PIV Measurement of Fluid Flow Inside a Human Uterus Model for Cryoablation :: essays research papers

PIV MEASUREMENT OF FLUID FLOW INSIDE A HUMAN UTERUS MODEL FOR CRYOABLATION Xiaolong Luo1, Jim S.J. Chen1, Marla Wolfson2, Charles Philips2, Thomas Shaffer2 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Temple University 2Temple University School of Medicine Abstract – A new technique has been proposed that allows cryoablation to be achieved on the entire inner surface of the endometrium by circulating very cold perfluorochemical (PFC) fluid inside the human uterus. To understand the PFC flow field inside the uterus during cryoablation, a uterus model was constructed; a fluid delivery system including the fluid delivery probe was designed and built to simulate the PFC flow during cryosurgery. With particle image velocimetry (PIV), the fluid flow inside the uterus was investigated at room temperature to display a 2-D whole field velocity contour and vector plot. Keywords: PIV, cryoablation, PFC, endometrium I. INTRODUCTION Menorrhagia is medically defined as excessive bleeding at menses, in duration or amount. A frequent cause of menorrhagia is uterine fibroid growth. Traditionally, hysterectomy is the main treatment for menorrhagia. Several cryosurgery methods such as localized cryoprobes [1] and balloon ablation [2] have been developed as alternatives to hysterectomy to treat the dysfunction of the endometrium. However, these are localized techniques and sometimes there is still proliferation of the endometrium. A new technique is proposed that allows cryoablation to be achieved on the entire inner surface of the endometrium using a PFC fluid [3]. The objective of this project is to develop an efficient treatment method for abnormal uterine bleeding by freezing the endometrium. It has been shown that a temperature of –30 C is required for destroy tissue necrosis [4]. The heat transfer process during cryoablation was investigated experimentally and numerically (1-D) with good agreement [5], in which a uniform fluid temperature boundary condition was used in the 1-D finite difference method to determine the temperature history in the human uteri of eight patients. This assumed that the fluid flow inside the uterus is uniform, repeatable and controllable. During the experiments it was found that the temperature difference at the inlet and outlet of the insertion probe varied from 10Â ºC to 50Â ºC. Inconsistent fluid temperatures may be caused by inadequate circulation of PFC liquid, i.e., recirculation within the uterus. The goal of this study is to understand the flow field inside the uterus cavity during cryoablation so that the desired flow field and uniform temperature field can be obtained, thus proposing an optimal insertion probe design so that minimum PFC liquid and surgery time is used.

Neurobiological Perspectives on Autism Essay -- Biology Essays Researc

Neurobiological Perspectives on Autism Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, along with severe impairments in reciprocal social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and cognitive development (1,2,3). If the brain is responsible for behavior then it should follow that disordered autistic behaviors should be explainable in terms of brain abnormalities and disordered neurobiological processes. While findings are generally speculative and the etiology of the disorder remains somewhat of an enigma, there is significant evidence that autism is associated with neurobiological dysfunction. Autistic individuals are often highly socially withdrawn to the extent that they may appear to live in a world of their own. Infants typically fail to develop normal attachments to parents or caregivers. They may seem indifferent to other's gestures of affection towards them, and may even resist being held or otherwise engaged in physical or emotional interaction. They tend to make little or no use of eye contact, smiling, facial expressions, gestures, and other signals of social intent. They continue to manifest many of the same social impairments throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. For example, they typically fail to develop normal peer relationships and they generally demonstrate an impairment in social-emotional reciprocity. Normal displays of emotion or empathy are uncommon: they do not generally offer comfort to others, nor do they seek others for comfort in their own times of distress. Similarly, they lack the ability to share in the enjoyment of other's pleasure and they resist sharing their own enjoyment with others. Res... ...m/p00.html#A 7)Autism and the Limbic System http://www.apnet.com/inscight/020/199//grapha.htm 8)Brain Lesions Linked to Autism http://www.apnet.com/inscight/020/199//grapha.htm 9)Researchers Identify Brain Abnormalities in Autistic Children http://www2.ari.net/rjohnson/articles/AUTISM.1.ANR.html 10)Pediatric Psychopharmacology: Autism http://www.vh.org/adult/provider/psychiatry/CPS/41.html 11)Progress in the Neurobiology of Autism http://www.cme-reviews.com/CNS398_rapin.html 12)Secretin: A Treatment for Autism? (Autism Biomedical Information Network) http://www.autism-biomed.org/secretin.htm 13)Secretin Information (Autism Research Institute) http://www.autismwebsite.com/ari/secretin2.html 14)The Use of Secretin to Treat Autism (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) http://www.nih.gov/redirect/nichd-redirect.html

