Saturday, August 31, 2019

Literature-based discovery of diabetes

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are known mediators of cellular damage in multiple diseases including diabetic complications. Despite its importance, no comprehensive database is currently available for the genes associated with ROS. Methods We present ROS- and diabetes-related targets (genes/proteins) collected from the biomedical literature through a text mining technology. A web-based literature mining tool, SciMiner, was applied to 54 biomedical papers indexed with diabetes and ROS by PubMed to identify relevant targets.Over-represented targets in the ROS-diabetes literature were obtained through comparisons against randomly selected literature. The expression levels of nine genes, selected from the top ranked ROS-diabetes set, were measured in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of diabetic and non-diabetic DBA/2J mice in order to evaluate the biological relevance of literature- derived targets in the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy. Results SciMiner identified 1,026 ROS- and diabet es-related targets from the 54 biomedical papers (http://Jdrf. eurology. med. umich. edu/ROSDiabetes/ webcite). Fifty-three targets were significantly over-represented in the ROS-diabetes literature ompared to randomly selected literature. These over-represented targets included well-known members of the oxidative stress response including catalase, the NADPH oxidase family, and the superoxide dismutase family of proteins. Eight of the nine selected genes exhibited significant differential expression between diabetic and non-diabetic mice.For six genes, the direction of expression change in diabetes paralleled enhanced oxidative stress in the DRG. Conclusions Literature mining compiled ROS-diabetes related targets from the biomedical literature and led us to evaluate the biological relevance of selected targets in the athogenesis of diabetic neuropathy. Diabetes is a metabolic disease in which the body does not produce or properly respond to insulin, a hormone required to convert ca rbohydrates into energy for daily life. According to the American Diabetes Association, 23. million children and adults, approximately 7. 8% of the population in the United States, have diabetes [1]. The cost of diabetes in 2007 was estimated to be $174 billion [1]. The micro- and macro-vascular complications of diabetes are the most common causes of renal tailure, blindness and amputations leading to significant morta y, morbidity poor quality of life; however, incomplete understanding of the causes of diabetic complications hinders the development of mechanism-based therapies.In vivo and in vitro experiments implicate a number of enzymatic and non-enzymatic metabolic pathways in the initiation and progression of diabetic complications [2] including: (1) increased polyol pathway activity leading to sorbitol and fructose accumulation, NAD(P)-redox imbalances and changes in signal transduction; (2) non- enzymatic glycation of proteins yielding â€Å"advanced glycation end-productsâ €  (AGES); (3) ctivation of protein kinase C (PKC), initiating a cascade of intracellular stress responses; and (4) increased hexosamine pathway flux [2,3].Only recently has a link among these pathways been established that provides a unified mechanism of tissue damage. Each of these pathways directly and indirectly leads to overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) [23]. ROS are highly reactive ions or small molecules including oxygen ions, free radicals and peroxides, formed as natural byproducts of cellular energy metabolism. ROS are implicated in multiple cellular pathways such as mitogen-activated protein kinase MAPK) signaling, c-Jun amino-terminal kinase ONK), cell proliferation and apoptosis [4-6].Due to the highly reactive properties of ROS, excessive ROS may cause significant damage to proteins, DNA, RNA and lipids. All cells express enzymes capable of neutralizing ROS. In addition to the maintenance of antioxidant systems such as glutathione and thioredoxins, pri mary sensory neurons express two main detoxifying enzymes: superoxide dismutase (SOD) [7] and catalase [8]. SOD converts superoxide (02-) to H202, which is reduced to H20 by glutathione and catalase [8].SODI is the main form of SOD in the cytoplasm; SOD2 is located within the itochondria. In neurons, SODI activity represents approximately 90% of total SOD activity and SOD2 approximately 10% [9]. Under diabetic conditions, this protective mechanism is overwhelmed due to the substantial increase in ROS, leading to cellular damage and dysfunction [10]. The idea that increased ROS and oxidative stress contribute to the pathogenesis of diabetic complications has led scientists to investigate different oxidative stress pathways [7,11].Inhibition of ROS or maintenance of euglycemia restores metabolic and vascular imbalances and blocks both the initiation and progression of omplications [1 2,13]. Despite the significant implications and extensive research into the role of ROS in diabetes, n o comprehensive database regarding ROS-related genes or proteins is currently available. In the present study, a comprehensive list of ROS- and diabetes-related targets (genes/proteins) was compiled from the biomedical literature through text mining technology.SciMiner, a web-based literature mining tool [14], was used to retrieve and process documents and identify targets from the text. SciMiner provides a convenient web-based platform for target-identification within the biomedical iterature, similar to other tools including EBIMed [1 5], ALI BABA [16], and Polysearch [1 7]; however, SciMiner is unique in that it searches tull text documents, suppo free-text PubMed query style, and allows the comparison of target lists from multiple queries.The ROS-diabetes targets collected by SciMiner were further tested against randomly selected non-ROS-diabetes literature to identify targets that are significantly over- represented in the ROS-diabetes literature. Functional enrichment analyses were performed on these targets to identify significantly over-represented biological unctions in terms of Gene Ontology (GO) terms and pathways. In order to confirm the biological relevance of the over-represented ROS-diabetes targets, the gene expression levels of nine selected targets were measured in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) from mice with and without diabetes.DRG contain primary sensory neurons that relay information from the periphery to the central nervous system (CNS) Unlike the CNS, DRG are not protected by a blood-nerve barrier, and are consequently vulnerable to metabolic and toxic injury [19]. We hypothesize that differential expression of identified targets in DRG would confirm heir involvement in the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy. Defining ROS-diabetes literature To retrieve the list of biomedical literature associated with ROS and diabetes, PubMed was queried using (â€Å"Reactive Oxygen Species†[MeSH] AND â€Å"Diabetes Mellitus†[MeSH]).This que ry yielded 54 articles as of April 27, 2009. SciMiner, a web-based literature mining tool [14], was used to retrieve and process the abstracts and available full text documents to identify targets (full text documents were available for approximately 40% of the 1 , 1 54 articles). SciMiner-identified targets, eported in the form of HGNC [HUGO (Human Genome Organization) Gene Nomenclature Committee] genes, were confirmed by manual review of the text. Comparison with human curated data (NCBI Gene2PubMed) The NCBI Gene database provides links between Gene and PubMed.The links are the result of (1) manual curation within the NCBI via literature analysis as part of generating a Gene record, (2) integration of information from other public databases, and (3) GeneRlF (Gene Reference Into Function) in which human experts provide a brief summary of gene functions and make the connections between citation PubMed) and Gene databases. For the 54 ROS-diabetes articles, gene-paper associations we re retrieved from the NCBI Gene database. Non-human genes were mapped to homologous human genes through the NCBI HomoloGene database.The retrieved genes were compared against the SciMiner derived targets. Any genes missed by SciMiner were added to the ROS-diabetes target set. Protein-protein interactions among ROS-diabetes targets To indirectly examine the association of literature derived targets (by SciMiner and NCBI Gene2PubMed) with ROS and diabetes, protein-protein interactions (PPIs) mong the targets were surveyed This was based on an assumption that targets are more likely to have PPIs with each other if they are truly associated within the same biological functions/pathways.A PPI network of the ROS-diabetes targets was generated using the Michigan Molecular Interactions (MIMI, http://mimi. ncibi. org/ webcite) database [20] and compared against 100 PPI networks of randomly drawn sets (the same number of the ROS-diabetes target set) from HUGO. A standard Z-test and one sample T-test were used to calculate the statistical significance of the ROS- diabetes PPI network with respect to the random PPI networks.Functional enrichment analysis Literature derived ROS-diabetes targets (by SciMiner and NCBI Gene2PubMed) were subject to functional enrichment analyses to identify significantly over-represented biological functions in terms of Gene Ontology [21], pathways (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG, http://www. genome. ]p/kegg/ webcite) [22] and Reactome http://www. reactome. org/ webcite[23]). Fisher's exact test [24] was used to calculate the statistical significance of these biological functions with BenJamini-Hochberg (BH) adjusted p-value ; 0. 5 [25] as the cut-off. Over-represented ROS-diabetes targets Defining background corpora To identify a subset of targets that are highly over-represented within the ROS- diabetes targets, the frequency of each target (defined as the number of documents in which the target was identified divided by the n umber of total documents in the query) was compared against the frequencies in randomly selected background corpora.Depending on how the background set is defined, over-represented targets may vary widely; therefore, to maintain the background corpora close to the ROS and diabetes context, documents were selected from the same Journal, volume, and issue f the 54 ROS-diabetes documents, but were NOT indexed with â€Å"Reactive Oxygen Species†[MeSH] nor â€Å"Diabetes Mellitus†[MeSH]. For example, one of the ROS-diabetes articles (PMID: 18227068), was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Volume 283, Issue 16. This issue contained 85 papers, 78 of which were not indexed with either â€Å"Reactive Oxygen Species†[MeSH] or â€Å"Diabetes Mellitus†[MeSH] indexed.One of these 78 papers was randomly selected as a background document. Three sets of 54 documents were selected using this approach and processed using SciMiner. Identified targets were con firmed by manual review for accuracy. Identifying significantly over-represented targets ROS-diabetes targets were tested for over-representation against targets identified from the three background sets. Fisher's exact test was used to determine if the frequency of each target in the ROS-diabetes target set was significantly different from that of the background sets. Any targets with a BH adjusted p-value < 0. 5 in at least two of the three comparisons were deemed to be an over-represented ROS- diabetes target. Functional enrichment analyses were performed on these over- represented ROS-diabetes targets as described above. Selecting targets tor real-time R A subset of targets were selected for RT-PCR from the top 10 over-represented ROS- diabetes targets excluding insulin and NADPH oxidase 5 (NOX5), which does not have a mouse ortholog. Nitric oxide synthase 1 (NOSI), the main generator of nitric oxide, ranked at the 1 5th position and was additionally selected for inclusion in th e test set.Differential gene expression by real-time RT-PCR Mice DBA/2J mice were purchased from the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME). Mice were housed in a pathogen-free environment and cared for following the University of Michigan Committee on the Care and Use of Animals guidelines. Mice were fed AIN76A chow (Research Diets, New Brunswick, NJ). Male mice were used for this study. Induction of diabetes Two treatment groups were defined: control (n = 4) and diabetic (n = 4). Diabetes was induced at 13 weeks of age by low-dose streptozotocin (STZ) injections, 50 mg/kg/day for five consecutive days.All diabetic mice received LinBit sustained release insulin implants (LinShin, Toronto, Canada) at 8 weeks post-STZ treatment. Insulin implants were replaced every 4 weeks, at 12 and 16 weeks post-STZ treatment. At 20 weeks post-STZ treatment, mice were euthanized by sodium pentobarbital overdose and DRG were harvested as previously described [26]. Real-time RT-PCR The gene expression o f the selected nine literature-derived ROS-diabetes targets in DRG was measured using real-time RT-PCR in duplicate.The amount of mRNA isolated from each DRG was normalized to an endogenous reference [Tbp: TATA box binding protein; A cycle threshold (CT)]. Identification of ROS-diabetes targets A total of 1,021 unique targets were identified by SciMiner from the 1,154 ROS- diabetes papers defined by the query of (â€Å"Reactive Oxygen Species†[MeSH] AND â€Å"Diabetes Mellitus†[MeSH]) and confirmed by manual review. Table 1 contains the op 10 most frequently mentioned targets in the ROS-diabetes papers. Insulin was the most frequently mentioned target, followed by superoxide dismutase 1 and catalase. Table 1 .Top 10 most frequent ROS-diabetes targets The NCBI Gene2PubMed database, containing expert-curated associations between the NCBI Gene and PubMed databases, revealed 90 unique genes associated with the 54 ROS-diabetes papers (Additional File 1). SciMiner identified 85 out of these 90 targets, indicating a 94% recall rate. Five targets missed by SciMiner were added to the initial ROS-diabetes target set to result in 1,026 unique targets (Additional File 2). Additional tile 1. The list ot 90 genes trom the NCBI Gene2PubMed database tor the ROS-Diabetes literature (1 , 1 54 papers).Format: XLS Size: 35KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Additional file 2. The list of 1,026 ROS-Diabetes targets. Format: XLS Size: 229KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data PPI network of the ROS-diabetes targets The PPI network among the ROS-diabetes targets was evaluated using MIMI interaction data. This was based on the assumption that targets commonly related to certain topic are more likely to have frequent interactions with each other.One hundred PPI networks were generated for comparison using the same number of genes (1,026) randomly selected from the complete HUGO gene set (2 5,254). The PPI network of the ROS-diabetes targets was significantly different from the randomly generated networks indicating their strong association with the topic â€Å"ROS and Diabetes†. Table 2 demonstrates that the mean number of targets with any PPI interaction in the randomly generated target sets was 528. 