ASTHMA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

ASTHMA - Essay Example In accordance to Mill (2006), Asthma is a chronic obstructive airway disease that often becomes characterized by hyper responsiveness of the trachea-bronchial tree to various stimuli resulting in spasmodic narrowing of air passages (p.1). Another definition of asthma could be that it is an episodic disease clinically manifested by dyspnoea, wheezing and cough. Asthma hence is a respiratory lung disease that is chronic in nature. Asthma always involves two components: in the lungs, constriction causes tightening of air passages, resulting in inflammation, irritation and swelling of airways. Inflammation and constriction of the airways often cause many symptoms. When asthma is left untreated for long, it often results in chronic loss of lung function; in addition it also contributes to a condition called Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease. Once a person gets exposed to a trigger, lungs get inflamed or swollen to an extent that it causes difficulty in breathing (Mills 2006, p.10). 1.2 His torical background of asthma. The term Asthma has originated from the Greek word, which means to pant, or sharp breath or exhale using open mouth. In an epic Greek poem, Iliad, asthma was first mentioned. It became recognized in antiquity with the famous Hippocrates. Hippocrates correlated asthma to metal workers, farmers, tailors, and fishermen among others. With the recognition of asthma caused by external factors like dust and pollen, more studies were carried out to find out the causes and origin of this pathology and its effect on the respiratory system. The first well-documented occupational asthma case was implemented on workers of castor beans in 1923 (Mills 2006, p.3). 1.3 Prevalence of asthma. Asthma affects nearly seventeen million Americans, of which five million are children. Incidence of asthma has increased in the last 15 years by over 50 percent. Nearly five hundred thousand patients become often hospitalised due to asthma. Hence asthma is amongst the top five expens ive diseases in the health care system (Mills 2006, p.6). 2. Types of asthma. Asthma can be categorized based on the basis of what triggers it. 2.1 Classification by triggers. 2.1.1 Allergic asthma Allergic asthma becomes often progressively atopic or allergic asthma which is the most common asthma type. It often begins in childhood or early adult life. Patients with allergic asthma have family or personal history of preceding allergic diseases like urticaria, rhinitis or infantile spasm. Patients with allergic asthma often exhibit hyper-responsive reactions to extrinsic allergens. Examples of allergens that affect such people are pollens, house dust, moulds, animal danders and others. Patients with this type often have high levels of IgE levels and test positive for skin test (Mills 2006, p.8). 2.1.2 Seasonal asthma Grass pollen, tree pollen, moulds pollen or flowers release pollen that in turn trigger the asthmatic attack. For instance, some people always find their asthma worse i n the spring especially when flowers are flowering compared to other seasons. Others may find their asthma

Non Conformity and Society Essay Example for Free

Non Conformity and Society Essay Even though an overwhelming number of people believe that law and its implementation is the decisive factor that determines the success of a society. But is this generalization justified? Tim Li explores whether this idea is reality or just another myth. A society is based on a system of rules and regulations which all individuals are expected to abide by. Conformity, in general, means to go in accordance with those rules that govern our society. For instance, a group is going for camping; now that group cannot function if each of their individual members do not display a reasonable extent of conformity. This e.g. implies that even though the literal meaning of conformity remains the same, the way the people embrace it changes. To a large extent on conformity is needed for the success and improvement of a society. In the following article, I will explain conformity by discussing about Copernicus, Euthanasia and the growth of science. About 600 years ago, the church was considered law. No one could defy its teachings and whosoever did so was publicly beheaded. One of the theories of the church was that the earth was the center of the universe and that other planets revolved around it. Copernicus was a genius who had a great interest in astronomy. It was he who stated that the sin was the hub around which all other planets revolved. In this case Copernicus was a non conformist i.e. he believed in something that was against the religious teachings/implications of the church, but his being non conformist was the sole cause of the development of a theory that bought about a great change in the scientific perspective of astronomy. At present a very serious issue has jumped into the consideration and thinking of the society. The government is pondering on whether to accept the growing numbers of Euthanasia or to deny them. Euthanasia is when people suffering from long term chronic .are non conformist i.e. who dont want to live are benefited more than other people suffering from the same types of diseases. Here conformity does not help, or in other words, it is better to be a non conformist. Science too, plays a decisive role on our changing society. It surrounds us completely, from a common light bulb to aero planes and space travel. In short, a society cannot function without science. A critical analysis of science suggests that new discoveries in science break laws on which our older societies and generations are built on. E.g. Until the 1900s everyone believed that man cannot fly, but now science has broken that barrier, it is therefore a non conformist in relation to that law which was dominant at that time. Revolutionary research into stem cells has prompted a heated ethical debate between the church and the scientific faction. So, if this situation is examined, the church has always seen science as a hard core criminal but that form of science is needed for the mere existence of a society. All these arguments reinforce the original statement that some degree of non conformity is needed for a successful society. Although too much conformity means the elimination of all crimes, it also implies the abrupt stop in scientific technology and I cant live in Stone age, can you?

