Problem Solution Paper Essay Example for Free

Problem Solution Paper Essay After assessing my LASSI test scores, I’ve learned that I need some improvement in my study habits. To name a few, some of my strengths are concentration, motivation, and selecting main ideas, however, my weak areas such as information processing, study aids, and time management all were right on target. I’ve always had problems with studying something that I did not understand, therefore it would frustrate me and I would not spend much time on it. I am currently struggling with this problem in my English 111 class because it is hard to process what I am reading in the textbook. In addition to that I am a full time general manager at a restaurant and it is very demanding, working long hours and then trying to come home and study, I am forced to cram my school work in on my off days because I am very tired. I really feel that if I do not come up with better time management skills and stop cramming my work that my short-term problem academically will be that I turn in below average assignments or not even meet deadlines. My long-term problem will be that I fail my class and lose my financial aid, so I will definitely put more effort into a solution. My problem is time-management and the three solutions that I have researched and think would be a good fit for me are 1. Blocks of study times and breaks. [www.studygs.net/timman.htm-time management] The advantage of this solution is that I would have time set aside to study with the option to take a break so I want get to tired. The disadvantage of this is I might take a break and never come back to it because of other distractions such as tv, cellphone, fatigue, etc. Secondly, review planner weekly. [www.studygs.net/timman.htm-time management] I would be able to review planner and know when test and deadlines are do for papers. The disadvantage would be, if I’m not consistent with logging things in the planner I could forget about something. Lastly, the third solution would be to stay healthy, schedule rest.  The advantage of this would be that I would be well rested and rejuvenated to tackle my scheduled task, and disadvantage would be that I get home at 5pm sometimes and if I take a nap I will not be able to recover from that. I feel that the best solution would be to set aside time to study and take breaks if needed and I will use this strategy with my English 111 class.

Case Study on Adolescent Sexual Abuse Essay Example for Free

Case Study on Adolescent Sexual Abuse Essay Elias is a five year old Mexican American male who has recently been referred to the community counseling center due to the exposure of sexual abuse by his stepfather. Elias was a client of this community center approximately 18 months earlier. Elias had been referred for poor impulse control and hyperactivity. At that time he was diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He also met with the agency psychiatrist who had prescribed Elias Focalin. His cased was closed after only a few sessions due to the family’s inconsistency and withdrawal from services. At this point in time Elias has been attending his sessions with his mother and baby brother. Stepfather’s whereabouts are unknown and he has not had any contact with the family since the abuse was exposed. Elias has returned to taking Focalin, since he failed to continue taking his medication after withdrawing from services. However, there have been no changes noted in his behavior since he has begun to take the medication. The psychiatrist believes that this may be due to the low dosage he has prescribed Elias and because of such, the psychiatrist has opted to slowly increase the dosage and closely monitor any changes. The clinician notes that Elias is extremely hyperactive and exhibits minimal impulse control. Other than his high levels of restlessness, Elias shows no observable signs or symptoms of reaction to the sexual abuse. When clinician has attempted to process with Elias about the abuse or his feelings about the abuse, Elias has changed the subject or ignored the clinician all together. Mother states that she has noticed no changes in his behavior since the abuse was discovered. Practice Effectiveness Questions  The special population in discussion is children, the social problems in focus are sexual abuse and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which leads the target client group to be children who have experienced sexual abuse and have been diagnosed with ADHD. Our client is Elias who is a child, who has experienced sexual abuse and is diagnosed with ADHD. For the purposes of this discussion our practice effectiveness questions are: 1) What are effective interventions for children who have been sexually abused? and 2) What are effective interventions for children who have been diagnosed with ADHD? Search Description Procedures The databases utilized for this search were: Google Scholar, Social Work Abstracts, Child Welfare Information Gateway, Academic Search Complete, Professional Development Collection, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, SocINDEX with Full Text Sociological Collection, Academic Search Premier, and JSTOR. It was also helpful to review the journal entitled Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment for relevant articles. While searching the aforementioned databases, the following keywords were utilized: ‘sexual abuse and ADHD’, ‘sexual abuse and interventions’, sexual abuse and co-morbidity’, ‘ADHD and co-morbidity’, ‘children and sexual abuse’, ‘sexual abuse and interventions. ’ All articles selected were peer reviewed, found in scholarly journals, and published within the last ten years. In searching for relevant articles regarding treatment of sexual abuse, most articles addressed interventions designed to treat perpetrators of child sexual abuse; a few articles were uncovered that discussed treating adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Fewer still were articles that identified interventions for children who are recent or current victims of sexual abuse. In order to find information relevant to our target client group, we began pulling sources from reference pages of relevant articles which provided more focused research relevant to treatment of children who have experienced sexual abuse. Results The result of our exhaustive search of available literature led us to identify eight articles to focus on. Out of these articles, four dealt specifically with children who have experienced sexual abuse, two focused on abuse of children which included physical abuse along with sexual abuse, two were focused primarily on ADHD, four focused on co-morbidity of either post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or ADHD and sexual abuse, and four specifically discussed treatments and interventions. Half of the selected articles were literature reviews while the remaining four were reporting from the standpoint of a primary source on research studies of treatments and interventions. The research studies varied in their sampling and control or comparison groups; only two studies were able to utilize a true experimental design with random assignment of study participants to control and experimental groups. The literature reviews provided an extensive overview of relevant studies and interventions from a secondary source standpoint. The eight identified sources provided an assortment of research-based perspectives as well as a sampling of evidence based on authority by those who reviewed the literature and discussed their findings in literature reviews. Research Findings Description of Articles In the article Sexually Abused Children Suffering from PTSD: Assessment and Treatment Strategies by David Heyne, Neville J. King, Paul Mullen, Nicole Myerson, Thomas H. Ollendick, Stephanie Rollings, and Bruce T. Tonge states that sexual abuse of children is a major societal problem because of its high prevalence and devastating impact on the victimized child. Children who have been sexually abused often demonstrate anxiety, depressive moods, improper sexual behaviors, nightmares, social withdrawal, sleep difficulties, anger, shame/guilt and school problems. The authors did diagnostic interviewing with their participants. The authors interviewed thirty six children