Childhood Obesity Essay -- essays research papers

It is a shame that so many children are obese. I am shocked that 2 million deaths each year can be contributed to physical inactivity (Wharry, 2002). The "How we Grew so Big" article is about the evolutionary reasons behind obesity. I worked in a factory this past summer where there was very physical labour. I ate way more food than I had before I started working there but was a lot slimmer by the end of my contract. Even though the sudden increase in activity in my life reduced my body fat, most of the other workers there were overweight. This leads me to believe that obesity is more of a societal issue than an evolutionary issue. I've had friends who were morbidly obese; one of whom would tell me "I know when I'm full because it gets hard to breathe". Last time I checked, that means you're over full! I have personally struggled with body image issues and am now exactly the correct and healthy BMI, yet by many people's standards would be considered "festivel y plump". I think that conflicting messages sent to people through media and healthcare providers over what "healthy weight" is, is a cause of obesity. Part of esteem in our society has to do with power, possessions and high luxury. Part of luxury is being catered to, having food made for you. It is hard to achieve this luxurious life style of drinking, partying and eating out all the time when we are also crash dieting so to meet the unattainable standards set out by advertisements and celebrities. If our lives are filled with inactivity and overeating, why are our pets so fat too? "Twenty-five % of cats of dogs are heavier that they should be" (Lenonick, 2004). It seems to me that if one is so lethargic as to not play with their pet, to the point that said animal is overweight, there is more than an evolutionary explanation to obesity. Though it may seem Marxist of me to write, people would be happier and probably slimmer if they were more connected to their places of work and community and had some kind of tangible association with the food they were putting into their mouth. The move from farms to urban areas in industrialized nations has reduced physical labour and also changed the way we relate to food. Lenonick, Michael D. 06/04/04 (Online). How we grew So Big. TIME magazine. Available at: http://www3.open.uoguelph.ca/d2l/orgTools/ouHome/ouHome.... ...ar accidents which is 16 in 100 000 (Harte 2002). I couldn’t believe that! I have a higher risk of dieing from a tummy tuck then getting hit and killed by a car, yet millions or people walk the streets everyday. The fact about it is that the greater the volume of fat and tissue fluids, including plasma, that are sucked out, the greater the chance of severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalances (Greeley 2000). Daniel Morello, M.D., president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery points out that liposuction is not for weight loss but for contouring of the body. "It is designed for removing localized areas of fatty tissues--not as a substitute for proper dietary management and exercise."(Greeley 2000). So either way we look at it we still have to exercise to maintain a fit body. I guess if you have the money, anything is possible or pretty close to being possible. Harte, J. 2002 May. Tumescent Liposuction. Available from: http://www.health.state.mn.us/htac/lipo.htm Accessed 2005 Feb 20. Greenly,A . 2000. Planning To Look Flab-u-less? Know the Facts About Liposuction. Available from: http://www.fitnessmba.com/childrens_fitness.html Accessed 2005 Feb 20.

Overview of Data Encryption and Legal Issues Essay -- Privacy Legal Es

Overview of Data Encryption and Legal Issues What is encryption and why do we need it? The concept of encrypting information has been popular for hundreds of years. Revolutionaries, scientists, political activists and lovers have utilized this technique to maintain privacy and confidentiality in their communications. As kids, we would take our secret messages and shift the letters of the alphabet by a specific number to create an encrypted message. For example, by shifting the letters of the alphabet by three we could change the word cyberlaw to fbehuodz. In encryption, a message is referred to as plaintext before changing it in any way. Data encryption is the process whereby plaintext data is converted to ciphertext data. Ciphertext data can only be read by a party with a secret decryption key. A method for encrypting text is referred to as a cryptosystem. There are many uses for encryption today, particularly, with the widespread use of the Internet. Encryption is used to verify messages, validate and authenticate users and authorize transactions. Banks use encryption to secure customer identification numbers at ATM machines. All U.S. electronic funds transfer messages are encrypted. Online vendors depend upon the security of credit card transactions in conducting business. Many political groups use cryptography to protect the identity of online users. Internet users want electronic privacy; freedom from observance by the government or other parties. Anonymity is vital to both privacy and freedom of speech. Potential Abuses of Encryption: The U.S. Government is concerned with the abuse of this technology at the hands of criminals, terrorists and hostile foreign governments. Encryption could impede their effo... ...nternet. The availability of encryption codes will encourage a larger population of users to encrypt communications and will provide businesses worldwide a way to conduct transactions securely. Arguments are made that the control of source code export discriminates against software distribution as opposed to encryption in print form. This greatly limits the expression of scientific ideas and thereby limits the marketplace for ideas. The ability to remain anonymous is important to free speech and our right to privacy in communications on the Internet. If Clipper chips and escrow accounts become the standard, the U.S. government will be able to read private e-mail and determine the recipients. This would be a frightening departure from our proud tradition of preserving privacy in our communications and encouraging the free exchange of ideas and information.

