The Travels of Marco Polo by Colin Thubron Essay

The Travels of Marco Polo by Colin Thubron - Essay Example Thus, the author provides reliable information about the various aspects of the city and the descriptions are highly factual and realistic. There are important descriptions of many towns, castles, and villages and the readers are given factual descriptions about the people, the kings, and the currency in the city. â€Å"At the end of three days, you reach the noble and magnificent city of Quinsai, a name that signifies ‘the celestial city’, and which it merits from its pre eminence to all others in the world, in grandeur and beauty, as-well as from its abundant delights, which might lead inhabitants to imagine himself in paradise. In all seasons there is, in the markets, a great variety of herbs and fruits, especially pears of an extraordinary size†¦ Each of the 10 markets squares is surrounded by high dwelling houses, in the lower part which are shops, where every kind of manufacture is carried on, and ever pre-eminence trade is sold, such as spices drugs trinkets and pearls...† (Thubron, 209) Therefore, the book provides great details about the various aspects of the city and the readers are able to gather some essential factual data regarding the cities of ancient China. Two other articles which deal with the great cities of ancient China are â€Å"The Attractions of the Capital† and â€Å"Recollections of Northern Song Capital†. A reflective analysis of these resources in comparison to each other provides an enlightening understanding of the great cities of ancient China.  

Chef Satisfaction Essay Example for Free

Chef Satisfaction Essay The findings showed that employees’ job satisfaction directly and positively influences organizational commitment, but does not directly influence job performance. Employees’ job satisfaction enhances job performance only through organizational commitment. Internal marketing, empowerment and leadership also positively influence job satisfaction. Empowerment and leadership enhance employees’ organizational commitment. Internal job stress negatively influences employees’ job satisfaction and external job stress enhances employees’ job performance. According to the findings, this paper realized the main factors which influence hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance, which can function as criteria for human resource management in the hospitality industry. Key words: Hospitality industry, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job performance.   With the change of the industrial structure in recent years, the output value of the service industry has become more than 70% of the GDP in most advanced countries (CIA, 2009). Thus, the service industry plays a significant role in national economic development. In 2008, as the world encountered a financial tsunami, the governments of different countries selected potential service industries and supported them with resources, in order to energize economic development. The hospitality industry is a typical service industry, and it is critical service industry around the world. In Taiwan, the scale of the hospitality industry has been increasing year by year. According to the Statistics Department, Ministry of Economic Affairs, in 2001 the business volume of the hospitality industry in Taiwan was NTD 261. 3 billion. In 2006 it passed NTD 300 billion and in 2009 it reached NTD 321. 7 billion. However, the hospitality industry refers to labor services and relies on manpower in areas such as production, delivery and restaurant service. Thus, the hospitality industry is mainly based on services. As mentioned in Bitner’s (1995) framework of the service marketing triangle, service providers play a critical role in the service industries. In service industry management, regarding the importance of employees, Heskett et al. (1994) proposed the framework of service profit chain. In the service profit chain, there are critical linkages among internal service *Corresponding author. E-mail: [emailprotected] tcmt. edu. tw. Tel: +886-2-28102292 ext. 5009. Fax: +886-2-2810-6688. Tsai et al. 4119 quality, employee satisfaction/productivity, the value of services provided to the customer, customer satisfaction and company’s profits. This chain shows that internal service quality can enhance employee satisfaction, which will enhance employee productivity and further result in external service value and enhanced customer satisfaction. Finally, the company can make a profit (Zeithaml et al. , 2009). Therefore, satisfied employees make satisfied customers. Service personnel satisfaction significantly influences organizational commitment and job performance on customer satisfaction and corporate operational performance (Ladkin, 2002; Dunlap et al. , 1988; Tansuhaj et al. , 1988; Chowdhary, 2003; Yang and Chen, 2010). How to enhance service personnel satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance is a critical issue in service industry management. In past research on employee satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance, many scholars (Babin and Boles, 1998; Bernhardt et al. 2000; Van Scotter, 2000; Koys, 2003; Testa, 2001) have validated that employees’ job satisfaction positively influences job performance and organizational commitment. In studies on factors of employees’ job satisfaction, job performance and organizational commitment, the service profit chain proposed by Heskett et al. (1994) and service marketing management model indica ted by Tansuhaj et al. (1988) on overall service industry both demonstrated that managements internal marketing activities produce job satisfaction and commitment to the organization. In addition, many studies have found close relationships between leadership, employee satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance (Billingsley and Cross, 1992; Yammarino and Dubinsky, 1994; Burton et al. , 2002; Avolio et al. , 2004; Chen and Silverthorne, 2005). The above studies have mainly focused on the educational service industry, retail industry, manufacturing service industry, medical service industry and governmental institutions, but have not conducted indepth explorations on the hospitality service industry. Hopfl (1994) indicated that in the service delivery, firstline employees must be empowered to some degree in order to cope with customers’ special demands. Thus, job empowerment can be treated as important management to encourage first-line service personnel and immediately solve customers’ differential demands. Avolio et al. (2004), Caykoylu et al. (2007) and Chen et al. (2008) respectively conducted empirical studies on medical personnel and employees of the telecommunication industry, banking industry and postal industry, and found that empowerment positively influences employee satisfaction and organizational commitment. One issue worthy of further study is the extent of how empowerment positively influences hospitality industry employee satisfaction and organizational commitment. In addition, first-line employees face different customer demands and supervisor requirements, therefore job stress is a critical issue for them. Jamal (1990) and Jex (1998) suggested that reducing employees’ job stress could enhance employees’ job satisfaction and job performance. Williams and Cooper (2002) and Ouyang (2009) indicated that proper job stress would enhance employees’ job performance. In the hospitality industry, the influence of job stress from external customers and internal supervisors on employees’ job satisfaction and job performance is an issue worthy of further exploration. Based on the above, internal marketing, leadership, empowerment and job stress are possible factors of service industry employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance, and these factors are validated in various service industries. However, the outcomes in different service industries are not the same. For the hospitality industry, it is important to validate and analyze the influences of the above factors on employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance. Thus, this study intended to combine internal marketing, leadership, empowerment and job stress and proposed an integrated model of hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance. Hospitality industry employees in Taipei City were treated as the subjects, and the researcher probed into factors of hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance in order to function as criteria for management in the hospitality industry. LITERATURE REVIEW Job satisfaction The term â€Å"job satisfaction† was proposed by Hoppock (1935) who suggested that job satisfaction means employees’ emotions and attitude toward their jobs, and is their subjective reaction toward their jobs. The definition of job satisfaction is generalized into three categories: (1) Definition of generality: Job satisfaction refers to the affective reaction to one’s job as the most (Ozer and Gunluk, 2010). Job satisfaction, which is one of the most important necessities for an individual to be successful, happy and productive, is a feeling of satisfaction, that is, an outcome of the perception of what the job provides for an individual (Ay and Av aro lu, 2010); (2) Definition of difference: This refers to the degree of satisfaction and the difference between ndividual actual returns and required returns. For instance, Porter and Lawler (1968) suggested that the degree of satisfaction depends on the difference between a person’s actual returns and expected returns; (3) Definition of criterion framework: Peoples subjective perception and interpretation on objective traits of organizations or jobs would be influenced by individual criterion framework. According to Smith et al. (1969), job satisfaction is the outcome after a person interprets the job traits according 4120 Afr. J. Bus. Manage. o the criterion framework. The influence of certain work situations on job satisfaction is related to many factors, such as comparisons between good and bad jobs, comparisons with others, personal competency and past experience, etc. Job performance Kane and Lawler (1976) suggested that job performance refers to the record of the results when employees have practiced a job for a certain period of time. According to Schermerhorn (1989), job performance refers to the quality and quantity accomplished by individuals or groups after fulfilling a task. After a certain period of time, measurements of employees’ job performance could serve as criterion for promotions, wage adjustments, rewards, punishments and evaluations. Cascio (2006) suggested that managers must specifically define performance to allow the teams or employees to recognize the organizational expectations in order to fulfill the organizational goals. In other words, managers must set concrete goals, trace the fulfillment degree and evaluate the teams’ or employees’ performance. Van Scotter and Motowidlo (1996) suggested that employees with a high degree of job enthusiasm will demonstrate extra effort and devotion, and will actively seek out solutions to problems at work in order to enhance their job performance. Robbins (1998) divided the measurement of job performance into job result, job behavior and personal traits. Lee et al. (1999) divided job performance into efficiency, efficacy and quality. Efficiency refers to the employees’ output rate and is the ability to accomplish tasks before deadline. Efficacy refers to the employees’ goal accomplishment rate and proposals. Quality refers to the employees’ error rate and complaint rate, supervisor satisfaction, customer satisfaction and colleague satisfaction. This study suggested that in the application of this construct to measure hospitality industry employees’ job performance, efficiency should refer to the employees’ speed in customer service, efficacy should mean the accomplishment of tasks assigned by customers, and quality should mean the employees’ performance in customer service. As to measurement, Shore and Thornton (1986) indicated that self-evaluation allows individuals to participate in performance evaluation and serves as a criterion. Based on the above, according to the views of Lee et al. (1999), this study divided job performance into efficiency, efficacy and quality, and measured hospitality industry employees’ job performance using employee self-evaluation. Smith et al. (1969) proposed the Job Description Index (JDI) to measure job satisfaction, with the constructs including wage, promotion, job, supervisors and colleagues. Black and Gregersen (1997) found a positive correlation between job satisfaction and job performance. Organ (1990) suggested that when employees are satisfied with their work, they are willing to sacrifice themselves and devote to their organization. Organizational commitment From the perspective of attitude, Porter et al. (1974) indicated that organizational commitment is a person’s active and positive intention to identify with and internalize organizational goals and value. According to Reyes and Pounder (1990), organizational commitment is the strong belief and intention to identify with organizational value, devote to and stay with the organization. Mathews and Shepherd (2002) suggested that organizational commitment refers to workers’ attitude, behavior and connection between individuals and the organization. Guest (1995) indicated that organizational commitment is at the core of human resource management. It transforms traditional manpower management into the core of human resources. Organizational members’ attitude or intentions particularly indicate the importance of employees’ organizational commitment. Dee et al. (2006) suggested that organizational commitment is a person’s intention to devote to and be loyal to the organization. Lambert et al. (2006) suggested that organizational commitment is the structural phenomenon of trading between individuals and organizations. It increases with time, but it does not lead to a transferable investment outcome. Thus, in theoretical study and practical use, scholars have valued organizational commitment in human resource management. In recent years, many scholars have probed into organizational commitment from the view of Porter et al. (1974). Thus, this study also followed the above view and divided organizational commitment into value commitment, effort commitment and retention commitment. This study further treated these three constructs as criteria to measure hospitality industry employees organizational commitment. Definitions of these constructs are thus shown: (1) Value commitment: a strong belief and identification with organizational goals and values. 2) Effort commitment: the intention to devote more to the organization. (3) Retention commitment: a strong intention to continue being part of the organization. Internal marketing Internal Marketing (IM) is the process of handling staff as internal customers and projects as internal products that satisfy the needs and desires of the customers and adhere to the company’s goals (Berry and Parasuraman, 1991). Rafiq and Ahmed (1993) suggest that internal marketing involves â€Å"a planned effort to overcome organizational resistance to change and to align, motivate Tsai et al. 4121 nd integrate employees towards the effective implementation of corporate and functional strategies†. Joseph (1996) suggested that internal marketing is can be applied to marketing and human resource management, combining theoretical techniques and principles in order to encourage, recruit and manage all employees in the organization and constantly improve external customer service and mutual services. In addition, Ahmed et al. (2003) defined internal marketing as the emp loyees’ evaluation of the reward system, internal communication, training and development of the company. Internal marketing empirical research in the service sector has proven that internal marketing has influenced on internal customers (that is, employees) satisfactions. Berry and Parasuraman (1991) suggested that the advantages of internal marketing implementation in organizations are as follows: (1) To acquire and keep excellent talent; (2) to provide a common vision so that employees have job purpose and meaning; (3) to give employees the ability and knowledge to accomplish the work; (4) to encourage employees to share the results of teamwork; (5) to create job designs be based on the findings of marketing studies. The aforementioned views reveal that corporate implementation of internal marketing allows employees to enhance service quality, which increases the production and profits of the companies. The implementation of internal marketing in the organizations results in an internal service culture, raises service consciousness and increases profits (Parasuraman et al. , 1985). Based on the views of these scholars, internal marketing is critical for organizations and influences external marketing to further enhance customer satisfaction. According to the these definitions and based on the views of Rafiq and Ahmed (1993) and Ahmed et al. (2003), this study treated employee evaluations of reward systems, internal communication, and training and development of companies as criterion for measuring internal marketing of the hospitality industry. Leadership Leadership refers the process of influencing the team to accomplish the goals (Robbins and Coulter, 2005). Leaders are key success factors of an organization (Bass, 1985; Daft, 2002). Skillful leaders recognize and use the interpersonal relationships of the team and strengthen the members’ loyalty and morale. Effective leaders must learn skills such as patiently sharing information, trusting others and recognizing the timing of interventions (Steckler and Fondas, 1995). In recent years, numerous scholars have tried to discuss leadership from new perspectives. New studies of leadership theory have particularly stressed the influences of demands between leaders and subordinates, the interaction of personality traits and situational factors on leadership (Bargal and Schmid, 1989). Corporate leaders must select a proper leadership according to their subordinates’ different demands for supervision, in order to enhance employee satisfaction and fulfill expected goals. Bass and Avolio (1997) divided leadership into transformational leadership and transactional leadership. In transformational leadership, subordinates trust, respect and are loyal to their leaders. Leaders can develop their subordinates’ potential and enhance their confidence by changing their values and beliefs in order to increase their organizational commitment, intention and motivation to create exceptional outcomes. Transformational leadership can be divided into ideal traits, ideal behavior, the encouragement of inspiration, and the stimulation of wisdom and individual care. In addition, transactional leadership means leaders and members remain in the process of negotiation and mutual benefit instead of a persistent one-purpose relationship. Social exchange theory is treated as the theoretical base. When subordinates act according to their leaders’ expectations, they will have returns with a specific value. Transactional leadership can be divided into contingent rewards, and active and passive exceptional management. Most quantitative studies on leadership have created questionnaires using the MLQ scale designed by Bass and Avolio (1997). The MLQ scale includes two constructs (transformational leadership and transactional leadership). This study also designed a leadership questionnaire for the hospitality industry according to the MLQ scale. Empowerment Empowerment signals a transition away from traditional development that confined people’s role to that of passive recipients, effectively rendering them dependent on handouts in the form of foreign aid (O’Gorman, 1995). Bowen and Lawler III (1992) define empowerment as sharing with frontline employees four organizational ingredients: (1) Information about the organizations performance; (2) rewards based on the organizations performance; (3) knowledge about contributing to organizational performance; (4) power to make decisions that influence organizational direction and performance. Murat and Thomas (2003) suggested that empowerment does not simply refer to telling employees that they are empowered, but aims to allow the employees to recognize what power has been authorized. Boudrias et al. (2004) suggested that in managerial circles, empowerment application includes two types: (1) Empowering the responsibility of decision-making to subordinates while emphasizing rich work environments 4122 Afr. J. Bus. Manage. and diverse authority, information, resources and support, and providing the opportunity to learn in order to improve performance; (2) psychological empowerment, which refers to employees’ experiences of empowerment that are inferred as a mediating variable of empowerment and expected results. According to Sherman (1996), empowerment acknowledges that employees have the power to change in order to encourage employees to increase their competency. Kanter (1993) suggested that empowerment can keep employees from feeling helpless. Organizations could thus reduce negative effects such as low morale. The most significant effect of empowerment is to enhance employees’ abilities and self-efficacy (Conger and Kanungo, 1988). Bowen and Lawler III (1992) suggested the advantages of empowerment for organizations below: (1) To rapidly respond to customer demands and questions; (2) a high degree of employees’ job satisfaction; (3) positive interactions with consumers; (4) employees with creative thoughts; (5) the creation of loyal customers. About the definition of psychological empowerment, Spreitzer (1995) defines this concept as the psychological state that employees must experience for managerial empowerment interventions to be successful.

