Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Greener Forms of Generating Electricity

A power station is a facility which is used to generate electric power. iAt the center of nearly all power stations is a generator, a rotating machine that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy by creating relative motion between a magnetic field and a conductor. In Bosnia there is a lot of hydro power plants, the biggest ones are: Grabovica, Jablanica, Salkovac, Visegrad etc. There are three different types of power plants, thermal power plants, hydro power plants and solar power plants. In order to make our lives and the lives of our offspring better, we need to investigate and design new greener ways of converting mass amounts of energy into electricity. Solar power plants use an endless power, which is the sun. Beams from the sun hit mirrors which convert the suns energy into electricity. Approximately, every 7. 2 hours, 3. 6kWh electricity is produced. Solar power is clean and green and it can provide enough energy. However, the downside to this type of power is that it isn't cheap. Building a single mirror of 3. 8 meters by 1. 6 can cost up to $60. 00. These mirrors are state of the art which capture the suns light, and turn it into energy. Thermal power plants are bad for the environment because they contribute to global warming by burning fossil fuels. These power plants are still in use today, because they provide a lot of energy and coal is cheap, so it can be burned in large quantities. Most houses today are supplied either by thermal or hydro. Thermal is very bad for the environment and since the industrial revolution kicked in global temperatures have been rising. Another type of power is wind power. Wind turbines are rotary devices that get provide energy using the air. This type of technology is not to be sniffed at as wind power can sometimes provide more energy than burning coal. There is a downside to this as well. Staying green and using wind powered turbines can cost a lot of money. Staying green and investing in these ideas will matter in the future. By burning excess fossil fuels we are creating green house gasses which are heating up the planet, thus destroying a lot of environments. (2) In Bosnia, the biggest hydro power plant produces around 170. 00 cubic meters of water that reach speeds of 60 km per hour. This is enough water to fill up around 100. 000 Olympic swimming pools every day. Hydroelectric stations have been up and running for about 100 years, and since been scientists have been searching for a way to harvest the energy better. The main idea behind these power stations is to convert the energy of flowing water into the flow of electrons or electricity. Most hydroelectric stations use either water diverted around the natural drop of the river such as a waterfall or rapids. In addition to this a damn is also built across the river to raise the river to create the drop needed to provide a force. Water in the higher level is collected in the reservoir, which flows into the pipe called the pen star which carries it down to a turbine water wheel at the lower water level. The water pressure increases as it flows down the pen star, it is this pressure and flow that drives the turbine which is connected to the generator. Inside the generator is the rotor which is spun by the turbine. Electro magnets are attached to the rotor located within coils of copper wires called a starter. AS the generator rotors spin the magnets, a flow of electrons is created in the coils of the starter. This produces electricity that can be stepped up in voltage through the stations transformers and sent to this transmission lines. The following water the proceeds down the river. Most of our energy comes from the spinning of the rotor of the AC generator in power stations like Nuclear power stations, thermal and hydro power stations. An AC generator is a device which converts mechanical energy into electricity. The working of an AC generator is based on electromagnetic induction which states that whenever the flux passing through a circuit changes, an EMF is induced in it and a current begins to flow. The direction of this is given by Lenz`s law or Flemings right hand rule. Lenz`s law which is more commonly used states that the direction of the induced current is such as to oppose the very cause producing it. (1) In our homes we use open electrical circuits which is very important as with them we do not use direct current. If we were to use direct current many more fires caused by electricity would happen and appliances would not function well and they would simple burn out. We need electric circuits for everything, they are what keeps our appliances running safely. Today using thermal power plants is a big problem as it affects many factors. Countries in the EU have to follow certain conduct when it comes to power plants. For instance Nuclear power plants have to have the right materials, funding etc, thermal power plants have to have filters, can`t produced to many greenhouse gasses etc. the waste that comes out of these plants are often dumped into the rivers or oceans, this kills a lot of marine wildlife which local farmers depend on. These power plants also affect our environment; they can both help and destroy our environment. The waste produced in power plants is often thrown out in the forest, or lakes and seas. On the other hand solar and wind power can help with the environment by providing a clean way to get energy.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Influences of health care delivery

Describe one factor which influences wellness attention bringing in the UK Team working It is of import to look at how team working be improved in order to continually better the criterion of attention given to the patient. Sometimes team members will work good together but sometimes tensenesss can develop between different professionals looking after a patient. There are some state of affairss where a squad attack works better than an single one ( Pickering and Thompson, 2003 ) for case where a mixture of accomplishments is required and it can besides forestall fight where the latter may be damaging to the overall service of attention. For squad work to be effectual there must be equal administration. There can be two facets of the success of squad working, foremost how good the external aim is achieved and secondly the internal mechanics of the group embracing how good the single group members work together ( Pickering and Thompson, 2003 ) . Pickering and Thomson ( 2003 ) have summarised some of the factors which help a squad to work good and besides those factors which can adversely impact its public presentation. In the former class are ;The undertaking is focussedEveryone participates in a relaxed ambianceCommunicationConsensus determinationsAppropriate feedback and ego ratingActions clearly assigned to team membersLeadershipThingss adversely impacting squad work include the followers ;Poor communicatingMembers fostering their ain terminalsLack of leadingNo apprehension of functionsThere is inherently the possibility for a grade of struggle between professionals who are at different degrees of experience within their forte. NICE overcomes, at least the theoretical constituent of, this by doing mention to â€Å"health professionals† instead than depicting them as belong to any one peculiar group. Another disadvantage of a squad construction can be people merely go oning to work as persons, nevertheless â€Å"wo rking â€Å" together † instead than working â€Å" aboard † can excite people and consequence in new ways of undertaking old problems.† ( Davies, 2000 ) . Collaboration with other squad members is most effectual when the squad members recognise each other’s differences and besides readily accept that each member’s position from their ain professional point of view, is merely every bit valid as those of the other members. The differences through can make tensenesss. When the squad is set up single members need to hold assurance in the other squad members. There does, nevertheless necessitate to be some regulations so that certain members do non over shadow the others who need still to be heard. Troubles can originate in big squads. In some multidisciplinary squads the squad members may non all be clearly demarcated. There may be considerable convergence of functions. To assist get the better of this it is of import that the overall aim is clear to all involved and that each individual is cognizant of the duties of the other members in order to avoid duplicates and skips. Team undertakings may alter and the squad needs to be antiphonal to this with an effectual agencies of accommodating its work and even altering its members. Overwhelmingly the most of import facet of squad working is communicating and this is so in all facets of squad working. Critically measure how this influences the proviso of quality wellness attention in regard of the client ‘s professional pattern Team working has an influence on the professional pattern of chiropody in a figure of ways. Podiatry services are frequently provided as portion of a multidisciplinary squad, possibly no-where is this more evident than the podiatric attention given to people with diabetes. For this ground this subject will be analysed in greater item to analyze the of import facets of squad working. At the phase of puting up or modifying a podiatric service the chiropodist is involved as portion of a squad measuring future alterations, make up one's minding on way of alteration and puting up execution. Chiropodists as a squad will hold different countries of involvement within chiropody. For case some may hold an involvement and particular accomplishment in pediatric chiropody, others in general work, others in forensic facets. The manner they work good as a squad will act upon patient result and interaction with other services e.g. the tribunals. Another of import facet of the squad attack is the pa tient being involved as a squad member, once more peculiarly of import in diabetics. Here the chiropodist has a function in patient instruction. The different types of squad working outlined above require different accomplishments of the chiropodist. For case in the multidisciplinary squad of import qualities are a regard for others ways of working and understanding, giving and having feedback. When puting up a service leading qualities, assertiveness and coaction are of import. Multidisciplinary squad Diabetess is a peculiarly of import status for the chiropodist. It has important prevalence with high hazard of terrible wellness effects. Diabetes mellitus affects 1-2 % of the population and half of all lower limb amputations are done because of diabetic complications ( Lorimer, 2002 ) . The chiropodist has an of import function in bar of complications of the diabetic pes since 15 % of diabetic people have a pes ulcer and most leg amputations are preceded by ulceration ( Lorimer, 2002 ) . Diabetess is a multisystem upset and there is hence a demand for close affair between the different squad members who may consist ;ChiropodistDiabetologistSpecialist nurseVascular and orthopedic sawbonessOphthalmologistIn add-on the patient’s attention is frequently shared with their general practician. There are interacting pathological procedures ensuing from the effects of diabetes which contribute to the pes jobs ;Vascular coronary artery disease and little vas disease cut down blood supplyReduced blood O transporting capacityReduced opposition to infection and hapless lesion healingNeurological abnormalcies impede esthesis ; pain no longer protects against hurtPoor vision impedes the diabetic person in inspecting their pess and their manual sleight for cutting their nailsNephritic damage predisposes to oedema which compounds many of the jobs already discussed.In working as a portion of the multidisciplinary squad within diabetic attention there is a really clear undertaking focal point, which is so of import for the effectual operation of a squad attack. The St Vincent’s Declaration has the clearly defined purpose â€Å"a decrease in all lower limb amputations from sphacelus by 50 % over 5 years.† The papers â€Å"Working together to pull off diabetes† is really utile from the point of position of educating other members of the squad. It reinforces the thought of consistence of advice given to patients by different members of the multidisciplinary squad peculiarly by druggists, chiropodists, oculists and tooth doctors. An extra of import characteristic is that it promotes acknowledgment of the factors that require pressing attending by a different member of the squad. To do this work efficaciously it is of import that clear referral mechanisms are in topographic point so that the patient can be easy referred straight to the appropriate member of the squad. Knowledge of the aims of other squad members enables a proactive attack to the jobs within the other subjects. The International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot describes, in its practical guidelines, five basiss of attention in the diabetic pes ;Inspecting the pes on a regular basisDesignation of the pes at hazardEducating the patient, their household and health care suppliersAppropriate footwearTreatment of non-ulcerative pathologyThe National Service Framework for Diabetes describes agreements for pes attention for diabetics with Foot Protection Programmes for those at hazard of pes complications and to boot a Multidisciplinary Foot Care Service where the squad members here have more extended accomplishment and cognition to cover with diabetics who really have developed pes jobs or who are at particularly high hazard of so making. Involving the patient in the squad Giving advice to the diabetic patient is an of import facet of attention ( NICE 2004 ) . Patients must have pes attention instruction and advice about suited footwear. It is peculiarly damaging to the pes good being of diabetics if they smoke. It is hence of import that the chiropodist stress this and help with supplying aid about smoking surcease AIDSs. This is emphasized in the Prodigy guidelines. Since diabetes is a multisystem upset smoke will be holding an inauspicious consequence on other bodily systems. It is extremely likely that the patient will be having recommendations and advice about halting smoking from many different members of the multidisciplinary squad. This presents a peculiar challenge to the chiropodist. He or she does non desire to lose out treatment of the inauspicious effects of smoking but does non desire to be seen as yet another individual pecking about the inauspicious effects. Merely showing the information in written literature may non do, it might non be read or it might merely intensify a job of information overload. Clearly this illustrates a manner that the chiropodist must work as a portion of the squad holding wi th other squad members how to near the smoke issue and who should make this and with what grade of accent. Communication is critical if this is to work satisfactorily. For case the diabetologist needs to cognize at what degree of hazard the patient’s pess are soon in. If the pes state of affairs is become critical all avenues of trying smoking surcease will necessitate to be invoked. Similarly good diabetic control ( Turner, 1998 ) and control of blood force per unit area ( UK Prospective Diabetes Study Group, 1998 ) are to the advantage of the diabetic’s pess and the chiropodist needs as consciousness of this in order to reenforce the appropriate advice. Davies C 2000 Getting wellness professionals to work together BMJ 320:1021-1022 Diabetes Care and research in Europe 1990 The Saint Vincent Declaration. Workshop study diabetic medical specialty. 7:360 Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Foot Problems for Peoples with Diabetes. Prodigy guidelines. International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot hypertext transfer protocol: //www.iwgdf.org/ accessed 20 March 2006 Lorimer D French G O’Donnell et Al 2002 Neale’s Disorders of the pes, diagnosing and direction. Churchill Livingstone, London. McInnes 2005 Where were you on World Diabetes Day? The diabetic pes 8 4 National Service Framework for Diabetes Department of Health ( 2003 ) London National Institute for Clinical Excellence ( NICE ) guideline for type 1 diabetes in grownups ( 2002 ) , ( 2004 ) Pickering S and Thompson J, 2003 Clinical administration and best value. Churchill Livingstone. London St Vincent Declaration. Department of Health/British Diabetic Association. St Vincent joint Task Force for Diabetes. British Diabetic Association, 1995. Turner, R.C. , Holman, R.R. , Cull, C.A. et Al ( 1998 ) Intensive blood-glucose control with sulphonylureas or insulin compared with conventional intervention and hazard of complications in patients with type 2 diabetes ( UKPDS 33 ) . Lancet 352 ( 9131 ) , 837-853. UK Prospective Diabetes Study Group ( 1998 ) Tight blood force per unit area control and hazard of macrovascular and microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes. British Medical Journal 317 ( 7160 ) , 703-713. Working together to pull off diabetes – a usher for druggists, chiropodists, optomotrists and dental professionals. 2004 The National Diabetes Education Program.

