I touched on earlier, the housing market is a key indicator as to the overall health of the market. Like other markets, the housing market is a victim to cyclical fluctuations. However, if investors and market participants can accurately forecast cyclical fluctuations in the housing market or in interest rates they will have more confidence in the market and be able to make more aggressive moves, spurring economic activity. The forecast summary in Figure 4 shows a continuation in the current NHS cycle through July 2012. This information could be used by a real estate investor to gain insight as to the right time to buy. If NHS continues to decline then we can assume that prices will continue to fall with it, and an investor can wait for the right time to buy real estate at the lowest price. Conclusion The current outlook for NHS for one-family homes in the U.S. according to Figure 4, is seemingly positive. We have experienced a great recession since 2007, and in that recession we have reached depths unrealized since 1975 for NHS. This is shocking because of the population inflation in the country throughout that time, and is really telling of the severity of the recession we endured. Although, with that being said I think that the depleted NHS statistics will encourage investors to jump in and start buying up new property, as well as family that might have never been financially able to do it before. With these low levels in sales we have seen some tremendous deals becoming available, and at the same time banks are starting to lend again. Considering all of those factors I think that NHS will again start to trend positively. References [1] â€Å"Total New Houses Sold: Thousands.†Economagic: Economic Time Series Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. . [2] Wilson, J. Holton, and Barry Keating. Business forecasting: with forecastX. 6. ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2009. Print. [3] Forecast X 7.1. John Galt Solutions, Inc.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
The Golden Age of Hollywood
By the early mid-thirtiess, American Cinema became a dominant leader on the universe screens. Economical, societal, and cultural factors led Hollywood accomplish this place. During the period between 1927 and 1963, besides referred as the â€Å"Golden age of Hollywood†, a distinguishable cinematic signifier, called Classical Hollywood manner, emerged. Harmonizing to Maltby, â€Å"the thought of â€Å"the classical†implies the observation of regulations of composing and aesthetic organisation that produce integrity, balance, and order in the ensuing artwork†( 2003: 15 ) . Those regulations of cinematic use and sentence structure of movie, marked Classical Hollywood manner as smooth, fluid and easy apprehensible. Hollywood movies were organized to offer pleasance to their audience and involved sexual experiences, nakedness or offense to accomplish that. For American Catholics, this attitude appeared to be deceptive and corrupting the society. After the attending was given to this fact, in early 1930’s, The Code was written by a group of Hollywood executives, The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America ( 2003: 62 ) . A wide scope of regulations and ordinances had bit by bit developed over the old ages in order â€Å"to extinguish any moral ambiguity in a movie’s narrative progression†( 2003: 473 ) . But how these judicial admissions of the Production Code changed the nature of Hollywood’s merchandises? In order to reply this inquiry I am traveling to present how Hollywood merchandises appeared to be before and after The Production Code by taking an analysis of two utterly incompatible movies:Baby Face( 1933 ) andWuthering Highs( 1939 ) . In the Pre-code period, movies invariably presented people in sexually implicative, and provocative state of affairss and amplified delinquency as a manner to accomplish a better life. Films referenced sexual allusions, libertinism, harlotry, lewdness, crossbreeding, illegal drug usage, force, etc. During the hard economic times of Great Depression ( 1930 – 1940 ) , there formed the belief that the lone manner to acquire fiscal success was through offense. This was the factor that made mobster movies so insurgent to an audience. As an illustration, politically-oriented societal job movies ridiculed politicians by portraying them as incompetent villains and prevaricators where movies likeCaponeorSmall Caesarwere seen as heroic instead than evil. Women, often associated with sexual hints, were a dominant figures in movies. Along with having stronger female characters, movies examined female capable affairs that would non be revisited until decennaries subsequently in American mo vies. Hollywood did non scruple to expose adult females in bare garments, nor did they waver to demo images that allured audience to interracial relationship and sex thoughts. This sort of mentions arouse an thought that Hollywood attempted to make movies for grownups merely, but in fact, it wounded up conveying big audiences of all ages to cinema. This states that above mentioned figures were influential among people in those yearss and allowed Hollywood increase its production extremely. Get downing with the analysis ofBaby Face, let’s see how the pre-code paradigm was working within this movie. The chief character, Lily, has led a hard life working in her unsmooth father’s illegal tap house, who forced her into harlotry since she was 14. After her father’s dies in inadvertent distillery detonation, she is given a opportunity to get down a new life. Her friend, a follower of the instructions of Friedrich Nietzsche, advises her to take an chance to go forth her old life behind and get down a new one by utilizing her power over work forces in order to obtain the things she wants: â€Å"A adult female, immature beautiful like you has power in the universe! & A ; lt ; †¦ & A ; gt ; You must utilize work forces, non allow them utilize you. Be the maestro and do them your slave. & A ; lt ; †¦ & A ; gt ; Exploit yourself! Use work forces! Be strong! Use work forces to acquire the things that you want! †(Baby Face: 1933 ). After sing his counsel, Lily, accompanied with her friend Chico, moves to New York and utilizing her appeal she begins her manner to the top at Gotham Trust Bank. As she was humiliated by work forces in the yesteryear, her purpose is non merely to utilize them for fiscal affair, but besides to destroy them through this procedure. As can be seen, the movie indicates an thought that honestness and kindness are non traveling to acquire people anyplace and in order to accomplish something there is a demand to acquire clasp of more drastic actions. Furthermore,Baby Facearouses an attack that political system works to mistreat weak and hapless people. This is the ground why the relationship between Lily and black miss Chico is so greatly amplified as they represent a category and gender issue in those yearss. Because they are adult females, they both know they are on equal terms and that society treats them as cipher. In the way to alter this settled point of position, Lily abuses the cringle holes of a system. This is one of the many times inBaby Facewhere the deduction of sex is every bit tragic as if audience is a informant to the existent act. Lily’s ability to be unashamedly unfastened to sexual Acts of the Apostless for her ain benefit gave her a liberated esthesia, and made her short ascent up the societal ladder both exceeding and thrilling to watch. The movie disgracefully implies Lily kiping her manner to the top by agencies of cutting to the exterior of the edifice and traveling up a few floors every clip she s eizes a new male lover. The transmutation that Lily goes through via her vesture in the movie demonstrates her addition in societal place and how cold she has become on the interior in order to accomplish that.Baby Faceis non merely about Lily’s mode to utilize sex as a power tool, but besides about work forces who gladly gives off money and other assets to hold an experience of Lily’s animal pleasances. ThusBaby Faceis non about utilizing sex to mount the societal ladder, but mounting it the lone manner it is possible with fortunes that has been given by political system.As there are few movies in the history of film that have of all time been so direct about satisfying the power of sex,Baby Faceis one of the most pre-Code movies that could ne'er hold been released in any signifier following the coming of the Production Code in 1934. Following the July 1, 1934 the determination by studios put power over movie censoring that promoted the new order of concern. Production codification assured Americans that the motion-picture industry is traveling to be purified of coarseness and unscrupulousness, and changed to righteousness and virtuous amusement. The Production Code stipulated the guidelines of â€Å"what was and was non allowable content in Classical Hollywood’s field of representation†for a public audience in the United States ( Maltby, 2003: 62 ) . Studios, after censoring authorization, strived to re-issue movies from the 1920s and early 1930s, and were forced to do comprehensive cuts. Part of pre-code movies survived integral because they were excessively combative to be re-released, whilemost of them experienced incorrigible harm. Harmonizing to Butter, â€Å"The production codification