The Importance of Authenticity in a Man’s Life

Authenticity, as defined by existentialist philosophers, is the degree to which one is true to one's own personality, spirit, or character, despite external pressures. According to Jean-Paul Sartre, â€Å"Existence precedes essence†, in other words, man makes himself. In order for him to define himself, he should be totally free. But, how can he be free totally? Man can be totally free when he lives an authentic way of living. By living a life of authenticity, man should not seek guidance towards the established codes of life. He should decline every sort of objective morals and values that is set by his society for him?. By this, he should be living his life according to his true self. Living by his true nature requires him his freedom of choice. And by creating his own choices, he freely makes his own actions despite external forces. These actions which he freely chooses are now the basis of his existence. But in order for him to be able to live an authentic life, he must take full responsibility for all of his actions. Knowing things about freedom and authentic living, what are its implications to man’s life? Being authentic will enable a man to live his life to the fullest. And living life to the fullest means is to have a life that is joyful, meaningful, and full of values and happiness. By living authentically, he will be able to liberate himself from the barriers that are cast to him by his society. By transcending the presupposed purposes-in-life, the true purpose of his existence become so clear to him. With the knowledge of his existence’s ultimate purpose, he can formulate the best decisions for himself. Deciding according to his own choices will lead him towards the fulfilment of his personal goals. In sum, all these things will guide him to a more comfortable and a better life in which he lives through the assistance of his own choices and according to his very true nature. Indeed, authenticity is truly significant to a man’s life. The most mportant aspect of living an authentic life is total freedom. Because of total freedom, man is able to make personal choices and also, he leads his life to anew. He is no longer having problems when it comes to decision making for the reason that he already has a clear view of his ultimate purpose. For one to acknowledge his freedom of choice and the responsibility that he hold as a being is, according to Sartre, to have an authentic way of living.

Nick’s Story

A. Which symptoms that Nick has described so far are relevant to the nervous system? Are his symptoms sensory, motor, or both? Nick has complained of burning and prickly pain in feet, clumsiness, dizziness when sitting or standing, and vision problems. These are symptoms of both sensory and motor nerve damage. B. Do you think the symptoms Nick describes are likely caused by peripheral nerve damage? Could they be caused by damage to the central nervous system? I believe there has been peripheral nerve damage because of the symptoms that he exhibits.It seems that his receptors are not effectively communicating back to the central nervous system; in addition he is losing his somatic reflexes in his feet, both indicating damage to his somatic nervous system. I guess there could be damage to the central nervous system, but I would expect that the symptoms would be even more severe. C. Diabetic neuropathies damage peripheral nerves. Which component of the reflex arc is most likely to be da maged in Nick’s situation? I think a lot of Nicks reflex arc damage would begin at the sensory neuron.Stimuli are still triggering the receptor, but the information isn’t traveling along the damaged sensory neuron to continue the arc to the integrating centers, motor neurons, and effectors, though the damage could be further along in the reflex arc providing basically the same symptoms. D. Which division of the autonomic nervous system would be affected and would be causing Nick’s GI tract symptoms? Because his digestion is suppressed I would say the sympathetic division is mainly active, inhibiting the gastrointestinal tract.So the parasympathetic division of his nervous system, which allows motility of the gastrointestinal tract, is primarily affected. E. Nick’s light-headedness is caused by a condition known as orthostatic hypotension, a rapid drop in blood pressure upon standing up. Based on what you have learned so far, how does the autonomic nervous system control blood pressure? The hypothalamus connects the parasympathetic and sympathetic divisions of the ANS by neurons in the brain and spinal cord and relay information.The posterior and lateral parts of the hypothalamus control the sympathetic division which constrict blood vessels and raise blood pressure. The anterior and medial parts of the hypothalamus control the parasympathetic division which lowers blood pressure. F. After becoming comatose, Nick was sweating profusely, and had rapid heart and respiratory rates and elevated blood pressure. Which area of the brain interacts with the autonomous nervous system during physical stress to initiate these responses? The hypothalamus . G. Nick has digestive symptoms indicating reduced gastrointestinal mobility.What autonomic receptors regulate closing of sphincters and relaxation of organ walls? Pelvic splanchnic nerves. H. Why would the term polyneuropathy be appropriate for the symptoms that Nick was experiencing? Because h is symptoms indicate that several different nerves and neural pathways were damaged. I. What symptoms noted by Nicks primary care physician indicated a polyneuropathy? Knowing that Nick was struggling to manage his diabetes definitely sent a red flag, additionally vision problems, feet problems, and balance issues indicated polyneuropathy. J.Why are Nicks generalized symptoms more indicative of a peripheral polyneuropathy than a central nervous system lesion to the brain or spinal cord? Because certain individual signals aren’t being interpreted and responded to effectively. K. Which of Nick’s systems were related to somatic reflexes? Which were related to autonomic reflexes? Somatic reflex issues were indicated by the lack of response in reflex and when nick wasn’t able to resist much to pressure against his foot. Autonomic reflexes were suppressed when Nick was unable to digest food, and increased when his blood pressure went up.

Italian Neorealism and National Cinema

The question whether to consider a particular film part of national cinema is still unanswered. What is national cinema? What separates it from other forms of film genres? What makes it part of ones culture and how does it illuminate identity and patriotism? Films are often described as society’s reflections or representations. Because of films’ utilization and articulation of visual imageries, storytelling becomes more vivid and concretely presented. In addition to that, the presence of alive actors and actresses makes film more in touch with reality. This is one advantage that films possess over other national art and treasures such as literature and music. The truth of the matter is, it is a combination of both literature, music, visual and performing arts. If the community renders such notions about national cinema, then the dictates of logic and reason readily show that each and every featured film shown in big screens are parts of a bigger picture known as national cinema. However, the problem is that members of the academe and scholars alike seem to be uncomfortable in settling to such an idea. National Cinema Keith Cameron noted that in discussing national cinema, there are â€Å"axis of reflections† that should be considered [1]. These are the manner in which films are â€Å"enunciated.† [2] The second one pertains to different texts and images that these films want to promote or imply.[3] The last but definitely not the least, is how to locate these films within the national context.[4] These three aspects are of great importance to this particular discussion. This would bring a better contextualization of De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves and how it fits in into the national cinema category. According to Cameron, there are three ways to enunciate films and that is based on the actual structure and content of the film involved, the analyses and discussions that are given to it and the institutions in which these films are shown and made available to the public. [5] With this regard, Cameron questions the differentiation of popular cinema from national cinema. First of all, Cameron seem to imply that although some films or productions are supported by the government or even if the country involve, such as France for example releases large numbers of film, these alone cannot really define national cinema’s true meaning. If such is the case, it seems that the term national cinema is too encompassing yet too specific. It is encompassing since, it basically involves films within the region and specific, since each of these cinematic productions goes through the scrutinizing eyes of various critics and members of the academic intelligentsia. This brings us to the second mode of enunciation which has something to do with the discourses that are attributed to a particular film. More often than not, to determine whether a film would best fit under the national context is based on the studies that deconstruct every ingredient that embodies a locally produced film. On the other hand, Cameron seem to imply that certain organizations which are actively involved in preserving these films play an important role in film classification—so much so, that a local film cannot be considered as part of national cinema unless these institutions tells so. Turning to the second axis, it is important to look at different symbols and imageries that are embedded in the film. National cinema tends to depict societal and systemic issues. Such readily promotes nationalism, identity, culture and history. But there are also occasions wherein the political structure of a country or state, that are often evident in censorship rules also affect the whole story. Political turmoil can either reinforce the inclusion of nationalistic advocacies and movements in film elements or it can silence these works of art and transform it into mere commodities. As for the case of the third axis, Cameron noted that locating cinemas within the national context should be examined as a mixture of different film genres that are present within the country. Plurality seem to be an important factor in defining films as part of national cinema that are differentiated by six typologies such as the following: â€Å"narratives, genres, codes and conventions, gesturality and morphology, the star as the sign and the cinema of the centre and of the periphery.† [6] Italian Neorealism and National Cinema Given this situation at hand, there is no doubt that national cinema, most especially in Italy has taken the attention of many. Angelo Restivo explained that a comparison cinemas that are not produced in Hollywood readily shows that extensive studies and researches has been conducted towards Italian cinema.[7] Based from this argument, clearly, Italian films exemplify the second mode of enunciation wherein it concerns the discourses that revolve around the film per se. One of the biggest contributions of Italy in the cinematic world is the rise of a genre more popularly known as Neorealism. [8] The defining characteristics of Neorealism are its strong emphasis on social and economic as well as political depiction of society. [9] Maria Prammaggiore and Tom Wallis elucidated that the rise of this film genre occurred during World War II’s aftermath. Roberto Rossellino, Vittorio De Sica and Luchnio Visconti are considered as the main proponents of the said film movement. [10] This has readily contributed into the growth and development of art films that are being offered in the public. With this regard, there is a need to understand national cinema and its seemingly inevitable fusion with Neorealism. If Neorealism began during the time wherein   communities are torn with war and poverty, then the film genre is expected to be part of a much diverse category, which is of course national cinema. An examination of De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves seems to reflect the social dilemmas that are present in Italy. The Bicycle Thieves is a story of a struggling man who is desperate to land a good job in the city. He has a family to raise and everyday expenses are synonymous to everyday curses. Ricci, who is the main protagonist of the story, is in dire need of a bicycle since it is one of the job’s primary requirements. Job opportunities are scarce and there are also other applicants who are readily qualified for the position. In order to get the job, he and his wife pawned some of their precious possessions to get a bike. The world literally crumbled during the war. Economies dropped down and more individuals were denied to have a decent means of living. This is well articulated in the film. Ricci’s undertakings represent the experiences of an individual that is in extreme poverty and desperation. Therefore, it has the tendency to reflect the sentiments of persons who are also engulfed in such situation. Italy is not spared from the war’s impact and De Sica showed that even a great city encounter severe problems. Thus, the social and economic aspect of national cinema in this case is already manifested. Furthermore, since Neorealism, as the term realism depicts, emphasizes capturing reality on screen or at least being closed to reality in that manner. In order to accomplish this, conversational language and natural settings are readily utilized to imbue the â€Å"real† effect. [11] In the first scene alone, Ricci’s environment already manifests extreme poverty. Natural sounds are basically not edited or polished in order to present the realities of the movie’s setting and thus its artificiality is readily reduced. The striking techniques of realism and at the same time, the claims of national cinema make a perfect combination. Perhaps it can be best explained that Neorealism falls under the category of national cinema. Out of the need to live and survive, Ricci became a bicycle thief too. Apparently, this situation demonstrates war’s remnants. There is the struggle to live throughout the whole war per se. But the battle is even harder when on how to continue life after the incident. The use of close-up shots in the film further heightens the drama that is presented in the film. However, De Sica does not seem to place much importance on dramas that are filled romantic notions—but rather on what is evident in the world. Linda Badley, Barton Palmer and Steven Schneider [12] explained that questions about Neorealism have something to do with insufficient funding. The raw and organic styles that it features are out of necessity rather than pure stylistic and aesthetically-related techniques, according to its critics. But then again, Badly, Palmet and Schneider discussed that â€Å"on-location† shoots are even more expensive since some factors such as the weather and lighting cannot be controlled and that it should go through a series of finishing touches for it to capture the desired effect. [13] National cinema as previously discussed is a celebration of society’s everyday affairs. De Sica and his great interest and fervor desire in promoting Neorealism is a concrete example of a classic national cinema. Once and for all, the mere fact that Neorealism deals with reality simply purports that national values and experiences are highlighted. The visual imageries that are used in Bicycle Thieves connote a strong presentation of Italy’s previous political and social upheavals that has to be confronted. The aim to depict this reality goes hand in hand with the objective to readily champion a vital change that is essential in Italy’s community. Due to this, national cinema transforms into an art form worthy of praise and recognition. Bibliography Badley, L, R Palmer& S Schneider. Traditions in World Cinema. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2006 Cameron, C,   National Identity. Intellect Books, Great Britain, 1991 Prammagiore, M   & and T Wallis, Film: A Critical Introduction. Laurence King Publishing,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   London, 2005 Restivo, A,   The Cinema of Economic Miracles: Visuality and Modernization in the Italian   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Art Film, Duke University Press, USA, 2002 [1] K Cameron, National Identity. Intellect Books, Great Britain, 1991, p. 96 [2] Ibid. [3] Ibid. [4] [5] Ibid. [6] Ibid. [7] A Restivo, The Cinema of Economic Miracles: Visuality and Modernization in the Italian Art Film, Duke University Press, USA, 2002, p.3 [8] M Prammagiore   & and T Wallis, Film: A Critical Introduction. Laurence King Publishing, London, 2005, p.310 [9] Ibid. [10] Ibid. [11] Ibid. [12] L Badley, R Palmer, S Schneider, Traditions in World Cinema. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2006, p. 32 [13] Ibid

