Thursday, December 26, 2019

Motivation Theory Literature Review - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 13 Words: 3954 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Psychology Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? INTRODUCTION: Motivation is naturally conceptualized either as an desire arising from within the human being or as an impulse arising from within the organism or as an attraction arising from an object external to the individual. According to Baron (1991) defines motivation as the internal processes that activate, guide, and maintain behaviour especially goal-directed behaviour. Also (Kanfer, 1998) defines as free will element of behaviour and the psychological mechanism governing the direction, intensity, and persistence of action not due solely to individual differences in ability or overwhelming environmental demands that force action. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Motivation Theory Literature Review" essay for you Create order Motivation has been defined as essential to adaptive functioning and quality of life (Marin Chakravorty, 2005), and as the content of the positive thinking one wishes to maintain towards the attainment of an objective (Schweingruber, 2006). According to (kanfer, 1990) states that challenges facing researchers into motivation is that it cannot be seen and most individual see is a multidimensional stream of behaviour and the products of those behaviours. Also states motivational processes can be inferred only from analysis of this continuing stream of behaviour that is determined both by environment and heredity and is observed through their effects on personality, belief, knowledge, abilities and skills. Besides that,(Herzberg,1987)describes movement as a function of fear of punishment or failure to get extrinsic rewards and motivation as a function of growth from getting intrinsic rewards out of interesting and challenging work. Motivation is to be intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is internal. Intrinsic motivation is obvious as the performance of an activity for its inborn satisfaction rather than for some detachable outcome. As soon as, intrinsically motivated, a person is stimulated to take action for the pleasurable or challenge entailed relatively than because of external products, pressures (Ryan et al 2000). It occurs when people are compelled to do something out of pleasure, importance, or desire. Extrinsic motivation occurs when external factors compel the person to do something. Extrinsic motivation is a pull together that pertains whenever an action is done in order to reach some detachable result. (Rayan et al. 2000).Motivation is the driving force within individuals that compels them physiologically and psychologically to pursue one or more goals to fulfil their needs or expectations. (Lam Tang, 2003, p. 61) From my understanding whatever the behaviour, the drive pushing or polling person to act in particular way is motivation and most researchers believe motivation as the drive behind human behaviour. Furthermore, people cannot be motivated to do something if there is nothing in it for them. Obviously, reward may be the avoidance of a negative outcome as much as it may be the achievement of a positive outcome. Motivation theory has to do with why do individual make the choices they make? or what makes someone persist at one activity and yet quickly give up another. Motivation is to give reason, incentive, enthusiasm, or interest that causes a specific action or certain behaviour. Motivation is present in every life function. Simple acts such as eating are motivated by hunger. Education is motivated by desire for knowledge. Motivation is a vital quality that pervades all aspects of teaching and learning. Motivated students display interest in activities, motivated teachers feel that they can help students learn and motivated administrators make possible teaching and learning in their buildings. Self-motivatio n is what most people use to define motivation at its highest mountain of accomplishments. If you are able to motivate yourself and reach your goals, you would have conquered the ability to be disciplined and will accomplish anything you put your mind to. Motivation is very important to all decisions that you have to make. In the workplace, motivation is defined by the actions that employees take to improve the company goals as well as their aspirations for career advancement. The effective performance of employees is what makes or breaks a company. So to keep employees motivated, employers must invest in the overall morale by implementing workshops and seminars to help them. Managers are the key personnel in what makes an employee follow directions. Using rewards like promotions and incentives as well as compliments can greatly improve an employees view of the company and its managers. Employees like to be recognized for their efforts regardless of the salary bracket. Such recognit ion keeps them motivated in getting their job done. Recognition in this case is the motivation technique that managers can tap into and gain the structure over the workplace environment of how they want things done. What organisation and managers can do is provide the environment, support and resources that will influence and effect motivation. Nowadays, managers are trying to find useful motivation theories to motivate their employees. While there are a wide variety of motivation theories on human motivation discussed in this literature review, which means that managers can use any or all those motivation theories to motivate their employees. Managers can use these motivation theories in ways that complement each other. MOTIVATION THEORY-MAJOR CONCEPTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS This is all about the main researchers of motivation theories and to illustrate how these theories can be apply to practical situation. Also reviewed how the major concepts and contributions can apply in work related situations and applying them in groups, teams at organisational level and individual level. Motivation is a complex concept and there are many different theories which look at the subject from different perspectives. The different theories of motivation and criticisms of the theories have been discussed as follows: 1: Hierarchy of needs theory by Maslow A.H. 2: Hygiene theory by Herzberg F. 3: X and Y theory by McGregor D.M. 4: Existence- Relatedness-Growth theory by Alderfer C. P. 5: Expectancy theory by Vroom V. 6: Goal-Setting Theory by Locke E.A. 7: Internal and External control theory by Rotter J.B. 8: Achievement theory by McClelland and Atkinson J.W. 9: Job characteristics theory by Hackman J.R. and Oldham G.R. HIERARCHY OF NEEDS THEORY: According to Maslow (1954) projected that motivation is based on a number of human need. It has to do with the hierarchy that requires the lower more basic needs to be satisfied before the increasingly less basic ones above. Maslow believed that there are five basic needs of the theory. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs is one of the most famous motivation theories, and it has been the centre of much interest by management researchers (Katz, 2004). This (Fig.1) is Maslows hierarchy of needs in pyramid with physiological needs at the base, self-actualisation at the top. 5: Self- actualisation needs: Refer to personal growth and development. 4: Esteem or Ego needs: Refer to need for status and self respect. 3: Social needs: Refer to need to part of a social group and belongingness/love 2: Safety needs: Refer to security, need for shelter or physical danger. 1: Physiological needs: Refer to basic life needs, like food, drink, shelter, etc THE SELF ACTUALISATION NEED: Maslow defined self-actualization as the complete use and utilization of talents, capacities, potentialities. (Maslow,1954). Self-actualization is not a static state. It is an ongoing procedure in which ones capacities are fully, imaginatively, and cheerfully utilized. Self-actualizing people perceive life without a doubt and they are less emotional and more objective. ESTEEM OR EGO NEEDS: According to Maslow, esteem needs were made of two types of desire. I: Desire for strength, adequacy achievement, competence and confidence in the face of organisation. 2: Desire for reputation, glory dominance, recognition, appreciation and dignity Furthermore, people need to be respected, to have self-esteem, self- respect and respect. Self-Esteem expresses the normal human desire to be acknowledged and valued by others. This has to with ones internal needs for self-respect, autonomy and external needs for status and recognition. SOCIAL NEEDS: Are the third level of human needs from the (Fig 1) above. This has to do with ones needs for affection and a sense of belonging and acceptance. Human being need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance. They need to love and be loved. According to (Maslow, 1954) include the giving and receiving of affection. SAFETY NEEDS: As soon as peoples physical needs have satisfied, they will chase higher level needs, such as safety needs. Safety needs are determined by the need for security and protection from physical and emotion harm. Safety needs include: personal security, financial security, health and well-being, and a safety net or insurance for accidents/illness and the adverse impacts. PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS: Are the lowest level of needs, from the (Fig 1) above which are the most basic needs for people. Physiological needs are also measured the needs for human survival. If these needs are not met, people cannot continue to function. Physiological needs include: breathing, homeostasis, water, sleep, food, excretion, and sex. According to (Sarah Steve 2002, p175)the theory engrossed criticism regarding its principle that individuals work on satisfying needs at a higher level only once all lower- level needs have been met. Also major problem facing the theory is how to measure needs, both in terms of how powerfully they are felt and of how someone knows they have been met. Furthermore, the theory is not easy to apply directly to work because need are not met through one source. HYGIENE THEORY: According to (Herzberg et al 1959) proposed his Two-Factor Theory of Human Motivation, known as Motivation-Hygiene theory. Hygiene theory is based on the principle that things people come across satisfying in their jobs are not always the opposite of things they find dissatisfying. Herzbergs Two-Factor Theory is based on the results of research into the factors in a workplace that lead to employee satisfaction. Herzberg made use of a survey, titled, What do people want from their jobs? to achieve insights into what workplace factors people perceived as satisfying and dissatisfying. He asked people to describe in detail which workplace factors led to satisfaction and which factors led to dissatisfaction, and then he separated the results and classified them.Fig.2and Fig.3 show the factors that led to extreme satisfaction and dissatisfaction, respectively. Fig.2 Shows Factors that led to extreme satisfaction according to Herzberg Fig.3 shows Factors that led to extreme dissatis faction according to Herzberg According to(Robins 2001) The criticisms facing the theory, is methodology used by Herzberg does not take into account that often, when things are going well, people take the credit themselves, and when things are not , they blame others and their situation. There is on job satisfaction against which the people could rate their job. Also situational factors were not identified. Despite the criticisms the theory is a vital theory of motivation and used by managers to consider hygiene factors with regards to motivation. X and Y THEORY: Based on( McGregor, 1960)reviewed that the relationship between managers and employee could be immensely improved if the assumptions that had develop about how people behaved at work were changed from Theory X view to a Theory Y view. Basically one is positive and the other is negative. THEORY X: was based on scientific management school of thought and projected that enlarged productivity could result from breaking jobs down into small unit of work and giving workers a small range of obviously defined tasks to do. According to (Gray Stark, 1984) Employees do not like to work and want to evade work as much as possible. Employees do not want to take responsibility for the work; managers should take some actions, like convincing and supervising strategies, to help them finishing their mission. Theory X assumed that human actions are dictated by low-level needs, THEORY Y: Was based the predominant theory of management there could be no trust between management and employee. Also Small opportunity for relationship between management and employees in theory .According to (Gray Stark, 1984) employees treat work as entertainment and rest, it is natural. Employees have the ability to make creative decisions, not just managers. Theory Y assumed that human actions are determined by high-level needs. The theory X and Y can influence how motivating factors are regarded within an organisation. Theory X has to do with extrinsic rewards such as pay in order to motivate people to execute good in their job while theory Y has to do with working environment in which employees may discern intrinsic rewards in their job. EXISTENCE RELATEDNESS GROWTH THEORY: This has the similarities to Maslows needs hierarchy. Alderfer C.P. extended and simplified Maslows hierarchy into a shorter set of three needs: Existence, Relatedness and Growth (ERG) Theory. (Alderfer, 1969) EXISTENCE NEEDS: According to (Hollyforde Whiddett 2002) Refers Existence needs as our concern with basic material subsistence motivators and size of how satisfied this need is therefore mostly stated in conditions of what one person has in relation to others. Existence needs, is based on various forms of material and physiological needs. RELATEDNESS NEEDS: Refers to theÂÂ  motivation we have in support of maintaining interpersonal relationships GROWTH NEEDS: Refers to an intrinsic desire for personal development. Relate to personal creativity and productivity. According to (Sarah Steve 2002), the theory does not suggests how a person may meet his or needs .So managers cannot presume that everyones relationship needs will be met in the same way. Also the th eory ERG theory with its three broad categories is maybe easier to deal with than the five levels of need in hierarchy of needs theory. EXPECTANCY THEORY: Vroom suggests that this theory is Based on the principle that people expect particular actions to achieve a desired result and that the desired result is something worth striving for or avoiding. Vroom does not give attention to on needs, but rather focuses on outcomes. According to (Vroom, 1964) identifies two terms the theory. 1. Expectancy: means the stronger the assurance that an act will be followed by particular outcome, the stronger the expectancy is considered to be 2. Valence: Means affective orientations toward particular outcome either positive or negative. Theory expectancy and valence of Vroom concentrated on extrinsic outcomes rather than intrinsic ones. Based on research expectancy and valence are not as distinct from each other as Vroom recommended .And one the key criticisms is that the theory was tested as if it was based on behavioural and attitudinal predictions across rather than within persons. Furthermore, expectancy theory accommodates multiple wor k outcomes in forecasting motivation and predicts motivation to work hard to earn the merit pay will be low if expectancy low (Schermerhorn J. et al 1997) GOAL-SETTING THEORY: The theory is based on the principle that individuals are motivated to achieve the successful accomplishment of challenging goal. According to (Locke, 1968) based his result on three main conclusions. 1: The more hard goals result in higher level of performance than easy goal 2: The specific goals produce higher levels of performance than general goals. 3: The behavioural intentions influence the choices people make. The Goal -Setting theory is helpful to many managers because much of people management is particularly about performance against goals. Theory has great relevance for managers. According to (Robins, 2001) Implies that Goal Setting theory is restricted to those cultures that match the ones in which the research was carried out. INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL THEORY: The theory is based on locus of control. Locus of Control refers to an individuals perception about the underlying main causes of events in his/her life. According to (Rotter, 1966) invented the internal -external dimension to determine locus of control. Based on the extent to which people feel they are in control of the situations that engulfed them and also the extent to which they are convinced of directing events 1. External control: when individual feels that result of his or her actions is as the result of chance, luck as under the powerful others. 2. Internal control: When individual perceives that the occurrence is contingent upon his own behaviour. The Internal and External theory has been criticised for its centre of attention on the Internal-external dimension only as on personality variable .Besides that the theory is useful when considering motivation issues at individual level. ACHIEVEMENT THEORY: The theory is based the needs that can be classed as either Achievement(nAch), Affiliation(nAff) or Power(nPow) .Also theory is based on three factors research into behaviour in achievement-oriented activities. 1: when individual expects to receive unmistakable feedback on the marks of his or her action. 2: When individual feels liable for the outcome success or failure. 3: When individual feels a little level of uncertainty or risk in the activity Achievement theory does not explore why some people enjoyment a challenge and others fear failure. Achievement theory was not specifically about work. The theory is useful when considering why individuals react different to achieving tough goals and why they react to failure in individual ways (Sarah Steve 2002).McClelland recommends that top managers should have a high need for power coupled with a low need for affiliation. Sunil R. Cited (Kreitner kinicki 1998) JOB CHARACTERISTICS THEORY This theory is based on how to design a job so that it is motivating to individual. Also the theory deals with how individual responds to complex and challenging tasks. According to (Hackman Oldham 1976) job characteristics theory proposed that individuals intrinsic motivation is affected by psychological states: 1: Experienced meaningfulness of the work: The extent individuals perceive the job as meaningful and valuable. 2: Experienced responsibility for the outcomes of the work:-the extent individual feels personally accountable and responsible for the outcome of work done. 3: Knowledge of the result of the activities:-the extent individual knows, and understands on continuous basis how successfully he or she is performing the work Also theory has five job dimensions 1: Skill variety-this has to with number of type of skill and talents of individual. 2: Task identity-this has to with work at hand and job completion 3: task significance- this has to with job considerable impact on lives or work of other people. 4: Autonomy -All about individual in setting up the work and determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out. (Freedom and independence at work environment). 5: Feedback-All about individual getting direct and clear result about the effectiveness of his or her performance The theory is one of the few motivation theories specific to an organisational environment and has plenty of practical application. Theory centre of attention is on facilitating0 high internal work motivation. Hackman and Oldman based their theory on motivating individual through job design. CONTRIBUTIONS: According to (Whittington Evans 2005) The Hierarchy of Needs theory proposed by Maslow has been identified as a major influencing factor in the growth of other motivation and management work, such as that of McGregor (Theory X and Theory Y) and Herzberg Motivation-Hygiene theory. It has been generally applied as a basis for much research into, among other things, workforce commitment, job satisfaction and management theory (Stum, 2001). Goal-Setting Theory by Locke has been acknowledged the best goals and dispute facing management environment and Achievement theory by McClelland has identified problems facing motive to achieve success in management work. (Sarah Steve 2002).Expectancy theory has been used to identify job satisfaction, occupational choice, the likelihood of staying in a job, and the effort that one might expand at management work. Internal and External control theory by Rotter has enhanced the concept of persistence (locus of control) in management work. The job ch aracteristics theory relies on workers insight of the job dimensions for the accomplishment of the psychological states that lead to increased motivation. APPLICATION OF THE CONCEPT OF MOTIVATION TO FACILITIES MANAGEMENT Facilities management regularly deals with identifying relations that humans have with their environment. According to (Smith et al., 1997) the rates of pay had very little influence on participants job satisfaction and subsequent work motivation. Some affiliation can be made at this point to Maslows lowest levels of his hierarchy of needs physiological and safety needs. Maslow argued that individuals can only move up the hierarchy of needs to the higher levels of belongingness/love, esteem and finally self-actualisation, once the lower levels had been achieved; however, the results demonstrated in this study suggest that ancillary staff can be motivated and achieve higher levels of Maslows hierarchy without having their physiological and safety needs completely fulfilled. Individuals can only move up the hierarchy of needs to the higher levels of belongingness/love, esteem and finally self-actualisation, once the lower levels had been achieved; on the other hand, the results demo nstrated in this study suggest that facilities managers can motivate their staff and achieve higher levels of Maslows hierarchy without having their physiological and safety needs completely fulfilled. McGregors Theory X and y focused on managements assumptions about employees. Theory X and Y describe the average worker from management perspective and suggest methods by which facilities manager can get the best out of worker. Herzberg studies concentrated on satisfaction at work. Herzberg came to a conclusion that certain factors tended to lead to job satisfaction.(motivators),while others led to frequently to dissatisfaction(Hygiene factors).these factor are related to job context they are concerned with job environment as an extrinsic to the job itself. Shane, S., 2001. Technology opportunities and new firm creation. Management Science 47 9, pp. 1173-1181. LATEST IDEAS ON MOTIVATION THEORY First of all, fields of management background study like leadership, decision making and organization plan persist to develop conceptually speculative developments focusing on work motivation have not held in reserve speed. These changes can have a philosophical manipulate on how companies challenge to attract, retain and motivate their employees in labour market. JOB DESIGN: This is about changing the content or process of job to increase job satisfaction and performance. This is usually easier for new organisational or new business unit. Furthermore, most organisations find themselves designing as the result of organisational change and to motivate their Staff. Job design is relating to job characteristics theory, suggests job should be design in such a way as to maximise intrinsic motivation. (Sarah Steve 2002) EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION: This gives managers strategies, to promotes positive improvement in organizations particularly motivation and performance improvement o f employees. For organization to improve well, messages should be designed in such a way as to maximise motivation. Effective communication strategies have strong effect to motivation of employees. (Sarah Steve 2002) OBJECTIVCE- SETTING: This is important to managers to focus individuals work efforts. It is important to commit employee with goals to motivate them. Most organisations applied Management by Objective (MBO) to motivate their employee. This is relating to Goal-setting, suggests individuals tend to produce higher levels of performance when they have specific goal. (Sarah Steve 2002) MANAGING VIRTUAL TEAMS: Is made of group people who regularly work mutually dependent for joint purpose across time, distance and organization. So motivating people to apply for jobs in virtual teams is one of the latest ideas. CONCULSIONS Motivational techniques, therefore, are useful to teachers, leaders, parents, employers, and almost anyone. The key is in understanding that you are not motivating someone else. Instead, you are simply providing a circumstance that triggers that person to be motivated. However, The developments in motivation and management theory. (Whittington Evans 2005) conclude that the road to building high commitment organisations requires the solid foundation laid by Maslow, McGregor and Herzberg. Motivation theories can therefore offer guidance to anyone interest in motivational issues. Motivation theories discussed above can help mangers consider how and why people are motivated. For example, Hierarchy of need theory may help manager figures out where someone is in term of the satisfaction his or her short and long term needs -which may in turn influence how they seek to create the situation that may be the most motivating. Motivation theories discussed were based on work related environme nts. However the can be applied to help individuals understand human behaviour at work. This literature review also emphasized the important of motivation theories to facilities manager with regards to working environments. Also provide frameworks enable facilities manager to manage their working environment. Finally, one of the challenge facing researchers into motivation, it cannot be seen.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Wine and the French Revolution - 600 Words