and sixty nine percent were primarily diagnosed with PTSD. Within the thirty six children four of the children with full PTSD had no other diagnoses. Nine had one co morbid diagnoses, ten had two co morbid diagnoses, and two had three co morbid diagnoses. PTSD is not always prevalent and at times other emotional and behavioral problems are prevalent. In fact, many studies confirm that on clinical evaluation a large proportion of sexually abused children meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD (Heyne, at el. , 2003). This particular article showed that often there are other diagnoses that go along with PTSD but in an article by Peggy T. Ackerman, Roscoe A. Dykman, Jerry G. Jones, W. Brian McPherson, and Joseph E. O. Newton, did research on groups that have been affected sexual, physically abused, or both. The article Prevalence of PTSD and Other Psychiatric Diagnosis in Three Groups of Abused Children (Sexual, Physical, and Both) was a study done with children that are sexually and or physically abused. Fortunately, many children who are victims of horrifying events do not develop PTSD or other psychiatric disorders (Ackerman at el. 1998). Very little is known as to why some victimized children do and others do not develop psychiatric disorders. Even such basic variables as gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, intelligence, and age at time of trauma, have been inadequately studied. They were in a large children’s hospital in which sexual and or physically abused children were referred. The groups were divided into three, sexually and physically abused and both. Through the finding there were more boys who were physically abused and girls who were sexually abused. Anxiety and behavior disorders were more frequent than mood disorders. In concordance with clinical observation, abused boys, regardless of type abuse, had higher rates of behavioral disorders and abused girls had higher rates of two internalizing disorders: separation anxiety (caregiver reports) and phobic disorder (child report) (Ackerman at el. , 1998). Studies show most clearly that children who have been jointly physically and sexually abused are at greatest risk for psychiatric disturbance. There are many different treatment interventions one can go through to minimize PTSD and attention deficient disorders. Maryka Biaggio, Darlene Staffelbach, Dan Weinstein wrote the article ADHD and PTSD: Differential Diagnosis in Childhood Sexual Abuse which shows different interventions used for victimized children. Treatment interventions for ADHD children predominantly consist of behavior management, social skills training, and stimulant or other medication. Treatment interventions for children with PTSD generally consist of management and alleviation of emotional distress using play, psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral therapy modalities (Biaggio at el. 2000). Relaxation techniques and hypnosis have also been effective in treatment of PTSD in children. Misdiagnosis may lead clinicians to use inappropriate interventions for PTSD. Side effects experienced by ADHD children on stimulant medication may include difficulty falling asleep, lack of appetite, irritability, headaches, stomachaches, nausea, dizziness, tachycardia, muscle tics or twitches, slowed physical growth, and skin rashes (Biaggio at el. , 2000). Another undesired onsequence of ADHD misdiagnosis in SAC (sexual abused children) is the failure to address and treat the trauma symptoms of children who actually have PTSD. Given the risk of wrongly prescribing, untreated trauma, and negative impact on self-esteem for children misdiagnosed with ADHD, it is unfortunate little attention has been given to this issue (Biaggio at el. , 2000). Increased attention to clinical decision-making in the differential diagnosis of ADHD and PTSD may lead to more appropriate, beneficial, and timely interventions. Darcie) Allison M. Briscoe-Smith and Stephen P. Henshaw’s article entitled: Linkages between child abuse and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in girls: Behavioral and social correlates, was an excellent source to explore the relationship of sexual abuse and ADHD and begin to discuss the co-morbidity of these events for children. The article described a research study carried out with a sample of 228 females at a summer camp for girls with ADHD over a three year span. Each year cohort groups were created to identify the prevalence of abuse among girls diagnosed with ADHD and those who had not received a diagnosis of ADHD. Out of the twenty-four identified cases of abuse histories, twenty of these girls were diagnosed with ADHD, and of those abuse histories ten were sexual in nature which is much higher than any other form of maltreatment documented by the researchers. All girls who had abuse histories had a co-morbid diagnosis of Oppositional Defiance Disorder. The study found that girls with both ADHD and abuse histories were more likely to display externalizing behaviors and be negatively received by their peers. The study also analyzed the relationship between the prevalence of an abuse history and the rejection from peers and found aggression to partially mediate that relationship. The authors concluded that girls with ADHD were at increased risk of having abuse histories and questioned the accurate diagnosis of ADHD. It was suggested that the girls who had histories of abuse may more accurately be diagnosed with PTSD and/or share a co-morbid diagnosis with PTSD. Judith A. Cohen and Anthony P. Mannarino conducted a research study comparing two interventions to treat children who have been sexually abused; their findings were published in the article entitled: Interventions for Sexually Abused Children: Initial Treatment Outcome Findings. This article was one of few that specifically addressed interventions for children with the focus being treatment of sexual abuse. The sample consisted of 49 children between the ages of 7 and 14 who were randomly assigned to either sexual abuse specific cognitive behavioral therapy (SAS-CBT) or nondirective supportive therapy (NST) for a twelve week duration. The study found that children in the SAS-CBT group improved significantly in social competence and in the reduction of feelings of depression. Also, substantially higher percentages of children involved in SAS-CBT experienced what is considered clinically significant improvements. In regards to deterioration while in therapy, higher rates were found in children who received NST. For the safety of the other children in the groups, children who were consistently displaying repetitive extreme sexually inappropriate behaviors were removed from treatment groups; seven NST participants were removed from the study as compared to two children participating in SAS-CBT. Parental satisfaction with treatment was high in both treatment groups which either treatment modality. The clinical impressions of the authors conclude that sexual abuse specific cognitive behavioral therapy is superior to nondirective supportive therapy in the reduction of depressive symptoms. SAS-CBT was also favored due to the benefit of including parents in treatment (NST did not formally include parents). The authors also concluded that there is value and importance in providing a directive therapy technique in dealing with the effects of trauma caused by sexual abuse. Assessment of Evidence Implications of Evidence Interventions for sexual abused victim’s trauma may include based cognitive behavioral therapy, play therapy, parental involvement- parent training, behavioral therapy, coping skills training, psycho-education, and prevention awareness. PTSD interventions may include trauma based cognitive behavioral therapy, and play therapy. Attention deficit disorder can also be treated with behavioral management techniques, medication, social skills training, play therapy, parent training, behavioral classroom interventions and summer treatment programs. Many sexually abused children have other diagnosis along with PTSD and several possible co-morbid diagnosis are more than likely behavioral, but often can be confused with PTSD. When looking at interventions and treatments clinicians need to look at the client’s cultural background so that way we do not intrude on their lives.