9 (approximately 52% of 1,026 targets), while the number of targets with any PPI interaction in the ROS- iabetes target was 983 (96%).The number of targets interacting with each other was also significantly different between the random networks (mean = 155. 4) and the ROS-diabetes network (mean = 879). Figure 1 illustrates the distributions of these measurements from the 100 random networks with the ROS-diabetes set depicted as a red vertical line. It is obvious that the PPI network of the ROS-diabetes targets is significantly different from the random networks. Table 2. Summary of 100 randomly generated PPI networks thumbnailFigure 1 . Histograms of randomly gene rated PPI networks.The histograms llustrate the distributions of 100 randomly generated networks, while the red line indicates the ROS-diabetes targets. The network of the ROS-diabetes targets is significantly different from the 100 randomly generated networks, indicating the overlap of ROS-diabetes targets with respect to the topic â€Å"Reactive Oxygen Species and Diabetes†. Functional enrichment analyses of the ROS-diabetes targets Functional enrichment analyses of the 1,026 ROS-diabetes targets were performed to identify over-represented biological functions of the ROS-diabetes targets.After BenJamini-Hochberg correction, a total of 189 molecular functions, 450 biological rocesses, 73 cellular components and 341 pathways were significantly enriched in the ROS-diabetes targets when compared against all the HUGO genes (see Additional Files 3, 4, 5 and 6 for the full lists). Table 3 lists the top 3 most over-represented GO terms and pathways ranked by p-values of Fisher's ex act test: e. g. , apoptosis, oxidoreductase activity and insulin signaling pathway. Additional file 3. The enriched Molecular Functions Gene Ontology Terms in the 1,026 ROS-Diabetes targets.Format: XLS Size: 91 KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Additional file 4. The nriched Biological Processes Gene Ontology Terms in the 1,026 ROS-Diabetes targets. Format: XLS Size: 95KB Download file This tile can be viewed wit Microsott Excel Vieweropen Data Additional tile enriched Cellular Components Gene Ontology Terms in the 1,026 ROS-Diabetes targets. Format: XLS Size: 61 KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Additional file 6. The enriched pathways in the 1,026 ROS-Diabetes targets.Format: XLS Size: 104KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Table 3. Enriched functions of 1,026 ROS-diabetes targets Identification of over-represented ROS-diabetes targets To identify th e ROS-diabetes targets highly over-represented in ROS-diabetes literature, three sets of background corpora of the same size (n = 1 , 1 54 documents) were generated using the same Journal, volume and issue approach. The overlap among the three background sets in terms of documents and identified targets are illustrated in Figure 2.Approximately 90% of the selected background documents were unique to the individual set, while 50% of the identified targets were identified in at least one of the three background document sets. The frequencies of the identified targets were compared among the background sets for significant differences. None of the targets had a BH adjusted p-value ; 0. 05, indicating no significant difference among the targets from the three different background sets (See Additional File 7). thumbnailFigure 2. Venn diagrams of document compositions and identified targets of the randomly generated background sets.Approximately 90% of the selected background documents we re unique to individual set (A), while 50% of the identified targets were identified in at least one of the three background document sets (B). Additional file 7. Comparisons of target frequencies among three background sets. Format: XLS Size: 22KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Comparisons of the ROS-diabetes targets against these background sets revealed 53 highly over- represented ROS-diabetes targets as listed in Table 4.These 53 targets were significant (p-value ; 0. 05) against all three background sets and significant following BenJamini-Hochberg multiple testing correction (BH adjusted p-value ; 0. 05) against at least two of the three background sets. SODI was the most over-represented in he ROS-diabetes targets. Table 4. 53 targets over-represented in ROS-diabetes literature Functional enrichment analyses of the over-represented ROS-diabetes targets Functional enrichment analyses of the 53 ROS-diabetes targets were performed to identify over- represented biological functions.Following BenJamini-Hochberg correction, a total of 65 molecular functions, 209 biological processes, 26 cellular components and 108 pathways were significantly over-represented when compared against all the HUGO genes (see Additional Files 8, 9, 10 and 11 for the full lists). Table 5 shows the top 3 ost significantly over-represented GO terms and pathways ranked by p-values of Fisher's exact test. GO terms related to oxidative stress such as â€Å"superoxide metabolic process†, â€Å"superoxide release†, â€Å"electron carrier activity† and â€Å"mitochondrion† were highly over-represented 53 ROS-diabetes targets Additional file 8.The enriched Molecular Functions Gene Ontology Terms in the Over- represented 53 ROS-Diabetes targets. Format: XLS Size: 46KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Additional file 9. The enriched Biological Processes Gene Ontology Terms in the Over-represented 53 ROS- Diabetes targets. Format: XLS Size: 95KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Additional file 10. The enriched Cellular Components Gene Ontology Terms in the Over-represented 53 ROS-Diabetes targets.Format: XLS Size: 66KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Additional file 1 1 . The enriched pathways in the Over-represented 53 ROS-Diabetes targets. Format: XLS Size: 75KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Table 5. Enriched functions of the 53 over-represented targets in diabetes Gene expression change in iabetes Two groups of DBA/2J mice exhibited significantly different levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (%GHb). The mean ? ± SEM were 6. 2 ? ± 0. for the non-diabetic control group and for 14. 0 ? ± 0. 8 for the diabetic group (p-value < 0. 001), indicative of prolonged hyperglycemia in the diabetic group [26]. DRG were harvested from these animals for gene expression assays. Nine genes were selected from the top ranked ROS-diabetes targets: superoxide dismutase 1 (Sodl), catalase (Cat), xanthine dehydrogenase (Xdh), protein kinase C alpha (Prkca), neutrophil cytosolic factor 1 Ncfl), nitric oxide synthase 3 (Nos3), superoxide dismutase 2 (Sod2), cytochrome b-245 alpha (Cyba), and nitric oxide synthase 1 (Nosl).Eight genes exhibited differential expression between diabetic and non-diabetic mice (p-value < 0. 05) as shown in Figure 3. Cat, Sodl, Sod2, Prkca, and NOSI expression levels were decreased, while Ncfl , Xdh, and Cyba expression levels were increased in diabetes. thumbnailFigure 3. Gene expression levels of selected ROS-diabetes targets in DRG examined by real-time RT-PCR. Expression levels are relative to Tbp, an internal control (error bar = SEM) (*, p < 0. 05; **, p < 0. 01; ***, p < 0. 01). Eight (Cat, Sodl, Ncfl , Xdh, Sod2, Cyba, Prkca, and Nosl) out of the nine selected ROS-diabetes genes were sign ificantly regulated by diabetes. Discussion Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are products of normal energy metabolism and play important roles in many other biological processes such as the immune response and signaling cascades [4-6]. As mediators of cellular damage, ROS are implicated in pathogenesis of multiple diseases including diabetic complications [27-30].With the aid of literature mining technology, we collected 1 ,026 possible ROS-related targets from a set of biomedical literature indexed with both ROS and diabetes. Fifty-three targets were significantly over-represented in the ROS-diabetes papers when compared against three background sets. Depending on how the background set is defined, the over-represented targets may vary widely. An ideal background set would be the entire PubMed set; however, this is not possible due to limited access to tull texts and intense data processing.An alternative method wou d be to use only abstracts in PubMed, but this may not fully represen t the literature. Using only the abstracts, our target identification method resulted in 21 (39%) of the 53 key ROS- iabetes targets (Additional File 12), suggesting the benefit of rich information in full text documents. In the present study, background documents were randomly selected from the same Journal, volume, and issue of the 54 ROS-diabetes documents, which were not indexed with â€Å"Reactive Oxygen Species†[MeSH] nor â€Å"Diabetes Mellitus†[MeSH].This approach maintained the background corpora not far from the ROS and diabetes context. Additional file 12. The Key 53 ROS-Diabetes Targets Identifiable Using Only the Abstracts. Format: XLS Size: 23KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data The gene expression evels of nine targets selected from the 53 over-represented ROS-diabetes targets were measured in diabetic and non-diabetic DRG. Our laboratory is particularly interested in deciphering the underlying mechanisms of diab etic neuropathy, a major complication of diabetes.Data published by our laboratory both in vitro and in vivo confirm the negative impact of oxidative stress in complication-prone neuron tissues like DRG In an effort to obtain diabetic neuropathy specific targets, SciMiner was employed to further analyze a subset of the ROS-diabetes papers (data not shown). Nerve growth factor (NGF) was identified as the most over- epresented target in this subset when compared to the full ROS-diabetes set; however, NGF did not have statistical significance (BH adjusted p-value = 0. 06). The relatively small numbers of papers and associated targets may have contributed to this non-significance.Therefore, the candidate targets for gene expression validation were selected from among the 53 over-represented ROS-diabetes targets derived from the full ROS-diabetes corpus. Among the tested genes, the expression levels of Cat, Sodl , Sod2, Prkca, and NOSI were decreased, while the expression levels of Ncfl , Xdh, and Cyba were increased nder diabetic conditions. Cat, Sodl , and Sod2 are responsible for protecting cells from oxidative stress by destroying superoxides and hydrogen peroxides [8-11]. Decreased expression of these genes may result in oxidative stress [32].Increased expression of Cyba and Ncfl , subunits of superoxide-generating nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase complex [30], also supports enhanced oxidative stress. Xdh and its inter-convertible form, Xanthine oxidase (Xod), showed increased activity in various rat tissues under oxidative stress conditions ith diabetes [33], and also showed increased expression in diabetic DRG in the current study. Unlike the above concordant genes, protein kinase C and nitric oxide synthases did not exhibit predicted expression changes in diabetes.Protein kinase C activates NADPH oxidase, further promoting oxidative stress in the cell [34,35]. Decreased expression of Prkca in our diabetic DRG is not parallel with expression levels of other enzymes expected to increase oxidative stress. Between the two nitric oxide synthases tested in the present study, NOSI (neuronal) expression was significantly decreased (p-value < 0. 01) in diabetes, while Nos3 (endothelial) expression was not significant (p-value = 0. 06). The neuronal NOSI is expected to play a major role in producing nitric oxide, another type of highly reactive free radical.Thus, with some exceptions, the majority of the differentially expressed genes in DRG show parallel results to the known activities of these targets in diabetes, suggesting enhanced oxidative stress in the diabetic DRG. Assessment of antioxidant enzyme expression in diabetes has yielded a variety of results [36-40] depending upon the duration of diabetes, the tissue studied and other factors. In diabetic mice and rats, it is commonly reported that superoxide dismutases are down-regulated [37-40], where data regarding catalase are variable [36,40].PKC is activated i n diabetes, but most papers that examined mRNA demonstrated that its expression is largely unchanged [41]. Among the 53 over-represented ROS-diabetes targets, SODI was the most over- represented and was differentially expressed under diabetic and non-diabetic conditions. To the best of our knowledge, no published study has investigated the role of SODI in the onset and/or progression of diabetic neuropathy. Mutations of SODI have long been associated with the inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) [42] and the theory of oxidative stress-based aging [43].Early reports indicate that knockout of the SODI gene does not affect nervous system development [44], although recovery following injury is slow and incomplete [45,46]. With respect to diabetes, SODI KO accelerates the development of diabetic nephropathy [47] and cataract formation [48]. Thus, examining the SODI KO mouse as a model of diabetic neuropathy would be a reasonable follow-up study. One limitation of the cur rent approach using literature mining technology is incorrect r missed identification of the mentioned targets within the literature.Based on a performance evaluation using a standard text set BioCreAtlvE (Critical Assessment of Information Extraction systems in Biology) version 2 [49], SciMiner achieved 87. 1% recall (percentage identification of targets in the given text), 71. 3% precision (percentage accuracy of identified target) and 75. 8% F-measure (harmonious average of recall and precision = (2 x recall x precision)/(recall + precision)) before manual revision [14]. In order to improve the accuracy of SciMiner's results, each target was anually reviewed and corrected by checking the sentences in which each target was identified.Approximately, 120 targets (†10% of the initially identified targets from the ROS-diabetes papers) were removed during the manual review process. The overall accuracy is expected to improve through the review process; however, the review process did not address targets missed by SciMiner, since we did not thoroughly review individual papers. Instead, 5 missed targets, whose associations with ROS-diabetes literature were available in the NCBI Gene2PubMed database, were added to the final ROS-diabetes target list (Additional File 2).