The popularity of wine in France continues to be a major mainstay in the French diet, just as it was during the French Revolution. The French Revolution was a devastating time for the French population; many lives were lost during the battle. France is known for, other than the revolution, their production wine (â€Å"French Wine Culture†). Wine has an important role in their culture as well as their position on the social ladder (â€Å"France†). Wine also has a symbolic role in their religion. Therefore, France is a popular country for the making and producing of wine, and has the reputation as the Mother Country (â€Å"French Wine Culture†). Receiving this title did not happen overnight; France has been producing and manufacturing wine for a long period of time. Wine plays roles in many aspects of their society. For example, wine reflects their heritage, region of birth, social status, and their health (â€Å"France†). Wine resembles the differences be tween regions and their national pride (â€Å"France†). Not only does the region reflect their heritage but it also helps determine the name of the wine itself, as does the vineyard they are grown in (â€Å"French Wines†). Most vineyards are very large. They typically cover a good portion of the land, with the exception of the buildings that it is made in. Although France is known at the mother country as a whole, there are still some regions that are more productive and successful at making and distributing wine. Alsace, Beaujolais, andShow MoreRelatedA Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens1420 Words   |  6 PagesThe era surrounding the French Revolution was a horrifically bloody and violent period of history – the best of times and the worst of times. The violence enacted by the citizens of French on their fellow countrymen set a gruesome scene in the cities and country sides of France. Charles Dickens uses a palate of storm, wine, and blood imagery in A T ale of Two Cities to paint exactly how tremendously brutal this period of time was. Dickens use of storm imagery throughout his novel illustrates to theRead MoreTale Of Two Cities Analysis704 Words   |  3 PagesDickens, a brilliant author back in the 1850’s, wrote â€Å"A Tale of Two Cities† in order to describe the similarities between the forces that led to the revolution and the oppression and unrest occurring in England. The French revolution impacts history because the time period in which it takes place is before and during the French revolution. The French revolution signifies the essence of a rapid change, nevertheless, this change tore France right at the heart, where all the government was â€Å"functioning†.Read MoreA Tale Of Two Cities And The French Revolution1006 Words   |  5 Pagesviolent revolution in England, similar to the French Revolution, was possible or in the future. In â€Å"A Tale of Two Cities†, Charles Dickens symbolizes the discord that the English and the French faced as he tears apart the two systems o f their society. Charles Dickens, a brilliant author back in the 1850’s, wrote â€Å"A Tale of Two Cities† in order to describe the similarities between the forces that led to the revolution and the oppression and unrest occurring in England. The French revolution impactsRead MoreAll Things Run Their Course1744 Words   |  7 PagesDickens manifests his belief in fate in the novel A Tale of Two Cities as an explanation for the inevitability of the French Revolution. The plot of A Tale of Two Cities revolves around the concept that the tension between social classes ineluctably causes the French Revolution. The first book Recalled to Life foreshadows the revolution and depicts the severe poverty of the french villagers. Dr. Manette, a Bastille prisoner of eighteen years, is freed, by his beautiful daughter Lucie and a businessmanRead MoreRevolutionary Images in a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens1463 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair †¦ we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way†¦Ã¢â‚¬  asserts Charles Dickens in reference to the French Revolution (Dickens 1). This infamous rebellion began as a respectable, even gallant, cause: an uprising against the inhumane way the aristocracy treated the peasants. However, as long as man has the ability to hate, he is going to want revenge. This addedRead MoreA Tale Of Two Cities By Charles Dickens1413 Words   |  6 PagesDefarge, Lucie Manette, Lucie Manette’s husband, Charles Darnay, and a few others who lived around the time of the French Revolution. These characters faced the consequences of a revolution, which was ubiquitous bloodshed, increased hunger, violent mobs, and a weak government. In order help readers understand the characters in the novel and what people were like during the French Revolution, Dickens uses the device of opposites by incorpora ting their direct opposites in the book and vice-versa in A TaleRead MoreSymbolism of Alcohol in A Tale of Two Cities721 Words   |  3 PagesTale of Two Cities. The theme of liquor establishes the lingering effect that an appalling event is going to transpire due to foreshadowing. Wine is used both as sustenance and as a symbol of blood. Throughout A Tale of Two Cities wine is paralleled to blood in order to portray the reason why the peasants started an uprising against the elite of the French government to gain equality and fairness. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens uses alcohol to underscore the difference in status betweenRead MoreA Tale Of Two Cities Dialectical Journal1253 Words   |  6 PagesDickens is trying to emphasizes the poor side of this beautiful town, and how miserable the people are. The village had its one poor street, (...) he said. Dickens wants people to realize how poor and miserable these people are prior to the French Revolution, and he wants also to emphesize what lead up to it happening. (...) tears immediately rolled down several ferocious countenances which had been glaring at the prisoner a moment before, as if with impatience to pluck him out into the streetsRead MoreThe Culture Of Wine As A Hunter Gatherer Society938 Words   |  4 Pagesbecame a prominent power in the Middle East, they began rejecting the former traditions held by the Mediterranean. In the Bible, wine is portrayed as something that is important and symbolic. This portrayal of wine is similar to how the Mediterranean culture portrayed wine because Christianity had deep ties with their drinking culture. Thus, Islam rejected the consumption of wine. At first the Arabs dominated the coffee industry and were becoming a monopoly in which the Europeans had to depend on. TheRead MoreA History Of The World In 6 Glasses Essay1458 Words   |  6 Pagesthrived. â€Å"Wine in Greece and Rome† (Chapters 3 4) 1.) What does the story of wine tell you about social and gender roles in the Mediterranean world ? How did this change over time ? The story of wine tells me that the people of Nimrud were not treated equally. Rations of wine were only given to about six thousand people in the royal household. High officials received the most. However, every worker of the household would receive wine. This changed when wine became

