Rising Greenhouse Gas Emissions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Rising Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Coursework Example The other risks that are regarded as having more gravity include global governance failure, unsustainable population growth, and rising green house emissions (Barnett & Adger, 2003). The paper discusses the risk of increasing greenhouse emissions. Global warming comes about as result green house emissions leading to the greenhouse effect. The burning of fossil fuels and extensive clearing of forests has led to a 40% increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide from 280 to 392.6 parts per million in 2012 (CDIAC, 2012). Developing nations have been found to have higher percentages of greenhouse emissions compared to the developed countries. The increase of greenhouse gases is a result of human activities such as forest degradation and burning of fossil fuels. There is growing recognition that there are over 50 global risks are classified into five main categories: (1) geopolitical: global governance failure (2) societal: unsustainable population growth, ineffective drug policies (3) technological: critical systems failure (4) economic: chronic fiscal imbalances, major systematic financial failure (5) environmental: greenhouse gas emissions (Howel 2013:54-55). The rising green house emissions risk fall under the environmental category. The rising green house emissions are a threat to the world regarding the gravity of its consequences. Greenhouse gases consist of those gases that emit and absorb infrared radiation, excluding the radiation in near or visible spectrum (Pandey, 2007). In order of abundance they include: Water vapor, carbon (IV) oxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and chloro floro carbons (CFCs). The main source of green house gases is carbon dioxide. The following fuels natural gases, liquefied petroleum gas, automobile gasoline, kerosene, wood and wood waste, and coal if combusted produce a lot greenhouse gases too (Dijk et al. 2012:110-115). Carbon dioxide (CO2) is viewed to the most vital

Use a flow chart and an accompanying memo to explain a problem with a Assignment - 1

Use a flow chart and an accompanying memo to explain a problem with a process with which you are familiar - Assignment Example The current system of our departmental store consists of manual operation and entries on registers and MS Excel sheets. Because of the expanding customer base of the superstore, it is quite challenging to tackle the entire transactions manually. The main problem of the existing system is that it takes up a lot of time. The recording, updating, and deletion of entries on MS Excel sheets take up considerable amount of time. Any query function may not be executed on it as it is not an automated system. The records that are interrelated to one another are exhibited in such a manner that they are not interrelated. Another issue with the manual system of entering information is the lack of precision. The precision of a number of statistical functions in MS Excel vary from acceptable to unacceptably bad. However, they are considerably substandard as compared to the substitutive implementations. For this reason, this system leaves less probability of having precision in numerical values. The next problem with the existing system is the lack of decision making power, due to the two problems discussed earlier, it becomes exceedingly challenging to make swift decisions using the existing system. For the order of looking at the cost of a specific item in the superstore, the costs of all the other items need to be looked over. This implies that timely and effective decisions are not made. Large amount of stationary is yet another drawback of the existing system incorporated in the superstore. The receipts of the products and items sold on a daily basis are made on cash memos, which require numerous cash memo registers. Because of the expanding customer base of the superstore, a large number of paper and huge amount of time is taken up on a daily basis in pursuit of this practice. Another significant issue with the existing system is that it requires the involvement of

New Ternary Fe-Ni-Cu Invar Alloys Preparation

New Ternary Fe-Ni-Cu Invar Alloys Preparation Preparation and Characterization of New Ternary Fe-Ni-Cu Invar alloys S Ahmada, A B Ziya[1], a, A Ibrahimb, S Atiqb, N Ahmada and F Bashirc Abstract. Six alloys of Fe65Ni35-xCux(x= 0, 0.2, 0.6, 1, 1.4, 1.8 at.%) have been prepared by conventional arc-melting technique and characterized by utilizing in-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at a range from room temperature to 773 K for determination of phase. The studies show that these alloys form face centered cubic (FCC) throughout the investigated temperature range. The X-ray integrated intensities of various reflections were used to determine the coefficient of thermal expansion ÃŽ ±(T), mean square amplitude of vibrations and characteristic Debye temperature ÃŽËœD. The ternary substitution of copper has a minor effect on the lattice parameter but the Debye temperature ÃŽËœD is found to decrease with the increase of copper content in the alloy. The coefficients of thermal expansion ÃŽ ±(T) were found to be comparable to those for conventional Fe-Ni invar alloys. Keywords:  Invar alloys; lattice parameters; thermal expansion; X-ray diffraction Introduction Iron rich invar alloys have been of keen interest for researchers and developers, for their own reasons and interests, since their discovery in 1898 Guillaume and Hebd (1987) because of their unique set of properties labeled as invar anomaly or invar effect. A number of theories and models have been postulated to explain these deviations in the behavior of these alloys from other materials but still there are many queries unresolved Sanyal and Bose (2000); Iwase et al (2003); Matsushima et al (2006); Goria et al (2010); Yichun et al (2009); Tabakovic et al (2010); Pepperhoff et al (2001); Duffaut et al (1990); Matsushita et al (2008). One of the most important property of these alloys that made them most sought for material for applications in especially the electrical/ electronic precision instruments is their very low coefficient of thermal expansion around room temperature as compared to other metals and alloys. But, these materials also have their limitations and to overcome them , the researchers have either made ternary additions to the basic alloy or have turned their focus onto other combinations of elements termed as invar type Ono et al (2007); Matsushita et al (2004); Gorria et al (2006); Zhichao et al (2002); Rongjin et al (2010); Kaji et al (2004); Matsushita et al (2009); Matsushita et al (2007). For example, in some electrical/electronic applications another important property required in candidate material is good electrical conductivity. Iron based invar alloys cannot be grouped as good electrical conductors. Consequently, to develop invar alloys that exhibit inherent low coefficient of expansion and comparatively better electrical conductivity, ternary additions of elements like copper have been studied Stolk et al (1999); Bernhard et al. (1987). Not to mention such addition is expected to decrease the manufacturing cost. Many research groups have undertaken the study of effect of addition of copper onto invar properties of binary iron nickel a lloys but lacked correlation between the copper addition to change or no change in invar properties. This study has been carried out to correlate the invar effect to ternary addition of copper to base iron nickel invar alloy by replacing nickel with copper and to determine thermal properties of the newly developed alloys for comparison with same properties of binary invar alloys. Experimental methods For this study, one binary Fe65Ni35 (subscript indicates atomic percent of the element) and five ternary Fe65Ni35-xCux where x was selected to be equal to 0.2, 0.6, 1, 1.4 and 1.8 were prepared. High purity elements (>99.9%) were weighed and combined on water cooled hearth of a vacuum arc melter. The process was carried in 600 mbar argon atmosphere created after evacuating the chamber to 10-5 mbar pressure. The alloys were melted several times to ensure thorough mixing of the ingredients. To ensure homogeneity, the samples were then heated under vacuum in a Nebertherm furnace at 1273 K approximately for one hundred and seventy hours. Homogenized samples were then weighed as well as chemically analyzed and found to be well within the selected range of set composition. Each sample was then cold rolled to about 0.2 mm thickness and then heated at 1273 K for four hours to remove rolling stresses. Samples of suitable dimensions were then cut from each strip for characterization through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). XRD was carried out in a Bruker D8 Advance diffractometer equipped with MRI high temperature chamber fitted with PtRh heater element. Operating conditions for the X-ray tube were set at 40 kV and 40 mA. The diffraction patterns were recorded in the step scan mode in the 2ÃŽ ¸-range from 20 to 120o with a step of 0.01o. The in-situ high temperature X-ray diffraction of all samples was carried out in 10-6 mbar vacuum with Ni-filtered CuK radiation from room temperature to 473 K with a step of 20 K and thereon with a step of 50 K till 773 K. DSC of all samples was carried out on SBT-Q600 differential scanning calorimeter from room temperature to 1473 K at a heating rate of 20 K/minute under argon atmosphere. 3. Results and discussion 3.1. Structure and lattice parameters DSC scans of the six selected invar alloys were measured (not shown here). No sharp exothermal or endothermal peak was observed in the investigated temperature range, it is thus assumed that the samples were single phase. Room temperature XRD patterns of binary classical invar alloy of Fe65Ni35 and ternary alloys of Fe65Ni35-xCux (x=0.2, 0.6, 1, 1.4 and 1.8) are shown in Figure 1. It can be seen that all alloys are single phase and possess face centered cubic (FCC) lattice structure in confirmation to already published data on similar alloy systems Ono et al. (2007). The lattice parameters of the samples under study were determined by the extrapolation of lattice parameters for all reflections against Nelson-Riley function to minimize the random errors Ziya et al (2006). The values of calculated lattice parameters are given in Table 1. It can be seen that copper addition to the binary composition causes marginal decrease in the lattice parameter as expected because the copper with sm aller atomic radii replaced nickel atoms in the structure of relatively larger radius. 3.2 Thermal parameters To investigate invar effect in the newly developed alloys, it was planned to measure / calculate three major thermal properties / parameters vis-à  -vis temperature; namely, coefficient of thermal expansion, Debye temperature and mean square amplitude of vibration. The results obtained for each of them are discussed in succeeding sub sections. 3.2.1 Thermal expansion To investigate invar effect in these newly developed alloys, high temperature XRD technique was employed. A common observation from the scans of all the samples was that these samples are single phase alloys and no phase change occurred in any of the alloy up to scan temperature (773 K). This observation is consistent with the results of DSC measurements. One of the major parameter relating to invar effect is coefficient of thermal expansion which is primarily a reflection of change in lattice parameter with temperature. Temperature dependence of lattice parameter was calculated for each sample from the high temperature XRD data collected during this study. Scan at smaller step, 20 K up to 473 K and then larger step of 50 K to the maximum temperature, 773 K was set based upon the results published in literature for similar type of invar alloys. For calculation purpose data pertaining to (311) peak of binary alloy, (220) peak of Fe65Ni34.8Cu0.2 and (400) peak for all other composition was used. Selection of these peaks was solely made due to their better temperature dependence over the entire temperature range. It can be seen that in all the samples the lattice parameter almost remains unchanged up to about 473 K and there onward, the lattice parameter increases negligibly to a maximum of about 0.004 Aà Ã‚ ¦ at the maximum test tempe rature. However, the effect of increase in temperature on increase in lattice parameter in binary alloy is gradual and almost linear whereas, in ternary alloys, the increase in lattice parameter up to 473 K is insignificant but beyond this temperature it is visible and becomes steep with increase in copper content. Coefficient of thermal expansion ÃŽ ±(T) was then calculated by least square fitting the calculated lattice parameter data to second degree polynomial: ÃŽ ±(T) = A + BT + CT2 Where constant A represents lattice parameter of alloy at absolute zero, while B is the linear term coefficient and C represents the nonlinear term. The calculated values of ÃŽ ±(T) and these constants are tabulated in Table 2 whereas ÃŽ ±(T) versus temperature is plotted in figure 2. It was found that no appreciable change occurs in the thermal coefficient (ÃŽ ±) with temperature which is in line with the conclusion from the lattice parameter calculations. Further, the values of thermal coefficient ÃŽ ±(T) calculated in this study match very well to the values reported earlier for Fe-Cu alloys by other researchers such as (Goria et al. 2004 ). He (Goria et al. 2004) has reported ÃŽ ± (T) for said alloys in the range of 3Ãâ€"10-6K-1 at a temperature of 350 K whereas in the present study same value of ÃŽ ±(T) has been found up to the temperature of 450 K. Based upon above presented results and their analysis it can be concluded that these ternary alloys possess invar characteristics up to test temperature range. 3.2.2  The Debye temperatures and the mean square amplitudes of vibration Debye temperature is usually determined from the slope of ln(Iobs/Ical) versus temperature curves which is then subsequently used to find mean square amplitude of vibrations. Detailed procedure is already presented elsewhere [30]. Accordingly, the ratio of the observed and calculated intensities for each composition over the investigated temperature range was determined for selected Bragg reflections after stripping KÃŽ ±2-components from peak intensity. The peaks selected were (200) for binary, 0.2 at.% Cu and 1.4 at.% Cu containing alloys, (220) for 0.6 at.% Cu and (400) for 1 at.% and 1.8 at.% Cu containing alloys. Again the reflection lines were selected based on their relatively better dependence on temperature and integrated intensities were then determined from selected data by employing a line profile fit software. The results are presented in figure 3. It may be noted that for alloy containing 1.8 at.% Cu, the intensity data below 350 K has not been included because of exces sive scatter. Apart from this exception, for all other compositions and temperatures the points lie well along the fitted line. Debye temperature(ÃŽËœD) was then determined and plotted for all samples over the test temperature range in figure 4. First of all, these values have been found to be in close concurrence to those reported in literature (Gorria et al. 2009). In addition, from the comparison of these curves with each other two major facts can be deduced; firstly, the value of ÃŽËœD decreases as the amount of copper in the alloy increases, secondly up to the temperature of 473 K, ÃŽËœD for each composition remains almost unaffected by the increase in temperature. However, beyond this temperature and up to the maximum increased temperature, the value of ÃŽËœD decreases. These observations are in line with earlier findings that in these alloys invar effect is present up to 473 K because increase in length due to anharmonicity is compensated with magnetostricion. Furthermore, de crease in ÃŽËœD value both with increase in Cu contents as well as increase in test temperature indicates softening of the material. Mean square amplitude of vibrations ( was then calculated from the ÃŽËœD values as explained in reference (Ziya and Ohshima 2006). The result is tabulated in Table 3. Again the results indicate that there is very slight variation in with increase in temperature for every alloy composition. 4.  Conclusions Effect of copper addition in different percentages to binary iron nickel invar alloy has been investigated through in-situ XRD over a temperature range of 298 to 773 K. Thermal properties, i.e. the coefficient of thermal expansion, Debye temperature and mean square amplitude of vibrations of each of the ternary alloy has been determined and compared to the binary invar alloy prepared for this study as well as with the results published by other researchers for similar alloys. The results indicate that the newly developed ternary alloys exhibit Invar effect up to added copper contents although the temperature range is marginally decreased with the increase in copper contents. References Bernhard H, Volker B, and Jurgen H 1987 J. Mag and Mag. Mat 70 423 Duffaut F and Tiers J-F 1990, Industerial application of Invar, J. Written(Ed), The Invar Effects, TMS, Palo Alto, CA, P. 238 Guillaume Ch. E and Hebd C R 1987 Seances Acad. Sci. 125 235 Goria P , Martinez-Blanco D, Jesus A B, Ronald I S 2010 J. Alloys and Compounds 495 495 Gorria P, Martinez-Blanco D, Iglesias R, Palacios S L, Perez M J, Blanco J A, Barquin F, Hernanddo A, Gonzalez M A 2006 J. Mag and Mag. Mat 300 229 Gorria P , Martinez-Blanco D, Blanco J A, Hernando A, Garitaonandia J S, Barquin L F ,Campo J and Ronald I S 2004 Phys Rev B 69 214421 Gorria P, Martinez-Blanco D, Blanco J A, Maria J P, Hernando A, Maria A L, Daniel H, Souza-Neto N, Ronald I S, Marshall W G, Garbarino G, Mezouar M, Fernandez-Martinez A, Chaboy J, Barquin L F, Rodriguez Castrillon J A, Moldovan M, Garcia A J, Zhang J, Liobet A and Jiang J S 2009 Phys Rev B 80 06442 Iwase A, Hamatani Y, Mukomoto Y, Ishikawa N, Chimi Y, Kambara T, C.Muller C, R. Neumann, Ono F 2003 Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 209 323 Kaji S, Chiyoda S, Saito R, Oomi G, Yoshimura M, Tokunaga A and Kagayama T 2004 J. Mag and Mag. Mat 272-276 792 Liu Y, Lei L, Jiake L, Shen B, Wenbin Hu 2009 J. Alloys and Compounds 478 750 Lu Z, Dern L, and Junyi L 2002 J. Mag and Mag. Mat 239 502 Matsushima Y, Sun N Q, Kanamitsu H, Matsushita M , Iwase A, Chimi Y, Ishikawa N, Kambara T and Ono F 2006 J. of Mag and Mag. Mat 298 14 Matsushita M, Inoue T, Yoshimi I, Kawamura T, Kono Y, Irifun T, Kikgaw T, Ono F 2008 Phy Rev B 77 064429 Matsushita M, Endo S, Miura K, and Ono F 2004 J. Mag and Mag. Mat 269 393 Matsushita M, Ogiyama H and Ono F 2009 J of Mag and Mag. Mat 321 595 Matsushita M, Endo S and Ono F 2007 J of Mag and Mag. Mat 310 1861 Ono F, Matsushima Y, Chimi Y, Ishikawa N, Kambara T, Iwase A 2007 J. Mag and Mag. Mat 310 1864 Ono F, Chimi Y, Ishikawa N, Kanamitsu H, Matsushita Y, Iwase A, and Kambara T 2007 Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 257 402 Pepperhoff W and Acet M 2001 Constitution and Magnetism of Iron and its Alloys, Springer, Berlin p. 106 Rongjin, Huang, Zhixiong W , Xinxin C, Huihui Y, Zhen C and Laifeng L 2010 Solid stat sci 12 1977 Sanyal S and Bose S K 2000 Phy. Rev. B 62 12730 Stolk J and Manthiram A 1999 Mat. Sci and Eng. B 60 112 Tabakovic I, Inturi V, Thurn J and Kief M 2010 electchem. Acta. 55 6749 Ziya A B and Ohshima K 2006 J. alloys and compound 425 123 [1] To whom all correspondence should be addressed; Email: [emailprotected] Tel. No.: +92-61-9239942; Fax: +92-61-9210068

