Importance of Parental Involvement on the Academic Performance of Grade V-VI Pupils

Parent involvement is absolutely essential to student achievement in school and in life. The overwhelming studies and research indicate that there are positive academic outcomes stemming from parental involvement with benefits beginning in early childhood throughout adolescence and beyond (Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Patrikakou, Weisberg, Redding, & Walberg, 2005).The impact that parents can have on their child's learning and achievement transcends income levels and social status. â€Å"In fact, the most accurate predictor of a student's achievement in school is not income or social status, but the extent to which that student's family is able to: 1. Create a home environment that encourages learning; 2. Express high (but not unrealistic) expectations for their children's achievement and future careers; 3. Become involved in their children's education at school and in the community.† If two of these three criteria are accomplished, children of low income families will achieve at o r above the levels expected of middle class children.Parental involvement does not only mean that it leads to higher academic achievement, but to better attendance and improved behavior at home and school as well. When school and home, work together collaboratively, and using a competent approach to education, it can make a huge difference in student achievement. Students value their education when they see the interest shown by their parents. When children achieve, everyone benefit.As children excel, the school is recognized, the teachers are recognized and the parents and other family members of those children are encouraged to extend their knowledge by going back to school. The purpose of this study is to reveal how important is parental involvement on the academic the performance of Grade V-VI pupils at school. This aims to show the readers that parents can be a great supporter and a big help for their children to become inspired to study harder.

