Friday, May 31, 2019

China’s Nuclear Program :: Asian Studies Foreign Policy

Chinas Nuclear ProgramIntroduction Chinas nuclear weapons computer program has always been unique among the programs of the five official nuclear weapons states recognized by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. For a variety of economic, political, and cultural reasons, the Chinese program has had a very different trajectory of development, with different objectives, than those of the other major powers nuclear weapons and missile programs. Chinas nuclear and ballistic missile programs are and have historically been based on the objective of maintaining a level of nuclear deterrence just great enough to preclude any threats by the nuclear superintendent powers. By concentrating on building and maintaining a minimum level of effective deterrence, China can ensure its security while concentrating the maximum amount of its getable resources on much more pressing issues, such as economic development. As a developing country, China did not and does not have the resources to argue as a third superpower in the Cold War world. The Chinese, who for many of the years before 1978 could hardly afford to feed their own people, exclusively could not afford to spend huge sums of money in a costly arms race which they were al most(prenominal) certain to lose. Limited deterrence offered the most efficient solution - just enough capability to reap the security benefits of deterrence while avoiding the costs of producing, maintaining and storing huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Why nuclear? The Chinese have always been afraid of invasion of their territory - one of the first projects of the Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di, the first ruler of a united China, was the construction of a Brobdingnagian Great Wall to keep out nomadic barbarian raiders from Inner Asia...in 200 BC. As a rich agrarian empire, and the most populous state in the world, China has presented a rich target for outsiders for thousands of years, from the Xiongnu of Christs time to Genghis Khan, to Wes tern imperialists and Japanese warlords. The Chinese Communist leadership which came to power in 1949 after a lengthy and bloody civil war grew up during a very tumultuous period in Chinese history. They witnessed the decline of Chinese power within Asia and over its own territory, the fall of the imperial government which had governed China on and off for more than 2000 years, and the encroaching western imperialist powers who began to declare spheres of influence with the unequal treaties system.

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Graduation Speech: Who Are We? :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

We argon the Class of 2012. But who argon we really? In truth we are nobody but ourselves. We are the sons and daughters of baby-boomers, farmers, veterans, ex-hippies and civil righters. We have slid out of Generation X into our own. Appropriately coined Generation Y, we are the ones who ask for faster, longer, safer, fairer and better. Some of our questions include Why are people starving when we have more than enough food? Why do we have nuclear weapons if we arent going to use them? Why is the dope age 18 and the drinking age 21? Why are drive-through liquor stores legal when drinking and driving is not? Why dont you like my music? Why cant I have a faster computer? Why did the CIA put top secret culture in a laptop anyway? And why does Mr. Sharples sing show tunes when he walks down the hall? These questions, and many others, will define not solely ourselves, but the world from which we get the answers. Despite historys trend of world conflict, my class has never known a war where military overhaul was automatic. We now join the services for an education, not necessarily to fight. We have never felt the impact of widespread, deep-seated injustice and discontent. Oh, we may complain about the president, and notice individual cases of prejudice, but we dont feel as if the problem is getting worse. We have never known the terror of possible nuclear war. The raw War ended before we could understand what it was about. We have not suffered famine, global catastrophe or unpreventable, epidemic diseases. Even AIDS, which we have learned how to avoid, is being trounce back, slowly but surely. However, we are close enough to those in age who have experienced these trials. We are close enough through communication advances to memorize them happening in poorer countries around the world. Close enough to ask why it happened, and how we can prevent it from happening again. We are a diverse group, and accept that sort whole-heartedly. We all have our own belief s. We hail from the East Coast, the West Coast and all stops in-between infinity and beyond. We are actors, artists, writers and musicians. Some are mechanics, carpenters, engineers and programmers. We are runners, jumpers, hitters, throwers, kickers and catchers. And some are designers, cashiers, clerks and chefs. We are doctors, vets, entrepreneurs and therapists.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Henry ford :: essays research papers

THE LIFE OF HENRY FORD     Henry ford was born July 30, 1863. He was the origin child out of six born to William and Mary Ford. He grew up on a big farm in Dearborn, Michigan. He went to school in a one room building and did many chores every day after he got home. He did not comparable farm chores. He did like to work on mechanical things. When he was 16, he left home to move to Detroit. He got a job there working on machinery. trio years later he went back home and began to work on repairing steam engines. In 1888, he married Clara and ran a sawmill to make money.     In 1891, Henry Ford began working for Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit. He was promoted to Chief direct in 1893. He began to experiment on internal flame engines on his own time at home. In 1896, he built his own vehicle that moved on its own called the Quadricycle. He was not the first-year to make a machine that ran on gasoline by itself.       In 1903, the Ford Motor Company was created. He became the Vice President and the Chief Engineer of the corporation. There were other people who helped run the business and give money to it. The company only made a few cars a day. In 1908, he made the Model T. It was reliable and did not cost a disperse. It was easy to drive and handle on rough roads. It was a huge success.     By 1918, or so half of all the cars in America were Model Ts. In 1910, in Highland, Michigan, Mr. Ford built another plant to make a lot more of these cars. In 1913, he created the first true

Teens And Smoking Essay -- essays research papers

Teens and SmokingAbstractCigarette take in is of interest to the subject field Institute on Drug Abuse bothbecause of the public health problems associated with this represent of substanceabuse and because this behavior represents a prototypic dependence process. Inthe past few years the government has made every effort to evanesce the masses, inan attempt to curb the exploitation of tobbacco use, and its acceptance amongAmericas Youngsters. However, cigarette smoking among adolescents is on therise.The premise that the behavior of adolescents is influenced by the behavior oftheir parents is central to many considerations of health and social behavior(Ausubel, Montemayor, & Svajiian, 1977 Bandura & Walters, 1963). Many youngpeople between 10-18 years of age experiment with smoking, smoking is apersonal choice, and usually exploratory in nature. Typically, it takes placein rather young people and is largely dependent on first, the availability ofopportunity to engage in t he behavior, second, having a fairly high degree ofcuriosity about the effects of the behavior third, in finding it a way ofexpressing either conformity to the behavior or others (such as parents, oldersiblings or peers), forth, as in "Miller and Dollars" explanation ofObservational Learning, The Copying behavior effect.This research is to examine the effects of parental smoking (behavior), has, onthe decision of teens to smoke cigarettes. Due to prior studies using globalmeasures that may or may not include South Eastern normality Carolina. TheFayetteville/Fort Bragg area was chosen for this study to pinpoint the effectsin this particular locale. Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base have a verydiverse socieo-economic and culturally diverse population, which will have apositive effect on randomness of sample selection. With this association inmind, this researcher is interested in knowing if there is a relationship ofParental influence on Teen Smoking within this Military Co mmunity.Introduction     The prevalence of cigarette smoking among young teenagers is a growingproblem in the United States, many young people between the ages of 10-18 areexperimenting with tobacco. During the 1040s and 50s smoking was prevalent andsocially acceptable. Movie stars, sports heroes, and celebrities appeared incigarette advertisements that ... ...ribution statistics will beused to identify significant differences between sub samples.References     Bauman, K. E., Foshee, V. A., Linzer, M. A., Koch, G. G. (1990).Effect of parental smoking classification on the association between parentaland adolescent smoking. Addictive-behaviors, 15,(5), 413-422.     Horevitz, M. J., (1985). Disasters and psychological responses tostress. Psychiatric Annals, 15, 161-167.     Hu, F. B. Flak, B. R., Hedeker, D. (1995). The inlfuence of friendsand parental smoking on adolescent smoking behavior. Journal of Applied heartyPsychology, v4 (3), 215-225.     Jessor, R. (1993). Successful adolescent development among high-risksettings, American Psychologist, 48, 117-126.     Johnston, L., OMalley, P., Bachman, J. (1988). Drug use amongAmerican high school students, College students and other young adults.National trends through 1991. National Institute on Drug Abuse.     Research Monograph Series, (1979). Cigarette Smoking as a dependenceProcess. National Institute on Drug Abuse. 23

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Muhammad Ali - The Greatest :: Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr

In the summer of 1960, a young composition stood on a podium wearing a gold medal around his neck, while the Star Spangled Banner played. A champion stood, not knowing the nations view on athletes forever. It was the first glimpse for the earth who would come to be known as the greatest.Cassius Marcellus corpse Jr. was born in Louisville, Kentucky on January 17, 1942. Young Clay show boxing in 1954 after his bike was taken at the Louisville Home Show. He reported the theft to local police officer, Joe Martin, and told him he would beat up whoever stole the bike. Martin laughed at the idea of such a small boy beating someone up, so he decided to train Clay. Martin, who also taught boxing to local youth at the Columbia Gym, taught the 89-pound Clay how to box during his teenage years. From that day on, Clay would show up every day at the gym resembling clockwork working on his skills.By 1958, Clay had dropped out of high school with several amateur boxing titles, and by 1960, he was preparing to compete in the Olympics. In the gold-medal match for the light-heavyweight division, Clay faced Polish southpaw Zbigniew Pietrzykowski, and won the gold in three rounds. After the Olympics, Clay received a contract from the Louisville Sponsoring chemical group for $333 a month, plus a $10,000 signing bonus.With no more money problems to worry about, Clay had more time to consider what was going on in the world around him. He paid heavy attention to the Civil Rights Movement and he wanted to be part of it. But it was very troublesome for a young black man to be heard in the early 1960s. The only group giving a voice to the common man was the Nation of Islam. In 1962, Clay drove to Detroit to hear the Nation of Islams leader, the honorable Elijah Muhammad, speak. He also met someone who would greatly influence his life, a man named Malcolm X.Clay studied Xs teachings of Islam, but more so, Clay agreed with Xs view on how blacks were treated in the unify States. Bo th Clay and X believed in complete in total segregation between blacks and whites living in America. Im no troublemaker. I dont believe in forced integration. I know where I belong. Im not going to force myself into anybodys house. Clay also advocated Xs criticism on the non-violent movement in the southern states.

Muhammad Ali - The Greatest :: Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr

In the summer of 1960, a young man stood on a podium wearing a gold medal around his neck, while the Star Spangled Banner played. A champion stood, not knowing the communitys view on athletes forever. It was the first glimpse for the man who would come to be known as the greatest.Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born in Louisville, Kentucky on January 17, 1942. Young Clay found boxing in 1954 after his bike was stolen at the Louisville Home Show. He reported the theft to local police officer, Joe Martin, and told him he would beat up whoever stole the bike. Martin laughed at the idea of such a small boy beating someone up, so he decided to check up on Clay. Martin, who also taught boxing to local youth at the Columbia Gym, taught the 89-pound Clay how to box during his teenage years. From that mean solar day on, Clay would show up every day at the gym like clockwork working on his skills.By 1958, Clay had dropped out of high school with several amateur boxing titles, and by 1960, h e was preparing to compete in the Olympics. In the gold-medal match for the light-heavyweight division, Clay faced Polish southpaw Zbigniew Pietrzykowski, and won the gold in three rounds. After the Olympics, Clay receive a contract from the Louisville Sponsoring Group for $333 a month, plus a $10,000 signing bonus.With no more money problems to worry about, Clay had more time to aim what was going on in the world around him. He paid heavy attention to the Civil Rights Movement and he wanted to be representative of it. But it was very difficult for a young black man to be heard in the early 1960s. The only group giving a voice to the common man was the Nation of Islam. In 1962, Clay drove to Detroit to hear the Nation of Islams leader, the honorable Elijah Muhammad, speak. He also met someone who would greatly influence his life, a man named Malcolm X.Clay studied Xs teachings of Islam, but more so, Clay agreed with Xs view on how blacks were treated in the United States. Both C lay and X believed in complete in total segregation between blacks and whites living in America. Im no troublemaker. I dont believe in forced integration. I know where I belong. Im not going to force myself into anybodys house. Clay also advocated Xs criticism on the non-violent movement in the southern states.

