Cloning/Genetic Engineering Essay

INTRODUCTION

I chose to do my report on cloning, or genetic engineering. Cloning is the technique of producing a genetically identical duplicate of an organism by replacing the nucleus of an unfertilized ovum with the nucleus of a body cell from the organism. Some people agree with this type of reproduction, where others do not agree with it and wish that it could be banned. Genetic engineering was first originated in the late 1960's and early 1970's. But the first experiments were not performed until the early 1990's when scientists began to experiment with the smallest human chromosomes, the Y chromosome and chromosome 21. They were broken down into different smaller parts so that the scientists could reproduce the parts in large quantities. Genetic reconstruction is being used to test and see if a baby is going to develop a hereditary disease that a parent might have passed on to the child. If it shows that the child is going to have this disease, reconstruction enzymes are used to cut apart the DNA of the parents, and the DNA pattern of cells from the fetus is compared. In many situations, the status of the fetus can be determined. As of right now, this process is applicable to thalassemias, Huntington's disease, cystic fibrosis, and Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. Another good discovery of genetic engineering was the discovery of oncogenes. Oncogenes are genes that play a specific role in causing some cancers. These genes could not have been discovered any other way than genetic engineering. In the future, scientists hope to be able to go in a cut out the oncogenes to try and prevent some cancers. Genetic engineering is being used many different ways to help better our lives. In my paper, I will describe the many different ways genetic engineering and cloning is being used today.

DISCUSSION
Recent advances in science have led to two astounding technologies. The first of these two is cloning, the process if making an exact copy of a living organism. The second is genetic engineering, which allows scientists to make living things healthier than before. Farmers can grow bigger, juicier vegetables, and doctors can predict whether a baby will have a disease even before it is born. These ideas are brand new thoughts. They used to be just a fantasy, even just 20 years ago these ideas were just beginning to be thought of, but were not a reality. Most scientists back then never dreamed that this technology would ever be a reality like it is now. Genetic engineering is the more helpful of these two technologies, because it can be used to prevent babies from being born with diseases and other birth defects. Cloning is still a very controversial subject though, a lot of people do not agree with the idea of making exact copies of organisms.

To understand how these two technologies work, one must understand what the body is made of. All living things are made of cells, some organisms only need one cell and some need many. The human body is composed of trillions of cells. Over the years, scientists have studied the human cells very closely hoping to find out as much as they can. Now they have learned how to alter the cells. DNA sends messages to the cells about what to do. Cells are alive, they eat, get rid of wastes and reproduce, and DNA controls these things. When the DNA gets the message to reproduce from DNA, it splits in half and the new half gets every aspect of the old cell including the DNA. And then each half keeps reproducing over and over again until there are millions of cells. After a cell group forms, the DNA gets more and more specific. Then, certain cells are assigned more specific jobs, cells become blood, brain or skin cells. Once every “role” has been filled a complete organism, such as a human, can be formed.

DNA also plays a role in when you look like. Under a microscope, each strand looks like a twisted up ladder. The DNA is made up of many different genes, and the genes are what make us look how we do. They determine whether we have blue, green or brown eyes, or brown, black, or blonde hair also. The also determine our different characteristics and other traits. The genes we are born with are passed to us from our biological parents; this is why you look like your parents. This process is called heredity.

DNA and genes are found in structures called chromosomes. Each human cell contains 46 chromosomes. And in time, scientists hope to learn the roles that each of our 40, 000 genes perform. By changing a cell’s genes, scientists can urge the cell to grow in ways that it normally would not grow. By making cells grow differently, scientists can give an organism totally different traits or they can even create a whole new organism all together.

Scientists who work with genes are called genetic engineers. Genetic engineers find an organism that has traits that are desirable, they then find the genes that caused these traits and combine the genes with another organism. The second organism will develop the desired traits of the first. That way you have a new organism that is engineered to have the perfect traits. Genetic engineering is also called Recombinant DNA Technology. This technology allows scientists to reshuffle or recombine DNA from one organism with the DNA of another. To do this, they use needles called microsyringes. Micro syringes implant substances into very very small things. Scientists implant the DNA fragments of a desired trait into a cell to improve the organism. An example of this would be making tomatoes that taste better and stay fresh longer, or apples that are big and taste good as well.

Cloning is when scientists produce an exact copy of another organism, and the clone will possess the exact same genes as the original did. Right now, scientists are mainly focusing on cloning the organisms that will help us learn more about our world and how to solve many of it’s problems. It is not being used to just clone people just so that there will be a million twins of one person walking around, that would create a major controversy. To clone something, scientists take a cell and destroy its DNA, and then insert new DNA into the cell using a micro syringe. The cell will now follow instructions from the new DNA, creating an exact copy, or clone, of the original organism. So, when scientists want to clone an organism, the remove the cells old DNA and replace it with new DNA which is what they new cell will listen to. As the cell follows the new instructions from the new DNA, it transforms into an exact copy of the original.

Now that the process of cloning and genetic engineering has been explained, I will explain how scientists actually discovered these new technologies. And, what discoveries were made years ago that led to the breakthrough of cloning and genetic engineering we are witnessing now.

Cells were first seen under a microscope in 1665 when English scientist Robert Hook was examining a piece of cork in his microscope. He saw tiny holes that appeared to be surrounded by walls, and he gave them the name cell. He named them this because they reminded him of the monk’s cells that they lived in. Even though cells were discovered in 1665, scientists didn’t realize the importance of them until 1838 when German botanist Matthias Schleiden said that he believed cells were the basic unit of life. And, in 1839, Theodor Schwann proved that all living things were made of cells. From that point on, scientists focused their attention on the cell. Inventors began constructing more powerful microscopes so the scientists could get a better vies of the cells. The better the microscopes got, the more discoveries were made, they discovered that cells divide (reproduction), and the also saw the nucleus and other smaller parts of the cells.

In the 1800’s a monk named Gregor Mendel experimented with plants, he grew and studied thousands of pea plants. From his experiments, he learned that each plant’s traits were passed down from parent to off spring. Mendel published his work in 1866, but no one paid any attention to his work until the following century. He is now considered a pioneer of genetics. In 1910, American scientist Thomas Hunt Morgan discovered that genes are arranged in a special order. He made the argument that genes were what was responsible for heredity. In the 1950’s, the science of cloning began to take shape, scientists made clones of tadpoles, but nothing as advanced or big as what can take place today. The did try to make copies of more complex animals such as cows, but were unsuccessful. The technology was not advanced enough to clone such complex genes at that time.

Starting in the 1970’s advances in lasers and computers really helped scientists. New microscopes kept providing a clearer focus into cells and opened up a whole new world of study. For the first time, genes and DNA could be observed up close and in great detail. It was then that scientists began to find ways to inject genes into many living things. Scientists made plants and animals with new and better characteristics such as a tomato plant that bugs would not eat, or they even injected human genes into mice which made the mice grow to double their normal size.

Scientists need to have a lot of genes available in order to study the science of cloning. Many genes get destroyed in the failed experiments. In 1983 genetic engineers discovered how to make clones. Being able to clone genes meant that the scientists would have a limitless supply of genes to work with. The could simply clone some more genes when they began to run low instead of looking for new organisms that they could use their genes. Animals such as pigs, cattle, and rabbits were cloned in the 1990’s. These animals were cloned when they were still very young because it is a lot easier to clone young animals than it is to clone adults. The DNA in young animals is a lot purer than that of adult animals because the animal has not lived long enough to have been influenced by its environmental surroundings. Scientists know this because attempts to clone older animals kept failing. Until 1996, no adult animal had been cloned. But, in 1996, British scientist Ian Wilmut made a clone from the genes of an adult sheep, and he named the clone Dolly. Dolly was born a baby lamb even though she had been cloned from the genes of a female sheep. But, she grew naturally as a female sheep. Dolly is very famous because she proved that basically any living thing could be cloned, no matter how big or small, or how old it was. It took Doctor Wilmut 277 sheep before he got the experiment right. The 277 that he used either died or did not grow properly. This is part of the reason cloning can be so controversial, because the animals that are used to experiment with usually die or become deformed, and this is not something that animal lovers like. Nearly every move that Dolly makes is recorded and filmed. In 1998 she gave birth to a healthy lamb of her own. The lamb developed DNA on it’s own, not the same as the cloned DNA of it’s mother. And the most surprising thing was that the genes that Dolly passed to her baby did not cause any problems.