Necessity is the mother of invention Essay

Introduction Rationale This research topic â€Å"necessity is the mother of invention. Evaluate this statement in relation to scientific and technological experiment.† was chosen for studying in the area of informatics study. However, the research topic was seemed to be in the philosophical term to understand the basic need of technology more than the informatics subject, which deals with creating and developing of computer study. So that this topic needed past experience and historical background to be evaluated, but didn’t need much in education background because the topic wasn’t related to the theory or language of computer study. The topic in this area was very interested for future study because it could helps in understanding and forecasting the need of society need when developing or creating new technology or inventions which lead to the success in business. These are the fact of this chosen topic. The analysis of the research topic The research question is â€Å"Necessity is the mother of invention. Evaluate this statement in relation to scientific and technological experimentation†. The key words that show the content of the question are â€Å"Necessity is the mother of invention†. The relationship of this question is to show the relation between necessity and invention that necessity is the cause of the invention or not. The requirement of the question is to prove the relationship between necessity and invention by evaluates the statement according to scientific and technological experiment. The proposes of the thesis are to show that to what extent does necessity be the mother of invention and to evaluate according to scientific and technological experimentation. Three areas were analyzed during the study. These three areas, which are communication, industry, and medicine, were studied in the area that involve in scientific and technological experimentation. The communication was studied to understand its necessity and invention of the present. The industry was studied to analyze the situation of necessity in the economical competition,  which lead to the use of invention. The medicine was studied to show why it is very necessary to human life and what are the alternative inventions that come after. So all evidences were collected to support the thesis of the research question and its purposes that the study defends an argument on the proving of the necessity that lead to the invention. The diagram on the next page shows the structure of the analysis of the research topic. Data Collection The Research Method The research was carried out in three steps. The first step was to understand the research topic by searching for definition, background history, and general information from the source books and journal articles. Then all the information was evaluated to find out which areas are mostly involved in the research topic and range, which is the scientific and technological experimentation. The second step was the collection of data to find the relevant information. The information was analyzed according to the relevancy to the research area, the objectivity of the author, and the period spent on collecting of the data. Then third step, the limitation of the information will be analysis on the certain aspects of the topic areas of the scientific and technological experimentation. Therefore, the research will focus only the necessity and invention in the areas of scientific and technological experimentation. Most of the sources that use in the research were some kinds of business and socia l case study such as â€Å"Cleft palate case in the medicine study†(Singer and Bergthold, 2001, pp.2161-2230). Annotated Bibliography Cotterell, A. (1988). An overview of research and co-operation in advanced information technology. In A. Cotterell, Advanced Information Technology in the New Industrial Society (pp.1-27). New York: Oxford University Press. Written for expert manager who involve in information technology that want to find out which technologies are matched for their business  area. This chapter describe about new technologies that involves in industry and focus on future technology. The improvements of communication and computer storage are used to compare in industry area to explain how necessity are they. Also, this chapter explains the expert system in new technology to shown that new technologies have invented new ideas in the industry. Fuglsang L. (1993). The â€Å"soft† information technologies and its critics: the risk of wild policy making in science and technology. In L. Fuglsang, Technology and New Institution (pp.54-96). Denmark: Copenhagen. Written for computer managers that involve in information system research and development of technology in future research. These chapter focuses on what invention creates by the risks which cause when new science and technology are emerging while old are crisis. The history of technology over 50 years is used to prove that risks cause necessity to create invention of new technology. Hall, B.J. (2000). Use of the pulmonary artery catheter in critically ill patients: Was invention the mother of necessity? Journal of the American Medical Association, 283(19), 2577-2578. This article has been written for doctor and hospital that involve in surgery area. This article discusses two studies regarding the use of pulmonary artery catheters in critically ill patients and the process of its future evaluation. The use of pulmonary artery catheters is necessary for the medicals and surgical intensive units (ICUs). It helps to manage critically ill patients. Singer, S., & Bergthold L. (2001). Cosmetic vs. reconstructive surgery for cleft palate: A window into medical necessity debate. Journal of the American Medical Association, 286(17), 2162-2203. This article has been written for doctor in plastic surgery and people who interest in cosmetic surgery. Medical necessity is a term that  used in most commercial health plan to create invention. This article is focus about plastic surgery for a cleft palate, and the debate about whether the surgery is cosmetic or reconstructive. But because of medical necessity can mean different things to different people and organization, so it could be both general meaning. Stewart, J. (1992). Technological change and industrial location. In J. Stewart, The Management of Science and Technology (pp.110-192). Denmark: The Australian National University. This book has been written for educator and manager that involve in information technology and works on the productive area of research. This chapter focus on Just-in-Time system, which is the new industry system that create by the competition in the world economic. Because of competition in the market industrial investment, the Just-in-Time system is used to because it is necessary to control cost and increase profit. Tate, A. N., Clayton B.S. & Gourley K.G. (2001). Development and implementation of a managed care rotation in medical necessity review: Exposing students to new opportunities. Journal of American Pharmaceutical Education, 65(3), 261-307. The purpose of this journal is for fourth-year PHD students to design a rotation in managed care through medical necessity review. The rotation involved working with the Tennessee department of Health’s TennCare Appeals Units. It shows how the impact of pharmacists can have on patients’ lives. They claim by using professional development experience to show the advantage of utilizing pharmacists. The Literature Review The five articles that are reviewed focus mainly on scientific and technological experiments, which separate into three major areas. These three areas are communication, industry, and medicine. The writers ‘s attitude toward the study of information technology and science, which are  used in society, raised a very detailed discussion and neatly analysis on the proving of necessity as mother of invention. The sub-topics in each area contain important information involve in necessity of both individual and social points of view. Evidence is provided completely from all sources and can accurately be used to prove that necessity is the mother of invention as reasons and evidences. The purpose of the review is to make a clearly analysis on these six articles toward similarities and differences in their areas. The first article, an overview of research and co-operation in advanced information technology by Arthur Cotterell, mostly represents in the area of communication. In this article, he discusses that the communication is important to the future of society. Cotterell compares the different between old and new mediums of communication, which lead to the social necessity. He explained the medium clearly in details and supported by using a city named Swindon (Cotterell, 1988, p.26), which wildly use fiber optic (medium) as his evidence. The successful of the fiber optic is picked up to prove his documents. In the second article by Jenny Stewart, â€Å"Technological change and industrial location†, represents in industry area, which focus mainly in competition in market industry investment and scarcity of natural resource for industrial manufacturing. She points and explains the effect of competition and scarcity lead to the change of new system. The Just-In-Time (JIT) system, which is a new information system, is used to compare how efficiency it is with the old system. This system is the very successful system that helps reduce and eliminate cost, waste, and speed in production. She analyse automotive industry in Australia, which success in this system, as her evidence. The smaller, more technological advanced players, and accurate in the industry is the main point of the invention in this article. The third article, which is written by Fuglsang, in the article, he expresses the meaning specifically of how and why invention is created (Fuglsang, 1993, pp.54-96). The main point of his article is to show that when the time is running and population is increasing, they cause the old invention to become crisis and it is necessary to invent something new to replace the old. This article can be used as theory and reason to explain and clearly support all three areas of communication, industry, and  medicine. The phases of invention development are used to show the steps of scientific and technological improvement. In each phase provide the evidence of the development of invention clearly since past fifty years when a manual turning-machine was created to the automatic machine are used. He also supports his evidence by using the development of American technology. He mentions that the growing application of new technologies in society creates a need, so it is very important to studies more about technology network in political process. The forth article written by Sara Singer and Linda Bergthold, they mainly represents in the area of medicine. This article focuses on medical necessity by compare the different between cosmetic surgery and reconstructive surgery. They support the document that medical necessity in the area of surgery is really necessity by using â€Å"health plans† (Singer and Bergthold, 2001, p.2162). This health plans is medical necessity standard that use permanen tly all over the world. They also comment generally that social viewing among medical necessity in surgery is also included in some case. The case of a cleft palate patient is used to analysis and discusses the different between cosmetic and reconstructive case. Then they argue and support that medical necessity determinations involving the condition that proven to be especially problematic not self-desirable. The fifth article written by Jesse B. Hall, â€Å"Use of the pulmonary artery catheter in critically ill patients: Was invention the mother of necessity?† the article show that pulmonary artery catheters is necessary to most patients that involve in heart, lung, and blood problems. He analysed this technology from 10217 patients in 34 medical and surgical intensive care units (ICUs) in 1998. According to Hall, the pulmonary artery is used in the case that no medicine can used to cure the sickness. He suggests that this invention still has high risk, so this is very necessary to improve this invention to help critically ill patients and the process of its future evaluation. All issues in five sources, which written by Arthur Cotterell, Jenny Stewart, Fuglsang, Jesse B. Hall and Sara Singer and Linda Bergthold, are considered very important to show the audience the historical and current significance of continuity about necessity as mother of invention in the term of scientific and technological experiment. This is because when the old  invention is considered as the necessity for the future improvement, the continuing improvement to the new invention will be created. Arthur Cotterell writes about the use of communication medium during the past 10 years until the use of new medium today (Cotterell, 1988, p.26). His examples of twisted pair and fiber optic cable show the fact that the why the increase of performance of new medium are used by the change in society. It shows the audience clearly the distance between time in the past and present of social necessity. This article also talks about the rapidly increases of necessity which lead to the improvem ent of new medium in the future continuously. In the issue of Jenny Stewart and Fuglsang have the similar area in the industry that also express the same meaning of need in the industry. Jenny Stewart shows the change in industry system by using automotive industry in Australia since 1990 (Stewart, 1992, p.124). Fuglsang shows the rationalization phase (Fuglsang, 1993, p.56), which is one of 4, phases in technological invention development. This phase analyses from the past 50 years of the development. Both Jenny Stewart and Fuglsang’s article shows the change in the industry, which involves in commercial interests and competition. This article helps to show the link between competition and tutorial in the industry, which leads to the use of the new invention. In the rest of the issues from Jesse B. Hall, and Sara Singer and Linda Bergthold are involved in medicine area that involve in the surgery. Jesse B. Hall talks about the result of the use of pulmonary artery catheter (Hall, 2000, pp.2577-2578). This result shows the need of cosmetic surgery among the people who have problem of the natural disable of the body and also explain the use of the invention to help solve the problem. Sara Singer and Linda Bergthold article also help to shows that since from the past the meaning of medical necessity is mean only reconstruction to the normal state of patients. Both issues from Jesse B. Hall, and Sara Singer and Linda Bergthold come form the different medical case but they have similar thesis, which are medical necessity that lead to the invention of new medical invention. All the writers come from the different areas but they have the same meaning of their issues that the continuing of the time lead to the increase of need of invention in both new and improvement. So that their issues are strongly support the statement that necessity creates the invention in the part of science and technological experimentation. There are three articles which surely are the objective of the writers when they present research their research results and evidence to support their arguments because these articles provide complete information and details of the document. The first article, which is objective, by Arthur Cotterell supports and expresses the meaning of his argument clearly by using the complete examples and information of communication mediums (Cotterell, 1988, pp.1-27). He shows