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Lung cancer has been one of the deadliest diseases caused by excessive consumption of tobacco

Lung cancer has been one of the deadliest diseases caused by excessive consumption of tobacco. The government has responded to the rising levels of tobacco consumption by slapping a highly exploitative tax to both the tobacco farmer and the cigarette’s manufacturer. The question that stems out of this line of thinking aims at establishing a relationship between the rate of cigarette smoking and cigarette tax. For this research, we shall hypothesize that the higher the rate of cigarette taxation, the lower the smoking rates in the United States of America. The reasoning that leads to the development of this hypothesis is in accordance to the law of demand that states that, the higher the price of commodities the lower the consumption levels. Higher taxation levels are expected to increase the prices of the respective commodities. Some of the issues expected to shed some light on this topic include the impact of tobacco taxes and prices on the demand levels of cigarettes. This will be possible to access through the determination of a possible correlation between the two variables. Secondly, we shall use a measure of the proportion of individual income spent on the purchase of cigarettes. Previous studies have shown that a change in price leads to less than proportionate decline in the level of demand hence, the price elasticity of demand stands from -0.3 to -0,5. In this research, we shall determine the relationship between price and the level of cigarette demand.

Background

Ramsey’s rule holds that consumption taxes should be applied to those goods that enjoy low price elasticity. The major reason for this is to allow for minimization of the welfare losses associated with the taxation of such goods. In the recent past, many countries have moved to increase tobacco tax to reduce the levels of tobacco consumption. A good example is the United States where the welfare loss associated with tobacco far much outweighs the benefits that are associated with it. The agenda of the increased costs is that, the tobacco users should bear the full costs associated with the consumption of tobacco. However, they assume that the social costs arising can be quantified in monetary terms and their equivalents determined. A major topic that relates heavily to this topic is the use of tobacco tax as part of the public health policy. This is supported strongly by the externality costs that come along with the use of tobacco. However, this research aims at establishing the impacts of the taxes on the tobacco.

The history of cigarette smoking

In the United States, one can say that tobacco tax is much older than tobacco smoking. This is in the light that, tobacco law was developed out of the development of tobacco products such as snuff back in the late 18th century. It was not until mid-19th century that cigarette smoking became popular among the citizens. Alexander Hamilton introduced the first tobacco law in 1794 as the secretary to the treasury. The introduction of this law on tobacco products was successful as many amendments. It composed of major modifications that were repealed after it was realized that they had minimal impact on the federal budget. Despite the failure of this law, Hamilton’s idea of tobacco taxation remained a major topic and subject to the history of tobacco taxation in the United States.

Almost a decade later, the House of Representatives passed a major law on many similar products among them, tobacco. The passing of this law was aimed at raising funds that would be used in debt servicing after the union had acquired increasing debts over time. The law, passed in July 1, 1862 could not last as a whole. Shortly after the civil war financing was over, most of the substances that had been passed alongside tobacco were repealed but incidentally, tobacco remained as one of the substances that had to be regulated by the law. The tax revenues emanating from tobacco taxation was the government’s main source of revenue in the year 1868.

The federal government was the only entity that had imposed an exercise tax on tobacco until the 20th century when Iowa became the first state to enact a law to exercise tax on tobacco. This new tax was in addition to the federal tax making the taxation of tobacco gain significant weight on the producers. By the year 1950, about 40 states had enacted legislation to levy taxes on tobacco. The entire United States and Columbia district had enacted tobacco tax by the year 1969. Several other cities had also put in place their own citywide cigarette tax that aimed at collecting tax for the jurisdictions. Among these cities, we have New York and Chicago among others. New York had the highest levels of tobacco tax in the entire United States with a $1.5 levy on the city tax and $4.55 rate on the state and local level. The state of Missouri had the least tobacco taxes listing 17cents, far below the list of many other countries.

Lumbar Spine Movement Analysis

Lumbar Spine Movement Analysis

Longissimus Thoracis Agonist concentric Insertion-Longissimus thoracis inserts at the posterior tubercle of the traverse processes of vertebrae C2-C6 Origin-originates from the first five vertebrae (T1-T5) Plane motion- lateral flexion and rib rotation

Rectus Abdominis Antagonist concentric Insertion-Rectus abdominis inserts at costal cartilages of ribs 5-7 Origin- rectus abdominis originates from pubic crest and pubic symphysis Plane motion- lateral flexion

Semispinalis Capitis Antagonist concentric Insertion- semispinalis capitis inserts at the back base of the skull Origin- this muscle originates from articular processes of vertebra C4-C7 Plane Motion- rotation of the head and lateral flexion

Iliocostalis Thoracis Agonist concentric Insertion- traverse processes of vertebra C4-C6 Origin- These muscles originate from the angles of ribs 3-6 Plane motion- lateral flexion