Friday, August 30, 2019

A Long Way Gone Research Paper Essay

When people imagine soldiers they think of strong men. However, some soldiers today are child soldiers. At a young age child soldiers witnessing and committing horrible acts of violence, which makes them at a higher risk for mental health issues like Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Most child soldiers are between the ages of 15 and 18 years, but some are as young as 7 years old. At that young age children should not witness murder, rape, or even be able to be allowed to kill. According to Klasen, Oettingen, Daniels, and Adam,â€Å"Child soldiers refer to any person who is below the age of 18† (574). At that age it is a high risk that, that kid could be traumatized. Child soldiers are some of the most troubled populations of children and adolescents. According to Klasen, Oettingen, Daniel, and Adam,â€Å"The experiences the children the children are inflicted on are beatings, torture, witness of killing, and sexual abuse† (573). Also, according to Klasen, Oettingen, Daniels, and Adam, children who have traumatic experiences are more likely to have mental health issues (574). One of these problems is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). According to Bayer et. Al and Vinck et, al, â€Å"child soldiers with more posttraumatic symptoms are less open to reconciliation, have higher feelings of revenge, and favor violent forms of behavior to resolve conflicts (Klasen, Oettingen, Daniels, and Adam 580). Therefore, because of the violence the children are witnessing, they are developing mental health issues. These mental issues are affecting these innocent kids at very young ages. The reason why is because child soldiers are witnessing murder, r ape, and committing murder. There should be an urgent stop to this so call Child Soldiers.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Amity Centre for eLearning Essay Example for Free

Amity Centre for eLearning Essay Mr. Sreenivas (55) working as manager in Alfa Chemicals, a large scale industrial establishment engaged in the production of Phosphate and Sulphur. He has 30 years of experience in Alfa Chemicals. He has an excellent track record as Manager Human Resources within the organization. Many times he got ‘best   employer award’ to performance excellence. His area of expertise in recruitment and selection process, and performance appraisal has been widely acknowledged. The Information Technology division of Alfa Chemicals industry once faced acute shortage of manpower. Mr. Raj, Manager IT division put forward an immediate requirement of 10 employees in the IT division, to HR department, starting from junior level to senior level. As and when Mr. Sreenivas got the letter from Mr. Raj, in his department, he started processing of it. To get it done, he approached many sources. He had gone through the data bank of company and considered 100 resumes for recruitment from it. He also informed the employees and employers of the organization, in their respective departmental notice board, showing the immediate requirement of 10 employees to facilitate the internal recruitment procedures. From the employees and employers of Alfa Chemicals he got around 150 applications with resumes. In addition to that in order to give an opportunity to candidates’ external to the organization he floated an advertisement in several daily news papers viz., Times of India, Sakal, and Indian Express. From external sources he got around 350 applications. Almost 600 candidates, including internal and external applicants, applied for 10 vacant posts. To ensure the reliability and dependability of the process, Sreenivas made his personal scrutiny at all levels, in the recruitment and selection process. Since the entire department function as a team in HR, all the members trust each other and extended their valuable contribution in the recruitment and selection. The department conducted a preliminary interview in order to made first  screening process and filter the number of applicants. After the first screening process the HR department reduced the number of applicant list from 600 to 500 applicants. He conducted a written test and group discussion and there by further reduces the number of applicants to 300. These 300 candidates then exposed to one hour psychometric test and out of which 50 candidates selected for the final interview. From the final interview, 10 candidates finally selected. The entire process of recruitment and selection took almost 3 months. The selected candidates list then forwarded to the top management for the final approval. HR department informed the candidates that the appointment letters will be sent to those who are selected for the post. Sreenivas approached several time to the top management about to get final approval of list of candidates for the IT department. Sreenivas informed the IT department also that the delay in the final list announcement as the top   management take some more time. He waited almost 4 weeks. But, no reply at all. Mr. Raj, the IT manager every day enquired about the latest information about the final list of the candidates and tentative date of induction. Sreenivas faced the difficulty to make any comment on the subject as there was no information from the top management. HR department had to answer many phone calls from out side and inside the organization, as recruitment involved candidates from inside and outside. The employers and employees of the industry, whose relatives got into the final selection process, became regular visitors of the HR department, asking for the finalist. Sreenivas called a meeting of HR team members and once again made a close verification of the entire process. But he couldn’t find any fault in any of the recruitment and selection process. As the time went on he became more suspicious about the delay in the announcement of the result. When the problem becomes so crucial Sreenivas got direction from the top management to meet Mr. Kartik, General Manager, one of the top officials in the organization. Mr.Kartik asked the entire process of recruitment and selection that made on IT professionals. Sreenivas furnished the entire details of the process in a precise report. Mr. Kartik read the entire  report and soon after made a direct comment that the recruitment and selection process that for IT professionals need to be cancelled as he observed some discrepancies in the process made by his department. He further directed Sreenivas that the vacancies have to be filled through contract basis and no permanent vacancies to be made in these positions, for one year. Further he informed Sreenivas that another recruitment process to be done from external candidates applied and no internal application to be entertained. Sreenivas couldn’t agree with the Mr. Kiran comment on his department’s inefficiency in the recruitment and selection process. For a while he thought about quitting the organization, as he faced a baseless allegation from the top management. Till date there is no black mark in his functional dissemination. On many occasion he helped the industry to find out best possible solutions in order to tackle the many manpower crisis. Sreenivas became so depressed and felt quiet unhappy about the decision taken by the management. Mr. Sreenivas called an urgent meeting of his subordinates and communicated the management decision and directives. He shared with the team members that the management had greater dissatisfaction on the recruitment and selection process done by the department. He enquired that any one made any mistake in the  process. All members denied the probability of any mistake. As there were clear norms and regulations related to each step and there was no dual command, they found no possibility of creeping errors in the selection process. In the meeting he informed his subordinates that the management freezes the appointment process for IT professionals and asked for external recruitment on contract basis. It was shocking news to members. They asked several questions to get a proper clarification from Sreenivas. As Mr. Sreenivas himself unaware of the reasons behind management decision, he informed his subordinate his inability to give a proper reply in this regard. Sreenivas also informed this matter to Mr. Raj. During the evening hours, in the same day, Sreenivas got a call from Mr. George, one of his senior-level Managers, with whom he had friendly and informal relationship. Mr. George asked Srinivas to come to his cabin. As per the call Mr.  Sreenivas met George in his cabin. George enquired about his family and many unofficial matters in the informal interaction. Half an hour later, Mr. George enquired about the recruitment and selection process of IT professionals. He shared with George all those things happened with top management. Leaving aside the informal interaction, George initiated formal discussion with Sreenivas. He told Sreenivas that the selected list of IT professionals consisted two names, Mr. Avdesh and Mr. Praveen, they are the relatives of two trade union leaders of the organization. The management felt that being the relatives of two trade union leaders, in the long run, they could be a threat to organization. It may create an image that the trade unions still have a control over the decision making process in organization. Further, the hold of trade union may expand if this selection process materializes. Mr. Geroge informed Sreenivas that management didn’t have any doubt about the dependability and exactness of the recruitment processes that HR departmentr did. George further informed Sreenivas that as per the intimation from top management he called Mr. Sreenivas and briefed about the undercurrents of this episode. The entire news was shocking to Mr. Sreenivas. He didn’t know that the management decision had this much of undercurrents. After hearing entire story Sreenivas become so silent and returned to his cabin. While sitting inside his cabin, he made a silent comment that, â€Å"what a useless effort. Questions 1. What are the undercurrents of selection process in Alfa Chemicals? 2. How management decision justifies management effort in the maintenance of harmonious industrial relation? 3. Do you believe that as HR Manager, Mr. Sreenivas failed to gather direct and indirect information about the candidates? 4. How ‘cancellation of appointment’ decision that affect the moral of organizational members? 5. How you interpret the dilemma of HR managers have to face in such kind of situations. 6. What would be your decision if you have to face such situation? 7. Do you believe that trade unions have ‘quota’ in appointments? 8. How the decision affect the reduction of wastages and improvement of resources. 9. Is the decision reflecting management fear towards trade union or inability to develop a congenial industrial relationship within the organization? 10. How you interpret the silence of Mr. Sreenivas? Amity Centre for eLearning. (2016, Jun 02). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

