Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Mexican Drug Cartels And Its Effects On America - 1445 Words

At first, Mexican drug cartels were structured just like family owned businesses. There would be a family member who was the main drug lord and cousins and uncles of the family would be the body guards and drug dealers. After the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) lost their power within the Mexican government the structure of drug cartels became much more complex. A hierarchical diffusion is seen within the drug cartel system because the drugs spread from one important drug lord to another, and we generally see this happening in the urban part of Mexico, more than in the rural areas. A corporate structure began forming as hierarchies began developing under drug lords and more people got involved. Professor Guillermo Trejo of Notre Dame s Kellogg Institute claims that once the PRI lost their power there was a rapid increase in violence. This is because of Mexico’s former President, Felipe Calderà ³n, who politically associates with the National Action Party (PAN). In 20 06 President Calderà ³n declared war on the drug cartels. This milestone triggered a huge change within Mexico’s international relations, government, and culture. Professor Trejo argues that there was criminal protection under the PRI. The party alternation in the states led to the break down of informal networks of protections for the drug cartels. As a result the cartels created private armies to cope with the government threats and to attack and rival against the government. The Mexican governmentShow MoreRelatedMexican Drug War Outline816 Words   |  4 PagesCarpenter, Ted. Undermining Mexico’s Dangerous Drug Cartels. Cato Institute. N.p.. Web. 23 Jul 2013. lt;http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/undermining-mexicos-dangerous-drug-cartelsgt;. Al-Eryani, Ausan. Mexico’s drug war effects US as well. Collegiate Times. Virginia Tech. Web. 23 Jul 2013. lt;http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/18328/mexicos-drug-war-effects-us-as-well/p2gt;. Grillo, Ioan. US troops aid Mexico in drug war. Global Post. N.p.. Web. 23 Jul 2013Read MoreThe Mexican Drug War and Its Consequences1185 Words   |  5 PagesThe Mexican Drug War and Its Consequences Despite President Felipe Calderon’s good intentions and determination to eliminate the drug cartels in Mexico, the Mexican government has not been able to stop the drug cartel’s operations (smuggling drugs, people and weapons to and from the USA) for many reasons. The drug cartels have proven to be powerful, well connected politically, well trained, well- armed, and manipulation of the masses. Therefore, it has been impossible for the MexicanRead MoreThe Mexican Cartel Is A Ruthless Crime Origination1182 Words   |  5 PagesThe Mexican cartel is a ruthless crime origination. It controls Mexico through bribes and fear. There are many factions of the cartel, and they are at constant war with one another. They war over many reasons from drugs to human trafficking. These battles often spill out into the streets causing the loose of many innocent lives. The cartel has a strangle hold on the Mexican people. The cartels operate much like other organized crime groups. Like the Mafia there are many factions. Each factionRead MoreDrug Trafficking1134 Words   |  5 PagesThe international drug trade from Latin American states is having an impact on a global scale. The trafficking of drugs along with corruptness and murder is an international conflict that is being fought daily. There are many aspects of the drug war from Mexico and other Latin American states which have effects on United States policy as well as policies from other countries that participate in the global suppression of illegal drugs. It can be hard to differentiate between conflict and issueRead MoreEssay on Mexican/Latin American â€Å"War† on Drugs and Trafficking1122 Words   |  5 PagesThe international drug trade from Latin American states is having an impact on a global scale. The trafficking of drugs along with corruptness and murder is an international conflict that is being fought daily. There are many aspects of the drug war from Mexico and other Latin American states which have effects on United States policy as well as policies from other countries that participate in the global suppression of illegal drugs. It can be hard to differentiate between conflict and issue inRead MoreMexican Drug War : Mexico1306 Words   |  6 PagesMrs. Blomme Honors 1 28 September 2014 Mexico Drug War According to the FBI, there are more than seventy five open cases of Americans that are kidnapped in Mexico. That is just one of the effects caused by what is called The Mexico Drug War. People are oblivious to what the outcome of drugs, in general, can do. Many have disappeared or been killed, firearm trade from the U.S. has gone up, and the supply of drugs in the U.S has increased. The Mexico Drug war started in December of 2006 and is stillRead MoreAnalyzing Political Corruption And Its Effects On The Mexican Economy1623 Words   |  7 Pages Analyzing Political Corruption and its Effects on the Mexican Economy Gyadisha Sulvaran Palm Beach State College Macroeconomics Warren Smith 4th of April 2014 â€Æ' Abstract For macroeconomics, we were given an assignment to examine and analyze the causes of the business cycle in foreign economies. We were divided into groups of 6 and were given the instructions to randomly select a continent. Our continent was North America. We had to choose between Canada and Mexico. The reason why we decidedRead MoreMexico Current Issues: Drug War1197 Words   |  5 Pageshorrendous civil war. This internal conflict is coming from the country’s powerful drug leaders. This epic drug war was been taking place ever since these â€Å"cartels† relocated from the South American nation of Columbia to Mexico in the mid 1980s. since then , this bloody conflict has arose several issues in Mexico. Mexico’s new president, Felipe Calderon, just recently launched an all out military campaign against these drug lords in 2007. This campaign included increased military personnel stationedRead More Mexican Cartel Essay1524 Words   |  7 PagesMexican Carte l Drug War Mexico has a long history of cartels the deaths, drugs and weapon trafficking is in all time high increasing year by year. â€Å"Mexicos gangs have flourished since the late 19th century, mostly in the north due to their proximity to towns along the U.S.-Mexico border. But it was the American appetite for cocaine in the 1970s that gave Mexican drug cartels immense power to manufacture and transport drugs across the border. Early Mexican gangs were primarily situated in borderRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1672 Words   |  7 Pagesmarijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others (ukcia.org, (n.d), para. 1). Since this time, the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 has spawned more strict laws that have many unintended side effects. After many decades, effective federal propaganda has won public support for these laws. Only recently, U.S. citizens have started to question why marijuana is illegal. I feel that it would be beneficial to discard these laws and beliefs of the past

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Critical Analysis of Efficiency Market Hypothesis

ABSTRACT Michael Jensen writes, â€Å"There is no other proposition in economics which has more solid empirical evidence supporting it than the Efficient Market Hypothesis.† The term ‘Efficient Market Hypothesis’ (EMH) is concerned with the behavior of prices in asset markets. It was initially applied to the stock market, but the concept was soon generalized to other asset markets. EMH has also been a subject of debate since its inception in the 1960s. INTRODUCTION This essay critically discusses’ A market is efficient with respect to a particular set of information if it†¦show more content†¦These versions differ by their notions of what is meant by the term â€Å"all available information.† The tests for each form, summarized in brief, empirically shows evidence in favor of EMH: According to Fama (1970), Weak form efficiency claims that all past prices of a stock are reflected in today s stock price. Therefore, technical analysis cannot be used to predict and beat a market. The Weak Form Tests. The test of the weak form of the EMH is generally taken to comprise of; an autocorrelation test, a runs test and filter rule test. An autocorrelation test investigates whether security returns are related through time. On the other, a runs test, for example, measures the likelihood that a series of two variables is a random occurrence. A filter rule (or trading test) is a trading rule regarding the actions to be taken when shares rise or fall in value by x%. Filter rules should not work if markets are weak form efficient. Overall, the tests highlighted, statistically tests for independence, to establish the weak-form holds, thereby invalidating strategic rules for technical analy sis, to obtainShow MoreRelatedEfficient Market Hypothesis ( Emh )1258 Words   |  6 PagesEFFICIENT MARKET HYPOTHESISName: Mamunur Rahman Introduction Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) is a concept that was developed in 1960 s Ph.D. dissertation that was presented by Eugene Fama. The efficient market hypothesis states that, in a liquid market, the price of the securities reflects all the available information. The EMH exists in various degrees that include weak, semi-strong and strong, denoting the inclusion of non-public information in the market price. The theory contends that notionRead MoreThe Importance Of Raising Companies Finance For Their Operations Efficiently Without Affecting Its Profitability1486 Words   |  6 Pageswithout affecting its profitability. Equity markets are places where willing buyers and sellers can meet for the purpose of making profit. Market efficiency is the high expectations of investors in every market place. Market places are where investors bu y and sell companies and government securities. The information they get from the market efficiency is what determine them to buy or sell. 1.1 MARKET EFFICIENCY FUNDAMENTAL FEATURES REVIEW Market efficiency history back dates to as far as in the midRead MoreWhat Does Calendar Anomaly Exist? Stock Market Of Both Developed And Developing Countries1701 Words   |  7 Pagesstock market of both developed and developing countries. The former is represented by SP 500(Standard and Poor) from USA while the latter is represented by BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) from India. The daily data of stock return was collected for the time – period of July 1998 to December 2013, and analyzed using single factor ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) and two sample t-test of equal variance. Our Null Hypothesis for this study states that the calendar anomaly does not exist in stock market of USRead MoreInfluencing The Adoption Of Mobile Office Services : Empirical Investigation Among Sales Workers1444 Words   |  6 Pages Introduction: Here the critical review of a research article, taken from a reputable published and refereed journal i.e, â€Å"INFLUENCING FACTORS FOR THE ADOPTION OF MOBILE OFFICE SERVICES: EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION AMONG SALES WORKERS† written by Jin-Bo Sim and You-Jin Kim,Creative Future Research Laboratory, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Korea. It is observed a major amount of variation in consumer expectations from the available resources (ETRI, 2010). The authors were keenRead MoreAnalysis of Capital Market Efificiency and the Efficient Market Hypothesis2763 Words   |  12 PagesCapital market efficiency is concerned with assessing the movements of security prices over different time horizons. In this paper, I will briefly discuss capital market efficiency and then finish with an extensive discussion of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), which is a leading theory in explaining some of the major reasons for fluctuations in security prices. From this perspect ive, we will examine the three forms of efficiency, supporting and opposing arguments of the EMH, alternative theoriesRead MoreThe Effect Of Fdi Inflow On Exports1394 Words   |  6 Pagesarrive. That’s why, we’ve excluded the years before 1976. Dependent Variable: Export, measured in US dollar. Independent Variable: Foreign Direct Investment, FDI inflow measured in US dollar. Methodology Before explaining the methodology of data analysis it is important to know that how FDI could affect exports. Blomstrà ¶m (1996) provides a brief but comprehensive review of the theoretical foundation of the effect of FDI on host countries (including exports). One association is explained in termsRead MoreStock Market Efficiency: How Does It Reflect on the Securities Trading6759 Words   |  28 PagesStock Market Efficiency: How does It Reflect on the Securities Trading Abstract: Stock market efficiency has been the subject matter of research studies for periods well over the past three decades. Several theories have been established about basically how the competition will drive all information into the prices of securities quickly. Centering this idea the concept known as Efficient Market Hypothesis has been evolved which also has been the subject of intense debate among academics and financialRead MoreThe Efficient Market Hypothesis (Emh) Has Been Subject1863 Words   |  8 PagesThe efficient market hypothesis (EMH) has been subject to professional and academic debate and analysis for many years, and refers to the theory proposing that stock prices show all information regarding a firm’s value. An efficient market is a market in which investors with the same information and similar investment goals compete actively (Sewell, 2012). Many private investors and investors aiming to make profits are involved with the stock market and often make low risk investments while aimingRead MoreTaking a Look at Mergers and Acquisitions868 Words   |  3 Pages The second chapter of the report will focus on the literature review, whereby there will be a critical analysis of previous research literature on MA. Literature Review The literature review looks at the motives of (MA) with previous companies. In addition to this, previous studies will be looked at to investigate the benefits of previous companies acquiring other companies to increase their market capital. Literature on theories of MA shows that the motives of companies incorporates MA ,areRead MoreEfficient Market Hypothesis3125 Words   |  13 Pages`A market is efficient with respect to a particular set of information if it is impossible to make abnormal profits by using this set of information to formulate buying and selling decisions.’ Critical Analysis When we invest money into the stock market we do it with the intention of generating a return on the capital invested. Many investors try not only to make a profitable return, but also to outperform, or ‘beat the market’. However, market efficiency -  championed in the efficient market

