Fiber Optic Technology Used in US Airforce

The optic fiber owed its origin to the development of optical voice transmission system known a photophone by Alexander Graham Bell during the year 1880. The photophone applying free space light could carry the human voice 200 meters. The fiber optical technology has a significant progress during the second half of the twentieth century. The initial success in this regard occurs during the 1950s with the development of fiberscope, an image transmitting device. This used first practical all-glass fiber and concurrently devised by Brian O' Brien at the American Optical Company and Narinder Kapany, who first devised the terminology ‘fiber optics' in 1956 and colleagues at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London. The fiberscope soon applied in the inspecting welds inside reactor vessels and combustion chambers of jet aircraft engines as well as in the medical field. The Fiberscope technology has evolved over the period of time to facilitate laparoscopic surgery considered as one of the great medical advance of the twentieth century. The development of laser technology was considered as the next significant application of fiber optics. The laser diode — LD or the light-emitting diode — LED, had the prospective to evolve large amounts of light in a spot tiny enough to be applied for fiber optics. (A brief history of Fiber Optic Technology) Gordon Gould fostered the idea of applying lasers, describing it as an intense light source. Soon after, Charles Townes and Arthus Schawlow at Bell Laboratories worked on use of the laser in scientific circles. The laser evolved through many generations in terms of ruby laser and the helium-neon laser in 1960 until the realization of semiconductor lasers in 1962. The higher modulation frequency capability of the lasers attracted the scientists to apply this in the filed of communication engineering. Light is realized to have an information carrying capacity of 10,000 times that of the highest radio frequencies being applied. The US military responded rapidly to apply fiber optics for improved communications and tactical systems. The US navy in the early 1970s established a fiber optic telephone link aboard the USS Little Rock. The Air Force developed its Airborne Light Optical Fiber Technology — ALOFT program in the year 1976. Such initial successes encouraged military R & D funding for development of stronger fiber, tactical cables, ruggedized, high performance components and several demonstrations starting from aircraft to undersea applications. After the installation of fiber optic telephone system in Chicago and Boston by both AT & T and GTE marked the beginning of commercial application of Fiber optics. (A brief history of Fiber Optic Technology) Presently, the application of fiber optic technology including wave division multiplexing fiber optics is increasingly prevalent in commercial aircraft and satellite systems with the growth of many commercial suppliers. Now the 10 gigabit fiber optic Ethernet in the sphere of many systems and also in aircraft avionic systems is more prevalent. Moreover, the Fiber Channel and Firewire systems also widely applied in aircraft systems presently. However, such systems are not sufficiently strong and do not quickly respond to deterministic real time necessities like 1553B and ARINC 429 and do not deal with multiple level of security. To cater to such needs, system architectures particularly are a combination of copper and fiber with redundancies for robustness or replication for various security levels/enclaves. (Multi-Level Secure High-Speed Fiber-Optic Data Bus) A single optical fiber spread through out an aircraft in terms of ring architecture topology is seen have the prospective of meeting all the present and future bandwidth requirements, entailing solutions to different security level requirements, decline redundancies; accommodate all essential legacy and future protocol and timing necessities; being capable of maintenance over the life of the host platform, and significantly decrease weight power, cooling, electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic compatibility shielding and other confinements of prevailing remedies. This anticipates more efforts in applying the prevailing technology and constructing the integration elements for example, protocol adapters to generate a fiber-optic system backbone appropriate for present and future aircraft systems with low-cost, open and commercially available technology. (Multi-Level Secure High-Speed Fiber-Optic Data Bus) The next generation digital flight data recording system created by Raytheon Company, the Distributed Flight Data Acquisition Unit — DFDAU system depends primarily on fiber optic technology and remote sensors to gather and record quite considerable amounts of critical flight data on passenger aircraft. The application of technology will permit airliners to cater to the new Federal Aviation Administration regulations that necessitate digital flight data recorders to gather substantially more information than was earlier necessitated. The new regulations necessitate new aircrafts to have flight data recorders capable to monitoring up to 57 flight testing, Raytheon anticipates the system to be FAA certified and it will start installing the DFDAU in its Beech 1900D, 19 passenger regional airliner. (Fiber optic networks for flight data recorders) The DFDAU has been designed to entail detailed and accurate recording of pilot actions and aircraft responses during a flight by accumulation of information from multiple channel sensing and regulation modules that are integrated by optical fiber instead of traditional shielded, twisted pair wiring. Since intelligence can be collected from multiple sources distributed across the aircraft and shared through a single fiber optic cable, application of the system minimizes the cumbersome wiring and provides improved signal fidelity that is immune to electromagnetic interferences and failures in transmission. Additionally, the system can more easily safeguard one flight data recorder without the process of redundant wiring. Such advantage will entail considerable savings for airlines when additional flight data recorders are mandated for other destinations on passenger aircraft. The DFDAU system is expected to apply distributed processing to translate and route data received from over 160 sources and interfaces located across the aircraft. The system is devised to translate the data into an industry standard open protocol -SAE AS-5370- and then thereafter route the data to the 1900D's digital flight data recorder by applying a fault tolerant fiber optic network. The DFDAU system involves seven identical DFDAUs linked by fiber on the 1900D. Each DFDAU is able to capture physical parameters up to 32 sources like engine sensors, navigation, traffic collision avoidance system, gyros, position and force sensors along with the warning, deicing and other important systems, cockpit controls, autopilot, flight instruments, altitude and the Global positioning system, flight control surface position sensors. (Fiber optic networks for flight data recorders) Practically, the aerospace platforms universally have the capacity to take advantage of the distributed fiber optic sensors that could be applied in varied range of parameters. The military and commercial aircrafts presents bewildering maintenance costs presently soaring to tens of billions dollars in annual terms. The diagnostic system necessitates the system that can make way for the performance and the maintenance to be performed when required. This would permit improved levels of safety by insuring that essential tasks are being performed while reducing the amount of costs by eliminating the expensive and unnecessary amounts of procedures. Additional enhancement in safety and performance can be generated by integrating such systems into control systems to improve over that of flight control and assessment of in-flight damage. The applications of test beds to demonstrate the usage of distributed fiber sensor systems are seen in terms of reusable launch vehicle development programs which are advanced. (Fiber Optic Distributed Sensing Systems for Harsh Aerospace Environments) Delta Clipper is one such application that had a system of fiber gathering based strain sensors integrated into its hydrogen fuel tank. This system at the beginning operated as backup to a set of electrical strain gages to represent new technology. Practically, some of the program managers were very doubtful regarding its usage. By the end of the program the intention had varied from the ‘why to apply optic grating based strain sensors while we are having electrical ones on board' to the ‘lets scrap the electrical strain gages that perform poorly and only use the fiber optic grating strain gages'. (Fiber Optic Distributed Sensing Systems for Harsh Aerospace Environments) The advantages of this is seen in the possibility that the Fiber optic grating strain sensors can conveniently be grouped directly into a composite hydrogen tank becoming an important aspect of the structure, they do not fall when vibration and shock attacks; the fiber optic grating strain gages do not perform as an electrical hazard, they are light weight, superior in terms of environmental aspects, easy to install and can be multiplied in numbers through a single fiber line. Since fiber sensors persistently applied and proven in such advanced systems, the persistent decline in cost as a result of advances in the telecommunication and optoelectronic industries will continue to provide more cost effective types of applications for the purpose of military transports, military fighters, and commercial aviation. (Fiber Optic Distributed Sensing Systems for Harsh Aerospace Environments) The in-Flight Entertainment has attained a high level of sophistication with the inception of a high bandwidth system by Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, IA known as Passport. The system facilitates varied passenger amenities and also the Internet access. The system involves a fiber optic structure, associated with expanded-beam fiber-optic interconnects, an ATM switch and a downstream copper distribution system. The system servers originate optical digital signals and travel on the fiber structure. In its path downstream it converts to a Fire Wire distribution network that provides the signals to electronics boxes at individual passenger seats. The system incorporates the fiber-optic expanded beam interconnection technology from Tyco Electronics, Harrisburg, PA. Such connectors provide high dependability in extreme circumstances entailing thermal, vibration and mechanical stability for reliable transition of the light beams from one fiber to another. Other developments over a copper based system incorporate freedom from electromagnetic interference and crosstalk. (Fiber Optics Lift Aircraft Video-on-Demand Systems) The fiber system also declines considerably the weight and provides non-sparking contacts. The expanded beam technology safeguards and seals each fiber faces and ferrule behind a spherical lens instead of butting two fiber ends together. Such interconnection entails a precision coupling of fiber-optic signals without having physical contact at the fiber-to-fiber interfaces. The connectors modular format simplifies manufacturing, making it to be competitive in economic terms with traditional interconnect technologies. The blind-mating is facilitated by the precision alignment pins; those which are quite integral to the connector. The Passport has already functioned successfully without flaws for a year in commercial aircraft and the technology has surpassed to military aircraft for in-flight networks. Tyco also works towards the expansion of beam fiber optic connector technology to discover its wide application in the rugged industrial usages. Such new fiber optic connectors also cater to the avionics standard ARINC 628 for IFE systems. (Fiber Optics Lift Aircraft Video-on-Demand Systems) The fiber optic technology being developed by NASA Dryden Flight Research Center — DFRC, Edwards, California appears to be an integral element of future aircraft system in the development programs for fighter aircraft, and new large transport aircraft, and have considered fiber optic technology as an important part of future aircraft systems. The traditional fly-by-wire system configurations sometimes necessitate unique interfaces for each fight control surface actuator that results in a large amount of wiring. The Fiber optics has been regarded as aerospace vehicle application due to its high bandwidth capability, immunity to electromagnetic interference — EMI, and considerable weight savings. This technology has been applied in a new smart actuator as the primary communication interface. The application of fiber optics makes easier system integration and considerably decreased the wire count. The flight test outcomes revealed that fiber optics could be conveniently being applied in aircraft systems and identified critical areas of development of fly-by-light technology. The smart actuator flight test program has demonstrated the possibility of fault monitoring, in-flight local control and redundancy management of surface actuator. (Zavala, Eddie. Fiber Optic Experience with the Smart Actuation System on the F-18 Systems Research Aircraft Eddie Zavala Dryden Flight Research Center Edwards, California) As the flight test reveals the presentation of the smart actuator was exceptional and compared very well to that of the standard F-18 aileron actuator. Irrespective of the fact that the serial interface of the smart actuator could have been traditional forms of electrical interface, valuable fiber optic experience was being attained via the means of application of 1773 communication links. The system integration becomes more effective and simple in terms of bringing about a reduction of both installation time and cable harness weight considerably. The fiber optic interface, however, complicated the system of integration tests. The smart actuator program brought out the significant areas of development for the general application of fiber optics in aerospace vehicle systems. Such critical areas apply to a broad range of fiber optic applications and will thereby influence the system of operation and reliability unless specific attention and considerable progress is being made. (Zavala, Eddie. Fiber Optic Experience with the Smart Actuation System on the F-18 Systems Research Aircraft Eddie Zavala Dryden Flight Research Center Edwards, California)

