Strategic Choice free essay sample

What advice would you give to management concerning the best way to implement strategic choices in an organization? There are four types of tactics that management can use to Implement strategic plans in an organization: Intervention, persuasion, participation, and edict. Intervention tactics begins when a manager decides to make strategic changes. The manager creates the need for change In minds of the group (leaders, peers) by reforming the systems (Nutt, 1998). This Is done by showing a comparison between the present system and a reform system and showing performance gap. Then, the manager is ready to create steps to implement intervention tactics. Before using these steps, it is essential for a manager to be educated on possibilities, redirected threats, managed anger, built confidence, and reinforced the plans (Huse, 1975). It demands high level skills to create new norms to show the need for change for the organization. 2. How would your advice change based on whether the organizations environment was dynamic versus stable? A dynamic organizations environment has is one that is full of possible opportunities and possible treats. We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Choice or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Therefore, managers, specifically planners and policy makers annot analyze future environment? s condition with an assumption that It will stay In a predictable state. Managers are challenged to make environmental declslons to improve performance. According to Carlsson and El Sawy (2008), Decision making in turbulent environments is challenging because managers must decide and act rapidly. Consequently, decision-makers must plan for the uncertainties of the environment. One of the main factors that contribute to the sense of uncertainties is lack of communication. The lack of communication that prevents managers from making organization environment decisions such as: lack of information and lack of nowledge. In contrast, in a stable and predictable environment, managers who are the decision-makers can adhere to a long-term plan whereas the uncertain or dynamic environment plans are short-term.

