Better Business Bureau Essay

The BBB was created to establish an environment of trust between buyers & sellers. This trust is created through the BBB’s â€Å"standards of trust†. Companies that abide by these standards in turn receive accreditation. As a not for profit, the BBB relies on funds from sponsors and members. Up until recent, the BBB seemed to have offered special benefits to those that paid a fee to become members. Such accusations have caused the BBB to address their current system and make changes to ensure fairness amoung members and non-members. 1)Who is the BBB’s most important stakeholder, business or consumers? ->The most important stakeholder for the BBB is the consumer. Yes, businesses provide the resources for the BBB, but they only do this to create a positive image for their brand in the eyes of consumers. If the consumers did not care about the ratings of the BBB then businesses would not invest. 2)Do you think the BBB can truly be impartial given its financial dependence on business? ->No the BBB can’t be impartial. There needs to be a reason for companies to invest in the BBB. If the treatment of non-members were truly the same as members, then the company will give companies little reason to invest. 3)What actions can you take to make sure the â€Å"pay for play† scheme did not happen again? ->The main issue with the â€Å"pay for play† scheme was the fact that those who sold first year memberships received a 45 percent commission. This type of reward system is very similar to the AIG system that caused problems within their company. ->The BBB should implement a new reward system. Maybe a system that provides rewards based on the pitching of memberships to potential business. Employees should be rewarded regardless of if the sale goes through or not.

To what extent are writers also detectives in the novels you have studied?

The crime and the detective novel and their conventions have changed considerably over the last century. As societies have changed, these genres have adapted and branched out to meet the needs of writers attempting to express new concerns. Edgar Allen Poe's detective novel, The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) follows conventions we would now consider to be traditional in mystery writing. Bearing a close resemblance to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, we find a detective who relies on reasoning and deduction to solve a mystery that to all intensive purposes appears unsolvable; a locked room mystery such as Doyle's The Speckled Band (1892). In America, between the world wars, emerged the ‘hard-boiled' private eye novel, featuring tough private investigators, often themselves outcasts from society. Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett are examples of authors from this school of detective fiction. After the Second World War there was increasingly a feeling that literary fiction was an inadequate means of accurately describing the horrors of the modern world. ‘New journalism' emerged, a term coined by Tom Wolfe to describe non-fiction novels by authors such as Truman Capote. His true crime novel, In Cold Blood (1965) is one of the texts that will be examined in this essay. Later in the century literature became more preoccupied with issues of alienation as a result of city living and capitalist expansion. Postmodern concerns were expressed in detective metafiction, such a Paul Auster's New York Trilogy (1987). This novel will also be examined. Lastly, this essay will look at James Ellroy's My Dark Places (1996). Ellroy himself has described this as an â€Å"investigative autobiography†, but it also contains elements of the police procedural novel, which came into being in 1940's America. This sub-genre deals with the more detailed elements of police detection, in comparison to that of the private eye. The extent to which writers are also detectives in these three texts varies greatly. The fact that they are all very different in terms of the sub-genres of detective or crime fiction makes direct comparison difficult. Therefore this essay concentrates on each in turn, drawing together the main arguments in the conclusion. I have tried to give equal attention to each text, but the fact that each story in Paul Auster's New York Trilogy can stand alone as an individual piece of writing has made this difficult. In New York Trilogy, the distinction between writer and detective is particularly indistinct. This is complicated by the fact that Auster continually subverts the conventions of the detective genre that are expected by the reader. For instance, in a detective novel there is generally an expectation on the reader's part that a crime has been committed, and that the mystery surrounding this crime will be solved thereby restoring the social order. In the first story of the novel, City of Glass, no crime takes place. The central character, I will for now call Quinn (this term as I will later explain is also problematic), accepts a surveillance job, which only becomes a mystery when his employers, Virginia and the young Peter Stillman disappear. Rather than providing a solution to this mystery the novel instead throws up more questions and leaves the reader increasingly confused. It is with this central character, Quinn, that the distinction between writer and detective first becomes unclear. Quinn is an author of detective fiction. He has created the character Max Work, a private eye, under the pen name of William Wilson. At this stage Quinn has already to some extent become a detective. For Quinn the roles of, â€Å"the writer and detective are interchangeable†1. Both the writer and the detective must look out in to the world and search for thoughts or clues that will enable them to make sense of events. They must both be observant and aware of details. Quinn appears to exist only through the existence of Max Work, â€Å"If he lived now in the world at all, it was only at one remove, through the imaginary person of Max Work. â€Å"2. He even finds himself imagining what Max Work would have said to the stranger on the phone after receiving the first call. Perhaps this is why the next time he answers the phone to the stranger he finds himself taking on the identity of the unknown detective, Paul Auster. Surely this is not an action one would expect from the uncomfortable writer Quinn, but one that could be easily identified with the confident private eye Max Work. From this moment on, Quinn the writer has also taken on the physical duties of the detective. Adding to the complication, by taking on the identity of an unknown and apparently non-existent detective named Paul Auster, Quinn also takes on the identity of an existing writer Paul Auster, who agrees to cash the checks paid to Quinn by the Stillmans. At this point Quinn (as his name suggests3) has five identities. Three of these are writers and two are detectives. As a detective, Quinn finds that the thought processes in which he must engage are not dissimilar to those of a writer. As â€Å"Dupin says in Poe†¦ ‘An identification of the reasoner's intellect with that of his opponent'†4is necessary. In this case Stillman senior is the opponent. This is similar to the process in which Quinn must put himself in the fictional Max Work's place in order to determine what course of action he might take in order to make him appear realistic to the reader. In the second story of the trilogy, Ghosts, the reader is introduced to Blue, a professional rather than sham detective. A man named White hires him to watch a man called Black, and to make weekly reports on his movements. In contrast to the first story in which the writer becomes detective, in this we see the detective become writer. Faced with very little understanding of the case he has embarked upon, Blue finds himself making up stories in order to bring some meaning to the position he is in, â€Å"Murder plots, for instance, and kidnapping schemes for giant ransoms. As the days go on he realise there is no end to the stories he can tell. â€Å"5. Blue is hardly restricted in the number of theories he can advance because he possesses only a small number of facts they have to meet. The detective becomes a writer in his attempt to reconstruct a possible crime. This can be seen in any number of detective or crime novels, including In Cold Blood and My Dark Places. According to Peter Huhn in his article ‘The Detective as Reader: Narrativity and Reading Concepts in Detective Fiction', †¦ he text of the novel can be said to have two authors (at least): the criminal (who wrote the original mystery story [by committing the crime]) and the detective (who writes the reconstruction of the first story). As a detective, Blue has never previously had difficulty with writing reports. It is only when he sits down to write his first report on Black that he encounters a writers struggle to find a way of adequately expressing events. Before, action has always held â€Å"forth over interpretation†7 in his reports. As he feels pulled towards interpreting events he becomes more a writer than detective. In one report he even includes a completely fictitious observation, that he believes Black is ill and may die. The incident in the Algonquin Hotel, in which Blue approaches Black under the guise of a life insurance salesman named Snow, the reader is made aware that perhaps Black is also a private detective (unless he is lying). If we take this to be the case then it could be considered that Black the private detective is also a writer, in that his actions determine those of Blue. Blue must follow him wherever he goes, is trapped by Black's routine and so Black is, in effect, writing Blue's life. Conversely then, the same must be true for Blue. If Black really is a private detective, as Blue is, then Black must follow Blue, becoming trapped in his routine. Blue is therefore the writer of Black's life. In the third story, The Locked Room, the central character, an un-named author is a writer who turns detective in an attempt to locate his childhood friend Fanshawe. Until Fanshawe contacts the narrator in a letter, he has been presumed dead. Initially, the process of detection begins under a pretext of writing a biography of Fanshawe's life. As a writer of a biography, one is expected to stick to facts, as is a detective. However, as this biography would be written under the illusion that Fanshawe is dead it would actually in effect be a work of invention rather than accurate reconstruction. The narrator tells us, â€Å"The book was a work of fiction. Even though it was based on facts, it could tell nothing but lies. â€Å"8. Thus, in this story, the central character even through the process of detection remains, in essence, a writer. The extent to which writer is also detective in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood must be looked at in a very different way due to the type of crime novel it is. Tom Wolfe has as I have mentioned, described it as ‘New journalism'. Capote himself, however, distances his novel from this school of writing. He views his work as â€Å"creative journalism† as opposed to for instance, a â€Å"documentary novel†9. The distinction for Capote is that to be a good creative journalist a writer must have experience in writing fiction so that he has the necessary knowledge of fictional writing techniques. Writers trained in journalism for example would not possess the skills needed to write a creative journalistic piece, but are more suited to writing documentary novels. Capote's distinction is relevant to the question because it gives us an insight into the extent in which In Cold Blood was created as a compelling true crime novel, largely based on fact (by a writer), in comparison to the extent in which a crime and it's effects was accurately reconstructed and completely based on fact (as a detective would attempt to do). In order to determine the real extent to which Capote as author of this novel was also a detective a number of issues need to be addressed. To begin with the opinion that in researching and writing In Cold Blood Capote was in fact acting as a detective will be examined. The research Capote undertook in writing this non-fiction novel was indeed extremely thorough. He arrived in Holcomb in November 1959, the same month of the murders and a month before Dick Hickock and Perry Smith were arrested. He was therefore present during the time in which the initial police investigation was taking place. He conducted hundreds of interviews with residents of Holcomb, and other individuals who had come into contact with the two murderers. Some of these interviews, as he told George Plimpton in an interview for the New York Times in 1966, went on for three years. Capote also undertook â€Å"months of comparative research on murder, murderers, the criminal mentality,† as well as interviewing, â€Å"quite a number of murderers† in order to gain a perspective on Smith and Perry10. In his interviewing of Smith and Perry after their arrest, he acted to a great extent as a detective is expected to. As the men were kept apart following their arrest, Capote was able to cross-reference their interview answers in order to determine fact from fiction, â€Å"I would keep crossing their stories, and what correlated, what checked out identically, was the truth†11. In Cold Blood has been widely accepted as an extremely accurate portrayal of the Clutter murders and the following investigation. However, the opinion that In Cold Blood was as much a work of fiction as of fact needs to be considered. Within this novel there are several instances in which Capote could be said to have used artistic licence. The clearest example of this is the last scene of the novel in which Detective Alvin Dewey meets murdered Nancy Clutter's childhood friend at the graveyard in Holcomb, four years after the family's deaths, ‘And nice to have seen you, Sue. Good luck,' he called to her as she disappeared down the path, a pretty girl in a hurry, her smooth hair swinging, shining – just such a young woman as Nancy might have been. 12 We know this to be an utterly fictitious scene because, according to Dewey's biographer Gerald Clarke, Dewey never met Susan Kidwell until the executions of Smith and Hickock in 196513. According to Capote, however, the meeting at the graveyard took place the previous May, in 1964. In the novel, the reader also cannot escape a feeling that Capote is somewhat biased towards Perry Smith. As a writer, personal opinions and feelings are perfectly acceptable inclusions in a reconstruction, but as a detective they are not. Of course this bias may arise directly from Capote's observations of the two men, and of factual, psychological evidence. In which case this would be a fair assessment. However, it has been suggested by some that this bias arises from Capote's feelings for Perry Smith and the relationship they developed whilst Capote was conducting his research. Ned Rorem, referring to a dinner conversation with Truman Capote in 1963, said of Capote â€Å"he seemed clearly in love with him [Perry]. It must be remembered however that this is just speculation. In Cold Blood has also been seen as a polemic against capital punishment and the American justice system. By indicating in the novel that Perry Smith was in a â€Å"psychological cul-de-sac†15 at the time he committed the murders he insinuates that the death penalty was an unjust sentence. With regard to Capote's attack on the justice system, his criticism can clearly be seen in his account of the jury selection for the trial, The airport employee, a middle-aged man named N. L. Dunnan, said, when asked his opinion of capital punishment, ‘Ordinarily I'm against it. But in this case no' – a declaration which, to some who heard it, seemed clearly indicative of prejudice. Dunnan was nevertheless selected as a juror. 16 If this is indeed a polemic, it must be the case that opinions and facts in opposition to Capote's argument would have been left out. This would make him more writer than detective. He himself confessed that, I make my own comment by what I choose to tell and how I choose to tell it. It is true that an author is more in control of fictional characters because he do [sic] anything he wants with them as long as they stay credible. But in the nonfiction novel one can also manipulate. 17 Ellroy's My Dark Places is also a true crime novel containing, as I have mentioned, elements of autobiography and of the police procedural. Unlike In Cold Blood, in which the reader is aware of the culprits' identities from the beginning, it is more of a ‘whodunit' in that the reader does not know who the murderer is. Through the process of detection, and with the help of a homicide detective named Bill Stoner, Ellroy retraces the initial investigation into his mother's murder in the hope of finally solving it. As in New York Trilogy, however, the reader is denied the solution and restoration of order generally expected from (and often desired in) a detective novel. The novel is written in four parts, and the extent to which Ellroy is both writer and detective varies with each one. The first part, ‘The Redhead' is Ellroy's reconstruction of the original investigation. Although true crime, this section reads as a police procedural novel, involving meticulous detail of each piece of evidence and information collected at the time. Ellroy has had to take on the role of detective in this section in order to reconstruct events as they happened at the time, 1958, thirty-five years before his own investigation. Unlike a fictional police procedural, in which the reader expects at least a portion of the evidence to be significant in solving the case, in the end it proves to be useless. It is Ellroy's inclusion of this irrelevant information that increases the extent to which he is also detective. Rather than using it as a plot device, he has included it for the purposes of accuracy. This section is also largely devoid of emotion, regardless of the significance of the case to Ellroy. The title, ‘The Redhead' is an example of this emotional absence; it provides a superficial physical description of Ellroy's mother with no real clue as to her identity. Ellroy himself, as narrator, is absent. He appears only as a character in the drama, the murdered woman's son. Unlike the last section in the novel, Ellroy does not appear as a detective. The second part of the text, ‘The Kid in the Picture', is autobiographical. It traces Ellroy's personal involvement in crime, such as going on â€Å"righteous burglary†18 runs, and his development as a writer of crime fiction. In this section Ellroy is clearly writer rather than detective. This is made even more evident as he mentions novels written by him during this period, such as L. A. Confidential – which he describes as a novel â€Å"all about me and L. A. crime†19. The third part of the novel, ‘Stoner', introduces the reader to the detective Bill Stoner, the man who will eventually aid Ellroy in the search for his mother's killer. This section is a biography of Stoner's life and cases as a homicide and later as an unsolved crime detective. Ellroy himself is again absent from this section. As a writer he would had to have investigated the events in Stoner's life that are mentioned here. Thus, in writing this section Ellroy has had to, in effect, engage in detection. The other way in which Ellroy could be seen to also be a detective in this part is the language he employs. Much of the information we are given reads as would a police report. As Blue in New York Trilogy is accustomed to writing reports in which â€Å"action holds forth over interpretation†20, we see Ellroy writing in the same manner. This can be seen in the following extract, The Soto guys let her in. Karen verbally attacked John's common-law wife and ran out of the apartment. The wife chased her. They traded insults on the sidewalk until 2:00 in the morning. John Soto ran down. He made his wife go upstairs. The whole of this section is written in the same manner. In contrast to In Cold Blood there is no emotion or interpretation, only facts. For this reason, as Ellroy's novel also deals with true crime, it could be said that Ellroy is a detective to a greater extent than Capote because he sticks more rigidly to the facts. The fact that the reader finishes this novel with a sense of dissatisfaction (as the case is not solved) could also add credence to this idea. This is because as a self-consciously literary exercise, rather than accurate detection, In Cold Blood manages to create a sense of suspense even though the reader knows who has been killed and who committed the crime. Ellroy instead recounts facts as they were rather than attempting to satisfy readers' expectations. Conversely, if we are talking about conventional detective literature, we could say that Ellroy is less of a detective (in the traditional manner) for the very reason that he fails to solve the crime, thereby failing to restore social order. The final section, ‘Geneva Hilliker', is that in which Ellroy is most evidently a detective as well as writer. This section of the novel details Ellroy's own investigation. It follows his collation of evidence, false leads followed and the final (if unsatisfying) resolution to Ellroy's story. Even if the reader does not find out who killed Geneva Hilliker, they, as Ellroy does, find out about her and her life. For Ellroy this provides some closure, as we would expect from a crime novel. It is not conventional to the genre but does resolve some of the questions Ellroy hoped to answer when he embarked on the investigation, thus consolidating his position as detective (however temporarily). In each of these novels, writers have to a considerable extent also been detectives. It is difficult to determine whether this is truer in any of the texts than in the others due to the different ways in which this has been the case. In My Dark Places and In Cold Blood, the authors of the novels have also carried out acts of detection in the research carried out for those novels. In New York Trilogy we see characters that happen to be either writers or detectives exchanging these roles. It may be said that any author is to some extent a detective, whether they are researching a factual book, or writing a fictional novel in order to discover something about the world in which they live. As Quinn believes, â€Å"the writer and detective are interchangeable†21.

