Wednesday, December 25, 2019

The Virginia Agriculture Industry - 929 Words

Creating an economic impact of $70 billion and proving more than 334,000 jobs in the society, Virginia Agriculture production is among one of the most diverse in the U.S. and the largest industry for Virginia itself (VDACS 2017). The agriculture industry includes not only field productions but also processing and manufacturing industries such as food and beverages processing, textiles, wood products, pulp and paper mills, among others, and due to the link with agriculture, changes in this latter affects in various degrees the whole state industry (Rephann 2017). The tour held on August 22nd to 24th provided the opportunity to explore and get familiar with the industry related to agriculture, food safety, horticulture, landscaping, and†¦show more content†¦Next, three stops will be described and discusses. The selection was not based in less or more important but more toward where more impression or interest was brought due to the activities performed there. Commonwealth Cotton Gin Tour Commonwealth Gin is a 3rd generation family company, and during the tour the facility located Windsor, VA. was visited. Chris was the person who toured the group through the facilities. He mentioned that, in early years, the family was in the business of grains, but they decided to search for different horizons and built something different than grain productions. They were tired of producing grains, and in the process of looking for a different crops and opportunities they decided to start cotton production in Virginia in 1991, later, in 1992, the Commonwealth Cotton Gin company was started, and currently they possess two facilities, that although in some period one facility was not running, four years ago, they started to run it again. The company perform four main activities, the first one is ginning, which consist in separate the seed from the cotton fiber with the use of a machine, and after that, marketing is an important service provided to their customers, because the company act as a binding point between the growers and the buyers, which means that they help to seel the cotton. Warehouse, this is another of the four main activities thatShow MoreRelatedEconomic Impact Of Virginia Agriculture Production933 Words   |  4 Pagesjobs in the society, Virginia Agriculture production is among one of the most diverse in the U.S. and the largest industry for Virginia itself (VDACS 2017). The agriculture industry includes not only field productions, but also processing and manufacturing industries such as food and beverage processing, textiles, wood products, pulp and paper mills, among others, and due to the link with agriculture, changes in this latter affects in various degrees the whole state industry (Rephann 2017). The tourRead MoreColonial Colonies : The Atlantic Coast1666 Words   |  7 Pages The English Colonies alongside the Atlantic Coast in the 1600’s- 1700’s began with the failed attempt to establish the Roanoke Colony in Virginia, which was later, suppressed by the Virgina Company, who established the colony of Jamestown in Chesapeake B ay. The Virginia Company was a joint stock company that primarily used the stock they obtained from King James to raise money to create Jamestown. Following this success of establishment was a series of devastation as food sources were scare, conflictsRead MoreThe Regions of Colonial America Essay864 Words   |  4 Pagesrich. Therefore the settlers came over from England. A Virginia ship list in 1625 reports the number of people to be transported to Virginia (Doc C). In comparison to New England, there were very few women or families. Most of the people were men of about 20-30 years of age. The ratios and ages suggest that these people were looking to make money over starting families. The Chesapeake colonies were mostly funded by England. The Governor of Virginia, William Berkeley, asked the King of England to helpRead MoreCultural Puree in Colonial America Essay662 Words   |  3 PagesAcclaimed Nobel Prize winner Tony Morrison has her novel A Mercy set in the colonial America of 1680 in New York, Maryland and Virginia. Many cultures were contributing to the abundantly laid table. Gronim writes: â€Å"New York had not attracted huge waves of colonists. By the turn of the eighteenth century, a census counted a mere eighteen thousand people (including slaves)† (3). New York was where our protagonist, the Vaarks, Florens, their African-American slave, Lina, their Native-American slaveRead MoreEssay about Slavery In America1499 Words   |  6 Pagesraging sun. In the16th century, Caribbean, Saint Kitts Nevis, and Virginia were the colonies of England. The English used the land as the source of income. At that time, Tobacco was popular. Large amount of land and labor were required in the Tobacco agriculture. At first, these workers were mainly come from England itself and the promise of land attracted many workers. Later, the industry of Tobacco spread from Caribbean to Virginia. As a reason, colonists spread from one colony to another. At thatRead MoreWhat Are Your Three Main Priorities As A Candidate?1141 Words   |  5 PagesPlease tell us briefly why you are seeking this position. As a teenager, I served as a page in the Virginia House of Delegates and became interested in the politics of the Commonwealth. Motivated by my childhood experience, I took a job as a Staff Assistant in the Virginia Senate in the 2016 session. During my time in the Senate, I noticed politicians pledged to their constituents they planned to vote in their interests, only to vote the opposite way on the Senate floor. A representative should notRead MoreNorth America s Competitive Agenda866 Words   |  4 Pages Being my first year attending Virginia Commonwealth University, I would personally like to give a HUGE Thank You to the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Richmond Partnership Inc., the Virginia International Business Council, the U.S. commercial Service Richmond Export Assistance Center, VCU’s Global Education Office, the Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. These o rganizations are a partRead MoreThe Effects Of Water Pollution On The Environment1269 Words   |  6 Pagesadaptive management process involved in the Bay recovery effort (Tango Batuik, 2013). The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) tests Virginia’s rivers, lakes, and tidal waters comprehensively for hazardous pollutants. Waters are monitored annually to insure they are safe for swimming, drinking, and/or fishing. Waters that do not meet the DEQ’s standards are reported to the EPA in the Virginia Water Quality Assessment 305(b)/303(d) Integrated Report (VDEQ, 2014). Total maximum dailyRead MoreThe Civil War : The United States1622 Words   |  7 PagesCounty led similar lives to the people of Franklin County with one key distinguishing difference, the occupancy of slavery. Prior to the Civil War, Augusta County could be described as an industrial community that was also prosperous in business and agriculture with one and every five persons a slave. Th e Civil War turned the county into a community of reconstruction and of economic rebuilding because of the loss of slavery and the destruction of the land from the Confederate army residing there and raidsRead MoreEssay on Hist121551 Words   |  7 Pages6.|What was the easiest way to get rich in the silver mining industry?Ø An active San Francisco stock market sprang up to finance operations on the Comstock. The easiest way to get rich was to sell their claims or to form mining companies and sell shares of stock instead of mining. Speculation, misrepresenting, and outright thievery ran out of control. | 7.|What were Virginia City, Nevada, and other mining centers like?Ø Virginia City quickly became an industrial center with more than 1,200

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

The Balancing Act Between the Individual Interest and the...

The proper relationship between the individuals interests and the common good is a delicate balancing act that political philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Sophocles have tried to define. For philosophers such as Socrates and Plato, the common good trumps the individual interest when those interests interfere with what they believe is right for society as a whole. For others like Aristotle and Locke, a consensus on what the common good is must be defined within the reality that individual interests exists; meaning, they cannot be completely discarded for the good of society. I believe that in a free society, where the common good to doesnt have to be forced upon its citizens, the common good should impose upon the†¦show more content†¦In this example, the sacrifice to the individual interest of living and vision was an unrealistic demand that almost all humans will not make. In fact, most humans or citizens will not pine for his neighbors as such: Your pain strikes each of you alone, each in the confines of himself, not other. But my spirit grieves for the city, for myself and all of you (Fagles 162). Such compassion and selflessness for the community is not a common characteristic of mankind, therefore, a balance between the individual interest and the common good must be found in a society. The opposite extreme of Oedipuss forsaking of his individual interests to the common good is demonstrated in Sophocles other play Antigone. In this play, Antigone has very little regard to the common good and is only concerned with her desire to bury her brother Polynices. Even when the welfare of Thebes is at question, she proceeds in her tantrum and refuses to obey her Creon. Such an imbalance of the individuals interest to the common good is not proper as it will result in a society of people who behave only in their self interests at the detriment to the community at whole. Oddly, a good balance the individual interest and the common good is posited by Nicolo Machiavelli. For Machiavelli, the common good will be gladly deferredShow MoreRelatedAdversarial Litigation System of the Commonwealth1142 Words   |  5 Pagesdisclosing them) on relevant legal grounds such as the Evidence Act, Civil Procedure Act, Uniform Civil Procedure Rules (UCPR) and common law. This essay shall explore the quite unique public policy basis for privilege and in particular consider the requirements for assessing this privilege as well as the constant battle between the preservation of public policy and smooth litigation proceedings. In civil litigation, Public interest immunity (PII, previously known as Crown Privilege) is among theRead MoreSocial Responsibility : Kroger Company983 Words   |  4 PagesSocial responsibility is an ethical framework which suggests that an organization or individual has an obligation to act for the benefit of society at large. Social responsibility is a duty every organization has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the environment Kroger Company Just in this year alone Kroger has made a substantial impact in society. When it comes to the social aspect the company went above and beyond the norm. Since 2010, Kroger has been contributing $1Read MoreThe Philosophy Of Aristotle s Philosophy1384 Words   |  6 Pagesdescribes friendship as being made up of mutual feelings of good intentions between two individuals. According to him, there are 3 different types of friendships that make up the base of social interactions. The first out of 3 types of friendships that he talks about is Utility based friendships. These types of friendships are based on the benefits/trading that the two individuals can gain from each other. These are most often formed by individuals with opposite personalities. The decision making processRead MoreThe Defence of Duress or The Defense of Necessity1670 Words   |  7 Pagesdefense of necessity refers to circumstances where a person chooses to commit an offence to avoid a greater evil to them or another which would result from objective dangers arising from the circumstances in which they are placed . The difference between these two similar defenses is that duress is regarded as an excuse in English Law, whereas necessity is regarded as a justificatory defense. For example, in the case of Missouri decision of State v Green , the Defendant was sentenced toRead MoreEssay Human Nature and Proper Order1725 Words   |  7 Pagesrelationship between the state and society, and even on a narrower level of the individual and community. In fact, the theory of proper order starts first at the individual level and from there flourishes to create a positive rippling effect throughout all of society. This profound theory and its ideals is credited with developing a social society in East Asia which acknowledges the great potential of each of its citizens, but still aspires to consider the effects of individual actions on the common goodRead MoreThe Purpose of Leadership in Healthcare Essay1336 Words   |  6 Pagesleadership is defined as the individuals who are the leaders in an organization, regarded collectively. It also can be define as the activity of leading a group of people or an organization or the ability to do this. Leadership invo lves the establishing of a clear vision, sharing the vision with other so that they will follow willingly, providing the needed information, knowledge, and methods to realize the vision and coordinating and balancing the conflicts interests of all members and stakeholdersRead MoreUtilitarian Ethics1587 Words   |  6 Pageshappiness. With close reference, the utilitarian is thus termed as a form of consequentialism, that is, the result of an act determines its moral value. Benthams utilitarian ethics thereby supposed that the entire morality emanates from the enlightened self-interest. It also elicits that people who act habitually with a view of their own maximum satisfaction in the end, would forever act rightly (Miller William, 1982). Because of the production and supply of transistors to a heart pacemaker companyRead MoreEnable Rights and Choices of Individuals with Dementia Whilst Minimising Risks1007 Words   |  5 PagesEnable rights and choices of individuals with dementi a whilst minimising risks Task 1 Key legislations such as Human rights act 1998 Mental capacity act 2005 Adults with incapacity (Scotland) act 2000 Mental health act 2007 The disability discrimination act 1995 Safeguarding vulnerable groups act 2006 Carers (equal opportunities) act 2004 Are all laws put into place to help protect an individual from abuse whilst ensuring they can still for fill their right and maintainRead MoreEssay Government1525 Words   |  7 Pagesrestriction should be limited. For Locke, we are all in the State of Nature before any form of government is created (289). And since humans have a tendency to live in groups as well as desire to avoid the State of War, humans subject to a common power creating a common government and giving up natural power. Therefore, once this contract is created it is only then that we step out of the State of Nature. Hobbes, on the other hand, writes that the sovereign should have as much authority as possibleRead MoreThe Moral Theory Of Utilitarianism1725 Words   |  7 PagesNumerous moral theories have surfaced in the past years. They have been widely debated by philosophers and social reformers. It is important to understand what these theories are because of their influential tendencies in the way people act, especially in making morally right or wrong decisions. Utilitarianism is one of these many moral theories. Upon further analysis, problems with utilitarian thoughts are revealed. It has been widely debated by many philosophers, including G.E. Moore and Immanuel