Correlation between Poverty and Obesity

Correlation between Poverty and Obesity Introduction Over the last few years, there has been a concern about the rising cases of obesity in the United Kingdom (UK). It is worrying that obesity may soon become an epidemic in the country. In the UK and other Western nations, the poor are now, for the first time in history, proportionately the most obese in the population groups.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Correlation between Poverty and Obesity specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There is the need to address this concern because as opposed to the usual perception that obesity varies by gender, age, and income among other factors, economic deprivation is now believed to be causing the disease. The changing lifestyles that link obesity to income seem to be on the rise. The present discussion is complicated because of the fact that there are other several factors that might cause obesity, which is unrelated to poverty levels. However, latest research on the i ntricate links between obesity and poverty in the United States (US) shows uniformity for women and children from low socio-economic status (SES). This paper discusses the correlation between obesity and poverty in the UK but also refers to situation in the US. Although the title suggests a link between poverty and obesity, it has not been proved and this essay is an attempt to examine many factors that contribute to impacts of poverty. The present research seeks to achieve this through assessing the suggestion that today in the Western nations; the poor are now, for the first time in history, proportionately the most obese in the population groups. The paper will also attempt to establish whether there is a correlation between obesity and poverty as well as provide a summary of the crucial issues identified in the discussion. Obesity in the UK It is notable that the proportion of the UK population with obesity has escalated significantly between 1993 and 2009. The increase has been 13 percent for males in 1993 to 22 percent in 2009. Conversely, the population proportion for females has escalated from 16 percent in 1993 to 24 percent in 2009 (The Poverty Site, 2011). Furthermore, 22 percent of the working population presently has obesity. This percentage is significantly higher when compared with the case in 1993 when only 14 percent of the working population lived with obesity (The Poverty Site 2011). It is also notable that both men and women have similar chances of developing obesity.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It is important to point out that there is no apparent correlation between obesity and income. This is because the population groups with the lowest incidences of obesity include poor males and rich females. Furthermore, there is no clear correlation between fatness and social class (The Poverty Site, 2011). There is a general feel ing among experts that the obesity problem in the country is not worse and the trend may be flattening out. Obesity in the US The obesity problem in the US is significantly different from the situation in the UK. America apparently has the highest obesity rates. This is because one – third proportion of the population has obesity. In addition, another one – third of the population is overweight (Levine, 2011). As opposed to the situation in the UK, obesity problem in the US is likely to worsen. Child obesity is also a major predicament in the US There are some environmental influences, which influence obesity. Is There Any Correlation Between Poverty and Obesity? There is a consensus that varying household’s socio-economic level influences differing obesity incident levels. This is because the socio-economic levels that determine food security, defined by Zizza, Duffy and Gerrior (2008) as â€Å"limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and sa fe food or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways† is fluctuating significantly. Notably, obesity incidences among women escalate with increasing levels of poverty (Levine, 2011). However, the level of poverty among men causes diverse obesity incidences, which form according to the varying occupations held. It is apparent that high poverty levels among women escalate their chances of developing obesity (Levine, 2011). There is a considerable correlation between food deficiency and obesity for males and females in Britain. The correlation is observable when the prevalence levels for obesity are studied across economically deprived populations. It is notable that fatness prevalence levels escalate or stagnates at similar rates when compared against deprivation (Levine, 2011). In England, 30 percent of females and 25 percent of males described as the most economically poor in the society are obese. The figures changes to 19 percent fo r females and 22 percent for males among wealthy people. Notably, the changes in the figures do not show large differences pertaining to the strength of the correlation between obesity and economic deprivation (Department of Health, 2011).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Correlation between Poverty and Obesity specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Arguing that economic deprivation causes obesity becomes more confusing when studying the same across the population of children. The boys who have the lowest chances of developing obesity are slightly the poor ones (Department of Health, 2011). The trend changes slightly among girls because those who develop obesity are within the median income levels (Levine, 2011). Generally, children from economically deprived households frequently experience challenges with nutrition. This has undesirable influence on the youngsters’ mental health and well-being, which in the long-t erm may become a contributing factor to obesity. Lobstein, Baur and Uauy (2004), also support this concern by arguing that in the industrialized nations such as the UK and the US youngsters in economically deprived groups are at utmost danger of developing obesity. It is notable that introducing overweight into the analysis process complicates the understanding on the relationship. In Britain, people have continued adding weight while their food purchase rates have been declining over the decades. Therefore, it can be said that the changing lifestyle and eating behaviors may be causing obesity. This also has a link with the peoples’ engagement with physical activities (Franklin, Jones, Love et al., 2012). It indicates that people are engaging in less physical activity sessions because of the changes brought about by globalization and technological advancement. These developments make people to enjoy sedentary life in the high and low-income households (Lobstein, Baur and Uauy , 2004). There are studies linking sedentary lifestyles such as working with the technological materials, including playing video games and watching television for several hours to obesity. Therefore, while discussing the correlation between economic deprivation and obesity there is the need to study the sedentary lifestyles adopted by people in high and low-income areas (Zizza, Duffy and Gerrior, 2008). The nutritional value of the food that people consume has a significant impact on obesity development. This is particularly in reference to the amount of fat and its nutritional value in the food consumed. The income earned by households influences their food intake. It is noteworthy that the differences in food consumption reveal no major gaps under varying income groups (Franklin et al., 2012). For example, looking at two different scenarios involving an individual from the least economically sustainable household and another one from the richest household, their calories consumpt ion does not show major differences Franklin et al., 2012).Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More However, the people who are not very poor and not very rich may consume more calories than the poorest mad richest individuals may. This indicates that there is a weak correlation between economic deprivation and obesity (Lobstein, Baur and Uauy, 2004). Furthermore, this brings up additional concerns such as changing lifestyles that makes people to avoid engaging in physical activities. The claim for the changing lifestyle is strengthened by the notion that readily processed high-calorie foodstuffs are cheaper for the low-income earners (Levine, 2011). It is notable that even supermarkets located in the neighborhoods of economically deprived individuals normally stock more unhealthy foods. Therefore, the economically deprived households will prefer the cheaper and unhealthy foods, which are high in calorie, thereby increasing their chances for developing obesity (Lobstein, Baur and Uauy, 2004). In the US, the issues may be similar as pointed out by Levine (2011). A study conducted b y Levine (2011) to establish the link between â€Å"poverty and obesity in the US† generated helpful findings. The study raised the issue that Americans living in the poorest neighborhoods were more likely to develop obesity (Kaiser, Smith and Allison, 2012). The study indicates that people living in low-income areas are underprivileged in terms of access to food. Furthermore, the economically deprived individuals lack access to clean and fresh foodstuff. They also have challenges of accessing sufficient food (Cassell Gleaves, 2006). The relationship with the obesity emerges from the fact that the economically deprived household’s lives in hunger and cannon easily access reasonably cheaper and healthier foodstuff (Kaiser, Smith and Allison, 2012). In this case, hunger together with poor accessibility to healthy food, cannot be the only factors that affect obesity. The study concluded that much as economic deprivation is thought to have links with obesity, it is import ant to study the level of sedentariness of the poor people (Lobstein, Baur and Uauy, 2004). This is because the study also noted that the most economically deprived individuals also had the highest levels of sedentariness. The economically deprived in the population may have sedentary lifestyles because of different reasons. The poor people living in low-income neighborhoods may fear to engage in physical activities outdoors because of the high crime rates (Kaiser, Smith and Allison, 2012). In addition, the economically deprived people may not have access to parks and sports venues (Kaiser, Smith and Allison, 2012). This is because the relevant institutions sometimes fail to provide the facilities in such areas. The notion that engaging in physical activities requires certain sportswear may also hinder the economically deprived people from taking part in the physical activities since they cannot afford the appropriate sportswear (Levine, 2011). A study by Drewnowski (2009), affirmed that obesity and economic deprivation are linked. The author argued that incidences of obesity followed economic status gradient. He noted that the highest rates of obesity were observable among the poor in the US. He also pointed out the fact that the UK Department of Health (2011) reported that in the low economic status populations, more women than men developed obesity. The author also indicates that environmentally low-income neighborhoods had the highest incidences of obesity (Drewnowski, 2009). The author concludes that obesity and food uncertainty showed a relationship. With the ongoing discussions, what remains unfamiliar is whether reversing economic deprivation situation among the poor populations would also overturn sedentary lifestyles. However, unclear the relationship between economic deprivation and obesity remain it would be too expensive to disregard the possible links (Levine, 2011). This paper reflects on the statement that in the Western nations the poor are no w, for the first time in history, proportionately the most obese in the population groups and affirms that it is considerably true (Drewnowski, 2009). Conclusion In summary, this paper has established that there is a considerable correlation between economic deprivation and obesity in both the UK and the US. The paper has also established that two aspects of economic deprivation among the poor people lead to obesity. The individual household low economic status and environmentally the poor neighborhoods have links with obesity. The economically deprived households and individuals lack access to nutritionally adequate and healthy foodstuffs. Therefore, they rely on cheaper, readily packed foods, which are high in calorie. The paper also identified that both the UK and the US have different levels of obesity. Whereas obesity problems are beginning in the UK, one-third of the American population already suffers obesity while another one third is overweight. This paper has also made con siderable discussion regarding the role of sedentary lifestyle among the rich and the economically deprived. Throughout the discussions, it emerged, that poverty alone may not cause obesity among the economically deprived populations. The paper concludes by affirming that there is a considerable correlation between obesity and economic deprivation. List of References Cassell, D. K., Gleaves, D. H. 2006, The encyclopedia of obesity and eating disorders, Facts on File, New York. Department of Health 2011, Equality Analysis: A call to action on obesity in England. Web. Drewnowski, A. 2009, â€Å"Obesity, diets, and social inequalities†, Nutrition Reviews, Vol. 67, pp. 36–39, Willey Online Library, doi: 10.1111/j.1753-4887.2009.00157.x. Franklin, B., Jones, A., Love, D., Puckett, S., Macklin, J., and White – Means, S. 2012, â€Å"Exploring Mediators of Food Insecurity and Obesity: A Review of Recent Literature†, Journal of Community Health, Vol. 37, No. 1, p p. 253 – 264, National Institute of Health, doi: 10.1007/s10900-011-9420-4. Kaiser, K. A., Smith, D. L., and Allison, D. B. 2012, â€Å"Conjectures on some curious connections among social status, calorie restriction, hunger, fatness, and longevity†, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 1264, pp. 1–12, Willey Online Library, doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2012.06672.x. Levine, J. 2011, â€Å"Poverty and Obesity in the US†, Diabetes, Vol. 60, No. 11, pp. 2667-2668, doi: 10.2337/db11-1118. Lobstein, T., Baur, L., and Uauy, R 2004, â€Å"Obesity in children and young people: a crisis in public health†, Obesity Reviews, Vol. 5, pp. 4–85, Willey Online Library, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-789X.2004.00133.x. The Poverty Site 2011, Obesity. Web. Zizza, C. A., Duffy, P. A., and Gerrior, S. A 2008,† Food Insecurity Is not Associated With Lower Energy Intakes† Obesity, Vol. 16, pp. 1908–1913, Willey Online Library, doi: 10.1038/oby.20 08.288.

What Does a Rigorous High School Schedule Look Like?

