How Itching Works and Why Scratching an Itch Feels Good

How Itching Works and Why Scratching an Itch Feels Good Humans and other animals itch for a variety of reasons. Scientists believe the underlying purpose of the annoying sensation (called pruritus) is so we can remove parasites and irritants and protect our skin. However, other things can lead to itching, including drugs, diseases, and even a psychosomatic response. How Itching Works While drugs and disease typically stimulate itching because of a chemical response, most of the time the sensation is a result of skin irritation. Whether the irritation starts from dry skin, a parasite, an insect bite, or chemical exposure, the itch-sensing nerve fibers (called pruriceptors) become activated. Chemicals that activate the fibers may be histamine from inflammation, opioids, endorphins, or the neurotransmitters acetylcholine and serotonin. These nerve cells are a special type of C-fiber, structurally like the C-fibers that transmit pain, except they send a different signal. Only about 5% of C-fibers are pruriceptors. When stimulated, pruriceptor neurons fire a signal to the spinal cord and the brain, which stimulates a rubbing or scratching reflex. In contrast, the response to the signal from pain receptors is an avoidance reflex. Scratching or rubbing an itch stops the signal by stimulating pain receptors and touch receptors in the same region. Drugs and Diseases That Make You Itch Since the nerve fibers for itching are in the skin, it makes sense most itching starts there. Psoriasis, shingles, ringworm, and chicken pox are conditions or infections that affect the skin. However, some drugs and illnesses can cause itching without underlying skin irritation. The antimalarial drug chloroquine is known to cause severe itching as a common side effect. Morphine is another drug known to cause itching. Chronic itching can result from multiple sclerosis, certain cancers, and liver disease. The ingredient that makes peppers hot, capsaicin, can cause itching as well as pain. Why Scratching an Itch Feels Good (But Isnt) The most satisfying relief for an itch is to scratch it. When you scratch, neurons fire pain signals to your brain, which temporarily overrides the itching sensation. The feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin is released to provide relief from the pain. Essentially, your brain rewards you for scratching. However, a study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates scratching ultimately intensifies the itch because serotonin binds 5HT1A receptors in the spinal cord that activate GRPR neurons that stimulate more itchiness. Blocking serotonin isnt a good solution for people suffering chronic itching because the molecule is also responsible for growth, bone metabolism, and other key processes. How to Stop Itching So, scratching an itch, while pleasurable, is not a good way to stop itching. Getting relief depends on the cause of the pruritis. If the issue is skin irritation, it may help to cleanse the area with a gentle soap and apply an unscented lotion. If inflammation is present, an antihistamine (e.g., Benadryl), calamine, or hydrocortisone may help. Most pain relievers dont diminish itchiness, but opioid antagonists  offer relief to some people. Another option is to expose skin to sunlight or ultraviolet light (UV) therapy, apply a cold pack, or apply a few electrical zaps. If itching persists, its a good idea to see a doctor to check for underlying medical conditions or itching in response to a drug. If you absolutely cant resist the urge to scratch, try rubbing the area rather than scratching it. If all else fails, a German study indicates you can lessen itching by looking into a mirror and scratching the corresponding non-itching body part. Itching Is Contagious Are you getting itchy reading this article? If so, its a completely normal reaction. Itching, like yawning, is contagious. Doctors who treat itchy patients often find themselves scratching as well. Writing about itching leads to itchiness (trust me on this). Researchers have found people attending lectures on itching scratch themselves a lot more often than if they were learning about a different topic. There may be an evolutionary advantage to scratching when you see another person or animal do it. Its likely a good indicator you might want to check for biting insects, parasites, or irritating plants.