Monday, December 9, 2019

Business Ethics for Modern Accounting -myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theBusiness Ethics for Modern Accounting and Auditing. Answer: Introduction In the present times, it is important that all the business organizations follow ethical conduct so that healthy competition is maintained at the marketplace. Other than that, ethical behavior is important to assure that the organization do not breach any laws during its operations. The business ethics evaluate the ethical issues present in the business environments. The business ethics assist the business organizations in maintaining better relations with their stakeholders. It refers to contemporary standards, principles and set of values, which can be used by the companies in maintaining good relations with the organizations (Lucas, Van Wee Maat, 2016). The present paper has analyzed the issue of Unilevers threat to pull advertisements from Facebook and Google. It is an issue of business ethics, as online search engines and social media companies are using unethical advertising strategies. It is misleading the customers. In this essence, the present paper will discuss the news ar ticle, different ethical theories and their application on the ethical issue. Ethical theories Ethics have a significant importance in the society. They assist in establishing law and order in the society. As the business organizations are a part of the society, they should behave in accordance to the law and order of the society. The business ethics are moral principles, which guide the business organization in behaving in accordance to the law. These principles determine the actions of the business organizations in the society. The ethical conduct is the phenomenon through which the people can distinguish between wrong and the right actions (Goetghebeur, Wagner, Bond Hofmann, 2015). This process can easily identify the unethical business practices and the business organizations can easily avoid them. In the business environment, there are certain practices, which come under unethical conduct. It includes the unlawful use of copyright material and engagement in the bribery. However, in the business environment, it is fairly difficult to differentiate between the good ethical practices and the bad ethical practices. It is the responsibility of the company to provide competitive returns to different stakeholders and to treat all the employees fairly (Counts, Pitre Sullivan, 2018). Moreover, it is also the responsibility of the organization to engage in operations, which can minimize the harm to the environment and reduce the damage to the community. Therefore, it is important that the organization follows some ethical codes whole operating in the marketplace. The business organizations should set out core values and standards. The companies should also follow voluntary codes of practice, which regulate the business practice in the specific industry. These ethical codes of conduct are designed with the support of the government, employees and the local communities. There should be specific set pf principles and practices, which ensures that there is security of the employees and the volatile operations of the company does not impact on the local population (Salloch, Wscher, Vollmann Schildmann, 2015). The companies should also assure that their operations do not impact on the employees and the local people in its operations. It is the responsibility of the organization to make profit and provide maximum value to the stakeholders. Several ethical theories have need designed to assist the individuals and the decision-makers to analyze different aspects of ethical dilemma and lead them to take ethically sound decisions. There are several theories, such as deontology, utilitarianism, rights and the virtue theory. The deontology class of theories state that the people should adhere to their duties and obligations so that they can make ethically sound decisions. A person following deontological theory will make consistent decisions as they will be set on the individuals set of duties (Winkler Duminy, 2016). However, there is no logical or rational basis of taking decisions. The deontological set of theory is normative ethical position, which judges the morality of an action based on the rules. A person should fulfill his duties and obligations as a rule. Utilitarianism is another set of ethical theories, which states that all those actions are ethical, which have good outcomes. It is dependent on the ability of a person to predict the consequences of an action. The utilitarian person takes an action, which yields maximum benefit to the society. It seeks to take action, which is beneficial to most of the people and can be achieved through fairest and just means. It is based on the concept of utility. The theory states that the best action is one which maximizes utility of the actions (Uhlmann, Pizarro Diermeier, 2015). The utility is defined in several ways; however, the major concern is maintaining the well-being of the sentiments. The utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory, which puts emphasis on the outcomes or consequences of the action in choosing different actions in case of ethical dilemma. However, the challenge of this theory is that it can result in wrong predictions and ultimately lead to actions, which are not benef icial for the society (Ferauge, 2012). The ethical theories based on the rights state that the society imparts individual rights to every human being and the ethical conduct should protect these rights and safeguarding these rights should be given highest priority. These rights are ethical, as majority of the society endorses them. However, the person must decipher the rights of different individuals in a society (Thornton, Pan, Erlien Gerdes, 2017). The individual rights are also determined by the goals and the ethical rights of the society. Virtue is another set of ethical theory, which states that and individual has to be analyzed by his character. According to this theory, ethics should not be focused on the normal behavior of a person; however, it should emphasize on the character of an individual. It focusses on the morals, reputation and the motivation of an individual. Counter the position The current issue can be discussed through the application of different theories. The utilitarianism states that an organization or society should engage in actions, which are targeted towards the welfare of the society. However, the advertisement platforms such as Google and Facebook are publishing fake news, child exploitation, sexism, racism and political manipulation. It is reducing the consumer trust in these platforms. Other than that, these actions are also misleading and can be considered as ethically wrong. Therefore, the action of Unilever is ethically correct. However, several other large organizations should come along with Unilever to push change in these online platforms. Google and Facebook are major players of social media platforms and account for 73% of the total digital advertising. There are also several other issues while using these online platforms for advertisements. The response of Facebook and Google to handle fake news and extremist content has been very sl ow (Ann-Russon, 2018). However, the deontological theory states that all the actions, which follow rules or laws, are ethical (Holyoak Powell, 2016). It can be critiqued that the advertising strategy followed by Google and Facebook do not breach any law; therefore, they are justified by this ethical theory. If the same case is analyzed by the rights theory, it can be stated that case of misleading advertising is breaching the information right of the internet users (Ycel, Elibol Da?delen, 2009). The internet users access these social media tools and search engines, so that they can access correct or authentic information. However, these sites are favoring the companies, through which they can achieve additional revenue. The virtue theory also supports the action of Unilever. According to this theory, a man or an organization should follow ethical conduct and follow virtuous behavior (Eccles, Perkins Serafeim, 2012). However, Google and Facebook are not following ethical conduct. Conclusion It can be concluded that the approach of Unilever is to pull out its advertisement from Google and Facebook is correct and ethical as these organizations are using unjust and unethical advertising techniques. When this step is evaluated from the perspective of utilitarianism, right and the virtue theory, it is identified that the companies are misleading their customers as they are giving wrong information in the advertisements. However, deontological theory is supporting the advertising techniques of these companies as they are not indulging in illegal activities. The deontological theory states that as long as the companies are following the rules and laws, they should be considered as ethical. However, the utilitarianism theory states that the basis of ethics should be outcomes of the action. The advertising policies of Google are misleading the customers and therefore, it is not ethical practices. It is important to make these advertising giants as aware of their wrong action and that the people are aware of them. The action of the company will threaten these companies, that the organization can take some action to resist their behavior. Therefore, it is an ethical and just action of the organization. References Counts, R. W., Pitre, J. P., Sullivan, C. (2018). How the Students Use Ethical Theories to Name Their Most Ethical Person Awards.Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing,14(1), 1-5. Eccles, R. G., Perkins, K. M., Serafeim, G. (2012). How to become a sustainable company.MIT Sloan Management Review,53(4), 43. Ferauge, P., (2012). A Conceptual Framework of Corporate Social Responsibility and Innovation. Global Journal of Business Research 6(5), pp. 85-96. Goetghebeur, M. M., Wagner, M., Bond, K., Hofmann, B. (2015). Analysis Of Ethical Theories And Principles Embedded In Holistic Mcda: A Primer To Ethics-Based Appraisal Of Value In Healthcare.Value in Health,18(3), A101. Holyoak, K. J., Powell, D. (2016). Deontological coherence: A framework for commonsense moral reasoning.Psychological bulletin,142(11), 1179. Lucas, K., Van Wee, B., Maat, K. (2016). A method to evaluate equitable accessibility: combining ethical theories and accessibility-based approaches.Transportation,43(3), 473-490. Russon, M. (2018). Unilever threatens to pull ads from Facebook and Google. BBC News. Retrieved 29 March 19, 2018 from https://www.bbc.com/news/business-43032241 Salloch, S., Wscher, S., Vollmann, J., Schildmann, J. (2015). The normative background of empirical-ethical research: first steps towards a transparent and reasoned approach in the selection of an ethical theory.BMC medical ethics,16(1), 20. Thornton, S. M., Pan, S., Erlien, S. M., Gerdes, J. C. (2017). Incorporating Ethical Considerations Into Automated Vehicle Control.IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems,18(6), 1429-1439. Uhlmann, E. L., Pizarro, D. A., Diermeier, D. (2015). A person-centered approach to moral judgment.Perspectives on Psychological Science,10(1), 72-81. Winkler, T., Duminy, J. (2016). Planning to change the world? Questioning the normative ethics of planning theories.Planning Theory,15(2), 111-129. Ycel, R., Elibol, H., Da?delen, O. (2009). Globalization and international marketing ethics problems.International Research Journal of Finance and Economics,26(1), 93-104.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Tourism Country Analysis-Germany Essay Essay Example

