AIDS :: AIDS Essays

AIDS HIV and/or AIDS is a life threatening disease that is affecting society today. It is a serious epidemic that is threatening millions of lives around the world. A person can become HIV infected thorough the sharing syringes or through vaginal or anal sex, one does not become infected from the air as some might think. It is infected through the blood. Testing positive for human immunodefiency virus or HIV, means that you carry the antibodies, you can be HIV infected and not have AIDS, AIDS occurs in later stage of infection. A person is infectious through all stages, although studies have shown that a person is most infectious during the early stage of detection and in the final stage of AIDS, during the midcourse of the infection they are less infectious. There are several things that one can do to prevent becoming HIV positive. One items is that you can practice abstinence, or on a more realistic view, one should be monogamous and always use condoms. It has been researched that the use of condoms lowers the risk of becoming HIV infected by 90%. Although this protection is not 100% it is the only way that actually helps prevent you from getting the virus. I think that society should make condoms more accessible to young people, I believe they should have condom machines in girl and guys school bathrooms. I also feel that they should be distributed in school social events such as dances or proms, when it is most likely that they will be having sex. Giving youth condoms is not encouraging sex, in my opinion yet it is educated them that they must protect themselves not only from unwanted pregnancies or venereal disease but from death, and from future spread of this epidemic. Studies shown that 50% of infected people are youths between the ages of 15 to 24 years of age. (Public Health Reports Jul. 1995, v110n4, p462-466. If this is the stage that statistics is showing that are most k]likely to contract the virus than why not do everything possible to help prevent it. Another study that I believe has brought results in the needle exchange program, In which drug users go and exchange their dirty needles for clean ones in order to prevent becoming or getting someone infected. "There are increasing data showing that those who regularly exchange their syringes in such programs benefit by lowering their risk of HIV acquisition". Khoshnood, Haven Public Health Reports Jul 1995, v110n4, p 462-466. I believe that AIDS education should be mandated in al states. As I

Porter’s generic strategies Essay

Introduction Porter’s generic strategies of cost leadership, differentiation and focus can be (and often are) adopted by competitors in any given industry and can be provably successful in 21st century business. According to Porter: Effectively implementing any of these generic strategies usually requires total commitment and supporting organizational arrangements that are diluted if there is more than one primary target. . . . [These] generic strategies are approaches to outperforming competitors in the industry. Porter (1980: 35). Furthermore, Porter argues that â€Å"the firm failing to develop its strategy in at least one of the directions–a firm struck in the middle–is in an extremely poor position† and is doomed to essentially low profitability. Porter (1980: 41). In cost leadership situation an organization sets out to be the low-cost producer in its industry. It caters for many industry segments. If an organization can achieve and sustain overall cost leadership then it will achieve superior performance. Cost leadership can be obtained by focusing on key accounts, reaping economies of scale, controlling costs† (Sultan Kermally; 2003, 66-67). Main Body In order to achieve an proper competitive positioning and above average performance, Porter has proposed the following strategies which are termed as generic strategies: Cost leadership A differentiation strategy Focus strategy Cost leadership (attaining the lowest cost position) is clearly not within every firm’s ability to strive toward and attain. In fact, not more than one or two firms in any industry can give value arising predominately from cost-effective operations. By far the majority of firms succeed through the implementation of one of the other two strategies. Even in the case of supposed commodities, companies strive to raise other dimensions of value given to consumers rather than seeking just to compete on a cost basis. Mobil and Exxon are amongst the petroleum firms that attempt to position their gasoline as being superior in quality (anti-clog, non-freeze, etc.), additionally to which their service stations stock an increasing array of convenience items. Mercedes Benz focuses on the prestige and image-conscious end of the automobile market, while Toyota’s manufacturing efficiency gives it a cost and quality facilitator which is reinforced by its marketing wizardry. Combinations of these strategies are also probable, as when instant oil change (focus) specialists look to establish a low-cost position due to the high volume of business generated by a sensible response to