Splenius Cervicis Agonist eccentric Insertion- splenius Cervicis inserts at transverse processes of C1-C3 Origin- This muscle originates from spinous processes of T3-T6 Plane motion- extend the neck and lateral flexion

Lucid Dream

Lucid Dream

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The nature of the dream

In the dream, I experienced exam life in my high school years. Although I used to perform well in mathematics, the subject was not a go-easy subject on me. In particular, exam periods were characterized with fear and fatigue in attempt to determine how I could navigate through the subject. Therefore the dream, I figured myself in the middle of an exam room, and the procedures of the exam were going on as usual. However, the dream was challenging since if I failed that particular exam, I was to rewind to grade five education level. I strongly believe this was a lucid dream since in the middle of the dream I found elements that never appeared real. For instance, it is impossible to return to grade five; this among other factors solidified the fact that the dream was a lucid dream.

What I choose to do

After dreaming, I took a futuristic investigation on the imperativeness of the dream in my life. Dreams communicate to the dreamer about the future concepts (Voss, 2011, pp. 34). In the coming days, am looking forward to enter a competitive face of my academic life. Therefore, in the regard the dream acted as an adviser on what I needed to do, and how I needed to do it. In particular, I choose to word hard in class since I believe through hard-work, I will stand in a better position to achieve my academic goals, and prove the dream right.

Dream (Adaptive or not)

Dreams are impetus to reality, on the other hand, dream imagery act as symbolism, and that’s the only way that a dream communicates to us in various level. In this case, I would think there is an adaptive purpose to it since the nature of how different messages are communicates to us the purpose and the thesis of the dream. For instance, I figured myself in classroom environment and currently am still a students therefore, my dream adapts to the current state of my life.

References

Voss, U. (2011). Unlocking the Lucid Dream. Scientific American Mind, 22(5), 33-35.

LSI-R ASSESMENT DOMAINS

LSI-R ASSESMENT DOMAINS

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LSI-R Assessment Domains

LSI-R, (Level of Service Inventory-Revised), is considered a need assessment to help in identification of problems in the life of an offender and predict their recidivism risks. The item is instrumental in assessment of offenders in 10domains related to the likelihood of an offender going back to prison. Tackling of need areas using prison rehabilitative involvement can reduce an offender’s re-incarceration probability’s-R’s are mostly completed by assessors who are trained and interview the offenders. The information is also confirmed through external sources. Female Offenders who are assessed are those who their sentences are more than 6 months with two women attached to the women facilities tasked with the responsibility of conducting LSI-R. On the other hand, Male Offenders sentenced to 9 month and more are often targeted for the assessment done by four counselors.

LSI-R, assessment domains

Criminal history

Criminal history of an offender is important in the while, process with roughly three quarters of the entire population assessed having two or more convictions. This means many of them are always repeat offenders. At the same time, criminal history of offenders and close acquaintances has to be assessed during the process (Gendreau, Little & Goggin, 580).

Education/Employment

The assessment of almost half of the offenders has shown that they do not have high school diploma with the 12 months before incarceration, indicates that 56% of men and 65% of women were reported to be unemployed. This shows how the level of education and a person is living standard importance in the entire process (Lowenkamp, PhD & Bechtel, 2007).

Family/Marital

It is important to assess the family situation of the offenders to understand the reasons for their involvement in drugs. Studies conducted have shown that individuals assessed have their immediate family members or significant others involved in criminal acts.

Accommodation

It is important to know the address of an offender to help in supervision to ensure they do not go back to using drugs.

Alcohol/Drug Problem

The assessment of the level or degree of a drug problem can be done through screening to understand the root of their addiction or drug abuse. At the same time, the drug abuse has a direct link with an individual criminal behavior.

Leisure/Recreation

Assessment of the offenders’ leisure and recreation is healthy in figuring out what they do during their free time. This would help in coming up with ways to help them make good usage of their free time (Gendreau, Little, & Goggin, 600). Such an evaluation is beneficial to the offenders as the assessors are able to establish structured schedule, which entail ancillary support services and restriction of unstructured time

Companions

It is important for an offender to be assessed on the individuals they surround themselves with in that many of them often surround themselves with persons they share similar backgrounds .In most cases, they fail to establish close ties with law abiding people and such a scenario has an impact in their lives in terms of drug abuse.

Emotional/Personal

The evaluation of an offender emotional health is instrumental in choosing the counseling, screening, and medicine they need as almost half of them experience mental health challenges.

Attitudes/Orientation

The attitude of a person remains helpful in assessing conventional values associated with an individual. Offenders with favorable attitudes in relation to their prison sentence and supervision often translate to good behavior during their incarceration. Conversely, they are successful in completing community supervision.