the detail number of capacity, speed, range, and material made in each medium sample clearly. He also compares the different in each medium by mathematical calculation. This helps audience to easily understand the different even technical term. The second article, which is objective, from Fuglsang is objective because he has the acknowledgment from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States (Fuglsang, 1993, pp.54-96). His article and support evidences come from the case studies in Denmark, US, and Sweden. Th ey are emphasis and detail clearly on the influence of culture, organizational choices and institutional concerns through research. The third article, which is objective, from Jenny Stewart is objective because her argument and sources come from the federalism research centre (Stewart, 1992, pp.110-192). She provides the information clearly in the example of automotive industry in Australia in percentage of profit, time, competitor, and increase of product output. The other two articles from Sara Singer and Linda Bergthold, and Jesse B. Hall are not objective because they provide the information too general. It is general because the information they provide is not specific in number of result from the succession in medical treatment. Both of them show only the result from the invention by using only reasons, causes and effects after treatment (Singer and Bergthold, 2001, 2162-2203). This is because most of the article is the summary of the result of the cleft palate research, so that they just mention about the need and future development, which result from the succession of cleft palate surgery. Although they don’t provide completely information, the area that they work is in medicine area, which concentrates only the result of necessity. So that their article can express their main ideas easy and clearly understand by using reason, cause, and effect documents. By compare all the articles which each others, the information that provided by the authors are enough to support the necessity of  invention by using their specific details and information, research, reasons, causes, and effects. Their sources are considered as essential in comparative and explaining the necessity as mother of information in scientific and technological experiment. The interpretation of data is clearly in all five sources because all data can be analyse to evaluate the need of the research topic in relation to scientific and technological experiment easily. The relationship between the necessity and the invention is linked in clearly understand. There are three different ways in their interpretation of data. The first way is represented by the article of Arthur Cotterell. He interprets his information by explain the detail of old communication medium and new communication medium in technical term and estimated calculation of speed, capacity, and range. For example, he explains that twisted-pair could carry 10Khz but if compare with fiber optic (Cotterell, 1988, p.26), fiber optic is faster than twisted-pair million times. He also clarifies the use of fiber optic that it uses in linking between two or more networks and twisted-pair uses in local phone line. The second way is represented by Fuglsang and Jenny Stewart. They interpret their sources by using the result of the time in the industrial development. They show the change and need since from the past and result of it in the present. The time between standardization and rationalization is used by the author to show the relation of the improvement of the invention from first creation to the first development (Fuglsang, 1993, 56-56). The third way is represented by Sara Singer and Linda Bergthold, and Jesse B. Hall. They interpret their sources by using the result of their information, which is the specific in medication. They summarize the result of medication from the patient and use it to support their argument. The research result of the patient in a cleft palate case is used to analysis the term of medical necessity in the surgery area of medicine. The result after the surgery is used to compare that the surgery is reconstructive surgery not cosmetic surgery. In comparison of all the writers, they interpret all data clearly. All the data are separated into three areas, which Arthur Cotterell is in communication area, Fuglsang and Jenny Stewart are in Industry area, and Singer S. and Linda Bergthold, and Hall are in medicine area. There interpretation of data can support each others and express their  understanding in analyse that necessity as mother of invention clearly. There are three articles that are conducted the research thoroughly in order to prove the points by the writers. The complete research could help the claim of research topic to become more strong and reliable without being counter by other argument. Arthur Cotterell, Singer S. and Linda Bergthold, and Jenny Stewart are the writers who do their research thoroughly. Arthur Cotterell researches neatly on the information system research, which express all the meaning, material used, quality, and performance of each medium between communications clearly (Cotterell, 1988, p.15-27). He use a city name Swindon to do his research. This city is widely use in fiber optic and coaxial cable to link between communication which mean that it is a very efficiency sources to use on communication research. Singer S. and Linda Bergthold research on the medical necessity on surgery course. They use a patient who was born with cleft palate problem as their research (Singer and Bergthold, 2001, pp.2162-218 0). They clearly research on the result before and after that patient take the surgery. They also research on the health plan of the medical standard and analyse it with medical theory as the reconstructive medication. Jenny Stewart researches on the Australia industry. She finds out that the reasons of necessity in industry come from the competition, which lead to the need of more flexible, fast, and efficiency technology(Stewart, 1992, p.124-192). This led her to find out the new system, Just-in-Time system, and research it on the Australia automotive industry. She has the result of how efficiency and profitability it is. The other sources from Fuglsang and Jesse B. Hall are not researched thoroughly because they get the information from general source directly without fully detail. Fuglsang picks up the history to speak to support the argument but the detail on his suggestion seem not clear on details and analysis. From Arthur Cotterell, Singer S., and Linda Bergthold, and Jenny Stewart research, they are very to understand their point of view from their research and directly connect audience to the understanding. The clearly details and information of their research link their ideas to the necessity as mother of invention in the scientific and technological experiment. From five sources, there are four sources that provide practical and  realistic suggestion by the writers. The practical and realistic of suggestion can help the article to become more clear and ease of understanding. First is Jenney Stewart, she suggests that future of the industry needs smaller, more technological advanced players, and accuracy (Stewart, 1992, p.125). The writer suggestion shows that her study is very important to the use of technology for the future use. Her suggestion is proved by her comparative of old technology and new technology that show the change of size, quality, quantity, and speed. Second is Arthur Cotterell, he suggested that by the help of computer-aided design would help to avoid a lot of tentative material cutting. The writer suggestion shows that his study is very important for the industry to increase their performance of the system. This is very useful in showing the relationship between necessity and invention. Third is Sara Singer and Linda Bergthold, they suggest that cosmetic or treatments intended primarily to improve appearance is exclude in medical necessity standard (Singer and Bergthold, 2001, p.2162). The writers’ suggestions are used for people to understand that the purpose of surgery is different in some case because some case could count as personal desirable such as cosmetic. This shows the relation between medical necessity and invention clearly. They support their suggestion by evaluate the cleft palate in the medical necessity term and health plans. Forth is Fuglsang, he suggests that the growing application of new technologies in society creates a need to assign a more offensive and organized role to technology studies networks in the political process. This suggestion shows that his detail on study is very important for who is interested in technological development. The writer proves his suggestion by evaluate and show the need over past 50 years of the development of information and communication technologies in four phases (Fuglsang, 1993, p.55-58). From all the suggestion of all writers could help the audience to know what are the main interests in on the articles of the writers, which are very useful. There is no surely use of expert opinion from all the writers. They haven’t pick up any expert opinion but they adapt to use another people and place from other sources as their expert opinion. The expert opinion on the article of Sara Singer and Linda Bergthold is not mentioned clearly. They  use the term physician as their expert opinion to help support their argument in consider appropriate medication for a patient, such as treatment intended primarily to improve appearance. As same as Sara Singer and Linda Bergthold, Jenny Stewart doesn’t use expert opinion but she uses other opinion, Lamming (1998), who is one from her source. Lamming talks about the industry remaining effectively in â€Å"stress period†. This opinion helps audience understand the best period of industry development. In the article of Fuglsang L., this writer use Sloth Andersen and Slavo Radosevic, who are not mention clearly who are they, as the expert opinion. They talk about an innovation forum, which help to support the writer about the change of technology during a century so that the view of technological change would be see as the important to the new invention. The rest of the writers do not have any expert opinion to support their argument. But in the case of their writing, the support of expert opinion is not important because the evidences and examples are enough to call as expert opinion in the case of science and technological experiment. In conclusion, all of the five articles are clearly review, analyse, and can be reliable. All the sources talks in the areas of communication, industry, and medicine by using variety of evidence and alternative ways of using expert opinion. The objectivity of each writers are confirm in all sources and the interpretation are very clear. The thoroughness of treatment of the subject matter could confidentially be used from the analysis. Each suggestion from all writers are mentioned mostly point to the future use and analysis. For further research the study of more variety of necessity in creating invention must be more research and study to express their meaning widely in different area. This could help to look and analysis more widely in today and future development of invention. But the main point of all reviews is to find out the best ways to the result of successful future. The Limitations of research This research limited by certain factors. The research was limited by some limitations of the topic. The personal factor was caused by the research topic is not directly related to the past experience and educational  background but mostly related to the philosophical area which is not computer study. This caused the lack of some specific or direct information that could help analyze the topic more efficiency. Another reason is the topic question is some kind of question that can answer in two ways that people could agree and disagree depends one the personal opinion so that the degree of the answer to the question is not strong enough. This caused some part of the argument easy to be counter by some situation in both side of agree and disagree. The suggestions for future study The problems of limitation of research need some suggestions to be made for future study. Firstly to solve the problem of lacking in specific education background, this research needs the specific education of philosophy and psychology to help provide more specific and strong supported information for the term of human necessity. This can help to improve the supported argument of the essay to become more reliable. This future study can do by focus on the continuous of inventions in each area in term of psychology, which will be very helpful in this research. The research doesn’t need to find out the started point or the first creation of the invention because this essay was only focusing in present invention. Second future study is by searching more support from the expert opinion to help solve the limitation of unstable argument due to the meaning of research topic, which is too wide in general. The more researched findings of supported expert opinions can strongly help to support the argument and make the research become more reliable. This could be done by focus on the expert opinions that involve in the succession in each area of industry, medicine, and communication. The success of expert opinions is more reliable and couldn’t be counter by other argument easily. In conclusion, if all suggestions of future study are completely finished the research will not have any blank spaces to be counter by other counter argument.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Art and culture in China Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Art and culture in China - Assignment Example 6. In western countries, children are brought up to be self-dependent capable and are motivated to be egocentric. On the other hand, the Asian raise their children to do what is expected of them and the children are taught to be modest and obedient to rule. In other words, Westerners teach their children to be action-oriented (noun) while Asian teaches their children to the receptor-oriented (verb). 7. Asian refuse to see things staying the same, they believe in change. For instance, the can name one thing using different names like a mountain, just to satisfy the curiosity that things the â€Å"being† is changing. 8. Westerners believe in seeing and believing while Asians believe that seeing is a result of the object showing up. In other words, the marble appears blue because one has seen and believed it is blue and the marble appears blue because that is how it wants to appear. 10. The word â€Å"atom† came as a result of analyzing matter up to the point it could not be divided any longer, in the process the word â€Å"analyze† came into existence. This Greek word was used to mean splitting up something into parts that could easily be understood. In order to gain better understanding of someone’s character, one must analyze them until the point they can’t be analyzed (Leung, 6). Westerners ask someone what they should do for them, this differ with what Asian do. Asian goes to the extent of going further and doing what they think others want for instance being kind to others. 11. According to Western approaches, the different contexts have no great impact so long as the pot rat is of a similar thing. However, to the Asian, who value change, they see the different contexts as an opportunity for revealing new traits of the portrait. 1. Ego-centric projection when learning languages like English is a problem because the observer and the object must be one for them to understand. In the case of a