Almarai food company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Almarai food company - Essay Example The entrepreneurs imported plants, cows and knowledge from other countries (The Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce 3). The dairy industry has attracted a number of players but they are limited by widespread water shortage across the country. The major players in the industry include the Almarai Food Company which was established in 1976; Al safi Denone established in 1979; Nada dairy; Nadec and other smaller companies. The four organizations hold approximate market share of about 41.7%, 20.7%, 8% and 14% respectively (Pendleton 2). The companies started by producing plain lifelong milk but due to demand they have also included flavored lifelong milk. The government has over the years capped the growth of the dairy industry (Al-Otaibi and Robinson 2). This has made people to resort to the use of powdered milk made by Irish companies. There are very few players in the dairy industry in the Saudi Arabian market which makes structure of the industry to be oligopolistic (Al-Asfoor 1). This means that a slight change of the price by one player will have a big impact on competitors. Unlike it is elsewhere in the world where the outlets buy daily products from manufactures, outlet operators in Saudi Arabia do not buy but sell products for the manufacturers. The risk of excess stock is borne by the manufacturers. ... The government helps the producers to reach an agreement on shelf space in the outlets and prices both at wholesale and retail levels whenever there is a problem. The competition among the players in the Saudi Arabia dairy industry is mainly price. This is because there is less differentiation of their products (Al-Asfoor 2). Whenever one of the companies lowers the price for its products, customers are likely to abandon other products in its favor. This makes others also to lower their so as to compete favorably. This has made economic advisors to advice the companies in this industry to differentiate their products as a way of avoiding cutthroat price competition. The Saudi Arabian dairy industry has grown to be very competitive in the gulf region (Pendleton 1). Almarai Food Copany, the biggest food manufacturing company in the industry entered into collaboration with Pepsi Company. This has enabled it to conquer markets in the Gulf region, Africa, and the Far East. This has been p ossible due to its high quality goods which compete effectively with those produced by international industries (Pendleton 1). Currently, the dairy industry of Saudi Arabia is the leading in the gulf region. It supplies its products to five countries including Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Table 1 shows the market shares of different milk brands in Saudi Arabia between 2007 and 2011. Table 1: Historic Market Shares Government intervention in this industry has been minimal. The government came in when the prices wars threatened to lead the industry to a state of collapse. It helped the competitors in the industry reach agreements to stabilize prices (Uthman 7). In some cases the

STL-2 knowledge based questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

STL-2 knowledge based questions - Essay Example Moreover the type of research in terms of the object of study in also very important. If the object of study is an individual child, than only a single child is observed. However if the object of study is a group of children, than samples size should consist of a number of different groups. The aim of study children in groups is to analyze the behavior of child in a group. This could include the response of child to social phenomenon or just sleeping patterns of children living in groups etc. Therefore an individual child could be observed or the group could be observed as a whole. These observations can enable a researcher or parent to analyze the different needs of the child for example food, sleep etc. From an educational perspective these observations can help establish an understanding into the interests a child is showing. Both parents and doctors can then use this information and compare it with benchmarks to understand the progress in a child’s habits. Thus they can su pport the positive aspects and stop the negative ones. There are different procedures and methods to observing a child. The observations however should not interfere with the normal settings of a child’s daily schedule. This is because the aim of every research is to analyze how the child would perform and work in a normal environment. However if the researcher is not careful in ensuring that the original environment of the child is in intact the entire purpose of the research could be at risk. This is because if the original environment is tampered with the child would lose his routine. The observation in the new routine or state of mind would not be applicable in normal environment of other children. Therefore the validity of research would be severely harmed. The results acquired would have no significance. The best method is that observer should allocate timing according to the subject of observation. This would mean that

How does the academic study of problem solving and thinking relate to Essay