We at frequently use the term â€Å"rigorous† to describe course loads and course schedules. That’s because rigorous studies in high school are something that admissions committees look for specifically during the application process. They want to know that applicants are capable of difficult, college-level work.    It’s not surprising then that we often hear from students asking, â€Å"How can I make sure my course load is challenging or rigorous enough?† If you’re wondering how to assess if your classes are up to snuff and how to choose a course load that’s challenging without being overwhelming, this post is for you. Rigorous is a vague term, but it can be more helpful to think of your course load as it compares to the course loads of other students at your high school. Admissions committees understand that not all high schools offer a full suite of challenging course options. While some have dozens of AP classes or an IB program to choose from, others have only college placement or honors tracks available. Luckily, you don’t need to worry too much about how many options are available at your high school, since this is out of your control. Instead, you need to focus on choosing the most challenging options available to you. You can think of a rigorous course load as the one that represents the most challenging track available at your high school. To learn more about how your classes will impact your college applications, check out our post Should I Take AP/IB/Honors Classes? . Being the most challenging track available, a rigorous course load can sometimes be a little overwhelming, especially at first. You should start by easing into a challenging course load. During ninth grade, select classes that are rigorous enough to challenge you, but not enough so as to overwhelm you. Think of 9th grade as a time to test the waters and see what you’re capable of. Remember, it is always easier and looks better to add another class or transfer to a more challenging section than it is to drop a class or move down to a less challenging one.    In addition, balance your course selections with reasonable extracurricular commitments. Focusing on two or three extracurriculars is ultimately enough, especially if you stick with them consistently and work your way up to leadership positions or increased responsibility. Dropping an extracurricular after 9th or 10th grade is no big deal if doing so means that you can keep your grades up and take on more challenging classes. Our Early Advising Program helps students in 9th and 10th grade discover their passions and build strong academic and extracurricular profiles to succeed in high school. Admissions committees generally want to see well-rounded students insofar as having completed four years of coursework in each core subject area. This includes English, history, math, science, and usually a foreign language. In fact, many colleges require that applicants have completed four years of coursework in each of these subject areas just to meet application prerequisites. In these core subject areas, you should strive to take the most challenging courses that you’re capable of doing well in, and your primary focus in studying and achieving should be in these core subject areas. Taking any additional classes is not necessary, but it does represent an opportunity.    Beyond the core subject areas, any elective classes that you take should reflect your interests. This is an opportunity to reinforce any potential career choices or college majors. Rather than worrying about taking especially challenging electives, think of them as a chance to explore and demonstrate your interests. Taking electives shows intellectual curiosity and might even allow you to discover a new interest. The balance between better grades and harder classes is always a delicate one. We hear from many students wanting to know if they should take a harder class and get a B, or an easier one and get an A. While there’s no universal answer that will impress every admissions committee, it’s important to know that admissions committees aren’t interested in easy A’s. In fact, a 4.0 GPA in regular college-placement classes may actually be a deterrent to some admissions committees who are looking for students who want to challenge themselves. In general, a good rule of thumb is that if you think you can achieve a B or higher in it, take the more difficult class. Admissions committees will appreciate that you have worked hard for that B, rather than pursuing a less rigorous track. Planning a rigorous track starts in 9th grade. To get off on the right foot, you should make a four-year plan. The simplest way to do this is by using backward design. Start with 12th grade—what classes do you need to be taking in 12th grade in order to get into the types of colleges you hope to attend? These classes are generally the highest level courses available at your school. They might be AP or IB classes if your school offers them, or they could simply be honors level classes if that’s all your school has available. Work backwards from 12th grade to ensure that your prerequisites are met each year. It is much easier to work backwards incrementally from your final 12th grade goal than it is to start with your ninth grade classes and try to imagine where they’ll take you. It’s a good idea to meet with a guidance counselor as you create your four-year plan. You’ll want to ensure that you’re meeting all graduation requirements and that it represents a course schedule that is rigorous as compared to others available at your school. Your guidance counselor will be able to lend some insight into which paths are commonly taken by students with the same goals as you. In addition, remember that the classes you enroll in aren’t the only way to impress admissions committees. You can also highlight your academic chops through options like independent studies, summer college courses, or online coursework. To learn more about these options, check out our post What To Do If Your High School Doesn’t Offer AP Classes . Lastly, if you’re looking for more personalized guidance through high school, consider the benefits of ’s Mentorship Program , which pairs each student 1:1 with a mentor from a top college who can help you develop the skills you’ll need for becoming a successful college student.

'The regulation of enzyme activity is the most most important and Essay

'The regulation of enzyme activity is the most most important and fundamental control for a cell'-Discuss - Essay Example A cell on the other side is the smallest fundamental unit of life (Alberts 79). Within the cell are the cell organelles that are charged with specific roles in driving physiological processes of the body. Most of the physiological processes that take place in the body are initiated at the cellular level, at the same time; the cell operation is linked with the enzymes activity. An example is the process of gene expression in the body. Gene expression is the sequential transformation of a trait from the molecular level to phonotypical stage. It usually starts with the replication of the DNA (deoxyribonucleic Acid) (Hill 84). The replication of the DNA is enzyme catalyzed and the process continues to the transcription of the DNA to RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) which then gives the amino acid and is finally translated to proteins that manifests themselves phenotypically (Alberts 102). In the sequence of gene expression, the cell is charged with the responsi679114bility of determining what enzymes are to be produced and in what quantity. It is the responsibility of the cell to determine what enzyme is required in the body depending on the type of substrate that is present in the body. The situation shows how intimate the two work in enabling the body physiological processes to proceed without a halt. The alternative synthesis and degradation of the enzymes is referred to as the turnover number, this turnover number is dependant on the need of the enzymes in the cell and is regulated by the cell (Hill 166). Increasing the amount of the enzymes in the cell can be done by the cell in two way; elevating the synthesis rate of the enzymes or by slowing the rate of the enzyme degradation. The cell in this case has the role to regulate the enzyme content in it which is a stringent exercise owing to the fact that there are millions of enzymes in the body each effecting a unique role probably at the same time and has to be

Jewish History Response Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Jewish History Response Paper - Essay Example This article effectively and efficiently handles these issues into various distinctive perspectives that are analytical and constructive in order to come up with a theoretical framework that can adequately assist in the fieldwork operations. The concept of analytic perspective adequately explores the ideal of understanding the challenges of the Jews in the United States in the last century. Through this exploration, there is an analysis of a post-ethical perspective that greatly favors voluntary over the involuntary associations. This will therefore balance an appreciation for various communities that are approved with a determination to create room for new communities plus promoting scholarly issues that incorporate solidarity through a wide scope of people with different racial and ethnic backgrounds. The post ethnic perspective will always hinder the basement of moral values and knowledge within individuals and the history of events though the operations within the past generation will detect that most of the ideas and values were at one point considered to be international and more precise on particular cultures. In the communities where ethnicity used to act as the core factor of identity, there is a crucial claim that the diversion in post ethnicity in the United States has made the American society to present distinctive challenges. Surprisingly, it is impossible to exactly trace and identify the actual period that the post ethical shift or rather conversion took place because there has always been an argument that these issues has been growing for approximately the past two decades. This article further argues that at the time an ethnic connection or rather bond is broken into a multi racial or multi ethnic integration then the historic or olden strategies that the Jewish facilitated to meet the requisites for survival of both the Judaism and