Monday, May 27, 2019

If I Could Tell You Essay Essay

sentenceTime, said to be eternal, possess neither a beginning nor an end. Yet however there is a fixation on being competent to measure it in years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. Trying to save time with new technology, manage time with multi-tasking activities. All in the hopes of giving meanings to the past, present and future. The past is fit to been envisionn but non changed, today is in the present yet still unpredictable, and tomorrow is not guaranteed. If I Could Tell You by W. H.Auden is a villanelle much akin others using rhyme, repetition, and mensuration, that revolve around the main idea of the persistence time and its unforeseeable nature. The rhyming of the alternating ending lines, Time leave say naught but I told you so (1) and If I could tell you I would let you bonk (3) keep the rhyme scheme which stays on the central themes. Time will say nothing but i told you so shows that time keeps going, because this is a statement. Although the things of the future are unforeseeable, it is guaranteed that in the end the only one who will know what will happen is Time.If I could tell you I would let you know show how unforeseeable Time is. Auden knows that he can not see into the future, which is why he says If I could . These two phrases depict the speakers understanding of the continuity of time counterbalance though he shows to have a desire to know ahead of time what to do before certain events. The villanelle itself has a rhythm as a whole through periodical thinking. The beginning shows how Time does not wait for anything or anyone, nothing but I told you so.He later goes on to question Time in the second stanza and if we should fight back, which is why he says weep when clowns put on their show and stumble when musicians play which are juxtapositions since these actions are not likely given the circumstances. The third stanza shows the shift as he begins to understand that Time is necessary and things have to happen for a re ason, the winds must come from somewhere. In the fourth stanza his train of thought is nearing a conclusion as he begins to wonder if not only do things have to happen, but are they meant to happen for the greater good, Perhaps the roses re eachy ask to grow.The ending shows Audens maturity throughout the villanelle and ends with If I could tell you I would let you know stating that Time is out of his hands, but it is acceptable and if there was leastways he could help, he would. Throughout the villanelle, time is personified and introduced to the reader as an unreliable character, through. Auden blames Time for unwanted changes in life, and he repeats the line because he observes that all changes, even those that are unintentional, come with Time.The repetition of Time at the end of the stanza rather than the beginning or end display how eternal time is. The first piece of music of each stanza question Time, but all ends with Time will say nothing but I told you so, explaining that whatever Auden thinks or observes, will all be part of the past in the future. Much like poetry as a whole, used to express emotion and speechless opinions, the villanelle is almost unblemished fitting for the theme of time. A villanelles structure alone portrays almost a near exhibition of time.Through the first five stanzas, a villanelle is predictable with tercets although the shoemakers last stanza is a quatrain. This depiction could be metaphorical that time can be planned although in the end, everything may not come to together as hoped. The meter only emphasises this metaphor more by breaking the alternating line in each of the tercets before at the end. Audens desire to be able to couple on time is emphasized by the repetition of two phrases by the structure of the poem, which in itself helps portray the authors idea about times continuity and its unforeseeable nature.

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Crucible Character Analyses of Abigail Williams Essay

The play Crucible is set in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692 the government is a theocracy. Hard work and church tire the majority of a Salem residents time. Within the community, there are regular disputes over bring down but disagreement over land boundaries is not the only simmering situation that becomes out of control. Abigail, the orphaned niece to Reverend Parris, is cast out of the house of John and Elizabeth Proctor because of her part in the infidelity and adultery committed with John Proctor. Her uncle is suspicious of her hasty exit, and even more so when he discovers her dancing in the woods. In separate to avoid punishment, Abigail claims to be victimised by evil, thus causing madness that spread like wildfire through Salem, claiming many innocent souls. Yet the one who escaped punishment, Abigail, is not innocent. However, her crime, undetect commensurate to the eyes of the judges, for whom faith had replaced psychology, is not to have trafficked with the Devil it is, with truly diabolic determination, to have brought about the ruin of the woman she cannot forgive for being married to the one she loves.Throughout the play, the multitude of Salem are consumed by paranoia and fear. Abigail is able to prey on that fear, as well as every other(a) humanly weakness, and with her cunning, she is able to bend others to do her will. With a combination of lies and threats, as well as her capability to take advantage of paranoia and hysteria, Abigail seems to be an untouchable antagonist. When first introduced to the antagonist, we develop sympathy for Abigail, enters a strikingly beautiful girl, an orphan, with endless capacity for dissembling. We are told that she is strikingly beautiful which undoubtedly gives us a brief visual aid of her appearance, causation Arthur miller may have chosen to tell us this to suggest she is seductive and he emphasises the fact that she is beautiful with a powerful adverb, strikingly.We thusly become aware that she is an orphan, this uses the readers emotions to develop some sympathy for abigail, one could also suggest that with out that adult, mature, and older figure to nurture and advise abigail, she has not only become very independent, but possibly unaware of morals which maybe be the reason for the heartless actions she makes to get her way. In addition we are told that she has an endless capacity of dissembling, she is able to hide her true emotions/feelings in all situations, this tells us that she is a deceitful, lier but very intelligent, resourceful and highly bad girl. Already without abigail actually speaking, her impression has twisted and turned but is a mainly negative view.In addition when interrogated about her where about and the events that took place the previous(prenominal) evening, we begin to see a ruthless character unfold, one can perceive Abigails talent in the area of villainy. She lies continuously in order to protect herself. She denies her role in the witchcraf t as she is being questioned by Parris, But we never conjured spirits. Not soon after she also refuses to take in other events that took place. No one was naked You mistake yourself, uncle. It is obvious that Abigail is a compulsive liar. She sees no problem with concealing the truth and would use imperatives to manipulate people even her own family to ensure and change their thoughts and opinions.Abigail is known to some as a Jezebel figure, someone who is commonly associated with the devil and scheming. Abigails evil can be seen through her interactions with the other characters in the play she threatens Betty and Mary Warren, Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word about the other things and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and i will a pointy reckoning that will shudder you this shows a side to her that is devilish, threatening and in a way powerful, these threats are used to manipulate the other girls, to take part in her evil schemes only for her self-centered gain.

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Animal Cruelty and Puppy Mills

Ashley Buenaflor Informative Speech Outline Puppy Mills I. What are whelp mills? A. aka whelp farm B. breeding factory for dogs C. moms breed until they are too weak or until they die D. Conditions 1. Overcrowded in old farms, shed, or lily-livered coop 2. wired, unsanitary cages to minimize waste cleaning (in winter and summer) 3. food infested with maggots and water is green with algae 4. underfed malnourished leads to puppies eating one some other 5. never let out to play, develop leg problems . video end at 55 E. Sold to pet stores 1. lucky puppies loaded into a truck, many dont make it 2. develop diseases epilepsy, heart disease, kidney disease, blood disorders, eye problems, musculoskeletal disease 3. sometimes develop socialization problems due to lack of marrow and being taken away from their mothers II. Toby A. story B. sick when we got him C. leg problems/present day leg problems D. could have saved a lot of gold III. Why arent they outlawed? A. animal cruelty is i llegal, puppy mills are not B. any puppy mills are licensed by the USDA C. the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) defines minimum requirement standard care for dogs D. standard is far from what people consider humane E. many puppy mills are on illegal and on private property F. there are many puppy mill rescues that go to shelters (Chrystal & Anti- severeness Society) IV. How to stop puppy mills A. dont buy puppies or products from pet stores B. dont buy online C. buy from breeders 1. look for reputable breeders 2. can show you countenance background information on the puppiesWorks Cited Puppy Mill Awareness Day. Puppy Mill Awareness Day. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. . Puppy Mills The Humane Society of the fall in States. Puppy Mills The Humane Society of the United States. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. . Puppy Mills Are Cruel. Nopetstorepuppies. com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. . Puppy Mills. ASPCA. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, n. d. Web . 20 Sept. 2012. . Shocking Conditions In Puppy Mills. Shocking Conditions In Puppy Mills. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. .

Friday, May 24, 2019

Print Media vs Electronic Media

The ancient cave paintings, hieroglyphs, symbols, maps, and drawings ar all the examples of how human being communicated from while to time. The major forms of media used all around the institution today are print media, electronic media. In this article an attempt has been made to compare print media and electronic media. Print media contain materials that are purchasable to us in printed form and which we coffin nail carry with ourselves or we can simply say they are portable. The major types of print media are books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, posters, brochures, press releases etc.Books are the grizzlyest medium among all the print media and they re still one of the most widely used among all. These were the books that contributed to the development of libraries in medieval times across Asia and Europe. Magazines and newspapers are relatively new form of print media which gained popularity and became common in the 20th century all over the world, thus becoming lea ding medium of bargain communication. The advent of newspapers and magazines greatly helped in the communication at the local, national as well as global levels during the last two centuries.It can also be said that these acted as agents of globalization to a large extent. They also helped in anti-colonial movements across the world. Electronic media imply to that form of media which can only be accessed by an electronic device. The largely used electronic media are radio, television and internet. Radio is no doubt the oldest of electronic media. It came to the public in late 19th and beforehand(predicate) 20th century and within few years it became one of the daily items of use for millions of people worldwide.It became one of prime sources of entertainment, knowledge as well as information. Radio was also used as an effective medium to transmit messages during the world wars. The mid-20th century saw the rise of television as an electronic media and it truly quickly became the most fascinating all over the world. The reason for the success of television is very simple. It appeals to our opthalmic as well as hearing senses. The visual appeal of television is perhaps unparalleled to all(prenominal) mass media. Till now it remains the most popular mass media.With the introduction of World immense Web (www) the internet Stats there were more than 2. 4 billion internet users on June 30, 2012. The internets popularity as mass media is because of the fact that it enables one to access any and any information by Just click of a button. It is also a two way communication medium as it helps interacting face to face by the use of appropriate instruments and internet connection. Thus we can say that both print and electronic media have contributed greatly in the process of mass communication. twain have their respective advantages as well as disadvantages.But to neglect or ignore one for a nonher would not be the ideal way because each form has its own significa nce. The books, for example, cannot be replaced by television, while the attraction of internet and web cannot fully overtake the charm of newspapers and magazines. Moreover people working in different media palm and their livelihoods would be affected if any media suffer a setback. But at the same time one must also be ready to accept the reality that with time it would become difficult for old media to survive in the new digital age.So, for its survival the old media must organize use of new techniques and technologies to upgrade itself and also try to keep intact its genuineness which by no way is an easy task. But still we can try. The production of the e-books, e-newspaper and internet radio are some of the successful efforts to assimilate the old with the ew. The Future of Newspapers Newspapers have been concerned ab proscribed their future for some time now. While the number of adults reading newspapers and the number of papers sold each week are higher than ever before, th e growth of newspaper readership has not unbroken up with the growth of population in this country.Young people, especially, are not turning to newspapers. Young people who seek news for years have turned to television, which has make a superficial Job, for the most part. And now comes along the Internet. The Internet gives us up-to-the minute news the way radio has been ble to do, but the Internet lets you filter out the news you dont care about and only receive the news you do care about. This certainly begs the apparent movement Are the print media dying? University professors and professionals ask the question at their conventions and conferences.But by some definitions, the newspaper is one of the most interactive media around. That paper product Just isnt electronic. You can start reading them at the beginning, gist or end. You can stop anytime you want, and start again when you want. There are indexes to help you Jump around to the spots you want. You can take it almost a nywhere. You dont imply batteries. Thirty years ago the experts were predicting that newspapers as we knew them would be dead in 10 years. Wed all be receiving news from videotext machines (a primitive form of computer).Well, today, the experts are not predicting that newspapers are going to go away, but they will change. Readers will look to both the Internet and print editions of the paper for news. Newspapers have strong brand quotation when it comes to news and readers who want reliable news will go to the media they trust. But print media that go online will not succeed simply by shoveling their old content onto the World Wide Web. To make money they will have to provide value added ads, and original Web content.In actuality, there is a greater direct today for news and information. Those who are trained to reliably gather information from a variety of sources, synthesize or make sense of it, and repackage it for dissemination in a variety of formats will be in great demand . New media, which includes the World Wide Web, is one of the fastest growing and highest paying career fields for the news media. The vast majority of newspapers in the country now have web sites, though most of them are stuck in the paradigm of creating content for their

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Importance of Communication Essay