My American Dream

The American dream can have so many different meanings to so many different people around our country. This is what makes the American dream so wonderful, the fact that you get to determine your dream is in some cases the American dream for some people already! Luckily I myself am able to determine my American dream. I have always thought of my American dream of being able to live a simple life in which I am able to have a stable job that I enjoy.Most importantly though is I would like to not only have free time and do things that enjoy like watch my favorite sports team or spend time with my friends. Overall I guess you could just say that I would just like to live my life to the fullest. Some other things that I would like to be included in my American dream is being able to manage my time the way I want to, although this sounds like a very simple wish in my opinion people don’t realize how much time can dictate your life.So many times I find myself missing out on the opport unity to do something simply because there wasn’t enough time. Lastly but most importantly I dream of living a long-term healthy life because no matter what you wish for, you would never be able to enjoy it without your health. I believe that my American dream is reasonable and achievable and one day I hope to end up getting to live a life similar to this.

Hamlet as a Critical Study Essay

Why is Hamlet still relevant to our studies regardless of the centuries that have passed since its production? Is it worthy in continuing to be a critical study? The reinterpretation that Shakespeare created of Hamlet was based on a number of previous plays including the 12th century Danish Amleth, both these plays are situated around the main theme of being revenge tragedies. The prime aspect of why Hamlet will continue to be relevant as a critical study is due to the themes that the play is centralised around such as existentialism, corruption and illusion vs. eality. These universal themes engage audiences of any society, even four centuries later, creating a timeless classic. The literary devices utilised within the play, such as the iambic pentameter, antithetical language and word play create an engaging atmosphere which captures the imagination of any audience making it worthy of a critical study. The ambiguity, open ended, and unanswered questions that Shakespeare utilises leaves the audience open to interpretation, thus allowing the play to relate to the specific context to which it is being viewed and studied. This makes it worthy of a critical study as a personal response is erected and the audience is emotionally involved with the play as they find common grounds with the universality of themes and notions presented. This can be seen through differing productions of Hamlet such as Damien Ryans play and Tony Richardsons film, which are directed to sustain an audiences engagement regardless of the context. Shakespeare uses techniques such as metatheatre and a mouse-trap to further engage the audience and reflect on himself respectively as the audience can see that both Shakespeare and Hamlet use the theatricality of the play to withdraw emotion from their selected audience. Through these techniques and thematic concerns, along with the central plot, it is shown why Hamlet is worthy of critical study. Act I Scene V of Hamlet serves as a key scene in the play as it is when Hamlet is commanded by the ghost to revenge his â€Å"foul and most unnatural murder. † In this scene Hamlet is told that Claudius is to blame for the death of his father and the ghost exhorts Hamlet to seek revenge, telling him that Claudius has corrupted Denmark and corrupted Gertrude, having taken her from the pure love of her first marriage and seduced her in the foul lust of their incestuous union. Corruption is exposed within this scene due to the focus that the ghost sets on Gertrude and her domestic affairs rather than the political state that Denmark is undergoing. The ghost has exposed himself to Hamlet for the first and last time as the audience is told, and rather than focusing on the political state of the country as the honourable king would do, the ghost insists on complaining about his beloved Gertrude marrying his brother, the ghost even says â€Å"Let not the royal bed of Denmark be a couch for luxury and damned incest†. This represents corruption as the audience would have expectations of the original king to have a higher concentration for the future of his country rather than the scandalous affairs of his widow. An act of corruption is also exposed to the audience when Hamlet learns that Claudius, the machiavellian character, has performed the shocking act of killing a king also known as regicide, the ghost explains Claudius to be â€Å"the serpent which did sting thy fathers life now wears his crown† which presents the contextual view of regicide, as he portrays him in a negative manner. Contextually, the Elizabethans watching the play would have found these acts of treason completely taboo and unacceptable emphasising the density of corruption in the scene and even to this day, such acts of treason have a severe penalty as they are completely deplorable. Through this we can see the significance of the situation and how it relates to any context making it worthy of a critical study. In two contrasting productions of Hamlet, the ghost is presented in two opposing views entirely. In Damian Ryan’s production, the ghost is introduced to the audience in a ripped up, run down trench coat, he is barefoot and wrapped in a rope. The ghost is presented to us as exhausted and weak, contrary to the king that he was before. Damian Ryan choses to portray the ghost in a modest way in comparison to the way he dressed when he was king. The use of these costume and props may serve as a representation of the after life to the audience in explaining that after death, it does not matter whether a man dies a king or a peasant, in the after life all will be the same. The lighting that is used during this scene is spotlight focusing directly on the ghost himself making him the main point of interest yet sometimes it was clearly seen that the light would travel both in front and behind him representing the purgatory state that the ghost was in as he was in a phase of in-between where the ghost had not entirely crossed over yet. Through the lighting this was portrayed to the audience, showing the lighting and film techniques create representations of what idea may be desired to be presented. In contrast to this, in the Tony Richardson adaptation of Hamlet, the ghost is not even seen by the audience. What can be assumed though, is that the ghost appeared in armour as Horatio states â€Å"yes, my lord, he wore his beaver up. † the ghost being presented in armour opposes the ghost in Damian Ryan’s production as in the film, this representation may present the king as a symbol of authority even after his death. We are also told that the ghost is wearing the same armour the king wore during the last battle he fought against Fortinbras, this presents symbolism as the king is shown as a influential character, not presented as weak because of purgatory. Taking into consideration that the king set the play into motion therefore the audience is aware of the influence he carries. A film technique that was used in Tony Richardsons production was the absence of the kings figure. Although the audience was aware of his presence, we are never exposed to him. This raises further ambiguity over the reality of the ghost presenting the idea of illusion and reality. An intricate web of illusions vs reality is also depicted in this scene as the notion of a ghost or apparition appearing to someone was not a complete surprise during the Elizabethan era, but during this context, a spiritual form appearing could mean several distinct ideas. When a ghost appeared, people believed it could either be an angry spirit seeking revenge, a devil in disguise as a trustworthy figure or simply a projection of one’s imagination. However Hamlet seems to be surprised at the sight of his passed father standing before him but why is this? Ambiguity is raised in this scene as the audience questions whether the ghost is Hamlets imagination or the real spirit of King Hamlet reaching out to his son. Due to the Elizabethan audience that the play was originally written for, a religious view must be taken into consideration, the main religions circling at the time were the Protestants, who believed ghosts were a figment of imagination and the Catholics who believed they were real spirits. The ambiguity of this scene is left in question as we know from Horatio, Bernardo and Francisco that the ghost was real and not simply Hamlets imagination because the ghost had appeared to them, in contrast to the ghost being invisible to Hamlets mother later in the play. This all depicts illusion vs reality as the audience is left questioning what is real and what isn’t leaving the unanswered questions open to be interpreted. Therefore, building a personal response to the reality of the ghost, making it worthy of a critical study. A literary device employed by Shakespeare in the scene is the iambic pentameter, throughout the play the audience learns that through the presentation of a characters speech, the interest or the state of mind can be easily depicted by Shakespeare’s device. When a character is speaking in prose, they are completely engaged in the conversation and the rhythmic flow creates a certain interest with both the audience and the character they are conversing with. In this scene, the ghost clearly speaks to Hamlet in prose, this is due to the notion that what the ghost is confiding in Hamlet is clearly important and the use of the iambic pentameter creates a flow of interest so that both the audience, and Hamlet are engaged in what is being spoken. Contrary to this, Hamlet replies in single sentences such as â€Å"Murder! â€Å", although this does not necessarily mean that Hamlet is disinterested, it could present the idea that Hamlet’s mind is too preoccupied with gathering the many thoughts that the ghost has presented. From this literary device, it is clearly illustrated that Hamlet is clearly slightly confused and shocked, trying to process his thoughts. Although the audience is not told this, a personal response would suggest this idea as the ambiguity that is presented. Through this personal response it is clearly shown that Hamlet will continue to be worthy of a critical study. This point in the play can be considered the pivotal event and sets the main plot into notion, also developing the main character of Hamlet as the ambiguity created between the contrasting themes of illusion and reality. It is directly after this scene that Hamlet starts to feign madness in the play and although the audience is well aware of the reality that Hamlet is merely alluding everyone into believing he is mad, the characters in the play start to question his sanity. This shows Hamlet to be an enigmatic character as there is always more to him than the characters in the play can figure out. Hamlet is presented as overly analytical and indecisive during the attempts to avenge the death of his father. Throughout the play, Hamlet is always held back by his consideration of religion, beliefs and the notion of doubt regarding the honesty of the ghost. A view into the mindset of Hamlet is presented though his thoughts and actions as we can see the existentialist character build within him. We see him often think about the afterlife and questioning the quality of someone’s afterlife according to his moment of death, we even see Hamlet contemplate suicide. â€Å"The everlasting had not fix’d his cannon gainst self-slaughter† shows the struggle within Hamlet as he despises his life’s conditions of the moment and wishes he could end it. The character Hamlet is aware of morals and knows that suicide would lead to hell, therefore he would rather live in â€Å"an unweeded garden† rather than suffer the consequences. Another way the audience is exposed to why Hamlet is a person of morals is due to the desire to avenge his father, although this is carried out by a recurring impossibility. Yet, when Hamlet returns from his uncompleted trip to England, we can see the character more determined on Claudius’s death than any other part of the play, he realises he must serve action. Hamlet presents a serious intent to end his inaction and indecisiveness when he proclaims â€Å"O, from this time forth my thoughts be bloody ore be nothing worth† explaining to the audience that his main focus will be revenge on Claudius to avenge his father. Although Hamlet is portrayed as the anti-hero in the play, and the audience create a personal response of frustration at his inaction and over thinking, he is eventually successful in overcoming the in-action and finally seeking what was asked of him by his father. Hamlet becomes aware that the indecisiveness is due to a lack of self determination and starts focusing solely on revenge.