Monday, December 9, 2019

Finance and Accounting Nonfinancial Managers

Question: Discuss about the Finance and Accounting for Nonfinancial Managers. Answer: Introduction The awareness created regarding the impression of the environment is on an increase throughout the world. The business firm focuses on the stress afforded with creating efficient measurements for creating appropriate impact of environment for the firm. This can evade the avoidable legal matters, which delays the development of the business firms and can also set up the company as an environmental affable corporation. Apart from this, in an array to establish an environment friendly firm and to develop the prosperity the organizations apply much labour on the research and development sector (Sarker et al., 2016). This enhances the excellence of the manufactured goods as well as at the same time they are lucrative and environment friendly. In this provided case study, the company which is undertaken for the appropriate completion of report is known as Bio-sustainable Feed (BSF). The so called company produces the food for the fishes. The sustainable method is undertaken for producing t he effective method for the production of feed for the fishes. The importance is focused on the research which helps in the enhancement of the sector (R., 2016). Henceforth it helps the company in renovating the products which indicates not only the purpose of making money but also the renovation of the products. the company also helps in improving the product for the purpose of making it an environment friendly material with the purpose of lowering the cost of production. Importance of research done by BSF Ltd. In the above mentioned company it has been clearly seen that the Bio-Sustainable Feeds offers immense importance on their actions based upon CSR. For the commencement of the company in the field to improvise the sustainability of the firm, the organization has put immense endeavours towards the sector of research and development. In addition to it, the research and development sector is continuously working for the improvement of the products so that may have minimal impact on the environment (Wolf, 2008). The company is even trying to reduce the use of the resources obtained from the nature and is mainly dealing with the wastage materials from where the products or the necessary items can be produced easily. In this way the company is helping the society in two ways, one is that the use of huge amount of natural resources are decreasing and apart from this the waste materials are also getting reduced from the environment and hence helps in giving rise to a clean and healthy society. In this way the so called company has established itself as an eco friendly company for not only the society but also for the environment. From the research analysis it was found that the company is always in a try of using the left over residues of the sugarcane and wooden chips (Stittle and Wearing, 2008). Apart from using these natural resource materials , the other materials which are of use to this company is methane gas which is collected from the wastes, garbage, sewage and the food processing companies. So it can be seen that the company is using the waste products to a greater extent whereas reducing the use of the valuable natural resources. Apart from this the company is also avoiding the materials which are mainly required by the magnificent fishes because it is against the acceptance of the poor people of the society. These positive aspects helped the company in gaining social acceptance in the company. The business measures used by the company are to promote about the various eco-friendly practices that are being implemented by the company, which are not only reducing the wastage of the society but are proving to become a boon for the society. The company has made its name in the list of companies as an eco-friendly and environment aware organization (Holton, 2012). The various strategies followed by the company has helped the company in gaining name and fame in the society. Therefore these measures which have been taken have not only improvised the quality of the productivity but have also improved the profit making scenario of the company in an efficient and valuable way. Problems faced by the BSF Ltd during their early research analysis The research made by the BSF Ltd in the beginning was conducted upon the fish culture feeds and was based mainly upon the plant based food products. But coincidently they failed in gaining success in the research. Thus, they again initiated in searching an alternative for the proposed research. The fish breed which survived on the plant based products was supposed to solve the issue of the fish based feed, by converting the productivity from 10kg of low fish value to 1kg high fish value whereas the conversion rate was 30kg of feed based on plant to 1kg of high fish value (Chung, 2016). 1/3rd of the fish were found to be dead in the research conducted, and the number of mature fishes was found to be less but the growth time was doubled. The mechanism of changing excellent food corps into magnificent fish is simply a diversion of low fish value into production. This process just benefitted the high class people but the poorer section of the society simply suffered from malnutrition (B. Rust, 2011). The fish fed or aqua fed production contained high nutritional values like omega 3 fatty acid. This element produces superior quality fishes which were only for the rich people whereas the poorer sections were deprived of it. Thus the company is on its way to find alternatives so that they might not face any objections from the wide range of the society comprising of both the higher and lower section of the society. Discuss the nature and differences research and research development The research is a procedure which is ventured in a scientific method; with in that way constitute the bias and the subjectivity that must be ignorable. The research procedure must incorporate the principles and the various tools with styles, when that is implemented on the topic must give the suitable results (Bowen and Aragon-Correa, 2014). The process and the styles are also vital for implementation researches that incorporate the procedure with the logical and the sequential process. The practical examples regarding the sequential and the logical process are identified for the research conducted by the individual. The control amount and the rigidity are represented through the conduction of the research and thus make difference in ones regulation. The growth of the research helps in depicting the distinct implementation process by which the organization gets benefitted and thereby a state of equilibrium is created for the organization with depicting the alterations. It provides that the pathway for the enhancement of the product shapes and thus the development and the enlargement of the corporation experiences are fixed in this case learning (Droms Wright, 2010). The innovative methods are continued for the purpose of enhancement of the research with determining the well being of the organization and thereby the ethics is maintained with viewing the regarded case study With the consideration of differentiation of the research and research development, it depicts the creation and the implementation of the process for innovating new product. The company BSF Ltd provides the bio-sustainable environment with creating the enhancement of the bio-sustainable feeds in the organization (Horngren, 2013). The processes are implemented for the enhancement of the organization which helps it to achieve a sustainable environment for the research and thereby preparation of the researches is made accordingly (Kew Watson, 2012). The considerations are created with implementing the control strategies for the growth of the organization and thereby the improvement of the system is focused in a systematic chain implementation process. Patent hypothesis and computation for Fair Value Market The most precious on which the organization focuses represents the appropriate valuation in order to stay in the long run of market competition. Thus the only path to keep the long run competition benefit is to protect the new ideas and prohibit other constitutions to use to them. Patents give businesses a path to stay their new ideas protected from other corporation. Patents are the positive aspect for the corporations and it is important to estimate the patent value. It is an indescribable asset provided in the balance sheet (Marek, 2008). The examination of using bacteria helps in generating feeds for fishes from sugar cane, wood chip or obtain methane gas becomes an innovative and creative idea for BSF Ltd. The price that was assumed for carrying out research was $160 million AUD and the other price of $200 million AUD for creating patent in order to publish the patent in the market with security. The Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization gave $700 million to B SF Ltd and it determines total of $500 million AUD on examine and $200 million in the improvement in order to improve the aquaculture food from the research (Tacon Metian, 2008). The innovative idea created by the company helped to generate patent for two years and thereby the value will increase up to $ 700 million AUD. The reduction rate of the project is 8% p.a. The market price patent of BSF Ltd is $700 AUD. The companies new ideas will assist to increase the price in the market and growing its goodwill. Patent will assist to give a legal right to defend its exclusive idea. The firmness and estimation of market price of a company assist to determine the development of a company. Journal entry for Transactions of RD Particulars Debit ($) Credit ($) Grant 500 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization 500 Alternative aquaculture feeds 100 Cash 100 Research 500 cash 500 Development cost 200 cash 200 Patent 700 Cash 700 In this particular case study, the company BSF Ltd receives allowance from the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization of amount $ 500 million. The $100 million AUD on other aqua culture feeds a year spend by BSF ltd .the corporation exhausted an sum of $500 million on investigate and spend approximately $200 million in the growth of other aquaculture feed so the corporation expanses sum amount of $700in the study and growth of the assignment. As of the year 2013 to 2016, the companys expenses are incurred which are provided in the above journal entry. The allowance accepted from CSIRO has been properly used with corporation in the study and growth of the other aquaculture feed (White, Dworjanyn, Nichols, Mos, Dempster, 2016).The deal in the assignment will support to enlarge value and expand brand name in the bazaar .official document is valued on the source of promotion of the feed in two year. The important thing is explain the patent of the book to the companies . The survey of official document shows the importance of the new idea. The venture in the other aquaculture feed will support the corporation to developed o new idea .In Success of the company will come for the sector of research and development. The calculation seems to be dependent on the different variables of the company with the consideration of the total expenses which are presented in the case of the research. The preparation of the journal entries indicates the total expenses and the cash spend by the company helps in the creation of success for the cash spend and the total expenses made during the year 2013 to 2016 by the company (Tacon Metian, 2008). The grant amount that seems to be received by the CSIRO has been made in order to make enhancement in the field. The important need of accounting denotes the data and transactions collection, evaluation and storing for the organization over the particular period of time. Exclusive control plan for the research made in BSF ltd The BSF Ltd management gives the respect in allowing for the booklet of the official documents. The control procedure shows the proper usage of the bio sustainable feeds. The appropriate usage of the control strategies helps in the enhancement of the research made and thereby the appropriate usage of the research is depicted in this case which helps in the enhancement of the strategies for the preparation of feeds for the fishes. The procedure used for analysis is given below: For preparing feeds for the fishes, the bio sustainable components must be utilized. For the production of fish, the research of high definition food should be taken into contemplation. The suitable materials which are utilized in the research depict the exterior part of plant, wastages that are related to the plant and the methane gas which are utilized for the research. The improvement of the other farming feed is necessary for the development of fish. The proper control measures make a limited control environment .The control agency show the improvement of the chronological feed process. The problems that are represent can be easily evaluate by the help of the control measures. References Rust, M. (2011).The Future of Aquafeeds. [online] https://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/aquaculture/docs/feeds/the_future_of_aquafeeds_final.pdf. Available at: https://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/aquaculture/docs/feeds/the_future_of_aquafeeds_final.pdf [Accessed 16 Sep. 2016]. Chung, E. (2016).'Greener' fish farming could lead to unhealthier seafood. [online] CBC News. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/aquaculture-feed-1.3262922 [Accessed 16 Sep. 2016]. R., L. (2016). [online] Available at: https://sciencenordic.com/fish-feed-research-may-helpreduce-world-hunger [Accessed 16 Sep. 2016]. Sarker, P., Kapuscinski, A., Lanois, A., Livesey, E., Bernhard, K. and Coley, M. (2016). Towards Sustainable Aquafeeds: Complete Substitution of Fish Oil with Marine Microalga Schizochytrium sp. Improves Growth and Fatty Acid Deposition in Juvenile Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).PLOS ONE, 11(6), p.e0156684. Holton, R. (2012).Global finance. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Stittle, J. and Wearing, B. (2008).Financial accounting. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. Wolf, M. (2008).Fixing global finance. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press. Bowen, F. and Aragon-Correa, J. (2014). Greenwashing in Corporate Environmentalism Research and Practice: The Importance of What We Say and Do.Organization Environment, 27(2), pp.107-112. Droms, W. Wright, J. (2010).Finance and accounting for nonfinancial managers. New York: Basic Books. Horngren, C. (2013).Accounting. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Australia. Kew, J. Watson, A. (2012).Financial accounting. Cape Town: Oxford University Press. Marek, P. (2008). Financial Crisis, Fall and Financial Theory.European Financial And Accounting Journal,2008(4), 4-5. https://dx.doi.org/10.18267/j.efaj.86 Tacon, A. Metian, M. (2008). Global overview on the use of fish meal and fish oil in industrially compounded aquafeeds: Trends and future prospects.Aquaculture,285(1-4), 146-158. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2008.08.015 White, C., Dworjanyn, S., Nichols, P., Mos, B., Dempster, T. (2016). Future aquafeeds may compromise reproductive fitness in a marine invertebrate.Marine Environmental Research. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2016.09.008.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Similes in the Purgatorio Essay Example