Disneyland Resort Paris

Disneyland Resort Paris: a development after understanding local cultures The case Disneyland Resort Paris: Mickey Goes to Europe introduced readers to the development of Disneyland Paris during fifteen years. Even though Disneyland Paris had a terrible start in 1994, it had a great improvement and bright future in 2007. The reason for its failure and success is the same: culture. Forgetting to respect local culture caused Disneyland to lose market and revenue in Paris, while adjusting its operations with culture issues put Disneyland Paris in a successful position. The success of Disneyland in AmericaAs a cartoon company which was founded in 1923, Walt Disney Company started its business in America. During the period to develop its business to Americans, Disney created its core values such as innovation, fun and magic. Disney movies which evoked these values are welcomed by audiences and make the company the world leader in animation (Martha, 2011). For the same reason, Disneyland t heme park, a resort to make â€Å"magic† real and tangible, also had big success in America. The universal strategy of Disney Company is to use Disneyland resorts to connect the real world and the magic world.First, the company shows audiences a wonderful and magic world in its animated movie. Second, with the popularity of the movie, the animated world reappears in Disneyland resorts by those famous characters and sidewalks (Martha, 2011). All these factors can provide guests with comfortable experiences of magic and fun that helping them to forget worries in the real life. To adopt above strategy in operation, Disney cares about both the internal and external management. For internal management, Disney offers its employees excellent treatments which create a high employee loyalty to the company.For the external management, Disneyland cares about details in its management and confirms that it transfers core values to its customers through quality services. In this way, Disne y received high customer satisfaction and won great success in America. Both the core values and operation strategy are universal about Disney. Factors such as fun, magic and innovation can capture positive emotions of human beings and make them be touched. Then Disney uses its high quality services to transfer these emotions to guests in the theme park and drive them to become loyal customers.This is the reason Disneyland did great job in California and Tokyo. However, Disney faced failures in Paris at the beginning of the resort opening. The Reason of Failure in Paris The reason of failure in Paris is forgetting to consider the effects of culture different. Disney is not an aggressive company that explores new market blindly. It aware the risk of operating a theme park out of America and thinks carefully about how to spend money and transfer core values to guests in Tokyo. Tokyo Disneyland is the most profitable Disneyland in the world.The park in Tokyo completely copied the busin ess model of the American one. However, due to the success case in Tokyo, the company forgot to consider about cultural differences and lost its market in Europe. What the company states is the strategy works in Tokyo will also works in Europe. However, Disney forgot to consider two kinds of culture differences, the difference between culture in Europe and Japan and the difference between culture in America and Europe. The former difference means even though America model worked in Japan, the same model may not success in Europe.For example, customers in Japan like their park have â€Å"the real thing† (Martha, 2011) not means customer in Europe will also welcome it. For the similar reason, a mode works well in America may not also works well in Europe. For example, the wine issue put Disneyland in Paris in a negative position and brought it infamous effects. An Effective Improvement to Make the Resort to Survive in Europe Disneyland in Paris had five approaches to improve it s business: * Change the name of the park from â€Å"Euro Disney† to â€Å"Disneyland Paris†.This approach weakened the image of park in Europe and strengthened the image of a theme park in Paris . As a result, the effects of culture differences will have lower power to stop guests feel Disney’s core value. * Reduce cost to increase net income under a condition of lower revenue of Disneyland Paris. The culture in Europe restricts