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Human Resource Reflecting Paper - on The Cane Mutiny Article Essay

Human Resource Reflecting Paper - on The Cane Mutiny Article - Essay Example Frank was worried about the potential demographic situation of Germany which implicated that the average age of German population was on a steady rise, and what effect it would have on the personnel of a midsize pharmaceutical firm like Medignostics. Frank’s other proposal which was to open day care centers for the children of young employees were also met with skepticism from Erwin. Frank wanted to emphasize the need of day care centers to facilitate young parents since the options of changing schools for children would make them join rival firms. Erwin saw this proposal as increased cost that would be detrimental to the company (Geissler, 2005). I feel that Frank should have consolidated his proposal with sufficient data and facts. In order to convince the executive management about personnel matters it is necessary for HR manager to present his argument in a manner that is comprehensible for the top team. If Frank wanted his HR strategy to be considered, then he should have given a clear picture of the negative consequences if a business enterprise ignores the demographic issue. He should have clearly stated how the growing average age of population would affect hiring of personnel, their costs, performance and innovation. A problem appeared among the older employees who are near retirement age when Part-Time Statute for the Elderly was implemented which paved the way for easy retirement of older workers so that there would be job vacancy for the younger aspirants. This program was subsequently scrapped since proved to be costly to the company and this directly affected older personnel. For instance, Matthias Hausmann who was 58 years old had worked for the company for over 20 years. He regularly made himself absent in the office which resulted in his unavailability during decisions to be made or when clients needed him. This was proving to be a loss to the company as clients were moving their business elsewhere thus hurting productivity. Moreover, th e salary structure indicated that older employees receive more than the younger group, and this must be restructured to consider the stress-related cardiovascular diseases more common among the middle-aged group. Another feature that must be considered is the need of continuous appropriate training of older workers so that they remain productive till their retiring age. This will also reduce the difference of technological know-how between the young managers and their older subordinates. I feel that Frank should have stressed on the fact that older employees needed to be utilized efficiently to ensure better products that would capture larger market. Although it is not known about the details of Frank’s strategies, I think it should include an internal program to create awareness among the employees about the demography and its practical impact on the company. I also support Frank’s theory of starting day care centers within the company as this would benefit the young employees. In this era of severe competition when firms fight to hire and retain qualified professionals, it is prudent for companies to prove themselves as family friendly. Of course, he needs to oversee the costs involved in establishing and staffing a day care center. If the costs seem to be detrimental considering Medignostics is a midsize firm, he can suggest alternative proposals like joining with other firms to establish day care center that would benefit the

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Renewable Energy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Renewable Energy - Essay Example The Atoms for Peace (2010) described renewable energy as â€Å"a source of energy or power that has the capacity to replenish itself. Renewable energy can sometimes be called infinite energy, because it relies on energy that is in infinite supply. Renewable energy is also considered clean energy, because it does not produce toxins or pollutants that are harmful to the environment in the same manner that non-renewable energy does. Thus, renewable energy is also known as green or clean energy† (Atoms, 2010, pars. 1 & 2). The . The alternative fuel sources such as solar power, wind power, geothermal, biofuel and tidal power have ultimately been proven and needed to sustain life and uphold the objective of providing a cleaner and healthier environment as a legacy to the next generations to come. Potentials for renewable energy sources actually abound. Ironically, despite man’s rapid growth and development, the most plausible alternative sources which remain to be available are the wind, tide and sun. These are not only renewable but perpetual. The essay hereby aims to proffer relevant aspects of hydrogen as fuel for transportation of the future. Specifically, the discourse would perform a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis on hydrogen as a direct combustible fuel for transport by 2025. Inititally, hydrogen would be discussed in terms of qualifying it as a portable energy storage method, rather than a renewable energy, per se. Prior to the presentation of a SWOT analysis on hydrogen as fuel for transport, a general discussion of the benefits of renewable energy would be enumerated, as well as its disadvantages, to highlight evaluative factors of renewable energy, as a whole. The utilization of renewable and alternative energy sources with emphasis on utilizing solar energy, the tides and the wind could provide man with the following benefits. There are advantages which are clearly identified in utilizing alternative fuel sources. Among

Friday, July 26, 2019

Television Interview with Bill Mckibben Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Television Interview with Bill Mckibben - Essay Example Human being shave not left the earth alone. They are carrying out activities that may significantly change not only the earth but also its climate. In this regard, carbon dioxide has been recognized as the main culprit. In fact, the single activity that would be most likely to have a significant impact on climatic conditions is burning of gas, oil, coal and other fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are made up of carbon and therefore burning them would produce carbon dioxide. Since the early 19th century, when the burning of fossil fuels in large quantities began, the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have increased by more than thirty percent. This has led to an increase in global temperatures from 1 to 2 degrees Fahrenheit. While this may appear to be a minor and even inconsequential increase in temperatures, it has had devastating effects. Numerous books, journals, essays and magazines have been written to this effect and an equally large number of propositions made on how to salv age the situations to save planet earth or even mitigate the effects. No other book captures more graphically the grim picture pertaining to climate change as Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet, by Bill McKibben. The following is an excerpt of a television interview in which Bill McKibben talks about the book in particular and climate change in general. With him is a panel of media pundits (Stanley who is hosting the show, Joyce and Craig) and Richard (from Africa), all bound to express their views on the issue as well. Stanley: Bill, thank you for honoring our invitation and welcome to this show. Quite a lot has been said about climate change and your book has extensively touched on the issue. Please enlighten us on the views expressed in the book. Bill: Thank you Stanley. As you have said, climatic changes have been a major concern more so in the recent times. While most of our governments are flirting with the issue, it is important to acknowledge that the implications o f climate change and global warming are quite severe. Look at the changes that have been experienced in many parts of the world. The environmental news has actually deteriorated. Have we not seen ice caps vanishing, oceans acidifying and crops failing more than we have ever seen in the past? Can our forefathers recognize this earth if they were to rise from their graves? I doubt that. We are no longer living in planet earth as they knew it but rather Eaarth. Unfortunately all this has been caused by insensitive human activity. Craig: With all due respect Bill, don’t you think we are overlooking quite a number of things in this respect. I definitely agree that there has been a significant rise in the temperatures as to cause all those things that you have talked of. However, it is important to acknowledge that we know very little about the environment, pertaining to its history, its current state or even how we can protect and conserve it. The debate that we hold actually over states the level of existing knowledge as well as its certainty. Of course I agree that carbon dioxide levels are increasing in the atmosphere and human activity is actually the main culprit. However, how can you be sure that this is the cause of increase in temperature and the consequent changes while we are in the middle of a natural trend of global warming that kicked of around mid 19th century just when we were emerging from the â€Å"Little Ice Age†