Health in Comminities

# 2008 University of South Africa All rights reserved Printed and published by the University of South Africa Muckleneuk, Pretoria CMH2602/1/2009 ±2011 98316532 (iii) __________________________________ __________________________________ Contents WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION (vii) PART 1: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS IN COMMUNITY HEALTH 1 LEARNING UNIT 1: 2 1. 1 1. 2 1. 3 1. 4 1. 5 1. 6 1. 7 1. 8 1. 9 CONCEPTS AND THEORIES/MODELS IN COMMUNITY HEALTH Introduction Theoretical thinking as a language Choosing a theory/model to apply to community health The dimensions model of community health nursing Orem's self-care deficit theory of nursingNeuman's systems model/theory Pender's health promotion model Gordon's functional health pattern framework Conclusion 2 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 PART 2: THE INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY AS CLIENT 13 LEARNING UNIT 2: 14 2. 1 2. 2 2. 3 2. 4 2. 5 2. 6 2. 7 2. 8 2. 9 2. 10 Introduction Defining the concept of family Structure of the family Types of families Stages of family d evelopment The family as social system Cultural values in the family Family functions Roles of the family Conclusion LEARNING UNIT 3: 3. 1 3. 2 3. 3 3. 4 3. 5 3. 6 3. 7 3. 8 3. 9 3. 10 3. 11 THE FAMILY AS CLIENT ASSESSING FAMILY HEALTH IntroductionAssessment of the family The biophysical dimension The psychological considerations The physical environmental considerations The socio-cultural dimension The behavioural considerations The health system considerations Diagnostic reasoning and the family as a client Planning, implementation and evaluation Conclusion 14 14 15 16 17 19 20 21 21 21 23 23 23 25 25 27 28 30 31 31 31 32 (iv) LEARNING UNIT 4: INFANTS FROM BIRTH TO 18 MONTHS 4. 1 Introduction 4. 2 Definition of child health 4. 3 Growth and development during infancy 4. 4 Developmental tasks 4. 5 Infant nutrition 4. 6 Cognitive-perceptual patterns . 7 Child abuse 4. 8 Stress in infancy 4. 9 Pathological processes 4. 10 Immunisation 4. 11 Conclusion 34 34 34 34 35 36 37 37 38 38 38 41 LEARNING UNIT 5: THE TODDLER (18 ±36 MONTHS) 5. 1 Introduction 5. 2 Age and physical changes 5. 3 Nutrition in toddlers 5. 4 Elimination and exercise patterns 5. 5 Sleep and rest pattern 5. 6 Cognitive-perceptual pattern 5. 7 Self-perception-self-concept pattern, roles-relationships pattern, child abuse, sexuality-reproductive pattern, coping with stress, and values and beliefs 5. 8 Pathological processes 5. 9 Social processes 5. 10 Conclusion 43 43 43 44 44 44 45LEARNING UNIT 6: THE PRE-SCHOOL CHILD 6. 1 Introduction 6. 2 Age and physical changes 6. 3 Cognitive-perceptual patterns 6. 4 Self-perception-self-concept pattern, roles-relationships pattern, sexuality-reproductive pattern, coping-stress pattern and values-beliefs pattern 6. 5 Pathological processes 6. 6 Social processes 6. 7 Conclusion 48 48 48 49 LEARNING UNIT 7: THE SCHOOL-AGE CHILD 7. 1 Introduction 7. 2 Age and physical changes 7. 3 Cognitive-perceptual pattern 7. 4 Self-perception-self-concept pattern, roles-rel ationships pattern, sexuality-reproductive pattern, coping-stress pattern and values-beliefs pattern 7. Pathological processes and social processes 7. 6 Conclusion 52 52 52 53 LEARNING UNIT 8: THE ADOLESCENT 8. 1 Introduction 8. 2 Age and physical changes: Gordon's functional health patterns 8. 3 Gordon's functional health patterns in adolescents 8. 4 Pathological processes in the adolescent 8. 5 Social processes 8. 6 Conclusion 56 56 56 57 58 59 59 45 46 46 46 49 50 50 51 54 55 55 (v) LEARNING UNIT 9: GENDER HEALTH 9. 1 9. 2 9. 3 9. 4 9. 5 9. 6 9. 7 Introduction The status of women Women's health status The lesbian/gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) client Men's health statusThe epidemiology of health for gay, bisexual and transgender men Conclusion LEARNING UNIT 10: CARE OF THE CLIENT IN THE WORK SETTING 10. 1 10. 2 10. 3 10. 4 10. 5 Introduction The objectives of occupational health The occupational health nurse's scope of practice Nursing care of working populations Conclusion LEARNING UNIT 11: THE OLDER ADULT 11. 1 11. 2 11. 3 11. 4 11. 5 11. 6 11. 7 11. 8 11. 9 11. 10 11. 11 11. 12 11. 13 11. 14 11. 15 11. 16 Introduction Age and physical changes Goals of health promotion Pattern of health perception-health management Nutritional metabolic patternElimination pattern Activity-exercise pattern Sleep-rest pattern Cognitive-perceptual pattern Self-perception-self-concept pattern Roles-relationships pattern Sexuality-reproductive pattern Coping-stress tolerance pattern and values-beliefs pattern Pathological processes Social processes Conclusion 60 60 61 62 63 63 64 64 65 65 66 66 66 67 68 68 69 70 70 70 70 70 70 71 71 71 71 71 71 72 72 PART 3: THE COMMUNITY AS CLIENT 75 LEARNING UNIT 12: HEALTH PROMOTION IN THE COMMUNITY 76 12. 1 12. 2 12. 3 12. 4 12. 5 12. 6 12. 7 12. 8 12. 9 12. 10 12. 11 12. 12 Introduction Definition of a communityDefining the term community health The community as a client Goals of community-oriented practice Strategies for improving community health Community partnerships Community-focused nursing process Planning Implementation Evaluation Conclusion 76 76 77 77 77 79 79 79 80 81 83 83 (vi) LEARNING UNIT 13: INTERVENTIONS FOR HEALTH PROMOTION IN THE FAMILY 13. 1 13. 2 13. 3 13. 4 13. 5 13. 6 13. 7 13. 8 13. 9 Introduction Definitions of health promotion Interventions for health promotion The purpose of health education The health educator Principles for health education Implementation of the educational planEvaluation of the educational process Conclusion LEARNING UNIT 14: ISSUES IN COMMUNITY HEALTH 14. 1 14. 2 14. 3 14. 4 14. 5 14. 6 14. 7 14. 8 Introduction Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (Aids) Tuberculosis (TB) Poverty Homelessness Violence Community resources Conclusion 84 84 84 85 85 86 88 89 89 90 92 92 92 93 94 94 95 95 97 BIBLIOGRAPHY 98 ANNEXURE A: FEEDBACK FOR SCENARIO IN LEARNING UNIT 3 ? LEARNING UNITS 4 ±12 99 ANNEXURE B: FACTS ABOUT IMMUNISATION 106 ANNEXUR E C: THE REVISED EXPANDED PROGRAMME ON IMMUNISATION IN SOUTH AFRICA (EPI-SA) SCHEDULE 08 ANNEXURE D: PLANS TO ADD TWO NEW VACCINES TO PREVENT PNEUMONIA AND DIARRHOEA IN BABIES 110 ANNEXURE E: PRIVATE VACCINES SCHEDULE 111 (vii) Welcome and ____________________________ introduction ____________________________ Welcome to this second-level module on health in communities. You will learn about the concepts and theories/models involved in community health to equip you with a theoretical foundation for this module. The aim of this module is to equip you with knowledge about the life span of the individual in order to give you skills to work with families in the community.You will also gain a holistic approach towards critical issues in the community. You should grow and develop into a competent and skilful practitioner who can identify needs and problems relating to family health and respond to them in an innovative way. Working through this module will enrich your life not only professi onally, but also personally. The nature of this study guide This study guide has been designed in an interactive way with the aim of guiding you through two prescribed books. As you work through this study guide you should integrate the information in the study guide with the information in your prescribed books.The Internet has a wealth of information and you are advised to use the Internet as often as possible to broaden your knowledge on certain topics. Prescribed books You are expected to purchase the following prescribed books for this module: Clark, MJ. 2008. Community health nursing: advocacy for population health. 5th edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Edelman, CL & Mandle, CL. 2006. Health promotion through the lifespan. 5th edition. St Louis: Mosby. Edelman and Mandle (2006) has very valuable information on health promotion and covers the entire life span, from birth to death.In addition to your study guide, this book is very important: you will find a wealth of information. Clark (2008) is a book on community health nursing that emphasises the dimensions model of community health nursing right through. This is a very valuable model which will help you to gain a holistic and systematic approach towards the individual, family and community. (viii) The information in these two books is complementary. Together with the study guide it will help you to gain the knowledge and skills you will need to supply health care to individuals, families and communities.Activities The activities are planned to either reinforce content, to guide you to tackle upcoming content, or to motivate you to think about issues. You will note that in part 2 of the study guide there is only one activity at the end of each learning unit: here we want you to apply the dimensions model of community health to a member of the family. Feedback on all these activities will be given in annexure A. This CMH2602 module runs parallel with the practice module for Community Health, CMH2126. The theory cannot be separated from the practice. IconsYou will find a series of icons in the text to guide you as you progress with your studies. Activity When you see this icon, you will know that you must complete an activity. We may ask you to read a specific section in the prescribed literature, apply given information, think about topics that have not been introduced, find your own information or ask other people for information. Please read the instructions carefully. Assessment criteria This icon indicates the questions that you can use to assess your own understanding of the work. These questions are adapted from the outcomes.You are told what you should do to prove that you have met the learning outcomes. Prescribed reading When you see this icon, study or read the prescribed book as indicated, before continuing with the next section. Learning outcome This icon tells you how you will benefit in the field of practice if you know the content of the specific learning unit. The outcomes tell you what you will be able to do after you have studied the work. h Feedback This icon tells you what was expected from you when you did the activity. It will not necessarily give you all the facts but will give you guidelines on how to answer the question.Not all of the activities will have feedback because many of the answers are given in your prescribed books. (ix) Conclusion This module is designed to enable you to work with families in the community. It is based on the needs and problems of the family. It covers individuals who are part of the family and the family as part of the community. After completion of this module, together with the practice module, you will be able to take responsibility for practising as an independent community nurse in any community setting. PART 1 THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS IN COMMUNITY HEALTH 2 Learning unit 1Concepts and theories/ models in community health Outcomes Since theories/models provide you with the knowledge you nee d to practise community health in a scientific way, it is essential for you to be familiar with the various theories/models in the field to be able to apply them to community health. When you have worked through this learning unit you will be able to: * * * * 1. 1 describe various concepts in theoretical thinking explain selected theories/models in detail describe the key concepts and themes of the selected theories/models apply the theories/models to community healthIntroduction While we will discuss theories/models in general in this learning unit, we will also deal with several selected theories in more depth in order to indicate how they can be applied to community health. It is currently accepted that theories form the basis of community health. Since theories provide us with the knowledge we need to practise community health in a scientific way, it is essential for the community nurse to be familiar with the various theories/models in the field and to be able to apply them to community health. 1. 2 Theoretical thinking as a languageThe terms theory, model, conceptual framework, conceptual model are often used synonymously in literature. The literature reflects various conflicting opinions about the terms, their usage and meaning. According to Polit and Beck (2008:141) a conceptual model or a conceptual framework represents a more informal mechanism for organising and discussing phenomena or concepts, while theories are more formal in nature. Conceptual theories, frameworks and models are composed of concepts or constructs. These concepts or constructs are interdependent because they systematically demonstrate the relationship between variables.A model is a symbolic representation of concepts or variables with an interrelationship. A phenomenon is the abstract concept under study, often 3 used by qualitative researchers, while a concept is a description of the objects or events that form the basis of a theory. Both models and theories can describe and pre dict the relationship between phenomena. Models and theories are terms that are often used interchangeably in literature. The term theory is often used to refer to the subject content that student nurses must be taught in the lecture room to acquire the information they need to perform the nursing tasks in practice.Researchers such as Polit and Beck (2008:768) define theory as â€Å"an abstract generalisation that presents a systematic explanation about the relationships among phenomena†. Theories include principles for explaining, predicting and controlling phenomena. In all disciplines theories serve the same purpose. This purpose is to make scientific findings meaningful, and to make it possible to generalise. A theory is composed of concepts and constructs that are systematically related and that are also goal-oriented (Stanhope & Lancaster 2006:196). Types of traditional theories include grand theories and middle-range theories.Grand theories describe and explain large s egments of the human experience which are very broad. Middle-range theories explain more specific phenomena such as stress, self-care, health promotion and infant attachment. Metatheory is a term used to label theory about the theoretical process and theory development (Polit & Beck 2008:141). Metaparadigm refers to the main concepts that identify the phenomena or ideas of interest to a discipline, in this case the discipline of nursing. They provide the boundaries for the subject matter of the discipline.The metaparadigm concepts for nursing include person, environment, health and nursing (Clark 2008:67). However, current literature suggests that a four-concept metaparadigm for the discipline of nursing is too limited and suggests additional concepts such as transitions, interaction, nursing process, nursing therapeutics, self-care, adaptation, interpersonal relationships, goal attainment, caring, energy fields, human becoming and other concepts. The best-known and most used concep ts are however the first four: person, environment, health and nursing. 1. 3 Choosing a theory/model to apply to community ealth Choosing a suitable theory or model is not always an easy task ? especially when most theories are geared towards the care of individuals and were never designed to apply to groups or communities. The theory or model that is chosen must be flexible enough to be adapted to the community health situation and its aim must be to provide guidance for those who practise community health. The importance of the family or community network and the social network must both be clearly reflected, and the theory or model must be realistic and simple enough to understand and apply.In addition, the theory/model should harmonise with the community nurse's views about the individual, the environment, personal health and community health. You may find that the theory that is chosen may not always fulfil all your expectations and that it may also not be applicable to all cir cumstances. You may often be required to make adjustments or to develop your own personal model on the basis of existing theories. 4 Activity Explain why community health nursing should be based on a model or theory. h Feedback You should have considered the following points: * * * * * 1. 4A systematic approach is needed. Theories/models assist community nurses to evaluate health status and to plan, implement and evaluate effective nursing care. The model/theory used directs attention to relevant aspects of the client situation and to appropriate interventions. Epidemiologic models help in examining factors that influence health and illness. Nursing models suggest interventions to protect, improve and restore health. The dimensions model of community health nursing Clark's (2008:69) dimensions model of community health nursing is one of the few models designed for community health.This model is described in detail in your prescribed book (Clark 2008) and will therefore only be summa rised here. This model is a revision of the previously titled Epidemiologic Prevention Process Model. The dimensions model incorporates the nursing process and the levels of prevention as well as an epidemiologic perspective on the factors influencing health and illness. The dimensions model consists of three elements: the dimensions of health, the dimensions of health care and the dimensions of nursing. The dimensions of health include: * * * * * * the the the the the he biophysical dimension psychological dimension physical environmental dimension socio-cultural dimension behavioural dimension health system dimension The dimensions of health care include: * * * primary prevention secondary prevention tertiary prevention The dimensions of nursing include: * * * * cognitive dimension interpersonal dimension ethical dimension skills dimension 5 * * process dimension reflective dimension You should study this model to enable you to assess the health status of individuals, families or communities and to guide your nursing interventions.Prescribed book Study chapter 4 in Clark (2008, or later editions), on the dimensions model of community health nursing. Activity (1) Name the three elements of the dimensions model of community health nursing. (2) List the dimensions included in each element. (3) Give an example related to the dimensions in each element that addresses the health of a population group. 1. 5 Orem's self-care deficit theory of nursing Orem proposes a general theory of nursing which she calls the theory of self-care deficit. Orem's theory focuses on people's ability to practise self-care.The dominant theme of her philosophy of health is that people should be empowered and encouraged to practise their own self-care by means of their own efforts or with the help of significant others. Orem's self-care deficit theory of nursing consists of three interrelated theories: the theory of selfcare, the theory of self-care deficit and the theory of nursing syste ms. This theory is consistent with community health, based on the following premises: * * * Individuals and groups must accept responsibility for their own health and consequently care for themselves.The community nurse should provide the necessary training and support that will enable individuals or communities to do this. The community nurse should intervene only when a deficit or need arises in the selfcare framework. The World Health Organization (WHO) also strongly emphasises that self-care and selfresponsibility play an important role in achieving the goal of optimal health. 1. 5. 1 Theory of self-care In order to understand the theory of self-care, one must first understand the concepts of self-care, self-care agency, basic conditioning factors and therapeutic self-care demand.Self-care include those activities and decisions which a person undertakes in order to maintain life, health and well-being. These activities are acquired by learning, and they contribute to the mainten ance of human development and functioning. 6 Self-care agency refers to the ability of a person to exercise self-care in daily life. The ability to care for oneself is affected by basic conditioning factors: age, gender, developmental state, health state, socio-cultural factors, health care system factors, family system factors, patterns of living, environmental factors and resource adequacy and availability.Therapeutic self-care demand is the sum total of the measures which are called for at a particular time for the promotion and maintenance of health, development and general well-being. In the case of self-care, purposeful actions and steps are taken. Although selfcare should benefit an individual's health, his or her perception of self-care may not always promote good health, as is the case with a person who smokes in the belief that it reduces his or her stress levels. Self-care requisites refer to the reasons for which self-care is undertaken.The three categories of self-care requisites include universal, developmental, and health deviation. Universal self-care requirements include those processes which are essential for the normal functioning and maintenance of health and life, such as the following processes: * * * * * * having and maintaining sufficient fresh air/oxygen, water and food intake finding the balance between exercise and rest, and having social interaction avoiding dangers and obstacles that can compromise human functioning and well-being promoting human functioning and development in a group roviding care associated with elimination processes and personal hygiene keeping a balance between being alone and social interaction Developmental self-care requisites are divided into two categories: * * The first concerns the maintenance of those conditions which are favourable to a person's normal growth and development. The second is concerned with the prevention of those negative conditions, forces, influences and factors which can hinder and ob struct normal development. Awareness of such requirements reflects a person's level of development and his or her general capacity for self-care.Health deviation self-care is necessary for preventing illness, injury and retardation. It involves taking whatever steps are necessary for preventing or treating illness or disability effectively. The requisites for health deviation self-care include: * * * * * * seeking and securing appropriate medical assistance being conscious of and attending to the effects and results of pathologic conditions conducting medically prescribed diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitative measures attending to or controlling the negative effects of prescribed medical treatment effectively ccepting oneself as being in a specific state of health and in need of particular forms of health care developing and sustaining health-optimising lifestyles 1. 5. 2 Theory of self-care deficit The theory of self-care deficit forms the core of Orem's general theory of nurs ing. According to this theory, an adult who is unable to practise self-care requires dependent care; this refers to an adult who does not have the ability to meet his or her own needs or 7 only has partial ability to take care of himself or herself. This may happen or example when a person falls ill and this illness generates new demands, requiring the implementation of complex measures and specialised knowledge. Orem cites the following examples of support or help which can be offered in such circumstances: * * * * * acting on behalf of a person or undertaking certain activities for this person until he or she can once again care for himself or herself more independently providing guidance and direction in the new situation providing physical and psychological support creating and maintaining a new environment which supports personal development providing appropriate relevant instructionsA self-care deficit occurs where there is a discrepancy between the need for self-care and the ability to manage this self-care. In such circumstances the individual needs to be assisted and educated to administer whatever self-care he or she may need. In short, a self-care deficit occurs when a person is unable to practise appropriate self-care on his or her own or without external assistance. 1. 5. 