Friday, September 27, 2019

Child Abuse in America I need this tonight by 1 am CST Coursework

Child Abuse in America I need this tonight by 1 am CST - Coursework Example In order to be able to tackle this problem, it is imperative that the factors responsible for the growth of this social evil are identified and eradicated from the society. To serve this purpose, this research aims at identifying the factors that play a role in the spread of child abuse at the domestic level. While there is a whole range of factors that play a role in the growth of child abuse in the American society both domestic and social, the scope of this research is limited to the identification of domestic factors. These factors can include but are not limited to divorce, lack of parental attention, and psychological problems of the children as a result of these and such other factors. This research would not only help identify the factors that cause child abuse in the American society to occur, but would also help categorize the factors according to their level of severity. This is important in order to decide which factors should be tackled at the earliest in order to halt t he spread of child abuse on immediate basis. The audience of this project is primarily the parents that have the risk of or have already suffered from child abuse. The audience also includes the law-making bodies because this research would provide them with useful information about the safety and custody of children in broken marriages, so that the laws can be modified or amended in the best interest of the children. In addition to that, this research’s audience includes all those couples that are considering breaking up because this research would make them aware of the potentially adverse impacts of their breakup that their children are likely to suffer from. This research would help create the awareness needed by the parents to minimize the risks of child abuse for their children. My role in this project would primarily be that of an advocate. On the basis of the level of severity

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Outline.This is only an outline for a research paper that is going to

Outline.This is only an outline for a that is going to be written latter,so the topic is outline - Research Paper Example One major argument on the matter is with relation to scientology. Scientology has grown in contemporary years and has seen many people join the particular movement (Barth, 2007). With the absence of religion, people would grow further believing in the movement. Religion exists in current days and people still carry out heinous crimes on a daily basis. It is only right to state that with absence of religion, these crimes would increase significantly. People would invade other’s privacy stealing and committing murders. (Matlock, 2008) Society would have no rubrics and humans would lack personal rules by which to abide. Without religion, people in society would lack common grounds (Ryan, 2007). Getting together in prayer and worship is one factor that unites people of different backgrounds and social stature. Lack thereof would lead to judgment and condescending among people. Atheists portray this when looking at the manner in which most of them live their lives. People would lack a sense of unity and this would act as a sign for the beginning of societal and humanity’s

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Business Policy - British Airways Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7000 words

Business Policy - British Airways - Case Study Example According to the International Air Transport Association, the industry lost up to $8 billion in 2008 which is even greater than what was forecasted previously. The report uses a PESTEL analysis (See PESTEL Analysis: Appendix D) to scan the external environmental structure of the company. The business cycle of British Airways includes several parameters. This is due to the fact that airline industry is characterized by longer business cycle resulting from the lower profitability and for the lower shareholder returns. (Liehr, Nd, page 1). The marketing environment is constantly changing and with every change in the last few years airlines industry is being affected. The demand for the airline industry is highly income elastic. (â€Å"An analysis of British Airways Marketing Environment†, 2008) Thus the rise in the fuel prices last year and recent economic turmoil has affected the airlines industry in huge way as the passengers are avoiding more expensive air travels. According t o a report by Air Transport association of America, the revenue generated from passenger travels for all airlines fell by 19 % during the month of February, 2009 when compared to February 2008. This is the forth consecutive month where loss is being recorded. The business sector, hit badly by the economic crisis are cutting back on their airline trips. British airways having ten flights operating daily between London and New York is among the worst hit. (â€Å"Lucrative Business class air travel hit by crisis†, 2009) The company saw a decline in 8.6 percent in premium traffic and 4.1 percent in non premium. (â€Å"Lucrative Business class air travel hit by crisis†, 2009)   Also there are other factors which are directly affecting the industry. The events like terrorist attacks in the recent past closely linked with the airplanes may be considered as an external factor affecting air traveling. This assumption is based on the fact that these events lead to the introduc tion of strict security norms and regulation from the EU and US, affecting from summer 2006 resulting in a fall of customer traveling confidence.(â€Å"An analysis of British Airways Marketing Environment†, 2008). The intervention of Government rules and regulation were present in the areas of controlling the place of flight, the pricing policy etc. Also there are restrictions in the number and types of baggage that they carry, which ultimately is becoming the restriction on the part of the customers.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Response Paper to Bagleys Shang Ritual Bronzes Essay