SWOT Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

SWOT - Case Study Example To sustain future growth; Wal-Mart should increase its presence in these markets that include Brazil, India, China and Mexico. The rise in acceptance of the company’s label products, which has experienced an increase of over 40% for the past ten years or so, is another opportunity. Therefore, to earn higher profit margins, Wal-Mart should hike the number of private label products, which are sold at the company’s store. Another opportunity that Wal-Mart has is to expand the grocery stores in order to earn more income since there is a current trend of consuming a healthier food thus increasing the demand of grocery products. Growth of online shopping is also an opportunity. Wal-Mart should seize this opportunity to increase its profits; considering that, Wal-Mart is the largest offline retailer and in 2001, the retail sector of online grew by 4.7% in the US, hitting $197 billion. The company can reach plenty of customers using this technique thus increasing its

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Spastic Cerebral Palsy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Spastic Cerebral Palsy - Research Paper Example This may include either mainstream or special education system. In addition, the type of school system will be dependent on the needs of the child. The purpose of this paper is to define the disorder by discussing different dimensions that are pertained to it and the education system. Definition of the Cerebral Palsy disorder According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Cerebral Palsy disorder is a type of neurological disorder that manifests in the infancy stages and early childhood, enduringly affecting body functions and muscle dexterity such as moving limbs. This type of disorder does not get any worse overtime, but the conditions remain relative the same. The name Cerebral Palsy is derived form part of the brain that is affected, which is the cerebral cortex that is directly concerned with motor and muscle movement. On the other hand, palsy is a medical term that refers to the loss of motor function (NINDS Website). Therefore, Spastic Cerebra l Palsy is the type that causes one or more groups of muscles to tighten, thereby limiting physical movements. This type of condition renders children incapable of effectively controlling their movements such as moving from one location to another of holding items. Causes According to the NINDS, an array of researches carried out by NINDS scientists provide an understanding to the events that are suspected to cause and lead to Spastic Cerebral Palsy Disorder (SCPD). The following causes account to more than 90% whereas the remaining percentage is associated to birth complications such as asphyxia (deprivation of oxygen). First, NINDS and other researches indicate that injury to the brain’s white matter may lead to SCPD. When the brain’s white matter is damaged, it makes it difficult for the brain to communicate signals to the entire of the body, given that this is its primary function (white matter). Secondly, when the brain of an infant or child develops abnormally, i t presents the child the potential risk of acquiring SCPD. Disruption to the normal growth of a fetus brain such as genetic mutation and conditions such as infections and traumas among others can cause SCPD. Lastly, bleeding in the brain as a result of rupturing of blood vessels, which are caused by external forces during the early years of a child, can lead to SCPD. This bleeding may end impairing the cerebral cortex, thus affecting the motor function a child. Prevalence As stated earlier, SCPD is the most common type of cerebral palsy and is indiscriminate of social- economic status, race or gender. However, various studies and researches such as the one done by the Institute of Health Science in England in the 1970’s and 1980’s indicate that the rate of prevalence is higher among the children who weigh less than 1.5 kilograms. This research was conducted in Europe among 14 centers in13 geographical regions. A similar study conducted in 1970’s and 1980’ s in Atlanta by Winter et al (2002), indicate that the prevalence rate was high among infants with less than 1.5 kg, although, within the same period, there was high increase of SCP cases among the normal weighed children. Therefore, these researches imply that SCPD is prevalent among infants and more specially those who are low weight of less than 1.5kg.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Principle-based Standards versus Rule-based Standards Essay

Principle-based Standards versus Rule-based Standards - Essay Example Every organization prepares its financial statements following a certain set of accounting principles, these standards are generally principle (McGregor & Street 2007). Accounting policy makers are now emphasizing on the effectiveness of principle based accounting and rule based accounting. The argument of these debates has different perceptions (Bennett, Bradbury & Prangnell 2006). However, accounting is a precise subject based on mathematics and does not have any place for judgments. This paper discusses the statement with respect to arguments on these accounting principles referring conceptual framework. Rule based Accounting emphasizes on the detailed rules that shall be followed by accounting while preparing financial statements (Benston, Bromwich & Wagenhofer 2006). It states that the absence of rules may not provide accurate reporting of financial results. When strict rules are followed the accuracy increases and the possibility of ambiguity decreases. On the other hand, princ iple based accounting as known as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles is more focused on the conceptual basis for accountants (Bennett, Bradbury & Prangnell 2006). It is more concerned to ensure good reporting through a set of guidance. Principle-based accounting provides a broad range of guidelines that may be practiced for a variety of circumstances (Collins, Pasewark & Riley 2012). Accountants debate that the application of rule-based and principle-based accounting is as complicated as issues of economics; the dynamic economical conditions are triggering point for accounting circumstances to transform (Benston, Bromwich & Wagenhofer 2006). Therefore, the effectiveness of the application of these rules and principle may remain controversial. Considering the conceptual framework both accounting standards are based on simple mathematics. Treatment of Elements The treatment of the accounting elements is evidenced that the accounting principles are based on simple mathematics (Jo nes 2011). The treatment of assets, equities, liabilities, revenue and expenditures in both rule based and principle based accounting standards is alike. According to the conceptual framework, the objectives and elements of accounting principles are similar (Bennett, Bradbury & Prangnell 2006). Principle-based accounting and Rule-Based accounting have largely same objectives. The qualitative characteristics of both standards are also similar; according to the recent research it has been concluded that GAAP and IFRS follow basic agreements on the qualitative characteristic, that is, Relevance, Understandability, Reliability and Comparability (Collins, Pasewark & Riley 2012). Qualitative Agreement The concept of understandability is also similar in both standards. Principle based accounting and rule based accounting standards emphases that the financial information shall be understandable for users of financial statements (Ampofo & Sellani 2010). Another qualitative agreement, that is relevance, both the standards provide basic agreements on that the financial information should be relevant. If we focus on the treatment of elements in Principle-based accounting and rules based accounting is similar (Agoglia, Timothy & Tsakumis 2011). Consider the treatment of revenue in the both principles is similar (Whittington 2008). The foundation of accounting is based on a formula that is assets are equal to a sum of liabilities and equities (McGregor & Street 2007). No major differences in the treatment of as

Marriott Hotels in Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marriott Hotels in Australia - Essay Example The Marriot way of doing business has been to reward good performance in its employees, both among the management as well as staff paid hourly rates. The primary stakeholders as identified by the â€Å"Marriot way† includes associates, guests and communities, thereby including employees, suppliers and retailers as well as its guests and members of the general community and the Company aims to provide the kind of services that can reach out to all of these.(www.marriot.co.uk). Marriot Hotels in Australia have also developed effective communication strategies to communicate with these different groups of stakeholders. According to Vogel (2005:110) promoting value must also include the introduction of better business practices that can serve to improve the welfare of the communities within which these corporations function. Employee satisfaction for example, impacts upon customer and ultimately, shareholder satisfaction. As a result, effectively communicating with employees would include the introduction of measures that could improve their motivation levels, which in turn would improve employee satisfaction (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2005). Management behaviour impacts upon employee attitudes, which in turn leads to customer satisfaction. For example, in a hotel environment, satisfied frontline employees project an attitude that improves the customer experience of the hotel (Rust et al, 1996). The productivity of a business depends upon the levels of cust omer satisfaction. The Marriot hotels have also developed a corporate image and profile, which have been communicated through its actions and annual reports. The core values of the Marriot hotels are centred around its â€Å"spirit to serve† philosophy.(www.marriot.co.uk) and includes corporate social responsibility, or the introduction of corporate practices that â€Å"improve the workplace and benefit society in ways that go above and beyond what companies are legally required to

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Stress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Stress - Essay Example So, since most employees are used to their normal routines and working conditions, such form of changes leads to a wide range of psychological disturbance and strain that finally adds up to stress (Cambridge Educational , 2005). On the other hand, employees are faced with this menace especially when there are some standards that have been set within the organizational operations. Such standards often require employees to sign the performance contracts such that; they fully commit themselves towards attaining those set goals and objectives in whatever possible means (Cambridge Educational, 2005). Numerous studies indicate that workplace stress happens to be the main cause of stress in life, and has progressively escalated in the past few years Cambridge Educational (Firm) (2005) says that the  increased job stress levels as appraised by the sole discernment of bearing minimal control with lots of upcoming demands have usually been exhibited to be interrelated with enhanced rates of hypertension, heart attack, among other disorders.  It is an extremely personalized occurrence and can widely vary even in the most identical scenarios for various reasons (Cambridge Educational (Firm), 2005). A particular research study showed that completion of paper work is more stressful for several police officers other than the threats associated with dealing with criminals. The job severity sets basis on the enormity of the raised demands and the person’s sense of decision-making or control latitude that one has to deal with them. The Scientific research based on this form authen ticates that employees who perceive the subjection to higher demands but possess minimal control are often at high risks of cardiovascular disease (Cambridge Educational (Firm), 2005). From the practical experience, the source of stress that I witnessed in the

Saturday, August 24, 2019

HR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

HR - Essay Example The manager has to prove himself as a powerful leader not by means of his autocracy but by building trust in his employees. Rothwell and Kazanas (2003) inform that the managers of HR department have to take the responsibility of establishing goals for the department and its purposes. Manager is also responsible for structuring the department according to its needs. Staffing, issuance of orders, deciding on differences, inter-departmental and outside the department communication, planning for department budgets and politics, all can be regarded as the roles of the manager of HR department and design a path towards development of the department (Rothwell and Kazanas, 2003). The advantages that can be found because of manager’s performance at HR department are many in number. Manager is responsible for communication within the department and outside the department; it means that the information from inside and outside should be gathered in order to take the right decisions. This factor is wholly advantageous as the employees are allowed to communicate with the manager and deliver their thoughts regarding a decision. The final decision stays with the manager; it means that the manager can collect information from various sources but should be decisive in order to come to a conclusion regarding a problem (Woods and Thomas, 1994). A manager has many responsibilities to bear and the tasks should be divided among his employees but leadership should be with him so that the performed tasks of the employees can be evaluated. As a manager is required to do lengthy and painstaking tasks, therefore, there should be consciousness behind any taken decisions and the manager should decide according to the needs of a situation. Sometimes, it is disadvantageous to give so many responsibilities to a manager as all the tasks cannot be justified fully because of over burdening of the manager. There should be a team

Friday, August 23, 2019

Independent living Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Independent living - Essay Example Courtney et al. found that these young adults are not engaged in real life activities in foster care because of which they are not prepared for issues like personal health care, finding a means of livelihood and appropriate shelter for themselves after leaving the care(as cited in Freundlich et al., 2006, p.65). A study by Youth Advocacy Center found that the focus of training is mainly on the issues pertaining to substance misuse, sexually transmitted diseases than on more important ones like education, social interaction and so on (as cited in Freundlich et al., 2006, p.65). As expressed by Stein, some writers feel that this training is an early burden on the minds of youth, parents and professionals involved in foster care (as cited in Freundlich et al., 2006, p.65). As discussed by Cashmore, various observations have revealed that youth are not allowed to actively participate in the planning processes about their future (as cited in Freundlich et al., 2006, p.66). Authors of the article planned a study with the help of various other professionals to know the viewpoint of youth and various key members of the society that can be associated with this issue like lawyers, social workers, family court judges, congregate care representatives, young adults and youth advocacy organizations’ representatives. The study was based on a set of questions to explore the thoughts of youngsters and others towards the foster care. Out of all the members only congregate care agency representatives expressed their faith in the independent living training provided in the foster care and held the responsibility of the failure on the lack of enthusiasm in youth. On the other hand, lawyers, social workers and everyone else held the limitations in the foster care system responsible for the collapse of youth once discharged from the care. They concluded that instead of giving

