HIV/ AIDS Essay

A lot of people don’t get tested because they don’t believe something like this can happen to them until it do then they walk around miserable and feel as if life is over. Getting tested every six months makes a difference depending on how sexually active you are you might want to get tested more. I personally get tested every 3 months because my mother died from this virus and I do not want to leave my kids the same way she left me. Although you may not be that comfortable it is for the better of you that you get tested and make sure you protect the people around you. You have to think of other people when you think about possibly getting a virus that can never be reversed. This is a very tricky thing to have to tell your loved ones about you don’t want to have to sit down with your kids and tell them something like this. There are a lot of things that you will have to go through once you are diagnosed with such a virus you have to not only make sure that you stay healthy, so that you stay around for your family. We have more information on this virus meaning we can keep you alive longer you might not be able to do things the way you use to but you will be alive as long as you follow your doctor’s orders. There are still a high number of people that are not aware of this virus. It’s ashamed to the number of people that aren’t aware. There are about 12,000 people who are not aware of their status because they do not get tested. Our youth is being infected with this virus because they want to experiment with sex. There are about 57 percent of our youth that are gay or bisexual and are just going around infecting each other. Things need to change and quickly because if not we won’t have a future of healthy people. There are many types of ways people can get tested and many dif ferent places that you can go without any one finding out that you got tested as well as what you status is. You just have to have the courage to go get tested. I found it easier to go with a friend or your loved one to make you more comfortable. As long as you get tested to make sure you are safe is all that matters. Families need to inform their children on how important safe sex is we have to realize that they are going to do it anyway no matter what we say so all we can do is keep them safe by providing them with everything they need to experiment safely.

The Federal Minimum Wage

The federal minimum wage is a hotly debated topic and a main point that invariably separates the beliefs of the Democratic Party platform from the Republican Party platform. Today's federal minimum wage is $7.25 (Jamieson, 2018). The federal minimum wage is determined by the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), and has not been adjusted from a $7.25 hourly wage since July of 2009. Because of the lack of advancement, many states have developed their own methods for determining minimum wage, but federally, any addition or subtraction must first pass directly through the FLSA (United States Department of Labor, 2018). States determine their minimum wage by analyzing their costs of living which differs depending on location, and analyzing their GDP (gross domestic product) per capita (Stoll, 2014). For example, the minimum wage in Montana as of January 1, 2018 is $8.30 per hour whereas in Massachusetts, where the cost of living is greatly increased, the hourly minimum wage is $11.00. There are 29 states that have an increased minimum wage adjusted specifically to the state's cost of living. The wages in these states range from $7.50 to $12.50 per hour (United States Department of Labor, 2018). Even though many states already increase their minimum wage many people living in the United States claim that the federal minimum wage is entirely too low. The preponderance of evidence suggests that increasing the federal minimum wage would have little effect on poverty and would in time reduce job security and increase unemployment. Other factors that could potentially be affected by an increase in the federal minimum wage include consumer prices, suppressed wages for higher skilled workers, and an increase in outsourcing. Prior to the 2016 election the Democratic Party platform was updated and members decided to adopt a $15 per hour minimum wage. They claim that $15 an hour is the only way that American workers can survive and support their families. The push towards an increase in federal minimum wage began in New York City four years ago when a group of fast-food workers went on strike. The movement caught the attention of many popular political figures and eventually the members grouped together to form the #fightfor15 movement (Seitz-Wald, 2016). Experts that claim the federal minimum wage is not sufficient to support a family and live comfortably argue that an increase to the federal minimum wage would provide an â€Å"important lift† to over 2.2 million people in the United States (Lu, 2017). Usually these experts begin their arguments stating that the federal minimum wage real amounts have eroded nearly 25% since 1968 (Scott & Perez, 2017). The federal minimum wage amounts to only $15,080 annually for full time employment. $15,080 is such a low annual income, experts predict that it is one of the main reasons why living standards have declined nationwide. This number may also contribute to the decline in economic stability, and the shrinking middle class (Lu, 2017). On a national level, supporters of the minimum wage increase provide data that proves the federal minimum wage should be at least $12.00 per hour based on the United States' GDP. A poll taken by The Economist reports that over 1.3 million people work at minimum wage, and nearly 1.7 million work below it, thus meaning these employees are not paid hourly rather are tipped employees (Komlos, 2015). Many people would associate a push for minimum wage strictly with larger cities and areas where the cost of living is significantly above average, however even in Montana, a republican dominated state, many citizens still are pushing for a higher minimum wage. Swartz, a home care worker residing in Great Falls, Montana claims that the amount she makes working for three caregiving agencies is simply not enough to support herself comfortably. The three agencies all pay over both the federal minimum wage and Montana's state minimum wage but due to the inconsistency of job hours she claims that making ends meet every month can be a difficult task. Swartz claims that typically some parts of low-wage workers are â€Å"overlooked†. People who do not make low wages and are not forced to work 70+ hour work weeks do not understand the struggle. Swartz also states that â€Å"Home-care workers, who help people stay in their homes and live with dignity, deserve a $15-an-hour minimum wage.† Attached to Swartz's article is a report published by The Alliance for a Just Society, which claims that the living wage in Montana is $14.36 an hour for a single person with no dependents. Montana determines their state minimum wage using the Consumer Price Index, and updates it annually according to the index. Still however, 3,329 Montana employees earn minimum wage which makes up about 1.2% of the entire workforce. Over half of Montana's minimum wage workers are older than 25 and over 60% are women (Jay, 2016). Beginning January 1, 2018 Montana again raised its minimum wage standard to $8.30 per hour. Governor Steve Bullock addressed the issue in an email that read â€Å"People who work full time for a living shouldn't be living in poverty. This modest increase in minimum wage means more Montana workers will have a little extra money in their pockets,† The workers who Bullock may have been addressing include workers in the accommodations and food industry and also the retail trade industry who are recurrently the largest number of workers that receive minimum wage (Tribune Capital Bureau, 2017). On the contrary, many experts counterclaim that an increase in minimum wage is not the extreme â€Å"poverty tool† that the Democratic Party is hoping for. In fact, one of the biggest arguments against raising minimum wage is the idea of individual states already taking care of the low wage issue. As stated previously Montana, is one of 29 states that already adopted a minimum wage that is higher than the federal minimum wage, and many experts believe that if states were to adjust their incomes according to their cost of living, etc. that would be better fitting rather than adjusting the entire nation's minimum wage. Dr. Simon Johnson, MIT Sloan expert, claims that raising the federal minimum wage would actually have unintended consequences, in the sense of reducing hiring and potentially increasing unemployment. He states â€Å"It is unlikely that states with lower living costs would be able to support a $15 per hour minimum wage increase, while keeping hiring processes and current employment rates the same.† He proposes a gradual, stepwise increase to the minimum wage that would occur over time. A drastic increase to $15 per hour would be too abrupt and would have career-changing consequences. A study completed by Harvard's Economic Department points out that most minimum wage earners are second or third job holders in households with other income sources. This could include teenagers, summer employees, etc. Another group that comes to mind when thinking about minimum wage workers is retirees who already receive financial benefits from savings and social security. It is unlikely that an increase in minimum wage would truly benefit the nation, simply because some people working for minimum wage are not attempting to support dependents or themselves entirely. Usually, they are people who are looking for a little extra money rather than needing money to pay for utilities, a house, a car, etc. An even more concerning drawback of raising minimum wage is the elimination of jobs. If the United States government were to demand businesses to pay entry-level workers $15 an hour there would be a huge decrease in job security and job availability. Because, most businesses do not pay entry-level workers at this wage, if they were required to do so, they may attempt to find other means of labor including robots, computers, or other advanced technology. In fact, the Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that former President Obama's proposed $10.10 minimum wage, once fully implemented and in use, â€Å"would reduce total employment by about 500,000 workers.† Below is a political cartoon that shows the adverse effects of raising the current minimum wage. Although, many low-wage workers support and advocate for the idea of earning a $15 per hour wage, its effects could actually be deteriorating. Statistics show that raising the federal minimum wage to $15.00 per hour the United States risks eliminating roughly 550,000 part-time jobs and even if the minimum wage was raised to only $9.50 per hour nearly 1.3 million jobs could be lost. Previously, the United States has raised the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25, and adversely only 15 percent of the workers who were expected to gain from it lived in poor households. If the minimum wage today were to be raised to $9.50 per hour, only 11 percent of current minimum wage workers living in poverty would gain from this increase. In 2012, a study completed by the Wilson Review claims that both state and federal minimum wage increases between 2003 and 2007 had no effect on state poverty rates. Thus, proving the idea that increasing minimum wage does not provide a tool for lowering poverty levels. David Neumark and William Wascher performed over 100 minimum wage studies and found that about two-thirds of the studies had negative effects on unemployment. Thus, meaning that with an increase in minimum wage business owners and corporations would be forced to decrease their labor force and potentially cut long-time in employees in order to compensate for the wage increase. Half of the country's workforce is employed by small businesses. Raising the federal minimum wage is often cast largely as a necessity to ensure that many workers are able to earn a decent living, but in reality it's a complex issue. An example of this complexity has occurred in Oakland California in March of 2015 after they increased their statewide minimum wage by 36%, from $9.00 to $12.25 per hour. The effects are varying but some restaurants have raised their food pricing by nearly 20%, or adding a mandatory service charge and doing away with voluntary tips. The issue, business owners recognize and are working hard to resolve is finding the balance between paying a decent wage and keeping customers rather than driving them away. Some people claim that aside from the direct cost of doing business from salaries, they are also paying more for goods and services in their own communities. They question whether or not a higher wage will raise the cost of living for all employees, including those who currently earn a high-wage. Critics who are against raising the minimum wage also claim that if every entry-level worker was paid $15 an hour to begin with, many would lose incentive to get an education and move up to a higher-paying jobs. Ira Stoll, a minimum wage evaluator, states that † The lower the minimum wage, the more eager a minimum wage worker would be to enroll in a community college course at night, improve his/her skills, and apply for a higher-paying job.† Stoll also states that, â€Å"Making the entry-level jobs higher paying increases the risk that workers will get stuck in them for longer instead of moving on to something more rewarding. â€Å"Another point that many supporters fail to bring about is the idea of freedom of contract. This freedom is not directly protected by the constitution, but it as seen as a â€Å"natural right† and should be exercised. President Kennedy once said â€Å"The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. † Thus, meaning that if two free people want to enter into a voluntary contract or agreement that does not infringe on anyone else's rights or wellbeing the government has no right to step in and stop the deal that is being made. Experts use the idea of freedom of contract to prove that the government should not be involved in every contract made between two people. If a man wants to work for another for $5 an hour, and the other man wants to hire him and pay him $5 an hour than the government should have no authority to infringe on this deal. Raising the federal minimum wage would also affect welfare spending and could potentially increase taxes. Raising the federal minimum wage puts money into the pockets of the working poor people, but this occurs at the expense of business owners. By raising the minimum wage, politicians are taking the roundabout approach of minimum wage increase, rather than building actual political support for these policies. A report published by the Cato Institute claims that evidence shows minimum wage increase â€Å"disproportionately hurt the people they're supposed to help.† In this article the Institute cites a 2012 analysis of the New York State minimum wage increase from $5.15 to $6.75 per hour that found a â€Å"20.2 to 21.8 percent reduction in the employment of younger, less-educated individuals. † They also note that since 1995, eight studies have examined the income and poverty effects of minimum wage increases, and all but one of those studies have found that past minimum wage hikes had no effect on poverty.One of the largest concerns expert's share about a federal minimum wage increase is the impact it would entail on consumer prices. Basically, to raise minimum wage means to pay more people more money which has to be supplied from somewhere. Experts against the increase claim that the extra money will come from increased consumer prices. The 2012 Wilson Review notes: â€Å"A 2004 review of more than 20 minimum wage studies looking at price effects found that a 10 percent increase in the U.S. minimum wage raises food prices by up to 4 percent.† To back up this idea a report posted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago states that restaurant prices increase in response to minimum wage increases. The federal minimum wage is at a lower real value than it once was, but in order to change it law makers are going to have to look deeper into the problem rather than attempting to change the outcome quickly by increasing the minimum wage in all states to $15.00 hourly. Our country is unique in the nature that each state is able to make and regulate their own minimum wage and this matter is better dealt with inside certain states than from the federal government as a whole. There is most definitely a need in the United States to implement a method to decrease the rising poverty level, but this method should not be an increase in federal minimum wage because this method is directly related to rising prices, higher unemployment, job loss, and lack of job security. Small businesses, as stated previously, make up approximately 50% of the nation's workforce and if the government were to demand these businesses to pay their starting employees $12 or more, the businesses would be forced to either higher less people, lay off long term workers, or even more devastating, shutdown. This method proves ineffective in decreasing the families living underneath the poverty line and instead harms those workers who are higher-skilled and higher-paid.