Business Law Essay Example for Free (#18)

Business Law Essay Consideration is an essential element of a valid contract. The four main ingredient of a contract is the offer, the acceptance, the consideration and the intention to create legal relation. Consideration refers to what one party to an agreement is giving or promising in exchange for what is being given or promised by the other contracting party. There are certain rules that govern a valid contract.The issue in the case is whether the agreement was legally binding upon Dream Design or whether it failed for want of consideration. If the promise merely fulfils an existing contractual duty to the promisor, he does not provide consideration to buy the buy promisor’s promise. The baskets were to be delivered by A and a rate was agreed upon between the party. After the first delivery A demanded more money from K before making any further deliveries to W. K unwillingly agreed to pay the extra money and A continued with the delivery. Later on K refused to pay the extra money to A and A sued K. It was held that A had not given consideration to K to buy K’s promise of extra money. A could not say that making the delivery was the consideration, as A was contractually bound to make these deliveries under the original contract. With the case of Dream Design the consideration will not be sufficient where a contractually duty already exist. The fact is that Parma Steel and Dream Design agreed on a written contract dated October 22, 2009 for the supply of fabricated steel at a cost of $165 per ton for â€Å"Grade60,000 and $156 per ton for â€Å"Hard Grade. † In this case Parma Steel could not say that making the deliveries was the consideration, as Parma Steel was already contractually bound to make these deliveries under t he original contract. According to Tucker J. there was no consideration for the new agreement. The plaintiff was already obliged to deliver the defendant goods at the rates agreed under the terms of the original agreement. The facts constituted economic duress but the court has to refuse to enforce the new agreement for the increase in the prices or the higher charges as it lacked any fresh consideration from the purchaser, Dream Design. The supplier, Parma Steel claim for the outstanding balance has to be dismissed. Business Law. (2018, Oct 18).