Response Paper to Bagleys Shang Ritual Bronzes - Essay Example According to the paper findings  the casting technique and materials used influenced the design of the models. For instance, casting the bronze rituals using clay, instead of metal, ensured that the decorations on the Shang bronze rituals were achieved while the technique used during casting was responsible for more features that are fundamental. The technique used consisted of using wax as the main material to cast the models. The wax was given the exact shape as the desired shape of the finished bronze. After the wax model, the casters created a mold around the model by packing clay around it and then melting out the wax to ensure that the core remained empty inside. In the empty inside, bronze was poured inside in the empty spaces with the mold of clay broke to reveal the final bronze model.  As the discussion stresses the clay molds also contributed to the design in different ways. Casters curved lines along the mold in order to provide the final product an aesthetic appeal. The technique, popularly known as the lost-wax technique, also produced different sections of a model after removing a mold in sections from the casting.  Metalworkers, in the Shang ritual bronzes, had considerable freedom in their artwork despite some various constraints. In regards to the artistic freedom that the enjoyed, the metalworkers had the freedom of experimenting in the casting method that they used to make the ritual bronzes, which explains the diverse methods used in casting the models.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Descarte's Philosophy of Calling Mind as a Thinking Thing Essay

Descarte's Philosophy of Calling Mind as a Thinking Thing - Essay Example Hence the essence of the existence of human beings is their mind or soul, not their bodies. Descartes’ philosophy of calling mind as a thinking thing Rene Descartes is a French mathematician come philosopher of seventeenth century who is unanimously called as 'Father of Modern Philosophy'. Born in the year 1596 & died in 1650 due to pneumonia, Descartes produced lots of useful philosophical ideas which definitely make the basis for a modern anti-scholastic philosophy. The most famous & most controversial philosophical statement given by Descartes' was "I think, therefore I am" in his publication â€Å"the discourse on the method† in the year 1637, in which he explains that the essence of our mind is thought. If we do not think about things around us & about ourselves, we don’t make enough use of our brain & thus we remain insignificant. In the year 1639, he started his work on Meditations & wrote a book named â€Å"Meditations on First Philosophy†, which w as highly criticized by most learned people of that time & by the cathedral too, as according to them Descartes gave such ideas which contradict with religion & Christian faith. Most of his publications regarding meditations contain the answers to the objections of his previously defined ideas & he tried to clarify himself about the misunderstandings which arose about his method. In his first meditation, he discussed all the way that our sensory beliefs are not always trustworthy or reliable & mind is the only thing which can be termed as reliable as it thinks. In his second meditation, he argued that the mind takes the liberty of supposing everything to be nonexistent of which it has the least doubt of existing. However, during the process, as mind is the thing which is thinking the whole situation, so it must exist itself .This is among one of the greatest use of our mind (Descartes. 1641). Descartes formally presented a theory of mind-body dualism in which he argues that our body is composed of different organs & parts & our mind has no connection with it. As in his first meditation, he says that sensory organs are doubtful thus the body itself has no particular reliability. This absolutely does not mean that in this perspective, a human does not exist or is insignificant. But as compared to mind, body is nothing but a combination of solid joints. The concept of being deceived by someone or convinced on any point directly relates through mind, not from body. Hence for such things to happen, I must exist & I am a not a rational animal but a thinking thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, is willing, is unwilling, and also imagines and has sensory perceptions (Descartes. 1641). The point that our mind only considers those things to be existent, which show their existence, like the mind itself, was explained by thinking of something that has a very least chance to exist. If the existence is proved, Descartes happily conclude that as the particular th ing exists so it proves itself. However, if the supposed image or thing was not found existed by him, he was more than happy to say that anything on the world can be found if it exists, like human mind about which there is no doubt of existence. Mind is a creation of god which exists & thinks all the time about the existence or non-existence of other things. Hence â€Å"I† am not simply a combination of

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Critical review and comparison of 2 refereed and related journal Literature