Tourism Country Analysis-Germany Essay Essay Introduction Germany is a state with amazing diverseness with one of the richest historical heritage in the universe. standing out as one of the tourer attractive force characteristics. Germany is the most centrally placed in Europe among all the European states. It has a history of a disconnected state holding distinguishable provinces and folks. For this ground. Germany more that any other European state bears different names depending on the linguistic communication used. For illustration it is called Deutschland within Germany ; in French it is called ‘Allemagne’ and ‘Niemcy’ in Polish. ( Country profile ) We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism Country Analysis-Germany Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism Country Analysis-Germany Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism Country Analysis-Germany Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer On October 3rd1990. Western Germany was unified with the German Democratic Republic. The leaving criterions in the latter could non process those 1s of the former ; it has been a major challenge to make this because of the built-in industrial endeavor inefficiencies that characterized the German Democratic Republic. Another major factor that has posed challenges include the trouble in East Germany of deciding belongings ownership and the deficiency of substructure and the environmental debasement that occurred during the Communist regulation. ( Berghahn V. R. 1987 ) The radical force particularly from the political right that is normally witnessed in East Germany is ever related to the economic uncertainness in this part. Most times the force is directed towards aliens and in peculiar non-Europeans. ( Berghahn V. R. 1987 ) Politicss Germany is considered to be a Federal. Parliamentary. and representative democratic Republic. The ‘Grundgestz’ or the Basic Law is the model that was laid down in 1949 that guides the German political system up to today. For any amendments to take topographic point in the Grundgestz. a two-thirds bulk in Parliament is required. ( Country profile ) The Chancellor heads the Government and the place is presently held by Angela Merkel and she exercises executive powers that are similar to a Prime Minister’s. Parliament that consists of the Bundestag and Bundesrat ( Federal Council ) is vested with Federal legislative Powers. Members of the Bundestag are elected straight and members in the Bundesrat represent the authoritiess of the 16 provinces. These members are appointed by the province cabinet. which possesses the power to take them any clip. ( Country profile ) The Christian Democratic Party Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany are the ruling parties since 1949. However there’s being of other smaller parties. which include the Free Democratic Party and the Alliance 90/ The Greens ( Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union ) . The President of Germany besides doubles up as the Head of State and is usually elected by the Federal Convention ( Bundesversammlung ) . which is the establishment made up of members of the Bundestage and some members of the State delegate. The President of the Bundestag is the 2nd highest functionary and the Bundestag itself elects him/her. His/her duties include the overseeing of the body’s day-to-day Sessionss. The Chancellor on the other manus doubles up as the caput of Government and is the 3rd highest functionary who is nominated by the Germany President and so is elected by the Bundestag. A constructive gesture of no assurance by the Bundestag is what is necessary to take the Chancellor. ( Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union ) Economy In Europe. Germany’s National Economy is the largest. It is ranked the 3rd largest in the universe by nominal GDP. but ranked fifth in respects to gross domestic merchandise. As per 2006 statistics. the mean growing stands at 2. 8 % per annum. Germany has been renowned universe over since the industrial age as one of the best motor pioneers and has greatly benefited from the globalized universe economic system. ( Berghahn V. R. 1987 ) One of its major drivers of its export economic system is the hallmark â€Å"Made in Germany. † which the universe has continuously associated with sturdiness and lastingness. This has turned out the state to be the world’s top exporter with the export figures as at 2006 standing at $ 1. 133 trillion bring forthing a trade excess of about ˆ165 billion. 70 % of its entire GDP is generated by the service sector with 29. 1 % contributed by the industrial sector and agribusiness falling behind with about 0. 9 % . ( Berghahn V. R. 1987 ) Germany’s cars. machinery. metals. and chemical goods contribute greatly to the export portfolio. In solar and wind turbine engineering. Germany leads the universe ( Global Wind Energy Market ) . Amongst its most popular trade names include Siemens. Mercedes Benz. BMW. Audi. Volkswagen. Porsche. and Nivea among others. Germany uses the common market currency the Euro and the state stands out as a major advocator for the European Union. Society ( People and Culture ) The bulk German population is made up dwellers of cultural Germans and over 7 million aliens. Majority of the aliens are made up of the so called â€Å"guest workers† who were largely Turkish workers. who in the 1950s and 60s were invited to make full in for the labour deficits. Germany therefore has rather a good figure of cultural Turks. Many political and economic refugees from the universe over particularly the underdeveloped universe choose Germany as a premier finish. ( Country profile ) Germany self-praises of holding one of the world’s highest degrees of instruction with keen technological promotion coupled with an matchless economic productiveness. University registration has steadily risen and has more than tripled since World War II ; the trade and proficient schools that are sponsored by the Federal Republic of Germany back up the universities. The bulk of the population is made up of the in-between category with a per capita income standing at $ 28. 700. this is combined with a comprehensive societal public assistance system that caters for the cosmopolitan medical attention and unemployment attention besides other societal demands. ( Berghahn V. R. 1987 ) Culturally Germany is normally called â€Å"the land of poets and thinkers† ( Wasser J. 2006 ) . Religious and secular currents that have taken topographic point in Europe for a long clip have continuously shaped the German civilization. One of the most celebrated German classical music composers is Ludwig Van Beethoven ( Wasser J. 2006 ) . Geography The geographics of Germany is rich and diverse ranging from the high Alps in the South. the Bavarian field. and the fluxing hills of cardinal Germany to the seashore of the North and Baltic Sea. This makes the country’s countryside scenery worth sing. â€Å"it all expressions like a illumination train landscape packed with the nicest of old towns. medieval houses. Gothic churches and little small towns ; its alien! † ( Country profile ) Global Position Germany has continued to play a really of import function in the formation and the continued strengthening of the European Union and has continued to cultivate a really close relationship with France. One of Germany’s closest Alliess has been the U. S. whose aid was rather priceless during the 1948 Marshall Plan to reconstruct Germany after World War II. Neckties with America have gone to other countries like trade where a more balanced trade relationship has continued to boom. ( Country profile ) Mentions Berghahn. Volker Rolf. ( 1987 ) Modern Germany: Society. Economy. and Politics in the 20ThursdayCentury. 2d erectile dysfunction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union: Retrieved on 6ThursdayMarch 2008 from U. S. Library of Congress: . Global Wind Energy Market 2006-2011. Retrieved on 6ThursdayMarch 2008 from World Wide Web. windtech-international. com: Wasser. Jeremy. ( 2006 ) Spatzle Westerns Spiegel Online International: Retrieved on 6ThursdayMarch 2008 State profile: Germany: Retrieved on 6ThursdayMarch 2008 from hypertext transfer protocol: //news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1047864. short-term memory:

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Hannibal Essays - Barcids, Roman Censors, Hannibal, Marching

Hannibal Essays - Barcids, Roman Censors, Hannibal, Marching Hannibal Since his meteoric life and tragic death, Hannibal Barca comes across the centuries as the military commander with few, if any equals. A courageous leader, brilliant tactician, and steadfast soldier in the service of his beloved Carthage, Hannibal existed for one sole purpose: to defeat and, if possible, to eliminate the power of Rome(Livy p.207). Hannibals destiny was already chosen for him before his own birth. The only thing that couldnt have been foretold was the outcome of his struggles. His father Hamilcar Barca, another fearless commander from Carthage, was in charge during the first Punic War. Hannibal was taken to Spain at the young age of only nine. There he was forced to swear hostility to Rome. From his fathers death to his own death Hannibal was constantly involved in a struggle between Carthage and Rome. Hannibal was placed in the army as soon as his father felt he was old enough to start his vigorous training. He learned to handle arms as skillfully as any soldier does, and he never asked his soldiers to do something that he himself could not do. In 221 BC, Hasdrubal was assassinated, and Hamilcar died in battle in 229 BC. The young Hannibal was given his first command, at the age of twenty-six. Hannibal was now the commander-in-chief, and the Carthaginian government ratified his position. He was a brilliant well-liked leader form the start. The veterans thought that in Hannibal, Hamilcar had returned to life. They noted the same energy in Hannibals face, the same keen glance. He was absolutely fearless in going into danger, very prudent when it was on hand. No amount of labor fatigued him, physically or mentally. He endured heat and cold very well. What time remained over when his tasks were done he gave to rest. Many times the soldiers saw him lying on the ground amid the outposts and the guards, wrapped in a military cloak(Miller et al Livy p.41). Before the death of Hasdrubal, Carthage had negotiated a treaty with Rome to establish a line of Demarcation on the Ebro River. This treaty led to Hannibals first military action. Saguntum, which was located well south of the line, became the center of Roman ambitions. Saguntums leaders began attacking nearby Cartheginian allies and expelling supporters. The city of Saguntum was well inside the Carthaginian influence, but the Romans demanded that Carthage not take action at Sanguntum. Hannibal ignored Roman demands and decided to take action on the city. Hannibal organized his armies and threw a siege on Saguntum. The city was greatly reduced and Hannibal began his amazing trip over the Alps. According to H.L. Oerter of Miami University, Hannibals journey, including 40 elephants, over and through the Alps into Italy has never been denied. But, there has been no generalized agreement on the route that he followed. It is known that two Greek scholars accompanied Hannibals forces, but their accounts have never been found. A Roman army under the command of General Publius Cornelius Scipio was sent to meet and dispose of Hannibal, but failed to come across the great leader. Scipio did finally meet Hannibal at the Ticinus River. The meeting was accidental. Forces from both sides met, and the Carthaginians came out of the battle victorious. Scipio was badly wounded and nearly lost his life. The Romans retreated to Placentia, where Longus would reinforce them. Fighting on the left bank of the Trebia River the Romans were again soundly defeated. Hannibal advanced to the Arno River by spring. In 217 BC, Hannibal moved on to Perugia and forced the Roman Flaminius into open combat, at the battle of Lake Trasimene. The Carthaginians nearly annihilated Flaminius, killing thousands and forcing others to drown in the lake. Rome sent reinforcements to Flaminius but Carthage intercepted and destroyed them also. That same year Rome elected Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctators dictator who adopted the Fabian tactic of delay. This tactic only allowed small skirmishes between the two armies. In 216, Hannibal made his move south and seized the army supply depot at Cannae on the Aufidus River. Here, in August, The Battle of Cannae was fought. While the Guals and Iberian infantry of Hannibals center line yielded before the

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Submit Forms Using TWebBrowser in Delphi

Populate/Submit Forms Using TWebBrowser in Delphi The TWebBrowser Delphi control provides access to the Web browser functionality from your Delphi apps - to allow you to create a customized Web browsing application or to add Internet, file and network browsing, document viewing, and data downloading capabilities to your applications. Web Forms A web form or a form on a web page allows a web page visitor to enter data that is, in most cases, sent to the server for processing. The simplest web form could consist of one input element (edit control) and a submit button. Most web search engines (like Google) use such a web form to allow you to search the internet. More complex web forms would include drop-down lists, check boxes, radio buttons, etc. A web form is much like a standard windows form with text input and selection controls. Every form would include a button - a submit button - that tells the browser to take action on the web form (typically to send it to a web server for processing). Programmatically Populating Web Forms If in your desktop application you use the TWebBrowser to display web pages, you can programmatically control web forms: manipulate, change, fill, populate fields of a web form and submit it. Heres a collection of custom Delphi functions you can use to list all the web forms on a web page, to retrieve input elements, to programmatically populate fields and to finally submit the form. To more easily follow the examples, lets say theres a TWebBrowser control named WebBrowser1 on a Delphi (standard Windows) form. Note: you should add mshtml to your uses clause in order to compile the methods listed here. List Web Form Names, Get a Web Form by Index A web page would in most cases have only one web form, but some web pages might have more than one web form. Heres how to get the names of all the web forms on a web page: function WebFormNames(const document: IHTMLDocument2): TStringList; var   Ã‚  forms : IHTMLElementCollection;   Ã‚  form : IHTMLFormElement;   Ã‚  idx : integer; begin   Ã‚  forms : document.Forms as IHTMLElementCollection;   Ã‚  result : TStringList.Create;   Ã‚  for idx : 0 to -1 forms.length do   Ã‚  begin   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : forms.item(idx,0) as IHTMLFormElement;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  result.Add(form.name) ;   Ã‚  end; end; A simple usage to display the list of web form names in a TMemo: var   Ã‚  forms : TStringList; begin   Ã‚  forms : WebFormNames(WebBrowser1.Document AS IHTMLDocument2) ;   Ã‚  try   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  memo1.Lines.Assign(forms) ;   Ã‚  finally   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  forms.Free;   Ã‚  end; end; Heres how to get the instance of a web form by index.  For a single form page the index would be 0 (zero). function WebFormGet(const formNumber: integer; const document: IHTMLDocument2): IHTMLFormElement; var   Ã‚  forms : IHTMLElementCollection; begin   Ã‚  forms : document.Forms as IHTMLElementCollection;   Ã‚  result : forms.Item(formNumber,) as IHTMLFormElement end; Once you have the web form, you can list all the HTML input elements by their name, you can get or set the value for each of the fields, and finally, you can submit the web form. Web pages can host web forms with input elements like edit boxes and drop down lists which you can control and manipulate programmatically from Delphi code. Once you have the web form, you can  list all the HTML input elements by their name: function  WebFormFields(const  document: IHTMLDocument2;  const  formName :  string): TStringList;  var  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : IHTMLFormElement;   Ã‚  field : IHTMLElement;   Ã‚  fName : string;   Ã‚  idx : integer;  begin  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : WebFormGet(0, WebBrowser1.Document  AS  IHTMLDocument2) ;   Ã‚  result : TStringList.Create;   Ã‚  for  idx : 0  to  -1 form.length  do  Ã‚  begin   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  field : form.item(idx, ) as IHTMLElement;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  if  field   nil then  Continue;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  fName : field.id;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  if  field.tagName INPUT  then  fName : (field  as  IHTMLInputElement).name;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  if  field.tagName SELECT  then  fName : (field  as  IHTMLSelectElement).name;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  if  field.tagName TEXTAREA  then  fName : (field  as  IHTMLTextAreaElement).name;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  result.Add(fName) ;   Ã‚  end;  end; When you know the names of the fields on a web form, you can programmatically  get the value  for a single  HTML  field: function  WebFormFieldValue(   Ã‚  const  document: IHTMLDocument2;   Ã‚  const  formNumber : integer;   Ã‚  const  fieldName :  string):  string;  var  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : IHTMLFormElement;   Ã‚  field: IHTMLElement;  begin  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : WebFormGet(formNumber, WebBrowser1.Document  AS  IHTMLDocument2) ;   Ã‚  field : form.Item(fieldName,) as IHTMLElement;   Ã‚  if  field   nil then  Exit;   Ã‚  if  field.tagName INPUT  then  result : (field  as  IHTMLInputElement).value;   Ã‚  if  field.tagName SELECT  then  result : (field  as  IHTMLSelectElement).value;   Ã‚  if  field.tagName TEXTAREA  then  result : (field  as  IHTMLTextAreaElement).value;  end; An example of usage to get the value of an input field named URL: const  Ã‚  Ã‚  FIELDNAME url;  var  Ã‚  Ã‚  doc :IHTMLDocument2;   Ã‚  fieldValue :  string;  begin  Ã‚  doc : WebBrowser1.Document  AS  IHTMLDocument2;   Ã‚  fieldValue : WebFormFieldValue(doc, 0, FIELDNAME) ;   Ã‚  memo1.Lines.Add(Field : URL, value: fieldValue) ;end; The entire idea would have no value if you would not be able to  fill in web form elements: procedure  WebFormSetFieldValue(const  document: IHTMLDocument2;  const  formNumber: integer;  const  fieldName, newValue:  string) ;  var  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : IHTMLFormElement;   Ã‚  field: IHTMLElement;  begin  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : WebFormGet(formNumber, WebBrowser1.Document  AS  IHTMLDocument2) ;   Ã‚  field : form.Item(fieldName,)  as  IHTMLElement;   Ã‚  if  field   nil then  Exit;   Ã‚  if  field.tagName INPUT  then  (field  as  IHTMLInputElement).value : newValue;   Ã‚  if  field.tagName SELECT  then  (field  as  IHTMLSelectElement) : newValue;   Ã‚  if  field.tagName TEXTAREA  then  (field  as  IHTMLTextAreaElement) : newValue;  end; Submit  a Web Form Finally, when all the fields are manipulated, you would probably want to submit the web form from Delphi code. Heres how: procedure WebFormSubmit(   Ã‚  const  document: IHTMLDocument2;   Ã‚  const  formNumber: integer) ;  var  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : IHTMLFormElement;   Ã‚  field: IHTMLElement;  begin  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : WebFormGet(formNumber, WebBrowser1.Document  AS  IHTMLDocument2) ;   Ã‚  form.submit;  end; Not All Web Forms Are Open Minded Some web forms might host a captcha image to prevent web pages from being manipulated programmatically. Some web forms might not be submitted when you click the submit button. Some web forms execute JavaScript or some other procedure gets executed handled by the onsubmit event of the web form. In any event, web pages can be controlled programmatically, the only question is how far are you prepared to go?