the ability of Disney to absorb money form customers. Since it’s hard to change the culture in Europe, a better choice is to adjust financial approach to reduce the lose caused by culture. Redesign services to attract more customers. Disney studio park and Val d’ Europe are two examples of services which capture more customers. The former one tries its best to include European elements in it. The approach provides guests something they were familiar with and attract more tourist to visit the Disneyland park. The latter one created a center to draw customers’ attention and affected their travelling preferences. Both of these two buildings were near Disneyland Paris and work as a transportation to connect the European culture and â€Å"Disney culture†.Buildings with familiar elements will make guests feel comfortable and reduce their unfriendly feelings to Disneyland Park. Therefore the park will get a chance to cross the cultural boundary and bring its customers excellent experiences. * Improve services to bring visitors back. In addition to existing services, Disneyland is doing kinds of improvements to satisfy customers and making them find new attractions in the park. This approach will increase the customer loyalty and get them back to the park. In my opinion, Disneyland Paris did right process to resolve its crisis.At one side, Disney didn’t give up its core values. At the other side, the park improved its operation and management to create an environment which can comfort Eu ropean visitors and expend businesses. Disneyland Paris indentified its main problem, cultural blunder, clearly and reacted to it quickly. Take the Walt Disney studios park as an example, this approach adopted the MBI model perfectly. * Mapping: Notice the culture differences between America and Europe. * Bridge: In â€Å"prepare stage†, Disneyland Paris already understood its customers and plan to use the studio to make it understood by customers.In â€Å"decenter stage†, Disney Company evolved European elements in its products since the empathy made it to offer customers services they like. In â€Å"recenter stage†, an example of inviting European designer to design stunt show expresses its high emotion of establish a common reality (Martha, 2011). * Integrate: the opinion of Peter McGrath (Martha, 2011) illustrates the studio park has high awareness of handle cultural differences and face new cultural challenges. Disneyland Paris also adopted MBI model to its other services and the park generated customer loyalty successfully.The company reprogrammed and reopened existing star attractions to bring visitors back and also draw attention of new customers. The high benefits Disney Paris offering to its employees creates a positive internal company culture and helps employees to provide visitors with high quality services. The high quality services with innovation transferred core values of Disneyland to its customers. For example, the â€Å"summer camps† service, which launched in 2003, brought low cost and high return to the company and at the same time welcomed by customers. A balance of local culture and America StyleI will advise Disneyland Paris to adapt the park in a balance of local culture and American style. Completely copying American model is proved to be a failure case therefore moving Disneyland Paris to this mode is just putting the company in the wrong track of development. A total local cultural mode will cause the pa rk lose its characteristics. If Disneyland doesn’t have any Disney features, why customers prefer Disneyland rather than its competitors? At one side, features like Disney characters and buildings differentiate Disneyland from other theme parks.At the other side, the company needs to design and organize services in a more local way to guarantee that its core values can be transferred and accepted by visitors. To connect Disneyland with local events will be a good choice. For example, Paris will hold music festival every July. Sending band which consisted with Disney characters to play music on the festival can remind people the existence of the park and attract them to visit it. In 2009, German visitors are just 3% of whole visitors (Maznevski, 2009). Therefore to increase German visitors can extend visitors and boost revenue.When Oktoberfest festival is held in German, Disneyland Paris can also hold beer festival in the park to make Germany feel happy and glad to visit the p ark as well as spend money. Bibliography Harry w. Lane, Martha l. Maznevski, Joseph J. DiStefana, Joerg Dietz. (2011). International Management Behavior. Chippenham, Great Britain: CPI Abtone Rowe. Karsten Jonsen, Martha Maznevski. (2009, 06 25). Disneyland Paris – ANNO 2009. Lausanne, Switzerland. Karsten Jonsen, Martha Maznevski. (2011). Disneyland Resort Paris: Mickey Goes to Europe. In M. l. Harry w. Lane, International Management Behavior (p. 137). Chippenham: CPI Antony Rowe.