A View of Crisis Intervention for Psychotherapy - myassignmenthelp

Social work practice deals with helping people obtain visible services in terms of either counselling and psychotherapy with people and groups, it aims at helping them improve their social being and also their health services. For this to be carried out it requires knowledge of the human behaviour on how he she carry out the social and cultural well-being of institutions. it can also be referred to as a helping profession as its main aim is to boost a societies faults into good tidings especially in the regions where a problem is rampant Thyer (2010).   There is also the aspect of Management which comes from the word manage which means to forecast and to plan, to show authority over while coordinating and controlling how things are to be done and handled Thyer (2010).   Theoretically, it involves knowing how to be able to control this basic point so as to contribute to the success of an enterprise, the basics are identifying the rules, procedures, objective and mission. Management is normally handled by those in the lead of the chain in the hierarchy in the aspect of directors and managers who have the clearance to make decisions that critically carry the stability of the company. Sizes of management vary depending on the type of business as the size matters so as to be able to put it in check Sandhu, (2010).   The issue being investigated here is crisis intervention which is in a way of ensuring that a person has the proper mental tools in place and also physically so as to be able to use problems as therapeutic leverage for good positive outcomes and also the management of clients. Its priority is increasing stabilisation, it normally occurs without being prepared for in other terms at the spur of the moment type of way and happens in all types of settings, by so it can cause trauma. Crisis intervention aims at offering a helpful hand to the people who are given care due to having abnormal amounts of stress which render a person unfit even to work, it tries to stop the downward spiral that a worker may be experiencing and at least return them to their pre-crisis functioning. It occurs in societal levels and personal thus it’s a big problem that is seen around but proper ways of dealing with it are not avidly followed up Wainrib (2008).   Trauma is the process whereby a person or society experiences a given occurrence that changes their outlook on things in so that they get demoralised and lose their self-esteem and social support. It is normally captured when you see a person making threats to kill themselves, witnessing homicide or losing their belongings in terms of things that they hold really dear to themselves and cannot see themselves carrying out a task without the thing they have lost. Some of the instances that require intervention range from school shootings, natural calamities and the terrorist attacks. This type of crisis is handled by the counsellors as their basic concern is assessing the individual’s awareness of resources, as a person’s first reactions are being in denial and in shock. The crisis intervention has 6 stages that are used to help individuals and societies to regain a sense of control and restore them to their basic selves. The first stage is defining the problem, this is where the issue at hand is put in front and checked into so as to know what the problem is. By this, it helps create a bond between yourself and the person who experienced the crisis.at this stage, the aspect of being an active listener helps a lot as it Is what is used to be able to give a direct answer to what happened and why. The second stage is keeping the client safe, this is in regards to safety precautions given where the client is checked whether he she is on verge of committing suicide or homicide. So, by the aspect of keeping the client safe, they ought to remove the client's access to equipment that they may use to hurt or hurt others with, in so saying cutting of means to suicide Wainrib (2008).   Step three falls on giving support whereby when the problem at hand has been handled and also clearly defined the crisis worker should take in the client warmly and accommodate them. This is done so that they know they are loved and cared for as the crisis personnel can even chip in on the cost of basic needs for them in order to help them recuperate appropriately, and also ensuring they understand and know that there are open options of ways they can get assistance to be well Thyer (2010).   The fourth option is examining alternatives which entail the client being able to further looking into what they have and looking into what options they have to deal with the problem at hand.  Ã‚   A crisis worker comes in at the point where he she finds a client’s coping skills with the encountered problem is becoming difficult and they are not being able to control the situations that come into play. Thus, on examining alternatives it tries to help this type of people by having three categories of potential options being, situational supports who are people who work or live with the affected person and personnel who care about what actually happens to them. There are the coping mechanisms are the resources that a client can use to get through a tough change as it helps them partake in things they love doing so as to keep their minds very positive and to ensure they are able to recover smoothly and explore what they used to do in the past, present and future. The third aspe ct is having positive and constructive thinking patterns which imply having diverse ways of thinking that can be used to help the clients re-invent themselves. The fifth step is making plans this occurs after the clients have trusted the crisis worker the main step of this is to try to ensure the client regains control of their life and can help provide the client with additional support. The plans put in place ought to be realistic and must ensure it gives the clients a feeling of optimism when working forward to achieve the goals set. It aims at discontinuing the pattern of oppressing clients as it will lead to poor things. The final step of this process is getting a commitment. This is where the client and their supervisor make a schedule where the client keeps tabs on what he does and occasionally meet up with the crisis worker to ensure they are going on the right path. The social work in this is clearly seen when the crisis workers are introduced to kerb a growing problem and are used to trim down the effects of the encountered task. The theoretical paradigm in regards to the crisis intervention it states that its important for the people to take care of the situations arising in order to be able to tackle the rest that follows.   It is of dire importance for the social workers to be highly skilled so as to be able to help people in crisis. They also help individuals in decreasing their emotions of helplessness and isolation and uses social resources in making the clients regain back their normal self. Such methods that are undertaken are done through acceptance, validation, reassurance, education and brokering resources. The way of crisis intervention works with the notion of having emotional and confidentiality stability with one’s client in order to give services in a top-notch way Denicolo (2012).   There are acute stress and trauma management protocols that are put in stages they include, assessing for danger in terms for safety for self and also other allies, this is for the victim and counsellor who might have been affected by the trauma. After that, they should consider the mechanism of injury in regards to physical or perceptual. When injury has been looked at the victim’s responsiveness should be gauged, this comes into place as when medical needs are needed   Crisis intervention relevance in the topic social work whereby social work is described in the beginning of this research says that it deals with helping people obtain visible services in terms of either counselling or psychotherapy with people and groups, it aims at helping them improve their social being and also their health services. For this to be carried out it requires knowledge of the human behaviour on how he she carry out the social and cultural well-being of institutions. it can also be referred to as a helping profession as its main aim is to boost a societies faults into good tidings especially in the regions where a problem is rampant. Social work practice is relevant in crisis intervention as people have considerable capacitates for handling the problematic situations faced. Stressful events do not cause crises they are actually determined by the feedback due to specific stressful circumstances. The aspect of social work in terms of crisis intervention can also be seen in the structure of Rakuten groups organisations as it starts off with the board of directors these are the people who govern and manage the company and make important decisions like appointing the CEO. They oversee the company’s growth and businesses while assessing better roads to partake. The group headquarters follows suite as that’s the main area where the company’s major operations lay it fosters the branches of the company and ensures they operate accordingly Denicolo (2012).   After that, the company division falls after that followed by the finance and accounting division where all finances or matters dealing with finance are handled here it’s a department solely majoring on that so as to majorly look for ways to improve n to monitor money usage. There’s then the technology division that does the information technology duality and tries to keep the company updated on software’s to use and to help the company keep up with demanding technology and how to fuse it into their system. The operation and marketing division deals with how the day to day activities are being run and also chips in by marketing and selling the company’s products to consumers to broaden the company’s horizon. The HR administration deals with firing and hiring of people in the organisation it helps run the company’s need for people to work gets the people and trains them on how to work with and in the organisation. This structure is made in a way that it helps the company build its brand and make it be as stable and conducive producing the top-notch products and services giving it it’s all in the various departments so as it’s an equal status on work Lincoln & Gerlach, (2010).   In regards to its culture, it has a unique corporate culture as it brings about the spirit of entrepreneurship and a sense of unity. The design of the company’s workplaces sustains and makes the diversity more appealing. The culture is followed strictly as it’s what they are used to and what helps them be better and stand out from the rest. In their culture, they have the Asakai -morning meetings where all employees attend and is held once per week where the head Mr Hiroshi Mikitani covers his views on what he wants to see being taken underplay and also updates from the various personal businesses within the Rakuten group. This Asakai is vital as the employees are able to share their thoughts and difficulties with the head management so as to see if the solution can be found. It I really vital as it is done the beginning of every week so as to kick start the week with momentum. The Asakai is held in high regards as it helps focus everyone’s mind on the things being brought up while being discussed Wischenbart, (2012). The weekly desk cleaning culture, this has been the trait since the founding of the company right up to the CEO whereby every employee is mandated to clean their desk area once a week this was started so as the employees mind would be free to think and know that they are all connected to the company in their own different aspects. This tightens the bond as the whole company at that moment showcases unity as one team which directly shows in what it gives it in service is top notched. Asakai structural design this is quite unique aspect of culture as the building is set up in a way that the podium is easily visible from every direction and the audio is made to be of high-quality to allow proper video conferencing to feel very good so as every person to feel as though they are attending a said meeting Bartol & Martin (2014).   Another angle in their culture that helps them stand out is they present what matters which keeps the people up to date with activities that are in the public eye. There is also the lively questions and answers that are usually in the morning meetings that makes it a hardbound character which is hard to break apart as it largely falls on policies set and given and is executed with sharp minds. Commending outstanding employees this helps in making the company have competitive workers in the organisation and by commending them helps to uplift their spirits that what they are doing is worthwhile and the company does appreciate their efforts Wis Chen Bart, (2012).   Workspace is a comfortable and working environment that allows proper active communication whereby space is good enough and there are no apparent distractions that can thwart one’s concentration levels, as a good working environment means a happy client and happy worker. Has a cafeteria that offers all meals free of charge to encourage positive growth and also to give the workers proper breaks during their working hours to stretch eat and be health and be okay while working there offering a subtle environment. The innovative culture leads to success this is clearly seen as the company is able to add up new techniques to make the employees be able to operate and execute smoothly their work without many problems. Technology is highly regarded as the most upcoming and blooming venture where if many things are up to date the flow of information and processing increases drastically giving it a competitive edge. The leadership of the Rakuten group is by Hiroshi Mikitani who founded the group and is the chief executive. He is a hands-on leader who carries out his duties diligently and is humble in his tidings as he avails himself in all meetings and weekly talks to his employees and allows them to ask questions and ideas to improve the company and also their working space. Through this type of leadership of being able to participate in the working of the company build a united team as the workers get encouraged by such Denicolo (2012).   Transformation leadership is where the boss works hand in hand with subordinates to note needed things to change n make a good visionary move of where to be. This brings up success in an organisation where it’s the accomplishment of a target one has put for themselves and works hand in hand to achieve the said targets put up. All these try to show how crisis intervention is tried to be reached by incorporating actions where the business growth and leadership skills help garner proper ways to deal with problems encountered when in face to face with troubles. It tries to show how social work is beneficial and how it gives options and ways to work hand in hand with the personnel who get affected by either catastrophe’s that would occur and damage clients in an organisation. CSR acts as a self-regulation which gets incorporated in a business idea.   It has an aspect called Information management which deals with running an organisations information resources so as to be able to help improve the performance of the business. It focuses on the activities that are needed to control a company’s records as the personnel are referred to as important but not critical resources. It uses information technology resources and also by virtue of overseeing information resources. Knowledge management is the process of creating, acquiring, sharing and using the information acquired in order to allow learning in organisations. It carries people as a critical component to being supervised, as it is strategized to help improve the businesses performance and also add value to an organisation through a set key of processes which involve knowledge sharing Malloch (2013).   All these aspects of management fall under the CSR as they help integrate the protocols broug ht in hand to be accustomed and placed in the working system of an organization. I agree that the CSR is really important to an organization as it benefits both the society and the organist ion as both of them end in gaining from the ongoing aspect which is advantageous. It brings about positive competition and those which have good potential of making the environment better and safer for normal workings. Some of the advantage of CSR are improves the overall outlook of an organization this acts as a plus as an organization may get a good will value just for having incorporated the responsibility point as it shows commitment of good tidings. Another point is that it increases the keeping of employees and indirectly acts as a marketing tool whereby it attracts more clients as it is seen to encompass the worth to respect the social responsibilities quota Denicolo (2012) When regulatory authorities know that an organization follows the rules that set-in place they behave very well. This in turn acts as an added advantage to an organization as it does not get roughed up and rudely interrupted to show whether it follows the said rules by this it gives the company a fast-paced reference which it optimizes and allows it to be better Contreras (2010).   As the organization grows and expand s more it branches in more diverse ways allowing the organization to explore more alternatives on the environment and try see whether more output can be handed out in an easy understandable way. The aspect of good image brings in investors who are attracted to an organization as they see it follows orders and that it adds up new tactic to be better and also help out in community duties. This factor facilitates the image uplift and also can make the government want to do investments with the organization as they also would want to be associated with organizations that are friendly and following the rules concerning the environment. The making of renewable energy from the worlds own ground in terms of the environment this acts as a big change in the organization and it impacts it itself by virtue of adhering to the protocols put in place to follow the given guidelines without fail and to honor their green code.   By virtue of having a resound mind the organization is able to explore more wid range ideas like the aspect of investing in renewable energy sources where it can largely benefit as it has carried out research on what to do and when to do it Contreras (2010).   Setbacks that are encountered in terms of when having to implement the social responsibility plan is that there happens to be movements moving on the profits margin to the set targets of the organization. By this there is the policy of the unknown which states that a company’s first calling is to make profits not having investments thus due to this it alters the outflow of money and cuts down the rates of profits Norris (2012). When a company is planning to disclose its shortcoming it momentarily suspends itself in a position where it may take a hit that may create an unplanned for catastrophe in terms of destabilizing an organization planning relations. Proper carrying out of implementation lays out advantages that foster boosted markets and capital. It transcends the act of ethics as the organization is able to walk with its head held high as it fully shows how it has matured and diversified thus helping the social responsibilities act by ensuring the environment is safe guarded and protected. In an organization are able to see the usefulness of waste materials and are encouraged to recycle them back so as they can be fully utilized with insight to others do not disintegrate thus reuse is a good fit for the organization Hopkins (2007). The relevance of human rights is seen in organizations due to the drastic growth in market structure.   It is deemed that they act as the pillars that upraise the standards of an organization growing and facilitate the transformation from a small business into a corporation, this is so as the grown organizations tend to carry the weight of being socially responsible to what occurs in order to be able to influence potential investors and consumers. An outstanding aspect of the crisis prevention is the way in which it carries itself full of dominance in angle of acting in a responsible way and also sustainability wise. These two are so as it encourages the reduction in workload with the local authorities and also pinpoints new opportunities presenting themselves in front of the budding plan. Companies are encouraged to incorporate the CSR into their systems as it has more of profits than limitations thereby giving a company a competitive edge over its competitor’s due to having a good ear in following up in the intervention series learning in an organization. The benefits of social work are majorly not in terms of financially or material wise. its satisfaction is trying to get the world working much better as they are driven by the notion of having a great desire to help people. Crisis intervention aims at offering a helpful hand to the people who are given care due to having abnormal amounts of stress which render a person unfit even to work, it tries to stop the downward spiral that a worker may be experiencing and at least return them to their pre-crisis functioning. It occurs in societal levels and personal thus it’s a big problem that is seen around but proper ways of dealing with it are not avidly followed up Wainrib (2008). On the benefits both the client and the worker receive an ongoing feedback as they continue succeeding in the pursuit of resuming stability. In some scenarios plans can be changed in advance depending on the outcomes that occur. Also in other perspectives, timely corrective feedback helps in catching and rectifying harmful unintended effects at a very early point, in situations where there needs to be done a careful review the practice is sort of given a guesswork type of frame on it. The practice deals with helping people obtain visible services in terms of either counselling and psychotherapy with people and groups, it aims at helping them improve their social being and also their health services. Offredy & Vickers,   (2013).  Developing a Healthcare Research Proposal: an Interactive Student Guide. Hoboken, Wiley.   Denscombe,   (2012).  Research proposals: a practical guide. Maidenhead, Open University Press. Punch,   (2016).  Developing Effective Research Proposals. London, SAGE Publications.   Denicolo & Becker,   (2012).  Developing research proposals.   Ogden   & Goldberg, (2012).  Research proposals: a guide to success. San Diego, Calif, Academic Press. France, (2014).  Crisis intervention: a handbook of immediate person-to-person help Aguilera, (2008).  Crisis intervention: theory and methodology. St. Louis, Missouri, Mosby. Jacobson, (2011).  Crisis intervention in the 1980s. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Wainrib & Bloch, (2008).  Crisis intervention and trauma response: theory and practice. New York, Springer. Brayne & Carr, (2012).  Law for social workers. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Thyer, (2010).  Cultural diversity and social work practice. Springfield, Charles C Thomas Publisher.

Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reflection - Essay Example The responses of management of the organization were significant in its scope for understanding knowledge management and how organizational leadership can become the anchor for a motivated workforce. Reflecting on the work of various workers within the bank where I had gone as a customer hugely helped me to identify organizational issues that are detrimental to efficient delivery of organizational goals and objectives. The scenario was analysed and three interpretations with two evaluations for each interpretations came up which were further reflected on for improving the performance of the organization. 2.1 Reflection on first interpretation In the first interpretation, manager was lauded for positive and strong decision when she transferred the erring executive to another branch. It was deduced that due to available information, the managerial leadership was able to make quick decision which also served as example for others to be efficient. On deeper reflection, I believe that the managerial decision was too hasty that not only creates insecurity amongst the workers but also adversely reflects on the style of leadership of the manager. As a leader, manager has the responsibility of creating a cohesive and high performance team that thrives on constant learning and new challenges. She lacked effective leadership qualities like effective communication, lack of vision, empathy and most important, an inability to exploit information judiciously (Forster, 2005). She had used just latest information to transfer and not tried to analyse past information and feedback that could have been exploited for improving George’s performance. George was a new recruit who should have been adequately trained for the role. Two months is relatively short time for new workers to become part of organizational culture and understand the importance and duties of his position. Moreover, effective communication is intrinsic part of good leadership traits that I believe, the mana ger was lacking. Had there been constant communication and feedback of workers’ performance, George’s inability to grasp the working mechanism would have been identified and addressed early. He was struggling with his work and his transfer on his first mistake sends a wrong message through the workforce. He was not given a chance to improve and improvise. Learning environment and effective communication empowers workers for higher productivity which was not given to George. 2.2 Reflection on second interpretation The interpretation is correct because leaders have responsibility towards their followers and must lead by example. This is one of the most critical characteristics of exemplary leaders which fosters trust and strong relationship that motivates for higher efficient delivery of goals and objectives. High performance work practices are beneficial for workforce and the management because they are mutually complementary (Armstrong & Baron, 2005). When management i nculcates strong team performance through in-house training, effective communication and incentives, it helps create a strong team of workers that thrive on hard work for improved performance. Moreover, effective communication promotes mutual respect and understanding for building workplace relationships that rely on sharing of knowledge. Manager had failed on both these accounts. Kolb (1984) asserts that team performs better when each member learns from each other’

Love and Morality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Love and Morality - Essay Example The story is based on two individuals who have different and separate lives but who have not experienced true love until they meet one another while on vacation in Yalta; this puts them in a state where they are obligated to choose between continuing their lives as they were before they met when they separate or find a means of exploring their love further, which leads to the development of an affair as both characters are married. It is through the decision to continue the affair that the story shows that true love cannot be ignored by those affected by it. The story brings to light the characteristic that true love is unexpected and cannot be planned ahead of time. This is seen in various parts of the story whereby neither Gurov nor Anna expect to fall so deeply for one another as shown in statements such as â€Å"A month or so would pass and the image of Anna Sergeyevna, it seemed to him, would become misty in his memory, and only from time to time he would dream of her with her touching smile as he dreamed of others† (146.) Gurov assumed that he would be able to easily forget the woman he met while on vacation once he got back to his normal routine but soon found out that this was not possible and to his surprise as time passed on he found he was still not able to stop thinking about Anna. This is seen in the statement, Both characters had gone to Yalta on vacation with no expectations of finding love but as a result of circumstantial meeting ended up finding an individual that they could see themselves spending their entire lives with. The correlation between love and morality also plays a part in the story as well; both Anna and Gustov married young and were in a relationship for a number of years before they met, but this fact does not stop them from falling in love. It is also seen that they are in fact not in love with their spouses when Chekhov states that

Theories of Harnold Innis and the internet Essay

Theories of Harnold Innis and the internet - Essay Example Innis would have analyzed the Internet as something else because it promotes both oral and written traditions; however, it also diverges from these traditions and presents an opportunity for balancing them, if only content producers, distributors, and consumers focused on using the Internet for preserving the positive characteristics and ends of oral and written traditions. The Internet preserves both oral and written traditions to varying extents. The Internet is a form of written tradition to some extent because of its ability to be produced quickly and to be shared efficiently with many people (Week 2, 4). An example is writing a blog that anyone can see if it is set to public viewing. The Internet can also produce shallow information that does not tackle long-term values, as Innis noted about written traditions. The Internet does not preserve written tradition alone, however, because, while Innis’ definition of written tradition lacks many features of oral tradition, the Internet can enable oral communication. An example is a video call. I can call my friend and I can hear her voice and see her facial expressions, gestures, and other forms of non-verbal expressions (Week 3, 2). On this regard, the Internet defies the restrictions of written traditions. Furthermore, the Internet also promotes written traditions because it can â€Å"dumb down † human functions for creativity and critical thinking (Salutin). To some extent, the Internet can make people lack creativity and critical thinking skills if it trains people to want to read short articles without full analysis. Nevertheless, the Internet has its oral traditions too. Though not all users practice oral traditions through the Internet, there are social spaces for deeper thinking and interactions. TED talks and forums that encourage real-time or delayed interaction for exploring long-term human values and issues are examples of oral traditions. The Internet can provide spaces for people

Reproduction Of Poetry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Reproduction Of Poetry - Essay Example However, the major challenge that has raised controversy is reproduction of art. There are different views on whether art should be reproduced. While some views are in support of reproduction of art, others have sharply criticised it. Nonetheless, with regard to poetry, reproduction of poetry holds many benefits, and these are in relation to reaching mass audiences, as well as maintaining the aura and originality of the original work. Many writers have written different articles to express their views and arguments on reproduction of art. This paper bases on a major work of Davis Douglas, â€Å"The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction,† that was published in 1995. This is the primary source in this paper. The views of Davis are analysed, and by use of a secondary source; â€Å"Sona Books,† by Magi Jill, it will be possible to determine ways through which reproduction of poetry benefits the authors and audiences without distorting the original work. While Davis in his article supports reproduction of art, Mag focuses on the challenges of publishing poetry, and the overall low popularity of the literature genre. Davis supports reproduction of art by basing on important aspects of art, which he proves that reproduction does not influence them in any adverse manner. For instance, Davis focuses on the aura of the work. He argues that reproduction does not betray the aura of the original work, but instead, it enhances it (381). Therefore, the same applies to poetry, as it is an art form. When poems are reproduced, slight changes might be made to the original work. However, this does destroy the quality of the original work. Instead the quality is enhanced, as sometimes reproduced works might be better than original works. It is also possible to argue that the aura of an art work does not lie in the art work, but is determined by the audience. Therefore, the aura and uniqueness of an art work is determined by the art world and its critiques of the art

What Is New Age Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

What Is New Age - Research Paper Example The practices of the New Age are individual journeys that can sometimes constitute an organized church or movement. New Age and/or New Religious Movements (NRM’s), also popularly known as cults, can have a great impact on the family. Oftentimes these cults rely on community organization, seeking recruits, and creating a new reality for participants that can be detrimental to the structure of the family. A new religious movement is basically defined as a movement which is spiritual or faith-based in nature. New religious movements may also have a basis in ethics, theology, philosophy, or religion to some extent. Cults need not be destructive in nature, however. Many people who study social psychology have adopted the term â€Å"new religious movement† as a way of describing cults or New Age-y organizations in neutral language. New religious movements may be communitarian, or they may be specifically spiritual or religious in nature. Usually what separates new religious movements from other religious movements in society is their unique ability to isolate people from other social networks. New religious movements had connotations of brainwashing. Several people are still wont to call new religious movements â€Å"cults† because that term is still more popular than the term â€Å"new religious movement.† There is still no formal criteria for what a new religious movement constitutes. However, in general, the group which is a new religious movement is somewhat new (obviously), and it is set apart or distinct from other religions. There is much controversy over what constitutes a â€Å"new† religious movement. Some people use certain dates as benchmarks for saying religion is new—for example, a religious movement that has occurred within the last 20 years or so.

Mgt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Mgt - Essay Example It is clear that, it cannot be business as usual due to the stagnation and global expansion is a brilliant idea. The business is big, since it operates a 35,000-square-foot factory with 75 employees and I believe that it has the capacity to realize global expansion. What is more viable? Should it consider a joint venture or hire a sales team of indigenous people in the countries that it enters? The dilemma is whether to employ a sales team of indigenous people in the countries it enters or to forge a joint venture. According to Emery (2011), â€Å"a joint venture is a strategic alliance between two or more entities to engage in a specific project.† Its difference with partnership is that the former is for a particular undertaking while the later is for a long- term business relationship. A joint venture is advantageous, for example it ensures sharing of resources, skills and risks. However, it has myriad of problems like: disparity in assets, expertise and investments of each entity, varied cultures and organizational management styles, and it requires thorough research and a long time to be able to establish and make operational (Emery, 2011). Though costly, hiring sales personnel of native people in the countries of diversification is a good idea since it helps in building a business empire that will benefit from centralized management. Forming a business dynasty will help in addressing the problems of sustainability and enhance reliable distribution

African American vs. Caucasian Americans Essay Example for Free

African American vs. Caucasian Americans Essay Is Racism a Permanent feature of American Society? Derrick Bell argues in this issue that the prospects for achieving racial equality in the United States are â€Å"illusory for Blacks. Bell reminds us despite the fact of the progress of blacks in United States; the legacy of slavery has left a portion of the race â€Å"with life-long poverty and soul devastating despair†. Bell believes that race consciousness is so imbedded in whites that it is virtually impossible to rise above it. He also argues that â€Å"few whites are able to identify with blacks as a group† and tend to view blacks through â€Å"comforting racial stereotypes†. Bell feels strongly that critical and proper examination of the history of black-white relations supports his conclusion that racism is a permanent feature of American Society. Bell makes some good point about racism in the American society today. The fact that the psychical part of racism is gone does not mean that racism as permanently left American Society. The fact that racism still â€Å"exist† is does not reflect on blacks’ success any longer. Majority of whites had a head start because their generation of success goes so many years back, were as for blacks success was not allowed at a point in time. Blacks have come a long ways over the years but there is still racial discrimination that â€Å"affects† the black population. Dinesh D’Souza does not agree with Bell, he believes that racism is not a permanent Strain of fabric in the American Society. D’Souza distinguishes between racial discrimination that is â€Å"irrational, motivated by bigotry† and which is â€Å"rational from the point of view of the discriminator. † D’Souza admits that such discrimination may be harmful to individual blacks but he rejects any casual linkage between the lagging indicators of blacks’ overall progress with racial discrimination. He believes race is a diminishing force within American society, D’Souza argues that factors other than racial discrimination are the sources of lagging process toward the American Dream. D’Souza reasoning for blacks not achieving more in America is because blacks fail to observe and embrace certain cultural norms of the dominant American Society. He implies that those who are successful exhibit cultural values that promote success. He states blacks need to place a much greater emphasis on overcoming cultural barriers rather than continuing to assert that race is being held by a persistent racism that afflicts America. Black’s generation has come a long way in American Society. Racism shouldn’t be the excuse for the failure in African American success when in 1919- current we have African American first. Slavery started around 1808 and ended in 1865 due to Lincoln Emancipation Proclamation. Racism was still in effect because the fact that blacks had rights was new. Still in all there were blacks who succeed shortly after that time. Madame C. J. Walker was the first African American female who was a self-made millionaire. In 1893 Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was the first black to perform open heart surgery. In 1908 Jack Johnson was the First African-American world heavyweight Champion. In 1993 Toni Morrison was the first African-American to win the Nobel Prize for literature. In 2009 Barack Obama was the first black president of the United States, with the support of some whites. Racism still is â€Å"permanent† due to history but it is not an excuse for Blacks not becoming successful. Derrick bell major argument is that blacks are faced at the bottom of the well. Bell exclaims despite undeniable progress for many, no African American is insulated from incidents of racial discrimination. He states because of our color we are threaten through our lives, careers. Dinesh D’Souza states racism undoubtedly exists, but it no longer has the power to thwart blacks or any other group in achieving their economic, political, and social aspirations. The arguments relates to the overall theme because yes, racism still occurs but it should not pun Blacks from achieving their aspiration. Bell major point is as a Black he experiences the racism. Blacks can work in a white community and experience racism because whites fear the superiority of blacks. D’Souza points out in his argument that racism is the least bit worries blacks should have, when there are black on black crime occurring. Racism should not be such an excuse for â€Å"underclass† blacks not achieving their goals. D’Souza points out the facts where African Americans now live in a country where black man, Colin Powell, who three decades ago could not be served in restaurants, is now a Joint chief staff. Also a white man who supported the nomination of Clarence Thomas, a black man married to a white, for the Supreme Court. D’Souza question is if white racism controls the density of blacks today, how one segment of black community has prospered so much over the past generation. Some unsupported claims in bells argument was he says, â€Å"Modern discrimination is, moreover, not practiced indiscriminately. † Bell implies whites idolize black athletes and entertainers but refuse to hire and work with blacks. Bell also states whites who number individuals blacks among their closest friends approve, or do not oppose, practices that bar selling or renting homes or apartments in their neighborhood to blacks they do not know. Then in his argument he also states that most hotels and restaurants, who offer black patrons courteous treatment, uniformly reject black job applicants. Bell defense for this was â€Å"When did you last see black waiter in a really good restaurant†. These are unsupported claims because this may be true but there are no proven facts that racist is the cause of these arguments. In D’Souza arguments there were not any unsupported claims really found. D’Souza stated his arguments and had accurate information to support his defense. D’Souza makes great points and has a lot of validity in his arguments. He states if blacks are going to reform their community, they have a right to expect that they will be treated equally under law. Hypothetically speaking D’Souza implies if blacks were refused hire on every baseball team in America, blacks would suffer most because they would be denied the chance to play professional baseball. Fans would also suffer because the quality of games would diminish. He says â€Å"But what if a few team-say the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers- refused to hire blacks? † African Americans has a group would hardly suffer at all, because they would offer there service to other teams. D’Souza saying the Yankees and the Dodgers would suffer a great deal, because they would be deprived of the chance to hire talented blacks’ players. Eventually the competitive pressure would force those teams to either hire blacks or suffer losses in games and revue. Then he makes another valid point he referenced from Gary Becker pointed out, in free market, selective discrimination imposes the heaviest cost on the discriminator where it should be. Some whites will undoubtedly discriminate against blacks but with deal with them because of the law and taste for profit. *Dinesh D’Souza is an Indian American conservative political commentator, public intellectual and current president of the King’s College in New York City. He graduated from Dartmouth College, where he graduated with a B. A. in English. D’Souza also published a book in 2007 called The Enemy at home: the cultural left and its responsibility for 9/11. In his argument D’Souza used government documents, books, articles and oral very frequently. D’Souza would state his opinion and have facts and documents to support his defense. No, the reading did not significantly add to my knowledge because these are issues that has been discussed for many years. In the article I did learn some new ways of thinking of Racism. This article did broaden my thoughts with the factual evidence the authors used to support their defense. I would recommend this article to be read to those who do not have a clear understanding of the term racism. The subject that was focus on in this case study is racism a permanent feature of American Society? The case study focused on political, social and economic issues. Bell argued blacks will never gain full equality in American and D’Souza argued that blacks have equality and racism is not important issue blacks should be worried about in today society.