3 Theory of nursing systems The theory of nursing systems consists of two components: the nursing agency, and nursing systems.The nursing agency refers to the characteristics of people who are trained as nurses that enable them to act, to know and to help others meet their therapeutic self-care demands by developing their own self-care agency. Nursing systems are created when nurses use their knowledge and skills to plan and implement nursing care where there are deficiencies in self-care. The aim of intervention by the nurse is to compensate for the self-care activities which the individual, family or community cannot maintain at an optimal level. These compensatory activities a re classified into: * * *The wholly compensatory system where the community nurse becomes the self-care agent to compensate for the client's inability to maintain his or her own self-care. The community nurse cares for and supports the client wholly. For example, this would happen where a person is in a coma and cannot consciously look after himself or herself. The partly compensatory system where the client is capable of certain self-care measures but only to a limited degree. The aim of health care intervention is to lend support and carry out certain activities on behalf of the client until he or she is able to resume them again.The supportive/educational system where the client can manage self-care but needs the support and guidance of the community nurse. The community nurse regulates the selfcare agent's performance and development so that he or she can function more independently (George 2002:126). Activity (1) Describe the different components of the self-care deficit theory of nursing. 8 (2) Explain what is meant by a self-care deficit. (3) A mother and her two-month-old baby visit your clinic. The baby is not gaining sufficient weight and the mother appears tired and stressed. Identify the self-care deficit in this particular case. h FeedbackYou should have covered the following points in your answer: (1) The mother is not able to care for herself with the demands of a new baby. (2) She therefore needs health education and advice on how to handle the situation. 1. 6 Neuman's systems model/theory According to Neuman, her personal philosophy of helping each other live contributed to development of the holistic systems perspective of the her systems model. Neuman's theory is based on: * * the two main components of stress and the individual or his or her body's reaction to that stress the community's reaction to certain stress factors (stressors) in the environmentNeuman based her systems model on a general systems theory and regards the client as an op en system which reacts to stressors in the environment. Stressors may be intra-personal, inter-personal or extra-personal. Intra-personal stressors occur within the client system boundary and correlate with the internal environment (eg feelings such as anxiety or anger within a person). Inter-personal stressors occur outside the client system boundary and have an impact on the system (eg stimuli between people such as role expectations). Extrapersonal stressors also occur outside the ystem boundaries, but are further away from the system than the inter-personal stressors (eg work or finances). Environment includes all the external and internal influences that surround the client system. The external environment exists outside the client system and the internal environment exists within the client system: * * * * The client system contains a basic structure or core construct (individual, family community) which is protected by lines of resistance. The basic structure includes system variables such as physiological, psychological, socio-cultural, developmental and spiritual variables.Penetration of the basic structure results in death. The normal level of health is identified as the normal line of defence which refers to the client's usual state of wellness and represents stability over time. When the normal line of defence is invaded or penetrated, the client system reacts, for example with symptoms of illness. The flexible line of defence prevents stressors from invading the system and is a dynamic state of wellness that changes over time. It can for example be altered in a relatively short period of time by factors such as inadequate sleep or food.The lines of resistance protect the basic structure and become activated when the normal line of defence is penetrated by environmental stressors. If sufficient energy is 9 * available, the normal line of defence is restored; but if the lines of resistance are not effective, death may follow. Reconstitution involves stabilisation of the system and movement backwards to the normal line of defence. Health care intervention takes place in the prevention modalities, that is the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention. (Clark (2008:67)) Prescribed reading Study Neuman's model in Clark (2008, or later editions).Activity (1) (2) (3) (4) Explain what Neuman means by client variables. Describe the concepts of line of resistance and normal line of defence. Describe Neuman's view on health. Define the term stressor. This theory/model can also be applied to community health because a preventive approach is followed and because of its flexibility. 1. 7 Pender's health promotion model Pender described a model which is applicable to community health in particular. This model is based on principles of health promotion and, to a certain extent, corresponds with the Health Belief Model.Pender's health promotion model comprises three basic concepts, namely individual perceptions, variables which can influence healthy behaviour and the probability that actions will be taken to promote health: * * * Individual perceptions include factors such as how important health is seen to be, perceptions on control and effectiveness, the definition of health, the state of health, the advantages inherent in preventive measures, and possible obstacles. Variables include factors such as demography, income, literacy, culture and family health patterns.The probability that action will take place includes matters such as ? ? ? ? how highly the person rates or values action any previous experience with health personnel the availability and affordability of preventive services the threat that the condition holds for the individual or family Prescribed reading Study Clark (2008, or later editions), the section on Pender's health promotion model. 10 Activity (1) Name the variables which can affect the preventive actions that a family and a community may take. (2) Write short notes on individual perce ptions and indicate how they can influence health-promoting actions.Pender's model is applicable to community health because the promotion of health is taken as the starting point and factors which influence the measures for promoting health are defined and emphasised. The model can guide and lead the community health nurse in promoting health. On the grounds of the variables and perceptions that are identified, she/he can make decisions on the degree of intervention that is necessary. For example a degree of knowledge and motivation may seem necessary to allow the community to take certain promotive actions, or to decide whether or not the available options are acceptable.The community health nurse's task could then be to give the community the necessary information or to influence them to modify perceptions that are detrimental to their health. Depending on the specific problems or behaviour that deviates from a healthy living pattern, the culture of the community, the level of li teracy and so on, the community health nurse can plan a programme or develop his or her own model based on Pender's promotive model. (Clark 2008:257) 1. 8 Gordon's functional health pattern frameworkHistorically, conceptual models in nursing have employed Gordon's health-related behaviours and developed them into an assessment model with 11 functional health patterns. Your prescribed book (Edelman & Mandle 2006) uses this framework throughout in the assessment of each developmental stage. The 11 functional health patterns include: * * * * * * * * * * * pattern of health perception-health management nutritional-metabolic pattern elimination pattern activity-exercise pattern sleep-rest pattern cognitive-perceptual pattern self-perception-self-concept pattern roles-relationships pattern sexuality-reproductive pattern oping-stress tolerance pattern values-beliefs pattern (Edelman & Mandle 2006:131) Read Edelman and Mandle (2006 or later edition), the section on functional health pattern s: assessment of the individual. 11 1. 9 Conclusion Various theories/models applicable to community health were discussed in this learning unit. It is very important that you as a community health nurse have an understanding of these theories/models and how they could be applied to community health. Assessment criteria (1) Define the following terms: ? ? ? ? ? theory model conceptual framework phenomenon concept (2) (3) (4) (5) 6) Define the different constructs of Orem's theory. Explain the defence mechanism in Neuman's theory. Describe the principles on which Pender's promotion of health model are based. Name the three elements of the dimensions model of community health nursing. Name the dimensions of the dimension of health in the dimensions model of community health nursing. (7) List the functional health patterns in Gordon's functional health pattern framework. Note: Application of selected models/theories will be assessed in part 2 of the study guide. 12 PART 2 THE INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY AS CLIENT 14 Learning unit 2The family as client Outcomes When you have worked through this learning unit you will be able to: * * * * * * * 2. 1 describe the concept of family describe the structure of the family describe different family types and their characteristic features describe the stages of family development discuss family functions describe the family as a social system discuss cultural values in the family Introduction The family is the basic social unit in any community. Family members usually share living arrangements, responsibilities, goals, the continuity of generations, and a sense of belonging and affection.How well a family works together and meets any crisis depends on the composition of the family (the structure), the activities or roles performed by family members (the functioning) and how well the family is able to organise itself against potential threats. 2. 2 Describing the concept of family Clark (2008:318) states: â€Å"A family is a compo sed of two or more persons who are joined by bonds of sharing and emotional closeness and who identify themselves as being part of the family. Unlike those of other social systems, family relationships are characterized by intimacy, emotional intensity, and persistence over time. ‘ Santrock (2006:216) states: â€Å"[The family is] a social system, a constellation of subsystems defined in terms of generation, gender and role. Divisions of labour among family members define particular sub-units, and attachments define others. Each family member is a participant in several subsystems. Some are dyadic (involving two people) some polyadic (involving more than two people). † Stanhope and Lancaster (2006:322) refer to the following definition: â€Å"A family refers to two or more individuals who depend on one another for emotional, physical, and/or financial support.The members of the family are self-defined. † 15 Activity Ask different members of the multi-disciplinary health team to define family. Analyse the responses for similarities and differences. 2. 3 Structure of the family Family structure is the organised pattern or hierarchy of members that determines how they interact. Components of a family structure include the role of each family member and how they complement each other, the family's value system, communication patterns and power hierarchy. The family structure influences the way that a family functions. Allender & Spradley 2005:526) The genogram shows family information graphically in order to view complex family patterns over a period of time, usually three generations or more. d. 1956 Heart Peg 71 Housewife Al 72 Grocer Sue Housewife John Steelworker d. 1982 Cancer Mark 37 Engineer Jan 36 Housewife Jim 9 Jack 46 Mechanic Mary 16 Pat 41 Waitress Married 1979 Steve 18 Clerk Earl 17 Student Detroit Fig 2. 1 Genogram Source: Allender & Spradley (2005:528) Nan 4 Married 1977 Divorced 1979 Joe 45 Teacher Sam 20 Student Lou 13 Los Ang eles Married 1983 Ann 39 Nurse Pam 11 16 ActivityDraw a genogram of your own family. 2. 4 Types of families There are many family types and a family type may change over time as it is affected by birth, work, death, divorce and the growth of family members. * * * * * * * The nuclear conjugal family. The traditional nuclear family structure consists of a husband, wife and children. Most young people move away from their parents when they marry and form nuclear families (no grandparents, aunts or uncles live in the home). The nuclear family is found in all ethnic and socio-economic groups, and is accepted by most religions.Today the number of nuclear families is declining as a result of the increase in divorce, single parenthood and remarriage, the acceptance of alternative lifestyles, and greater disparity. The extended (multi-generational) family. The extended family includes the nuclear family as well as other family members such as grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, cousin s and grandchildren. The advantage of such a family is that it means more people may serve as resources during crises and also provides more role models for behaviour and learning values. The single parent family.Single parent families consist of an adult woman or man and a child or children. Single parent families result from divorce, out-of-wedlock pregnancies, absence or death of a spouse, or adoption by a single person. A health problem in a single parent family is almost always a serious matter, because there is no backup person for childcare when the parent is ill. The blended family. The term blended family refers to a remarriage or a reconstituted family, where a divorced or widowed person with children marries someone who also has children of his or her own.Children of blended families are exposed to different ways of living and also have increased security and resources. They may become more adaptable to new situations. However, rivalry may arise among the children for the attention of a parent or there may be competition with the step-parent for the love of the biological parent. The communal family. The communal family is made up of groups of people who have chosen to live together as an extended family group. Their relationships with each other are motivated by social values or interests rather than by kinship.Because of the number of people present, members may have few set traditional family roles. The values of commune members are often religiously or spiritually based and may be more oriented to freedom and free choice than those of a traditional family structure. The cohabitation family. The cohabiting family consists of two persons who are living together, but remain unmarried. They may be heterosexual or homosexual. Some such relationships are temporary but others are long-lasting. Reasons for cohabitation include the desire for a trial marriage, the increased safety that results from living together and financial factors.The single allianc e family. Many single young adults live together in shared apartments, dormitories or homes for companionship and financial security. Although these relationships are often temporary, they have the same characteristics as cohabitation families. 17 * * The homosexual family. The homosexual family is a form of cohabitation where a same sex couple live together and share a sexual relationship. Such a relationship offers support in times of crisis that is comparable with that offered by a traditional nuclear or cohabitation family. The foster family. Children whose parents are unable to care for them are laced in a foster home by a child protection agency. Foster parents usually receive remuneration for their care. Foster families may also include the parents' own biological or adopted children. Foster care is theoretically temporary until children can be returned to their own parents (Clark 2008:318). Prescribed reading Read Clark (2008, or later edition), types of families. 2. 5 Stage s of family development Stage 1: Beginning family During this first stage of family development, members work to accomplish three specific tasks: * * * to establish a mutually satisfying relationship to learn to relate well to their families of origin f applicable, to engage in reproductive life planning The first stage of family life is a tenuous one, as evidenced by the high rate of divorce or separation of partners at this stage. The time frame for this stage extends from marriage to the birth of the first child. Stage 2: The early child-bearing family The birth or adoption of a first child is usually an exciting yet stressful event in a family. It requires economic and social role changes. The duration of this stage is from the birth or adoption of the first child to 30 months after this date. The following developmental tasks are usually accomplished during this stage: * * * he establishment of a stable family unit the reconciliation of conflict regarding developmental tasks fa cilitating developmental tasks of family members Stage 3: The family with pre-school children A family with pre-school children is a busy family as children at this age demand a great deal of time related to growth and developmental needs and safety: accidents are a major health concern at this stage. The time frame for this stage is when the oldest child is two to five years of age. Developmental tasks during this stage include: * * * integration of second or third child socialisation of children beginning of separation from children 18Stage 4: The family with school-age children Parents of school-age children have the major responsibility of preparing their children to be able to function in a complex world. At the same time they have to maintain their own satisfying marriage relationship ? this can be a difficult time for a family. Many families need the support of tertiary services such as friends, church organisations or counselling. The time frame for the family with school-ag e children is when the oldest child is 6 to 13 years old. Developmental tasks during this stage include: * * * separation from children to a greater degree fostering education and socialisation aintenance of marriage Stage 5: The family with teenage/adolescent children The primary goal for parents with teenagers differs considerably from that of the previous developmental stages. Family ties must now be loosened to allow adolescents more freedom and prepare them for life on their own. Rapid technological advances have increased the gap between generations ? this can make stage 5 a trying time for both parents and children. Violence, accidents, homicide and suicide are the major causes of death in adolescents ? and death rates from HIV are growing. This places a still greater responsibility on the family.The time frame for this stage is when the eldest child is 13 to 20 years of age. Developmental tasks of this stage include the following: * * * maintenance of marriage development of new communication channels maintenance of standards Stage 6: The launching centre family For many parents this stage when children leave to establish their own households is the most difficult. It appears as though the family is breaking up and parental roles change from those of mother and father to guideposts. The parents may experience a loss of self-esteem as they feel themselves replaced by other people.For the first time they may start feeling old and less able to cope with responsibilities. The time frame for this stage is from the time the first child leaves home to the time the last child leaves home. The following developmental tasks should be accomplished during stage 6: * * * * * promotion of independence integration of in-law children restoring of marital relationship developing of outside interests assisting own aging parents Stage 7: The family of middle years At this stage a family returns to a two-partner nuclear family, as before childbearing.Some partners see thi s stage as the prime time of their lives with the opportunity to do things they never had time or finances for, such as travelling and hobbies. Others may experience this time as a period of gradual decline without the constant activity and stimulation of children in the home and may experience the â€Å"empty nest† syndrome. Support people may 19 also not be as plentiful as earlier in the parents' lives. The time frame for this stage is from the time the last child leaves to retirement. Developmental tasks for this stage include: * * * developing leisure activities provision of a healthy environment ustaining a satisfying relationship with children and grandchildren Stage 8: The family in retirement or older age The number of families of retirement age is increasing rapidly, with people living longer as a result of advanced technology, medical research and increasing health consciousness. Family members of this group are, however, more apt to suffer from chronic and disablin g conditions than people in the younger age groups. The time frame for this stage lasts from retirement to death. Developmental tasks include the following (Clark 2008:323): * * * maintaining satisfying living arrangements adjusting to reduced income djusting to loss of spouse Prescribed reading Study Duvall's and Carter and McGoldrick's stages of family development in Clark (2008, or later editions). 2. 6 The family as social system All families share certain characteristics. Every family is a social system with its own cultural values, specific roles, functions and structure and each family moves through recognisable developmental stages. A social system consists of a group of people who share common characteristics and who are mutually dependent. What affects one member affects the whole family, and vice versa. Families have certain features that differ from other social systems: * * * Families last longer than many other social systems. Families are inter-generational social sys tems consisting of three or sometimes four generations. Family systems include both biological and affinal relationships (relationships created by law or interest). Biological aspects of family relationships create links to a larger kin group that are not found in other social systems. A social network support map gives a detailed display of the quality and quantity of social connections. The community nurse can use this to help the family understand its support systems and to form a basis for nursing interventions. 20 Fig 2. Social network support map Source: Allender & Spradley (2005:528) 2. 7 Cultural values in the family The cultural values in a family can have a major influence on how a family views health and health care systems. Each new generation takes on the values of the previous generation, passing traditions and cultures from generation to generation. A family's cultural values and behaviours can either facilitate or impede the promotion of health and prevention of dise ase. Prescribed reading Read Clark (2008, or later editions), the chapter on the cultural context. Activity (1) Apply the four principles of cultural assessment to the family. 2) Discuss culturally competent care. h Feedback Note the following points: 21 (1) You needed to view the culture in the context in which it developed, examine the underlying premise of culturally determined behaviour and the meaning of behaviour in the cultural context. There is a need to recognise intercultural variation. (2) You needed to define cultural competence, consider the characteristics and challenges of cultural competence and the modes of culturally competent care. 2. 8 Family functions Family functions are the activities that a family performs to meet the needs of its members.These needs include basic needs such as food, clothes, housing, emotional support and guidance. All families ? regardless of the type of family ? have in common these basic needs that require a family to function in certain ways to ensure family survival. As the social system changes, the family system has to adapt if it is to meet individual needs and equip its members to participate in the social system. The family is a hierarchical system which is usually built on kinship, power, status and privileged relationships that may be related to age, gender, personality and health. All family functions can be reduced to two basic ones: * *

