Pulmonary Effects Of Smoking Marijuana Dissertation

Pulmonary Effects Of Smoking Marijuana - Dissertation Example Research shows that many users of marijuana often inhale it as extremely hot fumes, usually to peak inspiration, and held as long as possible before being exhaled slowly. According to a study by Forrester et al (2012), this form of smoking has a greater impact on the pulmonary system because it predisposes the lung parenchyma to a greater damage than the smoking of standard tobacco cigarettes. Research concerning the impacts of smoking marijuana has been done in the past and confirmed that the risk of regular smoking of marijuana is similar to those of regular tobacco smoking (Onaivi, 2006). There are many studies on the effects of tobacco on the respiratory system as well as certain diseases have been profiled and linked to tobacco. However, few studies have focused on the effect of marijuana on the pulmonary function. Hii et al (2008) investigated the effects of smoking marijuana upon pulmonary emphysema using a series of 10 patients consisting of ages between 32 and 50, two female and eight male. The participants were those who were presented over a period of 12 months in a respiratory unit showing new respiratory symptoms and those who admitted being regular consumers of marijuana. The participants also exhibited the following symptoms on presentation including dyspnoea, pneumothorax and any kind of chest infection. In this study, high-resolution CT shows variable sized, asymmetrical emphysematous bullae in the mid and upper zones. However, CT revealed normal CXR in four patients and normal functioning of the lung was normal in five patients. This study shows that marijuana smoking predisposes individual smokers to asymmetrical bullous disease mostly in normal CXR setting and function of the lung. The study also revealed that these pathological changes take place at a younger age up to 2o years earlier compared to tobacco smokers (Hii et al, 2008).

Competitors and Strategic Performance Management Essay

Competitors and Strategic Performance Management - Essay Example Competitors and Strategic Performance Management is one of the crucial strategies for the success of organizations operating in competitive environments. McDonald has built a competitive edge through robust Strategic Performance Management that aligns the performance of its employees to the corporation’s strategic objectives and organization’s vision. McDonald is without any doubt making significant strides in innovation, business expansion, and cost reduction to outmatch its competitors and increase its market share. Proactive approach in managing its business threats keeps McDonald remain valued in the market. In addition, the corporation understands that, there is a need to keep continuing monitoring its business external environment (competitors) to ensure that it formulates the most relevant strategies to promote and cope with stiff competition (Love, 1999). In order to understand its business environment, McDonald analyses its business competitors as those that co mpete with its â€Å"customers spending power.† Some of the identified competitors are; brand competitors, industry competitors and form competitors. The industry competitors are regarded as the most critical ones since they offer almost similar products and services. The corporation further analyses competitors’ characteristics as serving the same customers, having superior or same technologies in products preparation, similar distribution channels, and same target market. McDonald further recognizes the need to examine their competitors existing strategies and objectives. The corporation analyses competitors’ strengths and weaknesses in regard to its business (McDonald, 1996). By undertaking competitors’ analysis, McDonald understands that it will be able to do business forecasts on the competitors’ plans and strategies. Based on the Cohesion Case analysis of MCD, its three major strengths include; large/strong customer base covering approximately 118 countries. For example in Europe, there is an increase in the number of restaurants from 6,650 to 6,485 which reflects a considerable increase in customer base.  

Keynesian Economic Policies before and after 1970 Coursework

Keynesian Economic Policies before and after 1970 - Coursework Example Friedman suggested that governments have a central bank monetary policy whose main aim would be to sustain the equilibrium of demand and supply of money in the economy. As opposed to the Keynesian economics which mainly focused on value stability of a country’s currency and the panic resulting from insufficient supply of money that led to alternate currency and collapse, Friedman and his monetary policy focused on stability of prices as a result of the equilibrium between money supply and the demand of money (Lipsey and Chrystal, 2007). The Keynesian economic principles dominated the macroeconomic world in the 19th century in to the early 20th century, in a period characterized by the rise of capitalism. This period is referred to as the Golden Age of capitalism. The golden age of capitalism, led by The US and other Western economic powers especially after the World War II, (from 1945 to mid 1970s) saw the rise of capitalist nations in to major economic regions of the world. K eynesian Economic Policies A prevailing economic principle in the 1930s and during the Great economic depression was that the economy would recover by itself without any interventions from the government. A British Economist, Keynesian, then suggested that governments should increase their spending and cut taxes so as to revive their economies during the depression (Eatwell and Millgate, 2011). Without government intervention, he argued that the economy would be greatly affected by high unemployment rates and would never recover. In his opinion, increasing government spending during an economic downturn would help to boost demand, as well as setting off the chain of the chain of demand by suppliers and workers whose incomes would have been affected by the increased expenditure by the government. Reducing the tax burden would also enable people to have more disposable income, which would help to boost demand in the economy. He also contended that the most appropriate fiscal policy in periods of high unemployment is to run a deficit budget (Eatwell and Millgate, 2011). Keynesian’s ideas were largely ignored by both the British and the US Governments at the time, until after the World War II (Eatwell and Millgate, 2011). After the war, Keynesians principles of a fiscal policy, government involvement in spending and cutting taxes with the aim of maintaining employment rates became the center of attraction in macroeconomics, both in the debate of national economic policies as well as in research. In the US, the Employment Act (1946) helped the government to start using Keynesian’s economic principles to regulate its economy and improve the employment rate. Application of Keynesian principles saw governments regain economic stability throughout the 1950s and 1960s as they recovered from the economic depression. The Keynesian economic theory was based on the principle of a circular flow of money in the economy (Eatwell and Millgate, 2011). This implies that when one person spends money, kit results in another person earning money. This would then raises the demand of the later, leading him to also spend the money and through buying of goods and services, leading to another person earning the money and so forth. According to Keynes, it is this circular flow of money that enables economies to function well. According to the Keynesian Theory, the aggregate demand created by

