Sunday, December 29, 2019

The Issue That Faces Women Is Abortion - 990 Words

Description of the Problem An important issue that faces women is abortion. With abortion laws constantly changing, women are finding that they are a continuous target of sexism. Social work is relative to this subject because often times social workers have to assist clients who are seeking or who have had an abortion. It is very important that a social worker is knowledgeable about abortion rights and laws. This is critical as it may become a part of your case. Women’s health is equally as important as everyone’s else’s rights. Instead of focusing on what is much more important, lawmakers have spent a great deal of time focusing on ruling the reproductive rights of women. Abortion rights for women are a constant challenge. Abortion became legal in the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade by the supreme court. A woman then had the right to make choices about her own body. This was all in connection with the ‘’right to privacy’’ rights and the pro-choice side. The problem is you have individuals that agree with ‘’pro-life and pro-choice.’’ With that being said, the pro-life activist believe that the pregnancy should not be terminated and the woman should give birth. Pro-choice is when one believes that it’s a woman’s decision whether she wants to have a baby or not. This ties into sexism because by taking control over women’s health rights, you’re limiting a women’s capabilities as a woman. With sexist thoughts, a woman’s rights can easily be violated with stereotypical thoughts andShow MoreRelatedFunctionalism And Robert Mertons Model Of Functionalism1252 Words   |  6 PagesSociology uses three different perspectives, or theories, when looking at human issues. These three theories are known as functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. Functionalism is considered a macro theory and has two different models. The focus will be on Merton’s model of functionalism, which has three parts to it. Conflict theory is also, a macro theory that views society as a place of inequality between two groups. It looks at five inequalities, which are economic, gender, racialRead More Abortion Essay910 Words   |  4 PagesAbortion Abortion is one of the most controversial issues of our day. People generally have strong views about abortion. It is an issue about life and death. Abortion draws out two different worldviews. The human world view, which says, You do whatever you want. Its your own choice not anyone else. In addition, the religious world, which I believe, says, ?God forbids us to murder, and knows that it?s a mortal sin.? I believe that the real reason that we see so many people wanting theRead MoreAbortion And Its Effect On Society1272 Words   |  6 PagesIn society today, abortion takes place on a daily basis. Abortions have been a subject of medical, lawful, religious, and moral intrigue for a long time. As a legislative issue in the United States, abortion has been acknowledged and subsequently managed for many years. In the mid 1800s, every state that had developed at the time had also created some form of abortion law. To this day, 60% of abortion laws we face today were enacted in that period (Hardin, 1969). However, even before these restrictiveRead MoreAbortion : A Woman s Choice1572 Words   |  7 PagesCelina Valvano Mr. Cukierski CPW 4U 12 November 2014 Abortion: A Woman’s Choice Abortion is an ongoing issue that many woman face today in society. Statistics show that one out of ten women aged from fifteen to nineteen gets pregnant each year and five out of six of these pregnancies are unintended (Lunneborg 1992). There is a constant struggle between whether to keep the child or to abort it. Some people believe that abortion is their only choice or their only way out of a difficult and challengingRead MoreAbortion : A Controversial Issue882 Words   |  4 Pagesconsider abortion as a rightful act, and abortion is a name of destroying human life. Now a days our society faces several types of issues Abortion is one of the complicated issue for both ways health and society that’s why abortion become a very controversial issue that’s become debatable in politics. In addition, these researches will describe the different issues of abortion, such as, legal laws on abortion, restriction of abortions, rate of abortion and consequences of the abortio n. Abortion isRead MoreAbortion : A Controversial Issue868 Words   |  4 Pagesconsider abortion as a rightful act, and abortion is a name of destroy human life. Now a days our society faces several types of issues Abortion is one of the complicated issue for both ways health and society that’s why abortion become a very controversial issue that become debatable in politics. In addition, this essay will describe the different issues of abortion such as, legal laws of abortion, restriction of abortions, rate of abortion and consequences of the abortion. Abortion is very seriousRead MoreAbortion Should Be Legal?1512 Words   |  7 Pagesto dictionary.com, abortion is defined as â€Å"the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy†¦any of various surgical methods for terminating a pregnancy.† The famous well-known Supreme Court case that addresses the issue of abortion is Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court concluded that women have the right to obtain an abortion until the fetus is viable, or usually when a woman reaches her trimester of pregnancy. Prior to the Supreme Court case, abortion was illegal in manyRead MoreAbortion Is Morally Wrong Or Not? Essay1234 Words   |  5 Pagesover 230 abortion restrictions enacted by states in the US. In 2016 alone, there has been 1,256 provisions relating to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Of these 1,256, 445 provisions attempted to restrict access to abortion services (Nas, E., Benson Gold, R., Ansari-Thomas, Z., Cappello, O., Mohammed, L., 2016). Women’s rights as a human and as a US citizen are being violated through these restrictions. There is currently a strong disagreement in the US as to whether abortion is morallyRead MoreAbortion Essay1645 Words   |  7 PagesAbortion has been a debatable topic for a long time. As the modern social norms tend to encourage open-minded thinking, there has been an increased number of abortion cases throughout the world. Not only do different societies have different arguments about the ethical issues involved in abortion, the argument has been fueled by among other factors social and economic factors. Throughout the world, different countries have legal, abstain from the fact that some of the countries are legal to abortionRead MoreWhat Makes A Living Thing?1311 Words   |  6 PagesClare Cho Som Chounlamountry POSC 399-01 19 September 2015 Abortion My Microbiology professor, Dr. Akhavan, asked the whole class one scorching July day during our summer session, What defines a living thing? I, wanting to impress the professor, quickly raised my hand and answered the question confidently, Living things respond to stimuli. After he shook his head, at least twelve other students tried to get the right answer. With a frustrated look, he finally gave it up: CELLS! He went on

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Economic Significance Of The Middle East - 988 Words