Sililoquy :: essays papers

Sililoquy I went to work as any other day, walking around the mall with my best friend, staring, gazing into every transparent glass containing items for my wish list, leaving me with â€Å"wants†, yet will never become possessions. My phone rang, as my mother, carefully, yet failing to hide her tears, told me my cousin (Joshua), two years of age, had drowned. I felt your struggle I thought you had encountered. The splash of water, as it skillfully entered your windpipes, devouring your lungs until your eyes became bloodshot red, as you gasped for that last breath of air, only to swallow more water. And then, slowly your heart stops beating as your body swam along, allowing the current to be your guide. Your body drifted down the canal, but your soul drifted towards heaven. I held my uncle close, my shoulder accepting his tears and cries unheard for his beloved son. Nothing, no pain can ever compare to the injection of a lost loved one I was given when I hugged him, as I felt every breath of sorrow moisten my chest. His firm grip on my shirt held me without a thought of letting go, as he shed his tears on me, seeping through me shirt, my pores, through my soul and directly to my heart. The sharp pain causing your breaths to shorten and uncontrollable tears to fall with no bottom to reach. I heard his unheard cries for his son. That was a want that could never be fulfilled. That was a missing piece that could never be found. A child, every child, is certainly a gift from God. The creation of every human being, the growth, the heart, the mind; never knowing the capabilities it will endow. Never knowing the fullest extent of it’s imagination, enabling them to do anything, and everything it desires; and to take effect into my life is truly one of the many mysterious ways God has worked, in my life, and everyone’s life. Joshua, two years into this earth and yet I feel he has accomplished more than a man, yet no less than an angel. How can such a tragedy being so many joys into one’s mind; one’s life? And not just one life, but many lives.

