Effect of Blast Loading On a Person Protected By Body Armour

Effect of Blast Loading On a Person Protected By Body Armour Executive Summary The ballistic threat has been presented to military forces for hundreds of years in one form or another, from spears to bomb fragmentation. A lot of work has gone into countering this ballistic threat and the protection currently provided is very good. The standards of body armour ballistic testing is rigorous. Due to the modern asymmetric battlefield that modern military personnel now face, the threat has evolved. More often, the personnel are being subjected to blast from improvised explosive devices emplaced by irregular forces. This paper will review the some of the research that has been carried out into the effects of blast loading on a person protected by body armour. British Army studies show there was a higher incidence of primary blast injury in fatally injured soldiers wearing body armour that in civilian bystanders (Committee on Testing of Body Armor Materials for Use by the U.S. Army 2012) involved in IED incidents in Northern Ireland. This paper will explore the effects of blast loading on a person wearing body armour. Introduction. Soft body armour is designed primarily to protect the wearer from the most dangerous battlefield threat, projectiles, and fragmentation, with the 3 main testing standards for body armour (NIJ (U.S. Department of Justice 2008), HOSDB (Croft Longhurst 2007) and STANAG 2911 (North Atlantic Treaty Organization 2015)) only specifying testing criteria for ballistic protection. Due to the increasing use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in modern asymmetric warfare, there is a growing risk of personnel being subjected to blast associated injuries (Tranchemontagne 2016). This paper will review the effects of blast loading on a person protected by body armour; this will be broken down into: Theory of blast impact, Research into blast loading on different materials. Theory of blast impact. Blast waves are generated from the rapid expansion of gases produced during an explosion during which a shock wave, travelling faster than the speed of sound, propagates from the source of the explosion omni-directionally. One of the most important characteristics of a blast to consider is peak overpressure, which is, in effect, the strength of the blast. A further and equally important characteristic is the positive impulse duration, which determines the time that the force will be imparted on any object or structure. Both the peak overpressure and the positive impulse duration need to be known to effectively calculate the effects of a blast on an object. If you have two blasts of equal peak overpressure but one is acting for longer, the total force imparted on the object will be greater for the longer impulse and will affect the object more. Figure 1 shows an ideal blast wave representation. The pressure increases almost instantaneously to the peak overpressure and decays over time , a negative pressure phase then follows. Fig 1. Ideal blast wave resulting from an explosion in air. (Goel et al. 2012) The effect a blast wave has on a person is complicated due to how the blast wave interacts with the irregular shape of the human body. Blast wave diffraction around the human body results in a complex pressure load on the body all of which need to be understood to successfully gauge how a wave will affect a person. Figure 2 shows how a blast wave interacts with an irregularly shaped object, such as a human body. Fig 2. Illustrating the blast wave interaction with an irregularly shaped object. (Gibson 1989) Initially, a portion of the blast wave is reflected from the front of the body. The outer parts of the shock wave continue and diffracts around to the rear of the body where they are weakened. Rarefaction waves move across the front of the body (1), reducing the peak pressure of the reflected wave whilst vortices form at the rear of the body (2) and (3). The complicated gas flow means that the body is loaded for an extended time (Gibson 1989). The injuries caused by this peak initial pressure/positive impulse duration are known as primary blast injuries (PBI). The organs most susceptible to PBI are the gas-filled organs such as the ears, the lungs, and the gastrointestinal tract. The mechanism of injury on these organs is a form of barotrauma, which is an injury, caused by the pressure differential of the internal organs and the outer surface of the body at the moment the pressure wave impacts. Blast waves can be sub-divided into stress waves and shear waves. Shock waves are a special type of stress wave, which are longitudinal like sound waves but travel much faster, and cause primary blast injury (PBI) of the lung and small bowel. Shear waves are trans- verse waves, characterised by long duration, low velocity, and cause compression of visceral structures. In the abdomen, stress waves