Oil has always been valued, but in the 21st century, oil has an economic significance. In today’s world, it is used to power so many thing such as a cars. It can also be found in different parts of the world. However an amount of worlds’ oil can be found in the Middle East; making it very desirable to the United States and the other world super powers. The Middle East not only has vast amounts of oil, but it is also has the shortest route to Europe, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Not only did the United States want oil or for its significant location but they also had interest in limiting the communist influence in the 20th century. Sixty-five percent of oil we use today in the United States is imported from countries like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iraq; keep in mind that not only does oil power houses and cars for the citizens of the United States, but it is also used to power things like jets and tanks for our military. In the 1930’s, Oil was found in Bahrain , Saudi Arabia and Kuwait but not until after World War II were Americans granted to explore parts of the Middle East for oil. By 1948, they hit the jackpot in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately for the United States, their relationship with Saudi Arabia was short lived due the U.S.’s alliance with Israel. The Israelis gained the West Bank, Gaza, and Syria’s Golan Heights with the help of the weapons provided by the United States. Keep in mind that the US supplied and supported the Israelis, and the Soviets supplied EgyptShow MoreRelatedThe Arab Spring Is A Term For A Series Of Protests, And Uprisings Essay1605 Words   |  7 Pagesis a term for a series of protests, and uprisings within the Middle East dating back to 2010. Some of the conditions in the Arab world on the eve of the Arab Uprisings include things such as the persistence of authoritarianism, high poverty and unemployment rates, and youth disenfranchisement. In regards to the persistence of authoritarianism, the re are â€Å"5 major reasons that authoritarian governments were able to survive in the Middle East for so long. These include (1) the maintenance of fiscal healthRead MoreMiddle Eastern Countries and the Washington Consensus819 Words   |  3 Pages The Middle East has been considered as one of the most important crossroads of international trade for many centuries. In the second century, the Silk Route was connected in the Middle East which connected important trading areas including Europe, the Mediterranean, Central Asia and China (Paczynka 12). The important role that the Middle East plays in the trading world has further expanded in the Eighteenth Century. Finally, this role further expanded in the twentieth century. During this particularRead MoreIr The United States And The Second And Second Order Effects1096 Words   |  5 Pagesthe United States in 1883. Many people do not understand the importance, significance, and/or second and third order effects of U.S.-Iranian re lations, although important. As mentioned in an article by Akhilesh Pillalamarri, â€Å"Iran is uniquely poised to help stabilize the region,† likely through its current circumstances and shared international interests. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to describe the significance past and present of Iran to the United States and the second and third orderRead MoreThe Modern Middle East641 Words   |  3 PagesThe Modern Middle East Student’s Name University The Modern Middle East The Middle East is a region of Western Asia and Egypt; some of the countries in this region are Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq. According to Anderson, Seibert Wagner (2006), this region is of vast geo-economic importance and since ancient times, it has been a center of world affairs. This part matters to almost all superpowers. The geographic factors that contribute to theRead MoreThe Super Powers Role in Fueling the Dispute in the Middle East1282 Words   |  5 PagesThe Middle East is a region to which the superpowers attached great significance and in which they evidenced great attention. The United States and the Soviet Union became the main external powers of significance in the Middle East in the period since the end of World War II but mostly since the mid-1950s and the withdrawal of British and French influence from the region. The superpowers had conflicting and similar interests and their policies often clashed, but they avoided direct conflict whileRead More The Rise of Europe853 Words   |  4 PagesThe Rise of Europe Contemporary world power, and the shift from the East to the West during what historian’s term, Medieval/Renaissance Europe, shifted the roles of two vastly different empires – the Ming and Ottoman. Even though we barely even touched on the Ming Empire, I feel like the significance of it, is far too grand to leave out in describing the rise of Europe. Both empires had different types of leadership and core goals – military and social. The Ming Empire was led by brilliant philosophicalRead MoreSignificance Of Marco Polo s Voyages1136 Words   |  5 PagesExplain the significance of Marco Polo’s voyages to the â€Å"East† for our understanding of world history. The silk routes, has for many centuries, connected the world through a series of overland and maritime routes reaching from China, India, the Middle East and Europe. One of the most significant narratives of the voyage is told through Marco Polo, who had a significant impact on the relationship between the east and Europe and on world history. Polo’s voyages vastly enhanced European knowledge aboutRead MoreThe Role Of Role During The Middle Eastern Modernity953 Words   |  4 PagesName Tutor Name Date The Role Played by Europeans in Middle Eastern Modernity The term modernity is widely used to refer to various changes in cultural and social norms that occurred in post-medieval Europe. The concept includes different but interrelated historical and cultural events that impacted politics, human culture, and social institutions. In simple words, modernity can be referred to as the aspect of being up to date, usually characterized by a contemporary way of thinking or living. TheRead MoreBenefits and Drawbacks of Countries Dependent on Oil and Gas Essay851 Words   |  4 Pageslocated in the Middle East. An estimate of 65% of the total worldwide reserves is situated in this region with Saudi Arabia being the country with the most oil reserves. Other large oil reserves are located in Mexico, Venezuela, Russia and Nigeria (Stutz, 2007). When we look at the allocation of gas across the globe we can conclude that the distribution differs from that of oil. Almost 40% of all gas reserves are located in Russia and Central Asia; another 34% is located in the Middle East (Stutz, 2007)Read MoreThe Development Of A Nations Foreign Policy Strategy1078 Words   |  5 Pages The intersections of economic, social, political, and geographic connections result in strategy being developed solely on the location of a nation. When it comes to the importance of strategic location in relation to foreign policy, it is imperative that a nation implements strategic location when developing their foreign policy approach. Strategic location can be described as either the strategic acquisition of land based on potential political and economic significance or the recognition of

Friday, December 13, 2019

Key characteristics and the pioneers in avant-garde music Free Essays

Minimalism originated in the sass, as a movement that sought to stray from the previous decade of self-expressionism as well as the contemporary trends of intellectual complexities found in serial music. Marked by repetitive mitotic and rhythmic patterns, it sought to emphasize simplicity in both melodic lines and harmonic progressions. In contrast to serial music’s favored chromatic compositional techniques, minimalist music was wholly diatonic and consonant in nature. We will write a custom essay sample on Key characteristics and the pioneers in avant-garde music or any similar topic only for you Order Now Textural consistency and layered melodies/rhythms gave way to gradual changes, highlighting the ‘process’ of music, tater than a particular musical goal or specialized form. Seemingly lacking a climax, each composition unfolded by a series of repeating motives and additive rhythms extended over long periods of time. Influenced by Asian and African music, minimalism understated dramatic structures and sounds, instead emphasizing the reduction of musical structures. During the sass, a group of young American composers vouched for the return of basic elements of music, without dramatic structures and abstract expressionism. Many were influenced by the compositions of John Cage, including several leading gurus of the minimalist movement: Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. A graduate of Berkeley, Riley