How does the academic study of problem solving and thinking relate to everyday life - Essay Example Along with maturation, people obtain substantial competence that enables them to solve common problems encountered daily. (Holyoak 1995, p. 267) However, Anderson (1993, p. 39) explains, not everything requiring solution, like routine activities, is indeed problems. For example, summing-up a three-month electric bill, though requires solution is not a problem because one simply has to compute it either manually or electronically, but how to pay the bill with practically nothing left in one’s pocket is surely a problem. The difference here lies on the immediate availability of achieving the task. Computing the bill could be easily achieved with the simple knowledge of addition or much easier the use of calculator, but where to find the money to pay the bill not to be cut off power presents a problem, as there is no immediate solution to it. Hence a problem is determined by the gap between the present state and the target goal wherein the means to solve the gap is not immediatel y evident (Schwarz & Skurnik 2003, p. 267). Problem solving begins with problem identification (Rudd 2005, p. 11). Generally defined as the activity by which the goal of eliminating the gap is undertaken without certainty of success (Tallman, Leik, Gray, & Stafford, 1993, cited in Nelson, Brice & Gunby 2010, p.74), problem solving which could be correct or erroneous differs for every individual, because individual experiences and task demands, which problem solving entails, vary (Martinez 1998, p. 605). Similarly, the difficulty of solving problems differs in degree depending on the nature of the problem. Some could be easy; others could be truly hard or could never be solved at all. (Joswiak 2004, p. 19) ‘The relative ease of solving a problem will depend on how successful the solver has been in representing crucial elements of the task environment in his problem space’ (Simon, 1978, p. 276). The more exposed a person to varied task of compelling nature, the greater is the chance of that person to handle problems of similar/related nature. For example, an ex-marine has the greater chance of surviving a physical assault than a language teacher who has yet to experience physical violence. Moreover, problem solving has two aspects: The answer that which solve the problem, and the solution procedure by which way the answer is known (Robertson 2001, p. 6). With a variety of problems that people come across everyday solutions also vary by which Robertson (2001, pp. 6-11) says problems can also be categorised. One, what knowledge does the problem require – would it be â€Å"knowledge-lean† or â€Å"knowledge-rich† problems (p. 7)? For example, household maintenance though complex requires simple management, whereas ensuring national security is far more complicated that it requires expertise. Steif, Lobue, Kara, & Fay (2010, p. 135) suggest that the ability to determine fitted conceptual knowledge in order to solve a problem is cons idered a metacognitive skill. This according to Greeno (1978, p. 62) is learnable. Although, Gagne (1979) clarifies that what can be learned in problem solving are its specific aspects, cited as: "rules of syntax and mathematics," "knowledge about particular objects and events," "specific cognitive strategies" (cited in Mayer 1987, p. 111). Two, what is the nature of the goal? Is it technical, routine, domestic, political,

Critical Evaluation Of Value Chain Analysis Marketing Essay

Critical Evaluation Of Value Chain Analysis Marketing Essay In todays world, due to the development of globalization and the improvement of science and technology, the international economic situation is fast-changing. Whats more, competition is severer than before. It is unadvisable for managers to make a long-term plan and then ask the whole company to implement it days and nights. Managers should analyze the internal environments and external environments continuously surrounding their own company and then make plans in accordance with the analysis. There are lots of approaches which can be used during the strategic analysis process, such as SWOT analysis, PESTIN analysis, Value Chain analysis and Porter Five Forces. Therefore, it is very essential for managers to understand the usages of them during the strategic analysis process. Moreover, the functions of these approaches are also deserved to be researched. The main purpose of this dissertation is to evaluate critically two approaches, value chain analysis and porter five forces, during the strategic analysis process in order to make managers acquaintance with the knowledge about these two approaches and then make better plans for their own companies. There are four parts in this dissertation begun with an introduction. In the second and third parts, this dissertation will provide critical evaluation of value chain analysis and porter five forces separately by some empirical examples to illustrate the disadvantages and advantages of value chain analysis and porter five forces. A conclusion will be made in the end. Critical Evaluation of Value Chain Analysis Used during the Strategic Analysis Process According to Robbins (2009), only depending on value chain analysis, an organization delivers its products or services to its customers fast and quickly. This part will introduce what the value chain analysis is and the general review about value chain analysis. Simultaneously, this part will also explain the disadvantages and advantages of Value Chain Analysis by empirical examples. 2.1 What is Value Chain Analysis? Value chain analysis was proposed in 1985 by Michelle Porter in his book Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance (Robinson, 2009) to describe the way of how customer value accumulates along a chain of activities leading to an end product or service (Institute of Management Accountants, 1996). Porter described that value chain analysis was the internal processes or activities performed by a company to design, produce, market, deliver and support its products (Robinson, 2009, pp564). Porter also claimed that the main purpose of value chain analysis is to create a value chain strategy to meet and surpass customers demands and desires (Scholes and Whittington, 2010). And according to Robinson (2009), a successful value chain management should meet the following factors, including collaboration and cooperation, technical investment, organization process, leadership, employees, organizational culture and attitudes. Porter describes two major categories of busine ss activities: primary activities and support activities (Institute of Management Accountants, 1996, pp1). In 1993, Shank and Govindarajan broadened the definition of value chain analysis and states that the value chain is the value-creating activities of any firm to provide products and services to final consumers hands. 