Sufi Dervish Whirling Analysis Essay Example for Free

Sufi Dervish Whirling Analysis Essay Sufi whirling is a form of Sama which originated among Sufis. It is a worship ceremony in which performers spin their bodies while listening to music, in an aim to focus on God. This essay will state the inner meaning, which is focusing on God, of the Sufi whirling through analyzing the ritual’s movement, symbols and mood. Sufi whirling is a ritual performed by dervishes, as it is originated among Sufis. They are usually performed inside or outside temples. Performers wear semazen’s camels hair hat(sikke), a white shirt and skirt. The skirt is made of billowing material that flows out and around the dancer as they spin. Movement refers to the performers’ body movements, as well as their body gestures. Performers’ movement enables audiences to know about an inner emotive state or feeling of the performers. In the Sufi whirling ritual, the woman spins outside a temple while listening to music during daytime. Her spinning is stable and smooth, as her arms reach out to balance herself. It shows that she only concentrates on the spinning, as well as the God. As planets and stars circle the sun, and they are created by God, she turns counterclockwise around herself, to show her beliefs in God. The performers movement shows the inner meaning of the performance, which is focusing on and believing in God. (Mevlevi Order of America, 2009) Mood refers to atmosphere created by the performers, and also the feeling of both performers and audiences. Getting the mood of the performance is helpful to get to know the meaning of the performance. In the Sufi whirling ritual, the woman is spinning outside a temple during daytime, trying to focus on God. She is calm and relaxed, which shows the meditation and connection to God. The audiences do not applaud during the show, but watching the performance in silence with faith. The atmosphere, as well as the mood of the performers and audiences, shows that the Sufi whirling ritual is a spiritual act in which its only aim is abandon the ones nafs, egos or personal desires, and focus on God. The connection between God and the performers which is shown in the ritual shows that the performers perform the ritual to show their appreciation and beliefs in God. (Sufism and Dervishes) Symbolism refers to anything that has significant meaning in the performance. Understanding what a symbol represents helps us get to know the whole meaning of the performance. In the Sufi whirling ritual performance, a woman spins outside a temple, with her left hand down and right hand up, during the daytime. Her right arm is directed to the sky, ready to receive the God’s beneficence, while her left hand upon which her eyes are fastened , is turned toward the Earth. This gestures show the respect and beliefs of the dervishes to God and their appreciation to the planet, which is also created by God. The symbolism shown in the Sufi whirling ritual shows the performers are focusing on God and abandon their egos, nafs and personal desires through spinning their bodies. In conclusion, the movement shows that the dervishes are focusing on and believing in God through performing the ritual. Moreover, through analyzing the mood and atmosphere of the performance, we can see that both the performers and audiences are faithful in God, and the ritual is a spiritual act in which the performers and audiences are trying to connect to God. On the other hand, through studying the symbolism in the Sufi whirling ritual, we get to know that performers are performing the ritual to foucus on God and abandon their egos and personal desires. All in all, the aim of performing the ritual is to abandon ones nafs, egos or personal desires and focus on God, by listening to the music and spinning one’s body. References Mevlevi Order of America (2009) The Sema of the Mevlevi. http://www.hayatidede.org/popups/about_sema.htm Sufism and Dervishes http://www.whirlingdervishes.org/whirlingdervishes.htm

Jurassic Park Essay -- Jurassic Park Dinosaurs Movies Essays

Jurassic Park The story of Jurassic Park was written about fourteen years ago by a man named Michael Crichton. His book has now evolved into three movies of Jurassic Park I, II, and III. Steven Speilberg has taken the story of Crichton is transformed it into one of his action packed, suspense thrillers. The first main theme that makes the story of Jurassic Park is its setting. The setting is a huge factor in the understanding of the story. The story takes place on an isolated island off the coast of Costa Rica that has become a theme park exhibiting prehistoric dinosaurs. Here dinosaurs roam unrestricted. The only restraint they have were gates and fences that could easily be knocked down by the gigantic animals. The island in the book sets an eerie setting. The island is said to be top in security and nothing could go wrong, but it is just a death trap waiting to happen. The reader gets this impression when the helicopter first arrives to the island. The island is referred to hell very often in the book, but the movie does not come out and state it. Rather the movie makes you think that everything will be alright on the island, but the audience knows that something bad is going to happen just because of the setting. Crichton has a master plan to show that the island isn't only hell but a trap. The book tells that once the island becomes chaotic and hectic most of the scientists on the island go their separate ways. It is not so when it comes to the movie. In t...