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Britney Spears A Woman I Admire Essay Example For Students

Britney Spears A Woman I Admire Essay There are many women that have an impact on my life; however, the question is how many of them do I look up to? Of course the most obvious person is my very own mother, but that made me think who else deserves to join this circle of reverence. Some names entered my mind, but do I really admire them? It is clear that women that enter my daily life like Oprah Winfrey have an impression on me, but impact and admiration do not always go hand in hand. Then I realized who I really admire: Britney Spears. The teen pop idol singer Britney Spears is a woman that I look up to for many reasons. She has tantalized the entire worlds youth with her incredible voice. By doing so, she serves as a role model for many of the young people growing up in todays society. Although Britney is only 19, she already has had a major effect on a multitude of people. Not only does she reach the eyes of the five year old, but she also influences teenagers and adults alike. There are not many people who you have ac complished this phenomenon, which is why I give her my full respect. Britney is not only a singer, she is a mentor as well. Through her song writing, she has passed along her ideas and life experiences. In her song Dear Diary, Britney gives a personal account of her encounter with a boy. Dear diary/I cant get him off my mind/And it scares me/ Cause Ive never felt this way. Growing up, many of us have to face certain social anxieties and pressures. Through this song, it shows that she also has to deal with these feelings. This is an important message to send because many kids feel alienated growing. This song shows them that they are not the only ones experiencing these feelings. She has helped many people in this way through her singing. I also admire her because it is not easy for her to sing about her personal accounts knowing that she has such a large audience. This shows that she cares about the people she affects; the quality of a true role model. Another instance where this as pect of Britney shines through is in her song, My Only Wish This Year from the album Platinum Christmas. In one part of the song, Britney says, Last night I took a walk in the snow/Couples holding hands, places to go/Seems like everyone but me is in love. This helps many kids with the process of growing up and maturing into adults. She shares her emotions with them which shows them that other people have similar struggles. Through her brilliant writing and singing, Britney has proven to me that she has the true aspects of a role model. She utilizes the influence she has by using it as a medium to give advice. The combination of her amazing voice and her lyrics along with her important messages are what have caused her to bloom into a sensation. In my mind, Britney is a true role model which is why I admire her.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Skin detection free essay sample