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Enjoying horror movies Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Enjoying horror movies - Article Example Furthermore a person does not literally experience the brutality but is more of enjoying the pain that another person in undergoing. Torture porn is fairly a new concept that has emerged in recent times. It claims that, it is human nature to enjoy the suffering of another. When we see another person suffer it helps us arouse psychological feelings such as curiosity and anxiety which causes comfort to see someone else in pain. Furthermore these movies are merely exaggeration and mostly do not have any practicality linked to them. The only thing that attracts people is the persona that it tends to creates in other words it craves the scare or merely develops feelings which excite a person. Aesthetically horror movies tend to polish the feelings of fear in a person. Pleasure is sought by watching something scary. At times horror movies become more than an obsession than source of pleasure. It has been observed that the young generation is mostly fond of watching horror movies the reason remains very obvious that young individuals are undergoing a constant process of developing physically and psychologically. When they watch such movies it helps them to transform the hormones which are in excess. Apart from this horror movies are a way of expressing emotions. Those who prefer watching horror movies enjoy the most frightening scenes as it enhances their overall experience. Another reason why people love to watch horror movies is that when individuals watch such movies they engage in some sort of pleasure that arouses their psychological state developing anxiety and curiosity which I mentioned earlier. But these movies do not have any reality and thus no risk of life or anything else. Although there are many negatives such as long lasting impact on the mind of individuals or developing phobias but usually those who enjoy such movies tend to ignore the adverse effects. It is also said that individuals tends to engage in watching such movies because when people watch t hese horror movies eventually they engross in terror for the sake of acquiring euphoric sort of relief in the end.(University of Chicago Journals) Through such movies a viewer tends to experience two emotional states at the same time that is being happy and unhappy. This weird combination enthralls the human mind and does the work of a sedate which relaxes the human mind. Some also believe that love for horror and stab is inborn as the darker side of an individual encourages them to enjoy filth and pain. Some individuals also believe that gender and gender bending also contributes in the enjoyment of horror movies. Masochistic tendency is also very common amongst people these days. The sexual gratification one acquires which watching physical and mental abuse tends to encourage and attract individuals to watch such movies. One of the most common reasons why people enjoy watching horror movies is that it allows them to escape from reality, their everyday lives to a world full of exci tement and anticipation causing a change in emotions and state. The rushes of adrenaline that occurs in the body makes people enjoy the far and treachery. These movies can act as a positive reinforcement to release tension and pressure without the fear of any practical damage what so ever.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Graphic Organizer for content area English Coursework

Graphic Organizer for content area English - Coursework Example Additionally the Bible also clearly endorses multiculturalism arguing that God created Human race in his image and diversity only resulted from Gods divine command to the human race to increase in number and fill the whole earth. Lastly, with regard to the universality of the church, the Holy Scriptures encourages people of different cultures, races, languages and classes to come together in their faith and reconcile their differences. This was particularly evidenced during the Pentecost when people of different languages spoke in their native tongues after receiving the Holy Spirit. (Acts2:8-12). The other cultures are only different because they exist in different locations. For example, people living in the deserts will always have a different living style from the people living in the forests. Multiculturalism is therefore a reality and we must all appreciate the diversity of other cultures. According to Hernandez (2001), our assignments and lesson plans should include the diverse needs and perspectives of different cultures because no culture is superior to the others. Lastly, some of the strategies that can be employed in the classrooms to design lessons from a global cultural perspective include, using differentiated instructional plans, encouraging indigenous knowledge and being sensitive to racial and cultural differences (Ford and Harris,

Sunday, November 17, 2019

How Important Is Money Essay Example for Free

How Important Is Money Essay To different people money is important in many ways. Money is used to do a lot, you use it to buy a house so you have somewhere to live instead of living under a bridge, you use it to keep your car running properly, and without money a lot of people wouldn’t be happy. Without money people cannot live healthy. You need money to buy food, clothing, and personal hygiene products. Some people go over bored and think that money is a necessity to have and whine up going over board and buying things non-essential to natural living. To me money is less important as long as I have enough to get food for my family, a roof over my head, clothing on my family and myself, power to my house, and gas in my car or money to ride the bus I am completely happy and that is what is important about money to me. It would be nice to have some extra here and there but as long as my family and I can survive that is all that matter. How would you pay your bills if you didn’t have money? How would sick children get the help they need without money? Both of these questions are questions that have been a big deal in my life. The answer to each is you would be able to. Even if you didn’t have money and you needed assistant that still involves someone donating the money. Money is an important aspect to everyone in this thing called life. Then again to other people money might be important in other ways. It all depends on who we are talking about when we ask the question â€Å"How important is money? † Without money we wouldn’t be able to go to school and prepare for life or get college degrees and further our educations. We wouldn’t be able to pay for medications that help heal us of any diseases or pain management. I do subscribe to the notion that money isn’t everything but I also believe that it is a major, critical facet of life today. If we can take the need for money out of our life’s equation then we will be free to live life as it’s meant to be lived but as long as it remains a means for survival nobody can tell me money isn’t important or doesn’t create an immense amount of unhappiness and stress. I think it’s very easy to say money isn’t important when you’ve got a lot of it but when you haven’t got it; it’s the most stressful part of living life. Many will argue that money is an object that, while making life a little easier, doesn’t or can’t buy happiness.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Let Us Grieve for the Women of Salem Essay -- Arthur Millers The Cruci

Featured in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a powerful dynamic between the levels of a maintained social hierarchy. There are shifts in the social hierarchy in the town of Salem even though the social hierarchy has been maintained and has existed for a long length of time. The attempts on this maintained structure are met with powerful retaliations that draw in all the members of the town of Salem, resulting in the deaths of many woman and men in the town. The Crucible reflects on the historical context of this struggle and shows what would happen if the status quo were changed. The play presents what people would do in order to hold on to the power that they are slowly losing through false pretense. The Salem witch trails were a society’s way of attempting to maintain a structure they are used to, using hysteria to help them grasp onto a dying conscience they once had and to explain what could not be explained. Today, the issues that are presented in this play, the so cial hierarchy and what is done to maintain it, still exist. The University of Toronto – Scarborough Campus’s theatre company performed The Crucible. The production followed Arthur Miller’s play showing the audience the fear and hysteria that ran through Salem during the witch trails. The importance of religion was evident just as the play opens up to hearing a prayer being spoken. Themes of paranoia, religion, and McCarthyism were present throughout the presentation. The overall acting and set provided the audience with a more intimate viewing of what happened throughout the Salem witch trails. The Crucible follows the events that occurred before and during the Salem Witch Trials. John Proctor, the protagonist of the play has to fight the hysteria that has t... ...Social welfare policy from colonial times to the present. South End Press, 1996. Web. 3. Apr. 2014. Jenrette, Jerra, et al. "Teaching the Salem witch trials through place and time." Historical Journal of Massachusetts 40.1-2 (2012): 212+. Academic OneFile. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. Kocić, Ana. "Salem Witch Craft Trials: The Perception of Women in History, Literature and Culture." Facta Universitatis 3.1 (2010): 17. Print. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. N.p., 1953. Print. Miller, Arthur. "Why I Wrote The Crucible: An Artist's Answer to Politics." The New Yorker27 Oct. 1996: n. pag. Print. The Crucible. By Miller. Dir. Paula Sperdakos. Leigha Lee Browne Theatre, UTSC. Friday, March 21, 2014. Performance. Schissel, Wendy. "Re(dis)covering the Witches in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: A Feminist Reading." Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations (2008): 55-67. Print.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Families in a Modern Society-Victorians