Conclusion

Even though, LSI-R score shows moderate needs, the data from the individual domains often points many destabilizing factors presence among the offenders population. There is a need for proper case planning, efficient case management, as well as rehabilitation, which starts with a valid individual assessment. The quantitative survey assessment of offenders attributes in addition to their situations remains relevant in making decisions supervision levels and treatment.

References

Gendreau, P., Little, T., & Goggin, C. (1996). A meta-analysis of the predictors of adult offender recidivism: What works!Criminology, 34(4), 575-607. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/220697595?accountid=458Lowenkamp, C. T., PhD., & Bechtel, K. (2007). The predictive validity of the LSI-R on a sample of offenders drawn from the records of the iowa department of corrections data management system. Federal Probation, 71(3), 25-29,57. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213976981?accountid=458

LPN to RN Transition

LPN to RN Transition

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Introduction

The medical field is among the few industries that are continuously growing and it needs new professionals who can fill numerous positions that exist. Nursing has now become the fastest growing profession within the healthcare industry. Many people have the notion that a nurse is nurse but this is not always the case. Even though licensed practical nurses and registered nurses sound similar, they very little in common when it comes to their job tasks, salary ranges and education paths (Claywell, 2009). There are different licensing and designation for LPNs and RNs. None of these is more important compared to the other, but they are all critical in nursing and quality care of patients.

Role differences between LPN and RN especially those with BS degree

Nursing process

The nursing process comprises of four main steps which are assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation. The roles of the LPN are limited in each of these four steps but they can not perform them independently or completely. On the other hand, the RN performs the first physical assessment of a patient who has been newly admitted. It is also the duty of the RN to carry out daily assessment on the patients. The LPN is supervised by an RN or physician. The LPN only performs her duties as far as she is allowed by the law. Even though an LPN can learn quickly while doing the job, and gain knowledge on the conditions of patients, they are not allowed to do anything without a direction from an RN (Nunnery, 2010). They do not do assessments on patients but can collect vital signs from patients such as blood glucose level and pain and keep the RN informed. An LPN is only supposed to take note of how a patient is and how they respond to stimuli but they are not expected to interpret the data or make decisions pertaining to the patient. The LPN is supposed to report any of their findings to the RN. The RN then determines how these readings are used in the clinical picture for patients and whether there should be changes made in the care plan (Claywell, 2009).

Care plan

The implementation of a care plan involves performing day to day care of a patient. For instance, the RN is expected to determine that a patient is likely to benefit from talking a walk three times a day and make it as an intervention in the care plan. However, the role of the LPN is to actually assist the patient in taking the walks. At the end of a shift, the RN evaluates the progress made by the patient towards the specific goals that would help in their recovery. The RN then makes adjustments dependent on the progress of a patient on the care plan (Claywell, 2009).

Critical thinking

The RNs have a role of developing a care plan and do nay necessary changes on the plans. LPNs on the other hand can only contribute to the plans but they do not actually create the plans. Care planning and evaluation needs an individual to have critical thinking skills. These include the ability of analyzing information, considering any medical conditions and putting this information together into the health status of a patient (Nunnery, 2010). Students learn these skills in nursing skills but they are not part of the LPN curriculum that mainly focusses on bedside tasks. The RN is always expected to see the big picture of every patient.

There exist major differences when it comes to the scope of practice between RNs and LPNs. Sometimes this gap is wider depending on training, level of education, certification and specific guidelines within a state.

Strategies and suggestions to transiting LPN/LVN to ensure success in new RN roles

Most of the LPNs end up becoming RNs after working for a period of time. It is important for the LPNs to ensure that they have a smooth transition from the LPN role to that of an RN. An LPN/LVN who wants to become an RN should first make sure that they get the required education. They require an extra form of training that will put them up to speed with the role of an RN and include it in their scope of practice. Another strategy is to ensure that they are keen in learning and grasping everything that is required of an RN. They are supposed always be attentive and learn from the RN who supervises them so that they can know what the practice entails (Claywell, 2009).

Conclusion

The RN scope of practice involves potentially dangerous and complex tasks like adjustment of doses on the basis of the condition of a patient: invasive procedures such as giving intravenous chemotherapy or insertion of central venous catheter. Nursing is a hierarchy that is dependent on education and skills of an individual, but no role should be deemed less of a nurse or taken for granted. Therefor both an RN and LPN have a vital role to play in patient care.

References

Claywell, L. (2009). LPN to RN transitions (2nd Ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby Elsevier.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Nunnery, R. (2010). Making the transition from LPN to RN. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis.