Terrorism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Terrorism - Research Paper Example d political fractions), motivation is based upon global jihad, its goals are based on political and religious supremacy of Islam, threat is related to the rapid spread of religious fundamentalism and terrorism, and anti-terrorism policies can save Somalia from the negative influence of this terrorist organization. First of all, the origin of the jihadist group, named as Al-Shabaab, is indebted to the military aims of political Islam in Somalia. To be specific, Al-Shabaab originated as a military subsidiary of the Islamic Courts Union or ICU. When the ICU lost influence and support during its clash with Transitional Federal Government in Somalia (TFG), Al-Shabaab gained momentum and began to exert its influence in Africa. Besides, this terrorist organization was formed in the year 2006. One can see that the origin of this terrorist group is deeply rooted in the Islamic concept of jihad. For instance, the masterminds behind the origin of this terrorist group served in Afghanistan during late 70s. Hansen (2013) states that, â€Å"A proper exploration of the history of Al-Shabaab should start with the origins of this network, which are amongst the Somalis travelling to Afghanistan in the wake of the Soviet intervention, during the Afghan war of 1979-89† (pp.19-20). To be specific, those wh o (say, Somalis) served during this time returned to Somalia and helped the ICU while fighting against the TFG. The defeat of ICU by the TFG resulted in the fragmentation of ICU into different groups. During this time, Al-Shabaab (say, one among these fragmented groups) declared its aim, i.e., the leadership of jihadists in Africa or the fight against the foes of political Islam. One can see that Al-Shabaab amalgamated the idea of political Islam to the core of religious fundamentalism. To be specific, the leaders of this jihadist group gained the confidence of the mass by proclaiming their ultimate aim, the superiority of religion beyond the government. As pointed out, Al-Shabaab

Partnership As Form Of Ownership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Partnership As Form Of Ownership - Essay Example Operating the business becomes easier as partners with different skills manage different activities and more ideas are generated due to more than one mind involved in running the business. Taxation is shared between the partners, which mean that the expenses are shared between more than one individual. The cons associated with this form of ownership include the danger of disagreement (Gitman, 2008, p.119). This means that if one of the partners disagrees, a decision may not be taken as all the partners are required to agree or agreement may take place which may lead to conformity with the figurehead of the partnership. More paperwork is involved in the process of taxation as all partners have to get themselves registered as self-employed. Due to equivalency in sharing of partners, profits are divided according to share of investment even if certain partners may put in more effort and others may not for the success of the business (Moore, 2010, p.167). While raising capital to start a small business, an individual can start by financing the businesses himself. Several benefits such as retaining all the profits are associated with this form of financing, but if a small business needs to grow large then it needs to look for other options (Alterowitz, 2007. P.14). Next best alternative is to ask for assistance from family members and relatives for finance. For this purpose, an entrepreneur has to make the effort of making his relatives realize that he/she has a great investment plan and will be quite successful. In very rare instances family and friends invest in a business; if an entrepreneur faces such a scenario, he/she can obtain assistance from the government (Great Britain, 2006, p.18). The government has various plans where they finance small businesses or provide money in the shape of grants to entrepreneurs to start up their own business. If an entrepreneur is not eligible for such government support options, the  business can obtain a loan from banks to start small businesses. Due to the failure of large businesses and the risk of the high amount of loss associated with large businesses, banks and governments are more willing to finance small businesses (Moore, 2008, p.319).

Referring to the 5 main problems of philosophy, show how each of the Essay

Referring to the 5 main problems of philosophy, show how each of the readings (Plato through Descartes.) - Essay Example Analysis of Knowledge The philosopher defined knowledge with level of doubt which is basically the contrast of certainity (Jerry 33). The philosopher Plato argues about mathematics denoting the logic. His work considerably influenced logic, linguistics, mathematics, set theory, and philosophy, particularly philosophy of language, metaphysics and epistemology. The true belief is already mobilized to resemble a modal logic and possibility of including world’s semantics. Epistemology has received greatest attention although it still lacks formal representation (Jerry 16). The concept of scientific inventions are currently dwelling much on metaphysics which is far much beyond human perception as the concern gets deeper relying on three main factors, for instance, God mind and soul, which are unique to an extent that man kind is not able to understand. Descartes embraces the principle deployed in order to be certain (doubtless). However, the philosopher acknowledge that everything within the earth shall be over and they an existing by their nature. This affirms that Descartes fears and recognized that God is Omni present. In metaphysics, and is determined to derive the ultimate reality in the existence between man, nature, mind and all matters that ad related to ultimate reality personal view on Meta physics (Jerry 19). Despite the human perception on God’s creation, people do think that they have the ability to let God’s work change. This is totally a perception which still requires a lot of argument both physically and through the bible to determine the reasons ass to why man in working with perception instead of ajusti9ng to the requirements. The religion philosopher clearly indicates that our God is not far from Earth, his prayers for many (Jerry 23). Ethically, the slave trade that erupted in the USA, which lead to death of thousands

Crime, Prevention, and Community Safety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Crime, Prevention, and Community Safety - Essay Example It actually brings the citizens, business owners, and police officers together in a joint task force that helps to minimize and prevent many crimes from taking place before they can ever be planned (Kelling & Coles 1996). However there still is the notion that legal bodies have which state that communities do have an obligation to keep their neighborhoods crime free or at least help law enforcement in preventing crime where they live. The strongest reason for this belief is due to the statistical evidence of crime that has grown since 1867 in the UK (Macionis 1994). These statistics have long been studied by Sociologists and other well known scholars due to the relevance that they have with depicting why crime occurs, in what quantity, and in which areas. Furthermore, the crime rate of 1867 and 1987 are just as different as the cultures of the two variant time periods are. However, an interesting correlation has been noted with the crime rates of 1939-1938 and 1980-1988 (Macionis 199 4). The following chart gives a good insight into how the issue of economics can increase the statistical evidence of how crime has escalated over time since the middle 1800's. It is one of the many notions of why there has been an expressed concern with getting the communities involved with combating crime.Decade Average Decade High 1980-88 40% 44.2 %(1986) 1970-79 38% 41.3 %(1973) 1960-69 37% 38.7 %(1964) 1950-59 34% 36.0 %(1959) 1940-49 29% 33.1 %(1940) 1930-39 35% 43.1 %(1933) 1920-29 26% 29.6 %(1922) 1910-19 24% 26.6 %(1910) 1900-09 24% 26.9 %(1900) 1890-99 26% 27.9 %(1898) 1880-89 26% 28.5 %(1880) 1870-79 22% 28.7 %(1879) 1867-69 25% 28.1 %(1867) (Roberts 1994). It is believed that these statistics can be drastically lowered if a stronger partnership does develop between law enforcement and communities. Theorizations such as Kellings work to implement this type of philosophy through a mutual partnership between the law and the community, which has been proven to be necessary. This of course leads to the concept of community policing which is a philosophy that has been being highly discussed and tested for a good while now, of course following theorizations such as Kellings, and others as well. Community policing is the most common name for a set of tactics, philosophies and strategies that officers now use to resolve crime issues in urban cities. Community policing allows the police to work closely with the community to think of creative solutions to problems. This view of policing stems from the perception that the police serve a multifunctional role and act as some what of a social service agent in the community. The basic premise of community poli