IntroductionSkin detection is perhaps the most widely used primitive in human image processing research. Skin detection mostly used as a primary step in various human concerned image processing applications. Skin detection is method of discriminating human skin pixel from non-skin pixels in an image or video [1]. It is one of the prominent research area in human computer interaction, face detection, face tracking [2, 3], gesture recognition [4], computational health informatics, web content filtering and many more. Skin detection is used as a cue for detecting people in real life images. The main challenge is to make skin detection robust to the large variations in appearance that can occur. However, there are various factors that make skin detection challenging. Among them variations in illumination, various ethnicity people with many skin tones, presence or absence of shadows in an image or videos, various background color and objects including wood, cloths and their similarity to skin, human hair with different variations and their resemblance to skin color, using makeup that changes the natural skin color and different camera characteristics make skin detection problem hard. We will write a custom essay sample on Skin detection or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Efficient handling of aforementioned challenges demands a model that is capable of differentiate skin and non-skin pixels. But until now that seems not to be achieved. In this thesis, a skin detection model is proposed which can overcome the challenges and perform better in real world skin detection problem.Researchers have been working tirelessly to find a technique which will be able to detect skin in spite of present challenges. However, Skin detection problem can be considered a binary classification problem, meaning, a pixel can be classified whether it is a skin pixel or not. There are mainly two types of skin detection, either pixel based or region based. In pixel based detection, a pixel is classified compared with its neighbor either as a skin pixel or not. Skin detection that is based on various color spaces are an example for this type of detection. In other hand, region based skin detection focus on spatially arrangement of skin pixel with additional information of intensity and texture. However, Vezhnevets et al. [5], Kakumanu et al. [6], and Phung et al. [7] has conducted surveys about skin color modeling and skin segmentation based on color information in different color spaces. Phung has discovered that skin detection accuracy does not depend on choice of color space or color quantization bin sizes. Besides for skin segmentation a few researchers have also used texture [8, 9, 10] or shape [11] information in combination with color-based methods. Wavelets, contourlets [12, 13], and textons are among the textural features that have been used in conjunction with color cues. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) received mentionable amount of attractions for image classification and object detection. So, there was some approach to classify and pixel-wise prediction using deep neural network architecture. This CNN method outperforms hand crafted threshold based method. But CNN does not work well defining relationship between pixel and its neighbors. Since skin pixels are located close to each other spatially, CNN lacks the desired performances. For all of this previous work, color cues have provided the dominant source of information. In spite of the emphasis on color-based analysis, a considerable number of applications will benefit from a system that can perform skin detection in the absence of color cues. Moreover, previously mentioned approaches heavily depend on color information that can lead to incorrect detection. Despite of the fact that there are various methods are present, it is tough to pick one which would project good accuracy in various conditions. So, it is worth looking to a new technique for better performance.The purpose of this study is to find a skin detection method which does not relay on any predefined thresholds. A skin detection technique must be robust in spite of varying conditions. Moreover, the proposed technique needs to be tested and experimentally evaluated to establish its reliability. The primary contributions of the work areI. Proposed method take advantage of broad spectrum of LAB color space and separate illumination by considering only A and B components. It ensures the pixels characteristics without being biased of light presenceII. K-means clustering is used for clustering. The main challenge for an unsupervised learning is to automatically define number of clusters. Features in images varied greatly and number of cluster should be defined dynamically. This challenge was solved in this study by considering largest areas of connected objects.III. For region growing, seeding points are crucial. Hence, by clustering further it can be ensuring that seeding points obviously belongs to skin pixels. Moreover, standard deviation of only skin pixels is calculated which group maximum skin pixel and provide correct region of Interest of an image.Chapter 02Literature ReviewIn this section, some related works are discussed that is relevant to the study. The first part is skin detection methods followed by the clustering technique used in this study and a cluster validation index. Various methods have been proposed for skin detection. In term of technical merit, they can be divided into two broad categories- statistical based method and dynamic adaptive method [14, 15]. Statistical method relays on skin features that can be derived from training sample [16]. Researchers first try to get the color features of skin pixels for a skin classifier. This approaches used a threshold for various basic color spaces. Moreover, there are many color space available- Basic color space, perceptual color space, Orthogonal color space and perceptually uniform color spaces.2.1 Color Spaces in Skin DetectionColor space is a 3D space with axes appropriately defined for all possible human perceptions. Among different color spaces, some of them are imaging device depended and not close to human vision. This color spaces are modified for digital applications. However, color is not directly utilized in various skin detection methods but it affect the performance of a skin detection algorithm. Albiol et al. [17] has mathematically showed that, skin detection performance is independent from choice of color space. As mentioned earlier, device depended color spaces are popular among researchers for skin detection.RGB is a color space that is derived from the cathode ray tube display and as the name suggests, it comprise with three color-red, green and blue. Brand, J and Mason [18] , Jones and Regh [19], Caetano and Barone[20], Oliver et al. [21], Kim et al. [22], Schwerdt and Crowley [23], Sebe et al. [24], Storring et al. [25],Wang and Sung [26], Yang and Ahuja [27],Yang et al. [28] , used RGB color space for skin detection. But high correlations between channels is a drawback of this color space with mixing chrominance and luminance portion. However, some approaches take the advantage of normalized RGB. In normalized RGB, all the channel valus are normalized. As the sum of all the channels are known, then the third component can be avoided. This technique reduces space dimensionality. Brightness of source RGB deeply depends on red and green channel and normalization can separate it. So, for matte surface the ambient light can be ignored and normalized RGB remain constant for the changes in surface [29]. These advantages attract many researchers on color space based skin detections [30, 31]. But normalized RGB color space suffers from uneven illuminations. CIE (Commission Internationale de lEclairage) system represent the color space with Y as luminance. CIE-XYZ was developed from a psychological experiment and it is close to human visual system [32].Besides, various device dependent color spaces are used for TV transmission and digital photography. The orthogonal color space family includes well-known color spaces such as YCbCr, YCgCr, YDbDr, YPbPr, YIQ and YUV. In these color spaces, unlike the RGB, the luminance channel is separated from chrominance resulting a very tight pseudo-ellipse skin cluster. Due to the particular features of these color spaces such as separation of luminance-chrominance channels, relatively simple RGB conversion and relatively tight skin cluster, orthogonal color models have been frequently used in skin segmentation [33-36]. Perceptual color spaces such as HSI, HSV, HSB, HSL and TSL are very attractive color spaces in skin detection literature. In these color models, each pixel is presented by Hue (tint or color), Intensity (lightness) and Saturation associated with physiological feeling of human [37].An artist idea of using saturation, tint and tone was taken into account. These concepts introduce HSV color space where hue (H) defines the most dominant color of a concern area, saturation represent colorfulness with respect to brightness. However, intensity, lightness or value/ variance defines luminance. The capability of intuitive of color components and ability to distinguish between luminance and chrominance make it popular for skin detection. HSV color space is used by Garcia and Tziritas [38], McKenna et al. [39], Saxe and Foulds, [40], Sobottka and Pitas [41], Thu et al. [42], Wang and Yuan [43], Zhu et al. [44]. Various characteristics of hue- invariant to highlights at white light sources, matte surfaces to ambient light and surface orientation for light source was discussed at [45]. However, Poynton [46] mentions some shortcomings like- discontinuation of hue and brightness computation complexity with color vision properties. Moreover, logarithmic transformation based HS named as Fleck HS introduced by Fleck and used by Zarit [47] .A similar color space named as TSL-tint, saturation and Lightness.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Standard English Definitions and Controversies

Standard English Definitions and Controversies In the entry for Standard English in  The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992), Tom McArthur observes that this widely used term...resists easy definition but is used as if most educated people nonetheless know precisely what it refers to. For some of those people, Standard English (SE) is a synonym for good or correct English usage. Others use the term to refer to a specific geographical dialect of English or a dialect favored by the most powerful and prestigious social group. Some linguists argue that there really is no single standard of English. It may be revealing to examine some of the presumptions that lie behind these various interpretations. The following commentsfrom linguists, lexicographers, grammarians, and journalistsare offered in the spirit of fostering discussion rather than resolving all the many complex issues that surround the term Standard English. Controversies and Observations About Standard English A Highly Elastic and Variable Term [W]hat counts as Standard English will depend on both the locality and the particular varieties that Standard English is being contrasted with. A form that is considered standard in one region may be nonstandard in another, and a form that is standard by contrast with one variety (for example the language of inner-city African Americans) may be considered nonstandard by contrast with the usage of middle-class professionals. No matter how it is interpreted, however, Standard English in this sense shouldnt be regarded as being necessarily correct or unexceptionable, since it will include many kinds of language that could be faulted on various grounds, like the language of corporate memos and television advertisements or the conversations of middle-class high-school students. Thus while the term can serve a useful descriptive purpose providing the context makes its meaning clear, it shouldnt be construed as conferring any absolute positive evaluation. (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, 2000) What Standard English Is Not (i) It is not an arbitrary, a priori description of English, or of a form of English, devised by reference to standards of moral value, or literary merit, or supposed linguistic purity, or any other metaphysical yardstickin short, Standard English cannot be defined or described in terms such as the best English, or literary English, or Oxford English, or BBC English.(ii) It is not defined by reference to the usage of any particular group of English-users, and especially not by reference to a social classStandard English is not upper class English and it is encountered across the whole social spectrum, though not necessarily in equivalent use by all members of all classes.(iii) It is not statistically the most frequently occurring form of English, so that standard here does not mean most often heard.(iv) It is not imposed upon those who use it. True, its use by an individual may be largely the result of a long process of education; but Standard English is neither the product of lingui stic planning or philosophy (for example as exists for French in the deliberations of the Academie Francaise, or policies devised in similar terms for Hebrew, Irish, Welsh, Bahasa Malaysia, etc); nor is it a closely-defined norm whose use and maintenance is monitored by some quasi-official body, with penalties imposed for non-use or mis-use. Standard English evolved: it was not produced by conscious design. (Peter Strevens, What Is Standard English? RELC Journal, Singapore, 1981) Written English and Spoken English There are many grammar books, dictionaries and guides to English usage which describe and give advice on the standard English that appears in writing...[T]hese books are widely used for guidance on what constitutes standard English. However, there is often also a tendency to apply these judgments, which are about written English, to spoken English. But the norms of spoken and written language are not the same; people dont talk like books even in the most formal of situations or contexts. If you cant refer to a written norm to describe spoken language, then, as we have seen, you base your judgments on the speech of the best people, the educated or higher social classes. But basing your judgments on the usage of the educated is not without its difficulties. Speakers, even educated ones, use a variety of different forms... (Linda Thomas, Ishtla Singh, Jean Stilwell Peccei, and Jason Jones, Language, Society and Power: An Introduction. Routledge, 2004) Although Standard English is the kind of English in which all native speakers learn to read and write, most people do not actually speak it. (Peter Trudgill and Jean Hannah,  International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English, 5th ed. Routledge, 2013) Standard English Is a Dialect If Standard English is not therefore a language, an accent, a style or a register, then of course we are obliged to say what it actually is. The answer is, as at least most British sociolinguists are agreed, that Standard English is a dialect...Standard English is simply one variety of English among many. It is a sub-variety of English... Historically, we can say that Standard English was selected (though of course, unlike many other languages, not by any overt or conscious decision) as the variety to become the standard variety precisely because it was the variety associated with the social group with the highest degree of power, wealth and prestige. Subsequent developments have reinforced its social character: the fact that it has been employed as the dialect of an education to which pupils, especially in earlier centuries, have had differential access depending on their social class background. (Peter Trudgill, Standard English: What It Isn’t, in Standard English: The Widening Debate, edited by Tony Bex and Richard J. Watts. Routledge, 1999) The Official Dialect In countries where the majority speak English as their first language one dialect is used nationally for official purposes. It is called Standard English. Standard English is the national dialect that generally appears in print. It is taught in schools, and students are expected to use it in their essays. It is the norm for dictionaries and grammars. We expect to find it in official typed communications, such as letters from government officials, solicitors, and accountants. We expect to hear it in national news broadcasts and documentary programmes on radio or television. Within each national variety the standard dialect is relatively homogeneous in grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation (Sidney Greenbaum, An Introduction to English Grammar. Longman, 1991) The Grammar of Standard English The grammar of Standard English is much more stable and uniform than its pronunciation or word stock: there is remarkably little dispute about what is grammatical (in compliance with the rules of grammar) and what isnt. Of course, the small number of controversial points that there aretrouble spots like who versus whomget all the public discussion in language columns and letters to the editor, so it may seem as if there is much turmoil; but the passions evinced over such problematic points should not obscure the fact that for the vast majority of questions about whats allowed in Standard English, the answers are clear. (Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, A Students Introduction to English Grammar. Cambridge University Press, 2006) The Guardians of Standard English The so-called native speakers of standard Englishes are those people who have somehow espoused a particular set of conventions that loosely have to do with the way English has been codified and prescribed in dictionaries, grammar books and guides to good speaking and writing. This group of people includes a large number of those who, having espoused the conventions, nevertheless do not consider themselves to be excellent users of those conventions. For many of these so-called native speakers the English language is a unique entity that exists outside or beyond its users. Rather than considering themselves owners of English, users often think of themselves as guardians of something precious: they wince when they hear or read uses of English that they consider to be sub-standard, and they worry, in their letters to newspapers, that the language is becoming degraded... Those who do feel they have rights and privileges, who have a sense of ownership of the English language and who can make pronouncements about what is or is not acceptable, as well as those to whom these attributes are accorded by others, do not necessarily belong to a speech community whose members learned English in infancy. Native speakers of non-standard varieties of English, in other words, the majority of native speakers of English, have never had any real authority over Standard English and have never owned it. The actual proprietors may, after all, simply be those who have learned thoroughly how to use a standard English to enjoy the sense of empowerment that comes with it. So those who make authoritative pronouncements about a standard English are simply those who, irrespective of accidents of birth, have elevated themselves, or been elevated, to positions of authority in academe or publishing or in other public areas. Whether or not their pronouncements will continue to be accepted is another matter. (Paul Roberts, Set Us Free From Standard English. The Guardian, January 24, 2002) Toward a Definition of SE From the dozens of definitions [of Standard English] available in the literature on English, we may extract five essential characteristics. On this basis, we may define the Standard English of an English-speaking country as a minority variety (identified chiefly by its vocabulary, grammar, and orthography) which carries most prestige and is most widely understood. (David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 2003) SE is a variety of Englisha distinctive combination of linguistic features with a particular role to play...The linguistic features of SE are chiefly matters of grammar, vocabulary, and orthography (spelling and punctuation). It is important to note that SE is not a matter of pronunciation. . . .SE is the variety of English which carries most prestige within a country... In the words of one US linguist, SE is the English used by the powerful.The prestige attached to SE is recognized by adult members of the community, and this motivates them to recommend SE as a desirable educational target...Although SE is widely understood, it is not widely produced. Only a minority of people within a country...actually use it when they talk...Similarly, when they writeitself a minority activitythe consistent use of SE is required only in certain tasks (such as a letter to a newspaper, but not necessarily to a close friend). More than anywhere else, SE is to be found in print. The Ongoing Debate It is in fact a great pity that the standard English debate is marred by the sort of conceptual confusions and political posturings (no matter how poorly expressed) ...For  I think there are genuine questions to be asked about what we might mean by standards in relation to speech and writing. There is a great deal to be done in this respect and proper arguments to be made, but one thing is clear for sure. The answer does not lie in some simple-minded recourse to the practice of the best authors or the admired literature of the past, valuable though that writing is. Nor does the answer reside in rules for speech laid down by either the educated of any official body held to be able to guarantee spoken correctness. The answers to the real questions will be found to be much more complex, difficult and challenging than those currently on offer. For these reasons they might be more successful. (Tony Crowley, Curiouser and Curiouser: Falling Standards in the Standard English Debate, in Standard English: The Widening Debate, edited by Tony Bex and Richard J. Watts. Routledge, 1999)

