Free Essays on Americans

From 1763, Americans had only to be convinced that an arbitrary ruler-whether Parliament or King-was violating their inherent rights, to feel that rebellion was justified. This conviction was bred in them by the series of events that occurred between 1763 and 1776. The language used to protest the British Acts was legal, and political. But the primary cause of the Revolution is economics. In theory the colonists accepted the principle that natural laws rather than royal decrees should govern the economy. In practice only the southern colonies were bound to England by the tobacco trade. The New England and Middle Colonies, unable to find markets in Britain, found prosperity by trading outside the empire. Any attempt to stop this trade would lead to rebellion and consequentially ensued. The idea of mercantilism where the channelizing of all trade through England, was a restriction upon economic prosperity of the New England colony. The major cause for revolution within the economic theory is of economic subordination of colonies to England. The Grenville Ministry passed a number of acts, but the main act of provocation to the colonists was the stamp act. The stamp act was protested upon the principle of "no taxation without representation". The stamp act was affecting virtually all the colonists, and restricted economic prosperity, thus it was protested by colonists. The Townshend acts were also a factor in the economic theory, Sam Adams had said "The parliament was taxing illegally!", most colonists agreed, and a boycott of British goods resulted. When the British passed the Currency act, this left the paper money worthless, and the colonists had to rely (economically) on England for Hard Currency. The main reason for revolution was economics. The colonies were economically subordinate to England by the tea and coercive acts. The tea act was an act where the colonist middlemen merchants were being bypassed, and the trading wa... Free Essays on Americans Free Essays on Americans From 1763, Americans had only to be convinced that an arbitrary ruler-whether Parliament or King-was violating their inherent rights, to feel that rebellion was justified. This conviction was bred in them by the series of events that occurred between 1763 and 1776. The language used to protest the British Acts was legal, and political. But the primary cause of the Revolution is economics. In theory the colonists accepted the principle that natural laws rather than royal decrees should govern the economy. In practice only the southern colonies were bound to England by the tobacco trade. The New England and Middle Colonies, unable to find markets in Britain, found prosperity by trading outside the empire. Any attempt to stop this trade would lead to rebellion and consequentially ensued. The idea of mercantilism where the channelizing of all trade through England, was a restriction upon economic prosperity of the New England colony. The major cause for revolution within the economic theory is of economic subordination of colonies to England. The Grenville Ministry passed a number of acts, but the main act of provocation to the colonists was the stamp act. The stamp act was protested upon the principle of "no taxation without representation". The stamp act was affecting virtually all the colonists, and restricted economic prosperity, thus it was protested by colonists. The Townshend acts were also a factor in the economic theory, Sam Adams had said "The parliament was taxing illegally!", most colonists agreed, and a boycott of British goods resulted. When the British passed the Currency act, this left the paper money worthless, and the colonists had to rely (economically) on England for Hard Currency. The main reason for revolution was economics. The colonies were economically subordinate to England by the tea and coercive acts. The tea act was an act where the colonist middlemen merchants were being bypassed, and the trading wa...

Mesozoic Era - the Geologic Time Scale

Mesozoic Era - the Geologic Time Scale Following both the Precambrian Time and the Paleozoic Era on the Geologic Time Scale came the Mesozoic Era. The Mesozoic Era is sometimes called the age of the dinosaurs because dinosaurs were the dominant animals for much of the era. The Permian Extinction After the Permian Extinction wiped out over 95% of ocean-dwelling species and 70% of land species, the new Mesozoic Era began about 250 million years ago. The first period of the era was called the Triassic Period. The first big change was seen in the types of plants that dominated the land. Most of the species of plants that survived the Permian Extinction were plants that had enclosed seeds, like gymnosperms. The Paleozoic Era Since most of the life in the oceans became extinct at the end of the Paleozoic Era, many new species emerged as dominant. New types of corals appeared, along with water-dwelling reptiles. Very few types of fish remained after the mass extinction, but those that did survive flourished. On land, the amphibians and small reptiles like turtles were dominant during the early Triassic Period. By the end of the period, small dinosaurs began to emerge. The Jurassic Period After the end of the Triassic Period, the Jurassic Period began. Most of the marine life in the Jurassic Period stayed the same as it was in the Triassic Period. There were a few more species of fish that appeared, and toward the end of the period, crocodiles came into being. The most diversity occurred in plankton species. Land Animals Land animals during the Jurassic Period had more diversity. Dinosaurs got much bigger and the herbivorous dinosaurs ruled the Earth. At the end of the Jurassic Period, birds evolved from dinosaurs. The climate changed to more tropical weather with a lot of rain and humidity during the Jurassic Period. This allowed land plants to undergo a large evolution. In fact, jungles covered much of the land with many conifers in higher elevations. The Mesozoic Era The last of the periods within the Mesozoic Era was called the Cretaceous Period. The Cretaceous Period saw the rise of flowering plants on land. They were helped along by the newly formed bee species and the warm and tropical climate. Conifers were still really abundant throughout the Cretaceous Period as well. The Cretaceous Period   As for marine animals during the Cretaceous Period, sharks and rays became commonplace. The echinoderms that survived the Permian Extinction, like starfish, also became abundant during the Cretaceous Period. On land, the first small mammals started to appear during the Cretaceous Period. Marsupials evolved first, and then other mammals. More birds evolved, and reptiles got bigger. Dinosaurs were still dominant, and carnivorous dinosaurs were more prevalent. Another Mass Extinction At the end of the Cretaceous Period, and the end of the Mesozoic Era came another mass extinction. This extinction is generally called the K-T Extinction. The K comes from the German abbreviation for Cretaceous, and the T is from the next period on the Geologic Time Scale - the Tertiary Period of the Cenozoic Era. This extinction took out all dinosaurs, except birds, and many other forms of life on Earth. There are different ideas as to why this mass extinction occurred. Most scientists agree it was some sort of catastrophic event that caused this extinction. Various hypotheses include massive volcanic eruptions that shot dust into the air and caused less sunlight to reach the surface of the Earth causing photosynthetic organisms like plants and those who depended on them, to die off slowly. Some others believe a meteor hit causing the dust to block the sunlight. Since plants and animals that ate plants died off, this caused top predators like carnivorous dinosaurs to also perish.