sought non merely to find what could be portrayed on screen but besides to advance traditional values†( 2007: 188 ) . Sexual dealingss outside of matrimony were forbidden from being portrayed as attractive or pleasing and after codification constitution they were presented in a manner that would non elicit passion or do them look tolerable ( LaSalle, 2000 ) . Among the undisputedly positive facets of the Code being enforced was the money it saved studios in holding to redact, cut, and alter movies to acquire blessing from the assorted province boards and censors. The money saved was in the 1000000s yearly. Many felt the film industry had ever been morally questionable. The first was a set of â€Å" general rules †which prohibited a image from â€Å" take downing the moral criterions of those who see it †, called for word pictures of the â€Å" right criterions of life †, and in conclusion forbade a image from demoing any kind of ridicule towards a jurisprudence or â€Å" making understanding for its misdemeanor †. All condemnable action had to be punished, and neither the offense nor the felon could arouse understanding from the audience, [ 5 ] or the audience must at least be cognizant that such behaviour is incorrect, normally through â€Å" counterbalancing moral value †. [ 27 ] [ 31 ] Authority figures had to be treated with regard, and the clergy could non be portrayed as amusing characters or scoundrels. Under some fortunes, politicians, constabulary officers, and Judgess could be scoundrels, every bit long as it was clear that those persons portrayed as scoundrels were the exclusions to the regulation. The codification was a set of general rules, which has forbidden anything that is take downing the moral standarts
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
The issue of adverse reactions to artificial food additives is not a new one. The WritePass Journal
The issue of adverse reactions to artificial food additives is not a new one. Introduction The issue of adverse reactions to artificial food additives is not a new one. IntroductionFood additives EpidemiologyPathophysiologyFood additives and urticariaFood additives and atopic eczemaFood additives and behaviourDouble blind placebo controlled crossover studiesReferencesRelated Introduction The issue of adverse reactions to artificial food additives is not a new one. The search for this relationship stems from various parental reports of food additives responsible for their child’s various symptoms. Investigation of the incidence of food additive intolerance is challenging because of the large number of additives involved and the need for extensive patient compliance. The large number of additives available also makes it difficult to associate specific additives with symptoms. The gold standard for investigating the association between food additives and adverse reactions in children is a double blinded, randomised placebo-controlled challenge. Despite improved methodology of more recent studies, the overall relationship between these two variables has failed to be clearly established. Food additives A variety of symptoms have been reported in children consuming artificial food additives in their diet. Table 1 shows the range of symptoms reported. Table 1 Symptoms reported to food additives. Taken from (1) Itching                                             Gastrointestinal Flushing                                        Headaches Eczema                                           Behavioural/mood changes Urticaria/angioedema            Musculo-skeletal symptoms Asthma                                              Others Rhinitis Conjunctivitis Wilson et al (2) performed a double blind assessment of additive intolerance in 29 children with a clear history of symptoms induced by artificial yellow colourings. The symptoms included cough and wheeze (14 children), behavioural disturbance (7 children), eczema (4 children), urticaria (2 childen) and abdominal pain, pallor and lethargy (2 children). Following a period of additive free diet, the children were challenged daily with drinks containing tartrazine and sunset yellow for 12 days. Out of the 19 children who completed the study, only three children were found to have exacerbation of symptoms, which proved a causal relationship with substances in the challenge drinks. Epidemiology In 1997, Young et al (1) conducted a population study in Wycombe to find out the prevalence of food additive intolerance. A total of 30000 people were surveyed, of which 7.4% of those who responded claimed a reaction to food additives. Of the 649 were interviewed for participation in the study, 132 were selected to take part. The subjects were given a low and high dose challenge of additives or placebo (lactose) concealed in opaque capsules. Statistical analysis of the results provided an estimate of 0.01-0.23% prevalence of food additive intolerance in the Wycombe population. Fuglsang et al (3) performed a similar study in Denmark but looked at children who were referred to paediatric allergy clinics for symptoms of urticaria, asthma, eczema or rhinitis, and found the incidence of intolerance of food additives to be 2% (6/335) on double-blinded challenge of additives. Pathophysiology The mechanism of food additive intolerance is not clearly defined. Supramaniam and Warner (4) had disproved the then-held view that altered prostaglandin production was responsible as a reaction can be induced in aspirin-sensitive patients, because aspirin intolerance was uncommon in their study. Food additives and urticaria Artificial food additives, particularly tartrazine and benzoates (1) have been shown to trigger urticarial reactions in children in many studies conducted over the last three decades. One of the first few reliable studies to emerge was by Supramaniam and Warner (4). They evaluated 43 children who presented with angioedema and/or utricaria and had responded to an additive free diet in a double-blinded study. These children were challenged with various food additives including tartrazine (E102), sunset yellow (E110), amaranth (E123), indigo carmaine (E132), carmoisine (E122), sodium benzoate and sodium metabisulphite. 24 of the 43 children were found to have reacted to 1 or more of the additives. The authors noted that a very small percentage of these children had a history of atopy; only 9.3% had asthma and 11.6% had postitive skin prick tests and came to the conclusion that food additive intolerance causing urticaria was not an IgE-mediated phenomenon. Food additives and atopic eczema No well-controlled studies have been performed to investigate the claims that food additives can induce atopic eczema until Van Bever et al (5) performed a double blind placebo controlled challenge in 25 children with severe atopic eczema. In all the children, a thorough history was obtained linking food intake with exacerbations of eczema. Furthermore, their eczema was poorly controlled despite the use of topical moisturisers and steroids. All the children were admitted to hospital and were fed an elemental diet via a nasogastric tube (NG tube) and 1-2 weeks after this treatment, an improvement in the childrens’ skin was apparent, such that they were almost free from active eczema lesions. They were then given a placebo or the food additives (tartrazine, sodium benzoate, sodium glutamate, sodium metabisulphite, acetylsalicylic acid and tyramine) via the NG tube. The study (5) found that all children challenged with food additives showed positive reactions within 10 minute s after administration and the reactions consisted of pruritus and redness of the skin. It is not clear whether food additives worsen atopic eczema by inducing erythema and urticaria or whether they exert a direct effect (5). Although the study managed to show adverse reactions to food additives, it failed to describe or measure the severity of the reactions (6) or pick up late reactions as the observation period lasted only four hours (6). Devlin and David (6) attempted to address these drawbacks in a study of 13 patients with severe eczema (requiring regular attendance at outpatient clinics). The subjects were randomly assigned a regimen of three placebo and three active weeks where they were given capsules containing either tartrazine (50mg) or glucose placebo (50mg) to be dissolved in orange juice and drunk using a straw through an opaque cup. The severity of their eczema was assessed using a chart to record the percentage surface area affected. The results of the study failed to find evidence of a clear relationship between tartrazine and eczema as only one patient out of the 12 who completed the study had a significant correspondence between symptom or disease severity score with tartrazine challenges, and this relationship could have occurred by chance. The above two studies have failed to demonstrate a significant link between food additives and eczema, although both had evaluated mainly tartrazine, so reactions to other types of food colouring may not have been tested. Furthermore, the mechanism in which food additives trigger exacerbation of eczema is now well known. Food additives and behaviour The earliest report of an association between food additives and behavioural problems such as hyperactivity was in 1973 when Dr Benjamin Feingold, Chief Emeritus of the Department of Allergy at the Kaiser-Permanente Foundation