Similes in the Purgatorio Essay The concept of a plainness held back hints at an absolute meaning: behind the veil of rhetorical language lies a potential exposition. The composer of ornamented rhyme chooses to cover his meaning with ornamentation, but a translation, or an illumination, must be available upon request for the obscurity to have any worth. Dante veils his grief at Beatrices death, in part, by placing it at a linguistic remove: in a book written solamente volgare there is no place for a letter earlier composed in Latin to tell of the worlds new condition. Because of this determined linguistic consistency, the words, Dante pleads, may not be quoted in full (the word he uses for quote, . allegare, also means plead, and this plea replaces the quotation he refuses to make) but a full translation into the vernacular is not raised as a possibility. The excuse is deliberately flimsy, sustaining a sense of the potential for a fuller understanding alongside its being withheld. Videmus nunc per speculum in enigmate tunc autem facie ad faciem nunc cognosco ex parte tunc autem cognoscam sicut et cognitus sum (1 Cor 13, 12). Christianity involves the conviction that all human knowledge is partial, but this requires that a whole be understood to exist. La Vita Nuova dismisses as stupid in their practice those who cannot divest their words of covering, to show the object rather than its reflection. Writing of God involves the difficulty that God may not be unveiled fully, but also the faith that there is a true meaning which might be divested of its veil. We will write a custom essay sample on Similes in the Purgatorio specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Similes in the Purgatorio specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Similes in the Purgatorio specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It seems crucial that Dante conceive this exposition would be made on being asked: a series of pressing questions, driven by the urgent desire to comprehend more fully, mark Dantes progress through the Purgatorio, so that there are degrees of partial knowledge. It is not enough to wait until you enter into the state of knowing as you are known by God, despite the fact that entering Purgatory secures the knowledge that such knowledge will be enjoyed in a matter of time. Yet God may not be unveiled, and writing about God means that the words may not be stripped of their covering upon demand: faith is required, by the reader as well as the writer, that the ornamentation does not disguise further confusions. Comfort, for the writer, lies in the word Dante uses for meaning in the passage from the Vita Nuova: intendimento is both meaning and intention, so that a full exposition is not demanded of the writer, but only his aim for the shape and plan of the work, the truth as far as it goes. Exposition, in human terms, is conceived as a further stage of rhetorical engagement, recalling Socratic dialogue. TS Eliot wrote of the Commedia that it is not necessary that the allegory or the almost unintelligible astronomy should be understood only that its presence should be justified. (The Sacred Wood). Justification may be a persuasive action, yet Eliots choice of tense allows this suggestion to be sustained alongside an alternative, that something is justified in a set way, and not that the process of justification need take place on a rhetorical level. God need not justify, because he is just. It is the provision of a structure which matters, perhaps, not the confusion of those lost in it. Being lost, or in discomfort, in the Purgatorio may be urgent because of the intensely temporal nature of its activities, and yet it is a place, in its upper slopes, safe from sub-lunar decay, a place which changes without itself being changed. Salvation lies at the end, so any sense of confusion is curiously unthreatening; blanks are deliberately left to be filled in. Often, they are filled in silently by Dante, part of the growth of an understanding partially withheld accio che tu per te ne cerchi (C17) but nonetheless attained. It is a way of conveying the experience, without revealing it, offering points of entry which involve further thought. Dante often tells Virgil he is satisfied with the reply to a question; the reader can only take his word for it, and attempt to make the same leap, confronted with the same explanation, leading to generations glossing passages like the following. e se pensassi come al vostro guizzo guizza dentro allo specchio vostra image, cio che par duro ti parrebbe vizzo People being like something. They were like people who were weary etc etc. Are they it, or like it? Word is God and is with God etc. Relates to thin spirits. Inner and outer stuff: when youre concentrating on something the outside world disappears/ is changed, and your experience of time changes, as a metaphor, being digressive, changes the fabric of the poem by taking up lines. In Canto XVII Dante discusses how the imagination works without any outward stimulus from the senses, having just shown how it may do so. A metaphor is such a stimulus, calling upon memory (ricorditi, lettor ) of a natural event, a common experience brought into relation with the poem, in order to illuminate the situation of Purgatory. Seeing the sun in mountain mist is the conceivable shadow of the experience of emerging from the Purgatorial veil, less a metaphor than an instruction as to how the experience may be glimpsed. Ricorditi, lettor e fia la tua imagine leggera in giugnere a veder There is strikingly little contrast between tenor and vehicle, so that although this passage recalls Classical epic similes in its reference to domestic experience and its sudden transport of the reader from the remote and heroic into the everyday, its appeal to the everyday is to show that everyday things may be imperfect impressions of exalted things. The common experience of seeing the moon in cloud is a conceivable glimpse of what it is like to see the sun through the acrid smoke of Purgatory. Its likeness projects a partial understanding, its unlikeness hints at a whole unencompassed by the span of the comparison, yet it is the same kind of thing, a pattern of the same experience in a different way from that in which Classical comparisons and similes often work, or even others in Dante, people huddling like sheep. It is a way of thinking relatively which recalls the medieval belief that passages from the Old Testament foreshadowed passages in the New Testament, often in obscure and subtle ways. An Old Testament passage is enriched by its relation to the New, just as this close relation of experience, seeing the moon and seeing the Purgatorial sun, enriches the readers appreciation of the everyday sight, as well as unlocking understanding of the purgatorial experience. This quality, a sense of the ways in which texts, and experiences, may illuminate each other, informs Dantes use of Classical sources, rendering his consciousness of the influence of Virgils epic similes one aspect of the workings of an imagined divine love. Canto XV, in its model for love, builds upon similes from the Aeneid, recalling especially the simile of reflected light used in Book 8 to describe the movement of Aeneas agitated mind. There, the hero is alone, with the burden of his race upon his solitary shoulders. Dante recalls this solitude while creating a vision of infinite sharing: the hero responsible for bringing a chosen race into the promised land of Italy is replaced by a wider covenant, of which an infinite number of people may come into possession. In his awareness of his own writing at this point, Dantes Virgil makes a mirror which, in describing how love between people works like an intensifying series of reflections and refractions, also shows that texts may be illuminated, not diminished, by their interrelation. It is a vision which balances the recognition, in the humility of Purgatory, that earthly fame will be swept away, that the renown of one artist will swiftly be usurped by another. Purgatory is a place which exists, in geographical and other terms, in relation to Italy; it is almost a mirror image, familiar constellations moving in unexpected directions in its sky. It is particularly apt that Dante should include such a comparison (between moon and sun) at this point, one which indicates the understanding that the shadows on the walls of a cave are only shadows of the real thing. The infliction of blindness upon the angry in Purgatory is not only the physical manifestation of the effect of their sin, but also a handicap to aid better understanding, complete knowledge reached through the very process of recognising that their knowledge is partial. The seven wounds are healed per esser dolente, another appeal to experience; wounds sting when they are healing. The disk of the sun is more easily seen through the dissipating smoke than in its unveiled dazzle.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Free Essays on Importance Of Motifs, Themes And Symbols