Study Media Rather Than Consume It

Study Media Rather Than Consume It What is the media, why is it important to study the media and does it have an impact and can it change the way we think and behave? These are questions that are important in the study of the media industry. The media is a communication tool that is used to transfer messages to the general public. There are many types of media, for example the radio, television, newspapers and etc. Its important to be media literate as the media can be used to change and leave a lasting impact on an individual. The media is one of the most powerful tools that have been created. The media plays a vital role in an individuals perspective on political, economic and socio-cultural issues. According to Bazalgette Media studies open up your understanding of how things work, how people become informed or misinformed and how the myths and ideologies that govern all our lives are created and sustained. (Bazalgette, 2000). The media continually changes and evolves, the term media studies means different courses priorities different media; different theories and different learning outcomes (Bazalgette, 2000). Since this subject is still new there are a lot of disagreements on how media should be interpreted and it is also a hybrid subject as the idea that it came about comes from a variety of sources (Bazalgette, 2000). Media studies is also considered an academic discipline as it binds the different types of hybrid disciplines such as semiotics, structuralism, sociolinguistics and a lot more and th ere are no limits to an individual as how to analyze the media. The analysis of media is very important for this particular subject. Media studies are normally associated with the English language subject and also English Literature. However the difference is rather apparent and media studies courses uses economics, politics, psychology and sociology perspectives as ways to understand the media as well as requirements to consider texts from different contrasting perspectives. The English subject on the other hand, deals with reading and writing skills as well critical analysis. Bazalgette goes on to state that media studies are essentially political, it is political to ask questions like who owns a certain media and why (Bazalgette, 2000). This is known as media ownership, the individual consuming the media needs to have knowledge about who owns what media. Is it owned by an individual, a small firm or a large conglomeration? The understanding of what is studied and why it is studied is a very important topic in media studies. According to Bazalgetee there are five reasonings, the first is popularity. Why is there a certain game show, movie, song, or computer game studied more that another is simply because a lot if people like them (Bazalgetee,2000). This shows how audiences are manipulated and what the preferred media is. Second is exemplification, which means worthiness of study. It is characteristic of media studies that it tests and reviews its own theories, asking students to consider a range of examples and then to figure out not only the usefulness of a theory but also its limitations (Bazalgette, 2000). The third is notoriety, which helps us analyze media text in the contexts of social, political and culture. Most of these are controversial documentaries, movies or songs etc. The fourth is turning point, where selected text as stated in the previous point, can be significant without being notorio us. The final reason is aesthetic value, is a way of picking out important meanings from a text and making judgements. Important influences in media studies are self and experience in a mediated world. The self is seen as a product of the symbolic systems which precede it (Thompson, 1995). Identity and capacity to make sense of the world around us is said to be an outcome of a symbolic project. Controversies to how the media construct our personal lives and the role it plays as well as the views of the world about it (Thompson, 1995). Studying the media is also a very good way to understand the different jobs in the media industries and how these works are changing. The film and broadcasting industries have been predicted to face a shortage of skills it the time to come and therefore will be in need of people who are literate about the media As we have understood why its important to study the media, we also need to look at how the media is studied. There are two different schools of thought, one being American and the other European. Sinclair states that European and American theories are identified as application to media and communications. They are differences between these two and the European is characterized as interpretive and holistic in scope and American as empirical and micro (Sinclair, 2002). What this means is that we can study the media according to either the American way or the European way, but the outcome of the study would be different. The European way relays heavily interpretive and holistic in scope that is taking a macro-perspective, looking down on society on a whole (Sinclair, 2002). It exists most often in the sociopolitical stance of Marxists. This school of thought originated from the Frankfurt School, a group of Marxist based at Frankfurt in Germany, who had developed their critical theory. This theory is now usually called cultural Marxism or Western Marxism (Sinclair, 2002). Western Marxism is said to incorporate semiology and structuralism in the media and Ideological Critique argues that the media induce misunderstanding (Sinclair, 2002). The British were seeking to reconcile traditional British Marxism, which had little conception of culture at all with a theoretical critique of the media (Sinclair, 2002). In 1960 the University of Birmingham established a Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies and taught a combination of literary criticism and Marxist sociology. The Birmingham School emphasized the significance of media images and representations within the context of social and political conflicts. Political Economy studies the production and distribution of media content, It does not argue that media content under capitalism is ideological but somehow had assume that audiences fall under the ideological influence. The American way is of direct observation and controlled measurable occurrences. The American Empiricism defines content analysis as a systematic and quantifiable method to describe and analyze the meaning of the media messages (Sinclair, 2002). Harold Lesswell (1948) said that a convenient way to describe communication is to answer these questions, who, says what, through which channel, to whom, with what effect? Through this model we can study the way messages are transferred and to whom. Textual analysis is a way of gathering and analyzing information in academic research, it is also a way to approach media texts to try to understand their meanings (McKee, 2001). Content analysis breaks down the components of a program or newspaper into units which you are able to count them and replicates can be done. Semiotic analysis on the other hand, breaks down different elements of a text and labels them. In media studies, there is never a claim to whether a text is an accurate or inaccurate representation of reality. This means there is never a single correct way of any text (McKee, 2001). The text is likely to be interpreted through genre, the different codes producers and audiences communicated with and context, which is divide into 3 levels, the rest of the text, the genre of the text, the winder public context in which a text is circulated (McKee, 2001). Since there is no correct way of interpreting a text we need to learn how to understand media text and the world of rea lity. One way is by understanding the elements of language and culture, the form and context that shape the meanings that are available to us.

Method :: essays research papers

Method Participants   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There were 32 (22 female and 10 male) participants in this word recall experiment. Participants were of traditional and nontraditional college-age. The participants were from various academic majors; however, all participants were currently enrolled in one of three sections of an experimental psychology course. All of the experimental psychology students taking part in this experiment had previously completed a course in general psychology and psychological statistics earning a grade of â€Å"C† or better. The participants took part in the experiment as a learning experience for the class. Materials   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The experiment took place in a traditional classroom setting. Participants sat at one of three long tables, positioned in a u-shape, facing the front of the room. There was also a row of smaller desks behind the tables in which participants could sit. The experimenter used a series of 24 PowerPoint slides, which informed the participants of their role in the experiment. Consent forms were passed out to each participant. The consent form described how the experiment was not mandatory; therefore anyone wishing not to participate could simply return their consent form and exit the room. Additionally, number â€Å"2† pencils were given to any participant who did not have one of their own.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A Gateway 2000 (E-1000) computer equipped with Microsoft PowerPoint was used to generate the slides. The slides were displayed on a Gateway 2000 35’ diagonal color computer monitor. The monitor was placed on top of a portable TV stand, positioned in the front of the room. Thirty words were used on the presentation slide. Fifteen of the words used were concrete words such as cat, string, and butter. The other fifteen words used were abstract words like pride, honor, and truth. The words on the presentation slide were set up into 3 columns of 10 words, each alternating between concrete and abstract. The words on the slides were white with a black background to ensure that all participants could easily view the slides. Arial font with a 32-point size was used. All text was in upper case letters, also for easier viewing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The concrete and abstract words were chosen from a list of 925 words featured in Pavio, Yuille & Madigan (1968). The concreteness of all 925 words had been determined by asking subjects to rate the words on a likert scale of (1-7) (1= not very concrete, 7 = very concrete). The concrete words were composed of words with a concreteness value â€Å"C† of 6.

Volunteers Should Not Be Rewarded Essay -- volunteering, benefits, rew

Nowadays you can volunteer in different type of places. There are a lot of various organizations that need volunteers. What you can do to help these organizations are help clean parks, go to a foreign country to help from a natural disaster, etc. These are just some of the things you can do at these institutions. When volunteering the question is asked if people who volunteer should receive benefits or a reward for offering their service. I believe they shouldn't because if you’re receiving a benefit it becomes like a part-time job it takes the point of volunteering out of the equation. It also defies the purpose of doing it on your own free will with the purpose of doing good and helping others. First of all the definition of volunteering is offering yourself for a service or you performing willingly and ‘‘without pay’’. If people were to get benefits out of it, it wouldn't be volunteering anymore. The reason people volunteer is for either personal reasons, the need to help others, or to make a change in their community as to make their community a better place. People volunteer for other reasons too it can be because they are forced upon by their parents or a school requirement, or they want to try something new because they have a lot of free time in their hands. Head of PhD George L. says there are risks when volunteers are rewarded or paid. He states "The precise distinctions vary , but the point of difference is that employees get paid for their work — volunteers do not. Pay a volunteer for his or her work and you've transformed the former volunteer into an employee — or at least you've created a plausible basis for that person (or perhaps someone else) to claim he or she is an employee of your nonprofit." another problem ... ...on since it can cause them a lot of troubles plus it can also affect how the volunteer performs if not rewarded properly. Rewards are ok as long as they are properly distributed and it won't cost the institution extra money since they are working for a cause not to lose anything. volunteering is the act of helping others and giving yourself up for a service without pay and I believe in that because it wouldn't be volunteering anymore if you include pay in the same sentence. Works Cited L, George. "Library." Paying Volunteers Risk Management. Risk Management Center , n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. Hartman, Rachel. "Rewarding volunteers." Rewarding Volunteers. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. Johnson, Adrian. "Michigan Ann Arbor Bay City Detroit Flint Grand Rapids Jackson Kalamazoo Lansing Muskegon Saginaw All Michigan." The Kalamazoo Gazette. N.p., 7 Feb. 2009.

Miwok Social Life :: essays research papers

History Final Miwoks set many standards for themselves and the tribe. They were usually very hard workers, working harsh numbers of hours a day to keep the tribe alive. There were hunters, fishers, and many other jobs for people. A non-nomadic people, the Miwoks settled in the Yosemite Valley. My report is on the Miwok Social Life. Games, customs, jobs, and many other things about the Miwok Indians will all be covered in this. The way they lived, what they ate, and what they farmed. They all had a job, some of the women wove baskets, and some of them cooked. The men hunted, fished, made canoes, and fought. The first step of stepping into the life of a Miwok is to understand their dress. They were generally very lenient on clothing, some children going completely naked. Many wore flaps and when the men hunted, they camouflaged themselves in deerskins and grasses. Now you must know how they lived. What they lived in, how they built their homes, and such. U-ma-cha is the named of the home they lived in. Much like a "tee-pee", These homes were made of the thick bark of the Sequoia Redwoods. Mud and dirt was piled on the bottom of these homes, to keep water and rodents out, and heat in. They were at times coated with a layer of pine needles. About 8-15 feet in diameter, these homes were small. They did not bathe, but instead sat in sweat houses until they sweat the smell off and then ran out and jumped in a cold stream (Chilly Willy). Most slept on Deerskins, but a few slept on willow frames lifting them only inches from the ground, while the chief slept on a bearskin. The fire, at the center of each U-ma-cha, was used for cooking and heat. It was vital to have this fire burning constantly. There was also a ceremonial sweat house used for special ceremonies. This had a roof of 5 inches thick and was in the center of the village. The foods the Miwoks ate are also another step. With plentiful amounts of food in the Yosemite Valley, the Miwok stayed where they were. With out the need to move about in a nomadic fashion, their villages grew. This meant for a large need of food. Their main food was acorns. The women prepared this by cracking and shelling the acorns, then drying them.