Critical and comparison of 2 refereed and related journal articles in the field of business information management - Literature review Example 1st journal -strengths The paper ‘Customer Perspectives on E-business Value: Case Study on Internet Banking’ written by Rahmath Safeena from its title reflects an important issue in the modern banking sector exhibited by the author. Along with that the author have also used keywords like internet banking, information and communication technology (ICT); perceived usefulness, ease of use, risk, awareness which are appropriate in examining the customer’s perspective (Safeena, 2010, p.5).Before moving into the discussion of the subject matter with in depth analysis, a brief literature review has been provided by the author reflecting various aspects of internet banking (Safeena, 2010, p.6). Identification of the research methodology is a crucial factor in executing research in a rigorous manner on a particular topic and also helps to deliver robust inferences. In this paper the process of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is being used for analyzing the extent of the acceptance of the internet banking system by the customers. The incorporation of the TAM model is a judicious application for reflecting the perspective of the customers related to the internet banking system (Safeena, 2010, pp. 6-7). ... Empirics also reveal that there has been a positive correlation between the above two variables in the study of internet banking (Safeena, 2010, p.7). Applying proper statistical techniques it has been also found that when the online banking is perceived as useful then the customers are prone towards using internet banking. The findings state that usefulness, ease of use and risks are the prime parameters which affect positively the acceptability of the internet banking procedures (Safeena, 2010, pp.8-11). 1st journal -Weaknesses The author have mentioned description of different types of internet banking as well as different security issues in the literature review part but have included all the references which are old in their year of publication which are majorly around the year 1999-2000 and one or two references in the recent years like 2006 (Safeena, 2010, p.7). Again, in the strength section the process of TAM is mentioned which is indeed a good method of executing the resear ch. But still this process suffers from some limitations. The first limitation is attached with the explanatory power of the model. Empirical results also found that the existing studies account for less than 60% of the variance explained especially those used by the professional users (Sun & Zhang, 2006, p.53). The sample used in for the purpose of research is students of business and economics students of an educational campus. But studying only the perspectives of the students will not provide any general conclusions about the overall public perspectives on the internet banking. (Khan & Mahapatra, 2009, p.35). The method of questionnaire has been used in carrying on the research and in the paper it is stated that relevant questions have been