Eating Healthily and Advantages Disadvantages of Foods Essay

Today, every people and every country were all developing and moving forward, by then shall we keep in mind, what make us live until today and keeping us healthy.â€Å"Eating Healthily With A Busy Lifestyle†, is the topic that I chose. By reading the topic, the main point that I chose, straight away in people’s mind they will think of delicious food, delicacy that bring up the appetite, but do they have the time to eat what they want, to enjoy such appetizing meals? Does it suit our healthy life since nowadays we usually eat what we, just like the often phrase we usually heard, saw in the advertisements, ‘eat all you can’ or ‘eat while you can’. Some people neglect the healthy food thing, because they thought that healthy food is boring, not delicious and many more. I have seen people shall I say my friends, colleagues which they don’t consume any type of vegetable. I have few colleagues of mine, whenever we ate together sitting on the same table during dinner night especially, when the waiter brought the meal, and it vegetables, their first thought was they will not take those vegetables, they won’t eat it. Vegetable which contain a lot of vitamins and minerals, helps to protect our immune system, to beautify our skins and many more. It is very, very easy to eat the greens (vegetables), if they doesn’t look tasty, make them look tasty, use our imagination to think how to decorate, form the vegetables to look yummy. Here in this speech I will show how to eat healthily during working hours especially, how we divide our time to unleash our appetite towards healthy and scrumptious food. In this speech I will share what I have learnt and analysed for the healthy food, which is simple to make, and I will also points out of what are the advantages are and also disadvantages of foods especially in our country, Malaysia which most of them were highly contain of cholesterols and calories. And I will be talking on how to keep nutritious snacks on hand, packing your lunch and choosing healthy food when you are at a restaurant.