Critical Analysis of Teaching Skills in Practice Essay

Critical Analysis of Teaching Skills in Practice - Essay Example In line with this, this paper will seek to discuss the factors that promote the development of a high-quality learning environment in the clinical setting, analyze my thoughts and feelings related to this teaching session, evaluate own skills in facilitating others to learn, and incorporate theoretical and empirical literatures in my teaching. Factors Promoting High-Quality Learning Environment The clinical setting is the most important learning environment for undergraduate nursing students and as a clinical teacher, it is important to identify the different factors that promote a high quality learning environment and the different strategies towards effective teaching. Elliott (2002, p. 34) identified time spent in the clinical area, stress, quality of experience, guidance, environmental norms, and institutional support as the factors that may promote or impede the development of a high-quality learning. The quantity of time spent in the clinical setting is an important indicator o f learning direction (Elliott 2002, p. 34). The more time a student spent in the clinical setting, the greater is the amount and quality of learning a student could gain. For instance, I have taught two groups of nursing students in the clinical setting on two different shifts – one group is in 4-hour shift and the other group received 8 hours of clinical training. With these two groups, I have noticed a great improvement in clinical performance among groups who fall under the 8-hour shift. In addition, the time spent in the clinical setting also affects the quality of experience received in the clinical area such as what was observed on the 8-hour shift group. Stress in the environment is another factor that may enhance or impede the quality of learning due to presence of pervading anxiety, feelings of abandonment, incompetent perception of self, encountering reality shock, doubting nursing as a choice of career, and uplifting consequences (Elliott 2002, p. 35). One of my nu rsing students verbalized that aside from reality-shock, they also felt stress towards inability to verbalize their feelings, multi-tasking of psychomotor, affective, and cognitive skills to respond to individual needs, fear of committing errors and pressure on achieving perfect behavior in the clinical setting, and criticisms from other staff members. It is indeed that stress may promote or stimulate learning but it should be in moderate degree; stress beyond this point may impede the quality of learning (Elliot 2002, p. 35). Another factor that may promote high-quality learning environment is the amount of preceptorship or guidance received from clinical teachers or superiors. Preceptorship fosters development of nursing and facilitates effective learning by working on androgogical premise of one-to-one relationship (Elliott 2002, p. 36). Most of my students stated that they feel confident doing nursing care because of one-to-one interaction or teaching that I spent on them. Envir onmental norms are also factors that may promote or impede achievement of high-quality learning. This is because the clinical setting pressured every nursing student to achieve perfection. There is no room for errors as this may affect not only the students but the clinical teacher, hospital staff, and the institution as well. As a result, students may feel incompetent and unconfident. To promote high-qual

B2C (Business to Consumer) case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 1

B2C (Business to Consumer) case study - Essay Example E-commerce is the doing business on the Internet, not only purchasing and selling, but providing services to customers and collaborating with trade partners. Organizations recognize that putting up easy online sites for employees, customers, and associates does not generate an e-business (Voges and Pope 2006). E-business online sites must generate a buzz, as Amazon has made in the bookselling business. E-business online sites must be inventive, add value, and supply constructive information. In brief, the site has to build a sense of collaboration and community, ultimately transforming the port of entry for commerce. Comprehending e-business starts with understanding the disruptive technology, accessing internet information, evolution of the internet, and providing internet information In the 90s, dotcoms such as Amazon.com and eBay which were rapidly attainment in dimension and market capitalization created a threat to conventional brick and mortar commerce (Mortensen 2007). In numerous ways, these dotcoms appeared to be redrafting the regulations of business; they had the consumers with no the expenses of sustaining physical stores, minimal inventory, unrestricted access to resources and little concern regarding actual earnings. The concept was to obtain big fast and be concerned about profits afterwards (Grefen 2010). By late 1999, Amazon.com had a market share of approximately $25 billion, obscuring some of the biggest and most developed corporations in America. Since that time, retail giants like Wal-mart and Kmart were anticipating cashing in on the dotcom challenges, also other small businesses that were in the market opposing the retail giants, but were not in a stable position (Schepp and Schepp 2009).   Many never survived it to the first public initia l offer after the Nasdaq commenced to drop in mid 2000. Almost as fast as the dotcom