Managing financial resources in health and social care Essay

Managing financial resources in health and social care - Essay Example One more key principal that the company may follow is that past costs should not be taken into the consideration for the future. The company should meet its all costs related with business control within stipulated time frame. If costs of earlier period are recovered in future period then it will be a wrong step from the organization. The organization can go for activity based costing. It will help the organization to measure each and every step of different activities. In this way the company can keep firm controls on its different activities. The organization needs information related with the different financial indicators of the company. Different information is EBITDA, revenue, earning per shares, profit before tax, dividend distribution, cash inflows of the company and different acquisition costs. All these information were very important for CareTech holding to manage their financial resources. EBITDA helps the organization to measure it operating profitability. This information is very important for the company to manage their operating expenses. It helps the organization to measure its core profitability. Revenue informs the organization about the amount of money that, the company earns from its different activities. Earnings per shares talks about the profitability of the company. The company’s profit related to each outstanding share can be measured with the help this indicator. PBT helps the organization to understand all its profit before paying tax. It gives significant importance to the organization. Cash inflows related information helps the company to understand and measure different cash inflows within a fixed time period. The Company can get significant information from their acquisition related costs. It will help the organization to understand different costs related with their recent acquisitions. Dividend distribution is also a very important aspect as far as the stakeholders are

Legal Aspects of Health Care College Case Study

Legal Aspects of Health Care College - Case Study Example Dr. William may also partially answer to the charges against him and partially demur to the complaint. "364.(a) No action based upon the health care provider's professional negligence may be commenced unless the defendant has been given at least 90 days' prior notice of the intention to commence the action." A subpoena refers to the process whereby a person is asked to appear in the court to testify in a case as a witness. Sections 1985 to 1997 of the California Code of Civil Procedures provide details on the conduct and types of subpoena. The person may be asked to personally present in the court to testify (depending upon the contents of subpoena) and provide expert opinion on a process in which he has expertise in; or he/ she may be asked to bring a book, record or any other form of document as evidences. In responding to a subpoena, the obligations may include producing personal record (if these are in possession) for Joan's treatment at the clinic; and providing professional opinion as to the sequence of events, conduct of professional expertise by Dr. Williams, etc. If a person provides false reports and testifies incorrectly, it may result in court taking actions against the subpoenaed (the person who is issued a subpoena). Thus, there is obligation to truthfully and accurately provide all required information to the court. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was developed to protect 'individually identifiable health information' in any form. The term individually identifiable health information is defined by the Act as: the individual's past, present or future physical or mental health or condition, the provision of health care to the individual, or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to the individual, and that identifies the individual or for which there is a reasonable basis to believe it can be used to identify the individual. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009). As appears from the case, Dr. Williams showed Joan's medical records to his friend and thus showed him the provision of health care to Joan. This is in violation of HIPAA. As per the Act, he was not supposed to share this information with anyone

Learning Processes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Learning Processes - Research Paper Example For example, typewriters may not be a good idea for drafting letters in the current world which forced even experienced typewriters to learn computers and its application software. This paper briefly analyses the learning processes, its effects on behavior and thinking. â€Å"Learning is a process leading to relatively permanent behavioral change or potential behavioral change. As we learn, we alter the way we perceive our environment, the way we interpret the incoming stimuli, and therefore the way we behave† (Psychology 101, 2003). Learning is definitely observable. For example, a child who suffers burns while touching the candle flame will never repeat it because of his learning that flames can cause burning and pain. In other words, the child learns to modify his behavior while seeing a candle flame which is observable. In other words learning will help a person to improve or modify his behaviors. It is not necessary that learning always result in improvement; in some cases, learning results in adjustments rather than improvements. For example, most of the people are nowadays complain about the enormous stress they were undergoing. All these stresses are the result of improper adjustments. Through learning, a person will be capable of pr oper adjustments and the release of tension. A fresher will always face different kinds of difficulties while joining an organization. But experience or learning will reduce his difficulty levels while performing later. â€Å"Learning implies the acquisition of knowledge from experience, while thinking involves the conscious processing and use of knowledge† (Learning and thinking: what science tells us about teaching, 2007). Like the way in which behavior is associated with learning, thinking is also related to learning. A person who knows nothing about computers may change his perceptions or thinking about computers once he learned it. Same way, learning helps a person to think differently.

The O.J. Simpson Murder Case Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The O.J. Simpson Murder Case - Term Paper Example He is also known for his world record breaking run in the USC sprint relay quartet at the NCAA track championships in Provo, Utah. In 1968, he won the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, and the Walter Camp Award. He also holds the record for the Heisman's largest margin of victory. Being American Football League's Buffalo Bills' first overall pick in the 1969 Common Draft, he was also the first professional football player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. He also holds the record for the highest yards-per-game average in a single season. He was a great figure in the world of sports and is idolized by many sportsmen. He was also inducted to Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. O.J Simpson also starred in some movies. His career ranges from dramatic to comedic movies. His dramatic movies include The Cassandra Crossing, Capricorn One, The Klansman and The Towering Inferno. His comedy movies include The Naked Gun Trilogy and Back to the Beach. He had a good career in movies a nd had a successful run in acting in ads one of which was about a comic book. He quickly sprang up to status of a celebrity with a huge following. He started his own film production company called Orenthal Productions in 1979. NBC was considering airing his series called Frogmen but the project was cancelled when he was arrested for murder. Known mostly due to his career in professional football and being a respected commentator, everything related to O.J Simpson was of public interest. On June 13, 1994, O.J Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were found murdered outside Brown's Bundy Drive condo in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, California. O.J Simpson immediately became the prime suspect of the crime due to some evidence that included a 911 call made by Nicole Brown on January 1, 1989 in which she informed the police that O.J Simpson would hurt her physically. Simpson could be heard yelling in the background of that call. The two were di vorced 2 years prior to the murders. Simpson was not located immediately after the incident. There were speculations that he might have committed suicide after a letter by him was presented by his friend, Robert Kardashian, who was also one of his defense lawyers. He was, however, spotted later when one of his friends was being pursued. A low-speed chase ensued as Simpson threatened to commit suicide. 8 hours later, the chase ended and Simpson agreed to surrender to the police. He was allowed to speak to his mother before his arrest. He spent one hour with her. (F. Lee Bailey & Jean Rabe, 2008) On June 20, 1994, Simpson pleaded not guilty to both murders when he was arraigned. The grand jury that was called initially to determine whether to indict Simpson for murders was dismissed on June 23 as there were qualms about the attainment of an unbiased result. Media had excessive coverage regarding this case and it was suspected that the initial jury might lose its objectivity. Jill Shiv ely and Jose Camacho testified in the court with Jill saying that she saw Simpson’s car in the vicinity of the place of incident and Jose identifying the fact that he sold a knife to Simpson which was quite similar to the one that was used in the murders. They sold their stories to newspapers and were not presented in the court as witnesses afterwards. (L. Jones, Thomas, n.d) On July 7, it was ruled that Simpson was to be brought to trial