Hospitality question and answer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hospitality question and answer - Essay Example Responsibility and authority are affixed with top down arrow and accountability is represented by bottom up arrow in the organizational chart. . Leading/Directing: Leadership is the ability of to get work done through others, while at the same time winning their confidence, respect, loyalty, and willing cooperation. The Food and Beverage Director is trained to lead and direct the entire team. They are also trained to be accountable for the actions of the team members. Staffing: Job analysis is carried out and tasks are identified in each job. Job position standards are set at all levels of the hierarchy. Recruitment is carried out as per job description in case a shortfall arises. Records regarding the employee performance are maintained. It is important to know the duties of supervisor in the employment and management function, to have the knowledge of employment laws, employment awards, classification and grades, internal and external effects on employment grades, statistical formulae, job analysis, performance standards, Job/position description, Job/Position Specification, Essential and Desirable Criteria for the ‘right’ applicant, recruitment, the job application, selection, employment interview, company orientation and job induction. Monitoring/Controlling: The Service Director, Executive Chef, Executive Steward and Beverage conduct quality control, quantity control, cost control, time control, people control, inventory control, safety control and report to the Food and Beverage Director who further reports to the Manager. Controls are grouped as Steering Controls, Screening Controls and Post action Controls. Steering controls highlight deviations from the set standard or the objective to be achieved before the activity is completed. Check points during the task can steer the worker in the correct direction toward the goal. Screening goals are referred to as Yes/No goals. They monitor

Prison Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Prison - Movie Review Example The result is either positive or negative depending on the actual activity being undertaken. The first major issue depicted in the movie is the interaction between inmates and the security guards. Right from the start to the end, these two parties maintain a constant relationship that is primarily rooted in football competition. The football game brings together the two parties within and without the field, thereby allowing them to share insights that are not necessarily football-related. This interaction promotes the personal worth of the inmates due to the fact that they feel valued and appreciated for their efforts in life, despite being imprisoned for wrongdoing. The interaction between the inmates and prison guards in presented as natural, thereby capturing a real world scenario of human relations. Secondly, the movie depicts exploitation of prisoners for personal gains. The football game that dominates major activities in the movie is somehow set to exploit the inmates. Although the game is designed to be fair to both inmates and guards, there is a tendency and preference to have the guards win in the final game. When this seems to be unachievable, some inmates lose their lives while others like Adam Sandler are threatened. This makes it appear as though the inmates are in the game to lose, an aspect that depicts prisoner exploitation for the purpose of serving personal interests. Punishment and correction constitute the third major issue that the movie depicts. Incarceration is designed to punish the inmates for any wrongdoing perpetrated against an individual, community, society, or country. The presence of inmates in the prison implies that they have been found guilty of an activity that went against the laws of the land. While incarceration is deemed to be a punishment factor to the prisoners, it also comes with a correctional aspect. Change is a factor that incarceration advocates for alongside

BIOTECHNOLOGY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

BIOTECHNOLOGY - Essay Example Clinical trials are more than efficacy and safety; they are designed to provide information about different types of outcomes of the invention. Studies relating to pharmaceutical product are carried out in clinical trials to reveal what does the product does to the body. Pharmacokinetics studies are also done to determine the proper dosing, which can vary according to race, sex and metabolic differences. Pharmacodynamic studies are also used to examine the ability, safety and the clinical activity of the drug or device. Thus, clinical trials are significant, since it examines the interventions in details before it hits the market to common man. When the drug or any intervention is set for clinical trial, the experimentation stages are over. All the data regarding the invention are already been recorded, when it is set for clinical trial, it is to determine whether it can be utilized by humans or not. For example in case of any drug, the experiments relating to its origin, purification, its release etc, are already over when it hits the clinical trial. The study is also been carried in humans to determine the dosage, its side effects, after-effects etc. The safety and the effectiveness of the medication or device on a specific kind of patients are assessed. It is also assessed whether the new medication or device is more effective for the patient`s condition than the already used, standard medication or device. Thus, a clinical trail is not a set of experiments; it a set of both observational and interventional study. 3. What does safety really mean? [Hint: airplanes are relatively safe but every once in a while, an air plane will fall out of the sky. Does that mean we should ban airplane travel How is the safety of air travel any different than the safety of Vioxx or the safety of the drug-eluting stent?]. Drug safety has many implications on its use. In general practice

Consent for medical treatment of a minor in the state of Nevada Case Study

Consent for medical treatment of a minor in the state of Nevada - Case Study Example NRS 432B.220 Persons required to make report. Any person who â€Å"knows or has reasonable cause to believe that a child has been abused or neglected† must make a report â€Å"to an agency which provides child welfare services or to a law enforcement agency† within 24 hours. Persons who are qualified to make reports include â€Å"a physician, †¦ resident, intern, professional or practical nurse† or any other of the several medical professions named. NRS 432B.260 Action upon receipt of report. â€Å"An agency which provides child welfare services or a law enforcement agency shall promptly notify the appropriate licensing authority; †¦ a law enforcement agency shall promptly notify an agency which provides child welfare services of any report it receives.† NRS 432B.270 Interview of child and sibling of child concerning possible abuse or neglect; photographs, X rays and medical tests. â€Å"A designee of an agency investigating a report of abuse or neglect of a child may, without the consent of the person responsible for a child’s welfare: (a) Take or cause to be taken photographs of the child’s body, including the areas of trauma; and (b) if indicated after consultation with a physician, cause X rays or medical tests to be performed on a child.† The rule further states that the person responsible for the child must be notified unless the agency designee deems such notification would endanger the child or the child’s siblings. In addition, NRS 432B.290 Authorized release of data or information states that â€Å"data or information concerning reports or investigations† of abuse or neglect may be made available to â€Å"a physician, if the physician has before him a child who he has reasonable cause to believe has been abused or

The Model Minority Myth and the American Dream Research Paper

The Model Minority Myth and the American Dream - Research Paper Example He, Arnold, has physical challenges that make other kids at school call him names such as retard, the globe and others. Relating these challenges to the American Dream it is true to say that Americans will never realize their dream. United States has a national ethos whereby freedom is the main component of opportunity that leads to success as well as prosperity. According to the American Dream, life is richer, fuller, and better for all people. Everyone has an opportunity with regard to ability or achievements. In this case, life status is regardless of birthplace or social circumstances of any American person. The American declaration of Independence also proclaims that all men are equal. With relation to Alexei’s novel, America will never realize its dream because of things like poverty that demeans what can lead to realizing its dream (Palecek 45). Americans face perturbing challenges that end up rendering their dream a myth because of the huge gap between the wealthy and poor. As described in the novel, many reserved families in America are languishing in immense poverty. They cannot afford to cover for minute medical expenses. This is evident in that, Arnold’s father had to kill his adopted dog after suffering form intensive heat exhaustion and could not cater for his medication due to poverty. America cannot realize its dream due to the fact that, if its founding fathers failed to match up to the expectations of the national ethos it is impossible for America to achieve its goals regarding its dream. As elaborated in the novel, great success based on dreams does not just pop up from nowhere. Foundation acts as a stepping-stone for the other generations within the same line of family. Lands and businesses that exist within families run and develop down the stream through experimental learning. According to Alexei’s description of Arnold’s family, it is clear that they are poor and for them to change that they not only need to w ork hard, but also a miracle. It is astonishing about USA persons they fail to comprehend that family is the founding stone of a nation and it is the protector of vagaries and fate. These two ideas intersect in the manner that, both their founding fathers did not establish a strong foundation suitable for sustainability and growth of that family hence attaining success is beyond their reach. According to the novel, the parents of Arnold were not free since they were alcoholics. Besides that, his sister was a hermit and due to the Arnold’s family affliction and loss of morality, they continued to languish in extreme poverty. His father was abusive and used to beat Arnold leaving him with bruises. Just as Arnold went through many tribulations, Americans are also facing the same situation as they are having a huge debt record and the level of unemployment is alarming. (Katz & Lang 146)Activities revolving around America are acting as an obstacle towards a stable environment suit able for planning on American goals and objectives. Therefore, realizing the American Dream is far from becoming the central pillar of the American story since it is falling apart. As the novel depicts, Arnold’s father did not support him fully in terms of getting education. He sends him to a rez school within his Spokane Indian Reservation despite his health status. May be he did not see his son with the ability to study and change their living situation. The same case is applying

Philosophy Token vs. Dualism or New Theory Essay

Philosophy Token vs. Dualism or New Theory - Essay Example In recognition of the mental states in relation to the brain, the Token Theory of mind upholds the analogy of realizations and supposes that the individual thought is identical with the individual brain state in which it corresponds. This philosophy reasoned that if mental states is a cacophony of thought processes then most likely it is identical to the internal state of the brain. In simplified terms; it is interaction of mind and body and the interaction of physical processes in the brain and parts of the body via the nervous system and there is nothing more than physical in the way it functions. Smart (1956) said that the mental state's 'desire for a cup of coffee' would thus be nothing more than the "firing of certain neurons in certain brain regions". The mental phenomenon is then equated with the processes of the brain and is actually considered as the fundamental features of the brain. A heavy challenge under this theory would fall under the category of need. The explanation seems to relay the idea that humans regardless of affiliation feel hunger and hunger is identical to a certain brain state. Each mental state is said to be identical to an individual brain state without any categorization. ... Dualism meanwhile is a complex model that divides the human beings into two substances of matter and mind and separates the mind from the body. In Plato and Aristotle both maintained, for different reasons, "that a man's 'intelligence' (as a faculty of the mind or soul) could not be identified with, or explained in terms of his physical body". In a non-physical form, dualism exists to identify the mind as the control factor in movements along with other components. Dualism however explains the property of the physical (skin, bones and the entire system of the human body) in response to the mental (thoughts and feelings). For example, in simple dualism: a needle puncturing your finger is a physical trauma and causes you to perceive pain; as a physical response one either withdraws the hand or voice out a verbal reaction to pain. In other words there is direct physical interaction between the mind and the body. In more complex dualistic setting and explanation: when one sees a car, the input is placed on the senses and sends out signals through the senses which interpret the experience in the brain whereby a mental image is produced. Scientifically this could be acceptable, but the simplest is always the best answer when trying to find the most natural relation to a human's mind. Despite a certain initial clarity, the token identity theory is still faced with a heavy challenge in the form of the Putnam's(1967) multiple realizations. If this is a difference however, then pain cannot be identical to a certain brain state and thus the identity theory is empirically unfounded for her. It dwells on the neurological aspect of the mind and the