Apple Price Cut Essay Example for Free

Apple Price Cut Essay To what extent the iPhone pricing strategy is similar to the iPod pricing strategy? How do you explain that the iPod price cut did not lead to such a level of customers’ protest? Answer: Both iPhone and iPod have experienced a large amount of price cut in their product lifecycle. In this document, we can find that iPod was launched in October 2001. Tough relatively high priced for an MP3 player, it was hugely demanded and remains popular till date though there was a price slash in 2005. Similar to the price cut of the iPod, two months after the launch of the iPhone, Apple lowered the price by 200 USD. However, regarding the price strategy, a big difference between two products is the timing of price cut. iPod adjusted its price after experiencing a 4-year success from its launch in 2001, whereas iPhone drop in price in only 2 month, which is the main explanation of why the iPod price cut did not lead to such a serious level of customers’ protest. Although both price adjustments were designed for the aim to further expand in the mass market and improve the sales, we can find that the main reason for price cut of iPod is to sell more products in its declining period of product lifecycle. By contrast, the objective of price cut of iPhone is to rapidly monopoly the smart phone market in its growing period of product lifecycle, which resulted a part of Apple fans’ profits since they bought the product in a high price. 2. â€Å"Market analysts pointed out that Apple had created a strong brand and customer loyalty which it capitalized on by adopting a skimming strategy in pricing. They also felt that customers accept its highly priced products with equanimity. To go a step further, they consciously expect it to be so. What does this tell you about the value of iPhone own-price elasticity, cross-price elasticity and income elasticity? Answer: The practice of ‘price skimming’ involves charging a relatively high price for a short time where a new, innovative, or much-improved product is launched onto a market. Obviously, due to the reason that Apple had created a strong brand image by its innovation of technology and creativity of design, and loyalty of customers, particularly those Apple crazy fans, the price skimming strategy was able to work extremely well when iPhone was launched onto the market. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone entered the highly volatile cell phone market combining telephony, MP3, Web surfing and video watching, which completely revolutionized the tech-savvy market and was most awaited by both the technology enthusiasts and mainstream media. Therefore, the success of this strategy was largely dependent on those first adopters’ inelasticity of demand for the product either by the market as a whole. However, in the cell phone industry, where the product lifecycle is relatively short and the market is highly competitive. Before some other competing products or substitutes emerging on the market, iPhone could enjoy its high price and benefit from its â€Å"monopoly profits† in a short term where demand is relatively inelastic. Whereas in the cell phone industry, the demand from mass market is price elastic, which is the main reason that Apple needs to drop its price to increase its sales according to its mass-market strategy. In terms of cross-price elasticity, we can think about this question from two aspects: complements and substitutes. Firstly, due the reason that the demand of iPhone is price elastic in mass market, price of iPhone decrease, quantity demanded of components increases, which leads Apple to get a lower price of components from its supplier and further guarantee its gross margin of iPhone. In addition, the increase of sales also means the increase number of customer buying and renting apps from Apple’s online store. Secondly, considering substitutes, price of iPhone decrease, and quantity of competing products demanded decrease. Since the demand is price elastic, the lower production cost and increase revenue from Apple softer ware are able to recuperate the loss from cost cut. We can make the conclusion that regarding to the income elasticity, a decrease of price of iPhone has a positive impact on its total revenue. 3. Based on the information provided in the case would you say that the market for smartphone is closer to monopoly or to monopolistic competition? Justify. Answer: Yes, base on the information provided in the case, I regard the smartphone industry as a monopolistic competition. Monopolistic competition  is a form of imperfect competition  where many competing producers sell products that are  differentiated  from one another. Smartphone industry has following characteristics: * There are several producers like Apple, Blackberry, Nokia, Motorola etc. , and many consumers in the market, but no company can total control over the market price. * Consumers perceive that there are non-price differences among the competitors products. * There are few barriers to entry and exit. Producers have a degree of control over price. 4. Is the price cut decided by Apple two months after iPhone initial launch consistent with the smartphone market structure described above? Answer: Yes, the performance of iPhone is consistent with the smartphone market structure. Firstly, the MC firms sell products that have real or perceived non-price differences. However, the differences are not so great as to eliminate other goods as substitutes. Technically, the cross price el asticity of demand between goods in such a market is positive. In this case, iPhone perform the same basic functions but have differences in qualities such as design, style, reputation and appearance. Secondly, independent decision-making is another characteristic of monopolistic competition. The firm gives no consideration to what effect its decision may have on competitors. In other words each firm feels free to set prices as if it were a monopoly. Lastly, Apple has some degree of market power. Market power means that the firm has control over the terms and conditions of exchange. An MC firm can raise it prices without losing all its customers. The firm can also lower prices without triggering a potentially ruinous price war with competitors, which is the reason why iPhone was able to largely cut its price in two months. 