Youth Suicide

ARTICLE IN PRESS Journal of Adolescence xxx (2010) 1–8 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Adolescence journal homepage: www. elsevier. com/locate/jado Factors accounting for youth suicide attempt in Hong Kong: A model building Gloria W. Y. Wan a, Patrick W. L. Leung b, * a b Clinical Psychology Service, Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council, 5/F, Holy Trinity Bradury Center, 139 Ma Tau Chung Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China 3/F, Sino Building, Clinical and Health Psychology Centre, Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, China b s t r a c t Keywords: Suicide ideation/attempt Family Psychopathology Life events/stressors Chinese youths This study aimed at proposing and testing a conceptual model of youth suicide attempt. We proposed a model that began with family factors such as a history of physical abuse and parental divorce/separation. Family relationship, presence of psychopathology, life stressors, and suicid e ideation were postulated as mediators, leading to youth suicide attempt. The stepwise entry of the risk factors to a logistic regression model de? ned their proximity as related to suicide attempt. Path analysis further re? ned our proposed model of youth suicide attempt. Our originally proposed model was largely con? rmed. The main revision was dropping parental divorce/separation as a risk factor in the model due to lack of signi? cant contribution when examined alongside with other risk factors. This model was cross-validated by gender. This study moved research on youth suicide from identi? cation of individual risk factors to model building, integrating separate ? ndings of the past studies. O 2009 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Youth suicide, being one of the three leading causes of death in young people, has been a focus of research. Various individual risk factors have been identi? ed (Gould, Greenberg, Velting, & Shaffer, 2003). Despite this success, not until recently are there attempts to develop complex theory-based models that draw together all those identi? ed risk factors and depict their interplay (Bridge, Goldstein, & Brent, 2006; Mann, Waternaux, Haas, & Malone, 1999). Correspondingly, empirical studies in this area are few (e. g. Foley, Goldston, Costello, & Angold, 2006; Fortune, Stewart, Yadav, & Hawton, 2007; Prinstein et al. , 2008; Reinherz, Tanner, Berger, Beardslee, & Fitzmaurice, 2006). Hence, we propose here a model of youth suicide attempt and test it in a sample of Chinese high school students. We aim at articulating and testing hypothetical pathways between family factors, psychopathology, life stressors, and suicidal beha vior. Our model begins with consideration of family risk factors, including a history of physical abuse within the family, poor family relationship, and parental divorce/separation (Johnson et al. 2002; Gould, Fisher, Parides, Flory, & Shaffer, 1996; Gould, Shaffer, Prudence, & Robin, 1998; Liu, Sun, & Yang, 2008; Salzinger, Rosario, Feldman, & Ng-Mak, 2007). However, the latter’s association with youth suicidal behavior is no longer signi? cant or attenuated after controlled for parent-child or family relationship (Groholt, Ekeberg, Wichstrom, & Haldorsen, 2000). Family adversities are also known precursors of youth psychopathology (Fergusson, Woodward, & Horwood, 2000). The latter in turn is found to be a risk factor of suicidal behavior * Corresponding author. Tel. : ? 852 2609 6502; fax: ? 852 2603 5019. E-mail address: [email  protected] edu. hk (P. W. L. Leung). 0140-1971/$ – see front matter O 2009 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10. 1016/j. adolescence. 2009. 12. 007 Please cite this article in press as: Wan, G. W. Y. , Leung, P. W. L. , Factors accounting for youth suicide attempt in Hong Kong: A model building, Journal of Adolescence (2010), doi:10. 1016/j. adolescence. 2009. 12. 007 ARTICLE IN PRESS 2 G. W. Y. Wan, P. W. L. Leung / Journal of Adolescence xxx (2010) 1–8 (Brent, Baugher, Bridge, Chen, & Chiappetta, 1999; Osvath, Voros, & Fekete, 2004). A wide range of psychopathology has been implicated, including internalizing/externalizing disorders, and substance use disorders (Brent et al. , 2004; Foley et al. , 2006; Gould et al. , 2003; Lee et al. , 2009; Shaffer et al. , 1996; Stewart et al. , 2006). Furthermore, the risk of suicidal behavior increases with the number of comorbid disorders and with the combination of mood, disruptive and substance abuse disorders (Brent et al. , 1999; Shaffer et al. , 1996). Suicide ideation is among the best predictors of suicide attempt (Prinstein et al. , 2008; Wong et al. , 2008). Studies also suggest that the occurrence of life stressors may prompt suicide ideators into acting on their ideation, ending up in attempted suicide (Borges et al. , 2008; Liu & Tein, 2005). Based upon the above review, our model on youth suicide attempt starts with family risk factors such as a history of physical abuse and parental divorce/separation. We postulate that poor family relationship, psychopathology, life stressors, and suicide ideation act as mediators, leading to suicide attempt. Speci? cally, we hypothesize that a history of physical abuse and parental divorce/separation are associated with poor family relationship. The latter is in turn related to the occurrence of psychopathology in youths. Comorbid internalizing and externalizing disorders then play a crucial role as risk factors to recent life stressors and suicide ideation. Finally, the latter two are risk factors directly linked to suicide attempt. Method Participants and procedure A total of 2754 grade 7–11 Chinese high school students were recruited to participate voluntarily in the study. They were randomly sampled from 15 mainstream high schools of diversi? ed academic rankings from different regions of Hong Kong. The participating schools represented a convenience sample, since they were schools served by the School Counselling Service of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council, at which the ? rst author of this study worked. However, the participating schools covered a full range of academic rankings and a wide geographic spread across Hong Kong, and no speci? c bias in their sampling was noted. Thus, they were considered to be representative of local mainstream schools. Special schools of various kinds were excluded. Ethics approval was ? rst obtained from the relevant institutional authority. School visits were then made to explain the objectives of the study. A total of 15 schools were contacted and all of them (100%) agreed to participate in the study. Informed written consents were obtained from parents of the randomly sampled students. The response rate was 94. 4%. The participants completed the self-report questionnaires during school hours. The returned questionnaires were screened for severe psychopathology and suicidal behavior. For ethical reasons, the corresponding school counselors would be alerted for such cases in order to take appropriate actions. Measures Psychopathology The 1991 version of Youth Self-Report (YSR) was re-validated with satisfactory test–retest reliability and criterion validity for use with Hong Kong Chinese youths (Leung et al. , 2006). It evaluated the occurrence of psychopathology in the past 6 months. Since two items in YSR referred to suicidal/self harm behavior and they thus contaminated the relationship under investigation between psychopathology and suicidal behavior, the two items were removed in this study from the construct of internalizing problems as assessed by YSR. Youth suicide ideation/attempt Self-report measures of suicide ideation/attempt had been found to be reliable primary data sources (Joiner, Rudd, & Rajab, 1999; Miranda et al. , 2008). Two measures were used to assess suicide ideation/attempt in this study. First, YSR had two items that referred to suicide ideation and attempt, respectively. However, a single-item measure for a variable was considered undesirable. Hence, two short self-report questionnaires for suicide ideation and attempt were extracted respectively from an existing, longer questionnaire used in a previous local study which asked the occurrences and details of suicide ideation, communication, plan, and attempt (Ho, Leung, Hung, Lee, & Tang, 2000). This questionnaire was found useful in assessing the suicidal behavior of peers of suicide completers and attempters. Depending on whether a youth had consistently indicated suicide ideation and/or attempt both in the adapted questionnaires and with the corresponding item in YSR, he/she would be considered ategorically in this study as a suicide ideator and/or attempter, or not. Recent life stressors The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS; Holmes & Rahe, 1967) asked 30 stressful life events which might happen to the young people and their families in the preceding 12 months. In this study, items in the SRRS related to parental con? ict and divorce/separation were excluded, since these family events were separately examined elsewhere as family risk factors in our model. Items irrelevant to local young adolescents were also excluded (e. g. accepted at a college of your choice). Family relationship In this study, the Family Relationship Index (FRI), a composite of three subscales (i. e. , cohesion, expressiveness, and con? ict) of the Family Environment Scale (FES; Moos & Moos, 1986), was used as a measure of family relationship. The FRI had Please cite this article in press as: Wan, G. W. Y. , Leung, P. W. L. , Factors accounting for youth suicide attempt in Hong Kong: A model building, Journal of Adolescence (2010), doi:10. 1016/j. adolescence. 2009. 12. 