The Business, Its Mission and Its Strategy Term Paper

The Business, Its Mission and Its Strategy - Term Paper Example The organization has continued to experience an explosive growth, which is demonstrated by its annual revenues moving from $250,000 in 2009 to over $2 million in 2010 (Samasource, 2011). Samasource’s core business is outsourcing of digital work from large or small organizations. The organization offers outsourcing services under five broad categories: data services, research and archival services, machine learning, customer support services, and online content services (Samasource, 2012). This is mainly done on the Internet. The organization operates as follows. First it sources for work from other organizations. It then uses a proprietary technology platform to divide the digital work it has received into smaller tasks which are then distributed through the Internet to its various processing centers or partner sites. At these processing centers Samasource specifically recruits and trains women and youth from poverty-stricken areas who then perform the small tasks. Upon co mpletion, each of these small tasks is taken through a rigorous quality-assurance process on the proprietary platform before they are aggregated back into complete projects and delivered to the clients. The proprietary technology platform is known as SamaHub and the small tasks are referred to as microwork – a term first coined by the Samasource founder. ... This industry has numerous buyers and suppliers, which makes the bargaining power of both parties relatively weak. The three forces that Samasource would need to be wary of are competitive rivalry, threat of entry and threat of substitutes. The intensity of rivalry here is currently moderate because of the contrasting characteristics. On the one hand, there are numerous competitors, which should warrant a fight for market share. On the other hand, industry growth is high, and this somewhat negates the need for fighting over market share. Also, exit barriers in this industry are low, which means that companies that are earning low or negative returns can easily opt to leave the market rather than struggle. This eliminates excess capacity from the market (Porter, 2008). Nevertheless, we single out competitive rivalry because of the potential for rivals to converge and compete on the same dimensions. The nearly identical services of rivals coupled with low buyer switching costs could lead to price competition and, consequently, destructive rivalry. Barriers to entry for this industry are low for the following reasons. Firstly, the primary infrastructure for this industry is the Internet, which weakens the incumbents’ ability to harness supply-side economies of scale. Secondly, buyers face low switching costs in changing suppliers. Thirdly, capital requirements are modest. Fourth, the Internet gives new entrants equal access to the distribution channel. These low entry barriers make the threat of entry industry force to be very high. Substitutes to Samasource’s offerings are Odesk, Elance, Freelancer and other online outsourcing sites as well as the traditional BPOs found in the developing countries. We have

Cayman Islands Retail Banks Customers Satisfaction and Service Quality Dissertation

Cayman Islands Retail Banks Customers Satisfaction and Service Quality - Dissertation Example The prime objectives of this dissertation was to determine the significance of service quality rendered by the retail banks, price efficiency considered by the bank, technology concerns and innovations, along with the corporate image perceived by the bank in relation to customer satisfaction. To be precise, majority of the customers in the Cayman Islands’ retail banking industry considered the time efficiency and cost efficiency to be two major determinants of service quality in the industry. The assistance provided by the bank staffs and their friendliness towards the customers also has significant roles to determine the banking service quality to a large extent. Customers tend to determine their satisfaction level with regards to the outcomes rendered by a product and/or service along with taking in account the processes included by the company in delivering the demanded service and/or product. In accordance to the findings of this study, this certain fact can be well observ ed. For instance, the customers from banks, interviewed in this study, depicted that the efficiency of bank staffs to render the demanded service and/or product on time, along with the resolvements of issues faced by the customers has a significant impact over the satisfaction level perceived by them. Therefore, it can be stated that the outcomes and the processes of rendering services adopted by the banks play a significant role in determining customers’ satisfaction level.... The following recommendation should therefore be followed; The banking institutions can implement competitive strategies to facilitate technology enhancements within the industry structure. It can also be beneficial to understand the requirements of the customers in terms of service quality, value and even corporate image. To be precise, the banking institutions can take advantage of the research findings obtained in this study to enhance their overall service quality and corporate image to persuade the customers increasing the level of satisfaction within the target market. Table of Contents Declaration & Statements Page 2 Abstract 3 Table of Figures 8 Chapter 1: Introduction 10 1.1.Scope of the Research 10 1.2.The Cayman Islands Banking Sector 13 1.3.Research Aim, Objectives and Research Questions 16 1.4.Rationale 17 1.5.Research Methods 19 1.6.Dissertation Structure 20 Chapter 2: Literature Review 22 2.1. Overview 22 2.2. Defining the Concept of Service Quality in Relation to Cust omer Satisfaction 23 2.3. Significance of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction in the Retail Banking Industry 26 2.4. Impact of Perceived Value (price) on Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Retail Banks 29 2.5. The Influence of Corporate Image on Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction at Retail Banks 32 2.6. Role of Technology Change in Influencing Customer Services Quality and Customer Satisfaction of Retail Banks 33 2.7. Summary 36 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 38 3.2. Research Approaches 38 3.3. Research Design 41 3.3.1. Research Objectives 42 3.3.2. Research Process 42 3.4. Data Collection Method 44 Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis 47 4.1. Section One: Analysing

Trade Secret Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Trade Secret Case Study - Essay Example Miller’s employer based on the law has the right to sue him and obtain an injunction because of exposing his clients’ information to other parties (Battersby & Grimes, 2013). This is evident in the manner Miller keeps clients’ files not indicating they are confidential. Therefore, Miller has no legal backing to either claim or sue anybody of intruding â€Å"his customers’ lists†. Since, he stole them from his former employer and it is unethical to use them in his second place of employment. Therefore, the court’s verdict in this case would hold Taborsky accountable for having infringed the sponsoring institution’s trade secret rights (Stim, 2010). This is because what he did was just an extension of what the institution sponsored and even utilized pricy resources to have the entire project come to a completion (Stim, 2010). Taborsky has infringed Florida Progress’ trade secrets by taking the entire research’s idea to advance what has caused the contracting party expensive resources. Taborsky’s claims do not have any backing evidence because if it were not for that research, he would not have an idea of making similar product (Stim, 2010). Based on the IP law, trade secrets belong to the corporation/company but not employees, contractors or investors who are contracting with the institution for a specified duration (Battersby & Grimes, 2013). Therefore, in ensuring patient list qualifies to be a trade secret the owner ought to have prepared a deal with the physicians before the commencement of their contract. This is concerning handling and keeping of patient lists and penalties involved suppose there was an infringement of trade secrets’ law (Battersby & Grimes, 2013). However, the Pollack’s case does not relay this but cites how he mobilized costly resources to compile patient list. Therefore, doctors in this case did not steal his trade secrets

