Book Review on 'Predictably Irrational' by Dan Ariely Essay

Book Review on 'Predictably Irrational' by Dan Ariely - Essay Example While as classical economics explains how humans are rational beings who exercise logic in analyzing the merits and demerits of given economic situations with an aim of making sound economic decisions, it does not explain in a perfect way how people behave making economic decisions. In light of this, that Dan Ariely is a new generation scientist that he negates in his predictably irrational book that human beings behave in fundamentally rational ways. Dan Ariely thus uses the everyday experience and detailed and experimentation research to explain how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces alter individual reasoning abilities. Dan Ariely uses ingenious experiments to explore how irrational forces and social norms influence our economic behavior. He observes that there is a cultural shift in making economic decisions where fewer market and social norms are now more satisfying, creative, fulfilling, and fun. He performs fun filled experime nts on how people buy, sell, and make life time’s decisions thus demonstrating their predictable irrational economic decision making behaviors. This paper draws a clear review of how human beings demonstrate irrational behaviors while making fundamental economic decisions that relate to buying, selling, and other economically driven decisions. Summary of Content The book â€Å"Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions†Ã‚  by Dan Ariely has 15 chapters that discuss the modes of thinking and events that alter the traditional  rational behavior in making economic decisions. Dan Ariely explains the truth about relativity confirming how humans frequently regard their environment in relation to others (Ariely 10). In doing this, people compare things that are easily comparable in arriving at certain decisions. He goes ahead to explain this comparison by giving examples of three honeymoon destination options two in Rome and one in Paris. He uses thi s example to describe the decoy where consumers tend to have a specific change in preference between two options when a third option surfaces. In light of this, Dan Ariely explains how relativity can help people make wise decisions and at the same time demeaning their lives. He relevantly notes that when people compare their lives to those of others in the same category, they tend to manifest envy and jealousy. He equally reckons that human beings rarely get satisfied and the more they get the more they aspire to get more. However, he notes that we can avert this by avoiding relativity by controlling the happenings around us. Dan Ariely explains the fallacy of supply and demand where consumers consider value, quality, or availability before making a purchasing decision. He notes that recommending a value to an item with no initial value leads to irrational pricing. He observes that although prices apply arbitrarily, consumers tend to anchor with those prices upon their first purchas e. Indeed, the customers associate with this price for a long time affecting their social value and thus irrationality in price. Ariely hence uses the arbitrary price anchoring to challenge supply and demand theories saying that demand is subject to manipulation and thus affects market equilibrium. He therefore concludes that market equilibrium relies on consumer’s memory and not preferred choices. He further explains the cost of free notion where people choose free options in place of

Laplace and Fourier Transforms Essay Example for Free

Laplace and Fourier Transforms Essay Laplace and Fourier Transforms are operator which when applied on a function, lead to another function in a different variable. These transforms are very useful in solving many problems in different branches of engineering. What is essentially done is that an engineering problem is modeled as a mathematical equations and these equations are generally ordinary and / partial differential equations with boundary conditions. These equations are difficult to be solved by analytical methods, however, these equations can be converted into algebraic equations by using Laplace or Fourier Transforms and then it becomes easy to solve these equations. Once these subsidiary algebraic equations are solved, the solution of these algebraic equations is transformed back and thus the solution of the engineering problem is obtained. Thus it can be said that there are following three steps involved in solving differential equations with boundary conditions. (1) Transforming the differential equations with boundary conditions into simple algebraic equations (subsidiary equations). (2) Solution of the subsidiary algebraic equations by algebraic manipulations. (3) Transforming back the result(s) of subsidiary algebraic equations to obtain the solutions. Therefore, it can be seen that the problem of solving a differential equation is simplified into solving of algebraic equations by use of Laplace or Fourier transforms and needless to say that solving an algebraic equation is much simpler than solving a differential equation. Therefore, it is not unusual that Laplace and Fourier transforms find extensive application is solving engineering problems in mechanical as well as electrical domain where the driving force has discontinuities, is impulsive and is periodic function of complex shape. Besides, this method solves the problem directly. Initial value problems are solved without determining the general solution first. Also, nonhomogeneous equations are solved without solving the homogeneous equations first. These transformations are useful in solving not only the ordinary differential equations but in solving the partial differential equations as well. In this paper, the definition, properties and applications of Laplace and Fourier transforms is discussed in detail. Laplace Transform Let us consider a function f = f(t), which is defined for all t 0. When this function is multiplied by e-st and the product is integrated from t = 0 to t = ? and if this integral exists, then this integral will be a function of s, let us say it is F(s); then F(s) is Laplace transform of f(t).

King Tutankhamun Essay example -- Egyptian History

King Tutankhamun King Tutankhamun lived over 3,300 years ago during a period known as the New Kingdom. This period of time was called the New Kingdom because it was when the pharaohs united upper and lower Egypt into one kingdom with the capital being Memphis near current day Cairo. The reason I chose to write a research paper on King Tut is because he is one of the most well known pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Tutankhamun is most well known only by the discovery of his intact tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon. King Tut was born in 1343 B.C. into the 18th Dynasty. Early in his life Tutankaten meaning the "Living Image of the Aten" changed his name to the well-known Tutankamun meaning "Living Image of Amun". Tutankhamun began his education at the young age of four learning first to read then to write. He was probably often found himself playing the ancient board game of Senet. The young pharaoh was involved in many sports such as swimming, fishing, and hunting. His passion was in hunting waterfowl, hare, gazelle, ibex, antelope, and ostrich. By the time of his death he had acquired forty-six bows the largest of which measured six feet in length. King Tutankamun became the pharaoh at the young age of nine years old. He ruled over a troubled country that was in chaos because previous dynasties had alienated their gods. The people loved and adored their young king. Since he was so young he had powerful and experienced advisers mainly Ay and Horemheb the commander-in-chief of the army. During King Tut's reign he and his powerful advisors propriatated the gods and restored the religion and traditional art styles of the early pharaohs as well as rebuild the temples of Amun. King Tut also moved the capitol to Memphis near modern-day Cairo. Being the king of the most large and powerful empire in the ancient world also came with some perks. The dressing of Tutankhamun was a ritual event carried out in front of expert courtiers. Some items that were found in his tomb were sandals, necklaces, jewels, kilts, and some undershirts with embroidery around the collar area. Such simple garments would take up to 3,000 hours to hand craft by some estimates. The wearing of gloves by the Egyptians was very rare and reserved for the upper class. Tut had 27 pairs of gloves some of which bore stitching that wasn't reinvented until the 18th century. This ama... ...paintings as well as the coffin of King Tutankhamun. Before the opening of the tomb novelist Mari Corelli gave a public warning that there would be dire consequences for anyone who entered the sealed tomb. Then just seven weeks after the official opening of the tomb "Tutankhamun's Curse" struck. On April 5th, 1923 Lord Carnarvon died and all sorts of links were found such as all the lights in Cairo went out at the same time of his death and also back in England his dog was said to have howled and died at the same time as his owner's death. King Tutankhamun has always been and will always be the first pharaoh that I think about when I think about ancient Egypt. His tomb and its treasures symbolize Egypt's greatness and multiple centuries of prosperity. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books: Egypt: Land of the Pharaohs By the Editors of Time-Life Books Published By: The Time Inc. Book Company Copyright 1992 Ancient Civilizations By: Christopher Scarre & Brian M. Fagan Published By: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. Copyright 1997 Websites: www.homepage.powerup.com.au/~ancient/ www.kent.wednet.edu/curriculum/soc_studies/Egypt/ www.geocities.com/TheTropics/2815/tut.html

Essays --

Analysis and Critique of Reading Assignment 1 Paper â€Å"Limits of Instruction-Level Parallelism† In this report the author provides quantifiable results that show the available parallelism. The report defines various terminologies like Instruction Level parallelism, dependencies, Branch Prediction, Data Cache Latency, Jump prediction, Memory-address alias analysis etc. used clearly. A total of eighteen test programs with seven models have been examined and the results show significant effects of the variations on the standard models. The seven models reflect parallelism that is available by various compiler/architecture techniques like branch prediction, register renaming etc. The lack of branch prediction means that it finds intra-block parallelism, and the lack of renaming and alias analysis means it won’t find much of that. The Good model doubles the parallelism, mostly because it introduces some register renaming. Parallelism increases with the model type; while the model adds more advanced features without perfect branch prediction it cannot exceed even the half of t he Perfect model's parallelism. All tests conducted show that the parallelism of entire program executions avoided the question of what constitutes a 'representative' interval because to select a particular interval where the program is at its most parallel stage would be misleading. Widening the cycles would also help in improvising parallelism. Doubling the cycle width improves parallelism; appreciably under the Perfect model. But, most of the programs do not benefit from wide cycle widths even under the Perfect model. Depiction to the parallelism behaviour due to window techniques. Evidently discrete window widening tends to result in lower level of parallelism th... ...h prediction and jump prediction, the negative effect of misprediction can be greater than the positive effects of multiple issues. Alias analysis is better than none, though it rarely increased parallelism by more than a quarter. 75% improvement has been achieved under "alias analysis by compiler" on the programs that do use the heap. Renaming did not improve the parallelism much, but degraded it in a few cases. With few real registers, hardware dynamic renaming offers little over a reasonable static allocator. A few have either increased or decreased parallelism with great latencies. Instruction Level Parallelism basics are well explained. Pipelining is important than size of the program. Increased ILP by branch prediction and loop unrolling techniques. But cycles lost in misprediction and memory aliases handling at compiler time have not been taken into account.

Coursework The Great Experiment

Feynman leaned back in his expensive vintage leather chair brought over from his home in Huston Texas. He knew it had been an indulgence even mildly pompous but he was about to solve the question of life and he figured he could afford some indulgence. He looked over his left shoulder out through a huge custom built glass screen along the whole left wall of his office at his magnificent baby. This was no ordinary baby. His baby had taken 20 years and 4. 5 billion dollars to come into life and yesterday it had. It had been with great pride that he had finally thrown the switch that had started its working life. A lot of critics and flat earthers had expressed deep set opposition to the world's greatest and most expensive experiment. But Feynman himself had no doubts whatsoever; he had won a Nobel Prize for the theory behind the experiment and had managed its construction from the start. If there was a problem he would have known and he had every confidence in not only his own work but also the combined intellect of thousands of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. The project had attracted the crime de la crime of the world's best. He looked again through his panoramic glass wall at the machine itself, In fact he was only looking at one critical part of the machine. Alice was the name given to the huge Atlas detector that was the heart of the machine and the project. Its purpose was nothing less than to answer the question why do we have mass? It would finally prove there was no God. The only God Feynman believed in was Physics and higher maths. His 46 meter seven thousand ton Alice was to him a beautiful construction. The collider itself of which Alice was merely only a part stretched out over 26 kilometres running in a circle underneath the border between Switzerland and France at a depth of 100 meters. Like a giant hidden crop circle the machine was the biggest of its kind anywhere in the world. The complexity of the machine was incredible, millions of wires each vital stretched into the distance, thousands of components melded together in this creation of all creations. But it was mans creation, Feynman's creation. His very own version of intelligent design. The concept that the creationists had for so long held onto. Feynman looked down at the first data reserved for his eyes only. He was the only man that knew , he would have to tell them. His heart rate quickened, he began to sweat, he began to feel a rising bile, he began to realise what he had done, what they had done. There had always been a theoretical possibility of course but it always had seemed so ridiculous. The maths just didn't work. Feynman and his team had laughed about it over the years but it was no laughing matter now. The popular press had called their search, the search for the God particle. They had found that sure enough. But it was no loving God, this god wasn't going to solve our problems, answer our questions offer an everlasting afterlife. Feynman knew the tiny subatomic black hole would grow from something so small, so infinitesimally tiny it couldn't be seen with a microscope to something that, in time would devour everything. Every forest, every house, every school, man woman and child would all go. Every particle that made this world this existence, this life would go. Not now, not tomorrow but in time and it was starting now. He had to tell them.

