Finance and Positivism

Introduction According to Little (2005), philosophy of social science is a scholarly discipline that attempts to analyse the logic, methodology, modes of explanation of the social sciences, in which its studies include psychology, sociology, anthropology, history and economics. Social science provides understanding of everyday interactions of individuals and interactions among human society in social institutions. Providing prediction and explanation for human behaviour and its consequences are some of the main aims of social science (Rosenberg, 1988).The purpose of this paper is to examine how philosophy of social science can help in explaining speculators’ behaviours. This paper is divided into five sections. It will begin by explaining the speculative behaviours of stock traders on lottery type of stocks, the probable data source and methodology. This will be followed by introducing the concept of positivism and identifying the reasons for selecting positivism. This paper w ill also provide some criticisms to positivism. Lastly, the paper ends with a summary.Speculative Behaviours of the Stock Traders in Lottery Type of Stocks My research will be mainly focus on the speculative behaviours of the stock traders, such as fund managers and retail speculators on lottery type of stocks. Speculation is different from investment, in which according to Peers (2003), On the one hand, speculation involves taking large amount of risks attempting to earn quick profit. Speculation is a game where expected return and risk are both indeterminate.As a result, speculators need to take relatively large amount of risk with respect to attempt to predict the future. A simple example of speculation is purchasing gold. Speculators might think that buying gold is a better use of money due to the inflation. Since gold depends more on inflationary rate and relies less on global economy, buy gold during period of financial crisis will help speculators to generate quick profit. Ho wever, gold prices are now extremely high, and there is no guarantee that prices will keep increasing in the future.Since there are huge fluctuations in gold prices, speculators are very likely need to bear large amount of risk when they purchased gold. On the other hand, according to Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC (2007) investment involves analyzing the future earning and the preference of participating in those future earnings. The expected future value of investment is higher than the cost of the investment. Expected future value takes into account for all of the potential good or bad events multiply by the probability of those events.Investors usually search for definable expected future value, minimize risk and investors have nominal risk aversion, which means that investors will prefer a more guaranteed payout and the uncertain one, otherwise, investors will need a higher expected returns in order for them to undertake the risk. Using the gold example to differentiate i nvestor and speculator, investors purchase gold and hold it for decades, because after couple of decades, the returns from selling those amounts of gold will be higher than the initial cost of buying those amounts of gold, even after subtracting the returns from the transaction costs.Furthermore, gold will still be considered as one of the most precious metal after couple of decades. Investors do not need to worry that the value of gold will worth nothing, thus expected future value is more guaranteed and risk is minimized to some extent. Speculators purchase gold during the periods of financial crisis, and sell gold in order to buy stocks during periods of bubble. This strategy can help speculators to generate quick profit, however, it is extremely hard to predict when bubble or crisis will occur, and this uncertainty might cause speculators to experience huge amount of loss as well.Lottery Type of Stocks According to Kumar (2009), some stocks are classified as lottery type because they have prominent characteristics of lottery. Lottery type of stocks has low prices and relatively high potential payoff, just like jackpot in lottery. The expected returns of lottery type of stocks are negative but low, and they have risky payoffs. The price distribution of lottery type of stocks has very high variance, and most particularly, the probability of earning a huge profit is extremely small.Since lottery type of stocks has a very big probability of experiencing a loss and a very small probability to generate a huge gain, both risk and expected future value are indeterminate. By applying the definition of investors and speculators that we mentioned earlier, only speculators will have the preference of buying lottery type of stocks, due to their risk loving behavior, while investors do not, because risk-averse investors prefer to minimize risk even though there is a small change to earn huge profit.Positivism One of the main topics in philosophy of social science is pos itivism. According to the Merriam-Webber’s Dictionary, â€Å"positivism† is a view of scientific methods and a philosophy approach that defines positive knowledge is based on natural phenomena and their properties and relations as verified by the empirical sciences, and defines theology and metaphysic as earlier imperfect modes of knowledge.According to Perry, Riege and Brown (1999), some of the ontological assumptions of positivism are that the world exists externally, it is characterized by natural laws and it can be objectively observed by using a scientific way. In other words, positivism can be viewed as an appropriate methodology of social science, which emphasizes empirical observation. Positivism is also associated with empiricism, only the events, things or creatures that can be observed based on sense, experience and positive verification via the five senses can be considered as authentic knowledge.According to Creswell (2003), the underlying epistemological assumption of positivism is that there is an independent researcher of the research project, who is value and bias free, and has no influence on the result of research or data collected. Furthermore, Ticehurst and Veal (2000) states that the methodological approach for positivism is restricted in term of explanation and discovery of facts. Researcher uses developed theories and frameworks to describe behaviours based on the observations and facts collected.As a result, scientific, empiricist, experiental, deductive or quantitative approaches are involved in the research. In addition, Guba and Lincoln (1994) state that the paradigm stresses the value-free theory testing instead of theory building. Some of the key assumptions of the positivism paradigm, according to Phillips and Burbles (2000) include, first of all, researchers use null hypothesis because founded evidence in their research is usually fallible and imperfect. Secondly, majority of quantitative researches begin with the test of a theory.Researches can be considered as a practice of making claims, and subsequently either abandoning or refining them. Thirdly, knowledge is shaped by the data, evidence and rational considerations. Furthermore, research attempts to develop statements those are relevant and true, in which they are able to provide descriptions and explanations for the situation or causal relationship. Lastly, one of the most important parts of a competent inquiry is to being objective. Data and MethodologyIn order for lottery type of stocks to match the main characteristics of lotteries, first of all, the data will mainly focus on the stock with low prices (under one pound per stock). Within the set of stocks with low prices, my PhD research will focus on stocks with higher stock specific skewness, because these are the stock with higher potential payoff and they appears to be more attractive to speculators. Lastly, among the set of stocks with higher stock specific skewness and prices be low one pound, my PhD research will focus on stocks with higher idiosyncratic volatility.It is because stocks with higher idiosyncratic volatility are more likely to be considered as lottery type of stocks, because speculators might believe that when volatility is high, there is larger probability to realize the extreme returns that occurred in the past (Kumar, 2009). The methodology will be similar to Kothari and Warner (2006), in which the return of any given security at any given time can be obtained by adding the expected return based on expected return models, like Fama-French three factors model, to the abnormal return. The abnormal return of a given time eriod can be obtained by averaging all the abnormal returns of the given period. Given the test statistics provided by Kothari and Warner (2006), the paper will test the null hypothesis, comparing the returns of lottery type of stocks and index returns. If the test statistics are significantly lower, then the evidence may sug gest that the returns of lottery type of stocks underperform index returns, or vice versa. Criticisms to Positivism Some of the criticisms to the positivism is that the ontological position of positivist vis-a-vis reality that social reality exists in an independent way to the researcher (Schutz 1954).It is not helpful for the exploratory research, because the research attempts to understand meaning of the speculating process and varying perception of speculators. Berg (2004) claimed that people, events, objects and situation do possess meaning themselves; these elements confer meaning due to human interaction. Furthermore, it is inappropriate to ask the positivistic position on the epistemological question of â€Å"In what way one can obtain knowledge from a particular reality? † due to the postulation that investigating in such a reality provides no change to that reality.Moreover, one of the main criticisms of the positivism paradigm, according to Hussey and Hussey (1997), is that it is impossible to consider to people as being separate from the social contexts and they cannot be understood without apprehending their views of their own activities. A rigorously structured research design will impose some constraints on the results, and it might ignore more relevant findings, because researchers might carry their own value and interest to the research. The researchers cannot be objective because they are also part of what they are trying to observe.Lastly, statistical variables could be misleading as it is trying to capture complex phenomena. Reasons for Selecting the Positivist Paradigm Positivism is chosen to fit my PhD project, because according to Phan (2006), first of all, ontologically, stock markets is a financial world in which investment decisions can be considered as an external world, objectively adjusting itself, and individual perceptions or desires cannot have any influence. Secondly, quantifiable results are mainly the concerns in the wo rld of financial markets; it is impossible to make any alteration to the reality or to make any different perception.Thirdly, epistemologically, the researchers should be independent of their research projects, in other words, they should be free of bias and personal value, and should have no influence on the collection of data or the results of researches. Moreover, one of the main objectives of the PhD projects is to test hypothesis regarding to the returns of indexes and returns of lottery type of stocks, not to construct new theory or to implement any reform. Lastly, objectivity is important in the financial world in order to provide explanation to phenomena and causal relationships.To summarise, the PhD projects will be mainly focus on making measurements in a statistical and systematic way in order to provide validity, generalization, reliability for the measurements, as well as its predictive cause and effect (Casell and Symon 2004). Summary To sum up, my PhD research will be mainly focus on the speculative behaviours of the stock traders, such as fund managers and retail speculators on lottery type of stocks. The paper will be carry out using quantitative method and positivism fits very well in my research, as positivism is a methods that define positive knowledge which can be verified by empirical sciences.There are some criticisms about the ontological and epistemological assumption of positivism, nevertheless, the benefits of applying positivism exceeds it costs as my PhD research will mainly focus on making measurements in a statistical and systematic way to predict the cause and effect of different research topics, as well as their validity, generalization and reliability of the measurements. Reference: Berg, B. L. (2004) Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. 5th Edition, Pearson Education, Inc. Boston.Casell, C and Symon, G (2004), Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organisational Research, Sage Publications Ltd, London, UK Creswell, J (2003), Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approach, 2nd Edition, Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA. Guba, E and Lincoln, Y (1994), Competing paradigms in qualitative research, Handbook of Qualitative Research, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Hussey, J. and Hussey, R. (1997) â€Å"Business Research† Macmillan Press Ltd, Basingstoke Kumar, A. (2009) â€Å"Who Gambles in the Stock Market†, The Journal of Finance, Vol 64, No 4, 1889-1993Little, D. (2005) â€Å"Western Philosophy of Social Science† Peking University Lohpetch, D. andCorne, D. (2010) Outperforming Buy-and-Hold with Evolved Technical Trading Rules: Daily, Weekly and Monthly Trading, EvoApplications 2010, Springer LNCS Phan, A 2006, â€Å"Hedge funds and China’s stock market: a study on factors influencing investment decisions by fund managers†, DBA thesis, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW. Peers, M. (2003) â€Å"A Guide To: Gambling, Investment, and Speculati on† Available at: www. math. byu. edu, Accessed on January 15, 2012Perry, C, Riege, A & Brown, L 1999, â€Å"Realism's role among scientific paradigms inmarketing research†, Irish Marketing Review, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 16-23. Phillips, DC and Burbules, NC (2000), Postpositivism and educational research, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Rosenberg, A. (1988) â€Å"Why a Philosophy of Social Science? † In Philosophy of Social Science. Boulder, CO:Westview Press 1-21. Schutz, A (1954), Concept and Theory Formation in the Social Sciences, The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 51, No. 9, 257-273 Ticehurst, GW and Veal, AJ (2000), Business Research Methods: A Managerial Approach, Pearson Education: NSW Australia