Coke and Pepsi Learn to Compete in India

1. The political environment in India has proven to be critical to company performance for both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola India. What specific aspects of the political environment have played key role? Could these effects have been anticipated prior to market entry? If not, could developments in the political arena have been handled better by each company? Answer The political environment have played key role as follow: – Indian government viewed as unfriendly to foreign investors.Outside investment had been allowed only in high-tech sectors and was almost entirely prohibited in consumer goods sectors. The â€Å"Principle of indigenous available† If an item could be obtained anywhere else within the country, imports of similar items were forbidden. This made Indian consumers had a little choice of products or brands and no guarantees of quality or reliability. – Indian Laws, the government mandated that Pepsi’s products be promoted under the â€Å"Lehar Pepsi † name. For Coca-Cola, they attempted to enter into Indian market by joining with Parle and became â€Å"Coca-Cola India†Some of these effects may have been anticipated, especially foreseeing the corruption within Indian government. Taking that into account more proactively might have helped Coca-Cola avoid hardships in the past. As far as the contamination issues goes, that might not have been so easy to anticipate. Both companies held their own when trying to prove their products were within safe limits compared to other food products. They could developments in political arena; Coke could agreed to start new bottling plants instead of buying out Parle, and thus wouldn’t agreed to sell 49% of their equity.2. Timing of entry into the Indian market brought different results for PepsiCo and Coca-Cola India. What benefits or disadvantages accrued as a result of earlier or later market entry? AnswerPepsi early entry than Coca-Cola so it must be different in benefits and disadvantages between them in timing of entry into the Indian market: Pepsi: Advantage – It could enter into market before Coca-Cola so it could gain a foothold in the market while it was still developing. Disadvantages – It was forced to change its name to Lahar Pepsi.And government limited its soft drink sales to less than 25% of total sales. Coca-Cola:Advantages – It could buy 4 bottling plants from industry leader (Parle). It also bought Parle’s leading brands such as Thums Up, Limca, Citra, Gold Spot and Mazaa. And it could set up 2 new ventures with Parle to bottle and market product. Disadvantages – It denied to entry in Indian market until 1993 because Pepsi was already there, so it was not easy to establish the market share with Pepsi.3. The India market is enormous in terms of population and geography.How have the two companies responded to the sheer scale of operations in India in terms of product policies, promotional activities, p ricing policies, and distribution arrangements? Answer Product Policies Coca-Cola and Pepsi launched different product lines for attractive to the Indian consumer tastes. They started with product lines that were already available, such as cola, fruit drinks, and carbonated water. And they introduced new products such as Sprite and bottled water. Promotion Activities – Pepsi and Coca-Cola adapted themselves to the local market with promotions.Pepsi: They promoted heavily during the cultural festival of Navrarti by offering people fetch one kilo of Basmati rice with every refill of a case of Pepsi. This is an effective strategy to exchange between the old (rice) and the new (Pepsi). On the other side, Coca-Cola offers free passes, and giveaway as well as vacations to Goa, a famous resort in India for promoting its product. Pricing Policies – Pepsi launched with an aggressive pricing policy to attempt to get immediate market share from Indian rivals. For, Coca-Cola reduc ed prices nationwide by 15-25% to make them affordable and to access the market share easily.Distribution Arrangements – Production plants and bottling centers were strategically placed in large cities all around India. They were more added as demand grew, along with new product lines. In Coca-Cola’s case, the JV with Parle provided access to its bottling plants and its products. By forming partnerships, both Coca-Cola and Pepsi were able to get initial access into the market.4. â€Å"Global localization† (glocalization) is a policy that both companies have implemented successfully. Give example for each company from the case.Answer Pepsi – Pepsi forms joint venture when first entering India with two local partners, Voltas and Punjab Agro, forming â€Å"Pepsi Foods Ltd†. In 1990, Pepsi Foods Ltd. changed the name of their product to â€Å"Lehar Pepsi† to conform to foreign collaboration rules. In keeping with local tastes, Pepsi launched its Lehar 7UP in the clear lemon category. Moreover, Pepsi is most effective glocalization strategy has been sponsoring world famous Indian athletes. Coca-Cola – Firstly, joined forces with the local snack food producer Britannia Industry Indai Ltd. in the early 90’s.Then, Coca-Cola formed a joint venture with the market leader Parle in 1993. For the festival of Navrartri, Coca-Cola issued free passes to the celebration in each of its â€Å"Thums Up† bottles. It also ran special promotions where people could win free vacations to Goa, a resort state in western India. Furthermore, Coca-Cola also hired many famous Bollywood actors to guarantee its products.5. How can Pepsi and Coke confront the issues of water use in the manufacture of their products? How can they defuse further boycotts or demonstrations against their products?How effective are activist groups like the once that lunch the campaign in California? Should Coke Address the group directly or just let the furor subside? AnswerMany failures of both Pepsi and Coca-Cola experienced due to the unforeseen external environment, including the boycott placed on American and British Goods following the Second Gulf War in 2003. Firstly, Pepsi and Coca-Cola should have more focused on its products. The market still hasn’t taken off so they need to penetrate harder. In 2003, India’s annual consumption rate was still a poor seven per person.Specifically, Pepsi spent very small amounts on its 7UP marketing campaigns in India due to its relatively low market size (4. 5%). Advertising dollars should be pumped more freely and strategically if they want to see a return on investment. Next, they should be defined more specifically in their target markets. Coca-Cola separates its markets as â€Å"India A† and â€Å"India B†. This is too broad and lacks focus. We can differentiate demographics by gender, race, age, interests, job, and location. Then, Coca-Cola entered the mar ket at a wrong time because they had to agree to abide by all of the Foreign Investment Laws of that year.To avoid having to sell its 49% stake though, Coca-Cola should have agreed to set up Greenfield bottling units instead, as Pepsi did. Further, Coca-Cola lost valuable market share by entering the beverage market after Pepsi. By the time Coca-Cola was fully owned in 1993, Pepsi had already amassed a 26% market share. By continuing to apply for extensions and attempting to deny voting rights for the Indian stake, Coca-Cola was only tarnishing its public image and destroying its relationship with the government. When entering into a foreign market, maintaining a good relationship with the host country’s government is crucial.6. Which of the two companies do you think has better long-term prospects for success in India? AnswerIn my opinion, Pepsi will fare better than Coca-Cola in the long run because Pepsi has better in marketing and advertising. It’s also more widely accepted from consumers because it came in this market early so this could make Pepsi got more market share than Coca-Cola.7. What lessons can each company draw from its India experience as it contemplates into other Big Emerging Markets? AnswerFor Coca-Cola, firstly, it must consider more in dealing with government and also establish a good relationship with government. And it must pay attention for investment in quality products. For Pepsi, it must keep their products with local taste, and it should be focus on market trends in that area, celebrity appeal makes for exceptional advertising, and it must keep up with emerging trends in the market as well.8. Comment on the decision of both Pepsi and Coke to enter the bottled water market instead of –continuing to focus on their core products carbonated beverages and cola-based drinks in particular. AnswerPepsi and Coca-Cola did successful in continuing to research emerging trends and implementing them. Pepsi created smaller bo ttles to keep up with the trend of high frequency/ high volume consumption. Coca-Cola launched the â€Å"minis† in an effort for higher volume. So, they should keep a close watch on the advertising campaign effectiveness, and research on pleasant of the advertising for intention to buy.This measure ensured that advertising dollars were being strategically allocated and not wasted. Moreover, they must to consist of establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing non-alcoholic, carbonated beverages, mineral waters and concentrates and syrups for the manufacture of carbonated beverages. Establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing fruit juices and non-carbonated fruit drinks are classified in canned and Preserved Fruit and Vegetable Industry.

Clinometer

Clinometer (forestry) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search A clinometer used in forestry The clinometer, known in many fields as an inclinometer, is a common tool used in forestry to measure slope, vertical angles, and – in combination with distance measurements – elevation change or tree heights. How it works A forester using a clinometer makes use of basic trigonometry. First the observer measures a straight-line distance D from some observation point O to the object. Then, using the clinometer, the observer measures the angle a between O and the top of the object.Then the observer does the same for the angle b between O and the bottom of the object. Multiplying D by the tangent of a gives the height of the object above the observer, and by the tangent of b the depth of the object below the observer. Adding the two of course gives the total height (H) of the object, in the same units as D. [1] Note that since multiplication is distributive it is equally valid to add the tangents of the angles and then multiply them by D: A = tan a B = tan b H = (A ? D) + (B ? D) = (A + B) ? D Note also that both angles should be positive numbers (i. . ignore any minus sign on the clinometer's scale). Units of measure There are typically three different units of measure that can be marked on a clinometer: degrees, percent, and topo. When buying a clinometer it is important to make sure it is calibrated to units suitable for the intended use.Tree height measurement Tree height measurement The forester stands at a fixed distance from the base of the tree. The most common distances in the United States are 50  feet (15. 24 m), 66  feet (20. 12 m), and 100  feet (30. 48 m). 2] To obtain accurate readings it is best to use taped measured distance instead of paced distances. For the most accurate readings it is best to use a distance that is not less than the height of the tree being measured. [3], that is, that the clinometer will me asure an angle less than 45 ° (100%). The observer sights to the top of tree, if total height is the desired measurement. If the desired measurement is merchantable height – that is, the height producing timber that can be sold – the observer sights to a point on the tree above which no more merchantable timber is found.The observer then measures to the bottom of the tree, takes the tangents and multiples them by the distance, and adds the two figures together. This will be the height of the tree. The observer must always measure a leaning tree so that the tree is leaning to the left or right. Measurements should never be taken with the tree leaning toward or away from the observer because this will affect their accuracy because of foreshortening. Slope measurement Measuring slope with a clinometerThe clinometer is also commonly used by foresters to obtain the percent slope of terrain. This measurement is based on the same trigonometric principles described above. Sl ope measurements, however, require that both observer and target be a constant height above the ground; thus a range pole or height of measurement (HI) stick is often used in slope measurements. The Clinometer The clinometer is an optical device for measuring elevation angles above horizontal. The most common instruments of this type currently used are compass-clinometers from Suunto or Silva.Compass clinometers are fundamentally just magnetic compasses held with their plane vertical so that a plummet or its equivalent can point to the elevation of the sight line. A better clinometer (I believe) is the Abney hand spirit level or clinometer, where the object sighted and the level bubble can be seen simultaneously, so that the index can be set accurately. An Abney clinometer is shown in the photograph. A spirit level is so-called because it contains alcohol in a tube of large radius, in which the bubble moves to the highest point.Spirit levels are used for accurate surveying, although automatic levels that go back to the principle of the plummet are now frequently found, and are easy to use. The Abney clinometer has a sighting tube with an angle scale reading from -90 ° to +90 °, and a spirit level with a Vernier index that can be moved along the scale while the user looks through the sighting tube. A small mirror and lens makes the level bubble visible in the field of view. When the object is aligned with the crosshair in the sighting tube, the spirit level is rotated so that the bubble is bisected by the crosshair, as illustrated in the diagram.Then, the elevation of the line of sight can be read off on the scale. The Vernier can be read to 10†², but it requires a magnifier to do this. The clinometer can read easily and accurately angles of elevation that would be very difficult to measure in any other simple and inexpensive way. A fairly common use of a clinometer is to measure the height of trees, which is easily done. A point should be marked with a stake as far from the centre of the trunk of the tree as its estimated height, so that the elevation angle is about 45 °, which gives the best â€Å"geometry. This distance D is measured with a tape. The observer then stands over the stake and sights the top of the tree, finding its elevation angle ?. The height H of the tree is then H = D tan ? + HI, where HI, the height of instrument, is the height of the observer's eye. All this is illustrated in the diagram. A useful accessory is a levelling rod, which can be home-made at little expense. Since the clinometer has no powerful telescope, the reading of the rod must be evident from a distance if you use it as a self-reading rod.Alternatively, if you have a rodperson, she can stand by the rod and move a finger or other marker up and down in response to your signals, then measure the distance with a tape. A self-reading rod can be made from a 1†³ x 4†³ x 10†² choice pine board available at Home Depot. A bold patter n that can be estimated to a few centimetres can then be applied by stencil and matte black spray paint. Two examples are shown at the right. Colors can also be used to make distinctions. The determination of the difference in elevation of two points is called levelling, and can be carried out with the clinometer set at 0 °.The place where you stand with the level is called a turning point, TP. Your rodperson holds the rod on the first point, and you make a backsight, BS, by reading the rod. The reading is the HI above the first point. Now the rod is held on the second point, and a foresight, FS, is taken. Foresights and backsights should be roughly equal in distance. The difference in elevation of the two points is BS – FS. This procedure is illustrated at the left. If both points cannot conveniently be viewed from one TP, a chain of turning points is used, with an intermediate elevation between each one.The difference in elevation is the sum of the backsights less the sum of the foresights. If the sights are short, such as those that are practical with the clinometer, the curvature of the earth will be taken into account automatically. Clinometer Clinometers are measuring devices that may be used in several different professions. Also known as an inclinometer, the essential function of the device is to determine accurate measurements as they relate to sloping, height and distance.The clinometer is often used in the profession of meteorology, as well as in forestry and surveying. One of the most common applications of the clinometer has to do with measuring angles as they relate to the slope of natural formations or buildings and other human construction projects. The idea is to measure the angle with an eye toward identifying any amount of slope, with respect to the gravity that is involved. The clinometer may be used to measure both inclines and declines, based on the perspective of the individual calculating the measurements.