Information technology in business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Information technology in business - Essay Example unications CEO Richard Levick, Forrester;s George Colony, History Factory’s CEO Bruce Weindruch blog to reflect their online personality and the company’s culture. With less barriers to entry and minimal risks, blogging provides a source of livelihood to thousands of bloggers who post excellent content and maintain sincere relationships via forums, commenting, social media, and promoting others, thus reinforcing the popularity of the blog. Bloggers create a platform where they post content advertising companies’ products and strive to create traffic – company counts the number of times the ad has been clicked and pays the blogger at the end of an agreed period (pay per click) (Agger, 189-205). Favorite list of blogs; Treehugger, Copyblogger, Dooce, Basic thinking, and Go fug yourself. These blogs offer customized, science and technology related content that bolster critical thinking and exposes readers to real-life issues in the managerial and social environment. Copyblogger is useful for this course as it provides consummate information on how to be heard online be it in marketing, press responses, idea sharing, and knowledge expansion. Sample contents in Copyblogger can be accessed via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x612J-dupn8 The blogging field is controlled through written and unwritten laws where bloggers and firms are forced to ascertain the credibility of their posts and the implications that it might have on the larger online community. This ensures firms do not make unrealistic profits by unfairly duping consumers and that public hurling of abuses is circumvented as violators risk being fined, termination of their blogs, and jail term in extreme cases (Mergel,

Definition of Idioms and Collocations Essay Example for Free

Definition of Idioms and Collocations Essay A phrase which has a meaning that is commonly understood by speakers of the language, but whose meaning is often different from the normal meaning of the words is called an idiom. Of the various definitons of ‘idiom’, therr criteria, both semantic and syntactic, emerge as predominant. The first is semantic opacity, or what has come to be known as ‘noncompositionality’, the fact that the meaning of an idiom cannot be deduced from a sum of the meanings of its parts: in this sense, the meaning of an idiom is not ‘motivated’(bussmann 1996: 316). Thus, the meaning od ‘die’ cannot be produced from the sum of ‘kick’ + ‘the’+ ‘bucket’ , or ‘be patient, slow down’ from ‘hold’+ ‘your’+ ‘horses’. No constiluent os an idiom carries independent meaning. The secon criterion relates to the apparent morphological and transformational deficincies od idioms, in not permitting the syntatic variability displayed in other, freer sequences of words; operations such passive ( * the bucket was kicket by Sam), international modification ( * Hold your restless horses), and topicalization ( *The bucket Sam kicked) cannot occour with the idiomatic meaning being retained. The third criterion is the lack of substitutability in idioms, their ‘ lexical integrity’ (Fernando and Flavell 1981:38); synonymous lexical items cannot be substituted in an idiom, as in have a crush on , but not *have a smash on (Bussmann 1996: 216), nor can elements be reversed or deleted. Idioms are, therefore, syntagmatically and paradigmatically fixed (Nuccorini 1990: 418). In addition to these criteria, it has beed observed that idioms belong to an informal register, are figurative or metaphorical in meaning, have homonymous literal counterparts, are often â€Å"instutionalized† (Fernando and Flavell 1981: 17) or proverbial in nature (describling situations of common social interest), and have an affective quality (implying a certain affective stance) ( Nunberg, Sag, and Wasow 1994: 492-93). They are frequentlu nontranstable (Fernando and Flavell 1981 : 81) The term ‘collocation ‘ seems to date back toFirth, who discusses the collocation of ass with silly, obstinate, stupid, and awful (1957: 190-215); in defining the term , Crystal( 1997: 69-70) refers to the habitual cooccurrence of auspicious with occasion, event, sign, an so on, while Carter ( 1987: 57) contrasts the collocation {have, get} pins and needles, which is always plural and nonrever ible, with the free combination pin and needle. Like idioms, collocations are groups of lexical items which repeatedly or typically cooccur, but unlike idioms, their meanings can usually be deduced form the meaning of their parts ( but cf. Bussmann 1996: 81). Collocations are predictable to a greater or lesser degree, with some words having a very narrow collocational range ( e.g., spick, which may occur olny in spick and span) and others having a very wide collocational range ( e.g. , clean, which can occur in a wide variety of strrucures and phrases). Carter notes that the (near) synonymus putrid/rancid/addled/rotten have restrictions on the range of their collocability ( putrid fish and rancid butter, though not the reverse), but he also obseres that ranges are not entirely fixed but can be extended ( rotten fruit,though also perhaps rotten fish/eggs).

Strategic importance of the Indian Ocean Region

Strategic importance of the Indian Ocean Region The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has become the hub of intense global activity over the decades for various reasons. The most important trade routes of the world pass through this region. The Indian Ocean provides the predominant outlet for oil from the Persian Gulf to various destinations all over the world. The Malacca Strait is a critical choke point through which the oil bound for the West coast of USA, China, Japan, Australia and other countries of South-East Asia must pass Oil being of vital interest to most nations, major powers, especially the USA, maintain a visible and credible presence in the region. Since dependence on oil will continue to increase in the future and exports from the Central Asian Republics by sea would also have to be routed through the ports of this region, the Indian Ocean is likely to witness clashes of economic interests and a turbulent security environment. This region has been termed by some analysts, as one of the most dangerous  [1]  . The end of the Cold War has witnessed a shift in the focus of world attention to the IOR. The acquisition of nuclear small weapons by the countries of this region and proliferation of terrorism, piracy, drug trafficking and internal turmoil in several countries have made the region extremely volatile. External powers are, therefore, keen to intervene, not only to mediate or reduce this volatility but also in their attempt to extend their influence right up to the IOR through their physical presence. The continual economic suppression of the peoples of this region has prompted countries to form economic groupings and sub-groupings in an attempt to foster greater economic well being of the IOR countries. However, these efforts have so far failed to transform into objective gains due to many reasons; the primary ones being bilateral problems between nations which impact their conduct and response in multilateral fora, restrictive trade regimes imposed by economically superior world powe rs and technological backwardness of most of the countries, necessitating their continued dependence on technologically superior nations for infrastructure and industrial development. Islands in IOR. The great Indian ridge, the Madagascar ridge and St Pauls ridge form the three main chains of islands. The strategic implications of the islands are as follows:- These islands are a single source economy and do not possess any defence capability and thus remain exposed to external intervention or seek security guarantees. These islands have strategic significance due to their location, proximity to trade routes and well developed harbours. History has borne the fact that in the past, western maritime power could control the Indian Ocean and littoral countries by virtue of possessing these islands. Important Straits. The Indian Ocean region has 30 straits and channels in and adjoining the Indian Ocean. The important ones are as follows:- Bab-el-Mandeb (between South Yemen and Djibouti); Bass Strait (between Australian continent and Tasmania); Strait of Hormuz (between Iran and Oman); Lombok, Bali, Sunda and Makassar Straits (in the Indonesian archipelago) Singapore Strait (between Singapore and Riau island of Indonesia) Malacca Strait (between Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore) Mozambique channel (between Mozambique and Malagasy Republic.  [2]   Sea Routes. The Indian Ocean provides major sea-routes connecting the Middle East with Europe, East Asia, Africa and US. The following routes are the most significant ones in the Indian Ocean and their closure would result in choking the global energy supplies:- Suez Route. Suez route links Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea through Suez Channel. An important choke point in this route is Bab-al-Mandeb which connects Red Sea to Arabian Sea.    Cape Route. This route provides an alternate for the Suez Route and connects the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Heavy tankers and bulk carriers due to depth restrictions in the Suez Canal also commonly use this route. Straits of Malacca. This is the most important entry to/from the Pacific Ocean and provides the shortest and most convenient link between Pacific and Indian Ocean.   Economic Importance to India The Indian peninsula juts 1,980 km into the Indian Ocean with 50% of the Indian Ocean basin lying within a 1500 km radius of India, a reality that has strategic implications. Between the Gulf of Aden and Malacca Strait, is seen as Indias sphere of influence. India is one of very few (06) countries in the world to have developed the technology to extract minerals from the deep sea bed. Under the law of the sea, by adding up the sea waterways comprising territorial zone of 20 km, contiguous zone 40 km, an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 320 km, India has exclusive rights to explore mineral wealth in an area of 150,000 square km in the Indian Ocean  [3]  . India imports 70 % of its oil requirements, 4000 tankers come to Indian ports annually and almost 95 % of Indian trade moves by sea. Any interference to our sea lanes, coastal offshore areas and ports, will have a crippling impact on the countrys economic growth. Almost 3.5 million Indians work in Gulf countries and it is in Indias interest to ensure that the environment in Gulf remains stable  [4]  . The IO is a critical waterway for global trade and commerce. This strategic expanse hosts heavy international maritime traffic that includes half of the worlds containerized cargo, one third of its bulk cargo and two third of its oil shipment. Its waters carry heavy traffic of petroleum and petroleum products from the oilfields of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia, and contain an estimated 40% of the worlds offshore oil production. In addition to providing precious minerals and energy source, the oceans fish are of great importance to the bordering countries for domestic consumption an d export. Oil. Persian Gulf caters for 61% of oil reserves and 26 % of gas reserves of the entire world. The Strait of Hormuz is by far the worlds most important oil choke point with an estimated 15.5 million barrels of oil flow through it each day. The other critical choke point is Malacca Strait and over 60,000 vessels and 10 million barrels of oil is transported through it  [5]  . In addition to US, bulk of oil for Japan, South Korea and China passes through the Indian Ocean which makes their concern for ensuring the free access and a certain degree of influence in the region an absolute necessity. Oil demand in developing countries is expected to grow at a fast rate. By 2020 China is expected to be the largest energy consumer and its dependence on the import is likely to be of tune of 80% in 2010. Japan currently imports 95% of its oil from the Middle East. Thus, the relevance of Gulf as an energy centre in the foreign policies of China and Japan is going to continue in the future. A study of the trends in oil consumption has shown a distinct rise in all countries. Geo-Strategic Imperatives The Indian Ocean provides major sea routes connecting the Middle East, Africa and East Asia with Europe and the Americas. It carries a particularly heavy traffic of petroleum and petroleum products from the oilfield of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia. Large reserves of hydrocarbons are being tapped in the offshore areas of Saudi Arabia. Iran, India and Western Australia. An estimated 40% of the worlds offshore oil production comes from the Indian Ocean. Beach sands, rich in heavy minerals, and offshore deposits are actively exploited by bordering countries, particularly India, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Today, nearly 20 million shipping containers are moving around the globe earned by fewer than 4000 hulls. The explosion of trans-oceanic trade has made commerce more vulnerable, not only in the obvious sense that economies have grown more interdependent, but also because, even as the volume of shipped loads increased, the number of significant cargo carriers has reduced because of the increasing size of commercial vessels, from supertankers to container ships. The Straits of Malacca, the worlds second busiest sea lane, assume relevance here. 80% of Japans oil supplies and 60% of Chinas oil supplies are shipped through the Straits of Malacca. US$ 70 billion worth of oil passes through the straits each year. Almost half the worlds containerized traffic passes through this choke point. Most of the ships approach the straits through the 10 degree channel between the Andaman and Nicobar islands. India, thus, has the potential to dominate a strategic sea lane. India has established its fi rst tri-service command, the AN Command at Port Blair in the Andamans. It plans to develop Port Blair as a strategic international trade centre and build an oil terminal and transshipment port in Campbell Bay in the Nicobar islands. India is a member of the Antarctic Treaty Parties Consultative Group and has already set up two permanently staffed scientific bases there. It has constructed a 10,000 foot runway in Antarctica to service future missions, having completed several successful landings there. The Laccadive islands, likewise, offer the possibility of India projecting its power westwards. India is just 800 km away from OS military facilities in Oman. Trade with the Gulf States is an important facet of the Indian economy from ancient times. With increasing trade relations with the countries of the East, India has higher stakes in the region, in the years to come, Trade volumes with the ASEAN countries have more than doubled in a decade, from a mere $1484 million in 1993, the Indian market has emerged as one of the largest importers of South East Asian goods with imports touching $10,942 million in 2004  [6]  . The recently concluded Free Trade Agreements with countries like Thailand and Singapore are set to contribute to this trend. Expanding markets and larger impart flows imply not only economic prosperity but also vulnerability at sea. The incidence of piracy, armed robbery and maritime terrorism are on the rise end has placed a premium on the complexity of sea-lane defence. The northern area of the Indian Ocean is the area of great significance in economic and strategic terms. Indias foreign policy orientation towards its eastern neighbours has spurred interest and attention there. Indias burgeoning economy, now forecasted to become one of the three fastest growing economies in the world entails expansion of existing export and import markets. Being a sea faring nation with island neighbours has added to the need for safe sea-lanes in the inter-lying waters. The worlds busiest choke point in the straits of Malacca located here adds complexity to a strategic factor.