cause damage at the microscopic level, whereas the shear wave causes tearing of the tissues due to gross body wall and visceral motion. Laceration of solid abdominal viscera is related to very high blast loading (Housden 2012). Research into the effects of blast loading on a person protected by body armour. An interim report produced by the US Army Natick RDE Centre in 1989, titled Response of Clothing Materials to Air Shock Waves (Gibson 1989) provided remarkable insight into blast loading of high impact shock waves. The report focuses on testing the then, in-service body armour of the US Army (The Personnel Armor Systems, Ground Troops (PASGT)). The report covered four areas: Blast wave characteristics, Blast biology, Blast protection, Blast attenuation by porous and compressible materials. The main objective of the report was to ascertain how blast waves interacted with PASGT and it stated there was previous evidence that the materials contained within the body armour were causing a blast amplification effect. Initial thoughts were that this amplification might have been due to how the blast wave propagated through the multi-layered design of the armour. The report described the construction of the body armour (13 layers of Kevlar ® 29 cloth sandwiched between an inner and outer nylon shell fabric). The report explains that the armour was designed purely to provide ballistic protection and no thought had gone into providing protection against blast effects. The reports main focus was the lack of protection afforded to the wearer of the body armour from enhanced blast weapons such as Fuel-Air Explosives (FAE). A person can sustain injuries from a blast with overpressures that result in ranges as little as 10 20 psi whereas a typical FAE event can produce much more substantial psi, as high as 300. In this circumstance, the lack of protection armour would provide to the wearer was highly concerning. Prior to this report, a lot of basic work on the response of mammals to blast waves had been conducted by The Lovelace Foundation, The Research Institute of National Defence (Sweden), and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. This work identified how various characteristics of the blast can vary the effect of the blast on a body, such as the orientation of the body in relation to the blast wave. In one study conducted by Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, human volunteers were subjected to low level blast waves. The volunteers internal lung pressure was measured during the study whilst wearing several different types of protective clothing. The study showed that the volunteers wearing the PASGT body armour gave test measurements showing the greatest increase of internal lung pressure. This would suggest that the body armour would increase the risk of lung damage at higher blast overpressures. This study was extended to higher blast overpressures using sheep instead of human volunteers. Half of the sheep were fitted with PASGT body armour. During this testing, the level of damage to the sheeps lungs was measured by the percent increase of the lung weight. An assumption was made that this would directly relate to the blast damage. This extended study showed that the sheep wearing body armour displayed far greater blast damage to their lungs than the unprotected sheep. Analysis of the experimental data on how shock waves were transmitted through layers of material showed that there was a significant increase in the reflected pressure when compared to testing were no fabric was present. There was a trend of the pressure increasing in line with the number of layers of Kevlar or cotton present. This continued to a certain point. It was noted during these experiments that there was not significant difference between the increases of pressure when using layers of cotton compared to layers of Kevlar. This suggested that the type of material was not as significant as the number of layers and the density of the fabric. Analysis of the computer modelling showed an increase in peak internal lung pressure of around 50% between the unprotected chest model and the model wearing the body armour. A point to note, the experimental data compiled shows a measured increase of 20% in the human volunteers wearing the body armour compared to the unprotected volunteers. This disparity could be due to the difficulty in modelling the complex reaction of blast waves influencing a human body. The report concluded that soft body armour does not offer wearers protection from blast effects. On the contrary, the wearing of soft body armour may actually increase the blast effects on the personnel wearing the armour. The report does indicate that this counter -intuitive phenomena might be reduced with the introduction of hard armour plates to the body armour. A more recent confirmation of these findings were detailed in a journal article titled, Shock Enhancement Effect of