Low Voter Turnout in Texas

Low Voter Turnout in Texas

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Low Voter Turnout in Texas

Voting is an important part of citizen responsibility and most of the citizens do not take this seriously. However, some other voters take it seriously and go on to vote and elect their leaders. Of all the states of America including the district of Colombia, the lowest voter turn out has been recorded in Texas. This can be attributed to different issues which have taken place and which forms part of the history of the Texas state. Therefore, it is an important thing that the voter turnout is increased and different people and organizations have tried to increase the voter turn out with not fruits. This can be attributed to some fixed factors which cannot be changed. This paper discusses the issue of low voter turnout in the state of Texas, how this has affected the voting process and the cause of the low turnout as well as the different ways which this can be rectified and make sure that every individual who has attained voting age has the ability to vote and choose their leaders instead of just sitting at home when it is time to vote.

One of the many reasons why most Texans do not vote is the question of whether voting really matters and this lack of political efficacy makes it very difficult for the voters to change what they think needs to be changed. This is because with voting or no voting some things remain the same for the people and this includes things like trash pick-up fee which has remained the same and in the case of the state of Texas on the lower side. Therefore, some individuals who observe these issues and even other which politicians do not have a direct or the power to change decide not to vote at all because even if they vote the thinking or the mentality is that everything will remain the same. Therefore because of this, most of the individuals do not really vote and leave things as they are. However, this is not the only reason as to why Texans do no vote.

Other factors are the major parties dominating the state of Texas at different times and this had a negative impact on the state of Texas. For example, from the time of civil war the democratic party dominated the state of Texas and this made the people belief that every time there was a voting process it was going to remain the same that a democratic candidate was going to win and therefore this became very difficult for the people to trust the system could change. Therefore, most of the individuals stopped voting due to this reason. However, after a while the political wave changed and it favored the republican party since the 1990s. from the 1990s therefore it means that most of the Texans were not able to vote since every time they want to vote they remember that it is a republican who will win and therefore the motivation to vote gets lost.

Another reason why it is very difficult for most of the people in Texas to vote is the voters eligibility. The first and most important thing under this is that anyone within America who is not American cannot vote. This therefore makes the population which can vote less since some of them are not American even though they are in the state of Texas legally. Other are in the state of Texas illegally and this serves as an outright reason why they cannot vote. Children are also not allowed to vote and this affects Texas a lot since it has children covering more than a fourth of the total population. By children it means the population which has not yet attained the voting age of 18 years. After removing the population which cannot vote the voting population which remains is referred to as voting-eligible population (VEP). This population is low in Texas and therefore this accounts for the reason why it is very difficult to have Texas being on the top list of those states which vote highly.

Apart from the above-mentioned factors things like demography and socio-economic status also plays a very significant role in determining who votes and who does not vote. Firstly, older people are more likely to vote than younger people and this puts the young population at a place whereby their votes cannot be much dependable and because of this, the state continues to go down in the list of those who vote from the state (Cortina, & Rottinghaus, 2021). The other issue is that the native Texans are more likely to vote than immigrants from other states. This also puts the state of Texas down in the list of high voting states. Other factors like English proficiency are an important part which determines if the voters vote highly or rather come out in large numbers (Cortina, & Rottinghaus, 2019). Those with English proficiency are likely to vote more and better while those less in English proficiency are likely not to vote or just in low numbers.

The other very important determinant of the voter turnout are the rules in place regarding voting and the may verification processes. This puts citizens through unnecessary scrutiny and because of this most of the individuals do not undergo the process and give up (Morrow, 2015). On the other side it becomes too expensive to undergo all the verification processes and there is a lot of spending on the elections which is considered unnecessary (Cortina, & Rottinghaus, 2021). One of such ways of verification is the photo verification method. This means that according to the law any Texan was not allowed to vote unless they shown their photo, however this law was blocked by Obama government alongside other states which had come up with similar laws. This was a way to prevent imper-personification of the voters and increase transparency but it was considered too much.

Therefore, based on these factors it is clear that the low voter turnout has been in existence for a specific reason and this is a problem when it comes to the general united states elections since it is below the average voter turnout of the United States.

There have been many measures to increase voter turn out and one of the ways which has succeeded is the automatic voter registration. This means that when a person turns 18 they are automatically registered and this is done mainly using the drivers license. Even though this has been considered controversial for most of the part it has worked and there is seemingly a change in the voters which is being noticed (Cortina, & Rottinghaus, 2019). Help America Vote Act of 2002 was also an instrumental law which was passed and it has since then helped the voters very much as well as the states deal with problems which arise as a result of low voter turnout or other complications which arise during the voting process and period.

In conclusion, Texas has had a long history in regards to the manner in which voter turn out has been experienced. Even though it has been negative, there are efforts to end the low voter turnout and there are some goo positive results being seen. This gives hope that everything will be fine soon and a state of balance will be noticed.