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Final exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Final exam - Essay Example Market economy is that genre of the economy in which choices are taken on the base of  market demand and supply. Manufacturers are liberated to manufacture. They  will manufacture the goods which are high in order and will offer maximum profit plus customers are liberated to use those goods and or services which provides them maximum pleasure. Market economy is well known as liberated economy, that is, without the intercession of the regime. In this type of economy, consumers make a decision of the responds to the three queries (Punzo et al., 2005).   They perform this by their choices of what to purchase.   No one advises companies what to manufacture they make anything they think will put up for sale.   If they decide wrong, they go out of selling.   Most industrial economies nowadays are mainly market economies.   The US, Germany and Japan are entirely market economies. In market economies, financial decisions are prepared by individual persons. The free interaction of individuals plus companies in the market determines how resources are owed and goods are disseminated. Persons choose how to spend their individual resources, what guidance to pursue, what occupations to take, what goods and or services to manufacture. ... For the traditional economy, the three queries get responded to by referring to custom. What is made is what has at all times been made, in the method it has at all times been made, etc.   There are no actually any countries whose entire economies are customary.   The most adjoining one can get to this is Afghanistan or Bhutan (Haddad, 2002). These are places where there is small connection to the worldwide economy. The labor that people perform, the goods plus services they offer, how they use and trade resources, all are apt to pursue long-established outlines. The economic systems are not very vibrant, because things do not revolutionize very much. Living standards are static; persons do not enjoy much economic or professional mobility. Nevertheless, economic behaviors plus relationships are conventional. In several traditional economies, society interests take priority over the persons. Individuals may be anticipated to unite their efforts and divide equally in the profits of their work. In further traditional economies, a number of them sort of personal property is esteemed, but it is reserved by a tough set of compulsions that individuals are obliged to their community (Haddad, 2002). In the command economic system, also referred to as planned economy, the regime controls the financial system. The nation decides how to make use of and dispense resources. The regime regulates prices and salaries; it may also determine what kinds of work persons do. Socialism is a kind of this kind of economic genre. Historically, the regime has unspecified varying levels of power over the financial system in collective countries. In a few, only chief industries have been issued to regime management; in others, the regime has exercised far more widespread control over

Management decisions & control Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Management decisions & control - Research Paper Example The quest for growth which is majorly motivated by the company’s marketing design of maintaining retail stores as well its good business environment has come with a number of challenges. The company has in the recent years grappled the control problems ranging from quality control to management control and these issues have come with significant image considerations. Another very important problem the company has to and continues to face revolves around the supply chain owing to its vast network of stores which are located in very different locations. The company’s business proposition identified it as a home of solutions for athletic and sport apparel increasing sales considerably as well as growth but this may have misguided the growth strategy. The company recorded a very fast movement of products in some cases merchandise getting out of stock in stores within just three days. The rapid expansion also placed significant amounts of pressure on the supply chain; many stores were opened rapidly to increase presence and brand visibility and some of the stores were in total very bad locations with little sales are no demand for merchandise at all. Managing the inventory continued to be the most pressing problem that the company had to fix in a time when its stock price had started declining, sales had significantly gone down and competition was it its peak. Those stores located in the coastal regions for example frequently ran out of stock for smaller sizes of merchandise and this negatively impacted on sales, image and customer trust. At the same time those retail stores in other places for instance in Midwest recorded high sales in terms of large sizes of merchandise which also was fast going out of stock. This meant the company had a constant challenge with the management of its inventory and this inventory related had negative image on

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Can soft power prevent Anti-Americanism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Can soft power prevent Anti-Americanism - Essay Example hape what others want†, while hard power is â€Å"the ability to change what others do.† Hard power draws upon factors like military might and economic strength and is therefore coercive in nature while soft power banks upon cultural appeal and influencing others through means like institutions and ideological values and norms. The rise in the Anti-American sentiment in the world after the episode of the terror attacks of 9/11 and the attacks on Afghanistan and then Iraq by USA in response to the terrorist attacks, gave rise to the idea that soft power may help the American foreign policy makers in coping up with the problem. But even before determining how far soft power can take USA in improving its image in the world we need to first analyse how bad America’s existent image is in the world and which parts of the world are these where anti-Americanism needs to be combated if at all. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union which brought an end to Cold War, the United States of America stood as the sole powerful state which yielded power in almost all spheres including military, economic, technological, cultural, etc., so much so that the world had no other prospective competitor which could challenge the might of the USA. This change of events in the 1990s meant that the world was now uni-polar and USA was its only pole of power. With the onset of the 21st century however, it is believed that USA will not long be able to maintain this position as the sole super power of the world and as we speak this moment the power dynamics of the world are undergoing a great change and reorientation. â€Å"Some observers believe that the American era is coming to an end, as the Western-oriented world order is replaced by one increasingly dominated by the East† (Ikenberry, 2002) The growing power of China in Economic and diplomatic spheres for some is an indication of likely power struggle between USA and China which will soon ensue as a result of the challenge which

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Organ black market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Organ black market - Essay Example People have to stay on waiting lists for years before they may ultimately get an organ that can replace their organ which does not function normally. During this period, patients even end up losing their lives as a result of organ failure. Transplantation of organs is very essential for certain individuals, selling organs on the black market is unethical as the act is against the foundations of organ donation, increases the expenditure of the donor and increases cost for the society. Body Presumed Consent Donation of organ is the act of giving a gift or voluntarily donating an organ to another person. When organ transplantation started taking place, the consent of the donor and his family was given great importance and without their consent organ donation and transplantation could not take place. Due to this, there was a shortage of organs available in the market and nations started applying presumed consent system. Presumed consent refers to one’s belief that a person or his family members have no objection regarding transplantation of organs of a dead individual. Presumed consent may not take place if the family members stop or disallow the transplantation procedure (Devettere 401). Due to presumed consent, ample numbers of patients who need organ donations have started gaining access to organs but the number is still quite low due to the existence of black markets. Because of the existence of black markets, presumed consent can not be practiced in an efficient manner as people prefer selling their organs in the black market rather donating it and this is a common practice in developing nations. Regulating Markets and Black Markets The huge amount of difference between the demand for organs and supply of organs has resulted in an increase in black markets for organs. The demand for organs is much higher than the supply throughout the world; this has made policy makers take measures to counter the difference between the demand and supply. This has led n ations such as Singapore to reimburse and provide incentives to donors in order to encourage them to donate their organs (Cooper 15). Nations such as Singapore are even investing heavily in the procedure of donation and this is a very high cost to the donor in financial terms. The government and policy makers have taken steps such as paying for the transplant procedure and expenses that are bared by donors after the procedure has taken place. A major challenge recognized for the activities conducted by nations is the challenge known as transplant commercialism. Transplant commercialism is referred to the treatment of organs as a commodity which results in the buying and selling of organs and which increases the act of organ trafficking (Danovitch 443). Transplant commercialism is recognized as an unethical act because it shakes the very foundations of organ donation. Policy makers have realized that the nations that are providing incentives for organ donation are conducting an uneth ical act of reimbursing donors in return for their organs. On the other hand, policy makers do not restrict reimbursements. This will not leave the donor with a financial reward and will neither result in a disadvantage to him. According to the utilitarian view of ethics, all activities that are considered ethical must provide the optimum level of benefit to the society. If one views organ donation black

Monday, July 22, 2019

Reduce,Reuse and Reclycle Essay Example for Free

Reduce,Reuse and Reclycle Essay Practicing these three steps (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) helps us lessen the environmental impact that manufacturing and distributing products have on our environment. Reducing waste is the most effective 3 R practice, because it means not producing unnecessary waste in the first place – So there is zero impact on the environment. If we reduce what we buy and use in the first place and reuse wherever possible, fewer things need to be recycled and the amount of waste we produce will fall. The next best is Reuse, because it extends the life of a product. That item still had to be made but it is used over and over, reducing the need to make new stuff. Recycling in the end is the reprocessing of materials. It helps reduce pollution caused by waste and the need of raw material so that rainforests can be preserved. BENEFITS: We are going to give you some tips and practical examples how to save money, energy and the environment. 1. Do not waste food, make sure that you buy what you are going to consume, give leftovers to your pets or discard them in a responsible way. (Environmental friendly). 2. Grow your own vegetable, fruits, and flowers. 3.  When you leave a room always turn the lights off – Do not forget to switch off all the electrical equipment’s, turn down your emersion heater. 4. Instead of using dishwasher, wash dishes by hands from the sink 5. Always turn the tap off when you wash your teeth. You do not need the tap running when you are brushing your teeth. 6. Instead of buying a lot of books, you can borrow from the library or charity shops. 7. Do not automatically get rid of your old newspaper; use it in place of paper towels to clean glasses and mirrors. Shred it to make packaging materials, use it as a fire starter. 8.  Reuse junk mail envelops for your own mail. Just put a label over the see through window or if the envelop has a bar code at the bottom, run a black marker through it. 9. Do not dump water you use to cook vegetable; water your plants with it. 10. Use the public transport (trains, undergrounds) rather than cars to reduce pollution. ADVANTAGES OF RECYCLING: Recycling uses much less energy than producing new materials from scratch. This means less fossil fuel is burnt and less greenhouse gas is emitted. The vast majority of materials collected from your doorstep are recycled and used in the UK. This means less fuel is used to export waste and import new materials. Recycling helps to reduce pollution, Co2 emissions caused by waste and preserve natural resources for futures generations. Recycling is one of the best ways for you to have a positive impact on the planet in which we live. It is so important to both, the natural environment and us (Human beings). N. B: However, recycling still creates some pollution because it is an industrial process. That’s why â€Å"Reduce and Reuse† are the most important of the 3 R practice. Did you know? Recycling Aluminium uses only five per cent of the energy and emissions needed to make it from raw materials. Each year in the UK, we go through over 1. 2 million Tonnes of electrical waste. (That’s the equivalent of 150 Thousand double decker buses). Prevention is better than cure as the doctors say. Therefore, we must act fast as the amount of waste we create is increasing all the time. We are going to conclude our topic with this wise and pertinent citation of Margaret Mead: â€Å"Never doubt a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. †