Lightweight Composite Structures and Materials (Zhu et al. 2011). This review looks at the broader range of lightweight materials that are used to provide protection (namely ballistic). The author concludes that the research into the effects of lightweight materials is still very limited but the evidence still points to shock enhancement when using multi layered soft armour as PPE. A further study into shock attenuation was made following clinical studies into the increasing reporting of brain injury and not pulmonary injury following blast exposures. The article titled, Attenuation of Blast Pressure Behind Ballistic Protective Vests (Wood, 2012). This article concludes that following shock tube testing on two variants of body armour (NIJ Level 2 soft armour and NIJ Level 4 hard armour); results show a substantial increase in protection to the torso against blast injuries whilst wearing these armours. The behind armour overpressures were reduced by a factor of 14.2 and 56.8 for the NIJ 2 and NIJ 4 body armour, respectively. Conclusion This paper presents a review of the effects of blast loading on a person protected by body armour. A vast majority of the experimental data shows that the wearing of soft body armour enhances shock waves and the person is subjected to much higher peak overpressures. The combinations of differences in impedance between the atmosphere, the layers of fabric, the body itself, and the gas filed organs is likely to cause this phenomenon. Figure 3 shows the effect of interfaces in relation to shock waves. Using the shock impedance equation, you can show what is likely to be causing the enhancement of the blast. Stress is conserved across the interface between the air, the body armour, and the person: Z1 = 0 (Air) à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã‚ ´ à Ã†â€™2 = 2 x à Ã†â€™1 Assuming that the torso was of a similar impedance to the body armour, the next interface would be the gas-filled organs, which again would be of a lower impedance. This would result in the release of a tensile wave within the chest cavity, which could cause spalling of tissue with an increase of up to a factor of 2. Fig 3. Illustration of the effect of interfaces (Appleby-thomas 2017). Although there are many reviews on this subject, most of them seem to be focused on historical work. Teland (2012) noted that most of the blast injury prediction models are based on the Bowen curves, the Bass curves, and Axelsson BTD model. The report mentioned that there were many disadvantages and limitations to using these models and there is a need for further experimentation produce more reliable data. This may be due to the Computational models of how blast waves interact with the body armour and the wearer can be used but the theoretical models are limited. Using extrapolated data from experiments involving humans has limited uses because of the restriction on the size of blast you can subject a volunteer to without them becoming injured. The use of animals is of limited use due to the form fit of the body armour and the different anatomical makeup of the animals. Throughout the reports, reviews and articles studied during the writing of this paper, it is clear that a need for further study has been identified. Whether these recommendations have been carried out or not is not clear, there are no open source reports providing evidence; it may be that the information is classified. References Committee on Testing of Body Armor Materials for Use by the U.S. Army, 2012. Testing of Body Armor Materials: Phase III U.S. Department of Justice, 2008. Ballistic Resistance of Body Armor. NIJ Standard-0101.06. Croft, J. Longhurst, D., 2007. HOSDB Body Armour Standards for UK Police (2007) Part 2: Ballistic Resistance. NATO Standardization Agency, 2003. STANAG 2920 PPS (Edition 2) Ballistic test method for personal armour materials and combat clothing. , pp.1-F2. Tranchemontagne, M., 2016. The Enduring IED Problem. Why we need doctrine. Goel, M.D. et al., 2012. An abridged review of blast wave parameters. Defence Science Journal, 62(5), pp.300-306. Gibson, P.W., 1989. Response of Clothing Materials to Air Shock Waves. Housden, S., 2012. Blast injury: A case study. International Emergency Nursing, 20(3), pp.173-178. Zhu, F., Chou, C.C. Yang, K.H., 2011. Shock enhancement effect of lightweight composite structures and materials. Composites Part B: Engineering, 42(5), pp.1202-1211. Wood, G. W. (2012). Attenuation of blast pressure behind ballistic protective vests. Injury Prevention 19(1):19-25. Injury Prevention, 19(1): 19-25. Appleby-thomas, G.J., 2017. Introduction To Shockwaves Part 3 MSc EOE Transition To Detonation. , pp.1-45. Teland, J.A., 2012. Review of blast injury prediction models. Kashuk, J.L. et al., 2009. Bomb Explosions in Acts of Terrorism: Evil Creativity Challenges Our Trauma Systems. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 209(1), pp.134-140.