customer’s minor automobile service needs. The cost leadership strategy frequently requires a `lean’ culture and is usually perceived as `unattractive’ with the constant focus on cost management and efficiency. A leaning to be production or operations led therefore emerges. This produces a concentration on standardization of products, components as well as processes with the minimization of variations/derivatives. A fine balance needs to be attained between maintaining a contracted range of products/services and meeting the varying needs of diverse customer groups. It is these tensions between either giving a differentiated approach to match customer require and gain competitive advantage, or pursuing cost leadership to gain profit margin and value advantage, that frequently leads in practice to a mixed approach. This means that the advantages of neither competitive position are attained. This being `stuck in the middle’ yields no competitive advantage and corrodes the position of the business unit. Differentiation would involve an organization in providing something unique to its target customers. The uniqueness can be related to products, the way it delivers its goods and services, the way it markets its products or anything that shapes a customer’s perception in relation to differentiation. This could be the way products and services are branded or designed and the customers perceive such offerings as unique† (Sultan Kermally; 2003, 66-67). The differentiation strategy is often the most `attractive’ in that it gives the opportunity for a more resourceful approach to the market. For this reason the organization tends to be marketing led. It is fundamental in these business units that the cost/benefit analysis of any new type of differentiation is thoroughly evaluated. In addition, sensitivity analysis should be used to look at the capability of the associated cost base at different levels of sales performance and in diverse market conditions. The primary challenge with differentiation is one of competitor replication, where the benefit is temporary and, once replicated, becomes an increase in the industry/market cost base for all competitors. This growing migration of the cost base can over time destroy an attractive market segment. According to Grant (1991): â€Å"Differentiation is different from segmentation. Differentiation is concerned with how the firm competes — in what ways the firm can proffer uniqueness to its customers. Such exclusivity might relate to consistency (McDonalds), dependability (Federal Express), status (American Express), quality (Marks & Spencer), and innovation (Sony). Segmentation, in terms of market segment choices is concerned with where the firm competes in terms of consumer groups, localities and product types†. Whereas segmentation is a feature of market structure, differentiation is a strategic choice by a firm. A segmented market is one that can be partitioned according to the characteristics of customers and their demand. Differentiation is concerned with a firm’s positioning within a market or a segment in relation to the product, service and image characteristics that influence customer choice†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Sultan Kermally; 2003, 66-67). Michael Porter also has addressed the issues of competitive advantage in relation to the nations. In his book ‘The Competitive Advantage of Nations’ (1990), Porter’s view has an impact in relation to global competition and consequently global marketing. He puts forward a view that national conditions influence a firm’s competitive advantage in globally competing industries. Then comes focus strategy that â€Å"involves an organization being selective in terms of the segments it wants to serve and focusing on these segments to the exclusion of other segments. The focus strategy can either be cost focus or differentiation focus. If an organization does not choose generic strategies it wants to focus on then as Porter puts it, it will be ‘stuck in the middle’. The extent to which a generic strategy can be sustainable will depend on competitors’ behavior and action. The organization constantly has to be a step ahead of its competitors† (Sultan Kermally; 2003, 66-67). Porter’s generic strategies are based on the competitive methods and possibility of the organization, both of which compromise its strategy. His recommendations have perceptive appeal. Unfortunately, Porter does not cite any contributing literature in the development of his typology. It is also unfortunate that Porter’s deductively derived typology was not convoyed by an attempt to validate its contents empirically. However, separate research efforts have been directed at subjecting Porter’s conceptualized typology to empirical verification. One of the first empirical tests of Porter’s hypothesis was conducted by Dess and Davis, who examined 22 firms in the paint and related products industry (Dess and Davis, 1984). A total of 78 executives from these firms completed questionnaires by representing the importance of 21 competitive variables (Woo and Cool, 1983). The resulting correlation