Alopecia Areata: Causes, Types and Symptoms

Alopecia Areata: Causes, Types and Symptoms Alopecia areata can affect any hair-bearing area and can also involve nails. A peribulbar lymphocytic infiltrate in a swarm of bees pattern is characteristic of the acute stage of the disease leading to a dystrophic anagen phase. There may also be increased psychiatric morbidity in patients with alopecia areata. Ikeda (2) classified alopecia areata into four types including the common type (81%), the atopic type (10%), the autoimmune type (5%) and the prehypertensive type (4%) The course of the disease is unpredictable and the response to treatment is variable. The various treatment modalities used can be classified into topical and systemic therapies. The topical therapy includes intralesional corticosteroid, topical corticosteroids, minoxidil, anthralin and topical immunotherapy in the form of diphenylcyclopropenone (DPCP) and squaric acid dibutylester (SADBE). The systemic therapy includes systemic corticosteroids and photochemotherapy. Cyclosporine, methotrexate, sulphasalazine and biologics like etanercept, efalizumab, adalimumab and infliximab have been used with limited success. Intralesional corticosteroids are the treatment of choice for adults with less than 50% of scalp area involvement. The sensitivity of picking up clinical response to treatment by a clinical examination is very variable and has interindividual variation. Dermoscopy is a noninvasive diagnostic tool which visualizes subtle patterns of skin lesions not normally visible to the unaided eye. It is performed by a hand held or a video dermoscope equipped with lenses that currently allow magnifications ranging from 10 to 1000, the images obtained can be visualized on a monitor and stored using specific software on a personal computer, to identify and compare changes over time.(3) The characteristic features of alopecia areata on dermoscopy (4) are yellow dots, black dots, broken hair, vellus hair and tapering or exclamation mark hair. After therapy there is a decrease in the number of these characteristic findings. On the other hand, the presence of thin and unpigmented vellus hair within the patch, and evidence of transformation of vellus hair into terminal hair, appearing as increased proximal shaft thickness and pigmentation, are characteristic of remitting disease and indicative of a response to treatment. The present study is being undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of intralesional triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of alopecia areata and to assess its local and systemic side effects. Dermoscopy has been used to identify signs of early clinical response to the chosen therapeutic regimen. The useful markers to assess the severity of alopecia areata on dermoscopy are the black dots, yellow dots, broken hairs or dystrophic hair, tapering or exclamation mark hair and short vellus hairs. Previous reports have suggested that the severity of alopecia areata is an important prognostic factor. Therefore, dermoscopic examination of patches of alopecia areata may provide predictors of the response to therapy and can also be utilized for monitoring response to any prescribed regimen. Definition Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease of uncertain etiology that involves the hair follicle and sometimes the nail and is usually reversible. Although autoimmune, genetic and environmental factors have been implicated but the exact pathogenesis is yet to be elucidated. History Hippocrates first used the term alopecia which literally means foxs disease. The characteristics of alopecia areata were first described by Cornelius Celsus in 30 A.D., who described two forms of alopecia. The first he described as complete baldness occurring in people of all ages. The second he called ophiasis, which literally means snake, due to the pattern in which the hair loss spreads across the scalp and also suggested that ophiasis was only seen in children. Alopecia areata is sometimes also referred to as area celsi in tribute to Cornelius Celsus. Alopecia areata has been given many different names throughout history. However, the actual term alopecia areata was first used by Sauvages in his Nosologica Medica, published in 1760 in Lyons, France. From the beginning of 19th century there was considerable debate about the cause of alopecia areata. Two main hypotheses were put forward, one based on parasitic infection by Gruby in 1843 and Radcliffe-Crocker in 1903 and the other based on a nervous disorder by Von Barensrung in 1858. The parasitic hypothesis drew support from the pattern in which alopecia developed -expanding slowly in size just as a local infection would. Even more significant were the apparent epidemics of alopecia areata reported to occur in institutions such as orphanages and schools. However, many attempts to isolate an infective organism and to transfer alopecia areata by inoculation failed. The initiation of alopecia areata by a nervous disorder, known as the trophoneurotic, neurotrophic or neuropathic hypothesis, eventually gained the support of most dermatologists of the time. This vague hypothesis could be supported by the apparently frequent clinical observations of emotional or physical stress and trauma that were associated with the onset of alopecia areata and often reported in the medical journals of that time. Emotional stress and physical damage were believed to adversely affect hair follicles via the nervous system and Joseph in 1886 showed that patchy hair loss could apparently be induced by cutting nerves in the necks of cats (it was later suggested that the hair loss was actually due to the cats scratching themselves). The idea circulated among dermatologists for many years because it was very difficult to fundamentally prove or disprove that alopecia areata was a nervous disorder. The hypothesis is still supported by some dermatologists today. One of the more unusual variations on the neuropathic origin of alopecia areata was put forward by Jacquet in 1902 who suggested that alopecia areata was initiated by sources of nerve irritation such as defective and diseased teeth. Jacquets hypothesis was apparently confirmed by Decelle 1909, although Baily in 1910 showed dental disease to be equally frequent in people without alopecia areata. Eye strain was another suggested cause of alopecia areata by Kinnear 1939. With the start of the twentieth century, alopecia areata was known to be associated with disorders of the endocrine glands, particularly the thyroid. As such, some believed the underlying cause of alopecia areata was due to a hormone dysfunction. By the 1920s most dermatologists had abandoned the parasitic theory of alopecia areata and favoured variations on the trophoneurotic and endocrine theories often combining the two. Sufferers of alopecia areata were under extensive mental stress from fear that they would be suspected of having syphilis. Until the advent of antibiotics, syphilis was a widespread, contagious disease and it also often manifests itself by sudden, rapid loss of hair in well-defined patches, just like alopecia areata. Syphilis in the secondary stage can also affect finger nails. To further complicate the matter, some dermatologists suggested that alopecia areata could be found in increased association with syphilis as distinct from the direct action of syphilis on hair follicles. Syphilis was believed to induce alopecia areata by the mental distress it created and its possible upset of the endocrine system. These clearly visible symptoms of syphilis were often confused with alopecia areata by the general population and resulted in social ostracism for the sufferer. The early 20th century saw the development of another hypothesis of alopecia areata induction based on toxic agents. An unknown poison was believed to be introduced to the hair follicle via the blood system inducing hair loss. The sudden remission and relapse of alopecia areata and its action simultaneously over the body was believed to support the idea. Also in support, injection of thallium acetate (rat poison) was shown to induce alopecia areata like hair loss in some patients, with expression of exclamation mark hairs a diagnostic feature of alopecia areata. However, the toxic origin of alopecia areata never gained widespread popularity against the neuropathic and endocrine hypothesis. It is now widely believed that alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease. Even though studies more than 100 years old showed that alopecia areata affected hair follicles were invaded by inflammatory cells by Giovannini in 1891, the inflammatory autoimmune disease hypothesis did not become popular until the 1960s. The idea was first proposed by Rothman in a discussion of a paper by Van Scott in 1958. Treatment of alopecia areata by intradermal corticosteroid injections has been practised for many years. Kalkoff and Macher in 1958 were the first to have reported a series using hydrocortisone. Thereafter, Orentreich et al in1960 and Gombinger and Malkinson in 1961 reported the use of prednisolone and triamcinolone, and Porter and Burton in 1971 used triamcinolone acetonide and hexacetonide. Moynahan and Bowyer in 1965 and Verbov and Abell in 1970 reported the initial use of jet injection apparatuses in a number of conditions including alopecia areata.(6) Epidemiology Alopecia areata occurs worldwide and there is no racial or sex prelidiction. It is a common disease forming 0.7% to 3.8% of patients seen by dermatologists. (7) In the United States, alopecia areata was estimated to occur in 0.1% to 0.2% of the general population, with a lifetime risk of 1.7%.(1) Sixty percent patients present with their first patch below 20 years of age.(8) One study suggests that 85.5% of Asian patients with alopecia areata have disease onset before the age of 40 years.(9) The disease prevalence peaks between the second and the fourth decade of life. A family history is found in 5%-25% of patients.(10) Natural History Natural history that includes the severity, course and prognosis is highly unpredictable and it can be said that the only thing predictable about its course and prognosis is that it is unpredictable. With the available information at present the spontaneous remission rates have ranged from 34% to 80% within one year and 15% to 25% patients progress to total loss of scalp hair (alopecia totalis) or loss of the entire scalp and body hair (alopecia universalis), of which only 10% eventually recover. (11,12) It is a non-scarring alopecia and is reversible but it can be recurrent and abrupt and in long standing cases scarring can occur. Etiology Alopecia areata is a chronic, autoimmune, organ specific disease, probably mediated by autoreactive T cells, which affect hair follicles and sometimes the nails. The increased frequency of other autoimmune diseases favours the above postulation. Hair follicle autoantibodies are also found although it is unlikely that these are involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Genetic factors: Most reports describe the prevalence of positive family history to be in the range of 10 to 20% but it is believed that some mild cases may be overlooked or concealed and hence the actual figure may be greater. Price and Colombe (13) found a family history of alopecia areata was more common in those who had a disease onset before the age of 30 years (37% compared with 7.1% in those with onset after 30 years). A study amongst monozygotic and dizygotic pairs found a concordance rate of 55% for monozygotic twins and no concordance amongst dizygotic twins.(14) The genetic basis of inheritance appears to be multifactorial and polygenic and not a simple Mendelian pattern. The strongest associations have been with major histocompatibility complex (MHC), particularly the Class II alleles HLA-DQB1*0301 and HLA-DRB1*1104 and the association is linked to chromosome 6p and few susceptibility loci on chromosomes 10, 16 and 18. (15,16) Atopy: Several studies have reported an association and also suggested an earlier age of onset and more severe disease in atopic individuals.(17,18) Autoimmunity: A statistically significant association between alopecia areata and Hashimotos thyroiditis, Addisons disease and pernicious anemia has been reported. It is also associated with other autoimmune diseases like vitiligo, lichen planus, Sjogrens syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, morphea, lichen sclerosus, pemphigus foliaceus, ulcerative colitis, myasthenia gravis, autoimmune haemolytic anemia, diabetes mellitus, autoimmune testicular and ovarian disease, Downs syndrome (in which other autoimmune disorders are common) and autoimmune polyendocrinopathy-candidiasis-ectodermal dysplasia syndrome (also called as autoimmune polyglandular syndrome-1) which is an autosomal recessive disorder in which there are mutations in autoimmune regulator gene.(19) There is also evidence of circulating organ specific antibodies against thyroid, gastric parietal cell, adrenal tissue, smooth muscle, testis and the ovaries. The cells in the lower part of hair follicle have low or absent expression of MHC proteins and the loss of this immune privilege leading to induction of CD8+ T cell-mediated immunity against follicular melanocytes is hypothesized to be causative of alopecia areata. This explains the peribulbar lymphocytic infiltrate and also the sparing of white hair in the patch and hence leads to what is commonly called as the phenomena of overnight greying. Environmental factors Infection: Prior notion of alopecia areata being due to infection directly or due to a remote focus of infection has a long history and was very popular till the middle of 20th century. Skinner et al (20) reported finding mRNA for cytomegalovirus in alopecia areata lesions. Few reports of coexistence in husband and wife but many have refuted this and likened it to be a mere coincidence. Stress: Is suggested to be an important precipitating factor and this also explains cures by sleep therapy, reassurance and suggestion therapy. Such patients may also have stress associated depression and the finding of elevated serotonin levels in such patients lends support to the theory. It has been seen that there is aberrant expression of estrogen receptor -1 in the hair follicles of diseased mouse with alopecia areata. Corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH) can induce mast cell differentiation from hair follicle mesenchyme and the CRH/receptor activity is seen to be high in alopecia areata skin.(21) Diet: Iron deficiency has been postulated to modulate the hair loss in alopecia areata. The mechanism is by inhibiting the rate-limiting enzyme for DNA synthesis and hence it diminishes the proliferative capacity of hair follicle matrix cells.(22) It has also been seen that dietary soy intake increases the resistance to the development of alopecia areata. A study in a Japanese population living in Hawaii, where a Westernized non soy diet predominates, showed disproportionally higher alopecia areata incidence.(23) Other factors that have been implicated include hormones, drugs, and vaccinations. These factors may increase or decrease susceptibility to the disease onset, pattern, severity, duration and response to treatment by modifying the physical and biochemical status of the immune system and hair follicles.(24) Pathogenesis and pathology: There are four key phases in the normal hair cycle which includes the anagen (growth) phase, the catagen (regression) phase, the telogen (resting) phase, and the exogen (controlled shedding phase). When the new hair cycle begins the old hair fiber is shed from the hair follicle in the exogen phase and hence this maintains the overall hair density of the scalp. If the exogen occurs before the anagen is renewed or there is a dystrophic anagen then this leads to a state called kenogen in which there is no hair fiber in the hair follicle.