Rawaa Alhousari (AutoRecovered) (AutoRecovered) Essays - Diets

Rawaa Alhousari (AutoRecovered) (AutoRecovered) Essays - Diets Rawaa Alhousari ESL 151 Research paper 5/18/17 Is low carb-diet healthier than low fat-diet? "take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live," by jim rhon "Change your mind to change your body," it is a quote which summarize the one and only way to be healthy. I f you have ever tried to lose weight, you have probably gotten drawn into the argument over whether it is better to cut carbs or fat from your diet. Low-fat diet higher in carbohydrate and restricted in fat such as grain starchy vegetables and fruit . On the other hand, l ow-carb diet emphasizes foods high in protein and fat and limits carbohydrate . In order t o have a successful diet, you need to understand how food and nutrition effect your body. Cutting fat from your food, has been for a long time the best and healthy way for healthy heart and l oss weight. Even though most nutritionist and dietitians recommend low-fat diet for their patients , recent studies show that low-carb diets have much more beneficial effects in the body such as lose weight, store energy, and stay healthy. Kevin Hall at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases argues that increase fat in the body will cause all kind of health problem, especially heart disease as well as obesity. He says, "That theory, as it stands - that very stron g claim - is certainly not true " (online, qtd. In "you don't need). He thinks that this increase of fat in the body will absolutely lead to chronic diseases. An article in LA Times by Axel F. Sigurdsson "[ a diet] contain high amount of saturated fat and cholesterol may cause unfavorable changes in blood lipids and thereby incr ease the risk of heart diseases " (print) . It is true that low-carb diet insists to eat a lot of fat which it as kno wn can cause chronic diseases. H owever, it reduces the production of insulin which increase burning fat. In addition, low-carb diet lower blood Triglyc erides and the LDL cholesterol which is bad and raised the HD L cholesterol which is good . Other research finds that diets rich in protein can help fighting some common diseases. A 2012 study published in The American Journal of Epidemiology showed that low-carb diet help reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome and heart disease (Dr. Axe) . The study found that both low-carb and low-fat diets improved metabolic risk factor. However, people who on low-carb diet experience an increase in HDL cholesterol and decrease the triglycerides. In fact, this study proved that such a diet higher in fat can beat heart diseases as same as diets lowered in fat. Type-2- diabetes Furthermore, low-carb diet lower the risk of Type-2 Diabetes. A 2005 study published in The Upsala Journal of Medical Science showed a significant effect on the glucose level in the people who followed low-carb diet (Dr. Axe) Cancer obesity, osteoporosis, and diabetes. The two main reasons why low-carb diets are so effective for weight lose are the high protein content and low level insulin. A Johns Hopkins University study found that a diet rich of protein can reduce blood pressure, LDL cholesterol levels, and triglycerides better than a traditional higher-carb diet. In addition, it's obviously that protein can re duce appetite . Thus, it leads to reduction in calorie intake. By Cutting carb, body's insulin , hormone that regulates blood sugar level and stores energy, d rop down, and that is essential in order to burn fat. Because of the reduction in water weight for those who follow low-carb diet, people tend to lose more weight. There are two reasons behind that. Fist, the insulin level goes down which cause the kidneys to release some sodium along with water. Second, the glycogen stores in the muscle and liver goes down along with the water they are holding on. S ome might use this as an argument against low-carb diet. However, reduced water weight should be consider ed an advantage. Some studies that compared low-carb and low-fat showed that people who followed the low-carb diet lost more of the body fat,