Infertility Treatments: Is it Ethical? Essay -- fertility medications,

In this day and age several factors have changed the definition of a family. We live in a time where careers, education, and work are now put before starting a family, making it more difficult to have children. The traditional family archetype has changed with a rise in single and homosexual parenting. This change, even though it is a positive one, can result in several people being unable to have children. Infertility treatments have become a popular option for these people who cannot have children. These treatments have become popular in books, movies, and other forms which has brought attention to the ethics of the practices. The ethics of these treatments are challenged by the health risks on people seeking treatments and their potential child, the morality of how embryos are used in these treatments, and the costs of these treatments. Although these treatments have their medical risks, anyone should have the option to use these treatments because they are often the only way they can have a child. Infertility treatments are various types of medicines and medical technologies that aid pregnancy. Some forms of medicines used to treat infertility include hormone injections, fertility drugs, and ovulation drugs. Fertility medications and hormone injections increases the chances of a person to get pregnant or impregnate someone by aiding in the release of hormones to regulate specific reproductive processes such as sperm production or ovulation. Technology based infertility treatments, or more commonly known as ART-technology (assisted reproductive technology), include in-vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, and embryo/zygote transfers. Artificial insemination is a procedure where sperm is placed inside the uterus. In vi... ...e treatments should not matter because the gift of a child is priceless. Altogether the practice of infertility treatments is absolutely necessary. Even though there are some possible negative effects from treatment and treatments can be pricey, nothing can be more valuable and precious than a child. Works Cited http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/Infertility/Index.htm https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/infertility/conditioninfo/Pages/art.aspx http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/infertility.html http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/Psychological-impact-of-infertility http://www.sart.org/uploadedFiles/ASRM_Content/News_and_Publications/Ethics_Committee_Reports_and_Statements/fertility_gaylesunmarried.pdf http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/13/6/1502.short http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/22/6/1506.full

Mrs Aesop Analysis Essay

‘The worlds wife’ is a collection of poems by Duffy written by the female halves of well-known men of time in both reality and myth. Duffy has created a literal version of an old saying behind every great man there is an even greater woman. These poems are both shocking and thought provoking as Duffy steps into the shoes of every woman, whose partner has affected history or the world in any way and given them a voice. Aesop was a fabulist credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ‘Aesop’s Fables’. Although his existence remains uncertain and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. In many of the tales, animals speak and have human characteristics. The impious (disrespectful) opening, ‘By Christ’ foregrounds Mrs Aesop’s disrespectful attitude towards her husband. She says he can ‘bore for Purgatory’ – this is a reference to the Catholic belief in a conceptual space between heaven and hell in which souls are condemned to suffer for their sins after death. Through this Mrs Aesop is literally expressing that her husband is capable of making such a place as purgatory worse than it already is. Aesop’s wife belittles him – ‘he was small’ – and the use of the internal rhyme â€Å"didn’t prepossess. So he tried to impress† is both comic and cutting. Through the continuous references to Aesop’s fables, Mrs Aesop is clearly mocking and disrespecting his works that were popular with so many. On the fourth line of the first stanza, Mrs Aesop puts her own twist of one of her husbands many fables – â€Å"a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush†, changing it to, â€Å"the bird in his hand shat on his sleeve†. By putting this nasty little twist on his work, she is disrespecting both her husband and his work, reflecting her feelings that she appears to have been bottling up for a while. The sheer number of allusions reflects the deadening effect that his fables have on Aesop’s wife. In the first stanza, the end focus on ‘Tedious’, emphasised by the caesura that precedes it, highlights how she  perceives his stories. The fables are chosen to reflect Aesop’s dull, cautious nature – he is the ‘shy mouse’, ‘the jackdaw’, one of the ‘donkeys th at would, on the whole, prefer to be lions.’ It appears that through Duffy writing this poem, Mrs Aesop is finally able to convey her inner thoughts to an audience, bringing her huge relief. In the second stanza, Duffy mocks Mr. Aesop, â€Å"look, then leap†. Duffy has used alliteration to emphasise the childlessness and immaturity of her husband and that his work represents him, making that childish and immature also. Duffy continues this idea onto the third stanza, describing their evening stroll as appalling, and using the tortoise from one of Mr. Aesop’s most famous fables – the hair and the tortoise – as a simile, by describing the way it crawled as â€Å"slow as marriage, indicating that her marriage is tedious and boring, like his work. Duffy uses numerous successful techniques to convey Mrs Aesop’s views of her husband Mr Aesop and his work. However, like in many of Duffy’s poems where she convinces the reader to back the women, due to her feminist views, I don’t believe that she does this in this particular poem. I sympathise with Mr Aesop as his wife is mocking and disrespecting him and his work, something that he takes a lot of pride in.