PESTEL Analysis of John Lewis and Oxfam

PESTEL Analysis of John Lewis and Oxfam Unit 1 Exploring Business Activity Assignment 3 D2 D2: evaluate how future changes in economic political, legal and social factors, may impact on the strategy of a specified organisation. John Lewis Political The political factor has impacted John Lewis enormously. New laws bring limits on what they can do and what is legal to do. There are a few major laws that have affected John Lewis more than others: Sales of good act 1979, goods must be: To a satisfying standard Made to work for the purpose known by the seller As described This law makes sure that John Lewis produces goods to a satisfying standard and that they actually work for the purpose that the seller knows. All products must be as described making the marketing job harder as they must not be biased. Trade descriptions act 1968, good must be correctly described including: The way they were made or processed What they are made of Their fitness for purpose This is similar to the sales of goods act and ensures the customer that the items are correctly described. Data protection act 1998, the information collected by marketers must be: Obtained fairly and lawfully Used only for the purposes stated during collection Adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the intended use Accurate and where necessary kept up to date Not kept for longer than necessary Protected from unauthorised use Available for inspection and correction by the individual Subject to procedures to prevent unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage to personal data Protected from transfer to an area outside the European Economic Area (EEA), unless adequate protection exists for that data in the area A quite recent and very important act, the data protection act, makes sure that John Lewis do not exchange personal data collected from customers in order to gain money from niche market lists. What has John Lewis done to face the impact? John Lewis has done a lot of things to face the impact politics have had on them. The sale of good act has made John Lewis train their staff a lot more when they market their product to the public. They try not be biased and over exaggerate what the product really does. This way the public arent being lied to or deceived. John Lewis have had to adapt their descriptions on packaging so that it clearly states what it does so that there is no grey areas left when the buyer purchases the product. This is also the same reasons for the trade descriptions act. With the data protections act John Lewis have had to edit their websites and say, whenÂÂ   a customer puts their email address in to receive monthly news letters, that they wont pass the information on to other businesses thus preventing spam mail. All information gathered from any primary or secondary research is kept to just John Lewis and its partnerships (Waitrose). Environmental Environmental factors are new and are fast growing with the rise of Copenhagen. Everyone is talking about how to cut emissions and carry out activities in an eco friendly way. A carbon footprintis a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc. There is more pressure than ever for john lewis to reduce its carbon footprint. They have made small changes over the years, such as recyclable paper and energy efficient cars but they hope to make more changes in the future like powering a department off of solar panels. What has John Lewis done to face the impact? John Lewis has done a lot to face the environmental impact of green house gases. We actively promote responsible and sustainable methods of agriculture, animal husbandry and biodiversity and have taken on suppliers that offer eco friendly products. These products include; energy-saving washing machines, kettles and showers. The major change that has happened is the eco friendly cars that are more energy efficient. Social There are many social factors that have affected John Lewis but the main factor is the trend of fashion. Massive boom in fashion has paid John Lewis well with a lot of people shopping at their store for branded items; this includes anything from clothing to kitchen appliances. What has John Lewis done to face the impact? In response to the high fashion trend of all young to middle aged people, John Lewis have increased their stock line and invested in more branded items such as Ralph Lauren. They have also had to employ more staff on clothing departments in many stores due to the high demand of products and constant need for clothes to be out on stock on time. Technological The massive advancements in technology mean a lot of changes to John Lewis. Since they started in the 1800s they have experienced the introduction of the internet. The internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. With the power of the internet John Lewis have been able to sell products online, message customers electronically and send out advertisements on the web. In the past month a faster broadband has been released of 50mb, this gives john lewis the power of ultimate speed and efficiency when trying to function online. The introduction of the chip and pin makes it easier for customers to pay for items and prevents them from having to carry loose change around. It makes John Lewis process faster. What has John Lewis done to face the impact? John Lewis has really grasped the impact of technology and has set up a massive online website from which customers can register an account, order products, post feedback, give advice to fellow customers and speak to other people on a forum about almost anything in general. They have online chat installed on their website for better means of customer service and also have a computerised robot that helps answer frequently answered questions. In order to do all of this John Lewis have had to employ a huge IT team in order to set up all the networks, host servers and maintain the standard of the website and servers. Any faults or glitches are reported to this team and dealt with immediately. The use of chip and pin has also been executed well by John Lewis. They have chip and pin on every single checkout to provide a better, more efficient and faster process. Customers have had to adapt to the new technology also and there are fliers created by John Lewis on how to use the chip and pin instead of cash or loose change.ÂÂ   Suppliers of John Lewis have also been affected as they now receive their orders of products online rather than on the phone, it means that they dont have to be on the phone all day and can just check their website for orders come in overnight. Oxfam Political The political factor has impacted Oxfam enormously. New laws bring limits on what they can do and what is legal to do. There are a few major laws that have affected Oxfam more than others: Sales of good act 1979, goods must be: To a satisfying standard Made to work for the purpose known by the seller As described Trade descriptions act 1968, good must be correctly described including: The way they were made or processed What they are made of Their fitness for purpose This means Oxfam have to describe their operations accurately and not defy the people who donate for the operation to function. What has Oxfam done to face the impact? In order to face the impact of political change Oxfam have trained their staff to describe products and operation goals accurately and not to lie or be at all biased. Environmental Environmental factors are new and are fast growing with the rise of Copenhagen. Everyone is talking about how to cut emissions and carry out activities in an eco friendly way. A carbon footprintis a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc. There is more pressure than ever for Oxfam to reduce its carbon footprint. They have made small changes over the years, such as recyclable paper and energy efficient cars but they hope to make more changes in the future like powering a department off of solar panels. What has Oxfam done to face the impact? Marks Spencer and Oxfam have joined forces to launch the MS and Oxfam Clothes Exchange, the biggest programme in the UK to encourage consumers to recycle their clothes. The Exchange is designed to both raise money for Oxfams work to tackle poverty and injustice and to reduce the one million tonnes of clothing sent by the public to landfill in the UK each year. Oxfam have also started a campaign called Green Grannies in which a granny, Barbara Walmsley, reveals tips on how to save on everyday products. She displays tips on how to make the most of stale bread, mend old clothes and find new use for unused clothes. Social There are many social factors that have affected John Lewis but the main factor is the trend of fashion. A lot of people have felt the pressure in the past to have to donate to charities because they feel selfish keeping all their money to themselves. As other people do it, it increases the pressure for more people to donate as it makes them think about if they are being selfish. What has Oxfam done to face the impact? Oxfam has had to re-invest money in ad-campaigns persuading even more people to donate and to raise a lot of awareness for operations that might not always hit the news. Technological The massive advancements in technology mean a lot of changes to Oxfam. Since they started in the 1800s they have experienced the introduction of the internet. The internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. With the power of the internet Oxfam have been able to receive donations online, message customers electronically and send out advertisements on the web. In the past month a faster broadband has been released of 50mb, this gives Oxfam the power of ultimate speed and efficiency when trying to function online. What has Oxfam done to face the impact? Oxfam have faced the impact of technology by keeping up with the times and creating an online website with all the news and details. They have also launched big marketing campaigns via advertisements on the internet; these are displayed on well known sites such as facebook and youtube. Oxfam have also built massive databases with details of all the volunteers and have put it all on electronically. Reference: http://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/Display.aspx?MasterId=896114ba-7ef6-4d94-970c-fcde19b39799NavigationId=1626