matrix of this distinctiveness was subjected to factor analysis to isolate the competitive dimensions linked with Porter’s three generic strategies. The principal factor solutions hold three elements that were matched against Porter’s generic strategies. A panel of seven academicians was then surveyed to establish the importance of each competitive means for each of the generic strategies. Overall, general agreement was attained between the panel’s definition of cost leadership and differentiation and that resultant via the factor analysis. However, disagreement existed over the panel’s idea of focus strategy and that which was labeled through the beginning. So as to differentiate firms according to discrete patterns of strategic behavior, Dess and Davis entered the factor scores of each firm into a group algorithm. Performance data (return on assets and annual sales growth) were provided for 15 of these firms. The authors observed four separate clusters, of which three were hold as pursuing distinct generic strategies (cost leadership, differentiation, or focus). They labeled the fourth cluster â€Å"stuck in the middle.† Return on assets for both the cost leadership and differentiation strategies were considerably higher than that generated by the â€Å"stuck in the middle† strategy, lending some support to Porter’s argument that generic strategies produce superior performance. However, the focus cluster was also shown to have the lowest profitability, signifying that Dess and Davis’s results were not conclusive. The authors also raised questions concerning interpretation of factor scores, given concerns they had with the constancy of factor loading in the sample set. The study is also limited in that it implicated only one industry. In a separate study, White examined 69 business units from 12 different businesses from the Profit Impact of Marketing Strategies (PIMS) data base in order to determine the â€Å"proper† organizational requirements approved for Porter’s three generic strategies (White, 1986). A differentiation strategy was operationalized by high relative cost and price, whereas a cost leadership strategy was distinct by low relative price and cost. The organizational â€Å"context† of the business unit was operationalized along three dimensions: autonomy, frequency of reports/reviews, and functional coordination. Performance was determined according to return on investment (ROI), real sales growth, relative market share, and cash flow from investment. By statistically comparing different organizational characteristics, White was capable to demonstrate that businesses within a common strategy class had similar organizational contexts within the overall corporation. For businesses that followed a cost leadership strategy, higher ROIs were linked with low autonomy and more frequent reviews and measures of performance. For businesses following differentiation strategies, higher ROIs were linked with an opposite set of interorganizational characteristics. These results were reliable with Porter’s contention (Porter, 1980). However, when White employed other measures of performance (for instance, real sales growth), the previously mentioned relationships did not always hold. In addition, the combination strategy of both low cost and differentiation produced the highest overall ROI results and higher real growth consequences than a simple pure cost strategy. This suggests that, differing to Porter’s hypothesis, some successful businesses follow a combination of two or more â€Å"generic† strategies concurrently. Another study based on testing Porter’s hypothesis was performed by Woo and Cool. The primary aim of this study was to contrast the performance of Porter’s differentiation and cost leadership strategies with non-generic strategies. The study concentrated on domestic manufacturing businesses over the period from 1976 to 1979 and used the PIMS data base. Woo and Cool chose relative price and cost as representative of the major dimensions that reflect Porter’s differentiation as well as cost leadership strategies. Performance was represented by four factors: return on investment, real sales growth, relative market share, and cash flow to investment. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure was performed that designated mixed results for the generic strategies. According to Woo and Cool, â€Å"In all cases, non-generic strategies as a group seem to achieve as well as the generic strategies.