Malaria: Causes, Effects and Cures

Malaria: Causes, Effects and Cures Solving a Biological Problem Summary The chapter is about the methodology that is involved in exploring some understanding toward solving a biological problem while doing research in quest. With citation of example of malaria as a problem along with historical stage involved towards gradual understanding related to its causes leading to the findings to its cure and preventions, an attempt was made to present the approach that has been involved in addressing the scientific issues in past. A practical approach that is possible to conduct practically at school level to get the students introduced with research at elementary level and built up some interest in students has been presented in the following chapter. Mathematical and statistical tools that are needed in research have been introduced to analyze the data obtained by using research methodology (hypothetical) to arrive on conclusions about certain aspects of the issues related to malaria to accept, discard or modify the hypothesis on a scientific query. Introduction The human being started putting efforts to explore the world around him right from very beginning. The history is full of examples that show that early human being somehow recorded their opinion about different thing. With passage of time, human beings learnt to evaluate the correctness of their thoughts and opinion on any scientific issue, by setting some experiments, drawing conclusion (hypothesis) based on results, verification of hypothesis by other experiments and reporting it. Research methodology is latest approach involving these procedures to address a scientific problem. Steps involved in Biological Research Procedure Identification of a problem Sufferings of mankind that includes diseases, scarcity of food shelter, utilities etc or related matters are the existing problems from biological origin. To initiate research in an area a problem in a particular area is identified. There can be a wide range of problems e.g. an approach to find a cure for newly emerging disease, find a more effective drug for a curable disease, increase the shelf life of a product etc. Generation of hypothesis Available understanding on an issue that is published in scientific journals is used to draw logical opinion, hypothesis, underlying the biological processes and indicate possibilities that can lead to the management of the problem. There are often more than one hypothesis available for a given scientific query. Usually one hypothesis is being testified by given experiments. (a) Shelf life of chadder cheese increases with increase in number of yeast cells present into it. (b) Quality of spinach deteriorates with increase in rate of transpiration. (c) The rate of decrease in microbial population in a food sample in response of heat treatment at 600C is inversely proportional to its total organic content. Laboratory safety Procedures Every type of biological experimentation should comply with necessary safety procedures that ensures the safety of professionals involved in conducting the experiments and other people. That includes use of special clothing e.g. coats, gloves head cover spectacles etc. All the biological material is carried or grown in specially designed containers that ensure no risk for leakage that can be hazards for other people who can come in contact. All the biological material is heated at 121oC under pressure at 15 psi to kill all type of cells before discarding it whereas chemical agents are discarded as mentioned in safety manuals. Experiment Design Experimentation is a practical approach for investigation a scientific query leading to generation of observations called data. A same question can be investigated by using different experimental approaches. The selection of an experimental design mainly depends upon time required, extent of precision, availability of resources etc. Each experiment design has got some limitations and it is important to ensure that the selected experiment design can optimize for investigating the required scientific query. Each experiment is design by usually changing a variable. In order to test a given hypothesis, experiments are set, usually in triplicate and experiments are repeated at least three times to ensure reproducibility of the data. To avoid adding error in the data it is important to set negative and positive control for a given experiment. Positive control has an ingredient instead of ingredient to be test that should positive result when is added in the reagents and processed as per standard method of experiment in given conditions. On other hand Negative control is set same as positive control but has water or other solvent added instead of reagent to be tested. It is very important that selection of sample that is used in the experiment should be random. It is important to ensure that all the experiments should be done at the same conditions. All those factors that can contribute to add errors should be taken care of. Data Collection and analysis Observations can be collected after completion of experiments or while they are in progress depending on nature of experiments. The data is not always a integral values but can be visual observations that can be recorded by photography. The data is usually recorded with appropriate units in tabular form. This is known as raw data. Every data has some error added into it. Mathematic and statistics an integral part of Biological Analysis The observations that are collected as numerical value after experiments comprise raw data. Mathematical or statistical methods are used to minimize the effect of errors present into it the raw data. The most widely and commonly statistical method that is used to decrease error in data is finding an average in any given readings. Beside that mathematical or statistical tools are used to deduce a logical ground based on numerical value to support, modify or discard any scientific opinion (hypothesis) that is built up on earlier reported scientific findings Use of ratio proportion and percentage Data is analyzed by using mathematical or statistical tools, most commonly that are used include ratio and percentage, for finding an effect of changing a variable on other parameters in a given set of condition. If a numerical variable ‘a’ represents intensity of a biological event that needs to be compared with intensity of another similar event represented by numerical variable ‘b’ then ratios are taken out Ratio between intensity of two biological events = a (equation 1) b In order to represent this comparison on scale of 100, percentage of ratio between variables are taken out The general formula for percentage is given as below %= Ratio between two numerical variable x100(equation 2) Substitute equation 1 in general formula of percentage as shown by equation 2 Percent % (ratio between intensity of two biological events) ={ a }x 100 (eq 3) b Usually biological data can comprise of in a range of very small value to very large and hence it is important to convert it on Log10. The general formula for expressing any numerical variable is shown by equation 4 as follow Number(N) on Log 10 scale= Log10(N) (equation 4) Substitute equation 3 into equation 4 Log 10(ratio between intensity of two biological