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Sales Letter Essay Example for Free

Sales Letter Essay The Kutztown Community Parks and Recreation Program and I would like to inform you, and your coworkers, of our wonderful summer programs for children. Our camps are a great way for children to interact with others and have a fun time doing it. Instead of your child sitting at home all day playing video games and being bored out of their minds, send them to our camps for a great summer filled with activity. Camps are held from June 1 through August 15. During this time, your child will be entertained with some wonderful opportunities. During the day, children can take their pick between activities such as arts and crafts, sport instruction, structured recreation, supervised free time, and swimming pool usage. Your child will also be provided with two snack times and lunch for a small fee. On the dates 6-5 and 7-11 the camps will be going on field trips to Hershey Park and the Philadelphia Zoo. Transportation is provided for both of these trips. With summer just around the corner, my company and I encourage you to sign your children up for our summer programs. The camps have been very successful in the past. With seven parks, two community pools, sports, arts and crafts, field trips, and a wonderful staff, there is no doubt that your child’s summer will be filled with fun and excitement. Thank you for your time and I will be contacting you in the near future to follow up. If you have any questions before that time please feel free to contact me at [emailprotected] com. Sincerely, JJ Lloyd Activity Director.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Aquinas - Wealth and Power Essay Example for Free

Aquinas Wealth and Power Essay In Question II, Thomas Aquinas breaks down the complex question of where or in what man’s happiness consists, mainly by emphasizing wealth and power. While people dream of obtaining both wealth and power in their life, Aquinas emphasizes that both are neither good nor bad, and both make up a means to an end. Aquinas argues that happiness does not consist in â€Å"wealth† or â€Å"power†, yet presents another argument where he states that happiness can, indeed, be associated with wealth and power. Aquinas begins his second question and first article by pondering the question of whether happiness consists in wealth. He breaks down the two types of wealth into artificial and natural. He describes natural wealth as something that â€Å"relieves man’s natural needs, such as food, drink, clothing, travel, shelter and so on.† In other words, natural wealth fulfills the needs of humans to live and â€Å"cannot be man’s ultimate end.† On the other hand, artificial wealth is â€Å"sought only for the sake of natural wealth.† Augustine argues that a man would have no artificial wealth unless he had natural wealth to begin with. With natural wealth, there is a finite amount of objects one needs in order to survive. For example, a person doesn’t not need to buy several large pizzas to satisfy their hunger, just a few slices to get some food in their stomach and go on with their day. On the other hand, artificial wealth revolves around objects for which people have endless desires for, such as money. There are some people in society who feel that the only thing that matters in life is the amount of money you can earn before you die, just a dollar sign. However, money cannot buy happiness, wisdom, strong relationships, or virtue. Augustine backs up this point by quoting Proverbs 17:16 â€Å"What does it avail a fool to have riches, seeing he cannot buy wisdom?† Aquinas takes into account the arguments that say that happiness can, in fact, consist of riches by offering examples such as â€Å"all things obey money† (Ecclesiastes 10:19). Although he covers both possible sides, he offers his own stance on the question in his response where he covers the differences between artificial and natural wealth. In Aquinas’ fourth article, he discusses the question of whether happiness consists in power. He argues that it is impossible to have happiness in power for two reasons. The first is that â€Å"power has the nature of a principle, whereas happiness has the nature of an ultimate end,† emphasizing that power is a means to an end. Second, he states that power is both good and evil and â€Å"happiness is the proper and perfect good of man.† Although the hook for a popular song, the quote â€Å"no one man should have all that power† uniquely resonates in Aquinas’ argument against happiness consisting of power. People may believe that if they have a greater sense of power, then they feel more important and â€Å"happier.† The more powerful someone grows, the greater their fear grows of losing the very power they obsess over. A classic example from history is Joseph Stalin’s command over Russia. He was given so much power on behalf of the communist USSR that he let his sense of power overcome him. When he had caught word that there was someone planning a revolution in his cabinet, he had every single one of his high commanding officers killed. Very simply, power makes people do very abnormal things to remain in their high position. However, Aquinas argues that power can’t solve every problem in a person’s life. To quote Og Mandino, â€Å"All the gold in the world cannot buy a dying man one more breath so what does that make today worth?† This quote accurately depicts that no matter how much power and wealth someone has, it all means nothing when you are facing death. Although one may seem highly satisfied with the power he possess, it is easily revocable and those with power fear they will lose it. Aquinas presents that questions of whether happiness consists of â€Å"wealth† and â€Å"power† and presents firm arguments against each. Although he may find faults with each idea, especially the warnings of the abundant use of wealth and power, his idea still remains that both â€Å"wealth† and â€Å"power† are neither good nor bad things. For example, if a man is making enough money to feed his family and make a living for himself, that is a fine example of using wealth for good. However, Aquinas reminds us of the arguments against having â€Å"wealth† and â€Å"power† makes up a person’s overall happiness. Using both of these values for happiness is simply a means to an end, Thomas Aquinas emphasizes that these things do not lead to everlasting happiness, an argument that I agree with.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The History Of Education In Malaysia