Modelling of optical parameters for optimum collection of concentrated Dissertation

Modelling of optical parameters for optimum collection of concentrated solar radiation for photovoltaic devices - Dissertation Example Much has been utilized from our important ecosystems such as the forests, fisheries, wetland, fresh water resources, and that we have to move fast and change our course of actions to save the environment and the planet as a whole. The world’s program of action has not improved these past decades because we still depend on fossil fuel; specifically eighty per cent of energy comes from fossil fuels. The threat posed by climate change and global warming is pushing mother Earth to its near end. Industrialisation, consumerism in America and globalisation, among other drivers of change, have pushed and motivated scientists to find ways to address environmental problems which have continued to plague humanity. Constructions of buildings, new inventions and new technologies, have become a race for supremacy among big international organisations. Environmental problems of the world today have been worsened by technology. But we can use technology to save the environment. Fossil fuels a nd coal can be depleted. There will come a time that we’ll lack resources for these forms of energy source. In other words, there must be a way to produce a substitute for fossil fuels and coal, something that is not harmful to the ozone layers and the environment as a whole. Solar energy and other forms of environmentally friendly energy using the wind, the tidal waves, hydro, and other similar forms, must be tapped. The DESERTEC website says that a few hours the earth receives power from the sun is equivalent to a year it can use for its requirements to run factories, industries, businesses, homes, and offices. The deserts of Africa and Arabia can absorb much heat from the sun using mirrors to heat water to produce steam and convert this into energy. With this technology, solar energy is convertible into High Voltage DC current; the technology uses AC current converted into Direct Current using gargantuan transformers and components that store electric currents like capacit ors. (Desertec Foundation, 2009) This paper aims to provide studies and research on solar radiation and how to ‘catch’ the rays of the sun to provide electricity. With this, we focus on what seems to be an emerging, but is quite becoming popular, technology – photovoltaic concentrator

Political Economy of Oil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Political Economy of Oil - Essay Example The crises that started with the oil crisis in 1970s extended to Gulf War in the 90s. There are different terrorist threats today that affect oil resources such as oil refineries in Saudi Arabia. The deteriorating law and order situation in Iraq also resulted in fear of disruption of oil supply. There are threats of war with Iran that bring greater fears of volatility in the oil-producing region. These & other such factors have kept oil prices very high and they affect current market scenario. The hope for stability in oil prices is dependent on both political & economic stability. Transportation, heating, power generation, the plastics, pharmaceuticals and synthetic fibre industries are the main ways in which oil is consumed. Demand for oil is greater in the developed nations compared to the developing economies. United States of America solely generates a quarter of world oil demand. Asia comes next with Japan having the highest consumption of oil. In Europe no one country can be considered highest oil consuming country instead the demand is evenly generated by all European nations, The demand for oil diminished considerably in Soviet Union after its collapse.US demand for energy is greater and its dependence on oil producing countries is also increasing. The oil supply is mainly provided by large companies operating in countries with large reserves of oil. Countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Norway and Kuwait are some of the oil rich countries and are main suppliers of oil to the world. Since supply side of equation plays a crucial role in stabilty of oil markets, the countries producing oil have been trying to stabilize the price of crude oil through production policy. However, the interest of world economy does not lie in bringing stability by production manipulation. Since oil is a resource that depletes with time so its value increases with time as well. A country cannot let go of its future worth or value by increasing its production at the current market price. It is not in the economic interests of such oil producing countries to pursue a production policy incompatible with their own economic interests. Countries like Saudi Arabia have been contributing to the world economy in general and other Western and developed economies like Japan in particular by supplying more oil than it should. For instance Saudi Arabia, of the largest oil producers, increased its production of oil after the oil crises of 1979, resulting in a downward crude-oil price trend in world markets. This manipulation by any country or cartel cannot reap economic benefits in the long run. The market factors should be allowed to play their due role instead of manipulation. There is an increasing trend in demand for crude oil because consumption is greater than the supply. Market economy is the best way to allocate resources. The concept of oil peak suggests that once we reach the stage of peak the economy will be greatly affected. Similarly experts say that world oil reserves will also reach its peak in not so distant future resulting in price hikes and economic recession along with geopolitical repercussions. Oil Situation in USA If we consider the oil peak theory according to which there will be a sharp decline in supply because demand is constantly increasing whereas the speed of finding or exploring new oil sources is not matching that then we come to know that the oil