Movies vs Books essays

Movies vs Books essays Air, food, water, shelter, and fire are important elements of life for human bings. Without those elements humans could not possibly survive. Those are the obvious ones, but have you ever thought of something else that you couldnt live without? When you answered that question did television, or books come to mind? If they didnt then think again. Entertainment is a very important part of our existence, especially in our culture. Without entertainment, whether it be individual or with a group, humans could not stay sane, hence could not survive. There are many types of entertainment. Humans, since Adam and Eve have been entertaining themselves in all sorts of different ways. As simple as playing with sticks and stones, and as complex as flying F-16 fighting jets; we need entertainment. Two of the most popular forms of entertainment today is watching televison, and reading books. Reading and writing is one of the oldest forms of communications. Throughout the ages stories have been past down from generation to generation through word of mouth, and through the advent of paper; books. One hundred years ago there was no radio, no cars, and no television. They entertained themselves in different ways then we do today. When they finished their work, instead of plopping themselves on the couch with the remote control, they either sat down with their family and talked, or they read. They read poems, mystery novels, science-fiction novels, romance novels, and so on. People one hundred years ago read much more than we do today, so does that make them smarter than we are today? When I sit down somewhere to read a book, I have to get prepared. I have to be in a quiet atmosphere, I have to be in the mood to read, and I must be prepared to sit down and read for a time period of at least an hour. If Im not able to do any one of those things when I start to read, then I will lose my concentration, and I will st...

History of the Invention of Fireworks

History of the Invention of Fireworks Many people associate fireworks with Independence Day, but their original use was in New Years celebrations. Do you know how fireworks were invented? Legend tells of a Chinese cook who accidentally spilled saltpeter into a cooking fire, producing an interesting flame. Saltpeter, an ingredient in gunpowder, was used as a flavoring salt sometimes. The other gunpowder ingredients, charcoal and sulfur, also were common in early fires. Though the mixture burned with a pretty flame in a fire, it exploded if it was enclosed in a bamboo tube. History This serendipitous invention of gunpowder appears to have occurred about 2000 years ago, with exploding firecrackers produced later during the Song dynasty (960-1279) by a Chinese monk named Li Tian, who lived near the city of Liu Yang in Hunan Province. These firecrackers were bamboo shoots filled with gunpowder. They were exploded at the commencement of the new year to scare away evil spirits. Much of the modern focus of fireworks is on light and color, but loud noise (known as gung pow or bian pao) was desirable in a religious firework, since that was what frightened the spirits. By the 15th century, fireworks were a traditional part of other celebrations, such as military victories and weddings. The Chinese story is well-known, though its possible fireworks really were invented in India or Arabia. From Firecrackers to Rockets In addition to exploding gunpowder for firecrackers, the Chinese used gunpowder combustion for propulsion. Handcarved wooden rockets, shaped like dragons, shot rocket-powered arrows at the Mongol invaders in 1279. Explorers took knowledge of gunpowder, fireworks, and rockets back with them when they returned home. Arabians in the 7th century referred to rockets as Chinese arrows. Marco Polo is credited with bringing gunpowder to Europe in the 13th century. The crusaders also brought the information with them. Beyond Gunpowder Many fireworks are made in much the same way today as they were hundreds of years ago. However, some modifications have been made. Modern fireworks may include designer colors, like salmon, pink, and aqua, that werent available in the past. In 2004, Disneyland in California starting launching fireworks using compressed air rather than gunpowder. Electronic timers were used to explode the shells. That was the first time the launch system was used commercially, allowing for increased accuracy in timing (so shows could be put to music) and reducing smoke and fumes from big displays.

Calling All Book Lovers

Calling All Book Lovers Calling All Book Lovers Calling All Book Lovers By Sharon This collection of book words is not for bibliophobes (book haters), but if you love books, then these are great words for you to use in writing and conversation. They all derive from the Greek biblion, which means book. If youve ever researched an essay, then you probably had to provide a bibliography a list of books or sources on your chosen topic. The term is also used for a list of works published by a particular writer or publisher and it also refers to the study of classifying literary works. Derivatives include bibliographer, bibliographic and bibliographical. A collection of books, a library or a bibliographers catalogue is known as a bibliotheca. If you suffer from bibliolatry, then its certain that you love your Bible and rely on it completely. Of course, you could also love books in general, in which case you could also you might have bibliomania. If youre a bookworm, then you are a bibliophage. There are also words for those who hoard (bibliotaphe) or steal (biblioklept) books. If you love books and also collect them, then you are probably a bibliophile, while a bibliopole is a book dealer, especially in rare books. Finally, if you use random passages from the Bible or other books to predict the future, then you are engaging in bibliomancy. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:45 Synonyms for â€Å"Food†"Gratitude" or "Gratefulness"?Charles's Pen and Jesus' Name

Lipoprotein metabolism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lipoprotein metabolism - Essay Example This part accounts for the largest part of the cholesterol that is quantified as HDL-C in clinical laboratory. ÃŽ ±-HDLÂ  can be fractionated further by density into HDL3 and HDL2, by apolipoprotein composition and size. About 5-15% of apo A-1 in the human plasma is linked to pre–Î ²-electrophoretic mobility particles. This is further differentiated into pre–Î ²3-LpA-I, ÃŽ ²1-LpA-I and pre–Î ²2-LpA-I particles. These particles where reverse cholesterol transport occurs. This occurs in extravascular compartments. It is not clear where the HDL particles and pre–Î ²-electrophoretic mobility originates from. There are several mechanisms that have been proposed including cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP), direct interaction between cell membrane and free apolipoproteins, hepatic lipase (HL), release during the HDL interconversion by phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) and direct secretion from enterocytes into plasma. High-density lipoprotein is produced in the intestine and liver. It plays a key role in the reverse cholesterol transport. By accepting free cholesterol from the peripheral tissues, HDL lowers the blood cholesterol levels. HDL exchanges lipids and proteins with other lipoproteins. It donates apoproteins E and C11 to nascent VLDL’s. HDL also produces a paraoxonase enzyme. This enzyme inhibits the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein. The HDL precursor particles can also absorb free cholesterol from the cell membrane in a process mediated by apoA-1, ApoA-IV and ATP binding cassette transporter 1. ApoA-1 is the HDL’s major apolipoprotein. It activates the cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) (a lecithin enzyme) that esterifies the free accepted cholesterol to increase the efficiency of cholesterol packaging for transport. By acquisition of additional esters, triglycerides, and apolipoproteins, the particles of HDL3 are transformed into HDL2 particles which are relatively la rger. By estension, HDL plays a role in transferring the

International Trade Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Trade - Research Paper Example To properly project the significance of international trade, this essay therefore has three goals: 1) to examine the aims and rationale of international trade through the examples of China and India, and lastly, 2) to compare the effects of international trade on developed and developing countries. Developed and developing countries, however, have different goals for engaging in international trade. The former, in the negative sense, aims to further their own advantage or, positively, to help the economic struggles of the latter. For their part, developing countries aim to achieve the same level of development and prosperity as the developed ones. A change from status—developing to newly developed—may also change such trade goals. Generally though, trading is for survival or for the maintenance of countries’ economies. Countries exchange goods based on resources that are abundant in one and resources that are scarce in the other. This has also been called by David Ricardo as â€Å"comparative advantage† and is one of the rationales for the existence of trade. Nation-states export goods that are produced in large quantities within the national economy, while they import goods that are either scarce or produced in small quantities in domestic markets (Husted & Melvin, 2000, pp.60-61). Regardless of the nation’s capacity, â€Å"profitability of production† is still achievable so long as there is a "comparative advantage." Although absolute advantages in the goods they produce may be absent, all economies that are operated by competitive markets have comparative advantages. Ricardo further proposes that â€Å"no country can long import, unless it also exports, or can long export unless it also imports" (as cited in Blatt, 2004). He confirms that there are benefits to be had in the import-export of goods between and among trading nations. Hence, engaging in both is â€Å"equally essential† so as to

International business management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International business management - Essay Example . For executives and entrepreneurs, the significance appears remarkably apparent: markets are rapidly being borderless; schemes that fail to recognize the integration of the global market place are shortsighted and misguided (Root, 1994, p. 27). Firms that maneuver in international marketplaces require to come up with the most critical resolutions while selecting the most appropriate method of entrance into a country. Arguably, Westhead et al (2002, p. 123) notes that organizations must decide on the most fitting entry strategy in order to optimize on resources. Globalization, as described by Wood and Robertson (2004, p. 143), facilitates and necessitates businesses to move to other international markets. However, before deciding on the entry mode, it is essential to understand the country’s economic, social and political institutions. ... 24-26). There exist diverse strategies of entry into an overseas market. Every strategy has its own disadvantages and advantages. Nonetheless, each company and organization selects a suitable mode of entry depending on the company background, temperament of the company, tactical aims over and above the resources available. In numerous instances, while deciding on the appropriate mode of entry a company experiences many problems and challenges such as environmental, safety, packaging, patents, labeling, copyrights and trademarks (Cateora & Graham, 2002, p. 124). This paper delineates the most appropriate foreign entry strategy for Coffee product. In addition, it attempts to clarify issues arising in the international market selection for the product. Entry Mode Root (1994) describes a market entry strategy as the planned method of delivering and distributing goods and services to a target market (p. 24). A market entry strategy maps out how an organization sells, delivers and distribu te its products in a foreign country. Westhead et al (2002, p. 65) notes that when an organization chooses to explore an international market, the selection of the most appropriate strategy is resolved by the company’s development stratagem. The chief objective of each firm is to institute itself in the international marketplace (Cateora & Graham, 2002, p. 134). For this reason, Westhead et al (2002, p. 145) notes that the procedure of deciding on the most appropriate entry mode necessitates instituting an effectual international promotion stratagem to point out the international chances, discover reserves and potentialities and make use of nucleus capabilities to adopt the international stratagems. The resolution on how to penetrate an overseas market has momentous effect on