Using Delphi Queries With ADO

Using Delphi Queries With ADO The TADOQuery component provides Delphi developers the ability to fetch data from one or multiple tables from an ADO database using SQL. These SQL statements can either be DDL (Data Definition Language) statements such as CREATE TABLE, ALTER INDEX, and so forth, or they can be DML (Data Manipulation Language) statements, such as SELECT, UPDATE, and DELETE. The most common statement, however, is the SELECT statement, which produces a view similar to that available using a Table component. Note: even though executing commands using the ADOQuery component is possible, the  ADOCommandcomponent is more appropriate for this purpose. It is most often used to execute DDL commands or to execute a stored procedure (even though you should use theTADOStoredProc  for such tasks) that does not return a result set. The SQL used in a ADOQuery component must be acceptable to the ADO driver in use. In other words you should be familiar with the SQL writing differences between, for example, MS Access and MS SQL. As when working with the ADOTable component, the data in a database is accessed using a data store connection established by the ADOQuery component using itsConnectionString  property or through a separate ADOConnection component specified in the  Connectionproperty. To make a Delphi form capable of retrieving the data from an Access database with the ADOQuery component simply drop all the related data-access and data-aware components on it and make a link as described in the previous chapters of this course. The data-access components: DataSource, ADOConnection along with ADOQuery (instead of the ADOTable) and one data-aware component like DBGrid is all we need.  As already explained, by using the Object Inspector set the link between those components as follows: DBGrid1.DataSource DataSource1 DataSource1.DataSet ADOQuery1 ADOQuery1.Connection ADOConnection1 //build the ConnectionString ADOConnection1.ConnectionString ... ADOConnection1.LoginPrompt False Doing a SQL query The TADOQuery component doesnt have a  TableNameproperty as the TADOTable does. TADOQuery has a property (TStrings) called  SQL  which is used to store the SQL statement. You can set the SQL propertys value with the Object Inspector at design time or through code at runtime. At design-time, invoke the property editor for the SQL property by clicking the ellipsis button in the Object Inspector.  Type the following SQL statement: SELECT * FROM Authors. The SQL statement can be executed in one of two ways, depending on the type of the statement. The Data Definition Language statements are generally executed with the  ExecSQL  method. For example to delete a specific record from a specific table you could write a DELETE DDL statement and run the query with the ExecSQL method.The (ordinary) SQL statements are executed by setting the  TADOQuery.Active  property to  True  or by calling theOpen  method (essentialy the same). This approach is similar to retrieving a table data with the TADOTable component. At run-time, the SQL statement in the SQL property can be used as any StringList object: with  ADOQuery1  do begin  Close; SQL.Clear; SQL.Add:SELECT * FROM Authors SQL.Add:ORDER BY authorname DESC Open;   end; The above code, at run-time, closes the dataset, empties the SQL string in the SQL property, assigns a new SQL command and activates the dataset by calling the Open method. Note that obviously creating a persistent list of field objects for an ADOQuery component does not make sense. The next time you call the Open method the SQL can be so different that the whole set of filed names (and types) may change. Of course, this is not the case if we are using ADOQuery to fetch the rows from just one table with the constant set of fields - and the resulting set depends on the WHERE part of the SQL statement. Dynamic Queries One of the great properties of the TADOQuery components is the  Params  property. A parameterized query is one that permits flexible row/column selection using a parameter in the WHERE clause of a SQL statement. The Params property allows replacable parameters in the predefined SQL statement. A parameter is a placeholder for a value in the WHERE clause, defined just before the query is opened. To specify a parameter in a query, use a colon (:) preceding a parameter name.  At design-time use the Object Inspector to set the SQL property as follows: ADOQuery1.SQL : SELECT * FROM Applications WHERE type    :apptype When you close the SQL editor window open the Parameters window by clicking the ellipsis button in the Object Inspector. The parameter in the preceding SQL statement is namedapptype. We can set the values of the parameters in the Params collection at design time via the Parameters dialog box, but most of the time we will be changing the parameters at runtime. The Parameters dialog can be used to specify the datatypes and default values of parameters used in a query. At run-time, the parameters can be changed and the query re-executed to refresh the data. In order to execute a parameterized query, it is necessary to supply a value for each parameter prior to the execution of the query. To modify the parameter value, we use either the Params property or ParamByName method. For example, given the SQL statement as above, at run-time we could use the following code: with ADOQuery1 do begin Close; SQL.Clear; SQL.Add(SELECT * FROM Applications WHERE type :apptype); ParamByName(apptype).Value:multimedia; Open; end; As like when working with the ADOTable component the ADOQuery returns a set or records from a table (or two or more). Navigating through a dataset is done with the same set of methods as described in the Behind data in datasets chapter. Navigating and Editing the Query In general ADOQuery component should not be used when editing takes place. The SQL based queries are mostly used for reporting purposes. If your query returns a result set, it is sometimes possible to edit the returned dataset. The result set must contain records from a single table and it must not use any SQL aggregate functions.  Editing  of a dataset returned by the ADOQuery is the same as editing the ADOTAbles dataset. Example To see some ADOQuery action well code a small example. Lets make a query that can be used to fetch the rows from various tables in a database. To show the list of all the tables in a database we can use the  GetTableNamesmethod of the  ADOConnection  component. The GetTableNames in the OnCreate event of the form fills the ComboBox with the table names and the Button is used to close the query and to recreate it to retrieve the records from a picked table. The () event handlers should look like: procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject); begin ADOConnection1.GetTableNames(ComboBox1.Items); end; procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); var tblname : string; begin if ComboBox1.ItemIndex then Exit; tblname : ComboBox1.Items[ComboBox1.ItemIndex]; with ADOQuery1 do begin Close; SQL.Text : SELECT * FROM tblname; Open; end; end; Note that all this can be done by using the ADOTable and its TableName property.

Business Memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Business Memo - Essay Example ittee believes that, thought we have already passes the deadlines for certain construction works due to unexpected circumstances, we should move forward with engineering and customization of the equipment to be installed in the new facility, as well as with the development of sales and marketing strategies for the new drug. This will enable us to work in full and introduce the new drug to the market immediately after the facility is launched. Secondly, since we consider the delay in environmental assessment to be the major, and critical, problem as for now, and taking into account the fact that ET had 3 months for solving it, but has presented no conclusive reports, we strongly recommend taking immediate measures for eliminating this problem. In particular, since ET shows not to perform its immediate responsibilities in the scope and within deadlines critical for our company, we recommend replacing the firm with another environmental consulting company. In such a way we can speed up the environmental assessment process in order to move on to the next stages of construction or clean up, if

Mission Vision and Objectives of TATA Case Study

Mission Vision and Objectives of TATA - Case Study Example Graham (2010) pointed out that â€Å"TATA’s business structure includes 11 charitable trusts that together earn 66% of TATA Sons and that are intimately involved in its governance. (Family members own only 3%)†(Graham, 2010, p.8). No other company in the world may have the same reputation as TATA has as far as social service is concerned. TATA is currently funding many social service activities such as clean water deliver, literacy, prenatal care etc. Moreover Indian Institute of Science, Tata institute of fundamental research, the national center for performing arts, Tata memorial hospitals, etc are founded or supported by the TATA group (Graham, 2010, p.8). In fact TATA is spending a substantial portion of their business profits for charity activities. Because of the huge attention given to social activities, members of TATA family are comparatively poorer than their business counterparts in India. In 2009, TATA spent $ 159 million for social service activities (Graha m, 2010, p.8). TATA believes that community support is the most important requirement for a business group to sustain its growth. It should be noted that Coke like international giants failed to operate successfully in India because of their failure to offer something to the community in which it operates. Coke’s bottling plant in Kerala was closed recently because of the allegations against Coke with respect to the exploitation of underwater resources in Kerala. At the same time, it should be noted that millions of hectares of land in Kerala are used for tea plantation by TATA and the people in Kerala do not have much problems with that. This is because of the fact that TATA is servicing the people in Kerala in many ways even though they use Kerala’s land for tea plantation. Recently TATA has introduced world’s cheapest passenger car (NANO) priced only $ 2500. In fact TATA wants to help the poor people with this product. Poor families of medium income families can afford a car with the introduction of NANO. While most of the other car manufacturers are trying to develop luxury cars, TATA thinks in the opposite direction. They wanted to make car which is affordable to even poor people and the outcome was NANO. Contaminated drinking water is causing thousands of deaths in India. In order to help poor people to purify drinking water, TATA introduced TATA Swatch or water purifier priced less than 1000 Indian rupees in 2009(Graham, 2010, p.9). It should be noted that there is no need for TATA like big companies to introduce products such as water purifier. However, they introduced this product only to demonstrate their social commitments. â€Å"The TATA group has a set five core values; integrity, understanding, excellence, unity and responsibility† (Angwin, 2011, p.133). These core values can be seen in every TATA business segments. Even though TATA’s business groups are operating independently, they understand each other work s trictly in accordance with the vision, mission and core values of TATA group. In short, TATA’s business culture is more oriented towards the servicing of poor. For TATA, business is not at all about making money or profits; it is about how well an organization can service the community without sins.