The History Of Education In Malaysia According to Oxford Dictionaries, philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. The term philosophy is derived from two Greek words that are philosophia, which consist of the root phileo and Sophia. The meaning of phileo is to love and sophia means wisdom. It is very important for Malaysia which is a developing country to have its own philosophy of education. Therefore, National Philosophy of Education (NPE) has been enacted in 1998 based on basis documents and national ideology. From a historical perspective, NPE born from a long process which is a nation building process since the independence of Malaysia. Education in Malaysia is an on-going effort towards further developing the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner, so as to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonic, based on a firm belief in and devotion to god. Such an effort is designed to produce Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable and competent, who possess high moral standards and who are responsible and capable of achieving a high level of personal well-being as well as being able to contribute to the harmony and betterment of the family, the society and the nation at large. According to the NPE, there are eight elements of national philosophy of education. Firstly, education is an on-going effort which brings the meaning of education emphasis on life-long learning. Life-long learning is needed because individuals knowledge is ever-changing as there is no absolute knowledge of each individual. It is important for individuals to adapt to the change of times and new development such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT), economy and other current issues. Life-long learning encourages individuals to develop their personal skills and knowledge. Secondly, holistic and integrated manner is the universal body of knowledge which must be taught by the teachers and learnt by the students. It is important to develop the individuals potential and abilities in a holistic and integrated manner. This is because talents, potentials and abilities do not develop separately as they are related and co-ordinated and do not compete with each other. The development of the individual and their improvement should properly include the four aspects which are physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual. Besides, firm belief and devotion to God is a must for individuals regardless what their religion is. It is an element of the existence and role of the religion. b) CURRICULUM According to the Ministry of Education, in the Malaysian context, curriculum means all programs that were carried out by a school or educational institution to achieve the target of education. Curriculum is a well-organized plan that includes academic and non-academic activities which include the educational objectives, the experience of planned and the evaluation of student achievement. It is a plan that covers all the knowledge, skill, values and norms of cultural elements and beliefs of the society to be transferred to their inheritance. Curriculum can be divided into three which are curriculum as a programme that has been planned and implemented in schools, curriculum as a programme designed and practically implemented in the classroom and curriculum is filling of a culture of life-long learning and individual and group experience. The main components in a curriculum are the contents of the curriculum, the objectives of the curriculum, the learning and teaching activities and the assessment process of curriculum. Teachers play an important role in the implementation of the curriculum that includes interpreting, plan, modify and implement the curriculum. c) SUBJECTS Malaysia has undergone three curriculums of primary education so far since the country got the independence. The three concepts of primary education are Old Primary School Curriculum (KLSR), New Primary School Curriculum or Integrated Primary School Curriculum (KBSR) and Standard Primary School Curriculum (KSSR). Old Primary School Curriculum (KLSR) was the first curriculum that has been used and was implemented during 1960. It was the first phase of the implementation of the plan that has been enacted in the education system in the Education Act 1961. In this phase, the educational system was oriented to eliminate the literacy among students. The assessment was the important aspect in KLSR so it has many types of assessment such as Ujian Lisan Bahasa Melayu (LCE) which then has been removed and replaced by Sijil Rendah Pelajaran (SRP) on 1978, Ujian Diagnostik Darjah Tiga and Assessment Test Standard Five. However, it had lots of weaknesses such as the content of its syllabus had repetition and was not related to each other so it was hard to be implemented well. Besides, the syllabus was too much and made students bored in the classroom. The co-curriculum activity was also separated and was not related to the formal curriculum in the classroom. This concept was abolished since there were too many feedbacks that wanted the curriculum to be changed. The new curriculum was New Primary School Curriculum (KBSR) which has been introduced in 1982 after the Cabinet Committees Report made a change on the Implementation of Education Policy. KBSR was fully implemented in 1983 and the name was changed to Integrated Primary School Curriculum (KBSR) on 1993. Even the name was changed but its content was still the same. Its curriculum written was based on learning outcomes. KBSR had its objectives which students master the Bahasa Melayu at satisfactory level besides stress on 3Rs basic skills that were reading, writing and arithmetic. KBSRs curriculum design was based on three areas and its materials were study syllabus. Its principles were integrated approach, one education for all, life-long learning and holistic development of individual. An examination that has been carried out was the National Examination (UPSR). Unfortunately, it had its cons although it had brought positive changes in Malaysias education. A few of KBSR principles had not implemented well in the teaching and learning process because it has been focused more on achieving grade As in the examination. So, the objective to develop excellent individuals was not achieved as they were not learning to gain more knowledge, experiences and skills but learnt to prepare for the examination only. Phase I, Malay Language, English Language, Chinese Language, Tamil Language, Mathematics, Islamic Education, Moral Education, Music Education, Art Education and Physical and Health Education Phase 2-Malay Language, English Language, Chinese Language, Tamil Language, Islamic Education, Moral Education, Science, Local Studies, Living Skills, Music Education, Art Education and Physical and Health Education The concept of KBSR has been replaced by Standard Primary School Curriculum (KSSR) that was implemented in 2011. In KBSR, it focussed on 3Rs but KSSR focussed on 4Rs basic skills which reasoning was being add-on. However, KSSR still acquired basic skills in every student same as in KBSR which also practiced the moral values. Its curriculum written was a little bit different from KBSR which it was based on content and learning standards. KSSRs curriculum materials were curriculum standard documents and its design was based on six areas as communication was still being carried out. It evaluates students by National examination (UPSR) and school-based assessment. A basic core modules that are taught in KSSR for phase 1 are Malay Language, English Language, Chinese Language, Tamil Language, Mathematics, Islamic Education, Moral Education and Physical and Health Education. The core module themes are Visual Art and Music, Science and Technology World and Malaysia Negaraku. The elective modules for this phase are Chinese or Tamil Language for Primary School, Arabic and Iban Language. In phase 2 there are respective modules that categorized each subject. The modules are communicated; elective communication; spiritual attitude and values; physics and aesthetics; science and technology; and humanity. Subjects for each module are Malay Language, English Language, Chinese Language and Tamil Language; Chinese or Tamil Language for Primary School, Arabic, Iban, Semai or Kadazandusun Language; Islamic and Moral Education; Physical and Health Education, Music or Visual Arts Education; Mathematics, Science and Design and Technology; and History or Malaysia Negaraku. Before a new concept is implemented, a trial will be conducted for a given period until there is a command to run the concept or else, the trial will be stopped if it is not suitable to students need. In conclusion, the curriculum will always change over time. There is no wrong to make a difference or change because change for the better is well recommended. As it will change with time, it will always be improved for students to have a better education in order to form a good community besides gives advantages to the country. d) ROLE OF NPE AND CURRICULUM TO SCHOOL e) ROLE OF NPE AND CURRICULUM TO TEACHERS f) ROLE OF NPE AND CURRICULUM TO STUDENTS ACTIVITIES IN SCHOOL Teachers Day Celebration Teachers Day is celebrated on 16th of May every year as a sign to appreciate the teachers contributions in developing the human capital that is essential in the construction of society. Teachers are also known as social architects because they are not only providing education and imparting knowledge but they are also serving to realize the transformation of education based on the NPE. There are six objectives of the celebration of teachers day in Malaysia that are emphasizing the role of teachers in nation building including unity and integration, national development and community service. Besides, it is celebrated to attract the attention of parents, students and the public on the important role of teachers in the Malaysian society and fostering a sense of professional cohesion and goodwill among the teachers. Teachers day celebration can raise the prestige and status of teachers in the community. It is also to provide opportunities for teachers to develop competencies through semi nars and conferences held on Teachers Day. Objectively assess the role of a teacher with a backdrop of Malaysia and to take steps so that more effective role. The celebration of teachers day is organized by the teachers charity organization. The day began with an official assembly filled with programme such as sing the National Anthem Song, the State Song, the school Song and Guru Malaysia Song. Besides, the headmaster will read special deputations from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education which the texts are related to the theme of the Teachers Day Celebration. Every year, the theme of the Teachers Day Celebration will be changed. A variety of exciting events have been organized by the school after the assembly in order to enliven the celebration and enhance the friendly feeling among teachers and teachers, teachers and students also students and students. Sports Day The growth of outstanding child is formed from a combination of intellectual, physical, spiritual, emotional and social potential as it is contained in the National Philosophy of Education. Hence, for the development of a balanced human being, then the school will hold a sports day to lead to the formation of the balanced human being. It is implemented with the parents collaboration to strengthen the social relationship with the community. The goals of the Sports Day is to produce excellent students who are balanced in terms of physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual and social development in line with the NPE. Furthermore, the objectives are to fulfil the students need in sports and recreation, to produce individuals who always compete others in good ways and to foster the spirit of cooperation and working together as a team. In addition, Sports Day is to find the students talents in sports to higher levels and choose students to represent the school to the MSSD Championship. T he sports day will be on February or March and two events will be held that are field events and track events. There are three field events that are high jump for students under 12 and under 10, broad jump for students under 12, shot put for boys and girls students under 12 and 10 with the same weight that is 2.72 kg. The track events are 80 m and 200 m for boys under 12, 80 m for boys under 10, for girls under 12 the track will be 80 m and 200 m while girls under 10 will be 80 m only. There are also 80 m hurdles for students under 12, 2000 m walk for boys and girls under 12, 4100 m and 4200 m for students under 12 and 50 m relay for students under 12. Before the sports day, a selection day will be held to choose the best students among the rest to represent their team. The State of Education Department will provide an allocation to conduct the sports day. Independence Day The Independence Day of Malaysia was on 31st of August 1957 and we as Malaysian will celebrate the day every year as it is a public holiday on that day. The programme also is celebrating in school to inspire the spirit of independence in teachers as well as in students in order to recognize the importance of Independence Day celebrations. Engender a sense of pride and love for the nation and put self-interest above national interest among the school is one of the objectives of the celebration. Secondly, produce schools community that is responsible as citizens of Malaysia to maintain independence, adopted a patriotic behaviour and proud toward the countrys independence. Lastly, Independence Day can create a sense of unity and lasting peace and continuous among the school from different races, religions and customs. The Independence Day began with an assembly filled with programme such as sing the National Anthem Song and Independence Song such as, Tanggal 31, Anak Malaysia and Jalur Gemilang. In addition, there will be a film showing on an independence movie that is Leftenan Adnan and a slide show on the history of the Independence Day of Malaysia by using a projector in a hall. The figures of the Independence Day will be called to share their experiences during the colonial period. Furthermore, there will be performances from students and the performances must be about the Independence Day. Language Month Language Month that organized by the Malay Language subject panels was held in school to feature students talent especially at school level, region, district, state and national level. This could indirectly produce students who are brave and confident with their own abilities. Hopefully with the availability of this month, the students will understand and love the Malay Language as it is an important language and should be learned in depth. Language months objectives are to provide an opportunity for students to express their talents and to be featured to higher level. Besides, it is to test the students understanding of their knowledge related to Malay Language, to encourage them to compete in a good way to get the best place, particularly in relation to language and to produce students who are competent in the field of language. There are many competitions that will be held during this month such as story telling competition that all students can taking part in it, poetry competiti on for students above 10 and essay writing competition also for students above 10 and there will be prizes for the winners. Co-curriculum Day Co-curriculum Day is a must event in most of schools in Malaysia and no date adjusted for every school by the department hence, schools can freely choose their date to organize this programme. The goal of the Co-Curriculum Day is intended to achieve some goal which is growing nature work together, compromise, and the bond of unity among students and teachers, produce potential future leaders among pupils and to improve the school environment more exciting and cheer the students in order to produce a superior school culture. Co-Curriculum Day objective is to encourage students active and interested in co-curricular activities organized by the school or a particular party. Among them are fostering unity works in a group association, club or uniform units, to produce students of the utmost caliber and dedication and ability to be a caliber leader. Last but not least, to encourage pupils to work in the aspect of leadership can foster an attitude and discipline. Among the activities that will be held are sales booths, books exhibition, national anti-drug exhibition, marching by uniform units and telematches. ACTIVITIES IN CLASSROOM I have made an interview with a teacher from SK Putrajaya Presint 9(2) about the way she handle students in the classroom. Based on the interview and my experience, students find hands-on activities are more exciting than lecture-based style learning and they tend to focus more on that. Quiz Quiz is a test of knowledge, especially as a competition between individuals or teams as a form of entertainment or asks someone questions according to the Oxford Dictionary. Classroom quiz shows can be beneficial to students for many reasons. Short quiz at the beginning of each class is usually preferred by teachers in their classroom. Short quiz is beneficial for students for many reasons because it helps students to focus and develop their essential problem-solving skills as certain lecture. It is not just a quiz because it is also an emergency motivation for students. It is a very effective motivation as it can increase the students effort and their learning outcomes as well as for those who have low motivation and have high intelligence. Discussion The action or process of talking about something in order to reach a decision or to exchange ideas is the definition of discussion based on Oxford Dictionary. Learning Field Trip Debate Games

Monday, August 19, 2019

Exxon Valdez :: science

Exxon Valdez When people hear the phrase "oil spill: they think a bunch of black stuff all in the water. Well there is a lot more to it then just that. It is an economical disaster as well as an environmental one. As you read along you will see how devastating this one oil spill, the Exxon Valdez, really was compared to others. Whether you, as the reader believe it or just think it is something that is none of you concern and happened 10 years ago is completely up to you. I think that your mind will change after hearing all the facts. On the day of March 24, 1989 the oil tanker Exxon Valdez was afloat when it ran aground a reef in Prince William Sound, putting a gash in its hull. This gash bled out 11 million gallons of crude oil. The oil covered roughly 10,000 sq. miles of water. This is the area of Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, and 25 Washington D.C.’s combined! In only a week’s time the wind and current moved the oil 90 miles into the Gulf of Alaska. It contaminated 1,500 miles of coast. This is like the shoreline of California. This oil as it moved through the water killed 300,000 sea birds, 2,600 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, and perhaps millions and millions of fish. Of the 23 studied species hurt by the spill only 2 are said to be completely recovered. The 2 are the Bald Eagle and the River Otter. Some show no recovery at all. Of these that haven’t recovered at all are the Harbor Seal, Harlequin Ducks, Pacific Herring, Cormorants, and even certain whales. If people were familiar with some of the clean up that went on, they would probably remember that cleaning of all those ducks. Well I hate to tell you but it was useless. Some of them died 5 days after they were released. Scientists now know that the oil is 100 time’s more toxic then originally thought. Even a minuet amount can cause deformities in fish like an extra fin.

The Civil War Essays -- essays research papers

American History, The Civil War After the Constitution was adopted by all of the States in 1789, uniting the States into one nation, differences between the States had been worked out through compromises. By 1861 these differences between the Northern States and the Southern States had become so great that compromise would no longer work. Thus, a conflict started within our nation that was called the Civil War. For more than 30 years arguments between the North and South had been growing. One of these quarrels was about taxes paid on goods brought into this country from foreign countries. This kind of tax is called a tariff. In 1828 Northern businessmen helped get the "Tariff Act" passed. It raised the prices of manufactured products from Europe which were sold mainly in the South. The purpose of the law was to encourage the South to buy the North's products. It angered the Southern people to have to pay more for the goods they wanted from Europe or pay more to get goods from the North. Either way the Southern people were forced to pay more because of the efforts of Northern businessmen. Though most of tariff laws had been changed by the time of the Civil War, the Southern people still remembered how they were treated by the Northern people. In the years before the Civil War the political power in the Federal Government, centered in Washington D.C., was changing. The Northern and Mid-Western States were becoming more and more powerful as the populations increased. The Southern States were losing political power. Just as the original thirteen colonies fought for their independence almost 100 years earlier, the Southern States felt a growing need for freedom from the central Federal authority in Washington D.C. They felt that each State should make its own laws. This issue was called "State's Rights". Some Southern States wanted to secede, or break away from the United States of America and govern themselves. Another quarrel between the North and South, and perhaps the most emotional one, was over the issue of slavery. Farming was the South's main industry and cotton was the primary farm product. Not having the use of machines, it took a great amount of human labor to pick cotton. A large number of slaves were used in the South to provide the labor. Many slaves were also used to provide labor for the various household chores that needed ... ...lying raw materials for the industrialization of the more prosperous North. The re&#64979;enactment of the fall of Richmond seemed to symbolize the cooling of Confederate passion. The ceremony drew 850 people, while one mile away, 1,500 jammed Broad Street t for a walk to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. On the lawn of the Capitol, belles wore black as a fife&#64979;and&#64979;drum corps led the Northern charge, startling couples eating brunch on downtown patios. Another neglected chapter unfolds along Lee's Retreat, a 20&#64979;stop driving tour promoted by the National Park Service and economic development agencies. Reflectorized signs featuring red, white and blue bugles point the way across the lush, increasingly hilly terrain from Petersburg to Appomattox Court House, where the surrender took place. After the Constitution was adopted by all of the States in 1789, uniting the States into one nation, differences between the States had been worked out through compromises. By 1861 compromises had been practically thrown out the window because no one would listen to the other. Thus, a conflict started within our nation that was called the Civil War.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Europe Population Density :: Free Essay Writer