Law And Case Policy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law And Policy - Case Study Example An examination of the present legal environment reveals the effectiveness of policies in safeguarding business information and information systems. More than ever before, businesses are rapidly globalizing their operations due to the expansion of e-commerce abilities. This has resulted in the emergence of robust information systems that encompass vast quantities of business-related information. As a consequence, businesses have increasingly started depending on third-party vendors for diverse business operations, posing immense challenges to information security. Vendors such as contractors need to guarantee protection of valuable customer data. Complex systems are needed to handle these complex business opportunities and challenges. Consequently, information security policies are essential to effective everyday business operations. Policies encompass both government polices and organizational polices. With regard to government policies, the US is renowned for its development and imp lementation of robust information security legislation to deter exploitation and misuse of information and information systems and technology. Such legislation provides a reliable business environment, ensuring a stable economy (IT Governance Institute, 2004). Prominent government policies on information security include the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFA Act), which is the foundation of most computer and information-related federal laws. The 1996 National Information Infrastructure Protection Act amended the 1986 law, increasing penalties for information-related crimes. The degree of the penalties imposed depends on the essence of the information acquired and used and whether or not the information-related offense was committed for commercial advantage, personal financial gain or the perpetuation of a criminal act, for instance, fraud. The US Patriotic Act has modified various laws, allowing greater latitude to law enforcement agencies in order to deter terrorism-related ac tivities that encompass the use of information and information system; for instance, making information available for terrorist activities. However, perhaps some of the most important government legislation that govern information dissemination, confidentiality and integrity include the 1996 Telecommunications Deregulation and Competition Act, which regulates telecommunications, both foreign and interstate (IT Governance Institute, 2004). Additionally, the 1966 Freedom of Information Act facilitates disclosure of formerly unreleased documents or information controlled by the government, for instance, tax records. In order to protect businesses against illegal access to stored information on business and personal communications, the government established the Unlawful Access to Stored Communications. This law is particularly important since it deters access and dissemination of business and personal communications, especially those carrying vital business details. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which was last amended in 2006, helps to deter computer-related acts of unlawful information use, dissemination and access (IT Governance In

In The News Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

In The News - Assignment Example In order to meet the demands of customers of these days, it has become important for organizations to revalue their propositions; it means organizations need to do re-evaluation of their value propositions so that they can survive in today’s tough competitive environment (Zoti & Amit, 2008). According to Dafikapu (2011), new business environment has augmented the need of addressing the customer needs along with capturing value from the products and services that are offered to the customers. It is important that every organization has a well-designed business model so that innovators working within business are able to give superior quality products and services. Business model is most important for Internet companies because revenue streams are heavily dependent on customer perception about offerings made by them (Teece, 2010). In order to be successful, every organization needs to ensure that it has a well designed business strategy. When top ranked organizations business st ructures are studied, it can be judged that their success is dependent on the business model used by its owners along with their vision and business strategy. ... According to Daniels, Radebaugh, & Sullivan (2012), a business strategy should have incorporation of following aspects: 1. Business scope – Offering on which the strategy is to be applied. 2. Needs assessment of customers – All current and potential needs of both existing and future customers of the business. 3. Competence / Competitive advantage – Unique competency or distinctive capabilities which will give competitive edge that will help in meeting needs of customers for long run. 4. Securing business competitiveness – Ensuring right competencies are developed so that future of business is feasible. An effective and well-designed business strategy which has six elements as identified by Shediac, Moujaes & Najjar (2011), the scope of business is correctly defined, documentation is done appropriately, real customer needs should be addressed, do exploitation of competencies that are genuine, develop sustainable competitive advantage and it should provide p erfect ground for implementation of strategic plan. Factors important for business strategy When business strategy is being designed, it is important that various factors that are important for business should be taken into account such as its scope, purpose of existence, target market, competitors of the company, availability of suppliers, distribution network, external environment of business, political stability, climatic and economic conditions and many more (Casadesus-Masanell & Ricart, 2009). When an organization has multiple businesses, it needs to ensure that it has separate business strategy for each of the business. For instance, Apple has separate strategies for its computers, iPhones, Tablets and iPads (Meyer, 2011). The business scope needs to be defined in mediocre way so

Law And Case Policy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law And Policy - Case Study Example An examination of the present legal environment reveals the effectiveness of policies in safeguarding business information and information systems. More than ever before, businesses are rapidly globalizing their operations due to the expansion of e-commerce abilities. This has resulted in the emergence of robust information systems that encompass vast quantities of business-related information. As a consequence, businesses have increasingly started depending on third-party vendors for diverse business operations, posing immense challenges to information security. Vendors such as contractors need to guarantee protection of valuable customer data. Complex systems are needed to handle these complex business opportunities and challenges. Consequently, information security policies are essential to effective everyday business operations. Policies encompass both government polices and organizational polices. With regard to government policies, the US is renowned for its development and imp lementation of robust information security legislation to deter exploitation and misuse of information and information systems and technology. Such legislation provides a reliable business environment, ensuring a stable economy (IT Governance Institute, 2004). Prominent government policies on information security include the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFA Act), which is the foundation of most computer and information-related federal laws. The 1996 National Information Infrastructure Protection Act amended the 1986 law, increasing penalties for information-related crimes. The degree of the penalties imposed depends on the essence of the information acquired and used and whether or not the information-related offense was committed for commercial advantage, personal financial gain or the perpetuation of a criminal act, for instance, fraud. The US Patriotic Act has modified various laws, allowing greater latitude to law enforcement agencies in order to deter terrorism-related ac tivities that encompass the use of information and information system; for instance, making information available for terrorist activities. However, perhaps some of the most important government legislation that govern information dissemination, confidentiality and integrity include the 1996 Telecommunications Deregulation and Competition Act, which regulates telecommunications, both foreign and interstate (IT Governance Institute, 2004). Additionally, the 1966 Freedom of Information Act facilitates disclosure of formerly unreleased documents or information controlled by the government, for instance, tax records. In order to protect businesses against illegal access to stored information on business and personal communications, the government established the Unlawful Access to Stored Communications. This law is particularly important since it deters access and dissemination of business and personal communications, especially those carrying vital business details. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which was last amended in 2006, helps to deter computer-related acts of unlawful information use, dissemination and access (IT Governance In

Cold War pattern of conflicts and its influence on international Dissertation

Cold War pattern of conflicts and its influence on international relations in the context of Vietnam War - Dissertation Example ‘Domino Effect’ was stated in viewing Russia’s increasing influence over the South East Asian regions, which was taken by America as a major threat against it (Kane, 2006, pp. 101-102). The Cold War was the most significant diplomatic concern in the post war era. The beginning of the cold war made the European countries from a dispute between them in supporting the capitalist and communist regimes. This dispute between the European nations culminated into the division of the European continent into two ideological factions. Marshall Plan, which was developed by John Marshall during 1947, signified America’s economic cooperation to develop the European continent and form a reunion. The plan signified America’s continuous interests in political, strategic and economic interests over Western Europe (Northrup, 2003, p.177). President Truman during 1947 passed his doctrine which proclaimed Cold War with the Communist regions of the world along with Soviet Russia. This anti-communist program of President Truman observed as a global policy for maintaining security targeted the communist nations as plausible threat towards obstructing America’s dominion over the East Asian countries (Murrin, Johnson, McPherson, & Gerstle, 2007, pp.1012-1013). The tension and competition between the two countries United States and Russia gained ground along their nuclear and space programs. America and Russia focused on enhancing their space technology programs to further strengthen their security dynamism and gaining political and strategic advantage. Both the countries started specializing on the development of rockets and spaceships to gain supremacy in outer space (Sagdeev & Eisenhower, 2008). In the field of nuclear technology the two countries also contested heavily with the discovery of atomic materials. America was found opposing the Soviet stands in gaining supremacy over entering into new atomic areas and discoveries (Crockatt, 1996, p. 57). The Cold War conflicts between the superpower nations belonging to the Communist and Western powers accumulated to the spreading of war in the Korean and Vietnamese territory. Russian attacks on South Korea were heavily counteracted by the American troops through the sending of required resources to the newly independent colonies, which were under French rule. United States government in their move to restrict the ascension of Russian troops to gain control over South Korea strongly conducted the opposition, which resulted in heavy combat. United States also took a firm stand of restricting Communist factions from gaining their stand in the Vietnamese regions. The government of America took control of the Southern region of Vietnam and defended further Communist aggression (Wouri, 2000). Further the region of South East Asia reflected conflicts between countries like Russia, United States and China. The end of the Cold War period led to the downfall of Russia and the rise of Un ited States to gain supremacy over the East Asian region. The period of Cold War also led to the emergence of China as a regional power through the increased collaboration of United States. Both countries United States and China however helped each other in removing Russia and gaining dominance over South East Asia (Ross, 2009, p.47). The paper attempts to find out how