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Ocean Noise Pollution Essay Example

Ocean Noise Pollution Essay Example Ocean Noise Pollution Paper Ocean Noise Pollution Paper For millions of years, the oceans have been filled with sounds from natural sources such as the squeaks, moans and clicks of whales and dolphins, the snapping of shrimp, the sound caused by wind upon the surface and even the occasional rumble from earthquakes. Over millions of years, the oceans marine species have developed into what they are today, with their own specialized acute hearing abilities, communication skills and echo location abilities at natural sound levels. Hearing is generally as important to many marine creatures as sight is for humans. The oceans once referred to as the The Silent World by Jacques Southeast, has now become an increasingly noisy place since the industrial age. According to Wisped, Noise Pollution is excessive, displeasing human, animal or machine-created environmental noise that disrupts the activity or balance of human or animal life. Noise pollution could also be defined as a type of energy pollution in which distracting, irritating, or damaging sounds are freely audible. As with other forms of energy pollution (such as heat and light pollution), noise pollution contaminants are not physical particles, but rather waves that interfere with durably-occurring waves of a similar type in the same environment. Thus, the definition of noise pollution is open to debate, and there is no clear border as to which sounds may constitute noise pollution. In the narrowest sense, sounds are considered noise pollution if they adversely affect wildlife, human activity, or are capable of damaging physical structures on a regular, repeating basis. Hearing is the universal alerting sense in all vertebrates. Sound is extremely important because animals are able to hear events all around them, no matter where their attention is focused. Sound travels far greater distances than light under water. Light travels only a few hundred meters in the ocean before it is absorbed or scattered. Even where light is available, it is more difficult to see as far under water as in air, limiting vision in the marine environment It is similar to looking through fog on land. So, the best opportunity for long-range vision underwater especially in murky water is to swim beneath objects and see their silhouettes. In consequence, most marine animals rely on sound for survival and depend on unique adaptations hat enable them to communicate, protect themselves, locate food, and navigate underwater. Animals change the rate of sound production and the structure of the sounds to send different messages. Underwater sound allows marine animals to gather information and communicate at great distances and from all directions. The speed of sound determines the delay between when a sound is made and when it is heard. The speed of underwater sound is five times faster than sounds traveling in air. Sound travels much further underwater than in air. Thus marine animals can perceive sound coming from such further distances than terrestrial animals. Because the sound travels faster, they also receive the sounds after much shorter delays (for the same distance). It is no surprise that marine mammals have evolved many different uses for sounds. Marine mammals, such as whales, use sound to identify objects such as food, obstacles, and other whales. By emitting clicks, or short pulses of sound, marine mammals can listen for echoes and detect prey items, or navigate around objects. This animal sense functions just like the sonar systems on navy ships. It is clear that producing and hearing sound is ITIL to marine mammal survival. Whales and dolphins are celebrated for their sounds, but many species of fish and marine invertebrates also use sound. Fish produce various sounds, including grunt, croaks, clicks, and snaps, which are used to attract mates as well as ward off predators. For the taffies, sound production is very important in courtship rituals. Sound is produced by the male taffies to attract the female for mating and is especially important in the murky waters that taffies inhabit where sight is limited. Ashes also produce sound when feeding. When a fish eats hard food, such as coral, it will produce a sound. Fishes sometimes gnash their teeth without the presence of food, which may be a way to scare away predators. As you can see, sound is very important to its underwater inhabitants. It allows them to navigate, to hear approaching predators and prey, and is a way of communicating with other members of the same species. There are a lot of sources of noise in the marine environment. Naturally occurring noises include underwater volcanic eruptions and storms. Background noise in the ocean is produced by reeking waves, wind and rain, and by the huge number of small crustaceans and other animals. A typical background noise level is about 100 decibels (db), which is about the same in energy terms as 40 db in air. Wind and waves in storms, and choruses from fish and invertebrate can increase this level to about 1 20 db. Measurements show that the Pacific Ocean is still relatively quiet and that most of its background noise is produced by wind and by marine creatures. This is in contrast to the Atlantic Ocean, where most of the background noise is from the churning propellers of ocean-going ships. There are also several man-made (anthropogenic) sources of ocean noise, some of which are the unintended by products of human activity (e. G. Sell propulsion), while others are produced for a specific purpose (e. G. Military sonar). Whales, dolphins and porpoises today face a wealth of man-made threats including hunting, ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear and issues arising from climate change. However, one man-made threat that is not as commonly acknowledged as others is ocean noise pollution. This is partly due to the fact that it is not a visible threat, so can be easily overlooked. The noi se becomes problematic and highly hazardous when it is man-made. In the past several years many studies have shown that man-made ocean noise emanating from such sources as are military sonar equipment, ship traffic, and underwater drilling, commercial shipping seismic surveys for Oil and gas exploration, mineral and aggregate extraction, construction (e. G. Drilling, dredging and explosions), acoustic deterrent and harassment devices(e. G. Pincers on fishing nets used to deter predators) and recreational activities(e. G. Boating). Noise pollution in the oceans has been shown to cause hysterical and behavioral changes in marine life, especially in dolphins and whales, which rely on sound for daily activities. However, low frequency sound produced by large scale, offshore activities is also suspected to have the capacity to cause harm to other marine life as well. It can also cause hemorrhage or other trauma to the marine mammals auditory system, sometimes leading to permanent hearing loss, and, indirectly, death. It also causes displacement from their natural habitat, disruption of feeding, breeding, nursing, and other behaviors vital to the species survival. Some of he sounds produced by these man-made sources can travel for hundreds of kilometers in marine environment, potentially affecting many marine animals over a huge are. The growing amount of human noise pollution in the ocean could lead fish away from good habitat and off to their death, according to new research from a KICK-led team working on the Great Barrier Reef. Noise pollution might also severely affect the distribution offish, and their ability to reproduce, communicate and avoid predators. For example, some studies have reported that Atlantic herring, cod and blue-fin tuna flee sounds and school less coherently in noisy environments. That could mean that fish distributions are being affected, as fish avoid places polluted by man-made noise. Not only can squids and octopuses sense sound, but as it turns out, these and other so-called asphodels might be harmed by growing noise pollution in our oceans?from sources such as offshore drilling, ship motors, sonar use and pile driving. Giant squid, for example, were found along the shores of Austria, Spain in 2001 and 2003 following the use of air guns by offshore vessels and examinations eliminated all known causes of lesions in Hess species, suggesting that the squid deaths could be related to excessive sound exposure. The effects of noise pollution on whales depend, among other things, on the distance the whales are from the source of the noise. If the sound is very powerful and close to the animals it could well bring about permanent ear damage, internal injuries, and even death. Even sounds less powerful can induce temporary deafness, as was shown by studies carried out on seals, dolphins and belugas in captivity. Knowing just how dependent whales are on sounds, there is much cause for concern. During March of 000, at least 17 whales stranded themselves in the Bahamas and the population of beaked whales in this region disappeared. A federal investigation identified testing of a U. S. Ana active sonar system as the cause. There are many things we can do to decrease ocean noise, Ocean Link, an organization dedicated to ocean education, says on its website. The first would be to simply recognize that there is a noise problem in the oceans, which some governments have begun to do. With formal recognition, it may be possible for national and international agencies to work together to help reduce this problem. For any new policies regarding ocean noise, scientists should follow the precautionary principal to ensure that no further harm will come to marine mammals. From this perspective, governments should adopt legislation with the habitats of marine mammals in mind, ensuring that important areas would receive the least impact possible. While these may come too late for hundreds of sea animals that have already been damaged by underwater noise, with the right and concerted action, the seas may resonate with the sounds of whale songs, not the human-produced lethal noises of engines and machinery.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Nursing Leadership In Global Healthcare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nursing Leadership In Global Healthcare - Essay Example   I relate to many leaders in my nursing field. Most of them have different ways in which they lead their teams depending on their personalities and the work experience they have in the nursing field. One of the leaders who I have interacted very well is my nurse leader. She has worked for 10 years in this field and I believe she has the best experience. She has good leadership skills, something that makes her the best team leader. She is hardworking, a good communicator, responsible, confident, honest, good team player, the good mentor, open minded, reliable resource, goal oriented and courageous. However, these attributes and behaviors can be considered either as positive or negative depending on when and how they are applied. I can say that my nursing leader is very flexible in her work. She can integrate new ideas into the team and how some measures can be taken to ensure that the best outputs are produced. This is a good show of how a good nursing leader should perform. Flexib ility in nursing is encouraged because through this attribute, many types of research are done and solutions for many nursing problems are identified (Barr & Dowding, 2012). New techniques and procedure are emerging due to this creativity in the nursing field. These techniques and procedures are then used to replace the traditional ways of problem-solving. Therefore, flexibility in leadership is a positive attribute because it leads to innovations that are used to improve the health sectors in the world.  ... She is never influenced by how other members think about the issue but she gives what she thinks is right. Nurses are encouraged to honest in their work. This is because honesty will make them work very well with their team members. One of the fields that each nurse leader must be honest is the financial issues. This is a very sensitive part in nursing and each leader must give the honest arguments just in case must matters arise on it. Any dishonesty might cause very many problems to the nurse leader in charge. However, it is very important for every nurse leader to be honest (Barr & Dowding, 2012). On the other hand, I think honesty in rare occasional can be a negative attribute. This is because some truth can harm the team members who are opposing some issues. For example, some promises can be to the team members and later, the fulfillment delays. Nurse leader will have to use some tricks to make the other members believe on the reasons they are given (Ivanov & Blue, 2007). Theref ore, honesty can be a negative attribute but in a very small degree. She is a very hard working person. Her experience as a nurse leader, she got all the strength and ways in which she can manipulate others in doing the work. She always leads the team on the work to be accomplished. She is a goal getter and everything she starts must be completed with good results. She gives us tasks to do and always encourages every to give the best. This is a positive attribute of nurse leader. This attribute maximizes the work productions and makes the other members to work hard since the leader acts as the role model to them. Through her confidence, she is able to do many tasks that can be hard to other people in the team. Sometimes, she gives very difficult tasks to