The Immigration of Indians in the 19th Century

Topic: The immigration of East Indian indentured workers to the Caribbean in the 19th century could be regarded as a new system of slavery. Slavery was the initial labour system used by Europeans on their plantations in the Caribbean. It was implemented in the 1600`s, the Europeans forcefully took people from the African continent to the Caribbean on various trips. The path in which the slaves were carried between Africa and the Caribbean is known to historians as the Triangular Trade. These Africans and those from the African lineage became slaves on the plantations where they were not seen as humans and were treated as animals or property.After the freedom of the enslaved population in the 1830`s, the planters were faced with irregularity of labour on the estates. This was because many of the slaves had left plantation to go start a new life. In addition, the remaining population had cultivated land of their own; often when it was harvesting time instead of harvesting the crops on the estates, the freed people would harvest their own crops which posed a problem to planters. As a result of this major problem, planters now had to develop new strategies to regulate the labour force on the estates.A major to the inconsistency of the labour on the estates was importation of indentured workers namely; Chinese, Surinam’s and the East Indians. However the researcher`s focus in this IA will be on the East Indian indentured workers. There are various factors that made the strategy of importing East Indians a success. These factors are commonly referred to as push and pull factors. In the East Indies at that time, specifically in India, there was a large population. The large population was not being utalized hence there being a large number of unemployed people. Many of the East Indian people had nothing tying them down in India.Other reason for success of the importation of the East Indians was that India experienced similar climatic conditions to that of the C aribbean. Indian labourers who had already proved successful in Mauritius; they were then considered to be a good bet for survival in Jamaica. In 1837 John Gladstone, father of Prime Minister W. E Gladstone and owner of two plantations In British Guiana, applied to the secretary of state for the colonies, to get permission to import Indian labourers. In 1838 with the arrival of 396 Indians,the great flood of Indian immigration had begun(Tinker H).This meant that the indentured workers were imported between the periods of 1838 and 1885. West Indians were imported aswell to British Guiana and Trinidad, with 238,909 and 143,939 respectively while countries like Jamaica received 38,681 because the labour shortage was not as devastating as it was in Trinidad and British Guiana. These indentured workers that were now being imported into the Caribbean came under contracts. These contracts played a vital role in the working conditions of the Indians on the plantations,or should have. The co nditions applied to all immigration schemes.The contracts were not drawn up by a mutual person or an East indian or a planter, the contracts were drawn up by West Indian planters, who wrote up the contracts to their own likings. Therefore the contracts tended to the employers benefit rather than to the benefit of the employees (East Indians). The conditions of the contract varied according to the scheme and colony involved. Before they could sign the contract they were to appear in the magistrates court and were to be fully informed about the conditions of the contract so that they were aware of what they were getting themselves into.This was however not the case; first and fore most the contract was written in English which posed a problem to the Indians wh were not familiar with the language, this created a language barrier , so basically the Indians signed (thumb marks) the contracts ignorant to what they would face on arriving at the new world. The British government in the begi nning would only allow contracts for a one year period, gradually this changed in 1848 and in 1863 changed from three years to five years respectively.Many historians will say that the immigration of East Indian indentured workers to the Caribbean in the 19th century could be regarded as a new system of slavery. There are several factors which might have caused them to come to this conclusion. These factors can be divided into two groups: transportation process and the life on the plantation. The transportation process starts off with the potential travellers gaining documents and passes from officials in India to travel. There were many persons who wanted to come on this economic endeavour because of the poor working conditions and high unemployment rate in India.On the ship itself, the experience was similar to that of the slaves. There were tight spaces and little to no moving space for the passengers. There were also many deaths during the long voyage despite the presence of a s urgeon on each ship. Life on the plantation was similar in that the Indians were illtreated just like the slaves. Investigations by the Anti-slavery Society revealed that many of the immigrants had died quickly (Tinker H). They were badly beaten, wrongly imprisoned and many of the Indian women raped.In addition to the physical abuse of the indentured servants, the plantation owners were not paying them the money they agreed to, which is a breach in contract and it constitutes criminal acts on the planters part. The indentured workers were paid less than the slaves and were initially placed at the bottom of the socio-economic scale. However ,owing to the culture of the Indians, when they arrived on the plantation they considered themselves at a higher social status than the slaves due to the skin colour difference while in reality some of the slaves were at a higher economic status than they were.In conjunction both groups were forced to abandon their way of life and subscribe to tha t of their masters and employers. It went to the extent where any union outside of Christian marriage was not recognised. The indentured servants also lived in poor health conditions. Several individuals who came from various family groups had to live in small, three to four rooms in housing called barracks. Also, they thrived off a monotonous, disproportionate and poor diet consisting of rice, flour, dried fish or goat, peas and seasonings which were served as rations.There were also differences which can arguably be considered not compromising the support of the view being presented. There is the point that the Indians chose to come to the Caribbean while the Africans were forced and coerced. Africans were being converted from Muslim and other indigenous beliefs to Christianity and the Indians were converted from Hinduism. However, both through secrecy retained some of their beliefs systems which is openly being practiced today.Also, children got the opportunity to get quarterly c hecked by a doctor as it was a strict policy stipulated by the Indian government. These minor differences were not enough to propose that the Indians were treated better than the slaves. Joseph Beaumont, Chief Justice of British Guiano published a pamphlet in England in 1871 emitted â€Å"the New Slavery† because he saw that in practice, immigration labour schemes were slavery under different name. though the emigrant from India entered into the contract voluntarily, he was often ignorant to the conditions that he was agreeing to.The system depended on the officials in charge. They could check the abuses, and there were cases of colonial officials who did their utmost to secure fairness for the immigrant. Sir John Peter Grant in Jamaica and Sir Arthur Gordon in Trinidad worked on behalf of the immigrants during their governorships. In general, there was a lack of good will on the part of the planters and authorities towards immigrants. In concluding by definition, immigrant l abour was not slavery because it was entered into voluntarily.The contract gave nights to the immigrant who was paid for his labour, however, language created a barrier so the Indians often misunderstood the contract and they got paid less than what was promised to them. The Indians were denied the natural freedoms of humans being outside their hours of labour. Immigrants were also subject to arbitrary treatment and various inducements were trying to persuade them to extend the contract after the five years but most wanted their freedom. Hence, my view that the Immigration of East Indian in ventured workers to the Caribbean in the nineteenth century could be regarded as a new system of slavery.

Chinese Cinderella Response to Lit

Big Brother and Second Brother Two of Deadline's brothers are malicious and mischievous. Why you say? Well, because clues in the context of Chinese Cinderella tell me so. I can tell you that Deadline's eldest brother is mischievous from Just two quotes of the book. One Is, â€Å"Silently but swiftly, Big Brother suddenly approached Ye Ye and carefully pinched the nasal hair between his forefinger and thumb. † This Illustrates that Big Brother thinks It's funny to pull out one of his grandfather's nose hairs while his senior Is leaping.Another quote Is, â€Å"Laughing hysterically, Big Brother rushed out of the room, slid down the banister and made a clean getaway Into the garden, all the time holding Ye Yes's hair aloft Like a trophy. † This quote shows that Big Brother Is so mischievous that he would even pluck out a nasal hair of his grandpa's and even evade his old man's anger for the fun of it! Second Brother also has a very distinct personality. He is malicious to Deadline because of jealousy and everything that goes wrong for him.To support my claim, ere are two quotes and why I chose these quotes. â€Å"Deliberately he took my right arm under the table and gave it a quick, hard twist while no one was looking. † Second Brother is so cruel that he hurts Deadline right at the dinner table where anyone may see him. â€Å"n. You ugly little squirt! This'll teach you to show off your medal! † Deadline's brother openly shows that he acts maliciously not Just for no reason, but also because he is Jealous of the attention that Deadline is getting because of an award she received.