Democracy Building

Nowadays, it is common to have free elections in the country, to have right to vote and those are some of the characteristics that define democracy in some country. However, the question is how did the democratic regime developed what are the factors that helped in establishing the democracy? In this paper I will discuss the texts by Lipset Seymour, Moore Barrington, Przeworski Adam and Fernando Limongi and Skocpo Theda. All the mentioned authors answering the previous question. In their papers they discuss transition from the aristocratical type of government to more modernized and democratic government. The main noticeable variables in texts that kind of pushed for the democracy are economy, education, class structure in the society and political legitimacy. Right from the title of Seymour Lipset text â€Å"Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy† it is obvious that he means that economy and political legitimacy are necessary for development and maintenance of democratic regime in some country. Unlike Lipset, Przeworski Adam and Fernando Limongi in their article â€Å"Modernization: Theories and Facts† believe that the strong economy does not need to be necessary for the countries to develop the democracy but they believe that democracy have more chance to survive in countries with stronger economy. While Lipset, Przeworski and Limongi focus mostly on the influence of the economy on the development of democracy, Moore Barrington in his book â€Å"Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World† compares different countries and the regimes that influenced transition to more modernized countries. He describes in his book how independent bourgeois is necessary for transition from the agrarian society to more modern society (democracy). Alike Przeworski and Limongi disagree in some points with Lipotski, Skocpo Theda in her article â€Å"A Critical Review of Barriangton Moore's Social Origins† criticizes Moore. Skocpo admits that conflict between the classes is important for the development of democracy in the country but she also believes that bourgeois is not as necessary for the democracy as Moore explains. While Moore is focused more on political revolution in the countries, Skocpo is focused primarily on social revolution. I will go on and explain these texts more in depth and I will start first with Lipsent's article. â€Å"Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy† is written in very philosophical way, he used more qualitative method over quantitative, and the texts is not focused on small details much, so considering that it seems that Lipset used a macro-level of analysis. Lipset also used a deductive analysis because he has a hypothesis that he needs to test and he claims already in the first paragraph of his article â€Å"It his paper the problem is attacked from a sociological and behavioral standpoint, by presenting a number of hypotheses concerning some social requisites for democracy, and by discussing some of the data available to test these hypotheses† (Lipset, 69). Even though in his article Lipset believes that the main characteristic to have a stable democracy is strong economy, he also agrees that the class structure and historical events are also factors that can influence the development of democracy in a country. Through his essay Lipset indicates that Max Weber says how historical events can influence the country's political regime (72). Lipset also gave Germany as an example of a state who had good economy, growing industrialization, education but still could not develop stable democracy â€Å"†¦all favored the establishment of a democratic system, but in which a series of adverse historical events prevented democracy from securing legitimacy in the eyes of many important segments of society, and thus weakened German democracy's ability to withstand crisis† (Lipset 72). What Lipset also emphasizes is education. From his researchers he found out that the more democratic countries have the higher education. Another reason why the education is important the country's democracy is because â€Å"The higher one's education, the more likely one is to believe in democratic values and support democratic practices'7† (Lipset 79). However, there is also a connection between education and economy because the countries with the higher education are also the wealthy countries. In his essay he also compares some variables like urbanization, literacy, media participation, of some countries and political participation in the countries like Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Jordan. The Turkey scored the highest (Lipset 81). Even though Egypt is more urbanized than Turkey, Lipset supports Lerner opinion on that Turkey is more modernized state than Egypt because the literacy, participation and urbanization are increasing, while Egypt is â€Å"literacy homeless† (Lipset 81). Furthermore, like Moore, Lipset says that â€Å"burgher class whose existence was both a catalyst and a necessary condition for democracy,† from this we can see that the social classes are one of the factors that is important for development of democracy. Lipset also mentions that the better economy influences the class structure. However, the upper class did not like the idea of democracy because they wanted to be different from the lower class. Nonetheless the economical development for the lower class means â€Å"greater economic security, and higher education, permit those in this status to develop longer time perspectives and more complex and gradualist views of politics† (Lipset 83). With the economical development the middle class would be emerge. Lipset indicates that legitimacy and effectiveness are also necessary to sustain the democracy. Legitimacy is defined as â€Å"†¦the capacity of a political system to engender and maintain the belief that existing political institutions are the most appropriate or proper ones for the society† (Lipset 86). With effectiveness Lipset means that the government should take the more active role in political system (Lipset 86). As mentioned before economic development causes extension of the middle class, and with more people on the higher position government will become more efficient and will take the legitimacy more seriously. Through the whole essay Lipset is trying to explain how the development of the economy is essential for the establishment and substation of democracy. He uses many variables to prove his point. He compares different (rich, poor) countries to each other. Lipset has some good points and everything is supported by qualitative or quantitative evidence. He shows through his essay that strong economy is fundamental element in having a stable democracy but he concludes that democracy can survive only if people work together towards it, one man alone cannot do anything (Lipset 103). Alike Lipset, Adam Przeworski and Fernando Limongi in their article are also trying to explain how development of economy affects transformation from the dictatorship to democratic regime. However, through their article they try to discuss the points that Lipset says about relationship between development of economy and democracy, nevertheless as a mentioned before Limongi and Preworski do not agree with all the points that Lisent made in his essay. In their article they provide a lot of quantitative data to support their theory. Przeworski and Limongi started their essay by defining two types of democratization, endogenous and exogenous. The endogenous in this content means â€Å"†¦either democracies may be more likely to emerge as countries develop economically†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and exogenous â€Å"†¦or they may be established independently of economic development but may be more likely to survive in developed countries† (Preworski, Limongi pg2). Endogenous in their opinion is considered as a â€Å"modernization† theory, and in that theory, democratization is the final stage of modernization (Preworski, Limongi pg2). The endogenous theory describes us that the democracy can happened under the authoritarian regime if the country develops. On the other hand, exogenous is not considered a modernization theory. Furthermore, exogenous is focused more on economy, the wealthier countries are more likely to stay democratic than poor countries, and they agree with Lipset on this one. Therborn also highlights that the war caused democratization in European countries and not â€Å"modernization† (Preworski, Limongi pg 2). However, there also some dictatorship regime that collapsed because of economic crisis or because of the pressure from other democratic countries (Preworski, Limongi pg2). To get better sense if the â€Å"levels of economic development and the incidence of democratic regimes is due to democracies being more likely to emerge or only more likely to survive in the more developed countries.† they tested 224 regimes that existed during the 1950 to 1990, and all the regimes that existed during that time were either under the regime of dictatorship (123 countries) or democracy (123). They found out that when the per capita income reaches more than $6,000 in dictatorship countries, the country become more stable (Prewoski, Limongi pg 3). So that means that dictatorship survives in the countries that are wealthy, however out 123 dictatorship countries only 19 survived during these years (1950-1990). Even though the small number of countries remained under the dictatorship regime, it cannot be said for sure that dictatorship regime collapses when the country's economy develop, this is the proof that indeed economic growth does not need to lead to democracy right away. However, some countries after the dictatorship still could not get the $6,000 per capita income. According to that, countries managed to get rid of dictatorship and lean towards the democracy, even though, they were economically weak. That point supports exogenous theory, which shows us that democracy in the countries occur independently and even with the fragile economy countries can develop democracy. To conclude this point, unlike Lipsot, Prewoski and Limongi prove that development of economy is not necessary for democracy to emerge in some country. However, Prewoski and Limongi do believe that economic development keeps the democracy more stable, and it is likely that democracy in poor countries will not last. Furthermore, Preworski and Limongi, disagree with Lipset concept that when countries grow quickly, democracy will become more fragile. Preworski and Limongi with their data prove that Lipset is wrong † Moreover, democracies that grow slowly, at the rate of less than 5 percent per annum, die at the rate of 0.0173, while those that grow at a rate faster than 5 percent die at the rate of 0.0132†³(Preworski, Limongi pg 5). That means that democracies that grow faster than five percent per annum will die in a lower rate than the democracies that grow slower. Finally, Preworski and Limongi use deductive type of analysis, because they have a theory which they tested and then they concluded it. It also looks like they were more focused more on a micro level of analysis because they used data mostly from the per capita income. It seems that in both texts' democracy is treated as depended variable and economy as an independent variable, because they are trying to explain how democracy and the economic development are related. Lipset's essay and the article from Preworski and Limongi, both have some fair points. After first reading essay from Lipset it looked like he has proof enough and that economy is the key for the countries to establish democratic regime. On the contrary to Lipset, Preworski and Limongi give more quantitative data, and looking from it is noticeable that Lipset was wrong about that point. Nevertheless, Perworski and Limongi agree with Lioset about how economic development is crucial for democracy to sustain a country. Lipset uses education as an important aspect to stability of democracy and he supports with the evidence while Preworski and Limongi do agree that education is vital aspect for democracy to develop and sustain stable but they mention education just briefly and do not use much data to support it. In both texts we can see that they use different countries in their data, while Lipset is more focused on Latin America and Europe, Prewowski and Limongi take data from 135 countries. Both texts give attention to economy and how economy influences democracy.