Joseph McCarthy Essay

Joseph McCarthy was born on November 14, 1909 in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. At fourteen he stopped schooling only to return six years later. What normally took four years of high school, he finished in one year. The years 1930 to 1935 were spent in Marquette University where got his law degree. In 1939 he became a circuit court judge in Wisconsin. He was a Marines lieutenant in World War II. He ran for and lost a Senate seat in 1944. In 1946, he tried again and won this time as junior senator from Wisconsin. The first years were lackluster for Senator McCarthy. In 1949 he found issues to ride on like the US Cold War and anti-Communists sentiments. He claimed to have a Communists List including employees of the State Department. While that was in February of 1950, he named the alleged communists in government service for a whole of five years. Due to the strong anti-communist climate, even without evidence to support his accusations, his claims had damaged the careers and ruined the lives of his victims. Winning yet in another election in 1952 he had used his position as chairman of the Permanent Investigations Subcommittee to put more government officials and agencies under investigation. He spared no one from his onslaught including President Eisenhower. While hating the senator in private, the President ignored him in public. McCarthy’s downfall came in 1954 when the Army charged him of giving political favors to a consultant, a former army draftee. The Army-McCarthy hearings were held in his own subcommittee. He was found to be irresponsible as well as dishonest by the subcommittee in televised hearings. Unrepentant to the end, he was censured by Senate in 1954. He died at age 47 from liver ailment. The site elaborated on the rise and fall of a man. It helped me understand the complexities in the life of a man whose humble beginnings propelled him to seek out his dreams and the trappings of power brought him down and away from those dreams. Reference CNN Interactive. Com. Knowledge Bank:Profiles. Retrieved April 17, 2008, from http://www. cnn. com/SPECIALS/cold. war/kbank/profiles/mccarthy/

How Delphi Uses Resource Files

How Delphi Uses Resource Files From bitmaps to icons to cursors to string tables, every Windows program uses resources.  Resources  are those elements of a program that support the program but are not executable code. In this article, we will walk through some examples of the use of bitmaps, icons, and cursors from resources. Location of Resources Placing resources in the .exe file has two main  advantages: The resources can be accessed more quickly because it takes less time to locate a resource in the executable file than it does to load it from a disk file.The program file and resources can be contained in a single unit (the .exe file) without the need for a lot of supporting files. The Image Editor First of  all, we need to create a resource file. The default extension for resource files is  .RES. Resource files can be created with  Delphis Image Editor. You can name the resource file anything you want, as long as it has the extension .RES and the filename without the extension is not the same as any unit or project filename. This is important, because, by default, each Delphi project that compiles into an application has a resource file with the same name as the project file, but with the extension .RES. Its best to save the file to the same directory as your project file. Including Resources in Applications In order to access our own resource file, we have to tell Delphi to link our resource file in with our application. This is accomplished by adding a compiler directive to the source code. This directive needs to immediately follow the form directive, like the following: {$R *.DFM} {$R DPABOUT.RES} Do not accidentally erase {$R *.DFM} part, as this is the line of code that tells Delphi to link in the forms visual part. When you choose bitmaps for speed buttons, Image components or Button components, Delphi includes the bitmap file you chose as part of the forms resource. Delphi isolates your user interface elements into the .DFM file. To actually use the resource, you must make a few Windows API calls. Bitmaps, cursors, and icons stored in RES files can be retrieved by using the API functions LoadBitmap, LoadCursor, and LoadIcon respectively. Pictures in Resources The first example shows how to load a bitmap stored as a resource and display it in a TImage component. procedure TfrMain.btnCanvasPic(Sender: TObject);var bBitmap : TBitmap;begin bBitmap : TBitmap.Create; try bBitmap.Handle : LoadBitmap(hInstance, ATHENA); Image1.Width : bBitmap.Width; Image1.Height : bBitmap.Height; Image1.Canvas.Draw(0,0,bBitmap); finally bBitmap.Free; end;end; Note: If the bitmap that is to be loaded is not in the resource file, the program will still run, it just wont display the bitmap. This situation can be avoided by testing to see if the  bBitmap.Handle  is zero after a call to  LoadBitmap()  and taking the appropriate steps. The  try/finally  part in the previous code doesnt solve this problem, it is just here to make sure that the bBitmap is destroyed and its associated memory is freed. Another way we can use to display a bitmap from a  resource is as follows: procedure TfrMain.btnLoadPicClick(Sender: TObject);begin Image1.Picture.Bitmap. LoadFromResourceName(hInstance,EARTH);end; Cursors in Resources Screen.Cursors[]  is an array of cursors supplied by Delphi. By using resource files, we can add custom cursors to the Cursors property. Unless we wish to replace any of the  defaults, the best strategy is to use cursor numbers starting from 1. procedure TfrMain.btnUseCursorClick(Sender: TObject); const NewCursor 1;begin Screen.Cursors[NewCursor] : LoadCursor(hInstance,CURHAND); Image1.Cursor : NewCursor;end; Icons in Resources If we look at Delphis  Project-Options-Application  settings, we can find that Delphi supplies the default icon for a project. This icon represents the application in the Windows Explorer and when the application is minimized. We can easily change this by clicking the Load Icon button. If we want, for example, to animate the programs icon when the program is minimized, then the following code will do the job. For the animation, we need a  TTimer  component on a form. The code loads two icons from resource file into an array of  TIcon  objects; this array needs to be declared in the public part of the main form. Well also need  NrIco, that is an Integer type variable, declared in the  public  part. The  NrIco  is used to keep track of the next icon to show. public nrIco : Integer; MinIcon : array[0..1] of TIcon;...procedure TfrMain.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);begin MinIcon[0]:TIcon.Create; MinIcon[1]:TIcon.Create; MinIcon[0].Handle:LoadIcon(hInstance,ICOOK); MinIcon[1].Handle:LoadIcon(hInstance,ICOFOLD); NrIco:0; Timer1.Interval:200;end;...procedure TfrMain.Timer1Timer(Sender: TObject);beginif IsIconic(Application.Handle) then begin NrIco:(NrIco1) mod 2; Application.Icon:MinIcon[NrIco]; end;end;...procedure TfrMain.FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);begin MinIcon[0].Free; MinIcon[1].Free;end; In the Timer1.OnTimer event handler, IsMinimized function is used to see whether we need to animate our main icon or not. A better way of accomplishing this would be to capture the maximize/minimize buttons and than act. Final Words We can place anything (well, not everything) in resource files. This article has shown you how to use resources to use/display bitmap, cursor or an icon in your Delphi application. Note: When we save a Delphi project to the disk, Delphi automatically creates one .RES file that has the same name as the project (if nothing else, the main icon of the project is inside). Although we can alter this resource file, this is not advisable.

Free Essays on Juvenile Crime

Juvenile crime is a rapidly growing problem in the United States. We are seeing more and more "kids" committing horrible crimes. There may be some underlying reasons why these kids of thirteen, fourteen, fifteen year olds are committing "adult crimes" such as armed robbery, rape and murder, but there are no excuses for this behavior. In the eyes of the court, a person is tried as an adult when he is sixteen. That was fine until recent years when we have witnessed children as young as seven years old murdering people. It doesn't even come as a shock to many people when we hear of shootings at schools. Young people are committing serious crimes now more than ever. Juvenile homicides have quadrupled over the last ten years (Reilly 616). That is an alarming rate of juvenile homicides during the nineties, and something must be done to combat that. Maybe adult sentencing is the solution? For obvious reasons some people feel that a fourteen year old convicted on two counts of second ! degree murder should not be in the same prison with a forty four year old murderer, which is understandable because they probably would not survive in that environment. On the other hand, would you be satisfied with the same fourteen year old murderer getting out of a juvenile detention center when he is eighteen? Because that is what would happen, even if he committed a double homicide he will only spend four years in a detention center! That is a shame, imagine that you were the parent of one of the victims, would you be satisfied with that sentence? I should hope not. That is why it is so important for lawmakers to put some laws on the books allowing prosecutors to impose adult sentences on juveniles, so when they do turn eighteen they will not be walking free, instead they will be walking through the gates of an adult maximum security prison. According to the Council on Crime in America, a bipartisan commission chaired by former Attorney General Griffin Bell... Free Essays on Juvenile Crime Free Essays on Juvenile Crime Juvenile crime is a rapidly growing problem in the United States. We are seeing more and more "kids" committing horrible crimes. There may be some underlying reasons why these kids of thirteen, fourteen, fifteen year olds are committing "adult crimes" such as armed robbery, rape and murder, but there are no excuses for this behavior. In the eyes of the court, a person is tried as an adult when he is sixteen. That was fine until recent years when we have witnessed children as young as seven years old murdering people. It doesn't even come as a shock to many people when we hear of shootings at schools. Young people are committing serious crimes now more than ever. Juvenile homicides have quadrupled over the last ten years (Reilly 616). That is an alarming rate of juvenile homicides during the nineties, and something must be done to combat that. Maybe adult sentencing is the solution? For obvious reasons some people feel that a fourteen year old convicted on two counts of second degree murder should not be in the same prison with a forty four year old murderer, which is understandable because they probably would not survive in that environment. On the other hand, would you be satisfied with the same fourteen year old murderer getting out of a juvenile detention center when he is eighteen? Because that is what would happen, even if he committed a double homicide he will only spend four years in a detention center! That is a shame, imagine that you were the parent of one of the victims, would you be satisfied with that sentence? I should hope not. That is why it is so important for lawmakers to put some laws on the books allowing prosecutors to impose adult sentences on juveniles, so when they do turn eighteen they will not be walking free, instead they will be walking through the gates of an adult maximum security prison. According to the Council on Crime in America, a bipartisan commission chaired by former Attorney General Griffin Bell an... Free Essays on Juvenile Crime Juvenile crime is a rapidly growing problem in the United States. We are seeing more and more "kids" committing horrible crimes. There may be some underlying reasons why these kids of thirteen, fourteen, fifteen year olds are committing "adult crimes" such as armed robbery, rape and murder, but there are no excuses for this behavior. In the eyes of the court, a person is tried as an adult when he is sixteen. That was fine until recent years when we have witnessed children as young as seven years old murdering people. It doesn't even come as a shock to many people when we hear of shootings at schools. Young people are committing serious crimes now more than ever. Juvenile homicides have quadrupled over the last ten years (Reilly 616). That is an alarming rate of juvenile homicides during the nineties, and something must be done to combat that. Maybe adult sentencing is the solution? For obvious reasons some people feel that a fourteen year old convicted on two counts of second ! degree murder should not be in the same prison with a forty four year old murderer, which is understandable because they probably would not survive in that environment. On the other hand, would you be satisfied with the same fourteen year old murderer getting out of a juvenile detention center when he is eighteen? Because that is what would happen, even if he committed a double homicide he will only spend four years in a detention center! That is a shame, imagine that you were the parent of one of the victims, would you be satisfied with that sentence? I should hope not. That is why it is so important for lawmakers to put some laws on the books allowing prosecutors to impose adult sentences on juveniles, so when they do turn eighteen they will not be walking free, instead they will be walking through the gates of an adult maximum security prison. According to the Council on Crime in America, a bipartisan commission chaired by former Attorney General Griffin Bell...