Theoretical Framework for Hr Thesis Essay Example for Free

Theoretical Framework for Hr Thesis Essay 1. Definition of Motivation and Employee Motivation 1. Definition of Motivation Many contemporary authors have also defined the concept of motivation. Motivation has been defined as: the psychological process that gives behavior purpose and direction (Kreitner, 1995); a predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs (Buford, Bedeian, Lindner, 1995); an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need (Higgins, 1994); and the will to achieve (Bedeian, 1993). According to John R. Schermerhorn (2010), the term motivation is used in management theory to describe forces within the individual that account for the level, direction, and persistence of effort expended at work. Motivation can be defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behaviors. In its simplest definition, the term motivation is frequently used to describe why a person does something. (Cherry, 2011). An individuals motivation is influenced by biological, intellectual, social and emotional factors. As such, motivation is a complex, not easily defined, intrinsic driving force that can also be influenced by external factors. Every employee has activities, events, people, and goals in his or her life that he or she finds motivating. Generally speaking , for this thesis, motivation is operationally defined as the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals. Motivation is an employees intrinsic enthusiasm about and drive to accomplish activities related to work. Motivation is that internal drive that causes an individual to decide to take action. So, motivation about some aspect of life exists in each persons consciousness and actions. 2. Definition of Employee Motivation The trick for employers is to figure out how to inspire employee motivation at work. To create a work environment in which an employee is motivated about work, involves both intrinsically satisfying and extrinsically encouraging factors. Employee motivation is the combination of fulfilling the employees needs and expectations from work and the workplace factors that enable employee motivation or not. These variables make motivating employees challenging. Employers understand that they need to provide a work environment that creates motivation in people. But, many employers fail to understand the significance of motivation in accomplishing their mission and vision. Even when they understand the importance of motivation, they lack the skill and knowledge to provide a work environment that fosters employee motivation. From Rick Pitino’s point of view, The only way to get people to like working hard is to motivate them. Today, people must understand why theyre working hard. Every individual in an organization is motivated by something different. Employee motivation can be approached in many ways with different definitions. With Twyla Dell, The heart of motivation is to give people what they really want most from work. The more you are able to provide what they want, the more you should expect what you really want, namely: productivity, quality, and service. (Dell, 1988). G. Jones and J. George from the book Contemporary Management†, defined motivation as Psychological forces that determine the direction of a persons behavior in an organization, a persons level of effort and a persons level of persistence. And this approach is used as the employee motivation definition in the thesis 2. Motivation theories There are many theories that refer to motivate people such as ERG theory by Clayton Alderfer, Acquired Needs theory by David McClelland, Expectancy theory by Victor Vroom, etc. In this thesis, the author applied Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg’s Two – Factors Theory as the theoretical framework for the thesis 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs The theory of human needs developed by Abraham Maslow was introduced in this part as an important theoretical framework for the thesis. Psychologist Abraham Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation and his subsequent book Motivation and Personality. This hierarchy suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other, more advanced needs. This hierarchy is most often displayed as a pyramid. The lowest levels of the pyramid are made up of the most basic needs, while the more complex needs are located at the top of the pyramid. Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements including the need for food, water, sleep, and warmth. Once these lower-level needs have been met, people can move on to the next level of needs, which are for safety and security. As people progress up the pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and social. Soon, the need for love, friendship, and intimacy become important. Further up the pyramid, the need for personal esteem and feelings of accomplishment take priority. Maslow emphasized the importance of self-actualization, which is a process of growing and developing as a person in order to achieve individual potential [pic] There are five different levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Physiological needs: the most basic needs for human to survival, (such as air, water, food, sex, sleep, etc). In working environment, it can be rest and refreshment breaks, physical comfort on the job or reasonable work hours. According to Maslow, if these needs are not satisfied, the human body can not function properly, and will ultimately fail. Physiological needs are supposed to be the most important and should be met first. Safety needs: After the physiological needs are satisfied, people’s attention turn to safety and security. Social needs: the first level of higher level needs is social needs. Social needs are those related to interact with others which includes: friendship, belonging to a group, giving and receiving love Esteem needs: Esteem needs can be categorized as external motivators such as recognition, attention, and social status. While internal motivators include accomplishment and self – respect. Self actualisation needs:This is the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less concerned with the opinions of others and interested fulfilling their potential. (Cherry, 2011) 2. The theory Herzberg’s Two – Factor The Two – Factor theory by Herzberg is one of the most influential studies on motivation which describes needs in terms of satisfaction and disatisfaction. Herzberg found that the factors causing job satisfaction were different from those causing job dissatisfaction. He developed the motivation – hygiene theory to explain these results. He called the satisfiers â€Å"motivators† and the dissatisfiers â€Å"hygiene factors†, using the term â€Å"hygiene† in the sense that they are considered maintenance factors that are necessary to avoid dissatisfaction but that by themselves do not provide satisfaction. [pic] 1. Motivation factors Herzberg explains that motivation factors are related to â€Å"what people do† on the job or â€Å"job content† Motivation factors include such things as a sense of responsibility, feelings of recognition, a sense of achievement,  feelings of personal growth, the opportunity for advancement and work itself. Presence of motivation factors influences job satisfaction levels Responsibility: A duty or obligation to satisfactorily perform or complete a task (assigned by someone, or created by ones own promise or circumstances) that one must fulfill, and which has a consequent penalty for failure. Recognition: Recognition is identifying something you learned previously and is therefore stored in some manner in memory. The employees should be praised and recognized for their accomplishments by the managers. Achievement: The definition of achievement also includes its opposite, the failure or the absence of achievement. Success put into this category consists of the followings: successful completion of a job, solutions to problems, vindication, and seeing the results of one’s work. (Herzberg, 2008, p.45 -143) Personal growth: There must be growth and advancement opportunities in an organization to motivate the employees to perform well. Advancement: Advancement is an actual change in the status or position of the person in the company. In situation in which an individual transfers from one part of the company to another without any change in status but increases opportunities for responsible work, the change is considered an increased responsibility, but not formally an advancement. (Herzberg, 2008, p.46) Work itself ( Job – itself interesting and fulfilling work): The work itself should be meaningful, interesting and challenging for the employee to perform and to get motivated. 2. Hygiene factors According to Herzberg, hygiene factors influence directly on job  dissatisfaction. The hygiene factors are found in the job context and include such things as working conditions, interpersonal relations, base wage or salary, and technical quality of supervision. By improving them, such as by implemetenting a no – smooking policy, can make people less dissatisfied at work. However, it will not increase job satisfaction. Hygiene factors include: Working condition: The working conditions should be safe, clean and hygienic. The work equipments should be updated and well-maintained. Interpersonal relations: The relationship of the employees with his peers, superiors and subordinates should be appropriate and acceptable. There should be no conflict or humiliation element present. Base wage and salary: The pay or salary structure should be appropriate and reasonable. It must be equal and competitive to those in the same industry in the same domain. Supervision – technical : This category refers to the competence or incompetence; fairness or unfairness of the supervisor; supervisor’s willingness or unwillingness to delegate responsibility, to teach subordinates. (Herzberg, 2008, p.47) 3. The combination of Motivation factor and Hygiene factor The combination of hygiene and motivation factors can result in 4 conditions: 1. High Hygiene/High Motivation: The ideal situation where employees are highly motivated and have few problems. 2. High Hygiene/Low Motivation: Employees have few problems but are not highly motivated. 3. Low Hygiene/High Motivation: Employees are motivated but have a lot of problems. 4. Low Hygiene/Low Motivation: The worst situation. Unmotivated employees with lots of problems. Herzberg’s theories can be summarized by his quote, â€Å"If you want people to do a good job, give them a good job to do.† The two factor theory is useful because job context  and content are major issues in the business world today.

Differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Research

Differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Research DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATITVE RESEARCH METHODS What is the difference between quantitative and qualitative research? In a nutshell, quantitative research generates numerical data or information that can be converted into numbers. Qualitative Research on the other hand generates non-numerical data. Many times those that undertake a research project often find theyare notaware of the differences between Qualitative Researchand Quantitative Research methods. Many mistakenly think the two terms can be used interchangeably. So what is the difference between Qualitative Research and Quantitative Research? Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Qualitative Research is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dive deeper into the problem. Qualitative data collection methods vary using unstructured or semi-structured techniques. Some common methods include focus groups (group discussions), individual interviews, and participation/observations. The sample size is typically small, and respondents are selected to fulfill a given quota. Quantitative Research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into useable statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables – and generalize results from a larger sample population. Quantitative Research uses measurable data to formulate facts and uncover patterns in research. Quantitative data collection methods are much more structured than Qualitative data collection methods. Quantitative data collection methods include various forms of surveys – online surveys, paper surveys, mobile surveys and kiosk surveys, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, longitudinal studies, website interceptors, online polls, and systematic observations. Snap Survey Software is the ideal solution for a Quantitative Research tool where structured techniques such as large numbers of respondents and descriptive findings are required. Snap Survey Software has many robust features that will help your organization effectively gather and analyze quantitative data Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research Methods The similarities and differences between quantitative and qualitative research methods can be confusing. Here is a simplified explanation. In quantitative research, you generally end up with data reduced to numbers, which are analyzed using statistics. Frequently, quantitative research is used to support or expand a theory that already exists. In qualitative research, you usually dont end up with numbers. Instead, you will describe and analyze a phenomenon using words. Sometimes, qualitative research is used to develop new theory that didnt exist before. The first thing to do in any research project is conceive, clarify and write a research question. After composing the research question, you compose a research plan, which includes the research method or methods you think would be best in answering the question. Quantitative and Qualitative Research What is the difference between quantitative and qualitative research? In a nutshell, quantitative research generates numerical data or information that can be converted into numbers. Qualitative Research on the other hand generates non-numerical data. Only measurable data are being gathered and analyzed in quantitative research. Qualitative research focuses on gathering of mainly verbal data rather than measurements. Gathered information is then analyzed in an interpretative manner, subjective, impressionistic or even diagnostic. Here’s a more detailed point-by-point comparison between the two types of research: 1. Goal or Aim of the Research Quantitative Research on the other hand focuses more in counting and classifying features and constructing statistical models and figures to explain what is observed. Qualitative Quantitative Hypothesis Broad Narrow Description Whole picture Focused Type of Research Exploratory Conclusive 2. Usage Qualitative Research is ideal for earlier phases of research projects while for the latter part of the research project, Quantitative Research is highly recommended. Quantitative Research provides the researcher a clearer picture of what to expect in his research compared to Qualitative Research. Qualitative Quantitative Phase Early Late 3. Data Gathering Instrument The researcher serves as the primary data gathering instrument in Qualitative Research. Here, the researcher employs various data-gathering strategies, depending upon the thrust or approach of his research. Examples of data-gathering strategies used in Qualitative Research are individual in-depth interviews, structured and non-structured interviews, focus groups, narratives, content or documentary analysis, participant observation and archival research. On the other hand, Quantitative Research makes use of tools such as questionnaires, surveys, measurements and other equipment to collect numerical or measurable data. 4. Type of Data The presentation of data in a Qualitative Research is in the form of words (from interviews) and images (videos) or objects (such as artifacts). If you are conducting a Qualitative Research what will most likely appear in your discussion are figures in the form of graphs. However, if you are conducting a Quantitative Research, what will most likely appear in your discussion are tables containing data in the form of numbers and statistics. 5. Approach Qualitative Research is primarily subjective in approach as it seeks to understand human behavior and reasons that govern such behavior. Researchers have the tendency to become subjectively immersed in the subject matter in this type of research method. In Quantitative Research, researchers tend to remain objectively separated from the subject matter. This is because Quantitative Research is objective in approach in the sense that it only seeks precise measurements and analysis of target concepts to answer his inquiry. Determining Which Method Should Be Used Debates have been ongoing, tackling which method is better than the other. The reason why this remains unresolved until now is that, each has its own strengths and weaknesses which actually vary depending upon the topic the researcher wants to discuss. This then leads us to the question â€Å"Which method should be used?† If your study aims to find out the answer to an inquiry through numerical evidence, then you should make use of the Quantitative Research. However, if in your study you wish to explain further why this particular event happened, or why this particular phenomenon is the case, then you should make use of Qualitative Research. Some studies make use of both Quantitative and Qualitative Research, letting the two complement each other. If your study aims to find out, for example, what the dominant human behavior is towards a particular object or event and at the same time aims to examine why this is the case, it is then ideal to make use of both methods.