References

Cortina, J., & Rottinghaus, B. (2019). Vote centers and turnout by election type in Texas. Research & Politics, 6(3), 2053168019864224.

Cortina, J., & Rottinghaus, B. (2021). “The quiet revolution”: convenience voting, vote centers, and turnout in Texas elections. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 1-21.

Morrow, S. (2015). Causes of low voter turnout of the hispanic population in southwest Texas (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).

Low Health Literacy among Less Educated Older Adults

Low Health Literacy among Less Educated Older Adults

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Low Health Literacy among Less Educated Older Adults

Education plays a significant role in the lives of almost everyone. With older adults who have low levels of education, they must get to know about the current trends, especially in the health sector. However, that does not always happen, and these individuals, even though significant to society most of the time, are left out, and their health is never taken care of thoroughly. This comes as a result of them not following up on current news or adjustments in the health sector. Another reason they may not be conversant with the health issues is that they may be not connected to their children, or their children still either do not care too much about the parent’s health or do not follow up on current changes in the health sector. Therefore this paper discusses limited education as a factor that leads to low health literacy among older adults.

The reason for choosing this factor as a determinant of those who have less knowledge about their health is that low levels of education make it very difficult for a person to read about health matters. Also, how they can benefit from the different provisions already in place, especially for the older people. Having low levels of education also means that the person must have had a low-paying job and maybe did not save for the old age period. Therefore, why do not have any assurance or insurance that caters to their needs at old age? These individuals, therefore, have a difficult time managing themselves when it comes to health because, without the knowledge about something, it is challenging to benefit from such a thing. These older individuals with less education go through a lot before getting their health needs which are many at this stage addressed (Hahn & Truman, 2015). Older adults with less education can be approximated to those individuals who have only got the basic levels of education. In most times, these can be immigrants or those from marginalized areas.

Health issues

This is a contributing factor towards low levels of education as well as low levels of health knowledge. Most of the individuals who have health issues during their lifetime find they cannot fully grasp what their doctors or other assistants request them to do in terms of relation to their health. Therefore, these individuals, most of the time who are older adults, cannot fully understand what it means to take a particular medication within a given timeline or in a certain way, which continues to compromise their health in so many different ways. However, this happens when these individuals do not have an assistant. There are many kinds of policies, legislation, and guidelines for older adults who may have been influenced by health issues or are already being influenced by health issues. Due to that, their health literacy is deteriorating, or they could not achieve health literacy (Chesser et al., 2016). One of them is assigning these individuals a support system whereby they have a person look after them and ensure their health is at optimal health levels. The other thing is helping those who can still grasp some information about health issues to understand the basics about their health and what they can do to better their health in all possible ways in their age.

Ethical issues

When it comes to dealing with older people, ethics becomes a concern since these individuals have to be treated with the highest form of respect and assisted through everything to be healthy and better. This varies from the manner of handling to addressing them and considering different cultures from where they originate (Findley, 2015). Therefore, the ethical issue is that most of these older adults are from different cultures. The different cultures that other older adults are additional, and hence, there is a need to uphold the same in the hospital environment. The older people with less knowledge about their health aspirations, legislations, and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle most of the time tend to follow everything they might have heard before about health. Therefore, it is essential to address the issues they bring on board with a lot of care and respect. This enables them to leave behind the practices which they think are reasonable yet they are not good. Legislations in this area are that older adults should be treated with total respect and given all possible guidelines, they need to succeed in achieving a healthy status. Therefore health care officers should treat older people with a lot of care and help them through everything.

Technological issues

Most of the older people are not conversant with technology. Therefore, it brings a significant challenge to hospitals and even their caretakers because most health matters have been integrated with technology (CDC, 2009). Consequently, the provisions in this area are that these older people are trained on the basics about technology and how it relates to their health by their caretakers or nurses. Through this, a mutual benefit and understanding about technology are hoped to be achieved.

Cultural issues

Culture is part and parcel of a person. Therefore, older adults are likely to be more inclined to their cultures more, which brings cultural conflict with medical methods. Some individuals believe in traditional forms of treatment and therefore never go to the hospital; this is always a danger, and most people do not think about it, especially older adults. Even though some cultural practices are excellent and even help make the health of the individuals involved better, some others are a danger, and they make their health to be in trouble. The legislation in this area is that only positive health contributions of cultural practices are allowed (Hahn & Truman, 2015). Therefore anything that goes against the health provisions for older adults is to be scrapped, and the older adults are advised on how to use the scientifically proven methods to make their health better.

Interventions

Even though older healthy adults are faced with different issues and problems relating to their health, several interventions are already in place and others that can be put into practice to enable older adults to be in good health. Most of the interventions are encouraged by the medical field in conjunction with those who work closely with older adults. Therefore they try to help older adults be better in their quest for a healthy lifestyle.