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Gadget Addiction

First it was ‘texter's thumb'. Now gadget addicts are coming down with ‘text neck'. Today, many patients are suffering neck pain from spending too much time hunched over phones and computers. The rise of smartphones and tablet computers has fuelled the problem. The extra capability for playing games and browsing the Internet on smartphones means they tend to be used for longer periods. And unlike laptops, tablet computers are often placed flat on the lap, meaning you crane your neck over to view the screen.Knee and hip replacement surgeon Dr Kaushal Malhan says, â€Å"Technology has made life easier, but at the same time brought in newer problems. The easy accessibility to almost any information and quick communication through the use of smartphones and laptops has made them an invaluable resource. At the same time, their indiscriminate use has brought in new health problems. † It is common to find people using their laptops for hours at a stretch. Smartphones now work as mini computers and it is not unusual to find people busy with their phones which are much more than simply a means of communication. People often complain of neck and back pain, and the cause for these can often be sourced to indiscriminate laptop use in an incorrect posture. These patients often have a good range of movements with pain mainly at the end of the day,† adds Dr Malhan. Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Ashish Arbat agrees. â€Å"Today, we are observing many young patients who are into gadgets with wry neck, which is caused by continuous craning of the neck for texting, etc. † He advises that one should exercise one's neck daily and stretch the cervical and trapezial muscle, with a healthy habit of sleeping supine straight, with balanced diet to prevent wry neck.How to avoid such problems – Use a chair of correct height so that your legs comfortably reach the floor. – Table height and computer monitor height should be at your eye level so that yo u are not forced to adopt unphysiologic postures. – Elbows should be well supported on armrest or table in front of you. – Do not forget to blink your eyes intermittently to reduce eye fatigue. – Change your posture every now and then and regular breaks in between. – Stretch out all muscle groups whenever you have the opportunity. – Regular stretching exercises are a must for people who sit for long hours.In case of problems like neck pain, see a doctor to rule out other non-postural causes. Once that is ruled out, one can look at changing habits and lifestyle as advocated above. A short course of anti-inflammatory medication and hot packs with gentle massage should help. — Dr Kaushal Malhan http://articles. timesofindia. indiatimes. com/2012-08-03/fitness/33002266_1_neck-pain-text-neck-tablet-computers Carl Alasko: How will gadget addiction affect us? Carl Alasko On Relationships Posted: 04/08/2012 12:06:07 AM PDT Updated: 04/08/2012 12:06: 07 AM PDT Dear Dr. Alasko: Our two sons, ages 9 and 13, love technology.My husband is himself a computer geek so he thinks it's great. He says the more they know the better equipped they'll be for their future. But I worry about the human side of their lives. For instance, when they're together with their friends, all of them seem to be looking at their gadgets and doing very little talking. I worry that they won't be able to form healthy adult relationships and bond with their own children — except maybe through technology. Dear Reader: You have a right to be worried. We don't yet know if there are permanent developmental problems when children have constant access to fast-moving technology.At this point the â€Å"experts† seem divided. About half are optimistic. They believe that electronically connected youth will have the advantage of being nimble analysts and fast decision makers. The others are pessimistic. They worry that hyper-connected young people are too dis tracted by constant input to have deep-thinking capabilities. And they're not able to retain information and train their brain to remember things because everything is instantly available on their phone. Then there's the question of face-to-face relationship skills and the ability to focus on emotional issues.My personal concern is that boys who grow up completely immersed in the electronic connectivity of video games, texting and ear-buds will not be capable of the extended focus required to deal Advertisement with the complex world of emotional issues, the kind that every adult relationship requires. There's a physiological analogy with our vision. If you do a lot of reading as a child in dim light, your eyes strain to see the tiny printed words and in response your eyeballs actually become enlarged. This condition leads to extreme myopia.It seems logical to suppose that if a child's growing brain is subjected to constant fast-moving images and scattered input from video games, te xts, etc. , the child's brain will lose the ability to remain focused on one issue beyond a few seconds. From the psychological point of view, the term â€Å"deep-thinking capabilities† is the biggest area of concern. I recently read about how we are losing our ability to do long-term thinking, the kind that happens when, for instance, a person spends a few hours walking in a forest. During extended periods of rest (without media), the brain automatically sorts things out on its own.We can â€Å"think through† complex problems. Supporting this idea is the fact that we must have periods of deep sleep. Only during REM sleep does our brain recalibrate and settle down. If we consistently interrupt REM sleep the person develops a kind of psychosis. As I said earlier, you have a right to be worried. The goal would be to achieve a balanced, moderate use of technology. But promoting these behaviors in your technology-dominant family will be difficult. However, if you strongly believe in the wisdom of moderation, your belief (and common sense) should provide the energy to effect meaningful change.Carl Alasko, a