New Venture Development Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

New Venture Development Business Plan - Essay Example It is a private company incorporated in Hong Kong. There is a shift towards consumption of organic foods in China, especially in Hong Kong city because of extensive campaigns urging people to embrace organic products. Increasing population, high number of food poisoning scares as well as need for healthy eating is driving demand of organic vegetables and fruits to the roof in Hong Kong. Therefore, organic products markets is growing rapidly and is promising higher returns to investors. The business is a limited private company owned by a single person. The owner of the company contributed HK$106,000 and borrowed HK$60,000 to finance start-up and part of the working capital. Table of Contents 4.4 Regulatory requirements 8 4.5 Industry challengers 9 5.0 Customer 9 5.1 Understanding the customer 9 5.2 Target customer profile 10 6.0 Competition 10 6.1 Competitor Analysis 10 6.1.1 Direct Competitors 11 6.1.2 Indirect Competitors 11 6.2 Competitive analysis 11 6.2.1 Competitive Advantages 11 6.3 Entry and Growth Strategy 12 7.1 Objectives 13 7.5 The Product 14 8.1 Overview 15 8.2 Pricing strategy 15 8.3 Sales Tactics 16 8.4 Advertising and Promotion 16 8.5 Marketing Communications Strategy 16 9.0 Operations Plan 17 10.2 Personnel Plan 19 11.1 Start-up Summary 20 11.3 Breakeven analysis 21 11.4 Balance Sheet 21 11.5 Income Statement 21 11.6 Cash Flows 21 13.0 References 23 14.0 Appendixes 24 1.0 Introduction The organic vegetable and fruit market has been growing steadily in Hong Kong. This is because disposable income of people in China, especially Hong Kong is steadily increasing. In addition, in recent years, there have been incidences of food poisoning caused by chemical components in food and more people are shying away from chemically processed food. They are becoming more health conscious and are spending thousands of dollars to purchase organic products, especially food. Therefore, the market segment for organic vegetables and fruits is promising. 2.0 The orga nic vegetable concept After working in a grocery shop for over one year, Tim Chan discovered that most consumers in Hong Kong were turning to organic foods especially vegetables and fruits because they were consumed on daily basis. This is because of rising concerns of food poisoning and danger posed by processed and non-organic food to people’s health as informed by the media and health care practitioners. Four in every eighty consumers who visited the food store where Tim Chan worked asked for organic fruits and vegetables. Therefore, Tim Chan identified a growing opportunity to run an organic food store that specialized in vegetables and fruits sourced locally and from western countries. 3.0 Opportunity Rational China is one of the fast growing and lucrative markets in the world with a huge business promise to thirsty entrepreneurs and business persons. As disposable income increases in urban China, people are more preoccupied with higher standard of living and are turning to organic products, especially food to achieve better health status. China’s Urban and rural population spent between 37.9% and 43.7% of their disposable income on food (Lu ,2010). The market for organic food is big and unquenchable. According to (NTZE 2010), the supply of organic foods in China, especially Hong Kong is very low and there is need to increase supply. In addition, food and grocery market segment is expected to grow by 6.6% and 6.1% in 2011 and 2012 respectively. High demand for organic frui

Determine whether compensation and overtime applies to exempt and Essay - 1

Determine whether compensation and overtime applies to exempt and non-exempt security personnel in your state - Essay Example in our numbers lately and we need to play catch up.† â€Å"Will we be receiving overtime?† Bob the employee inquires, though he already knows the response. â€Å"Good one, that’s why we moved you to salary remember?† Joe chuckles as he walks back to his office. Fairness, in workers time and effort, versus pay has long been a minefield for dispute in the workplace. Typically speaking the worker tends to feel overworked and underpaid, and the owner tends to feel the employee is underworked and overpaid. Over the years lawsuits on compensation and overtime have arisen many times, and the decisions made by the Supreme Court in interpreting the constitution have greatly impacted the way these two are handled. So in order to investigate these laws and how they are applied in greater detail we are going to take one group of employees, security personnel, and see how overtime and compensation are regulated for them in the state of Texas. We will do this by defining overtime, by looking at what FLSA and the states say, by determining who is considered exempt and non-exempt employees, and by looking at how the United States Supreme Court case of Garcia v. City of San Antonio applies. The exact definition of overtime is any work done in addition to regular working hours (Lovett, 2011). However this leads to the question what are regular working hours? Regular working hours can be determined in several ways. The first way is by custom. This means the amount of hours that is considered healthy or reasonable by society. In the United States the custom for regular working hours is forty hours a week. The second way regular working hours can be defined is by the practices of a given trade or profession. A regular working week for an air traffic controller, for example, is anywhere between fifty – seventy hours. The third way regular working hours can be determined is by legislation. This occurs through bills being passed through congress to regulate the work environment and

Case of Genie Essay Example for Free

Case of Genie Essay 1.Describe the case of Genie. What happened to her? Why is this case important? Genie was left in extreme isolation. She was kept in a back bedroom,tied to a toilet. She received little stimulation of any kind and was fed baby food.She was given no visual or other sensory stimulation.This case shows that infancy and childhood are critical times for brain development. 2.What have scientists learned about the way that the brain develops in children? Describe how this development happens. They have learned that there are critical periods for brain development. They discovered that parents fill a vital role in the development of their child’s brain through their interactions with the child.Parents and caregivers must provide proper stimulation to help develop connections. Scientists believed that childrens brains were predetermined to a great extent in terms of how they would develop. However, scientists now know that an infants experiences help determine how connections are formed and which pathways will develop in the brain. Thus, rather than being predetermined, an infants brain is a work in progress, influenced not only by his or her genetics, but also the surrounding world. 3.Describe how speech generating devices work. Explain the importance of augmentive communication. Speech generating devices are electronic devices that help individuals communicate verbally. Augmentive communication is important because it helps individuals produce or comprehend written or spoken language.These communication devices can be important tools to help children with speech difficulties communicate with parents, teachers, friends, and others in their lives Critical Thinking Questions 1.What do scientists mean when they say that there are critical periods for brain development? Why are these periods important? When scientist say that there are critical periods for brain development they  mean that if a child misses that period theyll be noticeably different from others in the same age group. These periods are important because they’ll need them all throughout life.

Benefits of music therapy

Benefits of music therapy Benefits of Music Therapy Today, there are many different techniques of health improvement and general well being in music therapy. It’s true no matter where we are born music is identified as an expression we and everyone seems to love it. We are not of the same culture yet music can pick us up, create or refresh memories, carry us through an emotional journey by listening to the lyrics or simply be enjoyed. This paper explores various techniques and experiences utilized in music therapy. The First Known Use of Music Therapy As far back as biblical time, music was understood to be an instrument of healing. According to the book of Samuel I, when King Saul was beset by â€Å"It came to pass, when the evil spirit from God†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å" hisservants counseled him to find a harpist whose playing might mend his troubled soul. A young shepherd named David, reputed to be a skilled musician, was quickly summoned. David â€Å"took a harp and played with his hand so Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.† (The Bible, King James Version, 1 Samuel 16:23) Music Therapy with Children and Adolescents The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 in summary that handicapped or disabled children in the United States are given a free education. Music Therapy ismentionedas a Services Program Option which can be written in a child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP). A child with special needs can be referred to music therapy to help them improve their communication, cognitive skills, sensory-motor or perceptual-motor skills, as well as social, emotional and psychological needs. A Music Therapist works to change a specific behavior, enhance their skills, improve the child’s overall condition or even teach the child a new skill in playing a musical instrument or singing.(Hanser, 1999) Statically it was found in the 1998 American Music Therapy Associate (AMTA) membership that Music Therapists served the following children cases (in order of frequency):developmentally disabled, behaviorally disordered, emotionally disturbed, physically disabled, school age population, multiply disabled, speech impaired, autistic, visually impaired, neurologically impaired, hearing impaired, substance abuse, abused or sexually abused, early childhood, dual diagnosed, and head injured.(AMTA, 1998).There are other known cases but not limited to the following; Rett Syndrome, AIDS, eating disorders, medical needs, burns, bereavement, Downs Syndrome, premature birth and neonatal needs, spinal cord injuries and Williams Syndrome. In addition, non-disabled children receive music therapy and benefit from it.(Hanser, 1999) Children are able to gain self-awareness through movement to music and social skills through group music therapy. For example, an autistic child who previously disengaged human interaction may communicate with a therapist who gives positive music experiences since exploring music is non-threatening. Music has the advantage of demanding attention that a visual stimulus cannot, because it intrudes immediately through ears that cannot be closed voluntarily. Through music therapy, the child may encounter their first close relationship with a non-family member. (Hanser, 1999) Based on research with infants in a Provo, UT intensive care unitit was determined that babies who were sung to on a regular basis were released from the unit 3-days earlier, digested more calories, and gained more weight than that compared to a group of infants notexposedto periods of song. (Gaynor, 1999) Music Therapy with Adults The psychological distress of being diagnosed with a medical condition or illness is generally something that the medical field overlooks in medical treatment. In many cases the avenues leadingto treatment in these various conditions provoke anxiety and tend to cause emotional reaction as well or even result in a mental disorder.(Hanser, 1999) Music therapy includes procedures for relaxation which reduces anxiety and in some cases dilutes our concentration away from pain and discomfort. Often, the need for medication orin some casesrestraints are minimized when music therapy is introduced. (Hanser, 1999) A primary treatment technique used to treat mental disorders is psychotherapy and musicbeing played takes a unique role in such. The music therapy setting becomes a microcosm, eliciting interactive social behaviors which may be shaped as therapy progresses. Reactions to and perceptions of music, discussions of musical themes and problem solving in a musical context are parallel behaviors for responding to similar situations outside the therapy environment. Dealing with these issues in the supportive and positive music setting can assist the person in tackling the real problem. Also patients may begin to understand their own feelings when they listen to a song that portrays their own feelings or ideas. (Hanser, 1999) Special techniques of music therapy of music therapy are used in other areas for adults those documented but not limited to conditions as posttraumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and Parkinson’s disease. There are even areas in forensic psychiatricwhere people were able to process painful events through music therapy, the use of music allowed them to access emotions by engaging in expression. (Hanser, 1999) In a research study completed by anAustin TX medical Center resulted in approximately fifty-percent of women in childbirth that listened to music during childbirth didn’t need any anesthesia. As briefly mentioned earlier and to emphasize, the â€Å"music stimulation increasesendorphin release and this decreases the need for medication. It also provides a distraction from the pain and relieves anxiety,† noted an author of the study. (Gaynor, 1999) Music Therapy with Older Adults Some of themain characteristics of musicarethat it brings excitement, energy and life to many people who may approach late life losses in cognitive and physical functions. This could also benefit persons losing a loved one or even losing their vocational identity. The most withdrawn and confused patients suffering from dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders are able to participate actively in music therapy sessions.This gained experience for such patients enhances self respect and can revitalize their usefulness to the community and others.(Hanser, 1999) Specifically, for people with dementia much as been written. There was a study conducted by Millard and Smith (1989) that a group of singing resulted in significantly higher vocal/verbal participation. It also resulted in less wandering and less disorientation captured in another study by Reigler (1980). (Chavin, 1991) At the end of life, preparing for death, music therapy allows individuals to express how they are feeling by choosing a song to listen to, by singing, by performing and by composing songs with the assistance from their music therapist. (Hanser,1999) In my own personal experience, one of my best friends at the age of 62 recently passed away as a result of an aggressive lung cancer. We were only aware of the cancer for 2-weeks. The last 3-days of her life wasexcruciating, she was in terrible pains and was pleading with us to not let her die. The only way to calm her down was by singing to her, she would relax, her breathing would become smooth, her pulse would register normal, the terrible heat of her body (side-effect from the highdosage of morphine) would cool down and she would even crack a smile. Truly it is simply amazing how music changed my precious friend’s condition at the end of her life. Instruments or Practices Used in Music Therapy Through the use of instruments in group musical activities work not only is used to activate handicapped children but to deepen their level of participation in a musical setting. It is documented that live music which can be adapted easily to the working situation has a greater impact in therapy than recorded music. The more severe the casesthen the more true this is displayed. (Nordoff and Robbins, 1971) Examples of activities include but are not limited to of the following; ‘The RhythmBand’, each person is given a variety of percussive instruments and they are encouraged to beat freely to the music they hear. The use of blowing instruments such as bird call, a tuned horn, flute like, whistleswhich all can add brightness of tonal color to a musical arrangement. In many cases where children were patients, they were not able to maneuver proper fingering so the one tone played needed to be incorporated into the musical selected by the therapist. Many other instruments can be played as well, stringed instruments, bells, triangles, xylophones, wood blocks and wooden clappers. (Nordoff and Robbins, 1965) Conclusion The passionformusic in my own life has beenbeneficialindealing with stress, depression, anxiety, infertility, illness, loss of loved onesand so much more.As in this report and otherwise, there are endless cases of research and experiences documented clearly showing the awesomeand most importantlypositive impact of music in people lives covering a huge range of conditions andcircumstances. References Chavin, Melanie, RMT-BC (1991).The Lost Chord.Mt. Airy, ElderSong Publications INC. Gaynor, Mitchell L., MD (1999).Sounds of Healing – A Physician Reveals the Therapeutic Power of Sound, Voice and Music.New York, Broadway Books, a division of Random House, INC. Hanser, Suzanne, Ed.D, MT-BC (1999)The New Music Therapist’s Handbook.Boston, Berklee Press Nordoff, Paul Robbins, Clive (1971).Music Therapy in Special Education.New York,TheJohn Day Company Nordoff, Paul Robbins, Clive (1965).Music Therapy for Handicapped Children.Blauvelt.Rudolf Steiner Publications, INC. Prophet Samuel,TheBible, King James Version