events) =Log10 { a x 100}(eq 5) b Technical limitation associated with use of Log10 scale While expressing any data on Log10 the difficulty arises when it is needed to express integral 0 on Log10 scale (Log10(0)=infinity). In order to cope with this difficulty 1 or any fraction of number that falls within permissible limit of error (10 scale. In later stages the data can easily be plotted on any type of graphs as discussed in later part of this chapter. Significance of error in decision making and predictions on biological data Every data collected has certain extent of error present into it depending upon experimentation design, procedures and method of taking observations. This error needs to be evaluated before using the data for testing any hypothesis, decision making or predictions. It is defined as tentative variation on negative and positive scale in a set of observations from actual value. The actual numerical value of a biological effect is (B). An experiment was done to note this biological effect. The experiment was repeated N times e.g. (N1 N2 N3 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Nt) to showing observations B as (B1 B2 B3†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Bt) respectively. The first stage in calculation the error is to find an average The general formula for Average is Average = sum of numerical values of individual observation eq 6 Number of times the observation was taken Substitute the values in equation 6 Average ={B1+ B2+†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Bt} eq 7 {Nt} Sum of values of observations ={B1+ B2+†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Bt}is shown by S{B} No of times the experiment was repeated {Nt} ={N} Substitute the value in equations in equation 7 Average= S{B} equation 8 {N} Lets value of Average be represented by X Substitute in equation 7 Average = X Second stage is to find the difference between each numerical value of observation and Average = B1-X, B2-XBt-X, Third stage is to square each of the difference =B1-X)2,(B2-X)2, (B3-X)2(Bt-X)2 Fourth stage is to add the square of differences =(B1-X)2+(B2-X)2+(Bt-X)2 Fifth stage is to divide square sum of difference of average of individual numerical variable with number of observations e.g N =S(B1-X)2,( B2-X)2,†¦..(Bt-X)2 N Standard deviation or Error is obtained by taking square root of the quotient obtained by dividing the square sum of difference between the average and the individual numerical variable with number of observations. =√S(B1-X)2,( B2-X)2,†¦..(Bt-X)2 N It is an integral value that is expressed, as on negative as well as positive scale e.g if error calculated is 3 then it would be +3 as well as –3. It represents a range within which actual value may lie. In olden days, such calculations were done with the help of calculator but now same work can be done more easily by using different software e.g. excel with computer as a tool. It is often very different to understand the effect underlying in any biological data by merely looking at numerical values. The different types of graphs are used for visual presentation of effect by trends available in data The most commonly types of graphs that are used for the presentation of data are given in figure 2.The same data for different sample e.g. A, B, C is presented on percentage scale by using horizontal and vertical bars whereas error is shown by error bars .Another set of data for sample D, E, F was presented by line graph. Data analysis to decide the status of hypothesis After the mathematical and statistical treatment of raw data a logical ground built up by comparing certain numerical values or more often represented on graphs to accept, modify or reject any hypothesis. In order to test the hypothesis â€Å"The rate of decrease in microbial population in a food sample in response of heat treatment at 600C is inversely proportional to its total organic, 100 cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were inoculated in same volume in mediums with concentration as X, 3X and 70X respectively to make final concentration of each medium as 100 cells/ml.(Sample D contains 3X concentration medium, Sample E contains X concentration and Sample F contains 70X concentration). The medium were kept at 600C for 1104hours and cells were assayed for viability after 10 hrs, 100, hours, 1000hrs and 10000 hrs respectively. The viability being dependent value was plotted on a graph Y axis against the time in hours after expressing the value on Log 10 scale. Different data points taken on the graph are sufficiently scattered and can not be joined by a straight line accommodating all the point on it. The trend line can be drawn manually by accommodating maximum number of points and leaving as many point above the line as many are there below that line. Such a manually drawn line can not be used for any type of scientific predictions. Otherwise highly precise trend line for a given data can be drawn as explained in section given in the end of the chapter that can be used for making decisions on a given hypothesis and for making predictions. The error bars extending on positive as well as negative scale in same magnitude of Y scale is plotted against each observation. The observation that were taken in this experiment are shown as graphs in Figure 2 e.g. Sample D, E and F were presented by using line graphs on Log 10 scale. The trend lines are introduced to show the type of dependency of one parameter on another. As already discussed earlier the biological data is often presented on Log 10 scale to observe the effects in broader prospective and ignore the slight changes especially when study is made on larger populations of samples e.g. cells with a wide range of variations. The data show that sample D and E has got similar trend (with an increase in variable on X axis, there is a decrease on Y axis variable, Y axis is dependent on x axis and is inversely proportional to it) whereas in sample F, Y variable is independent of X variable as no change in Y variable is observed with an increase in X variable and this is evident by a straight trend line. The conclusion drawn as evident by three graphs that number of viable yeast cells were found to decrease with passage of time when concentration of organic content in medium was X in sample E or 3X in sample D that is represented by a slopes in respective graphs. But this effect was found to be lost when organic concentration was raised to 70X in sample F and that is. This experiment supports the hypothesis â€Å" The rate of decrease in microbial population in a food sample in response of heat treatment at 600C is inversely proportional to its total organic content†. If reported literature indicate some other type of experiments done to check the same hypothesis then results are compared and reason of the variations if there are any are discussed with scientific reference and is reported in a scientific journal. Research Methodology Theory accepted Modification in hypothesis Publication in scientific Journals Discarding above hypothesis Supporting above hypothesis Results interpretation Different Hypotheses Data analysis Data collection Experimental design for a given hypothesis Literature reported in related area Identification of Biological Problem Interpretation of