Scientists are using their discoveries in creative, brilliant ways. The are trying to make our food, health and bodies better than ever, and thanks to the new technology, all of these things are possible, not just dreams anymore. Some genes can get damaged when they don’t copy or develop correctly. Others can be damaged by us not taking care of our bodies, doing things such as: using drugs, smoking, abusing alcohol, and getting too much sun. Over 3,000 diseases have been tracked to either heredity or damaged genes; these diseases include forms of cancer and heart disease. If damaged genes could be replaced by those from a healthy donor, many terrible diseases might be avoided before they even fully develop in the future. Scientists have already found over 500 genes that can be used in medicines. An example of one of these medicines is insulin for diabetics. The insulin is injected into a person with diabetes at least once a day, and it tells the bacteria to make insulin once it is injected into the body in order for the body to store and use glucose (blood sugar). If glucose builds in the person’s bloodstream, it can reach dangerous levels and really be harmful to this person.

Another method of trying to improve the human body is by using gene therapy, a branch of genetic engineering. In gene therapy, missing or damaged genes are replaced with new ones, these new genes instruct the cells to make necessary repairs. Some kinds of immune diseases have been treated using gene therapy. When a person has immune diseases, they cannot fight of diseases very well so they usually get a lot sicker than normal people and they stay sick for a longer period of time. To these kinds of people, common sicknesses such as the flu can put them in the hospital. So, they are very thankful for these types of treatments that can help make their immune system get stronger. Scientists are also trying to alter the genes of dangerous or damaged cells. In the future, they hope to be able to prevent most diseases, such as cancer and heart disease before they even develop. Or, at lease weaken the cell so that they can be treated a lot easier and less painful than they are treated now.

Scientists have also created gene tests, which are mainly used on unborn babies. The tests show if a baby will suffer from a heredity disease so that the doctors can begin treating the disease as soon as the baby is born. But, these tests can also be performed on children, teens, and adults. Genes can be taken from your blood, hair roots, and cells in your mouth to be tested and monitored to see if you are at risk for certain heredity diseases. Scientists can also make a wide variety of genetically engineered plants. These plants have been used to make healthier, better tasting foods, and they have also provided new medicines to heal the sick. Scientists can engineer as little as one plant, or as much as a whole crop of plants. The crops that have been engineered include cotton, corn, soybeans, and squash. The vegetables that are genetically engineered can resist disease and damage from insects and pesticides. The “latest and greatest” experiment that scientists are working on right now is a plant that can grow plastics. Four genes from a special plastic-producing bacteria were inserted into selected plants. These plants soon yield a “crop” of plastic. The greatest thing about these plants is that, unlike plastics now, they are biodegradable plastics, which means they will not harm the environment. This is just one small example of the extraordinary things that scientists and genetic engineers can do to help better our lives.

Even though cloning and genetic engineering can do so many helpful things, there are many people who are against it. These people include government leaders, religious leaders, members of the public and even some scientists. Some believe it is too much like “playing God” and that cloning should not even be a natural way to create human beings. Others believe, and fear, that human clones could maybe be used in the wrong way, such as making them slaves or soldiers. Some people also are scared that when cloning becomes more accessible to normal people, people are going to begin to create designer babies and smaller versions of the rich and famous. Which is another way that cloning will be used wrongly; at first by people with way too much money to spend, and eventually by just normal every day people. At this pointing time, cloning is still very hard to do, before Dolly, 277 sheep died before she was successful. If humans were to begin being cloned, they would have to pay a huge price to even begin to be experimented on: their life. Scientists can never be certain if an experiments is going to turn out alright or not, so if the issue of human cloning ever comes about, many lives may be lost until someone is successful, just as it was in the case of Dolly. The people against cloning also believe that cloning may change humans in a way that could be harmful, or that the scientist could accidentally mess up and create an organism that may actually ham us. These very different beliefs between the people for cloning, and the people against cloning have caused a lot of debate. There are websites and books dedicated to these two issues.

But, there are still those people who are for cloning. The strongest argument for cloning and genetic engineering is that it can repair what we have done. Genetic engineering can fix the things that we have done to harm our bodies and develop diseases. I personally do not agree that this should be the strongest argument for this subject. If a person is willing enough to drink, smoke or do drugs and harm their body, then they should have to like with the consequences of their actions and not rely on genetic engineering to fix their bodies when they start to develop cancer. The other side to this though, is that polluted air, water and the ozone layer can also cause a great deal of harm to our bodies, which, in most cases can be repaired by genetic engineering. Also, genetic engineering can help fix what we have done to wildlife. Many animals may soon become extinct, but by cloning them, we could prevent them from just vanishing off the earth.

Although it is beginning to look like a possibility, a human clone has not yet been made. Identical twins are the closest thing to clones that we can see right now. Natural identical twins will be much more alike than cloned twins might be. This is because natural twins are grown and nourished inside the same mother, and cloned twins may not be. Since cloned twins may be inside different mothers, the different diets, sleep schedules, and exercise routines may slightly alter the clones physical traits, even though the genetic make up of the twins will be identical as it is with natural twins. Even though cloned babies will look alike, one thing that cannot be cloned is personality. This makes sense because even in natural twins, they do not usually have all of the same characteristics; in fact, they are usually opposites in personality. The next closest thing to cloning babies is in-vitro fertilization, also known as test tube babies. This is usually only used when one of the parents is infertile, or when some parents have genetic problems that they do not want to pass on their children. How this works is a woman will begin taking hormones a few weeks before she is scheduled to go for her procedure to make sure the eggs develop properly. She then goes to the doctor where he removes all of the eggs from the woman and keeps them in his laboratory. He will add the sperm into the mixture and watch it for about 2 days, then the woman comes back and had the eggs and the sperm put into her uterus. The chances of becoming pregnant this way are about 4-6 (out of 10), and it is very expensive so most couples can only afford to do it once and hope for the best.

CONCLUSION
I am still kind of divided on this subject. I do not agree with some aspects of cloning and genetic engineering, such as having exact clones made of stars, or having “designer babies” made, and also engineering genes to prevent a cancer that you cause yourself by smoking, drinking or doing drugs. But I do agree that cloning and genetic engineering can help make our lives a lot easier. It also can offer some hope to parents who wish to have children but are infertile, even though the option of adoption is always there. But, it can help with people who were born with cancers, or prevent babies from being born with terrible diseases, which are all good things.

RECOMENDATIONS
Surely, there are many improvements that need to be made to this science, genetic engineering has been around only about 50 years, and cloning is just recently being thought of in the past 20 or 30 years. I do believe that scientists are working hard to develop these technologies further so that one day they will really help us out and make life a whole lot easier.

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Customer Service Research Paper

Before I get into further analysis of my own personal experience, I am going to explain about different characteristics that are involved in customer service. Most businesses will tell you that quality customer service is the keystone to success. An essential component of outstanding customer service is the possession of a great staff. Larger companies may be weighed down by employee handbooks that specify the customer service guidelines. Independent, smaller businesses have the advantage of selecting employees that possess excellent customer service know how and capabilities. The customer service department should also be extremely familiar with the inventory, services, and policies entailed in the store. Knowledgeable employees satisfy customers.

For customer service face-to-face, employees should concentrate on their own appearance. A sloppy look, chomping on gum or an employee lacking hygiene can negatively reflect on the company. Having a dress code or grooming evaluations can motivate employees to excel in face to face situations. Every small aspect involved can affect the business as a whole.