General Motors Essay Example for Free

General Motors Essay 1. The history, development, and growth of the company over time (e. g. , critical incidents) General Motors (GM) was founded in 1908. William C. Durant brought together 25 independent car companies to form one large corporation. Each company held its own identity as GM operated as central administration office for the 25 divisions. Due to high cost in manufacturing of automobiles, GM was only able to target wealthy customers who could afford cars. Then Henry Ford, owner and founder of Ford Motor Company, revolutionizes the production process of manufacturing cars and takes the lead in the industry. With this new process, Ford becomes GM’s largest competitor, rapidly growing their market share by mass produce affordable cars, the Model T. GM did not have the same competency to mass produce affordable as efficiently as Ford and their sales plummeted. GM was in a bad situation, producing a wide range of expensive cars for a small target market of middle class customers. From 1910- 1920 Ford grew stronger and wealthier while GM struggled to stay afloat. In 1920, Alfred P. Sloan became the CEO for GM and made major changes to GM’s strategy to more effectively compete with Ford. Sloan restructured GM to regain its competitive advantage, targeting a different segment in the market. His consolidation of the 25 companies into 5 major self-contained and operated divisions: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, and Oldsmobile proved to be successful. In 1925 GM took the lead in the industry, hurting Ford’s sales of the Model T so bad that Ford had to shut down his factories for several months to redesign his production line and produce new models. GM became the United States car market leader with the largest market share, 70% at its highest. 925 to 1975, GM expanded its product line to all kinds of vehicles to full-size trucks, light weight trucks, and various specialized vehicles such as vans and ambulances. GM also started to vertically integrate and at one point, made more than 65% of its cars components. From 1925 to 1975, GM dominated the United States market holding approximately 65% of domestic sales. Together, GM, Chrysler, and Ford, held more than 90% of the United States market. Due to the global oil crisis and low cost/high quality Japanese cars in 1970’s, GM lost its lead in the industry. The oil embargo of 1973 revealed the inefficiency of the American â€Å"gas guzzlers†. Neither GM nor its American competitors at this that time had the competence to build fuel efficient cars. Japanese cars now entered the American market and not only were they fuel efficient, there were reliable and affordable. In the 1970s and 1980s, demand for large sedans fell and thousands of GM workers got laid off. By the end of 1970s Americans flocked to Japanese economy cars or sleek European luxury cars and ignored high cost and low quality American cars. In 1980, GM still earned 3. 3 billion on more than 60 billion in sales. With its large cash flows, GM was still able to act as a dominant competitor. Roger Smith, GM’s new CEO aimed to regain GM’s competitive advantage and launched several major programs to reduce cost and improve quality. By 1990, these programs had cost the company over 100 billion dollars, which at the time, was enough to buy out Toyota and Honda. Smith had the most the difficulty lowering cost due to the high cost labor agreements with the UAW (United Auto Workers). GM invested more than 50 billion to improve and update technology and in 1980 started to develop automated factories using robotics to increase quality and efficiency. GM lacked the competency to effectively operate automated factories and was costing them twice as much in producing parts the traditional way. In 1982, GM created a new division called Saturn to develop low-cost manufacturing skills and produce quality cars by imitating Japanese manufacturing companies. It cost GM 2 billion to build Saturn’s plant, GM largest construction project in history. Saturns were priced to compete with Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. Saturn did not meet its quotas and 1991 and lost $800 million dollars. The next year, Saturn sales picked up and were ranked top 10 in customer satisfaction but still had a loss of $700 million. Saturn could not replicate Toyota and Honda efficiency, especially its low cost supply chain. Same as other divisions, Saturn had difficulties reducing costs because high labor cost due to previous agreements with UAW. To learn Japanese manufacturing techniques GM had a joint venture with Toyota in 1983 called new United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. NUMMI). NUMMI reopened a failed plant in California under Japanese management in 1984. By 1986, with the use of flexible work teams, plant productivity was higher than any GM factory and twice as much as with the old GM management. The flexible teams were regularly rotated, trained to perform the jobs of other works in the team, taught the procedures to analyze jobs to improve work procedures, designed all the teams’ jobs. This freed managers to focus other tasks. GM quickly implemented this system to all its plants and by 2005; GM was laiming to be the most efficient United States carmaker. However, due to tariffs and high costs involved to bring foreign car to the United States, foreign car makers were eager to open their own car plants in the United States. By 1995, foreign controlled plants were making more than 1. 5 million cars a year in the United States. Although GM’s market share declined from 50% in 1978 to 35% 1992, it had not reduced it number of plants or downsized its work force significantly. In 1990 Robert Stempel became the new CEO and like Smith, Stempel did not want to down size the company at all. However, an activist GM director, John Smale, set out to stop GM’s losses and convinced the board to appoint Jack Smith as the new CEO. Smith made drastic changes and down sized the company dramatically. His new strategy for GM was to once again become profitable by aggressively focus on cutting cost, aggressive use of marketing of new designed vehicles that better satisfy customer’s needs, and create a new more-flexible decentralized organizational structure. He also reduced number of models and platforms in which they were built. In 2000, GM built a $1 billion state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Michigan to raise quality to Japanese levels. In 2005, GM did receive higher quality level similar to Japanese competitor but could not preform to be profitable due to high labor costs. In another attempt to lower value chain cost, GM closed down it Oldsmobile division in 2004. GM then focused on improving efficiency with its parts, components and suppliers, making various changes there. In 2000, GM, Ford, and Chrysler formed an organization called Covisint to gain power over global suppliers. Toyota launches program that reduces the number of steps needed to make components and car parts reducing its costs by 2. 6 billion. In 1992, it consolidated its nine groups into five and combined all its car divisions’ engineering and manufacturing units to eliminate redundancy. Also the five design and technical departments were combined into three to speed product development. To promote and improve coordination between departments, GM changed its organizational structure to a global matrix structure and invested heavily in IT to support this new global matrix structure. With the help of IBM, GM was now able to speed information transfer between its divisions all around the world. In attempts to quickly lower its cost, GM spun off several of its component parts divisions and vertically disintegrated. In 1996, form joint ventures with Isuzu Motors and Suzuki to establish facilities and make specialized engines and transmissions for GM. In 2000, GM acquired a 20% equity stake in Fuji, the manufacturer of Subaru cars and received a new CEO, Rick Waggoner. GM also establishes a strategic alliance with Honda. In 2001, GM’s new assembly plant in China begins production. In 2002, GM formed an alliance with Russian company. During this time, GM attempts to rapidly grow globally and competes with Ford to acquire premium European carmakers. GM bought many other European carmakers but did not find any to be profitable, only costing them more money and more failures. GM also acquired Daewoo and Hummer brand in hopes to strengthen product line and market share. All failed. In 2008, GM fell with the recession and spun off, sold, or digested many of its global assets. GM asked the government for bailouts and in the end filed for bankruptcy.