The World Needs International Accounting Standards Essay -- Accounting

Financial reporting has a responsibility to communicate the economic condition and functioning of an enterprise. This has to be accurate, reliable and comply by the accounting standards. Effective financial reporting is essential in maintaining confidence in an economy and encouraging investors to invest. Towards the end of 2008, the financial sector across the world was becoming increasingly unstable. Lehman Brothers had been declared bankrupt, Various allegations towards accounting standards have been made in relation to the financial crisis. A lot of banks worldwide valued most of their financial assets at historic cost, the cost at which the assets were initially bought at. These figures were not adjusted to the current market values, and therefore were over estimated on the financial accounts. The ‘incurred loss model,’ was also heavily criticised. This model required only those losses to be recorded which would have a damaging result on future cash flows. The damaging result would have to be reliably estimated. This model did not permit the effects of future losses to be acknowledged, which was one of the reasons why losses were being severely understated. Had these banks valued their financial assets at fair-value cost, then the accounts of the companies would have been giving a more realistic Picture of profits & losses, and maybe the crisis would have been Recognised earlier in time. Off-balance sheet standards have also been blamed for covering company losses. Off-balance sheet asset/liabilities are those which are exempt from appearing on the balance sheet. It has been put forward by the Financial Crisis Advisory Group that the off-balance sheet standards may have hidden losses, therefore... ... risk factors. In response to the financial crisis, the Boards have been advised to emphasise to business entities how crucial it is that the quality of the data recorded for financial reporting should be to a high standard. A global convergence of accounting standards is more imperative than ever, as financial markets are now global markets. A uniform set of accounting standards around the world would enhance transparency, encourage efficient allocation of resources and would allow risks to be recognised. At the moment, over 100 countries have adopted to the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). The Boards have advised that economies that have not adopted the IFRS, should set a practical timetable for adopting these standards. It is not only vital to converge, but also to maintain common solutions and interpretations between economies.

Operant Conditioning

Personality Development & Operant Conditioning Theories of Personality II Ana Iqbal Mirajkar Learning can be defined as any process that leads to a relatively permanent and potential change in behaviour. The term behaviorism refers to the school of psychology founded by John B. Watson based on the belief that behaviors can be measured, trained, and changed. Behavioural theories are all based upon the idea that all behaviours are acquired through conditioning. It is highly objective and focuses on the notion that only observable behaviour should be studied. Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner, Edward, Thorndike, John B. Watson and Clark Hull are major thinkers of this school of thought. B. F. Skinner, a pioneer in behaviorism, invented a mechanical device for automatically recording fine differences in the rate of response. He was one of the pioneers of automation in behavioral research: responses could be detected, recorded and followed up with reinforcements, all by automatic apparatus. Opera nt conditioning is a concept also developed by B. F. Skinner, who said â€Å"Psychology is about behavior, not about the mind, and not about the nervous system.It deals only with variables that can be directly observed. † He emphasized on the role of reinforcement and punishment in shaping behavior and came up with the schedules of reinforcement. Plus, rather than focusing on things that occur before a response he focused on the idea that the events following a response had a great influence on its subsequent rate of occurrence. Operant conditioning can be defined as that if a response (the operant, which is an active behavior that operates upon the environment to generate consequences) is followed by a reinforcing stimulus, the response strength is increased.For instance, every time a child studies well he is rewarded with gifts, according to Skinner, this rewarded response (studying) will be strengthened and increased. B. F Skinner demonstrated that humans and animals alike tend to repeat those responses that are followed by favorable consequences and they tend to not repeat those responses that are followed by neutral or unfavorable consequences. Overall, favorable, neutral or unfavorable consequences involve reinforcement, extinction and punishment respectively. The classic study ofOperant Conditioning by B. F. Skinner involved a cat who was placed in a box with only one way out; a specific area of the box had to be pressed in order for the door to open usually a lever, this was the desired correct response. Outside the box was a fish for the cat, which was another reinforcing stimulus beside its freedom. The cat initially is very comfortable and tries to get out of the box because freedom