First, in order to communicate effectively, a person needs to come what barriers there are, and there are many. I ordain do my best to explain the barriers of effective communication and how to overcome them. These barriers complicate Language, defensiveness, misreading of body language, clattery transmission, receiver distortion, power struggles, self-fulfilling assumptions, supervisors hesitation to be candid, assumptions, distrusted cite, perceptual biases, interpersonal relationships, and cultural differences1. So now, let us break these barriers down, starting with language barriers.Language barriers include using words that could imply an other(a) message than the one that the sender emergencys to send. Moreover, the reason for this is that each person will interpret whatever words differently. So, in order to transmit the message that you want to send make sure that the words you use to send the message cannot imply anything that you do not want sent. The next barrier i s defensiveness. Most of the time when trying to conduct a face-to-face meeting with person to communicate some flaws in a persons score performance or just to ask them a question on what they have done make sure the message is concise and clear.Most peck will get defensive when the person being Importance of Communication SPC Eric J. Seiberling 3 counseled has a distorted perception on what is being covered, or a feeling of implied guilt of wrongdoing with out having a chance to explain ones actions. A person will also get very defensive when any temper or a feeling of negativity is being transferred to them from an issue the sender has at home or with another co-worker.In addition, a person will get extremely defensive when there has been a trend of negative distortions of counseling in the past a person would feel as if the sender is still beating an issue that was resolved prior to this session. Noisy transmission is another barrier to effective communication. Noisy transmi ssion happens when the messages being convoluted with wrong information or a common inconsistency in relaying the message from bouncing around the subject or hitting numerous subjects when wanting to utter a message about one, certain subject. Another sticking point is receiver distortion.This happens when the receiver subconsciously has selective hearing and hears what they want to hear and all miss the intended message. This also happens when the receiver and sender ignore the non-verbal cues each other is not noticing or taking into account the way each other is acting or feeling, by not noticing a subtle thing like body language. Power struggles is something that a superior needs to watch out for, this will kill any attempt to communicate a plan to a group. For instance if a subordinate has the superiors job in their crosshairs that person will have a distorted view of the message that is trying to be conveyed.People who have not had a vast majority of the kindred experienc es will not hear or even be able to decode what the manager is trying to say. Assumptions are a major slayer of effective communication. Most people will assume that everyone understands the problem the same way that they do. When in most cases, that is not the case. Some people will opine a problem in a different perspective. When that happens the receiver will wonder what the sender is complaining about because they do not see the same problem and will refuse to see the problem in the same light.When a supervisor is basing his counseling on a certain source that some subordinates do not trust the supervisor is accomplishing nothing in the counseling. The supervisor might want to make sure there is more than one source of information. When there is more than one source of information then it will not become a value judgment against the supervisor or the subordinate. When conveyancing a message a person must make sure, they are not portraying any perceptual biases in the message . In saying that do not go into a meeting with any stereotypes of the people that attend.Basic communication requires that the receiver can decode the senders meaning and if the sender is convoluting the meaning in their own experiences, background, values, aspirations, or assumptions, the receiver might not understand because they did not have the same experiences, background, values, aspirations, or assumptions. This is a major issue in communicating with people from different geographical areas, and different generations. So, after explaining all the major barriers of communication, now will be the time to defeat these barriers and start communicating effectively.Moreover, if someone is not communicating effectively, the messenger is not communicating at all. In addition, if they are not communicating at all, the receiver will have no clue on what is going on and what needs to happen. The army says since leadership is about getting other people to do what you want them to do, it follows that communicating communicate information so that its clearly understoodis an important skill. 2 In order to communicate effectively a person must understand the different forms of communication.