2.2 The General review about Value Chain Analysis The importance of value chain analysis propels lots of scholars to spend more time and energies to do researches on value chain analysis. In 2006, Khan, Pochampalli, Ding and Ponce adopted lots of approaches to make strategic case analysis, including value chain analysis taking the analysis of Nucor Corporation as the example. They analyzed Nucor Corporations mission, products and services, leadership, culture, structure and governance and gained the concluded that Nucor Corporation had the unique leadership, strong corporate culture and decentralized structure, which led this company to be successful and have effective corporate governance (Khan, Pochampalli, Ding and Ponce, 2006). In 2003, Dekker wrote an article named Value Chain Analysis in Interfirm Relationships: A Field Study to analyze the influence of value chain analysis on management accounting. In this article, Dekker pointed out that interfirm relationships was the new challenges for management accounting and a value cha in analysis is a useful tool to meet this challenges. Moreover, Awa and other scholars also proposed a research called collaborative experience of value chain architecture: a systemic paradigm to building customer loyalty in 2011. There are still another researches on value chain analysis, due to the limited space, this dissertation will not list them one by one. 2.3 Explain the Disadvantages and Advantages of Value Chain Analysis by Empirical Examples According to Robinson (2009), value chain analysis has a lot of advantages and disadvantages. In this part, this dissertation will explain the disadvantages and advantages of Value Chain Analysis by empirical examples. 2.3.1 The advantages of Value Chain Analysis by Empirical Examples Before listing the advantages of value chain analysis, this dissertation first show a survey result about the benefits of value chain analysis made by Taninecz (2000) (p44). From this survey result, it is reasonable to gain the conclusion that a successful value chain analysis can improve the services level to the customers. If the company performs well on each point of the value chain and the employees cooperate well and try their best to optimize service process, the service level to the customers can be improved (Scholes and Whittington, 2010). Meanwhile, a successful value chain analysis can help company increase sales, save cost, increase market, reduce inventory and improve logistics management (Robinson, 2009). Therefore, value chain analysis emphasizes not only the production process but also the various activities that make up the chain (McCormick and Onjala, 2007). Tetra-Pak, a multinational food packaging and processing company of Swedish, is one of the excellent examples which reconfigured the value chain in the packaging industry (Institute of Management Accountants, 1996). Tetra-Pak designs and uses a filling machine to package step by step, which brings a great change to the packaging industry (Institute of Management Accountants, 1996). Under this circumstance, no space in filling and packing would be wasted. According to the survey made by institute of management accountants (1996), the famous furniture Sweden Company IKEA also reconfigures the value chain and IKEA Company divides its operation activities into several parts, including design, assembly and even home delivery and has specific requirements in each activity, which also brings a revolution to the furniture industry in Swedish and even worldwide. Nucor Corporation is one of the largest steel manufacturers in the United States and takes value chain analysis during the strategic analysis process (Ding, Khan, Pochampalli and Ponce, 2006). According to them (2006), the value chain of Nucor Corporation includes firm infrastructure, human resource, technology development, procurement, logistics and other activities and due to the usage of value chain analysis help Nucor Corporation establish strong organization culture and unique leadership, which provide an excellent foundation for this company. All in all, value chain analysis during the strategic analysis process can help managers to divide operation activities into several different activities and assign tasks to specific employees and then through the cooperation and collaboration between employees, company can be a success. 2.3.2 The Disadvantages of Value Chain Analysis by Empirical Examples In the section 2.3.2, this dissertation has introduced the advantages of value chain analysis. However, managers should overcome some obstacles when they adopt value chain analysis during the strategic analysis process. In other words, there are some deficiencies of value chain analysis. For example, if the employees are unwilling to change their status and to share information between each other, they can not collaborate and cooperate with each other. Under this circumstance, the value chain analysis can not be implemented fully and effectively (McCormick and Onjala, 2007). Secondly, excessive trust between employees also can lead value chain analysis to become a failure (Scholes and Whittington, 2010). The implementing of value chain analysis needs employees and managers have necessary abilities, such as the abilities of good coordination and team spirits and the abilities to train all the employees. However, it is difficult for managers and employees to make themselves acquaintanc e with these abilities. For example, American Standard Company, Deere Company and Furon Company have come across lots of big difficulties. Due to the development of information technology and knowledge economy, the global economic situation is fast-changing. The managers have to change the value chain of the operation activities according to the change of environment. Therefore, if the company wants to make a long-term plan, the value chain will lose its efficiency, otherwise the company will spend lots of costs to change the value chain and organize employees to implement the value chain (Cadle, Paul and Turner, 2010). Pentagon Company, a famous high technology company in the United States, has no chance to take value chain analysis during the strategic analysis process if this company can not ensure the security of its own website (Robinson, 2009). Therefore, there are still some disadvantages of value chain analysis. 