Sunday, July 21, 2019

The Zika Virus (ZV): Causes and Features

The Zika Virus (ZV): Causes and Features The Zika Virus (ZV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that is transmitted by Aedes species, specifically A. aegypti, africanus, and the albopictus mosquitoes.1,2,3 ZV has recently gained global concern as recent outbreaks have occurred in the Americas. However, the virus was first isolated in 1947 from a macaque monkey in the Zika forest located in Uganda. The virus migrated to the Southeast Asian countries in 1945; the first human case was reported in Nigeria in 1952. Multiple epidemics have been reported since its first reported case in 1952. The first large scale outbreak occurred on Yap Island, Micronesia in 2007. Between April and July 2007, there were 49 confirmed and 59 probable cases of the ZV infection.4 During this time, no deaths were reported. Of the 6,982 Yap Island residents that were at least three years of age, 5,005 (roughly 73%) were estimated to be infected with ZV during this outbreak.4 The second major outbreak occurred in the French Polynesia between October 2013 and February 2014. As of February 14, 2014, 8,510 suspected cases were reported.5 The largest and current outbreak in the Americas began in Brazil. Brazils first reported locally transmitted case in Brazil occurred May 2015. The ZV entry into Brazil is not clear; however, it is proposed that travelers from ZV-infected areas of Chile, Asia, and Africa brought it during 2014 sporting events. This outbreak brought ZV back into the news as many athletes became weary of contracting ZV while participating in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. Based on rates of asymptomatic infection, an estimated 500,000 to 1.5 million people in Brazil were affected with ZV.6 As of January 18, 2017, there are 738,783 confirmed cases, with the highest number of cases reported in Brazil, Columbia, and Venezuela.6 Mexico, Central America, the United States, and the Caribbean including the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico reported confirmed cases of the virus. Regions outside of the Americas, specifically Singapore, Thailand, and Cape Verde reported confirmed cases of ZV. In January 2016, a traveler returning from Latin America to Texas reported the first U.S. case of ZV infection. As of March 22, 2017, more than 5,100 cases of ZV were reported.7 Of those reported, 4,861 cases were travel-related, 1,617 cases occurred in pregnant women, and 45 cases were sexually transmitted.8,9,10 The first case of transmission within the U.S. was in Florida. Those who were traveling to the U.S. from other affected areas reported many of the subsequent ZV cases. Every state has reported laboratory-confirmed symptomatic ZV disease. Only Florida and Texas have reported local-transmission of ZV.9 ZV is a member of the virus family Flaviviridae. The Flaviviruses include arboviruses that are transmitted through mosquitoes to humans. Ranging from 40-50 nm in diameter, the Flaviviruses are positive-sense and single-stranded RNA. The ZV is an icosahedral capsid enveloped virus. Several small proteins surround the RNA genome; the capsid proteins cover the core, creating its icosahedral shape. The lipid bilayer envelope membrane contains both the membrane and the envelope proteins, which are glycosylated in many flaviviruses.11 Vectors, generally mosquitoes, are infected when they feed on viremic hosts. Humans are generally the accidental hosts. The mosquitoes will take a blood meal from an infected host and transmit it to another individual. In the U.S., these mosquito vectors are isolated to the southeastern states. Aerosols or contaminated food products can also transmit Flaviviruses; however, this only occurs under certain circumstances. Other diseases associated with Flaviviruses include Japanese encephalitis, yellow fever, dengue fever, chikungunya fever, and hemorrhagic fever. ZV is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) that infects their vectors after ingestion of a blood meal from aviremic non-human vertebrate. Some arthropods can be infected by saliva-infected transmission. The arthropod vectors develop chronic systemic infections as the virus will penetrate the gut and spread to the salivary glands. This dissemination to the salivary glands is known as extrinsic incubation, which lasts about 1-3 weeks in mosquitoes.12 The mosquito is not harmed by the infection. The ZV pathogen has two lineages that are based on phylogenetic analysis of viral envelope proteins:13 the African and Asian lineages. The African lineage is primarily restricted to the African countries of Central African Republic, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Uganda. The Asian lineage seems to be the strand that has been seen in recent outbreaks. This lineage has been circulating in the Southeast Asian countries since the 1950s, in French Polynesia in 2013, and the Americas in 2015. ZV is primarily transmitted by a bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. Humans are the likely main reservoirs; however, during outbreaks, human-to-vector-to-human transmission is common. Other modes of transmission of ZV are sexual transmission and maternal-fetal transmission during pregnancy. The estimated reproduction number of ZV infection during the Columbia epidemic in 2015-2016 ranged 2.2-14.8.14 During the Yap Island and French Polynesia epidemics, the estimated reproduction number ranged 4.3-5.815, that is comparable to dengue and chikungunya fevers, which are from the same family as ZV. Various sexual transmission has been reported: multiple cases of male to female transmission in the U.S. between January-April 201615, one case of male-to-male anal intercourse17, one case of female-to-male transmission18, and an asymptomatic case of male-to- female transmission.19 The duration of ZV RNA persistence in semen has been monitored to determine the degree of ZV infectivity. Detection of the viral RNA in semen was found up to 188 days after symptom onset in an Italian man who contracted ZV infection while traveling in Haiti.20 Additionally, it was found that ZV was found in semen up to 92 days after the illness onset.21 Various reports regarding vaginal secretions and bodily fluids have been monitored for ZV infectivity as well. Viral RNA in vaginal secretions were found up to 14 days after symptom onset.22 Viral RNA has been detected in urine and saliva in 54 days and serum up to 67 days.23 These findings were monitored in an infant whose mother displayed ZV infection symptoms during week 26 of her pregnancy and tested positive for ZV after birth. No reports of ZV in other bodily fluids of the reproductive tracts, specifically the follicular fluid, have been identified. There are potential modes of transmission that have been explored and discussed. Blood transfusion or blood products and breast-feeding have been linked to possible transmission.2 Viral RNA has been detected in the breast milk of those women who have been infected. There was a detection of ZV and viral RNA in breast milk collected 4 days postpartum from a woman who developed ZV symptoms during prenatal period.24 Breast-feeding is not a confirmed route of transmission, as it has not yet been thoroughly evaluated. Kissing is not a confirmed route of transmission. However, one case of transmission was reported from an elderly patient with a high viral load to a family member who reported kissing and hugging an infected patient, but had no known direct contact with infected bodily fluids.25 Saliva, urine, and conjunctival fluid have been detected sources, but transmission has not been confirmed. The incubation period of the ZV is usually 3-12 days. About 75-80% of ZV infections are asymptomatic.1 If ZV becomes symptomatic, disease is generally mild. Common symptoms include rash, fever, joint pain (known as arthralgia), and conjunctivitis. Symptoms generally resolve within a week. Pathogenesis of the ZV is not well studied; early data indicates that ZV will infect and replicate in dermal fibroblasts, epidermal keratinocytes, and immature dendritic cells.26 Infected epidermal keratinocytes will undergo apoptotic cell death. The viral replication prompts an innate immune response. As a result, type I interferons in infected cells are produced. The risk factors that put an individual at a greater risk for contracting ZV are those who live or travel to endemic or epidemic areas, mosquito exposure, and unprotected sexual contact with someone who has recently traveled to areas with active transmission. To determine if an individual is at risk, asking patients about travel history to ZV-infected areas, noting specific dates and location of travel, and discussing risk factors for transmission are important. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded that ZV is a cause of microcephaly and other severe fatal neural defects, such as Guillain-Barrà © Syndrome. This is a complication associated with pregnancy. The CDC has determined this based on epidemiologic evidence showing an increase number of infants born with microcephaly during the French Polynesian and Brazilian outbreaks.3 Through cohort and case series studies, the CDC has found a cause and effect between the ZV and various brain defects, such as microcephaly, cerebral malformation, intracranial calcifications, neurologic dysfunction, and ophthalmologic abnormalities.3 Various studies have detected ZV in brain tissue of affected fetuses. Brain tissue was collected from infants with microcephaly who later died and in the placenta of mothers who suffered a miscarriage. As of result of these findings, the CDC has established two surveillance systems to monitor pregnancies and congenital outcomes in women with ZV infection: The U.S. Zika Pregnancy Registry and Zika Active Pregnancy Surveillance System (ZAPSS) for women in Puerto Rico. Due to the CDC findings regarding malformations of embryos, ZV is considered teratogenic. Microcephaly is a common defect of infants that have contracted ZV from their mothers. Microcephaly is a condition where a baby is born with a smaller than normal head or the head stops growing after birth.27 Because there is a delay in the growth of a head, there are neural developmental abnormalities. Babies born with microcephaly typically have physical and learning disabilities as they continue to grow and age. During ZV outbreaks, there was an increased incidence of microcephaly reported. During the 2013 French Polynesia outbreak, 8,750 suspected ZV cases were reported.28 Estimated risk of microcephaly reported 95 cases per 10,000 women who contracted ZV in the first trimester, while the baseline microcephaly prevalence for that area was two per 10,000 neonates.28 In 2015, an annual rate of microcephaly in Brazil increased from 5.7 cases per 100,000 live birth in 2014 to 99.7 cases per 100,000 in 2015.29 For diagnosing ZV, polymerase chain reaction, specifically quantitative or qualitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is considered the gold standard. RT-PCR distinguishes ZV from other flaviviruses such as dengue and chikungunya fevers. This test can be performed on serum, urine, or blood; however, serum and urine are commonly used. Sensitivity of RT-PCR can vary within 14 days of symptom onset. If symptoms are less than 14 days from onset, it is recommended that RT-PCR of urine or serum samples be performed. Cohort studies have found that RT-PCR of plasma samples appear more sensitive than RT-PCR of urine samples within the first 5 days of symptomatic ZV infection.30 In addition to performing RT-PCR, a physical examination must be done to diagnosis ZV. During physical examination, a clinician should examine a patient for fever, maculopapular rash, arthralgia, and conjunctivitis. Most symptomatic patients will present with rash and conjunctivitis.1,2 Clinicians should access the patients risk of exposure, such as travel history to an area of active transmission and unprotected sexual contact with someone who recently traveled to an affected area. Bloodwork should be completed. Generally bloodwork results are normal, but mild leukopenia (low white blood cell count), thrombocytopenia (low platelet count) and hepatic transaminitis (elevated liver enzymes) have been reported with ZV infection.31 Patients with suspected ZV should be evaluated for dengue and chikungunya virus infections as they all cause symptoms that overlap. The same mosquito vector transmits ZV, dengue fever, and chikungunya fever. Other illnesses to differentiate are malaria, influenza, infectious mononucleosis, and acute HIV infection. Other ZV testing options include serum virus-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) and culture. IgM testing has a greater sensitivity at the end of the first week of illness. IgM has the potential to cross-react with other flaviviruses.2 The FDA approved the CDC IgM Antibody Capture Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Zika MAC-ELISA) as the first antibody test for emergency evaluation in selected laboratories.32 In addition to the Zika MAC-ELISA, Trioplex Real-Time RT-PCR assay can be used for ZV diagnosis. Culture is generally not used as a tool, but rather an aid to determine if any additional infections are present. If a patient is symptomatic or thought to have contracted the infection due to recent ZV exposure, these diagnostic tools are used to diagnose ZV. Coinfection with other viral illnesses transmitted by the same infected Aedes mosquito can occur. Dengue and chikungunya fever are the common illnesses that are associated with ZV. These coinfections were found in Nicaragua. Between September 2015 and April 2016, 356 patients in Nicaragua with suspected arboviral illnesses provided serum samples for ZV, dengue, and chikungunya fevers.33 A real-time RT-PCR confirmed the presence of a virus. Of those that provided serum samples, 263 had at least one of these viruses, 71 of these cases had a coinfection with 2-3 viruses. Suspected cases should be reported to local health departments in the U.S. for coordination of testing, care, and spread prevention. The CDC and selected state health departments perform more testing to confirm the diagnosis of ZV. The CDC provides instruction for sending ZV samples for testing. There are specific considerations for pregnant women. In 2016, the CDC provided guidelines for evaluation and management for pregnant women and infants with suspected ZV infections (Appendices 1 and 2). Possible Zika virus exposure should be discussed with all pregnant women during each prenatal visit. Testing symptomatic pregnant women should be based on the time of potential exposure. Additional testing is needed to rule out other illnesses, such as dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever. Other illnesses to consider include malaria, rubella, measles, parvovirus B19 infection, influenza, rickettsial illnesses, enterovirus illnesses, acute HIV infection, and group A streptococcal infection.34 If asymptomatic pregnant women have an ongoing risk for exposure, routine ZV IgM testing should be performed at visits during the first and second trimesters. Offering RT-PCR testing for asymptomatic women with possible infection is recommended for those who have had exposure within the past two weeks of their prenatal visits. Positive results from RT-PCR testing confirm infection. However, a negative result does not exclude infection; IgM testing should be performed for further analysis. In addition to testing, if ZV is suspected or confirmed, serial ultrasounds are necessary every 3-4 weeks to monitor fetal growth and anatomy. Decisions on amniocentesis should be discussed as it is considered a high-risk procedure. Amniocentesis is a medical procedure where a small sample from the amniotic sac surrounding a fetus is sampled and examined for genetic abnormalities. The optimal time to perform this procedure to accurately diagnose ZV is unknown. Amniocentesis is generally performed after 15 weeks of gestation. Because of the uncertainty surrounding the accuracy of this test, amniocentesis should be discussed on an individualized basis. Currently there is no specific antiviral treatment available for ZV. The recommended treatment is supportive with a focus primarily on rest, hydration, and fever and pain control. Acetaminophen is preferred to address fever and pain. Until dengue fever can be excluded, aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDS), such ibuprofen and naproxen, should be avoided to reduce the risk of hemorrhage. Most infected individuals recover within a week. Hospitalization or severe disease is not common. Those individuals infected with ZV are encouraged to avoid mosquito exposure during the first week of symptom onset to reduce the risk of continued transmission.2,3 While infected, individuals should isolate themselves, refrain from sexual contact, and avoid mosquito exposure. Mosquito avoidance is the main option for prevention and further spread of ZV. This is the key to preventing illness while traveling to endemic or epidemic affected regions. Eliminating mosquito habitat is also recommended. Mosquitoes can breed in small amounts of water. Individuals traveling in affected locations should wear light-colored clothing that completely cover the body, use mosquito repellents with DEET, and utilize mosquito nets. There are additional precautions for pregnant women and women trying to become pregnant. Women should avoid traveling to areas of active transmission. Consulting healthcare providers before traveling is recommended. The CDC instructs pregnant women to avoid traveling to elevations less than