5. Knowing the price cut affected negatively Apple reputation, do you believe Apple adopted an opportunistic pricing strategy initially selling the iPhone at a high price to take advantage of holiday season high spending habits and then dropping the price to stimulate market growth? Is this consistent with Apple pricing strategy in its other product lines like computers and iPod? Answer: I don’t entirely believe that iPhone lunched at a high price was due to it attempted to take the advantage of â€Å"holiday season high spending habits†. From my point of view, there are two main reasons why iPhone priced high at the beginning: Firstly, the core consumer groups of iPhone are enthusiastic fans of high-tech gadgets; and some of them are loyalty customers of Apple. These parts of people are not sensitive for iPhone’s price. What attract them are its quality, design and innovation. The first adopters’ inelasticity of demand is a good opportunity for using the price skimming strategy. Secondly, high price strategy is an effective method to build a high-end brand image. It’s much easier that a high brand image product cuts its price for promotion than a low brand image one raises it. For the tech-savvy market, the product lifecycle is short. We can often find on the market that a product of Apple or other brands cuts its price when it has been launched for a period of time. But iPhone dropped its price only 2 months after it had been introduced onto the market. This strategy is quite different from other products of Apple. For instance, iPod depreciated 2 years after it came into the market. Seeing the price of iPhone must be in line with iPod Touch, this strategy is â€Å"special† for Apple, comparing with other products. 6. â€Å"According to Apple executives the move had been planned long ago and felt that the pricing strategy was conceived in part to keep the iPhone’s pricing in line with its new iPod touch. † Explain to what extent a high-priced iPhone could be an obstacle to the success of the new iPod Touch. Based on what you know about Apple late development do you find that explanation convincing? Answer: In terms of the features of these two types of products, iPod Touch is like a simplified version of iPhone, without the function of a â€Å"phone†. This determines that the prices of these two types of products must be â€Å"in a line†, which means, for a reasonable consideration, the price of iPod Touch must be lower than iPhone but not too far away. If iPhone had not cut its price, iPod Touch must have had been priced at a higher level than the realistic one. We assume that, if iPhone 4 GB continued being sold at 499USD, iPod Touch may be sold at 400 or 450USD. As an mp3 player, it would be much more expensive than its competing brands. On the contrary, if iPhone had kept a high price level but iPod Touch had been set at a low one, the customers would have had been confused for â€Å"why a simplified version of iPhone is so much ‘cheaper’ than iPhone? † That would have had a negative impacts on the sales of both iPhone and iPod Touch, even would have had impaired Apple’s brand image. Combining with what I know about the late development of these two types of products, I found although the price cutting had a temporary harm on customer’s trust, iPhone and iPod Touch both performed well on the market. It proved the importance of keeping the price of iPhone and iPod Touch in a line. 7. â€Å"But the sharp price cut suggested that even Apple, which has long lived in a pricing bubble insulated from other personal computer makers, is not immune from the brutal pressures of the cellular phone business. † Does this statement mean that the personal computers market is different from the cellular phone business in other words, the cellular phone market is more competitive than the personal computer market? Why? Do you share this view? Justify. Answer: From this statement, I can’t make the conclusion that the cell phone market is more competitive than the personal computer market. Apple is one of the earliest personal computer manufacturers in the world. Its personal computer products are behalf of the most advanced PC technology of the world. Especially its graphics processing technology and operating system have high reputation. Thus, Apple’s PC products long lived in a pricing bubble insulated from other personal computer makers. That means Apple has definitely strong market power on PC market. Its high price doesn’t mean there is less competition. Furthermore, the technical innovation, appearance design, and function combination of cell phone products are updating so fast. So the lifecycle of a handset product is shorter than a computer. The price cutting often occurs when a mobile phone has come onto market for a period of time. The objective usually is for making price room for a new generation of product, which isn’t caused by competing activities. In conclusion, I don’t share this view. 8. â€Å"Keeping in mind Apple’s range of high priced products which gives it an â€Å"aura† of exclusivity, was Jobs decision to reduce the price a right one? With a 50% gross margin, Apple is setting itself up for aggressive price declines going forward†. Do you believe that Apple move is a sign that it is ready to enter a price war? Would this mean that Apple is leaving the niche market position it held for decades to go after mass market? What would be the pros and cons of that strategy? Do you believe it? Answer: The characteristics of Apple’s products are novel design, fashionable appearance and the combination of music, game, music, web surfing and other functions. It determines the positioning of iPhone must be high, and the main target consumer group is high income, music ; digital amateurs. This segment of consumer has low sensitive for price. Pure price war will not yield more market shares for iPhone. So, the price cutting strategy doesn’t mean Apple is ready for the price war. The product’s features determine Apple’s niche market strategy. But a cell phone product innovates relatively faster than other cargos. When a product successfully attracted some first adopters, how to sell them to more followers should be the core problem. Cutting the price and going in to the mass market is a universal method. Apple also adopted this strategy on iPhone. Pros of going to mass market: * iPhone can attract more followers. Some of them are sensitive to the price, their demands are elastic. Before the price cutting and entry of the mass market, some of the non-owners didn’t buy it just because of the high price. * iPhone can expand its market share quicker, and establish the competitive barriers. Its market power will be stronger. * The expanded customers would have had bought more online products, which would have had a big growth of income. By this strategy, iPhone can consolidate their customer-friendly brand image, and increase the loyalty of the customers. * The cooperation with AT;T can get a synergy between these two brands, and can receive a sum of bonus revenue from the carrier. Cons of going to mass market: * It made the brand image be lower than before. * Decreased the gross margin of iPhone. * Hurt some die-hards’ loyalty. * Increased the degree of monopoly, made the competition imperfect, and harmed the balance of the benign competition with its rivals. But a cellular phone product such as iPhone goes into the mass market is usually a temporary strategy when the product comes into the mature or declining period in its lifecycle, or when the company wants to make some price room for a new product. Apple cut iPhone’s price was just for keeping the iPhone’s price being in a line with iPod Touch’s. It didn’t mean Apple changed its main branding strategy to go into the mass market. For that time, I assume that it was a reasonable strategy for Apple to cut iPhone’s price.