Country Risk Analysis-China Essay Example for Free

Country Risk Analysis-China Essay With the development of economic globalization, foreign direct investment (FDI) is increasingly being recognized as an important factor in the economic development of countries. Although FDI began centuries ago, the biggest growth has occurred in recent years. This growth resulted from several factors, particularly the more receptive attitude of governments to investment inflows, the process of privatization, and the growing interdependence of the world economy. Team B will perform a country risk analysis to ensure that endeavors of investing into the Chinese markets are warranted. Initial ScreeningGreater China has been one of the most dynamic areas in the world economy. With the entry of the China into the World Trade Organization, Chinas financial markets emerge on the frontier of economic reform and openness. Financial services also provide the most exciting foreign business opportunities in China. However, the recent Asian financial crisis illuminates the problems in Chinas state-run enterprises and an ill-functioning banking system. This paper is looking for the business opportunity of financial services industry in China. It will begin from the review of the emerging economies to explain why the specific region was chose. The research of this paper also includes business analysis in China, a review of profitable industry, the business entry strategy and its functional areas operate in China. At the end, the future strategy and the recommendations will be discussed for the further steps in this investment. Potentials/FDILooking at the environmental factors of China, the economic development it has undergone in the past 15 years is of increasing interest to marketers. It has developed and continues to grow into a great trading partner. If this growth pattern continues, China will someday have significant economic influence on the world. One reason China could have a particularly large effect is due to the number of Chinese citizens. China supports over 1.29 billion people and this number is increasing by .93%. If the standard of living persists and income levels rise, it would be possible to accept the Chinese as potential consumers that would unlock a huge market  of individuals. The massive population has been a burden on China because the economy, as it stands now, cannot bear to support such a number of citizens. The government is trying to gain control of this problem by limiting the number of children to one per household, with exceptions to ethnic minorities and those living in rural areas. Other countries are offering their services to attempt to control the birthrate by showing the government that population control can be managed without a coercive and involuntary approach. The government has been losing its authority due to political changes and popular resistance that make population standards difficult to maintain. Therefore, some projections still approximate that 1.6 billion will make up Chinas population by the year 2025. Countries wishing to take advantage of Chinas emerging opportunities are investing a large amount of time, effort and money in order to access such a vast market. These possibilities were made possible when China started its reform in 1978, opening its doors to foreign investments and trade. This changed a self-reliant central economy into a mixed economy that combined state owned enterprises and private businesses. China could now allow individual citizens to have different amounts of incomes. The results have changed China dramatically making it the fastest growing economy for 15 years. When the reforms began in 1978, 60 percent of the population earned less than $1 a day. Since the reform, GDP has grown steadily by an average of 9 percent. In the year 2000, GDP grew by 8 percent. Currently, per capita is equivalent to $3600 and as the economy continues to expand the purchasing power of individuals will increase as well. The new economic reform policy intends to reduce central planning and increase business autonomy and spread income. Many problems still exist, despite the success of the policy and rapid economic growth. There is a movement for more privatization of some State Owned Enterprises because many remain unprofitable. In the year 2000, 46.5% of the SOEs were running at a loss. These problems stem from the socialist system that is still in place under their Constitution. Under the Chinese Constitution, it is the  responsibility of the government to manage the economy by means of production quotas and price setting. This apparent contradiction between the reform policy and the Constitution (1982) seem to work against each other. China will never succeed at full potential unless it retires the Marxist views and embraces a market directed system. Economic IndicatorsChinas economic growth remains quite high due to the large investments from the United States and Europe. The labor sector has a competitive edge with the rest of the globe now, where outsourcing of work to China is a priority among the large corporations. The Second Screening tries to look at more specific types of economic indicators to determine the risk and safety for a foreign company to invest in China, a country that has a communist government. According to the World Economic Forum, China has moved up from 33 to 39 in their 2002-2003 Growth Competitive Index while the IMD has mainland China listed as number 12. Summary data can be accessed below.In terms of trade surplus, there are fluctuations all the time due to the business cycle. Not all cycles of goods and services in China fall into predictable patternsChinas trade surplus in March fell to $6.9 billion, well below forecasts and down sharply from Februarys $23.7 billion surplus, reports AP. It was not clear whether the drop in March was the result of government efforts or would have a lasting impact.(www.metrics2.com)http://www.metrics2.com/blog/economic_indicators/Inflation is something that remains as long as prices keep going up, and there are no controls of prices. The Chinese communist government does have strict controls over the Chinese currency. Its central bank controls the overall balance of payments within the country when dealing with foreign investors, as the United States. Chinas consumer price index (CPI) rose 5.3 percent year-on-year in July, mainly due to the lagging effect of price hikes at the end of 2003 and one-time factors, said the monthly report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Thursday. The July inflation rate was 0.3 percentage points higher than the 5 percent rise in June, making it the second  consecutive month that Chinas inflation exceeded 5 percent. Currency ConvertibilityCurrency in China is called the Renminbi and although it tries to be strictly controlled by the Chinese government, the currency competes on the world currency market just like the American dollar and the Euro. The currency is tied to the economic health of the country in terms of balance of payments. Sometimes this is difficult to understand because of the globalized world economies today, where every country deals in all of the worlds currencies. International corporation for example can pay for goods and services in any form of currency. The official currency of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is Renminbi (meaning in Chinese: peoples currency). The Peoples Bank of China, the PRCs monetary authority, issues the Chinese currency. The official ISO 4217 abbreviation of Chinas currency is CNY, but it is also abbreviated as RMB. Colloquially, the Chinese currency is also called Yuan and Kuai.(www.danwei.org)Gross Domestic ProductChina is likely to declare itself the worlds fourth largest economy next week, having leapfrogged Italy, France and Britain, after a widely expected revision of its annual gross domestic product figures. Economists say the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which is due to release part of the results of its first national economic census on December 20, is likely to put a much bigger figure on the size of Chinas services sector. Political and Legal barriers to doing business in ChinaThe Peoples Republic of China is a dichotomy of cultures and lifestyles. While maintaining the culture of an old world, there is a marked representation of Western culture all over the larger cities in the country. However, anyone wishing to do business in China will have to know and understand both cultures, and all the legal and political implications involved in doing creating a successful presence in China. In China, the first step in doing business is to have a legal framework to operate your business. You need a legitimate platform to launch your business venture. It is not advisable to use proxy or another Chinese company to conduct business in China (www.seve.gr). While the most obvious barriers to doing business in China include tariffs and other financial  limitations, there are some non-tariff barriers that could inhibit a business from doing business in China. Entry BarriersGovernments often provide trade consultations and administrative guidance to companies to facilitate implementation of their respective industrial policies. In some countries the role of government may take the form of a caretaker, coordinator and leader providing guidance, coordination and arbitration. In order to achieve these goals, governments use such tactics as licensing, foreign exchange allocations and quotas. These tactics could interfere with free trade and become a barrier to market entry (www.foxweb.marist.edu). Profit Remittance BarriersFinancial controls may take the form of exchange controls, multiple exchange rates, and prior import deposits, as well as credit restrictions and profit remittance restrictions. Exchange controls limit the amount of currency that can be taken abroad. Such controls limit the amount of currency an importer can obtain to pay for the goods purchased. It also limits the amount of currency an exporter receives for goods sold and the length of time it can hold the currency (www.foxweb.marist.edu). Prior to 2005, most businesses in China were state-owned and it was virtually impossible for non-state businesses to enter the Chinese market. However, in 2005, China lifted trade barriers that would allow private businesses to invest in the infrastructure, industry and utilities of China. Although the government has displayed support for the development of non-state economy in recent years, there are still barriers to the development of the private sector especially in the power and oil industries. Even in Shanghai where the private economy booms, the non-state business often faces many limits from various industries (www.English.peopledaily.com). Cultural IssuesChinas estimated population for 2007 is greater than 1,321,800,000 with a relatively small cohort. (CIA, 2007) The median age  in China is 33.2 (32.7 male and 33.7 female). Exhibit 1 (CIA, 2007)Life expectancy is estimated at 72.88 years. Seven out of every 1,000 people die each year. Infant mortality rate is 22.12 per every 1,000 births (20.01 male and 24.47 female). (CIA, 2007). The Chinese ethnic population is 91.9% Han Chinese; while the remaining 8.1% is made up of Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other. Exhibit 2 (Cyborlink, n.d.)Culturally, China ranks highest in long-term orientation. This dimension indicates a societys time perspective and an attitude of preserving; that is, overcoming obstacles with time, if not with will and strength. (Cyborlink, n.d.) Geert Hofstede has conducted many cultural analyses and ranked China the lowest in Asia in regards to individualism. This is thought to be in part to an emphasis on a Collectivist society by Communist rule. Culturally, the Chinese are close and committed to family and relationships and loyalty is considered very important. Hofstede also noted that China ranks 80 in regards to power distance; while the rest of Asia averages 60 and the rest of the world averages 50. This is indicative of a high level of inequality of power and wealth within the society. This condition is not necessarily forced up the population, but rather accepted by the society as their cultural heritage. (Cyborlink, n.d.) In regard religions, China is an atheistic society (94%); while only three to four percent are Taoist, Buddhist, or Christian, and one to two percent are Muslim. Education in China is very important. Two years before the dawn of the 21st Century the Chinese government proposed an ambitious plan intended to expand university enrollment to ensure a greater output of professional and specialized graduates. (Cyborlink, n.d.) The governments goal is to develop an elite of world-class universities. Today, 90.9% of the Chinese population is literate; however, only 85.5% of Chinese females are literate compared to 95.1% of Chinese males are literate. The 2006 estimated Chinese labor force consisted of 798 million people with  an official unemployment rate of 4.2% for urban areas. Unemployment and underemployment rates for rural areas are considerably higher. According to the 2006 labor estimates, 45% of the labor force was involved in agriculture; 24% industry; and 31% services. Exhibit 3 (CIA, 2007)Competitive forcesNumber, size and financial strengthWith this being a relatively new product idea there is very little competition. That is not to say that there is no competition. Similar software exists however it does not take into account the end user. Most fashion software is for the designer more so than the consumer. Our software allows people put in there body type and shape and then see how clothes would look on you before you ever step foot in a store. Market shareWith a very small number of competitors is allows for firms to have very large shares of the market. We understand that being brand new we will not be able to have the entire market, however within the first three months we expect to grow it by a factor three. This is very ambitious but we feel with our strategic partnerships and quality product we should be the market leader within the first 18 months. Marketing strategiesOur marketing strategy will be to associate our self with an established fashion label(s). We will use there good name to help promote our product as a product extension of the clothes. DistributionWe will distribute our products through online stores as well as their contemporary bricks and mortar counterpart. We feel this is the best over all solution to get the product into the hands of as many people as possible. The competition utilizes the internet as well as physical stores as well so we must do both as well. Modes of entryAs for the mode of entry, we have decided that because of the bureaucratic red tape associated with doing business in china it would be most beneficial if we combined our efforts with an already established clothing company. That way we would not have to launch a completely new company however just branch out as a different product line to an existing  brand. We will probably use price skimming as this type of software will be aimed at consumers who are willing to pay a premium for fashion. Also they might perceive a lower price as a lower quality product. An alternative mode of entry could be if we sold our software to multiple clothing makers and allow them to use the software as a tool. This also would eliminate some of the governmental procedures. This solution would also get the product out and into more users. The products of this industry are services, it is extremely important to build good relationship with customer and build customer loyalty in long term. This issue is currently managed by the group successfully. The only challenge is to keep the standard when entering the China market. In the highly competitive business atmosphere currently occurring in China, there is a large shortage of qualified employees. Many companies are eager to attract as many skilled professionals as possible, especially in financial services industry. Local business giants realize the urgency and magnitude of their needs. Besides the great number of expatiate executives, management-training companies in Shanghai have mushroomed to several thousand to provide the management talent. In conclusion, with the speed up of world economic integration process and the gradual opening of financial market after Chinas entry into WTO, China financial services sector will have to face more powerful competition and challenges from overseas intruders. China will be stepping up infrastructure development and offering equal opportunities to both the foreign banks and the domestics. It also is a greater opportunity for WF to take a step in sharing the market. References China lifts barriers of private business into monopolized industries. (2005). Retrieved April 21, 2007 from http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200501/20/eng20050120_171269.htmlCIA. (2007, April). China. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from The World Fact Book:https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.htmlCyborlink. (n.d.). China. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from International Business