Malnutrition Effects on Quality Of Life

Malnutrition Effects on Quality Of Life The focus of this assessment is quality of life and specifically this paper considers how malnutrition affects quality of life of community settings patients. According to the Scottish Governments publication Older people living in community Nutrition needs, barrier and interventions: a literature review, malnutrition is an umbrella term for undernutrition, overnutrition and imbalance diet intake (The Scottish Government, 2009). Malnutrition has previously been described in the various ways (The Scottish Government, 2009). However, for purpose of this assessment the following term will be used as defined by World Health Organisation (WHO) the cellular imbalance between the supply of nutrients and energy and the bodys demand for them to ensure growth, maintenance, and specific functions (see European Nutrition for Health Alliance, 2005). According to Saunders, Smith and Stroud (2010) 2 per cent of the UK population is underweight: Body Mass Index (BMI) is lower than 18.5 kg/m. However, they agreed that patients could be still at risk of malnutrition whatever their BMI is (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). Malnutrition, as well as other factors, has negative effect on the persons quality of life (The Scottish Government, 2009). In the UK, hospitals admission rate and mortality were greatest in patients with BMI below 20 (kg/m2) (Teo and Wynne, 2001). During nutrition screening survey in the UK various settings it was found that malnutrition doubles risk of mortality in the hospital patients and triples morality in elderly patients in hospitals following discharged (RCN and NPSA, 2009). Care Homes nutrition survey shown that 30 per cent of service users recently admitted to care homes were at risk of malnutrition (RCN and NPSA, 2009). According to Hickson (2006), malnutrition may be secondary to certain health conditions which is increasing risks for patients to become malnourished and those risk factors will be discuss later in this assessment (Hickson, 2006 and Teo and Wynne, 2001). However, European Nutrition for Health Alliance (2005) argued that malnutrition should be classified as independent disease (European Nutrition for Health Alliance, 2005), its due to undernutrition has a negative effect on all organs systems such as muscle-skeleton, cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, endocrine systems and in addition, malnutrition has a psychosocial effect (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). It was found that undernutrition could cause following health conditions: in the healthy individuals and has advance exacerbation effects upon existent illnesses or injuries, reduced psychological wellbeing (increase anxiety, depression apathy, and loss of concentration and self-neglect) (Webb and Copeman, 1996 and Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). According to Morley and Kraenzle (1995), balanced diet in general, is improving cognitive and memory performance in elderly (see Vetta et al, 1999). Chandra (1993) found that undernutrition is depressing organism immune function (see Webb and Copeman, 1996). It could be due to impaired cell-mediated immunity and cytokine, complement and phagocyte function this most commonly could lead to developing bacterial and parasitic infections and poor wounds healing (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). Malnourished patients have reduced muscle function, loss of cardiac muscle and reduce cardiac output, which results in impact on the renal function (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). The same individuals have reduced respiratory response to oxygen deficit by poor diaphragmatic and respiratory muscle function (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010), increased risk of hypothermia, increase risk of falls and injuries (Webb and Copeman, 1996). In addition, redaction of fat and muscles mass are more obvious signs of malnutrition (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). According to Clayton (1991), malnourished elderly clients have a poor prognosis for recovery from following fractured femur, hypothermia, pressure ulceration and other conditions (Clayton, 1991). Fracture risk is high then calcium, magnesium and vitamin D intake is insufficient, during the weight loss bone mass is reducing as well (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). Early stage of malnutrition leads to loss of digestive enzymes that result in intolerance of lactose. The colon loses its ability to absorb liquid, electrolytes, and secretions of small and large bowels, which results in diarrhoea (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). According to Saunders, Smith and Stroud (2010), endocrine system is affected in malnourished patience. For example, chronic malnutrition will change the pancreatic exocrine function by reducing the insulin secretion (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). An author is currently working a nursing and residential care home for elderly patients as well as nursing and social recruitment agency, which is covering biggest part of the North West of England. Being allocated in hospitals and nursing homes the author noticed that patiences nutrition needs are being met well but where are still some areas for improvement. During the study carried out in the large the UK hospitals, it was found that 40 per cent patients admitted to hospitals were malnourished and two-thirds subsequently lost weight during their hospital stay (Teo and Wynne, 2001). During the service users meeting in the care home author working in, carried out in January this year, all 14 service users have stated that they are satisfied with food they are getting. However, two patients are still at risk of malnutrition. They have been referred to the GP for dietician support. The author strongly believes that nursing home is providing adequate food to the service users. Catering manager in the UK hospitals compare to chefs in nursing home have a small budge of  £11 to  £15 per patients a week (Teo and Wynne, 2001). The authors care home spends around  £30 per service user a week. However, in March 2007, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) carried out survey questioning nearly 2200 of their member relating nutrition issues. Survey has revealed that 42 per cent said the food provided for patients were below overage expectancy (RCN, 2011). In various reasons government and health profession organisations are now advising for routing screening of all patients admitted to any healthcare facilities (RCN and NPSA, 2009). In authors opinion, the main priority for addressing this issue is promoting patiences health and wellbeing and cutting financial cost. For example, annual financial cost of treatment malnutrition patience and any associated illnesses in the UK was estimated around 7.3 billion pounds. This figure includes treatment malnourished patience in the hospital setting, round 3.8 billion pounds and long-term care facility such as care home, round 2.6 billion (Elia M., et al., 2005). Causes of Malnutrition The author is currently looking after two service users who are scoring on the MUST. All two patients are elderly from 65 to 80 years old, with different background and health conditions. Patient No 1 is 87 years old female, was diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease, history of Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA), high blood pressure, right wrist fracture and Dysphasia. Current BMI is 19, which was stable after referral to dietician and commencing on oral supplements, than BMI was 17 back in the October 2010. Patient No 2 is 72 years old man, diagnosed with alcohol excess, CA oesophagus, Gout, Heart Failure. Current BMI is 23, which was stably increasing over past months following admission to nursing home, than his BMI was 17. Both patients have a poor appetite at present. Nursing homes staff cannot establish reasons for anorexia and BMI reduction in one patient. There are number of risk factors, which could cause malnutrition among elderly population. However, the most important factor leading to undernutrition is reducing of oral intake (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). Inadequate dietary intake is depending on various factors (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010), which could be divided into three main categories: medical, social and psychological (Hickson, 2006). Firstly, age related changes such as changing in appetite or sensory (Teo and Wynne, 2001). Working in the care homes author noticed, an appetite is reducing with advanced age. Some people refused or preferred to omit meals, for example, one patient does not take breakfast, then the author asked her why she is not taken breakfast that patient replied that she is not a breakfast person. In addition, during the study carried out in USA it was discovered that elderly population are consumed less energy intake and follow more traditional eating pattern then younger population (Teo and Wynne, 2001). Poor appetite or anorexia is a most common factor leading to malnutrition in both young and old generation (Hickson, 2006). However, during the study commenced by Roberts et al (1994), it was found that ageing seemed to affect the ability to control food intake and weight lost will take longer to re-gains in elderly men compare to young (see Hickson, 2006). In addition, according to work of De Castro (1993), older people are less responsive to stomach contents than younger people, in term of hunger (see Hickson, 2006). Anorexia may occur as process of aging as well as during underlying illnesses (Teo and Wynne, 2001 and Hickson, 2006). Hetherington (1998) argued that changing in taste and smell could lead to loss of appetite through a perceived decline in the pleasantness of food. Loss of taste and smell could be associated with advance age and medications therapy mechanism of these changes are remains unknown (see Hickson, 2006). In authors care environment patients prefer to eat strong flavour and taste meals such as a roast meat with gravy, bacon, fish which are being served with traditional sauces or salt and vinegar to encourage patients to their food. According to Hickson (2006), a few works have been done to find out that improving the flavour of the food can improve diet intake and follow weight increase in hospitals and community healthcare patients (Hickson, 2006). A few patients do not like vegetables, intake of which have being recommended by NHS 5 a day complain based on the WHO (NHS, 2009). Patient No 1 and Patient No 2 do not have own teeth which is reducing ability to chew tender food. For both patients oral problems have not been reported. However, according to Finch et al (1998), National Diet and Nutrition survey, energy consumption was lower in edentate individuals compare to individuals with own teeth (see Hickson, 2006). Dysphasia or swallowing problem is leading concern in reducing dietary intake (Hickson 2006). The author has experienced that often care and catering staff do not understand the different between soft and liquidised diet and which diet should be given to each patients with dysphasia. Moreover, care staff that is responsible for feeding patients, needed assistant, every often do not understand the sings for swallowing problem. This concern has been addressed in the care home that the author is working in by appointed care staff for appropriate training section provided by Liverpool Primary Care Trust (PCT). According to research carried out by Mowe et al (1994), swallowing problem is showing up in 64 per cent of in-patience elderly (see Hickson, 2006). In addition, Gariballa et al (1998) argued that post Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA) patients with Dysphasia had a worse nutrition status then those patients without swallowing problems (see Hickson, 2006). The author strongly believes that malnutrition caused by various factors combined together such as old age and health or mental health problem (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). In the UK, it was estimated that around 8 per cent of patients with chronic diseases living in the community are malnourished (Teo and Wynne, 2001). According to Hickson (2006), diseases-related malnutrition is usually associated with cancer, physical disabilities, endocrinology disorder and respiratory disease, gastrointestinal disorders, neurological disorders, sources of infection and other psychological factors such as depression and Dementia (Hickson, 2006 and Teo and Wynne, 2001). Medical factors increase the risk of patient to become malnourish through, for example, nausea or vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation, anorexia and malabsorption (Hickson, 2006). Cultural factors or social (Vetta et. al. 1999) and food habits are also playing an important role in developing malnutrition as independent illness (Hickson, 2006). As example, an individual who had a long-term hospital stay or had no nutrition support while in the community would not used to have full nutritional meals. Moreover, individual who has been admitted to the authors care home used to take fast food or sandwiches at all the time while at home, instead of cooked meals. According to Hickson (2006), there are lifestyles and social risk factors for malnutrition in elderly people are lack of knowledge about food, nutrition and cooking, isolation and loneliness, poverty, inability to shop or prepare food (Hickson, 2006). Dementia has a great effect on individuals relationship with food (Alzheimers Society, 2011). Dementia patients or patients with low mental status appeared to lost weight due to reducing self-feeding ability, acute sense of smell and taste that is depending on severalty and progression of disease (Teo and Wynne, 2001). Berkhout et al (1998) has confirmed that weight lost in demented patients is caused by patients ability to feed them rather than by dementia as illness (Hickson, 2006). According to Incalzi et al (1998), study carried out for in-hospitals patients found out that cognition is causing impairment to ability or desire to eat (see Hickson, 2006). Progressive dementia is usually associated with uncontrolled weight lost and changing eating habits (Claggett, 1989 see Hickson, 2006). Nutrition screening and risk assessment In 2007, RCN commenced Nutrition Now campaign, which has a wide response from members of public as well as members of multidisciplinary teams. The RCN Principles for Nutrition and Hydration were published in 2007. That principals aim to help of all health professionals grades to improve nutrition and hydration of patience. This paper is highlighting three principles of nursing care: accountability, responsibility and management to improve the patience nutrition and hydration (RCN 2011). Nutrition screening pathway, nutrition risk assessment are widely used which assist nursing staff to indentify the risk of malnutrition or/dehydration and appropriate actions to be taken. Risk of malnutrition screening should be a routine process in all healthcare settings (RCN and NPSA, 2009). In the authors care home as required all service users are being screened for malnutrition on the admission and once a month or more often if required, using Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) as recommended by government bodies and Care Quality Commission (CQC) as registration body. Part of the admission documentation is to collect and record patiences food likes and dislikes. According to Saunders, Smith and Stroud (2010), MUST is reliable and valid screening tool in diagnostic or prediction of malnutrition (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). However, nutrition assessment was only done for patients who have been referral to their GPs following scoring, weight loss of 1 to 2 per cen t per week, 5 per cent per month or 10 per cent over period of six months (Mitchell, 2003). According to RCN and NPSA (2009), purpose of nutritional assessment is details identification of nutritional status and for special dietary plan to be formulated and implicated (RCN and NPSA, 2009). In the authors care home, dietician or dieticians assistant based on the information provided by staff nurse on duty normally carries out the nutritional assessment. As far as author concerns, nutrition assessment should be done by care home nurses as they are working in close contact with patients and their families on the daily basis, know better persons food likes and dislikes. However, special nutrition trainings are not always available to the nursing home staff. This could lead to complicated nutrition issues not to be addressed as quickly as they should be due to community dieticians waiting time is usually 6 weeks. In the authors nursing home all necessary equipments are available such as weight scales and height measures. However, weight scales calibration has not been done which could lead to poor nutrition screening assessment (NPSA). After completing the MUST, the author and colleagues will formulate the personalised care plan for each patient in order to meet nutritional requirements. Nutrition care plan could be based on the information or guidance provided by dietician or other health professions. Treatment According to Hark and Morrison (2003), the nutrition needs of healthy older adults are mainly the same as for middle age adults (Hark and Morrison, 2003). The intake of food containing Calcium, Vitamin D, Folate, Vitamin B12 and B6 should be increased for the elderly population (Hark and Morrison, 2003). Protein intake recommendation is variable from 0.8 g/kg per day in the USA (Mitchell, 2003) to 0.75 g/kg in the UK (McKevith, 2009). However, according to Mitchell (2003), one established nutrition needs recommendation cannot be used for all ages population (Mitchell, 2003). In addition, patients lifestyle, height and weight should be taken in account (Mitchell, 2003). There are number of fundamental support of nutrition available at present such as enteral and parenteral nutrition support (Hark and Morrison, 2003). At this assessment only oral nutrition support (ONS) will be discussed. The aim of the nutrition support is to ensure an individual gets enough energy, proteins, macronutrients and micronutrients to meet patients nutrition requirements (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). Saunders, Smith and Stroud (2010) argued that provision of regular meals with better nutrition content, wide menu choice and assistant with feeding should be enough to meet nutrition requirement and reduce nutrition risk (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). Numerous studies show that nutrition support could reverse weight loss, only if underlying health conditions under control (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). However, not all patients react at the same way (Hickson, 2006). At what reasons care and treatment should take an account of individual needs and preferences (RCN and NPSA, 2009). In practice, knowledge of food preferences and past medical history, following personalised nutrition care plan, serving patients with small meals (Teo and Wynne, 2001) or using a small plate could encourage service user to finish all meal. Currently some of the UKs hospitals commenced to use red tray scheme for serving the meals to patients. A purpose of using red trays is to alert hospital staff that patience with red tray is at nutrition risk and need assistance or supervision with diet intake (Bradley and Rees, 2003 see Davis, 2007). Protection of mealtime scheme is also widely spread across the UK. The purpose of this scheme is to create an environment for hospital patients free from hospital activities and unnecessary disturbance during a mealtime. In addition, this scheme is to assist nursing staff with concentration on the meeting nutrition need of hospital patients (NS, 2007). People with Dementia could loss an ability to use cutlery that could lead to weight loss and malnutrition. Providing those patients with available finger food could improve nutrition status (Alzheimers society, 2011). Teo and Wynne (2001) argued that the possible benefits from using energy supplements in elderly patients have received little or no evaluation in clinical practice (Teo and Wynne, 2001). However, during the study carried out by Volkert et al (1996), it was found that patients consuming food supplement while in-patience and 6 months in community have develop positive nutritional status compare to group of patients without food supplements (see Teo and Wynne, 2001). The author has come across the situation then GP has refused to prescribe food supplement to one of the patience and recommended full fat milk instead. In addition, during controlled trial for six months in patients who have been discharged from hospital and prescribed ONS has no economic benefit. To compare, using ONS in community is costing more than using ONS in hospitals (Elia et al., 2005). However, malnourished patients using could be at risk of re-feeding syndrome, which could results in death (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). Re-feeding syndrome is associated with water retention leading to fluid overload due to decay of potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and sodium in blood plasma (Mallet, 2002). Saunders, Smith and Stroud (2010) recommended that during re-feeding saviour malnourished patients potassium, phosphate and magnesium should be prescribed and thiamine (for patients with history of alcohol excess) (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). Conclusion The UK elderly population is rising, currently about 16 per cent of the population is above 65 (Hickson, 2006) and by 2050 over 30 per cent European population will be over 60 which will result in prevalence of malnutrition to rise (European Nutrition for Health Alliance, 2005). Many changing associated with aging have been documented, however, how senescence leads to the health conditions, related to aging, is still unknown (Mitchell, 2003). It was found that ageing is leading to slow reduction of weight and modification in body composition. It is due to declines in bone, muscle mass and body cell mass. Bone mass reduced due to inadequate intake of Calcium and inadequate exposure skin to the sunlight to encourage production of Vitamin D (Sahyoun, 2002). In general, people are gaining weight until they 60th birthday and after gradually reducing weight, usually 10 per cent between 70 and 80 (Mitchell, 2003). Weight loss related to aging and malnutrition should be indentified during initial nutrition assessment. In addition, community healthcare is facing many concerns. Firstly, malnutrition remains under-recognized problem facing patients, their families and health professions (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). Secondly, according to, Hark and Morrison (2003) argued that there are no single physical or biochemical screening tools could accurate predict the nutrition status in elderly (Hark and Morrison, 2003). Food prices are constantly rising and ONS are costing too much to the local PCT. In the authors opinion, providing service users with good quality food, offer choice of menu and snacks between meals are solution to fight malnutrition. The significant role in education medical students and junior doctors in nutrition has widely recommended (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). However, inadequate knowledge in nutrition of nursing and care staff could increase risk of malnutrition (Saunders, Smith and Stroud, 2010). In the authors care home nutrition in elderly is not mandatory training for the care staff. Following this assessment, the author will provide relevant care staff with information on the nutrition in elderly service users. This could be achieved through supervision sections and face-to-face talks. Moreover, there it is possible, elderly population and their families should be informed about the latest nutrition recommendations related to their age, lifestyle and health conditions and should encouraged to apply those recommendations to individuals lives (Sahyoun, 2002).