Managing Workforce Diversity Essay example -- Workplace Diversity

Introduction Without a doubt, the greatest asset an organization can have is its human resource. Therefore, issues affecting the staff have increasingly become popular among business managers, scholars, policy makers and other stake holders. One of the issues that have particularly generated sufficient interest is managing workforce diversity. O’leary & Weathington (2006) defines diversity simply as way of differentiating one person from another. Diversity is about recognizing and appreciating the uniqueness of each person. People can be different in terms of race, sexual orientation, age, gender and physical abilities just to mention a few (Burke 2007). As a result, workforce diversity has become a major business concern. Managing it should not be merely motivated by the potential of increasing the profit margin, but also should be to ensure the working environment is conducive, safe and nurturing (O’leary & Weathington 2006). Any business that manages its workforce effectively is bound to enjoy a number of benefits. Advantages of Workforce diversity It would be hypocritical not to acknowledge the fact that most business primarily exist with an intention of profit maximization. As result most of the organization activities will be geared towards achieving this goal. Efficient management of the workforce diversity can accelerate the process by increasing the company’s competitive edge (Ongori & Agolla 2007). O’leary & Weathington (2006) pointed out that are diversified staff is likely to be more creative, innovative and generally possess a relatively high ability of coming up with quality work. As oppose to a homogeneous group, when a diverse group get acquainted to each other, their job performance becomes superior due to an ... ...orkforce, they have been reaping the sumptuous benefits. Works Cited BMO Financial Group c 2010, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion [Online] available from [17th Dec 2010]. Browder, LM & Miller 2009, Workforce Diversity: The Big Blue Case, McGraw-Hill, New Delhi. Burke, LM 2007, Managing the Diverse Workforce Effectively, Rutledge, London. IBM c 2007, Global workforce diversity [online] available from [17th Dec 2010] O’Leary, BJ & Weathington, BL 2006, ‘Beyond the Business Case for Diversity in Organisations’, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, Dec, vol 18, issue 4, pp1-10. Ongori, H & Agolla, JE 2007, ‘Critical Review of Literature on Workforce Diversity’, Africa Journal of Business Management, pp 72-76.

Guidelines for the Provision and Assessment of Nutritio Support Therapy in the Adult Critically Ill Patient

This section gives a description of the most commonly used monitors for tolerance to the entral nutrition. It likewise discusses the pertinent data that are important to the practice. The tolerance for EN of all patients must be monitored and all inappropriate cessation of the EN must be avoided at all cost. However, there are a number of factors that may affect the delivery of EN.There is a tendency for health care providers who prescribe the formulation to under-order calories and as such, there are patients who only receive approximately 80% of what they deserve. The combination of under-ordering and inadequate delivery that results in the patients receiving only half of the target goal calories.It is a fact that the intolerance accounts for approximately one-third of the time of cessation. There are also other reasons for cessation like the remaining NPO after midnight for the diagnostic tests and the procedures in another third of the patients.Using enteral feeding protocols inc reases all percentage of goal calories provided and must be implemented. In the same way, all the patients that are placed on EN must be checked for risk of any aspiration. Aspiration is the most leading feared complications that EN can give to a patient.All people who are at risk for aspiration may be detected by several factors which includes the use of nasoentric and endotracheal tube and the mechanical ventilation. There are many complications that may arise due to the use of enteral tube feedings and one of the effects is diarrhea. The diarrhea that being suffered by the ICU patient who is receiving EN must be investigated immediately.E. Selection of Appropriate Enteral FormulationWhen it comes to selecting the proper enteral formulation for the critically ill patient, the one in charge must first ascertain if the patient is one of the candidates for the specialty immune-modulating formulation. Patients more likely to display a more favorable outcome who would be a proper candi date for the use of ummune-modulating formulations include all people that are undergoing G1 surgery and trauma, and those that have head and neck cancer.Numerous data suggest that adding amounts of pharmaconutrients to the enteral formulations gives many further benefits on the outcome of the patients rather than using the standard formula alone.   It is unfortunate though that there are a few studies that have discussed the effects of individual pharmaconutrients and their dosage. This literature was criticized greatly for the heterogeneity of the studies that are performed in a great range of ICU patient populations.The multiple enteral formulations are said to be immune-modulating, but they considerable cange in their characteristics and the dosage of the individual components. There is no certainty as to whether or not the date from the studies that were published as well as their recommendations can be extracted in order to use the formulations that have not been evaluated i n a formal way.In order to receive the maximum therapeutic benefit from the immune-modulating formulations at about 50% to 60% of the goal energy requirements must be delivered. According to the studies, the benefit of EN as well as the added value of immune-modulating agents have an effect which is dose-dependent.Patients who have the worst cases of diarrhea may gain some benefit from the use of the soluble fiber-containing formula and a small portion of peptide semi-elemental formulation. The laboratory data, the theoretical concepts as well as the expert opinions that support the use of the peptide enteral formulations however, large protective trials are not available to make this one a strong recommendation.ReferencesMcClave, S., Martindale, R., Vanek, V., et., al. (2009). Guidelines for the Provision and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Assessment of Nutrition Support Therapy in the Adult Critically Ill Patient. Journal   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   of Parental and Enteral Nutrition (JPEN): Sage Publications, 33:277