3. Critical Evaluation of Porters Five Forces Used during the Strategic Analysis Process Same as the value chain analysis, Porters Five Forces also has advantages and disadvantages, which will be exposed in this part by some empirical examples. 3.1 What is Porters Five Forces? Porters Five Forces Analysis is a theory made by Michael Porter, who is a professor in Harvard University. He came up with five factors that may influence the profitability of a company, namely the intensity of rivalry among existing competitors, threat of entry by new competitors, pressure from substitute products, bargaining power of buyers, and bargaining power of suppliers (Scholes and Whittington, 2010). First, the rivalry can be weak or intensive. If it is weak, theres no need to worry about it. But if it is intensive, it should be pay much more attention to. When having the intensive rivalry among existing competitors, one is likely to be in a cut-throat position. Many factors will influence the intensity of rivalry, including the size of competitors, the costs of products, and the product differentiation (Scholes and Whittington, 2010). Second, the new companies are the other threats to ones benefits. They will become the obstacles to expend your market scale and cut off your market share (Robinson, 2009). Third, pressure from substitute products is another barrier for a company to get interests. Fourth, bargaining power of buyers is of the vital importance in the effect of the benefits (Scholes and Whittington, 2010). Since the profit margin has close relationship with the price. When the price is low, the profit margin may be high and vise versa. Last but not the least, bargaini ng power of suppliers is much similar to the factor of bargaining power of buyers. When the supply price is low, the costs of the product are low. Therefore, the profit margin will be high due to the low cost. 3.2 The General Review about Porters Five Forces As mentioned before, Porters Five Forces Analysis has its own characteristics. These are helpful when used as managerial strategies in big decision of the company. Most of the researches about the Porters Five Forces Analysis is based on the prior experiments, collective data and analysis. For example, the application of the Porter Five Forces Analysis in Internet (Nikolopoulos, 2005 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °and automobile industry (Cafferky, 2005) . All these researches can be viewed as the practical theories for future use. Undoubtedly, the aim of these studies is to find out the managerial problems and ways to solve these problems. This model is strive to improve the companys performance through the analysis, namely which part of its market it the most profitable one and which is the most cost-consuming one. After the Porters Five Forces Analysis, great efforts should be made to maximize the former market and minimize the latter market. It will help the company make the greatest profits as well. The well management of the five most important factors influencing the market share will reduce the difficulties standing in the progressing path. This framework of the Porters Five Forces can also define the opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses. Ones structure coping with these five forces can determine competitiveness of the company. 3.3 Explain the Disadvantages and Advantages of Porters Five Forces by Empirical Examples The Porters Five Forces Analysis has its advantages and disadvantages. If used well, it will help make great profits for a company. As for the advantages, it is very simple and direct. It has a simple framework in dealing with managerial problems. However, it also has shortcomings. For examples, it is not as clear as the Value Chain Analysis. The five factors cannot be separated clearly when analyzing. On the other hand, it can be easily affected by other factors, such as the size of the company, different economic environment and national investments. 3.3.1 Advantages of Porters Five Forces There are many advantages of Porters Five Forces Analysis, but two are among the most important ones. The first one is simplicity. Compared to other models, it is very simple. Five factors are easy to define. In the Mobile Company, the Porters theory provides an easy access to the information about these areas. It is known to all, this area is much more complicated regarding the practical market. But the five factors narrow these complicated factors down to the relationship among the suppliers, the sellers, and the buyers. The cash flows among the three most important participators. The main rivalries in this field in China are China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom. The competition is still very fierce (Wu, 2012). As the emerging of the iphones and various kinds of smart phones, China Unicom Company begins to take on the stage by its excellent 3G service. The company can quickly identify its valuable market and worthless market by the Porters theory. Here the word valuable mea ns that it will make profits for the company and worthless means that it makes little contribution to the companys benefits. Although there isnt the fourth competitor, the potential threats still exist. However, from Porters theory, the problems can be simply defined and solutions can be easily made to solve the problems. The second one is directness. The diagram of the Porters Five Forces Analysis seems very direct to analyze. In automobile industry, substitute products are used in order to improve the performance and to increase profits. It goes straight to the point so that the weakness and threats. For example, the General Motors Corp decides to reduce the carbon emission of its cars. So it tries its best to cooperate with an Italy company who can produce the environmental-friendly combustion motor. With the new motors, the company successfully increases its competitiveness and decreases its costs. Innovation ranks the most important factor affecting ones profitability. Without innovation, one could not move forward. But if substitute products are used instead of innovation, it may be a solution at the moment. And in modern society, such action can express its good images of being responsible. It means the company is not a profit-striving business man. It cares about people, society and the whole world. 