Present your argument evaluation and counterargument Essay

Present your argument evaluation and counterargument - Essay Example s, the factors which forms and orients a intelligence includes heredity or genetic or natural factors, which will be imbued when the child is born, and the other being environmental or nurturing factors, which can tune the child as he/she grows up. One argument is that heredity or genetics ‘naturally’ establishes the basic foundation of ones intelligence particularly the physical aspects needed for intelligence and then will function as the â€Å"blueprint† for the further development of the individual’s intelligence. However, the counter-argument is that the environmental or nurturing factors such as cultural, social, situational, and many more factors mainly influences the child’s development and the evolution of intelligence. So, focusing on this Nature vs. Nurture debate, the discussion will be about how nurture plays the crucial role in developing and orienting intelligence than nature. Hereditary or the genetic transmission of certain physical characteristics from the parents determines the physical part of an individual’s intelligence and thereby personality. That is, as the child is born, it will inherit the physical components needed for intelligence especially brain as well as other genetic materials which will be exhibited in the DNA of the offspring. So, just as the child will inherit certain physical features like eyes, color, height, hair, and others, the child could also inherit the genetic materials, which have made their parents or even their ancestors intelligent. This focus on nature being the reason for intelligence was first started in the late 1800’s, coinciding and consistent with the scientific discoveries made by Gregor Mendel and Charles Darwin regarding the role of inheritance as well as natural selection. The first prominent contributor for this psychological perspective was Francis Galton, who in his book "Hereditary Genius: It s Laws and Consequences† focused on how intelligent and talented individuals naturally tend to

Using business concepts and other information relevant to the study of Essay

Using business concepts and other information relevant to the study of organizational structure and culture - Essay Example The project makes an analysis of Greggs the Bakers, which operates as one of the largest retail bakery chain in UK. The company had started as a very small concern but has demonstrated rapid growth and now has more than 1400 outlets. It is even listed in the London Stock Exchange and has plans to expand its outlets even further. The project aims to bring forth the changes occurring in the company with special relevance to the business theories and concepts. Special emphasis has been provided with regards to the company’s change strategies with were implemented through the use of innovative techniques and mechanisms and with the introduction of such products which were unique and not produced by any of its competitors. Changes taking place in Greggs the Bakers Greggs and Bakers have been demonstrating rapid organizational change. Organizational change is the process in which organizations move from their present state to a desired future state with the view of attaining effecti veness (Jones, 2008, p.10). The objective is to optimize its use of resources and using them in improved ways such that the organization is able to add to its value and consequently improve its performance. The rapid growth of the firm from small scale bakery to one of the largest bakery chain in the world demonstrates the company’s dramatic organizational change. The change process includes numerous acquisitions of bakeries and expansion steps. During the 1990s, the company was most aggressive in its expansion strategies and took over as many as numerous Bakery Oven chains of more than 100 shops in the year 1994. In fact in another four years, the company’s number of shops exceeded 1000 and by the year 2010, the number crossed 1500. This included its first all night store which was established in Birmingham. It primarily supplies its products from its large bakeries, however, a number of shops of the company also have their own bakeries. In terms of the number and sca le of is outlets, the company possesses double the numbers of stores in Britain than Starbucks, about 300 stores more than Subway and 200 numbers of stores more than McDonalds. This shows the rate at which the company has grown and has been successful in expanding its operations across the United Kingdom. Application of business theories and concepts Gaining Competitive Advantage The company tried to develop on its core competencies in order to achieve competitive advantage in the market. In fact it has been successful in doing so by producing its own unique products, maintaining its qualities and own system of distribution (Hill & Jones, 2009, p.6). The company introduced its own recipes and dishes. Its bakery product like the sandwiches, which are made freshly on the premises and their sausage rolls accounts few of the special dishes that has found immense popularity among masses. These recipes are sold by more than 2 million numbers in a week. It also sells a large range of other baker fresh stuff and other local special dishes which are primarily for the high street customers. The company has been trying to its operations using its unique products to different parts of the world. Promoting efficiency, speed and efficiency The promotion of efficiency, innovation and speed comprises of few of the major changes that the organization implemented in order to add value. The better the organization functions, the faster is it able to create value in the form of better production of goods and services. Research reveals that the capacity of organizations to create values is directly related to its ability to use innovative measures and better ways of producing quality goods and services (Jones-a, 2010, p.14). The company tried

Introduction to Modern Art and Visual Culture Essay

Introduction to Modern Art and Visual Culture - Essay Example The essay "Introduction to Modern Art and Visual Culture" analyzes modern art and visual culture. There was need for creation of accurate pictures of ancient times. Contemporary human conditions took center stage focus with an accompaniment of an empirical mindset on the rise of conflicting ideas regarding the traditional role and hierarchies in society and nature. The nineteenth century art paved way for modern perspectives into the field of visual art. The French art embeds the redress of long-term imbalance in artistic developments. There were trials by artists to maintain reality from different perspectives. Many are the occasions when misinterpretations took a toll on artworks whenever the public or critics never augured well with any work. The Gross was largely considered as public propaganda making it hard to see through the artists’ eye. The French military was plague stricken and affected by rumors, body politics, and colonial aggression and poisoning. Critics found t he painting to be more of a focus on masculinity. According to Grigsby, there was need for new courage in facing the military regalia. The argument maintains that the Gros covered up irrationality in the French army and citizens. The uniformed officer represents positive response to domestic disintegration and civil war and not by any chance an endorsed propaganda on the state. Drawings made a leeway into the era of visual arts. Artists like Millet took this with passion portraying what the world was in the ancient times. In this artistic practice, Millet took drawing as a platform step to completion of his paintings. There is rural imagery n the painting showing the plight of farmers. The painting brings out the controversy of poverty and countryside depopulation with a need for social change. The painting makes a creation of rural vocabulary in epic naturalization. The drawing gives a picture of what the painter must have been surrounded with at the time of his works. The peasants of the time must have hung on existence. The plougher having hunched shoulders faces constrain from the landscape with the plougher firmly set on the ground. This painting seems to remind the viewer of the earthbound nature of humans in an endlessness of labor focusing on harvesting. Criticisms that face the 19th century arts do not leave Manet’s Olympia. There have been hoards of negative criticism from both Parisian public and critics.(Kahn, 67) The painting of Olympia was from the point of View of Manet. The time s must have influenced his point of view and produced the results that face so much criticism of his artistic display. It only seemingly became an oversight through the nudity of the painted woman, which the 1865 generation was not ready to receive. The controversy came about with Olympia perceived as a portrayal of prostitution by the Parisian public. It was a fear of the changes that could face the society and the arousal of a political air on the magnitude of permissiveness of changes in rules. Creativity at the time faced so much influence from public opinion and critics. The society was tied to old traditions and beliefs and was not so receptive to art works displaying the realities of the times in which they were living. The nudity of Olympia though intended to raise the presentation of Venus to a higher-level faced criticism at the blunt exposure, which it gave to female nudity.the nudity of Olympia, scandalized the wretch in the society. It brought out the reality of prostit ution that was present in the Parisian society

CSR and Ethics on Northern Bank Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

CSR and Ethics on Northern Bank - Essay Example CSR thought that leaders are not a homogenous group nor they do not even predict one of the evolutionary tracts for over the next decade. It is so interesting to speculate the way on how to prosper in future according to cultural view in the social welfare and social economic in relation to political changes within the company. Regulation of Executive and Shareholders of Northern Rock The regulations of the executives pay desirable because it has exposed the regulatory failings whereby the global official has responded with the regulatory fixes, including some that could have made a difference. It sounds so ethical that taking in to account the interests and contributions of the people who interact becomes the basis for ethical behavior and the governance. The shareholders are completely being divested by the ruling European company. They are in reality opting for fairness and justice in order for them to feel faithful in running the system of the business (Sims 2010). The regulation , including the rule of the corporations can be structured to reduce the impact on society and in their working place. The shareholders should have a democratic society which can be controlled the acceptable corporate behavior. There are factors that have made the vulnerable business collapse. For example, the northern rock rapid growth which has been fuelled by the aggressive of lending to dubious borrowers. Again, the tough new liquidity standards aimed at forcing the banks to hold some of the shares because of compensation from the banks. The rationale for the shareholders has not been beneficial from the sale of the bank, this is because of investors from the banks who have not favored the nationalism and then the judgment on the damage based on the economy. According to Joel Bakan puts that, â€Å"no one should seriously suggest that the individual should regulate themselves that the laws are against murder, assault and theft are unnecessary because of people are socially resp onsible (Nelson 2012). This shows that, corporate people who lack the whole world should be left free to rule them selves. The business case for the CSR in some parties is affected by the ability to create wealth for themselves and the community. It sounds so ethical that taking in to account the interests and contributions of the people who interact becomes the basis for ethical behavior and the governance. In business cases for CSR, it is essentially a strategic plan fort he firms which anticipates and address the issues associated with the interactions with others and also through out the business in their future endeavors. Deontology Theories of Corporate Social Responsibility According to the philosophers, Deontology simply means the theory of duties carried by people in an organization. Deontology theory entails the commitment, obligation and duties based on ethics. Kant argues that, people should act in the right way and must act to their duties. The motive, as in Kantâ€℠¢s view of ethics states that, it is right regardless of what the solution or the result is. One of the roots of the crisis in Northern Rock lay in the difficulties of the American sub prime market. Loans were provided to people because of their low income, or lack of assets, or the type of property being purchased, could not obtain a loan or mortgage. The fact to deontological theory is that,