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

A Case Study on Cost Estimation and Profitability Analysis

ISSUES IN ACCOUNTING EDUCATION Vol. 26, No. 1 2011 pp. 181200 Ameri discharge story connective DOI 10. 2308/iace. 2011. 26. 1. 181 A Case count on Cost Estimation and professional personfessional? tability Analysis at Continental Airlines Francisco J. Roman ABSTRACT This shell exposes students to the exercise of regress analyses to be employ as a tool pursuant to understanding make up demeanor and heralding future greets using public solelyy available information from Continental Airlines. Speci? cally, the case focuses on the harsh ? nancial situation faced by Continental as a result of the recent ? ancial crisis and the challenges it faces to appease pro? table. It then highlights the richness of reducing and controlling represents as a viable strategy to restore pro? tability and how regression analysis crowd out assist in this pursuit. Students argon next presented with every quarter data for various categories of be and several potential make up arrestrs, which they essential use to perform regressions on in operation(p) costs using a variety of cost number one woods. They must then use their regression results to forecast direct costs and conduct a pro? tability analysis to project quarterly pro? ts for the upcoming ? scal year.Finally, students must summarize the main results of their analysis in a inscription addressed to Continentals circumspection, providing recommendations to restore pro? ts. In ingredienticular, the concept of mixed cost functions is reinforced, as is the understanding of the steps required to perform regression analysis in transcend, interpreting the regression siding, and the underlying standard assumptions in regression analysis. The case has been tested and strong received in an intermediate cost accounting scarper and it is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students. Keywords cost estimation pro? ability analysis cost behavior regression analyses cost functions. Data availability All data atomic number 18 from public sources and are available in hard copy inside the case. Data are as well as available in electronic form by the author upon request. INTRODUCTION n 2008, the senior precaution team at Continental Airlines, commanded by Lawrence Kellner, the Ch bloodlineman and Chief decision maker Of? cer, convened a special meeting to discuss the ? rms latest quarterly ? nancial results. A bleak situation lay before them. Continental had incurred an operating button of $71 million dollarsits second consecutive quarterly earnings de-I Francisco J. Roman is an Assistant Professor at Texas Tech University. I thank Kent St. Pierre editor , Michael Costa, and two anonymous referees for their suggestions on previous versions of the case. Editors note Accepted by Kent St. Pierre Published Online February 2011 181 182 Roman cline that year. Likewise, rider volume was signi? cantly down, dropping by nearly 5 percent from the prior years quarter. Continentals seni or management needed to solve swiftly to pilfer this trend and return to pro? tability. Being the fourth largest airline in the U.S. and eighth largest in the world, Continental was perceived as one of the most ef? ciently brave companies in the airline perseverance. Nonetheless, 2008 brought unprecedented challenges for Continental and the entire industry as the United States and much of the world was heading into a severe economic recession. Companies mooring deeply into their budgets for melodic phrase travel, the highest yielding component of Continentals total revenue, together with a similar downward trend from the leisure and casual sector, unite to sharply reduce total revenue.Concurrent with this revenue decline, the price of jet fuel soared to record levels during 2008. 1 Thus, while revenue was decreasing, Continental was paying almost in two focussings as much in fuel costs. Interestingly, fuel costs surpassed the ? rms salaries and wages as the highest cost in C ontinentals cost structure. This plainly had a negative restore on the bottom line, squeezing even further the already strained pro? t margins. The outlook for a industrious recovery in the U. S. economy and, consequently, an upturn in the demand for air travel in the short term did not attend likely.Continentals internal forecasts indicated that a further decline in passenger volume should be anticipated through and throughout 2009, with a recovery in travel possibly occurring by the position of 2010. To summarize, adverse economic conditions in the U. S. , coupled with the rise in fuel costs, were dragging down Continentals pro? ts and relief was unlikely through the foreseeable future. THE DECISION TO REDUCE FLYING CAPACITY AND THE IMPACT ON direct COSTS Given the situation described above, management needed to act swiftly to restore pro? tability. Several strategic options were evaluated.Since the U. S. and much of the world was facing a severe recession, the prospect for growing revenues by either height airfares or passenger volume seemed futile. Contrary to raising revenue, Continentals managers believed that raising fares could potentially erode future revenues beyond the present level. Discounting fares did not seem a plausible solution either, because given the severity of the economic situation a fare cut could fall short in stimulating additional passenger demand and lead to lowering revenues. Thus, because management anticipated that revenues would remain ? t for most of the year, the only viable short-term solution to restoring pro? ts was a substantial and swift reduction in operating costs. This could most effectively be accomplished in two ways. First, through a reduction in ? ying depicted object adjusted to match projected passenger demand. With this in mind, Continentals management agreed to reduce ? ying capacity by 11 percent on domestic and international routes. 2 As a result of this action, Continental would eliminate the least pro? table or unpro? table ? ights and, accordingly, would dry land several planes in the ? eet.Management anticipated that this decision would reduce several of the ? rms operating costs. Apart from this, Continental could carry through further reductions in costs by implementing several cost-cutting initiatives and through operational ef? ciencies. For example, management pro- 1 2 To illustrate, jet fuel is tied to the price of oil and, over the past year, oil prices surged from approximately $70 to $135 per barrel. Consequently, the price of jet fuel increased markedly, from an average of $1. 77 per gallon to $4. 20 by the mid-summer of 2008. Speci? cally, on June 13, 2008, Continental Airlines announced that it be after to reduce its ? ght capacity by 11 percent. By shrinking capacity, Continental expected to reduce the government issue of domestic and international ? ights from its three major hubs in Houston, Cleveland, and Newark Maynard 2008 . Issues in story study A merican invoice link mint 26, No. 1, 2011 A Case Study on Cost Estimation and Pro? tability Analysis at Continental Airlines 183 jected that it could achieve reductions in Passenger serve expenses by consolidating several tasks during passenger check-in and by reducing food and drinking waste served during ? ights. Additionally, the ? m could reduce various miscellaneous expenses through targeted cuts in discretionary spending. In sum, to final stage the gap in pro? tability, Continentals strategy was geared toward slashing operating costs by cutting capacity and through aggressive identi? cation and implementation of cost-cutting initiatives. The next step would be for management to know precisely how their decision to downsize capacity would impact the ? rms future operating costs, and also localize speci? c areas in which the ? rm could achieve additional cost reductions. Additionally, the cost analysis would help forecast the ? ms operating costs and projected pro? ts or l osses for the upcoming ? scal year. However, before we can proceed with such analysis, an examination of how the various categories of Continentals costs be watch is in order. Before we begin, let us prepare with an overview of the airline industry and its competitive landscape, and an understanding of why cost behavior bears circumstance relevance in this case. Relative to other industries, airlines are a very dif? cult business to manage. In particular, they are exposed to tremendous risks brought by volatility inherent in their business model, as they deal with high ? ed costs, labor unions, dissymmetry in fuel prices, weather and natural disasters, passenger safety, and security regulations. These aspects bring a large burden to airlines cost structures. Moreover, competition within the industry is ? erce the proliferation of price reduction carriers, such as Southwest Airlines and, most recently, Jet Blue, and the end of fare regulation in 1978, has hindered airlines pricin g power and their ability to spur revenues. For these reasons, cost containment is a critically important aspect of pro? tability in this industry.In order for Continental to restore pro? tability in this harsh environment of weak demand for air travel, it must be able to contain its operating costs, especially its massive ? xed costs, which are visible in several ways. For example, salaries for pilots, ? ight attendants, and mechanics, as well as aircraft leasing costs, are typically ? xed, varying little with shifts in passenger volume. Because ? xed costs typically embody the amount of operating capacity of a ? rm, they are commonly referred as capacity costs. Since ? xed costs do not self-adjust to ? ctuations in passenger volume, the only way in which they can be decreased or increased is if management adjusts them in accordance to the level of operating capacity. In contrast, other costs, such as passenger services and reservation and distribution costs, behave as protean and would self-adjust with variations in volume or operating activity. Hence, to assess the impact of this strategic decision to alter Continentals cost structure, and identify the areas that could achieve the superior reduction in costs, we must resolve how Continentals operating costs behave and what drives them.In what follows, we learn how to apply regression analyses to examine cost behavior and forecast future costs, and then use that knowledge to assess how the reduction in ? ying capacity would affect Continentals operating costs and pro? tability in the near term. ESTIMATING COSTS USING REGRESSION ANALYSES The previous tidings highlighted the importance of examining the behavior of Continentals operating costs to pave the way for a cost and pro? tability analysis using regression analysis. Regression analysis is a powerful statistical tool that is frequently used by ? ms to examine cost behavior and predict future costs. The idea behind regression analysis is straightforward historical data for costs, and the various activities that could potentially drive operating costs, are inserted into a mathematical calculation which yields the average amount of change in that particular cost that has occurred over time. Average set provided by regression calculations may then be applied to estimate future change that will occur in that cost given a one-unit change in one or Issues in Accounting Education Volume 26, No. 1, 2011 American Accounting Association 184 Roman ore of the business activities which drive that cost. 3 More precisely, in a regression model, cost is a function of one or more business activities or factors underlying a business operation. Simply put, the business activities are the drivers of operating costs. Therefore, since activities drive costs, our ? rst step in the estimation of a cost function is to identify the underlying activities or other potential factors that drive the cost in questionthe cost drivers. This requires extensive kno wledge of the business operation. In the case of Continental Airlines, the potential drivers of operating costs vary greatly.For instance, as previously noted, the hail of passengers that Continental ? ies may drive the costs related to Passenger Services. Likewise, Aircraft caution and Repairs costs could be dictated by the number of aircraft in the ? eet and by the level of ? ying capacity set by Continental i. e. , available seat miles . In synthesis, to predict how Continentals operating costs would be affected by the decision to reduce capacity, and to identify those areas in which additional room is available for cost cutting, we need to identify which costs in this ? rms cost structure behave as variable, ? ed, or mixed in which elements of both variable and ? xed are observable . evenly important, we should also identify the speci? c drivers if any of each cost. Your job is to assist management in their quest to restore pro? tability at Continental Airlines. Speci? cally , you must conduct regression analyses to examine cost behavior and then use this information to forecast operating costs and pro? tability for the upcoming year. As part of your cost analysis, you should investigate how the decision to cut ? ying capacity would impact the ? rms future operating costs and, equally important, identify those speci? expense categories or operating areas in which this ? rm could attain additional costs saving by implementing cost-cutting initiatives. Your conclusions should be outlined in a memorandum directed to Continentals executive director management team. You are provided next with a description of Continentals operating costs and the potential drivers of costs so you can conduct regression analysis to estimate the corresponding cost functions. To help you in estimating the regressions, a comprehensive set of instructions for performing regression analysis using Microsoft Excel is provided in the Appendix.Immediately pursuance the description of costs, a series of questions is provided that should help guide your analysis. Additionally, to help you estimate your regressions, Exhibit 1 presents past quarterly data for all of the above expenditures for the period of January 2000 through December 2008, while Exhibit 2 provides quarterly operations data for the same period of time. CONTINENTALS OPERATING COSTS AND POTENTIAL COST DRIVERS As shown in Exhibit 1, there are ten categories of operating costs.These include salaries and wages, aircraft fuel and related taxes, aircraft rentals, airport fees, aircraft alimony and repairs, wear and tear and amortization, distribution costs, passenger services, regional capacity purchases, and other expenses. Of these, some represent a single expense item. For example, the cost of aircraft rentals and airport fees together be a single cost item. Other costs represent cost pools comprising several cost items. Such is the case of passenger services and other expenses. The following prov ides a detailed description of each cost, along with the potential cost drivers. 3 4 For ease in exposition, cost functions and regression analyses are discussed brie? y here. For further insight on cost functions and on the mechanics of regression analyses, I refer the reader to the Appendix. A cost driver represents a particular business activity, which usually tends to have a cause-and-effect relationship with a given cost. For example, for airlines, a typical cost driver for get fees is the number of daily ? ights carried by the airline, as well as the number of passengers ? own. An increase decrease in the number of ? ights or passengers ? own would increase decrease landing fees.Issues in Accounting Education American Accounting Association Volume 26, No. 1, 2011 A Case Study on Cost Estimation and Pro? tability Analysis at Continental Airlines 185 EXHIBIT 1 REVENUES AND OPERATING COSTS DATA Obs. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Obs. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Period 1Q-2000 2Q-2000 3Q-2000 4Q-2000 1Q-2001 2Q-2001 3Q-2001 4Q-2001 1Q-2002 2Q-2002 3Q-2002 4Q-2002 1Q-2003 2Q-2003 3Q-2003 4Q-2003 1Q-2004 2Q-2004 3Q-2004 4Q-2004 1Q-2005 2Q-2005 3Q-2005 4Q-2005 1Q-2006 2Q-2006 3Q-2006 4Q-2006 1Q-2007 2Q-2007 3Q-2007 4Q-2007 1Q-2008 2Q-2008 3Q-2008 Q-2008 Revenues Fuel Salaries and Wages Capacity Purchases Aircraft Rentals Landing Fees 2,277,000,000 334,000,000 672,000,000 206,000,000 2,571,000,000 313,000,000 719,000,000 210,000,000 2,622,000,000 354,000,000 748,000,000 215,000,000 2,429,000,000 392,000,000 736,000,000 213,000,000 2,451,000,000 345,000,000 758,000,000 214,000,000 2,556,000,000 349,000,000 800,000,000 223,000,000 2,223,000,000 322,000,000 779,000,000 230,000,000 1,739,000,000 213,000,000 684,000,000 236,000,000 1,993,000,000 208,000,000 732,000,000 228,000,000 2,192,000,000 254,000,000 746,000,000 231,000,000 2,178,000,000 76,000,000 743,000,000 227,000,000 2,039,000,000 285,000,000 738,000,000 216,000,000 2,042,000,000 347,000,000 778,000,000 223,000,000 2,216,000,000 302,000,000 762,000,000 224,000,000 2,365,000,000 316,000,000 778,000,000 225,000,000 2,247,000,000 290,000,000 738,000,000 158,000,000 224,000,000 2,307,000,000 333,000,000 688,000,000 317,000,000 220,000,000 2,553,000,000 387,000,000 711,000,000 328,000,000 222,000,000 2,602,000,000 414,000,000 703,000,000 347,000,000 224,000,000 2,437,000,000 453,000,000 717,000,000 359,000,000 225,000,000 2,505,000,000 470,000,000 715,000,000 353,000,000 227,000,000 2,857,000,000 75,000,000 649,000,000 382,000,000 229,000,000 3,001,000,000 684,000,000 646,000,000 406,000,000 234,000,000 2,845,000,000 714,000,000 639,000,000 431,000,000 238,000,000 2,947,000,000 672,000,000 661,000,000 415,000,000 245,000,000 3,507,000,000 744,000,000 791,000,000 454,000,000 248,000,000 3,518,000,000 858,000,000 743,000,000 475,000,000 249,000,000 3,156,000,000 760,000,000 680,000,000 447,000,000 248,000,000 3,179,000,000 684,000,000 726,000,000 430,000,000 248,000,000 3,710,000,000 842,000,000 821,000,000 444,000,000 248,000,000 3,820,000,000 895,000,000 836,000,000 446,000,000 249,000,000 3,523,000,000 33,000,000 744,000,000 473,000,000 249,000,000 3,570,000,000 1,048,000,000 729,000,000 506,000,000 247,000,000 4,044,000,000 1,363,000,000 704,000,000 589,000,000 246,000,000 4,072,000,000 1,501,000,000 765,000,000 553,000,000 244,000,000 3,471,000,000 993,000,000 760,000,000 425,000,000 240,000,000 129,000,000 138,000,000 133,000,000 132,000,000 141,000,000 153,000,000 139,000,000 148,000,000 161,000,000 160,000,000 163,000,000 149,000,000 152,000,000 152,000,000 165,000,000 151,000,000 160,000,000 163,000,000 171,000,000 160,000,000 171,000,000 181,000,000 182,000,000 174,000,000 185,000,000 198,000,000 195,000,000 86,000,000 193,000,000 190,000,000 209,000,000 198,000,000 207,000,000 210,000,000 225,000,000 210,000,000 Period Distribution Costs Aircraft Maintenance Depreciation Passenger Services Other Expenses 1Q-2000 2Q-2000 3Q-2000 4Q-2000 1Q-2001 2Q-2001 248,000,000 261,000,000 255,000,000 217,000,000 243,000,000 230,000,000 159,000,000 171,000,000 167,000,000 149,000,000 160,000,000 162,000,000 95,000,000 98,000,000 102,000,000 107,000,000 105,000,000 111,000,000 85,000,000 91,000,000 97,000,000 89,000,000 91,000,000 96,000,000 286,000,000 284,000,000 288,000,000 277,000,000 318,000,000 295,000,000 (continued on next page)Issues in Accounting Education Volume 26, No. 1, 2011 American Accounting Association 186 Obs. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Obs. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Roman Period Distribution Costs Aircraft Maintenance Depreciation Passenger Services Other Expenses 3Q-2001 4Q-2001 1Q-2002 2Q-2002 3Q-2002 4Q-2002 1Q-2003 2Q-2003 3Q-2003 4Q-2003 1Q-2004 2Q-2004 3Q-2004 4Q-2004 1Q-2005 2Q-2005 3Q-2005 4Q-2005 1Q-2006 2Q-2006 3Q-2006 4Q-2006 1Q-2007 2Q-2007 3Q-2007 4Q-2007 1Q-2008 2Q-2008 3Q-2008 4Q-20 08 194,000,000 142,000,000 172,000,000 158,000,000 138,000,000 124,000,000 27,000,000 138,000,000 131,000,000 135,000,000 137,000,000 140,000,000 139,000,000 136,000,000 138,000,000 154,000,000 154,000,000 142,000,000 160,000,000 178,000,000 157,000,000 155,000,000 161,000,000 176,000,000 171,000,000 174,000,000 182,000,000 194,000,000 182,000,000 159,000,000 142,000,000 104,000,000 114,000,000 119,000,000 119,000,000 124,000,000 133,000,000 126,000,000 135,000,000 115,000,000 112,000,000 102,000,000 107,000,000 93,000,000 112,000,000 106,000,000 116,000,000 121,000,000 127,000,000 140,000,000 140,000,000 140,000,000 144,000,000 169,000,000 166,000,000 142,000,000 159,000,000 167,000,000 52,000,000 135,000,000 120,000,000 131,000,000 106,000,000 112,000,000 112,000,000 114,000,000 116,000,000 110,000,000 110,000,000 108,000,000 104,000,000 105,000,000 104,000,000 102,000,000 99,000,000 98,000,000 97,000,000 95,000,000 96,000,000 97,000,000 99,000,000 99,000,000 99,000,000 101,000,00 0 106,000,000 107,000,000 106,000,000 108,000,000 112,000,000 111,000,000 89,000,000 71,000,000 77,000,000 73,000,000 78,000,000 68,000,000 70,000,000 73,000,000 81,000,000 73,000,000 69,000,000 76,000,000 84,000,000 77,000,000 77,000,000 84,000,000 91,000,000 80,000,000 82,000,000 90,000,000 97,000,000 87,000,000 90,000,000 9,000,000 105,000,000 95,000,000 96,000,000 107,000,000 113,000,000 91,000,000 121,000,000 166,000,000 382,000,000 454,000,000 276,000,000 277,000,000 320,000,000 91,000,000 250,000,000 455,000,000 304,000,000 279,000,000 287,000,000 278,000,000 316,000,000 280,000,000 282,000,000 305,000,000 293,000,000 323,000,000 313,000,000 333,000,000 340,000,000 357,000,000 357,000,000 328,000,000 356,000,000 427,000,000 461,000,000 372,000,000 Period Total Aircraft 1Q-2000 2Q-2000 3Q-2000 4Q-2000 1Q-2001 2Q-2001 3Q-2001 4Q-2001 1Q-2002 2Q-2002 3Q-2002 4Q-2002 1Q-2003 2Q-2003 514 522 535 522 548 557 501 522 538 570 570 554 562 70 OPERATIONS AND COST DRIVER DATA Leased Airc raft Flights Passengers ready(prenominal) fag Miles 403 410 414 398 406 416 377 393 cd 404 401 410 419 428 98,820 97,871 97,967 98,378 98,590 99,018 98,564 81,109 81,883 82,815 81,737 78,809 75,178 75,617 11,201,000 12,084,000 12,155,000 11,456,000 11,220,000 12,256,000 11,254,000 9,508,000 12,062,000 13,099,000 13,006,000 12,874,000 11,518,000 13,044,000 20,951,000,000 21,384,000,000 22,356,000,000 21,409,000,000 21,459,000,000 22,813,000,000 21,994,000,000 18,219,000,000 20,375,000,000 22,286,000,000 22,626,000,000 21,054,000,000 20,843,000,000 21,241,000,000 Available SeatMiles Regional 1,767,000,000 2,073,000,000 (continued on next page) Issues in Accounting Education American Accounting Association Volume 26, No. 1, 2011 A Case Study on Cost Estimation and Pro? tability Analysis at Continental Airlines Obs. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Obs. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Period Total Aircraft 3Q-2003 4Q-2003 1Q-2004 2Q-2004 3Q-2004 4Q-2004 1Q-2005 2Q-2005 3Q-2005 4Q-2005 1Q-2006 2Q-2006 3Q-2006 4Q-2006 1Q-2007 2Q-2007 3Q-2007 4Q-2007 1Q-2008 2Q-2008 3Q-2008 4Q-2008 187 OPERATIONS AND COST DRIVER DATALeased Aircraft Flights Passengers Available Seat Miles 570 579 586 587 592 594 598 604 611 622 630 634 648 648 630 625 631 628 641 630 653 632 428 434 437 440 445 448 453 459 466 477 483 484 482 480 446 418 415 415 414 390 412 397 76,297 75,650 74,859 75,816 74,211 74,443 71,494 74,651 74,630 75,886 74,962 77,729 77,468 79,030 78,601 82,582 81,118 80,850 76,719 76,096 78,599 76,000 Available Seat Miles Regional 13,727,000 13,769,000 12,810,000 14,558,000 14,862,000 14,252,000 14,122,000 15,540,000 15,905,000 15,448,000 15,594,000 17,596,000 17,328,000 16,601,000 16,176,000 18,120,000 17,901,000 16,733,000 16,440,000 7,108,000 17,962,000 15,183,000 22,819,000,000 21,907,000,000 22,670,000,000 24,150,000,000 24,674,000,000 23,588,000,000 23,585,000,000 25,482,000,000 26,833,000,000 25 ,720,000,000 26,117,000,000 28,259,000,000 29,262,000,000 27,280,000,000 27,250,000,000 29,592,000,000 30,346,000,000 28,550,000,000 28,376,000,000 30,304,000,000 30,383,000,000 26,448,000,000 1,605,000,000 2,980,000,000 2,400,000,000 2,603,000,000 1,999,000,000 3,408,000,000 2,740,000,000 3,026,000,000 3,112,000,000 3,095,000,000 3,082,000,000 3,374,000,000 3,503,000,000 3,292,000,000 3,126,000,000 3,177,000,000 3,193,000,000 3,104,000,000 3,098,000,000 ,450,000,000 3,390,000,000 3,046,000,000 Period Passenger Miles Flown Employees Fuel Price Fuel Consumed 1Q-2000 2Q-2000 3Q-2000 4Q-2000 1Q-2001 2Q-2001 3Q-2001 4Q-2001 1Q-2002 2Q-2002 3Q-2002 4Q-2002 1Q-2003 2Q-2003 3Q-2003 4Q-2003 1Q-2004 2Q-2004 3Q-2004 4Q-2004 1Q-2005 2Q-2005 15,005,000,000 16,491,000,000 17,325,000,000 15,340,000,000 15,114,000,000 17,053,000,000 16,206,000,000 12,767,000,000 14,867,000,000 16,489,000,000 16,960,000,000 17,252,000,000 14,352,000,000 16,129,000,000 18,041,000,000 16,412,000,000 16,255,000,000 18 ,735,000,000 19,922,000,000 18,239,000,000 18,112,000,000 20,292,000,000 45,000 45,500 46,000 5,944 38,396 39,000 39,500 39,461 40,229 41,011 41,809 40,244 38,960 39,000 39,500 39,000 38,240 37,496 36,766 38,255 41,831 45,742 $0. 829 $0. 797 $0. 865 $0. 885 $0. 856 $0. 815 $0. 824 $0. 826 $0. 644 $0. 723 $0. 760 $0. 740 $1. 029 $0. 881 $0. 857 $0. 872 $1. 041 $1. 787 $1. 199 $1. 190 $1. 453 $1. 670 377,000,000 386,000,000 398,000,000 372,000,000 369,000,000 391,000,000 373,000,000 369,000,000 308,000,000 332,000,000 340,000,000 316,000,000 305,000,000 308,000,000 330,000,000 314,000,000 320,000,000 347,000,000 345,000,000 321,000,000 324,000,000 344,000,000 (continued on next page) Issues in Accounting EducationVolume 26, No. 1, 2011 American Accounting Association 188 Roman Period 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Passenger Miles Flown Employees Fuel Price Fuel Consumed 3Q-2005 4Q-2005 1Q-2006 2Q-2006 3Q-2006 4Q-2006 1Q-2007 2Q-2007 3Q-2007 4Q-2007 1Q-2008 2Q-2008 3Q-2008 4 Q-2008 Obs. 21,762,000,000 20,033,000,000 20,336,000,000 23,367,000,000 24,042,000,000 21,772,000,000 21,450,000,000 24,623,000,000 25,422,000,000 22,670,000,000 22,280,000,000 24,836,000,000 24,746,000,000 20,825,000,000 50,018 42,200 42,600 43,450 41,500 38,033 41,800 43,300 41,400 39,640 43,000 40,100 43,500 42,490 $1. 880 $1. 776 $1. 904 $2. 10 $2. 215 $2. 064 $1. 895 $2. 079 $2. 206 $2. 499 $2. 797 $3. 856 $3. 450 $2. 925 364,000,000 344,000,000 347,000,000 375,000,000 387,000,000 362,000,000 361,000,000 395,000,000 406,000,000 380,000,000 375,000,000 389,000,000 395,000,000 339,000,000 EXHIBIT 2 PROJECTIONS OF REVENUES AND OPERATING ACTIVITY FOR YEAR 2009 Variable Revenues Available seat miles Available regional seat miles Number of passengers Number of planes Number undertake planes Price of fuel per gallon Gallons of fuel consumed arse 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 $2,962,000,000 26,323,000,000 2,971,000,000 14,408,000 634 398 $1. 82 403,000,000 2,767,000,000 28,007,000, 000 3,044,000,000 16,348,000 617 394 $2. 07 430,000,000 $2,947,000,000 28,933,000,000 3,130,000,000 16,795,000 604 380 $1. 99 369,000,000 $2,462,000,000 26,291,000,000 3,002,000,000 15,258,000 601 379 $1. 98 479,000,000 All ? nancial and operational data represent quarterly data for the quarter beginning January 2000 utterance 1 through December 2008. Data have been compiled from Continentals 8-K and10-K reports, submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. De? nitions of Operations Variables Available seat miles the number of seats available cipher by the number of miles ? wn Available regional seat miles available seat miles on regional routes Number of passengers number of paying passengers ? own Number of planes number of planes in the ? eet, including regional routes aircraft Number of leased planes number of leased planes Price of jet fuel average price per gallon of jet fuel in the respective quarter and Gallons of fuel consumed number of gallons of fuel consumed in the respective quarter. Salaries and Wages This account represents costs related to salaries and wages, as well as thrill bene? ts, of Continentals drawers. These include salaries for pilots and wages for ? ght attendants and ground crew, as well as wages for Continentals mechanics. Additionally, a signi? cant portion of this wage pool represents wages of reservation specialists, customer service representatives at airports, and the salaries for administrative and support personnel e. g. , ? ight schedulers, technology Issues in Accounting Education American Accounting Association Volume 26, No. 1, 2011 A Case Study on Cost Estimation and Pro? tability Analysis at Continental Airlines 189 personnel, accountants, and division managers . A possible cost driver of salaries is the available seat miles. Aircraft Fuel and Related Taxes This represents the cost of jet fuel and related fuel taxes. Jet fuel cost tends to be driven by the current price of jet fuel and gallons of jet fuel consumed. Aircraft Rentals These are expenses for capital leases of aircraft. The main driver is the number of leased planes in Continentals ? eet, including regional jets operated on behalf of Continental by four regional airlines under various capacity purchase agreements. Airport Fees Represents landing fees and passenger security fees paid to the various domestic and international airports where Continental ? ies.Landing fees are driven by the number of passengers. Aircraft Maintenance and Repairs These are expenses associated with the service and guardianship of planes. These include expenses related to scheduled maintenance, spare parts and materials, and airframe and engine overhauls. The main drivers of these costs are the number of planes in the ? eet and the number of miles ? own. Depreciation and Amortization This represents wear and tear and amortization expenses of aircraft, ground equipment, buildings, and other property. It must be emphasized that the largest portio n of depreciation expense relates to the depreciation of aircraft.Although depreciation expenses are driven by the scholarship cost of Continentals capital assets, depreciation is greatly in? uenced by both company policy and accounting principles, such as the depreciation method, that a ? rm adopts. Distribution Costs These expenses represent credit card discount fees, booking fees, and travel agency commissions, all of which are affected by passenger revenue. Therefore, the driver of these costs is total revenue. Passenger Services This is also a cost pool that includes expenses related to processing and servicing passengers prior to take-off, during ? ight, and after reaching at their destination.A signi? cant portion of these costs is generated by Continentals Field Services Division, the main function of which is to provide service to planes prior to take-off. or so of these expenses relate to checking in passengers, handling luggage on and off planes, cleaning planes, stock ing planes with beverage and food, and refueling the aircraft prior to take-off. The potential cost driver of these costs is the number of passengers. Regional Capacity Purchases These are costs related to the purchase of regional routes served by several regional airlines on behalf of Continental ExpressJet, Chautauqua, CommutAir, and Cogan .These costs are 5 Available seat miles is calculated as the number of seats available for passengers multiplied by the number of scheduled miles those seats are ? own. Issues in Accounting Education Volume 26, No. 1, 2011 American Accounting Association 190 Roman driven by the combined ? ying capacity of the four airlines available regional seat miles. Other Expenses This is a cost pool that comprises many ancillary and discretionary expenditures, including technology expenses, security and outside services, general supplies, and advertising and promotional expenses.Further, this cost pool contains various special charges for gains and losses f rom the sale of retired aircraft and costs of future leases. Given the large variety of miscellaneous items, there is no clear driver of these expenses however, a large portion of them, such as advertising and promotional expenses, are driven by total revenue. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6 Using the quarterly data for operating costs and the various cost drivers of costs provided by Exhibits 1 and 2, estimate regression for cost category of costs.Then, write the appropriate cost function for each category of cost and then interpret your regression results. Based on your regression results, where do you see the largest reductions in costs if ? ying capacity is lowered by 11 percent? Also, in which areas do you see opportunities to achieve further cost reductions and why? Exhibit 2 provides a quarterly forecast of revenues, jet fuel prices,6 and the projected operating activity for 2009. Using the information from your regressions and the forecast information provided in Exhib it 2, estimate Continentals operating costs and expected pro? for the upcoming ? scal year. Based on the results of your pro? tability analysis, what can you say about the ? rms ? nancial outlook? Would Continental be earning an operating pro? t in 2009? If not, what should Continentals management do to restore pro? tability in 2009? Summarize your conclusions in a memorandum addressed to Continentals CEO. In the memo, you must clearly communicate your main ? ndings, emphasizing speci? c areas in which you see the greatest potential to achieve further reductions in costs and, based on your pro? tability analysis, sum up the ? nancial outlook for 2009.You should note that Continental has entered into several future contracts to hedge the exposed risks of rising fuel prices. The projected costs for jet fuel on exhibit re? ects the value of the various future contracts which guarantee Continental a ? xed price for jet fuel at various maturity dates in 2009, as well the estimated gallon s of fuel that Continental plans to use during the year. Issues in Accounting Education American Accounting Association Volume 26, No. 1, 2011 A Case Study on Cost Estimation and Pro? tability Analysis at Continental Airlines 191 CASE LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND IMPLEMENTATION GUIDANCECost estimation is a fundamental aspect of managerial/cost accounting Datar et al. 2008 Eldenburg and Wolcott 2005 . For example, cost estimation is critical for developing budgets, reach up cost standards, inventory valuation, product costing, and many other applications. Ultimately, ? rms ability to accurately predict production and operating costs has a pro found impact on decision-making. Additionally, given the frequency with which ? rms downsize or expand their operations in response to economic or market-wide conditions, knowing how this strategic decision of scaling output impacts ? ms future operating costs, and which tools can facilitate this task, has become increasingly relevant for ? rms. Non etheless, despite its importance, cost estimation is a topic that merits further discussion in accounting textbooks. Although several managerial/cost accounting textbooks provide rich theoretical discussions of cost estimation, including cost behavior, cost functions, and, to some extent, regression analyses, the examples that are typically used to illustrate such an important concept often lack a sense of trustworthyism. Either ? titious data are commonly used in cost estimation, or the examples covered fail to capture realistic situations faced by ? rms in a real world context. Accordingly, this case aims to close this gap. The objective is to support students in learning how to apply regression analyses to understand cost behavior and forecast future costs using real data from ? rms. The case focuses on the harsh ? nancial situation faced by Continental Airlines as a result of the recent ? nancial crisis and the challenges it faces to remain pro? table.It then highlights the imp ortance of reducing and controlling costs as a viable strategy to restore pro? tability, and how regression analysis can assist in this pursuit. Students are next presented with quarterly data for various categories of costs and several potential cost drivers, which they must analyze and then perform regressions on operating costs using a variety of cost drivers. Based on these results, students have to examine how costs behave and then use the regression output to forecast the ? rms operating costs for year 2009. As part of the cost analysis, students must also identify speci? areas in which Continental could achieve the largest cost nest egg as a result of cutting capacity and implementing other cost-cutting measures. Apart from this, they must conduct a pro? tability analysis to project quarterly pro? ts for the upcoming ? scal year. The learning objectives of the case are as follows 1. 2. 3. Students learn to conduct regression analysis in Excel and use this technique to study cost behavior and forecast future costs. Students also learn how to use actual ? rm-level data from public sources for estimating costs, and apply cost estimation in a real world context that involves a widespread decision among ? ms downsizing capacity. Moreover, learning to use public ? nancial information in cost estimation could have implications that reach beyond accounting learning to access public ? nancial information exposes students to the possibilities of applying regression analysis for business analysis in general, including cost and pro? tability analyses. The case requires students to synthesize their ? ndings in a memorandum addressed to Continentals CEO thus, students are also exposed to re? ning their writing skills in a business setting. Implementation GuidanceThis case is primarily designed for use in an intermediate managerial/cost accounting undergraduate class however, it could also work well in a graduate-level managerial accounting course, at either the mast ers level or M. B. A. Issues in Accounting Education Volume 26, No. 1, 2011 American Accounting Association 192 Roman The realistic nature of the setting everyone can easily identify with the business model of airlines makes a oddly appealing environment for students to learn how regression analyses can be applied in cost estimation in a real-world context.The questions presented in the case include both practical and theoretical questions. As an augmentation of the principles contained in the application of this case, instructors could enhance the student experience by devoting time to reviewing the concepts of cost functions and cost estimation, as well as discussing the fundamentals of regression analyses, so students can be exposed to these concepts prior to receiving the case. Alternatively, students can review these concepts on their own.The Appendix provides a detailed exposition of cost functions and regression analysis and describes the steps to perform regression analysi s in Excel. Additionally, it provides students with broad guidelines to write an effective memorandum. Student Feedback The case was administered to two sections of an high-level intermediate undergraduate cost accounting class at a major U. S. university. Seventy-seven students responded to an evaluation survey to assess whether they improved their understanding of the concepts illustrated in the case, as well as to whether the case illustrated a real world application in predicting operating costs.As shown in Table 1, students agreed that the case heighten their understanding of the use of regression analyses in predicting future costs mean of 4. 17, based on a ? ve-point scale , the case encouraged them to think critically about the behavior of operating costs in a real world context mean of 4. 03, based on a ? ve-point scale plus, they found the case interesting and recommended it for use in teaching cost estimation via regression analyses mean of 4. 07, based on a ? ve-point scale see also Table 2 . Similar positive responses are shown in Table 2. For example, Table 2 reports students knowledge on the use of regression