Europe Population Density Europe is one of the most densely populated regions in the world, but there is great variation within the region. The densest areas seem to center around major capitol cities and major tourist sites in Europe. London, Paris, and Rome are examples of this. The most densely populated areas where there are over 250 people per square mile seem to also fit into the economic core of Europe, especially in the â€Å"banana† region where there are lots of industries. The third reason that this is such a populated area is because of the Marine West Coast Climate. It is a relatively mild climate, which makes it appealing for agriculture and living conditions. The next category is largely influenced by the climate. The Humid Continental, Marine West Coast, and Mediterranean are the climate types in the region have 125-250 people per square mile. People tend to favor and migrate to these climates rather than the cold tundra and highland climates. The dominant soil is alfisols, which is generally a fertile agricultural soil. Another reason for the amount of people in this category is that there are not large mountain ranges or physical obstacles that could hinder living environments. Much of Europe is covered with a density of 25-125 people per square mile. This category spreads through Spain, along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is in parts of the Former Soviet Union. Many of the regions in Eastern Europe are struggling economically and the quality of life is poor, which could be reasons for this density. In these areas where there are 25-125 people per square mile, minerals such as iron ore, lead, copper, and zinc, are abundant near the coasts. They provide jobs and boost the economy, which draws and keeps people. I think the major reason for the fewer inhabitants in these areas is because of the physical factors. There are mountainous regions that play a part, especially the Alps, Pyrenees, and Carpathians. The physical reason for the low density in Western Europe is the climates. They are more drastic because they are farther inland on the continent and the warmth from the ocean gusts and anticyclones do not have as much of an effect as near the coasts. The last category is under 25 people per square mile.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Religious Freedom Pre 1700s Essay

America than in England. Of course this is just a brief explanation compared to the real essay. suggest you fill in the blanks with some support from wherever your source is. but for now i have to go write my own because its due tomorrow and its already very late. so good luck on the essay and hope this generally answered your question. Analyze the extent to which religious freedom existed in the British North America colonies prior to 1700. The New World was first established because many people in England did not agree with their religious and political ways of life. Most people in the northern colonieshad run from England due to having no religious freedom. The Puritans, Quakers, andvarious leaders created outbursts of reform to achieve freedom in New England. Each group had their own philosophy on how life should be lived. The Puritans were a group of English men who disagreed with how the Church of England was ran. The damned were allowed to sit with the saints, and the Puritans did not like this. The extreme Puritans were known as Separatists in England. Finally, these extreme Puritans left for the New World in 1620. The Puritans set up a way of government. It said, † the whole purpose of government was to enforce God’s laws. Only the Puritans, the only one’s eligible for church membership, could be freemen. The believers and nonbelievers had to pay taxes on the government–supported church. Jews and Atheists were killed because they did not believe in the divinity of Jesus. Chaotic services were how the Quaker sermons went. He didn’t hold back his comments and demanded very little. In the South most of the colonies were overwhelmed by the Protestants. They were offensive to the religious and political authorities. The Puritans banished her from the Bay Colony. Anne Hutchinson was another rebel who challenged the authority of the Puritan clergy. Roger Williams was a threat to the Puritan leaders. This included converted and non-converted New Englander’s. After many generations, religion was not at the top of the Puritans list. The northern colonies had religious freedom, but the Puritans forced their own religion on everyone else around them. Maryland ultimately guaranteed toleration for all Christians. They set the stage for our religious freedom today. † His followers were very liberal, and not accepted.

Friday, August 16, 2019

History of Psychological Assessment

Psychological assessment is considered one of the most important functions in applied psychology. In psychological assessment, the practitioner uses observation, interviews, and psychological tests to gain information about the client’s personality characteristics, symptoms, and problems in order to arrive at practical decisions about their behavior. In an assessment study, the practitioner identifies the main sources of clients’ problems and attempts to predict the likely course of events under various conditions. Psychological assessment is similar to psychological testing, but usually involves a more comprehensive assessment of the individual. Psychological assessment is a process that involves the integration of information from multiple sources, such as tests of normal and abnormal personality, tests of ability or intelligence, tests of interests or attitudes, as well as information from personal interviews (www. en. wikipedia. org). Psychological assessment refers to scientific methods psychologists often use to understand the human personality. When combined with information from interviews, observations, and other sources, assessments can help clients explore new and more effective ways of resolving human problems (Cantley, 2008, p. 1). History of psychological assessment The history of psychological and educational testing is a relatively short one, extending just more than 100 years. The term mental test was first used in print in 1890 by James McKeen Cattell (1890). This history is one in which necessity repeatedly begets innovation. Problems in the French schools, during a period that could be described as the advent of public ducation, where teachers first had to deal with larger class sizes comprising students with diverse backgrounds, encouraged Alfred Binet to construct what most individuals consider to be the first modem intelligence test. I use the term modem because it is reported that Chinese society around 2200 B. C. E. was a â€Å"test-dominated society† (Thorndike & Lohman, 1990, p. 1). At that time in China, various civil service positions were distributed by means of formal assessments of the skills of various, privileged applicants (Geisinger, 2000, p. 117). Exploring my selected event On our â€Å"History of Psychological Assessment Paper†, there are four different events and I chose the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a widely used personality inventory intended to uncover a subject’s unconscious attitudes; the subject indicates agreement or disagreement with various statements and the results are scored in such a way as to assess personality. (Developed at the University of Minnesota). Historical Roots of MMPI  The original Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was developed in 1939 (Groth Marnat, Handbook of Psychological Assessment, 2009) using an empirical keying approach, which means that the clinical scales were derived by selecting items that were endorsed by patients known to have been diagnosed with certain pathologies. The difference between this approach and other test development strategies used around that time was that it was atheoretical (not based on particular theory) and thus the initial test was not aligned with the prevailing psychodynamic theories of that time. The atheoretical approach to MMPI development ostensibly enabled the test to capture aspects of human psychopathology that were recognizable and meaningful despite changes in clinical theories. However because the MMPI scales were created based on a group with known psychopathologies, the scales themselves are not atheoretical by way of using the participants’ clinical diagnoses to determine the scales’ contents. Explain why the event is significant Why I think the event is significant because the MMPI-2 is most commonly used by mental health professionals to assess and diagnose mental illness. The MMPI-2 has been used in other fields outside of clinical psychology. The test is often used in legal cases, including criminal defense, and custody disputes. The test has also been used as screening instrument for certain professions, especially high risk jobs, although the use of MMPI in this manner has been controversial. The test is also used to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment programs, including substance abuse programs is why I think that the even is important. How has MMPI affected the development of psychological testing in the 21st century? I do not think that MMPI will affect the development of psychological testing in the 21st century because Kaplan and Saccuzzo (2009) stated that, â€Å"In structured personality testing, the MMPI-2 appears destined to be the premier test of the 21st century. This favorable prediction for MMPI-2 is a turn-about from the 1982 prediction made in the first edition of this book. We had not anticipated the innovative approach of Butcher and colleagues in dealing with the original Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory’s inadequate normative sample. Thus, future prospects for the MMPI-2 are indeed bright (p. 602). Summary Psychological assessment is one of the most important and complex activities undertaken by clinical psychologists. The goals of psychological assessment include describing the individual’s symptoms, identifying possible causes, evaluating the severity of the problem, and exploring the individual’s personal resources, which might be valuable in the decisions to be made. The future of psychological testing depends on many issues and developments. Professional issues include theoretical concerns, such as the usefulness of the trait concept as opposed to index of adjustment, the adequacy of tests, and actuarial versus clinical prediction. Moral issues include human rights such as the right to refuse testing, the right not to be labeled, and the right to privacy (Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009, p. 603).

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Convention Rights Persons With Disabilities Health And Social Care Essay