In the earlier centuries, Macbeth’s story is not seen as wrong and tragic, but as a powerful study of a heroic individual who commits an evil act and pays an enormous price as his conscience destroys him. When people read about Macbeth now they see tragedy with a crazed man who does not feel that he can get enough power. In this play his speeches of despair show that Shakespeare shared late-twentieth-century feelings of alienation. Today there are new attitudes towards witches and witchcraft being expressed, different questions have also been raised about the way maleness and femaleness are portrayed in the play. â€Å"As with so many of Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth speaks to each generation with a new voice.† (xiv) It is important to look at the themes, motifs, and symbols that the author displays throughout his work. Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text major themes. Violence is a very important motif in the play, Macbeth. Even though in most of the play murders take place off the stage, the characters provide gruesome descriptions of the murder and it makes the play extremely violent. Hallucinations also recur throughout the play. â€Å" Is this dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch Thee†¦A dagger of the mind, a false creation Proceeding from the heat oppressed brain?† (II, I) They are reminders of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s evil plan to get rid of the King. Macbeth sees a dagger floating in the air, as he is about to kill Duncan. The dagger, covered in blood and pointed towards the king’s chamber, represents the cruelty he is about to commit. Macbeth is not the only one to see awful visions, Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and believes that her hands are stained in blood and they will live in sin and without any religion. The hallucinations that are shown throughout the play represent their conscience a... Free Essays on Importance Of Motifs, Themes And Symbols Free Essays on Importance Of Motifs, Themes And Symbols In the earlier centuries, Macbeth’s story is not seen as wrong and tragic, but as a powerful study of a heroic individual who commits an evil act and pays an enormous price as his conscience destroys him. When people read about Macbeth now they see tragedy with a crazed man who does not feel that he can get enough power. In this play his speeches of despair show that Shakespeare shared late-twentieth-century feelings of alienation. Today there are new attitudes towards witches and witchcraft being expressed, different questions have also been raised about the way maleness and femaleness are portrayed in the play. â€Å"As with so many of Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth speaks to each generation with a new voice.† (xiv) It is important to look at the themes, motifs, and symbols that the author displays throughout his work. Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text major themes. Violence is a very important motif in the play, Macbeth. Even though in most of the play murders take place off the stage, the characters provide gruesome descriptions of the murder and it makes the play extremely violent. Hallucinations also recur throughout the play. â€Å" Is this dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch Thee†¦A dagger of the mind, a false creation Proceeding from the heat oppressed brain?† (II, I) They are reminders of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s evil plan to get rid of the King. Macbeth sees a dagger floating in the air, as he is about to kill Duncan. The dagger, covered in blood and pointed towards the king’s chamber, represents the cruelty he is about to commit. Macbeth is not the only one to see awful visions, Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and believes that her hands are stained in blood and they will live in sin and without any religion. The hallucinations that are shown throughout the play represent their conscience a...

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Woody Guthrie, Influential Songwriter and Folk Singer

Woody Guthrie, Influential Songwriter and Folk Singer Woody Guthrie was an American songwriter and folk singer whose songs about troubles and triumphs of American life, coupled with his raw performing style, had enormous influence on popular music and culture. An eccentric character often viewed as something of a hobo poet, Guthrie created a template for songwriters which, carried along by admirers including Bob Dylan, helped infuse popular songs with poetic and often political messages. His most famous song, This Land Is Your Land has become an official national anthem, sung at countless school assemblies and public gatherings. Though his career was cut short by an incapacitating illness, Guthries songs have continued to inspire successive generations of musicians and listeners. Fast Facts: Woody Guthrie Full Name: Woodrow Wilson GuthrieKnown For: Songwriter and folk singer who portrayed the troubles and triumphs of Depression era Americans and had enormous influence on popular music.Born: July 14, 1912 in Okemah, OklahomaDied: October 3, 1967 in New York, New YorkParents: Charles Edward Guthrie and Nora Belle ShermanSpouses: Mary Jennings (m. 1933-1940), Marjorie Mazia (m. 1945-1953 ), and Anneke Van Kirk (m. 1953-1956)Children: Gwen, Sue, and Bill Guthrie (with Jennings); Cathy, Arlo, Joady, and Nora Guthrie (with Mazia); and Lorina (with Van Kirk) Early Life Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born July 14, 1912, in Okemah, Oklahoma. He was the third of five children, and both his parents were interested in music. The town of Okemah was only about ten years old, recently settled by transplants who brought musical traditions and instruments with them. As a child Guthrie heard church music, songs from the Appalachian mountain tradition, and fiddle music. It seems music was a bright spot in his life, which was marked by tragic incidents. When Guthrie was 7 years old his mother’s mental condition began to deteriorate. She was suffering from undiagnosed Huntington’s chorea, the same disease that would, decades later, afflict Woody. His sister perished in a kitchen fire, and following that tragedy, his mother was committed to an asylum. When Guthrie was 15 the family moved to Pampa, Texas, to stay near relatives. Guthrie began to play the guitar. With his natural musical aptitude he soon mastered it and began performing with an aunt and uncle in a small band. He also learned to play mandolin, fiddle, and harmonica, and was known to perform in talent shows and plays at his high school. Woody Guthrie portrait. Bettmann  /  Getty Images After finishing high school, Guthrie took off to travel about the South, essentially choosing to live as a hobo. He kept singing and playing guitar wherever he went, picking up various songs and beginning to write some of his own. He eventually returned to Pampa, and at the age of 21 he married a friend’s 16-year-old sister, Mary Jennings. The couple would have three children. Pampa is located in the Texas panhandle, and when the Dust Bowl conditions struck, Guthrie was an eyewitness. He felt great empathy for the farmers whose lives were upended by the severe weather conditions, and began to write the songs that would comprise a body of work about those affected by the Dust Bowl. In 1937 Guthrie was restless to get out of Texas, and managed to hitch rides to California. In Los Angeles he performed, got noticed, and landed a job singing on a local radio station. He was able to send for his wife and children and the family settled in Los Angeles for a time. Guthrie became friends with the actor Will Geer, who was very active in radical political circles. He enlisted Guthrie to sing some of his songs at rallies, and Guthrie became associated with communist sympathizers. In 1940 Geer, who was staying in New York City, convinced Guthrie to cross the country and join him. Guthrie and his family headed to New York. Burst of Creativity His arrival in the big city in February 1940 sparked a burst of creativity. Staying at the Hanover House, a small hotel near Times Square, he wrote down, on February 23, 1940, the lyrics for what would become his most famous song, This Land Is Your Land. The song had been in his head as hed traveled across the country. The song God Bless America by Irving Berlin had become a huge hit in the late 1930s, and Guthrie was irritated that Kate Smiths rendition of it was endlessly played on the radio. In response to it, he wrote a song which declared, in simple yet poetic terms, that America belonged to its people. c. 1940, New York, New York City, Almanac Singers, L-R: Woody Gurthrie, Millard Lampell, Bess Lomax Hawes, Pete Seeger, Arthur Stern, Sis Cunningham. Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images In a span of a few months in New York, Guthrie met new friends including Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, and Cisco Houston. The folk song scholar Alan Lomax recorded Guthrie and also arranged for him to appear on a CBS radio network program. Dust Bowl Ballads In the spring of 1940, while based in New York, Guthrie traveled to the Victor Records studio in Camden, New Jersey. He recorded a collection of songs he had written about the Dust Bowl and the Okies of the Great Depression who had left the devastated farmlands of the Midwest for a grueling trip to California. The resulting album (folios of 78-rpm discs) titled Dust Bowl Ballads was released in the summer of 1940 and was notable enough to receive a very positive review in the New York Times on August 4, 1940. The newspaper praised Guthries writing and said of his songs: They make you think; they may even make you uncomfortable, though not as uncomfortable as the Okie on his miserable journey. But they are an excellent thing to have on record. Dust Bowl Ballads, which is now in print in a compact disc version, contains some of Guthries best-known songs, including Talkin Dust Bowl Blues, I Aint Got No Home In This World Anymore, and Do Re Mi, a mordantly funny song about the troubles of migrants arriving penniless in California. The song collection also contained Tom Joad, Guthries rewrite of the story of John Steinbecks classic Dust Bowl novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck did not mind. American folk singer Woody Guthrie performs on a stoop for an audience of predominantly children, New York, New York, 1943. Eric Schaal / Getty Images Back West Despite his success, Guthrie was restless in New York City. In a new car hed been able to purchase, he drove his family back to Los Angeles, where he discovered work was scarce. He took a job for the federal government, for a New Deal agency in the Pacific Northwest, the Bonneville Power Administration. Guthrie was paid $266 to interview workers on a dam project and write a series of songs promoting the benefits of hydroelectric power. Guthrie took to the project enthusiastically, writing 26 songs in a month (often borrowing tunes, as was common in the folk tradition). Some have endured, including Grand Coulee Dam, Pastures of Plenty, and Roll On, Columbia, his ode to the mighty Columbia River. The odd assignment prompted him to write songs packed with his trademark wordplay, humor, and empathy for working people. Following his time in the Pacific Northwest he returned to New York City. His wife and children didnt come along to New York but moved to Texas, intent on finding a permanent home where the children could attend school. That separation would mark the end of Guthries first marriage. New York and War Based in New York as the city began to mobilize for war following the Pearl Harbor attack, Guthrie began writing songs supporting the American war effort and denouncing fascism. Photographs of him taken during this period often show him playing a guitar with the sign on it: This Machine Kills Fascists. American folk singer Woody Guthrie (1912 - 1967) plays his guitar, which has a handwritten sticker that says, This Machine Kills Fascists, New York, New York, 1943. Eric Schaal / Getty Images During the war years he wrote a memoir, Bound For Glory, an account of his travels around the country. Guthrie joined the U.S. Merchant Marine and made several sea voyages, delivering supplies as part of the war effort. Near the end of the war he was drafted and spent a year in the U.S. Army. When the war ended he was discharged and after some traveling about the country he settled in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. In the late 1940s, Guthrie recorded more songs and continued writing. Many lyrics he never got around to setting to music, including Deportees, a song about migrant workers killed in a plane crash in California while being deported to Mexico. He had been inspired by a newspaper article that didnt provide the names of the victims. As Guthrie put it in his lyrics, The newspaper said they were just deportees. Guthries words were later put to music by others, and the song has been performed by Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and many others. Illness and Legacy Guthrie remarried and had more children. But his life took a dark turn when he began to be afflicted with the onset of Huntingtons chorea, the hereditary disease which had killed his mother. As the disease attacks brain cells, the effects are profound. Guthrie slowly lost his ability to control his muscles, and had to be hospitalized. As a new generation of folk song enthusiasts discovered his work in the late 1950s his reputation grew. Robert Zimmerman, a student at the University of Minnesota who had recently started calling himself Bob Dylan, became fascinated with Guthrie to the extent of hitching a ride to the East Coast so he could visit him at a state hospital in New Jersey. Inspired by Guthrie, Dylan began writing his own songs. Guthries own son, Arlo, eventually began performing in public, becoming a successful singer and songwriter. And countless other young people, hearing Guthries old records, were energized and inspired. After more than a decade of hospitalization, Woody Guthrie died on October 3, 1967, at the age of 55. His obituary in the New York Times noted that he had written as many as 1,000 songs. Many recordings of Woody Guthrie are still available (today on the popular streaming services) and his archives are housed at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sources: Guthrie, Woody. UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography, edited by Laura B. Tyle, vol. 5, UXL, 2003, pp. 838-841. Gale Virtual Reference Library.Guthrie, Woody. Great Depression and the New Deal Reference Library, edited by Allison McNeill, et al., vol. 2: Biographies, UXL, 2003, pp. 88-94. Gale Virtual Reference Library.Guthrie, Woody 1912–1967. Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, edited by Mary Ruby, vol. 256, Gale, 2014, pp. 170-174. Gale Virtual Reference Library.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Ending Hunger in the Elderly Population Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ending Hunger in the Elderly Population - Essay Example Although students are not required to conduct an interview as research for the final project, the process of thinking about potential questions and responses related to the final project topic will help stimulate further ideas and questions related to conducting relevant and reliable research. Of course, you may also decide to interview the person discussed here or another appropriate subject and use the material in your upcoming projects as a primary source. I selected Ms. Haist, because she is the chief researcher at a famous university. She is also an expert on the topic of poverty and hunger reduction methods. I am sure, that she will provide me, with the detailed insight about the topic of my paper. The topic of this interview is focusing on the methods to alleviate hunger among the older people. According to the, Gomez & Ranney, (2002) There is a statistically significant relation between the health expenditure and fitness of old people, so if the government wants to keep them healthy, it has to stabilize their income, which can be achieved through offering them flexible insurance packages. This observation indicates a firm and logical relation between the health and financial well beings of individuals in question. During another study, the researcher finds that the proportion of homeless people is increasing with leaps during last two decades (Bowering, Clancy, & Poppendieck, 1999), majority of individuals among them, is older and has no family. They also lack the luxury of having proper shelter. At the same time they suffer with nutrients deprivation (Saad, 2000). It is the due responsibility of federal and regional governments to spare resources of the betterment of these people. In any country the most powerful entity is the government, so in my opinion this is the ultimate responsibility of the federal government to take care of these people, because the culture of US is individualistic, so people are busy