Literacy essay Essay

The curriculum for excellence is organised into eight subject areas: Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Languages, Mathematics, Religious and Moral Education, Sciences, Social Studies, and Technologies. The Scottish primary curriculum recognises the importance of each of these subjects . However, literacy is seen as fundamental as it â€Å"unlocks access to the wider curriculum† ( Curriculum for excellence: Literacy across learning principles and practice). Literacy is organised into three strands: reading , writing and talking and listening. From my school placement experience, and personal reading I will discuss how grounding in each of these literacy strands can help facilitate children in their knowledge acquisition, and understanding of other curriculum areas. The curriculum for excellence defines literacy as a â€Å"set of skills which allows an individual to engage fully in society and in learning through the different forms of language, and the range of texts which society values and finds useful† Within the curriculum literacy is organised into three strands: reading, writing and talking and listening. Reading is a skill which can greatly help children in all curriculum areas. However, it is essential that children foster a positive attitude towards reading from the early stages, in order for this to occur. â€Å"For the youngest children, well before the age of five, sharing and enjoying favourite books regularly with trusted adults, be they parents, carers, practitioners or teachers, is at the heart of this activity. †(Rose, 2006). While on placement in a nursery school I witnessed how an interest in reading can be promoted which was having a library for the children to go to. â€Å" â€Å"library equips students with lifelong learning skills and develops their imagination, thereby enabling them to live as responsible citizens†. (Premars and Willars, 2002) Before home time the teacher would select a book to read to the children in the library, and would involve the children by asking a question like â€Å"what do you think will happen next? † â€Å"The very hungry caterpillar† was one book the teacher read to the children, which helped the children with their knowledge of the subject Health and Well-being, as from it the children learned about the importance of eating healthily in order to grow big and strong. The children also developed their Numeracy skills from the reading, when they counted the number of fruits the caterpillar eat each day. I could see that the children were all developing an interest in reading which encouraged them to go to the reading area by themselves a pick a book to look at. This was also helping them to establish an interest in other curriculum areas. One girl pick up a book on shapes, and she was pointing at a triangle, and she asked me â€Å"what is that? † with great curiosity. Another boy asked me to read a book about earthquakes to him, and as I was reading the book to the boy more children came over when they heard the excitement in my voice. After the reading. I asked the students to stand up and shake as though there was an earthquake, in order to encourage physical activity among the children. As children progress through the primary curriculum collaboration between teachers and Parents is vital for children‘s reading skills. â€Å"Children whose parents said they heard them read at home had markedly higher reading attainments at age 7 and 8 than children who did not receive this kind of help from their parents. †. While on placement with Primary 4 the teacher assigned the book Fantastic Mr Fox for the children to read at home. The children would then go over their assigned reading with the teacher each day. I remember one student in particular who struggled with her reading so the teacher used the strategy of two stars and a wish to ensure that her enthusiasm for reading remained high, while also tasking her with something to work on. â€Å"Look for positive things to say about a student’s work, even when pointing out problems or mistakes with the work. Some might receive praise for bigger accomplishments than others, but even the lower performers need a regular pat on the back. † (Adams, 2000) This is essential so that no student is left with a negative association towards reading. After the story the teacher assigned the students with a number of tasks which linked to a number of curriculum areas. The children had to work in groups of four to design a healthy for Mr. Boggis, which helped with their understanding of the subject health and well-being.. The children also improved their numeracy skills from the reading Another by having to plan a feast for a number of people, and given the cost of a variety of food the children had to work out how much of each food they would need and then how much it would cost. Furthermore, while on placement with a primary 4 class, the children were encouraged to read up on any topic that they were confused about. I witnessed this occurring dozens of times during my time at the school. I remember one child was very confused about a particular aspect of volcanoes after a lesson on the topic, but the teacher had no time to go over it again with the boy, so she handed him a book on volcanoes. At the end of the day the teacher asked him a question on volcanoes and from his reading he was able to answer. On another occasion the teacher divided the class up into four groups and handed each group a book on the solar system along with a question sheet relating to volcanoes. The following day the teacher asked the students what they had learned from their reading about the solar system, and I was amazed with the amount of information the students had learned from independent reading. Children’s motivation to read can significantly help to facilitate with their learning of other subject areas, because if a student enjoys something they will read it. This was the case with the solar system lesson. In some instances students may become so engaged with a book that they are in a state of flow. Flow is a concept coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and it occurs when a person is immersed on a task, giving it their attention, energy and focus. This is essential for learning as â€Å"to pursue mental operations to any depth, a person has to learn to concentrate attention. Without focus, consciousness is in a state of chaos. †¦ Unless one learns to concentrate, and is able to invest the effort, thoughts will scatter without reaching any conclusion. † (Csikszentmihalyi, 1998) To help promote this  From my readings, I have discovered the crucial role writing plays in helping children to learn new concepts, words and ideas. â€Å"Through writing, they organise thoughts, remember important information, solve problems and reflect. They learn how to communicate for specific purposes and audiences. ( Queensland Authority Studies). Writing is necessary in terms of assessment for most subjects. Therefore if a child, even one with an exceptional level of knowledge