How to pronounce Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Ying-jiu)

How to pronounce Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Ying-jiu) In this article, we will look at how to pronounce Ma Ying-jeou (traditional: é ¦ ¬Ã¨â€¹ ±Ã¤ ¹ , simplified: é © ¬Ã¨â€¹ ±Ã¤ ¹ ), which in Hanyu Pinyin would be MÇŽ YÄ «ng-jiÇ”. Since most students use Hanyu Pinyin for pronunciation, I will henceforth use that. Ma Ying-jiu was president of Taiwan (Republic of China) from 2008 to 2016. Below, I will first give you a quick and dirty way if you just want to have a rough idea how to pronounce the name. Then I’ll go through a more detailed description, including analysis of common learner errors. Pronouncing Names in Chinese Pronouncing Chinese names correctly can be very hard if you havent studied the language.  Ignoring or mispronouncing tones will just add to the confusion. These mistakes add up and often become so serious that a native speaker would fail to understand. Read more about how to pronounce Chinese names. How to Pronounce Ma Ying-jiu if Youve Never Studied Chinese Chinese names usually consist of three syllables, with the first being the family name and the last two the personal name. There are exceptions to this rule, but it holds true in a vast majority of cases. Thus, there are three syllables we need to deal with. Listen to the pronunciation here while reading the explanation. Repeat yourself! Ma - Pronounce as ma in markYing - Pronounce as Eng in EnglishJiu - Pronounce as Joe If you want want to have a go at the tones, they are low, high-flat and low (or dipping, see below). Note: This pronunciation is not correct pronunciation in Mandarin (though it is reasonably close). To really get it right, you need to learn some new sounds (see below). How to Actually Pronounce Ma Yingjiu If you study Mandarin, you should never ever rely on English approximations like those above. Those are meant for people who dont intend to learn the language! You have to understand the orthography, i.e. how the letters relate to the sounds. There are many traps and pitfalls in Pinyin you have to be familiar with. Now, lets look at the three syllables in more detail, including common learner errors: Ma  (third tone) - You are probably familiar with this sound if youve studied Mandarin since its often used to demonstrate tones and is very common. The m is easy to get right, but the a is harder. In general, the a in mark is too far back, but the a in man is too far forward. Somewhere in between. It is a very open sound, too.Ying  (first tone) - As you may have guessed already, this syllable was chosen to represent England and thereby English because they do sound quite similar. The i (which is spelt yi here) in Mandarin is pronounced with the tongue tip closer to the upper teeth than in English. Its as far up and forward ou can go, basically. It can almost sound like a soft j at times. The final can have an optional short schwa (as in English the). To get the right -ng, let your jaw drop and your tongue withdraw.Jiu (third tone) -This sound is tricky to get right. First, j is one of the hardest sounds to get right for native speakers of English. Its a voiceless unaspriated aff ricate, which means that there should be a soft t followed by a hissing sound. This should be pronounced in the same place as x, which means tongue tip touching the lower teeth ridge. iu is an abbreviation of iou. The i tends to overlap with the initial. The remaining part is somewhere in between jaw and joe, but note that the English j is quite different from Pinyin j.. The are some variations for these sounds, but Ma Ying-jiu (é © ¬Ã¨â€¹ ±Ã¤ ¹ ) can be written like this in IPA: ma jəŋ tÉ•ju Conclusion Now you know how to pronounce Ma Ying -jiu (é © ¬Ã¨â€¹ ±Ã¤ ¹ ). Did you find it hard? If you’re learning Mandarin, dont worry; there arent that many sounds. Once you’ve learnt the most common ones, learning to pronounce words (and names) will become much easier!

Early years in the uk context Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Early years in the uk context - Essay Example As a result, most schools in England tend to have more advanced examinations with small class sizes as opposed to the Scotland schools that are generally characterized by large class sizes and less advanced examinations (Gearon, 2002, p.36). Additionally, the average age range for primary schools in Scotland is between 4 and 12 and this is equivalent of the English reception classes. With regard to the curriculum differences, early education in England follows the strict national curriculum that applies to the states of England, Northern Ireland and Wales. The National curriculum requires the compulsory teaching of subjects such as English, Science, Math, ICT, Geography, Design technology, Physical education and the optional modern foreign languages On the other hand, Scotland is currently in the process of implementing its own model of education curriculum for academic excellence. The educational reform in Scotland is particularly aimed at providing a wide education as well as impro ving the flexibility and the range of courses being offered in Scottish schools for early learners especially those of the age below 18 years. Consequently the Scottish CfE programme has focused on improving the capacities of the pupils and helping them become successful, confident responsible and effective contributors to the national development. This paper critically discusses the main policy aspect that has resulted in the curriculum differences in early education between England and Scotland. The National Curriculum and the Early Years Foundation Stage act According to Holt and Donnell, (1999, p.78), one of the policies that have significantly shaped the early education across the United Kingdom is the Early Years Foundation Stage act which was passed in 2006 and became effective in 2008. The act not only stipulates a set of welfare requirements to be observed in the early education systems but also specifies some of the learning and development requirements that should be foll owed by the providers of early education especially to children under the age of compulsory education in the UK. The national learning and development requirements are however applicable to England only and are therefore not observed in the other countries such as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is this policy aspect that has resulted in significant differences in early learning between England and Scotland. England for this case has been able to revise various policies that aim at improving the education sector. Of importance to note is that some of the aspects of the curriculum used in England tend to differ with the ones used in Scotland. Earlier education policies in England such as Early Years Foundation Stage take into consideration an aspect of welfare requirements for the child. In Scotland the polices major on learning and development for children bellow five years that all education institutions have to adhere to as a form of policy to streamline the sector. Learn ing and development requirements have been majorly emphasized in England as compared to Scotland that majorly majors on the welfare aspects of children in the early stages of learning. All early childhood institutions have to register under the childcare act so as to legally operate and comply with

Implications of Concepts of Organizational Behavior at a Local Essay

Implications of Concepts of Organizational Behavior at a Local Restaurant in London - Essay Example The restaurant is comprised of totaling fifty employees. Most of these employees are foreigner students who work part time at Mr. Smith’s Restaurant. Mr. Smith offers flexible working conditions to these students. He allows them to work full time during holidays as well as part time during exams. Lately, the restaurant underwent a substantial increase in numbers of customers. This increment is mainly due to the popularity of International and European Cuisine offered at Mr. Smith’s Restaurant. Such popularity has encouraged Mr. Smith to open more chains of this restaurant throughout U.K. In this paper, Mr. Smith’s business has been analyzed from the following mentioned perspective. Organizational Culture and Structure Leadership and Management Styles Motivational Theories and their implications Teamwork and Group Behavior In subsequent paragraphs, these aspects of Mr. Smith’s business are discussed in detailed manner. Task 1 - Understand the relationship b etween Organizational Structure and Culture a) Compare and contrast ‘geographical’ and ‘functional’ organizational structure. You should include examples of the application of these organization structures in real businesses. Organizational Structures and Culture Organizational structures are developed to define a framework of command and order through which the tasks and activities of an organization can be organized, planned, directed and controlled in order to achieve the overall organizational goals. Within U.K, most of the restaurants possess geographical, functional and entrepreneurial structures. Functional Structure; this structure refers to organizing the business depending upon what each department does. Geographical Structure; This structure groups activity according to their geographical location. Services are provided after considering ease of management and convenience of customers. Product-based Structures; Companies that possess wide range o f products have this type of organizational structures. Wide range of products is generally categorized in width extension, breadth extension and line extension Multifunctional and Multidivisional Structures; this structure is typically possessed by large corporations whose business operations are expanded globally. This structure possesses multiple hierarchical levels in organization. Matrix Structures; matrix organization requires an employee to report two bosses at same time. For instance, a person might be an employee in sales department but he has to report to finance manager as well about the sales of a certain period. Centralization; in centralization, only one individual or top management has the sole authority of taking decision for the entire company. Decentralization; decentralization disperses the decision making governance in proximity of workers (Heathfield, n.d.). Implication of Organizational Structure in Mr. Smith’s Restaurant Since the business of Mr. Smith is family owned, therefore substantial reliance is upon the owner-manager that is Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith has the sole authority, accountability and responsibility of the entire organization. The relationships between Mr. Smith and other members of organization are developed in informal and personal basis. However, at the same time Mr. Smith plans to expand his business which