Victorian Times- 1837-1901 What do Victorian times mean? Victorian times means during Victoria's rule. The time Queen Victoria was on the throne. She ruled for 64 years. What was it like living in the Victorian times? There was no electricity, instead gas lamps or candles were used for light. There were no cars. People walked, travelled by boat or train or used coach horses to move from place to place. Why are the Victorians so famous? Britain managed to build a huge empire during the Victorian period. It was also a time of tremendous change in the lives of British people.In 1837 most people lived in villages and worked on the land; by 1901, most lived in towns and worked in offices, shops and factories. During Queen Victoria's reign: †¢Britain became the most powerful and richest country in the world, with the largest empire that had ever existed, ruling a quarter of the world's population. †¢Towns and cities got piped water, gas and, by the end of the century, electricity †¢The number of people living in Britain more than doubled from 16 million to 37 million, causing a huge demand for food, clothes and housing. Factories and machines were built to meet this demand and new towns grew up, changing the landscape and the ways people lived and worked. †¢Railways, originally built to transport goods, meant people could travel easily around the country for the first time. Railways brought new foods to towns and cities. †¢Many households had a servant or servants – in 1891, 2 million servants were recorded in the census †¢Seaside holidays were ‘invented' (became popular). †¢Police Force ‘invented'. †¢New cookers and gadgets for the home were invented.What was Family life like during the Victorian times? Your quality of life during the Victorian times depended on whether you were rich or poor. Rich Victorians enjoyed a good and easy life; Poor Victorians had a rough and hard life, often ending up in the workh ouse or early death. How many children did a normal Victorian family have? Families were usually large; in 1870 many families had five or six children. Victorian Children Life was not the same for all children during the Victorian times. The kind of life a child had in the Victorian times depended on its family.Children from working class families had few luxuries, ate poor food, worked long hours lived in damp, filthy conditions, many children died of disease. Children from rich families usually well fed, clean and well clothed, didn’t need to work, went on holidays, had expensive toys, and had pets such as ponies. What did child call his/her father? They called their fathers ‘sir ‘Each member of the family had their own role and children were taught to â€Å"know their place† and â€Å"be seen and not heard. Religion Region was very important to the Victorians.A great number of people went to church, at least once and probably twice, every Sunday. Food At the beginning of the Victorian period, people relied on the foods that were in season and available locally or those which had been pickled or preserved. Later, when the railways were built, many new fresh foods were available. The invention of the steam ship, and of transport refrigeration, meant that also meat, fish and fruit could be imported from overseas quite cheaply.There were no fridges and freezes in the homes to keep food for a long time, so meals were limited by small shops. Clothing Victorian people dressed appropriately to their age, and position in society Toys Poor families made their own, such as cloth-peg dolls and paper windmills. Rich Children Girls played with dolls and tea sets whilst boys played with toy soldiers and marbles. Housing Most cities and towns were not prepared for the great increase of people looking for accommodation to live near their work place.There was a shortage of houses; so many people had to share a room in other people’s houses. Rooms were rented to whole families or perhaps several families. Often ten or twelve people shared one room. If there were no rooms to rent, people stayed in lodging houses. Many factory owners built houses for their workers near their factories. The houses were built close together really quickly and cheaply. These houses often had two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs. They were not really big enough for the large families people tended to have during the Victorian time.The houses also did not have running water and toilets. Up to 100 houses had to share an outdoor pump to get their water and share an outside toilet. To make things worse, the water from the pump was often polluted. 21st century The 21st century is the current century (today) What is it like living in the 21st century times? We live in an exciting time. Never before in the history are there so many resources available for individuals. Never before in the history are there so many opportunities for us. Here, in the 21st century, lack of resources or opportunities is no longer a problem.The problem is how to take advantage of them We now have electricity, instead of gas lamps or candles. We have gas central heating for instant hot water and heat at the touch of a button. We have cars and public transport, people seldom walk. What is Family life like during the 21st century times? A mixture of different families in the modern society defines the 21st century life. One parent families, dysfunctional families, traditional families, nuclear families and reconstituted families. How many children are normal for the 21st century family have? Families of the 21st Century come in all shapes and sizes.Divorce, remarriage, parenting out-of-wedlock and a host of other variables have turned nuclear families into the exception rather than the norm. 21st Century Children The twenty-first century is known for its cool gadgets and gizmos MP3 Players, iPhones, DVD's. The surge in Internet use and social n etworking. From Facebook to My space, everyone is online, and hooking up with other likeminded individuals from all over the planet. Another important technological phenomenon is the widespread use of wireless technology. Children have many luxuries, eat well, do not work, go on holidays, have expensive toys, many have pets.Children live in clean, humane conditions; have vaccinations and medicines to protect against disease. Laws are in place to protect the health and safety of children. Food Improving people's health through healthy foods available 24-7 from supermarkets where everything is provided and available. Local shops are also available and Take always and cafes etc. For eating out. Clothing Ready to wear industry, expensive and unique fashion styles. Housing Housing is now provided by the local council for you and your family, sharing with other families and overcrowding is against the law.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Concept Analysis: Mentoring Nurse Managers

Mentoring is a multidimensional relationship that energizes personal and professional growth (Wagner and Seymour, 2007). The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of mentoring and the key role it plays in the development of nurse managers. Introduction Over the past 20 years the concept of mentoring has grown more popular in our workplaces. Many public service organizations, as well as, corporations have developed formal mentoring programs for both management and staff for the purpose of improving overall operations, productivity and overall commitment to the organizations goals. Mentoring is now being recognized in nursing and other healthcare fields. This concept analysis will attempt to clearly define the concept mentoring while differentiating it from precepting and clinical supervision. Finally, this article will discuss the importance of a mentoring program designed for developing managers. Definition While searching the literature, many articles regarding mentoring can be found in business and management journals but few are found in nursing and medical journals. In the nursing and medical journals the concept of mentoring appears murky. In some cases the terms mentoring, precepting and clinical supervision are used interchangeably. This leads to confusion and inaccuracy. The word mentor dates back to Greek Mythology. Mentor was a friend of Odysseus entrusted with the education of Odysseus’ son Telemachus. The Webster dictionary defines mentor as a trusted and wise counselor or guide, a tutor or coach (Give, 1966). Other definitions include, â€Å"a learning relationship†, â€Å"a critical companionship† and a process in which two or more people create a connection in a safe environment that allows healing truth and wisdom to be discovered (Wagner and Seymour, 2007). For the purposes of this paper we will use the following definition: Mentoring occurs when a senior person in terms of experience not necessarily age provides information, advice and emotional support for the mentee or protà ©gà © in a relationship lasting over an extended period of time and marked by emotional commitment by both parties. If the opportunity presents itself the mentor uses both formal and informal forms of influence to further the career path of the protà ©gà ©. (Bowen, 1985) The mentoring process consists of four steps: initiation, cultivation, separation and redefinition (Kram, 1983). The first stage involves the mentor and the mentee becoming acquainted and setting goals. During the cultivation stage, information is shared, problem solving, decisions and exploration of alternatives occur. During the separation stage, the mentee is empowered to move towards their goal and enhance their career path. In the final stage of redefinition, the mentor/mentee relationship evolves to a mutual friendship or the relationship is terminated. (Wagner and Seymour, 2007) As stated earlier mentoring should not be confused with the terms preceptor and clinical supervision. Clinical supervision is defined as the process whereby a practitioner reviews with another person his ongoing clinical work and relevant aspects of his own reactions to that work. It is also defines as a practice focused professional relationship involving a practitioner reflecting on practice while guided by a supervisor. (Lyth, 2000) Clinical supervision focuses on an individual situation. Once the goal is reached the process is complete. Precepting is defined as teaching job responsibilities and related tasks (Grossman, 2009). The precepting relationship is similar to that of a teacher and student. Once the task is learned sufficiently, the relationship ends. The precepting relationship is time limited in that the task must be learned within a certain timeframe. Attributes of Mentoring Walker and Avant define this step of concept analysis as showing the cluster of attributes most frequently associated with the concept (Walker and Avant, 2005). Some of the common attributes involved in mentoring are caring, self reflection, confidence and knowledge. In the literature search caring is addressed in every mentoring article I read. Every successful mentor/mentee relationship has a caring base. Consider Watson’s Theory of Human Caring, in the caring moment the caregiver and the cared – for share on a personal level and create a mutual opportunity for learning from each other (Watson, 1999). This statement mirrors the definition of mentoring. Self reflection is the process in which someone stops to re evaluate a situation or action after the occurrence of an event. This is done for the purposes of learning, self growth and self improvement. A good mentor realizes that during the process they too will learn a great deal. Confidence is believing in yourself and your abilities even in the face of adversity. A good mentor does not fear teaching or sharing information. Succession planning is not a threat, but rather, the opportunity to continue their work and legacy in the organization after retirement (Tagnes, Dumont, Rawlinson and Byrd, 2009) Finally, the mentor must possess mastery of knowledge in their area of expertise. If the mentor has no knowledge or information to share, the process cannot start. Antecedents Antecedents are those events or incidents that must occur prior to the occurrence of the concept (Walker and Avant, 2005). Two crucial antecedents to mentoring are the mentor and the mentee or protà ©gà ©. Without either party, the concept will not exist. The other critical antecedent is the mentor must possess knowledge and skills to be shared. Effective communication skills and interpersonal skills are also necessary. If adequate communication cannot occur, the mentoring relationship cannot develop. The mentor and mentee must also be committed to devoting time to the process. If there is no available time, the mentoring process cannot begin. Consequences Consequences are those events that result from the occurrence of the concept (Walker and Avant, 2005). Successful mentoring programs benefit an organization by: increasing retention, reducing turnover costs, improving productivity and enhancing professional development. Creating a mentoring culture continuously promotes individual and employee growth and development (Foster, 2008). Model Case Example Sally is a new nurse manager. During her orientation process, Paulette is her assigned preceptor. Paulette has been with the organization many years and has over 15 year’s management experience. She voluntarily offers her services as a mentor to many new managers. After meeting and discussing goals, they decide Sally needs assistance understanding the various roles of people in the organization and how their roles interact with one another. Paulette takes Sally with her to meet the various employees. She schedules luncheons and meetings with various departments so Sally can better understand their roles. She also brings Sally to the administrative meetings as well as the administrative picnic to learn how decisions are made. Sally is encouraged to voice ideas and concerns in these various sessions. Her input is well received. After approximately 6 months Sally now has a sense of confidence and feels comfortable handling many of the day to day situations presented to her. Although the formal mentoring program is complete, Sally still meets with Paulette every few weeks to discuss life and feels comfortable calling her for advice. Paulette also calls Sally from time to time for her opinion regarding situations. This example sites all of the necessary qualities for a positive mentor/mentee relationship. Illegitimate Case Model As Kim started her role as a manager, the administrator assigned her worthwhile and appropriate assignments and tasks to perform. She had the opportunity to attend a multitude of meeting and had some contact with the major staff. However, she was never invited to listen to informal conference calls or side meetings where all of the major decisions were made. She was not involved in the development of changes. She was however, told what need to be done by her administrator. She was not informed of any history behind decision making strategies. The administrator in this situation served as a preceptor not a mentor. She only took the time to teach tasks and failed to elicit input or encourage professional growth. Conclusion Mentoring is a multidimensional process that can be learned over time. It requires reflection, knowledge of self and profession, knowledge of mentoring process and skills, communication and social skills, practice and support (Vance, 2002). Qualities of a good mentor include: commitment, honesty, compassion, personal/professional ethics, expertise, energy, creativity, effective interpersonal and communication skills (Kappel, 2008). A good mentor is passionate about her work and is committed to helping the mentee successfully meet their goals. Communication between the mentor and mentee is open and honest in a positive caring environment for success to occur. A good mentor creates opportunities and opens doors. Mentors know your strengths and abilities. They do not set you up for failure. Mentors set an example through both their words and actions. Mentors want you to succeed and help you learn from your mistakes. Mentors want you to become independent. Mentoring nurse managers is crucial to the success and survival of nurses. The nursing profession is continually working to recruit more people into the field. Nurse retention can improve under the supervision of visionary nurse leaders because the environment created by their leadership is directly related to the success in retaining nurses (Colonghi, 2009). Nurse Managers need seasoned mentors to guide and nurture them to their full potential which promotes a supportive environment and give them the endurance to survive in difficult times. The mood, attitudes and examples set by the nurse manager set the tone and attitudes of the staff.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Roman Influence On Architecture Essays - Architectural Styles