Once the right staff has been hired, there has to be an example set for them to follow. Rewards are a good incentive to inspire employees to go the extra mile. Establishing employee of the month recognition programs, giving gifts, or verbally acknowledging accomplishments are good ways to drive the staff toward the set out goals of a business. Some companies train their staff by asking them to put themselves in the customer’s position. When people consider their own preferences, they may be more apt to see where the customer is coming from. It is important to have the dual goal in mind of keeping the customer happy and at the same time working toward benefiting the business. One way to keep this practice is the LEAR method of handling customers. LEAR is an acronym for Listen, Empathize, Ask Questions, and Resolve the Problem. All employees should try and practice this method of handling customer problems, with the end goal being to send the customer away in a good mood. Treating people the way they want to be treated is generally a good approach to a problem.

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With a well trained and qualified staff, the customer service department has a better chance at success. In my experience, handling customers is much easier when a step by step exact approach given to the employee, but also giving them the freedom to integrate their own methods that can correspond with the employee’s personality and the personality of the individual customer. In general, the employee should first listen to what the customer has to say without interrupting them. At all times, the employee should stay very calm, it takes two to make an argument. They should give an indication that they understand and sympathize with what the customer is saying. The problem then should be logically analyzed. There should be a differentiation between the assumptions, facts, generalizations, and emotions. Try and find out exactly what happened by digging for the facts and not placing blame anywhere. Then, try and read the person better to figure out what the true problem they are having really is. Are they actually angry at what is happening right now, or are they just in a bad mood and looking to release their problems somewhere? One of the easiest questions to ask is: What can we do to make this right so you are a happy customer when you walk out the door, when you hang up this phone, etc.? Take full responsibility for finding a satisfying solution, and make sure to see the customer through to ensure they are getting what is owed to them. The response made should call for immediate action to be taken if it is possible, this will make the customer feel important and raise their level of satisfaction.

Many times the problem can be simply solved by letting the customer talk to someone in authority. This also raises the level of satisfaction with a feeling of importance. It is good to never view the problem as insolvable; customers will spread the word of dissatisfaction to other people which will further hurt the business. A good idea is to ensure the customer that methods will be taken to prevent this problem from happening in the future. Employees can make a difference if the customer feels that they are making a difference on the business. Many companies learn that effective service recovery heightens customer loyalty. It costs approximately five times as much money to acquire an existing customer then it does to keep an old one.

Without using these methods, I have found that there are many approaches that make the customer angrier than they were in the first place. One of the best is telling the customer how important they are and how much this call means to the company, and then letting the customer sit on hold forever. It is even better when it is just a recording that interrupts the annoying elevator music on the phone repeating over and over that this call is important to us, remain holding. If this call is so important, why am I on hold for an hour? A business can always keep transferring the customer to different departments, and each department can redirect them. This will make the customer become angry at all of the departments and not just one employee. At least with one employee, the customer may not feel the whole company is unqualified and not helpful. Making the customer explain their problem over and over makes them angrier and angrier. One of the best ways to make a customer irate is to put them on hold for awhile, and then disconnect them. Now they have to call back to get put on hold again? A good example of this problem with miscommunications can be seen in a letter I wrote to Wal-Mart. (See Appendix 1) Not to sound racist, but it is also a good idea to not make the entire customer service department lack in English speaking skills. Customers do not enjoy having to repeat and explain themselves a hundred times and still feel as if they are not being understood correctly. The customer needs to be able to relate to the employee just like the employee needs to relate to the customer. A similar language and culture can greatly improve this relationship. One of the worst things to do is making the customer feel as if they are wrong. But is the customer always right?

The popular customer service motto, “The customer is always right” has the right message, but is not fully accurate. I feel that customers should be treated as if they are right at most times, but certain circumstances should not be tolerated. The customer has the “right” to be in control, but not the full power of always being “right.” Sometimes the customer is wrong, and even when this is proven, they can not accept it. Even when the customer is wrong, it is still a good idea to do whatever possible to make them feel better about the situation. Saying no to a customer is basically saying we no longer want your business, because in most circumstances that is the result. Having concise return policies and warranties are ways to protect the business. Most people are reasonable and want what they are entitled to. There are a small percentage of customers that can just not be helped and are never satisfied. There are just certain whiny nonstop-complaining customers who have nothing better to do that ruin other people’s days. They scream, curse, and treat the employees like dirt. No matter what is done for them, it is not good enough. After a certain point, these customers just need to be written off. Of course, it should take awhile to reach this point. Only when completely necessary should a customer not get the royal treatment they deserve. When the customer is written off, they should not receive the much deserved screaming, verbally (or even physically) abusive response. As good as it would feel to smack the customer across the face and tell them where they can shove the product they have a complaint with, the reputation of the business is still at stake. Nicely, they should be told that there is nothing that can be done and if they wish to discontinue their business, then we are sorry but that is their only option.

There is an entire other group of people that needs to be acknowledged: the group of people that do not make any complaints when they are dissatisfied. Up until this project, I had never written a letter of complaint to any company no matter how unhappy I was. However, I was not completely silent. I would spread the word of my dissatisfaction to others and influence their decisions, the same way people have influenced me. I was part of that group of people that companies really need to look out for and have the most difficulty finding. According to findings, the average “wronged” customer will tell eight to sixteen people about a negative experience. To deal with the silent deceiving customers who seem satisfied, the best a company can do is encourage comments and complaints. Pushing people to write down comments helps you hear what all different types of people think, not just the aggressive people who go after what they want and deserve. Showing the quiet customers that you care what they think and will take necessary steps in improving the aspects that are displeasing to them, is an excellent method to get the customers that may have “fallen through the cracks.”

Another way to ensure customer satisfaction is to go above and beyond expectations. Giving the customer something they do not expect is an excellent way to keep their satisfaction levels high and increase the company’s market awareness. Incentives such as free items, discounts, and coupons are a few obvious ways to accomplish this. Addition services include gift wrapping, delivery, and free samples. A simple example for a retail store is creating a friendly atmosphere by having employees greet customers walking into the store. Smiles and sincerity are essential parts of quality customer service.

I would like to further explain the recent decline in customer service here in America. There has been deregulation in a variety of industries, but consumer rights have been at the bottom of the list. Some of this deregulation has even exempted companies from State Consumer Protection Laws. The tight economy has also impacted the way customers are handled. During a down economy, many cuts are made in companies. One of the first departments to experience the cut is customer service. Customer care is often overlooked when making these budget cuts. Although, management needs to realize that this disregard is going to impact other parts of the company’s sales and reputation.

The advancements in technology have been a huge disappointment and aggravation for consumers. Technology is on a steady incline. That’s positive, right? Automated voices that can direct calls and answer customers’ questions helps cut employees and save money for a company. It probably even exceeds the cost of the new technology, malfunctions, and paying people to install and maintain it. I have had some conversations with these “computers” and have actually had my questions answered. However, I have also experienced the computer have no clue what I was talking about. It kept asking me over and over to restate my question. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem if I was given the option to speak to someone. It would be pretty simple if the computer was trained to say, “Since I can’t help you, I will redirect you to someone human.” Imagine the nerve of a customer actually wishing to speak to a human! How about my eighty-five year old grandma who cannot grasp the concept that she is not talking to a real person, she tells me the lady on the phone is rude and does not understand her. So what should be done about this? Should old people just not be allowed to use the phone? At the age of seventy, should you lose phone privileges? Technology may be advanced, but when it comes to customer service, the proper precautions must be enforced to continually ensure customer satisfaction. Using an automated service to direct calls as opposed to actually solving the problem would be a more intelligent solution.