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Below Exercises Answered Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Below Exercises Answered - Assignment Example Moreover, the unfinished products in the system are considered to be halfway complete in the production process giving the wafers a higher value than its actual value. By producing a large number of wafers, the firms’ asset in the production process will be seemingly high due to the wafers. Moreover, the fixed cost will remain the same while the variable cost will only rise to a reasonable amount considering the economies of large scale production. This is not an ethical way of boosting profits. It gives shareholders a false impression of the firms’ financial position. This may also act to attract more investors to invest in the firm due to its portrayed high profits, which is not true leading to great losses for investors. The company management can be sued for going against the ethical practices in business management. The losses of Pacific Electric are big due to too much fixed asset in the firm. For example, the 2000 employees will have to be paid whether they work or not due to the employment contract. The reduction of constructions will mean that most of the employees will be idol or not using their full potential at work due to the lesser work than usual. The plant and machine owned by the firm will also be contributing to the loss due to lower productivity and same rate of depreciation. Moreover, the idle plant and machinery will have a higher rate of depreciation than usual due to wear and tear. Therefore, due to under utilization of the fixed assets, the company is having big losses. The fixed cost can be converted to variable cost to reduce the loss associated with fixed cost; for example through review of employment contracts. This will see the firm have few permanent employees and some casual employees whose services are sought only when the firm requires them. The company can also reduce the amount of fixed asset owned through disposing some of its

Sunday, November 17, 2019

The Evil of Modern Technology Essay Example for Free

The Evil of Modern Technology Essay â€Å"Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. † Daniel 12:4 Here I am, sitting in a house heated by a gas/forced air furnace, illuminated by an incandescent bulb, writing down my thoughts on a computer screen, accessing the internet by a wireless connection and weighing in against modern technology. I will be the first to tell you, however, that I don’t want to go back to the way it was, even a few decades ago, when I shivered over a lone heat register in the kitchen, pounded out my writing assignments on an ancient typewriter with a faded ribbon, waiting for my water to boil on a gas stove and my cinnamon toast to bake in the oven. Daily life has been so revolutionized by a steady progression of technological improvements that few of us can imagine living any other way. Conveniences have become such necessities that anyone who has no microwave, cell phone or digital alarm clock is considered deprived. Man’s inventive genius continues to prolifically breed new technologies, and with each new technology, a cottage industry springs up to feed, clothe and shelter it. Computers have generated software, music, movies, photo-shopping and enough peripheral gadgetry to fill a catalog. With the cell phone came personal ringers, phone cameras, text messaging, GPS capabilities, internet access, ebooks, and on and on. Automobiles can now do much more than transport passengers. They can pamper, comfort, entertain, advise, warn and tell drivers how to get to their destination. We now foresee the day when we won’t even have to steer the machine down the highway. There seems to be no end to our fertile imaginations. But I am haunted by the words of an old evangelist. He said, â€Å"Man will never hold out long enough morally to do what he wants to do scientifically. Even as we mount up to the heavens in the space age, we mire down in the mud of sin and shame. † I see this chilling prediction coming true before our very eyes and ears in the twenty-first century. Our heads cannot out-smart our hearts. Something is insanely wrong with all of this progress. Not only have promises of utopia not materialized for the bulk of civilization, in many cases we have regressed back to prehistoric levels. We have not eliminated murder; we have made murder easier. We have not eliminated theft; we have made stealing easier. We have not eliminated racism; we have made racism easier. We have not eliminated pornography; we have made pornography easier. Inherent within the new technologies we find all the old maladies. Good things undeniably come from our scientific and technological breakthroughs. Unfortunately, these developments have also been subverted for evil purposes. Indeed, the evil we have enabled may end up canceling out the good we have created in society at large. The most obvious example of this is nuclear technology. The fascinating capabilities of nuclear fission for energy also gave rise to the most destructive weapon ever invented. Regardless of how atomic weaponry is used—whether for defensive purposes or aggressive military action—the fact remains that it is used to kill and destroy. Other scientific discoveries have also been channeled into military uses, like rocketry, aerodynamics, fiber optics, laser beams, radar, modulated radio and television signals, satellites, etc. If it helps, we can make it hurt. If it heals, we can make it injure. If it does good, we can make it do bad. This position has been argued in philosophical terms as well. Regent University’s website on communication contains this paragraph: â€Å"Whether one accepts the neutrality of technology depends on one’s valuing philosophy—whether one tends toward the pragmatic and situational, or the absolute and authoritarian. Those who believe that technology is neutral argue that â€Å"guns don’t kill people, people do†, or that a knife can be used to â€Å"cook, kill, or cure. Those who believe the opposite counter with evidence that technology cannot be evaluated in a vacuum. Monsma (1986) argued for the â€Å"value-ladenness† of technology (chapter 3). He based his premise on two traits that he believed are common to all technological developments: (1) technological objects are unique; they are designed to function in a particular and limited way, and (2) technological objects are intertwined with their environment; they interact in unique ways with the rest of reality. † In medical science we can find an alarming example of the limits of technology. Jerome Groopman wrote an article in the New Yorker Magazine, August 11, 2008, entitled â€Å"Superbug: The new generation of resistant infections is almost impossible to treat. † He said, â€Å"In August, 2000, Dr. Roger Wetherbee, an infectious-disease expert at New York University’s Tisch Hospital, received a disturbing call from the hospital’s microbiology laboratory. At the time, Wetherbee was in charge of handling outbreaks of dangerous microbes in the hospital, and the laboratory had isolated a bacterium called Klebsiella pneumoniae from a patient in an intensive-care unit. It was literally resistant to every meaningful antibiotic that we had,† Wetherbee recalled recently. The microbe was sensitive only to a drug called colistin, which had been developed decades earlier and largely abandoned as a systemic treatment, because it can severely damage the kidneys. â€Å"So we had this report, and I looked at it and said to myself, ‘My God, this is an organism that basically we can’t treat. ’ † Much of the toxic social climate we experience today comes to us at the hands of modern technology. Who can dispute the widespread conviction that television has had a deleterious effect on culture? It is a waster of time, numbing minds and killing creativity. It has also piped pure filth from a godless and immoral Hollywood into the living rooms of the world. The radio has dispensed anarchy, vulgarity and corruption through the powerful medium of music, especially targeting adolescents and teenagers. In the last decade, pornography has spread wildly throughout the internet, victimizing viewers who would seldom or never come in contact with sexual perversion any other way. Amazingly, these same technologies have transmitted as much or more truth, virtue, goodness and love as they have depravity. How is this possible? Is technology, then, culpable? Innocent? Morally neutral? In The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962), Marshall McLuhan wrote, â€Å"The theme of this book is not that there is anything good or bad about print but that unconsciousness of the effect of any force is a disaster, especially a force that we have made ourselves† (p. 248). Regent University comments â€Å"Insert any technology for the word â€Å"print† and you realize that for McLuhan it is not the content that really matters. In this case it is not even the channel but rather our knowledge and understanding of the medium’s potential impact. † They then ask, â€Å"Is print an amoral technology? Can any technology be amoral? These are issues that must be addressed and answered before we can begin to develop a philosophical system to address the convergence of media and technology, and its impact on society. † I contend that communication technology has the greatest potential for evil of all the developments of modern science. This should not surprise us who are in the business of spreading the gospel. After all, Jesus commissioned the church to â€Å"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations. † The very means and methods used by the church to carry out the work of Christ has been co-opted by Satanic forces to destroy the gospel and spew corruption throughout the world. The advent of the online community was initially envisioned as a dynamic way to connect the inventive genius, the soaring imaginations and the scientific knowledge of individuals, groups, schools and cultures together, thus exponentially multiplying the positive impact they were making on the world. But in the parallel universe of evil, it was also appropriated by malevolent forces to connect with people who shared the same destructive designs. Roger Cohen expresses the same view in the New York Times column of March 10, 2008. â€Å"The main forces in the world today are the modernizing, barrier-breaking sweep of globalization and the tribal reaction to it, which lies in the assertion of religious, national, linguistic, racial or ethnic identity against the unifying technological tide. â€Å"Connection and fragmentation vie. The Internet opens worlds and minds, but also offers opinions to reinforce every prejudice. You’re never alone out there; some idiot will always back you. The online world doesn’t dissolve tribes. It gives them global reach. † The very internet I access to research my topics is simultaneously used to teach people to build bombs, incite hatred, instigate anarchy, commit fraud, buy and sell illicit drugs, learn witchcraft, poison minds and dismantle Christian traditions. More specifically, it provides a way for terrorist organizations to plot destructive acts, devise conspiracies, obtain funding for their violent activities and inspire each other’s dark causes. If this world is facing global chaos and apocalyptic demise, it will undoubtedly be facilitated by the technology now in existence or soon to be developed. Groups of people who otherwise had no way to unify and combine forces to wreak havoc upon the world now find it easy to locate each other and strengthen their hands. One only has to recall the tragedy of September 11, 2001 to know that cell phones and the internet aided nineteen terrorists to coordinate their diabolical plan. Without the assistance of technology, their deed would not have been possible or would have been infinitely more difficult to carry out. Technology may not be inherently evil, but neither is it inherently good. We are unforgivably naive to trust in scientific advances to spread the gospel or do the work of the church. Technology certainly will never be our savior. In fact, the future holocaust it will most assuredly precipitate may well eclipse any good that it has ever done for us. The best gifts to mankind do not come from himself, but from God. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. † James 1:17. This warning may find application at the local congregational level where churches are growing increasingly dependent upon technology for worship, singing, preaching and witnessing. But technology in the larger arena of the world needs to be viewed by the church as susp ect. It’s potential for evil means that it will never be the best friend of the church. Let us use it, work it and enjoy it. Let us also keep it at arms length, distant from our souls. We do not need computers, cell phones, radios, televisions, headphones, iPods, CD’s, DVD’s, satellites, telescopes or any other technological devices to have a meaningful relationship with God. Paul’s Mars Hill sermon said this, â€Å"That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being. † Acts 17:27-28. The greatest technology to ever come to man may be the glorified body that God has prepared for them that love him. How close will that body allow us to be to God in a physiological sense? I’m not sure, but I do know what the scripture says. â€Å"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. † 1 John 3:2. (NIV) That’s the technological advance that excites me more than any other. In an instant, all worldly innovations will be rendered obsolete. We must not sell ourselves short by losing our soul to earthly things.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Review of Research Paper on RNA in Mammalian Cells -- Biology