Friday, September 20, 2019

MicroRNA-21 Concentrations in Breast Cancer

MicroRNA-21 Concentrations in Breast Cancer Direct Serum Assay for MicroRNA-21 Concentrations in Early and Advanced Breast Cancer Abstract Background Small noncoding RNA molecules known as microRNAs (miRs) are involved in the regulation of gene expression. The hypothesis was based on the biomarker, miR-21 present in the serum, which related to the presence and stage of breast cancer. The direct application of reverse-transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) in a direct serum assay has been used for the quantification and detection of the miR-21 in breast cancer patients. Methods A total of 102 breast cancer patients with varying stages of breast cancer and 20 healthy female patients were tested by the RT-qPCR applied directly in serum assay for miR-21. Results Detection for RT-qPCR-DS was limited to 0.625 µl of serum. miR-21 levels detected in the healthy donors were comparatively lower with respect to breast cancer patients with different stage of the disease. A significantly higher levels of miR-21 was detected in patients with stage IV breast cancer compared to patients with other stages of the disease. The odds ratio was 1.796 and area under the curve was 0.721 for the distinction of loco regional breast cancers and healthy donors. Multivariate analysis confirmed that a correlation of miR-21 concentrations and stage of breast cancer existed. Conclusion- The novel RT-qPCR-DS serves as a better technique in detecting circulating miR. miR-21 proves to be a significant biomarker for breast cancer, which could also probably detect the progression of the disease. Further research could lead to improved breast cancer care by this serum biomarker as a key tool. EVALUATION Traditional methods Mammography (also known as film mammography) is a traditional method for screening breast cancer (Boyd et al., 2007). Its principle lies in the use of low-dose x-rays. Soft tissue such as fat is radiographically lucent, which appears dark on a mammogram. In contrast, stroma and epithelial tissue are radiographically dense, which is termed mammographic density, appearing light on a mammogram (Boyd et al., 2007). It has been established that the more immense the density, the more association it had with regard to the greater risk of breast cancer. A dense tissue present in 75% or more of the breast poses a risk of breast cancer (Boyd et al., 2007).   A limitation of this method revolves around the fact that expansive mammographic density may be difficult to detect by mammography, thereby indicating a false negative (Boyd et al., 2007). Cancers may be masked by surrounding dense breast tissue, limiting the sensitivity of the screening (Boyd et al., 2007), thereby increasing the risk o f breast cancer (Pisano et al., 2005). High false positive results and costs are drawbacks of mammography (Asaga et al., 2010).   An alternative breast cancer screening technique is the MRI, which is sensitive, but its limitations include the lack of cost-effectiveness and specificity (Esserman et al., 2007). Digital mammography, an upgrade to film mammography allowed the manipulation of the degree of contrast on digital images. This allowed the differentiation of dense breast tissues from malignant cells (Pisano et al., 2005). Women under 50 years of age, with dense breast tissue or those who are pre-menopausal or peri-menopausal were mostly detected by digital mammography (Pisano et al., 2005). In comparison to the film mammography method, digital mammography has an increased cost (1.5-4 times more), but is quicker at developing the image (Pisano et al., 2005). BRCA1 and BRCA2 are tumour markers used to identify individuals who are at risk of developing breast cancer via inheritance (Duffy, 2001). Only 5-10% cases of breast cancers are hereditary. 80-85% risk of developing breast cancer was reported in individuals carrying either the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene (Duffy, 2001). Cancer antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3) is a gene product of the MUC1 gene. Overexpression of MUC1 gene in malignant breast tumours allows CA 15-3 to be used as a tumour marker for breast cancer (Kabel, 2017). False positive results were reported in benign breast and benign liver diseases (Kabel, 2017). The serum concentration of patients with elevated levels of CA 15-3 became more detectable as the size of tumour and severity of the disease increased. Therefore, this is suitable as a prognostic and pharmacokinetic biomarker (Kabel, 2017). The lack of sensitivity for women with early disease have been a main limitation of CA 15-3 biomarker (Duffy et al., 2010). Rising levels of another extensively used biomarker, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) indicated poor treatment or the risk of recurrence following treatment (Kabel, 2017). The lack of disease sensitivity and specificity prevents the use of CEA as predictive biomarker (Kabel, 2017). Estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) serve as pharmacokinetic biomarkers (Kabel, 2017). Relevance to current article Elevated levels of miR-21 was observed in breast cancer patients (N = 102) compared to healthy females (N = 20) in the study done by Asaga et al., (2010). Detection of circulating miR by RT-qPCR-DS was robust and effective (Asaga et al., 