buy custom Businesses essay

buy custom Businesses essay Introduction In the 21st century, businesses are faced with challenges to live and grow. These challenges are observable over the world, especially after the 2008/2009 recession. Personally, having been an employee in a grocery store, I have observed these challenges hit my store on a first hand basis. In the past, the store where I work did well in terms of service provision and profit generation. Employees worked hard and maintained high standards of service. There was emphasis on the quality of customer and store staff relations. Prices of commodities in the store were low. Customers enjoyed frequent offers and/or sales. They liked shopping and coming back again to shop, because the prices were fair and the services commendable. On the other hand, the store management was positively oriented towards customer service and turnover of the store. They designed methods to keep these two areas working smoothly. However, things have long changed. Today, the store sales are low. Customers no longer flow into the store to make purchases. Several reasons can bear attributed to these changes. First of all, there has been hike in prices of commodities. Taking a fast study, one will not fail to observe that at average, prices of commodities have gone up by at least 19% within a span of the just ended year. The hike in prices can be economically related to the loss of customers. Moreover, there has been an incoming of new grocery stores in the market. These have come in with better services and better offers that those provided in my store. In this sense, customers have had no choice but to turn to the greener pastures, regarding their tastes and preferences. Lastly, management in the store has stopped caring. They are no longer concerned about the employee conduct. They do not care about the relationship between the store and their customers anymore. All they care about today is making a lot of profits from the few customers visiting by hiking prices. These are u nethical advances in business. There are better ways to address the ongoing crisis in this store. All that the store needs is a strategy and a sound implementation of the laid plan. In this understanding, I choose to move and come up with a strategic proposal, aimed at finding a solution to this grocery store. Background to the study According to reputed scholars of economics and business studies, the reputation of a business is entirely depended on its management. Despite the fact that the chief aim of any business is to make profits, it is also true that, a business is obligated to deliver quality services and considerable prices of their goods or services to their customers. In this sense, a business management is required to keep up in strategic planning. At any time, a business management is supposed to check the performance of its strategies and review where necessary. Therefore, I am justified to take a move in reviewing the current status of the subject grocery store. The review is expected to find out problems underlying the continued poor performance of the store. The review shall further take into consideration both the internal and eternal environments that are directly affecting the performance of the store. In the end, this paper shall outline possible considerable courses of action. Possible solutions found for addressing the issues in the store shall herein be presented in a proposal format. Problem statement As noted above, there are issues facing the grocery store where I work. Today, the store sales are low. Customers no longer flow into the store to make purchases. Several reasons can bear attributed to these changes. First of all, there has been hike in prices of commodities. Taking a fast study, one will not fail to observe that at average, prices of commodities have gone up by at least 19% within a span of the just ended year. The hike in prices can be economically related to the loss of customers. Moreover, there has been an incoming of new grocery stores in the market. These have come in with better services and better offers that those provided in my store. In this sense, customers have had no choice but to turn to the greener pastures, regarding their tastes and preferences. Lastly, management in the store has stopped caring. They are no longer concerned about the employee conduct. They do not care about the relationship between the store and their customers anymore. All they c are about today is making a lot of profits from the few customers visiting by hiking prices. These are unethical advances in business. There are better ways to address the ongoing crisis in this store. Purpose statement According to economists, the chief purpose of any business is to make profits. Normally, the success of a business is measured in how much it can make as profit overtime. However, economists further note that the basis of the success of any business should not just be based on profit returns. Instead, a successful business takes step to ensure they uphold business ethics; both internal and external. The balance between ethical considerations and profit generation is a key determinant to the life of a business. A businesses life, continuity and expansion will highly depend on this balance. However, with reference to the subject business, its management has been reluctant to address these internal and external ethical issues of a business. Considering the necessity of upholding ethical issues in a business therefore, I set out to review the current status of the business, aiming at proposing reliable solutions and bringing the grocery store back to track. Objectives Revision of prices Improve business relations in the internal and external environments Improve employee recruitment, training and placing process Advertisement Implementation of the Objectives Revision of prices As I have stated in the introductory part of this paper,the services and products provided by my store have been hiked. This has caused a large loss of customers as they opt for similar commodities provided at cheaper prices by competitors. Therefore, in efforts to lower prices and regain customers, I propose that the store management cuts down their prices to lay them between a profit margin of between 5% and 20% per commodity. This way, profits obtained will not be super normal. Instead, they will be reasonable and on the other hand, the prices of commodities and services will be within the considerable reach of the anticipated customers. Improving Business Relations Despite the excellent performance of the HRM and company management at large, there have been various short comings concerning employee and industrial relationships. The various weaknesses in the current system concerning employee and industrial relations can be summarized to three forms; the protocol, the workspace layout and internal and external interactions. Employee relations The HRM for this company is commendable for the efforts taken so far in maintaining quality relations between the management and the workers. So far, the policies passed and others amended have provided a healthy environment for relationship between these two parties. However, the system is today faced with several challenges as described above. The challenges can be broadened in detail as follows: Protocol: The issue of protocol in the work place has an effect of reducing the credibility of interaction and relations. For instance, an employee may want to report misdoings of a fellow employee who is senior in rank. Due to the policy of protocol, such an employee is forced to report such a case, through the same employee being reported. This breaks the effectiveness of relations between the workers and the management and thus compromising relations. Secondly, the issue of protocol at times breaks or delays the chain of communication. This commonly happens in cases where along the chain, there is a lazy or absentee figure. For insurance, a case where an employee has put a letter through, and has to wait till it gets to the top management, of course following the chain. If in between is a lazy or absentee figure, then the communication chain may break or delay, compromising the effectiveness of relations. Working Space: The plan in which an office is laid influences workers relations in the work environment. If the lay out for a working station is closed, there is inhibited interaction between workers. Further, a case of closed office in a working station encourages undesirable behaviour in the working place. For instance, if working in a closed office environment, employees may easily get lazy, postpone work, take bribes or misuse office facilities. These are the weaknesses facing this company in regards to the current policy. In an effort to help solving the current crisis in employee relations, the company HRM is recommended to revise its policies regarding protocol. Protocol is necessary and inevitable, but its stiffness could hinder desirable changes in the work place. Therefore, the HRM needs to reform the protocol policies aiming at making them a little fluid of flexible so that in the future, cases that compromise relations between senior need junior workers are contained. In the issue of work space, the company needs to revise its office settings to adapt an open office setting. When offices are turned to open settings, workers interact more, openness encourages activeness and the risk of behaving inappropriately goes away. Thus, to address the companys weaknesses triggered by closed office settings, open office need to be adapted. Industrial Relations The issue of industrial relations needs change as well. As highlighted earlier, the problem in industrial relations is mainly caused by the excessive official contacts remained between the company and its associates. There is need to curb this menace and recommendable, by adapting a strategy that incorporates the company and its links in less formal settings. The best strategy that has worked between other companies according to research is holding tournaments. The nature of sports is less formal. Therefore, associating companies in such settings reduces the tension that comes with formal meetings, eventually cultivating a healthy interaction between the companies involved. Improving Recruitment, training and Placement As outlined by Latus business solutions, the department responsible for personnel is referred to as the Human Resource Management (HRM). HRM is mandated through policy to manage and provide necessities to employees in an effort to enable a business achieve its objectives. If well managed, HRM should be able to increase a companys profitability through improvement of job designs, training employees, spear heading institutional change, reducing job absenteeism and minimizing recruitment and training costs, but still ensuring that these activities are effectively carried out. The aspects underling HRM are reviewed and presented below: Position Specification: The aim of recruitment and selection of personnel is depended on various basic considerations. First of all, the management is mandated to consider the job role. In this case, management is supposed to ask itself questions of what duties the employee in question will be responsible for. Further, the management needs to be aware of the expectations with the stipulated role both by the management in terms of performance and productivity and the employee by measure of reward. A second aspect worth considering is the work place needs. The management needs to have a clear expectation of who the prospected employee(s) shall report to as well as who reports to them. Finally, the management has no choice but to engage regulatory requirements. Regulatory requirements in this context refer to both legal and legislative standards relating to the positiion specified. Position description: This entails the positions duties, reporting lines and salaries, HRM should be responsible enough to sufficiently describe the position on these basis. Overall, these could be referred as the commonly asked questions regarding a position. The main focus in the aspect of duty is to specify the roles that the prospected employee shall be required to take. After description of duty, it is worth clarifying the reporting lines in the work place. These are important in ensuring individual responsibility is monitored and that duties are not double allocated. Last issue of interest is the issue of salary. HRM needs to provide at least a range if not a specific amount so that the anticipating employee is aware of their reward before signing into contracts. Assessment of applicants: Recruitment Procedures: The procedures for recruitment are normally based on qualification and experience. Management needs to have a just and fair strategy for the evaluation of these considerations. Second, there is need for management to evaluate how much the applicant could bring to the company either qualitatively or quantitatively. Last consideration in the issue of recruitment procedures is setting and informing the job applicants of ways through which their productivity will be measured overtime. Application letters: The HRM should is obligated to assess the job applicants letter of application to judge whether it is pleasant in their eyes. With reasons, the HRM has a role to either approve or decline chance to an applicant on basis of their application letter. The main considerations when assessing the application letter are the presentation format, spellings among other grammar formalities and use of titles. Personal qualities: The HRM is obligated with a role to ensure that much as they consider technical knowhow in the anticipated employee, they also put in mind the personal skills and operation styles. The person hired should not only be technically equipped, they should show potential for risk taking of opportunities that come their way. This desired character is psychologically referred to as aggressiveness and it is an important consideration in employee assessment. Aggressiveness together with other personal qualities can be used to predict a candidates performance. Information gathering: The HRM needs and ought to specify selection criteria. The criteria for selection could be preset, prescribed or through methodology training. Influencing factors around information gathering are common research designs clearly; quantitative and/qualitative measures. After gathering the information, management is obligated to analyze collected data and advice candidates promptly either by clarifying issues or responding to applicants. Procedure deviations: To avoid the issue of deviance from arrangements, management should be loyal enough to all arrangements stick to agree upon. To avoid the possibility of deviating from agreements, the business management ought to plan prior to agreement, set methods of identifying deviations and corrective measures in case deviation occurs. Note should be taken that deviation management is only meant to contain the unconscious or unavoidable deviances. Otherwise, the availability of a deviance management approach should not be misused to encourage deviations. Induction: After successful applicants have been hired, the management is obligated with a role to ensure that they are welcomed. The process of welcoming new employees is generally referred to as induction. During induction, the new employees are introduced to employees, familiarized with the organizations infrastructure, their work places and immediate workmates with an aim of enabling them to fit in smoothly and perform efficiently within the shortest time possible. External Relations Relationships between the industries, community and government and the management of the company is depended on their dealings. If deals are successfully carried out, relationship between either is healthy. If there is failure, most probably, the relationship turns to a blame game of whose fault it was and who should take responsibility of the situation. To protected relationships, information shared needs to be formal and open. The failures should be dealt with independently; they should not be a root of personal grudges. Management is the link between business activities and the outsiders who are also the main source of funding for business. For this reason, business management is obligated with the responsibility to link the business teams to the stake holders. For stake holders to approve of the interest in teams, they need to fell convinced that the teams are alive and exemplarily performing. There is therefore need for management to provide progressive reports to the stake holders especially with involvement of through team leaders. The reports need to be true and prompt that stakeholders support is duly won. Lastly, there is need for either parties relating with the company to observe acceptable conduct. Some desirable interactions may not be stipulated in the policies of conduct. However, each party is expected to uphold moral, communal and ethical uprightness in relating. For instance, just because the community around a production company has not restricted passing through its premises does not mean they have allowed it either. Therefore, people of the community who find it easier to use shortcuts within a company should self warn themselves as such conduct is inappropriate. Advertisement Upon the successful completion of the implementation of the first three objectives proposed, there shall be need for advertisement. Advertisement is necessary to make customers aware of changes made in the store. It is meant to re-invite customers to the store they once loved. Through advertisement, information shall be conveyed to old customers and consumers, potential to become customers. Buy custom Businesses essay

The Benito Pablo Juarez Journal essays

The Benito Pablo Juarez Journal essays What's a hero? A hero is define as "one that is much admired or shows great courage" by the Merriam Webster's Notebook Dictionary. A hero can also be define as what Benito Pablo Juarez is to Mexico. Benito was born in a small village in Oaxaca called San Pablo Guelatao on March 21, 1806 in a two roomed cottage with floors of dirt. Benito was born to Marcelino Juarez and Grigida Garcia two catholic Zapotec indians. Benito had two older sisters one named Maria and the other one Benito's parent's died only a couple of months apart from each other, three years after Benito's birth. When Benito's parent's died he and his sister's went to live with there grandparent's, Pedro Juarez and Justa Lopez. At the age eleven Benito's grandparent's died his sisters were older and had already gotten married. After that happend Benito had to move with his uncle Matias Juarez. Benito like many Zapotec indiants didn't speak spanish, he only spoke his native language. Matias tought Benito every thing he knew about the spanish language, but Benito wanted to learn more about it and about the world. The only way that Benito was going to be able to know more about the world and how to speak spanish was by going to the city of Oaxaca. Or by going to the Catholic Fathers, but Benito did not want to become a priest. One day when Benito was taking care of the sheep, he found out that there were some men that had come from the city of Oaxaca to buy some mules. As the men were walking down the road to get to the city of Oaxaca. Benito saw them, and decided to ask them to tell him a story about the city of Oaxaca. Wile the men were entertaining Benito with there stories about the city Oaxaca one of the men stole one of his sheep. A few minutes after the men left to the city of Oaxaca, Benito counted his sheep again. To see that one of them was missing, Benito does not ...

Why you should share your opinions out loudâ€not over email

Why you should share your opinions out loud- not over email Who among us hasn’t been in this situation: You receive an email or text from someone you know and wonder, â€Å"What did they mean by that?† â€Å"Are they mad at me- or maybe they were just in a rush† The truth is, although email has made it easier than ever before to send and receive messages with all of the people in our lives- from friends and family members to professional contacts and more- it can be argued that the ease and convenience we’ve gained from modern forms of conversing have been offset by an unfortunate increase in a more impersonal approach to communication, and more opportunities for the mistranslation of a message’s meaning and intent. For humans- and for all animals, really- things like context, body language, and emotion factor heavily into how messages are delivered and received, and when these things are taken out of the equation, which happens when communicating over email, trouble can ensue.According to a recent Psycholog y Today article, â€Å"Research by UCLA psychology professor emeritus Albert Mehrabian found that 7 percent of a message was derived from the words, 38 percent from the intonation, and 55 percent from the facial expression or  body language. In other words, the vast majority of communication is not carried by our words alone†¦Not surprisingly, research shows we communicate most effectively in real-life, real-time conversation.†Just think about it- if only 7% of our messages are derived from the actual words we use, that’s a whopping 93% that’s left to speculation, guesswork, and possible misinterpretation when we communicate over email without the helpful cues that face-to-face communication provides!This gets especially important when you’re talking with someone about a potentially controversial subject or have opposing views on a topic. According to a recent article on Ladders, when we’re facing someone with a point of view that’s i n opposition to our own, we respond more favorably and humanely when the conversations includes voice vs. words, which helps to keep discourse civil.The Ladders article suggests that vocal communication may be a better vehicle for controversial conversations because â€Å"those vocal tics of inflection, intonation, and normal pauses humanize us in ways that get lost over a text message where emotion is implied in emoji and punctuation, and tone is easy to miscommunicate†¦If you want your controversial take to be seen as more than mindless drivel, get off your keyboard and give the person a call.†This information can have a profound effect on how we operate at work. These days, so much of our work lives are spent alone at our desks, silently typing away a volley of email missives on our computers and phones all day. With the volume of email we send out, it would be quite a challenge to stop and think about how each and every message we send will be construed by every rece iver- that would be exhausting!Therefore, some general rules of thumb might be helpful here: use email when sending simple and straightforward messages that are free from emotion, critical evaluation, and potentially controversial opinions. If your messages do contain these items, consider stepping away from your keyboard and engaging in a face-to-face conversation- old-fashioned perhaps, but it just might save you from an uncomfortable, awkward, or embarrassing situation.