The best place to live in the world – Montenegro

There are many beautiful places in the world that offer people a nice and comfortable life, regardless of some minor problems that exist even in the most developed countries in the world. One of those places where life is pleasant is Montenegro. Actually, it is not one of the nice places, but it is the best place to live among all of those beautiful places. Montenegro was a republic of former Yugoslavia, and it recently became a part of a new state called Serbia and Montenegro. Although it is a small place with about six hundred thousands people living there, Montenegro has everything that a big place can offer for living. Its schools, hospitals, public transportation, and various institutions that are important for making life comfortable are all organized as in any other developed country. But what this place distinguishes from all other places in the world are the following characteristics: climate, seaside, nature, sustainable development, mountains, and many other important factors that determine the attractiveness of Montenegro. The climate is the most significant factor that makes the life in Montenegro unique. There are all of the four seasons throughout a year. Winter, spring, summer and autumn are all equally important seasons. The whiteness of snow and the fresh air of a winter day, the exhilarating feeling of spring and melting of the white cover in spring time, the constant sunshine in summer, and the calm yellow color of falling leaves in autumn are all factors that determine the physical and the mental health of people. For example, winter brings fresh air and various snow sports can be played at this time to improve the physical condition, while the colors of spring can affect our mood and determine ones mental state. Although it seems that one place having four seasons is a widespread appearance, it is not the case very often. Many places have only one season, and many of them have two seasons, usually summer and winter combined. Definitely, the splendor and benefits of all of the four seasons cannot be replaced by any other advantage that any place in the world can offer to its citizens. Furthermore, the beautiful Montenegro is set on the Adriatic coast. All its beaches have kept their natural beauty; there is no artificial sand as it is the case with many famous beaches all over the world. The beaches vary from very long to quite small. Some of the largest reach up to three kilometers. Some of the main advantages of the long beaches are that entrance on these beaches is always free, price of food and beverage is lower, and the offer of sport and entertainment programs is wider. On the other hand, the small beaches can offer more privacy. Business people who want to escape from everyday duties and responsibilities, and who want to spend their holiday in a peaceful environment usually visit these more expensive and serene beaches. In addition, Montenegro has some very small beaches that are very difficult to reach, or they can be reached only by boat. They offer an extra quiet holiday for only a couple of people who want to be in a complete isolation. Thus the advantage of Montenegrin seaside is that there are different kinds of beaches created to meet needs of different people. Moreover, there are many foreign investors who recognized the potential of Montenegrin cost for tourism, and whose investments should make the cost even more attractive. Since the core consequence of the investments would be increased population (because of newly build facilities), the conservation of the environment could be in question. In order to protect nature from the consequences of the new investments, the government of Montenegro issued some regulations that protect natural beauties of Montenegro. Therefore, one of the main conditions for the foreign investors who want to invest in development of the tourism was not to destroy nature, but to make it better and more attractive. The investors will have to find out new ways of maintaining water, air, beaches and parks clean and unpolluted while building new facilities and bringing tourists into Montenegro. These environmental regulations are very significant because they help sustainable development of this wonderful place. Beside fabulous seaside, Montenegro has two mountains. On one of them, there is a ski center that is visited not only by domestic visitors, but by foreign tourists as well. The domestic guests benefit a lot from having the ski center in Montenegro. First of all, they do not have to travel abroad in wintertime when the trip can be unpleasant because of wet and slick roads. Than, prices are much lower than anywhere abroad, which allows people to stay longer for the same amount of money than they would stay anywhere else. Also, because of the convenient climate in wintertime, the quality of snow is mostly excellent, which means that artificial snow is never used. That is very important for skiers (especially for professionals), because quality of snow directly affect quality of skiing. To sum up, Montenegro is definitely the best place to live in the world. Some of the convincing reasons have already been mentioned, but there are many of them that could be further discussed and used as the supporting material. This small place that offers everything needed for pleasant and comfortable life, say enough for itself. Whoever visits it or comes to live there is amazed by its gorgeousness, and wish to stay to live there. Therefore, I have not been trying to convince readers that Montenegro is the best place, but to convince them to visit it. Once they visit it, the people will have their own opinion that can be nothing else but that Montenegro is the best place on earth.

MRKT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MRKT - Assignment Example I consider fabric, design and something new in the designs. As it is Armani’s and Italian brand newness can be expected from the clothing and fashion accessories. I think the brand has been positioned for the customers who do not object money when it comes to their clothing needs. The touch, feel, style and fit are the critical factors of consideration for me. Creativity, talent and production each are crucial aspect of any fashion product. Armani has positioned itself at high end segment of consumer. Client at this segment are not large in number but offer high volume in sales. Unit price of products are much higher than the available substitutes. Armani has established itself for its credibility in terms of the brand value offered and as a corporate citizen. Armani brands have been targeted for the luxury product market segments. The clothing and fashion products offer signature characteristics like fit and finishing of the clothing. Each product is prepared with a great det ailing which is available to the client during the decision making process. Armani has also extended some of the brand categories to the mass-markets i.e. jeans. However the success of Armani is due to the well established name and credibility offered by Armani brands. Products are produced with great level of expertise.

Primary Source Annotation Assignment about women history in USA Essay

Primary Source Annotation Assignment about women history in USA - Essay Example In his defense of what he considers a woman’s practice, he establishes the origin of man-midwifery as a â€Å"fashion first set by the court prostitute of Paris† in December 1663. He urges the Bostonians not to accept the practice of man-midwifery and instead urges women to advertise themselves in the papers as practitioners of the art. The fact that Gregory finds it important to offer such a strong defense in favor of women is a statement that women in the colonial era were not regarded as qualified enough to perform â€Å"obstetric art† (15). He also alludes to the fact that most husbands, wives, and daughters were not at ease with male mid-wives as â€Å"the husband’s monopoly over his wife ceased† (9). The statement clearly shows that man-midwifery was associated with moral decadence and extramarital relations. Several aspects of women in the colonial era emerge Gregory’s paper. First, the fact that it is a man championing the rights of women to monopolize the practice of midwifery means that women at the time were not in a position to argue for themselves. This could be as a result of lack of training and education. Gregory applauds efforts from Paris where an institution was established to train women on midwifery practices. He suggests that such an institution should be established in Boston. The growing custom of man-midwifery or accoucheurs was seen as a â€Å"war against women [which was] prosecuted with the same vigor [in Boston] as in England† (11). This shows that even as early as 1840, women were still struggling to be recognized as an important part of the society. Those who supported women to take up the midwifery roles sought to embrace the long standing tradition that was established in England and Europe as a whole. At first Gregory points to instances where women in the past have taken the task of helping fellow women deliver. He associates the

Literature Review on Management of Cancer Pain Essay

Literature Review on Management of Cancer Pain - Essay Example The Global Association engaged in the research of pain, states that it is a woeful sensual and emotive feeling in connotation with real or possible tissue injury, or defined in relations to such harm. However, pain is a feeling that hurts and it has bodily and emotive features to consider. Pain can be of two types, acute or chronic: Acute pain normally experienced unexpectedly, can be severe, and frequently causes noticeable physical responses, for example, sweating, high blood pressure, and so on. Usually acute pain is an indication of sudden onset of an injury to the body, and it gets cured once the pain relief medicine is administered or the injury is treated. Pain is well-thought-out to be chronic once it continues further than the usual time anticipated for an injury to heal. Chronic cancer pain can be very tense for the body and the soul, and needs cautious, constant care to be properly treated. Together with enduring cancer pain, occasionally people have severe bursts of pain. Normally, these pains are termed as breakthrough pain, can as well be restricted by medications (Cancer-pain.org, 2002). The intensity of pain people experience due to cancer subject to the type of cancer they have, the phase the ailment is at, and the treatment they get. Around 25% to 50% of people with cancer grumble about pain at the time of diagnosis, and usually up to 75% of people with cancer whine of pain as the stages of cancer gradually progresses. Cancer pain can be further explained as an intricate feeling that reproduces harm to the physique and the physique's reaction to the injury. Even though physicians come to an understanding that controlling cancer pain is urgency, pain isn't each time understood or treated

Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 164

Essay Example This happens as a result that the managers tend to be motivated by their own self-interest and their interests differ most with the stakeholder’s interest. In this case the stakeholders are the principal while the managers are the agents. This problem is referred to as principal-agent problem. I agree with this claim because managers use the power and authority allocated to them by the shareholders for their own personal benefits. This problem is very difficult to deal with in most cases. However, the cost of dealing with this problem is far much expensive that the shareholders may end up losing a lot of money in the effort to ensure that they deal with the problem and eradicate it completely. Trying to do away with this conflict may outweigh the results of the managers. Therefore, the principal who are the shareholders opt to use several mechanisms to reduce this problem through several mechanisms which ensure that the results of the managers who are the agents in this case are not outweighed. In a company, shareholders expect the managers to maximize their wealth by making good decisions in the interest of the shareholder. However, the managers work hard and make decisions that that will best suit them and maximize their own personal wealth. There are several mechanisms that can be of good use to solve this conflict. One of the mechanisms used to solve this principal-agent problem is through the use of incentives types of compensation based on performance of the managers. This motivates the managers to work hard and make decisions that lead to maximization of the shareholder’s wealth. This mechanism ensures that the managers understand the risk of undertaking any costly actions which may lead to losses. The second mechanism of solving this problem is the threat of firing of the managers if they do not perform in the best interest of the shareholders. This mechanism helps in shaping the Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 38 Essay Example

Trade, Regionalism and Globalisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Trade, Regionalism and Globalisation - Essay Example The welfare consequences of tariffs and quotas are discussed in this paper. The theories developed in this field reveal that tariffs and quotas cannot be imposed without appropriate evaluation of local market needs. Moreover, it has been proved that tariffs are more popular than quotas as tools for increasing profits from trade. Also, both tariffs and quotas often limit the attractiveness of a county as a trade partner. Besides their negative consequences, tariffs and quotas are extensively used by governments for improving public finances. It is suggested that protectionism measures, such as tariffs and quotas, would be rather avoided; instead, the rules of international trade should be reviewed ensuring that restrictions in trade, where applied, are limited and absolutely necessary for eliminating threats for the national economy. 2.0 Welfare consequences of tariffs and quotas In economics, the term welfare is used for reflecting mainly the material welfare, as this trend is highli ghted in the work of Marshall (Reddy and Saraswathi 2007). 2.1 Evaluation of a market’s efficiency The introduction of tariffs and quotas is often considered as an effort to limit free trade, as the concept was first introduced by Adam Smith in 1776 (Van Marrewijk 2007). The specific view can be characterized as justified since tariffs and quotas can reduce the attractiveness of a market as a partner in global trade transactions. For this reason, before applying tariffs and quotas in a particular market it would be necessary to evaluate primarily the market’s efficiency. The Ricardian model is considered as the most popular model for evaluating a market’s efficiency. According to this model, in markets where the technology employed in the production process is unique market efficiency is considered to be high. Reference is made to all the phases of the production process, including the selection of raw materials, the process of these materials and the distributi on of the final product in the market. The Ricardian model is not appropriate for all markets but rather for those markets that are free from protectionism measures, such as tariffs and quotas (Van Marrewijk 2007, 156). The Heckscher-Ohlin model is also used for checking a market’s efficiency. In the specific model the criterion used for evaluating market’s efficiency is not technology, as in the Ricardian model, but the level of abundance of goods. According to this model, a country is expected to export only those goods that are abundant in local market. A market where different types of such products/ goods are available is characterized as highly efficient (Van Marrewijk 2007, p.156). 2.2 Tariffs vs. quotas – welfare consequences In general, both tariffs and quotas result to the radical increase of costs related to various phases of the production process (McEathern 2007). Also, both tariffs and quotas can lead to the increase of a product’s price. Mo re specifically, by imposing a tariff on a particular product a government makes the product more expensive compared to other markets (Mankiw and Taylor 2006). In this way, the consumers have to pay a higher price for the particular product, a fact that would decrease their welfare. Quotas have a similar effect on a product’s price. For example, the tariff-rate quota imposed by the US government has resulted to the increase of the price of raw cane sugar across US (Carbaugh 2012). As a result, consumers in US have to pay

The Issue of Death Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Issue of Death - Essay Example The essay "The Issue of Death " talks about the issue of death which has been debated for quite some time with the philosophers putting their weight on the same issue. According to the old Greek proverb, death and sleep are brothers and as such, death is a form of sleep.Sleeping of the body occurs because the personal human being is absent. Therefore, when human beings sleep, they do so in a state of complete unconsciousness as a result of failing to become self-conscious during the prior time to sleep. Death is equally the same as sleeping with the only variance resulting from one degree evidenced by the failure of regaining unconsciousness. A counter argument to the concept that death is the same as sleep or a form of deep sleep attributes death as annihilation to indicate a form of extinction, eradication or a form of extermination. The concept of annihilation towards death is considered based on the fact that unlike sleeping where the person awakes, it never happens with a dead p erson. Once death strikes, the person is no longer there and it is impossible to regain the earlier form of that person. If in any case death was a form of deep sleep it was possible to regain consciousness after a certain period of time but it never occurs as such. When death occurs, an individual is not there and when an individual is, death is not. The counter argument based on death as annihilation that refutes claims of death as a deep sleep follows its premise through examination of previous supporting evidence of the concept.

MARKETING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

MARKETING - Essay Example Discussion Political: there are heavy regulations that have to be followed in order to contribute the operations. These regulations could be in relation to pensions and the change equal opportunities to employees regarding the age of cabin crew and pilots. Compliance to Political regulations would be needed in order to function. These regulations monitor the expansion of businesses operations and its impacts. Political factors also encompass the increased security due to the international security conditions. The terrorist attacks of the past have an impact over the way Airlines functions. British airways would need to have more security in order to comply with the political safety measures and to ensure customer satisfaction. Economical: there is a global economic crisis and most countries of the world are going through recession in the economy. This economic crisis can lead to reduction in sales. When expanding the business, this could be a consideration as during recession it is m ost feasible for companies to try and cut costs to keep up with the declining economy. Moreover, due to the condition of the economy, many people may be switching to cheaper modes of travel. When there is economic downfall, the currency rates are affected. Pound weaken especially against the euro, this decline in the exchange rates makes UK airlines vulnerable. There is a rise in the oil prices due to the middle ease unrest, these fluctuation in the price of oil and petrol affect the exchange rates and consequently the cost base of British Airways. Also, as fuel prices increase, the costs rise and this makes it hard to deliver competitive advantage. Moreover, there has been a considerable decline in the spending of average UK population. This makes the airlines vulnerable to competition. (Milmo, 2011) Social: According to the national statistics, the UK has an aging population, this is an advantage for British Airways as the older generation seems to indulge more in leisure activiti es and has more time to travel. The unemployment rate is increasing in the UK which means that there is more workers supply than the demand. This increase in the rate of unemployment gives the company bargaining power over the employees. Technological: with the passage of time and the advancement of information technology, the use of internet for buying and selling has been on a constant rise. Online presence is necessary for every business especially airlines and travel agencies. Recent studies reveal that there would be an increase in the use of price comparison sites by the consumers which means that the bargaining power of the consumer would increase as they would be comparing the prices of the airlines and competition would also increase. The internet usage and purchases have increased online bookings and ticket reservations. The trend of purchasing airline tickets over the internet has become widespread. With these trends it is imperative for British Airways to expand its virt ual presence and keep up tp date with the advancements in technology, whilst maintaining a physical presence for the consumers that do not use the internet. As majority of the consumers are now moving to buying tickets over the internet, due to this change, market research could be conducted through email questionnaires and online reviews. With concise and straightforward questionnaires, a sample from the target market can be analyzed. Surveys can also be conducted thro

Volunteer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Volunteer - Essay Example Research shows, investment in corporate social responsibility has a positive effect on business revenues (Aras and Crowther 498). Volunteer service learning is an engaged teaching and learning strategy that allows the student to participate in an organized service that target to fulfill a certain community need. The student are supposed to reflect, critically evaluate and analysis the service activity to enhance their sense of civic responsibility, help in understanding the course content and appreciate the discipline they are undertaking. One of the most engaging and interesting service activities that a person can undertake is helping the elderly. In most cases, they are unable to clean their home properly and hence are exposed to diseases. The elderly occupy a special place in our society, and they act as the link between the previous generation and the current one. They preserve knowledge and hence it is the duty of the society to take care of them. I chose this service activity for the knowledge and wisdom that the elderly share with you work in their home. The elderly has a lot of experience, and as you work with them, you can get a glimpse of the previous century. The service learning project involved visiting the homes of the elderly to help them clean their house and yard. The group met in the designated venue early in the morning, and we were a lot of people. Hence, the principal in charge of volunteering divided us into groups. Some groups were to clean the street while others were to visit the elderly homes and help them clean their house and yard. My group was to visit an old couple and clean their house and yard. We left the volunteer office and headed for the old couple home. We started by cleaning the house, where we scrubbed the floors and repainted the kitchen walls. The couple was very old and hence was unable to move furniture and hence we rearranged the house