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Islam Studies Jahiliyyah Essay

The essay shall explore the concept of the jahiliyyah and demonstrate the grandeur and impact it has to understand the origins and development of Islam. The Jahiliyyah is a core and critical part of the foundations of Islam, that certain instalments of the jahiliyyah were borrowed, adopted and highly-developed whilst other elements were discarded as Islam evolved. It is great as aspects of the jahiliyyah rate of flow continues to feed an influence by and by the advent of Islam. Elements of the jahiliyyah such as the geographical location the political, social and ghostlike life pre-islamic literature, religious rites of the Kaba and the role of Women have shaped the understanding of Islam. The term Jahiliyyah style the period of ignorance or barbarism reflecting the Arabian culture before the birth of Muhammad(Mvumbi, 2010). The concept reflects the period in which Arabia had no dispensation, no knowledge of Allah or iodine God and no revealed sacred text (Hitti, 1987). The Jahiliyyah represents a cultural milestone, as Muslims believe they transitioned from an period of ignorance to the period of knowledge and enlightenment (Armstrong, 1991). The religious situation of Jahiliyyah is important to examine in order to understand Islamic monotheism. The religious situation of pre-Islamic shapes ones understanding of the origins and developments of Islam, as Islam is a civilization, culture and religion. The importance of the concept is because Islam developed and built on a previous Arabian religion. Firstly the understanding the geographical location and characteristics of that period would inform and shape ones understanding of Islam and culture. The Arabian peninsula is covered with desert and divided in two sectors the north and the entropy(Mvumbi, 2010). The geographical characteristics influences the cultural and religious situation.The northern part were a idyll society and the southern part had permanent settlements such as Yemen and the Bedoui n lifestyle (Mvumbi, 2010). Areas such as Yemen were important because of its advanced civilizations, fertile land and rich agriculture. approximately areas were hospitable, rich in food and water, and trades such as spice trades (Hoyland, 2001). The desert created a harsh environment with extreme conditions, the climate varied from north to south influencing people of the time to be nomadic (Brockelman, 1960). The nomadic lifestyle created sub-cultures which led to the diversity of phrases. The trade, agriculture and linguistics are central whimseys that have had signifi give the axet importance to Islam religion and culture (Goodman, 1999). .For example, it is believed that Muhammad was a trader who stimulated the growth of trade in Mecca (Goodman, 1999). It is strongly believed that Islam and arabians spiritual consciousness was born the brilliance of the desert, this strongly emphasise why it is important to understand Jahiliyyah as the roots of Islam begin in this period (M vumbi, 2010). The Arabians inside that period believed in religion, were more polytheism think than the monotheism perspective of today. They believed in deities, these deities were the daughters of Allah, the supreme God (Husayn, 1982). They built temples for their idols in particular at Makka it was the most religious place. These notions of Jahiliyyah reflect Islam as the Islamic faith was eldest revealed in Makka and the fact that Arabians had the notion of a supreme one and only God prior to the rise of Islam (Mvumbi, 2010). The surrounding religion such as Judaism and Christianity whom had a monotheistic faith influenced the Arabians and Islam of today. This reinforces that Arabia prior to Islam shared unity of God before Muhammad (Mvumbi, 2010). These key principles demonstrate that Islam was a revival and continuation of Jahiliyyah and this stresses the importance of that concept. Another element of the Jahiliyyah period was the political and social life, such as the Bedou in society. The political structure was tribal based, that consisted of individuals who participated in larger groups (Weissleder, 1978). This tribal aspect reflects the adopted leadership of Muhammad as tribal rulers were seen as an arbitrator than a ruler (Weissleder, 1978). This political structure influenced the Shura system. The legal system of this period was based on tribal or general law which influenced the Islamic communities of today(Weissleder, 1978). This element reinforces why Jahiliyyah period shaped the origins and understanding of Islam. Similarly the social integration of pre-Islamic shapes our understanding of Islam. The notion of social integration developed within the Byzantine and Sassanic period (Hoyland, 2001). The Sassanic dynasty influenced the Islamic administrative system, it was also the aftermath of the competition dwelling between the two dynasties (Hoyland, 2001). Although these dynasties were competitive they shared a normal values such as being im perialists and harmony (Hoyland, 2001).The imperial commercial network meant that the leaders had to negotiate and political rapports were created with the empires and harmony prevailed. The Bedouins became the foundational symbol of Arab nationhood identity operator (Hoyland, 2001). They became the nationhood identity through their significant oral transmitted poetry and written Arabic literature, which became the basis and core language and humanity of Islam (Hoyland, 2001). The pre-Islamic poetry was very fine and unique, it became the linguistic standard of the interpretations of the Quran. It is noted that the pre-Islamic poetry was a central aspect of tribal humanism and in a sense contributed to Islamic humanism (Hoyland, 2001). This once over again support that the pre-Islamic period intertwines with key principles of Islam and shapes ones understanding that Islam adopted foundational principles. Along with the highly praise Arabic poetry and language, is the adopted style of language such as Saj of Kuhhan. The rhyming structure a distinguishing feature of Saj became Arabic prose (Hoyland, 2001). The style of Saj is evident within the Quran, by understanding the style one whitethorn understand the socio-cultural context that this emerged from as well as how the pre-Islamic language has been adopted by Islam. Another adopted principle of the pre-Islamic period was the role of the Kaba and religious practices. It is important to explore the rituals of the Jahiliyyah concept to notice the similarities, adoptations and continuation of principles that is reflected in Islam. For example, during the Jahiliyyah, there was sacred truce period to the Kaba which occurred for three months, the annual pilgramage which is now the ritual of the Hajj for Muslims (Armstrong, 1999). The only other difference of the role of the Kaba was during that time within the Kaba there was three hundred and sixty idols of worship within the Kaba (Armstrong, 1999). The practice of Islam such as fasting could be reflected in the pre-Islamic practices however it was the exclusion of hunting and sexual activity (Armstrong, 1999). So rituals that were practiced passim the pre-Islamic period were adopted and integrated into Islam. By examining these rituals it reinforces the importance of understanding the pre-Islamic period. By understanding the concept of Jahiliyyah one would understand the continuity, the improvements and changes of principles demonstrated within Islam.These changes, adaptation can be viewed through the ideals of women and marriage within the pre-islamic period and the ideals of women and marriage in Islam. For example, pre-Islamic period endogamy, polygamy and polyandry were common. Whereas,Quranic revelations indicates the focus on polygamy rather than polyandry however it was revealed at the time where the socio-context had change magnitude numbers of widows. Similarly, the idea of an temporary marriage, this within pre-Islamic period was instigated by a woman however in the Shiite practice it is only permissible by the man. This notion parallels with divorce, women were allowed to dismiss their husbands however with the Sharis women are disadvantaged when in attempt to divorce. The gender inequality is reflect in womens roles as well. Women in pre-Islamic period were given a stance, they were involved in divination and had a religious function they also had the status of entertaining. However, Orthodox Islam has rejected the principle of giving women status and equality. The role of women within the pre-Islamic period reflects how Islam does not always adopt the principles of pre-Islamic period, but rather rejects some notions. As the essay demonstrated the period of Jahiliyyah has significantly contributed to the succeeder of the Prophet Muhammads mission. Significant features of the Jahiliyyah such geographical location the political, social and religious life pre-islamic literature, rituals of the Kaba and the role of Women have shaped the understanding of Islam. These features have demonstrated the Islamic religion within context of its origins and development. By understanding the concept of the Jahiliyyah one can understand which features are adopted, integrated, improved and rejected as Islam evolved.ReferencesArmstrong, K, 1991. Jahiliyah in Muhammad A Western Attempt to Understand Islam. 1st ed. London Victor Gollancz Ltd. Brockelman, C, 1960. History of the Islamic peoples. New York Capricorn books. Goodman, D, 1999. Pre-industrial Cities and Technology. London Routledge Hoyland, R, 2001. Arabia and the Arabs From the dye Age to the Coming of Islam. 1st ed. London Routledge. Husayn, M, 1982. The life of Muhammad. Lagos Academy Press. Mvumbi. 2010. Introduction to Islamic theology A study of some major theological issues . ONLINE functional at http//www.cuea.edu/mvumbi/images/stories/PDF/ClassNotes/INTRODUCTION%20TO%20ISLAMIC%20THEOLOGY.pdf. Accessed 14 May 13. Schuon, F, 1976. U nderstanding Islam. 1st ed.London Unwin Paperbacks Weissleder, W, 1978. The Nomadic Alternative. Chicago Mouton Publishers