The Knee Joint Paper Essay Example for Free

The Knee Joint Paper Essay Of the joints in the human body, the knee joint is the most susceptible to injuries. Because this joint carries much of the body weight, and beside the fact that it was designed to do much of the human activities, the knee joint accounts for the most common joint injuries. Its two primary motions are flexion and extension, and a little rotational and lateral motion. â€Å"It is also because of this design that the knee is so vulnerable to injury.† (M. Mullin and K. Stone)   The knee has basically five major parts: the bones, the muscles, ligaments, cartilage and tendons. It is the function of the bones to support the knee and give the joint a rigid structure. There are four bones that make up the knee: first, the femur, which is also referred to as the thighbone or the upper leg bone. (University of Utah, Heath Sciences Center, 2003) This large bone is attached by the ligaments and a capsule to another bone the tibia. Tibia is the larger bone of the knee which is called the shin bone. Parallel to the tibia is another bone called the fibula located below the tibia. The knee cap or the patella is another bone that consists the knee which â€Å"rides on the joint as the knee bends.† (Center for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, 1999)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is the function of the muscles to move the joint. The knee joint consists of two kinds of muscles: the quadriceps and the hamstrings. The quadriceps muscles straighten the legs, and are situated at the front of the thighs. The hamstring muscles, which are located at the back of the thighs, are the ones bending the legs at the knee. All groups of muscles are connected to the knee bones by â€Å"thick fibrous cords† called the tendons. (Mayo Clinic, 2006) Patellar tendons connect the quadriceps muscles to the tibia, which are the ones prone to knee joint problems called, â€Å"tendonitis†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The bones of the knee are connected by ligaments, which functions are basically to stabilize and hold the joint together. These elastic tissues also provide protection to the joint by limiting the backward and forward movement of the knee. At the center of the joint are the cruciate ligaments called the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL), which is attached to the depression in front of the tibia and â€Å"passes upward, backward and lateral ward and fixed into the medial and back part of the lateral condoyle of the femur.† (H. Gray, 1918) It is considered the key guide wire in the knee joint and is crucial for guiding the tibia in a normal path along the end of the femur. (Mullin and Stone) The Posterior Cruciate ligaments (PCL) protect the joint by preventing the femur from sliding forward on the tibia, and the tibia from sliding backwards n the femur. The media Collateral ligament (MCL) provides protection to the inner part of the knee and the lateral Collateral ligament (CLC) on the outer part. The C-shaped tissue called the meniscus or the menisci cartilage allows the bones to freely slide on each other. They serve as shock absorbers and bone protector. Around the knee joint are little fluid sacs called bursa. These sacs â€Å"help the muscles and the tendons to freely slide as the knee moves.† (Center for Orthopaedics) There are five medial bursas and four lateral bursas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The knee is prone to injuries and especially those who are engaged in activities that enable the knee to be overused. These people, most often athletes experience different kinds of pain in the knee joint as a result of injury, stress and wear of the joint. Common to athletes are the ligament injuries called sprain or the injury to the cruciate ligaments. This injury happens when the â€Å"ACL is stretch or torn by sudden twisting motion†, as when the feet are planted one way and the knees are turned another. (Healthlink 2005)   Football players often experience a PCL injury during a football tackle. Contact sports like hockey and football cause injury to the MCL and the CCL, where the said ligament is torn and stretch at the inner side of the knee due to a sudden blow to the outer side of the knee called a contact trauma.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tendonitis or the jumper’s knee is caused by an overuse of the tendon. As the term implies, this injury is experienced by athletes who are engaged in sports like basketball, which require jumping and running causing a strain in the tendon. Dancers, cyclists, skiers and runners are as victims of this injury. With these activities, the tendon is stretched to the pint that it becomes like a worn-out rubber band and when this happens, it will swell. Muscle contraction happens after a jump or fall, and that repeated force causes strain to the tendons. What is worse is that such contraction, as when trying to break a fall, may tear the quadriceps muscles above and below the patella. Tendonitis causes a person to feel pain during running and jumping or even when in a hurried walking. Bending, extending and lifting the leg will also be difficult.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A pain arising between the patella and the femur is called Chondromalacia, which is characterized by the softening of the articular cartilage of the knee cap. (Mayo Clinic) With this injury, the knee cap rubs against the thigh bone which makes the cartilage rough. As a result, the person will feel pain in front of the knee when climbing the stairs or when sitting for a long period. This injury is common to skiers, soccer players and cyclists who, among other athletes are prone to having a blow in the knee cap resulting to a tear of the cartilage. Such contacts can also tear off a large fragment of the cartilage containing a piece of bone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Injury to the meniscus typically results from â€Å"a twist or torque to the knee while the foot stays still.† (Mullin and Stone) A tear in the meniscus may cause the joint to lock especially when there is a flap of the torn cartilage. When there is only a small tear, mild pain and moderate swelling of the knee lasts up to 48 hours; however large lengthwise tear causes the joint to lock making hard for the person to straighten the knee.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Distance runners are prone to Illiotibial Band Syndrome which happens when the ligament in the illiotibial band becomes tight enabling it to rub against the outer portion of the femur. Pains caused by this injury are felt when waking and when going up and down the stairs. Also associated with running activities is the Osgood-Schatter Disease, where an inflammation of the patellar tendon is involved.   This injury happens when the tendon is stretch too much causing it to tear away from the tibia and in some cases takes a bone fragment. A pain just below the knee is experienced with this injury, and is however treated just with a rest.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Having the fact that the knee joint is susceptible to many injuries, experts advice that a person must always maintain strong and flexible muscles. The cartilage and ligaments must always be kept smooth and strong. Good diet and proper exercise are always on the list of preventive measures. Lastly, let us remember that anything that goes below and beyond normal causes problems, not only to the knee, but the body as a whole WORKS CITED    Gray, Henry 1918. â€Å"Anatomy of the Human Body† Retrieved on February 22, 2007 from http://www.bartleby.com/107/93.htm Mullin, Michael and Kevin Stone. â€Å"Athletic Injuries of the Knee and Shoulder† Retrieved on February 22, 2007 from http://www.stoneclinic.com/injuries.htm The Center for orthopeadics and Sports Medicine. â€Å"Knee Joint-Anatomy and Function† Retrieved on February 22, 2007 from http://www.arthroscopy.com/sp05001.htm The Mayo Clinic Staff. â€Å"Knee Pain† Retrieved on February 22, 2007 from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/knee-pain/DS00555/DSECTIoN2 The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. â€Å"Knee Injuries and Problems: Symptoms Diagnosis and Treatment† May 01, 2001. Retrieved on February 22, 2007 from http://healthlink.mew.edu/article/92605352.html University of Utah Health Sciences Center â€Å"Knee Pains and Problems† November 2001. Retrieved on February 22, 2007 from http://uuhsc.utah.edu/healthinfo/adult/orthpaedics/kneepain.htm

Effect of PRF After Mandibular Third Molar Surgery

Effect of PRF After Mandibular Third Molar Surgery Post extraction wound healing and physiologic sequelae of third molar surgery can significantly affect the patient’s quality of life2. Various methods have been suggested to improve extraction socket healing and to minimize the postoperative sequelae after third molar surgery4,5. PRF is a second-generation platelet concentrate which is known to stimulate wound healing by releasing growth factors directly to the wound5,8,16,17. Recent studies demonstrated the PRF membrane has a very significant slow sustained release of key growth factors for at least 7 and up to 28 day13. Studies on PRF efficacy in enhancing wound healing have yielded differing results and also there is a divergence of opinion on the activity of PRF. Thus, there is the need for more studies to explore its use in oral and maxillofacial surgery. This study was therefore perceived to determine the effect, if any, that PRF has on postoperative sequelae and enhancement of bone healing after mandibular third molar s urgery. Patients and Methods The study sample consisted of 15 young adult volunteers 18 to 22 years old presenting with impacted mandibular third molars bilaterally and in similar positions. Patients using systemic drugs or presenting a medical history positive for any systemic pathology or a history of hypersensitivity to any component used in the methodology were not included. Each patient participated as a volunteer after signing an informed consent form on the study for extraction of impacted right and left mandibular third molars. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Ethics Committee prior to the commencement of the study. The following demographic information was collected: age, gender, occupation, marital status, and educational level. Furthermore, the position and type of impaction were recorded. The two operated sides in each patient were randomly divided into 2 study groups: extraction of an impacted mandibular third molar at first side whose socket was filled with blood clot and wound sutured (cont rol group), and extraction of an impacted mandibular third molar on the other side whose socket was filled with PRF gel and wound sutured (PRF group). A 10-point visual analog scale (VAS) with a score of 0 equals â€Å"no pain† and ten equals â€Å"very severe pain† was used to assess pain. Facial swelling was evaluated using a modification of the method described by Schultze-Mosgau et al9, and this entailed measuring the distances from the tragus to the oral commissure and tragus to the pogonion. The arithmetic sum of the two measurements was used to determine the facial swelling at the time point. The percentage facial swelling was calculated from the difference of the measurements made in the preoperative and postoperative periods divided by the value obtained in the preoperative period and multiplied by 100. (Swelling Postoperatively–Swelling Preoperatively) /Swelling Preoperatively X 100 Digital radiographs were used to evaluate changes in radiographic bone density for each extraction site. Three blinded dental professionals working independently evaluated all radiographs. RVG software was used for radiographic analysis. Radiographs were evaluated by three blinded dental professionals. The radiographs were assessed by obtaining the average density of three independent readings of the 3rd molar extraction socket sites. This was compared to the average of three density outlines of the adjacent tooth. When all radiographs for a patient were assessed, they were normalized to the original radiograph and the same untouched adjacent tooth. The baseline socket average was then subtracted from the normalized average for each tooth extraction socket at the different time points. The final, normalized socket value differences for each PRF-treated and non-PRF treated site for the various time points were compared. All radiographs were taken by a blinded, certified x-ray dental assistant. They were taken immediately post-operatively and at the following time after the day of surgery: 4th week, 8thweek and 12thweeks. Preparation of Platelet-Rich Fibrin PRF was prepared according to the technique described by Choukroun et al1. Twenty minutes before starting surgery, 10 mL of venous blood was collected in a sterilized dry, neutral glass tube without an anticoagulant. After immediate centrifugation at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes, the platelet-poor plasma, which accumulated at the top, was discarded. PRF was removed approximately 2 mm below its connection to the red corpuscle beneath to include remaining platelets, which have been proposed to localize below the junction between PRF and the red corpuscle After 10 minutes, the gel was formed, and autologous PRF was applied immediately in the socket in the PRF group. Surgical Procedure- To standardize the surgical operations, all patients were operated by the same surgeon. The mandibular third molars of which the extraction sockets would receive PRF treatment were selected randomly before surgery and these molars were operated on first. After tooth extraction, the surgical area in the PRF group was isolated with gauze and the socket was filled with PRF gel. In the control group, the socket was not filled with PRF. The flap was repositioned by an interrupted suture with 3-0 silk suture. The patients received oral and written postoperative guidance, and follow-up was scheduled according to the study periods. Because only the bilateral mandibular third molars similarly impacted were selected for the study, there was no significant difference in the time and surgical trauma associated with surgical extractions. Immediately after the procedure, details of each procedure were recorded, including the duration of surgery in minutes (from the first incision to insertion of the last suture), and any intraoperative complications. Patients were then recalled at 1, 3, 7, and 14-day postoperative intervals. During such visits, data were recorded for postoperative pain,facial swelling and any untoward complications like infection and alveolar osteitis. Sutures were removed 7 days after surgical operation. Patients were also recalled at the 4th, 8th, and 12th week postoperatively for radiographic bone healing assessment. Results The mean age of the sample population was 21.40(range 18 to 35 years). There was no statistically significant difference in the age, gender, and type of impaction between both groups. In both groups, the mean postoperative pain score (VAS) was highest at postoperative day 1 and gradually reduced over the following 14 days. The mean postoperative pain score (VAS) was higher for PRF group than control group at all-time points when compared with the control group and was not statistically significant (P The percentage facial swelling for the PRF group relative to baseline value was 2.55%, 2.22%, and 0.28% on postoperative days 1, 3, and 7 respectively, whereas it was 1.86%, 1.5%, and 0.29%, respectively, in the non- PRF(control) group for the same period. The percentage facial swelling was highest at postoperative day 1 and gradually reduced over the following days for both groups. The mean percentage swelling was also higher for the PRP group at all-time points when compared with the control. However this difference also was found to be not statistically significant. The mean bone density score was higher in the PRF group than the non-PRP group over a 12-week period; and the differences were found to be statistically significant. The results of the present study clearly show that the application of autologous PRF in surgical wounds after tooth extraction allows acceleration of bone healing, as indicated by data with statistical differences (p DISCUSSION This prospective study evaluated the performance of PRF gel when applied to fresh extraction sites. Third molar extractions are often used as a measurement tool for comparing treatments because they are usually performed electively on a younger population that do not present with significant medical problems (e.g., systemic pathologies, multiple medications). Therefore, this study is especially relevant for healthy 18 to 40 year old patients. This study evaluated the effect of PRF gel on postoperative pain, swelling and bone regeneration potential on third molar extraction sockets. The mean postoperative pain score (VAS) and swelling were higher for the PRF group at all-time points as compared with the control group, but the differences obtained were found to be statistically non-significant. This suggests that topical application of PRF may not improve the postoperative sequelae after third molar surgery. Choukroun et al5 in a case report found reduced pain and better mouth opening when topical PRF gel was used in molar extraction sockets ,in contrast to this we observed increased pain and swelling when topical PRF gel was used in 3rd molar extraction socket . Intra-oral digital radiographs taken of the individual surgical sites revealed that the effects of PRF were significantly beneficial (P 6,similarly reported that the PRF induced complete bone filling of a residual cystic cavity in 2 months 2 weeks, a much shorter period than 6 to 12 months of physiologic healing. Choukroun et al7 in a case series on maxillary sinus lifting operations, 3 cases were treated with PRF and freeze-dried bone allograft mixture and 6 cases with freeze-dried bone allograft alone. Histomorphometric results of this study showed that PRF and allograft mixture accelerated bone regeneration, allowing implant placement in 4 months after maxillary sinus lifting procedure. Furthermore, the amount of newly formed bone was equivalent to that achieved with an allograft alone 8 months after surgery. Diss et al10 reported promising results after placing PRF instead of bone graft under the sinus membrane during a closed-sinus lifting technique and demonstrated that an ave rage of 3.2 mm bone gain could be obtained in the sinus after 1-year follow-up. However the results of our study does not correspond with the study from Gà ¼rbà ¼zer et al17 who reported scintigraphically, that platelet-rich fibrin might not bring about promoted activity of osteoblasts in impacted mandibular third molar sockets in 1 or 4 week after extraction. Accelerated bone formation observed is in contrast to the drop in bone density seen at the control site before bone formation began to take place. It took approximately 6 weeks for the control sites to reach the same bone density that the PRF-treated site had reached by 4 weeks. The PRF-induced acceleration in bone formation may be due to the presence of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) in PRF that stimulates mesenchymal stem cells to begin osteoblast differentiation and subsequent calcification12,14,18. The immediate start of bone formation seen with PRF treatment is of clinical relevance because it is the initial 2 weeks following bone manipulation in oral surgery that are important in preventing infection, loss of the blood clot and/or dry socket formation. Digital panoramic radiographs might have been a better choice than digital periapical radiographs, as the 2 surgical sites would be represented on 1 film, eliminating the need for normalization between the sites. The disadvantage of digital panoramic radiographs is that these films have a 20 to 25% distortion factor because it is an extra-oral film, as opposed to the intra-oral individual (periapical) radiographs.The digital periapical radiograph was chosen over the panoramic radiograph due to the lower distortion, which results from being in close proximity to the site being evaluated. The CT scans might have exhibited greater differences between the PRF treated sites and the control sites, had they been obtained. Similarly Digital substraction radiography and histomorphometry have provided more sensitive methods of assessing bone healing but are quite invasive and expensive especially in a resource limited environment. Conclusion The results of the present study suggest that topical application of autologous PRF gel has a beneficial effect on the osseous healing of extraction sockets after third molar surgery but may not minimize the postoperative sequelae after 3rd molar surgery as its use was found to be associated with increased postoperative pain and swelling . However, a larger sample size in a multicenter study may be necessary before its routine use in extraction socket can be justified