Essay of Ancient China

Ancient China In ancient Chinese cosmology, the universe was created not by divinities but self-generated from the interplay of nature's basic duality: the active, light, dry, warm, positive, masculine yang and the passive, dark, cold, moist, negative yin. All things, animate and inanimate, and all circumstances were a combination of these fundamentals. The ultimate principle of the universe was the tao, â€Å"the way,† and it determined the proper proportions of yin and yang in everything. Anything that altered the natural relation of yin to yang was considered bad, and right living consisted of carefully following the tao.If one observed the tao by moderation, equanimity, and morality, as taught in the Tao-te Ching, by Lao-tzu (sixth century B. C. ), one would be impervious to disease and resistant to the ravages of aging; disregard of the tao led to illness, which was not so much a punishment for sin as the inevitable result of acting contrary to natural laws. However, illn ess also could be caused by forces beyond one's control: â€Å"Wind is the cause of a hundred diseases,† and atmospheric conditions could upset the harmonious inner balance of the yang and yin.One had to be alert to this possibility and combat its effects as well as modify internal imbalances of the vital forces. Longevity and health were the rewards. Chinese medicine, in league with Taoism, was focused on the prevention of illness; for, as the legendary Huang Ti, father of Chinese medicine, observed, â€Å"the superior physician helps before the early budding of disease. † Although Taoist hygiene called for temperance and simplicity in most things, sexual mores were governed by the yin-yang aspect of Chinese philosophy.Ejaculation in intercourse led to diminution of a man's yang, which, of course, upset the inner balance of his nature. On the other hand, one was strengthened by absorption of the yin released by the orgasm of one's female partner—unless she was over thirty, the point where female essence lost its efficacy. The tao was important in Confucianism also, as the path of virtuous conduct, and for centuries the precepts of Confucius (K'ung Fu-tzu, 550-479 B. C. ) set the most prevalent standards of behavior. In early Chinese philosophy, there was a tendency to accept and combine aspects of all religions and to make way for new ideas.Nevertheless, the ancient Chinese were profoundly conservative once an institution, custom, philosophy, mode of dress, or even a furniture style was firmly established, and it remained relatively unchanged over centuries. As Confucius said: â€Å"Gather in the same places where our fathers before us have gathered; perform the same ceremonies which they before us have performed; play the same music which they before us have played; pay respect to those whom they honored; love those who were dear to them. † Although ancient China's development was relatively isolated, there was early contact with India and Tibet.Buddhism came to China from India, and medical concepts and practices were an important part of its teachings. The gymnastic and breathing exercises in Chinese medical methodology also came from India and were closely related to the principles of Yoga and to aspects of Ayurvedic medicine. There were also contacts with Southeast Asia, Persia, and the Arabic world. In the second century B. C. , the Chinese ambassador Chang Chien spent more than a decade in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt, bringing back information on drugs, viticulture, and other subjects.Over the centuries, knowledge of humoral medicine and of numerous new medicaments filtered into China. The introduction of the wisdom of the Mediterranean world was greatly facilitated in the fifth century by the expulsion and wide dispersion from Constantinople of the heretical Nestorian Christians. The mother of Kublai Khan (1216-94), founder of the Mongol dynasty, was a Nestorian and asked the Pope to send European d octors to China. Early Medical Writings Classical Chinese medicine was based primarily on works ascribed to three legendary emperors. The most ancient was Fu Hsi (c. 2900 B. C. , who was said to have originated the pa kua, a symbol composed of yang lines and yin lines combined in eight (pa) separate trigrams (kua) which could represent all yin-yang conditions. This system is followed even today in the I Ching (Book of Changes), though as a game or superstition in the West. Shen Nung, the Red Emperor (Hung Ti), compiled the first medical herbal, the Pen-tsao (c. 2800 B. C. ), in which he reported the effects of 365 drugs, all of them personally tested. One legend explains that a magic drug made his abdominal skin transparent, so he could observe the action of the many plants he evaluated.Another story tells that he cut open his abdomen and stitched in a window. Shen Nung is also said to have drawn up the first charts on acupuncture, a medical procedure presumably even older than the legendary emperors. The fame of Yu Hsiung (c. 2600 B. C. ), the Yellow Emperor (Huang Ti), rests on his great medical compendium, the Nei Ching (Canon of Medicine). Transmitted orally for many centuries, this seminal work was possibly committed to writing by the third century B. C. Its present form dates from the eighth century A. D. when the last extensive revision was done by Wang Ping. The major portion of the Nei Ching, the Sun-Wen (Simple Questions), records the discourse of the Yellow Emperor with Ch'i Po, his prime minister, on virtually all phases of health and illness, including prevention and treatment. The section called Ling-Hsu (Spiritual Nucleus), deals entirely with acupuncture. Yu Hsiung also was said to be responsible for another great compendium, The Discourses of the Yellow Emperor and the Plain Girl, which thoroughly covered the subject of sex from the Taoist point of view.Among other notable sources for ancient medical lore, one might mention the Shih Ching (Boo k of Odes), which perhaps predates Homer's epics, and the Lun-yu, discourses of Confucius probably written down shortly after his death, which affected patterns of behavior for many generations. During the long Chou dynasty (c. 1050-255 B. C. ), a lengthy compilation of medical works, Institutions of Chou, was completed and became the criterion for subsequent dynasties on the duties and organization of physicians. In the Han dynasty (206 B. C. -A. D. 20), there was a noted clinical author named Tsang Kung, who pioneered in the description of many diseases, including cancer of the stomach, aneurysm, and rheumatism. Chang Chung-ching, the Chinese Hippocrates, in the third century A. D. , wrote the classic treatise Typhoid and Other Fevers. Ko Hung, a famed alchemist and a careful observer, wrote treatises describing beriberi (a vitamin B deficiency), hepatitis, and plague, and gave one of the earliest reports on smallpox: â€Å"As the New Year approached there was a seasonal affectio n in which pustules appeared on the face and spread rapidly all over the body.They looked like burns covered with white starch and reformed as soon as they were broken. The majority died if not treated. After recovery purplish black scars remained. † Sun Szu-miao (A. D. 581-682) wrote Ch'ien Chin Yao Fang (A Thousand Golden Remedies), which summarized in thirty volumes much of the known medical learning, and he headed a committee which produced a fifty-volume collection on pathology. An extensive codification of forensic medicine, Hsi Yuan Lu, was done in the Sung dynasty and became the prime source for knowledge of medical jurisprudence.Anatomy and Physiology Ideas of anatomy in ancient China were reached by reasoning and. by assumption rather than dissection or direct observation. Since the doctrines of Confucius forbade violation of the body, it was not until the eighteenth century, long after Vesalius, that the Chinese began systematic, direct anatomical studies. Even as l ate as the nineteenth century, in the Viceroy's Hospital Medical School, anatomy was taught by diagrams and artificial models rather than dissection.Physiological functions were constructed into a humoral system much like Greek concepts of the sixth century B. C. and Galenic views of the second century A. D. , except that there were five instead of four essential humors. (The number five had mystical value for the Chinese and was used for most classifications: five elements, five tastes, five qualities, five kinds of drugs, five treatments, five solid organs, five seasons, five emotions, five colors, etc. ) The medical compendium Nei Ching stated that each emotion had its seat in a particular organ.Happiness dwelt in the heart, thought in the spleen, sorrow in the lungs, and the liver housed anger as well as the soul. Ideas in the Nei Ching concerning movement of the blood (â€Å"All the blood is under control of the heart. † â€Å"The blood current flows continuously in a c ircle and never stops. â€Å") have been thought to approach an understanding of its circulation antedating Harvey by thousands of years; however, some body vessels were believed to convey air, and there is little evidence that commentators perceived the blood-carrying vessels as a contained system. DiagnosisThe Chinese methods of diagnosis included questioning, feeling the pulse, observing the voice and body, and in some circumstances touching the affected parts. In almost all times and cultures physicians have used a similar approach, for all healers have sought to know as much as possible about a patient in order to understand his or her illness and advise treatment. However, in some respects ancient physicians saw each patient more completely as a reflection of his surroundings (indeed, the entire universe) than does the doctor of today. The Chinese doctor wanted to learn ow the patient had violated the tao, and to do this he took into account the patient's rank; changes in his or her social status, household, economic position, sense of well-being, or appetite; the weather; and the dreams of the patient and his or her family. Perhaps the most important diagnostic technique of the ancient Chinese was examination of the pulse. The physician felt the right wrist and then the left. He compared the beats with his own, noting precise time as well as day and season since each hour affected the nature of the pulsations.Each pulse had three distinct divisions, each associated with a specific organ, and each division had a separate quality, of which there were dozens of varieties. Moreover, each division or zone of the pulse had a superficial and deep projection. Thus literally hundreds of possible characteristics were obtainable. In one treatise, Muo-Ching, ten volumes were necessary to cover all the intricacies of the pulse. A patient had only to extend his or her arm through drawn bed curtains for the physician to determine the symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, a nd proper treatment by intensive palpation of the pulse.Whenever possible the examiner also felt the skin of the ill person. However, it was considered bad form for a man to intimately examine a woman, so special ceramic, ivory, and wooden dolls were pointed to by the invalid to indicate where discomfort was felt. Treatment According to the Nei Ching, there were five methods of treatment: cure the spirit, nourish the body, give medications, treat the whole body, and use acupuncture and moxibustion. The physician had to put the patient back on the right path, the tao.Assuming that specific mental states caused changes in specific organs, the healer linked certain objectionable behavioral and constitutional factors with illness and attempted to have the patient rectify these. For instance, dissolute and licentious ideas led to diseases of the lungs, but acting out such thoughts brought on heart trouble. A doctor had to determine the cause of disharmony in the body and act accordingly. Exercises were developed to keep the body fit and to restore well-being. Hua T'o, the great surgeon, worked out an ingenious system of physical therapy by advising mimicry of the natural movements of animals.Massage—kneading, tapping, pinching, and chafing—was also a regular method of treatment, as were the application of plasters and evacuation of the intestinal tract by cathartics. In nourishing a patient's body, the physician resorted to complex combinations of foods according to their potential amounts of yang and yin. Foods also had to fit the seasons, and each of the five tastes had benefits for a particular element of the body: sour for the bones, pungent for the tendons, salty for the blood, bitter for respiration, and sweet for muscle.Medications The Chinese pharmacopoeia was always rich, from the time of the Pen-tsao, the first medical herbal, to the later dynasties when two thousand items and sixteen thousand prescriptions made up the armamentarium. Drugs w ere considered more likely to be good if they tasted bad. As one would expect, they were classified into five categories: herbs, trees, insects, stones, and grains. The therapeutic minerals and metals included compounds of mercury (calomel was employed for venereal diseases), arsenic, and magnetic stones.Animal-derived remedies, in addition to â€Å"dragon teeth† (powdered fossilized bones), included virtually anything obtainable from living creatures: whole parts, segments of organs, urine, dung. Two plant substances especially associated with China may be singled out. One is ephedra (ma huang), the â€Å"horsetail† plant described by the Red Emperor, which was used for thousands of years as a stimulant, as a remedy for respiratory -diseases, to induce fevers and perspiration, and to depress coughs.Ephedra entered the Greek pharmacopoeia and eventually was disseminated throughout most of the world. It only became a factor in Western medicine in the late nineteenth cen tury after Japanese investigators isolated and purified the active principle, ephedrine, and established its pharmacologic action. A second medicinal herb, always highly popular among the Chinese, is ginseng (â€Å"man-shaped root†). To the Chinese, preparations containing ginseng were almost miraculous in delaying old age, restoring sexual powers, stimulating the debilitated, and sedating the overwrought.In addition it improved diabetes and stabilized blood pressure. In recent years this root has been under scrutiny by Western pharmacologists attempting to evaluate its true benefits. Multitudes in Asia, and even some Westerners, are so convinced of its effectiveness that high-grade wild roots have brought fabulous prices (even reaching thousands of dollars apiece). Although many items in the Chinese materia medica have either faded into bscurity or been labeled fanciful, others subsequently have been found to possess sound pharmacologic bases: seaweed, which contains iodine, was used in treating enlargement of the thyroid; the willow plant, containing salicylic acid, was a remedy for rheumatism; the Siberian wort has antispasmodics for menstrual discomfort; and mulberry flowers contain rutin, a treatment for elevated blood pressure. Whether opium was used as a drug before quite late in Chinese history is still in dispute. Acupuncture and Moxibustion These modalities have been an integral part of Chinese medical therapy for thousands of years.The Yellow Emperor is said to have invented them, but they may well have existed long before his time. The aim of these treatments was to drain off excess yang or yin and thus establish a proper balance, but external energy also could be introduced into the body. In acupuncture the skin is pierced by long needles to varying prescribed depths. Needles are inserted into any of 365 points along the twelve meridians that traverse the body and transmit an active life force called ch'i. Each of these points is related to a particular organ.For instance, puncture of a certain spot on the ear lobe might be the proper way to treat an abdominal ailment. Virtually every illness, weakness, and symptom is thought to be amenable to correction by acupuncture. Acupuncture spread to Korea and Japan by the end of the tenth century A. D. , to Europe about the seventeenth century, and recent years have seen a wider interest in this Chinese medical practice in the West. Individual paramedical healers and even some medical practitioners have been swamped with requests for acupuncture, especially for problems apparently little benefited by conventional practices.The eventual acceptability of this practice in standard Western medicine remains to be seen. Moxibustion is as old as acupuncture, and the same meridians and points govern placement of the moxa. However, in this treatment a powdered plant substance, usually mugwort, is fashioned into a small mound on the patient's skin and burned, usually raising a blister. Dentistry The treatment of tooth disorders was confined mainly to applying or ingesting drugs—pomegranate, aconite, ginseng, garlic, rhubarb, and arsenic, as well as animal products such as dung and urine.The Nei Ching classified nine types of toothaches, which included some obviously due to infections and tooth decay. Like the Mesopotamians and Egyptians, the ancient Chinese believed that worms were often responsible for dental problems. Toothpicks and tooth whiteners were used, and loose teeth were stabilized with bamboo splints. Gold was sometimes used to cover teeth, but the purpose was decorative rather than protective. Surgery Although surgery was not one of the five methods of treatment listed in the Nei Ching, the knife was known and used.Hua T'o, one of the few names mentioned in connection with surgery, treated an arm wound of the famous general Kuan Yu by cutting his flesh and scraping the bone. Physicians knew how to deal with wounds, and at least two classics we re devoted entirely to their treatment. The proper attitude toward pain was to bear it without a sign of emotion, and much was made of the insouciance of the general treated by Hua T'o; he played chess while the surgeon operated. Nevertheless, apparently some kind of anesthesia was often used.Wine and drugs like hyoscyamus were probably mainstays, but the use of opium and Indian hemp is still in question. Eunuchs and Footbinding Another surgical procedure, though hardly therapeutic, was the frequent castration of certain males seeking advancement at court. Though originally a severe punishment, the total removal of penis and testicles came to be a pledge of absolute allegiance to the monarch, since it released the eunuch from conflict with Confucian admonitions of first loyalty to family and the obligation of siring a son for posterity.Footbinding is also of medical interest, for it caused the development of artificially clubbed feet. Over a period of one thousand years, every young girl of proper family willingly permitted herself to be crippled by her mother and aunts to achieve the tiny foot of ideal feminine beauty. Her toes were gradually folded under the sole, and by increasingly tight bandaging her heelbone and forefoot were brought closer together. Without Golden Lotuses, as the best-shaped bound feet were called, a girl was unmarriageable, nor was the life of a courtesan open to her, for tiny feet were a woman's most desirable feature.For a man, a bound-foot wife had profound sexual significance, but she was also a status symbol inasmuch as her helplessness indicated that he was wealthy enough to support a woman, or women, in idleness. There was also an advantage to him in her restricted mobility, for it kept her home and made illicit amorous adventures difficult. Although China's Manchu conquerors forbade the practice in the nineteenth century, it was not until the early twentieth that footbinding was completely abandoned. Diseases Some epidemic dise ases were understood well enough to allow the development of protective measures.In the eleventh century, inoculation against smallpox was effected by putting scabs from smallpox pustules into the nostrils, a method which may have come from India. Wearing the clothing of someone who had the disease was another means of prevention. The relationship of cowpox (as a protective) to smallpox may have been perceived, since ingesting powdered fleas from infected cows was also recommended to stave off