Hospital in San Fransisco claimed that much of the hyperactivity and learning difficulties seen in school-aged children was due to the ingestion of foods containing naturally occurring salicylates and artificial colourings and flavourings (7). Feingold devised a diet free from these foods and named it the â€Å"Kaiser-Permanente†(KP) diet (8) (see Table 1). Over 5 separate programs, Feingold managed 260 children whose primary complaint was behaviour disturbance with the KP diet and using the Conners rating scale, discovered that there was marked behavioural change within 3-21 days in 30-50% of the children (8). The studies reached no statistical conclusion but proved that the KP diet influenced behaviour. Feingold also noted that an individual child’s behavioural deficit varies in terms of type and duration and the child’s age influences the speed and degree of response; in early infancy the response may take 24-48 hours, 2-5 year olds, more than 5 days, 5-12 year olds, 10-14 days and in older, post-pubertal adolescents, several months (8). Feingold’s proposal attracted widespread attention from the media and public but was criticized by many in the medical community because his studies lacked a structured diagnosis for the subjects, control groups, an objective measure of outcome and was not double blinded. Table 1. The Kaiser Permanente Diet. Taken from (8) Avoid all artificial colours and flavours contained in foods, medications and  cosmetics Avoid preservatives BHA and BHT (butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene) Avoid the following foods containing natural salicylates: Almonds        Currants                   Plums, prunes               Cloves Apples            Grapes, raisins        Tangerines                      Coffee Apricots         Nectarines              Cucumber, pickles        Teas Berries            Oranges                     Green peppers               Oil of wintergreen Cherries           Peaches                     Tomatoes Over the subsequent period of 35 years, many studies have been conducted to evaluate Feingold’s hypothesis and these were performed in children who were diagnosed with hyperactivity, ADHD or other behaviour problems. One of the earliest studies to be reported was by Conners et al. (9). The study looked at 15 hyperkinetic children using a double blind crossover design. These children were randomly allocated to 4 weeks of the KP diet followed by 4 weeks of a control diet or they were assigned to the control diet followed by the KP diet. Relative to a 4-week baseline period, parents and teachers were asked to rate the children based on a standardised rating scale of ADHD symptoms. It was found that from teacher ratings, the KP diet was significantly more effective than the control diet with approximately 15% reduction in symptoms (p0.005) but not on parent ratings. However, when compared with the baseline period, both parents and teachers reported fewer hyperkinetic symptoms- 2.5 3% reduction in symptoms (parent) and 2.55% (teacher), on the KP diet (p0.05). Although this study had an improved methodology compared to Feingold’s, it was limited by a small sample size (n=15), inconsistent results, uncertain control of information and expectation held by parents and findings that the behavioural effect of the diets were related to the order in which they were administered. Gross et al (10) performed a study of 39 children ranging in age from 11 to 17 with learning problems attending a private summer camp, 18 who had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), amongst which, 17 were taking stimulant medication. All children were given the KP diet for 1 week, and then allowed to eat a typical American diet rich in cookies, cakes, candy, soft drinks and snacks from home during the second week. Each week, the childrens’ behaviour was monitored by videotape placed in the dining hall at 4-minute intervals by three blinded observers (one which included the study author) for motor restlessness, disorganized behaviour and misbehaviour. The authors found no difference in the behaviour of the children while on both diets and also commented that the children disliked the KP diet. Despite being blinded and the investigators having complete control over the children’s diets, there were several weaknesses in the study. Firstly, there was no specification of the components of the diet rich in food additives. Secondly, the children were aware for the first week that they were eating a different diet (11). Thirdly, all the subjects except for one were taking stimulant medication (10), which arguably might have influenced the outcome of the study. In addition, the sensitivity to changes in children’s behaviour of the outcome measure (coding of videotapes) had not been evaluated (11). Based on these initial investigations, there has not been a clear and consistent association between the KP diet and behaviour in children with symptoms of hyperactivity. Only a small proportion (11-13%) of hyperactive children respond to the KP diet such that there is an improvement in their functioning at home and in school (11). Double blind placebo controlled crossover studies Various studies have been done to investigate the effects of artificial food colourings (AFC) on hyperactive behaviour in children and adolescents by following a methodological pattern of a baseline diet free of AFCs, followed by a double blind, placebo controlled crossover challenge of AFCs (11). However, these studies vary in length, sample size, outcome measure and AFC challenges, which varied in the amounts and selected dyes. Most studies used a mixture of AFCs as a challenge-most commonly allura red, erythrosine, brilliant blue, indogotine, tartrazine and sunset yellow, and a similar amount of AFCs (26 mg) (11). Swanson and Kinsbourne (12) performed a short-term trial with 20 hyperactive and 20 non-hyperactive children in a hospital setting. The children were given a diet free of food dyes, artificial flavours and preservatives for 5 days- 3 days of baseline and 2 days of placebo-controlled challenge of 100 to 150 mg of AFCs. The high doses of AFCs were given because the authors concluded from an earlier study (8) that a high dose of 100mg produced significant effect (p0.001) on the children’s ability to perform a laboratory learning task compared to the 26mg dose. They found that the performances of the hyperactive children on learning tasks were significantly impaired (p0.05) after the AFC challenge but the performances of the non-hyperactive children were not affected. This study used an objective measure of outcome (laboratory learning test) and compared the effects of AFCs in hyperactive and non-hyperactive children, as compared to previous studies that only looked into children with diagnosis of hyperactivity or children with suspected behavioural problems associated with AFCs. However, the need to use a high dose of AFC (100mg) to provoke behavioural reactions in hyperactive children suggests that average doses of AFC found in the daily diets of these children might not do so. Pollock and Warner (13) performed a 7-week double blind AFC crossover challenge, also using a high dose of AFCs (150mg) on 19 children between the ages of 2-8 years (mean 8.9), whose parents had observed that various behavioural problems in these children had improved on a diet free of food additives. The children studied were all normal except for one who had idiopathic global retardation and another who had been diagnosed with hyperkinesis. The food colours used in the challenge were tartrazine (E102) 50mg, sunset yellow (E110) 25mg, carmoisine (E122) 25 mg and amaranth (E123) 25mg, as they were often the blamed food additives causing adverse reactions. These were given in opaque capsules daily for two weeks while placebo capsules given the remaining five weeks, in random sequence. Parents were asked to complete a daily questionnaire of the child’s behaviour and somatic symptoms throughout the seven weeks. Results of the study showed that parents reported more behavioural pr oblems (p0.01) on the AFC challenge compared to placebo. However, only 2 children demonstrated clinical hyperactivity on their Conners’ score. They (13) also suggested that food additives given in large doses act as a pharmacological trigger in a small percentage of children with behaviour problems, although their study showed that the effect was small. Rowe and Rowe (14) investigated the effect of 6 doses of tartrazine (dose range 1-50mg) in 34 hyperactive children and 20 non-hyperactive children in a double blind placebo controlled study for 6 weeks. The parents of the children were asked to complete two rating scales (a behaviour rating inventory devised by the authors and Conners 10 item Abbreviated Parent-Teacher Questionnaire). In total, 24 children (22 hyperactive and 2 comparison children) reacted to the tartrazine challenge. These children demonstrated consistent variations in behaviour for at least 5 of the 6 challenges. The study also found that pre-schooled and school aged children responded differently to the AFC challenge; severe sleep disturbance was the main complaint in younger children (aged 2-6 years), while older (aged 7-14 years) children exhibited negative mood, impulsivity and whining. This study was able to address the drawbacks in an earlier study by David (15) where