Leukocytes Essays - Biology, Medicine, Anatomy, Cell Biology

Leukocytes Leukocytes and the leukocyte differential count To consider the leukocytes together as a group is something of a granfalloon, because each type of leukocyte has its own function and ontogeny semi-independent of the others. To measure the total leukocyte count and allow this term to mean anything to the doctor is a travesty, yet the wbc count has traditionally been considered a cardinal measurement in a routine laboratory workup for just about any condition. I cannot emphasize too much that to evaluate critically the hematologic status of a patient, one must consider the individual absolute counts of each of the leukocyte types rather than the total wbc count. For such a critical evaluation, the first step is to order a wbc count with differential. In many labs, the result will be reported as a relative differential, something like this: WBC 6000/?L segmented neutrophils 60% band neutrophils 2% lymphocytes 25% monocytes 8% eosinophils 3% basophils 2% Your first task is to multiply the wbc count by each of the percentages given for the cell types; this gives you an absolute differential. Now you're in business to get some idea as to the pathophysiologic status of the patient's blood and marrow. Thus, the illustration above becomes: WBC 6000/?L segmented neutrophils 3600/?L band neutrophils 120/?L lymphocytes 1500/?L monocytes 480/?L eosinophils 180/?L basophils 120/?L The total wbc count is invariably done using an automated method. Routinely, the differential count is done by hand (i.e., through the microscope) in smaller labs, and by automated methods in larger facilities. The automated methods are amazingly accurate, considering the fine distinctions that must often be made in discerning one type of leukocyte from the other. One manufacturer's machine can quite reliably pick out one leukemic blast cell in eight hundred or more leukocytes. Now we shall consider each of the leukocyte types individually. A. Neutrophils The most populous of the circulating white cells, they are also the most short lived in circulation. After production and release by the marrow, they only circulate for about eight hours before proceeding to the tissues (via diapedesis), where they live for about a week, if all goes well. They are produced as a response to acute body stress, whether from infection, infarction, trauma, emotional distress, or other noxious stimuli. When called to a site of injury, they phagocytose invaders and other undesirable substances and usually kill themselves in the act of doing in the bad guys. Normally, the circulating neutrophil series consists only of band neutrophils and segmented neutrophils, the latter being the most mature type. In stress situations (i.e., the acute phase reaction), earlier forms (usually no earlier than myelocytes) can be seen in the blood. This picture is called a left shift. The band count has been used as an indicator of acute stress. In practice, band counts tend to be less than reliable due to tremendous interobserver variability, even among seasoned medical technologists, in discriminating bands from segs by microscopy. Other morphologic clues to acute stress may be more helpful: in the acute phase reaction, any of the neutrophil forms may develop deep blue cytoplasmic granules, vacuoles, and vague blue cytoplasmic inclusions called D?hle bodies, which consist of aggregates of ribosomes and endoplasmic reticulum. All of these features are easily seen (except possibly the D?hle bodies), even by neophytes. The normal range for neutrophil (band + seg) count is 1160 - 8300 /?L for blacks, and 1700 - 8100 /?L for other groups. Keeping in mind the lower expected low-end value for blacks will save you much time (and patients much expense and pain) over the course of your career. Obesity and cigarette smoking are associated an increased neutrophil count. It is said that for each pack per day of cigarettes smoked, the granulocyte count may be expected to rise by 1000 /?L. B. Monocytes These large cells are actually more closely related to neutrophils than are the other granulocytes, the basophil and eosinophil. Monocytes and neutrophils share the same stem cell. Monocytes are to histiocytes (or macrophages) what Bruce Wayne is to Batman. They are produced by the marrow, circulate for five to eight days, and then enter the tissues where they are mysteriously transformed into histiocytes. Here they serve

River Rouge essays

River Rouge essays River Day is a celebration of the rivers in the southeast Michigan region. The heart of River Day for Friends of the Rouge (FOTR) is Rouge Rescue your chance for hands-on involvement in the restoration and protection of the Rouge River.Since 1986, thousands of volunteers have come to the river on the first Saturday in June. They come from area businesses, local governments, school groups, service organizations, churches, homeowner groups and concerned citizens. They are all people like you who want to make a difference and contribute to the quality of life in their communities. Work sites may be along small streams or main branches of the Rouge Volunteers spend their time removing debris from the river and its flood plain. A major effort involves removing, or simply moving, logs that are jamming the river and causing flooding or erosion. Many sites no longer remove all the trees and branches that fall into the river. They are using the woody debris, instead, to help reduce streambank erosion, slow down the flow of the river after storms, and create wildlife habitat. In recent years, the FOTR "annual spring clean-up" has turned its local focus outward. We have teamed up with other watersheds throughout southeast Michigan to create the River Day Partnership. The Huron, Clinton, Detroit River, Shiawassee River Headwaters, St. Clair River and the Little River in Ontario join together on the first Saturday in June for clean-ups, nature hikes, canoe trips, and other river-related activities on River Day.If you are interested in participating in the annual Rouge Rescue clean-up extravaganza, or any of the other River Day activities, please contact Friends of the Rouge and we will guide you to your local River Day Coordinator. Storm water is water that flows along the ground and pavement when it rains or when snow and ice melt. The water seeps into the ground or drains into what we call storm sewers. Storm drains are often covered b...