Linking male underachievement with stereotypical laddish behaviour

Linking male underachievement with stereotypical laddish behaviour Much of the current research on underachieving boys in education is focused on suggesting solutions in terms of teaching methods. It is possible to criticise this approach as one can argue that in order to effectively formulate strategies aimed at helping boys who underachieve, you need to actually understand why they are underachieving. Some research suggests that the phenomenon of new laddism is just the old fashioned problem of boys behaving badly (Chaudhary, 1998). The solutions therefore do not actually focus on the cause of bad behaviour just focus on dealing with the behaviour itself. Media representations of underachieving boys are also problematic. They all too often ignore important questions and issues, such as which boys are underachieving? Delemont (1999) points out the problems with the crude portrayals that suggest boys underachievement and laddishness are synonymous; they are not. Not all laddish boys are underachievers and not all underachievers are laddish. Objective 3 of this research was addressed in detail in the previous section the literature review. Objective 1 and 2 of this research will be implemented through the collection and analysis of empirical data. This study is interested in an in-depth analysis of the year 10 and 11 boys at the researchers school, and specifically the reasons why they adopt laddish attitudes. Objective 1 will be focused on through analysis of the school staff as well, in particular looking at the process that causes certain types of behaviour to be labelled as laddish. Cohen and Manions (1996) description of a case study the researcher observing the characteristics of an individual unit sums up this piece of research neatly. Howard Becker (1970) describes one aim of case studies as the attempt to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the group under study. This researcher be attempting to gain a comprehensive understanding of boys who underachieve at Tewkesbury School. Case studies can also be used to produce typologies, or a set of categories defining types of a social phenomenon. Douglas (1967) suggested that case studies could be used to discover the different types of suicide by uncovering the different social meanings of suicide. There is a possibility that this research can produce some typologies about the different types of behaviour that causes male underachievement. The potential issue with this research strategy is that it is not possible to generalise on the basis of my findings. It is impossible to determine how far the findings of this research can be applied to underachieving boys in other schools. As Bryman (1988) suggests, one way around this would be to repeat the research in other schools looking at the same phenomenon. The issue though with attempting to repeat the research is that it is difficult to make direct comparisons of the results of studies carried out either by different people, or by the same people at different times. Historical research as a strategy is not appropriate to this topic as it is generally associated with the study of non-contemporary phenomena this research is clearly not interested in anything non-contemporary. Experimental research is also not appropriate to this topic as its very nature is at odds with what this research is attempting to do experimental research will try to objective by taking phenomena out of its natural context, this research needs to understand what is happening in a school environment. Action research was considered due to the in-depth nature of the analysis it engages in but this research is not focused on one specific problem that can be tackled this way, the researcher is interested in exploring a range of issues linked to laddish behaviour and underachievement. This research will produce qualitative data in the main. Denzin and Lincoln (1994) describe qualitative research as studying things in their natural settings, and attempting to make sense of phenomena in terms of the meanings people give to them. Some quantitative data will also be produced as well, which Myers (1997) states is often produced through survey techniques within a social setting and as such works well when used alongside qualitative methods. Orlikowski et al. (1991) say that there are three categories into which qualitative research strategies fall into, depending upon the researchers view of the world; critical, positivist and interpretivist. Whilst this researcher does believe that in terms of a critical perspective of the world, people are influenced by social and cultural circumstances, he does not believe that the main of his research should be to free people from the restraining forces that impact upon their lives. His role is simply to understand better the key aspects of laddish behaviour and underachievement. This research will also not be adopting a positivist methodology, as the researcher does not believe that human beings can be studied in the same way that the natural sciences use to study particles, gases and rocks. The French writer Auguste Compte was the first person to use the phrase positivist philosophy (Compte, 1986). He believed that scientific knowledge about society could be accumulated and used t o improve human existence so that society could be run rationally without religion or superstition getting in the way of progress. Compte believed that the scientific study of society should be confined to collecting information about phenomena that can be objectively observed and classified. He argued that researchers should not be concerned with the internal meanings, motives, feelings and emotions of individuals these states only exist in the persons consciousness so cannot be observed, and cannot be measured in any objective way. The fundamental part of positivism is its use of statistical data. Positivists believed that it was possible to classify the social world in an objective way. Using these classifications it was then possible to count sets of observable social facts and then produce statistics. You can then look for correlations between different social facts. If there is a correlation between two or more types of social phenomena, then a positivist might suspect that one of these phenomena is causing the other to take place. This can be criticised though, for example if you look working class boys underachieving in school, the correlation between those two factors is not necessarily causal. It may simply be an indirect correlation. Positivism is based upon an understanding of science that sees science as using a mainly inductive methodology. This begins by collecting the data. The data is then analysed and out of this analysis theories are developed. Once the theory has been developed it can then be tested against other sets of data to see if it is confirmed or not. If it is repeatedly confirmed then positivists like Compte assume they have discovered a law of human behaviour. Other researchers though have not accepted the inductive method. Indeed, many use an alternative, a deductive approach. This alternative methodology is supported by Karl Popper in his book The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959). The deductive approach reverses the process of induction. It starts with a theory and tests it against the evidence, rather than developing a theory as a result of examining the data. Popper argues that scientists should start with a hypothesis; a statement that is to be tested. This statement should be very precise and should state exactly what will happen in particular circumstances. On the basis of this hypothesis it should be possible to deduce predictions about the future. Popper differs from positivists in that he denies it is ever possible to produce laws that will necessarily be found to be true for all time. He argues that however many times a theory is apparently proved correct, there is always the possibility that at some future date the theory w ill be proved wrong, or falsified. He suggests that scientists have a duty to be objective, and to test their theories as rigorously as possible. Therefore, once they have formulated hypotheses, and made predictions, it is necessary to try constantly to find evidence that disproves or falsifies their theories. Some though argue that in practice scientists operate in very different ways from those advocated by Popper or positivists. Thomas Kuhn (1962) has developed an analysis of science which sees it as being far from the objective pursuit of knowledge. He argues that science is characterised by a commitment to a scientific paradigm. A paradigm consists of a set of beliefs shared by a group of scientists about what the natural world is composed of, what counts as true and valid knowledge, and what sort of questions should be asked and what sort of procedures should be followed to answer those questions. Kuhn does not believe that the same methods and procedures are found throughout scientific history; rather, they are specific to particular sciences at particular times. Scientists may ignore evidence that does not fit their paradigm. To Kuhn, a scientific subject is one in which there is an agreed paradigm. There is no guarantee that this accepted paradigm is correct: it may well be replaced by a new paradigm in the future. If Kuhns view of science is accepted, then it is doubtful social research can be considered as scientific. There is no one accepted paradigm in social research the different perspectives all see the social world in different ways: they ask different questions and get different answers. Kuhns work has been criticised though as you can argue that it has little relevance to social science and based upon inadequate evidence. Anderson, Hughes and Sharrock (1986) believe that he has underestimated the degree to which there is conflict and disagreement in natural science. Most of the time alternative paradigms are debated. A careful examination of the history of science shows that the periods of revolution grow in size while those of settled normality contract. The approach that this researcher will be adopting as identified by Orlikowski et al. (1991) is interpretivism. This most closely matches this researchers approach to research, and as a teacher of sociology it has been refined over the past ten years of either studying or teaching the subject. The interpretivist approach suggests that qualititative data collection techniques should be used. Social action can only be understood by interpreting the meanings and motives on which it is based. Many interpretivists argue that there is little chance of discovering these meanings and motives from quantitative data. Only from qualitative data with its greater richness and depth can the sociologist hope to interpret the meanings that lie behind social action. Interpretivists reject the use of natural science methodology for the study of social action. The natural sciences deal with matter. Since matter has no consciousness, its behaviour can be explained simply as a reaction to external stimuli. People though, have consciousness they see, interpret and experience the world around them in terms of meanings. Max Weber talks about how understanding the motives behind peoples behaviour could be achieved through verstehen imagining yourself to be in the position of the person whose behaviour you were seeking to explain. Phenomenology represents the most radical departure from positivism. Phenomenologists go even further than interpretivists in that they reject the possibility of producing causal explanations of human behaviour. They do not believe that it is possible objectively to measure and classify the world. To phenomenologists, human