007 ARTICLE IN PRESS G. W. Y. Wan, P. W. L. Leung / Journal of Adolescence xxx (2010) 1–8 3 been found to correlate well with other measures of family dysfunction (Hoge, Andrews, Faulkner, & Robinson, 1989) and was widely used in research with Chinese youths (Locke & Prinz, 2002). Parents’ marital status The current marital status of the participants’ parents was enquired with reference to divorce/separation. History of physical abuse Participants were asked to report if they had experienced any physical abuse in the family since childhood. Three items were adapted from Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) (Bernstein et al. 1994) and two additional ones that were relevant to the local Chinese context were speci? cally written for this study, e. g. , ‘‘People in my family had applied corporal punishment to me’’ and ‘‘After I was being physically punished, I had to go to see a doctor or could not go to school’’. Data analysis First, a series of logistic reg ression analysis would be conducted to explore the signi? cance of each individual risk factor separately in predicting suicide ideation and attempt. Except for parental divorce/separation, other risk factors were measured in this study in dimensional scales. They were turned into ategorical data in this logistic regression analysis using distributional cutoffs to de? ne relative deviance (see Table 1 for the exact de? nitions of cutoffs). Second, we tested our proposed model of youth suicide attempt, using hierarchical regression ? rst. The series of predictors would be entered in steps according to their positions in relation to suicide attempt in our proposed model. The risk factors of a history of physical abuse and parental divorce/separation would ? rst be forced into the regression equation, after controlling for effects of the background variables (including age, gender, and family income). Family relationship would then be entered into the equation in the second step. The third batch of predictors would be internalizing and externalizing problems. They were followed in turn by suicide ideation and life stressors. We hypothesized a partial or complete mediational model in which the effects of factors entered ? rst would be attenuated or superseded by those of the subsequent factors in predicting youth suicide attempt. Lastly, path analysis would be conducted to directly test our proposed model of youth suicide attempt, using Lisrel 8. 71. Path analysis has its strengths in examining the chains of in? uences between independent variables, and in postulating the possible cause-and-effect relations among variables for further investigation. An ordinary sample covariance matrix for path analysis would not be appropriate to deal with the dichotomous data of suicidal behavior and parental divorce/separation, as well as the kurtosis and skewness within the other dimensional data. Instead, an asymptotic covariance matrix should be used, analysis of which would require the use of an estimator that allowed for non-normality. The weighted least squares (WLS) method, instead of the maximum likelihood estimator, had provision for such non-normality and was thus the appropriate estimator to be used in this study. Results The mean age of the 2754 participants was 13. 9 years (SD ? 1. 3, range ? 11–18). Among the participants, 55. 7% was male. There were missing data on suicidal behavior from 39 participants. Among the remaining 2715 participants, 252 participants (9. 2%) reported suicide ideation in the past 6 months. Among the 91 (3. 3%) reporting suicide attempt in the same period, only six (6. %) did not report suicide ideation. By gender, among the 1219 female participants, 167 (13. 7%) reported suicide ideation, while only two (3. 0%) of 66 (5. 4%) female suicide attempters did not report suicide ideation. The corresponding ? gures for male participants (1535) were 85 (5. 5%), four (16. 0%), and 25 (1. 6%). Table 1 Percentages of suicide ideators, attempters, and non-suicidal controls, association with various risk factors, and odds ratios (ORs) for predicting suicide ideation and attempt. Variables Cronbach’s Alpha Ideators (n ? 52) n Parents divorced/separated History of physical abusea Poor family relationshipb Internalizing problemsc Externalizing problemsc Frequent recent life stressorsd – 0. 83 0. 83 0. 89 0. 88 – 41 73 142 76 99 102 % 16. 3 29. 0 56. 3 30. 2 39. 3 40. 5 Attempters (n ? 91) n 19 29 51 32 45 44 % 20. 9 31. 9 56. 0 35. 2 49. 5 48. 4 Non-suicidal controls (n ? 2457) n 239 169 602 103 153 364 % 9. 7 6. 9 24. 5 4. 2 6. 2 14. 8 Ideators vs controls OR 1. 8** 5. 8*** 3. 8*** 13. 9*** 9. 8*** 3. 6*** (95% CI) (1. 2–2. 6) (4. 2–8. 1) (2. 9–5. 1) (9. 6–20. 1) (7. 1–13. 4) (2. 7–4. 8) Attempters vs controls OR 2. 3** 5. *** 3. 7*** 10. 7*** 11. 1*** 5. 2*** (95% CI) (1. 3–4. 0) (3. 3–8. 6) (2. 4–5. 7) (6. 6–17. 5) (7. 1–17. 5) (3. 4–8. 1) **p < 0. 01; ***p < 0 . 001. a Cutoff at total score > ? 6 (80th percentile). b Cutoff at total score > ? 15 (80th percentile). c Cutoff at T-score > ? 64 (at clinical range, 92nd percentile). d Cutoff at number of recent life stressors > ? 4 (80th percentile). Please cite this article in press as: Wan, G. W. Y. , Leung, P. W. L. , Factors accounting for youth suicide attempt in Hong Kong: A model building, Journal of Adolescence (2010), doi:10. 1016/j. adolescence. 2009. 12. 07 ARTICLE IN PRESS 4 G. W. Y. Wan, P. W. L. Leung / Journal of Adolescence xxx (2010) 1–8 Table 1 presents the internal consistency coef? cients of the measures employed in this study. They were consistently satisfactory, ranging from 0. 83 to 0. 89. Table 1 also lists the results of separate logistic regression analysis of each risk factor, including the percentages of suicide ideators, attempters, and non-suicidal participants (i. e. , those reporting neither suicide ideation nor attempt) having various risks, as well as t he odds ratios (ORs) of these risk factors in predicting suicide ideation and attempt. Despite multiple testing of the group differences, such testing was all theory-driven (see the literature review above) and was not random so that statistical control of the effects of multiple testing was not required. All three family risk factors (i. e. , parental divorce/separation, history of physical abuse, and poor family relationship) were more prevalent among suicide ideators and attempters, and had signi? cant ORs. Among these risk factors, a history of physical abuse was the best predictor of suicide ideation (OR ? 5. 8, 95% CI ? 4. 2–8. 1) and attempt (OR ? 5. 3, 95% CI ? 3. 3–8. 6). Nearly one third of ideators (29. 0%) and attempters (31. 9%), in contrast to 6. 9% of non-suicidal participants, had a history of being physically abused. With respect to the other two family risk factors, 16. 3% of ideators (OR ? 1. 8, 95% CI ? 1. 2–2. 6) and 20. 9% of attemptors (OR ? 2. 3, 95% CI ? 1. 3–4. 0), compared to 9. 7% of non-suicidal participants, reported parental divorce/separation, while 56. 3% of ideators (OR ? 3. 8, 95% CI ? 2. 9–5. 1) and 56. 0% of attemptors (OR ? 3. 7, 95% CI ? 2. 4–5. 7), compared to 24. 5% of nonsuicidal participants, reported poor family relationship. Compared to family factors, internalizing and externalizing problems were even more associated with higher risks of suicidal behaviors. The ORs of internalizing problems for suicide ideation and attempt were respectively 13. 9 (95% CI ? 9. 6– 20. 1) and 10. 7 (95% CI ? 6. 6–17. 5), while the ORs of externalizing problems were 9. 8 (95% CI ? 7. 1–13. 4) and 11. 1 (95% CI ? 7. 1–17. 5). Nearly one third of ideators (30. 2%) and attempters (35. 2%), in contrast to 4. 2% of non-suicidal participants, had internalizing problems. The corresponding ? gures for externalizing problems were 39. 3% and 49. 5% vs 6. %. Life stressors in the past year also elevated the risk of suicide ideation (OR ? 3. 6, 95% CI ? 2. 7–4. 8) and attempt (OR ? 5. 2, 95% CI ? 3. 4–8. 1). About 40. 5% of suicide ideators and 48. 4% of attempters were reporting more frequent life stressors, compared to 14. 8% of non-suicidal participants. Table 2 shows the results of logistic regression analysis with forced entry of subsets of risk factors in steps, after controlling for background variables (i. e. , age, gender, and family income). With each successive entry of each subset of risk factors, the majority of the previous ones became insigni? ant so that in the ? nal regression model, only recent life stressors (OR ? 1. 01, p < 0. 01) and suicide ideation (OR ? 95. 7, p < 0. 001) signi? cantly accounted for youth suicide attempt. In other words, despite their initial statistical signi? cance when ? rst entered into the regression model, those risk factors such as a history of physical abuse, poor family relationship, and internalizing and externalizing disorders no longer signi? cantly accounted for youth suicide attempt, after life stressors and suicide ideation were later entered into the model. This pattern of results indicated a mediational model largely compatible to our proposed model of youth suicide attempt. It should be noted that parental divorce/separation as a predictor was not signi? cant even when ? rst entered into the regression analysis alongside with a history of physical abuse. This risk factor was thus dropped in the later path analysis. Our proposed model of youth suicide attempt, in a form of a mediational model, was directly tested by path analysis. It achieved a very good ? t: c2 (6, N ? 2754) ? 39. 5, p < 0. 0001; GFI ? 0. 99; AGFI ? 0. 97; RMSEA ? 0. 045; NFI ? 0. 96; CFI ? . 97; RMR ? 0. 57 (Fig. 1). Weighted least squares standardized estimators of the model and their signi? cance according to the two-tailed z value are presented in Fig. 1. All paths shown were signi? cant at p < 0. 01. As shown in Fig. 1, a history of physical abuse, as a family risk factor, was linked directly to suicide ideation, as well as to the ? rst tier of mediators in the m odel, namely, poor family relationship, and externalizing and internalizing problems. They were in turn linked to suicide ideation. The externalizing and internalizing problems were additionally linked to recent life stressors. Finally, suicidal ideation and life stressors were both associated with suicide attempt, with life stressors also linking to the suicide ideation as well. This mediational model with several tiers of mediators explained 48% and 87% of the variances in youth suicide ideation and attempt, respectively. Table 2 Logistic regression of risk factors in predicting youth suicide attempt, controlled for demographic variables. Blocks entered to the modela Deviance between blocks (c2)b 18. 37*** 1. 02*** n. s. 55. 59*** 72. 71*** 1. 02** n. s. 1. 17*** 1. 01* n. s. 1. 07** 1. 07*** 1. 09*** 168. 80*** 10. 5*** 1. 02* n. s. n. s. n. s. n. s. n. s. n. s. 95. 67*** 1. 01** ORs 1 2 3 4 5 1. Family factors History of physical abuse Parental divorce/separation 2. Poor family relationship 3. Psychopathology Internalizing problems Externalizing problems 4. Suicide ideation 5. Life stressors n. s. n. s. 103. 72*** n. s. : non-signi? cant. *p < 0. 05; **p < 0. 01; ***p < 0. 001. a The sequence of blocks entered into the logistic regression model; all factors entered were continuous variables except parental divorce/separation and suicide ideation. b Chi-square deviance of each block entered. Please cite this article in press as: Wan, G. W. Y. , Leung, P. W. L. , Factors accounting for youth suicide attempt in Hong Kong: A model building, Journal of Adolescence (2010), doi:10. 1016/j. adolescence. 2009. 12. 007 ARTICLE IN PRESS G. W. Y. Wan, P. W. L. Leung / Journal of Adolescence xxx (2010) 1–8 5 0. 85*** 0. 52*** 0. 13*** 1. 00*** History of physical abuse 0. 39*** Poor family relationship 0. 19*** 0. 13*** Suicide ideation 0. 20*** 0. 15*** 0. 88*** Suicide attempt 0. 21*** 0. 17*** 0. 44*** 0. 79*** 0. 13*** 0. 33*** Externalizing problems 0. 42*** 0. 29*** Recent stressors 0. 82*** *p