Families in society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Families in society - Essay Example In today’s generation, the ideal family structure of two parents, father solely being the breadwinner and two to three children has drastically changed. Nowadays, especially in the United States, we come across all types of families; single parent; both working parents, no children by choice, multiple parents etc (Kesner & McKenry, 2001). The fact that both parents have started to work, children are neglected in comparison to the attention they received in previous times. Since a mother is putting the same amount of time at the workplace as the father, she thinks her additional responsibility at home should also be shared. But fathers usually do not like the idea of getting involved in domestic housing issues. Another problem suffered is the amount of stress which an individual goes through besides his normal hectic work routine. This fatigue is somewhat passed on, in some way or the other, to the entire family. Besides structural composition, the basic diversity of US based f amilies has also changed. For instance, more of gay and lesbian families have come into existence since late. But such family dynamics are strictly opposed by traditional religious groups. Some of the most common family problems are discussed in this section. For instance, US is a country which has the most number of people behind bars. Therefore, families of such prisoners suffer badly as kids are deprived of their fathers’ support, while wives also dearly miss their respective partners. Another common issue is the negative impact on kids due to constant rifts between married partners. Frustration gathered from the workplace also has a role to play in such activities. Due to such parental fights, kids start to lose confidence and trust in both parents (Leroy & Symes, 2001). After reading the whole article I concur with most of the facts mentioned about family life, with some

Society violence in the Public School Research Paper

Society violence in the Public School - Research Paper Example ("Public Schools: New Violence Against Teachers - TIME.") However, it must be understood that this violence is coming from a source – many children attending public schools grow up in unsafe environment and face conflicts at home with their parents. Nurturing children in unstable atmospheres leads them to believe in the fact that violence is the answer to everything in life and thus they take up such measures in order to have their voices heard. Most teachers state that it is the parents who are to blame. This statement stands true because most parents of such children have problems of their own and often include their children in the fights that they have which leave them scarred. Children of divorced parents might be subject to violent behaviour at home and that frustration comes out on other people because the kids think that it is alright to behave like their parents have been. Adolescence is the time when children learn the quickest and act with even greater haste and thus if their emotions are left immature during this period, then they are bound to take up violent means. Many children spend their time on the streets with gangs of people inflicted by drugs and other substances. Children learn the art of using these substances at an early age and this causes their behaviour to differentiate from others. They often fall prey to peer pressure and take up violent methods just in order to be accepted by certain people. (Be aton, Hellman) Children learn from what they see, may it be their parents fighting at home or even television programs and violent video games. It is the duty of the parents to ensure that children do not watch things that are not meant for them. It also a parent’s duty to provide a sheltered and strong environment for their children so that they grow up to be civilized and mature human beings. The psyche of a child gets affected by watching war movies, action

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Research Paper

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Research Paper Example Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 2010 will go down in history as a major health care reform bill that has been signed into law. It has a comprehensive coverage that would see 31 million Americans currently uninsured getting a medical cover. If this new proposal, the government will incur approximately $848 billion over the next 10 years, consequently, there will be a gradual increase in taxes and revenue is proposed to reduce the total cost of this cover by $131 billion within the same period (Eaton 2010). The proposed reform aims at achieving a number of strategic healthcare goals. Firstly, it aims at ensuring that every US citizen can access, quality and affordable health care. In essence, this is an important component of the entire reform agenda. In light of the increasing burden of increasing burden of disease and skyrocketing prices of health care services, the government undertook this deliberate strategy to ensure that there is universal health care insurance cover age. Today, the majority of US citizens continues to battle with out-of-pocket financing, which is prohibitively expensive (Junior 2010). Secondly, it aims at improving quality and efficiency of healthcare by establishing a vibrant health care workforce that would meet the growing demand for healthcare services. In addition, there is a growing body of evidence showing an increase in the burden of chronic diseases, this proposed health care financing in its full implementation will see the middle and elderly persons receive a comprehensive cover that focuses on affordable health care services for chronic diseases. United States (2010) states that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has determined that the fully paid patient protection  scheme, in the end, will ensure that more than 94% of Americans will be covered within $900 billion limits set by President Obama.  

Any topic (writer's choice) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Any topic (writer's choice) - Essay Example Gladwell notes that there is a disadvantage in the perceived advantaged classroom setups. He elaborates the situation using the inverted U curve Theory. Using the theory, it is clear that majority of American parents prefer small classrooms to large ones. The U curve theory provides that most people prefer working in small groups. However, people choosing to work in small groups do not consider the disadvantages associated with small numbers. Using the U curve theory, Gladwell notes that most American Schools brag about their small sized classrooms that allow providing maximum teacher-student interactions (Gladwell 97). Gladwell notes that the schools might be disillusioned since there are certain disadvantages associated with such setups. Small class size does not give students a wide exposure to the world of reality through discussions. Essentially, the discussions in small class size are minimal and, therefore, limit students’ interactions in the learning environment. Gladwell adopts the Little Pond Theory to explain the freedom of disadvantage. Gladwell argues that people underestimate the power vested in them and, therefore, do not realize the potential they have. He gives an example of how the above-average students think that they are bright and should score high grades (Gladwell 134). In addition, the above average students tend to choose only institutions or courses which have a better reputation or ranking. To their shock, the institutions or courses contain valedictorians that provide uniformity to all students.

Inca rebellion Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Inca rebellion - Movie Review Example The responsible elements behind this conquest are the age old accepted notions of the various historians and archeologists. This documentary also holds horses, steel and germs, accountable for the invasion of the Spanish over the Incas. The documentation focuses mainly on the discoveries made by Guillermo Cook. The common notion behind the Inca devastation was the mismatch of the regimes but yet this documentary focuses on some other latest theories and contentions regarding the great fall of the civilization. The historians and archeologists, believing on the new theory feel that the horses, steel and germs were the beneficial point of the Spanish conquistadors but the major deciding factor for the conquest of the Spanish were the enlistment of some native tribes in the battle against the Incas. The documentary is divided into two neat divisions and the major deviation from the chronicles occurs in the first half. The second half is more interesting than the previous one. The cemetery supports the existing belief of the historians yet it is not shown properly. The episode regarding the arrival of the Pizzaro also demands more historical evidences. Every historical documentary, deviates a bit from the chronicles and this documentary is also not an exception in this regard yet it is a worth watching documentary as it opens up many more avenues of the age-old hidden and inquisitive controversies and contentions regarding the world’s greatest civilization - The Great

The United States Air Force Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The United States Air Force - Case Study Example Enlisted members are the â€Å"backbone† of the Air Force. They perform the primary jobs that need to be done. Enlisted members are â€Å"specialists†, trained to perform specific specialties in the military. As enlisted personnel progress up the ranks, they assume more responsibility, and provide direct supervision to their subordinates. Commissioned officers primary function is to provide overall management and leadership in their area of responsibility. Commissioned officers do not specialize as much (with certain exceptions such as pilots, doctors, nurses, and lawyers). Commission officers are commissioned through specific commissioning programs, such as one of the military academies. There are ten commissioned officer grades and commissioned officers outrank all enlisted personnel. In the process of making decisions, there are at least two acceptable processes; (1) rational, and (2) political. By definition and by practice the made a concerted effort to base its de cision-making on the rational process, which rests heavily on a analytic process. An analytic process can be defined as one which there are agreed upon methods for generating alternative solutions to problems, and for assigning values to the 2 benefits and costs expected from each of the alternatives. The USAF has computational methods readily available for calculating benefits and costs ratios once these values are assigned. assigned. The critical point here being, given the structure, size, importance and power influence, there is a strategic need to continually be in sync with the DOD, the President, Congress, and fellow military personnel. The essence of the rational process is the belief that, "all good persons, given the same information, will come to the same conclusion". USAF History According to the National Security Act of 1947 which created the Air Force, "In general the United States Air Force shall include aviation forces both combat and service not otherwise assigned. It shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive operations. The Air Force shall be responsible for the preparation of the air forces necessary for the effective prosecution of war except as otherwise assigned and, in accordance with integrated joint mobilization plans, for the expansion of the peace time components of the Air Force to meet the needs of war"( Act of 1947) The Air Force came into being after more than 30 years of debate on how best to incorporate an airpower presence into the nations demanding national defense program. The Air force approached the defense scene with the awesome ability to make a formidable presence known, seen,and felt across the globe, and provided the US with an immediate presence in the geopolitical arena. Melinger makes a salient point on the impact of the Air Force into the theatre of war, he says, "the USAF history is more than

Inca rebellion Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Inca rebellion - Movie Review Example The responsible elements behind this conquest are the age old accepted notions of the various historians and archeologists. This documentary also holds horses, steel and germs, accountable for the invasion of the Spanish over the Incas. The documentation focuses mainly on the discoveries made by Guillermo Cook. The common notion behind the Inca devastation was the mismatch of the regimes but yet this documentary focuses on some other latest theories and contentions regarding the great fall of the civilization. The historians and archeologists, believing on the new theory feel that the horses, steel and germs were the beneficial point of the Spanish conquistadors but the major deciding factor for the conquest of the Spanish were the enlistment of some native tribes in the battle against the Incas. The documentary is divided into two neat divisions and the major deviation from the chronicles occurs in the first half. The second half is more interesting than the previous one. The cemetery supports the existing belief of the historians yet it is not shown properly. The episode regarding the arrival of the Pizzaro also demands more historical evidences. Every historical documentary, deviates a bit from the chronicles and this documentary is also not an exception in this regard yet it is a worth watching documentary as it opens up many more avenues of the age-old hidden and inquisitive controversies and contentions regarding the world’s greatest civilization - The Great

Purhsing Paper Can Be Fun Essay Example for Free

Purhsing Paper Can Be Fun Essay Question: What Performance problems is the captain trying to correct. Ans: 1 Poor Reporting Performance among the employees. Question: Use the MARS model of individual behavior and performance to diagnose the possible causes of the unacceptable behavior. Ans: 2 Possible causes for the unacceptable behavior is as follows: MARS Model: There are four main factors that directly influence an employee’s voluntary behavior and resulting performance. Employee Motivation: There was no clear motivation for employees to do their job perfectly as required. Motivation does not mean only financial motivation; people are motivated not only with money but also with an appreciation by the leaders of the company is enough to motivate them and pump in the force required to do the job with intensity. Captain must have set some goals which on achieving, the employees get recognition through an appreciation letter at least from the higher ranked personnel in the organization, keeping in mind that he was under the budget crunch which limited him in motivating employees by rewarding them financially. Ability: Analyzing the employees based on their capabilities was one of the cause. You will find some people whose interest is in doing the office work, captain should have recognize the skills and knowledge and segregate the work within depending on their capabilities. Coaching was also missing by the captain. Role Perceptions: They were aware about the consequences for inadequately doing the reporting as they were having issues when the case reached the court. Captain should have given them priorities from their various responsibilities by explaining them that the what matters is the quality of the work and not quantity. This would have helped them to improve. Situational Factors: As captain explained they set-up the team competitions based on the excellence of the reports, but the leaders were not committed and none of them were receiving any type of rewards for winning the competition. Leadership is responsible for the well-being of the employee in the company so they need to be committed. Question: Has the captain considered all the possible solutions to the problem? IF not what else might be done? Ans: NO What else can be done is as follows: 1. Task related trainings should be provided to strengthen the capabilities of the employees. 2. Improved Employee Engagement should be done, by recognizing the best employees, rewarding them which will boost their moral and they will feel that they are an integral part of the team. He can set-up a mechanism, like Employee of the Month Award and can display it in the office. 3. Coaching is also an important aspect of the leader, as a leader he should coach his team as and when required.