opposed the chromatic and twelve-tone writings of serial music. Like many of his contemporaries, Riley experimented with tape loops in his compositions and bridged the gap between the new avian-garden and the piqued interest of rock music. Riley was specifically interested in composing works for â€Å"live† audiences, as these proved more effective in conveying the so-called avian-garden sounds. Successful in its reception, this kind of experimental music appealed to the public as t grew in popularity and acceptance; his music was inclusive and non-elite. Varying degrees of musical experience and backgrounds were encouraged. An excellent example of this can be found in his composition, In C. Written in 1964, In C did not necessarily require the skills of highly trained musicians to be performed. The piece lasts 44 minutes, although one would not suspect it to be so lengthy as it only contains fifty-three â€Å"modules† in total. Any number of instruments could play at a given time either at the original pitch or at any octave transposition. Each of the fifty-three modules were to be â€Å"looped;† in other words, they should be repeated ad labium before moving on to the next module. Moreover, articulations and dynamics were to be performed ad labium. The work finally concluded when all of the performers had arrived at the last module. While it appears that Riley music contains a sort of â€Å"anything goes† mentality, it is quite the contrary in some respects. In choosing instruments for the actual performance, Riley suggested that all players maintain an eighth-note pulse, which was audibly heard by an instrumentalist who played the top octave of CSS, most likely plan n a piano or xylophone. Furthermore, Riley favored more homogeneous sound; thus, instruments that consisted of specific timbres and ranges were discouraged. In C was a prime example in proving that minimalist music was not music void of regulations and rules; rather, it stemmed from â€Å"algorithms. † Riley considered these algorithms fundamental to his music even if they appeared loose by nature. Interestingly enough, the C-pulse in Riley work was not his own idea, but instead that of another contemporary, Steve Reich. Reich was born in 1936 and his compositions were heavily influenced by non- Western traditions. He studied African drumming, which involved complex counterpoint, and Balinese gametal music, with its complex layering and fast interlocking patterns. Quite different in background from Riley, Reich was born into wealthy and high-class family in New York. Having had traditional piano lessons growing up, an impressive education at Cornell with a major in Philosophy, and graduate studies at the Jailbird School in traditional’ composition, Reich eventually found his path in composing twentieth-century music. Upon listening to recordings of Stravinsky Rite of Spring, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, and bebop in succession, Riches developed a new musical obsession, what theorists would call, â€Å"subtractive pulse. † It is steady, audible pulse that is practically palpable (found in, In C). Eventually, Reich experimented â€Å"phase shifting. † with multiple tape loops, Just as Riley did, and the idea of gradual Phase shifting is a compositional technique in which a repetitive motive is played on two instruments, in a steady but not identical tempo. Eventually, the instruments ‘shift’ out of unison and the musical result resembles a ringing or echo effect, but ultimately, returns to unison. The gradual ‘shifting’ is initially subtle, due to the fact that the beginning Tempe are virtually identical, but over time, the differences in Tempe increase and become much more apparent. In some live performances, the gradual phase shifting is entirely too subtle, thus forcing the performer to either add or remove a note, resulting in a shift by a single beat. Piano Phase was Riches first attempt at gradual phase shifting in a live performance. Later, Reich experimented with more immediate and less gradual changes in his Clapping Music. Philip Glass, also influenced by African and Indonesian music, collaborated with Reich for many performances, as they both sought to ‘minimalism’ the compositional techniques of Western music, counterpoint, and part-writing. Maintaining commonality in elements of limited range of pitch and accentuation on constant melodic and rhythmic repetitions, Glass’s music initially resembled Riches in many ways; however, his compositional techniques differed somewhat towards his latter years. While Reich used melodic and rhythmic repetition to gradually transform his music, Glass utilized â€Å"additive Hitachi† processes, a technique that augmented small melodic units over the course of the piece. This was distinctively different from Riches ‘phasing’ strategies. For instance, in Glass’s Music in Fifths, the original eight-note motive is expanded by the addition of several notes and subsequently grows to two hundred notes. Similar to Reich, Glass’s compositional style began simpler, but eventually evolved into slightly more complex minimalist techniques. At first, his choice of textures were limited to unison and octave doubling, as evidenced in Music in Fifths but later, he rated more complex textures in choral voices found in his Music in Similar Motion. His more recent music has evolved using simple harmonic progressions of a traditional style, but still adheres to the idea of reduction and perpetual repetition. During the sass, Glass began scripting works for the stage, including several operas: Einstein on the Beach (1975), Straight (1980), and Keenan (1983). At this time, skepticism surrounded the existence of opera in modern times. Nonetheless, Glass’s operas were tremendously significant in re-igniting enthusiasm for this genre. Of course, anthropometry opera contrasted greatly to those of Western traditions, as it consisted of non-narratives and musical theatre settings. Glass often performed in his own ensemble, the Phillip Glass Ensemble, mainly consisting of amplified woodwinds, keyboard synthesizers, and solo vocals. Minimalist music revolutionized the way listeners heard music during the twentieth-century. Due to its simplistic sonorities, repeating rhythms and melodies, minimalist music could often be heard as a type of trance’ music. Its pulse unwavering, audible, and undeniably transparent, the listener is brought into an almost ‘hypnotic’ Tate of mind. This sort of listening results in a somewhat passive participation, rather than active aural and emotional involvement. Undoubtedly, minimalist music has an almost static quality to its sound, with its pulsating rhythms and steady tempos. Oriel’s fascination with subtractive pulses, catapulted the interest of avian-garden music amongst amateur and professional musicians alike. A pioneer in the minimalism movement, Philip Glass certainly understood the intent of this music to its listeners. To fully grasp his compositional works, he required the audience to hear music as a ‘presence,’ free room any sort of structural expectation or dramatic form. It was often heard as anti- climatic, and worked best for dramatic actions on stage or on screen. Common among the composers of this period was the ideology of ‘less is more. ‘ Reduction and striping of the ‘old’ styles were accentuated in performances, and listeners were subject to a new kind of musical experience compared to previous centuries past. Taking advantage of current technologies including records, broadcasts, and electronic instruments, Riley, Reich, and Glass incorporated these technological advances into their music. Typically, electronic instruments and pitches were utilized in minimalist music, as these particular sounds highlighted the monotony and reiteration of melodic and rhythmic ‘cells. ‘ Prior to the twentieth-century, instruments were played and heard by way of inflection and nuance, whereas minimalist music omitted any sort of variance in expressive sound. Academic surrealist composers often dismissed the work of the non-academic avian-garden minimalists, but to the minimalist composer, music could be void of numbers and musical ‘maps. ‘ Past Western traditions were based on rules and structures, cost of which minimalist composers rejected. The ideology that music should stem from reduced musical elements, and that their growth should be gradual and rather organic, pinned this musical genre as experimental and innovative. Transformation was marked by gradual processes and superfluous elements were disregarded and deemed unnecessary. The â€Å"process† of development was more important than the end result, much like the idea that Joy and self-evolution is found in the Journey and not Just in achieving it. Minimalism opposed the conservative or nostalgic and sought no return to older styles. How to cite Key characteristics and the pioneers in avant-garde music, Papers