tartrazine could not be disguised in capsules due to its bright and early recognizable colour, thus could not be performed in the home environment. In Rowe’s study (14), the capsules were colourless and tartrazine was planted in an inner capsule surrounded by the placebo (lactose). Based on the above studies (13,14), it can be concluded that in non-hyperactive subjects, there exists a relationship between food additives and behavior but to a much smaller extent compared to hyperactive subjects. In an attempt to address the problem with generalization of findings from previous studies limited by small samples, dependant on a diagnosis of hyperactivity or in children thought to show adverse behaviour triggered by food additives (11,13,14), Bateman et al (16) devised a population based study to test whether food additives have a pharmacological effect on behaviour. They looked at 277 children aged 3 years, registered with general practitioners in the Isle of Wight, who were given 20 mg in total of AFCs (sunset yellow, tartrazine, carmoisine and ponceau 4R; 5mg of each) and 45 mg of sodium benzoate during the second and fourth week of the 4-week study. As an objective measure of outcome, research psychologists using validated tests assessed the children’s behaviour weekly. In addition, parents were asked to rate changes in their child’s behaviour. The study found that parental ratings showed a significantly greater increase in the hyperactive behaviour during the active period (p0.007). The authors suggested that the reason parental ratings have a higher sensitivity to changes in behaviour is because parents experience their child’s behaviour over more prolonged periods of time and in varied environmental settings (16). The most recent population study by Mc Cann et al (17) was performed on 2 groups of schoolchildren: 137 preschoolers (age 3) and 130 school-aged children (ages 8 and 9) from the general population. Each group was challenged with sodium benzoate combined with 2 different mixtures of dyes. Mixture A had the same content as the Bateman et al study while mixture B contained sunset yellow, carmosine, quinolone yellow and allura red. The doses of dyes were different in the two mixtures and also according to age group- mixture A contained 20mg (preschool) and 24.98mg (school-aged) while mixture B contained 30mg (preschool) and 62.4mg (school-aged). It was found that both age groups had significantly increased Global Hyperactivity Aggregrate scores when challenged with one or both dyes compared with placebo. The younger children significantly reacted to mixture A (p=0.044) but not mixture B while the older children reacted significantly to both mixture A (p=0.023) and mixture B (p0.001). Despite much-generated interest from parents and the public over the effect of food additives to children’s behaviour, evidence for this association is generally weak and as described above, some findings can be conflicting. However, recent population studies have managed to show a significant association between food additives and childhood behaviour, particularly in the older age group (8-9 years). Table 2 summarises the studies discussed above. Table 2: Double blind placebo controlled studies on effect of artificial food colouring on behaviour in children Studies   Number of  Restricted Diet AFCs Medium Amount of Outcome Challenge                    Subjects                                                                  AFC (mg)    Measure         Effect Swanson    20     KP diet              Mix           Capsules 100-150   Learning           p0.05 et al.(7)                                                                                                            task Pollock      19       Additive free  Mix           Capsules 125            PRS                p0.01 and Warner(9) Rowe          34      Additive free  Tartra-        Capsules 1-50            PRS                p0.001 and Rowe (10)                                  zine Bateman    277                                 Mix               Drinks     20                     PRS                  p0.007 et al. (13) Mc Cann    267                                  Mix               Drinks                                 GHA                 A-p=0.044 et al (14)                                                                       A- 20(preschool)      (preschool) 24.98(school-aged) B-p=0.023 B-30(preschool)        (preschool) -62.4 (school-aged) B-p0.001) (school-aged) AFC:Artificial food colouring, PRS: Parental rating scale , GHA: Global Hyperactivity Aggregrate, A:Mixture A, B:Mixture B References 1) Young E. Prevalence of intolerance to food additives. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 1997;4:111-114 2) Wilson N, Scott A. A double blind assessment of additive intolerance in children using a 12 day challenge period at home. Clinical and Experimental Allerfy 1989;19L267-272 3) Fuglsand G, Madsen C, Halken S, Jorgensen M, Ostergaard OA, Osterballe O. Adverse reactions to food additives in children with atopic symptoms. Allergy 1994;49:31-37 4) Supramaniam G, Warner JO. Artificial food additive intolerance in patients with angioedema and urticaria. Lancet 1986;2;907-909 5) Van Bever HP, Docx M, Stevens WJ. Food and food additives in severe atopic dermatitis. Allergy 1989;44:588-594 6) Devlin J, David TJ. Tartrazine in atopic eczema. Archives of disease in childhood 1992;67:709-711 7) Feingold BF. Adverse reactions to food additives. Paper presented at American Medical Association annual meeting 1973, Chicago, IL. 8) Feingold BF. Hyperkinesis and learning disabilities linked to artificial food flavours and colours. American Journal of Nursing. 1975;75:797-803 9) Conners CK, Goyette CH, Southwick DA, Lees JM, Andrulonis PA. Food additives and hyperkinesis: a controlled double blind experiment. Pediatrics 1976;58:154-166 10) Gross MD, Tofanelli RA, Butzirus SM, Snodgrass EW. The effect of diets rich in and free from additives on the behaviour of children with hyperkinetic and learning disorders. Journal of American Academic Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 1987;26:53-55 11) Stevens LJ, Kuczek T, Burgess JR, Hurt E, Arnold LE. Dietary sensitivities and ADHD symptoms: Thirty five years of research. Clinical Pediatrics 2011;50(4):279-293 12) Swanson JM, Kinsbourne M. Food dyes impair performance of hyperactive children on a laboratory learning test. Science 1980;207:1485-1487 13) Pollock I, Warner JO. Effect of artificial food colours on childhood behaviour. Archives of Diseases in Childhood 1990;65:74-77 14) Rowe KS, Rowe KJ. Synthetic food coloring and behavior: a dose response effect in a double blind, placebo controlled, repeated measures study. Journal of Pediatrics. 1994;125:691-698 15) David TJ. Reactions to dietary tartrazine. Archives of Disease in Childhood 1987;62:119-122 16) Bateman B, Warner JO, Hutchinson E, et al. The effects of a double blind, placebo controlled, artificial food colourings and benzoate preservative challenge on hyperactivity in a general population sample of preschool children. Archives of Disease of Childhood 2004;89:506-511 17) McCann D, Barrett A, Cooper A, et al.Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3 year-old and 8/9 year-old children in the community: a randomised, double blinded placebo controlled trial. Lancet 2007;370:1560-1567
Monday, October 21, 2019
movies and disability essays
movies and disability essays Some will argue that a film, being essentially a means of entertainment, can do little to change a national consciousness. Others, citing the power of the medium, will claim that motion pictures possess this rare and extraordinary ability. These two opposing viewpoints are about to be put to the test with a pair of films that, while different in so many ways, have a number of fundamental similarities. The Miracle Worker" seems to have been ahead of its time in its accurate portrayal of disability. The film shows us that the young Helen Keller (Duke), blind and deaf from infancy, was treated as little more than a family pet before the arrival of her teacher, Ann Sullivan (Bancroft). One of the central themes is how family attitudes tended to emotionally handicap young Helen. The movie effectively depicts the family's low expectations of their disabled daughter and gives us a look into how physical disabilities were equated with mental disabilities in an earlier era. The portrayal of Helen and the other characters is accurate and forthright. The filmmakers don't hold back to protect our sensibilities, and instead provide a no-holds-barred view of the tragedy and the triumph of growing up and overcoming severe disability. By the time Annie Sullivan came along in 1887 nearly blind herself, haunted by her upbringing in an asylum and convinced that people looked down on her because her parents had been Irish immigrants 6-year-old Helen was nobody's darling. Frustrated by her inability to communicate, willful and carelessly spoiled by people who no longer wanted to be bothered with her, she threw hurricane-level tantrums that terrorized the household. Annie taught her to finger-spell; demolished the barrier for Helen between the movements in her hand and the words, objects and ideas they represented; and opened up the world to her. Or did she? Controversy simmered throughout Helen's life over who was doing the thinking that...