George Washington :: essays research papers

The eldest of six children from his father's second marriage, George Washington was born into the landed gentry in 1732 at Wakefield Plantation, VA. Until reaching 16 years of age, he lived there and at other plantations along the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, including the one that later became known as Mount Vernon. His education was rudimentary, probably being obtained from tutors but possibly also from private schools, and he learned surveying. After he lost his father when he was 11 years old, his half-brother Lawrence, who had served in the Royal Navy, acted as his mentor. As a result, the youth acquired an interest in pursuing a naval career, but his mother discouraged him from doing so. At the age of 16, in 1748, Washington joined a surveying party sent out to the Shenandoah Valley by Lord Fairfax, a land baron. For the next few years, Washington conducted surveys in Virginia and present West Virginia and gained a lifetime interest in the West. In 1751-52 he also accompanied Lawrence on a visit he made to Barbados, West Indies, for health reasons just before his death. The next year, Washington began his military career when the royal governor appointed him to an adjutantship in the militia, as a major. That same year, as a gubernatorial emissary, accompanied by a guide, he traveled to Fort Le Boeuf, PA, in the Ohio River Valley, and delivered to French authorities an ultimatum to cease fortification and settlement in English territory. During the trip, he tried to better British relations with various Indian tribes. In 1754, winning the rank of lieutenant colonel and then colonel in the militia, Washington led a force that sought to challenge French control of the Ohio River Valley, but met defeat at Fort Necessity, PA - an event that helped trigger the French and Indian War (1754-63). Late in 1754, irked by the dilution of his rank because of the pending arrival of British regulars, he resigned his commission. That same year, he leased Mount Vernon, which he was to inherit in 1761. In 1755 Washington reentered military service with the courtesy title of colonel, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, and barely escaped death when the French defeated the general's forces in the Battle of the Monongahela, PA. As a reward for his bravery, Washington rewon his colonelcy and command of the Virginia militia forces, charged with defending the colony's frontier.

Comparing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Sign of Four Essay -- compar

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde â€Å"has left such a deeply painful impression on my heart that I do not know how I am ever to turn it again† -- Valdine Clemens That which is willed and that which is wanted can be as different as the mind and the heart.   The Victorian age in English Literature is known for its earnest obedience to a moralistic and highly structured social code of conduct; however, in the last decade of the 19th Century this order began to be questioned.   So dramatic was the change in thought that Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (published in 1883) and Doyle's The Sign of Four (published in 1890) can be used to display this breaking away from strict social and moral standards.   Stevenson's character Mr. Utterson can be used to personify the earnest social morality that the Victorian age is known for, while Doyle's protagonist Sherlock Holmes personifies the shift to more individualistic pursuits.  Ã‚   In their search for answers, Mr. Utterson and Sherlock Holmes exhibit very different motivations for investigating:   the fulfillment of social and moral obligations, and persona l satisfaction, respectively.   This can be shown by comparing and contrasting these two characters' reasons for getting involved, their methods of dispensing information during their investigations, and their results at the cases' conclusions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The characters' actions in the first paragraphs of each of these works is very revealing; Sherlock Holmes is injecting himself with cocaine and Mr. Utterson is described as having resisted the theater (that he enjoys) for over twenty years.   From these beginnings, it is obvious who the pleasure seeker is and who adheres to a strong sense of morals.   Although Mr. Utt... ... Valdine. The Return of the Repressed: Gothic Horror from The Castle of Otranto to Alien. Albany: State University of New York, 1999. Print. Doyle, Conan. The Sign of Four in The Complete Sherlock Holmes Barnes & Noble, Dayton, New Jersey, 1988. Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales Of Horror. London: Penguin, 2003. Print. Works Consulted Charyn, Jerome. â€Å"Who Is Hyde?† Afterword: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Bantam Books. Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1981. 105-114. Hume, David. â€Å"Of Moral and Social order.† An Introduction to Philosophy. Ed. G. Lee Bowie, Meredith W. Michaels and Robert C. Solomon. 4th ed. Harcourt College Publishers, 2000. 348-352 Mighall, Dr. Robert. A Geography of Victorian Gothic Fiction: Mapping History’s Nightmares. Oxford University Press, 1999. 166-209.

Modern Technology vs Books

One of the most important marvels of modern technology is the Internet, which has not just revolutionized the process of information retrieval, but also, dramatically changed the way people seek information. If in the past, people often had to spend so much time and energy going through many pages or sheets of printed media only to seek for specific information, now with the aid of the internet; information retrieval can be much easier and time-saving. The revolutionary way which the internet offers triggers an intriguing question whether it will replace books or printed media as the main source of information.From my observation, I tend to believe that it will. My main reason is because it has so many advantages over printed media, which make the former (the internet) more preferable, more interesting, more attractive, and even more reliable than the latter (printed media). As a result, more and more people turn to the internet every time they need to seek for information. Here are some of the advantages which I can list to support my belief. First, the kinds of information which the internet provides are almost unlimited.We can find almost any topics from a single computer equipped with a good connection to the internet, while it is impossible to find such a large number of topics only from a single book or a single newspaper. As a result, when people need almost any information, ranging from the latest news, house rentals, car sales, to public transport schedules and fares, they rely on the internet rather than printed media. Second, the information stored in the internet can be updated at very short intervals, enabling its users to always get the latest progress or development.This kind of updating can’t be applied to printed media and thus, printed media always lags behind the internet. Third, the internet also provides other facilities that printed media can’t provide. For example, it enables its users to perform multitasking or interactivit y, so that they can communicate with other people, play online games, download or upload pictures, and so on, while seeking for information. Fourth, the optimization of internet usage can reduce paper consumption significantly. Since the environmental awareness is on the rise, people are encouraged to reduce paper consumption.More paper consumption can lead to more deforestation because the raw materials for making paper basically come from forests. As a result, paperless office and â€Å"going paperless† are being intensively promoted, and here in this context, the internet has proved to be supportive. Looking at the rapidly widespread use of the internet and people’s increasing reliance on it, I believe that someday the internet will triumph over printed media. The first signs of it have shown. For example, the number of internet users is increasing so dramatically, while the sale of printed media is decreasing.