Analysing data production

Analysing data production The process of research is not only about learning and discovering, but also about sharing these discoveries with others, so that society as a whole can benefit from the efforts put in by the individual. When it comes to complex academic concepts, the choice of words for how a concept is described can make a difference to how well it is understood by others , especially when moving between research domains.    Hence we make such use of metaphors and analogies when it comes to describing complex concepts. Tying a concept (for example, quantum superposition) to a real world â€Å"thing† (for example, a cat in a box ) allows people unfamiliar with the original concept to connect it with something they have experience of, and provides a foundation which can be elaborated on. If, upon further examination, it is found that the analogy gets stretched beyond all reason, then that is acceptable, as long as those using it don’t simply rely on it as an article of blind faith. Analogies and metaphors require critical thinking. Scientific concepts are formulated in human language, and as such, are intended to be processed by the human brain (even if that brain needs to be highly trained before it can properly grasp the concepts being described). Scientific data, on the other hand, is designed to be machine consumable (as well as predominantly machine produced). Measurements are often not useful without the context surrounding them. It is one thing to know that a particular river level rose by 10cm. It is only by knowing where this happened, how high the river was to begin with, and how high the rise would have to be at that location to flood the houses built there, that we are able to put the data into context, and make it useful. Yet we still need that data. If a homeowner who got flooded wished to claim on their insurance for flood repairs, having that data and context available means they’d have proof that it was river flooding that caused the damage, rather than a burst pipe. We also need to have the research data which underpins key research findings available and understandable, both for reproducibility and to prevent fraud/misuse. Making data usable by others takes effort and time and is often unrewarded by the current system for gaining academic credit. Metaphors and Analogies â€Å"No one metaphor satisfies enough key data system attributes and that multiple metaphors need to co-exist in support of a healthy data ecosystem†(Parsons Fox, 2013) Data publication as a metaphor has been addressed extensively in (Parsons Fox, 2013), leading to the quote above. But before we dive into examples of metaphor and analogy in the data domain, it is helpful to review what they mean. From (Gentner Jeziorski, 1993): ‘Analogy can he viewed as a kind of highly selective similarity. In processing analogy, people implicitly focus on certain kinds of commonalities and ignore others. Imagine a bright student reading the analogy â€Å"a cell is like a factory.† She is unlikely to decide that cells are buildings made of brick and steel. Instead she might guess that, like a factory, a cell takes in resources to keep itself operating and to generate its products. This focus on common relational abstractions is what makes analogy illuminating.’ (Gentner Jeziorski, 1993) p448 This action of focussing on some commonalities and ignoring others is crucial when using analogies to illustrate scientific concepts. We can produce an analogy that â€Å"a dataset is like a book†. Commonalities include that both contain information, in a structured and formatted way, which is consumable by a user, and both are the product of sustained effort, potentially from a wide range of actors. The differences between them make it just as easy to say â€Å"a dataset is not like a book†, in that a dataset can be constantly changing; may not be a physical, but a virtual object; mostly isn’t designed for humans to read unassisted ; and often a dataset isn’t a self-contained unit (as it requires extra information and metadata to make it understandable and usable). Obviously, it is possible to push analogies too far, and have them break. This is more likely to happen when users of the analogy don’t have a good understanding of each of the two things being compared. In the (Gentner Jeziorski, 1993) quote above, if the student didn’t have any other concept of what a cell was, she could easily imagine that they were tiny buildings made of bricks and steel, and the analogy used would do nothing to correct that misapprehension. It’s also important to remember that analogy is not causation – if two phenomena are analogous, it does not imply that one causes the other. Types of metaphor and real world scientific examples: Data Publication Data publication, as a metaphor, came about as a result of the drive for researchers to publish as many works as possible in as many high impact journals as possible, and the need for those involved in creating datasets to be given recognition for their work, and their efforts to make the data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. This resulted in pressure to squeeze all research outputs into shapes that resemble publications, hence the proliferation of the data journal, a place where researchers can publish a paper about their dataset, linked via permanent identifier to the dataset itself (stored in a trustworthy repository). The data paper then can be cited and used as a proxy for the dataset when reporting the importance and impact of the researcher’s work. A real-world example of a dataset that has been published in a data journal is the Global Broadcast Service (GBS) datasets (Callaghan et al., 2013), measurements from a radio propagation dataset investigating how rain and clouds impact signal levels from a geosynchronous satellite beacon at radio frequencies of 20.7 GHz. The data streams linked to the paper, and which the paper describes in detail, are the result of a definite, discrete experiment, resulting in a well-defined, discrete and fully completed dataset, which will not change in the future. The dataset has been through two levels of quality assurance: the first was performed on ingestion into CEDA , where the file formats were standardised and metadata was checked and completed. The second level of quality assurance was performed as part of the scientific peer review process carried out when the data paper and dataset were submitted to the Geoscience Data Journal for review and publication. As this dataset is complete, well-documented and quality assured, it can be considered to be a first-class, reference-able, scientific artefact. There are other peer-reviewed journal articles which use the GBS data as the basis for their results, see for example (Callaghan et al., 2008) . However, datasets can be discrete, complete, well-defined and permanently available without the need for the proxy of a data paper, or any other publication attached to them. This is of particular value when it comes to publishing negative results, or data that don’t support the hypothesis they were collected to verify, but may be useful for testing other hypotheses. These types of datasets are possibly the closest thing we have to the â€Å"dataset as a book† analogy, and therefore are the easiest to fit into the data publication mould. Unfortunately, many other datasets do not fit in with this shape. Many datasets are dynamic, and are modified or added to as time progresses. Then there are issues with granularity – some researchers may only need a subset of a larger dataset for their work, but need to accurately and permanently identify that subset. Citing at the level of every one of the subsets results in reference lists that are long and unwieldy, and can make it difficult to find the subset required in a long list of very similarly named datasets. For text based items, such as books and articles, tools exist to compare text from one instance of an article to another, allowing the reader to be sure that the contents of two instances are the same, regardless of the format they are in (for example, an article in hard copy in a journal as compared with a pdf). We currently do not have a way of evaluating the scientific equivalence of datasets regardless of their format. The ease with which it’s possible to modify datasets (and not track the changes made) also means that it can be very hard to tell which dataset is the canonical, original version, or even what the differences are. Data publication can work very well as a metaphor, but users must be aware that it really is only applicable to the subset of datasets which can be made complete, well-documented, well-defined, discrete and quality controlled. Big Iron (industrialised data production) Big Iron, as defined in (Parsons Fox, 2013) typically deals with massive volumes of data that are relatively homogenous and well defined but highly dynamic and with high throughput. It is an industrialised process, relying on large, sophisticated, well-controlled, technical infrastructures, often requiring supercomputing centres, dedicated networks, substantial budgets, and specialized interfaces. An example of this is the data from the Large Hadron Collider, CERN, but in the Earth Sciences, the Coupled Model Intercomparison Projects (CMIP) are another. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) regularly issues Assessment Reports, detailing the current state of the art of climate models, and their predictions for future climate change. These reports are supported by the data from the climate model runs performed as part of CMIP. Each CMIP is an international collaboration, where climate modelling centres around the world run the same experiments on their different climate models, collect and document the data in standard ways and make it all available for the wider community to use, via custom built web portals. CMIP5, the most recent complete CMIP, resulted in datasets totalling over 2 PB of data. As this data is the foundation for the IPCC assessment and recommendations, it is vital that the data is stored and archived properly . Dealing with these data volumes requires not only custom built infrastructure, but also standards for file and metadata formats (e.g. NetCDF, CF Conventions, CMOR, etc.). Collecting the metadata describing the experiments that were run to create the datasets alone took several weeks’ worth of effort, and several years of effort to design and build the CMIP5 questionnaire which collected the metadata (Guilyardi et al, 2013). The industrialised production of data is likely to increase over the next years, given the increased ability of researchers to create and manage big data. The opposite of this analogy is also valid in many cases, as described in the next section. Artist’s studio (small scale data production, unique and non-standard output) Similar to Big Iron, this analogy focusses on the method of production of a dataset, rather than the dataset itself. The artist studio analogy covers the long tail of data produced by small groups or even single researchers, working in relative isolation. Artist studios generally produce one-of-a-kind pieces, which may have standard shapes and forms (e.g. oil paintings) but may equally come in non-standard shapes, sizes and materials (e.g. sculptures, video and audio installations, performance art etc.) The aim is to produce something of use/interest to a consumer, even if they are part of a limited domain. Similarly, it’s often not easy, or even possible to share the outputs of the studio (it is possible to make copies/prints of paintings, and smaller models of sculptures, but other objects of art, like Damien Hirst’s famous shark in formaldehyde (Hirst, 1991) are nearly impossible to reproduce ). Datasets produced by small research groups follow this analogy. The emphasis is on the production of the finished product, sometimes with the supporting documentation and metadata being neglected, due to lack of time, effort and potentially interest on the part of the creator. If the dataset is only aimed at a small user group, then the metadata is provided as jargon, or users are simply assumed to have a sufficient level of background knowledge. Sharing the data is often not considered, as for the researchers, holding the only copy of the data makes it more valuable, and therefore more likely that they’ll receive extra funding. An example â€Å"artist studio† is the Chilbolton Facility for Atmospheric and Radio Research (CFARR) . It is a small facility, located in Hampshire, UK, with approximately 6 permanent staff, who collectively build, maintain and run a selection of meteorological and radio research instruments. In recent years, the focus of the facility has been on collaborations with other research groups in universities and other research centres. Previously the facility had been more focussed on radio research, and as such had developed its own data format for the instruments it built, rather than tying in with existing community standards. Similarly, the data was stored on a variety of servers, with a bespoke tape backup system. When CFARR’s funding structure changed, pressure was put on the staff to archive all new data and the majority of existing data in CEDA. This made it easier for the facility staff, in that they no longer needed to maintain servers or the backup system, but it made things harder in that effort was needed to convert the data files to netCDF, and to collect and agree on the metadata that should accompany them. The culture change to move from the artist studio model to a more standardised and collaborative model took effort and time, and should not be underestimated. Science Support Science support is what CEDA do on an operational, everyday basis. Even though we’re not directly (or physically) embedded in a research organisation , we interact with researchers and research centres on a regular basis to ensure that the processes for data ingestion are carried out smoothly and efficiently. For data centres embedded in a research centre, data management can be seen as a component of the broader â€Å"science support† infrastructure of the lab or the project, equivalent to facilities management, field logistics, administrative support, systems administration, equipment development, etc. In our case, CEDA concentrates on data management, and providing services to make it and use of data easier for the researcher. Different data centres will have different ways of providing science support to their core user base. For example, an institutional data repository, responsible for all the data being produced by, for example, a university, will have datasets which are non-standardised and are usually geared towards a specific set of intended uses and local reuse in conjunction with other local data. In terms of the â€Å"artist studio† analogy, an institutional repository is like an art gallery or museum, where different datasets will have different data management requirements. By contrast CEDA, which has multiple PB of data in the archives, must standardise in terms of file formats, metadata models etc., hence moving towards a more â€Å"Big Iron† metaphor. In common with institutional repositories, CEDA also focusses on managing data (and sometimes merging datasets to create more useful resources) in order to meet the needs of our user community, which is international in scope and covers a wide range of users, from schoolchildren, to policy makers, to field researchers and theoreticians. Map Making Map making as a metaphor refers to the final representation of the data, and the process of putting the data into a context, primarily geographical. Maps also help to define the boundaries of what is known, and what isn’t. Though data presented in this way tend to be fixed in time, maps are useful for showing dynamical datasets, or time slices through complex multidimensional processes, e.g. the four dimensional structures of clouds/rain changing in time. The results of map making, the maps themselves, are datasets in their own right, and so need to be treated in the same way as other datasets with regard to preservation, metadata etc. The act of plotting some parameter on a geographical map results in a well-standardised structure for intercomparison and visualisation. Linked Data The â€Å"data† in Linked Data are defined extremely broadly and are envisioned as small, independent things with specific names (URIs) interconnected through defined semantic relationships (predicates) using model and language standards (e.g. the Resource Description Framework, RDF). It has a major emphasis on Open Data, as linked data focuses on enabling the interoperability of data and capitalising on the interconnected nature of the Internet. Linked data isn’t commonly used for dealing with scientific data, but instead, is predominantly used in our metadata, where we have complete focus on preservation, curation and quality, unlike other linked datasets available elsewhere. Using linked data for metadata structures does require standardisation and agreement on the formal semantics and ontologies. Linked data is very flexible, and lends itself well to distributed and interdisciplinary connections, provided the formal semantics can be agreed to be applicable across multiple domains. Linked data as a concept unfortunately hasn’t fully permeated the research environment as yet – many scientific researchers don’t understand the semantics (and have little interest in them). Linked data is often used as a support structure for Big Iron. The Cloud: â€Å"x as a service† There is an argument that the mechanisms for data publication should be invisible, and data should be accessible and understandable without any prior knowledge. Cloud services such as Dropbox allow users to store their data, and access them from any web browser, or mobile app, provided they have an internet connection. â€Å"Data as a service† ties in with â€Å"software as a service†, in that the users only take the data they need at any given moment, and in some cases may not even download it, instead using dedicated computing resources elsewhere to perform the manipulations needed on the data. An example of this is JASMIN , a system that provides petascale storage and cloud computing for big data challenges in environmental science. JASMIN provides flexible data access to users, allowing them to collaborate in self-managing group workspaces. JASMIN brings compute and data together to enable models and algorithms to be evaluated alongside curated archive data, and for data to be shared and evaluated before being deposited in the permanent archive. Data, in this context, aren’t the fixed and complete products described in other analogies, but instead are more fluid and dynamic. Still, once the datasets are deposited in the permanent archive, they become fixed products, and are citeable and publishable. Providing significant resources for data manipulation is undoubtedly useful, but the focus with this system is on the service, not necessarily on the data. The data however, is the backbone of the system – there is no point having the service without the data and the users who want to analyse it. Conclusions It goes without saying that all analogies are wrong, but some are useful, and hence should come with a health warning – especially when following an analogy to the furthest reaches of its logic can result in sheer absurdity . When dealing with data, just like in life, there is no all-encompassing metaphor for what we do. Instead, metaphors and analogies should be used in ways to illuminate and clarify, but we should always remember that metaphors are useful tools for thinking about things, but can also limit how we think about things. (Ball, 2011). Pushing an analogy so far that it breaks can be a useful process, in that it helps determine the limits of understanding, especially as part of an ongoing conversation. Finally, for this essay, the author would like to leave the reader with some very appropriate words from (Polya, 1954, page 15): â€Å"And remember, do not neglect vague analogies. But if you wish them respectable, try to clarify them.†