Sunday, October 20, 2019
How Should a Research Paper Abstract Look Like
How Should a Research Paper Abstract Look Like How Should a Research Paper Abstract Look Like Every student gets a bit nervous when hearing about a research paper. It is quite a difficult task, as it is not a personal opinion on a subject and not a simple review of a book or a movie. It is a serious piece of work, which includes research, analysis of multiple sources and providing a personal view on the topic. You should not only provide evidence on a certain topic but also demonstrate your writing skills, vocabulary knowledge and all the necessary features of an experienced writer. When you are assigned with a research paper, you may be asked to complete an abstract. Despite its small size, an abstract is quite a confusing assignment and many students don’t know how to complete it. However, don’t panic if you were assigned with such a task! Just go on reading and we will provide you with all the necessary details. Definition If some of you don’t know, an abstract is a summary of the bigger project, i.e. a research paper or anything else. It aims to give the reader a chance to understand the goal of the research, used methodology, results and possible conclusions. You need to remember that an abstract describes your project, not the topic itself, so before completing an abstract, it is highly recommended to finish your research paper to know what main details to include. The main idea of an abstract is to inform the reader about your paper. For example, if you discuss gun control you don’t need to explain what it is about. You need to write about the results of your research, how many cases of violence are known and so on. Leave theoretical part to your research paper and concentrate on the key points in the abstract. Abstract types There are different types of abstracts, including:          Descriptive. It is probably one of the most popular types of abstracts. A descriptive abstract only summarizes information on the paper without any comparison to other works;          Critical. On contrary to descriptive abstracts, a critical one also provides a judgment on the projects importance and validity, comparing it to other papers of the same field;          Informative, which aims to give the reader general information on the research paper, your results and conclusions. You don’t need to compare your paper to others but you need to make recommendations if possible;          Highlight. It is quite a rare abstract type and its main goal is to grab reader’s interest and motivate him to read the research paper. Elements your abstract should consist of It doesn’t matter what abstract type you need to complete, as all of them should consist of four main elements. Make sure you are able to provide all of these elements before writing the abstract itself. Objective. This information can be considered the skeleton of your abstract, so you need to be very careful and attentive when competing it. Your objective should consist of a couple sentences, placed in the beginning, and explain your motivation to research a topic or describe the problem you are planning to solve; Methodology. Here you need to describe what methods you have used to research a topic and to get all the necessary results. There are different types of methods, depending on the subject, topic or field of research. For example, if you are writing an abstract on a social science, you can describe all the processes you have completed. If it is a humanities research, you can explain methodological tools and theoretical assumptions; Obtained results. This part of your abstract doesn’t need an explanation, as it is more than obvious. You need to express all the results you have obtained during your research. If it is not finished yet, you can make prognosis for the future or provide your assumptions on the possible outcome; Conclusions. It doesn’t matter what written assignment you are completing: conclusions always aim to summarize everything you have stated above. That is why your abstract’s conclusions should describe the results of your research. Think of the answers to the question ‘What these results can mean?’ and just write them down. In some cases, you may be asked to start your abstract with an introductory section. It consists of a couple sentences, which aim to explain theoretical basis for the research. However, in most of the cases, this section is omitted and you can start with an objective section. Things to avoid in your abstract When looking for guidelines on completing a certain paper, students are usually searching for the lists of things to include to their assignment. However, it is also important to know what things to avoid. That is why we have created a list of elements, which you need to exclude from your abstract to make it interesting and correct:          Jargon or slang;          Abbreviations;          Watery text. Don’t try to boost the number of words. Just stick to the point;          Pictures, tables, graphs and any other visual materials;          Long introduction. Your abstract shouldn’t contain theoretical information, so even if you have interesting background data on the topic, leave it for the research paper;          References;          Confusing definitions;          Not important details, which simply distract the reader from your main goals. Steps to complete You already know what the abstract is about, what elements it should consist of and what items to avoid. Now it is a right time to learn what steps to complete to write a first-class abstract on your own. Always remember that you don’t need to increase the word count artificially, as an abstract should always be clear and straight to the point. Focus on the facts and give the reader a chance to understand your research paper through your abstract. Steps to complete an abstract include: Write your abstract only when your research paper is completed. You won’t be able to write a clear, interesting and relevant abstract without a general picture of your research paper. It will take lots of time to complete and you will hardly provide adequate information on the research; Take the key elements of your objective and conclusions from the corresponding sections of your research paper. Instead of spending time on writing everything anew, you can summarize everything in a brief mode and include to your abstract; Note down everything you did, when completing your research. Such notes will be of a great use, when completing the methodology paragraph. In such a way, you will complete a whole section without any efforts; To check whether your abstract is written correctly, ask yourself what the aim of your research was, how the research was completed, how you obtained the results and what they meant; Once your abstract is ready, read it carefully and delete unnecessary information. Be as brief as possible not to bore the reader; When you have deleted extra information, read your abstract again and make sure it corresponds with your research paper. Remember that your abstract should render general information of the paper, so you shouldn’t add anything new; For the last time you need to read your abstract attentively to find all possible mistakes, like grammar, punctuation, vocabulary usage and sentence structure. Even if your abstract contains outstanding information, you may risk getting low grades for a poor language. Make sure you spend enough time on proofreading and editing; Finally your abstract is ready. Breathe out and send it to your tutor! Things to remember          It may not be so obvious but you need to pay attention to the length of your sentences. Many long sentences may bore the reader, as well as short ones may seem like they lack deep meaning. Combine two types of sentences for a better structure and they will be readable and smooth. Break long sentences into smaller ones if possible;          Ask your professor whether using passive voice is appropriate. It may be a mistake in some of the cases, so you should know all the guidelines well in advance not to have to rewrite everything;          Apply past tense for the cases, when your research has already been finished;          Ask someone to check your abstract or read it aloud to understand whether it is smooth and readable. Conclusions Research paper is probably one of the most popular and widespread assignments among colleges in all parts of the world. It requires careful attention to details, as well as creating an abstract, which is a short summary of all the issues you have discussed in your research. Such abstracts may become a real headache but they are very easy to complete if you know main rules and features. Be brief, use only credible information from your research paper. In such a way, your abstract will be interesting and complete! In case you still have doubts, contact us or visit our blog for additional details.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Evaluate Assignment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Evaluate Assignment - Research Paper Example ied to suit the training need and purpose which was developing competent financial advisors with proper product knowledge and enhances professional sales skills for their future careers. Part I: Complete Part I first by taking notes throughout the exercise. On the left-hand side of the paper, write down only what you see and hear from both facilitator(s) and participants. Note some of the following: 1) It was generally observed that some of the participants had little or no background in finance and hence could not be treated equally as participants with an academic background in business or finance. It is therefore suggested that separate course be established to cater for non finance advisors to get basic finance knowledge before advancing to the effective financial advisor course. 2) Another design flow is that it is assumed that all the advisors are interested in sales of all the products and does not give provisions for product specialization or choice of leaning on customer care. The design is also not considerate of already experienced staff that is aware and has already developed sufficient work competencies. The course should also separate total novices and experts in the trainings in future dates. 3) Lastly the training should be more field based as the skills being taught are mostly to be applied in the field. It is therefore not appropriate to evaluate the sales skills of an individual in a classroom setting. A cooperative course in future where some of the selling and communication skills are integrated in an actual environment under the instructors supervision. That would be more effective. Please rate, on a scale of 1 to 5, your overall assessment of the course relative to the statements provided below, with 1 indicating strong disagreement with the statement and 5 indicating strong