Now, I have explained the general concepts, by highlighting both the positives and negative aspects, involved in modern day customer service. The next part of my analysis involves the responses I have received from the individual letters I wrote. I had planned to write different forms of letters. My initial thought was that the tone, extent of problem, and the amount of time I had actually put in writing the letter would have an effect. As a result of research into customer service departments, I soon realized that each company trains their customer service representatives to treat problems a certain way. The type of industry would also have a large effect in the business’s approach and seriousness of the company’s concern. When a letter is received, there is a generic way to approach a solution. Writing a letter or sending an email is the least time-consuming and least stressful method for a customer to do. However, letters may not even be read or the root of the problem may be unclear and misunderstood. It is the best approach to deal with the problem face-to-face; it is the way to get the maximum satisfaction possible. But, it is also the most time-consuming and aggravating. Using the phone may be more effective than a letter, but as I previously mentioned, the phone could also be a huge frustration with the recent technological advancements and customer service representative problems. I chose the letter and email method due to the fact that complaining to over seventy-five companies within my three month time frame was not feasible by another method. Three months was not enough to allot for me visiting each company or spending hundreds of hours on the phone. (See Appendix 2) The general tone I used in my letters was very serious and also very upset. I tried to come across as someone who would only complain if it was a big deal and also leave the companies with the threat that my future business was in question. As much as possible, I tried to come across as intellectual and educated about the individual business in question. For example, my letter to Target Corporation (See Appendix 3) is very similar to the previous Wal-Mart letter you viewed. However, Target has a customer service policy which I brought up to get my message across. If my letter was actually read closely, they would have seen the seriousness of my complaint.

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Essay on Customer Defection

Customer Defection
In order to learn from customer defection, a business must understand the strategic importance of customer loyalty. Product-oriented companies with no focus on its customers and no market orientation will more likely to have high customer defection. Not many of those firms will take the time to find out why they lost the customer. Businesses understand the significance of existing customers and enforce every effort to keep them satisfied. However, lost customers are the most valuable source to recognize potential improvements for the company.

One of the reasons the businesses fail is that they tend to focus on profitability and stock prices rather than customer satisfaction and loyalty. Businesses that utilize its operations on creating customer value are destined to be market leaders. Lexus, for example, initiated a model that calculates how much more each dealership could earn by achieving customer loyalty. Through the use of this model, Lexus recognized the importance of customer retention, and it empowered and trained its employees to offer full customer satisfaction.

Customer Value
Companies that do not emphasize on customer value and enforce no effort to prevent customer defection will lose about half of their customers in about every five years. If those companies do not measure the reasons behind customer defection, they will more likely lose profits and market share to competition. Creating customer value is the most important step to prevent customer defection. Understanding the reasons behind customer defection will lead to improvements in the business operations. The concept of customer value and customer defection is inversely related meaning that the higher the customer value, the lower the customer defection rate will be.

Learning from the Customers
The article states that one misconception among managers to measure customer satisfaction is the use of satisfaction surveys. The surveys are often misleading and should not be taken as a benchmark. Companies that search for the “root cause” of customer defection will learn from their customers and will be able to identify the areas that need improvements. MicroScan, for example, interviewed its lost customers and identified the root causes of defection. After learning from their customers, the company gave attention to its equipment and delivery problems. By getting feedback from its lost customers, the company was able to improve its “results and process quality of customer value”. MicroScan’s ability to learn from its lost customers and failures eased its way to a market leadership position.

The key success factor for companies to succeed in today’s competitive job market is to emphasize on customer value. High customer value will keep the customer defection at low levels. Each company will experience customer defection, but the companies that learn from customer defection will be the ones to lead the market.

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Research Paper on Smoking

Recently there has been an overabundance of media coverage regarding the public’s ‘war on smoking.’ Over the last few years, the government has begun taking vital steps towards eliminating smoking in public areas, in order to make our society a better place to live. There are many controversies surrounding the act of smoking; health issues for the smoker and those around them; the ever-heightening prices; and the social unacceptance of the act.

To begin, smoking causes serious health issues not only to the person smoking, but also those exposed to the second hand smoke. An example of a serious health risk is lung cancer. The most common form of cancer diagnosed in the United States is lung cancer. Lung cancer accounts for 14% of all cancers and 28% of all cancer deaths. According to the American Lung Association, “Cigarette smoking is responsible for an estimated 87% of lung cancer deaths, or seven out of eight”( American Lung Association). Lung cancer develops when cells in the lungs multiply in an uncontrollable rate. These abnormal tissue masses are called tumors. (Lung Cancer) Lung cancer is not only a risk for the smoker, but it is also a risk for the non-smoker alike. Second-hand smoke comes from two places: smokes breathed out from the person smoking, and smoke from the end of a burning cigarette (American Lung Association). The American Lung Association goes on to say, “Second-hand smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals; 200 are poisons; 43 cause cancer” (American Lung Association). According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “Second-hand smoke has been classified as a known cause of cancer in humans” (U.S. Government). Another example of health risks originating from smoking is emphysema. The Lung Association states, “When you have emphysema, some of the air sacs deep in your lungs have been damaged” (The lung Association). The American Heritage Dictionary defines emphysema as, “A pathological condition of the lungs marked by an abnormal increase in the size of the air spaces, resulting in labored breathing and an increased susceptibility to infection” (American Heritage Dictionary). Emphysema does not develop suddenly, it comes very gradually. Years of exposure to cigarette smoke usually causes the development of emphysema.

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Secondly, prices of cigarettes have been going through a dramatic increase throughout the years. The government feels that the increase will prevent or even get people to quit smoking (Higher cigarette taxes). According to numerous studies, “the increase of cigarette taxes is one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking among both youth and adults” (Tobacco Free Kids).These studies show that every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes will reduce overall cigarette consumption by three to five percent and reduce youth smoking by about seven percent (Tobacco Free Kids). If cigarette prices were raised ten percent per pack nationwide, it would reduce the number of kids who become regular smokers by more than a million, saving them from addiction, disease and death. Studies also show that people with low income are ones that respond to the increase of prices and end up quitting (Tobacco Free Kids). It is proven that smoking levels are highest among people with low incomes (Higher Cigarette Taxes). The increase of price will make them think twice about smoking. Quitting will save them money and help their financial needs (Higher Cigarette Taxes). Cigarette tax increases are a win-win solution for the state governments. It helps states balance their budgets while reducing smoking, saving lives and reducing health care costs.

Lastly, a person could never go out to a public place before without encountering a smoker. Now it is socially unaccepted to smoke in a public place in many countries. While the number of smokers is on the rise, the number of places they can smoke is declining. Many provinces across Canada as well as the United states are making it a law that all restaurants and public areas have to be 100% smoke free (U.s. Environmental). A poll conducted by US Today shows that 70 % of participants preferred restaurants that were non-smoking (U.S. Environmental). Over the next 45 years, smoke-free workplaces alone could prevent over 32,000 cancer deaths and over 75,000 heart disease deaths. According to the government, 83% of worker health complaints related to problems with indoor-air quality would be eliminated when workplaces become smoke-free( U.S Environmental). Constant exposure to tobacco smoke in the workplace nearly doubles the risk of having a heart attack. Everyone is at risk for diseases caused from smoking when they are in public places that are not smoke free. Despite all the evidence that proves the dangers of smoking, some businesses still despise banning this behaviour (U.S.Enviromental). There is no real evidence that proves going smoke-free is bad for the business. In fact, there are many positives when a business goes smoke free. For instance maintenance costs decrease when smoke, matches, and cigarette butts are eliminated in places. Also, hardware such as equipment, floors, and furniture last longer. And of course the main thing, people’s health is not a concern anymore (Higher Cigarette taxes).

In conclusion, many people have different opinions on smoking and what is positive and negative about it. There are many aspects proving smoke-free places are for the good. Knowing about all the health risks related to smoking, we seem to wonder why people even pick up such a habit. Is smoking really worth your life as well as others around you? The government is also trying different methods to get people to stop smoking. The great increase in cigarette prices is to try the population on how many people smoke today. They figure that this will also prevent people to not even start this habit. Many businesses today are changing what used to be normal in a public area, which was smoking. Smoke free businesses are becoming more and more common each day. There is no real evidence that shows’ going smoke-free is bad for the business. It helps out the business in other areas such as maintenance. People have different opinions, but researchers prove that smoke-free public areas are good for everyone’s health, not just the smokers. Maybe eventually one day our society will be 100% smoke free and the population of smokers will decrease dramatically.