Green Business - Sony Corp Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Green Business - Sony Corp - Research Paper Example It has a global market in all its six major categories of products audio, video, televisions, information and communications, semiconductors and electronic components. The Sony Group is primarily focused on the Electronics (such as AV/IT products & components), Game (such as PlayStation), Entertainment (such as motion pictures and music), and Financial Services (such as insurance and banking) sectors. Not only does it represent a wide range of businesses, but it remains globally unique. Its aim is to fully leverage this uniqueness in aggressively carrying out their convergence strategy so as to continue to emotionally touch and excite customers. Sony Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and sells electronic equipment, instruments, and devices for consumer, professional, and industrial markets worldwide. The company offers consumer products and devices, including televisions, video cameras, compact digital cameras and digital single-lens reflex cameras, Blu-ray Disc players/re corders, DVD-video players/recorders, home theaters and audio systems, and portable audio and car audio products. It also provides charged coupled devices, complementary metal-oxide semiconductor image sensors, system LSIs, small- and medium-sized TFT LCD panels, and other semiconductors; and components, such as batteries, optical disk drives, chemical products, audio/video/data recording media, storage media, and optical pickups. In addition, the company develops, produces, markets, and distributes games, such as PlayStation3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 2 hardware and related software; and PCs and flash memory digital audio players, as well as manufactures broadcast- and professional-use products, Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, and CD discs. Further, it produces and distributes motion pictures and television programs, and home entertainment; creates and distributes digital content; operates a channel network and studio facilities; and develops entertainment products, services, and technologies. Additionally, the company engages in the music publishing business, as well as provision of various financial services, including insurance, savings products, loans, leasing, and credit financing services; and a network service business and an advertising agency business. It also involves in research, development, design, production, marketing, sales, distribution, and servicing mobile phones, accessories, services, and applications. Vision The Sony Group Environmental Vision presents a philosophy and principles for environmental management activities throughout the global Sony Group with the aim of contributing to the realization of a sustainable society. Since enacting the Sony Global Environmental Policy which is a predecessor of the Sony Group Environmental Vision and the Environmental Action Program, in 1993, Sony has pursued a broad range of environmental initiatives. Philosophy Sony recognizes the importance of preserving the natural environment that sustains a ll life on the earth for future generations and thereby ensuring that all humanity can attain a healthy and enriched life. In order to realize such sustainable society,  Sony strives to achieve a zero environmental footprint throughout the lifecycle of its products and business activities. Principles The driving principles of Sony are to â€Å"reduce the environmental footprint and prevent environmental pollution throughout the li

Emergency Department Operated by the Childrens National Medical Center Essay

Emergency Department Operated by the Childrens National Medical Center - Essay Example The object of analysis for the purpose of this assignment is Emergency Department as one of the most key services offered by the Children’s National. Undoubtedly, level 1 trauma center is one of the most notable strengths of the Emergency Department. This trauma center would assist the department to provide trauma patients with the highest level of surgical care. According to Stanford University Medical Center, this facility would greatly benefit the Emergency Department to improve a severely injured patient’s survival probability by nearly 20-25%. In other words, the level 1 trauma center significantly enhances patient safety, which is the ultimate goal of every patient care. In addition, it is a teaching hospital that offers clinical education and training to pediatric residents, fellows, and other graduate trainees each year. This departmental division plays a notable role in developing qualified pediatric professionals who can promote child safety. Well trained medi cal staff is another competitive strength of the Emergency Department. This strength assists the department to eliminate the chances of clinical errors to a great extent and thereby provide patients with quality care services. Furthermore, well trained medical staff can promote the overall productivity of the organization and address the needs of more number of children. The Emergency Department has developed a set of efficient processes in child care delivery. Therefore, it can avoid unnecessary delays associated with patient treatment and contribute to the fast patient recovery. Referring to Robinson and Pinkerton, while analyzing the operational efficiency of the Emergency Department, staff shortage appears to be the most severe problem affecting the patient safety. Reports indicate that staff shortage may lead to a series of other issues including worksite stress, medical errors, low-quality care, and unhealthy interpersonal relations. In an understaffed worksite environment, nu rses are compelled to work under tough schedules and this situation in turn adversely affects nurse-patient relation, which is highly essential in case of childcare. Staff shortage will certainly reduce the overall productivity of the organization. In addition, this issue would always raise potential challenges to the hospital administration also. Rapid turnover of management and nurses is another major weakness causing troubles to the Emergency Department. Termination of nurses and other clinical practitioners would noticeably increase the Emergency Department’s operating expenses because the high rate of staff turnover would lead to an increase in recruitment as well as training expenses. In addition, the time delay involved between the voluntary employee termination and new employee recruitment would cause to reduce the quality of the patient care. Loss of experienced staff due to increased employee turnover is an untreatable problem as experienced staff can enhance patien t safety more effectively as compared to a fresher. High-level staff/executives turnover also leads to a frequent change in the management structure of the Emergency Department; naturally, this situation would end up in inefficient care delivery.

Strategic Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Strategic Financial Management - Essay Example The market prices absorb the security prices rapidly, as early as the information on the organisations is available in the market. As per the efficient market hypothesis, the market efficiency refers to both the magnitude and direction of the price amendments. This is done by absorbing the new information available in the market. Different intensities of the market efficiency have led the capital markets to be segmented into different efficiency forms. The efficiency level of an efficient market can be of three types; weak form efficiency, semi strong form efficiency. Capital markets have weak form efficiency of the current securities prices in it reflect certain historical information. The semi strong efficient markets reflect the past price movement in the securities and at the same time represent all currently available public information. The strong form capital markets reflect all the public and privately available information related to the securities. However, the analysis her e would consider the characteristics and behaviour of the strong efficient capital market. One of the typical financing decisions of a firm includes decisions on the issuance of the equity and debt securities. The implication of an efficient capital market means that the market prices reflect all the available information needed to have a fair pricing of all the existing securities. As the purchasing and selling of securities take place at the prevailing market price, the transaction would never result in a positive net present value.

Drug Addiction and Time Essay Example for Free

Drug Addiction and Time Essay I believe that I am an addict, I made a lot of bad decisions in my life. But the worst was my decision to start using drugs. From the day that I started using to now I have loved it. And at times I would do just about anything to get it, I have done just about everything except sell my body. I stole from the people I love to get what I needed. Using drugs went from only on the weekends, to a couple times a week, to everyday. The worst part is, is I didn’t see that it was consuming so much of my life. There came a point where just smoking weed wasn’t enough anymore, and that’s when i should have walked away. I was 16 when I did heroin the first time. But it wasn’t until a year later when I started shooting up. My best friend and I did everything together and this was no different. We were hooked, she more than I, our lives revolved around getting high. I remember the days we couldn’t get it, she would shake and cry because her body ached for it so bad. I hated seeing her sick, all I could do nothing to help her. It was the worst thing that I have ever seen. When I could I would get her what she needed. We spent our summer days inside. Most of the time we were so high that we couldn’t move, but to us that was the best part of the day. At that moment we could finally just close our eyes and breathe. Looking back now the worst part for me is that I helped my best friend kill herself. I provided her with the drug that was sucking her dry. At that point in time I thought I was helping her. We have always depended on each other but this time we depended on something else. We both are not using heroin anymore, and have come out on the other side of that addiction. We both know that if it were placed in front of us we could not say no. Addiction has taken a lot from me. I have lost the trust of my Parents and my freedom I ounce had. My best friend and I can not hangout outside of school, were just not good for each other to be around. But most of all I lost respect for myself.

Learning Activity Essay Example for Free

Learning Activity Essay Today by contemplating the corporate world we can realize that change is so very necessary for firms if they want to prosper. The market is changing so rapidly and technological advancement has created such hype that firms need to evolve from time to time. Researchers say that nowadays firms do not need to bring changes to get an edge over rival firms, but to survive. This itself defines the importance of change. However, just planning change is not important; smart execution is even more important. It includes the way management communicates the change, the way it handles employees’ reaction, the way it manages resistance to change, the way it deals with the after effects of it, and etcetera. These are very important issues that senior management focuses on. The following paragraphs will deal with two of these core issues, namely communicating change and managing change (Ian, Richard and Gib, 2009). Being the resort manager of Baderman Island, I will be very careful in rolling out this information to my employees as communicating the fact that they will be fired if customers continuously complain is a very sensitive issue. Firstly, I will try to explain them the problem, i.e., dissatisfaction of customers and then will discuss the reasons associated with it as put forward by customers. After this will ask for suggestions from them as I want them to feel that they are valued, which is sometimes known as underscore and explore strategy. Then company’s new policy will be disclosed smartly and the desired outcomes will also be floored. When communicating sensitive information like this, firms should give reasons behind the changes made and policies designed as employees have a right to know all about it. It should also be explained that how it will affect the organization and how important it is. If these things are taken care of then there is very less chance of resistance and negative reaction. Moreover, managing resistance to change is again a very important issue. If any resistance occurs concerning the changes in policies brought by Baderman Island’s management I will take care of it very carefully. Again I will use a democratic approach by getting involved in a dialogue with employees who resist. I will try to explain them what they mean to the firm and why has the firm decided to introduce this policy of firing employees due to bad performance. In addition to this, I will also explain the outcome of this policy and the positive effects it will have on the reputation of this firm. Sensible and potential employees will understand and for those who do not, I will use my authority to deal with them the harsh way. Furthermore, I will also help and facilitate employees who are worried about their job security by explaining them ways to satisfy customers and to improve their over all performance. In this way I will manage any resistance to the change. Reference: Palmer, Dunford and Akin (2009). Managing Organizational Change, McGraw Hill Publishers.