Strategic management Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Strategic management - Research Proposal Example This is because Saudi Arabia encompasses the geographical scope of the area that was inhabited by the Prophet of Islam and the various activities he was involved in, during his life and the founding of Islam. Due to this, the King of Saudi Arabia has the title â€Å"Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques† (Ramady, 2010). This is primarily because Saudi Arabia controls the two holiest sites of Islam: Mecca and Medina. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy that is controlled by the core principles of the Islamic faith (Niblock, 2006). The King of Saudi Arabia has an absolute power over activities in the kingdom and his decrees are obeyed without question (Bowen, 2008). This is necessary to preserve his authority as a major figurehead in the world of Islam. Also, the king has the right and power to appoint authorities to run the various public institutions of the kingdom (Roberts, 2007). Until the 1930s when oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia, education was mainly steeped in Islamic study and Islamic law (Roberts, 2007). By the 1940s, the need to acquire higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia was recognized by the King of Saudi Arabia (Abiur, 1988). This is because Saudi Arabia had two main options: to either rely on foreigners who had the skills or send their nationals to Europe, America or other nations with modern institutions of higher learning to get educated. This was seen as undesirable because it exposed Saudis to lifestyles that were not seen as complementary. In 1949, the King of Saudi Arabia commissioned the first college in Mecca but it was to operate a religious curriculum (Abir, 1988). A teacher training college was established in 1952 but the Ulama or religious elites controlled these institutions. Finally, in 1957, the King commissioned the University of Riyadh. Several universities and institutions of higher learning were opened after this. As Saudi public institutions, the universities are ran by authorities that are appointed by

How can a manager motivate a workforce and what are the major benefits Essay - 3

How can a manager motivate a workforce and what are the major benefits of this to a company Support your answer with examples - Essay Example Several theories regarding how managers can motivate employees have been figured out by different researchers and these theories can be incorporated in real life by managers to motivate employees. One such theory is the need theory proposed by McClelland and according to this theory all individuals experience three kinds of needs including need for power, association and achievement and individuals tend to work in order to attain the satisfaction of these needs (Lauby, 2005, p.2). This writing will focus on how managers can use McClelland’s need theory in order to motivate their employees and how motivating employees can benefit an organization. Body As stated in the introductory section, individuals face three kinds of needs and they have a desire to fulfil these needs. One of the three needs identified by McClelland is the need for achievement that motivates individuals to work hard. Managers can motivate their employees by helping them in achieving the aims and objectives o f their lives. For example: employees work in order to earn money and they want to earn money in order to purchase a better living standard and lifestyle for themselves and even for those who are related to them. This shows that managers can motivate employees with the assistance of monetary rewards in exchange for the hard work and time employees invest in completion of aims and objectives of the organization. A study was conducted by Condly and other researchers in which th

Professional Development Plan Essay Example for Free

Professional Development Plan Essay In order to develop a plan that will address the characteristics of my group and me as a leader; a thorough review of the completed DISC assessments much be completed on an individual basis and an overall plan can be derived thereafter. The individual analyses are as follows: Individual Assessments Jeremy Conner, Jessica Mills, and Brian Tuck are all predominately categorized as cautious in style. Their tendencies include: being tense with themselves and others when under pressure, having a natural curiosity about people, being concerned about what people think, feel, and expect, having strong attachments to their personal interests, underestimating the time required to complete tasks, being intuitive and observant about situations and people, associating their self-worth with their work, and being intrigued by concepts, ideas and processes. They are known as the assessors and tend to have strong opinions about people and groups with whom you do not identify or agree. Robert Mills was predominately categorized as interactive in style. This style’s strengths include: enthusiasm, charm, persuasiveness, and warmth. The cautious style is gifted in people skills and communication skills with individuals as well as groups. They are great influencer’s. They are idea-people and dreamers who excel at getting others excited about their vision. They are optimist with an abundance of charisma. All of these qualities help them influence people and build alliances to accomplish their goals. I was predominately categorized as a dominance style. My primary motivation is accomplishing bigger and better goals according to an internal timetable. I prefer to be involved in my chosen activities from start to finish, and I  resist people who are obstacles to my achievements. My tendencies include: disliking being told what to do, or when and how to do something, being reluctant to change what I think or how I feel, delegating tasks only if absolutely necessary, acting competitively, especially when pushing myself to new levels or in new directions, making sure that production is completed on schedule, depending on plans for action and follow-up routines, and becoming tenacious and focused when under pressure. Team Development Plan Based on the analysis of the DISC assessments, I would put myself in a leadership role on the team with Robert as my supervisor, and Jeremy, Jessica, and Brian as subordinates. My style is more fit to a leadership role due to my desire to accomplish bigger and better goals. This desire allows me to look bigger picture which must be done from an upper management perspective in order to keep the company ahead of the curve in all aspects of business to avoid pitfalls. Robert’s natural charisma and persuasiveness would make him great at motivating the rest of the team. This does not mean that Jeremy, Jessica, and Bryan aren’t just as important to the team success. All workers from top to bottom are needed for a business to be successful. I strongly believe in the phrase â€Å"you are only as good as your weakest member†. For this reason, I would make sure that they were given a chance to air their grievances and make suggestions on changes that should be made. I must make sure to allow every team member to have a say in the business processes because this is a weak point of my particular style. Flexibility on my part must be a focal point to ensure that all team members feel heard and feel like they hold value in the company. Conclusion All of the information in the above plan will be closely monitored and periodic meetings will take place to allow time for all employees to voice their grievances or concerns to ensure that full compliance is being achieved. It is very important that regular monitoring is performed to ensure that the company stays on track and will help ensure the long-term success of the company. Realizing each individual’s style as well as their strengths and weaknesses will allow a more personal and individualized  approach to be taken in regards to team dynamics and goal attainment. References University of Phoenix. (2014). DISC Assessments [Multimedia]. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, LDR531 website. DISC Test and DISC Assessment: Explained. (2013). Retrieved from https://www.discinsights.com/whatisdisc#.VBMXGGOEzSg