3.3.2 Disadvantages of Porters Five Forces The first one is that it is unclear. The five forces may be easy to define, but it has no clear boundary. Each involves many details. What is more important, they cannot be separated clearly. In other words, they overlap each other. For instance, in the steel industry, the supplier power changes with the buyer power, and the buyer power is also swifts with the supplier power. They are mutually influenced. It is difficult to say which one is the fatal factor. Also in the General Motors Corp, five factors should be analyzed together. None of them can be separated from others. For example, the threats of the new entry warn the General Motors Corp to change its traditional producing forms. New technology should be employed to enhance its images and competitiveness. Therefore, the company analyses all of the five factors to solve the problems and to expand its market share all over the world. Second, it is easy to be influenced by other uncontrollable factors. Also in the steel industry, it has gone through many stages, from immature to mature (Ponce, 2006). When at the immature stage of lifecycle, the suppliers and the buyers are instable, while in the mature stage, they are consolidate. Different states of the buyer power and the supplier power will lead to different problems. It is too hush to make decision only according the only five factors. An overview should be made to identify the whole situation. And a comprehensive thinking should be put into the analysis. Although there are shortcomings of the Porters Five Forces Analysis, it is still a valuable framework used to discriminate the strength, weakness, threats and opportunities of the company. And it is useful to solve various problems that one could meet. Conclusion In conclusion, managers should make plans for their own companies according the fast-changing economic situation worldwide and during the strategic analysis process, it is essential for them to adopt some useful approaches, such as value chain analysis, SWOT analysis, porter five forces analysis and the like. Therefore, this dissertation provides a critical evaluation of value chain analysis and porter five force during the strategic analysis process. Before representing the advantages and disadvantages of value chain analysis and porter five forces, this dissertation has provide the definition and general literature review about these two approaches. From the above analysis, it is reasonable to conclude that the value chain analysis and porter five forces have advantages as well as disadvantages, which can help managers to learn about the general knowledge about these two approaches. Meanwhile, during the strategic analysis process, the managers can make full use of their advantages to gain more efficiency. Due to the limited energy and time, limitations must exist in any kind of research. This dissertation mainly takes the secondary data, which mainly are from journals, books and website, so it is difficult to ensure that the data are reliable enough. Due to the limited space, this dissertation can not explain all the disadvantages and advantages of these approaches and the listed examples may not represent all the industries and be typical. And all of these are the key points which are needed to be improved in the future. In the end, this dissertation will give the audiences some suggestions for future research to do the researches about the merits and demerits of these approaches better in the future. For example, the researchers should do some practical surveys about these two approaches to learn about the usage situations in different industries. Secondly, the researches also can make good use of books, journals, websites and even magazines to gain more and better information to give more specific analysis about the disadvantages and advantages about these two approaches.

Nursing Ethics Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nurses support and enable individuals, families and groups to maintain, restore or improve their health status. Nurse also care for and comfort when deterioration of health has become irreversible. A traditional ideal of nursing is caring and nurturing of human beings regardless of race, religion, status, age, gender, diagnosis, or any other grounds.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nursing care is based on the development of a helping relationship and the implementation and evaluation of therapeutic processes. Therapeutic process includes health promotion, education, counseling, nursing interventions and empowerment of individuals, families or groups. It helps individuals make choices in regards to their health care.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nurses are independent moral agents and sometimes they have a personal moral conflicts that makes them uncomfortable with participating in certain procedures. Nurses have a moral obligation to the profession, but they are morally entitled to refuse to participate in procedures which would violate their moral beliefs. Nurses accepting positions where they maybe called on to go against their own moral beliefs, should inform their employer. Their employer and their coworkers have a responsibility to ensure that they’re not discriminated against.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nursing practices is present in a variety of settings. Any setting can be affected by factors which are not within a nurse’s control or influence. These include resource constraints, institutional policies, management decisions, ...