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Lung Cancer Research Paper

Lung cancer, what is it? How is it diagnosed? When someone brings up a subject like lung cancer, many people don’t have a lot of information. There may be a lot of questions running through their heads. This paper is designed to get all of the questions answered and show people a path to prevention. It includes information on symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease. This information can make it easier to understand what people with lung cancer are going through and for you what to watch for.

If a person is diagnosed with lung cancer they may have one of the two main types; Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Small Cell Lung Cancer. The most common type is Non-Small; it makes up about 80 percent of all cases. This type of lung cancer grows and spreads the slowest of the two. It is divided into three subcategories; squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and large cell carcinomas. Small Cell Lung Cancer makes up about 20 percent of all cancer cases. These produce rapidly to form large tumors. They usually spread to more internal organs than just your lungs. Mainly, they are caused my smoking and second-hand smoke.

Who is at risk? The majority of people that are diagnosed with Lung Cancer are in a few elite groups. One of the groups is made up of people who smoke constantly, or are around second-hand smoke. Another is the age group of about 50-60 year-olds, with a background of smoking. Males have a one-third higher change of getting lung cancer than women do. Race matters too. African-Americans seem to have a higher chance of developing it than Caucasians. Overall, Americans have a seven percent chance of getting lung cancer in their lifetime.

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Cancer, in general, is a treatable disease, but as far as our technology goes, it is not always fully curable. It is often not diagnosed until it is too far along in its stages. Surveys show there is an 11-14 percent survival rate after treatment. The death rate for men is about 10 percent higher than women.

For those who don’t have lung cancer it is important to take the precautions to reduce your risk of getting it. The best prevention is to not smoke or be around people that do. Smoking may be responsible for more than 80 percent of cases. A lifetime smoker has a 20-30 times greater risk of developing the disease. The good news is that even if you have smoked for a long time, quitting has almost immediate results.

Regular exercise is another way to prevent this type of cancer. During exercise, a constant flow of fresh air is getting into your lungs and pumping clean blood through. A low fat and high fiber diet also helps; especially eating green vegetables and carrots.

Symptoms may appear at any time. It is important to check with a doctor, if any of the following symptoms occur: this could save your like in the future. 1) A cough that doesn’t go away and gets worse over time, 2) Constant chest pain and coughing up blood, 3) Shortness of breath, wheezing, or hoarseness, 4) Repeated problems with pneumonia or bronchitis, and 5) Swelling of the neck and face. Recognizing these symptoms early may save a persons life.

Lung cancer should be suspected in any smoker with new or old respiratory symptoms. If a person is diagnosed with cancer, the doctor will want to learn the extent of the disease. He or she will try to find the stage of the disease and find out if the cancer has spread. If the cancer has spread it usually goes to the brain or the bones. Once the doctor has the test results, he or she can plan treatment. Almost all patients with lung cancer want all of the details and information on what will be going on. This reduces anxiety, even when the news is bad.

Treatment for lung cancer depends on the type of lung cancer, the size, the location, the extent of the tumor, and the health of the patient. The main treatment for almost all cancers is chemotherapy, which is the use of anticancer drugs to kill the cancer throughout the body. Surgery may be used to remove the tumors, if they are easy to get to and remove without hurting the patient. Also, radiation therapy can be used. It is the use of high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. Finally, doctors can also use Photodynamic therapy, which is a type of laser therapy with a special chemical that is put into your body.

The effects of treating cancer come in all forms. Most of the side effects to the treatment are only temporary, but they depend on what type of treatment is given, plus they vary with every person. After chemotherapy the effects include nausea, vomiting, hair loss, mouth sores, and extreme weariness. A side effect of surgery is air and fluid going into the chest, which causes great pains. Side effects for Radiotherapy are sore and dry throat, difficulty swallowing, fatigue, skin changes, loss of appetite, and problems with memory and thought processes. Photodynamic Therapy makes patients very sensitive to light for six weeks or more after treatment. If they are out in the direct sunlight their skin will get red, blistered, and/or swollen.

Follow-up care after treatment for lung cancer is very important. Regular checkups make sure that when life gets back to normal, and if the cancer returns or a new cancer develops, it should be treated as soon as possible. When patients go in for a check-up they have physical exams, chest x-rays, or lab tests. If any symptoms appear again notify the doctor right away. Home nurses are also available. They can teach post-treated patients how to breath the correct way, which reduces anxiety, so that they can get back on their feet and get on the road to being themselves again.

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Essay on Suicide

Picture yourself walking in and finding a friend or a loved one hanging from a rafter or seeing them dead, lying next to an empty bottle of pills. This is something that is not rare to society today. For many people, dealing with reality does not come easily. They may try to find different ways to cope with the pressure of life. Some involve themselves in hobbies of some sort to take their minds off of their worries. Not everyone can find a safe and healthy way to deal with stress. Some teenagers turn to drugs and alcohol, and for some, that isn’t even enough. In “Paul’s Case”, Paul does not use drugs or alcohol. He simply lives in a fantasy world; the boredom of everyday life is too much for him. He is tired of everything being the same. He finally turns to what he and many other teenagers feel is their only other option: suicide.

Suicide accounts for about 12-18% of all death among adolescents. It is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds. There are many factors that can trigger suicide in young people: depression, being the most closely linked to suicide, and also use of alcohol and drugs, family problems, stressful life events, issues about sexual orientation, or a family history of suicide (Stevens 3194; Bloch 26). Paul is very depressed and he even “…experienced all the physical depression…” when he turns on his street (Cather 250). His depression is caused by his boredom with life. Depression is one of the greater factors that generate a want to commit suicide.
Stressful life events can also trigger suicide in adolescents. A stressful life event can be breaking up with a boyfriend of girlfriend, death or loss of a significant person or thing (Stevens 3194). As punishment for Paul’s behavior in school, he is told that he can no longer visit Carnegie Hall, the only place where “Paul really lived” and for a moment his fairy tale becomes reality and he didn’t want to deal with that.

The problem-solving deficit is viewed as a psychological risk factor that restricts the individual’s capacity to cope with life stress. Schotte and Clum note,” According to this model, individuals deficient in the capacity for flexible divergent thinking, develop effective alternative solutions necessary to adaptive coping” (qtd. in Wilson 241). As a result, stressful situations cause the individuals to feel hopeless and they see suicide as their only answer. Before things start to get worse for Paul, Cather describes that Paul approaches his house with the “…hopeless feeling of sinking back forever into ugliness and commonness that he had always had when he came home” (250). Stevens reports that suicidal people express feelings of hopelessness, guilt, boredom and restlessness (3194). Attorney at Law, David Bloch further explains, “Completed suicide is more strongly associated with hopelessness (32).
As stated earlier, stressful situations cause individuals to feel hopeless and make them feel like suicide is the only answer. Paul does not just commit suicide at the first sign of depression but he does make a bad choice that a lot of teenagers make: he runs away from home. Bloch reports that in an Oklahoma study shows that suicide attempters were more likely to run away from home (28). As a result of Paul’s not thinking clearly he makes his biggest mistake, which is suicide but before he commits suicide, he shows some definite signs of a suicidal person. Paul awakes that morning with a throbbing headache and a dry mouth. He experiences a painful throbbing all over his body. Stevens notes that a sign that a person is suicidal is complaints of physical ailments (3194). This is the last sign that Paul shows. He even feels that he has “lived his life and he had made the best of it” (Cather 261).

When Paul decides to commit suicide he first considers using a revolver. He decides that is not the way he wants to go. He then decides to jump in front of a train. Although he does not go with his first choice, it is a common choice that many teenage boys make. Bloch reports that boys are more likely to commit suicide with firearms (30). They prefer guns to any other type of suicide.