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). Answer: Introduction Electronic health records (EHRs) help doctors, pharmacists, nurses and healthcare professionals along with patients to share vital medical information in an appropriate and secure manner (Koopman et al., 2015). Various standards are designed acting as medium for exchange of healthcare information electronically. Among these, Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources Specification (FHIR) that aims at simplifying the implementation of data exchange standard without compromising on the information integrity. FHIR leverages existing theoretical and logical models in providing easy implementation, consistent and rigorous mechanism for the data exchange in healthcare applications (Yan, Xiaoa Tian, 2017). Therefore, the following discussion deals with the purpose, application and further aspects of FHIR along with current healthcare issues, challenges and how it has contributed to the existing knowledge of exchange of healthcare information. Current environment, issues and challenges of the Electronic healthcare information exchange In the light of the healthcare ecosystem anticipated from the current system changes, EHRs has widespread use in the health information exchange. There are potential benefits as well as drawbacks of these electronic healthcare information exchanges. Electronic healthcare information exchange have the potential in transforming the healthcare system from paper-based to more clinical and information-based assisting healthcare professionals in delivering highest quality of care and ensure patient safety. In the current scenario, many federal policies, actions are supporting healthcare system to adopt health information exchange (HIE) for improved and secured exchange of personal health information (Bahga Madisetti, 2013). To facilitate this, concerted efforts are being made to incorporate EHRs from the last two decades in the healthcare system. Various challenges are being faced by the healthcare system like mobile population, prevalence of chronic diseases, natural disasters, growing p harmaceutical use and serious pandemics. HIE is a solution to these problems that help to share patient-level information electronically between healthcare professionals and different organizations (Hussain Qamar, 2016). The underlying belief in HIEs is to help patients, as relevant information is being available to the healthcare professionals in treating and maintaining their health. This shows that the vision is challenging as the current healthcare system is provided with organizational diversity and disparate healthcare information systems. The system is facing challenges regarding the shortage and investment in resources required to develop an environment that allows electronic healthcare information exchange following the patient. There is also issues regarding the investment of time, resources that are required to achieve HIE goals (Adler-Milstein, Gilbert Jha, 2015). The effectiveness of HIE is supported where it reduced the duplicative radiology and laboratory test ordering, hospital admissions, lowering of ED costs with improvement in public health reporting, disability claims and increased ambulatory quality of care. However, it also reported that HIE implementation and functioning is limited with low impact and outcomes. On a contrary, the adoption of HIE is increasing in the hospitals and ambulatory care, however, HIE use rates are low within organizations. There is lack of comprehensive effort required to track the rate changes within the healthcare organizations (Rahurkar, Vest Menachemi, 2015). Several barriers have been studied for HIE implementation including inefficient workflow, lack of critical mass in electronic health exchange data, poor updated features and designed interface. This shows that there is barrier in the usability and use of HIE in the current healthcare system. There are also limitations like incomplete description of architecture and functionality of HIE that makes its implementation difficult. In regards to the sustainability, various factors acted as barriers to HIE implementation in the organizations like internal and external environment like leadership and concerns regarding competition (Rudin et al., 2014). External policy consisting of grants and laws acted as barriers where the changes or timelines in requirements pose burden on the healthcare organizations (Ben-Assuli, 2015). Financial viability is the most frequently cited barrier including the disincentives and mismatch between who would invest and who would benefit from HIE (Vest Gamm, 201 0). Another key is the lack of critical mass where the data were incomplete due to lack in patient information or matching of patients across the healthcare systems. Interface and system features also acted as hindrance in HIE adoption like difference in user opinions on whether they wanted less or more information or scrolling or clicking multiple pages. Moreover, HIE users also reported slowing down of the systems when data needed to be expanded during inclusion of more information or patients. Completeness of HIE also acts as a barrier as its use is increasing and healthcare professionals assume that information is being exchanged completely and everyone has the information exchanged. The addition of information to separate systems is quicker rather than to a centralized system (Ngafeeson, 2015). The above discussion depicts that there are current issues and challenges faced by the healthcare system in HIE adoption and implementation requiring significant resources and efforts in heal thcare reforms (Massoudi et al., 2016). The central challenge for the healthcare organizations is regarding handling of variability in the diverse healthcare processes. With time, adding costs, complexity are acting as barriers in the implementation of HIE. To mitigate the HIE implementation and enhance the scope of use within healthcare organizations, FHIRs are being designed to facilitate interoperation and make healthcare information available to the healthcare professionals and systems. This system helps to solve the above challenge, as it is a simple framework for the extension and adaptation of the existing resources. This resource is an alternative to the paper-based and document-centric methods as there is direct exposure of discrete data elements into services. The basic elements like admissions, patients, diagnostic reports, medications can be retrieved, manipulated through the resource URLs. This resource is easy to implement as it uses web-based modern API technology suite as RESTful protocol that is HTTP based acting as fallback display for the patient clinical safety (Nilsen, 2015). FHIR and its purpose FHIR is a standard for the electronic healthcare information exchange that is built on the concept of resources. The basic units of modular components and interoperability are being assembled into working systems that can solve the administrative, clinical and infrastructural issues. It also has resources for the administrative concepts like healthcare providers, patients and organizations, clinical concepts like medications, health problems, diagnosis, care plans, financial problems. The specification is broken down into three basic components: general documentation, implementation, resource list. The general documentation demonstrates how resources are being defined giving background material that includes data types, formats and codes definitions. FHIR users can implement resources by using RESTful architecture programming interface acting as clinical documents or an architecture that is service-based. Finally, the resource list contains the administrative, clinical and infrastruc tural resources (Ruminski et al., 2016). FHIR is defined as a framework for the extension and adaptation of resources that can be read by any kind of system despite of their development. The retrieval of extension definitions can also be done using FHIR framework as each resource carries HTML human-readable texts. This resource is based on foundations like JSON, XML, Atom, HTTP and OAuth that can be reused across the interoperability for the retrieval of history of a specific version or resource. This makes it easy for the individuals and healthcare providers to access it through many devices from cell phones to tablets to computers and allow application of third-party developers providing medical applications and easy integration into the existing systems (Lamprinakos et al., 2014). Moreover, it can also be used in cloud communications and sharing of EHR-based data among the healthcare systems and institutions. For example, patient being the resource has some important parts: local extension, human readable HTML and data c ontent that is standard defined. Firstly, the there is resource identification and metadata followed by human readable summary, extension with URL to definition and finally standard data interpretation like name, gender, MRN, birth date and provider. The key factors for the FHIR adoption are interoperability, consistent data, metadata capability and human readability. The practices like radiology, laboratory and pharmacy information are also being incorporated into the healthcare records enhancing interoperability (Mandel et al., 2016). This instant incorporation of these medical records requires standardized formatting and consistent language, however, FHIR intends to leverage the existing HL7 model by reducing the rework load. This resource along defines the discrete data elements that can be transferred between software vendor products and facilities. FHIR has metadata capability, as it is helpful in the accessibility of information that can be exchanged private and public payers in meeting the quality measures and in the forecasting of population health needs. Since, there is transfer of information requiring automated processing; it still provides human readable text for the instant use. The main purpose of FHIR standard is to exchange information electronically acting as building blocks resources to make it easy for the healthcare providers to share and use clinical data without violating or compromising security. FHIR resource adoption has enormous benefits in the electronic health exchange. In healthcare, data is spread over multi-specialties and practices and so FHIR provide easy accessibility by all healthcare professionals in providing care to patients by creating a complete picture of all possible results and treatment plans. This is called immediacy of point-of-care treatment where a complete record helps to reduce the inappropriate lab work, tests and imaging while offering medication history for precise prescribing (Benson Grieve, 2016). There is also improved reporting as healthcare providers can benefit from FHIR data in delivering higher levels of patient care and better health outcomes. There is better practice in the patient engagement techniques, tre atment plans, community outreach and reduction in hospital admissions or critical care. There is also consolidation of data as the data serves the regulatory requirements and all healthcare analytics levels. Changing healthcare requirements like population health demand patients consolidation within the organization sharing common elements and therefore, it can be combined with the regional or national statistics. FHID resource provides a framework for the scalable data as it comes in the existing language version that will definitely not replace existing EHR system and save the incurring complete costs (Hong et al., 2017). Application and its components FHIR has extensive applications, although it is in the trail phase. It is considered a boon for the healthcare IT informatics and monitoring. It has well-documented and popular web-standards for the exchange of healthcare data that would reduce the barrier to entry for the healthcare professionals in the monitoring and insight derivation from patient clinical data (Walonoski et al., 2017). FHIR is the easiest way for the greater interoperability data mechanisms in the sharing among the healthcare organizations. It has the potential to change the way data is communicated among the healthcare spectrum providing better flexibility and timely access for the physicians and patients. FHIR is used for the development of a healthcare mobile application that aids in the effective management of electronic personal health records of patients through an interface that is accessible by multiple actors like pharmacists, doctor and patients as well. It has the potential to integrate in the applicat ion and client server side that help in the exchange of health information. It is a next generation resource application that provide framework for the current information exchange and web-based services. FHIR is being used by The Argonaut Project between various vendor and healthcare organizations and HL7 aiming to develop Core Data Services and first-generation API specification for the enables expansion of documents, electronic health records and health information on FHIR specification. In a similar fashion, The Health Services Platform Consortium (HSPC) is also collaborating with the healthcare organizations, academia and software vendors for the building of open platform on FHIR allowing rapid