licensed marriage and family therapist, is the author of â€Å"Emotional BS† and â€Å"Beyond Blame. † For information about his books, see: carlalasko. com. Contact him at [email  protected] com . http://www. montereyherald. com/carlalasko/ci_20351336 Modern menace: Society's addiction to gadgets Top ArticleAll 4 Articles 2 of 4 by Nanette Piotrowski Created on: February 19, 2013 Just ask any six year-old to put down his cell-phone or controller to a video game to come to the table to eat and you have your answer to the statement.They would rather starve to death than do it. Children no longer know what to do with themselves without them. The statement ‘go outside and play' is foreign. If you told them to play a game of tag, they would look at you like you'd lost your mind. Unfortunately it is the parents who have turned the young ones into veritable Zombies. The parents are the ones who fortunately (or unfortunately), benefited from the advancement of modern conveniences; whether it is appliances like washer/dryers, toasters, coffee pots and micro-wave ovens to cell-phones, computers and fancy cars.Somewhere and somehow with time, people have forgotten how to wash dishes and clothes by hand, cook over an open fire, use a broom and live by candle-light or lantern. Heaven forbid! Whereas modern technology has made crucial advances like medicine and surgery, time travel shorter (planes, trains, automobiles) and life easier, it has also created a decline in family time, creative thought, obesity and believe it or not, intelligence.Today a majority of the population (particularly children), cannot add, subtract, multiply and divide (without a calculator), spell (without spell check) or count back change for a dollar, balance a checkbook, change a tire, work on a car, and in a lot of cases, can't even cook. So regardless of technological advances (by a brilliant few), the remainder of the population has become inept, unproductive robots. It is a sad state of affairs to see adults and/or children sitting in a restaurant texting someone, only to find out that it is to each other.Cell-phones, while a possible convenience and safety gadget (calling for help), is also one of the main reasons for deadly car accidents. Most people can't walk and chew gum at the same time, let alone operate a motor vehicle that weighs 3,000 pounds safely while they are talking and texting. Besides these issues, there is also the fact that these modern gadgets also make it possible for government intrusion. Cameras in the television, GPS in vehicles and cell-phones, direct accessibility into your computer; every move you make can be accounted for and watched.Very real intrusions of privacy which can be very menacing. The big question to be asked here is: â€Å"How would society react if there was a complete el ectrical and satellite shut-down? † It could happen whether caused by a meteor, massive volcanic explosion, hackers or terrorists. Think about it; could you and/or your family survive without all the modern gadgetry and convenience? Would you know what to do? And what if it was the worst case scenario where it was impossible to return to the current standard of things and we were thrown back to the 1800's.Truly, society's addiction to gadgetry has become our greatest menace; that of how to cope without them http://www. helium. com/items/2422560-addiction-to-gadgets-in-modern-society Gadget Addiction Making People Crazy Gadgets and machines have become an integral part of our lives. What would we do without them These gizmos are like a necessary condition now which make our lives complete. However, we must keep in mind that everything has its own limit otherwise it can become a cause for concern and in extreme cases, fatal. Market of devices and gadgets seems to be flooded with production.Day in and day out new technologies appear in front of us. If one has bought the latest mobile phone or laptop etc then he does not have much time to feel proud on that because the next day there would be much more superior device than that in the market. This is one of the reasons of addiction. The present day is no less crazy. We are now getting addicted to those things which five years ago we had not thought of even. Earlier people would go and talk to people they know, spend time with them but now they love to talk to their gadgets.Once my friend showed me an application of speaking Tom-cat in her mobile phone which repeats everything you speak and told that she spends a long time with it.. seems crazy.. The effect of this addiction is that people even can’t resist themselves from taking calls and accessing Facebook and other social networking sites during office hours. The lure of being constantly in touch is so strong that they don’t stop sending text messages even if they are told to switch off their phones. It creates a distraction from work. The devices supposed to increase the productivity are giving an opposite effect.In fact the worst affected are the youths. In most of the schools use of cell phones is banned but many of the students carry them. Use of costly and hi-fi gadgets has become a status symbol among them. Daily on way to my work, I see children in school uniforms of age not more than 15 carrying smart phones, iPods etc. It has become a trend now. They push their parents to buy them the latest cell phone or other gizmos because their peers use it. HOW TO GET OVER THIS ADDICTION Gaining or using anything in excess frequently becomes a source of disturbance.It is very important to prevent this. There should be some time bounds to use gadgets. Getting dependent on them is harmful. We will have to learn to balance and manage time. It is important to have a balance between our different engagements such as time spent with family and friends, office work, proper rest as well on gadgets. â€Å"We are exposing brains to an environment and asking them to do things we weren’t necessarily evolved to do. We know already there are consequences. † http://writerspavilion. hubpages. com/hub/-Gadget-Addiction-Making-People-Crazy