Ryanair SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis is a study which can be undertaken in order to identify an organisation’s, product’s, or service’s internal Strengths and Weaknesses, and also its external Opportunities and Threats. A SWOT analysis focuses on the micro environment of one of the above entities, i.e. â€Å"factors which the organisation has some control over†. – Business Management Course Text, AIT Ireland (2013-20134).SWOT analysis of RyanairStrengthsWeaknessesLowest Cost Base of any European AirlineStrong financial performance despite current economic climate InnovationNegative Public PerceptionOver-reliance on Seasonal trends to increase profit marginsPoor customer serviceOpportunitiesThreatsNew airline routes throughout EuropeOpportunity to increase Market ShareCurrent economic climateIncrease in fuel chargesNatural events and disastersStrengthsAccording to safaribooksonline.com/book/sales-and-marketing, operating as a low-cost enterprise can be a strength for com panies, as it may incentivise an increase in demand for a particular product or service, in relation to its competitors. Low cost providers are a popular choice for financially conscious consumers who do not have any/little loyalty towards the product/service in question, or for consumers who wish to obtain a product/service at the lowest available price. For Ryanair, being a low cost company has been hugely beneficial, as they have almost entirely built their current reputation on being a low-cost airline.At present, Ryanair  is the lowest costing airline in Europe, one third lower than its nearest rival, easyJet. Maintaining a strong financial performance is a major factor to the success of any business. According to http://www.investorwords.com, organisations base their important decisions/strategies the basis of their financial performance. Maintaining a healthy financial performance allows companies to generate revenue. In terms of Ryanair, despite the recession, the company has not only continued to make a profit, but is also Europe’s most profitable airline. In 2013, the company forecasted that they would generate â‚ ¬540 million, a 7% increase over the previous year’s figure.According to http://businesscasestudies.co.uk, Companies must innovate in order to keep ahead of their competitors. This means that companies must focus on incorporating fresh approaches and ideas to their business model in order to remain at the top of their respective field.Ryanair has excelled in being an innovative company, and has changed the outlook on the airline industry through strategies such as pushing the â€Å"low cost† slogan, removing free catering for customers on their flights, and also by moving away from travel agent bookings to internet sales. Through innovation, Ryanair has revolutionised the short-haul industry.WeaknessesNegative public perception/relations can be fatal to any enterprise, as it can lead to a loss in existing customers , whilst also acting as an obstacle in obtaining new ones. Once a company’s name has been tarnished through poor PR, it can be a struggle to regain any popularity lost. Although Ryanair are still the leading airline in Europe, Chief Executive Michael O’Leary has received heavy criticism for numerous PR campaigns, which has given the company a poor reputation amongst many individuals. Many businesses are reliant on specific time of year in order to increase their profit margins.Companies which provide winter wear, such as the Great Outdoors, will thrive during Autumn/Winter, as the demand for jackets, gloves, etc. will be at its highest during these seasons. For Ryanair, the company is heavily reliant on its’ summer performance (particularly July-September) in order to boost profit margins. Since 2008/2009 Ryanair has consistently made losses in at least one of the winter quarters, whereas  the company has made an overall profit in every year for the last 10 ye ars. â€Å"Building positive relationships with your customers isn't just good practice – it will ultimately improve your bottom line.† – James Caan, 2013.Maintaining a positive relation with its customers is a vital component in the majority of successful businesses, as, according to James Caan’s article in The Guardian, â€Å"Customers are the most important asset to your business and looking after them is essential to your success†. Welcoming feedback, (positive and negative) communication between a business and its customers, and handling customers’ complaints are all example of good customer service. However, according to a recent survey conducted by Which? Magazine in the UK, Ryanair was voted as being the â€Å"worst† in terms of the quality of customer service offered by Britain’s 100 biggest firms, with staff Knowledge, attitude, and their ability to handle complaints cited as the main issues.OpportunitiesThe opportuni ty to expand/offer a greater range of service is something which any business interested in growing in stature will be interested in. As a company grows, they have control of the industry which they are competing in, can often dictate prices, and may also benefit from economies of scale (lower unit costs by producing more). –http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/business/aims/sizeandorganisationrev1.shtml For Ryanair, the opportunity to operate new routes throughout Europe is something which the organisation is always improving on. According to http://www.ryanair.com, from April 2014, the airline will expand 85 new routes operating out of Dublin alone, in which the company hopes to generate 1 million new passenger fares from.Inter-linked with the above paragraph, increasing its market share/market growth is another opportunity which looks achievable for Ryanair. According to http://centreforaviation.com, the European aviation sector is still a growing industry, which alre ady suggests that Ryanair may increase its share of the market. However, as Ryanair is already Europe’s leading short haul airline and lowest cost producer, the steps are firmly in place for this opportunity to become a reality. Ryanair targets obtaining 120 million passengers by 2022. The current economic climate has had huge implications  on businesses on a global scale, with many companies, (such as Dell) having to relocate in order to cut costs.Also, as consumers are more aware of the impacts of over-spending during a Recession, many businesses have saw a fall in demand for the product/service which they are offering. However, operating as the lowest costing airline in Europe has had an overwhelmingly positive effect on the company. Although Ryanair offers â€Å"no frills†, many financially conscious people have decided to opt with Ryanair over other alternatives (such as Aer Lingus) during the current economic climate, as they offer a cost effective service. Thi s is evident by the face that Ryanair has become Europe’s most profitable airline.ThreatsAccording to http://www.legalzoom.com, any costs imposed on a business (both internal and external) can have an effect on how a company have choose to allocate its budget, and higher costs may also lead to a business cutting back on certain expenses in order to remain in a healthy financial position. According to Ryanair’s Chief Financial Officer Howard Millar, Ryanair’s single largest cost is fuel costs. To combat against these rising costs, Ryanair has chosen to slow down the speed of their air-crafts, which has added an estimated two minutes onto every hourly flight.This figure may seem small, but for customers who travel with Ryanair on a frequent basis, this could lead to a fairly substantial amount of extra time consumed, with may lead to some disgruntled customers. – Siraj Datoo, 2013. According to http://www.exponent.com, Natural disasters, whether they are hu rricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, or monsoon-related flooding, are all factors that can affect the operations of businesses worldwide. The above factors can have major implications in business operations, as they can restrict trade between business, and they also may lead to products/premises being damaged.For Ryanair, natural disasters such as a volcano eruption, could lead to a huge loss in profits, as this event could lead to flights being cancelled (e.g. the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud in 2011 caused severe losses to many airlines). Also, a fatal accident, such as a plane crash, would also have a major negative on Ryanair, as consumers may feel unsafe in regards to barding a Ryanair air craft.

Miles Davis’ Milestones

One very interesting genre of music which is as popular before as it is today is Jazz. Jazz is often termed as the music of the soul, and it tends to manifest in words and melody the feelings of the heart. This music started as early as the 1800, with the birth of the blues by the African-American community. The blues, which are songs that are derived from hymns and work songs, became the foundation of jazz. The full-blown birth of jazz came about at around 1900 at New Orleans. Jazz in here is depicted as a blend of different types of music – opera, military bands, church music, ragtime, African drumming, and even some dance styles (Marsalis, 2008). Through the time, jazz has evolved in itself, giving birth to a number of sub-styles such as bebop, dixieland, swing, and modern jazz. This evolution also brought about a number of great composers, and hundreds of great songs. Miles Davis is one of these composers. He was a pioneer in cool jazz, a type of experimental jazz which involves voices unfamiliar to traditional jazz. One of his famous songs holds his name in it – Milestones. This track was recorded at around 1958, and is an advent on Miles’ take on working with modal jazz – another type of jazz (Biography, 2005). In this essay, I will try to expound more on this recording by discussing some important elements found in it, namely its melody, harmony, and rhythm and how they blend together to form a jazz sound. Read also about  Coleman Hawkins Melody is simply defined as a flow of notes, a flow of tones which sounds pleasing to the ear. In regular jazz music, there are usually two kinds of melody. One is melody being played at the start and end of pieces. These are usually notated, and strictly followed. The second one is the melody produced when a soloists improvises. Improvisation is very important in jazz, and the melody produced in here must be exciting at the same time pleasant to listen to. It should not be boring and must never outshine the other instruments too much. In the song Milestones, there is a distinct difference heard between these two melodies. Its first melody flows smoothly, creating a feeling of easiness, being subsided by notes. Then, the solo kicks in with a series notes alternating between fast and slow speeds. These contrasting melodic patterns give a great deal of interest for the listener. It creates a relaxed sensation at one moment then gives a slight tension at another. If melody is the horizontal aspect of music, harmony is its vertical counterpart. It comprises of notes being played together, such as triads, major chords, fourth and other intervals. In the song Milestones, harmony is best described as an accompanying effect to the soloist. Better known as â€Å"comping†, this provides a bed on which the soloist improvises on. The song’s harmony has a very strong and tight feeling. This is due to the modal take of the song, wherein the song uses a single scale. Thus, both the soloist’s melody and the harmony of the other players fit perfectly with each other. Also, the harmony is not only played as strict flow, but it is constantly modified. For example, it plays on counts 2 and 4 for some bar, and then suddenly shifts to 1 and 3. The harmony also plays syncopated notes, notes that are off beat the normal rhythm. This gives an additional excitement to the overall feeling of the song. But most importantly, it supports the soloists and never tries to overpower it. Milestones also portray another important element common to jazz takes – its swinging rhythm. This is usually attained by the rhythm section by playing triplets, or three notes at a count, and omitting the middle note. This rhythm gives a forward feeling and tends to move along that direction. It is very different from common contemporary songs, where the downbeat or the quarter note is very much accented. In Milestones, the downbeat is almost lost; in fact the first count of every bar is usually unaccented both by the rhythm section and the soloist. In a whole, the rhythm of the song produces a slightly danceable feeling, but in a cool and slow way. The song’s tempo is not that fast, but the swinging rhythm gives it a kind of push that tends to create a continuous flow of music. These elements give the song a traditionalistic view since it holds the very foundation of jazz music. The swinging rhythm, the accompanying harmony, and the soloist’s melody are the main components of a good jazz song. Miles Davis expanded more on this by creating a much more intricate solo filled with varying tempos and dynamics. The other band members were also able to add to the flavor of the song by playing their parts in a very interesting manner yet still being in perfect fit with each other. In a nutshell, Miles Davis was able to fuse traditional jazz elements with a great deal of experimentation, producing the masterpiece Milestones. References Marsalis, M. (2008) History of Jazz/Black History in America. Retrieved February 22, 2008 from http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/history_of_jazz.htm Miles Davis Biography (2007), retrieved February 22, 2008 from http://www.milesdavis.com/bio.asp