Importance of the Forest in The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

Importance of the Forest in The Scarlet Letter "The path strangled onward into the mystery of the primeval forest"(179). This sentence displays just one of the multiple personalities that the forest symbolizes in The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorn. In the Scarlet Letter the forest symbolizes much more than one might imagine. Each character brings out a different side of the forest, however the forest also brings out a different side in each character. For some the forest may be a place of sinister thoughts and wrong doing, but for others it is a place of happiness and freedom. The first encounter with the forest we have symbolizes just some of the evil that lingers within the darkness of the forest. As Hester and Pearl are leaving governor Bellinghams estate they are confronted by mistress Hibbins who explains that the witches are meeting in the forest, and she then invites Hester to become more deeply involved with her evil ways. "Wilt thou go with us tonight"(113) asked mistress Hibbins, yet Hester refused to sign her name in the black mans book on that night. She explains that the only reason she does not sign is because Pearl is still in her life. At this time the forest itself is a open door to another world, a wicked world that would take her away from her present situation, but that is not the only door that the forest holds. The forest is an open door to love and freedom for both Hester and Dimmesdale. It is a place where the letter on their bodies can no longer have an effect on them if they choose. A world ruled by nature and governed by natural law as opposed to the artificial strict community with its man made puritan laws. Its as if the forest represents a key to the shackles the Hester and Dimmesdale have been forced to wear, all that they have to do is unlock it. Although if they choose not to unlock them, they begin to dwell on the things that they have done to deserve the shackles. In this the forest represents a thing of truth, weather it be good or bad. In pearls eyes the forest has a totally different concept.

The Future Of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health

We are in a decade of change, as nurses we are set to be challenge on many levels in order to face these challenges we must all prepared. Recently the Institute of Medicine, 2010 (IOM, 2010) released a report on the future of nursing; its content outlines in great detail what changes will take place. A collaboration of many offered their expertise in and out of the field of nursing and how the following three areas may be enhanced or completely changed. This writer will attempt to give a single perspective on the issues of Education, leadership and practice and how they may be transformed over the next decade. The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health There have been many discussions by the IOM over the years about the impact of nurses on the care of patients and the obvious need for change. The pending arrival of the affordable care act (ACA) has propelled many of those changes to the forefront; we must remain steadfast in our goal to provide quality care to that patient who depends on us. When the implementation of transformation becomes not only a report but reality can and will it free us as patient care providers to offer a more advanced method of care? Transforming Education This initial goal will remain intact according to the opinion of the IOM report, that all nurses must be prepared to meet a diverse patient population. With that goal in mind the report indicates that educational requirements for the registered nurse (RN) will ultimately be geared towards higher degree attainment by the practicing nurse. Currently the pathways that are in place to obtain a nursing degree will not change but the nurse will be placed on a course to continue their education goals beyond that of and associate degree (ADN). The goal will be to enhance the programs in place and prepare the student nurse for a place in an undergraduate program; a plan to make that goal possible for all is also a need that the IOM report mentions as the current barrier. Affordability of nursing programs beyond that of the ADN now seems to be the greatest challenge; can these entities create such a pathway? Another proposal that this reader found interesting on education transformation, was the pathway for an increase in masters and doctoral degrees to increase the volume of prepared faculty. The current issues that are being faced now is that of faculty shortages in many of the nursing programs both at community and undergraduate campus’s. The ACA has what is noted as an incentive to offset lower faculty salaries which would provide up to $35,000 in loan repayments for eligible nurses who seek to complete advanced degrees. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act HR 3590, 2010). With such incentives in place this pathway may be considered as a means to an end in the advancement of education by the career oriented nurse, creating leaders is the way to create change. Transforming Leadership The IOM also reflects on the importance of nurses taking a stronger position in leadership. It is time for nurses to take a place at the table of change, that misconception that we are in pla ce to perform and not create will soon be eradicated. The report indicated there is a lack of nurse participation on many directorial boards this is a reason to transform. The placement of these programs is fundamental (Institute of Medicine [IOM, 2010],) to increasing nurse participation. It is true some leaders are born into their roles but not all and with the implementation of these leadership programs this writer believes future leaders can be created. The creation of mentorship programs is also a way to create leaders, as nurses we must make room for those coming up behind us and nurture the leader that lies in us all. This writer found the idea of creating training programs for nurses to represent us on the political front was the finest of all the recommendations, as nurses we must incite change at the very top and creating voices of change on this level would be an incomparable transformation. The ability to have our contributions heard and implemented will create a movement that will carry nursing forward and upward, can we be the voice of the idea and transformation of nursing practice? Transforming Practice. Our scope of practice dictates the boundaries for which we practice, the idea of the IOM report indicate as nurses we must be able to practice to the fullest potential of our educational backgrounds. This is especially important for the advanced practice nurse (NP), their roles must be universally defined for the future. The increase in patient population will see an upsurge in patient load with a shortage of primary care givers and this can only be disastrous for those seeking care. Creating a universal scope of practice for NP will eliminate this issue and it must happen now. The report indicated the barrier to this was the apprehension of acceptance by physicians; can we change a lifelong idea? As this writer has assessed all the pending changes it was asked how these changes will affect the ability to offer care, it is believed that higher education will create a more diverse approach to care and as a patient educator this is key to this nurse’s specialty. As for the other notations regarding care and leadership, this writer believes leadership roles will enhance the confidence of the role of the patient educator, finally increasing the quality of care provided. Conclusion In closing a transformation of change can only happen with the active participation of all nurses, we must become active in every facet of our future and not leave it up to others to speak on our behalf.