Attitude Of Young Adults Towards Drinking Milk In Pkaitsan Essay Example for Free

Attitude Of Young Adults Towards Drinking Milk In Pkaitsan Essay

Manual handling injuries at the gym

Manual handling injuries at the gym Working out at the gym is everyones business from education to big companies. In the US, schools have introduced physical activities such as weight training in their daily program. This is because researchers agreed that children doing physical exercises often have better grades at school. Big companies have found out that healthy employees are more productive and so pays fitness club for their employees. Like a phoenix, gyms have been reborn a number of times with names like weight rooms, fitness rooms and gyms which overlapped over and over again. Gyms were originally found in unhealthy neglected neighbourhood, located in wet basements, with poor lighting and ventilation leading to a strong smell of dried sweat and unsanitary condition. For decades, this was the bad image associated with gyms until the end of the 1960s and certainly was no place for women to set foot, but this has certainly changed with recent technological development with fitness equipment on the front scene making it hardly recognisable to people still living into the old stereotype. This firstly changed by giving members new activities like running, cycling and walking which traditionally was considered as outdoor activities, todays gyms offer state of the art equipment with digital readout displaying exercising programs, duration and intensity of exercise, calories burned etc. The atmosphere itself has drastica lly changed, from a badly lit smelly place, to an air conditioned atmosphere with good lighting, nice sound system, mirrors on the wall and TV showing how to exercise have made gym a pleasant and user friendly place to work out. Due to these improvements, the clientele which were mostly composed of muscle bound hulks has diversify into a recreational area for gentlemen, ladies, teenagers and elders wanting to keep fit but also a place for rehabilitation of individuals after an accident or illness. Today gyms is a $12.2 billion a year industries according to statistics from the International Health, Racquet and Sports club Association (IHRSA) and it is especially developed in the US where one corporate opens branches of gym in each states. An example of this is The Bally Total Fitness chain. It has more than 400 clubs around the US, 4 millions of customers and yearly revenue of about $1 billion. Statistic in the US shows an increase of gym members from 20.8 million in 1992 to 33.8 mi llion in 2002. Western Europe such as Germany and England shows the same trend with a business estimated of $5 billion per year. The common age group found in gym in the US are 35-54 years with a percentage of 36.5%, 18-34 years with a percentage of 31%, 55 and above years with a percentage of 22.5%, 12-17 years with a percentage of 6% and 6-11 years with a percentage of 4%. (Yigal Pinchas, 2006). Benefits of physical activity in gym Physical activity in gym helps promote physical fitness for our body that is increase in cardiovascular endurance which strengthen the muscle of the heart and blood vessels when using treadmill and bicycle, promote bone density and makes then more solid as the weight put stress on the bones which in response increase their density to make them more solid and so prevent diseases such as osteoporosis (Osteoporosis happens when the bones decrease in mass making it more fragile), increased muscle mass not only increase our strength but also makes us burn more calories as lean muscle mass fires up our metabolism during work out and even after as the body needs energy to maintain this new muscle mass (Shawn LeBrun, 2002; Yigal Pinchas, 2006). Gym population: The gym population comprises of everyone from children, adolescents, adults to seniors. These groups of people have different goals for training in gym from trying to keep fit and control body weight to conditioning the body to perform at its highest level in competition so it is not uncommon to see professional sports men to workout at the gym at the same time with people doing rehabilitation exercises. (Yigal Pinchas, 2006) Cases of gym accidents: With the increase number of people going to gym, the risk of accident happening in them increased. Gym injuries can range from minor injuries such as small superficial cuts and bruises to severe sprain and strain, crushed body parts and rarely death. Weight room injuries has wake public awareness when a University of Southern California American football player star was injured to his throat and was lucky to survive when his bench press bar slipped from his hand and fell on him. Mr Stafon Johnson received a load of 275 pound nearly 125 kg on his throat and had to undergo multiple neck and throat surgeries. He couldnt speak for months because of his injuries. Another severe case of injury happened when another American football player nearly got his fingers ripped off while training in the weight room ( Josh Staph, 2010). Reed Remington was doing shoulder press with a load of 165 pound (75 kg), when he found out he didnt have enough strength to push it up from head level, he arched hi s back to try to lock it out but lost balance while doing so, so he tried to throw the weight bar in front of his head but ended up having the bar hitting his head while falling down, his right hand got caught between the weight and the apparatus holding the weight which crushed his index finger and ripped it off. After surgery, Reed Remington had to stay at hospital for five days and 3 weeks at home for recovery (Tim Rogers, 2010). Cost of Manual handling injuries: Manual handling of loads is describe as the action of lifting, pulling pushing, moving, lowering, holding and carrying any objects using the force generated from the human body. As seen above, weight training injury takes a lot of time to heal up, leading to temporary impairment and sometimes permanent disabilities if the injury is severe. This affects the income of a working people, his social life and family life and the company currently employing him. Problem Statement: With gym getting more popular these days, more and more people are adopting weight training in their lifestyle. According to a statistic report published in THE NEW YORK TIMES, weight training injuries are on the raise due to it gaining popularity and trainees dropping their weight where they shouldnt. From year 1990 to 2007 data collected shows us that nearly one million Americans end up at emergency section in the hospital due to weight lifting injuries and that a yearly increase of 48 percents were noticed in that period. According to The American Journal of Sports Medicine, of the 970,000 people injured, 82 percent were men but this trend is changing, number of injuries among women doing weight training is on the rise yearly with 63 percent as opposed to men which is 46 percent. This may be due to the increase of women adopting gym training in their lifestyle. People between the age 13 to 24 recorded the most number of injuries but concern is rising with people between 45 to abov e as they have recorded the greatest increase of weight training injuries as many of them want to delay or regain the muscle loss due to ageing (Jane E Brody, 2010) The most common injures encountered among women were in the region of their feet and legs while in men the majority were in the region of the torso and hand. Fractures were mostly reported among women while men suffered more from sprain and strain. Most of the injuries encountered were by dropping weight on themselves with body parts being crushed or by getting hit by the equipment they are exercising. Loss of balance, overexertion and muscle pull formed 14 percent of injuries which were treated at emergency rooms and 90 percent of the injuries happened while using free weight than weight machine (Nicholas Bakalar, 2010) In Mauritius the average income of workers is about Rs18,247 monthly according to a survey done by the Mauritius Employers Federation. (Nilen Kattany, 2011). This have give rise to different gym service facilities offered to Mauritian across the country. They are categories by the number of service they offer, from new sophisticated ergonomic well maintained state of the art weight machine, free weight and coaching system, sauna facility, air conditioned room, good lighting to old out of fashion weight machine from the 1960, Weight machine constructed by owner of the gym by welding iron bars which sometimes isnt ergonomic for everyone as it isnt adjustable, bad flooring as the owner hasnt repaired the floor which was damaged by dropping free weight on it which create a risk of slip, trip and falls , no coaching system such as municipal gym multi sport complex where you have the weight machine and free weight but no one to spot you which can lead to accidents for example being crushed under a bench press bar, coaching system but with unqualified coach, congested areas where there are too many members training at the same time and you have the risk of being hit by someone training with a weight while moving around and poorly maintained weight machine. Gyms offering good services are quite expensive in Mauritius with a monthly membership fees of Rs1000 to more so most Mauritian (especially teenagers due to their low income) prefer to train in gym offering low to medium services where monthly fees may range from free (Municipal Gym Multisport complex) to Rs 900 making them more exposed to weight training injuries. Aim and Objectives: Aims: To minimise the risk of manual handling injuries in Weight training Gym. Objectives: To identify the risk elements contributing to manual handling injuries in weight training exercises. Identify common weight training exercises which has a significant risk of bodily injuries. Assess the risk of bodily injuries due to gym environment, individual factors such gender and age Give recommendation to minimise the risk of the accidents. LITERATURE REVIEW Manual handling of loads is describe as the action of lifting, pulling pushing, moving, lowering, holding and carrying any objects whether lively or dead by using the force generated by the human body. LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Occupational safety and health act 2005 (OSHA 2005 ) The Occupational safety and health act 2005 points out the legal requirement for health and safety that an employer has to abide. Although OSHA 2005 focus mainly on employees, it is the duty of the employer to ensure that people other than his employees are not affected by health and safety issues arising during operation of his business Section 5 General duties of employers: According to section (5)(2) General duties of employers, the employer shall, so far as is reasonably practicable, provide and maintain a safe working environment, provide and maintain any plant or system of work, maintain any place of work under his control that is safe and without risks to health, ensure that use, handling, of articles is safe and without risks to health and provide information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure the safety and health at work of his employees. Section 10 Risk assessment by employer: Section 10 of OSHA 2005 stressed out the legal obligation of an employer to carry out a risk assessment. Every employer shall, within 30 days of the start of operation of his undertaking, make a suitable and sufficient assessment of any risk to the safety and health to which any employee is exposed whilst he is at work, and any risk to the safety and health of any person not in his employment. Section 84 Manual handling operation: According to this section, every employer shall (a) so far so far as is reasonably practicable, avoid the need for his employees to undertake any manual handling operations at work which involve a risk of bodily injury (b) where it is not reasonably practicable to avoid the need for his employees to undertake any manual handling operations at work which involve a risk of bodily injury- take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of bodily injury to those employees arising out of their undertaking any such manual handling operations to the lowest level reasonably practicable. take appropriate steps to provide any of those employees who are undertaking such manual handling operations with general indications and precise information on the weight and nature of each load to be handled. provide sufficient training in the safe techniques or methods of manual lifting and handling to any employee who is required in the normal course of his work regularly to lift, carry or move loads exceeding 18 kilograms for any employee Section 84 (3) defines manual handling as any transporting or supporting of a load, including the lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving thereof by hand or by bodily force. This definition reflect exactly the exercises practiced in weight training exercises. Although these legislation focus mainly on employees, it is the legal duty of the employer to ensure the safety and health of any visitors visiting the