Discuss the view that the Civil Service has too much influence over policy

The Civil service is the administrative branch of the UK government, set with dealing with the everyday running of the country, rather than a ministerial role, which focus on only some areas. It is they that carry out the more mundane roles, although some Civil Servants do have more exciting life styles with jobs such as testing weaponry that is to be bought by the Ministry of Defence. The Civil Service is to advise ministers on the decisions that need to be made, to brief ministers on the issues involved and to present options to make the minister's decision making easier. At no stage though should Civil Servants be responsible for decision making. There is a clear dividing line between the decision-making role of the minister and the supporting role of the Civil Servant. as Margaret Thatcher put it ‘Civil Servants advise; ministers decide'. Servants are not elected and because of this they should not have the power to make decisions. Decision making is the responsibility of the politicians and it is they who should take responsibility for the success or failures of departmental policy and they should not be held accountable for their advice or for departmental policy. In the case of policy errors or mistakes in implementation it is the minister who has to resign, not the Civil Servant – the Civil Servant should not be held responsible because they have no role in decision making. This can be seen through the resignation In April 2004 of Beverly Hughes. She forced to resign as minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Counter Terrorism when it was shown that she had been informed of procedural improprieties concerning the granting of visas to certain categories of workers from Eastern Europe. While this cannot wholly be seen as their fault, it was they, not the civil servants that advised them that had to resign over the events, due to the fact that they are responsible for the final decision. Ministers have a large workload and have limited time as is shown by the fact that the Core hours in the House of Commons are until 10pm on some evenings, and parliamentary debates sometimes continue into the night, with Ministers having added Committees to sit on and other government business to attend to, as a result, they rely heavily on their Civil Service advice and this puts the Civil Servants into a privileged and influential position. Any advisor should have some influence, if they don't there is not much point in them being there. However, if ministers lack the time to check Civil Servants' advice, the danger is that they will become a mouthpiece for Civil Service policies. Civil Servants also have the opportunity to ‘control' the minister by restricting the supply of information to him or by presenting it in such a way as to limit his options, as was shown by the limited information given to Beverly Hughes. It would be wrong to suggest that this happens often, it remains true that the Civil Service has considerable power. This is deemed as the Minister having gone native and in October 2010, claims were made that Jeremy Hunt had â€Å"gone native†. Also, when Alan Johnson took position of the Home Secretary, he had relatively little experience in the policy of governing the UK and was therefore more reliant on the Civil Service than he may have chosen to be. Manipulation of information may occur. Ministers, such as Alan Johnson, rely on officials to supply them with background facts upon which to base decisions. Skilful officials may be able to present statistics and research findings in a way as to influence final conclusions There is evidence to suggest that the civil service has been politicised due to the increase of special advisers with too much power. It can be argued that Special Advisers can work effectively with civil servants, and it is a relationship of mutual benefit, not a matter of regret. The role of the UK Civil Service is to help the Government of the day develop and carry out their policies and administer the public services for which they are responsible. Ministers have to be able to trust civil servants to be discreet otherwise politicians may feel the need to surround themselves with political appointees whose main virtue is their loyalty to that politician rather than having ability to formulate good policy and then have it implemented. A special advisor can give more biased opinions and can be there to help the Minister, rather than the department, policy or government. Spin doctors such as Alistair Campbell had great influence over policy on the basis of how it would appear to the public, and this can be seen in particular over the time Blair spent talking to him, rather than to the Civil Service over plans for the Millennium. There is also evidence to suggest that individual departments to develop long term policies of their own. When a new minister of government comes to power, the department will seek to impose its own ‘culture' upon them. The Treasury is most often suspected of such tactics, as it is notoriously opposed to increased public expenditure or any radical spending plans, caused by the fact that it has to keep the long term in mind, and the fact that a likely change in government will see most of the polices undone anyway, causing undue harm on the economy. If the senior Treasury officials can persuade each new Chancellor of the Exchequer of the virtues of keeping spending low, their influence automatically grows. An example of this was in 1999, when Chancellor Gordon Brown was resisting calls for extensive increases in spending on health and education, some critics suggested he had ‘gone native', suggesting that Brown had been influenced by the Civil Servants, adopting their norm of behaviour and so losing his enthusiasm for spending. Overall, the Civil Service do have more power over policy than their supposed political neutrality should let them, but it is to be expected in the modern world of political advisors, and the competitive world which seeks public recognition. While the senior civil servants, due to the permanence and long serving nature do have a great deal of power, the average civil servant has less power, and is more reliant upon presentation of the facts in a favourable way then anything else, something which is true with Ministers and Government as a whole.