Roman Influence On Architecture Essays - Architectural Styles Roman Influence On Architecture Roman Influence on Architecture The world of architecture has been greatly influenced and affected by Roman architectural design and development. Their innovative designs and influential developments developed centuries ago have provided a basis for architectural masterpieces found across the planet and, what's more, have remained relevant into the 21st Century. While the Romans borrowed many architectural designs from the Greeks and Etruscans, the additions that they did make to the world of architecture changed that world forever. Their invention of cement, their new use of arches and vaults, the development in aqueducts, and the development of road systems brought about change that affected not only the Roman Empire but also the many peoples that that great culture touched in its many travels and conquests. With the Roman invention of concrete in the first century BC and their growing understanding of the architectural principles of stress and counter-stress, Roman architects were able to experiment with new and elaborate forms of building, many of which were to pass in to the western architectural tradition. (Cunningham and Reich 156). Until this innovative development, architectural progress had been severely limited and restricted. Building designs, using traditional Grecian models within the post and lintel system, had allowed for limited change. With the development of concrete and the increased understanding of its uses and applications, Romans were able to erect structures that would have previously been impossible using the Grecian post and lintel system. It was also the Roman use of concrete that led the way to many other Roman innovations in architecture, most especially the use of arches and vaults. Prior to the use of arches, Greek and republican Roman temples had been relatively small, partly because of the difficulties involved in putting a roof on a large space, without the use of supports. The Romans found and developed a way to use internal arches (a curved structure that forms the upper edge of an open space, or the space between a bridge's supports (Arch)) and vaults (an arch-shaped structure, usually of masonry, used as the ceiling of a room or other enclosed space, as the roof of a building, or as the support for a ceiling or roof (Arch and Vault)) to provide roofs for structures of increasing size and complexity. This new innovative style was adopted by the Romans from the Etruscans, as early as the fifth century BC (Cunningham and Reich 156). Vaults used by the Romans were simple geometric forms: the barrel vault(semicircular in shape), the intersecting (groined) barrel vault, and the segmental vault. By the 1st century BC, extensive systems of vaulting were employed. A particularly fine example of Roman vaulting is the Basilica of Maxentius in Rome (Roman Architecture), and their influence on architectural styles in using the arch can be seen in modern day Washington Square in New York and the Champs Elysees in Paris (Cunningham and Reich 155). Building upon this development, after the second century, stone arches were commonly seen in bridges and aqueducts, there by giving birth to more major innovation. Because Rome covered such a large area and housed a massive population, it required a constant supply of water. The Romans were able to tackle this problem by creating a network of pipes that carried water from the surrounding hills, into the city of Rome. Ancient Rome was supplied by more than ten aqueducts, providing the city with some 38 million gallons of water each day (Tillery). This innovation led the way to future waterlines and sewer systems in the many places that Rome was to leave its influence, including Great Britain and France, many of which can still be seen today. Roman influence is also seen in Europe when looking at their modern day road systems. The Romans were the first civilization to make well-designed roads. This greatly increased the ability to expand because of the way roads were laid out. The major roads were constructed to keep the incredibly large empire linked so it would not fall. The Romans enhanced the roads by adding a number of things to the basic idea of roads, such as archways, city streets, and arch bridges (Road). It is easy to see, even in 21st Century contemporary

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Castigo por entrar ilegalmente a Estados Unidos

Castigo por entrar ilegalmente a Estados Unidos El cruce ilegal de la frontera para ingresar a los Estados Unidos tiene consecuencias migratorias graves e incluso puede tenerlas desde el punto de vista penal. Destacar que las consecuencias se producen tanto si se consigue el objetivo de ingresar como si se es agarrado en el intento.  ¿Quà © se considera ingreso ilegal a los Estados Unidos? En realidad, segà ºn las leyes migratorias constituye entrada ilegal varias acciones, entre ellas: cruzar por cualquier punto que no sea un control migratoriocruzar escondido en un vehà ­culo que sà ­ pasa por un control migratoriocruzar por un control migratorio utilizando una visa vlida pero que se obtuvo mintiendo cruzar utilizando un documento falso como visa, pasaporte o tarjeta de residenciacruzar con el documento de otra persona, como por ejemplo su pasaporte o cualquier otro.  ¿Cul es el castigo por cruzar ilegalmente 1 vez? El castigo por cruzar o intentar cruzar ilegalmente la frontera 1 sola vez comprende distintas penalidades como posible multa econà ³mica y/o posible condena de prisià ³n por un mximo de 2 aà ±os.   Adems, si no se consigue cruzar ilegalmente es muy posible que la remocià ³n de Estados Unidos tenga la forma de una expulsià ³n inmediata, que lleva como penalidad el castigo de no poder ingresar a Estados Unidos por 5 aà ±os. Tener en cuenta que incluso cuando ya ha pasado el tiempo de la penalidad es posible que sea especialmente difà ­cil obtener una visa no inmigrante porque se considera que la persona es inelegible. Esto se debe a que para pedir una visa no inmigrante con à ©xito uno de los requisitos es la de convencer al oficial consular ms all de toda duda de que el solicitante no tiene intencià ³n de quedarse en Estados Unidos. Y esto es particularmente difà ­cil cuando en el pasado se intentà ³ cruzar ilegalmente. Por otra parte, si el migrante consigue cruzar ilegalmente sin ser agarrado tiene que saber que sus problemas migratorios son reales. En primer lugar, es prioridad para ser removido de Estados Unidos, bien mediante una expulsià ³n inmediata o bien mediante un procedimiento formal de deportacià ³n, dependiendo del caso.   En segundo lugar, prcticamente todos los caminos para regularizar la situacià ³n mediante un ajuste de estatus estn cerrados. Esto es porque la persona se ha convertido en lo que se conoce como inadmisible. En la prctica esto quiere decir que incluso es imposible arreglar mediante el ajuste a personas que se casan de buena fe con ciudadanos americanos y tienen hijos ciudadanos. Por lo tanto habrà ­a que salir del paà ­s para ir a travà ©s de un procedimiento consular y ahà ­ hay otro problema que es que aplica el castigo de los 3 y de los 10 aà ±os. Por todas estas razones los indocumentados que ingresaron ilegalmente deben consultar con un abogado de confianza antes de iniciar temas de papelerà ­a porque en muchos casos no es posible obtenerlos de ninguna manera desde un punto de vista prctico. Es cierto que hay abiertos algunos cauces abiertos, como por ejemplo el asilo que cada vez es ms complicado especialmente cuando se solicita en la zona de la frontera o las visas U para và ­ctimas de violencia que cumplen requisitos estrictos, VAWA para và ­ctimas de violencia domà ©stica o casos como la visa T por trfico humano o el programa de juveniles para menores de 21 aà ±os que han sido abusados y/o abandonados por sus padres. Segà ºn la ley actual los à ºnicos migrantes indocumentados que ingresaron ilegalmente y que estn protegidos frente a la deportacià ³n son los muchachos conocidos como Dreamers y que tienen aprobada una medida que se conoce como Accià ³n Diferida (DACA, por sus siglas en inglà ©s).  ¿Quà © sucede cuando se ingresa o se intenta ingresar ilegalmente 2 o ms veces? Las consecuencias civiles, es decir multas, penales y migratorias son ms graves que en el caso anterior. En primer lugar, multa econà ³mica de entre $50 a $250 dà ³lares, si bien esa cantidad se multiplica por 2 si previamente se castigà ³ a ese migrante con una multa por razà ³n de ingreso ilegal. En segundo lugar, puede haber pena de crcel, a entender de la siguiente manera: Las personas expulsadas o deportadas previamente de Estados Unidos por razà ³n de seguridad nacional, por ejemplo por pertenecer a pandillas, sern multados y/o condenados a prisià ³n por un mximo de 10 aà ±os. Si tiene ms de una condena, deber cumplirlas sucesivamente, es decir, no se permite la acumulacià ³n de condenas. Las personas expulsadas o deportadas de USA por 3 o ms faltas o por 1 delito si estos estn relacionados con drogas o delitos contra las personas sern castigadas con multa y/o prisià ³n por un mximo de 10 aà ±os. Las personas deportadas por un delito agravado pueden ser castigadas con multa y/o un mximo de 20 aà ±os en prisià ³n. Adems, en estos casos la reentrada o intento es considerada por sà ­ mismo un delito agravado. Finalmente, las personas deportadas por un delito no violento pueden ser castigadas por un mximo de 10 aà ±os de prisià ³n. En tercer lugar, hay importantes efectos migratorios ya que se produce la penalidad de la prohibicià ³n permanente para ingresar a Estados Unidos. Esto aplica en 2 casos: Cuando una persona ha pasado ms de 1 aà ±o ilegalmente en los Estados Unidos, todo el tiempo junto o de varias veces, despuà ©s sale y despuà ©s ingresa ilegalmente.Cuando una persona ha sido removida de los Estados Unidos e ingresa o intenta ingresar ilegalmente. Esto quiere decir que en la inmensa mayorà ­a de los casos nunca jams se podr regresar a los Estados Unidos legalmente. En casos excepcionales podrà ­a ser posible solicitar y obtener un perdà ³n para que se permita aplicar por una visa no inmigrante o una visa inmigrante si se califica para una. Si bien es siempre necesario vivir un mà ­nimo de 10 aà ±os fuera de los Estados Unidos antes de poder siquiera solicitar una autorizacià ³n para poder aplicar por la visa.  ¿Quà © leyes aplican para los casos de ingreso ilegal? Para estos casos aplican la Seccià ³n 275 de la Ley de Inmigracià ³n y Nacionalidad, conocida en inglà ©s por las siglas INA o el Tà ­tulo Octavo de la Seccià ³n 1235 del Cà ³digo de Estados Unidos (U.S.C., por sus siglas en inglà ©s). Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Talk about philosophies and theories behind entrepreneurial behavior Essay

Talk about philosophies and theories behind entrepreneurial behavior - Essay Example Organization is very significant since it permits coordination between all other aspects vital in production (Marshal, 1994). The chosen entrepreneur plans and manages his firm from all-organizational and product delivery aspects. When he gets a chance to design an intricate website, he hires interim web designers to work on the job as he looks for other business opportunities. The entrepreneur has the tenet of not getting any money before the project is completed. Through innovation and organized manner, the entrepreneur establishes a new commodity and product enhancement. The business strategy of developing a long-term commodity seems to be viable for the entrepreneur (Marshal, 1994). In order to attain long-term commodity, he must comprehend the product in details. Further, need to predict transformations in product demands in the market. In addition, he needs to have full information about the risky environment that the product might operate. From the author’s findings, it is clear that the entrepreneur is working on improvement of the website by including new technology such as three dimensions. If this technology is implemented, it will create increased demand and in turn, he will develop a reputation of being the first Omani pioneer organization to use three-dimension technology. In reference to the Marshal theory, which asserts that skills and knowledge of entrepreneurship are infrequent and limited, he also maintains that a few people can show such skills in practical. Despite this people can undergo training to achieve these skills and knowledge but it is always reliant on business environment and economic condition. The demand for three-dimension technology is on the rise in Omani but due to lack of resources, the technology has not been fully implemented. Despite this several academic institutions offers courses on web design, which increases people knowledge about the technology. In reference

Thursday, October 31, 2019

The Impact of Welfare on the Country Economics Essay - 157

The Impact of Welfare on the Country Economics - Essay Example The economic conditions that the world was served within the Post First World War were a mere recipe for the disaster, frustration, and anguish within. Pestilence, crippled bodies, handicapped people, unemployment, no pays for the soldiers, empty stocks all were the outlook of the different European societies. The Economic Crunch that hit the World towards the late 1920s decayed the overall structure of social and economic outfit in a further uglier manner (Brassley et.al, 2012, p. 115). The certain clauses and actions taken by the League towards the defeated nations led to the hostile mindset creation within. For example, Germany was left high and dry, which in turn rose the spirit of revenge and vendetta against the European superpowers. Austria and Hungry were segmented within and left underdeveloped. The spoils of the First World War went directly into the hands of the Big Four namely Great Britain, France, Russia, and Italy. Each aimed at maximizing its gains from the war, which in turn led to the imbalance in the distribution. The establishment of Yugoslavia was another area of weakness with regard to the miss calculation in the overall assessment of a situation that was at hand. The other major events that developed towards the post First World War were the jingoism of the Japanese nation. The attacks on Manchuria by Japan were one of the events marked as an act of hostility towards global peace. The weakness of the League on the basis of the fact that major nations stayed away from it, or left it during the midway made it further weaker in its outlook. The absence of the United States of America from the overall environment of hostility did not help the global perspective and European political affairs.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