NFL Concussions and Their Long-Term Effects Essay

On May 2, 2012, the National Football League lost one of its elite players to suicide: Junior Seau. Seau played for the Chargers, Dolphins, and the Patriots during his professional football career and was a 12-time Pro Bowler before retiring in 2009. Three years after his retirement however, Seau committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a gun. This greatly shocked the football world and its image of Junior Seau as a person, but it soon realized the cause for his action. Shortly after Seau’s death, researchers examined Seau’s brain and found that it contained a disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy which is formed by repeated blows to the head; a very common disease among former football players (Football Brains). The Seau family then filed a lawsuit against the NFL claiming that the league held back information from the players about the danger of continuous blows to the head (Seau’s Death on Brain Injuries). Since the formation of the National Football League in 1920, the popularity of the sport has grown tremendously over the years. It seems nowadays that more and more people are getting interested in the NFL, whether it is talking about their favorite team at work or at school or watching them play on game day. However, on the flip side of all the amazing catches and touchdowns, there is a dark side to the NFL known as the concussion problem. This problem has grown so much over the years that there have been more than 4200 lawsuits by former and current players against the NFL stating that the NFL has been trying to cover up the detrimental long term effects of concussions and also relied on NFL doctors to feed them the information they wanted to hear while rejecting the studies done by researches showing the long term effects concussions have on the brain (Junior Seau’s Death Keeps Spotlight on Brain Injuries). In order for the NFL to keep thriving the way it is right now, the league had to reject the information shown by researchers which showed the harmful effects of concussions in the long run and instead had to hire their â€Å"own† doctors to say that concussions are minor and cause no detrimental long run effects. I believe that repetitive concussions do cause  health problems in the future for NFL players and that the NFL covered up the truth about concussions. Being that I watch the NFL regularly, it seems like it is almost guaranteed that at least one or more players will experience a concussion during the game with all the physical contact taking place. Some of the concussions these players experience are obvious in that they are motionless on the ground and some are not so obvious in that they are still able to make it to the bench. According to Jennifer Car of BrainFacts.org, a concussion is caused when the head is struck violently which then leads to a brief disruption in brain activity. When the head is struck suddenly, the brain is set in motion and bangs the skull’s rough and ragged inside which causes the brain cells to stretch and sometimes even split (Mild Brain Injury and Concussion). Michael Collins, a clinical psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who specializes in sports-related concussions, states that â€Å"a concussion is basically an energy crisis to the brain cells† and he also states that â€Å"the brain has to work much harder to perform tasks† (Hard Knocks: The Science of Concussions). This disruption can cause an individual to experience a variety of different symptoms in the following minutes and hours. The range of symptoms includes the following: nausea, vomiting, brief loss of consciousness, and dizziness (Hard Knocks: The Science of Concussions). Later symptoms include: lightheadedness, depression, anxiety, ringing in the ears, constant migraine headaches, and poor concentration or attention (Mild Brain Injury and Concussion). The symptoms mentioned in the previous paragraph may last a couple days to a few weeks; at most a few months. Those who experience these types of symptoms usually receive a concussion maybe once or twice in their lifetimes. However, those professional athletes competing in sports with a good deal of physical contact are in harm’s way of experiencing multiple concussions during their career as an athlete. According to recent research, scientists have discovered a neurodegenerative disease also known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE (Hard Knocks: The Science of Concussions). This disease was found in the brains of former athletes who have died mainly boxers and football players (What is CTE?). These athletes were those who  have received continuous concussions or played in positions where they were vulnerable to experience a good amount of physical impact (Hard Knocks: The Science of Concussions). The repeated banging of the brain against the skull causes a gradual d egeneration of the brain tissue, and also the forming of an unusual protein known as tau (What is CTE?). These activities in the brain can take place months or even years after the last concussion or retirement from the sport. Some of the symptoms associated with CTE include: memory loss, confusion, depression, aggression, hindered judgment, and dementia (What is CTE?). There is definitely evidence of the symptoms of CTE among former NFL players. There are many examples of former NFL players who have suffered from CTE and have killed themselves and/or those around them including the Junior Seau suicide event that was mentioned in the opening paragraph. The first example is John Grimsley, who was a former Houston Oilers linebacker. Grimsley shot himself by accident while he was cleaning his gun one day (Football Brains). The former NFL player was a skilled outdoorsman and should have easily performed the task of cleaning his gun. A second example is Justin Strzelczyk, who was a former offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Strzelczyk was involved in a high-speed hit-and-run chase with the police which turned into a fiery crash where he eventually died (Football Brains). Another example is former Canadian professional wrestler Chris Benoit who murdered his wife and child and then took his own life (Football Brains). The final example is Tom McHale, who was a former Tampa Bay Buccaneer. He died at the age of 45 from a drug overdose (Football Brains). All the brains of these former professional athletes were taken for study and all their brains were found to contain the brain disease CTE in them (Football Brains). Another study was done on the affects of repeated concussions causing CTE by Ann McKee. According to Ann McKee, who is a neuropathologist at Bedford VA Medical Center, â€Å"brains of patients with CTE have unique patterns of abnormal protein tangles and cell loss† (Hard Knocks: The Science of Concussions). Her study analyzed the brains of former athletes and war veterans who have experienced multiple brain injuries. McKee’s research showed that out of the 85 brains she has studied, 68 of the brains contained the brain disease CTE (Hard Knocks: The Science of  Concussions). There is extensive research still being done by scientists in the area of CTE and if there is a con nection between repeated blows to the head and the formation of CTE in the brain. In fact the National Football League has decided to donate $30 million to the National Institutes of Health’s Neurology Institute to help further studies on concussions among football players and military troops (NFL Donates $30 Million To Concussion Research). More and more research and evidence on concussions is being brought to the fore front, as well as the numerous tragedies that occurred among former NFL players stemming from repeated concussions. Because of this, the NFL league and the NFL Mild Traumatic Brain Injury committee secretly decided to â€Å"cover up† and put down all the extensive studies and findings that have been recently popping up by scientists outside the NFL. In the PBS TV documentary League of Denial, the NFL is portrayed as a greedy money-driven industry that would do anything to keep the league from falling apart, even to the extent of withholding information from players about the long-term consequences from repeated blows to the head. In this film, the spotlight is cast on Dr. Bennett Omalu who was the first scientist to discover CTE (â€Å"NFL Concussion Cover-up†). His findings of CTE came from the brains of former Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster and his teammate Terry Long. Dr. Omalu’s findings were tremendously influential because it was the spark for the connection between repetitive blows to the head and CTE. However, as Dr. Omalu began publishing his findings about CTE in the brains of Webster and Long, the NFL soon noticed his findings and took action. Dr. Omalu recalled a conversion he had with a NFL doctor in which the NFL doctor said, â€Å"Dr. Omalu, do you know the consequences of what you are doing? If 10 percent of mothers in America started to view football as a dangerous sport, it would be the end of football† (â€Å"NFL Concussion Cover-up†). This obviously shows that NFL doctors realize that the findings between multiple concussions and CTE are true, but they are reluctant to admit to it because they are afraid that the NFL will dissolve into nothing if the â€Å"truth† is discovered. The NFL realized that the league was in jeopardy so they decided to publicly denounce the findings of Dr. Omalu by saying that his work was flawed. However, this was not the only attempt that the NFL made it trying to put  down the findings from scientists on the connection between repetitive concussions and CTE. In a 2007 meeting with the NFL’s Mild Traumatic Brain Injury committee, Julian Bailes who is the to p neurosurgeon at the Northshore Neurological Institute, displayed several pictures of CTE that was almost certainly caused by frequent concussions. However, the chairman of the committee downplayed all the evidence that was shown to them by Julian Bailes even though the evidence was pretty clear. The Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, decided that it was best for the league to conduct its own study about concussions. He released the following statements regarding the evidence being shown to the league by â€Å"outside† doctors and researchers, â€Å"You have to look at their entire medical history. To look at something that is isolated without looking at their entire medical history I think is irresponsible† (NFL Covering Up Research?). From just this one instance, we can definitely see that the NFL is trying its best to ignore the â€Å"clear-cut† evidence about the connection between repetitive concussions and CTE. It seems as though the Commissioner and the head of the NFL Brain Injury committee realize that the information and the research that was showed to them was true so they had to make sure it did not leak out to the players and also to the media.