Examples of human societies that collapsed prior to c. 1700 CE

Classic Mayan civilization was among the most advanced to ever develop in the New World prior to European contact, and at its height, Mayan cities supported populations estimated at 250 to 750 people per square mile. 1 They were the only advanced Mesoamerican civilization to have developed an extensive system of writing; they also developed their own unique calendar, and extensively studied mathematics and astronomy.The Classic period of Maya civilization is thought to have begun around 250 CE, based on scholarly interpretation of glyphs on Mayan monuments. 2 It is thought that the occurrence of certain repetitive glyphs within an area signify the rise of a local dynasty or kingdom. Based on the number of archeologically verified houses, the Mayan population is estimated to have exponentially increased to its peak of approximately 13 million in around 750CE3, accompanied by a similar increase in the number and size of monuments and buildings.After this point these numbers decline unt il around 900 CE, which is said to mark the collapse of the Classic Mayan civilization in general. Among Mayan cities of the Classic period, however, some were noted to have peaked and collapsed as early as 600 CE, while others persisted much longer, such as Chichen Itza (around 1250 CE). 4The end of the Classic Maya period was not the end of Mayan civilization itself, because Spanish explorers such as Cortes encountered Mayan resistance as they established their presence in the area. While diseases introduced by the Spanish occupation eventually brought the survivors’ numbers down to an estimated 3,000 in 1714 CE5, the Spanish occupation itself was not a significant factor in the decline of a civilization which had already reached its zenith and collapsed centuries before.Although the Spaniards’ religious fervor drove them to destroy several of the Mayan manuscripts out of fear of paganism, the surviving written records have enabled archeologists to understand much ab out the Mayan writing system, and the explorers’ own documentation of the Maya have proved helpful to scholars6. Modern scientific methods have enabled us to understand a great deal about the factors that may have undermined such an advanced society and brought about its downfall.Located at latitudes of 17o to 22o north of the equator, rainfall in the land of the ancient Maya is seasonal and unpredictable, and hence in reality, the habitat of the Mayan civilization can be most accurately described as a seasonal rainforest or desert7. Rainfall varies with location, from 500 mm a year along the north coast, to 4,000 mm a year in some southern areas8. Due to the unpredictable timing and amount of rain in any given season, even modern farmers have frequently encountered difficulties in growing crops.The Maya obviously succeeded in their agricultural efforts for a long time, and cities such as Tikal even show evidence of the construction of cisterns and reservoirs to store water i n times of drought9. However, considering the high population density of Classic Mayan cities at their peak, even with their successful agriculture and ability to store water reserves in times of drought, the Maya would still have been vulnerable to severe, prolonged drought – perhaps enough to send them into collapse.To find records of what the climate in the Mayan homeland was like at that time, geologists from the University of Florida gathered sediment cores from several lakes in the Yucatan area and analyzed the patterns of deposition, which indicate that the driest interval in the region in the past 7,000 years had coincided with the collapse of the Classic Maya civilization, between 800-1000 CE. A further study by Larry Peterson and Gerald Haug used x-ray fluorescence to analyze oceanic sediment cores.Titanium and iron deposits in the sediment were used as indicators of rainfall, because these elements originate predominantly from continental rocks and thus a high amou nt of titanium and iron deposits would reflect on a high volume of rainfall on land in that year. The results corroborated the previous study that had been made using freshwater sediments, indicating an unusually long and severe drought during the period of Classic Maya collapse10. Despite this evidence, the drought theory behind the collapse of Classic Mayan civilization remains far from providing a complete and thoroughly satisfactory explanation.It fails to account for the previously mentioned differences in the dates of collapse of cities that lay within the same region and presumably suffered from the same drought. It has been suggested that the first cities to fall to the drought were more vulnerable by virtue of location, being less proximate to natural bodies of water, such as springs and rivers. This could then lead to warfare between cities due to competition for scant resources, and since the Mayan cities never were united into a single empire, it is likely that such warf are may have greatly destabilized Mayan society.As with other cases of collapsed societies throughout history, it is likely that multiple causes, of which drought was the most significant but by no means the only one, contrived to bring about the fall of the advanced Mayan society. Another society that was founded, peaked, and collapsed close to our modern day home would be the Anasazi of Chaco Canyon. This society had collapsed well before the arrival of Columbus, but unlike the Maya, left behind no written records. What is known about the Anasazi comes from using a combination of scientific methods to analyze what remains of their society.The Native Americans who first settled the U. S. Southwest faced a problem that is still obvious today. This region has very low and unpredictable rainfall. Drought is often cited as the obvious major reason for Anasazi society’s collapse, but recent studies indicate that the Anasazi sites themselves may still have been able to sustain a p opulation at the time of their abandonment. 