HR Manager Interview in the Health Care Field Essay

HR Manager Interview in the Health Care Field - Essay Example This importance has however not been entirely appreciated as evidence from around the world points to a scenario where doctors or clinicians are left to manage healthcare facilities especially in developing countries where the need to professionalize human resource management is just beginning to dawn (Hongoro & McPacke, 2004). Due to the importance of human resource in the quality of healthcare provision, there is a clear need to study the state of human resource management in the healthcare sector. An appraisal of human resource management in health care can best be undertaken through an interview of a practicing health care human resource manager. This way, the background of health care human resource management, management styles, its roles and responsibilities, challenges faced and emerging issues can be discerned and a conclusion reached on human resource management in health care. ... According to this manager, the position requires qualified personnel who understand all the tenets of human resource management from conducting job analyses, drafting job descriptions, reward management and compensation among other duties and responsibilities that do necessitate specialized and professional expertise. The human resource manager pointed that a typical background for human resource management is thus interdisciplinary; demonstrating adeptness gained from social sciences, business administration and behavioral background. Good interpersonal skills are also necessary further demonstrating the need for a professionally trained human resource manager. Human Resource Management Styles in Healthcare The management style adopted in any organization or department is crucial for achievement of success in terms of meeting organizational or departmental goals. The style of management in place depends to a large extent on the resources available, knowledge, people skills and the d esired results. Human Resource Management (2011) identifies three styles of management; participatory, directing and teamwork style. The participatory style of leadership involves managers delegating duties to employees and requires a workforce that clearly understands their job roles. The directive style is a top-down approach to management which is especially important in cases where deadlines have to be met. Teamwork involves pooling of knowledge at ones disposal in a give-and-take cooperative manner. All these styles have their strengths and flaws and it is the responsibility of a manger to select the most effective. From the interview, the healthcare human resource

Tourism in morocco and how americans see morocco as a touristic Essay

Tourism in morocco and how americans see morocco as a touristic destination - Essay Example Notably, the same trend was visible in the case of Americans too. As Kiesnoski (2008) points out, there was a 30% rise in the number of American tourists to Morocco on an annual basis since 2008 and it seems that America has been hostile to Morocco all along. However, the situation is improving due to a number of reasons. As such, this paper seeks to critically evaluate the perceptions held by the Americans towards this country and the measures that can be implemented by Morocco in order to attract American tourists. Basically, Morocco is different from the other Middle East nations as a result of different cuisine and traditions. Morocco has the relics of Arab, French, Spanish and Portuguese traditions. As a result of these favorable conditions one can see that the nation is not as calamitous as its Middle East neighbors. Admittedly, Morocco has relatively good relations with the U.S. from the 1950s and the US Government has been working along with the Moroccan authorities to improve the lives of Moroccans. While other nations were turned upside down by citizens calling for revolution, and as the rulers of those nations retorted with military and weapon resulting in mass killings, Morocco witnessed peaceful agitations which are legally allowed and a peaceful referendum from the King offering limited monarchic power. Coskun (2011) posits to the effect that another important point is that unlike other Islamic nations which want to end the rule of monarchs, the majority of the electorate in Morocc o expressed total trust in the King. Thus, according to The Financial Times (2011) report, by adopting a constitutional monarchy like that of Spain or the UK, which is politically open and economically liberal, Morocco stands farther ahead of its Arab companions. Morocco always attracted different types of tourists due to its diversity in cultural tourism it offered. Tourists to Morocco get a chance to experience the various languages, cultures, dresses, and lifestyles

Therapeutic Recreation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Therapeutic Recreation - Essay Example Suffering, it is thought, is reducible through objective solutions to health problems. The author believed naively that one day, every known problem to medicine would be addressed by an objective fix—which is a belief now breaking up in all areas of medical treatment. Unfortunately, the commitment to an objective, universal set of fixes is a false medical model for how things work in reality. Instead, the author believes human consciousness to be a tool of vast complexity to remember, contemplate, process, and think, which precludes a simplistic model of medicine. In contrast to the idea of suffering as an objective phenomenon with objective causes, the author points to extreme cases of hypochondriasis, in which a person’s suffering is entirely self-caused, and those who live with extreme levels of suffering, but overcome it to live joyfully. Given this wide range of how people deal with suffering, the author concludes that suffering transcends traditional medicine. Acc ordingly, â€Å"suffering is a spiritual experience, intensely personal, and full of paradox and mystery† (O’Keefe, 2008). At the other end of this spectrum is the idea of leisure, which is taken to be the opposite of suffering. In leisure, one finds joy with one’s activities, which is also a deeply personal and subjective issue. For both leisure and suffering, the author believes that â€Å"therapeutic recreation has a wonderful gift† appealing both to the suffering and the joyful in the whole human being. It is objectionable, according to the author, that therapeutic recreation is treated by some as a distraction from the apparent seriousness of a patient’s situation. A patient’s experience in a medical ward is full of objective news—good and bad—that ignores the suffering and leisure of the individual patient. An apparent implication of therapeutic recreation’s â€Å"diversion† from objectivity is the thought t hat therapeutic recreation does not know or care about the seriousness of a patient’s situation. This, in turn, leads to an attempt by some in the field to bring therapeutic recreation on par in objectivity to the medical field that specializes in problem-solving diagnoses. At this point, one can see the author take issue with the language being used in therapeutic recreation—language that is depersonalizing people and making it more difficult to understand suffering (and joy) at a humanistic level. The author predicts that patients will demand that the language being used is more accessible and humanistic: an idea that supports the theory saying therapeutic recreation should carve out a place for itself as a humanistic practice that acknowledges the spiritualistic aspects of human life. Suffering, after all, represents a very spiritual experience, given that it is represented as such in so many world religions as redemptive and necessary for meaning. Suffering, whethe r it is embodied in homelessness, oppression, poverty, starvation, or violence, affords an opportunity for experiencing emptiness (O’Keefe, 2008). From redemption and emptiness, human beings have the chance to experience the highest form of joy, which comes from giving oneself to a saving power (which, the author notes, is not necessarily religious â€Å"but certainly spiritual†). In addition, this suffering can be communal. Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, entire groups of people felt shared emotions. Some of these shared emotions were put at ease through

Nanotechnology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Nanotechnology - Research Paper Example Since it is a relatively new field, it is crucial to examine its various applications and challenges, as well as ethical issues surrounding it, which is the goal of this essay. Nanotechnology has its roots in the 1980s and was the result of the convergence of experimental advances that include the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope and the discovery of fullerenes, after which the goals of nanotechnology were created in 1986 with the publication of the book â€Å"Engines of Creation† (Nanotechnology 27). A scanning electron microscope image of the silver nanowires in which the cotton is dipped during the process of constructing a filter; moreover, the large fibers are cotton, Credit: Yi Cui, Stanford University (Roberts 12) Bucicminsterfullerene also known as the buckyball is a representative member of the carbon structures known as fullerenes (Nanotechnology 27). The tunneling microscope was crucial due to its use in imaging surfaces at an atomic level. From the publication of the objectives of nanotechnology, other scientists developed and popularized the concept of nanotechnology and developed other fields of nanotechnology, such as molecular nanotechnology, from where the field grew into a controversial sector of science and technology with talk of its implications and feasibility, as well as its application. This has made nanoscience a technology with a large variety of application in the daily life of humans and diverse benefits. However, the application comes with its own risks that shall be discussed in the ethical part of this paper covering the ethics of applying nanotechnology. In the field of medicine, nanotechnology is applied for its health benefits in the human body functions. This is especially so in cases where it is used in research to develop improved delivery systems with lower drug toxicity. Nanotechnology allows for advanced research and strategies that

Therapeutic Recreation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Therapeutic Recreation - Essay Example Suffering, it is thought, is reducible through objective solutions to health problems. The author believed naively that one day, every known problem to medicine would be addressed by an objective fix—which is a belief now breaking up in all areas of medical treatment. Unfortunately, the commitment to an objective, universal set of fixes is a false medical model for how things work in reality. Instead, the author believes human consciousness to be a tool of vast complexity to remember, contemplate, process, and think, which precludes a simplistic model of medicine. In contrast to the idea of suffering as an objective phenomenon with objective causes, the author points to extreme cases of hypochondriasis, in which a person’s suffering is entirely self-caused, and those who live with extreme levels of suffering, but overcome it to live joyfully. Given this wide range of how people deal with suffering, the author concludes that suffering transcends traditional medicine. Acc ordingly, â€Å"suffering is a spiritual experience, intensely personal, and full of paradox and mystery† (O’Keefe, 2008). At the other end of this spectrum is the idea of leisure, which is taken to be the opposite of suffering. In leisure, one finds joy with one’s activities, which is also a deeply personal and subjective issue. For both leisure and suffering, the author believes that â€Å"therapeutic recreation has a wonderful gift† appealing both to the suffering and the joyful in the whole human being. It is objectionable, according to the author, that therapeutic recreation is treated by some as a distraction from the apparent seriousness of a patient’s situation. A patient’s experience in a medical ward is full of objective news—good and bad—that ignores the suffering and leisure of the individual patient. An apparent implication of therapeutic recreation’s â€Å"diversion† from objectivity is the thought t hat therapeutic recreation does not know or care about the seriousness of a patient’s situation. This, in turn, leads to an attempt by some in the field to bring therapeutic recreation on par in objectivity to the medical field that specializes in problem-solving diagnoses. At this point, one can see the author take issue with the language being used in therapeutic recreation—language that is depersonalizing people and making it more difficult to understand suffering (and joy) at a humanistic level. The author predicts that patients will demand that the language being used is more accessible and humanistic: an idea that supports the theory saying therapeutic recreation should carve out a place for itself as a humanistic practice that acknowledges the spiritualistic aspects of human life. Suffering, after all, represents a very spiritual experience, given that it is represented as such in so many world religions as redemptive and necessary for meaning. Suffering, whethe r it is embodied in homelessness, oppression, poverty, starvation, or violence, affords an opportunity for experiencing emptiness (O’Keefe, 2008). From redemption and emptiness, human beings have the chance to experience the highest form of joy, which comes from giving oneself to a saving power (which, the author notes, is not necessarily religious â€Å"but certainly spiritual†). In addition, this suffering can be communal. Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, entire groups of people felt shared emotions. Some of these shared emotions were put at ease through