development in healthcare applications. FHIR application has tools for the sandbox for the development and developers (Hoffman et al., 2017). FHIR is aimed at solving the long standing problems in the field of medical imaging. It has an ImagingStudy dedicated source that help to map parameters obtained from DICOM which are de-facto standards for the storing of medical images. It can be accessed via HTTP from the FHIR device or web. Metadata can be accessed separately on the resource. Moreover, the users can query data like patient name, UID and accessible for multiple images in a single command as compared to DICOM. This shows that FHIR can help to reduce the time, bandwidth enabled focus accessible to medical imaging data (Wagholikar et al., 2017). FHIR has applications in payer systems as it face challenges regarding outdated processes and decreased margins. Payers look for patient-centred model that reduces costs, simplifies and modernizes the claim processing and automated mechanisms. In such cases, FHIR helps at every stage in the payer-enrolment, eligibility, claim and fund release. EligibilityRequest resources help to instantly check whether the patient is eligible under coverage. Coverage resource helps in storing the insurance plan details and through DiagnosticOrder resource, payers are aware of the eligibility of patient during care and incurring cost in claims. Claims can be handled through ClaimResponse and Claim resources. These resources offer easy accessibility as payers, providers and patients can track the working of the resource system. In a similar manner, FHIR resource supports the medical orders like cardiology, pathology with DiagnosticReport along with medical imaging. It has enabled lab systems that exch ange data over HTTP with any kind of system and organizations. DiagnosticOrder resource of FHIR links contains all necessary elements that provide link to the laboratory reports. Therefore, this resource links all patient diagnostic orders as well as recorded observations of the patient in the form of links in the FHIR resource. The healthcare market is embracing FHIR as many projects mentioned above are supporting this initiative. The SMART on FHIR being an open platform is developing app that is based on this resource application. It has the potential to be used as Internet and therefore, act as ubiquitous. As it is well-known that EHRs do not provide functionality for the genomic information, so Precision Cancer Medicine (PCM) will be providing ready to use access to genomic data based on FHIR resource application. Substitutable Medical Applications and Reusable Technology (SMART) prototype visualizes the genomic data in real time and compared to the diagnosis-specific somatic mutations detected through PCR and comparable population data based on FHIR app.PCM is open source software for the physicians and clinicians for the presentation of patient at the population level in somatic mutations and cancer. SMART technology acts as an easy accessible programming interface that enables the FHIR app to run bro adly in the healthcare organizations. HL7s FHIR features and extensions provide native molecular profile information presentation (Alterovitz et al., 2015). SMART PCM (Precision Cancer Medicine) The main aim of the SMART-PCM app based on FHIR is to present the genomic health data at the population level to oncologists and patients in real time for the clinical practice. It provides seamless use and ease of access linked to the external knowledge within the FHIR app. Developers developed SMART PCM app through frequent input and continuous delivery cycle from clinical experts for the modelling of clinical genomic data. This app is accessed through iPad that authenticates the user to use the standard VUMC username and password. For example, if a patient has lung cancer harbouring KRAS p.G12C mutation, common occurrences are shown to avoid cluttering. This helps the clinician to view the fully labelled information through the charts and finally the dive-in-details helps to include the exact patient counts and full labels. Using that view, the user can link this to the external Gene Wiki content by just touching the desired gene of interest. In this way, SMART PCM, clinico-genomi c app can be helpful in providing cancer mutation data at the population level and link to external knowledge bases. This model also helps in patient-centred approach and shared decision-making within workflow intermediary (Warner et al., 2016). FHIR-based technology, sustainability, current and future system integration challenges The above discussion illustrates that FHIR resource provide extensive application in the electronic health exchange and in revolutionizing the healthcare ecosystem as a whole. FHIR is acting as boon for the interoperability and easier implementation of electronic health information exchange. It is a more updated and detailed version of HL7 meeting the current standards and challenges in healthcare. It has both machine and human readable data formats supporting RESTful architecture and web technologies. It might not be a one-stop solution for health IT, however, it has the potential to simplify the healthcare data exchange in a more technical and easy manner. However, its adoption is not an easy process as the scale is hard not because of the advanced technology rather vendor upgrade cycles. People have to go through unexpected code issues and most importantly, it is hard to fit into the daily use and standards of healthcare system. The issues and challenges like solving privacy, dail y workflows, navigating politics and trust challenges might act as a hindrance in the implementation and sustainability of FHIR in the current health system. Economic value demonstration is the major hindrance in the integration and implementation of FHIR based apps (Kao Liebovitz, 2017). The future implications of FHIR may be impressive in improving the information accuracy level during health information transfer. It also has future value in the medical technology companies where FHIR based systems can be helpful in enhancing scalability, reducing costs and simplified interoperability. It can also be useful to the healthcare providers as it enable a clinician to access patient information from possible medical devices and further eliminates redundancies. These futuristic applications depicts that FHIR has enormous potential and sustainability in the healthcare ecosystem as it solves the issues of data privacy, improved electronic health data exchange, simplified interoperability, improved patient engagement and enhanced care (Milosevic Bond, 2016). Personal Reflection While writing this research essay, I have experienced that EHRs are of paramount importance in the healthcare system and added to my existing knowledge regarding HIE. This research essay gave me an opportunity to know about the revolutionised FHIR technology that has enormous potential to overcome the current standard limitations in the healthcare ecosystem. I learned the advantages of FHIR applications like RESTful architecture, multiple paradigms, human-readability and open-sourcing through HTTP. While researching for the essay, I gained a lot of information about SMART PCM app. It is helpful in the presentation of cancer mutations at the population level and provide link to external knowledge for the clinicians. Concisely, FHIR is a next generation framework for the HIE systems. Conclusion From the above discussion, it can be concluded that FHIR leverages existing theoretical and logical models for the successful electronic health exchange and overcome issues of handling of variability in the diverse healthcare processes. It provides flexibility in electronic healthcare information exchange and overcome issues of time and resource investment like SMART PCM app based on FHIR. It also has future value in the medical technology companies where FHIR based systems can be helpful in enhancing scalability, reducing costs and simplified interoperability. Therefore, FHIR has enormous ability to revolutionize the healthcare ecosystem by solving data privacy, simplified interoperability, enhanced patient care and engagement. References Adler-Milstein, J., Gilbert, J., Jha, A. K. (2015). Health Information Exchange: Community HIE Efforts Continued Progress and Challenges.Health Information Technology in the United States. Alterovitz, G., Warner, J., Zhang, P., Chen, Y., Ullman-Cullere, M., Kreda, D., Kohane, I. S. (2015). SMART on FHIR Genomics: facilitating standardized clinico-genomic apps.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association,22(6), 1173-1178. Bahga, A., Madisetti, V. K. (2013). A cloud-based approach for interoperable electronic health records (EHRs).IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics,17(5), 894-906. Ben-Assuli, O. (2015). Electronic health records, adoption, quality of care, legal and privacy issues and their implementation in emergency departments. Health Policy, 119(3), 287-297. Benson, T., Grieve, G. (2016).Principles of health interoperability: SNOMED CT, HL7 and FHIR. Springer. Hoffman, R. A., Wu, H., Venugopalan, J., Braun, P., Wang, M. D. (2017, February). Intelligent mortality reporting with FHIR. InBiomedical Health Informatics (BHI), 2017 IEEE EMBS International Conference on(pp. 181-184). IEEE. Hong, N., Wang, K., Yao, L., Jiang, G. (2017, August). Visual FHIR: An Interactive Browser to Navigate HL7 FHIR Specification. InHealthcare Informatics (ICHI), 2017 IEEE International Conference on(pp. 26-30). IEEE. Hussain, F., Qamar, U. (2016). Identification and Correction of Misspelled Drugs Names in Electronic Medical Records (EMR). InICEIS (2)(pp. 333-338). Kao, C. K., Liebovitz, D. M. (2017). Consumer Mobile Health Apps: Current State, Barriers, and Future Directions.PMR,9(5), S106-S115. Koopman, R. J., Steege, L. M. B., Moore, J. L., Clarke, M. A., Canfield, S. M., Kim, M. S., Belden, J. L. (2015). Physician information needs and electronic health records (EHRs): time to reengineer the clinic note.The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine,28(3), 316-323. Lamprinakos, G. C., Mousas, A. S., Kapsalis, A. P., Kaklamani, D. I., Venieris, I. S., Boufis, A. D., ... Mantzouratos, S. G. (2014, November). Using FHIR to develop a healthcare mobile application. InWireless Mobile Communication and Healthcare (Mobihealth), 2014 EAI 4th International Conference on(pp. 132-135). IEEE. Mandel, J. C., Kreda, D. A., Mandl, K. D., Kohane, I. S., Ramoni, R. B. (2016). SMART on FHIR: a standards-based, interoperable apps platform for electronic health records.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association,23(5), 899-908. Massoudi, B. L., Marcial, L. H., Tant, E., Adler-Milstein, J., West, S. L. (2016, June). Using health information exchanges to calculate clinical quality measures: A study of barriers and facilitators. InHealthcare(Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 104-108). Elsevier. Milosevic, Z., Bond, A. (2016, September). Services, processes and policies for digital health: FHIR case study. InEnterprise Distributed Object Computing Workshop (EDOCW), 2016 IEEE 20th International(pp. 1-10). IEEE. Ngafeeson, M. N. (2015). Healthcare Information Systems Opportunities and Challenges. In Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Third Edition (pp. 3387-3395). IGI Global. Nilsen, P. (2015). Making sense of implementation theories, models and frameworks.Implementation Science,10(1), 53. Rahurkar, S., Vest, J. R., Menachemi, N. (2015). Despite the spread of health information exchange, there is little evidence of its impact on cost, use, and quality of care.Health affairs,34(3), 477-483. Rudin, R. S., Motala, A., Goldzweig, C. L., Shekelle, P. G. (2014). Usage and Effect of Health Information ExchangeA Systematic ReviewUsage and Effect of Health Information Exchange.Annals of internal medicine,161(11), 803-811. Ruminski, J., Bujnowski, A., Kocejko, T., Andrushevich, A., Biallas, M., Kistler, R. (2016, July). The data exchange between smart glasses and healthcare information systems using the HL7 FHIR standard. InHuman System Interactions (HSI), 2016 9th International Conference on(pp. 525-531). IEEE. Vest, J. R., Gamm, L. D. (2010). Health information exchange: persistent challenges and new strategies. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 17(3), 288-294. Wagholikar, K. B., Mandel, J. C., Klann, J. G., Wattanasin, N., Mendis, M., Chute, C. G., ... Murphy, S. N. (2017). SMART-on-FHIR implemented over i2b2.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association,24(2), 398-402. Walonoski, J., Kramer, M., Nichols, J., Quina, A., Moesel, C., Hall, D., ... McLachlan, S. (2017). Synthea: An approach, method, and software mechanism for generating synthetic patients and the synthetic electronic health care record.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, ocx079. Warner, J. L., Rioth, M. J., Mandl, K. D., Mandel, J. C., Kreda, D. A., Kohane, I. S., ... Yao, H. (2016). SMART precision cancer medicine: a FHIR-based app to provide genomic information at the point of care. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 23(4), 701-710. Yan, H., Xiaoa, L., Tian, J. (2017). Clinical Decision Support Based on FHIR Data Exchange Standard.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