Leadership and Management Hierarchy of Fire Profession Assignment

Leadership and Management Hierarchy of Fire Profession - Assignment Example Apart from his hard work, Mr. Murdoch has been particularly phenomenal when it comes to the exhibition of great leadership traits and characteristics that can be replicated in any public and private service, including the fire and emergency service. Some of these characteristics and traits have been discussed below. As a global leader whose work field of work has focused on finding news for the public, Mr. Murdoch has been identified to be a very good seeker who leads his outfit to go to every extent to find news as they unfold. It is for this reason that News Corporation has mostly been ranked as one of the best in America (Barnacle, 2006). Writing on leadership traits and characteristics, George (2010) noted that leaders act as the directional heads of their organizations, who take a step for all the others to follow. Consequently, the need to be a seeker who always searches for the most applicable and useful strategies that can be used by the company has been recommended. Leaders who are seekers can indeed be very good pacesetters who can guarantee that they will lead their organizations safely to their goals without facing any challenges. This is because before asking the follower to take any step this leader might have first sought to be convinced of the step being taken. There is no denying the fact that the fire and emergency service could also apply this characteristics and trait of being seekers for the betterment of the organization. Like the News Corporation’s work, the fire and emergency service deals so much with promptness and forecasting. In the world of the media, broadcasting delayed news could be as worthless as not broadcasting it at all. Because of this, media practitioners who have seekers like Mr. Murdoch have always focused on breaking news first. In the same way, delaying with fire, rescue and other emergency support could be regarded as worthless.