smallpox. But other devastating pestilences were neither understood nor held in check. During the Han dynasty an epidemic of what appears to have been typhoid fever killed two-thirds of the population of one region.Precise descriptions of leprosy in the Nei Ching and later works attest to the diagnostic accuracy of the early Chinese healers, but their explanation of the disease's causes and their treatment follow preconceived notions of the time. â€Å"The wind and chills lodge in the blood v essels and cannot be got rid of. This is called li-feng. For the treatment prick the swollen parts with a sharp needle to let the foul air out. † Fourteenth-century writings referred to chaulmoogra oil, a pressing from seeds of an East Indian tree, as a specific for leprosy, and this oil remained the principal antileprous drug even in the West until recent decades.An illness that may have been tuberculosis was recognized as contagious: â€Å"Generally the disease gives rise to high fever, sweating, asthenia, unlocalized pains making all positions difficult and slowly bringing about consumption and death, after which the disease is transmitted to the relations until the whole family has been wiped out. † Venereal diseases, although not well differentiated, received a variety of therapies, including the use of metallic substances for internal medication.In the Secret Therapy for the Treatment of Venereal Disease, the seventeenth-century physician Chun Szi-sung reported us ing arsenic, which, until the development of penicillin, was the modern medication for venereal disease, in the form of Salvarsan and derivatives synthesized by Paul Ehrlich. There seem always to have been places in China where the sick poor could go for medical care. With the advance of Buddhism in the Han and T'ang dynasties, in-patient hospitals staffed by physician-priests became common.However, in the ninth century, when anti-Buddhists were in control, hospitals as well as 4,600 temples were destroyed or emptied. Nevertheless, by the twelfth century hospitals had again become so numerous that virtually every district had at least one tax-supported institution. The upper classes preferred to be treated and cared for in their homes, thus leaving public hospitals to the poor and lower classes. The Practitioners In the Institutions of Chou, compiled hundreds of years before Christ, the hierarchy of physicians in the kingdom was delineated.The five categories were: chief physician ( who collected drugs, examined other physicians, and assigned them); food physicians (who prescribed six kinds of food and drink); physicians for simple diseases (such as headaches, colds, minor wounds); ulcer physicians (who may have been the surgeons); and physicians for animals (evidently veterinarians). Physicians were also rated according to their results, and as early as the Chou and T'ang dynasties each doctor had to report both successes and failures—to control his movement up or down in the ranks.In the seventh century A. D. examinations were required for one to qualify as a physician, some four centuries earlier than the first licensing system in the West. Medical knowledge was thought of as a secret power that belonged to each practitioner. Whereas in other societies, both advanced and primitive, closely knit guilds might control the spread of medical lore, the Chinese physician kept his secrets to himself—passing them on only to sons or, sometimes, specially selected qualifiers.In early times, a physician gave his services out of philanthropy, for since the original healers were rulers, sages, nobles, and, perhaps, priests, economic and social incentives were absent. Later, direct fees or salaries were instituted, and the court and certain prosperous households kept physicians on retainer. Formal schools may have existed as early as the tenth century, and in the eleventh century an organization for medical education was set up under imperial auspices. Under the Ming dynasty in the fourteenth century, the school system became fixed. It changed little over the next centuries, xcept for a gradual decline, and by 1800 there was only one medical school left in Peking. Teachers were held strictly accountable for the performance of their students, and fines were imposed if the professor failed to enforce attendance or if his pupils did poorly on exams. The examination system was complex: a pyramidal structure provided a process of elimination which continued until those with the highest scores emerged. The top students could be heart doctors, the next level were assistant examiners, and lower scores could mean limited assignment in teaching.Specialization may have occurred early. While physicians and apothecaries were separate for a long time, they were both regarded as healers. In the Chou dynasty there were nine specialties, and they grew to thirteen by the Mongol period, early in the fourteenth century. The subdivisions became even more complex, with doctors for the great blood vessels, small vessels, fevers, smallpox, eyes, skin, bones, larynx, and mouth and teeth. There were also gynecologists, pediatricians, and pulsologists for internal diseases, external medicine, the nose and throat, and for children's illnesses.Some healers specialized in moxibustion, acupuncture, or massage. Even the experts in incantation and dietetics were considered medical specialists and were often held in higher regard than other doctor s; surgeons were generally of low rank. Furthermore, each of the practitioners in each category had assistants and students—all of whom had to qualify by examination. Obstetrics was in the hands of midwives for many centuries; it is not known when the first women doctors were in practice. One female physician is mentioned by name in documents from the Han dynasty (206 B.C. -A. D. 220), but women may have been doctors at an earlier date. By the fourteenth century women were officially recognized as physicians. Throughout the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the practicing medical theorists could be divided into six main philosophic schools. The Yin-yang group focused on insufficiencies of one of these forces. The Wen-pou doctors attributed illnesses to a preponderance of yang and frequently prescribed ginseng and aconite. The Radical group used drastic medication.The Conservatives relied entirely on the authorities of the past, reedited the classic works, and made no deviations from strict authoritarianism. The Eclectic physicians, as their name implies, used a variety of principles from the other sects. The sixth school based all therapy on bringing the five elements and six vapors into harmony. Spread of Chinese Medicine to Korea, Japan, And Tibet Ancient Chinese medicine was well-developed long before the beginning of the Christian era, and its influence appears to have spread into adjacent Korea by the sixth century A.D. At that time, after a severe epidemic had ravaged Japan, Korean doctors who were invited to counsel Japanese physicians introduced them to Chinese medical classics and commentaries. By the seventh century, Japanese scholars and doctors were going directly to China for their information and experience. In the eighth century, a Chinese Buddhist monk named Chien Chen came to Japan and achieved a prominent position in the imperial court at Nara, where, given the Japanese name Kanjin, he taught, practiced medicine, and translated Chinese materia medica.Late in that century, Chinese medicine was well-established in Japan, and a medical school based on its methodology was founded by the Japanese physician Wake Hiroya. Early in the next century (806–10), the Emperor Heijo vainly attempted to combat foreign influence and restore traditional Japanese medical practice, but the methods of Chinese healing were too firmly entrenched. In the tenth century, acupuncture reached Japan, followed by moxibusti on (the word moxa is Japanese), and the full complement of Chinese medicine was accepted in Japan.With medical training closely based on Chinese systems, the Japanese exacted exceptionally intensive and prolonged study before permitting entrance into the profession by governmental examination. As in ancient China, high social standing was a requirement for admission to medical school, but separate instruction by assigned teachers was apparently also arranged to accommodate the more lowly. The authority of Chinese medicine, no t to mention Chinese culture and philosophy, moved east as well as west by the seventh and eighth centuries.However, Arabic and Indian missionaries of Islam and Buddhism made influence a two-way exchange as they traveled to China seeking converts. Since their missions necessitated the translation of Sanskrit and Arabic writings into Chinese and vice versa, medical knowledge inevitably was passed back and forth. Consequently, the crossroads areas of Southeast Asia and Tibet developed a medical system combining aspects of Chinese, Indian, and Arabic practice. Arabic influence, which stemmed in part from Greek teachings, was evident in the doctrine of four humors (phlegm, blood, bile, and wind), whereas Indian deas were seen in the Yogic placement of the soul in the core of the spinal column and reliance on breathing exercises. Traveling Buddhist priests, who were quite successful in spreading their faith, for a long time also practiced medicine. During this early period, the two wives (one Chinese) of a Tibetan king converted him to Buddhism, and thereafter scholars were invited to bring Chinese writings into Tibet, which resulted in collections in Tibetan called Kanjur and Tanjur, the latter containing medical information.In the thirteenth century, the Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan wanted this body of knowledge available again in Chinese but was unable to carry through the translation. Nevertheless, his grandson in the next century arranged for scholars from Tibet, Mongolia, and Central Asia to accomplish the task. Ironically, while the Mongols were in control they allied themselves with non-Chinese such as Uighars, Jews, Christians, and Moslems, and they preferred Arabic medicine to Chinese. Essay of Ancient China Ancient China In ancient Chinese cosmology, the universe was created not by divinities but self-generated from the interplay of nature's basic duality: the active, light, dry, warm, positive, masculine yang and the passive, dark, cold, moist, negative yin. All things, animate and inanimate, and all circumstances were a combination of these fundamentals. The ultimate principle of the universe was the tao, â€Å"the way,† and it determined the proper proportions of yin and yang in everything. Anything that altered the natural relation of yin to yang was considered bad, and right living consisted of carefully following the tao.If one observed the tao by moderation, equanimity, and morality, as taught in the Tao-te Ching, by Lao-tzu (sixth century B. C. ), one would be impervious to disease and resistant to the ravages of aging; disregard of the tao led to illness, which was not so much a punishment for sin as the inevitable result of acting contrary to natural laws. However, illn ess also could be caused by forces beyond one's control: â€Å"Wind is the cause of a hundred diseases,† and atmospheric conditions could upset the harmonious inner balance of the yang and yin.One had to be alert to this possibility and combat its effects as well as modify internal imbalances of the vital forces. Longevity and health were the rewards. Chinese medicine, in league with Taoism, was focused on the prevention of illness; for, as the legendary Huang Ti, father of Chinese medicine, observed, â€Å"the superior physician helps before the early budding of disease. † Although Taoist hygiene called for temperance and simplicity in most things, sexual mores were governed by the yin-yang aspect of Chinese philosophy.Ejaculation in intercourse led to diminution of a man's yang, which, of course, upset the inner balance of his nature. On the other hand, one was strengthened by absorption of the yin released by the orgasm of one's female partner—unless she was over thirty, the point where female essence lost its efficacy. The tao was important in Confucianism also, as the path of virtuous conduct, and for centuries the precepts of Confucius (K'ung Fu-tzu, 550-479 B. C. ) set the most prevalent standards of behavior. In early Chinese philosophy, there was a tendency to accept and combine aspects of all religions and to make way for new ideas.Nevertheless, the ancient Chinese were profoundly conservative once an institution, custom, philosophy, mode of dress, or even a furniture style was firmly established, and it remained relatively unchanged over centuries. As Confucius said: â€Å"Gather in the same places where our fathers before us have gathered; perform the same ceremonies which they before us have performed; play the same music which they before us have played; pay respect to those whom they honored; love those who were dear to them. † Although ancient China's development was relatively isolated, there was early contact with India and Tibet.Buddhism came to China from India, and medical concepts and practices were an important part of its teachings. The gymnastic and breathing exercises in Chinese medical methodology also came from India and were closely related to the principles of Yoga and to aspects of Ayurvedic medicine. There were also contacts with Southeast Asia, Persia, and the Arabic world. In the second century B. C. , the Chinese ambassador Chang Chien spent more than a decade in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt, bringing back information on drugs, viticulture, and other subjects.Over the centuries, knowledge of humoral medicine and of numerous new medicaments filtered into China. The introduction of the wisdom of the Mediterranean world was greatly facilitated in the fifth century by the expulsion and wide dispersion from Constantinople of the heretical Nestorian Christians. The mother of Kublai Khan (1216-94), founder of the Mongol dynasty, was a Nestorian and asked the Pope to send European d octors to China. Early Medical Writings Classical Chinese medicine was based primarily on works ascribed to three legendary emperors. The most ancient was Fu Hsi (c. 2900 B. C. , who was said to have originated the pa kua, a symbol composed of yang lines and yin lines combined in eight (pa) separate trigrams (kua) which could represent all yin-yang conditions. This system is followed even today in the I Ching (Book of Changes), though as a game or superstition in the West. Shen Nung, the Red Emperor (Hung Ti), compiled the first medical herbal, the Pen-tsao (c. 2800 B. C. ), in which he reported the effects of 365 drugs, all of them personally tested. One legend explains that a magic drug made his abdominal skin transparent, so he could observe the action of the many plants he evaluated.Another story tells that he cut open his abdomen and stitched in a window. Shen Nung is also said to have drawn up the first charts on acupuncture, a medical procedure presumably even older than the legendary emperors. The fame of Yu Hsiung (c. 2600 B. C. ), the Yellow Emperor (Huang Ti), rests on his great medical compendium, the Nei Ching (Canon of Medicine). Transmitted orally for many centuries, this seminal work was possibly committed to writing by the third century B. C. Its present form dates from the eighth century A. D. when the last extensive revision was done by Wang Ping. The major portion of the Nei Ching, the Sun-Wen (Simple Questions), records the discourse of the Yellow Emperor with Ch'i Po, his prime minister, on virtually all phases of health and illness, including prevention and treatment. The section called Ling-Hsu (Spiritual Nucleus), deals entirely with acupuncture. Yu Hsiung also was said to be responsible for another great compendium, The Discourses of the Yellow Emperor and the Plain Girl, which thoroughly covered the subject of sex from the Taoist point of view.Among other notable sources for ancient medical lore, one might mention the Shih Ching (Boo k of Odes), which perhaps predates Homer's epics, and the Lun-yu, discourses of Confucius probably written down shortly after his death, which affected patterns of behavior for many generations. During the long Chou dynasty (c. 1050-255 B. C. ), a lengthy compilation of medical works, Institutions of Chou, was completed and became the criterion for subsequent dynasties on the duties and organization of physicians. In the Han dynasty (206 B. C. -A. D. 20), there was a noted clinical author named Tsang Kung, who pioneered in the description of many diseases, including cancer of the stomach, aneurysm, and rheumatism. Chang Chung-ching, the Chinese Hippocrates, in the third century A. D. , wrote the classic treatise Typhoid and Other Fevers. Ko Hung, a famed alchemist and a careful observer, wrote treatises describing beriberi (a vitamin B deficiency), hepatitis, and plague, and gave one of the earliest reports on smallpox: â€Å"As the New Year approached there was a seasonal affectio n in which pustules appeared on the face and spread rapidly all over the body.They looked like burns covered with white starch and reformed as soon as they were broken. The majority died if not treated. After recovery purplish black scars remained. † Sun Szu-miao (A. D. 581-682) wrote Ch'ien Chin Yao Fang (A Thousand Golden Remedies), which summarized in thirty volumes much of the known medical learning, and he headed a committee which produced a fifty-volume collection on pathology. An extensive codification of forensic medicine, Hsi Yuan Lu, was done in the Sung dynasty and became the prime source for knowledge of medical jurisprudence.Anatomy and Physiology Ideas of anatomy in ancient China were reached by reasoning and. by assumption rather than dissection or direct observation. Since the doctrines of Confucius forbade violation of the body, it was not until the eighteenth century, long after Vesalius, that the Chinese began systematic, direct anatomical studies. Even as l ate as the nineteenth century, in the Viceroy's Hospital Medical School, anatomy was taught by diagrams and artificial models rather than dissection.Physiological functions were constructed into a humoral system much like Greek concepts of the sixth century B. C. and Galenic views of the second century A. D. , except that there were five instead of four essential humors. (The number five had mystical value for the Chinese and was used for most classifications: five elements, five tastes, five qualities, five kinds of drugs, five treatments, five solid organs, five seasons, five emotions, five colors, etc. ) The medical compendium Nei Ching stated that each emotion had its seat in a particular organ.Happiness dwelt in the heart, thought in the spleen, sorrow in the lungs, and the liver housed anger as well as the soul. Ideas in the Nei Ching concerning movement of the blood (â€Å"All the blood is under control of the heart. † â€Å"The blood current flows continuously in a c ircle and never stops. â€Å") have been thought to approach an understanding of its circulation antedating Harvey by thousands of years; however, some body vessels were believed to convey air, and there is little evidence that commentators perceived the blood-carrying vessels as a contained system. DiagnosisThe Chinese methods of diagnosis included questioning, feeling the pulse, observing the voice and body, and in some circumstances touching the affected parts. In almost all times and cultures physicians have used a similar approach, for all healers have sought to know as much as possible about a patient in order to understand his or her illness and advise treatment. However, in some respects ancient physicians saw each patient more completely as a reflection of his surroundings (indeed, the entire universe) than does the doctor of today. The Chinese doctor wanted to learn ow the patient had violated the tao, and to do this he took into account the patient's rank; changes in his or her social status, household, economic position, sense of well-being, or appetite; the weather; and the dreams of the patient and his or her family. Perhaps the most important diagnostic technique of the ancient Chinese was examination of the