† (Woo and Cool, 1983, 17). These results seem to corroborate those findings of White. In addition, the use of discriminant analysis recognized differences in the functional components of Porter’s two generic strategies and revealed that (1) differentiation strategy was recognized with higher product quality and product R&D and (2) cost leadership was linked with lower discretionary spending and a heavy emphasis on forward integration. In all, Woo and Cool’s conclusions challenged two aspects of Porter’s hypothesis, namely, that generic strategies produce superior performance and that the useful components of particular generic strategies are static and deductively particular The generic strategies make the postulation that the company intends to persist in a concentration mode, that is, limit its horizons to a single product/service or attain a predominant portion of its sales in one industry. Few large or medium size firms confine their product horizons. Characteristically it is small businesses that start with such a focus. With success and growth usually comes a desire to reduce dependence on any one product/market. Diversified firms have more established sales and earnings. Risk reduction unquestionably helps improve shareholder value. Most firms have historically been uncomfortable about â€Å"sticking to their knitting† lest they knit a sweater that’s no longer in style or that someone else can make at half the price (perhaps with a machine they’ve just invented). The unwillingness to place all one’s eggs in one basket is quite comprehensible since it could result in binding the company’s future to just one product, a product that might be rendered obsolete or alternated by alternate products. Also, competitors could prove to be more competent at value formation by identifying the desired components of value more accurately or delivering them more efficiently. Continuous value enhancement in a single product area is positively laudable, but prudence dictates that other stakeholders’ needs (shareholders, employees, creditors, and suppliers, for instance) also be taken into thought. Diversification is an important strategy in assuring that the needs of a diversity of stakeholders are given careful enough attention to merit their strong support. Moreover, expanding the product as well as market scope of the firm widens its range of customers, providing even more opportunities for delivering value in completely novel ways. Diversification has, of late, come under fire for being the reason of many firms’ declining ability to compete with domestic and foreign rivals. It is, however, conglomerate diversification that distracts a firm from its work of value. When a firm has numerous product and service offerings, few of which have any association to each other, the objective becomes to exploit shareholder value (stock price and/or dividend). Commitment to a product line or to its customers is noticeably absent at the corporate level. Conglomerates not simply keep their eggs in different baskets, they often forget where their baskets are! On the other hand, concentrically diversified firms–General Electric, Matsushita, Procter and Gamble, IBM, and Honda, to name a few–seek new product or market opportunities with a view to ongoing their prior success in value creation. IBM, for instance, has excelled at providing engineering, installation, maintenance and other types of services to customers. This source of value has been deliberately developed and maximized regardless of whether the product is a mainframe computer, a microcomputer or peripheral equipment. Procter and Gamble, whether in consumer non-durables or in its more recent food/pharmaceutical ventures has, certainly, always been known for its clear conceptualization and faultless construction of value? However, its capability to unerringly communicate the value inhabiting in its products–through timely and well-planned distribution, superb promotion, and rapid assimilation of customer comments-is what enables P & G to exploit value in its erstwhile as well as new product areas. Thus, Porter three generic strategies are alternative, workable approaches to dealing with the competitive forces.†Ã‚   However, the uniqueness of Porter’s cost, differentiation, and focus strategies has been empirically supported by Dess and Davis, White, and Woo and Cool. These same researchers have also suggested that various combinations of these strategy taxa (cost, differentiation, focus) often result in superior performance. Here, the central matter is focused on the proper level of abstraction in conceptualizing generic strategies. As such, cost, differentiation, and focus (or their derivatives) have been equally viewed as representative of lower levels of concept and as such are more appropriately measured as strategy â€Å"types† or â€Å"strategic factors† that in combination make up the taxa or composite strategies. Conclusion Porter’s generic strategies can be linked directly to the competitive positioning strategy. Product specialization, high-quality offerings, and product innovation are all derivatives of Porter’s differentiation strategy; the combination strategy type recognized in this study relates to Porter’s cost and differentiation strategies. Porter also suggests four strategic alternatives in global industries: broad line global competition, global focus, national focus, and protected niche. These broad patterns resemble aspects of the internationalization dimension. For instance, the domestic strategy type identified in this study is closely linked to Porter’s national focus strategy. Porter also does not mention either exporting or mixed international strategy types. Porter has yet to differentiate fully his conceptualization of global strategy