Stereotype of Politicians Breaking Promises Essay -- Politics Politica

The Promise Trap 28 September 1999 A common complaint about politicians--so common it's a stereotype--is that they break their promises. Audiences hear one thing, the politician seems to do another, and then the complaining begins. This scenario could be the result of miscommunication on the part of the politician or misinterpretation on the part of the audience. But the reality is more complex. Politicians do make promises, although they rarely use the word as the verb and themselves as the subject of the sentence. And audiences do hear promises being made and have a right to expect action if the concept of a promise still creates a bond, or a contract, between the one who promises and the one promised. Listen carefully, and you will hear the politicians running for the various presidential nominations making promises. Often, they will sound/read something like this promise from a recent speech by Steve Forbes: "Under my plan, that money is your money. If you die prematurely, you can leave it to your spouse, to your children, to your grandchildren - tax-free and untouched by the politicians. That's the moral thing to do, and that's the promise of a Forbes Administration." Here Forbes is talking about a plan to create more wealth for retirement. As the quote clearly states, this money would pass from generation to generation tax free. The pronoun "that" at the beginning of the first independent clause of the third sentence refers to the situation of the money passing on tax free--so this passing is the "moral" thing to do. The second "that" in the second independent clause is a tricky because it could refer to the same situation as the first clause, or it could refer a general moral situation that Forbes hopes t... ...ow going in that, in most cases, they cannot deliver specific promises. Yet they promise anyway in roundabout ways meant to create the contract in the minds of the audience while leaving an out when the "unhappy" outcome happens. Austin is clear about what he thinks of situations such as these. As he says: "'I promise' entails 'I ought'...to say 'I promise' but not to perform the act is parallel to saying both 'it is' and 'it is not.' Just as the purpose of assertion is defeated by an internal contradiction, the purpose of a contract is defeated if we say 'I promise and I ought not'" (51). Black is white. Night is day. Welcome to doublespeak. Works Cited Austin, J. L. How to Do Things With Words. Urmson, J. O. and Marina Sbisa, eds. Harvard UP, Cambridge, MA: 1975. DiClerico, Robert E. The American President. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 1995.

Capital Punishment :: essays research papers

Capital Punishment What type of society kills its own people? The American culture’s morals have accepted the death penalty as a reasonable punishment. However, who gives us the power to determine when someone’s life should end. People who murder others should be punished and pay the price of their crime, but not killed. Our society feels so strongly that murder is wrong and criminals should be killed. In actuality, we are committing the same horrid deed. Capital punishment is wrong for many reasons. Several states in our country have adopted the death penalty as a reasonable act. However, there has been no dramatic decline in violence among these states and others. Proving capital punishment does not deter crime. People are still killing and committing other horrible acts of crime. Another reasons the he death penalty is wrong is that it does not prove to be an effective punishment. Some criminals may look as dying as a way out. They would rather die than spend the res t of their lives in prison. Also it does not provide peace, justice, or happiness for a victim or their family. Robert Willies raped Debbie Morris and was later killed by lethal injection. Debbie Morris found no peace in Willies death. â€Å"Justice didn’t do anything to heal me. Forgiveness did.† (â€Å"Dad Man Walking: The Victim Who Survived† Debbie Morris and Gregg Lewis) A death of a criminal will not erase the past or make a victim’s life complete. Another negative of capital punishment is the high cost. Many dollars are spent during the legal cases and for things such as providing witnesses. Many people who are for the death penalty believe it costs more money to house a criminal in jail. That is wrong, if we can abolish the luxuries many inmates have, the cost is not as high. That way, a prisoner will the way he should live. Above all, capital punishment is morally wrong. A society that is so rich and powerful should not kill each other. We have n ot been given the power to kill someone.

Animalistic Characters In Medieval Times :: essays research papers

The many temptations of life bring people to act differently through personality changes. The characters in Sir Gawain the Green Knight change their personalities through temptation. Through the Christmas time, Bertilak, king of the castle, decides to go hunting. While he is hunting, his wife is hunting or seducing Gawain. Men tempted with sex by women often act with certain animalistic instincts; in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by the Pearl Poet, the seduction scene leads Gawain to act upon his animal instincts, which mimic the behaviors of the beasts of Bertilaks' hunt.The temptation in the first seduction scene and the first hunt scene of the deer relates in both shy and timid ways. When the lady approaches Gawain, he acts shy "laid his head low again in likeness of sleep" (25). Gawain, confused at the directness of the lady, pretends to be asleep. She throws her body at him, which startles Gawain to act ignorant. At the end of the first seduction scene, Gawain says, "I shall kiss at your command" (28). The deer, which at first is shy, but at the end of the hunt is killed, relates to Gawains' shy behavior, but at the end of the seduction scene is caught and kissed. Although the deer is the shyest of animals, the boar is caught with more use of power and strength. The next seduction and hunt scene revolves around the behavior of the boar. The boar is a quick and aggressive animal. It has a "bloodthirsty heart to quell" (31). Gawain, when approached by the lady in the second seduction scene, acts less ignorant to his position, but temptation draws him to be aggressive. "My aim is to please," (33) said Gawain. The lady tempts Gawain to such an extent that he tries to resist her by exchanging two kisses with her, instead of sleeping with her. The hunt of the boar caught at last with more strength then the deer, is parallel to the lady attempting to pursue Gawain. He is more tempted to her and finally is caught by power. The temptation of the third seduction scene and the hunt of the fox are the most forceful.Gawain is tempted to the extreme during the hunt of the fox. The fox has a sly and deceiving personality. "He thought through his wiles to have thrown off the hounds" (36). The fox tries to sneak away from the dogs, which happens to be the most outgoing personality characteristic.