pulse. The physician felt the right wrist and then the left. He compared the beats with his own, noting precise time as well as day and season since each hour affected the nature of the pulsations.Each pulse had three distinct divisions, each associated with a specific organ, and each division had a separate quality, of which there were dozens of varieties. Moreover, each division or zone of the pulse had a superficial and deep projection. Thus literally hundreds of possible characteristics were obtainable. In one treatise, Muo-Ching, ten volumes were necessary to cover all the intricacies of the pulse. A patient had only to extend his or her arm through drawn bed curtains for the physician to determine the symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, a nd proper treatment by intensive palpation of the pulse.Whenever possible the examiner also felt the skin of the ill person. However, it was considered bad form for a man to intimately examine a woman, so special ceramic, ivory, and wooden dolls were pointed to by the invalid to indicate where discomfort was felt. Treatment According to the Nei Ching, there were five methods of treatment: cure the spirit, nourish the body, give medications, treat the whole body, and use acupuncture and moxibustion. The physician had to put the patient back on the right path, the tao.Assuming that specific mental states caused changes in specific organs, the healer linked certain objectionable behavioral and constitutional factors with illness and attempted to have the patient rectify these. For instance, dissolute and licentious ideas led to diseases of the lungs, but acting out such thoughts brought on heart trouble. A doctor had to determine the cause of disharmony in the body and act accordingly. Exercises were developed to keep the body fit and to restore well-being. Hua T'o, the great surgeon, worked out an ingenious system of physical therapy by advising mimicry of the natural movements of animals.Massage—kneading, tapping, pinching, and chafing—was also a regular method of treatment, as were the application of plasters and evacuation of the intestinal tract by cathartics. In nourishing a patient's body, the physician resorted to complex combinations of foods according to their potential amounts of yang and yin. Foods also had to fit the seasons, and each of the five tastes had benefits for a particular element of the body: sour for the bones, pungent for the tendons, salty for the blood, bitter for respiration, and sweet for muscle.Medications The Chinese pharmacopoeia was always rich, from the time of the Pen-tsao, the first medical herbal, to the later dynasties when two thousand items and sixteen thousand prescriptions made up the armamentarium. Drugs w ere considered more likely to be good if they tasted bad. As one would expect, they were classified into five categories: herbs, trees, insects, stones, and grains. The therapeutic minerals and metals included compounds of mercury (calomel was employed for venereal diseases), arsenic, and magnetic stones.Animal-derived remedies, in addition to â€Å"dragon teeth† (powdered fossilized bones), included virtually anything obtainable from living creatures: whole parts, segments of organs, urine, dung. Two plant substances especially associated with China may be singled out. One is ephedra (ma huang), the â€Å"horsetail† plant described by the Red Emperor, which was used for thousands of years as a stimulant, as a remedy for respiratory -diseases, to induce fevers and perspiration, and to depress coughs.Ephedra entered the Greek pharmacopoeia and eventually was disseminated throughout most of the world. It only became a factor in Western medicine in the late nineteenth cen tury after Japanese investigators isolated and purified the active principle, ephedrine, and established its pharmacologic action. A second medicinal herb, always highly popular among the Chinese, is ginseng (â€Å"man-shaped root†). To the Chinese, preparations containing ginseng were almost miraculous in delaying old age, restoring sexual powers, stimulating the debilitated, and sedating the overwrought.In addition it improved diabetes and stabilized blood pressure. In recent years this root has been under scrutiny by Western pharmacologists attempting to evaluate its true benefits. Multitudes in Asia, and even some Westerners, are so convinced of its effectiveness that high-grade wild roots have brought fabulous prices (even reaching thousands of dollars apiece). Although many items in the Chinese materia medica have either faded into bscurity or been labeled fanciful, others subsequently have been found to possess sound pharmacologic bases: seaweed, which contains iodine, was used in treating enlargement of the thyroid; the willow plant, containing salicylic acid, was a remedy for rheumatism; the Siberian wort has antispasmodics for menstrual discomfort; and mulberry flowers contain rutin, a treatment for elevated blood pressure. Whether opium was used as a drug before quite late in Chinese history is still in dispute. Acupuncture and Moxibustion These modalities have been an integral part of Chinese medical therapy for thousands of years.The Yellow Emperor is said to have invented them, but they may well have existed long before his time. The aim of these treatments was to drain off excess yang or yin and thus establish a proper balance, but external energy also could be introduced into the body. In acupuncture the skin is pierced by long needles to varying prescribed depths. Needles are inserted into any of 365 points along the twelve meridians that traverse the body and transmit an active life force called ch'i. Each of these points is related to a particular organ.For instance, puncture of a certain spot on the ear lobe might be the proper way to treat an abdominal ailment. Virtually every illness, weakness, and symptom is thought to be amenable to correction by acupuncture. Acupuncture spread to Korea and Japan by the end of the tenth century A. D. , to Europe about the seventeenth century, and recent years have seen a wider interest in this Chinese medical practice in the West. Individual paramedical healers and even some medical practitioners have been swamped with requests for acupuncture, especially for problems apparently little benefited by conventional practices.The eventual acceptability of this practice in standard Western medicine remains to be seen. Moxibustion is as old as acupuncture, and the same meridians and points govern placement of the moxa. However, in this treatment a powdered plant substance, usually mugwort, is fashioned into a small mound on the patient's skin and burned, usually raising a blister. Dentistry The treatment of tooth disorders was confined mainly to applying or ingesting drugs—pomegranate, aconite, ginseng, garlic, rhubarb, and arsenic, as well as animal products such as dung and urine.The Nei Ching classified nine types of toothaches, which included some obviously due to infections and tooth decay. Like the Mesopotamians and Egyptians, the ancient Chinese believed that worms were often responsible for dental problems. Toothpicks and tooth whiteners were used, and loose teeth were stabilized with bamboo splints. Gold was sometimes used to cover teeth, but the purpose was decorative rather than protective. Surgery Although surgery was not one of the five methods of treatment listed in the Nei Ching, the knife was known and used.Hua T'o, one of the few names mentioned in connection with surgery, treated an arm wound of the famous general Kuan Yu by cutting his flesh and scraping the bone. Physicians knew how to deal with wounds, and at least two classics we re devoted entirely to their treatment. The proper attitude toward pain was to bear it without a sign of emotion, and much was made of the insouciance of the general treated by Hua T'o; he played chess while the surgeon operated. Nevertheless, apparently some kind of anesthesia was often used.Wine and drugs like hyoscyamus were probably mainstays, but the use of opium and Indian hemp is still in question. Eunuchs and Footbinding Another surgical procedure, though hardly therapeutic, was the frequent castration of certain males seeking advancement at court. Though originally a severe punishment, the total removal of penis and testicles came to be a pledge of absolute allegiance to the monarch, since it released the eunuch from conflict with Confucian admonitions of first loyalty to family and the obligation of siring a son for posterity.Footbinding is also of medical interest, for it caused the development of artificially clubbed feet. Over a period of one thousand years, every young girl of proper family willingly permitted herself to be crippled by her mother and aunts to achieve the tiny foot of ideal feminine beauty. Her toes were gradually folded under the sole, and by increasingly tight bandaging her heelbone and forefoot were brought closer together. Without Golden Lotuses, as the best-shaped bound feet were called, a girl was unmarriageable, nor was the life of a courtesan open to her, for tiny feet were a woman's most desirable feature.For a man, a bound-foot wife had profound sexual significance, but she was also a status symbol inasmuch as her helplessness indicated that he was wealthy enough to support a woman, or women, in idleness. There was also an advantage to him in her restricted mobility, for it kept her home and made illicit amorous adventures difficult. Although China's Manchu conquerors forbade the practice in the nineteenth century, it was not until the early twentieth that footbinding was completely abandoned. Diseases Some epidemic dise ases were understood well enough to allow the development of protective measures.In the eleventh century, inoculation against smallpox was effected by putting scabs from smallpox pustules into the nostrils, a method which may have come from India. Wearing the clothing of someone who had the disease was another means of prevention. The relationship of cowpox (as a protective) to smallpox may have been perceived, since ingesting powdered fleas from infected cows was also recommended to stave off smallpox. But other devastating pestilences were neither understood nor held in check. During the Han dynasty an epidemic of what appears to have been typhoid fever killed two-thirds of the population of one region.Precise descriptions of leprosy in the Nei Ching and later works attest to the diagnostic accuracy of the early Chinese healers, but their explanation of the disease's causes and their treatment follow preconceived notions of the time. â€Å"The wind and chills lodge in the blood v essels and cannot be got rid of. This is called li-feng. For the treatment prick the swollen parts with a sharp needle to let the foul air out. † Fourteenth-century writings referred to chaulmoogra oil, a pressing from seeds of an East Indian tree, as a specific for leprosy, and this oil remained the principal antileprous drug even in the West until recent decades.An illness that may have been tuberculosis was recognized as contagious: â€Å"Generally the disease gives rise to high fever, sweating, asthenia, unlocalized pains making all positions difficult and slowly bringing about consumption and death, after which the disease is transmitted to the relations until the whole family has been wiped out. † Venereal diseases, although not well differentiated, received a variety of therapies, including the use of metallic substances for internal medication.In the Secret Therapy for the Treatment of Venereal Disease, the seventeenth-century physician Chun Szi-sung reported us ing arsenic, which, until the development of penicillin, was the modern medication for venereal disease, in the form of Salvarsan and derivatives synthesized by Paul Ehrlich. There seem always to have been places in China where the sick poor could go for medical care. With the advance of Buddhism in the Han and T'ang dynasties, in-patient hospitals staffed by physician-priests became common.However, in the ninth century, when anti-Buddhists were in control, hospitals as well as 4,600 temples were destroyed or emptied. Nevertheless, by the twelfth century hospitals had again become so numerous that virtually every district had at least one tax-supported institution. The upper classes preferred to be treated and cared for in their homes, thus leaving public hospitals to the poor and lower classes. The Practitioners In the Institutions of Chou, compiled hundreds of years before Christ, the hierarchy of physicians in the kingdom was delineated.The five categories were: chief physician ( who collected drugs, examined other physicians, and assigned them); food physicians (who prescribed six kinds of food and drink); physicians for simple diseases (such as headaches, colds, minor wounds); ulcer physicians (who may have been the surgeons); and physicians for animals (evidently veterinarians). Physicians were also rated according to their results, and as early as the Chou and T'ang dynasties each doctor had to report both successes and failures—to control his movement up or down in the ranks.In the seventh century A. D. examinations were required for one to qualify as a physician, some four centuries earlier than the first licensing system in the West. Medical knowledge was thought of as a secret power that belonged to each practitioner. Whereas in other societies, both advanced and primitive, closely knit guilds might control the spread of medical lore, the Chinese physician kept his secrets to himself—passing them on only to sons or, sometimes, specially selected qualifiers.In early times, a physician gave his services out of philanthropy, for since the original healers were rulers, sages, nobles, and, perhaps, priests, economic and social incentives were absent. Later, direct fees or salaries were instituted, and the court and certain prosperous households kept physicians on retainer. Formal schools may have existed as early as the tenth century, and in the eleventh century an organization for medical education was set up under imperial auspices. Under the Ming dynasty in the fourteenth century, the school system became fixed. It changed little over the next centuries, xcept for a gradual decline, and by 1800 there was only one medical school left in Peking. Teachers were held strictly accountable for the performance of their students, and fines were imposed if the professor failed to enforce attendance or if his pupils did poorly on exams. The examination system was complex: a pyramidal structure provided a process of elimination which continued until those with the highest scores emerged. The top students could be heart doctors, the next level were assistant examiners, and lower scores could mean limited assignment in teaching.Specialization may have occurred early. While physicians and apothecaries were separate for a long time, they were both regarded as healers. In the Chou dynasty there were nine specialties, and they grew to thirteen by the Mongol period, early in the fourteenth century. The subdivisions became even more complex, with doctors for the great blood vessels, small vessels, fevers, smallpox, eyes, skin, bones, larynx, and mouth and teeth. There were also gynecologists, pediatricians, and pulsologists for internal diseases, external medicine, the nose and throat, and for children's illnesses.Some healers specialized in moxibustion, acupuncture, or massage. Even the experts in incantation and dietetics were considered medical specialists and were often held in higher regard than other doctor s; surgeons were generally of low rank. Furthermore, each of the practitioners in each category had assistants and students—all of whom had to qualify by examination. Obstetrics was in the hands of midwives for many centuries; it is not known when the first women doctors were in practice. One female physician is mentioned by name in documents from the Han dynasty (206 B.C. -A. D. 220), but women may have been doctors at an earlier date. By the fourteenth century women were officially recognized as physicians. Throughout the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the practicing medical theorists could be divided into six main philosophic schools. The Yin-yang group focused on insufficiencies of one of these forces. The Wen-pou doctors attributed illnesses to a preponderance of yang and frequently prescribed ginseng and aconite. The Radical group used drastic medication.The Conservatives relied entirely on the authorities of the past, reedited the classic works, and made no deviations from strict authoritarianism. The Eclectic physicians, as their name implies, used a variety of principles from the other sects. The sixth school based all therapy on bringing the five elements and six vapors into harmony. Spread of Chinese Medicine to Korea, Japan, And Tibet Ancient Chinese medicine was well-developed long before the beginning of the Christian era, and its influence appears to have spread into adjacent Korea by the sixth century A.D. At that time, after a severe epidemic had ravaged Japan, Korean doctors who were invited to counsel Japanese physicians introduced them to Chinese medical classics and commentaries. By the seventh century, Japanese scholars and doctors were going directly to China for their information and experience. In the eighth century, a Chinese Buddhist monk named Chien Chen came to Japan and achieved a prominent position in the imperial court at Nara, where, given the Japanese name Kanjin, he taught, practiced medicine, and translated Chinese materia medica.Late in that century, Chinese medicine was well-established in Japan, and a medical school based on its methodology was founded by the Japanese physician Wake Hiroya. Early in the next century (806–10), the Emperor Heijo vainly attempted to combat foreign influence and restore traditional Japanese medical practice, but the methods of Chinese healing were too firmly entrenched. In the tenth century, acupuncture reached Japan, followed by moxibusti on (the word moxa is Japanese), and the full complement of Chinese medicine was accepted in Japan.With medical training closely based on Chinese systems, the Japanese exacted exceptionally intensive and prolonged study before permitting entrance into the profession by governmental examination. As in ancient China, high social standing was a requirement for admission to medical school, but separate instruction by assigned teachers was apparently also arranged to accommodate the more lowly. The authority of Chinese medicine, no t to mention Chinese culture and philosophy, moved east as well as west by the seventh and eighth centuries.However, Arabic and Indian missionaries of Islam and Buddhism made influence a two-way exchange as they traveled to China seeking converts. Since their missions necessitated the translation of Sanskrit and Arabic writings into Chinese and vice versa, medical knowledge inevitably was passed back and forth. Consequently, the crossroads areas of Southeast Asia and Tibet developed a medical system combining aspects of Chinese, Indian, and Arabic practice. Arabic influence, which stemmed in part from Greek teachings, was evident in the doctrine of four humors (phlegm, blood, bile, and wind), whereas Indian deas were seen in the Yogic placement of the soul in the core of the spinal column and reliance on breathing exercises. Traveling Buddhist priests, who were quite successful in spreading their faith, for a long time also practiced medicine. During this early period, the two wives (one Chinese) of a Tibetan king converted him to Buddhism, and thereafter scholars were invited to bring Chinese writings into Tibet, which resulted in collections in Tibetan called Kanjur and Tanjur, the latter containing medical information.In the thirteenth century, the Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan wanted this body of knowledge available again in Chinese but was unable to carry through the translation. Nevertheless, his grandson in the next century arranged for scholars from Tibet, Mongolia, and Central Asia to accomplish the task. Ironically, while the Mongols were in control they allied themselves with non-Chinese such as Uighars, Jews, Christians, and Moslems, and they preferred Arabic medicine to Chinese.