Free Essays on Italian Futurism

-in-freedom† led to new forms in visual communication with type, graphics and collage being used in conjunction to create picture poems later known as concrete poetry. The new approach to typography in design was embraced by the early literary works of Dadaism and stimulated the New typography movement. The Movement After Cubism a new movement called Futurism emerged in Italy. The movement exploded onto the European cultural scene on 20 February 1909 when Filippo Marinetti the founder and only member at this time aggressively announced the ‘Manifesto of Futurism’ and it was published on the front page of the French newspaper Le Figaro. The manifesto not only celebrated the enthusiasm of the recently industrialized streets of Milan strongly went against conventional art ethics of the past "We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind...... Free Essays on Italian Futurism Free Essays on Italian Futurism Futurism is a movement that has been inspirational to me and has provided motivation to many other graphic designers and movements. â€Å"Shock, in addition to opening people’s eyes, was part of the Futurist programme† Being such a versatile group the works of the Futurists can be seen in numerous art genres. The paintings and typographical revelations are most impressive to me not only were they revolutionary at the time but I think that contemporary eyes are able to see deeper intentions and respect the impact that it had on art. The type of paintings that came out of this movement are visually stimulating to look at I admire the way that the Futurists were able to control the dimensions of a static picture. Borrowing from styles such as Cubism the Futurists manipulated brush strokes and formal elements such as line, balance and colour to portray images that had complex mechanical aesthetics and energetic infusions of bright colour combinations. They also were the founders of typographical innovations that were avant-garde at the time. The art of Marinetti’s â€Å"words-in-freedom† led to new forms in visual communication with type, graphics and collage being used in conjunction to create picture poems later known as concrete poetry. The new approach to typography in design was embraced by the early literary works of Dadaism and stimulated the New typography movement. The Movement After Cubism a new movement called Futurism emerged in Italy. The movement exploded onto the European cultural scene on 20 February 1909 when Filippo Marinetti the founder and only member at this time aggressively announced the ‘Manifesto of Futurism’ and it was published on the front page of the French newspaper Le Figaro. The manifesto not only celebrated the enthusiasm of the recently industrialized streets of Milan strongly went against conventional art ethics of the past "We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind......