in terms of internationalization and competitive positioning. Indeed, his own perspectives of global strategy seem to have matured with time, perhaps as a consequence of mounting criticism leveled against his cost/differentiation generic strategies. To Porter, the essence of a global strategy can be captured through strategic focus. Yet by defining global industries throughout international parameters, it becomes imperative to determine both whether and how member businesses are in fact competing internationally. Later Porter expands his earlier conceptualization of global strategy by defining it as â€Å"one in which a firm seeks to gain competitive advantage from its international presence through either concentrating configuration, coordination among dispersed activities, or both.† (Porter 1986a: 20) With this definition, global strategy is no longer portrayed as just a function of the one-dimensional geographic experience captured by strategic focus. Rather, it is reflected in the essence of internationalization captured in this study. Porter has always faced a complex challenge subordinating his own four–largely internationalization–strategy types to his leading generic strategies. Indeed, by identifying global strategies through predominantly internationalization, Porter is seen implicitly supporting an agreeing strategic emphasis on both competitive positioning and internationalization. For instance, a broad-line global competitor will compete either on the basis of low cost or differentiation. Thus, cost and differentiation are dimensions of a global strategy, and the same a global strategy is rooted in cost or differentiation advantages. Work Cited Dess G., and Davis P. ( 1984). â€Å"Porter’s (1980) generic strategies as determinants of strategic groups’ membership and organizational performance†. Academy of Management Journal, 27, 467-488. Grant, R.M. (1991). The Resource-based Theory of Competitive Advantage: Implications for Strategy Formulation. California Management Review, Spring, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 114-135. Kim, Eonsoo, Dae-il Nam and J.L. Stimpert (2004) ‘The Applicability of Porters GenericStrategies in the Digital Age: Assumptions, Conjectures, and Suggestions’ Journal of Management, 30:5, 569–589 Millar, D. (1992), ‘The Generic Strategy Trap’, Journal of Business Strategy, 13, 37–41. Parnell, John A. (2006) ‘Generic strategies after two decades: a reconceptualization of competitive strategy’, Management Decision, 44:8, 1139–1154 Parnell, John A. and Lewis Hershey ‘The strategy-performance relationship revisited: the blessing and curse of the combination strategy’, International Journal of Commerceand Management, 15:1, 17–33. Porter M. ( 1986a). â€Å"Changing patterns of international competition†. California Management Review, 28, 9-40. Porter M. E. ( 1980). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York: Free Press. Sultan Kermally; Gurus on Marketing Thorogood, 2003 White R. ( 1986). â€Å"Generic Business Strategies, organizational context and performance: An empirical investigation†. Strategic Management Journal, 7, 217-231. Woo C., and Cool K. ( 1983). Porter’s (1980) generic competitive strategies: A test of performance and functional strategy attributes. Working paper, Purdue University.

Ethical Implications of Cloning and Stem Cell Research Essay

Bio-medical breakthroughs in the fields of genetic and tissue engineering hold great promise. However, as modern medicine advances, it often poses major ethical issues on which people are seriously divided. The argument in favor of proceeding with research at unrestrained pace is mainly advocated by scientists and medical experts who would like to see some fantastic therapeutic benefits that science promises in the form of stem cell technologies. Scientists are absolutely thrilled by the possibilities looming on the horizon (Thompson, Harrub 2001c). On the other side of the debate are people, sometimes led by religious groups, who are concerned we may going too far too fast, using unacceptable means and in unknown directions. Stem cell research has the greatest potential for saving lives, but is controversial for its research based on embryos and fetuses (Rickard 2002). Stem cells are immature and unspecialized cells that that possess both the capacity to renew themselves indefinitely as well as the capability to differentiate themselves into specialized and mature cells. Mature cells, such as the heart’s myocytes or the liver’s hepatocytes, stop dividing after several dozen divisions, while stem cells can keep on dividing indefinitely, either renewing themselves or bringing out specialized cells. There are four types of stem cells in the human body 1) adult stem cells, 2) fetal stem cells 3) embryonic stem cells, and 4) nuclear transplant stem cells. For the first three months of pregnancy, a fertilized cell, or zygote, divides and grows in the mother’s womb and is referred to as an embryo. The embryo’s stem cells are the precursors of the development of a complete human baby. They produce all of the body’s various 100 trillion cells. It