Anabolic and Androgenic Steroids :: performance enhancing drugs

The first performance enhancing drugs I’ll talk about are Anabolic and androgenic steroids. Anabolic and androgenic steroids are synthetic drugs that duplicate male sex hormones such as testosterone. â€Å"Anabolic† is a muscle building steroid, and â€Å"androgenic† is built to increase masculinity. Steroids are a class of drugs. Steroids are only legal when prescribed. They are used on patients who have problems such as delayed puberty. Other uses for steroids include treatment of allergies, impotence, and asthma. Doctors also prescribe steroids to patients who have AIDS to stop the loss of muscle mass which is a problem for AIDS victims, other diseases also cause loss of muscle mass and sometimes are treated with steroids. Since 1976 steroids have been used to enhance performance athletically. They are also used by bodybuilders to put on muscle mass. There are two ways to take anabolic steroids. One way is orally the other is by injection. Like many other performance enhancing drugs they are taken in cycles. These cycles are months and sometimes weeks. They are designed so that the body does not stop producing the hormone or nutrient in other cases naturally. Another reason for this is to reduce the negative affects of steroids. Steroid users often take several different steroids to maximize the results. This is known as â€Å"stacking†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many sports organizations have taken action to prevent the use of steroids by giving random drug tests. As drug tests become more and more common so do the ways of covering up the use. A very common way of covering up steroid use is by using oral steroids which are usually untraceable after two weeks. Another way that is used is by taking other drugs that dilute the urine to pass the drug tests. All in all steroids are not worth the risk. Side effects like these prove it. In males use of steroids because shrinking of testicles, reduced sperm count, increased risk of baldness, increased risk of prostate cancer, weakened tendons, liver damage, premature heart attacks or strokes, and development of breasts. In woman steroids also have non intriguing side effects such as, male pattern baldness, changes is or pause of menstrual cycle, enlargement of the clitoris and deepened voice.