Neighborhood contexts may be associated with increased hopelessness among adolescent suicide attempters. Alina Perez-Smith and colleagues indicate that adolescent suicide attempters who live in neighborhoods with unbalanced social networks may be at an even greater risk for experiencing feelings of hopelessness than those from neighborhoods with balanced social networks. A neighborhood with an unbalanced social network is defined here as one with a high male-to-female ratio and adult-to-child ratio (142). For Paul, his neighborhood is partly the cause of his depression but not because of the ratio difference. Cather explains that Paul never goes up Cordelia Street without a sense of loathing, that “…hopeless feeling of sinking back forever into ugliness and commonness that he had always had when he came home” (250). His neighborhood is all the same. All of the houses are exactly alike. All of the children were interested in arithmetic. All of the families went to Sabbath School; all of whom were as exactly alike as their homes. Smith and colleagues note that neighborhood networks may have a big influence on feeling of hopelessness found in suicidal teens (142). It is the similarity of everything that contributes a big part to Paul’s hopelessness.

Suicide is something that is not new to society. People see it as their way out, their escape from reality. Not everyone turns to suicide. Some people find safer, more constructive ways to deal with stress. Others are not so fortunate. They may turn to drugs or alcohol to take their minds away. Paul doesn’t use any drugs or alcohol. He just lives in a fantasy world because he doesn’t want to deal with his boring life. When his fantasy begins to turn to reality, decides he doesn’t want to try to handle it and he commits suicide. Many teenagers do not take the time to get help; they feel that they have the answer. Paul was acting just as many other teenagers and he took his life, not realizing that suicide is a permanent solution to what is only a temporary problem.

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Elder Abuse Research Paper

To fully understand the question of how adequate carer stress is we firstly need to look at what is elder abuse and what is carer stress then we can actually see how adequate it is in the explanation of elder abuse compared to that of any other explanation of elder abuse. As Mervyn Eastman suggests elder abuse is the “systematic maltreatment, physical, emotional or financial, of an elderly person by a care-giving relative. (Eastman 1984 pg 23.) Where as others such as Whitehead suggests it is more physical, “individuals sometimes assaulted people close to them and then either forced or conspired with them to make out the resulting injuries were sustained accidentally.” (Decalmer and Glendenning 1997 pg 13)

Elder abuse is not a knew idea but how to treat or cure it is, it has been suggested that because people within the family unit are starting to live longer the chance of elder abuse is growing. Grandparents are seen as the figure heads of the family and are sometimes used for babysitting when needed by the sons or daughters but later on in life when the roles are reversed it is often seen that the reliable grandparent has now become a burden to that son or daughter. This is where elder abuse can take place because the carer is so close the ‘stress’ finally becomes too much for the person to take that they lash out at the person closest to them, which in this case is the elderly relative.

In today’s society elder abuse and neglect is becoming more and more noticed by the people that live within this society, it is highlighted even more so by the media with the use of terms such as ‘granny bashing’ or ‘granny battering’ the use of such terms though highlights that people do not accept that such a thing as elder abuse can go on next door as suggested by Eastman. The terms also seem to be referring to actions of thugs, but this is often not the case but people believe this to be the case as it is portrayed by the media in such a way without highlighting that many cases of elderly abuse is by that of a close relative who is caring for them.

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To fully understand elder abuse I feel it is necessary to look at the different types of elder abuse highlighted by Eastman. Firstly he looks at emotional abuse and as he says it is hard to define what is emotional abuse because, “shouting, displaying strong emotions, or the use of harsh language may all be examples of psychological abuse but may also be due to social or cultural factors or the way that particular family operates.” (Eastman 1984 pg 23.) This suggests that one family may operate in a particular way and maybe seen as ordinary to some people but others may see this normal way of operating as abuse. This is difficult to define as abuse because it is not seen that easily because of different peoples way of living or dealing with things.

Financial abuse is easier to detect and see than that of emotional response but people often do not realise that they are actually abusing their elderly relative and hey believe that they are actually trying to help them rather than abusing them. The most obvious type of financial abuse is that of stealing from the purse of an elderly relative so that you can spend the money on your self. There are of course other types of this abuse such as selling the house of the elderly dependent relative without them fully understand what is actually going on. This is abuse as the elderly person is being forced into something they don’t fully understand and in that case it maybe against their wishes. Another type of financial abuse highlighted by Eastman is that of collecting the elderly relatives pension money and then spending some of that money on one self without realising that they are in fact actually abusing that relative they are supposed to be looking after to ensure they are alright.

The most obvious type of elder abuse is that of physical abuse and is sometimes linked to that of child abuse, this is shown by an anonymous verse in Decalmer and Glendenning,
“When I was a laddie,
I lived with my granny,
And many a hiding me granny gi’ed me.
Now I am a man,
And I live with my granny,
And I do to my granny,
What she did to me.”
(Declamer and Glendenning 1997 pg 14)

This highlights the fact if you were abused as a child by a close relative it is suggested that if you look after that relative in later life you are more likely to abuse that person because they abused you and that is what you are used to.
There are different types of physical abuse according to Eastman these are a physical assault, the withholding of medication, the withholding of food, warmth or comfort as well as ejecting the elderly relative from the home. The question of why people actually physically abuse an elderly relative is actually hard to answer because physical abuse is ‘multi-faceted and hidden deep within the complexities of human relationships’ (Eastman 1984 pg 24.) According to Decalmer and Glendenning, there are to many definitions of what actually constitutes elder abuse and it is not until we all agree on this, that we can actually start to treat and cure this problem this is backed up by Johnson who says, “…until we can adopt a standard definition of elder abuse, casual theory cannot be explored.” (Johnson in Decalmer and Glendenning 1997 pg 16.) This shows that the full extent of what causes elder abuse is not fully understood because there are too many different types of definitions rather than one, which everyone can explore. If this is the case then can we really say that ‘carer stress’ as an explanation if the experts can’t agree on what actually is elder abuse and how it is caused?

To see whether or not ‘carer stress’ is adequate in the explanation of elder abuse we need to understand what carer stress is and how it causes that person to abuse the elderly relative who depends on them heavily. To understand this topic I feel we firstly need to look at what actually is an abuser; Eastman’s definition is that simply it means to ‘abuse or mistreat a person either physically or verbally.’ (Eastman 1984 pg 42) This is not the case though as he later argues that the dependent relative sometimes may provoke the care-giving relative into abusing them or maybe even mistreating or abusing the relative who is actually giving the care. Eastman argues that the carer is sometimes, more often than not a victim themselves because of the stresses that have been suddenly put upon them have caused them to be mistreated by the elderly relative. Eastman suggests that these carers are ordinary people thrust into difficult situations and some how they find themselves abusing their elderly relatives and they cannot explain why they are abusing the relative and often they don’t even realise that they are doing so, although they sometimes believe or suggest that it is down to stress and the elderly relative that is provoking them into the abusing relationship and this abuse is a way of coping with the stress of sometimes looking after the relative twenty four hours a day none stop because they have become so dependent.

We need to look closely at what causes the abuser to actually abuse and what factors lay within these. Eastman believes that normal factors which are often considered in cases, such as socio-economic status, ethnic background are not that important here as these are more to do with the carers own self esteem. The key factor to why these care givers actually abuse is believed to be linked with the fear of being trapped by this elderly relative. The carer believes that he or she will not be able to live a normal live if they have to look after this elderly relative, because it often means constant care twenty four hours around the clock for quite a long period of life. Many carers feel that if they do look after this elderly relative then they will be missing out on life and therefore abuse the relative as a way of making themselves feel better.

This is further highlighted by Eastman who has examined two studies into why cares often turn to abuse. These studies highlighted several key areas to why carers abuse these were stress, frustration, resentment and resignation. These four results Eastman believes show the true reason to why a carer turns to abuse. Firstly stress causes the carer to abuse because they can no longer cope with the relationship the are stuck in and the only way out they feel is to abuse. Secondly frustration causes the carer to abuse because the can’t cope with the sheer amount of work involved in looking after their relative. Thirdly resentment, this causes the carer to abuse because the resent having to look after the particular relative while they could be living their own lives at work or with their own partners. They believe that their own standard of life would be better if they had not had the relative to look after. Lastly we will look at resignation, this causes the carer to abuse the relative because they have become resigned to looking after this relative, the idea of ‘I’ve learned to live with it now’ and that the carer accepts the relationship and how it should be yet again it is the only so called escape that the carer can find by abusing the relative they are looking after.