in the subject area, struggles to gets their meaning across, due to poor writing skills can end up with a poor assessment mark. Therefore it is vital that students have good written English in order for them to express their subject knowledge. To help students with this issue teachers often use writing maps, these â€Å"include generic reminders to ensure that students consider issues such as: presentation; the purpose for writing; structure and paragraphing; accurate use of punctuation and spelling; and relevant subject-specific vocabulary† Literacy across the curriculum). This would prove very beneficial to all students even those who have a high writing standard as they would still be learning to organise new thoughts and ideas in an effective manner. Teachers may also wish to apply Vygotskys scaffolding concept by pairing up a student who has poor literacy skills but good subject/ topic knowledge with a student who has good literacy skills but poor subject/ topic area, in order for them to learn from one another. Furthermore, from helping one another both children should reach their next level in their Zone of proximal development, (the difference between what a students can do by themselves and what they can do with assistance), in literacy and the given subject area. The last stand of literacy is literacy and talking. From my school experience placement I got the opportunity to see at first-hand how listening and talking can help with the delivery of a multitude of subject area. Listening and talking occurs naturally within the classroom, and it is an essential. After the book â€Å"fantastic Mr fox† was finished the teacher had a discussion about the book with the children, but first she ensured that the children were all sitting comfortably and were all paying attention. â€Å"To be effective, teachers have to try to minimise barriers to communication. We do this in a number of ways – for example by making sure that the room is quiet and well lit; by speaking slowly and clearly; by only using words which the students should be able to understand. However the most important way to overcome the barriers is two-way communication. This means getting regular feedback from the receivers (the students): Do they really understand what we are trying to put across? (Prozesky, 2000) The class discussion helped with the children’s knowledge of Science. As the teacher talked about the different senses the fox used to avoid being caught, and then she asked students about the different type of senses that people have. (Warner, 2012). Another task the teacher assigned the students based on the book â€Å" Fantastic Mr Fox† was to design a poster to show the farms, the wood and the underground tunnels that Mr fox digs. (Warner, 2012) This was assigned to promote the children’s knowledge of Geography and I. C. T. Before the children took up the task, the teacher gave the students the opportunity to ask questions. â€Å"students asking questions is a vital part of the learning process†(Petty, 2009) From having an open question time it also gave students the opportunity to learn from one another, and understand something they may not have thought of asking. The children’s RME was facilitated from listening also. One example of this occurring was after break time and two of the children were arguing with one another. The teacher sat both of the students down and it was discovered that they were arguing because one of the boys did not get an opportunity to play football because of the other boy. So the teacher turned to the offending boy and asked him â€Å" how would you like it if you were left out? † After giving the boy time to think about it, he soon realised he was in the wrong and apologised. From the above it is clear that the Scottish primary curriculum values literacy as being essential in helping to facilitate students understanding of other curriculum areas, â€Å"competence and confidence in Literacy are essential for progress in all areas of the curriculum. † Furthermore literacy skills is essential for students after their school years as â€Å" they will need advanced levels of literacy to perform their jobs, run their households, act as citizens and conduct their professional lives† (Clark and Rumbold, 2006) References Adams, B. (2000). Helping Students Become Motivated Learners. NDT Resource Center. Online article available at: http://www. ndt-ed. org/TeachingResources/ClassroomTips/Motivating_Students. htm [Accessed on 9th March 2013] Clark, C. and Rumbold, K. (2006) Reading for.

Biofilms: The Social Life of Microorganisms

Microorganisms typically do not live as single cells in pure cultures. The vast majority lives in mixed populations, organized in aggregates which are termed â€Å"biofilms†. This includes films at interfaces, flocks (floating films), sludge’s and microbial mats. They all have emergent properties in common that only can be developed in the aggregated form: they generate a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances which keeps them together, allows for the development of stable, synergistic micro consortia and for intense cell-cell communication. The matrix is activated by extracellular enzymes which are retained in it, representing an external digestion system. This system also sequesters nutrients from the environment and serves as ultimate recycling yard and nutrient source. Horizontal gene exchange is facilitated with a vast gene pool present. In biofilms, organisms differentiate rapidly, forming phenotypically different subpopulations, a mechanism which contributes to ecological fitness. Resistance to biocides is enhanced by a range of mechanisms. On the other hand, strong competition prevails in which attacking and defence strategies evolved, including the formation of antibiotics and bacteriocins. Grazing organisms can limit biofilm growth but also stimulate ecological fitness. Even â€Å"programmed cell death† is observed, leading to a more porous matrix which allows for better access of nutrients for organisms in the depth of the matrix. Under stress conditions, cells can transform into a viable but not cultivable (VBNC) state which is of relevance for public hygiene because they cannot be detected with the methods designed for their determination but can resuscitate. Biofilms represent the oldest, most abundant and successful form of life on Earth, displaying aspects of multicellularity. Life evolved from biofilms and they are involved in the biogeochemical cycles of all major elements. In biofilms, photosynthesis was developed biofilms they are responsible for the self-purification mechanisms of soils, sediments and water. However, biofilms can occur in the wrong place and time, causing bio fouling, bio corrosion and bio deterioration, leading to substantial economic loss and supporting an entire industry dedicated to cleaning and disinfection. In medicine, they are cause of persistent infections and are related to many diseases. In general, biofilms are of fundamental but mostly unaccounted relevance for our life.