But you are not jeffmute? Irelands Image Abroad :: Essays Papers

'But you are not jeffmute?' Ireland's Image Abroad In "Ireland at the Bar" James Joyce is concerned with the image of Ireland in the eyes of the Britain and the role of the English media in Imperialism. The essay recounts the details of the trial for murder of Myles Joyce, accused of killing John Joyce [not a relation of his], his wife, mother and children on the 17th of August 1882 in Maamtrasna in Connemara. Myles Joyce was one of four or five peasants, "all of them members of the ancient tribe of the Joyces", arrested for the murder of their neighbour. Myles was the eldest of them, at sixty years of age, and belonged to a generation of Irish people who only spoke Irish. The patriarch was tried in English, a language he didn’t understand, and "Myles Joyce was convicted after the jury met for six minutes." (Flood, 883) and hanged in December 1882 at Galway jail. Myles Joyce was given the services of an interpreter as Joyce describes. "On the one hand there was the officious interpreter, on the other the patriarch of the miserable tribe who, unused to civic customs, seemed quite bewildered by all the legal ceremonies."(145) The Magistrate instructed the interpreter to ask the accused if he saw the woman on the morning in question, "the old man broke out into intricate explanations, gesticulating, appealing to the other accused, to heaven. Then, exhausted by the effort, he fell silent."(145) The interpreter answered to the magistrate "He says no, your worship."(145) The interpreter does an injustice to Myles Joyce by rendering the passionate protestations of the accused into monosyllabic answers. For Joyce, however, the case of Myles Joyce represents a greater issue concerning Irish Identity. He points out: The figure of the bewildered old man, left over from a culture which is not ours, a deaf-mute before his judge, is a symbol of the Irish nation at the bar of public opinion. Like him, Ireland cannot appeal to the modern conscience of England or abroad. The English newspapers act as interpreters between Ireland and the English electorate. (146) After he had been executed, Myles Joyce was considered to have been wrongfully accused of the murders. In fact, his co-accused admitted their part and exonerated Myles of any wrongdoing. But respective governments in Britain who refused to ever have a proper enquiry into this miscarriage of justice overlooked this.

The Significance of Family Meals in Faulkner’s Barn Burning, Shall Not Perish, and Two Soldiers :: Barn Burning Shall Not Perish Two Soldiers

The Significance of Family Meals in Faulkner’s Barn Burning, Shall Not Perish, and Two Soldiers The meal, and more specifically the concept of the family meal, has traditional connotations of comfort and togetherness. As shown in three of Faulkner’s short stories in â€Å"The Country†, disruptions in the life of the family are often reinforced in the plot of the story by disruptions in the meal. In â€Å"Barn Burning†, Abner enters the house at dusk and â€Å"could smell the coffee from the room where they would presently eat the cold food remaining from the afternoon meal.† (14) A warm meal would indicate fulfillment and cohesiveness within the family. The inclusion of the detail that the food was cold represents an inversion of these associations. The cold meal symbolizes the family’s distaste with Abner’s actions. The memory of the dinner lingers with the family as they get ready for bed and appears linked with negative images of â€Å"Where they had been were no long, water-cloudy scoriations resembling the sporadic course of a lilliputian moving machine.† (15) In addition, the emphasis that this dinner was in fact a left-over meal symbolizes that the pattern of Abner’s destructive behavior and its effects on his family will not change. In â€Å"Shall Not Perish†, Mother, Father, and the narrator receive news that Pete has died at war. Upon hearing the bad news, the family â€Å"fed and milked an came back and ate the cold supper.† (103) In this short story, the eating of cold food represents the cold, harsh realities of death and mourning. The family has been left with a permanent void and the disruption in the family meal serves to further illustrate this point. The mother in "Two Soldiers" is preparing to send her son Pete off to war. As Pete’s younger brother recalls, â€Å"Maw was getting Pete ready to go. She washed and mended his clothes and cooked him a shoe box of vittles.† (85) The mother’s desire to make sure Pete leaves with one last meal, shows her desire to still be able to nurture her son. This desire is inherent in the same way that faith is.

Benzodiazepine as a pain medication in emergency settings

Emergency departments frequently come across a wide range of patient with multiple types of presentations. The most common feature among them is pain, which may be acute or chronic. Acute pain can be due to appendicitis, or a gun shot wound, or acute exacerbation of a chronic pain. Chronic pain is usually in the cases of rheumatic arthritis, or cancer patients. Regardless of the type of the pain, the medical personnel are always needed to decide which pain medication is needed for a particular patient.Understanding of individual drugs, their mode of action, their potency, and their possible interactions with the person’s condition or with other drugs is necessary to prevent any adverse consequences of prescribing. There are many pain killer drugs now available in the market. With the rapid progression in the pharmaceutical industry, there is a larger pool for the health care workers to prescribe from, and specification for all types of conditions. The UK government has since t hen put up many guidelines to help practitioners prescribe the right drug.Since many of the drugs are given based on the intensity of the pain described by the patient, the use of pain scales is one of the key instruments in the measurement of pain. The efficacy of these pain measurement scales have been brought into question from time to time. However, up till now, very few if any alternatives have been as useful as this one. Apart from the administration of the pain killer drugs, there are many legal aspects that need to be considered as well. Many patients, when given a certain kind of pain killer drugs, may develop tolerance and addiction to the drugs.Again, there may be patients who may be addicts, and present themselves deliberately to get their â€Å"dose† of the drugs. The recognition of patients who may be developing addiction, or are using hospital as a source of addiction is very important which may require certain corrective and legal measures. Therefore, the admi nistration of painkiller drugs also holds a certain amount of legal perspective as well. Apart from the use of such painkillers, there are many studies and researches that point to the role of various psychotropic drugs in the management of pain.While the association may seem sparse on the up front, patients with pain are frequently agitated and worried, and may require some â€Å"calming of the nerves†. In such patients the use of psychotropic and anti anxiety drugs is considered a good option. There are many researches that now support this theory, and claim that an emergency setting can respond better with appropriate use of these drugs. It is however important to take into consideration the type of pain for which the patient presents with.While acute pain patients may not have a large chance of developing a dependence on the drugs, it is the chronically ill patients that are of more concern. Patients of cancer and arthritis etc. are prescribed with chronic pain medication in accordance with the severity of the pain. Most of these patients are given prescriptions, which may not be maintained or fully monitored. While in the hospital admitted cases, the identification of addiction and dependence patterns can be easily diagnosed and dealt with, the same is not true for patients who are living in homes and receiving their medications their.To address this problem the government again introduced various measures to help control the dispensing of such drugs, and periodic evaluation of such patients at outpatient settings. The administration of pain killer drugs is a measure as well as responsibility of the health care provider. IS PAIN ADEQUATELY MANAGED? Pain is defined as â€Å"an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual and potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage† (Zempsky and Schenchter, 2003) Many physicians feel that pain in the emergency rooms is not treated very well.Studies have shown that pai n is the most common presenting complaint in the emergency department, yet is not so commonly handled or managed. (Sorelle, 2002) Researchers in studies have shown that many times the patients are given the pain medication very late or not at all. However, there are many factors that complicate the situation as simply patient comes, patient receives, and patient leaves. The time it may take for various preliminaries, the history taking and the final decision about whether the patient does need medication are among the various factors that can affect prompt medicine giving.The studies have pointed out the lack of information and lack of management of pain in the systematic manner. These studies therefore point out to the need of a good method of understanding and relieving pain. (Sorelle, 2002) Current pain management strategies recommended include the following: †¢ Introduction of low doses of drugs initially and gradually increase to reach the optimum effect for the patientâ⠂¬â„¢s pain relief. †¢ Combined drug therapy. This helps in reducing the doses of the drugs, and thereby prevents side effects of one drug†¢ Continuous analgesia, which is now being used widely in emergency settings. †¢ Use of behavioral methods along side pharmacological interventions to increase response. (Feinberg, 2004) OPIOID ANALGESICS IN THE MANGEMENT OF PAIN: Centrally acting opioids analgesics are used widely for the remedy of pain in the clinical settings. Tramadol is among the new line of opioids narcotic agents that are used for moderate to severe pain. It acts both as a weak opioids agonist and as an inhibitor of monoamine neurotransmitter reuptake.Both oral and parenteral forms have shown good results in the management of pain. (Scott and Perry, 2000) The advantage of this drug is that there is less dependence to this drug than other opioids. It does not affect the respiratory rate, and has lesser irritation effect on the GIT than other drugs. It also ha s a lesser risk of seizure than other drugs. (Feinberg, 2004) NSAIDS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF PAIN: The second most common line of drugs used in this group of medication is the COX 2 inhibitor drugs.These drugs have shown at least similar efficacy in the management of pain when compared to COX non specific drugs. Parecoxib sodium for example, has similar effects to non specific nsaids in the injectable form. These drugs have shown a superior activity to morphine for most measures of analgesic efficacy, and have a prolonged duration of action. (Scott et al,2002) USE OF PAIN SCALES FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF PAIN SEVERITY Many researches are now questioning the value of the visual analog scales used widely to monitor the level of pain.Bodian et al, (2001) carried out a research to identify the relation between the changes of analgesic intravenous doses with the documentation on the VAS charts by the patients. The study also aimed to find out if watching previous VAS scores by the same patient h ad any influence on the later scoring of the pain. Bodian was able to conclude that â€Å"when pain is an outcome measure in research studies, grouping final VAS scores into a small number of categories provides greater clinical relevance for comparisons than using a full spectrum of measured values or changes in value.Seeing an earlier VAS form has no apparent influence on the later values. † (Bodian et al, 2001) PAIN MANAGEMNET IN CHILDREN: Pain management in children especially neonatal kids was not much debated until in the recent years. However, there are many recent methods that are used to alleviate pain in the recent pediatric settings. These include prevention of pain, where the pain is treated prophylactically. The identification and proper assessment of the pain is another crucial element in the pain management in children.The treatment of pain while initially considered to be limited to only providing analgesics, has recently evolved to include physical methods su ch as massages, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, and behavioral methods such as hypnosis, distraction, preparation and rehearsal. (Zempsky and Schechter, 2003) Current child pain management heavily relies on the information received from the parents, and uses them during the pain procedures as a source of comfort to the child.The introduction of painless analgesia technique is another method of inducing cooperation from the patient. And reduction of anxiety, a very important feature in a child is another very important area in the management of pain. (Zempsky and Schechter, 2003) Benzodiazepines are used very widely as sedatives in children with successful results. However, the only problem associated with it is the development of tolerance to it. In such children withdrawal symptoms cause severe distress and the child may express irritability, ataxia, aggression, hallucinations, and twitching.Other symptoms include inconsolable crying, agitation, vomiting, anxiety, hype ractivity, convulsions, tremors, jitterness, poor feeding gagging. The form used in children is midazolam, and is used for a variety of purposes. Their indications include sedation, amnesia, anticonvulsant, and anesthesia. (Bennett, 2001) If benzodiazepines are given to such children for more than 3 days, then these should be weaned off slowly. If the child exhibits withdrawal symptoms, then diazepam, a less intensive benzodiazepine can be given until the effect wears off.(Bennett, 2001) The pain scales used in children include the Oucher Scale, Faces Scale, Poker Chip Tool, Colored Analogue Scale, the Pain Thermometer, Visual Analogue Scale, and the McGill Pain Questionnaire respectively. The most common drugs used in pediatrics include opioids and NSAIDS. Included in the pain management techniques are behavioral approaches such as distraction etc. The current evaluation scales have improved considerably since the last two years, and have improved the outcomes of the pediatric pain management as well.(Zempsky and Schechter, 2003) THE USE OF ADJUVANT ANALGESICS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF PAIN. With increased understanding about the various modalities of pain, there are now novel and newer methods introduced in medicine to reduce pain in patients. The use of adjuvant drugs is used to enhance the efficacy of the analgesia and to improve the tolerance to pain. Drugs such as antidepressants, antihypertensives, local anesthetics, and CNS stimulants are widely used as adjuvants to control analgesia and to improve patients’ experience of pain.