(24) Thus the patch of alopecia areata can be said to be in a state of kenogen. When the amount of inflammatory infiltrate around the hair follicle increases this can lead to miniaturization of the hair follicles and shortening of the hair cycle with rapid changes from anagen to telogen leading to the formation of nanogen hair follicles which is an intermediate stage between terminal and vellus anagen.(25) In the acute stage of the disease there is a swarm of bees infiltration of CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes into the peribulbar space of anagen stage hair follicles and some penetration of lymphocytes to intrafollicular locations which leads to a state of dystrophic anagen. This disrupts the ability of the hair follicle to produce hair fibres of sufficient length and integrity and the expelled hair fiber is not replaced by a fiber that can produce adequate scalp coverage, hence leading to alopecia.(25) Hair follicles are smaller than normal and do not develop beyond the Anagen 3-4 stage, where the actual hair shaft begins to form and return prematurely to telogen. As more and more hair follicle move to telogen phase the amount of inflammation decreases. At this stage most of the inflammation is localized to the papillary dermis around the miniaturized hair follicles. In all stages of the disease, there can also be a diffuse infiltration of eosinophils and mast cells into the disease affected skin. There is no inflammatory infiltrate which is seen around the isthmus of the hair follicle which is the site for the stem cells. Thus the pathological location of the disease process saves the stem cells from destruction and makes it a reversible and non-scarring alopecia. Trichocytes in the in the hair bulb matrix undergoing early cortical differentiation show vacuolar degeneration and are also the predominant cell types showing aberrant class I and II MHC expression.(10) Classification: Ikedas classification (2) The atopic type (10%) begins during childhood or adolescence and progresses slowly over many years with individual patches lasting more than one year. Ophiasis and reticular patterns are common and the chances of developing total alopecia are very high (30-75%). The autoimmune type (5%), affects the middle aged, runs a prolonged and led to alopecia totalis in 10%-50%. The prehypertensive type (4%) occurred in young adults whose one or both parents were hypertensive progressed faster and led to total alopecia in 40%. Reticular pattern is common. The common type (81%) is the prototype of the fast progressive form of disease that affects adults aged between 20-40 years. No associated conditions and individual patches last less than 6 months and there is spontaneous regrowth occuring within 3 years. Alopecia totalis may develop in 5%-15%. Based on the pattern of alopecia: Restricted to the scalp Patchy Ophiasis Sisaphio Reticulate Diffuse Subtotal Alopecia totalis Generalized Alopecia universalis Clinical features: Alopecia areata may begin at any age but the disease incidence peaks between 20-40 years of age and has an equal sex incidence. The characteristic initial lesion is a well circumscribed, totally bald smooth patch in which the skin appears slightly reddened. The disease is asymptomatic but few patients may complain of itching and burning prior to the onset of the lesions. During the active phase of the disease short easily extractable broken hairs are seen at the margins of the bald patches which are known as exclamation mark hairs and hair pull test is positive.(26) Subsequent course is highly unpredictable. The initial patch may regrow hair or it may increase in size and new patches may appear after a variable interval. The succeeding patches may become confluent. In some cases the initial hair loss is diffuse and total scalp denudation has been reported in 48 hours. Regrowth is initially of fine vellus unpigmented hair and later these assume their normal thickness and pigmentation. It is possible that regrowth may occur in one region while alopecia is extending in another region.(10) Alopecia areata may affect any hair bearing skin but the scalp is involved in 90% of patients. The eyebrows and eyelashes may be associated with hair loss elsewhere or may be the only site affected. The term alopecia totalis (AT) is used when complete loss of all scalp hair occurs and alopecia universalis (AU) when there is loss of all body hair. About 5% of patients progress to AT/AU. A new variant has been described by Sato-Kawamura et al (27) called as diffuse and total alopecia which has a favourable prognosis but has rapid progression and extensive involvement. The disease process preferentially affects the pigmented hair and spares the white hair thus leading to the phenomena popularly known as the overnight greying of hair but this is a relative process as white hairs are also lost albeit less as compared to pigmented ones. Hair regrowth may be initially nonpigmented but later complete pigmentation occurs. Nail involvement occurs in 10%-15% of patients in which the most characteristic feature is fine stippled pitting but sometimes there may also be trachyonychia, red or mottled lunulae, nail thinning and ridging, discoloration that includes longitudinally arranged punctate leuconychia, splitting, onychodystrophy and onycholysis may be seen.(26) Some studies have reported psychiatric diseases like mood disturbances and anxiety and ophthalmological findings like asymptomatic lens opacities and fundus changes.(28,29) Poor prognostic indicators:(10) Early age of onset Extensive scalp involvement (>50% scalp) Loss of eyebrows and eyelashes Alopecia totalis or universalis Recurrent episode Patterns ophiasis, sisaphio, reticular Nail changes: Pits, onychodystrophy, onycholysis, anonychia Associated systemic disorders: atopy, hypertension and connective tissue disease. Associated genetic disorder: Down syndrome Family history of alopecia areata Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) -173*C gene INVESTIGATIONS: 1. Trichogram/ hair pluck test:(30) To perform the pluck test, hairs are taken from the specified sites on the fifth day after the last shampoo. The surrounding hairs are fixed with clips and 60-80 hairs are grasped with a hemostat covered with rubber. The hairs are plucked, twisting and lifting the hair shafts rapidly in the direction of immergence from the scalp. Hair shafts are then cut off 1cm above the root sheaths and roots are arranged side by side on a slide and then taped. The anagen hair bulbs are seen as darkly pigmented triangular or delta-shaped bulbs with an angle to the hair shaft and there is presence of inner root sheath. The telogen hair is seen as less pigmented hair with club-shaped hair bulb and there is absence of inner root sheath. Anagen hairs are distinguished from the telogen hairs and anagen to telogen ratio is calculated. Trichogram in alopecia areata reveals a mixed telogen-dystrophic pattern. Telogen hairs predominate in the slowly growing patches, whereas dystrophic anagen hair forms the majority in rapidly progressing disease. 2. Scalp biopsy:(10) A peribulbar lymphocytic infiltrate in a swarm of bees pattern is characteristic of the acute stage of the disease, in which the number of follicles is normal and many are in catagen or telogen. In the later stages, only a few lymphocytes or eosinophils are present in fibrous tracts and in a peribulbar location. Many follicles in early anagen stage are observed in this late stage and the actual number of hair follicles may be reduced. 3. Dermoscopy: A dermoscope is a non-invasive diagnostic modality which can be used to visualize fine details of skin lesions and even subsurface skin lesions which are not visible to the naked eye. It is also called as skin surface microscope, epiluminescence microscope or an episcope. An advantage of their use is the storage of the results and their reproducibility. (3) The history of dermoscopy:(31) Skin surface microscopy began in Europe when in the year 1663, Kolhaus used a microscope for examining the small vessels in the nail fold. In 1878, Abbe described the use of immersion oil in light microscopy and this principle was transferred to skin surface microscopy by the German dermatologist, Unna, in 1893. He introduced the term diascopy and described the use of immersion oil and a glass spatula for the interpretation of lichen planus and for the evaluation of the infiltrate in lupus erythematosus. The term dermatoscopy was introduced in 1920 by the German dermatologist Johann Saphier, when he used a used a new diagnostic tool which resembled a binocular microscope with a built-in light source. The term dermoscopy was introduced by Goldman from the United States when he used this new technique for the evaluation of pigmented lesions of the skin. In 1971, Rona MacKie had identified the advantage of surface microscopy for the improvement of preoperative diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions and for the differential diagnosis of benign versus malignant lesions. Dermoscopic patterns of pigmented skin lesions including melanoma were established and standardized in consensus conferences that were held in 1989 in Hamburg and 2001 in Rome. Principle of dermoscopy: (3) The basic principle is to transilluminate a lesion and then to study the same under a high magnification to visualize its subtle features. When light is incident on a skin surface it undergoes reflection, refraction, diffraction and absorption and the magnitude of each of these phenomena is influenced by physical properties of the skin. When light is reflected on a dry, scaly skin surface most of it is reflected back but when the same falls on a smooth, oily skin most of the light passes through it and reaches the deep dermis. Thus certain fluids are used to improve the translucency of the skin that includes oils (olive and mineral oil), liquid paraffin, glycerin and water. Hand-held dermoscope have the basic principles: The refractive index of glass is almost similar to skin and when it is in contact with oil-applied skin, it further enhances the transillumination and hence visualization. The application of a glass plate flattens the skin surface and provides an even surface for better examination. Videodermoscopy represents evolution of dermoscopy and it is performed with video camera equipped with optic fibers and lenses that currently allow magnification ranging from 10X to 1000X, and images are visualized on a monitor and stored using specific software on personal computer. Basic design of a dermoscope:(3) The essential components include: Achromatic lens: To achieve the desired magnification which ranges from 10X to 100X. Inbuilt illuminating system: Various illuminating systems are used that include: Halogen lamps emit yellow light which can alter the colour contrast of the lesions. Light emitting diodes (LED): Used in Delta 20 ©, Dermlite ©, provide high intensity and consume 70% less energy than the halogen lamps. The illumination provided can be adjusted by turning off a set of LEDs. Can also be designed to emit lights of different colors and hence wavelengths and this can help in better visualization of skin as the penetration of skin is directly proportional to its wavelength. Power supply: By batteries eg. Lithium ion battery or using rechargeable handles. The types of dermoscopy instruments that can be used include: Instuments without image capturing facility. Instuments with image capturing facility. Instuments with image capturing facility and analytical ability. Technique: (3) It can be done either by the non-contact or the contact technique. In the contact technique the glass plate of the dermoscope comes in contact with the fluid applied on the lesion whereas in the non-contact technique, there is no contact of the lens with the skin. The cross-polarized lens absorbs all scattered light and hence allows only light in one plane to pass through. The advantage of a non-contact technique is that there is no nosocomial infection but this is eclipsed by poor resolution and decreased illumination. The contact plates used are made mostly of silicon glass and can be graduated for measuring the size of the lesion. These contact plates should be sterilized by using either 2% glutaraldehyde or methylated spirit. It can be used for the diagnosis of melanocytic nevi, melanoma, lichen planus, dermatofibroma, cicatricial alopecia, seborrheic keratosis and to calculate the follicular density in the donor area before follicular unit hair transplantation. Dermoscopy of normal scalp:(32) Dermoscopy of the scalp can be performed with or without interface solution, which is referred to as dry dermoscopy. Dry dermoscopy is useful for observing tertiary structures of the skin, such as hairs, scaling and follicular hyperkeratosis. An interface solution (thermal water) is used to analyse follicular and interfollicular (vascular) patterns. Dermoscopy of the normal scalp shows interfollicular simple red loops, and arborizing red lines, which represents the normal vascular patterns, and honeycomb pigmentation in sun exposed areas and in subjects with darker skin. Follicular units are easily identified and usually contain 1 to 4 hairs. In children, dermoscopy often shows dirty dots corresponding to dust particles retained in the scalp. This feature is not observed in adolescents or adults as sebaceous secretions prevent particle deposition. Dermoscopic findings in alopecia areata: The characteristic findings are yellow dots, black dots, broken hair, tapering hairs corresponding to exclamation mark hair and regrowing vellus hair. Yellow dots: They are due to dilatation of the affected follicular infundibulum with keratinous material or sebum. (4) They vary in size, shape and colour. They may be round or polycyclic, yellow to pink.(33) They may be devoid of hair or contain miniaturized regrowing hair. They represent active and progressive disease. Although yellow dots are seen in androgenetic alopecia, female pattern of androgenetic alopecia, trichotillomania and discoid lupus erythematosus, the number of yellow dots is limited in these conditions as compared to alopecia areata, which shows numerous yellow dots and is its characteristic feature.(34) The incidence of yellow dots reported in the study by Inui et al (4) was 191 of 300 patients and in the study by Mane et al it was 81.8%.(35) It is speculated that this may be the result of yellowish skin colour of Asian patients. Another possible reason may be the different devices used: a handheld dermoscope (DermLite ® II pro) in the study by Inui et al vs. videodermoscopy and a handheld dermoscope by Ross et al (33) and only hand held dermoscope by Mane et al.(35) Black dots: They are remnants of exclamation hair and broken hair. They represent pigmented hairs broken or destroyed at the scalp level. They provide a sensitive marker of disease activity and disease severity.(4) The black dots of alopecia areata are characteristic of black haired individuals, including Asians, and these findings have not been used for the diagnosis of alopecia areata in white population. This feature may be attributed not only to hair colour but also to cuticle resistance. Takahashi et al (36) reported that Asian hair cuticles fall as large pieces while keeping their original shape under extension stress, whereas hair cuticles of white populations tend to collapse to form small fragments. They are also observed in dissecti