Is the idea of ‘carer stress’ adequate in the explanation of elder abuse from what we have seen above it is in some way adequate in the explanation but there are other factors highlighted by Eastman such as resentment and frustration but these can all be linked back to stress so is this the underlying exception that stress truly causes a carer to abuse. Decalmer and Glendenning disagree and highlight several other theories in their on the mistreatment of elderly people.

Decalmer and Glendenning highlight three key theories in the explanation of elder abuse these are the Interactionist perspective, the Political economic perspective and the Humanity perspective. The Interactionist perspective argues that the abuse and neglect of an elderly relative is a consequence of the interaction within either a family or institution. They believe that the problem arises from ‘social and biological ageing, which might change role definitions within the social groups with which the older person is interacting.’ (Decalmer and Glendenning 1997 pg 111.) This shows that an Interactionist believes that the abuse is due to the way that the elderly person reacts to the people surrounding them and these reactions cause the carer to abuse the relative around them.

The Political economy perspective focuses on the impact of society on the lives of the older people within it. They believe that old age is socially as well as biologically constructed status and it puts carers and the elderly person within a framework of social and political resources and ideologies. This suggests that the elderly people are pushed aside by the society they live within and because society has rejected them it is only natural for the relative to finally reject them and eventually abuse them in some way.

The Humanity perspective identifies the ‘absence of meaning of lives for elderly people and doubt and uncertainty which seemed to infuse their daily routines and relationships.’(Decalmer and Glendenning 1997 pg 113.) The humanities believe that these problems are not addressed by society, which diminishes the relationship with older people more. They believe that it exemplifies the ambivalent feelings society has towards older people. They believe because society does not address these problems that the carer will not to and therefore when the elderly relative starts to nag the carer it provokes the carer to abuse the relative because it does not know how to solve the problems of the elderly relative, then it is not until the problems of old people are solved then eventually elder abuse can be solved.

In answering the question of adequacy of carer stress as an explanation I feel that as we have seen as Decalmer and Glendenning suggest that there are too many different definitions of elder abuse that one is not as adequate as the other I believe that one definition needs to be found before examining the issue of carer stress as without a proper definition who is to say what causes it. The issue of carer stress is difficult to answer because Eastman argues that it is part of the explanation of elder abuse as a broad subject and that there are other issues affecting why elder abuse is committed by the carer upon the elderly relative. Although he does suggest that this stress is a major underlying part of the explanation. So is it adequate I feel it is as most of the arguments lean towards that of carer stress but I feel that we need to look at other perspectives such as the Humanity or the Interactionist perspective to fully understand the issue of elder abuse and how it actually occurs and more importantly why the carer is driven to abuse it’s elderly relative.

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Essay on Terrorism

Terrorism, the cowardly demon, has haunted Americans as well as the world for years. This demon has had its toll at recognized sporting events. It has torn apart government buildings. It has punctured military vessels. But most of all, it has taken the lives of Americans, of loved ones, of humans. Unfortunately nothing too significant has happened to stop this siege of terror on earth. The events of September 11, 2001, have caused and shall cause these actions to be changed. Therefore, the United States of America, with the support of the world, should contrive a plan and seize the opportunity given by making this inhumane force extinct. In this plan, money should be spent, protection should increase, and terrorism should be wiped off the face of this earth.

Today, terrorism is usually considered acts of groups. It is not always the case. Terrorists do not have to work in groups or with partners. There have been many incidents where men and women work alone to get their horrible messages across. One example of a terrorist working alone is the awful event at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Spectators and athletes had gathered together to perform and to observe. It was supposed to be an enjoyable, awing experience for the crowd. This act was not a catastrophe, but it was still an act of terror. A pipe bomb thrown into a trashcan caused the explosion. Two people were killed while others were injured. Eric Robert Rudolph, one of the ten most wanted fugitives in the world, is the man behind this act. “A large manhunt with tracking dogs and helicopters failed to find Rudolph,” and now he has a $1,000,000 bounty on his head (“TERRORISM” 1). He is still yet to be found.

An act of terror that was caused be a group would be the two United States embassy bombings on August 7, 1998. One bombing was in Kenya while the other occurred in Tanzania, but they happened almost simultaneously. The man behind this terrorist activity is supposedly Osama Bin Laden, the head of the group. He now carries a five million dollar reward on his shoulders because he killed 224 people and injured 5,400 lives (“Two Arrested” 1). Another one of the infamous Bin Laden acts is the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. An explosive rubber raft manned with suicide bombers rammed this military destroyer creating a 20-by-40 foot opening in the side of the ship. Surprisingly with a hole so big, the 9,100-ton boat stayed afloat, but the collision took the lives of 17 sailors (“US Destroyer” 1). A few men who were suspected of having a connection to the suicide bombing have been put on trial.

One may ask, “Who is this Bin Laden character?” Osama bin Laden has been known as a terrorist for years. Allied, financed, and protected by the Al-Queda and the Taliban, Bin Laden has created mini-Osamas. These mini-Osamas are the men who go out and perform the terrorist plans that Bin Laden makes. These are the men who executed the attacks on America on September 11. These are the men who steered the raft into the USS Cole, the men who put the bombs in the embassy (“Who is Osama”). Years of bombing, destroying, and terrorizing Americans have gone by; yet, not much has been done to stop these acts of hate and terror.

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On September 11, the way people think about terrorism changed. That day brought horror, terror, and everything associated with the word of death. It also brought the end of terrorism. From the Olympics to the USS Cole, this was not the first time that the United States has been attacked. Additionally, during this attack, not only was America affected, but the world. President George W. Bush has said it so clearly in his address to congress, “This is not, however, just America's fight. And what is at stake is not just America's freedom. This is the world's fight. This is civilization's fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom” (Bush, “Address to Congress”). America does have the power to retaliate alone. America does have the force to overcome any odds against them. America can stand on its own two feet, but the President has asked for every nation to join him (Bush, “Address to Congress”). Countries have allied with the United States not only because America asked them to, not because they had citizens in the Twin Towers, but because the attack on September 11 has affected all people.

With the world united, it is time to take on the “faceless coward” (Bush, “Remarks About”). This war on terrorism will be expensive, but the cost is justified. Bush plans on spending 99 billion dollars, 38 billion more than previous years, to purchase weapons and military supplies (Dao A1). These weapons would be used to protect the American people. The American people should not resist tax raises as they are for this cause. Most would gladly accept and move on if they knew their money was going to do the right thing. All the money should not come from the pockets of American people. Allied countries should also lend money along with assistance. These funds should not only be spent on the war away from home but what is sacred to the people, the homeland. President Bush states, “My budget nearly doubles funding for a sustained strategy of homeland security, focused on four key areas…” These four areas are bio-terrorism, emergency response, airport and border security, and improved intelligence (Bush, “State of the Union”). Every single penny spent on these efforts to make America the safest place to live will be worth it.

For days after 9-11, the terrorists the citizens of America froze; they sat glued to their television screens watching events unfold. Americans watched TV for an average of 8.1 hours about the events that happened (Vedantam A24). Now, as time has passed, people have gone slowly back to their original lives. Families have been traveling, visiting their loved ones, and being thankful for what they have. Sporting seasons have been rejuvenated after that horrific day. The men and women of the United States of America cannot let these cowardly men get to them. The president has said, “I ask you to live your lives and hug your children… I ask you to be calm and resolute… I ask you to uphold the values of America… I ask your continued participation and confidence in the American economy” (Bush, “Address to Congress”). The American people must stand strong, show courage, and keep the economy booming. The president asked for these acts from the people to show that America is as strong as it is said to be. After the bombing at the 96 Olympics, the Director General of International Olympic Committee, Francois Carrard, said it the best, “The games will go on” (TERRORISM 1). The word ‘game’ should be interchanged with ‘country’ to have its full meaning. To halt before the men of disaster would show weakness, surrender, and defeat. Therefore, men, women, adults and children should all go back to their original lifestyles to show terrorist that any blow will not slow the ways that mankind lives. Not being weakened by terrorism will show unity and help strive for the goal of no terrorism.