Norway - Population Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Norway - Population - Research Paper Example Furthermore, 39.8% of the country’s total population is in the age group of 25-54 years (CIA, 2013). The population growth is slow recorded in 2013 at 0.33% (CIA, 2013). Therefore, any business must not expect any major shift in the demographic conditions of the country. Any strategy that is formulated and implemented at present could remain effective for next few years. These groups are considered to be the target market of ARIO that is launching its wristband collection in Norway. Moreover, ARIO plans to launch its business in Oslo, which is the capital city of Norway, and it is important to highlight demographics of the city. The capital hosts a population of around .875 million individuals (CIA, 2013). The city portrays of the country’s heritage. However, in the recent years, the city socio-cultural setup has been very much affected by Western influences. The younger population of the country is following the contemporary trends (Oslo, 2013). The country spends 6.8% of its total GDP on education (CIA, 2013), which is significantly high amount of expenditure. This also implies that a high proportion of the country’s population is literate and has access to all types of information. 100% of the population can read or write, which is phenomenal. This is crucial as ARIO depends upon the ability of participants of the targeted market to understand fashion trends and follow them in their purchases. It is understood that target population that has some form of education are more likely to be aware of fashion trends. There is no poverty found in the country as every individual in the country is living about the poverty line (CIA, 2013). The country’s per capital GDP is $53,000 (CIA, 2013) that is very high and reflects people’s ability to generate income and spending in high volumes. Although, the country experienced a slowdown in its economy as an outcome of the recent financial crisis and economic downturn in major

Perspective of Aging Paper Essay Example for Free

Perspective of Aging Paper Essay Aging, the process of developing or growing old; the progression of changes in appearance (American Heritage Dictionary, 2007). The role of the media is to educate and inform as well as other masses; the senior population suffers greatly from negative stereotyping than any other age group. Some media outlets portray aging in a stereotypical way relating old age to death or disease. This essay reflects on how older Americans are portrayed through the different media outlets. Television shows and commercial advertisements, news and magazines are three types of media outlets that depict older Americans. Television definitely stereotypes the elderly as it relates to their mental capabilities as well as their physical capabilities. Television shows and movie roles feature senior citizens through a lens of less value placing emphasis on the burdens of growing old. These roles show seniors as passive, weak, simple minded and incapable of doing things on their own and not being able to take care of themselves. For example an older movie called â€Å"The Cocoon† depicts older adults as dying and withering away until they found the fountain of youth and things that was done in their younger years, which now is a memory suddenly becomes everyday fascinations. It is not that seniors cannot function; it is more like they chose not to. Commercials advertise senior ageing creams that get rid of wrinkles all over the body especially under the eyes showing signs of aging while hair dying products gets rid of the unwanting grey; commercials also advertise different medical devices that can help seniors move around better or pick things up from a distance without moving out of their favorite chair. There are various commercials that advertiser life insurance or burial expenses. Another media outlet that depict older adults would be radio through entertainment for example when an older adult fall, they may not be able to pick themselves up and comedians will make a joke out of it with laughter. The media has the power that will allow people to have a preconceived notion to an audience as truth; the media can decide what way of life is acceptable and what is not. Media plays a critical part in shaping and reflecting public opinion. There has been a widespread of negative attitudes about aging in print in such magazines as Time or Newsweek that displays photographs of seniors looking disoriented as if they were lost; given the impression they cannot care for themselves based on the articles content. In closing, The overall impressions that the media offers about the older adult is by emphasizing the vulnerabilities of seniors in such a manner that gives the impression that being old is the thing that we as humans most want to avoid, so beauty creams that are offered that can remove wrinkles, telephones that are made with large face buttons, hearing aids that are sold with the message that you dont know what youre missing are just selling points. Many forms of plastic surgery are supposed to be the remedy for staying beautiful and looking young; Just about anything associated with getting older is portrayed as something people dont want to happen. The unfortunate downside of this barrage of negative messaging about becoming older is that it reinforces the thought that being older is being unwanted and no longer valuable to a fast moving beautiful world of people whose desire is to stay young, fresh faced, attractive and to be old, is to not be a welcome part of this society. Individuals should value the aging process in older adults because it is an unavoidable part of life that has it own special values and can offer so many things to the younger generations no matter what stage of life one might be in. The wisdom and information of the older adult offers a calming confidence to society that beauty does come in many forms and can be expressed in many ways and that it does not have to have a sexy component to it to be beautiful and desirable. The growing numbers of baby boomers in this society is bringing a new focus on how exciting and active the older citizen can be and that the contributions to government, science and entertainment and every facet of life is enriched by those who have lived long lives and are still actively giving back to society in countless ways new and creative views of how beautiful it can be to grow older and be appreciated for who you are and not how old you are. Reference American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2007) 4th edition Houghton, Mifflin