Graduation Speech: An Amazing Year! :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

To be completely honest, at the end of my junior year, I felt ready to be up here. I watched a lot of my friends go through their senior year and felt completely prepared to move on. I could hardly stand the thought of another year at County High School, in what I thought would be stagnant water. At that point in my life, I had no idea how much I had left to learn and how much one more year at County High would mean. It ended up being, collectively, one of the most amazing experiences I have even had. From the very beginning, it was not what I expected. Boys tennis, never a very strong team at County High, surprised me, and alone was an unforgettable experience. I never envisioned myself playing in the league finals, I was as surprised as anyone, and when I missed out on state, I was as disappointed as anyone. Other activities left their mark; finally being involved in art, finally playing with the jazz band, finally being completely done with pit orchestra. I also never imagined a thing called 'knowledge bowl' could be so much fun. Each activity, in itself, built a memory I will forever hold. More even than the activities, the people I became close to this year have grown to be cornerstones of who I've become. Most of my good friends graduated last year and I thought I would be lost without them. The situation ended up being the exact opposite, however, and I now cannot imagine what I would be like had I never become close to my good friends now. I have watched myself, and those around me become better, stronger people. I now can say that I would not give up a second of my time here for anything. The teachers here, the other students, the opportunities and the experiences have made me what I am today.