Political Economy Essay

Approaches to study of Politics Falls under Political Science We’re made to do the impossible Summary 1 paragraph will do. Provide the insight -Data -Theory used -approach used – use other references to prove your point 3 x 5 Surname all caps first name email address mobile number On approach deals with different meaning of politics Political Science What is Politics & its scope ? Banned words Politics is dirt Politics is nothing more than a means of rising in the world Samuel Johnson Systematic organization of hatred Henry Adams Art of governing mankind by deceiving them. BASIS of POLITICS Intellect and Will Man Capable of Thinking Politics as a rational activity Man has the capacity to think and realize his wants, needs and interest which are potentially in conflict with others’ wants, needs, and interests. Man cannot survive on its own. He needs someone else Politics as a social activity 2 or more persons Politics as a social activity 2 or more persons Associate with society Politics is concerned with social dynamics. POLITICS AS THE ART OF GOVt What concerns the state Study of government and exercise of authority Authoritative allocation of social values Framework Definition does not provide David Easton Authoritative binding to all Allocation done by the government Social Values anything held important by society budget allocation, privatization, elections Henry Mayo 3 characteristics that separate the political from non-poitical Politics is focused on the governing function through which are: Limitation on Easton on Mayo’s concept of Politics POLITICS DOES NOT ONLY HAPPEN IN THE GOVERNMENT POLTICS AS PUBLIC AFFAIRS State DIFFERENCE OF GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS PUBLIC PRIVATE State Civil Society Institutions of the State ( apparatus of government, infrastructure, economy, taxes Autonomous bodies (family, kinship groups, private businesses, trade unions Funded at the public’s Expense Set up and funded by individual citizens Responsible for the collective organization of community life Responsible for the satisfaction of own interests rather than the interest of the larger society. Private with this definition EX: RH Bill It should not be affair of the government. Public Sphere vs Private Sphere Restricted to the acitivites of the state itself and the responsibilities that are properly exercised by public bodies Politics should not meddle on personal affairs and institutions POLITICS AS COMPROMISE & CONSESUS A daily activity in which differing interests within a given unity of rule are conciliated by giving them a share in power in proportion to their role in the welfare and the survival of the community Bernard Crick Everything will just be fine – for no matter big or small the dispute is, at the end of the day we will just arrive in a compromise. Assumption: Conflict is inevitable Resolving conflict through compromise conciliation and negotiation, rather than violence and coercion. Not limited to government POLITICS IS INEVITABLE LINKED TO THE PHENOMENA OF CONFLICT & COOPERATION Politics as master science Why Make use other things to make things in order. Existence of rival opinions- conflict People recognize that they have to work with others cooperation Hannah Arendt- Acting in Concert Otto Von Bismarck- Politics is the art of the possible. POWER AS POWER & DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES What is power? X has power over Y insofar as Robert Dahl X is able, in one way or another, to get Y to do something That is more to X’s liking And which Y would not otherwise have done. Faces of Power As decision-making – you shape there decisions As agenda setting – You are preventing the person to make a decision As thought control- You are imposing your preference in an indirect or subtle way. Definition of Politics through POWER and allocation of resources FIND THE FOLLOWING QUOTES OF FAMOUS SCIENTISTS Adrian Leftwich- Politics is at the heart of all collective social activity, formal and informal, public and private, in all human groups, institutions and societies. Harold Lasswell Politics is, in essence power: the ability to achieve a desired outcome, through whatever means. Kate Millett â€Å"Politics is a power-structured relationships, arrangements whereby one group of persons is controlled by another. â€Å"POLITICS†- as the constrained use of social power. Robert Goodin & Hans- Dieter Klingemann Constrained because there are already laws establish. Politics takes place in all social activities; politics happen at every level of social interaction Politics concern production, distribution and use of resources in the course of social existence. -Ability to achieve a desired outcome, through whatever means . Approaches to the study of Politics Ontology- the nature of being Epistemology -How do you know what we know? Theoretical – concept & idea Empirical- Evidence, observation History- both theory and experience Methodology – How do we exactly know what we know

Media Commercialization