should become possible to use embryonic stem cells to regenerate any type of cell that the body needs. When the embryo assumes an apparent human body form, it becomes a fetus. Because the fetus is growing rapidly, all tissues and organs, including the brain, contain stem cells. It is for this reason that stem cell researchers are interested in studying fetal tissues. Studies suggest that human embryonic stem cells have immense potential in terms of developing into multiple tissue types and long-term self-renewal. Therefore, stem cell research entails the intentional creation of human embryos in the highly artificial context of an IVF clinic, using cloning techniques, and discarding them after their use for research is exhausted (Thompson, Harrub 2001a). The question to be resolved is whether research on embryonic stem cells constitutes a violation of fundamental human rights, in particular the principle of respect for human dignity and the right of life. However, many believe that conception/fertilization is not a moment but a process, and the early development does not indicate true individuality in any sense of the word, and therefore there is violation of human rights. The promise of embryo research, liberal-minded people tend to think, is too real to ignore any longer by sticking to conservative attitudes that stand in the face of pragmatism. And yet, even they would flinch at the possibilities of reproductive cloning. The difference between therapeutic cloning using embryonic stem cells (stem cell research) and reproductive cloning is the distinction between creating cloned body tissue or organs for therapeutic purposes and creating cloned human beings. Reproductive cloning is generally viewed as morally abhorrent because it is seen as unnatural and a â€Å"commodification† of human life, and it captures public fears about the power of science to pursue a eugenic agenda. When governmental organizations of today debate ban on human cloning, the main issue in such debates would be whether to ban outright all forms of embryo cloning, which a number of countries seem to support, or to permit the cloning of embryos for research purposes (therapeutic cloning/ stem cell research) while outlawing human reproductive cloning. Besides reproductive cloning, there is another untoward ramification to therapeutic cloning, which is cloning for enhancement. The issue of using advances in stem cell research for the purposes of enhancement, as against solely therapeutic purposes, opens up a Pandora’s box of all kinds of complications, ethical, social, psychological, philosophical and practical. For instance, stem cell approaches might help to cure Parkinson’s patients, but, in the not too distant future, they could also be used to improve brain functions. Rich people would be able to afford this therapy and poor people would not. This could create a most undesirable stratification of the society. But where does therapeutic cloning end, and enhancement cloning begin — even if cloning was advanced for purely therapeutic purposes, it would soon spread into the domain of enhancement. This is the argument of â€Å"slippery slope† commonly advanced against all biomedical research involving genetic and cellular manipulation. Last but not least, thanks to the promise that genetic engineering and human cloning research hold, the prospects of achieving capabilities for indefinite life extension even within the next twenty to thirty years are very high (Thompson, Harrub 2001b). The consequences of physical immortality for whole populations are simply inconceivable. But today, the possibility of human race becoming permanently deathless looms uncomfortably close to us. Therefore it becomes imperative that something be done to stem the advances of genetic and cloning research before the situation goes out of hand. A number of states have already enacted specific cloning-ban legislation, either banning the cloning of humans or imposing a moratorium on cloning within the state. Other states have taken action at least to consider formally similar legislation. At federal level, the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2003, which bans the process of human cloning for any purpose and the importation of any product derived from an embryo created via cloning, was passed by the U. S. House of Representatives on 27 February 2003. It was not ratified by the senate though. The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2005 bans only reproductive cloning while allowing therapeutic cloning. To date, federal regulations only prohibit federal funding for research into human cloning (Cash 2005). Though the science of bio-medical engineering is making rapid strides, and offers the promise of unveiling radical new therapies, simply the fact that a technology exists does not imply that anyone who can pay for it can be automatically allowed to use it. This is because the emerging genetic and cellular techniques and technologies raise all kinds of issues, ethical, philosophical, social, psychological and so on. They carry with them implications very difficult even to comprehend.