buy custom Dental Hygiene Program essay

buy custom Dental Hygiene Program essay Coming from a different cultural background I always had a difficulty in communicating with people as English was my second language. Taking ESL class to help me with my grammar changed me and my life. Initially, I was very timid when I had to speak up in front of the classroom, fearing that people would laugh at me. But I came across other students in my ESL class, who had just moved from different countries and could not even read English. I noticed that as much as I was encountering problems with my English, these other students were having even a harder time. And so my timidity turned to a need to help these students to feel more comfortable in the new environment and help them to cope. With this constant interaction with these students from diverse cultures, I became good friends with a lot of people. In the end, I developed a better understanding and acceptance of others. My ESL teacher became very impressed and rewarded me for helping other students. These experiences progress ively helped to build my confidence and motivated me to pursue excellence in my studies. My interest in dental hygiene started before I got to high school. But it was upon starting high school that it became more profound. And I was fortunate to be selected from one of the sixty students for the Career Day Program at Westlake High School to shadow Dr. Stephen Widner and his staff through a workers perspective. His staff consisted of a surgical techician, a dental hygienist, and registered nurse. Everyday I was exposed to a variety of dental procedures such as cleaning, dental implants, extractions, and jaw surgeries. I especially enjoyed working with a dental hygienist named Cheri, whom I shadowed in patient-care procedures such as doing X-rays, cleanups and removing plaques, as well as teaching patients how to take care of their oral hygiene. The patients who visited were not just from diverse cultures, but also of different ages and coming from different socioeconomic conditions. I witnessed the compassionate spirit in the dental office, which tremendously helped me to improve my communication skills with people. And obviously, I learned more about the field and also got a better understanding about dental hygiene. I was also involved in the American Students Dental Association (ASDA) at the University of Texas, San Antonio. Through ASDA, I interacted with many other students from different cultural backgrounds who shared my interests, as well as professionals in different interrelated fields. Through their knowledge and experiences, I explored further dental hygiene and more detailed. For instance, I was again privileged to shadow Dr. Farrah Agahi DMD, MSD, in her orthodontics office. Her willingness to let me assist her and her staff exposed me to a number of procedures and gave me hands-on experience. Watching her work made mee see the importance of eye-and-hand coordination. Drawing involves more than just passion. It involves accuracy as well, which requires a close coordination between the eye and the hand. This opportunity was a very unique and interesting experience in a dental office. One major lesson that I learnt throughout all these experiences was that when two cultures come together, there is an interaction and exchange of ideas and values, which promotes better growth and understanding of knowledge. My ability to interact and accept people of different cultures from my own will assist me in bringing students from different cultures together. Upon completing my studies on dental hygiene, I would like to gain more experience working hands-on with patients in the dental office. I look forward to being the one to offer assurances as a dental care provider to underprivileged people and teach them the relationship between oral hygiene and how it is related to our general health. TheUniversity of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the place for me to be. It has created the perfect set of programs and curriculum that would assist me in accomplishing my goals. It would be an honor to be given an opportunity to study in your school. A school which draws hard-working students from allover the world and, as a result, presents diversity, and will make a perfect environment for me to study. Buy custom Dental Hygiene Program essay

Turner Thesis essays

Turner Thesis essays Fredrick Jackson Turner developed the thesis that the American West created and reinforced the American ideals of: equality, democracy, opportunity, and individualism. I disagree with Turners thesis and feel that the American West created just the opposite. It created a period of inopportunity and inequality especially between the rich and the poor classes of the time period. There are many things to show that Turners thesis was off beam. The Homestead Act was one such thing. This act gave every person who wanted it the opportunity to take free land. However, the government gave more plots of land to important people that they did to ordinary people. Also, land speculators snatched up big portions of land and held on to them so that they could sell them for profit at a later time. This left the ordinary people with much less land to live on and much less opportunity. This shows inequality between the different classes of this time period. Another thing to show inequality between the different classes in the period of 1865 to 1900 was the new version of the reaper invented by Cyrus McCormick. This was expensive and not all could afford it, once again showing unequal opportunity. This led to a disadvantage for the poorer folk and left them with much more labor. The people who could afford this reaper profited more than those who didnt, thus showing inequality between the rich and poor. A final example that showed how Turners thesis was erroneous was the Sand Creek Massacre. Seven hundred Colorado drunkards marched their way to the Indians fort and started to maim and mutilate them. They ended up killing a lot of Indians. This is obviously unequal treatment between the whites and the Indians. The whites could freely kill Indians on a whim without any punishment. Indians were forced to leave their lands, move onto reservations, and flee their homelands. In essence, Native America...