Sources of Government Revenue in South Africa

Sources of Government Revenue in South Africa Topic Describe and explain sources of revenue for national, provincial and local spheres of government in South Africa. What are some of the ways in which government has encouraged the provincial and local spheres to generate additional sources of revenue to address the growing needs of communities? Introduction Revenue for South Africa is a massive task due to the corruption taking place. , all 3 spheres of government must work together to stop corruption. Since 2012 an anti corruption team has been set up to solve this issue. This assignment will focus on ways the government tries to encourage other speheres to generate their own income. In a more specific detail this assignment will focus on ways national government promote ways to generate income for provincial and local government. This is not an easy task and thus the challenges is also a main concern and will outline the challenges and possible solutions to overcome this. Solutions will be outlined in a detailed way to overcome the issues we are facing , the definitions of the terms as well as the Significance of the Study. This assignment will conclude the information gathered and what steps needs to be taking to achieve greater results. How does national government get income? Taxes collected are the main source of revenue of national government. 97,1% of revenue of national government was collected as tax. The main sources of tax for national government are taxes paid by individuals, taxes paid by businesses, value added tax and excises(statssa.gov) Taxes on income, profits and capital gains are attributed either to individuals or to businesses. These taxes are generally levied on wages, salaries, other compensation, interest, rent, capital gains, profits of businesses, and taxable portions of pension. The first type of tax and income for the government is Value-added tax(VAT) .VAT is a tax on goods and services collected in stages by enterprises but which is ultimately charged in full to the final purchaser. VAT is usually charged at 14% on consumers final goods and is included in the price you pay for most items such as food items , petrol ,etc. the second type of tax collected by the government is excises tax. Excises are taxes levied on particular products and may be imposed at any stage of production or distribution. Excise duties are imposed mostly on high-volume daily consumable products (e.g. alcohol and tobacco products) as well as certain non-essential or luxury items (e.g. electronic equipment and cosmetics). Administrative fees are also another income for government . administration fees are similar to user charges, but differ in the sense that the service (or benefit) received in return for the fee is defined rather broadly and imprecisely.Such fees include business licences, television licences, diamond export rights, fishing licences, and motor vehicle licences. The dreaded parking ticket and speeding fine can also be added to the list. Administrative fees and fines are insignificant sources of revenue. South Africa’s major source of income is borrowing and taking loans from other countries to sustain the economy and the needs of the citizens Government can borrow from its own citizens and from abroad. Borrowing is often used to finance capital expenditure. Borrowed funds must be repaid at some point and therefore amount to deferred taxes. Because lenders have to be adequately compensated for current consumption forgone, it is imperative that borrowed money should be spent on productive activities. Sometimes government uses borrowed funds  to finance current consumption, a practice that cannot always be defended on economic grounds.   Classification of taxes There are two types of taxes such as direct and indirect. below are the two types of taxes discussed and defined. Direct Taxation Direct taxes are imposed directly on individuals and companies (e.g. personal income  tax and company tax). This distinction fundamentally revolves around the issue of tax incidence  (i.e. the question of who really pays the tax). It would suffice to say that we simply cannot tell with certainty in advance what the outcome is going to be. The second type of tax is Indirect taxes .indirect taxes are taxes which are likely to be shifted and are imposed on commodities or market transactions. Examples are excise ditties and fuel levies. It is also more difficult to adjust the tax rate to the personal circumstances of the consumer. In the  case of indirect taxes it is often possible to shift the burden of the tax to someone else. There are various types of taxes which government collects revenue from. A primary source of wealth tax for the government is property tax. The property tax base can be defined very broadly to include real property (realty) and personal property (e.g. furniture, motor vehicles, shares, bonds, and bank deposits). Another important tax is the capital gains tax. Capital gains can be defined as increases in the net value of assets over a period (e.g.an accounting period or fiscal year).the most popular type of tax is the wealth tax .Income and consumption are flow concepts since both are measured over a period of time. Income consists of wages, rental income from property, interest on savings, dividends on shares, and so on. In contrast to income, wealth is a stock concept which is measured at a particular point in time. Acts and laws pertaining to national government revenue The main act with regard to national revenue is the Public finance management act.The Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999) (as amended by Act No. 29 of 1999) The Act promotes the objective of good financial management in order to maximise service delivery through the effective and efficient use of the limited resources and focuses mainly on national and provincial spheres of government.(treasury.gov.za). the second and one of the most discussed about act is the National Revenue Fund . There is a National Revenue Fund into which all money received by the national government must be paid, except money reasonably excluded by an Act of Parliament. (sa constitution) How does the National budget effect other speheres of government The national budget plays a major role . each year the budget gets less for the community for goods and services. Our recent budget speech , more money will be spent on eskom rather than other essential needs of the community . with a limited budget , revenue will be hard to receive for other spheres and thus have to generate their own income How provincial government gets revenue Provinces have little revenue of their own but there is a process governed by the Division of Revenue Act as amended which enables a formula to be used so that provinces receive shares of revenue collected nationally. Provinces then have some discretion as to allocation of what they receive. government research in 2008 showed that Mpumalanga spent a lower percentage on health than did Western Cape as an example. The needs for the community is growing and with a limited budget and corruption in national government revenue for provinces becomes less each year. President zuma has now given more funds to eskom to settle the energy crisis thus making it less for other departments.(SONA). The only way now for provincial government to provide services is to get back to basics. In a recent interview with our provincial mayor, getting back to basics is a must.(daily news) . Kwa zulu natal relays mainly with tourism. 2014 has had the most tourism compared to any other year. Also each province relays on own source of revenue such as provincial taxes and fee ,license and fines. A government may expose taxes other than income tax ,etc. Durban also has one of the biggest harbours in the world and receives a lot from custom tax. Johanessburg has the biggest international airport in Africa also benefits a lot from foreigners for tourism. National government is also aiding provinces with grants due to the service deliver protest. Provinces still have little revenue of their own and are highly dependent on the national sources. It is fortunate that this is governed by legislation. The national government cannot discriminate against opposition controlled provinces such as WC now and KZN previously. There are also joint meetings between provinces and national government which look at issues like resource allocation. How does national government encourage revenue for provincial sphere One of the main ways provinces gets a share from national is the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC). The FFC is an independent body that is set up under the Constitution to advise government on the portion of revenue that should go to provincial and local government to subsidise services for poor people. But these funding are not adequate ,thus the provinces have to generate own source of income . generating income is not an easy task for the provinces as the unemployment rate is rising each year and citizens don’t have enough buying power or to support any fund raising activities. South Africa is known for the variety of sports we play and throughout the year there is various international and local events happening. Each province generate income through sports , generating income from the citizens via the sales of tickets ,etc. cricket ,soccer and rugby are the main sports in south Africa with a huge support of fans. South Africa is currently in the bid for the 2022 common wealth games which is to take place in Durban . This can contribute to a even higher revenue for that year for the province as over 20 countries participate in these games with tourism for all over the world. Conferences is also taking place in south Africa and Durban ICC remains positive, new destinations and Convention Centres are being developed throughout the world, which will result in even greater competition for conferences and events in the future. Each province also has a main attraction and highlight to attract visitors , example: Durban has the beautiful beaches , ushaka marine world and a diverse of cultures. Cape town has robben island , table mountain and the beautiful scenery. Johannesburg is the hub for film and tv casting , with tall skyscrapers and movie studios , as well as theme parks , shopping malls , and best airport in Africa. Laws and policies pertaining to provincial sphere to promote revenue and to provide services. One of the main laws which was recently passed was the Inter-governmental Relations Framework Act. It was passed to make sure that the principles in Chapter Three of the Constitution on cooperative government are implemented. The Act seeks to set up mechanisms to coordinate the work of all spheres of government in providing services, alleviating poverty and promoting development. (etu.org.za) Another structure in place is the Provincial Inter-governmental Structures. This act is about the relationships between the three spheres of government The Premier in each province is responsible for coordinating relationships between national, provincial and local government in the province. A Premier’s Inter-governmental Forum consists of the Premier, the local government MEC, other MECs, Metro and other mayors. (etu.org.za).National government also contributes by new laws which makes new business to open easier and funding if you follow the BBBEE, Act, 2013 (Act No. 46 of 2013). Broad- Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) is a specific government policy to advance economic transformation and enhance the economic participation of black people in the South African economy.(seda.org.za) How local government gets revenue Municipalities get their revenue from three sources. First, they raise some of their own revenue by charging all people who own property such as land, houses and businesses rates based on the value of their property. The second way they raise revenue is by charging tariffs for services like water, electricity, refuse removal and the use of municipal facilities such as sports grounds. Some municipalities can generate a lot of revenue in this way, while poorer municipalities raise virtually nothing and are almost totally dependent on funding transfers from national government, which is the third source of revenue for municipalities. Municipalities also receive funding from national government in the form of conditional grants . (localgovernmentaction.org) Challenges for local government Local government relays more on taxes. There has been many challenges regarding taxes as more than 50 percent of south Africa lives in informal settlements and don’t pay taxes.In the past, municipalities have not spent all the money allocated to them through this grant due to a lack of capacity and the mismanagement of funds. During the 2010/11 financial year, for example, 272 municipalities in South Africa did not spend a quarter of what was available to them and some of this money had to be returned to Treasury. This has most certainly contributed to the slow pace at which municipalities are providing infrastructure for services. (localgovernmentaction.org) Although funding from national and provincial government are given to local government , many ward municipal managers do not do their jobs to monitor and evaluate the needs for the community thus from above funds was given back to the treasury. How does national government encourage revenue for local sphere National government encourages various ways to get income. First they offer many incentives in the form of money. These usually occur if they follow the BBBEE procedure. Secondly , fund raising take place , many NGOS often have fund raising schemes to help support a needy course or to fund problems in the area. NGO’s play a vital role and a big help to the government for providing goods and services to the community. Examples of NGO’S are â€Å"feed the babies fund†, and NORSA. Municipalities with the most clean audits also gets rewards. The link between national sphere , provincial sphere and local sphere The different spheres of government depend on each other for support in project implementation, and regular communication is essential. For example, when a municipality proposes the development of a new township in its Integrated Development Plan, health and education services have to be provided by provincial government. Water services have to be provided by national government, and finances for housing development have to be transferred from national to provincial government from where it goes to the housing developers approved by the municipality. Laws and policies pertaining to local sphere to promote revenue and to provide services. The first act is the Municipal systems act 32 of 2000 . It is a Framework for planning, performance management system, effective use of resources and organisational change. , it also provides Core principles and mechanisms and processes necessary for community participation. Chapter 4 of the Act deals with community participation and define the need for the development of community participation. Another act which relates to this is the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003. This act regulates budget and financial management practices in municipalities and Helps to maximise the capacity of municipalities to deliver services to all communities. Integrated development plan (IDP) The IDP is a 5 year plan by the government to eridacte poverty and to create jobs . Every municipality has to draw up an Integrated Development Plan (IDP). An Integrated Development Plan is a super plan for an area that gives an overall framework for development. It aims to co-ordinate the work of local and other spheres of government in a coherent plan to improve the quality of life for all the people living in an area. It should take into account the existing conditions and problems and resources available for development. The plan should look at economic and social development for the area as a whole Conclusion From the above discussion all spheres of government must work together to achieve greater results. They need to be inter related and distinctive. All the steps and polices must be implemented to achieve best results and a corruption free society and country. The national budget as we learnt also plays a vital role in the revenue for all 3 spheres of government. Ward councillor’s and mayors have a big task to maintain and improve conditions for society. There are many challenges which all spheres need to overcome in order to maintain a good service delivery to the community Reference page websites Polity.org.za,. Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act (No. 56 Of 2003). N.p., 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2015 Acts.co.za,. Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (Act No. 56 Of 2003). N.p., 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. Etu.org.za,. Inter-Governmental Relations And Planning In Government. N.p., 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. Parliament.gov.za,. N.p., 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. Mogalecity.gov.za,. Mogale City. N.p., 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. Tshwane.gov.za,. Home. N.p., 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. Localgovernmentaction.org,. Municipal Budget | Local Government Action. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. Books moeti, kabelo. Public Finance Fundementals. 2nd ed. cape town: juta co, 2014. Print. Introduction to local government , 2nd ed. Cape town :juta Journals k, phago. Democracy In South Africa. Journal of Public Administration vol 49.3 (2014): n. pag. Print. Politeia :Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa 0256-8845 Africanus Department of Development Administration and Politics, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa 0304-615X