Alcohol Advertisement in Australia Essay

Alcohol advertising in Australia ignores the long-term and short-term health risks associated with excessive alcohol consumption; these are detrimental to the Australian population of all ages, therefore they should be banned. Alcohol advertising is the promotion of alcoholic beverages by alcohol companies through a range of different media. Alcohol advertising is one of the most closely regulated forms of advertising, along with tobacco. The self-regulation system in Australia is not effective at protecting children and youth from exposure to alcohol advertising, a great deal of which contains material appealing to these groups (Fielder, Donovan & Ouschan 2009). The Alcoholic Beverages Advertising Code was introduced to guarantee that alcohol advertising will be conducted in a way that encourages responsibility and moderation in liquor merchandising and consumption, and does not promote the consumption of alcoholic beverages by underage persons. The Alcoholic Beverages Advertising Code first introduced in 1998 is the regulatory system for alcohol advertisement in Australia. For advertisement to comply with this code it is assessed to whom the advertisement is directed, and whom the advertisement may possibly be communicated. Australians’ consumption of alcohol is large on a global scale, with consumption estimated at 9. 88 litres per capita in 2007 (National Preventative Health Taskforce 2009). Scientific research has revealed, over decades, that there is a correlation between alcohol advertising and the consumption of alcohol. However, it has not yet been proven that alcohol advertising causes higher consumption (Hanson, 2011). It is the Alcohol Companies aim to demonstrate that the alcohol campaigns effectively increase their potential market share and brand loyalty, and not higher alcohol consumption. Adolescences are exposed to alcohol advertisements through many different forms of media, and can result in the consumption of alcoholic beverages. A study has shown that alcoholic beverages are the most advertised product inside a 250 metre radius of primary schools and children are exposed up to 25 advertisements for alcohol per square kilometre (Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 2008). The alcohol industry lack credibility in the argument about banning alcohol advertising, given their dire attempts at enforcing their own self-regulatory code (the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code). Children’s exposure to alcohol advertisement is on a daily basis. The advertisement of alcohol and alcohol products is not adequately regulated to restrict youths viewing alcohol-related images and messages. Research has shows that underage children are frequently shown alcohol advertising (Fielder, Donovan & Ouschan 2009). Mounting evidence has revealed, for youths, the increasing pressure of alcohol marketing creates negative attitudes towards alcohol consumption, and significantly impacts their decision to drink, as well as how they drink (National Preventative Health Taskforce 2009). Underage drinking can cause youth’s brains to be extremely damaged from alcohol. Large alcohol exposure to the developing youth’s brain can be very dangerous. Adolescents are shown to be more susceptible to the learning and memory difficulties that can arise from alcohol consumption. Sections of the brain that are affected by alcohol are directly correlated with memory and emotions, and binge drinking could produce memory problems, problems with verbal skills, incapacity to learn and depression. The existing regulatory system does not effectively regulate these exposures, and does not attempt to decrease or abolish the appeal of the advertising content. The 30 highest viewed alcohol advertisements to the underage population included at least one component identified to appeal to children and underage youth, with 23 found to contain two or more such material. It was also found that 15 of the 30 advertisements contained an animal (Fielder, Donovan & Ouschan 2009). The self-regulation system in Australia fails to safe-guard children and youth from exposure to alcohol advertising, with a good majority containing elements appealing to youths. The advertising companies’ target audience of their advertising campaigns have changed, with various brands being targeted towards a particular population. Some drinks are typically seen as a masculine drink, predominantly beers and dark spirits, whilst wines and cocktails are seen as feminine. Brands have said to be specifically produced to appeal to a population that would not generally drink that kind of alcoholic beverage. The alcohol industry has come under criticism and restricted legislation in their alleged targeting of young people, with the creation of alcoholic beverages that are sweet-tasting and bright coloured which appeal to the younger population. However, there is no solid evidence that supports this alleged targeting of youths. There have been wide spread debate on whether alcohol advertisements are targeting the teenage population, although alcohol advertisement makes consumption look extremely exciting and enjoyable with a majority of which involve parties. Exposure to alcohol advertisements is a daily occasion; they are on television, radio, billboards, concerts, magazines and sporting events. If alcohol advertising was to be banned there would be a certain objection from alcohol companies, outlets, sporting bodies and association. Alcohol is a major sponsor within Australian sports and is estimated to be worth $1. 25 billion a year. Large quantities of alcohol consumption are linked to severe public and social health problems involving violence, crime, road accidents and disease. With the taxing of premixed drinks there is intent to address the problem, however this has not made much of a difference, with adolescence moving onto different forms of alcohol. With the alcohol advertisement nearly everywhere and binge drinking within the teenage population still prevalent, the self-regulatory systems set up at present are not adequate. Heavy alcohol consumption has become a part of Australian culture; advertisement is encouraging these trends, and should be banned. Reference List: * Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, NSW Centre for Overweight and Obesity, 2008 * Fielder, L. , Donovan, R. J. & Ouschan, R. (2009) ‘Exposure of children and adolescents to alcohol advertising on Australian metropolitan free-to-air television’, Addiction, 104: 1157-1165 * Hanson, David, 2011; Alcohol Advertising * National Preventative Health Taskforce (2009) Australia: The healthiest country by 2020, Technical Report No 3.

Biology Unit 4 IP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Biology Unit 4 IP - Research Paper Example Moreover, alveoli are destroyed due to the destruction of gas exchange surface area and airway flexibility. Furthermore, vascular changes take place in the small arteries and capillaries of the alveoli and bronchioles. Additionally, the cells of the bronchial tree undergo inflammation, which results in squamous metaplasia, fibrosis and hypertrophy of smooth muscle (Robinson & Scullion, 2009, p. 545). Air that has been infused with oxygen is drawn into the lungs during the inhalation stage of respiration, and then it reaches the alveoli. At that place, blood with high carbon dioxide content, which has coursed through the body comes into contact with the oxygen enriched air. This takes place in the capillaries that enclose each alveolus. At that place, oxygen in the air is exchanged with the carbon dioxide in the blood (Brannon & Feist, 2009, p. 309). Smoking causes emphysema, which damages the alveoli to the extent that the surface area for the aforementioned exchange of oxygen from the inhaled air and the carbon dioxide in the blood that has circulated through the body, is substantially reduced. Moreover, this damage prevents the flow of sufficient blood to the unaffected alveoli. The outcome is an impaired respiratory mechanism, which in turn increases the carbon dioxide levels in the blood (Brannon & Feist, 2009, p. 311). The risk of pneumonia and other acute respiratory ailments are significantly enhanced by smoking (Duaso & Duncan, 2012, p. 356). Smoking has been identified as the single most important cause for cardiovascular disease. It is now well established that smoking significantly increases the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, and stroke (Duaso & Duncan, 2012, p. 358). The most common association of cigarette smoking is lung cancer, and as much as 90% of the incidence of lung cancer has been correlated to smoking. In addition, evidence

Earth Embankment Dam Filters With reference to journal papers (a Essay

Earth Embankment Dam Filters With reference to journal papers (a minimum of 3) and text books (a maximum of 3), discuss the late - Essay Example Some of the causes of embankment include embankment deformations under static loading, which occur due to volumetric changes, tangential and shear displacements within the embankment and groundwork materials. This study establishes that the volumetric changes are due to either a raise in the normal stresses on a soil constituent, which causes a decrease in void volume, or dilation of soil rudiments undergoing shear (INDRARATNA, & ASHOK, 2006). The riskiest event of an embankment dam is when it overtops beyond its spillways thus causing the ultimate failure. What is the purpose of upstream and downstream filters? Upstream can be defined a course away from the supply of power in a fluid system under the pretext of an embankment dam. In other words, downstream in a hydraulic structure is in the same bearing as the fluid is moving. To start with, the purpose of the downstream filters involves upgrading the dams intended to meet the safety standards. It is imperative to note that retrofit ting stepped up spillways to the dam is the most recent and accepted method, where when the waters flows down a stepped spillways, the water surface changes from a smooth surface to a rough surface with visible white water (INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON LARGE DAMS, 1994). Designing of the stepped spillways, and stilling basins finds the knowledge of the beginning of the white water fundamental. This paper indicates that stepped spillways used to embankment dams particularly on the downward filtering have become a common phenomenon with the rehabilitation of aging watershed dams more particularly those experiencing a hazard classification change from low to high hazard (PERRY, 2007). This study finds that the initiation point is significant region for a spillway design factor applied in energy debauchery and entrainment forecast associations. For instance, Chanson developed an inception point correlation for gravity stepped; spillways with an ogee crest control section. However, Chan son’s correlation tends to overvalue the distance from the downstream periphery of a broad-crested barrier to the inception point for stepped spillways with is presented by () when the Froude surface coarseness is less than 10 (PERRY, 2007). Meireles and Matos maximized Chanson's association for broad-crested weir stepped spillways retrofitted for embankment dams (PERRY, 2007). There are numerous new associations for projecting the original point location for broad-crested step spillways classically designed for embankment dams for a extensive range of flow conditions such that the F*? 100 and Froude surface roughness ?100. Upstream can be defined as a course towards the spring of power in a fluid structure in the context of an embankment dam. Upstream in a hydraulic system is in the direction from which the fluid is coming (PERRY, 2007). It is imperative to note that, both the downward and upward streams filters are fundamental in numerous functions, which include acting as cut offs, casing, slope protection, surface drainage and as impervious blanket. How are such filters designed? This study intends to consider the design of these filters that makes them perform the listed functions in the current dynamic environmental changes. Cut off The cut off is significant in plummeting the loss of stored water through foundations and abutments. In addition, it prevents sub-surface erosion by piping (PERRY, 2007). The design that fits makes this filters to function