data The data that is obtained is interpreted to draw scientific conclusions. The reported literature is used to give explanation of the conclusion drawn. In the light of conclusion drawn either the hypothesis is accepted, rejected or is modified. If the hypothesis is proven correct with experiments, then it is known as a theory. Scientific articles based on proven hypothesis e.g. theory, disapproved or modified hypothesis are written by scientist involved in research and are sent for publication in scientific journals. Biological Problem as an example A school teacher planned an excursion for students and took paramedic staff equipped with sample collection facility to country side area to study the prevalence of any non contiguous disease in human beings and animals. Malaria is an example of non contiguous disease that is spread only by infected female mosquito is malaria and is a matter of great concern. As reported in newspapers and other literature there was a population of 100,000 people living with minimal facilities of life that on a huge natural water reservoir for drinking water. Recent heavy rain resulted in collection of water of stagnant water and much of this water in later stage drained in reservoir. The students prepared a report explaining how did they use biological methodology to study this case. a) Identification of problem Prevalence of certain incidences of disease symptoms similar to malaria in a given locality was identified as a biological problem. Students wrote the following note after referring the literature about malaria to get basic information about disease. Please refer the picture given below and the literature cited in later part of this chapter. From Mala aria ( bad air) to Malaria-over a period of time Malaria has been a matter of concerns since very beginning. Understanding about malaria has changed over a period of time. Initially it was considered to be caused by some supernatural power. Supported with the findings of higher incidences near the marshy area, malaria was thought to be caused by bad air that is found near marshy areas. With the emergence of germ theory malaria by Louis Pasteur (1852-1895) was thought to be caused by any bacteria. It is strongly believed until Charles Louis Alphonse Laveron (1845-1922) during microscopy of Blood from infected patients observed causative agent of malaria in 1880 and later on reported it to Academy of Medicine in Paris. Albert Freeman Africanus King (1841-1940) who was associated with George Washington University on basis of supporting reports presented the idea that mosquitoes are the mean of transmission of malaria (vector) and discarded the opinion that bad air in marshy area has any role in causing malaria. On basis of his data he suggested that proper netting can help to control the incidences of malaria in Washington. Ronald Ross (1857-1932) was a physician, who studied the life cycle of malarial parasite in mosquites e.g (different stages of parasite infection with a change in morphology) and its transfer to human beings and birds. In 1898 Giovanni Battista Grassi (1854-1925) on basis of understanding about malaria obtained by published literature set an experiment to infect a person who never had malaria (with his permission) in an area of Rome where there was not any case of malaria reported and mosquitoes were not found by exposing the person with Anopheles clavigar for ten night and later on patient developed the symptoms. On basis of his experiment he proved that malaria is spread by mosquitoes in human beings that carries the causative agent Plasmodium. The complete cycle of P. falciparum was observed by Grassi Bignami and Bastianelli in 1899 and the work has been published by Grassi in 1900. The life cycle of Plasmodium has three reproduction stages with different morphologies (shapes). The mosquitoes inject sporozoites in human being s skin that through blood goes to liver where they multiply and change into Merozoites.The second cycle of multiplication does into RBC. Some of the meroziotes after passing through reproductive cycle in RBC converts into gametocytes (male and female gemates) and enters in gut of mosquitoes when they suck blood from an infected human being where they undergo sexual reproduction to zygote which later on converts Oocyst. Oocyste after under going asexual reproduction burst to release newly formed sporozoites that enters in salivary gland of mosquitoes At the site students made a survey of that area and noted the initial observation with the help of photography. They found that not only human being but also the birds are affected by the disease Initial Findings They found that the reservoir (a) was associated with dark places where high populations of mosquitoes can be seen (b).Beside that a few sick birds were also found resting on ground. Diseased patients report to an increase in high fever with shivering that stays for some times and then fever become low or even normal with sweating or even without it. These symptoms are repeated with intervals and patient feels weakness. Initial findings support that the disease is malaria. b) On the basis of their initial findings the following hypothesis was built up. The disease may be Malaria and is caused by Plasmodium Experimentation Plasmodium infect the red blood cells. In order to established that diseased people are suffering from malaria at least 63 patients having disease were bled to collect blood samples. This type of sample that is under study is called as test sample. Blood were taken from at least 50 healthy who do not have any symptoms of disease. Since these people do not have any symptoms of disease it is very likely that Plasmodium may never be detected in their blood. Such a sample that is known to give a negative test is a called a negative control The blood and water samples were collected in collection tubes specially designed for this purpose. The fixed slides of infected Red Blood Cell (RBC) were purchased from the market and was taken as positive control. (a)The sample was not only collected from human beings but also from the diseased animals as well. That the blood of each sample was spread on a glass slide, fixed and stained with Giemsia and was observed under microscope. (b)Beside that the blood samples from infected people were inoculated (added) in RPMI-1640 medium (name of medium used for the growth of Plasmodium that also contain RBC) present in bottle and were incubated to grow causative agent of the disease under laboratory conditions. The sample from these bottles were observed under microscope for presence of Plasmodium after 72 hours of incubation. Furthermore, the surface water from stagnant regions of reservoir was collected in a container and was assayed for presence of larvae of mosquitoes with help of magnifying glass. Laboratory Safety Procedure All the containers having biological material was heated at 1210 C at 15 psi for 15 minutes to kill every type of living cells before discarding them. The chemical agents were discarded as described in their respective safety manuals Result Microscopy results show that the Red Blood Cell of diseased people were found to be infected with Plasmodium. The causative agent of the disease was successfully found to grow in the medium that supports the growth of