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Change is a feature of modern life; discuss and critically analyse how Essay

Change is a feature of modern life; discuss and critically analyse how a nurse can manage change in order to deliver effective patient care - Essay Example The presentation of current conditions regarding the above issue is also followed with views of literature on the specific subject with an effort to choose and evaluate the most appropriate model for the presentation of the nurse-patient relationship as been formulated under the influence of change in the internal and the external organizational environment. Change management is the process [1] of developing ‘a planned approach to change in an organization’. In this context it can be assumed that its main objective is ‘to maximize the collective benefits for all people involved in the change and minimize the risk of failure of implementing the change’. For the above reasons, it has been found that the discipline of change management ‘deals primarily with the human aspect of change, and is therefore related to pure and industrial psychology’. There are several theories referring to the role and the structure of change management, the most known of which is that of Lewin. Lewin’s theory of force field analysis (Lewin 1951) is widely used in change management and can be used to help understand most change processes in organisations. In force field analysis change, is characterised as ‘a state of imbalance between driving forces (e.g. new personnel, changing markets, new technology) and restraining forces (e.g. individuals fear of failure, organisational inertia)’. Moreover, in order to achieve change ‘towards a goal or vision three steps are required: Third, once the change is complete the forces are brought back into quasi-equilibrium and re-frozen’. The above theory although explains the role of secondary forces in an organizational environment does not offer an adequate explanation regarding the criteria on which the ‘frozen, de-frozen’ procedures are going to be based. Moreover, it has been

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Liberalism by Immanuel Wallerstein Essay Example for Free

Liberalism by Immanuel Wallerstein Essay This article tries to analyze the works of Immanuel Wallerstein (after liberalism) mainly on his views of what liberalism is especially in this era of globalization. After liberalism published in 1995 and it is a collection of essays, which all look at the issue of international capitalism either from a country’s perspective all from the perspectives of earlier influential writers within this context like V I Lenin. The book gives a good overview of the nature of liberalism especially in the context of international capitalism. In his analysis, Wallerstein argues that the emergence of theories like liberalism in modern times was all because of new beliefs within the political arena as well because of people’s moral sovereignty. Among the theories, Wallerstein claimed that in a modernizing world there were people who saw the changes as immoral. These people pursued Consevativism. Because of the rise of conservatism, the liberalist theory arose to defend the modernizing processes of new technologies new ways of integration as being non-expedient processes for a better global society. After the rise of liberalism and its application, a new theory emerged (socialism). Unlike the conservatisms, socialists did agree with the liberalists that the issue of modernization or progress was both desirable and inevitable. However, unlike the liberalists socialists were strongly suspicious of the top-down system of reforms advocated by liberalists. Liberalism: This broad field encompasses many different ideas and theories concerning the roles of governments. Liberalism generally advocates for individual liberty, mixed market systems, liberal democratic governments (transparent) as well as the application of the rule of law. International capitalism: international capitalism is the system of processes that allow for the growth of globalization. It is the practice of capitalism on a global perspective. Thus, it involves the international ownership of modes of production by individuals and the unrestricted transfer of international funds and investment projects globally. In his argument, Wallerstein claims that the classification of third world countries is uncalled for. This is because as he says the so called third world has been intertwined in the structure of international capitalism in such a way that there are even subsidiaries of multinational firms based in the third world countries that contribute money to the parent company countries that is in excess of what the parent companies pay. After liberalism is quite clear on the issue of national development. Wallerstein goes ahead in Borrowing ideas from such authorities as Adam smith (the wealth of nations), as well as ideas from people like Vladimir Lenin and Paul Kruger. Wallerstein concludes that even with the advent of international capitalism and globalization, the issue of national sovereignty and national development is very crucial in ensuring that the vices of capitalism are always kept to a level minimum. CONCLUSION: After liberalism is an authoritative collection of essays that tries to expose the nature and processes associated with international capitalism and globalization. However, the book fails to explain issues of under development especially in the third world more clearly. In addition, the process of colonization and its impacts on both the colonizing states as well as the colonized should have been analyzed. This is because issues of international capitalism affect all nations alike and thus the root causes of under development in some of the countries would have to be addressed. REFERENCE: Wallerstein Immanuel (1995), after liberalism, new press, New York.

Friday, November 15, 2019

attendace is it necessary? Essay -- essays research papers

Does it Matter how its Taught?: Is Attendance Necessary?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first thing that I began to think about is my own personal experience with this question in the first day of class. The reason being is that I have been in college for now 4 years and I am severely behind in terms of a 4-year degree at this point. I have had my times to think about what I like in terms of teaching style, but never had the right teacher to make me believe in the style. In this essay I hope to convince you (the reader) that it is mostly the way the student looks for flaws in the teaching style instead of embracing it. Also I will explain that in certain places across the country that certain teaching styles are easier to students in certain environments.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In my early years at school there are many different teaching styles that I encountered. First being the large lecture hall, then the small freshman writing classes, the hands on theatre classes and the many other different style and size classes. The larger lecture style classes were already over filled due to the university’s demand for these classes. The teacher would come in and just sit down, take role and call on the same students who usually understood the material a little better that the rest of the class and then we would leave. Repetition I have learned is a nightmare to some students, this is no learning environment for most students, even in our class the larger percentage of students couldn’t wait until time was up. Only a few got the time and effort of help from the professor, who normally didn’t even answer our question stating that â€Å"This is a lecture class format and if you can’t figure it out I can’t help you†. Now this may not be true for some professors, and perhaps this professor just didn’t have the time or knowledge but the question is how is it taught, and this is not the right way.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second style of teaching that I will point too is the smaller more group-oriented classes where discussion is more prevalent. Question and answer from the instructor is more common and group exercises help students understand the basis for argument. Argument is a small tool to help students take different sides to a topic is one of the greatest teaching tools but has a few opponents however. Gerald Graff writes in the Yale University P... ...t colleges, they skate though classes without ever finding their true calling. Without these teachers drawing students into their classes then most of us wouldn’t finish school, we as students have to have something to look forward to something too, in going to class. If it’s a good looking girl, the funny teacher, that guy that sits next to you, whatever it is the most important thing is to listen to what the teacher has to say. These teachers even if their boring, take pride in what they do even if we don’t like it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some say that teaching is an art form, some may like the art it others don’t. What we have to consider is that they way professors teach us isn’t always the right way for the right people. Numerous studies have been conducted as to how teaching styles affects certain students, with this in mind how it’s taught is a direct correlation to how we think.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As we draw the line back to the beginning, the way its taught has everything to do with what I like to learn. If we as students get the opportunity to skip class, because some students like to learn on there own, than that’s a choice we should be able to take.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Addition as Choice Essay