China’s One-Child Policy: Should It Be Abolished? Essay

After the People’s Republic of China had been founded in 1949, the improved sanitation and medicine promoted rapid population growth. Before long, the population boom started to take a major toll on the country’s food supply. Officials launched a campaign to promote birth control in 1955 in order to deal with the overpopulation. Their efforts were reversed though, in 1958 by the Great Leap Forward, which was Mao Zedong’s attempt to rapidly convert China into what he thought would be a modern industrialized state. By 1962, there was a massive famine in China that caused about 30 million deaths. During the aftermath of the famine, officials tried multiple times, with several different campaigns, to reduce the population. One of these campaigns was successful, using the slogan â€Å"Late, Long and Few.† China’s population growth fell by half from 1970 to 1976. The population growth then proceeded to level off, causing officials to seek more drastic measures to reduce population growth. This resulted in what is now known as China’s One Child Policy, which was introduced in 1979 (â€Å"Brief History†). The One Child Policy restricts urban couples from having more than one child. There are exceptions for rural families and ethnic minorities, officially anyway. There are many problems with the policy and it has been implicated in forced abortions and female infanticide. One of the biggest problems with the policy is that it is a violation to every person’s human rights. It violates not only a person’s right to privacy of information and their body and it also violates the basic human right to choose the size of one’s own family. The gender imbalance is another big problem with the policy and it is leaving many men without the option to get married and is affecting the crime rate in a negative way. There is also the relatively smaller issue of having an entire generation of only children and the possible social issues that that can cause. Another big problem is that there is an age disparity between the young and the old that is beginning to and will continue to have an impact on the economy of China. A big argument against the policy is also that it was never needed in the first place. The One Child Policy in China needs to be abolished. China’s One-Child Policy violates a human right to determine the size of one’s own family. No family should be forced to only have one child by any government, and that is exactly what the Chinese government is doing to their citizens. Chinese officials have said before that the one-child policy is optional. The catch is that the violators of the policy will be fined. For example, in an article by Debra Cassens Weiss, who holds a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law and a B.A. in English from the University of Illinois, she talks about Yang Zhitzhu, a law professor at China Youth University for Political Sciences, who was charged a $37,000 â€Å"social upbringing fee† in 2009 for violating the one-child policy. He also lost his job and, as a protest, put himself up for sale, vowing to serve his master until death, for $100,000. Also, because he did not pay the fee, his second daughter will not be granted household registration papers that would entitle her to a public education and healthcare. So, not only does the father get fined and lose his job because he decided to have a second child, his daughter now also has to suffer. Why should the daughter be punished for something the father did, when she did nothing to deserve the punishment? No person should be punished for being born. Executive director, Harry Wu, of the Laogi Research Foundation, which is an organization that collects information about forced labor camps and other human rights violations in China, wrote an article talking about Gao Xiao Duan and her testimony about the one-child policy in front of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights on June 10, 1998. Gao was worked as an administrator at the Yonghe town planned-birth office. â€Å"She was to carry out the dictates of the communist regime in accordance with the ‘one child’ policy.† She explained in the hearing her daily duties. Gao issued â€Å"‘birth allowance’ certificates to women who meet the policy and regulations of the central and provincial planned-birth committees.† She issued â€Å"birth-not-allowed notices† notices as well, which were made public for the purpose of making it known to everybody that the couple was in violation of the one-child policy, facilitating the supervision of the couple. Gao also issued â€Å"birth control measures implementation notices.† This meant that all women who were of child-bearing age were notified that they must have contraceptive device reliability and pregnancy examinations when necessary. If a woman failed to arrive for one of these, a supervision team would apprehend her and force her to have the examinations required. Issuing notices on whether or not a woman can have a child violates the basic human right to be able to choose whether or not she wants to have a child violates the privacy of information of the citizens of China. And requiring them to have examinations on the reliability of their contraceptive device and their pregnancy status is a violation of every human’s right to privacy over their own body. The idea that the women are taken and forced to have theses examinations takes away any freedom that they could have had over the issue, and that shows that the Chinese government has too much control over the citizens of China when it comes to the one-child policy. Another problem with the One-Child Policy is the growing gender imbalance in China. In January 2010 the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS) said that within ten years, one in five young men would not be able to find a wife because of the shrinking amount of women in the country. According to the CASS, China will have 30 million to 40 million more men, ages 19 and under, than women by 2020. To put this into perspective, there are about 23 million boys age 20 and under in Germany, France, and Britain combined. There are about 40 million boys in the Unites States (â€Å"Worldwide War†). This means that China has enough men outnumbering women to populate Europe’s three most populated countries or to populate the entire United States male population. The sex ratio in China has been growing significantly since the 1980’s. The sex ratio in China for the generation born between 1985 and 1989 was 108 (meaning there were 108 males born for every 100 females), which is considered to be a little out of the natural range. For the generation born between 200 and 2004, the sex ratio was an astounding 124. And according to the CASS, the ratio is at 123 today, which is said to be biologically impossible without human intervention (â€Å"Worldwide War†). This is on the national level, once someone looks into the different regions and provinces in China they get a clearer picture of how bad the imbalance is. In an analysis of Chinese household data carried out in 2005 and then reported to the British Medical Journal, only a single region, Tibet, has a sex range that are considered to be within the bounds of nature. Fourteen more provinces have a sex ratio of above 120. And two more had an extremely unnatural rate of over 130 (â€Å"Worldwide War†). Then gender imbalance is causing more problems than just men not being able to find a bride though. It is also affecting the amount of crimes being committed in China. â€Å"Throughout human history, young men have been responsible for the vast preponderance of crime and violence—especially single men in countries where status and social acceptance depend on being married and having children† ( â€Å"Worldwide War†). This could very easily mean a lot of trouble for China, as there crime rate keeps rising. China’s crime rate has almost doubled in the past twenty years because of the rising sex ratio. A study into whether the sex ratio and the crime rate were connected concluded that about one-seventh of the crime rate increase was accounted to the rising sex ration. Some of the biggest crimes on the rise are said to be bride abduction, trafficking of women, prostitution, and rape (â€Å"Worldwide War†). With one-seventh of the crime rate rise being accounted to the gender imbalance and the gender imbalance becoming more and more lopsided, China is in big trouble if they don’t do something about the gender imbalance soon. They could just throw everybody who commits a crime in prison, but they will surely run out of room at some point. China needs to address the issue of the gender imbalance by looking back at what