My Reflection of Rollo May’s Existentialism Psychology

Rollo May’s Existentialism Psychology:An Overview to His TheoryAfter many years of his hardships in conducting clinical research, May was able to postulate a new way of looking at human beings. With such newly evolved point of view, May saw people as living in the world of present experiences and ultimately being responsible for who they become. Many people, he believed, lack the courage to face their destiny, and in the process of fleeing from it, they give up much of their freedom. Having negated their freedom, they likewise run away from their responsibility. Not being willing to make choices, they lose sight of who they are and develop a sense of insignificance and alienation. In contrast, healthy people challenge their destiny, cherish their freedom, and live authentically with other people and with themselves.They recognize the inevitability of death and have the courage to live life in the present. These thoughts of Rollo May, I believe, had caught my interest to furthe r elaborate the essence of his theory through my own way of explaining. With these, I will be going to set aside all of the other theories. To be bias at this time, I believe will be of good help in further expressing my appreciation so as to justify the reasons behind why I like his theory of personality. At a first glance, I was quite intrigued with the way he was able to come up with his explanation of the personality. And through my first reading, Rollo May’s ideas made me realize that my outlook in life can be somehow reflected to his theories.Existentialism: A Reflection of My LifeRollo May’s view of people was highly influenced by the writings of Sà ¸ren Kierkegaard who opposed attempts in seeing people merely as objects, but at the same time, he opposed the view that subjective perceptions are one’s only reality. What Kierkegaard was mainly concerned of is that both the experiencing person and the person’s experience contribute in understanding h uman beings. In view of this thought, I realized that the events taking into place and the one who is experiencing such event are very essential in explaining life.I was raised with a pure Catholic Faith instilled in my mind, heart and soul. I can still remember the very first time I asked my parents about God’s existence and how great he really is to have control over our lives. I was then a third grader and was influenced maybe with Religion class for it was also my first time to enter such. Now, I can say, I have, partly, the answers to my questions.As May stated, existence takes precedence over essence. The process by which we are in control in becoming and emerging to what we want to be. To exist actively and authentically is one thing that we should consider in our search for truth. Since I became more aware of the happenings around me, I assume I was then starting in my search for identity, freedom and true responsibility – all these constitutes in the truth of life.I also believe that each of us is ultimately responsible of who we are and what we become and that we cannot blame others such as our parents, teachers, employers, God, or circumstances in what we do with ourselves. â€Å"Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.† We cannot deny the saying which turned to be a basic truth in a person’s life, â€Å"No man is an island.† As in my way of living, I may associate with others in productive and healthy relationships, but at the end of the day, I still realized that I am alone working for a purpose.I realized that my parents are just there to guide me and be the best examples that they can be for me to emulate. I maybe see myself always in almost all situations of my life to being with my friends. We may share things that I have; we may do things together to attain a goal; we may have the same interests and joy in life, but, still, at the end of the day, I just ponder and realized that I was just really mak ing my choice – my choice to become what I can be so as to become a psychologically healthy individual contributing significant things into the society.Life and death are two opposing forces which somehow lead us to become a being-in-the-world or a nonbeing. As I observe, in every tasks – whether it be simple or complicated – my only thought in finishing such task is to give  justice of having life and living it to the fullest. To have a life is my goal but I do not consider death as my destiny because my main goal now is eternal life with God – my savior. Death, maybe, is inevitable and for me the thought of it will just deprived me of doing well in life.I believe that people adapt to the natural world, relate to others as humans, and have a keen awareness of what all these experiences mean to them and these would mean to an established healthy individual which I am really striving for, most especially, during these times with which hurdles in life are presented continuously. Since I enter college and enroll in Psychology, my way of thinking and attaining life-goals changed. I shall say that it became more mature as I would have to strive harder to meet the expectations of my family which I chose to comply with. This implies that my parents may be associated in my search for truth but still, I am the only one working for it literally and with the emotional support of significant others. This is my ultimate choice.Anxiety and Guilt: Problems in Fulfilling PotentialitiesWe cannot deny the fact that we are encountering problems in times of difficulties with which we are to achieve, at some point, our potentialities in life. Anxiety and guilt arises and there is no doubt that we cannot help but to deal with it so as to holistically achieve our full potentialities as human beings and for us to hone these into a full-blown ability which we’ll be needing in times of crises and another uprisings of unpleasant feelings like worries and doubts.During times like this, I realized that intentions should exist in the inner self so as to able to choose and act on the choices I made in my daily life. There are many instances of my school life wherein I failed to build up intentions – intentions such as passing the exam or getting a high score and performing at my best. Sometimes I tend to fail and this, I believe, is because I do not have firm intentions in life which turns to be a key in overcoming anxiety and guilt.But there are times also that I’m able to utilize pure intentions which gives meaning to my experiences and, in turn,  allows me to make decisions for a bright future. Firm and strong intentions, I believe is a strong foundation in utilizing potentialities at its peak and at the same time, it serves to be an anchor in putting up more mature decisions. Care, Love, and Will:More Than Just Empathy-BuildingAssociated with the unpleasant feelings which were noted as the emotional uprisings wh en people are presented with difficulties and problems are the build-up of the most essential feelings and attitude a human being should possess. I guess these three are important in a sense that it bridges the gaps which are just more than learning or knowing others’ emotions.Care, love, and will plays important roles in our daily lives for these three aspects do not just create pleasant and wanted reactions or forms of intimate interpersonal relationships but also because I believe that these three should be considered as the soul-base of attaining freedom and confronting your destiny. As May would say, â€Å"To care for someone means to recognize that person as a fellow human being, to identify with that person’s pain or joy, guilt or pity.† This merely suggests that caring is given for those who you think deserve it and also, it can’t be given for just somebody but for someone who means a lot to you.Of course, as an active human being we are expected and somehow obliged to show care and respect to our fellow human beings as we are just the same kind of living beings whose primary aim is to seek affection from others in order to give that attention back. Since care is an active process, it should neither be limited nor be stopped in instances such as negative emotional outbursts because in such manner, negative feelings can be easily replaced with positive ones.Moreover, to love will never be the same of caring but to care is the source of love. To love is to recognize the essential humanity of the person and also, to accept what can be unacceptable with that person. Talking about things like this, others might say, can be a waste of time for they might also insist that they already know the true meaning behind this. But the point here is that care and love don’t just tackle intimacy or sexual arousal but it talks about how really it is conquering all things on earth.Will, on the other hand, was believed to be rooted from care. It is viewed as the capacity to organize one’s self so that movement in a certain direction or toward a certain goal may take place. Will initiates our desire to do actions in fulfilling our wildest wishes or dreams. We sometimes tell ourselves that if there’s a will, there’s a way which implies that we do really have the capacity to build the will from ourselves so as to develop self-esteem and self-worth which are important factors in the development of a strong and firm intention to do such action.There may be times that my will is not that strong to motivate me, but when I think that it will be for the betterment of others and not just to me, I always try hard to push more so there’ll be no regrets at the end of the day. Freedom:An Understanding of our DestinyOur own way and style of having freedom in our lives depicts how our destiny can be modified or challenged. Although freedom is not that easy to attain, the joy of having it would tell us t hat we are really determined to challenge our destiny. To be free does not necessarily mean to be able to do the things that you’ve been wishing for your life. These are what you call existential freedom wherein we just enjoy all the good things happening to our life at present and worrying no more with what the future could bring. We made choices and we act on it.That’s the way existential freedom should be. Since we are imprisoned of our own destiny, it makes us less aware of the freedom of doing but with the essential freedom. We are born in this world with questions in mind with which we are motivated to search for answers regarding the true essence and meaning of our lives. Without destiny, then, we have no freedom, but without freedom our destiny is meaningless.The Role Of Myths in My LifeAccording to Rollo May, people who lack myths to believe in turned to  religious cults, drug addiction, and popular culture in a vain effort to find meaning in their lives. He also contended that myths are not falsehoods but rather, he sees it as conscious and unconscious belief systems that provide explanations for personal and social problems.People use myths and symbols to transcend the immediate concrete situation, to expand self-awareness, and to search for identity. Believing in myths I believe can do no harm for anybody as long as it is not causing social impairment to the individual and into his society. The myths of May can be compared to Jung’s archetypes which are considered as the avenues to universal images that lie beyond individual experience.I, myself, have some myths which help me, I believe, in the betterment of my psychological well-being for I know these would have benefits on me like it would allow me in opening up a new reality.To Challenge Destiny: My Favorite Theory of PersonalityDestiny is our destination and our goal. It seems to be like a force for us to be triggered, to be motivated and to be ignited to face the challen ges and solve the problems that life has to offer. Just as I allow destiny to mold me, there are times also that I was like awakened of the thought that waiting for it to take place will be a waste of time. I also allow myself to respond the way I want to respond to the absurdities of life to be able to prove that destiny does not dictate how my life should be working. With this, I don’t let my destiny dictates me of my outlook in life.As we challenge our destiny, we gain freedom, and as we achieve freedom, we push at the boundaries of destiny. I would say that to challenge destiny is my primary mission right now most especially that I am facing a lot of hardships in school. But I will not disregard or deny the possibility that real life begins on the outside world wherein, at that time, I will be no longer showing my potentials in the four walls of the classroom but instead, it will be evolving into a bigger place or dimension where many competitors will be present and will be more ready to spice up my quest for a  well-defined-destiny.As a student, I have been looking for answers in my true identity with which I may be able to relate well to others. I have been also, looking for the things that will satisfy my needs just as what other theorists would suggest but I think Rollo May’s Existential Psychology helped me realized more the true essence of living for a purpose. I might be very expressive in showing my appreciation to May’s theory but still it just ignited my desire to push through life as good as it can be. As a son, it made me more realize the fact that I have my parents living with me and supporting me always. They serve as my support system although I understand that at the end of the day I am a single individual working for my own purpose. But still, I know that I exist up to this day because of them and their very good upbringing.As a friend, I now knew the true meaning of showing care, love, and will not just to those per son who are close to me but to every single person I meet in every day of my life. They are the best company that I can ever have. They are really the best buddies I can ever have in good or tough times, but still I always see to it that I will be not dependent on them most especially when I’m at school doing assignments projects and any other requirements. This attitude of mine is my own way of taking preparations for my future endeavors and also, for me to be really able to do the molding and modification of my most to be expected and to be geared up aspect of my existence – destiny.As a child of God, I now realized the reasons why he gave me the potentials I knew that I can make use of to excel in every manner of my daily living. Prayers will always be at the top of my most used weapon in challenging my destiny. it will always be my first defense in coping with all the changes that life will be presenting. Existentialism made me realize all these. It just helped me mold my belief of things that are not that vivid to me before. But now that I have already all these belief systems, I will be making sure that on the next single conversations that I will have in the future, I will see to it that I’ll be imparting those knowledge.â€Å"To grasp what it means to exist, one needs to grasp the fact that he might not exist†. This quotation of Rollo May strongly implies his desire in imparting his theory to us individuals and to how we can be able to make use of his theory through the modern way of perceiving such knowledge. Overall,  I’ve learned from his theory that to exist also means to live life with its full essences – that destiny will be the key for molding these hidden essences that will soon to be revealed when the time comes that you are ready and you can finally say that you are able to challenge your own destiny as you desire it to be.Death is emphasized with this quotation of May. He contended that we can neve r escape the fact that death may happen and what’s striking the most is that it may arrive at the least expected moment. But although May insisted the fact that death is inevitable, I’m not preoccupied with the frightening thought of death but what I am afraid of is the thought of dying. On the other hand, understanding death, I believe, helps me in doing more quality things making it more meaningful. Confronting such issue of our nonexistence is somehow a key for us to live harmoniously. With this, we can be able to assert our freedom and be able to mold our own destiny.