workplace. By applying these measures to the gym, it will not only affect the health and safety of the employees but also have an impact on the visitors which will reduce the likelihood of fines and any civil prosecutions due to injuries. According to OSHA 2005, the maximal penalty under this act is RS75,000 and a maximum of 1 year imprisonment. GYM POPULATIONS: In this subsection, we will go into detail about the different types of people frequenting the gym, They are divided into different age group and needs to train in gyms. They are namely children, adolescents, adults, seniors, Children: Children are described as someone under the age of twelve. Children before this age werent allowed to workout in gym in the US as there was fear that children practicing weight training would be prone to injuries such as damaged growth cartilage which would stunt their growth. Research done by Docherty, Wenger, Collis, Quinney, Hetherington also concluded that weight training at this age was futile as none of their research could demonstrate any adequate increase in strength and muscle mass from test subject doing weight training at this age. Their theory for this result was it was because children lack sufficient androgens in their blood at this age (Androgen is the hormone responsible for the development of skeletal muscle mass). Theory about children being at more risk of injuries when practicing weight training was confirmed by report published by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission in the year 1987 which found out that of the 8543 weight training related injuries most of them were younger than 14 years old. But recent research done by Faigenbaum, Milliken, Moulton, Westcott in 2007 discovered that properly designed resistance training exercise (weight training) for children and adolescents increased their muscle strength and decreased the likely hood of injuries and that data from previous research was inaccurate as training exercises use to collect data was for adult. (Aleksandar IgnjatoviĆ¡ et Al, 2009). Doing weight training at this age proved to contribute for better posture, improved self confidence, contribute to improve motor abilities and intramuscular coordination. These data proved to be much relevant when we realise that children school back pack bags that they carry weights approximately 32 percent of their total body weight so training at gym will help consolidate the weaker muscle group and help them in their daily life. Before starting any exercises, the child should be examined by a physician to determine its physical cond ition. Training at this age should be strictly supervised, light weight should be use until he or she learn the proper techniques, add weight slowly when 8 to 15 repetition is performed easily and exercises should be design to work all muscle groups and be performed to full extension of joint movement. To gain strength, workout should at least be 20 to 30 minutes long and be done 2 to 3 times weekly with gradual increase of training weight or repetition when strength of muscle improves. Due to skeletal and physical immaturity children should avoid any form of competitive weight training such as bodybuilding, power lifting, weight lifting as they would be tempted to lift maximal weight to compete. (PEDIATRICS, 2001; Yigal Pinchas, 2006 ) Adolescent: Adolescent is described as someone between the age of 12 and 17 years old. Physical activity at this age is crucial for achieving the optimum development and growth potential of the body. This is because after these ages, the skeletal system will start to hardened and will be less stimulated by physical exercises and development of the skeletal system will stunt even if weight training exercises is used. Strength training at this age can be done with free weights, weight training machine and by using the body own weight. Strength training at this age must be strictly supervised such as frequency of training, types of exercises done, intensity and duration of exercises to ensure strength increase of the adolescent and minimum risk of injuries (Yigal Pinchas, 2006) . At this age, muscle size, strength and power are lost easily after 6 weeks of total rest so maintenance exercises is a must so as to conserve progress. Adolescent strength training can improve the athletic performance in s ports such as American football where strength and size of body matters. Despite theories that strength training helps to reduced or stop sport related muscular skeletal injuries in adolescent scientific research have failed to confirm it but recent research suggests that there is a possible reduction in sports-related knee ligament injuries in teenage girls when strength training is combined with plyometric exercises. (Pediatrics, 2008) The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) use by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has estimated from year 1991 to 1996 that 20 940 to 26 120 injuries happened annually in individual less than 21 years old. Data collected from NEISS and other studies reported that 40 to 70 percent of the injuries were from muscle strain and most muscle strain occurred in lumbar back area. Before starting any exercises, the adolescent should be examined by a physician to determine its physical condition. Training at this age should be strictl y supervised, light weight should be use until he or she learn the proper techniques, add weight slowly when 8 to 15 repetition is performed easily and exercises should be design to work all muscle groups and be performed to full extension of joint movement. To gain strength, workout should at least be 20 to 30 minutes long and be done 2 to 3 times weekly with gradual increase of training weight or repetition when strength of muscle improves. Due to skeletal and physical immaturity adolescent should avoid any form of competitive weight training such as bodybuilding, power lifting, and weight lifting as they would be tempted to lift maximal weight to compete (PEDIATRICS, 2001). Most adolescents in Mauritius are influence by western cultures where muscular bodies are seen everywhere in movies or advertisement. More are them are tempted these days to engage in weight training and prefer to go in low services gym as they dont have enough money, common problem in these gym are they are n ot supervised and adolescents want rapid results where they lift weight without learning the proper lifting techniques and often exaggerate on weight size to gain muscle quickly which most of the time lead to serious injuries such as back problems. ADULT: Most of the adult that come to work out in gym do so to keep fit as they have come to accept that exercises is necessary to have a sound physical and mental health. At this stage the body is fully developed and ready to accept complex training, increased load, frequencies and duration of exercises (Yigal Pinchas, 2006). With most people working in offices these days and health problem such as overweight and cardiovascular problem at their doorsteps, physical activity has become very important these days. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about 600,000 people died of heart disease each year in the US, in Mauritius, concern is rising about heart diseases when diabetic and obesity which always leads to heart problem is on the rise (CDC, 2013). Since 1987, Mauritius has recorded an increase of 60 % of diabetic among adult. Nearly half of Mauritian between the age of 25 to 74 is either diabetic or pre-diabetic (Mauritius News Team, 2010). Weight training is one of the solutions to the problem as it can reduce fat by increasing the metabolic rate of the body on short and long term. This is due to the fact that weight training builds lean muscle which metabolise fat in the body to grow. But weight training can also cause injuries if done carelessly. According to data collected from 100 emergency departments, men were more injured than women from weight training exercises (82.3%). This may be due to the fact that more men lift weight than women. Most of the injuries happened due to free weight (90.4%) and most of these injuries happened when the users drop the free weight on themselves or hit themselves by mistakes while using it (65.5%). The upper trunk and lower trunk were the most injured body part on men with 25.3% and 19.7% respectively. The most common diagnostic resulting from these injuries was sprain and strain with 46.1%. Women suffered more from foot injuries and fractures than men. (Zachary Y. Kerr et al, 2010). Seniors: At this age where muscle loss and other illness such as osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases happens gradually with ageing, physical activity is a must in order to keep the body fit and away from these illness. At this age working out using weight is a good way to increase muscle mass and reduce fats in the body while in the same time increase bone density to combat some of the osteoporosis and loss of balance due to weakened muscle. Exercises should be supervise by a qualified instructor as frequency, intensity, number of repetition, duration of the exercises and type of exercises would be different from those of the other age group. Senior should always consult a doctor before doing any form of exercises due to the fact that most of the time they have orthopaedic issues such as joint problem and cardiac problem and special type of exercises should be designed for them to eliminate any exercises that can pose a health risk. Senior should visit gym 3 times weekly to gain adequate strength and a rest time of 48 hours between sessions. Exercises should be design so as all muscle groups and joints are trained equally per week, duration of session should be at least 20 minutes but no more than 45 minutes. When progress in strength is seen, repetition or weight should be added in each exercise. But due to orthopaedic and cardiac problem, weight addition could be a problem so other factors like repetition could compensate this problem (Darryn S. Willoughby, 2009). According to statistic, the number of injuries among old people is on the rise. Most of the injuries happen while they used weight training machine. The most common injuries were overexertion and while doing exercises that involve pulling and lifting exercises. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY: To understand how these different types of injuries occur and how to prevent them, we must understand how the human body work. Anatomy of the spine The spine is a column comprising of different material namely bones, tendons, ligaments, muscles, cartilages and nerves all assemble together to form a very strong yet flexible structure in areas such as the neck and lower back. C:UsersDavidDesktopgymNew folderIllu_vertebral_column.jpg (Wikipedia, 2006)C:UsersDavidDesktopgymNew folderGray_111_-_Vertebral_column-coloured.png Lumbar spine: The lumbar spine is in the lower back area where the 5 last vertebrae the L1 to L5 bones are found like seen in the picture above. The vertebrae are the 33 bones in the shape of a disc that connects together to form the vertebral column, the vertebra has a hole in the middle where the spinal cord passes through and so acts as a protection and support. The lumbar spine bears the load of the body and absorbs any stress from movement such as lifting or carrying heavy objects. This is why the vertebra bones are bigger in this area. Intervertebral discs Each vertebra sits and is separated by an intervertebral disc and prevents the rubbing of these bones. The intervetebral disc has 2 layers the outer ring called the annulus and the inner ring called nucleus. The annulus is made of fibres bands criss-crossing each other and attaches both the upper and lower vertebrae together. The nucleus, the inner ring is filled with a gel like substance called the nucleus and act as a cushion between both vertebra. The intervetebral disc function like coil spring where the annulus compress both vertebrae together and the nucleus being and uncompressible liquid push the vertebrae away so a gap between both vertebrae is formed. This gap allows the nucleus being uncompressible to work like a ball bearing where the vertebrae roll on it and so making the vertebral column flexible. With age, the intervertebral disc loses progressively the ability to absorb the liquid making the nucleus and so it becomes flatter and brittle resulting in loss of height (To nya Hines, 2013) C:UsersDavidDesktopgymNew folderPE-AnatSpine_Figure4b.jpg C:UsersDavidDesktopgymNew folderPE-AnatSpine_Figure4a.jpg Why back injuries occur? Most of the time, back pain injuries occur due to injuries and degeneration of the intervertebral discs. Degeneration happens due to wear and tear of the intervertebral discs while doing movement such lifting heavy weight, bending over which put stress on the disc. While doing these movements, compression of the intervertebral disc happens and can move the disc toward the spinal cord and surrounding nerve. This displacement results in the compression of the spinal nerve and put strain on nearby ligaments which causes the back pain. Movement where both twisting and bending occurs put more stress on the spine