M.bovis Genetic Diversity

M.bovis Genetic Diversity Mycoplasmabovis pneumonia is an epidemic worldwide. To understand M.bovis genetic diversity would help develop novel measures to control this disease. Therefore this study was aimed to determine genotype distribution of Chinese strains and the potential global evolution. Firstly three available methods including two M. bovis multilocus sequence typing (MLST) schemes MLST-1 and MLST-2 and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were comparatively used for 44 Chinese strains and M. bovis type strain PG45 originated fromUSA. The results showed a high genetic homogeneity of Chinese isolates. By MLST-1, 43 of 44 (97.7%) Chinese isolate being ST-10, while 1 of 44 ST-34. The MLST-2 scheme clustered 44 Chinese isolates into two sequence types, ST-10 43 of 44 (97.7%) and 1 of 44 ST-32. PFGE clustered 42 of 44 (95.5%) into PT-I. The discrimination index was highest for PFGE (D = 0.160), while both MLST schemes have similar discrimination power (D = 0.110). The agreement rate among three typing methods is 95.4%à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã‹â€ 95% CIà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã… ¡84.2%, 99.4%à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °. The type strain PG45 gave a unique type by all three methods. Additionally, MLST-2 scheme was used to analyze 8 Australia and 8 Israeli isolates. The results showed 8 Israeli strains represent three STs with ST-10 as the most dominant type comprising 50% of the strains, ST-20 (n=2) and ST-28 (n=2). The 8 Australian isolates showed two sequence types ST-10 (n=7) and another sequence type ST-41 (n=1) identified firstly here. The assay of evolutionary relationship by geoBURST Minimum spanning tree (MST) of 60 isolates typed in this study and 207 isolates of 11 countries from the MLST-2 database. It was revealed that similar dominant clone (ST-10 in CC 3) exists in China, Israel, Australia and United States. This may be related to global livestock movements. In conclusion, we firstly demonstrated the remarkable clonality of M. bovis in China and the dominant ST-10 might originate from a common global source. Key words: Mycoplasma bovis; molecular epidemiology; multilocus sequence typing (MLST); pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE); cattle; evolution. Mycoplasma bovis (M.bovis) is the main causative pathogen of bovine mycoplasmosis worldwide such as in North America, Europe (Nicholas and Ayling, 2003), China (Shi et al., 2008), Australia (Morton et al., 2014) and Israel (Lysnyansky et al., 2016). It results in substantial economic losses to producers by causing M.bovispneumonia and mastitis in beef and dairy cattle. M. bovis was first isolated in 1961 in USA from cattle mastitis milk (Hale et al 1962) and has long been considered a player in bovine respiratory diseases (BRD) since 1976 (Thomas et al., 1986). It then appears to have spread via animal movements to, amongst many countries (Nicholas 2002). Today, infection occurs in most European countries and throughout the world. It was estimated that the economic loss caused by M.bovisin United States was up to $108 million per year. In Europe, M.bovis pneumonia constitutes about 30% of calf respiratory diseases (Nicolas and Ayling, 2003; Maunsell et al., 2011). As the prevalence o f M. bovis associated diseases varies widely across the world, there are important trade implications and a pressing need to monitor cattle for M. bovis. However, to date, there are large gaps in our understanding evolutionary relationships of this pathogen isolates between different countries and globally. In China the first M. bovis mastitis was described in 1983 (Chen et al., 1983) and first M. bovis pneumonia in 2008. Since then reports of M. bovis pneumonia and mastitis outbreaks have been frequently described (Shi et al., 2008; Peng et al., 2011). M. bovis pneumonia is characterized by severe respiratory distress, high fever and at postmortem lung lesions including carnification, extensive caseo-necrotic or suppurative foci in the lungs. M.bovis pneumonia caused over 80% morbidity and between 10% to 60% mortality in calves and stockers newly introduced into beef feedlots (Shi et al., 2008). A major contributing factor to this disease is the stress caused by the long distance transportation of calves and stockers between the feedlots and farms (Shi et al., 2008). The disease is difficult to control with chemotherapy, and vaccination would be an ideal alternative approach. An insight of the genetic diversity and population structure of M. bovis would assist in the development of novel vaccines, as well as gaining an insight into evolutionary trends. A variety of molecular typing methods have been used for epidemiological characterization of M. bovis strains including random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis (Butler et al., 2001), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis (Kusiluka et al., 2000; Soehnlen et al., 2012), pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) (Pinho et al., 2012; Arcangioli et al., 2012), insertion sequence (IS) typing (Miles et al., 2005; Aebi et al., 2012) and multilocus variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) analysis (Pinho et al., 2012; Spergser et al., 2013). In addition, three multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) schemes were recently developed to study population structure, evolution and spread of this pathogen (Manso-Silvan et al., 2012;Register et al., 2015; Rosales et al., 2015). The MLST scheme developed by Manso-Silvan et al. (2012) is based on four housekeeping genes fusA, gyrB, lepAand rpoB and showed a discrimination index of 0.833, while improved MLST scheme have been developed by Rosales et al.2015) here after referred as MLST-1 scheme; and by Register et al. (2015) here after referred as MLST-2 scheme. Both schemes use seven housekeeping genes but they only have one gene in common and therefore theire discrimination power higher than the Manso-Silvan scheme. In the present study, it was aimed to firstly evaluate the three methods MLST-1 and MLST-2 schemes and conventional PFGE by comparing the results in typing 44 Chinese M.bovis isolates, secondly assess the genetic diversity and population structure of M. bovis strains isolated in period of 2007 2014 by using the type strain PG45 as the control., and thirdly explore the evolutionary relationship of Chinese M.bovis isolates with globally diverse isolates. Material and Methods Mycoplasma bovis isolates M. bovis Chinese isolates (n=44) were obtained during 2008 to 2014 from nine Chinese provinces: Hubei (n=25), Anhui (n=1), Fujian (n=2), Hunan (n=1), Jiangxi (n=3), Henan (n=8), Inner Mongolia (n=1), Guangzhou (n= 2) and Shandong (n=1). These M. bovis isolates were mostly from lungs in cases of pneumonia (n=41); together with other sources such as milk with mastitis (n=2); throat swab in case of pneumonia (n=1) and fluid of joint with arthritis (n=1). The M. bovis type strain PG45 was purchased from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC 25523) and also used in this study. DNA samples from 8 Israeli M. bovis isolates were kindly offered by Prof. Dr. Inna Lysnyansky from Kimron Veterinary Institute, Israel, collected during 2013-2014 from pneumonia (n=6), stillbirth (n=1) and arthritis (n =1) in seven regions namely Gilboa (n=1), Beer Tuvia (n=3), Hevel Eilot (n=1), Eshkol (n=1), Jerusalem (n=1), Mateh Yehuda (n=1) and EmekYizrael (n=1). In addition, eight whole genome sequences of Australian M.bovis isolates were retrieved from GenBank representing mastitis, (n=4), lungs (n=1), nose swab (n=1), joint fluid (n=1) and semen culture (n=1) in five regions namely New south Wales (n=2), Queensland (n=1), Tasmania (n=3), South Australia (n=1) and Victoria (n=1) with accession no. SAMN05444185, SAMN05444199, SAMN05444228, SAMN05444239, SAMN05444243, SAMN05444247, SAMN05444250, SAMN05444261) included in this study (Table 1). Growth conditions, species identification and DNA extraction M.bovis isolates were confirmed by species-specific PCR as previously described (Subramaniam et al., 1998). The M.bovis samples were grown in PPLO broth (Difco) supplemented with 0.5% (w/v) sodium pyruvate (Biosharp, China), 0.09% (w/v) yeast extract (BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA, USA)à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’0.004% (w/v) phenol red, 1% (v/v) 10- minimum essential medium (MEM) (Sigma-Aldrich, Saint Louis, MO, USA), 20% (v/v) Hyclone donor horse serum (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and penicillin G 80,000 IU/100 mL and the final pH was adjusted to 7.6(Khan et al., 2016). DNA from each isolate was extracted using the genomic DNA extraction kit (Tiangen, Beijing, China). Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) MLST-1 scheme is based on a partial sequencing of dnaA, metS, recA, tufA, atpA, rpoD and tkt genes (Rosales et al., 2015); For MLST-1 scheme, 44 Chinese isolates and American type strain PG45. The PCR amplification conditions for MLST-1 were used as previously described (Rosales et al., 2015); after amplification, PCR products were further purified and sequenced using PCR Products Extraction Kit (Magnetic Beads) (Enriching Biotechnology, LTD, Wuhan, China) and sequenced. Sequencing reactions were performed by the commercial company (Tianyi Hui Yuan Biological Technology Pvt. Ltd. Wuhan, China).The quality of chromatograms was checked visually and sequence data were assembled and edited using SeqMan software (DNASTAR Inc., Wisconsin, USA). The assembled MLST-1 sequences were compared using non-redundant database (NRDB) comparison tool available in http://pubmlst.org/analysis/ with our previously analyzed 10 strains used as a control to assign allele and Sequence type number (Rosales e t al., 2015). MLST-2 scheme is based on a partial sequencing of adh-1, gltX, gpsA, gyrB, pta-2, tdk and tkt (Register et al., 2015). For MLST-2 scheme, the 44 Chinese strain and PG45 were subjected to PCR, and PCR products were sequenced as above mentioned method. The assembled sequences of all isolates were uploaded to http://pubmlst.org/mbovis/database to identify allele numbers and sequence types (STs). In addition, for the evolutionary assay, 8 Israel strains were typed with the method as described above. Meanwhile, 8 Australian isolates whole genome were annotated using prokka 1.11rapid prokaryotic genome annotation software (Seemann; 2014) at http://www.vicbioinformatics.com. Each locus sequence was extracted from the annotated genome. Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis PFGE of 44 Chinese M.bovis field strains and type strain PG45 was performed as previously described (McAuliffe et al., 2004, Arcangioli et al., 2012) with some modifications for agarose block preparation. Briefly, macro-restriction analysis was performed with the restriction enzyme SmaI as follows: Each M.bovis isolate 15 ml culture aliquot was centrifuged at 15000 à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ´g for 20 min at 40C, the pellet was washed three times with Tris-EDTA buffer and resuspended in 400 à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ­l of cold Tris-EDTA buffer (pH 8.0). Agarose plugs were prepared from a 1:1 mixture of the above cell suspension and 2% low-melting-boiling agarose (Bio-Rad). They were then incubated in a lysis buffer containing 10mM Tris-HCl, 1 mM EDTA, 1% lauroyl sarcosine, 1mg of proteinase K per ml for 48 h at 560C. These plugs were washed for 6h with several changes of Tris-EDTA buffer at 40C. The plugs were then cut aseptically into 2 mm sections and equilibrated in 120 à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ­l restriction buffer (Prom ega) for 30 min at 40C. Subsequently, plugs were digested with 30U of SmaI (Promega, Shanghai, China) at 240C for 4 h. After digestion loaded in 1% pulsed-field-certified agarose gel (Bio-Rad), and run in a CHEF-DRIII system (Bio-Rad) at 6V/cm, in 0.5à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ´ TBE buffer at 140C, at 6V/cm with angle of 1200. The initial pulse time was 5s, with a final pulse time of 40s with a running time of 24 h. The lambda DNA ladder PFGE marker (Bio-Rad) was used as a reference. PFGE fragments in the gel were stained with ethidium bromide (EB) (1mg/ml) for 20 min, and destained in distilled water for 1.5 h and visualized under UV transilluminator. Pulsotypes (PT) were assigned numbers consecutively based on differences of more than one band in PFGE patterns upon visual inspection. The banding patterns were analyzed using Dice coefficients with 1% band position tolerance. The clustering of patterns was performed using unweighted pair group matching algorithm (UPGMA) as previously described ( Arcangioliet al., 2012; Timsit et al., 2012). Allelic sequence variance analysis The Sequence Type Analysis and Recombinational Test Version 2 (START2) (Jolley et al., 2001) were used to analyze polymorphic sites, construct UPGM dendrograms and calculate non-synonymous to synonymous ratios (dN/dS). Genetic diversity (H) of each locus and Index of Association (IA) were calculated by using LIAN 3.5 (Haubold and Hudson, 2000) hosted on http://guanine.evolbio.mpg.de/cgi-bin/lian/lian.cgi.pl/query. Global evolution and minimum spanning tree (MST) analysis The evolutionary relationship between isolates and M.bovis population structure was determined using PHYLOViZ (Fransciso et al., 2012) and evaluated by minimum spanning tree (MST) created using eBURST (geoBURST) algorithm (Francisco et al., 2009). MST for MLST-2 was performed for 257 isolates from 11 countries including 60 strains (44 China, 8 Israeli and 8 Australia isolates)   typed in this study and 207 isolates   retrieved January, 2017 (Supplementary Table 3) from the M.bovis MLST-2 database www.pubmlst.org/mbovis. Statistical analysis The discriminatory ability of both MLST methods and PFGE was calculated using Simpsons index of diversity as previously described (Hunter and Gaston, 1998). Congruence between both typing techniques was measured using the adjusted Rand Coefficient and Wallace Coefficient (Severiano et al., 2011). All statistical analyses were performed using the freely available online tool (http://darwin.phyloviz.net/ComparingPartitions/) Results The comparison of M.bovis typing with three methods MLST-1 analysis A total of 44, out of 10 were previously typed (Rosales et al., 2015) were also used for control and typed by MLST-1. The mean GC contents of seven gene fragments ranged from 29.15% (dnaA) to 37.23% (tufA) while it was 37.4 % in the whole M. bovis HB0801 genome (Qi et al., 2012). For each of seven loci, allelic variation was analyzed including polymorphic sites, guanine-cytosine(GC) content, synonymous and non-synonymousratios (dN/dS)(Table 2).The number of polymorphic sites per locus ranged from 4 (6.2%) in recA to 19 (29.6 %) in dnaA, and a total of 64 polymorphic sites for all seven genes were identified. The number of alleles observed ranged from 2 (metS, recA, tufA, atpA, and tkt) to 3 (dnaA and rpoD). The genetic diversity (H) for each locus was 0.0879 for dnaA and 0.0444 for metS, recA, tufa atpA and tkt. The dN and dS substitutions ranged from 0.0000 to 0.0623. In summary, all 44 Chinese M.bovis isolates typed by MLST-1 were divided into two STs namely ST-10 and ST-34 (Table 1).The ST-10 (with allelic profile of 2,6,2,2,2,5,3) was most numerically dominant, comprising 97.7%à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã‹â€ 43/44à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °of Chinese M.bovis isolates including the Chinese strain HB0801 (Fig.1). In addition, ST-34 (allelic profile of 11,6,2,2,2,5,3) contains only one strain SZ; while ST-1(allelic profile of 1,1,1,1,1,1,1) represented by strain PG45 was identified (Table 1). Genetic relatedness amongst the 44 Chinese M.bovis strains showed two clades A and B. Clade A contained the majority (97.7%) of isolates (43/44) including the Chinese strain HB0801, while clade B contained one Chinese strain SZ (ST-34). M.bovis PG45 type strain was an outlier of these two clades (Fig.1). The geoBURST and MST analysis clustered 44 Chinese in the clonal complex CC2, whereas reference strain PG45 (ST-1) in CC1 (Table 1) as previously described (Rosales et al., 2015) MLST-2 analysis All 44 M.bovis isolates were examined by MLST-2. The mean GC contents of seven gene fragments ranged from 28.76% (tdk) to 35.61% (gyrB).The number of polymorphic sites per locus ranged from 8 in gyrB (8.66%) to 22(23.91%) in gpsA and a total of 92 polymorphic sites were identified (Table 2). The numbers of alleles identified were 2 for adh-1, gpsA, gyrB, pta2 and tkt and, 3 for gltX. The genetic diversity obtained 0.328 for adh-1 to 0.962 for gpsA (Table 2).   The Chinese strains were distributed into two different sequence types. ST-10 with allelic profile 4,3,3,3,5,3,4 was the most numerically dominant type, comprising 97.7% (43/44) of Chinese isolates; and ST-32 had only one isolate, SZ respectively. All M.bovis isolates tested in this study were clustered into two major clades A and B based on genetic relatedness by UPGMA. Clade A was comprised of 97.7% (43/44) of Chinese isolates including the Chinese strain HB0801. Whereas Clade-B contains one Chinese isolate. Same as above, M.bovis PG45 type strain was an outlier of these two clades (Fig. 2) PFGE typing The 44 Chinese M.bovis strains, and type strain PG45 were subjected to PFGE following the use of restriction enzyme SmaI. All isolates were typeable and the banding profile of the isolates ranged from 6 to 10 bands (from