Review of Research Paper: Duplexes of 21-nucleotide RNAs mediate RNA interference in cultured mammalian cells Overview The significance of this experiment is that it shows how siRNA suppresses the expression of genes in different mammalian cells. It was known previous to the experiment that dsRNA can trigger apoptosis in cells- this is an automatic defense mechanism that mammalian cells use to protect against the dsRNA possessed by viruses. The dsRNA can cause RNA interference when it is taken into the cell by a transgene or a virus. The dsRNA is then cleaved by ribonuclease III enzyme into 21-22 nucleotide siRNA's. The siRNA's joins a nuclease complex to form an RNA-induced silencing complex. This complex then cleaves and degrades mRNA. The question was, could transfecting the cell directly with siRNA produce RNA interference? This experiment was performed to test whether siRNA's are capable of RNAi in mammalian cell cultures. (The idea to test gene silencing on mammalian cells sparked from a petunia-darkening experiment.) To do this they synthesized siRNA duplexes against genes that coded for sea pansies and two variants of firefly luciferases. Luciferase is used because it emits light so it's easy to see if the genes are turned on or off, and by what degree. The luciferase activities were recorded 20 hours after transfection and it was seen that the specific inhibition of luciferase was complete, which is similar to the results obtained for dsRNA. In mammalian cells where the reporter genes were more strongly expressed, the ability of the siRNA to completely suppress the gene was reduced. Background Information So, what's with all these petunia flowers anyways? Gene Suppression Within Plants Plant scientists ... ...nderstanding of the significance of genes. Primarily, by silencing a given gene of the genome using a transfected siRNA, geneticists can quantifiably study the properties of the gene and the allele it encodes. This knowledge can then be applied to the pharmaceutical industry to identify "druggable" gene targets. Plants RNAi can be used for multiple purposes in plants. Among the most notable, it can be used to control insect viral vectors and improve the tolerance to pests and stress so that crops do not need to be destroyed regularly by insecticides. It can also cure plants by potentially eliminating toxins and allergens. Finally, RNAi employment can create perfection by extending flowering and fruit setting periods. References Duplexes of 21-nucleotide RNAs mediate RNA interference in cultured mammalian cells published in Nature (Vol. 411, 24 May 2001).

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Adapting to Modern Society

Adapting to Modern Times Today, there are various radio stations that are broadcasted throughout Tanzania. However, from the 1950s until the mid-1990s, Radio Tanzania was the country’s sole station, consisting of music, poetry, drama, and speeches. There are currently more than 15,000 reels of these tapes that are sitting on the shelves of the BBC building in Dar es Salaam. Reviving the Radio Tanzania Archives is a project that has a goal of digitizing and preserving these tapes before they are destroyed.Throughout reading the booklet by the Heritage Project and after listening to the NPR segment, I noticed a common theme of indigenization of modernity. I argue that the project is using modern technology in order to preserve traditional ways. This topic has also been an important concept of the papers by Christen and Hodgson. In order to reach their goal, the people of the Tanzania Heritage project must use modern knowledge to convert the reel tapes into digital material. When they are able to make this conversion, they will be exemplifying the act of using modern ways in order to preserve traditions.The traditions that they are preserving refer to the history that is embedded in the forms of media that were broadcasted on the radio. According to the Heritage Project, Radio Tanzania was â€Å"both a key instrument of the state and public service, used as a tool for promoting unity and national pride through music† (booklet:8). The Radio represented more than just entertainment, it was involved in politics, and social relations as well. In the NPR segment, they state that the Radio was strictly Tanzanian, a station that was sung by and for the Tanzanian people.The station represents the purity of the Tanzanians without the influence from other institutions. In reproducing these tapes through digitization, people from all different parts of the world will be able to experience a part of the Tanzanian past. The restoration of them allows the Tanzania n tradition to live on indefinitely. Another important concern for the Heritage Project is for the future generations of Tanzania. The co-founder, Benson Rukantabula, hopes that â€Å"If we digitize the archives, they (younger generation) can know where they lost their way†(booklet:13).By using the modern technology to preserve the archives, the project hopes to inspire future generations to create music based on traditional values. King Kiki, one of the legends of the Radio Tanzania era, still plays to sold-out crowds weekly. Another artist of the radio, John Kitime also continues to play live shows throughout Tanzania. The fact that both of these men are still playing to live audience signifies how valuable the music still is. This type of music is also known as Swahili Jazz music, and it was the most popular form of Tanzanian music from the 1960s until the mid-1990s.One important feature of this type of music, according to the co-founder of the Tanzanian Heritage Project, is that you do not have to know the Swahili language to appreciate the music. The project believes in the universality of music, and how it crosses cultural barriers. If more of this music was available for people, then people would naturally begin to recognize the traditional rhythms and melodies of Tanzanian history. The broadcast of this music would increase the influence of traditional Tanzanian culture worldwide. The compact disc of the Warumungu women is also an example of the indigenization of modernity. The recorded songs define Warumungu women’s ancestral relations, their ongoing community status, and their continued relation to specific sets of country† (Christen:417). It is only with the compact disc, which is the product of modern society, that they are able to spread this music and their traditions internationally. To show the goal of reaching outside cultures, there is an insert that includes both English and Warumungu, in which the women voice their tradi tions, and explain their decision to put the disc into circulation.This insert gives a long history to the reader, and allows them an inside perspective of Warumungu history. Along with broadcasting nationally, this music is also recognized locally, and it is a central goal of the Warumungu women to create a new generation of â€Å"red-orcher women. † The disc was an important source of security for the Warumungu women, to ensure them that their younger generation would recognize and notice their ancestor’s traditions. In addition to the women’s desire to show their traditions to outside cultures and to their own younger generation, they were also aware of the economic benefit that the disc had for them.Nappanangka, a senior Warumungu women said that her â€Å"expectation is that the compact disc’s circulation will increase her power as a ‘red-orcher woman’ while also helping her pay for a new Toyota Land Cruiser† (Christen:424). With the success of the compact disc, the women were hoping for recognition as well as some economic benefit; both of which would help their society. In conclusion, the Warumungu women used the compact disc in order to protect their future generations and to preserve their own customs.The Maasai culture has experienced rapid change throughout its history. In the past, the Maasai culture was ignored because of its primitive ways. Recently, since the tourism industry has become a significant business, the Tanzanian nation-state officials have begun to recognize the Maasai, and use their authentic lifestyle to attract tourists. The Maasai have used this recognition â€Å"to their own advantage, linking current efforts to protect their lands and livelihoods and access development resources to global campaigns for the rights of indigenous peoples†(Hodgson:135).Their cultural lifestyle is being preserved due to the modern theme of tourism. In addition, the Maasai culture has experienced a shifting of roles of masculinities over many years. Traditionally, the Maasai culture has been associated with pastoralism and a dominant warrior-like masculinity. In the past, when a Maasai adopted certain forms of modernity, they were called â€Å"Ormeek†, which was associated with weakness and ignorance. However, the word Ormeek now takes on a more positive meaning and is valued and respected.Most of the Maasai community has learned that education is a key to the future, and Maasai men â€Å"want to educate all of their children so that they can survive in what they perceive as a rapidly changing world† (Hodgson:140). With this education, the Maasai are able to get jobs in the government, and are able to have a voice for the Maasai people. The older generation depends on the younger generation to take care of them, because of the great power that education has in their society. However, although they are adopting these new ways, many of the Maasai people continue to incorporate traditional ways into their daily routines.The social relations of the Maasai culture have basically remained the same, although education has been a key component that has been added. In conclusion, while adapting to modern ways, the Maasai culture has still maintained many of their traditional values, while also using newfound forms of education to provide new advancements for their culture. Reviving the Radio Tanzania Archives is a project with a goal much like that of the Warumungu women. Although the world is advancing, they are trying to preserve their traditions, and make them available worldwide. They do not want to lose heir past due to changing society; they want to recreate it so it can help future generations and inspire them. The Maasai also recognize that they are living in a changing world, and they are beginning to use new forms of education in order to promote their culture to outsiders. All three pieces of work share a commonality of trying to prese rve traditional means by using modern technology. Even though they are aware the world around them is unpredictable, they are not ready to forget their traditions, and step in line with modern times completely. They will use modern means in order to preserve the traditions that they wish to protect.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Accountable Care Organizations, Bundled Payments, and Health Reform Essay