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby - Symbols and Symbolism :: Great Gatsby Essays

Symbolism in The Great Gatsby Symbolism is what makes a story complete.   In "The Great Gatsby" Fitzgerald cleverly uses symbolism.   Virtually anything in the novel can be taken as a symbol, from the weather, to the colors of clothing the characters wear.   There are three main symbols used in The Great Gatsby, they are The East and West Egg, the green light at the end of Daisy's dock, and the eyes of Dr.T.J. Eckleburg.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the most important symbols in the novel is class and social   standing. It is like a barrier for almost every character. East and West Eggs act as a symbol of this by its physical makeup. Tom and Daisy live on the   East which is far more refined and consists of people with more money and a higher social status. East Egg also represents the "old money." Nick and   Gatsby are on the West, which is for people who don't have any real standing, even if they have money.   The West Egg represents the "new money."   The green light shines from the East Egg to the West Egg luring Gatsby towards what he has always wanted. And Daisy, the woman that Gatsby has always wanted but   never gets, lives on East Egg. There is also a barrier of water between the two cities that keeps people like Daisy and Gatsby apart from one another and keeps them from reaching their goals and what they want in life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another symbol used in the novel was colors.   The first was the green   light.   The light was only a light, however to Gatsby it becomes his dream   for the future.   The light symbolizes hope and dream.   The dream is Daisy.   Gatsby buys the house across the bay so he can see the Buchanan's light.   Later in the story when Gatsby has Daisy the importance of the light   diminishes.   The color yellow in the story often represents death.   Myrtle   dies after being hit by a yellow car.   Another example of yellow representing death is the scene just before Gatsby enters the pool, "He shook his head and in a moment disappeared among the yellowing trees" (Fitzgerald 169).   This   shows that he was about to die just as the leaves in the tree were.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The final symbol used in the story is the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg.   Until George Wilson decides that they are the eyes of God, they are simply   viewed as an unexplained image, as they stare down on the valley of ashes.   The eyes could mean anything to the observer, but they often make them

On Trying To Understand The Universe and Life :: Biology Essays Research Papers

On Trying To Understand The Universe and Life I sat there in awe. I was in awe at the man's genius. I was in awe of his life. It could be described by no less than miraculous. I was especially shocked at the way the narrator of the movie, A Brief History of Time, related the discovery of his illness. He explained, "The doctors told him that he had about two and a half years to live and only his heart, his lungs, and his brain would eventually remain functional while everything else in his body would turn into a cabbage"(1) The words echoed through my mind, "Only his heart, his lungs, and his brain...". It seemed a terrifying condition to befall a youth in his early twenties. But amazingly, as the story went on, I soon found out that for him, the beginning of his illness marked a turning point from which his life truly begun. And I was at awe at God. Simply at awe. His name is Stephen Hawking. He is considered to be one of the greatest minds of Science. He was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, in 1962. He is still alive. He describes his philosophy in life prior to his diagnose in these terms, "My attitude was that nothing was worth an effort"(2) In the movie about his book, A Brief History of Time, it is explained how this philosophy was evident in his scholastic work where, in spite of his genius, he merely maintained an average standing as a student. Besides his diagnosed condition, the movie also points to another factor which reshaped his philosophy and outlook on life. He found love in the heart of a woman, Jane Wilde, who testified, "Without my faith in God, I wouldn't have been able to live in this situation(her husband's condition); I would not have been able to marry Stephen in the first place because I wouldn't have had the optimism to carry me through and I wouldn't have been able to carry on with it"(3) With these two events, things for stephen began to matter and he began to find meaning in putting forth the effort. His accomplishments, exemplified in a Brief History of Time, certainly testify to that. As the story unravels, he not only lived past two and a half years, he lived. He wrote, he studied, he taught, he questioned as his condition progressed; and still he lives.