Professional Orientation and Practice Coursework

Professional Orientation and Practice - Coursework Example The bid to privatise the sector was triggered by the 2003 Railway Act, allowing for private management of the services (Cassady, Maillart, Bowden & Smith 1998). The UK railway tracks are public owned and maintained by Network Rail; however, privately owned rail tracks also exist in tourist areas. To help manage the train services, the government appoints train-operating companies (TOCs). TOCs are awarded franchise to offer train commuter services depending on the validity of the license given. This means that a given TOC can only operate within certain time limit as dictated by the licenses awarded. Now, TOC that provide that are licensed to offer these services are many in number (Tobin 2012). Nevertheless, the increasing cost of trail fares has been a major concern within the sector, within many opting to use other alternatives (â€Å"Britain Has Worlds Highest Rail Prices – Survey 1997†). Competition brought about by the many TOCs has brought the need by individual b usinesses involved to put in place measures to ensure stability and profitability. On this matter, many TOCs franchised to offer their services are seeking ways of reducing costs in order to appeal and attract more customers. In order to maintain sustainability, TOCs operating within the United Kingdom believe that the best way is to maintain the existing fleet. Major part of the revenue is used in maintaining the fleets and carrying out inspection of infrastructures like rail tracks. Therefore, much train operating companies hold on to the fact that maintain ace is a priority in the sector. Presently, rail infrastructure has greatly been improved as is evident by the increase in speed train (Tobin 2012). Just as mentioned above, the major challenge lies with the need for each company to come up with measures to improve service delivery. For this reason, each of the companies is in a process of finding the best decisions that would offer competitive edge over the rest (Chaudhuri & S uresh 1995). TOC- London Midland Background London Midland is one of UK’s train operating companies, having an 867.4 kilometers of rail to cover. The main train operations of the company are carried out within the West Coast Mainline. It is also important to note that its franchise expires in June 2017 after it was extended from the initial date of September 2015. According to the information available in the company’s website, London Midlands Express and London Midland City are the main brands that are used in operations. London Midland makes its money from the sales of tickets to passengers. Now, customers are charged ?25 for every 100 miles of travel. According to the plans by the company, 60,000,000 passenger miles should be served per year, something that translates to 600,000 passengers per year. However, achieving this is guaranteed, as many potential customers prefer other means of transport because of uncertain economic times brought about by the recession. Th e company needs to make a decision whether to raise or lower the tickets by ?5. In order to bring the issue into perspective, it would important to note that London Midland company has numerous competitors like Cross Country, Euro star, East Coast, First Hull Trains, and Scot Rail, among others, and must thus make decisions that stand to boost its chances to survive in the market. Lowering the price by ?2

Summarize two articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summarize two articles - Essay Example Bankrupt companies in Japan seem to find a way out of their debts by inviting foreign enterprises to bail them out. One example is Elpida Memory which agreed to be taken over by the American Company, Micron Technology for $760 million with the expectation that $1.8 billion be made to pay for Elpida’s debts in banks and other secured creditors at 70% of what they are owed. Unsecured creditors of Elpida, on the other hand only get 20-30% of what they are owed. This has caused much uproar amongst bondholders who complain that the Micron offer was way below the value of the Elpida company, which they claim is valued at $3.8 billion. Hence, they have resorted to seeking other sponsors to take over. In the past, Japan would not have allowed such battle to happen since investors rolled over funds while a restructuring was forced upon them. The government would force the takeover of a bankrupt company, causing negative outcomes for the company itself and its employees, and being a bur den to the economy. Nowadays, bankruptcy is a real option due to more openness to foreign take-overs rescuing failed Japanese