With the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in March 2010, health care reform has become the law. The legislation will extend health care coverage to more citizens, stabilize health insurance markets, enhance regulation and consumer protection, and improve the affordability and quality of health care in the United States. Changes in payment system of health care proposed by PPACA have led to the development of Accountable Care Organization (ACO). This paper will address how ACOs and the bundled payments system will impact the future of health care. See more: Strategic Management Process Essay The ACO is a health care organization which provides accountability for quality, cost, and care for medical beneficiaries with single entity providers that are responsible for delivering care. The ACO-model builds on the Medicare Physician Group Practice Demonstration and the Medicare Health Care Quality Demonstration, established by the Medicare Prescription Drugs Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003. Under the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) released new rules that benefit doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers of better care for Medicare patients through ACOs on March 31, 2011(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2001). According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) administrator Donald Berwick, MD, â€Å"An ACO will be rewarded for providing better care and investing in the health and lives of patients. ACOs are not just a new way to pay for care but a new model for the organization and delivery of care† (Penton Media., 2011). The new model, which is called the â€Å"Pioneer Accountable Care Organization,† is to improve the quality of care for Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) beneficiaries  (Medicare Parts A and B) and reduce unnecessary costs through establishing a shared savings program, which promotes accountability for Medicare FFS beneficiaries. It requires coordinating care for services provided under Medicare FFS and encourages investments in infrastructure, and it redesigns care processes. Regarding the differences, the Pioneer ACO payment model incorporates a population-based payment in the third year of the ACO’s Participation Agreement. This population-based payment will replace fifty percent of the FFS payments (McDermott & Emery, 2011). The Pioneer ACO model is estimated to save Medicare as much as $430 million over three years by coordinating with private payers to reduce costs for Medicare beneficiaries and improve health outcomes. An ACO may engage in either a Shared Savings Program or in the Pioneer ACO model. In addition, the Pioneer ACO model is separated from the Medicare Shared Savings Program for Medicare beneficiaries by the Advance Payment Initiative (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center, 2011). ACOs require the ability to manage cost and quality for patients across the continued extent of care and across different associational settings. They also require the capability to plan budgets and resources needed to allocate payments, and the commensurable size of primary care providers for Medicare patients’ populations assigned to the ACOs (at least 5,000 Medicare or 15,000 commercial patients). According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, doctors Shortell and Casalino recommend a three-tiered system of qualification for ACOs (Shortell, S. and Casalino, L., 2010). The tiers will be based on the degree of financial risk acceptable for ACOs and the degree of financial rewards that can be completed by performance targets. In the first tier, ACOs will receive FFS payment with shared savings for providing quality care at lower than the expenditure targets. In the second tier, ACOs will receive bundled payments and episode of care based payments for managing costs and achieving benchmarks. They will be accountable for care that meets these criteria. In the third tier, ACOs will receive partial and global capitation payments. Under a three tiered structure, ACO providers will submit a three-year plan to the HHS or CMS for achieving qualification status at the varied levels. The U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the â€Å"Bundling Payment for Care Improvement Initiative† to coordinate payments for services delivered across an episode of care, such as a cardiac bypass or a hip replacement, on August 23, 2011 (Vendome Group, LLC, 2011). The definition of bundled payments refers to a single payment for all care related to an entire treatment or condition. Bundled payments, also called episode-base payments or case-rate payments are considered as a mechanism for improving both cost and quality, such as currently exist with Geisinger Proven Care and the Prometheus Payment system (Dark,Cedric., 2011). Bundled Payments do benefit physicians and hospitals if patients complete their medical treatments within a certain time period because it will save the physicians and hospitals additional costs. However, it is a disadvantage for physicians and hospitals if the treatment takes longer than the traditional time because it will cost more money to care for patients. Unfortunately, its emphasis is less about improving care and more about reducing the financing for medical care (Gorman Health Group Blog, 2011). This means hospitals, physicians, and other practitioners will have to take their own approach to improving the delivery of healthcare, which should benefit Medicare patients. The goal of the initiative is to increase efficiency of care, improve quality of care, and lower costs. This initiative consists of four different bundled payment models. The first three bundled payment models are retrospective payment arrangements based on patients’ historical data. However, the fourth model is proposed for the future. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) make a single bundled payment to the hospital for all services during inpatient stays for hospitals, physicians, and other medical professional specialists. In the first model, the episode of care is the length of time the inpatient stays in the acute care hospital. Medicare pays the hospital a discounted payment based on the payment rates established under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS), which starts at zero percent for the first six months and then rises to a minimum of two percent in the third year, based on the IPPS. Physicians are paid under the Medicare Physician  Fee Schedule. Hospitals and physicians are to share in any costs. This model benefits Medicare patients by reducing their costs, but not hospitals and physicians because they must share in any expenditures. The second model, which is also based on IPPS, is different from the first model because it includes inpatient and post-acute care from either 30 or 90 days following discharge. This bundled payment includes physicians’ services, post-acute care, readmissions, and other related services, which can be clinical laboratory services, medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, other supplies, and Part B drugs. The minimum discount is three percent for the first 30 to 90 days after discharge and two percent for more than 90 days. The Medicare enrollee is to share the costs if the total payments are less than the target price. However, the provider will be responsible for payment coverage if the total payments exceed the target costs. This model uses an incentive discount for Medicare patients to spend less time in rehabilitation versus the first model which has no early rehabilitation discount. However, this model does not give an advantage to hospitals and physicians because it encourages Medicare patients to leave medical services sooner. The third model begins at discharge from an acute facility if less than 30 days are spent in rehabilitation. These bundled payments are the same as the second model with the exception of a discounted rate, which Medicare enrollees are required to set up instead of CMS, since CMS has not indicated an expected discount for medical service (Becker, Epstein & Green, P.C, 2011). In the fourth model, which is the only perspective model, hospitals will receive a single bundled payment from CMS that covers all medical services by hospital, physicians, and other medical professional specialists. The minimum discount will be three percent of the estimated total costs for the episode care (Proskauer Rose, 2011). The bundled payments are more hospital-centric than ACOs’ program. However, ACOs’ focus will be on how hospitals and physicians will share reimbursements in a post-fee-for-service payment system. Therefore, Medicare beneficiaries will benefit the most but hospitals and physicians will not. Future ACOs include: Integrated Delivery Systems, Multispecialty Group Practice (MSGP), Hospital Medical Staff Organization (HMSO), Physician-Hospital Organizations (PHO), Interdependent Practice Organization (IPO), and the Health Plan Provider Organization or Network (Charles DeShazer, 2011). However, most physicians work in very small practices that would not likely have the resources to develop the capacities to be an ACO. In an ACO-based health care organization, these small practices would either merge into new or already existing specialty group practice, or would engage in an ACO that facilitates clinical integration among small practices. Many physicians may still prefer smaller practices, and under comprehensive healthcare reform may continue to exist. In ACOs completely based on the quality and cost of care, the market may decide whether virtually integrated systems can succeed in competition with systems where physicians are merged into large group practices. Moreover, specialist physicians are creating medium sized or even larger single specialized groups. However, a single specialty group cannot serve as an ACO for full patients care but can be an essential element of an ACO or can be a crucial source of medical care through referrals. In Integrated delivery systems (IDS), medical care is coordinated and reimbursed within the system to make patient care more efficient while improving access to and the quality of the care received. Some examples are: Cleveland Clinic, Henry Ford Health System, Mayo Clinic, Scott & White Clinic, and so on. However, a recent report indicates that challenges may still remain. IDS face lack of compensation from health insurance providers for care coordination services as well as difficulties in finding specialty care, such as mental health care and changes in management and physician cultures in adopting the new organization (United States Government Accountability Office, 2011). The promising advantages of the multispecialty group practice (MSGP) model were recognized in 1932. As stated in the Physician’s Advocate(2008), â€Å"These advantages include having the resources to redesign care processes, take advantage of economies of scale to implement electronic medical records, form health care teams, obtain database feedback on performance gaps, and make the changes needed to improve care† (Physician’s Advocate, 2008). Some evidence indicates that multispecialty group practices do make the most of recommended care management processes like electronic information technology, as well as sharing in quality improvement medical services. Therefore, MSGPs provide better quality care for preventive measures involving screening tests and diabetes management than smaller forms of practices. Moreover, studies also indicate lower Medicare spending on patients related to multispecialty or hospital associated groups than other patients. However, it is unlikely that MSGPs will become the major organization form in the United States health care system since it is so expensive to implement. HMSO, more than 800,000 physicians that currently practice in the United States are members of hospital medical staffs (Carroll, 2011). The hospital medical staff organization can serve as ACOs for either inpatient or outpatient care. Studies indicate that most physicians have primary relationships with a single hospital to form a stronger partnership entity between physicians and their primary hospital (Fisher and et al., 2006). Hospitals have resources to support adopting electronic medical records (EMR), provide performance and accountability data, and assist quality improvement support for physicians. Bundled payments for specific medical conditions or episodes of sickness, such as a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), hip or knee replacement (Massachusetts Medical Society, 2008) will provide incentives for hospitals and physicians to work together to reduce Medicare costs (Welch, WP and ME Miller, 1994). This model will have future advantages for chronic illness treatment as we ll as episodes of care since physicians and hospitals work together closely to monitor patients’ long term care. However, the HMSOs encounter challenges including leadership of the diverse cultures of hospitals and physicians and legal restrictions to obtain sharing (Primary Care Associates., 2008). An alternative of the MSGP model is the PHO. Hospitals and physicians work together to ensure cost-effective and steady system delivery of medical services and the provisions of the health care services to the patients. There are approximately one thousand PHOs in the United States and most are managed organizations with the goals of achieving and managing the quality  and cost of care (Nixon Peabody LLP., 2010). Under the Affordable Care Act, the contracting PHO model can emerge into an entity that will manage the quality and cost of care. Without meeting the needs of all physicians, this model has the advantage and the incentive of improving performance. With the HMSOs, the hospital will provide resources for EMR, performance reporting, quality improvement, and process management support. However, PHOs must be clinically integrated to avoid anti-trust laws (Casalino, Lawrence P., 2006). A fifth model is the Interdependent Practice Organization (IPO), which is an advancement for those physicians who practice in small organizations or who do not wish to be part of larger organizations for delivering care. The interdependent practice organization is based on an association of physicians in numerous independent practices. IPOs are capable of providing high quality, better care, although most of these organizations are loosely organized (Rittenhouse and et al., 2004). The future IPO model requires strong leadership, administration, and enough patients across individual practices to support financing of technology infrastructure and management systems. IPO models might be attractive to physicians practicing in rural areas. With given sufficient incentives, existing IPOs can became independent organizations by strengthening their management structure and developing a solid shared culture of performance improvement. These requirements are challenges since IPOs are composed of many small practices. The last model, the Health Plan-Provider Organization or Network (HPPO/HPPN) is similar to the IPO. It is based on an association of independent physician practices. The health plan will be the major financial assets to encourage a more cost-effective health care delivery system. Many have capabilities in disease management, electronic information technology implementation, and quality improvement entities that can be used effectively in collaboration with physicians. Some physician practices may participate with health plans rather than local hospitals. Health plans can be part of a smaller physician’s practice and become the unit of accountability of performance. However, the success of this model will depend on an individual physician’s leadership (Shortell and et al., 2008). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released final rules and new opportunities for financial support for doctors, hospitals, and health care providers to work together to improve the care of Medicare patients by adopting ACOs on October 20, 2011. The new rules provide for a new voluntary Medicare Shared Savings Program. Providers will be able to participate in an ACO and share in the savings with Medicare. ACOs will reward providers for reducing the costs and meeting quality measures, such as reducing hospital readmissions or emergency room visits. Providers will begin to share in savings based on how they perform in thirty-three quality measurements in the second and third performance years. Medicare beneficiaries will be a part of the ACO system when they form. Moreover, community health centers and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) will be allowed to participate in the ACO programs (Galewitz, Phil and Jenny Gold., 2011). To appeal to providers, CMS will provide physician-owned and rural providers early access to the expected saving of up to $170 million dollars, so providers can start ACOs right away. At the same time, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice issued the entire final rules that will allow providers to participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. In addition, the final rules will no longer require a mandatory antitrust review for collaborations as a condition of entry into Shared Saving Program (Department of Justice, 2011). Electronic health record (EHR) usage is no longer a condition of participation to prompt more RHCs and other programs to join (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center, 2011). Moreover, CMS will assist agencies in monitoring the care and quality of performance of ACOs. The program will save up to $940 million dollars over four years (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2001). Patients or Medicare beneficiaries are encouraged to select an ACO as their medical center. ACOs can be used for result-based payments, public report purposes, and claim-based payments which retrospectively allow patients to join who have not adopted ACOs. This advances patients’ choices and encourages ACOs to coordinate their patients’ care to treat patients equally. Because physicians are not required to be part of ACOs, physicians  can still be paid with the Shared Saving Programs used by Medicare, Medicaid, and other commercial health plans. They also can be eligible to achieve quality-based rewards. In addition, physicians and hospitals that are part of ACOs can have both obtainable rewards for improving quality and controlling costs; however, there is more inevitable risk. Furthermore, bundled payments for certain services and procedures, using a combination of capitation, result-based payments, and readmissions, gain sharing between physicians and hospitals tha t can be adopted within ACOs. Physicians also can benefit from the assistance that ACOs can provide with electronic health records and with implementation of established processes to improve quality and efficiency. Health reform will be needed in laws and regulations for the Stark law, anti-kickback statuses, fraud and abuse, anti-trusts, scope of practices, and the corporate practice of medicine. However, the final rules were relaxed and established waivers for the physicians’ self-referral law, the federal anti-kickback status, and certain penalties to encourage the participation in the Medicare Shared Saving Program and the Advance Payment Initiative (FierceHealthcare, 2011). Therefore, more medical providers will be regulated by the programs. In the past, healthcare leadership has relied on organizational structure to deliver higher quality at lower costs, which has not succeeded in improving neither efficiency nor performance. In fact, they have increased the problems that they intended to address. Neither diagnostic related groups (DRG) nor Health Managed Organizations created a shared achievement for all parties. Provider profit motivation lacked the pressure of medical beneficiaries to protect quality while minimizing costs. While each DRG and resource based relative-value unit encouraged providers to focus on provision without interventions, HMOs and other managed providers encouraged providers to minimize intervention, regardless of whether managing could delay the quality or completeness of patient care (Numberof, 2011). Ignoring the minimal role that patient demand plays in driving market completion among providers, the current and past medical health care system has decreased accountability for quality of medical care. ACOs were established to fix the inadequate accountability for wasteful  spending and quality of patient care. The PPACA provisions are consumer based solutions; however, they do not allow patients to have fully informed choices about their coverage and medical care (Numberof, 2011). Employers, who contract with insurers, apply with providers; therefore, accomplishment is limited. However, many physicians are reluctant to assume accountability for patient outcomes, since they admit that outcome is directly under the behavioral control of the patient. Furthermore, it seems that provider contracts could be integrated to a successful ACO in a shared savings program; providers continue to receive funding for each service they perform. Even with the possibility of a bonus from shared-savings, maintaining the FFS system boosts providers into continuing delivering an excess of services. In addition, ACOs, which are a single untested model, are largely hospital based. Eligibility requirements are larger and more involved for ACO organizations. Larger organizations are able to consolidate their markets; however, this consolidation may result in less competition. Therefore, large delivery organizations may become too big to fail but will increase advantages for patients. Without competition, the organizations might have little incentive to reduce the costs or improve quality of medical care. Enduring health reform has to cover the uninsured without exception or conditions. As Victor Fuchs, professor at Stanford University mentions â€Å"It [Enduring health reform] must improve efficiency in medical practice by providing physicians with the information, infrastructure, and incentive they need to deliver cost effective care† (Fuchs, 2010). Information will come from the electronic health records, a process that will be amped up by the HITECH Act, which is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Leyva, Carlos and Deborah Leyva, 2009). Electronic health records will benefit providers with more accurate real-time data on patients as well as provide analyses on drug responses and provide support to improve the quality of medical care. Health information Exchange (HIE) can enhance information from a wide databases and allow that information to be shared through various technology by providers. This allows related patient information to be shared withi n EMR with the provider who needs that information (Southern New Hampshire Health System, 2011). Furthermore, the  Patients Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) will offer physicians and patients new information of varied medical technology. Atul Grover, chief advocacy officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges, notes â€Å"It will be an evidence synthesis that really considers different populations and different diseases and tries to get more information to clinicians as they go about doing their daily work† (Marathon Medical Communications, Inc, 2010). The integration of the PCORI will enhance information so that physicians and patients can choose the appropriate test and treatment based on the patients’ condition. Moreover, infrastructure reform will enhance horizontal collocation within providers and monitor patients consistently. Health care reform strengthens greater integration through the redesign of delivery systems such as medical homes and ACOs for physicians. Recent studies suggest that better coordination of care can reduce readmission rates for major chronic sicknesses (Hernandez, AF, 2011). In addition, the PPACA will give incentives for hospitals to support proven practices that essentially reduce their rates (Foster, 2010). Likewise, the PPACA’s pilot program involving bundling payments will bring physicians and hospitals an incentive to allocate care for patients with chronic illnesses. Most essentially, PPACA admits that health reform that brings ACOs as the delivery system is an ongoing process requiring continuous adjustment. The PCORI will develop new medical tests, drugs, and other treatment that will provide continuously updated information for physicians and patients. Over the next decade, similarly, the Innovation Center in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid will be establishing and evaluating new policies and programs that will enhance the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries and reduce costs. PPACA not only will expand health care coverage to millions of Americans but also will enact many policies to reduce the amount of costs for health care by bringing ACOs as the delivery system, which will reduce the costs of health care over time. By enacting ACOs as a Primary Care Provider (PCP), PPACA provides the most effective medical care support possible. Moreover, by adopting the bundled payment approach, physicians, hospitals, and other providers will be able to reduce the costs for Medicare beneficiaries.  Therefore, the public should embrace the new health care proposal to reduce their costs and improve the quality of their medical care. References Becker, Epstein & Green, P.C (2011) â€Å"HEALTH REFORM: CMS Innovation Center Announces Four Models in Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative,† Retrieved from http://www.ebglaw.com/showclientalert.aspx?Show=14876 Carroll, Aaron. (2011, June 3). â€Å"Meme-busting: Doctors are all leaving Canada to practice in the U.S.,† Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/meme-busting-doctors-are-all-leaving-canada-to-practice-in-the-us/2011/06/03/AGVdAuHH_blog.html Casalino, Lawrence P. (2006) â€Å"The Federal Trade Commission, Clinical Integration, and the Organization of Physician Practice,† Journal of Health Policy, Politics, and Law, Retrieved from http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/aco/2006jhppl.pdf Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center (2011) â€Å"Pioneer ACO Application,† Retrieved from http://innovations.cms.gov/areas-of-focus/seamless-and-coordinated-care-models/pioneer-aco-application/index.html Center for Med icare and Medicaid Innovation Center (2011) â€Å"final ACO rule,† Retrieved from http://www.cms.gov/aco/downloads/Appendix-ACO-Table.pdf Department of Justice, the Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (2011) â€Å"Background Documents,† Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/health_care/276458.pdf DeShazer, Charles. (2011) â€Å"Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Tutorial,† Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/cdeshazer/accountable-care-organization-aco-tutorial Dark, Cedric (2011) â€Å"Quality over Quantity: Reforming Payment,† Retrieved from http://www.policyprescriptions.org/?p=2066 FierceHealthcare, (2011) â€Å"CMS, OIG to relax self-referral, anti-kickback laws with ACO waivers,† Retrieved from http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/cms-oig-relax-self-referral-anti-kickback-laws-aco-waivers/2011-10-21 Foster, David. (2010) â€Å"Healthcare Reform: Pending Changes to Reimbursement for 30-Day Readmission,† Retrieved from http://thomsonreuters.com/content/healthcare/pdf/pending_changes_reimbursements Fuchs, Victor (2010) â€Å"Health Care Reform,† Retrieved from http://siepr.stanford.edu/system/files/shared/Health_care_document.pdf