11 In the study of the decline and collapse of Anasazi society, archeologists have relied heavily on a few methods of analysis.One lies in the field of dendrochronology and is particularly useful since the Anasazi, particularly at Chaco Canyon, made heavy use of timber for their construction. Using the thickness of individual tree rings from a particular piece of timber, dendrochronologists are able match patterns in the rings of different trees from the same region. By comparing several different trees in this manner, dendrochronologists are able to correctly associate each ring with a specific year, starting from trees in the present day and dating back for thousands of years.Dendrochronological studies thus present highly detailed information regarding the weather patterns of the U. S. Southwest and can indicate not only years of high rainfall or drought, but also the amount of rainfall and the season within a particular year during whi ch the rain fell12. Scientists have also analyzed the contents of pack rat middens to gain insight into the local vegetation. Pack rats (Neotoma spp. ) are rodents that have lived in the area for thousands of years, and gather vegetation and other organic material from within their small territorial range, preserving it in their nests, called ‘middens’.Pack rat midden analysis has allowed scientists to determine that the initial area around Chaco Canyon was forested with pinyon and juniper trees which no longer grow today in the vicinity, and led to the conclusion that the Anasazi of Chaco Canyon had deforested their surrounding woodland for firewood to fuel their pottery making, and for construction material as Chaco became an effective political and religious center for the Anasazi society. 3 Furthermore, studies of strontium isotopes in other types of wood used at Chaco indicate that several conifer logs had actually been imported from more distant areas such as the Chuska and San Mateo mountains, presumably after Chaco itself had been deforested. 14 It is believed that this deforestation led to irreversible nutrient loss in the soil of the Chaco area, which is further strengthened by studies of food remains at archeological sites.These remains indicate that as the food supply in Chaco deteriorated, its inhabitants resorted to eating rabbits and mice, and eventually cannibalism, as evidenced by boiled human bones with smooth ends and human muscle protein found in preserved dried human feces. 15 It is probable that cannibalism came with social unrest, possibly a revolt by the providers of Chaco Canyon against the elite, and that together with these factors, a drought (dated by tree rings to around 1130 CE) pushed Anasazi society at Chaco past its limits.Numbering at possibly 5,000 or more at their peak, the Chaco Anasazi had already exhausted and deforested their environment, and likely fought amongst themselves for the remaining resources. The final example I choose to discuss is the collapse of the Norse settlement of Greenland. Greenland is a harsh and fragile environment, but at the time of the Norse occupation around 980 CE, it was experiencing a relatively warm period that lasted from 800 – 1300 CE, ending with the start of the Little Ice Age.Information about Greenland’s climate is derived from palynological studies, wherein scientists analyze pollen found in mud deposits extracted from the bottom of lakes and bogs, and ice core studies. Pollen studies reveal what sort of plants were growing in the area, and can reveal subtle shifts in climate when pollen from cold-tolerant species is prevalent.Similar to dendrochronology, ice core studies reveal the amount of snowfall within a year, and by using a mass spectrometer it is possible to analyze the content of oxygen isotopes within a layer of snow, with the ratios of these isotopes indicating the average climate during that year. Ice cores can also reveal how stormy the year was in which the snow fell by analyzing concentrations of sodium and calcium ions, which are brought inland by sea spray. 16 By 1000 CE the Norse had settled Greenland in two different areas with a total population of around 5,000.They relied on hay farming to feed their livestock, which consisted of goats, sheep, and cows, but due to the length and severity of their winters, they were forced to estimate how many animals they could support with their stockpiled hay, and slaughter the remainder. If the winter lasted longer than expected, the consequences could obviously lead to the starvation and death of the few remaining livestock. Their pastoral lifestyle, use of turf for buildings, and need for firewood demanded the clearing of native vegetation, and livestock trampling hampered the regeneration of trees.Palynological studies support the conclusion that the Norse had deforested the environment and caused soil erosion, with the decline of pollen from willow an d birch trees as well as the presence of topsoil at the bottom of lakes indicating the loss of plant cover and soil. The loss of abundant lumber resulted in the halting of construction involving wood, and the lack of firewood limited the Norse in their efforts to pasteurize dairy products and extract iron for their implements.Unlike the Norse, the Inuit who settled Greenland in about 1200 CE managed to exploit the resources of the sea with their kayaks, hunting plentiful fish (which the Norse oddly refused to eat, as evidenced by the complete lack of fish remains in garbage) and whales, whose blubber could be used for fuel and warmth. Possible hostile contact between the Norse and Inuit may also have led to the decline of Norse society on Greenland, because it prevented the Norse from peacefully interacting with their neighbors and learning from them how to adapt to the extreme conditions.Another factor that weakened the Norse settlement was the increasing difficulty of transportati on, and hence trade and communication, across the sea with mainland Norway, as the cold weather brought by the Little Ice Age set in and ice began to make seafaring dangerous. 17 Summarized concisely in the words of Jared Diamond, the Norse settlement of Greenland collapsed due to â€Å"environmental damage, climate change, loss of friendly contacts with Norway, rise of hostile contacts with the Inuit, and the political, economic, social, and cultural setting of the Greenland Norse. †18