Evo:Case Study Essay

Do you think Evo’s decision not to set up any physical operation overseas is a good one? Why or why not? I have a mixed opinion on this question. I feel that there is a lot of potential missed business by not going international. The cost of setting up a business internationally is highly expensive, but the revenue made would make that up in a short amount of time. With being based in the United States, they can still reach a large market of the international business. They need to focus on what it is they are trying to achieve. If they are really looking to dive into the international mark, they need to concentrate on being able to be accessible when the customers need them. This means hiring more staff to be available longer hours for customer service. Once the sales start going up they will need to hire more employees in other department’s to fill orders and ship them, along with the many other needs of the company. What political and economic challenges could Evotrip encounter in other countries? Some challenges for Evotrip will be the true market for the service, the means for this type of service, and finding willing participants. The type of vacations that they are marketing is very expensive and can only be affordable if you are among the upper class. They aren’t for everyday Joe’s that want a ski vacation. Politically this might hurt them in the long run; however, by customers wanting revenge. If not everyone can afford these luxury vacations then someone is going to get upset over it any make an issue. Would you recommend that Evo expand the international side of it business? If so, how, and if not, why not? I feel that if they concentrated on their U.S. based business right now, and with continued support geared towards customer service, then international business will get stronger in the next few years, intern giving the opportunity for international growth to happen.