Youth Culture and Moral Panic Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1
Youth Culture and Moral Panic Portfolio - Essay Example This has left the public ill-prepared to consider the vital greater changes that affect identities across different ages. In his work, â€Å"Folk Devils and Moral Panics,†Stanley Cohen first introduced the term â€Å"moral panic†to refer to the idea as an irregular episode, which when it happens, subjects the society to spells of worry about the principles and values which it upholds that may be a threat. He described its features as â€Å"a situation, group, person, or episode who are viewed as a threat to societal interests and values†(Cohen, 1980). The â€Å"amplifications†that are portrayed by the media serve to appeal to the public to concur with pre-existing opinions on the course of action to be carried out. These opinions are frequently found among members of the â€Å"moral barricade†like the editors, bishops, and politicians. Combined with the views of the â€Å"experts†who are driven to offer their diagnosis, they come to a consensus on how to cope with the situation and the problem either deteriorates or disappears. Even though Cohen in his findings state that the media often exaggerated the occurrences and consequently inciting the panic to be assimilated by the police, some of these panics cause more serious consequences in the society. It is significant to note that â€Å"moral panics†are not just developed by the newspapers, but on many occasions they are debated in the papers. For example, the Guardian in 1993 stated, â€Å"The moral panic and the Facts†, an article that discussed a Conservative Party Conference on welfare expenses turned to be a moral panic on the side of single mothers. The single women thought they were being blamed for unruly youth. Ironically, the media criticized this conference for concentrating on myths which had been dealt with some time back in a Cabinet briefing paper, yet they themselves were accused of partaking in weird hunts. Â
Friday, October 18, 2019
Improving Organisational and Employee Performance Term Paper - 1
Improving Organisational and Employee Performance - Term Paper Example For a business organization with the aim of remaining competitive, there is always room for improvement in terms of organizational and employee performance. The need to improve productivity and performance has emerged to be one of the most essential things in the modern business environment. When employees are completely and creatively engaged in a business organization will have a superior performance in the market. The main challenge in improving organizational and employee performance is finding ways through which an organization maximizes engagement, retention, commitment, and overall satisfaction of their employees.One of the ways through which a company can enhance the performance of their employees is through recognition. This is very effective because it always makes employees feel appreciated. There is nothing as motivating as the feeling that an individual is part of a team and that they are appreciated members of the teams which they belong to. Research has proved that emp loyees with satisfaction with the level to which they are appreciated by the organizations they work for can be up to four times more motivated as compared to those who are not appreciated at all (Van Knippenberg 2000, p. 366). Ways through which a company can show recognition of their employees include verbal gratitude, involvement in decision making, training, giving the time off, acknowledging birthdays, organizing celebrations, acknowledge individuals and teams at staff meetings (Crossman & Abou-Zaki 2003, p. 376). However, companies such as The Boston Consulting Group, whose competitiveness is based on their affordability, have always had a hard time motivating their employees. However, other businesses such as Audi supermarket have minimized their expenditure in motivation through using rewarding through on-job training by the more experienced staff. Â
Assignment (most current IT threats) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
Assignment (most current IT threats) - Essay Example Trojan.Premele infects a computer system by presenting itself as a fake Adobe Flash update (Symantec, 2013). When a user allows the software to be downloaded and installed, it is executed to form a new executable file. The software also creates a new registry entry that makes the file to be executed every time Windows starts. The program further modifies a number of registries. When the computer is connected to the Internet, the malware connects to some remote locations and may install other malware into the infected system. The malware that is installed by Trojan.Premele way cause further harm to the computer system and expose it to even more malicious software. Trojan.Premele can be detected by antivirus or antimalware software installed in a computer (Symantec, 2013). It can also be detected by the changes that it makes to registries and the new registries that it creates. It can also be detected by the computers that it connects to remotely. The malware can be avoided by installing a firewall or/and antivirus that is up-to-date. The use of complex passwords on computers also lowers the risk of infection by the
Thursday, October 17, 2019
International Law - tax system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words
International Law - tax system - Essay Example The meaning of tax can be actually described as the money, which is charged by the government for Public Sector Borrowing Requirement (PSBR) (Public Acts 1994). When we interpret the definition, we may find out the reason why countries charge tax. The governments levy tax upon its citizens because they want money to regulate it in the whole country. It as actually meant for the betterment of the country and the nation itself. Governments may built roads, built a better infrastructure, improved public organization services, improve the level of education, building schools to remote areas, proving better and free health care, etc. Government may charge the tax to invest back to the country in turn. Where as international law refers to the general rules and regulations practiced in most part of the world (Mifflin 2007). It is the law which is followed by all the countries worldwide and so it is called international. There are certain rules and procedures which are followed in every country of the world. These practices are important to carry out in the country, as they enable governments to work and perform better and in organized way. Those laws are called international, as they are practiced in every country and are accepted as well. ... but the thing which binds then together is the law which they practice in the country, only that is common in them and it keeps the countries linked together. This essay will include all the necessary and valid information about the international laws regarding the taxation issues. As far as the case study is concerned, I will try to ensure the reader abut the authentication of the information and will make sure that my answer shall convince the reader as well. The essay will proof to be the perfect guide for the three friends for their decision about the avoiding tax and the OECD proposal about the business. As described in the case study, that the friends do not want to pay taxes and their nature of business is to contribute to the tertiary sector of the country. It is yet no specified that whether the owners plan is to provide services to the country only or to the rest of the world as well. The type of job which these friends are going to do can be practiced in a country as well as outside the country, ignoring boundaries. It is because of the reason that, the friends will have headquartered at one place and will precede the business from there only. That means headquarter; will exist in one place, yet their operation in different part of the world at the same time. This is what most of the translational companies do, ignoring the boundaries. But trans-national businesses do not try to void tax and in this case, the partners are trying to ignore the tax as well. Now, it is very essential to understand the two types of taxes, direct and indirect. Before I shall proceed, I may make it clear that the direct taxes are unavoidable. This means, the direct taxes cannot be ignored and we have to pay them even if do not want to. These taxes are the
Touch Screen Alarm Clock Marketing Plan Term Paper
Touch Screen Alarm Clock Marketing Plan - Term Paper Example l ensure that it successfully meets the requirements of every customer by charging reasonable price for the product range and provide features in the alarm clock accordingly. Since the business environment is becoming fierce and competitive, it has become vital for the companies to carry out a market research before launching the product in the market (Ranjhita, 2011). With the help of the research, it was found that the touch screen alarm clock has a huge potential for the new entrants and entry barriers are relatively low (Cako, 2005). The new entrants can be very challenging to deal as the competition via new entrants gets fiercer in the business market. In US, every top ranked brand is offering its products but there are some areas where people have limited access to these clocks. This limited access creates an opportunity for other organizations to market their products. The three areas identified by our company are Ohio, Florida and California; the geographic segmentation has been done to get a clear picture of the type of customers that the company will be targeting. From the analysis of the research findings, it is decided that the brand name will be â€Å"Express Alarm Clock†and it will comprise of two models on the basis of features. One model will be simple with fewer features and other will be with complicated features and it will consist of extremely high technical features. The two models are decided upon according to the needs and demands of the target market. The other aspects of the marketing plan are discussed below in detail. In order to cater the right target market, it is important that the target market is decided beforehand which will ensure that there will be certain number of consumers who would be willing to buy the product (Flink, 2011). The target market of this new touch screen Alarm Clock is as follows: Lifestyle: Depending on the life cycle stage; young children and adults who are fun-loving, adventurous and technologically savvy.