Substance abuse is a pervasive problem throughout the United States. It affects all populations, socioeconomic groups, ages, and races. Within the community of substance abuse treatment providers, there is an ongoing debate on whether addiction is a disease, or whether individuals who abuse substances choose to engage in the behavior. There is evidence to support both positions. This paper will examine the controversy surrounding the issue of whether addiction is a choice, and examine the arguments presented by both sides. Addiction is a Choice Many individuals view substance abuse and drug addiction as a choice. These individuals argue that addicts choose to put the addictive substance in their body, therefore triggering the subsequent chemical reaction that occurs (Schaler, 2000) Individuals who argue that addiction is a choice, do not dispute that there is a physiological reaction when the drug or alcohol enters the body, and that long-term use alters the addicts brain chemistry. What they take issue with is the disease concept of addiction. Proponents of the choice theory argue that by labeling addiction as a disease, personal responsibility is removed from the equation, thereby allowing the addict to justify continued use as they are â€Å"unable† to stop (Schaler, 2000). See more:  Social Satire in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Experience with addiction treatment confirms the choice theory, according to proponents of this stance. The most frequently recommended and popular method of recovery from addiction is Alcoholics Anonymous and its various offshoots (Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, etc.). Alcoholics Anonymous is a program that offers support to the addict and postulates that the individual must undergo a psychic and spiritual change in order to maintain abstinence and achieve physical and emotional sobriety. The 12-steps utilized by Alcoholics Anonymous primarily revolve around an individual becoming honest about their substance use, realizing the damage their use has caused to themselves and others, making amends for the damage, and developing skills to assist them in staying sober and maintaining a healthy life. Critics of the disease model argue that AA and its offshoots talk about an ethical and spiritual solution, not a medical one (Schaler, 2000). Primary treatment approaches utilized in substance abuse treatment centers revolve around a psychotherapeutic foundation, rather than a medical one. Skill building, cognitive behavioural treatment, psych educational groups, and process groups comprise the majority of treatment in drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers. These are combined with a healthy diet, treatment of any mental health issues, and plenty of exercise. Again, no evidence of treatment of any physical disease (Schaler, 2000). Perhaps individuals who are alcoholics are allergic to alcohol. They still possess choice in whether or not to take the drink, just as individuals who break out in a rash when they eat strawberries, can choose whether or not to eat a strawberry, knowing the potential consequences. Addiction as a Disease Individuals who subscribe to the addiction as disease model argue that there is a psychological as well as a physical component to addiction. Initially, the argument is made that humans are conditioned to do things that cause them pleasure. Humans will repeatedly engage in an activity that elicits a positive reward. Humans also repeatedly engage in behaviors that allow them to avoid or escape negative consequences or results. Addictive drugs have the ability to reinforce strong behavioral responses and compel conditioned memories (Young, 1999). Addictive drugs produce different effects on body systems and each has a different immediate or long-term health consequence. But what truly separates addictive drugs from other classes of drugs is their ability to alter brain chemistry involved in the processes of reinforcement, learning and memory. Addictive drugs hijack our system’s natural response to rewards (Young, 1999). Repeated drug use can significantly alter brain chemistry. Three different types of change are important for addictive drug use. Repeated use of the drug can increase tolerance, so that increasingly higher doses of the drug are required to produce the same effect. With some drugs, tolerance occurs because the drug begins to break down more efficiently, requiring more of the drug to experience the high, while in other cases, tolerance appears to occur at the level of the neurons. Another physiological change important to the development of addiction is that repeated use of some drugs can produce physical dependence, wherein the nerves in the brain and body only function normally in the presence of the drug. Failure to use the drug can result in physical withdrawal symptoms. A third way that brain chemistry is altered is in the reward pathways themselves. Repeated use of some drugs, such as methamphetamine, may cause the brain to decrease its production of dopamine and other pleasure i nducing chemicals. This can result in intense cravings when the drug is withdrawn, as the individual is unable to experience pleasure any other way (Young, 1999). One complicating variable with regard to the disease concept of addiction is that for many individuals, exposure to drugs and alcohol does not cause addiction. They are able to use opioids as prescribed and drink alcohol socially. Some individuals seem to be able to use drugs and alcohol recreationally, while others become addicted. Explanations vary. First, individuals vary in their biology, and there may be a genetic component to addiction. Second, the set of expectations associated with drug use may influence how easily one becomes addicted. Third, individuals may differ in learned vulnerability. For instance, an alcoholic, who never took pills of any kind, ceases alcohol use. After a substantial amount of time of sobriety, the alcoholic is prescribed pain medication as the result of the surgery. The alcoholic then becomes addicted to pain medication (Young, 1999). Statement of position After substantial research I am taking the position that addiction is a disease. It was initially concluded that people naturally seek out pleasurable experiences. Why else would individuals who are functional, sound decision-makers in every area of their life, be unable to control or manage their intake of alcohol or drugs, even in the face of tremendous and unpleasant consequences? Jail, loss of children, loss of jobs and homes, homelessness, engagement in criminal activities; it is hard to perceive anyone choosing to continue substance use in the face of these consequences. The chronic alcoholic or drug addict will continue use of the substance, regardless of consequences, to the point of death. This can only be the result of biochemical changes in the brain as the result of substance use, perhaps combined with a genetic predisposition to addiction. Chronic alcoholics and drug addicts should be treated with the same care that one treats a diabetic or someone with hypertension. Treatments involve behavioral changes, as well as medications, dietary changes, and exercise (McLellan, 2002). But like many with chronic disease, patients do not always cooperate with treatment. This is recognized in the medical community with regard to diabetes and hypertension, however when the alcoholic or drug addict behaves as others who have a chronic disease would, it is considered a moral issue. The argument concerning Alcoholics Anonymous and treatment centers does not hold water with regard to those with a chronic condition. Individuals enter treatment or AA programs with varying degrees of addiction. An individual may enter AA after receiving his first DUI, and decide that he has a problem and needs help to stay sober. He arrests the disease before it progresses. This is similar to the diabetic, who prior to be diagnosed with Type II diabetes, is warned by her physician that she is pre-diabetic. She proceeds to make lifestyle changes that arrest her disease, and she never becomes a full-blown diabetic. The AA program will help the addict change their lifestyle making it easier for some addicts to resist behaviors that encourage use, and eventually addiction. Multicultural Considerations Addiction is viewed differently in a variety of cultures. Within the United States, the African-American community experiences high rates of alcoholism and drug addiction. This is typically viewed as the result of genetics, combined with socioeconomic factors such as poverty, unemployment, and high educational dropout rates. The Native American community experiences rates of alcoholism much higher than any other North American culture. Hispanic culture, particularly Mexicans and Puerto Ricans show higher rates of substance use; however individuals from Cuba and Central American countries show a reduced rate of substance use (SAMHSA Office of Applied Studies, 1998). Cultural considerations need to be taken into account when providing treatment services to addicts, as different cultures view addiction differently. Some cultures, like Native American and African-American, tend to view addiction as a disease; while other cultures, like Asian or Hispanic, may view substance abuse as a mor al issue or an issue of choice. How the addict sees the disease can help determine a route of treatment. Critical Literacy The two primary positions presented in this paper regarding addiction, both attempt to determine causes of addiction. They utilize scientific methods, literature reviews, and deductive reasoning to come to their conclusions. There is a strong psychological component to addiction, combined with biochemical changes. Both views attempt to shape the existing science and research to support their positions; one from a medical framework and the other psychological/sociological framework. Civic Literacy Costs related to substance use and abuse is astronomical in the United States. The US criminalization of drugs accounts for millions of dollars spent annually on police forces, trial lawyers, judges and correctional facilities. Other financial factors to be considered are the rise in crime rates in areas where substance use is prevalent, the increase in theft and property damage; the cost in failed marriages and children neglected and abused; the cost to emergency rooms which are required to treat individuals who present in crisis, regardless of their ability to pay. Socially, substance use destroys families and undermines the values that the US was founded on.Citizens can help by educating themselves about addiction and understanding that it is a disease. The majority of addicts need treatment, jobs, housing and a variety of other services to assist them in staying clean and sober. Citizens can vote for legislation that provides funding for treatment centers and necessary social ser vices, rather than increasing the number of jails and correctional facilities. Science Literacy The medical aspects of addiction require that science be actively involved in contributing to a solution. Scientists study brain chemistry and are now able to take pictures of individual’s brains that demonstrate the dramatic changes that occur when substances are introduced to an individual’s body. Medications are being tested that may reduce the cravings that addicts experience when they withdrawal from drugs. The field of psychology contributes to the reduction of addiction by providing addicts with cognitive-behavioral restructuring with regard to substance use, and assisting with any co-occurring mental health disorders. Values Literacy Many people consider addiction a moral issue. They believe that if an individual just had enough willpower, they could choose to not use a substance they are addicted to. Many in North America believe this, and there are articles and books written regarding the topic of addiction as a choice. However, the science is clear, once a person is addicted, a variety of treatments are necessary to assist them in addressing the biochemical changes that have occurred in their body. Most of these treatments are not medical; they are psychological and involve restructuring an individual’s thought process as well as teaching them skills to cope with their addiction. Individuals with addiction should be treated as if they are a sufferer of a chronic disease, with the same level of care and compassion one would treat someone with diabetes or hypertension. Conclusion In conclusion, there exists within the United States, two views regarding addiction. Some believe that addiction is a choice and that individuals who are addicts can choose whether to use or not. Others believe in the disease model of addiction. While strong arguments are made on both sides, the science is clear with regard to the disease model, although it is likely that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Clinical Trial On Piriformis Anaesthetic Health And Social Care Essay