An author thesis paper on 4 of J.D Salingers works Term

An author thesis on 4 of J.D Salingers works - Term Paper Example This paper will, therefore, attempt to connect Salinger’s portrayal of children’s innocence based on the four works as named above. We will do a book-by book analysis of his depiction of children to come to a common conclusion... 2.0. Discussion. 2.1. The Catcher in the Rye. This novel was originally written for the adult audience. The book’s adolescent themes such as teenage alienation, confusion, angst, and rebellion however, found more favour among the youth, turning it into a teenage novel. The novel begins with Holden’s narration of events in the past at his school. Through the narration, we see Holden as a victim of circumstances when he loses his school’s football team equipment in the subway prior to the football match that afternoon leading to subsequent cancellation of the match. As a result, he is suspended from school until after Christmas (Crawford 26). Although Holden escaped from school to the Edmont hotel in New York, it is in a bid to get away from conflict and confrontation with his school mates as he engages in a fight with his roommate Stradlater. Later, Holden develops sexual desires and ends up with a prostitute in his room. This is quite innocent and coming of Holden who is in his adolescence, full of desire for sexual exploration. When he brings the prostitute to his room, he does not judge her as harsh as society does as to him, she is just a normal human being who deserves right treatment and respect. Even when she leaves without him having slept with her, he still pays him and thanks her for coming. This shows the innocence of a boy just caught up in the developments of life. Holden engages in drink after his friend, Sally, refuses to elope with him. This he does out of pure frustrations as his sexuality is at peak, but does not wish to enjoy it with anyone but that whom he loves, which is Sally. When he rejects his innocent desire to have her all alone to himself, he has no one to talk to and the on ly way he can deal with the frustration is by drinking it down. His frustrations force him into his parent’s house to see and talk to his sister, Phoebe. The two talk and Holden shares his innocently misinterpreted wish to be a catcher of children in the rye to help prevent them from losing their innocence (Crawford 43). While at Mr. Antolini’s house, Holden is disgusted at what he thinks is a homosexual move by the host toward him. This shows that despite Holden’s sexuality at peak, he regards some things such as homosexuality as immoral and that it should not be tolerated when he leaves Antolini’s house immediately. His allusions toward the end of the novel about being mentally ill and living in a mental hospital shows an innocent childish wish to stay away from the realities of life by staying secluded in a place of no reality. As was his dream to save the children in the rye from the harshness of life, so does he wish to forever stay in the innocence of childhood. 2.2. Franny and Zooey. Franny and Zooey are brother and sister, the youngest members of the glass family. Zooey is a genius while Franny

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Blood Donation Safety Procedures: An Overview