Commercialization of Indian media The media industry across the globe has witnessed spectacular changes in the recent years. There has been a considerable change in the perception of media in the olden times, as revolutionary instruments and powerful political players. Today, the media is perceived more as businesses with a motto of `remaining profitable'. The growing competition along with the trend of confinement of media ownership to a few major transnational conglomerates has further intensified the commercial pressure in the terrain.This has also resulted in media proliferation, wherein numerous emerging media products embark on catering to the needs of a more fragmented market. Commodification of news has become a serious issue today. â€Å"The news has become a product, packaged and sold to the economic elite, designed to satisfy the needs of the advertiser first, and audience second. † The mounting competition adds on to this connotation which stimulates the media genr e to adopt strategies which may even disfigure and deface the relationship between editorial content and advertising.As the media dome becomes commercial, it relies more on advertising revenue for its survival, which, in turn increases pressure to develop media content that appeals to the advertisers. This, in fact, results in an elevated amount of conflicts with the media's accountability towards public in terms of supplying information, in public interest. In fact, the very purpose of the existence of the media, i. e. , informing the public is overshadowed by such commercial concerns.The increasing pressure also leads the media houses to be choosy about their audiences with regard to the advertiser appeal, and hence the focus is shifted to wealthy, elite audience. In India, the media careens between froth, marketing, reporting, opinion, and reacting. Seriousness is often dislodged by commercialism: editor of leading national daily turned gourmand and celebrity interviewer; front p age coverage of celebrity weddings, gastric troubles; fatter â€Å"lifestyle† supplements; hour long adulatory shows on news channels about an Indian superstar who frankly claims to have no ambitions other to have fun and entertain the masses etc.Predictably, the preponderance of coverage of the attacks and its aftermath is superficial too: trending to human interest, pandering to mass emotional outrage, instead of focusing on systemic problems. â€Å"Serious† reporters are doing talk shows of sorts, calling on their guest panel former soap stars, actors, and socialites. Reports are rife with accusations of the administration's callousness, dropped balls, and self-righteous calls for more heads to roll. Journalism in the face of a real crisis is laced with passionate rhetoric, not real questions and solutions.The strength and importance of media in a democracy is well recognized. Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution, which gives freedom of speech and expression includes within its ambit, freedom of press. The existence of a free, independent and powerful media is the cornerstone of a democracy, especially of a highly mixed society like India. Media is not only a medium to express once feelings, opinions and views, but it is also responsible and instrumental for building opinions and views on various topics of regional, national and international agenda.The pivotal role of the media is its ability to mobilize the thinking process of millions. But in today’s highly commercialized market, the press is losing its main focus. Journalism had deviated from the path of responsible journalism to more saleable journalism. There is more news about the â€Å"rich and the happening† rather than the poor and dying. The gap between mass media and mass reality is growing at an alarming pace. Nowadays media is primarily focusing only â€Å"the elite† section of society. How much does the unforgettable tour of the Bachchans affect us?An d how much would a disaster like Bihar floods affect the people? Yet, the media is more interested in focusing on what should be printed on page 3. Ask yourself, does page 3 mean more than the realities of life? Though the role and importance of media is increasing in our lives today, it’s sad that its accountability and professionalism is dwindling. â€Å"With great power comes great responsibility†. Television channels in a bid to increase their TRP ratings are resorting to sensationalized journalism with a view to earn a competitive edge over the others.Sting operations have now become the order of the day. We are a democracy of a billion plus people with the largest youth population in the world, large sections poor and uneducated, inadequate social services, and a country in transition. It is imperative that our influential intelligentsia focus unfailingly on meaningful issues since the opportunity cost is enormous. The government is increasingly sidelined by priv ate enterprise; unprepared peasants are migrating to straining cities; and the nouveau riche anxious to express their nascent individuality is turning to incongruous consumption.Our academia is intently focused on the graduate's financial