Peoples with disablements exist in every age group, every societal sector, every category and every cultural and spiritual community. They frequently do non hold a voice of their ain in issues that affect their lives. It is of import to understand the causes of disablement and the favoritism intended for the handicapped, and steps that need to be taken to guarantee the equal enjoyment of human rights for individuals with disablements. Societies must work as a whole to incorporate handicapped individuals into the life of society and supply them with equal chances in schools, the workplace and the planetary community. A December 13, 2006 the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ( CRPD ) was implemented. Presently 99 states have approved the Convention and there are 147 members. A high figure of developing states are included in subscribing the Convention. It is to probably those developing states will be inquiring development histrions for support after O.K.ing the convention in the execution of the rules and adhering duties. Around 650 million people, 10 % of the universe ‘s population live with a disablement. Harmonizing to the UN Development Program ( UNDP ) 80 % of individuals with disablements live in developing states ( â€Å" Rights and self-respect, † 2011 ) . Estimated by the World Bank 20 % of the universe ‘s poorest people are handicapped and are regarded as the most disadvantaged in their ain communities ( Takamin, 2004 ) . The term individuals with disablements is applied to all people with disablements. It includes people who have long term mental, physical, rational or centripetal damages. These disablements can impact their engagement in society. â€Å" Impairment is a functional restriction caused by physical, mental or centripetal harm and a disablement can be defined as a loss or decrease of chances to take portion in the mundane life of the community on an equal degree † ( Yeo, 2003 ) . â€Å" It is of import to observe that a individual with a disablement may be viewed as a individual with a disablement in one society or scene, but non in another, depending on the function that the individual is anticipated to take in his or her community. † â€Å" The convention recognizes that disablement is an germinating construct and that statute law may accommodate to reflect positive alterations within society. † ( â€Å" Country profile: Thailand, † 2010 ) . The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities consists of an article on international cooperation, indicating out the spread between developed and developing states. Issues such as human rights misdemeanors, poorness, and societal exclusion are overmastering and have prevented the planetary South to hold important betterment. Article 32 in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities insist that there be international cooperation for the support of the CRPD in developing states, one time a state has ratified the convention they become required to prosecute in international cooperation. The of import inquiry to maintain in head is how can international partnership be efficaciously put into action in developing counties. With the aid of official giver bureaus and non-governmental organisations ( NGOs ) which represent individuals with disablements and the households in developing states the CRPD can be applied. Thailand is one state that has had the aid of four major NGOs working with individuals with disablements and official giver bureaus from developed counties such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan ( â€Å" Thailand homo rights, † 2011 ) . Thailand approved the CRPD in July 2008 along with Australia. Thailand symbolize the typical issues developing states face, such as poorness. Thai individuals with disablements are challenged with poorness. NGOs in Thailand in comparing to other developing counties are good recognized, the representatives of NGOs in Thailand are strongly taking portion in the development of the policy on disablement on a national degree ( â€Å" Thailand homo rights, † 2011 ) . More attending has been given to the world of individuals with disablements among the deprived people in developing states. International Organizations such as the World Bank province that individuals with disablements are the poorest of the hapless. Harmonizing to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific about 160 million individuals with disablements which are over 40 % of the entire figure of individuals with disablements are populating in poorness ( Takamine, 2003 ) . Around 100 million people in developing states have a medical status due to malnutrition and hapless sanitation ( Takamin, 2004 ) . Social exclusion helps to clearly grok the association between poorness and disablement. In developing states, individuals with disablements are more likely to see different types of societal segregation including: limited societal contact, exclusion from formal/informal instruction and employment, the community has low outlooks from them and they hold low outlooks for themselves, exclusion from the political/legal procedure, exclusion from basic health care, the lowest precedence for any limited resources such as nutrient, clean H2O, and heritage, and deficiency of support for the high disbursals straight linked with the damage such as dearly-won medical interventions ( Yeo, 2003 ) . All of these factors take away the chance for individuals with disablements to do an income, puting them in the absence of province support. Damage may be caused by malnutrition and hapless wellness that is a consequence of hapless people being deprived of health care and healthy nutrient. Poor people a re frequently oppressed and sent to work in unsafe conditions, which generates hazard of accidents and physical damage. â€Å" Poverty and disablement are reciprocally reenforcing, as individuals with disablements are socially excluded and equal societal services are non provided † ( United Nations, 2007 ) . In developing states we see a big sum of people who are handicapped and life in poorness. To better the fortunes, individuals with disablements in these developing states should be involved in all the development attempts of their states, and an inclusive development attack should be put in topographic point to cover with the different signifiers of societal exclusion. Disability is a major issue that requires strong support and partnerships from different participants. The procedure to outline the CRPD began in 2001, and in 2002 the United Nations Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons adopted a set of policy guidelines known as the â€Å" Biwako Millennium Framework for Action to Promote an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific † ( United Nations, 2007 ) . In the Framework, the rights-based attack is suggested for the formation of national disablement policies and assistance plans in the Asia-Pacific part ( United Nations, 2007 ) . This guarantees that individuals with disablements benefit from all the rights which other citizens enjoy. In developing states human rights tools promote the quality of life of people ; it is questioned whether the Declaration of the Right to Development would be better guaranteed by UN and international NGOs instead than single state provinces ( Dean, 2008 ) . International assistance organisations in some developing states have been the chief organic structure for promoting societal policy associated to individuals with disablements and supplying pertinent comfortss. Refering this Article 32 clarifies that international cooperation is â€Å" in support of national attempts for the realisation of the intent and aims of the present Convention † ( â€Å" Convention on the, † 2011 ) . UK, Australia and Japan are three developed states that have been involved in international development plans refering disablement and have set up policies on development cooperation. The UK has one functionary giver bureau that deals with disablement that has been playing a primary function in development assistance called the Department for International Development ( DFID ) . DFID works in association with NGOs and accentuates the rhythm of disablement and poorness and the authorization of individuals with disablements. Stating that â€Å" cut downing poorness by undertaking societal exclusion is a DFID ‘s policy † and â€Å" disablement is about favoritism and exclusion – cardinal facets of DFID ‘s work – † DFID is dedicated to turn toing issues of disablement in its development plans throughout the universe † ( â€Å" Dfid section for, † 2011 ) . In Australia the Australian Agency for International Development ( AusAID ) has besides made an attempt to â€Å" set up Australian leading on disablement † . Since early 2008 AusAID formed a unit of NGOs and other stakeholders to make new disablement scheme for the Australian assistance plan for 2009-2014, titled â€Å" Development for All † . Effective international leading on disablement and development is one of the chief aims of the scheme which is in confederation with CRPD Article 23 ( Saunders, 2007 ) . In 2003 the Japan International Cooperation Agency ( JICA ) in confederation with Nipponese experts and NGO representatives developed its policy paper on â€Å" support for individuals with disablements † ( â€Å" Nipponese abroad cooperation, † 2011 ) . Hundreds of voluntaries and professional are sent out yearly by JICA to both governmental and non-governmental organisations for support to work in particular instruction, physical therapy, vocational preparation, and many others. It has besides helped a figure of disability-related undertakings carried out by the authoritiess of developing states. ( â€Å" Nipponese abroad cooperation, † 2011 ) . The population of Thailand in mid-2007 recorded by the United Nations is about 62,829,000 million, with 5.7 million life in Bangkok the capital metropolis. The National Statistical Office ‘s Disability Survey in 2002 found that 1.7 % of the people dwelling of 1.8 % male and 0.9 % female had disablements. The rate among the rural population was twice that of the urban population harmonizing to the study. The Northeast 2.4 % , the South 1.9 % , and the North 1.8 % had higher rates of disablement, while Bangkok and the Central part had 0.7 % and 1 % ( â€Å" Thailand – asia-pacific, † 2011 ) . These statistics prove that rural parts have a higher bulk than the cardinal parts of hapless people, and more individuals with disablements live in these hapless parts. In 2007 1.9 million of the population had a disablement and the proportion of individuals with disablements to entire population was 2.9 % . ( â€Å" Thailand – asia-pacific, † 2011 ) . The Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons Act of 1991 and the united Ministerial Regulations which had been the chief legal instruments, was replaced by the Persons with Disabilities Empowerment Act which was enforced in 2007 ( â€Å" Persons with disablements, † 2007 ) . The Rehabilitation Act of 1991 set the footing for the rights of individuals with disablements to profit from public services. Other Acts besides involve rights for individuals with disablements such as the Social Security Act which gives registered individuals with disablements an allowance of 500 tical which is approximately 15 US dollars each month ( Camfield, 2009 ) . The National Education Act is besides in topographic point, which defends the rights of individuals with disablements to get instruction. However, compared to the current criterion of populating the survival allowance and other support are rather minimum, the day-to-day minimal pay of 2007 was 120 tical in Thailand. The National Office for Empo werment of Persons with Disabilities has been launched and works in coaction with other authorities bureaus and NGOs. These Acts guarantee that Thai individuals with disablements are given employment support and fiscal assistance, every bit good as educational, medical, rehabilitative, and services. District Public Welfare Offices and Health Centers offer aid to individuals with disablements, and Provincial Special Education Centers are responsible for educational services for kids with disablements ( Glassman, 2008 ) . The Thai authorities now has a more hands-on place on human rights. For illustration, the Thai diplomatic mission provinces that: â€Å" The state has increasingly striven to advance human rights consciousness through human rights instruction and to beef up legal models to advance and protect human rights in line with UN Conventions, in peculiar with respect to the rights of vulnerable groups † ( â€Å" The royal Thai, † 2008 ) . Furthermore, â€Å" Thailand has a long-standing committedness to heightening cooperation to elate the quality of life of adult females, kids and individuals with disablements every bit good as to guarantee their rights † ( â€Å" The royal Thai, † 2008 ) .Thailand ‘s confirmation of the CRPD was one of the earliest in Asia. The Persons with Disabilities Empowerment Act of 2007 is renowned as the first Thai jurisprudence to prohibit discriminatory and colored Acts of the Apostless against individuals with disablements and to penalize anyone that does non stay by the jurisprudence. Besides, the Act has expanded the rights for Thai individuals with disablements and explained these rights in more item. Most significantly the Thai authorities has confirmed its support for the CRPD by seting the domestic statute law to suit the CRPD ( â€Å" The royal Thai, † 2008 ) . There are four major NGOs which are involved in a broad scope of activities and influence on the Thai disablement policy which include: Thailand Association of the Blind ( TAB ) , the Redemptorist Foundation for People with Disabilities, the Association of Parents for Thai Persons with Autism under the Thai Autism Foundation, and the National Association of the Deaf in Thailand ( NADT ) . These NGOs epitomize individuals with disablements every bit good as their households ( Delcore, 2003 ) . Within the last few old ages in Thailand, all four NGOs acknowledge the Empowerment Act as an advanced legal device that has improved the legal and policy development, in footings of penalizing favoritism against those with disablements. They agree that even with an active disablement association and recent promotions at the national degree, the state of affairs of individuals with disablements has non been much improved in the rural countries due to poverty and countless societal exclusions. Many with disablements are still denied from instruction and employment. The private sector is in demand of more employment chances for individuals with disablements due to hapless apprehension and support of the employers. Furthermore, the quality of instruction and other related services for individuals with disablements requires more betterment in Thailand. Many individuals with disablements are have HIV/AIDS due to deficiency of instruction of it, and some individuals with disablements large ly deaf people are below the belt treated when it comes to legal instances due to incomplete gestural linguistic communication reading. Young adult females with disablements easy become victims of different developments, such as those with hearing damages or rational disablements are really weak and socially cut off and make non have sufficient instruction ( Delcore, 2003 ) . With the formation of the CRPD and the Thai Persons with Disabilities Empowerment Act betterments have been made at the national degree, nevertheless non much of a alteration has been made at the lowest degree in Thailand and other developing states. Stating that handicapped individuals have rights is of import although it may non be plenty to convey about a existent accommodation for handicapped individuals. All local leaders should be knowing about the rights of those with disablements every bit good as an duty to protect their rights. Another benefit is to hold local leaders with disablements that can function for the authorization and be an illustration to those with disablements in their community. This will recommend the demand to authorise individuals with disablements and educate local people on disablement issues. It is evident that the apprehension of the Thai public scope is limited refering the rights of individuals with disablements, and there is trouble in the transport ing out of the Empowerment Act and publicity of the CRPD in the authorities. They face many issues such as hapless apprehension, policies adopted by the cardinal authorities are non expressed in local authoritiess decently, and hence the apprehension of the rights of individuals with disablements at the local degree is really restricted. It is important to raise awareness through public instruction ( Delcore, 2003 ) . The Thai disablement policy is traveling on the right class. It is in a transitional period by following the international motions. The Thai disablement policy needs farther rating to hold existent execution. It is stressed that the appraisal and monitoring of policy execution are critical but presently missing. The future NGOs should be more involved in monitoring and rating. NGOs in Thailand and their representatives with disablements have been late really much involved in the formation of the national policy in comparing to the yesteryear every bit good as the environing developing states. While some people with disablements are asked to take part at the national degree, merely a little figure of individuals with disablements are take parting at the local degree. More local leaders with disablements and local self-help groups need to take part in the policy formation and force these plans at the local degree. More efforts should be made for authorising individuals with disablement s particularly in the rural countries ; the difference of the state of affairs of individuals with disablements between Bangkok and other parts has been increasing. The execution of Thai disablement policy should be farther dispersed in the hereafter by bettering local plans ( Delcore, 2003 ) . The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has raised cardinal cognition of the rights of individuals with disablements in the developing states and has besides influenced the formations of their disablement policy. Thailand is a underdeveloped nation-state ; it has already ratified the CRPD and has launched an anti-discrimination jurisprudence for individuals with disablements. Article 32 on international cooperation in the CRPD states that â€Å" international cooperation is necessary to back up national attempts † . Through NGOs and civil society, and a state ‘s authorities, have the chief duty to back up and support the rights of its citizens with disablements and achieve international cooperation. Organizations of individuals with disablements and other NGOs have been the most active and have started the publicity of rights through their local webs. In Thailand, local leaders with disablements have great possible in distributing the ends of the CRPD a t the community degree. UK, Australia and Japan ‘s international giver bureaus have been involved for old ages, in helping the development for individuals with disablements. Distinguishing the relationship between poorness and disablement, these bureaus attempt to take in individuals with disablements and include them in their international development plans. Therefore, it is apparent that major giver bureaus are ready for the executing of CRPD Article 32 if they remain committed to achieve effectual execution. In add-on, their coaction with different associations that deal with individuals with disablements and other NGOs are turning, which will enrich plans of these bureaus.