Business Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Communication - Essay Example An in-depth study of women in management settings, conducted by Korac-Kakabadse and Kouzmin revealed several insights into how communication is often a key factor in women not achieving the same level of power as men in the workplace. It explored the differences in their manner of communication and the way that these differences lead them to have less power. He pointed out, for example, that even the terminologies used in a workplace used to be male-oriented. (Korac-Kakabadse and Kouzmin, 1997, pp. 190-193) As researchers have observed, several positions in an organization would have titles such as â€Å"chairman† or â€Å"salesman†, making them seem like jobs that are designed for males only. Furthermore, women occupied some positions so often that these job titles were associated only with women. Some of the most well known examples of this are â€Å"secretary† and â€Å"manager’s assistant. The reason why this point is essential to this critique is tha t these job titles, both the ones associated with males and the ones associated with females, were altered around the same time that the role of women in the workplace started gaining more power. Women, whom these stereotypes had suppressed for a long time, stood up and fought for change, and achieved it. They had the male associated positions changed to â€Å"chairperson† and â€Å"salesperson†.... In addition, the women-associated job titles now stand replaced by more male-oriented titles such as â€Å"office manager† or â€Å"assistant manager† (Pringle, 1992, pp. 127-60). Even generic terms like â€Å"mankind† now stand replaced with less sexist words like â€Å"humankind†. This is an indicator of how women who seek power started by altering the communication strategies in the world around them, in both the workplace and otherwise. Thus, this supports the theory that communication strategies have a large bearing on the power that women possess in the workplace. Another important area in communication that affects the power that women have in the workplace is nonverbal communication. As researchers have found, even the difference in tones that women and men use often affects their power disparity in the workplace, regardless of the content of their speech. Due to the different roles men and women adopt in their lives, they often develop tones of sp eech accordingly. A man will more likely have a strong and confident voice whereas a woman will have a soothing and comforting tone (Willis, 1990, pp. 40-72). This difference makes it appear that the man is more capable of taking charge in the workplace, whereas the woman is more suited for a less power-oriented career. It would also explain why men are more likely to be trusted with managing and leading large workforces, while women are employed to work for them. This again supports the view that women need to alter their communication strategies if they wish to have more power in the workplace, even if it is their non-verbal communication. A few more studies have observed the communication strategies used by men and women, and have found some startling differences when

Answer for exam question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Answer for exam question - Essay Example African culture characteristics Edoho (2001) asserts that the African culture is almost opposite to that of America. In his comparison between the two cultures, Edoho found that the Africa culture exhibits the following characteristics; High power distance, Collectivism, Moderately feminine and Moderate to low uncertainty avoidance. According to Edoho, America has an individualism culture, low power distance, masculine and low uncertainty avoidance. Individualism refers to a cultural state of affairs where individuals’ ties between individuals are loose. Although the extent of collectivism varies within countries, Africa countries are generally collectivist in nature. With regards to masculinity v femininity, African countries are moderately feminine. Uncertainty avoidance is the degree to which members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain circumstances. African culture is generally low on uncertainty avoidance. African culture is characterized by high power distance. The high power distance also gives rise to high social inequality, where subordinates highly depend on managers (French, 2010). A person’s standing in the society depends on the age and social status. In addition, hierarchies, formality and titles are highly regarded in African culture. Africans place value on personal connections, trust, friendship and personal relationships. In addition to valuing relationships, Africans value groups such as clans and ethnic group rather than an individual. This results in the prominence of working for the benefit of the whole instead of an individual. Tradition and honor are highly regarded and the culture endeavors to safeguard the loss of honor. In terms of male domination, African societies are male dominated, although most Africans tend to be modest. While dealing with uncertainty, the African culture stresses on harmony rather than conflict. Africans resort to harmony as they do not feel threatened by unknown circumstances. Africans have a more flexible and relaxed attitude towards time. This flexibility of time in the African culture is unofficially referred to as the â€Å"African time†. Finally, the African culture is characterized by high content where decisions depend on the external environment, circumstances and non-verbal signs. Conclusion In conclusion, the African nature exhibits most of the attributes put forward by Hofstede. Among the most prominent features in the African culture are high power distance, low uncertainty avoidance, collectivism and moderate femininity. High distance in African countries considers inequality as essential and that everyone has a place. Organizational values in African countries hold that most people should be dependent on the leader. People holding social positions are perceived as privileged and people work towards protecting their titles and prestige. As such, only related relationships are accepted in organization as subordinates consider themselves as different from their bosses. Q 1 B: how understanding cultural theories can help international managers to decide on the most suitable management style. Introduction The management of human resources is collective with regard to policies, processes and strategies. Managing and developing human resources in an international setting is increasingly acknowledged as a central challenge, especially for