US Supreme Court Procedures and Decisions

US Supreme Court Procedures and Decisions From the day the U.S. Supreme Court votes to hear a case to the day some nine months when we learn its decision, lots of high-level law happens. What are the daily procedures of the Supreme Court? While the U.S. has a classic dual court system, the Supreme Court stands as the highest and only federal court created by the Constitution. All of the lower federal courts have been created over the years in one of the five â€Å"other† methods of changing the Constitution. Without vacancies, the Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, all appointed by the President of the United States with the approval of the Senate. The Supreme Courts Term or Calendar The annual term of the Supreme Court runs begins on the first Monday in October and continues until late June or early July. During the term, the Court’s calendar is divided between â€Å"sittings,† during which the Justices hear oral arguments on cases and release decisions and â€Å"recesses,† when the Justices deal with other business before the Court and write their opinions to be attached to the Court’s decisions. The Court typically alternates between sittings and recesses about every two weeks throughout the term. During the brief recess periods, the Justices review the arguments, consider upcoming cases, and work on their opinions. During every week of the term, the Justices also review more than 130 petitions asking the Court to review recent decisions of the state and lower federal courts to determine which, if any, should be granted full Supreme Court review with oral arguments by lawyers. During sittings, public sessions start at 10 a.m. sharp and end at 3 p.m., with a one-hour recess for lunch starting at noon. Public sessions are held on Monday through Wednesday only. On Fridays of weeks during which oral arguments were heard, the Justices discuss the cases and vote on requests or â€Å"petitions for writ of certiorari† to hear new cases. Before hearing oral arguments are made, the Court takes care of some procedural business. On Monday mornings, for example, the Court releases its Order List, a public report of all actions taken by the Court including a list of cases accepted and rejected for future consideration, and a list of lawyers newly approved to argue cases before the Court or â€Å"admitted to the Court Bar.† The much-anticipated decisions and opinions of the Court are announced in public sessions held on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and on third Mondays during May and June. No arguments are heard when the Court sits to announced decisions. While the Court begins its three-month recess in late June, the work of justice continues. During the summer recess, the Justices consider new petitions for Court review, consider and rule on hundreds of motions submitted by lawyers, and prepare for oral arguments scheduled for October. Oral Arguments Before the Supreme Court At precisely 10 a.m. on days the Supreme Court is in session, all present stand as the Marshal of the Court announces the entrance of the justices into the courtroom with the traditional chant: â€Å"The Honorable, the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the Court is now sitting. God save the United States and this Honorable Court.† â€Å"Oyez† is a Middle English word meaning â€Å"hear ye.† After having submitted countless legal briefs, oral arguments give lawyers representing clients in cases before the Supreme Court a chance to present their cases directly to the justices. While many lawyers dream of arguing a case before the Supreme Court and wait years for a chance to do so, when the time finally comes, they are allowed only 30 minutes to present their case. The half-hour time limit is strictly enforced and answering questions asked by the justices does not extend the time limit. As a result, the lawyers, for whom brevity does not come naturally, work for months to hone their presentations to be concise and to anticipate questions. While oral arguments are open to the public and the press, they are not televised. The Supreme Court has never allowed TV cameras in the courtroom during sessions. However, the Court does make audiotapes of oral arguments and opinions available to the public. Prior to oral arguments, parties interested in, but not directly involved in the case will have submitted â€Å"amicus curiae† or friend-of-the-court briefs supporting their views. Supreme Court Opinions and Decisions Once oral arguments to a case have been completed, the justices retire to closed session to formulate their individual opinions to be attached to the Court’s final decision. These discussions are closed to the public and press and are never recorded. Since the opinions are typically lengthy, heavily footnoted, and require extensive legal research, the justices are assisted in writing them by highly-qualified Supreme Court law clerks. The Types of Supreme Court Opinions There are four main types of Supreme Court opinions: Majority Opinions: Forming the Court’s final decision, the majority opinion represents the opinions of the majority of the justices who heard the case. The majority opinion requires at least five justices unless one or more justices have chosen to recuse themselves (not take part) in the decision. The majority opinion is vital as it sets a legal precedent which must be followed by all future courts hearing similar cases.Concurring Opinions:   Justices may also attach concurring opinions to the Court’s majority opinion. As the name implies, concurring opinions agree with the majority opinion. However, concurring opinions may focus on different points of law or agree with the majority for a totally different reason.Dissenting Opinions: Justices who disagree with the majority typically write dissenting opinions explaining the basis for their vote. Not only do dissenting opinions help to explain the Court’s reasoning in its decision, they are often used in majority opinions in similar future cases. Confusingly, justices will write mixed opinions that agree with parts of the majority opinion but disagree with others. Per Curiam Decisions: In rare cases, the Court will issue a â€Å"per curium† opinion. â€Å"Per Curiam  is a Latin phrase meaning â€Å"by the court.† Per curiam opinions are majority opinions are delivered by the Court as a whole, rather than authored by an individual justice. Should the Supreme Court fail to reach a majority opinion arrive at a tie vote the decisions reached by the lower federal courts or state supreme courts are allowed to remain in effect as if the Supreme Court had never even considered the case. However, the rulings of the lower courts will have no precedent setting value, meaning they will not apply in other states as with majority Supreme Court decisions.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Compare and contrast the tradional marker and new marker of liver Essay

Compare and contrast the tradional marker and new marker of liver fibrosis - Essay Example But is is fraught with several disadvantages and recent novel methods claim to overcome the disadvantages associated with liver biopsy. In this research article, both traditional and novel methods of liver biopsy evaluation are discussed. Novel assessment strategies include serological assays, imaging methods and genetic studies. There are 2 types of biochemical markers and they are direct and indirect. Direct markers evaluate for fibrolysis and fibrogenesis. There is evidence to show that there does exists a good correlation between different biochemical markers, suggesting the fact that they investigate similar process. While the role of biochemical markers are studied and many researchers have opined that they are better than liver biopsy, currently liver biopsy still enjoys the first line investigation method for diagnosis and staging of liver fibrosis. Imaging studies and genetic studies are also considered useful, but in research stage. Excessive accumulation of various extrace llular matrix proteins like collagen is known as liver fibrosis. The condition arises because of chronic damage to the liver due to one or more causes like chronic hepatitis C infection, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and alcohol abuse. It has the potential to progress to advanced liver conditions like liver failure, cirrhosis and portal hypertension, requiring liver transplantation (Bataller and Brenner, 2005). As of now, there is no standard treatment for liver fibrosis. Though some treatments have been found effective among rodents, they have not been practical to apply on humans because of the difficulties associated with performing serial biopsies to evaluate and ascertain the changes associated with treatment accurately and also because of the fact that humans are much less sensitive towards antifibrotic treatments when compared to rodents (Bataller and Brenner, 2005). Currently, the most effective treatment for liver biopsy appears to be removal of the offending agent and the only curative approach for those with cirrhosis and complications is liver transplantation which improves not only the quality of life, but also the survival (Bataller and Brenner, 2005). Management of liver fibrosis is mainly based on the accuracy of the degree of liver fibrosis. Those with chronic liver disease need to be frequently evaluated for detection of liver fibrosis in early stages. Traditionally, liver biopsy was considered to be the "gold standard" test for ascertaining and evaluation liver biopsy. However, this test is fraught with several limitations and risks because of the invasive nature of the procedure. Recent investigations like biochemical tests, liver magnetic resonance imaging and genetic evaluation are non-invasive and overcome the disadvantages of liver biopsy. However, some experts continue to employ liver biopsy for evaluation of liver biopsy arguing that it is a more accurate assessment strategy. In this research article, both traditional and modern metho ds of liver fibrosis evaluation will be compared and discussed through review of suitable literature. A brief overview of the pathogenesis of the disease will be