Kerosene in Diesel Engine Question

Kerosene in Diesel Engine Question Scott, you are right, we had discussed the clear liquid shortening and I thought I had stayed away from it until I saw the cubies. Yesterday, I went back to my supplier and commented about the mixing of Clear Liquid Oil and Clear Liquid Shortening. Undoubtedly, the grill cook was not aware the oil had been mixed until I saw it on the cubies and so Ive been told they have a new supplier and it will be only Clear Liquid Oil. I have asked them to keep the empty cubies for me, so I can use them for storage, etc. I will wait and see what happens. The kero I had mentioned mixing with my biodiesel is considered highway kero with taxes paid on it at the pump. In N.C. all of our kero is dyed, as well as off road diesel. Our DOT will spot check big rigs, but so far I havent heard of them checking small diesels. However, I never use dyed fuel in my pickup. Next door in S.C. all of the fuel is cheaper due to our state taxes being lower so the kero is actually cheaper than their diesel. Our kero is higher than our diesel and the diesel is 20 to 40 cents higher per gallon than our unleaded. Several years ago, I had an Olds with a GM diesel (converted gasoline to diesel) and the book allowed me to use 10 percent gasoline during the winter to keep the diesel from gelling. Do you think that would be wise to use gasoline in biodiesel during the winter? My friend that I was splitting the oil with has backed out of using SVO I think mainly due to the mods he would have to do to his truck. Anyway, he left me with some literature he had pulled off the internet about using SVO and unleaded gasoline. Im thinking that would be a great way to blow an engine or at least coke it pretty heavily in a short time. Looks like there is a little of everything on the net. Have a great day. Tom Hey Tom,As long as you can get highway kero, and its cheaper, go ahead and run it with a mixture of at least B20 to keep the lubricity up. Kerosene is often used as a thinning (viscosity reducing) agent to help prevent diesel (middle distillate grade #2) and biodiesel fuel gelling in cold weather, but it does reduce the fuels lubricity as well. Since biodiesel has a very high level of lubricity, the reduction from mixing with kerosene is minimal. With regular petro diesel, care must be taken to avoid over-thinning. To avoid this problem, most fuel distribution centers carry winter diesel (light distillate grade #1) for delivery to fueling stations in cold climates. Diesel engines, however, are remarkably tolerant of fuel formulations and can run on just about any low volatility oil based fuel, but of course that doesnt mean they should or that it is even legal (tax wise) or beneficial to do so. While the engines themselves (pistons and valves) are more or less indifferent to fuel types, the emissions and injection controls on modern clean diesel engines would likely be damaged by using any fuel other than ULSD or B5. For illustration purposes only, following is a (mostly complete) list of fuels that can be burned in a diesel engine: Diesel #1 Diesel #2 Diesel #4 ULSD (Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel) Biodiesel (from B5 to B100) Kerosene Home heating oil Civil jet fuel (Jet A-1, Jet A, Jet B) Military jet fuel(JP-4,JP-5,JP-8) SVO (Straight Vegetable And this is interesting- your fuel prices in the Carolinas are different than ours further north. In central PA as of 05-20-08: No, the E85 price is not a typo. Ethanol based fuel has been about a buck a gallon cheaper for the last several years. Ive been experimenting with varying percentages of E85 in my gasoline powered 5.7-liter 1994 Chevy Silverado. A story about my results as well as doing a full conversion to E85 is in the plans. Which brings me to your question about running a gasoline and SVO (straight vegetable oil) mixture in a diesel. I would steer clear for the very reasons you mentioned as well as others from horror stories Ive heard. Diesels are compression ignition engines designed for dense, low volatility oil based fuels (diesel, biodiesel and kerosene). Gasoline style engines are spark ignited and require light and highly volatile fuels (gasoline, alcohol and E85). It doesnt take a stretch of the imagination to understand that an improperly-mixed amount of gasoline and vegetable oil (too much gasoline) could easily prematurely ignite (detonate) and destroy a diesel engines pistons and/or va lvetrain. Reciprocally, Ive heard stories of mixtures with too much veggie oil gumming up and clogging filters, pumps and injectors. In my opinion, there are only two safe methods to run vegetable oil in a diesel engine: Use properly manufactured biodiesel, or install a conversion kit that heats (thus reducing viscosity) the SVO before introduction to the fuel pump and injectors. As always, Tom, thanks for the great comments and questions. Best,Scott

Cigaretes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cigaretes - Research Paper Example Aside from the price, the other factors that determine demand have well established and these are: the consumer’s taste or preference, the number of buyers in the market, the consumer’s income, the prices of related goods, and lastly, consumer expectations (McConnell, 2008, p. 47). The Tobacco Plain Packaging Act received the Royal Assent on Dec. 1, 2011 and the Executive Council of Australia released the Tobacco Plain packaging Regulations 2011 by the 7th of the same month. this statute primarily requires that all tobacco products in the Australian market be sold in plain packaging by the 1st of December 2012. The distinguishing marks between brands will only be the product name in standard color, position, font size and style (Department of Health and Ageing, 2012). Suppose that due to this plain packaging, the consumer’s preference for cigarettes considerably lessens, let us analyze how this will affect the demand for cigarettes in the Australian market. 2. The plain packaging of cigarettes together with the blatant health warnings were less appealing to the consumers, such that they bought lesser quantity of cigarettes. The demand curve shifts to the left. As the law of supply dictates, as price rises, the quantity supplied rises also just as when the price decreases, so does the quantity supplied. Aside from the price there are other factors that affect the supply and these are the following: the resource prices, technology, taxes and subsidies, prices of other goods, producer expectations, and the number of sellers in the market (McConnell, 2008, p. 51). A study by June, Hammond, Sjà ¶din, Li, Romanoff, and OConnor (2011) found out that cigarette fires are also among the leading causes of death related fires. Suppose that this finding also alarmed the Department of Health and Ageing that it passes a statute that requires cigarettes to be self-extinguishing when not being smoked by consumers.

HCM HR discussion board week 8 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

HCM HR discussion board week 8 - Assignment Example The first stage of training and development occurs when an employee joins a company. The initial training should include a segment dedicated to corporate culture. Once an employee joins a staff there is periodically trainings that are given to the employees to improve general and specialized skills. Due to the changes that are occurring in all professions continued education has become more important than ever. The healthcare field requires professionals that keep up with the latest changes in diagnostic and treatment of diseases. As a future human resource manager in healthcare I will emphasize training and development as a value added function that can help the employees in the short, medium, and long term. The creation of a balance training and development program that includes both internal and external training sessions can benefit both the employees and the company. The inclusion of technology can help the firm provide training using online learning techniques. Smartphones such as Iphones and Androids can serve as databases to store medical