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
International Law - tax system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words
International Law - tax system - Essay Example The meaning of tax can be actually described as the money, which is charged by the government for Public Sector Borrowing Requirement (PSBR) (Public Acts 1994). When we interpret the definition, we may find out the reason why countries charge tax. The governments levy tax upon its citizens because they want money to regulate it in the whole country. It as actually meant for the betterment of the country and the nation itself. Governments may built roads, built a better infrastructure, improved public organization services, improve the level of education, building schools to remote areas, proving better and free health care, etc. Government may charge the tax to invest back to the country in turn. Where as international law refers to the general rules and regulations practiced in most part of the world (Mifflin 2007). It is the law which is followed by all the countries worldwide and so it is called international. There are certain rules and procedures which are followed in every country of the world. These practices are important to carry out in the country, as they enable governments to work and perform better and in organized way. Those laws are called international, as they are practiced in every country and are accepted as well. ... but the thing which binds then together is the law which they practice in the country, only that is common in them and it keeps the countries linked together. This essay will include all the necessary and valid information about the international laws regarding the taxation issues. As far as the case study is concerned, I will try to ensure the reader abut the authentication of the information and will make sure that my answer shall convince the reader as well. The essay will proof to be the perfect guide for the three friends for their decision about the avoiding tax and the OECD proposal about the business. As described in the case study, that the friends do not want to pay taxes and their nature of business is to contribute to the tertiary sector of the country. It is yet no specified that whether the owners plan is to provide services to the country only or to the rest of the world as well. The type of job which these friends are going to do can be practiced in a country as well as outside the country, ignoring boundaries. It is because of the reason that, the friends will have headquartered at one place and will precede the business from there only. That means headquarter; will exist in one place, yet their operation in different part of the world at the same time. This is what most of the translational companies do, ignoring the boundaries. But trans-national businesses do not try to void tax and in this case, the partners are trying to ignore the tax as well. Now, it is very essential to understand the two types of taxes, direct and indirect. Before I shall proceed, I may make it clear that the direct taxes are unavoidable. This means, the direct taxes cannot be ignored and we have to pay them even if do not want to. These taxes are the
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Race and the Mass Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words
Race and the Mass Media - Essay Example In this paper, we will discuss the impact of mass media on improving or weakening the relationships between the people belonging to different races. It is not difficult to identify how mass media can weaken and marginalize a particular ethnic group which is outlined in the article titled ‘Revealed: How UK media fuelled race prejudice’. Rather it is more of a challenge to understand the concepts of race, marginalization, racial prejudice, and institutional racism. These concepts along with the Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony and Stuart Hall literature provide us with an in-depth understanding of why racial discrimination is happening in the United Kingdom and in all western countries including Australia. Once we understand the concepts of race and hegemony, we will become able to truly identify what responsibilities media holds in improving race relations. In this paper, we will discuss the impact of mass media on improving or weakening the relationships between the people belonging to different races.... Another critical issue which is affecting the rights of minorities living in any specific part of world is racial prejudice. Racial prejudice occurs when one specific race is given more powers and attention as compared to other races or ethnics minorities. The concept of racial prejudice stems from the issue of unequal distribution of powers among the people living in a country. Power is one of such elements of a society which give rise to severe problems for the society if handled improperly. When one race is given all powers, racial prejudice occurs which takes away the peace of the society along with the rights of minorities. Institutional racism is another concept related to the overall concept of race. Institutional racism occurs when institutional powers are given to the people belonging to one specific race. Social caste system based on the differences between people leads to institutional racism. â€Å"Institutional racism results from the social caste system that sustained, and was sustained by, slavery and racial segregation†(Head n.d.). 3. Concept of Hegemony The basic concept of hegemony is that it is not just the force or power which drives a man rather ideas also play a considerable role in this regard. Trubshaw (2004) states, â€Å"Hegemony can be established either by coercion or more subtly by what are usually termed 'consensual' processes†Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony was that one social class dominates other classes. He believed that the dominant class not only controls the society politically and economically but also makes other classes perceive the world as the dominant class perceives it.
Monday, October 14, 2019
What Goals I Plan to Accomplish Through a College Education Essay Example for Free
What Goals I Plan to Accomplish Through a College Education Essay Succeeding through failure What is the true meaning of success? Life has its difficulties and everybody experiences success and failure. But what is success what do we categorize as a failure? Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. Winston Churchill To most people, success means achieving a goal. What success means to me is being the best I can be. What makes me a successful person? To be a successful person you must be a great leader. There’s probably nothing more difficult than being a great leader. It’s easy to be selfish, it’s easy to only be concerned with your needs, your wants and your desires. But to succeed you have to lead! When you lead, you will succeed. The term successful can have a number of meanings for different people. For some a successful person is a person who earns a lot of money in their job, or maybe success might be found in a person with a purpose to succeed. To most people success can mean the gaining of fame, not for you but for others. Whether we succeed or not will mostly be a result of our own work towards our goals. Success doesn’t always have to be about gaining power or fame it can mean doing what you have plan, getting things done for you . Different paths to success, Success is a term we are comforted with every day. Positive thinking is one way to become successful. Depending on your personality and attitude towards life and work, there are several ways to achieve success. A different path to success is help from others. Some people benefit a lot from teamwork and working together with others instead of alone. Another approach to success is hard work. A hard-working person dedicates his or her life to achieving his or her goals in order to be successful. Personally I work better when I’m in groups so that I hear everyone’s point of view, but I know I don’t need anyone to help me succeed in life or wh at I plan to do. According to Adapt, â€Å"Success comes through rapidly fixing our mistakes rather than getting things right first time. Confidence is the companion of success.†If you don’t believe in your abilities and what you can do, don’t be surprised if no one else will either. Your negative thoughts about yourself send a signal throughout the world that others pick up on and respond that’s what I have to tell myself when I think I can’t do anything. But when you believe in yourself and know that you can do anything you set your mind to, people pick up that signal, and they will treat you according to how they believe you should be treated. What can I do in order to become successful? What exactly makes me achieve great success in life? Success can be achieved within different areas of life. It is important to have achievement of success right in front of you. Success is like preparation. To succeed, you must be ready when opportunity comes. Spend your time preparing for success, when your opportunity comes, you’ll be very happy you prepared. Not a lot of people look at the true meaning of success. You may see someone rich or famous and think they are successful. Often you will read about a star that has overdosed on drugs or is involved in a messy divorce. They will sometimes get themselves committed to a rehab facility or something worse. That does not sound like success to me. I was reading this article on one of the most richest men in Canada. He was also one of the most miserable. He was so afraid of people trying to take advantage of him that he never let anyone close. He died alone. I don’t think he knew the true meaning of success. â€Å"Failure is not an option, to many in our success-driven society, failure isn’t just considered a non-optionâ€â€it’s deemed a deficiency, says Kathryn Schulz, author of Being Wrong. â€Å"The quickest road to success is to possess an attitude towa rd failure of ‘no fear,’ †says Heath. â€Å"To do their work well, to be successful and to keep their companies competitive, leaders and workers on the front lines need to stick their necks out a mile every day. They have to deliver risky, edgy, breakthrough ideas, plans, presentations, advice, technology, products, leadership, bills and more. And they have to deliver all this fearlesslyâ€â€without any fear whatsoever of failure, rejection or punishment.†I think what she means by that is to achieve your personal best, to make the impossible possible what I’ve always heard, you can’t fear failure, you must push yourself. Here are some examples where you can be successful. Family, friends, work, community, also mankind, environment, martial things and yourself. To be truly successful in each of these examples you need to be balanced. Set a goal to equal the important ones, just try not to ignore any of them. When trying to accomplish your goals your have to take risk. You’ve got to keep finding better ways to run your life, or someone will take what you’ve accomplished. Keep moving forward is what I tell myself when I’m faced with something hard every day. When it comes to failing, our egos are our own worst enemies. As soon as things start going wrong, we are on defense mode .It seems to be the hardest thing in the world to admit we’ve made a mistake and try to fix it. It requires you to challenge you own thinking .No one wants to fail everyone wants to succeed in everything. Being able to recognize a failure just means that you’ll be able to change it into something more likely to succeed, wise women told me. One tip I can give on how to survive failure is to expect it before it happens. Dont get me wrong, Im not encouraging negative thinking. Theres a difference between expecting failure to happen and not reaching for your dreams and expecting failures and becoming ready to face it so you can reach for your dreams. What Im talking about is we can read about the lives of successful people. So theres no use in denying it. Instead, if we are aiming to succeed, we must expect and accept the reality that failures will come and we must take it as it is. So ask yourself this what is the true meaning of success, what is success what do we categorize as a failure? Work cited page www.news.google.com/newspapers?nid1915dat=19130417 www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adapt [emailprotected]