Conservation of historic buildings and monuments

Conservation of historic buildings and monuments Introduction Throughout the renaissance period, preservation and restoration remained an experimental process in which many of the tools, instruments and methods were selected at random. The process was pursued with very little critical or historical understanding. This led to many architects such as Viollet-le-Duc, Sir George Gilbert Scott, John Ruskin and William Morris voicing their perceptions of how preservation and restoration should restore buildings to how they would have appeared in their prime. Most of our modern principles of conservation arose from the ideas of John Ruskin and William Morris from the mid 19th century. They stated how we are merely custodians of the buildings left form our predecessors for our future generations. They also state how our intervention in historic buildings must be kept to a minimum and how continued repair and maintenance of these historic buildings must be valued. These ideas form the basis of modern perception of preservation and restoration of our valued historic buildings and monuments. What is Conservation? Conservation is a way of planning designed to conserve historic buildings, areas and monuments in an effort to connect a places historical background to its population and primarily its culture. Conservation is means of green building, that is, reusing the existing building as oppose to new construction for a modern purpose and use. The four main styles of conservation of historic buildings are preservation, rehabilitation, reconstruction and restoration. Preservation Preservation is the means of keeping an historic building a close as possible to its original state by means of continued repair and maintenance. This focuses on the stabilization and repair of the existing materials in the building and the retention of a buildings state as it has evolved over time. Restoration Restoration of historic buildings involves reconstructing parts of the building that have fallen into decay as imitations of the highest possible quality of the original building. This form depicts a building at one stage in time and often removes any evidence of any other period in which the building existed. Rehabilitation Rehabilitation sees the need to alter or extent to an historic building to meet modern demands while still keeping the historical character of the building. Reconstruction Reconstruction re-creates vanished buildings or parts of buildings by interpretive means. Criticisms of Conservation Like many developments in urban design and planning, conservation has had its share of negative perceptions. Such aspects if this criticism include; Cost Style Mistakes made Cost implications of Conservation There are many costs associated with the preservation or restoration of an historic building. Often they need specialist workmanship which can be both time and money consuming on a construction project. Delicate elements of the building often require propping or some sort of support which can take up valuable space on site. Many of the systems in an old building need upgrading which can be difficult to install. Requirements such as energy rating and fire certificates can be hard to upgrade as often the original design of the building did not consider such modern ideas. Elements such as cavity walls or wood cladding are expensive and difficult to bring up to modern standards regarding these requirements. Structural elements of an historic building are the most endeavouring aspects of the conservation process to get right. Foundations are a recurring issue with many of the buildings as newer structures with deeper and heavier foundations can often cause uplift of the older building. Th e cost of repairing the foundations of these buildings are astronomical so diligent design of new foundations and monitoring of existing buildings is paramount during construction. All this adds up on a construction project which has undesired implicated cost for both contractor and engineer. Modern style construction Due to property price rises and limitation of space in city centres our society has constructed its buildings higher and higher to meet its purposes. This popular style of higher buildings can often cause the older, smaller historic buildings to become dwarfed and ultimately undesirable for its occupants. As the push towards increased numbers of taller sky-scrapers in urban areas is inevitable, this leaves many of the smaller older buildings redundant. Critics also say that the older historic buildings cannot accommodate as many people or businesses as newer developments can. This increases the rent on these buildings and causes low income retailers and residents to relocate. This has a negative impact on a city centre regarding retailing. Mistakes in conservation Another criticism of conservation is that it is very susceptible to mistakes being made which are ultimately to the determent of the building. Inappropriate renovations can cause damage to buildings and put it worse off than it was before. According to the Tipperary county council website some of the most common mistakes made in small scale conservation in the area are; Removal of old 18th or 19th century windows to be replaced with new PVC, plastic or aluminium windows The removal of original slate and the replacement with imitation slate or tiles The removal of the render. The website says how these changes can affect the ventilation systems in the building and can exacerbate any decaying or rotting that is taking place in the building. Removal of render and replacing it with modern Portland cement which is a lot harder can cause cracking, admit moisture and trap it within the wall. This is just an example of a few of the mistakes that can be made during the renovation process. It is clear that a great responsibility is undertaken in conducting a conservation of a building. It is the utmost importance that the right techniques and products are investigated as to preserve the building and not to amplify or created any problems with the building or monument. Sustainability of conservation Historic buildings are inherently sustainable. The correct preservation can maximise the use of the existing materials and infrastructure and in return reduces waste caused by demolition and energy put into the production of new materials and construction. Many of the old buildings were designed with sustainability in mind. Many features of historic buildings were built with aspects like climate and site situation in mind to give a sustainable build. If correctly conserved, many old buildings can serve future generations for many years to come. Conservation versus New Construction Preserving a building is often referred to as the ultimate recycling project. Although, as I have already outlined it has its many sceptics who say that historic buildings are beyond their use and require significant corrective measure to make them viable as a functioning structure. However, Green and sustainable design has become ever more popular in todays new construction and preservation industries. A major aspect to this is the reduction in carbon that conservation brings when compared with new construction. Concrete products, steel, transportation, heating and electricity are the main factors contributing to a projects overall carbon emissions. Conservation of old buildings drastically cuts down on new concrete products and their inherent transportation costs as well as the use of electricity to operate plant that is associated with new construction. Conservation versus Demolition The conservation of old buildings is a much more sensible option than demolition in relation to sustainability. There are many times when a building is deemed structurally unsound and the need for demolition is unrivalled in the interest of public safety but this should not prevent our society from conserving many of our old buildings for continued use. Conserving greatly reduces the amount of construction material being dumped in landfill. Demolition creates vast amount of crushed concrete and stone that is often unusable for construction again. Ethics and conservation I have decided to divide ethics and conservation into two sub-headings that I will discuss, they are Ethics of conservation Ethics within conservation. Ethics of conservation Preservation of historic buildings and monuments plays a vital role in the growth of our civilization. It is oftentimes easy to disregard the accomplishments of past generations as we strive to change our societies and environments to be more suited to our present needs. John Ruskin (1819-1900) was one the first to develop the conservation movement whose ideals were that a historic building, painting or sculpture is a unique creation by an artisan or artist in a specific historic context. He believed that such genuine works of art resulted from personal sacrifice and it was based on mans perception of beauty on nature, where in itself existed as a reflection of god. (Jukka Jokilehto, A History of Architectural Conservation, 1999, page175) Such ideals led to him becoming a pioneer in help organise preservation of historic buildings and monuments writing many works on the subject. His principles form the basis on conservation in todays world where we see historic buildings and monuments as a link to our past and our culture. With ongoing development of our city centres and transportation networks it would be very easy to demolish the outdated and often useless buildings and monuments that get in our way. Therefore, the question arises why dont we? Conservation is an ethical subject with the decision to neglect our revered buildings and monuments a conscientious one. As John Ruskin said many of our monasteries and churches alike are works of art in the reflection of god. It is often said that age in itself contributes to beauty. Age is a thing that is associated with wisdom and many of our historic buildings add a feeling of intellect and enlightenment to an area. Often, historic conservation of city centre can help them become more competitive with regard to retailing and business as historic, unique buildings give areas more prominence in comparison to the homogeneous skyscrapers that dominate the skylines of many of our large cities. Ethics within conservation There are many ethical values within conservation itself that regulates the nature of the industry. As one would expect it is a delicate subject whether or whether not to intervene with the natural state of a revered building or monument. Therefore, many charters and polices have been developed and implemented over the years. The first time that an international agreement was made on the principles of conservation was the Athens charter of 1931. The charter was later review and update with the Venice Charter in 1964 which relates to historic buildings, the Burra charter which deals with places of historic significance and the Washington Charter which is relates to historic towns and districts. These charters were drafted by The International Committee for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). Conservation is regarded as the work done to prevent further decay of a building and to extend its life. Conservation can often be undertaken with the greatest of enthusiasm and best intentions. However, the conservation process should be carried out so that no damage is done to the building and no falsifying or destruction of historical evidence occurs. Lack of information or the use of incorrect in inappropriate techniques can often unintentionally cause both, aesthetic and structural damage. According to (http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/Heritage), the main principles in these charters to help prevent unintentional damage from occurring are; Retention or restoration of historical significance Conservation process based on research Minimum physical intervention Maintenance of visual setting These are the basic principles outlined in the charters which help instil ethical practice of conservation works. Case Studies In this section I will report on two case studies which I researched which will highlight mistakes made in the past, ethics in conservation and the sustainability of conservation. The leaning Tower of Pisa The leaning tower of Pisa is one of Italys most infamous land marks. It attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. Construction of the tower began in 1173 after a period of prosperity in Pisa. The tower began to sway soon after the beginning of construction due to a poorly laid foundation and loose substrate that has allowed the foundation to shift direction. The tower was built in three stages over 177 years. The tower began to sink after construction was completed on the third floor. In 1272 construction was resumed with architect Giovanni di Simone deciding to build one side taller than the other to compensate for the tilt. This caused the tower to lean the other way resulting in the tower having a curved shape. The curve and 3.97o angle to the vertical at which the tower leans caused inherent damage to structural elements of the tower as well as aesthetic damage. This led to the Italian government to seek international aid to prevent the tower from collapsing on February of 1964. They did, however, declare that they desired to retain a certain degree of the towers tilt because of it tourism viability. Many attempts were made to rectify the foundations. Deformations were made in the soil through vertical anchorages and forces were applied using weights. This was one of the most simplistic solutions but also the most ineffective as it only resulted in inducing further compression on the soil. This caused extensive damage to the tower where cracking and splitting of many of the mall columns occurred. In 1993 900 tonnes of lead weights were applied to oppose the tilt of the structure. Additional provisional strengthening of the structure was applied with a series of circumferential steel cables. The final measure in the stabilization of the structure is to be a new technique called under-excavation. This technique consists in pulling out, about 5 m under the upstream border of the foundation, small amounts of soils, through a series of casings drilled into the soil. (www.sciencedirect.com). This it is hoped will gently cause the tower to tilt towards its desired inclination without disturbing the fragile columns in the structure. The leaning tower of Pisa is an example of restoration attempts where experimental methods were used with almost dire consequences for the building. However, an ethical approached was undertaken which was based on research and an effort to minimize distortion of the appearance of the building. The Parthenon Besides the pyramids at Giza, the Parthenon is one of most revered monument in the world. It was built between 447 432 BC by Greek architects Ictinus and Callicrates. The structure underwent extensive damage over an extended period time. In 296 BC gold from the statues in the building was removed by the general Lachares to pay his army. In the 5th century AD the temple was converted into a Christian church. In 1460 it housed a Turkish mosque and in 1687 gun-powder stored by the Turks inside the temple exploded and destroyed the central area. (www.archive.com). A recent major influence in the increased deterioration of the monument has been the expansion and development of nearby Athens. Urbanization has caused increased amount of carbon dioxide in the air which has contributed to more intense acid rain. This has seriously affected the monument more so in the last 30 years than in the previous eighteen centuries. In 1975 the Greek government made a special effort to try and restore the Parthenon to some of its former glory. After some delay, a committee was set up in 1983 which later received funding from the European Union to carry out its works. It was investigated that some of the earlier works were incorrect and therefore carefully dismantled and a restoration process commenced. The preservation firstly involved rectifying mistakes made by conservationists in the past. Steel beams were places within the stone structure to help support it but these were not coated in lead and inevitably rusted. The rusted beams expanded and cause the stone to crack more than it was so previously. It is impossible to restore the building to exactly how it was built first day but the aesthetics of the building were preserved by replacing any missing columns and lintels with precisely cut marble from the original quarry. The overall idea behind the conservation attempt is to replace all missing pieces of marble in the structure where they would have been preserving the structural integrity of the building by supporting these with modern materials. The preservation of the Parthenon shows a standard of ethics that Ruskin and Morris adhered to. Although there were mistakes made in the past, a willingness to restore the monument to its former glory while still keeping the style of the original building intact is the way it should be done. Preserving this monument is paramount as it has a clear link to the nation of Greece and its culture and past. Future Ideas From researching this project it is clear to see that conservation of old buildings could prove extremely beneficial to society with regard to sustainable living. With a recent push towards eco-living, conservation of some of our older building as oppose to demolishing them and erecting a new structure would be a way forward. In my opinion, future policies could incorporate full structural analysis to look for potential conservation processes before any building is demolished. This could be especially beneficial in city centres where construction of new multi-storey buildings is quite challenging. Also, regular maintenance checks of all buildings, historic or recently built, should take place on a regular basis as to provide any preservation techniques that may need be applied. This would greatly help sustain the buildings we have and reduce the need for any new construction which would have a positive impact for the environment. References Websites http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main http://www.wbdg.org/resources/sustainable http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/Heritage/ArchitecturalHeritage/ Conservation of historic buildings by Bernard m feilden, 1982 http://www.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=912 Ioanna Venieri, archaeologist www.preservationnation.org