Fallacy Summary

Fallacy Summary Free Online Research Papers People do many things to try to win an argument or make you see their point of view. Their argument may seem sound and convincing but on close examination it may contain one or more logical fallacies. Our textbook defines a fallacy as â€Å"an argument that contains a mistake in reasoning† (Bassham, Irwin, Nardone Wallace, 2000, Ch 5, p 1). There are many fallacies, our textbook divides them into two basic groups: Fallacies of Relevance and fallacies of insufficient evidence. â€Å"Fallacies of relevance are fallacies that occur because the premises are logically irrelevant to the conclusion. Fallacies of insufficient evidence are fallacies that occur because the premises, though logically relevant to the conclusion, fail to provide sufficient evidence to support the conclusion† (Bassham, Irwin, Nardone Wallace, 2000, Ch 5, p 1). I will discuss in detail three fallacies: Bandwagon Argument, Begging the Question and Slippery Slope. The first two Bandwagon Argument and Begging the Question are fallacies of relevance. The third fallacy, Slippery Slope is a fallacy of insufficient evidence. Bandwagon Argument A bandwagon argument is an argument that plays on the idea that everybody is doing it, so you should be doing it too. Rather than looking at a logical relevant reason or evidence for doing something, you are expected to do it because everybody is doing it so why not follow the crowd. An examples of a bandwagon argument is: â€Å"Everybody’s doing yoga. Therefore, you should too.† This plays on your desire to be in the popular crowd. It is fallacious because it assumes that because something is popular it is right for you too when in fact you need to logically assess if it is right for you. Bandwagon argument’s significance to critical thinking is that just because it is popular doesn’t mean it is the right decision for you. You still need to exercise skilled judgment it making decisions and not just go with what is popular. An example of a bandwagon argument in an organizational setting is with the hotel industry. Few hotels were questioning whether to support a web site, but were doing so because they seem to be struggling on how best to use the World Wide Web. In a study of hotel websites they found that using animated pictures and the overuse of images can have a negative effect on site success, but many hotels were using it because they felt that animation merely makes the hotel site â€Å"cool† or somehow competitive with other sites, one can recognize this as a bandwagon argument (Murphy, Olaru, Schegg Frey, 2003). Begging the Question Begging the question is a fallacy in which the arguer states or assumes as a premise the very thing he or she is trying to prove as a conclusion (Bassham, Irwin, Nardone Wallace, 2000, Ch 5, p 15). This sort of reasoning is also known as circular reasoning because simply assuming a claim is true does not serve as evidence for that claim. An example of begging the question fallacy is: â€Å"If such actions were not illegal, then they would not be prohibited by the law.† In this example the premise just repeats the conclusion premise including the claim that the conclusion is true. An example of begging the question fallacy in an organizational setting is in the publishing business, a statement about newspaper columnist Safire that was in the â€Å"On Language† section (2001), Pittsburgh Post – Gazette reads, â€Å"Anything Safire says about anything is suspect because you can’t believe what you read in the newspapers.† This is an example of linear question-begging. People who agree that this is true would not make an argument because they take for granted a premise that is unproven. Slippery Slope Slippery Slope fallacy is committed when we claim, without sufficient evidence that seemingly harmless action, if taken, will lead to a disastrous outcome (Bassham, Irwin, Nardone Wallace, 2000, Ch 6, p 13). This is fallacious because there is no reason to believe that one event must follow another event without an argument for such a claim. This is especially noticeable when extreme steps are taken between one event and another. An example of a slippery Slope argument is: â€Å"You can never give anyone a break, if you do they will walk all over you.† This example is a black and white fallacy, there is no room for the gray area. â€Å"It should be noted that many slippery-slope arguments leave out some of or all of the intermediate steps that an arguer believes will occur† (Bassham, Irwin, Nardone Wallace, 2000, Ch 6, p 13). An example of a slippery slope fallacy in an organizational setting is the argument on embryo cell-stem research. When Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. announced it had cloned human embryos in a process that could lead to cures for a host of debilitating diseases, there was a large outcry from critics who claimed that their research will lead society down that ubiquitous â€Å"slippery slope†(Williamson, 2001). Conclusion Care should be taken when one comes across fallacies such as these. It can confuse any good critical thinker who is not wary of the logical fallacies that abound. An argument may seem sound on first approach but with discernment and good decision making skills, one should be able to identify a logical fallacy. References Bassham, G., Irwin, W., Nardone, H Wallace, J. (2000). Critical Thinking: A Students Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill. Murphy, J., Olaru, D., Schegg, R., Frey, S. (2003, February). The bandwagon effect: Swiss hotels’ web-sit and e-mail management. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol 44, Iss 1; pg 71. Retrieved September 18, 2005, from ProQuest database. On Language. (2001, May 13). Pittsburgh Post – Gazette, p. E.8. Retrieved September 18, 2005, from ProQuest database. Williamson, D. (2001, November 27). Ironies clone themselves; Scientists’ work spurs familiar hue, cry. Telegram Gazette, p B.1. Retrieved September 19, 2005, from ProQuest database. Research Papers on Fallacy SummaryComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoUnreasonable Searches and SeizuresCapital PunishmentEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Bringing Democracy to AfricaIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaResearch Process Part OneWhere Wild and West Meet

Analysis of Genotypic Distributions within Six Population Groups Using Assignment

Analysis of Genotypic Distributions within Six Population Groups Using Genepop Software - Assignment Example Which in essence, states that frequencies of alleles and genotypes remain constant in a population under ideal conditions. A balanced equilibrium should persist throughout the generations barring specific disruption. Disruptions in this equilibrium include non-random mating, selection, mutations, population-bottle-necks or other events that limit population size. The mating overlap between generations, meiotic drive, genetic drift or gene flow. As it is impossible to eliminate all of these conditions at some time from a population, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is impossible in nature. But this principle is a useful baseline against which to measure changes that do occur. Static frequencies of alleles throughout a population require a set of theoretical assumptions; deviations in which can give us information about which genes are changing in what way. These assumptions are : Violations of the Hardy–Weinberg assumptions trigger deviations from the expected status quo. The effect depends on which assumptions are broken. The character of these variations is thought to define the evolution of a species. When a population violates one of the assumptions listed below, the population may continue to exhibit Hardy–Weinberg proportions each generation, but the allele frequencies will be shaped by these deviations. Migration. The way in which two populations are genetically linked. Essentially, allele frequencies blend into homogeneity between the populations. Some models for migration must assume nonrandom mating. Without this randomness, the Hardy–Weinberg assumptions will not be valid. Random mating. The HWP states the population will exhibit a given genotypic frequency following a single generation of random mating within the population. When this assumption is broken, the population will not match Hardy–Weinberg proportions.  

Importance of Administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Importance of Administration - Essay Example According to Richard Daft, planning is the making and setting of attainable goals. These goals can be attained by performing excellent series of activities. And before they can set any activity in its actual performance, they must first breakdown the activity into different manageable tasks. They may use an appropriate project planning tool in order to study and manage the activity critically. In addition, in organizing, the managers will develop the structure of organization, acquire and train human resources and establish communication patterns and networks to provide a better working atmosphere. If they see that the present structure is not efficient enough, they must conduct a skillful study to make it more suitable for all employees. It is impossible to do the activity without highly skilled workers; that is why they need to acquire people and train them. In giving also the assigned tasks to the workers, managers see to it that the given tasks are appropriate to their capability . Further, the managers lead their workers; influence them to use their full potentials. Finally, as the activity is going on, they must see to it that the status of both the activity and workers' performance are targeting their goals and they make corrections as needed.