Potential Environmental Impacts of Utilization of ConocoPhillips Fuel E

Potential Environmental Impacts of Utilization of ConocoPhillips Fuel Efficient High Performance (FEHP) Lubricant Applications in the Automotive Industry In some shape or form, nearly all aspects of American life contribute to unnecessary exploitation of natural resources. The automobile is a staple of American life and culture, and perhaps best exemplifies Americans’ dependence on gross quantities of raw materials. On any given day, over 235 million vehicles travel 11 billion miles on U.S. highways, consuming nearly 20 million barrels of oil daily 1,2,3. Worldwide, oil consumption has reached a 16-year high of 80.6 million barrels per day 17. Most important of all, proven oil reserves around the world only provide roughly 40 years of production at these current rates 18. Oil consumers ignore this reality either through lack of education or simple apathy, because right now there are no immediate consequences to consuming such vast volumes of a polluting, non-renewable resource. Numbers like those mentioned above are so large it is difficult for one to fathom their true magnitude, however they still convey the reliance aver age Americans have on their automobiles and oil. By and large, the automobile is the only way most Americans travel. Without getting into the details of problems with public transportation, people simply do not consider other options to personal transportation. This becomes especially significant when one considers that cars are the single largest emitter of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The U.S. produces nearly 24% of the world’s CO2 emissions, a third of which comes from gasoline combustion in cars 4,5. Many scientists cite rising oil consumption as the leading cause... ...F-150 at a glance, 2004, Ford Motor Company, 11 May 2004, 15. New Report: Reducing Vehicular Global Warming Pollution Saves California Drivers Money, 2004, Union of Concerned Scientists, 11 May 2004, 16. Innovations: High-efficiency axle system, 2003, Visteon Corp., 1 May 2004, 17. Reuters, World oil consumption seen at 16-year high, 2004, MSNBC News, 12 May 2004, 18. Worldwide Oil and Gas Production and Reserves, Phillips, 2000, U.S. Energy Information Administration, 3 May 2004,

Three Strikes And Youre Out Law Essay -- essays research papers

Three Strikes You're Out Law We have all heard of the newest anti-crime law, the "Three strikes and you’re out" law. It wasn’t easy getting this law from the bill stage in Sacramento to the law stage, because it is not a criminal friendly law. Meaning that this law’s purpose is to bring pain, suffering, and intimidation to criminals. Our state government was basically ran by the Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, now mayor of San Francisco. Brown had the power to choose who sat on what committee in the house, and using this he could terminate any bill he did not agree with. And with this attitude it took a lot of patients and perseverance by the people trying to pass this bill. But how did the bill become a bill? I will answer this question with help of the Kimber Reynolds story. Monday, June 29, 1992 in Fresno, California a young woman was brutally murdered outside The Daily Planet, a restaurant patronized by the local young people. The girl was visiting home for the summer after being in the Los Angeles area attending school. Her and a friend were getting into their car when two guys on a motorcycle rode up next to Kimber Reynolds blocking her in, taking her purse, and beating her into submission. The story made the 11 o’clock news only minutes after her father had gone to bed. When police ran a background check on the two suspected men, Joeseph Micheal Davis and Douglas Walker, both men had recently been released on parole with multiple offenses on their records. Unfortunately Davis was never brought in because when police were attempting to arrest him he began firing, wounding unsuspecting police officers and ultimately being killed. Douglas Walker was convicted of accessory to murder. Mike Reynolds, Kimber’s father, went on the radio on a local radio show called the Ray Appleton Show, KMJ 580. There he would discuss his outrage about how he was sick of repeat offenders being locked up only to be released after a fraction of the sentence was completed. He swore to the people listening that he was going to do something about the problem, even if it takes him forever. Listening to that show was Fresno Assemblyman Bill Jones (R). He was interested in the issue and arranged a meeting with Mike. They discussed ideas about how they could solve this problem. With that in mind Mike used some connections and g... ...victions. There were repeated warnings about the cost to implement the new law, but few have addressed the other side of the equation and the savings to the state, in lives and in dollars. Had our 1993 crime rate continued unaffected over these past few years, nearly 815,000 additional crimes would have been committed in California, including 217,000+ violent crimes. We would have suffered more than 4,000 homicide victims; 6000+ women would have been victims of rape. Also the savings in dollars is between $5.8 billion and $15.5 billion since the enactment of the "Three Strikes" law. There has been swift and dramatic impact on crime since the enactment of the "Three Strikes" law. The crime rate has dropped more than 30%. But there are other factors that play a part in this reduction like crime prevention, and community policing. However there has been a significant drop in the crime rate. Also the predictions about cost, over populating and others have not come true. With all of the opposition out there trying to tear this law down I believe that California can not afford to do without this law because it is saving our state money and lives.