Defining Success in the War on Terrorism Essay -- September 11 Terrori

Defining Success in the War on Terrorism In pursuing its war on terrorism, the Bush administration faces daunting military and diplomatic challenges. But need it also worry about mobilizing public support? With the latest polls showing the public giving the president 90 percent approval ratings and endorsing the use of force at the same level, could the White House possibly hope for any more backing from the American people? Â   President Bush seems to think so. Every speech he gives appears to be primarily concerned with shoring up public opinion, warning us about the difficulties ahead and purposefully praising Americans for their "patience and resolve." The administration understands a basic truth about leading a democracy in war: Public support must never be taken for granted. Â   Even in allegedly "easy-to-support" wars, like World War II, political leaders have found it necessary to adjust the military tempo to boost public morale. All the more so in the current campaign, where the course is uncertain and the prospects for immediate success are bleak. Ironically, the initial wave of solidarity behind Bush actually intensifies concern, because there is no way the president can hold on to stratospheric approval ratings. As his support returns to more realistic levels, the headlines could become "Bush Approval Plummets." Implicit message: "Bush Is Losing the War." Â   Research has shown that public support of a military campaign is chiefly a function of the mission's perceived stakes, the prospects for victory and the anticipated costs. Since the Persian Gulf War (though the seeds can be traced as far back as Vietnam), a myth has taken root among policymakers that only the costs matter -- that the publi... ...mas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations. Â   President Bush has repeatedly said this war will be long and we should get on with our lives. In other words, the terrorists started Cold War II, not World War III. The president must stir national vigilance well beyond the levels of post-Cold War complacency, but he can't have the entire country on a permanent high war footing. Â   Yet precisely because the war will be long, it is that much harder to get on with our lives without seeing something that indicates we have started to win. For that we will need to see demonstrable progress toward the three clear goals outlined above. If it looks like America is winning, the president will have all the support he needs to make the victory complete. Without evidence of progress, however, even the rock-solid support he enjoys today could erode significantly.

Attica State Prison Uprising September 13, 1971 Essay -- Research Hist

Attica State Prison Uprising September 13, 1971 George Jackson the most famous political prisoner in the 70's and leader of the Black Panther Party was incarcerated at San Quentin Prison in California. He was killed by the State on August 21, 1971. Because of this Attica inmates organized a hunger strike and wore black arm bands. George Jackson's revolutionary writings in his book he had written "Soledad Brother'; was passed from inmate to inmate inside Attica State Prison, which had an enormous impact on the prisoners awareness of their feelings. Mr. Jackson's death lead to the direct uprising of New York's Attica State Correctional facility which was approximately two weeks after George Jackson's death. The uprising of New York's Attica State Correctional Facility is known as the most notorious prison riot in American History. During this time New York's Governor Nelson Rockefeller ran the Attica State prison as forced labor camps as well as other state prisons. Attica State Prison during this time also had an all white correctional staff and eighty-five percent of Attica's prisoners were Black and Latino. Working conditions in Attica State Prison were unbearable, prisoners were political, poor and maltreated. Hygienic conditions were very bad and medical care was practically non-existent. Prisoners average pay was 40 cents a day for manufacturing mattresses, shoes and license plates, prisoners never saw a lawyer, were prevented from defending themselves, wer...