is reinforcing. In its attempt to escape, the area of the box (lever) is triggered and the door opens.Once placed in the box again, the cat will try to remember what it did to escape the previous time and will again find what it did right the first time that lead to its escape. The more the cat is placed back in the box, the quicker it will press that lever and stop all the incorrect/unrewarded responses. Thus it has learned, through natural consequences, how to gain the reinforcing freedom and fish. 1 Moreover, Skinner also stated that this learning had to occur very slowly and gradually.Extinction occurs when the connection between the stimulus and response has died or become extinct, that is presenting the stimulus no longer brings about the same response. People learn this way every day in our lives. For instance a person makes a mistake on a test paper, this mistake is something that he/she will most likely not forget as it cost them their grade. The next time the same question appears in the exam that person will do things differently remembering their mistake. In this sense, the person has learned to act differently based on the natural consequences of previous actions.The same holds true for positive actions. If something one does re sults in a positive outcome, one is likely to do that same activity again. Positive reinforcement occurs when a positive stimulus is added in the environment, such as giving candy to a child for good behaviour this is usually used to introduce new behaviours in humans and animals. Whereas, negative reinforcement is said to occur when a negative stimulus is removed from the environment. It must be noted though, that negative reinforcement is not to be confused with punishment.Negative reinforcement has similar usage like that of positive reinforcement, which is it is used to strengthen behaviour by following it with the removal or omission of an unpleasant stimulus. There are two types of negative reinforcement, escape and omission. In escape, performing a particular behavior leads to the removal of an unpleasant stimulus. For example, if a person with a headache tries a new pain reliever and the headache quickly disappears, this person will probably use the medication again the next time a headache occurs.In avoidance, people perform a behavior to avoid unpleasant consequences. For example, citizens may pay their taxes to avoid fines and penalties. While, punishment both negative and positive, is usually involved in trying to eliminate some particular behaviour from an organism’s routine. This is of two types; positive punishment and negative punishment. Positive punishment is when a positive stimulus is removed from the environment, for instance a mother takes away her child’s toy because she was banging it loudly.In negative punishment a threatening or unpleasant stimulus is added to the environment. For example grounding a child for a day inside the house would be particularly unpleasant for him. All in all, both reinforcements and punishments are essential tools used by behaviorists in shaping behavior and developing personalities. 2 As in this example, every time Ellen has a temper tantrum and reinforcement occurs, her behaviour is strengthe ned and operant conditioning occurs.While every time Ellen cries and is punished (negative punishment) for it her behaviour is weakened. is one in which reinforcement is made available to the subject only some of the time, according to certain rules; these rules define the schedule. Different schedules give rise to characteristically different patterns of operant behavior. B. F. Skinner believed that human behavior and lives are products of social learning in culture, shaping and Operant Conditioning. There are two types of reinforcement schedule continuous and partial.In continuous reinforcement, the desired behavior is reinforced every single time it occurs. Generally, this schedule is best used during the initial stages of learning in order to create a strong association between the behavior and the response. Once the response if firmly attached, reinforcement is usually switched to a partial reinforcement schedule. In partial reinforcement, the response is reinforced only part o f the time. Learned behaviors are acquired more slowly with partial reinforcement, but the response is more resistant to extinction. There are four schedules of partial reinforcement: Fixed-ratio schedules are those where a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses. This schedule produces a high, steady rate of responding with only a brief pause after the delivery of the reinforcer. Variable-ratio schedules occur when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses. This schedule creates a high steady rate of responding. Gambling, lottery games and the job of a salesman are examples of reward based on a variable ratio schedule.Fixed-interval schedules are those where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed. This schedule causes high amounts of responding near the end of the interval, but much slower responding immediately after the delivery of the reinforcer. The monthly salaries or pocket money peo ple receive are examples of fixed intervals. Variable-interval schedules occur when a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed. This schedule produces a slow, steady rate of response. Examples include social media notifications and fishing. 4