“Twelfth Night” Review

Shakespeare’s twelfth night is inevitably marked with deep social insight. The differences in power, the paltry of gender and social identity are all equally put into question in this seemingly light hearted comedy. The start of the play introduces us to the motive of our main character, Olivia and casts light unto the main problem that has to be resolved through the course of this play; the separation of twin brother and sister, who if not for their infallible discriminator â€Å"sex† would just as easily be put in each other’s shoes without triggering any significant event to throw the balance of our characters into confusion. Indeed from the get-go the fact that Viola’s ‘gender-switch’ and Sebastian’s ‘character-switch’ did not shock anyone out of their sealed matrimonial bliss or the attainment of such a prospect seems rather foolhardy to miss and in considering the Bard’s infamous dramatic puppetry, they are such issues as we have to get to the bottom of, scraping a glimpse, if not an epiphany that would resurrect the act’s glamour from it’s ancient casket. Assuredly, Sebastian, on receiving the news of his sister’s disappearance falls into the supposition that she is dead, and with little remorse kicks off with his pal Antonio to the arms of freedom, where no embrace shall feel the smother of bondage, where it between the closest relatives even. His sister, though, rises to the occasion and with undying hope declares her brother’s survival, and her quest to bring his authority into this expectation. Here, we see where the pall of gender lies. Though Sebastian and Viola are not of any distinguishing feature that might divide the cast’s opinions about their identity, Sebastian for one, thinks his sister is dead. This reflects the attitude of society towards the weaker sex, who cannot be expected to bring fortune to their aid much less entertain the notion of keeping life. Men, however, are the most capable of doing such and so, and in following this principle Viola disguises herself in manly attire and takes such a w orthy title in hand or in name†¦ The fact is, she turned man to suit a position she could not fill as a woman. Early on, we can thus put our hands on which of the twins was the reliable one in this sibling relationship. Not to be hard on Sebastian, the reason for his inaversion to Viola’s advances towards him might just be his need for someone to replace what he has lost in his sister. More so, he doesn’t protest to Olivia even when he finds out she was bearing feelings for his sister; doesn’t shrink from a quarrel even when it rams him face-on. A man: through and through†¦ But when talking about Olivia, it is difficult to sympathize with what she has been through. She bore feeling for a poorer man and rejected Duke for all he was just to conform to the society’s value of male dominance over women. To neglect all what she has been blessed with, taking for granted the responsibility and ingrature, that comes along it and divert in affection to a random male who’s quality, in her flawless judgment, was much the same as her brother’s. Again, none of the characters seem to protest to the predicament they were forced into in this play which seriously makes me question: what were ye looking to get from all yer blunders? Ay, the proposition is nigh. But all our characters just seem to get pulled into their quarters much as the position they put themselves into dictate in term and sequence. A good example to take would be Duke, who seems the only wise guy around. He doesn’t put himself into situations where he is forced to act out of necessity. Everything he takes is as half-hearted as he, and only at the provocation of one Viola does he get up from his seat and seek to prove himself to the world. Only he gets proofed himself: when confronted with the possibility that his loyal messenger was doing dibs behind his back with one Olivia, he issues the order of execution as per the noble must stake themselves. All is well, though. Sebastian arrives. The conflict is resolved. Everything seems to make sense again. And Duke is inevitably forced by the situation that he invoked; or that which invoked itself unto him, to marry Viola. Indeed the characters in this play are balanced by their relationships. The first and foremost cause was to gain stability while obliging the rules of higher society, which the playwright so successfully threads. The only thing that seemed to spark a glint of intelligence to the characters’ identity was the presence of one Fool, who is the only reason this whole play didn’t mentally incapacitate the audience. Nevertheless, the play culminates with the return of reason (logic); though the governing dynamics are still the same threaded by higher powers, to an understanding of which I hope to bring the reader of my essay.