Infective Endocarditis Caused by Viridans Streptococci

Infective Endocarditis Caused by Viridans Streptococci Case Study 1: Infective endocarditis caused by viridans streptococci Case Study 2: Haemorrhagic fever caused by Ebolavirus Case Study 1 Subject is a 48-year-old man with a history of mitral valve regurgitation who presents with a 10-day history of fatigue, fever and general malaise. Some reddish lesions are noted on his palm, which he has never noticed before. He denies any cough, but has mild new shortness of breath with exertion and with lying down flat at night in bed. He is generally in good health except for a root canal operation approximately 3 weeks previously. The history of mitral valve regurgitation is thought to be secondary to rheumatic fever as a child. Heart examination is notable for a loud systolic murmur best heard at the left sternal border with radiation over to the axilla. Lungs are clear and abdominal examination is normal. Skin examination is significant for several scattered reddish lesions over his palms and soles that are not painful when pressure is applied. Lab tests: Blood count shows WBC 14.8 with 86% neutrophils; blood cultures grew out gram-positive cocci in chains that are alpha haemolytic on horse blood agar. Evidence for Diagnosis Mitral valve regurgitation would account for the fatigue, and also the shortness of breath in the patient, however other symptoms are present that this alone cannot explain. The first of these is the fever suffered by the patient, which would signify an infection. The second is the presence of lesions on the palms and soles; Petechiae such as these, known as Janeway lesions, are an indicator of endocarditis (O’Connor, 2002), and the patient’s history of mitral valve regurgitation, along with a recent history of root canal work confirm that this is a likely diagnosis. The lungs and abdomen of the patient are clear, as would be expected in a case of endocarditis, however examination of the heart sounds displayed a clear murmer. The patient’s blood results showed clear signs of infection, with leukocytosis and elevated neutrophil count. The bacteria cultured from the patient’s blood can be easily identified as Streptococci, and since this is known to be a cau sative organism of endocarditis (Brooks, Butel and Morse, 2004, pp.197), it makes the diagnosis very likely. Further Testing Required While the diagnosis in this case should be straight forward due to bacteraemia and presence of peripheral stigmata, according to the Duke criteria, which is used as a tool for diagnosis of infective endocarditis, this patient would be classified as having only possible infective endocarditis. As they display some of the necessary pathologic and clinical criteria, they would need further tests to determine if it was definitely infective endocarditis (Li et al., 2000). The Duke Criteria was developed by Durack et al. (1994) as a means of better distinguishing infective endocarditis from other causes of cardiac problems; these were evaluated as being superior to previous methods for diagnosis (Bayer et al., 1994)(Cecchi et al., 1997)(Hoen et al., 1995) The criteria have been used since, though there have been studies done into improving the criteria further. According to these criteria, the patient’s diagnosis could be confirmed by carrying out other tests such as an ECG, echocar diogram, and chest x-ray, to exclude other possible cardiac problems. However, the patient would also meet two major criteria, and therefore be classified as definite infective endocarditis if two further cultures of blood grew causative bacteria. While the most likely causative organism is viridans streptococci, as Streptococcus pneumonia is more commonly associated with bacterial pneumonia or meningitis, the two can be differentiated quite simply by testing with optochin. S. pneumonia are susceptible to this microbial agent, where viridans streptococci are resistant. Suspending the bacteria in bile salts would also provide a suitable distinction, as S. pneumonia would lyse, where viridans streptococci are insoluble (Brooks, Butel and Morse, 2004, pp.197). Endocarditis as a result of streptococcal infection Microbiology Many textbooks, and in fact some journal articles refer to the group of streptococci which cause endocarditis by the name Streptococcus viridans, however this is actually a misnomer, as the viridans streptococci are actually a group of several different bacteria, and are referred to as viridans simply because they produce a green halo when grown on blood agar (Elliott et al., 1997, pp.30-1). Viridans streptococci are often found resident in abundance in the mouth, where they are usually commensal, or cause only mild infections; once in the blood stream, these usually passive bacteria can become pathogenic, and lead to endocarditis upon reaching the heart (Brooks, Butel and Morse, 2004, pp.197). The bacteria are able to proliferate in structurally abnormal valve surfaces and gradually lead to the destruction of the valves, resulting in regurgitation (O’Connor, 2002). Those valves damaged by rheumatic fever are particularly prone to infection (Heritage, Evans and Killington, 1999, p.185). Symptoms The physical symptoms suffered by the patient are a result of the body’s response to the infection; the fever and general malaise suffered by the patient would be as a result of cytokine generation from the low-grade infection, and the petechiae in the skin, known as Janeway lesions, are the result of immune complexes being deposited in small vessels there (O’Connor, 2002). Prophylaxis Any patient, such as the one here, assessed from their previous medical history to be at risk from endocarditis, should be given prophylactic treatment before undergoing invasive dental surgery. The current guidelines outlined by Ramsdale et al. (2004) recommend amoxicillin for this purpose, or clindamycin for those allergic to penicillin. This particular patient would only be considered a moderate risk according to the new guidelines, so there would be no need for gentamicin, however those considered at high risk would be given this intravenously in addition to IV amoxicillin/clindamycin. Treatment A combination of penicillin and gentamicin are used to treat streptococcal endocarditis. While studies have found that there is only a limited resistance to penicillin in sufferers at present, vancomycin can be used a viable alternative in those allergic to penicillin and those with more resistant strains (Johnson et al., 2001). For those who do not respond to antimicrobial treatment, surgery is often a viable option, replacing the infected valves. While not always successful, this offers an improved prognosis for those where other treatment is unsuccessful (Moon et al., 1997). Prognosis If left untreated, infective endocarditis is always fatal, as the destruction of a valve will prevent the heart from working. Even if treated, the disease carries a high morbidity and mortality rate. The factors which impact strongest on prognosis are uncontrolled infection and congestive heart failure. It is for this reason that early diagnosis and antimicrobial treatment is necessary. However, constant improvements in surgical procedures are leading to a better prognosis for those not responding to treatment (Karth et al., 2002). It could be reasoned that these advances in surgery will become even more important in prognosis as incidences of antimicrobial resistance increase, which is surely inevitable judging by trends in other bacterial infections such as Staphylococcus aureus. Case Study 4 A 34-year-old woman researcher studying chimpanzee behaviour in the Ivory Coast found several of the animals were dying. She dissected one several hours after it died and found that it had died of haemorrhage, and had non-clotting blood. She wore household gloves, but no mask or gown during the dissection. Eight days later she developed a fever and headache, which did not respond to malaria treatment. Five days into her illness, she developed vomiting, diarrhoea, a rash, and renal failure. Antibiotics did not improve her condition and she was transported home in isolation. The patient is lethargic but communicative. She has lymphadenopathy. Her lung exam is normal. She has a mildly tender and enlarged liver and spleen. Lab tests: She has a white blood cell count of 3.6, haematocrit of 40, and low platelets of 83. She has a low fibrinogen of 0.8. Her clotting times are normal, however. Serological tests for anthrax, dengue fever, chikungunya, yellow fever, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, Marburg virus, Rift Valley fever, Lassa fever, and Hantavirus are all negative. Evidence for Diagnosis The history of the patient suggests that she is suffering from something that has arisen from her contact with an infected chimpanzee. While a number of zoonotic diseases are known to be prevalent in the African continent, the majority of those have already been ruled out by negative test results. One which has not is the Ebolavirus, which gives rise to Ebola haemorrhagic fever. Transmission of the Ebolavirus from dead animals has been documented in the past, including in the Ivory Coast (WHO, 2004; CDC, 2005). The onset of the patient’s symptoms fits with the known timescale for the Ebolavirus of 2 to 21 days; the fever and headache which she experienced are classic symptoms. Later in the disease sufferers also usually develop diarrhoea, vomiting, and possibly a rash (CDC, 2005). It would obviously be expected that antibiotics would bring no improvement to the illness, as the infection is viral. In a physical examination, it would be expected that a patient infected with Ebolavirus would have an enlarged liver and spleen, as this is where virus replication is particularly proliferant. Sanchez et al. (2004) also specifies the lungs as also being one of the main sites of virus replication, implying that the patient should be suffering from tenderness of the lungs also, however this evidence is taken from studies into the Sudan strain of Ebolavirus, and this is much more likely to be the Ivory Coast strain, so some symptoms may differ. In the laboratory examination, it is expected to see a normal haemocrit, accompanied by leucopenia and thrombocytopenia as displayed in the patient. It would be usual for the clotting time to be shortened, however this patient has low levels of fibrinogen, possibly due to some secondary cause, which may alter the clotting time, making it higher than expected. Further Testing Required While virus isolation, transmission electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, reverse transcription-PCR, antigen capture ELISA, and IgG or IgM antibody capture ELISA can all been used to show Ebolavirus as the causitive agent, there are conflicting reports over which techniques are preferable for use. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (2005) suggest that in a patient at this stage of the disease, testing should be carried out for IgM and IgG antibodies, Kurosaki et al. (2006) and Towner et al. (2004) recommend RT-PCR as the most efficient technique. Ebolavirus Aetiology Ebola belongs to the filoviruses or Filoviridae, which is divided into two genera, the Ebolavirus and the Marburgvirus. The Ebolavirus genus is split into four separate species: Ivory Coast ebolavirus, Sudan ebolavirus, Zaire ebolavirus and Reston ebolavirus (Hensley et al., 2005). While the disease is zoonotic, the natural reservoir of the disease is not non-human primates; the actual reservoir and the mode of transition into apes is so far unknown, although studies are currently being undertaken on the suggestion that bats may play a role. Transmission into humans is rare, and is often one isolated case (Peterson et al., 2004), although if the proper precautions are not taken it is possible for the disease to spread in the human population. Epidemiology The disease has appeared sporadically since its initial recognition in 1976, and has occurred only in specific geographical areas as per the names of the different strains (CDC, 2005). It is generally agreed that the virus is transmitted via direct contact with the blood or bodily secretions from another infected person (Dowell et al., 1999; WHO, 2004), due to the extensive viral involvement in the subcutaneous tissue (Peters, 2005). It is believed that this is also the case among non-human primates, such as the chimpanzees, although this is so far unconfirmed (CDC, 2005). In laboratory studies, the virus has shown the ability to be spread via aerosol between rhesus monkeys (Johnson et al., 1995), and while some authors such as Heeney (2006) list the virus as being aerosol, there have so far been no such documented cases in a real-world setting between humans (CDC, 2005; Dowell et al., 1999). Symptoms The World Health Organisation (2004) lists the main symptoms of the Ebolavirus as being a sudden onset of fever, accompanied by intense weakness and muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat. After a few days this is followed by vomiting and diarrhoea, rashes, liver and kidney dysfunction and sometimes also both internal and external bleeding. Pathogenesis The pathogenesis of Ebolavirus is currently very hard to study, due to the rarity of occurrences in humans, and also due to the dangerous nature of collecting, storing and analysing samples from those cases. The illness is severe due to the ability of the virus to supress both adaptive and innate immune responses, and the ability to cause extreme inflammatory responses and intravascular coagulation (Mahanty and Bray, 2004). At the current time it is thought that monocytes and macrophages in the body are infected during the early stages of the virus, and these then carry the virus to other areas (Sanchez et al., 2004). The infected monocytes express large amounts of tissue factor, leading to intravascular coagulation, and causing tissue damage. Infected macrophages secrete cytokines which cause apoptosis of lymphocytes in tissues that are required for the acquired immune response (Peters, 2005), hence the presence of leucopenia in blood count results. The mobile infected cells carry the viral agent to lymph nodes, where the virus further replicates and is spread through the body. Upon reaching the liver, spleen and other tissues, parenchymal cells, including hepatocytes and adrenal cortical cells will become infected (Mahanty and Bray, 2004). This is what leads to the enlarged organs, and will also result in an increase in the levels of liver enzymes in the blood. Prophylaxis and Treatment Some progress has been made in the formation of vaccines, and these have proved successful in testing on non-human primates (Hensley et al., 2005). However other sources report that all attempts so far have met with outright failure (Peters, 2005). Barrier nursing techniques appear to be effective in preventing the spread of the disease (Dowell et al., 1999; Formenty et al., 1999). Prognosis The Zaire strain of Ebolavirus is reportedly the most lethal (Mahanty and Bray, 2004); there is only one reported case of a human contracting the Ivory Coast strain, presenting similarly to the patient, and they survived (Formenty et al., 1999). It is very difficult to form an accurate prognosis however due to the limited results on which to base it. References Bayer A.S., Ward J.I., Ginzton L.E. and Shapiro S.M. (1994) Evaluation of new clinical criteria for the diagnosis of infective endocarditis. American Journal of Medicine, 96 (3), pp.220-2 Brooks G.F., Butel J.S. and Morse S.A. (2004) Medical Microbiology 23rd Edition. McGraw-Hill, p.197 CDC (2005) Centres for Disease Control and Prevention [online]- November 18, 2005.- available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/ebola/qa.htm [cited February 2, 2007] Cecchi E., Parrini I., Chinaglia A., Pomari F., Brusasco G., Bobbio M., Trinchero R. and Brusca A. (1997) New diagnostic criteria for infective endocarditis. A study of sensitivity and specificity Eureopean Heart Journal, 18 (7), pp. 1149-56 Dowell S. F., Mukunu R., Ksiazek T. G., Khan A. S., Rollin P. E. and Peters C. J. (1999) Transmission of Ebola hemorrhagic fever: A study of risk factors in family members, Kikwit, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1995. Journal of Infectious Disease, 179 Suppl. 1, pp. S87-S91 Durack D.T., Lukes A.S. and Bright D.K. (1994) New criteria for diagnosis of infective endocarditis: utilization of specific echocardiographic findings, American Journal of Medicine, 96 (3), pp. 200-9 Elliott M., Hastings U., Desselberger R. and Reid G. (1997) Lecture Notes on Medical Microbiology Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, pp.30-1 Formenty P., Hatz C., Le Guenno B., Stoll A., Rogenmoser P. and Widmer A. (1999) Human infection due to Ebola virus, subtype Cote dIvoire: Clinical and biologic presentation. Journal of Infectious Diease, 179 Suppl. 1, pp.S48-S53 Heeney J.L. (2006) Zoonotic viral diseases and the frontier of early diagnosis, control and prevention. Journal of Internal Medicine, 260, pp. 399-408 Hensley L., Jones S., Feldmann H., Jahrling P. and Geisbert T. (2005) Ebola and Marburg viruses: Pathogenesis and development of countermeasures. Current Molecular Medicine, 5, pp. 761 772 Heritage J., Evans E.G.V. and Killington R.A. (1999) Microbiology in Action. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, p. 185 Hoen B., Selton-Suty C., Danchin N., Weber M., Villemot J.P., Mathieu P., Floquet J. and Canton P. (1995) Evaluation of the Duke criteria versus the Beth Israel criteria for the diagnosis of infective endocarditis. Clinical Infectious Disease,21 (4), pp. 905-9 Johnson A.P. [et al.] (2001) Antibiotic susceptibility of streptococci and related genera causing endocarditis: analysis of UK reference laboratory referrals, January 1996 to March 2000. BMJ, 322, p. 7283 Johnson E., Jaax N., White J. and Jahrling P. (1995) Lethal experimental infections of rhesus monkeys by aerosolized Ebola virus. International Journal of Experimental Pathology, 76 (4), pp. 227-236 Karth G.D. [et al.] (2002) Complicated infective endocarditis necessitating ICU admission clinical course and prognosis. Critical Care, 6 (2), pp. 149 154 Kurosaki Y., Takada A., Ebihara H., Grolla A., Kamo N., Feldmann H., Kawaoka Y. and Yasuda J. (2006) Rapid and simple detection of Ebola virus by reverse transcription-loop-mediated isothermal amplification. Journal of Virological Methods, doi: 10.1016. Li J.S., Sexton D.J., Mick N., Nettles R., Fowler V.G., Ryan T., Bashore T. and Corey G.R. (2000) Proposed modifications to the Duke Criteria for the diagnosis of Infective Endocarditis. Clinical Infectious Disease, 30, pp.633-638 Mahanty S. and Bray M. (2004) Pathogenesis of filoviral haemorrhagic fevers. The Lancet, 4 (8) pp. 487-498 Moon M.R., Stinson E.B. and Miller D.C. (1997) Surgical treatment of endocarditis. Progress in Cardiovascular Diease, 40 (3) pp. 239-64 OConnor D. (2002) Pathology. Elsevier Health Sciences Peters C. J. (2005) Marburg and Ebola Arming ourselves against the deadly filoviruses. New England Journal of Medicine, 325 (25), pp. 2571-2573. Peterson A.T., Bauer J.T. and Mills J.N. (2004) Ecologic and geographic distribution of filovirus disease. Emerging Infectious Dieases, 10 (1), pp. 40-7. Ramsdale D.R. et al (2004) Dental aspects of Endocarditis Prophylaxis : New Recommendations from a Working Group of the British Cardiac Society Clinical Practice Committee and Royal College of Physicians Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit [Report]: Working Group of the British Cardiac Society Clinical Practice Committee and Royal College of Physicians Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation, 19 April 2004. Sanchez A., Lukwiya M., Bausch D., Manharty S., Sanchez A., Wagoner K. and Rollin P. (2004) Analysis of human peripheral blood samples from fatal and nonfatl cases of Ebola (Sudan) haemorrhagic fever: Cellular responses, virus oad and nitric oxide levels. Journal of Virology, 78 (19), pp.10370-10377. Towner J.S. [et al.] (2004) Rapid diagnosis of Ebola hemorrhagic fever by reverse transcription-PCR in an outbreak setting and assessment of patient viral load as a predictor of outcome. Journal of Virology, 78 (8), pp. 4330-4341 WHO (2005) World Health Organisation Ebola Factsheet [Online]available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/index.html [cited February 2, 2007]