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

A paper based on reading of I Am Not Your Victim by Beth Sipe and Essay

A paper based on reading of I Am Not Your Victim by Beth Sipe and Evelyn J. Hall. This paper will include both personal reflection and an analytical review - Essay Example It is also good for all women who, due to a myriad of reasons, feign ignorance towards domestic violence. I Am Not Your Victim showcase the role of culture, criminal justice institutions and family values in fuelling the vice that is domestic violence. It is unfortunate that the marriage, which she had put so much into, only ended when she killed Sam in self-defense (Sipe 2007). More moving are her vivid descriptions of her encounters with the mental health systems following his death and the criminal justice system which saw her lose custody of her children. Beth was brought up to believe that violence from her husband â€Å"was a sign of affection† and that it was unethical for a woman to be independent of a man. Cultural values instilled in Beth drove her to literally view marriage as a â€Å"for better or for worse† affair where she was supposed to tolerate any amount of violence from her husband. Culture also plays a huge role on Sam’s personality and respect towards women as he witnessed the frequency with which his mother was beaten up by his father. He therefore grew up believing it would not only be tolerable but also acceptable in his household. It’s also important to remember that Beth had been divorced once and a botched second marriage would mean that she had failed her culture miserably (Sipe, 2007). As a result of this, Beth, like any other woman, had to make the marriage work. Tolerating domestic violence and living in the hope that her husband would one day change for the better was the only v iable and culturally acceptable response and option for her. Beth’s fear of loneliness saw her recoil in the vicious cycle of domestic violence. This explains why she would sometimes feel the embarrassment to tell the physicians it was her husband’s blows that kept her checking in. Sam, who was always battering her,

Monday, November 18, 2019

Wynn Las Vegas Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Wynn Las Vegas Business Plan - Essay Example The element is bond to enable Wynn Las Vegas Company to execute proper strategic thinking and strategic planning towards the achievement of competitiveness in the market. This is apparent since the strategy will enable the company to make sense of the emerging markets and technologies through seeing and understanding of the operating patterns and trends (Chabria, Green & Slutsky, 2006). Therefore, the strategy is essential as it will enable the company to design the organizations performance direction effectively, set priorities, perform effective budgeting, and allocate resources fairly. Environmental analysis entails evaluation of the key factors that influence effective operations of institutions. The factors that are popularly known as PESTEL include political, economic, social, technology, social, ecological, and legal aspects. Evaluation of the economic aspect is vital for the hospitality service provider, as it will obtain critical information that will facilitate its ability to dealing with the economic externalities in the environment. It will give the institution the greenlight on how the performance is likely to be during a period. Therefore, it is prudent for the company to evaluate and understand the political undertakings in the region (Chabria, Green & Slutsky, 2006). When it comes to technology, social, ecology and legal factors, the company will analyze the technological changes the environment embraces, the fairness of the existing laws and the favoritism of the ecosystem including social integration. Analysis of the aspects is to enable the company make an accurate decision on whether to continue executing its services or relocate to other destinations. High level of competitiveness is a key factor that Wynn Las Vegas seeks to achieve in the hotel industry. The company is planning to achieve this through provision of quality services and products real time, effective product