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Qualitative Research in Geography: An Overview
Qualitative Research in Geography: An Overview Geography seems to be one of those disciplines that shifts its interest from one perspective to another without necessarily changing its central research questions. Qualitative methods have long been used within the discipline of human geography. However, it was not until recently that they have become sufficiently established that some consider them to have gone too far (Marshall, 2001), as the last decade has undoubtedly seen an expansion in qualitative work in both terms of the types of work and the topics addressed. This essay will address the fact that we have moved from a period when papers were prefaced with legitimisations of qualitative work to a time when we are seeing debates within qualitative methods over establishing orthodox approaches and standards. This will be done thorough a reflection on current re-evaluations of the most common methods – mainly interviewing and ethnography –and where they are developing. Qualitative approaches have long had a strong association with cultural, social and radical geographies, in part as a reaction to quantified social geography. For example, in terms of the geographies of gender, feminist critiques of masculinist approaches were picked up and an argument about empathy amplified the concern with qualitative methods. This also could be reversed, labelling qualitative work with a feminist `softness as opposed to hard science. This debate though, has matured, from quick over-assumptions that qualitative work was generally `soft, to considering its weaknesses and strengths in a more balanced fashion (Raju et al., 2000). Qualitative research has also had to wrestle with the argument that simply listening to, giving voice to and representing the silenced is not enough. There is now a maturity about qualitative methods in geography, but also that there comes with this a certain conventionality of approaches. In delving deeper into this discussion it is important to consider the continued debates about the framing of qualitative, and especially ethnographic, work, after the so-called ‘crisis of representation’ and work in the performative vein, as qualitative research is often torn between a constructivist approach and a longing to convey a ‘real’ sense of the field. Geography has followed anthropology through these debates on ethnography and representation, responding to the question ‘how is unruly experience transformed into an authoritive written account?’ (Besio and Butz, 2004: 433). There has been a backlash against what are described as ‘excesses’ of reflexivity in some responses to this question. For instance, Bourdieu (2003) called for a renewed ‘objectivity’ via structural reflexivity in a participant observation. He argues for a personal understanding of reflexivity, to address the academic and social structures that drive research agendas, which for geography in non-western settings would show how ‘academic research practices †¦ have relied extensively on remnant colonial discourses and structures of domination for access to research subjects, efficacy of data collection and legitmation’ (Bourdieu, 2003: 288). Katz points out that ‘in the field and in their private readings, ethnographers share a culture of evaluation which is masked by the fractious, even righteously indignant commentary that characterises rhetoric about ethnographic writing’ (2002: 64). Katz argues that ‘as ethnographers, we must do more than claim: we need to show’ (2002: 68). However, Besio and Butz (2004) offer an alternate reflexivity, taking Marie Louse Pratt’s definition of autoethnography. Where rather than being about reflecting on one’s own practice it refers to the subject or dominated people’s self-representation to colonisers’ terms while remaining faithful to their own self-understandings. This tradition is not just framing local knowledges; Gold (2002) looks to a globalised religious movement that is using its self-representations and indeed academic work in its self-constitution. This makes the important point of not separating ethnography from writing – not privileging oral research over written material but rather seeing productions of various representations as moments for situated reading and interpretations by all actors. If we thus move to models of representation as intervention rather than corresponding to prior reality, we might look for new ways of producing and judging truth. Besio and Butz (2004) provide their own critique of transcultural representation. They point out that this is not an automatic process but something that has to be worked at and may only be achieved in specific circumstances. The apocalyptic tones of this debate seem particular to anthropology with its habitual [re-] definition of fieldwork as residential participant observation – as opposed to the more plural practices of qualitative methods in geography. These reflexive studies raise questions about how the usual methods fit these new topics. Meth (2003) suggests that reflective, discursive diaries first offer a ‘discontinuous writing’, allowing people to change their minds and priorities, meaning that they are not dominated by what happened in the morning before an interview. Moreover, they offer different and possibly easier routes for respondents to express themselves, especially their emotions, and reflect upon their own world-views. Alternately, Harper (2002) provides a history of the ‘photo-elicitation’ interview where pictures push people’s normal frames of reference to form the basis for deep discussions of values. The use of pictures in presenting material raises the issue of how visual and verbal relate to each other, whether they could speak to different ways of knowing rather than just being treated as different kinds of evidence (Rose, 2003). As Basio and Butz (2004: 444) note, the ‘visual in ethnographic has generally not been used intrinsically for interpreting and representing ethnographic data and culture’ but either as just more data or subordinated to a textualising metaphor. Whatmore (2003: 89) notes ‘the spoken and written word constitute the primary form of ‘data’’, whereas the world speaks in many voices through many different types of things that ‘refuse to be reinvented as univocal witnesses’. This comes back to the heart of a new kind of programmatic writing which is ‘suggestive of nothing less than a drive towards a new methodological avant garde that will radically refigure what it is to do research’ (Latham, 2 003: 2000). It is normally at this point, as we engage artistic approaches, that policy-orientated researchers voice concerns about a turn away from commitments to engaging ordinary people and offering them a voice. This seems to me to be a false opposition of committed, ‘real world’ versus ‘inaccessible’, theoretical research. It might be a good idea to end this report by returning our attention to the rich yet ambiguous and messy world of doing qualitative research. As Thrift notes: ‘Through fieldwork is often portrayed as a classical colonial encounter in which the fieldworker lords it over her/his respondents, the fact of the matter is that it usually does not feel much like that at all. More often it is a curious mixture of humiliations and intimidations mixed with moments of insight and even enjoyment’ Thrift, 2003: 106), where knowledge is coproduced ‘by building fragile and temporary commonplaces’ (2003: 108, see also Tillman-Healy, 2003). This seems to be a good summary of the qualitative work currently being done in human geography. It remains inspired by ethical and political concerns, and practitioners are deeply concerned by the moral and political implications of their work. Some of the old taken-for-granteds about fieldwork have been replaced, but it is instructive to wonder what questions have not been asked. While researchers have struggled to populate their work with real subjects rather than research objects, there have never been fewer attempts to talk about materialities in practice if not in topic. However, it does not seem that this entails a rejection of work that has been, is being and will be done, nor a turn from engaged and practical work; but that it does raise issues about the investment in specific notions of what ‘research’ is, what evidence is and how the two relate to each other. References Basio, K. Butz, D. (2004) Autoethnography: a limited endorsement. Professional Geographer, 56, 432 – 438. Bourdieu, P. (2003) Participant observation. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, NS9, 281 – 294. Gold, L. (2002) Positionality, worldview and geographical research: a personal account of a research journey. Ethics, Place and Environment, 5, 223 – 237. Harper, D. (2002) Talking about pictures: a case for photo-elicitation. Visual Studies, 17, 13 – 26. Katz, J. (2001) From how to why: on luminous description and casual reference in ethnography (part 2). Ethnography, 3, 63 – 90. Latham, A. (2003) Research, performance, and doing human geography: some reflections on the diary-photograph, diary-interview method. Environment and Planning A, 35, 1993 – 2018. Marshall, G. (2001) Addressing a problem of capacity. Social Sciences, 47, 1 2. Meth, P. (2003) Entries and omissions: using solicited diaries in geographical research. Area, 35, 195 – 205. Raju, S., Atkins, P., Townsend, J. Kumar, N. (2000) Atlas of women and men in India, London, International Books. Rose, G. (2003) On the need to ask how, exactly, is geography visual? Antipode, 35, 212 – 221. Thrift, N. (2003) Practising ethics, in Whatmore, S. Using social theory, London, Sage, 105 – 121. Tillman-Healy, L. (2003) Friendship as method. Qualitative Inquiry, 9, 729 – 749.
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