remuneration, and naturally, commercial interests don't provide any discipline. Entertainment czars consume our attention, shape public opinion, and increasingly control our daily life by forming a nexus with private industry, and entering the administration. We have mall adjacent to mall adjacent to mall, and almost no democratic recreational space. Mostly the middle-class Indian comes in contact with one another to consume, an individualistic pursuit, thus developing no collective voice or opinion.Further, democracy in India has many pitfalls: the educated vote counts as much (or as little) as the uneducated. Nepotistic, political power is concentrated; political will is weak, and further emasculated by our coalition government structure. Any one can start a new political party, garner a few electoral votes, cobble together a patchwork government, and sporadically threaten to fell the government if their personal demands aren't met. As a country we can't afford to feed or educate our children. We use our poorest as cattle, carting heavy burden on their backs in crowded urban markets.Our farmers are committing mass suicide. Religion is a recurring flash point. There is so much going on in India that we can't afford to dilute our focus on the important issues with front page/prime time coverage of entertainment. Moreover, print media, especially national newspapers are newspapers of record, and the current news standards will leave many important events that shape our country undocumented for our future generations. The state runs on taxes, and is liable to its citizenry, however the individual is unable to demand accountability.The Indian citizen has no serious platform to voice her concerns, of harnessing institutional powe r to fight systemic battles. Consequently, we now have a country where citizen activism is either all or nothing. It's an all out battle, which the common person struggling just to survive, exhausted amid the delays, chaos, chronic infrastructure shortfall/failure and pollution cannot wage. Activism cannot and should not be at the exclusionary cost of personal life, and livelihood. Media must provide serious relevant coverage, accurate information, and emocratic access to voice public concerns. This is media's non-negotiable obligation to society, by virtue of preferential access, mass reach and the ability to shape public opinion. Yes, the Mumbai attacks are a wake up call to our government, but also to our media, one of the original and last bastions of democracy. India urgently needs renewed civic engagement, and it is the media's responsibility to create that platform, not as a temporary reaction to some outrage, but as a permanent social structure. India is witnessing a rapid  commercialization  and  diversification of media  (news).One only needs to glance at the leading national dailies and 24/7  channels  to understand the extent of its impact. Reality is nothing more than a series of moments. And in these very moments one can find  elements of all that is strange, frightening, colourful, funny, ludicrous and fantastic. Who needs fiction when fact offers it all! But when it comes to the Indian media, there is sometimes simply too much being offered. Johann Wolfgang Van  Goethe  had felt that very few people have the imagination for reality.One wonders what the great thinker would have felt compelled to say after an evening spent surfing contemporary  Indian news  channels. Would he perhaps have concluded that too much imagination can mist reality, shrouding it in unnecessary layers of melodrama and exaggeration? Our so-called news  channels  fall into this erroneous routine with alarming regularity. The concept of ‘break ing news' in the age of 24/7 broadcasting has led to a tectonic shift in the paradigm- the spotlight has shifted from what matters to what sells. So the media is constantly on the prowl for fresh fodder-anything that exhibits potential to arrest eyeballs will do.Minor matters such as the relevance of the story, sensitivity towards the subject or the viewers, news prioritization, etc. get relegated to corridors of obscurity. Here are some moments from the recent past which were pounced upon with glee by the story-starved ‘infotainment' networks; moments which made the day for India TV and its ever-growing brethren; in short, moments which were made for the media Terrorism, terrible as it may sound, is made for television. The dawning sense of horror, the magnitude of destruction, the agony of human loss is captured with maximum precision and lasting imagery through the electronic media.The terrorist needs the oxygen of publicity to survive and TV provides with him that. 26/11 h aunts our collective imagination both because of the scale of terror and TV's explosive coverage of the attacks. The commercialization of the Indian media takes many forms. It has been known for some time that a few of India’s leading media conglomerates — including Bennett, Coleman & Co. , the publisher of The Times of India and The Economic Times — offer what that company calls â€Å"innovative† and