Friday, November 15, 2019

Modernity in Spain and Latin America

Modernity in Spain and Latin America History of Latin America II (Revolution Dictatorship) Why has it been so difficult to establish democratic political institutions in Latin America? Introduction Throughout history, Latin America has struggled with repeated clashes between politicians and citizens. The problems caused by these periods in these nations history are still felt today and in order to understand the reasons as to why it has been so difficult to establish democratic political institutions in these countries, we must investigate distinct periods in their histories that have shaped the countries into what they are today. Many of the countries in Latin America experienced their post-independence periods around the same time, with the majority of countries experiencing their Early Nation Period between 1825 and 1850. These periods can be characterised by the struggles for independence and constant civil war and unrest as class systems operated in the countries and so political independence meant different things for different classes[1]. Because of this system and their vastly different needs that were to be met by governments, any attempts to unite the many sides and create democratic political institutions that represent the whole of society were, and are still, met with strong opposition. However, it is to be noted that not all of the problems in the country were as a result of government opposition: many of the problems arose due to the countries being so vast and infrastructure being so poor, meaning it was hard to communicate with, and so govern, the people living outside of the main cities[2]. The majority of these people were indigenous and did not speak Spanish[3] and this added to the issues: if the people could not understand what they were hearing from the government, and not respond to this because of a language barrier, no democratic system would represent their views, no matter how hard it tried. For these marginalised groups, it did not matter which group of creole elite were in power this time, it was simply another political party who did not understand their views in order to represent them.[4] For ease of illustration, we shall look more closely at two specific countries and two different but defining periods in their histories. Mexico Focussing firstly on Mexico; Mexicos Early National Period spanned from 1821 to 1876[5]. During this period, it was clear each region had strong affinities with their own area and so from the outset the political parties who formed the apparent systems of democratic government had to not only convince the people that they were the best party to be in power, but also, and arguably more importantly, that they should replace their ties with the caudillo[6] who ruled their area with an affinity to the country-wide leader who, for many, was nothing more than a name. This problem of the peoples reluctance to embrace a democratic political system for the whole of Mexico was exacerbated by the fact the caudillos were strongly averse to such a big change: these leaders had ruled their area for over a decade and were not going to submit to a national governing system easily. Indeed, such a system was entirely antithetical to the interests of the caudillos who would inevitably suffer in these systems[7]. Thus, they led coups and revolts of their people against the government and since domineering caudillos ruled the people, if the caudillo did not agree with the new system of government, then the people should submit to the views of the caudillo and not agree with the new system of government either[8]. During this time, not only was Mexico attempting to create a democratic political system amidst unrest from its own citizens, but Spain attempted to reconquer Mexico (1829), France blocked their Atlantic coast (1838-41) and the United States seized half of Mexicos land (1846-49). Great Britain also seized the Falkland Islands as Las Malvinas in 1833. Clearly, then, this unstable political environment did not encourage people to embrace the haphazard attempts at creating democratic political institutions in Mexicos Early National Period. Uprisings inspired by caudillos, language barriers preventing understanding and poor infrastructure preventing communication all contributed to the difficulties of the time. It is clear to see that Mexicos early attempts to create democratic political institutions were thwarted by international attempt to reconquer the country and by internal attempts to overthrow new governments by caudillos and their supporters. The people felt alienated and isolated from central government, and so when their caudillo whom they knew and with whom they could communicate told them what to do, they understood his rules and followed those rather than follow rules made by the government who did not represent them. Bolivia Moving on to investigate a different time in Bolivia. The causes of the difficulties in establishing democratic political institutions in more recent times in Bolivia were less intra-national and more international, due to countries becoming more reliant on international trade and the world economy. Thus, when this crashed in the 1970s the relatively new democratic governments could not withstand the pressure and the countries reverted to past authoritarian ways.[9] One school of thought reasons that this was due to the extremely high poverty rates in the country: citizens were more concerned about fighting for their lives by ensuring they had sufficient necessities in order to live than they were about fighting for political democracy. Indeed, in 1976 85% of the Bolivian population were living with unsatisfied basic needs[10]. This was caused by constant changes in ruler since 1964 and almost antithetical policies of successive leaders,[11] meaning people could not rely on the government as policies introduced by one party were overturned and directly opposing policies introduced by the next[12]. The people became apathetic to politics as their participation was limited and they knew that military leaders and dictators would not represent their views. No matter which military regime stormed their way to power, they would continue to suffer. When General Renà © Barrientos orchestrated a coup in 1964, the following 18 years in politics saw uninterrupted military rule, and General Hugo Banzers dictatorship between 1971 and 1978 was the longest spanning of the different regimes[13]. This time was filled with unrest and violence: the military regimes did not appreciate criticism or opposition. Things were done how Banzer wanted them to be done and opponents simply disappeared[14]. Clearly this is not democratic since a dictatorship is the exact opposite of democracy and the peoples views are irrelevant in such systems. Banzer did not seek to redistribute wealth and the people were, again, the ones to suffer. They did not want Banzer to be in the position he was, but he forced his way to power and there was nothing a normal citizen could do about it. Even after the end of Banzers rule, extreme political instability meant people distrusted the government. The succeeding governments seemed to forget about the countrys internal problems and focussed so much on international spending and borrowing[15] that the people continued to suffer. It wasnt until 1982 when the country elected Siles as president did the people begin to have a say again and attempts to restore democracy were made. Bolivia remains one of the poorest countries in Latin America[16], generally seen to be a result of the past authoritarian dictators and their regimes creating insurmountable debt. These leaders did not care about the countrys internal affairs and sought to boost international trade at the expense of their people. The people, therefore, suffered undeniably at the hands of these leaders. It is impossible to create democratic political institutions if the leaders do not care about the citizens of the country and seek only to benefit themselves. Bolivia is a prime example of a country who experienced great difficulty in establishing democratic political institutions as the military ruled the country for a long time, and any change in government was not as a result of democratic election but violent coup. The people simply had to accept what was happening in the politics of their country, or risk their lives trying to change it. Conclusion It is clear, then, that establishing democratic political institutions has not been easy in Latin America, specifically in Mexico and Bolivia, for many reasons. From the outset, Mexico had to tackle both international opposition to their ruling of their own country, and internal resistance from caudillos and their supporters, while Bolivia continued to struggle until very recently with dictatorship and extraordinarily high levels of debt preventing development of democracy. Bibliography Atlantic Council, Urbanization in Latin America. (2014)Available at: http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/articles/urbanization-in-latin-america [accessed on 30/11/16] BBC, Mexico Profile- Timeline. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19828041 [accessed on 30/11/16] BBC, Timeline: Bolivia. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/country_profiles/1218814.stm [accessed on 30/11/16] Ewout, Frankema The Colonial Origins of Inequality: Exploring the Causes and Consequences of Land Distribution in Poverty, Inequality, and Policy in Latin America (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009) pp19-45 Fowler, Will. Latin America Since 1780 (Hodder Education, 2008) Hansen, Edward C. Wolf, Eric R. Caudillo Politics; A Structured Analysis in Comparative Studies in Society and History, Volume 9, Issue 2 (January 1967) pp168-179 Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, General statistics on killings and disappearances of union activists. [BOL5479], 11 June 1990. Available at: https://www.ecoi.net/local_link/170859/272293_en.html [accessed on 30/11/16] Lynch, John Caudillos in Spanish America 1800- 1850 (Oxford University Press, 1992) McNeish, John-Andrew, Stones on the Road: The Politics of Participation and the Generation of Crisis in Bolivia in Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Institute of Anthropology, University of Bergen, Norway, 2006) pp. 220-240, Morales, Juan A. Sachs, Jeffrey D Bolivias Economic Crisis in Developing Country Debt and the World Economy (University of Chicago Press, 1989) pp57- 80 Pastor, Manuel Jr. Bolivia: Hyperinflation, Stabilisation and Beyond in Journal of Development Studies, 1991 Republic of Bolivia, Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (La Paz, 2001) Sivak, Martin El dictador elegido: biografà ­a no autorizada de Hugo Banzer Suà ¡rez (Plural Editores, 2001) UNICEF, Bolivia. Situation of Poverty in the Country. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/bolivia/english/resources_2332.html [accessed on 30/11/16] [1] Will Fowler, Latin America Since 1780 (Hodder Education, 2008) p34 [2] In 1950 only 40% of the Latin American population lived in urban areas. Atlantic Council, Urbanization in Latin America. (2014)Available at: http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/articles/urbanization-in-latin-america [accessed on 30/11/16] [3] Fowler, Latin America Since 1780 p36 [4] ibid [5] BBC, Mexico Profile- Timeline. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19828041 [accessed on 30/11/16] [6] Caudillos is most accurately translated as chieftain, deriving from the Latin caput meaning head. See Eric R. Wolf, Edward C. Hansen Caudillo Politics; A Structured Analysis in Comparative Studies in Society and History, Volume 9, Issue 2 (January 1967) pp168-179 at p169 [7] Wolf, Hansen, p170 [8] John Lynch, Caudillos in Spanish America 1800- 1850 (Oxford University Press, 1992) [9] Fowler, Latin America Since 1780 p134 [10] Republic of Bolivia, Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (La Paz, 2001) p16 [11] Juan A. Morales, Jeffrey D. Sachs Bolivias Economic Crisis in Developing Country Debt and the World Economy (University of Chicago Press, 1989) pp57- 80, table 3.2 p59 [12] BBC, Timeline: Bolivia. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/country_profiles/1218814.stm [accessed on 30/11/16] [13] Martin Sivak, El dictador elegido: biografà ­a no autorizada de Hugo Banzer Suà ¡rez (Plural Editores, 2001) [14] Exact figures are unknown. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, General statistics on killings and disappearances of union activists. [BOL5479], 11 June 1990. Available at: https://www.ecoi.net/local_link/170859/272293_en.html [accessed on 30/11/16] [15] Manuel Pastor, Jr. Bolivia: Hyperinflation, Stabilisation and Beyond in Journal of Development Studies, 1991. p213 [16] UNICEF, Bolivia. Situation of Poverty in the Country. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/bolivia/english/resources_2332.html [accessed on 30/11/16]

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Meet me in St, Louis and the Aspect of Sound :: essays research papers fc

The Aspect of Sound in Meet Me In St. Louis In 1904 Eugene Lauste successfully recorded sound onto a piece of photographic film. This invention was known as a â€Å"Sound Grate† the results where still far to crude to be used to public display. The cameras used to film â€Å"The Talkies† as they where known, had to be kept in enormous soundproof casing. This immediately hindered directors creativity and made movies such as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) much more rigid. Because of the fascination with the lip-syncing that this new technology achieved less attention was played to other attributes that silent films used such as the comedic elements in Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (1931.) The invention of talking pictures also had severe repercussions on the censorship process. Initially the entire process was nearly impossible, as any cuts made would have an effect on the synchronisation of the sound and the film. Minnelli’s 1944 musical Meet Me In St. Louis: â€Å"Serves to implicate the contemporary 1944 audience† (Mundy, J 1999.) This because in many ways the film aims to personify a period of loss and change as was the case in America during the Second World War period. This can be witnessed through Rose Smith’s (Lucille Bremer) loss of a possible fiancà © in New York as well as the heartache the entire family feels of the possibility of moving away from St. Louis to New York. John Mundy (1999) sums this up in the following quote: â€Å"Like so many folk musicals, the film is suffused with a yearning nostalgia for a cultural past which is both desirable and as the text suggests attainable.† This also reflects upon the 1944 audience whereby they will be â€Å"yearning† for a happier past when there is no war. The film uses the device of music to make it seem as if this is attainable for the audience. Andre Bazin saw the movement of film as a total progression towards: â€Å"A progressive movement toward an ultimate goal a total and complete representation of reality... the reconstruction of a perfect illusion of the outside world in sound, colour, and relief† (http://www.thestranger.com/2001-07-05/periphery.html) Bazin called this the â€Å"Myth of Total Cinema.† He believed that a total representation of reality was an ideal. Musicals are popularly believed to be leading away from the ideal of total cinema. This is because they are filmed using non-diegetic sound. This is to say sound that originates from outside of the film.