Black Surname Meaning and Origin

Black Surname Meaning and Origin As you might expect, the Black surname generally relates to the color black: Black is most commonly a descriptive surname meaning one who was black haired or dark complexioned.Black can also be an occupational surname given to or adopted by a cloth dyer who specialized in black dyes. The surnames SCHWARTZ, SCHWARZ and other variants are the German equivalents of the Black surname. BLACK is the 149th most popular surname in the United States. Surname Origin: English Alternate Surname Spellings: BLACKE, BLAKE, BLAKEY, BLAKELEY, BLACKETT, BLACKHAM, BLACKIE, BLACKLOCK, BLACKMAN, BLACKMON, BLACKMORE, BLACKSHAW,BLACKWOOD, BLAKEMAN Famous People with the Surname Black Joachim Krà ³l - German actorJohn Joseph Krol - Roman Catholic Cardinal Genealogy Resources for the Surname Black The BLACK Surname DNA Project: Connect with others using DNA to help trace the origins of their BLACK family, including variants such as Blacke, Blackett, Blackham, Blackie, Blacklock, Blackman, Blackmon, Blackmore, Blackshaw, Blackwell, Blackwood, Blagg, Blake, Blakeley, Blakeman, Blakiston, Blanc, Bleach, Bluck, Duff, Schwartz, Swartz and Swarz.Black Family Genealogy Forum: Search this popular genealogy forum for the Black surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Black surname query.FamilySearch - BLACK Genealogy: Find records, queries, and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Black surname and its variations.BLACK Surname Family Mailing Lists: RootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the Black surname.Cousin Connect - BLACK Genealogy Queries: Read or post genealogy queries for the surname Black, and sign up for free notification when new Black queries are added.DistantCousin.com - BLACK Genealogy Family History: F ree databases and genealogy links for the last name Black. References Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967.Menk, Lars. A Dictionary of German Jewish Surnames. Avotaynu, 2005.Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia. Avotaynu, 2004.Hanks, Patrick, and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989.Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003.Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

McCarthyism and its affect on Hollywood Research Paper - 1

McCarthyism and its affect on Hollywood - Research Paper Example tical determinants of the very dark register that is affiliated with communism, and / or renunciation of aid of the government enquiry of the Communist Party and some of them were blacklisted only because their titles came to the incorrect location and time (Murray 267-79). Even throughout the firm observance of the late 1940s by the end of 1950, blacklist was seldom made explicit and verifiable, but it initiated direct impairment to the vocations of numerous American creative individuals, often as a betrayal of companionship (not to mention the principle) of cost life and assist to ideological censorship industry. The first methodical Hollywood blacklist was instituted November 25, 1947, a day after 10 writers and controllers were entitled for contempt of Congress for denying testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Group of studio bosses, portraying under the auspices of the Motion Picture Association of America, broadcast the dismissal of the artist-the so- called Hollywood Ten in what became renowned as the Waldorf Statement. June 22, 1950, booklet deserving Red Channels emerged, calling 151 amusement commerce professionals as part of the "red fascists and their supporters, shortly most of the appointees, with some other creative individuals who have been omitted from paid work in much of the amusement industry. Blacklist was competently broken in 1960 when Dalton Trumbo, a repentant constituent of the Hollywood 10, was publicly identified as a screenwriter of movies Spartacus and Exodus. Some of these very dark registers, although, is still ostracised from employed in his area for numerous years. The Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was conceived in 1937 under the chairmanship of Martin dies. The major reason of HUAC was enquiring his anti-American and subversive activities. Soon after his designation, Dies obtained a telegram from the Ku Klux Klan: "Every factual American, and that encompasses all the Klansman, is behind you

Research Issues in Human Resource Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Research Issues in Human Resource - Essay Example "Bullying usually includes acts or verbal comments that could mentally hurt or isolate a person in the workplace and it has been described as the assertion through aggression" (CCOHS) Bullying has its adverse effects on the individual as well as the work place. Workplace bullying always poses multiple challenges to the HR professionals in dealing with their occurrences. HR Management always includes Workplace bullying prevention programs aimed to safeguard the potential victims of bullying. Such prevention programmes require the commitment from the management as an important component. In this context this paper attempts to present a detailed account of the challenges being faced by the HR professionals in dealing with bullying at work. An academic definition of Workplace Bulling as provided by Einarsen et al reads "Bullying at work means harassing, offending, socially excluding someone or negatively affecting someone's work tasks. In order for the label bullying (or mobbing) to be applied to a particular activity, interaction or process it has to occur repeatedly and regularly (e.g. weekly) and over a period of time (e.g. about six months)." Bullying is considered an ongoing process of abuse during which the person subjected to bullying becomes weak and inferior in feeling by becoming the victim of negative social act. It may be noted that an isolated event cannot be characterized as bullying. Similarly when the parties involved in the conflict are of equal strength the act can not be termed as bullying. (Einarsen et al 2003:15) The International Labour Organisation has defined the work place violence that bullying. The definition goes like "any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circ umstances relating to their work. These behaviors would originate from customers, co-workers at any level of the organization. This definition would include all forms or harassment, bullying, intimidation, physical threats/assaults, robbery and other intrusive behaviors." (Canada Safety Council)It is observed that workplace bullying is found to be more prevalent in work places than other disorderly behaviours like sexual harassment and racial discrimination which are dealt with by legislative measures. It is often observed that when bullying at the work place takes place the victims usually receive the immediate focus to provide the support and no efforts are being taken to provide advise, guidance or support to those who has indulged in such bullying activities. According to a report published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) the employers usually train their HR managers in tacking issues related to workplace bullying. But the line managers are not provided with the necessary training in this regard. The report indicates that while 75 percent of the employers take efforts to train the HR managers to tackle the harassment to workers out of bullying only 55 percent of them provide such training to the line managers also. As per the 2004 research of the CIPD the conflicts relating to workplace bullying costs nearly 450 days of managements' time each year which is equivalent to the full working time of two managers. It was also estimated that the bullying related complains constituted