2010). The differentiation of patients with stage I, stage II or stage III from patients with stage IV breast cancer was possible with the direct assay, but not by the standard RT-qPCR (Asaga et al., 2010). The assay had a sensitivity and specificity of 67% and 75% respectively in distinguishing loco regional breast cancer patients from healthy patients. The specificity and sensitivity in distinguishing patients with stage IV breast cancer from the earlier stages was 86% and 70% respectively (Asaga et al., 2010). The use of the novel RT-qPCR in direct serum assay reduced mechanical and human errors and minimized the time and overall cost (Asaga et al., 2010). CA 15-3 and CEA are low in sensitivity and specificity, therefore cannot be used as a diagnostic marker (Ng et al., 2013). Comparatively, miR-21 shows a better specificity and sensitivity (Asaga et al., 2010). Current methods 3D mammography is an evolution of the mammography technology (Houssami et al., 2017). 3D mammography improves cancer visibility by reducing the images of overlapping breast tissue, leading to the visualization of benign and malignant breast lesions which would have been masked in traditional mammography (Houssami et al., 2016). It may also decrease the false positive recall. Cost and time-taken to read a 3D mammography are limitations of this method (Houssami et al., 2017). A study by Ng et al., (2013) detected elevation in miR-451, miR-16 and miR-21, while a reduction in miR-145 was observed in the plasma of breast cancer patients. The combination of miR-451 and miR-145 served as the best biomarkers for breast cancer with an optimal specificity of 92% and optimal sensitivity of 90% in distinguishing breast cancer patients from control subjects of other types of cancers (gastric cancer, lung cancer) recruited in the study (Ng et al., 2013). This study by Ng et al., (2013) recognized a combination of miRNAs specific to breast cancer and not the other cancers. Drawbacks include the lack of information regarding whether these miRNAs can be used to distinguish between the subtypes of breast cancer and between sporadic and familial forms (Ng et al., 2013). The study done by Asaga et al., (2010) only focused on miR-21 as a predictive marker in breast cancer, but miR-21 has been implicated in other types of cancer too. Comparatively the study done by Ng et al. , (2013) has identified biomarkers specific to breast cancer. In conclusion, the use of miR-21 as a biomarker in breast cancer presented a correlation of circulating miR-21 with the stage of breast cancer. More research is required to establish miR-21 as an important biomarker in breast cancer (Asaga et al., 2010). A combined expression analysis of miR-21 and miR-191 increased the specificity to 100% and sensitivity to 92% (Chen and Wang, 2013). The study done by Chen and Wang (2013) proved that a combination of miRNAs were better as a predictive biomarker for breast cancer. WORD COUNT ABSTRACT 243 EVALUATION 1039 REFERENCES Asaga, S., Kuo, C., Nguyen, T., Terpenning, M., Giuliano, A. and Hoon, D. (2010). Direct Serum Assay for MicroRNA-21 Concentrations in Early and Advanced Breast Cancer. Clinical Chemistry, 57(1), pp.84-91.Boyd, N., Guo, H., Martin, L., Sun, L., Stone, J., Fishell, E., Jong, R., Hislop, G., Chiarelli, A., Minkin, S. and Yaffe, M. (2007). Mammographic Density and the Risk and Detection of Breast Cancer. The New England Journal of Medicine, 356(3), pp.227-236. Chen, J. and Wang, X. (2013). MicroRNA-21 in breast cancer: diagnostic and prognostic potential. Clinical and Translational Oncology, 16(3), pp.225-233. Duffy, M. (2001). Biochemical markers in breast cancer: which ones are clinically useful?. Clinical Biochemistry, 34(5), pp.347-352. Duffy, M., Evoy, D. and McDermott, E. (2010). CA 15-3: Uses and limitation as a biomarker for breast cancer. Clinica Chimica Acta, 411(23-24), pp.1869-1874. Esserman, L., Shieh, Y., Park, J. and Ozanne, E. (2007). A role for biomarkers in the screening and diagnosis of breast cancer in younger women. Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics, 7(5), pp.533-544. Houssami, N., Là ¥ng, K., Bernardi, D., Tagliafico, A., Zackrisson, S. and Skaane, P. (2016). Digital breast tomosynthesis (3D-mammography) screening: A pictorial review of screen-detected cancers and false recalls attributed to tomosynthesis in prospective screening trials. The Breast, 26, pp.119-134. Houssami, N., Bernardi, D., Pellegrini, M., Valentini, M., Fantà ², C., Ostillio, L., Tuttobene, P., Luparia, A. and Macaskill, P. (2017). Breast cancer detection using single-reading of breast tomosynthesis (3D-mammography) compared to double-reading of 2D-mammography: Evidence from a population-based trial. Cancer Epidemiology, 47, pp.94-99. Kabel, A. (2017). Tumor markers of breast cancer: New prospectives. Journal of Oncological Sciences. Ng, E., Li, R., Shin, V., Jin, H., Leung, C., Ma, E., Pang, R., Chua, D., Chu, K., Law, W., Law, S., Poon, R. and Kwong, A. (2013). Circulating microRNAs as Specific Biomarkers for Breast Cancer Detection. PLoS ONE, 8(1), p.e53141. Pisano, E., Gatsonis, C., Hendrick, E., Yaffe, M., Baum, J., Acharyya, S., Conant, E., Fajardo, L., Bassett, L., DOrsi, C., Jong, R. and Rebner, M. (2005). Diagnostic Performance of Digital versus Film Mammography for Breast-Cancer Screening. New England Journal of Medicine, 353(17), pp.1773-1783.