Common Information Security Threats Essay

The internet is approximately 40 years old and is continuing to grow at a rapid pace. This rapid growth and use of the internet for practically everything you can do in life has also cause a major increase in threats. Cyber-criminals are often breaking into security on many major websites and making the news. Information Security is turning into an important part in protect a business’s information. Amazon.com website went online in 1995 (Byers, 2006). Amazon offers there services and products through the website Amazon.com to many countries around the world, which includes: United States, Canada, France, Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, and China (Amazon, 2012). Amazon has been around for approximately 17 years and continuous to be a successful business. One of the reason for this is because Amazon investing time in Information Security. Amazon has a massive amount of information on servers around the globe contain sensitive information, not only information for Amazon but also for Amazon’s customers. Some examples of the information Amazon maintains on the servers they own: product information, warehouse information, call center information, customer service information, service information, customer account information, bank information, cloud computing information, digital media download information, and reviews of customers for product information (Amazon, 2012). There will always be some kind of the potential risks to the information maintained by any business or person because new vulnerabilities are found every day. Just recently, on August 7, 2012, a wired magazine reporter’s information stored on his Google account, Twitter account, MacBook, iPad, and iPhone where erased without the user wanting this done. A hacker that goes by the name of Phobia comprised the reporters Amazon account with a security exploit. The security exploit allowed Phobia to access the reporter’s Amazon account by calling and resetting the passwords over the phone with the reporters co mpromised AppleCare ID and Amazon ID (Kerr, 2012). Amazon responded with the following, â€Å"We have investigated the reported exploit, and can confirm the exploit has been closed as of yesterday afternoon (Kerr, 2012).† Another major breach in security for Amazon occurred on the Zappos.com, which Amazon also owns. 24  million accounts where compromised, which included the following account information: names, shipping addresses, billing addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses (Vilches, 2012). Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh wrote in an email that the hackers gained access to the internal network of Zappos allowing the hacker’s access to the server that was in Kentucky. On October 28, 2011 a researcher uncovered a massive security flaw in the Amazon Cloud service that is provided by Amazon (Hickey, 2011). A team of German researchers found a way that hackers would be able to access user accounts and data. The methods of attack the security researchers found that the Amazon Cloud service was vulnerable to where signature wrapping and cross site scripting. XML signature wrapping attacks were developed that could completely take over a user account with administrator permissions for the Amazon Cloud accounts. The AWS interface could also be manipulated to run an executable code and create cross-site scripting attacks. The researchers said that they had access to all the customer data, including authentication data, tokens, and passwords (Hickey, 2011). There are many other vulnerabilities for Amazon that may exist but are not known. Intruders (hackers) are a major threat for Amazon as proven from the previously listed examples. When the attack is done by a small group or just one person the threat will fall into the unstructured category (Conklin, White, Williams, Davis, & Cothren, 2012). Threats caused by attacks by hackers that are in a criminal group are known to fall into the structured category (Conklin, White, Williams, Davis, & Cothren, 2012). Physical security is important to remember because if a hacker can get into the internal network and infrastructure, it can be much easier to gain unauthorized access to the network. Information Security risk analysis is used to access the vulnerabilities, threats, and how to set controls for an organization (Whitman, 2011). List of what can be vulnerable: Web Servers, Computer Servers, Routers, Client, Databases, Firewalls, Software, Power, and Transmission. List of threats: Denial of Service Attacks, Spoofing and Masquerading, Malicious Code/Virus, Human Errors, Insider Attacks, Intrusion, Spamming, and Physical Damage to Hardware. List of costs: Trade Secrets, Client Secrets, Trust, Lost Sales, Clean up Costs, Information, Hardware, Software, Services, and Communication. List of controls to be used: Firewalls, IDS, Single Sign-on, DMZ, Security policy, Employee  Training, Configuration of Architecture, and Hardening of Environment. All of these lists can be put into a chart to help form a risk analysis and setup controls to be used for Amazon (Conklin, White, Williams, Davis, & Cothren, 2012). The legal, ethical, and regulatory requirements for protecting data need to be thought about when it comes to Information Security. Statutory laws, administrative laws, and common laws currently exist and are involved in computer security. New cyber laws are being defined by the courts, but none of these laws have been used yet (Conklin, White, Williams, Davis, & Cothren, 2012). In 1986, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) was established to make it a crime to access computer systems when not authorized. Amazon has been around for 17 years and has a good track record for catching security risks and patching them quickly. With the internet continuing to grow at such a rapid pace, Amazon and everyone wanting to maintain their data integrity needs to tight down on their Information Security protocols. Information Security is turning into an important part in protect a business’s information. References Amazon. (2012). Amazon. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com Byers, A. (2006). Jeff Bezos: the founder of Amazon.com. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group. Conklin, A., White, G., Williams, D., Davis, R., & Cothren, C. (2012). Principles of Computer Security: CompTIA Security+ and Beyond (Exam SY0-301) (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Company. Hickey, A. R. (2011, October 28). Researchers Uncover ‘Massive Security Flaws’ In Amazon Cloud. Retrieved from http://www.crn.com/news/cloud/23190911/researchers-unconver-massive-security-flaws-in-amazon-cloud.htm Kerr, D. (2012, August 7). Amazon addresses security exploit after journalist hack. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57488759-83/amazon-addresses-security-exploit-after-journalist-hack/ Vilches, J. (2012, January 16). Amazon owned Zappos hacked. Retrieved from http://www.techspot.com/news/47060-amazon-owned-zappos-hacked-24-million-accounts-compromised.html Whitman, M. E. (2011). Readings and Cases in Information Security: Law and Ethics. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.