Plasmodium (Figure 3) and that was confirmed by microscopy e.g Plasmodium were found in the sample from medium under microscope and slides observed were found similar as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 Plasmodium Figure 7 The blood sample after mixing with other reagent (as shown with white arrow indicating towards a tube) is then inoculated into the bottle ( as shown in picture) ( source Nature Protocols courtesy to Nature Publishing Group) The surface water samples that was taken from the stagnant water collected near water reservoir were found of have mosquitoes larvae in large number as is shown in Figure 4. Conclusion The results that includes, presence of large number of mosquitoes larvae near the site of outbreak, Plasmodium was found in the infected blood of diseased people, that was successfully grown in the medium and conditions specific confirm that the outbreak is of malaria that was caused by Plasmodium. Skill development to solve a Biological Problem Report A report comprising the incidences of malaria during the years 2002, 2003 and 2004, in three different cities was published in a newspaper. The patient were treated by using drug A and attempt to kill mosquitoes were made by spraying B into environment and adding in water collection. Out of these report related to three cities is given below. In Karachi 530 malarial cases were reported in year of 2002, 534760 in 2003 and 12345668 in 2004 respectively. The mortality reported in these years were 98 in 2002, 120001 in 2003 and 5408889 in 2004.The rain fall recorded in Karachi for year 2002 is 50mm, 2003 is 100 mm and 10,000 mm in 2004.The drug resistance was found in 12 cases in 2002, 60009 cases in 2003 and 9900099 cases in 2004. In 2002, 134 malarial cases were reported in Faisalabad where as in 2003 and 2004 the reported numbers were 1237 and 1379 respectively. The mortality reported in years 2002, 2003 and 2004 were 10, 99, 115 respectively. The annual rainfall reported in these years were 12 mm in 2002, 58 mm in 2003 and 89 mm in 2004.The antimalarial drug resistance was found to be in 2 cases in 2002 , 79 cases in 2003 and 91 cases in 2004. In a similar study that was conducted in Gilgit during these three years, it was found that malaria affected 325 people in 2002, 135 people in 2003 and 350 people in 2004.There were 10 people reported to be died of malarial disease in 2002, 8 people in 2003 and 17 people in 2004. The annual rainfall reported in these years were 130, 120, 105 mm in 2002, 2003 and 2004 respectively. The resistance against anti malarial drug found in 2002, 2003 and 2004 were 9, 4, 9 respectively. Source ( It is an imaginary situation given with data to help student develop research skills) Research Methodology Step 1 Identification of problem from published literature After reading the above mentioned findings, management of heavy occurrence of malarial disease has been identified as a problem. Step 2 literature search for generating the hypothesis taking malaria as a test case Malaria is a very common infectious disease that is commonly associated with poverty. It is caused by protozoan parasites Plasmodium species that is transferred to human being blood circulation system by the vector Anopheles mosquito’s bite(1). Literature show that malarial outbreaks can be related with rainfall in that area (2). Malaria is more common in urban area than in cities. However in Africa it is present in both rural and urban areas (3,4)No literature is available about the relation of malarial incidence with location of the place with height above sea level. The occurrence of malarial outbreak can be related with presence of stagnant water that can support the mosquito survival in populations. Heavy use of anti-malarial drugs and mosquito cidal sprays is reported to produce resistance in the protozoa against commonly used drugs (5). 1) Cox F (2002). History of Human parasitology. Clin Microbiol Rev 15 (4): 595-612. 2) Grover-Kopec E, Kawano M, Klaver R, Blumenthal B, Ceccato P, Connor S. 2005 An online operational rainfall-monitoring resource for epidemic malaria early warning systems in Africa. Malar J 4(1): 6. 3) Van Benthem B, Vanwambeke S, Khantikul N, Burghoorn-Maas C, Panart K, Oskam L, Lambin E, Somboon P 2005.Spatial patterns of and risk factors for seropositivity for dengue infection Am J Trop Med Hyg 72 (2): 201-8. 4) Keiser J, Utzinger J, Caldas de Castro M, Smith T, Tanner M, Singer B 2004. Urbanization in sub-saharan Africa and implication for malaria control. Am J Trop Med Hyg 71 (2 Suppl): 118-27. 5)Rieckmann, K.H.2006 The chequered history of malaria control: are new and better tools the ultimate answer? Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 100(8) 647-662 6) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria (The Scientific literature is presented with citation of references as is shown in above paragraph) Step 3 Deduction of hypothesis with help of published literature After reading the reported literature as mentioned above following hypothesis can be deduced. Incidence of malaria is dependent on amount of rainfall probably through collection of stagnant water Step 4 Experimental design The data for the parameters analyzed was collected by using standard methods e.g. microscopy of infected blood samples at different hospitals and was published in a newspaper as a scientific report. Step 5 Presentation of Raw data The above mentioned data is presented below in tabular form. Karachi Year Malarial cases reported Mortality Rainfall (mm) No of resistant cases to anti-malarial drug A 2002 530 98 50 12 2003 534760 120001 100 60009 2004 12345668 5408889 10000 9900099 Average/year 4293652.667 1842996 3383.33 3320040 Faisalabad Year Malarial cases reported Mort

absolute justice Essay -- essays research papers

Does absolute justice exist or not? This essay will present arguments for the existence of absolute justice. Many people disagree that absolute justice exists. Thus they argue that justice cannot be derived from nature since contradictory and different forms of justice exist in nature; and one cannot derive the greater and perfect from the lesser and imperfect, also they argue that the idea of absolute justice is the ideas of different cultures and times. That is why the idea of justice varies greatly from one culture to the next. The argument used to disprove the above statements will stem from the relationship of order to justice. The next paragraphs will present the arguments above. Culture and philosophy have always gone hand in hand. A person who lived in the Middle Ages thought it to be perfectly just to cut off the hand of a thief. In â€Å"modern times† we consider ourselves more â€Å"civilized†, and put people in jail or fine them for stealing. As time and culture changed, so does philosophy. Thus any person of sense will see that justice cannot be absolute since it changed with the times. Each culture has developed a different idea of perfect justices to meet their own individual needs. Since more then one form of absolute or perfect justice cannot exist, thus absolute justice does not exist. Rather for each individual society justice is like beauty that it is in the eye of the beholder. Here presented the other case against absolute justice. Their arguments made that absol...