Training the older adults on ways to live a healthy life means that the older adults are trained on the basics about keeping themselves clean and healthy throughout. This training may not require much and are possible since these older adults can grasp little information. Therefore, the movement in bits that are fully comprehensible and understandable to the older people is good. The activity also calls for practicals and being shown how to do different things to maintain their health.

They have caretakers for the older individuals. Most of these older individuals always need to be taken care of in case of those who need a person to keep close to them not to make a mistake about their health (CDC, 2009). Even though this can be expensive, the older adults need to be taken care of and given the total concentration that will enable their health to remain optimal.

Encourage the use of local dialects of English or a language that is familiar to them when they go to the hospital for the sake of expressing themselves. This also calls for a nurse or a medical officer with the same linguistic competence as the older adult to be present to listen and interpret this older adult’s needs. Some of these English dialects include Philadelphia English, Boston English, Chicago English, and so on.

When these individuals come to the hospital, having a person who stays with them or cares for them explains or expresses more profound what they need is a better way for them to address the issues that affect them.

Hospitals are keeping a record of the number of times the patient visits and therefore tracking the history of the older adult. This helps and enables the individuals to be better and their issues to be addressed efficiently.

Example

My grandmother has 80 years currently, and she stays with a caretaker. Her memory has deteriorated, and she cannot precisely remember everything about her health issues. She is an excellent example of a person who has low health literacy due to her medical condition.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2009). Improving health literacy for older adults: Expert panel report 2009. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services.

Chesser, A. K., Keene Woods, N., Smothers, K., & Rogers, N. (2016). Health literacy and older adults: a systematic review. Gerontology and geriatric medicine, 2, 2333721416630492.

Findley, A. (2015). Low health literacy and older adults: meanings, problems, and recommendations for social work. Social Work in Health Care, 54(1), 65-81.

Hahn, R. A., & Truman, B. I. (2015). Education improves public health and promotes health equity. International journal of health services, 45(4), 657-678.

LOW CRUDE OIL PRICES EFFECTS OF LOW PRICES OF CRUDE OIL

LOW CRUDE OIL PRICES: EFFECTS OF LOW PRICES OF CRUDE OIL

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Abstract

Oil behaves just like other commodities that exhibit wide price swings in periods of oversupply or shortage. Throughout much of the twentieth century, the domestic and international industry prices of crude oil have been greatly regulated through price controls or production. Recent downturn in the prices of crude oil will obviously have the most serious bearings on the exploration segment of the industry. This research paper addresses the impacts of low crude oil prices to the economy and major industries that are dependent, both directly and indirectly on crude oil within the United States.

Introduction

The world requires oil for various purposes such as operating oil-powered irrigation plants, to plant crops in fields using farm machinery, to power automobiles, and also as a raw material for making different kinds of products such as fabrics and medicines (Kilian & Park, 2009). This therefore means that oil is a very essential requirement for any economy to run. Also, the prices of oil have to be standardized to ensure efficient and responsible use of the raw material.

The price of oil is mainly determined by supply and demand, and by expectation. The economic activity closely relates to the demand for energy. It is also important during winter in countries that lie in the northern and southern hemispheres that require heating system to remain warm, and during simmers in countries that require effective air conditioning system. Supply is often affected by geospatial upsets and weather. Whereas low prices can lead to drought in investment, high prices makes produces to heavily invest which eventually boosts the supply.

The American economy is the world’s largest economy. Even though there are a number of factors that directly or indirectly contribute towards the status of the American economy, crude oil plays an extremely pivotal role which cannot be overlooked. Energy consumption is closely connected to both economic progress of the nation and other significant economic indicators such as trade and manufacturing. The significant drop in the prices of crude oil has led to creation of opportunities and threats which have consequently resulted in potential losers as well as several gainers.

The Americans’ appetite towards energy is very insatiable. Though the overall spending ratio on energy to the average gross domestic product has either remained steady in recent years or dropped considerably, such spending still take a huge chunk of household budget. Energy spending still remains a crucial determinant of living standards and critical components of expenses incurred in manufacturing. The United States spends almost two million dollars on crude oil. This figure exceeds 8% of its gross domestic product per annum (Hamilton, 2008). Also, the United States is the leading consumer of crude oil worldwide with an average consumption of twenty million barrels daily. Nearly half of the crude oil consumed daily in the United States is imported from about eighty countries that are members of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) while the other half is domestically produced.

After hitting the peak in September 2014, where the price of crude oil was $115 per barrel, the prices have dropped drastically and now oil trades at $47 a barrel (Kilian & Murphy, 2014). This has mainly been caused by the closing gap between the global demand of crude oil and the supply. In the United States, the effect of decreasing oil prices on the country’s economy has been a mixture of good news for oil sensitive industries such as airline, transportation, manufacturing, and American consumers, but also a bad news for countries that are members of OPEC.