Mother’s Comforting Gray Gun :: Personal Narrative Profile

Mother’s Comforting Gray Gun I lay on my side with one socked foot dangling off the edge of the bed, looking down at Mom on the floor. She lay on a pallet of itchy, green army blankets my dad "borrowed" from his tour in Vietnam. No matter how many times they were washed, the blankets always smelled like smoke and machine oil; I had never seen them used anywhere but the floor. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the dark, but when they finally focused, I could easily follow along the profile of my mother's distinctive nose. The Torres Nose, a nose passed down from her father and his father before him--a nose I am now glad I did not inherit. She lay perfectly still looking beautiful and peaceful, hands at her sides as if asleep. I knew better, Mom never slept when Dad worked out of town, she was practicing. Eight seconds was the time to beat, and if anyone could beat it, it was my mother. Mom had a steely determination much like the .357 Magnum kept under her pillow. It took a full three seconds to slide her right hand up under her head, two seconds to secure her palm around the grip and place her finger on the trigger, another two seconds to roll up on one knee, and one second more to steady herself by jutting out her leg to the side, a move I am positive she stole after watching Farah Fawcett in Charlie's Angels. She would run through the exercise many more times before morning came. My mother's late night drills continued until 1983. That year, our city established emergency 9-1-1 service, and Mom believed the police could now protect us from would-be intruders. Still, she bragged her response time was a lot faster. The first Saturday morning of the month, if she hadn't stayed up practicing the night before, Mom and I would head over to a turquoise-and-pink cinderblock building that sold baked goods, tennis shoes, candles, cassette tapes, and meat. Spanish polkas played on the radio while an old woman with mismatched eyes sat in a folding chair near a box fan. I shuffled my feet along the floor making scraping noises with my shoes as I went. The linoleum was grainy with dirt that nearly hid the checkerboard pattern. As my mother placed her order, I used the black and white tiles to play my own version of hopscotch.

Diet Aids and FDA Approval

The diet industry is huge, a multimillion dollar industry. The introduction to products that help individuals lose weight will always be popular and interest never wanes because of the frequency in which new products arise from the market. Now comes the big question, just how important is it for diet aids to have Food & Drug Agency (FDA) claims? Most health supplements, vitamin supplements, and diet aids do not have FDA approved on them. But does this really matter? In some cases, yes and in others no. The FDA is an organization that is part of the US department of Health and Human Services.The center for drug evaluation and research (CDER) makes sure that all prescription and over the counter drugs are safe for consumers, including diet supplements. Most diet aides are released without being regulated from the FDA but every now and then one is, the most recent being ephedra, and its ban. It is important to remember two things when reading claims whether they are for health benefits or for dangerous side effects. The first is that if there is a warning on the label it is unknown whether 50% of all those that used the product or if on 0.1% had side effects. Companies must put the side effect warning on the label if only one person in the study had side effects. This is mainly for insurance, if you take the diet aid and experiences side effects out of thousands of individuals that don’t then you can’t sue the company; the warning was on the label. Secondly just because there are health benefit claims on the label doesn’t actually mean that they will happen to the individual taking the product. It simple means that it may happen not that it definitely will.However having FDA approval is always a good thing. Unlike a company the FDA will conduct research or contract researchers to conduct a thorough and correctly structured clinical study. Any results will show good conclusions that can be trusted. The FDA is looking out for the consumer, not t he companies whose bottom line is to make as much product as possible. Here is an outline of the regulation of diet aids with ephedra. Ephedra was a popular weight loss product, particularly when paired with caffeine and aspirin.However the use of ephedra was linked to heart problems and over 155 deaths. Like many diet aids it increases your metabolism by increasing your heart rate, which causes many problems. The FDA could not actually ban ephedra but it sent out a ruling that the FDA does not support and products containing ephedra as it had unreasonable risks of illness or death associated with it. The FDA collected information about ephedra from independent experts and studies on both the benefits and dangers of ephedra.However it should be noted that Chinese herbal medicines and teas that contain ephedra are not regulated under this ruling. (Nelson, 135). Now it is very likely that a vast majority of individuals using ephedra did not experience any side effects or heart problem s at all. However there was enough of the population that did, and most importantly quite a few deaths were found to be directly linked to ephedra in diet supplements that the FDA felt there was a significant cause for concern.Due to it’s ruling many states in the US banned the selling of ephedra products causing many companies to reformulate their diet products. Also if you look at the history of the FDA and its rulings you will find a very tangled web. The FDA during the 1940s and 50s in diet aids approved amphetamines and amphetamine like products. Since then the FDA has been trying to define the parameters in which these products can be safely taken (Colman, 380-385). The FDA has been found to change its mind over time, particularly as science is improving and research tools are becoming available.Now I should let you know that a product containing ephedra is still all-natural because ephedra comes from the Ma Huang plants. Incidentally most health supplements and diet ai ds all come from plants, so they are â€Å"all natural†. Just because it is labeled all natural doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. Almost anything at the wrong level will kill you. It is simply the products that are dangerous at small amounts that cause the most concern. Eating carrots can cause blindness and eventually death, but you have to eat a lot of carrots for a long time.Many of the substances found in diet aids are at concentration higher than they would be found in nature and this is what can make them harmful. Now comes the consumer, just who should they believe. You are standing in a store reading a label that lists some pretty fantastic benefits, but it is not FDA approved (Allen). Many products are being marketed as helping you lose weight, improve your life span or have anti-aging properties. Without the correct clinical trials, which can take years, it is unknown if the benefits outweigh the risks.As previously stated Ephedra was first approved and then found to be dangerous as was another product called Fen-phen. (Keim). There are many health claims available to help your memory, expand your age, make your heart healthier etc. You can achieve this by taking ginkgo boloba, cinnamon extract, grapefruit extract, acai juice, resveratrol etc. There are other diet aids that act as appetite suppressants or are thermogentic (raise your metabolism), fat blockers, and meal replacement.The real danger is not using the diet aids in a correct manner as there are significant risks of developing eating disorders when using dieting aid (Celio, 492-497). This takes away from the benefits you will have by losing weight because you will be lighter but you won’t be healthy. It is amusing to actually read the directions on diet aids. The majority of the time the directions give dosage information and then state that it is only effective eating a healthy diet and exercise. Now most medicinal practitioners and athletes can get an individual to lose weight by eating sensible and exercising.The diet aid may actually work not because of the diet aid but because you are eating a healthy diet and exercising. There is a large psychological part to dieting that many people do not understand. On a personal note I would feel much more secure and confident using a diet aid that was approved by the FDA but that does not mean that I would rule out using other products. I would first research and collect some information about products. I would stear clear of any product that says has side effects relating to heart problems or internal organ failure.If the side effects are not minor and research shows that cultures have been using it successfully for years then I probably would try it. It is important to pay attention to detail such as concentration in the diet aid as well as follow the directions and pay attention to what is going on in your body. If I had any concerns I would see about speaking to a nutritionist or doctor about any risks. It is fine to use diet aids but don’t just pick one on a whim. You do need to be careful and determine what the risks are and if you think the benefits are greater than the risks.