Minorities In The Military Essay -- essays research papers

In the year 1965, the United States sent troops to Vietnam to aid the South Vietnamese against the communist Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese. As the fighting increased, the United States was in need of more troops in order to support its commitment to South Vietnam. Therefore, thousands of Selective Service registers were called and drafted. The United States also asked its closes ally the Philippines to help send troops to South Vietnam and in addition this, the United states requested for an increase of recruitment for the United States Navy in the region. Thus, the U.S. enlisted thousands of Philippine natives, including myself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My involvement started in July of 1968, when I was flown to the United States beginning my military training in San Diego. Recalling the eight weeks of hard, intensive training, I still considered myself fortunate to be enlisted in the United States Navy. Although, when I did graduate boot camp, I cherished the prize of rest and recreation for 72 hours. My short-lived vacation began with a group of my fellow Filipino recruits. We decided to catch a bus to downtown San Diego. As we boarded the bus, I stopped in confusion when I noticed a sign with â€Å"Black† written at the back section of the bus. Looking for the driver for direction, I was informed by the driver that was no longer enforced. Even with him saying this, I still sat in the middle row since my skin color fell in between black and white. As we arrived downtown, I experience culture shock. The town was colorful and filled with live entertainment. Although, I did want to spend more time exploring the place, my vacation time was up and I had to go back to the base. As our company gathered for the last day, we waited for our next order of job training. I was wondering why Filipino recruits and few African American were separated. Having the same order to attend SD â€Å"A† school (Steward), we are not aware that our General Classification Test was high enough to be qualified in other ratings. This discrimination was puzzling to me since, the Americans I knew back in the Philippines were good people and America itself is known to be the land of opportunity. Despite this slight discrimination, I had accepted my rate and still considered American as good people of good will. My very first day in steward school was a terrible and memorable one. I wa... ...aturalization Service office told me that I was not qualified for naturalization since my 6 years time in the military was a broken residency. The time, I had accumulated in the service was least than five years in Continental United States. Although I spent six years in the U S Navy, the three six-month tours in Vietnam did not count toward the requirement for naturalization. I signed up again for four year, and waited my time to sworn in for naturalization. I was now an official U.S. citizen gaining all the rights of one. Therefore, I expected my treatment to be equal to those Caucasian decent. As I look back, I still wonder the Navy allowed certain races to be assigned as stewards. Through thinking the Political science class of Professor Robert Bacon, I realized the mistake of our forefathers in writing the constitution in allowing slavery practice. Applying this to the Navy, I also realize how it was allowed that certain races were assigned to be a steward. In conclusion, I am grateful for the individual rights ruling of chief Justice Earl Warren. Through this ruling, many benefited from it especially minorities, as myself, in the United States.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Internet and Online Communities Essay -- Internet Cyberspace Chat Blog

Internet and Online Communities The internet was designed initially by the department of defense for their own purposes. But now it has evolved into a complex network not limited to some specific area or region but extending over every part of earth. The Internet now is a form of communication to us. It has become not only a source of information and technology, but it also now houses other different kinds of things. e.g. communities(something we are going to discuss in this paper), educational institutions, online classes etc. In this paper we will look at different aspects of this technology (internet) and analyze some of its impact on our society. In particular we shall see how media interprets the internet and its services. We will compare the article by Howard Rheingold The Heart of the Well to Ourtown.net by Jill Harrington, an article appearing in the Access section of Daily News about online communities. Howard Rheingold in The Heart of the Well and Jill Herrington in Ourtown.net both agree that online comm unities have become an essential part of our lives today. The article called The Heart of the Well by Rheingold talks about the WELL (Whole Earth Lectronic Link) an online community started in California. In the article he talks about the Well being a center of all kinds of people: parents, professionals, doctors, nurses and others. In the article the author cites a particularly interesting line from Ray Oldenburgs work The Great Good Place. In it Oldenburg affirms that there are three essential places in our lives: the place we live, the place we work and the place we gather for conviviality. Rheingold in his article argues that internet and online communities have become not only a kind of convivial place wher... ...h is revolutionizing our lives and may prove to be even more successful and efficient for us in the future. Internet is basically a tool in our society. Internet supplies us with a vast number of facilities like online communities and a whole lot of other things. Most of us use internet for one reason or another. For example, I as a student use internet to find information on various kinds of topics ranging from Hitler to NASA. By the same token internet can be useful to virtually everyone in our society. Thus, internet is increasingly becoming part of our lives and it has certainly becoming one of the places where can hang around for conviviality. Works Cited Rheingold, Howard. The Heart of the WELL. Composing Cyberspace. Ed. Richard Holeton. San Francisco: McGraw Hill, 1998, 171-180. Harrington, Jill. Ourtown.net. Access Daily News 25 Feb. 2001: 8-10

Blood Diamond Essay