they can do to alter the one-child policy so it does not favor having a boy if they will not get rid of the policy altogether. Another issue with the One-Child Policy in China is that it leaves an entire generation of only children. In March of 2007 delegates of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body in China, stated that China should abolish the One Child Policy because â€Å"it creates social problems and personality disorders in young people† (â€Å"Consultative Conference†). Only Children are known to be more selfish and have a harder time communicating with peers, which is a problem if you have an entire generation of what are being called â€Å"Little Emperors† There is also the issue of the increase in percentage of citizens over the age of sixty and decrease in percentage of younger citizens. The latest census information shows that the policy has been working. The population rose to 1.34 billion as of last year from 1.27 billion in 2000. This puts the average annual growth at 0.57 percent for the decade. Compared to the previous decade, which had an average annual growth of 1.07 percent, this is a good decrease for the country. The problem, however, is that the census also shows that citizens over the age of 60 now represent 13.3 percent of China’s population, which is an increase from 10.3 percent in 2000. And also the amount of future workers, age 14 and under, has been shrinking. Citizens age 14 and under now make up 16.6 percent of the population, which is a drop from 23 percent in 2000 (â€Å"Plan Faces New Fire†). To help paint the picture even more, by 2030, the number of citizens in their 20’s is going to drop by 35percent and the number of citizens ages 55 to 60 is going to increase by 60 percent. The number of people ages 65 and over is going to jump by an even more astounding 100 percent in the same period of time (Elizabeth Economy). This basically means that China’s elderly population is rapidly growing as the generation before the One-Child Policy are retiring, putting an extremely heavy burden on the rest of Chinese society to cover the cost of their retirement. While the retirees are rapidly growing, the workforce is even more rapidly shrinking. This will begin â€Å"reversing the demographic phenomenon of a widening pool of low-cost labor that powered a manufacturing boom over the past three decades† (â€Å"Plan Faces New Fire†). This leads to a subsequent problem caused by the retirees growing and workers shrinking, and that problem is that it is crippling China’s economy. For example, in an article in Bloomberg Businessweek, Kevin Hamlin, a reporter for Bloomberg News, talks about Lin Chang Jie, who is battling to save his family’s business. He is faced with a dwindling supply of workers, forcing him to pay higher wages. Lin must attempt to change his Dejin Textile into an online fashion retailer in order to reduce headcount and keep his business from failing like many others. Lin is having such a problem because the decrease in labor is largely the unskilled labor that is used in factories to produce low-margin goods, such as clothes, toys and furniture. The lack of unskilled labor is a huge problem considering these low-margin goods made up 68 percent of China’s exports last year according to China’s customs agency. According to Hamlin’s article, the upward pressure on wages is forcing mainland companies to upgrade to what are considered to be higher-value products. China may have as few as five years to make the transition to avoid a economic slump because growth may decline from 2016 to 2020 as low-cost producers begin to fail and investment starts to fall away. There is also what is called the four-two-one problem, which will have a negative effect on the economy on the individual level. The four-two-one problem is that the citizens who grew up as only children will be forced to support up to six people by themselves. They will have to support their parents when they retire and up to four grandparents. Because men outnumber women so greatly, that leaves a lot of single men to support both their parents and grandparents. This will cause individual citizens to save more money and in the process hurt the economy because they aren’t putting as much money back into it. Chinese officials would argue that the economy improved as a result of the One-Child policy. While the economy has improved during the length of the policy, that doesn’t mean that the policy should receive credit for the improvement. China’s economy made great advances before the One-Child Policy too. What is to say that the economic advances should not be attributed to the economic reforms rather than to the population policy? If China does not do something about the One-Child Policy causing a disparity in age, they could be looking at a huge economic downfall. This downfall will be as a result of failing companies and lack of investment as well as the lack of spending on the individual level due to the four-two-one problem. There are also some people who say, even though the policy seems to be doing its job, that the One-Child Policy was unnecessary in the first place. An advocacy group that is made up of two dozen leading demographers, economists and former Family Planning officials joined together to fight the policy in 2000. This group, who knew that China’s fertility rate was declining before the One-Child Policy began in 1980. The fertility rate hade dropped to 2.7 in 1979 from 5.5 in 1970 because of a policy that encouraged, but did not force, Chinese citizens to marry later, wait longer between children, and have fewer babies. The group also knew that fertility rates in other developing countries showed similar results. Because of this information, group members began to conduct quiet field research to prove that China’s fertility rate had fallen well below what is known as the replacement rate of 2.1. The replacement rate is generally required to keep a population stable. Taking into account exemptions, the group calculated that the fertility rate should be 1.47 if the policy was implemented correctly. As of today, the group says the fertility rate has been about 1.8, well below 2.1, since 1991. The group assumes that many children are born secretly to avoid fines and that if you take that out the fertility rate is actually between 1.5 and 1.6 (â€Å"Plan Faces New Fire†). While the group is only arguing for a two-child policy at minimum, their point is that the One-Child Policy never needed to be implemented in the first place. China would have had a fertility rate closer to the replacement rate if it would have continued to just encourage citizens to have fewer kids and get married later. Why should China keep a policy that is hurting the country if it was not needed in the first place? China’s One-Child Policy needs to be taken away. The policy violates the basic human rights of any person. Every person living on this planet has the basic right to choose the size of their own family; it shouldn’t be decided by the government of any country. Even though some Chinese officials have said the policy is optional, the government heavily fines those who violate it, $37,000 in the case of Yang Zhitzhu. And, as explained by Gao Xiao Duan’s testimony, the policy also violates human privacy over one’s own body by being forced to take examinations on their state of pregnancy or whether or not their contraceptive device is functioning properly. There is also an obvious violation of Chinese citizens’ right to privacy of their information. The gender imbalance, which is far above the natural range, is leaving men unable to find a bride and is directly linked to China’s increasing crime rates. When a policy is connected to an increase crimes such as rape, kidnapping, and prostitution it is a policy that should not exist. Also, the growing age disparity is crippling the economy in China. It will be more evident in a few years, but shrinking work force along with the growing amount of retirees are beginning to destroy the unskilled labor jobs, which were the cause of China’s economic boom to begin with. And the four-two-one problem is hampering economic growth because citizens are forced to save more money instead of putting it back into the economy. There is also the fact that the policy may not have been needed in the first place and that the fertility rate in China is dangerously lower than the replacement rate of 2.1, making it impossible to have a stable population. If the policy was not needed to begin with and it isn’t really helping the country, China must get rid of it. So yes, the one child policy has reduced the growth of the population significantly, but at what cost is it being done?