The Rise of Antibiotics

The Rise of Antibiotic-Resistant Infections by_ Ricki Lewis, Ph. D. _ When penicillin became widely available during the second world war, it was a medical miracle, rapidly vanquishing the biggest wartime killer–infected wounds. Discovered initially by a French medical student, Ernest Duchesne, in 1896, and then rediscovered by Scottish physician Alexander Fleming in 1928, the product of the soil mold Penicillium crippled many types of disease-causing bacteria. But just four years after drug companies began mass-producing penicillin in 1943, microbes began appearing that could resist it. The first bug to battle penicillin was Staphylococcus aureus. This bacterium is often a harmless passenger in the human body, but it can cause illness, such as pneumonia or toxic shock syndrome, when it overgrows or produces a toxin. In 1967, another type of penicillin-resistant pneumonia, caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae and called pneumococcus, surfaced in a remote village in Papua New Guinea. At about the same time, American military personnel in southeast Asia were acquiring penicillin-resistant gonorrhea from prostitutes. By 1976, when the soldiers had come home, they brought the new strain of gonorrhea with them, and physicians had to find new drugs to treat it. In 1983, a hospital-acquired intestinal infection caused by the bacterium Enterococcus faecium joined the list of bugs that outwit penicillin. Antibiotic resistance spreads fast. Between 1979 and 1987, for example, only 0. 02 percent of pneumococcus strains infecting a large number of patients surveyed by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were penicillin-resistant. CDC's survey included 13 hospitals in 12 states. Today, 6. 6 percent of pneumococcus strains are resistant, according to a report in the June 15, 1994, Journal of the American Medical Association by Robert F. Breiman, M. D. , and colleagues at CDC. The agency also reports that in 1992, 13,300 hospital patients died of bacterial infections that were resistant to antibiotic treatment. Why has this happened? â€Å"There was complacency in the 1980s. The perception was that we had licked the bacterial infection problem. Drug companies weren't working on new agents. They were concentrating on other areas, such as viral infections,† says Michael Blum, M. D. , medical officer in the Food and Drug Administration's division of anti-infective drug products. â€Å"In the meantime, resistance increased to a number of commonly used antibiotics, possibly related to overuse of antibiotics. In the 1990s, we've come to a point for certain infections that we don't have agents available. † According to a report in the April 28, 1994, New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have identified bacteria in patient samples that resist all currently available antibiotic drugs. Survival of the Fittest The increased prevalence of antibiotic resistance is an outcome of evolution. Any population of organisms, bacteria included, naturally includes variants with unusual traits–in this case, the ability to withstand an antibiotic's attack on a microbe. When a person takes an antibiotic, the drug kills the defenseless bacteria, leaving behind–or â€Å"selecting,† in biological terms–those that can resist it. These renegade bacteria then multiply, increasing their numbers a millionfold in a day, becoming the predominant microorganism. The antibiotic does not technically cause the resistance, but allows it to happen by creating a situation where an already existing variant can flourish. â€Å"Whenever antibiotics are used, there is selective pressure for resistance to occur. It builds upon itself. More and more organisms develop resistance to more and more drugs,† says Joe Cranston, Ph. D. , director of the department of drug policy and standards at the American Medical Association in Chicago. A patient can develop a drug-resistant infection either by contracting a resistant bug to begin with, or by having a resistant microbe emerge in the body once antibiotic treatment begins. Drug-resistant infections increase risk of death, and are often associated with prolonged hospital stays, and sometimes complications. These might necessitate removing part of a ravaged lung, or replacing a damaged heart valve. Bacterial Weaponry Disease-causing microbes thwart antibiotics by interfering with their mechanism of action. For example, penicillin kills bacteria by attaching to their cell walls, then destroying a key part of the wall. The wall falls apart, and the bacterium dies. Resistant microbes, however, either alter their cell walls so penicillin can't bind or produce enzymes that dismantle the antibiotic. In another scenario, erythromycin attacks ribosomes, structures within a cell that enable it to make proteins. Resistant bacteria have slightly altered ribosomes to which the drug cannot bind. The ribosomal route is also how bacteria become resistant to the antibiotics tetracycline, streptomycin and gentamicin. How Antibiotic Resistance Happens Antibiotic resistance results from gene action. Bacteria acquire genes conferring resistance in any of three ways. In spontaneous DNA mutation, bacterial DNA (genetic material) may mutate (change) spontaneously (indicated by starburst). Drug-resistant tuberculosis arises this way. In a form of microbial sex called transformation, one bacterium may take up DNA from another bacterium. Pencillin-resistant gonorrhea results from transformation. Most frightening, however, is resistance acquired from a small circle of DNA called a plasmid, that can flit from one type of bacterium to another. A single plasmid can provide a slew of different resistances. In 1968, 12,500 people in Guatemala died in an epidemic of Shigella diarrhea. The microbe harbored a plasmid carrying resistances to four antibiotics! A Vicious Cycle: More Infections and Antibiotic Overuse Though bacterial antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon, societal factors also contribute to the problem. These factors include increased infection transmission, coupled with inappropriate antibiotic use. More people are contracting infections. Sinusitis among adults is on the rise, as are ear infections in children. A report by CDC's Linda F. McCaig and James M. Hughes, M. D. , in the Jan. 18, 1995, Journal of the American Medical Association, tracks antibiotic use in treating common illnesses. The report cites nearly 6 million antibiotic prescriptions for sinusitis in 1985, and nearly 13 million in 1992. Similarly, for middle ear infections, the numbers are 15 million prescriptions in 1985, and 23. 6 million in 1992. Causes for the increase in reported infections are diverse. Some studies correlate the doubling in doctor's office visits for ear infections for preschoolers between 1975 and 1990 to increased use of day-care facilities. Homelessness contributes to the spread of infection. Ironically, advances in modern medicine have made more people predisposed to infection. People on chemotherapy and transplant recipients taking drugs to suppress their immune function are at greater risk of infection. â€Å"There are the number of immunocompromised patients, who wouldn't have survived in earlier times,† says Cranston. â€Å"Radical procedures produce patients who are in difficult shape in the hospital, and are prone to nosocomial [hospital-acquired] infections. Also, the general aging of patients who live longer, get sicker, and die slower contributes to the problem,† he adds. Though some people clearly need to be treated with antibiotics, many experts are concerned about the inappropriate use of these powerful drugs. â€Å"Many consumers have an expectation that when they're ill, antibiotics are the answer. They put pressure on the physician to prescribe them. Most of the time the illness is viral, and antibiotics are not the answer. This large burden of antibiotics is certainly selecting resistant bacteria,† says Blum. Another much-publicized concern is use of antibiotics in livestock, where the drugs are used in well animals to prevent disease, and the animals are later slaughtered for food. â€Å"If an animal gets a bacterial infection, growth is slowed and it doesn't put on weight as fast,† says Joe Madden, Ph. D. , strategic manager of microbiology at FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. In addition, antibiotics are sometimes administered at low levels in feed for long durations to increase the rate of weight gain and improve the efficiency of converting animal feed to units of animal production. FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine limits the amount of antibiotic residue in poultry and other meats, and the U. S. Department of Agriculture monitors meats for drug residues. According to Margaret Miller, Ph. D. , deputy division director at the Center for Veterinary Medicine, the residue limits for antimicrobial animal drugs are set low enough to ensure that the residues themselves do not select resistant bacteria in (human) gut flora. FDA is investigating whether bacteria resistant to quinolone antibiotics can emerge in food animals and cause disease in humans. Although thorough cooking sharply reduces the likelihood of antibiotic-resistant bacteria surviving in a meat meal to infect a human, it could happen. Pathogens resistant to drugs other than fluoroquinolones have sporadically been reported to survive in a meat meal to infect a human. In 1983, for example, 18 people in four midwestern states developed multi-drug-resistant Salmonella food poisoning after eating beef from cows fed antibiotics. Eleven of the people were hospitalized, and one died. A study conducted by Alain Cometta, M. D. , and his colleagues at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland, and reported in the April 28, 1994, New England Journal of Medicine, showed that increase in antibiotic resistance parallels increase in antibiotic use in humans. They examined a large group of cancer patients given antibiotics called fluoroquinolones to prevent infection. The patients' white blood cell counts were very low as a result of their cancer treatment, leaving them open to infection. Between 1983 and 1993, the percentage of such patients receiving antibiotics rose from 1. 4 to 45. During those years, the researchers isolated Escherichia coli bacteria annually from the patients, and tested the microbes for resistance to five types of fluoroquinolones. Between 1983 and 1990, all 92 E. coli strains tested were easily killed by the antibiotics. But from 1991 to 1993, 11 of 40 tested strains (28 percent) were resistant to all five drugs. Towards Solving the Problem Antibiotic resistance is inevitable, say scientists, but there are measures we can take to slow it. Efforts are under way on several fronts–improving infection control, developing new antibiotics, and using drugs more appropriately. Barbara E. Murray, M. D. , of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston writes in the April 28, 1994, New England Journal of Medicine that simple improvements in public health measures can go a long way towards preventing infection. Such approaches include more frequent hand washing by health-care workers, quick identification and isolation of patients with drug-resistant infections, and improving sewage systems and water purity in developing nations. Drug manufacturers are once again becoming interested in developing new antibiotics. These efforts have been spurred both by the appearance of new bacterial illnesses, such as Lyme disease and Legionnaire's disease, and resurgences of old foes, such as tuberculosis, due to drug resistance. FDA is doing all it can to speed development and availability of new antibiotic drugs. â€Å"We can't identify new agents–that's the job of the pharmaceutical industry. But once they have identified a promising new drug for resistant infections, what we can do is to meet with the company very early and help design the development plan and clinical trials,† says Blum. In addition, drugs in development can be used for patients with multi-drug-resistant infections on an â€Å"emergency IND (compassionate use)† basis, if the physician requests this of FDA, Blum adds. This is done for people with AIDS or cancer, for example. No one really has a good idea of the extent of antibiotic resistance, because it hasn't been monitored in a coordinated fashion. â€Å"Each hospital monitors its own resistance, but there is no good national system to test for antibiotic resistance,† says Blum. This may soon change. CDC is encouraging local health officials to track resistance data, and the World Health Organization has initiated a global computer database for physicians to report outbreaks of drug-resistant bacterial infections. Experts agree that antibiotics should be restricted to patients who can truly benefit from them–that is, people with bacterial infections. Already this is being done in the hospital setting, where the routine use of antibiotics to prevent infection in certain surgical patients is being reexamined. We have known since way back in the antibiotic era that these drugs have been used inappropriately in surgical prophylaxis [preventing infections in surgical patients]. But there is more success [in limiting antibiotic use] in hospital settings, where guidelines are established, than in the more typical outpatient settings,† says Cranston. Murray points out an example of antibiotic prophylaxis in the outpatient setting–children with recurrent ear infections given extended antibiotic prescriptions to prevent future infections. (See â€Å"Protecting Little Pitchers' Ears† in the December 1994 FDA Consumer. Another problem with antibiotic use is that patients often stop taking the drug too soon, because symptoms improve. However, this merely encourages resistant microbes to proliferate. The infection returns a few weeks later, and this time a different drug must be used to treat it. Targeting TB Stephen Weis and colleagues at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth reported in the April 28, 1994, New England Journal of Medicine on research they conducted in Tarrant County, Texas, that vividly illustrates how helping patients to take the full course of their medication can actually lower resistance rates. The subject–tuberculosis. TB is an infection that has experienced spectacular ups and downs. Drugs were developed to treat it, complacency set in that it was beaten, and the disease resurged because patients stopped their medication too soon and infected others. Today, one in seven new TB cases is resistant to the two drugs most commonly used to treat it (isoniazid and rifampin), and 5 percent of these patients die. In the Texas study, 407 patients from 1980 to 1986 were allowed to take their medication on their own. From 1986 until the end of 1992, 581 patients were closely followed, with nurses observing them take their pills. By the end of the study, the relapse rate–which reflects antibiotic resistance–fell from 20. 9 to 5. 5 percent. This trend is especially significant, the researchers note, because it occurred as risk factors for spreading TB–including AIDS, intravenous drug use, and homelessness–were increasing. The conclusion: Resistance can be slowed if patients take medications correctly. Narrowing the Spectrum Appropriate prescribing also means that physicians use â€Å"narrow spectrum† antibiotics–those that target only a few bacterial types–whenever possible, so that resistances can be restricted. The only national survey of antibiotic prescribing practices of office physicians, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, finds that the number of prescriptions has not risen appreciably from 1980 to 1992, but there has been a shift to using costlier, broader spectrum agents. This prescribing trend heightens the resistance problem, write McCaig and Hughes, because more diverse bacteria are being exposed to antibiotics. One way FDA can help physicians choose narrower spectrum antibiotics is to ensure that labeling keeps up with evolving bacterial resistances. Blum hopes that the surveillance information on emerging antibiotic resistances from CDC will enable FDA to require that product labels be updated with the most current surveillance information. Many of us have come to take antibiotics for granted. A child develops strep throat or an ear infection, and soon a bottle of â€Å"pink medicine† makes everything better. An adult suffers a sinus headache, and antibiotic pills quickly control it. But infections can and do still kill. Because of a complex combination of factors, serious infections may be on the rise. While awaiting the next â€Å"wonder drug,† we must appreciate, and use correctly, the ones that we already have. {draw:rect} Big Difference If this bacterium could be shown four times bigger, it would be the right relative size to the virus beneath it. Both are microscopic and are shown many times larger than life. ) Although bacteria are single-celled organisms, viruses are far simpler, consisting of one type of biochemical (a nucleic acid, such as DNA or RNA) wrapped in another (protein). Most biologists do not consider viruses to be living things, but instead, infectious particles. Antibiotic drugs attack bacteria, not viruses. {draw:rect} *The Greatest Fe ar–Vancomycin* Resistance When microbes began resisting penicillin, medical researchers fought back with chemical cousins, such as methicillin and oxacillin. By 1953, the antibiotic armamentarium included chloramphenicol, neomycin, terramycin, tetracycline, and cephalosporins. But today, researchers fear that we may be nearing an end to the seemingly endless flow of antimicrobial drugs. At the center of current concern is the antibiotic vancomycin, which for many infections is literally the drug of â€Å"last resort,† says Michael Blum, M. D. , medical officer in FDA's division of anti-infective drug products. Some hospital-acquired staph infections are resistant to all antibiotics except vancomycin. Now vancomycin resistance has turned up in another common hospital bug, enterococcus. And since bacteria swap resistance genes like teenagers swap T-shirts, it is only a matter of time, many microbiologists believe, until vancomycin-resistant staph infections appear. â€Å"Staph aureus may pick up vancomycin resistance from enterococci, which are found in the normal human gut,† says Madden. And the speed with which vancomycin resistance has spread through enterococci has prompted researchers to use the word â€Å"crisis† when discussing the possibility of vancomycin-resistant staph. Vancomycin-resistant enterococci were first reported in England and France in 1987, and appeared in one New York City hospital in 1989. By 1991, 38 hospitals in the United States reported the bug. By 1993, 14 percent of patients with enterococcus in intensive-care units in some hospitals had vancomycin-resistant strains, a 20-fold increase from 1987. A frightening report came in 1992, when a British researcher observed a transfer of a vancomycin-resistant gene from enterococcus to Staph aureus in the laboratory. Alarmed, the researcher immediately destroyed the bacteria. Ricki_ Lewis is a geneticist and textbook author. _ {draw:rect} FDA Consumer magazine (September 1995)