Monday, May 20, 2019

Deoxyribonucleic Acid Used as Evidence in Solving Criminal Cold Cases Perry Hawn

Deoxyribonucleic dose Used as Evidence in Solving Criminal Cold Cases Imagine it is a exquisite spring morning and you ar walking along when suddenly a man habiliment a ski mask and gloves jumps out from bum the bushes and your life is forever changed afterwards this man drags you by your hair, behind the bushes, and proceeds to violently assault you. By some miracle you survive the attack and call the police. However, beca social function this man was wearing a mask and gloves the police have no sort of immediately identifying the perpetrator.You are taken to the nighest hospital where they take swabs from your vaginal area in hopes to collect enough Deoxyribonucleic Acid ( deoxyribonucleic acid) to create a exemplification that rump be added to the Combined deoxyribonucleic acid Index System (CODIS) (May & McIntyre, 2002, p. v). A fewer historic period have passed and you hear a knock on your front door. It is a police detective who has go to your home to tell you tha t an arrest has been made in your case based on a deoxyribonucleic acid match made from a mouth swab taken from a man who was arrested a few days earlier for robbery.The purpose of this news report is to provide an argument in favor of the June ninth united States Supreme lawcourt decision where five of the nine justices sitting agreed that taking desoxyribonucleic acid samples equanimous from those who are suspected of having committed a crime does not violate the fourth amendment of the constitution defend Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures (Kirkland, 2013). The decision opened the door for police and other authorized law enforcement agencies to collect D. N. A. samples from suspects at the time of arrest so that the suspects D. N. A. can be utilize to possibly solve cold cases (St. Martin, 2013). Additionally, this paper will argue that using D. N. A. as consequence has multiple benefits like it is infallible because each individuals D. N. A. is incomp arable with the exception of identical births(May & McIntyre, 2002). Further, deoxyribonucleic acid evidence has been used to solve crimes such as rape, robbery, and homicides. Additionally, D. N. A. offers law enforcement agencies new ways of looking at old crimes through the use of advanced technology, world(prenominal) and national databases (Hampikian, 2013).Deoxyribonucleic Acid Deoxyribonucleic Acid more commonly known as DNA is the building dodge of all living creations. In humans DNA is inherited from your ancestors and determines your hair color, eye color, height, bone structure, crosscurrent type and other personal attributes (Van der Sijde, 2013). DNA can be collected from any biologic sample like bodily fluids and tissues (What, n. d. ). With the exception of identical births like twins each persons DNA is as unique as his or her fingerprint (May & McIntyre, 2002). Infallible Evidence D. N. A. rovides foolproof evidence for several(prenominal) reasons including th e one made by May and McIntyre cited above referencing the position that each DNA sample is unique to its owner (except for identical births). Other arguments in favor of D. N. A. being sound evidence include the fact that new ways of collecting, storing, and analyzing D. N. A. have increased the lifespan of the collected samples making those samples viable years, even decades, after it is collected (May & McIntyre, 2002, p. 3). Furthermore reliable DNA samples can be taken from any type of biological sample including deceased victims (What, n. . ).Uses of D. N. A. Evidence D. N. A. evidence can be used to solve a camp of crimes, incarcerate the guilty, and free the innocent. In one such case the perpetrator of an aged womans rape and assay murder in North Carolina was arrested because of the iniquitouss D. N. A. having been collected from multiple victims at differing crime moving-picture shows. 10 years later a D. N. A. match was found after the criminal had been arrested fo r an unrelated crime, as a result of D. N. A. evidence. This criminal nicknamed the Night Stalker (May & McIntyre, 2002, p. ) is currently on death row after being indicted for three counts of first degree murder, three counts of first degree rape, three counts of first degree burglary, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, first degree fire-raising and burning of personal property (State, 2003, pp. 2-3). New Way to Solve Old Crimes Use of advanced technologies that abandon smaller samples of DNA to be collected for analyzing has made use of DNA to solve crimes more palatable.You can read also King v CogdonWhat once to take a sample the size of a nickel (Temple-Raston, 2008, p. 1) now only needs to be the size of a pinprick (Temple-Raston, 2008, p. 1) offers a new way of looking at long-standing criminal investigations. Use of robotics to handle DNA samples allows for more rapid processing of samples creates a more favorable environment for solving cold cases (Temple-Raston, 2008). Further, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) is responsible for the creation of CODIS which is a roster of prior criminals into a national data database (Temple-Raston, 2008, p. ) CODIS links the DNA of prior offenders on a local, state, national and in some cases international level available to law enforcement to help unravel open cases (Combined, n. d. ). Right to Privacy Opponents argue that the taking of DNA from alleged suspects at the time of arrest violates his or her intrinsic right to privacy or that the police will use the ruling to arrest anyone for small fry infractions of the law just to get a DNA sample for a possible match (Flock, 2013).In the dissenting opinion Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote Make no mistake about it because of todays decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for any(prenominal) reason (Flock, 201 3, p. 1). However, Maryland District Attorney, Douglas F. Gansler, disagrees pointing out that law enforcement cannot arrest someone without probable cause and and states if police are genuinely interested in someones DNA, they could just go pick up their sustenance Coke can at the McDonalds (Flock, 2013, p. 1).Moreover, the majority of justices on the Supreme Court ruled that D. N. A. sample collecting via mouth swab does not violate the fourth amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures (St. Martin, 2013). Innocent Until Proven Guilty lets face it folks who are going through the cost system are at that place because the evidence pointed to him or her as a probable suspect. In actuality, because you cant argue with D. N. A. , D. N. A. mopping has done more to convict those who are actually guilty of committing crimes. Additionally, according to numbers gathered by the innocence project D. N. A. wabbing conducted after conviction has freed over 300 inmates who h ave been wrongly convicted by the court system under due process (DNA, 2013).Storage and Collection Methods Opponents of D. N. A. appealingness would argue that the storage and collection methods of D. N. A. are outdated and unreliable. However, proper training and new technology allow for D. N. A. to be collected and stored without danger of contamination. Training forensics experts to wear and change his or her gloves after touching each item prevents contamination. Additionally, storage of DNA samples in a cool, dry environment is another technique used to preserve D. N. A. samples. Other methods used to prevent the samples from becoming contaminated include use of separate storage envelopes for each sampling (What, 2013). Also, with the use of cutting edge technology like barcoding DNA samples (Hampikian, 2013) the storage and collection methods used for crime scene DNA are constantly improving and becoming more secure. Conclusion Technology is neutral It convicts and finds in nocents. We mustiness make it a regularized part of the system, giving defendants access to DNA testing and evidence whenever it might be relevant (Spitzer, 2013, n. ). Law enforcement needs a way to protect society from the criminal element who are becoming smarter and advancing their aptitudes for breaking the law through the use of technology. The Supreme Courts ruling which allows for the swabbing of those arrested will help in solving crimes and exonerating the innocent. New and innovative technologies are making the collection and storage of DNA nearly fail proof. The modernization of the ways in which DNA is used in the criminal justice system is an ever evolving process that seems to be leading us to a more fair and just society.