Roman Gladiators, Their Arms, and Armor

Roman Gladiators, Their Arms, and Armor Much like todays football players or WWF wrestlers, Roman gladiators could win renown and fortune in the arenas. Modern sportsmen sign contracts; ancient ones made oaths. Injuries were common, and the life of a player was generally short. Unlike modern sports figures, however, gladiators were usually slaves or criminals: They were not expected to fight in wars or battles, but instead fought one-on-one (usually) as entertainment, in an arena. As a gladiator, a man could potentially raise his status and wealth if he was both popular and successful. Gladiators and Their Weapons Gladiators were often criminals and slaves, hired to provide entertainment in the Roman Circus or another arena.  There were many different types of gladiators, based on their clothing and weapons.  Weapons used by some gladiators included knives and swords, shields, and helmets.The use of the weapons was taught at a professional school called a ludus. Both the men and the weapons were owned (and rented out) by the head of the school.   Schools and Standing of the Gladiators Gladiators did not fight in the Roman army, but after the Spartacus revolt in 73 BCE, some were professionally trained to perform in the arena. Training schools (called ludus gladiatorius) taught prospective gladiators. The schools- and the gladiators themselves- were owned by a lanista, who would lease the men out for upcoming gladiatorial events. If a gladiator was killed during the battle, the lease would convert to a sale and the price might be as high as 50 times the rent. There were many types of gladiators in ancient Rome, and they were trained at the ludus by a specialist (doctores or magistrii) skilled in that form of fighting. Each type of gladiator had his own set of traditional weapons and armor. Some gladiators- like the Samnites- were named for opponents of the Romans; other types of gladiators, like the Provacator and Secutor, took their names from their functions: challenger and pursuer. Often, certain types of gladiators fought only specific foes, because the best type of entertainment was thought to be an evenly matched pair with contrasting fighting styles. Weapons and Armor of the Roman Gladiators Most of the information about Roman gladiators comes from Roman historians, as well as mosaics and tombstones. One source is the Oneirocritica of Artemidorus, a professional diviner of the second century CE Rome. Artemidorus interpreted dreams for Roman citizens, and a chapter of his book discusses what a mans dream of fighting with a specific gladiator type implies about the wife he is going to marry. There were four principal classes of Roman gladiator: Samnites, Thraex, Myrmillo, and Retiarius. Samnite The Samnites were named after the great Samnite warriors that Rome defeated in the early years of the republic, and they are most heavily armed of the four main types. After the Samnites became Roman allies, the name was dropped, likely changed to the secutor (pursuer) although that is somewhat debated. Their weapon and armor included: Scutum: a large oblong shield made from three sheets of wood, glued together and topped with a leather or canvas coating.Galea: plumed helmet with a visor and small eye holesGladius: short sword called divides the throat, one of several words for a sword, used primarily by Roman foot soldiers but also by gladiators; probably a celtic word from which the term gladiator comesManicae: leather elbow or wristbandsGreaves: leg armor that went from ankle to just below the knee. Traex (plural Thraces) The Thraces were named after another enemy of Rome, and they usually fought in pairs against the Mirmillones. Artemidorus warned that if a man dreamed he was fighting a Traex, his wife would be rich (because the Traexs body was completely covered by armor); crafty (because he carries a curved scimitar); and fond of being first (because of a Traexs advancing techniques). Armor used by the Thraces included: Small rectangular shieldSica: curved scimitar-shaped dagger designed for slicing attacks on an opponentGaleaManicaeGreaves Mirmillo (spelled Myrmillo, Murmillo and plural Murmillones) A mumillo stands triumphant, in a 4th century CE mosiac from Torrenova. Corbis / Getty Images Murmillones were the fish men, who wore a large helmet with a fish on its crest, armor with leather or metal scales, and a straight Greek-styled sword. He was heavily armored, with a massive helmet with tiny eye slits and he was often paired with the Retiarii. The Murmillones carried: Cassis crista, a heavy bronze helmet used to protect the faceGaleaManicae  but made of mailOcrea: shin guards Retiarius (plural Retiarii) Retiarius fights and wins against another, in this Roman mosiac from Torrenova. Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images The Retiarii or net men usually fought with weapons modeled on the tools of a fisherman. They only wore armor on the arm and shoulder, leaving legs and head exposed. They most commonly fought the secutor and murmillo  or one another. The Roman satirist Juvenal describes a disgraced nobleman named Gracchus who trained as a retiarius because he was too proud to wear defensive armor or use offensive weapons and refused to wear a helmet that would have hidden his shame. Artemidorus  said that men who dreamed of battles with the retiarii were sure to find a wife who was poor and wanton, roaming about for any man who wanted her. The Retiarii carried: Retes: a weighted net used to entangle the opponentFascina: long, three-pronged trident which was thrown like a harpoonGalerus: (metal shoulder piece)Short quilted tunics Secutor Engraving of Ancient Roman Gladiators Fighting, Retiarius vs. Secutor.    Secutors were armed almost exactly like a murmillo, except that they had a smooth helmet that wouldnt get entangled with the nets of the retiarii. Aremidorus reports that the man who dreamed of fighting with a secutor was sure to get a woman who was attractive and rich, but proud and disdainful of her husband. The armor of the Secutors included: Loincloth with a leather beltDistinctive simple helmetGaleaManicaeOcrea Provacator (pl. Provacatores) Provacator battles a retiarii, mosaic from the 3rd century CE. Print Collector/Getty Images / Getty Images A Provacator (or challenger) was dressed as a legionnaire during the Republic era but later stripped down in elegance. The Provacatores starred in what were considered the best battles, and they mostly fought each other. The Roman dream analyst said that dreams of fighting this man meant you would get a wife who is attractive and graceful, but also flirtatious and wanton. Provacatores were armed with: GaleaRound top helmet with circular eye grates and feather plumages on either side of the headHighly decorated square scutum (shield)Cardiophylax: small breastplate, usually rectangular or crescent-shaped.ManicaeGreaves Eques (pl. Equites) Equites fought on horseback, they were essentially gladiator cavalrymen, who were lightly armed and only fought one another. Artemidorus said that dreaming of battle with an eques meant you would have a bride who was rich and noble but of limited intelligence. Equites carried or wore: Sword or a spearMedium sized shieldBrimmed helmet with two decorative feathers and no crest Gladiators of Lesser Fame The dimachaerii (two-knife men) were armed with two short scimitar blades (siccae) designed for slicing attacks on an opponent. Reports of the armor they carry range from nothing but a loincloth or a belt to a wide variety of armor including chain mail.The essadarii (chariot men) fought with a spear or gladius from war chariots in the fashion of the Celts, introduced by Julius Caesar when he got back from GaulThe hoplomachii (armored fighters) wore a helmet and basic arm and leg protection, a small round shield called a parmula, a gladius, a short dagger known as a pugio, and a gladius graecus, a leaf-shaped sword used only by them.The laquearii (lasso men) used a noose or a lasso.Velites or skirmishers hurled missiles and fought on foot.A scissor fought with a specialized short knife with two blades in the shape of an open pair of scissors without the hinge.Catervarii battled each other in groups, rather than one-on-one.Cestus fought with their fists, which were wrapped in leather w rappings studded with spikes. Crupellarii were trainee slaves who wore heavy armor of iron making it hard for them to fight, rapidly exhausted and easily dispatched.Noxii were criminals who fought animals or each other: They were not really armed and so not really gladiators.Anadabatae wore helmets without eyeholes. Sources Barton, Carlin A. The Scandal of the Arena. Representations 27 (1989): 1–36. Print.Carter, Michael. Artemidorus and the á ¼Ë†Ã ÃŽ ²ÃŽ ®ÃŽ »ÃŽ ±Ãâ€º Gladiator. Zeitschrift fur  Papyrologie und Epigraphik 134 (2001): 109–15. Print.Carter, M. J. Gladiatorial Combat: The Rules of Engagement. The Classical Journal 102.2 (2006): 97–114. Print.Neubauer, Wolfgang, et al. The Discovery of the School of Gladiators at Carnuntum, Austria. Antiquity 88 (2014): 173–90. Print.Oliver, James Henry. Symmachi, Homo Felix. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 25 (1957): 7–15. Print.Reid, Heather L. Was the Roman Gladiator an Athlete? Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 33.1 (2006): 37–49. Print.