The purpose of this clinical test is to compare the patients of pure piriformis syndrome treated with local anesthetic alone or a combination of local anesthetic and methylprednisolone. Thirty-one patients diagnosed with piriformis syndrome who received a fluoroscopy guided piriformis musculus injection. There were no signii ¬?cant differences in average baseline VAS scores between the two groups of the survey. There were a signii ¬?cant differences between average baseline and average VAS tonss obtained during telephone interview for both groups.Pain VAS had improved by a agencies of 5.13 and 6.06 compared to the baseline degree in the local anesthetic and steroid groups, severally. It was concluded that no extra benefit from utilizing corticoid was identified after piriformis musculus injection and both bupivacaine entirely and in combination with methylprednisolone have a important consequence in alleviating chronic hurting of pure piriformis syndrome. Piriformis syndrome is an uncommon and frequently underdiagnosed cause of hurting in the cheek part and referred hurting in the lower dorsum and leg. Intolerance to sitting, dyspareunia in females, and sciatica are some of the common symptoms attributed to this syndrome. It is the true diagnosing in 6 % to 8 % of patients with back hurting and sciatica. Mechanism normally accepted is an inflamed or spastic piriformis musculus that compresses the sciatic nervus against the bony pelvic girdle. Trauma, hypertrophy and anatomic fluctuations of musculus and sciatic nervus, infections, myositis ossificans are common cause of piriformis syndrome. Priformis syndrome may be treated by curative stretch, massage, ultrasound, use and non steroidal antiinflammatory drugs. Caudal steroid injection, injection of piriformis musculus with local anesthetics and steroids or botulinus toxins, and surgical resection of the musculus have been reported as effectual intervention options. Injections may be performed blindly, with musculus electromyography, fluoroscopy, ultrasound, or with computed tomographic or MRI counsel. Nerve stimulators may besides be used to place the sciatic nervus. Local anesthetics interrupt the pain-spasm rhythm and resounding nociceptor transmittal, whereas corticoids have anti-inflammatory belongingss related to suppression of prostaglandin synthesis, decreases in regional degrees of inflammatory go-betweens and by doing a reversible local anesthetic consequence. Eventhough their antiinflammatory belongingss corticoids have been hypothesized to be of benei ¬?t for nervus root infiltration. The emerging grounds besides implies that the durable curative consequence may be obtained with local anesthetics with or without steroids. Tachihara et Al. illustrated that no extra benefit from utilizing corticoid was identified after nervus root infiltration. Therefore, it is suggested that corticoids may be unneeded for nervus root blocks. There are besides inauspicious reactions in response to the disposal of man-made corticoids such as dermatologic conditions, osteonecrosis, peptic ulcer formation, weight addition, hyperglycaemia, Cushing ‘s syndrome and psychiatric symptoms changing from mild temper alterations to wholly developed psychosis. In the present survey, the purpose was to measure the patients of pure piriformis syndrome treated with local anesthetic alone or a combination of local anesthetic and methylprednisolone.MethodsThis survey conducted on retrospective rating of 31 patients diagnosed with piriformis syndrome, at the University of Inonu, School of Medicine, Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Pain Clinic, Malatya, Turkey between 2007 to 2009, who received a fluoroscopy guided piriformis musculus injection. All the patients were given elaborate information on the process and informed written consent was obtained from all of them. The present survey was approved by Local Ethics Committee. Piriformis syndrome was diagnosed from the followers: clinical history, physical scrutiny, EMG findings and by excepting other pathological conditions of the lumbar, sacral, sacroiliac and hep joint countries by physical scrutiny and magnetic resonance imagination or computed imaging if needed. Piriformis syndrome was suggested by hurting on tactual exploration of the sciatic notch and reproduction of hurting with manoeuvres that stretch or contract the piriformis musculus over the sciatic nervus such as forceful internal rotary motion of extended thigh ( Freiberg ‘s Maneuver ) and active hip flexure, abduction or adduction and internal rotary motion by the patient lying with the painful side up, the painful leg flexed and articulatio genus resting on the tabular array ( Beatty ‘s manoeuvre ) . All patients were examined by a individual hurting specializer and non referred by any other doctor. Exclusion standards included patients known allergic reactions to local anesthe tic and bleeding diathesis. Piriformis injections were carried out by a individual hurting specializer. The patients were placed prone on a fluoroscopy tabular array. In a unfertile manner, the cheek country on the affected side was widely prepped and draped. AP position of the hemi-pelvis and cotyloid part was obtained and so a metal marker is placed on 1/3 of sidelong facet of fanciful line between the greater trochanter and sacrum. Local infiltration with 0.5 % prilocaine was used for local anesthesia. Two milliliter of radiographic contrast stuff ( iohexol ) was injected to obtain a satisfactory myogram ( Figure 1 ) . A syringe was prepared with 10 milliliters of 0.5 % bupivacaine in local anesthetic group or 9 milliliter of 0.5 % bupivacaine + 40 milligram methylprednisolone ( 10 milliliters entire ) in steroid group and injected into the piriformis musculus after negative aspiration for blood. Following the process patients should observe alleviation of their usual hurting. All patients were responded good to a individual injection. The patients that were stubborn to local anesthetic and/or steroid medicine were non considered as a exclusive piriformis syndrome and non included to the survey. After the process, the patients were transferred to the recovery room for 1 hr and until any leg numbness subsides. If hurting persisted a 2nd injection was carried out with same manner. The primary result parametric quantity of the survey was hurting assessed by VAS, analgetic usage, hurting on motion and patient satisfaction. Follow-up scrutinies were conducted by telephone interview 6 months after local injection. Analysiss were performed utilizing SPSS 16.0 version ( SPSS Inc. , Chicago, IL ) . The Kolmogorov-Smirnov trial was used to find whether the informations deviated from the normal distribution. Nonparametric informations were evaluated with the Mann-Whitney U trial. Proportions were compared utilizing the Chi-square trial. P & A ; lt ; 0.05 was considered as important.ConsequencesMedical records of 68 patients with piriformis syndrome were evaluated. Thirty-one patients fuli ¬?lled the inclusion standards. The patient ‘s features including age, sex, weight, tallness, involved side and history of hurting until injection were comparable between groups ( Table 1 ) . No signii ¬?cant differences were noted sing first diagnosing before acknowledging hurting clinic, and conventional used intervention ( Table 2 ) . Three patient from local anesthetic group and two patients from steroid group needed to reiterate injection ( Table 2 ) . The injections for these 5 patients were repeated in a twosome of yearss. The other patients did non hold a repetition injection. There were no important differences between average baseline VAS scores between the two groups of the survey. There were important differences between average baseline and average VAS tonss obtained during telephone interview for both groups ( P & A ; lt ; 0.041 ) . Pain VAS had improved by a agencies of 5.1 and 6.1 compared to the baseline degree in the local anesthetic and steroid groups, severally. Adverse effects were seen by 27 % of the steroid and 6 % of the placebo patients. These included sleepiness in 2 steroid group patients, and 1 local anesthetic group patient, hypotension lasted in two yearss in 1 and temper alterations in 1 steroid group patients. There were no other inauspicious effects such as fluctuations of glucose degree, gastro-intestinal hemorrhage, osteonecrosis, infection, or demand of extra medical intervention attributed to the investigational medicines.DiscussionPiriformis syndrome is non to the full understood clinical syndrome and typically characterized by stray sciatic hurting limited to the cheek with radiation down the thigh, without centripetal shortages or neurogenic cause. Robinson described six diagnostic characteristics of piriformis syndrome which were: ( I ) a history of injury to the sacroiliac and gluteal parts ; ( II ) hurting in the part of the sacroiliac articulation, greater sciatic notch, and piriformis musculus that normally extends d own the limb and causes trouble with walking ; ( III ) acute aggravation of hurting caused by crouching or raising ; ( IV ) a tangible allantoid mass, stamp to tactual exploration, over the piriformis musculus on the affected side ; ( V ) a positive Las & A ; egrave ; gue mark ; and ( VI ) gluteal wasting, depending on the continuance of the status. There is no dependable nonsubjective trial to place the piriformis musculus syndrome and this is leads in many instances to great seeking for the beginning of the intractable sciatica among the lumbar pathologies. Many writers have considered injury in the gluteal country as the major cause of piriformis syndrome. Jawish et Al. believed that piriformis syndrome could be related to exacerbated rotators activity as it was observed in patients with difficult physical activity, Walkers, sports and football player or with insistent injury of nervus in patients with drawn-out sitting place. Regardless of the physiopathologic beginning of the c omplex upset, physical scrutiny and imaging surveies should be combined to corroborate the diagnosing. As, piriformis syndrome is a diagnosing of exclusion, although the patients had radicular symptoms were exluded from the survey, other imagination or correlativity to except were more common causes of sciatic hurting, such as lumbar phonograph record herniation, posterior aspect syndromes or spinal stricture, had been obtained from our included patients. The intervention end is directed ab initio toward diminishing ini ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ammation, associated hurting, and cramp as hurting originates due to the entrapment of the nervus root or to one of its subdivisions, taking to the development of myofascial trigger point. This hurting may besides be due to energy crisis produced from a loss of O and alimentary supply in the presence of an increased metabolic demand. This leads to the release of neuroactive biochemicals that sensitize nearby nervousnesss that in bend initiate the motor and sensory of myofascial trigger point via the cardinal nervous system ensuing in mechanical hypersensitivity. Injection of the 10 milliliter local anesthetic into the abdomen of the musculus as we used in our survey may rinse up such biochemicals. This injection may ensue in musculus relaxation and release of the entrapped nervus. To our cognition, our survey is the i ¬?rst clinical test comparing the effectivity of local anesthetic and methylprednisolone added to the local anesthetic. Naja et Al. compared bupivacaine ( 9 mL 0.5 % bupivacaine in a entire volume of 10 milliliter ) and bupivacaine plus clonidine ( 9 mL 0.5 % bupivacaine and 1 milliliter 150 milligram Catapres ) in a randomised double-blind test included 80 patients with piriformis syndrome who received a nervus stimulator guided piriformis injection. The average VAS tonss obtained after 6 months follow up were 4.5, 3.5 and 3.3 on walking, sitting and lying down, severally. Better consequences with Catapres had been obtained. Benzon et Al. retrospectively reviewed the charts of 19 patients who had received piriformis musculus injections and described a technique for piriformis injection. After 80-100 milligram methyl Pediapred or Aristocort injection to the schiatic nervus and piriformis musculus, 18 of the 19 patients responded to the injectio n, with betterments runing from a few hours to 3 months. The three patients with pure piriformis syndrome had 70-90 % response to piriformis injection for 1-3 months. In Fishman et al.5 survey all participants received an injection of 1.5 milliliter of 2 % Lidocaine and 0.5 milliliter ( 20 milligram ) of Aristocort and improved an norm of 71.1 % , proposing the efi ¬?cacy of corticoid and lidocaine injection combined with physical therapy in handling piriformis syndrome. Filler et Al. reported 162 patients with pure piriformis syndrome given 10 milliliter of bupivacaine and 1 milliliter of celestone: 14.9 % had sustained hurting alleviation runing from 8 months to 6 old ages without return, 7.5 % had 2 to 4 months of alleviation but required a 2nd injection, 36.6 % had 2 to 4 months of alleviation but experienced return after a 2nd injection, 25.4 % of these patients benefited for merely 2 hebdomads, and 15.7 % received no benefit. The consequence of this retrospective survey pointed out that both bupivacaine entirely and in combination with methylprednisolone have a important consequence in alleviating chronic hurting of pure piriformis syndrome and it was concluded that no extra benefit from utilizing corticoid was identified after piriformis musculus injection. Competing involvement: No external support and no viing involvements declared