Blood Donation Safety Procedures: An Overview Qualification of blood donors has become a lengthy and detailed process, a donor inquisition some would say. Yet blood collection depends on this system of safeguards to protect the donor from injury and the recipient from the risks of allogeneic blood. Sensitive screening tests have been considered the cornerstone of blood safety for more than three decades. However, testing represents only one component of this system. Additional layers of safety include following measures:- Detailed donor education programmes prior to recruitment, Pre-donation informational literature, Stringent donor screening selection and deferral procedures, Post-donation product quarantine Donor tracing and notification when instances of disease transmission are detected. Each element plays a role in preventing tainted units from entering the blood inventory. Most transfusion services have developed evidence-based standards and regulations for the selection of donors and quality systems to assure excellence in all phases of their application. Other standards derive from expert opinion and common sense, and these policies need to be revisited as scientific information becomes available. Blood donors should have the following general qualifications:- They should have reached the age of consent, most often 18 years, but 17 in some countries such as the USA and the UK; They should be in good health, They should have no history of serious illness, Must weigh enough to allow safe donation of a unit and not recognize themselves as being at risk of transmitting infection. Ideally, donation should be strictly voluntary and without financial incentive. Some blood services impose an arbitrary upper limit on age, commonly 65 years, or up to age 70 in Denmark and the UK; however, it seems curiously subjective to exclude donors on the basis of age alone if they are otherwise in good health. The Blood Collection Service should provide informational literature for prospective blood donors. After information and counselling about criteria for donor selection, donors should consent in writing to the terms of donation, including the use of the donated  blood, the extent of testing, the use of testing results (including donor notification of positive results) and the future use of any stored specimens. Donors should be told about the possibility of delayed fainting and about other significant risks of the donation procedure. Blood donation has potential medicolegal consequences. If a donor becomes ill shortly after giving blood, the illness may be attributed to blood donation For this reason, among others, it is important to ensure that donors have no history of medical conditions such as brittle diabetes, hypertension, poorly controlled epilepsy and unstable cardiopulmonary disease that might be associated with an adverse event following phlebotomy. Pregnancy might be adversely affected by the donation process and ordinarily excludes a donor. Donors who become ill within 2 weeks of donation should be encouraged to inform the transfusion service, which may wish to discard the donated blood, recall any plasma sent for fractionation or follow up recipients of the blood components as appropriate. Donors who develop hepatitis or HIV infection within 3-6 months of donation should also i nform the Blood Collection Service. Donor interview The donor interview should be conducted by staff trained and qualified to administer questions and evaluate responses. The donor interview should be conducted in a setting sufficiently unhurried and private as to permit discussion of confidential information. With current practices in the USA, approximately 2% of volunteer donors still disclose risks that would have led to deferral at the time of donation. Introduction of standardized and validated questionnaires and the application of interactive computer-assisted audiovisual health history may reduce errors and misinterpretations during conduct of the donor interview. Physical examination Blood collectors perform a limited physical examination designed to protect donor and recipient. Screeners routinely assess the donors general appearance and defer those who do not appear well or are under the influence of alcohol. A normal range of pulse and blood pressure is defined, although variances may be granted for healthy athletes. Body weight and temperature are measured by some collection services. Both arms are examined for evidence of illicit drug use and for lesions at the venepuncture site. Volume of donation The volume of anticoagulant solutions in collection bags is calculated to allow for collection of a particular volume of blood, which, in the UK, is 450  ± 45 ml. In the USA often 500 ml, but in no case more than 10.5 ml/kg including the additional volume of 20-30 ml of blood collected into pilot tubes. From donors weighing 41-50 kg, only 250 ml of blood is collected into bags in which the volume of anticoagulant solution has been appropriately reduced. In some countries, the volume collected routinely is less than 450 ml, for example 350-400 ml in Turkey, Greece and Italy, and 250 ml in some Asian countries such as Japan, where donors tend to be smaller. Record-keeping It should be possible to trace the origin of every blood donation and records should be kept for several years, depending on the guidelines for each country. In many countries, a system employing unique bar-coded eyereadable donation numbers is now in use. This system makes it possible to link each donation to its integral containers and sample tubes and to the particular donor session record. Information concerning previous donations, such as records of blood groups and microbiology screening tests, antibodies detected, donor deferrals and adverse reactions are important for subsequent attendances. Electronic storage of donor information greatly facilitates accurate identification, release, distribution and traceability of units of blood and blood products. An international code, ISBT 128, is intended to be used by all countries for the accurate identification of donors and donations. These records must be protected from accidental destruction, modification or unauthorized access. Frequency of donors in the population Although in many Western countries, some 60% of the population are healthy adults aged 18-65 years and thus qualified to be blood donors, the highest annual frequency of donation in the world corresponds to about 10% of the population eligible to give blood donating once per year, as in Switzerland. The frequency in most developing countries is less than 1% . The number of units collected per 1000 US inhabitants of usual donor age (18-65) was 88.0 in 2001, up from 80.8 in 1999. Although this number compares favourably with the rate of 72.2 per 1000 in 1997, it pales in comparison with the 100 units per 1000 population collected in Switzerland. As treacherous as it may be to interpret these figures, the numbers suggest that US collecting facilities are progressively improving efficiency. Data from the American National Red Cross indicate that the average volunteer donates about 1.7 times a year. Losses from outdated red cells accounted for 5.3% of the supply but, given the fact that r ed cells can be transfused only to compatible recipients, the number of usable units outdated appears to be extremely small. More than 99% of group O units and 97% of group A units were transfused. The shrinking donor pool: the safety vs. availability conundrum Donor deferrals and miscollected units have an increasing role in blood shortages. In a 1-year study at a regional blood centre, nearly 14% of prospective donors were ineligible on the day of presentation and more than 3.8% of donations did not result in the collection of an acceptable quantity of blood. Short-term deferral for low haemoglobin (Hb) was the overwhelming reason for the deferral of female donors in all age groups, representing more than 50% of all short-term deferrals. In first-time female donors, low Hb accounted for 53-67% of deferrals within different age groups, and for repeat female donors 75-80% of deferrals. In both firsttime and repeat male donors aged 40 years and older, the most common reason for short-term deferral was blood pressure or pulse outside allowed limits. For persons aged 16-24 years, regardless of sex and donation  status, the most common reason for lengthy deferral was tattoo, piercing or other non-intravenous drug use needle exposure. For 25- to 39-year-old female donors, needle exposure was also the most common reason, whereas for male donors, travel to a malarial  area was more common. For all ages over 40, the most common reason for long-term deferral was travel to a malarial area. Measures introduced to increase blood safety may  have the unintended consequence of decreasing blood availability. Results from demographic studies indicate that certain donor groups or donor sites present an unacceptable risk of disease transmission. For example, blood collectors no longer schedule mobile drives at prisons or institutions for the disabled because of the recognized high prevalence of transfusion-transmissible viruses. Few would argue the risk-benefit analysis of these exclusions. More questionable were the temporary exclusions of US soldiers exposed to multiple tick bites at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, and the lengthy deferrals of veterans who served in Iraq and Kuwait because of the fear that they might harbour Leishmania donovani, an agent infrequently associated with transfusion risk. Donors who have received human growth hormone injections have been indefinitely deferred because of the possible risk of transmitting Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease (CJD); however, relatives of patients with sporadic CJD are still deferred in the US (except for preparation of plasma fractions) despite evidence of their safety. There have now been five case-control studies of more than 600 CJD cases, two look-back studies of recipients of CJD products, two autopsy studies of patients with haemophilia and mortality surveillance of 4468 CJD deaths over 16 years without any link to transmission by transfusion (Centers for Bio logic Evaluation and Research, US Food and Drug Administration 2002). Although the impact of this deferral on the US blood supply has been negligible, the recent indefinite deferral of donors who resided in the UK for a total of 3 months or longer between 1980 and 1996, and the complicated deferral policy for residents and visitors to the European continent, designed to reduce a calculated risk of transmission of the human variant of mad cow disease (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, vCJD), has had a substantial impact, a loss of as much as 10% by some estimates, particularly on apheresis donors (Custer et al. 2004). Additional donor exclusions appear to be on the horizon. Donor medications constitute another significant area of deferral losses. Certain medications, for example etretinate (Tegison), isotretinoin (Accutane), acitretin (Soriatane), dutasteride (Avodart) and finasteride (Proscar), have been identified as posing potential risk to transfusion recipients because of their teratogenic potential at low plasma concentrations. Such exclusions have little impact on blood safety but each shrinks the potentially eligible volunteer donor pool. More troublesome, although not as numerous, are donor deferrals resulting from false-positive infectious disease screening tests. This problem has been recognized since the introduction of serological tests for syphilis. However, during the past 15 years, the introduction of new screening tests and testing technologies has resulted in numerous deferrals for questionable test results and either complex re-entry algorithms or no approved method to requalify such donors. Surrogate tests used for screening have pro ved particularly troublesome. However, even specific tests result in inappropriate deferrals. Of initial disease marker-reactive donations, 44% proved to be indeterminate or false positive. Each year an estimated 14000 donors are deferred from donating blood for an indefinite period because of repeatedly reactive enzyme immunoassay (EIA) screening tests for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), and several hundred donors are deferred for apparently false-positive nucleic acid testing (NAT) results. Registry of bone marrow donors Voluntary blood donors are highly suitable to become bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell donors for unrelated recipients, and many transfusion services now recruit them for this purpose. From its founding in 1986 until August 2003, the National Marrow Donor Program in the USA had registered more than 5 million bone marrow and blood stem cell donors, and Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide in the Netherlands records more than 8 million donors from 51 registries in 38 countries. Standards for acceptance of stem cell donors are based on blood donor eligibility. A uniform donor history is being developed. Conditions that may disqualify a donor Carriage of transmissible diseases The most important infectious agents transmissible by transfusion are the hepatitis viruses B and C, HIV, human T-lymphotropic viruses (HTLVs), bacteria and the agents causing malaria and Chagas disease. Increasing attention is being paid to the risks of emerging agents and newly recognized infectious risks of transfusion such as West Nile virus, babesiosis and vCJD. Steps that should be taken to minimize the risk of infecting recipients with the agents of these and other diseases involve exclusion based on geographical residence, signs and symptoms of disease, high-risk activity and demographics associated with risk transmission. Donors who have been exposed to an infectious disease and are at risk of developing it should be deferred for at least the length of the incubation period. Recent inoculations, vaccinations, etc. To avoid the possibility of transmitting live viruses (e.g. those of measles, mumps, rubella, Sabin oral polio vaccine, yellow fever, smallpox), donors should not give blood during the 3 weeks following vaccination. In subjects immunized with killed microbes or with antigens (cholera, influenza, typhoid, hepatitis A and B, Salk polio, rabies, anthrax, tick-borne and Japanese encephalitis) or toxoids (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis), the interval is normally only 48 h. These recommendations apply if the donor is well following vaccination. Plasma from recently immunized donors may be useful for the manufacture of specific immunoglobulin preparations. Donors who have received immunoglobulins after exposure to infectious agents should not give blood for a period slightly longer than the incubation period of the disease in question. If hepatitis B immunoglobulin has been given after exposure to the virus, donation should be deferred for 9 months to 1 year; similarly, if tetanus immunoglo bulin has been given, donation  should be deferred for 4 weeks. When rabies vaccination follows a bite by a rabid animal, blood donations should be suspended for 1 year. In developed countries, tetanus and diphtheria immunoglobulin is derived from human sources. However, horse serum is still  used in some parts of the world. Donors who have received an injection of horse serum within the previous 3 weeks should not donate blood because traces of horse serum in their blood might harm an allergic recipient. The administration of normal human immunoglobulin before travelling to countries where hepatitis A is endemic is not a cause for deferral. Group O subjects may develop very potent haemolytic anti-A following an injection of tetanus toxoid, typhoid-paratyphoid (TAB), vaccine or pepsindigested horse serum, which may contain traces of hog pepsin. In the past, the use of such subjects as universal donors sometimes led to severe haemolytic transfusion reactions in group A subjects. Platelet concentrates collected by apheresis from subjects with hyperimmune anti-A should not be used for transfusion to group A or AB patients in view of the large volume of plasma needed to suspend the platelet concentrate. Ear-piercing, electrolysis, tattooing, acupuncture   All of these procedures carry a risk of transmission of hepatitis or HIV infection when the equipment used is not disposable or sterilized, and blood donation should then be deferred for 12 months. In the UK, donors are accepted if the acupuncture is performed by a registered medical practitioner or in a hospital. Although  the association between tattooing and exposure to hepatitis C is generally acknowledged, less clear is whether a tattoo performed by licensed and inspected facilities carries more risk than a trip to the dentists surgery. Allergic subjects Subjects who suffer from very severe allergy are unacceptable as donors because their hypersensitivity may be passively transferred to the recipient for a short period. Subjects with seasonal allergy (e.g. hay fever) may donate when not in an active  phase of their hypersensitivity. A screening test for immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies would not help to identify those allergic individuals with an increased chance of passively transferring their hypersensitivity. Blood transfusions and tissue grafts Donations should not be accepted for at least 12 months after the subject has received blood, blood components or grafts. Increasingly, donors who have received transfusion in the UK are being deferred indefinitely as a precaution against transmission of vCJD. Surgery and dental treatment When surgery has been carried out without blood transfusion, donation may be considered when the subject has fully recovered. Uncomplicated dental treatments and extractions should not be a cause for prolonged deferral, as utensils are sterilized and the  risk of bacteraemia persisting for more than 1 h is negligible. Medication Many subjects taking medication are not suitable as donors because of their underlying medical condition. Others are unsuitable as donors because the drugs they are taking, for example anticoagulants or cytotoxic agents, may harm the recipients. Subjects who have taken aspirin within the previous week are unsuitable when theirs are the only platelets to be given to a particular recipient. Ingestion of oral contraceptives or replacement hormones such as thyroxine is not a disqualification for blood donation. On the other hand, recipients of human growth hormone (non-recombinant) should be permanently deferred from blood donation as should subjects who have used illicit injected drugs. Deferral for specific medication use is usually an issue of medical discretion. Donors with relatively minor red cell abnormalities In some populations, a considerable number of donors have an inherited red cell abnormality. The three conditions most likely to be encountered are: glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency, sickle trait (HbAS) and thalassaemia trait. G-6-PD deficiency. This is the most common red cell enzyme defect; hundreds of molecular variants have been catalogued. Although most G-6-PD-deficient red cells have only slightly subnormal survival and lose viability on storage with adenine at only a slightly increased rate (Orlina et al. 1970), some enzyme variants render the cells unsuitable for transfusion. With the African variant GdA- present in 10% of African  Americans, a relatively small number of red cells are severely affected. However, the Mediterranean variant GdMediterranean and others render the red cell particularly  sensitive to oxidative stress. If the recipient of one of these units develops an infectious illness or ingests fava beans or one of any number of drugs (ph enacetin, sulfonamides, vitamin K, primaquine, etc.), rapid destruction of the donors G-6-PD-deficient cells may  result. Neonatologists avoid using G-6-PD-deficient blood for exchange transfusion, and subjects who have evidenced G-6-PD-related haemolysis should be permanently deferred from donation (Beutler 1994). Sickle trait (HbAS). Sickle trait red cells survive normally in healthy subjects, even after storage. However,  in patients subject to various types of hypoxic stress, these cells survive poorly. HbS polymerizes at low oxygen tension and the cells are trapped in the spleen. Blood from donors with sickle cell trait should not be used for infants or for patients with  sickle cell disease who undergo exchange transfusion. Patients, other than those with sickle Hb, who require general anaesthesia should have no problems if transfused  with HbAS red cells provided that adequate oxygenation is maintained. Red cells from subjects with HbAS are usually unaffected by collection via apheresis,  but those with sickling haemoglobinopathies should not donate by apheresis and are not suitable for intraoperative salvage. If blood from donors with sickle cell trait is  glycerolized for storage in the frozen state, extra wash solution must be used during the deglycerolization procedure. Sickle trait prevents ef fectiveWBC reduction by filtration. Thalassaemia trait This is associated with little or no reduction in red cell lifespan in most subjects with a normal Hb concentration and these subjects may be accepted as donors. Special conditions in which normally disqualified donors may donate In some circumstances, a donor may give blood or components to be used for a special purpose, even although the requirements for normal donation are not met. For example, a donor who is mildly anaemic or who has recently given birth may give plasma or  platelets by apheresis; the plasma may be needed for reagent preparation, for example HLA antibodies, or the platelets may be needed for transfusion to the newborn infant. Donors at risk for carrying malaria may give plasma for fractionation. The usual interval  between donations may be waived for important medical indications. The donor age limitation and a number of other screening criteria may be modified for components directed to the recipient of the donors bone marrow. In every case, medical evaluation should ensure that there is no increased risk to the donors health and that the value of the component outweighs any perceived increase in risk. Under these circumstances, informed consent regarding the variance and documentati on of the circumstances is mandatory. Donation of whole blood Frequency of donation The volume lost from a single unit donation is replaced within 48-72 h. Red cell mass recovers more slowly, requiring 3-6 weeks. Some collection services bleed donors no more than two or three times a year; most do not bleed women who are pregnant or those who have been pregnant within the previous 6 weeks. The primary objective of this policy is to protect the donor from iron deficiency. There is a wide variation in the recommended minimum interval between donations. For example in the US, in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, the interval can be as short as 8 weeks and a maximum of 3 l of blood per year may be collected. Premenopausal women should not donate as frequently as men. In the Netherlands, men are bled every 3 months and women every 6 months. Because few red cells are lost during platelet and plasmapheresis, these procedures may be performed more often and at shorter intervals. Standards vary by country; in the USA plateletpheresis donors may be dr awn every 48 h up to twice per week and 24 times per year. Commercial plasmapheresis donors are bled even more frequently; however, physical examination is more rigorous and laboratory testing more extensive for these donors. As combinations of components, such as two-unit red cells, are drawn by apheresis, volumes and intervals become individualized, but generally limited by the loss of red cells. Hb regeneration after normal blood donation In 14 normal healthy subjects bled of about 400 ml of blood (8% of their blood volume), circulating reticulocytes increased minimally but significantly and peaked on the ninth day after bleeding. The Hb level was lowest 1 or 2 weeks after bleeding, and increased rapidly thereafter, reaching predonation levels at 3-4 weeks (Fig. 1.1). In a study in which total red cell volumes were measured in subjects who had donated about 190 ml of red cells, about 50 ml of red cells were restored after 1 week and restoration was  almost complete at 6 weeks. Potential health benefits of blood donation For the volunteer donor, the chief benefit lies in the satisfaction of selfless concern for the welfare of others. However, two studies suggest that there may be more tangible health benefits, particularly for middle-aged men, such as lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease. The proffered explanation derives from the so-called iron hypothesis: menstrual iron loss protects women against cardiovascular disease; iron stores correlate with cardiovascular disease across European populations and heart failure is a hallmark of disorders of iron surplus (Sullivan 1981). One proposed mechanism for this association is generation of oxygen free radicals that induce oxidation of lipids. However  the Johns Hopkins Hospital autopsy registry found less coronary artery disease in hearts from patients with haemochromatosis and haemosiderosis than in hearts of age- and sex-matched controls. Salonen and co-workers (1998) conducted a prospective 9-year follow-up study of 2862 men aged 42-60 from eastern Finland, who had participated in the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study. Only one man out of 153 who had donated blood in the 24 months prior to baseline examination suffered a myocardial infarction, compared  with 316 (12.5%) of the 2529 non-donors. Meyers and co-workers (1997) compared the rate of cardiovascular events of 665 blood donors with that of  3200 non-donors in a telephone survey of a cohort selected from the Nebraska Diet Heart Survey. By multivariate analysis, non-smoking men who had donated at least once in the previous 3 years had a significantly lowered risk of cardiovascular events; no additional benefit was derived from longer or more frequent donation. Directed donations are those given exclusively for named patients, usually by relatives or friends. The use of directed donations contravenes the normal principles of voluntary blood donation, fails to increase  safety and finds medical justification in vanishingly few circumstances: in patients with rare blood groups when the only available compatible donors may be close relatives; in occasional patients awaiting renal transplants, for whom donor-specific transfusions may still play a role; in infants with neonatal alloimmune  thrombocytopenia or haemolytic disease of the newborn, for whom maternal platelets or red cells are occasionally invaluable; (4) in children requiring open-heart or extensive orthopaedic surgery, for whom the total requirements for blood and components can be collected preoperatively, as for autologous transfusion but from designated relatives or parents, thus minimizing the number of donor units to which the children are exposed in  patients with leukaemia in relapse after bone marrow transplantation, for whom donor leucocytes are used as adoptive immunotherapy to induce graft-versusleukaemia  (GvL) effect. The practice of transfusing parental blood to premature newborn infants is not without risks. Mothers may have antibodies against antigens (inherited from the father) on the infants red cells, platelets or white cells and maternal plasma should not be used. Fathers should not serve as cell donors because they may have antigens present on their red cells, which are incompatible with maternally derived antibodies present in  the fetus. Moreover, in view of partial histocompatibility, transfusion of cells from parents and close relatives may result in graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) in  the infants, or older children, especially if the infants are immunodeficient. Circumstances such as these, in which blood or platelet suspensions should be irradiated, are described in. The practice of transfusing parents with blood from their offspring can also be dangerous. Fatal GvHD occurred in two immunocompetent adult patients who  were transfused with fresh whole non-irradiated blood from their children during cardiac surgery. In both cases, one of the donors was homozygous for one of the recipients HLA haplotypes. When such transfusions are indicated, and except for instances in which adoptive immunotherapy is intended, the components should be treated with 25 Gy gamma irradiation. People who donate for friends and family lose their  anonymity and may be subject to influences not placed upon community donors. Such donors may provide less than candid answers to sensitive donor questions, either because they believe that unsafe blood will inevitably be detected by testing procedures or because they wish to conceal information from the recipient or the blood collector.