According to the Economist magazine, low oil prices will cause a shift estimated to $1.3 trillion from producers of crude oil to consumers. A typical household will experience as much as 2% increase in the annual income since low crude oil prices means the consumer will spend $3000 annually on gasoline and end up saving as much as $1000. Moreover, the low crude oil prices have ensured typical US households have saved up to $75 billion in the last six months, and it is estimated that the savings would increase to $150 billion per year if the prices continue to fall exponentially. This has ensured many Americans are able to channel their savings, into other sectors of the economy, availing an impetus for expansion of business.

However, falling crude oil prices have majorly affected the shale oil industry. This is mainly because the industry’s inability to function and operate effectively, while still making profits when the price of crude oil is below $60 per barrel that is universally regarded as the break-even price (Hamilton, 2008). The hydraulic fracturing boom that was experienced in past years has been able to attract a massive amount real and financial resource into the shale oil production. If the prices of crude oil continue to decrease for a longer period of time, there is high likelihood that the shale industry will experience a massive withdrawal of seal and financial resources that had been injected into the industry. This will consequently compel the shale industry into discontinuing or downsizing their operations unless a breakthrough in the hydraulic fracturing technology. Consequently, the United States Economy will be quietly consequential as a result of this.

Low gasoline prices also have serious consequence on manufacturers of automobiles. This is mainly characterized by a major increase in the overall demand for autos. However, consumers will revert to large vehicles with less gas mileage. To prove this, recent data collected in the United States on sales of autos indicated a significant increase in demand, particularly for pickup trucks.

The United States auto companies are also required to comply with fuel efficiency standards for their automobiles. The current administration, led by President Obama has been adamant in its policy of pushing for upper efficiency standards, particularly after year 2010 when the price of pump surged to approximately $4 per gallon. Nonetheless, whenever there is a decline in the gas prices, the country experiences a loss of momentum in regard to concern for fuel efficiency. This in turn increases the flexibility of the administration towards the energy policy.

It is projected that the US will become the world’s largest producer and exporter of crude oil in few years to come (Karmee & Chadhaa, 2008). Apart from the boom in hydraulic fracturing, the government has been putting a lot of efforts in addressing environmental awareness and promoting public awareness so as to diminish the dependency of the country on crude oil from Middle East, which is considered as the most volatile region of the world. Moreover, low crude oil prices has offered a momentous chance for the Federal Government to rethink about its energy policy that has enforced restrictions on exports of natural gas, oil, and other related products. Also, massive tax breaks and subsidies are being given to individuals who work on alternative energy sources and oil companies. As the prices of crude oil sink, the United States government should re-examine these policies and if possible, relax the subsidies.

References

Kilian, L., & Murphy, D. P. (2014). The role of inventories and speculative trading in the global market for crude oil. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 29(3), 454-478.

EIA, U. (2013). Annual energy outlook 2013. US Energy Information Administration, Washington, DC.

Hamilton, J. D. (2008). Understanding crude oil prices (No. w14492). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Kilian, L., & Park, C. (2009). The impact of oil price shocks on the us stock market*. International Economic Review, 50(4), 1267-1287.

Karmee, S. K., & Chadha, A. (2005). Preparation of biodiesel from crude oil of Pongamia pinnata. Bioresource technology, 96(13), 1425-1429.

Love The Everlasting Journey

Love: The Everlasting Journey

Presented by

Institution

Introduction

Love acts as one of the most critical elements in human life. It is a variety of varying feelings, attitudes, and states ranging from interpersonal affection to pleasure. Love started with the creation of mankind and continues to thrive among people. People get into love relationships day in day out while others end up their relationships. Love is an everlasting journey because as long as life continues, love also does. Ex-romantic relationship has been a major topic of discussion in many sectors including churches, social media, and media houses. The outcomes of this paper will assist in establishing the main reasons why most people engage to ex-romantic relationship with their past lovers. The following paper provides an exploration of the ex-romantic relationship termination through analyzing the relevant literature. The literature review focuses on girl’s relationships with ex-boyfriends. The literature will discuss issues associated with ex-romantic relationship including the outcome of the relationship and methods of breaking up with romantic partners using social media.

Thesis statement:

Girls will always try to find their ex-boyfriends attractive irrespective of the type of relationship they currently have.

Literature review

Lovers provide different reasons for terminating their romantic relationship. Interpersonal communication researchers study various aspects related to autonomy and connection. According to Sahlstein & Dun (2008), many factors contribute to the termination of a relationship. The research revealed that career demands, seeking private time, and misunderstanding each other contributes into many relationship terminations experienced today. In addition, most partners engage in conflicts on how to manage autonomy-connection as each partner desires a different thing for a relationship. Women tend to show more reactions to a breakup through emotions compared to men (Perilloux & Buss, 2008). In most cases, girls find themselves getting back to their ex-boyfriends after a breakup because they have a feeling that their first love provided the best romance.