Organic Growth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Organic Growth - Essay Example Now before discussing the advantages and disadvantages of organic growth over cross border acquisitions for multinational companies, one should first understand what is organic growth and what is a cross-border acquisition. Organic growth talks about using internal sources of a company for expanding and earning profits. In other words organic growth talks about the expansion of a firm's operations from its own internally generated resources, without resorting to borrowing or acquisition of some other firms. Organic growth represents the real growth of the company. Organic growth represents how well the company has applied its internal resources to increase profits (Reuters, 2009). Increasing output and enhancing sales are some of the methods in which the growth rate of a company can be enhanced. Organic growth sometimes is also referred to as internal growth. Here the company uses funds from one year to expand in the following year. Since organic growth is a slower way of expansion and growth, and many companies wants to grow at an accelerated rate they go in for the inorganic growth. Again a firm can grow inorganically by the means of mergers and acquisitions. ... Organic growth sometimes is also referred to as internal growth. Here the company uses funds from one year to expand in the following year. Since organic growth is a slower way of expansion and growth, and many companies wants to grow at an accelerated rate they go in for the inorganic growth. Again a firm can grow inorganically by the means of mergers and acquisitions. Inorganic growth is often seen as a faster way to grow in the business and acquire new markets. Inorganic growth is seen as a major and significant event for the faster growth. Inorganic growth strategies are regarded as important tools to reach into new markets, expand customer base, cut competition, consolidate and grow in size quickly. Cross border acquisitions and mergers Due to globalization, companies have started the ways and means to gain competitive advantage over their competitors. Also the world has seen increased deregulation, privatization and corporate restructuring; globalization has led to cross-border acquisitions and merger activities. Today they are seen as the main mechanism in which a company can expand in foreign markets. The cross border acquisitions and mergers cuts down competition, helps the companies to expand their customer base and grow in size quickly. But there are many barriers to cross-border acquisitions and mergers. Some of them have been discussed below: Legal barriers: cross border acquisitions and mergers are very complex transactions which may involve a number of legal entities. The company may suffer due to lack of information which may also result in deadlock. There may be cases where even after the acquisitions the acquiring company may not get proportionate powers in the

The Concept of Cultural Diversity is Society Assignment

The Concept of Cultural Diversity is Society - Assignment Example As Jane Elliott's "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" experiment teaches, there are many criteria of distinction like racism and prejudice. Racism and Classism which are inextricably tied together are the two most common criteria of conceptualization of social class. David Wellman defines racism as a "system of advantage based on race." (Wellman1977). Color is the other main criterion that determines the social class and this may well be defined as the diction made between people on the basis of the color of their skin. The power of the money that one owns also determines the social class of the person and thus we have the rich and the poor. In modern society we see the rich becoming the richer and the poor the poorer. All these elements go into the making up of the social classes. A. Two of the basic distinctions that we find in the social class system are that of race and ethnicity. These are the two major kinds of class discriminations that we face in modern society, especially in the US. Racial group and ethnic group, often considered as the same, have many similarities as well as differences. Before we make the detailed distinction between the two, let it be remembered that any kind of distinction made on the basis of race and ethnicity is the most harmful situation in the world today. The "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" experiment of Jane Elliott teaches us how important it is to rise above the barriers of such distinctions made on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, and so on. Nobody is more privileged than others on the basis of the color of the skin, the ethnic group or the particular race or class one belongs to. Let us also remember the great voice of Martin Luther King who pleaded for the racial equality of all the people. "History is cluttered with the wre ckage of nations and individuals who pursued [the] self-defeating path of hate." (Sklar 1997). There are striking similarities between racism and ethnicity. A racial group is one that is distinguished from that of other groups on the basis of some well defined and salient features of its own. This type of classification is a general categorization on the basis of color and other types of distinction. On the other hand, when we speak about an ethnic group, we are particularly identifying the distinction based on the individual cultural aspect of that community or group. The members of an ethnic group identify themselves on the basis of their descent, ancestry, and lineage. They have a distinction on the basis of the culture, religion, language and other characteristics. Thus, in the racial discrimination of the Blacks from the Whites, we see the racial group formula working out. In the case of particular ethnic group existing on its own to sideline the other cultural, national, and racial groups we find the distinction based on the individual ethnicity. The impact of these diff erences whether it is racial or ethnic begins even at a very young age. The racial caste system is a way of life that subjugates one race of the community to another. Jim Crow was such a racial caste system and under this system, the Afro-Americans were treated as the second class citizens.  

Opportunity cost Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Opportunity cost - Essay Example Different perspectives however exist for definition of opportunity cost but they revolve around the cost that can be derived from the next best alternative. Ferguson, an economist, for example, defines opportunity cost in terms of resources and as mount of resources for producing the next best alternative, which is forgone in order to produce a subject commodity. This establishes cost of the two commodities as a common measure for determining sacrificed cost for a production. Henderson offers a definition that is closer to cost measure by defining opportunity cost as the â€Å"value of the highest-valued alternative† for which resources in a production could have been used (Hussain, 2010, P. 158). Leftwich’s definition of opportunity cost as the value of foregone option for production in which resources would have been used is also consistent with the focus on cost of resources in production of a commodity (Hussain, 2010). It is however important to note that opportunit y cost is not market price of an alternative commodity or market price of materials that could have been used in the alternative. Commodities that are produced from a similar material may have a relationship between opportunity cost and market cost but this is not always the case because of the subjective nature of opportunity cost (Baumol & Blinder, 2011). Opportunity cost is therefore the value, and not necessarily market price, of resources use in a production, which could have been used in production of the next best alternative production. Opportunity cost can be either implicit or explicit and existence of reward for involved sacrifice establishes the distinction. Explicit costs in opportunity cost are those costs that are incurred for payments, in monetary or otherwise terms, to stakeholders that sacrifice their resources for production of a commodity.

Soldier Boy Essay Example for Free

Soldier Boy Essay Soldier Boy is a book about a young boy named Jim Martin, and how it was his dream to join the army and fight with the Australian troupes. However, Jim Martin was no ordinary soldier to join the military; he was the youngest at 14 years of age. The topic, which I am doing my essay on, is Solider Boy is a tragedy. This book shows why war is a tragedy, and what war does to families, and how adults and authorities make war seem more glorious. The book highlights how it was young boys dying during the war not older men. First Paragraph Solider boy is a tragedy because it shows what war does to families and how death and injury effects families and tears them apart. These soldiers were never advised about the dangers of war. They were never advised of the drastic effects to their near and dear ones. Most of the time families were not strong enough to handle the stress and pain of seeing their loved ones going to war. Anthony Hill also informs the reader of Soldier Boys whose parents kept their grief and pain that the loss of a child causes them on the inside, in order to keep their families together. A quote on pg 8 shows that this is what Amelia did for her family. Amelia is the brick if the family in this time of desperation, and helps her family come to terms with Jim’s death. Second Paragraph Something that was quite sad in Solider Boy was that schools, adults and authorities made war seem more glorious than it actually was, and enticed young boys to join the army. Most adults made war seem like a sort of video game, you can play the game and nothing will happen to you. None of the adults explained to the young boys what it was like to see one of your team members die, or how to deal with their fellow soldiers rotting corpses in the trenches and how once you came to Gallipoli, if you did not like it there was no turning back. A quote on page 8 shows what the law thought was fit for young boys. Third Paragraph One of the main reasons of why Solider Boy is a tragedy is because it was young boys that were dying, and not older men. Young boys that had a whole future ahead of them, but had there life cut off because a bullet shot them, or they died of an illness. Jim Martin could have grown up and had a family, but instead his life was cut short because he died of typhoid. If it were, older men that were dying it would still be sad but not a tragedy, because they would have finished what they wanted to do and achieve in life. While some of the young, boys may not have even had a girlfriend. The quote on page 35 shows how young Jim Martin was. Conclusion In conclusion, I think that what war did to people and how adults handled it was quite sad, because it was teaching young people to fight and how violence and conflict is not the answer. Young Solider Boys should not have had to go through that, because all that it brought was grief, pain, suffering and stress. Solider boy is a tragic story that I hope will never be repeated again.