On Empathy :: essays research papers

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1999 edition) defines empathy as: "The ability to imagine oneself in anther's place and understand the other's feelings, desires, ideas, and actions. It is a term coined in the early 20th century, equivalent to the German Einfà ¼hlung and modelled on "sympathy." The term is used with special (but not exclusive) reference to aesthetic experience. The most obvious example, perhaps, is that of the actor or singer who genuinely feels the part he is performing. With other works of art, a spectator may, by a kind of introjection, feel himself involved in what he observes or contemplates. The use of empathy is an important part of the counselling technique developed by the American psychologist Carl Rogers." Empathy is predicated upon and must, therefore, incorporate the following elements: (a) Imagination which is dependent on the ability to imagine (b) The existence of an accessible Self (self-awareness or self-consciousness) (c) The existence of an available other (other-awareness, recognizing the outside world) (d) The existence of accessible feelings, desires, ideas and representations of actions or their outcomes both in the empathizing Self ("Empathor") and in the Other, the object of empathy ("Empathee") (e) The availability of an aesthetic frame of reference (f) The availability of a moral frame of reference While (a) is presumed to be universally available to all agents (though in varying degrees) - the existence of the other components of empathy should not be taken for granted. Conditions (b) and (c), for instance, are not satisfied by people who suffer from personality disorders, such as the Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Condition (d) is not met in autistic people (e.g., those who suffer from the Asperger syndrome). Conditions (e) is so totally dependent on the specifics of the culture, period and society in which it exists - that it is rather meaningless and ambiguous as a yardstick. Condition (f) suffer from both afflictions: it is both culture-dependent AND is not satisfied in many people (such as those who suffer from the Antisocial Personality Disorder and who are devoid of any conscience or moral sense). Thus, the very existence of empathy should be questioned. It is often confused with inter-subjectivity. The latter is defined thus by "The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 1995": "This term refers to the status of being somehow accessible to at least two (usually all, in principle) minds or 'subjectivities'.

freeaw A Womans Fight for Independence in Kate Chopins The Awakening :: Chopin Awakening Essays

A Woman's Fight for Independence in The Awakening Right from the beginning the plot is almost conveniently evident. You find a woman, Edna Pontellier, tired of living her life as a pampered and "owned" wife and mother. She is searching for much more in her life, some sort of meaning for her whole existence. She searches for a long time but in the end, the inevitability of her life's pattern and direction wraps around her, suffocating her. She is overcome with wonder, confusion, and guilt for what she believes and what she does to express her beliefs. She finally finds a way to beat the "proper" 1890's lifestyle by committing suicide. During this story Edna struggles with three main opposing powers. First, there is the society's opinion of what a woman's "roles" in life was and how they should act, look, and feel. Second, is her independent nature. The last opposing power she comes across is her undying love for the charming Robert Lebrun. It is the unwritten rule that a woman should marry, have children, and be happy and content with that as their life. Society portrays this to be a woman's rightful job and duty. A woman should act and look "proper" at all times. This is what Edna is fighting against in this novel. She feels that, though many women agree with this "known" rule, it isn't fair. For six years Edna conforms to these ideas by being a "proper" wife and mother, holding Tuesday socials and going to operas, following the same enduring schedule. It is only after her summer spent at Grand Isle that her "mechanical" lifestyle becomes apparent to her. She sees how much she is unhappy with the expectations, held by society, of her life and she wishes to erase them and live her life as she wants. Edna has an independent, almost self centered, nature about her. Her need for an uncontrolled lifestyle is what leaves her feeling "owned" and wanting to break that label; she fights to do as she wishes. Little by little she breaks free of society's' image, letting her independence shine through. She cancels her Tuesday socials and helps out around the house doing little chores. The biggest step she made was her decision to move away from her mansion and into the "pigeon house", a little cottage around corner.

Different Research Methods Essay

â€Å"When it comes to their health, workers always know best.† (Workers Health International Newsletter No. 42).† Analyse the different research methods that unions and workers use to identify ill health caused by work. Introduction The topic I have chosen to look into for this assignment will be â€Å"When it comes to their health, workers always know best.† (Workers Health International Newsletter No. 42).† Analyse the different research methods that unions and workers use to identify ill health caused by work. I have chosen to look into this subject to see what different research methods are out there and what kind of information we can gather from them. I will do this by analysing and evaluating each known method, and then establishing which is more suitable for my own workplace. I intend to be able to use some of these research methods on my members and in my workplace, to see if there are any potential hazards in the workplace. After trying out some of these research methods I will collate the data and if an issue is raised create a plan of action to eliminate the problem. I also intend to share my findings with my members and present this data at the next health and safety meeting. What types of research method is there? A simple research method would be to â€Å"look and listen† by this I mean observe your surroundings, listen to members concerns, check things like the accident book or has there been a number of claims? Another type of research can be to do comparisons between different things in the workplace for example does one area have more accidents then another or does an area have additional hazards compared to others. A really useful research method for trying to find out if there is a specific health problem with your work is body mapping. Body mapping is a way of identifying common patterns of health problems amongst workers in a particular workplace or doing the same job. Whilst it is not certain that any such common ailments are work-related, it highlights areas for further investigation. A similar technique is risk mapping/hazard mapping where instead of highlighting areas of pain on the body like a body map does this highlights risks on a map of the workplace. From this map you will be able to build up a clear picture of where the hazards lie in the workplace. One of the most popular types of research is to do a survey, this may be because there are lots of different ways you can do surveys and you can tailor them to be as specific as you want. You don’t even have to come up with the questionnaire yourself as there are a lot of pre made ones online which may fulfil your needs. Another research method is to examine records to see if you can find any anomalies or similarities in the data. Records can range from asbestos registers to pesticide passports. Pros and cons of research methods Body mapping One of the pros of body mapping is that it is a simple starting point to be able to identify health problems within the workforce. Another advantage is that it is very easy to set up, and very quick to be able to participate in, even those with disabilities and those who are not English speaking can partake, which should encourage people to take part. The results can be swiftly obtained, and are clear and easy to present to management. A strength of using this method is that it can raise health and safety awareness in the workplace, and then finally body mapping can be anonymous, hopefully encouraging more members to get involved. A weakness of the body mapping method is that it is only a starting point for investigation, and it is hard to pin down to work issues, and so you would need to follow it up with different research methods, for example: surveys and discussions to try and highlight what the hazard may be. A disadvantage is that all employees’ who have taken part would need to do the same job in order for the data to work or you have to do multiple body maps (the hazards may vary from job to job). Surveys One of the advantages of using the survey method is that it can be conveyed in multiple ways, such as email, internet, paper or post. This style of research makes it easy to target large populations of people. Another pro is that the survey can be as specific or general as you like, dependent upon the questions you wish to ask. You can ask open questions which will give you detailed responses, or closed questions which are quick to interpret data from and you will get fast results. By using this method you can repeatedly use the same survey over a period of time to assess any changes that may be taking place. A disadvantage of this method is that survey design often requires special skills from the researcher in sampling proper question design and analysis. Another weakness is open questions can create a lot of data which is time consuming to analyse and it may also put people off participating. Surveys might not be accessible to all members, such as foreign workers or people with disabilities. Another drawback is that it is difficult to get people to participate as it takes too much time to complete or they cannot be bothered. Risk mapping By using the risk mapping method, it can highlight to workers any potential hazards that they may be exposed to, and any physical, chemical or biological problems that might arise when doing the job. Workplace risk mapping is a technique where workers can get together to get these concerns down on paper. This approach takes the control away from experts like health and safety professionals, by using the knowledge of workers and acknowledging the essential contribution they make, and are developed from everyday experiences. Risk maps can be enhanced if the hazards are coded using colours or symbols, it may even be possible to match these codes to areas with body mapping results. An advantage of using this method is that it can allow workers to keep track of management’s activities to remedy the hazards the map has identified. A disadvantage of the risk mapping method is workers may lack interest in the process, and wish to ignore hazards in their work area, especially if they have been doing the job for a long time, not wishing to change from what they have been doing (they may be scared of change). A weakness can be seen to be employers not enforcing the findings of the risk mapping, therefore encouraging members to work unsafely. There could be an issue with members not wanting to take part due to a worry of pressure from management to ‘get the job done’. A weakness could be that if there is a lack of commitment from employers once issues have been highlighted, there could be a delay in the risk being removed or controlled. Conclusion and recommendations After analysing various types of research methods, it is clear that no method is perfect. It seems that depending upon the type of data required, this may determine which method is best to be rolled out. Even the possibility that one research method might not be enough to get all data required (the body mapping method may only be a starting point), and so more than one method may be suitable in certain cases. From analysing this data, when approaching the workforce it may be better to use more than one approach in order to accurately report potential risks to management. This approach will not only make the data more precise, but also make the case more conclusive. After looking into all the different research methods I intend to recommend that either the TU or the company, or both utilise some of the research methods, starting with body mapping and leading on from there to other techniques.