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Switching Jobs

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Switching Jobs You want a new job. You’re ready for a change. But you don’t want a pay cut, or to end up with a nightmare boss. You want to make sure the reward will be worth the risk. Here are three things to ask yourself before taking the leap, as well as a few potential strategies. 1. How can I avoid a pay decrease?This is always top among the risks we fear the most. But there are ways around it. First, consider a higher-paying industry. If you work in marketing for a non-profit, you could be making much more money in marketing for a financial institution or a high-tech company. If you don’t want to switch industries, consider switching to a higher-paying company within your field. A quick bit of Googling can steer you in the right direction. Try sites like GlassDoor.com and salary.com.2. What if I don’t have what it takes?We’re all a little bit afraid of change. The unknown, after all, can be big and scary. Fear of failure is always at the top of our â€Å"co n† list when about to take a major risk. The trick, of course, is to give yourself permission to not be perfect right out of the gate. Then, set yourself up for success as best you can. Get a sense of what would be required of you in your next move, and what the working environment would be like. That way you’ll at least be prepared and can get a sense (before leaping) whether the leap is right for you.3. What if I’m just not qualified?If the job you want requires skills or experiences you don’t have, the only thing to do is to acquire them. Investing in yourself to make the next step in the direction of your dreams is never time or money wasted. Sure, it might take you a bit longer to get where you want to be, but you’ll be better prepared and have a better time of it. That way you can walk into your new position with the confidence that you’re absolutely prepared- and exactly where you’re meant to be.Remember, if you follow your hear t and take steps to keep up your confidence, you can hardly go wrong.

Operational Strategies and Change Management Case Study

Operational Strategies and Change Management - Case Study Example Before being acquired by Rendall Graphics, Preston Plant was going through problems mostly related to the quality of the products, which were surprisingly identified the customer, HP. The company was facing many hardships in producing quality products and no concept of control over the product operations. The existing crisis revolving around the quality of products and business operating under loss, the success would have been only possible with occurrence of certain significant events. Concern by HP criticizing the work of Preston Plant which was not able to control the quality of its products which was depicted in the control chart prepared by HP itself for Preston plant, which shows that HP was performance of quality was closely monitored by HP though it was not done by the Plant, worked as a alarm bell for the plant management. Tom Branton, Managing Director, employed cost reduction strategies to bring the company expenditure down by job layoffs and decision was taken to create a portfolio for the plant dedicated to new ideas in order to establish greater confidence in the future sales and an innovative ideas was 'Photowrap' for newsprint that could be re-pulped. According According to Slack et al (2007:566)3 quality is consistent conformance to customers' expectations. The word 'conformance' is stressed upon to meet the specifications set by the customer, ensuring a product or service conforms to specification whereas consistent implies that conformance to specification is not an adhoc. The quality crisis could be diagnosed by reducing the gaps in cusomter specification-operation's specification, the concept specification, the quality specification - actual quality, the actual quality - communicated image which can be done through marketing operations, product/ service development, etc. As per the case study, prior to the acquisition by Rendall Graphics, the management was producing goods which met the specification on the customer, but they did not performed any control check on the product, which was eventually done by HP, which showed the loopholes in the performance of Preston Plant. Preston Plant, after being acquired by Rendall Graphi c underwent massive change in the operation and management wherein the departments were asked to review the day to day performance of the operations which was later put on to debate and discussion once in a month. The result was positive as the processes were coming under control, quality levels were improving and the