Sunday, May 19, 2019

Bio-Psychosocial Model of Health and Illness

BIO-PSYCHOSOCIAL illustration OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS INTRODUCTION The aesculapian type has been the pre predominant accession habitd by physicians in diagnosing and manage wrick forcet of maladys and distemper in rough Western countries. The biomedical pose of sickness and healing focuses on purely biological m overs, and excludes rational, environ psychological, and hearty influences. t on the wholey to this manikin, good health is the freedom from pain, sickness, or defect. It focuses on somatogenic processes that furbish up health, much(prenominal) as the biochemistry, physiology, and pathology of a condition.It does not account for affectionate or psychological factors that could gull a role in the nausea. In this role homunculus, each illness has unitary infralying cause, and once that cause is removed, the patient leave behind be hearty again, (Alloy, Jaconson,& Acocella,(1999). The bio-psychosocial model of understanding disease process arose from the context of changing conceptualisations of mind and body and the emergence of spick-and-span fields of enquiry, including health psychology, medical sociology, behavioural practice of medicine and psychoneuroimmunology, Bar poor,D.H. & Durand V. M. (1999). gibe to Engel (1977, 1980), human racekind worlds beings be complex systems and illness sight be caused by a plurality of factors, not just a single factor such(prenominal) as a virus or bacteria. This is an attempts to move away from a simple additive model of health, to assess the effects of the combination of factors involved in illness, that is biological (for example, virus & genes), psychological (for example, stress, behaviours, & beliefs) and social/environ amiable (for example, employment & neighbourhood).Engel (1977) argued that the best and most impressive way of dealing with disease and illness is by the application of the troika approaches that are related to human health. check to him the three int eract in a very complex way and every(prenominal) play a signifi give the gatet role in human functioning in the context of disease and illness. wellness is accordingly better understood and managed when the three approaches are combined rather than openling it from a purely biomedical perspective.The biopsychosocial model of understanding diseases and illnesses is in addition akin to the World Health Organizations definition of health a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not however the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO, 1946). BIOMEDICAL MODEL The biological model was the leading approach of understanding diseases and illnesses since the 19th century. It gained strength from enquiryes in physiology and medicine that direct in identification of pathogenic agents that cause diseases,(Maher & Maher,1985). It evolved from a Greek physician Galens germ guess concept of pathogens in 200 AD.He declared pathogens as the sole disease causing agents. T he medical model therefore aimed at doing researches to identify every pathogens that caused diseases for the purpose of providing the right diagnoses for different diseases. For the proponents of this model, every illness is a symptom of a particular disease which has too been caused by a particular pathogen. The model as well later focus on familiarizing genetic related abnormalities and injuries. The model therefore focused on the physical processes such as the pathology, the biochemistry and physiology of disease and illnesses (Hoeksema, 2001).The biomedical model uses the traditional reductionist biomedical model of medicine that presumes that every disease process plunder be explained in terms of an underlying deviation from the normal function such as a pathogen, genetic or developmental abnormality or injury,(Sarno1998). This personal credit line presumes that illness is always due to abnormalities in the bodys working systems. It is the basis of modern Western medic al practice. It unharmed kit and boodle on the theory that every bodily malfunction has an identifiable and diagnosable physiologic cause that can also be managed or treated using the conventional medicine.The biomedical model tends to walk out a curative approach to illness (Price,1978). correspond to Sarason & Sarason, (2005). Biomedical approach focuses its attention on physical symptoms and therefore the normal physical state is a state of being whole and without any physical, mental disease and free from any pain, so that all the parts of the body can carry on their square-toed functions adepty. consort to Alloy, Jaconson, and Acocella (1999), the biomedical model compares abnormal way to any other disease and therefore has special causes and specific set of symptoms.thusly the medical model also implies that the abnormal behaviour is biogenic, that is, it outgrowths from a malfunction deep down the body especially the brain. This suggests that psychological symptoms are due to structural abnormalities in the brains neurotransmitter systems, or faulty genes. Biogenic theories of abnormal carriage have been in costence since ancient times. In the centre of attention ages and the renaissance, they coexisted with supernatural theory which believed that abnormal fashion was caused by God or more often by the devil (Hoeksema, 2001).In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, religious explanations were gradually replaced by biological explanations. The newly dominant medical approach was soon strengthened by a series of distinguished break through with(predicate)s which was done through biomedical researches and therefore several previously unexplained behavior patterns were found to result from brain pathologies((Hoeksema, 2001). much(prenominal) discoveries strengthened greatly the biogenic theory of abnormal behavior. Medicine was therefore increasingly assumed would ultimately discover the cure for madness as it was rough-cutly call ed.On this assumption, any case of mental abnormality was referred to a medical professional, (Alloy, Jaconson, Acocella,(1999). According to the proponent of this model, the abnormal behavior should best be handled by physicians in hospitals and by means of drugs and that the whole problem of deviant behavior should be conceptualized in medical terms such as symptoms, syndromes, pathology, mental illness, patient, diagnosis, treatment and cure,(Price,1978). EVALUATION OF THE MEDICAL MODEL STRENGTHSThe medical model introduced objectivity in the understanding and management of diseases and illnesses by applying scientific methods of research, diagnosis and treatment. The model has also given insight into the causes of some conditions, such as Alzheimers disease, an organic condition causing confusion in the elderly, (Alloy, Jaconson, Acocella, (1999). According to Sarason, & Sarason (2005), by use of the biological model, treatment is quick and, relative to alternatives, and sometim es cheap and easy to administer.It has proved to be effective in controlling serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia allowing patients who would otherwise have to remain in hospital rather than to live at home. Finally the sickness label has reduced the fear of those with mental disorders. This is because historically, they were thought to be possessed by evil spirits or the devil, majority of them especially women, who were burned-over as witches, (Maher, & Maher 1985). CRITICISMS OF BIOMEDICAL MODEL One of the critics of biomedical model of mental illness was Thomas Szasz.In his record The story of the Mental Illness (Szasz, 1961), he postulated the so called most of what was commonly referred to as mental illnesses were merely problems in living. According to him the whole concept of mental illness was a myth as it could not withstand the laid down biomedical diagnostic procedures. For Szasz, psychiatrists over-relied on social criteria rather than medical standardized pro cedures to diagnose mental disorders. He argued that mental assessment relied on the patients coping skills for example, with families, friends and social responsibilities to determine a disorder ((Szasz, 1961).Szasz argued that psychiatric diagnosis, was unlike physical diagnosis all more or less social judgment. According to Szasz, the sick label also deprives people of the responsibility for their behavior and relegates them to a static role that makes it hard for them to return to the normal behavior. After many years in the biomedical research, certify shows there still remained many patterns of abnormal behavior for which no medical causality was identified, yet the biomedical researchers were confident that such causes were eventually to be found,(Price,1978).Biomedical model does not take into account the role of social factors or individual subjectivity in diagnosis and treatment of diseases and illnesses. The model overlooks the fact that the diagnosis (that will affec t treatment of the patient) is a result of negotiation between the doctor and the patient, (Annandale,1998). Using reductionism method of both(prenominal) research and diagnosis in the biomedical model, the model attempts to reduce the explanations of health and illness to the smallest possible factors.Nevertheless human beings and ill-health are not this simple. There whitethorn be a lot of different causes from social to psychological to genetic. The biomedical model is a single-factor and therefore looks for the cause, rather than a range of contributory factors, (Alloy, Jaconson, Acocella, 1999). Using biomedical model, there lacks the mind-body distinction. The mind and body are considered separately and they do not affect one another, which research has proved is not the case. Health is traditionally equated to the absence of disease.A lack of a fundamental pathology was thought to draw ones health as good, whereas biologically driven pathogens and conditions would render an individual with poor health and the label ghoulish. However, such a narrow scope on health limited our understanding of wellbeing, thwarted our treatments efforts, and possibly more importantly, suppressed preventive measures, (Sarno, 1998). PSYCHOLOGICAL MODELS OF UNDERSTANDING TO DISEASE PROCESSES In contrast to the medical model, thoughts, feelings and behaviours affect our health and well-being.Recognition of the importance of these influences on health and disease is consistent with evolving conceptions of the interactions between the mind and the body and represents a real change in medicine and the life sciences,( Baum & Posluszny, 1999). There are psychological theories that argues that the mind prays a pivotal role in matters related to diseases and illnesses. According such theories, disturbed or abnormal behavior for example whitethorn be explained physiologically and also psychologically.Conditions like Schiszophrenia and depression have both physiological and psycho logical explanations of causality and management. Some of the psychological perspectives of that deal with health and well-being of human beings are The Psychodynamic opinion Psychodynamic approach to abnormal behaviour assumes that abnormal behavior arises or originates from unconscious assailable psychological conflicts. According to Sigmund Freud(1925) behaviour is motivated by internal or psychological forces. deviantity according to him is caused by an unbalance in the internal forces that motivate behaviour.He believed that mental illness arises from unresolved conscious conflicts, which usually occur in early childhood According to Freud, the unconscious forms about 90% of the human mind, and the remaining 10% is conscious. large number are not able to access the contents of their own unconscious mind. Traumatic memories, inappropriate desires, and unresolved conflicts are buried in the unconscious mind by ego defense mechanisms such as repression. The contents of the un conscious mind for example, a childhood trauma, may still influence behaviour and this can lead to abnormality (Santrock,2007).According to psychodynamic proponents, another source of abnormality arises from extremes either from id or from the superego Weak ego According to psychodynamics, the well adjusted people have a strong ego, that is, they able to cope with the demands of both the id and the superego by allowing each to express itself at appropriate times. If, however, the ego is weakened, then either the id or the superego, whichever is stronger, may persist the personality leading to deviant behavior and neurotism.Unchecked id impulses Freud argued that, if id impulses are unchecked they may be expressed in self-destructive and immoral behaviour. This may lead to disorders such as conduct disorders in childhood and psychopathological behaviour in adulthood. Too powerful superego According to Freund, a superego that is too powerful, and therefore too uncut and inflexible i n its moral values, will restrict the id to such an extent that the person will be deprived of even socially acceptable pleasures. According to him this would create neurosis, which could be expressed in the symptoms of dread disorders, such as phobias and obsessions.The Behaviourist Perspective This approach believes that behavior is learned based on reinforcement. Therefore it is sustained its consequences. Therefore the maladaptive behavior is learned through reward while it can also be relearned, (Slavin, 2003). The proponents of this model argues that deviant behavior can be managed through Shaping This involves guiding behavior toward goals by reinforcing the many steps that lead to success. Extinction This approach involves removing reinforcers from previously learned behavior until the behavior disappears.Extinction burst This process involves the increase in levels of behavior in the early stages of extinction. Positive reinforcement This a proficiency of sustaining a desi red behavior for example, applying praise after doing something desirable. Negative reinforcement this is a technique of escaping from an unpleasant or a way of preventing unpleasant behavior from occurring. Punishment consequences that weaken behavior penalty like reinforcement is in the eye of the receiver and the pretend on behavior, (Slavin, 2003). Cognitive Theoretical exemplarThe cognitive perspective maintains that peoples way of interpreting situations determine their emotional and behavioral symptoms,(Hoeksema, 2001). Abnormal behavior is a product of interdict or erroneous thinking and perception about oneself and of the environment. The proponents of this theory argue that the human being is not a passive organism, but is capable of processing information and comprehend the birth between cause and effect. According to Beck (1921), maladaptive behavior may result from faulty or kinky interpretation of the reality.Therefore false or negative view of the world can eas ily lead to illness or abnormal behavior. For example, a negative view of oneself can lead to negative interpretation and negative expectations of the future. These negative belief systems and erroneous view of the world can lead to depression, (Halligan,& Aylward,(Eds. ) 2006). Accord to Albert Ellis (1959), the goal of cognitive therapy is to help people change their irrational beliefs into rational beliefs. This is done by the therapist creating insights in a persons mind through the process of disputing the clients irrational beliefs, (Santrock,2007).Humanist Model of Abnormal Behaviour According to the humanistic approach and existentialists theories, symptoms of abnormal behavior arise when people are not allowed to pursue their full potential and instead they are made or try to conform to others wishes,(Hoeksema,(2001). According to Carl Rogers, The organism has one basic tendency and striving to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism (Rogers, 1951). Accor ding to him, abnormal behavior can be managed through working to remove incongruences, defense mechanisms, and developing positive personal self-regard.SOCIOCULTURAL APPROACHES Interpersonal theorists focus on the role of interpersonal relationships in shaping normal and abnormal behavior. Family system theorists suggests that abnormality among individual family members is the result of dysfunctional patterns of interaction within families that encourage and maintain psychopathology,(Hoeksema,2001). Social structural theorists on the other hand focus on the influence of structural factors in the environment and cultures on individuals behavior, (Barlow & Durand,1999). The Role of psychological carry in health mattersCurrent psychological researches especially in the field of Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), indicate that psychological state can influence the body immunity through the nervous system. The studies suggest that, not only can psychological state influence health, but belief s may also influence health directly. In particular, research has focused on the capacity of psychological factors (such as mood, thought suppression and stress) to modify immune functioning,(Ogden, 2004). According to motley studies, positive mood is associated with better immune functioning, whereas negative mood is associated with poorer immune functioning (Stone et al. 1987). Humour appears to be particularly beneficial (Dillon, Minchoff & Baker, 1985). Certain coping styles (such as suppression and denial) may relate to illness attack and progression (e. g. Kune et al. , 1991), while thought expression through writing or disclosure groups may better immune functioning,(Pennebaker et al. , 1988 Petrie, Booth & Pennebaker, 1998). Kiecolt-Glaser and Glaser (1986) argued that stress causes a decrease in the hormones produced to fight carcinogens (factors that cause cancer) and repair DNA.In particular, hydrocortisone decreases the number of active T cells, which can increase the rate of tumour development. This suggests that experiencing stress while being ill could exacerbate the illness through physiological changes. So if the illness itself is appraised as being stressful, this itself may be damaging to the chances of recovery. According to Ogden (2000), chronic illnesses, such as asthma, AIDS, cancer, coronary heart disease and eight-fold sclerosis, are another important areas of health that research indicates that psychological factors play important role.Coronary heart disease (CHD) for example, is caused by hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), which are narrowed by fatty deposits. This can result in angina (pain) or a heart attack (myocardial infarction). CHD is responsible for 33 per cent of deaths in men under 65 and 28 per cent of all deaths. It is the leading cause of death in the UK, killing 4300 men and 2721 women per million in 1992. It has been estimated that CHD cost the National Health Service in the UK about ? 390 million in 198 5/86, (Ogden, 2000).Many risk factors for chronic heart disease which are modifiable have been identified, for example, smoking, alcohol, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, perceived work stress and high blood pressure. According to Friedman and Rosenman (1959,78) type A behaviour is characterized by excessive competitiveness, vigour, energy, alertness, confidence, gaudy speaking, rapid speaking, tense clipped speech, impatience, hostility, interrupting, frequent use of the sound out never and frequent use of the word absolutely, In the 1980s Karasek developed a job demand/job control model of stress.He proposed the job demand control hypothesis, whose aim was to reduce job strain. According to Karasek and Theorell, (1990), there are two aspects of job strain job demands and job autonomy (which reflects the persons control over the speed or the nature of decisions made within the job). Karaseks hypothesis suggests that high job demands and low job autonomy predict CHD. He later in his included the concept of social support, which he defined in terms of emotional support (trust and social cohesion between co-workers) and instrumental social support (the provision of extra resources and assistance).All the above conditions involve in their therapy psychological related techniques that includes exercises, behavior modifications and cognitive therapies. A Multi Perspective entree to Disease and Illnesses The model recognizes four systems centered on the person organs, the whole person, behaviour, and social role function. It also considers the four contextual factors that influence these systems, that is personal factors, physical environment, social environment, and time.This model also draws attention to two important components of any holistic model of health, choice (free-will) and quality of life, (McKeown,1979), This approach advocates the importance of looking at health and human behavior from scientific, psychological and social cultural approach. According to this model abnormal behavior is therefore effectively dealt with from these three points of view. Psychologically the unobservable events of the mind, such as attitudes, memories, and desires are unquestionably involved in most of psychopathology(Alloy, Jacobson &acocella,1999).According to Ndetei(2006), Culture and religion also play an important role in the development and management of psychopathology. Over the last century, health behaviours have played an increasingly important role in health and illness. This relationship has been highlighted by McKeowns book, The Role of Medicine (1979), which discusses the come down of infectious diseases in the nineteenth century, which forms the focus for medical sociology. It also highlights the increasing role of behavior in illness in the twentieth century.The commonly held view is that the decline in illnesses such as TB, measles, variola major and whooping cough was related to the development of medical interventions such as chem otherapy and vaccinations. But McKeown showed that the decline in infectious diseases had already begun, before the development of medical interventions. He claimed that, looking back over the past three centuries, this decline is best understood in terms of social and environmental factors. McKeown also examined health and illness throughout the twentieth century.He argued that contemporary illness is caused by an individuals own behaviours, such as whether they smoke, what they eat and how much exercise they take, and he suggested that good health was dependent on tackling these habits. It has been suggested that 50 per cent of mortality from the ten leading causes of death is due to behaviour. If this is correct, then behaviour and lifestyle have a potentially major effect on longevity. For example, Doll and Peto (1981) estimated that tobacco consumption accounts for 30 per cent of all cancer deaths, alcohol 3 per cent, diet 35 per cent, and reproductive and sexual behaviour 7 pe r cent.Approximately 75 per cent of all deaths due to cancer are related to behaviour. More specifically, lung cancer (the most common form) accounts for 36 per cent of all cancer deaths in men and 15 per cent in women in the UK. It has been calculated that 90 per cent of all lung cancer mortality is attributable to cigarette smoking, which is also connect to other illnesses such as cancers of the bladder, pancreas, mouth, larynx and oesophagus, and to coronary heart disease.And bowel cancer, which accounts for 11 per cent of all cancer deaths in men and 14 per cent in women, appears to be linked to diets high in total fat, high in meat and low in fibre, Doll and Peto (1981). In summary The proponents of the biopsychosocial model argue that the biomedical model alone does not take into account all of the factors that have an continue on a patients health. Biological issues, as well as psychological factors such as a patients mood, occupation, intelligence, memory, level of educati on and perceptions are all considered when making a diagnosis.The biomedical approach may not, for example, take into account the role sociological factors like family, social class, or a patients environment may have on causing a health condition, and thus offer little insight into how illness may be prevented. A patient who complains of symptoms that have no obvious objective cause might also be dismissed as not being ill, despite the very real effect those symptoms may have on the patients daily life.The biopsychosocial model of understanding disease process accomplished a milestone that brought about a dramatic shift in focus from disease to health, recognizing that psychosocial factors (for example beliefs, relationships, and stress) greatly impact recovery, the progression of and recuperation from illness and disease. While the traditional biomedical models of clinical medicine focused on pathophysiology and other biological approaches to disease, the biopsychosocial approach emphasize the importance of understanding human health and illness in their fullest contexts. CONCLUTIONThis model recognizes human beings as complex systems and illness can be caused by a multitude of factors, not just a single factor such as a virus or bacteria. Biopsychosocial model therefore attempts to move away from a simple linear model of health and looks at the combination of factors involved in illness biological (for example, a virus), psychological (for example, behaviours, beliefs) and social (for example, employment). Since in biopsychosocial model , illness is regarded as the result of a combination of factors, the individual is no longer simply seen as a passive victim of some external force, such as a virus.Acknowledging the role of behaviours such as smoking, diet, exercises and alcohol, for example, means that the individual may be held responsible for their health and illness. From this perspective, health and illness exist on a continuum. Rather than being eith er healthy or ill, individuals progress along a continuum from healthiness to illness and back again. The biopsychosocial model of understanding disease process maintains that the mind and body interact, and therefore it considers psychological factors as not only possible consequences of illness but as contributing to all the stages of health, from being healthy to being illness.Current Application of Biopsychosocial Model The biopsychosocial model of illness seems to be a significant advance upon the biomedical model of illness. 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