On the other hand, social media play a critical role in the development of a romantic relationship. Most people have found their life partners through the social media while others have suffered breakups through the social media. Social technologies play a part in the life cycle of relationships from the time of formation to dissolution. FaceBook acts as the most commonly used social media communication channel where people find information about their ex-partners. FaceBook stores most of personal information that makes people reduce the uncertainties regarding another person in varying ways. The main information gathered from social sites includes new romantic partners, general social activities, and how someone’s ex describe his past partner. In addition, the type of messages updated on FaceBook determines how the girl views an ex-boyfriend (Tong, 2013).

Interpersonal communication models help in understanding an aspect of a romantic relationship and main causes of love breakups. Future researchers should utilize the parallel process model in establishing motivation and ability processes that influence relationship termination. The theory claims that the type of message drafted by one partner determines the type of response from the next partner. A relationship might end in a polite manner if one partner uses an effective polite termination message (Harnish, 2007). Relationships ending in such a manner are so tempting because a person engages in confidential affairs with the ex-partner.

Conclusion

The following topic is widely discussed everywhere because it affects most people especially those engaged in working relationships. The above discussion shows that people seek different reasons for terminating love relationships, but the approach taken by one partner to end the relationship determines the future response from the other partner. Relationships that end politely tempt both partners to engage in love affairs later in life. In addition, social media sites especially FaceBook plays a significant role in the growth or termination of a romantic relationship. In future, researchers should use communication theories to link research into the theory and establish the main causes of ex-romantic relationships.

References

Harnish, C. M. (2007). “It’s over but you are still a great person: A parallel Process Model of

motivation and ability in polite termination message construction” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the NCA 93rd Annual Convention, TBA, Chicago. Retrieved December 15, 2013 from fromhttp://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p194904_index.html

Perillouxm C. & Buss, M. D. (2008). Breaking up romantic relationships: Costs experienced

and coping strategies deployed. Evolutionary Psychology, 6(1), 164-181

Sahlstein, E. & Dun, T. (2008). ‘‘I Wanted Time to Myself and He Wanted to Be Together All

the Time’’: Constructing Breakups as Managing Autonomy-Connection. Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, 9(1), 37–45.

Tong, S. T. (2013). FaceBook use during relationship termination: Uncertainty reduction and

surveillance. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(10), 1-6.

Love, loss and geographical imagination in the poetry of John Donne

Love, loss and geographical imagination in the poetry of John Donne.

John Donne’s poetry is characterized by vast attitudes and emotions; it manifests love, loss and geographical imagination. All his poems are a reflection of complex experiences that can be discussed as love, loss and geographical imagination.

Donne’s poem ‘To his Mistris Going to Bed’ addresses love. It portrays Donne as a lover of women. In a series of metaphors, he refers to a woman as a continent (America). This shows that Donne lauds sensual pleasure (Donne, 1990).

In ‘The Extasie’, Donne tells us that love is the coming together of two souls. He, however, contradicts this view in ‘Twicknam Garden’ where he sounds disillusioned. Here, he describes love as ‘spider love’ which ‘can convert manna into gall’ (Gardner, 1985).

Spatial imagination is evident in Donne’s ‘Songs and Sonnets’. He makes references to world continents, the globe and round balls, seas, hemispheres, towns and maps among others. For example: ‘Let us possess one world, each hath one and is one’ (Donne & Redpath, 1956).

His spatial imagination is believed to have been attached to the past, his way of imagining space was cosmographic as opposed to the modern day cartographic way of imagining space. He uses many symbols and defined his ideas in geographic terms. For instance, when explaining the link between social ranks, he makes reference to concentric circles. Mapping social structure onto circles that are concentric enables us to picture geographic arrangement as well as the movement of people (Donne, 1990).

Donne encountered deep loss when she lost his wife. In his poem ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’ he writes about love that is deep, subtle and profane. When he lost his wife, he writes the ‘Holy Sonnet 17’ where he regrets his wife’s death. He describes her death as paying back a debt to nature. He further illustrates his loss when he says ‘lest the world, flesh, yea, devil put thee out’ (Donne & Redpath, 1956).ReferencesTop of FormBottom of ForTop of Form

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Donne, J. (1990). Devotions upon emergent occasions: Together with Death’s duel. Grand Rapids, Mich: Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

Donne, J., & In Redpath, T. (1956). Songs and sonnets. London: Methuen.

Gardner, H. (1985). The metaphysical poets. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

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