After protecting the homeland and moving on with lives, the only thing left is to retaliate. Now is the time to attack. Now is the time to invade. Now is the time to retaliate with the world’s might. As of now, American soldiers are risking their lives for freedom; they are walking in deserts, through mountains, in caves, and all this for the love of their country. They are doing what is right and what is needed. Most people across the country, and the world, believe that attacking is the only way to resolve this situation. On the well-known humorous news website FARK.com, there was a news flash about the September 11th tragedy. Along with it there was a message board open to the public. One person, with username Fallen said, “Hopefully the retaliation is specific to the people who did this instead of large scale mobilization” (Curtis 5). That should not be the case. If the United States and its allies wiped out the Taliban, the ones held responsible for this action, it would take out only one set of terrorists. There are men who work alone besides the Taliban. What is needed is exactly what the President of the United States declared, “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them” (Bush, “Address to Nation”). All names and organizations, such as the al-Queda associated with the word terrorism should be vanquished. In a section of a newspaper, it said, “ the war against terrorism must therefore be waged by going after the sanctuaries that allow terrorist to operate” (“Sticking With the Fight” A18).

Terrorists have been getting away with horrible acts of indecency, yet the world has not put forth much effort to stop these people. People do not realize the role of society when it comes to preventing these terrorists until it becomes personal, until the death toll is well above a couple thousand. Unfortunately, if that is what it takes to bring this situation into perspective, so be it. At least now, this is the beginning of the end of terrorism. This effort should not be cut short for any reason, for any financial issue, for any drought of men. The world has united with America to raze all means of terrorism. Too many people, too many lives, and too many souls have seen acts of terror. Sadly, it is only after something extravagant happens to a solid country that men realize what is to be done. Four things should be done. America should use monetary budgets to keep in sync with this condition. America should look after its own soil and grounds for defensive purposes. America should move on. Along with the world, America should retaliate at full force to any and all forms of terrorism. One thought of terrorism in one mind is one thought too many.

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Gregor Mendel Essay

Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk that began the scientific study of heredity more than a century ago. Today, he is known as “The Father of Genetics.” He can be found on the pages of almost every biology book. Therefore, most students enrolled in the public schools of the United States study him. He is largely responsible for laying the scientific groundwork for the fields of genetics. Genetics is the branch of biology that deals with the principles of heredity and variation in related organisms. Heredity is the transmission of genetic traits from parent to offspring.

Gregor Mendel was born in Heinzendorf, Austria on July 22, 1822. He was the first person to ever trace the characteristics of successive generations of a living thing, was not a well known researcher or scientist of his day. He taught natural science to high school students. He was the second child to his parents, Anton and Rosine Mendel. They were farmers in Brunn, Moravia. This is how Mendel got his brilliant idea to experiment using a plant-pea plants. When Mendel was in his youth, he excelled in school. This helped gain his family’s support in his desire to achieve higher education. However, his family’s resources were limited in that day and time. In 1850, Mendel took the examination for certification to be a teacher, but he failed. It is weird to think that some of his lowest scores were in biology. So Mendel was forced to enter an Augustinian monastery to continue his education and start his teaching career. Often times while trying to get through school in order to reach his level of intelligence, his whole family was forced to make sacrifices.

Mendel’s sacrifice was that he had to go on “half rations,” which meant that he ate only half of the normal amount of food. Through everything, he was still able to become one of the top students at the school. He studied physics, chemistry, mathematics, zoology, and botany from 1851 to 1853. However, he still never passed the teacher certification test. The turning point in Mendel’s life was when he chose to change his first name from Johann to Gregor.

Mendel’s first presentation was on his eight years of experimentation with artificial plant hybridization. During these studies he became a member of the Zoologist-botanisher Vernin in Vienna. His first two communications were published in 1853 and 1854. Both articles contained information about plant damage to plants by insects.

“How do plants inherit different traits?” This question lead to Mendel’s experiments and discoveries. Between 1856 to 1863, Mendel cultivated and tested almost 28,000 plants. His attraction to research reflected his love for nature. He was greatly interested in meteorology and many theories of evolution. He often wondered how plants obtained atypical characteristics. On a walk, he found an ornamental plant. He then took that plant and re-planted it next to the typical variety. He grew them side- by side just to see if there would be any approximation of the traits that would be passed on through the genes from generation to generation. He designed this experiments to support and/or illustrate Lamarck’s views that concerned the influence of the environment to plants. The experiment resulted in his finding that the plants’ respective offspring retained the essential traits of the parents and therefore were not influenced by the environment. Along came the birth of heredity because of this simple, but outstanding, test.

His personality was also reflected by his research. Later, he repeated the experiments of a British farmer, whose name was T.A. Knight. Knight had crossed garden peas. He crossed (mated) ones that had purple flowers with some that had white flowers. All of these offspring in this experiment had purple flowers. But, when two of the purple-flowered offspring were crossed their offspring produced both purple and white flowers. This brought the conclusion that the white flower had reappeared in the second generation of flowering pea plants. There was some difference between Knight’s experiment and the similar one that Mendel performed. The difference was that Mendel counted the number of each kind of offspring and analyzed the data that he recorded throughout the experiment. Different approaches such as those that contained measuring and counting become very popular in Europe during this time period. Therefore, Mendel was on the cutting edge of research at this time with this particular experiment.

There were many reasons that Mendel chose a good specimen to do his experiment with. (1) The garden pea has many traits that have two clearly different forms and are easy to tell apart. (Ex. Purple and White flowers-purple and white are two totally different colors). (2) The crossing of garden peas can be easily controlled because the male and female reproductive parts are enclosed in the same flower. You can either allow the flower to fertilize itself or you can transfer the pollen to a different flower on a totally different plant. Mendel must have been very much aware of this. He crossed two pea plants by removing the stamens from the flower of one plant, then dusting the pistil of that plant with pollen from a different pea plant. This is how he controlled the mating of his garden-peas. (3) Garden-peas are small; they grow easily, mature quickly, and produce many, many, many offspring. This is a great experiment criterion because the results can be obtained quickly and there are plenty of subjects to count.

The peas that Mendel used had two basic shapes: round and wrinkled. It is found in some of his notes that the round seeds had egg cell type “A” and pollen type “A” and the wrinkled seed has an egg cell type “a.” Round seeds were the dominant trait. He did the garden-pea experiment, “for the fun of the thing.”

His conclusion and explanation was that hybrid germinal and pollen cells that are in their composition corresponded in equal number to all constant forms. This resulted from the combinations of traits united through fertilization. Mendel’s rediscovery of his works brought a close to an era of speculation on heredity.

Genetics have developed specific terms and ways of representing an individual’s genetic makeup. (Ex. Letters are frequently used to represent alleles). The first letter of the trait as a capital letter represents the dominant trait. The second letter and lowercase letters, on the other hand, represent the recessive trait. A homozygous gene is when two of the same alleles are present in a gene. However, when two alleles of a gene are different, it is called heterozygous. The law of segregation says that the two alleles for a trait separate when gametes are formed. The law of independent assortment says that the alleles of different genes separate independently of one another during gamete formation. Also, phenotype are the traits of an organism that you can observe (tell by just looking at them) but, the genetic traits in the alleles that a person has that you cannot tell by looking at an organism is called genotype. All of these things have to do with the discoveries the Mendel made and genetics. Without knowledge of these terms, one could not fully understand the whole picture in the study of heredity or genetics.

The impact of genetic theory is no longer questionable in people’s minds. Because of Mendel, his love for science, and his many great experiments, there are many diseases that are now known to be inherited. Pedigrees are typically traced to determine the probability of passing along a hereditary disease. Plants are also now designed in labs to exhibit desired characteristics. The practical results of Mendel’s research not only changed the way that people perceive the world, but also the way that people live in it.

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