Growth Factors in Periodontal Regeneration

Growth Factors in Periodontal Regeneration GROWTH FACTORS IN PERIODONTAL REGENERATION ABSTRACT : Periodontitis and all periodontal diseases are bacterial infections that destroy the attachment fibers and supporting bone. Left untreated, these diseases can lead to tooth loss. The main cause of periodontal disease is a bacterial plaque, many options are available to treat this disease including non-surgical,surgical,and recent regenerative materials. GFs are natural biological mediators that regulate key cellular events that are part of the process of tissue repair and regeneration. Recent advances in the areas of cellular and molecular biology allowed better understanding of the functions of GFs and their participation in the different phases of wound healing. In vitro and in vivo studies have confirmed that GFs can enhance the capacity of tissues to regenerate by regulating cell chemo attraction, differentiation and proliferation. This review focuses on five growth factor families that have potential for inducing periodontal regeneration based on their ability to stimulate osteo blast and periodontal ligament cells in vivo and vitro. Key words: platelet-derived growth factor, insulin-like growth factor, transforming growth factor-beta, fibroblast growth factor, and bone morphogenetic protein. INTRODUCTION : Periodontitis is a widely prevalent inflammatory disease of the tissues supporting the teeth, characterized by a progressive loss of bone and attachment. The ultimate goal of periodontal therapy is the regeneration of periodontal tissues, which consists in stimulating new cementum formation, new alveolar bone apposition, and a functionally-oriented periodontal ligament reconstruction. Conventional treatment procedures may be ineffective in achieving bone regeneration, leaving both the clinician and the patient dissatisfied with the outcome. Growth factors (GFs) have long been believed to have the potential to accelerate the healing process and, therefore, enhance tissue regeneration in challenging clinical scenarios.1 MODE OF ACTION OF GROWTH FACTORS: To evoke a biologic effect, a growth factor must be synthesized by an originating cell, travel to its target receptor, interact with target receptor, or binding protein, and activate second messengers or terminal effectors.2,3 Local mode of action is more associated with the term growth factor and involves Paracrine, Autocrine, Juxtacrine, and Intracrine modes. Autocrine mode of action – Growth factors synthesized by one cell, secreted in a soluble form outside the cell and then bind to surface receptors on the same cell to evoke an effect is autocrine mode of action. Example includes: TGF ÃŽ ², which are produced and act on epithelial cells, and BMP’s, which are produced and act on osteoblastic cells. (fig 1) Intracrine mode of action–Growth factors produced by one cell and not secreted, but acts intracellularly to facilitate its effects is intracrine mode of action. (fig 2) Paracrine mode Growth factorsproduced by one cell, with receptors present on another cell in the local micro environment is the paracrine mode of action. Here the mediators are secreted in soluble form and binds to its receptors on the target cell to evoke its effect. (fig 3) Juxtacrine mode It is similar to paracrine effects except that the factor produced by the cell of origin is cell surface bound and requires cell contact by the target cell to evoke a response. (fig 4) RECEPTORS FOR GROWTH FACTORS:4,5 For a growth factor to exert an effect, its designated receptor must be present in sufficient quantity, orientation, and functional activity to transmit appropriate stimuli. Growth factor receptors can be divided into 2 broad categories: Cell surface receptors Intracellular receptors The most common prototype growth factor receptor is the cell surface receptor, which can be further divided into three main categories: G- protein linked Receptor tyrosine kinases Serine threonine receptor kinases POTENTIAL ROLES OF GROWTH FACTORS IN PERIODONTAL REGENERATION: To stimulate cell proliferation. E.g. Platelet derived growth factor (PDGF). To enhance function of cells and cell differentiation. E.g. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP). To stimulate matrix synthesis. E.g. Transforming growth factor- ÃŽ ² (TGF- ÃŽ ²). To act as co-factors for gene expression. DISADVANTAGES OF GROWTH FACTORS: They were intended to be made by cells, stored than used locally. They have short half-lives i.e., when used as drug, doses must be greater than actual in vivo concentrations. They affect various cells in individual ways i.e., cells growing in high concentrations of growth factor had an increased susceptibility to cell death upon growth factor withdrawal. They need a delivery system for sustained or, controlled release (in low concentration) of a biologically active growth factor or, cocktail of growth factors. POLYPEPTIDE GROWTH FACTORS : Polypeptide growth factors are a diverse group of hormone-like agents that regulate growth and differentiation through cell surface receptors. They are generally represented by homologous families containing several members with distinct overlapping receptor interactions and hence, responsive tissue specificities. Similarly, their receptors are also clustered in family groups of sequence-related proteins. COMMON FEATURES OF POLYPEPTIDE GROWTH FACTORS :6 Natural cell products: Growth factors are natural cell products that are released or activated when cell division is needed.This action typically occurs during such events as wound healing or, tissue regeneration. Local actions: With few exceptions,growth factors are locally acting. Receptor activity: Because growth factors cannot diffuse across the cell membrane, growth factors must exert their activity by first binding to high-affinity cell membrane receptors.The capacity of a cell to respond to a given factor is therefore dependent on the presence of these receptors. Regulation: The production of polypeptide growth factors is tightly regulated in normal cells. In contrast, unregulated production of growth factor is thought to be an important component of proliferative disorders, such as fibrotic disease and cancers. Multifunctional activities: Polypeptide growth factors are multifunctional, meaning that they may stimulate a wide variety of cellular activities, which include growth, migration, differentiation and production of extracellular matrix proteins. Mechanism of action: In some cases, growth factors can stimulate the same cell that synthesizes the molecule (autocrine stimulation) or can affect nearby cells (paracrine stimulation). Regeneration: Tissue regeneration in vivo probably reflects the combined effect of several different growth factors. GROWTH FACTOR APPLICATIONS FOR ORAL AND PERIODONTAL TISSUE ENGINEERING : Therapeutic application of growth factors to restore damaged tissues aims at regeneration through biomimetic processes, or mimicking the processes that occur during embryonic and post-natal development.7 The complexity of these events suggests that creating an optimal regenerative environment requires the combination of different growth factors as found in natural reparative processes. The use of a single recombinant growth factor may also induce several molecular, biochemical and morphological cascades that will result in tissue regeneration.8 The most studied growth factors for periodontal regeneration have been PDGF, IGF, FGF-2, TGF-ÃŽ ² and different BMPs. SI. NO GROWTH FACTOR ALTERNATIVE NAMES SOURCE 1 Platelet-derived growth factor Fibroblast-derived growth factor. Glioma-derived growth factor Degranulating platelets Endothelial cells Smooth muscles Macrophages- Fibroblasts 2 Insulin-like growth factor Erythropoetic factor Growth-promoting activity for vascular endothelial cells Macrophages- Osteoblasts- Plasma stored in bone 3 Transforming growth factor-ÃŽ ² Epithelial cell specific growth inhibitor Tumour-inducing factor-1 Platelet ÃŽ ± granules 4 Fibroblast growth factor family Heparin binding growth factor Macrophage and osteoblasts stored in bone. PLATELET DERIEVED GROWTH FACTOR: The PDGFs are a family of dimeric disulfide – bound growth factors that exert their biologic effects by activating 2 structurally related tyrosine kinase receptors, the PDGF- ÃŽ ± and PDGF – ÃŽ ² receptors. PDGF was the first growth factor to be evaluated in preclinical periodontal and peri-implant regenerative studies. Proliferation, migration and matrix synthesis were observed on cultures of periodontal cells stimulated by PDGF, including gingival and PDL fibroblasts, cementoblasts, preosteo-blasts and osteoblastic cells [9-14]. These effects were shown to be time- and dose dependent 14. The PDGF family is composed of four growth factors: PDGF- A, -B, and the most recently discovered PDGF-C and -D 15. All of these participate in the wound-healing process, but, until now, only the three isoforms PDGF-AA, BB and AB were evaluated in periodontal therapy. PDGF-BB is the most effective on PDL cell mitogenesis and matrix biosynthesis 16,17. INSULIN LIKE GROWTH FACTOR: These are a family of single chain serum proteins that share 49% homology in sequence with pro- insulin. IGF-1 and IGF- 2 are two polypeptides from this group. IGF-1 acts as progression factor, also stimulates bone formation and have an effect on periodontal ligament cells. IGF-I is also important for bone remodeling and maintenance of skeletal mass and plays significant role in age-related osteoporosis. IGF-1 is capable of preventing apoptosis in fibroblasts by activation of multiple signal transduction pathways. IGF-1 has also been shown to regulate DNA and protein synthesis in periodontal ligament fibroblasts in vitro and to enhance soft tissue wound healing in vivo. Furthermore, studies have suggested variable responses of periodontal tissues to IGF-1 depending upon anatomical sites and a differential involvement of IGF-1 in periodontal wound healing and regeneration.18 FIBROBLAST GROWTH FACTOR: The angiogenic and fibroblast stimulatory properties of FGF-2 during wound healing and its chemotactic and proliferative effects on PDL cells suggest its use for periodontal regenerative therapeutic approaches19,20. In preclinical studies, this growth factor was evaluated for the treatment of different types of periodontal bone defects, in dogs and non-human primates. Despite different concentrations of FGF-2 and different delivery systems used in the studies, all showed an improvement in the periodontal tissue regeneration, compared with control groups. Studies that evaluated more than one concentration of FGF-2 suggested that its effects are dose dependent.21,22 TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR ÃŽ ²: It is a member of a large family of biologically active protein hormones that are structurally related but differ markedly in their function. TGF ÃŽ ² consists of 2 subunits held together by covalent bonds. Five different genes are identified that encodes TGF- ÃŽ ² polypeptide TGF-ÃŽ ² has 5 closely related isoforms in vertebrates, out of which 3 are found in mammals (TGF-ÃŽ ²1, TGF-ÃŽ ²2, TGF-ÃŽ ²3). The three major activities of TGF-ßinclude inhibition of cell proliferation, enhancement of extracellular matrix deposition and the exhibition of complex immune regulatory properties. It is a major regulator of cell replication and differentiation. It can stimulate or inhibit cell growth. It can also modulate other growth factors like PDGF, EGF and FGF. It inhibits epithelial cell proliferation and stimulates mesenchymal cells. TGF-ÃŽ ²1, the most abundant isoform of the TGF-ÃŽ ² family and found primarily in the platelets and osseous tissue, has been used for this application.It has a role in recruiting and stimulating osteoprogenitor cells to proliferate and suggests to support periodontal wound healing and regeneration.23 BONE MORPHOGENETIC PROTEINS: The name Bone Morphogenetic Protein was given in 1965 by Urist .Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are a group of regulatory glycoproteins that are members of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily.24They stimulate angiogenesis and migration, proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into cartilage and bone forming cells. More than 20 BMP-related proteins have been identified, several of which induce bone formation.25 In the field of periodontal regeneration, much of the research interest has focused on BMP-2, BMP-3 (osteogenin), and BMP-7. Recent studies have utilized recombinant human BMP to determine their potential for correcting intrabony, supra-alveolar, furcation, and fenestration defects. BMPs also show much promise in promoting dental implant wound healing.24 GROWTH FACTOR DELIVERY SYSTEMS: Several matrices and delivery systems have been used and evaluated for their efficacy and biocompatibility as carrier for growth factors. Two common types of polymeric materials used in growth factor delivery strategies are natural collagen-derived materials and synthetic polymers of lactic and glycolic acid (i.e., Poly [lactide-co-glycolide]). Extracellular matrix-derived macromolecules such as collagen have been used for many years in biomaterial application, and it is now possible to create artificial analogues of extracellular matrix proteins using recombinant DNA technology.1 Carriers can be of different types such as solids, gels or combinations.25A variety of new injectable materials such as hydrogels are also being developed for growth factor delivery applications and have been of special interest. These injectables are especially attractive because, in clinical application, they can allow for minimally invasive delivery of inductive molecules.1 CONCLUSION: Growth factors may regulate the repair and/or regenerative process which are impaired in presence of bacteria and their products in periodontal disease. Thus, the objective of growth factors administration in the treatment of periodontitis is to mimic the normal developmental process enhance normal wound healing response to promote complete regeneration of all attachment structures. Basic and clinical research is in progress to evaluate the role of growth factors in periodontal wound healing. BIBLIOGRAPHY: DARNELL KAIGLER, GUSTAVO AVILA, LESLIE WISNER-LYNCH, MARC L. NEVINS, MYRON NEVINS, GIULIO RASPERINI. Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Applications in Periodontal and Peri-Implant Bone Regeneration .Expert OpinBiolTher. 2011 March ; 11(3): 375–385 RIPAMONTI U, HERBST NN, RAMOSHEBI LN. Bone morphogenetic proteins in craniofacial and periodontal tissue engineering: experimental studies in the non-human primate Papioursinus. Cytokine Growth Factor Rev 2005;16(3):357–368. ANUSAKSATHIEN O, GIANNOBILE WV. Growth factor delivery to re-engineer periodontal tissues. Curr. Pharm. Biotechnol 2002;3(2):129–139. 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