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 187

Summary - Essay Example hat, there is need for him to be paid more since his talent has made the SiriusXM radio to increase its revenues to $1.4billion pre-tax income (Gillette, 1). Howard Stern’s talent of moving the audience, led to the growth of the audience listening to the SiriusXM up to 27.3 million in 2014. This kind of talent led to the assimilation of the XM Satellite. This is an indication of rivalry in this industry, where talent is the driving force of the economy. The managers of various satellite radios stations are compelled to pay more to attain a super class of talent like that of Stern. This brings us to the state of things as they may exits when Howard Stern exists. Stern’s staggering relationship with the management of the SiriusXM puts his career in a balance in this corporation and this leaves a vacuum if Stern decides to quit (Gillette, 1). In essence, the article asserts that talent is the single most element that is driving the world and this explicitly indicates that there would be no SiriusXM without Stern. The ever-increasing consumer base attributed to the SiriusXM immensely attributed to the commonly integrated audio service, which Sirius XM has capitalised and ensured that it is done in cars, Smartphone and computers. This aspect of product differentiation has made this corporation to stand out among other numerous competing companies. For instance, the Silicon Valley and Apple’s entry into the market indicates the nature of the stiff competition that is created and this needs superior marketing and talent to thrive well in the modern competitive market milieu (Gillette, 1). The directors of Sirius XM feel the heat of the competition in the Radio industry and this compels them to state that they would pay Stern any amount of money as long as he ready to work. This is an indication that solely talent drives the radio industry and it should be well paid for the corporations to make profits. In essence, Stern’s exit will see the SiriusXM loose

Human Resource of SCG Limited Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human Resource of SCG Limited - Coursework Example Armstrong (2009), Foot and Hook (2005) and Lyster and Arthur (2007) emphasize that the process of performance evaluation should be based on the organization’s goals and objectives. Condrey and Perry (2010), Armstrong (2010) and Lyster and Arthur (2007) express that the process should be based on job performance as it motivates the employees to work hard. Communication is one of the key features of an effective appraisal system as noted by DeIpo (2007), Armstrong and Applebaum (2003) and Armstrong (2009). Armstrong (2010) further reinforced on the significance of communication in this process. Employee participation is vital in the process as it shows their worth and impact in the business operations as stated by DeIpo (2007), Foot and Hook (2005) and Marquis and Huston (2008). The employee performance evaluation should be conducted in a fair and transparent manner as asserted by Marquis and Huston (2008), DeIpo (2007) and Condrey and Perry (2010). Armstrong (2010) further expl ains that there should be no personal bias in the process. The process should be conducted in accordance to set rules and regulations as explained by DeIpo (2007), Lyster and Arthur (2007) and Condrey and Perry (2010). Armstrong (2010), DeIpo (2007), Warner (2002) further add that an effective appraisal system should be standardized. External appraisers may also be involved to reinforce its reliability and credibility. Armstrong and Applebaum (2003), Armstrong (2010) and Condrey (2010) assert the need to train appraisers to eliminate the number of errors in the process. Analysis and Discussion SCG is an insurance company that conducts an annual performance appraisal of its employees. Ingrid Aspwell recently joined the company as a finance manager and is... The intention of this study is SCG as an insurance company that conducts an annual performance appraisal of its employees. Ingrid Aspwell recently joined the company as a finance manager and is making preparations to do her first performance appraisal. She has taken the necessary measures before the procedure by communicating to the staff members. This is by use of a standard performance appraisal form to be completed before the review meeting and a document containing the date and time of the process as expressed by Condrey and Perry. One of the longest serving employees in the department has received the documentation and is not pleased with the idea of the formal meeting. He had an excellent working relationship with the previous manager and his performance was outstanding as reflected in yearly salary increments. He considers himself as more than competent and has worked well in the previous years. He does not understand the purpose of the company’s strategy and targets fo r the following year and fails to understand how they relate to his job. The manager fears that other employees share the same sentiments as she overheard their discussion. These opinions held by employees worried her as they would have a negative impact on the performance appraisal process. The previous system lacked the features of effective performance appraisal. The new manager, on the other hand, introduced a system where the activities of the employees were governed by a system based on management’s objectives as explained by Armstrong and Applebaum.