beings make sense of the world by imposing meanings and classifications upon it. These meanings and classifications make up social reality. They believe that researchers should limit themselves to understanding the meanings and classifications which people use to give order to and make sense of the world. Studies which utilise this method concentrate almost entirely on the subjective aspects of social life which are internal to the individuals consciousness. DATA COLLECTION Convenience sampling was used to select the participants in the research project. It was convenient because the researcher works at the school involved in the study. There is nothing random about the students and staff who have been chosen and the researcher is making no claim of representativeness and generalisability to anywhere other than his school. That is not the focus of the research instead it is focused on simply gaining an in-depth understanding of the key issues involved in laddish behaviour and underachievement. This method of sampling was also used due to the fact that it is by far the easiest way to access participants. This research will use two main methods of collecting data: interviews and secondary data analysis. The main data collection technique will be semi-structured interviews. Interviews are as Yin (2003) states, able to provide insights into complex situations. And as Goldthorpe et.al (1968) found, interviewees could be prompted if they cannot decide how to answer a question. The interviews will be semi-structured because this will allow the students and staff to express their views, explain their individual circumstances and expand on any answers. The researcher though will be able to guide them towards the specific area of interest because there will always be some pre-planned questions. The key is, as Marshall and Rossman (1989) put it the participants view on the phenomena of interest should unfold as they truly view it, not as the researcher views it. The use of more than one method allows the researcher to engage in methodological pluralism. This is the idea that we should tolerate of a variety of methods in sociological research, because methods should be seen as part of the research process as a whole. (Bryman, 1998). The key advantage to the researcher is that it allows him to combine both positivist and interpretivist research methods, which allows him to benefit from triangulation, which is where the strengths of one method balance out against the weaknesses of another, and allow me to cross-examine the results. Methodological pluralism has become more and more popular in recent years amongst sociologists, although the idea itself has not escaped criticism: However, consensus over methodological pluralism is incomplete, and does not even mean that subscribing sociologists have actively sought to promote pluralism. As Bell, observed: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ individual sociologists no matter how tolerant, catholic and eclectic are v ery unlikely actually to be methodological pluralists à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . It is the structure of sociology that became pluralist not sociologists themselves. (Bell and Roberts, 1984). Indeed, Payne et al (2004) conducted research aimed itself at measuring the extent to which methodological pluralism is used in sociological research. They concluded: Only about one in 20 of published papers in the mainstream journals uses quantitative analysis, ranging from simple cross-tabulations to multivariate techniques. This is not grounds for an argument that there should be less qualitative research, but rather that there should be more quantitative research. The site for the research will be Tewkesbury School. The research project is not intended to be an exhaustive study of laddish behaviour and underachieving boys in the local area it is specific to the researchers school and the needs and priorities of that school moving forward. The research will be focused on male students in year 10 and year 11. They have been selected for two main reasons those are the two year groups for which we have the most accurate data on who is underachieving, and improving the performance of these boys is the main priority for the school moving forward. The data on underachievement is generated by subject teachers who are judging the progress of students against their FFT (D) (Fisher Family Trust) targets. These type D targets are based upon the progress made by schools in the top 25% percentile of value-added schools nationally. Also, as Epstein et al (1998) points out it is at this age group that laddish behaviour begins to impact most heavily on educ ational performance. The staff that will be interviewed will be from a range of subject areas including English, Maths and Science. The research will analyse the different levels of underachievement and seek to identify reasons why these boys may be underachieving more in certain subject areas. Interviewing different staff allows for cross-comparisons of responses which will allow key themes to emerge. Indeed, as Holstein et al (1995) suggest, the interviewing process itself often creates new knowledge rather than just revealing data that was previously present in the interviewees heads. The following staff will be interviewed: 1 Head of Maths Faculty. 2 Head of Science Faculty. 3 Head of English Faculty. 4 Head of Humanities Faculty. 5 Head of Arts Faculty. 6 Head of Technology Faculty. All these staff have an in-depth knowledge of performance in their faculties, and have specific experience of the underachievement by students. The interviews will be recorded, where possible, for two reasons to ensure that the analysis of data is based upon an accurate record, and to allow the interviewer to concentrate on the actual interview. Secondary data in the form of school exam performance and monitoring reports will also be collected to form part of the analysis. This will allow the research to understand the scope of current performance levels. To help focus the interviews in terms of reflecting the main objectives of this research they will be structured in according to key themes, for example patterns of behaviour that are labelled as laddish, understanding of current underperformance issues, awareness of the issues involved in boys choosing to behave in a laddish manner. In terms of analysing the interviews, as Bogdan and Biklen (1982) put it; the researcher should aim to work with the data, analyse and break it down into manageable units, search for patterns and decide what is important. This summarises neatly the modern interpretive approach to qualitative data analysis and the approach that this researcher will use. LIMITATIONS AND POTENTIAL PROBLEMS There are many potential problems in any research problem, and especially when researching a topic like this project is aiming to. The key one is generalisability this research cannot be generalised to any other educational setting, as it is purely relevant to the setting that the researcher is currently employed in. This does raise a question mark over the validity of the findings, but as most interpretivists argue, including Ackroyd and Hughes (1981), the researcher is not limited to what he or she can immediately perceive or experience, but is able to cover as many dimensions and as many people as resources permit. The depth of data gathered by this research should enable the researcher to find the truth, or at least the best representation of it available, hence ensuring a good degree of validity. The reliability of unstructured interviews can also be questioned as they are artificial situations, as Bryman (1988) notes, do they really capture the daily life, conditions, opinions, values, attitudes, and knowledge base of those we study as expressed in their natural habitat? Perhaps even more problematic is the issue of the researcher maintaining objectivity when interviewing colleagues in an environment in which he works. Labovs (1973) work also points out the way that school children can respond differently when interviewed in different contexts. They often respond in a certain way when interviewed in a formal setting that is very different from how they respond in an informal setting. Any research project which has interviews as the main source of data is hampered by interviewees who exhibit bias or poor memory recall, (Winlow 2001). This researcher has attempted to deal with this by gathering data from a range of sources, i.e. the various heads of faculty, and a range of students. This allows the researcher not to be dependent on one or two respondents for key data. But one must approach this research with the knowledge that people are not robots, especially school students, and that errors are bound to creep in, in terms of bias and honest mistakes of recollection. The issue of ecological validity pointed out by Hammersley and Gomm (2004) which is that interviews are unnatural social situations and the context affects the behaviour of interviewees so much that the resulting data cannot be seen as valid, does need to be allowed for, but overall it is expected that any bias or misinformation will be minimised. The researcher himself needs to alter his mindset slightly when conducting the interviews he has to view them not as colleagues but as research subjects, and this role change needs to be communicated to staff. Linked with this role change is the need for the researcher to gain the trust of his colleagues, as they may well be nervous about expressing their views openly, and so to encourage open and honest discussion, anonymity for academic staff will be guaranteed where required. (Biggam 2008). The use of quantitative statistics to measure and understand the extent of underachievement also has its issues. Atkinson (1978) believes that they are simply the product of the meanings and taken-for-granted assumptions of those who construct them. This is particularly the case when analysing teachers perceptions of who is underachieving, so the researcher must be wary of this. As Byrne (2006) states, they are useful to most social scientists they are made out of something, not nothing, and that provided we pay careful attention to the ways in which they are made, and in particular the processes of operationalisation they can be of very considerable value to us. Finally, in terms of ethics there are a range of potential issues to take into account. The researcher will be abiding by the code of ethics as set out by the British Sociological Association and the BERA. Participants will all give voluntary informed consent, which involves the need for them to substantially understand what the research involves. This ensures that no deception of any participants is involved. This does of raise the methodological issue of ecological validity, but it is not possible for the research to remove this issue. All participants have the right of withdrawal at any point, and this right is explained to each participant at the outset of any research. This research does involved the participation of children, so appropriate consent has been gained first from the school headteacher, as gatekeeper, from the parents/guardians of any children involved, and of course from the children themselves. Brookman (1999) talks about the issue of confidentiality and its impac t upon the research, but as discussed earlier, all participants were offered full anonymity as a condition of their participation. Essentially, as Israel and Hay (2006) point out, the ultimate purpose of having research ethics is to avoid harm and do good. They comment that contemporary researchers are normally expected to minimise risks of harm or discomfort to participants. This research will strive to ensure that this is the case.