Aristotle vs. Martin Luther King Jr essays

Aristotle vs. Martin Luther King Jr essays For a common person, it is a big enough task to determine what is true for themselves and their surroundings. However, to truly live a good life, they must choose a path based on self-knowledge and truth. Since no one path is better than the other, it is important to follow different paths and assess each step of the journey to seek truth and self-awareness. If the individual does not feel a connection between that truth and the self, they should consider a different path. Through instincts and reasoning are guides for the common people to achieve the good life. However, philosophers like Aristotle and a more contemporary Martin Luther King Jr must be aware of the deepest possible meanings of all known truths and not simply just choose one path since each path offers different thoughts. Despite the fact that Aristotle and Martin Luther King Jrs lived during different periods, their ideas and teachings towards achieving a good life are quite comparable, but of course, along with some differences. For the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, a person achieved the good life the best possible life for mankind in accordance with his nature- only as part of a political state. He believed that all existing things have a purpose and that their purpose constitutes their good. He is not concerned with individual good but with the good for all humans. He named this good eudaimonia, which is translated as happiness. This word includes both the notion of behaving well and the notion of faring well, meaning being a good person and doing well in life. Like the Greek analogy, happiness is the goodness of persons soul as health is the goodness of a persons body . In Politics, Aristotle suggests that the aim of government is to aid its citizens in the realization of the good life. He stressed that the need for human beings to live in societies in order to become self-fulfilled is something not possi...