Csf Proposal

Overview and purpose of the project: The purpose of this project is to continue to change the way the UST community thinks about waste. Composting confronts the idea that, when you throw something away it just disappears, and provides alternative to sending our waste to landfills. In the fall of 2012, the CSF funded a project to expand Dr. Chester Wilson’s vermiculture composting system, which composts all of the coffee grounds produced by Beakers on the second floor of OWS.The goal of this previous CSF project was to expand the efforts of Dr. Wilson by collecting and composting much of the coffee grounds produced on north campus, as well as to raise campus awareness on the benefits and ease of composting. This project is well underway, and one can see the worms working their digestive wonders in the parking ramp under ASC.Quinn Wrenholt, the primary applicant of the fall vermicomposting CSF proposal, and other members of the Composting Club have been collecting the coffee gro unds from the library Coffee Bene, as well as from T’s, the Loft, and Summit Marketplace in the student center since this spring semester began (with average daily collection of between 12 and 18 gallons of coffee grounds – more than 50 gallons each week).The collection crew, which consists of seven motivated individuals, comprises the core group of the Composting Club and has already logged more than 30 cumulative hours of volunteer time providing a direct service to our campus through collecting the coffee grounds we produce. Further Composting Club activities have included another 60 hours of volunteer time contributed to the development of a long-term research project connecting the worm composting bins in the ASC parking ramp to the research occurring in the UST Stewardship Garden located in the Green Space behind the BEC.These activities, in particular the daily collection of the mass amounts of coffee grounds has drawn the attention of Tommie Media on numerous o ccasions already this semester. Quinn Wrenholt will also soon be submitting a blog to the UST Sustainability Blog detailing the progress of the project up to this point and describing in more detail the research being done and some of the additional goals of the Composting Club (http://ustsustainblog. com) This proposal is to expand our on-campus composting even further by placing vermicompost bins in different departments and office areas around campus.This will allow coffee grounds and other food waste produced in these areas to be composted on site. The composting club will maintain these new bins in addition to the bins in the ASC. Additionally, each bin will be sponsored by an individual who works in the area covered by the bin. These Compost Club Liaisons are the keystone to this project with the Composting Club providing all the necessary support. This project’s proposed budget reflects exactly the number of vermicomposting bins that we have received demand and support for so far (see Appendix A).This expansion will be a great addition to the composting work started by Chester Wilson on South Campus and expanded to North Campus this past fall, as it will allow many UST faculty and staff to directly participate in the composting process. Additionally, the continued and increasing amount of alternative waste disposal will continue decrease our University’s carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions and increase the awareness of our campus community on issues pertaining to sustainability and waste. How the project will be implemented:This project already has all the necessary infrastructure and support in place, except the purchasing of the new, additional worm bins. The vermicomposting station in the ASC parking ramp will serve as the central headquarters for this outreach project. The Composting Club will work with the liaisons to find good locations for the bins within each department. The volunteer liaisons will serve as the day-to-day man agers, adding their offices’ coffee grounds to the bin each day, and encouraging others to dispose of their waste in the appropriate receptacle.The liaisons will also serve as the point contact person should an issue arise with any of the bins. They will have access to a Compost Club Hotline which can be used to address questions and also guarantees bin removal within 30 minutes of being contacted, if needed. This is the ultimate backup if by some error or flaw a bin develops a smell or leak. These bins will be removed to the ASC parking ramp and dealt with accordingly where no one will be bothered and cleanup is easy.This is also the contingency plan for any case-by-case bin placement issues that occur; though at this point, all of the departments participating in the project have ensured feasibility and acquired permission for their bin(s). The Composting Club will be in charge of the overall maintenance of all on-campus worm bins. When the time comes for the finished compo st to be collected from the bottom tray of the stack, the Composting Club will remove the finished tray and replace it with an empty one.The finished castings will be separated and collected in the ASC parking ramp where we have the facilities and space for doing so (see video for more detailed information and images of the Worm Factory system: http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=0sxWOCWEpsg). Only the active composting will take place on site and will be contained by the bins – all of the more intensive and potentially messy procedures will happen off-site in the ASC parking ramp.If this project is approved, when the time comes for purchasing and distributing the new bins to the different locations across campus, the Composting Club will continue to work with the Physical plant to facilitate our fund expenditure. As we distribute the bins, we will also offer short ‘how to’ demonstrations for maintaining a healthy worm bin to the various departments, their liaisons , and other interested parties. Already, we have presented during the first five minutes of a few department meetings with great response from the faculty in attendance.Additionally, the Composting Club has assembled a list of FAQs relating to vermicomposting in the Worm Factory bins and containing information pertinent to this project. These FAQs can be viewed in Appendix B. Budget: For the CSF Vermicompost project last fall, all of the materials (excepting the worms themselves) were purchased from The Eggplant Urban Farm Supply, located on Selby Ave just a few blocks away from our campus. For this project, we plan to continue to utilize this neighboring business as a resource and supplier. Three-tray worm bin: $89 each – Total cost: $$$$Each location will initially receive one, three-tray stack (excepting McNeely Hall which has requested two bins to cover the entire building). As of the time of this proposal’s submission, we have received requests for __ bins (See Ap pendix A). Additional trays: $10 each – Total cost: $$$$ We are requesting funding for an additional __ trays in order to respond to various rates of waste input in different departments, buildings, and offices. It is difficult to anticipate the scope of the waste produced in different offices prior to the actual collection of that waste.By altering both the number of trays in each stack and the number of worms in each tray, we can address the needs of different departments on a case-by-case basis. 10 lbs of worms: $189 (+$26 S&H) – Total cost: $$$$ This is enough for five to six of the trays mentioned above. So we will likely require a minimum of __ lbs of worms. Flexible spending – Total cost: $300 In the Vermicompost CSF proposal submitted this past fall, we requested $500 to cover additional expenses related to developing the project.These funds have been instrumental in the project’s success and have been used to purchase rugs for the bin systems, br ooms for keeping the ASC vermicomposting area clean, buckets and tubs for the collection of the coffee grounds, and more worms and trays than were originally estimated in order to keep up with the steady supply of grounds so far this semester. Also, some of the money has been allotted to fund a collaboration project with a couple of students from the UST club Engineers for a Sustainable World to design a compost sifter to facilitate the processing of finished compost and the collection of the worms.This will be very important in facilitating the collection of worm castings from the bins, and in enabling the research projects currently being developed. For this CSF project proposal, fewer unforeseen expenses are expected as much of the infrastructure for the project is now in place. However, the purchasing of rugs for the bins and other case-by-case needs are anticipated. For this reason, we are requesting an additional $300 to cover these expenses and which also may be used to purch ase another worm bin if needed by a particular department or building. Proposed budget total: $$$$$Include defined metrics for a clearly measurable outcome and a schedule of appropriate progress reports to the CSF through the duration of the project: To monitor the outcomes of this project, the Composting Club, in coordination with students actively conducting research on the vermicomposting systems, will calculate the amount of carbon we are eliminating from the atmosphere by aerobically composting UST’s coffee grounds and some of our campus food waste. Currently, this waste is going to landfills, where it degrades much more slowly in and anaerobic environment conducive to the production of methane and other harmful greenhouse gases.We will also make regular estimates of the amount of worm castings being produced. The castings are a valuable soil amendment, and there is potential for another student research project to pursue the branding of these castings. This way, any cas tings that are produced in addition to those used in the UST greenhouses and Stewardship Garden can be officially donated, which would make this not only a campus sustainability project and research opportunity, but also a non-profit business.These numbers can be easily recorded because it will be students from the composting club along with Chester Wilson that are handling and hauling the material and maintaining the worm bins across campus. We will submit semesterly basic reports to the CSF in a format such as this: |Fall 2013 (Implementation) | Spring 2014 |Fall 2014 |Spring 2015 | |Waste composted |0 |x |x |x | |Carbon Eliminated |0 |x |x |x | |Castings Produced |0 |x |x |x | | Additional reports may come from the research projects that are now being planned and implemented relating to this project and integrating it to other ongoing campus sustainability projects.If your project will offset greenhouse gases and reduce the campus carbon footprint, describe thoroughly how this wi ll happen: Assuming 2 tons of waste per month composted (we will have a much more accurate estimate of the waste composted by the worms bins at the end of this semester), which would equate to the prevention of 1. 76 metric tons/month of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere. This is equivalent to eliminating 4. 56 cars from the road per month.That is just the reduction based on that waste not being in the landfill, there would be additional carbon reduced from not having to transport that waste to the site. Further benefit would come from the utilization of the worms castings as a soil amendment in food production areas. Healthier soils are better at sequestering atmospheric CO2 and can hold more of it than denuded soils lacking nutrients and organic matter. (See Appendix C for calculation source). Although campus greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced, this project serves even more to catalyze a sustainable initiative that can be expanded in years to come.In its first semes ter of existence, the Composting Club and the vermicomposting operations now located in the ASC parking ramp have already generated an awesome amount of student and faculty interest. Further, the project from the fall of 2012 has provided a conduit for alternative waste disposal on campus. The action of composting much of our campus waste is already providing a platform for further reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, reductions in waste, and overall reductions in UST’s carbon footprint.Describe if and how students will be involved and/or the educational value to our community: The fall vermicomposting project was designed to encourage students to consider their relationship with their food and food waste, and to provide an alternative method of waste ‘disposal’ for our campus. This project is designed to do the same for our faculty and staff, further strengthening the link between food waste and climate change and increasing our carbon reduction efforts. Stud ents have already gotten involved with this project and the Composting Club is ready to expand our efforts!We are in the process of planning educational tours of the vermicomposting operation in the ASC parking ramp, which will be offered during Earth Week in addition to other sustainability-related project tours. Composting Club activities and the maintenance of the worm bins provide great opportunities for donation of service hours directly benefiting our campus. Further student engagement has come in the form of new research projects and connections with other campus projects. These integration projects include providing fertile worm castings to the UST greenhouses and the Stewardship Garden.As previously mentioned, students are currently in the process of developing research proposals to further develop the UST vermicomposting project and continue outreach and integration efforts – currently students are looking into branding the vermicastings, and also into connecting wi th other local community gardens to do soil testing and begin long-term, case-specific amendment studies. These projects would have beneficial impacts on the surrounding UST community, in addition to the benefits added by the use and donation of the finished castings.The increasing presence of composting efforts on campus allows the university community to fulfill our mission statement by â€Å"thinking critically and acting wisely to advance the common good. † This project is in line with the University Mission Statement because it provides students and now faculty the opportunity to be directly involved with the food chain and to participate in their waste. In recent years people have been increasingly encouraged to buy locally and to know where their food is coming from.While there is still a long way to go to reach these goals, movements are starting and people are daily becoming more aware of the problems human society faces. Unfortunately, there are still many people wh o never think about where their waste goes beyond ‘into the garbage,’ and never consider where there food comes from beyond ‘the grocery store. ’ Through the implementation and continued growth of this project, we will give the St. Thomas community the chance to experience the whole lifecycle of their food from soil and seed, to food on the table, to waste and back to soil, all within the onfines of our own campus and all on a sustainable level. Highlight innovations and the potential for the project to be scalable across our campuses: Integral to the mission of this project is scalability and its ability to grow. The Fall 2012 CSF Vermicomposting project has been hugely successful and has drawn substantial interest from individuals across campus. This proposal is an expansion of that project, catalyzed by the interest and eagerness of others to partake and participate in alternative waste disposal.While working with the worm bins in the ASC parking ramp or while collecting the coffee grounds from UST producers, Compost Club members were occasionally approached by interested faculty or students about what they were doing or concerning the good coffee smell permeating the air near the bins. After introducing the interested individual to the project and showing them the worms, almost without fail, the students and faculty alike were interested in contributing their own coffee and their own food waste from home or from their office or department.Unfortunately, because the current vermicomposting system is already operating near capacity, we are unable to collect grounds or waste from these sources; however, it was this community interest that stimulated this expansion idea. This project has great potential to be scaled across our campuses and to continually grow and develop as a UST legacy. As other faculty and staff see the bins that we are planning to place in several departments across campus, we are expecting the bins to generate int erest by other departments, offices, and campus buildings.The new demand will provide perfect support for future project proposals, further expanding UST’s composting and decreasing our waste and carbon output. If applicable, include lifecycle costs, possible investment payback schedules and potential long-term savings: The lifecycle costs of this project are minimal due to the low costs of maintenance and relatively low initial costs. These compost bins are long-term sustainable investments and are designed for in-home or in-office use. Chester Wilson has been using the same worm bins for more than ten years.These systems have proved reliable and durable and we are confident in using the Worm Factory worm bins for this proposed project. Although the money saved by sending the waste to the on-campus composting location, instead of having it picked up will be relatively minimal, dealing with much of our own waste in a sustainable and efficient manner right here on campus is a key feature of this project. Self-contained and efficient systems are worth highlighting as they embody a shift from a linear system of use and dispose to a more closed-loop cycle of use, compost, reuse.There is also great value in the production of the castings as a fertile soil amendment. To date, they have been used in the greenhouses extensively in place of relatively costly potting soils and synthetic fertilizers, which are also much more energy intensive to produce. Appendix A: Appendix B: FAQs: What can be put in the worm bins? The worms are not particularly picky eaters. Too much citrus can be uncomfortable for them, and meat and dairy products are always a risk to compost.While they are unlikely to hurt the worms, these items tend to be the main culprits for bad smelling compost. When the bins are distributed, the Composting Club will offer a brief training session for each department and their liaison. What if the bin begins to smell bad? As discussed in the video, the Wor m Factory bins are designed to allow plenty of oxygen to flow through the system. Keeping the bins aerobic keeps the smell down, and remember that these systems are designed for in-home or in-office use.In the chance that the bin does begin to smell, the Compost Club Liaisons will have the responsibility of calling the club hotline – we guarantee full removal of smelly bins within 20 minutes of that phone call. Will the bin attract pests/rodents? Rodents signify a much larger problem than the mere presence of a Worm Factory composter. Pests, in particular fruit flies, can pose problems for indoor composting systems. There is actually a simple treatment that can be applied to the medium in the bins (the stuff the worms live in) that repels gnats and flies.Again, the Composting Club hotline will be the ultimate back-up for any issues with your bin; guaranteed quick removal. Are the bins messy? No. The bins are designed to hold the food waste and to collect the moisture produced . Composting Club will regularly collect the liquid (or Compost Tea) generated by the bins and will also be on-call to respond to any cleanup needs. All processing of finished compost will be conducted off-site in the ASC parking ramp. There, we have to facilities to deal with this slightly more messy process.Where will the bins be located? This should be determined on a departmental basis. The worms are really tolerant, but cannot be too hot, too cold, or too dry. Basically, by keeping the bins out of the sun, but in a heated/temperature-controlled area, they will be more than fine. The Composting Club will monitor the moisture levels in the bins and make any changes as needed. We recommend that the bins be placed in an easily accessible location – near the most common waste sources whenever possible – but that they remain mostly out-of-sight.Behind furniture, under counters, or unused storage closets or rooms make ideal locations. What are the responsibilities of the Compost Club Liaison? The liaison will be responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of the bins and for calling the Composting Club hot line with any issues. At its most basic, the day-to-day maintenance will consist of collecting your office or department’s daily coffee grounds and adding them to the bin. Nothing about the job should be taxing or burdensome to the individual. Who will be in charge of emptying the bins once they have finished composting?Once again, the Composting Club will take care of emptying the bins when the compost in the bottom tray of the stack is finished. We will also be regularly monitoring the bins and will therefore know when the trays are ready to be emptied. All processing of finished compost will take place off-site in the ASC parking ramp where we have the facilities for doing so. How long does it take for the food waste to become finished compost? The answer to this question varies depending on the number of worms and the amount and type of food waste present.I like to think of one tray representing one-two weeks of composting. So a stack of three trays would represent a three-six week composting process. Appendix C: StopWaste. org is the website of a waste management organization located in Alameda county, CA. The organization is in charge of the waste management plan for the county, and the provide a variety of sustainable development plans and waste reduction initiatives for the businesses, schools, government buildings, and local industry in the fourteen cities comprising the county. http://www. stopwaste. us/partnership/calculator/