â€Å"integrated† marketing strategies that blur the traditional line between advertising and article content.Bennett, Coleman’s Medianet division, for example, lets advertisers place articles on certain pages in the paper without clearly marking them as advertising. One of the company’s more aggressive offerings is a product known as a Private Treaty, which offers companies a certain amount of advertising space in exchange for equity stakes in those companies. According to the Private Treaties Web site, Bennett, Coleman now holds such e quity stakes in more than 100 companies. Officially, the companies are only given advertising space.But at least one businessman confirmed to me that it was made clear that he could also expect favourable news coverage. At the very least, it seems evident that Private Treaties set up a very serious conflict of interest, a point highlighted last year when the Indian stock market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, wrote a letter to the chairman of the Press Council expressing concern about the business practice. Private Treaties are an example of the commoditisation of business news. But much of the recent attention in India has focused on paid political content.Over the past year or so, there have been a growing number of reports of politicians paying media houses for favourable coverage or to skirt restrictions on campaign financing. Embracing commercialization seems to pose a threat to the quality of content communicated by the media, which, in turn, is question ing the fundamental objective of its very existence. Commercialization has a positive impact on the financial performance of media in the market, but it indeed shows the way to certain unpleasant upshots, mainly on the quality of the content of dissemination.

Radioactive Waste Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Radioactive Waste Management - Essay Example Hospitals and labs doing research work generate low-levels of radioactive waste. Also the nuclear fuel cycle generates it, however at this level the radioactivity lasts a short time and not dangerous to dispose of. The intermediate-level of waste should be disposed carefully as it contains higher amounts of radioactivity. The high-level waste may be the used fuel itself, or the waste generated from reprocessing the fuel. They contain long-lived radioactivity and also generates a high amount of heat. (AUA, 2007) Radioactive materials are themselves a threat, and shielding is required for their management. Their waste is even more a threat since it can affect millions of people throughout the area that has been exposed to, hence proper management is required. Since most of the radioactive waste can be reused for nuclear plants, its high cost and utility makes it important to manage it properly. Also management from the point of view of keeping radioactive materials secure is also important since in the wrong hands, radioactive materials can be used to spread terrorism in the world. (IAEA, 1995) Radioactive waste is hazardous for the natural environment in high quantities. Once the radioactivity escapes into the environment, humans and other species are exposed to ionizing radiation. Since humans are among the most radiation sensitive organisms, the effect can be as bad as or even worse than that happed to the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The natural resources would be destroyed over extended periods of time. Chemical pollution and adverse affect on the natural habitats of other species can de disastrous for our future generations. (IAEA, 1995) Political Impacts Keeping radioactive waste can be a threat to the security of a nation and even a threat to the world. Since terrorism is a very strong force in this world today, keeping radioactive waste provides an opportunity to these fanatics to take control of the waste and use them for their terrorist activities. Physical The radioactive waste requires special landfills with lead containers kept deep inside the earth. The land then becomes unusable due to threat of radioactive contamination. When an area becomes contaminated, it then becomes quarantined and involves a massive cleanup campaign. If the radioactive waste is short lived then usually the site becomes usable after the radioactive waste decays. However in the case of long-lived waste, suitable sites are cleared and dug up to facilitate the waste in deep final repositories. (IAEA, 1995) Economic The management of radioactive waste is often extremely expensive. According to an Israeli estimate, it costs $30,000 per ton to treat and properly dispose low-radioactive nuclear waste (Kloosterman, 2007). This cost is extremely high for even a developed country. According to Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), UK's nuclear waste clean-up program could cost more than 70bn (BBC, 2006). Responses Individuals Everyone at a personal level realizes the threat that radioactive waste poses for their country and to themselves. At a personal level, everyone should try to contain and limit the use of radioactive material in