Health Issues in the Philippines Essay

DOH alarm: HIV cases in first-half 2012 exceed full year of 2010 The number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases during the first half of the year has already surpassed the record for the whole 2010, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday, underscoring the alarming rise in incidence of the virus that causes the dread disease AIDS. The bulk of the spike was traced to a rise in male-to-male transmission and the sharing of needles among injecting drug users in Cebu province. DOH Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag said for the month of June alone, 295 HIV cases were reported to the department, bringing to 1,600 the total number of cases in the first half of 2012. â€Å"We are halfway now for the year and that’s already more than the 1,591 for the whole year of 2010,† Tayag told reporters. In 2011, HIV cases were 2,349. This brings the total number of HIV cases in the country to 9,964 since 1984 when the DOH started reporting HIV/AIDS cases. Men having sex with men make up 87 percent of HIV transmissions recorded in the first six months of the year, with men aged 20-29 making up most of the cases. While MSM transmission has been the main mode of HIV transmission for a couple of years now, the DOH is particularly alarmed by a dramatic spike of cases involving injecting drug users (IDU) in Cebu City. â€Å"What we’re alarmed about is that for June there were additional cases of injecting drug use or person who inject drugs,† Tayag said. HIV among drug users reached 120 during the first half of the year alone, he added. From 1984 to 2008, there were only 8 HIV cases among drug users. â€Å"You will recall that in 2008 we only had 8 cases, now we have a total of 385 since 1984 when we started reporting HIV,† said Tayag, adding that all 120 HIV cases among IDUs this year were reported in Cebu City. Tayag admitted that HIV monitoring among drug users in Cebu had stopped for awhile, discouraging people who were injecting drugs from submitting themselves for AIDS testing. â€Å"In this period we stopped monitoring HIV among persons who inject drugs in that part of Cebu. For some time there was no fund so when we did a survey we saw that the number of HIV among drug users has increased,† he said. Tayag said unlike other drug users in some parts of the country, injecting drug users in Cebu City use regulated medicines. The virus is spread as they share unclean and contaminated needles. Tayag revealed that the government has started an HIV mapping, where parts of the country are labeled in terms of AIDS risk. Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao are tagged high risk. Read more:  Social Issues in the Philippines

Decadal Sand Bar Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Decadal Sand Bar Behavior - Essay Example Tough availability of the material is of equal importance in forming a sand bar; the size of the material of the Sand Bar depends on the size of the waves or the strength of the material. As a bar is merely a disposition of material by the water, in case of vessel grounding on these bars is worse off than grounding on stationary rocks. This is because of the more destruction caused by the shifting action of these materials. These bars can spread over a considerable range in size and length, from just a couple of meters in a small stream to large depositions stretching over hundreds of kilometres along a coastline, commonly known as barrier islands. Long shore currents or even fluvial currents in the shallow water coastal environments are responsible for the construction of submerged bars. These bars are strongly determined by the amount of unused sediment available along a shore. These sediments along the shore are called its "sand budget" and determine the number of bars that form along the coastline. The types of submerged bars and the orientations and shapes are controlled by the way the sediments are transported through the shore zone. Along the shoreline which is mostly dominated by waves, the shore current carry and deposit the sediments along the shore face in parallel bars to the shore. ... The phenomena of wave refraction and zone interaction are also responsible for creating shore currents that helps the disposition and transportation of sand particles in deep water. Tides also are a major medium of transportation of the sediments; submerged tidal bars which are perpendicular to the coastline are also formed due to these bidirectional tidal currents. There are tidal deltas which are kinds of submerged bars formed on either side of the island inlet due to the tides which transport sand into and out of coast through barrier island inlets. These submerged bars are also formed in places where the rivers enter the ocean. When fresh water from a curbed channel discharges into the ocean having salt water, the current becomes slow and deposit its sediment at the mouth of the river called the channel mouth bar. Many of these different kinds of submerged bars namely long shore bars, channel mouth bars and the tidal bars coexist in a same environment. This is due to the wave action and tidal currents which influence the shore to a great extent. Shore parallel and perpendicular processes create bars with intermediate curved or diagonally oriented structures. These submerged bars characteristically obstruct natural and man-made outlets into the ocean, and are hazards well know to the navigation. Offshore features of a beach include bars that that are formed at or off the shore of a sea or a river. There are times when large waves attack the beach shore-zone and some of the beach's sand is redistributed off the shore resulting in a sandbar or long shore bar. Due to these bars forms the waves start breaking and because these breaking waves set up currents towards the shore with a currents countering along the