The realization that there is always something bad mixed with good hit her like a tornado as she watched the movie Blood Diamond. Unconsciously she fingered the stone on her finger and wished she had not worn it. She had to blink back the tears stinging her eyes as she saw children being put to work at alluvial mines, and other workers being amputated and killed for sport. I almost choked with guilt when I remembered how I had gaily remarked, ‘Diamonds are forever,’ when my friend showed me the diamond ring her boyfriend had gotten her. We were not giggling anymore when we saw a World Vision quote†¦ ‘amputation is forever. ’ On seeing the movie, we decided that we had to do something about the conflict diamond issue. We felt so bad about not getting information concerning the origin off the diamond my friend wore, we would never know for sure whether it was a conflict diamond or not. Blood diamond and conflict diamonds are more or less synonymous terms. The UN defines a conflict diamond as a â€Å"diamond whose origin is an area which is controlled by forces that are opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments. The diamonds are used to finance military action to oppose the government of the day or to contravene the decisions of security council (UN,www. un. org/peace/Africa/Diamond html) Most of these diamonds have their origin in Africa with countries like Sierra leone, Liberia, Angola and DR Congo being among those most affected. Though diamonds are mined in Liberia, it offers more of a marketing and ‘supporting point’ role for the Blood Diamond trade. Civil wars in Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone are funded with diamonds that have been smuggled into Liberia which are later sold and the cash is used to purchase ammunition, guns and other weapons. Liberia has imposed some violence of its own lasting 8 years killing around 200,000and displaying thousands more (Stop Blood Diamond Organization, 2007). Reports by Amnesty International and Global Witness show that there are areas in Liberia where diamond are still mined and traded which are controlled by rebels. Worse, these have been report of links between the infamous alqaida and Liberia (Amnesty USA,2007). The 9/11 attacks have been linked to funds and weapons associated with the diamond mines of Sierra Leone. The diamonds are usually mined by civilians who are used as slaves after being caught as prisoners. The civilians, children included, work in poor conditions and are punished brutally for the slightest error. Killing for sport and amputation are regular occurrences. (Stop Blood Diamonds Organization, 2007). Some of the abducted children eventually become child soldiers. John Lahia, a 15 year old child soldier was among the victims of the war that has led to starvation, disease and war wounds for many refugees. He was wounded by an exploding rocket-propelled geradeand died of a tetanus infection, far away from medical aid that would have otherwise saved his life. The Revolutionary United Front(RUF) medics left him lying in a backwater hospital with his wounds taped for lack of better medical means to treat him. This too will be the likely fate of other combatants and all this because of the greed for diamond (Campbell,2007). A sure way to eradicate conflict diamond is to end conflict areas. Peacekeeping that aims at apprehension and removal of rebels without violation of human rights of civilians can be used to achieve this. Inernational agencies need to focus on ending hostilities so diamond production can return to the hands of the government; this will enable the countries in question to benefit from rather than be torn apart by their diamond mines. In 1999, the UN deployed a mission to deal with the problem of conflict diamonds. The Kimberly cerrtification scheme requires provision of a certificate of origin for diamonds. The aim is to cut off flow of diamonds from illegitimate sources. This process however has several shortcomings. The certificates can be forged, many diamonds can be smuggled into a dean country and even when certificates are real the officials may have been bribed. This is a reality especially because in most of the war torn countries poverty and suffering are rife. Most people will only be too glad to line their pockets with the bribes offered. Sensitizing the American Public on issues to do with conflict diamonds is another strategy. This has already began especially in the entertainment industry with such movies as Dicaprios Blood Dianond and James Bond Die another Day and Kanye West’s song, ‘Diamond are Forever’. Further flooding of the public with more information through as many avenues as possible will ensure that people are aware of the origin and human terror and suffering that comes with some diamonds. This will in turn create a low market for the diamonds, slowing down the flux of diamonds into the country. In the present situation, supply of diamond and human suffering in the country of origin have a direct correlation, decreasing supply from illegitimate sources will consequently lead to a decrease in suffering of the Africa children and civilians affected. US contributes 70%of the worlds diamond trade making it a leading customer of diamond. (VOA News, 2007). The US therefore has a role in spearheading the fight against conflict diamond. The government should insist on strengthening the Kimberley process and the Clean Diamond Trade Act. By providing more forceful support, technical aid and financial aid. African countries can be assisted to develop the Kimbeley process such that its effect is felt by the corrupt officials and rebels overseeing mining of blood diamond. The Government Accountability office has had several proposal which include spot checks of diamond companies and tracking of rough diamonds inside and outside the country of origin. (Globalwitness, 2007). These need application and immediate application. Regular checking of the progress of US wagh diamond trade statistics Is an important evaluation tool for the effect of blood diamond and assessment of how the problem is being combated. Though my friend and I are not sure of the origins of the diamond she wears on her finger we are more knowledgeable about conflict diamonds. As a result our circle of friends also know more and now most of our college is no longer ignorant about the issue. Through our campaigns we encourage people to ask about the origin of the diaomonds they are just about to buy. This means that as a nation we are thinking about and doing something in consideration of the people whose lives have been lost in the diamond trade. REFERENCES Amnesty USA Conflict Diamond retrived from www. amnestyusa. org/new/doc/diamonds-survey-text. pdf Campbell G. Blood Diamonds, Amnesty Magazine retrieved from www. amnestyusa. org/amnestynw/diamond s. html Conflict Diamond retrieved from Www. un. org/peace/Africa/Diamond. html Globalwitness, Combating conflict Diamonds,retrieved Sep 1 2007 from http://www. globalwitness. orga/pages/en/conflictdiamonds. html Stop Blood Diamond Organization, Stop Blood Diamond, conflict Diamond in Africa retrieved from www. stopblooddiamonds. org/children-of-Africa. asp VOA News US cogress Tackle Blood Diamond trade retrieved sep 1, 2007 from www. voanews. can/english/archive/2002-02/a-2002-02-4-2-us. cfm. World vision, Stop the Trade in Blood Diamond, retrieved sep 1 2007 from Worldvision. org/worldvision/stable/globalissues-conflictdiamond.