Stem Cell Therapy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Stem Cell Therapy - Essay Example Stem cells are capable of self regeneration and replicating itself, therefore giving birth to new generations with varying traits. The replication capabilities of these cells have the potential to replace the degraded areas of the body where diseases and injuries are located. The method of this new treatment is foreseen to be very effective due to the body’s tendencies to reject and experience side effects. One of the many forms of stem cell treatment is the Allogeneic Hematopietic Stem Cell Transplantation used as the main therapy practiced in hematologic malignancies. One of the more specific forms is the Myeloablative Hematopietic Stem Cell Transplantation found to be cure children with sickle cell disease. However, the same method proves to be disproportionately toxic to adults. (Naganska, 2009)2 Stem cell therapies are also used to treat myotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is a neurodegenerative disease. The characteristics of this disease is the loss of motor neurons fou nd in the spinal column, motor cortex as well as the brain stem which results to the dramatic reduction of a patient’s life span. It usually leads to the death of the patient, caused ultimately by respiratory failure that can happen between two to five years into the disease. This is one of the major challenges in the field of medicine, despite the vast researches in neurobiological sciences, as well as molecular and genetic researches. The introduction of stem cell therapy was accepted with optimism to regenerate the cells of patients in order to not only prolong the lives of the patients, but also to cure the disease altogether. One of the most common diseases known to us as a leading cause of death all over the world is heart failure. Though medicinal methods have been able to sustain and prolong the lives of the patients, no actual cure has been introduced to totally remove the cause of the problem. Researchers are optimistic with the results of some laboratory experiment s together with some clinical tests that cellular intervention can possibly improve the cardiac functions, by regenerating the cardiac itself. (NIH, 2009)3 It has been found that progenitor cells derived from the bone marrow as well as other similar progenitor cells that may be found in various parts of the body can make the distinction into vascular types of cells that would result to restoration of the blood flows. Recent findings proved that local cardiac stem cells exhibited differentiation, transforming into multiple cell types that are found in the heart. This recent finding is indicative that the heart is not that different. Stems cells are unique from the other cell found in the body. They have three common characteristics, and the source as to where the stem cells were harvested will not affect thes characteristics. Stems cells are capable of self renewal and dividing for over long periods of time. Secondly, stem cells are not specialized and lastly, they are capable of yie lding specialized cells types. (Naganska, 2009)4 Initially, when researchers conceptualized the experiments, they tried it with an adult mouse by injecting stems cells into the muscle of the left ventricular wall of the mouse’ heart. They also tried injecting a human adult’s bone marrow stem cells into the tail vasculature of the mouse. They discovered that stem cells aid in the

Psychological Approaches Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Psychological Approaches - Essay Example Thus, controlled variables like the conditions of the testing environment and the health of the applicant should be considered before administering the exam. However, these are not commonly given much attention by the HR department or the company who’s administering the test to measure the capability of the examiner. Therefore, validity of exams may not be high. Still exams are considered to get the profile of the applicant and sometimes its result is correlated or validated with the result of the interview conducted by the selection committees. As mentioned, what is mostly considered in the profiles generated by personality assessment measures the capabilities and preferences of the individual. The cognitive aspect affects a part of the person’s profile and thus may vary with other individuals. How and why they differ can be understood by reviewing the cognitive development as well as personality development of a subject. Cognitive psychology is the school of psychology that examines internal mental processes such as problem solving, memory, and language (Wikipedia 2006). It aims to understand the mental processes in problem solving and how one comes out with a decision in response to certain situations. It acknowledges the scientific method as a valid mental process compared to introspection. Jean Piagett (1896), a cognitive psychologist, explained that the Cognitive development of children involves changes in cognitive process and abilities. In Piaget’s view, early cognitive development involves processes based upon actions and later progresses into changes in mental operations. She explained that a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the processes of obtaining knowledge. Children experiences situations and understand the situation, pleasing or not, and stores information derived from that experience. The schema changes as new experiences were